Also known as: Wurusemu, Arinnitti, Hebat

Pray to her for: Success, energy, power, healing

Invoke her with: With a red stone held in your hand, say the short hymn to Arinna at midday.

Arinna was originally the sun goddess of the Hittites, taking her name from the place Alaca Huyuk, in Anatolia. It lies about 40 km from Hattusa, the old Hittite capital, where the remains of the city of the Sun Goddess have been found. There is a sacred mountain there, at the base of which the deity was worshipped.

Arinna would give power and victory to the king and would equally give strength, success and healing to the common man who stood in worship before her. She was a goddess resplendent in her glory and her strength.

Cult Festivals

Reference to the city of the sun goddess is found in texts of the Antahsum, or the spring festival, mentioned in Hittite cuneiform writings. It was the most ancient spring festival celebrated in the region of Anatolia. Arinna is also found in references to the Nuntarriyasha festival, or the autumn festival celebrated by the Hittites.

 These took place in the form of sacred processions or cult journeys leading through pre-designated routes across Hatti. The king would undertake this journey, beginning from the temple of the sun goddess in Hattusa and the journey would be complete when he reached the shrine at Arinna. He would stop at certain places along the way, and rituals would be performed. There was said to be a sacred sanctuary in a forest near the mountains of Arinna, and at the time of the festival, the High Priest of the sun goddess of Arinna performed certain rituals. The king would arrive there, and offer his obeisance. These festivals were held every year in certain seasons, aligned with the movement of the sun and took several days, sometimes extending up to a month.

A Hymn to the Sun Goddess from the Prayers of Mursilis

Thou Sun Goddess of Arinna art an honored deity;                                                                                                       

Thy name is held high among names;     

Thy divinity is held high among the deities;                                                                                                                          

Nay, among the deities, Thou alone O Sun Goddess art honored;     

 Great art Thou alone O Sun Goddess of Arinna;      

Nay compared to Thee no other deity is as honored or great …

 

The Hittite Plague of 20 Years

The deadly plague had ravaged Hatti ever since the king Suppiluliuma invaded the area of what is modern day Lebanon, which was part of Egypt’s territory at that time.  It devastated the land and wiped out two generations.

It had come about in a strange way. Perhaps, it was cursed from the beginning. One of the schools of thought from the interpretations of historical findings say that after the death of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, his widow had sought help from Hatti, asking that a prince of Hatti be sent whom she could wed, to avoid having to marry those who stood in shadow of suspicion of treachery in the sudden death of the young Pharaoh. However, these plans came to naught and she had to wed Ay, a man many years older to her, and who had been a close official, possibly vizier to Tuttankhamun.  Meanwhile, Hittite emissaries who had been en route, and it was said, even a prince of Hatti, had been murdered. Enraged, the king attacked Egyptian lands. It was also the first case of biological warfare, where the Hittites sent rams, infected with tularemia (rabbit fever) amongst the enemy. There the army of Hatti were victorious and took back many captives.  However, they carried back with them, the terrible pestilence. The plague broke out and spread among the captives and then infected the Hittites, eventually killing even Suppiluliuma himself and then his son Arnuwanda, who succeeded him.   Mursili, Arnuwanda’s brother and the next to take the throne, was desperate to placate the gods and rid the land of this pestilence. His plague prayers to the gods and specially the sun goddess Arinna have been found in excavations in Anatolia.

 

The Plague Prayers of the Hittite King Mursilli

 

'When the Egyptians became frightened, they asked outright for one of his (Suppiluliuma's) sons to take over  the kingship. But when my father gave them one of his sons, they led him there and they killed him. My father let his anger run away with him, he went to war against Egypt and attacked Egypt. He smote the foot soldiers and the charioteers of the country of Egypt. But when they brought back to the Hatti (Hittite) land, the prisoners which they had taken, a plague broke out among the prisoners and these began to die. When they moved the prisoners to the Hatti land, these prisoners carried the plague into the Hatti land. From that day on people have been dying in the Hatti land.'

 

Mursili’s Hymn and Prayer to Arinna

O-goddess of Arinna! A mighty and honoured goddess are you!

Mursili, the king, your servant, sent me saying: "Go and say to my lady, the Sun-goddess of Arinna: "I shall invoke the sun-goddess of Arinna, my personal goddess. Whether you, 0 honoured Sun-goddess of Arinna, are above in heaven among the gods, or in the sea, or gone to the mountains to roam, or if you have gone to an enemy land for battle, now let the sweet odour, the cedar and the oil summon you. Return to your temple! I am herewith invoking you] by means of offering bread and libation. So be pacified and listen to what I say to you!

You, 0 Sun-goddess of Arinna, are an honoured goddess. To you, my goddess, there are revered temples in Hatti, but in no other land are there any such for you. Only in Hatti they provide for pure and holy festivals and rituals for you, but in no other land do they provide any such for you. Lofty temples adorned with silver and gold you have only in Hatti, and in no other land is there anything for you. Cups and rhyta of silver, gold, and precious stones you have only in Hatti.

Only in Hatti they celebrate festivals for you—the festival of the month, festivals throughout the course of the year, autumn, winter and spring, and the festivals of the sacrificial rituals. In no other land do they perform anything for you.

Your divinity, 0 Sun-goddess of Arinna, is honoured only in Hatti. Only in Hatti is Mursili, the king, your servant, respectful to you. They perform fully substitute rites, rituals, and festivals for you, 0 Sun-Goddess of Arinna. Everything they present to you is pure. Furthermore, the silver and gold in your temples is treated with reverence, and no one approaches it.

You, 0 Sun-goddess of Arinna, are an honoured goddess. Your name is honoured among names, and your divinity is honoured among gods. Furthermore, among the gods you are the most honoured and the greatest. There is no other god more honoured or greater than you. You are the lord of just judgment. You control the kingship of heaven and earth. You set the borders of the lands. You listen to prayers. You, 0 Sun-Goddess of Arinna, are a merciful goddess and you have pity. The divinely guided person is dear to you, 0 Sun-goddess of Arinna, and you, 0 sun-goddess of Arinna, exalt him. Within the circumference of heaven and earth, You, 0 sun-goddess of Arinna, are the source of light.

Throughout the lands you are a favoured deity, and you are father and mother to all the lands. You are the divinely guided lord of judgement, and in the place of judgement there is no tiring of you. Also among the primeval gods you are favoured. You, 0 sun-goddess of Arinna, allot the sacrifices to the gods, and the share of the primeval gods you allot as well. They open up the door of heaven for you, and you cross the gate of heaven, 0 favored sun-goddess of Arinna. The gods of heaven and earth bow down to you, 0 sun-goddess of Arinna. Whatever you say, 0 sun-goddess of Arinna.

The person at whom the gods are angry and whom they reject, you, 0 sun-goddess of Arinna, have pity on him! And now, sustain Mursili, the king, your servant, and [take] Mursili, the king, your servant, by the hand! And to the words which Mursili, the king, keeps telling you, hold your ear and listen to them!

0 gods, What is this that you have done? You have allowed a plague into Hatti, and the whole of Hatti is dying. No one prepares for you the offering bread and the libation anymore. The ploughmen who used to work the fallow fields of the gods have died, so they do not work or reap the fields of the gods. The grinding women who used to make the offering bread for the gods have died, so they do not make the god's offering bread any longer.

The cowherds and shepherds of the corrals and sheepfolds from which they used to select sacrificial cattle and sheep are dead, so that the corrals and sheepfolds are neglected. So it has come to pass that the offering bread, the libations, and the offering of animals have stopped. And you, 0 gods, proceed to hold the sin against us in that matter. To mankind, our wisdom has been lost, and whatever we do right, comes to nothing. 0 gods, whatever sin you perceive, either let a man of god come and declare it, or let the old women, the diviners, or the augurs establish it, or let ordinary persons see it in a dream. We shall stroke by means of the thorns, pins of a sarpa. 0 gods have pity on the land of Hatti. On the one hand it is oppressed with the plague, and on the other it is oppressed by hostility. The protectorates which are round about, Mittanni and Arzawa, are all in conflict, and they do not respect the gods. They have transgressed the oath of the gods, and they wish to despoil the temples of the gods. May this become an additional reason for the gods' vengeance. Turn the plague, the hostility, the famine, and the severe fever towards Mittanni and Arzawa. Rested are the belligerent lands, but Hatti is a weary land. Unhitch the weary one, and hitch up the rested one.

Moreover, those lands which belong to Hatti, the Kaska land—they were swineherds and weavers—Arawanna, Kalasma, Lukka, and Pitassa, have declared themselves free from the Sun-goddess of Arinna. They discontinue their tributes and began to attack Hatti. In the past, Hatti, with the help of the Sun-goddess of Arinna, used to maul the surrounding lands like a lion. Moreover, Aleppo and Babylon which they destroyed, they took their goods—silver, gold, and gods—of all the lands, and they deposited it before the Sun-goddess of Arinna.

But now, all the surrounding lands have begun to attack Hatti. Let this become a further reason for vengeance for the Sun-goddess of Arinna. Goddess, do not degrade your own name!

Whoever is a cause of rage and anger to the gods, and whoever is not respectful to the gods, let not the good ones perish with the evil ones. Whether it is a single town, a single house, or a single person, 0 gods, destroy only that one! Look upon Hatti with pity, and give the evil plague to other lands….

Some wish to burn down your temples; others wish to take away your rhyta, cup, and objects of silver and gold; others wish to lay waste your fields, your gardens, and your groves; others wish to capture your plowmen, gardeners, and grinding-women. To those enemy lands give severe fever, plague, and famine, 0 Sun-goddess of Arinna, my lady! And you yourself, 0 Sun-goddess of Arinna, let yourself be invoked! [… let] the oppressed become fi t again. To Mursili, the king, and to the land of Hatti turn with favour! Grant to Mursili and to the land of Hatti life, health, vigor, brightness of spirit forever, and longevity!

Grant forever growth of grain, vines, fruit-trees, cattle, sheep, horses [ … ].

Give them a man's valiant, battle-ready, divine weapon! Put beneath their feet the enemy lands, and may they destroy them. 0 Sun-goddess of Arinna, have pity on Hatti….

 May the winds of prosperity come, and may the land of Hatti grow and prosper. And to you, 0 gods, your offering bread and your libations will be presented.

And the congregation cries out: "So be it!"…. I have invoked the Sun-goddess of Arinna in Hattusa for seven days, and I have also invoked her for seven days in Arinna, and I have spoken these words. 

 

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