This book analyzes examples of objects, qualities, and attributes treated as deities in ancient Near Eastern texts spanning the second and first millennia BCE. Specifically, this cross-cultural study examines attestations of this phenomenon in texts from Mesopotamia, Ebla, Alalakh, Emar, and Ugarit, as well as first millennium inscriptions, Aramaic texts from Egypt, and the Hebrew Bible. Through the application of recent research in cognitive science of religion and prototype theory, the book concludes that these types of deities are natural products of the human mind.
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
1 Gods, Deities, and the Superhuman
1Gods, Deities, Divinity, and the Superhuman
2Form, Mind, Agency, and Counterintuitiveness
3Indicators of Divinity in Ancient Texts and Artistic Representations
4Objects, Qualities, and Attributes
5The Evidence
6Chapter Outline
2 Reconsidering the Evidence from Mesopotamia
1Sources from Mesopotamia
2Diachronic Studies
3Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities from the Third Millennium to
the Late Babylonian Period
4Key Issues: A Summary
3 The Evidence from Ebla
1Sources from Ebla
2Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities at Ebla
3Observations on the Evidence from Ebla
4 The Evidence from Alalakh
1Sources from Alalakh
2A Weapon as a Deity at Alalakh
3Observations on the Evidence from Alalakh
5 The Evidence from Emar
1Sources from Emar
2Objects as Deities at Emar
3Observations on the Evidence from Emar
6 The Evidence from Ugarit
1Sources from Late Bronze Age Ugarit
2Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities in Ritual Texts from Ugarit
3Observations on the Evidence from Ugarit
7 First Millennium Inscriptions
1The Evidence from Kuntillet Ajrud
2Inscriptions from Taym
3Theophoric Personal Names
4Esarhaddons Treaty with Baal of Tyre
5Observations on First Millennium Texts
8 Aramaic Documents from Egypt and the Hebrew Bible
1The Judean Archives from Elephantine
2Deities in the Documents from Elephantine
3Theophoric Personal Names from Elephantine
4Papyrus Amherst 63
5Objects of Trust in the Hebrew Bible
6Observations on the Aramaic Documents from Egypt and the Hebrew Bible
9 Understanding Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities
1Deity as a Fuzzy Category
2Understanding Anthroform and Nonanthroform Concepts of Deity
3Why Deify These Objects, Qualities, and Attributes?
4Directions for Future Research
Bibliography
Subject Index
Jennifer Singletary, Ph.D., is Assistant Research Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. She is the co-editor of Uses and Misuses of Ancient Mediterranean Sources: Erudition, Authority, Manipulation (Mohr Siebeck, 2022).
