A HURRIAN-MITANNI TEMPLE UNEARTHED IN MÜSLÜMANTEPE IN UPPER TIGRIS AND 1 NEW FINDINGS

Abstract

Conserning the Hurrian and Mitanni period, Muslumantepe appears to had been an ımportant center in the Upper Tigris region. What is particularly remarkable here is a palace structure from the Early Bronze Age surrounded by city walls. The temple from the Middle Bronze Age and the in-situ cult objects provide important insights into the temple architecture and religious rituals of the Hurrian-Mitanni Period. The comparisons show that the Palace and Temple in Müslümantepe could be the earliest of the Middle Bronze Age Palaces and Temples related to the Hurrians in Northern Syria, especially in the Amuq Plain. The cult objects provide a better insight into Hurrian-Mitanni religious festivals and rituals conducted both inside and outside the temples. The excavations in Müslümantepe provided archaeological evidence supporting the written documents on the Hurrian origins of AN.TAH.ŠUM, the spring festival celebrated by the Hittites. Interestingly, the temple artifacts have added a new dimension to the relationship between the Hurri-Greek Pantheon, to which Gütterbock had previously drawn attention in the context of the Illuyanka myth. The Zeus Omphalos pedestal related to the oracle well unearthed in the Temple of Apollo in Athens, as well as a similar variant of the wheel of fortune shaft made from cylindrical stone were discovered at the Hurrian-Mitanni Temple in Müslümantepe. In this way, many known direct or indirect relations between the ancient Asia Minor and the ancient Greek world were acknowledged