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Shapash
Goddess of the Sun, Messenger of El
PlanetSun
Genderfemale
ParentsEl (father)?
Deities of the ancient Near East
Ancient Egyptian
Arabian
Eblaite
Elamite
Hurrian
Levantine
(Canaanite and Ugaritic)
Mesopotamian
Religions of the ancient Near East

Shapash (Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌 špš, "sun"), alternatively written as Shapshu or Shapsh, was a Canaanite sun goddess. She also served as the royal messenger of the high god El,[1]: 323  her probable father.[a] Her most common epithets in the Ugaritic corpus are nrt 'ilm špš ("Shapash, lamp of the gods", also translated as "torch" or "luminary" of the gods by various authors), rbt špš ("great lady Shapash"), and špš 'lm ("eternal Shapash").[2] In the pantheon lists KTU 1.118 and 1.148, Shapash is equated with the Akkadian dšamaš.[3]: 361–362 

Cult

Unlike Shamash or Utu in Mesopotamia, but like Shams in Arabia, Shapash was a female solar deity. In addition to attestations in Ugaritic texts, Amarna letter EA 323 uses the Sumerogram for the sun deity, dUTU, as a feminine noun (ša tiram dUTU, line 19);[4]: 115, n111  given the letter's provenance with Yidya of Ashkelon it may refer to Shapash. Similarly, the letter EA 155 from Abimilki of Tyre to the Pharaoh includes a feminine dUTU (LUGAL dUTU darītum, lines 6, 44).[5]: 180, n110  Old Akkadian names such as Tulid-Šamši (Šamaš-gave-(me-)birth)[b] and Umma-Šamaš (Šamaš-is-my-mother) might indicate a female sun goddess tradition in 3rd millennium BCE Mesopotamia, derived from a Northwest Semitic solar goddess.[6]

In Ugarit

Shapash was a major deity in Ugaritic religion. In a letter to the king of Ugarit (KTU 2.42), Shapash (as špš 'lm) is named second in a formulaic list of deities, behind only Baal.[7][8]: 131  Evidence from offering lists suggests that Shapash was one of the principal gods receiving sacrifices at Ugarit. She is given the divine epithet pgr, relating to her role during the 'night of Šapšu pgr wṯrmnm' (Shapash, the 'funerary offering', and the 'sovereigns'),[9]: 347  and she receives a series of offerings during the ceremony of royal accession in KTU 1.161.[10]: 52, 106–108  She is also known from divinatory-oracular (KTU 1.78) and magical texts (e.g. KTU 1.100).[9]: 322 

Theophoric names relating to Shapash are numerous at Ugarit, including 66 individual names; the Hurrian sun deity Šimige also appears nine times. Her name is the fourth most common seen in personal names, behind the names of Baal, El, and Resheph.[11]

Shapash is not known to have a consort in the Ugaritic corpus, but the figure of ủm.pḥl.pḥlt in the incantation text KTU 1.100 addresses her as ủmh, ("mother").[12]: 197 

Several incantation texts are known to invoke Shapash. In the incantation KTU 1.100, a character referred to as 'the mother of the stallion and the mare' (ủm.pḥl.pḥlt) calls to Shapash (her 'mother', though this may be meant in an honorific sense) for assistance in a matter relating to snakebite, as her children are apparently in danger. Shapash acts as an arbitrator between the mother and the gods, visiting ten different deities in their dwellings until arriving at the fortress of the god Ḥoranu, who is the first to take any action in response. Ḥoranu then gathers various plants and is able to defeat the serpents and prevent the death of the mother's offspring; the incantation ends with a marriage between Ḥoranu and the mother, apparently on the condition that he share this magical knowledge with her.[12]: 188–204  Writing on the edge of the tablet describes this as a 'spell against the bite of a snake'.[3]: 378–387  In KTU 1.82, another incantation against snakebite, Shapash is one of three benign gods (along with Baal and Anat) invoked to protect the victim from the depredations of Tunnan, Resheph, Mot, various serpents, and the creatures of Ḥoranu.[13][12]: 111  A further incantation invoking Shapash is KTU 1.107, where she and Ḥoranu appear early in the text. She inquires after a boy who has been bitten by a snake and the speaker calls upon her to remove the venom.[12]: 157–164 

The 17th-15th century BCE cylinder seal AO 20138[c] depicts a female deity radiating wave-like solar rays, thought to be either Shapash or the Hittite Sun goddess of Arinna.[14] Azize favours an identification of the figure as Shapash due to the absence of the Sun Goddess of Arinna's characteristic headgear and the presence of two mountain peaks he interprets as the twin peaks of Mount Sapan.[8]: 133 

In Bronze Age Syria

A pair of solar deities were worshipped at Ebla, whose names were written using Sumerograms: dUTU and his consort dUTU.SAL. The native Eblaite names for these deities remain unknown, though the Iron Age Aramaic Sefire steles refer to the consort of Samaš as Nur(u) ("luminary"), possibly corresponding to nrt 'ilm špš, the most common epithet of Shapash.[15]: 213–214  [16] No theophoric names referring to Shapash are known from Ebla; the individual whose name was translated by Pettinato as Ibbi-Sipish is now considered to be translated more accurately as Ibbi-Zikir, with Zikir being a deity unknown outside of theophoric names.[15]: 214 

While at least one deity is known under the Sumerogram dUTU at Emar, their native name, gender, and affiliations to other Syrian deities remain unclear.[17]

In Iron Age Phoenicia

The sun god in iron age Phoenicia is consistently written as šmš (Phoenician: 𐤔𐤌𐤔), rather than špš, and is attested in both male and female forms. A seventh century BCE Phoenician bowl from the Etruscan Bernadini tomb at Palestrina and the 'Phoenician Ivory of Shapash'[18] both depict a female sun goddess, though the sun cult at Baalbek centred on a male deity. Azize suggests that cultural influence from Mesopotamia or the Greek cult of Helios may have led to identification of the god as male.[8]: 193 

Funerary inscriptions such as the 6th century BCE Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II make reference to tḥt šmš, "life under the sun", interpreted as referring to ephemeral life on the Earth, but also an eternal sun (šmš 'lm, recalling the epithet špš 'lm) as on the Shipitbaal inscription from Byblos, a symbol of eternity and the relation between the living and the dead.[8]: 161–165 

A month named zbḥ šmš ("sacrifice for the sun/Šmš") is attested at 5th/6th century BCE Pyrgi in Latium, 300 BCE Kition, and 3rd century BCE Larnakas tis Lapithou in Cyprus. In one of the Phoenician texts at Pyrgi, line 4-5 reads '[Thebarie Velanus, king of Kisry] in the month of the sacrifice of the Sun, as a gift to her temple...'.[4]: 104 [8]: 183–185 

In the second century CE, Pausanias reports a conversation with a Sidonian in Aegium who referred to the sun as Apollo, and described them as being the father and sole parent of Asklepios while contrasting Greek and Phoenician notions of the gods.[19]

In Myth

Main article: Baal Cycle

The first appearance of Shapash in the Baal Cycle is in KTU 1.2 iii, where she brings Aṯtar the news of Yam's accession to the kingship by the will of El, and may warn him of the possible consequences if he opposes El's decision and attempts to claim the throne for himself. Page interprets her role in this scene as that of a voice of moderation who successfully prevents conflict between Aṯtar and Yam.[20]

Later in the Epic, KTU 1.4 viii 21-27, Baal instructs his emissaries to travel to deliver a message to Mot in the netherworld by joining Shapash on her journey there. Here, she is shown to act as a bridge between the worlds of the living and the dead.

After Anat discovers Baal's body in KTU 1.6 i 8-18, she begins to weep, at which point Shapash helps Anat lift his body onto her shoulder so that she can carry it to Mount Sapan for burial. Shapash's assistance to Anat here may reflect her compassionate personality or may be a result of Anat finding his body at the entrance to the underworld,[d] a location which Shapash travels through on her daily journey. Anat may even ask Shapash to burn bright ('išḫn) in order to illuminate the underworld while they retrieve Baal's corpse.[21]: 127 

In KTU 1.6 column iii, El rejoices at his dream that Baal is still alive. Through Anat, he commands Shapash to search for the god. When Baal and Mot are locked in their final confrontation in column vi, neither is able to gain the upper hand over the other. Shapash intervenes, warning Mot that El has designated Baal as monarch. Mot is so frightened at the idea of going against the will of El or offending Shapash[e] that he concedes the kingship to Baal, ending the conflict. The final lines of the Epic, KTU 1.6 iv 45-54, consist of a hymn to Shapash. In this hymn, the gods and the rpum (suggested to be a group of semi-divine ancestral figures)[22] are 'under' Shapash, likely referring to their position beneath the sun when Shapash is illuminating the living world and the underworld respectively.[23][3]: 34–146 

The closing lines (49-54) of the hymn suggest an association with the deity Kothar-wa-Khasis, but translations of the nature of this association vary wildly between authors. Many older translations include lines such as 'Kôṯaru, your companion', but Wyatt translates 'Kothar-and-Hasis, steer (the bark)! Pilot (the ship), Kothar-and-Hasis!', presuming the existence of a solar barque,[3]: 145  and Rahmouni prefers 'Kôṯaru, your spellcaster/And Ḫasīsu, your expert (in magic)'.[2]: 201  Coogan and Smith's translation is close to that of Rahmouni: 'Kothar is your magician, and Hasis your diviner'.[24]

In the Bible

The word שֶׁ֣מֶשׁ (shemesh) is one of a few dual-gendered words in Hebrew, appearing in the Old Testament as both a masculine (e.g. in Genesis 19:23) and, less frequently, feminine (e.g. Judges 19:14) noun.[25] Malachi 4:2 uses the imagery of the שֶׁ֣מֶשׁ צְדָקָ֔ה (shemesh sedaqah, "sun of righteousness", fem.) on the event of God's Epiphany, and cases such as this have been used to suggest that Canaanite solar worship was incorporated into the worship of Yahweh.[26]: 213–215  However, Day notes that solar language being applied to Yahweh is not the same as Yahweh being equated with the sun, and there are no Hebrew names combining Yahweh and shemesh, in contrast to those combining the names of Yahweh and El or Baal. He does consider it possible that the character of Samson may reflect a tradition of a solar hero, based on the etymology of his name, his birthplace near Beth-Shemesh, details of Psalm 19, and the similarity between Samson's seven locks of hair and the depictions of Helios with seven rays emerging from his head.[27]: 156–163 

Worship of the Sun is condemned in Ezekiel 8:16-18. Horses and chariots dedicated to the sun are mentioned in 2 Kings 23:11 where they are destroyed by Josiah.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See Anat's address to Shapash in KTU 1.6 iv 10; ḥtkk 'father, sire' may be being used here in the honorific sense. See Rahmouni, 2007 pg 369
  2. ^ From Ur III tablet that can be viewed at CDLI P416456
  3. ^ Musée de Louvre: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010144854
  4. ^ See KTU 1.6 ii 20, šd [šḥl] mmt, 'field [of the shore] of Mot's realm (?)' as discussed in Wiggins, 1996 pg 332
  5. ^ See Wyatt, 2002 pg 143 note 117 for the latter interpretation

References

  1. ^ Frayne, D. R. & Stuckey, J. H. (2021). A Handbook of Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Near East: Three Thousand Deities of Anatolia, Syria, Israel, Babylonia, Assyria, and Elam. US: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1575068374.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b Rahmouni A., J. N. Ford trans. (2007). Divine Epithets in the Ugaritic Alphabetic Texts. Brill. ISBN 978-9004157699.
  3. ^ a b c d Wyatt, Nicolas (2002). Religious Texts from Ugarit: 2nd Edition. Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 0826460488.
  4. ^ a b Bonnet, C. (1989). Le dieu solaire Shamash dans le monde phénico-punique. Studi epigrafici e linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico, (6) 97-115
  5. ^ Grave, C. (1982). Northwest Semitic ṣapānu in a Break-up of an Egyptian Stereotype Phrase in EA 147. Orientalia, 51(2), 161-182.
  6. ^ Roberts, J. J. (1972). The earliest semitic pantheon: a study of the Semitic deities attested in Mesopotamia before Ur III. Johns Hopkins University Press. Pg 52 and notes 425 & 426 on pg 114
  7. ^ Knapp, A. B. (1983). An Alashiyan Merchant at Ugarit. Tel Aviv, 10(1), 38-45.
  8. ^ a b c d e Azize, Joseph (2005). The Phoenician Solar Theology. Gorgias Press. ISBN 1593332106.
  9. ^ a b del Olmo Latte, Gregorio. (1999), "The Offering Lists and the God Lists" [in:] Handbook of Ugaritic Studies, 305-352
  10. ^ Schmidt, Brian B. (1996). Israel's Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-008-8.
  11. ^ van Soldt, Wilfred H. (2016) Divinities in Personal Names at Ugarit, Ras Shamra. Ougarit 24, études ougaritiques 4, 95ff. At academia.edu
  12. ^ a b c d del Olmo Lete, Gregorio (2014). Incantations and anti-witchcraft texts from Ugarit. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-1614516279.
  13. ^ Spronk, Klass. (1999), "The Incantations" [in:] Handbook of Ugaritic Studies, 270-286
  14. ^ Parrot, A. (1951). Cylindre hittite nouvellement acquis (AO 20138). Syria, 28(Fasc. 3/4), 180-190.
  15. ^ a b Stieglitz, Robert R. (2002), "Divine Pairs in the Ebla Pantheon" [in:] Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language
  16. ^ Dupont-Sommer, A. (1960). *Les inscriptions arameennes de Sfire (Steles I et II).* Mémoires présentés par divers savants étrangers à l’Académie, 15(1), 197-349, pg 215
  17. ^ Beckman, G. (2002). The Pantheon of Emar. Agade. deepblue.lib.mich.edu
  18. ^ Hopkins, C. (1965). Astrological interpretations of some Phoenician bowls. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 24(1/2), 28-36.
  19. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.23.7. At theoi.com.
  20. ^ Page, Hugh Rowland Jr. (1996). The Myth of Cosmic Rebellion: A Study of its Reflexes in Ugaritic and Biblical Literature. Brill. p. 82. ISBN 9004105638.
  21. ^ Smith, Mark S. (2003). The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195167686.
  22. ^ Pitard, Wayne (1999), "The Rpum Texts" [in:] Handbook of Ugaritic Studies 259-269
  23. ^ Wiggins, Steve A. (1996), "Shapsh, lamp of the gods." [in:] Ugarit, religion and culture: 327-350. At academia.edu
  24. ^ Coogan, Michael, and Smith, Mark S. (2012). Stories from Ancient Canaan, Second Edition. Westminster/John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664232429.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Strong's H8121; https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h8121/kjv/wlc/0-1/
  26. ^ Taylor, Glen (1993). Yahweh and the sun: biblical and archaeological evidence for sun worship in ancient Israel. A&C Black. ISBN 1850752729.
  27. ^ Day, John (2001). Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan. Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 0826468306.
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