Amzallag - Was Yahweh Worshiped in The Aegean

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Vol 35.4 (2011): 387-415

The Author(s), 2011. Reprints and Permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/0309089210365958
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Was Yahweh Worshiped in the Aegean?
NISSIM AMZALLAG
nissamz@bgu.ac.il
Abstract
A comparison of Aegean and biblical sources reveals striking similarities between
Dionysus and Yahweh: both are characterized by the same symbols, the same mode of
action and the same theophany; both provoked a comparable doubt concerning their
divine nature and/or their actual powers; and both had the same subversive effects with
regard to the ofcial pantheon. The homology between Yahweh and Dionysus is
conrmed by their common vestigial link to copper metallurgy. From Greek literary
sources and reections about the continuous metallurgical inuence of Canaan on the
Aegean world, it is concluded that during the Bronze Age Dionysus was probably the
Aegean counterpart of Yahweh, the mysterious Canaanite god of furnace metallurgy.
Further examination suggests that the popularization of the cult of Dionysus in Greece,
from the ninth century BCE, underwent a similar process leading in Canaan to the
emergence of the Israelite alliance. These ndings open new horizons of investigation,
both of the ancient Aegean civilization and of the nature of the popular cult of Yahweh in
Canaan prior to the monotheistic reform.
Keywords: Dionysus, Yahweh, copper metallurgy, human theophany, Orientalizing
Revolution, pre-monotheistic Yahwism.
Introduction
Until now, the Bible has constituted the only source of information about
the cult of Yahweh. Yet the Bible is also a corpus promoting the monotheistic faith. It remains, therefore, impossible to determine to what
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Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 35.4 (2011)
extent the biblical writings reect the actual cult of Yahweh in Canaan
from its inception, or whether this testimony is inuenced by the need
to justify a monotheistic reform of an earlier cult. For this reason, all
attempts to identify the former cult of Yahweh are no more than an
interpretation/exegesis of the biblical text.
A new horizon of investigation opens in the event that a cult of
Yahweh may be identied outside of the biblical context. This possibility
should be considered seriously, since Amos evokes peoples other than
Israel upon whom the name of Yahweh is called.1 In the Bible, a cult of
Yahweh is hinted at in Egypt, Elam, Tubal, Meshekh and the country of
Kush.2 Probably the best indication of such an extra-Israelite worship of
Yahweh comes from the book of Isaiah: Therefore in lights (beurim)
glorify Yahweh, in isles of the sea, the name of Yahweh, God of Israel
(Isa. 24.15). Later, inhabitants of these islands are even considered as
ardent devotees of Yahweh: They ascribe to Yahweh glory, and his
praise in the isles they declare (Isa. 42.12). The verse the isles shall
wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust (Isa. 51.5) suggests that
Yahweh is not regarded there as a secondary deity.3 Unfortunately, the
location of these islands is not revealed in the book of Isaiah. This term
may evoke the Phoenician colonies scattered in the Mediterranean (an
interpretation tting the Phoenician linguistic inuence identied in the
book of Isaiah),4 but this term may also refer to the Aegean area, as is the
case in the book of Daniel (Dan. 11.18).
During the rst millennium BCE, the presence of a cult of Yahweh is
attested to neither in Greece nor in the Phoenician colonies. For this
reason, Yahwehs worship in the islands may appear as no more than a
1. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the
breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; that
they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the peoples, upon whom my name is
called, says Yahweh that does this (Amos 9.11-12)
2. See Ezek. 32.17-32; Isa. 18.7; 19.18-22; Jer. 9.24-25, 49.38-39; Zeph. 3.10.
3. Such a fervent worship of Yahweh overseas is also evoked in Ps. 97.1: Yahweh
reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad.
4. M. Dahood, Phoenician Elements in Isaiah 52:1353:12, in H. Goedicke (ed.),
Near Eastern Studies in Honor of W.F. Albright (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971), pp. 62-73. This interpretation of island (i !im) as Phoenician colonies
is suggested by the description of the sons of Japheth as living in islands among the
other nations (Gen. 10.5) and by their diffusion. See Y. Tsirkin, Japheths Progeny and
the Phoenicians, in E. Lipiski (ed.), The Phoenicians and the Bible (Leuven: Peeters,
1991), pp. 117-34.
AMZALLAG Was Yahweh Worshiped in the Aegean?
389
literary device for extending the dominion of Yahweh far and wide. But
another explanation may be proposed: it is possible that Yahweh was
well known and even worshipped under another name in the islands, a
reality obliterated by the monotheistic reform and ignored today. This
hypothesis is tested here through the search for Yahweh worship in the
Aegean.
1. The Search for an Aegean Counterpart
The search for a Greek homolog to Yahweh immediately brings to mind
Zeus, the god introduced by Antiochus in the Jerusalem Temple.
Apparently, Antiochus did not intend to substitute the chief-god of the
Greek pantheon for the god of the Israelites, but wished simply to
worship the mysterious great god of Jerusalem in a Greek fashion.5
Also in Rome, Yahweh was called Theos hypsitos (the high god) and he
was subsumed in Jupiter, the chief-god of the pantheon.6 Although the
homology between Zeus-Jupiter and Yahweh was also accepted by many
ancient Jewish authors,7 it does not necessarily reect a common nature
and identity. Rather, this equivalence may only express their common
status of supreme god and master of the universe. To avoid the problem
of this statutory analogy with Yahweh, it may be interesting to refer to
sources comparing the Greek deities to Yahweh, beyond the bounds of
the monotheistic context. This is possible since Yahweh was also known
during late Antiquity as the god of magicians and sorcerers, who was
invoked as Iao, Io, or Aeio.8
In a Greek magic oracle mentioned by Macrobius, Iao (Yahweh) is
considered homologous to four Greek deities: Hades in winter, Zeus in
spring, Helios in summer and Iao in autumn (Saturnalia 1.18.20).
5. See M. Simon, JupiterYahv, Numen 23 (1976), pp. 40-66. The author concludes (p. 51) that Josephus Flavius did not criticize Antiochus for this homology, but
only for his intention to reactualize the cult of Yahweh in regard to the cult of Zeus.
6. Simon, Jupiter-Yahv.
7. Josephus Flavius (Ant. 12.2.2) stresses the similar worship of the Greeks and Jews
for the great god creator of the universe. In Against Apion (2.250), he criticizes the
extravagant stories related to the popular cult of Zeus that arose from the ignorance of the
actual nature of the god (Yahweh), known in Greece only by the philosophers. Also,
Philo (Spec. Leg. 2.165) stresses the community of faith of the Greeks and the Israelites
in the supreme God.
8. See M. Martin, Magie et magicien dans le monde grco-romain (Paris: Errance,
2005), pp. 169-86.
390
Perhaps the most interesting point here is the identity presumed between
Dionysus, the god reigning in autumn (the season of the vintage) and
Yahweh. Both are called here by the same name, Iao, suggesting that
Dionysus is none other than the Greek version of Yahweh. This singular
claim is corroborated by Plutarch, whose search for the deepest secrets
and mysteries of Dionysus brought him to the god of the Hebrews.9
The link between Yahweh and Dionysus is also supported by the
emergence, in Thrace, of a syncretism between the cult of Yahweh and
Sabazius (the Thracian Dionysus), in which Jews and pagans belonged to
the same community. During Antiquity, such an achieved stage of
syncretism with the exclusivist cult of Yahweh cannot be demonstrated
for Zeus-Jupiter or for any other god.10 Also in Canaan, the wave of
Hellenism stimulated an impressive profusion of the cult of Dionysus, a
phenomenon not observed for any other Greek god.11
These elements, when considered together, invite us to reconsider
seriously the premise that Dionysus is the Greek counterpart of
Yahweh-the God of Israel evoked in the book of Isaiah.
9. Plutarch (Quaestiones conviviales 4.6.1-2). This opinion of Plutarch is discussed
by C. Escarmant, Dionysos dieu des juifs : la mesure du mlange, in I. Zinguer (ed.),
Dionysos, Origines et rsurgences (Paris: Vrin, 2001), pp. 149-60. Plutarch apparently
had a deep knowledge of the genuine cult of Dionysus and of its ancient traditions and
mysteries. In Consolations to His Wife (611d), he wrote: the cult of Dionysus that we,
the initiates, keep the secret knowledge (cited G. Freyburger et al., Sectes religieuses en
Grce et Rome dans lAntiquit paenne [Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2006], p. 71).
10. See J.B. McMinn, Fusion of the Gods: A Religio-astrological Study of the
Interpenetration of the East and the West in Asia Minor, JNES 15 (1956), pp. 201-13. As
shown by Simon (Jupiter Yahv, pp. 52-55), Sabazianism was probably not considered
as a marginal sect by the Jews, but rather as the result of the identity established between
Yahweh and Sabazius. During the second century BCE, Sabazius was so identied with
the god of Israel that the Jews spread his cult in Rome, a feature known through the
interdiction of the worship of Sabazius-Liber (Dionysus) handed down in 133 BCE by the
Roman Senate, because of his subversive nature. See M.D. Herr, The Hatred of Israel in
the Roman Empire in Light of the Jewish Exegetic Literature, in M. Stern (ed.),
Hellenistic Views on Judaism (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Press, 1974), pp. 33-43, and
Freyburger et al., Sectes religieuses, p. 234.
11. This latter evidence has been considered by modern scholars as the source of the
parallel between Dionysus and Yahweh: if the cult of Dionysus inltrated the Israelites
exactly as it did in many other countries, the assumed link between Yahweh and Dionysus may be no more than an attempt to justify this foreign worship in a monotheistic
context. Yet this explanation remains unsatisfying: before the spread of Hellenism,
Herodotus (2.49) already specied that Dionysus was introduced into Greece by the
Phoenicians who settled with Cadmus in Boeotia.
391
2. Yahweh and Dionysus: First Parallels

If indeed Yahweh and Dionysus are of a common ancient origin, it
should be possible to identify common symbols and/or modes of worship. This point is examined here.
a. Relation to Wine
In Greece, wine was considered as the gift of Dionysus to humankind.12
The association of wine to Dionysus was so strong that even private
banquets and festivities were thought to be celebrations of the deity.
Dionysus was so identied with wine that the spread of his cult in the
Greek colonies was intimately associated with the expansion of viticulture.13
In Israel, production of excellent and/or abundant wine depended on
the blessing of Yahweh (Amos 9.13-14), and the dwelling of every
Israelite under his g tree, and his vineyard was regarded as the ultimate
blessing of Yahweh (2 Kgs 18.31; Mic. 4.4 ; Jer. 31.5). In contrast, a
paucity of wine is interpreted as a punishment from Yahweh (Amos
5.11; Zeph. 1.13; Joel 1.5). These views may explain why Yahweh was
invoked during the vintage (Hos. 7.14). Wine is also specically
involved in the worship of Yahweh in the sanctuary (Exod. 29.40; Lev.
23.13; Num. 15.5-10). As a whole, the Israelites are portrayed as the
vineyard of Yahweh (Isa. 5.7; Jer. 6.9; 12.10).
The association of Yahweh with wine does not garner much attention
as long as this god is considered as master of the universe controlling all
manner of transformations. Nevertheless, the link between Yahweh and
wine, as it appears in the Bible, is stronger than one would expect in such
a monotheistic approach. For example, it seems that some aspects of the
popular cult of Yahweh were associated with an excessive consumption
of wine. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, were apparently deeply
inebriated during the ceremony of the consecration of the Tabernacle of
Yahweh (Lev. 10.1-10). It is interesting to note that, before their tragic
death, no one (including Moses) considered their drunkenness as being a
12. Homer, Iliad 14.325. One of the protagonists of Euripides Bacchae even considers wine, the gift of Dionysus, as the most useful expedient for forgetting the miseries
of human existence (Bacchae 277-83). Miracles of the transformation of water into
wine were considered in ancient Greece as Dionysus theophany. See J.M. Pailler,
Bacchus. Figures et pouvoirs (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1995), p. 34.
13. D. Stanislawsky, Dionysus Westward: Early Religion and the Economic
Geography of Wine, Geographical Review 65 (1975), pp. 427-44.
392
hindrance in the performance of their duties.14 Another religious ceremony involving the abundant consumption of wine, marzea, is also
mentioned in the Bible.15 This practice is not condemned per se by Amos
and Jeremiah, but only for the abuses it may engender.16 This suggests
that, in Israel, this practice was associated with the cult of Yahweh.
From these considerations, it seems that the similarity of popular
Israelite festivities with Dionysian banquets, as stressed by Plutarch,17 is
probably not the result of Hellenic inuence. Rather, the Dionysian
banquet appears to be very close to an ancient Canaanite tradition
inextricably entwined with the popular cult of Yahweh.
b. Common Symbols
Snakes. Dionysus is surrounded by snakes: the god is born in a nest of
serpents. As a boy, he is generally shown holding serpents, and later, he
is symbolized as a mythical snake.18 The cult of Dionysus also involved
the handling of snakes by Maenads, conrming his intimate association
with this animal.19 Sabazius, the Thracian homolog of Dionysus, was also
symbolized as a snake and this reptile played a central role in his cult.20
Yahweh is also described as surrounded by burning snakes (seraphim)
by Isaiah (6.1-3), and ying snakes are sent by Yahweh against the
14. The prohibition, for the priests, of wine consumption before the rituals is formulated only after the incident. The admonition of the priest Eli to Hannah (1 Sam. 1.13-14)
conrms that many Israelites went inebriated to consult Yahweh.
15. See Jer. 16.5 and Amos 6.7. Similar festivities are also evoked in Judg. 9.27; Hos.
4.10-11, and Hab. 2.16. From Ugaritic sources, this festivity was a religious banquet
occurring in the meeting house of the congregation. This near-identical relationship to the
Dionysian banquet may explain why the term marzea has sometimes been translated as
thiasos. See F. Briquel-Chatonnet, Les relations entre les cits de la cte phnicienne et
les royaumes dIsral et de Juda (Leuven: Peeters, 1992), p. 329.
16. See Briquel-Chatonnet, Les relations, pp. 325-32.
17. In Quaestiones Conviviales (4.6.2), Plutarch concluded that the god of Israel is
none other than Dionysus, and that his festivals (especially Shabbat and Sukkoth) are
none other than bacchanalia.
18. C. Kerenyi, Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, English edn, 1976), p. 60. This symbolism of Dionysus is
conrmed by Sabazius, the Thracian Dionysus symbolized by a horned snake (see
Freyburger et al., Sectes religieuses, pp. 80-81).
19. Kerenyi, Dionysos, p. 61; Freyburger et al., Sectes religieuses, p. 60; R.S.
Kraemer, Ecstasy and Possession: The Attraction of Women to the Cult of Dionysus,
HTR 72 (1979), pp. 55-80.
20. H. Jeanmaire, DionysosHistoire du culte de Bacchus (Paris: Payot, 1951),
p. 16. See also Freyburger et al., Sectes religieuses, p. 78.
393
enemies of Israel (Isa. 14.29). Here again, this association is devoid of

any specic signicance in a monotheistic context, where Yahweh reigns
over the whole Universe. Nevertheless, the fact that the transformation of
a staff into a snake (Exod. 4.1-5) is considered as the specic sign
ensuring that Moses speaks in the name of Yahweh suggests that Yahweh is more closely related to snakes than assumed by the monotheistic
exegesis. This point is corroborated by the worship of Yahweh as a
bronze snake (nehushtan) in Jerusalem, until the religious reform of
Hezekiah.21
Milk and Honey. In Greece, exudation of honey and milk from the
Maenads staff (thyrsos) was considered as a theophany of Dionysus. It
was even interpreted as the god admonishing the Maenads to leave aside
their domestic activities in order to worship him.22 Milk and honey, when
considered together, are also intimately related to the god of Israel. In the
Bible, Canaan is constantly called a land owing with milk and honey,
suggesting that it is an essential characteristic of the dominion of Yahweh. Milk and honey are also the foods reserved for the men devoted to
Yahweh, at least during their initiation.23
Perpetual Flame. A perpetual ame burned in the temple of Dionysus at
Thebes,24 and it was regarded as an essential symbol of Dionysus.25
Similarly, a perpetual re (e tamid) is associated with the worship of
Yahweh. The fact that it had to be lit immediately upon the completion
of the Tabernacle (even before its ofcial inauguration) and was to burn
for all eternity (it shall be a statute for ever throughout their generations
on the behalf of the children of Israel, Exod. 27.20-21) attests to its
major importance in the worship of the Israelite deity.
21. See 2 Kgs 18.4, where the cult of Nehushtan is not explicitly denounced as
idolatry. It is rather an undesirable worship at the Temple of Yahweh.
22. Euripides, Bacchae 141-44, 160-69 and 708-11. See also Kerenyi, Dionysos,
p. 31, and M. Dtienne, Dionysos en ses parousies: un dieu pidmique, in Lassociation dionysiaque dans les socits anciennes (Rome: cole Francaise de Rome, 1986),
pp. 53-83.
23. This is revealed in Isa. 7.14-15: Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a
sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. Curd and honey shall he eat, when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the
good.
24. Schachter, Cults of Boiotia (London: University of London, 1981), I, p. 187.
25. Kerenyi, Dionysos, p. 78.
394
c. Choral Worship
In Greece, choral singing was so intimately associated with the cult of
Dionysus that it was called Dionysia.26 During the performance of a
dithyrambos (choral singing and dancing), the choir master (choregos)
was held to be a prophet of Dionysus or even his incarnation.27 In
mystery cults of Dionysus (where the original identity of the god was
better preserved than in the popular cult), participation in a choir singing
for the deity was considered as the rst stage leading to his knowledge.28
These elements suggest that choral performance was not a simple
adornment of the cult of Dionysus, but rather a central component.
Also in Israel, the cult of Yahweh is expressly associated with choral
singing. This point is most obviously evident in the works of the psalmists who composed and performed choral songs in the Jerusalem Temple.29 But the central importance of choral performance is also attested to
during the ceremony of transferring the holy ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam.
6.5; 1 Chron. 15.27) and after its placement in the city of David
(1 Chron. 16.4-7).
The centrality of choral singing is conrmed both by its prevalence
in all the ceremonies (including sacrices30) and by the numerical
importance of the singers and musicians (288 executants and poets, see
1 Chron. 25.7) among the staff of the Jerusalem Temple. These singers
were organized in groups of twelve singers (mimarot) continuously
replacing one another so that the choral singing was never interrupted
26. Jeanmaire, Dionysos, p. 234; Kerenyi, Dionysos, p. 305.

27. For a description of the dithyrambos and its evolution, see Jeanmaire, Dionysos,
pp. 232-33. Concerning the special status of the choregos, see C. Calame, Choruses of
Young Women in Ancient Greece (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littleeld, 1997), p. 53.
28. Pailler, Bacchus, p. 115. In Euripides Bacchae, the worship of Dionysus by the
Maenads is also associated with choral song (see Bacchae 377). It is interesting to note
that the choral worship of Dionysus is antiphonic (vv. 679-82 and 1055-57). This mode
of performance reveals the secrets of the god, so that it should not be executed in the
presence of non-initiates (v. 1109).
29. See, for example, Ps. 68.26-27: Singers have been before, behind [are] players
on instruments, in the midst virgins playing with timbrels. In assemblies bless God, the
Lord, from the fountain of Israel , and in Ps. 26.12, My foot has stood in uprightness,
in assemblies I bless Yahweh!
30. On the central importance of choral singing during sacrices at the Jerusalem
temple, see J.W. Kleinig, The Lords Song: The Basis, Function and Signicance of
Choral Music in Chronicles (JSOTSup, 156; Shefeld: JSOT press, 1993), pp. 100-31.
395
(1 Chron. 25). Apparently, choral singing was not a simple embellishment, but rather a fundamental element in the worship of Yahweh.31
All these considerations reveal parallels between the worship of Dionysus and of Yahweh. Nevertheless, one cannot claim that this represents
clear-cut evidence of their homology. In Greece, wine is also associated
with the god Apollo32 and snakes appear in other, non-Dionysian contexts (Python and Typhon, for example). More generally, the perpetual
ame may be considered as a general symbol of holiness, and choral
singing is a form of collective praising so widely known that it cannot
serve as a determining factor. More specic characteristics common to
Yahweh and Dionysus are required to ensure their homology.
3. The God of Ethereal Nature
In the rst book of Kings it is reported that Yahweh appeared to Elijah
neither as a strong wind, nor as an earthquake or as re, but as the ne
voice of silence.33 For Elijah, this revelation follows a long preparatory
period (40 days), so that we may consider the ethereal nature symbolized
as the ne voice of silence as reecting the genuine identity of Yahweh, probably ignored by popular worship.
Dionysus is also a god of ethereal nature. His name Bromius (the
rustling) evokes a minute breeze/wind quite similar to the ne voice of
silence revealing Yahweh. In the Bacchae, this ethereal nature of
Dionysus leads to a mysterious denition of the god. To the question of
Pentheus (Are you saying that you saw clearly what the god was like?),
the hero replies: He was as he chose; I did not order this (v. 478).
Euripides species that this answer is not a joke.34 It relates the essence
of the deity in a way strikingly similar to the self-denition of Yahweh:
I am that which I am (ehieh aer ehieh, Exod. 3.14).
31. Choral singing remained of central importance for a long time in the worship of
Yahweh. After the rst exile, the reconstruction of the temple and the fortications of
Jerusalem were celebrated by choral singing (Ezra 3.11; Neh. 12.27-42).
32. Jeanmaire, Dionysos, pp. 23-25
33. 1 Kgs 19.11-12. According to R. Luyster (Wind and Water: Cosmogonic Symbolism in the Old Testament, ZAW 93 [1981], pp. 1-10), the small wind (breeze) remains
the best representation of Yahweh in the Bible.
34. Then, the prophet of Dionysus answers Pentheus, who was convinced that such a
denition of the god was a joke (v. 480): One will seem to be foolish if he speaks
wisely to an ignorant man.
396
The ethereal nature may be, here again, considered as a general character of holiness, so that it cannot serve as a decisive factor in the
homology between Yahweh and Dionysus. But their ethereal nature
generates common singularities distinguishing them from all the other
Greek and Canaanite gods.
a. Mode of Action
A singular mode of action of Yahweh is evoked in the book of Samuel:
You [Saul] shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high
place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them;
and they will be prophesying. And the spirit of Yahweh will come mightily upon you, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into
another man (1 Sam. 10.5-6). From this testimony, it seems that the
spirit of Yahweh may stimulate uncontrolled behaviors. Promoted by
music and dance, this mode of action is apparently spread in an epidemic
manner.35
Also in Greece, Dionysus is unique among the gods for his propensity
to provoke enthusiasm. This phenomenon was understood as the
entrance of the spirit of Dionysus into a person, thus transforming him
into a bacchant.36 As such, he would be close to a trance-state whose
contagious nature was intimately linked to music, choral performance,
and dance.37 This mode of action of Dionysus appears so nearly identical
to the one described in the book of Samuel that Jeanmaire considered the
Greek expression to become a bacchant (baccheo) as precisely corresponding to the Hebrew term to become a prophet (mitnabe).38
In both cases, the uncontrolled behavior stimulated by the deity may
be dangerous. The tragic issue of the Bacchae (the killing of Pentheus by
his mother and the Maenads during their trance) is an act of vengeance of
the god consecutive to collective madness of his worshippers. A similar
vengeance is evoked by Jeremiah, where the collective madness is issued
from the wine worship of Yahweh:
35. See 1 Sam 19.20-24. This singular combination of worship/mode of action of the
deity is attested to until the end of the rst temple period (see Ezek. 13.17).
36. See Euripides, Bacchae 300. See also Jeanmaire, Dionysos, pp. 59-61.
37. See Dtienne, Dionysos en ses parousies.
38. Jeanmaire establishes the parallel as follows (Dionysos, p. 102): The Hebrew
language has a word signifying to do the nabi, that, in fact, seems to correspond quite
exactly to the Greek term that we translate as to do the bacchant.
397
Thus said Yahweh: Behold, I will ll all the inhabitants of this land, even the
kings that sit upon Davids throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. And I will dash them one
against another, even the fathers and the sons together, afrmation of Yahweh;
I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, so as not to destroy them. (Jer.
13.13-14)
Dionysus is also known for provoking demented behavior in soldiers:

He also possesses a share of Ares nature. For terror sometimes utters
an army under arms and in its ranks before it even touches a spear; and
this too is a frenzy from Dionysus (Bacchae 302-305). The similar
destructive effect among the armies may be provoked by Yahweh: And
they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host
ran; and they shouted, and ed. And they blew the three hundred horns,
and Yahweh set every mans sword against his fellow, even through all
the camp (Judg. 7.21-22).39
These parallels reveal the singular mode of action of Yahweh and
Dionysus: both invest individuals to modify their psychism and behavior.
This process may lead to transcendence and prophecy in sincere worshippers, and to madness and destruction in others. This exceptional type of
action enables us to understand why Dionysus and Yahweh are so associated to wine, the drink that transforms behavior without any possibility
of counteracting its effects or controlling its consequences.
b. The Challenged Deity
This distinctive mode of action of Dionysus and Yahweh does not only
set them apart from all the other Aegean and Canaanite gods, but it also
raises the same questions about their divine nature and/or powers. In
Israel, this point is illustrated by the claim of David that all the earth
will know that there is God in Israel after his victory over Goliath
(1 Sam. 17.47). It is difcult to imagine that Goliath and the Philistines
were ignorant of the fact that Yahweh was the ofcial deity of Israel.
Hence, this curious answer probably refers to a doubt concerning the
ability of Yahweh to protect the Israelites against their enemies, as would
be expected of a national deity. This interpretation is conrmed when the
39. As revealed in the book of Isaiah, this pathology affects not only the enemies of
Israel: Through the wrath of Yahweh-Sebaot is the land burnt up; the people also are as
the fuel of re; no man spares his brother. And one snatches on the right hand, and is
hungry; and he eats on the left hand, and is not satised; they eat every man the esh of
his own arm (Isa. 9.18-19).
398
Philistines intend to test whether their mortality following the capture

of the Israelite Ark of the Covenant is truly a punishment of Yahweh:
And see, if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth-Shemesh,
then he [Yahweh] has done to us this great evil; but if not, then we shall
know that his hand has not smite us; an accident it has been to us
(1 Sam. 6.9).
This reality is also reected in the answer of Pharaoh to the Israelites
request to go out for three days to celebrate Yahwehs festival: You are
idle, you are idle; therefore you say: Let us go and sacrice to Yahweh
for three days (Exod. 5.17). If the worship of Yahweh is regarded by the
Egyptians as a pretext for interrupting their work, it may be because
Yahweh is not a classical god that requires accepted worship practices,
and/or because his festivals (probably banquets) seem to be very secular
to the Egyptians. Such a doubt concerning the capacity of Yahweh to
protect the Israelites did not rapidly disappear, as attested by the book
of Joel: Spare your people, Yahweh, and give not your heritage to
reproach, that the nations should make them a byword: wherefore should
they say among the peoples: Where is their God? (Joel 2.17).
The question of the genuine powers of Yahweh is not asked only by
the neighbors of Israel, but also by the Israelites themselves: And it shall
come to pass, at that time, I will search Jerusalem with lights, And I will
lay a charge on the men who are settled on their lees, who are saying in
their heart: Yahweh does no good, nor does he evil (Zeph. 1.12).
Curiously, this doubt not only affects non-believing or ignorant people
among the Israelites. It is reported in the book of Genesis that Sarah
laughed when the emissaries of Yahweh foretold the birth of Isaac, so
that Yahweh had to question Abraham: Is any thing too hard for
Yahweh? (Gen. 18.14). Even Moses doubted the ability of Yahweh to
supply meat to the Israelites, a situation which prompted, here again, the
same question: Is the hand of Yahwehs waxed short? (Num. 11.23).
The same singularity is encountered concerning the power of
Dionysus. In the Bacchae, Pentheus explicitly rejects the divine nature of
Dionysus together with his cult.40 And exactly as in Israel, similar doubts
concerning the actual powers of the deity are also expressed by his
40. This produces the following answer from Tiresias: But believe me, Pentheus, do
not boast that sovereignty has power among men, nor, even if you think so, and your
mind is diseased, believe that you are being at all wise. Receive the god into your land,
pour libations to him, celebrate the Bacchic rites, and garland your head (Bacchae
319-13).
399
worshippers. This heretical attitude is revealed in the condence of

Kadmos to Pentheus: Even if, as you say, he is not a god, call him one;
and tell a glorious falsehood, so that Semele might seem to have borne a
god, and honor might come to all our race (Bacchae 330-36).
Even the hero of Euripides tragedy is not entirely convinced that the
god has rescued him from the hand of Pentheus.41 As in the Bible, the
question of the divine nature of Dionysus becomes the central theme of
the Homeric hymns devoted to the deity and of the Bacchae.42 In both
cases, the power of the deity is revealed through the cruel vengeance
against those denying his divine nature.
c. Exclusivism
The most exceptional characteristic of Yahweh is probably the requirement to be worshiped by everyone in Israel, and at the same time, to
reject the authority of all the other deities. A similar combination exists
with regard Dionysus: this god requires the worship of everyone in
Greece, with no exception.43 Furthermore, this worship leads to his
recognition as the exclusive source of authority.44
41. When escaping the persecution of Pentheus, the hero of the Bacchae (629-31)
only suspects that Dionysus is involved in this salutary outcome: Then Bromius, so it
seems to meI speak my opinion, created a phantom in the courtyard Pentheus at it
headlong stabbing at the shining air, as though slaughtering me.
42. For the Homeric hymns 1, 7 and 26, see L. Grech, Which of the Gods is This?
Dionysus in the Homeric Hymns, Iris 20 (2007), pp. 30-36. This point is clearly
expressed from the beginning of the Bacchae (39-48): For this city must learn, even if it
is unwilling, that it is not initiated into my Bacchic rites, and that I plead the case of my
mother, Semele, in appearing manifest to mortals as a divinity whom she bore to Zeus.
Now Kadmos has given his honor and power to Pentheus, his daughters son, who ghts
against the gods as far as I am concerned and drives me away from sacrices, and in his
prayers makes no mention of me, for which I will show him and all the Thebans that I
was born a god. Hence, the hero of the Bacchae resembles the prophets of Yahweh in
early Israel ghting against the degradation of the popular cult and announcing the
vengeance of the god.
43. Indeed, Dionysus was worshipped in Greece both by men and women, Greeks
and foreigners, citizen and slaves, a feature also stressed in the Bacchae (vv. 206-209):
No, for the god has made no distinction as to whether it is right for men young or old to
dance, but wishes to have common honors from all and to be extolled, setting no one
apart.
44. This is raising in the Bacchae (vv. 1030-1039) as follows:
Messenger: Pentheus, the child of Echion, is dead.
Chorus Leader (singing): Lord Bacchus, truly you appear to be a great god.
400
The main consequence of this combination, common to Dionysus and

to Yahweh, is a subversive inuence in regard to the social and political
order patronized by the ofcial pantheon. In the Bible, this subversive
dimension is rst of all revealed by the involvement of Yahweh in the
deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery. But it is also expressed later:
the request for a king reigning on Israel is considered a rejection of
Yahweh (1 Sam. 8.7), and the attempt of the king to impose his authority
on the Israelites is also interpreted as a sin against Yahweh.45
Dionysus displays a similar subversive dimension from the earliest
stages of his popular cult. His requirement to be worshipped by everyone
challenged to social order prevalent during the Dark Age, and transformed him into the liberating god of Greece.46 Later, the public cult of
Dionysus had been promoted by the rst Tyrants in order to abolish the
social and political order yet controlled by the aristocracy.47 Exactly as in
Israel, this subversive dimension also threatened the new political order
established by the Tyrants and their followers. It seems, therefore, that
the progressive limitation of the popular cult of Dionysus to private
festivals and banquets reects an attempt, for the authorities, to dilute in
wine this irreducible subversive dimension.48 In Rome, where political
power was not so subjugated to the deity, this subversive dimension was
Messenger: What do you mean? Why have you said this? Do you rejoice at the
misfortunes of my master, woman?
Chorus Leader: I, a foreign woman, rejoice with foreign songs; for no longer do I
cower in fear of chains.
Messenger: Do you think Thebes so lacking in men?
Chorus Leader: Dionysus, Dionysus, not Thebes, holds my allegiance.
45. See 2 Sam. 24.10. The mergence of the Jerusalemite Royal Ideology may, therefore, be understood as an attempt to neutralize this subversive dimension by linking the
authority of Yahweh with that of the lineage of David. Yet the very frequent criticism of
and contempt for the kings encountered in the Bible suggest that the subversive dimension of Yahwism remained virulent throughout the whole the rst Temple period.
46. Stanislawsky, Dionysus Westward, pp. 436-37. This subversive dimension is
especially expressed by the central role of women in his cult, threatening the traditional
Greek values promoted by men. See R.S. Kraemer, Ecstasy and Possession: The
Attraction of Women to the Cult of Dionysus, HTR 72 (1979), pp. 55-80.
47. See J.A. Dabdab-Trabulsi, DionysismePouvoir et socit en Grce jusqu la
n de lpoque classique (ALUB, 412; Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1990), pp. 86-110.
48. This point is clearly stressed by Freyburger et al. (Sectes religieuses, p. 51):
From the inability to reject such a cult, the authorities have expelled most of its essential
characteristics. In the ofcial religion, Dionysus became no more than the god of
feasting, of carousal, of tall stories, of enjoyment, with no more mystical references.
401
simply eradicated by a Senate order (139 BCE) that forbade the cult of
Dionysus/Liber, and authorized cruel repression against his devotees.49
The parallels mentioned in this section enable us to distinguish
Yahweh and Dionysus from all the other Canaanite and Greek deities.
However, a fundamental feature still prevents their homology: representations of Yahweh are strictly forbidden in Israel, while Dionysus is
generally symbolized as a man. The origin of this difference is investigated in the next section.
4. The Human Theophany
a. The Dual Nature of Dionysus
As an ethereal god, Dionysus was abstractly symbolized by the air
moved by bellows or by a simple piece of wood encased in copper.
Later, in Orphic hymns, he was praised as an omnipresent principle.50
Yet, at the same time, Dionysus was also regarded as a demi-god, who
issued from the union of Zeus with the mortal Semele. From the seventh
Homeric hymn, we learn that this human dimension of Dionysus
rendered him indistinguishable from simple mortals as long as he hid his
fabulous powers. A similar feature can be found in the Bacchae. The
hero of the tragedy, called Dionysus, looks like a young man. To
Pentheus, he obviously does not appear as a god, but simply as a convincing charlatan perverting the city of Thebes by introducing oriental
cults (vv. 233-37). Truly, this hero does not really behave as a god in the
Bacchae. He mentions that his hair is consecrated to the deity (v. 498), a
detail suggesting that he is no more than a servant of Dionysus. He also
defends Dionysus as a fervent devotee might: Bromius will not allow
you [Pentheus] to remove the Bacchae from the joyful mountains
(v. 791), and he speaks about Dionysus as the divine authority intervening against Pentheus: Then Bromius, so it seems to meI speak my
opinioncreated a phantom in the courtyard (vv. 629-30). To Pentheus,
he related that the god is accompanying them (v. 923).
But surprisingly, the hero does not only invoke Dionysushe also
assumes a total identication with him: But Dionysus, who you
[Penheus] claim does not exist, will pursue you for these insults. For in
injuring us, you put him in bonds (vv. 516-18). He also feels fully
49. See Freyburger et al., Sectes religieuses, pp. 171-207.
50. Euripides, Bacchae 500-502; see also Freyburger et al., Sectes religieuses, p. 127.
Jeanmaire, Dionysos, pp. 17 and 340.
402
implicated in the gods vengeance: He will go to the Bacchae, where he

will pay the penalty with his death. Dionysus, now it is your job; for you
are not far off. Let us punish him (vv. 848-51).51 A bond between the
god and the hero seems to exist, as conrmed by his answer to Pentheus:
The god himself will release me, whenever I want (v. 498).
This distinctive quality does not simply reect a communion of the
devotee with the god he is fervently worshipping and even encountering
face to face (v. 470). The hero is also endowed with divine powers, a
phenomenon revealed by the messenger when relating the death of
Pentheus:
And then I saw the stranger perform a marvelous deed. For seizing hold of the
lofty top-most branch of the pine tree, he pulled it down, pulled it, pulled it to
the dark earth. It was bent just as a bow or a curved wheel, when it is marked
out by a compass, describes a circular course: in this way the stranger drew
the mountain bough with his hands and bent it to the earth, doing no mortals
deed. (vv. 1062-69)
These considerations reveal that two distinct, though closely related

entities coexist under the same name Dionysus. The rst, being of
ethereal nature, should be dened as the ether-god. It is revealed as a
ne breeze or a holy re.52 The other, of human appearance, is
described in the prologue of the Bacchae as the god having taken a
mortal form (v. 4). He should be therefore considered as a human
theophany of the ether-god. This man-god is a mortal devoted to the
ether-god, then invested by him with divine powers, acting in his name
and diffusing his cult.
b. The Man-God in Israel
The search for a biblical parallel to the man-god dimension of Dionysus
brings us to the concept of i-elohim. This term is generally assumed to
designate men (Moses, Samuel, Elijah and Elisha)53 who speak or act in
51. This singularity is conrmed a few verses later: I will lead this young man
[Pentheus] to a great contest, and Bromius and I will be the victors. As for the rest, the
matter itself will show (vv. 974-76).
52. In the Bacchae, the god constantly mentioned by the hero is described as an
ethereal column of re: a voice, Dionysus as I guess, cried out from the air: Young
women, I bring the one who has made you and me and my rites a laughing-stock. Now
punish him! And as he said this, a light of holy re was placed between heaven and
earth (vv. 1078-83).
53. Mentioned as ish-elohim in Deut. 33.1; 1 Sam. 9.6; 1 Kgs 17.24; 2 Kgs 4.9,
respectively.
403
the name of Yahweh. The common translation, man of god, suggests

that they are faithful servants of the deity (1 Sam. 2.27; 1 Kgs 13.1). But
some of the uses of i-elohim in the Bible suggest a more complex
reality: an i-elohim is not a simple servant of Yahweh, he is, rst of
all, a mortal invested with divine powers. This even seems to be the sine
qua non of an i-elohim, as expressed by the woman immediately after
Elijah brought her child back to life: And the woman said to Elijah:
Now I know that you are an i-elohim, and that the word of Yahweh in
your mouth is truth (1 Kgs 17.24). This condition is even enounced by
Elijah himself: And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fty: If I
be an i-elohim, let re come down from heaven, and consume you and
your fty. And there came down re from heaven, and consumed him
and his fty (2 Kgs 1.10). The most curious point in this last example is
the lack of invocation of Yahweh before performing the miracle, and/or
the absence of thanksgiving after it.54 If Elijah was a simple servant of
Yahweh enjoying a privileged relationship with him, he would have had
to beseech him to intervene for his rescue. But here, strikingly, Elijah
performs the miracle by himself. The same curious phenomenon is
extensively observed concerning Elisha (2 Kgs 26).
Perhaps the clearest illustration of the special standing of an ielohim is provided by Moses, who is granted divine status by Yahweh
with respect to his brother: He [Aaron] shall be to you [Moses] a mouth,
and you shall be to him a god (elohim) (Exod. 4.16). Later in the book
of Exodus, this curious point is stressed again: And Yahweh said unto
Moses: See, I have set you god (elohim) to Pharaoh; and Aaron your
brother shall be your prophet (Exod. 7.1). These singular assertions
should not be considered as simple metaphors. According to the book of
Exodus, Moses is truly endowed with divine powers.55 Exactly as in the
case of Elijah or Elisha, he has the power to perform miracles in an
interaction with Yahweh. This combined mode of action is related as
follows: Lift you [Moses] up your rod, and stretch out your hand over
the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of
the sea on dry ground. And I [Yahweh], behold, I will harden the hearts
of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them (Exod. 14.16-17).
Actions on the elements are performed via Moses, the i-elohim, while
54. A similar situation is encountered when Elijah stops the ow of the Jordan River
(2 Kgs 2.8).
55. And this rod, you [Moses] shall take in your hand, wherewith you shall do the
signs (Exod. 4.17).
404
Yahweh is mainly acting on psychism (as mentioned in the previous

section).
According to these considerations, an i-elohim is not only a pious
man devoted to Yahweh. Rather, he appears to be a human theophany of
Yahweh. This is why the term i-elohim should not be translated as
man of god but as man-god.
The present considerations reveal striking similarities between the
dual nature of Dionysus in Greece and the complex relationships existing
between Yahweh and men-god in Israel. Both should be considered as a
consequence of the singular mode of action of the ethereal god, and his
ability to bestow powers on humans and to modify their psychism. In
Greece, the god and his human theophanies are called by the same name,
Dionysus. This is why he may be represented both abstractly and as a
young man. In Israel, in contrast, the man-god is never called Yahweh,
and he is not worshipped. This is why his cult in Israel remained
aniconic from the earliest stages of his popularization. Accordingly, the
difference between Dionysus and Yahweh concerning their representation should not be considered as essential. Even more, clarication of the
origin of such a difference strengthens the parallel existing between these
two deities.
All the above-mentioned comparisons of Dionysus and Yahweh
concerning their essential nature, attributes, mode of action and worship
lead us to conclude that these deities are truly similar. But in the absence
of any explanation concerning the origin of such a reality, it remains
difcult to integrate these ndings in any historical context. If Yahweh
and Dionysus are truly homologous deities, they had to patronize the
same natural phenomenon, at least at the outset.
5. The God of Copper Metallurgy
I recently proposed that before becoming the god of the Israelite alliance,
Yahweh was the patron of the Canaanite smelters. This original identity
was suggested by his association with serpents (a symbol of copper
melting), by the biblical metaphors depicting him as a smelter, by his
afnities with other gods of metallurgy, by his origin from Seir (the
Canaanite area of copper metallurgy), and by his probable worship by the
Canaanite smelters (Kenites and Edomites) prior to the Israelite alliance.56
56. N. Amzallag, Yahweh: The Canaanite God of Metallurgy?, JSOT 33 (2009),
pp. 387-404.
405
This earlier depiction of Yahweh helps us to comprehend many of his

distinctive features. Copper ore and the metal generated from it are so
different from one another that, before modern chemistry, the smelting of
copper ore in a furnace was construed as an act of creation of matter. In
this context, smelters were considered as men with demiurgic powers,
transformed into demi-gods with the help of the god patronizing their
activity.57 This is why the patron of the smelters is a so singular deity.
While classical gods intervene in various natural processes and their
transformations, the patron of the smelters confers upon them demiurgic
powers. His ethereal nature also nds a simple explanation in the metallurgical context: the temperature required for true smelting of copper (up
to 1200C) is reached only after boosting the charcoal combustion by
oxygen supply. Thus, it is not surprising that the air moved by the
bellows or the lungs of the smelter was regarded as being the demiurgic
factor, the ethereal principle enabling his transformation into a mangod:58 from a metallurgical point of view, this ethereal principle is truly
able to induce theophanies among humans.
Since the singular attributes of Yahweh related to copper smelting are
common to Dionysus, it would not be surprising to discover that, before
being popularly worshipped, this god was the patron of the Aegean
smelters.
The identity of the god of metallurgy is unknown in Greece. However,
during the Bronze Age, the patron of the smelters was considered as the
master of the smith-god (the patron of the metalworkers), the one teaching him his craft.59 This ascendancy may contribute to his identication.
In Greece, it is reported that Hephaestus, the smith-god, learned his art
at Naxos, an island called Dionysia in reference to its patron-god,
Dionysus.60 His status as master of the smith-god is suggested by the rst
57. This singularity explains why smelters were also considered as sorcerers with
powers far beyond the eld of metallurgy (medicine, alchemy, poetry, music, divination).
58. In this context, it is important to note that Esau, the founding father of Edom (the
Canaanite area of metallurgy and the land of origin of Yahweh) suddenly appears as an
ish-elohim to his brother Jacob: And Jacob said: Nay, I pray you, if now I have found
favor in you sight, then receive my offering (minah) from my hand; forasmuch as I have
seen your face seeming as the face of God, and you were pleased with me (Gen.
33.10). Also, Moses becomes a ish-elohim immediately after experiencing metallurgy
via the transformation of a (bronze) staff into a snake (liquid copper).
59. N. Amzallag, The Copper Revolution: Canaanite Smelters and the Origin of
Civilizations (Shani: Hameara, 2008 [Hebrew]), pp. 64-69.
60. G. Capdeville, Volcanus. Recherches comparatistes sur les origines du culte
de Vulcain (Rome: Ecole Francaise de Rome, 1995), p. 278. See also F. Guirand,
406
Homeric hymn, where Dionysus is praised for introducing Hephaestus

in the Olympus. This event was not treated as a simple anecdote, since,
as Jeanmaire noted, It is a remarkable thing that, among all the scenes
from the Dionysus legend, the one almost exclusively represented by the
old school of ceramics is the god bringing his half-brother Hephaestus
to the Olympus.61 This oft-repeated association stressed the nature of
Dionysus as the master of Hephaestus, conferring the demiurgic powers
that allowed the smith to be accepted into the community of gods.62 In
Greek mythology, Ariadne and Aphrodite are the wives of Dionysus and
Hephaestus respectively. But Ariadne is none other than the Cretan
homolog of Aphrodite.63 This conrms the existence of a parallel
between Dionysus and Hephaestus.
Beyond these preliminary considerations, the original identity of
Dionysus as the god of metallurgy is supported by the following
evidence:
1. Dionysus was symbolized by a leather sack full of air (a bellow),
so that the cave of Dionysus was named Korykion anthron (the
cave of the leather sack).64 It is likely, therefore, that the name
Bromius refers to such a moving of air stimulating the genesis of
metal in a furnace.
Mythologie grecque, in F. Guirand and J. Schmidt (eds.), Mythes et Mythologies (Paris:

Bordas, 1996), pp. 115-245, and especially p. 164. See also Jeanmaire, Dionysos, p. 222.
61. Jeanmaire, Dionysos, pp. 10-11. See also Grech, Which of the Gods is This?,
pp. 31-32.
62. Hephaestus and Dionysus are mentioned together by Homer (the metallic urn
where the bones of Achilles are buried is both the gift of Dionysus and the work of
Hephaestus; see Odyssey 24.71-75). Much later, their association is apparent in a
metaphor of Socrates about metal alloying: Let us make the mixture, Protarchus, with a
prayer to the gods, to Dionysus or Hephaestus, or whoever he be who presides over the
mixing (Plato, Philebus 61bc).
63. R.F. Willetts, Cretan Cults and Festivals (London: Routledge & Kegan, 1962),
p. 193. See also T. Gantz, Early Greek Myths (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), II, p. 474, and Capdeville, Volcanus, p. 267. C. Brard and C. Bron
(Bacchos au coeur de la cit. Le thiase dionysiaque dans lespace politique, in Lassociation dionysiaque dans les socits anciennes [Rome: Ecole Francaise de Rome, 1986],
pp. 13-27) noticed that Athena, the patron goddess of the crafts, was represented as a
Maenad by the Athenians.
64. See Pailler, Bacchus, p. 29. It is interesting to note that this leather sack is
associated with a giant snake, another symbol of metallurgy. See Kerenyi, Dionysos,
pp. 45-46.
407
2. Dionysus was called Pyrigenes or Pyrisporos, two terms meaning respectively born/conceived from re.65 He was believed
to have been born in a nest of serpents, animals traditionally
symbolizing copper melting/smelting in the ancient Near East,
including Greece.66
3. Dionysus was subsumed by the Ancient Greeks into the great
god of Crete.67 As Dionysus in Greece, this Cretan Zeus was
worshipped as a giant snake. From his mythology (especially his
relationship to Couretes, a congregation of metalworkers) and
one of his names, Welkhanos (a term related to Vulcain, the
Roman patron of the smelters),68 it is likely that this Cretan Zeus
was deeply involved in copper metallurgy.
4. In Thebes, a special worship of Dionysus was reserved for the
Technitai, the guild of artisans. On votive vases found at Kabirion, near Thebes, Dionysus is shown conducting the initiation
of the Kabiroi, originally a congregation of smelters. On others,
he is depicted as the father of the Kabiroi, conrming his status
as patron of the smelters.69
5. The Dionysian procession is mainly composed of Silenes, Satyrs
and Corybants.70 In Greek mythology, these gures are considered to be the sons of Hephaestus, laboring occasionally in
his workshop at Lemnos. All of them are limping, a trait typically related to the initiation into metallurgy.71
When taken together, all these elements suggest that Dionysus was
formerly the Aegean god of copper metallurgy. As in the case of
Yahweh, this identity remained only vestigial during the Iron Age, but it
65. See Jeanmaire, Dionysos, p. 336.

66. Erechtheion, the son of Hephaestus and Athena, is represented as a bronze snake
in his Athenian sanctuary (Erechtheum). In Greece, the snake always remained an important element in the cult of Dionysus. See Amzallag, The Copper Revolution, pp. 50-54.
67. See Euripides, The Cretans (frag. 475), and Kerenyi, Dionysos, p. 113.
68. From Cretan mythology, it appears that Zeus was educated and initiated by
Couretes and Dactyls. Further comparisons suggest that the name of the Cretan Zeus was
Welkhanos. See Willetts, Cretan Cults, p. 250 and Capdeville, Volcanus, pp. 160-238.
69. Shachter, Cults of Boiotia, I, pp. 189-90; II, pp. 93-95. See also C. Kerenyi, The
Gods of the Greeks (London: Thames & Hudson, 1976), pp. 85-86.
70. See Guirand, Mythologie grecque, pp. 212-16, and C. Brard, Phantasmatique
rotique dans lorgiasme dionysiaque, Kernos 5 (1992), pp. 13-26.
71. See Amzallag, Yahweh, the Canaanite God of Metallurgy.
408
is clear enough to conclude that these two deities have the same initial
nature, so that they may be truly considered homologs.
It now remains to clarify one last point: Does this homology derive
from a parallel but independent evolution from a common reality (the
smelting of copper ore in a furnace), or is it the result of the diffusion of
a single deity from one area to the other? In the latter case, popularization of the cult, both in Canaan and in Greece, increases the number of
possibilities: Dionysus and Yahweh may have an independent origin (as
god of metallurgy) and a common evolution towards popularization
during the early Iron Age. Inversely, their common origin may have been
followed by an independent evolution towards popularization. The high
level of similarities identied above suggests yet another thesis:
Dionysus and Yahweh have a common origin and a common evolution
towards popularization of their cult. These eventualities are examined in
the next section.
6. The Canaanite Roots of Dionysus
During Antiquity, copper metallurgy was a very complex activity.
Supplying the required ores and uxes involved expertise in a wide range
of domains (geology, mineralogy, mining processes, geography) and an
extended network of relationships and alliances. The smelting,
purication and production of well-dened alloys required a sound
knowledge of pyrotechnology and proto-chemistry, both acquired through
generations of experience. For these reasons, the spread of furnace
metallurgy cannot be considered as a simple diffusion of technology.
Rather, it was occasioned by the migration of smelters who introduced
their way of life and their cult of the god of metallurgy.72 This is why, in
such a proximate area as the Aegean and the Levant, a similarity between
gods of metallurgy is probably an indication of their common origin.
a. The God from Seir
The origin of Dionysus is reported in Homeric hymns 1 and 7, both
devoted to the deity. In hymn 7, Dionysus is depicted rst as a young
man captured by pirates. To obtain a ransom for his release, the pirates
72. K. Kristiansen and T.B. Larsson, The Rise of Bronze Age Society: Travels, Transmissions and Transformations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 62107. See also P.L. Kohl, The Making of the Bronze Age Eurasia (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2007), pp. 244-60, and Amzallag, The Copper Revolution, pp. 156-97.
409
go looking in the Eastern Mediterranean region for his parents or

friends.73 This suggests that the man-god they captured was, at least in
their opinion, of Levantine origin. This interpretation is explicitly conrmed by the rst Homeric hymn devoted to Dionysus:
For some say, at Dracanum; and some, on windy Icarus; and some, in
Naxos, O Heaven-born, Insewn; and others by the deep-eddying river Alpheus
that pregnant Semele bore you to Zeus the thunder-lover. And others yet, lord,
say you were born in Thebes; but all these lie. The Father of men and gods
gave you birth remote from men and secretly from white-armed Hera. There is
a certain Nysa, a mountain most high and richly grown with woods, far off in
Phoenicia, near the streams of Aegyptus
From the last sentence mentioned here, we may conclude that Dionysus
actually originated in the South of Canaan (Negev, Arabah or Sinai). In
this arid region, the single area covered by an evergreen forest (until the
beginning of the last century) was the mountains of Seir/Edom. This
localization seems to be conrmed by the rst verses of the seventh
Homeric hymn:
I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, how he appeared on a
jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea, seeming like a stripling in the
rst ush of manhood: his rich, dark hair was waving about him, and on his
strong shoulders he wore a purple robe.
The unique fruitless sea (halos atrugetoio, literally: the sea where
nothing may be shed), well known from Egypt to Phoenicia, is the
Dead Sea. Accordingly, the jutting headland (para thin) where Dionysus appeared for the rst time may be a poetical evocation of the copper
mining area south the Dead Sea or the Seir mountains surrounding it.
These statements about the origin of Dionysus have not been taken
seriously by modern scholars. However, the present ndings t perfectly
with this material: the region of Seir is considered both as the birthplace
of Yahweh (Judg. 5.4) and the historical homeland of furnace metallurgy.74
The introduction of furnace metallurgy in the Aegean occurred at the
end of the fourth millennium BCE,75 so at rst glance, it seems unlikely
73. I reckon he is bound for Egypt or for Cyprus or to the Hyperboreans or farther
still. But in the end he will speak out and tell us his friends and all his wealth and his
brothers, now that providence has thrown him in our way (Homeric hymn 7.29-31).
74. Nissim Amzallag, From Metallurgy to Bronze Age Civilizations: The Synthetic
Theory, AJA 113 (2009), pp. 497-513.
75. Though a minor process of copper smelting in crucibles has been identied in
Greece, prior to the rise of furnace metallurgy, it does not seem to have made any
410
that mythology from the Iron Age would preserve the memory of events
occurring about two thousand years before. Nevertheless, the metallurgical inuence of Canaan in the Mediterranean was continuously renewed
throughout the Bronze Age, via the network of mining, trade of ingots,
and the spread of metallurgical innovations (such as sulde ore smelting
and bronze alloying).76 In this way, the constant reference to the Canaanite origin of the Aegean god of metallurgy may have been transmitted
until the early Iron Age.
b. The Popular Cult
If Dionysus, in his original identity, is the Aegean counterpart of
Yahweh, it remains to be determined whether or not the emergence of
their popular cults is interrelated.
Aegean Inuence in Canaan. From Jer. 47.4 we learn that Crete was
the homeland of many of the Philistines. Their migration in the early Iron
Age may have introduced the Cretan mode of worship of Welkhanos into
Canaan. Such an eventuality of Philistine inuence on the process of
popularization of the cult of Yahweh should be taken seriously in light of
closeness of the Philistines to the Israelite tribe of Dan.77 It is also supported by the striking parallel indicated by Amos between the exodus
of the Israelites from Egypt and the exodus of the Philistines from
Crete, both considered as motivated by Yahweh: Have not I [Yahweh] brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from
Caphtor, and Aram from Kir? (Amos 9.7).78 Though such an inuence
probably exists, the denial by the Philistines of Yahweh as a national
deity (see above) suggests that the popularization of his cult in Canaan is
not of Philistine origin.
signicant cultural impact. See Amzallag, From Metallurgy to Bronze Age Civilizations.
76. Amzallag, From Metallurgy to Bronze Age Civilizations.
77. An association between the tribe of Dan and the Philistines is suggested by the
name Denyen, which was borne by one of the groups constituting the Sea Peoples. The
Denyen were mentioned in the correspondence between the king of Ugarit and Ramesses
III found at Medinet Habu. See F.C. Woudhuizen, The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples
(Rotterdam: Erasmus Universitat Press, 2006), p. 33.
78. As for the Philistines, the worship of Yahweh is also suggested in northern Syria
during the early Iron Age. See S. Dalley, Yahweh in Hamath in the 8th Century BC:
Cuneiform Material and Historical Deductions, VT 60 (1990), pp. 21-32.
411
Canaanite Inuence in the Aegean. In Greece, the earliest attestations

of a popular cult of Dionysus belong to the ninth and eighth centuries
BCE.79 At this time, the Aegean experienced a profound transformation in
all areas of life, a phenomenon called the Orientalizing Revolution
because of its Levantine origin.80 A number of circumstances suggest that
popularization of the cult of Dionysus was inherent to this Orientalizing
Revolution. In Greece, Dionysus was deemed the grandson of Cadmus
(from Hebrew qedem, the Levant), the founding father of Thebes. This
Levantine origin of Dionysus was apparently important for the Greeks,
since the god was frequently called the Cadmean.81 An ancient inscription from Magnesia mentions that the population asked for priests and
Maenads from the race of Ino the Cadmean to join their new temple of
Dionysus in order to teach his authentic cult and to introduce his genuine
traditions.82 This Canaanite ascendant on the popular cult of Dionysus is
79. The most ancient attestation of a popular cult of Dionysus relates in Greece to the
popular cult of Cabires (probably Levantines metallurgists). According to Schachter
(Cults of Boiotia, II, p. 96), this cult started in Boiotia during the ninth or eighth century
BCE.
80. See W. Burckert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Inuence on Greek
Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992).
This inuence is so considerable that J. Whitley (The Archaeology of Ancient Greece
[Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001]) concluded (p. 103): That, in essence, is
the orientalizing phenomenon: the transformation of Levantine ideas, techniques and
images to suit new, Greek purposes. That Greece owed much, if not everything, to the
near East is not in doubt. The specic importance of the Near Eastern metallurgy in
Greece is stressed by S.P. Morris, Daidalos and the Origin of Greek Art (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1995), especially pp. 101-49, and E. Guralnick, A Group of
Near Eastern Bronzes from Olympia, AJA 108 (2004), pp. 187-222. Concerning
mythology and religion, see R. Mondi, Greek Mythic Thought in the Light of the Near
East, in L. Edmunds (ed.), Approaches to Greek Myths (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1989), pp. 142-98, and M. West, The East Face of Helicon: West
Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
81. Euripides mentions the Canaanite origins of both Cadmus and Dionysus as
follows (Phoenissae 638-52): Cadmus of Tyre came to this land, and at his feet a fourfooted, untamed heifer threw itself down, fullling an oracle, where the gods prophecy
told him to make his home in the plains rich with wheat, and where the lovely waters of
Dirce pour over the elds, the green and deep-seeded elds; here Bromius mother gave
birth from her union with Zeus (see also Dtienne, Dionysos en ses parousies). The
union of Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Zeus may be therefore a poetical evocation
of the naturalization of this Canaanite god in the Aegean.
82. The commemorative inscription mentions an oracle instructing the population to
build a temple to Dionysus, and then asking for the following: Go to the holy land of
412
also conrmed by the claim eleleu-iou-iou uttered during the Dionysian

processions.83 Devoid of local meaning, this expression is singularly
close to the Hebrew locution allelu-iah. This strengthens the assumption
that the popular cult of Dionysus was introduced from the Levant.
c. The Israelite Inuence
During the rst half of the rst millennium BCE, relations between the
Levant and the Aegean world were mainly ensured by the Phoenicians.
Cadmus, the grand-father of Dionysus and founding father of Thebes, is
considered in Greece as originating from Tyre. But the Phoenicians are
not known for promoting the popular cult of Yahweh, a singularity
inherent to the Israelite alliance.
It is difcult to assume that the Tyrians promoted in Greece the cult of
Yahweh before that of Melqart. Indeed, the Greek counterpart of the
patron-god of Tyre is easy to identify in Greece: it is Melikertes, the god
of Corinth.84 His great popularity in the Corinthian Isthmus conrms the
existence of a Tyrian cultural inuence in Greece, at least from the
Orientalizing revolution.
In Greece, Dionysus and Melikertes display many afnities, but they
remained distinct entities.85 This situation is parallel to that observed in
Canaan, where Yahweh and Melqart, beyond their afnities, remained
Thebes. You will bring from there Maenads from the descent of Ino the Cadmean. They
will transmit to you the Orgia and the genuine traditions. They will also found the thiases
of Bacchus in the City (reported by Jeanmaire, Dionysos, p. 198).
83. R. Flacelire, La vie quotidienne en Grce au sicle de Pricls (Paris: Hachette,
1959), p. 246.
84. The identication of Melikertes with Melqart has been noted by both ancient
(Philo of Byblos) and modern scholars (see, for example, M. Astour, Hellenosemitica
[Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1967], and C. Harrauer, Meliouchos [Wiener Studien, 11; Vienna:
Verlag der sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1987]). The attempt of C.
Bonnet (Melqart, cultes et mythes de lHracls Tyrien en Mditerrane [Leuven:
Peeters, 1988]) to dissociate Melikertes from his Levantine ascendant (on the basis of a
Greek meaning the honey mixed of Melikertes, see pp. 387-89) remains unconvincing.
85. Both are grandsons of Cadmus, and their mythology involves the same sequence
of death and rebirth following a rite of passage in a bronze cauldron. It is even reported
that Dionysus was nursed by his aunt Ino, the mother of Melikertes. See Kerenyi, The
Gods of the Greeks, pp. 262-65. According to Capdeville (Vulcanus, pp. 236-37), the
great Cretan god (Zeus/Welkhanos) displays many afnities both with Dionysus and with
Melikertes. These strong afnities may explain why Corinth was a very important
homeland of the worship of Dionysus and its diffusion in Greece. See Stanislawsky,
Dionysus Westward, pp. 442-43.
413
distinct.86 Accordingly, the spread of the popular cult of Dionysus from

Thebes suggests the existence of a strong Israelite inuence in Boeotia,
at least during the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. This conclusion is
quite surprising, since the maritime activities of the Israelites are rarely
mentioned in the Bible, and even ignored by the Greek sources. This is
why an Israelite cultural inuence overseas is generally considered as
improbable.
Nonetheless, the origin of the Yahwistic inuence in Greece is claried by considering the domain of the Israelite tribe of Asher, the people
who dwell at the shore of the sea, and abide by its bays (Judg. 5.17).
According to the book of Joshua, the northern limit of the domain of
Asher was the south of Sidon, then including the coastal strip and all the
towns and villages around the fortress of Tyre (Josh. 19.25-29). A similar northern extension of the tribe of Asher is reported in 2 Sam. 24.6-7,
and it ts the geographical location of the towns belonging to this tribe.87
This same land is identied as an integral part of the kingdom of Tyre, at
least from the ninth century. Thus, it is possible that the northern Israelite
tribe of Asher had been integrated into the kingdom of Tyre at the beginning of the rst millennium BCE. Evidence of such a transfer of authority
is found in the book of Kings, where it is reported that Solomon sold the
land of Kabul to Hiram (1 Kgs 9.10-14). The archaeological and literary
data, when considered together, strongly suggest that the land of Kabul
was in fact the whole dominion of the tribe of Asher.88 Such a transfer of
authority from Israel to Phoenicia of the whole tribe of Asher, prior to
the Orientalizing Revolution, enables us to resolve the question of origin
of the popular cult of Dionysus in Greece.
The involvement of the tribe of Asher in the spread of the popular cult
of Yahweh overseas is especially interesting in light of the composition
of this tribe. Most of the Asherite lineages mentioned in the book of
Chronicles (1. Chron. 7.30-40) issue from Heber, also known as a Kenite
86. The sanctuary of Yahweh in Jerusalem was apparently inspired by the sanctuary
of Melqart at Tyre (see 2 Chron. 2) and built by a Tyrian architect (1 Kgs 7.13-14). This
similarity is conrmed by the presence of the same two large columns (Boaz and Yakin)
in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 7.15-22) and in the temple of Melqart a Tyre and Gades (as reported
by Herodotus [2.44] and Strabo [3.5.5-6], respectively). This afnity is also revealed in
Ezek 28.11-15, where it is written that Tyre was the pride of Yahwehs dominon.
87. Y. Aharoni, The Settlement of the Israelite Tribes in Upper Galilee (Jerusalem:
Magnes Press, 1957 [Hebrew]), pp. 86-89.
88. See A. Lemaire, Asher et le royaume de Tyr, in Lipiski (ed.), The Phoenicians
and the Bible, pp. 135-52.
414
clan. The tribe of Asher seems therefore to include a very substantial

Kenite component.89 Being the Canaanite copper smelters, the Kenites
obviously had extensive knowledge of Yahweh and of his former
worship.90 For this reason, the cult of Yahweh in the northern tribe of
Asher, as it is reected in the cult of Dionysus in Greece, should not be
considered as a peripheral dilution of a genuine cult of Yahweh emerging
among the Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh tribes. Rather, it is probably a
reliable source concerning the actual cult of Yahweh in early Israel, and
even before that. The discovery of an Asherite component in the Phoenicians has yet another consequence: the islands where a worship of
Yahweh is evoked (see Introduction) may not only be in the Aegean, but
also in the Phoenician colonies scattered in the Mediterranean. In this
case, the ambiguity concerning location of the islands in the book of
Isaiah may be a means to include both of them.
Conclusion
The current investigation has revealed that the mention, in the Psalms
and the book of Isaiah, of a worship of Yahweh overseas does not constitute the simple desire of monotheist authors aspiring to extend the
dominion of the god dwelling in Jerusalem. It truly reects the existence
of a local worship of Yahweh in the Aegean, under the name of Dionysus. The parallel between these two gods has been established through a
comparative analysis of their cult, their attributes, their mode of action,
and their human theophany. Homology between Yahweh and Dionysus
is conrmed by their common vestigial link to copper metallurgy. From
the extensive Canaanite metallurgical inuence in the Aegean, and from
the homology between Dionysus and the Cretan Zeus of the Minoean
period, it may be concluded that Dionysus was the Aegean counterpart of
Yahweh, even before the popularization of their cults during the Iron Age.
The Canaanite origin of Dionysus obviously asks for reconsidering the
current views concerning the Ancient Aegean culture and civilization.
But the analysis performed here also opens a new horizon for the investigation of Ancient Israel. For the rst time, a detailed non-biblical source
89. Judg. 4.17 and 5.23. This link is conrmed by the mention of Yatir and Yefune,
two Kenites, as offspring of the Asherite Heber. See M. Rosen and S. Bendor, The Origin
of Kingdom in Israel: An Introduction to the Book of Samuel (Tel Aviv: Sifryat Poalim,
1959 [Hebrew]), pp. 42-50.
90. The devotion of the Kenites to Yahweh is mentioned in Jer. 35.19.
415
concerning the ancient cult of Yahweh is identied. It is true that both

the cult of Dionysus in Greece and the cult of Yahweh in Israel evolved
independently throughout the rst millennium BCE. For this reason, a
simple reference to the cult of Dionysus is obviously insufcient to
clarify the nature of the popular cult of Yahweh prior to the monotheistic
reform. But the continuous spread of furnace metallurgy from Canaan
was not limited to the Aegean, so homologies between Yahweh and
other gods linked to copper metallurgy are expected to exist. The cultic
elements common to all these deities may contribute to reveal the true
nature of the early cult of the mysterious Canaanite god of metallurgy.
Even at this early stage of investigation, the simple comparative study
between Dionysus and Yahweh contributes to the clarication of many
points obscured by the monotheistic reform. Yet it is interesting to note
that the fundamental characteristics of Yahweh emerging from this
comparative analysis are clearly related to his original identity as god of
copper metallurgy.
The present exploration invites us to reconsider our representation of
the popular cult of Yahweh in early Israel and the process of the emergence of monotheism. This unique faith should neither be regarded as the
end phase of any spontaneous evolution from polytheism to henotheism,
nor the achieved expression of a latent monotheism/monolatry proper
to Semitic beliefs. It is no more the religious counterpart of any literary ction composed during the second half of the rst millennium BCE
through a genial compilation of miscellaneous sources. Rather, the
monotheistic faith and its biblical support become the consequence of an
ultimate evolution of the popularization of the cult of the god of furnace
metallurgy in his historical homeland.

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Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Vol 35.4 (2011): 387-415

Was Yahweh Worshiped in the Aegean?

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 35.4 (2011)