A Study of the Deity Elkunirša in Light of an Amulet from Ancient Samʾal.

The god, "Elkunirsa" (written: SP d sp I el-ku-ni-ir-sa i */ l qn r /),[110] is the well-known West Semitic god El, who bears the epithet I qn r i "creator/begetter/possessor of earth."[111] The use of the cuneiform sign el in the majority of instances in the myth for the spelling of the first component in the theonym is significant.[112] At present, it is the earliest known attestation of the common word for god in combination with the West Semitic divine epithet, though there are other texts from attusa that mention the deity and are likely contemporary. All areas of knowledge belonged to him which meant that Iya/Ea was the deity of incantations, rituals, healing, medicine, dreams, and magic.[66] On this amulet, the snake in relief on the left side (i.e., to the back or behind this deity on the obverse) is a symbol stressing the chthonic nature of the male character. Due to the fluidity envisioned within the concept of divinity in the ancient context,[70] Isimu is an extension of Ea on the one hand; on the other hand, Ea's extention is Ea.[71] With the equation of Iya/Ea with El, the imagery invokes this conceptional move. For over two millennia (ca. 1400 bc-200 ad), the worship of a god known as Elkunirsa is attested. All of this underscores the significance of the appearance of the Janus-headed deity on Barrakib's orthostat at Zincirli.[73] The linkage of Iya/Ea with Syrian El may perhaps be envisioned on a number of levels.[74] The "craft" of the two deities is manifest in the creation of the life, whose culmination point is human beings.[75] Both deities are gods of magic and, therefore, the means for humans to obligate divinity through conjuration. [Extracted from the article]