Hittite Anatolia (1700-1200 BC) produced the most extensive textual corpus of cult festivals of antiquity. Festivals are also reflected in several archaeological datasets. Both sources are highly relevant to the study of cult practices and religious experience. However, they have never been the object of a systematic comparative investigation. The project The art of the stage in Bronze Age Anatolia (2023-2025) hinges on the analytical integration of texts and images within the framework of current anthropological perspectives on the sensory environment. We plan to explore the role of Hittite festivals as ‘total social facts’ (M. Mauss), creating deeply affective atmospheres. In doing so, we pursue a multiproxy approach, ie, we use multiple lines of proxy evidence simultaneously in a coordinated theoretical framework. The focus is on two intersecting case studies, the festivals of the sacred city of Arinna attested in the Hittite textual record, and the material remains at the site of Alacahöyük (Turkey) which, considered in their broader context and comparative perspective, provide highly representative datasets.

The research program is multiscalar, with three main objectives built on each other: (1) a parallel analysis of the cuneiform texts on the cults of Arinna and the material remains connected with religious activity at Late Bronze Age Alacahöyük, (2) the development of a methodology for the combined study of Hittite written and material evidence and its digital management, with particular regard to terminological interoperability and the analysis of spatial and temporal aspects, and (3) an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Hittite festivals in the city of Arinna and at the site of Alacahöyük. The planned outputs include critical editions of the festivals of Arinna, a detailed reappraisal of the Sphinx Gate of Alacahöyük, an open digital archive for the combined analysis of textual and visual evidence, and a comparative, anthropologically informed analysis of the religious festivals at Arinna and Alacahöyük. Outreach modules targeting education and research will produce a scale model of the Sphinx Gate at Alacahöyük and graphic information panels, to be realized by middle and high schoolers within a dedicated pedagogical program pursued in collaboration with the Museo Orientale Umberto Scerrato and the NPO Maestri di Strada (Naples).

Cooperation partners

• Project Das Corpus der hethitischen Festrituale. Staatliche Verwaltung des Kultwesens im spätbronzezeitlichen Anatolien (German Academy Programme; Philipps-Universität Marburg, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz)

• Graduiertenkolleg 2844 Inszenierung religiöser Atmosphäre in antiken Kulturen (Philipps-Universität Marburg)