Teshub is the god of storm

In the course of time, physical shape of the Mother Goddess shows varieties according to the regions and she is called by dif­ferent names. Hittite Empire wasn’t late to introduce the sky god Teshub for Arinna, who is the closest successor of (Catalhoyuk’s Mother Goddess.

Teshub is the god of storm. Unshared throne of the Mother Goddess passes to Teshub, deemed as the god of gods. The reason why Teshub emerged and had the last word among the thrones of gods can be explained in this way: Anatolian man now real­izes mans role in childbirth of woman. Man, stronger and more belligerent than woman, gets rid of the inferiority he felt as he wasn’t fertile and thus, filled with the characteristics that will end matriarchal structure and start patriarchal one, “Father God” is created.

Anatolian man is now happier and feels more confident. The earth is in command of the Mother Goddess; she is the one giving a yield. As to the Father Goddess, he dominates the sky; he is the one causing rain and lightning as well. The Earth is air + water + earth + fire (4 elements) and the sky is sun + moon + stars, that is 3. 4 + 3 = 7. Before, The Hittites found the holy numbers in the attributes of gods and goddesses. We will always encounter this number 7 in the next chapters as well. The symbol of Teshub is the bull. He is the husband of Hebat and they have a son named later as Sharruma. Thus, after number 7, the Hittites begin to use number 3 as mystic as well. Mother + Father + Son. This trin­ity also signifies the sky. Father (Sun), mother (Moon) and son (Stars).

Temples are religious centers of the Hittites. The oldest one belonging to the Hittites is the Great Temple at Hattusha. Most in­terestingly, there are 175 rooms around the temple. These rooms were used as store and cereal was kept inside. There was no other safer place than the house of gods for a Hittite who wants to pro­tect his cereal from the thieves and enemies. Inside the temples, any harm was never done to the cereal because they were sacrific­ing every day to satisfy their gods. In this case, how could gods condone any harm coming to the cereals which are, so to say, the meaning of life for a Hittite?

In the temples, numerous clergymen worked. However, they couldn’t sleep in the temples but lived with their families in their houses. Their duties were to open the temple, to pray and to sac­rifice to the gods. Meat, bread and drink were offered to the gods every day. Especially since the gods were fed by the smell of meat, the burnt meat was offered.

As is seen, Hittite gods and goddesses are always connected with the worldly affairs. The expectation of the respect, fear and love in Hittites towards the gods and goddesses is worldly anxiety. They didn’t demand anything concerning the other world.

Hittite kings were not only loyal attendants of the gods but also their commissaries during their lifetime. After they died, the kings got to become God. The King was the manager of the cer­emonies organized in the Hittite temples. He was also held re­sponsible with the title of priest. Either king or a common person, everybody had to enter the temple after washing. Punishment of the entering without being cleaned was death.