Resheph (right) featured on the stele of Qetesh.
Resheph or Reshef (Canaanite/Hebrew ršp רשף) was a Canaanite deity of plague and war. Resheph is associated with lightning, and hence also interpreted as a weather deity. In Ugarit, Resheph was identified with Nergal, in Idalion, Cyprus, with Apollo.[1]. The name appears as a word in Classical Hebrew with the meaning "flame, lightning" (Psalm 78:48) and the derived or figurative meanings of "arrow" (as "lightning of the bow", Job 5:7) and "a burning fever, a plague" (by which the body is "inflamed", Deuteronomy 32:24).[2] Resheph as a personal name, a grandson of Ephraim, occurs in 1 Chronicles 7:25.
Resheph is mentioned in Ugaritic mythological texts such as the epic of Kirta[3] and The Mare and Horon.[4] In Phoenician inscriptions he is called rshp gn 'Resheph of the Garden' and b`l chtz 'lord of the arrow'. Phoenician-Hittite bilingualscitation needed refer to him as 'deer god' and 'gazelle god'.
In Kition, Cyprus, Resheph had the epithet of ḥṣ, interpreted as "arrow" by Javier Teixidor,[5] who consequently interprets Resheph as a god of plague, comparable to Apollo whose arrows bring plague to the Danaans (Iliad I.42-55).
Resheph become popular in Egypt under Amenhotep II (18th dynasty), where he served as god of horses and chariots. Originally adopted into the royal cult, Resheph became a popular deity in the Ramesside Period, at the same time disappearing from royal inscriptions. In this later period, he is depicted with a ram's head, armed with shield, spear and axe, often together with Qetesh and Min.
See also
Notes
- ^ Javier Teixidor, The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Cesnola Collection. Metropolitan Museum Journal 11, 1976, 65
- ^ Strong's Concordance
- ^ tablet 1/CAT 1.14, column 1, lines 18-20; tablet 2/CAT 1.15, column 2, line 6
- ^ CAT 1.100, lines 30-31
- ^ Javier Teixidor, The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Cesnola Collection. Metropolitan Museum Journal 11, 1976, 65
References
- Wolfgang Helck: Die Beziehungen Ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr., (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, Band 5) 2. Auflage, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1971 ISBN 3-447-01298-6 (Zu Reschef in Ägypten: S. 450-454)
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