Book contents
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Classical Scholarship in Translation
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- Introduction In the Mirror of Vertumnus
- Chapter 1 ‘To the Immortals Everything Is Possible’
- Chapter 2 All Sides of the Moon
- Chapter 3 ‘May the Force Be With You!’
- Chapter 4 Dionysos in the Mirror of Poseidon
- Chapter 5 Lord of the Universe, the World and Eternity
- Chapter 6 This Is Not a Name
- Chapter 7 The Sword and the Patera
- Chapter 8 A Travelling Portrait
- Chapter 9 Pantheus, a ‘Total’ God in the Greek and Roman World
- Chapter 10 ‘I Will Be Who I Will Be’ (Exod. 3:14)
- Chapter 11 Golden Locks Among the Greeks, or the Hair Secrets of the Beautiful Apollo
- Chapter 12 Athena – Artemis
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 10 - ‘I Will Be Who I Will Be’ (Exod. 3:14)
Portrait of a Deity that Would be Nameless and Imageless
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2024
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Classical Scholarship in Translation
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- Introduction In the Mirror of Vertumnus
- Chapter 1 ‘To the Immortals Everything Is Possible’
- Chapter 2 All Sides of the Moon
- Chapter 3 ‘May the Force Be With You!’
- Chapter 4 Dionysos in the Mirror of Poseidon
- Chapter 5 Lord of the Universe, the World and Eternity
- Chapter 6 This Is Not a Name
- Chapter 7 The Sword and the Patera
- Chapter 8 A Travelling Portrait
- Chapter 9 Pantheus, a ‘Total’ God in the Greek and Roman World
- Chapter 10 ‘I Will Be Who I Will Be’ (Exod. 3:14)
- Chapter 11 Golden Locks Among the Greeks, or the Hair Secrets of the Beautiful Apollo
- Chapter 12 Athena – Artemis
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter copes with the challenge of portraying a divinity which is supposed to be nameless and imageless, and evoked by ‘abstract’ notions such as the ‘God’, the ‘Lord’, the ‘Name’ or even the ‘Place’. The bans on pronouncing his name and depicting his image are two faces of the same coin: to explore in a new and unpredictable way his identity. Starting from the role played by names in ancient Near Eastern traditions and in the Hebrew Bible, this chapter explores the onomastic puzzle of the biblical god, who holds many names, but whose name YHWH is the only one regarded as a proper name and revealed by himself to Moses. Such a central and enigmatic name is interpreted as a promise of presence and assistance to the people god chose on earth (Israel). The onomastic connection between YHWH and the Jews never ceased to strike external observers and produced many misunderstandings, and even mystifications, in the history of the research of the biblical divine names.
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- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions , pp. 189 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024