Difference between revisions of "Ashima"

<p> <strong> [[Ashima]] </strong> . A god whose form of worship is unknown, and who has been identified with the PhÅ“nician Eshmun and the [[Babylonian]] Tashmitu. As Hamath, the god’s seat of worship (&nbsp; 2 Kings 17:30 ), was occupied by the Hittites, the deity was probably non-Semitic. </p> <p> N. Koenig. </p>

<p> '''Ash'ima.''' A god of the [[Hamathite]] colonists in Samaria. &nbsp;2 Kings 17:30. It has been regarded as identical with the [[Pan]] of the Greeks. </p>

<p> An idol introduced into Samaria by the colonists sent from Hamath by the king of Assyria. &nbsp;2 Kings 17:30 . </p>

<p> A deity adored by the men of Hamath, who were settled in Samaria, &nbsp;2 Kings 17:30 . </p>

<p> (Heb. Ashima', '''''אֲשִׁימָא''''' , etymology unknown; Sept. '''''Ἀσιμάθ''''' ), is only once mentioned in the Old [[Testament]] as the god of the people of Hamath, whose worship the colonists settled by [[Shalmanezer]] introduced into Samaria (&nbsp;2 Kings 17:30). The Babylonian Talmud, in the treatise [[Sanhedrin]] (cited in Carpzov's ''Apparatus,'' p. 516), and the majority of [[Jewish]] writers (see Buxtorf, ''Lex. Talm.'' col. 236), assert that Ashima was worshipped under the form of a ''Goat Without Wool;'' the [[Talmud]] of [[Jerusalem]] (Carpzov, ''Ib.)'' says under that of a ''Lamb.'' [[Elias]] Levita, a learned rabbi of the sixteenth century, assigns the word the sense of ''Ape;'' in which he was, in all probability, deceived by the resemblance in sound to the Latin ''Simia.'' Jurieu and Calmet have proposed other fanciful conjectures. Aben Ezra's ascription ''(Praef. [[Ad]] Esth.) Of'' the name to the [[Samaritan]] [[Pentateuch]] at &nbsp;Genesis 1:1, may be seen in Hottinger's ''Exercit. Antimo In.'' p. 40. The opinion, however, that this idol had the form of a goat appears to be the one best supported by arguments as well as by authorities (see Seyffarth, Systema astron. p. 154 sq.). This agrees with the Egyptian worship of Pan (see Selden, De diis Syr. p. 327, 305 sq.), as well as the appearance of the goat among the sacred animals delineated on the Babylonian relics (Millin, Monumens inedits, i, tab. 8, 9). Some have compared the Samaritan Ashmath ( '''''אשׁמת''''' ) of &nbsp;Deuteronomy 14:5 (see Castell, ''Annot. Samar.),'' a kind of buck. Barkey, on the other hand (in the ''Biblioth. Brem. Nov.'' I, i, 125 sq.; II, iii, 572 sq.), refers to the Phoenician god ''Esmun'' ( '''''Εσμοῦνος''''' , Damasc. in Photii ''Biblioth.'' p. 242, 573; in Phoenician '''''אשמן''''' , Gesenius, ''Monum. Phcen.'' i, 136), corresponding to the god of health, the Greek ''Aesculapius'' (see Movers, ''Phoniz.'' i, 529 sq.). Hiller ''(Onomast.'' p. 609) proposes a Semitic etymology from the Arabic ''Asamat,'' a title of the lion applied to the ''Sun;'' and Lette (in the ''Biblioth. Brem. Nov.'' I, i, 60 sq.) compares ''Asam,'' the Arabic name for a valley or river of the infernal regions. [[Gesenius]] ''(Comment. Iub. Jesa.'' ii, 348) refers to ''Ashuma,'' or the genius (star) of [[Jupiter]] (the heaven), i.e. Mercury, of the [[Zend-Avesta]] ''(Bundehesh,'' iii, 66); but against this Kleuker (in loc.) objects that in the [[Paris]] edition (ii, 356) the name is Anhouma. (See Schulde, De Asima Hamathweor. idolo, Viteb. 1722.) </p>

<p> ''''' a ''''' - ''''' shı̄´ma ''''' , ''''' ash´i ''''' - ''''' ma ''''' ( אשׁימא , <i> ''''' 'ăshı̄mā' ''''' </i> ; Ἀσιμάθ , <i> ''''' Asimáth ''''' </i> ): A deity worshipped at Hamath (&nbsp;2 Kings 17:30 ) of whom nothing further is known. It has been suggested that the name is the same as that of the goddess Simi, the daughter of the supreme god Hadad, who was worshipped at Membij, but there is nothing to support the suggestion. </p>