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Help[Facts] Tanith
Hi!
How do you get "serpent lady" out of Tanith? I've always wondered! Maybe "tan" or "tani" means "serpent"?
Personally I've heard it comes from a shortening of the Egyptian "ta-neteret", meaning "the goddess".
Any idea?
~~ Claire ~~
How do you get "serpent lady" out of Tanith? I've always wondered! Maybe "tan" or "tani" means "serpent"?
Personally I've heard it comes from a shortening of the Egyptian "ta-neteret", meaning "the goddess".
Any idea?
~~ Claire ~~
1
Replies
From my notes on the name Tanith:
Tanith does mean "serpent lady" or "snake goddess." She was an important goddess to the Phoenicians, ruling love, fertility, and the moon like so many of her counterparts in the ancient world. Sometimes it is also said to mean "sky goddess" or "celestial goddess," but these are just as likely to be epithets or aspects. She was the chief goddess of Carthage, consort to Ba'al.
Phoenicia.org lists this inscription as found on a tablet from Carthage: "To the lady Tanith, and to our master, the lord Baal-Hammon; the offerer is Abd-Melkarth, the Suffes, son of Abd-Melkarth, son of Hanno." There are many other documented inscriptions to her on tablets and votives.
The name Abd-Tanith, "servant of Tanith," is commonly found in inscriptions from the region.
Other forms she was known by include: Tanata and Anaitis.
It is related to the Greek name Tanis, as well as the Punic form Tent. It may be related to the Egyptian Tanetu.
Information from "The History of Phoenicia", chap. 16 : "Tanith is invariable placed before Baal, as though superior to him, and can be no other than the celestial goddess (Dea cœlestis), whose temple in the Roman Carthage was so celebrated.90 The Greeks regarded her as equivalent to their Artemis;91 the Romans made her Diana, or Juno, or Venus.92 Practically she must at Carthage have taken the place of Ashtoreth. Apuleius describes her as having a lunar character, like Ashtoreth, and calls her "the parent of all things, the mistress of the elements, the initial offspring of the ages, the highest of the deities, the queen of the Manes, the first of the celestials,
Tanith does mean "serpent lady" or "snake goddess." She was an important goddess to the Phoenicians, ruling love, fertility, and the moon like so many of her counterparts in the ancient world. Sometimes it is also said to mean "sky goddess" or "celestial goddess," but these are just as likely to be epithets or aspects. She was the chief goddess of Carthage, consort to Ba'al.
Phoenicia.org lists this inscription as found on a tablet from Carthage: "To the lady Tanith, and to our master, the lord Baal-Hammon; the offerer is Abd-Melkarth, the Suffes, son of Abd-Melkarth, son of Hanno." There are many other documented inscriptions to her on tablets and votives.
The name Abd-Tanith, "servant of Tanith," is commonly found in inscriptions from the region.
Other forms she was known by include: Tanata and Anaitis.
It is related to the Greek name Tanis, as well as the Punic form Tent. It may be related to the Egyptian Tanetu.
Information from "The History of Phoenicia", chap. 16 : "Tanith is invariable placed before Baal, as though superior to him, and can be no other than the celestial goddess (Dea cœlestis), whose temple in the Roman Carthage was so celebrated.90 The Greeks regarded her as equivalent to their Artemis;91 the Romans made her Diana, or Juno, or Venus.92 Practically she must at Carthage have taken the place of Ashtoreth. Apuleius describes her as having a lunar character, like Ashtoreth, and calls her "the parent of all things, the mistress of the elements, the initial offspring of the ages, the highest of the deities, the queen of the Manes, the first of the celestials,
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I haven't heard of the personal name TANITH. The Hebrew word for "snake" is "nakhash", and "tan" (tav-nun) means "jackal". "Tanin" is a sort of crocodile, so this is the closest I can get to "serpent" in Hebrew. I have no idea about Egyptian, but I there know there has been some influence on Hebrew names from that side.
I will go to the library some time from now (it's a 30 km drive) and check the Encyclopedia Judaica.
Andy ;—)
I will go to the library some time from now (it's a 30 km drive) and check the Encyclopedia Judaica.
Andy ;—)
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