1.
Louvre
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The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace, in 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nations masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed Musée Napoléon, the collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic, whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den, in the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris to a monastery. This territory probably did not correspond exactly to the modern site, the Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvres holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed, however, on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. Under Louis XVI, the museum idea became policy. The comte dAngiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the French Museum, many proposals were offered for the Louvres renovation into a museum, however, none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution, during the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences, on 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property
2.
Ancient Near East
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The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. The ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization and it also saw the creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel. During the period, states became increasingly large, until by the end the region was controlled by military empires who had conquered a number of different cultures. The phrase ancient Near East utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire, the distinction began during the Crimean War. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as the Near East, shortly, they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times. Meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct, the Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire. Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, the result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization, the late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world, the Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the worlds first Empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia, Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c.3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, however, the Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c.3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period and this civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform, the Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan and they ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon. Assyria, after enduring a period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC
3.
Ancient Egyptian deities
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Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, the gods complex characteristics were expressed in myths and in intricate relationships between deities, family ties, loose groups and hierarchies, and combinations of separate gods into one. Deities diverse appearances in art—as animals, humans, objects, and combinations of different forms—also alluded, through symbolism, to their essential features. In different eras, various gods were said to hold the highest position in society, including the solar deity Ra, the mysterious god Amun. The highest deity was usually credited with the creation of the world, some scholars have argued, based in part on Egyptian writings, that the Egyptians came to recognize a single divine power that lay behind all things and was present in all the other deities. Gods were assumed to be present throughout the world, capable of influencing natural events, people interacted with them in temples and unofficial shrines, for personal reasons as well as for larger goals of state rites. Egyptians prayed for help, used rituals to compel deities to act. Humans relations with their gods were a part of Egyptian society. The beings in ancient Egyptian tradition who might be labeled as deities are difficult to count, Egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown and make vague, indirect references to other gods who are not even named. The Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, the Egyptian languages terms for these beings were nṯr, god, and its feminine form nṯrt, goddess. Scholars have tried to discern the nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words, but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance. The hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the Egyptians connected with divinity, the most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole. Similar objects were placed at the entrances of temples, representing the presence of a deity, other such hieroglyphs include a falcon, reminiscent of several early gods who were depicted as falcons, and a seated male or female deity. The feminine form could also be written with an egg as determinative, connecting goddesses with creation and birth, or with a cobra, the Egyptians distinguished nṯrw, gods, from rmṯ, people, but the meanings of the Egyptian and the English terms do not match perfectly. The term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life, Egyptian religious art also depicts places, objects, and concepts in human form. These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings, only mentioned once or twice, confronting these blurred distinctions between gods and other beings, scholars have proposed various definitions of a deity. One widely accepted definition, suggested by Jan Assmann, says that a deity has a cult, is involved in some aspect of the universe, according to a different definition, by Dimitri Meeks, nṯr applied to any being that was the focus of ritual. From this perspective, gods included the king, who was called a god after his coronation rites, and deceased souls, likewise, the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across Egypt
4.
Amun
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Amun was a major Ancient Egyptian deity. He was attested since the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amaunet, with the 11th dynasty, he rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Monthu. After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I, Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom. Amun-Ra in this period held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity par excellence, he was the champion of the poor or troubled and his position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods, as the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshipped outside of Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece, Amun and Amaunet are mentioned in the Old Egyptian Pyramid Texts. The name Amun meant something like the one or invisible. Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period, as the patron of Thebes, his spouse was Mut. In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother and the Moon god Khonsu formed a family or Theban Triad. The history of Amun as the god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th dynasty, major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the 18th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall may have begun during the 18th dynasty, though most building was undertaken under Seti I. Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court and this Great Inscription shows the kings campaigns and eventual return with booty and prisoners. Next to this inscription is the Victory Stela, which is largely a copy of the more famous Israel Stela found in the complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes. Merenptahs son Seti II added 2 small obelisks in front of the Second Pylon, and this was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those of Mut and Khonsu. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Res layout was the addition of the first pylon, the local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important. The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all their enterprises to Amun. The victory accomplished by pharaohs who worshipped Amun against the rulers, brought him to be seen as a champion of the less fortunate
5.
Apis (deity)
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In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis is a sacred bull worshipped in the Memphis region. Identified as the son of Hathor, a deity in the pantheon of Ancient Egypt. Initially, he was assigned a significant role in her worship, being sacrificed, later, Apis also served as an intermediary between humans and other powerful deities. Apis was very important among all of the animals in Egypt, and, as with the others. Auguste Mariettes excavation of the Serapeum of Saqqara revealed the tombs of more than sixty animals, at first, each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it. The current available historical documentary and archaeological evidence suggests the Apis was the first god of Egypt, worship of an Apis bull began during the First Dynasty, which is after the year 2686 BCE. The Apis as a bull experienced by ancient Egyptians as holy, was worshipped at Memphis, worship of the Apis as a god seems to belong to ancient culture of Egypt during the Second Dynasty. According to Manetho, worship of the Apis was instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty, Apis is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom. This Osorapis was identified with Serapis of the late Hellenistic period, creating parallels to their own religious beliefs, ancient Greek writers identified Apis as an incarnation of Osiris, ignoring the connection with Ptah. During the start of the Hellenistic period, Ptolemy Soter, who ruled for the period 323-283 BCE, Apis was the most popular of three great bull cults of ancient Egypt, the others being the cults of Mnevis and Buchis. All are related to the worship of Hathor or Bat, similar primary goddesses separated by region until unification that eventually merged as Hathor, the worship of Apis was continued by the Greeks and after them by the Romans, and lasted until almost 400 CE. This animal was chosen because it symbolized the heart, great strength. Apis came to being considered a manifestation of the king, as bulls were symbols of strength and fertility, strong bull of his mother Hathor was a common title for Egyptian gods and male kings, being unused for women serving as king, such as Hatshepsut. As early as the time of the Narmer Palette, the king is depicted with a tail on one side. Occasionally, Apis was pictured with the symbol of his mother, Hathor. When the disk was depicted on his head with his horns below and the marking on his forehead. That symbol always was associated with Hathor. Early on, Apis was the herald of Ptah, the deity in the area around Memphis
6.
Atum
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Atum, sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology. Atums name is thought to be derived from the word tem which means to complete or finish, thus he has been interpreted as being the complete one and also the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. As creator he was seen as the substance of the world. In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was considered to be the first god, having created himself, sitting on a mound, early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth. To explain how Atum did this, the uses the metaphor of masturbation. Other interpretations state that he has made union with his shadow, in the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead kings soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens. He was also a deity, associated with the primary sun god Ra. Atum was linked specifically with the sun, while Ra or the closely linked god Khepri were connected with the sun at morning. Atum is the god of pre-existence and post-existence, in the binary solar cycle, the serpentine Atum is contrasted with the ram-headed scarab Khepri—the young sun god, whose name is derived from the Egyptian hpr to come into existence. Khepri-Atum encompassed sunrise and sunset, thus reflecting the solar cycle. Atum was a deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos, he created his children—the first deities and he produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. The brother and sister, curious about the waters that surrounded them, went to explore the waters. Unable to bear his loss, Atum sent a fiery messenger, the tears of joy he shed on their return were the first human beings. He is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the white and red crown of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Sometimes he also is shown as a serpent, the form he returns to at the end of the creative cycle, atums cult centered on the city of Heliopolis. The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the Temple of Re-Atum obelisk located in Al-Masalla of Al-Matariyyah and it was erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth dynasty, and still stands in its original position. The 68 ft high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons, band I, Die heiligen Tiere des Atum
7.
Buchis
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In Egyptian mythology, Buchis was the manifestation of the deification of Ka of the war god Montu, worshipped in the region of Hermonthis. A wild bull was chosen and said to be the Buchis incarnation of Montu, over time, the criteria for choosing the bull became more rigid, fixing themselves on what had been simply the general appearance of bulls in the region, being a white body and black face. When these bulls, or their mothers, died, they were mummified, the mothers of these bulls were considered aspects of Hathor, the mother of these deities. Eventually, the Bakha was identified as a form of the Apis, the last burial of a Buchis bull in the Bucheum at Hermonthis occurred in 340 A. D. The worship of the bull in this form lasted until about 362 AD, mnevis Apis Bull Hermonthis The last funerary stela of a Buchis bull British Museum page about Buchis
8.
Geb
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Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth and later a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. He had a snake around his head and was also considered the father of snakes. It was believed in ancient Egypt that Gebs laughter created earthquakes, the name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward and was originally read as Seb or some guess as Keb. The original Egyptian was perhaps Seb/Keb and it was spelled with either initial -g-, or with -k-point. g. in a 30th Dynasty papyrus text in the Brooklyn Museum dealing with descriptions of and remedies against snakes. In later times he could also be depicted as a ram, Geb was frequently described mythologically as father of snakes. In a Coffin Texts spell Geb was described as father of the snake Nehebkau, in the latter case, one of his otherworldly attributes was an ominous jackal-headed stave rising from the ground onto which enemies could be bound. In this context, Geb was believed to have originally been engaged with Nut and had to be separated from her by Shu, consequently, in mythological depictions, Geb was shown as a man reclining, sometimes with his phallus still pointed towards Nut. As time progressed, the deity became more associated with the land of Egypt. He is also equated by classical authors as the Greek Titan Cronus, ptah and Ra, creator deities, usually begin the list of divine ancestors. There is speculation between Shu and Geb and who was the first god-king of Egypt, the story of how Shu, Geb, and Nut were separated in order to create the cosmos is now being interpreted in more human terms, exposing the hostility and sexual jealousy. Between the father son jealously and Shu rebelling against the divine order, Geb takes Shu’s mother, Tefnut, as his chief queen, separating Shu from his sister-wife. Just as Shu had previously done to him, in the book of the Heavenly Cow, it is implied that Geb is the heir of the departing sun god. After Geb passed on the throne to Osiris, his youngest son, some Egyptologists, have stated that Geb was associated with a mythological divine creator goose who had laid a world egg from which the sun and/or the world had sprung. This theory is assumed to be incorrect and to be a result of confusing the divine name Geb with that of a Whitefronted Goose, also called originally gb, lame one and this bird-sign is used only as a phonogram in order to spell the name of the god. An alternative ancient name for this species was trp meaning similarly walk like a drunk. The Whitefronted Goose is never found as a symbol or holy bird of Geb. A coloured vignet irrefutably depicts a Nile Goose with a beak in a context of solar creation on a mythological papyrus dating from the 21st Dynasty. Similar images of this bird are to be found on temple walls, showing a scene of the king standing on a papyrus raft
9.
Horus
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Horus is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom, different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a falcon or peregrine falcon. In another tradition Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife, Horus served many functions, most notably being a god of the sky, war and hunting. Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr. w Falcon, additional meanings are thought to have been the distant one or one who is above, over. As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic dialects variously as hoːɾ or ħoːɾ and was adopted into ancient Greek as Ὧρος Hōros and it also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric names such as Har-si-ese Horus, Son of Isis. Nekheny may have been another falcon god worshipped at Nekhen, city of the falcon, Horus may be shown as a falcon on the Narmer Palette, dating from about the 31st century BC. In early Egypt, Horus was the brother of Isis, Osiris, Set, as different cults formed, he became the son of Isis and Osiris. Isis remained the sister of Osiris, Set and Nephthys, the Pyramid Texts describe the nature of the pharaoh in different characters as both Horus and Osiris. The pharaoh as Horus in life became the pharaoh as Osiris in death, New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs. The lineage of Horus, the product of unions between the children of Atum, may have been a means to explain and justify pharaonic power. The gods produced by Atum were all representative of cosmic and terrestrial forces in Egyptian life, the notion of Horus as the pharaoh seems to have been superseded by the concept of the pharaoh as the son of Ra during the Fifth Dynasty. Once Isis knew she was pregnant with Horus, she fled to the Nile Delta marshlands to hide from her brother Set, who jealously killed Osiris, there Isis bore a divine son, Horus. Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to contain the sun. It became said that the sun was his eye and the moon his left, and that they traversed the sky when he. Later, the reason that the moon was not as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as the The Contendings of Horus and Seth. As Horus was the victor he became known as ḥr. w wr Horus the Great. In the struggle, Set had lost a testicle, explaining why the desert, Horus left eye had also been gouged out, then a new eye was created by part of Khonsu, the moon god, and was replaced
10.
Isis
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Isis is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. She was first worshiped in ancient Egyptian religion, and later her worship spread throughout the Roman Empire, Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship. Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children, as the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaohs power. The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important temples were at Behbeit El Hagar in the Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign with Nectanebo I, on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt. In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky and she married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set, using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period, for example, it was believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris. Osiriss death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals, the worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era. The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus, however, the Greek name version of Isis is close to her original, Egyptian name spelling. Isis name was written with the signs of a throne seat. The grammar, spelling and used signs of Isis name never changed during time in any way, however, the symbolic and metaphoric meaning of Isis name remains unclear. The throne seat sign in her name might point to a role as a goddess of kingship. Thus, her name could mean she of the kings throne, but all other Egyptian deities have names that point to clear cosmological or nature elemental roles, thus the name of Isis shouldnt be connected to the king himself. The throne seat symbol might alternatively point to a meaning as throne-mother of the gods and this in turn would supply a very old existence of Isis, long before her first mentioning during the late Old Kingdom, but this hypothesis remains unproven. A third possible meaning might be hidden in the egg-symbol, that was used in Isis name. The egg-symbol always represented motherhood, implying a role of Isis
11.
Montu
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Montu was a falcon-god of war in Ancient Egyptian religion. Montus name, shown in Egyptian hieroglyphs to the right, is transcribed as mntw. Because of the difficulty in transcribing Egyptian, it is realized as Mont, Monthu, Montju. Montu was an ancient god, his name meaning nomad, originally a manifestation of the effect of the sun, Ra. The destructiveness of this led to him gaining characteristics of a warrior. Because of the association of raging bulls with strength and war, Montu was also said to manifest himself in a bull with a black face. Egypts greatest general-kings called themselves Mighty Bulls, the sons of Montu, in the famous narrative of the Battle of Kadesh, Ramesses II was said to have seen the enemy and raged at them like Montu, Lord of Thebes. He would hold various weaponry, including scimitars, bows and arrows, the Temple of Montu at Medamud was probably begun during the Old Kingdom era. Temples to Montu include one located adjacent to the Middle Kingdom fortress of Uronarti below the Second Cataract of the Nile, during the New Kingdom, large and impressive temples to Montu were constructed in Armant. In fact, the Greek name of the city of Armant was Hermonthis, Montu had several consorts, including the goddess Tenenet, the goddess Iunit, and a female form of Ra, Raettawy. Mentuhotep, a given to several pharaohs in the Middle Kingdom
12.
Nephthys
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Nephthys or Nebthet or Neber-Het was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. A member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis in Egyptian mythology, she was a daughter of Nut, Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Set. Nephthys is the Greek form of an epithet and this is a pervasive error repeated in many commentaries concerning this deity. Her name means specifically, Lady of the Enclosure which associates her with the role of priestess. Along with her sister Isis, Nephthys represented the temple pylon or trapezoidal tower gateway entrance to the temple which also displayed the flagstaff and this entrance way symbolised the horizon or akhet. At the time of the Fifth Dynasty Pyramid Texts, Nephthys appears as a goddess of the Heliopolitan Ennead and she is the sister of Isis and companion of the war-like deity, Set. As sister of Isis and especially Osiris, Nephthys is a goddess who symbolizes the death experience. Nephthys was known in some ancient Egyptian temple theologies and cosmologies as the Useful Goddess or the Excellent Goddess and these late Ancient Egyptian temple texts describe a goddess who represented divine assistance and protective guardianship. Nephthys is regarded as the mother of the funerary-deity Anubis in some myths, alternatively Anubis appears as the son of Bastet or Isis. As the primary nursing mother of the incarnate Pharaonic-god, Horus, though other goddesses could assume this role, Nephthys was most usually portrayed in this function. In contrast Nephthys is sometimes featured as a ferocious and dangerous divinity. Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Set. Less well understood than her sister Isis, Nephthys was no less important in Egyptian Religion as confirmed by the work of E. Hornung, along with the work of noted scholars. Ascend and descend, descend with Nephthys, sink into darkness with the Night-bark, ascend and descend, ascend with Isis, rise with the Day-bark. Pyramid Text Utterance 222 line 210, in the funerary role, Nephthys often was depicted as a kite, or as a woman with falcon wings, usually outstretched as a symbol of protection. Nephthyss association with the kite or the Egyptian hawk evidently reminded the ancients of the lamentations usually offered for the dead by wailing women, in this capacity, it is easy to see how Nephthys could be associated with death and putrefaction in the Pyramid Texts. Nephthys was clearly viewed as a force of heavenly transition, i. e. the Pharaoh becomes strong for his journey to the afterlife through the intervention of Isis. The same divine power could be applied later to all of the dead and it should here be noted that Nephthys was not necessarily viewed as the polar opposite of Isis, but rather as a different reflection of the same reality, eternal life in transition
13.
Nut (goddess)
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Nut, also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky in the Ennead of ancient Egyptian religion. She was seen as a nude woman arching over the earth. The pronunciation of ancient Egyptian is uncertain because vowels were long omitted from its writing and her name Nwt, itself also meaning Sky, is usually transcribed as Nut but also sometimes appears as Nunut, Nenet, Naunet, Newet, and the certainly erroneous Nuit. She also appears in the record by a number of epithets. Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut and her brother and husband is Geb. She had four or five children, Osiris, Set, Isis, Nephthys and she is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon, with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the sky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Her headdress was the hieroglyphic of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens. A sacred symbol of Nut was the used by Osiris to enter her heavenly skies. This ladder-symbol was called maqet and was placed in tombs to protect the deceased, Nut and her brother, Geb, may be considered enigmas in the world of mythology. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a sky father associated with an Earth mother, she personified the sky, Osiris is killed by his brother Set and scattered over the Earth in 14 pieces which Isis gathers up and puts back together. Osiris then climbs a ladder into his mother Nut for safety, a huge cult developed about Osiris that lasted well into Roman times. Isis was her husbands queen in the underworld and the basis for the role of the queen on earth. It can be said that she was a version of the great goddess Hathor, like Hathor she not only had death and rebirth associations, but was the protector of children and the goddess of childbirth. Ra, the sun god, was the second to rule the world, Ra was a strong ruler but he feared anyone taking his throne. When he discovered that Nut was to have children, he was furious and he decreed, Nut shall not give birth any day of the year. At that time, the year was only 360 days, Nut spoke to Thoth, god of wisdom, and he had a plan
14.
Osiris
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Osiris was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead, but more appropriately as the god of transition, resurrection, and regeneration. He was also associated with the epithet Khenti-Amentiu, meaning Foremost of the Westerners, as ruler of the dead, Osiris was also sometimes called king of the living, ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead the living ones. Osiris was considered the brother of Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder and he was described as the Lord of love, He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful and the Lord of Silence. The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death – as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death, Osiris was widely worshipped as Lord of the Dead until the suppression of the Egyptian religion during the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Osiris is a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek Ὄσιρις IPA, in Egyptian hieroglyphs the name is appears as wsjr or jsjrt. Since hieroglyphic writing lacks vowels, Egyptologists have vocalized the name in various ways as Asar, Yasar, Aser, Asaru, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name wsjr. John Gwyn Griffiths proposed a derivation from wsr signifying the powerful, moreover, one of the oldest attestations of the god Osiris appears in the mastaba of the deceased Netjer-wser. David Lorton proposed that Wsjr is composed by the morphemes set-jret signifying ritual activity, wolfhart Westendorf proposed an etymology from Waset-jret she who bears the eye. He also carries the crook and flail, the crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherds whip, fly-whisk and he was commonly depicted as a pharaoh with a complexion of either green or black in mummiform. The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, is found, An offering the king gives, by the end of the 5th dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes An offering the king gives and Osiris. Osiris is the father of the god Horus, whose conception is described in the Osiris myth. The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set, Isis joined the fragmented pieces of Osiris, but the only body part missing was the phallus. Isis fashioned a golden phallus, and briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father and this spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died. Isis later gave birth to Horus, as such, since Horus was born after Osiris resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of the evil Set. Ptah-Seker thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris, Osiris soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes
15.
Ptah
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In Egyptian mythology, Ptah is the demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the spouse of Sekhmet and he was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep. Ptah is the Creator god par excellence, He is considered the demiurge who existed before all other things, and by his willfulness, thought the world. It was first conceived by Thought, and realized by the Word, Ptah conceives the world by the thought of his heart and that which Ptah commanded was created, with which the constituents of nature, fauna, and flora, are contained. He also plays a role in the preservation of the world and this document has been known as the Memphite Theology, and shows the god Ptah, the god responsible for the creation of the universe by thought and by the word. Ptah is the patron of craftsmanship, metalworking, carpenters, shipbuilders, from the Middle Kingdom onwards, he was one of five major Egyptian gods with Ra, Isis, Osiris and Amun. He is sometimes represented as a dwarf, naked and deformed, frequently associated with the god Bes, his worship then exceeded the borders of the country and was exported throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Thanks to the Phoenicians, we find figures of Ptah in Carthage, from the Old Kingdom, he quickly absorbs the appearance of Sokar and Tatenen, ancient deities of the Memphite region. His form of Sokar is found contained in its white shroud wearing the Atef crown, in this capacity, he represents the god of the necropolis of Saqqara and other famous sites where the royal pyramids were built. Gradually he formed with Osiris a new deity called Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, statuettes representing the human form, half-human, half-hawk, or simply in its falcon form will be systematically placed in tombs to accompany and protect the dead on their journey to the West. His Tatenen form is represented by a young and vigorous man wearing a crown with two tall plumes that surround the solar disk and he thus embodies the underground fire that rumbles and raises the earth. As such, he was revered by metalworkers and blacksmiths. In this form also, Ptah is the master of ceremonies for Heb Sed, in the holy of holies of his temple in Memphis, as well as in his great sacred boat, he drove in procession to regularly visit the region during major holidays. Ptah was also symbolized by two birds with human heads adorned with solar disks, symbols of the souls of the god Re, the two Ba are also identified as the twin gods Shu and Tefnut and are associated with the djed pillar of Memphis. Finally, Ptah is embodied in the bull, Apis. Frequently referred to as a herald of Re, the animal is the link with the god Re from the New Kingdom. He even received worship in Memphis, probably at the heart of the temple of Ptah. As god of craftsmen, the cult of the god Ptah quickly spread throughout Egypt, for this reason, the oratory of Ptah who listens to prayers was built near the site of Deir el-Medina, the village where the workers and craftsmen were confined
16.
Ra
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Ra or Re is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, he had become a god in ancient Egyptian religion. In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus and he was believed to rule in all parts of the created world, the sky, the earth, and the underworld. He was associated with the falcon or hawk, when in the New Kingdom the god Amun rose to prominence he was fused with Ra as Amun-Ra. During the Amarna Period, Akhenaten suppressed the cult of Ra in favor of another deity, the Aten, the deified solar disc. The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of Ra, had its center in Heliopolis, all forms of life were believed to have been created by Ra, who called each of them into existence by speaking their secret names. Alternatively man was created from Ras tears and sweat, hence the Egyptians call themselves the Cattle of Ra, in the myth of the Celestial Cow it is recounted how mankind plotted against Ra and how he sent his eye as the goddess Sekhmet to punish them. When she became bloodthirsty she was pacified by drinking beer mixed with red dye, to the Egyptians, the sun represented light, warmth, and growth. This made the sun deity very important, as the sun was seen as the ruler of all that he created, the sun disk was either seen as the body or eye of Ra. Ra was the father of Shu and Tefnut, whom he created, Shu was the god of the wind, and Tefnut was the goddess of the rain. Sekhmet was the Eye of Ra and was created by the fire in Ras eye, Ra was thought to travel on the Atet, two solar barks called the Mandjet or morning boat and the Mesektet or evening boat. These boats took him on his journey through the sky and the Duat, while Ra was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form. When Ra traveled in his sun boat, he was accompanied by other deities including Sia and Hu. Sometimes, members of the Ennead helped him on his journey, including Set, who overcame the serpent Apophis, and Mehen, when Ra was in the underworld, he would visit all of his various forms. Apophis, the god of chaos, was a serpent who attempted to stop the sun boats journey every night by consuming it or by stopping it in its tracks with a hypnotic stare. During the evening, the Egyptians believed that Ra set as Atum or in the form of a ram, the night boat would carry him through the underworld and back towards the east in preparation for his rebirth. When Ra was in the underworld, he merged with Osiris, the god of the dead, Ra was worshipped as the Creator god among some ancient Egyptians, specifically followers of his cult at Heliopolis. It was believed that Ra wept, and from his tears came man and these cult-followers believed that Ra was self-created, while followers of Ptah believed that Ra was created by Ptah
17.
Set (deity)
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Set /sɛt/ or Seth is a god of the desert, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion. In Ancient Greek, the name is given as Sēth. Set is not, however, a god to be ignored or avoided, he has a role where he is employed by Ra on his solar boat to repel Apep. Set had a role as a reconciled combatant. He was lord of the red land where he was the balance to Horus role as lord of the black land, in Egyptian mythology, Set is portrayed as the usurper who killed and mutilated his own brother Osiris. Osiris wife Isis reassembled Osiris corpse and resurrected him long enough to conceive his son, Horus sought revenge upon Set, and the myths describe their conflicts. This Osiris myth is a prominent theme in Egyptian mythology, Sets siblings are Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys. He married Nephthys and fathered Anubis, and in some accounts he had relationships with the foreign goddesses Anat, some early Egyptologists proposed that it was a stylised representation of the giraffe, owing to the large flat-topped horns which correspond to a giraffes ossicones. The Egyptians themselves, however, made a distinction between the giraffe and the Set animal, during the Late Period, Set is depicted as a donkey or as having a donkeys head. The earliest representations of what might be the Set animal comes from a dating to the Naqada I phase of the Predynastic Period. If these are ruled out, then the earliest Set animal appears on a head of the King Scorpion. The head and the tail of the Set animal are clearly present. In the mythology of Heliopolis, Set was born of the sky goddess Nut, Sets sister and wife was Nephthys. Nut and Geb also produced two children who became husband and wife, the divine Osiris and Isis, whose son was Horus. The Chester Beatty Papyrus No.1 contains the known as The Contendings of Horus. Classical authors also recorded the story, notably Plutarchs De Iside et Osiride and these myths generally portray Osiris as a wise lord, king, and bringer of civilization, happily married to his sister, Isis. Set was envious of his brother, and he killed and dismembered Osiris, Isis reassembled Osiris corpse and embalmed him. As the archetypal mummy, Osiris reigned over the afterworld as a king among deserving spirits of the dead, Osiris son Horus was conceived by Isis with Osiris corpse
18.
Shu (Egyptian god)
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Shu was one of the primordial Egyptian gods, a personification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis. In some myths, Shu was the son of Atum and Iusaaset, in other versions, Shu and his sister Tefnut were created by Atum alone, via parthenogenesis. With Tefnut, Shu was the father of Nut and Geb and grandfather of Osiris, Isis, Set and his great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis. As the air, Shu was considered to be cooling, and thus calming, influence, due to the association with air, calm, and thus Maat, Shu was portrayed in art as wearing an ostrich feather. Shu was seen with one and four feathers. The ostrich feather was symbolic of lightness and emptiness, fog and clouds were also Shus elements and they were often called his bones. Because of his position between the sky and earth, he was known as the wind. In a much later myth, representing a terrible weather disaster at the end of the Old Kingdom, it was said that Tefnut and Shu once argued, and Tefnut left Egypt for Nubia. It was said that Shu quickly decided that he missed her, thoth, disguised, eventually succeeded in convincing her to return. The Greeks associated Shu with Atlas, the primordial Titan who held up the celestial spheres, according to the Heliopolitan cosmology, Shu and Tefnut, the first pair of cosmic elements, created the sky goddess, Nut, and the earth god, Geb. Shu separated Nut from Geb as they were in the act of love, creating duality in the manifest world, above and below, light and dark, good and evil. Prior to their separation, however, Nut had given birth to the gods Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, the Egyptians believed that if Shu did not hold Nut and Geb apart there would be no way for physically-manifest life to exist. Shu is mostly represented as a man, only in his function as a fighter and defender as the sun god does he sometimes receive a lions head. He carries an ankh, the symbol of life
19.
Tefnut
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Tefnut is a goddess of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian religion. She is the sister and consort of the air god Shu, like most Egyptian deities, including her brother, Tefnut has no single ideograph or symbol. Her name in hieroglyphics consists of four single phonogram symbols t-f-n-t, although the n phonogram is a representation of waves on the surface of water, it was never used as an ideogram or determinative for the word water, or for anything associated with water. Tefnut is a daughter of the solar god Ra-Atum, married to her brother, Shu, she is mother of Nut, the sky and Geb, the earth. Tefnuts grandchildren were Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and in some versions and she was also a great grandmother of Horus the Younger. Alongside her father, brother, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, there are a number of variants to the myth of the creation of Tefnut and her twin brother Shu. In all versions, Tefnut is the product of parthenogenesis, in the Heliopolitan creation myth, the solar god Atum masturbates to produce Tefnut and Shu. Atum was creative in that he proceeded to himself in Heliopolis. He took his penis in his hand so that he obtain the pleasure of orgasm thereby. And brother and sister were born - that is Shu and Tefnut, Pyramid Text 527 In some versions of this myth, Atum also swallows his semen, and spits it out to form the twins, or else the spitting of his saliva forms the act of procreation. Both of these contain a play on words, the tef sound which forms the first syllable of the name Tefnut also constitutes a word meaning to spit or to expectorate. The Coffin Texts contain references to Shu being sneezed out by Atum from his nose, the Bremner-Rind Papyrus and the Memphite Theology describe Atum masturbating into his mouth, before spitting out his semen to form the twins. Tefnut is a deity, and appears as human with a lioness head when depicted as part of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis. The other frequent depiction is as a lioness, but Tefnut can also be depicted as fully human. In her fully or semi anthropomorphic form, she is depicted wearing a wig, topped either with a serpent, or a uraeus and solar disk. Her face is used in a double headed form with that of her brother Shu on collar counterpoises. During the 18th and 19th Dynasties, particularly during the Amarna period, Tefnut was depicted in human form wearing a low flat headdress, akhenatens mother, Tiye was depicted wearing a similar headdress, and identifying with Hathor-Tefnut. The iconic blue crown of Nefertiti is thought by archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley to be derived from Tiyes headdress, Heliopolis and Leontopolis were the primary cult centres
20.
Thoth
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Thoth or Djehuti was one of the deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon. His feminine counterpart was Seshat, and his wife was Maat, Thoths chief temple was located in the city of Khmun, later called Hermopolis Magna during the Greco-Roman era and Shmounein in the Coptic rendering, and was partially destroyed in 1826 CE. In that city, he led the Ogdoad pantheon of eight principal deities and he also had numerous shrines within the cities of Abydos, Hesert, Urit, Per-Ab, Rekhui, Ta-ur, Sep, Hat, Pselket, Talmsis, Antcha-Mutet, Bah, Amen-heri-ab, and Ta-kens. Thoth played many vital and prominent roles in Egyptian mythology, such as maintaining the universe, the final -y may even have been pronounced as a consonant, not a vowel. According to Theodor Hopfner, Thoths Egyptian name written as ḏḥwty originated from ḏḥw, the addition of -ty denotes that he possessed the attributes of the ibis. Hence his name means He who is like the ibis, Djehuty is sometimes alternatively rendered as Jehuti, Jehuty, Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, or Tetu. Greek versions Thot, Thout and Thoth are derived from the letters ḏḥwty, not counting differences in spelling, Thoth had many names and titles, like other goddesses and gods. Among the names used are A, Sheps, Lord of Khemennu, Asten, Khenti, Mehi, Hab, in addition, Thoth was also known by specific aspects of himself, for instance the moon god Iah-Djehuty, representing the Moon for the entire month. The Greeks related Thoth to their god Hermes due to his similar attributes, One of Thoths titles, Thrice great was translated to the Greek τρισμέγιστος, making Hermes Trismegistus. Thoth has been depicted in many ways depending on the era, usually, he is depicted in his human form with the head of an ibis. In this form, he can be represented as the reckoner of times, when depicted as a form of Shu or Ankher, he was depicted to be wearing the respective gods headdress. Sometimes he was seen in art to be wearing the Atef crown or the United Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. When not depicted in this form, he sometimes takes the form of the ibis directly. He also appears as a baboon or a man with the head of a baboon when he is Aan. In the form of Aah-Djehuty he took a more human-looking form and these forms are all symbolic and are metaphors for Thoths attributes. The Egyptians did not believe these gods actually looked like humans with animal heads, for example, Maat is often depicted with an ostrich feather, the feather of truth, on her head, or with a feather for a head. Thoths roles in Egyptian mythology were many and he served as a mediating power, especially between good and evil, making sure neither had a decisive victory over the other
21.
Apkallu
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The Apkallu, or Abgal, are seven Mesopotamian sages, demigods who are said to have been created by the god Enki to establish culture and give civilization to mankind. They were noted for having been saved during the flood and they served as priests of Enki and as advisors or sages to the earliest kings of Sumer before the flood. They are credited with giving mankind the Me, the crafts, and they were seen as fish-like men who emerged from the sweet water Abzu. They are commonly represented as having the torso of a fish. According to the myth, human beings were initially unaware of the benefits of culture and these creatures are known as the Apkallu. The Apkallu remained with human beings after teaching them the ways of civilization, the Apkallus are referred to in several Sumerian myths in cuneiform literature. According to the Temple Hymn of Kuara, all seven sages are said to have belonged to the city of Eridu. However, the names and order of appearance of seven sages are varied in different sources. They are also referred to in the incantation series Bit Meseris third tablet, in non-cuneiform sources, they find references in the writings of Berossus, the 3rd century BC, Babylonian priest of Bel Marduk. Berossus describes the appearance from the Persian Gulf of the first of these sages Oannes and describes him as a monster with two heads, the body of a fish and human feet and he then relates that more of these monsters followed. The seven sages are also referred to in a text where they are described as bearing the likeness of carps. Conrad and Newing identify Utuabzu as the legendary Assyro-Babylonian mythical figure, Adapa and these seven were each advisers for seven different kings and therefore result in two different lists, one of kings and one of Apkallu. Neither the sages nor the kings in these lists were genealogically related however, Apkallu and human beings were presumably capable of conjugal relationships since after the flood, the myth states that four Apkallu appeared. These were part human and part Apkallu, and included Nungalpirriggaldim, Pirriggalnungal, Pirriggalabsu and these Apkallus are said to have committed various transgressions which angered the gods. These seeming negative deeds of the later Apkallu and their roles as wise councillors has led scholars to equate them with the nephilim of Genesis 6,4. After these four post-diluvian Apkallus came the first completely human advisers, gilgamesh, the mythical king of Uruk, is said to be the first king to have had an entirely human adviser. In recent times, scholars have suggested the Apkallu are the model for Enoch. Apkallu reliefs appear prominently in Assyrian palaces as guardians against evil spirits and they are one of the more prominent supernatural creatures that appear in the art of Ashurnasirpal II of the 9th century BC
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Aglibol
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Aglibôl was a lunar deity in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. His name means Calf of Bel, aglibôl is depicted with a lunar halo decorating his head and sometimes his shoulders, and one of his attributes is the sickle moon. Aglibôl is linked with the sun god Yarḥibôl in a famous trinity and he is also associated with the Syrian versions of Astarte Venus and with Arṣu Evening Star. Aglibôls cult continued into Hellenic times and was extended to Rome. Encyclopedia of Gods, Michael Jordan, Kyle Cathie Limited,2002 Yarikh
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Al-Lat
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There are two possible etymologies of the name al-Lat. The etymology best reflecting the Arab lexicographical tradition derives the name from the verb latta and it can be inferred from al-Kalbis Book of Idols that a similar ritual was practiced in the vicinity of the idol of al-Lat. The second etymology, which is more in line with Semitic traditions in general, the word al-Lat was used as a name and title for multiple pre-Islamic goddesses of Arabia and was used for either a wife of Allah or a daughter depending on the region. It was used as a title for the goddesses Asherah and Athirat, the word is akin to Elat, which was the name of the wife of Semitic deity El. Especially in older sources, Allat is a name of the Mesopotamian goddess of the underworld. She was reportedly also venerated in Carthage under the name Allatu, the Nabataeans of Petra and the people of Hatra also worshipped her, equating her with the Greek Athena and Tyche and the Roman Minerva. She is frequently called the Great Goddess in Greek in multi-lingual inscriptions, according to Wellhausen, the Nabataeans believed al-Lāt was the mother of Hubal. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, considered her the equivalent of Aphrodite, The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alilat, in addition that deity is associated with the Indian deity Mitra. This passage is linguistically significant as the first clear attestation of an Arabic word, the Persian and Indian deities were developed from the Proto-Indo-Iranian deity known as Mitra. They call Dionysus, Orotalt, and Aphrodite, Alilat, in the Quran, she is mentioned along with al-‘Uzzá and Manāt in Sura 53, 19–23. The tribe of ʿād of Iram of the Pillars is also mentioned in Sura 89, 5–8, al-lāt is also explicitly attested from early Islamic records discussing the pre-Islamic period. The Quraysh, as well as all the Arabs, venerated al-Lāt and they also used to name their children after her, calling them Zayd al-Lāt and Taym al-Lāt. Al-Lāt continued to be venerated until the Thaqīf embraced Islam, when Muhammad dispatched al-Mughīrah ibn-Shu‘bah and she was also called as daughter of Allah along with the other two chief goddesses. According to Islamic tradition, the dedicated to al-Lat in Taif was demolished on the orders of Muhammad, during the Expedition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. The destruction of the idol was a demand by Muhammad before he would allow any reconciliation to take place with the tribes of Taif, in Frank Herberts Dune series, Al-Lat is the name given to the earths sun. Strongs Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary of Bible Words Georgii Wilhelmi Freytagii, Hubal Manāt Chaabou Satanic Verses Thaqif and Islam Ilah Lat, al- in Oxford Islamic Studies Online Temple of Allāt on the map
24.
Attar (god)
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ʿAṯtar is an ancient Semitic deity whose role, name, and even gender varied by culture. The name appears as Attar, Athtar, Astar, Ashtar, Aṯtar and Ištar in Mesopotamia, in both genders, Aṯtar is identified with the planet Venus, the morning and evening star, in some manifestations of Semitic mythology. In Ugaritic mythology Aṯtar succeeds to the throne of the dead god Baal Hadad, in semi-arid regions of western Asia he was sometimes worshipped as a rain god. In more southerly regions he is known as Dhu-Samani. Attar was worshipped in Southern Arabia in pre-Islamic times, a god of war, he was often referred to as He who is Bold in Battle. One of his symbols was the spear-point and the antelope was his sacred animal and he had power over Venus, the morning star, and was believed to provide humankind with water. In ancient times, Arabia shared the gods of Mesopotamia, being so close to Babylon, except the genders, for instance, the sun god Shamash became the sun goddess Shams, and in southern Arabia Ishtar became the male storm god Athtar. Athtar was a god of the thunderstorm, dispensing natural irrigation in the form of rain, Athtar also represented fertility and water as essential to fertility. Attar appears as the demon Ashtar in Shin Megami Tensei II, encyclopædia Britannica Online, Athtar Jewish Encyclopedia, Ashtoreth in Arabia A Whos Who of World Mythology, Athtar
25.
Baalshamin
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Lord of Heaven, was a Northwest Semitic god and a title applied to different gods at different places or times in ancient Middle Eastern inscriptions, especially in Canaan/Phoenicia and Syria. The title was most often applied to Hadad, who is often titled just Ba‘al. Baalshamin was one of the two gods and the sky god of pre-Islamic Palmyra in ancient Syria. There his attributes were the eagle and the bolt, and he perhaps formed a triad with the lunar god Aglibol. Baalshamin and Baal Šamem are the most frequently used terms, as a Syrian god and as a Phoenician god and this name was originally a title of Baal Hadad, in the 2nd millennium BC, but came to designate a distinct god circa 1000 BC. The earliest known mention of this god or title is in a treaty of the 14th century BC between Suppiluliumas I, King of the Hittites, and Niqmaddu II, King of Ugarit. Although this could be a reference to Baal Hadad, and again when the name appears in a Phoenician inscription by King Yeḥimilk of Byblos, the god Baal-malage is otherwise unexplained. Baal-saphon here and elsewhere seems to be Baal Hadad, whose home is on Mount Ṣaphon in the Ugaritic texts, but interpreters disagree as to whether these are here three separate gods or three aspects of the same god, a god who causes stormy weather on the sea. In any case, inscriptions show that the cult of Baal Šamem continued in Tyre from Esarhaddons day until towards the end of the 1st millennium BC, in Sanchuniathons main mythology the god he calls in Greek Uranus/Sky has been thought by some to stand for Baal Šamem. Sky is here the actual father of Baal Hadad, as in Greek mythology and Hittite mythology, Sky is castrated by his son, who is in turn destined to be opposed by the thunder god. In Sanchuniathons story, Sky also battles Sea, Sky finds himself unable to prevail, in Nabatean texts in Greek, Baal Shamin is regularly equated with Zeus Helios, that is Zeus as a sun-god. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether Baalshamin is here regarded as a sun-god, writers in Syriac refer to Baalshamin as Zeus Olympios. Temple of Baalshamin Stuart Whatling, Arabia Syria, Palmyra — Some pictures of the temple of Baal-Shamin at Palmyra
26.
Bel (mythology)
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Bel, signifying lord or master, is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in the Mesopotamian religion of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia. The feminine form is Belit Lady, Mistress, Bel is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as Belus. Linguistically Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Baal with the same meaning, early translators of Akkadian believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian Enlil was to be read as Bel in Akkadian. This is now known to be incorrect, but one finds Bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions, similarly Belit without some disambiguation mostly refers to Bel Marduks spouse Sarpanit. However Marduks mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Damkina, Ninmah, of course other gods called Lord could be and sometimes were identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example, though in the period from which most of our information comes he seems to have become very much a sun god. Similarly Zeus Belus mentioned by Sanchuniathon as born to Cronus/El in Peraea is certainly most unlikely to be Marduk, Bel was believed to be a patriarch from Armenia, somehow related to Hayk - the story tells they were brothers, but they may probably have been cousins. According to the myth, Hayk and Bel were both patriarchs of their own tribes, competing for supremacy. Hayk beat Bel, so the latter chose to go south to Babylon, somewhere near Van, the ancient capital of urartian Armenia, a final battle took place between the siblings. Hayk beat Bel with an arrow, and thus became the sole leader and he unified the tribes, that altogether took the name Armenia. Ba‘al Bel and the Dragon Belial Belus Belus Belus Belus EN Marduk Bartleby, American Heritage Dictionary, Semitic Roots, bcl
27.
Dushara
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Dushara, also transliterated as Dusares, a deity in the ancient Middle East worshipped by the Nabataeans at Petra and Madain Saleh. In Greek times, he was associated with Zeus because he was the chief of the Nabataean pantheon as well as with Dionysus and his sanctuary at Petra contained a great temple in which a large cubical stone was the centrepiece. A shrine to Dushara has been discovered in the harbour of ancient Puteoli in Italy, the city was an important nexus for trade to the Near East, and it is known to have had a Nabataean presence during the mid 1st century BCE. The cult continued in some capacity well into the Roman period, Book of Idols Khaabou Ibn al-Kalbī, The Book of Idols, Being a Translation from the Arabic of the Kitāb al-Asnām. The Religion of the Nabataeans, A Conspectus, el-Khouri, Lamia, Johnson, David, A New Nabataean Inscription from Wadi Mataha, Petra, Palestine Exploration Quarterly,137,2, 169-174. Nabataean religion Kitab al-Asnam in the original Arabic Dhushara The Meaning of the Name Solving the Enigma of Petra and the Nabataeans Biblical Archaeology Review
28.
Malakbel
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Malakbêl, مالاکبل, was a sun deity of the city of Palmyra in pre-Islamic Syria. The meaning, in Aramaic, is “Messenger of Baal or Messenger, or Angel, the Greek identified Malakbel with Hermes, and the Romans with Sol. He was also similar to the Babylonian sun god Shamash, Malakbel is usually accompanied by the Moon god Aglibol, and sometimes the goddess Allat
29.
Ancient Canaanite religion
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Canaanite religion was polytheistic, and in some cases monolatristic. Baalat or Baalit, the wife or female counterpart of Baal Baal Hadad, holy One, putative goddess of love. Resheph, god of plague and of healing Shachar and Shalim, twin mountain gods of dawn and dusk, Shalim was linked to the netherworld via the evening star and associated with peace Shamayim, god of the heavens, paired with Eretz, the land or earth. Shapash, also transliterated Shapshu, goddess of the sun, sometimes equated with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash, yarikh, god of the moon and husband of Nikkal Canaanites believed that following physical death, the npš departed from the body to the land of Mot. Bodies were buried with goods, and offerings of food. Dead relatives were venerated and sometimes asked for help, none of the inscribed tablets found in 1929 in the Canaanite city of Ugarit has revealed a cosmology. Any idea of one is often reconstructed from the much later Phoenician text by Philo of Byblos, after much Greek, from the union of El Elyon and his consort were born Uranus and Ge, Greek names for the Heaven and the Earth. In Canaanite mythology there were twin mountains Targhizizi and Tharumagi which hold the firmament up above the earth-circling ocean, thereby bounding the earth. W. F. Albright, for example, says that El Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian shadû and shaddāû or shaddûa, one of the names of Amurru. Philo of Byblos states that Atlas was one of the Elohim, harriet Lutzky has presented evidence that Shaddai was an attribute of a Semitic goddess, linking the epithet with Hebrew šad breast as the one of the Breast. The idea of two mountains being associated here as the breasts of the Earth, fits into the Canaanite mythology quite well, the ideas of pairs of mountains seem to be quite common in Canaanite mythology. The late period of this makes it difficult to tell what influences may have informed Philos writings. In the Baal Cycle, Baal Hadad is challenged by and defeats Yam, afterward, with the help of Athirat and Anat, Baal persuades El to allow him a palace. El approves, and the palace is built by Kothar-wa-Khasis, after the palace is constructed, Baal gives forth a thunderous roar out of the palace window and challenges Mot. Mot enters through the window and swallows Baal, sending him to the Underworld, with no one to give rain, there is a terrible drought in Baals absence. The other deities, especially El and Anat, are distraught that Baal has been taken to the Underworld, Anat goes to the Underworld, attacks Mot with a knife, grinds him up into pieces, and scatters him far and wide. With Mot defeated, Baal is able to return and refresh the Earth with rain and it is considered virtually impossible to reconstruct a clear picture of Canaanite religious practices. Although child sacrifice was known to surrounding peoples there is no reference to it in ancient Phoenician or Classical texts, the biblical representation of Canaanite religion is always negative
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Adonis
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Adonis, in Greek mythology, is a central figure in various mystery religions. There has been much scholarship over the centuries concerning the roles of Adonis, if any. Modern scholarship sometimes describes him as a renewed, ever-youthful vegetation god. His name is applied in modern times to handsome youths. Syrian Adonis is Gauas or Aos, akin to Egyptian Osiris, the Semitic Tammuz and Baal Hadad, the Etruscan Atunis and the Phrygian Attis, all of whom are deities of rebirth and vegetation. Circa the sixth century BC, the appearance of the cult of Adonis is reported in Jerusalem by the biblical Book of Ezekiel, the most detailed and literary version of the story of Adonis is a late one, in Book X of Ovids Metamorphoses. The central myth in its Greek telling, Smyrna, daughter of Theias, king of Assyria, Theias finds out and is determined to kill her, when the gods intervene and turn her into a myrrh tree. Nine months later the baby Adonis comes out of the tree, Aphrodite fell in love with the beautiful youth. Aphrodite sheltered Adonis as a baby and entrusted him to Persephone. Persephone was also taken by Adonis beauty and refused to him back to Aphrodite. The dispute between the two goddesses was settled by Zeus, Adonis was to spend one-third of every year with each goddess and he chose to spend two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite. Adonis died in Aphrodites arms, who came to him when she heard his groans, when he died she sprinkled the blood with nectar, from which sprang the short-lived anemone, which takes its name from the wind which so easily makes its petals fall. And so it is the blood of Adonis that each spring turns to red the torrential river, Afqa is the sacred source where the waters of the river emerge from a huge grotto in a cliff 200 metres high. It is there that the myth of Astarte and Adonis was born, adoniss birth is shrouded in confusion for those who require a single, authoritative version, for various peripheral stories circulated concerning Adonis parentage. The most widely accepted version is recounted in Ovids Metamorphoses, where Adonis is the son of Myrrha, Myrrha turned into a myrrh tree and Lucina helped the tree to give birth to Adonis. The patriarchal Hellenes sought a father for the god, and found him in Byblos and Cyprus, pseudo-Apollodorus, considered Adonis to be the son of Cinyras, of Paphos on Cyprus, and Metharme. According to pseudo-Apollodorus Bibliotheke, Hesiod, in a work that does not survive, made of him the son of Phoenix. In Cyprus, the cult of Adonis gradually superseded that of Cinyras, Hesiod made him the son of Phoenix, eponym of the Phoenicians, thus a figure of Phoenician origin, his association with Cyprus is not attested before the classical era
31.
Anat
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Anat or Anath is a major northwest Semitic goddess. In the Ugaritic Ba‘al/Hadad cycle ‘Anat is a violent war-goddess, a virgin who is the sister and, according to a disputed theory. Ba‘al is usually called the son of Dagan and sometimes the son of El, ‘Anats titles used again and again are virgin ‘Anat and sister-in-law of the peoples. Her character in this passage anticipates her subsequent warlike role against the enemies of Baal. the daughter of El. Later, when Ba‘al is believed to be dead, she seeks after Ba‘al like a cow for its calf and finds his body and buries it with great sacrifices and weeping. Text CTA10 tells how ‘Anat seeks after Ba‘al who is out hunting, finds him, following the birth she brings the new calf to Ba‘al on Mount Zephon. Nowhere in these texts is ‘Anat explicitly Ba‘al Hadads consort, to judge from later traditions ‘Athtart is more likely to be Ba‘al Hadads consort. Complicating matters is that northwest Semitic culture permitted more than one wife and he then added to this insult by asking what would a woman do with a bow. Like Inanna in the Epic of Gilgamesh, ‘Anat complained to El, ‘Anat launched her attendant Yatpan in hawk form against Aqhat to knock the breath out of him and to steal the bow back. Her plan succeeds, but Aqhat is killed instead of merely beaten, in her rage against Yatpan, Yatpan runs away and the bow and arrows fall into the sea. ‘Anat mourned for Aqhat and for the curse that this act would bring upon the land, the focus of the story then turns to Paghat, the wise younger sister of Aqhat. She sets off to avenge her brothers death and to restore the land which has been devastated by drought as a result of the murder. It breaks at a dramatic moment when Paghat discovers that the mercenary whom she has hired to help her avenge the death is, in fact, Yatpan. The parallels between the story of ‘Anat and her revenge on Mot for the killing of her brother are obvious, in the end, the seasonal myth is played out on the human level. Gibson thinks Rahmay, co-wife of El with Athirat, is also the goddess ‘Anat, use of dual names of deities in Ugaritic poetry are an essential part of the verse form, and that two names for the same deity are traditionally mentioned in parallel lines. In the same way, Athirat is called Elath in paired couplets, the poetic structure can also be seen in early Hebrew verse forms. Anat first appears in Egypt in the 16th dynasty along with other northwest Semitic deities and she was especially worshiped in her aspect of a war goddess, often paired with the goddess Ashtart. In the Contest Between Horus and Set, these two appear as daughters of Re and are given as allies to the god Set
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