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Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia. The Basics. Area between Tigris and Euphrates River Modern day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, and Syria Cradle of Civilization 4,000 BCE Series of city-states. Map of Mesopotamia. Ugarit. 1929: discovery of tablets at Ras Shamra

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Mesopotamia

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  1. Mesopotamia

  2. The Basics • Area between Tigris and Euphrates River • Modern day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, and Syria • Cradle of Civilization • 4,000 BCE • Series of city-states

  3. Map of Mesopotamia

  4. Ugarit • 1929: discovery of tablets at RasShamra • Thousands of tablets dated before 1200 B.C.E. discovered • Prominent seaport and trading center • Destroyed in 1200 B.C.E. by an invasion from the sea • Became a vassal state of the Hittite empire

  5. Map of Ugarit

  6. Cuneiform

  7. Pantheon Level 3: Workman Deities (ex. KotharwaHasis) Level 4: Messenger Deities

  8. El • Gold covered bronze from Megiddo (1400-1200 BCE) • High god, father of the gods and goddesses, judge, creator • More remote, lives in a tent at the source of two cosmic rivers • Seen as kind and merciful

  9. Similarities to Yahweh • El is old “Father of Years • Also called the Bull (symbol of strength, power and virility) • Chief of the assembly of the gods • “Kind El, the Compassionate” • Yahweh is the “Ancient of Days” Daniel 7, Ps 102:28 • Yahweh also associated with the symbol of the bull (Exodus 32-34; Jeroboam and calves) • Chief of the divine council (1 Kgs 22; Isa 6; Zech 3…) • Yahweh “merciful and gracious god” (Exod 34:6)

  10. Assimiliation • Little polemic against El • The word el becomes the generic word for ‘god’ • Genesis 33:20 El-Elohe-Israel El, the God of Israel God, the God of Israel • Genesis 46:3 God, the God of your Father El, the God of your Father

  11. Asherah • Wife of El and mother of the gods • Associated with lions in ANE iconography • Mentioned +40x in the Old Testament • Often what is referred to is the object – a stylized tree (symbolizing fertility/life) • Asherah poles set up in the sanctuary • in 1 Kgs 18 polemic against Baal but the prophets of Asherah are left alone

  12. Baal • Storm god • Controls the annual rainstorm and fertility cycle • Also called “king” • Portrayed with a war club (symbol of thunder) and a twisted staff (symbolizing forked lightning)

  13. Anat • A fertility goddess • Never marries, adolescent and a warrior goddess • Defeats Mot and supports Baal • No explicit reference in Jewish Scripture

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