Chemosh

Chemosh (Moabite: 𐤊𐤌𐤔‎, romanized: Kamōš; Biblical Hebrew: כְּמוֹשׁ, romanized: Kəmōš) is a Canaanite deity worshipped by Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples who occupied the region known as Moab, in modern-day Jordan east of the Dead Sea, during the Levantine Bronze and Iron Ages.

Chemosh was the supreme deity of the Canaanite state of Moab and the patron-god of its population, the Moabites, who in consequence were called the "People of Chemosh". The name and significance of Chemosh are historically attested in the Moabite-language inscriptions on the Mesha Stele, dated ca.

840 BCE. Chemosh is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.

Name

The name of Chemosh is attested in the Moabite language as 𐤊𐤌𐤔‎ (kmš), which was pronounced as Kamōš (/kaˈmoːʃ/).

The name of Chemosh is of yet uncertain origin, and it is unclear whether it was related to the name of the Eblaite deity ᴰKamiš (𒀭𒂵𒈪𒅖), or the Ugaritic divine name Ṯiẓẓu-wa-Kamāṯu (𐎘𐎑𐎆𐎋𐎎𐎘) or Ẓiẓẓu-wa-Kamāṯu (𐎑𐎑𐎆𐎋𐎎𐎘), or an epithet of the Mesopotamian god Nergal which might have meant "bull", ᴰKammuš (𒀭𒅗𒄠𒈲).

According to one hypothesis which assumes that the names ᴰKamiš and Kamāṯu, and Kamōš and ᴰKammuš were the same, the first two variants of the name might have been qattil-type substantival participles of B-stem and the latter two variants might have been qattul-type verbal adjectives of D-stem, both meaning "conqueror" and "subduer," thus being related to the Akkadian terms kanāšu (𒅗𒈾𒋗/𒅗𒈾𒋙) and kamāšu (𒅗𒈠𒀀𒋙)/kamāšu (𒅗𒈠𒋢), meaning "to submit to an overlord or to a deity" and "to bend," as well as to the Old South Arabian term hkms (𐩠𐩫𐩣𐩪), meaning "to crush."

Chemosh is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible under the name Kəmōš (כְּמוֹשׁ, vocalized as: [kǝˈmoːʃ]), which was vowelled following to the Hebrew word bəʾôš (בְּאשׁ), lit. 'stench'. The Hebrew form Kəmōš was itself later Romanised as Chemosh (vocalized in English as: ) in translations of the Bible, while the accurate pronunciation of the name of the god, reflecting the Moabite pronunciation Kamōš, is more accurately recorded in the Septuagint as Khamōs (Χαμώς) and the Vulgate as Chamos.

History

Origins

The origin of the Moabite deity Chemosh is unclear, although he might possibly have been the same as the Bronze Age-period god from Ebla named ᴰKamiš (𒀭𒂵𒈪𒅖), whose existence has been attested from around c. 2300 BC, thus suggesting that Chemosh might have been an ancient Semitic deity. The significant gap between the attestation of the Eblaite Kamiš during the 23rd century BC and that of the Moabite Chemosh in the 9th century BC, with an absence of any reference to either of these deities in Amorite names from the 21st to the 15th centuries BC, nevertheless make this identification between Kamiš and Chemosh very uncertain.