ʿAthtar

'Athtar ( Moabite 'štr ; Ugaritic and Old South Arabian 'ṯtr , hadramitisch also m'ṯtr- or 's ₃ tr-m ; early northern Arab 'ṯtr , 'tr short '(t) ; and Attar ) was a West Semitic god. Its name corresponds to that of the goddess Astarte or Ištar , accordingly it probably represents the deification of the planet Venus .

Syria-Palestine

In the mythological texts from Ugarit , ʿAthtar appears in a similar function to Ba'al and was like him a fertility god , but unlike in southern Arabia and Mesopotamia, he was not an astral god . Contrary to the meaning in the myth, ʿAthtar seems to have been hardly or not venerated in the cult. ʿAthtar, son of Athirat , the queen of the sea ( rbt.t: mt.ym ), and brother of the young princes Šaḥar (Šhr) and Šalim (Šlm), sons of El , is the Ugaritic god of the morning or the morning star ( Venus ). He is chosen to ascend the throne of the dead Ba'al on the mountain of the gods Sapon ( bs.rrt.s.pn ). But his feet do not reach the footrest and his head does not reach the backrest. He therefore gives up the attempt to rule heaven and returns to earth (KTU 1.6, 1). His attempt to depose the sea god Jam also fails.

In Moab , Athtar is found in the connection Aštar- Kemosch .

North and Central Arabia

In Thamūd , ʿAthtar is mainly mentioned as a personal name, but nothing is known about its function and veneration. Neo-Assyrian sources suggest, however, that ʿAthtar enjoyed a very high veneration in northern Arabia under the name Atar-samain " thAthtar of heaven".

South arabia

ʿAthtar seems to have been the most important god of the ancient South Arabian pantheon , and accordingly he always appears at the beginning of invocations addressed to several gods. ʿAthtar was on the one hand the god of the naturally fertile land, but on the other hand also a combative god who brought death to the enemy, as well as a thunderstorm god . Especially in the latter function he appeared as "ʿAthtar of the East" ( ʿAtṯtar Sharīqān ), interpreted as Venus, the morning star. In addition to this manifestation, other forms have come down to us, especially from Ma'in , including ʿAthtar dhu-Qabdum , the official form of the Minae ʿAthtar . Important shrines were located on Jabal al-Laudh near Chartum as-Sud in eastern Jauf , probably in Naschq and at the gates of Qarnawu and Naschān . Its symbolic animal was the gazelle .

ʿAthtar was evidently immediately followed by the patron god Haubas .

see the article section: Architectural history of South Arabia

literature

• Andre Caquot: Le Dieu ʿAt.tr et les textes de Ras Shamra. In: Syria. Volume 35, 1958, ISSN  0768-2506 , pp. 45-60.
• René Dussaud : Astarte, Pontos et Baʿal. In: Comptes Rendus des séances de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1947, ISSN  0065-0536 , pp. 201-224.
• Hartmut Gese , Maria Höfner , Kurt Rudolph : The religions of Old Syria, Altarabia and the Mandaeans (= The religions of mankind . Volume 10.2). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1970.
• John Gray: The desert God ʿAT.TR in the literature and religion of Canaan. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies . Volume 8, Number 2, 1949, pp. 72-83.
• Jacques Ryckmans: The Old South Arab Religion. In: Werner Daum: Yemen. Umschau, Frankfurt / Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5 , pp. 111-115.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jacques Ryckmans , Die Altsüdarabische Religion , (see lit.), p. 111