The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East

384 Pages·2003·5.21 MB·English

by  Alberto R.W. Green

THE STORM-GOD IN THE
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
BIBLICAL AND JUDAIC STUDIES
FROM
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
SAN DIEGO
Volume 8
edited by
William Henry Propp
Previously published in the series:
1. The Hebrew Bible and Its Interpreters, edited by William Henry Propp,
Baruch Halpern, and David Noel Freedman (1990).
2. Studies in Hebrew and Aramaic Orthography, by David Noel Freedman,
A. Dean Forbes, and Francis I. Andersen (1992).
3. Isaiah 46, 47, and 48: A New Literary-Critical Reading, by Chris Franke
(1994).
4. The Book around Immanuel: Style and Structure in Isaiah 2–12, by
Andrew H. Bartelt (1996).
5. The Structure of Psalms 93–100, by David M. Howard Jr. (1997).
6. Psalm 119: The Exaltation of Torah, by David Noel Freedman (1999).
7. Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the
Book of Ezekiel, by John F. Kutsko (2000)
THE STORM-GOD
IN THE
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
by
Alberto R. W. Green
EISENBRAUNS
Winona Lake, Indiana
2003
Published for Biblical and Judaic Studies
The University of California, San Diego
by
Eisenbrauns
Winona Lake, Indiana
ç Copyright 2003 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Cataloging in Publication Data
Green, Alberto Ravinell Whitney.
The storm-god in the ancient Near East / by Alberto R. W. Green.
p. cm. — (Biblical and Judaic studies ; v. 8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57506-069-8 (alk. paper)
1. Storm gods—Middle East. 2. Middle East—Religion.
3. Gods, Semitic. I. Title. II. Series.
BL1605.S85 G74 2003
291.2u11u09394—dc21
2002154071
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.†‰
Dedicated to
George Emery Mendenhall
scholar, teacher, friend,
in appreciation for years of friendship, support, and encouragement

Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1. Mesopotamia: The Land between Two Rivers . . . 8
Climate and Ecology 8
Iconography of the Mesopotamian Storm-God: Prehistoric up
to the End of the Old Babylonian Period 13
Textual Evidence of Sumero-Akkadian Storm-Gods in
Southern Mesopotamia 34
Storm-Gods of Northern Mesopotamia: Sumerian and
Semitic 51
The Storm-Gods of Mesopotamia: Representations of Primary
Human Concerns 72
Semitic Storm-Gods of Northern Mesopotamia: Iconographic
and Epigraphic Correlations 85
Chapter 2. The Highlands of Anatolia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Physical Environment 89
The Focus of Religion in Prehistoric Anatolia 93
Cultural Assemblage in Historic Anatolia 99
The Storm-God: Archaeological Pictorial
Representations 103
The Storm-God on Rock Carvings, Orthostats, and
Temples 120
The Anatolian Storm-God in the Written Sources 127
The Storm-God in Hittite Mythology 134
Summary 151
Chapter 3. Syria: The Upper Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
The Syrian Physical Environment 153
The Emergence of the Syrian Storm-God in
Iconography 154
vii
viii Contents
The Storm-God and His Attendants within Syria and Non-
Anatolian Peripheral Regions 160
Written Evidence of the Syrian Storm-God outside
Syria 165
Hadad in the Historical and Mythical Sources in Syria 170
Baal, the Cloud-Rider 190
Baal, the Fertility God 198
The Natural Pattern of the Fertility Process 208
Baal-(H)adad in the Cultural Milieu of Ancient Syria 214
Chapter 4. Coastal Canaan:
A Land Bridge between the Continents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
The Region and Culture of Canaan 219
The Background of Yahwism in the Canaanite Milieu 224
The Deity Yahweh in the Earliest Extrabiblical Sources 231
Yahweh in the Earliest Nonpoetic and Poetic Sources 236
Archaic Poetic Historical References to Yahweh as the
Canaanite God El 246
Yahweh, the Hebrew Storm-God 258
The Storm-God Yahweh within the Canaanite Milieu 275
Chapter 5. The Storm-God and His Associates:
Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
The Storm-God as a Force in Nature 281
The Storm-God as the
Foundation of Political Power 285
The Storm-God and the Evolving Religious Process 288
Chapter 6. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Indexes
Index of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Index of Personal Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Index of Divine Names and Epithets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Index of Places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Index of Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Acknowledgments
I became intrigued with the subject of the Storm-god as a concept some
years ago in a discussion that centered on the motif of the deity of the storm,
and seminal ideas of political domination around the ancient Near East. As
my interest into the subject deepened and I began to actively pursue an inves-
tigation on the topic, I frequently shared my findings with George E. Men-
denhall other colleagues. They all emphasized the need for a comprehensive
study in this area which would fill a significant void in studies on the ancient
Near East. In addition, they frequently passed on new material, helpful sug-
gestions, and new avenues of research regarding the motif.
In my investigation I was strongly supported by a substantial fellowship
from the National Endowment for the Humanities which enabled me to take
a full year off from my responsibilities at Rutgers University, to focus com-
pletely on my research. The Research Council of the University also gener-
ously assisted me with travel grants, and in addition, the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences was very helpful in making the necessary arrangements for me to
continue my work during my year as Resident Director of the Study Abroad
Program in Mexico. I wish to thank the National Endowment for the Hu-
manities and Rutgers University for their important support in making in
this project possible.
As my research progressed, it soon became apparent that while the term
“storm-god” was indeed widely used in the plethora of literature dealing with
the society, culture, religion, and mythology of the ancient Near East, only a
few works dealt particularly with this motif, and that the treatment in each
case was not comprehensive enough. Studies which deal exclusively with the
motif of the Storm-god are by H. Schlobies, Der Wettergott in Mesopotamien
(1924); O. Eissfeldt, Baal Zaphon, Zeus Kassios (1932); A. Vanel, L’ iconogra-
phie du Dieu de l’orage (1964); and H. Deighton, The “Weather-God” in Hit-
tite Anatolia (1982); along with the unpublished Ph.D. Dissertations by
H. Haddad, Baal-Hadad: A Study of the Syrian Storm-God (1960); and
W. Doyle, The Storm-God Iskur-Adad: Texts and Studies (1976). It became
evident, therefore, that no single work really explored in a truly comprehen-
sive manner all of the dimensions and implications of this subject. In addi-
tion, though numerous articles have treated the motif of the “storm-god” in
the different areas around the ancient Near East, the thematic approach in
most cases is almost always regional.
ix