Falconry (Hawking) in Hittite Lands

ANATOLIAN archaeologists trying to identify an ancient representation are fortunate in being able to consult ancient Hittite documents from the second millennium B.C. that describe cult images. The most famous of these texts tells of a widely honored god called the "Protector God of the Countryside," in Hittite: gimras DLAMMA. In one text, it says that he stands on a stag and holds an "eagle" and a hare in his left hand and a bow and a sword in his right.1 Ancient Anatolian sculpture and minor arts show a figure, sometimes on a stag, who has a raptor perched on his fist. A hare or other small animal often hangs from the fist. These representations occur from the beginning of the second millennium B.C. until well into the first millennium (figs. 1-5). The similarities between the text and the representations have long been noted and often discussed.2 Interest has focused primarily on the character and attributes of the protective divinity and the stag he stands on. A protector of the countryside might be supposed to protect the flora and/or fauna there, but most have concluded that the god is related to the hunt.3 Not only does he often carry weapons, but the "hare" we see in his hand dangles lifeless. Presumably, it was the victim of the god with an "eagle" on his fist.