Who are the "attendants of Helios"?

• Author: Van Der Sluijs, Marinus Anthony
• Position: Monimos and Azizos - Report

INTRODUCTION

The learned Roman emperor, Julian (332-363 C.E.), stated that the inhabitants of Edessa worshipped a pair of gods called Monimos and Azizos as paredroi or "attendants" of the sun god Helios:

The inhabitants of Edessa, a place from time immemorial sacred to Helios, associate with Helios in their temples Monimos and Azizos. lamblichus ... says that the secret meaning to be interpreted is that Monimos is Hermes and Azizos is Ares, the assessors of Helios who are the channel for many blessings to the region of our earth. (1) In addition, Julian revealed that "Ares, who is called Azizos by the Syrians who inhabit Edessa, precedes Helios in the sacred procession." (2) That Monimos and Azizos represented celestial bodies is reasonably clear from their association with the sun god, yet the identity of these bodies has never been satisfactorily resolved. (3) The only two useful clues contained in Julian's account are the identification of the pair with the Greek gods Hermes and Ares, and Azizos' cultic role as a forerunner of the sun.

MONIMOS AND AZIZOS AS INTERPRETATIONES GRAECAE OF SYRIAN GODS

On the assumption that Monimos and Azizos represent planets, the most straightforward approach has been to link these deities to the respective planets "owned" by Hermes and Ares in Greek astronomy. From at least the fourth century B.C.E. onwards, Hermes and Ares signified the planets Mercury and Mars, (4) and it was these that Drexler advanced as the objects of the solar cult in Edessa. (5) However, this solution does not lead to an astronomically meaningful connection with the sun and Teixidor objected that "neither the Edessenes nor Tamblichus could possibly have thought of Mars as an acolyte of the Sun because the planet does not accompany the sun." (6) Moreover, in his ensuing discussion of Ares, Julian sidesteps Ares' connection with the planet Mars entirely.

Evidently, Iamblichus' association of Monimos and Azizos with the Greek gods Hermes and Ares was based not on the planetary connotations of the latter in Greek astronomy, but on shared traits in the mythical prosopographies of these gods, as indigenous Syrian gods were matched to characters from the Greek pantheon with similar religious functions and attributes--except planetary identification. The native Syrian god 'Azizu, whose name is derived from the root 'zz and means "the strong one," was a well-established form of the god 'Attar in his warrior aspect. (7) Steuding, seconded by Cumont and Teixidor, opined that it was the derivation of 'Azizu's name that informed his link with Ares. (8) "The identification of Azizos with Ares is rather obvious: Azizu's appearance with arms recalls the way Ares is depicted: with shield, lance and sword." (9) Precious little is known about the prototype for Monimos--the god Mun'im, whose name can be translated as "the beneficent one"; (10) in keeping with the god's protective role for caravans, Drijvers plausibly suspected that the rationale for his connection with Hermes was the latter's aspect as hodios or hegemonios, who protects travellers on their journey, or possibly Hermes nomios or epimelios, the god entrusted with the care of flocks of sheep and goats. (11)

MONIMOS AND AZIZOS AS MORNING AND EVENING STARS

If Iamblichus' interpretation of Monimos and Azizos had the character of an interpretatio Graeca, the role of Hermes and Ares receives a satisfactory explanation, yet the ritual relationship of these gods to Helios still requires elucidation. Which celestial bodies did the gods Mun'im and 'Azizu represent? A priori, the concept of morning and evening stars offers a meaningful context for a close association of planets with the sun. The morning star in particular eminently qualifies as an entity that "precedes Helios" in the course of the daily cycle and it has long been established that worship of the morning and evening stars thrived in cultures speaking Semitic languages. A modicum of independent evidence suggests that 'Attar as well as his suspected alter ego, 'Azizu, represented the morning or evening star. A Minaean text invokes 'ttr srqn wgrbn, or "Attar of the east and the west." (12) As the most prominent morning star is the planet Venus, 'Attar has commonly been understood to relate to this planet. (13) This impression is confirmed in a number of Latin inscriptions from Apulum, in Dacia, dating from the time of emperor Commodus (161-192 C.E.) and later, that were dedicated to deus Azizus bonus puer conservator, "god Azizus, benevolent youth, preserver"; deus bonus puer Phosphorus, "god, benevolent youth, Phosphorus"; and deobono phosphoro Apollini Pythio, "benevolent god, Phosphorus, Apollo Pythio." (14)

The title Phosphoros or "light-bearer," which is the literal equivalent of Latin Lucifer, was the common Greek appellation of the planet Venus. (15) The connection between 'Attar and the planet Venus is further supported by the etymological relationship of 'Attar's name with Istar, the Akkadian goddess who was associated with Venus since at least the late second millennium B.C.E. (16) And an invocation of a goddess dlybl 'zyzt' or 'Dlibat 'Azizta' on an Aramaic incantation bowl, (17) coupled with the Arabic designation of Venus as the goddess al-'Uzza, (18) confirms that the sobriquet 'zz, "the strong one," was usually applied to a deity of the planet Venus, albeit that this was a female deity in these cases. (19) Although no evidence unambiguously links Monimos to Venus, Drijvers, following Cumont, (20) identified the morning and evening aspects of Venus as the referents of Monimos and Azizos:

The most appropriate explanation of Iamblichos' identification of Azizos and Monimos with Ares and Hermes, respectively, therefore seems to be that just as Azizos and Monimos themselves are the two aspects of the Venus star, representing the Morning and the Evening star and at the same time Venus' militant and protecting qualities, so Ares and Hermes stand for the same two main aspects of Venus. These are expressed by a process of doubling, resulting in two gods, each one bearing one of Venus' most conspicuous characteristics. (21) Azizos, the Sun's precursor, is the Morning Star (he goes before Helios in the procession), and Monimos consequently is the Evening Star, although this is not explicitly slated. (22) Despite the popularity of this analysis, it is not entirely convincing. As the astronomical identity of Venus as morning star and Venus as evening star had been known in the classical world since the sixth or fifth century B.C.E .., (23) it is unlikely that these two aspects would still be celebrated in the form of two distinct deities, flanking the sun god, in the fourth century C.E. Moreover, a widespread pattern in the Semitic world was that of a gender opposition between the morning and evening aspects of the planet Venus. In Mesopotamian traditions, "Venus was bisexual, changing her sex according to her position in relation to the sun ... According to one tradition she was considered male (and malefic) as an evening star and female (and benefic) as a morning star ...; according to another she was male as a morning star and female as an evening star ..." (24) For example, the authoritative compendium, Enuma Anu Enlil (seventh century B.E.C.), asserted: "Venus is seen in the west, she is male. ... Venus is seen in the east, she is female." (25) Based on these Mesopotamian data, Dahood and Roberts, followed by other authorities, surmised that, in the Levant, the male Attar representing Venus as the morning star was originally complemented by the female Attart denoting Venus as the evening star. (26) That Monimos and Azizos were both of the same sex counts as a circumstantial argument that they were not primarily polarized in terms of their morning and evening qualities.

MONIMOS AND AZIZOS AS THE PLANETS MERCURY AND VENUS

Although Venus is admittedly the most conspicuous crepuscular star, it is often overlooked...