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Arinna: Eine heilige Stadt der Hethiter. By MACIEJ POPKO. Stuthen zu den B ogazköy -Texten, vol. 50. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2009. Pp. xiv + 125. euro38 (paper).
A notable socio-political feature of Asia Minor in the Classical period was the presence of sacred municipalities, such as Comana and Pessinus, which were ruled by priests or at least granted extraordinary privileges to the servants of their gods. This phenomenon was foreshadowed by the special role and revered status of several central Anatolian towns during the Hittite era: Nerik, Zip(pa)landa, and Arinna. This volume by Maciej Popko, dean of Polish Hittitologists, examines the evidence for the history and cult of the last-named of these holy cities.
This task is not as straightforward as it might at first appear, for the bulk of the material pertaining to Arinna in the Hittite archives - beyond simple mentions of its Sun-goddess, who was one...