A-ḫa-ti

Pleiades and Venus in the morning sky.

A-ḫa-ti (𒀀𒄩𒋾) is a Mesopotamian term for the planet Venus.

Visibility & Appearance

Images of Venus (Naked Eye Appearance)

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  Venus above Sahara (Nov. 2005, Susanne M Hoffmann)
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  Venus above campfire (Sahara 2008, SMH)
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  Moon and Venus in morning twilight above Austrian mountains (CC BY Susanne M Hoffmann 2016).
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  Venus and Pleiades above a mountain at Dawn in Europe (SMH 2020)
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  Venus above the rocks at Petra, Jordan (SMH 2023), it's already rather dark (not really dusk any more).
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  Venus above the Gate to the Shaolin Temple (China 2024, SMH)
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  Venus and Moon at Dusk (Europe, SMH 2025)
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  Saturn, Venus and Moon at Dusk (SMH 2025)
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  Moon and Venus in tropical dusk in Indonesia (Karimunjawa, SMH 2024).
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  Moon and Venus at Dusk (SMH 2025).
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  Venus and Moon at Dusk, 2025 (SMH)
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  Venus above houses, evening star, (SMH 2025)
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  Venus and Pleiades at Dusk in Europe (SMH 2020), for comparison of brightness

Concordance, Etymology, History

= ^mulAḫātu "Sister"; an epithet of Ishtar as the planet Venus, who was considered the sister of the sun god Shamash [Lambert 1987, 95; Tallqvist 1938, 332-333].

Sources	Identifications
A Hittite Prayer to the Gods of the Night. In the first place: mula-ḫa-ti [KUB IV, 47 r. 43; BPO 2, 2:1; Van der Toorn 1985, 129:43], see also (Kurtik a15) Aḫû In this source, there are five terms (a-ha-ti, ga-ga, dumuzi, ninkizida, shulpae) and there are five star-like planets. Lambert 1987 equals them to (Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter).

          See also: [Lambert 1987, 95/96]

Additional

          "Venus (Itar) can only be the first: a-ha-ti. This, we suggest, is aḫati "sister (of)", rather than ahatti "outside" etc., since Itar was sister of Samag, the sun, the most conspicuous heavenly body. Identification of the other three is uncertain. Antagal G 309 (apud CAD salbatinu) identified Simut, an Elamite god of the netherworld (= Nergal: AfK 2 72 16) as Salbatanu, Mars. So it could be argued that Ningigzida in this list, being a Sumerian god of the netherworld, is Mars. Then since Dumuzi(d) would be maru kinu in Akkadian translation, Kayamanu (Saturn), being linguistically a fuller form of kfnu, might mean Dumuzi.

          Then since Kakka under his aliases Ningubur, Ilabrat and Papsukkal became a vizier or messenger of all the gods, he could be Mercury because the Greek god equivalent to Mercury, Hermes, was an errand boy for the other gods."

Historical Dictionaries

Kurtik (2022, a14)	Gössmann (1950)
= mulAḫātu «Сестра»(?); эпитет Иштар как планеты Венеры, которая считалась сестрой бога Солнца Шамаша [Lambert 1987, 95; Tallqvist 1938, 332–333]. I. Источники. Хеттская молитва ночным богам. На первом месте: mula-ḫa-ti [KUB IV, 47 r. 43; BPO 2, 2:1; Van der Toorn 1985, 129:43], см. также a15Aḫû.	Example

References

• Kurtik's references