Alalu

Alalu or Alala was a primordial figure in Mesopotamian and Hurrian

mythology. He is also known from documents from Emar, where he was
known as Alal. While his role was not identical in these three contexts,
it is agreed that all three versions share the same origin. Hurrian Alalu,
who plays the role of the oldest king of gods in the Kumarbi Cycle, is
the best known, and is commonly discussed in scholarship focused on
comparative mythology but it is agreed Mesopotamian Alala represents
the oldest tradition regarding this being. However, the precise
etymology of his name is unknown, and likely neither Sumerian nor
Semitic. Both Hurrian and Mesopotamian sources attest an association
between him and Anu, but its nature varies between cultures.

Alalu

Primordial god
Other names Alala, Alal
:
 Other names Alala, Alal

Affiliation Hurrian primeval

deities

Major cult Emar

center

Personal information

Spouse Belili (in

Mesopotamia)
possibly
Amizzadu (in
Hurrian tradition)

Children Anu (in

Mesopotamia)
Kumarbi (in
Hurrian tradition)
:
 Mesopotamian sources
The origin of the name Alala is not known, and in scholarship it is
tentatively grouped with other Mesopotamian deity names with no
clear Sumerian or Semitic etymologies, such as Zababa, Aruru or
Bunene.[1]

Alala is known from the so-called Theogony of Anu, a name Wilfred G.

Lambert applied to lists of Anu's ancestors known from god lists, a
variant of which was worked into the genealogy of Marduk presented in
Enuma Elish.[2] The pairs of ancestral gods appearing in various
configurations in such lists include Duri and Dari, Lahmu and Lahamu,
Anshar and Kishar, Enurulla and Ninurulla, Engur and Gara, and Alala
and Belili.[2] Frans Wiggermann proposes that this tradition had its
origin in northern Mesopotamia.[3] Most variants start with Duri and
Dari, who likely represented time, and end with Alala and Belili,[4]
indicating that they were viewed as parents of Anu.[5] The pairing of
these two deities was most likely based entirely on both of their names
being iterative.[6] Belili is very sparsely attested otherwise, and was not
paired with Alalu outside the theogonic lists.[6] Based on a brief
mention in Šurpu it has been proposed that she was associated with
the underworld.[6] An old theory that her name was a corruption of
Belet-ili is regarded as baseless today,[6] and the actual etymology of
her name is unknown.[1]

A late text equates Alala with two other primordial figures, Enmesharra
and Lugaldukuga.[7] Lugaldukuga was regarded as the father or
grandfather of Enlil in some traditions,[7] while Enmesharra was a god
:
 listed alongside his ancestors but usually not explicitly identified as one
of them.[8] A tradition in which he was Enlil's paternal uncle is also
known.[9]

A mention of Alala "coming down to the land" in the distant past

"before creation" is known from a brief mythological introduction to a
late Assyrian version of an incantation pertaining to ergot, though he is
absent from a similar Old Babylonian text.[10] A few Maqlû incantations
allude to Alala, for example referring to time "before Ningirsu gave
utterance to Alala in the land".[11] According to Lambert, in these
passages he might represent a deified work cry or work song, in a
similar way as the god Girra represented deified fire.[6] Volkert Haas
instead argued he was considered a personification of storm surge.[12]

Hurrian and Hittite

sources

A relief from the Yazılıkaya

sanctuary depicting primeval
deities.

It is agreed that the Hurrian god Alalu was a figure of Mesopotamian

:
 origin.[3][13][14][15] He was regarded as one of the enna turena or
ammadena enna, so-called "primeval gods" inhabiting the
underworld.[16] This group of deities is depicted on one of the reliefs
from the Yazılıkaya sanctuary.[17] Like its other members, Alalu could
serve as a divine witness of international treaties,[18] one example
being that between Hittite king Muwatalli II and Alaksandu.[19] Only two
ritual texts, one purely Hurrian and one Hurro-Hittite, mention Alalu, in
both cases among the primeval gods.[20]

Mythology
Alalu is mentioned in the proem of the first part of the Kumarbi Cycle,
Song of Emergence, a Hittite adaptation of Hurrian myths which relays
that "formerly, in ancient times" he was the king of the gods ("king in
heaven"), but in the ninth year of his reign he was overthrown by his
cup-bearer, Anu, and as a result had to flee to the Dark Earth, the
underworld.[21] Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that a hitherto unknown
Mesopotamian myth about confrontation between Alala and Anu
existed and inspired the Hurro-Hittite tradition regarding their
conflict.[22] According to Christopher Metcalf, the motif of a cup-bearer
rising to the position of a ruler is likely Mesopotamian in origin, as
evidenced by its earlier appearance in a legend about the historical
emperor Sargon of Akkad and the legendary king Ur-Zababa.[23] After
escaping, Alalu plays no further role in the narrative.[24] The origin of
the three primordial kings of the gods, Alalu, Anu and Kumarbi, who
after a violent struggle succeeded Anu, is not explained,[25] though in
:
 one passage Kumarbi is referred to as Alalu's "seed".[26] Furthermore,
according to Mary R. Bachvarova he addresses himself as "Alalu's son"
in another myth belonging to the same cycle, Song of Ḫedammu.[27]
According to Anna Maria Polvani, the possibility that Alalu was
considered Kumarbi's father is also supported by the fact they could
occur in sequence among divine witnesses of treaties.[28]

While it is sometimes assumed that Alalu was the father of Anu, similar
to his Mesopotamian counterpart,[5] newer scholarship proposes that
two lineages of gods appear in the prologue of the Kumarbi Cycle, and
therefore that Alalu and Anu should not be regarded as father and
son.[24] Gary Beckman notes that the two lines were seemingly only
united with the birth of the new generation of gods (Teshub, Tashmishu
and others), a result of Kumarbi's castration of Anu,[25] which resulted
in a "burden", Anu's seed, being placed inside him.[26] The process is
poetically compared to production of bronze from tin and copper.[26]

Alalu's pair among the primeval deities, who usually appear in fixed
groups of two or three, was Amizzadu,[18] also spelled Amezzadu.[25]
Mary R. Bachvarova identifies this deity as his wife.[27] She is
mentioned alongside an unknown deity in the role of parents of
another, also unidentified, figure in the Song of Emergence, followed by
the parents of Išḫara.[25] According to Mary R. Bachvarova, she's also
mentioned in an unknown context by Kumarbi in the Song of Ḫedammu
right after he calls himself the son of Alalu.[27] Volkert Haas suggests
that Amezzadu and Belili might have been considered analogous to
each other.[29] However, Gernot Wilhelm argues that Amizzadu was
male, like all other Hurrian primeval deities who did not originate in
Mesopotamia.[30]
:
 Comparative scholarship
Scholars have pointed out the similarities between the Hurrian myth
about kingship in Heaven and the succession of Greek gods in Hesiod's
Theogony.[31] However, an equivalent of Alalu, a primordial king
reigning before the sky god, is absent from Greek mythology.[32]

A similar theogony, compared with the Hurrian myth as early as in 1955,

was also described by Philo of Byblos: the first ruler of the gods was
Elyon, later replaced by his son Epigeius (identified as the Hellenic
Uranus), who in turn was deposed by his own son Elus (identified with
Cronos); Elus was then defeated by "Zeus-Demarous" (Hadad).[33]
Philo states that Elyon was also known as Hypsistos, and that he was
killed by wild animals during a hunt.[34] Hypsistos (Ὕψιστος, "most
high") is known as an epithet of various deities in Hellenistic
sources.[35]

Emariote sources
Alalu was worshiped in Emar, where he was known under a shortened
form of the name, Alal.[29] Texts which mention him were written in
Akkadian.[18] John Tracy Thames assumes that he was one of the few
deities belonging to the local pantheon who were introduced to it from
Mesopotamia, the other example being the Sebitti, but states that it
presently cannot be established how they came to be incorporated into
local tradition.[36] He was associated with the underworld.[18][37] The
:
 text Emar 370 (line 11) mentions a priest in his service, designated by
the sumerogram lúSANGA.[38] A holder of this office is referenced in
the installation rite of a maš’artu as one of the recipients of payments,
but Alal himself played no role in this celebration.[39] Emar 452 (lines 41
and 50) refers to his temple (É).[38] Daniel E. Fleming argues that he
shared it with the deity Amaza,[40] presumed to be identical with
Amizzadu.[18][29] Most commonly Alal and Amaza appear together in
texts from Emar, with only five exceptions with the former appearing
alone presently known, three of which are references to his clergy or
temple.[38] The temple of Alal possessed an abû,[41] a type of shrine
possibly associated with the underworld and ancestor worship and
etymologically related to pits used to communicate with underworld
deities attested in Hurrian and Mesopotamian sources.[42] Offerings
provided for it included honey, oil, ghee, doves, beef, venison, lambs
and fruit.[43] Theophoric names invoking Alalu are attested in texts
from Emar.[44] One example is Alal-abu.[45]

Festivals
Alal consistently appears in the eighth position in offering lists from the
local zukru festival.[46] However, in contrast with other major members
of the local pantheon, such as Dagan, dNIN.KUR or dNIN.URTA, he
appears in only one hypostasis in texts pertaining to it.[47] John Tracy
Thames states that he can be considered a member of what he deems
the "first tier" of deities celebrated during it,[46] a designation he uses
for the members of the local pantheon who received the most offerings
:
 in this context, namely five calves and ten lambs each.[48] However, he
stresses that the hierarchical arrangement attested in the zukru texts is
unique to this festival and does not reflect a universal hierarchy of
deities in Emar.[49]

Alal is also attested in the kissu festival of Dagan.[50] Four offering

tables were set during it, with two meant for Dagan, Išḫara and
dNIN.URTA, and two for underworld deities, Alal and Amaza.[51] They
are described in this context as "the gods below".[52]

References

1. Rubio 2010, p. 39.

2. Lambert 2013, p. 417.
3. Wiggermann 1992, p. 156.
4. Lambert 2013, p. 418.
5. Lambert 2013, p. 448.
6. Lambert 2013, p. 425.
7. Lambert 2013, p. 302.
8. Lambert 2013, p. 406.
:
 8. Lambert 2013, p. 406.
9. Lambert 2013, p. 284.
10. Lambert 2013, p. 399.
11. Lambert 2013, pp. 424–425.
12. Haas 1994, p. 83.
13. Archi 2009, p. 211.
14. Litke 1998, pp. 22–23.
15. Taracha 2009, p. 126.
16. Taracha 2009, pp. 125–126.
17. Wilhelm 2014, pp. 346–347.
18. Archi 1990, p. 120.
19. Archi 1990, p. 116.
20. Archi 1990, p. 118.
21. Beckman 2011, p. 27.
:
 22. Lambert 2013, p. 423.
23. Metcalf 2021, pp. 154–157.
24. Metcalf 2021, p. 155.
25. Beckman 2011, p. 26.
26. Bachvarova 2013, p. 155.
27. Bachvarova 2013, p. 159.
28. Polvani 2008, p. 619.
29. Haas 1994, p. 110.
30. Wilhelm 2014, p. 346.
31. Bachvarova 2013, p. 154.
32. Metcalf 2021, p. 168.
33. Pope 1955, p. 56.
34. Pope 1955, p. 57.
35. Belayche 2011, pp. 139–140.
:
 35. Belayche 2011, pp. 139–140.
36. Thames 2020, pp. 173–174.
37. Fleming 1992, p. 171.
38. Thames 2020, p. 121.
39. Fleming 1992, p. 205.
40. Fleming 2000, p. 59.
41. Fleming 2000, p. 177.
42. Fleming 2000, p. 188.
43. Fleming 2000, p. 287.
44. Beckman 2002, p. 50.
45. Fleming 2000, p. 23.
46. Thames 2020, p. 166.
47. Thames 2020, p. 172.
48. Thames 2020, p. 167.
49. Thames 2020, p. 174.
:
 49. Thames 2020, p. 174.
50. Fleming 1992, p. 74.
51. Fleming 1992, p. 125.
52. Fleming 2000, p. 195.

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