Sydyk (Συδυκ, in some manuscripts Sydek or Sedek) was the name of a deity appearing in a theogony provided by Roman-era Phoenician writer Philo of Byblos in an account preserved by Eusebius in his Praeparatio evangelica and attributed to the still earlier Sanchuniathon.[van der Toorn, K. et al., Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1996, entry Zedeq]
Etymology and role in the Phoenician theogeny
Philo of Byblos gave the Greek meaning of the name as
"Righteousness", thus indicating that the word corresponds to the Semitic root for "righteousness",
√ṣdq. A Phoenician god named
ṣdq is well attested epigraphically; he is also mentioned by
Philo as half of a pair of deities with
Misor (Μισωρ). Sydyk and Misor are described as being born from
Amun and
Magi, who were in turn born from the "Wanderers" or Titans. Sydyk is described as the father of the "Dioskouroi or
Cabeiri or
Korybantes or Samothracians", who are credited with the invention of the ship.
[Albert I. Baumgarten, The Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos: A Commentary, Brill Archive, 1981]
The Phoenician Sydyk was equated with Roman Jupiter, and hence it has been suggested that Sydyk was connected to the worship of the planet Jupiter as the manifestation of justice or righteousness.
Some names, like the rare name ṣdqmlk (Phoenician king of Lapathus and a personal name from Carchemish Phoenician inscription), Melchizedek, ṣdqʾ (king of Ashkelon under Sennacherib and a personal name from an inscription from Kition), might be Theophory of the god Sydyk.
Connection to other Middle Eastern deities
A connection between Sydyk and the Mesopotamian deity
Kittum has been proposed. The latter was also referred to as
Ṣidqu and additionally the West Semitic name
Ammi-ṣaduqa is translated into Akkadian as
Kimtum-kittum showing an equivalence of meaning between the West Semitic צ־ד־ק]]
ṣ-d-q and the Akkadian
kittum.
Kittu was similarly paired with the god Mīšaru, whose name is a cognate of
Misor "Justice". In Mari, the equivalent deities of
Išar and
Mešar are found.
An Ugaritic reference to a god named Ṣaduq has also been found, a possible forerunner of Sydyk.[Matthews, Kenneth. The New American Commentary. B&H, 2005, p. 154.]
It has also been conjectured that a related deity named or titled "Tzedek" (i.e. "righteousness") was worshipped in pre-Israelite Jerusalem as the names of two kings of the city, Melchizedek and Adonizedek contain the element tzedek.[ Peake's Commentary on the Bible (1962), passim]
See also
