Some Remarks About the Summer Period in Hittite Anatolia

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 32 Sayı: 2, 391 - 405, 27.12.2017

Serkan Demirel

https://doi.org/10.18513/egetid.376799

Öz

There is an
uncertainty about the naming or presence of summer season in Hittite cuneiform
texts. However, some scholars claimed that certain agricultural activities in
summer written as BURU₁₄ in Hittite cuneiform texts indicate the
summer period. The purpose of this article is to support this argument by
explaining the sequence of the months in the Hittite calendar and to make
determinations about the start and end dates of the summer season. It is also
to draw attention to the similarities between the terminology used for the
summer in traditional calendars in Anatolia and the words used for the summer
period in the Hittite cuneiform texts. The period called harvest time in
Anatolian traditional calendars may be referred to by a similar name in the
Hittite calendar and it may indicate the beginning and end dates of the summer
season.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Hittite, cuneiform texts, summer period, BURU14, Anatolia, traditional calendars

Kaynakça

• Albayrak 1996 İrfan Albayrak, “Koloni Çağında Yerli Bir Bayan Adı “Madawada.”, III. Uluslararası Hititoloji Kongresi Bildirileri, Çorum, September 16-22, Ankara, pp.1-14. Beckman 1982 Gary Beckman, “The Anatolian Myth of İlluyanka”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 14, pp. 11-25. Beckman 1983 Gary Beckman, Hittite Birth Rituals. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, StBoT 29. Beckman 2002 Gary Beckman, “The Babilili-ritual from Boğazköy (CTH 718)”, Recent Development in Hittite Archaeology and History, edited by K. A. Yener, H. A. Hoffner, S. Dhesi, Winona Lake, pp.35-42. Belmonte and Garcia 2014 Juan Antonio Belmonte and A. Cesar Gonzalez Garcia. “Astral Symbolism and Time Keeping in the Hittite Culture.” Paper presented Proceeding of the Eight International Congress of Hittitology, Warsaw, Septembre 5-9, 2011, pp. 110-123. Bittel 1970 Kurt Bittel, Hattusha, The Capital of the Hittites. New York: Oxford University Press. CHD L-N Chicago Hittite Dictionary, Vol. L-N, edited by H. G. Güterbock and H. A. Hoffner, Chicago, Illinois, Oriental Institute, 1989. CHD P Chicago Hittite Dictionary, Vol. P, edited by H. G. Güterbock and H. A. Hoffner, Chicago, Illinois, Oriental Institute, 1997. CHD Š-1 Chicago Hittite Dictionary, Vol. Š, Fascicle 1, edited by H. G. Güterbock, H. A. Hoffner and Theo P. J. van den Hout, Chicago, Illinois, Oriental Institute, 2002. Christopher 1995 J. Eyre Christopher, “The Agricultural Cycle, Farming and Water Management in the Ancient Near East”, In Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, edited by Jack Sasson, pp.185-188. Screibner, New York.