MYTHOLOGIES IN CONTACT: SYRO-PHOENICIAN TRAITS IN HOMERIC ZEUS.

16 The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) HISTORICAL 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, prehis- toric Greek epos, Syro-Phoenician mythology, Ugarit epic poems, Baal, El, Near-Eastern influence on Ancient Greek mythology. Introduction Ugarit3, but a considerable quantity of the Syro-Phoe- It is commonly accepted that Greek epic poetry of nician religious and mythological themes and motifs is the late prehistoric – early historic periods widely bor- also preserved in the Old Testament, while the repre- rowed from Near-Eastern literature verbal formulae, sentational material from Syria and Phoenicia, too, pro- descriptions and characteristics of gods, mythological vides important information about the Syro-Phoenician motifs and themes. Zeus as appears in the poems of mythological imagery. However, in order to estimate Homer is, perhaps, the most remarkable example of a properly the similarities between the Homeric verses Greek mythological divine figure with easily recog- relating to Zeus and the Ugaritic passages relating to El nizable traits of different Near-Eastern gods. Striking and Baal, it must be realized, firstly, the difference in similarities between the descriptions of Zeus in the Ho- the time of the composition of the Homeric poems and meric poems and the literary portraits of certain Near- the epic poems of Ugarit, and, secondly, the fact that, Eastern gods, as Syro-Phoenician El and Baal, Sume- unlike the Ugaritic poems, as, e.g., those of Baal Cycle, rian-Akkadian Enlil and Ishkur, Babylonian Marduk, the poems of Homer are not about gods: the Iliad and and Hebrew Yahweh, have been noticed and indicated the Odyssey describe certain epic events and deeds of by many scholars who explored a more general subject certain epic heroes, while the gods, including Zeus, are of Near-Eastern elements in Greek poetry and mythol- rather in the background in either of the poems. This ogy2. However, a specific study, which would carefully means that the author of the Iliad and of the Odyssey survey the features of the Near-Eastern gods adopted did not especially try to create elaborate descriptions of by the epic / mythological image of Zeus, is still to be gods, but used (or modified) the verses, which already carried out. Such a study would help to trace the history existed in Greek epic diction in his time. Just a few dec- of the concept of Zeus in Greek mythology from pre- ades after the Iliad and the Odyssey (or, possibly, even historic time to the Archaic period. In this paper, it will at the same time with the Odyssey), Hesiod, in order to be attempted to highlight and to analyze those features summarize and systematize the Greek myths as those in the Homeric image of Zeus, which appear very sim- were shaped by the late eighth – early seventh centuries ilar with the characteristics of the Syro-Phoenician BC, wrote a special poem about the Greek gods – the gods El and Baal and, therefore, may have been bor- Theogony, in which Zeus is undoubtedly the main pro- rowed by Greek epic diction from the Syro-Phoenician tagonist richly and elaborately described. Therefore, myths and epic poems. In order to complete this survey, comparing Homeric Zeus with El and Baal of the Syro- it is necessary to specify the mechanism and the chro- Phoenician epics and myths, it seems useful to supple- nology of the appearance of the Syro-Phoenician ele- ment the Homeric references to Zeus with some pas- ments in the mythological image of Zeus. sages from Hesiod’s Theogony. The surviving part of the Syro-Phoenician mythic Zeus and El / epic tradition is mostly represented by the epics of Comparing the divine spheres presented in the po- ems of Homer and in the epics of Ugarit, one may easily 2 3 The book by M. West (1997) The East Face of Helicon… The texts of the epics of Ugarit are cited and referred to in (Oxford) should be mentioned as, perhaps, the most exhaus- this paper according to their English translation by Wyatt tive of the recent studies on this subject. See also Penglase (1998) and Parker (1997), and the Russian edition by Shifman (1994), Zolotnikova (2013) 31-36. (1993). The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) 17 observe, first of all, a number of close resemblances be- may have been the supreme Greek god during the tween the Homeric portrait of Zeus and the image of Early-Middle (?) Bronze Age, but his position in the the supreme Syro-Phoenician god El: both gods have as Mycenaean pantheon focused on the Great God- their basic designation the epithet “father” applied to dess(es)11, was rather low, not resembling at all the po- them regardless of the real state of kinship. The for- sition of Zeus in the divine system of the Homeric ep- mally similar compounds “(Bull) El Father” and “Zeus- ics12. Hence, Zeus actually worshiped during the late Father” / Ζεύς πατήρ are used for these gods throughout prehistoric period would hardly have been the proto- the Ugaritic epos and the Homeric poems, respec- type for Homeric Zeus – the “Lord-ruler of gods and tively4. Moreover, El is called “Father of men”5 and men”. “Father of gods” in separate epithets matched by Zeus’ El was imagined seated on a throne, in his magnif- formulaic epithet “Father of men and gods” / πατὴρ icent Palace – “the House of Father”, located at the sup- ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε (Il. 1.544, and often). In the Ugaritic posed exact centre of the Universe - perhaps, on a poems, the gods may be designated as “sons of El”6, mountain13; assemblies / councils of gods and divine while the epithet “beloved of El” is applied to the gods banquettes took place there (note, for instance, “…the especially favoured by the supreme deity7. Analogous convocation of the Council / Great Assembly [of gods]” terminology is traced in the Homeric poems, in which at “the Divine Mountain [of El]”, described in KTU the epithet “son of Zeus” / Διὸς υἱὸς is used for gods- 1.2.i.13-14, and “The Myth of El’s Banquet” recorded Zeus’ sons (Il. 1.9, and often) and the epithet “loved by in a vast text)14. The Homeric pictures of the “House of Zeus” or “dear to Zeus” / διῖφιλος (= Διῒ φίλος) desig- Zeus” / δῶμα Διὸς on Olympos, likewise used for di- nates the distinguished heroes (e.g., Il. 6.318). Thus, vine assemblies and feasts15, are remarkably similar to Ugaritic El and Homeric Zeus appear very much alike the descriptions of the “Palace of El” and of the events in personifying the idea of the absolute fatherhood, held in it, while the Homeric verses describing Zeus each in his own divine system. Here, it must be noted seated on a golden throne in his palace atop of Olympos that the origins and the actual meaning of this idea in (Il. 8.442-443: “Zeus… himself sat upon his throne of the religious perception of the Greeks and in that of the gold…”; Il. 1.533-536: “Zeus went to his own palace… Phoenicians were different: in the Syro-Phoenician re- he sat down there upon his throne”) seem to have re- ligious system, El Father was regarded as the Creator flected the Near-Eastern imagery. It should be empha- of being8; Homeric Ζεύς πατήρ was the Greek version sized that the motif of the supreme enthroned god is not of the common supreme Indo-European god *t’yeu(s)- securely traced in individual Indo-European mytholo- phHther “God of the clear sky-Father” who was not gies, because such a motif implies a certain concept of linked to the function of creation9. However, the quality power that was not inherent in traditional Indo-Euro- of a universal father pertaining to both the gods must pean ideas16. However, the Homeric image of Zeus have played the major role in comparing Zeus to El, seated on a golden throne provided the most inspira- which the prehistoric Greeks visiting Phoenicia and tional pattern for the representations of Zeus enthroned, Greek bards familiar with the Phoenician mythological which were created in Greek art from the Archaic pe- images could not avoid. riod onward. Both El and Homeric Zeus hold the supreme posi- Both El and Homeric Zeus possess extraordinary tion in their pantheons: the authority of El, which he wisdom. In Ugarit, the wisdom of El was hymned in may transmit to any god of his choice, is expressed in special religious chants: “Your word, El, is wise: you the titles “Lord of the gods” / yw il[m], “Lord” / adn, are everlastingly wise; a life of good fortune is your and “King”10; Homeric Zeus, often called simply word”17. Homeric Zeus, too, “...may speak a word of “Lord” / ἄναξ (Il. 1.502, and often), acts as “Lord of wisdom” (Il. 24.75); he is the god who knows every- gods and men” (Il. 2.669), that is, as “Lord over all mor- thing and “in wisdom… [is] above all others, both men tals and immortals” (Il. 12.242), and as “Lord among and gods” (Il. 13.631-632). It is noteworthy that the all the immortals” (Il. 18.366). In this regard, it should main epithet designating Zeus as the all-knowing god – be noted that Zeus as a direct descendant of the supreme μητίετα (Ιl. 1.507, and often) seems to be formally a Indo-European god *t’yeu(s)-phHther in Greek religion 4 13 Wyatt (1998) 47 (KTU 1.1.iii.26, and often); Dee (2001) 57- Wyatt (1998) 46 (KTU 1.1.iii.21-24); Wyatt (1998) 52 59. (KTU 1.2.iii.3-6). Note also the relief on a stele from Ugarit 5 Shifman (1993) 74 - “Father of men” / ‘b ‘adm, where ‘adm (14th century BC) with representation of El enthroned, accept- designates a collective of people. ing offerings from a king of Ugarit, Schaeffer (1939) pl.31. 6 bn il(m), Wyatt (1998) 54-55, note 78 (KTU 1.2.iii.20). 14 Wyatt (1998) 58; Wyatt (1998) 404-413; also Wyatt (1998) 7 Wyatt (1998) 49 (KTU 1.1.iv.20). 50 (KTU 1.1.iv.29): “El gave a feast[”. 8 Note the Ugaritic epithet of El - “Creator of the creatures” 15 Note Iliad, 1.221-222: “…to Olympos, to the halls / cham- or “Creator of the created things”, Wyatt (1998) 94, note 103 bers of Zeus…” / “Οὔλυμπον… δώματ᾽ ἐς… Διὸς…”; also Il- (KTU I.4.ii.10, KTU I.4.iii.32, and oth.); also, the epithetic iad, 1.533-535, 1.570, 5.906, 19.355, and oth.; Iliad, 4.1: formula “God Most High, maker of heaven and earth” pre- “…the gods, seated by the side of Zeus, were holding assem- served in the Old Testament (Gen. 14.19, 22). On the func- bly on the golden floor…”; Iliad, 20.4-6: “Zeus bade Themis tions of creator ascribed to El, see Zolotnikova (2013) 34. summon the gods to the place of gathering from the brow of 9 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995) v.1, 196, 680, 692-700. many-ribbed Olympos; and she sped everywhither, and bade 10 Wyatt (1998) 52 - “King” in KTU 1.2.iii.6; Wyatt (1998) them come to the house of Zeus”; Odyssey, 5.3-4: “…the gods 48-49, note 54 - the titles of El transferred to the god Yam. were sitting down to council, and among them Zeus…”. 11 See more on this subject in Boëlle (2004). 16 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995) v.1, 692-700. 12 Zolotnikova (2013) 39-41. 17 Wyatt (1998) 87 (KTU 1.3.v.30- 31). 18 The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) vocative noun, which may have descended into the Ho- “storm-wind”24 and ὄχος (m) / ὀχή (f) “chariot” (< My- meric epics from prehistoric invocations addressed to cenaean wo-ka = Fοχά “chariot”)25. Apparently, Zeus’ wise Zeus18. Therefore, it might be presumed the exist- epithet αἰγίοχος emerged in Greek poetry before Homer ence of a prehistoric Greek epic song or religious hymn, and originally expressed the poetic image of Zeus rid- in which the wisdom of Zeus was exalted in the way ing in a storm-chariot analogous to the Syro-Phoenician analogous to that used in the Ugaritic hymn for “ever- poetic image of Baal as a rider in a chariot made of lastingly wise” El. Moreover, the Homeric formula clouds, carried across the sky by the winds, and gleam- “equal to Zeus in wisdom” / Διὶ μῆτιν ἀτάλαντος (Il. ing with lightning-flashes26 (note, e.g., the verse from 7.47, and often), which may have been of the Early My- the Psalm 104.3: “He makes the clouds his chariot and cenaean origin (< *Diweí mḗtim sṃtálantos19), appears rides on the wings of the wind”, which seems to have as an equivalent of the phrase: “like El you are wise” been borrowed by early Hebrew literature from Syro- from an early Ugaritic poem known as The Legend of Phoenician religious hymns and/or poems about the Keret20. To clarify, it is not improbable that Greek Zeus storm-god)27. The idea of Baal riding in a storm-chariot was originally regarded and appealed to as a wise god; had its roots in very old Near-Eastern imaginative per- however, it seems that, if Zeus was really exalted as a ception of a storm-god as charioteer who had harnessed wise god in Mycenaean poems, verbal rendering of the the storm; this perception is traced from the late third – idea of Zeus’ wisdom resembled the Ugaritic verses re- early second millennia BC28. The idea of Baal-driver of ferring to the wisdom of El. It may also be argued that stormy chariot had generated magnificent pictures in the passages describing wise El in Syro-Phoenician lit- the Syro-Phoenician religious and mythological im- erature were used as patterns in prehistoric Greek po- agery during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, and etry from the beginning of the Mycenaean period, if not it must have exercised influence on prehistoric Greek earlier. poetry and mythology. Descriptions of a storm-god rid- Zeus and Baal ing in the sky in a stormy chariot, which would have Strikingly, Homeric Zeus, in spite of his name in- been based on the passages from the Syro-Phoenician dicating his original nature as that of a god of a clear, poems and hymns describing or referring to the flights not cloudy and not stormy, sky21, presents even more of the “Charioteer of the Clouds”, probably appeared in similarities with the Syro-Phoenician storm-god Baal Greek poetry in the Early Mycenaean period, but were as that is portrayed in the Ugaritic poems. Both act as gradually modified and eventually lost their original vigorous storm-gods controlling all aspects of the storm meaning. Thus, the Near-Eastern pattern of a storm-god as a natural phenomenon: the expressions “your riding in his chariot across the sky and shining brightly clouds”, “your winds”, “your lightning”, and “your with golden flashes of lightning may be recognized in rains” relating to Baal22 correspond to the Homeric for- the Homeric verses describing Zeus’ impetuous flight mulae “Zeus’ clouds” (Il. 2.146), “Zeus’ wind” (Il. in a chariot, in the Eighth Book of the Iliad: “…he let 14.19), “Zeus’ lightning” (Il. 11.166), “Zeus’ lightning harness beneath his chariot [ὄχεσφι - epic dative plural bolt” (Il. 21.198), and “Zeus’ rain” (Il. 5.91). form of ὄχος “chariot”, “carriage”] his two horses with One of the basic epithets of Baal in the poems of untiring feet [or with bronze hooves], swift-flying Ugarit – “Charioteer of the Clouds” or “Rider on the [ὠκυπέτα – accusative dual form of ὠκυπέτης < πέτομαι Clouds” / rkb ‘rpt23 seems to find its analogue in one of “to fly”], with flowing manes of gold; and with gold [or the most frequent epithets of Homeric Zeus - αἰγίοχος, golden radiance] he clad himself about his body, and which is formed of the words αἰγί-ς “storm-cloud”, grasped the well-wrought whip of gold, and stepped upon his chariot and touched the horses with the lash to 18 The word μητίετα (where –τα is the characteristic ending of 27 See also Psalm 18.9-10, and Psalm 77.17-18; in the most the vocative case of the masculine nouns in -της) seems to impressive way, the divine storm-chariot is described in the have been formed in Mycenaean Greek language: Homeric Book of Ezekiel, 1.4-28, 3.13, and 8.2. μητίετ-α < Myc. *metiwet- < *met-ti-unt- , see Leukart (1994) 28 Perhaps, the earliest indication of such perception is the 42-43, 291; Vivante (1982) 85. The literal meaning of the ep- representation of the Sumerian storm-god Iškur in a chariot ithet may have been “he who has learned everything”, see drawn by a furious, winged lion-dragon, on a cylinder seal Zolotnikova (2013) 24. It should be mentioned that some dated to the late third millennium BC (Black and Green scholars are of the opinion that there was a group of Myce- (1992) 52; Frankfort (1939) pl.22, a); according to the Sume- naean masculine nouns in –τα and that μητίετα is one of them rian hymns, Iškur was believed to have harnessed seven and not a prehistoric vocative form, see Hooker (1967). winds to haul his wagon (Pritchard (1969) 577-578 ‘Ishkur 19 West (1988) 157, 159. and the Destruction of the Rebellious Land’, lines 7, 15-17). 20 Shifman (1993) 41, 60 (KTU 1.16.iv.3). Adad, the East Semitic storm-god, appears with the epithet 21 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995) v.1, 196, 693. rkb “rider” in the early-second millennium BC Akkadian epic 22 Wyatt (1998) 123-124 (KTU 1.5.v.6-7). poem Atrahasis (Smith and Pitard (2009) 297), and was rep- 23 Wyatt (1998) 65 (KTU 1.2.iv.8, and often). resented as a rider in a chariot drawn by horses or bulls on the 24 Pokorny (1959) v.1, 13-14 (aig-). Old Assyrian Colony Period seals (c. 1969-1715 BC) found 25 Προμπονάς (1980) 28. in Central Anatolia (Özguç (2006) 192, nu.CS 589; Frankfort 26 Wyatt (1998) 101 (KTU 1.4.v.6-9): “…the seasons of his (1939) 242-251, pl.40, m, n). His West Semitic version – the rains may Baal indeed appoint, the season of his storm-char- storm-god Hadad (=Baal) is recognized on a relief from the iot [b glṯ ṯkt - literally “chariot in the storm”], and [of] the temple of the Storm-god of Halab-Aleppo, dated to the elev- sound of his voice from the clouds, [and of] his hurling to the enth century BC, showing the god as a young warrior armed earth of lightning-flashes”. with thunder-mace and riding in a chariot drawn by a bull (Hawkins (2011) fig.2). The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) 19 start them; and those, not involuntary, flied [πετέσθην < ble” (Od. 11.235-236), was said to imitate Zeus by rid- πέτομαι “to fly”] onward midway between earth and ing in a vehicle, which produced tremendous noise as if starry heaven” (Il. 8.41-46). The original lines, which it was Zeus’ thundering chariot (Diodorus Siculus, The underlie this Homeric passage, could resemble the Library of History 6.6.4, 6.7.1; Apollodorus, The Li- verses from a hymn to the Sumerian storm-god Iškur: brary, 1.9.7). In the fifth century BC, Pindar expressed “Father Iškur, lord who rides the storm… Your radi- the old concept of Zeus as a rider in a storm-chariot by ance has covered the land like a garment… Harness the calling the god “charioteer of thunder”: “Driver most winds before you. Let the seven winds be harnessed for high of the thunder[-chariot drawn by horses with] un- you like a team… Let your vizier ‘Lightning’ go before tiring feet, Zeus” / “ἐλατὴρ ὑπέρτατε βροντᾶς you…”29. Quite similarly, the god Marduk, who [=βροντῆς] ἀκαμαντόποδος Ζεῦ” (Pindar, Olympian adopted many of the characteristics of the East Semitic Ode 4.1). In the fourth century BC, Plato wrote: “…the storm-god Adad identified with Iškur, was described in great leader in heaven, Zeus, driving a winged chariot, the Babylonian poem Enuma Elish, in the scene when goes first, arranging all things and caring for all things” he prepares for the battle with the dragoness Tiamat: (Plato, Phaedrus, 246e)32. “…He set the lightning in front of him. With burning In Syro-Phoenician religion and epos, Baal had the flame he filled his body…. He sent forth the winds second name Hadd(u) or Hadad meaning “thunderer” which he had created, the seven of them… Then the (derived from the Semitic root *hdd- “to thunder”)33. lord raised the thunderbolt, his mighty weapon. He Ugaritic poets described the thunder as “the sound of mounted the chariot, the unrivalled and terrible storm. [Baal’s] voice from the clouds”34. Similarly, Homeric He harnessed and yoked unto it four horses, destructive, Zeus thunders “from on high from out the clouds” (Od. ferocious, overwhelming, and swift of pace...”30. Anal- 20.102-104); he is “thundering on high” - ὑψιβρεμέτης ogous descriptions of Baal, which must have existed in (Il. 1.354, and often), “strongly-thundering” - Syro-Phoenician poetry and religious literature as ἐρίγδουπος (Il. 7.411, and often), and “terribly-thunder- well31, though they are not preserved, would have been ing” - σμερδαλέα κτυπέων; the thundering voice of Zeus used by prehistoric Greek bards for composing the is borne afar, as it is indicated by his epithet εὐρύοπα verses about Zeus’ rides across the heaven in a stormy (Il. 1.498, and often), seemingly an original vocative chariot-Fοχά. However, in the course of time, Greek form. The Homeric description of Zeus thundering oral tradition changed the original context of those aloud as he sits on his throne on the top of Mount Olym- verses, which in a slightly modified form began to ex- pos - “Zeus.., whose voice resounds afar / εὐρύοπα, sat press more generally the idea of the majestic splendour on his throne of gold, and beneath his feet great Olym- of a heavenly journey performed by a god; with such pos quaked” (Il. 8.442-443), seems to be a shortened changes, they could be used for other gods, as, for ex- reproduction of the passage from a Syro-Phoenician ample, for Poseidon, whose flight in a chariot (Il. 13.23- epic song or hymn, which glorified Baal’s enthrone- 26) is described in almost the same way as the flight of ment over the world, as, e.g., the following lines from Zeus. The original meaning of the epithet αἰγίοχος the Ugaritic poem known as ‘Baal’s Palace’ of the Baal “Driver of a stormy chariot / Charioteer of storm” was Cycle: forgotten towards the beginning of the historic period, “Baal settled into his house, into the midst of his and this epithet began to be interpreted as “aegis- palace… bearer”. Nevertheless, the prehistoric motif of Zeus rid- Baal opened a rift in the clouds; ing in the chariot of storm, which was given verbal form His holy voice Baal gave forth; by Greek prehistoric poetry according to the Near-East- Baal repeated the is[sue of] his lips [= the thun- ern poetic patterns, remained an impressive picture in der]. the Greek mythological imagery throughout the centu- At his h[oly] voice the earth quaked; ries. The legendary Elean king Salmoneus, who was at the issue of his [lips] the mountains were afraid. placed by the tradition in the Post-Mycenaean historical The ancient [mountains] were afraid; context and was known to Homer as “blameless”, “no- 29 Pritchard (1969) 577-578 ‘Ishkur and the Destruction of the drawn by horses (as Vedic Indra and Baltic Perkunas) or goats Rebellious Land’, lines 7, 11, 16-17, 19. (as German-Scandinavian Thor). However, it needs to be 30 Clay (1923), Appendix, Tablet IV, lines 39-52. Jacobsen pointed out that Greek Zeus was not originally a storm-god. (1968) 106, pointed out that Marduk’s appearance in this Also, the descriptions of Thor and Perkunas as chariot-riders scene is typical for the Near-Eastern storm-gods. belong to the Middle Ages and may have emerged in mythol- 31 Note, for example, a conventionalized representation of ogies of the early Germans and Balts under the influence of Baal’s ride in a bull-drawn chariot, on a cylinder seal from ancient culture, into which the motif of a storm-god riding in Ugarit: Baal strides to the left; he brandishes a hammer in his a chariot may have come from the Near East (the case of the raised left hand and holds an axe in the extended forward right so-called travelling images). Only the Vedic verses relating hand, in which he also holds the reins of two bulls galloping to Indra and describing him as a rider in a chariot drawn by to the left, in front of him, see Schaeffer (1949) 40, fig.13.3. brown horses (e.g., Rig Veda 1.5.4, 1.82.1e, 6) testify, more 32 Note also, Tiverios (1997) nu.211 – Zeus holding thunder- or les securely, to the original Indo-European pattern of a bolt in his raised left hand, rides in a chariot drawn by four storm-god riding in the chariot of storm. Overall, this subject horses (Campanian krater, c. mid-fourth century BC). Com- requires further study. 33 Wyatt (1998) 110, note 158 (for KTU 1.4.vii.38-39). parative evidence from individual Indo-European mytholo- 34 Wyatt (1998) 101 (KTU 1.4.v.9); also Shifman (1993) 198, gies suggests that the Indo-European mythological imagery, too, comprised the concept of a storm-god riding in a chariot 265: “the voice of Baal” = “thunder” (in KTU 1.19.i.46). 20 The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) The hills of the ear[th] tottered”35. his devastating tour through the territory of which he Also, the lines from the Psalm 18, which was intended to become the master: likely composed on the basis of a similar Syro-Phoeni- “He travelled [from city to] city; cian text praising the storm-god, may be referred to: he went from tow[n to t]own. “…7. The earth trembled and quaked, and the founda- He seized sixty-six cities; tions of the mountains shook; they trembled because He seventy-seven towns. was angry… 13. The Lord thundered from heaven; the Eighty Baal [smote], voice of the Most High resounded. 14. He shot his ar- ninety Baal [captured]”37. rows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of light- The echo of an earlier Greek poem, which de- ning he routed them. 15. The valleys of the sea were scribed an analogous tour by Zeus, may be found in the exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at strange lines of the Iliad 2.116-118 relating to Zeus: your rebuke, Lord…”. “…Zeus, supreme in might… has laid low the heads of Remarkably, Hesiod’s Theogony contains verses, many cities, yea, and shall yet lay low, for his power is which, one the one hand, look like an extended version above all.” of the Iliad 8.442-443, and, on the other, exhibit even Furthermore, in terms of mythic genealogy, Baal more similarities with the above-mentioned fragments is the son of the god Dagan38 who was connected with from the Ugaritic epos and the Psalm 18: “…he [Zeus] harvesting and especially with grain in Phoenician reli- thundered hard and mightily: and the earth around re- gion39. It is striking that in Greek mythology, Ζεύς sounded terribly and the broad sky above, and the sea πατήρ, originally a father-god born by nobody, became and Ocean’s streams and Tartaros in the earth. Great the son of Kronos (Il. 1.498, 502, and often40), the deity Olympos trembled beneath the immortal feet as the lord provided with certain harvesting functions in Greek re- arose and the earth groaned in response” (Hesiod, The- ligion of historic time41. ogony, 839-843); also: “…wise Zeus, father of gods In Syro-Phoenician mythology reflected in the po- and men, by whose thunder the wide earth is shaken…” ems of Ugarit, Baal is the divine lover and consort of (Hesiod, Theogony, 457-458). the goddess Anat - “his sister”, “his father’s daughter”. These parallels suggest that the Syro-Phoenician It is tempting to consider that their relationship as sib- epic poems about Baal were quite widely known to the lings and spouses was mirrored in the character of the prehistoric Greek poets overall and that borrowings Homeric divine couple Zeus and Hera, who appear not from those poems were commonly used in early Greek only as husband and wife, but also as brother and sister, epic poetry. children of the same father Kronos42. The Ugaritic po- Attention should also be given to the descriptions ems contain several love scenes involving Baal and of Baal and Zeus as glorious storm-gods sitting atop of Anat; one of these scenes closely resembles the episode their beloved mountains with the attributes indicating of Zeus’ seduction by Hera in the Fourteenth Book of their stormy powers: the Iliad. In both cases, there is the same prelude: the “Baal sits like the base of a mountain; goddess beholds her divine partner sitting in the dis- Hadd se[ttles] as the ocean, tance, on the top of a mountain. Then, the preparation in the midst of his divine mountain, Saphon, follows: the goddess performs washing with sacred in [the midst of] the mountain of victory. moisture and anointment with perfumed oil, and be- Seven lightning-flashes [ ], comes beautiful and irresistibly desirable. After that, eight bundles of thunder, she appears in sight of her consort. The god, having no- a tree-of-lightning [in his] ri[ght hand]…” (Uga- ticed the approach of his spouse, suddenly feels a great ritic ‘Hymn to Baal enthroned’)36, and “…the father of desire for her; he recalls in his mind all his previous men and gods [= Zeus] came down from heaven, and love affairs and admits that what he feels at this time is sat him down on the peaks of many-fountained Ida; and very special. The two scenes are described as follows: in his hands he held the lightning” (Il. 11.182-184). “…Zeus she [Hera] marked seated on the topmost peak Again, the Homeric passage seems to be a shorter ver- of many-fountained Ida… With ambrosia first did she sion of or an excerpt from some prehistoric Greek poem cleanse from her lovely body every stain, and anointed about Zeus, which was composed as imitation of Syro- her richly with oil, ambrosial, soft, and of rich fra- Phoenician hymns, if not of the particular one from grance… Hera swiftly drew nigh to topmost Gargaros, Ugarit, describing the enthronement of Baal. the peak of lofty Ida, and Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, be- It should also be noted that in the Ugaritic myth, held her. And when he beheld her, then love encom- Baal’s enthronement over the world was preceded by passed his wise heart about… The son of Kronos 35 Wyatt (1998) 108-109 (KTU 1.4.vii.13-14, 28-35); Parker 40 Κρονίδης and Κρονίων are the most frequently used epi- (1997) 137. thets of Zeus in the Homeric poems, see Dee (2001) 46-49. 36 Wyatt (1998) 388-389 (KTU 1.101 R 1-4). 41 In Athens and some other Ionian cities, Kronos was hon- 37 Wyatt (1998) 108 (KTU 1.4.vii.7-12). ored at a midsummer festival called Kronia, during which a 38 Wyatt (1998) 128 (KTU 1.5.vi.24, and often). sickle, the symbol of harvesting, was carried in a religious 39 Black and Green (1992) 56: “Dagan was a West-Semitic procession, see Bremmer (2008) 82. 42 However, it should also be taken into account the possibil- corn god who came to be worshiped extensively throughout the Near East, including Mesopotamia. The original meaning ity that Zeus and Hera as brother and sister / husband and wife of the name is unknown, but dagan is a common word in He- present a version of the common Indo-European myth about brew and Ugaritic for ‘grain’, and according to one tradition twins - brother and sister who commit incest and thereby be- the god Dagan was inventor of the plough.” come husband and wife, see more in Zolotnikova (2004). The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) 21 clasped his wife in his arms…” (Il. 14.159-353); and argued elsewhere, the epic formula ἄφθιτα μήδεα must “…she [Anat] set her face… towards Baal in the be interpreted as “eternal fundamental principles, heights of Saphon… She drew water and washed her- which determine the entire being”48. Therefore, it self, (with) dew of heaven, oil of earth, the rain of the seems possible to compare ἄφθιτα μήδεα, or the “eter- Charioteer of the Clouds, dew which heaven poured on nal values”, known by Homeric Zeus with those most her, rain with which the stars anointed her… Valiant sacred and important things, which knew Baal and El Baal lifted up his eyes… and saw, yes, he saw Virgin of the Ugaritic epic poems. Hence, it may be argued Anat, the loveliest among the sisters of Baal. The com- that a passage analogous to that mentioning the wisdom ing of his sister Baal saw, the approach of his father’s of Baal in the context of his divine union with the god- daughter…”43. The particular Ugaritic version is pre- dess Anat existed in prehistoric Greek epic diction; that served in fragments, and its ending is missing; how- passage was seriously modified by the time of Homer ever, it is more than likely that Baal and Anat had a with the result its context was changed and Zeus’ passionate erotic union, as had Zeus and Hera in the knowledge of the most fundamental principles was ex- analogous Homeric scene. pressed in one short phrase. In addition, it is tempting In the Ugaritic poems, Baal is equated with El in to find an echo of a prehistoric Greek phrase, which wisdom: these two gods have the exclusive knowledge would have resembled the Ugaritic one referring to of the most fundamental things, which, according to the Baal’s exclusive knowledge - “I understand the thunder Syro-Phoenician worldview, constitute the sacred mys- [or lightning]”, in the verse from the Odyssey: “…Zeus- tery of the Universe. This exclusive knowledge is des- hurler of thunderbolt, who knows well all things…” / ignated by the term word and includes: “…Δία τερπικέραυνον, ὁ γάρ τ᾽ εὖ οἶδεν ἅπαντα” (Od. “a word of tree and whisper of stone, 20.75). the sighing of the heavens to the earth, As regards the Phoenician divine structure, the of the deeps to the stars. epic poems of Ugarit seem to imply that El, despite the A word unknown to men, absolute sovereignty which he has in the pantheon, is and which the multitudes of the earth do not un- passive, and the actual power over the world is exer- derstand”44. cised by the three gods – Baal, Yam, and Mot49; those Baal adds to this list his exclusive knowledge of represent the three major divisions of the Ugaritic Uni- the nature of storm; he declares: verse – the stormy sky sending rains, the waters sur- “I understand the thunder [or lightning], rounding the earth, and the realm of the dead, respec- which the heavens do not know…”45. tively. It is difficult to deny that such an order is similar It is noteworthy that Baal declares himself as a god to that expressed in the Fifteenth Book of the Iliad, in who has all that exclusive knowledge in a message, the verses about the division of the power over the which he sends with his assistants to the goddess Anat world between Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades: in the episode of their love union discussed above: “For we are three brothers whom Rhea bore to Baal, having beheld beautiful Anat and feeling desire Kronos, for her, promises to reveal all his knowledge to her on Zeus and myself [Poseidon] and Hades lord of the his mountain, if she will come there for intimate mo- dead. ments with him: And all is shared out three ways: each has been “…I have a word that I would say to you, apportioned his own domain. a message that I would repeat to you… I [Poseidon] got the grey sea to be my home, [the full definition of Baal’s knowledge] When the lots were cast, Hades got the misty dark, Come, And Zeus got the broad heaven amid the air and and I shall reveal it clouds…” (Il. 15.187-192). in the midst of my divine mountain…”46. According to the concept that runs through all the As it was mentioned above, Homeric Zeus, like Ugaritic poems, Baal’s excellence in battle and his re- Baal and El, was thought of as a god who knows eve- markable bravery were the qualities, which determined rything and says “wise words”. The wisdom of Zeus is his superior position in relation to all the other gods ex- a quality inseparable from his very nature and is re- cept El. In the most explicit manner, Baal is exalted as ferred to quite often in the Homeric poems, but Homer the “bravest” and “highest god” in the verses, which gives only scanty details of it. Remarkably, when The- seem to have been borrowed from a religious hymn: tis, the mother of Ahilleus, had to be encouraged in the “Our king is Valiant, Baal is our ruler [or lord], and last Book of the Iliad, Zeus sends to her his messenger, there is none [who is] above him”50. Homeric Zeus, too, the goddess Iris, who tells her the following: “Rouse shows the ability to face and to overcome any enemy: you, o Thetis. Zeus who knows the eternal values / he is “mighty” - ἐρισθενής (Il. 13.54, 19.355, 21.184), ἄφθιτα μήδεα is calling you” (Il. 24.88)47. As it has been “far the mightier”, “the bravest” - πολὺ φέρτερος / πολὺ 43 49 Wyatt (1998) 76, 82, 156. Wyatt (1998) 140, note 103. The motif of the division of 44 Wyatt (1998) 45 (KTU 1.1.iii.13-15); Wyatt (1998) 78 the world between three gods also occurs in Mesopotamian (KTU 1.3.iii.23-25). mythology and is recorded in the First Tablet of the epic poem 45 Wyatt (1998) 78 (KTU 1.3.iii.26). Atrahasis, see the commentary in Laessøe (1956); 46 Wyatt (1998) 78 (KTU 1.3.iii.21-29). also http://jewishchristianlit.com/Texts/ANEmyths/at- 47 The whole phrase is: “ὄρσο Θέτι: καλέει Ζεύς ἄφθιτα μήδεα raha1.htm. εἰδώς.” 50 Wyatt (1998) 87 (KTU 1.3.v.32-33); Wyatt (1998) 100 48 Zolotnikova (2013) 25-26. (KTU 1.4.iv.43-44). 22 The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) φέρτατος (Il. 1.581, 4.56, and often), “the mightiest of must have become part of Mycenaean Greek poetry. all” - κάρτιστος ἁπάντων (Il. 8.17 and 20.243), and “the Consequently, many Greek gods, as Zeus and Hera, be- most mighty” - ὑπερμενής (Ιl. 2.350, and often), while came participants of the mythic scenes and whole the idea of Zeus’ unchallengeable physical superiority myths, which were borrowed from various Near-East- over the other gods is basic for the divine order as pre- ern mythic / epic cycles; thereby, at the poetic / epic / sented in the Homeric poems. The formula “Zeus, the mythic level, Greek gods were provided with the epi- highest and best of gods” / θεῶν ὕπατος καὶ ἄριστος (Il. thets and characteristic features of the Near-Eastern 19.258) and especially the words of Hera about Zeus: gods whom they represented in the Greek versions of “…among the immortal gods he is supreme in might the Near-Eastern myths, even though their actual reli- and strength and is manifestly the best” (Il. 15.107- gious concepts did not imply those features and quali- 108)51 seem to resemble closely the above-mentioned ties. In order to reinforce this assumption, it should be Ugaritic lines relating to Valiant Baal. referred to a scene, which was described in the epic cy- Conclusions cle poem The War of the Titans, written probably by To summarize all the above, there are a significant Eumelus in the eighth century BC, and in which Zeus number of close similarities between certain epithetic appeared dancing: “Eumelus… somewhere introduces formulae, verses, and whole sections of the Homeric Zeus dancing; he says: ‘In the midst of them danced the poems relating to Zeus and certain expressions and pas- Father of men and gods’ ” (Athenaeus, The Deipnoso- sages of the Ugaritic poems relating to El and especially phists, 22c)54. This strange episode, not alluded to else- to Baal; these similarities are observed in the choice of where in preserved Ancient Greek literature, seems to words, phraseology, and meaning. However, the Uga- have been a remnant of a prehistoric Greek poem that ritic passages seemingly reproduced in the Homeric included lines relating to Zeus, borrowed from Phoeni- ones are, as a rule, larger and may differ from the latter cian poems, as, e.g., the Ugaritic Rephaim Texts and the in context. Here, it must be emphasized that the Ho- Poem of Akhat: in the former, Baal appears as a dance meric poems are of a much later date than the poems of participant; he plays lyre, flute, drum, and cymbals, and Ugarit and that about four hundred years separate these sings among the dancing; in the latter, Baal is described poetic compositions. as playing music and singing “pleasantly” for a mortal What does it mean? man, to whom he bestows immortality55. This Phoeni- It appears that the Homeric passages relating to cian pattern seems to have been employed by early Zeus and presenting resemblances with the Ugaritic Greek poets in order to compose vivid descriptions of passages relating to Baal and El are only scattered frag- Zeus, but eventually it was broken in parts, each of ments, which remained from a much more voluminous which had a different life in Greek mythological poetry: prehistoric corpus of Greek poetry concerned with Zeus the image of dancing Zeus would have appeared not ex- and created by analogy with the Near-Eastern epics actly appropriate for the portrait of the Father of gods about the main Syro-Phoenician gods. and men and vanished, while the miraculous ability of It may be argued that during Mycenaean time, pre- the supreme god to make a mortal man immortal must historic Greek bards composed poems and hymns about have continued to be attractive. Thus, a passage de- Zeus using Syro-Phoenician, and Ugaritic in particular, scribing Zeus as having such an ability is found in the poems about El and Baal translated into prehistoric Homeric Hymn (5) to Aphrodite (218-222) - the god- Greek52. The Near-Eastern poems, including the poems dess Eos begs Zeus to make Tithonos, a beautiful young of Ugarit, may have been translated into Mycenaean man whom she fell in love with, immortal: “…golden- Greek language quite literally or may have been repro- throned Eos… went to ask the dark-clouded Son of duced (re-told) in prehistoric Greek with varying de- Kronos that he [Tithonos] should be deathless and live grees of accuracy, while the names of the Greek gods eternally; and Zeus bowed his head to her prayer and were used in the texts as translational equivalents of the fulfilled her desire”. names of Near-Eastern gods (probably, but not neces- Mycenaean direct borrowing from the Near-East- sarily, based on maximum correspondence). During the ern / Syro-Phoenician epic poems and religious hymns Bronze Age, such a practice was common in the Near through their translation into prehistoric Greek would East and contributed significantly to the exchange of explain a remarkable number of parallels traced be- mythological and literary themes, motifs, and charac- tween Ancient Greek literature and the Old Testament, ters between different cultural traditions53. In historic given that early Jewish literature, too, absorbed a large time, an analogous case is attested in Ancient Italy part of Syro-Phoenician / Canaanite religious and epic where the Latin authors translated Greek myths into texts translated into Hebrew56. Probably, the same prac- 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: “…ἐν ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι κάρτεΐ τε σθένεΐ τε 54 “Εὔμηλος δὲ ὁ Κορίνθιος ἢ Ἀρκτῖνος τὸν Δία ὀρχούμενόν διακριδὸν εἶναι ἄριστος.” που παράγει λέγων: μέσσοισιν δ᾽ ὠρχεῖτο πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε 52 The opinion of M. Bachvarova that the use of Near-Eastern θεῶν τε.” 55 Shifman (1993) 301 (KTU 1.108.3-5), 312; Shifman (1993) narrative traditions by the mainland Greeks and the Euboeans began as early as the eleventh century BC (Bachvarova 194 (KTU 1.17.vi. 30-32). 56 West (1997) 90-91, 99-101. (2016) 299) seems to be not quite correct. 53 Metcalf (2015) 2, 6. The scientific heritage No 41 (2019) 23 tice underlay the presence of many elements of the Hit- notably differentiated from the South-Mycenaean (Pel- tite and Hurrian epic / mythological traditions and even oponnesian) epic tradition and language62. Perhaps, a religious texts in Greek mythology and poetry57. substantial part of the original passages borrowed from To note, the Homeric poems contain information the Syro-Phoenician epos and other Near-Eastern epic about contacts between Mycenaean kingdoms and traditions was even lost during the Post-Mycenaean pe- Phoenicia: e.g., in the Odyssey, there is a mention of riod and the Dark Age. Menelaos’ durable visit to Sidon (Od. 15.117-119), However, certain epithets and mythologems orig- while Odysseus makes up a believable story about his inally borrowed from the Near-Eastern, and in particu- visit to Phoenicia (Od. 14.288-292). A hoard containing lar Ugaritic, poems were so firmly associated with Zeus Bronze Age Near-Eastern cylinder seals with represen- by prehistoric Greek oral tradition that became insepa- tations of religious and mythological themes was found rable from the image of this god for later generations of in Mycenaean Thebes (Boeotia)58. There are consider- Greek bards and their listeners. Thus, epic Zeus, origi- able archaeological indications of Mycenaean presence nally the father-god Ζεύς πατήρ personifying the clear in Phoenicia, precisely in Ugarit59. Therefore, cultural sky, definitely became the son of Kronos and a mighty contacts and exchange between Mycenaean Greece and god of storm towards the Aeolian phase of epic (con- Late Bronze Age Syria and Phoenicia, including the nected with the Dark Age); he was no longer imagined spheres of poetry, epos, and mythology, may be con- without his sister-and-wife Hera and his magnificent sidered highly probable. house on Mt. Olympos where he presided over the di- At this point, it should be clarified that if Greek vine assemblies. Finally, the epic diction, adopting and Ζεύς πατήρ could easily be compared with Syro-Phoe- adapting the Near-Eastern religious and mythological nician El Father, likening of Zeus, a god of the clear concepts, gradually returned to Zeus the supreme posi- sky, to the storm-god Baal could be possible, provided tion among the Greek gods, despite the fact that the that Greek prehistoric poetry had already made Zeus Late Bronze Age Greek pantheon was dominated by the epic Greek storm-god (the exact circumstances un- various female deities. der which such a transformation of Zeus at the level of Greek epic poetry took place should be studied espe- References cially). However, this literary identification of Zeus 1. Bachvarova, M. (2016) From Hittite to Homer. with Baal, as it seems, had a tremendous impact on The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic. Greek mythology. Perhaps, it might be argued that Kro- Cambridge. nos as a divine figure appeared in Greek mythology be- 2. Black, J. and Green, A. (1992) Gods, Demons cause of the translation into Greek of the name of and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. An Illustrated Baal’s father Dagan, the Phoenician god of harvest: in Dictionary. London, British Museum Press. terms of etymology, the name of Kronos was probably 3. Boëlle, C. (2004) Po-ti-ni-ja: l’élément féminin formed on the basis of the verb κείρω meaning “to cut dans la religion mycénienne: (d’après les archives en (with a sickle)”60, and it should be interpreted as linéaire B). Nancy. “reaper”. In other words, during the Mycenaean period, 4. Bremmer, J.N. (2008) Greek Religion and Cul- the Phoenician compound divine name “Baal, son of ture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East. Brill. Dagan” may have been translated into prehistoric 5. Clay, A.T. (1923) The Origin of Biblical Tradi- Greek as “Zeus, son of Kronos”; that prehistoric Greek tions. Hebrew Legends in Babylonia and Israel. Lon- poetic invention eventually generated the notion of a don. specific deity - Kronos, the father of Zeus, which be- 6. Dee, J.H. (2001) Epitheta Deorum apud came the basis for the genealogy of the Olympian fam- Homerum. The Epithetic Phrases for the Homeric ily of gods (Hesiod, Theogony). Gods. Hildesheim, Zurich and New York. In the course of time, Greek oral tradition modi- 7. Frankfort, H. (1939) Cylinder Seals. A Docu- fied and re-interpreted the original passages borrowed mentary Essay on the Art and Religion of the Ancient and translated from the Near-Eastern / Syro-Phoenician Near East. London. epics in accordance with the preferences of the Greek 8. Gamkrelidze, Th.V. and Ivanov, V.V. (1995) audience and Greek religious imagery, which itself un- Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. A Reconstruc- derwent changes. 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Student of North-Eastern federal university in Yakutsk Аннотация Гражданская война 1917-1922 гг. — огромный пласт истории нашей страны, трагическая эпоха кро- вавой междоусобицы, исполненная драматизмом ожесточённой борьбы, период идейного противостояния различных организаций и социальных групп, на долгие годы изменивший путь социально-экономиче- ского, 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 груп- пировок, различавшихся по своей социальной опоре, идейно-политическим взглядам, целям и методам борьбы с большевиками, с другой. В условиях глубочайшей социально-экономической катастрофы, пере- житой страной в тот период, в обществе резко обострились все социальные и политические противоречия, что придало гражданской войне массовость, ожесточённость и длительность. Раздробленные антибольше- вистские силы не смогли противостоять большевикам и потерпели поражение. В современном мире гражданские войны не только не прекратились, но имеют не менее ожесточён- ный 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.