4 - Metallic Bodies and Deification by Ingestion

Summary

Chapter four investigates Hittite conceptions of human nature. I argue that the Hittites imagined the human to have mimicked the deities on multiple levels. In the context of regular humanity, Hittites believed that both humans and deities possessed a body and soul(s). Whereas the human soul inhabited the human body, deities’ souls could inhabit any number of cult objects. Because the nature of the human soul was the same as that of a deity, it enjoyed a share in the divine state even in its natural condition. Like their neighbours, the Hittites understood the body to have come from the material of the earth. However, the Hittites imagined it as a particular type of metal-rich soil. Furthermore, they envisioned the soul as having had a liquid constitution. For this reason, they thought that they could actually drink the souls of humans and deities during different rituals. In the present life, royal figures could experience temporary moments of deification and empowerment. This occurred during ritual meals, when the monarch would contact the gods by drinking them into his or her body and participate in the divine, at least for a few moments.