The Sumerian god of the Moon. God of the Moon from the Egyptians

The religious world, like all other aspects of human life, in our time has a tendency to rapid development. The reverse side of progress is associated with the breaking of established traditions, the active interaction of different cultures and, as a result, the rapid growth of new religious movements of a syncretic nature. Relative stability of the religious sphere of former periods of history is a thing of the past. In addition, there is a steady tendency to increase demand for pre-Christian heritage, mainly pagan content. Outbreaks of neopaganism are observed all over the world, the number of their adherents is growing rapidly. This circumstance makes actual, moreover - an acutely necessary, detailed and profound study of ancient cults, their mythology, dogma and practice.

Male and female in paganism

Followers of modern paganism and reenactors-enthusiasts of pagan cults, inspired by ancient images, recreate the system of venerating nature, describing it in the language of mythology as a complex complex relationship between the various forces of the universe and man. The orthodox and universal in most of these constructions are the typological figures of the sun god - the archetypal divine Father of the Universe - and the goddess of the earth - the Great Mother. The latter is most often associated with the moon, which causes in different contexts the emergence of a stable pair of sun-earth or sun-moon as a male and female manifestation of the higher divine principle. The origins of these images are extremely ancient, numbering not less than ten thousand years and rooted in the gray ages of matriarchy. In general, they represent canonical images in Western culture, although they also have prototypes in many religious traditions of the world. Nevertheless, there are also reverse examples. So, for example, the divine Egyptian syzygy Geb and Nut represent an inversion of the universal archetype. The goddess Nut - is the goddess of Heaven, and god Geb is in charge of the land. Likewise, the lunar symbolism is sometimes assigned to male characters. This is the case, for example, in Tengrinism - the shamanic religious system, in Egypt (in the person of the gods Thoth and Jaach), in the Vedic culture (under the face of the god Soma). To them also belongs Sin-god of the moon of ancient Sumer.

Sumerian cult of the moon. God Nanna

Fragmentary and scattered information about the cult of celestial bodies, which the Sumerian culture told us, tells us two names - Shin (Shin) and Nanna. Of these two characters, the second is the oldest moon god of this region. According to mythology, he was the son of the god Enlil, grandson of the supreme god of heaven Anu. Accordingly, Nanna is the brother of Ninurta and Ishkura. In addition, he produced two twin children - the famous goddess Ishtar and the god Shamash.

Mythological image of Nunn

The name Nanna means "lord of the sky". But the lord of the sky is not the god of the sun and the god of the moon. In this case, this epithet is stably connected only with the night luminary. Nanna was traditionally represented as a traveler on the heavenly ocean on a boat, as a crescent moon. Hence his nickname "Magur", which means "ship".

Propagation of the cult of Nanna

Special feats, according to available data, Nanna did not commit, in the field of war and love, too, did not differ. Nevertheless, among the population of Sumer, he gained great reverence and recognition. Initially, being a deity-patron of the city of Ur, the cult of Nunn conquered Harran, and then became dominant in Nippur, the religious capital of Sumer. Thus, the moon god became the leader in the number of adherents and admirers in Sumerian society.

Cultivation of the cult of Nanna

The religions of the ancient peoples began to mutually influence each other with the appearance of military or commercial ties, and similar archetypal images often merged into one. As a result of these processes, the Sumerian god of the Moon, Nunn, merged into a single face with the Babylonian moon god Sin, imprinting in the culture of the region a holistic image of the deity of the night luminary passed through the ages.

Another vivid example of male deities associated with the Earth satellite is given to us by Egypt.

The Moon God of the Egyptians

More precisely, the Egyptian tradition knows not one, but at least three male lunar gods - Thoth, Jaah and Honsu. It is due to the fact that in ancient Egypt its entire history was not a single religion. Although attempts were made to impose it, each nom, every city remained faithful to its own gods. Of course, among them were national deities, but their mythological role, genealogy, functions and practice of the cult could vary significantly from one center of veneration to another.

The Egyptians had only a common culture, in which a number of independent religious schools glimmered. Therefore, the moon god for every major city had its own.

God Toth

The most famous and most striking of the famous lunar deities of Egypt is, undoubtedly, the One. His image is so impressionable that even in our time few people have not heard his name. Moreover, under the banners of Hermeticism, the cult of God Thoth lived to this day. This is the only ancient Egyptian god who was spared by fate in this respect.

But in general, the jurisdiction of this character was not only a night luminary. Therefore, first of all, He is not only the god of the moon, but the patron of knowledge and arts, the source of wisdom, the inventor of writing, the messenger of the gods. He accompanied the soul of the deceased to the Kingdom of the Dead and as a scribe was present at her trial by Osiris.

The center of veneration of Thoth was the city of Hermopolis. Traditionally, this Egyptian god was portrayed by the Egyptians with the head of Ibis, who was considered his sacred animal. And the wife of the divine sage was the goddess Maat - the patroness of truth and of all kinds.

God Yaah

Probably, Yaah is the most ancient lunar god of the Egyptian pantheon. Initially, his cult originated in Thebes, where he was worshiped simply as the moon, as an astronomical phenomenon. Actually, the very name "Jaah" means simply "moon" or "month".

The cult of Jaah quickly blossomed, and then as quickly decayed, being unable to compete with other lunar deities. Nevertheless, a narrow circle of admirers at Yaakh always remained. This is said about the widespread, though rare images of this deity, as well as the ancient Egyptian ritual texts. Of the latter, the most important testimony to the important role of Jaach is the notorious Book of the Dead.

Little is known about the mythology and other details of life and the worship of this deity. To date, the cult of Jaach remains one of the least explored aspects of ancient Egyptian religiosity. Some scholars, however, suggest that he and the Jewish god Yahweh had a single prototype linking both deities and served as a source of their reverence.

God Hounsou

Honsu is another god of the Moon of Egypt. However, the symbolism associated with it is accentuated, in contrast to Thoth and Jaach, in the cycle of life. The name Khonsu means "passing". Accordingly, it is the god of the calendar, the ruler of time. Hence its great importance, because it is by the lunar cycles that the Egyptians calculated the year, the seasons, the floods of the Nile, the time of sowing and harvesting.

Mythological genealogy imposes the role of parents Khonsu god Amon and the goddess Mut. The lord of time was portrayed in the image of a boy or boy with a moon disk on his head. And by virtue of this iconographic relationship, sometimes it was correlated with Harpocrates - the late syncretic god of silence and silence.

Synthesis of the lunar deities in Egypt

Like the Sumerian god of the Moon, Nunn-Sin, the moon gods of the Egyptians also merged into uniform images, and in various combinations. At different times and in different places synthetic images of Thoth-Jaach, Tot-Khonsu and Yaahya-Khonsu are known.

Anyway, the moon god in the ancient world was a very important deity. This is due to the important role of the satellite of the earth in the social, agricultural, biological life of mankind and nature as a whole.