The religious world, like all other aspects of human life, in our time tends to develop rapidly. The reverse side of progress is associated with the breaking of established traditions, the active mutual influence of different cultures and, as a result, the rapid growth of new religious movements of a syncretic nature. The relative stability of the religious sphere of earlier periods of history is a thing of the past. In addition, today there is a steady upward trend in demand for pre-Christian heritage, predominantly pagan content. Outbursts of neo-opaganism are observed all over the world, the number of their adherents is rapidly growing. This circumstance makes relevant, moreover, urgently needed, a detailed and in-depth study of ancient cults, their mythology, dogma and practice.
Male and feminine in paganism
Followers of modern paganism and reenactors-enthusiasts of pagan cults, inspired by ancient images, recreate the system of veneration of nature, describing it in the language of mythology as a complex of complex relationships between various forces of the universe and man. Orthodox and universal in most of these constructions aretypological figures of the sun god - the archetypal divine Father of the Universe - and the goddess of the earth - the Great Mother. The latter is most often also associated with the moon, which in various contexts causes the appearance of a stable pair of sun-earth or sun-moon as a male and female manifestation of the highest divine principle. The origins of these images are extremely ancient, numbering at least tens of thousands of years and dating back to the gray days of matriarchy. In general, they are canonical images in Western culture, although they also have prototypes in many religious traditions of the world. However, there are counter examples as well. So, for example, the divine Egyptian syzygy Geb and Nut represent an inversion of the universal archetype. The goddess Nut is the goddess of Heaven, and the god Geb is in charge of the earth. Similarly, lunar symbolism is sometimes assigned to male characters. This is the case, for example, in Tengrism - the shamanistic religious system, in the same Egypt (in the face of the gods Thoth and Yaah), in Vedic culture (under the face of the god Soma). Sin, the god of the moon of ancient Sumer, also belongs to them.
Sumerian cult of the Moon. God Nanna
Fragmentary and scattered information about the cult of heavenly bodies, which the Sumerian culture brought to us, tells us two names - Sin (Shin) and Nanna. Of these two characters, the second is the most ancient moon god of this region. According to mythology, he was the son of the god Enlil, the grandson of the supreme sky god Anu. Accordingly, Nanna is the brother of Ninurta and Ishkur. In addition, he fathered two children -twins - the famous goddess Ishtar and the god Shamash.
Mythological image of Nanna
The name Nanna means "lord of the sky". But the lord of the sky is not the god of the sun and the god of the moon. In this case, this epithet is stably associated only with the night luminary. Nanna was traditionally represented as a traveler across the heavenly ocean on a boat, which was a crescent moon. Hence his nickname "Magur", which means "ship".
Spread of the Nunn cult
Special feats, according to available data, Nanna did not perform, in the field of war and love, too, did not distinguish himself. Nevertheless, among the population of Sumer, he gained great reverence and recognition. Initially, being the patron deity of the city of Ur, the cult of Nanna conquered Harran, and then became dominant in Nippur, the religious capital of Sumer. Thus, the god of the moon became the leader in the number of adherents and admirers in Sumerian society.
Development of the Nunn cult
The religions of the ancient peoples, when military or trade ties appeared, began to mutually influence each other, and similar archetypal images often merged into one. As a result of these processes, the Sumerian moon god Nanna merged into a single person with the Babylonian moon god Sin, imprinting in the culture of the region a holistic image of the deity of the night star, which has passed through the centuries.
Another striking example of male deities associated with the Earth's satellite comes from Egypt.
Egyptian Moon God
To be more precise, the Egyptian tradition knows not one, but at least three male lunargods - Thoth, Yaah and Khonsu. This is due to the fact that in ancient Egypt throughout its history there was no single religion. Although attempts were made to impose it, each nome, each city remained faithful to its own gods. Of course, there were national deities among them, but their mythological role, genealogy, functions and cult practices could vary significantly from one center of veneration to another.
The Egyptians had only a common culture, within which many independent religious schools glimmered. Therefore, each major city had its own moon god.
God Thoth
The most famous and most prominent of the known moon deities of Egypt is without a doubt Thoth. His image is so impressive that even in our time, few have heard his name. Moreover, under the banner of Hermeticism, the cult of the god Thoth has survived to this day. This is the only ancient Egyptian god who was spared by fate in this regard.
But actually, the jurisdiction of this character included not only the night luminary. Therefore, first of all, Thoth is not only the god of the moon, but the patron of knowledge and arts, the source of wisdom, the inventor of writing, the messenger of the gods. He accompanied the soul of the deceased to the Kingdom of the Dead and, as a scribe, was present at its trial by Osiris.
The center of veneration of Thoth was the city of Germopol. Traditionally, this god of the moon among the Egyptians was depicted with the head of an ibis, which was considered his sacred animal. And the wife of the divine sage was the goddess Maat - the patroness of truth and all order.
God Yaah
Probably Yaah is the most ancient moon god of the Egyptian pantheon. Initially, his cult originated in Thebes, where he was worshiped simply as the Moon, as an astronomical phenomenon. Actually, the very name "Yahah" simply means "moon" or "month".
The cult of Yaah quickly flourished, and then just as quickly fell into decline, being unable to compete with other lunar deities. Nevertheless, a narrow circle of Yaah's admirers always remained. This is evidenced by the widespread, albeit rare, images of this deity, as well as ancient Egyptian ritual texts. Of the latter, the most important evidence of Yaah's important role is the notorious Book of the Dead.
Very little is known about the mythology and other details of the life and worship of this deity. To date, the Yaah cult remains one of the least explored aspects of ancient Egyptian religiosity. Some scholars, however, suggest that he and the Jewish god Yahweh had a single prototype that connected both deities and served as the source of their veneration.
God Khonsu
Khonsu is another moon god of Egypt. However, the symbolism associated with him is accentuated, in contrast to Thoth and Yaah, on the cyclic flow of life. The name Khonsu itself means "passing". Accordingly, this is the god of the calendar, the ruler of time. Hence its great importance, because it was by the lunar cycles that the Egyptians calculated the years, the seasons, the floods of the Nile, the time of sowing and harvesting.
Mythological genealogy imputes the role of Khonsu's parents to the god Amon and the goddess Mut. The lord of time was depicted inthe image of a boy or youth with a lunar disk on his head. And because of this iconographic relationship, he was sometimes associated with Harpocrates, the late syncretic god of silence and silence.
Synthesis of moon deities in Egypt
Like the Sumerian moon god Nanna-Sin, the moon gods of the Egyptians also merged into single images, and in various combinations. Synthetic images of Thoth-Yahah, Thoth-Khonsu and Yaahya-Khonsu are known at different times and in different places.
Anyway, the moon god was a very important deity in the ancient world. This is due to the important role of the earth's satellite in the social, agricultural, biological life of mankind and nature in general.
