Reshef

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Reschef ( Phoenician ršf , Egyptian Ršp , Akkadian Rešef , Ra-sa-ap in Ebla , Hebrew רשף, Ræšæf ) was a Syrian and Phoenician god. The oldest evidence for the veneration of Rasap comes from Ebla in the 3rd millennium. As a theophoric part of the name, Reshef is found primarily in Syria and on the central Euphrates , such as in Emar , Ebla, Mari , Terqa and Ḫana . In Emar, Reschef is also recorded as part of a Hurrian name (Ikki-Rašap).

Levant

Reshef was an important god in Ugarit . He was nicknamed tġr šmš , porter of the sun. The numerous attempts to ascribe the Levantine bronze figures of a striding god to a certain deity, in particular Ba'al or Reschef, must be considered to have failed. A sign could identify Reschef, but here too the evidence according to Klingbeil is insufficient.

Reschef were offered sacrifices in gardens ( ršp gn ).

Identifications and interpretation

Reshef has sometimes been equated with the Mesopotamian Nergal . Helck wants to equate the Syrian Reschef with the Hittite d LAMA.LÍL, the patron god of the field. Wolfgang Fauth , on the other hand, considers the Ugaritic Reschef to be a "solar fire and plague god" and points out that the designation ršp in later times, similar to b'l , no longer means a specific god, this is now referred to by surnames such as Rešep-Mikal ( Kition) is displayed. In Kition , Reshef was nicknamed ḥṣ , which means arrow according to Teixidor. Teixidor accordingly interprets Reshef as the god of plague, similar to the Greek Apollo , whose arrows struck the Danes with the plague. In Idalion he was therefore later equated with Apollo.

Luwier

Reschef is mentioned as "Rešef of the goats" ( ršp ṣprm ) in the Phoenician version of the Azatiwataš inscription , in the Luwian version of this bilingual he is called Runzas ( DEUS ru-za-sá-há ).

Palestine

In the Tanach , the Hebrew Bible, רשף ( ršp ) is mentioned a total of six times ( Hab 3,5  OT ; 5 Mos 32,23-24  OT ; Ps 76,4  OT ; Ps 78,48  OT ; Hi 41,20  OT ; Hld 8.6  OT ). The prophet Habakkuk mentions Reshef, together with dævær ( dbr ), the plague , as followers of Yahweh in his fight against the sea.

"The plague goes ahead of him, and the plague goes out in his wake."

- Got 3.5  tbsp

This biblical passage shows strong references to the Ugaritic epic about the battle of Ba'al with the sea ( Jam ), from there Reschef and Deber are probably also taken. John Day refers to a scene in Baal's dragon fight, in which Reshef wounds the dragon with his arrows. Dabir is also listed as a deity in texts from Ebla. Blair, on the other hand, considers the mention of Reschef only to be a poetic stylistic device.

The identification of Reschef with Apollon led to the renaming of the city of Arsuf in Judea, named after Reschef, in Apollonia.

Reshef in Egypt

Reshef in hieroglyphics
mostly
r
S. 		p w A40

Reshep
Ršp
in the hieratic
r
S. 		p W. G7

Ršp
transcription Ršp

Reshef ( Reshep ) was worshiped in Egypt since the 12th dynasty, initially as a god of war in the middle of the 18th dynasty under Amenophis II . He is associated with the goddess Qaju and was particularly represented as a horse god in the 18th dynasty. At that time, Reshef was evidently the god of horses and chariots. Often the king ( Pharaoh ) was compared with Reshef, because there are formulas such as " Amenophis II. Storms through the ford of the Orontes like Reshef" or " the chariots of Ramses II. Are powerful like many Reshefs ".

While Reshef was a king's god in the 18th dynasty, he became a popular god in the Ramesside period , who now rarely appeared on royal monuments. The monuments of the Ramesside period show him with an ibex head, shield, spear and ax. He was often depicted with Qadesh and Min .

Reshef's veneration continued into the Third Intermediate Period into the Greco-Roman period .

See also

literature

  • Georg Beer : Rescheph . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IA, 1, Stuttgart 1914, Sp. 620-622.
  • Judit M. Blair: De-Demonizing the Old Testament. An Investigation of Azazel, Lilith, Deber, Qeteb and Reshef in the Hebrew Bible (= research on the Old Testament. 2nd series, volume 37). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-16-150131-9 (also: Edinburgh, Univ., Diss., 2008).
  • Hans Bonnet : Reshef. In: Hans Bonnet: Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 638.
  • Diethelm Conrad : The god Reschef. In: Journal of Old Testament Science. Volume 83, 1971, ISSN  0044-2526 , pp. 157-183.
  • Mitchell Dahood, G. Pettinato : Ugaritic "ršp gn" 'and Eblaite "rašap gunu (m) ki ". In: Orientalia. Neue Serie, Volume 46, 1977, ISSN  0030-5367 , pp. 230-232.
  • Wolfgang Helck : reflections on the great goddess and the deities connected to her (= religion and culture of the ancient Mediterranean world in parallel research. Volume 2). Oldenbourg, Munich / Vienna 1971.
  • Wolfgang Fauth: Review by: Wolfgang Helck: Reflections on the Great Goddess and the deities associated with her. In: Gnomon . Volume 46, Issue 7, 1974, pp. 681-691.
  • Willam J. Fulco : The Canaanite god Rešep (= American Oriental Series . Essay 8). 2nd Edition, American Oriental Society, New Haven (CT) 1986, p. 46.
  • Wolfgang Helck : The relations of Egypt to the Middle East in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC Chr. (= Egyptological treatises. Volume 5). 2nd improved edition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1971, ISBN 3-447-01298-6 (on “Reschef in Egypt” see pp. 450–454).
  • Martin Klingbeil: Yahweh Fighting from Heaven. God as Warrior and as God of Heaven in the Hebrew Psalter and Ancient Near Eastern Iconography (= Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Volume 169). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht et al., Göttingen et al. 1999, ISBN 3-525-53678-X (also: Stellenbosch, Univ., Diss., 1995).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ "DEUS" is the scientific transliteration for the Luwian hieroglyphic symbol for "God"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Izak Cornelius:  Reshef. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical dictionary on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Accessed on September 24, 2011.
  2. ^ Stephanie Dalley, Beatrice Teissier: Tablets from the Vicinity of Emar and Elsewhere. In: Iraq. Vol. 54, 1992, ISSN  0021-0889 , pp. 83-111, here p. 103, Rašap-ili.
  3. ↑ Madeleine Lurton Burke: Lettres de Numušda-Nahḫ̆râri et de trois autres correspondants à Idiniatum. In: Syria. Vol. 41, No. 1/2, 1964, ISSN  0039-7946 , pp. 70-103, here p. 88, Ilí (il) -Rasap, Abi (il) -Rasap, online .
  4. ↑ Regine Pruzsinszky: The personal names of the texts from Emar (= Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians. (SCCNH) Vol. 13). CDL Press, Bethesda MD 2003, ISBN 1-883053-75-7 .
  5. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Fauth: Review of: Wolfgang Helck: Reflections on the Great Goddess and the deities associated with her. In: Gnomon. Vol. 46, Issue 7, 1974, p. 689.
  6. ↑ including Wolfgang Fauth: Review of: Wolfgang Helck: Considerations on the Great Goddess and the deities associated with her. In: Gnomon. Vol. 46, Issue 7, 1974, p. 689.
  7. ↑ Ugaritic text. 1088: 3 (edition of the clay tablet finds from Ugarit ).
  8. ^ DJ Wiseman: Mesopotamian Gardens. In: Anatolian Studies . Vol. 33 = Special Number in Honor of the Seventy-Fifth Birthday of Dr. Richard Barnett, 1983, pp. 137-144, here p. 143.
  9. ^ ML Barré: d LAMMA and Rešep at Ugarit: The Hittite Connection. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 98, No. 4, 1978, ISSN  0003-0279 , pp. 465-467.
  10. ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Considerations on the Great Goddess and the deities connected to her (= religion and culture of the ancient Mediterranean world in parallel research. Vol. 2). Oldenbourg, Munich et al. 1971, ISBN 3-486-43261-3 , pp. 198ff.
  11. ^ A b Javier Teixidor: The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Cesnola Collection. In: Metropolitan Museum Journal. Vol. 11, 1976, ISSN  0077-8958 , pp. 55-70, here p. 65, online (PDF; 2.2 MB) .
  12. ↑ Homer , Iliad I, 42-55.
  13. ^ John David Hawkins , Anna Morpurgo Davies: On the Problems of Karatepe: The Hieroglyphic Text. In: Anatolian Studies. Vol. 28, 1978, pp. 103-119, here p. 116.
  14. ↑ Karatepe Inscription XL, 209-16, based on: John David Hawkins, Anna Morpurgo Davies: On the Problems of Karatepe: The Hieroglyphic Text. In: Anatolian Studies. Vol. 28, 1978, pp. 103-119, here p. 112.
  15. ↑ Izak Cornelius:  Reshef. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical dictionary on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Accessed on September 24, 2011.
  16. ↑ Got 3.5  OT
  17. ↑ John Day: New Light on the Mythological Background of the Allusion to Resheph in Habakkuk III 5th In: Vetus Testamentum. Vol. 29, No. 3, 1979, ISSN  0042-4935 , pp. 353-355, here 353.
  18. ↑ Ugaritic text. 1001. Corresponds to: Claude F.-A. Schaeffer (Ed.): Le Palais royal d'Ugarit. Volume 2: Charles Virolleaud : Textes en cunéiformes alphabétiques des archives est, ouest et centrales (= Mission de Ras Shamra. Vol. 7, ZDB -ID 1058716-0 ). Geuthner, Paris 1957 (RS 15.134).
  19. ↑ John Day: New Light on the Mythological Background of the Allusion to Resheph in Habakkuk III 5th In: Vetus Testamentum. Vol. 29, No. 3, 1979, pp. 353-355, here 354.
  20. ^ John Barclay Burns: The Identity of Death's First-Born (Job XVIII 13). In: Vetus Testamentum. Vol. 37, No. 3, 1987, pp. 362-364, here p. 363.
  21. ^ Judit M. Blair: De-Demonizing the Old Testament. An Investigation of Azazel, Lilith, Deber, Qeteb and Reshef in the Hebrew Bible. 2009, chapter 5.
  22. ↑ Izak Cornelius:  Reshef. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical dictionary on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Accessed on September 24, 2011.
  23. ↑ Wolfgang Helck: The relations of Egypt to the Middle East in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC Chr. 2nd revised edition, 1971, p. 450.
  24. ↑ Diethelm Conrad: The god Reschef. In: Journal of Old Testament Science. Vol. 83, 1971, pp. 157-183.