yakovzutolmai wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 9:02 pmPerhaps not in this context, but Zeus Kasios is exactly and uncontroversially the same as Baal Hadad of Ugarit. In his triumphant form. His pre-triumphant form is represented by Adonis. For the Greeks, Adonis IS Hadad. Zeus Kasios is a concession to Ugarit's recognition of Hadad as Zeus.
I appreciate Mircea Eliade, and long before him E. A. Wallis Budge; big theories and precise details.
However, in this case, 'Zeus Kasios' is not attested to in text until ~188 BC. I do believe
this deity by that name existed earlier, but there is no hard evidence. The implication? ('First Evidence' is NOT 'Beginning' - Late Dating is wrong, simply.)
So the problem is: how do we identify the actual deities of Pelusium over? (Blunt conflation is insupportable.)
Look at the evidence.
1. The Eastern Frontier at Daphne of Pelusion (c.625-425 BC).
Herodotus (c.430 BC) does not confirm 'Zeus Kasios', even if he knew of Egyptian Kasion and its connection to Syrian Kasion. He (or someone much later, writing in his name) says (
2.30):
In the reign of Psammetichus {c.660 BC} there were garrisons posted at Elephantine on the side of Ethiopia {and} at Daphnae of Pelusium on the side of Arabia and Assyria [...] And still in my time {c.430 BC} the Persians hold these posts as they were held in the days of Psammetichus; there are Persian guards [...] at Daphnae.
Daphne = Tahpanhes/Tall al-Dafana; it was a fortress-line or border-frontier at Pelusion (Δάφναι αἱ Πηλούσιαι). According to Herodotus, "Persians" were settled there for several hundred years. Their god should be Persian, or Chaldaean, or something Egyptian
and Chaldaean. Furthermore, from archaeological evidence at Elephantine, these mercenaries at were certainly 'Jews' (worshippers of Yahu in communication with Jerusalem about religious rites). Tahpanhes should be no different, "Persians" = Proto-Jews. The narrow question remains 'what god(s) did Chaldaeans worship there?' because -AGAIN- we cannot make blunt assumptions otherwise.
Evidence establishes
Baal Zephon was a High God for these particular Proto-Jews, in fact. That does not establish the identity of their 'Supreme God' OR the 'Young God', however.
As I wrote above, qualifying abit more:
Baal Zephon was worshiped in the Eastern Delta c.550 BC, though we cannot be sure what were the other Semitic gods of Tahpanhes. However, the salutation "To ʾArišat, the daughter of ʾEshmunyaton..." strongly suggests Phoenician Eshmun ... (ʾEshmunyaton = Eshmun has bestowed) was worshipped at Tahpanhes. In Libya, Eshmun was associated with Herakles' junior, 'Iolaos', who would be Horus-Apollo. Therefore or almost certainly, Baal Zephon = Zeus Kasios -- and -- 'Eshmun' = Horus Kasios.
Eastern Persians called Western Persians (i.e. Syrians) 'Cappadocians'. In Hebrew, 'Capthor' is a pun meaning both 'pomegranate' and 'Cappadocian'. The Young God of Kasios holds a Pomegranate. Jews parodied as (Baal) Rimmon as 'The Pomegranate'; Capthorim would be 'Pomegranate people'. Here we have them, in the Syriad (from 'Syria') or
Sethrum of Egypt.
Zeus Kasios is exactly and uncontroversially the same as Baal Hadad of Ugarit. In his triumphant form. His pre-triumphant form is represented by Adonis.
Well, no.
Let's look carefully at the precise lineage the Phoenician on the Palmyrene Monument (121 AD): (left-to-right) to Baal-Shamin, Yarhibol, Aglibol and Bel. These gods were known, ancient and still worshipped. The Museum says: "The supreme deities of the Palmyrene pantheon are seated at the edges: the great god Bel on the right, and Baalshamin, god of fertility, on the left. Standing between them are Yarhibol, the sun god, and Aglibol, the moon god. Although connected in worship, they are rarely portrayed together. Each of the gods is holding a sceptre and wearing either Grecian or military clothing."
#1 Bel/Baal, Supreme God here, reclines at far right: the Eldest, Grandfather. Baal is holding a pomegranate! (The 'Young God' of the Temple of Zeus Kasios/Baal Zephon also holds a pomegranate: the Family Symbol.)
#2 Baal-Shamin at far left is the Father-God. This Baal has the Modius and Apis Bull, like Egyptian Serapis. (The high god El, sometimes called 'Bull El' [e.g., KTU 1.2.iii.21; 1.4.iii.31] had been usurped by lower Baals by ~600 BC. The Bull has been associated w/Baal-Shamin.)
#3 Yarhibol, second left, is the First Son. This Baal (Iarhi-Bel) is the Solar God (=an Apollo).
#4 Aglibol, second right, is the Second Son. This Baal (Agl-Bel) is the Lunar God (=a Horus).
"Baal Hadad of Ugarit" (2000-1400 BC?) is not Baal Zephon, a god of the 14th Lower Egyptian nome (c.450 BC), 400 miles south and one thousand+ years later. As we all know, Zeus and Apollo are
not the same god (though they may be closely related). So too at Byblos (Lebanon): the Young God Adon and Apollo were
not the same god, and Apollo was NOT the Supreme God there (c.150 BC) either.
Again, we should not conflate everything mindlessly. There is a lineage/descent and evolution to factor, and details of these accounts do clarify the truth. Baal Zephon was the Protector god of some
Chaldaean Semitics at Daphne-Pelusion (c.625-425 BC). We may also presume that Eshmun (=Adonis, the Young God) was worshipped, though the evidence is debatable. "All the gods of Tahpanhes" confirms a pantheon or different gods, certainly; we want to correctly distinguish different deities wherever possible.
2. Inscriptions at Delos (c.188 BC) are three centuries later but come directly from a priest of 'the Young God' who had adopted Greek conventions. From his inscription, the order of this Pelusian pantheon (c.150 BC) is stated as follows:
___Role_______________Pelusion____________________Delos____________________Egyptian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Unnamed) ......................... ~Zeus Ourios .................. (Unnamed Supreme God?)
2. Ruling God ........... Zeus Kasios ........................ ~Zeus Kasios .................. (Serapis)
3. Consort ............... Tachnepsis* = 'Isis of Kasios' ..... ~Astarte Palaistine .......... (Isis)
4. First Son .............. Horus of Kasios (Young God) .... ~Herakles-Apollon ........... (Horus)
5. Second Son ........... Horus' Son ( = Priest?) ............ ~Horus ........................ (Man: Son of Horus/Son of God)
Palmyrene Monument, 121 AD:
___Role_______________Pelusion____________________Delos____________________Syrian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Unnamed) ......................... ~Zeus Ourios .................. Baal
2. Ruling God ........... Zeus Kasios ........................ ~Zeus Kasios .................. Baal-Shamem
3. Consort ............... Tachnepsis* = 'Isis of Kasios' ..... ~Astarte Palaistine .......... Astarte, etc.
4. First Son .............. Horus of Kasios (Young God) .... ~Herakles-Apollon ........... Yarhibol
5. Second Son ........... Horus' Son ( = Priest?) ............ ~Horus ....................... Aglibol
Elephantine, c.410 BC:
___Role_______________Elephantine__________________Delos____________________Syrian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Yaho/ Yahu Elaha?) .............. ~Zeus Ourios .................. Baal
2. Ruling God ........... Beth-El ............................. ~Zeus Kasios .................. Baal-Shamem
3. Consort ............... Anat Beth-El ....................... ~Astarte Palaistine .......... Astarte, etc.
4. First Son .............. Eshem-Bethel/Ashim/ʾAšim ..... ~Herakles-Apollon ........... Yarhibol
5. Second Son ........... Nabu (Scribe) .................... ~Horus ......................... Aglibol
Curiously, in Elephantine
Eshem and Herem were worshipped as separate divinities AND manifestations of 'Ruler' Beth-El. The separation was incomplete. Versus (Eshem-)Bethel as 'Fighter/Destroyer of Life', (Herem-)Bethel as the 'Lover/Creator of Life' suggests a 'Child Issue' (i.e. Fatherhood leads to distinct generational gods). This is speculation, but Ashim ~ Eshmun to many scholars; see Sergio Ribichini, in
Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible [1995]: pp.583–587.
In the Sethrum, w/ close ties to Phoenicia, over time the gods evolved more consistently w/ Tyre, Sidon, etc.
To backtrack, and where Zeus Kasios = Baal Zephon, I would reconstruct the Syro-Phoenician pantheon of Pelusion (c.660-425 BC?), from
Sidon, 550 BC in the third column to show correspondence:
___Role_______________Pelusion____________________Sidon____________________
Judeo-Egyptian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Unnamed) ......................... ~ʾĒl (-Kronos?) ............... Baal/El Shaddai
2. Ruling God ........... Zeus Kasios ........................ ~ Ba'al of Sidon .............. Baal Zephon (First Son = Yahweh?)
3. Consort ............... Tachnepsis* = 'Isis of Kasios' ..... ~ʾAšerah /ʾĒlat .............. Asherah (Consort of Yahu)
4. First Son .............. Horus of Kasios (Young God) .... ~ Eshmun .....................
Ieud (Second, Sacrificed Son)
5. Second Son ........... Horus' Son ( = Priest?) ............ ~'Ieud' ?? ...................... (Man: Son of Horus/Son of God)
What's interesting about the
Baal of Sidon is the common themes, that 1) he is "brother of Astarte" (i.e. in incestuous marriage), 2) Asherah was remembered as the Consort of El, 3) Eshmun replaced the other Ba'al(s) in prominence - after 400 BC. There are surviving inscriptions (
c.96 BC? which I suppose is too late for Egyptian influence) suggesting Baalshama ('Baal Listens') = Baal-Shamin ('Lord of Heavens'), translated as 'Diopeithes' (="he who obeys Zeus"). So it is not clear from a survey of different scholars who this 'Baal of the Sidonians' was:
1 Kings 16:31 : And ... [Ahab] even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians, and he then proceeded to serve and worship Baal.
See John Wilson Betlyon, "The Cult of ʾAšerah/ʾĒlat at Sidon" in
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Jan., 1985), p.54:
One story from Egypt* provides a variant of the Ugaritic epic of Ba'l and Yamm (Sea), in which Astarte is captured by Sea only to be saved by Seth, who played the role of the Storm-God. … Her full epithet, xxx “name of Ba’al” is known from Ugarit and is paralleled in a later Sidonian inscription from the 5th C. BC century as Pane-baal “presence of Ba’al”.
* W. F. Albright,
Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1969), pp.132-3.
It is certain that Zeus Kasios is not the Young God; Zeus Kasios = Baal Zephon, NOT Apollo-Eshmun (or Horus-Harpokrates-Eshmun). What's more, and quite importantly: apparently, "Baal Zephon" does not come from Sidon or Tyre, but further north. This particular Ba'al came to be worshipped in the vicinity of Pelusion, c.1300 BC. In one ancient Egyptian text (c.1250 BC), "Baal Zephon" was associated with
but not identical to Sopdu, the older Egyptian Young God. At any rate, the Pelusion Storm-God (Father) was not "Baal Hadad" and should not be assumed the Young God: Son or adopted substitute.
If in Byblos, Zeus Demarûs (= Baal Tamar) is Son of Zeus Adodos (=Baal Hadad) AND Father of Melcathrus/Herakles, then the Young God in Pelusion should likewise be a junior or nephew, Horus-Apollo (= Danaos/Isra/Palaimon/ Usorus/Ousous). This part is uncertain, undocumented, yet also befits a Sethian Mystery-Cult. In the Byblos myth, the Priest 'Jerubaal' further suggests a wrestling-cult, where Israel = 'El shall wrestle' (i.e. we fight for God) would be a fraternity among long-resident Chaldaean mercenaries.
Herakles was well-established in Egypt and Phoenicia by 500 BC. Though obscure, his (Greek) nephew/lover 'Iolaus', the Young God's true equivalent, is probably a Semitic Horus-Apollo. Egyptian homophobia (i.e. Seth Myth) may be relevant in the Sethrum. So Philo Judaeus, in his exposition (c.22 AD) on the 'cryptically Jewish' Therapeutae, forcefully rejects the Greek model of pederastry, by counterpoint. Was Philo repudiating a slanderous suspicion levelled against the (possibly) Sethian cult which he chose to defend? Unknown. From a different angle, the Pelusion model for a Semitic Apollon-Horus might otherwise be discerned from 'Big Brother-Little Brother' combinations in various regional Herakles Myths. Positively indentifying a Judaic Apollon-Horus pair in the Sethrum would be most interesting:
Melqart ........................ & ... Herakles
Herakles ....................... & ... Apollon
Herakles ....................... & ... Usorus/Ousous
Herakles ....................... & ... Danaos ....................... of the Denyen.
Herakles ....................... & ... Isra
Herakles ....................... & ... Palaimon .................... Palaimon the Great Wrestler
Heryshaf = Arsaphes/Osiris/Dionysius/Herakles. A Semitic warrior model?
Back to the question of the statue of the Young God, unresolved in my mind:
a) if Horus of Kasios = Herakles-Apollon = Eshmun/Adon (i.e. all are basically synonymous) --- this, I doubt ---
b) if Eshmun = Herakles, then Horus of K. is the Junior variant (i.e. 'Iolaus') =
Ieud --- this, I suppose ---
c) if originally a Chaldaean mercenaries' wrestling 'cult of Ieuo', w/ two grades: boys (i.e. Horus) and men (i.e. initiates, Apollon), then this Judeo-Egyptian military fraternity c.800-600 BC may be the first 'Israel'. (As w/ the Jacob Myth, the
ysrỉꜣr should be wrestlers, grapplers, fighters.) --- this, I dare speculate ---
A few side-notes:
Eusebius tells us that Philo of Byblos (c.135 AD) records Sanchuniathon of Berytus "received records from Hierombalus the priest of the god Ieuo" and those books were "Hermetic." Based on other threads, logically working through dates, Philo's source material should be c.300-150 BC. If or if not Ieuo = 'Horus of Kasios' (= Horus-Harpokrates/Eshmun), in any case the Semitic priest of the god Ieuo is and indisputably 'Priest of the Son of God.' Whether Hierombalus = Jerubaal ('He that contends', ' - Grapples w/ God', etc.) OR Aleyn-Baal (~Adoni-Baal, Merib-Baal, or Baal-Mari all correspond to 'Hierombalos') this definitely sounds like a heterodox (Judaic?) cult. But scholars who imagine 'Ieuo' = YHWH are as wrong as those who assume the 'Young God' Horus-Kasios must be identical with Zeus Kasios/Baal Zephon. (The confusion, again, is lineage: Father/Son. 'Jesus' is not 'The Father', though 'they are one' etc.) Philo B's god Ieuo is expressely 'the Sacrificial Son of God' - that could
not be Yahweh ... unless Yahweh is the Son of El, and himself Dying God, etc. It simply doesnt fit.
Whether this mysterious (Egypto-)Phoenician 'Son of God' Ieud = יוֹעֵד "the LORD is a witness" ; Yoed = Israelite in Egypt, that's also speculative. The earliest iteration Gnostic 'Book of Jeu' probably dates c.175 AD (therefore several hundred years after the source-content of
Sanchuniathon) so it is weak support.
Whether "Baʿal Berith" is the god of Melchizedek, imported (later and?) to another part of Egypt, I am uncertain. Separate topic.
Cumont held that the Elephantine Yahu was definitely God #2 Baal-Shamin = (Father-God) =
Zeus Megistos Keraunos; it is obvious this was debated. IF TRUE, God #1 = El = the First Theos Hypsistos (later, Yahweh).
Cf. Lidzbarski, Balsamem, Ephem. semit. Epigr., I, p. 251.--Ba’al Samain is mentioned as early as the ninth century B. C. in the inscription of Ben Hadad (Pognon, Inscr. sémit., 1907, pp. 165 ff.; cf. Dussaud, Rev. archéol., 1908, I, p. 235). In Aramaic papyri preserved at Berlin, the Jews of Elephantine call {Yahu} "the god of heaven" in an address to a Persian governor, and the same name was used in the alleged edicts of Cyrus and his successors, which were inserted in the book of Esdras (i. I; vi. 9, etc.)--If there were the slightest doubt as to the identity of the god of thunder with Baalsamin, it would be dispelled by the inscription of Et-Tayibé, where this Semitic name is translated into Greek as Ζεὺς μέγιστος κεραύνιος; cf. Lidzbarski, Handbuch, p. 477, and Lagrange, op. cit., p. 508.
To be investigated,
Theos Hypsistos.
I see this only as a beginning; these Egyptian Semites became 'Jewish' in stages and over time - I think - much later than most historians believe. These people of the Sethrum are, I also suppose, the Sethians of the
Syriad (=Sethrum) who Josephus mentions @ AJ 1.2.3.13 (i.e.
"two stelae").