Women's rituals in the Hittite period according to written sources

The women who are the subject of the study have had many social statuses since the beginning of history. In the ancient world, women were treated differently depending on the society they came from and most societies imposed disadvantageous legal rules on them. The higher the social status of women, the more privileges they had. One of the phenomena that helps us understand the status of women in ancient Anatolian civilizations is the rituals related to them. Our thesis examines the role and importance of women in rituals, magic, religious texts, medicine, birth, funeral and festival ceremonies in Anatolia in five chapters. The first chapter deals with the place and importance of women in the Assyrian Trade Colonies period, the second chapter deals with the function of women in the concepts of ritual and magic in the Hittites, the third chapter deals with the representation of women in religious texts in the Hittite period, the fourth chapter deals with the participation of women in medicine and birth rituals in the Hittites, and the fifth chapter deals with the rituals performed by women in funeral and festival ceremonies in the Hittites. In our study, information will be given about the purpose, implementation and position and roles of women during the rituals. It will also be tried to determine how important rituals are in the socioeconomic and cultural life of women. Over time, what forms did the concept of ritual take? What is the degree of importance of rituals in Hittite society? How were rituals used? What is a ritual? When did these concepts first emerge? These will be addressed and it will be tried to understand how they were an indispensable part of life in the mentioned period. It will be examined how and why they were used in accordance with the lifestyle of the geography they were in. As a result, information will be given on many areas such as women's social status, their place and importance in religious and cultural life, and women's lifestyles according to the roles they assumed both in daily life and during rituals will be presented from a different perspective. Although the rituals performed are not today, it will be revealed how important a part of the time we will talk about. The place and importance of women of every status in Hittite political, social, economic and religious life, from pregnancy to birth, from queen to witch woman, will be tried to be explained. All these contexts will be taken into account within the framework of rituals and examined in detail. Keywords: Ancient, Anatolian, Hittite, Woman, Ritual