Resheph

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Infobox deity Template:Ancient Egyptian religion Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; Eblaite Template:Cuneiform, Rašap, Template:Langx, ršp, Egyptian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Template:Langx, ršp, Template:Langx Rešep̄) was a god associated with war and plague, originally worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was one of the main members of the local pantheon, and was worshiped in numerous hypostases, some of which were associated with other nearby settlements, such as Tunip. He was associated with the goddess Adamma, who was his spouse in Eblaite tradition. Eblaites considered him and the Mesopotamian god Nergal to be equivalents, most likely based on their shared role as war deities.

In the second millennium BCE, Resheph continued to be worshiped in various cities in Syria and beyond. He is best attested in texts from Ugarit, where he was one of the most popular deities. While well attested in ritual texts and theophoric names, he does not play a large role in Ugaritic mythology. An omen text describes him as the doorkeeper of the sun goddess, Shapash, and might identify him with the planet Mars. He was also venerated in Emar and other nearbly settlements, and appears in theophoric names as far east as Mari. The Hurrians also incorporated him into their pantheon under the name Iršappa, and considered him a god of commerce. Through their mediation, he also reached the Hittite Empire. He was also introduced to Egypt, possibly by the Hyksos, and achieved a degree of prominence there in the Ramesside period, with evidence of a domestic cult available from sites such as Deir el-Medina. The Egyptians regarded him as a warlike god, but he could also be invoked as a protective healer. He was associated with gazelles and horses, and in art appears as an armed deity armed with a bow, shield and arrows.

References to Resheph from the first millennium BCE are less common. He did not play a large role in Phoenician religion overall, with only one reference to him occurring in texts from Sidon, though he is well attested as a member of the Phoenician pantheon of Cyprus. He was also worshiped by Arameans in Cilicia and in Syria. References to him are also present in the Hebrew Bible, though due to the process of demythologization his name does not always refer to a personified deity. Greeks considered him an equivalent of Apollo, as attested by bilingual inscriptions from Cyprus, though it is not certain if this example of interpretatio graeca was recognized outside this island.

Name

Etymology

The etymology of Resheph's name is uncertain.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to Michael P. Streck, it is derived from the root ršp, and its cognates include Amorite yarśap (“to flame”), an element of personal names attested in texts from the Old Babylonian period, and the nominal rišp-, “flame” or “fever”, present in Hebrew and Aramaic.Template:Sfn This possibility is the most commonly proposed explanation in scholarship, though it did not find universal support, and Maciej M. Münnich notes that it rests on biblical evidence, which comes at most from the sixth century BCE, in contrast with the oldest attestations of Resheph, which date back to the twenty-fourth century BCE, with no sources supporting this derivation from within the nearly two thousand year period separating them.Template:Sfn Streck, despite his support for this proposal, acknowledges the nature of the connection between the presumed meaning of Resheph's name and his character is not fully clear.Template:Sfn A second proposal is to link his name with Akkadian rašābu(m), “to destroy”, and rašbu(m), “terrifying, horrible”Template:Sfn This view is supported by authors such as Jean-Marie Durand, but it similarly did not find universal support.Template:Sfn Paolo Xella notes that all of the proposed etymologies might be the result of circular reasoning, as they depend on the available information about Resheph's character.Template:Sfn

Spellings

Cuneiform texts from Ebla render Resheph's name as Ra-sa-ap (Template:Cuneiform).Template:Sfn No further variants are attested in text from this city, and in most cases the name is preceded by the “divine determinative”, dingir (Template:Cuneiform).Template:Sfn The same spelling is also attested in sources from Mesopotamia and from Emar, though texts from this city also use variants such as Ra-ša-ap, Ra-šap and Ra-šap-pa.Template:Sfn

In Ugarit, Resheph's name was written as ršp (Template:Cuneiform) in the alphabetic script,Template:Sfn and it is variously vocalized by Ugartiologists as Rašp,Template:Sfn RašapTemplate:Sfn or Resheph.Template:Sfn The writings Ra-ši-ip and Re-ša-ip appear in texts in standard syllabic cuneiform.Template:Sfn Logographic ones are also attested, many of them derived from the various forms of the theonym Nergal: ^dGÌR.UNU.GAL(.LA), ^dMAŠ.MAŠ and ^dKAL (=^dLAMMA), though it is sometimes questioned if Resheph was necessarily meant in every case when they were used.Template:Sfn The use of logograms originally linked to Nergal to represent Resheph is also well attested in texts from Ekalte, with identified examples including ^dGÌR, ^dIGI and ^dMAŠ.TAB.BA.Template:Sfn

The Hurrian form of the name had a prothetic vowel affixed to it, resulting in spellings Aršappa and Iršappa,Template:Sfn sometimes shortened to Iršap or Irša.Template:Sfn The Hurrian variant is also attested in Ugarit as eršp.Template:Sfn It has also been proposed that the variant name ^dRa-sa-pa-an developed through Hurrian influence too, but this view is not universally accepted.Template:Sfn

Two forms of the name are attested in texts from ancient Egypt, ršp and ršpw, which might indicate a change in pronunciation occurred at some point, with the former writing reflecting Rashap, Rashp or Reshp and the latter - Rashpu or Reshpu, with a final u making the name easier to pronounce for speakers of Egyptian.Template:Sfn

Resheph and Rushpan

Maciej M. Münnich argues that the theonym Rushpan should be identified as a form of Resheph's name used in the Middle Euphrates area.Template:Sfn A pre-Sargonic tablet from Mari mentions the offering of cereal to various deities, including ^dRa-sa-pá-an.Template:Sfn A temple dedicated to him is mentioned in Mariote texts from the reigns of Shamshi-Adad I and Yahdun-Lim.Template:Sfn Template:Ill accepts that the names were likely cognates, but does not consider it certain that the two were identical, pointing out a long tradition of using the logogram ^dGU₄ (“bull”) to represent the name Rushpan, as attested in lexical lists and the god list An = Anum (tablet VI, line 206).Template:Sfn

Eblaite sources

Oldest known references to Resheph have been identified in texts from Ebla.Template:Sfn They are dated to the period between 2450 and 2200 BCE, and spans between 30 and 40 years.Template:Sfn Most of the available attestations of deities in it come from economic texts,Template:Sfn which makes it impossible to fully study the character of Resheph in Eblaite religion as other types of sources, such as myths or descriptions of specific ceremonies, are lacking.Template:Sfn It is nonetheless possible to determine he was one of the main deities of the local pantheon.Template:Sfn While not equally commonly attested as Hadabal and Kura, he is one of the most frequently mentioned deities in the entire Eblaite text corpus.Template:Sfn His individual functions are difficult to clarify.Template:Sfn While he was not directly invoked in association with combat,Template:Sfn it is nonetheless presumed that he was regarded as a warlike deity due to a large number of weapons listed among offerings he received, including 15 daggers, 11 axes, 4 lances and 2 or more clubs.Template:Sfn Alfonso Archi states that the club offering, during which the god also received four bull horns, was an annual rite.Template:Sfn

Worship

File:Ebla - DecArch - 2-126.jpg

The royal palace in Ebla.

In Ebla Resheph was venerated both by common citizens and the royal family.Template:Sfn Reference to two priests in his service, Re’i-Malik and Ennai, are also known.Template:Sfn Furthermore, foreign kings visiting Ebla also made offerings to him, as indicated by records of sacrificial sheep provided by the royal palace for such occasions.Template:Sfn

One of the city gates of Ebla was named after Resheph.Template:Sfn His two main cult centers in its proximity were seemingly Adanni and Tunip, both of which were relatively small settlements.Template:Sfn Alfonso Archi notes that an association with an otherwise insignificant city or cities is a characteristic shared by him with a number of the other major deities of Ebla, namely Dagan (from Tuttul), Hadda (from Halab) and Hadabal (from Hamadu, Larugadu and Luban), and that it can be assumed in the third millennium BCE none of them owed their popularity to the political influence of their cult centers.Template:Sfn However, despite its proximity to Ebla, Resheph is entirely absent from the text corpus from Tell Beydar.Template:Sfn

Multiple hypostases of Resheph are attested in Ebla.Template:Sfn Most frequently mentioned is the form of this god linked to Adanni.Template:Sfn Resheph of gunum is the second most commonly referenced.Template:Sfn The precise meaning of this term is a matter of debate, complicated by the fact it is attested almost exclusively in association with Resheph and, much less frequently, with closely linked Adamma.Template:Sfn It can be literally translated as “garden”,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn but it has been suggested it was used to refer to the royal cemetery.Template:Sfn However, no texts from Ebla mention Resheph in a funerary context.Template:Sfn Maciej M. Münnich suggests that gunum might have been a palatial enclosure for animals, as the associated hypostasis of Resheph received wool as offering particularly often, and references to a bull linked to his cult are known.Template:Sfn Resheph of Tunip is also attested, chiefly as a recipient of silver.Template:Sfn This hypostasis seemingly had no chapel in the city of Ebla itself, and local dignitaries traveled to venerate him.Template:Sfn The royal palace hill (sa-za_x^ki) also had a form of Resheph associated with it, "Resheph of the palace", though it has been proposed this title referred to Resheph of Adanni worshiped in a chapel located there rather than to a fully separate hypostasis.Template:Sfn Further forms, associated with Daraum (an administrative center of the Eblaite state), Shi’amu, ‘Adatu, Shamutu, Muriku, Armi, Nei, Sarrap and Shaku, are also attested, but they are mentioned less frequently, with most only occurring once.Template:Sfn The large number of hypostases is presumed to reflect Resheph's popularity.Template:Sfn

Theophoric names invoking Resheph are uncommon in the Eblaite text corpus, which Michael P. Streck explains as a result of his possibly negative characteristics.Template:Sfn However, this assumption has been criticized by Maciej M. Münnich, as the attested examples, such as Yitin-Rasap ("Resheph gave") and ‘Ebdu-Rasap ("servant of Resheph"), do not appear to hint as such a perception.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

Resheph typically received offerings either alongside other major members of the local pantheon, such as Hadabal, or alongside the goddess Adamma.Template:Sfn The latter was regarded as his spouse, though the connection between them is seemingly limited to the early tradition of Ebla.Template:Sfn They were also worshiped together in Tunip.Template:Sfn Resheph also appears commonly alongside the sun deity,Template:Sfn represented by the Sumerogram ^dUTU, though usually regarded as a goddess.Template:Sfn He is also attested in association with the Eblaite form of Ea,Template:Sfn Hayya.Template:Sfn In one case, they occur as a dyad and receive a single jewel as an offering together.Template:Sfn

The text VE 806 indicates that Resheph and the Mesopotamian god Nergal were locally regarded as equivalents.Template:Sfn This correspondence most likely depended on their shared warlike character.Template:Sfn Despite this connection, no writing of Nergal's name was used to represent Resheph in Ebla.Template:Sfn Wilfred G. Lambert has noted that a name of Nergal found in a later Mesopotamian god list, ^dLUGAL-ra-sa-ap (Template:Cuneiform; with the Sumerogram LUGAL possibly standing for an unidentified West Semitic noun rather than lugal or šarrum), “lord Resheph”, uses the spelling of Resheph's name typical for Eblaite and Old Akkadian texts from the third millennium BCE.Template:Sfn

Other third millennium BCE attestations

Sporadic instances of Resheph appearing as a theophoric element in Akkadian personal names have been identified, with one example being Iṣī-Raśap.Template:Sfn As pointed out by Maciej M. Münnich, while found in a text from Susa in Elam, this name most likely belonged to a person hailing from a part of Syria conquered by Sargon of Akkad, rather than to a local inhabitant.Template:Sfn It is therefore not possible to speak of an active cult of Resheph in this area.Template:Sfn A single theophoric name invoking Resheph, Rašap-ilī, has also been identified in an Old Assyrian text, and it is presumed he was the family deity of its bearer.Template:Sfn However, Resheph is not otherwise attested in this role in known Old Assyrian sources and Rašap-ilī might have not been an Assyrian himself, as he is only mentioned a document describing business deals in Talhat, a city in Upper Mesopotamia.Template:Sfn Klaas R. Veenhof in his discussion of this isolated attestation notes Resheph's well attested prominence in northern Syria.Template:Sfn

Second millennium BCE sources

Resheph continued to be worshiped in the second millennium BCE, and remained a popular deity in a number of areas bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.Template:Sfn

Ugaritic texts

The corpus of Ugaritic texts has been described as “one of the most abundant collections of data concerning Resheph”.Template:Sfn It has been proposed that he arose to prominence in this city in the late Bronze Age.Template:Sfn He was associated with both plague and war.Template:Sfn He was also connected to the underworld.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

Ugaritic and Akkadian god lists from Ugarit indicate that the theological view that Resheph and Nergal were analogous to each other was also accepted in this city.Template:Sfn

Some evidence exists for an association between Resheph and Ashtart reflecting their shared features, though it is not extensive.Template:Sfn

In the standard Ugaritic lists of deities, Resheph follows “auxiliary gods of Baal” (Ugaritic: il t‘ḏr b‘l) and precedes Dadmiš.Template:Sfn Manfred Krebernik suggests that she might have been linked to Resheph in some way, possibly as his spouse, and additionally points out her name might be related to the Mesopotamian goddess Tadmuštum, who was associated with the underworld.Template:Sfn Nicolas Wyatt argues that based on their placement in lists it can be assumed that they were counted among Baal's divine helpers,Template:Sfn but Dennis Pardee maintains that there is no evidence in favor of viewing either of them as closely linked to the weather god.Template:Sfn

Worship

The offering list corresponding to the standard deity lists assigns a ram to Resheph as a sacrifice, similarly as to most of the other deities mentioned.Template:Sfn In another offering list, he follows Shapash, the sun goddess.Template:Sfn Yet another similar text places him after Tiraṯu (a deity representing young wine) and before a hypostasis of Anat, designated by the term ḫbly.Template:Sfn He received an ewe as a burnt sacrifice in this case.Template:Sfn He also appears in a ritual which took place in Ra’šu-Yêni,Template:Sfn “first of the wine”, the last month in the Ugaritic lunar calendar, seemingly on the roof of the temple of El, where shrines were set up for various deities in presence of the king.Template:Sfn In this case, he received an ewe as a burnt offering, after a similar sacrifice made to Ṯukamuna-wa-Šunama, and later separately a ram as a “peace offering”.Template:Sfn RS 19.013, a tablet describing one of the so-called “contemplation rituals” whose form and function remain uncertain, also involves Resheph.Template:Sfn He is additionally mentioned alongside various other deities in a short prayer for well-being,Template:Sfn which according to Dennis Pardee might list gods viewed as the sons of El.Template:Sfn Furthermore, the only among the many votive objects found in Ugarit to be identified by an accompanying inscription as an offering to a specific deity is a drinking vessel shaped like a lion's head, which a certain Nūrānu dedicated to "Resheph-guni" (ršp gn).Template:Sfn Pardee assumes that the second element of the name is a toponym, Gunu, according to him a city located somewhere in Syria,Template:Sfn though it has also been suggested that this term refers to the royal necropolis in Ugarit, and that it might be related to Eblaite gunnum.Template:Sfn

A dual or plural form of Resheph's name, ršpm, is also attested in ritual texts.Template:Sfn Sacrifices to this group of deities took place in the royal palace.Template:Sfn Manfred Krebernik presumes it can be connected to his various hypostases attested in Ugaritic texts, such as ršp idrm (meaning unknown), ršp bbt (“Resheph of Bibitta”), ršp mhbn (“Resheph of Mōhāban”), ršp mlk (“ Resheph of Mulukku”), ršp ṣbi (“Resheph of the army”) and ršp ḥgb (possibly “Resheph of locusts”).Template:Sfn

Eighty seven inhabitants of Ugarit bearing theophoric names invoking Resheph have been identified in known texts, with four of them being scribes.Template:Sfn This makes him the third most common of the deities attested in this context,Template:Sfn with El and Baal being more popular and Shapash and Teshub appearing with comparable frequency.Template:Sfn The element ḥgb also appears in theophoric names on its own,Template:Sfn with twenty five individual examples known, and Wilfred H. van Soldt proposed interpreting it as an attribute of Resheph in this context.Template:Sfn

Mythology

Despite being frequently mentioned in ritual texts and theophoric names, Resheph does not play a large role in Ugaritic mythology.Template:Sfn In the Epic of Keret, he is responsible for “carrying off” the fifth wife of the eponymous king.Template:Sfn The term used has a broad meaning and the exact way in which she died cannot be established.Template:Sfn Mark S. Smith has also proposed that Habayu, who in the literary text KTU 1.114 attacks drunk El and smears him with excrement, might be another name of Resheph.Template:Sfn

In the text Horon and the Mare, Resheph is invoked from Bibitta,Template:Sfn a city in Anatolia.Template:Sfn He is asked to remove poison alongside many other deities.Template:Sfn A thematically similar text dealing with removal of serpent venom focused on ShapashTemplate:Sfn invokes him alongside Yarikh in a sequence of pairs of deities, after El and Horon, Baal and Dagan, and Anat and Ashtart.Template:Sfn

Divination

In an omen text, RS 12.061, Resheph is addressed as the doorkeeper of the sun goddess Shapash.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to Dennis Pardee, it can be assumed that he functioned as an underworld deity, and that he was responsible for opening the gates of the underworld to let her undertake the nightly portion of her journey.Template:Sfn However, the text is likely an allusion to an astronomical phenomenon as well.Template:Sfn While attempts have been made to identify it as a report of a solar eclipse, according to Pardee it describes a period of five days during which the planet Mars, corresponding to Resheph, has been observed at sundown, before its heliacal setting made that impossible on the sixth day.Template:Sfn Maciej M. Münnich notes that based on Mesopotamian evidence it is possible that Mars was regarded as an ill omen in Ugarit.Template:Sfn

RS 24.247+, an Ugaritic omen compendium which deals with teratomancy (telling the future based on observation of malformed animal fetuses) in a manner similar to Akkadian Šumma Izbu,Template:Sfn states that an animal born with short legs foretells a situation in which “Resheph will consume the progeny”.Template:Sfn

Other Syrian sources

Many theophoric names invoking Resheph have been identified in texts from Emar.Template:Sfn Examples include Ikūr-Rašap (Akkadian: “Resheph has proven to be reliable”), Rašap-kabar (Amorite: “Resheph is great”), Rašap-lā’ī (Amorite: “Resheph is powerful”), as well as names where the theonym is abbreviated, such as Iddin-ra (Akkadian: “Resheph has given”) and Yakūn-ra (Amorite: “Resheph has proven to be reliable”).Template:Sfn Overall he is the third most frequently invoked deity in them, after Dagan and Adad.Template:Sfn

It is sometimes assumed that Resheph is not directly attested in ritual texts from Emar.Template:Sfn However, Ian Rutherford assumes that the deity referred to as “Nergal of the market (KI.LAM)” or “lord of the market” might be Resheph, which would indicate the name is to be read as Rašap/bel mahiri; a connection to trade is not otherwise known for Nergal, but is well attested for Resheph in Hurrian tradition.Template:Sfn This identification is also accepted by John Tracy Thames,Template:Sfn who notes the epithet presumably reflected his importance in the eyes of a specific section of society, similarly as other titles derived from names of professions.Template:Sfn He also proposes that the deity only mentioned under the epithet “Lord of Šagma” in texts from this city might be either Resheph or Erra.Template:Sfn Gary Beckman tentatively considers interpreting the city god of Emar, represented by the Sumerogram ^dNIN.URTA, as Resheph, but he notes caution is advised, and points out Joan Goodnick Westenholz instead suggested that ^dNIN.URTA in Emar designated a strictly local deity, known as Il Imarī or possibly Ḫamari, “the Emariote god”.Template:Sfn It is also sometimes proposed that the deity ^dU.GUR, who appears alongside Shuwala in a description of a festival, might be Resheph,Template:Sfn though this logogram might also be read phonetically as Ugur (a possibility supported by Hurrian sources from the site) or as Nergal.Template:Sfn

In addition to the evidence from Emar, Resheph is also attested in texts from Azû and Ekalte.Template:Sfn All three of these sites are located in the proximity of each other, and were culturally similar.Template:Sfn Amorite theophoric names invoking Resheph have also been identified in texts from Mari and from the kingdom of Khana.Template:Sfn However, in the former only seven examples are attested.Template:Sfn The proposal that some Mariote attestations of Nergal in personal names and elsewhere should be understood as references to Resheph are regarded as baseless.Template:Sfn There is also no evidence that he was ever actively worshiped further south in Mesopotamia.Template:Sfn

Hurrian reception

Like a number of other deities originally worshiped in Ebla, such as Adamma, Aštabi, Ḫepat and Ishara, Resheph was incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon, as attested in texts from Ugarit,Template:Sfn EmarTemplate:Sfn and Alalakh.Template:Sfn He was regarded as the tutelary god of the marketplace in Hurrian religion.Template:Sfn He was referred to as damkarrassi, “of commerce”, a loanword derived from Sumerian DAM.GÀR.Template:Sfn He belonged to the circle of deities associated with Teshub, and in standard offering lists (Template:Ill) he typically appears between Ḫešui and Tenu.Template:Sfn

Three theophoric names invoking the Hurrian form of Resheph have been identified in the Ugaritic texts.Template:Sfn One example is Tagi-Irshappa, “Irshappa is beautiful”.Template:Sfn In Alalakh, the evidence for the worship of Resheph is limited to two certain and four dubious theophoric names, with both of the former, Irshappa (either an abbreviation or a personal name identical with the Hurrian variant of the theonym) and Irshapi-andi, being Hurrian.Template:Sfn

Manfred Krebernik has suggested that the fact that in a single Ugaritic text Resheph is invoked from Bibitta, elsewhere described as a cult center of the Hurrian god Nupatik, might indicate that he was locally equated with that god.Template:Sfn The existence of a connection between them is also accepted by Maciej M. Münnich.Template:Sfn Aicha Rahmouni notes that an epithet of Nupatik attested in Hittite sources, ^dLAMMA KI.KAL.BAD, “Nupatik of the army”, is semantically a parallel of Resheph's Ugaritic title, “Resheph of the army”.Template:Sfn

The Hurrian form of Resheph was among the deities incorporated into the Hittite pantheon in Samuha and the Hittite capital Hattusa under the influence of Hurrian religion.Template:Sfn The evidence for the association between Resheph and trade is also present in Hittite texts, for example a festival tied to the cults of Samuha refers to him with the epithet damkarrassi.Template:Sfn

Egyptian reception

The Egyptian data pertaining to the worship of Resheph is considered difficult to collect and analyze due to being largely limited to dispersed royal and private monuments.Template:Sfn He most likely was already known in Egypt during the reign of the Thirteenth Dynasty.Template:Sfn He might have been originally introduced by the Hyksos.Template:Sfn The oldest available evidence for his presence in Egypt is the theophoric name of a brewer originating in Syria or Canaan, ‘Apra-Reshpu, who lived during the reign of Sobekhotep III.Template:Sfn First direct references to the worship of Resheph occur during the reign of Amenhotep II (1425 - 1399 BCE), similarly as in the case of a number of other northern deities, such as Hauron and Astarte.Template:Sfn The pharaoh himself mentions him on a stele found in the proximity of the Great Sphinx of Giza, and in an inscription from a temple of Amun in Karnak.Template:Sfn In another inscription he describes himself crossing the Orontes River in a manner comparable to Resheph, which is presumably meant to highlight his courage and mark him as a great warrior.Template:Sfn

Character

Egyptians regarded Resheph primarily as a warlike god.Template:Sfn This aspect of his character is well attested in royal inscriptions.Template:Sfn Especially commonly, he appears in association with horseback or chariot warfare.Template:Sfn A different side of Resheph is portrayed in private dedications, where he is never invoked in association with combat, and instead functions as a benevolent deity capable of securing the petitioner's health and welfare.Template:Sfn He was depicted as an armed warrior on accompanying images, but in this context these attributes most likely had an apotropaic purpose and reflected his protective qualities and his ability to overcome demons.Template:Sfn Akha, believed to cause abdominal pain, was considered his enemy.Template:Sfn In the Chester Beaty papyrus, which enumerates deities protecting specific body parts from poison, depending on translation Resheph is responsible either for bone marrow, uterus, a part of male genitals, or an unidentified body part.Template:Sfn

Relatively few epithets were assigned to Resheph in Egyptian sources and the most common of them, “great god” (20 occurrences identified as of 2013) was not exclusive to him and does not highlight any of his individual traits.Template:Sfn He was also referred to as “hearer of prayer”, “healer” and “giver of health”, which reflects his association with healing.Template:Sfn

Iconography

File:Reshef MET 89.2.215 EGDP011775.jpg

An Egyptian depiction of Resheph as a "menacing god" brandishing a weapon and holding a shield. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Christiane Zivie-Coche notes that as in the case of other foreign deities incorporated into the Egyptian pantheon, Resheph's Egyptian iconography was primarily meant to illustrate his functions, rather than his place of origin.Template:Sfn However, it has been argued that the kilt with tassels he was usually depicted in marked him as a foreign deity.Template:Sfn He was often portrayed as a so-called “menacing god”, with one arm raised above head and brandishing a weapon.Template:Sfn His attributes include a shield, a bow and arrows.Template:Sfn Despite his character, he was never depicted attacking enemies, and seemingly art highlighted his protective aspect.Template:Sfn Sometimes a lute could serve as one of his symbols.Template:Sfn One example of a stele depicting him with this instrument on his back, presumed to originate in Hurbeit, has been identified in the collection of the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim.Template:Sfn

Resheph could be depicted either with a fake beard similar to those known from depictions of Osiris, or with a thick natural beard typical for depictions of foreigners.Template:Sfn In the latter case he could also be shown with long hair.Template:Sfn One of the inscriptions identified on objects originating in Deir el-Medina states that he had a “beautiful face”.Template:Sfn

For uncertain reasons, the gazelle was associated with Resheph in Egypt.Template:Sfn However, the connection with this animal was not exclusive to him, as it also served as a symbol of Shed.Template:Sfn The iconography of these two gods is however otherwise “totally different”.Template:Sfn A gazelle head could be depicted on Resheph's white crown in place of an uraeus,Template:Sfn though in some cases the latter decoration is attested too.Template:Sfn In a single case similar headwear dedicated with a gazelle has been assigned to the god Keserty, who according to Izak Cornelius should be identified as Kothar-wa-Khasis rather than Resheph.Template:Sfn An association between Resheph and horses is also attested, and presumably reflected his military prowess.Template:Sfn Depictions of Resheph as a charioteer or horseman might represent an exclusively Egyptian tradition.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

File:Stele of Qadesh upper-frame.jpg

Egyptian limestone stele depicting Qetesh standing on a lion and wearing the headdress of Hathor, flanked by Min (left) and Resheph (right)

Due to his warlike character, Resheph could be associated with MontuTemplate:Sfn and Set.Template:Sfn One of the reliefs from the temple of Amun in Karnak from the reign of Amenhotep II directly refers to “Montu-Resheph”.Template:Sfn It has been suggested that Resheph was also identified with Heryshaf.Template:Sfn An inscription from Byblos dated to the period between 1900 and 1600 BCE which mentions the latter deity has been interpreted as an example of his name being used to refer to Resheph, though this proposal is regarded as unlikely.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn No certain attestations of Resheph have been identified in sources from this city.Template:Sfn It has also been noted that in Egypt, Resheph and Herishef could be mentioned together without necessarily being identified.Template:Sfn

Multiple references to Resheph being worshiped as a member of a triad which also included Min and Qadesh are known.Template:Sfn These three deities are depicted for example on the stele of Ramose.Template:Sfn In this context, Resheph was seemingly primarily invoked as a protective deity of specific individuals.Template:Sfn

The Leiden Magical Papyrus, dated to the Ramesside Period, mentions a deity identified as the wife of Resheph, Itum, but while attempts have been made to connect her with Eblaite Adamma or less plausibly with the toponym Edom, her identity remains uncertain.Template:Sfn

Worship

Excavations revealed evidence of veneration of Resheph in Deir el-Medina.Template:Sfn Many of his worshipers living in this area were workers, though there is no indication that most of them were foreigners, as Egyptian names predominate.Template:Sfn A total of twelve steles inscribed with his name have been discovered at this site.Template:Sfn They belonged to the sphere of domestic cult, and based on their size it is assumed that they were originally held in household shrines, presumably with tables for offerings placed in front of them.Template:Sfn In 2006, a stele depicting Resheph and Astarte was also discovered in Tell el-Borg.Template:Sfn It is presumed that it dates to the reign of Amenhotep II or earlier.Template:Sfn It was erected by an overseer of horses, Betu, whose name is not common in Egyptian sources and might have Hurrian origin.Template:Sfn The inscription refers to Resheph with the otherwise unknown epithet, “lord of the estate of the stable of horses”.Template:Sfn Presumably it was meant to highlight the devotee's close link to him.Template:Sfn

According to Richard H. Wilkinson, a temple dedicated to Resheph existed in Memphis.Template:Sfn Izak Cornelius instead interprets the available evidence as an indication that he was venerated within a sanctuary located in the temple of Ptah.Template:Sfn

The worship of Resheph is also attested in Nubia, possibly as a result of religious policies of Amenhotep II.Template:Sfn A stele from Wadi es-Sebua, while discovered in a historically Nubian area, was dedicated to Resheph by a certain Mati-Ba’al, presumed to be a merchant traveling through this area rather than a local inhabitant.Template:Sfn

First millennium BCE sources

Resheph continued to be worshiped in the first millennium BCE.Template:Sfn However, references to him are much less frequent than in the preceding millennia.Template:Sfn

Phoenician sources

File:KaratepeNord7.jpg

The Karatepe bilingual.

References to the worship of Resheph in Phoenician cities are scarce, and he did not play a significant role in Phoenician religion.Template:Sfn Attestations are largely limited to toponyms and onomastics.Template:Sfn No references to offerings, statues or altars are known, and even the Phoenician theophoric names invoking him are uncommon and exclusively attested in sources from Egypt, which might indicate they were only used by members of the diaspora.Template:Sfn The oldest Phoenician text mentioning Resheph, the Karatepe bilingual, comes from outside Phoenicia.Template:Sfn It is attributed to the local Cilician ruler Azatiwada.Template:Sfn While it references Resheph, due to absence of theophoric names invoking him it is not certain to what capacity he was actively worshiped by the Phoenician inhabitants of this area, and his presence might rely on the need to include a god possible to treat as an equivalent of Luwian Runtiya.Template:Sfn He is designated by a unique epithet in this context, șprm, possibly “of the goats”Template:Sfn or “of the stags”.Template:Sfn Translators most commonly presume that the title is a cognate of Hebrew ṣāpîr, with additional support for the view that an animal is meant coming from the fact that Runtiya is typically described as a “stag god” and from to Resheph's well attested association with gazelles in Egyptian sources.Template:Sfn

Only a single source mentioning Resheph comes from Phoenicia itself.Template:Sfn An inscription of king Bodashtart from Sidon mentions a district named after him.Template:Sfn However, it is possible that this toponym was not linked to an active cult, and only constituted a relic of past practices.Template:Sfn A number of difficult to precisely date Phoenician sculptures from the eighth or seventh century BCE from locations such as Gadir, Huelva, Selinous and Samos are sometimes interpreted as representations of Resheph, though Melqart is a possibile identification as well.Template:Sfn

No evidence for the worship of Resheph in Punic cities exists.Template:Sfn A single text mentions a person bearing a theophoric name invoking him, a certain Abd-Rashap,Template:Sfn though the individual in mention originated in Egypt.Template:Sfn Most of the references to purported Punic evidence for the worship of Resheph in older scholarly literature are the result of misreading the theonym Eresh (‘rš), well attested in theophoric names, or the title “Baal of the cape” (rš).Template:Sfn

File:Gehörnter Gott, Enkomi.jpg

The horned god from Enkomi.

Cyprus is an exception from the scarcity of Phoenician attestations of Resheph.Template:Sfn Sources from this area are the richest corpus of texts mentioning him from the first millennium BCE.Template:Sfn Similarly as the evidence for the worship of Anat from this area this might indicate a continuity of traditions originating in the Bronze Age, when both of these deities were most commonly venerated.Template:Sfn The oldest possible reference to Resheph being known to Cypriots is one of the Amarna letters, written by the king of Alashiya, in which the “hand” of a deity represented in cuneiform by the logogram ^dMAŠ.MAŠ, most likely him rather than Nergal in this context, is blamed for the death of local coppersmiths.Template:Sfn This is presumed to be the description of a plague which struck the kingdom.Template:Sfn It has also been proposed that an early bronze statue of a horned god from Enkomi might be a representation of Resheph.Template:Sfn Later on Resheph's cult center on the island was Idalion.Template:Sfn Four dedications to him from the reign of a local ruler, Milkyaton, have been found in this city.Template:Sfn A bilingual inscription from Kition dated to 341 BCE mentions Resheph under the epithet ḥṣ, whose interpretation remains uncertain, with proposals such as “arrow” (hēs) or “street” (hūs) being present in scholarship.Template:Sfn The former view is more common, and finds support in his iconography.Template:Sfn Despite Resheph's prominence on Cyprus, the number of theophoric names invoking him from this area is small.Template:Sfn

Aramaic sources

In the eighth and seventh centuries, Resheph was worshiped in Cilicia.Template:Sfn However, the evidence is limited to two inscriptions.Template:Sfn One of them is Aramaic, and has been attributed to Panamuwa I of Samʼal.Template:Sfn He is mentioned alongside Hadad, El, Rakib-El and Shamash, the main deities of the local pantheon.Template:Sfn However, he is absent from a similar text on a monument set up by Bar Rakib for his father.Template:Sfn His absence might indicate that in the former case he should only be interpreted as a personal protective deity of the king.Template:Sfn

Resheph is also mentioned alongside Kubaba on an Aramaic stela from Tell Sifr, a site located near Aleppo, but due to the state of its preservation it provides little information about his position in the local pantheon and his relation to the aforementioned goddess, though according to Maciej M. Münnich it does make it possible to establish that locally he must have been worshiped by members of high strata of society, capable of commissioning such monuments.Template:Sfn Two Aramaic texts from Palmyra mention Resheph, in both cases alongside two goddesses, Ḥirta and Nanaya; he is also attested in the Greek version of one of them alongside Hera and Artemis.Template:Sfn

Aramaic sources do not appear to treat Resheph as a deity of disease, and instead stress his protective character, which might have been the reason behind his association with the Arabian god Ruda, “well disposed”, possibly brought northwards by migrating Aramean tribes from the Syrian Desert.Template:Sfn Another possibility is that this portrayal of Resheph was influenced by Ruda in the first place.Template:Sfn

Hebrew Bible

References to Resheph are present in the Hebrew Bible,Template:Sfn though compared to deities such as Baal he is not mentioned frequently.Template:Sfn It is assumed that before the Babylonian Exile, Resheph might have been regarded as a minor deity inflicting diseases on behalf of Yahweh,Template:Sfn while by the time of the compilation of the Book of Chronicles, in the fourth or third century BCE, he was no longer worshiped by the Hebrews.Template:Sfn Eventually his name came to be understood as a common noun.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In Biblical Hebrew, resheph Template:Script/Hebrew means "flame, firebolt", derived from Template:Script/Hebrew "to burn".<ref>Strong's Concordance H7565</ref> Individual biblical passages show varying degrees of demythologization, therefore the name is not always used to refer to a personified figure, and sometimes serves only as a poetic metaphor.Template:Sfn Echoes of Resheph's role as a god of plague have been identified in Deuteronomy 32:24 and Psalm 78:48.Template:Sfn In both cases, he is represented as a tool of divine wrath.Template:Sfn He is also mentioned in Habakkuk 3:5, according to Theodore Hiebert as a personified figure acting as the attendant of Yahweh (Eloah), though most contemporary translations treat the name as a common noun in this case.Template:Sfn He is paired in this context with Deber, presumably also originally a personified deity.Template:Sfn The passage most likely reflects the image of Yahweh as a great god accompanied by an entourage of lesser deities, similar to examples known from Ugaritic and Mesopotamian literature, such as the reference to Adad's servants Shullat and Hanish in the Epic of Gilgamesh.Template:Sfn In the Job 5:7, there is mention of the "sons of resheph", translated in the Septuagint as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "the young of the vulture".Template:Sfn

Only one theophoric name invoking Resheph has been identified in the Bible, specifically in 1 Chronicles 7:25, where an individual named Resheph is mentionedTemplate:Sfn as a son of Ephraim.Template:Sfn While uncommon, the use of a theonym itself as a theophoric name is not unparalleled.Template:Sfn

Greco-Roman reception

File:Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum CIS I 89 (from Cyprus) (cropped).jpg

The Idalion bilingual.

The form of Resheph worshiped on Cyprus was identified with Apollo by the Greeks.Template:Sfn The Idalion bilingual refers to “Resheph Mikal” (Template:Langx) in Phoenician and Apollo Amyklos in Cypro-syllabic Greek, but it is not certain if a Greek epithet was adopted by Phoenicians or a Phoenician one by Greeks.Template:Sfn There is no evidence of this equation extending beyond said island,Template:Sfn though Paolo Xella argues that Pausanias' mention of Apollo as the father of the Phoenician god Eshmun might be an account of a tradition which originally involved Resheph instead.Template:Sfn The association between Resheph and Apollo relied on their shared portrayal as archers, affinity with diseases, and apotropaic functions.Template:Sfn Javier Teixidor in particular stressed the parallels between Resheph as a plague god who strikes his victims with arrows as attested in an inscription from Idalion with the Homeric portrayal of Apollo (Iliad Template:Iliad).Template:Sfn A local Cypriot deity, Hylates, might have been identified with Resheph as well.Template:Sfn

In the Greco-Roman period Resheph apparently ceased to be worshiped in Egypt, with the only references to him including a dedication of Ptolemy III Euergetes from Karnak, litanies listing many deities from Papyrus of Imuthes and Tebtunis Papyrus, unlikely to reflect widespread personal cult, and possibly a small number of theophoric names whose restoration is a matter of dispute among researchers.Template:Sfn

It has been proposed that Arsippus, who is mentioned in the third book of Cicero's De Natura Deorum alongside Astronoe (an ordinary Persian name, here possibly a corruption of Damaskios’ Astronoe) as the father of one of the multiple deities named Aesculapius, can be interpreted as a Latiniziation of Resheph.Template:Sfn However, this view is not universally accepted.Template:Sfn

References

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