Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from coloured sketches by Prisse
d’Avennes.
The prevalent conception of the essence and attributes of these deities was not the same in all their sanctuaries, but the more exalted among them were regarded as personifying the sky in the daytime or at night, the atmosphere, the light,* or the sun, Shamash, as creator and prime mover of the universe; and each declared himself to be king—melek—over the other gods.** Bashuf represented the lightning and the thunderbolt;*** Shalmân, Hadad, and his double Bimmôn held sway over the air like the Babylonian.
* This appears under the name Or or Ur in the Samalla
inscriptions of the VIIIth century B.C.; it is, so far, a
unique instance among the Semites.
** We find the term applied in the Bible to the national god
of the Ammonites, under the forms Moloch, Molech, Mikôm,
Milkâm, and especially with the article, Ham-molek; the
real name hidden beneath this epithet was probably Amnôn or
Ammân, and, strictly speaking, the God Moloch only exists
in the imagination of scholars. The epithet was used among
the Oanaanites in the name Melchizedek, a similar form to
Adonizedek, Abimelech, Ahimelech; it was in current use
among the Phoenicians, in reference to the god of Tyre,
Melek-Karta or Melkarth, and in many proper names, such as
Melekiathon, Baalmelek, Bodmalek, etc., not to mention the
god Milichus worshipped in Spain, who was really none other
than Melkarth.
*** Resheph has been vocalised Rashuf in deference to the
Egyptian orthography Rashupu. It was a name common to a
whole family of lightning and storm-gods, and M. de Rougé
pointed out long ago the passage in the Great Inscription of
Ramses III. at Medinet-Habu, in which the soldiers who man
the chariots are compared to the Rashupu; the Rabbinic
Hebrew still employs this plural form in the sense of
“demons.” The Phoenician inscriptions contain references to
several local Rashufs; the way in which this god is coupled
with the goddess Qodshu on the Egyptian stelæ leads me to
think that, at the epoch now under consideration, he was
specially worshipped by the Amorites, just as his equivalent
Hadad was by the inhabitants of Damascus, neighbours of the
Amorites, and perhaps themselves Amorites.
Rammânu;* Dagon, patron god of fishermen and husbandmen, seems to have watched over the fruitfulness of the sea and the land.** We are beginning to learn the names of the races whom they specially protected: Rashuf the Amorites, Hadad and Rimmon the Aramæans of Damascus, Dagon the peoples of the coast between Ashkelon and the forest of Carmel. Rashûf is the only one whose appearance is known to us. He possessed the restless temperament usually attributed to the thunder-gods, and was, accordingly, pictured as a soldier armed with javelin and mace, bow and buckler; a gazelle’s head with pointed horns surmounts his helmet, and sometimes, it may be, serves him as a cap.
* Hadad and Rimmon are represented in Assyrio-Chaldæan by
one and the same ideogram, which may be read either Dadda-
Hadad or Eammânu. The identity of the expressions employed
shows how close the connection between the two divinities
must have been, even if they were not similar in all
respects; from the Hebrew writings we know of the temple of
Rimmon at Damascus (2 Kings v. 18) and that one of the
kings of that city was called Tabrimmôn = “llimmon is good”
(1 Kings xv. 18), while Hadad gave his name to no less
than ten kings of the same city. Even as late as the Græco-
Roman epoch, kingship over the other gods was still
attributed both to Rimmon and to Hadad, but this latter was
identified with the sun.
** The documents which we possess in regard to Dagon date
from the Hebrew epoch, and represent him as worshipped by
the Philistines. We know, however, from the Tel el-Amarna
tablets, of a Dagantakala, a name which proves the presence
of the god among the Canaanites long before the Philistine
invasion, and we find two Beth-Dagons—one in the plain of
Judah, the other in the tribe of Asher; Philo of Byblos
makes Dagon a Phoenician deity, and declares him to be the
genius of fecundity, master of grain and of labour. The
representation of his statue which appears on the Græco-
Roman coins of Abydos, reminds us of the fish-god of
Chaldæa.
Each god had for his complement a goddess, who was proclaimed “mistress” of the city, Baalat, or “queen,” Milkat, of heaven, just as the god himself was recognised as “master” or “king.” * As a rule, the goddess was contented with the generic name of Astartê; but to this was often added some epithet, which lent her a distinct personality, and prevented her from being confounded with the Astartês of neighbouring cities, her companions or rivals.**
* Among goddesses to whom the title “Baalat “was referred,
we have the goddess of Byblos, Baalat-Gebal, also the
goddess of Berytus, Baalat-Berîth, or Beyrut. The epithet
“queen of heaven “is applied to the Phoenician Astartê by
Hebrew (Jer. vii. 18, xliv. 18-29) and classic writers.
The Egyptians, when they adopted these Oanaanitish
goddesses, preserved the title, and called each of them
nibît pit, “lady of heaven.” In the Phoenician inscriptions
their names are frequently preceded by the word Rabbat:
rabbat Baalat-Gebal, “(my) lady Baalat-Gebal.”
** The Hebrew writers frequently refer to the Canaanite
goddesses by the general title “the Ashtarôth” or “Astartês,”
and a town in Northern Syria bore the significant name of
Istarâti = “the Ishtars, the Ashtarôth,” a name which finds
a parallel in Anathôth = “the Anats,” a title assumed by a
town of the tribe of Benjamin; similarly, the Assyrio-
Chaldæans called their goddesses by the plural of Ishtar.
The inscription on an Egyptian amulet in the Louvre tells us
of a personage of the XXth dynasty, who, from his name,
Rabrabîna, must have been of Syrian origin, and who styled
himself “Prophet of the Astartês,” Honnutir Astiratu.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a copy of an original in chased
gold.