Shahar is the god of
dawn in the pantheon of
Ugarit. Shahar is described as a child of
El along with a twin,
Shalim, the god of
dusk. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.
Etymology
The name is a
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
of the
Hebrew word ''Shahar'' () meaning ''dawn''.
In Arabic, the word for dawn is ''Sahar'' () and comes from the same Semitic root. This root is also visible in ''Suhoor'' (), the pre-dawn meal Muslims eat during Ramadan.
Isaiah 14:12–15
Isaiah 14:12–15 has been the origin of the belief that
Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
was a
fallen angel, who could also be referred to as
Lucifer.
It refers to the rise and disappearance of the
morning star Venus in the phrase "O light-bringer, son of the dawn." (''Helel ben Shaḥar'', translated as Lucifer in the Vulgate and preserved in the early English translations of the Bible.)
[ This understanding of seems to be the most accepted interpretation in the New Testament, as well as among early Christians such as Origen, Eusebius, Tertullian, and Gregory the Great.][ It may be considered a Christian "remythologization" of ]Isaiah 14
Isaiah 14 is the fourteenth Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the Biblical prophet, proph ...
, as the verse originally used Canaanite mythology
The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries AD. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cases, ...
to build its imagery of the hubris
Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
of a historical ruler, "the king of Babylon" in Isaiah 14:4.[ It is likely that the role of Venus as the morning star was taken by Athtar, in this instance referred to as the son of Shahar.]
See also
* Phosphorus (morning star)
* Shamash
Utu (dUD "Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. ...
Notes
External links
The Ancient Ugaritic Ritual-Poem of Shahar and Shalem and the Gracious Gods
Children of El (deity)
Dawn
Deities in the Hebrew Bible
Phoenician mythology
Ugaritic deities
Venusian deities
West Semitic gods
{{Phoenicia-stub