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Ancient Semitic religion encompasses thepolytheistic religions of theSemitic peoples from theancient Near East andNortheast Africa. Since the termSemitic 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 theirpantheons[1] fall into regional categories:Canaanite religions of theLevant (including thehenotheisticancient Hebrew religion of theIsraelites,Judeans andSamaritans, as well as the religions of theAmorites,Phoenicians,Moabites,Edomites,Ammonites andSuteans); theSumerian-influencedMesopotamian religion; the Phoenician Canaanitereligion of Carthage;Nabataean religion;Eblaite,Ugarite,Dilmunite andAramean religions; andArabian polytheism.
Semiticpolytheism transitioned intoAbrahamicmonotheism by way ofYahwism, a variety of Canaanite paganism centred onYahweh, the national god of theIron Age kingdoms ofIsrael andJudah. In this process, Yahweh wassyncretized withEl, the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name "El" אל, orelah אלה is a word for "god" in Hebrew,cognate to Arabicʼilāh إله, and its definitive pronoun form اللهAllāh, "(The) God".
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Abbreviations: Ac.Akkadian-Babylonian; Ug.Ugaritic; Pp.Phoenician; Ib.Hebrew; Ar.Arabic; OSAOld South Arabian; Et.Ethiopic
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The Sun, Moon, and the five planets visible to the naked eye connected with the chief gods of the Babylonianpantheon. A list now held in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:[2]
The religion of theAssyrian Empire (sometimes calledAshurism) centered onAshur,patron deity of the city ofAssur, andIshtar, patroness ofNineveh. 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 ofChristianity from the 1st century AD onwards, although there is evidence of isolated pockets of worship amongAssyrian people as late as the 17th century.[3][4]
Ashur, the patron deity of the eponymous capital ofAssur from theEarly Bronze Age (c. 22nd century BC), was in constant rivalry with the later emergingMarduk (from c. 19th century BC), the patron deity ofBabylon. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk, even becoming the husband of Ishtar.
The major Assyro-Babylonian-Akkadian gods were:
Major Assyro-Babylonian demons and heroes were:
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TheCanaanite religion was practiced by people living in the ancientLevant throughout theBronze Age andIron Age. Until the excavation (1928 onwards) of the city ofRas Shamra (known asUgarit in antiquity) in northernSyria and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablet alphabeticcuneiform texts,[10] scholars knew little about Canaanite religious practice.Papyrus seems to have been the preferred writing material forscribes at the time. Unlike the papyrus documents found in Egypt, ancient papyri in the Levant have often simply decayed from exposure to the humidMediterranean climate. As a result, the accounts in theBible became the primary sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. Supplementing the Biblical accounts, several secondary and tertiary Greek sources have survived, includingLucian of Samosata's treatiseDe Dea Syria (The Syrian Goddess, 2nd century CE), fragments of thePhoenician History ofSanchuniathon as preserved byPhilo of Byblos (c. 64 – 141 CE), and the writings ofDamascius (c. 458 – after 538). Recent study of the Ugaritic material has uncovered additional information about the religion,[11] supplemented by inscriptions from the Levant andTel Mardikh archive[12] (excavated in the early 1960s).
Like other peoples of the ancient Near East, the Canaanites werepolytheistic, with families typically focusing worship on ancestralhousehold gods and goddesses while acknowledging the existence of otherdeities such asBaal,Anath, andEl.[13][failed verification] Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as thesacred marriage of theNew Year Festival; Canaanites may have revered their kings as gods.[citation needed]
According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm (Elohim) or the children of El (compare the Biblical "sons of God"), thecreator deity called El, fathered the other deities. In the Greek sources he was married to Beruth (Beirut, the city). The pantheon was supposedly obtained byPhilo of Byblos fromSanchuniathon of Berythus (Beirut). The marriage of the deity with the city seems to have biblical parallels with the stories that linkMelkart withTyre,Yahweh withJerusalem, andTanit andBaal Hammon withCarthage.El Elyon is mentioned (asGod Most High) in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest wasMelchizedek, king of Salem.[citation needed]
Philo states that the union of El Elyon and his consort resulted in the birth ofUranus andGe (Greek names forHeaven andEarth). This closely parallels the opening verse of the Hebrew Bible,Genesis 1:1—"In the beginning God (Elohim) created theHeavens (Shemayim) and the Earth" (Eretz). It also parallels the story of the BabylonianAnunaki gods.
Many scholars believe that the Assyro-BabylonianEnuma Elish influenced theGenesis creation narrative.[14][15][16] TheEpic of Gilgamesh influenced theGenesis flood narrative. TheSumerian myth ofEnmerkar and the Lord of Aratta also had influence on theTower of Babel myth inGenesis. Some writers trace the story ofEsther to Assyrio-Babylonian roots.[17] El Elyon appears inBalaam's story in Numbers and in Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32.8. TheMasoretic Texts suggest:
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.
Rather than "sons ofIsrael", theSeptuagint, the Greek Old Testament, suggests the "angelōn theou," or "angels of God", and a few versions even havehuiōn theou (sons of God). TheDead 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. TheArslan Tash inscription suggests that each of the 70 sons of El Elyon was bound to their people by a covenant. Thus, Crossan[who?] translates:
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 (Qedesh).
With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth.
[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.
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.
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