|
Melqart (Phoenician: , lit. ''Melek-qart'', "King of the City";〔Also transcribed as Melkart, Melkarth, and ''Melgart''〕 Akkadian: ''Milqartu'') was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city of Tyre. Melqart was often titled ''Ba‘l Ṣūr'', "Lord of Tyre", and considered to be the ancestor of the Tyrian royal family. In Greek, by ''interpretatio graeca'' he was identified with Heracles and referred to as the ''Tyrian Herakles''. As Tyrian trade and colonization expanded, Melqart became venerated in Phoenician and Punic cultures from Syria to Spain. The first occurrence of the name is in a 9th-century BCE stela inscription found in 1939 north of Aleppo in northern Syria, the "Ben-Hadad" inscription, erected by the son of the king of Arma, "for his lord Melqart, which he vowed to him and he heard his voice".〔''ANET'' 655, noted in James Maxwell Miller and John Haralson Hayes, ''A History of Ancient Israel and Judah'' (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press) 1986 p. 293f.〕 ==Cult: literary testimony== Melqart is likely to have been the particular Ba‘al found in the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible, specifically in 1 Kings 16.31–10.26) whose worship was prominently introduced to Israel by King Ahab and largely eradicated by King Jehu. In 1 Kings 18.27, it is possible that there is a mocking reference to legendary Heraclean journeys made by the god and to the annual ''egersis'' ("awakening") of the god: ''And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, "Cry out loud: for he is a god; either he is lost in thought, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened."'' The Hellenistic novelist, Heliodorus of Emesa, in his ''Aethiopica'', refers to the dancing of sailors in honor of the Tyrian Heracles: "Now they leap spiritedly into the air, now they bend their knees to the ground and revolve on them like persons possessed". The historian Herodotus recorded (2.44): ''In the wish to get the best information that I could on these matters, I made a voyage to Tyre in Phoenicia, hearing there was a temple of Heracles at that place, very highly venerated. I visited the temple, and found it richly adorned with a number of offerings, among which were two pillars, one of pure gold, the other of ''smaragdos'', shining with great brilliance at night. In a conversation which I held with the priests, I inquired how long their temple had been built, and found by their answer that they, too, differed from the Hellenes. They said that the temple was built at the same time that the city was founded, and that the foundation of the city took place 2,300 years ago. In Tyre I remarked another temple where the same god was worshipped as the Thasian Heracles. So I went on to Thasos, where I found a temple of Heracles which had been built by the Phoenicians who colonised that island when they sailed in search of Europa. Even this was five generations earlier than the time when Heracles, son of Amphitryon, was born in Hellas. These researches show plainly that there is an ancient god Heracles; and my own opinion is that those Hellenes act most wisely who build and maintain two temples of Heracles, in the one of which the Heracles worshipped is known by the name of Olympian, and has sacrifice offered to him as an immortal, while in the other the honours paid are such as are due to a hero.'' Josephus records (''Antiquities'' 8.5.3), following Menander the historian, concerning King Hiram I of Tyre (c. 965–935 BCE): ''He also went and cut down materials of timber out of the mountain called Lebanon, for the roof of temples; and when he had pulled down the ancient temples, he both built the temple of Heracles and that of `Ashtart; and he was the first to celebrate the awakening (''egersis'') of Heracles in the month Peritius.''〔William Whiston's translation incorrectly has "first set up the temple of Heracles in ..".〕 The Macedonian month of Peritius corresponds to our February, indicating this annual awakening was in no way a solstitial celebration. It would have coincided with the normal ending of the winter rains. The annual observation of the revival of Melqart's "awakening" may identify Melqart as a life-death-rebirth deity. The Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was a native of Lepcis Magna in North Africa, an originally Phoenician city where worship of Melqart was widespread. He is known to have constructed in Rome a temple dedicated to "Liber and Hercules", and it is assumed that the Emperor, seeking to honour the god of his native city, identified Melqart with the Roman god Liber. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Melqart」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|