The Sky Father and Earth Mother: the Basis of All Indo-European Religions, Part Eighteen, the Hittite Earth Mother

 This essay will be the last in this particular series. For a background to Hittite religion it is important to read my previous essay, The Sky Father and Earth Mother: the Basis of All Indo-European Religions, Part Seventeen, the Hittite Sky Father , where I discussed the alien accretions layered onto the original Hittite gods and the reasons for this. I do not intend to go over old ground in this post.

The Hittite Earth Mother is syncretic, layered and multi-cultural, consisting of the following elements:

. Hattian earth cults

.Hurrian cosmic mothers

. Indo-European fertility concepts.

There is not one single deity or theonym which embodies the functions of the Hittite Earth Mother, but for the purpose of this essay, I have identified and focused purely on the deities which can be viewed as Indo-European in nature and function, albeit not in name. The original Earth Mother and her functions may be identified through an analysis of the two goddesses:  Hannahanna and Wurunšemu; their names are Hattian but their functions are Indo-European.

Hannahanna

The meaning of Her name is 'Grandmother' and She represents the earliest maternal power as is evident in Her name. She is the Mother of the Gods and commands all divine beings, spirits and animals; her authority is unquestionable. She is the restorer of fertility. In her functional Indo-European analogue She mirrors Gaia, Prithvi, Zemyna and Mat Zemlya; She restores life and maintains cosmic balance, and is highly interventionist. Her profile is one of deep Indo-European maternal sovereignty and She aligns with:

. Vedic Aditi (mother of the gods and cosmic order)

. Greek Gaia (senior maternal authority)

. Baltic Laima (the goddess of fate, birth and fortune)

. Celtic Danu (ancestral mother of the gods) 

Of the aforementioned four deities, Laima would appear to be the 'odd one out'. She is not an Earth Mother like Gaia or the mother of the gods like Aditi, but She maintains moral and existential order.

Wurunšemu

The meaning of Her name is 'Earth' and She represents the chthonic, territorial and political dimension of the Earth Mother. She symbolises the embodiment of the Earth and for this reason Her name is invoked in boundary rituals, land grants, treaties and agricultural consecrations. She has queenly authority and is often paired with the Storm God, Tarḫunna/Tarḫunt/Tarḫunz/Tarḫunnaš. She is the witness of truth and the binding power of oaths sworn on the land.

Although She is an aspect of the Earth Mother, She is solar in nature but only in a moral sense; She is the illuminating truth rather than the physical sun. She shines upon right conduct. She is the source of royal legitimacy in two ways, both of which express Her dual nature:

. Her solarity expresses sovereign radiance.

. Her earth-nature expresses sovereign grounding.

Although Her earth-bound and solar natures may appear contradictory at first glance, they are in fact complementary aspects of Her essence.

Dual Nature of Indo-European Goddesses

The dual nature of the Earth Mother is not unique to the Hittites: other Indo-European cultures experienced the same thing.

Baltic Parallel

. Saulė - female sun and moral order.

. Zemyna-earth mother and fertility.

Wurunšemu combines both roles into one goddess.

Vedic Parallel

. Aditi- mother of the gods, associated with the infinite sky, the earth, law and cosmic order.

. Varuṇī / Sūryā (moral order/solar sovereignty)

Greek Parallel

. Gaia- earth.

. Themis- justice, order and oaths.

  Wurunšemu fuses the functions of these two goddesses.

In summary, Hannahanna and Wurunšemu form a two-tiered system of maternal power, the primordial-chthonic of the former and the solar-juridical of the latter. Wile the former repairs order, the latter maintains it.