DYING and RISING GODS Implying That Telepinu Himself Has Been There

481 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 482

Mettinger’s careful examination of Ugaritic material easily reaches the conclusion that there is a fundamental difference between celebrations in remembrance of the death of suc- cessive kings and their access to divine life, and a mytholo- gical prototype of the eternal cycle of seasons, represented at Ugarit by Baal’s death and return. In the reviewer’s opinion, the Author here stresses too much the difference between the Baal-Mot myth and the Telepinu myth (pp. 78-79). The lin- guistically oldest version of the Hittite myth mentions seven doors and seven bars of the Netherworld, in which Telepi- nu’s wrath should be locked forever4. This version apparently connects the wrath of the deity with the Netherworld, DYING AND RISING GODS implying that Telepinu himself has been there. Besides, the first manifestations of Telepinu’s disappearance are suffoca- The concept of “dying and rising gods” in the Ancient Near ting heat, scorched earth, and drought, thus recording a basic East attained a prominent place in the history of religions seasonal pattern, despite the secondary use of the myth in thanks to J.G. Frazer’s prodigious work The Golden Bough, magical rituals which aimed at appeasing the god and win- reissued in 1907-15. Frazer’s data on ethnology were second ning his favour5. Therefore, no functional difference seems hand and partly inaccurate, but his theories on religion were to distinguish the original myth of the disappearing god from highly stimulating and the topic of “dying and rising gods” the myth of the dying god. obtained an unexpected boost from the mythological texts The case of Melqart-Heracles is somewhat different, since found in Ugarit. Gods’ life and death in the Semitic myths are this divine character probably derived in the early first mil- presented in M.C.A. Korpel’s work, A Rift in the Clouds, as lennium B.C. from the deified eponym of the royal dynasty, follows: “The god Ba‘lu dies, but he does resurrect after ‘seven “the king of the city”. Being a city-god, Melqart does not years’, even though he is said to have been crushed between have characteristics of a vegetation or fertility god and his the jaws of Death (Motu). The latter himself rises to confront connection with a seasonal pattern is probably due to the fact Ba‘lu again though ‘Anatu has utterly destroyed him. The mes- that he assumed the function of another deity. He appears sage would seem to be that eternal life is indeed attainable for nevertheless as a “dying and rising god” in relation with cul- those who enjoy the status of divinity, but that it is an eternal tic celebrations, but the tradition of his death on a pyre on cycle of dying and reviving”1. An opposite view was defen- Mount Oeta or elsewhere should be re-examined in the light ded a few years ago by M.S. Smith2, who refers to KTU 1.161 of new data. (RS 34.126) and argues that the poetical accounts of Baal’s In fact, the B‘l Kr of the Vase from Sidon appears now as death and revival just borrow the language used in the cult of a distinct deity Kura or Kurra, not only in texts from Ebla deceased kings and ancestors without referring to a cultual dating to the third millennium B.C., but also in documents concept and ritual of “dying and rising gods”. from the 7th century B.C., when a god dKur-a or Kur-ra T.N.D. Mettinger’s study3 presents a survey of the research appears in personal names of northern Mesopotamia6. B‘l Kr (pp. 15-53) and then aims at solving the antinomy by an accu- is also mentioned in the Phoenician inscription from Cebeli- rate examination of the Baal-Mot myth (pp. 55-81), of the reis Da™ı7, dating to the mid-7th century B.C., and W. Röllig Melqart-Heracles case (pp. 83-111), of the Adonis myth (pp. suggests to isolate this name in the B‘l Krntry· of the Kara- 113-154), and of the available indications on Eshmun-Ascle- tepe inscriptions8. Following this suggestion, we would pro- pius (pp. 155-165). The function of these West-Semitic dei- pose to see there the divine name B‘l Kr with the epithet ties is then compared with the role of Osiris in Egyptian reli- Ntry·, which parallels the hieroglyphic Luwian title arha usa- gion (pp. 167-183) and the role of Dumuzi-Tammuz in nuwamis, “highly-blessed” or “munificent”. Ntry· - with the Mesopotamia (pp. 185-215). The Author concludes (pp. 217- nominal ending -· - exactly corresponds to the theophorous 223) that “dying and rising gods” were in fact worshipped in element Natr(i)- that appears in Anatolian proper names and the Ancient Near East and that they had close ties to the sea- occurs as the equivalent of Apollo in the trilingual inscrip- sonal cycle of plant life, although they belonged to different tion from Xanthos, in line 4 of the Lycian text9. According divine types. The Hebrew Bible offers no evidence that Yah- weh was a “dying and rising god”, while the case of Jesus, in the Author’s opinion, may be “studied with profit against 4) H.A. Hoffner, Hittite Myths, Atlanta 1990, p. 17; cf. M. Popko, Reli- gions of Asia Minor, Warsaw 1995, p. 87. the background of Jewish resurrection belief” (p. 221). A 5) M. Popko, op. cit. (n. 4), p. 106. large bibliography (pp. 227-257) and five indexes (pp. 261- 6) E. LipiCilicia”, in Epigraphica Anatolica 9 (1987), pp. 1-28 and 1) M.C.A. Korpel, A Rift in the Clouds, Münster 1990, p. 320. Pls. 1-4, line 5B. 2) M.S. Smith, “The Death of ‘Dying and Rising Gods’ in the Biblical 8) W. Röllig, art. cit. (n. 6), p. 49. World: An Update, with Special Reference to Baal in the Baal Cycle”, in 9) For the divine name Natr(i)-, see G. Neumann, “Namen und Epikle- Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 12 (1998), pp. 257-313. sen lykischer Götter”, in Florilegium Anatolicum. Mélanges offerts à 3) T.N.D. Mettinger, The Riddle of Resurrection: “ Dying and Rising Emmanuel Laroche, Paris 1970, pp. 259-271 (see p. 263); R. Lebrun, “Prob- Gods” in the Ancient Near East. (Coniectanea Biblica. Old Testament lèmes de religion anatolienne”, in Hethitica 8 (1987), pp. 241-262 (see Series 50). Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm, 2001. (23 cm, pp. 244 and 255, n. 6); W. Jenniges, Mystagogus Lycius, Bruxelles 1996, 275). ISBN 91-22-01945-6. p. 37; D. Schürr, “Kaunos in lykischen Inschriften”, in Kadmos 37 (1998), 483 DYING AND RISING GODS 484 to Dio Chrysostom (ca. 40-112 A.D.), Apollo was a local is not referred to in a cultual context before De Dea Syria, deity of Tarsus in Cilicia10 and we may assume that this god about the 2nd century A.D. True, one might wonder whether was called Ntry·. For sure, “Apollo” was only a Greek sur- the ritual cry aîa⁄ ’´Adwnin, recorded by Aristophanes, rogate of a local theonym. In the light of these data, Kr does Lysistrata 393, and Bion I, 28, does not echo a Phoenician not seem to be a genitival qualification of B‘l, but the proper shout Ωay ’Ad¨n¬, “alive is Adonis!”, despite the funerary name of a deity, used in apposition to the generic b‘l. The Greek context. Although such a formula, parallel to Ωy yhwh, iconography of the Vase from Sidon seems then to refer to may have been used in the cult, there is so far no prove that Kur(r)a, not to Melqart. On the other hand, Heracles’ death this was the case. Instead, if one admits that god’s death, on the pyre records Sanda’s festival at Tarsus, when a great disappearance or absence have the same function in agrarian pyre was erected and burnt. The ceremony is alluded to by myths, it is quite clear that a threefold seasonal pattern17 sup- Dio Chrysostom, who identifies Sanda with Heracles11, very ports the Solomonic judgment of Zeus who attributes Ado- likely knowing the episode of Mount Oeta. nis for one part of the year to Persephone, the Queen of the Sanda, probably equated in Persian times with the Baal of Netherworld, to Aphrodite for another part, leaving a third Tarsus (B‘l Trz)12 and identified with Nergal13, was thus season at the disposition of Adonis himself (pp. 118-119). regarded by the Greeks as a Heracles. It would seem there- Adonis’ return from the Netherworld fulfils then the same fore that the tradition of Heracles’ death in flames has some function as resurrection to life. This scene seems to be repre- connection with this syncretism, which should be further exa- sented on an Etruscan mirror, which depicts a shepherd sit- mined. An additional question should be raised concerning ting in front of a woman clothed and assisted by a winged the worship of Kur(r)a: Was he somehow linked with Sanda, Cupid. There is also the chest, in which young Adonis had whose cult can now be traced back to the early second mil- been hidden; it is flanked by the Etruscan inscriptions Turan lennium B.C. and traces of which are found in the first mil- and Atunis18, which designate the goddess equated with lennium B.C. in Cilicia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Lydia, and pro- Aphrodite19 and Adonis himself, called Atunis since Etruscan bably Lycia?14 The Author does not examine the case of alphabet does not possess voiced occlusives. Sanda, but it should be stated here that Sanda’s (or Kurra’s?) Mettinger expresses doubts about the possibility of distin- death in flames is not linked with the burial custom of inci- guishing Adonis in Semitic proper names (pp. 135-136). At neration. Coins from Tarsus, dating to the 2nd century B.C., least the name ‘bd’dny should be interpreted in this way. It represent the god standing on a lion in a pyramidal construc- is rare, since it does not appear in CIS I, 16b, but A. Caquot tion, interpreted usually as Sanda’s pyre15. Ethnographic read ‘bd’dny bn ‘bd’lnm in an inscription from Umm el- parallels suggest that the idea goes ultimately back to the ‘Amed20 and ‘bd’dny occurs once at Carthage, in CIS I, 332, ceremonial of burning the last sheaf or stack, usually coni- 3. In these cases, ’dny should be regarded as the proper name cal, at the end of the harvest. From its ashes, fertilizing the of the deity. soil, the new crop was expected to come to life16. This The Author proposes to connect Adonis with Damu, espe- conception is similar to the story of the phoenix whose resur- cially as the latter appears in the Amarna letter from Byblos rection to life through death in flames also parallels the cycle EA 84 (pp. 137-146), while Adonis was most likely the Baal of grain buried in the field in order to spring up again each of Byblos (pp. 140-141), as suggested by Hesychius (p. 125). season. These are different ways of expressing the same basic The connection with Damu thus requires a certain amount of theme. speculation. The reference to ø‘∫-t3w in the Pyramid Texts When we now turn to Adonis, it is quite easy to show that (p. 145) seems to be out of place. The Semitic word for he was a “dying and rising god” with seasonal implications “living” is Ωy, not ¿, and Egyptian ¿‘∫ should certainly be and a ritual celebration of his death, but Adonis’ resurrection understood in the sense “to shine, to appear”, speaking of sun, gods or kings. It is a descriptive designation of a deity for which Egyptian language had no name, as was the case of pp. 143-162 (see pp. 155 ff.). It is doubtful whether natr(i)- is borrowed the Weather-god. The latter was called Haddu at Byblos in from Egyptian ncr, “god”, as suggested by A.G. Keen, Dynastic Lycia, Lei- ca. 2000 B.C., as indicated by the name Eb-da-dì /‘Abd- den 1998, p. 199-200, and O. Carruba, “Cario Natri ed egizio ntr ‘dio’”, in Haddi/, borne by the ruler of Byblos at the time of Amar-Sin M. Fritz - S. Zeilfelder (eds.), Novalis Indogermanica. Festschrift für Gün- of Ur21. ter Neumann, Graz 2002, pp. 75-84. At Karatepe, in the 8th century B.C., the name appears as an epithet, and its later vocalization differs from the A shorter chapter is devoted to Eshmun-Asclepius, since the Egyptian one, at least when Greek -nqjr and Coptic (a/e)nter provide question whether he was a “dying and rising god” is difficult vocalized Egyptian forms with final r. to answer. Mettinger rightly points out that the Lebanese Qabr 10) Dio Chrysostom, Discourses XXXIII, 45. Cf. P. Chuvin, “Apollon ∞m‚n in the ‘Alay district should not be overlooked (p. 159). au trident et les dieux de Tarse”, in Journal des Savants 1981, pp. 305-326. 11) Dio Chrysostom, Discourses XXXIII, 47. 12) See, for instance, B.V. Head, A Guide to the Principal Coins of the Greeks, London 1932, Pl. 20:51, where the Aramaic legend B‘l Trz appears 17) In Egypt, the year was divided in three seasons: inundation, winter, next to the image of the god, seated on a throne and holding a sceptre. How- summer; ever, the corn-ear and the grapes, represented likewise in the field, suggest 18) E. Gerhard, Etruskische Spiegel III, Berlin 1868, Pl. CXV; cf. R. a connection with Tarhunt, especially the one of √vriz. Schilling, La religion romaine de Vénus, Paris 1954, p. 166, n. 2. On 13) G.K. Jenkins, “Two New Tarsos Coins”, in Revue Numismatique, 6th another mirror with Turan and Atunis one can also see a young lyrist (Pul- ser., 15 (1973), pp. 30-34 and Pl. I; R. Lebrun, “L’Anatolie et le monde tisph) and a young woman (Snenath) holding a perfume vase and a paint phénicien du Xe au IVe siècle av. J.-C.”, in E. Lipi

In the same area, there is another village called B·∂m‚n, of the deity from one place, state, or condition to another and “House of ∞m‚n”, where some unspecified ruins have been back again. Each passage implies a ritual act which interrupts recorded. As expected, local tradition in both villages does not the course of events and leads to a new beginning, rejuvena- connect the place names with a deity, but expresses a nega- ting the plant life. tive opinion about the character hiding behind these toponyms. Mettinger’s work offers an objective and carefully drawn At B·∂m‚n people believe that it is a despotic king, while image of “dying and rising gods” in the Ancient Near East inhabitants of Qabr ∞m‚n speak of a violent criminal. He is and puts the question anew on a good track. The gods in supposed to have lived at B·∂m‚n but was killed by his bar- question belong to different types of deities, but their speci- ber and buried at Qabr ∞m‚n22. There is no connection what- fic function as “dying and rising gods” is similar and ulti- soever with the story of Damascius (pp. 155-156). mately connected with ritual. New information and further Osiris provides the first opportunity of examining the pro- research will probably give us the opportunity of refining this blem in a wider comparative perspective. The Author rightly picture and correcting some particular points, but the basic underlines the similarities and differences, the most impor- pattern is likely to remain unchanged. tant of which was Osiris’ rising to continue life in the Nether- world. In the reviewer’s opinion this conclusion should have Brussels, September 2002 Edward LIPINSKI been complemented by an accurate description of the role of Horus along the lines of Assmann’s position, mentioned on p. 172. In fact, the myth of Osiris comprises two generations: Osiris rose to new life in his son, Horus. Another question related to Osiris is raised by the myth of Busiris, omitted by the Author, although Heracles plays there an important role. Busiris was the capital of the Busirite nome of Lower Egypt (Abusir), and the main centre of the cult of Osiris, but this place name became the name of an Egyptian king in a legend known to Herodotus (II, 45), Euripides, Iso- crates, Diodorus of Sicily, Plutarch, Lucian, Virgil, Arrian, and others23. After Egypt had been afflicted for nine years with famine, Phrasius, a seer of Cyprus, arrived in Egypt and announced that the end of the famine would not take place until a foreigner was yearly sacrificed to Zeus. Busiris began by sacrificing the prophet and continued the custom by offe- ring a foreigner on the altar of the god. When Heracles had arrived in Egypt, he was seized and bound ready to be slaugh- tered on the altar of Zeus at Memphis. However, Heracles burst his bonds and, seizing his club, slew Busiris with his son Amphidamas and his herald Chalbes. The exploit is often represented on vase paintings from the 6th century B.C. and onward24, indicating that this was a very popular myth. However, it cannot be Egyptian, while the name of the herald Chalbes seems to be Semitic Kalba’, “dog”, a name attested in Phoenician and Punic25. The connection of the myth with famine and the practice of a yearly sacrifice imply a link with seasonal cycles and ritual. One wonders whether there was a cultual background to this unachieved episode of Heracles’ sacrifice and his sudden “awakening”. An aetiology of the yearly awakening of the plant life is provided ultimately by the Dumuzi-Tammuz myth, as rightly stressed by Mettinger (p. 204), who reckons with a possible influence of the Mesopotamian myth on the West-Semitic ones. He calls “bilocation” the alternative presence of Dumuzi in the Netherworld and among “living gods”, using this term also in relation to other “dying and rising gods” (p. 119). Now, “bilocation” suggests the power of being in two places at the same time. This is not the case in the myths concerned, where we in fact see an “alternation”, a passage

22) E. Wardini, Lebanese Place-Names (Orient. Lov. An. 110), Leuven 2002, pp. 171 and 240. 23) H. von Gaertringer, “Busiris 5.”, in PW III/1, Stuttgart 1897, col. 1074-1077. 24) F. Brommer, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 2nd ed., Mar- burg/Lahn 1960, pp. 26-29. 25) F.L. Benz, Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions (Studia Pohl 8), Rome 1972, pp. 131 and 331.