How were logograms used to identify deities in Hittite religious texts?

In Hittite religious texts, logograms—signs representing words—were frequently used to denote deities, often concealing their specific local names behind established symbols or foreign divine titles.

These logograms served to categorize deities by their roles or attributes, such as the weather god, sun god, or moon god. However, Hittite theologians often treated these logographic designations as distinct personalities based on their specific city or function. For example, the war god was identified by the logogram ZABABA, which was borrowed from the name of a Mesopotamian deity, while the goddess of love and war was represented by the logogram for the Babylonian goddess ISHTAR. Similarly, the god of hunting was denoted by the logogram KAL, which could be read as Kurunda, Tuwata, or Runda depending on the context.12

By using these standardized signs, scribes could reference complex divine hierarchies and specific manifestations of gods even when their local names varied across different regions and traditions.12