Can anyone recommend me literature on ancient Caananite religion or other polytheistic Semites (e.g. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, pre-Islamic Arabs)? The wikipedia articles on these subjects are really sparse.
For those wondering, pic related is Cadmus, who was the first Hero of Greek legend, and was also a Phoenician. Kind of interesting that the earliest of Greek mythic heroes was a Semite and also a founder of one of the major Greek city-states (Thebes).
according to Robert Graves, Phoenicians (or at least, Semites related to them) were the original inhabitants prior to the invasion of the Aryan Greeks. (i.e. Minoans were Phoenician/Semite) It is why Graves assumed that original "Greek" mythology and culture was primarily matriarchal, and that it wasn't until the Aryan tribes (Doric) started showing up that Zeus gained ascendancy in the pantheon.
The Greeks and Sicilians are one of the closest genetic groups to Semites
Leo Rogers
I don’t really find that likely. I think the original group was most likely neither Aryan nor Semitic, kind of like the Etruscans who are indigenous to Italy but not Semitic. The Greeks even have a name for these original inhabitants. They call them “Pelasgians”.
Julian Richardson
bump
Ryan Murphy
also bump This stuff looks interesting.
Adam Myers
bump
Christian Jones
Bump
Jayden Martin
Black Athena by Martin Bernal. Talks about Semitic and Egyptian influences on the Greeks which were downplayed or even denied by mainstream historians eager to promote Greek uniqueness.
Luis Roberts
Not nearly on the scholarly level of Mark S. Smith, but check out Margaret Barker. She repeats herself constantly, so whichever of her books you can lay your grubby little hands on will be good for the whole ouevre.
Basically, she points out that the first temple period religion was fucking weird.
Isaiah Adams
Hey, she's already on my reading list. Cool.
Aaron Bailey
gtfo with that nog shit.
Gavin Sullivan
>Etruscans who are indigenous to Italy >he hasn't read about the Ionian influx
Jose Roberts
tell me about the ionian influx
Nolan Turner
Fuck off nigger
Alexander Phillips
Graves was working with outdated archaeology and philology, and even then made terrible use of it.
The original inhabitants spoke some (to my knowledge at least) unknown language which is mostly attested from -nth- suffixes in placenames e.g. Korinthos/Corinth.
Jaxson Williams
In his writings, Herodotus discusses the actions of the Ionians when the Persians overtake the Lydians. Various groups flee, including one that winds up settling down in Etruscan territory, which is corroborated by dna today.
Lincoln Stewart
Yeah but the Etruscans were probably already there. These Ionian colonists would have probably mixed in to a certain degree. The Etruscans worshipped a lot of Greek deities, so obviously there was intermixture between the groups, but they’re still distinct groups.
Lucas Baker
Yeah, they're distinct so Etruscans are natives to Italy, but not wholly. Which explains their (and the romans) adoption of certain Greek customs. The Greeks themselves adopted things from the Phoenicians, and the Egyptians
Brayden Sanchez
The Old Testament.
Lucas Moore
I can also recommend Robert Graves (The White Goddess or King Jesus). He definitely stretches the truth at times, but use it as a starting point and don't discount it completely just because he's not a historian.
Also unironically this. A lot of cultural practices make sense in light of it (e.g. trying to summon a demon to find buried treasure).