Already by the Late Bronze Age, culturally distinct cults of Kubaba existed throughout the region controlled by the Hittite Empire. After the fall of the empire and the fragmentation of the political landscape of the Syro-Anatolian region, these cults persisted in local contexts, developing along their own trajectories, and thus producing hypostases of the goddess with unique roles, modes of expression, and perhaps aliases. However, these local variations did not evolve in a vacuum, but in many cases through a process of interregional and intercultural interactions. This paper will examine these processes along with the resultant expressions of local cults of Kubaba, demonstrating specific trajectories for interactions between neighboring groups, along with selective adaptations and rejections of foreign cultic concepts. Preliminary results suggest an interesting convergence between these cults and certain sociolinguistic boundaries within the region, perhaps connected to communities with shared group identities.
New York University, United States - ORCID: 0000-0002-0124-5398
University of Verona, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-0848-070X
Chapter Title
Kubaba and other Divine Ladies of the Syro-Anatolian Iron Age: Developmental Trajectories, Local Variations, and Interregional Interactions
Authors
Nathan Lovejoy, Alvise Matessi
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0109-4.12
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Theonyms, Panthea and Syncretisms in Hittite Anatolia and Northern Syria
Book Subtitle
Proceedings of the TeAI Workshop Held in Verona, March 25-26, 2022
Editors
Livio Warbinek, Federico Giusfredi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
194
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0109-4
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0108-7
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0109-4
Series Title
Studia Asiana
Series ISSN
1974-7837
Series E-ISSN
2612-808X