Yahweh

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This article is about the ancient Levantine deity. For the modern Judeo-Christian conception of Yahweh, see God in Judaism, God in Christianity, and God in Abrahamic religions. For the name "YHWH" and its vocalization, see Tetragrammaton. For other uses, see Yahweh (disambiguation).

A coin showing a bearded figure seating on a winged wheel, holding a bird on his outstretched hand
A 4th-century BCE silver coin from the Persian province of Yehud Medinata, possibly representing Yahweh enthroned on a winged wheel[1][2]
Deities of the ancient Near East
Ancient Egyptian
Arabian
Eblaite
Elamite
Hurrian
Levantine
(Canaanite and Ugaritic)
Mesopotamian
Religions of the ancient Near East

Yahweh[a] was an ancient Levantine deity, and national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah.[3] Though no consensus exists regarding the deity's origins,[4] scholars generally contend that Yahweh is associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman,[5] and later with Canaan. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age, if not somewhat earlier.[6]

In the oldest

Canaanite gods and goddesses, including El, Asherah and Baal.[8] In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated and El-linked epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone.[9] But some scholars believe El and Yahweh were always conflated.[10][11][12]Characteristics of other gods, such as Asherah and Baal, were also selectively 'absorbed' in conceptions of Yahweh.[13][14][15]

Overtime the existence of other gods was denied, and Yahweh was proclaimed the creator deity and sole divinity to be worshipped. During the Second Temple period, speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as taboo,[16] and Jews instead began to substitute other words, primarily adonai (אֲדֹנָי‬‎, "my Lords"). In Roman times, following the Siege of Jerusalem and destruction of its Temple, in 70 CE, the original pronunciation of the god's name was forgotten entirely.[17]

Yahweh is also invoked in Papyrus Amherst 63, and in Jewish or Jewish-influenced Greco-Egyptian magical texts from the 1st to 5th century CE.[18]

Name

The god's name was written in

YHWH; modern scholarship has reached consensus to transcribe this as "Yahweh".[19] The shortened forms "Yeho-", "Yahu-" and "Yo-" appear in personal names and in phrases such as "Hallelujah!"[20] The sacrality of the name, as well as the Commandment against "taking the name 'in vain'", led to increasingly strict prohibitions on speaking or writing the term. Rabbinic sources suggest that, by the Second Temple period, the name of God was pronounced only once a year, by the high priest, on the Day of Atonement.[21] After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the original pronunciation of the name was forgotten entirely.[17]

History

Periods

Philip King and Lawrence Stager place the history of Yahweh into the following periods:

  • Late Bronze: 1550–1200 BCE
  • Iron Age I: 1200–1000 BCE
  • Iron Age II: 1000–586 BCE
  • Neo-Babylonian: 586–539 BCE
  • Persian: 539–332 BCE[22]

Other academic terms often used include First Temple period, from the construction of the Temple in 957 BCE to its destruction in 586 BCE, exilic for the period of the Exile from 586–539 BCE (identical with Neo-Babylonian above), post-Exilic for later periods and Second Temple period from the reconstruction of the Temple in 515 BCE until its destruction in 70 CE.

Late Bronze Age origins (1550–1200 BCE)

There is almost no agreement on Yahweh's origins.[4] His name is not attested other than among the Israelites, and there is no consensus on its etymology, with ehyeh ašer ehyeh ("I Am that I Am"), the explanation presented in Exodus 3:14,[23] appearing to be a late theological gloss invented at a time when the original meaning had been forgotten,[24] although some scholars dispute this.[25][26] Lewis connects the name to the Amorite element yahwi- (ia-wi), found in personal names in Mari texts[27], meaning "brings to life/causes to exist" (e.g. yahwi-dagan = "Dagon causes to exist"), commonly denoted as the semantic equivalent of the Akkadian ibašši-DN;[28] though Frank Moore Cross emphasized that the Amorite verbal form is of interest only in attempting to reconstruct the verbal root of the name "Yahweh", and that attempts to take yahwi- as a divine epithet should be "vigorously" argued against.[29][30] In addition, J. Philip Hyatt believes it is more likely that yahwi- refers to a god creating and sustaining the life of a newborn child rather than the universe. This conception of God was more popular among ancient Near Easterners but eventually, the Israelites removed the association of yahwi- to any human ancestor and combined it with other elements (e.g. Yahweh ṣəḇāʾōṯ).[27]

One scholarly theory is that he originated in a shortened form of ˀel ḏū yahwī ṣabaˀôt, "El who creates the hosts",[31][32] which Cross considered to be one of the cultic names of El.[33] However, this phrase is nowhere attested either inside or outside the Bible, and the two gods are in any case quite dissimilar, with El being elderly and paternal and lacking Yahweh's association with the storm and battles.[34] Even if the above issues are resolved, Yahweh is generally agreed to have a non-causative etymology because otherwise, YHWH would be translated as YHYH.[10] It also begs the question on why the Israelites would want to shorten the epithet. One possible reason includes the co-existence of religious modernism and conservatism being the norm in all religions.[10]

The oldest plausible occurrence of his name is in the

Kenite or Midianite ties of Moses,[40] but its major weaknesses are that the majority of Israelites were firmly rooted in Palestine, while the historical role of Moses is problematic.[42] It follows that if the Kenite hypothesis is to be maintained, then it must be assumed that the Israelites encountered Yahweh (and the Midianites/Kenites) inside Israel and through their association with the earliest political leaders of Israel.[43] Moreover, inscriptions that allegedly suggest Yahweh's southern origins (e.g. "YHWH of Teman") denote his presence. Also, Teman can refer to any southern territory, including Judah.[44]

Alternatively, some scholars argue that YHWH worship was rooted in the indigenous culture of the Kingdom of Israel and was promoted in the Kingdom of Judah by the Omrides. Christian Fravel suggests that Hazael's conquests in the Kingdom of Israel forced the two kingdoms to cooperate, which spread YHWH worship among Judean commoners. Previously, YHWH was viewed as the patron god of the Judean state. [44][15]

Early Iron Age (1200–1000 BCE)

A bronze bull
Early Iron Age bull figurine from Bull Site at Dhahrat et-Tawileh (modern West Bank, ancient Ephraim), representing El, Baal or Yahweh[45][46]

In the Early Iron Age, the modern consensus is that there was no distinction in language or material culture between Canaanites and Israelites. Scholars accordingly define Israelite culture as a subset of Canaanite culture.[47] In this view, the Israelite religion consisted of Canaanite gods such as El, the ruler of the pantheon,[48] Asherah, his consort, and Baal.[49] But Israel Knohl argues that there is no evidence of any anthropomorphic figurines or cultic statues in Israel during this period, suggesting monotheistic practice.[50]

In the earliest Biblical literature, Yahweh has characteristics of a storm god typical of ancient Near Eastern myths, marching out from

Sinai desert with the heavenly host of stars and planets that make up his army to do battle with the enemies of his people Israel:[51]

Yahweh, when you went out of Seir,
    when you marched out of the field of Edom,
the earth trembled, the sky also dropped.
    Yes, the clouds dropped water.
The mountains quaked at Yahweh's presence,
    even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
...
From the sky the stars fought.
    From their courses, they fought against Sisera.

(

Song of Deborah
.)

From the perspective of the

Qōs might have been one and the same as Yahweh, rather than a separate deity, with its name a title of the latter.[52] Aside from their common territorial origins, various common characteristics between the Yahwist cult and the Edomite cult of Qōs hint at a shared connection.[53] Doeg the Edomite, for example, is depicted as having no problem in worshiping Yahweh and is shown to be at home in Jewish sanctuaries.[53]

Unlike the chief god of the

Tanakh refrains from explicitly naming the Edomite Qōs.[54][55] Some scholars have explained this notable omission by assuming that the level of similarity between Yahweh and Qōs would have made rejection of the latter difficult.[56] Other scholars hold that Yahweh and Qōs were different deities from their origins, and suggest that the tensions between Judeans and Edomites during the Second Temple period may lie behind the omission of Qōs in the Bible.[57]

Alternatively, the storm god imagery could derive from Baal.[14]

Late Iron Age (1000–586 BCE)

A reconstructed two-handled jar, with many missing fragments. In the centre, two bull-headed figures look towards us. There are other figures and the scene is hard to make out.
Painting on a jar found at Kuntillet Ajrud, under the inscription "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" (c. 800 BCE)


Yahweh is described as one of the sons of El in Deuteronomy 32:8–9,[58] but this was removed by a later emendation to the text.[59] Nonetheless, a few scholars believe the conflation of El and Yahweh in the text is tenable, based on source criticism.[12]

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
 when he divided up humankind,
he set the boundaries of the peoples,
 according to the number of the heavenly assembly.
For the Lord’s allotment is his people,
 Jacob is his special possession.

(Book of Deuteronomy 32:8-9, New English Translation, Song of Moses)

The late Iron Age saw the emergence of nation states associated with specific national gods:[60] Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, Milcom the god of the Ammonites, Qōs the god of the Edomites, and Yahweh the god of the Israelites.[61][62] In each kingdom the king was also the head of the national religion and thus the viceroy on Earth of the national god.[63] Yahweh filled the role of national god in the kingdom of Israel (Samaria), which emerged in the 10th century BCE; and also in Judah, which may have emerged a century later[64] (no "God of Judah" is mentioned anywhere in the Bible).[61][62]

During the reign of Ahab, and particularly following his marriage to Jezebel, Baal may have briefly replaced Yahweh as the national god of Israel (but not Judah).[65][66]

In the

sun worship and worship on the high places, along with practices pertaining to the dead and other aspects of the old religion.[67] Features of Baal, El, and Asherah were absorbed into Yahweh, and epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone.[68]

In this atmosphere a struggle emerged between those who believed that Yahweh alone should be worshipped, and those who worshipped him within a larger group of gods;[69] the Yahweh-alone party, the party of the prophets and Deuteronomists, ultimately triumphed, and their victory lies behind the biblical narrative of an Israel vacillating between periods of "following other gods" and periods of fidelity to Yahweh.[69]

Some scholars date the start of widespread monotheism to the 8th century BCE, and view it as a response to Neo-Assyrian aggression.[70][71] In an inscription discovered in Ein Gedi and dated around 700 BCE, Yahweh appears described as the lord of "the nations", while in other contemporary texts discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei (near Lachish) he is mentioned as the ruler of Jerusalem and probably also of Judah.[72]

Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods (586–332 BCE)

Main article: Second Temple Judaism
Herod
c. 20–10 BCE (modern model, 1:50 scale)

In 587/6 BCE

second Isaiah, Yahweh was no longer seen as exclusive to Israel, but as extending his promise to all who would keep the sabbath and observe his covenant.[75] In 539 BCE Babylon in turn fell to the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great, the exiles were given permission to return (although only a minority did so), and by about 500 BCE the Second Temple was built.[76]

Towards the end of the Second Temple period, speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as

adonai (אֲדֹנָי‬), meaning "my Lords".[17] The High Priest of Israel was permitted to speak the name once in the Temple during the Day of Atonement, but at no other time and in no other place.[17] During the Hellenistic period, the scriptures were translated into Greek by the Jews of the Egyptian diaspora.[77] Greek translations of the Hebrew scriptures render both the tetragrammaton and adonai as kyrios (κύριος), meaning "Lord".[17]

The period of Persian rule saw the development of expectation in a future human king who would rule purified Israel as Yahweh's representative at the end of time—a messiah. The first to mention this were Haggai and Zechariah, both prophets of the early Persian period. They saw the messiah in Zerubbabel, a descendant of the House of David who seemed, briefly, to be about to re-establish the ancient royal line, or in Zerubbabel and the first High Priest, Joshua (Zechariah writes of two messiahs, one royal and the other priestly). These early hopes were dashed (Zerubabbel disappeared from the historical record, although the High Priests continued to be descended from Joshua), and thereafter there are merely general references to a Messiah of David (i.e. a descendant).[78][79] From these ideas, Second Temple Judaism would later emerge, whence Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and Islam.

Yahweh and the rise of monotheism

It is unclear when the worship of Yahweh alone began. The earliest known portrayals of Yahweh as the principal deity to whom "one owed the powers of blessing the land" appear in the teachings of the prophet

monotheists;[80][needs update] they did not believe Yahweh was the only god in existence, but instead believed that he was the only god which the people of Israel should worship.[81]

Finally, in the national crisis of the exile, the followers of Yahweh went a step further and outright denied that the other deities aside from Yahweh even existed, thus marking the transition from monolatrism to true monotheism.

Second Isaiah, a 6th-century BCE exilic work whose case for the theological doctrine rests on Yahweh's power over other gods,[83][needs update] and his incomparability and singleness relative to the gods of the Babylonian religion.[84][improper synthesis?
]

Benjamin D. Sommer argues that the distinction between polytheism and monotheism has been greatly exaggerated.[85]

Worship

Main article: Yahwism

Festivals and sacrifice

See also: Feast of Wine

The centre of Yahweh's worship lay in three great annual festivals coinciding with major events in rural life:

psalms, but again the details are scant.[90] Prayer played little role in official worship.[91]

Temples

In the foreground, a bearded man dressed in an impressive white robe and head-dress raises his hand to heaven. Behind him, a large crowd bows in prayer.
Solomon dedicates the Temple at Jerusalem (painting by James Tissot or follower, c. 1896–1902).

The Hebrew Bible gives the impression that the Jerusalem temple was always meant to be the central or even sole temple of Yahweh, but this was not the case.[62] The earliest known Israelite place of worship is a 12th-century BCE open-air altar in the hills of Samaria featuring a bronze bull reminiscent of Canaanite Bull-El (El in the form of a bull) and the archaeological remains of further temples have been found at Dan on Israel's northern border, at Arad in the Negev and Beersheba, both in the territory of Judah.[92] Shiloh, Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Ramah and Dan were also major sites for festivals, sacrifices, the making of vows, private rituals, and the adjudication of legal disputes.[93]

Portrayal

Yahweh-worship was famously

aniconic, meaning that the god was not depicted by a statue or other image. This is not to say that he was not represented in some symbolic form, and early Israelite worship probably focused on standing stones, but according to the Biblical texts the temple in Jerusalem featured Yahweh's throne in the form of two cherubim, their inner wings forming the seat and a box (the Ark of the Covenant) as a footstool, while the throne itself was empty.[94]

There is no universally accepted explanation for such

anthropomorphic representation of Yahweh during the pre-exilic period.[96]

Graeco-Roman syncretism

Yahweh is frequently invoked in

cultural heroes such as Abraham, Jacob, and Moses are also invoked frequently.[98] The frequent occurrence of Yahweh's name was likely due to Greek and Roman folk magicians seeking to make their spells more powerful through the invocation of a prestigious foreign deity.[18]

A coin issued by

Bacchus" or "Bacchus the Judaean". The figure has been interpreted as depicting Yahweh as a local variety of Bacchus, that is, Dionysus.[99] However, as coins minted with such iconography ordinarily depicted subjected persons, and not the gods of a subjected people, some have assumed the coin simply depicts the surrender of a Judean who was called "Bacchius", sometimes identified as the Hasmonean king Aristobulus II, who was overthrown by Pompey's campaign.[100][101][102][103]

In any event,

Aramaic words such as Sabbath, Alleluia, or even possibly some variant of the name Yahweh itself, for more familiar terms associated with Dionysus.[109]

Other Roman writers, such as Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus, identified Yahweh with the god Caelus.[110][111][112]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ /ˈjɑːhweɪ/, or often /ˈjɑːweɪ/ in English; ‬𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 in Paleo-Hebrew; reconstructed in block script: *יַהְוֶה‎ *Yahwe, [jahˈwe]

Citations

  1. ^ Trotter 2002, p. 153.
  2. ^ Stavrakopoulou 2021, pp. 411–412, 742.
  3. ^ Miller & Hayes 1986, p. 110.
  4. ^ a b Fleming 2020, p. 3.
  5. ^ a b Smith 2017, p. 42.
  6. ^ Miller 2000, p. 1.
  7. ^ Hackett 2001, pp. 158–59.
  8. ^ Smith 2002, p. 7.
  9. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 8, 33–34.
  10. ^ a b c Lewis 2020, p. 222.
  11. ^ Cross 1973.
  12. ^ a b Heiser, Michael (2006). "Are Yahweh and El Distinct Deities in Deut. 32:8-9 and Psalm 82?". LBTS Faculty Publications and Presentations: 278 – via Liberty University.
  13. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 8, 135.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-3110656701
    .
  15. ^ a b Stahl, Michael J. (2023). "Yahweh or Baal- Who Was the God of Northern Israel?". Biblical Archaeology Review. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024.
  16. ^ a b Leech 2002, pp. 59–60.
  17. ^ a b c d e Leech 2002, p. 60.
  18. ^ a b c d Smith & Cohen 1996b, pp. 242–256.
  19. ^ Alter 2018, p. unpaginated, "The strong consensus of biblical scholarship is that the original pronunciation of the name YHWH ... was Yahweh."
  20. ^ Preuss 2008, p. 823.
  21. ^ The Cambridge History of Judaism: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period, p. 779. William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz – 2006 "(BT Kidd 7ia). The historical picture described above is probably wrong because the Divine Names were a priestly ... Name was one of the climaxes of the Sacred Service: it was entrusted exclusively to the High Priest once a year on the…"
  22. ^ King & Stager 2001, p. xxiii.
  23. ^ Exodus 3:14
  24. ^ Parke-Taylor 1975, p. 51.
  25. ^ Lewis 2020, p. 214.
  26. ^ Miller II 2021, p. 18.
  27. ^ a b Hyatt, J. Philip (1967). "Was Yahweh Originally a Creator Deity?". Journal of Biblical Literature. 86 (4): 369–377 – via JSTOR.
  28. ^ Lewis 2020, pp. 211, 215.
  29. ^ Cross 1973, pp. 61–63.
  30. ^ Fleming 2020, p. 176: "There has been one key objection, by Michael Streck, who reevaluated Amorite personal names as a whole in 2000 and as part of this work published the separate conclusion (1999) that all the Ya-wi- and Ya-aḫ-wi- elements in these names must be understood to reflect the same root ḥwy, “to live.”...If Streck is correct that these are all forms of the verb “to live,” then the Amorite personal names must be set aside as useful to any interpretation of the name [Yahweh]."
  31. ^ Miller 2000, p. 2.
  32. ^ Kitz 2019, pp. 39–62.
  33. ^ Cross 1973, p. 71.
  34. ^ Day 2002, pp. 13–14.
  35. ^ Shalomi Hen 2021.
  36. ^ Anderson 2015, p. 100.
  37. ^ Grabbe 2007, p. 151.
  38. ^ Shalomi Hen 2021: "Unfortunately, albeit the interesting analogies, the learned discussions, and the broad perspective, the evidence is too scanty to allow any conclusions concerning the exact meaning of the term YHWA/YHA/YH as it appears in Ancient Egyptian records."
  39. ^ Grabbe 2007, p. 153.
  40. ^ a b Van der Toorn 1999, p. 912.
  41. ^ Van der Toorn 1999, pp. 912–13.
  42. ^ Van der Toorn 1995, pp. 247–248.
  43. ^ Van der Toorn 1995, p. 248.
  44. ^ a b Frevel, Christian (2021). "When and from Where did YHWH Emerge? Some Reflections on Early Yahwism in Israel and Judah". Entangled Religions. 12 (2) – via RUB.
  45. ^ Smith 2002, p. 83.
  46. ^ Stavrakopoulou 2021, p. 395.
  47. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 7, 19–31.
  48. ^ Golden 2009, p. 182.
  49. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 19–31.
  50. ^ Knohl 2017, pp. 171–172.
  51. ^ Hackett 2001, pp. 158–160.
  52. ^ Anderson 2015, p. 101.
  53. ^
    ISBN 978-2-8309-1253-1
    .
  54. ^ E. A. Knauf. (1999). Qos [in] Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst [eds.], Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, pp. 674–677. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing: "This clan or family must have been of Edomite or Idumaean origin." (p. 677).
  55. ISBN 978-1-575-06418-5
    p.10: At 1 Kgs 1–8 there is exceptionally no mention of any Edomite gods:'King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of the Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. ... For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the aboimination of the Ammonites. ... Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.'
  56. ^ Dicou 1994, p. 177.
  57. ^ Tebes 2023.
  58. ^ Deuteronomy 32:8–9
  59. ^ Anderson 2015, p. 77.
  60. ^ Schniedewind 2013, p. 93.
  61. ^ a b Hackett 2001, p. 156.
  62. ^ a b c d Davies 2010, p. 112.
  63. ^ Miller 2000, p. 90.
  64. ^ Geller 2012, p. unpaginated.
  65. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 71–72.
  66. ^ Campbell 2001, pp. 221–222.
  67. ^ Smith 2002, p. 9.
  68. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 8, 33–34, 135.
  69. ^ a b Sperling 2017, p. 254.
  70. ^ Smith 2016, p. 287.
  71. ^ a b Albertz 1994, p. 61.
  72. ^ Hess 2020, p. 247-248.
  73. ^ Grabbe 2010, p. 2.
  74. ^ Cogan 2001, p. 271.
  75. ^ Cogan 2001, p. 274.
  76. ^ Grabbe 2010, pp. 2–3.
  77. ^ Coogan, Brettler & Newsom 2007, p. xxvi.
  78. ^ Wanke 1984, pp. 182–183.
  79. ^ Albertz 2003, p. 130.
  80. ^ Eakin 1971, pp. 70, 263.
  81. ^ McKenzie 1990, p. 1287.
  82. ^ Betz 2000, p. 917.
  83. ^ Rosenberg 1966, p. 297.
  84. ^ Albani 2020, p. 226.
  85. ^ Sommer 2009, p. 145.
  86. ^ a b Albertz 1994, p. 89.
  87. ^ Gorman 2000, p. 458.
  88. ^ Davies & Rogerson 2005, pp. 151–152.
  89. ^ Gnuse 1997, p. 118.
  90. ^ Davies & Rogerson 2005, pp. 158–165.
  91. ^ Cohen 1999, p. 302.
  92. ^ Dever 2003a, p. 388.
  93. ^ Bennett 2002, p. 83.
  94. ^ Mettinger 2006, pp. 288–290.
  95. ^ MacDonald 2007, pp. 21, 26–27.
  96. ^ Lewis 2020, pp. 293–297.
  97. ^ Betz 1996, p. [page needed].
  98. ^ Arnold 1996, p. [page needed].
  99. ^ Scott 2015, pp. 169–172.
  100. ^ Scott 2015, pp. 11, 16, 80, 126.
  101. JSTOR j.ctvcwnpvs
    .
  102. S2CID 163401482
    .
  103. ISBN 0-7134-7672-9
    .
  104. ^ McDonough 1999, p. 88.
  105. ^ Smith & Cohen 1996a, p. 233.
  106. ^ Plutarch n.d., "Question VI".
  107. ^ McDonough 1999, p. 89.
  108. ^ Smith & Cohen 1996a, pp. 232–233.
  109. ^ McDonough 1999, pp. 89–90.
  110. ^ Juvenal, Satires 14.97; Peter Schäfer, Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World (Harvard University Press, 1997), pp. 41, 79–80.
  111. ^ Petronius, frg. 37.2; Schäfer, Judeophobia, pp. 77–78.
  112. ^ Florus, Epitome 1.40 (3.5.30): "The Jews tried to defend Jerusalem; but he [Pompeius Magnus] entered this city also and saw that grand Holy of Holies of an impious people exposed, Caelum under a golden vine" (Hierosolymam defendere temptavere Iudaei; verum haec quoque et intravit et vidit illud grande inpiae gentis arcanum patens, sub aurea vite Caelum). Finbarr Barry Flood, The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture (Brill, 2001), pp. 81 and 83 (note 118). The Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 252, entry on caelum, cites Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus as examples of Caelus or Caelum "with reference to Jehovah; also, to some symbolization of Jehovah."

Sources

Further reading

External links
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