Zedek
Encyclopedia
Sydyk was the name of a deity appearing in a theogeny provided by Roman era Phoenician writer Philo of Byblos
in an account preserved by Eusebius in his Praeparatio Evangelica and attributed to the still earlier Sanchuniathon
.
Sydyk is listed together with Misor
, the two being credited as the first to use salt. They are described as being born from Amunos and Magos who were in turn born from the Wanderers or Titans
. Sydyk is described as the father of the "Dioskouroi or Kabeiroi or Korybants or Samothracians" who are credited with the invention of the ship.
An Ugaritic reference to a god named Ṣaduq has also been found, a possible forerunner of Sydyk.
It has also been conjectured that a related deity named or titled "Tzedek" (i.e. "righteousness") was worshipped in pre-Israelite Jerusalem as the names of two kings of the city, Melchizedek
and Adonizedek
contain the element tzedek. According to one such hypothesis "Tzedek" was an epithet of the god El
(אל). However the mainstream understanding of these names (meaning "king of righteousness" and "lord of righteousness" respectively) is that they refer to the concept of righteousness and not to a god.
Philo of Byblos
Philo of Byblos was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history assembled from the writings of Sanchuniathon.-Life:...
in an account preserved by Eusebius in his Praeparatio Evangelica and attributed to the still earlier Sanchuniathon
Sanchuniathon
Sanchuniathon is the purported Phoenician author of three lost works originally in the Phoenician language, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius of Caesarea...
.
Etymology and role in the Phoenician theogeny
Philo of Byblos gave the Greek meaning of the name as dikaion i.e. "righteousness" thus indicating that the word corresponds to the West-Semitic root for "righteousness" ṣ-d-q (compare Arabic ṣ-d-q meaning "truthfulness" and Hebrew tzedek meaning "righteousnous" ).Sydyk is listed together with Misor
Misor
Misor was the name of a deity appearing in a theogeny provided by Roman era Phoenician writer Philo of Byblos in an account preserved by Eusebius in his Praeparatio Evangelica, and attributed to the still earlier Sanchuniathon. He was one of two children of the deities Amunos and Magos. The other...
, the two being credited as the first to use salt. They are described as being born from Amunos and Magos who were in turn born from the Wanderers or Titans
Titan (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
. Sydyk is described as the father of the "Dioskouroi or Kabeiroi or Korybants or Samothracians" who are credited with the invention of the ship.
Connection to other Middle Eastern deities
A connection between Sydyk and the Assyro-Babylonian deity Kittu has been proposed. The latter was also referred to as Ṣidqu and additionally the West Semitic name Ammi-ṣaduqa is translated into Akkadian as Kimtum-kittum showing an equivalence of meaning between the West Semitic ṣ-d-q and the Akkadian kittu. Kittu was similarly paired with the god Misharu whose name is a cognate of Misor, meaning "justice". In Mari the equivalent deities of Išar and Mešar are found.An Ugaritic reference to a god named Ṣaduq has also been found, a possible forerunner of Sydyk.
It has also been conjectured that a related deity named or titled "Tzedek" (i.e. "righteousness") was worshipped in pre-Israelite Jerusalem as the names of two kings of the city, Melchizedek
Melchizedek
Melchizedek or Malki Tzedek translated as "my king righteous") is a king and priest mentioned during the Abram narrative in the 14th chapter of the Book of Genesis....
and Adonizedek
Adonizedek
Adonizedek Adonizedek Adonizedek (variously transliterated as Adoni-zedec or Adoni-Zedek (in Hebrew, Adoni-Tzedek) was, according to the Book of Joshua, king of Jerusalem at the time of the Israelite invasion of Canaan...
contain the element tzedek. According to one such hypothesis "Tzedek" was an epithet of the god El
El (god)
is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "deity", cognate to Akkadian and then to Hebrew : Eli and Arabic )....
(אל). However the mainstream understanding of these names (meaning "king of righteousness" and "lord of righteousness" respectively) is that they refer to the concept of righteousness and not to a god.