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Aštabi
Aštabi (Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎌𐎚𐎁, aštb), also known as Aštabil, was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in Ebla, later incorporated into Hurrian beliefs in locations such as Alalakh and Ugarit and as a result also into the religion of the Hittite Empire.
The attested writings of the name are Aštabi (in Alalakh and Hattusa), Aštabil/Ašdabil (in Ebla and Mari), aštb and possibly `ṭtpl and `ṭtpr (alphabetic spellings from Ugarit).
Aštabi is regarded as one of the so-called "Syrian substrate deities" by researchers. While present in the Hurrian pantheon and in earlier documents from Ebla, names of members of this group are assumed to have pre-Hurrian and most likely pre-Semitic origin.
Initially Hurrian origin had been ascribed to Aštabi by researchers based on the similarity of his name to those of Kumarbi and Nabarbi, but this is no longer regarded as plausible due to the existence of earlier forms ending with -bil rather than -bi. While a Semitic origin of the name has also been proposed, with a reconstructed hypothetical original form Yaštabi-El ("El has satisfied himself"), it is regarded as implausible due to reliance on assigning presently unattested sign values to Eblaite spellings of the name.
In the Hurrian (and by extension Hittite) pantheon Aštabi was a war god. This aspect of his character is also well attested in Ugaritic texts. However, despite a considerable number of mentions in known documents, his original role in the pantheon of Ebla cannot be presently determined. The available information does not point at the warlike character known from later sources, as unlike Adad he did not receive weapons as offerings, though Alfonso Archi does not consider it fully implausible that theoretically he could have been a war god in the third millennium BCE already.
The worship of Aštabi is well attested in documents from Ebla, and it was widespread in the area under the control of the city, with the names of at least three cult centers of this god appearing in records: Ba-šeki, Du-ubki (later Tuba), and Ìr-kuki. However, it is Ebla itself which was the primary site associated with him.
One Eblaite document mentions statues of Aštabi and Baradu-madu. Both of them are also involved in a purification ceremony meant to return the health of the prince Ir'aq-Damu.
According to Alfonso Archi, after the fall of Ebla Aštabi was among the gods who did not retain their former position in the religion of the Amorites, who became the dominant culture in Syria. He lists Adamma, Ammarik, Šanugaru and Halabatu as other similar examples. He assumes that they were reduced to the status of deities of at best local significance, and as a result were easily incorporated into the religion of the Hurrians when they arrived in the same area a few centuries later. In some cases, direct influence of earlier Eblaite tradition was nonetheless still present in later tradition, for example a "month of Aštabi" known from the Eblaite calendar is still attested in texts from Alalakh from the second millennium BCE.
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Aštabi
Aštabi (Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎌𐎚𐎁, aštb), also known as Aštabil, was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in Ebla, later incorporated into Hurrian beliefs in locations such as Alalakh and Ugarit and as a result also into the religion of the Hittite Empire.
The attested writings of the name are Aštabi (in Alalakh and Hattusa), Aštabil/Ašdabil (in Ebla and Mari), aštb and possibly `ṭtpl and `ṭtpr (alphabetic spellings from Ugarit).
Aštabi is regarded as one of the so-called "Syrian substrate deities" by researchers. While present in the Hurrian pantheon and in earlier documents from Ebla, names of members of this group are assumed to have pre-Hurrian and most likely pre-Semitic origin.
Initially Hurrian origin had been ascribed to Aštabi by researchers based on the similarity of his name to those of Kumarbi and Nabarbi, but this is no longer regarded as plausible due to the existence of earlier forms ending with -bil rather than -bi. While a Semitic origin of the name has also been proposed, with a reconstructed hypothetical original form Yaštabi-El ("El has satisfied himself"), it is regarded as implausible due to reliance on assigning presently unattested sign values to Eblaite spellings of the name.
In the Hurrian (and by extension Hittite) pantheon Aštabi was a war god. This aspect of his character is also well attested in Ugaritic texts. However, despite a considerable number of mentions in known documents, his original role in the pantheon of Ebla cannot be presently determined. The available information does not point at the warlike character known from later sources, as unlike Adad he did not receive weapons as offerings, though Alfonso Archi does not consider it fully implausible that theoretically he could have been a war god in the third millennium BCE already.
The worship of Aštabi is well attested in documents from Ebla, and it was widespread in the area under the control of the city, with the names of at least three cult centers of this god appearing in records: Ba-šeki, Du-ubki (later Tuba), and Ìr-kuki. However, it is Ebla itself which was the primary site associated with him.
One Eblaite document mentions statues of Aštabi and Baradu-madu. Both of them are also involved in a purification ceremony meant to return the health of the prince Ir'aq-Damu.
According to Alfonso Archi, after the fall of Ebla Aštabi was among the gods who did not retain their former position in the religion of the Amorites, who became the dominant culture in Syria. He lists Adamma, Ammarik, Šanugaru and Halabatu as other similar examples. He assumes that they were reduced to the status of deities of at best local significance, and as a result were easily incorporated into the religion of the Hurrians when they arrived in the same area a few centuries later. In some cases, direct influence of earlier Eblaite tradition was nonetheless still present in later tradition, for example a "month of Aštabi" known from the Eblaite calendar is still attested in texts from Alalakh from the second millennium BCE.