Ḫepat
Ḫepat was a goddess associated with Aleppo, originally worshiped in the north of modern Syria in the third millennium BCE. Her best attested role is that of the spouse of various weather gods, including Adad in Ebla and Aleppo, and later Teshub in Hurrian religion. In Hurrian ritual texts she heads her own kaluti, a type of offering lists dedicated to the circle of a specific deity, and commonly appears alongside her children.
↻ synthesized from 8 sources
When
- First attested
- 3000 BCE
- Attested period
- -3000 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Oldest evidence from Ebla texts in third millennium BCE; worship continued through Hurrian, Hittite, and Luwian cultures into first millennium BCE.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Shala, Ashtart, Bēlet-Apim, Bēlet-Qaṭṭarā, Damkina, Uršui-Iškalli, Mušuni, Ḫašulatḫi, Sun goddess of Arinna, Sun god of Heaven, Eštan, Nikkal, Ayu-Ikalti, Šauška, Aya, Ningal, Tiwaz, Bunene, Lipparuma, Mišaru, Tarḫunz, Tanit, Ḥawwat, Shekhinah, Hipta, Sabazios, Shuwala, Šarruma, DINGIR.GE6, Hutena, Hutellura, Ninatta, Kulitta, Kubaba, Hašuntarḫi, Pinikir, Allani, Nupatik, Aštabi, Šaggar, Hadabal, Barama, Shalash bitinḫi, Goddess of the Night, Adamma, Kura, NI-da-KUL (Hadabal), Baal, Nabarbi, Shamash, Utu, Lugalbanda, Šimige, Cybele, Shalash, Išḫara
- parent of
- Šarruma, Allanzu, Kunzišalli
- syncretized with
- Pidray, Hipta, Ma, Sun goddess of Arinna, Asherah
- child of
- Dagan, divine ancestors, Allani
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Ḫepat continued to be worshiped in Aleppo through the Old Babylonian period...she is mentioned alongside Dagan and Shalash in an account of the pagrā'um, a mourning ceremony combined with the offering of sacrificial animals to deities”
#9682 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“During the Hittite New Kingdom, she was identified with the Hurrian-Syrian goddess Ḫepat and the Hittite Queen Puduḫepa mentions her in her prayers using both names: Sun goddess of Arinna, my lady, queen of all lands!”
#16204 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Similar figures are also attested in relation to other major Hurrian deities, for example Šauška and Ḫepat.”
#17353 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“According to Ian Rutherford, Hipta may have been a late form of Ḫepat, a goddess worshipped in Hurrian religion.”
#22672 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Ḫepat, whose name is Northwest Semitic in origin, was the partner of storm gods in several West Asian cultures speaking unrelated languages, including the West Semitic deity Hadad in Aleppo and Ebla”
#25699 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5