Canaanite Religion Refers to the Group of Essay

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Canaanite religion refers to the group of ancient Semitic religions which were practiced by the Canaanites who were living in the ancient Levant from the early Bronze Age. Canaanite religion was polytheists and in some of the instances it was monolatristic. There are several salient features of Canaanite religion which are discussed below.

Pantheon

There are a large number of deities which were worshipped by those who followed the Canaanite religion. In spite of a constant flux of the gods that were worshiped by Canaanites there were a few of them that were termed as the major gods that were stable throughout the iron and bronze ages. The gods of Canaan are arranged in four -- tier hierarchy which are patron gods, cosmic gods, gods of daily life and the slave gods termed as messengers. The gods of the first and second tiers were El who was the most high god who created cosmos and overseas his creation with a lot of benevolence and wisdom. He is an elderly god that delegates the divine patrol of the underlying mighty storm god Baal. Athirat, Ashirta and Asherah was El's wife that gave birth to several gods at the same time nursing human royal heirs .Baal/Haadad / Adada was referred to as a cloud rider .he was the storm god that brought and withheld fertility in this land he was thus one of the most popular gods of Canaan where agriculture was the main occupation.

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Anat was the young and wild virgin refers erred to as the lady of high heavens. Astarte is an enigmatic figure an evening star and the planet Venus during sunset. Gods of the third and fourth tier of the Canaanite pantheon were most. These include Ugarit, god of craftsmanship, Kothata the seven goddesses of child birth ( Noll, 2006)

Rituals and daily life

There were three levels of religious experience within the Canaanite religion. The king, divine patron and his cosmic retinue was central.at the villages and extended families level the divine patron was a significant part of the daily lives but attention was to the gods that helped wit practical aspects of life as well as those issues that were raised through social interactions. A third and very significant level of religious experience was within the nuclear family. Ancestral gods used to be venerated; there was reception of offerings at family tombs as well as household gods that protected any form of evil or misfortune.

Sacrifices and offerings

There were temples meant for receiving and processing of food offerings. They also stored wealth for kings as well as being rudimentary banks. Domestic animals used to be slaughtered at the temples by priests as part of religious rituals. Some meat was offered to god as a form of thanks giving while most of it was consumed by people with….....

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