Mehrkopfige Wesen in der Bibel und im syrisch-palastinischen Raum
by Christoffer Theis
When looking at the sources that have been available from the Syria-Palestine region since the Chalcolithic and that depict or describe beings with more than one head or one face, two things become apparent: On the one hand, there are only a few sources and therefore beings with several faces or heads did not play a major role in the real world or mythological realm in the region if one compares the attested evidence with other cultures of the Near East. On the other hand, there are also clear innovations or inventions that distinguish the region unmistakably from other cultures, e.g. Egypt. Evidence of multiple heads in the Syria-Palestine region extends from the fifth millennium to the time after Christ’s birth, while multiple faces only appear towards the end of the third millennium. The multiplication of heads is an expression of power: the struggle of a god with a multiple-headed being, such as its defeat, puts the struggle in a completely different light than if the enemy had only one head.
When looking at the sources that have been available from the Syria-Palestine region since the Chalcolithic and that depict or describe beings with more than one head or one face, two things become apparent: On the one hand, there are only a few sources and therefore beings with several faces or heads did not play a major role in the real world or mythological realm in the region if one compares the attested evidence with other cultures of the Near East. On the other hand, there are also clear innovations or inventions that distinguish the region unmistakably from other cultures, e.g. Egypt. Evidence of multiple heads in the Syria-Palestine region extends from the fifth millennium to the time after Christ’s birth, while multiple faces only appear towards the end of the third millennium. The oldest finds from the Chalcolithic represent several animals or their heads on an object (such as a crown or a staff). It can be assumed that the multi-headed gods developed from these objects. The earliest forms of double-headed animals were borrowed from nature and elevated to the divine realm in the centuries that followed. Some of the multi-headed or multi-faced creatures known from the Bible, like many other finds from the Syrian-Palestinian region, can be traced back to Mesopotamian models or well-known depictions. The seven-headed serpent can be understood as the enemy of the gods par excellence, which is conquered in many written documents and illustrations and was known throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Starting from Mesopotamia, it is known from Ugaritic sources up to the Revelation of John and Coptic sources, with the number seven being the expression for evil as a whole. Multiheadedness is on the one hand a sign of power, but also of chaos and evil. The multiplication of heads is an expression of power: the struggle of a god with a multiple-headed being, such as its defeat, puts the struggle in a completely different light than if the enemy had only one head.
- By (author) Christoffer Theis
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