Religions of the ancient Near East

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Myths of the Fertile Crescent series
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Mesopotamian mythology
Ancient Arabian mythology
Ancient Levantine mythology
Names of God in the Hebrew Bible
Mesopotamian religion
Yezidic religion
Pre-Islamic Arabian gods
Ēl, Ilāh "God" Bēl, Baʕl, Bēl-Šamīn Aglibol al-Lāt, al-'Ilāhat Astarte Atargatis (Syrian) Ištar, Athtar Beltis? Bes (Egypto-Arabic) Manāt Manaf Nergal	Nabū, Nebo Orotalt Qawm Sīn, Nanna-Suen Shams, Samas ʕUzzā Wadd Yaghūth Yarhibol/Malakbel astral & local deities demons
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Ancient Southwest Asian deities
Levantine deities
Adonis \| Anat \| Asherah \| Ashima \| Astarte \| Atargatis \| Ba'al \| Berith \| Dagon \| Derceto \| El \| Elyon \| Eshmun \| Hadad \| Kothar \| Mot \| Qetesh \| Resheph \| Shalim \| Yarikh \| Yam
Mesopotamian deities
Adad \| Amurru \| An/Anu \| Anshar \| Asshur \| Abzu/Apsu \| Enki/Ea \| Enlil \| Ereshkigal \| Inanna/Ishtar \| Kingu \| Kishar \| Lahmu & Lahamu \| Lilith \| Marduk \| Mummu \| Nabu \| Nammu \| Nanna/Sin \| Nergal \| Ninhursag/Damkina \| Ninlil \| Tiamat \| Utu/Shamash
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The Religions of the Ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some early examples of emerging Henotheism (Akhenaton, early Judaism). Especially the Luwian pantheon exerted a strong influence on the Ancient Greek religion, while the religion of Elam influenced the Zoroastrianism of the Achaemenid empire.

1 Overview
2 Neopagan movements
3 See also
4 Literature
5 External links
- 5.1 Neopagan reconstructionism

[edit] Overview

The Ancient Near East spans more than two millennia, the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, in the region now known as the Middle East, centered around the Fertile Crescent. There was much cultural contact, so that it is justified to summarize the whole region under a single term, but that does not mean, of course, that each historical period and each region should be looked at individually for a detailed description. This article will attempt to outline the common traits of Ancient Near Eastern religions, and refer to sub-articles for in-depth descriptions.

The Ancient Near East includes the following subregions:

Mesopotamia (Sumer, Assyria/Babylonia)
Elam
the Levant (Canaan, Ugarit, Ebla)
Anatolia (the Hittite Empire, Assuwa, Arzawa)
Ancient Egypt
Cyprus, Crete (Minoan civilization)
the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland (Urartu, Mitanni)

Our earliest sources from ca. 3000 BC allow glimpses of Mesopotamian mythology Egyptian mythology.

The early Hittite religion bore traits descended from Proto-Indo-European religion, but the later Hittite religions becomes more and more assimilated to Assyria.

Ancient Greek religion was strongly influenced by Ancient Near Eastern mythology, but is usually not included in the term. The Mystery religions of Hellenism were again consciously connected with Egyptian mythology.

There are broad practices that these paths often hold in common:

Purification and Cleansing
Offerings, Sacrifices, and Libations
Large Pantheons
Religion tied to State/Government
Use of Differing Forms of Divination
Use of Magic, Incantation, Charms, and Amulets

Typically, Ancient Near Eastern religions were centered around theocracies, with a dominating regional cult of the deity of a city-state. There were also super-regional mythemes and deities, such as Tammuz and the descent to the underworld.

Divination

Apantomancy: seeing animals
Cleromancy: drawing lots
Hepatoscopy: observing the liver of an animal
Nephomancy: cloud-watching
Ornithomancy: watching birds in flight
Capnomancy: watching smoke
Oneiromancy: divination through dreams

[edit] Neopagan movements

[edit] See also

[edit] Literature

Gordon, Cyrus. The Ancient Near East, 3rd Edition, Revised. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1965.
Pritchard, James B., editor. The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1958.
- Pritchard, James B., editor. The Ancient Near East, Volume II: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1975.
Jack Sasson et al., eds., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1995.

Canaan and Ugarit

Pardee, Dennis. Ritual and Cult at Ugarit. Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, Georgia. 2002.
Parker, Simon B., ed. Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Society of Biblical Literature, U.S.A., 1997.
- Smith, Mark S. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume I: Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU 1.1-1.2. E.J. Brill, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1994.