Oussoos/Usorus, in Eusebius and Philo of Byblos
Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 11:47 am
Eusebius De Laudibus Constantini 13.5 "The Phœnicians deified Melcatharus, Usorus, and others - mere mortals, and with little claim to honor; the Arabians, Dusaris {=Dionysus/Bacchus} and Obodas..."
Two Questions: a) Who is Usorus? and b) Who is Dusaris? Is there any significance in Eusebius 'lumping together' these quasi-Judaic deities?
A) Here is the Greek, from Scaife:
Phoenicians 'Melkatharos and Usoros' are taken to be deified, historical men. (Obodas was a King of the Nabataeans 96-85 BC worshipped as a deity.) However, we know Melqart (=Melkarth/Melicarthus) was tutelary god of Tyre. Perhaps 'Melkatharos' (Eusebius' euhemerism) was a ruler deified in death, like Melchizedek. Baumgarten [1981] p.161 n.116 notes a problematic presumption here: Usorus = Ousous??? It should be clear Usoros = Osiris (= Adon, at Byblos), but Eusebius knew very well who Osiris was! The presumption/error is: Melqart and 'Osiris' (=Adon) were men of Tyre who became divinized. Because Eusebius (Praeparatio evangelica 1.10.37, reporting Porphyry-reporting Philo of Byblos-Sanchuniathon) identifies the two divinized brothers of Tyre, Hypsouranois (Baal-Sammin) and Oussoos.
Ὑψουράνιος and Οὔσωος Usos/Ousoos/Ousoüs Uzu/Usa???
Max Duncker, Evelyn Abbott, The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (1852/1877), p.374:
From Philo of Byblos (Sanchuniathon), we can reasonably reconstruct that Baal-Shammin is Samemrumus; Baal Melkarth is the Lord of Tyre; Herakles-Astrochiton Is the Celestial Melqart; Eshmun is associated w/ Apollo-Helios.
First Power: Father ............................. Ouranos ('Thoth/Hermes') ........................ El Elyon
Second Power: First Son ....................... Kronos/El ............................................ El Olam/El Shaddai = Yahweh
Third Power: Second Son ...................... Herakles-Astrochiton: Celestial Melqart ........ Adamas/Adam Kadmon
Fourth Power: Manifest Reality, etc. ........ Helios: The Charioteer of the Sun ............... Melchizedek/Moses, etc.
Fifth Power: ..................................... Priest ................................................. Aletheian Anthropos (=Divinized Man)
We can also consider how Philo Judaeus (c.25 AD) explained the Kronos lineage based on older concepts:
1. Baalshamin/Ouranos (El #1) ................. Kronos #1
2. El-Kronos (El #2) ............................... Kronos #2, assisted by Phoenician Taauthos/ Egyptian Thoth
3. Zeus Demarus/Baal-Tamar ................... Kronos #3?
Eusebius in Praeparatio Evangelica § 1.10.10 explains
x. Ouranos (El #1) ................................ Kronos #1
1. El-Kronos (El #2) ............................... Kronos #2, assisted by Phoenician Taauthos/ Egyptian Thoth
2. Zeus Demarus .................................. 'Zeus' >>>>>>> [Baal-Tamar + Astarte] = [Zeus of Kasios + Astarte Palaistine]
3. Eshmun/Horus-Apollon ....................... 'Son of Zeus'
Ushu (=Palaetyros; Uzu, Usa, etc.) was a principality beside Tyre. King Usous was an euhemerized god with Thoth-like characteristics, and (like Seth) he erected stele monuments; the wood-product/commodity/tithe was known as 'Ushu' in Egypt. According to the myth, there were two primeval brothers – Shamenrum/Baal Shammin and Usoos (??) – living on the seashore who separated after a fight. Usoos took a tree trunk and was the first to sail upon the sea. He landed on an island and consecrated two columns there, one to Fire and the other to Wind, thus founding Tyre (called Ushu in Egypt). In Egypt, Ushu-wood is Lebanese cedar. Ushu was probably a first a wood-god, a forest deity (recalling Adon/Eshmun: the Young God), then a trade-symbol and complex deity. Palaetyros is the fortified city of Tyre (Joshua 19:29: the Usu'a of Tyre): the Melqart of Tyre was 'Herakles' represented by twin pillars (Herodotus, 2.44). From Tyre came the cult of Resheph-Melqart (~Seth); Qadeš was perhaps the Young God as a warrior. Herakles-Palaemon was both the Wrestler-Grappler, the younger brother, and the Child Sea-God: a possible Phoenician origin of the Young God at Pelusion, 'Horus of Kasios'.
Was Ishai/Usho Ishaa or Ioshaa, Ushu-Aa (~Jesus?), as Willis Brewer would have it? I have no idea. But Shu was an Egyptian Wind god, associated w/ Yahweh in the Sinai, and the exceeding close connection to Phoenician Tyre is well-established for a thousand years before Christ. By this I mean 'Usous' (Greek) is Ushu, which may go back to Hittite words like ishiul 'contract' ishiya 'binding/clothing', etc. There is a concept of 'Contract' or Tithing under words associated w/ Ushu. Eshmun is also relevant. Again, Brewer supposed 'Jesse' or Ishai may be Esh-i or 'Fires', great fear of the forest-people; this is dubious speculation I think. But since we have no good information about this Phoenician god, 'Ousoos' (a Sailor-god of wooden boats? record-keeper of merchant traders?), the mystery endures.
B) ... Dusaris = Dusares, Dushārā. In Roman Syria, the hellenized population addressed the Nabatean god Dusares as 'Dionysus'. c.215 BC, Ptolemy IV. Philopator supposedly tried to force (some) Egyptian Jews to worship Dionysus (3 Maccabbees 2:29), the Young God.
Two Questions: a) Who is Usorus? and b) Who is Dusaris? Is there any significance in Eusebius 'lumping together' these quasi-Judaic deities?
A) Here is the Greek, from Scaife:
διὸ δὴ πᾶν εἶδος εἰδεχθῶν κνωδάλων καὶ παντοίων ζώων γένη ἑρπετά τε ἰοβόλα καὶ θῆρας ἀγρίους θεοὺς προσειπεῖν οὐκ ἀπώκνησαν, Φοίνικες δὲ Μελκάθαρον καὶ Οὕσωρον καί τινας ἄλλους ἀτιμοτέρους θνητοὺς πάλιν ἄνδρας θεοὺς ἀνηγόρευσαν, ὡς καὶ παῖδες Ἀράβων Δούσαρίν τινα καὶ Ὄβοδον, καὶ οἱ Γέται τὸν Ζάμολξιν καὶ τὸν Μόψον Κίλικες, καὶ τὸν Ἀμφιάρεων Θηβαῖοι, καὶ παῤ ἑτέροις ἄλλοι πάλιν ἑτέρους, τὴν φύσιν οὐδὲν τῶν θνητῶν διαλλάττοντας αὐτὸ δὲ μόνον ἀληθῶς ἀνθρώπους.
Phoenicians 'Melkatharos and Usoros' are taken to be deified, historical men. (Obodas was a King of the Nabataeans 96-85 BC worshipped as a deity.) However, we know Melqart (=Melkarth/Melicarthus) was tutelary god of Tyre. Perhaps 'Melkatharos' (Eusebius' euhemerism) was a ruler deified in death, like Melchizedek. Baumgarten [1981] p.161 n.116 notes a problematic presumption here: Usorus = Ousous??? It should be clear Usoros = Osiris (= Adon, at Byblos), but Eusebius knew very well who Osiris was! The presumption/error is: Melqart and 'Osiris' (=Adon) were men of Tyre who became divinized. Because Eusebius (Praeparatio evangelica 1.10.37, reporting Porphyry-reporting Philo of Byblos-Sanchuniathon) identifies the two divinized brothers of Tyre, Hypsouranois (Baal-Sammin) and Oussoos.
Ὑψουράνιος and Οὔσωος Usos/Ousoos/Ousoüs Uzu/Usa???
“Τὸν Ὑψουράνιον οἰκῆσαι Τυρὸν, καλύβας τε ἐπινοῆσαι ἀπὸ καλάμων καὶ θρύων καὶ παπύρου, στασιάσαι δὲ πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν Οὔσωνον, ὃς τῷ σώματι ·πρῶτος ἐκ δερμάτων ὧν ἴσχυσε συλλαβεῖν θηρίων εὗρε.
Max Duncker, Evelyn Abbott, The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (1852/1877), p.374:
Philo further told us of the two sons of the giants, the brothers Samemrumus and Usous, at Tyre (p.354). The name Samemrumus means the High One of the Sky, a meaning which is clearly confirmed by the Greek attribute Hypsuranius. Hence Samemrumus was the god, the Baal of Tyre, Baal Melkarth. That Usous also was a god of Tyre is clear from the observation of Eusebius, that Usous, a man of little account, had been deified at Tyre beside Melicertes.
From Philo of Byblos (Sanchuniathon), we can reasonably reconstruct that Baal-Shammin is Samemrumus; Baal Melkarth is the Lord of Tyre; Herakles-Astrochiton Is the Celestial Melqart; Eshmun is associated w/ Apollo-Helios.
First Power: Father ............................. Ouranos ('Thoth/Hermes') ........................ El Elyon
Second Power: First Son ....................... Kronos/El ............................................ El Olam/El Shaddai = Yahweh
Third Power: Second Son ...................... Herakles-Astrochiton: Celestial Melqart ........ Adamas/Adam Kadmon
Fourth Power: Manifest Reality, etc. ........ Helios: The Charioteer of the Sun ............... Melchizedek/Moses, etc.
Fifth Power: ..................................... Priest ................................................. Aletheian Anthropos (=Divinized Man)
We can also consider how Philo Judaeus (c.25 AD) explained the Kronos lineage based on older concepts:
1. Baalshamin/Ouranos (El #1) ................. Kronos #1
2. El-Kronos (El #2) ............................... Kronos #2, assisted by Phoenician Taauthos/ Egyptian Thoth
3. Zeus Demarus/Baal-Tamar ................... Kronos #3?
Eusebius in Praeparatio Evangelica § 1.10.10 explains
Again, the {Phoenician} historian adds to this, after other matters: "But Astarte (the greatest goddess), and Zeus Demarus, and Adodus 'king of gods', reigned over the country with the consent of Kronos."
x. Ouranos (El #1) ................................ Kronos #1
1. El-Kronos (El #2) ............................... Kronos #2, assisted by Phoenician Taauthos/ Egyptian Thoth
2. Zeus Demarus .................................. 'Zeus' >>>>>>> [Baal-Tamar + Astarte] = [Zeus of Kasios + Astarte Palaistine]
3. Eshmun/Horus-Apollon ....................... 'Son of Zeus'
Ushu (=Palaetyros; Uzu, Usa, etc.) was a principality beside Tyre. King Usous was an euhemerized god with Thoth-like characteristics, and (like Seth) he erected stele monuments; the wood-product/commodity/tithe was known as 'Ushu' in Egypt. According to the myth, there were two primeval brothers – Shamenrum/Baal Shammin and Usoos (??) – living on the seashore who separated after a fight. Usoos took a tree trunk and was the first to sail upon the sea. He landed on an island and consecrated two columns there, one to Fire and the other to Wind, thus founding Tyre (called Ushu in Egypt). In Egypt, Ushu-wood is Lebanese cedar. Ushu was probably a first a wood-god, a forest deity (recalling Adon/Eshmun: the Young God), then a trade-symbol and complex deity. Palaetyros is the fortified city of Tyre (Joshua 19:29: the Usu'a of Tyre): the Melqart of Tyre was 'Herakles' represented by twin pillars (Herodotus, 2.44). From Tyre came the cult of Resheph-Melqart (~Seth); Qadeš was perhaps the Young God as a warrior. Herakles-Palaemon was both the Wrestler-Grappler, the younger brother, and the Child Sea-God: a possible Phoenician origin of the Young God at Pelusion, 'Horus of Kasios'.
Was Ishai/Usho Ishaa or Ioshaa, Ushu-Aa (~Jesus?), as Willis Brewer would have it? I have no idea. But Shu was an Egyptian Wind god, associated w/ Yahweh in the Sinai, and the exceeding close connection to Phoenician Tyre is well-established for a thousand years before Christ. By this I mean 'Usous' (Greek) is Ushu, which may go back to Hittite words like ishiul 'contract' ishiya 'binding/clothing', etc. There is a concept of 'Contract' or Tithing under words associated w/ Ushu. Eshmun is also relevant. Again, Brewer supposed 'Jesse' or Ishai may be Esh-i or 'Fires', great fear of the forest-people; this is dubious speculation I think. But since we have no good information about this Phoenician god, 'Ousoos' (a Sailor-god of wooden boats? record-keeper of merchant traders?), the mystery endures.
B) ... Dusaris = Dusares, Dushārā. In Roman Syria, the hellenized population addressed the Nabatean god Dusares as 'Dionysus'. c.215 BC, Ptolemy IV. Philopator supposedly tried to force (some) Egyptian Jews to worship Dionysus (3 Maccabbees 2:29), the Young God.