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Pišaišapḫi
Pišaišapḫi (also spelled Pišašapḫi) was a Hurrian mountain god. His name was derived from that of the associated mountain, Pišaiša, which was most likely located next the Mediterranean coast. He is attested in Hurrian and Hittite ritual texts from cities such as Hattusa, Šapinuwa and Ugarit. A Hittite literary text known as ''Myth of Pišaiša'' is focused on him, though its origin and the reading of the names of other deities who play roles in it remains a matter of debate among researchers. Name and character The Hurrian theonym Pišaišapḫi had multiple phonetic writings, such as ''Pí-ša-ša-ap-ḫi'', ''Pí-ša-i-ša-ap-ḫi'' or ''Wii-ša-i-ša-ap-ḫi'', which are attested both with and without the “divine determinative” (''dingir'') preceding the first sign. It is derived from the name of a mountain, Pišaiša, combined with a Hurrian genitive ending and nisba, and as such can be translated as "he of Mount Pišaiša". Pišaišapḫi and Mount Pišaiša ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurrian Religion
The Hurrian religion was the polytheistic religion of the Hurrians, a Bronze Age people of the Near East who chiefly inhabited the north of the Fertile Crescent. While the oldest evidence goes back to the third millennium BCE, is best attested in cuneiform sources from the second millennium BCE written not only in the Hurrian language, but also Akkadian, Hittite and Ugaritic. It was shaped by the contacts between Hurrians and various cultures they coexisted with. As a result, the Hurrian pantheon included both natively Hurrian deities and those of foreign origin, adopted from Mesopotamian, Syrian (chiefly Eblaite and Ugaritic), Anatolian and Elamite beliefs. The culture of the Hurrians were not entirely homogeneous, and different local religious traditions are documented in sources from Hurrian kingdoms such as Arrapha, Kizzuwatna and Mitanni, as well as from cities with sizeable Hurrian populations, such as Ugarit and Alalakh. Hurrian religion was one of the best attested influ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ugur (god)
Ugur or Uqur (dU.GUR) was a god worshiped in various parts of the Ancient Near East. He was connected with the Mesopotamian deity Nergal. Much like him, he was associated with war and death. He was also originally regarded as Nergal's sukkal (attendant deity). Since the logographic writing of his name could be used to represent Nergal, it is a matter of debate which attestations of dU.GUR in texts refer to him. Character Ugur was originally the sukkal of Nergal, though he was replaced in this role by Ishum after the Old Babylonian period. In Mesopotamian sources his name was used to logographically represent the name of Nergal at least from the Middle Babylonian period onward. Volkert Haas regards the origin and meaning of his name as unknown. It has been proposed that it was the imperative form of Akkadian ''nāqaru'', meaning "destroy!" A lexical text explains his name as synonymous with the Akkadian word ''namsaru'', "sword." Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that he was imag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ebla
Ebla ( Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', ar, إبلا, modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center throughout the and in the first half of the Its discovery proved the Levant was a center of ancient, centralized civilization equal to Egypt and Mesopotamia and ruled out the view that the latter two were the only important centers in the Near East during the Early Bronze Age. The first Eblaite kingdom has been described as the first recorded world power. Starting as a small settlement in the Early Bronze Age ( ), Ebla developed into a trading empire and later into an expansionist power that imposed its hegemony over much of northern and eastern Syria. Ebla was destroyed during the It was then rebuilt and was mentioned in the records of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The second Ebla was a continuation of the first, ruled by a new royal d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tell Leilan
Tell Leilan is an archaeological site situated near the Wadi Jarrah in the Khabur River basin in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. The site has been occupied since the 5th millennium BC. During the late third millennium, the site was known as Shekhna. During that time it was under control of the Akkadian Empire and was used as an administrative center. Around 1800 BC, the site was renamed "Shubat-Enlil" by the king Shamshi-Adad I, and it became his residential capital. Shubat-Enlil was abandoned around 1700 BC. Geography The site is located close to some other flourishing cities of the time. Hamoukar is about 50 km away to the southeast. Tell Brak is about 50 km away to the southwest, and also in the Khabur River basin. Tell Mozan (Urkesh) is about 50 km to the west. Leilan, Brak and Urkesh were particularly prominent during the Akkadian period. History The city originated around 5000 BC as a small farming village and grew to be a large city BC, three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theophoric Name
A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deity. For example, names embedding Apollo, such as ''Apollonios'' or ''Apollodorus'', existed in Greek antiquity. Theophoric personal names, containing the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted (or a generic word for ''god''), were also exceedingly common in the ancient Near East and Mesopotamia. Some names of theophoric origin remain common today, such as Theodore (''theo-'', "god"; ''-dore'', origin of word compound in Greek: ''doron'', "gift"; hence "God's gift"; in Greek: ''Theodoros'') or less recognisably as Jonathan (from Hebrew ''Yonatan/Yehonatan'', meaning "Yahweh has given"). Classical Greek and Roman theophoric names * Demetrius and its derivatives mean "follower of Demeter." * Dennis, in Latin ''Dionysius'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon and, at above sea level, is the highest point in Syria. On the top, in the United Nations buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli-occupied territories, is the highest permanently manned UN position in the world, known as "Hermon Hotel", located at 2814 metres altitude. The southern slopes of Mount Hermon extend to the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, where the Mount Hermon ski resort is located with a top elevation of 2,040 metres (6,690 ft). A peak in this area rising to 2,236 m (7,336 ft) is the highest elevation in Israeli-controlled territory. Geography Wider mountain range The Anti-Lebanon range, of which the Hermon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon ( ar, جَبَل لُبْنَان, ''jabal lubnān'', ; syr, ܛܘܪ ܠܒ݂ܢܢ, ', , ''ṭūr lewnōn'' french: Mont Liban) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It averages above in elevation, with its peak at . Geography The Mount Lebanon range extends along the entire country for about , parallel to the Mediterranean coast. Their highest peak is Qurnat as Sawda', at . The range receives a substantial amount of precipitation, including snow, which averages around deep.Jin and Krothe. ''Hydrogeology: Proceedings of the 30th International Geological Congress'', p. 170 Lebanon has historically been defined by the mountains, which provided protection for the local population. In Lebanon, changes in scenery are related less to geographical distances than to altitudes. The mountains were known for their oak and pine forests. The last remaining old growth groves of the famous Cedar of Lebanon (''Cedrus libani'' var. libanii'') are on the high slopes of Mount Lebanon, in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhyton
A rhyton (plural rhytons or, following the Greek plural, rhyta) is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table. A rhyton is typically formed in the shape of an animal's head. Items were produced over large areas of ancient Eurasia, especially from Persia to the Balkans. Many have an opening at the bottom through which the liquid fell; others did not, and were merely used as drinking cups, with the characteristic that they could not usually be set down on a surface without spilling their contents. The English word ''rhyton'' originates in the ancient Greek word ' (''rhy̆tón ''or'' rhŭtón''). The conical rhyton form has been known in the Aegean region since the Bronze Age, or the 2nd millennium BC. However, it was by no means confined to that region. Similar in form to, and perhaps originating from, the drinking horn, it has been widespread over Eurasia since prehistoric tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Šuwala
Shuwala (Šuwala) was a Hurrian goddess who was regarded as the tutelary deity of Mardaman, a Hurrian city in the north of modern Iraq. She was also worshiped in other Hurrian centers, such as Nuzi and Alalakh, as well as in Ur in Mesopotamia, Hattusa in the Hittite Empire and in the Syrian cities Emar and Ugarit. An association between her and the goddess Nabarbi is present in many Hurrian documents. It is also assumed that she was an underworld goddess, and she frequently appears alongside other deities of such character, Allani and dU.GUR, possibly a logographic spelling of the name of Nergal. Name Multiple writings of the name are attested: ''šu-a-la'' in documents from Ur from the Ur III period, ''šu-u-wa-a-la'', ''šu-u-wa-la'', ''šu-u-wa-u-la'', ''šu-wa-a-l''a and ''šu-wa-la'' in Hurro-Hittite documents from Hattusa; and ''ṯwl'' in a Hurrian text from Ugarit written in the local alphabetic script. The variety of spelling in the Hittite sources in particular is r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninegal
Ninegal (also spelled Ninegalla) or Belat Ekalli (Belet-ekalli) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with palaces. Both her Sumerian and Akkadian name mean "lady of the palace." From Mesopotamia the worship of Ninegal spread to Elam in the east and to Syria and the Hittite Empire in the west. She was particularly venerated in Mari and Qatna, and due to her presence in the pantheon of ancient Syria she was also incorporated into Hurrian religion. The Hurrians transcribed her name as Pentikalli (Pendigalli). Especially in literary works, Ninegal could function as an epithet of Inanna, and they could be also associated with each other in other contexts. However, it is now generally assumed that they were distinct deities in origin. Additionally, Ninegal could be associated with the goddess of prisons, Nungal. Character While in the past it has been proposed that Ninegal was a form of Inanna in origin, or, as argued by Thorkild Jacobsen, that the name designated Inanna in a pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sourdough
Sourdough or sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough using wild lactobacillaceae and yeast. Lactic acid from fermentation imparts a sour taste and improves keeping qualities. History In the ''Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology'', Michael Gaenzle writes: "The origins of bread-making are so ancient that everything said about them must be pure speculation. One of the oldest sourdough breads dates from 3700 BCE and was excavated in Switzerland, but the origin of sourdough fermentation likely relates to the origin of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent and Egypt several thousand years earlier", which was confirmed a few years later by archeological evidence. ... "Bread production relied on the use of sourdough as a leavening agent for most of human history; the use of baker's yeast as a leavening agent dates back less than 150 years." Pliny the Elder described the sourdough method in his '' Natural History'': Sourdough remained the usual form of leavening do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Šauška
Šauška (also Shaushka, Šauša, Šawuška) was a Hurrian goddess who was also adopted into the Hittite pantheon. Her name has a Hurrian origin and means the great or magnificent one. Character and iconography Shaushka was a goddess of war and love, including sexual love. She was closely associated with incantations in Hittite documents. As such she was also associated with healing. As a goddess of love and sexuality, she was believed to be able to guarantee conjugal love, deal with matters pertaining to impotence, but also turn women into men and vice versa. Shaushka was also the goddess of Nineveh, and in Hurrian myths she's often called the "queen" of that city. Unlike the Mesopotamian Ishtar, as well as the other "Ishtars" known to Hurrians and Hittites (ex. Ishtar of Samuha, possibly the same deity as the enigmatic " Goddess of the Night," DINGIR.GE6), she didn't have a pronounced astral character. Androgynous or genderfluid characteristics Shaushka had both a feminine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
