The storm-god in the ancient Near East / by Alberto R.W. Green.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-333) and indexes.

1. Mesopotamia: the land between two rivers -- Climate and ecology -- Iconography of the Mesopotamian storm-god: prehistoric up to the end of the Old Babylonian Period -- Textual evidence of Sumero-Akkadian storm-gods in southern Mesopotamia -- Storm-gods of Northern Mesopotamia: Sumerian and Semitic -- The storm-gods of Mesopotamia: representations of primary human concerns -- Semitic storm-gods of Northern Mesopotamia: iconographic and epigraphic correlations -- 2. The highlands of Anatolia -- The physical environment -- The focus of religion in prehistoric Anatolia -- Cultural assemblage in historic Anatolia -- The storm-god: archaeological pictorial representations -- The storm-god on rock carvings, orthostats, and temples -- The Antolian storm-god in the written sources -- The storm-god in Hittite mythology -- Summary -- 3. Syria: the upper country -- The Syrian physical environment -- The emergence of the Syrian storm-god in iconography -- The storm-god and his attendants within Syria and non-Anatolian peripheral regions -- Written evidence of the Syrian storm-god outside Syria -- Hadad in the historical and mythical sources in Syria -- Baal, the cloud-rider -- Baal, the fertility god -- The natural pattern of the fertility process -- Baal-(H)adad in the cultural milieu of ancient Syria -- 4. Coastal Canaan: a land bridge between the continents -- The region and culture of Canaan -- The background of Yahwism in the Canaanite milieu -- The deity Yahweh in the earliest extrabiblical sources -- Yahweh in the earliest nonpoetic and poetic sources -- Archaic poetic historical references to Yahweh as the Canaanite God El -- Yahweh, the Hebrew storm-god -- The storm-god Yahweh within the Canaanite milieu -- 5. The storm-god and his associates: summary and conclusions -- The storm-god as a force in nature -- The storm-god as the foundation of political power -- The storm-god and the evolving religious process -- 6. Bibliography.

Print version record.

"The Storm-god was a deity common to every culture in the ancient Near East. In this comprehensive study of the literature, iconography (seals, monuments), and myths related to the Storm-god in its various guises, Alberto Green attempts a new synthesis of the available data. He finds that the Storm-god was the force primarily responsible for three areas of human concern: (1) religious power, because he was the ever-dominant environmental force upon which peoples depended for their lives; (2) centralized political power; and (3) continuously evolving sociocultural processes, which typically were projected through the Storm-god's attendants. Green traces these motifs through the Mesopotamian, Anatolian, Syrian, and Levantine regions; he argues that, in the end, Yahweh of the Bible can be identified as a storm-god, though certain unique characteristics came to be associated with him: he was the creator of all that is created and the self-existing god who needs no other."--Jacket.

English.

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