Ancient Semitic religion spans the polytheistic Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities, usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals religions of the Semitic The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. They constitute a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The most widely spoken Semitic language by far today is Arabic . It is followed by Amharic (2 speaking peoples of the Ancient Near East The Ancient Near East refers to early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Iran (Elam, Media, Parthia and Persia), Armenia, Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Crete). As such, it is a and Northeast Africa The Horn of Africa (alternatively Northeast Africa, and sometimes Somali Peninsula; shortened to HOA) is a peninsula in East Africa that juts for hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea, and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent. Referred to in medieval times as Bilad al. Its origins are intertwined with Mesopotamian mythology Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian mythologies from parts of the fertile crescent, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq. As Semitic In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages. This family includes the ancient and modern forms of Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Ge'ez, Hebrew, Maltese, Phoenician, Tigre and Tigrinya among others itself is a rough, categorical term, the definitive bounds of the term "Ancient Semitic religion" are likewise only approximate.

These traditions, and their pantheons Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society discusses the link between a pantheon of gods and the development of monotheism, fall into regional categories: Canaanite religions Canaanite religion is the name for the group of Ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries of the Common Era of the Levant The Levant (Arabic: بلاد الشام‎ Bilād aš-Šām, also known as Arabic: المشرق‎ al-Māšriq, am-Māšriq) describes, traditionally, the Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia formed by the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, roughly, Assyro-Babylonian religion The religions of Babylon and Assyria are early attestations of Ancient Semitic religion in the region of Mesopotamia. The Assyrians and Babylonians practiced polytheism, a belief in many gods. Borrowing from earlier religions of the Ancient Near East, predominately those of the Sumerians and Akkadians, religious practice was centered on cults of strongly influenced by Sumerian tradition Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian mythologies from parts of the fertile crescent, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq, and Pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism.

A topic of particular interest is the possible transition of Semitic polytheism Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities, called gods or goddesses, or both. These are usually assembled into a pantheon, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Many religions, both historical and contemporary, have a belief in polytheism, such as Shinto, Ancient Greek Polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism, into our contemporary understanding of Abrahamic The Abrahamic religions are historically the world's three primary monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common origin and values. The origins of Abrahamic religion are found in Judaism, which began in the first and second millennium BCE in ancient Israel and Judah during which time the Hebrew Bible was composed monotheism Monotheism is the belief in theology that only one deity exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as the Advaita, Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita by way of the god El ʾĒl is the Northwest Semitic word for "deity", cognate to Arabic ʾilāh and Akkadian ilum, a word for "god" in Hebrew and cognate to Islam Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎ al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] [note 1]) is a strictly monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله‎, Allāh), and by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad's teachings and normative example (which is called the Sunnah in's Allah Allah (Arabic: الله‎ Allāh, IPA: [ʔalˤːɑːh] ) is the standard Arabic word for God. While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabs of all Abrahamic faiths, including Mizrahi Jews, Baha'is and Eastern Orthodox Christians, in reference to God. The term was also used by pagan.^{[citation needed]}

Proto-Semitic pantheon

This is a partial list of possible Proto-Semitic deities.^{[citation needed]}

(Ac. Accadian-Babylonian; Ug. Ugaritic Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra رأس شمرة ("top/head/cape of the wild fennel" in Arabic), near Latakia, Syria) was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast. Ugarit sent tribute to Egypt and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus (called Alashiya), documented in the archives recovered from the; Pp. Phoenician Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Israel. Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean during the period 1550 BC to 300 BC. Though ancient boundaries of; Ib. Hebrew; Ar. Arabic; OSA Old South Arabian Old South Arabian is the term used for four closely related languages spoken in the southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. However, there is no doubt that there were a number of other Sayhadic lanhuages (e.g. Awsanic), of which very little evidence survived, however. All those languages were quite distinct from Classical Arabic. There is a; Et. Ethiopic The Aksumite Empire or Axumite Empire , (Ge'ez: አክሱም), was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, growing from the proto-Aksumite period ca. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. Its ancient capital is found in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name "Ethiopia" as early as the 4th century)

• *ʔIlu "god" (Overgod: Ac. Ilu, Ug. il ʾĒl is the Northwest Semitic word for "deity", cognate to Arabic ʾilāh and Akkadian ilum, Pp. ʔl/Ēlos, Ib. Ēl/Elohim Elohim is a plural formation of eloah, an expanded form of the Northwest Semitic noun il (אֱל, ʾēl ). It is the usual word for "god" in the Hebrew Bible, referring both to pagan deities and to the God of Israel, usually with a singular meaning despite its plural form, but is also used as a true plural with the meanings "spirits,, Ar. Allāh Allah (Arabic: الله‎ Allāh, IPA: [ʔalˤːɑːh] ) is the standard Arabic word for God. While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabs of all Abrahamic faiths, including Mizrahi Jews, Baha'is and Eastern Orthodox Christians, in reference to God. The term was also used by pagan, OSA ʔl).
• *ʔAṯiratu (Ilu's wife: Ug. aṯrt, Ib. Ašērāh Asherah , in Semitic mythology, is a Semitic mother goddess, who appears in a number of ancient sources including Akkadian writings by the name of Ashratum/Ashratu and in Hittite as Asherdu(s) or Ashertu(s) or Aserdu(s) or Asertu(s). Asherah is generally considered identical with the Ugaritic goddess Athirat (more accurately transcribed as ʼAṯ, OSA ʔṯrt). The meaning of the name is unknown.
  • She is also called *ʔIlatu "goddess" (Ac. Ilat, Pp. ʔlt, Ar. Allāt).
• *ʕAṯtaru (God of Fertility: Ug. ʕṯtr, OSA ʕṯtr, Et. ʕAstar sky god).
  • ʕAṯtartu (Goddess of Fertility: Ac. Ištar Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte, Ug. ʕṯtrt, Pp. ʕštrt / Astarte Astarte is the Greek name of a goddess known throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to Classical times. Originally the deified evening star, she is found as Ugaritic 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚 ‘ṯtrt ("‘Aṯtart" or "‘Athtart"); Phoenician "‘shtrt" (‘Ashtart); and Hebrew עשתרת (Ashtoret,, Ib. ʕAštoreṯ). The meaning of the name is unknown and not related to ʔAṯiratu.
• *Haddu/*Hadadu (Storm god: Ac. Adad Adad in Akkadian and Ishkur in Sumerian and Hadad in Aramaic, are the names of the storm-god in the Babylonian-Assyrian pantheon, both usually written by the logogram dIM. The Akkadian god Adad is cognate in name and functions with northwest Semitic god Hadad, Ug. hd Haddad was a northwest Semitic storm and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. Hadad was often called simply Ba‘al (Lord), but this title was also used for other gods. Hadad was equated with the Anatolian storm-god Teshub, the Egyptian god Set, the Greek god Zeus, and the Roman god Jupiter, Pp. Adodos). The meaning of the name is probably “thunderer”.
  • This god is also known as *Baʕlu "husband, lord" (Ac. Bel, Ug. bʕl, Pp. bʕl/Belos, Ib. Baʕal Ba‛al is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant, cognate to Akkadian Bēlu. A Baalist or Baalite means a worshipper of Baal).
• *Śamšu "sun" (Sun goddess: Ug. špš, OSA: šmš, but Ac. Šamaš Shamash or Šamaš was the common Akkadian name of the sun god and god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu is a male god).
• *Wariḫu "moon" (Moon god: Ug. yrḫ, Ib. Yārēaḥ, OSA wrḫ).

Babylonia and Assyria

When the five planets were identified, they were associated with the sun and moon and connected with the chief gods of the Hammurabi pantheon. A bilingual list in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:

• The moon, Sin Sin or Nanna (Sumerian: DŠEŠ.KI, DNANNA) was the god of the moon in Mesopotamian mythology. Nanna is a Sumerian deity, the son of Enlil and Ninlil, and became identified with Semitic Sin. The two chief seats of Nanna's/Sin's worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north.
• The sun, Shamash Shamash or Šamaš was the common Akkadian name of the sun god and god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu.
• Jupiter, Marduk Marduk was the Babylonian name of a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi (18th century BCE), started to slowly rise to the position of the head of the Babylonian pantheon, a position he fully acquired by.
• Venus, Ishtar Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.
• Saturn, Ninurta Ninurta in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology was the god of Lagash, identified with Ningirsu with whom he may always have been identical. In older transliteration the name is rendered Ninib and in early commentary he was sometimes portrayed as a solar deity.
• Mercury, Nabu.
• Mars, Nergal The name Nergal, Nirgal, or Nirgali refers to a deity in Babylon with the main seat of his cult at Cuthah represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Cuth (Cuthah): "And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal" (2 Kings, 17:30). He is the.^[1]

The pre-Christian religion of the Assyrian Empire Assyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: Aššur; Arabic: أشور Aššûr; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr, Aramaic: ܐܫܘܪ Ašur, ܐܬܘܪ Atur). The term Assyria (sometimes called Ashurism) centered around the god Assur Aššur is the head of the Assyrian pantheon. His origins are unknown but he is one of the Mesopotamian city gods, namely of the city Assur (pronounced Ashur),which dates from the 3rd millenium BC and once the capital of the Old Assyrian kingdom. It might therefore be that he was a personification of the city itself. From about 1300 BC priests, patron deity of the city of Assur Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District (a small panhandle of the Salah al-Din Governorate), besides Ishtar Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte patroness of Niniveh. The Assyrians The Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people are an ethnic group whose origins lie in the Fertile Crescent. Today that ancient territory is part of several nations; the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people have been minorities under other ethnic groups' rule since the early Middle Ages. They have traditionally lived in northern Iraq, Syria, northwest Iran, and adopted Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (the two split from one another in 1054 A.D.), and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16 in the course of the 1st to 3rd century AD,^[2] the last recorded worship of Ashur dating to AD 256.^[3][4]

Ashur Aššur is the head of the Assyrian pantheon. His origins are unknown but he is one of the Mesopotamian city gods, namely of the city Assur (pronounced Ashur),which dates from the 3rd millenium BC and once the capital of the Old Assyrian kingdom. It might therefore be that he was a personification of the city itself. From about 1300 BC priests, the patron deity of the eponymous capital Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District (a small panhandle of the Salah al-Din Governorate) from the Late Bronze Age was in constant rivalry with the patron deity of Babylon, Marduk. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk even in his role as husband of Ishtar.

Canaan

Canaanite religion was the group of belief systems utilized by the people living in the ancient Levant throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Until the excavation of Ras Shamra in Northern Syria (the site historically known as Ugarit), and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablet alphabetic cuneiform texts, little was known of Canaanite religion, as papyrus seems to have been the preferred writing medium, and unlike Egypt, in the humid Mediterranean climate, these have simply decayed. As a result, the highly antagonistic and selective accounts contained within the Bible were almost the only sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. This was supplemented by a few secondary and tertiary Greek sources (Lucian of Samosata's De Dea Syria (The Syrian Goddess), fragments of the Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos, and the writings of Damascius). More recently detailed study of the Ugaritic material, other inscriptions from the Levant and also of the Ebla archive from Tel Mardikh, excavated in 1960 by a joint Italo-Syrian team, have cast more light on the early Canaanite religion.

Canaanite religion was strongly influenced by their more powerful and populous neighbours, and shows clear influence of Mesopotamian and Egyptian religious practices. Like other people of the Ancient Near East Canaanite religious beliefs were polytheistic, with families typically focusing worship on ancestral household gods and goddesses while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal and El. Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as the sacred marriage of the New Year Festival may have been revered as gods.

According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm (=Elohim) or the children of El (cf. the Biblical "sons of God"), supposedly obtained by Philo of Byblos from Sanchuniathon of Berythus (Beirut) the creator was known as Elion (Biblical El Elyon = God most High), who was the father of the divinities, and in the Greek sources he was married to Beruth (Beirut = the city). This marriage of the divinity with the city would seem to have Biblical parallels too with the stories of the link between Melkart and Tyre; Yahweh and Jerusalem; Tanit and Baal Hammon in Carthage. El Elyon is mentioned as 'God Most High' occurs in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek king of Salem.

From the union of El Elyon and his consort was born Uranus and Ge, Greek names for the "Heaven" and the "Earth". This closely parallels the opening verse of Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God (Elohim) created the Heavens (Shemayim) and the Earth (Eretz)", and this would appear to be based upon this early Canaanite belief. This also has parallels with the story of the Babylonian Anunaki (i.e. = "Heaven and Earth"; Shamayim and Eretz) too.

Influence on Abrahamic religions

Many of the stories of the Tanakh^[5], Bible, and the Qur'an are believed to have been based on, influenced by, or inspired by the legendary mythological past of the Near East.^{[citation needed]} The Enuma Elish in particular has been compared to the Genesis creation myth.^{[citation needed]} The story of Esther in particular is traced to Babylonian roots.^{[citation needed]}

El Elyon also appears in Baalam's story in Numbers and in Moses song in Deuteronomy 32.8. The Masoretic Texts suggest

When the Most High (`Elyōn) divided to the nations their inheritance, he separated the sons of man (Ādām); he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel

The Septuagint suggests a different reading of this. Rather than "sons of Israel" it suggests the "angelōn theou" or 'angels of God' and a few versions even have "huiōn theou" 'sons of God'. The Dead Sea Scrolls version of this suggests that there were in fact 70 sons of the Most High God sent to rule over the 70 nations of the Earth. This idea of the 70 nations of Earth, each ruled over by one of the Elohim (sons of God) is also found in Ugaritic texts. The Aslan Tash inscription suggests that each of the 70 sons of El Elyon were bound to their people by a covenant. Thus as Crossan translates it

"The Eternal One (`Olam) has made a covenant oath with us,

Asherah has made (a pact) with us.

And all the sons of El,

And the great council of all the Holy Ones (Qedesh).

With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth."

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