Editing Resheph (section)

==First millennium BCE sources==
Resheph continued to be worshiped in the first millennium BCE.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=159}} However, references to him are much less frequent than in the preceding millennia.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=264}}

===Phoenician sources===
[[File:KaratepeNord7.jpg|thumb|The [[Karatepe bilingual]].]]
References to the worship of Resheph in [[Phoenicia]]n cities are scarce, and he did not play a significant role in [[Phoenician religion]].{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=159}} Attestations are largely limited to [[toponyms]] and [[onomastics]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=240}} No references to offerings, statues or altars are known, and even the Phoenician [[theophoric names]] invoking him are uncommon and exclusively attested in sources from [[Egypt]], which might indicate they were only used by members of the [[diaspora]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|pp=244-245}} The oldest [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] text mentioning Resheph, the [[Karatepe bilingual]], comes from outside Phoenicia.{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=701}} It is attributed to the local [[Cilicia]]n ruler Azatiwada.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=210}} While it references Resheph, due to absence of theophoric names invoking him it is not certain to what capacity he was actively worshiped by the Phoenician inhabitants of this area, and his presence might rely on the need to include a god possible to treat as an equivalent of [[Luwian religion|Luwian]] [[Runtiya]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=213}} He is designated by a unique epithet in this context, ''șprm'', possibly “of the goats”{{sfn|Rutherford|2019|p=84}} or “of the stags”.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=210}} Translators most commonly presume that the title is a cognate of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''ṣāpîr'', with additional support for the view that an animal is meant coming from the fact that Runtiya is typically described as a “stag god” and from to Resheph's well attested association with [[gazelles]] in Egyptian sources.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=211}}

Only a single source mentioning Resheph comes from Phoenicia itself.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=240}} An [[Bodashtart inscriptions|inscription]] of king [[Bodashtart]] from [[Sidon]] mentions a district named after him.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=159}} However, it is possible that this toponym was not linked to an active cult, and only constituted a relic of past practices.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=245}} A number of difficult to precisely date Phoenician sculptures from the eighth or seventh century BCE from locations such as [[Gadir]], [[Huelva]], [[Selinunte|Selinous]] and [[Samos]] are sometimes interpreted as representations of Resheph, though [[Melqart]] is a possibile identification as well.{{sfn|López-Ruiz|2021|pp=214-215}}

No evidence for the worship of Resheph in [[Punic people|Punic]] cities exists.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=258}} A single text mentions a person bearing a theophoric name invoking him, a certain Abd-Rashap,{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=257}} though the individual in mention originated in Egypt.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=245}} Most of the references to purported Punic evidence for the worship of Resheph in older scholarly literature are the result of misreading the theonym Eresh (''‘rš''), well attested in theophoric names, or the title “[[Baal]] of the cape” (''rš'').{{sfn|Münnich|2013|pp=257-258}}

[[File:Gehörnter Gott, Enkomi.jpg|thumb|The horned god from Enkomi.]]
[[Cyprus]] is an exception from the scarcity of Phoenician attestations of Resheph.{{sfn|López-Ruiz|2021|p=268}} Sources from this area are the richest corpus of texts mentioning him from the first millennium BCE.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=264}} Similarly as the evidence for the worship of [[Anat]] from this area this might indicate a continuity of traditions originating in the [[Bronze Age]], when both of these deities were most commonly venerated.{{sfn|López-Ruiz|2021|p=268}} The oldest possible reference to Resheph being known to Cypriots is one of the [[Amarna letters]], written by the king of [[Alashiya]], in which the “hand” of a deity represented in cuneiform by the logogram <sup>d</sup>MAŠ.MAŠ, most likely him rather than Nergal in this context, is blamed for the death of local [[coppersmith]]s.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=246}} This is presumed to be the description of a plague which struck the kingdom.{{sfn|Rainey|2014|p=18}} It has also been proposed that an early bronze statue of a horned god from [[Enkomi (archaeological site)|Enkomi]] might be a representation of Resheph.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=160}} Later on Resheph's cult center on the island was Idalion.{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=702}} Four dedications to him from the reign of a local ruler, Milkyaton, have been found in this city.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=161}} A bilingual inscription from [[Kition]] dated to 341 BCE mentions Resheph under the epithet ''ḥṣ'', whose interpretation remains uncertain, with proposals such as “arrow” (''hēs'') or “street” (''hūs'') being present in scholarship.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=157}} The former view is more common, and finds support in his iconography.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=253}} Despite Resheph's prominence on Cyprus, the number of theophoric names invoking him from this area is small.{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=702}}

===Aramaic sources===
In the eighth and seventh centuries, Resheph was worshiped in [[Cilicia]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=212}} However, the evidence is limited to two inscriptions.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=264}} One of them is [[Aramaic]], and has been attributed to Panamuwa I of [[Samʼal]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=210}} He is mentioned alongside [[Hadad]], [[El (deity)|El]], [[Rakib-El]] and [[Shamash]], the main deities of the local pantheon.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=212}} However, he is absent from a similar text on a monument set up by [[Bar-Rakib inscriptions|Bar  Rakib]] for his father.{{sfn|Nabulsi|2017|p=245}} His absence might indicate that in the former case he should only be interpreted as a personal protective deity of the king.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=212}}

Resheph is also mentioned alongside [[Kubaba (goddess)|Kubaba]] on an Aramaic stela from Tell Sifr, a site located near [[Aleppo]], but due to the state of its preservation it provides little information about his position in the local pantheon and his relation to the aforementioned goddess, though according to Maciej M. Münnich it does make it possible to establish that locally he must have been worshiped by members of high strata of society, capable of commissioning such monuments.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=209}} Two Aramaic texts from [[Palmyra]] mention Resheph, in both cases alongside two goddesses, Ḥirta and [[Nanaya]]; he is also attested in the [[Greek language|Greek]] version of one of them alongside [[Hera]] and [[Artemis]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=259}}

Aramaic sources do not appear to treat Resheph as a deity of disease, and instead stress his protective character, which might have been the reason behind his association with the [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Arabian]] god [[Ruda (deity)|Ruda]], “well disposed”, possibly brought northwards by migrating [[Arameans|Aramean]] tribes from the [[Syrian Desert]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|pp=212-213}} Another possibility is that this portrayal of Resheph was influenced by Ruda in the first place.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=213}}

===Hebrew Bible===
References to Resheph are present in the [[Hebrew Bible]],{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=702}} though compared to deities such as [[Baal]] he is not mentioned frequently.{{sfn|Cornelius|1994|p=3}} It is assumed that before the [[Babylonian captivity|Babylonian Exile]], Resheph might have been regarded as a minor deity inflicting diseases on behalf of [[Yahweh]],{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=264}} while by the time of the compilation of the [[Books of Chronicles|Book of Chronicles]], in the fourth or third century BCE, he was no longer worshiped by the [[Hebrews]].{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=223}} Eventually his name came to be understood as a common noun.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=226}}{{sfn|Smith|2014|p=79}} In [[Biblical Hebrew]], ''resheph'' {{Script/Hebrew|רֶשֶׁף}} means "flame, firebolt", derived from {{Script/Hebrew|שָׂרַף}} "to burn".<ref>[[Strong's Concordance]] [https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7565&t=KJV H7565]</ref> Individual biblical passages show varying degrees of demythologization, therefore the name is not always used to refer to a personified figure, and sometimes serves only as a poetic metaphor.{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=703}} Echoes of Resheph's role as a god of plague have been identified in Deuteronomy 32:24 and Psalm 78:48.{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=702}} In both cases, he is represented as a tool of divine wrath.{{sfn|Xella|1999|pp=702-703}} He is also mentioned in [[Habakkuk 3]]:5, according to Theodore Hiebert as a personified figure acting as the attendant of Yahweh ([[Eloah]]), though most contemporary translations treat the name as a common noun in this case.{{sfn|Hiebert|2018|p=92}} He is paired in this context with Deber, presumably also originally a personified deity.{{sfn|Hiebert|2018|pp=92-93}} The passage most likely reflects the image of Yahweh as a great god accompanied by an entourage of lesser deities, similar to examples known from [[Ugaritic]] and Mesopotamian literature, such as the reference to [[Adad]]'s servants [[Shullat and Hanish]] in the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]''.{{sfn|Hiebert|2018|p=93}} In the [[Book of Job|Job]] 5:7, there is mention of the "sons of ''resheph''", translated in the [[Septuagint]] as {{lang|grc|νεοσσοὶ δὲ γυπὸς}}, "the young of the vulture".{{sfn|Dunham|2016|p=24}}

Only one [[Theophory in the Bible|theophoric name]] invoking Resheph has been identified in the Bible, specifically in [[1 Chronicles 7]]:25, where an individual named Resheph is mentioned{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=216}} as a son of [[Ephraim]].{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=702}} While uncommon, the use of a theonym itself as a theophoric name is not unparalleled.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=223}}

===Greco-Roman reception===
[[File:Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum CIS I 89 (from Cyprus) (cropped).jpg|thumb|The Idalion bilingual.]]
The form of Resheph worshiped on [[Cyprus]] was identified with [[Apollo]] by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn|Streck|2008|p=253}} The [[Idalion bilingual]] refers to “Resheph Mikal” ({{langx|phn|𐤓𐤔𐤐 𐤌𐤊𐤋}}) in Phoenician and Apollo Amyklos in [[Cypriot syllabary|Cypro-syllabic]] Greek, but it is not certain if a Greek epithet was adopted by Phoenicians or a Phoenician one by Greeks.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=161}} There is no evidence of this equation extending beyond said island,{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=264}} though Paolo Xella argues that [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]' mention of Apollo as the father of the Phoenician god [[Eshmun]] might be an account of a tradition which originally involved Resheph instead.{{sfn|Xella|1999|p=702}} The association between Resheph and Apollo relied on their shared portrayal as archers, affinity with diseases, and [[Apotropaic magic|apotropaic]] functions.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=160}} Javier Teixidor in particular stressed the parallels between Resheph as a plague god who strikes his victims with arrows as attested in an inscription from [[Idalion]] with the [[Homer]]ic portrayal of Apollo (''[[Iliad]]'' {{Iliad|en|I|42|55}}).{{sfn|Teixidor|1976|p=65}} A local Cypriot deity, [[Hylates]], might have been identified with Resheph as well.{{sfn|López-Ruiz|2021|p=270}}

In the [[Greco-Roman period]] Resheph apparently ceased to be worshiped in [[Egypt]], with the only references to him including a dedication of [[Ptolemy III Euergetes]] from [[Karnak]], litanies listing many deities from ''Papyrus of Imuthes'' and ''Tebtunis Papyrus'', unlikely to reflect widespread personal cult, and possibly a small number of theophoric names whose restoration is a matter of dispute among researchers.{{sfn|Münnich|2013|p=108}}

It has been proposed that Arsippus, who is mentioned in the third book of [[Cicero]]'s ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' alongside Astronoe (an ordinary [[Persian language|Persian]] name, here possibly a corruption of [[Damascius|Damaskios]]’ Astronoe) as the father of one of the multiple deities named [[Aesculapius]], can be interpreted as a Latiniziation of Resheph.{{sfn|Azize|2014|pp=239-240}} However, this view is not universally accepted.{{sfn|Ulanowski|2013|p=159}}