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Kumarbi

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

Hurrian divine figure in Hittite CTH 344; challenges Anu and carries the storm god after swallowing his seed.

Modern succession diagram for CTH 344; neither a proven father–son genealogy nor an ancient portrait of Kumarbi
Modern succession diagram for CTH 344; neither a proven father–son genealogy nor an ancient portrait of KumarbiOriginal explanatory diagram: IL Archive, 2026. · CC0License · Image source

Text

In the surviving text Kumarbi drags down the fleeing AnuAn / AnuSumerian/Akkadian sky god; multifunctional AN alone cannot identify him in the earliest texts.Glossary · Click to read the explanation, bites off his genitals and swallows what he has taken. The storm god and others develop from this act. These are textual scenes, not the biography of a historical person. [1]

A disputed line affects his alleged descent from AlaluAlaluFirst heavenly ruler in the surviving Kumarbi song; defeated by Anu, he flees to the dark earth.Glossary · Click to read the explanation, and the storm god’s final enthronement is not preserved in full. The modern diagram shows succession only; it does not establish father–son descent between every ruler. [9][10]

References and notes

  1. Specified German translation and its broken lines; not an intact tablet. CTH 344, German translation, text lines 1-296 and translation notes 1-84 Return to the text ↑
  2. Van Dongen thesis: specified pages only, not the whole thesis; stone passage and proposed route. Erik van Dongen, Studying external stimuli to the development of the ancient Aegean, UCL doctoral thesis (2010): printed pp.45-51, 78-85, 140-145, 211-213, 240-246 (PDF pages one less than printed page numerals in displayed web extraction) Return to the text ↑
  3. Zgoll: main argument 208–225; Alalu’s genealogy and narrative layers. Christian Zgoll, The Hittite 'Theogony' or Song of Going Forth (CTH 344): Stratification of Mythical Traditions, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 21 (2021), 208-227 Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 13 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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Cite this record

IL Archive, «Kumarbi», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/kumarbi