The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East (Coniectanea Biblica)

TRYGGVE N.D. METTINGER

The lRiddle of Resurrection "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East

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CB . CONIECTANEA BIBLICA OLD TESTAMENT SERIES 50

Almqvist & Wiksell International

Tryggve N.D. Mettinger

The Riddle of Resurrection "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East

Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm 2001

English language edjtor:('Jai;nes M. Starr .. ,..

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Abstract Mettinger, Tryggve N.D., The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East. Stockholm 2001. Monograph. ISBN 91-22-01945-6 Author's address: Lund University, Department of Theology Allhelgona Kyrkogata 8, SE-223 62 LUND, Sweden. e-mail: [email protected]

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From the 1930's through the rest of the century, a consensus has developed to the effect that the "dying and rising gods" died but did not return or rise to live again. The present work-which is the first monograph on the whole issue subsequent to the studies by Frazer and Baudissin-is a detailed critique of this position. It is based on a fresh perusal of all the relevant source material from the ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Graeco-Roman world and profits from new finds of great importance. Modem theory in comparative religion and anthropology on the nature of rite and myth informs the discussion. The author concludes that Dumuzi, Baal, and Melqart were dying and rising gods already in pre-Christian times and that Adonis and Eshmun may well have been so too. Osiris dies and rises but remains all the time in the Netherworld. The deities that die and rise do not represent one specific type of god (e.g. the Baal-Hadad type) but are deities of widely divergent origin and character. The book is of interest to scholars and students of the Bible, the ancient Near East, the Mediterranean world, and Comparative religion. This abstract may be reproduced by anyone who so wants. Suggestions for keywords: religion, ancient Near East, Bible, West Semitic religion, Canaanite religion, Phoenician religion, Hellenistic cults, "dying and rising gods", "the living God", Baal, Adonis, Melqart, Eshmun, Heracles, Asclepius, Tammuz, Osiris, Damu, resurrection, descent to the Netherworld, J.G. Frazer, W. Baudissin.

Published with grants from the Swedish Research Council and the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. ©Tryggve N.D. Mettinger 2001. All rights reserved. Distributed by Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm, Sweden Address: P.O.Box 7634, SE-103 94 Stockholm, Sweden Telno: Int.+ 46 8 613 61 00 Faxno: Int.+ 46 8 24 25 43 e-mail: order@ city .akademi bokhandeln.se Printed by Wallin & Dalholm, Lund. ISBN 91-22-01945-6

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I 'i Monographs by Tryggve N.D. Mettinger

Solomonic State Officials: A Study of the Civil Government Officials of the Israelite Monarchy (ConBOT 5). 1971. Out of print. King and Messiah: The Civil and Sacral Legitimation of the Israelite Kings (ConBOT 8). 1976. Available. The Dethronement of Sabaoth: Studies in the Shem and Kabod Theologies (ConBOT 18). 1982. Available. A Farewell to the Servant Songs: A Critical Examination of an Exegetical Axiom (Scripta Minora. Regiae Societatis Humaniorum Litterarum Lundensis 1982-1983: 3). 1983. Out of print. In Search of God: The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names. 1988. Out of print. Also in Swedish: Namnet och Niirvaron. J987. Out of print. And in Spanish: Buscando aDios. 1994. Available. No Graven Image? Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context (ConBOT 42). 1995. Available. The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East (ConBOT 50). 2001. Available.

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7

Preface

"The archetype of archetypes"-M.H. Abrams, a renowned scholar of comparative literature, thus described "the death-rebirth theme" which is "held to be grounded in the cycle of seasons and the organic cycle of human life", and which is claimed to inform primitive rituals and myths and a multitude of diverse literary works, including the Bible, Dante's Divina Commedia, and numerous other writings. A study of "dying and rising gods" in the ancient Near East is thus a humanities' enterprise of the first order. The study of such a theme in ancient cultures is seldom a simple task. More than once I have recalled Thomas Mann's wise words in the prologue to Joseph und seine Bruder: "Tief ist der Brunnen der Vergangenheit. Sollte man ihn nicht unergrtindlich nennen?" Probing the depths of the well of the past, one only too often has to be satisfied with a laconic ignoramus. My interest in these "dying and rising gods" goes back to the 1980's when I happened to read a fine dissertation in Hebrew Bible where a 1 section was devoted to a dismantling of the scholarly notion of dying and rising deities. A recent rereading of the Ugaritic Baal Cycle made me feel a slight uneasiness, but I could not then decide whether the problem was in my own understanding of the Baal material or in my colleague's perception of this and related material. I felt the urge to explore the whole issue and form my own opinion. I did not find the time for this until 1996, when I started my project. The present study appears at a time when the critique of the scholarly notion of dying and rising gods has become increasingly strong, beginning with de Vaux's study in 1933 and culminating in MarkS. Smith's 1998 essay with the telling title, "The Death of 'Dying and Rising Gods' in the Biblical World." There is now what amounts to a scholarly consensus against the appropriateness of the concept. Those who still think differently are looked upon as residual members of an almost extinct species. The results of my investigation led me to challenge this scholarly consensus and to disagree with a number of colleagues whom I greatly esteem. The issues are controversial. I submit the present monograph as a contribution to a dialogue about a fascinating problem. If our answers differ, our questions are often common ground-and that is always a worthwhile starting point.

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The issues discussed are of interest not only to scholars of the ancient Near East, the Mediterranean world, and the Bible, but also to students of comparative religion. With an eye to the latter group of readers I have endeavoured to supply translations of the source material I refer to. I would have preferred to give also the corresponding sections in the original languages. For matters of space and costs, however, I have opted for the compromise of giving central words and phrases in the originallanguages in brackets in the translations. I do this, trusting that the original sources are available to the scholars in the fields concerned. After some preliminary work I started my enterprise with an intense period of research at the library of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in the spring of 1996 with funding from the Krook Foundation of Lund University. During my stay in Rome I was well received by Corinne Bonnet, Paolo Xella, and Sergio Ribichini, who listened with sympathy to my misgivings about what was going on in the current debate. I returned to Lund loaded like a Semitic donkey with their lavish gifts of books and offprints. In May 2000 I was told by my colleagues in Rome that they had established a research group for the study of these deities. This and other efforts to clarify the complex matters involved are to be warmly welcomed. My study is not a general treatment of the deities concerned but an investigation limited to the controversial issues of the death and return to life of these gods. Even so, however, my study is one of a genuinely cross-disciplinary nature. Any infernal journey is a bold enterprise, and the same may be said of mine. Just as Dante had the benefit of having Virgil as his good genius, so I had recourse to the generous assistance of a number of colleagues from various disciplines who answered questions, gave me tips on literature, or read and commented on drafts of sections or even whole chapters. I thus extend my sincere thanks to Bendt Alster (Copenhagen), Pierre Arniet (Paris), Lasse Berndes (Lund), Per Beskow (Vadstena), Per Bilde (Arhus), Jerker Blomqvist (Lund), Corinne Bonnet (Rome), Pernille Carstens (Arhus), Michael B. Dick (Loudonville, N.Y.), Meindert Dijkstra (Utrecht), Daniel Fleming (New York), Birger Gerhardsson (Lund), Sten Hidal (Lund), Jan Hjiirpe (Lund), Klaus Koch (Hamburg), Johannes C. de Moor (Kampen), Tord Olsson (Lund), Olof Pedersen (Uppsala), Heike Peter (Lund), Jprgen Podemann Sprensen (Copenhagen), Jack M. Sasson (Nashville), Daniel Schwemer (Wi.irzburg), Mark S. Smith (New York), Lana Troy (Uppsala), and Ola Wikander (Lund). I am grateful to Bendt Alster, Daniel Fleming, and Daniel Schwemer for having sent me drafts of their forthcorning work.

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A surprise and great joy to me was the symposium with former and present members of the Senior Seminar for Hebrew Bible at Lund that my Lund colleagues Sten Hidal and Fredrik Lindstrom arranged to celebrate my 60th birthday. On kind invitation I submitted a draft of my Adonis chapter for discussion in that context. Stig Norin (Uppsala) gave a thought-provoking response to my draft. As always, the Senior Seminar at Lund is my scholarly milieu. During the whole time of the project the close contacts between the departments of Biblical Studies and Comparative Religion have been a source of inspiration for me. These colleagues and students greatly helped me to eliminate mistakes, to sharpen my thought, and to widen my horizons. If it happens that I have not followed a piece of advice, this may in part be due to my laziness or to my stubbornness. . I must put on record my gratitude for the excellent services of the Lund University Library. I would also like to thank the staff of the Theological Library of Lund. James M. Starr (now at Uppsala) scrutinized and improved my English and also with great precision eliminated formal anomalies in my footnotes. Hannelore Stein of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Lund mastered the problems of typography and pagemaking with awe-inspring competence. Irene von Gortz-Wrisberg 1 shared my proof-reading burdens and skillfully helped me improve the formal consistency. The efficient co-operation of the staff of Wallin & Dalholms Boktryckeri AB did not come as a surprise. The publication of this work was made possible by grants from the Swedish Research Council and the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. Unlike Dante, I did not need to go through Inferno to find my Beatrice. My wife Sol vi has been at my side right from the beginning. Her support, good humour, and loving care has been a constant source of joy during the whole project. I dedicate this book to my colleagues, former and present, in the Faculty of Theology at Lund University. I have spent three decades there, at the Department of Biblical Studies, and it has been a marvellous place for my work, first as a docent from 1971 and then as a professor from 1978. My time in the faculty, which now approaches its end, has been a source of profound professional satisfaction to me. Lund in August 2001 Tryggve N.D. Mettinger

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Table of Contents

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Preface

Chap. I. Introduction: A Survey of Research and the Agenda for the Present Work 15-53 The Issue of "Dying and Rising Gods" from Frazer to the Present Day 15 I. Jonathan Z. Smith and the Present Situation 15 2. Frazer and Baudissin 17 3. The Case of Dumuzi-Tammuz 23 4. The Case of Adonis 26 5. The Case of Baal 34 6. MarkS. Smith: The Abolition of the Category 37 2. The Agenda for the Present Work 39 l. Where Do We Stand? The Task of the Present Work 39 2. Theoretical Issues: Ritual, Myth, and the Comparative Study of Religion l. On Ritual 47 2. On Myth 50 3. On the Comparative Study of Religion 52 l.

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55-81

Chap. II. Ugaritic Baal

I. The Baal-Mot Myth 57 l. Not a Substitute but Baal Himself 59 2. Baal: Through Death to Life 61 2. Allusions to Ritual? KTU 1.12, Aqhat 1.17 .VI, and Elkunirsha 66 l. KTU 1.12: Water Ritual and the Myth of Baal's Death 67 2. KTU 1.17.VI: Baal Restored to Life 68 3. The Hittite Myth of Elkunirsha 72 3. Baal and the Netherworld: A Line of Continuity between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Cults? 72 4. The Anatolian Disappearing Deity: A Prototype of Baal 76 5. Conclusions 80

Chap. III. Melqart-Heracles I. References to the Death of the Deity 86 2. The Problem of the Awakening of the God 88 I. The Term !iyEpo~ in Josephus 88 2. The Term ioyEpOELTYJs in the Amman Inscription 90 3. Semitic Evidence: mqm 'lm in Mediterranean Contexts 91 3. Iconographical Evidence: The Melqart Stele and the Vase from Sidon 4. The Pyrgi Inscription: The Death of an Unknown Deity 103 5. Ritual and Seasonal Aspects 106 6. Conclusions 109

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Chap. IV. Adon(is)

113-154

l. The Classical Heros in Greece and Rome 116 I. The Rite 116 2. The Myth 118 3. The Chthonic Features 121 2. The Classical Heros in Egypt 121 3. The God of the Semitic Levant 124 1. The Case for a Semitic Background for Adonis 124 1. The Name "Adonis" and the Epithet n'mn 125 2. The Rite 127 2. Origen and Jerome 128 3. De Dea Syria§ 6 on Adonis 131 4. Byblos: The Amama Letter No. 84 with Damu (Adonis?) 137 1. EA No. 84 137 2. The Identity of the Local Male Deity 140 3. Why Was "Damu" Used by the Scribe? 141 4. Early Egyptian Evidence? 144 5. The Adonis Gardens: A Different Symbolism in the Levant? 146 4. Synthesis: The Historical Development 148 5. Conclusions 152

Chap. V. Eshmun-Asclepius

155-165

I. Asclepius-Esmounos in Damascius 155 2. Other Indications for Eshmun as a Dying and Rising God? 3. Conclusions 164

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Chap. VI. Comparative Perspectives: Osiris and the West Semitic Gods 1. Osiris: His Festivals and His Relation to Com 1. The Festivals of Osiris 168 2. Osiris and Com 169 2. Osiris: A Dying and Rising God? 172 3. Osiris and the West Semitic Gods 175 1. Osiris and Adonis 175 2. Osiris and Melqart 180 4. Conclusions 182

167-183

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Chap. VII. Comparative Perspectives: Dumuzi-Tammuz and the West Semitic Gods 185-215 I. Dumuzi 's Role in the Descensus Myths 187 1. The Sumerian Jnanna 's Descent 187 2. The Akkadian /shtar's Descent 190 3. Ningishzida 's Descent 195 4. Umammu's Death 196 2. Dumuzi: A Dying and Rising God? 197 1. Divine Status? 198

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13 2. Death and Return and Ritual Embeddedness 199 3. Seasonal Connections 203 3. Dumuzi and the West Semitic Gods 205 l. Dumuzi and the Ugaritic Baal 207 2. Dumuzi and Adonis and Melqart 209 4. Conclusions 212 5. Excursus. Triduum: A Notion of Return after Three Days?

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Epilogue

217-222

Abbreviations and Technical Remarks

223-226

Bibliography

227-257

List of Illustrations

259

Indexes l.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Ancient Near Eastern Sources (including the Bible) Greek and Roman Sources 264 Oriental, Greek, and Latin Words 266 General Index 267 Author Index. Selective 270

261-272 261

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15 CHAPTER I:

Introduction: A Survey of Research and the Agenda for the Present Work

1. The Issue of "Dying and Rising Gods" from Frazer to the Present Day

1.1. Jonathan Z. Smith and the Present Situation

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There is no doubt that the dying and rising god owes his life to a large extent to J.G. Frazer (1906). However, it would seem that, having lived healthily for some decades, he lost much of his vigour due to the severe attack by R. de Vaux in 1933. He then led a somewhat precarious life in the scholarship of the last half of the twentieth century until he apparently died the death of a thousand wounds under the attacks of Jonathan Z. Smith in the dictionary article on "dying and rising gods" in Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion (Smith 1987) and MarkS. Smith in a major article published in 1998, to which I shall return at the very end of this survey of research. Jonathan Z. Smith starts with a definition of the concept under discussion: As applied in the scholarly literature, "dying and rising gods" is a generic appellation for a group of male deities found in agrarian Mediterranean societies who serve as the focus of myths and rituals that allegedly narrate and annually represent their death and resurrection (p. 521) 1

At the end of his contribution Smith concludes that the category in question "is exceedingly dubious. It has been based largely on Christian interest and tenuous evidence" (p. 526). The putative category of dying and rising deities takes its place within the larger category of dying gods and the even larger category of disappearing deities, says Smith, thus creating a hyponymic structure (p. 521). He then goes on to say that "all the deities that have been identified as belonging to the class of dying and rising deities can be subsumed under the two larger classes of disappearing deities or dying deities. In the first case, the deities return but

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Cf. von Soden (1959: 688) who defines "sterbende und auferstehende Gotter" as "eine Anzahl von Gottem ... deren Tod und z T auch spatere A[uferstehung] im Mythus erzahlt und in kultischen _, Begehungen vergegenwartigt wird."

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have not died; in the second case, the gods die but do not return" (p. 522). 2 Or in a graph: disappearing deities: dying deities:

return +

death

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In the case of Adonis, "only late texts, largely influenced by or written by Christians, claim that there is a subsequent day of celebration for Adonis having been raised from the dead" (p. 522). That the resurrection of the dying god is somehow ultimately due to Christian influence is a point strongly emphasized by Smith: Whether this represents an interpretatio Christiana or whether late third- and fourth-century forms of the Adonis cult themselves developed a dying and rising mythology (possibly in imitation of the Christian myth) cannot be determined. This pattern will recur for many of the figures considered: an indigenous mythology and ritual focusing on the deity's death and rituals of lamentation, followed by a later Christian report adding the element nowhere found in the earlier native sources, that the god was resurrected (p. 522).

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In the case of Baal, Smith concludes about the central text that, "as it stands, the text appears to be one of a descent to the underworld and return-a pattern not necessarily equivalent to dying and rising. Baal is 'as if he is dead'; he then appears to be alive" (p. 523). J.Z. Smith seems fairly certain of having issued the death certificate for the idea of "dying and rising gods"; he takes the final step in his Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity. 3 As a matter of fact, J.Z. Smith was anticipated in important respects by Barstad. 4 As for Adonis, Barstad says that, [l]t is today possible to discount the theory of Adonis as a dying and rising god as a Frazerian concept strongly influenced by the wish to demonstrate that Christianity was not an innovation, but that all its essential features are to be found in earlier religions (p. 150).

Barstad then goes on to suggest that the deities under discussion be subsumed under the category of disappearing deities. 5

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It seems to me that Smith is somewhat unclear here: he creates a hyponymic structure but speaks of categories within this as mutually exclusive. His reference to disappearing deities, a well-known category in Anatolian religion, was later followed up by Mark S. Smith (1998). I shall return to this in my chapter on BaaL 3 J.Z. Smith (1990: 85-115). 4 Barstad (1984: 146-155, esp. pp. 148-150). 5 Barstad (1984: !50 note 34; 151) .

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After J.Z. Smith's contributions, the issues have been discussed during the 1990's by M.S. Smith and H.-P. Mi.iller. The former joins company with J.Z. Smith and other scholars who have questioned the very category. 6 We shall return to M.S. Smith below in the final part of this survey of research. Another who wants to make a tabula rasa is H.-P. Mi.iller. The notion of Adonis' resurrection is to him probably only a rationalization contrived to explain why Adonis could be mourned anew every year (1997b: 4). His capsule survey of the material concludes that non-Christian antiquity never knew anything similar to the Christian Easter. 7 Muller's thesis is that the idea of a resurrection in connection with dying gods is a very late one. When he briefly discusses the Ugaritic Baal and his death and burial, he notes, however that Baal suddenly appears as alive again without our knowing how this took place. 8 Mi.iller maintains his general position also in his most recent contribution (1999). What we have said so far makes one thing obvious: Major scholars in the fields of comparative religion and the Bible find the idea of dying and rising deities suspect or untenable. In the following survey of research I shall sketch the main outlines of the development that led up to the present state of research. I shall first present what could be called the birth of the "dying and rising 1 gods" with an emphasis on Frazer's contribution. After that I shall deal in separate sections with the scholarly discussion about Tammuz, Adonis, and Baal. At the end of this chapter I shall indicate some major features of the discussion surveyed and suggest some conclusions for the agenda of the present study.

1.2. Frazer and Baudissin In The Golden Bough (3rd edition) part IV: 1 ( 1914 )-which is an elaboration on his 1906 work-James G. Frazer presented the fascinating trinity of Adonis, Attis, and Osiris. 9 This fourth part of his great work

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See M.S. Smith (1994: 69-75 and especially 1998). "[S]o etwas wie ein Osterfest hat die ausserchristliche Antike offenbar nicht gekannt". H.-P. Muller (1997a: 82). 8 H.-P. Muller (1997a: 77). 9 On the various editions of The Golden Bough, see Ackerman (1987: 95-110, 164-179, 236-257) and J.Z. Smith ( 1990: 91-92 n. 13). The first edition of Adonis. Attis, Osiris: Studies in the History of Oriental Religion appeared in 1906 as a separate work. The second edition appeared in 1907; the third edition was then included as part IV: 1-2 of the third edition of The Golden Bough. Smith points out (Joe. cit.) that there are no significant changes between the various edi-

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is obviously a follow up on volume III, entitled The Dying God, in which he discusses the killing of the divine king and the death and resurrection of the com spirit. 10 Adonis is to Frazer the paramount example of "the dying god". Frazer states his theory bluntly and unguardedly: The spectacle of the great changes which annually pass over the face of the earth has powerfully impressed the minds of men in all ages, and stirred them to meditate on the causes of transformations so vast and wonderful ... They ... pictured to themselves the growth and decay of vegetation, the birth and death of living creatures, as effects of the waxing or waning strength of divine beings. of gods and goddesses, who were born and died, who married and begot children, on the pattern of human life ... [T]hey ... thought that by performing certain magical rites they could aid the god, who was the principle of life, in his struggle with the opposing principle of death. They imagined that they could recruit his failing energies and even raise him from the dead. The ceremonies which they observed for this purpose were in . substance a dramatic representation of the natural processes which they wished to facilitate ... And as they now explained the fluctuations of growth and decay, of reproduction and dissolution, by the marriage, the death, and the rebirth or revival of the gods, their religious or rather magical dramas turned in great measure on these themes. They set forth ... the sad death of one at least of the divine partners, and his joyful resurrection. (GB 3 IV:l, pp. 3-4).

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Frazer goes on to say that "[u]nderthe names of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, and Attis, the peoples of Egypt and Western Asia represented the yearly decay and revival of life, especially of vegetable life, which they personified as a god who annually died and rose again from the dead" (p. 6). Frazer explicitly identified Tammuz and Adonis: the true name of the deity was Tammuz, the appellation of Adonis being merely a Semitic title of honour, meaning "lord", taken over by the Greeks, who by a misunderstanding converted this title of honour into a proper name, Adonis (pp. 6-7). What Frazer submits is thus a naturist explanation of the dying and rising deity: this type of god is a personification ofthe seasonal cycle of vegetation. This naturist explanation, however, is combined with a euhemerist 11 one: behind the dying god looms a sacred or even divine tions of Adonis, Attis, Osiris. In the following I use the third edition of The Golden Bough. For a summary and critique of the overall endeavour of Frazer's The Golden Bough, see J.Z. Smith (1973). See also Ackerman (1987: esp. chapters 6, 10, 14}, Sharpe (1994: 87-94), and Gilhus (1996). On Frazer's literary impact, see Vickery (1973). 10 On this last-mentioned point Frazer's dependency on Mannhardt (1877) is very tangible. In addition, Mannhardt also discussed Adonis, see Mannhardt (1877: 273-291 ). On the history of research leading up to Frazer, see J.Z. Smith (1990: 26-33, 88-99). 11 Thus named after Euhemerus who held that the gods had been men and women of ancient times, see Ebach (HRwG 2: 365-368).

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19 king who would be slain when his fertility waned (pp. 13-30). 12 On the basis of a number of theophoric proper names, Frazer argued that the Semitic kings of the eastern Mediterranean were divine. The pre-Israelite Canaanite kings of Jerusalem played the part of Adonis in their lifetime. As for the Hebrew kings, it is not quite clear whether they were identified with Adonis or not, but they were certainly divine, "as representing and to a certain extent embodying Jehovah on earth" (pp. 20-21). That there are few traces of this divine kingship in the historical books of the Bible is due to the fact that "[a]ll the historical books passed through the office of the Puritan censor" or "the Deuteronomistic redactor, as the critics call him" (p. 26 with note 1). 13 The Semitic king personates the god and is the lover of the goddess. This is particularly clear from the evidence for Adonis in Cyprus (pp. 49-52). From the mythological material Frazer turns to the more fragmentary evidence for the ritual of Adonis. 14 He discusses especially the festivals for Adonis in Alexandria and Byblos as we know them from the works of Theocritus (Idyll XV) and Lucian (De Dea Syria §§ 6-7). At Byblos there was a day oflamentation for the dead god; on the next day, however, "he was believed to come to life again and ascend to heaven in the presence of his worshippers" (p. 225). Similarly in Alexandria: when the women had committed the image of the dead Adonis to the sea waves, they sang that the lost one would come back again (p. 225). The 1 dying god was also the rising one. 15 The mourning for Adonis was essentially a harvest rite: the dates for the festivals fell in spring or summer, which were the seasons of the barley and wheat harvests in this part of the world (p. 231 ). An important chapter is devoted to the gardens of Adonis (pp. 236259).16 "Perhaps the best proof that Adonis was a deity of vegetation, and especially of the com, is furnished by the gardens of Adonis, as they were called. These were baskets or pots filled with earth, in which wheat, barley, lettuces, fennel, and various kinds of flowers were sown and tended for eight days, chiefly or exclusively by women" (p. 236). The throwing of the gardens and of the images into the water was a raincharm (p. 237). Various usages of later times in the Mediterranean, es12

Note also the summary of the argument on p. 223.

13 Frazer (GB 3 IV:l: p. 26 with note 1). 14 On p. 223 Frazer devotes some 10 lines to stressing the uncertainties of his undertaking and

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finishes with the words: "How far the interpretations here proposed are sound, I leave to future inquiries to determine." Prior to Frazer, see for instance Mannhardt (1877: 277·278). For Frazer's source material, seep. 236 n. I.

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pecially in Sardinia and Sicily, point back to the gardens of Adonis. At the end of this chapter Frazer ret1ects upon the Easter ceremonies of the Catholic Church and surmises "that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season" (p. 256). 17 About Frazer we may briefly summarize: His gods die and return, they are connected with the seasonal cycle, and central events are subject to cultic celebration. W. Baudissin is the other scholar at the beginning of the twentieth century who devoted a monograph to issues related to the dying and rising deity, Adonis und Esmun: Eine Untersuchung zur Geschichte des Glaubens an Auferstehungsgotter und an Heilgotter ( 1911 ). 18 His aim is to shed light on Israel's idea of YHWH as the "living God", and to study the connection between Israelite religion and Canaanite and Aramaic cults. In particular Baudissin wants to test the possibility of a development leading from (a) the belief in a god of resurrection ("Auferstehungsgott"), who preserved his life through death, into (b) a belief in a god of healing ("Heilgott"), who leads humans through the death that hides in illness into life. Baudissin finds the first type of deity in Adonis, the second in Eshmun (p. V). It is obvious that Baudissin and Frazer agree on the most essential point: that there are gods who are thought to die and return to life. To Baudissin, Adonis is a resurrection god or a dying and rising deity. Of the Phoenician triads--consisting of the city god, the young god, and his spouse-it is especially the young god who appears as the god who returns to life, and who appears, in one of his manifestations, as a healing god, in so far as the recuperation from illness (resuscitation) can be thought of as a new waking up from death (p. 52). Baudissin devotes a brief but important section to a discussion of the cultic celebration of Adonis' resurrection (pp. 133-137). He starts by expressing sympathetic understanding towards those inclined to doubt that such a celebration would be an old and traditional part of the SyroPalestinian Adonis celebrations. We look in vain for resurrection rites in the celebrations of Tammuz (p. 133 ). He also notes that there is little 17

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Whether Frazer also held that the myth and ritual in connection with Adonis is the ultimate explanation of the Christian faith in the death and resurrection of Christ is not quite clear. On Frazer and Christianity, see Ackerman (1987: II, 83, 95, 167, 169, 188, 239). While Frazer, in the second edition of the GB, views Jesus as in line with the dying gods, he takes a softer position in the third edition, see Ackerman (1987: 167, 169 and 239). Note, however, that "the implicit comparisons are relentless", as was pointed out by J.Z. Smith (1990: 92). On Baudissin's scholarship, see Eissfeldt (1962: 115-142, esp. pp. 122-137).

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if anything of this in Theocritus, Idyll XV (p. 135). He puts on record the references to a resurrection in Origen, Jerome, and Cyril of Alexandria. One might argue, he continues, that the celebration of the resurrection was taken into the Adonis cult from the Osiris complex. However, in the end he finds this assumption unnecessary. The idea of the resurrection of a god of nature ("Naturgott") is not foreign to the North Semites: it seems to be present in the cases of Marduk and Melqart (p. 135). Above all, Baudissin stresses that the annual celebration of a mourning for the god presupposes the god's "Wiederaufleben", or "returning to life": if the god is the focus of annual mourning rites, then he must have been thought to come back to life every year (p. 136). Thus, the idea of his resurrection is no newcomer; indeed it seems possible to date it back as early as the times of the Old Testament prophets (p. 136). Thus, if it is somehow related to Osiris ideas, this connection must be of a very early date (p. 136). Not only Adonis and Melqart but, according to a late reference in Damascius, also Eshmun seem to be gods who die and return to life (p. 339). Baudissin published his work in 1911. It is interesting to note then that he is inclined to search for a common background to the Phoenician ideas of Adonis and Eshmun, which he thinks is to be found in a specific I god who then underwent different local developments (pp. 349-50). The Ras Sharnra discoveries have not disproved this well-informed guess. Another part of Baudissin's argument that is of interest to us concerns the relations between Adonis, Eshrnun, and Tammuz (pp. 345384 ). Adonis and Tammuz are different deities (p. 368), a point where Baudissin silently takes exception to Frazer. They may, however, have grown from a common root, although it is not obvious where we are to look for this: among theW estern or Eastern Semites or among the Sumerians. If we were to look for Mesopotamian influence, this might be a very early one, since Sargon of Akkad penetrated to the Mediterranean (p. 360). A final part of the work is devoted to Adonis, Eshmun and Old Testament religion, with an important discussion of the Israelite idea of resurrection focussing on Hosea 6 and Ezekiel 37 (pp. 385-520). In Baudissin' s opinion, resurrection faith can only have sprung from a transfer from the life of nature ("eine Obertragung aus dem Naturleben", p. 431). The OT idea of resurrection is a close parallel of the myth of Adonis (pp. 441-442). In its oldest metaphorical use in the OT, the idea of resurrection is a borrowing from Phoenicia with its faith in a resurrecting god (p. 445). The idea of the "living God" of the OT occurs frequently in the oath formula but can hardly derive from this (p. 463).

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Baudissin aptly notes a difference in mood between Israel and Phoenicia. In the Adonis and Tammuz contexts there is an emphasis on the wailing and mourning: On a general level, Phoenician religion hardly displays any happiness over the life of the deity. The OT shows a marked contrast to this (pp. 508-509). In a final section Baudissin briefly enters the question of Christian resurrection faith: That the Adonis cult influenced the development or forrn of the Christian belief in the Resurrected Lord has repeatedly been asserted by other scholars, but it cannot be demonstrated on any single point (p. 522). What are then the main differences between Baudissin and Frazer? Baudissin works as an accomplished Semitist; Frazer, again, is a scholar of classics. Furthermore, while Frazer, due to his anthropological orientation, devotes much energy to defending a specific theory of the prehistoric roots of the myth of Adonis, Baudissin is thoroughly orientated towards the historical tangibles of the Phoenician myth, leaving euhemerist speculations aside. In particular, he takes exception to Frazer's ideas about the cultic expressions of the Adonis myth. 19 At the same time, we should not overlook the fact that Baudissin is in essential agreement with what Frazer says about the contents of the myth; it is about the cult that he disagrees with him (p. VII). And one thing should be kept in sight: both these scholars understand Adonis as a dying and rising deity. For his part, Baudissin makes this clear already in the subtitle of his book, which speaks of "Auferstehungsgotter". The fate ofthe god mirrors the seasonal cycle. In the following part of this chapter I shall deal with the subsequent discussion and shall concentrate on three representative examples. 20 I shall thus deal with Tammuz, Adonis, and Baal. How has the research of the last century dealt with the issue of the alleged type: Are there deities who can be designated as dying and rising gods? This means that scholars who have voiced a critique of this assumption will be of particular importance. The reason for this is simple and can be expressed in Popperian terms: The proof of a scientific theory is not, in the last analysis, the amount of positive evidence but in its standing the test of falsification. 19

See Baudissin (1911: VI-VII) and note also his review of the first edition of Frazer's Adonis, Artis, Osiris; see Baudissin (1907), where he takes exception to Frazer's interpretation of the Adonis gardens and finds that the emphasis here is rather on the sudden withering (col. 98) and also expresses disagreement with Frazer's idea of the Semitic kings as divine (col. 100). 2 For previous surveys with a broad coverage, see Notscher ([1926==] 1980) with Scharbert's Nachtrag (ibid. pp. 349-397) .

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1.3. The Case of Dumuzi-Tammuz In the field of Assyriology the twentieth century has witnessed a protracted discussion of Dumuziffammuz and related figures? 1 Already in 190922 Zimmem published ample evidence for the myth and ritual in relation to the death of Tammuz; on the matter of his resurrection, however, Zimmem expressed himself with extreme caution. Langdon, in his work on Tammuz and Ishtar (1914), wholeheartedly adopted the Frazerian position and spoke of "a cult of sorrow, death and resurrection" (p. 1). 23 Quite soon, Marduk also came into the picture. In a work on the Babylonian New Year festival, Zimmem (1918) argued on the basis of the text KAR 143 (and the duplicate KAR 219) that the ideas of the disappearing and reappearing of Tammuz had been transferred to Marduk (pp. 2-3). Moreover, the "passion" of Tammuz was one that could claim to have some relevance even to New Testament scholars (pp. 11-13). Zimmem's ideas made a deep impact on subsequent research, so that other scholars continued to speak about the death and resurrection of Marduk, 24 and Marduk and Tammuz were sometimes seen as aspects of the same dying god. In the symposium Myth and ritual (1933) the most notable example of the dying god was considered to be Marduk, with the ritual of his death and resurrection allegedly celebrated in the festival of the New Year (see Gadd 1933: 58-60). In 1955, however, von Soden demonstrated that the text that had been basic to the Tammuz interpretation of the nature of Marduk (KAR 143) was a propaganda work composed in Assyria and had nothing to do either with the death and resurrection of Marduk or with the New Year festival. Later, von Soden's conclusions were criticized by Cagni (1982: 394-395, see below). J.A. Black, however, is very firm in his endorsement of von Soden's position: " ... I hope to have made it clear that the ceremonies [of the Babylonian New Year festival] had nothing to do with a dying and resurrected vegetation god." 25 The peak of the discussion about Dumuzi/Tammuz was reached in the work of Moortgat (1949) on Tammuz in ancient Near Eastern art. He claimed to find representations of this deity in a number of Sumerian and Babylonian sculptures and advanced a theory of the symbolism 21

Note Gurney (1962) for a survey of research on Tammuz. The Ph.D.-diss. (Jena) on Dumuzi by Dr. Michael Fritz will hopefully appear in 2002. Not seen. Reference courtesy M. Fritz. 22 Note, however, that the first edition of Frazer's Adonis, Artis, Osiris appeared in 1906. 23 Notscher ( [ 1926=] 1980: 25-32) was early to criticize these ideas. 24 Thus Langdon ( 1923: headline on pp. 34-35). For a survey. see von Soden (1955 130-131). 25 See Black ( 1981: 51-56, quotation from p. 56).

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employed in these works as expressions of a hidden mystery-cult involving a belief in the immortality of the soul. The reaction was strong, however. F.R. Kraus (1955) in his review of the book rejected both its method and its results. S.N. Kramer (1951) had already published an important cuneiform tablet from Yale with the hitherto missing conclusion of the Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent to the Netherworld, which clearly demonstrated that Inanna came back from the Netherworld only to hand Dumuzi over to her demoniac retinue, the gallu, in order to be put to death as her substitute. 26 Since it has generally been believed that Inanna went down to the Netherworld in order to liberate her lover, the recovery of the ending of the Sumerian myth is an important datum in the files on "dying and rising deities". In 1954 VandenBerghe concluded a state of the arts presentation with the formulation: "Nous ... nous sommes eleve contre le dogme enracine que Dumuzi-Tammuz a) est un dieu ressuscite b) en tant que personnification de la nature qui meurt et qui renalt et c) est le symbole de la resurrection future de l'homme" (p. 321). Gurney, in his 1962 essay "Tammuz reconsidered", made two observations about the putative resurrection of the dying god: (1) As for the Sumerian mythology of Dumuzi, we have now access to texts from which the myth of Dumuzi can be reconstructed in detail. There is no trace in this Sumerian mythology of a poem about Dumuzi' s resurrection (pp. 152-153). (2) In the Assyrian Ishtar's Descent to the Netherworld, the goddess's emergence from the Netherworld is followed by an epilogue that raises great interpretative difficulties. The passage begins with four lines of instructions for the funerary rites of Tammuz. Then there are four lines of narrative about the goddess Belili. A section of direct speech then follows with no clear indication of the identity of the speaker which Gurney translates: "On the day that Tammuz rises to me, the flute of lapis lazuli and the tiAR-instrument of carnelian will rise with him; with him also will rise male and female mourners. Let the dead rise and smell the incense" (p. 154). 27 Scholars who avoid the allusion to Tammuz's rising by rendering the crucial verb "greets me" or "welcomes me" have not explained from what verb they derive the form el-la-an-ni, when they reject a derivation from eW, "to rise". Gurney concludes: "Here then, apparently is a clear allusion to the rising of Tammuz from the underworld, ... But the whole passage is obviously a late addition-perhaps specifically Assyrian-which has displaced the 26 27

L

See also, for instance, ANEi' 52 n. 6. For the text, see Borger (1979, vol. 1: 95-104).

25 original end of the poem" (p. 154). He adds at the end of his contribution: "If the late addition to the Assyrian myth of the Descent of Ishtar refers to such a resurrection, this may be a late accretion to Babylonian religion due to West Semitic influence" (p. 160). Yamauchi (1966) took up Gurney's suggestions about the epilogue as an Assyrian addition and tried to find an alternative explanation. The epilogue, he notes, is closely associated with the weeping and rituals of lamentation for Tammuz: "In the last three days of the month of Tammuz in the summer, the figure of the god was laid out for burial in a rite known as taklimtu" (p. 11 ). 28 Yamauchi suggests understanding the reference to the rising of Tammuz in the light of this circumstance and wants "to explain the rising both of Tammuz and of the dead as the ascent of the spirits to partake of the offerings made for the dead" (p. 13).29

Cagni ( 1982) took up the idea, cultivated during the first half of the century, of mysteries in Babylonia and offered examples connected with the theme of the "dio in vicenda", the god who undergoes a change of fates. He concentrated, however, on the aspect of suffering and said very little explicitly on the idea of a resurrection of the deity in question. To him it is clear that Dumuzi gradually developed into a general god of vegetation (pp. 584-586). And he was not, without further ado, satisfied with von Soden's attempt to do away with the "passion ofMarduk" (pp. 589-597). Jacobsen (1976) found evidence for the idea of "[t]he return of Damu to the land of the living". 30 Alster, in his 1995 contribution to DDD on Tammuz and Dumuzi, concluded that, "the question whether or not Dumuzi rose from the realms of the dead is perhaps best answered with the claim that since this was not celebrated in a cultic festival, it did not play any significant role in the literature" (col. 1578). As for the end of the Akkadian Ishtar's Descent to the Netherworld, Alster takes the same position as Yamauchi above (col. 1578). By and large then, the optimism during the first decades of this century for the resurrection of Dumuzi!fammuz has subsequently become seriously dampened. A circumstance that has so far received little if any attention in the discussion is that Kramer (1966) made an important cor28

29 30

The word in question is a derivation from kullumu(m) and means "display", see AHw 1307: "Zeigen", "Schaustellung"; it probably refers to the display of the corpse or the grave goods of Tammuz. Gurney (1962: 157) had made a reference to the taklimtu but did not make the connection with the rising of the god. Alster (1995: 1578) agrees with Yamauchi. Jacobsen ( 1976: 63-73, quotation from p. 68).

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rection to his earlier interpretation of Inanna 's Descent. Kramer now adopts a new reading of an important line at the very end of lnanna 's Descent: "You [Dumuzi], half the year! Your sister [Gestinanna], half the year!" An openness to this new perspective is documented by Parpola in his introduction to his Assyrian Prophecies volume ( 1997). 31

1.4. The Case of Adonis

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Few deities of antiquity have been assessed in more divergent ways than Adonis. The explanation for this lies partly in the nature of the sources: the evidence mainly derives from Greek antiquity, but a number of characteristics of the Greek Adonis seem to indicate that this deity has a long Oriental pedigree. Moreover, the apparent analogy between Adonis and Christ contributed to making Adonis a controversial figure. Certain materials in the Hebrew Bible were seen in the perspectives of the dying and rising deity by Widengren and, to a certain extent, also by Engnell. 32 Four scholars take a particularly prominent position among those who have submitted the idea of the dying and rising deity to scrutiny: de Vaux, Lambrechts, Wagner, and Will. In 1933 de Vaux published a paper that put the finger on two essential points in Frazer's construct. The first is the symbolism of the Adonis gardens. Though the gardens remind us of the gardens of Osiris, which symbolize the renascence of the god, the Adonis gardens nevertheless express the short life of the vegetation and the ephemeral existence of the hero. De Vaux therefore finds it impossible to subscribe to Frazer's interpretation of these "gardens".33 The second point pertains to the dating of the idea of Adonis' resurrection (pp. 392-404). De Vaux here carries through a stepwise source critical reduction: Taken in isolation, Lucian does not prove that

31

Parpola (SAA 9: p. xciv, note 127). 32 According to Widengren ( 1945), in Jerusalemite sacral kingship a Tammuz ideology enfolds where the king acts as the representative of the dying and rising deity. In this capacity he is denoted as Adon (Jer 22:18), a designation that is also applied to YHWH himself (Ps 114:7); in both cases it is to be seen in the light of the West Semitic dying and rising deity. Widengren returned to this theme in his contribution to the volume Myth, Ritual, and Kingship ( 1958: esp. 191-200), restating his opinion that YHWH is a dying and rising deity. Engnell, in tum, held similar ideas about the king but emphatically took exception to the understanding of YHWH as a dying and rising deity. See Engnell in his articles "Gud. I. GT" (Svenskt Bibliskt Uppslagsverk, vol. I: cols. 831-836, esp. col. 833) and "Lidande. I. GT" (ibid. cols. 1484-1491, esp. col. 1489). 33

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DeVaux ([ 1933=] 1967: 379-392). In thefollowing the page references are to the reprint in de Vaux (1967) .

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there was a celebration of Adonis' resurrection. The later writers who refer to such a celebration are dependent on Origen and Cyril of Alexandria. There is a resurrection of Melqart, but Melqart is a solar deity and cannot be taken as related to Adonis (p. 399). DeVaux thus concludes about the resurrection feast for Adonis: (a) that there is no reliable attestation outside Alexandria, (b) that it was not celebrated before the second-third centuries C.E., and (c) that it is a late borrowing from the Osiris cult (p. 404). In a postscript de Vaux briefly refers to the Ras Shamra texts. These texts may well contain material of capital importance for our study, says de Vaux, but too little is published as yet and scholars still show profound disagreement about their interpretation. The two main points of this paper, that about the nature of the Adonis gardens and that about the late introduction of a resurrection feast, will return in much of what has since been published on our topic. The next major contribution is that by Lambrechts (1955), who focusses on the resurrection motif. In the case of Attis, the celebration on March 24 of the sanguis ("blood") was later supplemented by the addition of the celebration on the next day of the hilaria (pp. 212-213). Thus, the resurrection is no original part of the celebrations of Attis. In the case of Tammuz, the texts contain a long series of lamentations; the resurrection motif, however, is completely absent (p. 216). Similarly I Adonis: the symbolism of the Adonis gardens focusses on the rapid wilting of the sprouts (pp. 221-223). In the textual material there is a difference between a group of older texts and a later group. In the older texts, one finds a sequence comprising first a celebration of the return of the god including his holy marriage and then a feast of mourning to celebrate his death, thus, first return and then death (pp. 225-231 ). This is the situation in, for instance, Theocritus (third century B.C.E.). It is only in the later group of texts (Lucian, Origen, Cyril) that we find evidence of a celebration of the resurrection of Adonis (pp. 231-235). 34 This change in the distribution of emphasis takes place no earlier than the second century C.E. (p. 234). Lambrechts agrees with de Vaux about the origin of the idea of the resurrection of Adonis: it derives from the Osiris cult (pp. 233-234). GUnther Wagner, in his magisterial monograph Das religionsgeschichtliche Problem von Romer 6, 1-11 ( 1962), devotes some 200 pages to the issue of the dying and rising god. Wagner points to the lack of clear evidence for the resurrection of Tammuz (pp. 151, 155). A 34

This was previously pointed out by Notscher ([1926=]1980: 90).

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lengthy section (pp. 187-211) is devoted to a discussion of the resurrection of Adonis. Adonis is not a god of vegetation in general but of the spring vegetation that dies during the summer drought. The sequence is this: from life to death (pp. 187 -188). The Adonis feast took place in the middle of the summer, which was not the proper time for a celebration of a resurrection (pp. 194-199). Already in Theocritus, Adonis is a sort of chthonic god (p. 189) who appears on earth once a year to receive rites of mourning; such a return cannot be termed a resurrection (p. 207). The idea of Adonis' resurrection is quite late and results from an innovative development where three factors were of importance: (a) the influence from syncretism, (b) competition with Christianity, and (c) an influence from the Osiris cult (p. 210). 35 Will (1975) goes on in the same general direction as de Vaux, Lambrechts, and Wagner but also makes some quite original suggestions. He notes that the resurrection of Adonis is attested in late sources like Origen and Cyril, where we find the sequence from mourning to joy over the resurrection of Adonis. Now at Alexandria the order is the reverse. At the time of Theocritus the order is this: first rejoicing, then lamentation. Such older sources have preserved the original order of things. Here Will takes a new step: He doubts that there ever was a profound transformation in the rites of Adonis. What we find in the later, Christian writers is a reading of the Adonis rites through glasses coloured by the Christian beliefs of these writers (p. 101). A possible obstacle to such an interpretation is, of course, found in Lucian, De Dea Syria § 6. Will here dissociates himself from the interpretation of Seyrig ( 1972), who held that the resurrection motif actually occurs in this passage. Instead Will proposes the presence of a solemn procession, a n:ofc n:{j. The crucial words (k 1:ov ij£pa n:Ef!JtO'UOL) refer to a farewell, void of hope, similar to the one in Theocritus (Idyll XV, 143-144 ). In other words, says Will, one speaks to Adonis as to a living one, whom one just mourned and whom one will mourn again after a year (p. 102-103, my italics). In this way Will believes to have reconstituted a "uniform pagan tradition", and so there is no semblance of the Graeco-Roman "paganism" having known a resurrection of Adonis (p. 103). Thus, there was never a resurrection of Adonis; when certain authors speak of it, this is due to a Christian misreading of the evidence. There is no doubt that Will's essay was of a certain importance to J.Z. Smith in his

35

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Note, however, that it is clear to Wagner that there is no proper resurrection of Osiris, see p. 130.

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dictionary article referred to at the beginning of this chapter ( 1987: 522). Colpe ( 1969) to a great extent followed the same lines as de Vaux, Lambrechts and Wagner. After a discussion of Adonis, Attis and Osiris, this scholar (pp. 42-44) concludes that these gods are no dying and rising deities of vegetation. Their myths have no basic pattern in common. The treatment of these gods in the scholarly discussion has often been determined by one specific interest, says Colpe: to present the resurrection of Christ as nothing new and unique but as prefigured in millennia of nature worship (p. 42). I shall now go on to deal with some authors who concentrated heavily on the Greek Adonis, namely, Atallah and Detienne, and then go on to Burkert and Ribichini who had a slightly different perspective. Atallah's work is a major monograph on the Greek Adonis, as appears from its title, Adonis dans la litterature et l 'art grecs (1966). In spite of the limitation to Greek material, suggested by the title, Atallah also deals with Latin poetry, especially Ovid, with Etruscan mirrors, and with other iconographical material from Italy. Two introductory chapters are devoted to the mythology of Adonis, focussing on his birth 1 and his death. In the classical sources, the tradition of his Cypriote origin is more prominent than the notion of his Levantine background. The latter background seems to belong to a more erudite version of the myth. The celebrations of the Adonia are dealt with on the basis of both textual and iconographical evidence. As for the date of the Adonia, the contradiction between ancient writers is resolved by the hypothesis that there were two different celebrations: one in the spring and one in the summer at the rising of the Dog Star. The Adonia of the Greek sources have predominantly a funerary character. The Adonis gardens are understood by Atallah to symbolize sterility and death. Here Atallah notes the strange paradox: that an Oriental vegetation god is connected with a ritual usage deeply loaded with symbolism of sterility (pp. 228, 322). The resurrection of Adonis is dealt with in a separate chapter. The funerary character of the festival and the lateness of express references to a joy of resurrection do not suffice to sustain Lambrechts' s attempt to almost completely do away with a belief in a resurrection of Adonis (pp. 259-263). The idea of Adonis' resurrection can be traced back to Lucian, but Atallah prefers to use the term "return", instead of speaking of "resurrection" (p. 268). A comprehensive bibliography concludes this fine work that is so rich in material. While Frazer presented an agrarian Adonis, Detienne ( 1972, English translation 1993) 36 comes up with a rather different one. His contribu-

30

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tion amounts to a bold statement of anti-Frazerian conclusions. Detienne sketches a complex of myths with a basic contrast between Adonis (who is closely connected with spices with their symbolism of seduction) and Demeter (connected with cereals and thus with continence), summarized in a graphic survey of the main features of the Adonia (celebrating Adonis) and the Thesmophoria (celebrating Demeter) (p. 82). He then devotes proper space to discussing the Adonis gardens (pp. 99-122). With Cumont (1932), Detienne holds that the Adonia were celebrated on July 19 (p. 101 ). The entire ancient tradition, from Plato onwards, shows that these gardens bore no fruit but were fundamentally sterile. As for the nature of the plants, he notes that there were four distinct species: wheat, barley, lettuce and fennel (pp. 106-107). Wheat and barley, both cereals, are foods of Demeter, just as lettuce, a garden plant, is the vegetable symbol of the death and impotence that assail the master of these gardens, Adonis. "In consequence, the four species cultivated by gardeners during the Adonia can be classified on two levels, first in relation to cereals, which belong to Demeter, and secondly in relation to garden plants which are intimately linked with Adonis whose two essential sides they represent" (pp. 108-1 09). The four can be positioned on two intersecting axes. Lettuce and fennel represent the gardening of Adonis and are fundamentally a misleading imitation of the agriculture of Demeter, oscillating between greenness and desiccation (p. 109). "The gardening of Adonis is ... a perversion of the cereals of Demeter ... " (p. 117). Burkert, in his work on Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual (1979), also discusses the dying god. It was "an unexpected shock to Frazerism when in 1951 the hitherto missing conclusion of the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Dumuzi was published" (p. 101)_37 It is Inanna who hands Dumuzi over to her demonic retinue, the gallu, to be put to death as her substitute. "This is anything but an allegory of vegetation", says Burkert (p. 101), overlooking the developments of the 1960's. Over against those who argue that there is no evidence at all for cults of Adonis in the Semitic world, Burkert notes a number of Oriental features in the myth and ritual of the Greek Adonis: women weeping over a young god, the prominence of incense in the ceremonies, and the peculiarity that the Adonis rites are performed on the roofs of the houses (p. 106). These and other Oriental features received thorough attention in the work ofRibichini (discussed below). Burkert also stresses the im36 I have used the English translation from 1993; the page references above are to this version. 37 Note also the remarks on Frazer in Burkert (1987: 75).

31 portance of the admittedly scanty evidence from the Semitic side: there is only one piece of Semitic evidence as old as Sappho, a passage in Ezekiel 8:14, but this is unequivocal. The other Semitic evidence from outside of Babylonia dates from imperial times: tesserae from Palmyra inviting to the festival of Tammuz and Belti and showing the dead god on his bier, a votive statue from Damascus with the same motif, and Mandaean polemics against those who mournfully sit in the house of Astarte and Tammuz (p. 106). In an interesting paragraph, Burkert comments on the Christian authors and their version of the Adonis myth: What we have here is a Sumerian-Semitic Tammuz myth transformed into an appendix to the Greek Adonis myth. The "actants" correspond, Ereshkigal to Persephone, Dumuzi to Adonis, though the roles of Inanna and Geshtinanna have been conflated in Aphrodite (p. 109). From Burkert we now tum to Ribichini, who is one of the great specialists of the twentieth century on Adonis and related problems. Like Baudissin he works with both classical and Semitic sources, but he stands out from all his predecessors by making a sharp distinction between Adonis, the Greek heros, 38 and the Adonis of the Levant. This appears already from the title of his book: Adonis. Aspetti "orientali" di un mito greco (1981). First the Greek heros. One of the main conclusions of this work is that the Greek Adonis does not reflect one single Oriental deity; he rather displays a mixture of Oriental traditions that have been re-elaborated in a Greek context. 39 Ribichini also notes the difference between the picture we get from the mythology and from the cult as reflected in classical sources. In the mythology there is no talk of a victorious return of the hero. The order is life followed by death; Adonis normally inhabits the Netherworld and is counted among the chthonic gods in a papyrus. In the cult, however, there is a return, but this is only a periodical one (pp. 133-134). There is no proper resurrection (pp. 139-140). Then the Adonis of the Orient, who is a deity proper and no hero of the Greek type. 40 Here we should note that, in contrast to Frazer, Ribichini does not use the Adonis gardens as evidence for the resurrection; he rather bases himself on the text of Lucian. Focussing on this textual evidence, Ribichini arrives at an important conclusion: while the Greek 38 In the Greek antiquity, a heros was a man of superhuman qualities, favoured by the gods, a demigod. 39 Ribichini (1981: 42, 45, 142, 143, 192). 40 Ribichini is somewhat inconsistent in denying that the Oriental Adonis is one specific god ( 1981: 192; see also p. 42, 45) but actually arguing more or less as if he is. In his DDD entry on Adonis, Ribichini ( 1995) no longer makes this point.

1

32 Adonis does not experience a resurrection, Lucian describes one for the Adonis of the Orient (pp. 156-159). Ribichini devotes some attention to the relation between Adonis and Tammuz (pp. 181-192). His conclusion is that there is no historical line representing a development from Dumuzi/Tammuz to Adonis (p. 191); the relation between them is a problematical one. The publication of new copies of the Sumerian lnanna 's Descent have made it clear that the descent of the goddess does not follow upon the death of her lover; it rather anticipates and causes the death of Dumuzi (p. 183). As for the genesis of the Adonis ideas, Ribichini suggests that there was a mythic and ritual pattern related to the cult of defunct royal figures in Syria and Palestine during the Bronze Age (pp. 194-197). This point Ribichini develops further in a later monograph. 41 A figure of the dema type, that is, a mythic figure proper to primitive cereal cultivators, may or may not have served as the basis of the ideas of the dying and rising god (p. 63). The cult of divinized defunct kings in Ebla, Mari, and Ugarit, however, is of primary interest as an important part of the background (pp. 64-73). The Ugaritic rpum and mllcm are of particular importance here. Ribichini summarizes his observations as follows: As the origin of the dying-god-theme in the traditions about the Phoenician pantheon, we must thus, in the first place, put the cult of the dead which have a regal rank [il culto dei morti di rango regale], this cult being an outstanding feature of the Syrian religious manifestations during the epochs which preceded the Phoenician one of the first millennium, and we must also recognize in the gods Phoenician citizens, the result of a probable flaking off of the religious typology centered towards the veneration of the ancestral refaim, of the kings divinized after death. (1985: 70)

I

About Frazer's thesis, Ribichini concludes: In our opinion, the possibility to interpret the divinities along the lines of the Frazer-schemes of the dying god must therefore be given a different dimension. They [the divinities] are not the image of a vegetation which dies and reappears; the relationship with the royalty opens up towards the rather more complex personality of the "divinized heroes". As for the possible ties to a being of the dema type, these still remain perceivable, if not for other reasons, so for the characteristics of the refaim protecting and owning the territory. (1985: 70) 42

This is an interpretation along euhemerist lines (cf. above on Frazer). In his DDD article on Adonis, however, Ribichini draws the line to Baal in a more direct way: "It is probable that the cult of Adonis in Byblos 41 42

I

See Ribichini (1985: 41-73, esp. pp. 63ff.). My translations. I am grateful to Mrs Angela Byrskog for discussing the proper rendering of the Italian.

33 continued the worship of a Phoenician ... 'Baal' conceived as a dying and rising god" (1995a: 14). Ribichini's work is obviously one of great importance to all future research on the Adonis problem. Especially interesting is his stress on the aspects of a Greek heros as an outstanding characteristic of the Adonis of the Greek sources and his stress on the possible importance of the West Semitic cults of defunct royal ancestors. 43 At the same time one should note that a bit of Frazer's euhemerism comes in through the back door. A special work on the Adonis gardens from more recent years should be noted here. Frazer obviously ascribed great importance to the Adonis gardens as symbols of the rejuvenation or resurrection of the god, a point which was criticized already by Baudissin in a review (1907). Like Baudissin, later scholars often argued that the Adonis gardens were symbols of the death of the young god, the emphasis being on the wilting of the sprouts. The gardens have thus been looked upon as symbols of sterility; Detienne in particular had stressed this aspect. It is then worthwhile noticing that Baudy (1986) views these Adonis gardens in a new perspective. To Baudy the symbolism of the "gardens" is that of a ritual test of the ability of the seed to sprout and germinate ("Saatgutpriifung") (pp. 13-32). Sowing the seeds in the bowls symbolizes the 1 death of Adonis and the sprouting his awaited resurrection (p. 38). 44 Baudy expressly takes exception to Detienne's interpretation of the Adonis gardens. 45 His interpretation is rather more in line with Frazer. Lipinski, in his magisterial work on the Phoenician deities, discusses Adonis in terms of a dying and rising deity ( 1995: 90-1 08). This scholar finds a direct line from the Late Bronze Age Baal, as we know him from U garit and whose death and return appears as a mytho-poetic transformation of the life of the vegetation with its cyclic death and renewal (p. 97). The contacts between the Egyptian Osiris and the Byblite Adonis seem to go back to the period of the New Kingdom (p. 91 ). The celebrations in Alexandria, described by Theocritus (Idyll XV), are directly connected with certain Osiris rites (p. 95). Even so, however, there is a respectable research tradition that finds insurmountable difficulties for the conclusion that Adonis was a dying and rising deity. That he was such a god is clearly a minority position,

43 44

45

Note, however, that Ribichini does not take up this point in his contribution on Adonis in DDD (1995). See also Baudy (1996: col. 121). Baudy (1996: col. 121).

-

34 and moreover one that is not argued in dialogue and confrontation with the opponents.

/. 5. The Case of Baal

I

I '

I

Frazer's discussion of the dying and rising god was focussed on Adonis, although Dumuzi/Tammuz and even Osiris and Attis were also part of the picture for him. As we have seen so far, Adonis and Tammuz stood in the centre of the ensuing debate. While U garitic material played a certain role in the contributions of Colpe and Ribichini, surprisingly little attention has generally been paid to Ugarit in contributions to the issue of the dying and rising god as a specific type in the history of relig10ns. I shall here briefly sketch the main positions and restrict myself to references to a few major works from the last half century. A major figure in the debate about the interpretation of the Ugaritic Baal texts is T.H. Gaster, who early on defended a ritual and seasonal interpretation of the material. His monograph Thespis ( 1950) builds on his previous publications dating back to the thirties. 46 In a number of texts from the ancient Near East, Gaster finds a pattern and sequence of ritual acts which from time immemorial have characterized major seasonal festivals, usually made to coincide with the solstice or equinox. This seasonal pattern comprises the "emptying", or evacuation (Greek: kenosis), and the "filling", or replenishment (Greek: plerosis), of corporate vitality (p. 26). The major elements are these: First come rites of mortification; these are followed by rites of purgation and invigoration, by which the community attempts to procure a new lease of life. Finally, there are rites of jubilation (p. 26). The Canaanite texts from Ugarit are marked by the myth of the dying and reviving god. 47 The Baal Cycle presents a nature myth, and its theme is the alternation of the seasons. The very names of the acting characters provide the key to the correct interpretation (p. 124). Gaster also discusses Anatolian material. Here he finds two different subtypes: the combat type (the slaying of the dragon) and the disappearing god type (e.g. the Telepinu myth). However, Gaster is not interested in historical questions and genetic relationships. The various gods he

46 47

I am here using the 1975 reprint of the new and revised edition of 1961. For an appraisal of Gaster and the criticisms of his work, see M.S. Smith (1994: 60-63). Gaster (1975: 85-87, 114-244 [Baal]; 316-376 [Aqhat]; 406-435 [the Gracious Gods]).

35 studies are subjected to comparison on the psychological level, but not the historical (p. 13 ). In a paper with the title "Baals Tod und Auferstehung" W.H. Schmidt (1963) sketched the main outlines of the epic tapestry of the Baal myth: the descent of the god to the Netherworld, the cessation of rain and the growth of vegetation, the mourning among the gods, and the goddess's search for the dead god. Schmidt finds the same basic sequence in the myth of Osiris (pp. 4-6). In 1971 J.C. de Moor published The Seasonal Pattern in the Ugaritic Myth of Ba :

; as )(

0

orl"i II

In addition to this, I would like to point to the risk of hypostasizing a god, i.e. abstracting from the various manifestations of, for instance, Dumuzi "the real Dumuzi", stable and unalterable through the changes of time. This type of essentialist thinking is, of course, untenable. Dumuzi can never be anything more or less than he is at the specific time and place and in the specific local cult that is the object of our study at a special point.

-

lCl-

'the I

-

I mtl 1 1 .J

as-

I fer-

r

~e

i0 .. of 118

Mettinger (1995: 20-21,35-38, with literature). The list of literature on such issues is long. I would like here to call attention to Poole (1986), J.Z. Smith (1990), Kippenberg (1992), and to the Danish symposium published by Sand, Schjiidt, and Podemann S~Jrensen ( 1999). 119 Poole (1986: 413).

55 CHAPTER II:

Ugaritic Baal

We shall begin our own analysis with a discussion of the god Baal as we know him from the U garitic texts. 1 Baal is a storm god, a weather god. He thus belongs to that larger group of gods in Syria and Mesopotamia that has been so admirably mapped out by Daniel Schwemer in a recent monograph (2001). 2 As we have seen above, current research is marked by a certain reluctance towards describing Baal as a dying and rising deity. Two different lines of reasoning seem to lie behind this attitude in current scholarship. (1) Some scholars argue that Baal himself did not go down to Mot. Mot was cheated into swallowing a substitute (de Moor and Gibson). (2) Others are inclined to regard Baal as a disappearing deity, perhaps of the nature of Telepinu (Barstad, J.Z. Smith, and M.S. Smith). Such Anatolian storm gods disappear and return but do not die. Before dealing with these two suggestions, it is appropriate to pay heed to the genre of the relevant material. One specific feature of the material is noteworthy. MarkS. Smith finds it "especially striking that the rich indigenous corpus of U garitic ritual texts does not contain a single indication of the death and rising of Baa1." 3 The Baal myth (KTU 4 1.1-6) is of a literary character and its genre may be denoted as myth. The relation between the corpus of mythological texts and the corpus of ritual texts has come into the fore in recent studies. These two groups of material now stand out as two fairly well-defined entities, and the ritual texts are the subject of comprehensive studies by J.M. de Tarragon,

The text I am using is KTU 2 (CAD. Note that I use the abbreviation KTU to refer to this second edition, KTU 2 , as Dietrich and Loretz themselves are doing in their subsequent publications. The translation cited is that found in UNP, unless otherwise stated. Other recent translations are those by Pardee in COS I, Dietrich and Loretz in TUAT III: 1091 ff., and Wyatt in RTU. For earlier translations, see especially de Moor in ARTU and Gibson in CML. De Moor (SPUMB) remains an indispensable tool for its wealth of philological observations on the Baal myth. 2 Schwemer (2001: esp. pp. 443-588). On the divine name Baal, ibid. pp. 504-511, and on Baal ofUgarit. ibid. pp. 511-547. 3 M.S. Smith ( 1998: 290). 4 See M.S. Smith (1994: 26-28). 1

I

56 G. del Olmo Lete, and especially by D. Pardee in his opus magnum. 5 A convenient survey of genres and find-spots was recently submitted by Niehr ( 1999). Niehr makes some impm1ant observations about the relations between the mythological and ritual texts. No texts at all were found in the temples of the city. The actual find-spots are worth noticing.6 Though both myths and rituals were found in the Maison du Grand Pretre, MGP, there seems to be a local distinction: the myths derive from MGP 7/8, while the rituals derive from both MGP 1 and the Maison du Pretre Magicien (MPM 10). Thus, myths and rituals belong to different libraries or sub-sections of libraries. Nevertheless, there is a group of texts that combines ritual and mythological features, the group that Pardee designated "textes paramythologiques"? These texts were all found in the Maison du Pretre Magicien (MPM 10). The question whether the mythological texts had a function in the cult is a difficult one. It is worthwhile noticing that some mythological or epic texts contain features that are most easily explicable as due to the custom of reciting texts. There are thus explicit instructions for a recital. 8 There are also cases of omissions, indicated by double horizontal lines. 9 Niehr raises the question of the place and reason for such recital and cautiously concludes that there was a habit of reciting mythological material in the context of the schooling of priests as narrative instruction or as "theologicallectures". 10 The question is whether this is sufficient as an explanation. I must here refer to de Moor's interesting remark considering such cases of omissions: "These omissions of portions of standard text would be hard to justify if the tablets had been meant to be read out publicly. But they could be tolerated if they were executed only to be learnt by heart by those who had to recite them." 11 It seems to me that such orality is a feature that may well point to a liturgical dimension

5

De Tarragon (1980), G. del Olmo Lete (1999), and Pardee (2000). See KTU, which gives the find-spot (stated as Fs) for each individual text, and see Niehr (1999: 125-126). For a succinct overall presentation of archives and libraries in Ugarit, see Pedersen (1998: 68-80). 7 See the discussion ofNiehr (1999: 113-115). On this group see especially Pardee (1988) and for his definition, Pardee (COS I: 302): "with mythological form or overtones but with a practical function". This group comprises KTU 1.100; 1.101; 1.107; 1.108; 1.113; 1.114; 1.117; 1.124; 1.133. 8 See KTU 1.4.V: 42 and 1.19.IV: 63. See Niehr (1999: 124). 9 See 1.3.III: 31-32; 1.4.V: 41-42; 1.4.VIII: 47-48; note de Moor (SPUMB: 4-5) and see also Niehr(1999: 124). 10 Niehr ( 1999: 125). 11 De Moor (SPUMB: 5). 6

57

8

of the material handed down. This, however, is a highly controversial issue. For this reason I have chosen to proceed in three subsequent steps, and I shall keep myth and ritual apart as two different expressions of religious discourse. First, I shall deal with the Baal myth, moving exclusively on the level of mythological motifs. The question will here be: Do we find the motifs of Baal's death and return to life in this material, moreover of Baal's own death and not that of a mere substitute? Secondly, I shall go outside the Baal myth and ask for possible allusions to a ritual celebration of Baal's fates. Here I shall deal with KTU 1.12 and a passage in Aqhat. Thirdly, I shall deal with the question of the Anatolian vanishing deity as a prototype of Baal.

11"

1. The Baal-Mot Myth

r 0-

e

1e 1

ld

a to ea

a. al )j

r•. n-

o )

ly

The Outline of the Myth.-In spite of major lacunae and unreadable passages, the story of the Baal-Mot conflict (1.4.VII: 42- 1.6.VI) can be presented in its main outlines as follows. 12 After the installation of the window in Baal's palace, Baal sends messengers to Mot (1.4.VII: 42ff.). They are to go down to the House of Freedom and be counted among the dead (1.4.VIII: 7-9). Exactly what Baal's message to Mot is is not clear. I believe that it is found in 1.4.VII: 49-52: "I alone am the one who can be king over the gods, who can fatten gods and men, who can satisfy the multitudes of the earth!" 13 This interpretation is attractive, since Baal probably had something to say to Mot, but it is still open to debate. 14 The messengers return to Baal with descriptions of Mot's appetite and an invitation for Baal to descend to the Netherworld. Baal now quickly responds to this and expresses his submission to Mot: "Your servant I am, and yours forever" (1.5.II: 12). Mot renews his invitation: "And you, take your clouds, your winds, your bolts, 15 your

19:

en 12

lC-

7:

so

On the order of the tablets, see M.S. Smith (1994: l-19; note the survey on pp. 2-3). I follow Smith in accepting the Herdner order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 13 Translation by de Moor (ARTU: 65), who realized that ai)dy. d ymlk. '1. ilm has this excluding sense (ARTU: 65, and see 1997: 106-110) See also Dietrich and Loretz (TUATI11:6: 1170), and Wyatt (RTU: 111 ), and see now especially Loretz's thorough discussion of this Ugaritic formulation and Deut 6:4, Loretz ( 1995: esp. pp. 235-271 ). 14 Pardee (COS I: 263) takes this passage as citing Mot's words. 15 Pardee translates mdl, "watering devices", from the root dly, "draw water" (COS I: 267; see alsop. 253 n. 95). But why is the yod not preserved in the masc. pl. cstr.? For the rendering as "bolts", see de Moor (SPUMB: 109 with references).

1

58 rains ... " (l.S.V: 6-8). When Baal hears this he decides to procure progeny. He mounts a heifer and begets offspring (l.S.V: 17ff). 16 After a gap of some forty lines, a lost passage that probably contained information of essential interest to our enquiry, the text goes on to describe how Baal's death is announced to Eland is mourned by him. The rites of mourning are described in detail for both El and Anat ( l.S.VI-1.6.1: 8). Anat and Shapsh together search for Baal and find his dead body. With the help of Shapsh, Anat carries the corpse to Mt Sapan, where Baal is buried ( 1.6.1: 8-31 ). Anat reports to El and Athirat that Baal is dead, and the couple start discussing the question of a replacement for Baal. Athtar is finally chosen but finds himself insufficient (1.6.1: 32-67). Anat proceeds to confront Mot directly. She seizes him by the hem of his garment and beseeches him to release Baal to her. Mot tells Anat how he swallowed Baal. Then follows the description of Anat' s harsh treatment of Mot: With a sword she splits him, With a sieve she winnows him. With a fire she bums him, With millstones she grinds him, In a field she sows him (1.6.Il: 30-35). 17

I

Following this comes the description ofEl's dream-vision, by which he is able to determine that Baal has returned to life. The beginning of the autumn rains was the decisive sign (l.n.TII). On behalf of El, Anat points out to Shapsh that the furrows of the fields are still parched. Shapsh promises to seek Baal (1.6.III: 22- IV: 24). Finally, col. V presents Baal's return to his throne (11. 1-6). The rest of cols. V and VI seem to deal with a new conflict between Baal and Mot, taking place in the "seventh" year (V: 8-9). 18 A battle between Baal and Mot for supremacy is described (VI: 16-22). Upon the intervention of Shapsh, Mot capitulates: "Let Baal be enthroned on [his] 16

17

On the word mf, see de Moor (1969: 106-107). De Moor understands it as a borrowing from Akkadian milsu, "twin-brother" (see AHw: 631). De Moor later suggested to understand this son as a substitute, by which Baal cheated Mot, see de Moor (SPUMB: 188; ARTU: 79). Meindert Dijkstra (p.c. May 1997) suggests seing this word in the text as a cognate of Phoenician m'sjms, "statue" (DNWS/: 2: 589f.) and as referring to a replica or statue that Baal left on earth to be used for his ritual buriaL-Note in this context KI'U 1.\0.III: 35-36 where Baal and Anat meet and Baal seems to father a bull. On this, see Schwemer (2001: 539-540). There is a protracted discussion on the nature of Anat's treatment of Mot, whether Mot is here treated as grain or not. This question is answered in the negative, e.g. by P.L. Watson (1972). Healey (1983), however, answers in the affirmative. For a number of observations that point to a connection between Anal's treatment of Mot and the treatment of the grain at the harvest in June, see de Moor (ARTU: 88-89, the notes). Note the discussion below on Osiris and grain (Chap. VI.l.2).

59 royal [throne,] I On [the resting place], [the throne] of his dominion" (VI: 33-35). A passage about Shapsh ruling the Rephaim follows (VI: 45-53), and then the colophon concludes the column.

1.1. Not a Substitute but Baal Himself

s f

We noticed above that Baal engendered offspring with a heifer. Immediately after this there is a long textual gap (about forty lines are missing). De Moor suggested filling this gap with the notion of a "twinbrother" of Baal descending to the Netherworld. In this interpretation Baal thus cheated his enemy Mot. Moreover, that gods do not die is the contention of the author of the Kirta epic (1.16.1: 22; II: 43). On further analysis, however, it seems that Baal himself actually did die. As we know, Baal is responsible for rain and fertility, and thus for vegetational life. Now the successful machinations of Mot in the conflict between him and Baal have serious effects precisely in the domain of vegetational life, effects that seem to show that Baal himself, and no substitute, has disappeared from the earth and descended into the realm of Mot. Indeed, the perspectives of the functionalist paradigm for the understanding of myth 19 seem justified in so far as the development of the Baal-Mot conflict reflects and explains certain natural phenomena, such as the seasonal changes of vegetation. 20 Baal is a god of storm and rain. His close connection with precipitation is visible already in the conflict between Baal and Yam. Immediately after El has given his goahead for the house building project, Athirat concludes that this will mean rain on the earth, as she says in 1.4.V: 6-9, from which I quote the first lines: wn ap. 'dn. mtrh b'l. y'dn. 'dn . 1kt . b glJ

18

19

20

On this conflict, see Gibson (1984: 217). Note KTU 1.12.II: 44-45.-Schwemer (2001: 538) generalizes this formula in 1.6.V: 8-9to indicate that Baal's absence in the preceding Baal-Mot myth has to do with "eine ausserordentliche Notzeit", not the annual cycle. Cf. Gordon ( 1949: 4-5). This is not convincing, since the Baal-Mot myth closely reflects the annual seasonal changes. For the understanding of myth that informs the present work, see above, Chap. 1.2.2.2. Gaster has argued for this line of interpretation in a number of works; see e.g. Gaster ( 1975: 124-129). His approach has been followed up by de Moor in a number of contributions (SPUMB, ARTU, etc.).

I

60 For now Baal can appoint the time of his rains, the time of the chariot in the storm. ( 1.4.V: 6-7) 21

The overall structure of the Baal-Mot conflict is spanned by the arch from l.S.V-where Mot summons Baal to take his clouds, wind, bolts, rain and dew and go down to the Netherworld-to 1.6.III, where El's dream of rain and its realization convince him that Baal is alive again. A feature of the text that is also worth considering in this connection is the formula about Shapsh scorching the earth: nrt . ilm . sps . $biTt la . smm . b yd. bn ilm . mt The divine lamp, Shapsh, glows hot, the heavens are powerless by the power of divine Mot. (l.6.II: 24-25) 22

I shall call this the drought formula. 23 It relates the summer heat to the power of Mot and occurs three times: 1.3.V: 17-18 l.4.VIII: 21-24 1.6.II: 24-25

I

That the summer heat is somehow related to the absence of Baal is also clear from l.S.II: 3-6 and 1.6.IV: 1-3, 12-14. The clear and reasonable conclusion from these observations is that it is Baal himself who goes down to Mot. The assumption that it is only a substitute simply does not make sense of the subsequent events. 24

21

22

23 24

..

: \

.

'

anticipating the Baal-Mot conflict. after the messengers have been instructed to descend. when Mot tells Anat that he swallowed Baal.

My translation, based on the insights of Loretz (1996). See also Pardee (COS 1: 260 n. 158), who stresses the close connection between El' s permission to allow Baal to have his own palace and Baal's exercise of his function as weather god. Wyatt (RTU: 101) and Schwemer (2001: 541) accept Loretz's interpretation. A possible alternative to the translation above is that of M.S. Smith (UNP: 129): "And now may Baal enrich with his rain, May he enrich with rich water in a downpour." Smith thus takes the occurrences of 'do as from the root connected with prosperity and abundance, on which see DNWSI (vol. 2: 830 top), and not from the root connected with "time" (ibid. 830). My translation. With Pardee (COS 1: 254 n. 107), I take the verb in the first stichos to refer to the blasting effect of the sun and the verb in the second stichos to mean "to be weak" (for alternative interpretations, see de Moor SPUME: 114-115 and note especially 1988b). On the seasonal implications, see de Moor (SPUME: 115) and Yon ( 1989). Waterston (1989: 431). Walls (1992: 122-130) arrives at the same conclusion, and this is a common stance. De Moor (p.c. April 2001) still insists that there was a ruse, that Baal cheated Mot. This motif was introduced in the Ilimilku version of the Baal myth (KTU 1.4-6). Originally Baal did die. See de Moor (1997: 362 with note 390).

61

1.2. Baal: Through Death to Life 1

e

We have thus found that Baal himself is supposed to die. We shall now discuss some specific issues in connection with Baal's stay in the Netherworld. It is clear that the place where Baal's corpse was found by Anat was situated somewhere at the margins of the civilized world: the edge of the earth, 25 the limits of the waters, the pleasant land of the outback, the beautiful field ofDeath's realm (l.5.VI: 3-10). 26 It hardly seems commendable, however, to understand this to mean that Baal never died, and that he just disappeared the way Telepinu did. Though it would seem from another passage that the description refers to the outskirts of the earth,l7 and not to the Netherworld itself, the list is nothing other than a series of euphemistic metaphors for the desert and steppe as regions where civilization and the Netherworld meet. Baal is here found in a liminal zone, one with close affinities to Mot's realm. 28 Moreover, it is clear from a number of other observations that Baal is thought to have made a proper descent to the Netherworld. Note Mot's invitation to Baal to take his clouds etc. and descend into the Netherworld (1.5.V: 5-17). The final part of this passage (11. 11-17) reads: Head off for the mountains of my coveit [tk . f;r knkny]; 29 Lift up [one] mountain on [your] hands, [one] wooded hill on [your] palms. Then go down into the place of seclusion [bt .!Jptt] [within] the earth, you must be counted among those who go down [b yrdm] into the earth, And the gods will know that you are dead [k mtt] 30 . 31

:)

1: ~I

The mountains at the entrance to the Netherworld are a motif known also from Mesopotamian literature (notably Gilgamesh, tablet IX: 3745).32

Mot's maw is described as overwhelmingly huge (l.5.II: 2-5). Mot himself confesses to Anat of having swallowed Baal (l.6.II: 13-23), a

n25

Line 4, reading with Smith (UNP: 149). For a discussion of this description, see M.S. Smith (1985). 27 See 1.5. V: 17-19 where Baal mounts the heifer to procure offspring. 28 See Pope (1977: 424-426) and G.A. Anderson (1991: 64). 29 De Moor took knkn to referto libation pipes (SPUME: 170-171). Pitard (1994), in his perusal of the archaeological material, has now shown that the arguments for libation tubes, feeding windows etc. in connection with mortuary celebrations have no support from archaeology. For Pardee's philological analysis behind the translation above, see Pardee (COS I: 267, n. 229): from Arabic knn, "cover, cover up, hide". 26

n-

I

62 passage that is followed by the drought formula. Thus, the lacuna between 1.5.V and VI most probably told about Baal's obeying the invitation of Mot. The reference to Baal's descent to the Netherworld is a metaphor for his death, as appears from the circumstance that the lexerne mt, "to die", is used frequently about Baal in 1.5.VI and 1.6.!. 33 A glance at 1.161: 20-23 confirms this understanding of the Baal-Mot conflict. The reaction among the gods also amounts to a clear indication that Baal is really dead. A long section describes in detail how El and Anat perform the mourning rites for Baal; the implication is that he is dead (l.S.VI-1.6.1). 34 Moreover, both Eland Anat say that Baal is dead (mt) and that they will descend (ard/nrd) after him to the Netherworld. 35 Anat and Shapsh carry Baal's corpse to mount Sapan's summit and there bury him and perform funeral sacrifices (1.6.1: 15-31). The text immediately goes on to tell that now El realizes that Baal must have a successor. Athtar is selected but finds that he is wanting in vital respects.36 The epic sequence is thus mourning-burial-funerary sacrifices-successor. Baal is dead! We should also consider the fact that the role of Shapsh in the BaalMot conflict is to be seen in the light of her connection with the Netherworld and the dead. 37 Her scorching heat is regarded as due to the I

30

The end of this line is understood in the same manner by e.g. Smith (UNP: 148). This interpretation fits neatly into the context. De Moor (1969: 107) saw a difficulty: perfect 2nd person masc. sing. of the verb for "die" should be mt, not mtt. However, Dijkstra (1985: 107, 109 n. 13) pointed out that the form may be from the passive L-stem, also found in Hebrew in the attestation of the verb in Polal (HALAT 533). The last line in the quotation above (w td'. il m k mtt) should then be translated more exactly "that you have been put to death", thus Dijkstra. For de Moor after 1969, see de Moor (SPUMB: 183 and ARTU: 78).-I follow Tropper (2000: 642, 648) who takes the form as G imperfect. 31 Pardee's translation (COS I, 267).-De Moor (SPUMB: 183) and Gibson (CML 72) read the last two lines as w td' . ill k mtt and understand them as "and do you know inanition like mortal men" (Gibson) or "and experience weakness like the dead" (de Moor). 32 For the text, see Parpola (1997: 101). Translations: ANET (p. 88, Speiser) and Dalley (1991: 96). For this notion in Mari, see Moortgat-Correns (1986), who understands the large fosse or trench in Mari as a symbol of the Netherworld (p. 187). Note, however, the remarks by Heimpel (1986: 140-143) on the passage in Gilgamesh.-On the gates of the Underworld and related matters, see Horowitz (1998: 353-362). 33 !.5.VI: 9, 23-25; 1.6.1: 6-8,41-43. 34 On El's and Anat's mourning rites, see Dietrich and Loretz (1986), Taylor (1988: 161-177). Tropper and Verreet (1988: 343-344), and G.A. Anderson (1991: 60-69), and on mourning rites in general, see Gruber (1980: 401-479), Podella (1989: 73-116), and Loretz (1990: 109-115). 35 !.5.VI: 23-25 (El) and 1.6.1: 6-8 (Anal) and note also Gen 37:35 (Jacob). On these, see Taylor (1988: 161-174, esp. p. 174). 36 On Athtar in this context, see Waterston (1988). On Athtar, see most recently Day (2000: 166184. esp. pp. 171-179).

63 power of Mot, according to the drought formula (above). Every night she travels through the Netherworld. Rashap is her gatekeeper at the entrance through which she passes at sunset (KTU 1. 78). 38 Shapsh is at one and the same time the all-seeing one who scales her orbit every day and the one who knows the Netherworld, since she passes it every night. Moreover, Shapsh has the role of psychopompos, the conductor of souls (KTU 1.161). Shapsh is thus the ideal companion of Anat when it comes to finding and burying Baal (1.6.1: 8-31). Indirectly, her involvement in the events confirms that Baal is in the power of the god of the Netherworld, Mot. We should probably do well to translate some central lines in the following way: " 'After Baal we [Anat and Shapshu] will descend into the underworld.' To him descends the Divine Light Shapshu" (1.6.1: 7-9). 39 The compositional arch that begins with Mot's invitation ends with El' s dream about the coming of the autumnal rains. These rains are the reliable sign that Baal is no longer dead but "lives" and "exists" (1.6.III: 2-3, 8-9, 20-21). Thus the basic contrast in the Baal-Mot conflict is that between death and life. Baal's "life span" describes the sequence lifedeath-life. The general thrust of the Baal-Mot myth must thus be taken to depict Baal not only as a dying god but also as one who returns from the Netherworld, and indeed resumes his royal power (KTU 1.6.V). The myth thus contains the mythemes both of his death and of his return or resurrection. Saying this, we remain on the level of myth. Whether this

37 B.B. Schmidt (1994: 84-88) tried to dissolve this connection between Shapsh and Mot's realm.

He followed the lead of Heimpel (1986), who studied the Mesopotamian material for the sun god at night. Shamash spends the night in heaven's interior, "the invisible part of heaven below the earth" (p. 151 ). The doors of heaven serve as points of entry to and exit from the invisible world below the horizons: "the heavenly gods passed through these doors from the visible to the invisible part of the sky and vice versa without ever leaving heaven, their realm" (p. 140). Schmidt generalizes this to be valid also for Ugarit. For support he could have referred to Healey's observations about the affinities of Shamash and Shapsh (1980). Without questioning the pertinent observations of Heimpel and Healey, one asks, however, if Schmidt is justified in his extended operations. (1) Note that Mesopotamia does not seem to sustain monolithic ideas on the matters concerned, see Heimpel (1986: 146f.). (2) The weakness of Schmidt's interpretation appears from his understanding of the mtm in 1.6.VI: 48 as not "the dead ones" but "humanity" or "warriors" (p. 86). Schmidt also has a difficulty in the text 1.78, which militates against his interpretation (cf. Schmidt p. 88 n. 203). On Shapsh, see Caquot (1959), Healey (1980), Lewis (1989: 35-46), Ford (1992: 92-96), and Wiggins (1996). For a guided tour in the Netherworld, consult Horowitz (1998: 348-362). 38 To this text. see the literature in Janowski (1989: 108 n. 506) and note Wyatt (RTU: 366-367 with further references). 39 M.S. Smith (\ 998: 304 with note 187).

I

64

also has some ritual underpinnings is a more difficult matter, but one we shall at least briefly touch upon below. It has been suggested that there is a tension between the idea of Anat's finding Baal's corpse somewhere in the margins of the inhabitable world (the steppe and the desert, see above), and the idea of Baal having actually entered the Netherworld. 40 On the epic level of thenarrative one may find a tension. We should not forget, however, that the descensus is a metaphor for death: humans both go to the Netherworld and leave bodies behind. There is then hardly any intrinsic contradiction between the notion of Baal as having descended to the Netherworld and being present at the world's limits as a corpse. In Mesopotamian thought the Netherworld was directly under the ground, but there are also indications that it was believed to be located in the mountains to the northeast. 41 On the level of general phenomenology, we may refer to Burkert's observation about Greek mythology that, "Contradictions are freely tolerated; sometimes, as in the Odyssey, the kingdom of the dead is located far away, at the edge of the world beyond Oceanos, and sometimes, as in the Iliad, it lies directly under the earth."42

I

Some Notes on a Suggestion Based on KTU 1.161.-We saw above that MarkS. Smith (1998) advanced the theory that the fate of Baal is modelled on the perceived fate of the U garitic kings as we know it from the royal funerary liturgy in KTU 1.161.43 Smith, indeed, argues for a profound impact of the royal funerary custom on the Baal-Mot narrative. This is a most fascinating suggestion. Since it should be clear by now that Baal does indeed make a descent to the Netherworld andreturns from there, Smith's conclusions, interesting as they are, are not of vital importance to the present study; they pertain rather to the assumed background of the motifs of descent and return to life. Some comments, however, may be made. In KTU 1.161, the rpum and the recently departed kings-who are not yet counted among the rpum-are brought back by means of an act of invocation, as was pointed out by Levine and de Tarragon. 44 Smith goes one step further and interprets the crucial passage, 1.161: 20-26, as 40

See M.S. Smith (1985: 312). See Sladek (1974: 61-63) and Horowitz (1998: 348-362). 42 Burkert (1985: 196). 43 M.S. Smith (1998: 289-309). See above, Chap. I.l.6. There is a vast literature on KTU 1.161. See Wyatt (RTU 430-441) and most recently Pardee (2000: pp. 816-825 with references). Of the previous treatments. note esp. Levine and de Tarragon (1984 ), Taylor (1988), and Lewis (1989: 5-46). 44 Levine and de Tarragon (1984: 657). 41

65

summoning the living king, Ammurapi, who has just ascended to the throne, to descend to the Netherworld in order to carry out a search for the king who just died, Niqmaddu. A crucial word is ks[ ] in line 20, preceded by a lamed. The third sign has been damaged but could be restored to either h or i. The sense might be either "from the throne" or a vocative "oh, throne". Smith takes it in the first way. He translates: "After your [l]ord(s) from the throne, After your lord(s) to the underworld descend .. .'.45 One must ask, however: Where else do we hear of a living king being summoned to descend to his dead predecessors in the Netherworld? There are two other worthwhile interpretations of 1.161: 20-26: (1) Pardee takes this passage to refer to the descensus of the newly departed king, Niqmaddu III. Note that the Niqmaddu in lines 12 and 26 is an ancestor of Niqmaddu III. 46 (2) Taylor (1988) suggests an interpretation that to me seems the most probable one: that the crucial word is a vocative (cf. line 13 with the throne in the vocative, followed by anN imperative of the verb for "to weep"), and that the passage in question is a summons to the royal throne of the recently departed king to descend to the Netherworld in order to provide him with the necessary fumiture. 47 Taylor translates: "After your [l]ord, 0 throne, After your lord to earth descend .. .''48 The similarities between KTU 1.161 and the Baal-Mot text, pointed out by Levine and de Tarragon (1984) and stressed even more by M.S. Smith (1998) provide only limited support for Smith's overall thesis that Baal's fate reflects the demise of Ugaritic kings. One must here call attention to the following points: (a) Nothing is said explicitly in the funerary ritual about a search for the dead king. In the Baal-Mot narrative, however, this is a prominent motif. (b) Correspondences with the seasonal cycle are conspicuous in the Baal-Mot myth. Baal's demise has serious effects in nature. Such features are striking! y absent in 1.161. If the royal funerary liturgy had had such a deep influence on the Baal-Mot material, whence this stress on the life of the vegetation?

45

46 47

48

M.S. Smith (1998: 299). Pardee (2000: 816-825). Note especially the comparative material adduced by Taylor ( 1988: 168-170) and by Dietrich and Loretz (1991a). See also Emar Vl.3.385-388. Taylor (198R: 153).

I

-

-

-

~--

-

66 (c) Baal's descent is a passing experience. He returns to full and active life. With the king it is different. When he dies he goes to the Netherworld. As far as I can see, he then remains there. (d) Smith is forced to have Baal correspond to both the dead king and the living one: his demise reflects the demise of the U garitic kings, but his return to life reflects the role of the living king to provide peace for the world (pp. 307f.). My conclusion is therefore that, although not completely impossible, Smith's theory is afflicted by a number of disturbing difficulties. Our discussion so far has dealt exclusively with mythological motifs in the Baal cycle and may be summarized in three points. (1) It was no substitute but Baal himself who got into the power of the god of the Netherworld. (2) The outline of the conflict between Baal and Mot comprises the mythemes of descent and return. Baal goes through death to life. (3) The events of the myth reflect the seasonal changes in the vegetationallife of Syria. On the functional level we have interpreted the myth as a paradigm for the prevailing meteorological conditions. It is an etiology for the summer drought (Baal's descensus) and the winter rains (Baal's return to life). I

2. Allusions to Ritual? KTU 1.12,Aqhat 1.17.VI, and Elkunirsha It may well be that Baal's death and return in Ugarit belong exclusively to the level of myth. The descensus motif seems to represent a fairly late innovation in the religious life ofUgarit. 49 Perhaps this new theologoumenon never made its way into the ritual life of the city. This would be

a reasonable way of accounting for its absence in the ritual texts that have been preserved. There is, however, certain evidence of a circumstantial nature that Baal's fates were perhaps not only told in the myth but celebrated in the cult ofUgarit. More than elsewhere we here deal with controversial material. With due respect for the difficulties involved I would like to submit the following observations.

4

9

See below Chap. VII.3.1.

--=-:::::C-=

-

67 2.1. KTU 1.12: Water Ritual and the Myth of Baal's Death

c! tt tf

This text was found in the house of the high priest (La Maison du Grand Pretre), where the Baal myth was also found. It has a certain affinity to the paramythological texts, found in La Maison du Pretre Magicien. It ends with a passage that obviously alludes to ritual procedures. Wyatt translates it as follows: Let the king pour out a jug let him pour water drawn from the well, let him pour from the well in El' s temple and from the deep in the temple of the Craftsman. 50 (l.12.II: 58-61)

n )i

l-

:h

I tc

u)

a1

In spite of various problems in the ritual passage (II: 55b-61), it is clear enough that the text refers to a rite of libation of water drawn from the well in the El temple. The whole preceding part of the text has a narrative nature and relates a myth of Baal's death. El initiates a plan directed against Baal (1: 1 - II: 55a). This plan is to be effected through "the eaters" and "devourers", who are endorsed to their tasks by El' s pronouncing their names (*p

's r.

1e

h,

1a

factitive sense. Ritual procedures, by their very nature, are no one-time events but tend to be repeated at fixed intervals. The seasonal connections noted above, the Baal-Mot myth as reflecting the wilting and revivification of the vegetation, indicate that Baal was thought to die and return every year. Admittedly, the Aqhat passage is extremely difficult, and at every step of our interpretation there have been other possible alternatives. However, if my understanding is basically correct, then the passage in question may well contain an allusion to some annual rite as somehow connected with Baal's return, a rite with the efficacy of restoring Baal to life. 69 Though understanding the details in a slightly different manner, de Moor aptly notes this character of the Aqhat passage and refers to it in support of his overall ritual understanding of the Baal myth.7° Dijkstra and de Moor once suggested taking l)wy in line 30 as "the reviver", thus as a G participle, and compared this suggested function with the mqm >Jm known from Mediterranean inscriptions. 71 This is an interesting proposal. However, against the background of Marcus's observations above, this is going beyond the evidence, and de Moor later changed his mind. 72 Nevertheless, I believe that Dijkstra and de Moor had a sound intuition when they assumed that the procedure of Baal's revivification was something that took place in a cultic context, in a1 proper ritual act. It should be remembered that the basis for the hypothesis that there was some ritual procedure connected with Baal's death and return is very tenuous: it is based on KTU 1.12 and the Aqhat passage. These two texts, however, may on the other hand be sufficient to remind us that silence is no proof for absence, that the lack of references in the corpus of ritual texts is not in itself proof of the absence of the motifs of Baal's death and return from the cultic life of U garit.

to 69

t. :lb-

70

the

71

72

D.P. Wright, in his ritual interpretation of our text (2001: 108-122), does not deal with this aspect. De Moor ( 1971: 55-62, esp. 56-57).-lt seems clear to me that the Baal myth is not per se a ritual agenda. Nevertheless, there are features that would seem to point to a ritual situation, for instance the winnowing of Mot (1.6.11: 30 ff., see above) and maybe the banquet in 1.3. Note also the omissions mentioned above in the introduction to this chapter. There is an extensive literature on the question of seasonal and ritual features in the Baal myth, see de Moor (SPUME; note especially his concluding remarks pp. 248f.), Stolz (1982), and M.S. Smith's surveys (1986: 314-318, 329-332; and 1994: 60-75). DijkstraanddeMoor(l975: 187-189). See de Moor (ARTU: 238): "(when) he has brought to life". Thus as aD active perfect.

' j

72

2.3. The Hittite Myth of Elkunirsha

I must here also parenthetically refer to a passage in the Hittite myth of Elkunirsha, which also seems to refer to Baal's return from the Netherworld 73 and thus to confirm our overall interpretation of the Baal-Mot conflict. The passage is somewhat damaged, but Hoffner restores and translates it as follows: Baars body [became pure .... ] Anat-Astarte [said] to l ... : 'The ... shave] re[created] Baal. [They have brought him back up] from the Dark [Earth.'].1 4

!

i·

We notice that all the interesting details regrettably occur in the restored parts of the texts. Therefore, too much should not be made of this passage. For the sake of completeness it should be mentioned, however.

I

By way of summary we may now say that: (1) The mytheme of Baal's death and return is clearly attested in the Baal myth. (2) This mytheme draws on the seasonal changes of the year. (3) Formulations in KTU 1.12 and in the Aqhat epic seem to indicate that there was some ritual act in the context of the autumn festival that was closely linked with the mythological motifs of Baal's death and return. The Aqhat passage is only a possible case of such an allusion to cultic procedures, while KTU 1.12 contains a fairly certain reference. 3. Baal and the Netherworld: A Line of Continuity between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Cults? It is worth remembering that the mythology of U garit is the only one

I'

!

that is known to us from first-hand Northwest Semitic sources. But even so, one feels justified in concluding that Ugarit was not completely isolated but offers a representative specimen of the religious concepts and rites of Late Bronze Age Syria. Material from Ebla, Mari and the OT points in this direction. Ancient Syria, however, does not only offer the picture of a high degree of synchronic contiguity during the Bronze Age, the term "synchronic" then taken in a very broad sense, but it also offers a striking degree of diachronic continuity between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. A number of scholars have thus stressed that the Phoenician 73 Hoffner (1990: 69-70; the reference to a descent is found in§ 9 = 4 A III 12-15). The deities

74

mentioned in the text correspond to those found in the Ugaritic myths. On the Elkunirsha myth, see Otten (1953) and Hoffner (1965). Hoffner (1990: 70). On the ideographical writing of the names of the weather god and his spouse in the Elkunirsha myth, see Otten (1953: 144).

~-

-

-

-

--~-~':i -

.

- ,,_,

73 cults should be seen in the light of what we know of earlier Syrian cults, especially from the Ugaritic material. From the last few decades one could mention Gese, Teixidor, Ribichini, Xella, Bonnet, del Olmo Lete, and Niehr. 75 For our purposes it is especially important to note that three Phoenician gods who are, potentially, dying and rising deities are seen in this perspective: Melqart, Adonis and Eshmun.7 6 Notably Ribichini, Xella, and Bonnet stress one particular area as the potential background for notions of death and resurrection in connection with these deities: the funerary and mortuary cults and concepts as we know them from Ugarit. One may then note a difference of emphasis between these scholars. (a) Xella stresses the role of Baal as the head of the rpum, Baal thus assuming the role of healer/saviour, as the one who has survived the experience of the descent to the Netherworld. (b) Ribichini and Bonnet rather stress the importance of deceased royal ancestors who become heroized77/divinized (cf. KTU 1.113 and 1.161).78 It could be mentioned here that the Phoenicians call their deceased rp)m (KAI 13:8; 14:8; cf. 117:1). This may well be a promising avenue, leading in the right direction. However, one notes that the road thus laid out is perhaps not quite as I smooth as it may seem at first sight. That deceased royal ancestry iake a special position is clear from different pieces of evidence. KTU 1.161 shows that dead kings become numinous and that they receive worship. 79 KTU 1.113, again, is most easily understood on the assumption that they become divinized. 80 The heroization/divinization of (royal) ancestors is thus attested. With

75

See Gese (1970: 182-215), Teixidor (1977), Ribichini (1981: 194-197; 1985: 41-73; 1995: 133), Xella (1983a: esp. pp. 284-287; 1988; DCPP: 482b-484; 1995a: esp. 249; 1995b), Bonnet (1988: 417-433; 1996: 135-153), del Olmo Lete (1996), and Niehr ( 1998). My thanks to Johannes de Moor for the reference to del Olmo Lete's book. 76 For Adonis, see Ribichini (1981: 192-197). For Melqart, see Bonnet ( 1988: 417-433). For Eshmun, see Xella (1993: 496-497). Del Olmo Lete (1996: 77-80) stresses a continuity from Baal to Melqart, Baal Hamon, and Adonis. 77 In the "Greek sense" of this word. On the concept of the heros. see Chap. IV, beginning. 78 See the works of these scholars, mentioned in note 75 above. 79 For KTU 1.161, note the edition in Pardee (Les textes rituels, pp. 816-825) with a comprehensive list of the scholarly literature on this text, to which one should now add M.S. Smith ( 1998: 296-309). For translations of this text, see also de Moor (ARTU: 165-168), Caquot (TO II: 103110), Pardee (COS 1: 357-358), and Wyatt (RTU: 430-441). 8 For this aspect, see especially del Olmo Lete (1986; 1987; 1999: 166-212), Pardee (1988: 165178 and 1996: 276), de Moor(1997: 328-335), and Wyatt (1999). Note, however, that del Olmo Lete' s suggestion to tind the divine names of the Ugaritic kings in KTU l .I 02 is now a disputed matter. See Pardee (1996: 282-283) and Schwemer (2001: 525).

°

74 Baal's surmised position as healer/saviour the situation is slightly different. Xella confronts us with an interesting possibility when he suggests that, Precisely because he had experienced the perils of the descensus ad inferos, Baal is designated as Baal-Ipu, Baal the Saviour, and is being ranked as eponym ("the first one") among the beneficent dead, honoured by the society and led by the king. 81

I

Xella does not work out the case or adduce evidence. However, Xella is here in line with de Moor, who has argued in a number of studies that Baal is the foremost of the rpum and in this capacity the healer or saviour par excellence. 82 While noting that, to the best of my knowledge, a juxtaposition b'l rpu is not attested, I would suggest considering the following points when discussing the role of Baal in the Netherworld: ( 1) In a formulation in the Rapiuma texts (KTU 1.22.1: 8) we find rpu b '1, "the shades of Baal". 83 This might be taken as reflecting a connection between Baal and the rpum. From the parallels in the context it seems that the reference is to those fallen in heroic battle. 84 (2) The designation b'l an} 5 has been taken by some scholars as pointing to Baal's chthonic aspect, his position in the Netherworld as the head of the ancestral spirits, as the head of the rpum. 86 It is difficult to see, however, that the contexts where the title occurs really necessitate this interpretation of ar$ as referring to the Netherworld. In particular, this interpretation does not do justice to the character of the statement, "Dead is mightiest Baal, Perished the Prince, Lord of the Earth". 87 This is hardly a statement that the head of the rpum is dead, but rather a formulation of the paradox that the lord of life on earth is no

81

My translation. "Baal wird, gerade wei! er die Gefahren des descensus ad /nferos erprobt hat, Baal-Ipu, Baal der Heilbringer/Retter, genannt, und als Namensgeber ('der Erste') unter die niitzlichen und von der Gemeinschaft verehrten Toten, an deren Spitze der Konig steht, eingereiht," Xella (1983a: 285). This suggestion reappears in Xella's and Ribichini's opinions on certain Phoenician gods, see above. 82 See de Moor (especially 1976 andARTUpassim, see the index p. 305 sub "Saviour", 1997: 75). For a different opinion, see M.L. Brown (1998). Addition to the proofs: See now Merlo and Xella in the symposium volume listed in the additions to the Bibliography. 83 Thus Lewis (UNP: 203). Spronk (1986: 171, 173) tal<es it as "Baal Rapiu", which I find hard to accept. 84 Thus de Moor (p.c. April2001). 85 KTU 1.3.1: 3-4; 1.5.VI: 10; 1.6.1: 42-43; 1.6.Ill: [3], 9, 21; 1.6.1V: 5, 16. 86 Dietrich and Loretz (1980b: 391-393, esp. p. 392). 87 KTU 1.5.VI: 9-10; 1.6.1: 41-43.

75 longer alive and as such is closely linked up with the theme of Baal's responsibility for vegetational life on earth. (3) In a recent contribution Husser (1997) has suggested a fresh interpretation of a crucial text that, if correct, would give us a new reference to Baal as the head among the shades. The passage is the alleged Shapsh hymn in KTU 1.6.VI: 42-53. Husser suggests that the address is not to Shapsh but to Baal. He argues that the phrase sps rpim . tl;ltk means "Shapash place sous toi I fait descendre vers toi les Repha'im" (p. 236), analyzing the verb as a form of nl;lt. This means that Shapsh has the role of psychopompos, a conductor of souls. 88 Husser points out specifically that Shapsh, making the defunct descend to the Netherworld, places them under the patronage of Baal (p. 239). This is an ingenious and attractive interpretation. Over against the traditional understanding of the passage that makes Shapsh rule the rpum, 89 Husser's analysis envisages Shapsh in the same role as in KTU 1.161. A moot point, however, is that there is no clear statement that it is Baal who is addressed in the passage in question. 90 Moreover, there is a decisive fact telling against Husser's interpretation: It presupposes the root nl;lt in the D-stem, but this would have been *tnl;ltk (no assimilation of the n). 91 We must therefore revert to the traditional understanding of the passage. I (4") K~JU •1 . ·1u"R '·'- ll~ '•- rcpvalCiU ----~·~...1 J.'-'.1.'-'l.'-'u'-"'"' -o+a¥a~Aa tr> r n n rnTir Clm (11 1 , .u.. u, 92 ·w·lllJ ~ ...... .... .¥..,. .............................. v·-· ... , 19-20, 21, 22), has been of particular importance as a basis for assumptions about Baal having a special role in the Netherworld: The deity referred to by this designation has been taken to be Baal, 93 but this understanding has been criticized. 94 It seems fair to say that the evid88

On the role of Shapsh in the Netherworld, see Lewis (1989: 35-46). Then deriving the crucial word from the verb btk, see e.g. de Moor (1971: 241) and Smith (UNP: 164). 90 Note the remarks by Smith (UNP: 163). 91 As Johannes de Moor and MarkS. Smith both pointed out (p.c. April-May, 2001). 92 For treatments of KTU 1.108, see Dietrich and Loretz (1980a: 171-182), Spronk (1986: 177189), de Moor (ARTU: 187-190), Pardee (1988: 75-118), Caquot (TO II: 111-118), Dietrich and Loretz (1989: 123-131), van derToorn (1991: 55-60), Dietrich and Loretz (199lb: 87-88), Ford (1992: 76-80), Wyatt (RTU: 395-398), and del Olmo Lete (1999: 184-192). 93 See especially de Moor (1976: 325-330), Dietrich and Loretz (1980a: 175, 179, but note their retraction of this position in 1991b: 87-88), Xella (1983a: 284-286), and Spronk (1986: 177189, 232). 94 See van der Toom (1991: 55-60). I do not find the counter-evidence adduced by van der Toorn absolutely conclusive, but he has managed to show that the margins of uncertainty are wider than is generally recognized. A main point is whether it is correct to see in Milku a chthonic aspect of Baal, thus Spronk (1986: 188; 231-233). or whether such a conflation of deities is not 94 warranted by the texts, thus van der Toorn ( 1991: 59). On this issue, see also de Moor ( 1997: 75 with note 202). 89

76 ence adduced for Baal is of circumstantial nature. There is no explicit identification of the deity referred to. A growing number of scholars prefer understanding rpu mlk '1m as a designation of the (eponymous) head of the numinous dead. 95 On the other hand, it would not seem quite impossible that it is Baal who holds this role of the eponymous rpu. 96 Finally, the etymology of rpu. 97 Two different roots have been adduced: (1) rpy, "to sink, relax", (2) rp >, "to heal, cure", rpum being either a stative, meaning "heroes" (in the Greek sense of the word), or a participle, meaning "healers". The matter is still unsettled. I must confess that a derivation from the root for "healing" seems preferable to me. Conclusion: In recent research about the Late Bronze Age background of the Phoenician polyadic deities (Melqart, Eshmun, Adonis), some scholars have stressed the importance of Late Bronze Age funerary and mortuary cults and the role of Baal as holding the status as the eponym of the rpum in his capacity as one who has experienced the vicissitudes of death. That Baal is the head of the rpum is an attractive and promising possibility but hardly a proven fact. The basis for this assumption remains feeble, and the passages referred to are capable of various interpretations. The etymology of the crucial terms is still debated. I

4. The Anatolian Disappearing Deity: A Prototype of Baal? Among scholars who have found it difficult to accept the conclusion that Baal is a dying and rising deity, it has become increasingly popular to refer to the type of disappearing deities as the category into which Baal should properly be placed. J.Z. Smith argues in this direction. 98 Similarly M.S. Smith seems prepared to take the same course.99 Recently Herr, assuming behind the present Baal-Mot myth a version without Mot, suggested that this basic layer was close to the Hittite

95

96 97

98 99

See e.g. Caquot (TO II: 113 n. 346), Dietrich and Loretz (1991b: 88), Parker (UNP: 78 n. 4), and Niehr (1998: 569-585, esp. 571). For this Ugaritic Netherworld deity, Niehr draws a historical line to Phoenicia and Israel. Thus Xella (1983a: 285; 1993: 496). See, for instance, de Moor (1976), Lewis (DDD: 428-429), Rouillard (DDD: 1321-1322), van der Toom (1991: 57), B.B. Schmidt (1994: 92), and Day (2000: 217-225), and note also Baudissin (1911: 316ff., 385ff.). On the relation between rpu mlk 'lm and rpum, see e.g. Parker (1972). J.Z. Smith (1987: 521-523). M.S. Smith (1994: 72-73 and 1998: 290-296).

77

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myths of vanishing gods. 100 Herr, admittedly, does not say anything explicitly about a possible genetic relation between the Hittite and the Ugaritic myths. There are reasons, then, to have a look at the disappearing deity in Hittite religion in order to ascertain the implications of this type of deity for our investigation. 101 Can Baal be understood in terms of such a vanishing god, or is this a different type of deity? To begin with, we should note that there are god lists which place Telepinu after the couple Ea-Damkina, known from Mesopotamia as the parents of Dumuzi. 102 Telepinu is a god who disappears after the harvest and returns in spring. He is a storm god, closely related to vegetation. Haas, in his handbook on Hittite religion, concludes: "Er gehort somit zu den verschwindenden oder sterbenden und wieder auferstehenden Kulturpflanzengottem des Typos Dumuzi, Attis, Tammuz und Adonis." 103 We note that Haas makes no distinction between disappearing deities on one hand and dying and rising gods on the other. One could add that descent and disappearance are two analogous metaphors for death. Our basic question, however, is about the similarities and differences between the Baal-Mot myth and the myth of Telepinu, since Telepinu is highly representative of the category of disappearing deities 1 anrl may perhaps even be regarded as the prototype of this category. 104

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Herr (1995: 51). M.S. Smith (1986: 327) noted a number of similarities between the Baal-Yam and the Baal-Mot episodes. Later (1988: 292), Smith suggested that the present form of the Baal-Mot conflict is due to a development in which the Baal-Mot narrative was modelled "at least in part on the Baal-Yamm story" and speculated that Mot was modelled on the figure of Yam. In line with this, Smith suggested (1994: 18-19) that there may originally have been a version of Baal's demise without Mot.-! shall return to this issue below in Chap. Vll.3. 101 For translations of Hittite myths, see Hoffner (1990: note the source references on pp. 71-73) and the items offered in Hallo, ed. (COS 1: 149 ff.) and TUAT(III: 802-865). 1 here use Hoffner as main reference. For the simplified transliteration of names in Hoffner, note Hoffner (p. 5). There is a new edition of Hoffner 1990 which appeared in 1998 (Daniel Schwemer, p.c.), which I have not had access to. For a survey of the relevant material, with references to sources and literature, see Beckman (RLA 8: 566-567). Note also von Schuler (WdM 1: 207-208). Forstudies of vanishing deities, especially Telepinu, see: Gannet ( 1988), Asan ( 1988). Haas (1994: 442-444, 696-747), and Popko (1995: 80, 87, 106-107, 120).-Among biblical scholars who have called attention to this group of Hittite myths one may mention Podella, in his study of fasting and mourning (1989: 50-60), Parker, in his study of I Kings 18 (1989), Hartenstein, in his study oflsaiah 6 (1997: 150-158), and Carstens, in her Telepinu studies ( 1996a: 1996b) and in her dissertation about sacrificial rites (1997). I02 Haas ( 1994: 444-445). 103 Haas (1994: 444 ). 104 See von Schuler (WdM I: 207) and Haas ( 1994: 707). This was disputed by Popko ( 1995: 87).

78 The structure of the Telepinu myth 105 may be described with Kellerman106 as follows: I. The angry Telepinu disappears, taking with him the fertility of the country. 2. The gods search for him, but in vain. 3. The bee, sent by a goddess, finds Telepinu and awakens him, arousing his

fury. 4. There follows an act of evocation, using a mugawar text; 107 a goddess of magic pacifies Telepinu and purifies him. 5. Telepinu's benevolence towards humanity is restored by magical means. 6. Telepinu returns home, restores fertility to the country, and gives the whole wealth of the earth to the Hittite king.

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There are important similarities between Telepinu and Baal: 108 Both Baal and Telepinu are storm gods responsible for nature, and their absence causes drought and famine. In Telepinu's case the effects are as follows: (a) drought and famine, (b) sterility of males (cattle and men), and (c) incapacity of pregnant females to give birth. Kellerman concludes: "Telepinu appears here as a most powerful fertility god, responsible for the fertility of the soil, the animal world and humans." 109 In Baal's case, however, there is no particular stress on the fertility among cattle and humans. A point in common is that the Sun deity participates in the search for the vanished one in both cases. There are, however, two important differences between the BaalMot myth and the Telepinu myth. (1) The first concerns the reason for the god's absence. In the Baal myth it is the invitation from Mot. In the Hittite myth it is the wrath of Telepinu himself. The wrath of the god indeed plays a prominent role in the relevant Anatolian materia1. 110 The topos of the god putting on his right shoe on his left foot and the left shoe on his right, 111 serves as an emphatic expression of the anger of the deity. 112 Indeed, Asan, in his 105

For translations of the three different versions, see Hoffner ( 1990: 14-20). Kellerman (1986: 120). On this, see Kellerman (1986: 121 with n. 21). This point has been developed by Carstens (1996a: 68f. and 1996b: 290). 108 M.S. Smith (1998: 290-294) called attention to a series of similarities between the two. 109 Kellerman (1986: 123).-Ringgren (1979: 188-189) says that "das Ritual hat nichts mit dem Wechsel der Jahreszeiten, sondem mit Naturkatastrophen, also einer gestiirten Ordnung, zu tun". I cannot follow Ringgren here. As especially Masson has pointed out, the myth of Telepinu is focussed on the "renouveau de l'annee agraire"; see Masson (1991: lll-170, esp. 123153, note pp. 143-144). See also Haas (1994: 442-445, 702). 110 See Hoffner (1990, text no. 2, version I §§ I, 16-27; version 2 §§ 3, 15-20; version 3 § 3; text no. 3 § 5; text no. 4 § 3; text no. 5 § 2 and text no. 13 § 1). 111 See Hoffner ( 1990: text no. 2 version I § I and text no. 13 § 2). 112 Haas (1994: 708). 106 107

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79 treatment of the Telepinu myth, suggests that the material usually discussed under the heading "myths of the disa~pearing god" should rather be termed "Mythos vom erziimten Gott". 11 (2) The second difference is the place where the god sojourns during his absence. The Hittite myth contains no reference to the motif of the descent of the deity to the Netherworld. 114 Our second point requires a qualification. In a text that Hoffner translates under the heading "Sacrifice and prayer to the storm god of Nerik", there seems to be a reference to a descent to the Netherworld by a storm god of the same type as Telepinu. 115 Now, the vanishing god myths are closely connected with rituals designed to bring back the god: the ritual of entreaty and the ritual of evocation. 116 As Popko notes, the text about the storm god of Nerik contains no spells of sympathetic magic, which are characteristic of rituals of entreaty, and "in its structure, the evocation only loosely recalls myths of the disappearing god"_ll7 To the best of my knowledge, this reference to a descent stands somewhat isolated in the material about Hittite storm gods. We should probably do well in taking this feature of the storm god of Nerik as a result of borrowing, either from Mesopotamian sources-the mention of Ereshkigal (§ 7) could point in this direction--or from Canaanite sources: the Elkunirsh
See H.-P Miiller (1996) and M.S. Smith (1998: 277-282). See also Smith (1996) in his reaction to Bonnet's response (1995a) to his (in my opinion unduly negative) review (Smith 1990) of Bonnet's study of Melqart ( 1988). 2 Frazer, GB 3 (IV: I: 110-116). 3 Clennont-Ganneau (1924: 149-167). 4 Lipinski (1970; 1995: 226-243, esp. 238-243). See also de Vaux ([1941=] 1967: 493-496), Bonnet ( 1983: 199; 1988: 33-40, 104-112, 145-148, 174-179 and passim), Greenfield ( 1987: 397-399), Ribichini (DDD 1053-1058, esp. 1054-1056), and del Olmo Lete (1996: 79-80) 5 On Melqart's relations to Baal, see Ribichini (1985: 41-73) and Bonnet (1988: 417-433. esp 431-433).

84

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the god's death since it is rendered in terms that may recall the Phoenician practice of cremation." 6 However, the idea of the death of the god need not necessarily imply the corollary of his resurrection, Smith notes, and in any case, if there was an awakening of the god, we have no knowledge about the context for this, and, finally, our informants often have their knowledge second-hand. Smith thus finds the evidence inconclusive: we do not have the means to prove the case or to dismiss it entirely. 7 He grants the evidence the benefit of maximal doubt. Muller's contribution, again, is mainly a discussion of the semantic contents of the designation mqm >Jm, "raiser of the deity". In this title, Muller finds a reference, not to the resurrection of a dead god, but to waking a deity up to take action and save his worshippers. Smith and Muller make some pertinent observations. One could add that it is remarkable that Herodotus, in his description of his visit to Tyre (II, 44), says nothing about a celebration of a resurrection of Melqart. Let us tum to our own perusal of the pertinent data. In our study of Melqart8 we should first note that there was a close affinity between Melqart and Heracles. 9 Greek writers speak about Tyrian Heracles when they refer to the Phoenician god. It has been pointed out, however, that the classical sources never mix up the Greek Heracles and the Tyrian one, that is, Melqart. 10 To the modem scholar, however, it may sometimes be difficult to keep them apart. Textual references to Semitic Melqart may be unambiguous. When the name Heracles/Hercules is used, however, the reference is not necessarily to the Greco-Roman deity: Semitic Melqart may be looming behind this designation. What is the pedigree of Melqart? Various suggestions have been made. (1) A counterpart of Nergal?-Seyrig (1945) noted that there was a Nergal-Heracles syncretism and then proceeded to argue that both Melqart and Nergal were dying and rising gods (pp. 72-73). It has in6

Smith (1998: 282). Smith (1998: 277-282). 8 On Melqart and Heracles, see Mettinger (1995: 86-100, with references inn. 34) and add on Melqart: Ribichini (1985: 41-73, esp. 44-50; DDD 1053-1058), and on Heracles: Burkert ( 1979: 78-98) and Aune (DDD 765-771 ), both with further references. Note also the various studies on Heracles in Laurens, ed. (1989). In this volume, Verbanck-Pierard (1989) discusses the double nature of Heracles as god and as heros (demigod) and argues that there are no traces in the cult and rite of Heracles indicating that he was celebrated as a heros. 9 On this question, see Mettinger (1995: 87 n. 34 with references). 10 See e.g. Lucian, De Dea Syria§ 3, who distinguishes between "the Heracles whom the Greeks celebrate" and the "Tyrian heros", and Philostratus, Vita Apollon. Tyan. V, 5, who speaks of altars at Gades, two to the Egyptian, i.e. Tyrian Hercules, and one to the Theban (Greek) Hercules. See also Bonnet (1992: 177). 7

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deed been proposed that the name of Melqart was simply a Phoenician translation of the name Nergal (usually understood as "Lord of the great city" or "Lord of the Netherworld"). 11 To this the following may be said: (a) The Nergal-Heracles assimilation attested at Palmyra, Hatra, and Tarsus, may be as early as the fifth century B.C.E., but here Melqart is not involved as an intermediary. 12 The Nergal-Heracles connection thus seems void of evidential value for assessing the case of Melqart. (b) The close connection between Melqart and Tyre points to the explanation of the name of the god as meaning "Lord of the city [of Tyre]", the reference being to Tyre and not to the Netherworld. 13 In addition, the conventional understanding of the name Nergal is not unproblematic. 14 (2) A Reshep figure?-The presence of certain fire rites in the Melqart cult (below) has led some scholars to understand Melqart as a Reshep figure. 15 The name Reshep means "fire" or "plague". This suggestion goes in the same general direction as the Nergal interpretation. The express identification of Reshep and Nergal is attested in a list of sacrifices. 16 The Reshep interpretation does justice to an important aspect of Melqart, namely, the fire rites. Among the Greeks, however, Reshep was identified with Apollo. (3) A Baal figure?-Philobyblius says that Demarous was the father of Melqart: "Demarous had a son Melkarthos, who is also known as Heracles." 17 In Ugarit, we find Dmm, "the Warrior", as a name of Baal. 18 This is the only express formulation that gives a clue to the genealogy of Melqart, and it suggests a lineage from Baal. A difficulty with this interpretation is raised by the vassal treaty between Esarhaddon and Baal of Tyre. Here the storm ~ods are enumerated in one entry and Melqart and Eshmun in another. 1 It is difficult to come to a safe conclusion about Melqart's background. It may well be that Melqart combines threads of various colours and is a composite figure. 11

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Dalley (1991: 164 ). On Nergal, see von Weiher (1971), Lambert (1973) and Wiggermann (1999). 12 See Bonnet (1988: 148-155) and Lipinski (1995: 242-243). 13 Thus Lipinski (1995: 228-229). See also Bordreuil (1990: 18-20). 14 See von Weiher (1971: 3-5). 15 See Gese (1970: 194-195). 16 See Pope and Rollig (1983: 305). 17 Philobyblius, Eusebius, Praep. Ev. I, 10, 27 (Attridge and Oden 1981: 52-53). 18 KTU 1.4.VII: 39. See M.S. Smith (UNP: 172, n. 141). Heick (197lb: 180) doubts such a connection between Baal and Melqart. 19 See SAA 2, 5, IV: 14 ff. (the storm gods are found in II. !Off.). Text in Parpola and Watanabe (1988: p. 27). J. Day pointed out this difficulty, see Day (2000: 74-75).

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86 1. References to the Death of the Deity

According to ancient tradition, the bones (ossa) of Hercules were kept at Gades. 20 This implicit reference to the death of the god tallies with some other pieces of evidence. Tradition is divided on the manner of the god's death. One tradition speaks about his being killed by Typhon. According to Eudoxus of Cnidus (fourth century B.C.E), in a notice preserved in Athenaeus (ca. 200 C.E.), the Phoenicians sacrifice quails to Heracles, because Heracles, the son of Aste~ ria and Zeus, went into Libya and was killed by Typhon; but Iolaus brought a quail to him, and having put it close to him, he smelt it and came to life again. 21

Here, Heracles is killed by Typhon, a somewhat difficult quantity to the scholar, with potential connections both to Canaanite tradition preserved at Ugarit and to Egyptian notions of Seth killing Osiris. 22 Typhon is said to have been struck by lightning, 23 which we remember as the major weapon of U garitic Baal. We should note that the passage refers to a cultic celebration among the Phoenicians, a rite motivated or, better, interpreted by a reference to a mytheme about the death andreturn of the god. Zenobius, who cites the information from Eudoxus about the awakening of Heracles by means of burnt quail, expressly says that it is the Tyrian Heracles who is thus resuscitated. 24 We should

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therefore probably take the passage as referring to Tyrian Melaart.

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A different tradition speaks about a death in fire on a pyre. 25 Thus, Diodorus Siculus (first century B.C.E.) reports that Heracles was given a shirt anointed with a love-charm by his jealous wife. Afflicted by pain, Heracles sought the advice of Delphic Apollo, who instructed Heracles' messenger to build a pyre on Mt Oeta. When the pyre was lighted, Heracles ascended to heaven in the flames. "After this, when the companions of Iolaus came to gather up the bones [br:'t -rljv omoA.oyta.v] of Heracles and found not a single bone anywhere, they assumed that ... he had passed from among men into the company of the gods." 26 Sophocles (ca. 496-406 B.C.E.) offers another testimony to the tradition 20

21 22 23 24 25

26

Pomponius Mela III, 46. Cf. Justin XLIV, 5, 2, who speaks of the sacra of the deity; for this reference, see Bonnet (1988: 211 ). Athenaeus, Deipnosoph. IX, 392, d~e. Also available in Die Fragmente des Eudoxos von Knidos (Lasserre 1966, p. 99, fragm. no. 284a). On Typhon, see H. von Geisau (Der Kleine Pauly 5: 1022f.) and Bonnet (1987a). Strabo, Geogr. XVI, 2, 7. Zenobius, Cent. V, 56, see Gaisford, ed. (Parcemiographi grceci vol. I, 1886: p. 361). See Edsman (1949: 233~249) and Lipinski (1970: 43~44 and 1995: 238~239, with references in n. 116). Diodorus Siculus IV, 38.

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87 about the death in fire on Mt Oeta. 27 Tertullian, born in Carthage in the second century C.E., re~orts having seen on a scene a man burned alive, rigged out as Heracles. 8 Whether or not this was autochthonous Greek tradition,2 9 there are indications that this idea of the god's death on a pyre was also important on the Phoenician mainland. We should note that the Phoenician practice of cremation adds probability to this conclusion. 30 Silius Italicus (ca. 26-101 C. E.), in his Punica (III, 32-44) writes that Heracles' death in flames was depicted on the doors of the temple at Gades. 31 We know that Tyrian Melqart played a major role at Gades. 32 And indeed, when the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitiones speak about the tomb of Melqart, this is placed in Tyre where the god was cremated: Herculis apud Tyrum, ubi igni crematus est. The Greek original, happily preserved, has JWpLaA.w'tos ("caught by fire" 33 ). 34 Nonnos (fourth century C.E.), in tum, has Bacchos-Dionysos on his visit to Tyre recite a remarkable hymn to Heracles. 35 This hymn speaks of Heracles as "starclad" ('Ampoxi'twv) and as "lord of fire" ( aval; nup6s ). 36 That the reference is to Tyrian Melqart is clear from the context. 37 Whether or not the designation b (1 kr on the vase from Sidon refers to a "lord of the furnace" is disputed. 38 It is clear, in any case, that the depictions on the vase represent a god dying a death by fire (see below). Ezek 28: 18 (cf. vv. 14 and 16) seems to provide an eariy, ihough indirect, witness to this traditiorr, if we are right in assuming that the king of Tyre was believed to be of divine nature. Conclusion: Whatever the details, it is clear that not only Heracles but already Tyrian Melqart were depicted as dying gods. The question 27

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Sophocles, Trachin. 119lff. Further references are listed in Frazer's Loeb translation of Apollodorus (vol 1: p. 270-271, the notes). 28 Tertullian, Apol. XV, 5; Ad Nat. I, 10, 47. 29 See M.P. Nilsson ( 1922) who stresses the Greek origin of the Heracles myth (p. 316). Teixidor (1983: 247) points out that Heracles' death in fire is not referred to by Homer or Hesiod and is therefore probably a later tradition. Iconographic representation of this motif is not attested until470/460 B.C.E., see Laurens (1989: 81). See also Edsman (1949: 233-249; esp. pp. 238, 247248). 30 See M.S. Smith ( 1998: 282). 31 On this, see Tsirkin (1981) and Bonnet (1988: 216-219). 32 See Mettinger (1995: 86-90 with references). 33 LSI (p. 1556b). 34 Pseudo-Clem., Recogn. X, 24 (B. Rehm, ed., vol. 2, 1965: p. 343). 35 Nonnos, Dionys. XL, 369-410. 36 Nonnos, Dionys. XL. 368-369. 37 Nonnos, Dionys. XL, 327-365. 38 Lipinski ( 1970: 43) suggested this interpretation and was followed by DNWSI (I: 534 ), but he later retracted this suggestion ( 1995: 239- 240). See below.

I

88 is now whether we are also to assume notions of resurrection in connection with Heracles and Melqart. We have already found indications to this effect in Eudoxus of Cnidus, but is there perhaps further evidence to be dealt with?

2. The Problem of the A wakening of the God

,,

There are two different sets of evidence to be assessed in a discussion of the possible awakening/resurrection of Melqart. (a) There are some references to an EYEPOLs of the god. Since sleep may be a metaphor for death, it is natural that a term meaning "awakening" could refer to resurrection. The term, however, has also been understood in other ways. (b) There are a number of references to a m(y )qm >lm ("raiser of the deity"), which, in its tum, has been understood as referring to a cultic function: a participant who carried out a rite serving to resuscitate the god (a causative participle of qwm). This designation, however, has also been discussed in different terms. The problems involved have been discussed in important contributions by Clermont-Ganneau, Lipinski, and Bonnet. 39 These scholars arrive at the conclusion that the two terms are actually to be understood against the background of notions of Melqart' s resurrection. Other researchers have been thinking along sim-

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to this interpretation, namely, H.-P. Muller and MarkS. Smith. now our task to ascertain where the balance of probability lies.

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2.1. The Term eyepau:;in Josephus

Josephus in his Antiquitates (VIII, 5, 3 [144-146]) cites information from Menander of Ephesus "who translated the Tyrian records from the Phoenician language into Greek speech,"42 information to the effect that King Hiram of Tyre pulled down the old temples and built new ones, or rather a new one, 43 to Heracles and Astarte. Then the text conI , i

39

See Clermont-Ganneau (1924: 149-167), Lipinski (1970; 1995: 226-243, esp. 238-243), and Bonnet (1983: 199; 1988: 33-40, 104-112, 145-148, 174-179 and passim). The original breakthrough was made by Clermont-Ganneau. Lipinski's 1970 study of this matter is of special importance for its richness in source materials. 40 See Baudissin (1911: 135), de Vaux ([1941=]1967: 493-496), Teixidor (1977: 35), Greenfield (1987: 397-399), and Ribichini (DDD 1055-1056). 41 See H.-P. Miiller (1996; 1997b: 7-8) and M.S. Smith (1994: 69-75; 1998: 277-282). 42 On the Tyrian annals, see van Seters ( 1983: 195-199, 296-299). 43 Depending on a text-critical choice, on which see Bonnet (1988: 34-36).

89

: IlEpL'ti(!l f..l.llVL, Eha ,;o ,;flc;; 'Amap,;11c;; ,48 thus making the passage refer to the building of two temples, one after the other. Thackeray, in his Loeb edition, chose to emend this text on the basis of Antiquitates but kept L' s understanding of the passage as referring to temple building and read :rcp6Yt6v 'tE ,;ou 'HpaKA.f:ouc;; £yEpow £:rcmi]oa,;o £v ,;q> IlEpL'ti(!l f..l.llVL. The first word must here refer to one of the temples mentioned in the preceding lines. We know that £yEpoLc;; can refer to the erection of a building, e.g. a wal1. 49 A glance in the concordance also easily shows that the verb £yEipw may be used with various inanimate objects (,;EI:xoc;;, xwf.A.a, :rcupyoc;;, and, to be sure, va6c;;), 50 a usage also known from the NT (John 2:19-22). Thackeray thus translates the emended passage from Contra Apionem: "He [HiramJ ... demolished the ancient temples, and built new shrines dedicated to Heracles and Astarte. That of Heracles he erected first, in the month of Peritius." 51 We easily see that £yEpmv £:rcmi]omo has been understood as "he erected". This reading, however, is based on (a) an emendation, combining material from the one single MS, the problematic L, with textual evidence from Antiquitates VIII, and (b) a possible but not necessary interpretation of the word £yEpOLc;;. The reconstruction in question seems to me to be inferior to the well-attested text in Antiquitates. 52 Here, Niese 44

45 46 47

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49 50 51

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R. Marcus, (Josephus; Loeb edition, vol. 5, 1988: p. 651). See Schreckenberg (1977). Thackeray (Josephus, Loeb edition, vol. I, 1976: p. xviii). Schreckenberg (1977: 170). See Reinach's edition of ContraApionem, the apparatus to I, 119 (Reinach and Blum 1930: 23). This edition chooses to follow the reading in Antiquitates. Similarly, the verb i:yEipw can also be used about erecting a building. On the verb and the noun, see LSJ (p. 469a). See Rengstorf (1975: 4-5). Thackeray (Josephus; Loeb edition, vol. I, 1976: 211 ).

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and Marcus agree in reading :rtpw-roc;; -rE -rou 'HpaKA.£ouc;; £yEpmv

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The idea that £yEpau:;- refers to temple building has been a safe resort to scholars as an alternative to the interpretation of the Greek term as meaning "awakening" and referring to a cultic celebration of Melqart's resurrection. 53 Nevertheless, it is based on an idiosyncratic reconstruction of the evidence. If we were here to accept the sense of (temple) building in the word £ycpat.c;;, then we get into serious problems with the well-attested reading :rtp&Loc;; in Antiquitates, since it would be nonsensical to say that Hiram was the first who built the temple X in the month of Y, while it makes excellent sense to say that the king was the first to celebrate a certain festival in a certain month. Conclusion: There are good reasons to believe that Josephus speaks of a cultic celebration of the resurrection of Heracles of Tyre (Le. Melqart) in the month ofPeritius which corresponds to mid-February to mid-March. 54

:'.:1

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I ~V!~ .

f::rtmr'j~

aa-ro ...

~:

2.2. The Term iycpm;iTr/t; in the Amman Inscription

The above interpretation of EyEpat.c;; seems to be confirmed by a Greek i!lscriptio!! from Amman-Philadelphia, which Abel read as follows: I

Maqn;av 6.LOyEVO'\JJm material demonstrates a clear relationship with Melqart, as can be seen by a survey of the names of the dedicants of the inscriptions."60 It could even be that Melqart occurs in direct connection with the title, in the juxtaposition mqm >lm mit, since the last word might be an abbreviation for the name of this deity, Ml(qr)t. 61 In an inscription from Larnax tes Lapethou on Cyprus (LL 3), the title occurs in line 1 and Melqart figures in lines 2, 3, 4_62 A survey of the evidence for this designation in the Mediterranean reveals a number of occurrences. 63 The oldest is the one just mentioned from Cyprus, fourth century B.C.E. (LL 3:1). Another occurrence is from Rhodes, second century B.C.E. 64 A number of occurrences are from Carthage. 65

57 Bonnet (1988: 146 with note 7). 58 Bonnet (1988: 131 with note 89). 59 Miiller (1996: 114 ). 60 Greenfield ( 1987: 398). See, for instance KAI nos. 70; 90; 93. 61 CIS!, 5980,2. This remains an unproven possibility, see DNWSI (2: 1003 with references), and note also Lipinski (1995: 241 n. 139). Compare, for instance, the abbreviation lpSforthe place name lptsin the third inscription from Larnax tes Lapethou (LL 3, lines I, 5, 6), see Honeyman (1938: 286 ). 62 See Honeyman (1938: 286, text, and 297, translation). The text is also found in Bonnet (1996: 160). Discussion by Greenfield (1987: 391-401) and Bonnet (1996: 74-75). 63 See the list in DNWSI (2: 997) 64 Rhodes: K.A/44 =TSS/ Ill: 39. Discussion by Gibson (TSS/ Ill: 144-147) and by Bonnet ( 1988: 375-378)

I

92

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Ii

I I I'

I. I.'

The title is a form of the verb qwm, to be more exact a causative participle, as seems to appear from the spelling myqm (KAJ 161: 4), with the apparent sense "he who raises". Among the interpretations listed by Hoftizjer and Jongeling in their dictionary ,66 the following three may be mentioned here: ( 1) An established line of interpretation has been to see in the title a "resuscitator of the god" and to understand this as a cultic agent who somehow brought about the resurrection of the deity. 67 Notably Clermont-Ganneau and Lipinski understood the title in this way. 68 (2) Honeyman suggested that we see in mqm >Jm an "establisher of the gods", a person "in charge of temple affairs and responsible for the regulation of religious functions and ceremonies, possibly also of moneys and fabric", and he found that the title corresponds to btq.trA.l]-rlj~ or curator fani. 69 On this interpretation, our title refers to a cult supervlsor. (3) Mayer-Lambert interpreted the title as "the one who raises the gods, i.e. manufacturer of idols" _7° (4) In addition to these interpretations, listed in DNWSI, H.-P. Muller (1996: 111-122) suggested still another one. He is little attracted to the second and third interpretations above. In the first one, according to which the title refers to a cultic act of resurrecting the god, he finds the difficulty that it presupposes a relatively ancient and widely distributed notion of the resurrection of vegetation deities (p. 112). The use of the verb qwm in the Hebrew Bible to refer to resurrection is a late and special development ("Sonderentwicklung", p. 116). He also finds it difficult to imagine a human agent who awakened the god (p. 114). What he instead suggests is seeing in the title a cultic agent who wakes up the deity to theophanic, salvific action; he speaks of "(Er-)wecken des Gottes zum helfenden Eingreifen" (p. 121). In support of this he adduces the use of Hebrew qwm in the imperative in prayers or admonitions to the deity to stand up and take action. 71 65

66 67

68 69 70

Carthage: C/SI, 227,260-262,377,3351,3352,3788,4863-4872.5903,5950 (= KA/93), 5953 (= KA/90). 5979,5980, 6000bis, and KA/70. The last item, KA/70, was found in Avignon but is now generally held to come from Carthage, see Rollig (KAI II, p. 87) and H.-P. Miiller (I 996: Ill n. I and 124 n. 67). The title also occurs in an inscription from Cherchel in Algeria, KAI 161:4. For discussions of the material from Carthage, see Bonnet (1986 and 1988: 165-186, esp. pp. 174-179). DNWSI (2: 1002-1003). See above, the notes at the beginning of section 2 of this chapter. Clermont-Ganneau (1924: 149-167) and Lipinski (1970). Honeyman (1938: 288). Mayer-Lambert after DNWSJ (2: p. 1002, bottom). I cannot find the reference for Mayer-Lambert given in DNWSI.

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i

To these various interpretations the following may be said. To begin with, we may note that the second word in the title is not a numerical plural but refers to one single god. 72 The god in question is most probably Melqart_7 3 While not definitely disproving nos. 2 and 3 above, this at least makes them slightly less probable. It is therefore not surprising that these two interpretations have attracted little following in presentday discussion of the issue. 74 As for no. 4 above, it must be granted that it is by no means an impossible interpretation. The question is whether the balance of probability weighs down for this interpretation or for the first one. I would like to call attention to the following points: (a) As we have already seen, there is a firm tradition about the death of Heracles, and there are indications that Melqart died a death in fire. The notion of the resurrection of the deity would seem to fit well into such a context. (b) We have already found some possible allusions to a resurrection of Melqart. Eudoxus of Cnidus, according to Zenobius, spoke of Iolaus bringing Tyrian Heracles back to life by burning a quail alive. The god was awakened by the smoke. 75 (c) The difficulties that Muller finds in the first interpretation seem to be somewhat overrated. We found in our chapter on Ugaritic Baal that this was a deity who died and returned. There is thus a fairly clear and rather early attestation for the notion of the resurrection of a god. That the use of Hebrew qwm about resurrection represents a late development is in itself by no means a real argument against the suggested interpretation of the Phoenician title, since the earliest occurrence of the title is only from the fourth century B.C.E. Besides, Muller himself has to admit that Hos 6:2 must be assessed as an exception on his count. 76 Muller's theophany interpretation that the title refers to someone who was to make the god rise from inactivity to carry out salvific acts is therefore hardly a major option. (d) The question then arises whether there is any use of the verb qwm that would rather fit into a context of resurrection. The participle

-~

but 996:

1

71

Num 10:35; Pss 3:8; 7:7; 9:20; 10:12; 17:13; 44:27; 74:22; 82:8, see Muller (1996: 119-121). Muller also refers to epigraphic evidence, such as KA/202 A: 3, 13-14; 214: 2,3; 215:2. Muller maintains his thesis in a subsequent study (1999: 28). 72 See Rollig ( 1959: 403-406) and DNWSI ( 1: 53 bottom). 73 See above. Note also the prominent role of Melqart at Larnax tes Lapethou, see LL 2 (KAI no. 43 and TSS/ vol. 3: no. 36) and LL 3 (Honeyman 1938). But note that Osiris is mentioned in LL 3: 5. 74 Honeyman was followed, however, by Rollig (KA/ II: 62). 75 Zenobius, Cent. V, 56, see Gaisford, ed. (Parremiographi gra:ci vol. I, 1886: p. 361 ). 76 Muller (1996: 116).

1

94 mqm in Phoenician is not attested outside the title. 77 It is then appropri-

ate to shed light on the interpretation of the expression with material from other Northwest Semitic languages. Muller adduced the occurrences in Biblical Hebrew where the imperative of qwm is used in admonitions to the deity to wake up and act. But there is also the use of this verb for rising, not only after sleep but also after death. The following instances may be adduced: The dead do not live [yi.(Jyu]; shades do not rise [yaqumu]. (lsa 26: 14) Your dead shall live [yi.Qeyu], their corpses shall rise [yequmun]. (Isa 26: 19) After two days he will revive us [ye.(1ayyem1]; on the third day he will raise us up [yeqimenu]. (Hos 6:2) Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades [repa >fm] rise up [yaqumu] to praise you? (Ps 88:11) [S]o mortals lie down and do not rise again [yaqilm]. (Job 14: 12)

I

i:. I.

This use is attested as early as Hosea and is also found in Ben Sira (48:5 78 ). (e) The traditional interpretation (no. 1 above) may be adduced to solve a n1inor side problem in a votary inscription to the god Shadrapa~ found in Carthage (KA/ 77). Here we read in line 1 about a stone altar that is built by a person designated as [.. ]yq$ >lm. Rollig, in KAI, prefers not to emend the text. A restoration that is very close at hand, however, is to emend a mem, as was done in the CIS edition (CIS I, 3921). The word would then be a causative participle of qy$/yq$, "to awake, rouse from sleep", a close synonym of mqm ( >Jm). In line with this, one should note that an awakening of the deity seems to be alluded to in 1 Kgs 18:27. 79 (f) I referred above to the juxtaposition mqm >Jm mit, in which the last word is often taken to be an abbreviation for the name of Melqart, ml[qr}t. 80 On the basis ofthis assumption we may then, with Clermont-

77

78 79

As was noted by Miiiler (1996: lll ). MS B. see the text in Beentjes (1997: 85). See also Porphyry, De Abst. IV, 9, and Arnobius, Adversus Nationes VII, 32. CIS I, 5980, 2, as suggested by Clermont-Ganneau (1924: 164). The suggestion was accepted by Benz (1972: 349) and, with caution, by Hoftizjer and Jongeling, see DNWSI (2: 1003 with references). Note now also Lipinski (1995: 241 n. 139). Compare, for instance the abbreviation Ips for the place name Jpts in the third inscription from Lamax tes Lapethou (U 3, lines I. 5, 6), see Honeyman (1938: 286). This is obviously not a scribal error.

°

8

I

l

95

·-

Ganneau, 81 call attention to the striking equation between the Phoenician-Punic title and the Greek one: mqm 'lm ml{qr)t

l '-

ra

ar

he

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L

= *ioyEpac[i:tr]Jm mtrb (stmy. 84 We know that features related to hieros gamos sometimes occur in connection with deities who are believed to die and remm io life. Is this epithet an indication in this direction? There are two questions here. (a) Which is the preferable semantic interpretation of the expression? And (b) which is its syntactic antecedent: the human "raiser of the god" or "the god" himself? First semantics. The root in mtrl) is obviously the one we find in Akkadian te/ir.fJatu(m), "the price for the bride", and Ugaritic tr.fJ, used as verb and noun "(to pay) the price for the bride", "to marry". 85 The participle (causative or D) would then denote the "consort, bridegroom,

rt, 81

J

Clermont-Ganneau (1924: 164). On Melqart's relations to Baal, see above in the introduction to the present chapter and see also Ribichini (1985: 41-73) and Bonnet (1988: 417-433, esp. 431-433). Note that Typhon is struck by lightning (Strabo, Ceo gr. XVI, 2, 7), the pre-eminent weapon of Baal. 83 Greenfield finally made up his mind in favour of this line of interpretation: "After years of hesitation I accept the view of Clermont-Ganneau ... in seeing Melqart as conceived by his worshippers of being at some point asleep or even dead requiring awakening or revival ... I would accept then the interpretation of mqm '1m as 'eveilleur sacre' or 'excitateur du dieu' or the like" ( 1987: 398). For other scholars who followed this line of interpretation, see above, the beginning of section 2 of this chapter. 84 E.g. KA/44:2; 93:4. For other occurrences (all preceded by mqm 'lm ), see DNWSI (2: 710). 85 As independently suggested by Honeyman (1940: 8) and de Vaux ([1941=]1967: 495 n. 3). On this root in Ugaritic, see Dietrich and Loretz (1999: 152-157).

82

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l. 5.

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96

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spouse". 86 The following element, 'stmy, has been taken in various ways. The solution to the problem, however, was found by Rollig who analyzed the word as an adjective, "belonging to Ashtart", consisting of the name for the goddess Ashtart (without the fern. -t) 87 + - an( on)+ i (the nisbe yod as in Hebrew qadm6ni). Rollig then interprets the expression as meaning ''Ashtartean spouse" ("zur Astart gehoriger Brautigam, Brautigam der Astart"). 88 Then there is the syntax of mqm 'lm mtrb 'stmy. What is the antecedent of the apposition? Is it the first or second word of the complete title, is it the god, 'lm, or is it the human cultic functionary who resuscitates the god, the mqm? Muller has made the pertinent observation that if the god is the "Ashtartean bridegroom" then we would simply expect the designation to be mtrl) 'strt, thus not having the two generic morphemes. 89 The designation, as we find it, contains an adjective. Thus it rather denotes a human. With regard to mtrb 'stmy, we are thus in a position to conclude: (a) that it refers to a human being; (b) that the human being who is the "Ashtartean bridegroom" is most probably a cultic functionary; (c) that the status or task thereby implied is somehow connected with the activity of resuscitating the god; and (d) that the roles of resuscitator and of Ashtartean bridegroom are important enough to be laid down in an official cultic title. In addition, we know that Melqart is considered to be the spouse of Ashtart. 90 That the complete title of the resuscitator of the deity should then refer to his role in a hieros gamos rite in connection with the rising of the deity is a possible but not necessary conclusion. 91

i I,,

86

Cf. DNWSI (2: 710). 87 Rollig (1959: 413 n. 7) points to other cases of the same formation when the feminine ending falls. 88 Rollig (1959: 413 n. 7) following a hint made by von Soden. The same interpretation in Lipinski (1995: 137) and Miiller (1996: 122-126). As an alternative possibility I would suggest deriving the designation from the name of Ishtar's brother Ishtaran, for which see Livingstone (Court Poetry, SAA 3: p. 158). The noun formation in this Akkadian name is the one described by von Soden in GAG§ 56r. The meaning would then be "Ishtaran-like spouse". 89 Miiller (1996: 124). 90 Seyrig (1963: 28) took Melqart to be the son of Ashtart. However, Lipinski (1970: 36f. n. 3) correctly pointed out that he is the spouse of Ashtart. 91 The Pyrgi inscription (see below), does not hint at a hi eros gamos. The idea that Pyrgi contained a reference to this was based on line 6 (with 'rs ), but this line is to be understood in a different way, see below. Neither do proper names containing the same root point to a hieros gamos. Lipinski (1989) discusses the Carthaginian personal name 'rstb'l, "objet desire par Baal" and wisely points out that it might be appropriate to remember that the liturgy of the Roman Church denotes virgins consecrated to God as Sponsa Christi, "spouses of Christ" (p. 145)! The same approach could be tal<en with the name 'st '1m, on a recently discovered stele at Tyre (Stele TT 91.S2, published by Sader 1991: 112-116).

II I

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97

)

f

l,

e

r. c

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Conclusion: There is good evidence for the belief both in the death and in the resurrection of Melqart. There are two traditions of his death: according to one he was killed by a monster, and according to the other he died on a pyre on a mountain. The cultic celebration of his resurrection provides the background for both late Greek terminology, found in Josephus, and earlier Semitic evidence, found in Phoenician and Punic material. This conclusion receives further support from a West Semitic proper name. In a Neo-Assyrian list from Nineveh we find among several West Semitic feminine anthroponyms one in which we recognize a form of the verb qwm, namely GAM-Mil-qar-te. 92 The name sounds like a proclamation, "Melqart is risen", and may have an analogue in another West Semitic name attested in a Neo-Assyrian context: A-du-ni-iJJ-a. In this name, the theophoric element is either an appellative or a proper divine name: "my lord" or "Adon(is)". The second element is either adjectival or a jussive. Possible translations are: "My lord/my Adon(is) lives/may live/may keep alive". 93 The rite of the awakening of the deity has perhaps also left its imprint on the mortuary concepts of Punic Africa. 94 As late as the Roman period the defunct could be provided with the classical attributes of Hercules, perhaps as an expression of the hope that he \Vas to share the fate of the god. Such a heroization of the defunct is attested to by statues and the iconography of sarcophagi.

n 1

3. Iconographical Evidence: The Melqart Stele and the Vase from Sidon Iconography may also have something to contribute to our discussion. On the Melqart stele of Bar-Hadad from the ninth century B.C.E. found near Aleppo, the god Melqart holds an object in his right hand that is not te

3)

nt .i-

:1

92 See Fales (1979: 55-73, col. III: 21, commentary on p. 67). Fales was not able to explain to satisfaction the first element. This was done by Lipinski (1995: 230). See also Bonnet (1988: 176 with note 58) who refers to a personal communication from Lipinski. 93 See Lipinski (1995: 90) and idem in Radner (1998: 54). See below, Chapter IV.3.3 at the end. Another name of this type is the feminine PN Mil-ki-l]a-a-a-ia (Lipinski 1995: 241) which has Milk as the theophorous element. As the name Milkashtart indicates (see Lipinski 1970: 36f. n. 3), "Milk" may stand for Melqart. 94 For the following, see Picard ( 1946: 443-466, esp. pp. 453-459), who derives this from Etruscan usage (p. 456), and Lipinski ( 1995: 242). On the "eschatology" of the Punic world, see Garbini (1994: 83-118, with references) and the literature listed by Benichou-Safar (1995: 95-96 with

n. 3).

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clearly visible. 95 The item has been interpreted as an

1

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5

(b) A votive statue is mentioned in both places: LL 2: 2, LL 3: 2 and Pyrgi line 9. (c) Ashtart is mentioned in both LL 3: 6, 7 and Pyrgi lines 1, 6. (d) The title mqm )lm is found in LL 3:1. It does not occur in Pyrgi, but here we find a reference to "the day of the burial of the deity". The two formulations seem to have the same ritual background. Since Melqart is central in the cult of Larnax tes Lapethou (LL 2: 3, 7, 9, 10, 15 and LL 3: 2, 3, 4), 134 it is then highly probable that the unknown god of the Pyrgi inscription is the well-known paredros of Ashtart, namely, Melqart, a god we have already found to be a dying and rising deity. According to the Pyrgi inscription, the burial of the deity takes place in the month of krr. This month is mentioned in texts from Alalakh level VII 135 and occurs a number of times in Phoenician-Punic texts. 136 It has been su~gested that this month is to be placed between October and March. 1 7 A worthwhile alternative, however, is to join company with Xella and Stieglitz who take it as corresponding to the Babylonian month Tammuz, i.e. July. 138 The question of the month remains a moot point. Earlier in this chapter I showed how the death in flames was the typical way of departure from this world in the case of Melqart-Heracles. At first sight the Pyrgi inscription seems to make a decisive departure I from this when it speaks of the day of the "burial of the god". It should be noted, however, that the Sidon vase, with the motif of the death in flames combines this with what I have interpreted as references to the tomb and to mourning rites (B and C). It would then seem premature to play off the death in flames in the classical authors against the burial of the god in the Pyrgi text. Conclusion: The reference in the Pyrgi inscription is to the burial of a (male) god and not to a beatified human dead. As appears from circumstantial evidence from Cyprus, this god is most probably HeraclesMelqart. Against the background of the discussion in the present chapter of our investigation, I am inclined to conclude that the burial of the god is part of the celebration of the god's death and resurrection, a eel133

10

).

If we emend the crux in LL 2:4 to read zbb sms, we have another direct similarity with Pyrgi lines 4-5. See Schmitz (1995: 564 n. 25). 134 For Melqart in Cyprus in general, see Bonnet (1988: 313-341). 135 See Cohen ( 1993: 372-375 and cf. 384). 136 KAI nos. 159, 277, CIS I, 92 and LL 3: 5 (Honeyman 1938). 137 See Degen (1968) and Lipinski (1970: 54 n. 9). 138 See Xella (1984: 21-30) and Stieglitz (1998: 215, 220-221).

106

ebration that took place in the month krr, according to the Pyrgi inscription. 5. Ritual and Seasonal Aspects It is time to devote some attention to the ritual and seasonal aspects of

-~.~ ··!' I I'

I

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I

Melqart-Heracles. 139 In the above discussion of references to the death of the deity, I quoted Eudoxus of Cnidus, as preserved in Athenaeus: "The Phoenicians sacrifice quails to Heracles." 140 This is obviously a regular cultic activity connected with Tyrian Melqart. The motivation, or, rather, interpretation, is interesting: When Heracles had been killed by Typhon in Libya, "Iolaus brought a quail to him, and having put it close to him, he smelt it and came to life again." Zenobius, who also draws on Eudoxus, is a bit more detailed: According to Eudoxus, the Tyrian Heracles was killed by Typhon. Iolaus, however, resuscitated (avamfjom) Heracles. The quail, which was Heracles' favourite bird, he burned alive, and because ofthe smoke, Heracles returned to life (f!E-cafhwvm).141 We have already seen that the Sidon vase in the lower register of the last picture (D) has a figure who is probably holding birds in his hands. What is important is that there is thus a regular ritual activity connected with Melqart-Heracles, and in the ancient texts this ritual is interpreted against the backdrop of the tradition about the death and resurrection of the deity. From the evidence discussed above, we may conclude that the celebration of Melqart' s death and resurrection was a stock theme of his cult. Josephus was found to have referred to the celebration ofMelqart's resurrection (EyEpou;) in Tyre in the month of Peritius (mid February mid March). This was undoubtedly the main festival of Tyre, and it must have been on this occasion that the people of Carthage annually sent an embassy to Tyre to pay their homage to Melqart-Heracles.l 42 From 2 Mace 4:18-20 it appears that there was every fourth year some sort of "Olympic games" in Tyre, in connection with which there was a sacrifice to Heracles. 143 From the Amman inscription dedicated to Maphtan (see above) we hear that this man had been "gymnasiarch for two days of his life, resuscitator of Heracles, counsellor and president",

I I

I,

139

On this, see esp. Lipinski (1970: 54-58). Athenaeus, Deipnosoph. IX, 392d. 141 Zenobius, Cent. V, 56, see Gaisford, ed. (Parcemiographi grreci voL 1, 1886: p. 361). 142 Polybius, Hist. XXXI, 12, Arrian, Anabasis Alex. II, 24, 5; Diodorus of Sicily, Bibliotheca Hist. XIII, 108, 4; XX, 14,2. See Lipinski (1970: 56) and Bonnet (1988: 166-167) with references. 143 See Bonnet (1988: 57-58). 140

. f

I

I I l

'

107 thus uniting high municipal and cultic functions, of which the first two were closely connected with the cult of Melqart-Heracles. The vase from Sidon, if correctly interpreted in my discussion above, provides further evidence for the cultic celebration of the death and resurrection of Phoenician Melqart-Heracles. The events are linked to a cult place; the temple is featured in the last scene, and cultic personnel appear in all the scenes but one. If we leave the Phoenician mainland and move westward, we notice that the designation mqm >Jm is attested at various places in the Mediterranean: Cyprus, Rhodes, and Carthage (see above). The attestation on Cyprus (LL 3: 1) gives a basis for the supposition that this title was a Phoenician and not a Punic 144 development, although to date no attestation from the Phoenician mainland has been found. A survey of the evidence for this cultic function shows that it was fulfilled by persons of high standing. 145 Thus in the third inscription from Larnax tes Lapethou a mqm >Jm is denoted as >s (llps, "who is in charge of Lapethos" (LL 3: 1). The inscription from Amman that lists Maphtan's credentials clearly demonstrates that he had a leading position quite apart from his title £yep<J£i:tYJt::. In the far west, at Gades, a well-known Tyrian foundation just outside Gibraltar, there is a place where Melqart's death was also celebrated, though there are no attestations of the title mqm >Jm. Silius I Halicus tells that Heracles' death on the pyre was depicted ou. the doors of the temple at Gades (Punica III, 32-44). Heracles' bones were kept at Gades. 146 Arnobius alludes to popular belief that Tyrian Hercules was buried in Spain. 147 There is a notice in Philostratus (third century C.E.) that, "unlike any other race", the people at Gades "sing hymns in honour of death [cov 8avacov ... :rtmwvi~oYLm]", 148 and this could perhaps be understood against the background of a cultic celebration of the death of the god. In Late Bronze Age Emar there are similar references to singing songs to Sheol. 149 Surveying the evidence for the celebration of the feast of Melqart's death and resurrection geographically, Lipinski gives the following 144

1 use "Phoenician" about material from Phoenicia proper and from Cyprus, and "Punic" about material from Carthage and the western Mediterranean, since it was dependent on the north African metropolis. See Bunnens (DCPP: 364) and Hvidberg (1988: 61 n. 24). 145 See Lipinski (1970: 56-57). 146 Pomponius Me1a III, 46. Bonnet (1988: 21 I) refers to Justin XLIV, 5, 2, for the information that the sacra, or the relics of the cult of Melqart in Gades, came from Tyre itself. 147 Arnobius, Adv. nat. l, 36., according to Bonnet p. 21 I. 148 Philostratus, Vita Apollon. Tyan. V, 4. 149 See Emat Vl.3.385: 23 and 388: 57.

108

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enumeration: Tyre, Philadelphia-Amman, Cyprus (Lamax tes Lapethou), Rhodes, Thasos, Delos, Rome, Northern Africa (Leptis Magna, Carthage), and Gades in Spain. 150 We have to conclude that Melqart's feast was celebrated at all the places where Melqart was the tutelary deity or at least one of the main gods. As for the time of the year when the Melqart celebrations take place, we have found two interesting pieces of information. According to the Pyrgi inscription, the ritual burial of the god took place in the month krr. This month is probably to be placed in the summer and may be the Phoenician equivalent of the Babylonian month Tammuz (July). The rite of the awakening of the god is placed by Josephus in the month of Peritius, i.e. mid-February to mid-March. Taken together, these two pieces of information favours the conclusion that Melqart was believed to spend about half of the year as dead in a way closely analogous to what we hear of Dumuzi.l 51 Placed at this time of the year, after the major annual precipitation, the celebration of the resurrection of Melqart probably had some seasonal connection with the rebirth of the vegetation. 152 The possible occurrence of a depiction of a small plough in the first scene on the Sidon vase points in the same direction. Conclusion: There is respectable evidence indicating that the death and resurrection of Melqart was the focus of cultic celebration in Hellenistic times. The Pyrgi inscription, which mentions the burial of the god and probably refers to Melqart-Heracles, takes us back to ca. 500 B.C.E. If we trust the information in Josephus (Ant. VIII, 146), allegedly drawn from the Tyrian annals, that Hiram was the first one to celebrate the awakening of Melqart, this would take us further back, to the tenth century B.C.E. The celebration seems to have taken place in early spring, about February, which gives a possible association with therebirth of vegetation at this time of the year.

6. Conclusions In our discussion of whether Melqart was a dying and rising deity we have drawn on evidence of different types. The discussion of material in Josephus led to the conclusion that this author does not refer to build150

Lipinski (1970: 56). On Dumuzi's absence from earth from mid-summer to mid-winter, see Falkenstein (1968: 107), Sladek (1974: 27, n. I), Lambert (1990: 290), and Wiggermann (1997: 41). And see below, Chap. VII. 152 See Bonnet (1988: 108).

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ing a temple. The interpretation that he refers to the construction of a temple is based on a questionable handling of the text-critical evidence. Instead, Josephus speaks of a cultic celebration ofMelqart's awakening (£y~::po~.S ). In the Amman inscription we found the corresponding functionary, denoted as i::y~::poEt:tYJs. We found that the Semitic counterpart of this title is mqm )lm , "he who raises the god". The background of these terms in Josephus, the Amman inscription, and Punic materials was found to be the notion of the death and resurrection of Melqart. I am inclined to think that there is a fair degree of certainty in these conclusions. On other points we have reasons to remind ourselves about the uncertainties, especially with regard to the identity of the deity referred to in two specific items: the Pyrgi inscription and the Sidon vase. In neither of these do we find an explicit mention of the deity's name. Thus we must be open to the possibility that an other deity than Melqart may be envisioned. In the case of the Pyrgi inscription, however, it is difficult to find another serious candidate besides Melqart. In the case of the vase from Sidon, the margins of uncertainty are slightly wider. The main alternatives are Eshmun and Melqart. We note that the tradition of a death in flames is an outstanding though not exclusive characteristic of Melqart. We know of a tradition of a death in flames for Eshmun as well, but it is a tradition that seems to have enjoyed a much more mar- I ginal exisrence in ihe suurcts than is the case for the tradition about the death of Heracles-Melqart in flames. If Eshmun is the god depicted as dying in flames and triumphing over death, then it is an Eshmun closely assimilated to Melqart (see Chap. V.2). With these qualifications in mind we may draw the following conclusions from our analysis of the evidence. (1) Melqart is a god who dies. The tradition about his death is a double one. According to one version he dies at the hand of Typhon. According to a different and more prominent tradition, HeraclesMelqart dies a death on a pyre. We shall return to this aspect below. (2) Melqart returns to life. A mytheme in Eudoxus of Cnidus tells us that the Phoenician sacrifice of quails is somehow connected with the resuscitation of the dead god. There is both Greek and Semitic terminology referring to his waking up from death. We have discussed his EyE pOLS, "awakening", in Josephus, the term £y~::po~::i:tYJs in an inscription from Amman, and the connotations of the Phoenician and Punic title m(y )qm )1m, "the raiser/resuscitator of the god". Unlike H.-P. Muller and M.S. Smith, we prefer to understand these linguistic items against the background of a belief in the resurrection of the dead deity .

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(3) Melqart's death and resurrection were the focus of cultic celebration. Both the Greek and Phoenician title of the functionary involved witness to this. The Greek name of the celebration was £yEpou;;, "awakening". It seems probable that this ritual took place annually. Josephus' reference to the month Peritius points to early spring as the date for the rite of Melqart' s awakening. The reference to the month krr in the Pyrgi inscription has been subject to different interpretations. It may well give a date in July for the ritual burial of the god. There was then a clear seasonal connection. (4) It should be noted that there is a duality of concepts about Melqart's departure from this world. On one hand we have the notion of death and burial, known from the Pyrgi inscription. On the other there is the idea of a death in flames, which is attested in elaborate form in the classical authors, and which I believe was also an idea known in the Levant (note the vase from Sidon, and see below on cremation in the Phoenician mainland). (5) It should be noted, too, that the death in flames (as in the classical authors) and the burial of the god (as at Pyrgi) should not be played off against each other. The vase from Sidon combines the two motifs. (6) A major conclusion of ours is that Melqart must be described as a dying and rising god. This does not necessarily imply that he is a direct descendant of Baal. Various suggestions for Melqart's background were discussed (a Nergal type, a Reshep figure, a descendant from Baal). Melqart is hardly a chthonic deity. His death in flames and his only temporary absence from the earth (note the ritual of awakening in the spring) militate against a chthonic interpretation. Melqart is then hardly a Phoenician cousin ofNergal.-We shall revert to Melqart's relations with Osiris in Chapter Vl.3.2.

Before leaving Melqart, we must make some reflections about an important difference if we compare with Late Bronze Age religion: the motif of the god's death. We have seen that both Baal and Melqart are dying and rising gods. Whether or not there was a historical connection between Baal and Melqart, an important difference between the two must be stressed: the motif of the god's death. Baal's death is depicted as a descensus ad inferos. He goes down to the Netherworld and is swallowed up by Mot. Melqart, according to the most prominent tradition, dies a death in flames. To the best of my knowledge, this important difference has not been properly brought into focus in previous research. Why is there this difference?

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I think the answer lies in the simple observation that myth is basically a manifestation of fundamental values and customary behaviour of the culture that produced it. Symbolic universes operate on the ordering, nomic level and serve to legitimate institutional order, as I pointed out above (Chap. 1.2.2.2). I would like to suggest here that the difference referred to reflects a change in burial customs. At the end of the second millennium, incineration is fairly rare in Syro-Palestine. Inhumation is practically universaL During the Iron Age, there is a change. "From the 8th to the 6th cent., in western Phoenician establishments, these proportions change: incineration tends to preponderate." 153 The changing mode of death-Baal's descensus and Melqart's death in flames-is derived from the predominating burial custom. Baal's descensus reflects a society where inhumation is still the dominant practice, while Melqart's death on the pyre reflects a society where incineration has become important. It is impossible to say when Melqart became a god who died in flames. In the Pyrgi inscription, which I take to refer to Melqart, there is a reference to the burial of the god, but nothing is said about incineration. The vase from Sidon, likewise supposedly referring to Melqart, shows how the god dies on a pyre, is buried in a sarcophagus-like object, and then rises to new life.

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Thus Grass, Rouillard and Teixidor (1991: 136-138, quotation from p. 136). See also Benichou-Safar (DCPP 361-362 and 1995:95-105). On cremation in Greece, esp. in Attica, see Kurtz and Boardman (1971: 25-26,51-54,73-74, 98-99) and Burkert (1985: 191).

I

113 CHAPTER IV:

Adon(is)

When we now tum to Adonis, it is with the same question in mind as before: Is this deity to be understood as a dying and rising god? Frazer and Baudissin described Adonis as such a deity. Ever since the 1930's, however, there has been a marked tendency to question their conclusions. 1 A major complication in our study of Adonis is that almost all of our source materials deals with "the classical Adonis", if I may use this label for the figure that we meet in the Greek and Latin sources. There is an obvious risk that our reconstructed picture of the Levantine ancestor of this "classical Adonis" amounts to nothing more than a simple repristination of what we find in the classical sources. There are, however, important structural differences between Greek and ancient Near Eastern religion, and these are not to be neglected in a serious study of Adonis. W. Atallah 2 has called attention to what amounts to a major paradox in the Adonis material: On one hand, this god has "a festival which is symbolic of the reaping of the ripe fruits of the field" as Ammianus Marcellinus puts the matter; 3 on the other, the Adonis gardens, with their rapidly withering sprouts, have the function of proverbial symbols of sterility in classical writers. Atallah himself does not make any proper attempt to solve the riddle he observed. Could it be that his paradox has something to do with precisely the structural differences between Greek and ancient Near Eastern religion? I must here call attention to one particular aspect, namely, the borderline between the realm of the gods and the realm of the dead, a borderline which is less easily traversed in Greece than in the Levant. Burkert comments on this difference with the following words:

1

See de Vaux ([1933 =]1967: 379-392), Lambrechts (1955), Wagner (1962: 180-218, esp. pp. 187-211), Will (1975), Detienne ([1972=]1993), Barstad (1984: 149-151), J.Z. Smith (1987), and M.S. Smith (1998: 282-286). Among scholars who still opt for the resurrection of Adonis, one can mention Seyrig (1972a: 97-1 00), Soyez (1977: 35-43), Ribichini (1981: 156-159), and Lipinski (1995: 90-105), but these scholars never argue the case in dialogue with the sceptics. 2 Atallah ( 1966: 228, 322). 3 Thus Ammianus Marcellinus XXII, 9, 15 (referring to the rite in Antioch in 362 C.E.). See also Origen, Selecta in Ezechielem, to Ezek 8:12 (PG 13. col. 800 A).

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114 The gods are the immortals, athanatoi; the epithet becomes a definition. To name a festival the "day of the burial of the divinity", as the Phoenicians do, ... is impossible in Greek. A god bewailed as dead, such as Adonis, ... is always felt to be foreign; when the Cretans show a Grave of Zeus it only serves to prove that they are liars. 4

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It is true that we should not overstate this distinction. 5 A borderline, however, may be noticed, as appears from Bion' s Lament for Adonis, line 53, where Aphrodite says that she must live and be a goddess and cannot follow Adonis to the Netherworld (~ww Ka'L 8E6s Ef.tfU Ka'L o-l' Mva[.tai OE DLWKELV). 6 From the category of the gods we should distinguish the category of the heros, Although the concept of the heros is not as clear-cut as has sometimes been assumed, it seems wise to adopt the basic definition that "a hero is a person who has lived and died, either in myth or real life, .... [t]his is the main distinction between a god and a hero." 7 A heros "can be called theos occasionally but still be a hero!' 8 Against this background, one of the major results of Ribichini's monograph on Adonis becomes particularly interesting, the conclusion that we should distinguish between Adonis, the Greek heros, and Adonis, the Levantine god. 9 It is not often that Adonis is explicitly denoted as heros, As Ribichini points out, however, Adonis is surely perceived by Greek mythology as a heros, as appears from his morphology: he has no divine genealogy, he is the son of mortal parents, he is worshipped in private cults and in the cult of Aphrodite, he dies (during a huntor in a different situation), he is mourned as a dead, he is buried, and his tomb is known. 10 That Adonis is a mortal and not a god in the full and real sense of the word may be valid for the classical tradition, but cannot without further ado be claimed for the Levantine Adonis. 11 4

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Burkert ( 1985: 201 ). It is the Pyrgi inscription that mentions "the day of the burial of the divinity" (KAI no. 277; TSSJ vol. 3: no. 42). On the above-mentioned contrast, see also above, Chap. 1.2.1 at the end. 5 See Ehnmark (1935: 1-10, esp. pp. 1-2). 6 Text in Gow, Bucolici Graeci (1952: 155), German translation in Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1925:295). Note also Hesiod, Theogony 775-806. I thank Lasse Bemdes, Lund, for calling my attention to this passage. 7 Ekroth (1999: 8). Note Ekroth's concluding discussion of immortality-mortality for a god, a heros and a deceased person (pp. 270-274). (Addition to the proofs: See now Merlo and Xella, pp. 281-297 in the symposium volume in the addition to the bibliography below.) 8 Ekroth ( 1999: 9).Reference courtesy Charlotte Wikander. 9 Ribichini (1981, especially p. 149). The explicit evidence for this categorization of Adonis is very meagre (Theocritus, Idyll XV, see below). Even so, however, I think that Ribichini's categorization makes good sense. 10 Ribichini (p.c. 2 May, 2000). 11 Cf. M.S. Smith (1998: 285): "Unlike Osiris and Baal, but perhaps like Dumuzi, Adonis is a mortal." Smith does not seem to be aware of the distinction put forward by Ribichini.

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Ribichini' s observations are important and should alert us to the possibility that the reception of Adonis in Greece implied some major changes. In order to spell out this basic difference, I shall in the following adopt Ribichini's way of speaking about the classical heros and the Levantine God. The task we undertake is thus a very difficult one. Much of the source material is very late and some is even found in the Church Fathers. The prima facie impression of the textual evidence is that the idea of Adonis' resurrection is a very late one and does not antedate the Christian era. However, it is important not only to focus on chronological differences but also to pay attention to local variations. I shall therefore emphasize the local differences and distinguish between sources relating to the classical Adonis and the Levantine god respectively. Our focus of interest will be on the West Semitic god who looms behind the Adonis of the later sources. Here the material is extremely scarce, 12 but we are now aware of the possible relevance of some Amama letters from Byblos (fourteenth century B.C.E.) and two tenth century inscriptions from the Byblos area. Seyrig pointed out that the debate about Adonis suffers from a confusion about the difference of what took place at Byblos, at Alexandria, and at Athens. 13 In order to do justice to the diverging provenance of the material, I shall discuss 1 it in three steps: the classical heros in (1) Greece and Rome, in (2) Egypt, and (3) the god of the Semitic Levant. Thus, I shall not, to begin with, focus on chronological distinctions. A sketch of the developments shall be attempted only at the end of this chapter. I shall make no attempt to give a complete documentation. A fuller coverage may be found in major works by previous scholars: Baudissin (1911: 65-202), Sulze (1928), Atallah (1966) and Ribichini (1981). 14 The iconography is treated in some major works. 15 My contribution will be geared towards the overall interpretation, with the problem of a possible resurrection of Adonis in focus. This

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On this point, see Burkert (1979: 106). Seyrig (1972a: 100, n. 1). 14 There is a vast literature on Adonis. The following contributions may be mentioned: Mannhardt (1877: 273-291), Roscher (1884-1890: 69-77), Diimmler (1894: 384-395), Vellay (1904), Frazer (GB 3 vol. 4: I; 1914: 1-259), Baudissin (1911: 65-202), Glatz (1920), Notscher ([ 1926=] 1980: 85-95), de Vaux ([1933=]1967: 379-405), Stocks (1936), Lambrechts (1955). Wagner (1962: 180-218), Fauth (1964: 70-71), Weill (1966), Atallah (1966), Eissfeldt (1970a), Detienne ([ 1972]1993: 99-122), Vernant ([1974]1990: 143-182), Will (1975), Burkert (1979: 99122), Ribichini (1981), Robertson (1982), Baudy (1986; 1992: 31-41; 1996), Lipinski (1995: 90-105), and M.S. Smith (1998: 282-289). 15 LIMC VI: 222-229; U2: 160-170), Atallah (1966: 141-209, 217-226), and Weill (1966)

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problem has not been the subject of any major study after that by Lambrechts (1955), and does not figure prominently even in Ribichini 's monograph (1981).

1. The Classical Heros in Greece and Rome In dealing with the classical heros, we shall discuss first the rite and then the myth.

1.1. The Rite

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As to the date of the festival of Adonis, there is now almost general agreement that this celebration took place during the dry period, when the vegetation died. 16 Cumont was able to demonstrate that the festival took place during the hottest period, the dogdays of summer. The start of this period is marked by the heliacal rising of the constellation of the Dog, with Sirius as the most brilliant star. This takes place in the latter half of July. 17 A few scholars have argued that there was also a spring celebration of Adonis, who is thus supposed to have had a double celebration.18 The character of the ritual celebrations called the Adonia is easily perceptible from a wide array of sources. Already in our first testimony, in Sappho ca. 600 B.C.E., there is a reference to women mourning the dead Adonis by beating their breasts and rending their tunics. 19 A passage in Aristophanes' Lysistrata (from 411 B.C.E., lines 387-396) refers to a rite carried out on the roof of a building: a woman sings an Adonis-dirge ( AbwvtaOf!Os ), 20 a woman dances, shrieking "Woe, woe, Adonis" (a'ta1 •Abwvw), 21 and another woman exclaims "Beat your breasts for Adonis!" Further, Ovid (43 B.C.E.- 18 C.E.) refers to an annual celebration in memory of Adonis' death. 22 In agreement with this 16

On the date, see Baudissin (1911: 121-133), Cumont (1927, 1932, and 1935), Weill (1966: esp. pp. 693-698), Soyez (1977: 44-75), and Lipinski (1995: 96). Note the surveys of various alternatives in Atallah (1966: 229-258) and in Detienne (1993: 181 n. 4). 17 See Cumont (1927, 1932 and 1935), Atallah (1966: 247-254), Weill (1966: 693-698) and Servais (1984: 83-99). 18 Thus Atallah (1966: 255-258) and Robertson (1982: 331-359; note his summary on p. 354). In this connection, note the celebration of Melqart' s ryEpou:; in February-March. See Chap. III.l. 19 Sappho, Frag. 140a (Lobel and Page)= Frag. 152 (Reinach), on which passage see Lipinski (1995: 91-92). 20 This word denotes the funerary dirge, see Weill (1966: 690). 21 Note the same word in Bion's Lament for Adonis, passim, text in Gow (Bucolici Graeci, 1952: 153-157), translation in Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1925: 292-297), and in Ovid, Metamorphoses X, 215: "the flower bore the marks, AI AI, letters of lamentation, drawn thereon." 22 Ovid, Metamorphoses X, 725-727.

117

atmosphere of death and mourning, we find that the Adonia are sometimes referred to as providing a bad omen for some special undertaking. Thus Plutarch (born ca. 45 C.E.), when referring to the departure of the Athenian fleet in 415 B.C.E. under the combined command of Alcibiades and Nicias, notes that, [T]here were some unpropitious signs and portents, especially in connection with the festival, namely the Adonia. This fell at that time, and little images like dead folk carried forth to burial were in many places exposed to view by the women, who mimicked burial rites, beat their breasts, and sang dirges.Z 3

Amrnianus Marcellinus (born ca. 330 C.E.) tells about a much later occasion, when emperor Julian in 362 visited Antioch, and his visit happened to coincide with the celebration of the Adonia: Now, it chanced that at that same time the annual cycle was completed and they were celebrating, in the ancient fashion [ritu veteri], the festival of Adonis ... a festival which is symbolic of the reaping of the ripe fruits of the field .... And it seemed a gloomy omen, as the emperor now for the first time entered the great city, ... that on all sides melancholy wailing was heard and cries of grief. 24

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Nothing is said here about a resurrection of Adonis. On the contrary, the Roman historian refers to the celebration of the Adonia as a bad omen, due to its funerary character. At the same time, one notes that the festival was understood to express harvest symbolism. An interesting point is also the reference to "the ancient rite". Does this mean that there was some sort of break or discontinuity in the way the Adonia were celebrated, or is it simply a way of saying that everfthing took place according to a well-established standard procedure? 5 The character of the festival is thus a funerary one, with an atmosphere of sorrow and wailing. In line with this, the Adonis gardens, small plantations in shards of pottery or in vases, are understood as symbolizing the ephemeral nature of vegetation, even sterility. 26 Plato, in a 23 24 25

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Plutarch, Alchibiades XVIII, 2-3; similarly in Plutarch, Nicias XIII, 7. Ammianus Marcellinus XXII, 9, 15. Compare the formulation ritu vetusto, "in accordance with the ancient practice", in Apuleius, Metamorphoses XI, 23. On the Adonis gardens, see Baudissin (1911: 138-141), Frazer (GB 4:1, 1914: 236-259), Sulze (1926; 1928), Baumgartner (1959: 247-273), Frankfort (1962: 291), Atallah (1966:211-228), Heick (1971b: 187), Baudy (1986), Detienne (1993: 99-122), and Lipinski (1995: 95-96; 99100). Sulze (1928) has an especially fine collection of materiaL-The aspect of sterility is stressed by Baudissin and Detienne, while Frazer and Baudy stress the fertility aspect. Detienne (sec above Chap. !) sketches a contrast between the Adonia (spices) and the Thesmophoria (wheat) and stresses the symbolism oftransitoriness in the former. However, he has some trouble with the information that not only fennel and lettuce but also wheat and barley were sown in the pots or sherds that were used for the Adonia. see Atallah (1966: 211-213) and note also the critique of Detienne in Bonnet ( 1987b: II 0) and Winkler ( 1990: 198-202).

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118

passage purporting to show that the written word is no more than the shadow and imitation of living speech, evokes the Adonis gardens for comparison: Would a sensible husbandman, who has seeds which he cares for and which he wishes to bear fruit, plant them with serious purpose in the heat of the summer in some garden of Adonis, and delight in seeing them appear in beauty in eight days ... ? Would he not, when he was in earnest, follow the rules of husbandry, plant his seeds in fitting ground, and be pleased when those which he had sowed reached their perfection in the eighth month?27

Indeed, the sterility of the Adonis gardens is proverbial: "You are more sterile (aKapJTO""tEpoc;) than the gardens of Adonis. " 28 Similarly, the Suda describes the gardens as £n'L ""tCDV awpwv Ka\ 6/l.qoxpov\.wv Ka\ 1-AYJ £ppt~Wi-AEvwv, thus depicting the gardens as unseasonable, ephemeral, and without root. 29 We conclude: In Athens, the Adonia took place at the end of July. The Adonis ritual seems to have had a funerary character focussing on Adonis' death. The symbolism of the Adonis gardens was essentially one of sterility. There are no obvious traces of any belief in a resurrection of Adonis. It seems probable that Adonia were celebrated at other places in Greece at the same time and with broadly the same contents.

1.2. The Myth I

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In classical mythology there are two contradictory versions of Adonis' death. According to one, the young hunter Adonis was killed by a boar. 30 The same motif is also found in the Attis myth, where it has been judged to be a late imitation of the Adonis myth. 31 According to the other and probably older myth that Apollodorus cites from Panyassis (early fifth century B.C.E.), 32 Adonis, the newborn child, for the sake of his beauty, was hid in a chest by Aphrodite and entrusted to Persephone, the consort ofHades-Pluton. 33 When Persephone refused to give him back, the dispute was resolved by Zeus: the year was divided into

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Plato, Phaedrus 276B. Zenobius, Cent. !, 49, text in Paroemiographi Graeci !, p. 19, 6ff. (Leutsch and Schneidewin 1839). 29 See Suda in Adler, ed., Suidae Lexicon, s.v. · AOWvLOawv~) referred to in 11. 96; 98. 44 The scene at the sea closes with the words: "Look on us with favour next year too, dear Adonis. Happy has thy corning found us now, Adonis, and when thou earnest again, dear will be thy return" (1. 143144). All of this takes place every 12th month (11. 103). There is no hint whatsoever of true bilocation, that is, of Adonis spending a major part of the year on earth. Rather his visit to the light is a short ritual interlude in what seems to be a perennial sojourn with Persephone. 45 As a corollary of this, Theocritus designates Adonis as a demigod (Tj~i8ws); he writes: "Thou, dear Adonis, alone of demigods, as they tell, dost visit both earth and Acheron" (11. 136-137). This formulation places Adonis squarely in the category of the heros. 46 From Theocritus we may tum to an Egyptian papyrus text from generally the same period. In an attempt to reconstruct the Adonis celebrations of Ptolemaic Egypt, Gustave Glatz ( 1920) availed himself of Pap. Petrie 3,142 from Fayoum, which contains a list of expenditures for the 41

For Theocritus I have used the text and translation of Gow (1950). Text and commentary are also found in Dover (1971), and note the discussion in Atallah (1966: 105-135). 42 See Vollgraff (1949) and Atallah (1966: 114-121 ). 43 See Atallah (1966: 129). 44 See Dover (1971: 208). 45 Compare the Adonis gardens in Greece that were thrown into wells, see Zenobius, Cent. I, 49, text in Paroemiographi Graeci I (Leutsch and Schneidewin, 1839: 19, 10-11). 46 See Burkert (1985: 203-208) and Atal1ah (1966: 130).

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celebration of an Adonis festival. Glatz concluded that there was a triduum, a three days' celebration comprising in tum: l. hierogamy, 2. the death and funeral of Adonis, and 3. the day of the 6ELK-rt1pwv, understood by Glatz to refer to a mystic pantomime representing the resurrection of Adonis. Reminding the reader of Hosea 6:2, Glatz maintained that in the third century B.C.E., the festival of Adonis in Egypt was a triduum that concluded with the god's resurrection. 47 Three sequential days are clearly referred to in the papyrus. However, the crucial term in the text, 6ELK-rt1pwv, which is obviously a derivative of the verb bEixvufH, "to show", has now been convincingly interpreted by M. Stol ( 1988) in a way that seriously undermines Glatz's explanation. It is a semantic loan, a calque, of Assyrian taklimtu. This Akkadian word is a derivative of kullumu, "to show", and is "the normal term for the lying-in-state of a dead body at a funeral" (p. 127). It is also used of "the 'display' of the body of the god Tammuz when he is being bewailed" (p. 127).48 This means that there is no basic conflict between our papyrus text and the picture we get from Theocritus. Neither document has anything to say about a resurrection of Adonis or the idea of bilocation. Let us now look at Cyril of Alexandria (d. in 444 C.E.). In his commentary on Isaiah, Cyril retells the myth of Aphrodite and then tells about the Adonis celebrations:

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The Greeks celebrated this in a feast. They pretended to unite in weeping and lamentations with Aphrodite when she was mourning Adonis' death [/.:un:mr !!EVl] ... liLa -r;o nevavm -r;ov • Al\wvw ]. Then, when she reappeared from the Netherworld and announced that she had found [rp)pfjatlm] the one she had been searching for, [they pretended] to unite in rejoicing and jumping [for joy]. And even today this comedy is still being performed in the temples of Alexandria.49

This passage in the Christian writer tells about the Adonis celebrations in the temples of Alexandria. The rites have two phases: first mourning and laments and then wild joy. The rites are explained by reference to the Aphrodite-Adonis myth: Adonis disappears and Aphrodite carries out a search for him in the Netherworld. She reports having found him, but no express resurrection language is used. Let us then summarize. The classical Adonis is not ascribed a resurrection, neither in the sources from Greece and Rome, nor in Thea47

Glotz (1920: 213: see also pp. 201, 221 ). For a tabulation of the entries of the text, see Glotz (1920: 169·170) and Gow (1938: 180-181). 48 On this rite, see below. Chap. VJI.I.2.-For other critical notes on Glotz's study, see Gow (1938) and Atallah ( 1966: 136-140). 49 Cyril of Alexandria. In lsaiam 18:1-2 (PG 70: 441 ). My translation.

l'i

124

critus' description of the festival in Alexandria. There is, however, one interesting difference between Theocritus and his predecessors: In Theocritus there is not even an allusion to the idea of bilocation. insofar as Adonis is not said to spend a major part of the year in the light. He disappears and is not said to return until after twelve months. Unsurprisingly, Theocritus denotes Adonis a "demigod''. It is only in Cyril of Alexandria, centuries later, that things are different. It seems most probable to me that the celebration of the finding of Adonis, known from Cyril, was an innovation in Alexandria, perhaps due to influences from Syria. 50 During Ptolemaic times there were probably no rites expressingjoy over the return of Adonis from the Netherworld. Moreover, we do not find allusions to the myth of bilocation. That this is so is well in line with what can be inferred about the classical Adonis as a heros, but it may also have something to do with the local character of Adonis. In Alexandria, Adonis may have been closely associated with Osiris. 51 Osiris was not a dying and rising deity in the sense that he returned to life on earth. He was for ever confined to the Netherworld. As Frankfort put it, he was not a "dying god" but, paradoxically, "a dead god", and "his resurrection meant his entry upon life in the Beyond." 52 We shall return to Osiris in Chap. VI.

3. The God of the Semitic Levant I

3.1. The Case for a Semitic Background for Adonis Though there is vast evidence for the classical heros, there is considerably less for the "Semitic Adonis". It is clear, however, that Adonis somehow represents a Fremdkorper in Greek religion, traversing the established borderline between life and death. Consequently, recent research has tended to stress the Near Eastern background of the Greek Adonis. 53 Adonis is expressly connected with Lebanon. 54 He is specifically attested at a number of places in the ancient Near East: Antioch, Laodicea, Byblos, Aphqa, Amathus (on Cyprus), Dura Europos, Beth50

See below on Lucian (De Dea Syria). For Adonis and Osiris in Byblos, see below, Chap. VI.3. 52 Frankfort ([1948 =]1962: 185; see also 1958: 145-148). See also Assmann (1984: 151-159, esp. p. 157). On Osiris, see Chap. VI. 53 Note especially Burkert ( 1979: I 06) and Ribichini, who has three subsequent chapters discussing Oriental aspects (1981: 73-144). 54 The connection between Adonis and Lebanon is obvious in texts such as Strabo, Ceo gr. XVI, 2, 19; Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorph. no. 34; Hesychius, Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon (ed. M. Schmidt, 1858: p. 49, II. 30-31); Suda in Adler, ed. Suidae Lexicon, I: p. 53, no. 516). 51

125 c

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lehem and, possibly, Emesa. 55 Adonis temples are only mentioned in connection with Dura Europos, Amathus and, by inference, with a site in Carthaginian North Africa. 56 It may be assumed, however, that Adonis and his female consort shared the same sanctuary in a number of cases. This arrangement was probably practised at Byblos, one of the most important sites for Adonis worship. 57 Adonis is thus clearly attested in the ancient Near East. In line with this, we find a number of features which are indications of the Semitic pedigree of the Greek heros. I shall here limit myself to some points in connection with the name Adonis and his epithet and to a feature in connection with the rites.

1. The Name "Adonis" and the Epithet n cmn.-A century ago, Kretschmer (1916) made the last serious attempt to maintain a Greek origin for the name Adonis. Ever since Baudissin's massive refutation (1916) there has been a consensus that the name is of Semitic stock. And this is no new insight. Hesychius of Alexandria (a grammarian of the fifth or sixth centuries C.E.) seems to take Adonis to be a name of the Phoenician Baal: a6wv~ ... OWJtO"t'Y]~, UJtO mviKWV. Ka'l ~OAO'U ovof!a. 58 It is obviously West Semitic >dn that forms the etymon of the divine name. In Ugarit we find adn used about Yam, 59 El, 60 and the 55

For Antioch. see Ammianus Marcellinus XXII, 9, 14-15; for Laodicea, see the inscription published by Haussollier and Ingholt (1924: 333-336); for Byblos, see Lucian, De Dea Syria§ 6; for Aphqa (20 km. east of Byblos), see Lipinski (1995: 105-108), referring (p. 105 note 284) to Melito of Sardes, Apology 5, which is not available to me; for Dura Europos, see F. E. Brown in Rostovtzeff, Brown, and Welles (1939: 135-175); for Bethlehem, see Jerome, Ep. 58,3 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 54), and see Galling (1930) and Welten (1983). I cannot agree with Welten's attempt to discard Jerome's testimony (esp. p. 201). On the possibility of an Adonis cult at Emesa, see Baudissin (1911: 86-87).-0n the local distribution of Adonis cults, see Baudissin (1911: 81-93) and Ribichini (1981: 166-170). 56 For a temple at Dura Europos, see F.E. Brown in Rostovtzeff, Brown, and Welles ( 1939: 135175 ); for Amathus, see Pausanias IX, 41, 2-3; for northern Africa (Bechateurffhisi), note the title sacerdos Adonis, see Baudissin (1911: 68) and Lipinski (DCPP: 7a). 57 On Byblos, see the studies assembled in Acquaro et alii, eds., Biblo: una citta e Ia sua cultura (1994). 58 Hesychius. Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon (ed. M. Schmidt, 1858: p. 49, II. 30-31 ). The edition of K. Latte (Hauvniae 1963ff. p. 45) has the reading llwrrcn:ru:; (Jerker Blomqvist, p.c.). On the formulation in Hesychius, see Eissfeldt (I 970a: 17) and Lipinski (1995: 90). Burkert (1979: 192 n. 3 at the end) does not see a reference here to Baal but takes the crucial word to mean ·'a throw of dice". Note, however that there is a theophoric element -bot in certain Palmyrene personal names (and divine names). Gese ( 1970: 226) takes this as a contracted form of Baal. Teixidor ( 1977: 106: 113 ), on the other hand, takes Bol as the name of the local deity, whose name is later changed into Bel under influence from Mesopotamian Bel Marduk. 59 KTU 1.2.1: 17 and 34. 6 KTU 1.3.V: 9: note Pardee's reading (COS 1: 254 n. 103).

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king. 61 Attempts to find attestations for this epithet used about Late Bronze Age Baal have not yet been successful. 62 This lacuna in the distribution of the epithet could, however, well be due to the chances of preservation. In Phoenician material, the epithet is used with Eshmun (KAI 32), Reshep (KAI 41 ), and Melqart (KA/ 47). In Punic material the epithet is used with Baal Hamon (KAI 63), Baal (KAI 99), Baal Shamem (KAI 64), Eshmun (KAI 66), and others. The epithet is thus used in connection with various deities. 63 The divine name Adonis thus contains the common West Semitic word for "lord". 64 The element-~ is either a Greek morpheme, used for noun formation, or a reflection of the West Semitic pronominal suffix for the first person singular. In the latter case, the name Adonis can be understood as reflecting the Semitic invocation >dny, "my lord!"65 The West Semitic >dn was used for various deities, but we shall soon see that the cultic centre par preference of West Semitic Adon(is) was Byblos. It seems to be in this city that the epithet developed into a proper name. In Byblos, Adon(is) was the young male god and partner of the goddess, holding the same position as Eshmun at Sidon and Melqart at Tyre. Furthermore, the Semitic epithet of this god also seems to have been preserved, namely n 'mn, "the beautiful, pleasant, lovely one". Thus, I sa 17:10 refers to what seems to be Adonis gardens, made for "Naaman" (see below). Plutarch records the name of the mythic queen of Byblos as Astarte, and adds that others called her Nemanous. 66 Though rejected by some, 67 it seems more reasonable to accept the suggestion of a Semitic background for this name of Astarte, who is otherwise closely linked with precisely Adon(is). I thus understand "Nemanous" as consisting of n 'mn plus a nominal termination that adapts it to Greek morphology.68 61

KIU 1.6.VI: 58. Loretz earlier tried to find such a case in KTU 1.124: 1, see Loretz (1980: 287-292, esp. 289290), but see now Tropper (1989: 154) and Dietrich and Loretz (1990: 214-217). 63 See also Baudissin ( 1911: 66 ). 64 On this epithet, see Baudissin ( 1916: 423-442), Eissfeldt ( 1970a), Dietrich and Loretz and Sanmartin (1975), Sanmartin (1977) and Loretz (1980). 65 This alternative receives a certain support from EA 84:33, see Cross (apud Moran, The Amarna Letters, 1992: 156 n. 10). See also below.-Greek formations with-....; are mostly feminine and generally have the stress on the iota, see Michael Meier (1975: 67). Adonis deviates from this pronounciation. My thanks to Jerker Blomqvist for making this point (p.c.). Another exception from these rules is found in "Ompu;;. 66 Plutarch, De /side et Osiride 357B (§ 15). 67 See Griffiths (1970: 327 with refs.). 68 As suggested by Delcor ( 1978: 385). 62

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It is also clear that the flower anemone (avqA.WVYJ) is closely connected with Adonis. The connection between Adonis' blood and the anemone is found in Bion of Smyrna (ca. 100 B.C.E.), in Ovid a century later, and in the scholia to Theocritus; moreover, Adonis is identified in Nonnos with the anemone. 69 Added to this is the fact that Arabs oflater times called the anemone saqii >iq an-Nu 'man, which is often, though without proper justification, rendered "the wounds of Numan". 70 We also note that the river Belus in the Plain of Acre is called Nahr Nu'mein, properly a diminutive of Na 'miin. 71 The flower, then, probably received its name from a West Semitic epithet of Adon(is), formed from the root n em with an adjectival -n morpheme. 72 The word n em figures prominently in KTU 1.113, but the reference is unclear. 73 In this context, it should also be mentioned that the names given for Adonis' parents point to a Semitic background.7 4 According to Hesiod,75 Adonis was the son of Phoinix and Alphesiboia; according to Apollodorus 76 he was the offspring of an incestuous relation between Thias, the king of the Assyrians-which should be understood as referring to the Syrians 77-and his daughter Smyrna, who was later turned into a myrrh tree. In the tenth month, the tree split open and Adonis was born. Ribichini treats the names Phoinix and Smyrna as Levantine aspects of the Adonis myth. 78

)S

1-

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2. The Rite.-According to textual evidence, Adonis rites were performed on the roofs of houses. 79 The iconography contains some striking scenes in which ladders are outstanding features. 80 Sacral activities 69

1-

,,

Bion, Lament for Adonis II. 64-66. text in Gow (Bucolici Graeci, 1952: 155), Scho/ia in Theocritum V, 92e-f (Wendel 1914: p. 174), Ovid, Metamorph. X, 725-739, and Nonnos, Dionysiaca II, 88. 70 Albright (1940: 297f.). See also Delcor (1978: 387-388). Albright points out that we do not know what the first Arabic word means: the usual explanation "wounds" is lexicographically hazardous. 71 Albright (1940: 298). 72 I thus agree with Lewy (1895: 49), Albright (1940: 297f.), and others. 73 Lines 2, 4, 6, 9, 10. On this, see Wyatt (RTU: 400, n. 7). 74 On his genealogy, see Ata11ah (1966: 33-39) and Ribichini (1981: 45-57). 75 Hesiod, Hesiodi Carmina, (ed. Rzach, Teubner, 1913: Fragm. 32). 76 Apollodorus, The Library III, 14, 4. 77 See Oden (1977: 3 n. 6). 78 Ribichini (1981: 45-57). 79 See for instance Aristophanes, Lysistrata 389, 395, and Menandros, Samia 45. On Samia 3550, see Weill (1970: 591-593). 80 See Weill ( 1966: 664-674) for iconographical material and a good discussion (note pp. 668. 671 ). On the iconography, see also LIMC I, 2. p. 170. nos. 48a. 48b, 49.

I

128 that take place on the roof are an oddity in Greek religion but are more common in the Canaanite world. 81 We shall now peruse the meagre evidence for the Levantine god. We shall start with the Christian writers Origen and Jerome and work our way backwards, against the current of time. This procedure will take us to De Dea Syria and to some formulations in the Amarna letters almost one and a half millennia earlier. Before dealing with this material, however, we should note that a passage with one of the rare attestations of Adonis gardens in the Levant, namely, Isaiah 17: 10-11, expresses a symbolism of death and sterility: 'I>

'I kn tt'y nt'y n'mnym wzmn zr tzr'nw bywm nt'k tsgsgy wbbqr zr'k tpryl)y nd q$yr bywm nl)lh wk 'b 'nws

I translate this as follows:

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Therefore, though you may plant gardens in honour of Naaman 82 and set out slips for the alien [god], 83 though you make them grow on the day you plant them and make your seeds sprout on the morning that you sowyet, the harvest will flee away 84 in a day of grief and incurable pain.

.. I I, I

There are, however, other indications to show that Adonis was a god, who was not exclusively connected with sterility and death, and to these we now turn.

3.2. Origen and Jerome

Confirmation of this preliminary analysis of the eastern Adon(is), the Levantine god, is found in the circumstance that he was indeed inI': I'

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II

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81

See Burkert (1979: 106 and the refs. on p. 192, n. 8). Note Emar Vl.3.370: 4lff. and from Israel 2 Kgs 23:12; Jer 19:13; 32:29; Zeph 1:5, and from Moab Isa 15:3 and Jer 48:38. I owe the Emar reference to Daniel Fleming (p.c.). On Isa 15:3, see Bonnet (1987b). 82 On n'mnym as a divine designation, Naaman, that is understood as an epithet of Adonis, see Wildberger (1978: 638, and also pp. 634, 655-661) and Delcor (1978: 384-393). The formulation is either a double plural "Naaman gardens" (cf. GKC § 124 q) or a case of mem enc/iticum.-Ribichini (1981: 94-98) does not take the passage to allude to Adonis gardens. 83 I take the suffix in tzr'nw as indicating a dative, literally: "and though you set out for him [alien sprouts]." 84 See BHS, the text-critical apparatus.

129

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timately linked with the growth and sprouting of vegetation. This feature is well attested in the West Semitic world. Admittedly, the attestations are late, but we shall try, in a subsequent step of this investigation, to reach behind those I am here thinking of, namely, Origen, Jerome, Porphyry, and Amrnianus Marcellinus. Origen (ca. 185-253) was born in Alexandria, but from 231 he spent his life in Caesarea. He was thus well acquainted with life in Palestine in the third century C.E. In his Selecta in Ezechielem VIII, 12, Origen says that,

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"EAA't]mv "AowvLv, 8aflfloul;, <j>am KaA£1o6m nap' · E~

flEV &n 6p't]VOUOLV mhov Ox;; T£6V't]KOTU' 0£U't£pov OE &n xaipoumv £:ri auniJ Ox;; ao'L 1:ov "AowvLv oUflfloA-ov rlvaL Twv 1:ijc;- yijc;- Kapnwv, 6p't]VOUflEVWV flfV ihr onripoV'tm, avwTafl£vwv o£, Ka'L OLa TOUTO xaipav noWUV'tWV Toile; yrwpyovc;- ihr <j>UoV'tm. 85

The god whom the Greeks call Adonis is called Tammuz, as they say, among the Jews and among the Syrians ... They seem to perform some sort of initiation rites every year, first, because they bewail him as if he were dead, and second, because they rejoice on his behalf as if he had risen from the dead. Those who are knowledgeable about the deeper interpretation of the Greek myths and what is called mythic theology say that Adonis is the symbol of the fruits of the earth, which are mourned when they are sown, but which rise, thereby causing joy among the farmers when they [the seeds] grow up. 86

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The name Tammuz in Ezek 8:14 is here understood to refer to Adonis. 87 We note that the annual celebration of Adonis as described by Origen had two subsequent steps: (1) Adonis is bewailed as though he were dead. (2) Then there was a celebration of joy on his behalf "as if he had risen from the dead". Origen also tells us that his literate contemporaries interpret this as symbolizing the fate of the seeds that are sown. There is thus in our passage a connection between Adonis and the cycle of vegetation. The same passage in Ezekiel is also commented upon by Jerome (Explan. in Ezech. III, 8,14). 88 We know that Jerome was well acquainted with the writings of Origen and also translated a number of them. Nevertheless, we have reasons to believe that his statements about the worship of Adonis are due to independent observation. Jerome (ca. 345419) spent a considerable part of his life in the Levant, first several years 85 PG 13: col. 797-800. 86 My translation. 87 On this, see Baudissin ( 1911: 94-97) and Zimmerli ( 1969: 220-221 ). 88 PL 25: col. 82-83.

1

130 in Syria and then from 386 on in Bethlehem. In one of his letters (Ep. 58, 3) he records that there was between the reigns of Hadrian and Constantine, a ~rove of Adonis in Bethlehem where the lover of Venus was bewailed. 8 In his commentary on Ezekiel Jerome tells us: What we have rendered as Adonis, the Hebrew and Syrian languages denote as Tammuz. According to a pagan tale, Venus' lover, a very beautiful youth, is killed [occisus l in the month of June. After this, he is said to have risen [revixisse], and the month of June is named after him. There is an annual celebration of his feast, in which women bewail him as dead [mortuus!, and then he is praised in song when he returns to life [reviviscens]. Subsequently, it is shown what the leaders and "elders of the house of Israel" did in the temple, in "the darkness" and in "the chambers". The sins of the "women" are also described: they "complain" about their loss of intercourse with their lovers, and they rejoice if they can regain it. The same pagans interpret, in a subtle manner, the poets' narratives of a similar kind, narratives about shameful things: they understand the sequence of wailing and joy as referring to the death and resurrection of Adonis. They take his death [inteifectionem] to be shown by the seeds that die in the earth, and his resurrection by the crops in which the dead seeds are rebomY0

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Jerome seems to allude to the killing of Adonis by the boar (occisus, interfectio), a notice that we do not find in Origen. He seems to be mistaken about the time: he assigns the rites to June instead of July (the month of Tammuz). Otherwise, he basically agrees with this previous writer, both in the order of the celebration (first mourning, then joy), in which the resurrection of Adonis (revixisse) is the cause of the joy, and in the association with the vegetation: Adonis' fate symbolized the death and rebirth of the seed that is sown. It is important to note that there is no hint in Origen or Jerome that the pagans were imitating Christian concepts. Nothing in these passages indicates that they contain a Christian misreading of the pagan material. The idea of Adonis' death and resurrection, of his descent to the Netherworld and his return from there, thus appears as a mythological paradigm for the life of vegetation. The same connection appears in Porphyry, a native of Phoenician Tyre, born 234 C.E. According to him, Adonis is the symbol of the harvest of ripe fruit. 91 Ammianus Marcellinus, a Roman historian from Antioch in Syria (b. c. 330 C.E.), in his 89

Text in Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, vol. 1 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 54, 1996: 531-532). Welten (1983: esp. p. 201) tries to reinterpret this information as referring to a mourning rite connected with the killing of the children at Bethlehem. This is sheer speculation. 90 Jerome, Explan. in EzYh. III, 8, 14 (PL 25: 82f.). Translation by Sten Hidal (p.c.). The literal connections with Ezek 8:7-14 have been put within quotation marks. 91 PG2l:col.l97c.

-

131

o rction ; that b re

brief note on the Adonis celebration in Antioch, testifies to the same connection. 92 In summary: The symbolism of death and transitoriness that is so prominent in the Greek material for Adonis cannot without further ado be said to be valid for the Levant. While we find this symbolism in Isa 17: 10-11, a certain amount of evidence tells a different story. The myth of bilocation, which we found reason to connect with Levantine Adon(is), is a myth that presupposes the return of Adonis. In line with this, writers like Origen and Jerome tell about the death and resurrection of Adonis and understand this as a paradigm for the life of vegetation. Porphyry and Ammianus Marcellinus are further witnesses to this connection between Adonis and the life of the vegetation. What we find in a scholion on Theocritus which identifies Adonis with the seeds of grain, spending six months in the earth with Persephone, and six on the earth with Aphrodite, 93 may thus be fairly isolated in Greek tradition but certainly falls in line with what we know of the Levantine Adon(is).

.·,in-

3.3. De Dea Syria § 6 on Adonis

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If we move backwards in time from the testimonies we have just studied, we arrive at an important piece of information about the Levantine Adon(is) in a passage found in Lucian's (or Pseudo-Lucian's) De Dea Syria §§ 6-8, probably from the second century C.E. 94 There is some disagreement about the source-critical issues raised by this work. 95 One has often disregarded the information about religion in ancient Syria that is found in the work. This is partly due to the assumption that the work was written by Lucian of Samosata. Since this author is known for his sceptical attitude towards religion, it is often concluded that De Dea Syria intends to ridicule the cults of Hierapolis and By bios. The question of authorship is therefore important to us. 96 A number of scholars, notably Oden, have decided in favour of Lucian. 97 Others have taken the opposite position. 98

rcelr ~is 1

Lati-

:ion as [ > is literal

92

Ammianus Marcellinus XXII. 9, 15: "the festival of Adonis ... a festival which is symbolic of the reaping of the ripe fruits of the field." 93 Scholia in Theocritum HI, 48 (Wendell914: 131). 94 The text I use is Attridge and Oden (The Syrian Goddess, 197n), with their translation. 95 See Oden (1977: 4-14). 96 For a survey of the debate, see Oden (1977: 4-14). 97 See Oden (1977: 14-40) and the references listed in Dirven (1997: 154-155). On Lucian, see Nesselrath ( 1999)" 9 H See the references in Dirven ( 1997: 171, n. 10).

132

The issue was recently reopened when Lucinda Dirven submitted a major paper on it ( 1997). Her conclusion is clear. The anonymous work was not written by Lucian. Her starting point is the allegation of the author that he is an "Assyrian". or rather, Syrian. 99 Moreover, she makes a distinction between what he has seen himself and what he has learned from the priests (§ 1). 100 This could of course be a topos, but the information he offers in his work is indeed of the kind to inspire respect for his general reliability and accuracy. 101 Dirven notes that scholars who defend a Lucianic authorship employ a circular argument: Lucian is a satirist on religion; De Dea Syria was written by Lucian; the work is serious on religion; it must therefore be intended as a parody; the irony of the work proves that Lucian was its author. 102 Dirven stresses that the imitation of the style of Herodotus can be read as a homage to one of the first Greek ethnographers, just as the resemblance between Pausanias' Description of Greece and the Histories of Herodotus is usually explained by saying that the former is a guide book with historical, religious, and mythological digressions. 103 Recent studies, notably those by Oden and Dirven, make De Dea Syria appear as a major work on Syrian religion that deserves an attentive hearing. Let us then listen to what this ancient writer has to say about Adonis in a passage that I here cite from the translation by Attridge and Oden (1976): I

(6) I did see, however, in Byblos a great sanctuary of Aphrodite of Byblos in which they perform the rites of Adonis, and I learned about the rites. They say, at any rate, that what the boar did to Adonis occurred in their territory. As a memorial of his suffering each year they beat their breasts, mourn, and celebrate the rites. Throughout the land they perform solemn lamentations. When they cease their breast-beating and weeping, they first sacrifice to Adonis as if to a dead person, but then, on the next day, they proclaim that he Jives and send him into the air. They also shave their heads, as do the Egyptians when Apis dies. The women who refuse to shave pay this penalty: For a single day they stand offering their beauty for sale. The market, however, is open to foreigners only and the payment becomes an offering to Aphrodite. (7) There are some inhabitants of Byblos who say that the Egyptian Osiris is buried among them and that all the laments and the rites are performed not for Adonis but for Osiris. I will also tell you on what grounds they consider this ac99 See Oden (1977: 3 n. 6). See§§ I, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 37, 42, 48, 60. Listed by Soyez (1977: 29 n. 65). 101 See the discussion in Oden (1977: chaps. I and IV) and Dirven (1997: 159-169). 102 Dirven (1997: 158). 103 Dirven (1997: 156-157). Lucinda Dirven informs me that Jane Lightfoot (Oxford) is about to publish a major study of De Dea Syria (p.c.). I anticipate that the issue of authorship will be fully discussed there. 100

133 count to be reliable. Each year a head comes from Egypt to Byblos, making the voyage in seven days, and the winds carry it by divine guidance. It does not tum aside in any direction, but comes only to Byblos. This is quite miraculous. It occurs every year; indeed, it happened while I was present in Byblos and I saw the "Byblian" head. (8) There is also another marvel in the land of Byblos. A river from Mount Leb-

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anon empties into the sea. Adonis is the name given to the river. Each year the river becomes blood red and, having changed its color, flows into the sea and reddens a large part of it, giving a signal for lamentations to the inhabitants of Byblos. They tell the story that on these days Adonis is being wounded up on Mt. Lebanon and his blood, as it goes into the water, alters the river and gives the stream its name ....

This passage, and especially § 6, appears to describe various subsequent steps in the celebration of Adonis in and around Byblos. 104 (1) "Throughout the land" there are ~ryaA.a n:£y8ra, "great lamentations". 105 In memory of Adonis' suffering the participants of the cult "beat their breasts" (Tun:Tovtm), thus following Semitic custom. 106 (2) The next stage of celebrations, whether on the same day or on the next one, takes place when the mourning rites have ceased ("when they cease their breast-beating and weeping"). What now comes is a funerary sacrifice to Adonis: Kmayil;,oum T0 'ADwYLDL oKwc; EOvtl YEKm, "they I sacrifice to Adonis as if to a dead person". The word YEK1J£:; may be used of the dead in the Netherworld; however, it may also be used in the concrete sense of a "corpse, dead body". This might then point to the presence of some material representation of the dead Adonis, such as an image, statuette, puppet or something similar. 107 (3) On the subsequent day, the day after the sacrifice, the mood of the rites changes: ~na 6£ Ti] h£p1J i]~EPlJ l;,wrw TE ~w ~t,8oA.oy£oum Ka'L k TOY i]£pa n:£~n:oum. This formulation must be properly discussed. Let us start with the last expression, k TOY i]£pa n:£~n:oum, which is one that has initiated a number of speculations. 108 Roux blazed the trail for the interpretation that seems to me to be the correct one. "Into the 104 For previous discussions of this passage, see esp. Lambrechts (1955: 232-234 ), Atallah ( 1966: 261-263), Roux (1967: 262-264), Seyrig (1972a: 97-100), Will (1975 93-105). and Soyez (1977: 28-43). 105 Note that "great lamentation(s)" could reflect a Semitic term; see Zech 12: II with the juxtaposition of the verb gdl and the noun mspd. 106 On beating the breast. see Gruber ( 1980: 434-456). Note Hebrew spd and mspd 107 See Soyez (1977: 38). 108 For a survey. see Eissfe1dt 1 1970b). Lambrechts ( 1955: 233f.) took it to refer to a sort of Djed pillar being raised into the atr by means of ropes. Robertson ( 1982: 334) took it to refer to a rite in which Adonis was "volatilized·· by means of cremation.

134

air". he says, means "into open air", as opposed to the confined atmosphere of a closed locality. The use of the verb in this passage about a religious ceremony is best understood as a synonym of JtO!!JtEilom, and the whole expression refers to a rite in which Adonis, in effigy, was escorted in a procession (JtO!!Jt{j) into open air, from the darkness of a closed chapel. 109 I would like to add that this sense is well illustrated by a passage from Firmicus Matemus, which probably refers to a different deity but one who was worshipped with a highly similar rite. He says that "You bury an idol, you lament an idol, you bring forth from its sepulture an idol ... " (Idolum sepelis, idolum plangis, idolum de sepultura proferis ... ). 110 There is thus a procession from the tomb of Adon-

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Let us then turn to the first expression in the passage, t;wnv TE !-ltv !-l'U8oA.oy£ouat. We may understand this in two different ways. (a) Is it a general, non-specific expression, meaning roughly "they say that he lives", 112 or "they proclaim that he lives"? 113 (b) Or, again, does it convey a technical, ritual sense, "they recite the myth of his resurrection", 114 ferhaps with a note of irony, "they recite the fable that he lives"? 11 Since the context is a ritual one and deals with a procession from the tomb of the deity, the expression might refer to the ritual recital of the myth of Adonis' return to life. 116 Whether or not it contains a note of irony is of little consequence to our investigation. The passage in De Dea Syria does not say anything explicitly about what time of year the celebrations take place. Soyez has studied circumstantial evidence and has arrived at the conclusion that the date for the Byblos rites was roughly the same as in Greece, that is, the middle of summer, in mid-July. 1 17 The passage in our text then refers to the annual celebration of Adonis rites, which included ritual mourning and a procession from the tomb of Adonis. The Adonis rites are interpreted by a reference to the Adonis myth: Adonis is killed by a boar but returns to life ("they recite the myth

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mann Sli!rensen (1989: 73-86) concludes that the passage does not refer to Adonis or Attis, but rather to an Egyptian ritual. 111 On the tomb of Adonis, see Soyez (1977: 41-43). 112 Seyrig ( 1972a: 98). 113 Attridge and Oden (1976:13). 114 Thus Roux (1967: 263). 115 Thus Notscher (1980: 87). 116 Note the use of !luEli:o!lm, "tell the story that ... " in § 8 (middle). 117 Soyez (1977: 45-75).

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of his return to life"). The rites are performed "as a memorial" of the mythical events. One detail that merits a brief comment here, before we leave De Dea Syria, is the rite of shaving one's head. The author compares this to a feature of the cult of Apis, but tonsure is also a well-known Semitic expression of mourning. 118 I am inclined to compare this to a feature reported by Herodotus and Strabo for the Ishtar cult of Babylon: women who offer themselves to strangers in the grove of Aphrodite/Ishtar do so wearing "crowns of cord on their heads". 119 We are then in a position to summarize our perusal of De De a Syria. Recent research tends to stress its general reliability. What we have in Greece is a women's festival of a private nature, celebrated on the rooftops of private houses. In De Dea Syria we are confronted with a more public affair, with a sort of chapel in focus. The rites are described as taking place in subsequent steps: a great mourning throughout the land, a funerary sacrifice to Adonis, the recitation of the myth of his return to life, his resurrection, and, as the ritual expression of this, a procession bringing the effigy of Adonis from his tomb into the open air. The funerary sacrifice and the celebration of the god's resurrection take place on two subsequent days. If the great mourning throughout the land takes place on a separate day before the funerary sacrifice, then we have here a ritual cycle of three subsequent days, a triduum, with the resurrection on the third day, but this remains a moot point due to the lack of information about the duration of the great mourning. 120 What is of outstanding importance for the present investigation is that our passage, though late, presents evidence that the Levantine Adon(is) was a god who was believed not only to die but to rise again 121 and whose death and resurrection were ritually represented in a series of annual celebrations that took place during two, or, perhaps, three subsequent days. Let us here stop for a moment and consider the attempts of previous research to come to grips with the references to Adonis' resurrection. (l) Lambrechts stresses that there are two groups of source material: an 118

See Job 1:20; Jer 16:6; 48:37 and Amos 8:10. Thus, I cannot agree with Eissfeldt (1970b: 240) who takes it as an expression of joy. 119 Herodotus I, 199; Strabo, Geogr. XVI, I, 20. Cf. I Kgs 20:31 where the wearing of ropes on the head is an expression of grief and self-humiliation. 120 Dochhorn (1998). who criticizes the triduum interpretation, is right about the syntax ("danach aber, am anderen Tage", p. 203, thus the same understanding as in Oden's translation above), but he overlooks the possibility that the great mourning took place on a separate day, before the funerary sacrifice. A triduum is therefore still an open possibility. 121 On this I agree with Seyrig (1972a: 97-100. esp. p. 100), Soyez (1977: 35-43). and Ribichini (1981: 156-159).

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early group of material from the classical world without any hint at Adonis' resurrection, and a later group, where we find references to his resurrection (De Dea Syria, Origen, Cyril). Here the resurrection is due to Osiris concepts, a conclusion bolstered by Lambrechts in his interpretation that "sending into the air" the dead Adonis refers to raising a Djed pillar by means of ropes. 122 The interpretation given above of the crucial formulations makes Lambrechts's suggestion superfluous. (2) Will, in tum, conjectures that Origen and Cyril viewed the Adonis material through Christian glasses and thus saw references to the resurrection of Adonis, while the cultic reality of his worship actually contained nothing of the sort. His interpretation was well received by J.Z. Smith. 123 Will's approach necessitates some source-critical reflexions after our discussion of Origen, Jerome, and De Dea Syria. 124 The two firstmentioned are Christian writers who were probably critical of the phenomena they reported. This appears from such formulations in the passage from Jerome as "the poet's narratives ... about shameful things" that the pagans interpret "in a subtle manner". What the Christian writer refers to is not his own but the pagans' interpretation of the Adonis myth (and probably also the Adonis rites). It is then very difficult to neglect such passages as representing a Christian misreading of the evidence in the way that Will suggests. The practitioners of the Adonis cults claimed death and resurrection for their god, for Adonis. A different question is why they raised this claim. We must realize that the Adonis cults were exposed to strong competition from the Christian church. Could the notion of the resurrection of Adonis perhaps be a feature "confiscated" from Christianity? To ask that question is to ask whether or not we have reasons to think that Adonis was a dying and rising god already in pre-Christian times. As for Levantine Adon(is) during the Iron Age we are confronted with a vast lacuna on our map: the material is simply non-existent, or at least not yet discovered. A possible exception is found in some Assyrian documents of the seventh century B.C.E. where we see West Semitic anthroponyms that contain the element A-du-ni/nu. Among these, the Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire lists Adilni-i.fJ )a, written m A-du-ni-i.fJ-a. Lipinski interprets the name as "May my lord keep 122

Lambrechts (1955: 231-235). Will (1975) and J.Z. Smith (1987: 522a bottom). 124 I would here like to thank my student Lasse Bemdes for a valuable conversation about the source-critical issues involved. 123

137 alive!" and connects the theophoric element with Adonis. 125 Since we know that various deities can be designated as )dn, we cannot be sure that it is the god later known as Adonis that is referred to in this theophoric name. 126 The situation is thus unclear. Indeed, the person thus named may have been a Judean. 127 As I said, the first millennium is largely a lacuna on our map. There seems to me to be one possible way of handling this deplorable situation, and this is to search for Late Bronze Age material, especially for the male god at Byblos, from which we could make at least some inferences about the nature of this deity. If the features we find during this early period agree with important characteristics of Adonis of later times, then there may be a certain justification for extrapolating and inferring that this was also valid for Iron Age Adon(is). Indeed, there is one potential but not uncontroversial piece of evidence of this sort, namely, the Amama letter no. 84. To this we now tum. I want to stress from the outset, however, the tentative nature of the following discussion.

3.4. Byblos: The Amarna Letter No. 84 with Damu (Adonis?)

I

1. EA No. 84.-In the Amama letters (mid fourteenth century B.C.E.) there is one document, a letter from Rib-Hadda of Byblos, that may or may not contain an allusion to the Byblian god Adon(is), namely, EA 84:31-35: May my lord send men to take the possessions of dDA.MU-ia to the king, my lord, lest that dog take the possessions of your god. 128

The crucial formulation in lines 31-33 runs as follows in the Akkadian original: u lu-wa-si-ra be-li-ia

Lumes u ti-fl-qu mi-im-mimes dDA.MU-ia

The designation dDA.MU-ia has been understood in two different ways:

125

Lipinski in Radner (1998: 54) and in (1995: 90). Tallqvist (1914: 13) took the name without further ado to refer to Adonis and gave two possible interpretations of it: either as "Adonis alive" or "Adonis brother", of which Baudissin ( 1911: 67) preferred the latter. 127 He measured wheat in Nineveh in accordance with the Judean cubic unit. see Eph' al ( 1973: pp xxv and 203) and Zadok (1977-78: 40). llX The translations from the t'A texts are from Moran. The Amarna Letlers ( 1992). unless otherwise stated.

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(I) In 1915 Otto Schroeder discussed our passage. To him it was clear from the context and from the determinative that it refers to a deity. He concluded that this deity is Darou, a designation he found in close connection with Tammuz, as a name or an epithet of this god. 129 Moran, in his translation of the Amama letters, adopted this interpretation and even preferred to render the name "Darou" as "Adonis": "to take the possessions of my Adonis." 130 (2) Nadav Na'aman, on the other hand, failed to see any reference here to a god Darou. Instead, he argued that the reference here is to a goddess, the Lady of B yblos. 131 The matter is obviously of some importance to our investigation. 132 The question is whether or not one of the Amama letters from Byblos contains a reference to a male deity denoted as Damu, a name closely associated with Tammuz, at least during the first millennium B.C.E. We must therefore deal properly with the crucial formulation in EA 84. Na'aman's main arguments for his conclusion may be summarized as follows: (1) Everywhere else in the Amama letters it is the Lady of Byblos that figures as the main deity ofthis city. Note the blessing formula that appears so frequently in the letters from Byblos: "May the Lady of Gubla grant power to the king." (2) The designation in EA 84:33 is parallel to "your [Pharaoh's] god" in 84:35. Only three gods are otherwise referred to in the Amama letters as deities of the Pharaoh: Amon, the Sun-God and the Lady of Byblos. (3) EA 132:53-55, a passage in another letter from Rib-Hadda, contains a formulation that seems to give the clue to the identity of the deity in EA 84. It is a formulation closely parallel to the one cited above: us-si-ra gisMAmes ti-11-qu mi-im-[mres d]NIN uia-ti Send ships to fetch the Lady's property and me.

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Na'aman thus concludes that the reference in dDA.MU-ia in EA 84:33 is to the Lady of Byblos. The indications are strong but not conclusive, since there are certain difficulties inherent in the argument. Against the interpretation reached by Na'aman the following observations call for attention: (1) A letter from the same king of Byblos contains the formulation, 129

130 131 132

...

Schroeder (1915). Moran, The Amarna Letters (1992: 155, cf. p. 386). Lipinski (1995: 191 n. 509) comments on Moran's rendering of EA 84:33: "une traduction trop 1ibre et anachronique". Na'aman (1990: 248-250). In previous discussions of Adonis, EA 84 was referred to by Ribichini (1981: 190), Bonnet (1993: 32-33) and M.S. Smith (1998: 286) .

139 If there are no archers this year, then send ships to fetch me, along with [my] living god [u-us-si-ra gisMA mes ti-11-qu-ni qa-du DINGIRmes ba-al-til, 133 to my lord. (EA 129:49-51)

It seems reasonable to believe that the "living god" 134 in this passage refers to the same deity as in EA 84:31-33. 135 In order to sustain his conclusion that EA 84:33 refers to the Lady of Byblos, Na'aman suggests: "The 'living god' (better 'goddess') is an honorific title of the Lady of Byblos." 136 I find this a bit strained, since the form is a masculine ba-al-ti. (2) Na'aman's interpretation of the designation in EA 84:33 is also strained. He transliterates EA 84:33 DINGIR da-mu-ia and understands this as the West Semitic word for "blood" with the divine determinative. He continues, "The blood ( damu) is the sign of human life and vitality, conveying the same idea as the adjective baltu in EA 129:51. A tentative translation of EA 84:33 is 'the goddess, my vitality', or the like." 137 Yet while there are early attestations of "proto-Syrian" damu in the sense of "blood", 138 this is hardly an understanding that suits the present context. (3) It is also worth noticing the circumstance that in spite of the frequency with which the Lady of Byblos is mentioned in the Byblos letters, there is nowhere else a reference to her as ddamuia. I (4) A deity called Damu is indeed known from the Fertile Crescent, 139 and there is material from Ebla, Mari, and U garit that is relevant in this contextJ 40 Ever since the study of Schroeder (1915), this is also the way the formulation has been understood, until the publication ofNa'aman's study. 141 The differences mentioned under points 1 and 2 disappear if one concludes that dDA.MU-ia connotes this deity. On Damu, see below. Conclusion: The observations adduced by Na'aman fail to convince us that Schroeder's interpretation should be rejected. On the contrary, the natural interpretation of EA 84:33 is to find here a reference to a 133

For the plural of excellence here, see Rainey (1996 vol. 1: 147-148) and cf. GKC § 124 g. For the conclusion that "living" refers to the god and not to the king (contra Knudtzon 1915 vol. 1: 551), see Moran (1960: 4 n. 3): the text reads balti and not balta(m). 135 As was pointed out by Moran, The Amarna Letters (1992: 211 n. 23). 136 Na'aman (1990: 250). 137 Na'aman (1990: 250). 138 See Bonechi (1997: 477-481). I owe this reference to Daniel Fleming (p.c.). 139 See Edzard (WdM l: 50-51). 140 See below. 141 The following argue in line with Schroeder: Hess (1986: 160), Lipinski (1987: 94), Moran. The Amarna Letters (1992: 155), and Rainey ( 1996: vol. I: 120-121 ).-Na'aman's interpretation. again, receives qualified support from Xella (1994: 195-214, p. 200). 134

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male deity denoted as Damu. Moreover. this deity is mentioned by the king as "my Damu". And one further point: passages entreating Pharaoh to send men or alternatively ships to fetch the property of Damu (EA 84) and that of the Lady of Byblos (EA 132) indicate that we have here a divine couple.

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2. The Identity of the Local Male Deity.-So far we have moved on the textual level. We must now proceed to the extra-textual world of the cultic reality at Byblos. In order to ascertain the local, Byblian name of the deity that the scribe referred to by the designation "Damu" we now ask whether there is other Semitic evidence for a male deity of Byblos during the Bronze Age and Iron Age? It is the merit of Corinne Bonnet to have called attention to the existence of a Baal of Byblos. 142 She points to two important pieces of evidence. (a) In the first place, there is a tenth century B.C.E. reference to b'/ gbl. As Bonnet points out, there is no compelling reason to deviate from the attested reading in the Yehimilk inscription (middle of the tenth century) which lists b'l smm. wb'l gbl. wmpbrt. >J gbl qdsm, "Baal Shamem and Baal of Byblos and the assembly of the holy gods of Byblos". We should not accept the emendation to the feminine reading found in the editions, 143 an emendation that makes the text refer to the Baalat of Byblos. On the contrary, the reference is here to a male deity denoted as "Baal of Byblos". 144 (b) Secondly, there is another inscription, found ten km from ancient Byblos, published by Bordreuil and dated by him on palaeographical grounds to the tenth century B.C.E. This inscription provides us with the first example known of a Phoenician inscription in high relief. 145 The text reads: ?]rdnw I ?]b'lt gbl

With due caution, taking into consideration the fragmentary nature of this piece of evidence, I am inclined to believe with Bordreuil that we have here a mention of two deities, one masculine ( >dn) and one feminine (b'lt gbl). We also notice that the first designation is followed by a - w of uncertain interpretation, a letter which may very well be the suffix 142

Bonnet (1993: 25-34). See KAI 4: 3-4 and TSSI vol 3: no. 6: 3-4. 144 Bonnet (1993: 25-34). Note also Bonnet's observation that it would be too simplistic to assume, on the basis of the enumeration in this inscription, that Baal Shamem was the main god ofByblos, see Bonnet (1993: 32) and especially Xella in his monograph on Baal Hamon (1991: 50). 145 Bordreuil (1977: 23-27). For an excellent photograph, se DCPP pl. VIla. 143

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of the 3rd person masc. sing., an explanation preferred by Bordreuil himself. 146 The text may then refer to the Lady of Byb1os and her spouse, the latter being denoted as 'dn and having a personal suffix. What is then the relation between b<J gbl and 'dn? An inspection of the personal names of Byblos immediately shows that the theophoric element Baal is the one that is most frequently attested. 147 That Adon may serve as the epithet of a local deity has a good analogy in the use of 'dn in Ugaritic and later West Semitic materia1. 148 I am inclined to believe that b<J gbl was the name of the Byblian male god and that 'dn was his epithet. The evidence for the suffixed form of the divine name of the male god of Byblos is worth noticing. When speaking of the king in the third person, it would be natural for one to refer to "his Adon" (as in the inscription), while the king speaking in the first person would speak of "my Adon" (cf. the formulation "my Damu" in EA 84:33). This could reflect the epithet "Adon" with a pronominal suffix 149 and would then support the assumption that this was the form behind the Greek "Adonis". Our observations so far suggest that the Lady ofByblos has a spouse, referred to by 'dnw in Bordreuil's inscription and by the designation dDA.MU-ia in EA 84:33. The suffix in each case could hint at his role 1 as the personal deity of the king. Could it then be that the Lady of Byblos holds the position of god of the city and her spouse Adon(is) the role of personal god of the monarch? I find it plausible that Bordreuil's inscription provides the Semitic epithet of the Byblian god known from later Greek and Latin sources as Adonis. This chain of evidence would then seem to have its explanation in historical connections, stretching from the god referred to by the designation dDA.MU-ia in the Amama letters (84:33), via the Adon ofBordreuil's inscription, to the Adonis of later Greek and Latin sources.

3. Why Was "Damu" Used by the Scribe?-The natural question is now why the scribe ofByblos chose the designation dDA.MU-ia to refer to the Byblian god. Was Damu the actual local name of the Byblian deity during this period, or was this the scribe's way of referring, in his Akkadian text, to a god who actually had a West Semitic designation?

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Bordreuil (1977: 26). The same form of the suffix is found in KA/4: 5 and 10: 15, both from Byblos. 47 l For the role of various theophoric elements in Byblian names, see Xella (1994: 212-214 ). 148 See the present chapter under 3.l.l. 149 See Cross in Moran. The A marna Letters ( 1992: 156 n. 10). l

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We should note that Damu and Dumuzi are originally two different gods who are believed to coalesce and merge identities. Only Damu is a true vegetation deity from the beginning. 150 It seems clear that Damu and Dumuzi are identified in the first millennium B.C.E. as appears from late Sumerian balag compositions. 151 There is however, an Old Babylonian god list that mentions Damu in immediate connection with Geshtinanna and Ninedara, who are both deities with close connections to Dumuzi. Geshtinanna is Dumuzi' s sister. As Thomas Richter points out, this passage might indicate a high age for the "equation" DamuDumuzi.152 Michael Fritz, however, questions this interpretation: Dumuzi and Damu here belong to different circles of gods. 153 That Damu was known in the Syro-Palestinian region is seen from his occurrence in theophoric personal names in Ebla, 154 Mari, Ugarit, and in later Phoenician and Punic names. 155 The assumption that Damu was the name of the deity at Byblos is thus not an impossible one. On the other hand, we know that Sumerograms are used in the Amama letters to refer to deities with local West Semitic names: diSKUR for Hadad or Baal, dNIN for b(lt gbl and dUTU for Shamash/Shapash. 156 Against this background I find it hard to decide whether the worshippers of Late Bronze Age Byblos called their god Damu or used a West Semitic designation ( )dn). The latter seems intrinsically more probable. In that case, EA 84:33 reflects the orthographic conventions of the Byblos scribe but not the actual name of the deity. In this connection we should briefly touch on the question of the nature of Damu. A problem here is that the information about this is mainly found in Sumerian material from the East. The following discussion rests on the feasible but still unverifiable assumption that the Damu of the West is closely similar to the Damu of the East. This proviso should be kept in mind.

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Alster (DDD: 1568). See Jacobsen (1976: 163ff.) and Alster (DDD: 1575). Michael Fritz (lena) does not believe that Damu and Dumuzi were identified in the second millennium B.C.E. (p.c. Oct. 200 I). 152 See Th. Richter (1999: 263-264, esp. note 1047). Reference courtesy Daniel Schwemer (p.c.). 153 Michael Fritz (p.c.). Fritz refers to his forthcoming monograph (fc. 2002; see addition to the bibliography). Also A. Sjobeg (p.c.) doubts that there is a Damu-Dumuzi syncretism prior to the first millennium. 154 See Pomponio and Xella (1997: 381-388) and von Soden (1987: 75-90). Note, however, the observation that this theophoric element in Eblaite personal names never carries the divine determinative but rather functions as an abstract personification serving as a theophoric element in personal names (Pomponio and Xella p. 387). 155 See Lipinski (1987: 9!-99). 156 See Weber's index in Knudtzon ([1915=)1964: 1582-1583) and Hess (1986: esp. pp. 151, 154. 158f. with discussion). 151

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While Dumuzi is attested elsewhere in the Amarna material, 157 it is Damu who occurs in connection with Byblos, the same Byblos that was later known as a centre for the Adonis rites. Damu is known from other Mesopotamian and Syrian sources, 158 notably from first millennium Sumerian balag compositions. In one group of such texts which Jacobsen has scrutinized, the theme is the search for the god as carried out by his mother or sister. 159 Damu is here a vegetation god, representing the sap in trees and vegetation, who has disappeared into the Netherworld. The question whether the material tells about his return, however, is a controversial one. According to Jacobsen, his return is attested in one composition. 160 Alster questions this interpretation. Damu, who is here identified with Ningishzida, "was liberated in the sense that he became an official in the underworld, but there is no mention of his return from the realm of the dead." 161 Ningishzida is a chthonic god, 162 but one should perhaps recall the circumstance that Tamrnuz and Gizzida (= Ningishzida) appear in the Adapa myth standing at Anu's door in heaven. 163 Edzard comments: "Thus N. shares with Dumuzi the character of a god staying only temporarily in the Netherworld." 164 Moreover, the composition called Ningishzida's Descent may be taken to refer to the liberation of the deity from the Netherworld (see below Chap. VII.l.3). In sum, Damu is a god who makes a descensus to the Netherworld. There are no indisputable references in the texts to his rtfturn, but he is associated with Ningishzida who seems to appear as a dying and rising god.

157

In Adapa and the South Wind, EA 356: 25, 39, 45, 54. 0n Damu, see Ebeling (RLA 2: 115-116), Edzard (WdM 50-5!), von Soden (1987: 75-90), Lipinski (1987: 91-99), Alster (DDD: 1567-1579, passim), Penglase (1997: 31-38), and Pomponio and Xella (1997: 381-388). 159 Jacobsen (1976: 63-73), who offers translations of a selection of texts, and idem (The Harps that Once, 1987: 56-84). See also Alster ( 1986). For Damu and vegetation, see also the Sumerian cult song translated by Romer (Hymnen und Klagelieder: 189-229). 160 See Jacobsen (1976: 68ff.) who refers (p. 247 n. 51) to TRS no. 8 and its duplicate versions CT XV pis. 26-27 and pl. 30. 161 Alster (1986: 27). 162 Edzard (WdM vol. I: 112). 163 Adapa and the South Wind, fragm. B: 16-41 and see also 49 and 56. Text and Italian translation in Picchioni ( 1981: 116-119), English translation in Foster (1993, vol. I: 431-432). 164 Edzard (WdM vol. 1: 112). My translation. Edzard writes: "Hiernach teilt N. mit Dumuzi den Charakter eines nur zeitweilig in der Unterwelt weilenden Gottes."-Note also Gudea, Cylinder A, V: 18ff., translation in Jacobsen (The Harps that Once, 1987: 394), where Gudea is assured in a dream "that in spite of Ningishzida's chthonic character he is able to come up anywhere in the world to further the undertaking of his ward", as Jacobsen paraphrases the contents (p. 394 n. 27). See further below, Chap. Vll.1.3.

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In this connection, it should also be noted that the male god of Byb!os is not denoted as a storm god in the Amarna letters. There is thus no specific reason to think of a continuity between Canaanite Baal and Adonis apart from the fact that the descensus motif is an obvious point in common. My conclusions from these observations are as follows. Behind Adon(is) we found Baal of Byblos (bel gbl ), a god whose epithet 'dn developed into a proper divine name, Adon(is). A male god of Byblos is referred to in the Amarna letters as "my living god" (EA 129:51 ). The best candidate for the identity of this god is "my Damu" (EA 84:33). These references suggest a Late Bronze Age pedigree for the god we meet in the tenth century inscriptions. The use of the name "Damu", however, is probably due to scribal convention. Then, what about the god actually worshipped at Byblos: Was he thought to die and return? The use of the divine name "Damu" (EA 84:33) suggests that he was thought of as a dying god. The probable reference to the same deity under the designation "the living god" (EA 129:51) could be understood as a corollary of this and suggests that he was thought of as having triumphed over death. But this is only a possibility, since "the living god" is open to various interpretations. The designation of a West Semitic god as "living" also occurs in connection with Baal Hamon, who may or may not have been a dying and rising god-note Pluto's occurrence as his chthonic hypostasis-and in connection with YHWH who is obviously not such a god, as far as we know him from the Biblical materia1. 165 The proximity of Adon(is), Damu and Dumuzi should alert us to the possibility that Byblos was a site where Adon(is) was part of a syncretistic development in which he adopted features originally connected with the Sumerian and Akkadian myths of journeys to the Netherworld. I shall return to this issue (Chap. Vll.3). 4. Early Egyptian Evidence?-The chain of evidence may perhaps be stretched even further back, but here we are admittedly on even more precarious ground. From the late third millennium B.C.E. comes a ref165

For Baal Hamon as "living", see Cross (1994: 98-99). Cross finds this in a Punic inscription from Constantine (El Hofra), second century B.C.E., KAI I 62: I, where he reads: 1'y' 'dn l;m, which "put into older Punic orthography" Cross reads: l]Jy' 'dn l)IJ, "To Hayyo (the Living [God]), lord of grace". From the context it is clear that the designation refers to Baal Hamon. This god probably derives from the Phoenician mainland, see Bordreuil ( 1986: 84 ). He had African Pluto as a chthonic hypostasis, see Lipinski (1990). Could this be an indication that Baal Hamon was a dying and rising deity?-On Yhwh as "living", see Kreuzer ( 1983) and Mettinger (1988: 82-91).

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from Mesopotamia an Assyrian edition of a Sumero-Akkadian calendar text, Astrolabium B, which speaks of an "early sowing" in the month of Tammuz. 177 The same procedure might be hinted at in a more Western text, Emar VI.3.446: 47-57. 178 After the sacrifice of a sheep for Dagan Lord of the Seeds, "the diviner throws down seed onto the ground", 179 and this seems to take place in a temple precinct. The text goes on to say that, "until they finish the sacrificial homages, no one may go out to plant" (ll. 56-57). 180 The rite in this Emar text is securely dated to the autumnal equinox occurring in September/October, which is later than the "trial sowinf above but probably earlier than the actual sowing later in the fall. 1 1 The time and setting might thus indicate a prognostic character of the act carried out. I would not argue that there is an immediate connection between the Emar practice and the Adonis gardens, as we know them from much later times. But the Emar text shows that there was in one domain of West Semitic religion a procedure that may provide an analogue for the Adonis gardens. A third circumstance is the daughter institution of the Adonis gardens, the small plantings in various vessels of seeds, mostly wheat, that we know from Christian celebrations in the Mediterranean. We know them from Sardinia, Sicily, Cyprus, Italy, and Provence. In Sardinia, they were called nenneri. Frazer, Baumgartner, and others regard them 1 as descendants of the Adonis gardens. 182 At various places they are connected with different Christian celebrations: mainly Easter and the feast of St. John. The latter date is around Midsummer's Eve, a date which recalls the celebrations of the Greek Adonia. The use of such plantings around Easter seems to me to suggest that there was a transfer of a major symbol of the Adonis celebrations to the central Christian celebration: the death and resurrection of Christ. Could this be due to a similar content of the Adonis celebrations? 183 Conclusion: The symbolism of the Adonis gardens in Greece is clearly one of death and sterility. There is almost no evidence for Acton-

1th Baudy ( 1986: 24 ). Astrolabium B. 1: 38-44 =45-50, see Weidner ( 1915: 85, 87 and 94). English translation in Cohen (1993: 315). 178 Text in Arnaud (1986: 421, with French translation p. 423); collated text now available in Fleming (2000: 272 with Engl. translation). Engl. translation also in Cohen ( 1993: 358). Discussion in Fleming (2000: IOOff. 212-213). M.S. Smith brought this text into the discussion, see Smith (1998: 292, n. 146). 179 Engl. translation by Fleming (2000: 273) l80 Engl. translation by Fleming (2000: 273). 181 Fleming (p.c. May 10, 2000). 182 See Frazer. GB3 4:1, pp. 244-259, and Baumgartner (1959: 247-273. csp. pp. 263ff) 183 See Frazer. GB 3 4: I. pp. 256f. Note also Baumgartner (1959: 270-271) and Baudy ( 1986: 20).

177

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is gardens in the Levant. The bits of circumstantial evidence, however. alert us to the possibility that the sterility symbolism is not a necessary one for the Adonis gardens of the Levant. That this possibility is a real one appears from Biblical passages such as John 12:24 and 1 Cor 15:3549, which speak about the symbolism of the seeds sown in the ground: dying-but giving rise to new life.

4. Synthesis: The Historical Development

I

In our study of Adonis we found it important to distinguish between the classical Adonis and the Levantine god. With this in mind we moved forward in three steps and dealt with Greece and Rome, with Egypt, and with the Levant respectively. When discussing the Levantine god, we found that the late material is the most eloquent (De Dea Syria, Origen, Jerome). We therefore chose to work our way backwards, against the current of time, in order to take our point of departure from the evidence that gives us the clearest picture. Let us now survey our evidence and weigh its validity for our main question about a death and resurrection of Adonis, and let us attempt to sketch the main lines of the historical development. As always, it is important to distinguish between conclusions that are necessary and conclusions that are only probable or just possible. Focussing on the Levantine god, Adon(is) of Byblos, our findings can be summarized as follows: In the Pyramid Texts (518d) there is a reference to a god from the hinterland of Byblos who is probably denoted as "The Living One is Exalted". In the Amama letters from Byblos, it is probably the spouse of the Lady of Byblos who is denoted by the king as "my Damu" (EA 84:33) and as "my living god" (129:51). From the tenth century there are two inscriptions that may together indicate that the Baal of Byblos carried the epithet Adon. So far there is no evidence that makes it a necessary conclusion that Adon(is) was a dying and rising deity. The Amama references are, however, fully consonant with such a possibility. Then we hear nothing about the Levantine god until De Dea Syria, with its description of the Byblos rites for Adonis. These comprise at least two days: one with funerary sacrifices to the dead Adonis, and one with a pompe, a solemn procession from the funerary chapel that brought Adonis in effigy into the open air, thus symbolizing his return to life. Prior to all this there was a lament throughout the land for Adonis; this may have required another day. If so, the celebrations comprised

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three subsequent days, a triduum. The rites seem to have been open to both men and women and to have been a public event. The evidence from De Dea Syria is much earlier than that found in Christian writers. Origen and Jerome provide evidence for the Adonis celebrations in Palestine: death and resurrection and vegetation symbolism are here central. Cyril of Alexandria confirms this by his reference to the death and finding of Adonis in the celebrations at Alexandria. Apart from Origen and Jerome, the vegetation symbolism is also found in Porphyry and Ammianus Marcellinus. Thus, De Dea Syria, Origen, and Jerome are clear and unanimous about the death and resurrection of Adonis. The express evidence is thus very late and does not per se permit conclusions for Byblos prior to the tum of the era . If we tum to Greece for a moment, it is clear that the reception of Adonis into the Greek religious system implied important changes . Though Adonis was integrated into Greek ethnobotany, as Detienne has made clear to us, the evidence nevertheless indicates that Adonis was an outsider in Greek religion. The celebrations became a women's affair and lost a great deal of the public status they enjoyed in the Levant. Above all, Adonis no longer seems to have preserved his status as a full god; rather, he assumes the character of a heros, as Ribichini has shown I to be probable. As far as I can find, there is nothing in the Greek rites for Adonis that implies a celebration of his resurrection. The symbolism of the Greek Adonis gardens is clearly one of death and sterility. Now, realizing that Adon(is) underwent major changes upon his reception into Greek religion, we should be wise not to utilize the lack of resurrection allusions in the Greek rites for generalizations about Adon(is) in the Levant. If Adon(is) were a dying and rising god in the Levant already prior to the turn of the era, then the notion of his resurrection would have had difficulties in finding a home in Greek religion: Greek gods are immortal (athanatoi). As a dying god, Adonis was linked with the category of the heros. Just as a heros is a person who has lived and died, so the focus of the Adonis rites was the death of Adonis and the funerary mourning. Let us then focus again on the Levantine god: Does the balance of probability weigh down for or against the assumption of his resurrection? Only in De Dea Syria and later do we find evidence which makes it a necessary conclusion that Adonis was a dying and rising god. Prior to this, however, it seems necessary to conclude that the Adon(is) received on Greek soil was a dying god. Moreover, there is some valuable possible evidence in the Amarna letters from Byblos.

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The male god of Byblos, the spouse of the Baalat Gebal, was probably himself known as Baal Gebal and had Adon as his epithet at least from the tenth century B.C.E. onwards. Possibly he was thus named already during the Late Bronze Age. During that period he was probably referred to by the king (speaking through his scribe) as "my Damu" (EA 84:33) and as "my living god" (EA 129:51). The designation Damu may indicate that he was a god who was thought to make a descensus into the Netherworld. Whether Damu was then believed to be a god who both dies and rises, is not clear. Weighing the evidence, we found it possible that the god of Byblos was not a chthonic deity but one who spent part, but only part, of the year in the Netherworld and the rest on earth, and who could therefore be referred to as "my living god". This takes us to the nature and implications of the mytheme of hilocation and partition of the year, with the notion known from the classical material that Adonis was to spend part of the year in the Netherworld and part of it in the light. We noticed that the idea of bilocation is in tension with the Greek demarcation of the borderline between the realm of the gods and the realm of the dead; gods are immortal and the heros belongs to the Netherworld. Theocritus thus says: "Thou, dear Adonis, alone of demigods, as they tell, dost visit both earth and Acheron." 184 In a survey of the classical material on Adonis' stay in the Netherworld, Baudissin notes that the myth of bilocation in itself actually presupposes the return of Adonis to the earth. 185 In line with this, certain passages explicitly speak of a return of Adonis, as is the case in a scholion on Theocritus and in a passage in a magic papyrus. 186 This is important to note, since the scholarly discussion of Adonis' resurrection has tended to overlook the potential implications of the myth of bilocation.187 Now, the notion of bilocation, so neatly worked out in the Greek Adonis myth, has a structural parallel in the ancient Near East. In the Sumerian Inanna's Descent, we find Geshtinanna spending one half of the year in the Netherworld, Dumuzi spending the other half there, and 184

Theocritus, Idyll XV, 136-137. Cf. Bion, Lament for Adonis, line 53, quoted above in the introduction to this chapter. 185 Baudissin (1911: 136; see also 1914: esp. pp. 17-19, and 1916: 442-446). 186 See Scholia in Theocritum XV, 102 (ed. C. Wendel, 1914, p. 314), and Papyri Graecae Magicae IV 2900-2907 (Preisendanz I, p. 164). 187 Note e.g. J.Z. Smith (1987: 522a), who denies that the myth of bilocation has anything to do with the idea of death and resurrection .

•

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this is the result of a divine decision (lL 407 -410). 188 The identity of the deity who makes the decision is not known to us. Penglase has argued that the idea of divine journeys to the Netherworld and the related notion of the partition of the year represent Near Eastern influences on Greek mythology. This, he argues, holds both for the structure of the Demeter-Persephone myth-known from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter-and the structure of the Aphrodite-Adonis myth. 189 The myth of Adonis and his two different places of residence is probably due then to Semitic influence. However, the presence of a bilocation and a partition of the year also in the Demeter-Persephone myth means that this mytheme was not necessarily borrowed as part and parcel of the Levantine Adon(is) myth. What then, about the myth of Adon(is) of Byblos of the first millennium B.C. E.? Is there evidence that points in the same direction and strengthens the above suggestion that also here the deity was believed to share his year between the Netherworld and the light? The myth is lost to us, as is nearly all Phoenician material of this type. The mytheme of bilocation is found in Greece, and here it is probably due to Semitic influence. This myth may have reached Greece in one of either two ways. (1) It may have come directly from Mesopotamia, mediated via Asia 1 Minor. In that case it was only secondarily linked to Adonis and has no evidential value for the assessment of the Levantine god. (2) It may have been mediated by the Levant (coming ultimately from Mesopotamia). What makes this appear as an attractive possibility is the following: (a) A Yaminite letter found at Mari gives us reason to believe that the Dumuzi myth may have been known in Syria and Phoenicia. 190 (b) The Late Bronze Age Baal-Mot myth with its descensus and return of Baal may well reflect the basic pattern of the Dumuzi myth (see below Chap. VIL3.1). In any case, it is in all probability a seasonal myth, explaining the change of the fates of vegetation as due to the fate of the god. 191 Though Baal is not substituted in the Netherworld by a goddess, he spends part of his year on earth and part in the Netherworld. We thus have a case of bilocation. (c) On a general level, reception of

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It is clear that this passage, late as it is, contains some information that receives striking confirmation from earlier sources relating to the Eshmun cult Esmounos is said in our text to be a native Phoenician god, the eighth son of Sadykos, and born after the seven Kabeiri or Dioscouri. All this we recognize from Philo Byblius, who speaks of "the seven sons of Sydyk, the Kabeiri, and the eighth son, their brother Asclepius".3 Sydyk is obviously a Semitic word, from the root for ''righteousness", $-d-q. The final part of our passage in Damascius gives two alternate Semitic etymologies for the name of the god Eshmun: either from Northwest Semitic 's, "fire", or from Northwest Semitic tmn, "eight", though, as we shall see, it is more attractive to a modem scholar to derive the name of the healing god from the word for "oil", that is, from the root smn. Esmounos is described as a young god, a category that we know from Northwest Semitic religion, with the goddess Astronoe at his side, a goddess whom we recognize as Ashtart in earlier Phoenician-Punic contexts. 4 Moreover, Eshmun and Ashtart are known as the divine couple of Sidon (KAI 14:14-18, fifth century B.C.E.). The hunting activities of Esmounos in our text are to be seen against the background of the hunting scenes found in the temple of Eshmun at Bostan eshSheikh outside Sidon. 5 Besides, in both Late Bronze Age Emar and Ugarit we find Ashtart having an inclination for the same avocation. 6 A detail that might seem surprising is the connection of Esmounos with Berytus (against expected Sidon), but this is no real difficulty, as Lipinski has pointed out? There is thus in Damascius' description a number of genuine Semitic features .

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My translation. Text: Zintzen (1967: 307f. § 302). A text is also available in PG 103: cols. 1304ff. German translation in Asmus (1911: 124f.). Discussion in Baudissin (1911: 339-344) and Ribichini (1985: 55-60). Philo Byblius, Eusebius, Praep. Ev. I, I 0, 38. Text and translation in Attridge and Oden ( 1981: 58-59). See Bonnet (DCPP: 48b; 1996: 30-37) and Lipinski (1995: 137, 153), and see above Chap. III.2.3 at the end. For these hunting scenes, see Dunand (1983). See Emar VI.3 no. 452: 21 on the monthly liturgical order: "The hunt of Astart is on the 16th day." For the collated text and translation, see Fleming (2000: 280-289), and for comments on the hunting motif, ibid. (pp. !82-183). For Ugarit, see KTU 1.92, on which see de Moor (1985). Lipinski (1995: 131) called attention to the Emar text. See Lipinski (1995: 160), referring to a place name that points to Eshmun cult in this area, see below under section 2.

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Let us then consider the formulations in our text that might claim special interest in a discussion about dying and rising deities, namely, those describing the steps taken by the goddess to restore the young god to health and vigour. Baudissin, in his discussion of our text, takes these formulations to imply that Eshmun was a dying and rising deity, 8 while Notscher finds no reference whatsoever to a resurrection of the deity in this passage: Eshmun is not depicted as dead but only as mutilated. Notscher therefore speaks of mutilation and restoration. 9 It is true that there is no clear reference to the death of the deity. One must ask, however, if Notscher's interpretation does justice to the wording of the Greek in one ofthe final lines: 'tOV VWVLCJKOV 'tij 't£ swoyOV(!) ei::p~-tl] avasw:n:up-f]oaoa 8£ov £:n:oiYJOEV, "and rekindled [the life of] the young man by means of life-bringing heat and made him a god". It seems to me that the passage refers to resuscitation, but the question is whether what is said is relevant to Phoenician Eshmun of much earlier times or, rather, to some other deity. The passage is very late and the depiction of Esmounos is here one which combines features of various origins. It is immediately obvious that Attis looms in the background. The motifs of self-emasculation and of the goddess as the mother of the gods certainly derive from the Cybele-Attis cult. 10 Is the resuscitation of Esmounos in our text a reflection of the same tradition? Is Attis a dying and rising deity? If he is, then the passage cannot be used for conclusions about the possible death and resurrection of the Phoenician Eshmun. It seems increasingly clear that Attis was not originally a god of this type. There is no reference to a resurrection in Pausanias' treatment of Attis; here the god becomes a living corpse (VII, 17, 10-12). Nor does Catullus (Poem LXIII) 11 refer to a resurrection of Attis. A passage in Firmicus Matemus, in a work dated to ca. 345-350 C. E., 12 has sometimes been taken to refer to a resurrection of Attis, but seems on further analysis rather to refer to Osiris. 13 8 Baudissin (1911: 339-344). Notscher ([1926 =]1980: 95-96, quotation from p. 96): "Versti.immelung und Wiederherstellung". 10 Most of the extant material for the Attis cult was assembled and published by Hepding ( 1903: 5-97) and by Verrnaseren ( 1977-1989). For the features just mentioned, see e.g. Pausanias VII, 17, 10-12. On Attis, see Cumont (1931: 43-67), Colpe (1969: 33-40), Vermaseren (1977: esp. pp. 110-124), Mornigliano (ER 4, 1987: 185-187), Podernann S0rensen (1989a: 23-29), and Turcan (2000: 28-74). 11 On this text, see Nasstrorn ( 1989). 12 Firrnicus Matemus. De errore profanarum religionum XXII. Text in Hepding (1903: 50), translation in Forbes (1970: 93-94 ). 13 See especially Podemann S0rensen (1989b: 73-86). 9

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While the mythological material is broadly silent on a resurrection of Attis, the situation is slightly different when we tum to ritual. It seems that the original cultic cycle, culminating in the Day of Blood (24 March), had been expanded by the addition of the Day of Joy or Hilaria (25 March), the references to which are perhaps as late as the third and fourth centuries. 14 While Gasparro denies that there are any ideas of resurrection connected with Attis, 15 Lambrechts argues that the celebration of Hilaria was due to the circumstance that some sort of resurrection ideas had found their way into the Attis cult. 16 This was, however, a very late development according to Lambrechts. 17 What makes me believe that Lambrechts is right is the circumstance that at least some texts contain references to an escape from death. Thus, Damascius relates in another passage about a visit to the sanctuary of Hierapolis in Phrygia, which had a subterranean cave underneath it, the well-known Plutonium of Hierapolis. 18 Dangerous odours made access to the cave life-threatening. Two men made a visit together and successfully survived the adventure. One of them tells that he slept and had a dream: "I thought in the dream that I was Attis and that the mother of the gods celebrated, in my honour, the feast of the so-called Hilaria. This dream revealed to me our escape from Hades [cl]v kl; 9-oou ycyovu1av YJftWV oun:YJpi.av ]." 19 This passage sheds light on some lines in Macrobius (from the beginning of the fifth century C.E.) in which the writer says that the Hilaria was celebrated after the catabasis had been performed and the mourning had been completed. 20 The visit in the cave in Damascius seems to be the clue to the catabasis in Macrobius: it was a ritual descent into Hades. Though not expressly referring to the Hilaria, another passage, found in Firmicus Matern us, says that after the 14

See Lambrechts (1952: 141-170, esp. pp. 142-143, 159ff.). On this development, see also Vermaseren (1977: 110-125, esp. pp. 119ff.), who is inclined to assume an earlier date. 15 Gasparro (1985: 31 n. 18; 59, 82). 16 "Certes, le nombre de textes qui attestent indubitablement Ia resurrection du dieu n'est pas tres eleve, mais ils existent. ... Tout cela,je crois, s'explique tres bien par !'introduction tardive dans le culte phrygien de Ia croyance en Ia resurrection annuelle du dieu", Lambrechts ( 1952: 159). 17 Lambrechts (1952: 159-168, esp. 160-161). 18 On this, see Kreitzer ( 1998a and 1998b ). For references to the intense discussion of this passage in Damascius, see Kreitzer (1998b: 229, n. 14). 19 Damascius, Vita lsidori § 131 (Zintzen 1967: 176, § 131), translation in Asmus (1911: 78, lines ISff.). On this passage, see Hepding (1903: 167-168) and Kreitzer (1998a; 1998b). My thanks to Larry Kreitzer for an offprint of his 1998b essay. The identity of the visitors is not quite clear: perhaps Isidorus and a historian whom Damascius then used as his source. 20 Macrobius, Saturn. l, 21, 10 (text in Hepding 1903: 63): catabasifinita simulationeque luctus peracta, "when the catabasis is over and their feigned mourning has come to an end" (translation Jerker Blomqvist, p.c.) .

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Pedanius Dioscourides, De materia medica IV, 70 RV (ed. Wellmann, vol. 2: 228).

35 Lipinski (1973: 167-170). I would like to suggest that the first part of the word may be due to

an adaptation of the Semitic word to the phonotactic properties of Greek. See Bordreuil (1985: 221-230), Puech (1986), and Lipinski (1995b), and note Kition; see Guzzo Amadasi and Karageorghis (Kition Ill: A 24). 37 Lipinski (1973: 179 a"Id 1995: 161). 38 See Steiner ( 1992) and his translation and notes in COS (I: 328-329). 39 Steiner (1992: 194). Steiner comments on the initial aleph in note 27. 36

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Attis, who was by then a dying and rising god, or from genuine Eshmun tradition from the Phoenician mainland. (4) The question whether Eshmun was a dying and rising deity is difficult to answer. There is a place name that refers to "the Tomb of Eshmun". We find in al-Biruni a reference to the heroization of Eshmun in fire. But these two data may be due to the close relationship between Eshmun and Melqart, documented in Neo-Assyrian vassal treaties and in Phoenician material from Cyprus. One could here argue in either of two directions: (a) That Eshmun was a god of precisely the same type as Melqart, a dying and rising deity, and that this provided the impetus to pair the two gods together on Cyprus. (b) That the process was the reverse: that the pairing of the gods gave the impetus to a Melqart influence on Eshmun so that Eshmun's heroization was described in the same terms as that of Heracles-Melqart. The latter seems to me the more probable alternative. It is then possible, but not proved, that Eshmun was a dying and rising god already during the centuries before the Christian era.

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I 167 CHAPTER VI:

Comparative Perspectives: Osiris and the West Semitic Gods

After our perusal of the material for Baal, Adonis, Melqart, and Eshmun, it is now time to bring Osiris and Dumuzi into the general picture and to raise two questions: (1) Is either of these deities to be understood as a dying and rising deity? and (2) Are there traces of an influence from either of these two on the West Semitic gods? A plethora of facts seems to reinforce the superficial impression of an Egyptian fixation with death. Thomas Mann once coined the expression that Egypt is a country where the dead are gods and the gods are dead. 1 Thus, "gods" was a common designation for the inhabitants of the other world, and the necropolis could be referred to as the place where the gods are. 2 Erik Hornung, in his classic Der Eine und die Vielen: Agyptische Gottesvorstellungen, devotes an important chapter to the characteristics of the gods, in which he notes that gods may grow old and die. 3 Hornung here makes an important observation: "Like men, the gods die, but they are not dead. Their existence-and all existence-is not an unchanging endlessness, but rather constant renewal." And he adds that, for the Egyptians, constant regeneration was part of duration: "The blessed dead and the gods are rejuvenated in death and regenerate themselves at the wellsprings of their existence."4

1. Osiris: His Festivals and His Relation to Corn

Throughout the history of ancient Egyptian religion we can notice the growing importance of Osiris. 5 Egyptian religion is marked by a peculiar lack of attestations of narrative forms of religious discourse. This 1

Thomas Mann, Joseph und seine Bruder: Joseph in Agypten, at the end of the chapter "Dreifacher Austausch": "Euere Toten sind Giitter und euere Giitter sind Tote, und ihr wisst nicht, was das ist: der lebendige Gott." 2 Hornung (1983: German ed. p. 149; English ed. p. 156) 3 Hornung (1983: German ed. pp. 143-159; English ed. pp. 151-165). On otiose deities in Egypt, see Hollis ( 1998). Our primary concern in the present context, however, is not such otiose deities. My thanks to Lana Troy (p.c.) for the reference to Hollis. 4 Hornung ( 1983: English ed. p. 160; German ed. p. 153 ). On constant regeneration, he refers to a work by S Morenz which is not available to me (Religion und Geschichte, p. 222).

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has led some scholars to argue for a real lack of coherent myths in ancient times (a Mythendeji"zit). 6 John Baines, on the contrary, prefers to explain this as being due to the character of the source material: the predominance of ritual in the written records and the preference for oral tradition in the production and preservation of mythological material. 7 The situation thus does not warrant conclusions e silentio as to the nonexistence of myths before the Late Period. Though as late an author as Plutarch, in De /side et Osiride (ca.lOO C.E.), 8 gives us the fullest account of Osiris' mythology, the main outlines nevertheless seem to be clear already in the Pyramid Texts. 9 Lichtheim finds the most complete Egyptian account extant in the Great Hymn to Osiris on the stele of Amenmose (eighteenth dynasty). 10

1.1. The Festivals of Osiris

Two festivals should be particularly mentioned. The "Great Procession" at Abydos, an eminently local festival to which people nevertheless came from all over the country, took place at the time of the rising of the inundation of the Nile (that is, the middle of the summer). 11 There were three central events on this occasion: (a) A great procession that brought the statue of Osiris to the necropole area Poker, (b) the god's staying over night in his tomb, and (c) the return of the god to the temple under jubilation. Abydos was a place where the early kings were buried; Osiris was celebrated like a dead king. There is, as Frankfort underlines, no question of a return of Osiris to the land of the living. 12 The ritual burial of Osiris is known since the Middle Kingdom, and Ptolemaic temples had rooms called the "tomb of Osiris". 13 5 On Osiris, see especially Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 181-212, 286-294), Helck (1962), Chassinat

(1966-1968), Griffiths (1980 and LA 4: 623-633, with references), Beinlich (1984), Assmann (1984: 117-124, 149-177), and Koch (1993: Chaps. 7, 10, 14, 26). I have found the surveys by Griffiths especially helpful. 6 Assmann (1977: 7-43; 1984: 117-124, 149-177) and K. Koch (1989: 28-33 with references). Koch uses the word Mythendefizit. For a compact presentation of the phenomenon of myth in ancient Egypt, see Emma Brunner-Traut (LA 4: 277-286). 7 Baines (1991). I owe this reference to Lana Troy (p.c.). 8 On this text, seeS. Herrmann (1957: 48-55) and Griffiths (1970). 9 Griffiths (LA 4: 626) and Koch (1993: 162). 10 Lichtheim (AEL 2: 81). 11 On this festival, see Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 192f., 203-207) and Koch (1993: 212-214). See also Kees (1926: 348-375). 12 Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 204). 13 See Podemann S!l)rensen (1989: 82 with references) and Koch (1993: 151-170). On the tomb of Osiris, see also Griffiths (LA 4: 630) .

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The other festival, or series of festivals, took place at the end of the period of inundation (3-lJt), in the month of Khoiak (roughly December). It is known to us from a long inscription in Denderah (Ptolemaic). 14 The Osiris celebrations took place during the month of Khoiak, more precisely Khoiak 18-30 (New Kingdom) or Khoiak 12-30 (Late Period). After various preparations, the funeral took place during Khoiak 24-30 and ended with the erection of the Djed pillar on the 30th of the month as an emblem of Osiris' resurrection. 15 From the New Kingdom and onwards there was a close connection between the Djed pillar and Osiris. The Djed pillar was even anthropomorphized as Osiris, as clearly appears from Amann's study. 16 The celebrations during the month of Khoiak were followed by the season denoted as prt, "the coming out (of the seeds)". Two important features of the Khoiak festivals should be noted here: (a) The central role of so-called Osiris gardens or Osiris effigies, with sprouting com that symbolized the resurrection of the god (see below). These com mummies seem to represent the reunification of the members of the murdered Osiris. (b) The use of what Assmann has denoted as "Erhebe-dich-Litaneien" ("raise-yourself litanies"). About a hundred occurrences of the expression Js Jw, "raise yourself', are known already in the Pyramid Texts; the genre then becomes increasingly important in1 mortuary literature. 17 Burkard has edited a good example which derives from the Book of the Dead (no. 168), with lines beginning anaphorically with Js Jw, "raise yourself'. 18 The dead Osiris, on lit de parade, is summoned to rise again. The context is probably the Khoiak celebrations.

1.2. Osiris and Corn

Osiris is not from beginning a genuine god of vegetation and never develops into one. Vegetation is for him a sort of "side task". 19 He thus had a close connection with com. 20 Osiris was linked with Orion and 14

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On the Khoiak festival(s), see Chassinat (1966-1968), Daumas (Lii 1: 958-960, with references). Altenmtiller (Lii 2: 175-176). and Koch (1993: 560-563). 15 See Koch (1993: 561) and see also Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 128, 193, 374 n. I). 16 Amann (1983: 46-62). 17 See Assmann (1984: 151-156, esp. p. 155). 18 See Burkard (1995: 23-46 and his comments on pp. 8-10). 19 Thus Klaus Koch (p.c., November 2000). 20 See Griffiths (1980: 151-170) and Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 185-190). A work that I have not had access to but that may be relevant in the present context is P. Koemoth, Osiris etles arb res. Contribution a l 'etude des arb res sac res de I'Egypte ancienne (Aegyptiaca Leodiensia 3 ). Liege 1994.

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Sothis (Sirius or the Dog Star) already in the Pyramid Texts. "Sothis was the harbinger of the annual inundation of the Nile through her appearance with the rising sun at the time when the inundation was due to begin. The bright star would therefore naturally become, together with the conjoined constellation of Orion, the sign and symbol of new vegetation which the Year then beginning would infallibly bring with it", says Griffiths. 21 The Khoiak festival took place four months after the beginning of the inundation of the Nile. Focussing more narrowly on Osiris and corn, Griffiths calls attention to three points. 22 (a) He finds the earliest association of Osiris with corn in a reference in line 31 of the Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus from the time of Sesostris I (Middle Kingdom). This line ends: "beating Osiris: hacking the god to pieces: barley .'.23 (b) He also notes an express identification of Osiris and Neper, a divine personification of the growing corn, in the Book of the Dead (Chap. 142, line 7). 24 As a corollary of this we find references to Osiris as the maker of corn. 25 (c) Finally, he notes the importance of the so-called corn mummies. 26 The corn mummy-which has also been designated with other modern names, such as "Osiris bed", "Kornosiris", "Osiris vegetant", etc.is a roughly made mummy-shaped image of Osiris, consisting of soil and seeds (fig. 6.1). 27 With Frankfort we may distinguish between two aspects of this phenomenon: (a) Osiris beds that are known from the funerary ritual, and (b) Osiris beds in temples, especially in the context of the Khoiak festival, a phenomenon with clear attestations only from the Late Period. 28 The early phenomenon in funerary contexts is known as a funerary gift for kings and nobles already during the New Kingdom. 29 The equa-

21

Griffiths (1980: 157, 159). See also L. Kakosy (Vi 5: 110-117). For the following, see Griffiths (1980: 163-170). 23 Griffiths (1980: 163). 24 Griffiths (1980: 166). Addition to the proofs: This identification occurs already in the Coffin Texts, II, 95e (J. Podemann Sfl)rensen, p.c.). 25 For instance, in the Contendings of Horus and Seth, see ANET (14-17, p. 16 col. b, top [Wilson]) and Lichtheim (AEL 2: 214-223, pp. 221-222) and note Blackman (1938: 1-3). 26 Griffiths (1980: 167-170). 27 On these, see Scharff (1947: 38-39), Frankfort ([1948=] 1962: 290-291), Bonnet (RAR 391392), Chassinat (1966-1968 vol. 1: 4lff., 53ff., 69ff.), Griffiths (1980: 167-170), Seeber (Vi 3: 744-746), and Beinlich (1984: 272-289). Fig. 6.1 is from Budge (1911: vol. 1:58). 28 Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 291). 29 See Griffiths (1980: 167-169). 22

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Mummy of Osiris with sprouting corn. Bas-relieffrom the roof temple of Philae.

tion that the deceased = Osiris = germinating com is attested already in1 the Coffin Texts. 30 The small three-dimensional Osiris effigies in Ptolemaic temples had a place of prominence in the Khoiak celebrations. "In the Osirian Festival of Khoiak the mould ( btj) in the shape of the Osiris-figure with sprouting plants (implying life after death) was placed in a trough called a 'garden' (i)spt) .. .'' 31 The vessel used could be of stone or gold or silver. 32 The Khoiaktext from Dendara gives us a proper glimpse of the production of such a com mummy. 33 The two halves of a mould of metal, the interior of which was Osiris-shaped, were spread with cloth and then filled with earth and grain seeds. The seeds were watered from 12th to 21st Khoiak, after which the two halves were taken out from the mould, plastered with a substance, and joined together to form a threedimensional Osiris figure. On the 24th Khoiak of the following year, this com mummy was laid in a coffin and was buried on the 30th of

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(Lii 3: 745) and Frankfort ([ 1948=] 1962: 291 ). See Bein1ich ( 1984: 272-289, esp. p. 272).

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Khoiak. When thus a com mummy of the preceding year was buried at the festival, we may infer that this com mummy lived through the vegetation cycle of a whole year and was looked after the whole time. 34

2. Osiris: A Dying and Rising God?

Frazer in The Golden Bough concludes that Osiris was a dying and rising god of essentially the same nature as Adonis, that he was originally a human who died, and that basically he was a personification of the com. 35 There are fascinating temple scenes depicting the resurrection of Osiris in the Ptolemaic-Roman Osiris temple at Dendara (fig. 6.2-4). 36 Nevertheless, Egyptologists have not failed to put on record fundamental disagreement with Frazer about this understanding of Osiris. Though there may be points of contact on the ritual level between Osiris and Adonis, to which we shall return below, there is a fundamental difference on the level of myth. Assmann notes as the most important point that the myth of Osiris comprised two generations: Osiris rose to new life in his son, Horus; Osiris himself remained as the "dead father" in the Netherworld. 37 Frankfort, who devoted particular attention to the issue, 38 elaborates on a critique of Frazer voiced already by Gardiner, 39 and concludes that, Osiris, in fact, was not a "dying" god at all but a "dead" god. He never returned among the living; he was not liberated from the world of the dead, ... On the contrary, Osiris altogether belonged to the world of the dead; it was from there that he bestowed his blessings upon Egypt. He was always depicted as a mummy, a dead king, .. 40

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Beinlich (1984: 281). Frazer (especially GB 3 vol. 4:1 p. 6; 4:2 pp. 96-114, esp. pp. 96-107). Heick revived Frazer's theory, though in a modified form: Osiris and Adonis had a common background in an eastMediterranean myth about a dying shepherd, see Heick (1962: 472-473). Mariette ( 1870: vol. 4, pl. 90). My thanks to J0rgen Podemann S0renscn (p.c.) for the reference to these temple scenes. Assmann (1984: !57). Note the excursus in Frankfort ([1948 =]1962: 286-294) and note also Frankfort (1958: 145148). Gardiner (1915: 121-126, esp. p. 123): "[T]he resurrection of Osiris ... was not that of a young and vigorous god of vegetation, but that of a dead king recalled in the tomb to a semblance of his former life" (p. 123). Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 289; see alsop. 185).

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Frankfort further notes that "at every ceremony Osiris appeared as a god who had passed through death, who survived in the sense that he was not utterly destroyed, but who did not return to life. His resurrection meant his entry upon life in the Beyond, ... " 41 Osiris, thus, was not a "dying god" but a "dead god", says Frankfort. 42

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Osiris' resurrection completed. From the same group of pictures in Dendara as

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Osiris was and remained the god of the dead, and it has been suggested that it was this capacity of his that accounts for the non-occurrence of his name throughout the Old and Middle Kingdoms as a part of a personal name. 43 Alternatively, this may be explained from the fact that everyone (originally only the king), after his transfiguration, became Osiris-so-and-so, so that his personal name became Osiris-N. 44 This transformation could not be anticipated, and thus the lack of theophorous personal names with the element Osiris. 45 The ritual identification of the dead person with Osiris purported to make him an Osiris for his family, a source of life for his near family and kin. 46 The above quotation from Frankfort about Osiris as a "dead god" needs some qualification. When saying that Osiris remained in the Netherworld, we should remember that his life there was not the life of a dead person and should not be judged from modem Western scepticism over against the possibility of post-mortal existence. 47 Moreover, we recall Hornung's statement, quoted above, to the effect that the gods die, but they are not dead. Osiris was a most active character in his Netherworld life. He was as little dead as the Mesopotamian Netherworld gods Nergal and Ereshkigal. 48 43

Griffiths (1980: 159) with a reference to Heick's study of theophorous personal names of the Old Kingdom, see Heick (1954: 27-33). The situation changed in the 21-22 dynasties. 44 On this process of democratization, see R.B. Finnestad (1989: 89-93). I owe this reference to Lana Troy (p.c.). 45 This is the explanation Klaus Koch suggests (p.c., November 2000). 46 See Erman (1934: 217-218) and Podemann S!ilrensen (2001: 116-117). 47 This was pointed out to me by Klaus Koch (p.c., November 2000). 48 On these as being not dead, see Bottero (1995: 277).

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Weighing the evidence for and against understanding Osiris as a dying and rising god, comparable to the West Semitic gods, we arrive at the following conclusions: Osiris was a real god, whether or not he was from beginning a human being. He was no proper vegetation god but was involved with the major seasonal changes in nature. This was manifested in rite. He both died and rose. But, and this is important, he rose to continued life in the Netherworld, and the general connotations are that he was a god of the dead.

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issue of Egyptian influence in Syria and Palestine during the Bronze Age, see Heick ( 1971 a). Specifically on Egyptian temples in this region, see the literature mentioned in Mettinger (1995: 54, note 89). On the Egyptian influence on Phoenician religion, see G. Scandone Matthiae (1981: 61-80). 50 Lemaire ( 1986: 93-98). 51 For previous discussions, see Baudissin (1911: 185-202), Gressmann (1923: 15-17, 22-23), de Vaux ([1933=]1967: 379-405), Frankfort ([1948=] 1962: 286-294), Heick (1962: 472-473). Soyez ( 1977: 53-75), and Ribichini (1981: 176-181)

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and Stephanus of Byzantium. Stephanus, in his entry on Amathonte (Cyprus), thus notes that there was a cult of Adonis-Osiris at this place. 52 Damascius speaks about worship in Alexandria and refers to "the mystical syncretism [8wKpaoiaJ" of Osiris and Adonis. 53 The author of De Dea Syria notes that "[t]here are some inhabitants of Byblos who say that the Egyptian Osiris is buried among them and that all the laments and the rites are performed not for Adonis but for Osiris." 54 One would of course like to know how old such an association between Osiris and Adonis is, particularly at Byblos which was a major cultic centre of Adonis, and what the effects were of this association on the worshippers' understanding of Adonis. The answers, regrettably, can only be highly tentative and approximate. Plutarch tells about Osiris and Isis in Byblos. 55 Of this story, however, there are no traces at all in the early Osiris myth. 56 Moreover, it contains several features which are aptly explained as resulting from the influence of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. 57 Nevertheless, the connections between Egypt and Byblos are, indeed, of a special kind and very old. The local ruler uses Egyptian language and writing, recognizes Pharaoh as his right lord, and carries the title of an Egyptian official, b3ty- ', "nomarch", "mayor". 58 In the Amarna letters, the ruler of Byblos says that Byblos is like Memphis to the king (Pharaoh). 59 However, no extant Egyptian or Semitic information contains an explicit reference to an official cult of Osiris in Byblos. Even so, Osiris must have been k11own at Byblos long before the days of Plutarch. I assume with Griffiths that there was a Byblite cult of Osiris at least during the New Kingdom, a conclusion that Griffiths draws on the basis of finds of Osirian statuary in Byblos and indications of a syncretism between Hathor and Ashtart. 60 Attempts have been made to date such an Egyptian cult in Byblos still earlier. Scholars have adduced certain references in the Pyramid Texts, but the exact import of 52

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Stephanus of Byzantium says in the entry about this place:' Af!afloil
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these loci is contested. 61 However, an interesting archaeological find from Byblos was brought into the discussion by Gabriella Scandone: the text on a torso of a statuette, with a possible date from the Middle Kingdom, mentions in juxtaposition "Hathor, the Lady of Byblos, and Osiris, the Lord of Busiris". 62 In addition, it is worth noticing that in Egyptian texts Hathor has from very early times and onwards, as a stock epithet, precisely the designation "Lady of Byblos". 63 As a late corollary of this we find on the Yehawmilk stele (fifth century B.C.E.) a mention of b (It gbl, "the Lady of Byblos", depicted with the Hathor emblem. 64 Against this background, we should calculate with the possible presence of a cult of Osiris at Byblos from the Late Bronze Age and onward, and perhaps even earlier. 65 The date for an Osiris-Adonis syncretism in the eastern Mediterranean is more difficult to assess, but we should note that Egyptian gods were generically open to ever new combinations. Let us then consider the possible implications of the presence of Osiris at sites with Adonis cults, both at Byblos and elsewhere. Both similarities and differences are to be taken into consideration. (I) Let us begin with the former. These are found on the ritual level. (a) A distinct similarity is that both cults have recourse to verbal and ritual language expressing notions of resurrection. We cannot disregard/ the possibility that there was here an exchange between the two cults. Saying this, I am not implying that the Adonis cult owes the resurrection motif to Osiris; I am only suggesting that there was the possibility of contact here. (b) Notably, the Adonis gardens lend themselves to comparison with the com mummies of the Osiris cult. It is not clear, however, if one phenomenon owes its existence to inspiration from the other, and still less in which direction such a traffic would have gone. 66 At Alexandria, the use of precious metal (silver) for these baskets reminds us of the use of such metal for the moulds of the com Osiris, while we otherwise hear of vessels of clay used for the Adonis gardens. 67

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See Montet ( 1928: 288-289) and Heick ( 1962: 506), referring to the Pvramid Texts (590a, 634c, 903a, 21 07b). Griffiths ( 1980: 28-34) doubts the validity of the evidence adduced. 62 Scandone (1994: 44). The item is reproduced and described in M. Dunand (1937: pl. 43, no. 1051 and 1939: 18-19, no. 1051). 63 On this, see G. Scandone Matthiae (1991: 401-406). 64 See ANEP no. 477 or Gibson (TSSI II, pl. IV; text, ibid. pp. 93ff). 65 Those scholars assuming an earlier date for Osiris in Byblos include de Yaux ([1933=] 1967: 388). Heick (1962: esp. col. 506), Hani (1976: 62-79), Ribichini (1981: 178-179), Lemaire (1986: 95 with further references), and G. Scandone (1994: 44). 66 See de Vaux 0 1933=]1967: 379-392) and Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 291)

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(c) Another point of similarity is the treatment of the Adonis effigy in the rites at Alexandria. Though not quite clear on the matter, Theocritus (Idyll XV, 133) is generally understood to have referred to throwing Adonis in effigy into the waves of the sea as the final part of these celebrations.68 This lends itself to comparison with the mythological tradition about Osiris' drowning. 69 This feature might well be due to the association of the two gods in the minds of the worshippers. 70 This is especially so, since there are no traces whatsoever in Theocritus of the idea of bilocation in connection with Adonis. (2) The similarities between Osiris and Adonis, however, do notallow us to disregard the essential differences. These are especially tangible in the following points: (a) Their status in relation to the goddess: Osiris is not dependent on Isis. Adonis, on the contrary, takes the role of "Prince Consort" in relation to his spouse. In Byblos, the Adonia thus take place in the great sanctuary of Aphrodite of Byblos. 71 (b) Their relation to kingship: The royalty of Osiris was a feature of great importance to the Egyptians. "The firm bond which links Osiris and kingship is one of the outstanding differences that demark the Egyptian myth from those of Mesopotamia and Syria relating to Tammuz and Adonis respectively." 72 (c) Relation to the Netherworld: This is the major point of difference, as we have already noticed. Osiris rises in his son, Horus. He himself remains as the "dead father" in the realm of the dead. Osiris does not rise from death in order to return to this world. In stark contrast to this, the notion of bilocation is an outstanding characteristic of the myth of Adonis, and we have also found ritual expressions of the notion of Adonis' return to the realm of the living. (3) As for Byblos, we should take into account the possibility of the early presence of Osiris at this site, known for its long-standing contacts with Egypt. Nevertheless, there are two important points that should not be overlooked.

67 For the use of silver, see Theocritus, Idyll XV, 113-114. 68 According to a scholion to XV: 133, Adonis was thrown into the sea together with the Adonis gardens, see Atallah (1966: 129). 69 On Osiris' death by drowning (as an alternative to his death by murder), see Griffiths (1980: 9, 75, 108-111, 160-163). 70 See de Vaux ([1933=]1967: 392) and Heick (1971b: 184). 71 De Dea Syria § 6, at the beginning. On Osiris as taking precedence over Isis, see Frankfort ([1948=]1962: 289). 72 Griffiths (1980: 3-4, quotation from p. 3). See also Frankfort ([1948=) 1962: 292-293).

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(a) Until the first millennium B.C.E. Hathor alone is understood as the Lady of Byblos, and not Isis. Isis comes into the picture in this role only during this late period. 73 (b) The existence of a proper Adonis-Osiris syncretism at Byblos may hardly be assumed even as late as the tum of the era. As Ribichini noticed, the author of De Dea Syria keeps Adonis and Osiris apart; he does not connect the two personalities. His description in § 6 is of "the rites of Adonis", and only in § 7 does he report that "some inhabitants of Byblos" hold these rites to be performed for Osiris. Ribichini aptly suggests the hypothesis that there were in Byblos worshippers of Osiris who celebrated the Phoenician adventures of their god at the same time as the Adonia took place. 74 (4) On the other hand, a profound Osiris influence on Adonis may be involved where Adonis appears as a chthonic deity. This seems to be the case in the Adonis cult at Alexandria. Theocritus implies that Adonis' visit was only a temporary one (and not a real case of bilocation).1 5 In the defixiones found at Kourion (Cy~rus), Adonis is among the chthonic powers who are able to inflict evil. 6 Note, however, that Dumuzi also seems to exert an influence in the chthonic direction in Egypt. 77 We may then summarize our conclusions about Osiris and Adonis. I Outright identification of the two deities is a very late phenomenon, attested in writers like Damascius and Stephanus of Byzantium. The Adonis cult at Alexandria may have been influenced by Osiris. Byblos had long-standing and close contacts with Egypt. Influence is therefore certainly a possibility as far as the Adonis cult is concerned. It is difficult, however, to adduce concrete evidence that such a process actually took place. Isis does not adopt the role of Lady of Byblos until the first millennium. When all is said and done, one is inclined to conclude that Osiris hardly had any formative influence on Adonis. Osiris is a god who remains in the Netherworld.

73

l:'J,

74

75

76 j

t 77

See Scandone Matthiae (1991: 403ff., esp. p. 405). Ribichini ( 1981: 179). See above Chap. IV.2. For Adonis and Adonia at Kourion with probably chthonic connotations, see Mitford ( 1971, references in the indexes, pp. 411 and 415). On the display rite (of the corpse or the grave goods) in connection with Adonis and Dumuzi. see Chapters IV .2 and VII.l.2.

...

..,.

li

180

r 3.2. Osiris and Melqart

1

That there were tendencies to associate Osiris and Melqart is clear from various observations. Thus, in the third Phoenician inscription from Lamax tes Lapethou on Cyprus (LL no. 3), the high cultic functionary of Melqart who carried the title mqm '1m, "the raiser/resuscitator of the god" (line 1), tells that he set up a votary of himself(?) "in the presence of my lord Melqart" (line 2) and one of his father "in the temple of the goddess Ashtart" (line 6) and offered a lamp of gold "to my lord Osiris" (line 5). 78 This takes place on different occasions, but we should note that the high cultic functionary of Melqart feels free to denote Osiris as his Lord. The date of this inscription is during the latter half of the fourth century B.C.E. Similarly, KAI no. 47 (Malta) offers the votive text dedicated to Melqart, "the Lord of Tyre", by two brothers, both having names compounded with the Osiris element, just as their father and grandfather also had. The palaeography is Phoenician (not Punic), and the date is second century B.C.E. 79 At Tyre itself a statue from the Roman period of an Osiris priest has been found. 80 If we consider the Melqart mythology, there is one particular feature that would seem to be an obvious result of influence from the notions connected with Osiris: the myth of the death of the Phoenician Heracles in Libya at the hands of Typhon. Athanaeus has this tradition from Eudoxus of Cnidus (fourth century B.C.E.). 81 Typhon is the interpretatio Graeca of the Egyptian Seth, who murdered Osiris. 82 If therefore Typhon equals Seth, then Melqart's fate comes close to that of Osiris. Another point where a connection could be considered is in the use of express resurrection terminology for Melqart. I am thinking of the title of his leading cultic functionary, the mqm )lm, "the raiser/resuscitator of the god". 83 It seems worthwhile to ask whether there is a connection between this language and the central formula of the "raiseyourself litanies" in the Osiris cult. The assumption of a connection is not necessary, since we know of Semitic resurrection language that is 78

Text and translation in Honeyman (1938). On these two stelae, see Bonnet (1988: 244-247). 80 SeeP. Dils (DCPP: 335 b), referring to zAS 31 (1893), 102 (no author stated by Dils), which was not available to me. 81 See above, Chap. Ill.l. 82 See Plutarch, De !side et Osiride §§ 41 and 49 (3670 and 371B). See also Herodotus II, 144 and 156. On Typhon, see Bonnet (1987a: 101-143), and on Typhon killing Heracles, Bonnet (1988: 188). 83 See above, Chap. III.2.3 79

181

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probably independent of the Osiris cult. 84 However, since the title of the cult functionary of Melqart is the only case of express resurrection language in the sources for gods who die and return, and since there is evidence for close contacts between Melqart and Osiris, I am strongly inclined to explain the expression as due to Osirian influence. If there was such a connection between Melqart and Osiris, however, we should remember that the resurrection of the Egyptian god was a resurrection to continued life in the Netherworld, and not a return to full and unimpaired life on earth. Certainly, we should not think of the bones of Melqart, mentioned by Pomponius Mela in connection with Gades, 85 as something closely parallel to the bones of Osiris among the so-called Osiris relics. 86 I would rather see here a Greek motif, comparable to the bones of Orestes and the bones of Theseus. 87 Nevertheless, Philostratus' description of the Melqart/Heracles cult at Gades contains a feature that could perhaps be seen in the light of a connection between Melqart and Osiris. Apollonius speaks of a dual cult at Gades of "both of one and the other Hercules" and goes on to distinguish between "the Egyf,tian Hercules" and "the Theban". 88 The latter is the Greek Heracles. 9 De Dea Syria speaks of the sanctuary of Heracles at Tyre, who is not "the Heracles whom the Greeks celebrate" (§ 3). The Egyptian Hercules at Gades is then, presumably, the Tyrian Melqart. If so, there must be some reason for describing the Tyrian Melqart as the Egyptian Hercules. 90 If he had become associated with Osiris, we would understand this way of referring to him. Note that there is a reference to the Tyrian Heracles as "a Tyrian heros". 91 We may then summarize the relationship between Osiris and Melqart. There is evidence for contact between the cults of Osiris and Melqart on Cyprus and Malta from the centuries before the tum of the era. There is also evidence for a mythological combination of the two 84

85 86 87

88

89

44

90

91

See above Chap. IIL2.3. Pomponius Mela, De Chorographia Ill, 46. Further references are found in Bonnet ( 1988: 21 1). On the "Osiris relics", see Beinlich ( 1984: esp. the references on p. 3 I 9 under "Knochen"). On the bones of Orestes and Theseus, see Richardson ( 1996: 56). The bones of Orestes are mentioned by Herodotus l, 67-68. Philostratus, Vita Apollon. Tyan. V, 5. Hesiod refers to Heracles as born at Thebes, Greece, see Theogonv 530 and Shield of Heracles 42-56. In this context. note also Herodotus II, 44. Note, however, that Heracles also appears as the interpretatio Graeca of Egyptian Harsaphes, a god who merged with Osiris. On Harsaphes, see Altenmi.iller (LA 2: 1015-1018). I owe this point to J. Podemann Sii!rensen (p.c.). De Dea Svria § 3.

I

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182

gods: the Phoenician Heracles died at the hands of Typhon (Seth), and Osiris was killed by the same god. The circumstance that at Gades the Tyrian Heracles!Hercules is referred to as the Egyptian Hercules in distinction from the Heracles of Thebes in Greece is worth noticing. Against the background of these observations it seems to me that at least during the latter half of the first millennium there was at Tyre and elsewhere a sort of symbiosis or even syncretism of Osiris and Melqart. This symbiosis seems to me to provide the explanation for the use of express resurrection language in the Melqart cult (mqm '/m).

4. Conclusions

I

t

II

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In comparison with the Semitic cultures, the culture of ancient Egypt is sui generis. This peculiarity of Egypt, however, made it no less imperative to present the major characteristics of Osiris and to consider his potential importance for the developments of the West Semitic gods we are investigating. We have arrived at the following conclusions. ( l) Whatever his original identity was, Osiris appears through the whole recoverable history of Egyptian religion as a real god. (2) Osiris is a god who spends his life in the Netherworld. His life there, however, is not the existence of a dead person and is not to be judged from a modern Western scepticism about the possibility of postmortal existence. Osiris' life in the Netherworld is highly active. He is the ruler of the dead. (3) Osiris is not a god of vegetation, but he is deeply involved with the seasonal changes. The important complex of festivals in the month of Khoiak (roughly December) concurs with the end of the period of the inundation of the Nile. (4) The death and resurrection of Osiris are the most central features of this festival. Osiris' burial takes place during Khoiak 24-30. It ends with the erection of the Djed pillar as a visible emblem of Osiris' resurrection. From the New Kingdom and onwards there is a close connection between Osiris and the Djed pillar; the Djed pillar is even anthropomorphized as Osiris. The motif of resurrection is also symbolized by the Osiris gardens or Osiris effigies that were produced during the Khoiak festival. These corn mummies serve to express the reunification of Osiris' scattered members. A further feature of similar import is the use of the so-called "raise-yourself litanies" ("Erhebe-dichLitaneien") during the Khoiak celebrations. By and large, the death and resurrection of Osiris are closely linked with the seasonal changes in nature.

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(5) We discussed the possible influence of Osiris on the West Semitic gods here under consideration. (a) As for Adonis, express identifications are very late (C.E.). Onsurprisingly, there are some indications of an Osiris-Adonis syncretism at Alexandria in pre-Christian times. Byblos is more difficult to assess. One must reckon with the presence of the Osiris cult at Byblos from the time of the New Kingdom and onwards. However, it is Hathor that holds the rank of Lady of Byblos; Isis takes her place in this capacity only during the first millennium B.C.E. Even so, De Dea Syria keeps Adonis and Osiris apart. The similarities between Osiris and Adonis comprise especially the Osiris and Adonis gardens and the cause of their respective deaths: Osiris' drowning recalls the throwing of an Adonis effigy into the sea or into a well. There are also clear differences between Adonis and Osiris. These are related to the god's connection with kingship, his position vis-a-vis the goddess, and his relation to the Netherworld. (b) As for Melqart, the indications of a close connection are more tangible. We know of persons appearing in the temples of both gods (in Cyprus). There is a clear case of mythological interconnection: the story about Phoenician Heracles (Melqart) who was killed by Typhon (i.e., Seth, the killer of Osiris). Tyrian Melqart could be referred to as the 1 Egyptian Hercules. Against the background of all this, one must ask if the designation mqm >Jm, "the raiser/resuscitator of the god", may not have its background in the express resurrection language (verbal and ritual) in the cult of Osiris. But there is also Semitic resurrection language that may have been the resource for this formation.

:·I

I

185 CHAPTER VII:

Comparative Perspectives: DumuziTammuz and the West Semitic Gods Unsurprisingly, Dumuzi-Tammuz 1 has been a major figure in the debate about dying and rising deities. There is a vast literature on this god. 2 Around the middle of the last century there was a consensus that previous conclusions about a resurrection or return of Dumuzi were mistaken. It was argued that these had been based "on nothing but inference and surmise, guess and conjecture" (thus Kramer), and that "there is no trace in the Sumerian mythology of a poem about Dumuzi' s resurrection" (thus Gumey). 3 The situation is no longer as simple as that, and the reasons for this change will be presented in the following. The discovery of a new ending of Inanna 's Descent is especially important for this reorientation (see below). Nevertheless, we should note from the outset that there is a tension between the mythological and the ritual material as we know it: We find very little of ritual underpinnings for any notion of a return of the deity from the Netherworld. 4 In generaf terms, Dumuzi appears as a tragic hero, noi as a god who defeats death. As for Dumuzi's general character, we should note that he is not originally a god of vegetation but a god of shepherding. There was later a syncretism between Dumuzi and Darnu, who was actually a vegetation god. The date for this Dumuzi-Damu syncretism is difficult to assess. It has been taken to be Old Babylonian, but this is controversial. 5

1

The form of the name is dd u m u- z i in Sumerian, generally understood as "right child", "right son", thus Falkenstein (1954: 42), but by Jacobsen as "he who quickens the young ones" (1970: 57, 73, 322f., n. 6, 338f., n. 23). Oberhuber (1976: esp. p. 268) in the same vein understands the name as "Sohn, Wiederbeleber", "zum Leben erweckender Sohn". This is partly based on a questionable comparison with the title of Melqart's functionary, mqm '1m, on which see above Chap. III.2.-The form Tammuz, used among present-day scholars is, of course, known from the Hebrew Bible (Ezek 8:14), but Tamiizu is indeed attested already at Nuzi as the name of a month, see Cohen (1993: 262). 2 See especially Zimmern (1909), Falkenstein (1954), Gurney (1962), Yamauchi (1965), Jacobsen (1970: 25-30, 73-103 and 1976: 25-73), Alster (1972: 9-15), Kutscher (1990), Alster (DDD: 1567-1579), and M.S. Smith (1998: 272-277). 3 Quotations from Kramer (1961: 10) and Gurney (1962: 153). Note also Yamauchi (1965). For a survey of research, see above (Chap. I.l.3). Kramer later changed his mind, see below and see Kramer (1966). 4 This was stressed by M.S. Smith (1998: 272-277).

I

186

The questions we shall study are: (1) Is Dumuzi a dying and rising god? and (2) Are there traces ofDumuzi influence on the West Semitic notions of deity? In what follows, we should be aware of local and temporal variations. There is always a risk of hypostasizing a god, "Dumuzi", and artificially constructing a picture of this god that is mistakenly supposed to be valid for all times and places. In reality, Dumuzi is what he was at the respective cult site, as portrayed in rite and myth. An essential feature of the Mesopotamian notions of the Netherworld is that this is a place from which no one returns ( er$et/asar/mat la tari 6). This is also a stance generally taken in the Hebrew Bible? In Nergal and Ereshkigal, Anu says to Ereshkigal that, "We cannot come down to you, I Nor can you come up to us." 8 Divine messengers, however, are capable of crossing the boundary between the world of the living and the Netherworld, as we learn from lnanna's/Ishtar's Descent and from Nergal and Ereshkigal, to mention some examples. In the following, we shall move forward in three steps. First, we shall look at Dumuzi's role in the descensus myths. Then, we shall focus on other material for Dumuzi and arrive at a genera~ evaluation of this deity as a dying and rising god, and, finally, we shall relate Dumuzi to the West Semitic gods we have been studying. I

5

The only indication which I know of for an Old Babylonian date is a god list in which Damu, Geshtinanna, and Ninedara occur en suite. See Th. Richter (1999: 263-264 with note 1047). Geshtinanna is Dumuzi's sister; Ninedara has a close connection to Dumuzi in Nippur. Richter comments: "Die vorliegende Stelle weist dieser 'Gleichsetzung' [Damu=Dumuzi] ein hohes Alter zu" (1999: 264, n. 1047). Michael Fritz, however, is of the opinion that Dumuzi and Darnu here belong to different circles of gods (p.c.). If so, the document in question does not testify to a Damu-Dumuzi syncretism.-Jacobsen's interpretation of the Dumuzi mythology along the lines of natural allegory (1970: 73-101; 1976: 62) is very difficult to maintain. See the critique in Alster (fc., Chap. 16). 6 See CAD and AHw, the corresponding entries. On the Netherworld, see especially The Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince (Livingstone, SAA 3: no. 32) and the scholarly surveys of the topic in Sladek (1974: 58-70), Tsukimoto (1985: 6-19), Hutter (1985: 156-165), S. Paul (1995), and Horowitz (1998: 268-295, 348-362). On the notion of "revivifying the dead", see Hirsch (1968). 7 SeeS. Paul (1995: 223), who refers to 2 Sam 12:23; Job 7:9-10; 10:21; 16:22; Ps 88:13; Eccl 9:5. 8 Nergal and Ereshkigal, the Middle Babylonian version, EA 357: 4-5, translated by Foster (Before the Muses, vol. 1: 414), and the Sultantepe version col. 1: 31-34, Gurney (1960: 110-111), translated by Foster (Before the Muses, vol. I: 418). Translations are also found in Dalley (Myths from Mesopotamia, pp. 178-182, 165-177).

187

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1. Dumuzi's Role in the Descensus Myths

When discussing the descensus material, we should keep two important points in mind. (a) A particular myth may not be identical with a certain text. The myth as a narratological construct may receive different manifestations on the textual level. There are variants. The abstract narrative (the fabula or story) may manifest itself in various discourses (plots). The myth is a sort of "geno-text" that surfaces in various "phenotexts".9 The descensus mytheme may surface in different discourses. As for the descent of Inanna/Ishtar, the Akkadian version is not a translation of the Sumerian one, and is not even necessarily dependent on it. 10 (b) We shall discuss materials, some of which were written in Sumerian, and some in Akkadian. Note then that the difference in language does not indicate a difference of ethnicity, and that "Sumerian and Akkadian texts are witnesses of one and the same, namely Babylonian culture"; we should "understand Sumerian and Akkadian myths as equal sources of Babylonian mythology". 11 A handful of myths tells about gods descending to the Netherworld. The most important are: Inanna's and lshtar's Descents, Ningishzida's Descent, Enlil and Ninlil, and Nergal and Ereshkiga/. 12 I shall not deal I here v.;ith the last two texts in this list, since they are less relevant to our project. 1.1. The Sumerian Inanna 's Descent

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The widely distributed copies of Inanna 's Descent 13 take us back to Old Babylonian times. Falkenstein dates the creation of the composition already to the twenty-first century B.C.E. 14 This text tells about an attempt of Inanna to seize power in the Netherworld. The attempt failed: the Annunaki look at her "with the look of death" (11. 167 -168) and she becomes a dead corpse. She is able to escape from Ereshkigal' s domain only by means of Enki's cunning. Enki creates two rescuers and pro-

10 11 12

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See above, Chap. 1.2.2.2. For an orientation about intertextuality. see Mellinger (1993 ). Heimpel (RLA 8: 544). Heimpel (RLA 8: 544). See Heimpel (RLA 8: 547-549), and for the latter myth, see esp. Lambert (1990a: 289-300). For a discussion of the Sitz im Leben of the mythological material, with close attention to the origin of the various tablets, put together and presented as a coherent myth in modem studies and translations, see Arne Nykvist (forthcoming PhD diss. in Comparative Religion at Lund University). Falkenstein (1968: 100). For the texts, editions and translations, see Romer (TUAT III:3, 459460). Note especially Sladek (1974). In my references I have retained Sladek's line counting, as does also Romer (seep. 460). I cite Sladek's translation. A narrative analysis of the myth is found in Evers (1995: 65-98).

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188 :I

vides them with the herb of life and the water of life (ll. 210-225). They sprinkle lnanna with these and she arises. She is released from the Netherworld only on the express condition that she provides a substitute (ll. 286-289). 15 The rest of the narrative deals with the finding of the necessary substitute (ll. 306-412). The galla demons claim various persons for this role, but lnanna refuses to give them up since they have been mourning her disappearance and death. Dumuzi, however, shows no signs of grief, and lnanna, in anger, gives him into the hands of the galla demons (ll. 347-358). A passage here (ll. 383-393) surprisingly deals with lnanna's mourning over Dumuzi and her search for him. 16 After a broken passage, the text ends with the judgement spoken by Inanna (or Ereshkigal) 17 to the effect that, You [Dumuzi will spend] one half of the year and your sister [Geshtinanna will spend] one half of the year [in the Netherworld]. (I. 407) 18

I

The two crucial names are only supplied from the context, but there is hardly any doubt about the identity of the acting characters. As for genre, the composition contains the characteristic features of myth. 19 Its main function is hardly a ritual one-although there are features that point to a cultic connection20-but rather one of entertainment.21 The composition in its final shape combines two different stories, that of lnanna' s descent and that of Dumuzi' s death. They may have been joined together around 2000 B.C. E. 22 On the discourse level we may now note a striking feature: Inanna's descent to the Netherworld has its final result in Dumuzi' s death. In Kirk's words: "Inanna' s imprudent visit to the Netherworld might be said to motivate Dumuzi's removal there ... " 23 With regard to our questions, two points are important in the Sumerian version: (a) the revivification of Inanna with its notion of three 15

On this, see Afanasieva (1980). This passage was made available by Alster in his edition of the text, Alster (1996). 17 See Romer (TUAT III:3: p. 494, note 407a). Both Romer (p. 494) and Alster (1996: 15) take the speaker to be Inanna. 18 Sladek (1974: 181). See also Jacobsen (The Harps that Once p. 232) and Romer (TUATIII:3: p. 494). Text (UETVI.l.lO: rev. 10-12) as reconstructed by Falkenstein (1965: 281 with n. 15). 19 See above, Chap. 1.2.2.2. I thus disagree with Alster (1996: 16 with n. 2), though this disagreement is not fundamentally about the nature of our Sumerian composition but rather arises from a wider definition of myth than the one Alster has chosen. 20 See Alster (1983: 1-16, esp. p. 12). 21 This feature was stressed by Alster (1996: 16 with n. 2 and especially in fc., 2001). Unlike Alster I find entertainment a possible function of myth. See above Chap. 1.2.2.2. 22 Thus Alster (p.c.). 23 Kirk (1973: 112). 16

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days, and (b) the idea that Dumuzi is to spend only half the year in the Netherworld, which I will refer to as the notion of "bilocation". Let us consider these two points. First the revivification of the goddess. When the goddess has entered the Netherworld and has been killed by the Anunnaki, three days and three nights pass (l. 173 24) without Inanna's return before Ninshubur takes action and finally convinces Enki to bring about the return of the goddess. One should be aware of the fact that our myth does not speak of the elapse of three days and nights between death and resurrection but between the death and the beginning of the mourning rites. The verb used about the revivification of Inanna in lines 285-288 is "to rise", written with Sumerian E 11 , the standard equivalent of Akkadian eJU. 25 Then there is the divine decree about the partition of the year. This notion of Dumuzi's bilocation is closely linked with the idea of substitution. The claim for a substitute and the long search for one are thoroughly integrated parts of the narrative. In an article on the idea of substitution in Sumerian mythological poetry, Afanasieva argues that there was a notion of equilibrium, of harmony. In the myth Enlil and Ninlil, three beings are to serve as substitutes for Enlil, Ninlil and their first-born, the moon god Nanna. 26 When Inanna hands Dumuzi over to the Kalla demons as her substitute, the substitution becomes part of a cyclical, seasonal arrangement: Dumuzi and his sister Geshtinanna will each spend half the year in the Netherworld. It was Falkenstein's reconstruction of the text that led to this understanding (see l. 407, quoted above). Falkenstein's insights 27 led Kramer to admit that he himself had been wrong: "If Falkenstein's interpretation is correct-and it seems to me most convincing-my conclusion that Dumuzi dies and 'stays dead' forever ... was quite erroneous: Dumuzi, according to the Sumerian mythographers, rises from the dead annually and, after staying on earth for half the year, descends to the Nether World for the other half." 28 In a special study devoted to the conclusion of Inanna 's Descent, Bendt

ake

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24 25

26

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27 28

A variant tradition has "seven [years], seven months [and] seven days", see Romer (TVATIII:3: p. 473, n. 173a) and Sladek (1974: 204). As noted by Paul (1995: 225). See CAD, E, vol. 1: liSa. The Akkadian verb occurs frequently in Nergal and Ereshkigal. Afanasieva (1980: esp. pp. 165-166). Falkenstein (1965: 281 with n. 15). Kramer (1966: 31). Kramer adds inn. 3: "Note the obvious parallel to the Adonis myth." Kramer's erroneous conclusion, which he thus revoked in his 1966 study, was formulated in Kramer (1961: 10)

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Alster comes to the same conclusion. 29 The situation seems clear: the Sumerian myth ends up in a divine decree about the bilocation of Dumuzi and his sister. In this divine decree, we find a seasonal aspect surfacing in the myth. The concept of the alternation of the two deities in the Netherworld was to a large degree based upon the alternation of the barley and winegrowing seasons: Dumuzi embodied the grain, Geshtinanna the vine. 30 There is now a growing awareness that the Sumerian myth contains allusions to ritual procedures. Buccellati (1982) argued that the text reflects a ritual journey bringing the statue of Inanna from Uruk to Kutha, the cult centre par excellence for Nergal and other deities of the Netherworld. The beginning of the text tells that lnanna abandons one city after another as she goes in a generally northward direction (11. 7 -13). Though Kutha does not appear in the Sumerian text, it is found at a decisive juncture in the Akkadian version (Nin. 1. 40). The way back goes via Umma (ll. 322-346, see especially 1. 328). Buccellati strengthens his case by pointing out that one passage of the text looks like a description of a cult statue (11. 44-46). 31 The use of garments for cult statues is well known. The disrobing of Inanna (ll. 117-164) should be seen in the light of this.

I

1.2. The Akkadian lshtar's Descent As for the Akkadian Ishtar's Descent, the lion's share of the extant material is Neo-Assyrian. 32 The beginning of a Middle Assyrian version, however, is preserved, which means that written material takes us back to the end of the second millennium B.C.E. 33 The Akkadian form of the myth may be centuries older. 29 Alster (1996: 15). 30 31 32

33

Jacobsen (1976: 62). See also Cohen (1993: 262-263). On this passage, see now George (1985: 109-113, esp. p. 112) who is of the same opinion. For a transliteration of the Nineveh and Assur recensions arranged as the score of a piece of music, see Borger (1979: vol. I: 95-104, with introductory references to the tablets that contain these recensions). Translations are found in: Sladek (1974: 251-262), Dalley (Myths, 1991: 154-162), Foster (Before the Muses, vol. 1, 1993: 403-409; literature ibid. p. 409), and TUAT (3:4: 760-766, G.G.W. Miiller). In the following I cite Foster's translation.-In a series of works, S. Parpola has presented an interpretation of Ishtar as the central figure in Mesopotamian religion with far-reaching potential consequences both for the understanding of Mesopotamian religion in general and for the appreciation of possible notions of resurrection. See especially the synthesizing presentations in Parpola (1997b: the introduction; and 2000) with references to previous studies by Parpola. As will appear from what follows I am not yet ready to follow Parpola on this path. On these issues, see the critical discussion by J. Cooper (2000). See TUAT(3:4: 760-761).

191 ::.a.i: the ofDu~

.. lyth. rid was line' _le. 30 mtains , .t reI ttha, Neth- city ' 13). t a del ;oes ~ ; his iption f ·vell ; i.ght 1

nar on, back :-+the ~~

ieee of :

Lain

191: • JAT ries of r~~mi-

' )taSee ')with

The contents are as follows (the line numbers refer to the Nineveh recension). After a classical description of the gloomy life in the Netherworld, the text tells about Inanna' s threat to release the dead if she is not allowed into the Netherworld (ll. 14-20). When she is let in, the gatekeeper greets her welcome to Kutha, a name otherwise well-known as that of the cult centre of the Netherworld gods. She passes the seven gates, and each passage means that she is being stripped of one item of her attire (ll. 40-62). At the fifth gate, she loses the girdle with birthstones. Finally, she stands naked, robbed of her divinity, before her sister Ereshkigal. Namtar, the vizier of the Netherworld, releases upon her sixty illnesses (11. 68-75). Then follows a description of the sterile condition of life on earth, now that Ish tar is absent: procreation among people and animal ceases (11. 76-80). 34 Now Papsukkal, the vizier of the great gods, dressed in mourning with hair unkempt, goes to Ea. Ea forms a plan and creates Asushunamir who is to trick Ereshkigal to swear the oath of hospitality35 and then sprinkle Ish tar with the water of life. The order is carried out. Ishtar is sprinkled and then brought out through the seven gates, regaining her lost divine apparel (11. 115-125). The final section (11. 127-138) displays a very different genre. As we shall see, it alludes to the coming up of Dumuzi and to the mourning rites for this god. 1 A comparison with the Sumerian version shows that there are many similarities and also numerous differences. 36 It is quite clear also from the Akkadian myth that the goddess does not descend to the Netherworld in order to save Dumuzi. On the contrary: she is released from there only on condition that she will be able to provide a substitute. In the Sumerian text, Inanna' s apparel consists of the seven me , a notion that does not figure explicitly in the Akkadian version. 37 The galla demons and their search for a substitute for the goddess are mentioned only in the Sumerian version. The judgement about the division of the year and the two gods succeeding each other in the Netherworld, resulting in the bilocation of Dumuzi, is also specific to the Sumerian text. It is then important to note that the idea of substitution is nevertheless attested in both the Sumerian and the Akkadian versions. Moreover in the latter we find it in both text forms, the Nineveh text (naptim, 1. 126) and the As sur text (iptim, rev. 1. 36). The notion of substitution is found also in a myth where bilocation is not presupposed (Enlil and Ninlil). When

t..

""idy ; JO).

34 35 36 37

For lshtar and erotics, see e.g. the hymn "!star-Louvre" 1: 41-46 (Groneberg, 1997: 24-25). On this, see Kilmer (1971 ). See esp. Sladek (!974: 34-51), Katz (1995: 228-233), and Heimpel (RLA 8: 556-557). On this concept, see Farber(-Flilgge) (1973 and RLA 7: 610-613).

~'

'.

192 we find it in the Akkadian myth, lshtar' s Descent, its presence there is probably due to the combination substitution-bilocation, attested already in the Sumerian myth, lnanna 's Descent. Thus, bilocationthough not mentioned expressly-surfaces in the reference to the substitute, the ransom, in the Akkadian version. A passage that deserves particular attention is the ritual conclusion (ll. 127-138) with its mention ofDumuzi "coming up" (from the Netherworld) in line 136, because of its potential reference to a "resurrection" of Dumuzi. The presentation here makes a transition from narrative to ritual. This ritual section consists of three parts. The first few lines contain a speech with imperatives and precatives giving orders about Dumuzi (ll. 127 -130), verb forms that point to a different genre than the mythological corpus of the text, a change of genre that could indicate that the ending is a later addition. The following lines contain a description of Belili (Geshtinanna) when she hears the ritual wailing for her brother Dumuzi. She then reacts in dismay (ll. 131-135). The final lines contain a statement about what will happen when Dumuzi rises (ll. 136-138). This ritual conclusion of the myth is properly preserved only in the Nineveh version, but there are sufficient traces in the damaged Assur text for us to conclude that it was once found also there. 38 We should note one specific difference bct;.veen the ~~ineveh and .t-\ssur versions of 1

the sections immediately preceding the ending. The Nineveh text has the reference to the substitute after the passage through the gates, while the Assur text refers to the substitution before the passage through the gates takes place, which is a more logical place in the plot. 39 It is tempting to take the reference to the substitute as an allusion to the role of Dumuzi as a replacement for lshtar in the Netherworld. The fact that the Nineveh version seems to have moved this reference to a place immediately before the ritual conclusion confirms this assumption. Besides, this manoeuvre also strengthens the suspicion that the ritual ending is a secondary constituent of the text as we have it. The addition of lines 127 -138led to the relocation of the reference to the substitute, from line 118 (where it is found in the Assur parallel) to line 126.40 Due to the supposed connection between substitution and bilocation in our myth 38 39 40

I

See von Soden (1967: 192-195, esp. p. 193). As was pointed out by Sladek (1974: 43). Lress¢e (1955: 13-15) calls attention to a number of Assyrian linguistic features in the passage. These, in connection with the circumstance that the passage reflects a ritual practice that may be specifically Assyrian, leads him to assume that the epilogue is an Assyrian addition to the myth.

193 ~re 1•

is al-

r-

sub1

(above), one could speculate whether an ending with a divine decree about the partition of the year was lost when the ritual ending was added to the text. Adopting von Soden's analysis of the syntax in the final lines, these may be translated as follows:

on

When Dumuzi rises [elliinni ], and when the lapis lazuli pipe and the carnelian ring rise with him, When male and female mourners rise with him, Then let the dead come up [liJanimma] and smell the incense.

~ethrr~c-

1

,m

(II. 136-138)41

!Irst !

0r-

~

~nt

Lnat lines i al _,j),

muI .•le

ssur : !d I )f has le te

npt-

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e me-

There is then a clear reference to the ascent of Dumuzi, but what is the import of this formulation? Is it a reference to Dumuzi's coming up to be succeeded by his sister and to his inauguration of the renewal of life in nature? I have arrived at the conclusion that this is not the case, that we are here not concerned with a reference to Dumuzi's resurrection but only to a momentary interruption in his sojourn in the Netherworld as Ishtar's substitute. My reasons are as follows. The passage in Ishtar's Descent is best understood not against the background of a joyous Dumuzi festival to celebrate the arrival of spring but rather against the background of the mourning rites for Dumuzi at the end of the month that is named after this god. I These mourning rites are known from a group of texts of which I would like to call attention to two in particular: SAA 3: no. 38: rev. 31942 and SAA 10: no. 19. 43 They take place in the month ofDu'uzu, the month whose name derives from the name of the god Dumuzi. 44 In a study of the mourning rites for Dumuzi, Scurlock45 concludes that the 26th ofDu'uzu was the day of uproar, a day when the (funerary) display (the taklimtu rite) 46 was carried out in Assur and Nineveh. The 27th 41

42 43 44

45

;age. l

>

y .e

46

Von Soden (1967: 194), translation quoted from Sladek (1974: 262). See also Dalley (Myths, 1991: 160). The word elliinniin line 136 is a ventive of the verb eli1, "to rise", and is listed under this verb in CAD E, p. 122 top. Foster's analysis and translation is highly improbable, Foster (Before the Muses, vol. I, 1993: 409). This text, VAT 10 099 with duplicates, is edited and translated in Livingstone (Court Poetry, 1989: 95-98) and discussed by Livingstone (1986: 130-131, 136-141 ). This text is edited and translated by Parpola (Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, 1993, p. 16). Note also SAA 10: 18 (ibid. p. 15). For intervocalic rn developing into ',see von Soden (GAG§ 31d). My thanks to Michael B. Dick for a discussion of this point. For the following, see Scurlock (1992: 53-67, esp. pp. 58-61). The word taklimtu is a term derived from the verb kullumu, "to show, display". It was probably a display of the grave goods, not of the corpse, see Scurlock (1991 ). That the ending of lshtar 's Descent belongs to the context of the taklirntu rite was pointed out long ago by L:essl')e ( 1955: 13-14) and Yamauchi (1966: 10-15).

:,.~

::,.11

·,

194

was the day of releasing (pasaru) and also a day for further funerary display. The 28th of the month was the day of Dumuzi when still another funerary display was enacted. The 29th seems to have been the last day of the rites. Scurlock concludes that, "[t]he 27th of Du'uzu was the day of releasing, that is, the day when Dumuzi was given a furlough from his Netherworld prison (where he was serving as !Star's substitute) so 47 that he could be present in the upper world for his festival." Since the month of Du'uzu was the "month of the captivity of Dumuzi", the month when "the shepherd Dumuzi was bound" and the month of "the opening of the grave", Scurlock concludes that "we are probably safe in assigning the 'day of the captivity of Dumuzi', to the end of the rite, that is, to the 29th of the month." 48 Three aspects of this material are important to us: (1) These rites culminate in Dumuzi's death, and his death is closely linked up with the demise of plant life. Thus in SAA 3: no. 38 we read that, "[h]is [de]ath is when they burn the roasted barley, which they were casting on Tammuz, on the stones", and then the text goes on to describe Dumuzi as the very embodiment of vegetation: "Tamarisk is his topknot. Cypress is [his] trunk. [C]annabis is his bristle. Juniper is 49 [his] thighs. Cedar is his knees (2) In the ritual conclusion of Ishtar's Descent and in the texts referring to the taklimtu rite, Dumuzi is firmly allocated to the Netherworld; his corning up is only a brief, temporary release, and he returns at the end of his month. An allusion to this may be at hand in the words to Ereshkigal in Nergal and Ereshkigal: "Not [once] in a year can you come up before us.'' 50 Ereshkigal is not as happy as Dumuzi is. (3) The two texts about Inanna's and Ishtar's descents were not originally composed as ritual myths. The addition of the ritual ending to the Akkadian text, however, is explainable on the assumption that the narrative about Ishtar's descent becomes the hieros logos of the Dumuzi celebrations during the month of Du'uzu. 51 The evidence adduced by Scurlock is Neo-Assyrian. A similar coming up and returning to the Netherworld may be attested for two god000

000

00."

/

47

Scurlock (1992: 59).

4 8 Scurlock (1992: 60). 49 SAA 3: no. 38: rev. 6-17 (Livingstone,

Court Poetry, 1989: 98). See also no. 39: obv. 1-18. On the god-description texts, see Livingstone (1986: 92-112). 50 The Sultantepe version (C) I: 32, text in Gurney (1960: 11 0), translation in Foster (Before the Muses, vol. 1: 418). c~ is this an allusion to a kispu celebration? 51 I am surprised to find that Parpola (1997c: 55) understands the final part of Ishtar's Descent as containing "a promise of salvation".

195 'u!S-

>ther ay -.lY

rom ~

:>O

~

1e

the '

1e

desses from Eshnunna around the tum of the third and second millennia B.C.E.52 The taklimtu rite was received into the Adonis celebrations, as we know them from Egypt, as Stol has demonstrated. 53 We noted above the seasonal implications of the Sumerian text (the partition of the year). These are present also in the Akkadian form of the myth. The references to the loss of the birthstones, 54 to the ensuing infertility on earth and to the mourning rites for Dumuzi touch upon the related themes of the seasonal cycle. 55

f in rite, ~e

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n to

Jr 1s :

'S

fPr1 l; me ; to

' u ;

)

'

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uzi

1.3. Ningishzida's Descent Ningishzida 's Descent is a new Akkadian descensus myth that was edited and discussed by Lambert, whose overall interpretation I here follow. 56 Over against the other two descents, there is here a difference in the means of achieving the release of the victim. In the former it is Enki's trickery, brought about by the entertainers sent to the Netherworld. In this new text, the victim's mother bribes the guard and so overrules Ereshkigal' s normal principle to allow no victim to escape. 57 The final part of the text may be taken to tell how Ningishzida left the Underworld with his helper (rev. 11-23). I Ningishzida belongs to a group of chthonic gods connected with vegetation (agriculture). 58 "Most commonly he is an underworld official and would neither need nor want to be released," says Lambert, who nevertheless concludes that this chthonic god makes a descensus and also leaves the Netherworld. 59 The death of vegetation and the Netherworld travel of the god who embodies it, is thus the subject of our Akkadian myth. The return ofNingishzida hinted at in our text may also be vaguely referred to in a Sumerian lament. 60 The time of Ningishzi-

.. r.rl

,,.[: H [:

ill IIil

:I·:

I 52

See Cohen (1993: 252-253, 475). See Stol ( 1988). 54 Sladek (1974: 84, 86) relates the sibbu a ban aliidi (NA 4 .TU), "girdle of birthstones", "stones of[= that cause] birth", to aban ere (NA4 .PES 4, "stones of[= that cause] conception". 55 As was pointed out by Katz (1995: 230). 56 See Lambert (1990a: 289-300). The cuneiform tablet is from Ur, U 16 889, published in C.J. Gadd's hand copy in UET VI, 395, see Lambert p. 290. 57 Lambert (1990a: 295). 58 See Wiggermann (RIA 9: 368-373, esp. pp. 369-370), and idem (1997: 39-42). 59 Lambert (1990a: 289-300, quotation from p. 295; on resurrection p. 300). 60 See TCL 15,8, translated by Jacobsen (1976: 68-73), and see Wiggermann (RIA 9: 370b). Note that Alster ( 1986: 27) fails to find a reference to the return of Ningishzida in the Sumerian lament, a conclusion contested by Wilcke ( 1988: 245-250, esp. p. 248) but maintained by Alster in Jacobsen and Alster (2000: 331 note 33).

53

the

,,ld''

II

I

196

da' s absence from earth coincided with that of Dumuzi: from midsummer to midwinter. 61 His name means "Lord of the true tree", a name that reflects the reliability of the natural phenomena that he embodies. 62 We should note that Ningishzida is closely related to Dumuzi. He is the husband of Geshtinanna, Dumuzi's sister. In Adapa and the South Wind, Dumuzi and Ningishzida (under the name Gizzida) appear together as guardians at the gate of heaven. 63 Ningishzida is identified with Damu and Ishtaran, "the Ishtar-like [god]". 64 Against the background of what has been said, I am inclined to conclude that the well-known pattern of Dumuzi's descent and return figures in the background of the Old Babylonian Ningishzida 's Descent.

1.4. Urnammu 's Death

';

'i I i . I

Urnammu was the founder of the third dynasty of Ur. The text in question65 tells how, after Urnammu's death, lnanna interve~es and complains to Enlil that she wants the dead king back. This is resembles closely her intervention for Dumuzi in two laments. The negative answer implies that Urnammu will no more come to her as Dumuzi. 66 The dead kings participate "sacramentally" in the cult of the dying gods and in the return of the vegetation brought about by these deities. 67 Dumuzi's death and return are here presupposed as the pattern for king Urnammu's death and his hoped-for return. This all means that an Ur III text presupposes the mythological idea of Dumuzi's return. It could even be that we should understand the reference as an allusion to the ritual celebration of his return in the hieros gamos, but here we are perhaps on less certain ground.

61

See Wiggennann (1997: 41 with references.). See Wiggennann (RIA 9: 369, 371). 63 B: lines 24, 31, 49, 56. Text: Picchioni, Il PoemettodiAdapa (1981: 116-119); translation: Foster (Before the Muses vol. 1, 1993: 431-432). 64 See Jacobsen (1976: 68-73). Note in this connection the final section of Urnammu 's Death, see Wilcke (1970: 79-92; 1988: 245-250, and idem, RIA 5: 84). For the above interpretation of the name "lshtaran", see Lambert (1969: 103). The type of noun formation is that of GAG§ 56r. 65 On this text, see Wilcke (1970 and 1988: 245-250). 66 See Wilcke (1970: 86-92; 1988: 245-246). 67 See Wilcke ( 1988: 250). In line with this, we find in another text Umammu' s son and successor Shulgi departing to heaven after his death, and a statement that recalls a later formulation in Adapa and the South Wind about Dumuzi and (Nin)Gizzida at the gate of heaven, see Wilcke (1988: 250-255). 62

~I

197 l!Yl-

1

~

~is

tu-

ied

Ig-

m-

l l ..

he

Jr1

We may then summarize our findings so far. New and important material has become available in recent decades, including the new ending for Inanna 's Descent with the partition of the year. The scholarly consensus reached by the 1960's, namely that Dumuzi dies and remains dead, does not survive the acid test of a perusal of the relevant mythological material now at hand. Inanna 's Descent from about 2000 B.C.E. attests to the notions of substitution, bilocation and seasonal arrangement of the year. Dumuzi is to spend half the year on earth and half in the Netherworld. The Akkadian Ishtar's Descent may have been composed during the latter half of the second millennium. The ritual ending is probably a later addition, and moreover an addition that may have replaced an original reference to bilocation. This ritual ending does not speak of Dumuzi's resurrection at the tum of the year when vegetation receives new life. The god here returns to earth only to participate in the mourning ceremonies in the month ofDu'uzu in the middle of the summer. The body of the text, however, has seasonal implications. What is more, the addition of the ritual conclusion, focussing as it does on Dumuzi, favours the assumption that Ishtar's Descent now in its Neo-Assyrian context served as the hieros logos of the Dumuzi celebrations at the end of the month that bore his name. Ningishzida 's Descent is an 1 Old Babylonian myth that was probably structured on the pattern ofDumuzi's descent and return. A similar relation to the Dumuzi myth is found in Urnammu's Death, an Ur III text in which Inanna complains that the dead king will no more come to her as Dumuzi.

it-

2. Dumuzi: A Dying and Rising God?

:ee

After the preceding perusal of the descensus myths we shall now pose our specific question: Is Dumuzi a dying and rising deity in the sense defined above in Chapter I? In a recent contribution, MarkS. Smith arrives at the following conclusion: "It is most important to emphasize that even if 'resurrection' were the proper term to characterize Dumuzi's half-year on earth every year, it appears to be a concept without ritual context; this seems to be a 'theology' designed to provide intelligibility for Dumuzi's annual death." 68 Smith also lays a certain stress on Dumuzi's quasi-divine status.69 Let us once again, then, consider the four cardinal points referred

, :I . r·:l ,.

'

I

68

ke

M.S. Smith ( 1998: 275). See also Alster (DDD: 1578). A markedly different stance was taken by Parpola (SAA 9. 1997b: p. xciv) who brings together various pieces of evidence. 69 Smith (1998: 273).

198 to in Chapter 1: divine status, death and return, ritual embeddedness, and seasonal connections.

2 .1. Divine Status?

I

,,1

"I

I

For the Mesopotamians themselves, the distinction between mortal and divine was somewhat fluid. Our perspective at this moment of our discussion is rather extrinsic, or etic: the following remarks are made primarily in the interest of a comparison with Adonis, since the Greek Adonis was a heros, and in the interest of our conversation with Mark S. Smith.1° Falkenstein underlined, in his Dumuzi contribution from 1954, that Dumuzi and Amaushumgalanna did not originally belong to the Sumerian pantheon. 71 Both were names of mortal men. In the later figure of Dumuzi, two different characters had coalesced, according to Falkenstein. We find them as mortals at two different places in the Sumerian King List: an older Dumuzi from Bad-tibira, and a younger one from Kuara or Kullab. 72 Dumuzi's life of shepherding and his prayers to the deities suggest his human status? 3 "Dumuzi as husband of Inanna exemplifies the pattern of a mortal ruler who became the husband of a goddess", writes Alster, and refers to Dumuzi's Dream, line 206: "I am 74 not [just] a man, I am the husband of a goddess!" Dumuzi, then, is semi-divine. He was originally a divinized ruler. This explains certain features of the development, e.g. that Inanna could extradite him to serve as her substitute in the Netherworld; a similar death sentence would hardly have been spoken over one of her equals among the gods. 75 Nevertheless, the conscience of Dumuzi's original status may well have vanished among the people of Mesopotamia during his long life in myth and rite. Whatever his origin, however, Dumuzi must be said to be a god, just as Gilgamesh was a god, although given a human origin. It is not without reason that he always appears with the divine determinative.76

70

Daniel Fleming and Jack Sasson are sceptical about the benefits of making a distinction "divine" and "semi-divine" (p.c.). 71 Falkenstein (1954: 62-65); see also Alster (DDD: 1570-1571). 72 See ANET (pp. 265-266). 73 For prayers, see Kramer (1990: 143-149). 74 Alster (DDD: 1570). For the passage cited, see Alster (Dumuzi's Dream, 1972: 76-77). 75 Thus Falkenstein (1954: 63). 76 Heimpel (RLA 8: 542).

199 1U

sn-

n

a

n

e

n f'

I-

2.2. Death and Return and Ritual Embeddedness

Dumuzi went down to the Netherworld. He was then mourned by the goddess, who is described as his deprived spouse or bereft mother. The mourning goddess, searching for her lost husband or son is a salient feature of the Mesopotamian Dumuzi myth as we know it from the vast literature of lamentations. 77 In our perusal of the descensus myths, we found indications to the effect that Dumuzi was believed both to go down to the Netherworld and to return from there. In Inanna 's Descent, the notion of substitution and the partition of the year testify to his return. In Ishtar's Descent there is no divine decree, but the notion of substitution suggests that some bi-annual arrangement figures under the surface of the text. The myth of Ningishzida 's Descent concerned the descent and release of a god closely related to Dumuzi; the outline probably reflects the pattern of Dumuzi's death and return. Similarly, the final section of Urnammu 's Death alludes to the fates of Dumuzi. We may then proceed to the issue of a possible cultic and ritual embeddedness of the idea of Dumuzi' s return. In his study of the Dumuzi cult, R. Kutscher emphasized two aspects. (a) It was an unofficial affair on the popular level of religion. 78 Two Dumuzi temples are known from Early Dynastic times, but none is known after the Old Babylonian period. This dichotomy, official vs. popular religion, may, however, be' open to some doubts. We shaH reiurn io ihis issue below. (b) There was a development so that "in the late second millennium, Dumuzi's character as the young bridegroom, hero of the sacred marriage rite, had been forgotten, and he was known only as the tragic hero." 79 The mourning rites to celebrate Dumuzi's death or "binding" in the month of Du'uzu (around July) are well attested. 80 They figure in a passage in Gilgamesh: "for Dumuzi, the beloved of your youth, ~ou decreed an annual wailing [satta ana satti bitakka taltemessu]." 1 They are also known from the Hebrew Bible (Ezek 8: 14). 82 Moreover, the very death of Dumuzi seems to have been acted out in ritual performance. That this is so, at least in first millennium Assyria, is suggested by 77 See Kramer (1983: 76-79; cf. 1982) and Jacobsen (1976: 47-73). 78 Cf. Jacobsen (1970: 90f.) who speaks of a cult practised by women. 7 9 Kutscher ( 1990; quotation from p. 30). 80 See Cohen (1993: 315-319). 81 Gilgamesh VI: 46-47. Text in Parpola (1997a: 91), translation in Kutscher (1990: 42). The verb is emedu, "impose", in the St-stem. On this passage and its context, see Abusch (1986). The section VI: 15-61 was known at Emar, see Toumay and Shaffer (1994: 145). 82 On this text, see Dijkstra (1996).

200

1

a Neo-Assyrian text: "His [d]eath is when they bum the roasted barley, which they were casting on Tammuz, on the stones." 83 It is quite clear that the possible evidence for a cultic celebration of Dumuzi's return from the Netherworld is far from overwhelming. I would like to call attention to two cases, however, namely late third millennium Umma and Old Babylonian Mari. For Umma, there are entries of expenses for a Dumuzi celebration in the 12th month, referring to the return of Dumuzi. 84 Cohen comments on the Umma celebrations in his study of the cultic calendars: "The festival of Dumuzi at Umma occurred in the last month of winter. Therefore, it is likely that this important festival in Umma may have been related to the mythologized belief that Dumuzi alternated with his sister, Gestinanna, in the netherworld. This festival may have marked Dumuzi's return, the onset of spring." 85 The reference in two texts toDumuzi's wedding gifts, probably to Inanna, may be a hint at his reunion with his spouse and the celebration of the sacred marriage rite. 86 At Mari, Dumuzi was known already in pre-Sargonic times. 87 There are indications that Sumerian cult songs were sung at Mari. 88 From the Old Babylonian period, a couple of references to cultic celebrations are of special interest to us. An administrative document refers to "3 ugar [3600 sila] of grain for the female mourners" on the ninth day of the month of A bum. 89 This fourth month, Abum, corresponds to the month of Du'uzu of the standard Mesopotamian calendar. 90 The female mourners (bakkitu) were probably engaged in a kispum celebration on

83

Text and translation in Livingstone (SAA 3: no. 38, rev. 6-7). On this text, see Livingstone (1986: 130-131, 136-141). 84 See Heimpel (RIA 8: 563) and Kutscher (1990: 33-34). 85 Cohen (1993: 186-188; quotation from p. 188). On the Umma celebrations in the twelfth month, see also Sallaberger (1993, vol. 1: 257-264 ). Sallaberger does not refer to resurrection except indirectly on p. 263. 86 Cohen (1993: 186 with n. 3; 188). 87 See Edzard (1967: 53 with note 2). For Dumuzi during the time of the Shakkanakkus, see Lambert (1985b: 530 line 20). 88 See the Ishtar ritual (A. 3165), now published by Durand and Guichard (1997: 52-58), previously published by Dossin (1938: 1-13), where we find references to the incipits of Sumerian songs (II: 19; III: 8-16; IV: 18-19), and see the remarks of Edzard (1967: 67), Cohen (1981: 40ff.), and Cavigneux (1998). My thanks to Daniel Fleming and Jack Sasson for the reference 0 _;to D}t(and and Guichard. '·- • 8~B-ii~~RM IX: 175)). See also Kutscher (1990: 40). 90 See.Ktiisther (1990: 40) and Cohen (1993: 289-290, 315-319) . . . ··\ 0

;.

201

the ninth of Abum, perhaps somehow connected with the mourning rites for Dumuzi in the summer. 91 Now, there is one particularly interesting reference in a letter found at Mari (letter A.ll46) and published by P. Marello. 92 This text is a letter from one Yaminite king to another. It was written in north-eastern Syria, in the Euphrates region. How it found its way to Mari is a matter not yet clarified. What is interesting to us is that the speaker here takes Dumuzi' s fate as a metaphor for his own difficult experiences. In Fleming's translation, the crucial lines run:

1

I ~

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As for me, look at me. Not yet [?] ... I escaped from death, and from the midst of Ahuna [I escaped] ten times during uprising[s]. Why, now, [am I not] like Dumuzi? They kill him [idakkilsu], 93 at the [time of] counting the year [muniit sattim]. [In the spring (?),] he always comes back [it-ta-na-a[r]] to the temple of Annunitum [... ].(lines 39-44)94

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Annunitum is here Dumuzi' s consort, a goddess similar to Ishtar. What I find important in this letter is that the formulations are most easily understood as alluding to ritual procedures that served to express both the death and the return of Dumuzi. The reference to a specific time of the year, the formulation that "they kill him" (an act carried out by cultic agents?), and especially the statement that "he always comes back" (ittanar, Gtn of tam) to the temple of his consort-all these features uniformly point to ritual activities. Moreover, these ritual activities

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See Sasson (1979: 124) who refers to ARM XII, 437 and points out that the amount of grain in ARM IX, 175 indicates that a great number of female mourners were present. Note, however, the remark by Sasson: "My hesitation about considering these women as ritual criers is that they do not appear in the vast harem lists," (p.c., March 2001 ). The normal dates for the kispum in Mari are the first and sixteenth days of every month, see Tsuk.imoto (1985: 58). 92 SeeP. Marello (1992). Parpo1a was one of the very first to refer to this text in a discussion of Dumuzi's resurrection, see Parpola (SAA 9: p. xciv, note 127). I am grateful to Simo Parpola for having sent me a photocopy of this article, which was not available in Lund. My thanks to Daniel Fleming and Jack Sasson for discussing this important text with me (p.c., spring 2001 ). I was not able to get hold of Mander and Durand ( 1995). 93 If the form in the text is from dfiku, "to kill", then it is irregular. Over against the form in the text idakkilsu, one would expect idukkilsu, as Marello points out (1992: 120). Sasson thinks it is as possible to interpret the form in the text as from dakiisu, "to press in= pierce?" and to read idakkusilsu, "they push him in" (p.c., April 2001). In both cases, it is obviously a reference to the killing of Dumuzi. 94 Translation by Daniel Fleming (p.c., March 21, 2001). Fleming lectured on this text at the 2000 AOS meeting and handed out a full translation of the text, where the above rendering appeared. Jack Sasson has brought my attention to another interesting reference in which Dumuzi enters a temple (p.c. February 2, 2001). Itur-asu writes from Mari: "On the day I conveyed this letter to my lord, the pudum [expiation] of my Lord was offered in the temple of Annunitum of Shehrum. I have had Dumuzi enter in the temple of Annunitum in Mari." The text is A.S 12:7-15, cited in Durand CEO 8, 1995: 206. One wonders whether the pudum may be a hint at the act of substitution, as we know it from the descensus myths. Compare Hebrew padfi, "to ransom".

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comprise not only Dumuzi's death but also his return. 95 And, notably, the material is Yaminite. As we shall see, this circumstance is important when it comes to the issue of possible cultural contacts between Mesopotamia and the West in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. In my opinion, the return of Dumuzi to the temple should be seen in the light of what we know of ritual journeys of cult statues. Just as Inanna was found to make a ritual journey to Kutha (see above), so Dumuzi' s descent could be symbolized by a journey of his statue, and his revival by the return of his statue to the temple. What we have found above about Dumuzi's return to Umma and to Mari would seem toreflect such cultic procedures. Two further remarks should be appended to our discussion of this Yaminite letter. First, there are indications from later times that the killing of Dumuzi is a rite connected with the treatment of grain. In a NeoAssyrian text, which speaks of the Dumuzi rites at the end of the god's month, we hear that, "His [de]ath is when they bum the roasted barley, which they were casting on Tammuz, on the stones."96 At still a very much later date we meet a related(?) rite among the Sabeans of Haran during the latter half of the first millennium C.E. Our source is here a month-by-month survey of the cult, preserved in an Arabic text. The section for the month of Ta'uz, that is Tammuz, relates that the god Ta~uz, i.e. Dun1uzi, was n1urdered by his master, ;.vh9 ground his banes in a mill and winnowed them. Dumuzi is here undoubtedly identified with the grain: In the middle of the month is the festival of the biiqat, that is, of the wailing women. It is also called Ta'uz, as it is a festival performed for the god Ta'uz. The women lament for him, and that his master murdered him, ground his bones in a mill and winnowed them in the wind. 97

Secondly, there is the issue of official vs. popular religion and the usual allocation of the Dumuzi cult to the latter level. The Y aminite letter deals with one Yaminite ruler talking to another with reference to a 95

A human being comparing his fate to that of Dumuzi is, of course, unique. Contrast the awareness of the finality of death, succinctly expressed as follows in a Mari text: "Is a man who dies of thirst ever resurrected [ib/uf] when thrown in a river? Once (he/the gods) finish taking accounts, a dead man never comes to life" (ARM XXV, 171:14-15). English translation by Jack Sasson, who called my attention to this text (p.c., April2001) and who also referred me to Ziegler and Wasserman (1994). 96 SAA 3: no. 38: rev. 6-7 (text and translation in Livingstone, Court Poetry p. 98). Discussion in Livingstone (1986: 130-131, 136-141). 97 En-Nedim, text I, chap. 5 § 4. Arabic text and German translation in Chwolsohn (1856, vol. 1: 27). The English translation quoted above is that by Livingstone (1986: 162). On the Sabeans of Haran and on the source-critical problems involved, see especially J. Hjarpe ( 1972).

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temple and public cult. The material connected with the Umma celebrations of Dumuzi deals with herds under the administration of the ens i. This raises questions about the overall applicability of Kutscher's thesis that the Dumuzi cult was a phenomenon on the popular level of religion.98

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On Umma, see Sallaberger (1993, vol. 1: 262). My thanks to Daniel Fleming for calling my attention to this aspect of the Yaminite letter (p.c.). 99 Thus Falkenstein (1954: 64-65). 100 Alster (DDD: 1568, 1574, 1576) stresses that Dumuzi was not originally a vegetation deity and plays down his assumed connection with plant fertility. For scholars of a different opinion, see the following notes. 101 See Bottero and Kramer (1989: 328-329). The period of drought lasted from Dumuzi to Kislimu (July- December) and then followed the period of verdure from Tebetu to Simanu (December- June). See also Cohen (1993: 3-8, 262-263). 102 On Urnammu's Death, see Wilcke (1970: 89 and RLA V: 84). 103 There were offerings for Ningishzida at Ur III Umma in the twelfth month in connection with the Dumuzi festival, see Sallaberger ( 1993, vol. I: 262). 104 See above, in the introduction to the present chapter.

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Ninigishzida, why then did he not also have a connection with Damu who was of the same type? That Damu equals Dumuzi makes sense in the milieu of Byblos, later known for the cult of Adonis (see Chap. IV.3.4.3). The evidence then suggests that Dumuzi was seen quite early on as a god of vegetation, regardless of his original character. That his role as a god of vegetation received added emphasis in texts from the first millennium is a different matter. Thus, SAA 3: no. 38 contains a passage belonging to the god-description genre, with an express identification of various parts of the body of the god with various types of vegetation. 105 The Mesopotamian year began in the spring. Dumuzi descended in the fourth month, Du'uzu (July). Sladek and others assumed that his return was thought to take place in the month Kislimu (November-December), but there is no explicit evidence for this that I know of. 106 The passage adduced actually refers to Nergal's descent and return, placing his descent on the 18th of Du'uzu and his return on the 28th of Kislimu (about December). 107 The only piece of evidence known to me that links Dumuzi's return with a specific season is the case of Umma, where we find the twelfth month, i.e. at the end of the winter, given as the time for this (see above).

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We may then summarize our results. M.S. Smith's conclusion that the mythological reference to Dumuzi' s bilocation is "a 'theology' designed to provide intelligibility for Dumuzi's annual death" 108 seems slightly premature, and this for two reasons. (1) However scanty, the evidence from Umma and Mari points to the ritual celebration of Dumuzi's return. This return may be seen in the light of what we know about ritual journeys of statues. (2) There is evidence to the effect that Dumuzi-though not himself a vegetation deity from the outset--early on took up connections with such vegetation gods, notably Ningishzida and perhaps Damu. Seen in this light, the mythological motif of bilocation has a more positive function than just providing a theological rationalization for the annual death of Dumuzi: it serves to give the etiology for the reawakening of plant life.

105

Livingstone (SAA III: no. 38: rev. 9ff.). Sladek (1974: 27, note 1). 107 Epping and Strassmaier (1891: 244, lines 52-54); see also von Weiher (1971: 82-83), whorefers to still another text for Nergal's return in Kislimu. 108 M.S. Smith (1998: 275). 106

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It is a commonplace that close cultural contacts existed in the ancient Near East. 109 Akkadian was the lingua franca during the Late Bronze Age. The Amarna texts contain copies of Adapa and the South Wind and Nergal and Ereshkigal (EA nos. 356-357). A fragment of Gilgamesh was found at Megiddo. 110 In a study of the Middle Babylonian poetry of U garit and Emar, Kammerer ( 1998) was able to demonstrate that we are here concerned not only with reception but also with what he calls, with a German term, "Induktion" 111 , i.e. the new, creative production of Middle Babylonian poems. The Akkadian poetry from these sites shows a remarkable competence in the handling of the Mesopotamian divine names: these are provided with the correct epithets and cultictheological statements. 112 The use of the subjunctive as a marker of subordinate clauses shows that the scribes had more than just a superficial knowledge of Akkadian. 113 It is thus not surprising that we hear of contacts, e.g. between Mari and Ugarit and between Mari and Byblos.114 A find that has been taken to prove that there was knowledge of the Dumuzi myth in Canaan already in the Early Bronze Age is the stele from Arad, published by Ruth Amiran: she takes the two vegetal figures, one lying and one standing, to represent Dumuzi at two decisivf steps in the myth. 115 This would, however. be a completely isolated case. On the other hand, there is evidence for connections between Arad and Egypt (the pottery). The pictorial representation should therefore rather be interpreted against an Egyptian background. Nepri, the Egyptian com god and one of the aspects of Osiris thus seems a preferable alternative to Dumuzi. 116 Alternatively, if one still prefers a Mesopotamian background, the figures may represent a hieros gamos. 117

109

There is a long history of research on this. Note the collections of essays edited by Nissen and Renger (1982) and by Dalley (1998). In the first work, note the essays by Kupper (pp. 173-185) and Xella (pp. 321-338). 110 See Toumay and Shaffer (1994: 12, 174-177). 111 Kammerer ( 1998: 99-100 with note 275). 112 Kammerer (1998: 83-84). 113 Kammerer (1998: 125-126). 114 See Loretz (1994: 113-124). On Mari and Ugarit, see also Bordreuil (1985). 115 Amiran (1972a; 1972b). The picture is reproduced in NEAEHL I: 82. 116 My thanks to Irit Ziffer, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv. for calling my attention to this aspect (p.c.). 117 Thus Othmar Keel (p.c.). Such bed scenes have a first floruit in contemporary Mesopotamia (Keel, p.c.).

206

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A more promising avenue is opened up by a Middle Bronze Age item, the Mari text A.ll46, which mentions Dumuzi being killed and coming back (discussed above). This is a letter from one Y aminite king to another. It was written in north-eastern Syria, in the Euphrates region. How it came to Mari is not yet clarified. Fleming recently called attention to an unpublished text that refers to the pasturage of the Simalite "Northerners" at the upper Habur, while that of the Yaminite "Southerners" encompassed Yamhad, Qatna and Amurru. Y amhad and Qatna were major western kingdoms, and the latter governed territories that reached south into what are now southern Syria and Lebanon. 118 The range of movement of the Yaminites shows how the lines of communication worked. Dumuzi may thus well have been known in the Byblos area as a god who both dies and returns. Before we focus on the questions of a possible Dumuzi influence on Baal and on Adonis and Melqart, we shall first notice, on a more general level, the proliferation of references to Ishtar and Ashtart in Syrian sources from the second millennium B.C.E. 119 These two probably represented originally independent deities. Ishtar plays a prominent role in Ebla. Ashtart has a noticeable connection with Mari, as appears from the mention of an Ashtart of Mari in a U garitic text. 120 As for Emar, Fleming argues that the storm god under the name Baal was there coupled with AshtHrt. He refers to the personal names with the form ZuDN, Zii-Ba (I a and Zii-Astarti, to the paired temples for the storm god and Ashtart, and to the association of the cults of the storm god and of Ashtart in Emar' s two installation festivals. These festivals with parallel structure and offering procedure, put in office the priestess of the storm god and the priestess of Ashtart. 121 In U garit, we find that Anat had a close relation to Baal. 122 Anat is also known from Mari, where the same name is also the name of a town. 123 Anat of Ugarit is obviously a very lshtar-like character (sex and violence). Even so, the name "Ashtart" 118

See Fleming (1998: 61-62). My thanks to Daniel Fleming for calling my attention to this piece of evidence (p.c. May 2000). 119 See the survey in Bonnet (1996: 135-153). 12 KTU 1.100. The passage on the goddess was first overlooked by the scribe, but he afterwards added in the margin a formulation that may be translated: "Insert after the paragraph on Rashap the one on Ashtart ofMari", thus Pardee (COS!: 296 n. 15). See also Parker (UNP: p. 221) and Dietrich and Loretz (2000: 309), and on this goddess especially Bordreuil ( 1985b ). 121 See Fleming (1992: 214-227; and esp. 1993: 90-91; 1994). Contrast Schwemer (2001: 558, n. 4443). 122 Note, however, the difficulties in defining the relations between Anat and Baal, see Walls (I 992: chap. 3) and Schwemer (2001: 543-544). 123 See Edzard (1967: 64). See also Lambert (1985b: 526, item no. 14; 1988: 132). On Anat in the Ugaritic texts, see Walls (1992).

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207 occurs a number of times in other texts, sometimes closely linked with Anat. 124 Ashtart is, of course, known later on above all as the pan-Phoenician goddess. 125 The proliferation of Ishtar and Ash tart cults is an important phenomenon. Its evidential value for conclusions about an import of Dumuzi concepts to the West is, however, limited. What it does show is that such an import would not stand out as a complete surprise, and that northern Syria had plenty of cults where Dumuzi would play a natural, although not a necessary, part.

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Baal has a pre-history as appears from the pre-Ugaritic documentation.126 He is a storm god, and we should be aware that storm gods (weather gods) are not generically gods who die. 127 Although we have some very old, pre-Sargonic evidence for the storm god, Ishkur, being imprisoned in the Netherworld, 128 it seems that the motif of dying and rising, so well-known from the Baal-Mot myth ofUgarit, is a rare phenomenon among these deities. While the Baal-Yam myth has a long history of tradition, the BaalMot myth is a different case, with no obvious precedents in Syria or up- 1 per Mesopotamia. 129 M.S. Smith, comments on the pre-history of the Baal myth. 130 Single episodes are from the Middle Bronze Age. Here belongs the Baal-Yam conflict, attested in a Marl text and on a seal from Tel Asmar. 131 The transformation of the material at Ugarit may have included the creation of Mot and the patterning of this character in KTU 1.4- 1.6 after that of Yam in 1.1- 1.2. 132

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See KTU 1.92: 2; 1.100: 20; 1.114: 9-11, 22-23, 26; and in lists of gods: 1.47: 20, 25; 1.118: 19, 24. 125 See conveniently Rollig (DCPP : 46-48) and especially Bonnet (1996). 126 See Pettinato (1980), M.S. Smith (1994: 15-19, 29-36}, and Schwemer (2001: Chap. 6). 127 This important circumstance was pointed out to me by Daniel Fleming (p.c.). 128 See Schwemer (2001: 179). 129 See Schwemer (2001: 536-537). On the background of the Baal-Yam myth, see Schwemer (2001: 226-237). 130 See M.S. Smith (1994: 15-19, 29-36). 131 For the Mari text (A. 1968: rev. 2-3), see Durand (1993: 45). For the seal, see ANEP no. 691 and M.S. Smith (1994: 346-347). As Schwemer points out (2001: 119). the dragon battle mytheme is probably very old, attested already in Old Babylonian Halab (2001: 226-236). Fronzaroli (1997) argued for its presence already in certain curse formulas at Ebla, but this seems questionable, see Schwemer (200 1: 118-119). For another potential piece of very early evidence, see the reference in Durand (1993: 43). My thanks to Daniel Fleming and Jack Sasson for the reference to Fronzaroli. 132 M.S. Smith (1994: 17-19). Smith's analysis is accepted by Herr (1995: esp. p. 51).

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Thus, a connection between Baal and the descensus motif is by no means a matter of course before the Ugaritic Baal appears on the West Semitic scene. That the Ugaritic Baal actually appears as a dying and rising god stands out as an innovation, and one that demands an explanation. Let us therefore look for the background of the descensus motif applied to Baal. Disregarding Mot as aU garitic creation, the structure and actants of Baal's descent to the Netherworld strikingly resemble the Dumuzi myth: a young male god goes down to the Netherworld, the goddess laments his departure and carries out a search for him, and the narrative structure is related to the change of the seasons. 133 In the Baal-Mot myth there is a striking metaphor that serves to express Anat' s bereavement and longing for her lost spouse: "like the heart ofthe c[ow] for her calf ... so is the heart of An[ at] for Baal" (KTU 1.6.11: 6-9). This metaphor is remarkable in the Ugaritic context, since there are no other traces that the goddess was the mother of the god who descended. Precisely this, however, is well-known from Mesopotamia.134 The cow-and-calf metaphor is there found in a descensus passage 135 but occurs also in other contexts with the broad motif of the weeping goddess, where we find the formulation: "the cow for the calf ... the cow-its calf had disappeared" .136 The motif thus does not per se point to a connection with the Dumuzi myth but seems nevertheless best understood as due to influence from the East. Saying this, I am aware of the fact that in general terms there is surprisingly meagre evidence for Mesopotamian influence on the religious life of U garit. 137 Conclusion: The correspondences between Ugaritic data and Mesopotamian counterparts do not require for their explanation a genetic relation with the Dumuzi concepts. Independent, indigenous development is a theoretical possibility. The nature of the correspondences and the 133

These similarities have been pointed out by M.S. Smith (1994: 18-19). As far as I can see, Smith does not comment on genetic relations between Dumuzi concepts and Baal notions. 134 See for instance Jacobsen (1976: 63-73). 135 See Jacobsen (1976: 64). 136 Gaster (1969: 605f.) connected the Anat passage with other ancient Near Eastern material from Mesopotamia and Anato1ia. See also M.S. Smith (1985: 313). For the Sumerian text that Smith here referes to, see Kramer (1982: *142), who speaks ofthemater-dolorosa motif. On the motif of the weeping goddess in Mesopotamia, see Kramer (1983: 69-80), and on the PhoenicianPunic Venus lugens, see Ronzevalle (1930). Note the suggestion, made by Lipinski (1995: 199), that the name Tnt derives from a root tny, "to mourn", which he assumes in Judg 11:40, and understands this goddess as "the mourning one". This goddess has her origin in the Orient, and is no Punic innovation, see KAI 81:1 and Bordreuil (1987: 79-85). For a general presentation ofTannit!finnit, see Lipinski (1995: 199-215 with references). 137 Note Pardee's remarks (2000, vol. 2: 935).

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circumstantial evidence, however, make such a connection an attractive possibility. We should not overlook the differences between Baal and Dumuzi: "Dumuzi is no great god like Baal, nor a storm god, nor does he engage in mortal combat as part of the description of the struggle between life and death." 138 These differences, however, are no counterargument. Dumuzi is not a storm god, but already during the Late Bronze Age he has developed the features of a god of vegetation, and vegetation is a major responsibility of Baal. The possible absorption of Dumuzi motifs such as the descensus does not necessarily transform Baal into a West Semitic Dumuzi but rather enriches the Ugaritic storm god with features that he did not have prior to the time when the influence took place. There was a change, and change is always a prime criterion of influence. 139 Baal changed from being a common storm god to being a storm god who descended into the Netherworld and returned. The very mytheme of the descensus may then well be due to influence from Mesopotamia.

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With regard to Adonis, let us first consider some indications of rathef obvious Mesopotamian influence. These are found in material relating to Adonis in Egypt and Adonis in Greece. In the first place, there is some striking evidence for Mesopotamian influence on the Adonis rites of Ptolemaic Egypt, which we dealt with above (Chap. IV.2). In Theocritus (Idyll XV), there is a formulation about Aphrodite as "playing with the gold" (I. 101) that has been seen in the light of Inanna's/lshtar's jewellery in the descensus myths. 140 Stol (1988) gave a striking demonstration that the word OELK"tfjpwv, occurring in one of the Petrie papyri (3, no. 142, from Fayoum), is a calque on Akkadian taklimtu, referring to a display rite in connection with the mourning rites for Dumuzi. This display rite was either the lying-instate of the dead body, or rather the display of the grave goods. 141 Against this background, the shortness of Adonis' visit on earth in Theocritus' poem may receive its explanation. Could it not be a visit of

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210

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the same brevity as that of Dumuzi' s visit on earth in the Neo-Assyrian texts, made in order just to participate in the mourning rites, after which he returns to the Netherworld? If so, the Adonis of Egypt was a chthonic character, similar to the one we found on Cyprus, at Kourion, and similar to the Adonis of the Greek magical papyri (cf. above Chap. IV.l.3). Secondly, we note that the Greek Adonis tradition knows about the bilocation of the dying god. We find it in the mythological passage that Apollodorus cites from Panyassis. 142 Penglase sees this motif of the myth in the light of the Sumerian descensus myth. 143 There is a divine decree in both. Note, however, that there is also a difference: the Sumerian myth connects the motif ofbilocation with that of substitution. 144 Dumuzi and Geshtinanna each spend half of the year in the Netherworld. In the Greek myth, the year of Adonis is divided into three different periods, one to be spent with Persephone, one with Aphrodite, and one to be spent alone (but which is subsequently added to Aphrodite's share). Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to conclude that the divine decree on the partition of the year is indeed due ultimately to Mesopotamian influence. What we have in Egypt and in Greece in terms of traces of influence may be due either to direct Mesopotamian influence, perhaps via Anatolia in the case of Greece, or to influence mediated via e.g. Byblos. We simply do not know. We should remember that the bilocation mytheme is also present in the Demeter-Kore myth. Let us then tum to the Levant and the Adon(is) cult at Byblos. Here our discussion must suffer from the deplorable lack of know ledge about the mythology linked with the Levantine Adon(is). We discussed above the possible implications of the reference to the male god ofByblos as "my Darou" (EA no. 84) and "my living god" (EA no. 129), and as "the Living One" in a much earlier context, in a Pyramid text (518d). We should notice that the god of Byblos is never referred to in the Amama letters as a storm god (diSKUR). When all is said and done, we should not dismiss the possibility that the male god of Byblos was from very early times, well before the Late Bronze Age, a dying and rising deity. Whether or not there is already here a formative influence from the Dumuzi concepts is beyond the realm of historical tangibles. Historical contacts are certainly possible.

142

Apollodorus, The Library III, 14, 4, and see above Chap. IV .1.2. Peng1ase (1997: 139). 144 The notion of redemption from death is present in some texts in the Hebrew Bible: Ps 49: 8-10. 16 (English vv. 7-9, IS); Job 33: 24, 28. 143

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The name of the goddess of Byblos may be worth noticing. Her designation as "Lady of Byblos" 145 is now known to equal "Ashtart". The two designations occur on a small throne model, published by Bordreuil. On the back of it we read in Greek letters: ~TAPTH 8EA MEfiLTH, and underneath this in Phoenician writing: lbclt gbl. The Phoenician writing is close to that ofByblian coins of the fourth century B.C.E. 146 The identification of the goddess ofByblos with Aphrodite is suggested by De Dea Syria § 6. This throne model, however, offers the first epigraphic attestation of a formal correspondence, long suspected, between the Lady of Byblos and Ashtart. Note that the designation "Lady of Byblos" looks like an epithet. Ashtart may well be the actual name of the deity, the full name being Ashtart, Lady ofByblos. The use of the name "Ashtart", however, should not without further ado be taken as a sign that there is a Dumuzi influence. Ashtart seems to have been a fairly ubiquitous designation in the Late Bronze Age as we have already seen. One point of striking similarity with Dumuzi is found on the ritual level: The Adonis festival took place in the middle of the summer, 147 probably at the same time that the mourning rites for Dumuzi took place in Mesopotamia. We must also note a difference: The Adonis celebrations, as we know them from De Dea Syria, comprise both the death and the resurrection of the god. The Dumuzi celebrations in the summtr seem to be reserved for the mourning for the absem god, while his return may have been celebrated just after winter. This last observation brings us to Melqart. We happen to know that Melqart' s "awakening" took place in the month of Peritius, which is mid-February to mid-March. This is broadly reminiscent ofthe time for the celebration of Dumuzi's return at Umma and ties in with the calculation of half a year in the Netherworld for Dumuzi, counted from the celebration of his death in late July. If the Pyrgi inscription refers to Melqart, and if our interpretation of a difficult name of a month in this text is correct, then Melqart's burial may take place during high summer. Adonis and Melqart then have festivals that broadly harmonize with the terms for the celebrations for Dumuzi. Our observations about Adonis and Melqart may then be summarized as follows. There are clear traces of Mesopotamian influence on the Adonis concepts in Greece and Egypt. Given the present state of our 145

I 8-10.

Note Beltu sa Gubla in the Amarna letters, survey in Hess (1986: 151) and b'lt gbl in a Phoenician inscription, see Bordreuil (1977). 146 Bordreuil (1985a: 182-183). 147 On the date, see above Chap. lV .1.1.

II

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212 knowledge, however, it is impossible to say anything about the date for this influence and the channels that mediated it. Turning to the Levantine Adon(is) of the cult at Byblos, we found one characteristic feature, paralleled by the Dumuzi cult: just as the mourning for Dumuzi occurred in midsummer, so the Adonia took place in the middle of summer, during the latter half of July. The reference in an Amarna letter (no. 84) to the male god as "Damu" does not per se require the conclusion that Dumuzi was known at Byblos. Due to the close syncretistic links between Dumuzi and Damu, however, the reference to Damu is certainly in good harmony with such an inference. As for Melqart, we called attention to the date for his festival in the month of Peritius, a date which converges with the inferred date for the celebration of Dumuzi' s return.

4. Conclusions

1

Due to the potential interest of Dumuzi for our project, it was necessary to submit the variegated Dumuzi material to an extended discussion. I draw the following conclusions. (1) According to some scholars, Dumuzi was not originally a god. The name Dumuzi occurs in the Sumerian l(ing List as the name of two different rulers. Our Dumuzi is perhaps a divinized king, and as such he may be said to exemplify the motif of a mortal ruler who becomes the husband of a goddess. It would seem difficult to argue, however, that Dumuzi throughout his long history was experienced by the Mesopotamians as only quasi-divine. Whatever the origin and background ofDumuzi, he is a real god. (2) The general picture we have of Dumuzi is that of the tragic hero. His festival in the middle of the summer, at the end of the month Du'uzu, is one of weeping and mourning. (3) There is a certain tension between the picture we find in the ritual material (human mourning) and in the myth (the god's return from the Netherworld). Thus, in the Dumuzi myth as we gather it from material focussed on the descensus of the goddess, we find a complex of mythological motifs comprising substitution, partition of the year and bilocation (with Dumuzi and his sister interchanging in the Netherworld). The partition of the year has obvious seasonal implications. This set of mythological motifs is most clearly attested in the Sumerian Inanna 's Descent. The Akkadian Ishtar's Descent lacks explicit references to a partition of the year and to bilocation. Since, however, the motif of substitution is explicitly mentioned, these may be assumed to be implicitly

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present here as well. The final part of this text was found to make up an addition of a ritual nature that created a connection between the mythological corpus of the text and the ritual mourning for Dumuzi at the end of his month in the summer. The context is that of the taklimtu rites for Dumuzi. Dumuzi's stay on earth in this passage is only a brief furlough from his confinement in the Netherworld. (4) What we could perhaps call a "Dumuzi pattern"-descent and return-may also be seen in at least two other compositions, namely, Ningishzida 's Descent and the Urnammu 's Death. (5) From the end of the third millennium B.C.E. there is thus narrative, mythological evidence for Dumuzi as a god who dies and returns. (6) While the ritual material very much gives the picture of Dumuzi as the tragic hero, mourned and bewailed, there are also traces of a ritual celebration of his return. These, however, are sparse and difficult to interpret. In late third millennium Umma there is evidence for the celebration of Dumuzi's return in month XII, which is at the end of winter (spring reckoning of the year). At Old Babylonian Mari, a Yaminite text was found (A.1146) attesting a celebration among Yaminite tribes of the death and return of Dumuzi ("they kill him ... he always comes back"). This new and important piece of evidence shows that the idea of Dumuzi's death and return may well have been known in southern 1 Syria and pa..rts of Lebanon where these tribes moved. (7) Dumuzi is not originally a god of vegetation. It is clear, however, that he contracts relations and even develops a syncretism with such gods. Thus, the Dumuzi-Ningishzida connection leaves traces already during the first half of the second millennium. The relation with Damu is more difficult to assess. Since the dying and returning Dumuzi is known among theY aminites, and since the god of B yblos is later known to be a dying and rising god (Adonis), I am inclined to see the reference to Damu in an Amarna letter (no. 84) in the light of an already existing Dumuzi-Damu connection that is later amply attested. When all is said and done I think we should regard Late Bronze Age Dumuzi as a god of vegetation. (8) We studied the potential influence of Dumuzi on the West Semitic gods. Our present know ledge about the ancient Near East shows that such influence is an obvious possibility, though specific channels and procedures still escape our curiosity . (a) Ugaritic Baal belongs to the category of weather gods. The BaalYam myth has a long pre-history. The Baal-Mot myth, however, lacks obvious precursors. It represents an innovation that demands an ex-

214 planation. I am inclined to seek the explanation by assuming a reception of Dumuzi concepts in U garit. (b) As for Adonis, the mythology as we know it from Greece shows obvious connections with the Dumuzi motifs (partition of the year and bilocation). There are also traces of such influence at Alexandria. Whether the Levantine Adon(is) of Byblos was influenced is more difficult to say. If it is correct that the Adonia took place in the middle of summer also in the Levant, then there is a striking similarity, since this is also the time for the Dumuzi festival that comprised the mourning for the god. From De Dea Syria we gain the picture, however, that the Adonia comprised both the mourning for the dead god and joy over his return from the tomb. The scant traces of a celebration of Dumuzi' s return indicate that this took place in the spring. (c) As for Melqart, I called attention to the date for his festival in the month of Peritius, a date in good harmony with the inferred date for the celebration of Dumuzi' s return.

5. Excursus. Triduum: A Notion of Return after Three Days?

I

The idea of a three-days span of time between death and return, a triduum, seems to be at hand in Hosea 6:2 in a context where the imagery ultimately draws upon Canaanite ideas of resurrection: "After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up." Apart from Hosea 6:2 one should remember also Jonah 2:1 (Engl. 1: 17) where Jonah is in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 148 I understand the belly of the fish as a metaphor for the Netherworld. The following points should be noted: (1) Formulations about three days, or the third day, may well be a way of indicating a short period of time. Gradwohl has assembled a number of Hebrew occurrences of this nature, and Barre has called attention to the use of the Akkadian expression in the context of medical prognosis to refer to a quick recovery from illness. 149 (2) We should note, with Notscher, that the expression in Inanna 's Descent does not refer to the span of time between death and resurrection but rather to the time that passes before Ninshubur incites Enki to 148

In line with the passages in Hosea and Jonah are the passages in the New Testament about the resurrection of Jesus on the third day, a notion that had formulaic firmness (I Cor 15:4; Matt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19 with par.; Luke 24:21,46, cf. Luke 13:32 and John II :17, 39). 149 Gradwohl (1997) and Barre (1978). However, Barre is unconvincing when he understands Hos 6:2 as a reference to "the healing of the sick rather than the resurrection of the dead" (p. 140), see J. Day (2000: 118-122).

215

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take action. 150 On the other hand, an Emar text seems to refer to death on the first day and resurrection on the fourth day. 151 But this is a text that deals with a different deity, Ninkur, and there is no seasonal connection. (3) We nowhere hear about a third-day resurrection of Baal. 152 Note, however, that the crucial passage in the Baal myth was damaged, so that we should perhaps not rush to conclusions from silence. ( 4) It is possible but not proved that a triduum is referred to in the iconography of the Sidon vase depicting Melqart's (or Eshmun's) death and resurrection (see above Chap. III.3). (5) Hosea speaks of "the third day", while Jonah refers to "three days and three nights", thereby hinting at a departure from the belly of the fish on the fourth day? The difference in counting, however, may be due to whether the day of death, or only the following one, is counted as the first day. Baudissin juxtaposed the formulation in Hosea 6:2 with similar ideas related to Adonis, Osiris etc. 153 He found it a valid possibility that there was in Phoenicia an idea of a three-day span between death and resurrection. Baudissin refers to the Adonis rituals in De Dea Syria § 6 as a possible case of a three-day cycle. I am prepared to subscribe to this 1 aualified ooinion. 154 He also refers to Osiris in Plutarch, who dies on the 17th o(Athyr and is found again on the 19th of the same month. 155 Note, however that Osiris is hardly a dying and rising deity in the sense in which we use the term in the present investigation. Nevertheless, the probable presence of such a notion of a triduum in Byblos is not void of interest. The question before us, of whether there was in the ancient Near East a firm notion of a triduum, must finally be left open. We would be wise to admit the possibility that this was the case, but this is still far from being an established fact.

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Notscher (1962: 231-236). Emar VI.3: 385: lines 5 and 21. English translation in Cohen (1993: 353). See the discussion in Fleming (1992: 169-172). 1 2 5 As was pointed out by Day (2000: 121). 153 Baudissin (1911: 407-416). 154 See above Chap. IV.3.3. 155 See Plutarch, De !side et Osiride 356C (§ 13) and 366F (§ 39). 151

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217

Epilogue ·:\r·

F I

In our first chapter, we surveyed the past century of research on the issue of "dying and rising gods". After the first decades with the major works of Frazer and Baudissin, the research of the century was marked by a gradual dismantling of their claims that the dying gods not only died but also returned. One sometimes notes in the research certain evasive strategies designed to avoid the conclusion that the notion of dying and rising deities might be a pre-Christian phenomenon. Ancient Near Eastern gods are freely granted the privilege of rising or returning-as long as they behave like gentlemen and do not do so before Christ. A special case is one scholar who suggested that there was never a resurrection of Adonis, but that such ideas in our sources are due to a Christian misreading of the evidence. Our perusal of a wide array of material has benefited from sources that either have received little attention from scholars interested in the overall issues (e.g. the Ugaritic texts) or were not available until the last few decades (e.g. the concluding section of Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld, the Yaminite letter found at Mari, Ningishzida's Descent). On the basis of our new perusal of the material, I would like to stress the following points of overarching interest. (l)The world of ancient Near Eastern religions actually knew a number of deities that may be properly described as dying and rising gods. The language used for this varies, of course. Only in the case of Melqart-Heracles do we have express terminology of resurrection (the Semitic root qwm in the participle mqm, "the raiser/resuscitator of the god", the Greek i::ycpou::, "the awakening [of the god]"). In other cases, we hear of Dumuzi "returning" (taro, Gtn) or have found reason to infer that there was a return to life (thus in the case of Baal). The participants of Adonis' cult at Byblos after the god's burial recited the myth about the god's revival. For Osiris, there are evocative expressions for his resurrection on the levels of language and rite. The dying gods are gods that rise or return to new life. (2) Moreover, this is the case long before the turn of the era, in preChristian times. As for the attempts to hypothesize about a late, postChristian date for the notion of the return/resurrection of Adonis in par-

t.\\. I·

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I I

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218

I

ticular, we have seen that there are other gods who both die and return long before the Christian era: Dumuzi, Baal, and Melqart. Osiris may also be mentioned here, though he is a special case. For Eshmun, the clear evidence for his death and resuscitation is from Damascius (fifth century C.E.). However, it is possible but not provable that already in pre-Christian times Eshmun had also developed these characteristics. Similarly Adonis: the clear evidence is from De Dea Syria (second century C.E.) and later. Prior to this, Adonis' resurrection is possible but not proved. Whether the male god of Byblos was originally or only eventually became a dying and rising god is not clear; nor can we state when this may have happened. The presence of the descensus mytheme in Greek Adonis cults is either due to a separate borrowing from the East (Mesopotamia), and was then only secondarily connected with Adonis in Greece, or it is a borrowing that found its way to Greece in connection with the reception of Adonis and is then an indication that Levantine Adon(is) was already in the Iron Age a dying and rising god. This is still a moot point. On the whole I am inclined to think that the circumstantial evidence favours the conclusion that Levantine Adon(is) was a dying and rising god already in pre-Christian times, rather than the contention that he was at that time only a dying god as we know Adonis from Greece. (3)0ne should not hypostasize these gods into a specific type "the dying and rising god". On the centra..;', the gods mentioned !l.re of very different types, although we have found tendencies to association and syncretism. Dumuzi was by no means a weather god. He seems originally to have been a god of shepherding (and perhaps even earlier a deified king), but eventually he developed links with gods of vegetation (Ningishzida, Damu) and was presumably a god of vegetation from the Late Bronze Age on. Baal is a very clear case of a storm or weather god. Though there is a disturbing lack of mythological material for the storm gods of northem Mesopotamia and Syria, it seems that storm gods are not generically gods who die and rise. Baal ofUgarit was here an exceptional case. The Baal-Mot myth shows that Baal had developed into a god who descended into the Netherworld and later returned. In order to account for this change in Baal's character, I pointed to the probability of a reception in U garit of the descensus mytheme from the cults of Mesopotamian Dumuzi. Adon(is) of Byblos has no documented storm god characteristics. He is not presented in the sources as a descendant of Canaanite Baal.

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Melanges de l'Universite Saint-Joseph Nouvelles assyriologiques breves et utilitaires The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Ed. by E. Stem et al. 4 vols. Jerusalem 1993 Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta Orientalistische Literaturzeitung Patro1ogia graeca (= Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca). Edited by J.-P. Migne. 162 vols. Paris 1857-1886 Patrologia latina (= Patrologiae cursus completus: Series latina). Edited by J.-P. Migne. 217 vols. Paris 1844-1864 personal name Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft Revue d'assyriologie et d'archeologie orientale Rencontre Assyriologique lntemationale Reallexikon der iigyptischen Religionsgeschichte. H. Bonnet, Berlin 1951 Revue biblique Revue d'egyptologie Repertoire d 'epigraphie semitique Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. K. Galling, ed. 7 vols. Tiibingen 1957-1965 Revue hittite et asianique I Revue de l'histoire des religions Reallexikon der Assyriologie Rivista di studi fenici Rivista degli studi orientali Religious texts from U garit. N. Wyatt, Sheffield 1998 State Archives of Assyria Svensk Exegetisk Arsbok Studi epigrajici e linguistici sui Vicino Oriente antico, Verona Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament The seasonal pattern ... See de Moor (1971) Studia phoenicia Textes cuneiformes. Musee de Louvre Theologische Zeitschrift Theologische Realenzyklopadie. Ed. by G. Krause and G. Miiller. Berlin, 1977Textes Religieux Sumeriens du Louvre, TCL XV-XVI. H. de Genouillac. Paris, 1930 Textbook of Syrian Semitic inscriptions. Vol. 3. Phoenician Inscriptions. J.C.L. Gibson. Oxford, 1982 Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Ed. by 0. Kaiser. Giitersloh, 1984U garitisch-biblische Literatur

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Ur Excavation Texts Ugarit- Forschungen Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Ed. by S.B. Parker. Atlanta, 1997 Vetus Testamentum Supplements Worterbuch der Mythologie, vol. I. Gotter und Mythen im Vorderen Orient. H.W. Haussig, ed. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1983 Die Welt des Orients Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgen/andes Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie Zeitschrift fiir Agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde Zeitschrift fiir die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrift des Deutschen Paliistina- Vereins

been used as follows: restoration of the text or explanatory addition. damaged or unintelligible passage. later glosses, etc., to be deleted from the text. (without brackets) to indicate that part of the quotation has been left out.

227

Bibliography ·1

?ren

1. Sources Note that the following sources are divided in two categories: those referred to by abbreviation or name only, and those referred to by name and year. Translations of source material, whether in anthologies or in monographic works have been placed under Sources.

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left

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:::'L). 1d Lon\

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