The Myth of Telepinu
c. 1650–1500 BCE · Old Hittite · Hattusa (Bogazköy), Turkey
The Myth of Telepinu is the most complete of the Hittite "disappearing god" myths. Telepinu, god of agriculture and fertility, is seized with unexplained rage, puts his shoes on the wrong feet, and storms off to the steppe to sleep. Immediately: fires go out on hearths, gods suffocate in their temples, sheep neglect their young, cattle abandon their calves, grain fails, springs dry up. The gods search everywhere and fail to find him. Only a bee, sent by the grandmother goddess Hannahanna, finds the sleeping god, stings him awake, and smears him with wax. Telepinu wakes in an even fouler mood. An eagle, magic, and finally the goddess Kamrusepa with ritual incantations progressively calm him. When he returns, fertility returns with him. The text was used as liturgy for real rituals to restore a withdrawn deity's favour.
notes
The disappearing god motif appears across Near Eastern mythology — Inanna's descent, Baal's death, Persephone in Greek myth — suggesting a shared template for explaining seasonal cycles. The earliest known example of myth used directly as ritual text.
currently held: Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara
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