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 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, 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:
  • Anat, virgin goddess of war and strife, sister and putative mate of Baʿal Hadad.
  • Arsay, goddess of the underworld, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad.
  • Asherah, queen consort of El, Amurru, Elkunirša and 'Amm. While it is sometimes claimed that Asherah was considered Yahweh's consort in Israelite religion, Edward Lipiński argues that the Hebrew ʾašērāh mentioned in epigraphic sources refers to a "holy place" rather than a goddess.
  • Ashima, goddess of fate.
  • Astarte, goddess of war, hunting and love.
  • Attar, god of the morning star who tried to take the place of the dead Baal and failed. Male counterpart of Athtart.
  • Ba'alah, the wife or female counterpart of Ba'al.
  • Ba'alat Gebal, goddess of Byblos, Phoenicia.
  • Ba'al Zephon or Baʿal Ṣaphon, lord of the north. Alternate form of Ba'al Hadad as lord of Mount Zaphon.
  • Bethel, who became popular during the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the Syria region and in the Samarian-Judean diaspora settlement of Elephantine, Egypt.
  • Dagon god of crop fertility and grain, father of Ba'al Hadad.
  • El, also called Il or Elyon, god of creation, husband of Athirat.
  • Gad, god of fortune.
  • Gupan and Ugar, messenger gods of the weather god Baal, who always appear as a pair.
  • Hadad, often known as Baʿal "Lord", god of storms, thunder, lightning and air. King of the gods. Uses the weapons Driver and Chaser in battle. Often referred to as Baalshamin.
  • Haurun, an underworld god,
  • Išḫara, a goddess of Eblaite origin.
  • Ishat, goddess of fire, wife of Moloch. She was slain by Anat.
  • Kotharat, seven goddesses of marriage and pregnancy.
  • Kothar-wa-Khasis, the skilled god of craftsmanship, created Yagrush and Aymur the weapons used by the god Ba'al Hadad.
  • Lotan, the twisting, seven-headed serpent ally of Yam.
  • Marqod, god of dance.
  • Moloch, putative god of fire, husband of Ishat, may be identified with Milcom.
  • Mot or Maweth, god of death.
  • Nikkal-wa-Ib, goddess of orchards and fruit.
  • Pidray, goddess of light and lightning, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad.
  • Qadeshtu, lit. "Holy One", putative goddess of love, desire and lust. Also a title of Asherah.
  • Resheph, god of plague and of healing.
  • Shachar and Shalim, twin mountain gods of dawn and dusk, respectively. Shalim was linked to the netherworld via the evening star and associated with peace.
  • Shapash, also transliterated Shapshu, goddess of the sun; sometimes equated with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash, whose gender is disputed. Some authorities consider Shamash a goddess.
  • Tallai, the goddess of rain and dew, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad.
  • Yam the god of the sea and rivers, also called Judge Nahar.
  • Yarikh, god of the moon and husband of Nikkal. The city of Jericho was likely his cultic center.