mesopotamia
DESCRIPTION
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 - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Mesopotamia
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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
![Page 3: Mesopotamia](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070405/56813e76550346895da89410/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Map of Mesopotamia
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Ugarit
• 1929: discovery of tablets at Ras Shamra• 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
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Map of Ugarit
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Cuneiform
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Pantheon
El and Asherah
Yamm Mot Anat Baal
Level 3: Workman Deities (ex. Kothar wa Hasis)
Level 4: Messenger Deities
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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
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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)
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Assimiliation
• Little polemic against El• The word el becomes the generic word for ‘god’
• Genesis 33:20 El-Elohe-IsraelEl, the God of IsraelGod, the God of Israel
• Genesis 46:3 God, the God of your FatherEl, the God of your Father
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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
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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)
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Anat
• A fertility goddess• Never marries, adolescent and a warrior goddess• Defeats Mot and supports Baal• No explicit reference in Jewish Scripture