page_title: Tarḫunz
section_title: Dragon slayer
hierarchical_section_title: Tarḫunz / Dragon slayer
caption_attribution_description: Depiction of the myth of the Sky God killing the dragon Illuyankas&#160;; Neo-Hittites; 850-800 BC; Limestone orthostat at the Lions Gate at Malitiya (Arslantepe, 38° 22' 53" N 38° 21' 36" E), now at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey.. Malitiya (near modern Malatya) became a major site as a Late Hittite city state and retained Hittite traditions long after the fall of the Empire. hittitemonuments.com
context_page_description: Tarḫunz was the weather god and chief god of the Luwians, a people of Bronze Age and early Iron Age Anatolia. He is closely associated with the Hittite god Tarḫunna and the Hurrian god Teshub.
context_section_description: In a relief from Arslantepe, the weather god and a companion are shown battling against a snake-like water creature. This depiction recalls the Hittite Illuyanka and Hurrian Ḫedammu, a myth which is widespread in Proto-Indo-European religion and in the Near East.
  The Anatolian myth was taken over into Greek mythology, in which Zeus battles with the dragon-like Typhon. It has been suggested that the myth was taken over from Cilicia in particular, since there was intensive contact between Greeks and Anatolians there from a very early date. The key locations of the myth also point in this direction: Mount Kasios in northwestern Syria and  the area around Corycus in Rough Cilicia, where Luwian religion endured into the Roman period.
caption: Late Luwian relief from Arslantepe with the weather god and a companion battling a serpent monster
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