Black and White: A Tale of Two Gates in the Hittite Ritual of Tunnawi for Curing Genital Disorders
Abstract
This article focuses on one episode in the Hittite magical ritual CTH 409.1, authored by the female practitioner Tunnawi and meant to treat several possible genital disorders. In this episode, the ritual beneficiary passes through two makeshift gates, each made of different materials and characterized by a different color: black and white. The article investigates the medical aspects of this episode and their relation to the black and white gates.
Submitted: June 28, 2025 | Accepted: Sept. 11, 2025 | Published Oct. 10, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Makeshift gates • Folk medicine • Hittite magical rituals • Tunnawi’s ritual
Copyright © 2025 Ilan Peled. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/KASKAL/2036-5845/2025/01/007