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33HISTORICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL SCIENCES
MYTHOLOGIES IN CONTACT: SYRO-PHOENICIAN TRAITS IN HOMERIC ZEUS
Zolotnikova O.
Ph.D.
Open University of Cyprus (Cyprus), School of Anthropology, Department of Hellenic Civilization, Associate Tutor
Abstract
The paper attempts to indicate and to survey those features in the Homeric image of Zeus, which present close similarities with certain characteristics of the Syro-Phoenician gods El and Baal. Also, the mechanism and the chronology of the appearance of the Syro-Phoenician elements in the mythological concept of Zeus are considered. Overall, it is concluded that the Homeric passages relating to Zeus and presenting resemblances with the Ugaritic passages relating to Baal and El are only scattered fragments, which remained from a much more voluminous prehistoric corpus of Greek poetry concerned with Zeus and created by translation of and/or by analogy with the Near-Eastern epics about the main Syro-Phoenician gods.
Keywords: Zeus, Homeric Zeus, Homeric poems, Greek mythology, prehistoric Greek mythology, prehistoric Greek epos, Syro-Phoenician mythology, Ugarit epic poems, Baal, El, Near-Eastern influence on Ancient Greek mythology.
Introduction
It is commonly accepted that Greek epic poetry of the late prehistoric - early historic periods widely borrowed from Near-Eastern literature verbal formulae, descriptions and characteristics of gods, mythological motifs and themes. Zeus as appears in the poems of Homer is, perhaps, the most remarkable example of a Greek mythological divine figure with easily recognizable traits of different Near-Eastern gods. Striking similarities between the descriptions of Zeus in the Homeric poems and the literary portraits of certain Near-Eastern gods, as Syro-Phoenician El and Baal, Sume-rian-Akkadian Enlil and Ishkur, Babylonian Marduk, and Hebrew Yahweh, have been noticed and indicated by many scholars who explored a more general subject of Near-Eastern elements in Greek poetry and mythol-ogy2. However, a specific study, which would carefully survey the features of the Near-Eastern gods adopted by the epic / mythological image of Zeus, is still to be carried out. Such a study would help to trace the history of the concept of Zeus in Greek mythology from prehistoric time to the Archaic period. In this paper, it will be attempted to highlight and to analyze those features in the Homeric image of Zeus, which appear very similar with the characteristics of the Syro-Phoenician gods El and Baal and, therefore, may have been borrowed by Greek epic diction from the Syro-Phoenician myths and epic poems. In order to complete this survey, it is necessary to specify the mechanism and the chronology of the appearance of the Syro-Phoenician elements in the mythological image of Zeus.
The surviving part of the Syro-Phoenician mythic / epic tradition is mostly represented by the epics of
Ugarit3, but a considerable quantity of the Syro-Phoe-nician religious and mythological themes and motifs is also preserved in the Old Testament, while the representational material from Syria and Phoenicia, too, provides important information about the Syro-Phoenician mythological imagery. However, in order to estimate properly the similarities between the Homeric verses relating to Zeus and the Ugaritic passages relating to El and Baal, it must be realized, firstly, the difference in the time of the composition of the Homeric poems and the epic poems of Ugarit, and, secondly, the fact that, unlike the Ugaritic poems, as, e.g., those of Baal Cycle, the poems of Homer are not about gods: the Iliad and the Odyssey describe certain epic events and deeds of certain epic heroes, while the gods, including Zeus, are rather in the background in either of the poems. This means that the author of the Iliad and of the Odyssey did not especially try to create elaborate descriptions of gods, but used (or modified) the verses, which already existed in Greek epic diction in his time. Just a few decades after the Iliad and the Odyssey (or, possibly, even at the same time with the Odyssey), Hesiod, in order to summarize and systematize the Greek myths as those were shaped by the late eighth - early seventh centuries BC, wrote a special poem about the Greek gods - the Theogony, in which Zeus is undoubtedly the main protagonist richly and elaborately described. Therefore, comparing Homeric Zeus with El and Baal of the Syro-Phoenician epics and myths, it seems useful to supplement the Homeric references to Zeus with some passages from Hesiod's Theogony.
Zeus and El
Comparing the divine spheres presented in the poems of Homer and in the epics of Ugarit, one may easily
2 The book by M. West (1997) The East Face of Helicon...
(Oxford) should be mentioned as, perhaps, the most exhaustive of the recent studies on this subject. See also Penglase (1994), Zolotnikova (2013) 31-36.
3 The texts of the epics of Ugarit are cited and referred to in this paper according to their English translation by Wyatt (1998) and Parker (1997), and the Russian edition by Shifman (1993).
observe, first of all, a number of close resemblances between the Homeric portrait of Zeus and the image of the supreme Syro-Phoenician god El: both gods have as their basic designation the epithet "father" applied to them regardless of the real state of kinship. The formally similar compounds "(Bull) El Father" and "Zeus-Father" / Zevg nai^p are used for these gods throughout the Ugaritic epos and the Homeric poems, respectively4. Moreover, El is called "Father of men"5 and "Father of gods" in separate epithets matched by Zeus' formulaic epithet "Father of men and gods" / nax^p avSpmv re Oemv re (Il. 1.544, and often). In the Ugaritic poems, the gods may be designated as "sons of El"6, while the epithet "beloved of El" is applied to the gods especially favoured by the supreme deity7. Analogous terminology is traced in the Homeric poems, in which the epithet "son of Zeus" / Aidg vidg is used for gods-Zeus' sons (Il. 1.9, and often) and the epithet "loved by Zeus" or "dear to Zeus" / SuyiXoq (= Ait yikoq) designates the distinguished heroes (e.g., Il. 6.318). Thus, Ugaritic El and Homeric Zeus appear very much alike in personifying the idea of the absolute fatherhood, each in his own divine system. Here, it must be noted that the origins and the actual meaning of this idea in the religious perception of the Greeks and in that of the Phoenicians were different: in the Syro-Phoenician religious system, El Father was regarded as the Creator of being8; Homeric Zevq nax^p was the Greek version of the common supreme Indo-European god *t'yeu(s)-phHther "God of the clear sky-Father" who was not linked to the function of creation9. However, the quality of a universal father pertaining to both the gods must have played the major role in comparing Zeus to El, which the prehistoric Greeks visiting Phoenicia and Greek bards familiar with the Phoenician mythological images could not avoid.
Both El and Homeric Zeus hold the supreme position in their pantheons: the authority of El, which he may transmit to any god of his choice, is expressed in the titles "Lord of the gods" / yw il[m], "Lord" / adn, and "King"10; Homeric Zeus, often called simply "Lord" / ava£ (Il. 1.502, and often), acts as "Lord of gods and men" (Il. 2.669), that is, as "Lord over all mortals and immortals" (Il. 12.242), and as "Lord among all the immortals" (Il. 18.366). In this regard, it should be noted that Zeus as a direct descendant of the supreme Indo-European god *t'yeu(s)-phHther in Greek religion
4 Wyatt (1998) 47 (KTU 1.1.iii.26, and often); Dee (2001) 5759.
5 Shifman (1993) 74 - "Father of men" / 'b 'adm, where 'adm designates a collective of people.
6 bn il(m), Wyatt (1998) 54-55, note 78 (KTU 1.2.iii.20).
7 Wyatt (1998) 49 (KTU 1.1.iv.20).
8 Note the Ugaritic epithet of El - "Creator of the creatures" or "Creator of the created things", Wyatt (1998) 94, note 103 (KTU I.4.ii.10, KTU I.4.iii.32, and oth.); also, the epithetic formula "God Most High, maker of heaven and earth" preserved in the Old Testament (Gen. 14.19, 22). On the functions of creator ascribed to El, see Zolotnikova (2013) 34.
9 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995) v.1, 196, 680, 692-700.
10 Wyatt (1998) 52 - "King" in KTU 1.2.iii.6; Wyatt (1998) 48-49, note 54 - the titles of El transferred to the god Yam.
11 See more on this subject in Boelle (2004).
12 Zolotnikova (2013) 39-41.
may have been the supreme Greek god during the Early-Middle (?) Bronze Age, but his position in the Mycenaean pantheon focused on the Great God-dess(es)11, was rather low, not resembling at all the position of Zeus in the divine system of the Homeric ep-ics12. Hence, Zeus actually worshiped during the late prehistoric period would hardly have been the prototype for Homeric Zeus - the "Lord-ruler of gods and men".
El was imagined seated on a throne, in his magnificent Palace - "the House of Father", located at the supposed exact centre of the Universe - perhaps, on a mountain13; assemblies / councils of gods and divine banquettes took place there (note, for instance, "...the convocation of the Council / Great Assembly [of gods]" at "the Divine Mountain [of El]", described in KTU 1.2.i.13-14, and "The Myth of El's Banquet" recorded in a vast text)14. The Homeric pictures of the "House of Zeus" / S&^a Aidg on Olympos, likewise used for divine assemblies and feasts15, are remarkably similar to the descriptions of the "Palace of El" and of the events held in it, while the Homeric verses describing Zeus seated on a golden throne in his palace atop of Olympos (Il. 8.442-443: "Zeus. himself sat upon his throne of gold."; Il. 1.533-536: "Zeus went to his own palace... he sat down there upon his throne") seem to have reflected the Near-Eastern imagery. It should be emphasized that the motif of the supreme enthroned god is not securely traced in individual Indo-European mythologies, because such a motif implies a certain concept of power that was not inherent in traditional Indo-European ideas16. However, the Homeric image of Zeus seated on a golden throne provided the most inspirational pattern for the representations of Zeus enthroned, which were created in Greek art from the Archaic period onward.
Both El and Homeric Zeus possess extraordinary wisdom. In Ugarit, the wisdom of El was hymned in special religious chants: "Your word, El, is wise: you are everlastingly wise; a life of good fortune is your word"17. Homeric Zeus, too, "...may speak a word of wisdom" (Il. 24.75); he is the god who knows everything and "in wisdom. [is] above all others, both men and gods" (Il. 13.631-632). It is noteworthy that the main epithet designating Zeus as the all-knowing god -fi^riem (Il. 1.507, and often) seems to be formally a
13 Wyatt (1998) 46 (KTU 1.1.iii.21-24); Wyatt (1998) 52 (KTU 1.2.iii.3-6). Note also the relief on a stele from Ugarit (14th century BC) with representation of El enthroned, accepting offerings from a king of Ugarit, Schaeffer (1939) pl.31.
14 Wyatt (1998) 58; Wyatt (1998) 404-413; also Wyatt (1998) 50 (KTU 1.1.iv.29): "El gave a feast[".
15 Note Iliad, 1.221-222: ".to Olympos, to the halls / chambers of Zeus..." / "OvXv^nov... Sa^ai' eg... Aiog..."; also Iliad, 1.533-535, 1.570, 5.906, 19.355, and oth.; Iliad, 4.1: ".the gods, seated by the side of Zeus, were holding assembly on the golden floor."; Iliad, 20.4-6: "Zeus bade Themis summon the gods to the place of gathering from the brow of many-ribbed Olympos; and she sped everywhither, and bade them come to the house of Zeus"; Odyssey, 5.3-4: ".the gods were sitting down to council, and among them Zeus.".
16 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995) v.1, 692-700.
17 Wyatt (1998) 87 (KTU 1.3.v.30- 31).
vocative noun, which may have descended into the Homeric epics from prehistoric invocations addressed to wise Zeus18. Therefore, it might be presumed the existence of a prehistoric Greek epic song or religious hymn, in which the wisdom of Zeus was exalted in the way analogous to that used in the Ugaritic hymn for "everlastingly wise" El. Moreover, the Homeric formula "equal to Zeus in wisdom" / Aii jutfziv dzaXavzog (Il. 7.47, and often), which may have been of the Early Mycenaean origin (< *Diwei metim smtalantos19), appears as an equivalent of the phrase: "like El you are wise" from an early Ugaritic poem known as The Legend of Keret20. To clarify, it is not improbable that Greek Zeus was originally regarded and appealed to as a wise god; however, it seems that, if Zeus was really exalted as a wise god in Mycenaean poems, verbal rendering of the idea of Zeus' wisdom resembled the Ugaritic verses referring to the wisdom of El. It may also be argued that the passages describing wise El in Syro-Phoenician literature were used as patterns in prehistoric Greek poetry from the beginning of the Mycenaean period, if not earlier.
Zeus and Baal
Strikingly, Homeric Zeus, in spite of his name indicating his original nature as that of a god of a clear, not cloudy and not stormy, sky21, presents even more similarities with the Syro-Phoenician storm-god Baal as that is portrayed in the Ugaritic poems. Both act as vigorous storm-gods controlling all aspects of the storm as a natural phenomenon: the expressions "your clouds", "your winds", "your lightning", and "your rains" relating to Baal22 correspond to the Homeric formulae "Zeus' clouds" (Il. 2.146), "Zeus' wind" (Il. 14.19), "Zeus' lightning" (Il. 11.166), "Zeus' lightning bolt" (Il. 21.198), and "Zeus' rain" (Il. 5.91).
One of the basic epithets of Baal in the poems of Ugarit - "Charioteer of the Clouds" or "Rider on the Clouds" / rkb 'rpt23 seems to find its analogue in one of the most frequent epithets of Homeric Zeus - aiyio/og, which is formed of the words aiyi-g "storm-cloud",
18 The word ¡untieta (where -ra is the characteristic ending of the vocative case of the masculine nouns in -ins) seems to have been formed in Mycenaean Greek language: Homeric ¡untier-a < Myc. *metiwet- < *met-ti-unt- , see Leukart (1994) 42-43, 291; Vivante (1982) 85. The literal meaning of the epithet may have been "he who has learned everything", see Zolotnikova (2013) 24. It should be mentioned that some scholars are of the opinion that there was a group of Mycenaean masculine nouns in -ra and that ¡unTiem is one of them and not a prehistoric vocative form, see Hooker (1967).
19 West (1988) 157, 159.
20 Shifman (1993) 41, 60 (KTU 1.16.iv.3).
21 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995) v.1, 196, 693.
22 Wyatt (1998) 123-124 (KTU 1.5.v.6-7).
23 Wyatt (1998) 65 (KTU 1.2.iv.8, and often).
24 Pokorny (1959) v.1, 13-14 (aig-).
25 npo^nova^ (1980) 28.
26 Wyatt (1998) 101 (KTU 1.4.v.6-9): ".the seasons of his rains may Baal indeed appoint, the season of his storm-char-
iot [b glt tkt - literally "chariot in the storm"], and [of] the sound of his voice from the clouds, [and of] his hurling to the
earth of lightning-flashes".
"storm-wind"24 and o/og (m) / oxtf (f) "chariot" (< Mycenaean wo-ka = Foxa "chariot")25. Apparently, Zeus' epithet aiyioxog emerged in Greek poetry before Homer and originally expressed the poetic image of Zeus riding in a storm-chariot analogous to the Syro-Phoenician poetic image of Baal as a rider in a chariot made of clouds, carried across the sky by the winds, and gleaming with lightning-flashes26 (note, e.g., the verse from the Psalm 104.3: "He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind", which seems to have been borrowed by early Hebrew literature from Syro-Phoenician religious hymns and/or poems about the storm-god)27. The idea of Baal riding in a storm-chariot had its roots in very old Near-Eastern imaginative perception of a storm-god as charioteer who had harnessed the storm; this perception is traced from the late third -early second millennia BC28. The idea of Baal-driver of stormy chariot had generated magnificent pictures in the Syro-Phoenician religious and mythological imagery during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, and it must have exercised influence on prehistoric Greek poetry and mythology. Descriptions of a storm-god riding in the sky in a stormy chariot, which would have been based on the passages from the Syro-Phoenician poems and hymns describing or referring to the flights of the "Charioteer of the Clouds", probably appeared in Greek poetry in the Early Mycenaean period, but were gradually modified and eventually lost their original meaning. Thus, the Near-Eastern pattern of a storm-god riding in his chariot across the sky and shining brightly with golden flashes of lightning may be recognized in the Homeric verses describing Zeus' impetuous flight in a chariot, in the Eighth Book of the Iliad: ".he let harness beneath his chariot [oxsoqi - epic dative plural form of oxog "chariot", "carriage"] his two horses with untiring feet [or with bronze hooves], swift-flying [mKvneia - accusative dual form of mKuneing < nevojuai "to fly"], with flowing manes of gold; and with gold [or golden radiance] he clad himself about his body, and grasped the well-wrought whip of gold, and stepped upon his chariot and touched the horses with the lash to
27 See also Psalm 18.9-10, and Psalm 77.17-18; in the most impressive way, the divine storm-chariot is described in the Book of Ezekiel, 1.4-28, 3.13, and 8.2.
28 Perhaps, the earliest indication of such perception is the representation of the Sumerian storm-god Iskur in a chariot drawn by a furious, winged lion-dragon, on a cylinder seal dated to the late third millennium BC (Black and Green (1992) 52; Frankfort (1939) pl.22, a); according to the Sumerian hymns, Iskur was believed to have harnessed seven winds to haul his wagon (Pritchard (1969) 577-578 'Ishkur and the Destruction of the Rebellious Land', lines 7, 15-17). Adad, the East Semitic storm-god, appears with the epithet rkb "rider" in the early-second millennium BC Akkadian epic poem Atrahasis (Smith and Pitard (2009) 297), and was represented as a rider in a chariot drawn by horses or bulls on the Old Assyrian Colony Period seals (c. 1969-1715 BC) found in Central Anatolia (Ozgu? (2006) 192, nu.CS 589; Frankfort (1939) 242-251, pl.40, m, n). His West Semitic version - the storm-god Hadad (=Baal) is recognized on a relief from the temple of the Storm-god of Halab-Aleppo, dated to the eleventh century BC, showing the god as a young warrior armed with thunder-mace and riding in a chariot drawn by a bull (Hawkins (2011) fig.2).
start them; and those, not involuntary, flied [nereaOnv < nexo^ai "to fly"] onward midway between earth and starry heaven" (Il. 8.41-46). The original lines, which underlie this Homeric passage, could resemble the verses from a hymn to the Sumerian storm-god Iskur: "Father Iskur, lord who rides the storm. Your radiance has covered the land like a garment. Harness the winds before you. Let the seven winds be harnessed for you like a team. Let your vizier 'Lightning' go before you."29. Quite similarly, the god Marduk, who adopted many of the characteristics of the East Semitic storm-god Adad identified with Iskur, was described in the Babylonian poem Enuma Elish, in the scene when he prepares for the battle with the dragoness Tiamat: ".He set the lightning in front of him. With burning flame he filled his body.. He sent forth the winds which he had created, the seven of them. Then the lord raised the thunderbolt, his mighty weapon. He mounted the chariot, the unrivalled and terrible storm. He harnessed and yoked unto it four horses, destructive, ferocious, overwhelming, and swift of pace..."30. Analogous descriptions of Baal, which must have existed in Syro-Phoenician poetry and religious literature as well31, though they are not preserved, would have been used by prehistoric Greek bards for composing the verses about Zeus' rides across the heaven in a stormy chariot-Fo/d. However, in the course of time, Greek oral tradition changed the original context of those verses, which in a slightly modified form began to express more generally the idea of the majestic splendour of a heavenly journey performed by a god; with such changes, they could be used for other gods, as, for example, for Poseidon, whose flight in a chariot (Il. 13.2326) is described in almost the same way as the flight of Zeus. The original meaning of the epithet aiyio^og "Driver of a stormy chariot / Charioteer of storm" was forgotten towards the beginning of the historic period, and this epithet began to be interpreted as "aegis-bearer". Nevertheless, the prehistoric motif of Zeus riding in the chariot of storm, which was given verbal form by Greek prehistoric poetry according to the Near-Eastern poetic patterns, remained an impressive picture in the Greek mythological imagery throughout the centuries. The legendary Elean king Salmoneus, who was placed by the tradition in the Post-Mycenaean historical context and was known to Homer as "blameless", "no-
ble" (Od. 11.235-236), was said to imitate Zeus by riding in a vehicle, which produced tremendous noise as if it was Zeus' thundering chariot (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History 6.6.4, 6.7.1; Apollodorus, The Library, 1.9.7). In the fifth century BC, Pindar expressed the old concept of Zeus as a rider in a storm-chariot by calling the god "charioteer of thunder": "Driver most high of the thunder[-chariot drawn by horses with] untiring feet, Zeus" / "sAaztfp vnspzaze ftpovxag [=Ppovx^^] aKajuavzonoSog Zeo" (Pindar, Olympian Ode 4.1). In the fourth century BC, Plato wrote: ".the great leader in heaven, Zeus, driving a winged chariot, goes first, arranging all things and caring for all things" (Plato, Phaedrus, 246e)32.
In Syro-Phoenician religion and epos, Baal had the second name Hadd(u) or Hadad meaning "thunderer" (derived from the Semitic root *hdd- "to thunder")33. Ugaritic poets described the thunder as "the sound of [Baal's] voice from the clouds"34. Similarly, Homeric Zeus thunders "from on high from out the clouds" (Od. 20.102-104); he is "thundering on high" - vyifipep.exnq (Il. 1.354, and often), "strongly-thundering" -epiySovnog (Il. 7.411, and often), and "terribly-thundering" - a^epSakea Kvvnsmv; the thundering voice of Zeus is borne afar, as it is indicated by his epithet evpvona (Il. 1.498, and often), seemingly an original vocative form. The Homeric description of Zeus thundering aloud as he sits on his throne on the top of Mount Olym-pos - "Zeus.., whose voice resounds afar / evpvona, sat on his throne of gold, and beneath his feet great Olym-pos quaked" (Il. 8.442-443), seems to be a shortened reproduction of the passage from a Syro-Phoenician epic song or hymn, which glorified Baal's enthronement over the world, as, e.g., the following lines from the Ugaritic poem known as 'Baal's Palace' of the Baal Cycle:
"Baal settled into his house, into the midst of his palace.
Baal opened a rift in the clouds;
His holy voice Baal gave forth;
Baal repeated the is[sue of] his lips [= the thunder].
At his h[oly] voice the earth quaked;
at the issue of his [lips] the mountains were afraid.
The ancient [mountains] were afraid;
29 Pritchard (1969) 577-578 'Ishkur and the Destruction of the Rebellious Land', lines 7, 11, 16-17, 19.
30 Clay (1923), Appendix, Tablet IV, lines 39-52. Jacobsen (1968) 106, pointed out that Marduk's appearance in this scene is typical for the Near-Eastern storm-gods.
31 Note, for example, a conventionalized representation of Baal's ride in a bull-drawn chariot, on a cylinder seal from Ugarit: Baal strides to the left; he brandishes a hammer in his raised left hand and holds an axe in the extended forward right hand, in which he also holds the reins of two bulls galloping to the left, in front of him, see Schaeffer (1949) 40, fig.13.3.
32 Note also, Tiverios (1997) nu.211 - Zeus holding thunderbolt in his raised left hand, rides in a chariot drawn by four
horses (Campanian krater, c. mid-fourth century BC). Comparative evidence from individual Indo-European mytholo-
gies suggests that the Indo-European mythological imagery, too, comprised the concept of a storm-god riding in a chariot
drawn by horses (as Vedic Indra and Baltic Perkunas) or goats (as German-Scandinavian Thor). However, it needs to be pointed out that Greek Zeus was not originally a storm-god. Also, the descriptions of Thor and Perkunas as chariot-riders belong to the Middle Ages and may have emerged in mythologies of the early Germans and Balts under the influence of ancient culture, into which the motif of a storm-god riding in a chariot may have come from the Near East (the case of the so-called travelling images). Only the Vedic verses relating to Indra and describing him as a rider in a chariot drawn by brown horses (e.g., Rig Veda 1.5.4, 1.82.1e, 6) testify, more or les securely, to the original Indo-European pattern of a storm-god riding in the chariot of storm. Overall, this subject requires further study.
33 Wyatt (1998) 110, note 158 (for KTU 1.4.vii.38-39).
34 Wyatt (1998) 101 (KTU 1.4.v.9); also Shifman (1993) 198, 265: "the voice of Baal" = "thunder" (in KTU 1.19.i.46).
The hills of the ear[th] tottered"35. Also, the lines from the Psalm 18, which was likely composed on the basis of a similar Syro-Phoeni-cian text praising the storm-god, may be referred to: ".7. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because He was angry. 13. The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. 14. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. 15. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, Lord.".
Remarkably, Hesiod's Theogony contains verses, which, one the one hand, look like an extended version of the Iliad 8.442-443, and, on the other, exhibit even more similarities with the above-mentioned fragments from the Ugaritic epos and the Psalm 18: ".he [Zeus] thundered hard and mightily: and the earth around resounded terribly and the broad sky above, and the sea and Ocean's streams and Tartaros in the earth. Great Olympos trembled beneath the immortal feet as the lord arose and the earth groaned in response" (Hesiod, Theogony, 839-843); also: ".wise Zeus, father of gods and men, by whose thunder the wide earth is shaken." (Hesiod, Theogony, 457-458).
These parallels suggest that the Syro-Phoenician epic poems about Baal were quite widely known to the prehistoric Greek poets overall and that borrowings from those poems were commonly used in early Greek epic poetry.
Attention should also be given to the descriptions of Baal and Zeus as glorious storm-gods sitting atop of their beloved mountains with the attributes indicating their stormy powers:
"Baal sits like the base of a mountain; Hadd se[ttles] as the ocean, in the midst of his divine mountain, Saphon, in [the midst of] the mountain of victory. Seven lightning-flashes [ ], eight bundles of thunder,
a tree-of-lightning [in his] ri[ght hand]." (Ugaritic 'Hymn to Baal enthroned')36, and ".the father of men and gods [= Zeus] came down from heaven, and sat him down on the peaks of many-fountained Ida; and in his hands he held the lightning" (Il. 11.182-184). Again, the Homeric passage seems to be a shorter version of or an excerpt from some prehistoric Greek poem about Zeus, which was composed as imitation of Syro-Phoenician hymns, if not of the particular one from Ugarit, describing the enthronement of Baal.
It should also be noted that in the Ugaritic myth, Baal's enthronement over the world was preceded by
35 Wyatt (1998) 108-109 (KTU 1.4.vii.13-14, 28-35); Parker (1997) 137.
36 Wyatt (1998) 388-389 (KTU 1.101 R 1-4).
37 Wyatt (1998) 108 (KTU 1.4.vii.7-12).
38 Wyatt (1998) 128 (KTU 1.5.vi.24, and often).
39 Black and Green (1992) 56: "Dagan was a West-Semitic
corn god who came to be worshiped extensively throughout the Near East, including Mesopotamia. The original meaning
of the name is unknown, but dagan is a common word in He-
brew and Ugaritic for 'grain', and according to one tradition the god Dagan was inventor of the plough."
his devastating tour through the territory of which he intended to become the master:
"He travelled [from city to] city; he went from tow[n to t]own. He seized sixty-six cities; seventy-seven towns. Eighty Baal [smote], ninety Baal [captured]"37.
The echo of an earlier Greek poem, which described an analogous tour by Zeus, may be found in the strange lines of the Iliad 2.116-118 relating to Zeus: ".Zeus, supreme in might. has laid low the heads of many cities, yea, and shall yet lay low, for his power is above all."
Furthermore, in terms of mythic genealogy, Baal is the son of the god Dagan38 who was connected with harvesting and especially with grain in Phoenician religion39. It is striking that in Greek mythology, Zebq nai^p, originally a father-god born by nobody, became the son of Kronos (Il. 1.498, 502, and often40), the deity provided with certain harvesting functions in Greek religion of historic time41.
In Syro-Phoenician mythology reflected in the poems of Ugarit, Baal is the divine lover and consort of the goddess Anat - "his sistef', "his father's daughter". It is tempting to consider that their relationship as siblings and spouses was mirrored in the character of the Homeric divine couple Zeus and Hera, who appear not only as husband and wife, but also as brother and sister, children of the same father Kronos42. The Ugaritic poems contain several love scenes involving Baal and Anat; one of these scenes closely resembles the episode of Zeus' seduction by Hera in the Fourteenth Book of the Iliad. In both cases, there is the same prelude: the goddess beholds her divine partner sitting in the distance, on the top of a mountain. Then, the preparation follows: the goddess performs washing with sacred moisture and anointment with perfumed oil, and becomes beautiful and irresistibly desirable. After that, she appears in sight of her consort. The god, having noticed the approach of his spouse, suddenly feels a great desire for her; he recalls in his mind all his previous love affairs and admits that what he feels at this time is very special. The two scenes are described as follows: ".Zeus she [Hera] marked seated on the topmost peak of many-fountained Ida. With ambrosia first did she cleanse from her lovely body every stain, and anointed her richly with oil, ambrosial, soft, and of rich fragrance. Hera swiftly drew nigh to topmost Gargaros, the peak of lofty Ida, and Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, beheld her. And when he beheld her, then love encompassed his wise heart about. The son of Kronos
40 KpoviSns and Kpoviwv are the most frequently used epithets of Zeus in the Homeric poems, see Dee (2001) 46-49.
41 In Athens and some other Ionian cities, Kronos was honored at a midsummer festival called Kronia, during which a sickle, the symbol of harvesting, was carried in a religious procession, see Bremmer (2008) 82.
42 However, it should also be taken into account the possibility that Zeus and Hera as brother and sister / husband and wife present a version of the common Indo-European myth about twins - brother and sister who commit incest and thereby become husband and wife, see more in Zolotnikova (2004).
clasped his wife in his arms." (Il. 14.159-353); and ".she [Anat] set her face. towards Baal in the heights of Saphon. She drew water and washed herself, (with) dew of heaven, oil of earth, the rain of the Charioteer of the Clouds, dew which heaven poured on her, rain with which the stars anointed her. Valiant Baal lifted up his eyes. and saw, yes, he saw Virgin Anat, the loveliest among the sisters of Baal. The coming of his sister Baal saw, the approach of his father's daughter."43. The particular Ugaritic version is preserved in fragments, and its ending is missing; however, it is more than likely that Baal and Anat had a passionate erotic union, as had Zeus and Hera in the analogous Homeric scene.
In the Ugaritic poems, Baal is equated with El in wisdom: these two gods have the exclusive knowledge of the most fundamental things, which, according to the Syro-Phoenician worldview, constitute the sacred mystery of the Universe. This exclusive knowledge is designated by the term word and includes: "a word of tree and whisper of stone, the sighing of the heavens to the earth, of the deeps to the stars. A word unknown to men, and which the multitudes of the earth do not un-derstand"44.
Baal adds to this list his exclusive knowledge of the nature of storm; he declares:
"I understand the thunder [or lightning], which the heavens do not know."45. It is noteworthy that Baal declares himself as a god who has all that exclusive knowledge in a message, which he sends with his assistants to the goddess Anat in the episode of their love union discussed above: Baal, having beheld beautiful Anat and feeling desire for her, promises to reveal all his knowledge to her on his mountain, if she will come there for intimate moments with him:
".I have a word that I would say to you, a message that I would repeat to you. [the full definition of Baal's knowledge] Come,
and I shall reveal it
in the midst of my divine mountain."46. As it was mentioned above, Homeric Zeus, like Baal and El, was thought of as a god who knows everything and says "wise words". The wisdom of Zeus is a quality inseparable from his very nature and is referred to quite often in the Homeric poems, but Homer gives only scanty details of it. Remarkably, when Thetis, the mother of Ahilleus, had to be encouraged in the last Book of the Iliad, Zeus sends to her his messenger, the goddess Iris, who tells her the following: "Rouse you, o Thetis. Zeus who knows the eternal values / audita ^Sea is calling you" (Il. 24.88)47. As it has been
43 Wyatt (1998) 76, 82, 156.
44 Wyatt (1998) 45 (KTU 1.1.iii.13-15); Wyatt (1998) 78 (KTU 1.3.iii.23-25).
45 Wyatt (1998) 78 (KTU 1.3.iii.26).
46 Wyatt (1998) 78 (KTU 1.3.iii.21-29).
47 The whole phrase is: "öpao ©en: KaXssi Zebg audita n^Sea eiSäg."
48 Zolotnikova (2013) 25-26.
argued elsewhere, the epic formula aqOua f^Sea must be interpreted as "eternal fundamental principles, which determine the entire being"48. Therefore, it seems possible to compare aqOna fi^Sea, or the "eternal values", known by Homeric Zeus with those most sacred and important things, which knew Baal and El of the Ugaritic epic poems. Hence, it may be argued that a passage analogous to that mentioning the wisdom of Baal in the context of his divine union with the goddess Anat existed in prehistoric Greek epic diction; that passage was seriously modified by the time of Homer with the result its context was changed and Zeus' knowledge of the most fundamental principles was expressed in one short phrase. In addition, it is tempting to find an echo of a prehistoric Greek phrase, which would have resembled the Ugaritic one referring to Baal's exclusive knowledge - "I understand the thunder [or lightning]", in the verse from the Odyssey: ".Zeus-hurler of thunderbolt, who knows well all things." / "...A/a xepniKspavvov, o ydp t' eu oiSev anavTa" (Od. 20.75).
As regards the Phoenician divine structure, the epic poems of Ugarit seem to imply that El, despite the absolute sovereignty which he has in the pantheon, is passive, and the actual power over the world is exercised by the three gods - Baal, Yam, and Mot49; those represent the three major divisions of the Ugaritic Universe - the stormy sky sending rains, the waters surrounding the earth, and the realm of the dead, respectively. It is difficult to deny that such an order is similar to that expressed in the Fifteenth Book of the Iliad, in the verses about the division of the power over the world between Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades:
"For we are three brothers whom Rhea bore to Kronos,
Zeus and myself [Poseidon] and Hades lord of the dead.
And all is shared out three ways: each has been apportioned his own domain.
I [Poseidon] got the grey sea to be my home,
When the lots were cast, Hades got the misty dark,
And Zeus got the broad heaven amid the air and clouds." (Il. 15.187-192).
According to the concept that runs through all the Ugaritic poems, Baal's excellence in battle and his remarkable bravery were the qualities, which determined his superior position in relation to all the other gods except El. In the most explicit manner, Baal is exalted as the "bravest" and "highest god" in the verses, which seem to have been borrowed from a religious hymn: "Our king is Valiant, Baal is our ruler [or lord], and there is none [who is] above him"50. Homeric Zeus, too, shows the ability to face and to overcome any enemy: he is "mighty" - epiaOev^g (Il. 13.54, 19.355, 21.184), "far the mightier", "the bravest" - noXv qepTepog / noXv
49 Wyatt (1998) 140, note 103. The motif of the division of the world between three gods also occurs in Mesopotamian mythology and is recorded in the First Tablet of the epic poem Atrahasis, see the commentary in Laess0e (1956);
also http://iewishchristianlit.com/Texts/ANEmyths/at-raha1.htm.
50 Wyatt (1998) 87 (KTU 1.3.v.32-33); Wyatt (1998) 100 (KTU 1.4.iv.43-44).
yepvavog (Il. 1.581, 4.56, and often), "the mightiest of all" - Kapxiarog anavxmv (Il. 8.17 and 20.243), and "the most mighty" - vnep^ev^g (Il. 2.350, and often), while the idea of Zeus' unchallengeable physical superiority over the other gods is basic for the divine order as presented in the Homeric poems. The formula "Zeus, the highest and best of gods" / Oemv vnaiog Kai apiatog (Il. 19.258) and especially the words of Hera about Zeus: ". among the immortal gods he is supreme in might and strength and is manifestly the best" (Il. 15.107-108)51 seem to resemble closely the above-mentioned Ugaritic lines relating to Valiant Baal.
Conclusions
To summarize all the above, there are a significant number of close similarities between certain epithetic formulae, verses, and whole sections of the Homeric poems relating to Zeus and certain expressions and passages of the Ugaritic poems relating to El and especially to Baal; these similarities are observed in the choice of words, phraseology, and meaning. However, the Uga-ritic passages seemingly reproduced in the Homeric ones are, as a rule, larger and may differ from the latter in context. Here, it must be emphasized that the Homeric poems are of a much later date than the poems of Ugarit and that about four hundred years separate these poetic compositions.
What does it mean?
It appears that the Homeric passages relating to Zeus and presenting resemblances with the Ugaritic passages relating to Baal and El are only scattered fragments, which remained from a much more voluminous prehistoric corpus of Greek poetry concerned with Zeus and created by analogy with the Near-Eastern epics about the main Syro-Phoenician gods.
It may be argued that during Mycenaean time, prehistoric Greek bards composed poems and hymns about Zeus using Syro-Phoenician, and Ugaritic in particular, poems about El and Baal translated into prehistoric Greek52. The Near-Eastern poems, including the poems of Ugarit, may have been translated into Mycenaean Greek language quite literally or may have been reproduced (re-told) in prehistoric Greek with varying degrees of accuracy, while the names of the Greek gods were used in the texts as translational equivalents of the names of Near-Eastern gods (probably, but not necessarily, based on maximum correspondence). During the Bronze Age, such a practice was common in the Near East and contributed significantly to the exchange of mythological and literary themes, motifs, and characters between different cultural traditions53. In historic time, an analogous case is attested in Ancient Italy where the Latin authors translated Greek myths into Latin using the names of their own gods (and thereby substantially enriched Roman mythology). Due to this practice, many important passages of the Syro-Phoeni-cian and other Near-Eastern epic and religious songs
51 In Greek: "...sv aOavatoiai Osoîrn KapTS'i' ts aOsvsi' ts SiaKpiSôv sivai apiaxoç."
52 The opinion of M. Bachvarova that the use of Near-Eastern narrative traditions by the mainland Greeks and the Euboeans began as early as the eleventh century BC (Bachvarova (2016) 299) seems to be not quite correct.
53 Metcalf (2015) 2, 6.
must have become part of Mycenaean Greek poetry. Consequently, many Greek gods, as Zeus and Hera, became participants of the mythic scenes and whole myths, which were borrowed from various Near-Eastern mythic / epic cycles; thereby, at the poetic / epic / mythic level, Greek gods were provided with the epithets and characteristic features of the Near-Eastern gods whom they represented in the Greek versions of the Near-Eastern myths, even though their actual religious concepts did not imply those features and qualities. In order to reinforce this assumption, it should be referred to a scene, which was described in the epic cycle poem The War of the Titans, written probably by Eumelus in the eighth century BC, and in which Zeus appeared dancing: "Eumelus. somewhere introduces Zeus dancing; he says: 'In the midst of them danced the Father of men and gods' " (Athenaeus, The Deipnoso-phists, 22c)54. This strange episode, not alluded to elsewhere in preserved Ancient Greek literature, seems to have been a remnant of a prehistoric Greek poem that included lines relating to Zeus, borrowed from Phoenician poems, as, e.g., the Ugaritic Rephaim Texts and the Poem of Akhat: in the former, Baal appears as a dance participant; he plays lyre, flute, drum, and cymbals, and sings among the dancing; in the latter, Baal is described as playing music and singing "pleasantly" for a mortal man, to whom he bestows immortality55. This Phoenician pattern seems to have been employed by early Greek poets in order to compose vivid descriptions of Zeus, but eventually it was broken in parts, each of which had a different life in Greek mythological poetry: the image of dancing Zeus would have appeared not exactly appropriate for the portrait of the Father of gods and men and vanished, while the miraculous ability of the supreme god to make a mortal man immortal must have continued to be attractive. Thus, a passage describing Zeus as having such an ability is found in the Homeric Hymn (5) to Aphrodite (218-222) - the goddess Eos begs Zeus to make Tithonos, a beautiful young man whom she fell in love with, immortal: " .golden-throned Eos. went to ask the dark-clouded Son of Kronos that he [Tithonos] should be deathless and live eternally; and Zeus bowed his head to her prayer and fulfilled her desire".
Mycenaean direct borrowing from the Near-Eastern / Syro-Phoenician epic poems and religious hymns through their translation into prehistoric Greek would explain a remarkable number of parallels traced between Ancient Greek literature and the Old Testament, given that early Jewish literature, too, absorbed a large part of Syro-Phoenician / Canaanite religious and epic texts translated into Hebrew56. Probably, the same prac-
54 "Eû^n^oç Ss o KopivOioç q ApKiîvoç xôv Aia ôp%oû^svôv nou napäysi Xsyrov: ^saaoiaiv S' âp/eïxo naxtfp âvSpwv Te Oemv Te."
55 Shifman (1993) 301 (KTU 1.108.3-5), 312; Shifman (1993) 194 (KTU 1.17.vi. 30-32).
56 West (1997) 90-91, 99-101.
tice underlay the presence of many elements of the Hittite and Hurrian epic / mythological traditions and even religious texts in Greek mythology and poetry57.
To note, the Homeric poems contain information about contacts between Mycenaean kingdoms and Phoenicia: e.g., in the Odyssey, there is a mention of Menelaos' durable visit to Sidon (Od. 15.117-119), while Odysseus makes up a believable story about his visit to Phoenicia (Od. 14.288-292). A hoard containing Bronze Age Near-Eastern cylinder seals with representations of religious and mythological themes was found in Mycenaean Thebes (Boeotia)58. There are considerable archaeological indications of Mycenaean presence in Phoenicia, precisely in Ugarit59. Therefore, cultural contacts and exchange between Mycenaean Greece and Late Bronze Age Syria and Phoenicia, including the spheres of poetry, epos, and mythology, may be considered highly probable.
At this point, it should be clarified that if Greek Zevg narfp could easily be compared with Syro-Phoe-nician El Father, likening of Zeus, a god of the clear sky, to the storm-god Baal could be possible, provided that Greek prehistoric poetry had already made Zeus the epic Greek storm-god (the exact circumstances under which such a transformation of Zeus at the level of Greek epic poetry took place should be studied especially). However, this literary identification of Zeus with Baal, as it seems, had a tremendous impact on Greek mythology. Perhaps, it might be argued that Kro-nos as a divine figure appeared in Greek mythology because of the translation into Greek of the name of Baal's father Dagan, the Phoenician god of harvest: in terms of etymology, the name of Kronos was probably formed on the basis of the verb Keipm meaning "to cut (with a sickle)"60, and it should be interpreted as "reaper". In other words, during the Mycenaean period, the Phoenician compound divine name "Baal, son of Dagan" may have been translated into prehistoric Greek as "Zeus, son of Kronos"; that prehistoric Greek poetic invention eventually generated the notion of a specific deity - Kronos, the father of Zeus, which became the basis for the genealogy of the Olympian family of gods (Hesiod, Theogony).
In the course of time, Greek oral tradition modified and re-interpreted the original passages borrowed and translated from the Near-Eastern / Syro-Phoenician epics in accordance with the preferences of the Greek audience and Greek religious imagery, which itself underwent changes. Many of those passages may have been re-used by post-Mycenaean Greek poets in different context and incorporated in newly emerged myths61. This process could already have started in Late Mycenaean time, when the Northern Mycenaean (Boe-otian-Thessalian) epic tradition and language became
57 See more on this subject in Bachvarova (2016); also in Puhvel (1991).
58 Porada (1981/1982).
59 Schaeffer (1949) plates 34-38 - examples of Mycenaean pottery found in Ras Shamra-Ugarit.
60 Janda (2010) 54-56.
61 For example, the Phoenician/Ugaritic myth about Baal and
Litan, "the wriggling serpent", whom Baal smote in a battle
notably differentiated from the South-Mycenaean (Pel-oponnesian) epic tradition and language62. Perhaps, a substantial part of the original passages borrowed from the Syro-Phoenician epos and other Near-Eastern epic traditions was even lost during the Post-Mycenaean period and the Dark Age.
However, certain epithets and mythologems originally borrowed from the Near-Eastern, and in particular Ugaritic, poems were so firmly associated with Zeus by prehistoric Greek oral tradition that became inseparable from the image of this god for later generations of Greek bards and their listeners. Thus, epic Zeus, originally the father-god Zeôç narfp personifying the clear sky, definitely became the son of Kronos and a mighty god of storm towards the Aeolian phase of epic (connected with the Dark Age); he was no longer imagined without his sister-and-wife Hera and his magnificent house on Mt. Olympos where he presided over the divine assemblies. Finally, the epic diction, adopting and adapting the Near-Eastern religious and mythological concepts, gradually returned to Zeus the supreme position among the Greek gods, despite the fact that the Late Bronze Age Greek pantheon was dominated by various female deities.
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РОССИЯ В ГРАЖДАНСКОЙ ВОЙНЕ: ВЛАСТЬ И ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫЕ СИЛЫ
Иванов Л.П.
студент Северо-Восточного федерального университета имени М.К. Аммосова RUSSIA IN THE CIVIL WAR: POWER AND SOCIAL FORCES
Ivanov L.
Student of North-Eastern federal university in Yakutsk
Аннотация
Гражданская война 1917-1922 гг. — огромный пласт истории нашей страны, трагическая эпоха кровавой междоусобицы, исполненная драматизмом ожесточённой борьбы, период идейного противостояния различных организаций и социальных групп, на долгие годы изменивший путь социально-экономического, политического и духовного развития России и оказавший заметное влияние на мировые процессы в XX веке. В ходе Гражданской войны в России столкнулись, с одной стороны, партия большевиков -радикально-социалистическая, 25 октября/7 ноября 1917 г. захватившая власть в стране, и множество группировок, различавшихся по своей социальной опоре, идейно-политическим взглядам, целям и методам борьбы с большевиками, с другой. В условиях глубочайшей социально-экономической катастрофы, пережитой страной в тот период, в обществе резко обострились все социальные и политические противоречия, что придало гражданской войне массовость, ожесточённость и длительность. Раздробленные антибольшевистские силы не смогли противостоять большевикам и потерпели поражение.
В современном мире гражданские войны не только не прекратились, но имеют не менее ожесточённый характер. Это повышает значимость исследований проблемы причин поражения сил, участвовавших в гражданской войне начала XX в., являющейся составной частью глобальной проблемы существования государства в кризисных условиях, представленной в работе на примере анализа конкретных условий Гражданской войны в России 1917-1922 гг.
