Beher was the pre-Christian Ethiopian (Aksumite) god of the sea. He was part of a trinity of pre-Christian Eritrean and Ethiopian religion, together with Astar (god of sun and moon) and Mahrem (god of war and head god).[1] The name Beher is likely derived from the Arabic bahr(sea).[2]
History
Beher is the god of the land and of the sea and is associated with agricultural fertility.[1] He also appears to be identified with Meder, the Earth-Mother. Beher may be related to the Eritrean and Ethiopian Christian word for God, egziabher, originally 'Lord of the Land' as well as 'Lord of the World'.[3] All of these names appear together in the writings of Ezana in which the throne is dedicated to Astar, Beher, and Meder.[4] For the Aksumites, these gods are comparable to the Greeks'. Astar was associated with Zeus while Mahrem was parallel with Ares. Beher was associated to Poseidon.[3]
Beher and other gods of this religion likely had animal sacrifices made in their honor, mostly cattle or possibly votives as representations for those animals.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Ancient Axumite Pantheon - Afropedea". www.afropedea.org. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ Richmond Palmer, H. (June 1941). "Trident-Gods in Sahara and Western Sudan". Man. 41. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: 60–62. doi:10.2307/2793346. JSTOR 2793346 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b Munro-Hay, S. C. (1991). Aksum : an African civilisation of late antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. OCLC 555231651.
- ^ Trimingham, Spencer J. (2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-299-86698-0. OCLC 858654193.
- ^ Cartwright, Mark (March 21, 2019). "Kingdom of Axum" (PDF). Ancient History Encyclopedia.
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