Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Defining Time and Space
- 2 Early Inklings
- 3 Gods, Gods, Gods
- 4 Cities, States, and Gods
- 5 The Lure of Egypt, 4000–1400 BCE
- 6 The Gods of Egypt
- 7 The Akhenaten Dream, 1350–1300 BCE
- 8 Practice in Egypt
- 9 The International Age, 1400–1000 BCE
- 10 Gods and People
- 11 The Lord Is One – Israel in Its Environment
- 12 The Turning
- 13 The Good God and the Bad God
- 14 The Lands of Baal
- 15 Greece, Etruria, Rome, and Conveying Traditions
- 16 The Dead Hand of the Past and the Living God
- 17 Experiencing Ancient Near Eastern Religion
- References
- Index
14 - The Lands of Baal
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Defining Time and Space
- 2 Early Inklings
- 3 Gods, Gods, Gods
- 4 Cities, States, and Gods
- 5 The Lure of Egypt, 4000–1400 BCE
- 6 The Gods of Egypt
- 7 The Akhenaten Dream, 1350–1300 BCE
- 8 Practice in Egypt
- 9 The International Age, 1400–1000 BCE
- 10 Gods and People
- 11 The Lord Is One – Israel in Its Environment
- 12 The Turning
- 13 The Good God and the Bad God
- 14 The Lands of Baal
- 15 Greece, Etruria, Rome, and Conveying Traditions
- 16 The Dead Hand of the Past and the Living God
- 17 Experiencing Ancient Near Eastern Religion
- References
- Index
Summary
All distant lands, you make them live, for you set a Nile in the sky that it may descend for them and make waves upon the mountains like the sea to irrigate the fields in their towns.
– Prayer to the Aten, in Simpson 2003: 282The mothers were always upset, but what had to be done had to be done. The white-clad priest lifted the newborn from the arms of his reluctant young father, and the baby jolted awake as the priest held him aloft and turned about for all to see: a healthy young baby boy, now wearing nothing at all. The baby began to cry, as did the old women who had come with the young man, not yet twenty, who was the father.
The priest swiftly carried the baby up the steep altar where the flames were already licking the wood. It used to be that the baby was simply laid on the pyre still alive, but this priest was skilled and did not like overmuch mess. He had a small knife in his sleeve, and as he got near to the fire, he skillfully and quietly slit the baby's throat and then laid him on the pyre. His flesh was gone in minutes; his bones would be collected later and buried quietly with the others.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Religions of the Ancient Near East , pp. 132 - 138Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010