Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; Eblaite , Rašap, , ršp, Egyptian , , ršp, Rešep̄) was a god associated with war and plague, originally worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was one of the main members of the local pantheon, and was worshiped in numerous hypostases, some of which were associated with other nearby settlements, such as Tunip. He was associated with the goddess Adamma, who was his spouse in Eblaite tradition. Eblaites considered him and the Mesopotamian god Nergal to be equivalents, most likely based on their shared role as war deities.
In the second millennium BCE, Resheph continued to be worshiped in various cities in Syria and beyond. He is best attested in texts from Ugarit, where he was one of the most popular deities. While well attested in ritual texts and theophoric names, he does not play a large role in Ugaritic mythology. An omen text describes him as the doorkeeper of the sun goddess, Shapash, and might identify him with the planet Mars. He was also venerated in Emar and other nearbly settlements, and appears in theophoric names as far east as Mari. The Hurrians also incorporated him into their pantheon under the name Iršappa, and considered him a god of commerce. Through their mediation, he also reached the Hittite Empire. He was also introduced to Egypt, possibly by the Hyksos, and achieved a degree of prominence there in the Ramesside period, with evidence of a domestic cult available from sites such as Deir el-Medina. The Egyptians regarded him as a warlike god, but he could also be invoked as a protective healer. He was associated with gazelles and horses, and in art appears as an armed deity armed with a bow, shield and arrows.
References to Resheph from the first millennium BCE are less common. He did not play a large role in Phoenician religion overall, with only one reference to him occurring in texts from Sidon, though he is well attested as a member of the Phoenician pantheon of Cyprus. He was also worshiped by Arameans in Cilicia and in Syria. References to him are also present in the Hebrew Bible, though due to the process of demythologization his name does not always refer to a personified deity. Greeks considered him an equivalent of Apollo, as attested by bilingual inscriptions from Cyprus, though it is not certain if this example of interpretatio graeca was recognized outside this island.
Name Etymology The etymology of Resheph's name is uncertain. According to Michael P. Streck, it is derived from the root ršp, and its cognates include Amorite yarśap (“to flame”), an element of personal names attested in texts from the Old Babylonian period, and the nominal rišp-, “flame” or “fever”, present in Hebrew and Aramaic. This possibility is the most commonly proposed explanation in scholarship, though it did not find universal support, and Maciej M. Münnich notes that it rests on biblical evidence, which comes at most from the sixth century BCE, in contrast with the oldest attestations of Resheph, which date back to the twenty-fourth century BCE, with no sources supporting this derivation from within the nearly two thousand year period separating them. Streck, despite his support for this proposal, acknowledges the nature of the connection between the presumed meaning of Resheph's name and his character is not fully clear. A second proposal is to link his name with Akkadian rašābu(m), “to destroy”, and rašbu(m), “terrifying, horrible” This view is supported by authors such as Jean-Marie Durand, but it similarly did not find universal support. Paolo Xella notes that all of the proposed etymologies might be the result of circular reasoning, as they depend on the available information about Resheph's character.
Spellings Cuneiform texts from Ebla render Resheph's name as Ra-sa-ap (). No further variants are attested in text from this city, and in most cases the name is preceded by the “divine determinative”, dingir (). The same spelling is also attested in sources from Mesopotamia and from Emar, though texts from this city also use variants such as Ra-ša-ap, Ra-šap and Ra-šap-pa.
In Ugarit, Resheph's name was written as ršp () in the alphabetic script, and it is variously vocalized by Ugartiologists as Rašp, Rašap or Resheph. The writings Ra-ši-ip and Re-ša-ip appear in texts in standard syllabic cuneiform. Logographic ones are also attested, many of them derived from the various forms of the theonym Nergal: dGÌR.UNU.GAL(.LA), dMAŠ.MAŠ and dKAL (=dLAMMA), though it is sometimes questioned if Resheph was necessarily meant in every case when they were used. The use of logograms originally linked to Nergal to represent Resheph is also well attested in texts from Ekalte, with identified examples including dGÌR, dIGI and dMAŠ.TAB.BA.
The Hurrian form of the name had a prothetic vowel affixed to it, resulting in spellings Aršappa and Iršappa, sometimes shortened to Iršap or Irša. The Hurrian variant is also attested in Ugarit as eršp. It has also been proposed that the variant name dRa-sa-pa-an developed through Hurrian influence too, but this view is not universally accepted.
Two forms of the name are attested in texts from ancient Egypt, ršp and ršpw, which might indicate a change in pronunciation occurred at some point, with the former writing reflecting Rashap, Rashp or Reshp and the latter - Rashpu or Reshpu, with a final u making the name easier to pronounce for speakers of Egyptian.
Resheph and Rushpan Maciej M. Münnich argues that the theonym Rushpan should be identified as a form of Resheph's name used in the Middle Euphrates area. A pre-Sargonic tablet from Mari mentions the offering of cereal to various deities, including dRa-sa-pá-an. A temple dedicated to him is mentioned in Mariote texts from the reigns of Shamshi-Adad I and Yahdun-Lim. accepts that the names were likely cognates, but does not consider it certain that the two were identical, pointing out a long tradition of using the logogram dGU4 (“bull”) to represent the name Rushpan, as attested in lexical lists and the god list An = Anum (tablet VI, line 206).
Eblaite sources Oldest known references to Resheph have been identified in texts from Ebla. They are dated to the period between 2450 and 2200 BCE, and spans between 30 and 40 years. Most of the available attestations of deities in it come from economic texts, which makes it impossible to fully study the character of Resheph in Eblaite religion as other types of sources, such as myths or descriptions of specific ceremonies, are lacking. It is nonetheless possible to determine he was one of the main deities of the local pantheon. While not equally commonly attested as Hadabal and Kura, he is one of the most frequently mentioned deities in the entire Eblaite text corpus. His individual functions are difficult to clarify. While he was not directly invoked in association with combat, it is nonetheless presumed that he was regarded as a warlike deity due to a large number of weapons listed among offerings he received, including 15 daggers, 11 axes, 4 lances and 2 or more clubs. Alfonso Archi states that the club offering, during which the god also received four bull horns, was an annual rite.
Worship
In Ebla Resheph was venerated both by common citizens and the royal family. Reference to two priests in his service, Re’i-Malik and Ennai, are also known. Furthermore, foreign kings visiting Ebla also made offerings to him, as indicated by records of sacrificial sheep provided by the royal palace for such occasions.
One of the city gates of Ebla was named after Resheph. His two main cult centers in its proximity were seemingly Adanni and Tunip, both of which were relatively small settlements. Alfonso Archi notes that an association with an otherwise insignificant city or cities is a characteristic shared by him with a number of the other major deities of Ebla, namely Dagan (from Tuttul), Hadda (from Halab) and Hadabal (from Hamadu, Larugadu and Luban), and that it can be assumed in the third millennium BCE none of them owed their popularity to the political influence of their cult centers. However, despite its proximity to Ebla, Resheph is entirely absent from the text corpus from Tell Beydar.
Multiple hypostases of Resheph are attested in Ebla. Most frequently mentioned is the form of this god linked to Adanni. Resheph of gunum is the second most commonly referenced. The precise meaning of this term is a matter of debate, complicated by the fact it is attested almost exclusively in association with Resheph and, much less frequently, with closely linked Adamma. It can be literally translated as “garden”, but it has been suggested it was used to refer to the royal cemetery. However, no texts from Ebla mention Resheph in a funerary context. Maciej M. Münnich suggests that gunum might have been a palatial enclosure for animals, as the associated hypostasis of Resheph received wool as offering particularly often, and references to a bull linked to his cult are known. Resheph of Tunip is also attested, chiefly as a recipient of silver. This hypostasis seemingly had no chapel in the city of Ebla itself, and local dignitaries traveled to venerate him. The royal palace hill (sa-zaxki) also had a form of Resheph associated with it, "Resheph of the palace", though it has been proposed this title referred to Resheph of Adanni worshiped in a chapel located there rather than to a fully separate hypostasis. Further forms, associated with Daraum (an administrative center of the Eblaite state), Shi’amu, ‘Adatu, Shamutu, Muriku, Armi, Nei, Sarrap and Shaku, are also attested, but they are mentioned less frequently, with most only occurring once. The large number of hypostases is presumed to reflect Resheph's popularity.
Theophoric names invoking Resheph are uncommon in the Eblaite text corpus, which Michael P. Streck explains as a result of his possibly negative characteristics. However, this assumption has been criticized by Maciej M. Münnich, as the attested examples, such as Yitin-Rasap ("Resheph gave") and ‘Ebdu-Rasap ("servant of Resheph"), do not appear to hint as such a perception.
Associations with other deities Resheph typically received offerings either alongside other major members of the local pantheon, such as Hadabal, or alongside the goddess Adamma. The latter was regarded as his spouse, though the connection between them is seemingly limited to the early tradition of Ebla. They were also worshiped together in Tunip. Resheph also appears commonly alongside the sun deity, represented by the Sumerogram dUTU, though usually regarded as a goddess. He is also attested in association with the Eblaite form of Ea, Hayya. In one case, they occur as a dyad and receive a single jewel as an offering together.
The text VE 806 indicates that Resheph and the Mesopotamian god Nergal were locally regarded as equivalents. This correspondence most likely depended on their shared warlike character. Despite this connection, no writing of Nergal's name was used to represent Resheph in Ebla. Wilfred G. Lambert has noted that a name of Nergal found in a later Mesopotamian god list, dLUGAL-ra-sa-ap (; with the Sumerogram LUGAL possibly standing for an unidentified West Semitic noun rather than lugal or šarrum), “lord Resheph”, uses the spelling of Resheph's name typical for Eblaite and Old Akkadian texts from the third millennium BCE.
Other third millennium BCE attestations