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 6 - This Is Not a Name
The Polyvalence of Divine Names in Mesopotamia
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
The divine beings of the ancient Near East were complex entities, endowed with numerous prerogatives. In light of their multiplicity, this chapter investigates the narrative and symbolic strategies used by the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia to describe and conceptualise the divine. Firstly, it focuses on how the polysemy and polyphony typical of cuneiform writing were skillfully used to express the multiple features of gods and goddesses. Subsequently, the text focuses on some of the oldest cuneiform sources ever known: the god lists, in which the many names and onomastic attributes of the divinities were listed, following a specific conceptual order. Finally, the importance of the name for the definition of a deity is investigated by examining the case of Marduk and Aššur, two gods who established their supremacy precisely through the accumulation of theonyms.
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- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions , pp. 111 - 128Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024