TYPE: Vegetation and fertility god
ORIGIN: Hittite and Hurrian (Anatolia) [Turkey]
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: circa 1800 BCE or earlier until 1100 BCE or later.
SYNONYMS: Telipuna
CENTER(S) OF CULT: associated with at least four cities in the Turus region, including Nerik, but also known down into the Syrian plain.
ART REFERENCES: seals and seal impressions; sculptures; monumental rock carvings.
LITERARY SOURCES: texts from Boghazkoy, etc.
INFORMATION:
Telepinu is a fertility god, the son of Tesub or, in alternative tradition, Taru, who brings thunder, lightning and rain. He may be of Hurrian origin. He disappears and is rediscovered to symbolize the annual demise and restoration of nature.
THe story of his disappearance is told in several differing narratives, and his role is sometimes taken by the weather god Tesub. Essentially the legend describes how Telepinu departs from the Hittite kingdom in a rage with boots on the wrong feet. The sun god gives a feast for the thousand gods of Hatti, but is unable to feed all the guests because there is not enough food in the land. First an eagle, then Tesub himself, go out to search. Finally the goddess Hannahannas sends a bee, which finds and stings the sleeping Telepinu, provoking still further rage in nature (the Finnish legend of the hero Lemminkainen tells a comparable story). Telepinu eventually returns home, calmed, and nature returns to prosperity.
The god may have received a form of tree worship in which a hollow trunk was filled with harvest offerings.