By the Gods!
RSSPosts tagged with "sky"
El
The supreme deity of the ancient Canaanites, El was big man on the Levant-campus back in the day. El was the father of Ba’al, who would eventually become more popular than his dad throughout the Middle-East, and husband of Asherah (a semitic mother goddess).
In many depictions, El wore the same bull horns as did Ba’al, though we often see him portrayed in the fancy hats of an ancient Mesopotamian king. The power of fancy hats was one worth flaunting, after all. Though his main priority was sitting in a throne, enjoying being the boss, he was accredited with being a patron deity of fertility, thunder, mountains, deserts, oceans, and war. A real Renaissance-god.
Now, even though Ba’al was the god of storm and sky (a position usually held by a chief deity) his papa was #1, at least in the inception of the Pantheon. El’s full title was El Shaddai, which loosely translates (we’re pretty sure, anyway) to God of the Mountain. The Mesopotamian Holy Mountain was a big deal, and a fitting place for a king of the Gods to dwell, one might think. El was too popular for his own good, though. Or, for our good, at least; he’s brought up in so many places in so many different forms, it’s difficult to pin down what exactly he was to whom.
The most popular reference to El would be in the Hebrew Torah, where El Shaddai is the God of Abraham, and is synonymous with Yahweh. Does this mean that Abraham was originally a practitioner of the Canaanite faith? Quite possible! But either way, it seems the Hebrews adopted the title of the supreme deity in Canaan and used it as a feather in Yahweh’s cap. Ol’ El has also drawn comparisons to the Babylonian Ea (Enki) and Poseidon, if you can believe it.
Whoever you are, El, you’re almost definitely a badass.
Ukko
In Finnish mythology, Ukko was the god of the sky, weather, and the harvest. He was also seen as the highest of the pagan gods, and bore a great deal of resemblance to the Germanic god Thor. The Finnish word for thunderstorm (ukkonen) is derived from his name, and with good reason: thunderstorms were definitely his thing. He carried a hammer, (or an axe, but I think the hammer’s cooler) and used it to control lightning.
Most all of the stories involving Ukko have someone beg a weather-miracle of him, and him answering the call with a big ol’ lightning bolt or storm. When Ukko got together with his wife Akka, their… union… created one of the most violent thunderstorms of all time. Aww yeah, Ukko.
Ukko bears a great deal of resemblance to neighbouring sky deities. As mentioned above, he is very Thor-like, with the wisdom and authority of Odin mixed in. There’s also a great deal of similarity with Zeus and Horus, and with the Baltic deity Perun. Finnish mythology is often manifested as a fairly even blend of Baltic and Germanic myth.
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