Ugaritic
Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
and
Canaanite religion
Canaanite religion or Syro-Canaanite religions refers to the myths, cults and ritual practices of people in the Levant during roughly the first three millennia BC. Canaanite religions were polytheistic and in some cases monolatristic. They we ...
first mentioned in inscriptions found in
Ugarit
Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
(now Ras Shamra,
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
).Golan, 2003, p. 82. "The name of the Canaanite deity of the setting sun Salim, or Salem, ..The names f Sahar and Salimare rendered in modern scholarly texts as Shakhar and Shalim ..William F. Albright identified
Shalim
Shalim (Šalām, Shalem, ) is a god in Canaanite religion, mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, Syria).Golan, 2003, p. 82. "The name of the Canaanite deity of the setting sun Salim, or Salem, ..The names Shahar_(god).ht ...
as the god of the dusk and Shahar as the god of the dawn.; cf. the Akkadian word for sunset, ''šalām šamši''.
Shahar and Salim are the twin children of El. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.
The names Shahar and Shalim are masculine, and it appears the gods are as well.
Name
Hebrew
Sutton recently says the word is used 43 times in the Tanakh. These include 23 as a noun (dawn, tomorrow, the morning star) 6 adjectivally (black) 12 as a piʿel verb ("to seek, to desire") or qal ("to become black" or "to be intent on"). "This indicates that within the etymology of in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" . ''
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, the word ''saḥar'' () refers to the predawn period and comes from the same
Semitic root
The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or " radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowel ...
. This root is also visible in '' suḥūr'' (), the predawn meal
Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
eat during
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
.
Etymology
Hebrew ''šaḥar'' is a primary noun. The Akkadian ''šēru(m)'' II and the dialectal Assyrian form ''šiāru(m)'', meaning ‘morning,’ argue against a verbal derivation since the substantival form ''pirâs'' only generates primary nouns. Furthermore,
Old South Arabian
Ancient South Arabian (ASA; also known as Old South Arabian, Epigraphic South Arabian, Ṣayhadic, or Yemenite) is a group of four closely related extinct languages ( Sabaean/Sabaic, Qatabanic, Hadramitic, Minaic) spoken in the far southern ...
''śaḥar'', which means "dawn, daybreak", does not suggest a causative form. Variations found in Qumran include Middle Hebrew ''šaḥar'' (1QH4:6: kšḥr, 'like the dawn'; 11QPsa 26:11: establishment of the dawn 'kwn'' hiphil">hiphil.html" ;"title="'kwn'' hiphil">'kwn'' hiphil/nowiki>; 4Q487 36,1 ''lšḥr'', uncertain); Jewish Aramaic ''šaḥarā'', 'morning dawn, early morning'; Moabite (feminine) ''šḥrt'', compare ''mbqʽ hšḥrt'', 'from daybreak'; Ugaritic ''šḥr'', 'dawn, daybreak', and ''šḥr'' par. ''qdm'', 'east wind'; ''šḥr ʽlmt'', 'from this morning to eternity'; as well as the twin gods ''šḥr wšlm'', 'morning and evening star', and ''ʽm šḥr wšlm šmmh'', 'to ''šḥr'' and ''šlm'' in heaven'; Arabic ''saḥar'', 'time before daybreak, early morning, dawn'. The ancient Arabic god ''Saḥar'', 'dawn, daybreak', is depicted in reliefs with the symbol of the dragon's head.
Theophorics
The form ''šaḥar'' also appears as a divine name in personal names, including Ugaritic ''ìlšḥr'' "''šḥr'' is (my) god"; Phoenician ''ʽbdšḥr, šḥrbʽl'',
Hebrew אחישחר ("brother of Shahar") and שחריה ("Yahweh is Shahar.")
Sources
Tanakh
"Traces" of the deity can be found in the canon; HALOT 9524 names Isaiah 14:12, Psalm 139:9, Job 3:9 and 41:10.
Isaiah 14:12–15
Isaiah 14:12–15 has been the origin of the belief that Satan was a fallen angel, who could also be referred to as
Lucifer
The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology.
He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...
. It refers to the rise and disappearance of the morning star Venus in the phrase "O Shining One, son of Dawn!" (, translated as Lucifer in the
Vulgate
The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
and preserved in the early English translations of the Bible.)
This understanding of seems to be the most accepted interpretation in the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
Origen
Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...
,
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. ...
,
Tertullian
Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...
, and
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Ro ...
. It may be considered a Christian "remythologization" of Isaiah 14, as the verse originally used
Canaanite religion
Canaanite religion or Syro-Canaanite religions refers to the myths, cults and ritual practices of people in the Levant during roughly the first three millennia BC. Canaanite religions were polytheistic and in some cases monolatristic. They we ...
to build its imagery of the
hubris
Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), is extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence and complacency, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance.
Hubris, arrogance, and pretension are related to the need for vi ...
of a historical ruler, "the king of Babylon" in Isaiah 14:4.
The role of Venus as the morning star was taken by ʿAṯtar, in this instance referred to as "son of Shāḥar". The reference to Shāḥar remains enigmatic to scholars, who have a wide range of theories on the mythological framework and sources for the passage in Isaiah.
Ugarit
KTU 1.23
The conception and birth of Šaḥar-w-Šalim are found here. The story fits on one tablet without being cramped.
There is a short invocation of the gods. A ''mt w šr'' joins, and appears to harvest grapes with a "staff of widowhood." Pardee makes room for others' suggestions of circumcision imagery.
There's another invocation. Two women, apparently human worshipers, entice El. He seduces them, after a hunting ritual in which he roasts a bird he shot out of the air. In time they give birth to Šaḥar-w-Šalim, whom the goddess nurses. Hungry, they have their lips at the birds of the sky and fish of the sea.
RS 24.244 ( KTU2 1.100) Ugaritic liturgy against venomous reptiles
Message to Šaḥru-wa-ŠalimuPardee, Dennis , COS 1.94
She again calls to her mother Šapšu:
Mother Šapšu, take a message
to Šaḥru-wa-Šalimu in the heavens:20
My incantation for serpent bite,
for the scaly serpent's poison:
From it, O charmer, destroy,
from it cast out the venom.
Then he binds the serpent,
feeds the scaly serpent,
draws up a chair and sits.
See also
*
Phosphorus (morning star)
Phosphorus () is the god of the planet Venus in its appearance as the Morning Star. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is "Eosphorus" (), which means "dawn-bringer". The term "eosphorus" is sometimes met in English. As an adjective, the w ...
*
Shamash
Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...
*
Asherah
Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian language, Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittites, Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Ashera ...