Sakkun () was a Phoenician god. He is known chiefly from

theophoric names A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that de ...

such as

Sanchuniathon Sanchuniathon (; Ancient Greek: ; probably from , " Sakkun has given"), variant ''šknytn'' also known as Sanchoniatho the Berytian, was a Phoenician author. His three works, originally written in the Phoenician language, survive only in partial ...

( ''sknytn'', variant ) ''šknytn'' and Gisgo ( ''grskn''). As of 1940, his earliest appearance in epigraphical evidence is from the 5th century BC. There is argument that the vocalisation of Phoenician (''skn'') is *''Sakkun'', that Sakkun is the "administrator" or "superintendent" and that he was identified with

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

. Albert Baumgartner doubts the arguments: He claims that *''Sakun'', *''Sakkon'' and *''Sakon'' are likely vocalisations as well, based on comparisons to the

Masoretic The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

Niqqud In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikud ( or ) is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the Ea ...

of the Greek name ''ʾkyš'', ancient Latin transliterations of the name ( CIL VIII 698, 5099) and

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

' variations; He argues that the etymological foundation of a connection between the god ''skn'' and the Canaanite noun ''skn'' (reconstructed vocalisation *''sākinu'', after the Canaanite shift *''sōkinu'') is weak; and he claims that the two evidence that establish the identification with Hermes – the Homeric epithet (''Sōkos'') for Hermes in the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

(20, 72) and a Phoenician inscription dedicating an altar to Sakkun ( KAI 58) found in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

near one altar dedicated to Hermes and another one to

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Soter Soter derives from the Ancient Greek epithet (''Sōtḗr''), meaning a saviour, a deliverer. The feminine form is Soteira (Σώτειρα, ''Sṓteira'') or sometimes Soteria (Σωτηρία, ''Sōtería''). Soter was used as: * A title of gods ...

(and were suggested to be together read as a bilingual inscriptionFirst by Then by ) – are both wrong: the epithet is probably derived from the verb , and there is no reason to read the inscriptions as one.

Philo of Byblos Philo of Byblos (, ''Phílōn Býblios''; ; – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexicon, lexical and historical works in Greek language, Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history ...

, whose

Interpretatio graeca , or "interpretation by means of Greek odels, refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cult ...

to Phoenician gods is reliable, identifies Hermes with Taautos (=

Thoth Thoth (from , borrowed from , , the reflex of " eis like the ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an African sacred ibis, ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine count ...

References

Sources

* West Semitic gods Phoenician mythology {{Phoenicia-stub