The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East
Alberto R. W. Green
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.
- Description
- 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
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