Canaanite religion


The religion and mythic beliefs of the people in the land of Canaan in the southern Levant during approximately the first three millennia BC were polytheistic and in some cases monolatristic. They were influenced by neighboring cultures, particularly ancient [Ancient Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian religion|Egyptian] and Mesopotamian religious practices. The pantheon was headed by the god El and his consort Asherah, with other significant deities including Baal, Anat, Astarte, and Dagon.
Canaanite religious practices included animal sacrifice, veneration of the dead, and the worship of deities through shrines and sacred groves. The religion also featured a complex mythology, including stories of divine battles and cycles of death and rebirth. Archaeological evidence, particularly from sites like Ugarit, and literary sources, including the Ugaritic texts and the Hebrew Bible, have provided most of the current knowledge about Canaanite religion.

History

Knowledge about the Canaanite religions is fragmentary and insufficient to construct a complete and continuous account. Prior to the emergence of Levantine archaeology in the late 19th and early 20th century, the knowledge of Canaanite religion came mostly from the accounts of the Hebrew Bible. This was supplemented by some secondary and tertiary Greek sources. Present-day knowledge of Canaanite religion comes primarily from archaeological discoveries of literary sources and material remains linked to Canaanite religion.

Third and second millennia BC

The literary sources appear in the form of ancient texts, uncovered in archaeological excavations. The earliest evidence of Canaanite religions come from the Ebla tablets, a series of texts inscribed on clay, found at Tell Mardikh, Syria and dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. They include lists of offerings to primary deities of the Canaanite pantheon. In the late 3rd millennium to early 2nd millennium BC, the same Canaanite deities appear in personal theophoric name of Amorite people, whose homeland was located in the middle Euphrates and lower Khabur regions of northwest Syria. Additional light is shed by inscriptions of Idrimi, the 15th century BC king of Alalakh and the 14th–13th century BC tablets of Emar. By far the most substantial source of information is are Ugaritic texts, found near Ras Shamra, Syria (ancient Ugarit), dated around 1275 BC. Over three hundred of these texts attest to key Canaanite myths and legends, as well as incantations, prayers, hymns, votive texts, deity lists, festival catalogs, lists of sacrifices, ritual prescriptions or descriptions, liturgies, and omen texts.

First millennium BC

During the first millennium BC, several distinct branches of Canaanite religion persisted. While the Hebrew Bible distinguishes Yahwism, practiced in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, from Canaanite religion, many scholars classify it as one of the Canaanite religions. Limited sources for religion in other parts of the Southern Levant, such as Mesha Stele from the land of Moab and the Deir Alla inscription with its unique dialect. In the broader region of Syria, Aramean religion is attested by sources such as the Tell Fekherya bilingual inscription, Stele of Zakkur, Sefire steles and the Hadad Statue. Phoenician religion is attested by texts discovered in and around modern Lebanon, such as the Yehimilk inscription, the Karatepe bilingual and the Yehawmilk Stele.
Throughout the Hellenistic period, in the non-Jewish parts of Canaan, Greek religion spread alongside pre-existing Canaanite traditions rather than replacing them. There were plenty of similarities between both religions, and through a process of syncretism, Canaanite deities were given the names of the Greek equivalents.
As the Phoenicians colonized the western Mediterranean, there are also many texts attesting to Punic religion, such as the Carthage Tariff and Marseille Tariff. While the Punic religion was a direct continuation of the Phoenician branch, significant local differences developed over the centuries following the foundation of Carthage and other Punic communities elsewhere in North Africa, southern Spain, Sardinia, western Sicily, and Malta from the 9th century BC onward. After the conquest of these regions by the Roman Republic in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, Punic religious practices continued, surviving until the 4th century AD in some cases.

Beliefs

Afterlife beliefs and cult of the dead

Canaanites believed that following physical death, the npš departed from the body to the land of Mot. Bodies were buried with grave goods, and offerings of food and drink were made to the dead to ensure that they would not trouble the living. Dead relatives were venerated and were sometimes asked for help.

Cosmology

None of the inscribed tablets found since 1928 in the Canaanite city of Ugarit has revealed a cosmology. Syntheses are nearly impossible without Hierombalus and Philo of Byblos via Eusebius, before and after much Greek and Roman influence in the region.
According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm or the children of El, supposedly obtained by Philo of Byblos from Sanchuniathon of Berythus the creator was known as Elion, who was the father of the divinities, and in the Greek sources he was married to Beruth. This marriage of the divinity with the city would seem to have Biblical parallels too with the stories of the link between Melqart and Tyre; Chemosh and Moab; Tanit and Baal Hammon in Carthage, Yah and Jerusalem.
The union of El Elyon and his consort Asherah would be analogous to the Titans Cronus and Rhea in Greek mythology or the Roman Saturnus and Ops.
In Canaanite mythology there were twin mountains as a recurring motif. W. F. Albright, for example, says that El Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian and or, one of the names of Amurru. Philo of Byblos states that Atlas was one of the elohim, which would clearly fit into the story of El Shaddai as "God of the Mountain". Harriet Lutzky has presented evidence that Shaddai was an attribute of a Semitic goddess, linking the epithet with Hebrew, 'breast', as "the one of the breast". The idea of two mountains being associated here as the breasts of the Earth, fits into the Canaanite mythology quite well. The ideas of pairs of mountains seem to be quite common in Canaanite mythology. The late period of this cosmology makes it difficult to tell what influences may have informed Philo's writings.

Mythology

In the Baal Cycle, Ba'al Hadad is challenged by and defeats Yam using two magical weapons made for him by Kothar-wa-Khasis. Afterward, with the help of Athirat and Anat, Ba'al persuades El to allow him a palace. El approves, and the palace is built by Kothar-wa-Khasis. After the palace is constructed, Ba'al gives forth a thunderous roar out of the palace window and challenges Mot. Mot enters through the window and swallows Ba'al, sending him to the underworld. With no one to give rain, there is a terrible drought in Ba'al's absence. The other deities, especially El and Anat, are distraught that Ba'al had been taken to the underworld. Anat goes to the underworld, attacks Mot with a knife, grinds him up into pieces, and scatters him far and wide. With Mot defeated, Ba'al is able to return and refresh the Earth with rain.

List of deities

A group of deities in a four-tier hierarchy headed by El and Asherah were worshipped by the followers of the Canaanite religion; this is a detailed listing:

Iron Age regional and national patron deities

In the Iron Age, the decline of Egyptian control in Canaan coincided with the coalescence of local political and communal identities, alongside the rise of distinct regional and national cults tied to specific cities and peoples, often centered around a patron god.
  • Ba'al Hermon, titular local deity of Mount Hermon.
  • Ba'al Zebub, the lord of flies, more commonly known as Beelzebub. Worshiped by the inhabitants of Ekron, this deity was associated with vermin and pestilence.
  • Chemosh, possibly one of the sons of El, a god of war and destruction and the national god of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
  • Eshmun, god, of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon.
  • Melqart, "king of the city", god of Tyre, the underworld and cycle of vegetation in Tyre, co-ruler of the underworld, twin brother of Horon and son of Mot.
  • Milcom, national god of the Ammonites.
  • Misor, twin brother of Sydyk. In Phoenician mythic genealogy, his son Taautus was believed to be the inventor of writing.
  • Sydyk, the god of righteousness or justice, sometimes twinned with Misor, and linked to the planet Jupiter.
  • Qos, national god of the Edomites.
  • Yahweh, national god of the Israelites and central figure of worship in Yahwism.

Practices

Religious practices

Archaeological investigations at the site of Tell es-Safi have found the remains of donkeys, as well as some sheep and goats in Early Bronze Age layers, dating to 4,900 years ago which were imported from Egypt in order to be sacrificed. One of the sacrificial animals, a complete donkey, was found beneath the foundations of a building, leading to speculation this was a 'foundation deposit' placed before the building of a residential house.
It is considered virtually impossible to reconstruct a clear picture of Canaanite religious practices, but child sacrifice by the Canaanites was known to surrounding peoples. According to K.L. Noll, under the duress of military crisis, human sacrifice was offered to the divine patron of a besieged city, as well as the sacrifice of prisoners of war to the victorious god. Ronald Hendel believes the Israelites disparaged the Canaanite religion because they wanted to disassociate themselves from their Canaanite ancestors and form a new national identity.
Canaanite religious practice had a high regard for the duty of children to care for their parents, with sons being held responsible for burying them, and arranging for the maintenance of their tombs.
Canaanite deities such as Baal were represented by figures which were placed in shrines, often on hilltops, or 'high places' surrounded by groves of trees, such as is condemned in the Hebrew Bible, in Hosea which would probably hold the Asherah pole, and standing stones or pillars.

Funerary rites

Funerary rites held an important role in Canaanite religion and included rituals to honor the deceased and to feed the "npš" as it moved on to Mot, the land of death. Rituals to honor the deceased included offerings of incense, libations, music, the singing of devotional songs, and sometimes trance rituals, oracles, and necromancy.
Excavations in Tel Megiddo have offered greater insight into Canaanite funerary practices. A large number of wine vessels have been found in the graves there, as well as vessels of beeswax, animal fat, olive oil, resin, and even vanilla. These grave goods may have been used as part of a funerary feast, as offerings to the dead, or both. Additionally, evidence of opium use was found at "a Late Bronze Age site in the southern Levant". The presence of grave goods may suggest similarities between Canaanite practices and the Ancient Egyptian custom of providing the deceased with supplies for the afterlife.

Contact with other areas

Canaanite religion was strongly influenced by their more powerful and populous neighbors, and shows clear influence of Mesopotamian and Egyptian religious practices. Like other people of the Ancient Near East Canaanite religious beliefs were polytheistic, with families typically focusing on veneration of the dead in the form of household gods and goddesses, the Elohim, while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal and El, Mot, Qos, Asherah and Astarte. Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as the hieros gamos of the New Year, may have been revered as gods. "At the center of Canaanite religion was royal concern for religious and political legitimacy and the imposition of a divinely ordained legal structure, as well as peasant emphasis on fertility of the crops, flocks, and humans."
Robert G. Boling argues that there was no "local pantheon" in Canaan. Instead, the Canaanites selectively worshipped the "most important and interesting deities" from their neighbors, gave them multiple names and omitted their geographic origins. Like language, their gods also varied over time. Boling finds this unsurprising because Canaan was a land bridge between Asia and Africa, where cross-cultural exchange was frequent.
Canaanite religion was influenced by its peripheral position, intermediary between Egypt and Mesopotamia, whose religions had a growing impact upon Canaanite religion. For example, during the Hyksos period, when chariot-mounted maryannu ruled in Egypt, at their capital city of Avaris, Baal became associated with the Egyptian god Set, and was considered identical. Iconographically henceforth, Baal was shown wearing the crown of Lower Egypt and shown in the Egyptian-like stance, one foot set before the other. Similarly Athirat, Athtart, and Anat henceforth were portrayed wearing Hathor-like Egyptian wigs.
From the other direction, Jean Bottéro and Giovanni Pettinato have argued that Ya of Ebla and the more familiar Yah were related to the Mesopotamian god Ea during the Akkadian Empire. In the Middle and Late Bronze Age, there are also strong Hurrian and Mitannite influences upon the Canaanite religion. The Hurrian goddess Hebat was worshiped in Jerusalem, and Baal was closely considered equivalent to the Hurrian storm god Teshub and the Hittite storm god, Tarhunt. Canaanite divinities seem to have been almost identical in form and function to the neighboring Arameans to the east, and Baal Hadad and El can be distinguished amongst earlier Amorites, who at the end of the Early Bronze Age invaded Mesopotamia.
Carried west by Phoenician sailors, Canaanite religious influences can be seen in Greek mythology, particularly in the tripartite division between the Olympians Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, mirroring the division between Baal, Yam and Mot, and in the story of the Labours of Hercules, mirroring the stories of the Tyrian Melqart, who was often equated with Heracles.