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]
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,[8] 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 means crocodile. The name has subsequently been given to three submarines in the Israeli Navy: the first, an S-class submarine formerly known as HMS Springer, was in commission from 1958 until 1972. The second, a Gal-class submarine, was in commission from 1977 until 2002. The third INS Tanin is a Dolphin-class submarine in commission since 2014.
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 Lotan or Leviathan.
References
Citations
- 1 2 Heider (1999), p. 836.
- ↑ Tabick, Roni (18 July 2013), "From the Deep—Leviathan in Jewish Tradition—Genesis 1", Mythic Writing.
- ↑ Herrmann (1999), p. 135.
- 1 2 Heider (1999), p. 135.
- 1 2 Gen. 1:21.
- ↑ Exod. 7:9–10:12.
- ↑ Deut. 32:33.
- ↑ Ps. 74:13, 91:13, 148:7, and possibly 44:20.[9]
- ↑ Heider (1999), p. 135–136.
- ↑ 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
- Barker, William D. (2014), "Litan in Ugarit", Isaiah's Kingship Polemic: An Exegetical Study in Isaiah 24–27, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, pp. 151–167, ISBN 978-3-16-153347-1.
- Heider, George C. (1999), "Tannîn", Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 834–836.
- Herrmann, Wolfgang (1999), "Baal", Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 132–139.
- Uehlinger, C. (1999), "Leviathan", Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 511–515.