The God Resheph in the Ancient Near East (Orientalische Religionen in Der Antike)

the long version

Resheph was quite a popular god in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC -- especially in Syria -- but during the 1st millennium his cult became extinct. finally it was only maintained in several peripheral and isolated sites, such as in the Palmyra desert and in Cyprus. Maciej M. Münnich presents the written sources which mentioned Resheph and analyzes the features of Resheph's cult. He emphasizes that there is no confirmation for the theory that Resheph was a lord of the nether-world. Resheph was a belligerent, aggressive god who used diseases to attack people, but who could also heal. Because of the long period of the cult and the geographical range, one can notice some local features: in Egypt, for instance, Resheph originally was venerated as the deity supporting the Pharaoh in battles, but then he was summoned mainly because of illness and everyday needs.