In Hurrian mythology

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

, Ullikummi is a giant stone monster, son of Kumarbi

Kumarbi

Kumarbi is the chief god of the Hurrians. He is the son of Anu , and father of the storm-god Teshub. He was identified by the Hurrians with Sumerian Enlil, and by the Ugaritians with El....

 and the sea god's daughter. The narrative of Ullikummi is one episode, the best preserved and most complete, in an epic cycle of related "songs" about the god Kumarbi, who aimed to replace the weather god Teshub

Teshub

Teshub was the Hurrian god of sky and storm. He was derived from the Hattian Taru. His Hittite and Luwian name was Tarhun , although this name is from the Hittite root *tarh- to defeat, conquer.- Depiction and myths :He is depicted holding a triple...

 and destroy the city of Kummiya; to this end Kumarbi fathered upon a rock cliff a genderless, deaf, blind, yet sentient pillar of volcanic rock, Ullikummi, which he hid in the netherworld

Netherworld

Netherworld is often used as a synonym for Underworld. It may also refer to:*Netherworld , an 8-bit computer game from 1988*Netherworld , a fictional autonomous neighborhood of the city of Chicago in the DC Comics universe...

 and placed on the shoulder of Upelluri

Upelluri

In Hurrian mythology, Upelluri was the "dreaming god". The gods placed the stone giant Ullikummi on Upelluri's shoulders to form the world. In his slumber, Upelluri was unaware of his burden. He has been compared to Atlas from Greek mythology. The Hittite counterpart was Ubelluris, a mountain god...

. Upelluri, absorbed in his meditations, did not feel Ullikummi on his shoulder. Ullikummi grew quickly until he reached the heavens. Ullikummi's brother Teshub

Teshub

Teshub was the Hurrian god of sky and storm. He was derived from the Hattian Taru. His Hittite and Luwian name was Tarhun , although this name is from the Hittite root *tarh- to defeat, conquer.- Depiction and myths :He is depicted holding a triple...

 thundered and rained on Ullikummi, but it did not harm him. Teshub fled and abdicated the throne. Teshub asked Ea for help. Ea visited Upelluri and cut off the feet of Ullikummi, toppling him.

The "song of Ullikummi" was recognized from its first rediscovery as a predecessor of Greek myths in Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...

. Parallels to the Greek myth of Typhoeus

Typhon

Typhon , also Typhoeus , Typhaon or Typhos was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and the most deadly monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of all monsters"; his wife Echidna was likewise the "Mother of All Monsters."Typhon was described in pseudo-Apollodorus,...

, the ancient antagonist of the thunder-god Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

, have been elucidated by Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert is a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult.An emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he also has taught in the United Kingdom and the United States...

, Oriental and Greek Mythology, pp. 19–24, and Caucasian parallels in his "Von Ullikummi zum Kaukasus: Die Felsgeburt des Unholds", Würzburger Jahrbücher N. F., 5 (1979) pp. 253–61.

External links

• Robert Bedrosian, Middle Eastern Mythology