Papaya
Hattic · deity · mythic · deity
Papaya is one of the two Hattian goddesses of destiny, always paired with Ištuštaya. In the Old Hittite ritual for the founding of a new palace the two primeval goddesses sit crouching by the shore of the sea with spindles, distaff and mirrors, spinning the years of the king, whose reign they thereby fix. In the Hittite state cult the pair belonged to the circle of chthonic deities and was worshipped together with the netherworld goddess Lelwani.
Domains
- fate and destiny
Powers
- to spin the years and life-thread of the king
Relations
- companion: Istustaya
Sources
- Alfonso Archi, "The Anatolian Fate-Goddesses and their Different Traditions", in E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, J. Klinger & G. G. W. Müller (eds.), Diversity and Standardization: Perspectives on Social and Political Norms in the Ancient Near East, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2013
- Volkert Haas, Geschichte der hethitischen Religion (Handbuch der Orientalistik I/15), Leiden: Brill, 1994
- Old Hittite foundation ritual for a new palace, KUB 29.1 (CTH 414)