Gods in the Desert: Religions of the Ancient Near East

341 Pages·2010·2.93 MB·English

by  Glenn Holland

Gods in the Desert

Gods in the Desert
Religions of the Ancient Near East
Glenn S. Holland

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
10_498_01_Front_10_498_01_Front 7/22/10 8:44 AM Page iv
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2009 Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
First paperback edition 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
The hardback edition of this book was previously cataloged by the Library of Congress
as follows:
Holland, Glenn Stanfield, 1952–
Gods in the desert : religions of the ancient Near East / Glenn S. Holland.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Middle East—Religion. 2. Mythology, Middle Eastern. I. Title.
BL1060.H635 2009
200.939'4—dc22 2009009444
ISBN 978-0-7425-6226-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-7425-6227-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-7425-9979-6 (electronic)
The Scripture quotations used herein are taken from the New Revised Standard Version
Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
y
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
List of Maps ix
Time Line xv
Preface xix
Introduction: Religion and Its
Characteristic Expression xxiii
Section 1 Egypt

Chapter 1 Egypt: Historical Survey 3
Chapter 2 Egypt: The Gods and the World They Made 15
Chapter 3 Egypt: The King and Royal Power 37
Chapter 4 Egypt: The World of the Dead 57
Chapter 5 Egypt: The Human World 77
Section 2 Mesopotamia
Chapter 6 Mesopotamia: Historical Survey 99
Chapter 7 Mesopotamia: The Gods and the World They Made 111
v
vi y Contents
Chapter 8 Mesopotamia: The World of Kings and Heroes 131
Chapter 9 Mesopotamia: The World of the Dead 149
Chapter 10 Mesopotamia: The Human World 167
Section 3 Syria–Palestine
Chapter 11 Syria–Palestine: Historical Survey 191
Chapter 12 Syria–Palestine: The Gods and the World They Made 199
Chapter 13 Syria–Palestine: Kings and Prophets 219
Chapter 14 Syria–Palestine: Suffering and Death 239
Chapter 15 Syria–Palestine: The Human World 257
Conclusion: Change and Continuity in the
Hellenistic Age 277
Bibliography for Further Reading 285
Glossary 289
Index 297
y
Illustrations
The Great Pyramid at Giza 6
Mask of Tutankhamun 22
Head of Hathor 24
Akhenaten and his family receiving blessings at the hands of Aten 29
Partially reconstructed mortuary temple of Hatshepsut 41
Tutankhamun between the goddess Sekhmet and Ptah, flanked
by Horus as a crowned falcon and Wadjit, goddess of Lower Egypt 51
The weighing of the heart in the Judgment Hall of Osiris. 72
Procession of the sun bark of Ra 81
Figure of a scribe 88
Sargon II and the Tree of Life 107
Akkadian seal from Mesopotamia 116
Clay mask of Huwawa or Humbaba 143
Partial reconstruction of the Great Ziggurat at Ur 170
Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon 176
Cuneiform tablet containing part of the Flood narrative from
the Epic of Gilgamesh 185
Bronze Canaanite figure of Baal 205
View of modern Jerusalem 259
vii

y
List of Maps
Ancient Egypt xi
Ancient Mesopotamia xii
Syria–Palestine in the Ninth Century BCE xiii

ix