William Harwood - Dictionary of Contemporary Mythology

AaronAccording to the Yahwist, a Levite and the natural brother of Moses.According to those biblical historians who accept Moses and Aaron as personsfrom history, Aaron was neither a Levite nor Moses brother, although Moses may have had himself adopted by Aarons father in order to make himself, an Egyptianprince, acceptable to the Israelites. Aaron was Moses interpreter, since Mosescould not speak Hebrew. And Aaron was an Israelite, whereas the Levites were aJewish tribe. Prior to the Israelites and Jews forming an alliance after Mosesdeath, the only connection between the two peoples was that they spoke mutually comprehensible Semitic languages. Aaron was the Israelites high priest c 1240BCE, and from the time of King David, Jerusalem priests claimed descent fromAaron while Shiloh priests claimed descent from Moses.

AbaddonIn JOB, a consciously metaphorical personification of destruction;literally personified in REVELATION as the messenger demon who was king ofthe locusts.

Abd-Er-Rahman IIICaliph, 891-961 CE, who turned Spain into an oasis ofculture and learning at a time when Christian Europe was at the height of a DarkAge of ignorance and church-enforced stupidity. The Caliphs lifestyle, based ondefiance of the Koran, leaves little doubt that, like a number of medieval popes, hewas an atheist.

AbednegoIn Daniel, Babylonian name of Azaryahuw, one of three Jews thrown into a furnace for refusing to pay homage to Babylonian gods, and miraculously rescued by Yahweh. The myth of a Jewish hero saved by his god when thrown intoa furnace was previously told of Abraham, who was so treated by King Nimrod ofAssyria. Abednegos fellow furnace fodder were Shadrakh (Hananyahuw) and Meshakh (Miyshael).

AbelAccording to the Yahwist, victim of the first homicide. The origin of the mythwas the practice, which lasted about 2000 years from the late fourth to the latesecond millennium BCE, of appointing sacred kings who would reign as consort ofa ruling priestess-queen for a limited period, and then be ritually sacrificed by theirsuccessors. Somewhere along the line a sacred king conceived the idea ofextending his life and reign by sacrificing a substitute king for a day. Thesubstitute, prior to his execution, would be ritually married to the priestess-queen,and adopted by the mother-goddess through her mortal incarnation, thereby becoming the killers brother and father, as well as his mothers husband. Theincestuous and patricidal elements of the myth were omitted from the Abel fable,but can be found in the equivalent Greek myth of Oedipus, Laios and Iokasta.

Abelard, PeterChristian mythologian, 1079-1142 CE, who wrote, The suffering of hermits and martyrs is all wasted, for God is a gentle and friendly God whoderives no pleasure from such things. As an opponent of masochism and proponent of a non-sadistic god, Abelard was inevitably condemned as a heretic in 1141, and his condemnation was upheld and reaffirmed by Pope Innocent II.

AbiymolokhAccording to the Yahwist, the Palestinian king of Gerar to whomIsaac pandered his wife Rebekah; according to the Elohist, the Palestinian king ofGerar to whom Abraham pandered his wife Sarah. In both versions of the myth,the patriarch informed Abiymolokh that his wife was merely his sister. In fact no Palestinians, also called Philistines, settled in Phoenicia in large enough numbers tobuild a city until four centuries after the latest date that the Jewish patriarchs couldhave lived.