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Elohim

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 The Elohim[2] are the Canaanite gods of ancient Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, a region known in antiquity as Canaan.

History

Elohim (singular: Eloah) means "the children of El", the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon.[4]

As part of the larger Semitic culture of the ancient Near East, Canaanite mythology was heavily influenced by its more powerful neighbors, such as the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, but it also influenced later religious traditions, such as the ancient religion of Israel, which developed over the centuries into the monotheism of the god Yahweh, Canaanite god of war, and the Phoenician religion.

While Baal, who defeated the great sea serpent of chaos Lotan,[4] is the name of the fertility god son and heir of El, some other gods adopted the word "baal" or "ba'al", meaning "lord", as a title alongside their names, such as Baal Zebub, "Lord of the Flies".

Ashtar,[5] god of the morning star ("son of the morning"), tried to take the place of Baal as the king of the gods and failed, and instead was sent to rule the Underworld in place of Mot, the god of death temporarily killed by Baal; Ashtar can be considered an earlier version of Lucifer, the morning star and son of the morning who tried to take the throne of God and failed and was cast into Hell, where he became its ruler in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated, and many angels of Yahweh's heavenly hosts have names ending in -el, which came to be synonymous with "god", such as Michael, Mikaʾel, lit. 'Who is like El [God]?'. Characteristics of other deities, such as Baal, were also absorbed in conceptions of Yahweh (the name of the pantheon of the gods, "Elohim", even became one of his names). Over time, the existence of other deities was denied outright, and Yahweh was proclaimed the creator deity and the sole divinity to be worthy of worship — and the other deities were considered false gods, demons or fallen angels.[6][7]

Allah, the Arabic word for God, comes from the same root as Eloah, "God."

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Weaknesses

  • Power Loss: Similar to other pantheons, the Canaanite gods draw greater power from the act of worship. When the number of worshippers diminishes, the gods within the Canaanite pantheon, along with their power, gradually decline as well.[8]


Miscellaneous

Type of Government:

  • Monarchy

Level of Technology:

Cultural Traits:

  • Ancient Canaanite

Representatives:

  • El, father of the gods[4]
  • Anat, goddess of war and hunting[9]
  • Ashtar, god of the morning star, thunderstorms and rain; masculine form of Astarte[5]
  • Astarte, goddess of war and hunting, beauty and love; feminine form of Ashtar
  • Baal, warrior-god of storm and fertility, heir of El
  • Baal Zebub, lord of flies, god of pestilence
  • Belphegor, abundance god worshipped by the ancient Moabites[10]
  • Lotan, god of chaos, the twisting, seven-headed serpent of the sea[4]
  • Mammon, god of wealth[11]
  • Moloch, god of fire associated with the ritual sacrifice of children[12] and the underworld of Gehenna
  • Mot, god of death and the Underworld[4]
  • Yahweh, god of war

DC Comics also created original characters as Canaanite gods who were patrons of the wizard Shazam; their initials form the name VLAREM, as the wizard was called as champion of the gods:

Others:

  • Scorio, a Phoenician alligator god[13]

Known Agents


Notes

  • These characters or objects are an adaptation of the Canaanite Gods, characters or objects in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.
  • While "Phoenician" and "Canaanite" refer to the same culture, archaeologists and historians commonly consider the Phoenicians direct successors of the Canaanites, continuing their cultural traditions.

See Also


Links and References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Power of Shazam! #10
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Multiversity Guidebook #1
  3. ↑ Future State: Wonder Woman #1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Sanctum Vol. 3: Môt
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 House of Mystery #180
  6. ↑ Batman: Demon
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Supergirl (Volume 4) #58
  8. ↑ Sandman Presents: Bast #2
  9. ↑ Anima #4
  10. ↑ Arak: Son of Thunder #5
  11. ↑ Zatanna (Volume 2) #5
  12. ↑ Before Watchmen: Moloch #1
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Flash Comics #14
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