#phoenician gods

[tsalmu]

Phoenician Bowl with encircling Serpent Bernardini Tomb (Palestrina, Italy) c. 700 BCE The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia Rome, Italy

[illustratus]

The Abduction of Europa by Jean-François de Troy

[elizabeth-halime]

Asherah/Athirat/Elat = Mother goddess, queen of heaven, goddess of fertility, lady of wisdom, goddess of the seas, the creator of the gods together with the god El, queen of the gods, the one who walks on the sea, patron saint of sailors and fishermen

Athirat is a powerful Goddess, and the other Gods often ask Her to help them, or to try to influence her husband El for their good. As guardian of Wisdom, She is the one who chooses the successor of Aleyin (an aspect of Ba'al as the God of dying vegetation) and, after his death, She instructs Anat in the proper ritual necessary to ensure the fertility of the vines.

Like Ashtart, Athirat is associated with the lion. She is usually shown as a nude Goddess with curly hair covering her breasts with her hands. She is also associated with the snake, and an alternative name for Her is Chawat, which in Hebrew translates as "Hawah", or in English "Eve"; so She may well be the root of the biblical Eve. Like the Carthaginian goddess Tanit, whose name means "Serpent Lady", Athirat was represented as a palm tree or pillar with a snake coiled around her, and the name Athirat derives from a root meaning "straight".

Athirat is associated with the Tree of Life, and a famous ivory box lid of Mycenaean finish found at Ugarit, dated 1300 BC, shows it symbolically representing the Tree. She wears an elaborate skirt and jewelry, and although she is topless, her hair is delicately styled; She is smiling and in her hands holds sheaves of wheat, which she offers to a pair of goats.

[occvltswim]

Figurine of the Canaanite God El, Bronze with gold leaf, Megiddo, Stratum VII, Late Bronze II (1400-1200 BC)

[thetalesofrosaspandan]

What is Tyrian Purple?

Writing a short article about the regal color that dates back to the 1st century B.C.E.

Read the article here...

[ava-does-dumbassery]

Yamm: *Gets declared king of the gods* Baal:

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

btw i'm doing an assignment on this...

funnily enough before today i thought there weren't enough words for me to fill a 2000 word assignment on these things, and now i'm worried i'm gonna surpass the word limit by a lot

[kdmiller55]

Divine Payback

15 “Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment and be…

[rollofleaf]

Ok so I saw Aphrodite’s new design for Hades 2 and I need to talk about it.

First, hhhhhhh women…

Second, I don’t know if this is intentional but I’m going to assume it is, I love how Supergiant has dug into less well known parts of Greek mythology. Zagreus and Melinoë, for instance, are attested to by a single source each that give next to no information other than their parentage. And they did it again with Aphrodite!

Like all Greek gods, Aphrodite was referred to by different epithets depending on what aspect of her was being referenced. One of her less famous epithets was Aphrodite Areia (“The Warlike Aphrodite”), which places her role as a goddess of war as well as love. Worship of Aphrodite Areia was mostly limited to Sparta, Taras, and Kythera.

Aphrodite was originally introduced to Greece as the Phoenician goddess Ashtarte, a goddess of war, love, fertility, lions, and Venus, who herself was borrowed from the Mesopotamian Ishtar/Inanna, a goddess of war, love, fertility, Venus, and rulership. She was spread to Greece by traders during the Greek Dark Ages, first coming to shore in Cyprus and Kythera, both of which are often cited as her birthplace.

Aphrodite Areia was probably more faithful to her original interpretation, but most of Greece ended up sanitizing the war associations out of her. The Iliad, written while that was happening, goes out of its way to portray her as incompetent in battle, she gets stabbed in the wrist by Diomedes and told by Zeus that she doesn’t belong on the battlefield. It’s conspicuous enough to sound like a pointed statement from the author. I do find it very funny that despite trying to remove her associations with war, the Epic Cycle also makes her directly responsible for starting the most biggest war in Greek mythohistory.

I love that her design is shedding light on this lesser known aspect of her, her pose even seems reminiscent of the surviving statues of Aphrodite Areia.

Another little detail is her new face paint, which is identical to Ares’ in Hades! Aphrodite Areia is associated with Ares even more than usual (Ares and Areia are cognate words, both from ‘are’ for war or ruin). Of course, Aphrodite is often depicted as Ares’ lover so this choice just works in general.

Anyways some real good character design here. Also the hair censoring is so good.

[graceandpeacejoanne]

Isaiah 23: An Oracle To Phoenicia

God is sovereign over all earth, all nations are held accountable to the Lord. It is God’s prerogative to judge the nations, but because the Lord is compassionate it is God’s desire to rescue.  There is a tension between these two truths. #Isaiah23

Phoenician Alliance Isaiah ended this cycle of oracles with his prophecy concerning the commercial empire of the Phoenicians, what today is Lebanon.   Tyre and Sidon were key cities that exported workers and building materials throughout the known world, including Judah. Israel had enjoyed an amicable relationship with the city-states of Phoenicia since the days of King David. Now King Hiram…

[azirutech]

Meet Aphrodite

"Barbarian" class

(As portrayed in our dnd campaign)

Once the mighty goddess Astarte, Aphrodite became Synchronized Greek. With the growing popularity of Christianity though, even her Greek position is slowly being corrupted. Now, seen as a personification of vanity instead of a war goddess of the fires of passion, she struggles to find respect among even her fellow gods and goddesses. Aphrodite works hard to fall into the role her humans want of her, but inside she still is mourning the loss of her children. Especially her favorite son, Attar the Morning Star.

A little bit about the influences for this character: so I wasn't actually inspired to race bend the usual portrayal of Aphrodite bc of anything old, rather a new art piece put up in a local museum of mine that featured aphrodite cast as a black woman in a piece inspired by "The Birth of Venus". After doing some research and finding that Astarte was commonly worshipped in parts of North Africa, I decided it was fitting. Besides, even in historical based dnd there should be a diverse cast of NPCs.

[tsalmu]

Divorce-Writ of King Ammistamru II Ugarit, Syria c. 1250 BCE A tablet documenting the divorce of King Ammistamru II of Ugarit fromhattusa the daughter of the Amorite king Benteshina, sealed by the Hittite King Ammistamru. The king stands to the right, holding a spear, next to the "Weather God" who holds a club. They are both facing a long-robed female goddess (Arima, the chief Hittite sun-goddess) who stands at the left. Source: Virtual Museum of Syria

[faytears]

percy is middle eastern (specifically lebanese) argue with god

are headcanons about percys ethnicity still cool in 2023. idk im forcing you all to look at it anyway

no way in hell would the entire fucking country look at a little 12 year old white boy and be like "yeah I definitely believe that this child is a terrorist" like they did in TLT

described as looking 'Mediterranean', tans easily

not uncommon for ppl in the levant to have the dark hair/complexion + light eyes combo

also not uncommon for (non-muslim) swana ppl in the US to have vaguely western-sounding names. his last name was anglicized don't ask questions

fun nod to civilizations like the phoenicians being seafarers, poseidon's multiple connections to phoenicia in greek myth + historically being worshipped in the area

he would use the heinous insults that exist in arabic as casually as one would talk about the weather. he doesnt even actually know arabic he just knows how to say fuck you in all its iterations.

just realized how funny this hc would be in light of that comment he made in SoM shitting on hummus LMAOOOOOO

[elizabeth-halime]

Baal/Bael/Ba'al = It is a title meaning "lord" or "master", There were many local Baals. The greatest, known as the “Great Baal”, is Son of the Father of the Gods, El, and Brother of the God of the seas and rivers, Yam-Nahar. Baal, known as “Knight of the Clouds”, is a God of fertility who represents the beneficial aspects of water such as rain. His lightning and thunder represent his Power, and the fertile land his beneficence.

[evermore-grimoire]

The Evermore Grimoire: Astrology

Taurus (April 20th to May 20th) is the second astrological sign in the zodiac. In Greek Mythology the constellation Taurus commemorates Zeus (king of the gods), who changed himself into a beautiful white bull to win the affections of the Phoenician princess Europa. The princess was awestruck by the bull and walked over to pet it. She then climbed upon his back at which Zeus jumped into the water and carried her across the sea to Crete. He took the form of an eagle there and ravished her. Traits associated with Taurus also include being smart, ambitious and trustworthy. They also value honesty above all else and are proud that their personal relationships tend to be drama free. Bulls get the reputation of being stubborn, but they're not always stuck in their ways. They’re also willing to see another point of view, but they won't flip-flop on an opinion just to make someone else happy. Taureans will shift their thinking only if they truly have a change of heart. Whilst they have an intense internal drive, they sometimes have trouble respecting authority, especially if asked to do something they think is pointless or should be done differently. Learning to be flexible and go with the flow can be an advantage to Taurus. However when it comes to friendship, once you're in with a bull, you're in for life. Taureans aren't just loyal, they're also fun, with a witty streak that always keeps you laughing. They don't take friendship lightly, and always remember birthdays, anniversaries, and other key events, often with a card or gifts.

artwork by Yaroslava Apollonova

[el-smacko]

@thatlittleegyptologist and @somecunttookmyurl do y’all know why the Egyptian alef had to be an unrendered special character instead of a, ’, or god forbid apparently א? It’s an alef. Even if we don’t render the hieroglyphs why do we still not transliterate it in a way that can more easily be read? If we’re going to transliterate in Roman letters and if, to an extent, Semitic languages existed on a continuum with Egyptian, why not use a or, as with Phoenician and Ugaritic, use א?