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[[File: Hattusa_Teshub.jpg|250px|thumbnail|left|Relief in Hattusa of the Hurrian-Hittite God, Teshub]]__NOTOC__
As with all pre-modern peoples, religion was very important to the ancient Hittites because it was a crucial component to how they viewed the world and was central to the role kingship played in their society. Unlike the modern secular world, religion permeated all aspects of life in the ancient world and was intertwined with politics, government, and even commerce. Unfortunately, although there are many extant Hittite religious texts, they do not present a cohesive pictures of the entire religion: many focus more on the ritual aspects of the religion and the mythological texts are incomplete. With that said, a number of conclusions can be drawn from those texts about the nature of the Hittite religion, namely its influences.
What is immediately clear to anyone who makes even a cursory study of Hittite religion is how syncretic it was. Although nearly all of the cultural groups of the ancient Near East borrowed cultural attributes from each other, including religion, the Hittites did so more than others. The Hittites were one of three Indo-European groups that entered Anatolia in the third millennium BC, bringing not only their language with them, but also their religion. But not long after the Hittites established their hegemony over central Anatolia, other ethnic influences entered their religion, including: Hattic (native Anatolian), Hurrian, and Semitic.
===Religion in the Bronze Age Near East===
[[File: Ishtar.jpg|2500px250px|thumbnail|left|Statue of the Semitic Goddess of Love and War, Ishtar]]
The Bronze Age Near East (c. 3000-1200 BC) had several different religious traditions, but the three most important came from Mesopotamia, the Levant (Syria-Palestine), and Egypt. The religion of these cultures was not dogmatic and would often spread peacefully through trade to other regions, leading to the syncretic fusion of deities and ideas. Although this syncretism was not at the level witnessed in classical antiquity, it was apparent in some places, especially during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1,500-1,200 BC).
The Late Bronze Age Near East saw the creation of the first true geo-political geopolitical system, known by modern scholars as to the “Great Powers Club.” The Great Powers included Egypt, Hatti (Hittites), Babylon, Alashiya (Cyprus), and later Assyria. The smaller Canaanite states were “lesser powers,” and there were also larger states such as Elam and the Myceneans located on the periphery of the region that although not directly involved in the system, were in contact with one or more of the Great Powers members. The Great Powers went to war against each other, although usually not directly, exchanged diplomats, and engaged in long-distance trade with each other. <ref> Mieroop, Marc van de. <i>A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000-323 BC.</i> Second Edition. (London: Blackwell, 2007), pgs. 129-148</ref>As the powers traded material goods, they also traded religious ideas.
The spread of religious ideas in the Near East actually began in the Early Bronze Age with the Sumerians and the Gilgamesh Epic. According to the epic, Gilgamesh was a legendary king of the Sumerian city of Uruk, but long after Sumerian influence in Mesopotamia evaporated, other peoples copied the story. The Gilgamesh Epic was copied in Akkadian and even later in Hittite. <ref> Snell, Daniel C. <i>Religions of the Ancient Near East.</i> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 88</ref> As the Gilgamesh Epic made its way throughout the ancient Near East, so too did different deities.
===Conclusion===
The people of the Bronze Age Near East practiced various religions that although different in form, were never in direct conflict with each other. Although wars were not uncommon in the Bronze Age Near East, religion was never a cause and in fact religious ideas, myths, and even deities made their way from one culture to another. Among all the Bronze Age Near Eastern religions, the Hittite is perhaps the best example of this religious diffusion. The Indo-European Hittites practiced a religion that placed one of their gods at the forefront, but with plenty of native Anatolian, Semitic, and Hurrian deities and influences in supporting and later, leading roles.
===References===
