Moon-o-theism: Religion of a War- and Moon-god Prophet

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354 Chapter 02: The Moon-o-theistic Mideast crescent-symbol is found frequently on Himyarite and other South Arabianepigraphic and numismatic remains. In view of this fact it is all the moreremarkable that his crescent should be absent from the present coins though hisname is written in full, unless, of course, we regard the curved line below theeagle on the reverse as being intended for that. But, as will appear below, this isdoubtful….Below the eagle an undulating line will be observed…The questionarises: Has this any special significance? Or is it simply a base line? Thepresence of a curved line, presumably a lunar crescent below the eagle on theBritish Museum gem mentioned above [discussed above in this Revisionistsection], suggests that perhaps the present line may have a similar significance.There is, however, just another possibility which suggests itself, namely, that itmay represent the well-known curved sign [Almaqah’s bent-ladder symbol] onthe already published Himyarite coins. 1938 Figure 02-05. Syneaglecoins(~first halfof 1 st C ADaccording toSimpson.Sheba, p.78).The Syneaglecoinsare sketchedfrom Doe.Southern,plate 44 (p.85), Walker.Hadramawt (several pages) and Simpson. Sheba, p. 78.Factors that indicate the eagle on the Syn-eagle coin (illustrated above) isstanding on a bull’s-horn crescent include: The word SKR is to the left of the eagle. Walker argued that one of themeanings of SKR was a “bull’s horn of the moon-god projecting from eachof the pinnacles” of a Sabean moon-god temple. 1939 Birds of prey surelywere seen perched on these horns just as is pictured on the Syn-eagle coin. The initials Y.Sh.H. standing for “Ynp, Shahar Hilal” meaning “The exulted,Moon Crescent” are to the right of the eagle (discussed above). The later Hadramawt coins all featured a bull or bull’s head showing that thebull was the main symbol of the moon-god Syn (illustrated above). The earliest examples of the Syn-eagle coins were found between the citiesShihr and Tarim, 1940 and Shihr likely is related to “moon” (Shahr). The “r” letter in the word SKR forms a crescent next to the left side of theeagle in the Syn-eagle coin in the same position as the crescent in the coin1938 Walker. New, pp. 266….278-279.1939 Walker. Hadramaut, pp. 625-626, figure 6 (see fuller quotation above).1940 Walker. New, pp. 260; also Simpson. Sheba, p. 78.
Moon-o-theism by Yoel Natan 355 that preceded it—the Hadramawt imitation of the Athena-owl on amphoracoin. So one lunar coin begets another. The left side of the half-crescent horn does not dip down except on onesample (Walker 1937, coin 1), and that is not as pronounced as Walker’s1952 drawing would suggest. The left side of the Doe 1971 sample actuallycurves up to form three-fourths of a crescent. Other South Arabian coins (some are illustrated in this section) havebaselines but they are relatively straight and in no way suggest they are ahalf-crescent, full-crescent or bull’s horn.Artifacts and Dedicatory Plaques Show That Almaqah Was a War-and-moon god(See the “Allah as a War-god” section earlier in this Moon-o-theism book.)Phonetics Suggest that Syn Really Was Sin, the Main Moon-god of the MideastThe Revisionist theory has it that the Hadramawt Syn was not the moon-god Sin,but the sun-god Sayin, a god whom we know little about. 1941 The conjecturedpronunciation Sayin is based on the original three-letter root, and the vowels used ina transliteration (Sabin) by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD). 1942The likely reason that the Revisionists have started referring to the HadramawtSyn (or Sin) as Sabin or Sayin is to deny the competing theory a proof that theHadramawt Syn is the Mesopotamian Sin. Denying the opponent the use of languageis known as the scorched-earth propaganda trick.Semitic languages were written only with consonants and without any vowels orvowel pointing until the seventh or eighth centuries. This is why the scholarssometimes insert the vowels of Greek and Latin transliterations into Semitic words.If one wanted to insert vowels into the name Syn, it might be better to borrowthose used for the Akkadian Su-en. So instead of Sayin, it would be Suyen. Onecannot put much stock in Greek and Roman historians’ transliterations of SouthArabian words since they are known to be unreliable. Examples from inaccurateRoman and Greek transliterations from Breton’s book Arabia Felix (1999) include: Pliny: Sabota (Shabwat/Shabwa), p. 65; Gebbanitae (Qatabanites), p. 73. Stabo: Sabata (Shabwat/Shabwa), p. 80; Marsiaba (Maryab/Ma’rib), p. 167. Theophrastus: Kitibaina (Qataban); Mamali (Qarnaw/Ma’in), p. 54. 1943It is easy to imagine that immigrants, travelers or traders brought Su-en or Sinfrom the Mideast to the Hadramawt, since much of the Arabian language, cultureand religion originally came from the Mideast. Moreover, some of the first majorconsumers of frankincense and myrrh were the moon-god priests of ancientMesopotamian empires where Sin and other moon-gods loomed large. Breton wrote:…around the eighth or seventh centuries…frankincense arriving in Assyriawas referred to by its South Arabian name of Libnay. 1944The fact that Assyrian priests were using the South Arabian name for frankincensealready in the eighth century BC increases the likelihood that the Hadramawt Syn isreally the Mesopotamian Sin.1941 Breton. Felix, p. 122.1942 Natural History, bk. 12, sec. 32, para. 63.1943 The first name is the ancient name and the second is the modern Arabic name as found in TheJawf and the Arabia Felix maps at Breton. Felix, pp. x-xi.1944 Breton. Felix, p. 115.
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