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The Birth of Sacrifice-Hutwohl.pdf (5.67 MB)

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The Birth of Sacrifice: Ritualized Deities in Eastern Mediterranean Mythology

Hütwohl, Dannu
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1606754016335887

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Greek and Latin.
This dissertation explores myths from cultures of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean that depict gods performing sacrifice and gods as the victims of sacrifice. The author investigates how the motif of divine sacrifice or ritualized deities is connected to aitiologies of sacrifice and the typology of dying and rising gods. The author situates the myths within a historical framework of cultural exchange in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean to show how different cultures in contact adapted and creatively reworked myths about gods involved in sacrifice. The author begins with a new reading of the Mesopotamian story of Atrahasis and shows through an analysis of Mesopotamian ritual texts that the slaughter of the god Ilawela in Atrahasis should be interpreted as the first sacrifice, which results in the creation of humans who then provide offerings to the gods. The author then uses the Hebrew Bible as a case study to show how the theme of sacrifice and anthropogeny was adapted by a neighboring culture. Then, with a close reading of Hesiod’s myth of Prometheus and Pandora and the Greek story of the flood preserved by Pseudo-Apollodoros, the author argues that Greek authors borrowed the Mesopotamian motif of sacrifice and anthropogeny and adapted it to fit Greek theology. Next, in an investigation of the fragmentary Phoenician myth of Melqart, the author offers a new reading of the myth about the attempted sacrifice of Herakles recorded by Herodotos and argues that the historian preserves a Greek adaptation of the myth of the sacrifice of Melqart, who was syncretized with Herakles by the fifth-century BCE. The author then reads the Phoenician myth of the sacrifice of the infant god Ieoud, preserved by the Roman period author Philo of Byblos, as an adaptation of the pattern of a dying and rising god known from the Ugaritic myth of Baal, the historical antecedent of Melqart. Accordingly, the author shows how Philo’s myth of Ieoud provides crucial information for reconstructing the myth of Melqart. Finally, the author explores how the sixth-century BCE Orphic myth about the sacrifice of the infant god Dionysos and anthropogeny adapts various elements from the traditions underlying the myth of the Mesopotamian Atrahasis, the Phoenician myths of Melqart and the sacrifice of the infant god Ieoud, and the Egyptian myth of Osiris.
Carolina López-Ruiz (Advisor)
Fritz Graf (Committee Member)
Sam Meier (Committee Member)
531 p.
Biblical Studies; Classical Studies; Near Eastern Studies
cultural exchange, Mediterranean mythology, sacrifice, dying and rising gods, Atrahasis, Hesiod, Herodotus, Melqart, Phoenicians, Philo of Byblos, child sacrifice, Baal, Hebrew Bible, Dionysus, Orphism, Osiris

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hütwohl, D. (2020). The Birth of Sacrifice: Ritualized Deities in Eastern Mediterranean Mythology [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1606754016335887

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hütwohl, Dannu. The Birth of Sacrifice: Ritualized Deities in Eastern Mediterranean Mythology. 2020. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1606754016335887.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hütwohl, Dannu. "The Birth of Sacrifice: Ritualized Deities in Eastern Mediterranean Mythology." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1606754016335887

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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