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Concept
Chemosh
Summary
Chemosh (Moabite: 𐤊𐤌𐤔 Kamōš; כְּמוֹשׁ Kəmōš) is an ancient Semitic deity whose existence is recorded during the Iron Age. Chemosh was the supreme deity of the Canaanite state of Moab and the patron-god of its population, the Moabites, who in consequence were called the "People of Chemosh". Chemosh is primarily attested from Moabite inscriptions and the Hebrew Bible.
The name of Chemosh is attested in the Moabite language as 𐤊𐤌𐤔 (), which was pronounced as (/kaˈmoːʃ/).
The name of Chemosh is of yet uncertain origin, and it is unclear whether it was related to the name of the Eblaite deity (), or the Ugaritic divine name (), or an epithet of the Mesopotamian god () which might have meant "bull," ().
According to one hypothesis which assumes that the names and , and and were the same, the first two variants of the name might have been -type substantival participles of B-stem and the latter two variants might have been -type verbal adjectives of D-stem, both meaning "conqueror" and "subduer," thus being related to the Akkadian terms / () and ()/ (), meaning "to submit to an overlord or to a deity" and "to bend," as well as to the Old South Arabian term 𐩠𐩫𐩣𐩪 (), meaning "to crush."
Chemosh is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible under the name כְּמוֹשׁ (, vocalized as: kǝˈmoːʃ). The Hebrew form was itself later Romanised as (vocalized as: ˈkiːmɒʃ) in translations of the Bible, while the accurate pronunciation of the name of the god, reflecting the Moabite pronunciation , is more accurately recorded in the Septuagint as Χαμως () and the Vulgate as Chamos.
The origin of the Moabite deity Chemosh is unclear, although he might possibly have been the same as the Bronze Age-period god from Ebla named (), whose existence has been attested from around 2300 BC, thus suggesting that Chemosh might have been an ancient Semitic deity. The significant gap between the attestation of the Eblaite Kamiš during the 23rd century BC and that of the Moabite Chemosh in the 9th century BC, with an absence of any reference to either of these deities in Amorite names from the 21st to the 15th centuries BC, nevertheless make this identification between Kamiš and Chemosh very uncertain.
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Related concepts (12)
Canaanite religion
The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries AD. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cases, monolatristic. A group of deities in a four-tier hierarchy headed by El and Asherah were worshiped by the followers of the Canaanite religion; this is a detailed listing: Aglibol, god of the moon and brother of Malakbel. Part of a trio of gods of Palmyra, Syria, along with Bel and Yarhibol.
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Mesha Stele
The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan). Mesha tells how Chemosh, the god of Moab, had been angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to the Kingdom of Israel, but at length, Chemosh returned and assisted Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab. Mesha also describes his many building projects.