The God Resheph

in the Ancient Near East

ISBN: 978-3-16-152491-2
Liczba stron: 320
Rok wydania: 2013
Wydania: 1 (Mohr Siebeck, Tubingen)

Maciej Münnich

Born 1973; 2003 PhD from the Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Arts; 2012 Post-doctoral degree (habilitation) from the Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Arts; currently Head of the Department of Ancient History at the Catholic University of Lublin.

Resheph was quite a popular god in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC - especially in Syria - but during the 1st millennium his cult became extinct. Finally it was only maintained in several peripheral and isolated sites, such as in the Palmyra desert and in Cyprus. Maciej M. Munnich presents the written sources which mentioned Resheph and analyzes the features of Resheph's cult. He emphasizes that there is no confirmation for the theory that Resheph was a lord of the netherworld. Resheph was a belligerent, aggressive god who used diseases to attack people, but who could also heal. Because of the long period of the cult and the geographical range, one can notice some local features: In Egypt, for instance, Resheph originally was venerated as the deity supporting the Pharaoh in battles, but then he was summoned mainly because of illness and everyday needs.