[quote=Elendra] Oh you did not just conflate Enki with YHWH, Enki with El, and YHWH with El. Those are three distinct deities and the academic proposition of their being the same is hotly disputed and for good reason. That said, YHWH is the worst of that lot, IMO. He's basically a bully and usurper. [/quote] You bet I did. There is no such dispute among etymologists, only religious historians with religious bias. Enki became Ea and Ea became El and El became the Jewish-demiurge [i]Elohim[/i] (another name for YHWH.) This is why Yahweh's consort/female-mind is [i]Asherah[/i] ( Asherah -> Astarte -> Ishtar ->Innana) who herself was a consort to El/Anu. The same way that Tammuz became Adonis. Astarte is where we get the word "tart" from, meaning a loose woman. Ishtar was a goddess of fertility and often depicted nude, which is why the whole concept of Yahweh having a wife didn't really fly with later-Jews. Monotheism among Jews did not exist until about 700-600 B.C. Once Monotheism became the predominant method of worship, Asherah took a backseat, but her name is still mentioned in the Old Testament. You should familiarize yourself with the work of Dr. Stavrakopoulou, she's the supreme authority on Baal and Asherah worship, of which there aren't many lol. Even before the agitation of Jews in the Levant in the name of Crispus, which eventually led to the Zelotes/Zealot uprising in the first century AD, the Mystery Religions were systematically wiped out by the Israelites. Of these oppressed cultures, the Baal-worshiping Canaanites and Tyrians (Carthaginians) were forced out. Queen Dido fled Tyre and established Carthage, where they continued to worship Baal until the Romans conquered them.