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Bethel (god)
Bethel, meaning 'House of El' or 'House of God' in Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic, is thought by some to be the name of a god or an aspect of a god in some ancient middle-eastern texts dating to Assyrian, Persian and Hellenistic periods. The term appears in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, but opinions differ as to whether those references are to a god or to a place. Historical records A 1977 book by Javier Teixidor cited some early references that support viewing Bethel as a god of Aramaean or Syrian origin. The author maintains that the origin of the god's cult is unknown, but provides what he believes to be some of the earliest references to the god: * theophorous names in the 7th century BC, * a 677 BC treaty between King Esarhaddon of Assyria and Ba‘al I, king of Tyre, which associates Bethel with what is apparently another god, Anat-Bethel, in a curse upon the Tyrians if they break the treaty: "May Bethel and Anat-Bethel deliver you to a man-eating lion"; and * an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El (god)
(also Il, uga, 𐎛𐎍 ''ʾīlu''; phn, 𐤀𐤋 ''ʾīl''; he, אֵל ''ʾēl''; syr, ܐܺܝܠ ''ʾīyl''; ar, إيل or ; cognate to akk, 𒀭, ilu) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "god" or "deity", or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ''ila'', represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning "god". Specific deities known as ''El'', ''Al'' or ''Il'' include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia's Early Dynastic Period. Among the Hittites, El was known as Elkunirsa. Linguistic forms and meanings Cognate forms of ʼĒl are found throughout the Semitic languages. They include Ugaritic , pl. ; Phoenician pl. ; Hebrew , pl. ; Aramaic ; Akkadian , pl. . In northwest Semitic use, ʼĒl was a generic word for any god as well as the special name or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
