A few Mondays ago I got a book in the mail entitled Hittite Prayers by Itamar Singer, as part of the Writings From the Ancient World Series. (Which was very exciting. I almost stopped breathing trying to explain to my mum how excited I was because, yes, I am that much of a nerd.) While reading it today (in between editing pictures, because my editing program is so ridiculously slow) I came across this line:

“You stride through the four eternal corners. The Fears run on your right, the Terrors run on your left” (No. 4c, 6.i-61).

This, of course, reminding me of The Iliad  when the Trojans and Achaeans are facing off to battle after Menelaus is wounded:

“Behind them, Ares, as behind the Greeks/ The goddess Athena with sea-grey eyes,/ And on both sides Terror and Panic” (Lombardo, 4.471-3).

I doubt that there’s any true connection there between the Hittite equivalent of Shamash (a sun god) striding around with Terror and Panic and two Greek gods running around with Terror and Panic, but it intrigues me, especially because I am interested in the Hittite underlining of this Greek epic.

*Those on the right should be recognizable as Panic, Terror, Athena, and Ares. On the left we have Shamash wearing his epic hat and holding something that I’m sure is important in his hands. Next to him are the two viziers Bunene and Misharu both of whom I want to do more research on.