The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East

by Alberto R. W. Green

Overview

In this comprehensive study of a common deity found in the ancient Near East as well as many other cultures, Green brings together evidence from the worlds of myth, iconography, and literature in an attempt to arrive at a new synthesis regarding the place of the Storm-god. He finds that the Storm-god was the force primarily responsible for three major areas of human concern: (1) religious power because he was the ever-dominant environmental force upon which peoples depended for their very lives; (2) centralized political power; and (3) continuously evolving sociocultural processes, which typically were projected through the Storm-god’s attendants. Green traces these motifs through the Mesopotamian, Anatolian, Syrian, and Levantine regions; with regard to the latter, he argues that Yahweh of the Bible can be identified as a storm-god, though certain unique characteristics came to be associated with him: he was the Creator of all that is created and the self-existing god who needs no other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781575060699
Publisher:	Penn State University Press
Publication date:	06/30/2003
Series:	Biblical and Judaic Studies from the University of California, San Diego , #8
Pages:	382
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.31(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1. Mesopotamia: The Land between Two Rivers

Climate and Ecology

Iconography of the Mesopotamian Storm-God: Prehistoric up to the End of the Old Babylonian Period

Textual Evidence of Sumero-Akkadian Storm-Gods in Southern Mesopotamia

Storm-Gods of Northern Mesopotamia: Sumerian and Semitic

The Storm-Gods of Mesopotamia: Representations of Primary Human Concerns

Semitic Storm-Gods of Northern Mesopotamia: Iconographic and Epigraphic Correlations

Chapter 2. The Highlands of Anatolia

The Physical Environment

The Focus of Religion in Prehistoric Anatolia

Cultural Assemblage in Historic Anatolia

The Storm-God: Archaeological Pictorial Representations

The Storm-God on Rock Carvings, Orthostats, and Temples

The Anatolian Storm-God in the Written Sources

The Storm-God in Hittite Mythology

Summary

Chapter 3. Syria: The Upper Country

The Syrian Physical Environment

The Emergence of the Syrian Storm-God in Iconography

The Storm-God and His Attendants within Syria and Non-Anatolian Peripheral Regions

Written Evidence of the Syrian Storm-God outside Syria

Hadad in the Historical and Mythical Sources in Syria

Baal, the Cloud-Rider

Baal, the Fertility God

The Natural Pattern of the Fertility Process

Baal-(H)adad in the Cultural Milieu of Ancient Syria

Chapter 4. Coastal Canaan: A Land Bridge between the Continents

The Region and Culture of Canaan

The Background of Yahwism in the Canaanite Milieu

The Deity Yahweh in the Earliest Extrabiblical Sources

Yahweh in the Earliest Nonpoetic and Poetic Sources

Archaic Poetic Historical References to Yahweh as the Canaanite God El

Yahweh, the Hebrew Storm-God

The Storm-God Yahweh within the Canaanite Milieu

Chapter 5: The Storm-God and His Associates: Summary and Conclusions

The Storm-God as a Force in Nature

The Storm-God as the Foundation of Political Power

The Storm-God and the Evolving Religious Process

Chapter 6. Bibliography

Indexes

Index of Scripture

Index of Authors

Index of Personal Names

Index of Divine Names and Epithets

Index of Places

Index of Topics