Side by side, from the sources
Rudra vs Resheph
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Archer gods of plague.
Deity · Vedic · c. 1400 BCE
Rudra
also called Shiva (later)
The fierce archer who sends disease and withholds it — addressed in the Rigveda with open fear, and later absorbed into Shiva.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- The Howler
- First attested
- Rigveda · c. 1500-1200 BCE
- Named there as
- Rudra
- Texts naming it
- 3
- Powers attributed
- 4
90attestedVedic & Hindu
Deity · Canaanite · c. 1400 BCE
Resheph
also called Reshef, Rashap
Plague-god of the Levant, whose name survives in the Hebrew Bible as a common noun for pestilence and burning fever.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- God of Plague
- First attested
- The Baal Cycle (Ugaritic Tablets) · c. 1400-1200 BCE
- Named there as
- Resheph
- Texts naming it
- 2
- Powers attributed
- 3
60attestedCanaanite & Ugaritic
Where do they actually overlap?
Texts naming both
None. The two never appear in the same text in this corpus, which is worth knowing before accepting any confident claim that they are one figure.
Powers credited to both
Common questions
Are Rudra and Resheph the same figure?
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Archer gods of plague. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.
Which is older, Rudra or Resheph?
Both are first attested in the same period, around c. 1400 BCE.
Do any texts name both Rudra and Resheph?
No text in this corpus names both. That is not proof they were considered the same figure, but it is why the identification has to be traced through the scholarship rather than read off a page.