Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ANATOLIAN CULTS

Procession of the Twelve Gods, attendant in the New Year’s festival in honor of the storm-god of ³attuša. Chamber B of the Hittite sanctuary at Yazilikaya (Association HATTI, Université de Paris-I, Sorbonne)

The religious life of Anatolia reflects diverse cultural influences over the course of several thousand years. From as early as the 7th millennium b.c.e., bulls’ heads and a Mother Goddess featured prominently in domestic shrines at Çatal Höyük. Tablets from the 3rd millennium begin the historical record and show interactions between Old Assyrian trading colonies and local Anatolian rulers. The subsequent Hittite civilization dominated most of the peninsula for the 2nd millennium. The Hittites left huge rock sculptures of their deities, including a gallery of 63 deities in the natural rock shrine at Yazilikaya, their national sanctuary near their capital (³attuša/Boghazköy) E of Ankara.

In the middle of the 1st millennium, smaller kingdoms dominated territories within the peninsula. In the mountainous east, Urartian culture flourished (ca. 900-600). The short-lived Phrygian Empire rose in the west, succeeded by the Lydian Empire centered at Sardis. Lydian culture, which shows more affinity with Greek culture, was at its height under the Mermnad dynasty (ca. 700-550) before giving way to the Persian Achaemenian Empire. Persian domination in Anatolia (546-334) left its legacy in the worship of deities such as the moon-god Mên and the goddess Anaietis (Anahita) and in religious groups which persisted well into the Christian era. A Persian family held the important priesthood of Artemis at Ephesus until the 4th century c.e. In addition, Lycians, Pisidians, Pamphylians, Carians, Lycaonians, Cilicians, and Cappadocians each represent distinct cultures in their respective ethnic territories.

In the Hellenistic era, the presence of Greek settlers and their deities expanded from western Asia Minor into the Anatolian interior. Worship of deities such as Zeus, Apollo, Leto, and Artemis, however, also reflects the application of Greek names to traditional Anatolian deities like Apollo Lairbenos. Greek and Anatolian religion should be seen as overlapping entities which mutually influenced one another.

Jewish settlements in the interior of Asia Minor were known as early as the 3rd century b.c.e. when Antiochus III resettled 2000 Jewish families from Babylonia into Lydia and Phrygia. A sizable synagogue at Sardis attests to their prominence there, and evidence remains of their importance in other locations. Scholars differ on the significance of inscriptions naming Theos Hypsistos (Highest God) for Jewish influence in Anatolia.

The Galatians crossed from Europe into Anatolia in 278 b.c.e. as a mass migration of hundreds of thousands of marauding Celts. They maintained their tribal organization and were a dominant presence in the interior even after they were contained by Attalus I of Pergamum. Galatians adopted many religious practices of the territories they occupied and found their way into major positions in the temple state at Pessinus.

Under Roman domination the process of Hellenization expanded, and the Roman imperial cult became another major feature of Anatolian religious life. The emperors were incorporated into the Anatolian pattern of monarchical deities. Emperor worship added impressive sanctuaries to Anatolian cities and a Roman style of public religious activity, including games, banquets, and food distributions.

Worship of the Mother of the Gods (Mḗtēr Theṓn) was a consistent feature of Anatolian religion. Her later Hellenized portrayals, seated between two lions, bear striking iconographic similarity to a terracotta of the goddess between two felines discovered at Çatal Höyük. In modern sources she is often called Cybele, and one of her earlier names was Kubaba. In the Greco-Roman era, in addition to Mḗtēr Theṓn, she was known as Agdistis or by a local place name. Usually she was named for a local mountain, such as the Mētēr Dindymene for Mount Dindymus overlooking her temple state at Pessinus. The Mḗtēr Sipylene was also a huge image of the goddess carved into Mt. Sipylus probably during the Hittite era. Similar huge rock-cut figures survive from the Phrygians. The Mother of the Gods was served by self-castrated functionaries called galli. Her male companion, also castrated, was Attis, and the priest-king of her temple state was called the Attis. In Cappadocia in eastern Anatolia, the Mother of the Gods gave way to the goddess Mâ (Bellona).

Forms of cult organization and worship reflect a variety of influences, including Greek and Roman forms. Several features characterize the distinctive religious ethos of Anatolia, including temple-states ruled by priest-kings and inhabited by sacred slaves (hierodouloi). In addition to Pessinus were the large temple-states of Mâ, Anaeitis, the Venasian Zeus, Mên, and others. Temple-states frequently functioned as commercial centers on the trade routes and had large land holdings.

Many Anatolians perceived their deities as powerful monarchical figures who administered justice at all levels of community life. Confession inscriptions from Phrygia and Lydia recount offenders’ experiences of punishment by these “enforcer” deities. Having been punished by the deity, they inscribed a stela to confess and to commemorate the deity’s power as a form of recompense. Abundant curses invoke divine punishment upon potential offenders, especially as protection for graves and tombstones. Victims also placed written curses in temples to plead their case and to invoke divine action against culprits. Angels and scepters also played a role in this divine judicial system. This “judicial” ethos is seen in the names of such distinctively Anatolian deities as the divine pair Holy and Just (Hosios and Dikaios), portrayed with scales and scepter, and the goddess Dikaiosynē.

Anatolian worship included enthusiastic forms associated with divine possession. The galli of the Mother of the Gods were known for their frenzied possession by her in their act of self-castration and subsequent bloody performances of self-punishment, but orgiastic forms of worship were not confined to them. In the Christian era, such ecstatic forms are also reflected in the Montanist movement.

The Anatolian context is significant for NT writings, including Acts, Galatians, Colossians, 1 Peter, and Revelation; and other early Christian writings, including Ignatius of Antioch, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, and the Cappadocian Fathers.

Bibliography. E. Akurgal, Ancient Civilizations and Ruins of Turkey, 4th ed. (Istanbul, 1978); S. Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1993); S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge, 1984); L. Robert, Opera Minora Selecta, 5 vols. (Amsterdam, 1969-1989).

Susan (Elli) Elliott

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ANATOLIAN CULTS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)