tesEti, the oath gods
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Trevor Bryce has indentified a connection between the terms tesi/tasa (ππππ / ππππ) and tesEti (ππππππ), which all relate to oathsβboth in the actual verbage of an oath and the compact an oath implies.1 Houwink ten Cate suggests a connection between the ending β-Etiβ and the Luwian β-antiβ which is used to convert a nueter noun into a personal term.2 Broken down, the βtes(i)-Etiβ are personified oaths. This is comparable to the Hittite linki-(i)antes, oath gods.3 Since oaths and their compacts were essential to Hittite political stability, the linkiiantes were invoked to ensure the oath was honored and punish those guilty of violating treaties.4 Similarly, the tomb owners of TL 135 and 149 invoke the tesEti trMmili (βLycian oath-godsβ) to protect their tombs against violators. There is no evidence of a cult surrounding the tesEti, and it is probable that they were only called upon in political contexts.
Notes:
1Bryce (1986) 178
2ibid (1976) 185
3ibid
4ibid, Bryce (1986) 178
Sources:
Bryce, Trevor R. The Lycians in Literary and Epigraphic Sources, vol. 1, Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 1986.
Bryce, T. R. βBurial Fees in the Lycian Sepulchral Inscriptions.β Anatolian Studies, vol. 26, 1976, pp. 175β190.