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Tenu (god)

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Tenu
Attendant of Teshub
Major cult centerAleppo

Tenu (also romanized as Tēnu[1]) was a Hurrian god regarded as a divine attendant (sukkal) of Teshub. He might have originated in a local tradition typical for Aleppo. He appears in a number of Hurrian offering lists (kaluti [de]), as well as Hittite and Emariote texts.

Name and character

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Tenu's name was spelled as dte-nu or dte-e-nu in cuneiform.[1] It is also known that he is referenced in a single Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription, though only the first sign of his name is preserved in this context, ti.[2]

Tenu was regarded as the divine vizier of Teshub.[3][4] He was associated with the hypostasis of this god linked with Aleppo.[5][2] The weather god of this city was originally Adad, but in the second millennium BCE he came to be identified as Teshub instead due to growing Hurrian influence across northern Syria.[6] The relation between Tenu and Teshub is directly described in the text KUB 34, 102+: dte-e-nu dte-eš-šu-up-pí lúSUKKAL.[2] Tenu appears in this role in rituals, but in the literary texts, the same position was ascribed to Tašmišu, which according to Daniel Schwemer [de] might indicate that the former originated in a local Aleppine tradition.[7] However, Volkert Haas[8] and Gary Beckman attribute Hurrian origin to him.[9]

While in older publications references to Tenu as a "divine priest" can sometimes be found, they are the result of a misreading, with lúSUKKAL mistaken for lúSANGA.[7]

Worship

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In Hurrian offering lists (kaluti [de]) dedicated to Teshub and his circle, Tenu typically appears between Iršappa (Resheph) and the paired earth and heaven and other deified natural features.[4] In one case, Tenu is followed by Teshub's bulls, Seri and Hurri.[10] In yet another source, he is placed between deified objects dedicated to Teshub (našarta) and the goddess Pitḫanu ("Ḫanaean daughter"),[5] possibly a deified epithet of Bēlet-ekallim.[11] It has been pointed out that while Tenu occupies one of the last places in the standard enumeration of deities from the circle of Teshub, he nonetheless received as many offerings as Tašmišu, even though the latter opens the section enumerating the weather god's courtiers.[5]

A festival held in honor of Tenu is mentioned in the Hittite instruction CTH 698, which contains information about thirteen celebrations connected to Teshub of Aleppo and his circle.[12] However, the text provides no information about it other than a confirmation of its existence, and other sources do not shed additional light on it.[1] Volkert Haas argued that it was celebrated in Aleppo.[3]

It has been suggested that Tenu is depicted alongside Tiyabenti in chamber A of the Yazılıkaya sanctuary,[2] located near Hattusa but dedicated to Hurrian deities.[4]

Tenu is also attested in sources from Emar.[13] He is mentioned in two texts which reflect the worship of deities from the Hittite and Hurrian pantheons in this city.[14] There is no evidence that he had a temple in Emar,[9] though a reference to a baetyl dedicated to him has been identified.[13] He is absent from the theophoric names of local inhabitants.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Schwemer 2001, p. 448.
  2. ^ a b c d Wilhelm 2013, p. 588.
  3. ^ a b Haas 1994, p. 332.
  4. ^ a b c Taracha 2009, p. 118.
  5. ^ a b c Schwemer 2001, p. 500.
  6. ^ Taracha 2009, p. 121.
  7. ^ a b Schwemer 2008, p. 6.
  8. ^ Haas 1994, p. 569.
  9. ^ a b c Beckman 2002, p. 52.
  10. ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 480.
  11. ^ Haas 1994, pp. 313=314.
  12. ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 497.
  13. ^ a b Beckman 2002, p. 49.
  14. ^ Fleming 1992, p. 271.

Bibliography

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  • Beckman, Gary (2002). "The Pantheon of Emar". Silva Anatolica: Anatolian studies presented to Maciej Popko on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Warsaw: Agade. hdl:2027.42/77414. ISBN 83-87111-12-0. OCLC 51004996.
  • Fleming, Daniel E. (1992). The installation of Baal's high priestess at Emar: a window on ancient Syrian religion. Atlanta: Scholars Press. ISBN 978-90-04-36965-8. OCLC 645829438. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
  • Haas, Volkert (1994). Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East (in German). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-29394-6. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
  • Schwemer, Daniel (2001). Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-04456-1. OCLC 48145544.
  • Schwemer, Daniel (2008). "The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies: Part II". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. 8 (1). Brill: 1–44. doi:10.1163/156921208786182428. ISSN 1569-2116.
  • Taracha, Piotr (2009). Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3447058858. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
  • Wilhelm, Gernot (2013), "Tenu", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), vol. 13, retrieved 2023-11-05
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