Ēl is a northwest Semitic word and name translated into English as either 'god' or 'God' or left untranslated as El, depending on the context. The Hebrew form (אל) appears in Latin letters in Standard Hebrew transcription as El and in Tiberian Hebrew transcription as ʾĒl. 12th century Hebrew Bible script The Semitic languages are a family of languages spoken by more than 250 million people across much of the Middle East, where they originated, and North and East Africa. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by 6 million people mainly in Israel, parts of the Palestinian territories, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ... Tiberian Hebrew is an oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient forms of Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Bible, that was given written form by masoretic scholars in the Jewish community at Tiberias in the early middle ages, beginning in the 8th century. ...

For the Canaanites, El or Il was the supreme god, the father of mankind and all creatures. He may have been a desert god at some point as the myths say that he had two wives and built a sanctuary with them and his new children in the desert. El had fathered many gods, but most important were Hadad, Yaw and Mot, each share similar attributes to the Roman-Greco gods: Zeus, Poseidon and Hades respectively. Haddad - בעל הדד (in Ugaritic Haddu) was a very important northwest Semitic storm god and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. ... Yaw or Yam is the name for the Levantine god of chaos and the power of the untamed sea as found in texts from the ancient city of Ugarit. ... In Ugaritic Mot Death (spelled mt) is personified as a god of death. ... Statue of Zeus The Greek sculptor Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall Statue of Zeus in about 435 bc. ... Andrea Doria as Neptune by Agnolo Bronzino: a potent allegory of Genoas hegemony in the Tyrrhenian Sea In Greek Mythology, Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν) was the god of the sea, known to the Romans as Neptune, and to the Etruscans as Nethuns. ... Hades (Greek: - Hadēs or - Háidēs) (unseen) means both the ancient Greek abode of the dead and the god of that underworld. ...

Linguistic forms and meanings

Cognate forms are found throughout the Semitic languages with the exception of the ancient Ge'ez language of Ethiopia. Forms include Ugaritic ’il, pl. ’lm; Phoenician ’l pl. ’lm, Hebrew ’ēl, pl. ’⁏lîm; Aramaic ’l, Arabic ’il; Akkadian ilu, pl. ilāti. The original meaning may have been 'strength, power'. In northwest Semitic usage ’l was both a generic word of any 'god' and the special name or title of a particular god who was distinguished from other gods as being the god, or even in our modern sense God. Ēl is listed at the head of many pantheons. El was the father god among the canaanites (See El (Canaanite god)). But because the word sometimes refers to a god other than the great god Ēl it is often difficult to be certain whether Ēl followed by another name means the great god Ēl with a particular epithet applied or refers to another god entirely. For example, in the Ugaritic texts ’il mlk is understood to mean 'Ēl the King' but ’il hd means 'the god Hadad'. We know this only from context. The Geez language (or Giiz language) is an ancient language that developed in the Ethiopian Highlands of the Horn of Africa as the language of the peasantry. ... The Ugaritic language is known to us only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit since its discovery by French archaeologists in 1928. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. ... Arabic (العربية al-arabiyyah, or less formally arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Akkadian (lišānum akkadÄ«tum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language famaily) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... This article is about the land called Canaan. ... Haddad - בעל הדד (in Ugaritic Haddu) was a very important northwest Semitic storm god and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. ...

In Ugaritic an alternate plural form meaning 'gods' is ’ilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ’^elōhîm 'gods'. But in Hebrew this word is also used for singular 'God' or 'god', is indeed by the most normal word for 'god' or 'God' in the singular (as well as for 'gods'). Elohim (אלהים) is a Hebrew word related to deity, but whose exact significance is often disputed. ...

The stem ’l is found prominently in the earliest strata of east Semitic, northwest Semitic and south Semitic groups. Personal names including the stem ’l are found with similar patterns both in Amorite and South Arabic which indicates that probably already in Proto-Semitic ’l was both a generic term for 'god' and the common name or title of a single particular 'god' or 'God'. Amorite (Hebrew ’emōrî, Egyptian Amar, Akkadian AmurrÅ« (corresponding to Sumerian MAR.TU or Martu) refers to a Semitic people who occupied the middle Euphrates area from the second half of the third millennium BC and also appear in the Tanakh. ...

Ēl among the Amorites

Amorite inscriptions from Zinčirli refer to numerous gods, sometimes by name, sometimes by title, especially by such titles as ilabrat 'god of the people'(?), il abīka 'god of your father', il abīni 'god of our father' and so forth. Various family gods are recorded, divine names listed as belong to a particular family or clan, sometimes by title and sometimes by name, including the name Il 'god'. In Amorite personal names the most common divine elements are Il ('God'), Hadad/Adad, and Dagan. It is likely that Il is also very often the god called in Akkadian texts Amurru or Il Amurru. Haddad - בעל הדד (in Ugaritic Haddu) was a very important northwest Semitic storm god and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. ... Adad in Akkadian and Ishkur in Sumerian 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. ... // The ancient god Dagon Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god, the god of grain and agriculture according to the few sources to speak of the matter, worshipped by the early Amorites, by the people of Ebla, by the people of Ugarit and a chief god (perhaps the chief god...

Ēl in Ugarit

Three pantheon lists found at Ugarit begin with the four gods ’il-’ib (which according to Cross [1973; p. 14] is the name of a generic kind of deity, perhaps the divine ancestor of the people), Ēl, Dagnu (that is Dagon), and Ba’l Ṣapān (that is the god Haddu or Hadad). Though Ugarit had a large temple dedicated to Dagon and another to Hadad, there was no temple dedicated to Ēl. Entrance to the Palace of Ugarit Ugarit (modern site Ras Shamra رأس شمرة; in Arabic) 35°35´ N; 35°45´E) was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia. ... // The ancient god Dagon Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god, the god of grain and agriculture according to the few sources to speak of the matter, worshipped by the early Amorites, by the people of Ebla, by the people of Ugarit and a chief god (perhaps the chief god... Baal (בַּעַל / בָּעַל, Standard Hebrew Báʿal, Tiberian Hebrew Báʿal / Báʿal) is a northwest Semitic word signifying The Lord, master, owner (male), husband cognate with Akkadian BÄ“l of the same meanings. ... Haddad - בעל הדד (in Ugaritic Haddu) was a very important northwest Semitic storm god and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. ...

Ēl is called again and again Tôru ‘Ēl 'Bull Ēl' or 'the bull god'. He is bātnyu binwāti 'Creator of creatures', ’abū banī ’ili 'father of the gods', and ‘abū ‘adami 'father of man'. He is qāniyunu ‘ôlam creator eternal (the epithet ‘ôlam appearing in Hebrew form in the Hebrew name of God ’ēl ‘ôlam 'God Eternal' in Genesis 21.23). He is ḥātikuka your patriarch. Ēl is the grey-bearded ancient one, full of wisdom, malku 'king', ’abū šamīma 'father of years', ’ēl gibbōr 'Ēl the warrior'. He is also named lṭpn of unknown meaning, variously rendered as Latpan, Latipan, or Lutpani. Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ...

The mysterious Ugaritic text "Shachar and Shalim" tells how (perhaps near the beginning of all things) Ēl came to shores of the sea and saw two woman who bobbed up and down. Ēl was sexually aroused and took the two with him, killed a bird by throwing a staff at it and roasted it over a fire. He asked the women to tell him when the bird is fully cooked, and to then address him either as husband or as father, for he would thenceforward behave to them as they call him. They salute him as husband. He lies with them and they gave birth to Shachar 'Dawn' and Shalim 'Dusk'. Again Ēl lies with his wives and the wives give birth to the gracious gods, cleavers of the sea, children of the sea. The names of these wives are not explicitly provided, but some confusing rubrics at the beginning of the account mention the goddess Athirat who is otherwise Ēl's chief wife and the goddess Rahmay 'Merciful', otherwise unknown. For the small research submarine, see Asherah (submarine). ...

In the Ugaritic Ba‘al cycle Ēl is introduced dwelling on (or in) Mount Lel (Lel possibly meaning 'Night') at the fountains of the two rivers at the spring of the two deeps. He dwells in a tent according to some interpretations of the text which may explain why he had no temple in Ugarit. As to the rivers and the spring of the two deeps, these might refer real streams, or to the mythological sources of the salt water ocean and the fresh water souces under the earth, or to the waters above the heavens and the waters beneath the earth.

In the episode of the "Palace of Ba‘al", the god Ba‘al/Hadad invites the "70 sons of Athirat" to a feast in his new palace. Presumably these sons have been fathered on Athirat by Ēl in following passages they seem be the gods (’ilm) in general or at least a large portion of them. The only sons of Ēl named individually in the Ugartitic texts are Yamm 'Sea', Mot 'Death', and ‘Ashtar, who may be the chief and leader of most of the sons of Ēl. Ba‘al/Hadad is a few times called Ēl's son rather than the son of Dagan as he is normally called, probably because Ēl is in the position of a clan-father to all the gods. In Ugaritic Mot Death (spelled mt) is personified as a god of death. ...

The fragmentary text RS 24.258 describes a banquet to which Ēl invites the other gods and then disgraces himself by becoming outrageously drunk and passing out after confronting an otherwise unknown Hubbay, "he with the horns and tail". The text ends with an incanation for the cure of some disease, possibly hangover.

Ēl in Proto-Sinaitic, Phoenician, Aramaic, and Hittite texts

A proto-Sinaitic mine inscription from Mount Sinai reads ’ld‘lm understood to be vocalized as ’il dū ‘ôlmi, 'Ēl Eternal' or 'God Eternal'.

The Egyptian god Ptah is given the title dū gitti 'Lord of Gath' in a prism from Lachish which has on its opposite face the name of Amenhotep II (c. 1435–1420 BCE) The title dū gitti is also found in Serābitṭ text 353. Cross (1973, p. 19) points out that Ptah is often called the lord (or one) of eternity and thinks it may be this identification of Ēl with Ptah that lead to the epithet ’olam 'eternal' being applied to Ēl so early and so consistently. (However in the Ugaritic texts Ptah is seemingly identified instead with the craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis.) In Egyptian mythology, Ptah (creator) (or Tanen or Ta-tenen or Tathenen or Peteh) is a creator god and originally the chief god in the pantheon of Memphis, Egypt. ... Gath (Hebrew: winepress) was one of the five Philistine city states established in southwestern Philistia. ... Lachish was a town located in the Shephelah, or maritime plain of Palestine (Joshua 10:3, 5; 12:11). ... nomen or birth name Aakheperure Amenhotep II (d. ... (Redirected from 1430s BCE) Centuries: 16th century BC - 15th century BC - 14th century BC Decades: 1480s BC 1470s BC 1460s BC 1450s BC 1440s BC - 1430s BC - 1420s BC 1410s BC 1400s BC 1390s BC 1380s BC Events and Trends 1437 BC - Legendary King Erichthonius I of Athens dies after... (Redirected from 1420s BCE) Centuries: 16th century BC - 15th century BC - 14th century BC Decades: 1470s BC 1460s BC 1450s BC 1440s BC 1430s BC - 1420s BC - 1410s BC 1400s BC 1390s BC 1380s BC 1370s BC Events and Trends Crete conquered by Mycenae (approximately 1420 BC) - start of the...

A Phoenician inscribed amulet of the 7th century BCE from Arslan Tash may refer to Ēl. Rosenthal (1969, p. 658) translated the text: Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plain of what is now Lebanon and Syria. ... (8th century BC - 7th century BC - 6th century BC - other centuries) (700s BC - 690s BC - 680s BC - 670s BC - 660s BC - 650s BC - 640s BC - 630s BC - 620s BC - 610s BC - 600s BC - other decades) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events Scythians arrived in Asia Collapse...

An eternal bond has been established for us. Ashshur has established (it) for us, and all the divine beings and the majority of the group of all the holy ones, through the bond of heaven and earth for ever, ...

However the text is translated by Cross (1973, p. 17):

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.
With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth.

In some inscriptions the name ’Ēl qōne ’arṣ 'Ēl creator of Earth' appears, even including a late inscription at Leptis Magna in Tripolitania dating to 2nd century CE (KAI. 129). In Hittite texts the expression becomes the single name Ilkunirsa, this Ilkunirsa appearing as the husband of Asherdu (Asherah) and father of 77 or 88 sons. Tripolitania is a historic region of western Libya, centered around the coastal city of Tripoli. ... Centuries: 1st century - 2nd century - 3rd century Decades: 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s - 100s - 110s 120s 130s 140s 150s 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 Events and trends Central heating systems were in use at the northern Roman cities. ...

In an Hurrian hymn to Ēl (published in Ugaritica V, text RS 24.278) he is called ’il brt and ’il dn which Cross (p. 39) takes as 'Ēl of the covenant' and 'Ēl the judge' respectively.

See Ba‘al Hammon for the possiblity that Ēl was identical with Ba‘al Hammon who was worshipped as the supreme god in Carthage. Ba‘al Hammon (more properly Ba‘al Ḥammon or possibly Ba‘al Ḥamon) was the chief god of Carthage, generally identified by the Greeks with Cronus and by the Romans with Saturn. ... A map of the central Mediterranean Sea, showing the location of Carthage (near modern Tunis). ...

Ēl according to Sanchuniathon

In the euhemeristic account of Sanchuniathon Ēl (rendered Elus or called by his standard Greek counterpart Cronus) is not the creator god or first god. Ēl is rather the son of Sky and Earth. Sky and Earth are themselves children of ‘Elyôn 'Most High'. Ēl is brother to the god Bethel, to Dagon, and to an unknown god equated with the Greek Atlas, and to the goddesses Aphrodite/’Ashtart, Rhea (presumably Asherah, and Dione (equated with Ba’alat Gebal. Ēl is father of Persephone who dies (presumably an otherwise unknown Semitic goddess of the dead) and of Athene (presumably the goddess ‘Anat). Sky and Earth have separated from one another in hostility, but Sky insists on continuing to force himself on Earth and attempts to destroy the children born of such unions until at last Ēl, son of Sky and Earth, with the advice of the god Thoth and Ēl's daughter Athene attacks his father Sky with a sickle and spear of iron and drives him off for ever. So he and his allies the Eloim gain Sky's kingdom. In a later passage it is explained that Ēl castrated Sky. But one of Sky's concubines who was given to Ēl's brother Dagon was already pregnant by Sky and the son who is born of this union, called by Sanchuniathon Demarûs or Zeus, but once called by him Adodus, is obviously Hadad, the Ba‘al of the Ugaritic texts who now becomes an ally of his grandfather Sky and begins to make war on Ēl. Euhemerus (flourished around 316 BCE) was a Greek mythographer at the court of Cassander, the king of Macedonia. ... Sanchuniathon or Sanchoniathon or Sanchoniatho is the purported Phoenician author of three works in Phoenician, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos. ... Rhea tricking Cronus with a wrapped stone. ... Elyon: The name or epithet or word ‘Elyôn (Masoretic pronunciation of Hebrew עליון), is traditionally rendered in Samaritan Hebrew as illiyyon, and means something like higher, upper. It derives from the Hebrew root ‘lh, Semitic root ‘ly go up, ascend. ‘Elyôn when is means God or is applied to... Bethel meaning in Hebrew and Phoenician and Aramaic House of El or House of God is seemingly the name of a god or an aspect of a god in some ancient middle-eastern texts dating to the Assyrian, Persian and Hellenistic periods. ... // The ancient god Dagon Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god, the god of grain and agriculture according to the few sources to speak of the matter, worshipped by the early Amorites, by the people of Ebla, by the people of Ugarit and a chief god (perhaps the chief god... In Greek mythology, Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene, and brother of Prometheus. ... Aphrodite (Αφροδίτη, risen from sea-foam) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. ... ‘Ashtart, commonly known as Astarte (also Hebrew or Phoenician עשתרת, Ugaritic ‘ttrt (also ‘Attart or ‘Athtart), Akkadian dAs_tar_tú (also Astartu), Greek Αστάρτη (Astártê)), was a major northwest_Semitic goddess, cognate in name, origin, and functions with the east-Semitic goddess Ishtar. ... Rhea (she who flows) was the Titaness daughter of Uranus and of Gaia. ... For the small research submarine, see Asherah (submarine). ... Dione in Greek mythology is the goddess considered to be the mother of Aphrodite. ... Ba‘alat Gebal, Lady of Byblos, was the goddess of the of the city of Byblos, sometimes known to the Greeks as Baaltis. ... Bust of Persephone In Greek mythology, Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, Classical Greek PersephónÄ“, Modern Greek Persefóni) was the queen of the Underworld, the Kore or young maiden, and the daughter of Demeter. ... This article is about the goddess Athena. ... Anat, also ‘Anat (in ASCII spelling `Anat and often simplified to Anat), Hebrew or Phoenician ענת (‘Anāt), Ugaritic ‘nt, Greek Αναθ (Englished as Anath), in Egyptian rendered as Antit, Anit, Anti, or Anant, is a major northwest Semitic goddess. ... Thoth (Ramesseum, Luxor) In Egyptian mythology, Thoth (also spelled Thot), pronounced tot, is the Greek name given to Djehuty (also spelt Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, Tetu) - the original pronunciation of his name is disputed, and may have been approximately Tee-HOW-ti -, who was originally the deification of the moon... This article is about the goddess Athena. ...

Ēl has three wives, his sisters or half-sisters Aphrodite/Astarte (‘Ashtart), Rhea (presumably Asherah, and Dione (identified by Sanchuniathon with Ba‘alat Gebal the tutelary goddess of Byblos, a city which Sanchuniathon says that Ēl founded. Byblos was a city of Phoenicia, in ancient times. ...

Unfortunately Eusebius of Caesarea, through whom Sanchuniathon is preserved, is not interested in setting the work forth completely or in order. But we are told that Ēl slew his own son Sadidus (a name that some commentators think might be a corrupton of Shaddai, one of the epithets of the Biblical Ēl) and that Ēl also beheaded one of his daughters. Later, perhaps referring to this same death of Sadidus we are told: Eusebius of Caesarea (~275 – May 30, 339) (often called Eusebius Pamphili, Eusebius [the friend] of Pamphilus) was a bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and is often referred to as the father of church history because of his work in recording the history of the early Christian church. ...

But on the occurrence of a pestilence and mortality Cronus offers his only begotten son as a whole burnt-offering to his father Sky and circumcises himself, compelling his allies also to do the same.

A fuller account of the sacrifice appears later:

It was a custom of the ancients in great crises of danger for the rulers of a city or nation, in order to avert the common ruin, to give up the most beloved of their children for sacrifice as a ransom to the avenging daemons; and those who were thus given up were sacrificed with mystic rites. Cronus then, whom the Phoenicians call Elus, who was king of the country and subsequently, after his decease, was deified as the star Saturn, had by a nymph of the country named Anobret an only begotten son, whom they on this account called Iedud, the only begotten being still so called among the Phoenicians; and when very great dangers from war had beset the country, he arrayed his son in royal apparel, and prepared an altar, and sacrificed him. Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ...

The account also relates that Thoth: Thoth (Ramesseum, Luxor) In Egyptian mythology, Thoth (also spelled Thot), pronounced tot, is the Greek name given to Djehuty (also spelt Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, Tetu) - the original pronunciation of his name is disputed, and may have been approximately Tee-HOW-ti -, who was originally the deification of the moon...

... also devised for Cronus as insignia of royalty four eyes in front and behind ... but two of them quietly closed, and upon his shoulders four wings, two as spread for flying, and two as folded. And the symbol meant that Cronus could see when asleep, and sleep while waking: and similarly in the case of the wings, that he flew while at rest, and was at rest when flying. But to each of the other gods he gave two wings upon the shoulders, as meaning that they accompanied Cronus in his flight. And to Cronus himself again he gave two wings upon his head, one representing the all-ruling mind, and one sensation.

This is the form under which Ēl/Cronus appears on coins from Byblos from the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BCE) four spread wings and two folded wings, leaning on a staff. Such images continued to appear on coins until after the time of Augustus. There are several monarchs known by the title of Antiochus IV: Antiochus IV of Syria, who ruled during the time of Caligula; Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid oppressor of the Jews who provoked the revolt of the Maccabees. ... (Redirected from 175 BCE) Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC - 170s BC - 150s BC140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC Years: 180 BC 179 BC 178 BC 177 BC 176 BC - 175 BC - 174... (Redirected from 164 BCE) Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC - 160s BC - 150s BC140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC Years: 169 BC 168 BC 167 BC 166 BC 165 BC - 164 BC - 163... Augustus (plural Augusti) is Latin for majestic or venerable. The greek equivalent is sebastos, or a mere grecization (by changing of the ending) augustos. ...

Ēl and Poseidon

A bilingual inscription from Palmyra (KAI. 11, p. 43) dated to the 1st century CE equates Ēl-Creator-of-the-Earth with the Greek god Poseidon. Going back to the 9th century BCE the bilingual inscription at Karatepe in the Taurus Mountains equates Ēl-Creator-of-the-Earth to Luwian hieroglyphs read as ^da-a-ś, this being the Luwian form of the name of the Babylonian water god Ea, lord of the abyss of water under the earth. (This inscription lists Ēl in second place in the local pantheon, following Ba‘al Shamim and preceding the Eternal Sun. (Redirected from 1st century AD) (1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century - other centuries) The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 99. ... Andrea Doria as Neptune by Agnolo Bronzino: a potent allegory of Genoas hegemony in the Tyrrhenian Sea In Greek Mythology, Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν) was the god of the sea, known to the Romans as Neptune, and to the Etruscans as Nethuns. ... (10th century BC - 9th century BC - 8th century BC - other centuries) (900s BC - 890s BC - 880s BC - 870s BC - 860s BC - 850s BC - 840s BC - 830s BC - 820s BC - 810s BC - 800s BC - other decades) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events Kingdom of Kush (900 BC... The Taurus Mountains or simply the Taurus, (Turkish Toros, also known as Ala-Dagh or Bulghar-Dagh) are a mountain range, forming the rugged southeastern rim of the Anatolian plateau, from which the Euphrates River descends into Syria. ... Babylonia was an ancient state in Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... For other meanings see the disambiguation page EA Ea (written by means of two signs signifying house and water), in the Babylonian religion, originally Enki, the patron deity of the city of Eridu, situated in the wetlands of the Euphrates valley at some distance from the Persian Gulf. ... Ba‘al Sham m Lord of Heaven is a northwest Semitic god or a title applied to different gods at different places or times found in various ancient Middle-eastern inscriptions. ...

Poseidon is known to have been worshipped in Beirut, his image appearing on coins from that city. Poseidon of Beirut was also worshipped at Delos where there was an association of merchants, shipmasters and warehousmen called the Poseidoniastae of Berytus founded in 110 or 109 BCE. Three of the four chapels at its headquarters on the hill northwest of the Sacred Lake were dedicated to Poseidon, the Tyche of the city equated with Astarte (that is ‘Ashtart), and to Eshmun. Central Beirut (2004) Beirut (Arabic: , transliterated BayrÅ«t - the French name, Beyrouth, was also commonly used in English in the past) is the capital, largest city and chief seaport of Lebanon. ... The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος, Dhilos), isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. ... (Redirected from 110 BCE) Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC 120s BC - 110s BC - 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC Years: 115 BC 114 BC 113 BC 112 BC 111 BC - 110 BC... (Redirected from 109 BCE) Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC - 100s BC - 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC Years: 114 BC 113 BC 112 BC 111 BC 110 BC - 109 BC... In Greek mythology, Tyche (luck) (Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. ... Eshmun (or Eshmoun, less accurately Esmun or Esmoun) was a northwestern Semitic god of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon. ...

Also at Delos that association of Tyrians, though mostly devoted to Heracles-Melqart, elected a member to bear a crown every year when sacrifices to Poseidon took place. A banker name Philostratus donated two altars, one to Palaistine Aphrodite Urania (‘Ashtart) and one to Poseidon "of Ascalon". Statue of Heracles In Greek mythology, Heracles, or Heraklês (glory of Hera, Ἡρακλῆς) was the demigod son of Zeus and Alcmene, the grand-daughter of Perseus and the wife of Amphitryon. ... Melqart (less accurately Melkart, Melkarth or Melgart (greek disposed of the letter Q (Qoppa) replacing it with additional use of K (Kappa) and G (Gamma)), Akkadian Milqartu, was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city of Tyre, as Eshmun protected Sidon. ... Ashkelon or Ashqelon (Hebrew אשקלון; Arabic عسقلان ʿAsqalān; Latin Ascalon) was an ancient Philistine seaport on the east coast of the Mediterranian sea just north of Gaza. ...

Though Sanchuniathon distinguises Poseidon from his Elus/Cronus, this might be a splitting off of a particular aspect of Ēl in an euhemeristic account. Identification of an aspect of Ēl with Poseidon rather than with Cronus might have been felt to better fit with Hellenistic religious practice, if indeed this Phoenician Poseidon really is Ēl who dwells at the source of the two deeps in Ugaritic texts. More information is needed to be certain.

Ēl in the Tanakh

In the Tanakh ’^elōhîm is the normal word for a god or the great god (or gods). But the form ’ēl also appears, mostly in poetic passages and in the partiarchal narratives attributed to the P source according the documentary hypothesis. It occurs 217 times in the Masoretic text: 73 times in the Psalms and 55 times in the Book of Job, and otherwise mostly in poetic passages or passages written in elevated prose. It occasionally appears with the definite article as hā’Ēl 'the God' (for example in 2 Samuel 22.31,33–48). 11th century Targum Tanakh [תנ״ך] (also spelt Tanach or Tenach) is an acronym for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible, based upon the initial Hebrew letters of each part: Torah [תורה] (The Law; also: Teaching or Instruction), Chumash [חומש] (The five, also Pentateuch or The five books of... Elohim (אלהים) is a Hebrew word related to deity, but whose exact significance is often disputed. ... The documentary hypothesis is a theory proposed by many historians and academics in the field of linguistics and literary criticism that the Five Books of Moses (the Torah) are in fact a combination of documents from different sources rather than authored by one individual. ... The Masoretic Text (MT) is the Hebrew text of the Tanakh approved for general use in Judaism. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The Book of Job (איוב, Standard Hebrew Iyyov, Tiberian Hebrew ʾIyyôḇ; Arabic أيّوب ʾAyyÅ«b) is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, and is also one of the books of the Christian Old Testament. ... The Books of Samuel, also referred to as [The Book of] Samuel (Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל), are (two) books in the Hebrew Bible (Judaisms Tanakh and originally written in Hebrew) and the Old Testament of Christianity. ...

There are also places where ’ēl specifically refers to a foreign god as in Psalms 44.20;81.9 (Hebrew 44.21;81.10), in Deuteronomy 32.12 and in Malachi 2.11. Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible. ... Malachi (or Malachias, מַלְאָכִי, Malʾaḫi, Málakhî) is a book of the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh, written by the prophet Malachi. ...

The theological position of the Tanakh is that the names Ēl, ’Ĕlōhîm when used in the singular to mean the supreme and active 'God' refers to the same being as does Yahweh. All three refer to the one supreme god who is also the god of Israel, beside whom other supposed gods are either non-existent or insignificant. Whether this was a longstanding belief or a relatively new one has long been the subject of inconclusive scholarly debate about the prehistory of the sources of the Tanakh and about the prehistory of Israelite religion. In the P strand Yahweh claims in Exodus 6.2–3: The Tetragrammaton in Phoenician (1100 BC to 300 CE), Aramaic (10th Century BC to 0) and modern Hebrew scripts. ... Exodus is the second book of the Torah (the five books of Moses) and also the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and Christian Old Testament. ...

I revealed myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Ēl Shaddāi, but was not known to them by my name Yahweh.

The identity of Yahweh with either Ēl in his aspect Shaddāi or with a god called Shaddāi is affirmed. Also affirmed is that the name Yahweh is a more recent revelation. One scholarly position is that the identification of Yahweh with Ēl is late, that Yahweh was earlier thought of as only one of many gods and not normally identified with Ēl. In some places, especially in Psalm 29, Yahweh is clearly envisioned as a storm god, something not true of Ēl so far as we know. It is Yahweh who fights Leviathan in Isaiah 27.1; Psalm 74.14; Job 3.8;40.25, a deed attributed both to Ba’al/Hadad and ‘Anat in the Ugaritic texts, but not to Ēl. Such mythological motifs are variously seen as late survivals from a period when Yahweh held a place in theology comparable to that of Hadad at Ugarit; or as late henotheistic/monontheistic applications to Yahweh of deeds more commonly attributed to Hadad; or simply as examples of eclectic application of the same motifs and imagery to various different gods. Similarly it is argued inconclusively whether Ēl Shaddāi, Ēl ‘Ôlām, Ēl ‘Elyôn and so forth were originally understood as separate divinities. Albrecht Alt presented his theories on the original differences of such gods in Der Gott der Väter in 1929. But others have argueed that from patriarchal times these different names were indeed generally understood to refer to the same single great god Ēl. This the position of Frank Moore Cross (1973). What is certain is that the form ’ēl does appear in Israelite names from every period including the name Yiśrā’ēl 'Israel', meaning 'ēl strives' or 'God strives'. The Destruction of Leviathan, an engraving made in 1865 by Gustave Doré. The engraving depicts God slaying the legendary Leviathan, a sea monster. ... Isaiah (Hebrew ישׁעיהו Yeshayahu or Yəša‘ăyāhû) is a book of the Jewish Hebrew Bible as well as the Christian Old Testament, containing prophecies attributed to Isaiah. ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The apparent plural form ’Ēlîm or ’Ēlim 'gods' occurs only four times in the Tanakh. Psalm 29, understood as an enthonement psalm, begins:

A Psalm of David.
Ascribe to Yahweh, sons of gods (b^ənê ’Ēlîm),
Ascribe to Yahweh, glory and strength

Psalm 89:6 (verse 7 in Hebrew) has:

For who in the skies compares to Yahweh,
who can be likened to Yahweh among the sons of gods (b^ənê ’Ēlîm).

Traditionally b^ənê ’ēlîm has been interpreted as 'sons of the mighty', 'mighty ones', for, indeed ’ēl can mean 'mighty', though such use may be metaphorical (compare the English expression God-awful). It is possible also that the expression ’ēlîm in both places descends from a archaic stock phrase in which ’lm was a singular form with the m-enclitic and therefore to be translated as 'sons of Ēl'. The m-enclitic appears elsewhere in the Tanakh and in other Semitic languages. Its meaning is unknown, possibly simply emphasis. It appears in similar contexts in Ugaritic texts where the expression bn ’il alternates with bn ’ilm, but both must mean 'sons of Ēl'. That phrase with m-enclictic also appears in Phoenician inscriptions as late as the 5th century BCE. (6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events Demotic becomes the dominant script of ancient Egypt Persians invade Greece twice (Persian Wars) Battle of Marathon (490) Battle of Salamis (480) Athenian empire formed and falls Peloponnesian War...

One of the other two occurrences in the Tanakh is in the "Song of Moses", Exodus 15.11a: Exodus is the second book of the Torah (the five books of Moses) and also the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and Christian Old Testament. ...

Who is like you among the gods (’ēlim), Yahweh?

The final occurrence is in Daniel 11.35: This article is about the Biblical book. ...

And the king will do according to his pleasure; and he will exalt himself and magnify himself over every god (’ēl), and against the God of gods (’ēl ’ēlîm) he will speak outrageous things, and will prosper until the indignation is accomplished: for that which is decided will be done.

There are a few cases in the Tanakh where some think ’ēl referring to the great god Ēl is not equated with Yahweh. One is in Ezekiel 28.2 in the oracle against Tyre: This article is about the Book of Ezekiel. ... Tyre (Arabic الصور aṣ-Ṣūr native Phoenician Ṣur, ) is an ancient Phoenician city in Lebanon on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about 23 miles, in a direct line, north of Acre, and 20 south of Sidon. ...

Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: "Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Because your heart is proud and you have said: "I am ’ēl, in the seat of ’^elōhîm (God or gods), I am enthroned in the middle of the seas." Yet you are man and not ’ēl even though you have made your heart like the heart of ’^elōhîm ('God' or 'gods').'"

Here ’ēl might refer to a generic god, not necessarily the high god Ēl and if it does so refer, the King of Tyre is certainly not thinking specifically of Yahweh.

In Judges 9.46 we find ’Ēl B^ərît 'God of the Covenant', seemingly the same as the Ba‘al B^ərît 'Lord of the Covenant' whose worship has been condemned a few verses earlier. See Baal for a discussion of this passage. The term, Judges, may refer to the Book of Judges in the Bible or to the office of judge. ... Baal (בַּעַל / בָּעַל, Standard Hebrew Báʿal, Tiberian Hebrew Báʿal / Báʿal) is a northwest Semitic word signifying The Lord, master, owner (male), husband cognate with Akkadian BÄ“l of the same meanings. ...

Psalm 82.1 says:

’^elōhîm ('God') stands in the council of ’ēl
he judges among the judges.

This could mean that God, that is Yahweh, judges along with many other gods as one of the council of the high god Ēl. However it can also mean that God, that is Yahweh, stands in the divine council (generally known as the Council of Ēl), as Ēl judging among the other members of the Council. The following verses in which God condemns those to whom he say were he had previousl named angels and sons of the Most High suggest God is here indeed Ēl judging the lesser gods.

An archaic phrase appears in Isaiah 14.13, kôkk^əbê ’ēl 'stars of God', referring to the circumpolar stars that never set, possibly especially to the seven stars of Ursa Major. The phrase also occurs in the Pyrgi Inscription as hkkbm ’l (preceded by the definite article h and followed by the m-enclitic). Two other apparent fossilized expressions are arzê-’ēl 'cedars of God' (generally translated something like 'mighty cedars', 'goodly cedars') in Psalm 80.10 (in Hebrew verse 11) and k^əharrê-’ēl 'mountains of God' (generally translated something like 'great mountains', 'mighty mountains') in Psalm 36.7 (in Hebrew verse 6). Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in the northern hemisphere. ...

For the reference in some texts of Deuteronomy 32.8 to 70 sons of God corresponding to the 70 sons of Ēl in the Ugaritic texts see ’Elyôn. Elyon: The name or epithet or word ‘Elyôn (Masoretic pronunciation of Hebrew עליון), is traditionally rendered in Samaritan Hebrew as illiyyon, and means something like higher, upper. It derives from the Hebrew root ‘lh, Semitic root ‘ly go up, ascend. ‘Elyôn when is means God or is applied to...

Ēl in Christian theology

According to patristic tradition, El was the first Hebrew name of God. Dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia suggests that the name was the first sound emitted by Adam: While the first utterance of humans after birth is a cry of pain, Dante assumed that Adam could only have made an exclamation of joy, which at the same time was addressing his creator. In the Divina commedia, however, Dante contradicts this by saying that God was called I in the language of Adam, and only named El in later Hebrew, but already before the confusion of tongues (Paradiso, 24.134). The Church Fathers or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Catholic Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. ... Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... De vulgari eloquentia is the title of an important essay by Dante Alighieri, written in Latin and initially meant to consist in four books, but aborted after the second. ... This article is about the biblical Adam and Eve. ... ... The confusion of tongues (confusio linguarum) is the fragmentation of human languages after the collapse of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). ...