Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

38 AttarAttarGod of the morning star. Western Semitic. InCanaanite legend, he attempts to usurp the deadBAAL but proves inadequate to fill the god’sthrone. In semi-arid regions of western Asiawhere irrigation is essential, he was sometimesworshiped as a rain god. His female counterpartis the Phoenician ASTARTE. Also probably identifiedas Dhu-Šamani in more southerly regions.ATTISORIGIN Phrygia [northwestern Turkey]. Vegetationgod.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 500 BC andprobably earlier until circa AD 400.SYNONYMS none specific.CENTER(S) OF CULT Anatolian region and laterthroughout Greek and Roman areas of culture.ART REFERENCES sculptures and reliefs.LITERARY SOURCES Roman writers, especiallyVirgil.Attis is a “dying and rising” fertility god modeledon the Mesopotamian DUMUZI. He is consideredto have originated as a shepherd. In alternativetraditions, KYBELE, the “great mother,” is eitherhis mother or purely his consort. Another legendsuggests he was conceived immaculately by thedemigoddess NANA when she placed a ripealmond in her bosom. According to one legendhe met his death gored by a wild boar. In a morepopular alternative, he castrated himself under apine tree to offer his vitality to Kybele.The latter legend became enshrined in springrites during which Greek, and later Roman, priests(Galli) wearing effeminate costumes castratedthemselves or gashed themselves with knives andoffered blood sacrifices to the goddess by buryingthem in the earth. The main center of cult was atPessinus (Phrygia). The cult was brought to Romein 204 BC when the stone symbolizing the presenceof CYBELE (the Roman version of her name) wascarried from Pessinus and installed in the Templeof Victory on the Palatine Hill. The day sacred toAttis was March 22 when a pine tree was carriedinto the Temple of Cybele and decorated withflowers and models of Attis. In Christian times theEaster festival took over the date of the Attis rites.Atua FafineCreator being. Polynesian [Tikopia]. One of apair with ATUA I RAROPUKA when the land ofTikopia was pulled up from the bottom of theocean. They may have been there from the outset,or arrived on the back of a turtle from foreignparts. They engendered five sons, all gods.Atua I KafikaSupreme god. Polynesian [Tikopia]. Regarded asan intercessor rather than as ultimate creator orcontroller.Atua I RaropukaCreator being. Polynesian [Tikopia]. One of apair with Atua Fafine when the land of Tikopiawas pulled up from the bottom of the ocean.They may have been there from the outset, orarrived on the back of a turtle from foreign parts.They engendered five sons, all gods.ATUMORIGIN Egyptian. Sun god and creator god.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP Old Kingdom(circa 2700 BC) to end of Egyptian history (circaAD 400).SYNONYMS Atum-Re.CENTER(S) OF CULT Heliopolis.ART REFERENCESwall paintings particularly inNew Kingdom tombs in the Valley of the Kings(Thebes), votive inscriptions, contemporarysculpture.