Карнаим, Аштероф, Аштероф-Карнаим, Карнион

Karnaim, Ashteroth, Ashteroth-Karnaim, Carnion - a city located on the other side of the Jordan, in Bashan, and mentioned in the Bible under one or another of the above names. Karnaim is mentioned for the first time in Genesis 14:5: in the time of Abraham, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, defeated the Rephaim giants in Ashteroth-Karnaim. The full name of the city “Ashteroth-Karnaim” literally means “horned Astarte” and indicates that in the city there was a certain place, or church, where several statues of Astarte with horns were erected for religious honor (Gesenius, Wörterbuch, 1868, S. 693) - one of the symbols of the goddess. Ashteroth was subsequently the residence of Og, king of Bashan (Deut. 1:4; Joshua 9:10, 12:4, 13:12). After the conquest of Bashan, Moses gave Ashteroth as an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh, who settled beyond the Jordan (Joshua 13:31–32). Judas Maccabee took from the Syrians and destroyed the fortified at that time Carnaim (Carnain: 1 Macc. 5:43-44) or Carnion (2 Macc. 12:21, 26), together with the church, which was called “Atargation” (Ἀτεργατεῖον) and in which, consequently, religious worship of the goddess was given "Atargatis". One cannot, however, think that in the Karnaim church the former honoring of Astarte was replaced by the veneration of a completely different female deity, “Atargatis.” It should be taken into account that in many countries of Western Asia, since ancient times, the veneration of the same female deity - the goddess of the productive forces of nature - has been widespread. But this goddess in different countries bore different names, which even in the same area sometimes changed, with changes in certain circumstances. So, in Assyria and Babylonia it was known under the names Baalat, Baaltis, Belit, Istar, among the Canaanites - under the names Ashtar, Ashteret, in Syria its Aramaic designation is Ashtar, and in its Greek modification - Atargatis (and also: Adargada, Tirgata, etc.). In accordance with the various names, the goddess was also given various symbols, such as, for example, the moon, star, horns, sea snails, etc. With all this, everywhere, for thousands of years, she remained, according to the basic idea, essentially the same deity - the goddess of sexual love, birth, fertility. Therefore, Atargatis is the same as Astarte, and, therefore, in the Karnaite church, both under Abraham and under the Maccabees, they worshiped the same female deity, only under different names. – It is possible that Ashteroth-Karnaim is indicated in the book. Joshua (Joshua 21:27) by the name of Beeshtera (house of Ashtoreth): the city of Beeshtera in Bashan was given from the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh to the sons of Gershon - the Levites, but the same city in 1 Chronicles 6:72 is called "Ashtaroth". – The location of Ashteroth-Karnaim has not yet been determined with accuracy, despite numerous attempts by scientific researchers of Trans-Jordan Palestine. The reason for the failure of these attempts lies, among other things, in the fact that, according to some scholars (such as, for example, Buhl), in Bashan there were two different cities with the same name “Ashteroth-Karnaim” (and others in Am. 6:13 are descriptive: “we took horns for ourselves,” that is, we became strong: see Gesenius - Buhl, Wörterbuch liber d. A. T., Lpzg. 1905, S. 666). See Schenkel, Bibel-Lexikon I, (Lpzg 1869), S. 279. 280; Riehm, H.W. I 2, S. 144. 148; Guthe, KBW., S. 52. 357; Buhl, Geographie des alten Palästina, Lpzg 1896, S. 248–250; M.C. Palmov, Idolatry among the ancient Jews, St. Petersburg. 1897, pp. 295–308: "Astarte". [Dictionaries Vigouroux, Hastings, Cheyne]. Hommel, Die altisraelitische Ueberlieferung in inschriftlicher Beleuchtung, 1897, S. 274.