Evening to Evening as 'Day' for the Hittites also
Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD) Visiting Professor, Department of
Liberal Education, Kyungpook National University, Sangju Campus, South Korea,
Conjoint Lecturer of Avondale College, Australia
The Hittites are now well documented for the period since Labarna in the
16th century to beyond the days of Tudḫaliya IV which is concurrent
with the biblical period of the Judges sandwiched between the Entry into Canaan
in 1410 until the days of David. One aspect that the Hittites shared with the Israelites is that they also
reckoned their day from evening to evening. The Hittite Dictionary by Hans Güterbock
of Chicago Oriental Institute is here the source: "b. day
as a unit of time (our twenty-four hours) — 1' transition from one day
to the next:
UD.2.KAM QATI
INA UD.3.KAM⸗ma mānlukkatta nu EN.SÍSKUR karūariwar ḫūdak INA É
DINGIR-LIM uizzi MUL.ḪI.A nūa aranda …maḫḫan⸗┌ma┐ apēdani
UD-ti nekuz meḫur MUL-ašwatkuzzi
nu EN SÍSKUR karūili INA É DINGIRLIM uizzi … kuitman [nekuzzi⸗ma
apeda(ni UD)]-┌ti┐ dUTU-uš nūa artari nu LÚ.MEŠ
DINGIR-L[IMkī danzi] … UD.3.KAM QATI
maḫḫan⸗ma INA UD.4.KAM MUL-aš watkuzzi
“The second
day ends. But when the morning of the third day arrives, then immediately at
dawn the ritual patron enters the temple. The stars are still out. … But when
on that day in the evening a star appears (lit. jumps), the ritual patron
enters the old temple … While [it is evening] but the Sun is still out on
[that] day, then the personnel of the deity [take the following:] … The third day is finished. When a star appears on the fourth
day…” KUB 29.4 ii 13-15, 28-30, 40-41, 69-iii 1 (rit., NH), ed. StBoT
46:281-287. The phrase “third day finished. When a star comes out on the fourth
day” indicates that the Hittite day begins sometime just after the sun has set." (Hans Güterbock,
Hittite Dictionary 496. See Online).