Sabaeanism
In the 19th century, the worship of the stars as the embodiment or seat of divine power was generally regarded as Sabaism , also Zabaism .
term
The term is derived from semit. Zaba (i.e. heavenly hosts). In modern religious philosophy the term Sabaeanism is rejected as misleading.
history
The historian Layard assigned the earliest form of Sabaeanism to the Assyrians, whose reliefs often contain the sun, moon, Venus and the Pleiades.
The personification of the main stars in all early Semitic and Indo-European religions, such as the sun (as Ra, Helios, Phoebos, Mitra, Sol, also Baal), the moon (as Selene, Luna, etc.), Venus ( as Aphrodite, Astarte etc.), the Pleiades (children of different gods, often culture bringer).
Late forms of Sabaeanism are said to be in the 12th and 13th centuries. Century in Mesopotamia.
aftermath
Sabaeanism was probably the basis for later and still current astrological ideas, but also for the assignment of non-cosmic deities and legendary figures from the Indographic pantheon to stars (e.g. Castor and Polydeukes to Gemini, Hermes to Mercury, which was not customary until Roman times) , Zeus to Jupiter, Heracles, Orion to their respective constellations).
See also
swell
- Pierer's Lexicon 1857-1865
- Daniel Chwolson: The Ssabians and the Ssabism. 2 volumes, Petersburg 1856.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Austen Henry Layard: Niniveh and his remains London 1854, p. 411