Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities in the Ancient Near East

Singletary, Jennifer

This book analyzes examples of objects, qualities, and attributes treated as deities in ancient Near Eastern texts spanning the second and first millennia BCE. Specifically, this cross-cultural study examines attestations of this phenomenon in texts from Mesopotamia, Ebla, Alalakh, Emar, and Ugarit, as well as first millennium inscriptions, Aramaic texts from Egypt, and the Hebrew Bible. Through the application of recent research in cognitive science of religion and prototype theory, the book concludes that these types of deities are natural products of the human mind.