Hadad (god)

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Hadad , also Baal-Hadad ("Lord of Thunder") or Hadad-Rimmon is a Syro - Phoenician deity who corresponds to the Akkadian god Adad . He was worshiped as a vegetation, thunderstorm, storm, wind, thunder and weather deity.

Presentation and attributes

His nickname is Rammon ("thunderer, roaring, grumbling"), which was disfigured in Hebrew to Rimmon (" pomegranate "). As the god of fertility, he can bring rain as well as drought and ruin. Hadad was the supreme deity of the Syrian pantheon and chief god of Damascus . Together with his companion Anat, he defeated the god Mot (death). The god owned places of worship in Aššur , Damascus, Aleppo , Zincirli and Dura-Europos . His attributes are bull, lightning bolt and ax. Its sacred number is seven. Frequently used epithets are "Cloud Rider" and "Lord of Heaven". He is considered a dead and born again God. His cult was associated with numerous funeral rites and laments in the winter, which was considered his death, and celebrations in the summer, in which he was reborn.

Hadad in the Bible

Hadad has also found its way into the Bible and is mentioned there in two places. On the one hand in the 2nd Book of Kings , on the other hand in the Book of Zechariah .

The 2nd Book of Kings tells of Naaman , an Aramaic military leader who is plagued by leprosy . He meets the prophet Elisha , who advises him to take a bath in the river Jordan and submerge there seven times. After that, Naaman is cured of his illness. Naaman then recognizes YHWH as the only God and thanks him. At the same time, however, he asks him to continue kneeling in front of Rimmon , the god of his king, for a pretense, as he supports himself with his arm on his shoulder when visiting Naaman's temple. YHWH allows him to do this ( 2 Kings 5:17 f.  EU ).

The book of Zechariah speaks of Hadad-Rimmon's mourning complaints , which relate to his annual death and the associated withering of the vegetation in winter, and which are criticized by the prophet Hosea at this point ( Zech 12.11  EU ).

Aramaic kings like Hadad-Eser ("Hadad is help", 2 Sam 8,3; 1 Kings 11:23) and Ben-Hadad ("son of Hadad", 1 Kings 15:18; 2 Kings 6:24) and also Edomites (1 Kings 11: 14-25) named themselves after Hadad.

See also

literature

  • Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur, 1999, ISBN 3-426-66415-1 . (Entries: Adad, Baal-Hadad, Hadad, Rammon )
  • Bible ( standard translation of the Holy Scriptures ), edited by Hans Küng, Diederichs 2005.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur, 1999, entry: Adad
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur, 1999, entry: Hadad
  3. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur, 1999, entry: Rammon
  4. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur, 1999, entry: Baal-Hadad