Ancient Semitic religion

Ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic peoples from the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa. Since the term Semitic represents a rough category when referring to cultures, as opposed to languages, the definitive bounds of the term "ancient Semitic religion" are only approximate but exclude the religions of "non-Semitic" speakers of the region such as Egyptians, Elamites, Hittites, Hurrians, Mitanni, Urartians, Luwians, Minoans, Greeks, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Medes, Philistines and Parthians.

Semitic traditions and their pantheons fall into regional categories: Canaanite religions of the Levant (including the henotheistic ancient Hebrew religion of the Israelites, Judeans and Samaritans, as well as the religions of the Amorites, Phoenicians, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites and Suteans); the Sumerian-influenced Mesopotamian religion; the Phoenician Canaanite religion of Carthage; Nabataean religion; Eblaite, Ugarite, Dilmunite and Aramean religions; and Arabian polytheism.

Semitic polytheism transitioned into Abrahamic monotheism by way of Yahwism, a variety of Canaanite paganism centred on Yahweh, the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In this process, Yahweh was syncretized with El, the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name "El" אל, or elah אלה is a word for "god" in Hebrew, cognate to Arabic ʼilāh إله, and its definitive pronoun form الله Allāh, "(The) God".

Abbreviations: Ac. Akkadian-Babylonian; Ug. Ugaritic; Pp. Phoenician; Ib. Hebrew; Ar. Arabic; OSA Old South Arabian; Et. Ethiopic

The Sun, Moon, and the five planets visible to the naked eye connected with the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon. A list now held in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:

The religion of the Assyrian Empire (sometimes called Ashurism) centered on Ashur, patron deity of the city of Assur, and Ishtar, patroness of Nineveh. The last positively recorded worship of Ashur and other Assyrian-Mesopotamian gods dates back to the 3rd century AD in the face of the adaptation of Christianity from the 1st century AD onwards, although there is evidence of isolated pockets of worship among Assyrian people as late as the 17th century.

Ashur, the patron deity of the eponymous capital of Assur from the Early Bronze Age (c. 22nd century BC), was in constant rivalry with the later emerging Marduk (from c. 19th century BC), the patron deity of Babylon. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk, even becoming the husband of Ishtar.

The major Assyro-Babylonian-Akkadian gods were: