76 Facts About Teshub

Teshub was the Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon.

Teshub was believed to enable the growth of vegetation and create rivers and springs.

Depictions of Teshub are rare, though it is agreed he was typically portrayed as an armed, bearded figure, sometimes holding a bundle of lightning.

Teshub's wife was Hepat, a goddess originally worshipped in Aleppo at some point incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon.

God lists indicate that Teshub could be recognized as the equivalent of other weather gods worshipped in Mesopotamia and further west in Syria, including Adad and Ugaritic Baal.

The worship of Teshub is first attested in the Ur III period, with the early evidence including Hurrian theophoric names and in a royal inscription from Urkesh.

Teshub was worshipped in many other Hurrian cities, and in the second half of the second millennium BCE he was the deity most commonly invoked in Hurrian theophoric names, with numerous examples identified in texts from Nuzi.

Teshub is attested as a commonly worshipped deity in the Ugaritic texts, which indicate that Hurrian and local elements were interconnected in the religious practice of this city.

Teshub's hypostasis associated with Aleppo attained particular importance in this context.

Many of them focus on Teshub's rise to the position of the king of the gods and his conflict with Kumarbi and his allies, such as the sea monster Hedammu, the stone giant Ullikummi or the personified sea.

Teshub is a major character in the Song of Release, whose plot focuses on his efforts to secure the liberation of the inhabitants of Igingallis from Ebla.

Multiple romanizations of the name Teshub are in use in Assyriological and Hittitological literature, including Tessub, Tesub, Tessob and Tessop.

The precise etymology of Teshub's name is unknown, but it is assumed it has Hurrian origin.

Teshub was regarded both as a destructive figure and as a protector of mankind.

Teshub was responsible for securing the growth of vegetation by sending rain.

Piotr Taracha argues that Teshub was initially not the head of the Hurrian pantheon, and only reached this position as a part of what he understands as a broader phenomenon of growing prominence of weather gods in the early second millennium BCE.

In Hittite art, all weather gods, among them Teshub, were depicted similarly, with long hair and beard, dressed in conical headdress decorated with horns, a kilt and shoes with upturned toe area, and with a mace either resting on the shoulder or held in a smiting position.

Teshub is depicted on a Neo-Hittite relief from Malatya, where he rides in his chariot drawn with bulls and is armed with a triple lightning bolt.

The former was a deity received from Mesopotamia, and outside of being the father of Teshub did not play a major role in Hurrian religion.

Teshub was received by the Hurrians from the local pantheon of Aleppo.

Teshub was chiefly worshipped in northern Syria, especially in Aleppo and Alalakh, though the area associated with her encompassed southern Anatolia and the middle Euphrates.

Teshub's chariot was pulled by two bulls, Seri and Hurri.

Two further deities belonging to the circle of Teshub, in offering lists often placed after his bulls, were Namni and Hazzi.

Teshub was considered analogous to the Mesopotamian weather god, Adad.

In Ugarit, Teshub was identified with the local weather god, Baal.

In contrast with Teshub, Baal did not have a wife, and in Ugarit Hepat was seemingly recognized as a counterpart of Pidray, who was regarded as his daughter, rather than spouse.

Teshub concludes that it is unlikely the list can be used as a point of reference for either Hurrian or Ugaritic theology.

In Kummanni in Kizzuwatna, Teshub was identified with the local god Manuzi.

In some cases, Hittites adopted Hurrian texts focused on Teshub, including hymns, prayers and myths, but substituted his name for that of their own analogous god.

Teshub's bulls were incorporated alongside him into the Hittite pantheon, but it is possible the image of a weather god travelling in a chariot drawn by bulls was not present in Hittite culture exclusively due to Hurrian influence, as the bull was already the symbolic animal of the weather god earlier, in the Old Hittite period.

Teshub is first attested in Hurrian theophoric names from the Ur III period.

Teshub is mentioned as ISKUR sa ku-me in the so-called Gotteradressbuch, a text listing deities worshipped in Assur, while Adad-nirari II visited the city itself in 895 BCE to make an offering to him.

In lists of oil rations, Teshub always occurs alongside Sauska of Nineveh.

Teshub is attested in texts from two other sites in the proximity of Arrapha itself, Nuzi and Kurruhanni.

Traditions of Aleppo, including those related to Teshub, presumably reached Kizzuwatna.

Teshub was worshipped in Kummanni in the north of Kizzuwatna, a kingdom located in the plains surrounding modern Adana.

Teshub's hypostases associated with them are all listed among the witnesses in a treaty of king Shattiwaza The enumeration of these manifestations, as well as various local deities, had a political dimension, and was meant to help with defining the area regarded as the core territory of the kingdom.

Kahat, which was located in the proximity of Shekhna, was the primary site associated with Teshub located in the heartland of the Mitanni state.

Teshub was worship in Haburatum, a city northeast of the Sinjar Mountains already ruled by a Hurrian king, Nanip-sauri, in the times of Zimri-Lim, though it is presumed that since the name was written logographically in his letters addressed to the latter ruler, their recipient presumably would read the sumerogram used as Adad.

Texts from Ugarit from the thirteenth century BCE indicate that Hurrian deities, including Teshub, were worshipped in this city.

However, while Hattusili I already mentions that he plundered the statue of a weather god from Hassuwa and brought it with him to Hattusa, there is no evidence that Teshub was already worshipped there in the Old Hittite period.

In Hittite sources, Teshub was recognized as the head of the dynastic, rather than national, pantheon, and much like in the Mitanni empire and many other kingdoms, he was regarded as a royal deity.

However, in other similar texts hypostases of Teshub could be listed among other weather gods right behind the sun goddess of Arinna.

Furthermore, weather gods designated by the terms muwattalli and pihassassi, the personal tutelary deities of, respectively, Mursili II and Muwattalli II, should be considered forms of Teshub according to Piotr Taracha.

The deities following Teshub have been identified as Tasmisu, Kumarbi, Ea, Sauska with Ninatta and Kulitta, Kusuh, Simige, Astabi, Nupatik, Pirengir, Hesui, symbol of heaven held by two bull men standing on a symbol of earth, Ugur, Pisaisaphi, thirteen unidentified deities and twelve gods of the underworld.

The best known myths focused on Teshub belong to the so-called Kumarbi Cycle.

Teshub is conceived when Kumarbi seizes kingship among the gods after battling the previous deity who held this position, Anu, and biting off his genitals.

Teshub actively partakes in the discussion from inside Kumarbi's body, and argues that it would be optimal for him to emerge from his head.

Teshub is enraged by the ordeal and demands to have the child, referred to with the logogram NAM.

An additional fragment of the Song of Emergence pertaining to Teshub might be preserved on the tablet KUB 33.105, which contains a dialogue between him and Anu.

The first surviving section describes a fight between him and Teshub, assisted by Sauska, which the siblings seemingly lose.

Teshub is then most likely appointed as a new king of the gods by Ea, but eventually he and Kumarbi grow displeased with his incompetence and seek to depose him.

In In a passage presumably following this event, Teshub is fearful of his power, and questions if he can defeat him, prompting Tasmisu to taunt him over this display of timidity.

Teshub first hears about this new opponent from Sauska, who refuses to sit down, eat or drink once she arrives with the news.

Teshub becomes despondent after hearing them and starts to cry.

Presumably the broken beginning of the second tablet contained an explanation of this misunderstanding, as in the next surviving passage Teshub reacts to the bad news and reassures the sun god that he can sit down and eat and drink wine now.

Teshub then embarks on a journey to Mount Hazzi with his siblings, Tasmisu and Sauska, and after reaching his destination he finally sees Ullikummi himself, which sends him into despair.

Teshub describes how daunting of a task fighting him would be and starts crying.

However, after she dresses up, adorns her hair with seashells and starts signing, a wave informs her that the target is deaf, blind and unfeeling, which makes him immune to any such efforts, and suggests that she should instead try to get Teshub to confront him as soon as possible, as he will only continue to grow more dangerous.

Teshub reacts with enthusiasm, and relays this information to Teshub before going with him to a place where the other gods hold an assembly.

The text breaks off after Ullikummi's comments, but the existence of another now lost tablet describing the battle between him and Teshub has been proposed.

Ian Rutherford suggests that it can be placed before Song of Hedammu, perhaps as the first half of the same narrative, with the sea's presumed defeat at the hands of Teshub motivating him to join forces with Kumarbi.

Teshub considers it unlikely that the passage is a reference to the Song of Hedammu.

Teshub is one of the main characters in the Song of Release, alternatively known as Epic of Freeing.

In one of the fragments, Teshub asks the king of Ebla, Megi, to release the enslaved inhabitants of Igingallis.

Teshub offers to bless the city if his wish is granted, and to destroy it in the case of denial:.

Teshub sarcastically asks the king if Teshub himself lost his freedom, and states that if it was him who was in trouble, he and the senate would be ready to help him, whether it was caused by debt, sickness or any other factors, but there is no reason to do the same for people of Ignigallis.

Teshub explains the situation to him while weeping, and purifies himself before the text breaks off.

Teshub assumes that Purra, unlike his compatriots, was instead responsible for the funerary cult of deceased rulers.

Bachvarova's interpretation has been criticized by von Dassow, who asserts that she misinterprets Zazalla's speech to treat it as a description of Teshub's state caused by the neglect of religious duties pertaining to him, and that she incorrectly treats reverence towards the deceased as unique to Ebla and conducted by a dedicated staff.

Teshub instead argues Teshub intervened on behalf of the people of Igingallis simply because gods were believed to enforce justice, and the narrative evidently portrays their enslavement as unjust.

Eva von Dassow assumes that it follows a declaration that Ebla is to be destroyed, and suggests Teshub might be meeting with Allani because her domain would have to accommodate many new inhabitants in the case of such an event.

Gernot Wilhelm suggests that it takes place after the destruction of Ebla, and that Teshub descends to the underworld to deal with his anger, which would reflect a motif well attested in literature of the region.

Volkert Haas assumed that Teshub is imprisoned in the underworld.

However, as noted by Wilhelm, no actual reference to either the imprisonment or release of Teshub can be identified in the text.

The passage which mentions Teshub enumerates the names and residences of various deities, in his case Kumme; mentioned are a sun god, a moon god, Sauska, Nanaya and Marduk.