Ancient Semitic religion

'''Ancient Semitic religion''' encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic peoples from the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa. Since the term ''Semitic'' represents a rough category when referring to cultures, as opposed to languages, the definitive bounds of the term "ancient Semitic religion" are only approximate but exclude the religions of "non-Semitic" speakers of the region such as Egyptians, Elamites, Hittites, Hurrians, Mitanni, Urartians, Luwians, Minoans, Greeks, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Medes, Philistines and Parthians.

Semitic traditions and their pantheons<ref>{{cite book |last=Noll |first=K. L. |author-link=K. L. Noll |title=Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0V6U22YdxEC&pg=PA187 |year=2001 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-84127-258-0 |page=187 |quote=[A patron god in an ancient Near Eastern religion held a unique position among the gods] as the most powerful and the most just of the gods, who ruled the divine realm as he ruled the human realm, often with the approval of a council of divine 'elders' who legitimated his right to rule as patron god (as in the book of Job 1—2). [...] Other gods were subordinate to, and partners with, the divine patron, just as the human aristocracy and commoners were expected to be subordinate to, and supportive of, the human king. The pantheon was usually quite complex, often including hundreds or even thousands of gods. |access-date=4 March 2018 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312212446/https://books.google.com/books?id=M0V6U22YdxEC&pg=PA187 |url-status=live }}</ref> fall into regional categories: Canaanite religions of the Levant (including the henotheistic ancient Hebrew religion of the Israelites, Judeans and Samaritans, as well as the religions of the Amorites, Phoenicians, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites and Suteans); the Sumerian-influenced Mesopotamian religion; the Phoenician Canaanite religion of Carthage; Nabataean religion; Eblaite, Ugarite, Dilmunite and Aramean religions; and Arabian polytheism.

Semitic polytheism transitioned into Abrahamic monotheism by way of Yahwism, a variety of Canaanite paganism centred on Yahweh, the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In this process, Yahweh was syncretized with El, the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name "El" אל, or ''elah'' אלה is a word for "god" in Hebrew, cognate to Arabic '''''ʼ'''ilāh'' إله, and its definitive pronoun form الله ''Allāh'', "(The) God".

==Proto-Semitic pantheon== {{unreferenced section|date=April 2013}} {{Middle Eastern deities}} Abbreviations: Akk. Akkadian-Babylonian; Ug. Ugaritic; Ph. Phoenician; Heb. Hebrew; Ar. Arabic; OSA Old South Arabian; Eth. Ethiopic

* ''ʾIlu'': {{lit|god}} (sky god, head of pantheon: Akk. ''Ilu'', Ug. ''il'', Ph. ''ʾl/Ēlos'', Heb. ''El/Elohim'', Ar. ''Allāh'', OSA ''ʾl''). * ''ʿAṯiratu'': (ʾIlu's wife: Ug. ''aṯrt'', Heb. ''Ašērāh'', OSA ''ʿṯrt''). The meaning of the name is unknown. She is also called ''ʾIlatu'' {{lit|goddess}} (Akk. ''Ilat'', Ph. ''ʾlt'', Ar. ''Allāt''). * ''ʿAṯtaru'': (god of fertility: Ug. ''ʿṯtr'', OSA ''ʿṯtr'', Eth. ''ʿAstar'' ''sky god''). * ''ʿAṯtartu'': (goddess of fertility: Akk. ''Ištar'', Ug. ''ʿṯtrt'', Ph. ''ʿštrt'' / ''Astarte'', Heb. ''ʿAštoreṯ''). * ''Haddu''/''Hadadu'': (storm god: Akk. ''Adad'', Ug. ''hd'', Ph. ''Adodos''). The meaning of the name is probably {{gloss|thunderer}}. This god is also known as ''Baʿlu'' {{lit|husband, lord}} (Akk. ''Bel'', Ug. ''bʿl'', Ph. ''bʿl''/Belos, Heb. ''Baʿal''). * ''Śamšu'': {{lit|sun}} (sun goddess: Ug. ''špš'', OSA: ''šmš'', but Akk. ''Šamaš'' is a male god). * ''Wariḫu'': {{lit|moon}} (moon god: Ug. ''yrḫ'', Heb. ''Yārēaḥ'', OSA ''wrḫ'').

==Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia== {{Main|Babylonian religion}} {{further|Ancient Mesopotamian religion}} {{Mesopotamian myth}} The Sun, Moon, and the five planets visible to the naked eye connected with the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon. A list now held in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:<ref>Mackenzie, p. 301.</ref> *Sin (the Moon) *Shamash (the Sun) *Marduk (Jupiter) *Ishtar (Venus) *Ninurta (Saturn) *Nabu (Mercury) *Nergal (Mars)

The religion of the Assyrian Empire (sometimes called Ashurism) centered on Ashur, patron deity of the city of Assur, and Ishtar, patroness of Nineveh. The last positively recorded worship of Ashur and other Assyrian-Mesopotamian gods dates back to the 3rd century AD in the face of the adaptation of Christianity from the 1st century AD onwards, although there is evidence of isolated pockets of worship among Assyrian people as late as the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm#Religion |title=Brief History of Assyrians |publisher=AINA Assyrian International News Agency |access-date=22 August 2007 |archive-date=28 April 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990428141504/http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm#Religion |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Simo |last=Parpola |title=Assyrians after Assyria |url=http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrians%20after%20Assyria.html |journal=Assyriologist |publisher=Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No. 2 |year=1999 |quote=The gods Ashur, Sherua, Ishtar, Nanaya, Bel, Nabu and Nergal continued to be worshiped in Assur at least until the early 3rd century AD; the local cultic calendar was that of the imperial period; the temple of Ashur was restored in the 2nd century AD; and the stelae of the local rulers resemble those of Assyrian kings in the imperial period. |access-date=22 August 2007 |archive-date=14 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714183623/http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrians%20after%20Assyria.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ashur, the patron deity of the eponymous capital of Assur from the Early Bronze Age (c. 22nd century BC), was in constant rivalry with the later emerging Marduk (from c. 19th century BC), the patron deity of Babylon. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk, even becoming the husband of Ishtar.

The major Assyro-Babylonian-Akkadian gods were: {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Ashur/Anshar ({{langx|syc|ܐܵܫܘܼܪ}}), patron of Assur *Ishtar, (Astarte) ({{langx|syc|ܐܸܣܬܪܵܐ}}), goddess of love and war and patroness of Nineveh *Nabu ({{langx|syc|ܢܒ݂ܘܿ}}): god of writing and scribes *Nergal ({{langx|syc|ܢܸܪܓܲܠ}}): god of the Underworld *Ninurta, Assyrian god of war and hunting *Tiamat: sea goddess *Samnuha<ref>Dalley, Stephanie, ''Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities'' (2002), {{ISBN|1-931956-02-2}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> *Kubaba<ref>Dalley (2002){{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> *Marduk ({{langx|syc|ܒܹܝܠ}}) *Enlil *Ninlil *Nisroch *Hanbi: father of Pazuzu *Anu, supreme divinity of the Heavens *Ea, Sumerian Enki: god of crafts *Kishar *Sin / Suen, Sumerian Nanna ({{langx|syc|ܣܝܼܢ}}): moon god *Išḫara *Shamash ({{langx|syc|ܫܡܫ}}): sun god *Adad/Hadad<ref name="Harper1901">{{cite book |author=Robert Francis Harper |title=Assyrian and Babylonian literature |url=https://archive.org/details/assyrianandbaby06harpgoog|access-date=27 June 2011 |year=1901 |publisher=D. Appleton and company |page=[https://archive.org/details/assyrianandbaby06harpgoog/page/n136 26]}}</ref> *Dagan/Dagon *Bel ({{langx|syc|ܒܹܝܠ}}) *Tammuz ({{langx|syc|ܬܲܡܘܼܙ}}) {{div col end}}

Major Assyro-Babylonian demons and heroes were: *Adapa (Oannes) *Gilgamesh ({{langx|syc|ܓܡܝܼܓܘܿܣ}}) *Lugalbanda *Lilitu ({{langx|syc|ܠܸܠܝܼܬ݂ܵܐ}}) *Pazuzu *Ninurta<ref name="Jacobsen1978">{{cite book |author=Thorkild Jacobsen |title=The treasures of darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZT57A8ioCkC |access-date=27 June 2011 |year=1978 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-02291-9 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312212526/https://books.google.com/books?id=bZT57A8ioCkC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ |title=ETCSLhomepage |publisher=Etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk |date=2006-10-24 |access-date=2015-05-16 |archive-date=2 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051510/http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Canaan== {{main|Canaanite religion}} {{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}} The Canaanite religion was practiced by people living in the ancient Levant throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Until the excavation (1928 onwards) of the city of Ras Shamra (known as Ugarit in antiquity) in northern Syria and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablet alphabetic cuneiform texts,<ref>Gray, John, "The Legacy of Canaan the Ras Shamra Texts and Their Relevance to the Old Testament", No. 5. ''Brill Archive'', 1957; for a more recent discussion see Yon, Marguerite, ''The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra'', Eisenbrauns, 2006.</ref> scholars knew little about Canaanite religious practice. Papyrus seems to have been the preferred writing material for scribes at the time. Unlike the papyrus documents found in Egypt, ancient papyri in the Levant have often simply decayed from exposure to the humid Mediterranean climate. As a result, the accounts in the Bible became the primary sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. Supplementing the Biblical accounts, several secondary and tertiary Greek sources have survived, including Lucian of Samosata's treatise ''De Dea Syria'' (The Syrian Goddess, 2nd century CE), fragments of the ''Phoenician History'' of Sanchuniathon as preserved by Philo of Byblos (c. 64 – 141 CE), and the writings of Damascius ({{circa}} 458 – after 538). Recent study of the Ugaritic material has uncovered additional information about the religion,<ref>Smith, Mark S., ''The origins of biblical monotheism: Israel's polytheistic background and the Ugaritic texts'', Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref> supplemented by inscriptions from the Levant and Tel Mardikh archive<ref>J. Pons, Review of G. Pettinato, A. Alberti, Catalogo dei testi cuneiformi di Tell Mardikh - Ebla, MEE I, Napoli, 1979, in Études théologiques et religieuses 56 (1981) 339—341.</ref> (excavated in the early 1960s).

Like other peoples of the ancient Near East, the Canaanites were polytheistic, with families typically focusing worship on ancestral household gods and goddesses while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal, Anath, and El.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Canaanite-religion |title=Canaanite religion |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=2014-04-17 |access-date=2016-01-26 |archive-date=22 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522193909/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Canaanite-religion |url-status=live }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=June 2017}} Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as the sacred marriage of the New Year Festival; Canaanites may have revered their kings as gods.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm (Elohim) or the children of El (compare the Biblical "sons of God"), the creator deity called El, fathered the other deities. In the Greek sources he was married to Beruth (Beirut, the city). The pantheon was supposedly obtained by Philo of Byblos from Sanchuniathon of Berythus (Beirut). The marriage of the deity with the city seems to have biblical parallels with the stories that link Melkart with Tyre, Yahweh with Jerusalem, and Tanit and Baal Hammon with Carthage. El Elyon is mentioned (as ''God Most High'') in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek, king of Salem.{{cn|date=December 2019}}

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

==Abrahamic religions== {{main|Abrahamic religions}} Many scholars believe that the Assyro-Babylonian ''Enuma Elish'' influenced the Genesis creation narrative.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crivoice.org/enumaelish.html |title=The Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Creation Myth |publisher=Crivoice.org |date=2011-11-11 |access-date=2011-12-28 |archive-date=5 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405034602/http://www.crivoice.org/enumaelish.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stenudd.com/myth/enumaelish/enumaelish-4.htm |title=ENUMA ELISH - Babylonian Creation Myth - Theories |publisher=Stenudd.com |access-date=2011-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122033206/http://stenudd.com/myth/enumaelish/enumaelish-4.htm |archive-date=22 November 2011}}</ref><ref>Sharpes, Donald K. 'Lords of the scrolls: literary traditions in the Bible and Gospels'. Peter Lang, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8204-7849-0}}, 978-0-8204-7849-4</ref> The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' influenced the Genesis flood narrative. The Sumerian myth of ''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'' also had influence on the Tower of Babel myth in Genesis. Some writers trace the story of Esther to Assyrio-Babylonian roots.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gunkel |first=Hermann |title=Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton: Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12 |year=2006 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. |isbn=978-0802828040 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNstLQ8i3nsC&q=story+of+Esther+++Babylonian&pg=PA198 |page=198 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312212519/https://books.google.com/books?id=pNstLQ8i3nsC&q=story+of+Esther+++Babylonian&pg=PA198 |url-status=live }}</ref> El Elyon appears in Balaam's story in Numbers and in Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32.8. The Masoretic Texts suggest:<blockquote>When the Most High ('Elyōn) divided to the nations their inheritance, he separated the sons of man (Ādām); he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.</blockquote>

Rather than "sons of Israel", the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, suggests the "angelōn theou," or "angels of God", and a few versions even have ''huiōn theou'' (sons of God). The Dead Sea Scrolls version of this suggests that there were in fact 70 sons of the Most High God sent to rule over the 70 nations of the Earth. This idea of the 70 nations of Earth, each ruled over by one of the Elohim (sons of God), is also found in Ugaritic texts. The Arslan Tash inscription suggests that each of the 70 sons of El Elyon was bound to their people by a covenant. Thus, Crossan{{Who|date=May 2016}} translates: <blockquote><poem>The Eternal One ('Olam) has made a covenant oath with us, Asherah has made (a pact) with us. And all the sons of El, And the great council of all the Holy Ones (Qedesh). With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth.</poem></blockquote>

==See also== {{Portal|Mythology|Asia}} {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Ancient Egyptian religion *Arabian mythology *Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples *History of Judaism *Mandaeism *''Moses and Monotheism'' *Names of God in Judaism *Origins of Judaism *Prehistoric religion *Religions of the ancient Near East *Semitic Neopaganism {{div col end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *Donald A. Mackenzie, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/mba/index.htm ''Myths of Babylonia and Assyria''] (1915). *Moscati, Sabatino (1968), ''The World of the Phoenicians'' (Phoenix Giant) *Ribichini, Sergio "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Moscati Sabatino (1988), ''The Phoenicians'' (by L.B. Tauris in 2001) *Thophilus G. Pinches, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070312003609/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/relg/non-christiancomparative/TheReligionofBabyloniaandAssyria/toc.html ''The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria''], The World Wide School, Seattle (2000) *{{cite book |last=van der Toorn |first=Karel |title=Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible |publisher=E. J. Brill |location=New York |year=1995 |isbn=0-8028-2491-9}}

==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Ancient Semitic religions}}

Category:Ancient Semitic religions Category:Phoenician religion