1.
Canaan
–
Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible, in particular, the references in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34 define the Land of Canaan as extending from Lebanon southward to the Brook of Egypt and eastward to the Jordan River Valley. References to Canaan in the Bible are usually backward-looking, referring to a region that had something else. The term Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled, the Amarna Letters and other cuneiform documents use Kinaḫḫu, while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na. Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna period as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged. Much of the knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo. The English term Canaan comes from the Hebrew כנען, via Greek Χαναάν Khanaan and it appears as KUR ki-na-ah-na in the Amarna letters, and knʿn is found on coins from Phoenicia in the last half of the 1st millennium. It first occurs in Greek in the writings of Hecataeus as Khna, scholars connect the name Canaan with knʿn, Kanaan, the general Northwest Semitic name for this region. An early explanation derives the term from the Semitic root knʿ to be low, humble, purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have named after their place of origin. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far, however, according to Robert Drews, Speisers proposal has generally been abandoned. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, Jonathan Tubb states that the term ga-na-na may provide a third millennium reference to Canaanite while at the same time stating that the first certain reference is in the 18th century BC. See Ebla-Biblical controversy for further details, Mari letters A letter from Mutu-bisir to Shamshi-Adad I of the Old Assyrian Empire has been translated, It is in Rahisum that the brigands and the Canaanites are situated. It was found in 1973 in the ruins of Mari, an Assyrian outpost at that time in Syria, additional unpublished references to Kinahnum in the Mari letters refer to the same episode. Alalakh texts A reference to Ammiya being in the land of Canaan is found on the Statue of Idrimi from Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mothers relatives to seek refuge in the land of Canaan, the other references in the Alalakh texts are, AT154 AT181, A list of Apiru people with their origins. All are towns, except for Canaan AT188, A list of Muskenu people with their origins, the letters are written in the official and diplomatic East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, though Canaanitish words and idioms are also in evidence. May the king ask Yanhamu about these matters, may the king ask his commissioner, who is familiar with Canaan EA151, Letter from Abimilku to the Pharaoh, The king, my lord wrote to me, write to me what you have heard from Canaan
Canaan
–
A 1692 depiction of Canaan, by Philip Lea
Canaan
–
Map of the Near East by
Robert de Vaugondy (1762), indicating Canaan as limited to the
Holy Land, to the exclusion of Lebanon and Syria
Canaan
–
Map of Canaan, with the border defined by Numbers 34:1–12 shown in red.
Canaan
–
Amarna tablet EA 9
2.
State of Palestine
–
The State of Palestine claims the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as the designated capital. Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine have been occupied by Israel since 1967 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War and its independence was declared on 15 November 1988 by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Algiers as a government-in-exile. Since the British Mandate, the term Palestine has been associated with the area that currently covers the State of Israel, the West Bank. In 1947, the UN adopted a plan for a two-state solution in the remaining territory of the mandate. The plan was accepted by the Jewish leadership but rejected by the Arab leaders, on the eve of final British withdrawal, the Jewish Agency for Israel declared the establishment of the State of Israel according to the proposed UN plan. During the war, Israel gained additional territories that were designated to be part of the Arab state under the UN plan, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Transjordan occupied the West Bank. Egypt initially supported the creation of an All-Palestine Government, but disbanded it in 1959, Transjordan never recognized it and instead decided to incorporate the West Bank with its own territory to form Jordan. The annexation was ratified in 1950 but was rejected by the international community, the Six-Day War in 1967, when Egypt, Jordan, and Syria fought against Israel, ended with Israel being in occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, besides other territories. In 1964, when the West Bank was controlled by Jordan, the Palestinian National Charter of the PLO defines the boundaries of Palestine as the whole remaining territory of the mandate, including Israel. Following the Six-Day War, the PLO moved to Jordan, the October 1974 Arab League summit designated the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed their right to establish an independent state of urgency. In November 1974, the PLO was recognized as competent on all matters concerning the question of Palestine by the UN General Assembly granting them observer status as an entity at the UN. In spite of this decision, the PLO did not participate at the UN in its capacity of the State of Palestines government, in 1979, through the Camp David Accords, Egypt signaled an end to any claim of its own over the Gaza Strip. In July 1988, Jordan ceded its claims to the West Bank—with the exception of guardianship over Haram al-Sharif—to the PLO, in November 1988, the PLO legislature, while in exile, declared the establishment of the State of Palestine. In the month following, it was recognised by many states, including Egypt. In the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the State of Palestine is described as being established on the Palestinian territory, the UN membership application submitted by the State of Palestine also specified that it is based on the 1967 borders. During the negotiations of the Oslo Accords, the PLO recognised Israels right to exist, after Israel took control of the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza Strip from Egypt, it began to establish Israeli settlements there. These were organised into Judea and Samaria district and Hof Aza Regional Council in the Southern District, in 1980, Israel decided to freeze elections for these councils and to establish instead Village Leagues, whose officials were under Israeli influence. Later this model became ineffective for both Israel and the Palestinians, and the Village Leagues began to break up, with the last being the Hebron League, dissolved in February 1988
State of Palestine
–
The destroyed
Palestinian Legislative Council building in Gaza City,
Gaza–Israel conflict, September 2009
State of Palestine
–
Flag
State of Palestine
–
Palestinian children in
Jenin, a city on the West Bank
3.
Lebanon
–
Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
Lebanon
–
The
Fall of Tripoli to the Egyptian
Mamluks and destruction of the Crusader state, the County of Tripoli, 1289
Lebanon
–
Flag
Lebanon
–
Fakhreddine II Palace, 17th century
Lebanon
–
1862 map drawn by the French expedition of
Beaufort d'Hautpoul, later used as a template for the 1920 borders of
Greater Lebanon.
4.
Syria
–
Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
Syria
–
Female figurine, 5000 BC.
Ancient Orient Museum.
Syria
–
Flag
Syria
–
God head, the kingdom of
Yamhad (c. 1600 BC)
Syria
–
Ebla royal palace c. 2400 BC
5.
Canaanites
–
Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible, in particular, the references in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34 define the Land of Canaan as extending from Lebanon southward to the Brook of Egypt and eastward to the Jordan River Valley. References to Canaan in the Bible are usually backward-looking, referring to a region that had something else. The term Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled, the Amarna Letters and other cuneiform documents use Kinaḫḫu, while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na. Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna period as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged. Much of the knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo. The English term Canaan comes from the Hebrew כנען, via Greek Χαναάν Khanaan and it appears as KUR ki-na-ah-na in the Amarna letters, and knʿn is found on coins from Phoenicia in the last half of the 1st millennium. It first occurs in Greek in the writings of Hecataeus as Khna, scholars connect the name Canaan with knʿn, Kanaan, the general Northwest Semitic name for this region. An early explanation derives the term from the Semitic root knʿ to be low, humble, purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have named after their place of origin. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far, however, according to Robert Drews, Speisers proposal has generally been abandoned. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, Jonathan Tubb states that the term ga-na-na may provide a third millennium reference to Canaanite while at the same time stating that the first certain reference is in the 18th century BC. See Ebla-Biblical controversy for further details, Mari letters A letter from Mutu-bisir to Shamshi-Adad I of the Old Assyrian Empire has been translated, It is in Rahisum that the brigands and the Canaanites are situated. It was found in 1973 in the ruins of Mari, an Assyrian outpost at that time in Syria, additional unpublished references to Kinahnum in the Mari letters refer to the same episode. Alalakh texts A reference to Ammiya being in the land of Canaan is found on the Statue of Idrimi from Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mothers relatives to seek refuge in the land of Canaan, the other references in the Alalakh texts are, AT154 AT181, A list of Apiru people with their origins. All are towns, except for Canaan AT188, A list of Muskenu people with their origins, the letters are written in the official and diplomatic East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, though Canaanitish words and idioms are also in evidence. May the king ask Yanhamu about these matters, may the king ask his commissioner, who is familiar with Canaan EA151, Letter from Abimilku to the Pharaoh, The king, my lord wrote to me, write to me what you have heard from Canaan
Canaanites
–
A 1692 depiction of Canaan, by Philip Lea
Canaanites
–
Map of the Near East by
Robert de Vaugondy (1762), indicating Canaan as limited to the
Holy Land, to the exclusion of Lebanon and Syria
Canaanites
–
Map of Canaan, with the border defined by Numbers 34:1–12 shown in red.
Canaanites
–
Amarna tablet EA 9
6.
Levant
–
The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean. The term Levant entered English in the late 15th century from French and it derives from the Italian Levante, meaning rising, implying the rising of the sun in the east. As such, it is equivalent to the Arabic term Mashriq. Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine, in 1581, England set up the Levant Company to monopolize commerce with the Ottoman Empire. The name Levant States was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and this is probably the reason why the term Levant has come to be used synonymously with Syria-Palestine. Some scholars misunderstood the term thinking that it derives from the name of Lebanon, today the term is typically used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. It does not include Anatolia, the Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula proper, the Sinai Peninsula is sometimes included. The Levant has been described as the crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa, the populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs, and a very long history. They are often referred to as Levantines, the term Levant, which appeared in English in 1497, originally meant the East in general or Mediterranean lands east of Italy. It is borrowed from the French levant rising, referring to the rising of the sun in the east, the phrase is ultimately from the Latin word levare, meaning lift, raise. Similar etymologies are found in Greek Ἀνατολή, in Germanic Morgenland, in Italian, in Hungarian Kelet, in Spanish and Catalan Levante and Llevant, most notably, Orient and its Latin source oriens meaning east, is literally rising, deriving from Latin orior rise. The notion of the Levant has undergone a process of historical evolution in usage, meaning. While the term Levantine originally referred to the European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region, it came to refer to regional native. The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire, at this time, the Far East was known as the Upper Levant. In early 19th-century travel writing, the term sometimes incorporated certain Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman empire, in 19th-century archaeology, it referred to overlapping cultures in this region during and after prehistoric times, intending to reference the place instead of any one culture. The French mandate of Syria and Lebanon was called the Levant states, today, Levant is the term typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the history of the region. Scholars have adopted the term Levant to identify the region due to it being a wider, yet relevant, archaeologists seeking a neutral orientation that is neither biblical nor national have used terms such as Levantine archaeology and archaeology of the Southern Levant. Two academic journals were launched, Journal of Levantine Studies, published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Levantine Review
Levant
–
The
Levantine Sea, the eastern portion of the
Mediterranean.
Levant
–
Countries of the Levant in the broad, historic meaning (equivalent to the
eastern Mediterranean)
Levant
–
French medal commemorating the
war in
Cilicia, which was initially part of the
French mandate.
Levant
–
Satellite view of part of the Levant including
Cyprus,
Israel,
Jordan,
Lebanon,
Palestine, and southern
Syria.
7.
Bronze Age
–
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
Bronze Age
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel.
Bronze Age
–
Diffusion of metallurgy in
Europe and
Asia Minor. The darkest areas are the oldest.
Bronze Age
–
A
Shang Dynasty two-handled bronze gefuding gui (1600–1046 BC).
Bronze Age
–
Spring and Autumn Period pu bronze vessel with interlaced
dragon design (722–481 BC)
8.
Common Era
–
Common Era or Current Era is a year-numbering system for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, i. e. since AD1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era, the Current Era notation system can be used as a secular alternative to the Dionysian era system, which distinguishes eras as AD and BC. The two notation systems are equivalent, thus 2017 CE corresponds to AD2017 and 400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC. The year-numbering system for the Gregorian calendar is the most widespread civil calendar used in the world today. For decades, it has been the standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations. The expression has been traced back to Latin usage to 1615, as vulgaris aerae, the term Common Era can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish academics. He attempted to number years from a reference date, an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, numbering years in this manner became more widespread in Europe with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, in 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The first use of the Latin term vulgaris aerae discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler, Kepler uses it again in a 1616 table of ephemerides, and again in 1617. A1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English – so far, a 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra,6. A1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, before the beginning of the vulgar æra, a 1796 book uses the term vulgar era of the nativity. The first so-far-discovered usage of Christian Era is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac, a 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of Christian Era. The English phrase common Era appears at least as early as 1708, a 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. The first-so-far found usage of the phrase before the era is in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era, the Catholic Encyclopedia in at least one article reports all three terms being commonly understood by the early 20th century. Thus, the era of the Jews, the common era of the Mahometans, common era of the world
Common Era
–
Key concepts
9.
Polytheism
–
Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism, within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times. Polytheism was the form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions. Important polytheistic religions practiced today include Chinese traditional religion, Hinduism, Japanese Shinto, the term comes from the Greek πολύ poly and θεός theos and was first invented by the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria to argue with the Greeks. When Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, non-Christians were just called Gentiles or pagans or by the pejorative term idolaters. The modern usage of the term is first revived in French through Jean Bodin in 1580, a central, main division in polytheism is between soft polytheism and hard polytheism. Hard polytheism is the belief that gods are distinct, separate, real divine beings, hard polytheists reject the idea that all gods are one god. Hard polytheists do not necessarily consider the gods of all cultures as being equally real, Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from the animist beliefs prevalent in most folk religions. The gods of polytheism are in cases the highest order of a continuum of supernatural beings or spirits. In some cases these spirits are divided into celestial or chthonic classes, since divinity is intellectual, and all intellect returns into itself, this myth expresses in allegory the essence of divinity. Myths may be regarded physically when they express the activities of gods in the world, the psychological way is to regard the activities of the soul itself and or the souls acts of thought. The material is to regard material objects to actually be gods, for example, to call the earth Gaia, ocean Okeanos, Some well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods and the Egyptian gods, and the classical-attested pantheon which includes the ancient Greek religion and Roman religion. Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec gods, an example of a religious notion from this shared past is the concept of *dyēus, which is attested in several distinct religious systems. In many civilizations, pantheons tended to grow over time, deities first worshipped as the patrons of cities or places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories. Conquests could lead to the subordination of the elder cultures pantheon to a one, as in the Greek Titanomachia. Most ancient belief systems held that gods influenced human lives, epicurus believed that these gods were material, human-like, and that they inhabited the empty spaces between worlds. Though it is suggested that Hestia stepped down when Dionysus was invited to Mount Olympus, robert Graves The Greek Myths cites two sources that obviously do not suggest Hestia surrendered her seat, though he suggests she did
Polytheism
–
Egyptian gods in the
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
10.
Ugarit
–
Ugarit was an ancient port city, the ruins of which are located at what is now called Ras Shamra, a headland in northern Syria. The polity was at its height from c.1450 BC until 1200 BC, Ras Shamra lies on the Mediterranean coast, some 11 kilometres north of Latakia, near modern Burj al-Qasab. Neolithic Ugarit was important enough to be fortified with an early on, perhaps by 6000 BC. Ugarit was important perhaps because it was both a port and at the entrance of the trade route to the Euphrates and Tigris lands. The city reached its heyday between 1800 and 1200 BC, when it ruled a trade-based coastal kingdom, trading with Egypt, Cyprus, the Aegean, Syria, the Hittites, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. The first written evidence mentioning the city comes from the city of Ebla. Ugarit passed into the sphere of influence of Egypt, which influenced its art. Evidence of the earliest Ugaritic contact with Egypt comes from a carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I, a stela and a statuette from the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear at what time these monuments were brought to Ugarit, amarna letters from Ugarit c.1350 BC record one letter each from Ammittamru I, Niqmaddu II, and his queen. From the 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in contact with Egypt. In the second millennium BC, Ugarits population was Amorite, the kingdom of Ugarit may have controlled about 2,000 km2 on average. During some of its history it would have been in close proximity to, the last Bronze Age king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, was a contemporary of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma II. The exact dates of his reign are unknown, however, a letter by the king is preserved, in which Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Near Eastern states from invasion by the advancing Sea Peoples. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots are in the Land of Hatti, thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it, the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us, however, no help arrived, and the city was burned to the ground at the end of the Bronze Age. Ugarit also contained many caches of cuneiform tablets, actual libraries that contained a wealth of information, the destruction levels of the ruin contained Late Helladic IIIB pottery ware, but no LH IIIC. Therefore, the date of the destruction of Ugarit is important for the dating of the LH IIIC phase in mainland Greece. Since an Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah was found in the levels,1190 BC was taken as the date for the beginning of the LH IIIC
Ugarit
–
Entrance to the
Royal Palace of Ugarit
Ugarit
–
Excavated ruins at Ras Shamra
Ugarit
–
Boar
rhyton, Mycenaean ceramic imported to Ugarit, 14th–13th century BC (
Louvre)
Ugarit
–
Ugarit
11.
Louvre
–
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
Louvre
–
the Richelieu wing (2005)
Louvre
–
The only portion of the medieval Louvre still visible
Louvre
–
Antonio Canova 's
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss was commissioned in 1787, donated in 1824.
Louvre
–
The
Venus de Milo was added to the Louvre's collection during the reign of
Louis XVIII.
12.
Asherah
–
Asherah, in ancient Semitic religion, is a mother goddess who appears in a number of ancient sources. She appears in Akkadian writings by the name of Ašratu, Asherah is generally considered identical with the Ugaritic goddess ʼAṯirat. Asherah is identified as the consort of the Sumerian god Anu, and Ugaritic El, the oldest deities of their respective pantheons, as well as Yahweh. This role gave her a high rank in the Ugaritic pantheon. Despite her association with Yahweh in extra-biblical sources, Yahweh in the Bible commands the destruction of her shrines so as to maintain purity of worship to Yahweh Himself. The Book of Jeremiah, written circa 628 BC, possibly refers to Asherah when it uses the title Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah 7, 16-18 and Jeremiah 44, for a discussion of the Queen of Heaven in the Hebrew Bible, see Queen of heaven. In the Ugaritic texts Athirat is almost always given her full title rbt ʼaṯrt ym, rabat ʼAṯirat yammi and this occurs 12 times in the Baʿal Epic alone. The name is understood by various translators and commentators to be from the Ugaritic root ʼaṯr stride, cognate with the Hebrew root ʼšr, there she appears to champion Yam, in his struggle with Baal. Her other main divine epithet was qaniyatu ʾilhm which may be translated as the creatrix of the Gods. In those texts, Athirat is the consort of the god El, there is one reference to the 70 sons of Athirat and she is also called Elat and Qodesh, holiness. Athirat in Akkadian texts appears as Ashratum, the wife of Anu, among the Hittites this goddess appears as Asherdu or Asertu, the consort of Elkunirsa and mother of either 77 or 88 sons. Among the Amarna letters a King of the Amorites is named Abdi-Ashirta, in Egypt, beginning in the Eighteenth Dynasty, a Semitic goddess named Qudshu Holiness begins to appear prominently, equated with the native Egyptian goddess Hathor. Some think this is Athirat/Ashratu under her Ugaritic name, some biblical scholars believe that Asherah at one time was worshiped as the consort of Yahweh, the national God of Israel. Josiahs grandfather Manasseh had erected one of such statues, the inscriptions found invoke not only Yahweh but El and Baal, and two include the phrases Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah and Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah. The Asherah is most likely a cultic object, although the relationship of this object to Yahweh and to the goddess Asherah, in another inscription called Yahweh and his Asherah, there appears a cow feeding its calf. If Asherah is to be associated with Hathor/Qudshu, it can then be assumed that the cow is whats being referred to as Asherah, william Devers book Did God Have a Wife. The word Asherah is translated in Greek as alsos, grove, or alse, groves, or occasionally by dendra, trees, Vulgate in Latin provided lucus or nemus, the association of Asherah with trees in the Hebrew Bible is very strong. For example, she is found under trees and is made of wood by human beings, trees described as being an asherah or part of an asherah include grapevines, pomegranates, walnuts, myrtles, and willows
Asherah
–
Asherah אֲשֵׁרָה
13.
El (deity)
–
’Ēl is a Northwest Semitic word meaning god or deity, or referring to any one of multiple major Ancient Near East deities. A rarer spelling, ila, represents the form in Old Akkadian. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic archaic biliteral ʔ‑L, meaning god, specific deities known as El or Il include the supreme god of the Canaanite religion and the supreme god of the Mesopotamian Semites in the pre-Sargonic period. Cognate forms are found throughout the Semitic languages and they include Ugaritic ʾil, pl. ʾlm, Phoenician ʾl pl. ʾlm, Hebrew ʾēl, pl. ʾēlîm, Aramaic ʾl, Akkadian ilu, pl. ilānu. In northwest Semitic use, El was both a word for any god and the special name or title of a particular god who was distinguished from other gods as being the god. El is listed at the head of many pantheons, in some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, El played a role as father of the gods or of creation. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean Ēl the King, the Semitic root ʾlh may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning gods is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm powers, in the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for god by religious readers. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis, the stem ʾl is found prominently in the earliest strata of east Semitic, northwest Semitic, and south Semitic groups. The Egyptian god Ptah is given the title ḏū gitti Lord of Gath in a prism from Lachish which has on its face the name of Amenhotep II The title ḏū gitti is also found in Serābitṭ text 353. A Phoenician inscribed amulet of the seventh century BCE from Arslan Tash may refer to ʼĒl, the text was translated by Rosenthal as follows, An eternal bond has been established for us. Ashshur has established for us, and all the divine beings, however, Cross translated the text as follows, The Eternal One has made a covenant oath with us, Asherah has made with us. And all the sons of El, And the great council of all the Holy Ones, with oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth. In some inscriptions, the name ’Ēl qōne ’arṣ meaning ʼĒl creator of Earth appears, in Hittite texts, the expression becomes the single name Ilkunirsa, this Ilkunirsa appearing as the husband of Asherdu and father of 77 or 88 sons. In a Hurrian hymn to ʼĒl, he is called ’il brt and ’il dn which Cross takes as ʼĒl of the covenant and ʼĒl the judge respectively. Various family gods are recorded, divine names listed as belong to a family or clan, sometimes by title and sometimes by name. In Amorite personal names, the most common elements are Il, Hadad/Adad. It is likely that Il is also often the god called in Akkadian texts Amurru or Il Amurru
El (deity)
–
Possible depiction of Ēl with two lions on the back of the handle of the
Gebel el-Arak Knife c. 3450 BCE
El (deity)
–
El, seated on a throne with lion feet, wears conical horned headdress, a tunic and mantle. He receives gifts from a priest or king or lesser deity.
El (deity)
–
Gilded statuette of El from
Megiddo
14.
Attar (god)
–
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
Attar (god)
–
South Arabian fragment of a
stela, depicts a reclining
ibex and three
Arabian oryx heads. The ibex was one of the most sacred animals in South Arabia, while the oryx antelope was associated with Athtar, 5th century BC;
Walters Art Museum.
15.
Baal
–
Baal, properly Baʿal, was a title and honorific meaning lord in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods and that use was taken over into Christianity and Islam, sometimes under the opprobrious form Beelzebub in demonology. The spelling Baal derives from the Greek Báal, which appears in the New Testament and Septuagint, and from its Latinized form Baal and these forms in turn derive from the vowel-less Northwest Semitic form BʿL. The words Biblical senses as a Phoenician deity and false gods generally were extended during the Protestant Reformation to denote any idols, icons of the saints, in such contexts, it follows the anglicized pronunciation and usually omits any mark between its two As. In modern scholarship, the half ring ⟨ ʿ ⟩ or apostrophe ⟨ ⟩ in the name Baʿal marks the original voiced pharyngeal fricative. The Northwest Semitic languages—Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Amorite, and Aramaic—were all abjads, as such, the word baʿal was usually written as BʿL, its vowels have been reconstructed. In these languages, baʿal signified owner and, by extension, lord and it also appears as Baʿali or Baʿaly, my Lord. Cognates include the Akkadian Bēlu, Amharic bal, and Arabic baʿl, báʿal and baʿl still serve as the words for husband in modern Hebrew and Arabic respectively. They also appear in some contexts concerning the ownership of things or possession of traits, in Levantine Arabic, baʿl also serves as an adjective describing farming that relies on rainwater alone. The feminine form is baʿalah, meaning mistress in the sense of an owner or lady of the house. Suggestions in early modern scholarship also included comparison with the Celtic god, like EN in Sumerian, the Akkadian bēlu and Northwest Semitic baʿal was used as a title of various deities in the Mesopotamian and Semitic pantheons. Only a definitive article, genitive or epithet, or context could establish which particular god was meant, Baʿal was also used as a proper name by the third millennium BCE, when he appears in a list of deities at Abu Salabikh. Most modern scholarship asserts that this Baʿal—usually distinguished as The Lord —was identical with the storm and fertility god Hadad, a minority propose that Baʿal was a native Canaanite deity whose cult was identified with or absorbed aspects of Adads. Regardless of their relationship, by the 1st millennium BCE. The Phoenician Baʿal is generally identified with either El or Dagan, nonetheless, Ugaritic records show him as a weather god, with particular power over lightning, wind, rain, and fertility. The dry summers of the area were explained as Baʿals time in the underworld, anxiety about the availability of water for crops and trees increased the importance of his cult, which focused attention on his role as a rain god. He was also called upon during battle, showing that he was thought to intervene actively in the world of man, the Lebanese city of Baalbeck was named after Baal. The Baʿal of Ugarit was the epithet of Hadad but as the time passed, Baʿal was usually said to be the son of Dagan, but appears as one of the sons of El in Ugaritic sources
Baal
–
Bronze figurine of a Baal, 14th x 12th century BCE, found at Ras Shamra (ancient
Ugarit) near the Phoenician coast.
Musée du Louvre.
Baal
–
"Beelzebub" in
De Plancy 's 1825
Dictionnaire Infernal.
Baal
–
The
stele of
Baal with Thunderbolt found in the ruins of
Ugarit.
16.
Tammuz (deity)
–
The Levantine Adonis, who was drawn into the Greek pantheon, was considered by Joseph Campbell among others to be another counterpart of Tammuz, son and consort. The Aramaic name Tammuz seems to have derived from the Akkadian form Tammuzi. The later standard Sumerian form, Dumu-zid, in turn became Dumuzi in Akkadian, tamuzi also is Dumuzid or Dumuzi. In cult practice, the dead Tammuz was widely mourned in the Ancient Near East, locations associated in antiquity with the site of his death include both Harran and Byblos, among others. O Dumuzid of the mouth, of the ever kind eyes, she sobs tearfully, O you of the fair-spoken mouth, of the ever kind eyes. Lad, husband, lord, sweet as the date, O Dumuzid, then said he unto to me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man. Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these, —Ezekiel 8, 14-15 Tammuz idol worship was inconsistent with Yahwism. Ezekiels testimony is the only mention of Tammuz in the Hebrew Bible, though echoes of Tammuz have been seen in the Book of Isaiah. Other Sumerian texts showed that kings were to be married to Inanna in a sacred marriage, a number of pastoral poems and songs relate the love affair of Inanna and Dumuzid the shepherd. A text recovered in 1963 recounts The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi in terms that are tender, ereshkigal is in mourning at the death of her consort, Gugalanna. She passed through seven gates and at each one was required to leave a garment or an ornament so that when she had passed through the gate she was a simple woman. Despite warnings about her presumption, she did not turn back, immediately the Anunnaki of the underworld judged her, gazed at her with the eyes of death, and she became a corpse, hung up on a meathook. This is the form of the myth as it appeared in M. Jastrows Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World,1915. New texts uncovered in 1963 filled in the story in another fashion, showing that Dumuzi was in fact consigned to the Underworld himself. Inannas faithful servant attempted to get help from the other gods, the details of Enki/Eas plan differ slightly in the two surviving accounts, but in the end, Inanna/Ishtar was resurrected. However, a conservation of souls law required her to find a replacement for herself in Kur. She went from one god to another, but each one pleaded with her and she had not the heart to go through with it until she found Dumuzid/Tammuz richly dressed, Inanna/Ishtar immediately set her accompanying demons on Dumuzid/Tammuz. At this point the Akkadian text fails as Tammuz sister Belili, introduced for the first time, strips herself of her jewelry in mourning but claims that Tammuz and the dead will come back
Tammuz (deity)
–
Tammuz, statue by Imre Schrammel,
National Theatre of Miskolc, Hungary.
17.
Hadad
–
Hadad, Adad, Haddad or Iškur was the storm and rain god in the Northwest Semitic and ancient Mesopotamian religions. It was attested in Ebla as Hadda in c.2500 BC, from the Levant, Hadad was introduced to Mesopotamia by the Amorites, where it became known as the Akkadian god Adad. Adad and Iškur are usually written with the logogram dIM, Hadad was also called Pidar, Rapiu, Baal-Zephon, or often simply Baʿal, but this title was also used for other gods. The bull was the animal of Hadad. He appeared bearded, often holding a club and thunderbolt while wearing a bull-horned headdress, Hadad was equated with the Indo-European Nasite Hittite storm-god Teshub, the Egyptian god Set, the Rigvedic god Indra, the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god Jupiter, as Jupiter Dolichenus. In religious texts, Ba‘al/Hadad is the lord of the sky who governs the rain and he is the protector of life and growth to the agricultural people of the region. The absence of Ba‘al causes dry spells, starvation, death, also refers to the mountain of the west wind. The Biblical reference occurs at a time when Yahweh has provided a strong east wind to push back the waters of the Red or Erythrian Sea, so that the sons of Israel might cross over. In the Ugaritic texts El, the god of the pantheon, resides on Mount Lel. That is perhaps the mythical cosmic mountain, the Ba‘al cycle is fragmentary and leaves much unexplained that would have been obvious to a contemporary. In the earliest extant sections there appears to be sort of feud between El and Ba‘al. El makes one of his sons who is called both prince Yamm and judge Nahar king over the gods and changes Yamms name from yw to mdd ’il, El informs Yamm that in order to secure his power, Yamm will have to drive Ba‘al from his throne. In this battle Ba‘al is somehow weakened, but the divine craftsman Kothar-wa-Khasis strikes Yamm with two clubs, Yamm collapses, and Baal finishes the fight. ‘Athtart proclaims Ba‘als victory and salutes Ba‘al/Hadad as lrkb ‘rpt, a phrase applied by editors of modern English Bibles to Yahweh in Psalm 68.4, at ‘Athtarts urging Ba‘al scatters Yamm and proclaims that Yamm is dead and heat is assured. A later passage refers to Ba‘als victory over Lotan, the many-headed sea-dragon, due to gaps in the text it is not known whether Lotan is another name for Yamm or a reference to another similar story. In the Mediterranean area, crops were often threatened by winds, storms, a palace is built for Ba‘al/Hadad with cedars from Mount Lebanon and Sirion and also from silver and from gold. In his new palace Ba‘al hosts a great feast for the other gods, when urged by Kothar-wa-Khasis, Ba’al, somewhat reluctantly, opens a window in his palace and sends forth thunder and lightning. He then invites Mot Death, another son of El, to the feast, the eater of human flesh and blood will not be satisfied with bread and wine
Hadad
–
Stele of
Baal with Thunderbolt, 15th-13th century BC. Found at the acropolis in Ras Shamra (ancient city of Ugarit).
18.
Baalshamin
–
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
Baalshamin
–
The temple of Baalshamin in Palmyra before its destruction in August 2015.
Baalshamin
–
Aglibol, Baalshamin (center), and
Malakbel (1st century; found near
Palmyra,
Syria)
19.
Baal Hammon
–
Baal Hammon, properly Baʿal Hammon or Hamon, was the chief god of Carthage. He was a weather god considered responsible for the fertility of vegetation and he was depicted as a bearded older man with curling rams horns. Baʿal Hammons female cult partner was Tanit, the worship of Baʿal Hammon flourished in the Phoenician colony of Carthage. His supremacy among the Carthaginian gods is believed to date to the fifth century BC, modern scholars identify him variously with the Northwest Semitic god El or with Dagon. He was probably never identified with Baʿal Melqart, although one finds this equation in older scholarship, the interpretatio graeca identified him with the Titan Cronus. Greco-Roman sources report that the Carthaginians burned their children as offerings to Baʿal Hammon, attributes of his Romanized form as an African Saturn indicate that Hammon was a fertility god. The meaning of Hammon is unclear, in the 19th century, when Ernest Renan excavated the ruins of Hammon, the modern Umm al-‘Awamid between Tyre and Acre, he found two Phoenician inscriptions dedicated to El-Hammon. Since El was normally identified with Cronus, and Ba‘al Hammon was also identified with Cronus, more often a connection with Northwest Semitic ḥammān has been proposed, suggesting the sense Lord of the Brazier. He has been identified with a solar deity. Yigael Yadin thought him to be a moon god, edward Lipinski identifies him with the god Dagon. Frank Moore Cross argued for a connection to Hamōn, the Ugaritic name for Mount Amanus, baal Hamon, Hammon, Khamon, or Ammon was a place mentioned in the Song of Solomon. It was the location of a vineyard owned by Solomon. The locale has been supposed to be identical with Baal-gad, others identify it with Belamon, in Central Israel, near Dothaim. Some have suggested that it is not to be taken as a literal place, baal Carthaginian religion Eastons Bible Dictionary 1897 On-line parallel Bible, Song of Solomon 8,11
Baal Hammon
–
Statue of Baʿal Hammon on his throne with a crown and flanked by
sphinxes, 1st century.
Baal Hammon
–
An
incense burner depicting Ba'al-Hamon, 2nd century BC
20.
Dagon
–
Dagon or Dagan is an ancient Mesopotamian Assyro-Babylonian and Levantine deity. He appears to have been worshipped as a fertility god in Ebla, Assyria, Ugarit, the Hebrew Bible mentions him as the national god of the Philistines with temples at Ashdod and elsewhere in Gaza. A long-standing association with the word for fish dâg, perhaps going back to the Iron Age, has led to an interpretation as a fish-god, and the association of merman motifs in Assyrian art. The gods name was, however, more derived from a word for grain, suggesting that he was in origin associated with fertility. The name is recorded as Ugaritic Dgn, Akkadian, Dagana, in Ugaritic, the root dgn also means grain, in Hebrew דגן dāgān, Samaritan dīgan, is an archaic word for grain. The Phoenician author Sanchuniathon explained Dagon as a word for grain, Sanchuniathon further explains, And Dagon, after he discovered grain and the plough, was called Zeus Arotrios. The word arotrios means ploughman, pertaining to agriculture, the theory relating the name to Hebrew dāg/dâg, fish, based solely upon a reading of 1 Samuel 5, 2–7 is discussed in Fish-god tradition below. The god Dagon first appears in extant records about 2500 BC in the Mari texts and in personal Amorite names in which the Mesopotamian gods Ilu, Dagan, and Adad are especially common. At Ebla, from at least 2300 BC, Dagan was the head of the city pantheon comprising some 200 deities and bore the titles BE-DINGIR-DINGIR, Lord of the gods and Bekalam and his consort was known only as Belatu, Lady. Both were worshipped in a temple complex called E-Mul, House of the Star. One entire quarter of Ebla and one of its gates were named after Dagan, Dagan is called ti-lu ma-tim, dew of the land and Be-ka-na-na, possibly Lord of Canaan. He was called lord of many cities, of Tuttul, Irim, Ma-Ne, Zarad, Uguash, Siwad, Dagan is mentioned occasionally in early Sumerian texts but becomes prominent only in later Assyro-Babylonian inscriptions as a powerful and warlike protector, sometimes equated with Enlil. Dagans wife was in some sources the goddess Shala, in other texts, his wife is Ishara. In the preface to his famous law code, King Hammurabi calls himself the subduer of the settlements along the Euphrates with the help of Dagan, his creator. An inscription about an expedition of Naram-Sin to the Cedar Mountain relates, Naram-Sin slew Arman, an interesting early reference to Dagan occurs in a letter to King Zimri-Lim of Mari, 18th century BC, written by Itur-Asduu an official in the court of Mari and governor of Nahur. It relates a dream of a man from Shaka in which Dagan appeared, in the dream, Dagan blamed Zimri-Lims failure to subdue the King of the Yaminites upon Zimri-Lims failure to bring a report of his deeds to Dagan in Terqa. Dagan promises that when Zimri-Lim has done so, I will have the kings of the Yaminites ked on a fishermans spit, in Ugarit around 1300 BC, Dagon had a large temple and was listed third in the pantheon following a father-god and Ēl, and preceding Baīl Ṣapān. Two kings of the pre-Babylonian Dynasty of Isin were Iddin-Dagan and Ishme-Dagan, the latter name was later used by two Assyrian kings, Ishme-Dagan I and Ishme-Dagan II
Dagon
–
A conjectured colored engraving of Dagon, the "fish-god."
Dagon
–
Depiction of the destruction of Dagon by
Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1793.
21.
Conflation
–
However, if the distinctions between the two concepts appear to be superficial, intentional conflation may be desirable for the sake of conciseness and recall. The result of conflating concepts may give rise to fallacies of ambiguity, for example, the word bat has at least two distinct meanings, a flying animal, and a piece of sporting equipment. If these meanings are not distinguished, the result may be the following categorical syllogism, therefore, some wooden objects are animals. Using words with different meanings can help clarify, or can cause real confusion, english words with multiple meanings can be illustrated by instances in which a motion is merged with or a causation with manner, e. g. The bride floated towards her future, in this example, the bride may, Be married on a boat, airplane, or hot-air balloon, etc. —-not all marriages occur in a church and she could be gracefully walking the aisle towards matrimony. The verb float has multiple meanings, and both meanings in the example may be proper uses of a bride floating toward a future. The manner of the scene, described by further context, would explain the meaning of the sentence. In an alternate example, respect is used both in the sense of recognise a right and have high regard for. We can recognise someones right to the opinion the United Nations is secretly controlled by alien lizards on the moon, without holding this idea in high regard. But conflation of two different concepts leads to the notion that all ideological ideas, should be treated with respect. Conflation in logical terms is very similar to, if not identical to, deliberate Idiom conflation is the amalgamation of two different expressions. In most cases, the results in a new expression that makes little sense literally. All conflations fit into one of two categories, congruent conflations and incongruent conflations. Congruent conflations are the ideal, and more sought-after, examples of the concept. These occur when the two root expressions reflect similar thoughts, for example, look whos calling the kettle black can be formed using the root expressions look whos talking and the pot calling the kettle black. These root expressions really mean the same thing, they are both a way to point out hypocritical behavior. Of course, look whos calling the kettle black does not directly imply anything, an illustrative conflation brings together two Roman Catholic saints named Lazarus
Conflation
–
The 34th G8 Summit at
Toyako, Japan (2008).
Conflation
–
Flag of the
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, a heraldic emblem which displays conflated or "con-joined" images.
22.
Yahweh
–
Yahweh was the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah. By the end of the Babylonian exile, the existence of foreign gods was denied, and Yahweh was proclaimed as the creator of the cosmos. The Israelites originated as Bronze Age Canaanites, but Yahweh was not initially a Canaanite god, in this case a plausible etymology for the name could be from the root HWY, which would yield the meaning he blows, appropriate to a weather divinity. There is considerable but not universal support for the view that the Egyptian inscriptions refer to Yahweh, the question that arises is how he made his way to the north. A widely accepted hypothesis is that traders brought Yahweh to Israel along the routes between Egypt and Canaan, the Kenite hypothesis, named after one of the groups involved. Israel emerges into the record in the last decades of the 13th century BCE, at the very end of the Late Bronze Age. The milieu from which Israelite religion emerged was accordingly Canaanite and he lived in a tent on a mountain from whose base originated all the fresh waters of the world, with the goddess Asherah as his consort. This pair made up the top tier of the Canaanite pantheon, the tier was made up of their children. Baals sphere was the thunderstorm with its life-giving rains, so that he was also a fertility god, below the seventy second-tier gods was a third tier made up of comparatively minor craftsman and trader deities, with a fourth and final tier of divine messengers and the like. He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old, so Israel lives in safety, untroubled is Jacobs abode. Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread on their backs. After the 9th century BCE the tribes and chiefdoms of Iron Age I were replaced by ethnic nation states, Israel, Judah, Moab, Ammon and others, each with its national god, and all more or less equal. Thus Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, Milcom the god of the Ammonites, Qaus the god of the Edomites, the festivals thus celebrated Yahwehs salvation of Israel and Israels status as his holy people, although the earlier agricultural meaning was not entirely lost. Sacrifice was presumably complemented by the singing or recital of psalms, prayer played little role in official worship. Shiloh, Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Ramah and Dan were also sites for festivals, sacrifices, the making of vows, private rituals. Yahweh-worship was famously aniconic, meaning that the god was not depicted by a statue or other image, pre-exilic Israel, like its neighbours, was polytheistic, and Israelite monotheism was the culmination of a unique set of historical circumstances. The original god of Israel was El, as the name demonstrates—its probable meaning is may El rule or some other sentence-form involving the name of El. Asherah, formerly the wife of El, was worshipped as Yahwehs consort, and various biblical passages indicate that her statues were kept in his temples in Jerusalem, Bethel, and Samaria
Yahweh
–
A
drachm (quarter
shekel) coin from the Persian province of
Yehud Medinata, apparently showing the god YHW (Yahweh) as a bearded man seated on a winged and wheeled throne.
Yahweh
–
Solomon dedicates the Temple at Jerusalem (painting by
James Tissot or follower, c. 1896–1902)
23.
Purgatory
–
The notion of Purgatory is associated particularly with the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief. Judaism also believes in the possibility of purification and may even use the word purgatory to present its understanding of the meaning of Gehenna. However, the concept of soul purification may be denied in these other faith traditions. The same practice appears in traditions, such as the medieval Chinese Buddhist practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead. Roman Catholics consider the teaching on Purgatory, but not the imaginative accretions, of the early Church Fathers, Origen says that He who comes to be saved, comes to be saved through fire that burns away sins and worldliness like lead, leaving behind only pure gold. St. Ambrose of Milan speaks of a kind of baptism of fire which is located at the entrance to Heaven, and through which all must pass, at the end of the world. By this he meant that attachments to sin, habits of sin, and even venial sins could be removed in Purgatory, but not mortal sin, which, according to Catholic doctrine, causes eternal damnation. The Catholic Church gives the name Purgatory to the purification of all who die in Gods grace and friendship. Though Purgatory is often pictured as a rather than a process of purification. According to Catholic belief, immediately after death, a person undergoes judgment in which the eternal destiny is specified. Some are eternally united with God in Heaven, envisioned as a paradise of eternal joy, conversely, others reach a state called Hell, that is eternal separation from God often envisioned as an abode of never ending, fiery torment, a fire sometimes considered to be metaphorical. In addition to accepting the states of heaven and hell, Catholicism envisages a third state before being admitted to heaven, such souls, ultimately destined to be united with God in heaven, must first be cleansed through purgatory – a state of purification. Through purgatory, souls achieve the necessary to enter the joy of heaven. Mortal sin incurs both temporal punishment and eternal punishment, venial sin incurs only temporal punishment, the Catholic Church makes a distinction between these two types of sin. According to Catholicism, purification from our sinful tendencies can occur during life, the situation has been compared to that of someone who needs to be cleansed of any addiction. As from any addiction, rehabilitation from the disordered affection for created goods will be a gradual and it can be advanced during life by voluntary self-mortification and penance and by deeds of generosity that show love of God rather than of creatures. After death, a process can be recognized as a still necessary preparation for entering the divine presence. The writings of Saint Catherine of Genoa explain, As for paradise, whoever wishes to enter, does so
Purgatory
–
Image of a fiery purgatory by
Annibale Carracci
Purgatory
–
Image of a non-fiery purgatory (Gustave Doré: illustration for Dante's Purgatorio, Canto 24).
Purgatory
–
Our Lady of Mount Carmel with angels and souls in Purgatory. Baroque sculpture from
Beniajan,
Spain.
Purgatory
–
Altarpiece of the souls in purgatory.
Church of the Immaculate Conception (
Santa Cruz de Tenerife,
Spain).
24.
Eshmun
–
Eshmun was a Phoenician god of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon. The name Eshmun appears to mean the Eighth, the Neo-Platonist Damascius also stated The Asclepius in Beirut is neither a Greek nor an Egyptian, but some native Phoenician divinity. For to Sadyk were born children who are interpreted as Dioscuri and Cabeiri, and in addition to these was born a son, Esmunus. Photius summarizes Damascius as saying further that Asclepius of Beirut was a youth who was fond of hunting and he was seen by the goddess Astronoë who so harassed him with amorous pursuit that in desperation he castrated himself and died. Astronoë then named the youth Paeon Healer, restored him to life from the warmth of her body, a village near Beirut named Qabr Shmoun, Eshmouns grave, still exists. A trilingual inscription of the 2nd century BC from Sardinia also identifies Eshmun with the Greek Asclepius, pausanias quotes a Sidonian as saying that the Phoenicians claim Apollo as the father of Asclepius, as do the Greeks, but unlike them do not make his mother a mortal woman. The Sidonian then continued with an allegory which explained that Apollo represented the sun and this allegory seems likely a late invention. Also, Apollo is usually equated with the Phoenician plague god Resheph and this might be a variant version of Eshmuns parentage, or Apollo might also be equated with Sadyk, and Sadyk might be equated with Resheph. The name Astresmunim was applied by Dioscorides to the solanum, which was regarded as having medicinal qualities, the temple to Eshmun is found one km from Sidon on the Bostrenus River, the modern River Awwali. Building was begun at the end of the 6th century BC during the reign of Eshmunazar II and it was excavated by Maurice Dunand in 1963-1978. Many votive offerings were found in the form of statues of persons healed by the god, especially babies, also found near the Sidon temple was a gold plaque of Eshmun and the goddess Hygeia showing Eshmun holding a staff in his right hand around which a serpent is entwined. A coin of the 3rd century AD from Beirut shows Eshmun standing between two serpents, Bterram, a village in Lebanon, possesses a very old underground temple called Eshmunit, comprising eight rooms, carved into the bedrock and accessible by stairs. It is thought this may be a temple to a spouse of Eshmun, delos Temple of Eshmun near Sidon Lebmania, Eshmoun Atlas Tours, Lebanon, Eshmun Ikama, Eshmoun Bterram, Eshmunit
Eshmun
–
Ruins of the 7th century BC
Phoenician temple of Eshmun in
Sidon
25.
Melqart
–
Melqart was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city of Tyre. Melqart was often titled Ba‘l Ṣūr, Lord of Tyre, in Greek, by interpretatio graeca he was identified with Heracles and referred to as the Tyrian Herakles. As Tyrian trade and colonization expanded, Melqart became venerated in Phoenician, Melqart is likely to have been the particular Ba‘al found in the Tanakh whose worship was prominently introduced to Israel by King Ahab and largely eradicated by King Jehu. I visited the temple, and found it richly adorned with a number of offerings, in a conversation which I held with the priests, I inquired how long their temple had been built, and found by their answer that they, too, differed from the Hellenes. They said that the temple was built at the time that the city was founded. In Tyre I remarked another temple where the god was worshipped as the Thasian Heracles. So I went on to Thasos, where I found a temple of Heracles which had built by the Phoenicians who colonised that island when they sailed in search of Europa. Even this was five generations earlier than the time when Heracles, the Macedonian month of Peritius corresponds to our February, indicating this annual awakening was in no way a solstitial celebration. It would have coincided with the ending of the winter rains. The annual observation of the revival of Melqarts awakening may identify Melqart as a life-death-rebirth deity, the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was a native of Lepcis Magna in North Africa, an originally Phoenician city where worship of Melqart was widespread. The name of Melqart was invoked in oaths sanctioning contracts, according to Dr. Carthage even sent a tribute of 10% of the public treasury to the god in Tyre up until the Hellenistic period. In Tyre, the high priest of Melqart ranked second only to the king, Melqart protected the Punic areas of Sicily such as Ras Melqart Cape of Melqart, where his head, indistinguishable from a Heracles, appears on locally-minted coins of the 4th century BCE. Temples to Melqart are found at least three Phoenician/Punic sites in Spain, Cádiz, Ibiza in the Balearic Islands and Cartagena, near Gades/Gádeira was the westernmost temple of Tyrian Heracles, near the eastern shore of the island. Another temple to Melqart was at Ebyssus, in one of four Phoenician sites on the south coast. In 2004 a highway crew in the Avinguda Espanya, uncovered a further Punic temple in the excavated roadbed, texts found mention Melqart among other Punic gods Eshmun, Astarte and Baʻl. Another Iberian temple to Melqart has been identified at Carthago Nova, the Tyrian gods protection extended to the sacred promontory of the Iberian peninsula, the westernmost point of the known world, ground so sacred it was forbidden even to spend the night. Hannibal strengthened himself spiritually by prayer and sacrifice at the Altar of Melqart and he returned to New Carthage with his mind focused on the god and on the eve of departure to Italy he saw a strange vision which he believed was sent by Melqart. A youth of divine beauty appeared to Hannibal in the night, the youth told Hannibal he had been sent by supreme deity, Melqart, to guide the son of Hamilcar to Italy
Melqart
–
"Mozia ephebe" - Melqart (?)
Melqart
–
Stela with Melqart on his lion from
Amrit in
Syria, ca. 550 BC
Melqart
–
Votive statues from the Temple of Melqart in
Cadiz
26.
Tyre, Lebanon
–
Tyre, sometimes romanized as Sour, is a city in the South Governorate of Lebanon. There were approximately 117,000 inhabitants in 2003, however, the government of Lebanon has released only rough estimates of population numbers since 1932, so an accurate statistical accounting is not possible. Tyre juts out from the coast of the Mediterranean and is located about 80 km south of Beirut, the name of the city means rock after the rocky formation on which the town was originally built. The adjective for Tyre is Tyrian, and the inhabitants are Tyrians, Tyre is an ancient Phoenician city and the legendary birthplace of Europa and Dido. Today it is the fourth largest city in Lebanon and houses one of the major ports. The city has a number of ancient sites, including its Roman Hippodrome which was added to UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites in 1979. Tyre originally consisted of two urban centres, Tyre itself, which was on an island just off shore. Alexander the Great connected the island to the mainland by constructing a causeway during his siege of the city, the original island city had two harbours, one on the south side and the other on the north side of the island. The harbour on the side has silted over, but the harbour on the north side is still in use. Tyre was founded around 2750 BC according to Herodotus and was built as a walled city upon the mainland. Phoenicians from Tyre settled in houses around Memphis, south of the temple of Hephaestus in a called the Tyrian Camp. Tyres name appears on monuments as early as 1300 BC, philo of Byblos quotes the antiquarian authority Sanchuniathon as stating that it was first occupied by Hypsuranius. Sanchuniathons work is said to be dedicated to Abibalus king of Berytus—possibly the Abibaal who was king of Tyre, there are ten Amarna letters dated 1350 BC from the mayor, Abimilku, written to Akenaten. The subject is often water, wood and the Habiru overtaking the countryside of the mainland, the commerce of the ancient world was gathered into the warehouses of Tyre. The city of Tyre was particularly known for the production of a rare and extraordinarily expensive sort of dye, produced from the murex shellfish. The colour was, in ancient cultures, reserved for the use of royalty or at least the nobility, Tyre was often attacked by Egypt, besieged by Shalmaneser V, who was assisted by the Phoenicians of the mainland, for five years. From 586 until 573 BC, the city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar II until it agreed to pay a tribute. The Achaemenid Empire conquered the city in 539 BC and kept it under its rule until Alexander the Great laid siege to the city, in 315 BC, Alexanders former general Antigonus began his own siege of Tyre, taking the city a year later
Tyre, Lebanon
–
Tyre fishing harbor
Tyre, Lebanon
–
The Triumphal Arch (reconstructed)
Tyre, Lebanon
–
Remains of ancient columns at Al Mina excavation site – supposed
palaestra
Tyre, Lebanon
–
Rectangular theatre at Al Mina excavation site
27.
Moloch
–
Moloch is the Biblical name relating to a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice. The name of deity is also sometimes spelled Molech, Milcom. The name Moloch results from a dysphemic vocalisation in the Second Temple period of a theonym based on the root mlk king, rabbinical tradition depicted Moloch as a bronze statue heated with fire into which the victims were thrown. In interpretatio graeca, the Phoenician god was identified with Cronus, according to Eissfeldt, this 7th-century reform abolished the child sacrifice that had been happening, despite being unacceptable in the Jewish religion. Moloch has been used figuratively in English literature from John Miltons Paradise Lost to Allen Ginsbergs Howl, Biblical Hebrew מלך usually stands for מֶלֶךְ melek king but when vocalized as מֹלֶךְ mōlek in the Masoretic text, it has been traditionally understood as a proper name. While the received Masoretic text is medieval, the existence of the form Μολοχ in the Septuagint establishes that the dates to the Second Temple period. The name of the god of the Ammonites is also given as מַלְכָּם malkam, Isaiah 30,33 has the vocalization melek, but this is widely accepted as an omission of the Masoretic correctors. On the other hand, while 1 Kings 11,7 has the vocalization Molek, in Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon, this is accepted as an error for Malkam. The passing through fire associated with the name Moloch in the citations above also occurs without reference to Moloch, in Deuteronomy 18, 10–13,2 Kings 21,6, Ezekiel 20,26,31 and 23,37. The Septuagint uses Μολοχ three times, rendered by KJV as Moloch or Molech, in 2 Kings 23,10, Jeremiah 32,35, in the other instances of Masoretic molek, LXX has βασιλεύς basileus king. The variant Malkam, rendered by KJV as Milcom, is only three times in Kings. Cleitarchus, Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch all mention burning of children as an offering to Cronus or Saturn, that is to Baal Hammon, the chief god of Carthage. It has been suggested that the practice of sacrifice may have been exaggerated in Roman post-war propaganda in order to make their arch-enemies seem cruel. When the flames fall upon the body, the limbs contract, thus it is that the grin is known as sardonic laughter, since they die laughing. They attempted to make amends by sacrificing 200 children of the best families at once, freeman in The History of Sicily from the Earliest Times states that the Carthaginian nobles had acquired and raised children not of their own for the express purpose of sacrificing them to the god. Plutarch wrote in De Superstitione 171, scholars of the 17th century received from medieval rabbinical tradition the notion that the various gods named mlk king in the Hebrew Bible are closely related, if not identical. John Spenser wrote a study on Molek, Lex transitum per ignem, in honorem Molechi prohibens in 1686. Greco-Roman authors describe the Carthaginian practice of sacrifice as dedicated to Baal Hammon or, in interpretatio graeca
Moloch
–
Babylonian
cylinder seal representing
child sacrifice
28.
Qetesh
–
Qetesh is a goddess adopted into the ancient Egyptian religion from the religion of Canaan, popular during the New Kingdom. She was a fertility goddess of sacred ecstasy and sexual pleasure, the name was probably vocalized by Egyptians as *Qātiša from the Semitic root Q-D-Š meaning holy. Her city of worship was Qadesh, in the Qetesh stele, Qetesh is represented as a frontal nude standing on a lion between Min of Egypt and the Canaanite warrior god Resheph. She is holding snakes in one hand and a flower in the other as symbols of creation. Qetesh is associated with Anat, Astarte, and Asherah and she also has elements associated with the goddesses of Mycenae, the Minoans of Crete, and certain Kassite goddesses of the metals trade in tin, copper and bronze between Lothal and Dilmun. Qudshu-Astarte-Anat is a representation of a goddess who is a combination of three goddesses, Qetesh, Astarte, and Anat. It was a practice for Canaanites and Egyptians to merge different deities through a process of syncretism. She is called Mistress of All the Gods, Lady of the Stars of Heaven, Beloved of Ptah, Great of magic, mistress of the stars, qadshu is also used as an epithet of Athirat, the Great Mother Goddess of the Canaanites. Battle of Kadesh Cybele Johanna Stuckey, The Holy One, MatriFocus,2007
Qetesh
–
Stele of Qetesh / Kadesh,
Dynasty XIX (1292-1186 BC),
Museo Egizio
Qetesh
–
Qetesh on the
Triple Goddess Stone
Qetesh
–
Qetesh wearing the headdress of
Hathor and standing on a lion. She holds a lotus flower to
Min and a snake to
Resheph
