A 3,500-year-old statuette of Sun Goddess of Arinna, which is of great importance for the Hittites, called “People of a Thousand Gods”, is displayed at İzmir Archeology Museum.
The statuette is on display within the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry’s project after it was rescued by smugglers by İzmir police in 2015.
QUEEN OF ALL LANDS
The Sun goddess of Arinna, also sometimes identified as Arinniti or as Wuru(n)šemu, is the chief goddess and companion of the weather god Tarḫunna in Hittite mythology. She protected the Hittite kingdom and was called the “Queen of all lands” Her cult centre was the sacred city of Arinna.
In addition to the Sun goddess of Arinna, the Hittites also worshipped the Sun goddess of the Earth and the Sun god of Heaven, while the Luwians originally worshipped the old Proto-Indo-European Sun god Tiwaz. It appears that in the northern cultural sphere of the early Hittites, there was no male solar deity.
Distinguishing the various solar deities in the texts is difficult since most are simply written with the Sumerogram UTU (Solar deity). As a result, the interpretation of the solar deities remains a subject of debate.
