“You are a woman and think like one. You know nothing at all.” (Hittite Myths, Second Edition
Another pronouncement from Hittite mythology on the state of women’s thinking and supposedly subservient role occurs in a tale about a fisherman who desperately wants to have a child but hasn’t succeeded (hmm, there seems to be a theme here when men are dumping on women). He finds an abandoned baby and brings it home to his wife. He tells her to cry out and pretend she’s in labor so that the neighbors will think she has delivered the baby herself.
In his advice to her he includes this: “An ideal woman’s mind is clever. She has cut herself off from commanding others. She is dependent on the authority of the god. She stands in woman’s subordination, and she does not disobey her husband’s word.” (Hoffner, 87) This husband believes a woman is clever, but in the context of following her husband’s advice to deceive the community.
Clearly he views women as inferior to their husbands. It seems likely that was a widely held view, but we don’t know to what extent it was expressed in the real relationships between Hittite husbands and wives. Of the public marriages that we hear about, some, at least, were between equals, such as between Queen Puduhepa and King Hattusili.
These two passages from Hittite mythology offer a perspective into the Hittite mind, but it’s a fragmentary view from a specialized context. However, since we rarely or never get the “big picture” of ancient cultures, this is a worthwhile and pretty amusing tidbit when considering the role of women in ancient Anatolian culture.