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FONDATA NEL 1950 DA GIUSEPPE TUCCI

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Scientific Board:
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Alessandro Bausi, Äthiopistik, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg
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of the Ancient World, New York University

Editor: Adriano V. Rossi

NUOVA SERIE
Vol. 33

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Mauro Giorgieri, University of Pavia
Massimiliano Marazzi, Suor Orsola Benincasa University
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Massimo Poetto, University of Bari
Mirjo Salvini, ISMEO

ROMA
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2022
 S E R I E O R I E N TALE R O MA
n.s. 33

Roberto Dan, Rita Francia, Marie-Claude Trémouille

Studia Hethitica, Hurritica

et Urartaica

Vol. 1

ROMA
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2022
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 ILLUYANKAŠ, SNAKES AND EELS: NEW SUGGESTIONS
ABOUT THE NAME OF THE HITTITE SERPENT ILLUYANKA

VIRNA FAGIOLO

The monster Illuyanka is the main character of one of the most famous myths
of the Hittite tradition: as a matter of fact, Illuyanka is a snake-like being which
is the rival of the Hittite Storm-god.1 Indeed, the fight between Illuyanka and the
god is part of the series of battles between a god or a hero and a serpent in the
Indo-European traditions.2
As Pecchioli Daddi (Pecchioli Daddi, Polvani 1990: 39) points out, the
uddar3 of the serpent Illuyanka was the topic of several studies, which focus on
the problems derived from this text. However, the issue that has created the great-
est debate among scholars is the reconstruction of the Hittite name Illuyanka.

THE HITTITE NOUN ILLUYANKA-

Collins (1989: 206) observes that the word for “serpent” mostly used in
the Hittite texts is the Sumerian term MUŠ, which also appears in the doc-
uments coming from the Mesopotamian area: this sumerogram is also the de-
terminative which marks the name of snake-like beings, such as in the case of
the name of the serpent Ḫedammu.4 Except for the Sumerian word MUŠ, in
Hittite the serpent is also called by the Hittite word illuyanka-, always marked
by the determinative MUŠ.

1
I would like to thank my supervisors Rita Francia and Marianna Pozza for their precious
help with this article.
2
See Watkins 1995: 297 ff.; for an analysis of the myth in Central Anatolia see Gilan 2013.
3
Uddar “word, tale, fact” is the Hittite word which refers to proses: however, this definition
seems restricted to the myth of Illuyanka.
4
See “[... ne-ku-ma-an]-⌈da⌉ pa-ra-a ap-pí-iš-ke-ez-zi MUŠḫé-dam-mu-uš” (CTH 348.I.4, IV 14').