Ancient Canaanite Religion Research Papers (original) (raw)

Temples were nearly ubiquitous across the ancient Near East. Rather than serving as a gathering place for a worshipping congregation, a temple served as a terrestrial divine abode. In it, the god(s) lived amid society, yet carefully sequestered from it behind walls and doors. While primarily a residence, the temple also granted people limited access, usually for the purpose of divine service. The people believed that gods dwelt outside of the realm of human experience. Temples bridged the gap between human and divine, allowing regulated access to the deity, usually present in the form of a cult statue, and giving people the opportunity to influence the gods. Through this mutually beneficial interchange, the gods received the service they desired, while the people hoped their service would elicit divine protection and blessing. Protection and blessing, though, were conditional. The gods would remain and stay favorably disposed only if they were satisfied with their accommodation and service. Temples then, at least in theory, were lavishly and fastidiously constructed and maintained in order to keep the gods happy. This article focuses on the major temples, especially those from 1500–500 BCE, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hittite Anatolia, and Syria-Palestine. The article also focuses on the structure and ideology of the temples, not the rituals performed within them. For the most part, biblical and Israelite references will be kept to a minimum, as they are numerous enough to warrant their own article. Too numerous to include, archaeological reports generally have been excluded, yet they are referenced in the works cited and may be found with a Google web search.

Interpretation of symbols and glyphs found on 1st Dynasty BCE to 18th Century CE artifacts, are a means of tracing the transformational journeys of Bes, the Egypto-Nubian deity. The wanderings, which began in Nubia and Upper Egypt, continued north up the Nile into teeming markets and inns of port cities connected to the sea routes of the Mediterranean and Aegean and by land migrations west to Benin.
Beliefs based upon ancient Pygmy philosophy and tenets were incorporated into Bes as a divine representative. These views were spread by means of reciprocal gift systems, trade, migration and wars. The growing need for an accessible protector, healer and divine intermediary, spanning the distance from the Levant to the western Mediterranean was met by Bes, binding diverse communities into a common front against the external forces of disease and death.
As successive wanderings took place mostly in times of transition and upheaval, cultural contact between dissimilar populations malleably transformed images, names and myths associated with Bes and Pygmy ancestors. These complex results are comprehensively examined in this paper to help us successfully transition into a new era.

- by John C Franklin and +2
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- Philology, Religion, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Sumerian Religion

On se propose ici de présenter un intéressant objet en plomb, inédit jusqu'à présent, qui a été trouvé au cours des années 80 dans les alentours de la ville d'Ibiza, parait-il, non pas loin du site de Puig d'en Valls, qui est aussi très connu dans la bibliographie phénicienne punique. La trouvaille a été faite lors de recherches, hors de contrôle officiel, à l'aide de détecteurs de métaux. Cette pièce, qui reste encore en mains privées, a pu tout de même être documentée et l'endroit de sa trouvaille, malgré sans d'autres précisions, située à peu de kilomètres au N de la ville d'Ibiza, dans des champs où on y pratiquait traditionnellement la culture.

- by Joan Ramon
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- Phoenicians, Ancient Religion, Phoenician, Ancient myth and religion

This magnificent book, published by Macmillan a month after the Faruqis’ deaths, presents the ‎entire world view of Islam-its beliefs, traditions, institutions, and its place in the cultures in which ‎it has taken mot. THE CULTURAL ATLAS OF ISLAM is not only a comprehensive introduction ‎to the Islamic experience in history and the modern world. It is an authoritative and deeply felt ‎statement of the faith of Islam, written for those of all faiths. Isma‘il and Lois Lamya’ al Famqi’s ‎book is, in fact, Islam explaining itself.‎

The Old Testament researcher Thomas Römer (Uivesity of Lausanne and Collège de France, Paris) leads the readers competently and fascinatingly through the history of Israel from its dark beginnings to the Hellenistic period. In the environment of desert and cultivated land - in the Levant and Mesopotamia - presents itself powerfully a multiplicity of gods and goddesses. In the face of political upheavals collateral gods appear in Cannan at the turn of the first millennium B.C. There are among others. El in different expressions and Jhwh. They first show themselves henotheistic and only later is Jhwh worshiped monotheistically. In the centuries that followed, these changes in Israel (the northern kingdom) and in Judah (the southern kingdom) received further intensification and differentiation from the other gods. This tendency is further intensified by military defeats and expulsions of the autochthonous population. Key events of faithful coping are the case of Samaria in 722 BC. through the Assyrians and then especially in 587 BC. the conquest of Jerusalem by the New Babylonians. Salvation-historical theological responses to these historic upheavals finally lead in the Hellenistic period (4th / 3rd century BC) to the only universal God, who no longer needs a name for Judaism, but as monotheistic kyriós and théos throughout the Mediterranean and finally worldwide until today veneration finds.

- by Reinhard Kirste
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- Second Temple Judaism, Pre-Judaic Semitic Monotheism, Ancient Israel, Baal
- by Aren M . Maeir and +2
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- Archaeology, Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Israel/Palestine, Biblical Archaeology

This article discusses the Mekal stele, a New Kingdom funerary stele from Beth-Shean (northern Palestine) depicting a certain Amenemopet and his son Paraemheb worshipping a god named "Mekal, god of Beth-Shean". Mekal is a most mysterious god, as he still lacks secure identification in other Egyptian and Levantine sources. This article offers a new edition of the stele, and a fresh discussion of the iconographic type of Mekal in relation to other Egyptian depictions of Asiatic gods, such as Baal-Seth and Reshef. It then offers a critical review of the main past attempts at identifying epigraphic and onomastic parallels to Mekal, and also discusses the dating of the stele, formerly set in Dynasty 18, but now provable to belong in Dynasty 19. It finally argues for the presence of a second funerary stele of Amenemopet in Beth-Shean, before offering a cautious conclusion regarding the god's identity.

Excavations at Tel Burna, Israel, have uncovered portions of a large structure from the Late
Bronze Age IIB, yielding numerous nds that suggest ritual and cultic practices occurred in the
building, particularly in its central courtyard. is article presents the nds from the excavations,
examining the meaning of the cultic artifacts discovered and comparing the building with the
nearby Fosse Temple at Lachish. It is hoped that the discovery and presentation of the nds will help
yield important information on cultic practices occurring in the 13th-century ... Shephelah.

- by Itzick Shai and +2
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- Late Bronze Age archaeology, Archaeology of Ritual, Ancient Canaanite Religion, History and Archaeology of Canaan
- by Johanna H. Stuckey
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- Ancient Canaanite Religion, Ancient Goddesses

This publication, in two parts, Text and Plates, is a catalog of the architecture and artifacts recovered from Megiddo (modern Tell el-Mutesellim), primarily in the seasons from 1935 to 1939. Pottery is grouped according to strata; other objects are grouped whenever possible according to functional classification and chronological order within each class in order to facilitate tracing the development of any single class of object.

- by Gordon Loud
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- Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Biblical Studies, Egypt and Canaan, Ancient Israel

The celestial universe and the mode of action of YHWH are sometimes depicted by metallurgy. This figuration is generally understood as a picturesque representation devoid of theological significance, introduced only for describing the infinite powers of the god of Israel using the extreme physical conditions characterizing metallurgy. This explanation is however contested by: (i) the many allusions to metallurgy encountered in Biblical theology, (ii) the detailed mention, in the divine context, of all the stages of metal production: mining, ore roasting, smelting, metal purification and even of furnace re-melting, (iii) the representation of the firmament and the earth as two giant pieces of metal, (iv) the vision of the holy domain of YHWH as a giant celestial furnace. These features attest the existence of a substantial metallurgical component in Biblical theology. Furthermore, the strong bias towards copper metallurgy suggests that these representations were anchored in Bronze Age metallurgical traditions. It is concluded that Israelite theology encompasses an important metallurgical component inherited from the pre-Israelite cult of YHWH.

- by Nissim Amzallag
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- Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Archaeometallurgy

The Canaanites, who belongs to the semitic race, are beginned their immigration in Palestine around 3000 B. C. E. Our knowledge of Canaanite Religion basically relies on the archives of cities like Ugarit and Ebla.
The Gods of the Canaanite Religion, their cults and mythology are partly known to us via Cuneiform tablets which were found at Ugarit (Ras Shamra), Alalakh, Ebla and Inscriptions. Being one of these tablets, according to the religious texts Canaanite Religion shows Polytheistic characteristics, and every god and goddess have their special responsibilities. Gods are portrayed as beings that have a physical shape and are often described as human beings, that have emotions . The Gods and Goddesses we know in this religion are follows: El the Creator of the World, Baal the Thunderer, Yamm of the Sea, God of Dead, Mot, Anat, Ašherah, Dagan, Rapa’uma, Rešheph, Yerach, Šapšu, Kothar-Hašiš and Kotharat. The Canaanites also believed an afterlife. This underworld described as a dark world. The habitants of this place called “The Shades of the Dead”. They also believed that the kings become and live as “Malakuma” after dead, and made offerings to them. In our study, we will mention about the land of Canaan and Canaanites, then we will try to clarify Canaan Religion, it’s characterictics and their gods.

- by Burak Taşdüvenci
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- Canaanite, Ancient Canaanite Religion
- by Matthew Susnow
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- Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Ancient Near East, Ritual Theory

Using iconographical and textual analyses, this paper proposes that Phoenician merchant vessels bore the embodiment of the Canaanite goddess Asherah, 'She who treads on water', in the form of the ships' masts. Masts were constructed exclusively of cedar wood, as were the physical substitutes for the goddess Asherah, asherim. It is suggested that sailing masts shared a common physical form and metaphysical function with 'Asherah poles' of the Old Testament. The metaphorical presence of the goddess in the ship's mast-asherah empowered sailors to control better the unpredictable forces of the water and sky upon which seafaring Phoenicia was so dependent.

- by Sara Rich
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- Religion, Music, Literature, Phoenicians

Au delà de ses connotations péjoratives, le serpent est considéré dans la Bible comme le gardien du domaine sacré et de ses extensions : le sanctuaire, les sources d'eau, les richesses souterraines, et la terre d'Israël. De plus, l'identification du bâton de Moise comme caducée révèle l'implication de cet animal dans l'exercice des pouvoirs divins. Plutôt qu'une influence cananéenne sur le yahwisme, l'attachement commun du serpent et de YHWH à la métallurgie traditionnellement pratiquée en sud Canaan dénote leur relation essentielle. Une continuité apparaît ainsi entre une forme primordiale, cana-néenne, du yahwisme et son extension israélite. Dans ce contexte, l'exclusion du serpent de cuivre (nehushtan) hors du temple de Jérusalem (2 Rois 18,4) reflète une réforme du yahwisme primordial, promue par le roi Ézékias, qui conduisit au rejet de l'un de ses symboles les plus essentiels.

- by Murat TURGUT
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- Ancient Egyptian Religion, Ancient History, Fashion design, Fashion Theory

There are many elements at play in the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden, all of which instigated a multitude and diverse range of interpretations. However, the text has only rarely been interpreted as possibly having a link to an ancient ritual. Remarkably, all of the elements present in the tale of Adam and Eve can be found in several Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean sources, many of which have been interpreted as being associated with rituals. What I propose for this thesis is that the written account of the Eden narrative could be both a record of an historical ritual, and an attempt to standardize a choice women's rite of passage that was used to attain an exalted status within the Israelite religious and social institutions. For this, I investigate the development of the sacred marriage ritual in the nations surrounding Israel by defining its history, its purpose, and its main religious experts. I then explore the Israelite religious landscape around the time the text was composed to find the proper circumstances that would lend themselves to the existence of a Judahite sacred marriage rite akin to that of these other ancient cultures. Finally, using a comparative approach to the Eden text, that mainly relies on the Ritual School, I briefly explore the many elements at play in the tale and define their purpose in the ritual.

- by Stéphane Beaulieu
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- Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Bible, Israelite Religion

Part I of this paper seeks to address much of the poor scholastic academic research in regards to Noble Drew Ali, founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America, the very first Islamic organization in the United States of America. Was Noble Drew Ali a mere mystic that worked in a circus and then decided to start an organization? Was he really some illiterate man named Thomas Drew that hid his identity as Timothy Drew, then to become a PROPHET? Did Noble Drew Ali have the requisite information to raise up the so-called "blacks" in the United States of America? All of these questions are answered in this tract.

- by Benjamin Sommer
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- Liturgical Studies, Liturgy, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies

Archaeologist Joel Klenck describes the Exodus from Egypt is being a source of controversy for millennia as different groups of scholars have debated both the historicity and the date of the event. Due to a lack of Egyptian inscriptions that mention the Exodus, during the 15th Century BC, most scholars have abandoned the Biblical timeline, shifted the event to another period, attempted to radically change Egyptian chronologies, or declared the event a myth or fabrication. This manuscript compares the timelines between the Biblical narrative and conventional Egyptian chronologies and reviews data from archaeological, bio-anthropological, philological, and historical sources in Egypt and Canaan. The analysis suggests that the Exodus occurred as the Biblical narrative suggests, in the 15th Century BC, specifically during the reign of Thutmose II.

This article provides a new reading and interpretation of the undeciphered Ancient North Arabian inscription KRS 2453. It is argued that the text is composed in a mixed Safaito-Hismaic script, and contains a three-line poem recounting the conflict between the Canaanite deities Baal and Mōt as known from the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. The inscription’s Ancient North Arabian context is also discussed, and its style and structure are examined in light of the ʿĒn ʿAvdat inscription, the only comparable Old Arabic text.

- by Ahmad Al-Jallad
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- Near Eastern Archaeology, Near Eastern Studies, Arabic Poetry, Semitic languages

This article addresses the meaning of the verb qny in the divine epithet qny ʾrṣ, variously translated “Creator,” “Begetter,” or “Owner of the earth.” I argue that the verb never means “to create” in West Semitic and that all attested usages can be explained on the assumption that they derive from a single root with the basic meaning “to acquire, come into possession.” The correct translation of Hebrew qnh šmym wʾrṣ in Gen 14: 19, 22 is “Owner of heaven and earth.”

- by Adam J Howell
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- Israelite Religion, Ancient Canaanite Religion

Tomando en consideración algunos restos de edificaciones y objetos encontrados en algunos yacimientos claves en Palestina o la tierra bíblica de Canaán, el presente ensayo es una descripción básica de las religiones de algunas culturas... more

- by Eran Arie
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- Late Bronze Age archaeology, Egypt and Canaan, Ancient Canaanite Religion
- by Victor Domin
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- Comparative Religion, Theology, Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Hebrew Bible

This update of 4.6.22, is an interpretation of symbols and glyphs found on 1st Dynasty BCE to 18th Century CE artifacts, are a means of tracing the transformational journeys of Bes, the Egypto-Nubian deity. The wanderings, which began in Nubia and Upper Egypt, continued north up the Nile into teeming markets and inns of port cities connected to the sea routes of the Mediterranean and Aegean.

The emissary of YHWH is such an enigmatic figure that even his 'theological reality' has been questioned. However, comparative mythology reveals his affinity with the Ugaritic Koshar, the Tyrian Melqart, and the Greek figures of Heracles and Melikertes. All these deities display an essential link to copper metallurgy, a feature revealing that their interrelation with the emissary of YHWH is not incidental. Rather, such a common linkage, together with few Biblical indications, enables to identify him as the smith-god. It is concluded that the emissary of YHWH is an independent divine figure of the Israelite theology, who was not officially worshipped though he intervened frequently towards the Israelites. This discovery enables to reconsider the singularity of the Israelite religion. While the neighbor peoples worshipped the divine emissary, it appears here that the Israelites elaborated a 'theological utopia' in which the people as a whole, and not only a small elite of kings, priests and smelters, were assumed to turn directly to the supreme deity.

- by Nissim Amzallag
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- Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Ancient Near East, Ugaritic Studies

The study of human figurines poses some of the most complex problems that
archaeologists confront. This is because not many figurines are found, they are often
found broken, and they are rarely found in the contexts in which they were originally
used. Therefore, reconstructing the ways in which they were used and what they meant
to the people who used them is particularly difficult. Of course, figurines are artifacts;
leftovers from societies long gone, dug up on excavations in the best–case scenario, or
purchased on the antiquities market in the worst. Nevertheless, they have a special appeal that derives from their unique and personal qualities, from the ways in which they
seem to humanize the past.

- by Beth Alpert Nakhai
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- Art History, Women's Studies, Feminist Theory, Hebrew Bible
- by David Toshio Tsumura
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- Hebrew Language, Poetry, Poetics, Books of Samuel

Four figurines were discovered in Late Bronze Age IIB Tel Burna in the Judean Shephelah. The figurines come from a large public building that probably had a cultic function. These include a rare Revadim-type plaque figurine, a nude female plaque figurine, a Mycenaean- style bull figurine, and the head of an equine figurine. Their iconography represents a cross section of Egyptian, Mycenaean, Mesopotamian, and local traditions, illustrating the syncretism of Canaanite religion at the site.

- by Casey Sharp and +2
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- History, Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Archaeology of Ancient Israel

This article addresses ancient Near Eastern conceptions of divine presence in the realm of the temple, considering evidence from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Hittite Anatolia and Syria-Palestine. It analyzes the perceived religious function of ancient Near Eastern temples, cult images, the installation and maintenance of divine presence, as well as the complicated relationship between the deity and its cult image and between a deity’s various cult images.

- by Michael Hundley
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- Ancient Egyptian Religion, Theology, Assyriology, Mesopotamian Religions

Two peculiar trees were growing in the midst of the garden of Eden. Which were their secret substances? Why the biblical writer chose to use the image of the Tree in the paradise narrative? And what did the Tree mean withinin the cultural environment of the ancient Near East?
These are the main questions to be briefly answered. Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Egyptians and Hebrews, all used the image of the Tree to express the presence of the deity or the eternal life and youth.

- by Evlampia Tsireli
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- Ancient Egyptian Religion, Sumerian Religion, Theology, Biblical Studies
- by Harry Hoffner
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- Theology, Hittitology, Biblical Studies, Anatolian Languages

This paper presents the information about the excavations and interpretation of the findings of the Canaanite temple in area H in Hazor.

During the recent excavations at Tel Lachish a previously unknown Canaanite temple of the 12th century BCE was uncovered in the northeastern corner of the mound. This article describes its possible place in the urban fabric of the city, the plan of the temple and its parallels, and some of the more special finds that were found in it. Based on the temple's plan and the finds and installations uncovered in it, we wish to offer a glimpse into the cults that were associated with the temple, as well as a reconstruction of the temple's life cycle.

- by Michael G Hasel and +2
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- Religion, Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Anthropology

The main aim of the present work is to discover the most ancient features of YHWH between
their first worshippers and to determine in which typology of divinity it is possible to locate
him, if in the typology of the Storm-Gods or in different other one. That´s the reason why there
will be born in mind a great index of Biblical and non-Biblical documents, archaeological and
epigraphic sources and the Canaan´s background, without which it is not possible to discuss any
aspect of the Israelite religion.
There will be in use as theoretical - methodological perspective the approach of the History of
Religions, according to which religious facts are cultural facts, neither timeless nor eternal,
recruits in a historical frame which let most of times their comprehension. For that reason, in
each of the paragraphs of this work it will be included a geographical and historical framework
which allow a better comprehension of the original characteristics of YHWH, of his
development and of the religion in which this divinity is inserted

- by David Villar Vegas
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- History of Religions, Israelite Religion, Ancient Canaanite Religion, Yahveh

In the bible, the human qanna (קנא) expresses a negative, self-destructive trait of character mainly related to envy and jealousy. In contrast, the divine qanna points to an essential attribute of YHWH, which relates both to his holiness and to a fiery mode of action frequently imaged by volcanism. The metallurgical affinities of this volcanic representation, together with the designation of the rust accumulating on copper artifacts (verdigris) as qanna, suggest that the divine qanna is closely related to the recycling of corroded copper through furnace re-melting. This assumption is supported by the metallurgical context of meaning of the three wonders performed by Moses in the name of YHWH (Ex 4:1-9), by the evidence that the qanna mode of divine action evokes a fiery destroying process which spontaneously promotes a whole rejuvenation, and by the extensive revitalizing powers attributed to furnace re-melting in many ancient religions. It is concluded that our understanding of the divine qanna, a notion of central importance in the elaboration of Israelite theology, is currently biased by the extrapolation of the human context of meaning of qanna as jealousy to the divine sphere.

This work is a brief review of Mark S. Smith's The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts. Published in 2001, his work is a thorough treatment of the development of monotheism in Israel and Judah. Smith draws primarily from material found at the site of Israel’s more developed and cosmopolitan neighbor, ancient Ugarit. Smith suggests that Yahweh was unknown to the patriarchs and that El was the original god of the Exodus, only later to be identified as Yahweh due to priestly theological bias. Smith further proposes that the decline of the family, weakening of royal power via a rising middle class, and subjugation to foreign superpowers may have led to rhetorical monotheistic assertions. Essentially, as geopolitical and patriarchal situations decreased, the god of Israel was presented as increasingly omnipotent and monotheistic rhetoric was utilized. Smith points out that in Judah, this rhetoric and recognition of super nations with their corresponding deities also corresponds to the ‘Axial Age’ when human understanding witnessed a revolution in many spheres of life.

- by Clinton Briar
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- Theology, History of Religion, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies