Vallási és kulturális cserefolyamatok az ókori Közel-Keleten
Religious and Cultural Exchange in the Ancient Near East

Summary/Abstract: Fertility is one, if not the most prominent part in every ancient religion, so much that it can almost be called universal in the collective culture of mankind. Besides being universal, myths and believes around fertility are often very similar, especially in areas in close proximity to each other, either due to simple observation of nature, or perhaps to organic development. The proximity of locations opens the possibility of material and cultural exchange between nations and cultures, and I believe possible evidences can be found in their religious sources. This study analyses the notions about fertility in three territories of the Near East: Mesopotamia, Ugarit and Canaan. Given the fact these are both part of the same milieu, and quite possibly more or less related, several similarities can be pointed out not just in their ideas of fertility, but in their religious beliefs in general. Mesopotamia has always been a prominent and influential super power of the area, and Ugarit, being a port town, was an ideal crucible of mixing different cultures. After a brief presentation of these fertility myths and their research history, the paper attempts to demonstrate a possible example of how different nations affected each other’s beliefs and a cultural transfer process that occurred between these territories in the ancient Near East.

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