Istustaya

Hattic · deity · mythic · deity

Istustaya (Ištuštaya) is one of the two Hattian goddesses of destiny, always paired with Papaya. In the Old Hittite ritual for the founding of a new palace the Throne sends an eagle to the shore of the sea, where the two primeval goddesses sit crouching with spindles, distaff and mirrors, spinning the years of the king; the passage is the classic Anatolian counterpart to the spinning fate-goddesses of other ancient traditions. In the Hittite state cult the pair belonged to the circle of chthonic deities and was worshipped together with the netherworld goddess Lelwani.

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