| Ancient Near Eastern deities | |
| Levantine deities | |
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Adonis | Anat | Asherah | Ashima | Astarte | Atargatis | Ba'al | Berith | Chemosh | Dagon | Derceto | El | Elyon | Eshmun | Hadad | Kothar | Melqart | Mot | Moloch | Qetesh | Resheph | Shalim | Yarikh | Yam | YHWH |
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| Mesopotamian deities | |
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Adad | Amurru | An/Anu | Anshar | Ashur | Abzu/Apsu | Enki/Ea | Enlil | Ereshkigal | Inanna/Ishtar | Kingu | Kishar | Lahmu & Lahamu | Marduk | Mummu | Nabu | Nammu | Nanna/Sin | Nergal | Ningizzida | Ninhursag | Ninlil | Tiamat | Utu/Shamash |
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| Egyptian deities | |
| Amun | Ra | Apis | Bakha | Osiris | Ptah | |
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Haddad - בעל הדד -[1] حداد (in Ugaritic Haddu) was a very important northwest Semitic storm and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. The Ancient Near East refers to early Civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the Ancient Semitic religion spans the Polytheistic religions of the Semitic speaking peoples of the Ancient Near East. Adonis (Άδωνης also Άδωνις is a figure of West Semitic origin where he is a central cult figure in various Mystery religions, who enters Anat, also ‘Anat is a major northwest Semitic goddess ‘Anat in Ugarit In the Ugaritic Ba‘al / Hadad cycle ‘Anat Asherah (from Hebrew אשרה generally taken as identical with the Ugaritic goddess Athirat (more accurately transcribed as ʼAṯirat) was In the Hebrew Bible, Ashima is one of several deities protecting the individual cities of Samaria who are mentioned specifically by name in 2 Kings 1730 Astarte (from Greek Ἀστάρτη ( Astártē) is the name of a Goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions cognate in name origin For the metal band see Atargatis (band. Atargatis, in Aramaic ‘Atar‘atah, was a Syrian deity "the great Ba'al (pronounced; Hebrew בעל (ordinarily spelled Baal in English is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" In his euphemistic account of the Phoenician deities Sanchuniathon says In their time is born a certain Elioun called "the Most High" and a female Chemosh (ˈkimɑʃ (from Hebrew כמש, pronounced /χeˈmoʃ/ was the God of the Moabites (Num Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god reportedly of grain and agriculture For the metal band see Atargatis (band. Atargatis, in Aramaic ‘Atar‘atah, was a Syrian deity "the great Eli (Hebrew אל is the Northwest Semitic word and name either translated into English as "god" or "God" or left untranslated as Eli, depending The name or epithet or word ‘Elyōn ( Masoretic pronunciation of Hebrew עליון) is traditionally rendered in Samaritan Hebrew as illiyyon Eshmun (or Eshmoun, less accurately Esmun or Esmoun) was a Phoenician god of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon. Kothar-wa-Khasis (כושר וחסיס is a Canaanite god whose name means "Skillful-and-Wise" or "Adroit-and-Perceptive" or "Deft-and-Clever" Melqart, properly Phoenician Milk-Qart "King of the City" less accurately Melkart, Melkarth In Ugaritic Mot 'Death' (spelled mt) is personified as a god of death Moloch, Molech, Molekh, or Molek, representing Hebrew מלך mlk, (translated directly into king is either the name of a In Egyptian mythology and Canaanite religion, Qetesh (also Qadesh Quetesh Kadesh Qatesh Qadeshet Qudshu Qodesh) referred to a Goddess or Goddesses Resheph or Reshef (Canaanite/Hebrew sem-Latn ršp he רשף was a Canaanite deity of plague and war. Shalim is the king of dusk in the pantheon of Ugarit. He is the twin brother and counterpart of Shahar the king of dawn Yarikh, in Canaanite mythology Yarkhibol in Phoenician, also written as Jerah, Jarah, or Jorah (Hebrew spelling ירח Yamm, from the Canaanite word Yam, meaning "Sea" is one name of the Ugaritic god of Rivers and Sea See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen Dingir is the Sumerian for " Deity " It is written as an Ideogram in the Cuneiform script (Borger 2003 nr This article is about the Sumerian god Adad also known as Ishkur. Amurru (or Martu) are names given in Akkadian and Sumerian texts to the god of the Amorite /Amurru people often forming part of personal In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians Anu (also An; (from Sumerian *An = sky heaven was a sky-god In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians Anu (also An; (from Sumerian *An = sky heaven was a sky-god In Akkadian mythology, Anshar (also spelled Anshur) which means "sky pivot" or "sky axle" is a Sky God. Aššur (also Ashur, Assur; written A-šur, also Aš-šùr, in Neo-Assyrian often shortened to Aš) was the head of the Assyrian Enki ( Sumerian: dENKI(G 𒂗𒆠 was a Deity in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Babylonian mythology Enlil ( EN = Lord + LIL = Loft "Lord of the Open" or "Lord of the Wind" was the name of a chief deity listed and written about in ancient Sumerian In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal ( D EREŠ. KI. GAL, lit Inanna ( D INANNA B153ellstpng|100x20px|INANNA]]) is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love fertility and warfare Ishtar ( D IŠTAR 𒀭𒌋𒁯 is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to Kingu, also spelled Qingu meaning unskilled laborer was a god in Babylonian mythology and — after the murder of his father — the consort of the goddess Tiamat In the Akkadian epic Enuma Elish, Kishar is the daughter of Lahmu and Lahamu, the first children of Tiamat and Apsu Laḫmu (also romanized Lakhmu) is a deity from Akkadian mythology, first-born son of Apsu and Tiamat. Lahamu was the first-born daughter of Tiamat and Apsu in Akkadian mythology. Marduk ( Sumerian spelling in Akkadian: AMARUTU 𒀫 𒌓 "solar calf" perhaps from MERI Mummu Vizier of primeval gods Apsu, the fresh water and Tiamat, the salt water Nabu is the Babylonian god of Wisdom and Writing, worshipped by Babylonians as the son of Marduk and his consort Sarpanitum, In Sumerian mythology, Nammu (more properly Namma) is the Sumerian creation goddess Sin (Akkadian Sîn, Suen; Sumerian Nanna) is a Sumerian God in Mesopotamian mythology. Sin (Akkadian Sîn, Suen; Sumerian Nanna) is a Sumerian God in Mesopotamian mythology. The name Nergal (or Nirgal, Nirgali) refers to a Deity in Babylonia with the main seat Ningishzida ( sum dnin-ǧiš-zi-da) is a Mesopotamian deity of the Underworld. In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag (NINURSAG was the earth and mother- Goddess, one of the seven great deities of Sumer. In Sumerian mythology, Ninlil (𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆤 D NIN.LÍL"lady of the open field" or "Lady of the Air" first called In Babylonian mythology, Tiamat is the sea personified as a Goddess, and a monstrous embodiment of Primordial chaos. This article refers to the Sumerian Deity. For other uses see Utu (disambiguation. For the Canaanite sun godess see Shemesh Shamash was the common Akkadian name of the Sun-god and god of justice in Babylonia Ancient Egyptian religion was Polytheistic and often Zoomorphic. Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu (also spelled Amon, Amoun, Amen, and rarely Imen, Greek Ἄμμων Ra (pronounced Rah and sometimes as Rê, is an Ancient Egyptian sun god. In Egyptian mythology, Bakha (also spelt Bakh, Buchis, and Bukhis) was the Manifestation of the a deification of Ka (power/life-force Osiris ( Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir In Egyptian mythology, Ptah (also spelt Peteh) was the deification of the primordial mound in the Ennead Cosmogony, which was more literally The Ugaritic language, discovered by French archaeologists in 1928 is known only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit, near the modern The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, God, as a male Deity, contrasts with female deities or " goddesses " This article is about the Sumerian god Adad also known as Ishkur. Hadad is often called simply Ba‘al Lord, but this title is also used for other gods. Ba'al (pronounced; Hebrew בעל (ordinarily spelled Baal in English is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" Hadad was equated with the Anatolian storm-god Teshub, the Egyptian god Set, the Greek god Zeus, and the Roman god Jupiter. Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black Teshub (also written Teshup) was the Hurrian god of sky and storm Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Set (also spelled Seth, Sutekh or Seteh) is an ancient god who was originally the god of the Desert Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology Roman mythology, or more appropriately Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of the gods and the god of Sky and Thunder.
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Hadad in Ugarit
In the mythological tablets found in Ugarit (especially the Baal cycle) the name hd (theoretically vocalized as Haddu) occurs, usually normalized as Hadad in translations and discussions. Ugarit ( Ugaritic: ʼugrt; Hebrew:; Arabic:) (modern Ras Shamra رأس شمرة ("top/head/cape of the wild Fennel The Baal cycle was an Ugaritic cycle of stories about the Canaanite god Baal, also known as Hadad the god of storm and fertility Hadad is mostly called by the title b‘l (theoretically vocalized as Ba‘l) 'Lord', or as ‘lyn (‘Aliyan) 'Most strong, Victorious' or as ‘Aliyan Ba‘l. Ba‘l is often normalized to Ba‘al or to Baal in translations and discussion.
In religious texts, Ba‘al/Hadad is the lord of the sky who governs the rain and thus the germination of plants. 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, and chaos.
Ba‘al is many times called son of the god Dagon. Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god reportedly of grain and agriculture A few references to El being Ba‘al's father may not be a variant tradition but refer to El's status as an acting father to all the gods. Eli (Hebrew אל is the Northwest Semitic word and name either translated into English as "god" or "God" or left untranslated as Eli, depending Ba‘al is himself the father of three goddess named Pidray 'Shining', Tallay 'Rainy', and Arṣay 'Earthy', no mother named. Their mother may be ‘Athtart, also called ‘Athtart-name-of-Ba‘l. Astarte (from Greek Ἀστάρτη ( Astártē) is the name of a Goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions cognate in name origin The goddess "Virgin" ‘Anat in these texts is Ba‘al's sister and lover. Anat, also ‘Anat is a major northwest Semitic goddess ‘Anat in Ugarit In the Ugaritic Ba‘al / Hadad cycle ‘Anat
Ba’al has his home on Mount Ṣapan, presumably the Biblical Mount Zephon on the northern coast of Syria, called Hazi in Hittite, Mons Casius in Latin and today known as Jebel al-Aqra‘. Hittite or Nesili is the Extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centered on ancient Hattusas (modern Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. This mountain, 1780 metres high, stands only 15 km north of the site of Ugarit, clearly visible from the city itself.
Although in the Hebrew language the name Zephon means 'north' and the Akkadian has a Canaanite loanword ṣapanu 'north', this meaning for the root ṣpn is not found in other Semitic languages. Accordingly Semiticists suspect that 'north' in Hebrew is a derived from the placename, even though Mount North seems a good name for a local manifestation of the cosmic north-polar mountain.
In the Ugaritic texts El, the supreme god of the pantheon, resides on Mount Lel ('Night?') and it is there that the assembly of the gods meet. Eli (Hebrew אל is the Northwest Semitic word and name either translated into English as "god" or "God" or left untranslated as Eli, depending That is perhaps the mythical cosmic mountain.
The Ba‘al cycle is unfortunately fragmentary and in any case leaves much unexplained that would have been obvious to a contemporary. In the earliest extant sections there appears to be some sort of feud between El and Ba‘al. El makes one of his sons who is called both prince Yamm "Sea" and judge Nahar 'River' king over the gods and changes Yamm's name from yw (so spelled at that point in the text) to mdd ’il 'Darling of El'. Yamm, from the Canaanite word Yam, meaning "Sea" is one name of the Ugaritic god of Rivers and Sea 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 magic clubs, Yamm collapses, and Bal‘al finishes the fight. ‘Athtart proclaims Ba‘al's victory and salutes Ba‘al/Hadad as lrkb ‘rpt 'Rider on the Clouds', a phrase applied by editors of modern English Bibles to Yahweh in Psalm 68. For information about Yahweh see God in Abrahamic religions, which provides useful links Psalms ( Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or "praises" is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) included 4. At ‘Athtart's urging Ba‘al "scatters" Yamm and proclaims that Yamm is dead and heat is assured.
A later passage refers to Ba‘al's victory over Lotan, the many-headed sea-dragon who appears in the Tanach as Leviathan. See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is Leviathan ( is a Biblical Sea monster referred to in the Old Testament ( Psalm 74:13-14 Job 41 Isaiah 271 Due to gaps in the text it is not known whether Lotan is another name for Yamm or a reference to another similar story. Some scholars feel the mention of Leviathan in the Tanach are one of the most obvious examples of remnants of Canaanite myth in Hebrew scripture; Biblical scholars see the very reverse: corrupted mythic elements springing out of true narrative sources, of which only the Hebrew Scriptures preserve in their original, factual forms. In the Mediterranean area, crops were often threatened by winds, storms and floods from the sea, indicating why the ancients feared the fury of this cosmic being.
A palace is built for Ba‘al/Hadad with cedars from Mount Lebanon and Sirion and also from silver and from gold. Mount Lebanon ( Arabic: جبل لبنان as a geographic designation is the Lebanese mountain range known as the Western Mountain Range of Lebanon 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' (god of drought and underworld), another son of El, to the feast.
But Mot is insulted. The eater of human flesh and blood will not be satisfied with bread and wine. Mot threatens to break Ba‘al into pieces and swallow Ba‘al. Even Ba‘al cannot stand against Death. Gaps here make interpretation dubious. It seems that by the advice of the goddess Shapsh 'Sun', Ba‘al has intercourse with a heifer and dresses the resultant calf in his own clothes as a gift to Mot and then himself prepares to go down to the underworld in the guise of a helpless shade. News of Ba‘al's apparent death leads even El to mourn. ‘Anat, Ba‘al's sister, finds Ba‘al's corpse, presumably really the dead body of the calf, and she buries the body with a funeral feast. The god ‘Athtar is appointed to take Ba‘al's place, but he is a poor substitute. Meanwhile ‘Anat finds Mot, cleaves him with a sword, burns him with fire, and throws his remains on the field for the birds to eat. But the earth is still cracked with drought until Shapsh fetches Ba‘al back.
Seven years later Mot returns and attacks Ba‘al in a battle which ceases only when Shapsh tells Mot that El now supports Ba’al. Thereupon Mot at once surrenders to Ba‘al/Hadad and recognizes Ba‘al as king.
Sanchuniathon
In Sanchuniathon's account Hadad is once called Adodos but mostly named Demarûs, a puzzling form, possibly a Greek corruption of Hadad Ramān. Sanchuniathon is the purported Phoenician author of three lost works originally in the Phoenician language, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Sanchuniathon's Hadad is son of Sky by a concubine who is then given to the god Dagon while she is pregnant by Sky. Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god reportedly of grain and agriculture This appears to be an attempt to combine two accounts of Hadad's parentage, one of which is the Ugaritic tradition that Hadad was son of Dagon. The cognate Akkadian god Adad is also often called the son of Anu 'Sky'. In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians Anu (also An; (from Sumerian *An = sky heaven was a sky-god The corresponding Hittite god Teshub is likewise son of Anu (after a fashion). Teshub (also written Teshup) was the Hurrian god of sky and storm
In Sanchuniathon's account, it is Sky who first fights against Pontus 'Sea'. Geography The Black Sea region loosely called Pontus by various scholars has a steep rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges Then Sky allies himself with Hadad. Hadad takes over the conflict but is defeated, at which point unfortunately no more is said of this matter. Sanchuniathion agrees with Ugaritic tradition in making Muth, the Ugaritic Mot, whom he also calls 'Death', the son of El.
Hadad in Aram and Palestine
In the second millennium BCE, the king of Aleppo, or Halab, received a statue of Ishtar from the king of Mari, as a sign of deference, to be displayed in the temple of Hadad in Kilasou. For other meanings see Aleppo (disambiguation. Halab redirects here for other meanings see Halab (disambiguation. Ishtar ( D IŠTAR 𒀭𒌋𒁯 is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to Mari (modern Tell Hariri, Syria) was an ancient Sumerian and Amorite city located 11 kilometers north-west of the modern town of The god "Adad" is called on a stele of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I "the god of Aleppo". Shalmaneser I ( Shulmanu-asharidu) king of Assyria. (1274 BC – 1245 BC or 1265 BC - 1235 BC Son of Adad-nirari I, he succeeded his father as King For other meanings see Aleppo (disambiguation. Halab redirects here for other meanings see Halab (disambiguation.
The name Hadad appears in the name of Hadadezer 'Hadad-is-help', the Aramean king defeated by David. Hadadezer (" Hadad is my help" also known as Adad-Idri ( Assyr David, Arabic: داوود or داود dawud, "beloved" was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible Later Aramean kings of Damascus seem to have habitually assumed the title of Benhadad, or son of Hadad, just as a series of Egyptian monarchs are known to have been accustomed to call themselves sons of Ammon. Damascus ( دمشق,, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. Ammon or Ammonites ( also referred to in the Bible as the "children of Ammon" were a people (also known from Assyrian and other records living east
An example is Benhadad 'Son of Hadad', the king of Aram whom Asa, king of Judah, employed to invade the northern kingdom, Israel, according to 1Kings 15:18. Ben Hadad means Son of Hadad in Hebrew, and may refer to Any king of Aram Damascus. Asa ( was the fifth king of the House of David and the third of the Kingdom of Judah. Judea is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. In the 9th or 8th century BCE, the name of Bar-Hadad 'Son of Hadad', king of Aram, is inscribed on his votive basalt stele dedicated to Melqart, found in Bredsh, a village north of Aleppo (National Museum, Aleppo, accession number KAI 201). Melqart, properly Phoenician Milk-Qart "King of the City" less accurately Melkart, Melkarth
As a byname we find Aramaic rmn, Old South Arabic rmn, Hebrew rmwn, Akkadian Rammānu 'Thunderer', presumably originally vocalized as Ramān in Aramaic and Hebrew. The Hebrew spelling rmwn with Massoretic vocalization Rimmôn (2Kings 5:18) is identical with the Hebrew word meaning 'pomegranate' and may be an intentional misspelling and parody of the original.
The word Hadad-rimmon, for which the inferior reading Hadar-rimmon is found in some manuscripts in the phrase "the mourning of (or at) Hadad-rimmon" (Zechariah 12:2), has been a subject of much discussion. The Book of Zechariah is a book of the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh attributed to the Prophet Zechariah. According to Jerome and all the older Christian interpreters, the mourning is for something that occurred at a place called Hadad-rimmon (Maximianopolis) in the valley of Megiddo. Jerome (c 347 – September 30, 420) ( Latin: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος Megiddo (מגידו is a hill in modern Israel near the Kibbutz of Megiddo, known for historical geographical and theological reasons The event alluded to was generally held to be the death of Josiah (or, as in the Targum, the death of Ahab at the hands of Hadadrimmon). Josiah or Yoshiyahu ( was king of Judah, and son of Amon and Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew Ahab (or Ach'av or) was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri ( 1 Kings 1629-34 But even before the discovery of the Ugaritic texts some suspected that Hadad-rimmon might be a dying god like Adonis or Tammuz, perhaps even the same as Tammuz, and the allusion could then be to mournings for Hadad such as those which usually accompanied the Adonis festivals. Adonis (Άδωνης also Άδωνις is a figure of West Semitic origin where he is a central cult figure in various Mystery religions, who enters (Hitzig on Zechariah 12:2, Isaiah 17:8; Movers, Phonizier, 1. 196).
T. K. Cheyne (Encyclopædia Biblica s. v. ) pointed out that the Septuagint reads simply Rimmon, and argues that this may be a corruption of Migdon (Megiddo), in itself a corruption of Tammuz-Adon. The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the He would render the verse, "In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of the women who weep for Tammuz-Adon" (Adon means 'lord'). Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the
No further evidence has come to light to resolve such speculations.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
References
- Hadad, Husni & Mja'is, Salim (1993) Ba'al Haddad, A Study of Ancient Religious History of Syria
See also
External links
- Online text: The Epic of Ba'al (Hadad)
- Kadash Kinahu: Complete Directory
- Gateways to Babylon: Adad/Rimon