More Ieoud Evidence Required
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 11:40 am
I'm not prepared to throw everything in the blender, not yet. I know there is extensive evidence the Byblos priesthood had influence on the Egyptian elite, but that doesn't mean everything is 'same-same but different.' I narrow my focus here: what is ALL the evidence we have on this 'Ieoud' ? Where was his cult center, how many temples did he have, and in what period? I have suggested Ieoud = Adonis but where is any evidence of that?
I'm back tracking: 'Ieoud' might be a syncretistic Judeo-Phoenician expression for 'Adonis' and/OR Osiris, but that's not evident. I still suppose it would be a late phenomenon in either/or Byblos or the larger Alexandrian network. And a (suggested, guessed) date would be most useful!
Byblos:________________________________ Tyre _______________________________________ Hellenized ___________
Tammuz: c.2600 - 1100 BC ............ 'Ouranos': .................................................. Epigeius/Autochthon/Ouranos;
.............................................. Baal-Hadad: c.1300- c.900 BC ......................... Ouranos #2
Adon: c.1200 BC - ....................... Baal-Shamin-Zeus Demarous/El: c.1000-500 BC ...... Kronos/El
Adonis c.400 BC - c.225 AD ............ Baal-Melqart: c.600 BC - ................................. Kronos #2
............................................ Melqart-Hercules: c.400 BC - ............................ Ieoud? c.50 BC ??
Yes: one would presume the Adon cult originates at Byblos, Adonai is the Israelite (Norther Semitic tribe) name for God. Coinage proves Adonis was still worshipped at Byblos, but Lucian of Samosata (c.160 AD) confirmed that fact: "I saw too at Byblos a large temple, sacred to the Byblian Aphrodite: this is the scene of the secret rites of Adonis: I mastered these." Yet there was another related interpretation, the cult was Osiris and Egyptian:
Lucian (an outsider, a Greek, a trafficker of rumors) also indicates there's a great mess of conflicting myths, "many tales were told to me, some of which were sacred, and some public property; some, again, were absolutely fabulous; others were mere barbarians' tales; others again tallied with the Greek accounts. All these I am ready to narrate, though I withhold my acceptance of some." Lucian saw the red river (Nahr Ibrahim: "The red color is actually caused by a mineral carried in the water as the snow melts [Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, 2001]") then says he traveled into the Libanus (lands of Mt. Lebanon) to see the "Temple of Aphrodite (Aphakitis)" - no mention of a 'Temple to Adonis' at Afqa. Of course, there is no mention of Ieuod, nor Kronos anywhere! Either Lucian is poorly informed or those deities are already too mythic (forgotten) or false, here. Given the stories that King Cinyras built the Temple, brought Adonis to Byblos, etc., those would be deeper layers of myth: the Greek only tells the current Greek (and Graeco-Egyptian) version, which was probably taught/told to everyone in that day. I can imagine Cinyras as a real Founder (builder) of Temples, c.600 BC; maybe it was to Adonis and the (Graeco-Egyptian) Osiris cult came later? The distance of 7-days sail (from Alexandria?) was direct, with the most favorable trade-wind. Scion of a shipping magnate, the well-educated Philo Judaeus, would certainly know something of a major city on an easy, major and ancient trade-route.
But Lucian's account tells us nothing of this mysterious 'Ieoud' - presumably, a Jewish derivation - IF in fact it belongs here. I suppose it does not.
The so-called"Ieoud" in his supposed connection to Anobret and Kronos points only at one place, I think: Aphaca/Afqa. But I see no confirm of 'Ieoud' = Ihuh, Iahu, Iao/Iu, Ieou {Massey [1907], p.500 "Egypto-Gnostic"} in the local 'Phoenican' mythology.
Eusebius' information about a "god Ieuo" seems purely apocryphal. And are we certain that is 'Ieoud' likewise?
I think this history is terribly garbled (w/ Egyptian material inappropriately conflated), but it does seem a Judaic version of various Phoenician bits. Child-sacrifice is richly suggested in the Torah, and Phoenicians were People of the Tophet!
I'm back tracking: 'Ieoud' might be a syncretistic Judeo-Phoenician expression for 'Adonis' and/OR Osiris, but that's not evident. I still suppose it would be a late phenomenon in either/or Byblos or the larger Alexandrian network. And a (suggested, guessed) date would be most useful!
Byblos:________________________________ Tyre _______________________________________ Hellenized ___________
Tammuz: c.2600 - 1100 BC ............ 'Ouranos': .................................................. Epigeius/Autochthon/Ouranos;
.............................................. Baal-Hadad: c.1300- c.900 BC ......................... Ouranos #2
Adon: c.1200 BC - ....................... Baal-Shamin-Zeus Demarous/El: c.1000-500 BC ...... Kronos/El
Adonis c.400 BC - c.225 AD ............ Baal-Melqart: c.600 BC - ................................. Kronos #2
............................................ Melqart-Hercules: c.400 BC - ............................ Ieoud? c.50 BC ??
Yes: one would presume the Adon cult originates at Byblos, Adonai is the Israelite (Norther Semitic tribe) name for God. Coinage proves Adonis was still worshipped at Byblos, but Lucian of Samosata (c.160 AD) confirmed that fact: "I saw too at Byblos a large temple, sacred to the Byblian Aphrodite: this is the scene of the secret rites of Adonis: I mastered these." Yet there was another related interpretation, the cult was Osiris and Egyptian:
Some of the inhabitants of Byblos maintain that the Egyptian Osiris is buried in their town, and that the public mourning and secret rites are performed in memory not of Adonis, but of Osiris. I will tell you why this story seems worthy of credence. A human head comes every year from Egypt to Byblos, floating on its seven days' journey thence: the winds, by some divine instinct, waft it on its way: it never varies from its course but goes straight to Byblos. The whole occurrence is miraculous. It occurs every year, and it came to pass while I was myself in Byblos, and I saw the head in that city.
Lucian (an outsider, a Greek, a trafficker of rumors) also indicates there's a great mess of conflicting myths, "many tales were told to me, some of which were sacred, and some public property; some, again, were absolutely fabulous; others were mere barbarians' tales; others again tallied with the Greek accounts. All these I am ready to narrate, though I withhold my acceptance of some." Lucian saw the red river (Nahr Ibrahim: "The red color is actually caused by a mineral carried in the water as the snow melts [Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, 2001]") then says he traveled into the Libanus (lands of Mt. Lebanon) to see the "Temple of Aphrodite (Aphakitis)" - no mention of a 'Temple to Adonis' at Afqa. Of course, there is no mention of Ieuod, nor Kronos anywhere! Either Lucian is poorly informed or those deities are already too mythic (forgotten) or false, here. Given the stories that King Cinyras built the Temple, brought Adonis to Byblos, etc., those would be deeper layers of myth: the Greek only tells the current Greek (and Graeco-Egyptian) version, which was probably taught/told to everyone in that day. I can imagine Cinyras as a real Founder (builder) of Temples, c.600 BC; maybe it was to Adonis and the (Graeco-Egyptian) Osiris cult came later? The distance of 7-days sail (from Alexandria?) was direct, with the most favorable trade-wind. Scion of a shipping magnate, the well-educated Philo Judaeus, would certainly know something of a major city on an easy, major and ancient trade-route.
But Lucian's account tells us nothing of this mysterious 'Ieoud' - presumably, a Jewish derivation - IF in fact it belongs here. I suppose it does not.
The so-called"Ieoud" in his supposed connection to Anobret and Kronos points only at one place, I think: Aphaca/Afqa. But I see no confirm of 'Ieoud' = Ihuh, Iahu, Iao/Iu, Ieou {Massey [1907], p.500 "Egypto-Gnostic"} in the local 'Phoenican' mythology.
Eusebius' information about a "god Ieuo" seems purely apocryphal. And are we certain that is 'Ieoud' likewise?
[PORPHYRY] 'Of the affairs of the Jews the truest history, because the most in accordance with their places and names, is that of Sanchuniathon of Berytus, who received the records from Hierombalus the priest of the god Ieuo; he dedicated his history to Abibalus king of Berytus, and was approved by him and by the investigators of truth in his time.
I think this history is terribly garbled (w/ Egyptian material inappropriately conflated), but it does seem a Judaic version of various Phoenician bits. Child-sacrifice is richly suggested in the Torah, and Phoenicians were People of the Tophet!