Tannin (monster)
Tannin (Hebrew: תנין) or Tunannu (Ugaritic: Tnn) was a sea monster in Canaanite, Phoenician, and Hebrew mythology used as a symbol of chaos and evil.[1]
Contents
Name
The name may derive from a root meaning "howling" or from coiling in a manner like smoke.[2]
Canaanite mythology
Tannin appears in the Baal Cycle as one of the servants of Yammu (lit. "Sea") defeated by Baʿal (lit. "Lord")[3] or bound by his sister ʿAnat.[4] He is usually depicted as serpentine, possibly with a double tail.[4]
Hebrew mythology
The tanninim (תַּנִּינִים) also appear in the Hebrew Scriptures' books of Genesis,[5] Exodus,[6] Deuteronomy,[7] Psalms,[9] Job,[10] Ezekiel,[11] Isaiah,[12] and Jeremiah.[13] They are explicitly listed among the creatures created by (the) Elohim on the fifth day of the Genesis creation narrative,[5] translated in the King James Version as "great whales".[14] The tannin is listed in the Apocalypse of Isaiah as among the sea beasts to be slain by Yahweh at the End of Days,[15] translated in the King James Version as "the dragon".[16][n 1] In Jewish mythology, Tannin is sometimes conflated with the related sea monsters Leviathan and Rahab.[19] Along with Rahab, "Tannin" was a name applied to Egypt after the Israelite's Exodus to Canaan.[1]
In modern scholarship, Tannin is sometimes associated with Tiamat and, in modern Hebrew, the name tannin is used as the word for crocodiles.
See also
Notes
- ↑ This passage in Isaiah directly parallels another from the earlier Baal Cycle. The Hebrew passage describing the tannin takes the place of a Ugaritic one describing "the encircler"[17] or "the mighty one with seven heads" (šlyṭ d.šbʿt rašm).[18] In both the Ugaritic and Hebrew texts, it is debatable whether three figures are being described or whether the others are epithets of Litan or Leviathan.
References
Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Heider (1999), p. 836.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..
- ↑ Herrmann (1999), p. 135.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Heider (1999), p. 135.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gen. 1:21.
- ↑ Exod. 7:9–10:12.
- ↑ Deut. 32:33.
- ↑ Heider (1999), p. 135–136.
- ↑ Ps. 74:13, 91:13, 148:7, and possibly 44:20.[8]
- ↑ Job 7:12.
- ↑ Ezek. 29:3 & 32:2.
- ↑ Isa. 27:1 & 51:9.
- ↑ Jer. 51:34.
- ↑ Gen. 1:21 (KJV).
- ↑ Isa. 27:1.
- ↑ Isa. 27:1 (KJV).
- ↑ Barker (2014), p. 152.
- ↑ Uehlinger (1999), p. 512.
- ↑ Heider (1999), pp. 835–836.
Bibliography
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