Guest
Müge Durusu-Tanrıöver (Temple University, Philadelphia) One King to Rule Them All: Royal Singularity and Divine Plurality in Hittite Art Representations of divine figures in Hittite art were characterized by multiplicity. Same or similar deities could be represented multiple times in a scene —such as in Yazılıkaya—, and their multiple incarnations (including anthropomorphic representations and statues of their sacred animals) were evoked across the Hittite corpus. In contrast, the figural representations of the Hittite kings were few in number, conservative in style, and necessitated the presence of a divine element to exist. Building on these initial propositions, in this talk I propose that the Hittite kings deliberately mobilized a polymorphic divine world to draw their legitimacy from, while carving a calculated position for themselves in between the mortal and the divine realms to make sure that legitimacy could not be contested. Friday, Dec 2, 2022 CET (Rome, Paris, Berlin / UTC 1) (İstanbul, Athens, Baghdad / UTC 3) (New York / UTC-5) This lecture is part of a series entitled “And What about Art? Investigating Visual Forms in the Cultural Practice of Ancient Western Asia”, organized by Dominik Bonatz and Elisa Roßberger (both FU Berlin).
