Shadrafa (or Shadrapa, šdrpʾ, šdrbʾ,[1] σατραπας, i.e. "satrap") is a poorly-attested Canaanite (Punic) god of healing or medicine.
| Shadrafa | |
|---|---|
Healing or Medicine | |
| Major cult center | Amrit, Palmyra, Carthage, Leptis Magna |
| Symbol | Youth with a serpent or a scorpion |
His cult is attested in the Roman era (c. 1st to 3rd centuries) in Amrit and Palmyra in the Levant and in Carthage and Leptis Magna in Africa. He is sometimes depicted as a youth with a serpent or a scorpion. In a Punic-Latin bilingual in Leptis Magna he is identified with Liber-Dionysus. Various scholarly suggestions have Palmyran šdrpʾ to Heracles, Asclepios, Eshmun, Adonis, Nergol, Melqart and Resheph. It seems probable that Shadrafa arises from Hellenistic-Canaanite syncretism, and may represent an interpretatio punica of a Hellenistic deity.[2]
References
edit- De Shadrafa, dieu de Palmyre, à Baal Shamīm, dieu de Hatra, aux IIe et IIIe siècles après J.-C (1962)
- Collart, Paul, "Nouveau monument palmyrénien de Shadrafa", Museum Helveticum 13 (1956), 209–215.
- Edward Lipiński, "Shadday, Shadrapha et le dieu Satrape", Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 8 (1995), 247–274.
- Paolo Xella, Edward Lipiński, "Shadrapha" in: Edward Lipiński (ed.), Dictionnaire de la Civilisation Phénicienne et Punique (1992), 407–408.
Further reading
edit- Caquot, André (1952). "Chadrapha, à propos de quelques articles récents". Syria. Archéologie, Art et histoire. 29 (1): 74–88. doi:10.3406/syria.1952.4855.
- Puech, Emile (1986). "Les inscriptions phéniciennes d'Amrit et les dieux guérisseurs du sanctuaire". Syria. Archéologie, Art et histoire. 63 (3): 327–342. doi:10.3406/syria.1986.6939.
- du Mesnil du Buisson, R. (1978). "Shadrafâ Et Dʿanat, Couple Divin À Palmyre". Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies. 14: 100*–102*. ISSN 0071-108X.