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I. Name Assyrian divine name, attested as theophoric element in the name of one of the sons of Sennacherib who murdered him, Arad-Mulissu. Adrammelech ( ʾadrammelek) in 2 Kgs. 19.37, par. Isa. 37.38, is a corrupted form of this Assyrian name. Greek traditions assign him the names Adramelos and Ardumuzan (M. Streck, VAB VII/1 [1916] ccxxxix–ccxl; Parpola 1980:176 notes 4–5). Parpola demonstrated that these names are corruptions of Arad-Mulissu. This human being Adrammelech = Arad-Mulissu in 2 Kgs. 19.37 and Isa. 37.38 should not be confused with the deity Adrammelech, one of…

I. Name Nanēa is the goddess in whose temple Antiochus IV Epiphanes was killed by the priests according to one tradition about his obscure death, the letter to Aristobulus, 2 Macc. 1.13 (the fullest discussion remains M. Holleaux, REA 18 (1916) 77–102; cf B. Z. Wacholder, HUCA 49 [1978] 89–133; criticisms: J. M. Goldstein, II Maccabees [AB 41A; New York 1983] 163). Her name is only mentioned here; her temple had the name Naneion (v 15). This happened in 164 bce in ‘Persis’, actually Elymaïs, as is clear from other sources, like 1 Macc. 6.1–4. Pretending to perform a sacred marriage ( sunoikein)…

I. Name Sakkuth occurs under the form Sikkût in Amos 5.26, and is followed by Kiyyûn. The Masoretic vocalisation of both names is that for idols (Abominations, gillulim). The real pronunciation must have been Sakkut, if we may identify this name with the obscure Babylonian god Sakkud (or Sakkut). Already LXX and CD took the name to be a word with the basic meaning “hut” ( sukkat): not “Sakkuth, your king”, but “tent of the Moloch” (LXX; also Acts 7.43), or “tabernacle of your king” (CD VII 14). Some modern scholars are also of this opinion (Borger 1988:77–80; W. W. Hallo, HUCA 48 [1977] 15). II. …

I. Name Sîn is the name of the Babylonian moongod, attested as theophoric element in Assyrian and Babylonian personal names. In the Old Testament in the names Sanherib ( sanḥērı̄b), Sanballat ( sanballaṭ) and Shenazzar ( šenʾaṣṣar). II. Identity The name Sîn (earlier Suen, Suin) survived in the Aramaic speaking world as the name of the moongod residing in Harran (J. N. Postgate, RLA IV/2–3 [1973] 124–5; Drijvers 1980; Tubach 1986; Green 1992). This cult, already attested at the beginning of the second millennium in Mari, was promoted by Nabonidus who gave Sî…

I. Name Kaiwan occurs under the form Kiyyûn in Amos 5.26, after Sikkût (Sakkuth). The Masoretic vocalisation is that for idols Abominations. The real pronunciation must have been Kaiwān, cf. Syr. Keywân (and variants), the name of the planet Saturn. Both go back to the Babylonian name for Saturn, Kajjamānu, “The Steady One”. The Hebrew text used by LXX was already corrupted in having an initial r instead of k resulting in Rayphan (and variants); in Acts 7.43 Rompha. CD VII 15 mistook the name as a word meaning “base”, cf. Heb. kēn (Borger 1988:78–9). II. Identity In Assyrian/Babylonia…