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Canaanite Religion
The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries AD. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cases, monolatristic. Beliefs Deities A group of deities in a four-tier hierarchy headed by El and Asherah were worshiped by the followers of the Canaanite religion; this is a detailed listing: * Aglibol, god of the moon and brother of Malakbel. Part of a trio of gods of Palmyra, Syria along with Bel and Yarhibol. Also part of another trio with Baalshamin and Malakbel. * Anat, virgin goddess of war and strife, sister and putative mate of Ba'al Hadad. * Arsay, goddess of the underworld, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad. * Arsu, god of the evening star and twin brother of Azizos. * Ashtar-Chemosh, wife of Chemosh and goddess of the Moabites. * Asherah, queen consort of El (Ugaritic religion), Elkunirsa (Hittite religion), Yah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ugarit
) , image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg , image_size=300 , alt = , caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit , map_type = Near East#Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 300 , relief=yes , location = Latakia Governorate, Syria , region = Fertile Crescent , coordinates = , type = settlement , part_of = , length = , width = , area = , height = , builder = , material = , built = c. 6000 BC , abandoned = c. 1185 BC , epochs =Neolithic– Late Bronze Age , cultures = Canaanite , dependency_of = , occupants = , event = Bronze Age Collapse , excavations = 1928–present , archaeologists = Claude F. A. Schaeffer , condition = ruins , ownership = Public , public_access = Yes , website = , notes = Ugarit (; uga, 𐎜𐎂𐎗𐎚, ''ʾUgarītu''; ar, أُوغَارِيت ''Ūġārīt'' or ''Ūǧārīt'') was an ancient port city in northern Syria, in the outskirts of modern Latakia, discovered by accident in 1928 together with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atargatis
Atargatis (; grc, Ἀτάργατις, translit=Atárgatis or arc, , translit=ʿtrʿth; syc, ܬܪܥܬܐ, translit=Tarʿaṯā) was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. Ctesias also used the name Derketo ( grc-koi, Δερκετὼ) for her, and the Romans called her Dea Syria, or in one word Deasura. Primarily she was a fertility goddess, but, as the ''baalat'' ("mistress") of her city and people she was also responsible for their protection and well-being. Her chief sanctuary was at Hierapolis, modern Manbij, northeast of Aleppo, Syria. Michael Rostovtzeff called her "the great mistress of the North Syrian lands".M. Rostovtseff, "Hadad and Atargatis at Palmyra", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 37 (January 1933), pp 58-63, examining Palmyrene stamped tesserae. Her consort is usually Hadad. As Ataratheh, doves and fish were considered sacred to her: doves as an emblem of the Love-Goddess, and fish as symbolic of the fertility and life of the wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astarte
Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart ( Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name is particularly associated with her worship in the ancient Levant among the Canaanites and Phoenicians, though she was originally associated with Amorite cities like Ugarit and Emar, as well as Mari and Ebla. She was also celebrated in Egypt, especially during the reign of the Ramessides, following the importation of foreign cults there. Phoenicians introduced her cult in their colonies on the Iberian Peninsula. Name Astarte was a goddess of both the Canaanite and the Phoenician pantheon, derived from an earlier Syrian deity. She is recorded in Akkadian as (), the feminine form of Ishtar.K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible', p. 109-10. The name appears in Ugariti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashima
Ashima (; la, Asima) is an ancient Semitic goddess. Ancient Middle East Asima was a West Semitic goddess of fate related to the Akkadian goddess Shimti ("fate"), who was a goddess in her own right but also a title of other goddesses such as Damkina and Ishtar. Damkina, for example, was titled ''banat shimti'', "creator of fate". The name Ashima could be translated as "the name, portion, or lot" depending on context. It is related to the same root as the Arabian ''qisma'' and the Turkish '' kismet''. Asima was one of several deities worshipped in the individual cities of Samaria who are mentioned specifically by name in 2 Kings () in the Hebrew Bible. Julian Obermann suggests a close association with between the concept of "name" and "fate or purpose" from the West Semitic root "šm" and cites several examples in the Ugaritic text in which the naming of a person or object determines future function which is a familiar theme in many mythologies. Godfrey Rolles Driver translat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asherah Pole
An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother goddess Asherah, consort of El. The relation of the literary references to an ''asherah'' and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate. The asherim were also cult objects related to the worship of Asherah, the consort of either Ba'al or, as inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom attest, Yahweh, and thus objects of contention among competing cults. In translations of the Hebrew Bible that render the Hebrew ''asherim'' ( ''’ăšērīm'') or ''asheroth'' ( ''’ăšērōṯ'') into English as "Asherah poles", the insertion of "pole" begs the question by setting up unwarranted expectations for such a wooden object: "we are never told exactly what it was", observes John Day. The traditional interpretation of the Biblical text is that the Israelites imported pagan elements such as the Asherah poles from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religion In Pre-Islamic Arabia
Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia included indigenous Arabian polytheism, ancient Semitic religions, Christianity, Judaism, Mandaeism, and Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism, and rarely Buddhism. Arabian polytheism, the dominant form of religion in pre-Islamic Arabia, was based on veneration of deities and spirits. Worship was directed to various gods and goddesses, including Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt, al-‘Uzzā, and Manāt, at local shrines and temples such as the Kaaba in Mecca. Deities were venerated and invoked through a variety of rituals, including pilgrimages and divination, as well as ritual sacrifice. Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in Meccan religion. Many of the physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic gods are traced to idols, especially near the Kaaba, which is said to have contained up to 360 of them. Other religions were represented to varying, lesser degrees. The influence of the adjace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
'Amm
ʿAmm ( xsa, 𐩲𐩣, translit=ʿm; ar, عمْ) was a moon god worshipped in ancient Qataban, which was a kingdom in ancient Yemen. 'Amm's name stems from the Arabic word for paternal uncle. The inhabitants of the kingdom referred to themselves as the ''Banu Amm'', or the "Children of Amm". He was also revered as a weather god, as his attributes included lightning bolts. His consort is the goddess Asherah, and he was served by the oracle-judge Anbay. According to French archaeologist and biblical scholar Daniel E. Fleming, one possible origin for the title 'Amm or "Children of 'Amm" is speculated to have stemmed from a designation of an earlier group of people who worshiped 'Amm as a central god, with the name 'Amm simply being the title for a forgotten deity whose true designation was not known. Though 'Amm was worshipped into the time of the Qataban Qataban ( Qatabanian: , romanized: , ) was an ancient South Semitic-speaking kingdom of South Arabia (ancient Yemen) which ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akkadian Religion
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syriac Christianity practiced by today's Assyrians. The religious development of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamian culture in general, especially in the south, was not particularly influenced by the movements of the various peoples into and throughout the area. Rather, Mesopotamian religion was a consistent and coherent tradition which adapted to the internal needs of its adherents over millennia of development. The earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in Mesopotamia in the sixth millennium BC, coinciding with the region beginning to be permanently settled. The earliest evidence of Mesopotamian religion date to the mid-fourth millennium BC, coinciding with the invention of writing, and involved the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amorite
The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied large parts of southern Mesopotamia from the 21st century BC to the end of the 17th century BC, where they established several prominent city-states in existing locations, such as Isin, Larsa and later notably Babylon, which was raised from a small town to an independent state and a major city. The term in Akkadian and Sumerian texts refers to the Amorites, their principal deity and an Amorite kingdom. The Amorites are also mentioned in the Bible as inhabitants of Canaan both before and after the conquest of the land under Joshua. Origin In the earliest Sumerian sources concerning the Amorites, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites ("the ''Mar.tu'' land") is associated not with Mesopotamia but with the lands to the we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amurru (god)
Amurru, also known under the Sumerian name Martu, was a Mesopotamian god who served as the divine personification of the Amorites. In past scholarship it was often assumed that he originated as an Amorite deity, but today it is generally accepted that he developed as a divine stereotype of them in Mesopotamian religion. As such, he was associated with steppes and pastoralism, as evidenced by his epithets and iconography. While this was initially his only role, he gradually developed other functions, becoming known as a god of the mountains, a warlike weather deity and a divine exorcist. He is first attested in documents from the Ur III period, chiefly in Sumerian and Akkadian theophoric names. Later he also came to be worshiped in Babylon, Assur and other locations in Assyria and Babylonia. He had his own cult center somewhere in the area known as the Sealand in Mesopotamian texts. Only a single myth about Amurru is known. It describes the circumstances of his marriage to Adgar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
