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99-628: The Baal Cycle or Epic of Baal is a collection of stories about the Canaanite Baal, also referred to as Hadad. It was composed between 1400 and 1200 B.C. and rediscovered in the excavation of Ugarit , an ancient city in modern-day Syria . The storm god Adad and the sun god Shamash jointly became the patron gods of oracles and divination in Mesopotamia. In Akkadian, Adad is also known as Rammanu ("Thunderer") cognate with Imperial Aramaic : רעמא Raˁmā and Hebrew : רַעַם Raˁam ,

198-481: A vegetation god whose death and rebirth is responsible for the Levant 's summer drought and autumn rains. However, Oldenburg argues against this, saying it instead represents "a special catastrophe of drought and infertility when the rain does not come in its season". The cycle’s elaborate details about the building of Ba'al's palace is thought to reflect rites of a forgotten Canaanite autumnal festival that involved

297-545: A Northwest Semitic language , and written in a cuneiform abjad . It was discovered on a series of clay tablets found in the 1920s in the Tell of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra ), situated on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria , a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia and far ahead of the current coastline. The stories include The Myth of Baʿal Aliyan and The Death of Baʿal . A critical edition of

396-470: A byname of Hadad. Many scholars formerly took Rammanu to be an independent Akkadian god, but he was later identified with Hadad. Though originating in northern Mesopotamia, Adad was identified by the same Sumerogram IM that designated Iškur in the south. His worship became widespread in Mesopotamia after the First Babylonian dynasty . A text dating from the reign of Ur-Ninurta characterizes

495-564: A collection of linear signs used as oracles. In addition to its oracular power, the I Ching has had a major influence on the philosophy, literature and statecraft of China since the Zhou period. According to the Ancient Egyptian religion , some ancient Egyptian gods (and rarely deified humans), acted as intermediaries between humans and the divine. This was exemplified by the Ancient Egyptian title " Reporter/Herald " ( wḥmw ), whom in

594-664: A corruption of Migdon (Megiddo) and ultimately of Tammuz-Adon. He would render the verse, "In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem , as the mourning of the women who weep for Tammuz-Adon" ( Adon means "lord"). No further evidence has come to light to resolve such speculations. In the Books of Kings , Jezebel – the wife of the Northern Israelite King Ahab promoted the cult of Ba'al in her adopted nation. John Day argues that Jezebel's Baʿal

693-413: A court like other gods, meaning that he has to live in the dwelling of his father El and Athirat . Anat thus makes a threat against El, threatening to make his grey hair run with blood unless he allows Baʿal to have a palace. The earthquakes at her feet cause El to be exposed from his chamber. Though the text following is lost, it is clear this attempt was unsuccessful, so Baʿal dispatches Qodesh-wa-Amrur ,

792-472: A feast and to acknowledge his sovereignty. In the ending, which is lost, Mot makes his reply. The final part of the Baʿal cycle is concerned with Baʿal's battle against Mot, a personification of Death . Continuing from the preceding section, Mot concludes his reply to Baʿal. His reply is that he, like a lion in the desert, hungers constantly for human flesh and blood. By inviting Mot to a meal of bread and wine, Mot

891-506: A great feast for the other gods. When urged by Kothar-wa-Khasis, Ba’al reluctantly opens a window in his palace and sends forth thunder and lightning. He then invites Mot (Death, the god of drought and the underworld), another son of El, to join the feast. But Mot, the eater of human flesh and blood, is insulted when offered only bread and wine. He threatens to break Ba‘al to pieces and swallow him, and even Ba‘al cannot stand against Death. Gaps here make interpretation dubious. It seems that by

990-499: A human child, whom he dresses in his robes and offers as a gift to Mot. When the text continues, two deities, presumably Gupan and Ugar arrive at El's abode, and they announce to him that they have been searching for Baʿal, but found him dead by the bank of the river of the dead. El then descends from his throne and sits on the ground, and mourns, strewing dust on his head, wears clothes of sackcloth, shaves off his beard and beats his chest in grief. Anat too wears sackcloth when she finds

1089-481: A kingdom without end, and fetches two divine clubs for Baʿal's use. He gives them magic names, and strikes Yam the first two times himself. Baʿal then drags out Yam and finishes him off. Then Athtart tells Baʿal to scatter his rival, which he does, and then he cries out that Yam is dead, and that he shall be King. A description of the palace of Baʿal follows. It begins with a description of a banquet thrown in honour of Baʿal on Mount Zephon (modern-day Jebel Aqra ). When

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1188-457: A magic weapon. Yam then sends word to El, on the mount of Lel , El's abode, demanding the surrender of Baʿal and his henchmen. However, Baʿal, upon hearing this on the mount of Lel attacks the envoys, though Anat and Athtart hold him back. When the story resumes, Baʿal has already started to battle Yam, but is in despair due to the power of Yam, and the fierce sea-creatures. Kothar-wa-Khasis assures Baʿal that he will be victorious and will win

1287-469: A military campaign was "You will go you will return never in war will you perish". This gives the recipient liberty to place a comma before or after the word "never", thus covering both possible outcomes. Another was the response to the Athenians when the vast army of king Xerxes I was approaching Athens with the intent of razing the city to the ground. "Only the wooden palisades may save you" , answered

1386-420: A net into the sea so she may have provisions to entertain the guests with. He does so, and when the text continues we see Anat encouraging Baʿal as they come closer to Athirat, reminding that he will have an eternal kingdom. However, Baʿal is still anxious. They persuade Athirat of their case. She proceeds to El's abode, and makes her case. Reluctantly, he gives his assent for a house to be built for Baʿal. Baʿal

1485-572: A particular deity, usually dwelling in a cave or other secluded location away from urban areas, and, much as the oracles of ancient Greece, would deliver prophecies in an ecstatic state to visitors seeking advice. Two of their ancient oracles became especially famous during the pre-colonial period: the Agbala oracle at Awka and the Chukwu oracle at Arochukwu . Although the vast majority of Igbos today are Christian , many of them still use oracles. Among

1584-438: A personal name. El then proclaims that his name should be 'darling of El'. However, he informs Yam that he would have to drive his rival Baʿal from his throne and the seat of his dominion. Following this there is a banquet. When the story resumes, Kothar-wa-Khasis has arrived under the sea and tells Yam that he has risen presumptuously to his position, and that Baʿal cannot stand idly by. He threatens that Yam will be destroyed by

1683-574: A south Indian language - the process by which a Priest invites a Hindu god or goddess to use his or her body as a medium or channel and answer other devotees' questions, still happens. The same is called "arulvaakku" or "arulvaak" in Tamil , another south Indian language - Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam is famous for arulvakku in Tamil Nadu . The people in and around Mangalore in Karnataka call

1782-404: A speaker, who is probably Shapash the sun-goddess, addresses Baʿal. She is advising him to find a substitute in his image, which will be sought out and slain by Mot. She then promises to bury his body, and advises him to go to the two mountains which mark the entrance of the underworld, and to move them aside. Then he is to go down into the earth and hide. He finds a heifer in the fields, and with it

1881-411: A specific rite, and she will give them an important communication for Baʿal, the secret of the lightning. Together, Anat and Baʿal will search for the secret on the hill of Zephon. She replies that she would only perform the rite if Baʿal should set his thunderbolt in the sky and flash his lightning. She then joins Baʿal at Zephon. When the text resumes Baʿal complains to Anat that he hasn't a house, nor

1980-605: A spring under the oaks), or as Zeus Bouleos (chancellor). Priestesses and priests interpreted the rustling of the leaves of the oak tree that stood on this spot as Zeus' sanctuary to determine the correct actions to be taken. The oracle of Abae was one of the most important oracles. It was almost completely destroyed by the Persians during the Second Persian invasion of Greece . Erythrae near Ionia in Asia Minor

2079-500: A sword, shaking him, burning him, crushing him, then throwing his remains to the birds. When the text continues, Anat returns to El and announces that Mot is dead. El then has a dream which tells him that Baʿal lives. Shortly after that, Baʿal returns. However, soon Mot comes back to life and complains to Baʿal of the treatment he has received. He demands that Baʿal surrender one of Mot's brothers. When Mot has returned, Baʿal sends messengers telling him that he will banish him, and that if he

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2178-411: A torch down, the purpose of which is not known due to the damaged text, but s/he is confronted by Shapash , who tells her/him that El is to bestow royal power on Yam, and so opposition is useless. Athtar then complains that he has no place or court, and that he now fears defeat at the hands of Yam. Shapash suggests the reason to be that he has no wife, perhaps meaning he is too young. The text following

2277-617: A wooden boat, and a herald in scarlet. The Pythia was the mouthpiece of the oracles of the god Apollo , and was also known as the Oracle of Delphi. The Delphic Oracle exerted considerable influence throughout Hellenic culture. Distinctively, this woman was essentially the highest authority both civilly and religiously in male-dominated ancient Greece . She responded to the questions of citizens, foreigners, kings, and philosophers on issues of political impact, war, duty, crime, family, laws—even personal issues. The semi-Hellenic countries around

2376-437: Is appointed to take Ba‘al's place, but he is a poor substitute. Meanwhile, ‘Anat finds Mot, cleaves him with a sword, burns him with fire, and throws his remains to the birds. But the earth is still cracked with drought until Shapsh fetches Ba‘al back. Seven years later Mot returns and attacks Ba‘al, but the battle is quelled when Shapsh tells Mot that El now supports Ba’al. Mot surrenders to Ba‘al and recognizes him as king. In

2475-543: Is dead and warmth is assured. A later passage refers to Ba‘al's victory over Lotan , the many-headed sea dragon. Due to gaps in the text it is not known whether Lotan is another name for Yamm or a character in a similar story. These stories may have been allegories of crops threatened by the winds, storms, and floods from the Mediterranean sea. A palace is built for Ba‘al with silver, gold, and cedar wood from Mount Lebanon and Sirion . In his new palace Ba‘al hosts

2574-416: Is hungry, he may eat the servants of Baʿal. However, this fails to please Mot, and so the two gods fight on Mount Zephon until exhausted. Shapash arrives and warns Mot that fighting Baʿal is useless, and that El is now on Baʿal's side and will overturn Mot's throne. Mot is afraid, and so declares that Baʿal is king. The death of Baʿal and the reign of Mot has been regarded as a seasonal myth, marking Baʿal as

2673-399: Is in danger of passing to Mot. He then sends messengers to Sheger and Ithm, who are responsible for Cattle and Sheep, and asks them to provide animals for a feast, to which he will invite Mot. When the texts continue, a messenger from Mot arrives in the divine assembly, demanding to know where Baʿal is. They both go up to El's house where El asks what has been happening. When the text continues,

2772-505: Is limited, attained by difficult single combat and with the help of other gods, and his overcoming of his enemies is not permanent. The beginning of the story of the battle between Baʿal and Yam is lost, but we first hear of Kothar-wa-Khasis , the craftsman of the gods being summoned to El , who resides at the confluence of the rivers and the two oceans. El tells him to build a palace for Yam, and to do so quickly in case Yam should take hostile action. When Athtar hears of this, s/he takes

2871-443: Is lost, but resumes with El sitting in his banquet hall. Here he is addressed by the other deities, who complain that Yam is being put to shame, though the damaged text makes the reason unclear, it is clear the reason is connected to his palace. The gods threaten that unless this situation is resolved they will wreak destruction. El gives them curdled milk , apparently a mark of esteem. El calls that his son's name hitherto has been Yaw,

2970-460: Is not tall enough, confirming El's suspicion that he is too weak for the position. When the text recontinues, Anat is searching in the netherworld for the shade of her brother. She demands that Mot restores him to her. However, Mot answers that he had searched for him over the earth, where he found him at the entrance of his domain, and then he simply ate him. Anat continues her search, until she loses patience, and she seizes Mot, and attacks him with

3069-431: Is offended, and threatens to cause the heavens to wilt and collapse, breaking Baʿal into pieces. Mot then will eat him piece by piece. When the text continues, Baʿal, or a speaker on his behalf admits his fear and dread of Mot. The speaker then tells Gupan and Ugar to go back to Mot and tell him that Baʿal will be eternally his slave, news to which Mot rejoices. When the text continues Baʿal complains to El that his dominion

Hadad - Misplaced Pages Continue

3168-513: Is pregnant by Sky. This appears to be an attempt to combine two accounts of Hadad's parentage, one of which is the Ugaritic tradition that Hadad was son of Dagon. The cognate Akkadian god Adad is also often called the son of Anu ("Sky"). The corresponding Hittite god Teshub is likewise son of Anu (after a fashion). In Sanchuniathon's account, it is Sky who first fights against Pontus ("Sea"). Then Sky allies himself with Hadad. Hadad takes over

3267-721: Is then instructed to collect cedar-wood, bricks and precious metals in order to build his house. Kothar-wa-Khasis builds him a palace, but Baʿal insists that it is built without windows, in case that his daughters may escape, or that Yam may come again and trouble him. The work is completed and Baʿal rejoices. When the text resumes, Baʿal recalls his triumph over Yam, and then marches out taking many cities his own. He then consents to having windows to his Palace, and does so by thundering them out. While sitting in his palace he asks himself whether anybody would resist his power, and if anybody should, he should send word to Mot, god of death, to deal with them. He sends two messengers to Mot inviting him to

3366-738: The Amherst Papyrus , Baal Zephon (Hadad) is identified with the Egyptian god Horus : "May Baal from Zephon bless you", Amherst Papyrus 63 , 7:3 and in 11:13–14: "and from Zephon may Horus help us". Classical sources translate this name as Zeus Kasios , since in Pelusium, the statue of Zeus Kasios was considered the image of Harpocrates (Horus the Child). Zeus Casius had inherited some traits from Apollo as well. They also recall his conflict with Typhon over that mountain ( Mount Casius on

3465-548: The Baal Cycle from Ugarit are fragmentary and assume much background knowledge. The supreme god El resides on Mount Lel (Night?) where the assembly of the gods meets. At the beginning of the cycle, there appears to a feud between El and Ba‘al. El appoints one of his sons, called both prince Yamm (Sea) and judge Nahar (River), as king over the gods and changes Yamm's name from yw to mdd ’il (darling of El). El tells his son that he will have to drive off Ba‘al to secure

3564-592: The Ikaros island in the Persian Gulf (modern Failaka Island in Kuwait ), there was an oracle of Artemis Tauropolus. At Claros , there was the oracle of Apollo Clarius. At Ptoion , there was an oracle of Ptoios and later of Apollo . At Gryneium , there was a sanctuary of Apollo with an ancient oracle. At Livadeia there was the oracle of Trophonius . The oracle of Zeus Ammon at Siwa Oasis

3663-546: The Latin verb ōrāre , "to speak" and properly refers to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction. In extended use, oracle may also refer to the site of the oracle , and the oracular utterances themselves, are called khrēsmoí (χρησμοί) in Greek. Oracles were thought to be portals through which the gods spoke directly to people. In this sense, they were different from seers ( manteis , μάντεις) who interpreted signs sent by

3762-538: The Targum , the death of Ahab at the hands of Hadadrimmon). But even before the discovery of the Ugaritic texts, some suspected that Hadad-rimmon might be a dying-and-rising god like Adonis or Tammuz , perhaps even the same as Tammuz, and the allusion could then be to mournings for Hadad such as those of Adonis festivals. T. K. Cheyne pointed out that the Septuagint reads simply Rimmon, and argues that this may be

3861-523: The sacrifice of Odin for the oracular runes whereby he lost an eye (external sight) and won wisdom (internal sight; insight ). In the migration myth of the Mexitin, i.e., the early Aztecs , a mummy -bundle (perhaps an effigy ) carried by four priests directed the trek away from the cave of origins by giving oracles. An oracle led to the foundation of Mexico-Tenochtitlan . The Yucatec Mayas knew oracle priests or chilanes , literally 'mouthpieces' of

3960-731: The Aegean Sea. The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters , ascribed to the Sibyls , prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in frenzied states. Walter Burkert observes that "Frenzied women from whose lips the God speaks" are recorded in the Near East as in Mari in the second millennium BC and in Assyria in the first millennium BC. In Egypt,

4059-548: The Baal Cycle (Baal's victory over the Sea god Yam, his heavenly enthronement in his palace, and his battles against Mot, the underworld god). Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions , most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities . If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination . The word oracle comes from

Hadad - Misplaced Pages Continue

4158-478: The Baal Cycle was published by Virolleaud in 1938. Recently, a fragment of the Baal Cycle has been discovered in pre-Islamic Arabia . The Baʿal Cycle series of stories are summarized as: The main characters of the Baal Cycle are as follows: Though Baal attains kingship, he is not to be compared to the exalted status gods of other narratives like Marduk from the Enuma Elish or Yahweh . His kingship

4257-816: The Egyptian Horus in that capacity (comparable to Baalshamin as well). The different interpretation could also be based on the fact that Set had been associated with Hadad by the Hyksos . Most likely originally Set referred to another deity also addressed by the title "Baal" (one of the many; an example of this would be the Baal of Tyre ) who happened to display storm-like traits especially in Egypt since they were foreign and as such duly emphasized; when instead his weather features probably weren't all that prominent in other cultures who worshipped equivalents of him, but given that

4356-534: The Egyptian land who brought their gods with them, and their main god happened to display storm-like traits and was also associated with these foreigners who came to Egypt , a characteristic that would make him similar to the perception that the Egyptians had of Set. This would once again echo the mythological motif of a previous chief of the Pantheon who gets replaced by the new generation of deities represented by

4455-425: The Greek world, such as Lydia , Caria , and even Egypt also respected her and came to Delphi as supplicants . Croesus , king of Lydia beginning in 560 BC, tested the oracles of the world to discover which gave the most accurate prophecies. He sent out emissaries to seven sites who were all to ask the oracles on the same day what the king was doing at that very moment. Croesus proclaimed the oracle at Delphi to be

4554-443: The Persians. She allegedly also proclaimed that there was no man wiser than Socrates , to which Socrates said that, if so, this was because he alone was aware of his own ignorance. After this confrontation, Socrates dedicated his life to a search for knowledge that was one of the founding events of western philosophy . He claimed that she was "an essential guide to personal and state development." This oracle's last recorded response

4653-533: The Syrian–Turkish border or Casion near Pelusium in Egypt). The reason why Baal could be both identified with Horus and his rival Set ; is because in Egypt the element of the storm was considered foreign as Set was a god of strangers and outsiders, thus because the Egyptians had no better alternative to identify their native god Set with another neighboring deity, they tentatively associated him with Hadad since he

4752-419: The advice of the sun goddess Shapash , Ba‘al mates with a heifer and dresses the resultant calf in his own clothes as a gift to Mot, and then himself prepares to go down to the underworld in the guise of a helpless shade. News of Ba‘al's apparent death leads even El to mourn. Ba‘al's sister ‘ Anat finds Ba‘al's corpse, presumably really the dead calf, and she buries the body with a funeral feast. The god ‘Athtar

4851-410: The assistant or companion of these more prominent gods. When Enki distributed the destinies, he made Iškur inspector of the cosmos. In one litany, Iškur is proclaimed again and again as "great radiant bull, your name is heaven" and also called son of Anu , lord of Karkara; twin-brother of Enki , lord of abundance, lord who rides the storm, lion of heaven. In other texts Adad/Iškur is sometimes son of

4950-406: The attendant of Athirat, to deliver a message to Kothar-wa-Khasis, whose home is in Egypt. When the text continues, Qodesh-wa-Amrur delivers Baʿal's message, which is that Kothar-wa-Khasis should fashion gifts for Athirat, presumably so she will support Baʿal's bid for a palace. He enters his forge, and produces magnificent pieces of furniture, a pair of sandals, and a decorated table and bowl. When

5049-528: The birth of Jesus Christ . Didyma near Ionia in Asia Minor in the domain of the famous city of Miletus . Dodona in northwestern Greece was another oracle devoted to the Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia , but here called Dione . The shrine of Dodona, set in a grove of oak trees, was the oldest Hellenic oracle, according to the fifth-century historian Herodotus, and dated from pre-Hellenic times, perhaps as early as

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5148-513: The building of booths representing Ba'al's palace (perhaps a precursor to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot ), and a Canaanite belief that building them precisely was imperative to renewal of the rains. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle is one of several ancient near eastern narratives that record a cosmic battle between a sea and a storm god. Such narratives are also known from ancient Israel and Judah , Babylonia , Ancient Egypt , and Anatolia . In particular,

5247-489: The ceremonies to determine the divine will: through inspecting a sacrificial animal's liver, the action of oil bubbles in a basin of water, or the movements of the heavenly bodies. They are similarly addressed in royal annals and votive inscriptions as bele biri (lords of divination). In religious texts, Ba‘al /Hadad is the lord of the sky who governs rain and crops, master of fertility and protector of life and growth. His absence brings drought, starvation, and chaos. Texts of

5346-642: The conflict but is defeated, at which point unfortunately no more is said of this matter. Sanchuniathion agrees with Ugaritic tradition in making Muth, the Ugaritic Mot, whom he also calls "Death", the son of El. Baal Cycle The Baal Cycle is an Ugaritic text (c. 1500–1300 BCE) about the Canaanite god Baʿal ( lit. "Owner", "Lord"), a storm god associated with fertility . The Baal Cycle consists of six tablets, itemized as KTU 1.1–1.6. Tablets one (KTU 1.1) and two (KTU 1.2) are about

5445-572: The context of Christianity for the concept of divine revelation , and in the context of Judaism for the Urim and Thummim breastplate, and in general any utterance considered prophetic . In Celtic polytheism , divination was performed by the priestly caste, either the druids or the vates . This is reflected in the role of "seers" in Dark Age Wales ( dryw ) and Ireland ( fáith ). In China, oracle bones were used for divination in

5544-476: The control of nature, tends to imbue him with some traits of a solar deity. According to Alberto Green, descriptions of Adad starting in the Kassite period and in the region of Mari emphasize his destructive, stormy character and his role as a fearsome warrior deity, in contrast to Iškur's more peaceful and pastoral character. Shamash and Adad jointly became the gods of oracles and divination, invoked in all

5643-564: The cosmic battle between the storm-god Baal and the sea god Yam , where the former attains victory. The next two tablets (KTU 1.3–1.4) describe the construction of Baal's palace that marks his cosmic kingship. The last two tablets (KTU 1.5–1.6) describe Baal's struggles against Mot , the god of the underworld. The text identifies Baal as the god Hadad , the Northwest Semitic form of Adad . The stories are written in Ugaritic ,

5742-410: The deity's original name. The word Hadad-rimmon (or Hadar-rimmon ) in the phrase "the mourning of (or at) Hadad-rimmon ", has aroused much discussion. According to Jerome and the older Christian interpreters, the mourning is for something that occurred at a place called Hadad-rimmon ( Maximianopolis ) in the valley of Megiddo . This event was generally held to be the death of Josiah (or, as in

5841-573: The deity. Their written repositories of traditional knowledge , the Books of Chilam Balam , were all ascribed to one famous oracle priest who had correctly predicted the coming of the Spaniards and its associated disasters. In Tibet , oracles (Chinese: 护法) have played, and continue to play, an important part in religion and government. The word "oracle" is used by Tibetans to refer to the spirit that enters those men and women who act as media between

5940-501: The earth-fertile soil, probably the chief female goddess of the proto-Indo-European pantheon . Python , daughter (or son) of Gaia was the earth dragon of Delphi represented as a serpent and became the chthonic deity, enemy of Apollo , who slew her and possessed the oracle. When the Prytanies' seat shines white in the island of Siphnos, White-browed all the forum—need then of a true seer's wisdom— Danger will threat from

6039-528: The eighth son of his sister Devaki would kill him. The opening verse of the Tiruvalluva Maalai , a medieval Tamil anthology usually dated by modern scholars to between c. 7th and 10th centuries CE, is attributed to an asariri or oracle. However, there are no references in any Indian literature of the oracle being a specific person. Contemporarily, Theyyam or "theiyam" in Malayalam -

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6138-412: The fake dead body. Shapash aids Anat in burying Baʿal upon Mount Zephon, and Anat slaughters large numbers of oxen, sheep, goats, and asses as a memorial. Anat returns to El, and tells Athirat and her family (many of whom were on the side of Mot) that they can rejoice since Baʿal was dead. El asks Athirat who can he appoint in Baʿal's place, and she suggests Athtar. Athtar seats himself on Baʿal's throne but

6237-535: The genre of Sumerian and Akkadian disputation poems. Some have contended that the contest between Baʿal and Yam is a prototype for the vision recorded in the 7th chapter of the Biblical Book of Daniel . Others have related the sequence of eschatological events in Revelation 21 :1–4 (death of the Sea, coming of the city of heaven to earth, and the final defeat of Death) to the narrative progression of

6336-691: The god Dagānu . She was also called Gubarra in the earliest texts. The fire god Gibil (Girra in Akkadian) is sometimes the son of Iškur and Shala. He is identified with the Anatolian storm-god Teshub , whom the Mitannians designated with the same Sumerogram IM . Occasionally he is identified with the Amorite god Amurru . The Babylonian center of Adad/Iškur's cult was Karkara in the south, his chief temple being É.Kar.kar.a ; his spouse Shala

6435-569: The goddess Wadjet (eye of the moon) was depicted as a snake-headed woman or a woman with two snake-heads. Her oracle was in the renowned temple in Per-Wadjet (Greek name Buto ). The oracle of Wadjet may have been the source for the oracular tradition which spread from Egypt to Greece. Evans linked Wadjet with the " Minoan Snake Goddess ". At the oracle of Dodona she is called Diōnē (the feminine form of Diós , genitive of Zeus ; or of dīos , "godly", literally "heavenly"), who represents

6534-531: The gods through bird signs, animal entrails , and other various methods. The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia (priestess to Apollo at Delphi ), and the oracle of Dione and Zeus at Dodona in Epirus . Other oracles of Apollo were located at Didyma and Mallus on the coast of Anatolia , at Corinth and Bassae in the Peloponnese , and at the islands of Delos and Aegina in

6633-406: The late Shang dynasty , (c. 1600–1046 BC). Diviners applied heat to these bones, usually ox scapulae or tortoise plastrons, and interpreted the resulting cracks. A different divining method, using the stalks of the yarrow plant , was practiced in the subsequent Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). Around the late 9th century BC, the divination system was recorded in the I Ching , or "Book of Changes",

6732-474: The moon god Nanna/Sin by Ningal and brother of Utu /Shamash and Inanna /Ishtar. He is also sometimes described as the son of Enlil. The bull was portrayed as Adad/Iškur's sacred animal starting in the Old Babylonian period (early 2nd millennium BCE). Adad/Iškur's consort (both in early Sumerian and the much later Assyrian texts) was the grain goddess Shala , who is also sometimes associated with

6831-414: The most accurate, who correctly reported that the king was making a lamb-and-tortoise stew, and so he graced her with a magnitude of precious gifts. He then consulted Delphi before attacking Persia , and according to Herodotus was advised: "If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed". Believing the response favourable, Croesus attacked, but it was his own empire that ultimately was destroyed by

6930-570: The natural and the spiritual realms. The media are, therefore, known as kuten , which literally means, "the physical basis". In the 29-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet ( Chinese : 欽定藏內善後章程二十九條 ), an imperial decree published in 1793 by the Qianlong Emperor , article 1 states that the creation of Golden Urn is to ensure prosperity of Gelug , and to eliminate cheating and corruption in

7029-407: The one hand, he brings rain in due season to fertilize the land; on the other, he sends storms to wreak havoc and destruction. He is pictured on monuments and cylinder seals (sometimes with a horned helmet ) with the lightning and the thunderbolt (sometimes in the form of a spear), and in hymns his sombre aspects predominate. His association with the sun-god Shamash, with the two deities alternating in

7128-575: The only primary oracle. Another oracle the Dalai Lama consults is the Tenma Oracle , for which a young Tibetan woman by the name of Khandro La is the medium for the mountain goddesses Tseringma along with the other 11 goddesses. The Dalai Lama gives a complete description of the process of trance and spirit possession in his book Freedom in Exile . Dorje Shugden oracles were once consulted by

7227-584: The only storm-god available for identification in Semitic culture was Hadad and in Hittite Sutekh (a war-god who's been hypothesized to be an alternative name of Teshub , but it remains unclear), the traits matched the characteristics of the Egyptian deity, and an association between the two was considered plausible, also given by the fact that both the Hittites and Semitic Hyksos were foreigners in

7326-696: The oracle had called for fleeing to Italy after all. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, near Naples , dating back to the 8th century BC. The sibylla or prophetess at Cumae became famous because of her proximity to Rome and the Sibylline Books acquired and consulted in emergencies by Rome wherein her prophecies were transcribed. The Cumaean Sibyl was called "Herophile" by Pausanias and Lactantius , "Deiphobe, daughter of Glaucus" by Virgil , as well as "Amaltheia", "Demophile", or "Taraxandra" by others. Sibyl's prophecies became popular with Christians as they were thought to predict

7425-686: The oracle of Apollo at Tegyra . Oracle of Aphrodite at Paphos . There were many "oracles of the dead", such as in Argolis , Cumae , Herakleia in Pontos , in the Temple of Poseidon in Taenaron , but the most important was the Necromanteion of Acheron . The term "oracle" is also applied in modern English to parallel institutions of divination in other cultures. Specifically, it is used in

7524-451: The oracle was known as ākāśavānī "voice/speech from the sky/ aether " or aśarīravānī "a disembodied voice (or voice of the unseen)" ( asariri in Tamil), and was related to the message of a god. Oracles played key roles in many of the major incidents of the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana . An example is that Kamsa (or Kansa), the evil uncle of Krishna , was informed by an oracle that

7623-462: The oracle, probably aware that there was sentiment for sailing to the safety of southern Italy and re-establishing Athens there. Some thought that it was a recommendation to fortify the Acropolis with a wooden fence and make a stand there. Others, Themistocles among them, said the oracle was clearly for fighting at sea, the metaphor intended to mean war ships. Others still insisted that their case

7722-577: The related Yoruba peoples of the same country, the Babalawos (and their female counterparts, the Iyanifas) serve collectively as the principal aspects of the tribe's world-famous Ifa divination system. Due to this, they customarily officiate at a great many of its traditional and religious ceremonies. In Norse mythology , Odin took the severed head of the god Mimir to Asgard for consultation as an oracle. The Havamal and other sources relate

7821-451: The religious context, reports requests and petitions to the local gods. In Hawaii , oracles were found at certain heiau , Hawaiian temples. These oracles were found in towers covered in white kapa cloth made from plant fibres. In here, priests received the will of gods. These towers were called 'Anu'u . An example of this can be found at Ahu'ena heiau in Kona . In ancient India ,

7920-458: The same, Buta Kola , "paathri" or "darshin"; in other parts of Karnataka, it is known by various names such as, "prashnaavali", "vaagdaana", "asei", "aashirvachana" and so on. In Nepal it is known as, "Devta ka dhaamee" or " jhaakri ". The Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria in Africa have a long tradition of using oracles. In Igbo villages, oracles were usually female priestesses to

8019-473: The second millennium BC, when the tradition may have spread from Egypt. By the time of Herodotus, Zeus had displaced the Mother Goddess, who had been assimilated to Aphrodite , and the worship of the deified hero Heracles had been added. Dodona became the second most important oracle in ancient Greece, after Delphi . At Dodona, Zeus was worshipped as Zeus Naios or Naos (god of springs Naiads , from

8118-682: The selection process performed by oracles. The Dalai Lama , who lives in exile in northern India, still consults an oracle known as the Nechung Oracle , which is considered the official state oracle of the government of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has, according to centuries-old custom, consulted the Nechung Oracle during the new year festivities of Losar . Nechung and Gadhong are the primary oracles currently consulted; former oracles such as Karmashar and Darpoling are no longer active in exile. The Gadhong oracle has died leaving Nechung to be

8217-500: The text continues we see Athirat performing her woman's work by the seashore, when she then sees Baʿal and Anat approaching. She wonders whether he has come to kill all her sons and kinsfolk, perhaps a reference to the Hittite myth of Elkunirsa where the storm-god boasts of having killed the many sons of Athirat. However, her anger subsides when she sees the gifts, and so supports Baʿal in his bid, and she calls upon Qodesh-wa-Amrur to cast

8316-538: The text resumes, we see Anat closing the door of her mansion and meeting her servants in a valley where there are two cities, which possibly represent Ugarit and its port. She kills the guards and warriors, and then drives away the townspeople. She then slaughters the guards and warriors in her palace, ending with a peace-offering. When the text resumes again, Baʿal is addressing his messengers, picturing his sister Anat sitting with her lyre and singing of her affection for him and his daughters. The messengers are told to perform

8415-552: The throne. In this battle Ba‘al is somehow weakened, but the divine craftsman Kothar-wa-Khasis crafts two magic clubs for Ba’al as weapons that help Ba’al strike down Yamm and Ba'al is supreme. ‘Athtart proclaims Ba‘al's victory and salutes Ba‘al/Hadad as lrkb ‘rpt (Rider on the Clouds), a phrase applied by editors of modern English Bibles to Yahweh in Psalm 68.4. At ‘Athtart's urging Ba‘al "scatters" Yamm and proclaims that he

8514-639: The tribute of statue of Ishtar from the king of Mari , to be displayed in the temple of Hadad in Halab Citadel. Hadad is called "the god of Aleppo " on a stele of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I . The element Hadad appears in a number of theophoric names borne by kings of the region. Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in Moab, was the fourth king of Edom. Hadadezer ("Hadad-is-help")

8613-541: The twelve sons of Ishmael is also named Hadad. A set of related bynames include Aramaic rmn , Old South Arabic rmn , Hebrew rmwn , and Akkadian Rammānu ("Thunderer"), presumably originally vocalized as Ramān in Aramaic and Hebrew. The Hebrew spelling rmwn with Masoretic vocalization Rimmôn is identical with the Hebrew word meaning ' pomegranate ' and may be an intentional misspelling and/or parody of

8712-470: The two sides of Adad/Iškur as threatening in his stormy rage, and benevolent in giving life. Iškur appears in the list of gods found at Shuruppak but was of far less importance, perhaps because storms and rain were scarce in Sumer and agriculture there depended on irrigation instead. The gods Enlil and Ninurta also had storm god features that diminished Iškur's distinct role, and he sometimes appears as

8811-480: The version of this sea/storm god battle in the Baal Cycle more closely groups with other versions found from Egypt and Anatolia (which may be termed "Version A"), whereas the Israelite and Babylonian versions group with each other (which may be termed "Version B"). The ancestral version of the two versions has the following general sequence: Version B is distinguished with its placement of a creation narrative after

8910-503: The victory of the storm god. Version A on the other hand (including the Baal Cycle) has additional elements between (1) and (2), where the sea god seeks to exact tribute from the other gods, followed by an attempt from the grain goddess to appease the storm god, finally followed by the grain goddess attempting to seduce the storm god. The closing hymn of the Baal Cycle, on the sixth and final tablet, has been related by Ayali-Darshan to

9009-449: The younger ascendant ruler and newly appointed chief of the gods, as is the case also for the Hittite "Cycle of Kumarbi " where Teshub displaces the previously established father of the gods Kumarbi. In Amherst XII/15 the same identification as before is once again stated: "Baal from Zephon, Horus" (BT mn Şpn Hr). In the second millennium BCE, the king of Yamhad or Halab (modern Aleppo ), who claimed to be "beloved of Hadad", received

9108-435: Was a storm-god, but when the god Baal (Hadad) is not specifically attributed the traits of rain and thunder and is instead perceived as a god of the sky generically, which is what is embodied by his form "Baal Zaphon" as the chief deity who resides on the mountain (for example a 14th-century letter from the king of Ugarit to the Egyptian pharaoh places Baʿal Zaphon as equivalent to Amun also), in that case he's more similar to

9207-485: Was given in 362 AD, to Julian the Apostate . The oracle's powers were highly sought after and never doubted. Any inconsistencies between prophecies and events were dismissed as failure to correctly interpret the responses, not an error of the oracle. Very often prophecies were worded ambiguously, so as to cover all contingencies – especially so ex post facto . One famous such response to a query about participation in

9306-488: Was home to a prophetess. Trophonius was an oracle at Lebadea of Boeotia devoted to the chthonian Zeus Trophonius. Trophonius was a Greek hero nursed by Europa . Near the Menestheus's port or Menesthei Portus ( Greek : Μενεσθέως λιμήν ), modern El Puerto de Santa María , Spain , was the Oracle of Menestheus ( Greek : Μαντεῖον τοῦ Μενεσθέως ), to whom also the inhabitants of Gades offered sacrifices. At

9405-479: Was possibly Baʿal Shamem (Lord of the Heavens), a title most often applied to Hadad. In Sanchuniathon 's account Hadad is once called Adodos, but is mostly named Demarûs. This is a puzzling form, probably from Ugaritic dmrn , which appears in parallelism with Hadad, or possibly a Greek corruption of Hadad Ramān . Sanchuniathon's Hadad is son of Sky by a concubine who is then given to the god Dagon while she

9504-569: Was so famous that Alexander the Great visited it when he conquered Egypt. There was also another oracle of Zeus Ammon at Aphytis in Chalkidiki . The oracle of Zeus at Olympia . In the city of Anariace (Ἀναριάκη) at the Caspian Sea , there was an oracle for sleepers. Persons should sleep in the temple in order to learn the divine will. The oracle of Apollo at Eutresis and

9603-501: Was so hopeless that they should board every ship available and flee to Italy , where they would be safe beyond any doubt. In the event, variations of all three interpretations were attempted: some barricaded the Acropolis, the civilian population was evacuated over sea to nearby Salamis Island and to Troizen , and the war fleet fought victoriously at Salamis Bay . Should utter destruction have happened, it could always be claimed that

9702-596: Was the Aramean king defeated by David . Later Aramean kings of Damascus seem to have habitually assumed the title of Ben-Hadad (son of Hadad). One was Ben-Hadad , the king of Aram whom the Judean king Asa sent to invade the northern Kingdom of Israel . A votive basalt stele from the 9th or 8th century, BCE found in Bredsh north of Aleppo, is dedicated to Melqart and bears the name Ben-Hadad, king of Aram. The seventh of

9801-623: Was worshipped in a temple named É.Dur.ku . In Assyria , Adad was developed along with his warrior aspect. During the Middle Assyrian Empire , from the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115–1077 BCE), Adad had a double sanctuary with Anu in Assur , and the two are often associated in invocations. The name Adad and various alternate forms ( Dadu , Bir , Dadda ) are often found in Assyrian king names. Adad/Iškur presents two aspects in hymns, incantations, and votive inscriptions. On

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