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Ancient Semitic religion

February 08, 2023

Ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic peoples from the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa. Since the term Semitic itself represents a rough category when referring to cultures, as opposed to languages, the definitive bounds of the term "ancient Semitic religion" are only approximate.

Semitic traditions and their pantheons[1] fall into regional categories: Canaanite religions of the Levant including among them the polytheistic ancient Hebrew religion of the Israelites; the Sumerian–inspired Babylonian religion of Mesopotamia; the religion of Carthage; and Arabian polytheism.

Semitic polytheism possibly transitioned into Abrahamic monotheism by way of the god El, whose name "El" אל, or elohim אֱלֹהִים‎ is a word for "god" in Hebrew, cognate to Arabic ʼilāh إله, which means god.

Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia

Main article: Ancient Mesopotamian religion

When the five planets visible to the naked eye were identified, they were associated with the sun and moon and connected with the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon. A bilingual list in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:[2]

The religion of the Assyrian Empire (sometimes called Ashurism) centered on Ashur, patron deity of the city of Assur, and Ishtar, patroness of Nineveh. The last positively recorded worship of Ashur and other Assyrian gods dates back to the 3rd century AD.[3][4]

Ashur, the patron deity of the eponymous capital from the Late Bronze Age, was in constant rivalry with Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk, even becoming the husband of Ishtar.

The major Assyro-Babylonian and Akkadian gods were:

Major Assyro-Babylonian demons and heroes were:

Canaan

Main article: Canaanite religion

The Canaanite religion was practiced by people living in the ancient Levant throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Until the excavation (1928 onwards) of the city of Ras Shamra (also known as Ugarit) in Northern Syria and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablet alphabetic cuneiform texts,[10] scholars knew little about Canaanite religious practice. Papyrus seems to have been the preferred writing material for scribes at the time. Unlike the papyrus documents found in Egypt, ancient papyri in the Levant have often simply decayed from exposure to the humid Mediterranean climate. As a result, the accounts in the Bible became the primary sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. Supplementing the Biblical accounts, several secondary and tertiary Greek sources have survived, including Lucian of Samosata's treatise De Dea Syria (The Syrian Goddess, 2nd century CE), fragments of the Phoenician History of Sanchuniathon as preserved by Philo of Byblos (c. 64 – 141 CE), and the writings of Damascius (c. 458 – after 538). Recent study of the Ugaritic material has uncovered additional information about the religion,[11] supplemented by inscriptions from the Levant and Tel Mardikh archive[12] (excavated in the early 1960s).

Like other peoples of the ancient Near East, the Canaanites were polytheistic, with families typically focusing worship on ancestral household gods and goddesses while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal, Anath, and El.[13][failed verification] Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as the sacred marriage of the New Year Festival; Canaanites may have revered their kings as gods.[citation needed]

According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm (Elohim) or the children of El (compare the Biblical "sons of God"), the creator deity called El, fathered the other deities. In the Greek sources he was married to Beruth (Beirut, the city). The pantheon was supposedly obtained by Philo of Byblos from Sanchuniathon of Berythus (Beirut). The marriage of the deity with the city seems to have biblical parallels with the stories that link Melkart with Tyre, Yahweh with Jerusalem, and Tanit and Baal Hammon with Carthage. El Elyon is mentioned (as God Most High) in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek, king of Salem.[citation needed]

Philo states that the union of El Elyon and his consort resulted in the birth of Uranus and Ge (Greek names for Heaven and Earth). This closely parallels the opening verse of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis 1:1—"In the beginning God (Elohim) created the Heavens (Shemayim) and the Earth" (Eretz). It also parallels the story of the Babylonian Anunaki gods.

Abrahamic religions

Further information: Abrahamic religion and Yahwism

Scholars have stated the Enuma Elish influenced the Genesis creation narrative.[14][15][16] The Epic of Gilgamesh is also said to have influenced the Genesis flood narrative. The Sumerian myth of Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta also had influence on the Tower of Babel myth in Genesis. Some writers trace the story of Esther to Babylonian roots.[17]

El Elyon also appears in Balaam's story in Numbers and in Moses song in Deuteronomy 32.8. The Masoretic Texts suggest:

When the Most High ('Elyōn) divided to the nations their inheritance, he separated the sons of man (Ādām); he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.

Rather than "sons of Israel", the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, suggests the "angelōn theou," or "angels of God", and a few versions even have huiōn theou (sons of God). The Dead Sea Scrolls version of this suggests that there were in fact 70 sons of the Most High God sent to rule over the 70 nations of the Earth. This idea of the 70 nations of Earth, each ruled over by one of the Elohim (sons of God), is also found in Ugaritic texts. The Arslan Tash inscription suggests that each of the 70 sons of El Elyon was bound to their people by a covenant. Thus, Crossan[who?] translates:

The Eternal One ('Olam) has made a covenant oath with us,
Asherah has made (a pact) with us.
And all the sons of El,
And the great council of all the Holy Ones (Qedesh).
With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth.

See also

References

  1. ^ Noll, K. L. (2001). Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction. A&C Black. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-84127-258-0. [A patron god in an ancient Near Eastern religion held a unique position among the gods] as the most powerful and the most just of the gods, who ruled the divine realm as he ruled the human realm, often with the approval of a council of divine 'elders' who legitimated his right to rule as patron god (as in the book of Job 1—2). [...] Other gods were subordinate to, and partners with, the divine patron, just as the human aristocracy and commoners were expected to be subordinate to, and supportive of, the human king. The pantheon was usually quite complex, often including hundreds or even thousands of gods.
  2. ^ Mackenzie, p. 301.
  3. ^ "Brief History of Assyrians". AINA Assyrian International News Agency.
  4. ^ Parpola, Simo (1999). "Assyrians after Assyria". Assyriologist. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No. 2. The gods Ashur, Sherua, Ishtar, Nanaya, Bel, Nabu and Nergal continued to be worshiped in Assur at least until the early 3rd century AD; the local cultic calendar was that of the imperial period; the temple of Ashur was restored in the 2nd century AD; and the stelae of the local rulers resemble those of Assyrian kings in the imperial period.
  5. ^ Dalley, Stephanie, Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities (2002), ISBN 1-931956-02-2[page needed]
  6. ^ Dalley (2002)[page needed]
  7. ^ Robert Francis Harper (1901). Assyrian and Babylonian literature. D. Appleton and company. p. 26. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  8. ^ Thorkild Jacobsen (1978). The treasures of darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02291-9. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  9. ^ "ETCSLhomepage". Etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  10. ^ Gray, John, "The Legacy of Canaan the Ras Shamra Texts and Their Relevance to the Old Testament", No. 5. Brill Archive, 1957; for a more recent discussion see Yon, Marguerite, The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra, Eisenbrauns, 2006.
  11. ^ Smith, Mark S., The origins of biblical monotheism: Israel's polytheistic background and the Ugaritic texts, Oxford University Press, 2001.
  12. ^ J. Pons, Review of G. Pettinato, A. Alberti, Catalogo dei testi cuneiformi di Tell Mardikh - Ebla, MEE I, Napoli, 1979, in Études théologiques et religieuses 56 (1981) 339—341.
  13. ^ "Canaanite religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  14. ^ "The Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Creation Myth". Crivoice.org. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  15. ^ . Stenudd.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  16. ^ Sharpes, Donald K. 'Lords of the scrolls: literary traditions in the Bible and Gospels'. Peter Lang, 2005. ISBN 0-8204-7849-0, 978-0-8204-7849-4
  17. ^ Gunkel, Hermanh (2006). Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton: Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. p. 198. ISBN 978-0802828040.

Further reading

  • Donald A. Mackenzie, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria (1915).
  • Moscati, Sabatino (1968), The World of the Phoenicians (Phoenix Giant)
  • Ribichini, Sergio "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Moscati Sabatino (1988), The Phoenicians (by L.B. Tauris in 2001)
  • Thophilus G. Pinches, , The World Wide School, Seattle (2000)
  • van der Toorn, Karel (1995). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. New York: E. J. Brill. ISBN 0-8028-2491-9.

External links

  •   Media related to Ancient Semitic religions at Wikimedia Commons

February 08, 2023
ancient, semitic, religion, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, arti. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Ancient Semitic religion news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article is in list format but may read better as prose You can help by converting this article if appropriate Editing help is available May 2016 This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia s quality standards You can help The talk page may contain suggestions September 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic peoples from the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa Since the term Semitic itself represents a rough category when referring to cultures as opposed to languages the definitive bounds of the term ancient Semitic religion are only approximate Semitic traditions and their pantheons 1 fall into regional categories Canaanite religions of the Levant including among them the polytheistic ancient Hebrew religion of the Israelites the Sumerian inspired Babylonian religion of Mesopotamia the religion of Carthage and Arabian polytheism Semitic polytheism possibly transitioned into Abrahamic monotheism by way of the god El whose name El אל or elohim א ל ה ים is a word for god in Hebrew cognate to Arabic ʼilah إله which means god Contents 1 Akkad Assyria and Babylonia 2 Canaan 3 Abrahamic religions 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksAkkad Assyria and Babylonia EditMain article Ancient Mesopotamian religion When the five planets visible to the naked eye were identified they were associated with the sun and moon and connected with the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon A bilingual list in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order 2 Sin the Moon Shamash the Sun Marduk Jupiter Ishtar Venus Ninurta Saturn Nabu Mercury Nergal Mars The religion of the Assyrian Empire sometimes called Ashurism centered on Ashur patron deity of the city of Assur and Ishtar patroness of Nineveh The last positively recorded worship of Ashur and other Assyrian gods dates back to the 3rd century AD 3 4 Ashur the patron deity of the eponymous capital from the Late Bronze Age was in constant rivalry with Marduk the patron deity of Babylon In Assyria Ashur eventually superseded Marduk even becoming the husband of Ishtar The major Assyro Babylonian and Akkadian gods were Ashur Anshar Classical Syriac ܐ ܫܘ ܪ patron of Assur Ishtar Astarte Classical Syriac ܐ ܣܬܪ ܐ goddess of love and war and patroness of Nineveh Nabu Classical Syriac ܢܒ ܘ god of writing and scribes Nergal Classical Syriac ܢ ܪܓ ܠ god of the Underworld Tiamat sea goddess Samnuha 5 Kubaba 6 Marduk Classical Syriac ܒ ܝܠ Enlil Ninlil Nisroch Hanbi father of Pazuzu Anu supreme divinity of the Heavens Ea Sumerian Enki god of crafts Kishar Sin Suen Sumerian Nanna Classical Syriac ܣܝ ܢ moon god Ishara Shamash Classical Syriac ܫܡܫ sun god Adad Hadad 7 Dagan Dagon Bel Classical Syriac ܒ ܝܠ Tammuz Classical Syriac ܬ ܡܘ ܙ Major Assyro Babylonian demons and heroes were Adapa Oannes Gilgamesh Classical Syriac ܓܡܝ ܓܘ ܣ Lugalbanda Lilitu Classical Syriac ܠ ܠܝ ܬ ܐ Pazuzu Ninurta 8 9 Canaan EditMain article Canaanite religion The Canaanite religion was practiced by people living in the ancient Levant throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age Until the excavation 1928 onwards of the city of Ras Shamra also known as Ugarit in Northern Syria and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablet alphabetic cuneiform texts 10 scholars knew little about Canaanite religious practice Papyrus seems to have been the preferred writing material for scribes at the time Unlike the papyrus documents found in Egypt ancient papyri in the Levant have often simply decayed from exposure to the humid Mediterranean climate As a result the accounts in the Bible became the primary sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion Supplementing the Biblical accounts several secondary and tertiary Greek sources have survived including Lucian of Samosata s treatise De Dea Syria The Syrian Goddess 2nd century CE fragments of the Phoenician History of Sanchuniathon as preserved by Philo of Byblos c 64 141 CE and the writings of Damascius c 458 after 538 Recent study of the Ugaritic material has uncovered additional information about the religion 11 supplemented by inscriptions from the Levant and Tel Mardikh archive 12 excavated in the early 1960s Like other peoples of the ancient Near East the Canaanites were polytheistic with families typically focusing worship on ancestral household gods and goddesses while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal Anath and El 13 failed verification Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies such as the sacred marriage of the New Year Festival Canaanites may have revered their kings as gods citation needed According to the pantheon known in Ugarit as ilhm Elohim or the children of El compare the Biblical sons of God the creator deity called El fathered the other deities In the Greek sources he was married to Beruth Beirut the city The pantheon was supposedly obtained by Philo of Byblos from Sanchuniathon of Berythus Beirut The marriage of the deity with the city seems to have biblical parallels with the stories that link Melkart with Tyre Yahweh with Jerusalem and Tanit and Baal Hammon with Carthage El Elyon is mentioned as God Most High in Genesis 14 18 19 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek king of Salem citation needed Philo states that the union of El Elyon and his consort resulted in the birth of Uranus and Ge Greek names for Heaven and Earth This closely parallels the opening verse of the Hebrew Bible Genesis 1 1 In the beginning God Elohim created the Heavens Shemayim and the Earth Eretz It also parallels the story of the Babylonian Anunaki gods Abrahamic religions EditFurther information Abrahamic religion and Yahwism Scholars have stated the Enuma Elish influenced the Genesis creation narrative 14 15 16 The Epic of Gilgamesh is also said to have influenced the Genesis flood narrative The Sumerian myth of Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta also had influence on the Tower of Babel myth in Genesis Some writers trace the story of Esther to Babylonian roots 17 El Elyon also appears in Balaam s story in Numbers and in Moses song in Deuteronomy 32 8 The Masoretic Texts suggest When the Most High Elyōn divided to the nations their inheritance he separated the sons of man Adam he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel Rather than sons of Israel the Septuagint the Greek Old Testament suggests the angelōn theou or angels of God and a few versions even have huiōn theou sons of God The Dead Sea Scrolls version of this suggests that there were in fact 70 sons of the Most High God sent to rule over the 70 nations of the Earth This idea of the 70 nations of Earth each ruled over by one of the Elohim sons of God is also found in Ugaritic texts The Arslan Tash inscription suggests that each of the 70 sons of El Elyon was bound to their people by a covenant Thus Crossan who translates The Eternal One Olam has made a covenant oath with us Asherah has made a pact with us And all the sons of El And the great council of all the Holy Ones Qedesh With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth See also Edit Mythology portal Asia portalAncient Egyptian religion Arabian mythology History of Judaism Mandaeism Moses and Monotheism Names of God in Judaism Origins of Judaism Prehistoric religion Religions of the ancient Near East Semitic NeopaganismReferences Edit Noll K L 2001 Canaan and Israel in Antiquity An Introduction A amp C Black p 187 ISBN 978 1 84127 258 0 A patron god in an ancient Near Eastern religion held a unique position among the gods as the most powerful and the most just of the gods who ruled the divine realm as he ruled the human realm often with the approval of a council of divine elders who legitimated his right to rule as patron god as in the book of Job 1 2 Other gods were subordinate to and partners with the divine patron just as the human aristocracy and commoners were expected to be subordinate to and supportive of the human king The pantheon was usually quite complex often including hundreds or even thousands of gods Mackenzie p 301 Brief History of Assyrians AINA Assyrian International News Agency Parpola Simo 1999 Assyrians after Assyria Assyriologist Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol XIII No 2 The gods Ashur Sherua Ishtar Nanaya Bel Nabu and Nergal continued to be worshiped in Assur at least until the early 3rd century AD the local cultic calendar was that of the imperial period the temple of Ashur was restored in the 2nd century AD and the stelae of the local rulers resemble those of Assyrian kings in the imperial period Dalley Stephanie Mari and Karana Two Old Babylonian Cities 2002 ISBN 1 931956 02 2 page needed Dalley 2002 page needed Robert Francis Harper 1901 Assyrian and Babylonian literature D Appleton and company p 26 Retrieved 27 June 2011 Thorkild Jacobsen 1978 The treasures of darkness a history of Mesopotamian religion Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 02291 9 Retrieved 27 June 2011 ETCSLhomepage Etcsl orinst ox ac uk 24 October 2006 Retrieved 16 May 2015 Gray John The Legacy of Canaan the Ras Shamra Texts and Their Relevance to the Old Testament No 5 Brill Archive 1957 for a more recent discussion see Yon Marguerite The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra Eisenbrauns 2006 Smith Mark S The origins of biblical monotheism Israel s polytheistic background and the Ugaritic texts Oxford University Press 2001 J Pons Review of G Pettinato A Alberti Catalogo dei testi cuneiformi di Tell Mardikh Ebla MEE I Napoli 1979 in Etudes theologiques et religieuses 56 1981 339 341 Canaanite religion Encyclopaedia Britannica 17 April 2014 Retrieved 26 January 2016 The Enuma Elish The Babylonian Creation Myth Crivoice org 11 November 2011 Retrieved 28 December 2011 ENUMA ELISH Babylonian Creation Myth Theories Stenudd com Archived from the original on 22 November 2011 Retrieved 28 December 2011 Sharpes Donald K Lords of the scrolls literary traditions in the Bible and Gospels Peter Lang 2005 ISBN 0 8204 7849 0 978 0 8204 7849 4 Gunkel Hermanh 2006 Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton Religio Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12 William B Eerdmans Publishing Co p 198 ISBN 978 0802828040 Further reading EditDonald A Mackenzie Myths of Babylonia and Assyria 1915 Moscati Sabatino 1968 The World of the Phoenicians Phoenix Giant Ribichini Sergio Beliefs and Religious Life in Moscati Sabatino 1988 The Phoenicians by L B Tauris in 2001 Thophilus G Pinches The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria The World Wide School Seattle 2000 van der Toorn Karel 1995 Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible New York E J Brill ISBN 0 8028 2491 9 External links Edit Media related to Ancient Semitic religions at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ancient Semitic religion amp oldid 1135680665, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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