Illuyanka Myth

Preserved as the recitation for the Hittite purulli spring festival, the myth exists in two versions. In the first, the serpent Illuyanka defeats the storm god, who then turns to his own daughter, the goddess Inara, for help; Inara lays on a feast that leaves the serpent too drunk to return to its lair, and the mortal Hupasiya, whose help she buys with her own bed, ties it up so the storm god can kill it. In the second, the storm god's own son marries the serpent's daughter and is asked to betray his new in-laws to help his father, ultimately dying alongside the serpent when the storm god kills them both. Both versions tie the storm god's cosmic authority to cunning and to a bargain or betrayal involving mortals or in-laws rather than raw force, and to an annual ritual performance rather than a single settled event.