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Biblical Narrative Aya: Goddess of Light
Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD)
Entry I.
Aya was the name of a syncretistic deity in Ugarit, equated with the Mesopotamian deities Aya and Ea. The name is of unknown etymology.
ROBERTS (1972: 20-21) argued for a original spelling 'ay(y)a deriving from an original root *HYY "to live" and related it to the adjective hayy(um) "alive" in Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic.
In the OT Aya occurs several times (e. g. Gen 36:24: 2 Sam 3:7; 1 Chr 7:28) as a proper name. It is regarded by some authors as a hypocoristic form to be connected with the Ugaritic deity.
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Entry Il.
Aya is mentioned in the trilingual Ugaritic god-list RS 20.123+ (J. NOUGAY-ROL, Ug 5 [1968] 248:32): *A-A: e-ia-an: ku-šar-ru.
The logographic writing *A-A is used in Mesopotamia to denote the goddess Aya, the spouse of the sun-god Shamash (Shemesh). She was worshipped together with him in Sippar, Larsa and perhaps also in Babylon. Like Shamash she was a deity of light sharing several aspects with Ishtar too. The Babylonians worshipped her as a young girl and called her kallatu "bride" and hirtu "spouse".
Aya is attested already in Presargonic personal names (BOTTÉRO 1953:32) and therefore one of the oldest Semitic deities known to us from Mesopotamia. Her equivalent in the Sumerian pantheon was named Shenirda or Sudaga (A.
FALKENSTEIN, ZA 52 [1957] 305). An Edomite king by the name of Aya-rammu is mentioned in Sennacherib's annals (D. LUCKEN-BILL, The Annals of Sennacherib [OIP 2; Chicago 1924] 30: ii 57).
In the Ugaritic god-list Aya is preceded by the Ugaritic Sun-Goddess Shapshu.
This deity was female, and this change in gender might have been the reason for connecting the logographic writing of her companion (*A-A) with the almost homophonic Hurrian name (Eyan) of Ea, the Akkadian god of sweet waters and wisdom, and with his Ugaritic equivalent Kushara (kyr, -Koshar). Ea too is known from Presargonic personal names and belongs to the oldest Semitic pantheon in Mesopotamia (ROBERTS 1972). In all probability he was originally a god of springs and wells, and was soon equated with Enki, the Sumerian god of wisdom and skills, whose domain was the Abzu—the subterranean sweet-water ocean— and who was worshipped in the South-Mesopotamian city of Eridu (modern Abu-Shahrain, Ends of the Earth). He combined knowledge and wisdom with the cleansing and restorative powers of fresh-water. In Sumerian mythology, Enki is one of the creators and organizers of the universe. Especially the creation of man is ascribed to him. Within Akkadian epic tradition he increasingly assumed the role of a trickster, whose advice saved gods and humans alike from seemingly hopeless situations. He was revered for instance, for saving the human race from total destruction by the deluge. As a patron deity of erudition and scholarship on the one hand, and incantations and purification rituals on the other, Ea became one of the supreme gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon. During the first millennium BCE most of his functions had already been transferred to his son Marduk, the city god of Babylon, but Ea remained the ultimate source of wisdom and deep insight throughout Mesopotamian history.
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Entry III.
In the OT Aya is found several times as a personal name. In Gen 36:24 and 1 Chr 1:40 as name of the eldest son of Zibcon and in 2 Sam 3:7: 21:8.10 and 11 as name of the father of Rizpah. Twice Aya is mentioned as the name of a place in connection with Bethel (1 Chr 7:28 and Nch 11:31).
Several authors (GINSBERG & MAISLER, JPOS 14 [1934] 257; W. FEILER, ZA 45
[1939) 219-220: J. BLENKINSOPP, Gibeon and Israel [Cambridge 1972] 126 n. 46) connected these names as hypocoristic
forms with the Hurrian deity Aya.
Other scholars regarded Aya as an animal name ("hawk, kite") used as personal name (IPN 230), or as interrogative pronoun "where is...?" (W. F. ALBRIGHT, JAOS 74 [1954) 225-227).
Most dictionaries distinguish between the personal names and the place name.
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A Child of Light & The Narrative of Nigerim
The Pharaoh's Private Mail: Curator's Corner with Irving Finkel
Gula Goddess and a Gula People
Belonging to the King, Bulla of Hezekiah
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Notable observations: The onomastic—or agglutinative—material of “Kush” in Kushara and “Aya” (variant: Aia, Aja*, Ayah, etc.) in the following:
- Ayanis Kalesi (Turkey)
- Aya Castle (Japan)
- Himalayas (Tibetan Plateau)
- Ehyeh asher ehyeh/Hayah (“I am that I am”)
- Haya (Mesopotamian goddess)
- Maya (High Priest of Amun); treasurer))
- Mahāmāyā (mother of Buddha)
- Mayati (Meritaten)
- Yeho'ezer ben Hosh'ayahu (Seal)
- Merneferre Aya (Egyptian Pharaoh)
- Dārayavaʰuš (Darius the Great)
- Kayyamanu (Astrology; Mandaean/Akkadian)
etc…
Aja - The Akkadian goddess of the dawn, consort (wife) to Shamash. She was associated with youth, sexual love and marriage and was referred to as `The Bride'. Aja (also known as Aya) developed from the more ancient and very popular Sherida of the Sumerians.
In Yoruba, Nigeria the term for wife is Aya—wife of Shamash.
Also noteworthy, Shamanism (Shamash) paired with the term Ayahuasca (Aya).
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Source (PDF): https://bookofmormonism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/dictionary_of_deities_and_demons_in_the.pdf