#reshep

[hesy-bes]

I really love your poetry! Could you please write one for Resheph?

O' Reshep,

Great God of War,

You thunder across the deserts,

lightning lighting up the sky.

Your rage shakes the land,

as loud as the drums of war.

Beat,

beat,

beat.

My heart is in rhythm with your war drum,

and your chariot

I follow to war.

[bookofwisdom]

It's occurred to me that being quarantined incase I have covid would be a good time to make some kind of devotional item for Reshep. If I had my lampwork bead set up all ready to go, beads in blue (lapis) or red might be a good...but I don't have a gas canister at the moment.

Does anyone have any ideas for a devotional craft for an Ancient Near Eastern god of plagues, fire, arrows, healing, gazelles, etc.?

[antlering]

please my dudes, my gods, my kings...i'm drawing a line in the sand on the amount of syncretism i can mentally and emotionally handle

[rediankhesi]

Beautiful Stallion

[antlering]

Reshep (Ršp, Rašap, Reshef) is a Syrian deity of the underworld with hunting and warlike aspects. Originally from Ebla, Reshep’s worship spread throughout ancient Canaan and to Egypt, Anatolia, and Cyprus. In texts from Ugarit, Reshep often receives the epithet gatekeeper of Shapash, as he would open the way to the underworld every night to allow the sun goddess to pass through. As lord of arrows, Reshep was thought to bring both plague and healing (and would later be worshiped in the form of Apollo-Amyklos-Reshep-Mikal). He may have also been a god of fire and lightning. He was associated with both deer and hunting, and was thus syncretized with ANE “divine deer” gods like the Luwian Runtiya and Hittite Kurunta. In his role as a deity of death and the underworld, he was associated with Nergal. In Egypt Reshep enjoyed a period of popularity as a foreign god of war and occasionally formed a triad with Min and the Syrian Qudshu; he could also be a son of Herishef and a form of Montu.

[antlering]

me presenting Deus Cervus with my newest thesis on His syncretic forms:

[antlering]

stressful day at work calls for some offerings. Hermes, Ares, Reshep, give me strength of will.

[antlering]

30DoDD #2-3

Some of you might remember back in October I started working on the “30 Days of Deity Devotion” challenge for Reshep and Kothar-wa-Khasis. I got a little too busy to finish it then, so I’m picking up at (essentially) the beginning!

2. How did you become first aware of this deity?

I think I became aware of both Reshep and Kothar-wa-Khasis here on tumblr from posts by @bookofwisdom​! Because Canaanite gods don’t have the same surviving cultural impact as, say, Greek and Egyptian gods, it’s harder to stumble across them unless you’re online or deep into a related degree program. I added icons for both Reshep and Kothar to my Canaanite shrine some years ago so that I could get to know them.

3.  Symbols and icons of this deity

As a martial god, Reshep is heavily associated with weapons, particularly the bow and arrow. He may be associated with shields, but the translation of that particular epithet is still controversial. In Egypt, Reshep was commonly shown with a spear and the white crown, but more notable is his mustache and beard that mark him as a foreign, Syrian deity. Antelopes and gazelles are likewise linked to Reshep as prey animals.

One of the difficulties of reviving Canaanite polytheism is that the Bronze Age Canaanites didn’t make a lot of statues of the gods that are identifiable as unique deities, and Kothar is a prime example of this. Statues of male deities tend to fall into two categories: “striking,” usually showing a martial god like Ba’al, or “seated,” usually showing an El-type god. In my opinion, Kothar would more likely fall into the “seated” category, but I’m unaware of any statues of Canaanite origin that we know for sure depict Kothar.

We do know that Kothar was strongly syncretized with Ptah, and thus theoretically could be depicted like Ptah (mummiform, skullcap). As the preeminent craftsman god of Canaan his symbols could also include the tools of metallurgy, woodwork, etc. I would also argue that Ba’al Hadad’s two divine weapons are symbols of KWK’s skill, as he created them for Hadad and imbued them with life.