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  • From: "Heard, Christopher" <Christopher.Heard AT pepperdine.edu>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] God vs gods
  • Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 20:20:30 -0700

Yitzhak,

It's not me making the association, it's the Seleucids ... or at least, according to my memory, the Seleucids identified Greek Zeus with Syrian Baal Shamayim. I am at home right now so I am working from memory but I will see if I can dig up bibliography tomorrow.

Chris

On Aug 23, 2005, at 7:47 PM, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

On 8/23/05, Heard, Christopher wrote:

Antiochus IV was no atheist, nor a proponent of atheism. He styled
himself "Epiphanes," and had pictures of Zeus and Nike minted on his
coinage; these are not the actions of an "atheist." Judging by the
narratives in 1 Maccabees and Josephus, when Antiochus IV defiled the
temple in Jerusalem, it was not by promoting atheism, but by
promoting the worship of Zeus Olympius/Baal Shamayim. Persecuting a
"rival" religion is unusual in the history of antique polytheism, but
it is not atheistic.


Hello,

Is there any specific reason you associate Baal Shamayim with Zeus, as
opposed to say, Baal Zephon or Baal Hadad? Might you have references
that I could read about Baal Shamayim?

Thanks,
Yitzhak Sapir


--
R. Christopher Heard
Assistant Professor of Religion
Seaver Fellow in Religion
Pepperdine University
Malibu, California 90263-4352
Professional Web Page: http://faculty.pepperdine.edu/cheard
Internet Resource Index: http://www.iTanakh.org
Personal Web Page: http://www.heardworld.com





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