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{{short description|Eblaite and Hurrian god}}
{{Infobox deity
| type        = Hurrian
| name        = Aštabi
| image       = Yazılıkaya room A god Aštabi 3476.jpg
| caption     = A relief of Aštabi from [[Yazılıkaya]]
| deity_of    = war god
| cult_center = [[Ebla]]
| symbol      =
| parents     =
| consort     = Baradu-madu (in Ebla)
| equivalent1_type     = Mesopotamian
| equivalent1          = [[Lugal-Marada]], [[Ninurta]] or [[Zababa]]
| equivalent2_type     = Ugaritic
| equivalent2          = [[Attar (god)|Attar]]
}}
'''Aštabi''' ({{langx|uga|𐎀𐎌𐎚𐎁}}, ''aštb''{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=15}}), also known as '''Aštabil''', was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in [[Ebla]], later incorporated into [[Hurrian religion|Hurrian beliefs]] in locations such as [[Alalakh]] and [[Ugarit]] and as a result also into the [[Hittite religion|religion]] of the [[Hittite Empire]].
== Name and origin ==
The attested writings of the name are Aštabi (in [[Alalakh]] and [[Hattusa]]), Aštabil/Ašdabil (in Ebla and [[Mari, Syria|Mari]]), ''aštb'' and possibly ''`ṭtpl'' and ''`ṭtpr'' (alphabetic spellings from [[Ugarit]]).{{sfn|Archi|1997|pp=416-417}}
Aštabi is regarded as one of the so-called "Syrian [[Stratum (linguistics)|substrate]] deities" by researchers. While present in the Hurrian pantheon and in earlier documents from Ebla, names of members of this group are assumed to have pre-[[Hurrian language|Hurrian]] and most likely pre-[[Semitic languages|Semitic]] origin.{{sfn|Archi|2013|pp=15-16}}
Initially Hurrian origin had been ascribed to Aštabi by researchers{{sfn|Wilhelm|1989|p=55}} based on the similarity of his name to those of [[Kumarbi]] and [[Nabarbi]], but this is no longer regarded as plausible due to the existence of earlier forms ending with -''bil'' rather than -''bi''.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=417}} While a [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] origin of the name has also been proposed, with a reconstructed hypothetical original form Yaštabi-El ("[[El (deity)|El]] has satisfied himself"), it is regarded as implausible due to reliance on assigning presently unattested sign values to [[Eblaite language|Eblaite]] spellings of the name.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=417}}
== Functions==
In the Hurrian (and by extension Hittite) pantheon Aštabi was a war god.{{sfn|Taracha|2009|p=95}} This aspect of his character is also well attested in [[Ugaritic texts]].{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=417}} However, despite a considerable number of mentions in known documents, his original role in the pantheon of Ebla cannot be presently determined. The available information does not point at the warlike character known from later sources, as unlike [[Hadad|Adad]] he did not receive weapons as offerings,{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=416}} though Alfonso Archi does not consider it fully implausible that theoretically he could have been a war god in the third millennium BCE already.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=419}}
==Worship==
The worship of Aštabi  is well attested in documents from Ebla, and it was widespread in the area under the control of the city, with the names of at least three cult centers of this god appearing in records: ''Ba-še<sup>ki</sup>'', ''Du-ub<sup>ki</sup>'' (later Tuba), and ''Ìr-ku<sup>ki</sup>''.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=416}} However, it is Ebla itself which was the primary site associated with him.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=419}}
One Eblaite document mentions statues of Aštabi and Baradu-madu.{{sfn|Archi|1997|pp=414-415}} Both of them are also involved in a purification ceremony meant to return the health of the prince Ir'aq-Damu.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=415}}
According to Alfonso Archi, after the fall of Ebla Aštabi was among the gods who did not retain their former position in the religion of the [[Amorites]], who became the dominant culture in [[Syria (region)|Syria]].{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=417}} He lists [[Adamma (goddess)|Adamma]], [[Ammarik]], [[Saggar (god)|Šanugaru]] and [[Hebat|Halabatu]] as other similar examples.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=417}} He assumes that they were reduced to the status of deities of at best local significance, and as a result were easily incorporated into the religion of the [[Hurrians]] when they arrived in the same area a few centuries later.{{sfn|Archi|1997|pp=417-418}} In some cases, direct influence of earlier Eblaite tradition was nonetheless still present in later tradition, for example a "month of Aštabi" known from the Eblaite calendar is still attested in texts from Alalakh from the second millennium BCE.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=418}}
In [[Yazilikaya]] he's represented as one of the gods following [[Teshub]] in procession (figure 33); in front of him stands [[Šimige]] and behind him Nupatik.{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=10}}
== Associations with other deities ==
In 3rd millennium BCE Ebla he was sometimes associated with ''<sup>d</sup>Ba-ra-du ma-du'',{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=414}} possibly to be read /BarD-u(m)/,{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=415}} who was possibly his spouse.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=419}} She is sparsely attested in known texts, but Alfonso Archi notes this stands true for spouses of other gods as well, [[Barama (goddess)|Barama]] associated with [[Kura (deity)|Kura]] and Halabadu (Hebat) associated with Adad.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=415}} While her character is uncertain, it is possible she was a divine representation of a river flowing near the city of Ebla, possibly [[Queiq]].{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=419}}
In Hurrian  sources he sometimes formed a triad with [[Ugur (god)|Ugur]] (who in this context appears under the epithet "Šaumatar") and [[Nupatik]], according to Volkert Haas based on their shared association with warfare.{{sfn|Haas|2015|p=377}} The character of Nupatik is generally regarded as uncertain,{{sfn|Wilhelm|1989|p=53}} though Haas is not the only author to ascribe the role of a warrior god to him, and especially the fact he received items related to [[archery]] as offerings is considered to be possible evidence supporting this theory.{{sfn|Marchesi|Marchetti|2019|p=530}}
In god lists Aštabi was equated with a variety of other deities of similar characters. An [[Ugaritic language|Ugaritic]] "polyglot" list equated him with the local god [[Attar (god)|Attar]] and Mesopotamian [[Lugal-Marada]] (a war god whose cult center was [[Marad]], analogous in part to both [[Nergal]] and [[Ninurta]]),{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=417}} while a [[Babylonian language|Babylonian]] god list equated "Aštabinu" with the war god [[Zababa]].{{sfn|Ayali-Darshan|2014|p=98}} In Yazilikaya he's identified by the logogram "NIN.URTA."{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=10}}
According to Meindert Dijkstra, in [[Hittite language|Hittite]] sources he was sometimes equated with [[Tašmišu]], older brother and [[sukkal]] of Teshub.{{sfn|Dijkstra|2011|p=78}} However, both appear in the procession of deities in Yazilikaya.{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=10}}
Alfonso Archi considers it possible that [[Nergal]]'s name, found in early Hurrian inscriptions from [[Urkesh]], could be an ideographic stand-in for Aštabi's (similar to how [[Shaushka]]'s name was ideographically represent as <sup>[[dingir|d]]</sup>IŠTAR and [[Teshub]]'s as <sup>d</sup>IŠKUR), though he notes that it's also been proposed that the god represented by it might be Kumarbi, and that it cannot be ruled out the Mesopotamian god might not merely be a logogram, as his sukkal Ugur is well attested in the Hurrian pantheon, making it plausible he was himself worshiped by the Hurrians.{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=8}}
A number of ritual texts from Ugarit feature both Attar and a god bearing the name 'ṭtpl or 'ṭtpr, commonly identified as Aštabi by researchers.{{sfn|Archi|1997|p=417}} It has been proposed that their origin is not necessarily Hurrian, but rather Semitic, and that they are responsible for the equation of these two deities in god lists.{{sfn|Archi|1997|pp=416-417}}
== Mythology==
Aštabi appears in only one Hurro-Hittite myth, the so-called ''Song of [[Ullikummi]]'', part of the cycle of myths centered on the struggle between Teshub and Kumarbi.{{sfn|Ayali-Darshan|2014|p=96}} After the initial defeat of Teshub in combat with the eponymous stone monster, the other gods provide Aštabi with chariots. Alongside his 70 unnamed allies he confronts the monster, but fails and as a result falls into the sea, while his adversary continues to grow until he reaches the city of the storm god, Kummiya. Eventually Teshub, rather than the war god, vanquishes Ullikummi.{{sfn|Ayali-Darshan|2014|p=96}} The reference to "seventy gods" is unique in the light of known Hurrian and Hittite sources, and according to Noga Ayali-Darshan most likely represents a borrowing from western Semiticliterature, as similar terms are known from Ugarit ("seventy sons of [[Athirat]]") and [[Emar]] ("seventy gods of Emar").{{sfn|Ayali-Darshan|2014|pp=96-98}}
== References ==
{{Reflist|20em}}
===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite journal|last=Archi|first=Alfonso|title=Studies in the Ebla Pantheon II|journal=Orientalia|publisher=GBPress - Gregorian Biblical Press|volume=66|issue=4|year=1997|issn=0030-5367|jstor=43078145|pages=414–425|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43078145|access-date=2022-03-09}}
*{{cite book|last=Archi|first=Alfonso|chapter=The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/7003610| editor1-last=Collins|editor1-first=B. J.|editor2-last=Michalowski|editor2-first=P.|title=Beyond Hatti: a tribute to Gary Beckman|publisher=Lockwood Press|publication-place=Atlanta|year=2013|isbn=978-1-937040-11-6|oclc=882106763}}
*{{cite journal|last=Ayali-Darshan|first=Noga|title=The Role of Aštabi in the Song of Ullikummi and the Eastern Mediterranean “Failed God” Stories|url=https://www.academia.edu/44462602|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies|publisher=University of Chicago Press|volume=73|issue=1|year=2014|issn=0022-2968|doi=10.1086/674665|pages=95–103}}
*{{cite book|last=Dijkstra|first=Meindert|title=Ugarit-Forschungen. Band 43|chapter=
Ishtar seduces the Sea-serpent. A New Join in the Epic of Hedammu (KUB 36, 56+95) and its meaning for the battle between Baal and Yam in Ugaritic Tradition
|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/19757326|publisher=Ugarit Verlag|publication-place=Münster|year=2011|isbn=3-86835-086-1|oclc=1101929531}}
*{{cite book|last=Haas|first=Volkert|title=Geschichte der hethitischen Religion|publisher=Brill|series=Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East|year=2015|isbn=978-90-04-29394-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EOh5DwAAQBAJ|language=de|access-date=2022-03-11}}
*{{cite book|last1=Marchesi|first1=Gianni|last2=Marchetti|first2=Nicolò|title=Pearls of the past: studies on Near Eastern art and archaeology in honour of Frances Pinnock|chapter=The Deities of Karkemish in the Middle Bronze Age according to Glyptic and Textual Evidence|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/38027371|publisher=Zaphon|publication-place=Münster|year=2019|isbn=3-96327-058-6|oclc=1099837791}}
*{{cite book|first=Piotr|last=Taracha|title=Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia |publisher=Harrassowitz|year=2009|isbn=978-3447058858}}
*{{cite book|last=Wilhelm|first=Gernot|title=The Hurrians|url=https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/searchtype/authorsearch/author/Gernot+Wilhelm/start/45/rows/10/docId/7301|publisher=Aris & Phillips|publication-place=Warminster, England|year=1989|isbn=978-0-85668-442-5|oclc=21036268}}
{{refend}}
{{Hurrian mythology}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Astabi}}
[[Category:Eblaite deities]]
[[Category:Hurrian deities]]
[[Category:Hittite deities]]
[[Category:Ugaritic deities]]
[[Category:War gods]]