The Sun god of Heaven (Hittite: nepišaš IštanuCalvert Watkins: "The Golden Bowl: Thoughts on the New Sappho and its Asianic Background." Classical Antiquity. 26, 2007, p. 309.) was a Hittite solar deity. He was the second-most worshipped solar deity of the Hittites, after the Sun goddess of Arinna.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 90 f. The Sun god of Heaven was identified with the Hurrian solar deity, Šimige.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 127.
From the time of Tudḫaliya III, the Sun god of Heaven was the protector of the Hittite king, indicated by a winged solar disc on the royal seals, and was the god of the kingdom par excellence.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 89-90. From the time of Suppiluliuma I (and probably earlier), the Sun god of Heaven played an important role as the foremost oath god in interstate treaties.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 88.
As a result of the influence of the Mesopotamian Sun god Šamaš, the Sun god of Heaven also gained an important role as the god of law, legality, and truth.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 89.
See also List of solar deities
References
Bibliography Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, . Calvert Watkins: "The Golden Bowl: Thoughts on the New Sappho and its Asianic Background." Classical Antiquity. 26, 2007, pp. 305–324. Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religionen des alten Orients: Hethiter und Iran. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, . Maciej Popko: Völker und Sprachen Altanatoliens. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, .