No single cosmogonic origin narrative for Aruna is preserved in the cited material. The name aruna is the ordinary Hittite word for 'sea' and in Hittite religion can denote either the impersonal sacred sea (written without the divine determinative) or a personified sea-god (written with the divine determinative). Some scholars have proposed a pre-Indo-European (possibly Hattic) origin for the word, but this remains a hypothesis.
The provided sources do not preserve a consistent iconography or anthropomorphic description for Aruna. In the mythic texts Aruna appears as an acting personified sea—kidnapping or seeking to aid the sun god and bargaining for a bride—yet no surviving passages in the cited summaries give physical details, so Aruna's visual appearance is unknown.
In narrative contexts Aruna is portrayed as an agent capable of affecting the cosmic order: in CTH 322 (Telipinu and the Daughter of the Sea God) the personified sea abducts the Sun god of Heaven and thereby plunges the world into darkness, and later bargains for a bride-price (receiving a thousand cattle and a thousand sheep). In other compositions (e.g., the tale of Ḫaḫḫima) Aruna's role can differ, even attempting to save the sun god. Outside personified myth, the sea as numen functions ritually and legally—as a witness in treaties and as the focus of royal purification rites—indicating authority over borders, purity, and oaths rather than demonstrated omnipotence.
Weaknesses
None recorded.
Wards
- ritualA-NA ZAG a-ru-na-aš (CTH 436)
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- [1]Aruna (Hittite mythology) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Aruna (Hittite mythology),' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.wiki
- [2]Aruna (Hittite mythology) — duplicate Wikipedia entry. Wikipedia contributors, 'Aruna (Hittite mythology),' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.wiki