View source for Ancient Semitic religion

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Ancient Near East mythology}}

'''Ancient Semitic religion''' encompasses the [[polytheism|polytheistic]] religions of the [[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples|Semitic people]]s from the [[ancient Near East]] and [[Northeast Africa]]. Since the term ''Semitic'' represents a rough category when referring to cultures, as opposed to languages, the definitive bounds of the term "ancient Semitic religion" are only approximate but exclude the religions of "non-Semitic" speakers of the region such as Egyptians, Elamites, Hittites, Hurrians, Mitanni, Urartians, Luwians, Minoans, Greeks, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Medes, Philistines and Parthians. 

Semitic traditions and their [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheons]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Noll |first=K. L. |author-link=K. L. Noll |title=Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0V6U22YdxEC&pg=PA187 |year=2001 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-84127-258-0 |page=187 |quote=[A patron god in an ancient Near Eastern religion held a unique position among the gods] as the most powerful and the most just of the gods, who ruled the divine realm as he ruled the human realm, often with the approval of a council of divine 'elders' who legitimated his right to rule as patron god (as in the book of Job 1—2). [...] Other gods were subordinate to, and partners with, the divine patron, just as the human aristocracy and commoners were expected to be subordinate to, and supportive of, the human king. The pantheon was usually quite complex, often including hundreds or even thousands of gods. |access-date=4 March 2018 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312212446/https://books.google.com/books?id=M0V6U22YdxEC&pg=PA187 |url-status=live }}</ref> fall into regional categories: [[Canaanite religion]]s of the [[Levant]] (including the [[Henotheism|henotheistic]] [[Yahwism|ancient Hebrew religion]] of the [[Israelites]], [[Judea]]ns and [[Samaritans]], as well as the religions of the [[Amorites]], [[Phoenicia]]ns, [[Moab]]ites, [[Edom]]ites, [[Ammon|Ammonites]] and [[Suteans]]); the [[Sumerian religion|Sumerian]]-inspired [[Babylonian religion|Assyro-Babylonian religion]] of [[Mesopotamia]]; the Phoenician Canaanite [[Punic religion|religion of Carthage]]; [[Nabataean religion]]; [[Eblaite language|Eblaite]], [[Ugarit]]e,  [[Dilmun|Dilmunite]] and [[Arameans|Aramean]] religions; and [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Arabian polytheism]].

Semitic [[polytheism]] possibly transitioned into [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic]] [[monotheism]] by way of the god [[El (deity)|El]], whose name "El" אל, or ''elah'' אלה is a word for "god" in Hebrew, [[cognate]] to Arabic '''''ʼ'''ilāh'' إله, and its definitive pronoun form الله ''[[Allah|Allāh]]'', "(The) God".

==Proto-Semitic pantheon==
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2013}}
{{Middle Eastern deities}}
Abbreviations: Ac. [[Akkadian language|Akkadian-Babylonian]]; Ug. [[Ugaritic religious texts|Ugaritic]]; Pp. [[Phoenicia#Phoenician gods|Phoenician]]; Ib. [[Hebrew]]; Ar. [[Arabic]]; OSA [[Old South Arabian]]; Et. [[Ge'ez language|Ethiopic]]

* ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Ilu'': "god" ([[Sky god]], head of pantheon: Ac. [[ilah|''Ilu'']], Ug. ''[[El (deity)|il]]'', Pp. ''ʼl/Ēlos'', Ib. ''[[El (deity)|El]]/[[Elohim]]'', Ar. ''[[Allah|Allāh]]'', OSA ''ʼl'').
* ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Aṯiratu'': (Ilu's wife: Ug. ''aṯrt'', Ib. ''[[Asherah|Ašērāh]]'', OSA ''ʼṯrt'')—The meaning of the name is unknown. She is also called ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Ilatu'' "goddess" (Ac. ''Ilat'', Pp. ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>lt'', Ar. ''[[Al-lāt|Allāt]]'').
* ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Aṯtaru'': (God of Fertility: Ug. ''ʻṯtr'', OSA ''ʻṯtr'', Et. ''[[Attar (god)|ʻAstar]]'' ''sky god'').
* ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Aṯtartu'': (Goddess of Fertility: Ac. ''[[Ishtar|Ištar]]'', Ug. ''ʻṯtrt'', Pp. [[Astarte|''ʻštrt'' / ''Astarte'']], Ib. ''[[Ashtoreth|<nowiki>'</nowiki>Aštoreṯ]]''). 
* ''Haddu''/''Hadadu'': ([[Storm god]]: Ac. ''[[Adad]]'', Ug. ''[[Hadad|hd]]'', Pp. ''Adodos''). The meaning of the name is probably "thunderer". This god is also known as ''Ba<nowiki>'</nowiki>lu'' "husband, lord" (Ac. ''[[Bel (god)|Bel]]'', Ug. ''b<nowiki>'</nowiki>l'', Pp. ''b<nowiki>'</nowiki>l''/Belos, Ib. ''[[Baal|Ba<nowiki>'</nowiki>al]]'').
* ''Śamšu'': "sun" (Sun goddess: Ug. ''špš'', OSA: ''šmš'', but Ac. ''[[Shamash|Šamaš]]'' is a male god).
* ''Wariḫu'': "moon" (Moon god: Ug. ''yrḫ'', Ib. ''Yārēaḥ'', OSA ''wrḫ'').

==Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia==
{{Main|Babylonian religion}}
{{further|Ancient Mesopotamian religion}}
{{Mesopotamian myth}}
The Sun, Moon, and the five planets visible to the naked eye connected with the chief gods of the Babylonian [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]]. A list now held in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:<ref>Mackenzie, p. 301.</ref>
*[[Sin (mythology)|Sin]] (the [[Moon]])
*[[Shamash]] (the [[Sun]])
*[[Marduk]] ([[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]])
*[[Ishtar]] ([[Venus (planet)|Venus]])
*[[Ninurta]] ([[Saturn (planet)|Saturn]])
*[[Nabu]] ([[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]])
*[[Nergal]] ([[Mars (planet)|Mars]])

The religion of the [[Assyrian Empire]] (sometimes called [[Ashurism]]) centered on [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]], [[patron deity]] of the city of [[Assur]], and [[Ishtar]], patroness of [[Nineveh]]. The last positively recorded worship of Ashur and other Assyrian-Mesopotamian gods dates back to the 3rd century AD in the face of the adaptation of [[Christianity]] from the 1st century AD onwards, although there is evidence of isolated pockets of worship among [[Assyrian people]] as late as the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm#Religion |title=Brief History of Assyrians |publisher=AINA Assyrian International News Agency |access-date=22 August 2007 |archive-date=28 April 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990428141504/http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm#Religion |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Simo |last=Parpola |title=Assyrians after Assyria |url=http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrians%20after%20Assyria.html |journal=Assyriologist |publisher=Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No. 2 |year=1999 |quote=The gods Ashur, Sherua, Ishtar, Nanaya, Bel, Nabu and Nergal continued to be worshiped in Assur at least until the early 3rd century AD; the local cultic calendar was that of the imperial period; the temple of Ashur was restored in the 2nd century AD; and the stelae of the local rulers resemble those of Assyrian kings in the imperial period. |access-date=22 August 2007 |archive-date=14 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714183623/http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrians%20after%20Assyria.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ashur, the patron deity of the eponymous capital of [[Assur]] from the [[Early Bronze Age]] (c. 22nd century BC), was in constant rivalry with the later emerging [[Marduk]] (from c. 19th century BC), the patron deity of [[Babylon]]. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk, even becoming the husband of Ishtar.

The major Assyro-Babylonian-Akkadian gods were:
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Ashur (god)|Ashur]]/[[Anshar]] ({{langx|syc|ܐܵܫܘܼܪ}}), patron of [[Assur]]
*[[Ishtar]], ([[Astarte]]) ({{langx|syc|ܐܸܣܬܪܵܐ}}), goddess of love and war and patroness of [[Nineveh]]
*[[Nabu]] ({{langx|syc|ܢܒ݂ܘܿ}}): god of writing and scribes
*[[Nergal]] ({{langx|syc|ܢܸܪܓܲܠ}}): god of the Underworld
*[[Ninurta]], Assyrian god of war and hunting
*[[Tiamat]]: sea goddess
*[[Samnuha]]<ref>[[Stephanie Dalley|Dalley, Stephanie]], ''Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities'' (2002), {{ISBN|1-931956-02-2}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>
*[[Kubaba (goddess)|Kubaba]]<ref>Dalley (2002){{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>
*[[Marduk]] ({{langx|syc|ܒܹܝܠ}})
*[[Enlil]]
*[[Ninlil]]
*[[Nisroch]]
*[[Hanbi]]: father of [[Pazuzu]]
*[[Anu]], supreme divinity of the Heavens
*[[Ea (Babylonian god)|Ea]], Sumerian [[Enki]]: god of crafts
*[[Kishar]]
*[[Sin (mythology)|Sin]] / Suen, Sumerian [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna]] ({{langx|syc|ܣܝܼܢ}}): moon god
*[[Išḫara]]
*[[Shamash]] ({{langx|syc|ܫܡܫ}}): sun god
*[[Adad]]/[[Hadad]]<ref name="Harper1901">{{cite book |author=Robert Francis Harper |title=Assyrian and Babylonian literature |url=https://archive.org/details/assyrianandbaby06harpgoog|access-date=27 June 2011 |year=1901 |publisher=D. Appleton and company |page=[https://archive.org/details/assyrianandbaby06harpgoog/page/n136 26]}}</ref>
*[[Dagon|Dagan]]/[[Dagon]]
*[[Bel (god)|Bel]] ({{langx|syc|ܒܹܝܠ}})
*[[Tammuz (deity)|Tammuz]] ({{langx|syc|ܬܲܡܘܼܙ}})
{{div col end}}

Major Assyro-Babylonian demons and heroes were:
*[[Adapa]] ([[Apkallu|Oannes]])
*[[Gilgamesh]] ({{langx|syc|ܓܡܝܼܓܘܿܣ}})
*[[Lugalbanda]]
*[[Lilith|Lilitu]] ({{langx|syc|ܠܸܠܝܼܬ݂ܵܐ}})
*[[Pazuzu]]
*[[Ninurta]]<ref name="Jacobsen1978">{{cite book |author=Thorkild Jacobsen |title=The treasures of darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZT57A8ioCkC |access-date=27 June 2011 |year=1978 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-02291-9 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312212526/https://books.google.com/books?id=bZT57A8ioCkC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ |title=ETCSLhomepage |publisher=Etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk |date=2006-10-24 |access-date=2015-05-16 |archive-date=2 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051510/http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Canaan==
{{main|Canaanite religion}}
{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}
The [[Canaanite religion]] was practiced by people living in the ancient [[Levant]] throughout the [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]]. Until the excavation (1928 onwards) of the city of [[Ugarit|Ras Shamra]] (known as [[Ugarit]] in antiquity) in northern [[Syria]] and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablet alphabetic [[cuneiform]] texts,<ref>Gray, John, "The Legacy of Canaan the Ras Shamra Texts and Their Relevance to the Old Testament", No. 5. ''Brill Archive'', 1957; for a more recent discussion see Yon, Marguerite, ''The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra'', Eisenbrauns, 2006.</ref> scholars knew little about Canaanite religious practice. [[Papyrus]] seems to have been the preferred writing material for [[scribe]]s at the time. Unlike the papyrus documents found in Egypt, ancient papyri in the Levant have often simply decayed from exposure to the humid [[Mediterranean climate]]. As a result, the accounts in the [[Bible]] became the primary sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. Supplementing the Biblical accounts, several secondary and tertiary Greek sources have survived, including [[Lucian of Samosata]]'s treatise ''[[De Dea Syria]]'' (The Syrian Goddess, 2nd century CE), fragments of the ''Phoenician History'' of [[Sanchuniathon]] as preserved by [[Philo of Byblos]] (c. 64 – 141 CE), and the writings of [[Damascius]] ({{circa}} 458 – after 538). Recent study of the Ugaritic material has uncovered additional information about the religion,<ref>Smith, Mark S., ''The origins of biblical monotheism: Israel's polytheistic background and the Ugaritic texts'', Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref> supplemented by inscriptions from the Levant and [[Ebla|Tel Mardikh]] archive<ref>J. Pons, Review of G. Pettinato, A. Alberti, Catalogo dei testi cuneiformi di Tell Mardikh - Ebla, MEE I, Napoli, 1979, in Études théologiques et religieuses 56 (1981) 339—341.</ref> (excavated in the early 1960s).

Like other peoples of the ancient Near East, the Canaanites were [[polytheistic]], with families typically focusing worship on ancestral [[Household deity|household gods and goddesses]] while acknowledging the existence of other [[deities]] such as [[Baal]], [[Anath]], and [[El (god)|El]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Canaanite-religion |title=Canaanite religion |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=2014-04-17 |access-date=2016-01-26 |archive-date=22 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522193909/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Canaanite-religion |url-status=live }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=June 2017}} Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as the [[hieros gamos|sacred marriage]] of the [[New Year Festival]]; Canaanites may have revered their kings as gods.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm ([[Elohim]]) or the children of El (compare the Biblical "[[sons of God]]"), the [[creator deity]] called El, fathered the other deities. In the Greek sources he was married to Beruth ([[Beirut]], the city). The pantheon was supposedly obtained by [[Philo of Byblos]] from [[Sanchuniathon]] of Berythus ([[Beirut]]). The marriage of the deity with the city seems to have biblical parallels with the stories that link [[Melkart]] with [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Yahweh (Canaanite deity)|Yahweh]] with [[Jerusalem]], and [[Tanit]] and [[Baal Hammon]] with [[Carthage]]. [[El Elyon]] is mentioned (as ''God Most High'') in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest was [[Melchizedek]], king of Salem.{{cn|date=December 2019}}

Philo states that the union of El Elyon and his consort resulted in the birth of [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Ge]] (Greek names for ''Heaven'' and ''Earth''). This closely parallels the opening verse of the Hebrew Bible, [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 1:1—"In the beginning God ([[Elohim]]) created the [[Heaven]]s (''[[Shemayim]]'') and the Earth" (''Eretz''). It also parallels the story of the Babylonian [[Anunaki]] gods.

==Abrahamic religions==
{{main|Abrahamic religions}}
Many scholars believe that the Assyro-Babylonian ''[[Enuma Elish]]'' influenced the [[Genesis creation narrative]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crivoice.org/enumaelish.html |title=The Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Creation Myth |publisher=Crivoice.org |date=2011-11-11 |access-date=2011-12-28 |archive-date=5 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405034602/http://www.crivoice.org/enumaelish.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stenudd.com/myth/enumaelish/enumaelish-4.htm |title=ENUMA ELISH - Babylonian Creation Myth - Theories |publisher=Stenudd.com |access-date=2011-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122033206/http://stenudd.com/myth/enumaelish/enumaelish-4.htm |archive-date=22 November 2011}}</ref><ref>Sharpes, Donald K. 'Lords of the scrolls: literary traditions in the Bible and Gospels'. Peter Lang, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8204-7849-0}}, 978-0-8204-7849-4</ref> The ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' influenced the [[Genesis flood narrative]]. The [[Sumerian myth]] of ''[[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]]'' also had influence on the [[Tower of Babel]] myth in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]. Some writers trace the story of [[Esther]] to Assyrio-Babylonian roots.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gunkel |first=Hermann |title=Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton: Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12 |year=2006 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]] |isbn=978-0802828040 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNstLQ8i3nsC&q=story+of+Esther+++Babylonian&pg=PA198 |page=198 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312212519/https://books.google.com/books?id=pNstLQ8i3nsC&q=story+of+Esther+++Babylonian&pg=PA198 |url-status=live }}</ref> El Elyon appears in [[Balaam]]'s story in Numbers and in Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32.8. The [[Masoretic Text]]s suggest:<blockquote>When the Most High ('Elyōn) divided to the nations their inheritance, he separated the sons of man (Ādām); he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.</blockquote>

Rather than "sons of [[Israel]]", the [[Septuagint]], the Greek Old Testament, suggests the "angelōn theou," or "angels of God", and a few versions even have ''huiōn theou'' ([[sons of God]]). The [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] version of this suggests that there were in fact 70 sons of the Most High God sent to rule over the 70 nations of the Earth. This idea of the 70 nations of Earth, each ruled over by one of the Elohim (sons of God), is also found in Ugaritic texts. The [[Arslan Tash]] inscription suggests that each of the 70 sons of El Elyon was bound to their people by a covenant. Thus, Crossan{{Who|date=May 2016}} translates:
<blockquote><poem>The Eternal One ('Olam) has made a covenant oath with us,
Asherah has made (a pact) with us.
And all the sons of El,
And the great council of all the Holy Ones ([[Qetesh|Qedesh]]).
With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth.</poem></blockquote>

==See also==
{{Portal|Mythology|Asia}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Ancient Egyptian religion]]
*[[Arabian mythology]]
*[[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]]
*[[History of Judaism]]
*[[Mandaeism]]
*''[[Moses and Monotheism]]''
*[[Names of God in Judaism]]
*[[Origins of Judaism]]
*[[Prehistoric religion]]
*[[Religions of the ancient Near East]]
*[[Semitic Neopaganism]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Donald A. Mackenzie, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/mba/index.htm ''Myths of Babylonia and Assyria''] (1915).
*Moscati, Sabatino (1968), ''The World of the Phoenicians'' (Phoenix Giant)
*Ribichini, Sergio "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Moscati Sabatino (1988), ''The Phoenicians'' (by L.B. Tauris in 2001)
*Thophilus G. Pinches, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070312003609/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/relg/non-christiancomparative/TheReligionofBabyloniaandAssyria/toc.html ''The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria''], The World Wide School, Seattle (2000)
*{{cite book |last=van der Toorn |first=Karel |title=Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible |publisher=E. J. Brill |location=New York |year=1995 |isbn=0-8028-2491-9}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Ancient Semitic religions}}

{{Middle Eastern mythology}}
{{Paganism}}
{{History of religions}}
{{Religion topics |ancient}}

[[Category:Ancient Semitic religions| ]]
[[Category:Phoenician religion]]