This book investigates the issue of the singularity versus the multiplicity of ancient Near
Eastern deities who are known by a common first name but differentiated by their last names or
geographic epithets. It focuses primarily on the Istar divine names in Mesopotamia Baal names
in the Levant and Yahweh names in Israel and it is structured around four key questions: How
did the ancients define what it meant to be a god - or more pragmatically what kind of
treatment did a personality or object need to receive in order to be considered a god by the
ancients? Upon what bases and according to which texts do modern scholars determine when a
personality or object is a god in an ancient culture? In what ways are deities with both first
and last names treated the same and differently from deities with only first names? Under what
circumstances are deities with common first names and different last names recognizable as
distinct independent deities and under what circumstances are they merely local manifestations
of an overarching deity? The conclusions drawn about the singularity of local manifestations
versus the multiplicity of independent deities are specific to each individual first name
examined in accordance with the data and texts available for each divine first name.
