Luwian religion

Luwian religion refers to the religious and mythological practices of the Luwians, an Indo-European people of Asia Minor which is detectable from the Bronze Age until the early Roman empire. It was strongly affected by foreign influence in all periods and it is not possible to clearly separate it from neighbouring cultures, particularly Syrian and Hurrian religion. The Indo-European element in the Luwian religion was stronger than in the neighbouring Hittite religion.

The Luwian religion can be divided into two periods: the Bronze Age period and the Iron Age or Late Luwian period. During the Bronze Age, the Luwians were under the control of the Hittites. They spoke the Luwian language, a close relative of the Hittite language. Although a hieroglyphic script existed in the Bronze Age, which was used for writing Luwian, there are only a few known religious texts of the Luwians from the Bronze Age.

After the collapse of the Hittie empire, several Late Luwian states formed in northern Syria and Southern Anatolia, which came partially under Aramaean influence and were conquered by the Assyrians by the 8th century BC. Important Luwian centres in this period included Carchemish, Melid, and Tabal.

The Luwian religion is attested up to the early Roman period in southern Anatloia, specially in Cilicia, mostly in theophoric personal names.

The earliest evidence of the Luwians comes from the Old Assyrian archive of traders at the Karum of Kaneš (c. 1900 BC), where some people bear clearly Luwian names, including theophoric names. These indicate that Šanta and Runtiya were worshipped as deities in this period.

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