Characters / Canaanite Mythology

Primordials

The Divine Principles

Pothos / Kolpia

Πόθος / Κόλπία | קוֹלפָּאָה | Pothos^note translated "desire" / Kolpia^note possibly translated "voice of blowing" in Hebrew and Phoenician, derived from combining the words kol, meaning "voice", and pa'ah, a primitive root meaning "to blow, to puff". Alternatively, could also be interpreted in Greek as a "gulf wind", possibly connected to the ῐ̔ερός κόλπος ("holy gulf"), near Arwad

Pothos was the primordial god of wind and desire. He was one of the first primordial divinities, having simply "always existed". Pothos was described as a "dark" wind that moved over the face of Omichle, the primordial goddess of darkness, mist, night, and liquid chaos. Pothos eventually "fell in love with its own beginnings", causing him to mix with Omichle, which produced their offspring: Aer, the primordial god of the spiritual force, and Aura, the primordial goddess of the physical force. In Sanchuniathon's account, their union also produced the underworld (referred to as "Mot" and described as mud or the putrefaction of a watery mixture), from which the universe and living creatures originated, as well as giving birth to the gods Aion and Protogonos.

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• Blow You Away: Pothos was envisioned as a "dusky and windy air" that existed alongside the primordial chaos. The odd phrase that Pothos "was in love with its own beginnings" probably referred to the wind seeking itself as in the circular motion of a whirlwind.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Pothos was sometimes conflated with Greek god Eros, specifically the primordial version described in Hesiod's Theogony.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the primordial wind.
• The Older Immortal: Pothos was one of the oldest primordial gods.
• The Power of Creation: Pothos' desire to create resulted in him serving as an energy source which stimulated life out of Omichle by mixing with her.

Omichle / Baau

Ομίχλη / Βααυ | בוהו | Omichle^note translated "mist" / Baau^note Greek transliteration of Hebrew word bohu, meaning "chaos, void"

Omichle was the primordial goddess of darkness, mist, night, and liquid chaos. She was one of the first primordial divinities, having simply "always existed". Omichle was described as a primordial dark watery mass, who coexisted with Pothos, the god of the primordial wind. Eventually, Omichle mixed with Pothos, which produced their offspring: Aer, the primordial god of the spiritual force, and Aura, the primordial goddess of the physical force. In Sanchuniathon's account, their union also produced the underworld (referred to as "Mot" and described as mud or the putrefaction of a watery mixture), from which the universe and living creatures originated, as well as giving birth to the gods Aion and Protogonos.

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• Elemental Embodiment: Of the primordial waters.
• Making a Splash: Omichle was the primordial sea, corresponding to the Akkadian Tiamat and Tehom from the Hebrew Bible.
• The Older Immortal: Omichle was one of the oldest primordial gods.
• The Power of Creation: She produced life by mixing herself with Pothos.
• Power of the Void: As the goddess of primordial chaos, she presumably had this power.
• Primordial Chaos: Omichle was envisioned as "troubled, dark chaos". The word translated as "troubled" is properly applied to water, indicating that she was viewed as the primordial ocean.

Early Generations

Aer / Air

Αέρ | Aër^note translated "air"

Aer was the primordial god of air, intelligence, and the spiritual force. He was the son of Pothos and Omichle, and was described as "the unmixed spiritual". Aer was married to his sister Aura, and they had two sons, Otos, god of reason, and Oulomus, god of time and eternity, and a daughter, Ruach, the goddess of wind.

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• Blow You Away: Aer was the god of air. Robert Mushet considered Aer to be a personification of "violent wind", such as a whirlwind.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Aer was married to his sister Aura.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the air.
• Multiple-Choice Past: While the theogony of Eudemus described Aer as the son of Pothos and Omichle, an alternate account by Mochus instead depicted Aer and his sister Aura (as Ether) as the first primordial gods who predated everything else.

Aura / Ether

Αὔρα / Αἰθήρ | Aura^note translated "breeze" / Ether^note translated "upper, pure air"

Aura was the primordial goddess of breath, movement, and the physical force. She was the daughter of Pothos and Omichle, and was described as "the prototype that moved the spiritual". Aura was married to her brother Aer, and they had two sons, Otos, god of reason, and Oulomus, god of time and eternity, and a daughter, Ruach, goddess of wind.

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• Blow You Away: Aura represented the physical movement of air.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Aura was married to her brother Aer.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the upper sky. Robert Mushet considered Aura to be the personification of heaven or the firmament (i.e. the solid dome that separated the primordial waters from the earth).
• Multiple-Choice Past: While the theogony of Eudemus described Aura as the daughter of Pothos and Omichle, an alternate account by Mochus instead depicted Aura (as Ether) and her brother Aer as the first primordial gods who predated everything else.

Ruach / Pneuma

ܪܘܼܚܵܐ | רוּחַ | 𐎗𐎈 | 𐡓𐡇 | 𐤓𐤇 | Πνεῦμα | Ruacḥ^note translated "wind, breath, spirit" / Pneûma^note translated "wind, breath, spirit"

Ruach was the primordial goddess of wind and souls, and the first being to consciously create something, as she predated the birth of the time god Oulomos. She was attested in Damascius' account of Phoenician cosmogony. She was the daughter of Aer and Ether, and created the four wind gods, Zaphon, Teman, Qadim, and Ma'arav. According to Sanchuniathon's account, a stele was dedicated to Ruach, alongside another one for the fire goddess Ishat, in Tyre by the nomadic hunter Ousoos, as violent winds and fire had allowed him to convert a damaged tree into a boat and become the first person to venture out to sea. Ousoos worshipped the goddesses by pouring out the blood of the wild beasts he had caught on to their stelae.

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• Blow You Away: Ruach represented the creative element in wind, as a kosmogonical agent who created the souls of mankind.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the wind, specifically the abstract, creative aspect associated with the wind.
• Soul Power: Souls originated from Ruach's breath, and were carried by the winds into people.
• Truly Single Parent: She created the four wind gods by herself.

Saphon / Zaphon

ܨܲܦ̮ܘܿܢ | צָפוֹן | 𐎕𐎔𐎐 | 𐡑𐡐𐡍 | 𐤑𐤐𐤍 | Ṣāphôn^note translated "north, north wind"

Saphon was the god of the north wind and one of the four wind gods of the cardinal directions. He was created by the wind goddess Ruach, and carried the souls that she produced into mankind. According to an account by the ancient Greek astronomer and scholar Eudoxus of Cnidus, Saphon once killed Melqart, the god of Tyre, in Libya, but the latter was resurrected shortly afterwards by his son Sid, who brought a quail to Melqart and revived him with its smell. This purportedly explained why the Phoenicians sacrificed quails to Melqart. Saphon may have been the namesake of a city of the tribe of Gad, located east of the Sea of Galilee on the east bank of the Jordan, and also occured as a theophoric element in the Punic onomasticon of Carthage and in the Phoenician onomasticon of Egypt. However, those names could also instead have been derived from Mount Saphon, the divine mountain that served as the assembly place of the gods, or from the noun meaning "north".

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• Blow You Away: Saphon was envisioned as a destructive, stormy wind, who carried souls into mankind but also caused destruction in the regions he visited.
• Deity Identity Confusion: The Greeks variously conflated Saphon with both the Greek north wind god Boreas and the monster Typhon.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the north wind.
• Kill the God: Saphon was responsible for killing Melqart in Libya, although the latter was brought back to life shortly afterwards.
• Winged Humanoid: Saphon and the other wind gods were seemingly envisioned as winged beings, and the Hebrew Bible on several occasions described Yahweh riding on the "wings of the wind".

Teman

ܬܲܝܡܢܵܐ | תֵּימָן | 𐎚𐎊𐎎𐎐 | 𐡕𐡉𐡌𐡍 | 𐤕𐤉𐤌𐤍 | Têmān^note translated "south, south wind"

Teman was the god of the south wind and one of the four wind gods of the cardinal directions. He was created by the wind goddess Ruach, and carried the souls that she produced into mankind. He was attested in Damascius' account of Phoenician cosmogony, in which he was specifically mentioned alonside the west wind god Ma'arav as predating the birth of the time god Oulomos.

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• Blow You Away: Teman was envisioned as a hot, desert wind, who produced scorching heat which resulted in droughts so severe that animals died from lack of pasture.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Teman was conflated with the Greek south wind god Notus in Damascius' account. Similarly, Philo of Byblos also conflated them in his writings on Sanchuniathon's Phoenician History.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the south wind.
• Winged Humanoid: Teman and the other wind gods were seemingly envisioned as winged beings, and the Hebrew Bible on several occasions described Yahweh riding on the "wings of the wind".

Qadim

ܩܵܕܹܡ | קָדִים | 𐎖𐎄𐎎 | 𐡒𐡃𐡌 | 𐤒𐤃𐤌 | Qāḏîm^note translated "east, east wind"

Qadim was the god of the east wind and one of the four wind gods of the cardinal directions. He was created by the wind goddess Ruach, and carried the souls that she produced into mankind. The east wind was also used as a euphemism for talking with inflated words, referred to as "filling themselves with the east wind".

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• Blow You Away: Qadim was envisioned as a hot, often catastrophic wind, who could dry up fresh vegetation in no time at all, scorched the grain, dried up springs and wells, blew incomprehensibly to and fro over the entire earth, dried up the fruit of the vine and stripped it off, caused shipwrecks at sea, and shattered the ships of Tarshish.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Qadim was conflated with the Greek east wind god Eurus in Damascius' account. Similarly, Philo of Byblos also conflated them in his writings on Sanchuniathon's Phoenician History.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the east wind.
• Winged Humanoid: Qadim and the other wind gods were seemingly envisioned as winged beings, and the Hebrew Bible on several occasions described Yahweh riding on the "wings of the wind".

Ma'arav / Ma'arab

ܡܲܥܪܒ݂ܵܐ | מַעֲרָב | 𐎎𐎓𐎗𐎁 | 𐡌𐡏𐡓𐡁 | 𐤌𐤏𐤓𐤁 | Ma'aráv^note translated "west, west wind"

Ma'arav was the god of the west wind and one of the four wind gods of the cardinal directions. He was created by the wind goddess Ruach, and carried the souls that she produced into mankind. He was attested in Damascius' account of Phoenician cosmogony, in which he was specifically mentioned alonside the south wind god Teman as predating the birth of the time god Oulomos.

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• Blow You Away: Ma'arav was envisioned as a wet, sea wind, who provided rain showers.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Ma'arav was conflated with the Greek west wind god Zephyrus and southwest wind god Lips in Damascius' account. Similarly, Philo of Byblos also conflated them in his writings on Sanchuniathon's Phoenician History.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of the west wind.
• Winged Humanoid: Ma'arav and the other wind gods were seemingly envisioned as winged beings, and the Hebrew Bible on several occasions described Yahweh riding on the "wings of the wind".

Otos / Otus

Ότος | Otos^note translated "eared owl"

Otos was the primordial god of reason, who was attested in Eudemus' account of Phoenician cosmogony. He was the son of Aer and Aura, and represented the "intelligible mind", being the spiritual foundation for everything.

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• Animal Motifs: Otos appears to have been associated with owls, who were associated with wisdom.
• The Smart Guy: Otos represented reason and comprehensible knowledge.

Oulomos / Ulomus / "Chronos"

עוֹלָם | Ούλωμός / Χρόνος | Oulomos^note translated "eternity" / Chronos^note translated "time"

Oulomos was the primordial god of time and eternity. He was the son of Aer and Ether, and was described as the "intelligible god" and "the summit of the intelligible" order of gods, as he was the first deity to be involved in creating heaven and earth. By having sex with himself, Oulomos produced Chousoros, a creator god, and a cosmic egg, from which heaven and earth eventually emerged. In Eudemus' account, Oulomos created the elements of fire, air, and water "from his own seed", thus creating by parthenogenesis the raw materials from which the physical universe was eventually formed. He subsequently deposited his seed into five recesses, from which another generation of gods eventually arose.

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• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of time.
• Cosmic Egg: Oulomos produced the cosmic egg, which when broken gave rise to heaven and earth.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars generally agree that Oulomos was equivalent with Aion from the alternate Phoenician cosmogony of Sanchuniathon. This consensus is based on the fact that they were both primordial deities whose names had been derived from the Hebrew word olam ("eternity").
  • The Greek philosophers Pherecydes and Eudemus conflated Oulomos with the Greek time god Chronos, while Philo of Byblos similarly identified him with the Greek eternity god Aion. Oulomos also contained traits of the Egyptian creator god Atum, who had created the first gods through masturbation according to certain accounts.
• Hermaphrodite: He's not explicitly identified as one, but the fact that he reproduced by having sex with himself suggests that he was envisioned as an androgynous, intersex being.
• The Maker: Not directly, but he did create the raw materials from which the physical universe was eventually formed.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Oulomos' placement in Phoenician cosmogony differed between different accounts. In the accounts of Mochus and Damascius, Oulomos was described as the son of Aer and Aura, whereas the Phoenician cosmogenies transmitted by the philosophers Pherecydes and Eudemus depicted Oulomos (as "Chronos") as one of the oldest primordial divinities, who had simply "always existed". Alternatively, Sanchuniathon's euhemerized account instead depicted Aion (Oulomos' equivalent) as the mortal son of the primordial deities Kolpia and Baau.
• Time Master: As the god of time, he presumably had this power.
• Truly Single Parent: Oulomos produced Chousoros and a cosmic egg by having sex with himself. He also distributed his seed within five nooks, from which an entire generation of gods was eventually produced.

Chousoros / Chusorus

כּוּשֹׁר | Χουσωρός | Chousoros^note translated "skill"

Chousoros was a primordial creator god and divine craftsman attested in Mochus' account of Phoenician cosmogony. He was the son of Oulomos, and was described as "the first expanding principle" and "the intelligible power", as he was the first deity to separate an unseparate subsistence (referring to the cosmic egg). His most notable epiteth was "the opener", as he was responsible for splitting the cosmic egg into two, with the upper half becoming Epigeus (the sky) and the lower half becoming Ge (the earth).

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars generally agree that Chousoros was equivalent with Chrysor from the alternate Phoenician cosmogony of Sanchuniathon. Within the Euhemerized account, Chrysor was described as the first blacksmith, who was deified after his death and was equated by the Greeks with Hephaestus. Chousoros is also believed to have been derived from the blacksmith god Kothar-wa-Khasis. It is believed that when the name "Kothar" was transferred from the Canaanites, the "t" became an "s" in Phoenician, and the vowels "o" and "a" were shifted to "u" and "o" respectively, thus producing the Phoenician equivalent "Kushor", which the Greeks ultimately transliterated as "Chousoros". Similarly, his title "the opener" is believed to have been derived from the Phoenician word pth ("to open"), signifying an equation with the Egyptian creator and craftsman god Ptah.
• The Maker: Chousoros was responsible for splitting the cosmic egg and then fashioning the two halves into heaven and earth.

Later Generations

Ilib

𐎛𐎍𐎛𐎁 | 𒀭𒀀𒁉 | Ilib^note translated "the god of the father"

Ilib was most likely a primordial god regarded as an ancestor of El and his family. The word ilib was also a generic term for ancestral spirits, and it is generally accepted that the god and the concept were most likely connected with each other, or at least coexisted. Ilib was attested primarily, albeit sparsely, in Ugaritic texts, where he was usually listed second in standard ritual enumeration of deities, occurring after the introductory phrase "the gods of Mount Zaphon" and before El. In a different offering list, Ilib was the first deity listed, followed by the pair Eretz and Shamayim, and then by El. He is known to have received burnt offerings in the form of cattle and rams, and also received a burnt offering as part of a group in the temple of Baal, after which Ilib specifically also received a lamb in the urbt, presumed to be a window or some type of small sanctuary.

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• Ancestor Veneration: The word ilib was also a generic term for dead ancestors honored by individual families, and scholars believe that the god Ilib represented the concept of a person's posthumously deified ancestor. Support for this belief includes the existence of deities such as the Eblaite ^dA.MU, who similarly represented the concept of a person's posthumously deified father.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars have suggested that Ilib was the Ugaritic equivalent ofthe Phoenician creator god Elyon, who similarly served as divine ancestor of El in Sanchuniathon's The Phoenician History. The placement of Ilib in an Ugaritic offering list prior to the pair Eretz and Shamayim, who were then followed by El, appears to parallel the genealogy in Sanchuniathon's account, in which Elyon was the father of Eretz and Shamayim and thus the grandfather of El.
  • Ilib is believed to have been derived from pre-existing beliefs in primordial gods who served as the ancestors of the contemporary pantheon. Examples include the Hurrian Ammatina Enna and the Mesopotamian Enki-Ninki deities, and both groups of primordial deities were believed to have reigned in the distant past and to have since retired into the underworld.
  • Wilfred G. Lambert suggested that Ilib was equivalent with the Mesopotamian god Ilaba, whose name was similar and could be translated as "the god is the father". However, other scholars such as Dennis Pardee have argued against it on the basis that their respective characters were different, namely that Ilaba was the tutelary god of the Akkadian kings, seemingly also a warrior god, and wasn't viewed as a primordial deity or divine ancestor.
• This Is My Name on Foreign: The Hurrian translation of his name in multilingual texts was eni attanni ("god the father").

Elyon / Elioun

ܥܸܠܵܝܵܐ | עֶלְיוֹן | 𐎓𐎍𐎊 | 𐡀𐡋𐡉𐡅𐡍 | 𐤀𐤋𐤉𐤅𐤍 | Ελιούν | ʿElyōn^note translated "most high"

Elyon was the primordial god of creation, the astral sky, winds, and rains. His consort was the goddess Beruth, and he created the deities Shamayim (the sky) and Eretz (the earth), which earned him the epithet "Creator of Heaven and Earth". In Sanchuniathon's euhemerized account, Elyon and Beruth dwelt in the neighbourhood of Byblos, on the coast of present-day Lebanon, and gave birth to Epigeus (also called Autochthon), who was called Sky, and Ge, who was called Earth. Eventually, Elyon died in an encounter with wild beasts, and was consecrated, and his children offered to him libations and sacrifices. The identification of Elyon as a distinct, independent entity is subject to dispute, as the name was a common epithet in the West Semitic region, and was notably applied to both El and Baal at different times.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Elyon eventually became an epithet of El in Canaan. Because attributes of El were gradually syncretized with Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, it is no surprise that Elyon became an epithet of Yahweh as well. This conflation resulted in the compound name ʾĒl ʿElyōn, which was usually rendered in English as "God Most High".
  • In Sanchuniathon's account, Elyon was also conflated with Hypsistos, a deity similarly called the "Most High God", who was worshipped by the Hypsistarians, a distinct non-Jewish monotheistic sect which flourished in Asia Minor and Greece from about 200 BCE to about 400 CE.
  • Elyon also corresponded to the Hurro-Hittite god Alalu, who was similarly the first of four generations of divine rulers.
  • Scholars such as Giorgio Levi Della Vida correlated Elyon with the Mesopotamian god Anu, and suggested that Elyon played a similar role as part of a divine triad with El and Shaddai.
• God Is Dead: In Sanchuniathon's account, he eventually died in an encounter with wild beasts.
• The Maker: Elyon was worshipped as the progenitor of the deities Shamayim (the sky) and Eretz (the earth).
• The Smart Guy: Possibly. The Balaam Pericope, a series of Hebrew poems generally dated to the 11th or 10th century, depicted Balaam, son of Beor, describing himself as "one who hears the words of El, who knows the knowledge of Elyon, who sees the vision of Shaddai". This appears to indicate that Elyon was specifically invoked by prophets for knowledge. A similar passage also appeared in the Book of Psalms:
  How can El know? Is there knowledge with Elyon?
• Spell My Name With An S: In Sanchuniathon's account, his name was written as "Elioun".
• Star Power: Certain scholars have suggested that Elyon was associated with the upper, astral sky, which was the seat of the sun, moon and stars, contrasting Shaddai, god of the atmosphere, and El, god of the earth.
• Top God: Elyon was the original ruler of the gods. In Sanchuniathon's account, after his death, he was succeeded by his son Epigeus.
• Weather Manipulation: Possibly due to his association with Baal and Zeus, Elyon was sometimes described as controlling winds and rains. For example, in the Keret epic, a passage about "the rain of Baal" was twice parallelled by "the rain of Elyon".

Beruth

𐡁𐡀𐡓𐡅𐡕 | 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤅𐤕 | ܒܐܪܘܬܐ | בֵּארוּת | Βηρούθ | Beruth^note translated "wells" or "fountains"

Beruth was a primordial mother goddess associated with wells, springs, and subterranean waters. She was the consort of Elyon, and was also sometimes identified as the mother of the deities Shamayim (the sky) and Eretz (the earth). She might have been the namesake and patron goddess of the Lebanese city Beirut, as well as the ancient Hivite city Beeroth, which was located in southern Canaan. In Sanchuniathon's euhemeristic account, Beruth and Elyon dwelt in the neighbourhood of Byblos (specifically in Beirut, between Byblos and Sidon), on the coast of present-day Lebanon, and gave birth to Epigeus (also called Autochthon), who was called Sky, and Ge, who was called Earth.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: She might have had a connection with Baal Berith ("Lord of the Covenant") and/or El Berith ("God of the Covenant"), a god (or two gods) who was worshiped in Shechem, in ancient Canaan.
  • In the bilingual Sumerian-Eblaite texts, the Sumerian word for "sea" was defined by two synonyms, tihamatum (referring to the Akkadian goddess Tiamat) and bu'ratum (meaning "wells" in Eblaite, which was cognate with Canaanite be'erot). This appears to indicate that, at least in early mythology, Beruth was considered to be synonymous with Tiamat.
• Elemental Embodiment: Possibly of the primordial sea, as well as underground waters in general.
• Making a Splash: Beruth is generally believed to have been associated with wells and springs, as well as underground waters in general. She might also have been regarded as a primordial sea goddess, similar to the Akkadian Tiamat. Professor Robert R. Stieglitz suggested that her name was best connected to bʾrôt ("fountains"), a name for the primordial sea, Tehom.
• Mother Goddess: Beruth was sometimes credited as the co-creator of Shamayim (the sky) and Eretz (the earth), alongside Elyon.

Shamayim / Shamem / Epigeus / Zas

ܫܡܲܝܵܐ | שָׁמַיִם | 𐎌𐎎𐎊𐎐 / 𐎌𐎎𐎎 | 𐡔𐡌𐡉𐡍 | 𐤔𐤌𐤌 | Ἐπίγευς / Αὐτόςχθών / Ζάς | Šāmáyim^note translated "sky, heaven" in Hebrew and Ugaritic / Šāmēm^note translated "sky, heaven" in Ugaritic and Phoenician / Epigeus^note translated "from the earth" / Autochthon^note translated "native inhabitant" / Zas^note Doric/Laconian form of "Zeus"

Shamayim was the primordial god of the sky. He and his sister Eretz, the primordial goddess of the earth, were created by Elyon and possibly his consort Beruth. Shamayim and Eretz were attested in the 8th century BCE Sefire steles, as well as the Septuagint and Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, where they were called on to witness oaths, blessings and curses. He was also stated to lead a group known as the "Army of Shamayim". Shamayim was worshipped as a major god by the Arameans, Samaritans, and Israelites in Samaria and Judea until worship of him was banned by King Josiah's reforms around 625 BCE. In Sanchuniathon's euhemeristic account, he was born to Elyon and Beruth, and was the brother of Ge (the earth). He was born with the name Epigeus, also known as Autochthon, but his parents ultimately renamed him Ouranos, and the sky was named after him because of his beauty. Following Elyon's death, Epigeus succeeded his father as king of the gods, and also married his sister Ge. Together, they had four sons: El, Bethel, Dagon, and Atel. Because Epigeus also had many children with his other wives, a jealous Ge reproached him, and the two separated from each other. However, despite their separation, Epigeus would still periodically visit Ge and forcefully have intercourse with her whenever he pleased. Later on, he also attempted to kill the children he had by her, thus causing their son El to oppose him. With the help of his allies, El eventually overcame Epigeus in battle, drove him from his kingdom, and succeeded him as divine ruler. Following his banishment, Epigeus sent three of his daughters, Astarte, Asherah, and Baalat Gebal, to overthrow El, but they ended up marrying El instead. During this time, Epigeus also created the baitylia, sacred stones that were endowed with life. After waging war for thirty-two years, Epigeus was finally defeated by El, who had laid an ambush for his father in a certain place in the middle of the earth. El proceeded to cut off Epigeus' private parts near fountains and rivers. Epigeus was then consecrated, his spirit was separated, and the blood of his private parts was dropped into the fountains and the waters of the rivers.

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• Archnemesis Dad: Epigeus decided to kill his children with Ge after he had separated from her, causing him to become enemies with his son El in particular, who overthrew and ultimately killed him.
• Blow You Away: As the god of the sky, he presumably had this power.
• Brother–Sister Incest: He was married to his sister Ge.
• Deity Identity Confusion: In Sanchuniathon's account, Epigeus was equated with Ouranos, and the story of his castration by El was similarly derived from that of Ouranos. In the Phoenician cosmogony of Pherecydes, he was depicted as a composite of Ouranos and Zeus, with his name being Zas (the Doric/Laconian equivalent of Zeus) and him being the husband of the earth goddess Chthonie (Ge) and the father of Kronos.
  • Around the 8th century BCE, Shamayim was viewed as the Canaanite equivalent of Ashur, the national god of the Assyrians. This conflation was a result of Ashur's own syncretism with Anshar, the primordial god of the sky.
  • In Palmyra, Shamayin was conflated with the sky god Baalshamin by the Arameans.
• God Is Dead: He was killed by his son El after they waged war on each other for thirty-two years.
• Groin Attack: On the receiving end of this, by his son El. His blood was believed to have dripped into the famous Nahr Ibrahim (Abraham River), thus explaining why the river ran red every February.
• Hot God: He was described as having "excellent beauty".
• Multiple-Choice Past: The origin of Shamayim varied notably between different accounts:
  • In the 8th century BCE Aramaic Sefire stelae, discovered near Aleppo, Syria, Shamayin was stated to have been created by the creator god Elyon.
  • In the Phoenician cosmogony of Pherecydes, he, as Zas, was depicted as one of the first primordial divinities, having simply "always existed" alongside Chthonie (earth) and Chronos (time).
  • In Mochus' account, Shamayim emerged from the top half of a cosmic egg that was produced by Oulomos and opened by Chousorous.
  • In Sanchuniathon's account, Epigeus was the son of Elioun and Beruth.
• Top God: Epigeus became the king of the gods after the death of his father Elyon. However, he was eventually overthrown and killed by his son El.

Eretz / Arts / Ge / Chthonie

ܐܲܪܥܵܐ | אֶרֶץ | 𐎀𐎗𐎕 | 𐡀𐡓𐡒 | 𐤀𐤓𐤑 | Γῆ / Χθονίη | 'Éretz^note translated "earth" in Hebrew / Arts^note translated "earth" in Ugaritic and Phoenician / Gē^note translated "earth" / Chthonie^note translated "earth"

Eretz was the primordial goddess of the earth. She and her brother Shamayim, the primordial god of the sky, were created by Elyon and possibly his consort Beruth. Eretz and Shamayim were attested in the 8th century BCE Sefire steles, as well as the Septuagint and Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, where they were called on to witness oaths, blessings and curses. Eretz was worshipped by the Canaanites until at least the 6th century BCE. In Sanchuniathon's euhemeristic account, the earth was named after Ge because of her beauty. She was the daughter of Elyon and Beruth, and was married to her brother Epigeus, the primordial god of the sky, and together they had four sons: El, Bethel, Dagon, and Atel. However, Ge became vexed and jealous due to Epigeus also having many children with his other wives, causing her to reproach him and the two eventually parted from each other. Unfortunately, despite their separation, Epigeus would still periodically visit Ge and have forceful intercourse with her whenever he pleased. However, when he also attempted to kill the children he had with her, Ge defended them and avenged herself, gathering unto her auxiliary powers. Her son El subsequently opposed Epigeus on Ge's behalf, and eventually overthrew and killed him, thus successfully avenging her.

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• Big Eater: Eretz was described as opening her mouth to swallow things more than once in the Torah.
• Brother–Sister Incest: She was married to her brother Shamayim.
• Deity Identity Confusion: In Sanchuniathon's account, Ge was conflated with the Greek goddess Gaia.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As the goddess of the earth, she presumably had this power.
• Green Thumb: As the goddess of the earth, she presumably had this power.
• Hot Goddess: She was described as being beautiful.
• Mama Bear: Ge ultimately stood up to Epigeus when he attempted to kill the children that he had with her, which prompted her to often defend them.
• Mother Nature: She was the spirit of the earth itself.
• Multiple-Choice Past: The origin of Eretz varied notably between different accounts:
  • In the 8th century BCE Aramaic Sefire stelae, discovered near Aleppo, Syria, Eretz was stated to have been created by the creator god Elyon.
  • In the Phoenician cosmogony transmitted by the philosopher Pherecydes depicted her as one of the first primordial divinities, having simply "always existed" alongside Zas (Zeus) and Chronos (time). In this account, she was originally called Chthonie and gained the name Ge when Zas gave her the earth as a gift of honour.
  • In Mochus' account, Eretz emerged from the lower half of a cosmic egg that was produced by Oulomos and opened by Chousoros.
  • In Sanchuniathon's account, she was described as the daughter of Elyon and Beruth.
• Top Wife: Ge had this role during her marriage to Epigeus, but eventually separated from him due to being jealous of him sleeping with his other wives.

Major Deities

El

ܐܺܝܠ | אֵל | 𐎛𐎍 | 𐡀𐡋 | 𐤀𐤋 | ʼĒl^note translated "god, deity"

El was the supreme god of the pantheon, revered as the ruler and father of the gods, mankind, and all creatures. He was associated with creation, order, wisdom, rulership, fertility, and the earth. El was married to Asherah, and together they had 70 sons, whom he then each subsequently appointed to be the tutelary deity over one of the 70 nations of mankind. El was responsible for ordering and maintaining the universe, settling conflicts between the gods, and preserving order in both the cosmos and the sphere of politics. El originally resided at Mount Zaphon (modern-day Jebel Aqra), but ultimately moved to Mount Lel (probably modern-day Qurnat as Sawdā), at the fountains of the two rivers at the spring of the two deeps, after handing rulership of the gods over to Baal Hadad.

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• Animal Motifs: El was regularly associated with bulls, which symbolized his strength and fertility. El was depicted wearing bull horns on his headdress, and was sometimes even described as a bull with powerful horns and a thick white beard.
• Antagonistic Offspring: In Sanchuniathon's account, El came to oppose his father Shamayim/Epigeus for abusing his mother Eretz/Ge and trying to kill El and his siblings. After El successfully usurped his father and became king, the two waged war on each other for thirty-two years until El finally defeated Epigeus by ambushing, castrating, and ultimately killing him.
• Big Good: El was a merciful and benevolent god who maintained the cosmic order and had the greatest concern for the condition of the universe. With his advanced age and ripe wisdom came a marked affability, benevolence, benignity, and sympathy. All other divinities and humans were answerable to him and Asherah for their activities.
• Crossover Cosmology: In the Hittite Empire, El was known as Elkunirša, which was derived from his epithet El qny 'rş ("El, creator of the earth"). When the storm god Baal informed him that he had refused the advances Elkunirša's wife Asherdu when she tried to sleep with him, Elkunirša ordered him to sleep with Asherdu and humble her, which Baal subsequently did by claiming to her that he had killed 77 (or 88) of her children, causing her to grieve for them.
• Deity Identity Confusion: El was conflated with Elyon in early Canaanite history, being regularly referred to in later times by the compound name "El Elyon". When the Israelites became the dominant people of Canaan, their national god Yahweh was conflated with El, with both El and Elyon eventually becoming epithets of Yahweh by the 6th century BCE.
  • El was conflated with the Mesopotamian sky god Anu, who was also the king of the gods. The conflation was partially reinforced due to the cuneiform sign for Anu's name having the additional reading Ilu (meaning "god") in Akkadian, which was derived from El's name.
  • In later times, El came to be identified with the Mesopotamian god Enki/Ea, likely because both were associated with wisdom and El's abode resembling the Abzu, Enki/Ea's underwater residence. Scholars such as Giorgio Levi Della Vida made further links with this correlation by suggesting that El played a similar role as part of a divine triad with Elyon and Shaddai.
  • El was also conflated with the Greek Titan Cronus by the Greeks, and this conflation was even more apparent in Sanchuniathon's account, in which El (referred to as Cronus) overthrew and ultimately castrated his father, similar to Cronus' castration of his father Ouranos in Hesiod's Theogony.
  • In Palmyra, El was equated with the Greek sea god Poseidon, likely due to El residing at the source of all rivers.
• Divine Delegation: El and Asherah were in charge of the placement of the gods in their respective positions of authority. While Asherah nominated and presented a candidate, El would establish the selected candidate as king.
• Divine Right of Kings: El was the source of royal power everywhere. He served as the patron and family god of kings, who, in turn, served as intermediaries between El and the people. Kings enjoyed priestly functions and occupied a central position in religious rituals, as El would communicate with them through dreams and visions. Kings also referred to themselves "servants of El" and also regarded themselves as his descendants.
• Druidic Sickle: In preparation for his battle with Shamayim/Epigeus, El fashioned two iron weapons with the help of Anat and Tauutos, one of which was a sickle.
• Founder of the Kingdom: According to Sanchuniathon's account, El founded Byblos, the first city in Phoenicia, shortly after he had driven away his father Shamayim.
• God of Order: El was associated with preservation and balance, and was responsible for the maintenance of order in the cosmos. His house, located at the center of the cosmos, served as the center of order around which the world's existence was dependent. El's abode was also located at the source of the waters, from which all rivers flowed and gave life while, at the same time, the waters of the chaotic cosmic ocean were kept in check. Thus, El was continually staving off a return to chaos while simultaneously being the source of life.
• The Good King: El was viewed as a wise and compassionate ruler who dispensed justice on both gods and humans.
• Grandpa God: El was envisioned as an elderly god who derived his authority from his great age. He had an old man's white hair and white beard, and because he was so old, he had sufficient wisdom to carry out his functions as a moderator and supreme authority.
• Large Ham: El was thought of as a highly emotional and demonstrative deity. When informed of Baal's death, El performed violent mourning rites, descending from the throne to the footstool, then to the ground, pouring ashes and dust on his head, rending his clothing, lacerating his face, arms, and body, lamenting, and expressing the desire to follow Baal to the netherworld. Similarly, when Baal again came back to life, El expressed his elation by stamping on the footstool, breaking into laughter, and giving voice to his joy and consolation.
• The Maker: El was regarded as the creator of the gods, mankind, and all creatures, which was emphasized by his various titles such as "Father of Mankind" and "Creator of Creatures". Likely due to conflation with Elyon, El was also eventually worshipped as the "Creator of Heaven and Earth" under the compound name El Elyon. The epithet "Creator of Earth" was also applied specifically to El as far as the Hittite Empire, as attested in the bilingual Karatepe Inscription and another inscription from the royal archives at Hattusa.
• Offing the Offspring: In Sanchuniathon's account, El, shortly after he became the king of the gods, killed two of his children, his son El Shaddai and an unnamed daughter, because he suspected them of treason. Later, on account of war, El also sacrificed Yahid, his only son with the nymph Anobret, to his father Shamayim/Epigeus as a burnt offering.
• The Power of Creation: In the Epic of Aqhat, El created the healing goddess Shataquat in order to heal the disease of the dangerously sick King Danel, which the other deities were all incapable of doing.
• The Smart Guy: El was revered for possessing wisdom that surpassed all the other gods, allowing him to know what should be done and when to do it. El's wisdom was the natural by-product of his old age, as emphasized by Asherah when she said "thy gray beard instructs thee". It was also common to compliment someone by likening them in wisdom to El.
• Talking in Your Dreams: El mainly communicated with humans through dreams and visions.
• Top God: El was the head and highest authority of the pantheon. He was the repository of all wisdom and practical knowledge for the general functioning of the universe. He sat as final judge in all matters of justice and dispute, carrying out his functions as a moderator and supreme authority. Alongside Asherah, El was in charge of establishing, promoting, and overseeing the other gods, as well as overthrowing them if they failed to perform their duties or misbehaved.
• Winged Humanoid: El was described as having six wings. He had four on his shoulders, two as spread for flying and two as folded, indicating that ge flew while at reast and was at rest when flying. The other two were on his head, one representing the controlling mind, and the other sensation.

Adon / "Tammuz"

ܐܲܕܵܢ | אָדוֹן | 𐎀𐎄𐎐 | 𐡀𐡃𐡍 | 𐤀𐤃𐤍 | ʼAdōn^note translated "lord, mister"

Adon was the god of fertility, resurrection, and the underworld, who was associated with crops and the seasonal agricultural cycle. He was also the chief god of Byblos, in which capacity he was known as Baal Gebal, but held a secondary position to his wife Baalat Gebal, who dominated the Byblian pantheon. Another notable epithet of his was Baal Addir ("Mighty Lord"). Adon was the son of Kothar-wa-Khasis, and was described as a hunter, shepherd, and chaser of wild beasts. According to certain Phoenician traditions, as originally recounted by Melito of Sardis, Adon (called "Tammuz") fell in love with Balthi, the queen of Cyprus, and she moved to Byblos to be with him, also placing Cyprus under the rule of Byblos. Unfortunately, Adon was killed at Mount Lebanon sometime afterwards either by a wild boar he was hunting or Balthi's jealous husband, and was buried in Afqa. His parents and Balthi subsequently made a great lamentation for him and established the tradition of weeping for his death in the month of Tammuz (June-July). However, Adon eventually returned back to life and left the underworld, which was celebrated with songs and praises. Adon's death and rebirth was celebrated with an annual festival, called Adonia, in late spring during the summer solstice, when the Nahr Ibrahim (Abraham River, also called the Adonis River) started running red, which was believed to have been Adon's blood from his fatal wound that had dripped into the river. During the first part of the festival, the priests made a ritual show of mourning Adon's death, up to and including gashing themselves with knives. The festival then switched to a joyous celebration of Adon's return to a new life, during which worshippers ritually shaved their heads to indicate a new beginning. The women who refused to shave their heads were required to spend a single day offering their beauty for sale as a penalty. Adon was worshipped throughout Syria, Canaan, and Phoenicia, and his major cult centers were in Byblos, Afqa, and Beirut. He was also worshipped in Phoenician settlements such as Carthage and Motya. According to the Hebrew Bible, Adon's worship may have been introduced to the Kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Manasseh, and Hebrew women would mourn his death outside the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Adon was attested as early as the 10th century BCE in the Yehimilk inscription, and his cult lasted until about the 4th century CE.

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• A Deadly Affair: According to certain Phoenician traditions, Adon's affair with Baalat Gebal resulted either in him being killed by her jealous husband or him killing the husband when he came looking for Baalat.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Adon was originally derived from the Mesopotamian god Dumuzid/Tammuz, who was similarly regarded as a god who died and was reborn every year. When the cult of Dumuzid/Tammuz spread from Babylonia to Syria, Canaan, and Phoenicia, Adon gradually gained distinct characteristics from his Mesopotamian counterpart, in particular his close association with the Adonis River (modern-day Nahr Ibrahim) in Afqa. However, the two continued to often be treated interchangeably, with Adon regularly being referred to as Tammuz.
  • Adon eventually became the basis for the Greek Adonis, the mortal lover of Aphrodite, who was similarly gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip and died in Aphrodite's arms as she wept. Aphrodite declared the Adonia festival commemorating his tragic death, which was celebrated by women every year in midsummer. The Adonis cult retained a number of Semitic traits, such as the prominence of incense in their ceremonies and the Adonic rites being performed on the roofs of the houses, which were quite common in Canaanite religion. The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the Lesbian poetess Sappho, dating to the seventh century BCE, although the exact date when the worship of Adonis became integrated into Greek culture is still disputed.
  • Adon was sometimes conflated with the Egyptian god Osiris, who was similarly associated with fertility, resurrection, and the underworld, as well as being the subject of ritual lamentation. Lucian of Samosata recorded in the 2nd century CE that some inhabitants of Byblos believed that Osiris was buried among them and that all the laments and the rites performed were for him rather than for Adon. They considered this account to be reliable due to the annual arrival of a "Byblian" head being brought over from Egypt to Byblos, which was brought on a miraculous seven day voyage, as the ship was carried by divinely guided winds which prevented the ship from turning aside in any direction and ensured that it only came to Byblos. That Adon was Osiris, and that his worship was introduced into Jerusalem from Egypt, was held by scholars such as Calvin, Piscator, Junius, Leusden, and Pfeiffer. However, this view depended chiefly upon a false etymology proposed by Kircher, which connected the word Tammuz with the Coptic tamut ("to hide"), and so made it signify the hidden or concealed one; and therefore Osiris. The Egyptian origin of the name Tammuz was also defended by a reference to the god Amuz, mentioned by Plutarch and Herodotus, who was considered identical with Osiris. There is good reason, however, to believe that Amuz was simply a mistaken spelling for the creator god Amun.
  • Among the Roman troops stationed in North Africa, Baal Addir was equated with Jupiter Valens ("Jupiter the Strong").
  • According to the German historical linguist Theo Vennemann, Baal Addir may eventually have become the basis of the Norse light god Baldr. At Carthage, the spelling of Baal Addir's name was gradually contracted, eventually resulting in the rendering "Baldir". When the Carthaginians brought their culture and religion to their trading settlements, their influences were absorbed into Germanic culture, which resulted in the adoption of Baldir and his gradual change into the Norse Baldr.
• Divine Right of Kings: Adon was invoked by the rulers of Byblos to secure their health and reign, although to a lesser extent than his wife Baalat Gebal. He was notably invoked as Baal Gebal on the Yehimilk stele:
  The temple which Yehimilk, king of Byblos (re-)built. He restored (lit., revived) all the dilapidated (lit., fallen) sections of these buildings. May Baal Shamem and Baal Gebal and the assembly of the holy gods of Byblos lengthen the days of Yehimilk and his years (of ruling) over Byblos because [he is] a loyal king and an upright king before the holy gods of Byblos.
• Fertility God: Adon was associated with crops and the seasonal agricultural cycle. His annual death and rebirth typified the long, dry summer of Syria and Palestine, when vegetation perished, and his return to life the rainy season when the parched earth was revivified and was covered with luxuriant vegetation. Alternatively, it symbolized the cold, rough winter, and his return the verdant spring. As such, his death and resurrection generally symbolized the fruits of the earth, and particularly the ripe and cut grain. His fatal wound was often said to have been to the groin, adding to Adon's reputation as a fertility deity.
• God Is Dead: Adon was killed at Mount Lebanon either by a wild boar he was hunting or Balthi's jealous husband, and his blood was believed to have dripped into the Nahr Ibrahim, causing it to flow red once a year. After suffering his fatal wound Adon spent fall and winter of each year in the underworld. As a memorial of his suffering, his worshippers performed solemn lamentations through the land each year, first by beating their chests, mourning, weeping, and celebrating the rites, and then sacrificing to him as if to a dead person.
• I Have Many Names: Aside from being commonly referred to as Tammuz (including variant spellings such Tamuza), which was the Semitic transliteration of the name of his Mesopotamian counterpart Dumuzid, and Adonis, Adon was also known in Cyprus under a number of obscure names and epithets, such as Gauas, Pygmaion (variant of Pygmalion, meaning "Pummay has given" or "gift of Pummay"), Ao (or Aoios), Gingras (seemingly male equivalent of Akkadian word Gingira, meaning "goddess" or "female creator"), Kirris, Memnon ("resolute"), Serach (male equivalent of Hebrew word Serach, meaning "princess"), Koros ("boy, youth"), Itaios, Abobas (in Pamphylia, from Semitic word abub, meaning "flute"), Luchnos, and Pherekles ("bringer of glory"), each of which probably had reference to or suggestion of local peculiarity of observance.
• Resurrective Immortality: Adon returned back to life every year in the month of Tammuz, which his followers celebrated with songs and praises.

Anat

عناة | ܥܲܢܲܬ | עֲנָת | 𐎓𐎐𐎚 | 𐡏𐡍𐡕 | 𐤏𐤍𐤕 | 𓂝𓈖𓍘𓇋𓏏𓆇𓆗 | Αναθ | ʿĂnāt^note possibly translated "water spring" or "force, violence"

Anat was the goddess of war, hunting, strife, desire, wanton love, and fertility, who was famous for her youthful vigour and ferocity in battle. Despite being violent and delighting in war, she was also revered as the establisher of peace. She was titled Batultu ("virgin") and a maiden, but also had a strong sexual and erotic aspect through her relationship with Baal. She was also known as the "mistress of the animals", acting as the provider and caretaker of herds in order to maintain a continuing stock of prey. She also acted as an intermediary between the gods, such as going to El on Baal's behalf to ask for a palace. She was a daughter of El and Asherah and resided on the mountains Inbub and Uġr, sharing the former with Astarte. She was prominantly featured in the Baal Cycle, where she supported Baal becoming king of the gods, rather than accepting El's chosen champion, the sea god Yam, and later avenged Baal's death by killing Mot, the god of death, and with the help of the sun goddess Shapash bringing Baal back from the land of the dead. In the Epic of Aqhat, Anat desired to obtain the legendary bow of the eponymous hero. After he rejected her various offers and taunted the goddess, stating that women had no business using such weapons, Anat, with her father's permission, devised a plan which culminated in Aqhat's death and the destruction of the bow. Anat was worshipped by the Canaanites since prehistoric times, and was doubtless of considerable importance in that region. From the fertile agricultural area along the eastern Mediterranean coast, her cult spread throughout the Levant by the middle of the third millennium BCE. Around the beginning of the Phoenician period (ca. 1200 BC), Anat enjoyed a significant cult following, and was very prominent at Canaanite cities like Ugarit, a major religious center, and Phoenician settlements in Cyprus. Additionally, she was also the namesake of the Canaanite cities Beth-Anath (in Naphtali), Beth-Anot (in Judah) and Anathoth (in Benjamin), where temples to her were located.

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• Animal Motifs: Anat's sacred animal was the lion, which was commonly associated with warfare. She was also associated with cows, which were symbols of fertility.
• Blood Knight: Anat was famous for having a violent temperament and for taking joy in slaughter. In a fragmentary passage, Anat appeared as a wild and furious warrior in a battle, wading knee-deep in blood, striking off heads, cutting off hands, binding the heads to her torso and the hands in her sash, and driving out the old men and townsfolk with her arrows, her heart filled with joy.
• Blow You Away: Likely due to conflation with Asherah and Astarte, Anat was sometimes associated with the sky. Her epithets relating this aspect included "Heavenly One", "lady of the sky", "mistress of heaven", and "Anat who hovers in the skies above".
• Color Motif: Anat may have been associated with Tyrian purple, the famous dye that was produced by the Phoenicians. In some inscriptions, Anat was said to adorn herself with murex, the snail from which the purple dye was produced.
• Creepy Souvenir: While presiding over a battle between two villages, where she waded knee-deep in the blood of warriors, she created and wore a necklace of severed heads and a belt of severed hands.
• Crossover Cosmology: Anat's worship also extended into Egypt, where she had an established cult since at least the 18th century BCE during the Middle Kingdom. Following the invasion of the Hyksos (West Semites probably from the Levant) into Egypt, she further attained prominence, particularly in the north (the Delta) during the Second Intermediate Period. She was represented at Memphis like all but the most local of deities, and sanctuaries were dedicated to her at the Hyksos capital of Tanis (Egypt) and Beth-Shan (Palestine). Her prestige reached its height during the New Kingdom period under Ramesses II, who made Anat his personal guardian in battle and enlarged her temple in Pi-Ramesses, and also incorporated her name into the names of his daughter (Bint-Anat, "Daughter of Anat"), his sword ("Anat is victorious"), his dog ("Anat protects"), and one of his horses ("Anat is content"). In Egyptian mythology, she was regarded as a daughter of either Ra or Ptah, and was given, alongside Astarte, by Neith to Set, the god of deserts, storms, and disorder, as a consort and ally during his conflict with Horus.
• Deity Identity Confusion: In later times, Anat was regularly conflated with Asherah and Astarte, which was likely the reason for her contradictory aspects and roles. It is generally believed that Atargatis, the chief goddess of northern Syria, was the result of a fusion between Anat and Astarte (and possibly Asherah) that occured during the first millenium BCE.
  • Anat likely heavily influenced the character of the Greek goddess Athena, with whom she was syncretized in the Iron Age as evidenced by four Phoenician inscriptions from Idalion in Cyprus dating from the sixth to fifth centuries BCE, three coming from the sanctuary of Athena-Anat, which equated Anat with Athêna Sôteira Nikê. Similarly, Athena was honored at Corinth under the epithet Athena Phoinike ("Phoenician Athena"). Anat and Athena were also conflated in Sanchuniathon's account, in which it was stated that El had granted Anat dominion over the Greek region of Attica, which was the main cult center of Athena's worship.
• Healing Hands: Anat was invoked in a minor capacity for healing alongside Astarte, primarily in association with certain herbal ingredients that were used for healing, which she and Astarte had once gathered in order to heal El after he had gotten sick from excessive drinking. One of Anat's epithets was "Strength of Life". The two goddesses were also invoked for curing snake bites. This aspect of Anat was emphasized slightly more by the Egyptians, where she was sometimes prayed to in order to bring life, prosperity, and health.
• Horned Humanoid: Anat was envisioned as having horns, ar at least wearing a horned crown. They were referred to as her "horns of strength".
• Hot Goddess: She was famed for her grace and beauty, and was described as "the fairest among Baal's sisters".
• Love Goddess: Anat was the patroness of wanton love, and gained the title "Wanton Widow of the Nations" during Baal's temporary death because she became a nubile widow. According to custom, the nearest male kin of Hadad had to marry her after his death, and young widows in that position had to go pretty far to seduce the men, as they were often unwilling to fulfil their duty. As a result, young widows acquired a reputation of lewdness, and Anat in this role was regarded as the harlot of the world who virtually denied her widowhood.
• The Mistress: This is how her relationship with Baal is typically interpreted, as the two were never said to be married and Baal was sometimes instead said to be married to Astarte.
• Multi-Melee Master: Anat was variously depicted wielding a cudgel, a spear, a battleaxe, and a shield while going into battle.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Some scholars have interpreted the references to Anat being a virgin and a maiden despite her sexual relationship with Baal to mean that she was a perpetual adolescent, being not fully an adult woman. Anat engaging in characteristically male roles and not getting married is similarly viewed as possible examples of her suspended adolescense. Additionally, her giving birth to Baal's children in the form of a cow has been interpreted as an indicator that she might have been unable to give birth in her regular humanoid form due to her body not being completely sexually mature.
• Not Blood Siblings: Anat was in a sexual relationship with Baal, and the two were regularly identified as brother and sister. However, while both of them were referred to as children of El on separate occasions, Baal was more commonly referred to as the son of Dagon, suggesting that his status as a "son of El" was simply an honorary title that reflected El's status as the patriarch of the Elohim. That being said, El and Dagon were sometimes identified as brothers, meaning that Anat and Baal could also be seen as cousins.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Baal was killed by Mot, the god of death, in battle, Anat buried him and proceeded to hunt down Mot, ultimately avenging Baal by cutting, winnowing, grinding, burning, and sowing Mot in the field like grain.
• Royal Brat: Anat served as a source of conflict and strife among the gods due to her violent and rebellious nature. On two separate occasions, when asking her father El for his approval, she threatened to thrash it out of him if he refused, which appears to have been the normal manner in which she made requests.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Due to being conflated with the Egyptian goddess Neith, Anat was sometimes associated with weaving and depicted holding a spindle.
• Tomboy Princess: Anat engaged in the characteristically masculine roles of warfare and hunting, and she usually wore male attire. Her father El remarked that she was "like a man" in terms of behaviour, and in her capacity as a warrior, she was said to wear "a skirt like men and a sash like women".
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Anat once took the form of a cow to mate with Baal, who had taken the form of a bull. She subsequently gave birth to seventy-seven oxen and buffalo. Similarly, in Egypt, Anat was called the "great cow of Set".
• War Goddess: Anat was described as "the victorious goddess" and was associated with the chaos of warfare, reveling in bloodshed and violence and being commonly referred to by the epithets "the destroyer" and "the ruinous". However, she was also invoked as a protector and bringer of peace, watching over kings and soldiers on the battlefield "like a shield" and establishing the conditions of peace. In general, Anat could be understood as a force who maintained order through violence.
• Winged Humanoid: Anat was described as a winged goddess, allowing her to lift her wings and fly on important occasions.

Asherah / Qudshu / Qetesh

𐩱𐩻𐩧𐩩 | عشيرة | ܐܸܫܪܵܐ | אֲשֵׁרָה | 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚 | 𐡀𐡔𐡓𐡄 | 𐤀𐤔𐤓𐤄 | 𒀭𒀀𒊺𒅕𒌈 / 𒀭𒀀𒅆𒋥 | ʾĂšērāh^note possibly translated "she who walks"

ܩܕܸܫ | קָדְשׁוּ | 𐎖𐎄𐎌 | 𐡒𐡃𐡔 | 𐤒𐤃𐤔 | 𓐪𓂧𓈙𓆗 | Qetesh^note translated "sacred, holy"

Asherah was the mother goddess associated with motherhood, fertility, nature, love, beauty, sacred prostitution, and sexual pleasure, who was revered as the mother of the gods. She was the main consort of El and together they had 70 sons, each of whom was subsequently appointed to be the tutelary deity over one of the 70 nations of mankind. She was also called Elat ("goddess"), the feminine form of El, and Qudšu ("holiness"). As Queen Mother, Asherah held a position only slightly below that of El in divine power, and was otherwise on the same level of the divine hierarchy. She determined which deity filled each role in the governing of the universe, as well as deciding which deity could become the legitimate ruler of the gods, in which her decision was considered final. Asherah was also a counselor to El, and her temple provided not only access to her, but through her one could obtain the "ear" of El and thus influence his decisions. Her worship appears to have consisted of the veneration of "Asherah poles", which were sacred trees or poles that stood near Canaanite religious locations, such as shrines, temples, and sacred groves. She was also worshipped in both religious centres and regular homes in the form of legless clay statuettes (known as the Judean Pillar Figurines), which depicted Asherah holding her own breasts in emphasis of her fertility aspect while the pillar base might have mimicked the trunk of the goddess' symbolic tree. The figurines were usually kept in simple household shrines, and ensured the health, prosperity, and fertility of the family. She was a major goddess in Ugarit, and was also worshipped in the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre, as well as Kadesh (in present-day Syria). She was also particularly prominent in Jerusalem and the rest of the Kingdom of Judah during the First Temple period (957 BCE to 587 BCE). Asherah was worshipped by the Israelites, Judeans, Philistines, and Palestinians from as early as the 19th century BCE until the end of the Babylonian exile in 539 BCE, when Yahwist monotheism finally won out.

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• Animal Motifs: Asherah was associated with lions, which were commonly associated with various goddesses, and one of her epithets was "the Lion Lady". A 10th century BCE inscribed cult stand from Taanach depicted Asherah as a nude female figure standing between two lions, her outstretched arms grasping their heads. Similarly, a 7th century BCE silver medallion from Ekron depicted a figure praying to a goddess standing on a lion, who is generally identified as Asherah. At Ugarit, the children of Asherah were called her "pride of lions". Additionally, she was also associated with ibexes and snakes, both of which were common fertility symbols. As such, Asherah would sometimes be depicted either holding a snake or with ibexes standing on either side of her.
• Crossover Cosmology:
  • In Mesopotamia, Asherah was known by the name Ašratum as early as the Ur III period. In a Sumerian inscription honoring Hammurabi (c. 1750 BCE), she was identified as the bride of Anu, the king of the gods, who strongly corresponded to El. However, in later, she was instead regarded as the wife of Amurru, the god of mountains and nomads, who was sometimes conflated with El. Ašratum's titles included "lady of the steppe", "the bride of the god of heaven", "the mistress of fullness and abundance who is rightly honored in the mountains", and "mistress of mercy". She once attempted to lure the storm god Adad into her bed, but he refused and reported the matter to Amurru, who then killed dozens of her children.
  • In the Hittite Empire, Asherah was known as Aserdu. She once tried to seduce the storm god Baal, but he rejected her advances. When her husband Elkunirša was informed of the incident, he ordered Baal to sleep with Aserdu and humble her, which he subsequently did by claiming that he had killed 77 (or 88) children, causing her to grieve for them.
  • In Egypt, Asherah was worshipped under the name Qetesh, which was derived from Qadesh, one of Asherah's most common titles. Her worship was imported to Egypt during the 18th Dynasty in the New Kingdom period (c. 16th century BCE). Qetesh was worshipped as part of a triad alongside Resheph, a fellow imported Canaanite god, and Min, the Egyptian god of fertility. Her epithets included "Mistress of All the Gods", "Lady of the Stars of Heaven", "Beloved of Ptah", "Great of magic", "mistress of the stars", and "Eye of Ra, without her equal".
  • In Arabia, Asherah was worshipped under the names Athirat and Ashira from at least the mid-first millennium onwards in both the north and the south. In South Arabia, Athirat was regarded as the consort of the moon-god 'Amm, and might have been envisioned as a solar goddess. A 6th century BCE stele from the ancient oasis of Tema, northwestern Arabia, bears an inscription in Aramaic that mentions Ashira as one of the deities of Tema.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Asherah was sometimes conflated with Astarte and Anat, especially in later times. The conflation between Asherah and Astarte occurred as early as the 14th century BCE Amarna tablets, which contained letters written by Canaanite petty chieftains to their overlord, the Egyptian Pharaoh, in which the names of Asherah and Astarte were used interchangeably. In Egypt, at least one relief depicted Asherah (as Qetesh), Astarte and Anat as a single goddess called Qudshu-Astarte-Anat.
  • She was conflated by the Greeks with the Greek Titaness Rhea, and the two were notably conflated in Sanchuniathon's account.
  • In Egypt, Qetesh was sometimes conflated with Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love, sexuality, and maternal care, and she was generally depicted wearing the horned "Hathor wig".
• Divine Delegation: Asherah was in charge alongside El in the cosmic organization and selection of the candidates for their positions of authority. Asherah would nominate a candidate from among the gods, and then El would establish the selected candidate as king.
• Green Thumb: Asherah's sacred symbol was a stylized tree, pole, and/or living tree (referred to as Asherah poles), which were placed near Canaanite shrines and altars. The living tree in particular represented the power of growth or fertility, as well as symbolizing life and well-being. From the 8th century BCE onwards, she appears to have been specifically represented by oaks, poplars, terebinths, grapevines, pomegranates, walnuts, myrtles, and willows. In the hill country, these trees were probably the most common, and were also worshipped "upon the tops of the mountains, and... upon the hills". Asherah was sometimes depicted as either a sacred tree, a female figure holding lotus plants, or as a female figure with a branch emerging from her pubic region or navel.
• The High Queen: Asherah was revered as the divine Queen Mother who was the second most important and powerful deity after El. She was also the patron of female royals.
• Love Goddess: Asherah was strongly connected to human and animal reproduction, and one of her titles was "mistress of sexual rejoicing". She was particularly invoked to promote fertility in women and facilitating childbirth. She was associated with fertility cults that practiced sacred prostitution and sacred marriage, which were administered by priestesses by Asherah, as their involvement in the sacred rites ensured the fertility of the land. However, scholars have pointed out that there is no hard evidence that the ritual prostitution of the cult personnel actually involved sexual intercourse.
• Making a Splash: Asherah appears to have been commonly linked with the sea, although she was only portrayed at its margins. One of her titles is commonly translated as "great lady who walks on the sea". She was also described laundering clothes on the seashore and commanding a fisherman to use a net in the sea. Her connection to the sea was likely derived from her shrines being located along the coastline in cities such as Ugarit, Sidon, and Tyre, all of which were coastal cities with extensive sea-trading. However, as her worship traveled over the higher inland countryside, this aspect of Asherah faded away, and she instead became associated with dry land, the steppe, the mountains, and the heavens.
• Mother Goddess: Alongside El, Asherah was called the "creatress of creatures" and the "owner of heaven and earth", which signified her authority over the universe, the gods, and mankind. Asherah was also viewed as the mother of the gods, and even the deities she didn't give birth to nonetheless aknowledged her as their legal mother. She also served as the wetnurse of the gods, and suckled even human princes who were exceptionally deserving, such as Yassib, the son of King Keret.
• Top Wife: Although El had several other wives, Asherah was his main consort and equal in terms of supreme authority, with the other deities, including El's other wives, being subordinate to her.

Astarte

עַשְׁתָּרְת / ‎עַשְׁתֹּרֶת | ‎عشتروت | ܥܸܣܬܪܘܿܬ݂ / ܐܸܫܬܲܪܬ | 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚 | 𐡏𐡔𐡕𐡓𐡕 | 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 | 𒀭𒊍𒁯𒌓 | 𓂝𓊃𓍘𓇋𓏭𓂋𓏤𓍘𓇋𓏏𓏯𓆗 | Ἀστάρτη | Astártē

Astarte was the goddess of sexual love, sexuality, fertility, life, regeneration, war, hunting, order, law, and horses. She was variously described as either one of the wives of El, or as the wife of Baal Hadad, the latter association resulting in her sometimes being called Baalat ("lady"), the feminine form of Baal. She was also commonly depicted as a companion of Anat, and the two regularly went hunting together. Astarte was regarded as a divine courtesan and dangerous seductress, who could bring death and destruction as easily as she could bring love and pleasure. She also had a funerary aspect, as she would descend into the underworld to cause the rebirth of the dead. As such, Astarte was regularly depicted on funerary monuments, and terracotta figurines that represented her were placed in tombs. In the Baal Cycle, Astarte was one of Baal's allies, and with the help of Anat, she stopped him from attacking the messengers who delivered the demands of the sea god Yam. Later, she assisted Baal in the battle against Yam, possibly "exhorting him to complete the task" during it. Astarte resided on the mountain Inbub, which she shared with Anat, and her main cult center was located in the Syrian city-state of Mari. Astarte was especially popular among women in Jerusalem and the rest of the Kingdom of Judah during the First Temple period (957 BCE to 587 BCE), as the women played a leading role in her worship. Referred to as the "Queen of Heaven", her worship was a family cult, in which the children gathered the firewood, the men ignited the fires, and the women kneaded dough to make cakes in the goddess' image. Afterwards, they would offer the cakes to the goddess, as well as pouring out libations and burning incense to her. She was viewed as a bringer of prosperity, security, and abundance of food by her worshippers, and the outlawing and abandonment of her cult due to King Josiah's reforms was regarded by them as one of the causes of the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE and subsequent Babylonian exile. Among the Phoenicians, her cult was also associated with sacred prostitution, and both male and female prostitutes were listed among her temple personnel in Cyprus. A Cypriot custom which consisted of native women (presumably young, unmarried virgins) proffering themselves in fullfillment of a religious vow or obligation appears to have characterized Astarte's cult at Kition, Amathus, and Paphos, as well as on the mainland in cities such as Byblos, Baalbek/Heliopolis, and Afqa. Astarte's worship was widespread, and she had important shrines at Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Hierapolis, Carthage, and Egypt, as well as all Phoenician colonies such as Cyprus, Sardinia, Malta, Italy, and Spain. She was also the namesake and protector of the city Aštartu/Ashteroth (modern-day Tell Ashtara) in the land of Bashan, east of the Jordan River.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Astarte once became infatuated with Eshmun, who fled from her in response. To make it clear how much he wanted to be away from her, he castrated and killed himself. That was not good enough however because Astarte was able to bring him back to life.
• Animal Motifs: Astarte was closely connected with horses, and one of her epithets was "Mistress of Horses". She was commonly depicted as a warrior riding side-saddle on horseback, and her symbols were displayed on the breastplates of horses. Lion and doves were also considered Astarte's sacred animals, and she was sometimes depicted with a lion's head or holding a dove. Two doves were often seen as her emblems. Astarte was also sometimes associated with bulls, who symbolized her sovereignty, and wore a crown with the horns of a bull.
• Blow You Away: Astarte was associated with the heavens, and her astral features were emphasized from as early as the second millennium BCE with epithets such as "Lady of Heaven", "Queen of Heaven", and "Queen of the Stars". Additionally, her sacred precinct in Sidon was called "the highest heaven".
• Canon Immigrant: Astarte was originally derived from (or at least heavily influenced by) the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna/Ishtar, and was adopted into the Caananite pantheon sometime during the 2nd millennium BCE. Her foreign origin was heavily emphasized by the Yahwist Deuteronomists in the Old Testament, who exclusively connected her to the Sidonians, the Philistines, and other foreign deities, and never to the cult of Yahweh or any other official indigenous cults.
• Cosmic Motifs: Astarte was identified with the planet Venus, the morning and evening star. She was said to have found a fallen star while wandering the world, which she subsequently picked up and consecrated in the holy island of Tyre, thus explaining why a star was one of her symbols.
• Crossover Cosmology:
  • In Mesopotamia, Astarte was known by the name Asdartu, the feminine form of Ishtar, and was worshipped in cities such as Hillah, near Babylon.
  • In Egypt, Astarte arrived during the 18th dynasty in the New Kingdom period (c. 16th century BCE), along with other deities who were worshipped by northwest Semitic people, such as Anat. In Egyptian mythology, she was regarded as a daughter of either Ra or Ptah, and was given, alongside Anat, by Neith to Set, the god of deserts, storms, and disorder, as a consort and ally during his conflict with Horus.
• Crown of Horns: Astarte wore a crown shaped like a bull's head as an emblem of royalty. This feature of her appears to have been emphasized at the city of Ashteroth Karnaim ("Astarte of the Two Horns"). Likely due to her association with the Egyptian goddess Isis, the horns of Astarte's crown were commonly depicted as being shaped like a crescent moon. The horns had a disk or globe between them, depicting the new moon with the old moon in her arms. Astarte's horns represented supernatural brainpower, supernatural fecundity, cosmic importance, and invincibility.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Astarte was sometimes conflated with Anat and Asherah, especially in later times. It has been suggested that Astarte and Anat were originally one goddess who eventually developed into two separate entities. It is generally believed that Atargatis, the chief goddess of northern Syria, was the result of a fusion between Astarte and Anat (and possibly Asherah) that occured during the first millenium BCE. In Egypt, at least one relief depicted Astarte, Anat, and Asherah (as Qetesh) as a single goddess called Qudshu-Astarte-Anat.
  • Astarte is generally believed to have heavily influenced the development of Tanit, the chief goddess of Carthage. This close association appears to have been confirmed by an inscribed ivory plaque dedicated to "Tanit-Astarte" discovered at Sarepta, which also affirmed the mainland origin of Tanit.
  • Astarte may have been conflated with the Arabian goddess Al-Lat in Palmyra. On one of the tesserae used by the Bel Yedi'ebel for a religious banquet at the temple of Bel, Al-Lat was given the name Astarte ('štrt). The assimilation of Al-Lat to Astarte was not surprising in a milieu as much exposed to Aramaean and Phoenician influences as the one in which the Palmyrene theologians lived.
  • Astarte was most likely derived from (or at least heavily influenced by) the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna/Ishtar, who was also a goddess of love and war. God lists known from Ugarit and other prominent Bronze Age Syrian cities regarded Astarte as being synonymous with both Inanna/Ishtar and the Hurro-Hittite goddess Ishara (presumably in her aspect of "lady of love"), and in some cities the western forms of Astarte and Ishtar were fully interchangeable.
  • When Astarte's worship spread to Cyprus, she is believed have been merged with an ancient Cypriot goddess. This merged Cypriot goddess may then subsequently have been adopted into the Greek pantheon in Mycenaean and Dark Age times to form Aphrodite. Greeks in classical, Hellenistic, and Roman times regularly equated Aphrodite with Astarte, such as Herodotus, Pausanius, and Herodian, all of whom conflated Astarte with Aphrodite Urania. In Heliopolis (modern-day Baalbek), Astarte was equated with Venus Heliopolitana by the Romans when they conquered the city. When she was introduced by Phoenician sailors and colonists in Cythera, Malta, and Eryx in Sicily, she became known to the Romans as Venus Erycina.
  • Lucian of Samosata asserted that the local priesthood of Sidon identified Astarted with Europa, a Phoenician princess from Greek mythology.
• Demonization: In some kabbalistic texts and in medieval and renaissance occultism (starting with The Book of Abramelin), the name Astaroth was assigned to a male demon bearing little resemblance to Astarte herself, as he didn't incorporate any elements drawn from her mythology or cultic role. The demon's name was nonetheless treated as interchangeable with Astarte's in fiction sometimes.
• The High Queen: Astarte was regarded as a "holy queen" who ruled as co-regent alongside Baal Hadad over the other gods and Phoenicia in general with El's permission.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Due to her popularity and widespread worship, Astarte was regularly paired with the chief gods of various major Phoenician cities. She was most commonly identified as the wife of Baal Hadad, but was also paired with Melqart at Tyre (where she was called Milkath), Eshmun at Sidon, and Chemosh at the kingdom of Moab.
• Love Goddess: Astarte was closely associated with fertility and sexual love, and was regarded as a sacred prostitute who ensured fertility and brought prosperity. She was depicted in art and through numerous terracotta figurines as nude, holding her breasts, or draped. Her cult was also sometimes involved sacred prostitution, most notably in Cyprus and Phoenician cities on the mainland, although the practices eventually penetrated into Lydia, Armenia and Persia as well.
• Lunacy: Astarte was sometimes associated with the crescent Moon, possibly due to conflation with the Egyptian goddess Isis. In Tyre, she was regarded as a moon goddess, contrasting the sun god Melqart, who was the tutelary god of Tyre. Astarte was envisioned as a changing, wandering deity. With the waning light of the moon, she retired into the gloom of the west, the region of the setting sun, and on the disappearance of the goddess on the "bad evening", the Tyrians performed rites of mourning. Eventually, Melqart would go looking for her, and convince her to return out of the darkness and bring life and light back to Tyre. The star and crescent was one of her symbols, and she was occasionally depicted with a disk or globe rather than a star between her horns.
• Malicious Misnaming: Astarte was subjected to this in the Hebrew Bible, in which her name was written as ʻAštōreṯ ("Ashtoreth"). This is generally agreed to have been a deliberate scribal distortion of "Ashtart", and that it is virtually certain that the distorted vocalization reflected the vowels of the Hebrew word bōšeṯ ("bosheth", meaning "shame, abomination"). There was also the plural form ʻAštārōṯ ("Ashtaroth"), which is believed to have referred to a class of goddesses.
• Power Trio: In Heliopolis (modern-day Baalbek), Astarte was worshipped alongside Baal and Adon as part of the Heliopolitan Triad. Votives dedicated to the cult were also found in the Lebanese village of Bechouat.
• War Goddess: Astarte was also envisioned as a war goddess, and had epithets such as "Lady of the Chariot" and "Lady of Combat". Her aggressive, warrior aspect was cited in a seventh century BCE treaty agreement between Tyre and Assyria, where she was called upon to smash the bows of potential violators. Pharaoh Thutmose IV was described as being "mighty in the chariot" like Astarte, and she was invoked alongside Anat by Pharaoh Ramesses III to act as his shield in battle. She was commonly depicted on horseback or in a chariot, carrying weapons of war such as a spear and shield. In the Hebrew Bible, the armor of the dead King Saul was taken by the Philistines to the temple of Astarte, which might have been another indicator of her associations with war.
• Winged Humanoid: Astarte was usually depicted with four wings.

Baal Berot / "Poseidon"

𐡁𐡏𐡋 𐡁𐡓𐡕 | 𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤁𐤓𐤕 | ܒܵܥܵܠ ܒܝܪܘܬ | בַּעַל בֵּיירוּת | Baʿal Berot^note translated "Lord of Beirut"

Baal Berot was the god of water, marine winds, and earthquakes, who resided in and ruled over the sea. He was both feared and revered by Phoenician sailors, who erected temples and consecrated altars on seaside promontories in order to thank the god and ensure the safety the fleet, demonstrating his role as a guardian of mariners. He was also a patron of the Carthaginian navy and a congregation of Phoenician merchants (Poseidoniastes) living at Delos. Baal Berot was the chief god of Beirut, and was also worshipped at Ashkelon and Carthage. He was probably envisioned as the maritime god who rode a chariot drawn by four hippocamps represented on several Beirutian coins. In Sanchuniathon's account, Baal Berot (as "Poseidon") was identified as the son of the sea god Yam, and was made the chief god of Beirut by El after the latter had defeated his own father and become the ruler of the gods. Baal Berot might also have been the father of Baal Malage, who was identified as "Triton" by ancient sources and modern scholars.

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• Animal Motifs: Likely due to conflation with the Greek Poseidon, horses were regarded as Baal Berot's sacred animals, and the prows of Phoenician ships were shaped like horses' heads. He was also associated with dolphins, and was commonly depicted either holding or standing beside one. In Ashkelon, he was sometimes depicted holding a dove, a distinctive symbol of the city, likely a local characteristic of his cult.
• Blow You Away: Baal Berot was prayed to by sailors to grant them favorable winds.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Baal Berot was equated with the Greek sea god Poseidon since at least the 5th century BCE. However, from at least the 2nd century CE onward, Baal Berot's image became different and distinct, particularly at Ashkelon, where he was depicted dressed in a garment which reached the soles of his feet, standing near a swimming dolphin, holding a dove in his right hand, and leaning on a trident held in his left hand. On the island of Delos, a temple of the Ashkelonian gods dating from the end of the second century BCE contained a round altar with an inscription dedicated by Philostratus to "Poseidon the Ashkelonian", the title indicating his intention to pay homage to the special god of his home city.
  • Baal Berot's identity is also subject to debate, as the only bilingual inscription which mentioned Poseidon was written in Palmyrene Aramaic and equated him with El qone ra ("god, possessor of earth"), which was also an epithet used to describe the sky god Baalshamin, and was also derivative of El qone ars ("El, creator of earth"). Additionally, it has also been suggested that the "Poseidon" worshipped at Carthage was the storm god Baal Saphon (i.e. Baal Hadad in his role as the ruler of Mount Saphon), as he was also a patron of seafarers and his mountain served as a reference point for sailors by virtue of its height. However, both Sanchuniathon and Polybius referenced Baal Berot and Baal Hadad as separate, distinct deities, under the names "Poseidon" and "Zeus" respectively. Similarly, Baalshamin was worshipped at Carthage as a sky god and was typically conflated with Zeus, further indicating that Baal Berot was likely a distinct deity.
• Human Sacrifice: During the war with Gelon, the ruler of Gela and Syracuse, the Punic King Hamilcar offered a sacrifice to Baal Berot by throwing a crowd of victims into the sea to honor him.
• Lord of the Ocean: Baal Berot was the ruler of the sea, and Punic seafarers prayed to him for protection from storms and to ensure safe voyages. Punic naval commanders also performed sacrifices to him in preparation for battle.
• Making a Splash: Baal Berot had control over the sea, and was prayed to by sailors for protection from storms and tempests, as well as ensuring safe voyages.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The actual name of this god is unknown, as the only extant referrences to him are from Greek sources who identified him as "Poseidon". The name "Baal Berot" is derived from the typical naming convention for Canaanite deities as well as scholarly speculation about a possible connection between him and the similarly named Baal Berith, the god of the city of Shechem.

Baalat Gebal

𐡁𐡏𐡋𐡕 𐡂𐡁𐡋 | 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤕 𐤂𐤁𐤋 | ܒܥܲܠܬܵ ܓܸܒܲܠ | בַּעֲלַת גְּבַל | Baʿalat Gebal^note translated "Lady of Byblos"

Baalat Gebal was the goddess of fertility, the sky, the sun, royalty and prosperity. She was the chief goddess of Byblos, revered as the patron and protector of the city, as well as possessor of an abundance of good things. She also presided over the cedar wood trade between Lebanon and Egypt, which dated back to as early as the First Dynasty of Egypt, and the Egyptian Pharaohs donated valuable gifts to her temple in exchange for the goddess' donations of cedar wood. Baalat Gebal also served as the patron and protectress of the Byblos monarchy, and the king himself or a member of his immediate family often served as her priest or priestess. She was the wife of Adon, god of fertility and the underworld, but held a position of preeminence over him, as Baalat Gebal was often mentioned alone in the Byblos royal inscriptions and all the cultic performances in honor of Adon were performed in her temple. According to certain Phoenician traditions, as originally recounted by Melito of Sardis, Baalat Gebal (called "Balthi") was originally the queen of Cyprus, and she fell in love with Adon (called "Tammuz"), the prince of Byblos. Balthi subsequently moved to Byblos to be with him, also placing Cyprus under the rule of Byblos. Unfortunately, Adon was killed at Mount Lebanon sometime afterwards either by a wild boar he was hunting or Balthi's jealous husband, and was buried in Afqa. Balthi and Adon's parents subsequently made a great lamentation for him and established the tradition of weeping for his death in the month of Tammuz (June-July). Baalat Gebal was worshipped at Byblos since at least the early third millennium BCE, and a temple dedicated to her was built in the city's centre around 2900 BCE. Although the temple was destroyed by fire around 2300 BCE, it was rebuilt and expanded a number of times in subsequent centuries, becoming the most famous and important cult place in Byblos until the Roman period.

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• A Deadly Affair: According to certain Phoenician traditions, Baalat's affair with Adon resulted either in him being killed by her jealous husband or him killing the husband when he came looking for Baalat.
• Blow You Away: Likely due to being conflated with Astarte and Hathor, Baalat Gebal was sometimes associated with the sky.
• Continuity Snarl: There were multiple conflicting stories explaining how she became the patron goddess of Byblos. In Sanchuniathon's account, she was given the city by El after his victory over his father Shamayim. However, another Phoenician tradition instead stated that Baalat (called variously "Balthi" and "Belathi") was originally the queen of Cyprus, but moved to Byblos when she fell in love with the Byblian prince Adon, and then willingly allowed Cyprus to come under the dominion of Adon's father Kothar, the king of Byblos.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Baalat Gebal was regularly conflated with Astarte, whose popularity similarly resulted in the chief goddesses of Sidon and Tyre generally being viewed as simply local manifestations of her. However, Baalat Gebal's own prominence allowed her to remain distinct from Astarte. Because of this association with Astarte, Baalat Gebal was also sometimes equated with the Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus.
  • Baalat Gebal was identified with the Egyptian goddess Hathor from as early as 2350 BCE, which resulted in Baalat Gebal incorporating aspects of Hathor's iconography, such as being depicted with cattle horns holding a solar disk. So strong was Hathor's link to Byblos that texts from Dendera said she resided there. The Egyptians saw in Baalat Gebal a mirror or reflection of Hathor, the goddess who held sway over those foreign countries with valuable resources like timber, oil, silver, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. However, a few artifacts from the early first millennium BCE suggest that the Egyptians began equating Baalat Gebal with Isis at that time. A myth about Isis's presence in Byblos, related by the Greek author Plutarch in his work On Isis and Osiris in the 2nd century CE, suggests that by that time Isis had entirely supplanted Hathor in the city.
  • In Sanchuniathon's account, Baalat Gebal was conflated with the Greek goddess Dione.
• Divine Right of Kings: Baalat Gebal was revered as the patron and protectress of the Byblos monarchy, and the kings credited her for putting them into their positions of authority, as described on the Yehawmilk stele:
  I am Yehawmilk king of Byblos, son of Yeharba'al, grandson of Urimilk king of Byblos whom the lady Gebal Ba'alat made ruler over Byblos.
• Horned Humanoid: Due to being conflated with Hathor, Baalat Gebal was commonly depicted with curved cow horns.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The actual name of the goddess is unknown, and both the Semitic and Greek sources generally just transliterated her title when referring to her, producing variants such as Balthi, Belathi, Belti, and Baaltis. However, it was mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus that certain people in Cyprus considered the goddess to be called Aeria (possibly derived either from aer, meaning "air", or aes, meaning "copper, bronze"). Alternatively, 19th century scholars such as Baron von Bunsen instead suggested that her name was Adah (meaning "ornament, beauty"), and connected her to the Biblical Adah, the first wife of Lamech.
• The Power of the Sun: Because of her conflation with Hathor, Baalat Gebal was associated with the sun and was depicted with a solar disk between her horns.

Chemosh

ܟܵܡܹܫ | כְּמוֹשׁ | 𐎋𐎎𐎘 | 𐡊𐡌𐡔 | 𐤊𐤌𐤔 | 𒀭𒅗𒈪𒅖 | 𒀭𒅗𒄠𒈲 | Chemosh

Chemosh was the national god of the Moabites. He was associated with war and mountains, and blessed his people with military victory when they pleased him, and allowed them to be conquered by their enemies when they did not. Chemosh also communicated with the Moabite kings, probably through a form of divination. The Moabite King Mesha dedicated a high place in Qarcho to Chemosh which contained a well-preserved inscription on the Mesha Stele, describing Chemosh's involvement in Mesha's battles against the Israelite kings Omri and Ahab. While he was most readily associated with the Moabites, he was also worshipped by the Ammonites. His worship, at least in Elba, apparently involved large bulks of sheep being offerred to him, and the 12th month of the year was named after and dedicated to his festival. According to the Hebrew Bible, King Solomon introduced the worship of Chemosh into Israel, for he is said to have built a sanctuary to Chemosh on the Mount of Olives. This act by Solomon was no doubt to some extent a political one, motivated by a desire to honor his Moabite wife. However, the worship of Chemosh in Judah was eventually abolished in the reforms of Josiah in the late seventh century BCE, which involved the destruction of the high place sanctuary built by Solomon. Chemosh was earliest attested during the 3rd millennium BCE in Ebla under the name Kamiš, and was worshipped during the Late Bronze Age as a servant of Horon under the binomial name Ẓiẓẓu-wa-Kamāṯu ("Chemosh of the Dust") at Ugarit, with his cult center being the city of Ḥry (identified as either Huriya in northern Mesopotamia or Hurija near Alalakh in northern Syria).

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• Deity Identity Confusion: It has been suggested that Chemosh might have been the same deity as Moloch, a god worshipped by the Ammonites. This is based the theophoric name of Chemosh-melek, the father of Mesha, which translates as either "Chemosh is Malik" or "Chemosh is king". However, the fact that Solomon had "high places" built for both Chemosh and Moloch at the same time and in nearly the same location indicates that these two deities were distinct from each other.
  • Chemosh was sometimes equated with El, the king of the gods, in Moab. This was attested in the personal name Kamōš-ʾĒl, meaning "Chemosh is El", although it could also simply mean "Chemosh is god".
  • Chemosh was also identified with the Arabian god ʿAṯtar, and they were attested in the combined form of ʿAštar-Kamōš. In earlier scholarship from the late 19th century, Ashtar-Chemosh was inaccurately considered to be an independent deity existing separately from Chemosh, and was identified as a form of the goddess ʿAštart (Astarte). However, the masculine form of ʿAštar in the god's name shows that ʿAštar-Chemosh was a male deity.
  • It is possible that Chemosh was conflated with the Mesopotamian war and plague god Nergal. In Mesopotamia, 𒀭𒅗𒄠𒈲 (^dKammuš), possibly meaning "bull", occurred as an epithet of Nergal, and was possibly the local spelling of Chemosh.
• God of Light: Is sometimes etymologically related to Shamash and thus a sun god, though this hypothesis is not without detractors.
• Human Sacrifice: On critical occasions, a human sacrifice was considered necessary to secure the favor of Chemosh. During the time of Ahab's son Joram, a king of Moab (perhaps Mesha) was described as sacrificing his son in order to gain the upper hand when he was in dire military straits. This strategy apparently succeeded, as the Moabites subsequently defeated the Israelites and forced them to withdraw to their own land.
• War God: Chemosh was envisioned as a warrior god who brought victory to his people when they honored him properly, but allowed their enemies to prevail when they failed to do so. Chemosh was said to have allowed the Israelites to oppress Moab for many years during the reigns of the northern kings Omri and Ahab, when Moab became a vassal state of Israel. However, King Mesha boasted that Chemosh had blessed him with success and restored Moab's sovereignty, apparently the result of his piety. Chemosh was also directly involvement in military decisions, such as his telling Mesha to "go and take Nebo from the Israelites." So too was Mesha's act of dedicating to Chemosh captured artifacts formerly devoted to Yahweh.

Dagon

ܕܵܓܘܿܢ | דָּגוֹן‎ | 𐎄𐎂𐎐 | 𐡃𐡂𐡍 | 𐤃𐤂𐤍 | 𒀭𒁕𒃶 | Dāgōn^note possibly translated "grain"

Dagon was the god of grain, fertility, and prosperity. He was credited with discovering the cultivation of grain and inventing the plough. He was an important god in ancient Syria, particularly in the Middle Euphrates region, and his primary cult centre was in the city of Tuttul. Mesopotamian rulers saw him as the lord of the western lands, and credited him with granting them kingship in that area. According to the Hebrew Bible, Dagon was also the national god of the Philistines, with temples at Ashdod and elsewhere in Gaza. He bore such titles as BE-DINGIR-DINGIR (Lord-God of gods) and Bekalam (Lord of the land). Dagon was also called ti-lu ma-tim ("dew of the land") and Be-ka-na-na (possibly "Lord of Canaan"). In Sanchuniathon's account, Dagon was described as the son of Shamayim/Epigeus and Eretz/Ge, and the brother of El, Bethel, and Atel. His consort was the goddess Shalash, who was also commonly known as Belatu ("The Lady"), and he was also commonly identified as the father of the storm god Baal Hadad. Dagon also had an important temple at Ugarit, where he was apparently second in importance only to El, the supreme god. He also had a sanctuary at Beth-Dagon in the territory of the tribe of Asher. There was also another place known as Beth-Dagon in the territory of the tribe of Judah, as well as a place named Dagon located north of Jericho. Dagon was worshipped as early as 2500 BCE in the Syrian city-state of Mari. At Ebla, from at least 2300 BCE, Dagon was the head of the city pantheon, which included some 200 deities, and both he and his wife were worshiped in a large temple complex called E-Mul ("House of the Star"). One entire quarter of Ebla and one of its gates were named after Dagon. He was also the patron god of several other towns or cities, including Irim, Ma-Ne, Zarad, Uguash, Siwad, and Sipishu.

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• Crossover Cosmology: In Mesopotamia, Dagon (known there as "Dagan") was sometimes regarded as equal in rank to the great city gods of Sumer and Akkad, as well as sometimes viewed as a member of Enlil's entourage. In the Ur III period, marriages between rulers of Syrian and Mesopotamian politites likely contributed to the spread of Dagan worship (as well as that of other western deities like Ishara and Haburitum) in the south of Mesopotamia. In Nippur, Dagan shared a temple with Ishara, first attested during the reign of Amar-Suen. Both deities were likely introduced from Mari, and were linked only by their north-western origin. Ishbi-Erra of Isin was a devotee of Dagan, possibly due to his heritage. Ibbi-Sin of Ur referred to him as "man of Mari" and "traveling rubbish salesman of non-Sumerian origin". Multiple of Ishbi-Erra's successors on the throne had theophoric names invoking Dagan, for example Iddin-Dagan and Ishme-Dagan. Some aspects of the syncretism between Dagan and Enlil seemingly can be attributed to this dynasty, as the gods appeared to be interchangeable in Ishbi-Erra's inscriptions. In an Assyrian poem, Dagan appeared beside Nergal and Misharu as a judge of the dead. A late Babylonian text made him the underworld prison warder.
• Deity Identity Confusion:
  • In Mesopotamia, Dagon was equated with Enlil due to their shared role as "fathers of gods". This equation was eventually codified by the god list An-Anum, which additionally equated their spouses with each other.
  • In Hurrian documents, Dagon was equated with Kumarbi, though only because of a shared senior position in their respective pantheons. Kumarbi was nonetheless called "the Dagan of the Hurrians", and Shalash was also viewed as his spouse due to this syncretic process.
• Farm Boy: Dagon was associated with grain and corn. He was credited with discovering the cultivation of grain and the invention of the plough.
• Sadly Mythcharacterized: Medieval rabbis such as Rashi and David Kimhi recorded a tradition that the name Dāgôn was related to Hebrew dāg/dâg ("fish") and that Dagon was a fish god who was envisioned as having the form of a fish from the navel down. Various 19th and 20th century scholars, including the pioneer Bible critic Julius Wellhausen, believed this tradition to have been validated from the occasional occurrence of a merman motif found in Assyrian and Phoenician art, including coins from Ashdod and Arvad. However, modern scholarship has correctly identified the fish god interpretation as a medieval invention. Regardless, Dagon's appearances in popular culture tend to be based on the fish god interpretation, such as in John Milton's Paradise Lost and H. P. Lovecraft's Dagon and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Eshmun

𐡀𐡔𐡌𐡍 | 𐤀‬𐤔‬𐤌𐤍 | ܐܫܡܘܼܢ | אֶשמוּן | Eshmun^note translated "oil, fat"

Eshmun was the god of healing and the chief god of Sidon. He was also sometimes depicted as a hunter god who was responsible for feeding and healing men, as well as a protector of young children. In Sanchuniathon's account, Eshmun was described as the eighth and youngest son of Sydyk, the god of righteousness, and one of the seven Kotharat, the goddesses of birth. Eshmun was attested as early as the eighth century BCE, and his primary temple was built during the reign of Eshmunazar II one km from Sidon on the south side of the Awali river. The temple was built near a spring whose water was thought to have healing property and therefore was sacred. His worship eventually spread throughout Canaan, such as in the cities of Tyre, Beirut, and Arwad, as well as Punic settlements throughout the western Mediterranean such as those in Cyprus, Sardinia, and Carthage.

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• Animal Motifs: Eshmun was commonly associated with snakes and was often represented holding a caduceus, a staff around which two serpents are entwined. A shrine to Eshmun in Sidon also depicted imagery of a rooster, an animal commonly associated with the Greek healer god Asclepius, likely due to Greco-Roman influence.
• Back from the Dead: Eshmun once castrated and killed himself in order to escape from Astarte's amorous pursuit of him, but she subsequently restored him to life from the warmth of her body and gave him the epithet Paeon ("healer"). A village near Beirut named Qabr Shmoun ("Eshmun's grave") still exists.
• Crippling Castration: When he drew the affections of Astarte and was pursued by her, Eshmun castrated himself with an axe and died in order to escape her amorous overtures. However, a grieving Astarte brought him back to life.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Eshmun was closely associated with Adon, the chief god of Byblos, as the two shared a similar character and functions. Some scholars have suggested that Eshmun might have originally been an epithet of Adon before becoming a separate deity. Similarly, in Cypriot inscriptions, Eshmun melded over time with Melqart, the chief god of Tyre, into one entity named Eshmun-Melqart.
  • The Greeks equated Eshmun with their own healing god Asclepius, and the Greco-Roman geographer Pausanius claimed that Apollo was the father of Eshmun, which was similarly derived from the mythic traditions of Asclepius. During their occupation of Phoenicia, the Greeks added a structure to the north side of Eshmun's temple containing inscriptions honoring Asclepius.
• Healer God: Eshmun was the primarily healing god throughout Canaan and Phoenician settlements. His temple was built near the spring of Jadjal, whose water was thought to have healing property and therefore was sacred. By the entrance of the temple, the spring of Jadjal formed a large pool, where people used to bathe and wash away their illnesses.
• Healing Hands: Eshmun was envisioned as a healer who held an overall protective role. For the Mesopotamians, Eshmun's ability to heal also meant an ability to punish, thus causing them to employ him in political matters with the Canaanites by invoking him in a list of divine witnesses and curse any possible violators of their treaties with deprivation of food, clothing, and oil for ointment.
• Seers: Eshmun was also associated with prophecy. A form of the Solanum plant that produced frenzy was referred to as Eshmun's herb, and another species of it is known to have been used to produce mantic excitement. The same herb which the Phoenicians named after Eshmun was called Apollinaris in Italy, named after Apollo. As such, Eshmun was viewed as a prophetic god with frenzied diviners as his priests.

Hadad / Baal

ܗܕܲܕ | הׇדַד | 𐎅𐎄𐎆 | 𐡄𐡃𐡃 | 𐤄𐤃𐤃 | 𒀭𒀀𒁕𒀜 | Hadad^note translated "thunder"

ܒܵܥܵܠ | בַּעַל | 𐎁𐎓𐎍 | 𐡁𐡏𐡋 | 𐤁𐤏𐤋 | 𒀭𒁀𒀪𒀠 | 𓃀𓂝𓏭𓂋𓏤𓅆 | Baʽal^note translated "lord, owner"

Hadad was the god of life, fertility, weather, rain, wind, lightning, seasons, war and sailors. He was commonly referred to by the title Baal ("lord"), although this title was also used for various other gods, and was also known as the Rider of the Cloud. Hadad was most commonly identified as the son of Dagon, with his mother presumably being Dagon's consort Shalash. However, he was also sometimes referred to as a son of El, although it has been suggested that it was simply an honorary title that reflected El's status as the patriarch of the Elohim. In the Baal Cycle, Baal Hadad successfully became the king of the gods after defeating El's champion, the sea god Yam, with the support of Anat and Astarte. Afterwards, he fought against Mot, the god of death, and was seemingly killed by him, causing Anat to eventually kill Mot as revenge. Fortunately, Hadad was subsequently brought back from the land of the dead with the help of the sun goddess Shapash. According to Sanchuniathon's account, Baal Hadad's consort and co-regent was Astarte, and he was the father of Melqart, the patron god of Tyre. The name Baal was attested as early as the 3rd millennium BCE in a list of deities at Abu Salabikh, and Hadad was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" around 2500 BCE. His main cult centre was in the Syrian city of Aleppo, but he was also the patron god of Ugarit. He resided and ruled on top of Mount Saphon (modern-day Jebel Aqra), in which capacity he was referred to as Baal Saphon.

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• Animal Motifs: Baal Hadad was commonly associated with bulls, who symbolized strength and fertility. In contrast to the elderly El, Baal was described as a "bull-calf" with thin horns and a narrow beard.
• Back from the Dead: During his first battle against Mot, Baal was ultimately devoured by him. Fortunately, he was eventually brought back to life by Anat and Shapash. Baal would subsequently engage in mortal combat with Mot every seven years. If Baal triumphed, a seven-year cycle of fertility would ensue; but, if he were vanquished by Mot, seven years of drought and famine would ensue. A mourning rite in response to Baal's death was celebrated in the agriculturally rich area of the Jezreel Valley, in which his death was mourned and an attempt to revive him was made through prayers and rituals.
• Badass Crew: As the vanquisher of Mot, Hadad was known as Baʿal Rāpiʾuma (Bʿl Rpu) and regarded as the leader of the Rephaim, the ancestral spirits, particularly those of ruling dynasties.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Because Baal was used as a title of various deities in the Mesopotamian and Semitic pantheons, only a definitive article, genitive or epithet, or context could establish which particular god was meant. Additionally, while certain Baals were simply considered to be local manifestations of Baal Hadad, others were considered distinct deities.
  • Hadad was commonly equated with the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god Jupiter, and the Hurro-Hittite god Teshub. In Heliopolis (modern-day Baalbek), Baal was equated with Jupiter Heliopolitanus by the Romans when they conquered the city. In Turkey, a syncretized Hadad/Baal/Teshub cult had its cult centre on a hill called Doliche (modern-day Keber Tepe), and their deity was adopted under the name Jupiter Dolichenus by the Romans around the early 2nd century and became part of a widespread mystery cult in the Roman Empire. At Mount Saphon (modern-day Jebel Aqra), Baal Saphon was equated with by the Hurrians with the storm god Teshub, who was also believed to live on top of the mountain, which the Hurrians called Mount Hazzi. Similarly, he was also equated by the Greeks with Zeus Kasios and by the Romans later on with Jupiter Casius.
  • In Carthage, Hadad was conflated with Ares, likely because Zeus had already been equated with Baal Hammon.
  • When Baal's worship spread to Egypt around the Middle Kingdom Period, he was conflated with the Egyptian storm god Set, with his name being used as Set's divine title. Baal's equation with Set was so complete that his own individual personality was ultimately lost.
• Divine Right of Kings: Baal was credited with appointing kings in order that they might secure for their people prosperous conditions. Kings would refer to themselves as stewards and servants of Baal, and also viewed him as their protector, benefactor, and donator of offspring.
• Fertility God: Baal Hadad was a god of fertility, who provided an abundance of crops and fertility for animals and mankind. In this capacity, he was referred to as "Prince", "Lord of the Earth", as well as "Lord of Rain and Dew", the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan.
• God of Thunder: Baal was associated with storms and the cloudy sky, and his power over rain caused him to be viewed as the protector of life and growth to the agricultural people of the region. When he spoke, his voice of thunder rocked the mountains. The storm was regarded as the clearest manifestation of Baal's bravery and benevolence, and his residence on Mount Saphon was always shrouded in clouds at the summit.
• The Good King: Baal Hadad was envisioned as a brave and benevolent king whose rule guaranteed the annual return of vegetation.
• Green Thumb: Baal Hadad served as the source and principle of fertility, sending rain in the autumn in order to fertilize the soil and make the crops and vegetation grow. He was also in charge of the cyclical patterns of the seasons, as the vegetation died when Baal disappeared into the underworld to fight Mot and was resuscitated when he returned.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Baal's impetuousness was regarded as his one flaw. An example of this was when he had to be restrained from striking the messengers of Yam with a cudgel.
• Happy Rain: Because there was hardly ever rain in the eastern Mediterranean without a storm, the coming of rain in the autumn was viewed as a gift from Baal to mankind, as it was something to which the people living there looked forward to as a promise of new life for the earth and new harvests in the future after the severe condition of the summer.
• Making a Splash: Being a god of the weather, Baal Hadad was the dispenser of dew, rain, and snow. As vanquisher of the sea, Baal was also regarded as the patron of sailors and sea-faring merchants. His residence, Mount Saphon, served as a reference point for sailors by virtue of its height. His temple at Ugarit was visible from afar and contained a number of votive anchors, allowing sailors to know where to turn to with their supplications for safekeeping and help. Baal Saphon's control over water was also invoked in a treaty between Esarhaddon and King Baal of Tyre, in which a curse spoke about the possibility of Baal Saphon sinking the Tyrian ships by means of a sea-storm.
• Multiple-Choice Past: There were several accounts of Hadad's parentage. He was most commonly identified as the son of Dagon, but was also sometimes referred to as a son of El. At least one tradition instead identified him as a son of the primordial sky god Shamayim and his "beloved concubine".
  • Sanchuniathon's account seemingly tried to reconcile the accounts by stating that Shamayim's pregnant concubine was given to Dagon by El after Shamayim's defeat, thus resulting in Dagon being Hadad's older half-brother and adopted father.
• Nice Guy: Baal Hadad was viewed as a benevolent and generous god who displayed his kindness towards mankind by sending rain to fertilize their crops as well as ensuring the fertility of their flocks and herds. He also served as a protector of his worshippers at Ugarit, who would pray to him whenever the city was threatened by enemies.
• Not Blood Siblings: Baal was in a sexual relationship with Anat, and the two were regularly identified as brother and sister. However, while both of them were referred to as children of El on separate occasions, Baal was more commonly referred to as the son of Dagon, suggesting that his status as a "son of El" was simply an honorary title that reflected El's status as the patriarch of the Elohim. That being said, El and Dagon were sometimes identified as brothers, meaning that Baal and Anat could also be seen as cousins.
• Order Versus Chaos: Baal Hadad represented beneficial order in his battles against both Yam and Mot, both of whom represented harmful chaos and contrasted Baal in different aspects. While Hadad's rain brought prosperity and fertility, Yam's floods caused destruction. Similarly, Hadad represented life and fertility by making crops grow and providing people with food, while Mot represented death and hunger.
• Power Trio: In Heliopolis (modern-day Baalbek), Baal was worshipped alongside Astarte and Adon as part of the Heliopolitan Triad. Votives dedicated to the cult were also found in the Lebanese village of Bechouat.
• Shock and Awe: Baal was a storm god who sent thunder and lightning forth from his palace so that humans would know that rain was coming. One of his epiteths was Rimmon ("thunderer"), and he was commonly depicted wielding a thunderbolt shaped like a spear.
• Top God: Baal Hadad ruled as the king of the gods throughout Canaan and Phoenicia, and was regularly referred to with titles such as "Sovereign", "Prince", and "Lord of the Earth". There has been some uncertainty as to how Baal's rule related to that of El, who was most commonly identified as the supreme god of the pantheon. Theories among scholars have ranged from suggesting that El retired, was overthrown by Baal, or that the two ruled over separate groups of deities. However, the most commonly accepted explanation is that El and Baal simply represented separate functions, and that Baal ruled with El's permission. While El wielded the executive power and represented the principle of preservation and balance, Hadad wielded the military power and represented action and progress.
• Weather Manipulation: Hadad was viewed as the lord of the sky who governed over the lightning, wind, and rain, and thus the germination of plants with the power to determine fertility. The absence of Baal caused dry spells, starvation, death, and chaos.

Kothar-wa-Khasis

ܟܘܿܬ݂ܵܪ ܘܚܲܣܝܼܣ | כּוֹתָר וְחָסִיס | 𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎆𐎃𐎒𐎒 | 𒀭𒅗𒊭𒇻 | Kothar-wa-Khasis^note translated as either "Skillful-and-Wise", "Adroit-and-Perceptive", or "Deft-and-Clever"

Kothar-wa-Khasis was the god of metalworking, craftsmen, artisans, engineers, architects, inventors, soothsaying, magic, incantations, and spells. He is believed to have occupied the third tier (out of four) in the pantheon, serving the greater deities of the upper two tiers while outranking the lesser deities of the fourth tier. Kothar was responsible for supplying the gods with weapons and for building and furnishing their palaces. Kothar was also the patron of magic and inventor of magical incantations, creating words and spells that allowed him to empower the weapons he had made. One of his notable epithets was "The Opener", referring to his function as the opener of the window in Baal's palace through which Baal's rains could come and go to fertilize the earth and provide for the continuance of life. He might have been regarded as a son of the sea god Yam, as his epithets may have included bunu Yammi ("son of Sea") and bunu 'adti ("son of confluence" of the Deeps), and was the father of Adon, the chief god of Byblos. Kothar's abode was the Hikaptah, a temple located in the Egyptian city of Memphis. His home was further described as being two to three lengths below the earth's springs and the expanse of caves, and his workshop was located in the underworld. He was also stated to have a residence in Caphtor, a locality generally believed to have been located in the vicinity of the Egyptian city of Pelusium, although modern sources have suggested alternative locations such as Crete. His worship was established in Canaan since at least the late third millennium BCE.

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• The Blacksmith: As the god of arts and crafts, Kothar was associated with metalworking and was the patron of smiths and craftsmen. His sacred tools included bellows and tongs. Kothar's dual residences in Egypt and Capthor (possibly located in Crete) are believed to have been not only a reference to the trade of precious metals or crafts from both Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea to Ugarit, but also the important place of craftsmen in Ugaritic society.
• Canon Immigrant: Kothar was regarded as a foreign deity who originated from Egypt, which was referred to as the "land of his heritage".
• Crossover Cosmology: In ancient Egyptian religion, Kothar had a minor role as the mythological builder of chapels for Egypt's more important deities.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars generally agree that Kothar-wa-Khasis was equivalent with the creator god Chousoros from Mochus' account of Phoenician cosmogony and the blacksmith god Chrysor from the alternate Phoenician cosmogony of Sanchuniathon. Kothar and Chousoros both shared the epithet "the opener", the latter being called that because he was responsible for splitting the cosmic egg into two, with the top half becoming the sky and the lower half becoming the earth. By contrast, Kothar and Chrysor served identical functions, with Chrysor being described in the euhemerized account as having been the first blacksmith who was deified after his death. Additionally, it's possible that Chrysor and his brothers were Decomposite Characters derived from Kothar, as the invention of brick walls by Chrysor's brothers appears to have been based on Kothar's additional role as divine architect.
  • Kothar-wa-Khasis was strongly equated with the Egyptian craftsman god Ptah, and his abode in Egypt was derived from the Egyptian ḥwt kꜣ ptḥ ("House of the ka ("double") of Ptah"), which was the Temple of Ptah in Memphis. Additionally, Kothar's epithet "The Opener" was possibly a pun on Ptah's name, likely derived from the West Semitic root pth ("to open").
  • Kothar might have also been conflated to some extent with the Egyptian god Thoth, possibly because they were both associated with wisdom and magic. In Sanchuniathon's account, Taautos ("Thoth") was depicted as El's advisor and helped fashion a spear and sickle from iron for him, both functions that were otherwise assigned to Kothar.
  • Kothar was also regularly equated with the Greek Hephaestus and Roman Vulcan.
  • Kothar was equated in a complicated way with Cinyras, king of Cyprus, and Theias, king of Byblos, both of whom were identified as the father of Adonis in Greek mythology. According to certain Phoenician traditions, as originally recounted by Melito of Sardis, Kothar was considered to have once been the king of Byblos, and managed to extend his rule to Cyprus when its queen, Balthi, fell in love with his son Adon and moved to Byblos. However, Adon was killed shortly afterwards either by a wild boar or Balthi's jealous husband, and Kothar subsequently made a great lamentation for his son and established the tradition of weeping for his death in the month Tammuz. The name Cinyras, attributed to the father of Adonis and king of Byblos and Cyprus by the Greeks, has a Semitic etymology, and scholars have proposed that it was derived from the minor Ugaritic deity Kinaru, the god of the lyre, as certain musical instruments were associated with ritual lamentation. Theias, on the other hand, was a transparently Greek formation, and it has been suggested that it might have been derived from Thespésios ("divine"), which Kinyras may have borne in one Paphian inscription, which was seemingly based on the Greek idea of the theîos aoidós ("divinely inspired singer"), who was endowed with théspis aoidḗ ("god-uttered song").
• Person of Mass Construction: Kothar was also the patron of architects, and one of the services he performed for the gods was building their palaces. He was tasked with building palaces for both Yam and Baal, with Baal's palace on Mount Saphon in particular being regarded as the most beautiful out of all of them, as it was spread over an area of 10,000 acres and was made of silver, gold, lapis lazuli, and fragrant cedar wood.
• Renaissance Man: In his role as divine servant, Kothar performed numerous services for the gods. His sphere of influence included weaponry, craftsmanship, metallurgy, architecture, prophecy, incantations, and spells, as well as possibly writing. He was also known for his wisdom, and provided advice to his superiors such as Baal, as well as providing dancing and music at feasts. He also had a chthonic aspect, and his duties included assisting the sun goddess Shapash on her nightly journey to the underworld.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: Kothar was responsible for creating the magical weapons of the gods, having endowed the weapons with special powers by uttering imprecational names. His most notable creations were Baal Hadad's two clubs, Yagrush ("Chaser") and Aymur ("Driver"), with which Baal defeated Yam, the gifts that Baal gave to Asherah, and the bow of Aqhat.

Kotharat

ܟܘܿܬ݂ܵܪܵܬ | כּוֹתָרוֹת | 𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎚 | Kotharat^note translated "skillful ones"

The Kotharat were the seven goddesses of marriage, pregnancy, and birth. They presided over and helped to plan weddings and the proper rituals of marriage, oversaw conception and good sex, and protected the mother and child during birth. They could also grant children to childless couples through prayer and offerings, and were invoked to bless weddings. However, only El could actually decide on matters of childbirth, and the Kotharat simply implemented his decisions. Additionally, they were sometimes considered to be divine singers and musicians, as indicated by their epithet "Daughters of Joyous Song". Their names were Thillukhuha^note translated "her marriage-gift", Mulugu-hiya^note translated "her dowry", Thatiqatu^note translated "she-who-cuts-loose (the baby)", Baqi'atu^note translated "she-who-forces-open (the womb)", Taqi'atu^note translated "she-who-blows-air-into (the baby)", Perubakhthi^note Hurrian name of unknown meaning, and Damiqtu^note translated "the fair one", the youngest. They were the daughters of Hilalu, god of the crescent moon, and their mother might have been Astarte, as they were also named as the daughters of the Morning Star. One of the Kotharat was also married to Sydyk, god of justice, and was the mother of Eshmun, god of healing. In the Epic of Aqhat, the Ugaritic King Danel, in order to obtain a child, hosted the Kotharat in his home for seven days. On the seventh day, they departed and his wife Danataya became pregnant. In The Betrothal of Yarikh and Nikkal, the Kotharat were summoned to provide the things necessary for the wedding of Yarikh and Nikkal and later blessed the marriage of the girl Perbakhat.

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• Animal Motifs: The Kotharat were associated with swallows, because swallows were connected with fertility and childbirth. They were commonly described as "the swallows" and "the swallow-like daughters of the crescent moon".
• Deity Identity Confusion: In Ugaritic deity-lists, the Kotharat were considered to be identical with the Shassuratu, the Akkadian birth goddesses of whom there were similarly seven in number.
  • In Sanchuniathon's account, the Kotharat were referred to as the "Titanids or Artemids", thus linking them to the female Greek Titans and to the Greek hunting goddess Artemis, as she was sometimes regarded as a birth goddess.
• Fertility Goddesses: They presided over reproduction and birth, allowing couples to successfully conceive and protecting the mother and child during the pregnancy and birth.
• Love Goddesses: The Kotharat were also associated with sexual pleasure, and were called "those skilled in the pleasure of the bed of conception".
• Multiple-Choice Past: They were generally identified as the daughters of Hilalu, god of the crescent moon, and their mother was implied to be Astarte. However, in Sanchuniathon's account, they were instead stated to have been the daughters of El and Astarte.

Melqart

𐡌𐡋𐡒𐡓𐡕 | 𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕 | ܡܸܠܩܲܪܬ | מֶלְקַרְת | Melqart^note translated "King of the City"

Melqart was the god of monarchy, the sea, colonization, and commercial enterprise, as well as the chief god of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and two of its colonies, Carthage and Gadir (modern-day Cádiz). Often titled Ba‘al Ṣūr ("Lord of Tyre"), he was also known as the Son of Baal (or El, the Ruler of the Universe), King of the Underworld, and Protector of the Universe. Melqart was the son of Baal Hadad and Astarte, and the father of Sid/Sardus, the eponymous hero-god of the island of Sardinia. Melqart symbolized the annual cycle of vegetation, and was the focus of a festival of resurrection each year in the month of Peritia (February-March) in which a sacrifice was made by fire or a figure of the god was ritually burnt. Further, he was considered responsible for Tyre's commercial success, as he was credited as the discoverer (with the help of his consort Tyrus) of the dye known as Tyrian purple, which he made by gathering many murex shellfish and extracting the dye from them, which the Phoenicians used to create their famous purple cloth. Melqart was also invoked in oaths sanctioning contracts, thus it was customary to build a temple to Melqart, as protector of Tyrian traders, in each new Phoenician colony. Melqart was attested as early as the 10th century BCE, which was when his long-lasting temple at Tyre was built during the reign of Hiram I, and Carthage even sent a yearly tribute of 10% of the public treasury to the god in Tyre up until the Hellenistic period.

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• The Almighty Dollar: Melqart served as the chief benefactor and protector of Tyre, and was responsible for its wealth and prosperity. His temple in Tyre functioned as the city's treasury and the religious bond between Tyre and its colonies through the building of temples in honor of Melqart ensured the tutelage of the temple of Tyre in the enterprise of founding a colony or commercial enclave. He could also use his control over prosperity to bring misfortune as a form of punishment. In the Baalu treaty, Melqart was invoked alongside Eshmun to punish the treaty breaker by destroying his land, enslaving his people, and depriving him of food, clothing, and oil.
• Deity Identity Confusion: In Cypriot inscriptions, Melqart melded over time with Eshmun, the chief god of Sidon, into one entity named Eshmun-Melqart.
  • From the 4th century BCE onwards, the Greeks identified Melqart with their own divine hero Heracles, with the two eventually becoming interchangeable, and he thus became the subject of a popular cult across the Greek world. In Cyprus, where there was a strong Phoenician cultural influence on the western side of the island, Melqart was often depicted with Heracles' traditional symbols of a lion skin and club.
  • Similar to the Greeks, the Romans conflated Melqart with Hercules, and he continued to be important in the Roman period. When writing about Melqart specifically, they would often distinguish him as the "Tyrian Hercules". The temple at Gades was particularly renowned and Melqart received a boost in prestige during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, both of whom were, not coincidentally, of Spanish origin. The cult was given imperial status and coins carried his image.
  • Melqart may also be the origin of the Greek mythological figure Melicertes who had associations with the sea and who came to be known as Palaemon ("the wrestler"), one of the epithets of Heracles. However, scholars such as Lewis Farnell rejected any connection between Melqart and Melicertes, instead referring to it as an "accidental resemblance in sound" and that the two had "no affinity in form or myth". Additionally, it was also noted that the two had distinct differences in their respective iconography, namely that Melqart was depicted as a bearded man while Melicertes was typically envisioned as a child or young boy. There is also no indication in myths about Melqart of any connection with Ino, the mother of Melicertes, who was otherwise considered "aboriginally inseparable" from the myths of Melicertes.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Melqart also had functions as a chthonic deity and an association with the underworld, in which capacity he was lord of the ground and of its productive faculties.
• Divine Right of Kings: Melqart represented the all-pervasive power of the monarchy and was considered to be the divine personification of the ideal Phoenician king. The royal family of Tyre worshipped him as their dynastic patron. Melqart's presence in distant lands through the Tyrian custom of building a temple in his honor upon the founding of a colony or commercial enclave guaranteed or drew attention to the intervention of the monarchy in every distant commercial activity.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Melqart was credited with the founding of Tyre, which the Phoenicians, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, placed around the 28th century BCE. The Egyptian-Greek historian Nonnos recounted a tale of how Melqart taught the primeval, earthborn inhabitants of Phoenicia how to build the first boat and instructed them to sail out to a pair of floating, rocky islands. On one of the islands, there grew an olive tree with a serpent at its foot, an eagle at its summit, and which glowed in the middle with fire that burned but did not consume. Following the god's instructions, these primeval humans cut down the tree and sacrificed the eagle to the gods. Thereupon, the islands rooted themselves to the bottom of the sea and the city of Tyre was founded.
• Life/Death Juxtaposition: Reflecting his dual role as both protector of the world and cthonic underworld deity, Melqart was often shown holding an Egyptian ankh or lotus flower as a symbol of life and a fenestrated axe as a symbol of death.
• Making a Splash: Melqart was also revered as a maritime deity who possessed great maritime prowess. He was the patron of shipping and trade, and coins from Tyre depicted him as a sea god mounted on a hippocampus. Rain was ascribed to him shaking his head of the waters of his bath in the eastern Ocean.
• The Power of the Sun: Due to a tendency in the later Hellenistic and Roman periods for almost all gods to develop solar attributes, and for almost all eastern gods to be identified with the sun, Melqart was frequently referred to as a sun god. Nonnus' Dionysiaca gave Melqart the title Astrochiton ("Starclad") and recited a hymn saluting him as "the son of Time, he who causes the threefold image of the Moon, the all-shining Eye of the heavens". His sun-disk was praised as the cause of growth in plants.
• Resurrective Immortality: Melqart was regarded as a dying and rising god, who died and was reborn each year in accordance with the natural cycles, thus instigating the annual lifecycle of the earth's vegetation. A story by Greek scholar Eudoxus of Cnidus told how Melqart was once killed by Saphon in Libya (another version located his death in Spain), and his son Sid brought a quail to the dead god (presumably a roasted quail) and its delicious scent roused Melqart back to life. This purported to explain why the Phoenicians sacrifice quails to Melqart. The egersis ("awakening") of Melqart took place and was celebrated annually every spring in the month of Peritia (February-March), when the rains stopped. As part of the festival, an effigy of the god would be placed on a giant raft, ceremonially set ablaze, and then cast adrift. The intention of this ritual appears to have been twofold: firstly, to revive the god and make him immortal by virtue of fire, and, secondly, to ritually purify him by virtue of water.

Milcom

𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡌 | 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤌 | ܡܸܠܟܘܿܡ | מִלְכֹּם | 𒀭𒈠𒀠𒆪𒌝 | Milcom^note possibly translated "their king"

Milcom was the national god of the Ammonites, or at least a popular god among them. He was associated with fortune and light, as well as possible associations with the stars. He was seen as benevolent, exalted, and strong. According to the Hebrew Bible, King Solomon introduced the worship of Milcom into Israel, and commisioned the building of a sanctuary to Milcom south of the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. However, the worship of Milcom in Judah was eventually abolished in the reforms of Josiah in the late seventh century BCE, which involved the destruction of the high place sanctuary built by Solomon. Additionally, Milcom might also have been worshipped in Ugarit, as a god called mlkm was mentioned on a list of gods from there, and the Mesopotamian city of Puzrish-Dagan (modern-day Drehem) during the Ur III period, where a god called Malkum was attested on clay tablets. The Ammonite epigraphical evidence, such as the Amman Citadel Inscription, attests that Milcom was worshipped from as early as the 9th century BCE until at least the 5th century BCE.

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• Animal Motifs: On several Ammonite seals, Milcom was often connected with bull imagery, possibly due to conflation with El. Additionally, two iconic Milcom-named stamp seals showed a picture of a four-winged scarab beetle, which might have represented the sun.
• Cool Crown: If the stone statues discovered around Ammon indeed depict Milcom, then he was envisioned as wearing a crown in the plumed atef style characteristic of the imagery of the Egyptian god Osiris.
• Cosmic Motifs: Milcom might have had an astral aspect, as two bureaucratic Ammonite stamp seals containing his name depicted a symbol featuring a scarab beetle (seemingly representing the sun) flanked by two identical poles (interpreted as lunar standards), each topped with an inverted crescent and a round object. The astral attributes of Milcom are also supported by the attested theophoric name mlkm'wr ("Milcom is light"). However, scholars have generally concluded the data-set is too small to make any deductions about the astralization of Milcom, and can be more safely taken as an indicator that Ammonite religion in general had an astral orientation.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Most scholars agree that Milcom and El were commonly identified and conflated in Ammonite religion, although in what way and to what extent has not been completely determined. Of the 279 personal names extant from Ammonite texts, 186 contained El's name as a theophoric element, while only six used Milcom, indicating an overwhelming preference for El at least in the Ammonite onomasticon. Some researchers have argued that Milcom was a "royal epithet" of El, while others have suggested that Milcom absorbed aspects of El, whose name then functioned as a "placeholder" for him. A minority of scholarship on Ammonite religion also maintains that El and Milcom were worshipped in Ammon as perduringly separate gods.
  • Due to having similar names, Milcom has been linked by scholars to the underworld god Malik, who was attested from Nineveh, as well as theophoric names in the Mari tablets and Ebla tablets, and Moloch, a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice who was similarly worshipped by the Ammonites and was even referred to as their chief god in certain translations of the Hebrew Bible. The possible connection between Milcom and Malik is currently considered impossible to establish. Regarding Milcom and Moloch, the description of Moloch as the chief god of the Ammonites may be a scribal error, and the sacrifices of children were never offered to Milcom, instead always referencing Moloch. Additionally, it has been noted that both were portrayed as having separate places of worship in Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible.
  • Several stone statues believed to depict Milcom showed features of the Egyptian god Osiris, namely the atef crown, suggesting that aspects of the Osirid cult may have been adopted into Milcom's cult.
• Lost Common Knowledge: Milcom's exact functions and role are uncertain due to the surviving attestations revealing little about him. Even his generally accepted status as the principal deity of the Ammonites has not been fully ascertained, with some scholars suggesting that the leading deity of the Ammonites was instead the supreme Canaanite god El, as his name occurred in the overwhelming majority of Ammonite theophoric personal names, while Milcom could instead have been more specifically the patron god of the Ammonite royalty, based on his name having been featured in an inscription on monumental architecture in the Ammonite capital and as a theophoric element in the name of a high-ranking royal official, as well as the atef-crowned Ammonite statuary found within a ten mile radius of the Ammonite capital, many of which are believed to visually represent Milcom.
• Nice Guy: Milcom was viewed as a benevolent and exalted god. His character is generally attested through theophoric names such as mlkmgd ("Milcom is fortune") and possibly bdmlkm ("by/in the hand(s) of Milcom"), although the reading of the latter is uncertain, as well as the phrase brk lmlkm ("blessed by Milcom").

Mot

ܡܵܘܬ݂ܵܐ | מָוֶת | 𐎎𐎚 | 𐡌𐡕 | 𐤌𐤕 | 𒀭𒈬𒌑𒌅 | Μώτ / Μοὺθ | Mōt^note translated "death"

Mot was the god of death, sterility, drought, and the underworld. He was a son of El and Asherah, as well as El's favorite child. Mot resided in the underworld, specifically in the capitol city hmry ("Mirey"), where he sat upon his throne, surrounded by infernal filth and rot, and ruled over the dark and muddy realm. The entrance to the underworld was located between two mountains named Tharumagi and Targhizizi, which stood in the north at the ends of the earth. In the Baal Cycle, Mot got offended when Baal Hadad sent a message requesting his submission and inviting him to a meal of bread and wine in his new palace, as Mot constantly hungered for human flesh and blood and refused to accept Baal's authority. In response, Mot threatened to eat Baal and to cause the heavens to wilt and collapse. In their first confrontation, Mot seemingly managed to kill Baal, but was himself subsequently killed by Anat in retaliation, allowing Baal to be resurrected. However, Mot soon came back to life as well, and he and Baal fought on Mount Saphon until they were both exhausted. Mot was then informed by the sun goddess Shapash that El was on Baal's side and would overturn Mot's throne if he continued opposing him. As a result, Mot finally conceded and aknowledged Baal's sovereignty.

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• Cruel and Unusual Death: After Mot managed to kill Baal during their first confrontation, he was himself killed by his sister Anat in retaliation. She seized him, split him with a sword, winnowed him with a sieve, burned him with fire, ground him with mill-stones, and scattered his remains in the field where birds devoured him.
• Deity Identity Confusion: In Sanchuniathon's account, Mot was equated with the Greek death god Thanatos and Roman underworld god Pluto.
• The Dreaded: Mot feared by deities and humans alike due to his voracious appetite and strength, with even Baal Hadad, one of the few gods capable of fighting him, initially expressing fear of him.
• Fisher King: Mot's underworld was an unpleasant place of decay and destruction, with his capital city Mirey being described as rotten and muddy, while other areas consisted of desert and heat blasted lands. However, there was also a pleasant location known as the pastureland, located in the beautiful fields by the shore of death at the edge of the underworld. Additionally, if Mot triumphed over Baal when they fought, seven years of drought and famine would ensue until Baal was revived and could fight him again.
• God of the Dead: Mot was the god of death who ruled over the underworld from the city of Mirey, a rotten and fetid marshland filled with rot and mud, where he sat upon a throne within a muddy pit. Mot was a fierce and voracious god who consumed gods, humans, and animals alike. The entrance to the underworld was described as his "throat", and the phrase "descent into the gullet of Mot" was the equivalent of descending into the underworld. Additionally, Mot was also known as the "King of Terrors", who ruled over a host of infernal spirits, demons, and shadows, which seized their victims to then be carried before Mot's throne.
• Horror Hunger: Mot had an insatiable appetite for gods and humans, and his jaws encompassed the earth and swallowed people when they died. When Baal sent his messengers to Mot, he specifically instructed them to not get too close to him, as he would certainly grab and eat them if they did.
• Jerkass God: Mot was generally viewed as a wholly evil deity without redeeming features, who acted as a cosmic enemy and menace to both the gods and humanity. He was not regarded as a deity to be worshipped, but rather as a force to be held in check, and was totally absent from the local pantheon list, offering lists, and theophoric names in Ugarit. At least two Ugaritic ritual texts revolved around driving Mot away, one being an apotropaic ritual in which Mot was "pruned like a vine" (i.e. attacked) and destroyed in order to prevent him from harming newborn children, and the other discussing the possibility of Mot attacking the people of a city and the ritual necessary to get rid of him.
• Order Versus Chaos: Mot represented harmful chaos in his battles against Baal Hadad, who represented beneficial order. Mot represented death and hunger, while Hadad represented life and fertility by making crops grow and providing people with food.
• The Power of the Sun: Mot was associated with the burning summer heat and drought. This might have been emphasized by one of his titles, ṣḥr mt (possibly translated "heat of Mot"), although the reading is extremely uncertain. When Mot annually gained rule over the seasonal cycle during the summer by vanquishing Baal, he caused the sun goddess Shapash to burn very hotly and become destructive as a result.
• Resurrective Immortality: Despite being brutally killed, dismembered, burned, ground up, and scattered by his sister Anat, Mot managed to come back to life no worse for wear.
• Staff of Authority: As a symbol of his rulership, Mot carried a sceptre, which was known as the "sceptre of bereavement" and the "sceptre of widowhood".
• Villainous Glutton: Mot's main characteristic was that he was a voracious consumer of gods and men. His gullet and appetite were frequently mentioned, and he had an enormous mouth, with his jaws reaching to the earth, his lips to the heavens, and his tongue to the stars.

Nikkal-wa-Ib

ܢܝܼܟܟܲܠ ܘܐܸܒܵܐ | נִכָּל וְאִבּ | 𐎐𐎋𐎍𐎆𐎛𐎁 | 𓈖𓍇𓏌𓏲𓎢𓄿𓂋𓏤𓅆 | Nikkal-wa-Ib^note translated "great goddess-and-blossom"

Nikkal-wa-Ib, commonly simply called Nikkal, was the goddess of orchards and fruits. Her husband was the moon god Yarikh, who caused the dew to fall each night and watered her trees so that they could thrive. Her name came from the west Semitic 'Ilat 'Inbi ("Goddess of Fruit"). She was the daughter of the summer god Hiribi, who did not at first want her to marry Yarikh, and instead suggested he marry Pidraya, a daughter of Baal. After a generous bride-price was offered, made up of a thousand pieces of silver, ten thousand pieces of gold, and including necklaces made of lapis lazuli, Hiribi relented and the two were wed. Later, the Kotharat, the goddesses of marriage and childbirth, came to oversee the birth of the son of Nikkal and Yarikh. Although she was originally a Syrian goddess, Nikkal was one of several deities adopted by the Hurrians after the destruction of Ebla. Additionally, the Hymn to Nikkal is a Hurrian song and the oldest incomplete annotated piece of ancient music, a hymn in Ugaritic cuneiform syllabic writing which was dedicated to the goddess. Nikkal was already worshipped in Ebla and Mari in the third millennium BCE, and one of her most important cult centers was in Ugarit.

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• Crossover Cosmology: After the destruction of Ebla, Nikkal was adopted by the Hurrians, and eventually the Hittites, and she received offerings in Anatolia sometimes under the double name Umbu-Nikkal (which corresponded to Nikkal-wa-Ib in Ugaritic texts). Queens of the early Hittite Empire bore names containing Nikkal as a theophoric elements, such as Nikkal-mati and Ašmu-nikkal, who held rituals with their sons celebrating the goddess. She was viewed as an oath goddess and was mentioned among the divine witnesses in Hittite state treaties. She witnessed a treaty as "Oath Queen" in a witness list of the treaty made between the Great Hittite King Tudḫaliya IV and Kurunta, the King of Tarḫuntašša.
  • Nikkal was worshipped in Egypt in the New Kingdom period, and was attested in a papyrus fragment generally believed to come from the end of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Nikkal was ultimately derived from the Sumerian reed goddess Ningal, who was similarly the wife of the Sumerian moon god Nanna/Sin. The name Nikkal was the Hurrian form of Ningal, and the two were originally considered interchangeable. Through the Hurrians, worship of Nikkal was spread to Anatolia and Syria-Palestine, with the goddess gradually becoming more distinct from her Sumerian counterpart.
• Green Thumb: Nikkal was associated with orchards and the fruits of the earth. Her marriage with the moon god Yarikh symbolized an ancient association between the new moon and fruit, based on analogy of the two as self-renewing on a cyclical basis. This connection was emphasized by Yarikh in The Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh:
  I will make her field (into) vineyards, the field of her love (into) orchards
• Happily Married: Nikkal's betrothal to Yarikh was presented as a joyful occurence, with the Kotharat providing her with blessing and protection for her forthcoming marriage. The poem describing Nikkal and Yarikh's marriage is believed to have been regularly recited at ceremonies of engagement and courtship. Additionally, it has been suggested that their marriage also symbolized the period of the new moon after harvest, which is still a favorite time for a wedding in the Levant, because the resources are there to celebrate it.

Qos

𐡒𐡅𐡎 | 𐤒𐤅‬‬𐤎 | ܩܘܿܣ | קוֹס | 𒀭𒋡𒍑 | 𓈎𓄿𓅱𓋴 | Kωζαι | Qōs^note translated "bow"

Qos was the national god of the Edomites, and was associated with storms, weather, mountains, hunting, and war. Qos was described as a "king" and possibly "judge", was associated with light, and defined as "powerful", "mighty", and "generous". He was described as a god who "adorns, avenges, blesses, builds, chooses, gives, helps, knows saves". Little is known about the religious practices of the Edomites, although at least some of them practiced circumcision, the significance of which is unknown. The worship of Qos appears to originally have been located in the Ḥismā area of southern Jordan and north Arabia, where a mountain, Jabal al-Qaus, still bears that name. The earliest possible attestation of Qos might have been in 13th century BCE Egyptian topographical lists as a theophoric element in the names of Shasu clans, who were Semitic nomads from Seir, a mountainous region in northern Edom and southern Judah. By the eighth century BCE, Qos was worshipped throughout Edom and southern Judah in places such as Bozrah, Elath (modern-day Tell el-Kheleifeh), Mareshah, Tel 'Erani, Tel Halif, Bet-Nir, and Aroer (modern-day Ar'arat an-Naqab), and occured as a theophoric element in many Idumean names, including the names of the Edomite kings Qōs-malaku, a tributary of Tiglath-Pileser III, and Qōs-gabar, a tributary of Esarhaddon. Qos was also worshipped by the Nabateans after they established themselves within the Edomite territory in Petra during the late Hellenistic era. Following the fall of the Edomite kingdom in the 6th century BCE, the Edomites migrated to the area that had been southern Judah and would eventually become known as Idumea, although the area was initially controlled by Qedarite Arabs during the Persian period. After the conquest of Idumea by the Judean Hasmonean dynasty near the end of the second century BCE, the Idumeans largely converted to Judaism, although a number of them chose exile and migrated to Egypt to continue their traditional worship of Qos. Additionally, certain groups of Idumeans, mostly from the rural population, retained their devotion to Qos despite having remained in the territory of Idumea.

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• Alternate Company Equivalent: Qos was the Edomite rival of the Israelite god Yahweh, and structurally parallel to him.
• Animal Motifs: At Khirbet et-Tannur, Qos was represented flanked by bulls, a common symbol of strength and fertility attributed to weather gods. He was also associated with eagles, which were used as his symbol and were offered to him. Qos also had a connection with ostriches, which were abundantly featured at the Edomite shrine Ḥorvat Qitmit. His association with ostriches is generally believed to have symbolized his status as "lord of the animals", a common attribute given to steppe dwelling deities of the northern Arabian Peninsula.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Qos and Yahweh were closely linked in an uncertain way. The two are generally believed to have both originated from Edom, and their cults shared a number of characteristics. Additionally, the Hebrew Bible notably makes no direct references to Qos, but does contain references that hint at the possibility that the Edomites used to worship Yahweh. Scholars have proposed three possible explanations for the relationship between Yahweh and Qos. The first explanation is that Yahweh and Qos were both originally epithets of the same storm deity, or that Qos was originally just the divine weapon and symbol of Yahweh, and the two became distinct deities following the respective formations of the Kingdoms of Judah and Edom, with the growing hostility between the kingdoms possibly having been a factor. The second explanation is that Yahweh was the original patron god of the early inhabitants of Judah and Edom, but was eventually supplanted among the Edomites by the Arabian Qos, in the wake of an "Arabizing" movement in the 8th century BCE. However, this view is now generally not accepted because, while an Arab origin of Qos has a certain likelihood, the evidence suggests that Qos was already known in Edom prior to the 8th century BCE. The third explanation is that Yahweh and Qos existed side-by-side in a pantheon among the tribes of the northwestern Arabian Peninsula. This religious connection likely resulted from ancient familial and economic ties between the tribal groups of the Sinai, the Hijaz, and the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, who would eventually come to inhabit Judah and Edom.
  • Among the Qedarite Arabs who moved into Edom during the 8th century BCE, Qos was equated with Quzah, a mountain and weather god worshipped in north Arabia. The assimilation of the deities is believed to have been the result, or the inspiration, of the phrase qaws Quzaḥ ("bow of Quzah"), an Arabic idiom meaning "rainbow".
  • Among the Nabataeans, an Arab people whose kingdom expanded itself into Edomite territory, Qos was conflated with their national god Dushara, likely due to the overlap between the Edomites and the Nabataeans due to their geographical and perhaps cultural proximity. Certain scholars have suggested that Dushara eventually became an epithet of Qos, with his full title being Qos Dushara ("Qos the one of the Shara Mountains").
  • In Hellenistic Idumea, Qos seems to have been associated with Apollo, and both of them were overwhelmingly attested as theophoric elements in the personal names of the Idumeans who lived in Egypt at Memphis and Hermopolis during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. A mid-2nd century BCE stele from Memphis commemorated the dedication by the Idumeans of a temple to "Apollo" and "Zeus", with Qos likely being conflated with Zeus, as Apollo was more often conflated with Resheph due to Sidonian influence.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Qos was associated with mountains and was known as the god of Haura (modern-day el-Humaimah, in the Hisma district of Southern Jordan, opposite to Khirbet el-Tannur, on the northern side of the Wadi Hesa), a denudate region containing a dark basalt outcrop of volcanic origin.
• God of Thunder: Qos was envisioned as a storm and weather god and bringer of fertility through the protection of the vegetation by ensuring rain. At Khirbet et-Tannur, he was depicted seated on a throne holding a multi-branched thunderbolt in his left hand.
• War God: Qos was also a warrior and hunter god, and the origin of his name suggests that he was originally considered a deified weapon (specifically a bow) that was eventually elevated to the status of a deity.

Resheph

ܪܵܫܵܦ̮ | רֶשֶׁף | 𐎗𐎌𐎔 | 𐡓𐡔𐡐 | 𐤓‬𐤔‬𐤐 | 𒀭𒊏𒊓𒀊 | 𓂋𓈙𓊪𓅱𓀭 / 𓂋𓈙𓊪𓏲𓅆 | Resheph^note translated "burning fever, plague, pestilence"

Resheph was the god of plague, pestilence, fertility, healing, protection, war, and horned animals (specifically deer and gazelles). He was viewed as the god of battle and diseases, which he spread through his bow and arrows. He was also a chthonic god who served as the gatekeeper of the underworld, opening the entrance for the sun goddess Shapash when she descended into the underworld every night. He also once assisted Baal Hadad in a battle against the sea monster Tannin, during which Resheph jumped between the two and shot arrows into Tannin's kidneys and heart. His wife was the goddess Adamma, although the two were more commonly attested separately in later periods. Resheph was already attested as a popular deity at Ebla in the 3rd millennium BCE, with his cult centre being in the city of Adani (probably located near to Ebla), as well as being worshipped at Mari, Terqa, Tunip, Tuttul, Hana, and Ur. During the Late Bronze Age, Resheph had become especially popular at Ugarit, Byblos, Arsuf (later Apollonia), and Ras Ibn Hani, and his cult centres were in Bibit (an Anatolian city in or near the Zagros Mountains) and Gunu (a Syrian city). Resheph was extremely widespread throughout the Mediterranean region, with his cult having been present in Syria, Palestine, Cilicia, Cyprus, Carthage, and Egypt.

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• Above Good and Evil: Resheph was an ambivalent god, who was considered both simultaneously dangerous and benevolent, capable of both hurting and healing. Despite primarily bringing epidemics and death, he was also invoked to help and deliver from the very disasters that he sent.
• The Almighty Dollar: Resheph was sometimes viewed as a protector of commerce in places such as Emar, and was commonly regarded as the patron god of the market in he Hittite Empire.
• Animal Motifs: Resheph was commonly associated with gazelles, and was generally depicted with the head of a gazelle attached to his forehead or the front of his helmet. The association is believed to have been derived from the fact that gazelles symbolized foreigners (usually Western Asiatic people) in Egyptian iconography, and were also regarded as "noxious, pestilential and harmful" animals and symbols of evil in Egypt, as they, for example, up-rooted crops when they passed from the desert into cultivated areas. Similarly, in Syria and Anatolia, Resheph was associated with long horned-animals such as bucks and stags, and was referred to with the epithet "Lord of Horns".
• Cosmic Motifs: Resheph was associated with the planet Mars. Reflecting Resheph's role as Shapash's gatekeeper, Mars was viewed as an acolyte of the sun. The sight of the planet in the sky was considered a sign of misfortune, and observers conducted special rituals explaining the uncertain future.
• Crossover Cosmology: Resheph's worship was introduced into Egypt by Semitic migrants and slaves as early as the Thirteenth Dynasty during the Middle Kingdom period, although his cult among the Egyptians largely began thanks to the support of Amenhotep II, who regarded Resheph as his special protector during military enterprises. A temple dedicated to him was attested in Memphis, but he was likely worshipped in many Nile Delta regions, with an area of the Nile valley having been renamed the "Valley of Resheph". Resheph was largely worshipped as a war god associated with horses and chariots, although he was also still invoked to provide good health and protection. He was also worshipped as a patron of the foreign and native artisans of Deir el-Medina, an Egyptian workmen's village. He was viewed as the son of the creator and fertility god Heryshaf, and was frequently associated with the desert god Set and the falcon war god Montu, even having been said to reside in the latter's abode. Resheph also formed a triad with the Egyptian fertility god Min and and fellow Semitic goddess Qetesh.
  • Resheph was one of several Western Semitic gods adopted by the Hurrians following the fall of Ebla, and was eventually incorporated into the Hittite Empire. He appeared in Hurrian texts under the name Aršappa or Iršappa, often with the epithet "(tutelary god) of the market", and was among the gods incorporated into the pantheons of Samuha and the Hittite capital Hattusa.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Resheph was conflated to some extent with Mekal, the tutelary god of Beth-shan (modern-day Tell el-Husn), in northern Israel. The two appeared to share similar iconography, and had become completely syncretized at Cyprus, where a bilingual text from Idalion attested to "Resheph Mekal".
  • At Ebla and Ugarit, Resheph was equated with the Mesopotamian Nergal, who was similarly a god of plagues and death. However, their conflation is largely believed to have been an attempt to approximate their respective domains and characteristics, rather than a complete syncretism between the two. Regardless, the same logograms were generally used to write both of their names in places like Cyprus.
  • The Greeks and Romans equated Resheph with Apollo, as both of them were viewed as simultaneously being the bringers of plague who spread pestilence by firing deadly arrows as well as acting as healers and safeguards against illnesses. They were expressly identified in two 4th century BCE Greek-Phoenician bilingual inscriptions from Cyprus, specifically from ancient Tamassos and Idalion, in which "Resheph Mekal" was conflated with "Apollo Amyclus". Similarly, in Phoenician texts, Apóllōn Hekēbólos ("Apollo the Far-shooter") was paralleled by ršp ḥṣ ("Resheph of the Arrow"). It is also commonly accepted by scholars that the "Apollo" mentioned in the god-list in the treaty between Hannibal and Philip V of Macedonia was Resheph.
  • In Anatolia, Resheph was equated with the Luwian god Runtiya, likely due to their shared association with deer. In the bilingual Luwian-Phoenician Karatepe text, Runtiya was identified with ršp ṣprm ("Resheph of the Stags").
• Healer God: Although primarily associated with plagues and sickness, Resheph also posessed a positive and protective aspect associated with life and healing. His epithets included "healer" and "giver of health", and he was invoked to heal people from diseases and protect them against demons. His healing aspect was particularly commonly invoked in Egyptian prayers:
  Giving praise to Reshef and making obeisance to the great god. May he give life, prosperity, and health, sharpness of face, praise and love the lifetime of Ra, while following his ka.
• Healing Hands: Resheph was invoked for healing and protection against sickness. He is attested to have been one of the gods invoked against snake bites (albeit unsuccessfully), abdominal pains, and repelling demons.
• Plague Master: Resheph was envisioned as a bringer of plagues and pestilence, which he inflicted through the arrows that he shot. As such, diseases and epidemics were commonly referred to as the "arrows of Resheph". This aspect was invoked with the epithet Resheph Ḥāgāb ("Resheph of the Locust"). During the mid-14th century BCE, the King of Alashiya (modern-day Cyprus) attributed an epidemic afflicting his country to either Nergal or Resheph, referring to it as the "hand of Nergal/Resheph".
• War God: Resheph was viewed as a fierce, death-bringing warrior god, and was commonly known by the epithet "Resheph of the Army". At Ebla, he received a considerable amount of weapons as offerings over a period of about 30-40 years, which consisted of 15 daggers/knives, 5 spears/lances, 11 axes (including 4 golden ones) and at least two clubs. His warlike aspect was particularly popular in Egypt during the reign of Amenophis II, who regarded Resheph as his personal military protector, and Resheph was commonly depicted smiting the pharaoh's enemies. Additionally, Resheph's association with war resulted in him also being connected with chariots, horses, and horse breeding. However, Resheph was also invoked as a protector, represented as an aggressive figure wielding a weapon and shield in a menacing way to protect worshippers and dedicators against all evil, but mostly sickness.

Shahar

ܫܲܚܲܪ | שַׁחַר | 𐎌𐎈𐎗 | 𐡔𐡇𐡓 | 𐤔𐤇𐤓 | Šaḥar^note translated "dawn"

Shahar was the god of the dawn, and was commonly invoked alongside his brother Shalim, the god of the dusk. The conception of the brothers was described in The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, in which their father El conceived them with the goddesses Asherah and Rahmay, who then gave birth to Shahar and Shalim respectively. Later on, the brothers were were tasked to roam the "holy steppe" and build a sanctuary there for seven or eight years. Towards the end of their sojourn, they came across a "guardian of the sown land, from whom they then demanded food and wine. Referred to as "the gracious gods", the brothers were placed with the sun goddess Shapash and the stars in the sky, and were described as having insatiable appetites. They resided in the heavens, and occasionally assisted Shapash in performing certain tasks. The story of them wandering the steppe is believed to have been part of the cultic celebration of the wine harvest in the autumnal festival that presumably occured in the month riš yn ("the beginning of the wine"), which reflected their role as companions of the sun goddess, whose power ripened wine, grapes, and other autumnal crops. Shahar might have been the father of Helel, the god of the planet Venus.the planet Venus. Shahar was attested at Emar as Šaḫru during the 2nd millenium BCE, and Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age.

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• Big Eater: Shahar and Shalim were both known for being ravenous and having voracious appetites. In The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, they were described coming upon a watchman guarding a grain store in a fenced in oasis and asked him for food. They subsequently consumed all the loaves of bread in his basket and the wine in his jug. Their gaping mouths and the volume of food they consumed in general were also described in detail:
  One lip (is) to the earth, one lip to the heavens, and they enter their mouth: the birds of heaven and the fish from the sea. And there they stand, ravenous lad with ravenous lad, they put (food) into their mouths from the right and the left, but they are not satisfied!
• Cosmic Motifs: Shahar was associated with the planet Venus, specifically as the Morning Star that paved the way for the rise of the sun.
• God of Light: The god of the dawn.
• Light 'em Up: Shahar was associated with the dawn, and he and his brother Shalim were referred to as the "cleavers of the day", who performed great works for the sun goddess Shapash and lasting works for the Kabkabum, the star gods.

Shalim

ܫܲܠܸܡ | שָׁלֵם | 𐎌𐎍𐎎 | 𐡔𐡋𐡌 | 𐤔𐤋𐤌 | Šalim^note translated "complete, healthy" or "peace"

Shalim was the god of the dusk, and was commonly invoked alongside his brother Shahar, the god of the dawn. The conception of the brothers was described in The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, in which their father El conceived them with the goddesses Asherah and Rahmay, who then gave birth to Shahar and Shalim respectively. Later on, the brothers were were tasked to roam the "holy steppe" and build a sanctuary there for seven or eight years. Towards the end of their sojourn, they came across a "guardian of the sown land, from whom they then demanded food and wine. Referred to as "the gracious gods", the brothers were placed with the sun goddess Shapash and the stars in the sky, and were described as having insatiable appetites. They resided in the heavens, and occasionally assisted Shapash in performing certain tasks. The story of them wandering the steppe is believed to have been part of the cultic celebration of the wine harvest in the autumnal festival that presumably occured in the month riš yn ("the beginning of the wine"), which reflected their role as companions of the sun goddess, whose power ripened wine, grapes, and other autumnal crops. Shalim was primarily attested at Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age, but might have been attested earlier in the Akkadian Empire as a theophoric element in Pre-Sargonic and Sargonic personal names. It is also believed that he served as the namesake of Jerusalem (commonly interpreted as "Foundation of Shalim") and the biblical town Salem (either a variant of Jerusalem or the modern-day Palestinian town Salim), with the former having been attested since at least the early 19th century BCE. Shalim was likely worshipped in Jerusalem up to King David's capture of the city in the early 10th century BCE, and it's possible that the cult of Shalim continued to exist within the city and even involved the early House of David, as two of David's sons, Absalom and Solomon, had names that possibly included Shalim as a theophoric element. The latest known possible attestation of Shalim was in the 4th century BCE Samaria Papyri as a theophoric element in Phoenician-Punic personal names.

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• Big Eater: Shalim and Shahar were both known for being ravenous and having voracious appetites. In The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, they were described coming upon a watchman guarding a grain store in a fenced in oasis and asked him for food. They subsequently consumed all the loaves of bread in his basket and the wine in his jug. Their gaping mouths and the volume of food they consumed in general were also described in detail:
  One lip (is) to the earth, one lip to the heavens, and they enter their mouth: the birds of heaven and the fish from the sea. And there they stand, ravenous lad with ravenous lad, they put (food) into their mouths from the right and the left, but they are not satisfied!
• Cosmic Motifs: Shalim was associated with the planet Venus, specifically as the Evening Star that accompanied the sun's entry into the nocturnal shadow world.
• God of Light: The god of dusk.
• Light 'em Up: Shalim was associated with the dusk, and he and his brother Shahar were referred to as the "cleavers of the day", who performed great works for the sun goddess Shapash and lasting works for the Kabkabum, the star gods.

Shapash

ܫܲܦܲܫ | שַפַּשׁ | 𐎌𐎔𐎌 | 𐡔𐡐𐡔 | 𐤔𐤐𐤔 | Shapash^note translated "sun"

Shapash was the goddess of the sun, known as the "lamp of the gods", as well as the royal messenger of El. She was regarded as the judge of the gods and humans alike, fixing their fates and issuing wise judgments. Shapash descended into the underworld every night, with the gatekeeper Resheph opening the gate for her, which also allowed the newly departed dead to journey along the pathway leading to the underworld. She also held a prominent position in death and burial, and was invoked during funerary rites under the epithet špš pgr ("Shapash of the Corpse"), in which capacity she accompanied the spirits of the royal ancestors from the realm of the living in the palace to the realm of the dead in the underworld. Additionally, Shapash was closely related to the sacrificial pgr mortuary ritual, in which she guided the royal spirits from the underworld to the palace in order to partake in the feast. Although she is not attested to have had a consort, Shapash was adressed as mother by the horse goddess Ủm Paḥlu Paḥlatu. In the Baal Cycle, Shapash announced El's support of the sea god Yam's kingship to Athtar. After Baal was seemingly killed by Mot, she helped Anat bury and mourn him, and then stopped shining. Following El's dream about the resurrection of Baal, El asked Anat to persuade Shapash to shine again, which she agreed to, as well as subsequently helping Anat to bring Baal back from the land of the dead and successfully resurrect him. In the battle between Baal and Mot, she threatened Mot that El would intervene in Baal's favour and unseat Mot, thus finally forcing Mot to concede and ending the conflict. Shapash might have been attested at Ebla as ^dUTU.SAL ("female sun") and Sipish, which seemingly occured as a theophoric element in the name of the vizier Ibbi-Sipish, although the translation of his name is contested. She was a major goddess at Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age, and was named second in a formulaic list of deities, behind only Baal. According to the Hebrew Bible, worship of Shapash was introduced in the Kingdom of Judah by King Manasseh in the early 7th century BCE, who appointed priests to burn incense to her in the "high places" throughout the cities of Judah and in the environment surrounding Jerusalem. She was also worshipped in one of the inner courtyards at the entrance of the Temple of Solomon, where her worship involved facing towards the east, in the direction of the sun, while worshipping her, as well as offerings of horses and chariots. Sun worship was ultimately abolished by King Josiah's reforms around 625 BCE, during which he took away the horses and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. However, her solar cult was not completely destroyed, as the worship of the sun was said to be carried on in Jerusalem within the temple court during the sixth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin in 591 BCE.

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• Animal Motifs: Shapash was associated with horses, which were believed to draw her sun chariot through the sky. As such, horses and chariots were offered to her.
• Crossover Cosmology: Shapash appears to have been worshipped in Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BCE, as attested in several Old Akkadian names which contained a feminine Shamash as a theophoric element.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Shapash was commonly conflated with the Mesopotamian sun god Utu/Shamash. The two were seemingly worshipped as consorts at Ebla during the Bronze Age, and Shamash's consort was referred to as Nur(u) ("luminary"), possibly corresponding to nrt 'ilm špš, the most common epithet of Shapash, in the 8th century BCE Aramaic Sefire steles. In Iron Age Phoenicia, Shapash and Utu/Shamash had become largely interchangeable, with the sun deity's name being consistently written as šmš and the deity being attested in both male and female forms.
  • In Heliopolis (modern-day Baalbek), the sun cult centered on a male deity, possibly due to cultural influence from Mesopotamia or the Greek cult of Helios.
  • In the 2nd century CE, Pausanias reported a conversation with a Sidonian in the Greek city-state of Aegium who referred to the sun as Apollo, and described them as being the father and sole parent of Asklepios while contrasting Greek and Phoenician notions of the gods.
• Healing Hands: Shapash was invoked in incantations against snakebites, as snake venom poisoning the body was compared to a darkness or mist, which her healing light dispelled.
• God of Light: The goddess of the sun.
• Light 'em Up: Shapash could control the glow of her light, and even stop shining altogether. After Baal's apparent death at the hands of Mot, Shapash stopped shining. Eventually, El appealed her to shine again, to which she agreed, but vowed to use her light to search for Baal in the underworld alongside Anat, which the two ultimately succeeded in.
• Light Is Good: Shapash was viewed as a goddess of justice, who fixed the fate of those dwelling in the divine realm and those in the earthly realm by limiting the power of Mot. As the judge of the gods and humankind, she issued universal judgments and often served to mediate for the gods in disputes. As the bringer of light, she was the all-seeing lawgiver, due to seeing all that transpired on Earth, during the day, and the guardian of the souls of the dead in the underworld by night.
• The Power of the Sun: As the goddess of the sun, Shapash possessed this power and was envisioned as driving a solar chariot through the sky during the day. She known as "the lamp of the gods", "the scorcher", and "the power of the sky". The intensity of her light was influenced by which deity was in charge over the seasonal cycle. Under the rule of Baal Hadad during the spring, the sun was a life giving force, but in the burning heat of late summer under the rule of Mot, Shapash's rays became destructive.
• Psychopomp: Shapash guided and protected the souls of the dead on their journey through the darkness of the underworld. During the funerary ritual held on the night of špš pgr wṯrmnm ("Shapash of the corpse and the sovereigns"), she was invoked to guide the spirits of the royal ancestors from the underworld to the palace in order to partake in the feast.

Yahweh

𐡉𐡄𐡅𐡄 | 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 | ܝܲܗܘܸܗ | יַהְוֶה | Yahweh^note Etymology uncertain. Possibly derived from Hebrew root hwy, meaning "to be". Alternative derivations could be derived from Arabic root hwy, meaning either "to blow", "to fall", or "to desire, be passionate"‎

Yahweh was the national god of the Israelites, and many details surrounding him remain uncertain even to this day. Yahweh's scope and vision appears to have evolved over time, but even then, it seems his earliest attributes were actually quite eclectic: he was envisioned as a creator who created the world, a lawgiver who set the ethical and ritual conduct of the people, a warrior who led the heavenly army to do battle against Israel's enemies, a fructifier who made the land of the Israelites fertile, and, possibly, even a metallurgist.

The centre of Yahweh's worship lay in three great annual festivals coinciding with major events in rural life: Passover with the birthing of lambs, Shavuot with the cereal harvest, and Sukkot with the fruit harvest. Although these agricultural festivals probably predated the worship of Yahweh, they became linked to events in the national mythos of Israel, and thus celebrated Yahweh's salvation of Israel and Israel's status as his holy people.

Yahweh was known and worshipped among the Israelites since before the 10th century BCE, and had become the official god of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah by the 9th century BCE. Over time, a struggle emerged between those who believed that Yahweh alone should be worshipped, and those who worshipped him within a larger group of gods, with the former initially being a small party until they ultimately triumphed and gained ascendancy in the Babylonian exile and early post-exilic period. By the 4th century BCE, the followers of Yahweh outright denied that the other deities existed at all, thus marking the transition from monolatrism to true monotheism.

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• Animal Motifs: Yahweh's worship involved a copper serpent since at least the 12th century BCE, as a copper snake image was present at Timna in a formerly Egyptian temple of Hathor that had been converted to the worship of Yahweh by the Midianites and Kenites. According to the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh instructed Moses to erect a bronze serpent on a pole, referred to as Nehushtan (possibly a Levite snake god), as a remedy for snake bites. The serpent was later placed within Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem, and was ultimately destroyed by King Hezekiah with the urging and support of the prophet Isaiah. The serpent was dragged out of the temple, smashed with mallets, and then publicly melted down.
  • Likely due to being conflated with El and appropriating traits from Baal, Yahweh was sometimes associated with bulls, having once even been described as having "the horns of the wild ox". According to the Hebrew Bible, when Jeroboam assumed power in the Northern Kingdom, he is said to have made two young golden bulls, and set one up at Bethel and the other at Dan, as well as setting up a priesthood to service the shrines and to have acted as a priest himself. Jeroboam supposedly identified the bulls as representing Yahweh himself, but some scholars have argued that this was a misrepresentation by the orthodox compilers, and that the bulls were instead conceived as either symbols or bases upon which the invisible Yahweh stood, as deities in Near Eastern iconography were often represented standing on the backs of animals. The theophoric personal name Egeliah on an ostracon from Samaria has also been cited as possible support for Yahweh's bull imagery, as the name could mean "Yahweh the young bull". However, this is inconclusive since the meaning "young bull of Yahweh", referring to the bearer of the name, is equally possible.
• The Blacksmith: Scholars such as Nissim Amzallag have proposed that Yahweh was originally a god of the forge and patron of metallurgists during the Bronze Age, noting that he shared striking similarities with other gods of metallurgy from the nearby surrounding cultures. The Edomites, Kenites, and Midianites of the southeastern Sinai all worshipped Yahweh to one degree or another, and were known as metalworkers and copper smelters. There is evidence that the Midianites and Edomites who operated the copper mines at Timna in the Negev converted an earlier Egyptian temple of Hathor to the worship of Yahweh, as the Hathor images were defaced and a tent sanctuary was installed with a copper snake. An essential link between Yahweh and copper was also suggested in the Book of Zechariah, where the dwelling of the God of Israel was symbolized by two mountains of copper. In his prophecies, Ezekiel described a divine being as "a man was there, whose appearance shone like copper", and in another part of this book, Yahweh was even explicitly mentioned as being a smelter. In Psalm 18:8, Yahweh was depicted as an anthropomorphized furnace, and in Isaiah 54:16, he was also explicitly mentioned as the creator of both the copperworker and his work.
• Crossover Cosmology: Outside of early Judaism, Yahweh was frequently invoked in Graeco-Roman magical texts dating from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE, most notably in the Greek Magical Papyri, under the names Iao, Adonai, Sabaoth, and Eloai. In these texts, he was often mentioned alongside traditional Graeco-Roman deities and Egyptian deities. The frequent occurrence of Yahweh's name was likely due to Greek and Roman folk magicians seeking to make their spells more powerful through the invocation of a prestigious foreign deity.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Yahweh was closely linked with the Edomite god Qos in an uncertain way. The two are generally believed to have both originated from Edom, and their cults shared a number of characteristics. Additionally, the Hebrew Bible notably makes no direct references to Qos, but does contain references that hint at the possibility that the Edomites used to worship Yahweh. Scholars have proposed three possible explanations for the relationship between Yahweh and Qos. The first explanation is that Yahweh and Qos were both originally epithets of the same storm deity, or that Qos was originally just the divine weapon and symbol of Yahweh, and the two became distinct deities following the respective formations of the Kingdoms of Judah and Edom, with the growing hostility between the kingdoms possibly having been a factor. The second explanation is that Yahweh was the original patron god of the early inhabitants of Judah and Edom, but was eventually supplanted among the Edomites by the Arabian Qos, in the wake of an "Arabizing" movement in the 8th century BCE. However, this view is now generally not accepted because, while an Arab origin of Qos has a certain likelihood, the evidence suggests that Qos was already known in Edom prior to the 8th century BCE. The third explanation is that Yahweh and Qos existed side-by-side in a pantheon among the tribes of the northwestern Arabian Peninsula. This religious connection likely resulted from ancient familial and economic ties between the tribal groups of the Sinai, the Hijaz, and the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, who would eventually come to inhabit Judah and Edom.
  • A sort of meta example, but as the Israelite religion evolved, Yahweh appears to have been syncretized with the Canaanite deity El, which led to the eventual assumption that the two had been the same god the entire time.
  • Several ancient sources recorded an apparently widespread belief in the classical world that Yahweh was identifiable with Greek and Roman gods. Tacitus, John the Lydian, Cornelius Labeo, and Marcus Terentius Varro all identified Yahweh with the Greek wine god Dionysus, while Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus, identified Yahweh with the Roman primal sky god Caelus.
  • Several Greek and Roman sources conflated Yahweh with the Thracian sky god Sabazios, seemingly due to confusing the cry of "Iao Sabaoth" (typically used by Greek speakers in reference to Yahweh) with the Sabazian cry of "Euoe Saboe". Plutarch similarly maintained that the day of Sabbath was a festival of Sabazius. In 139 BCE, Roman praetor Cornelius Hispalus deported the first Jews who settled in Rome, along with Chaldaean astrologers, for supposedly attempting to "infect the Roman customs with the cult of Jupiter Sabazius", as the Roman authorities had identified YHVH Sabaoth ("Yahweh of the Hosts") with Jove Sabazius.
• Depending on the Writer: In Canaan, Yahweh was generally depicted as a storm and warrior god, who granted fertility, bestowed kingship, and protected his people from their enemies. He was also envisioned as a stern enforcer of justice, who dealt out harsh punishments to those who broke the law. By contrast, the polytheistic Elephantine Jews depicted Yahweh (under the name "Yaho") with a Dionysian side. He drank wine in large quantities, liked to hear music, and was pleased by the sacrifice of fine lambs. Although the three Yahwistic psalms of the Amherst papyrus depicted him as a bachelor, the Elephantine Jews generally depicted him with a partner, the goddess Anat (referred to as both Anat-Bethel and Anat-Yaho).
• Dishing Out Dirt: Yahweh was closely associated with mountains, particularly with Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. One of his titles was zeh Sînay ("the one of Sinai"), and he was said to have come from Sinai in order to aid his people by, among other things, destroying their enemies by stretching out his right hand in order to make the earth swallow them up. His mobilization also caused earthquakes and the trembling of mountains. Later on, Yahweh's abode had shifted to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where he was said to dwell in its citadels and whose beauty was "like the heights of Saphon".
• Divine Right of Kings: Yahweh was viewed as the source and bestower of kingship, whose blessing ensured the protection, grace, and peace of the king and the kingdom. The king was regarded as having been anointed by Yahweh, and exercised his power in the god's name. Scholars have proposed that there was an annual renewal festival held on the first day of the tabernacles involving a procession and a cult-dramatic performance of the hieros logos (sacred word), which served as a public endorsement of the monarch by Yahweh in the presence of the gathered people. As participants, the king and the people then carried the ark of Yahweh into the temple at Jerusalem, which reinforced the righteousness of the king.
• Fertility God: Yahweh was considered the dispenser and giver of fertility and growth, bestowing agricultural blessings upon the land and causing it to become exuberant with new life. He blessed fields, gave of heaven's dew and earth's fatness, blessed the offspring of man and the produce of the soil, grain, wine, and oil, as well as the progeny of the flock. Children were considered an inheritance from Yahweh, and he also provided an abundance of rain, which was the main factor in the annual cycle of growth and fertility.
• God of Thunder: Yahweh was a storm god and bringer of fertility, who provided rain and produced precipitation that the inhabitants of the steppe and inland desert sites were dependent on. It is generally accepted that, as Yahweh's cult moved from the southern climes of Edom and Sinai, he appropriated traits from the coastal storm god Baal Hadad during the religious conflicts between their cults. Yahweh was regularly portrayed with storm god motifs within explicitly anti-Baal polemics, in which it was said that the earth trembled, clouds dropped water, and the mountains quaked when he appeared. Similarly, Yahweh was described as riding his cloud-chariot and horses through the sky to victory, evoking Baal's title as Rider of the Clouds.
• Green Thumb: As the dispenser of fertility, Yahweh was envisioned as enriching any land he visited, giving prosperity and letting the land yield its produce. He was described as preparing the grain, saturating the furrows, softening the soil with showers, and blessing the young growth. Additionally, it was described that his paths dripped fatness, the pastures were covered with flocks, and the valleys with grain. Yahweh gave rain for the seed, and wheat as the produce of the soil.
• Playing with Fire: Possibly due to his original identity as a metallurgical deity, Yahweh was commonly associated with volcanic descriptions, his appearance was usually accompanied by volcanic-like phenomena, and his anger was depicted using fire imagery. In the Hebrew Bible, when he descended upon Mount Sinai to reveal the Torah to the Israelites, the mountain erupted in fire, spewing lava and billowing clouds accompanied by earthquakes and thunderstorms. These attributes were also on display in the pillar of fire and smoke by which he guided the Israelites in the desert and the cloud that accompanied his visits to the Tent of Meeting. Poetic metaphors similarly described Yahweh as a fiery deity who made the mountains smoke and melted them down, just like smelters melted down ore to obtain copper and other metals. Additionally, Yahweh was once depicted as an anthropomorphized furnace, with smoke rising from his nostrils, consuming fire coming from his mouth, and burning coals blazing out of it.
• The Rival: In the Monarchic Era, Yahweh had a serious rivalry with Baal Hadad. The competition between the two gods (that is, between their respective priesthoods and prophets) was especially fierce since the promotion of the cult of Baal by the Omride dynasty during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel. Because of this rivalry, Yahweh appropriated certain traits of Baal in order to supplant him.
• The Scottish Trope: Up to around the 6th century BCE, Yahweh's name was commonly and freely pronounced. However, following the end of the Babylonian exile, a prohibition of not saying his name aloud or pronouncing it in writing started among the Israelites. The postexilic Israelites instead began substituting Yahweh's name with epithets such as Adonai (plural noun meaning "My Lords", but understood as "The Lord" when referring to the Jewish God) and Elohim (plural noun meaning "gods", but usually understood to be grammatically singular when referring to a single deity). In everyday speech, it became common to refer to Yahweh as HaShem ("The Name"), as the use of the names of God was restricted to a liturgical context. The prohibition may have risen from an erroneous interpretation of Leviticus 24:16, which led to the assumption that the simple utterance of the Tetragrammaton was blasphemy, and thus a capital offense. Another reason might have been a fear that pronouncing Yahweh's name would have reduced him to the status of a pagan deity who was addressed by a personal name. Rabbinic sources suggest that, by the Second Temple period, the name of God was pronounced only once a year, by the high priest, on the Day of Atonement, though it is more than likely that this was an exaggeration, and that in fact, the name was pronounced daily in the liturgy of the Temple in the priestly benediction of worshippers, after the daily sacrifice. With the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the name was no longer used in any liturgy, and its pronunciation was forgotten by the 5th century CE.
• Shock and Awe: Yahweh was a storm god capable of hurling his arrows of lightning bolts and projecting his voice through thunder.
• Spell My Name With An S: Because Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, Yahweh's name was originally written as the four-letter word YHWH, which is known as the Tetragrammaton, and the original pronunciation is unknown, although the reconstructed form Yahweh is almost universally accepted as the original pronunciation. Due to the prohibition of pronouncing Yahweh's name in writing, the vowels of Adonai and Elohim were inserted into the name instead, which early modern translators translated as "Yahowah" (later Latinized as "Jehovah") and "Yehowih" respectively. The oldest complete or nearly complete manuscripts of the Masoretic Text with Tiberian vocalisation mostly wrote "Yhwah", with no pointing on the first h. Similarly, six presentations of the Tetragrammaton with some or all of the vowel points of Adonai or Elohim were found in the Leningrad Codex of 1008–1010, those being "Yǝhwāh",‎ "Yǝhōwāh", "Yĕhōwih", "Yĕhwih", "Yǝhōwih", and "Yǝhwih", although the close transcriptions do not indicate that the Masoretes intended the name to be pronounced in those ways.
• War God: Yahweh was commonly depicted as a warrior god who protected his people and the king against their enemies. He was regularly described with warrior motifs when engaging in warfare, such as riding into battle on the cherubim as on a war chariot accompanied by the heavenly host, with the "voice of Yahweh" (i.e. the sound of the approaching thunderstorm) which served as an instrument of his appearance. Yahweh was further depicted seizing his enemies after overcoming their plot against him and firing lightning arrows from his bow against them. He then took prisoners of war subjected them to several forms of capital punishment, of which only one would have been necessary to lead to their complete destruction, as well as destroying the implements of warfare with utmost efficiency, thus ending the war completely. Yahweh's victory was concluded with an image of his ultimate dominion and subjugation of the enemy via the motif of the smiting god who was shattering the enemy's head.
• Weather Manipulation: Yahweh was described as being able to surround himself with dense, dark storm clouds, parting the heavens, and causing the snow and hail to descend toward the earth. This aspect of Yahweh was emphasized in the Hebrew Bible in passages such as Jeremiah 23:19:
  The storm of Yahweh will come with his anger. Like a windstorm, it will swirl down on the heads of the wicked.

Yam

ܝܲܡܵܐ | יָם | 𐎊𐎎 | 𐡉𐡌 | 𐤉𐤌 | Yam^note translated "sea"

Yam was the god of the sea and rivers, representing the chaotic and destructive aspects of water. His titles included zbl ym ("Prince Sea") and ṯpṭ nhr ("Judge River"), and his palace was located in the abyss within the depths of the oceans. Yam was the first-born son of El and Asherah, and the father of Sidon, goddess of hymns, and Baal Berot, the chief god of Beirut, as well as possibly the craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis. In the Baal Cycle, Yam was chosen by El as his champion against Baal Hadad, who desired to become the king of the gods, and was subsequently granted the kingship when his father ruled in his favor. However, he became a tyrannical ruler who forced the gods to labor and toil, only agreeing to release his iron grip on them when Asherah offered her body to him. Enraged by the bargain, Baal swore to destroy Yam and end his reign. Upon hearing of Hadad's treason, Yam sent messengers to the court of El on two occasions demanding that Baal be surrendered for punishment. Although El agreed to their terms, Baal refused to go and instead engaged Yam in battle. In their subsequent battle, Yam was defeated by Hadad with the aid of two clubs, Yagrush ("chaser") and Aymur ("driver"), created for him by Kothar-wa-Khasis. Yam was then rended to pieces and killed by Baal, thus gaining the kingship, although Yam seemingly managed to come back to life, as Hadad later on talked about him as a possible threat. Yam was attested at Emar as early as the 19th century BCE, where he received offerings in his temple from King Yahdun-Lim of Mari, and was worshipped at Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age, where he was attested in theophoric names and received sacrificial rams. He was also venerated by the Phoenicians.

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• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of the sea.
• Big Bad Ensemble: During his conflict with Baal, Yam was allied with and supported by several sea monsters and evil deities, such as the sea serpents Tannin and Lotan, El's beloved Arishu, El's calf Atiku, the fire goddess Ishat, and the flame goddess Dabib.
• Deity Identity Confusion: In Sanchuniathon's account, Yam appears to have been conflated with the Greek sea god Pontus, and the described conflict and victory of "Pontus" against the combined forces of "Ouranos" (Shamayim) and "Zeus Demarous" (Baal Hadad) seemingly reflected Baal's first fight and initial loss to Yam in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. While scholars such as Umberto Cassuto, Otto Eissfeldt, and Albert I. Baumgarten generally supported the equation of Yam and Pontus in Sanchuniathon's account, others such as Frede Løkkegaard instead equated Yam with Poseidon, and tried to discover some other equation for Pontus.
• Draconic Abomination: Yam was described as a dragon with a fish tail.
• God Is Dead: Yam was seemingly rended to pieces by Baal Hadad after being defeated. However, his ultimate fate is unclear, as the text made references to both death and captivity, and Hadad later on talked about Yam as if he was still alive and a possible threat. Additionally, Yam's sister Anat similarly claimed to have slain Yam and his allies in the past. In Sanchuniathon's account, Yam's remains were consecrated in Beirut by his son Baal Berot and the Kabirim after his death.
• Jerkass God: Yam was viewed as a violent and destructive god who caused floods and sank ships at sea unless he was properly appeased. In Ugaritic magical texts, there was a spell which advised the destruction of Yam by binding him on the Lebanon Mountains in order to dehydrate him.
• Lord of the Ocean: Yam was the god of the sea and was associated with the violent and uncompromising side of water. He represented the untamed and raging power of the sea, ruling storms and the disasters they wreaked, sinking ships, as well as causing floods. However, Yam was not considered a force of evil, but instead simply a destructive deity who had to be appeased through sacrificial rituals to prevent his wanton destruction of ships at sea.
• Making a Splash: Yam was the embodiment of the sea and was associated with floods.
• Multiple-Choice Past: In Ugaritic texts, Yam was described as a son of El and Asherah. However, Sanchuniathon's account instead depicted Yam (as "Pontus") as a son of "Nereus" and grandson of "Zeus Belos", thus making him a great-grandson of El instead.
• Order Versus Chaos: Yam represented harmful chaos in his battles against Baal Hadad, who represented beneficial order. Yam's floods caused destruction, while Hadad's rain brought prosperity and fertility.
• Resurrective Immortality: Yam appears to have been able to come back from death, as he was seemingly killed by both Hadad and Anat on separate occasions but was still referred to as though he was alive afterwards.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: Yam ruled as a tyrant over the gods after he was appointed as their king. He forced them to labor and toil under his reign, and when Asherah confronted him on their behalf, Yam declined her request and rejected her favours until she offered her own body to him, which caused an infuriated Baal to oppose and ultimately overthrow him.

Yarikh

ܝܲܪܚܵܐ | יָרֵחַ | 𐎊𐎗𐎃 | 𐡉𐡓𐡇 | 𐤉𐤓𐤇 | Yārḗaḥ^note translated "moon"

Yarikh was the god of the moon, known by epithets such as "illuminator of the heavens", "illuminator of the myriads of stars" and "lord of the sickle". He was recognized as the provider of nightly dew, and his moisture caused the orchards of his wife Nikkal to bloom in the desert. He had a handmaid named Talish. When Yarikh decided to marry Nikkal, her father, the summer god Hiribi, initially opposed the marriage, and instead suggested that Yarikh marry Pidraya, a daughter of Baal. After a generous bride-price was offered, made up of a thousand pieces of silver, ten thousand pieces of gold, and including necklaces made of lapis lazuli, Hiribi relented and the two were wed. Later, the Kotharat, the goddesses of marriage and childbirth, came to oversee the birth of the son of Yarikh and Nikkal. Yarikh was attested under the name Erakh at Ebla and Mari during the late third and early 2nd millenium BCE, and was also worshipped at Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age. He is also believed to have been the namesake of the cities of Jericho and Beth Yerah (modern-day Khirbet Kerak), both of which likely served as centers of his worship. According to the Hebrew Bible, worship of Yarikh was introduced in the Kingdom of Judah by King Manasseh in the early 7th century BCE, who appointed priests to burn incense to him in the "high places" throughout the cities of Judah and in the environment surrounding Jerusalem. Moon worship was ultimately abolished by King Josiah's reforms around 625 BCE, during which he dismissed and killed the priests, and destroyed the altars built by Manasseh.

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• Animal Motifs: Yarikh in certain literary texts was at times compared to a dog, and one text in particular depicted Yarikh engaging in dog-like behavior during a feast at El's house, where he was described as crawling around under the tables, receiving food from some of the gods, while the others instead poked him with a stick.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Yarikh was commonly conflated with the Mesopotamian moon god Nanna/Sin. The two were equated in an Ugaritic god list, and logographic writings of Nanna/Suen's name were used to represent that of Yarikh.
• God of the Moon: As the moon god, Yarikh was generally assigned four spheres of action. In the first, he provided the nomads and their herds with orientation during the night. The second was the sphere of divination, in which capacity he was often called on to witness an oath or contract. In the third sphere, Yarikh governed the time, as the phases of the moon were used to set the calendar and the agricultural cycle, which was where the word "month" originated. Lastly, he was responsible for the fertility of the herds and humans. The last two aspects were connected in so far as the moon god gave an indication of the fertility cycle of the herds.
• Lunacy: Yarikh was viewed as a sustaining moon god who provided the night dew that nourished the plants, a cherished gift in desert lands. His marriage with the orchard goddess Nikkal symbolized an ancient association between the new moon and fruit, based on analogy of the two as self-renewing on a cyclical basis. This connection was emphasized by Yarikh in The Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh:
  I will make her field (into) vineyards, the field of her love (into) orchards
• Happily Married: Yarikh's betrothal to Nikkal was presented as a joyful occurence, with the Kotharat providing Nikkal with blessing and protection for her forthcoming marriage. The poem describing Yarikh and Nikkal's marriage is believed to have been regularly recited at ceremonies of engagement and courtship. Additionally, it has been suggested that their marriage also symbolized the period of the new moon after harvest, which is still a favorite time for a wedding in the Levant, because the resources are there to celebrate it.

Minor Deities

Ainkanias / Zeu Ainkanias

Αινκανιας | Ainkanias^note translated "the one from Ainkania"

Ainkanias was the tutelary god of Ainkania (modern-day Jdeidat Yabous), a village situated 45 km west of Damascus. There is a spring and Roman temple in the area called Ain Qaniya, after which the village was originally named. The god was attested in an inscription at Qasr Hammara (modern-day Manara/Hammara in the West Beqaa district in eastern Lebanon), located about 5 km west of Ainkania, in which he was referred to as the "Fortune of Ainkania".

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Ainkanias was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to in Greek insciptions as Zeû Ainkanias, with "Zeû" being the vocative singular form of Zeus.
• Patron God: Ainkanias was the tutelary god of Ainkania (modern-day Jdeidat Yabous), a village situated 45 km west of Damascus.

Airesios / Zeus Airesios

Αιρεσιος | Airesios^note translated "the one from Aire"

Airesios was the tutelary god of Aire (modern-day Al-Sanamayn), a city in southern Syria, located 55 kilometres north of Daraa and 50 kilometres south of Damascus. He was attested in three inscriptions.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Airesios was conflated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to as Zeus Airesios.
• Patron God: Airesios was the tutelary god of Aire (modern-day Al-Sanamayn), a city in southern Syria, located 55 kilometres north of Daraa and 50 kilometres south of Damascus.

Ashim / Itum / Eshem-Bethel / Simios

ܐܵܫܝܼܡ | אֲשִׁים | 𐎛𐎘𐎎 | 𐡀𐡔𐡌 | 𐤀𐤔𐤌 | Σίμιος | Ašim^note Possibly derived from either Semitic šm, meaning "name", or ʾšm, meaning "guilt, guilt offering". Alternatively, might instead have been derived from the reconstructed Semitic root ʾası̂m or wası̂m, meaning "sign, token" / ‘Iṯum^note translated "guilt, guilt offering".

Ashim was a god associated with fire, guilt, compensation, protection and kingship, as well as possibly wisdom, writing, travel, merchants, and vegetation, who was worshipped largely by the Arameans throughout Syria. Based on his name, it is possible that he was regarded as the deified personification of guilt offerings, a type of sacrifice made as a compensation payment for unintentional and certain intentional transgressions. He was envisioned as a warrior god who protected the city of his followers at night and provided peaceful reigns to kings. At Ugarit, he was known as 'Itum and was associated with the lunar god Saggar, with the two being referenced together as Šaggar-wa-‘Iṯum. Ashim's worship was retained by the Aramaic-speaking communities of Palmyra when they moved to Aswan and Elephantine in Egypt, where they worshipped him under the compound name Eshem-Bethel. Ashim was a son of Hadad and Atargatis, and resided in Darga-and-Rash ("Ascent-and-Mountaintop"), a highland or mountain plateau in Aram (possibly modern-day Silsilat al-Jibal as-Sāḥilīyah). He was attested under the name Shum at Ebla, and also occured as a theophoric element in personal names in Ugaritic and Phoenician inscriptions. He was also prominently worshipped as Eshem-Bethel by the polytheistic Elephantine Jews in Egypt during the 6th century BCE, and seemingly continued to be worshipped in Northern Syria during the Hellenistic period under the name Simios in places such as Kafr Nebo, near Aleppo, as well as a theophoric element in personal names. He has also been linked to Mercury Heliopolitanus at Baalbek, although whether they were indeed the same god is ultimately still unknown.

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• Animal Motifs: At Baalbek, Mercury Heliopolitanus had a lamb as his symbol, which was quite extraordinary in Syrian iconography. At Elephantine, likely due to his association with Bethel, Eshem-Bethel was described as having the force of a "divine bull", which commonly symbolized strength and fertility.
• Crossover Cosmology: Ashim was worshipped in Mesopotamia under the name "Shumu". He was attested as a theophoric element in personal names, mostly among Amorites. Ashim was also worshipped by polytheistic Jews and Arameans in Egypt, who likely originated primarily from Palmyra. He was prominently worshipped under the name Eshem-Bethel by the Aramaic-speaking communities in Elephantine and Aswan.
• Deity Identity Confusion: At Elephantine, Ashim was closely associated, alongside Herem, with the god Bethel, and was thus commonly referred to as Eshem-Bethel. The conflation with Bethel likely contributed to Eshem-Bethel's portrayal as a warrior god who chose and protected the king. It's been noted that the two were really difficult to distinguish from each other, except for the fact that Eshem-Bethel seemed to be connected more specially with the evening and the night. However, the two nonetheless always occurred independently in theophoric names.
  • In bilingual lexical texts from Ebla, Ashim (as "Shum") was equated with the Mesopotamian shepherd god Dumuzid/Tammuz.
  • Possibly due to their similar names, Ashim was conflated with the Mesopotamian fire god Hendursaga/Ishum. In Ugaritic god-lists, Itum was equated with Ishum, and a similar conflation occurred in Egypt. The attestion of a perfectly Babylonian theophoric name such as Ishum-kudurri ("Offspring/Heir of Ishum") written in Aramaic at Aswan demonstrated the conflation, and the reference to Eshem-Bethel's coming forth "in a fire" suggests that the Aramaic-speaking worshippers of the god associated his name with the Babylonian word for fire. The portrayal of Eshem-Bethel as a protector of the city who watched over its safety at night was likely derived from Ishum.
  • Simios has been linked by several scholars to Mercury Heliopolitanus, the Graeco-Roman god Hermes/Mercury as he was worshipped at Baalbek. Aside from having had a statue in the main temple of Jupiter, Mercury also had an entirely separate temple on top of the Shaikh Abdullah Hill overlooking Baalbek. Although the Semitic counterpart of Mercury is ultimately unknown, his temple was expressed solely in Semitic terms in the form of its location on a sacred "high place".
  • At Baalbek, Mercury Heliopolitanus was also equated with Nabu, the Mesopotamian god of literacy and wisdom. A direct conflation between Simios and Nabu may have occured in Kafr Nebo, as the village was seemingly named after Nabu and contained an inscription which dedicated an oil mill to three deities, with Simios being apparently listed as the chief god.
• Divine Right of Kings: At Elephantine, an oracle about Eshem-Bethel described him as having chosen a young man to be king and promised him a reign of everlasting peace, indicating that he was a leading deity and perhaps the god of the royal dynasty.
• God of Fire: At Ugarit and Elephantine, Ashim was associated with fire. As Eshem-Bethel, he was described as answering with fire and as protecting the city from their enemies by coming forth from Darga-and-Rash "in a fire you have never seen". Ashim might also have generally been associated with the fire used in guilt offerings, as scholars have suggested that he was the deified personification of guilt offerings.
• Nice Guy: Ashim was generally viewed as a benevolent god. While this characterization was most explicit at Elephantine, it has also been attested among the Phoenicians through theophoric names, examples include ʾšmšzb ("Ashim has saved"), ʾšmzbd ("Ashim has given"), ʾšmrm ("Ashim is exalted"), and ʾšmkdry ("Offspring/Heir of Ashim").
• Playing with Fire: At Elephantine, Eshem-Bethel was portrayed as answering through fire and advancing towards his enemies "in a fire you have never seen". Ashim is also generally suggested by scholars to have been associated with the fire used in guilt offerings.
• Power Trio: Ashim, under the name Seimios, seemingly formed part of a triad at Kafr Nebo alongside Symbetylos (generally identified as the fate goddess Ashima and believed to have been his consort) and Leon (interpreted as an epithet of either the fertility goddess Atargatis or the caravan god Genneas/Gennaios).
• Sadly Mythcharacterized: Older scholarship suggested that Simios was worshipped as part of a triad with his parents Hadad and Atargatis at Hierapolis (modern-day Manbij). This notion was mainly based on an object called the semeion referenced in Lucian of Samosata's De Dea Syria, which stood inside an inner chamber in the temple at Hierapolis between the statues of Hadad and Atargatis. The semeion was pictured on a coin of Alexander Severus from Hierapolis around 225 CE, and a similar object was also attested on a bas relief at Dura-Europos. Scholars such as René Dussaud and Carl Clemen proposed that the semeion was a statue of either Simios or Simia and further linked this supposed triad at Hierapolis to the worship of Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury in Heliopolis (modern-day Baalbek), with the Graeco-Roman deities having been syncretized with Hadad, Atargatis, and Simios respectively. However, the existence of Syrian triads, and specifically one in Hierapolis, has been disputed by scholars such as Henri Seyrig, and the semeion is considered more likely to have been a religious ensign carried in processions.
• Spell My Name With An S: Ashim's name had numerous spelling variants across various locations and centuries, possibly influenced in part due to confusion about the etymology of his name. At Ebla, his name was attested as Shum, while the Akkadians spelled it Shumu. At Ugarit, his name written as Itum, while the traditional syllabic writing was instead used in the parallel list for the Mesopotamian fire god Ishum. The Aramaic-speaking communities of Palmyra that later moved to Aswan and Elephantine adopted the Babylonian spelling Eshem, although it is unknown how they actually pronounced the name. During the Hellenistic period, his name was transliterated in Greek as Simios.
• War God: At Elephantine, Ashim, under the name Eshem-Bethel, was envisioned as a warrior god who protected the city at night, watching over its safety and keeping its enemies at bay.

Ashima / Simia

𐡀𐡔𐡉𐡌𐡀 | 𐤀𐤔𐤉𐤌𐤀 | ܐܵܫܝܼܡܵܐ | אֲשִׁימָא | Σημίᾳ | Ašima^note Possibly derived from either Semitic šm, meaning "name", or ʾšm, meaning "guilt, guilt offering". Alternatively, might instead have been derived from the reconstructed Semitic root ʾası̂m or wası̂m, meaning "sign, token"

Ashima was a goddess of fate, who was prominently worshipped in Hamath (modern-day Hama). After Hamath was conquered by an Assyrian king (probably Sargon II), at least some of its residents were deported to Samaria, where they continued worshipping their goddess. Ashima was a daughter of Hadad and Atargatis, and was possibly the consort of Ashim. According to certain Phoenician traditions, as originally recounted by Pseudo-Melito, Ashima once suffered from leprosy, but was cured by the daughter of Belat sent by Athi, who later also entreated the Hebrew Elishah to come and cure Hadad's own leprosy. Later on, Ashima was charged by a group of Magi with exorcising an unclean spirit from a well in the woods in Mabog (modern-day Manbij). Ashima successfully dealt with the spirit by drawing water from the sea and casting it into the well, preventing the spirit from coming up and committing violence against people who passed by. Ashima's worship was attested in numerous important cult centres, such as Edessa, Hatra, Hierapolis (modern-day Manbij), Dura, Emesa, Palmyra, and Beirut.

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• Animal Motifs: According to the Babylonian Talmud and the majority of Jewish writers, Ashima was worshipped under the form of a "goat without wool", a conclusion derived from attempts to work out the etymology of the goddess' name. Alternatively, the Talmud of Jerusalem proposed that her form was that of a lamb. Elias Levita, a learned rabbi of the sixteenth century, instead connected her name to the form of an ape, likely due to having mistakenly connected it to the Latin word simia ("ape, monkey").
• Crossover Cosmology: Ashima's worship was adopted in Arabia in places such as Tayma, where she was likely introduced from North Syria through trade contacts between the caravanning Arabs and the important centre of Hamath.
• Deity Identity Confusion: As a goddess of fate, Ashima was conflated with the Mesopotamian fate goddess Shimti and the Arabian fate goddess Manat. At Deir el-Qal'a, she was conflated to some extent with the Graeco-Roman goddess Hera/Juno, and was thus referred to as Juno-Sima. However, the two were not completely syncretized, as Hera/Juno was explicitely identified separately from her as Juno Regina ("Queen Juno").
• Malicious Misnaming: Many scholars and commentators have found a reference to Ashima in the threatening words of Amos 8:14 against those "who swear by the guilt (’ašmaṯ) of Samaria", seemingly as a prophetic play on words. However, the connection is difficult to definitively establish due to the prophet Amos having lived in the middle of the 8th century BCE, whereas the cult of Ashima was only introduced into Samaria after the fall of Hamath to the Assyrians in the year 722 BCE. Possible explanations include that Ashima may have been a common name for multiple goddesses or that Amos' statement was a late addition to the text introduced in order to connect the words of the prophet Amos to the later Ashima cult.
• Multiple-Choice Past: According to the account of Pseudo-Melito, Ashima was the daughter of the storm god Hadad. However, an inscription at Deir el-Qal'a instead seemingly identified her as the daughter of Balmarcod, possibly due to him having been conflated with Hadad.
• Power Trio: Ashima, under the name Symbetylos, seemingly formed part of a triad at Kafr Nebo alongside Seimios (generally identified as the fire god Ashim and believed to have been her consort) and Leon (interpreted as an epithet of either the fertility goddess Atargatis or the caravan god Genneas/Gennaios). She was also worshipped as part of a triad alongside fellow Semitic deities Salam and Sangila at the oasis city Tayma in Arabia.
• Spell My Name With An S: During the Hellenistic period, Simia's name was spelled in a variety of ways. According to the account of Pseudo-Melito, she was called Simi at Hierapolis (modern-day Manbij). She was additionally known as Sima at Beirut and Semea at Emesa (modern-day Homs).

Baal Arwad

Baal Arwad^note translated "Lord of Arwad"

Baal Arwad was the chief god of Arwad, a town in Syria on an eponymous island in the Mediterranean Sea. He was a marine deity, and was typically depicted with a human upper body and a fish lower body. In the Hellenistic period, Baal Arwad was identified with the Greek god Poseidon.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Baal Arwad was conflated with the Greek god Poseidon during the Hellenistic period, and his iconography on Arwadian coins was similarly changed to resemble that of Poseidon.
  • Due to the lack of more information about the deity, several scholars have attempted to identify Baal Arwad with more well-known deities from the area. Scholars such as Alfred Maury speculated that he was a form of the grain god Dagon, but this was based on the incorrect assumption that Dagon was a fish god. Others have connected him with Melqart, the chief god of Tyre, and Yam, the sea god. He has also sometimes been regarded as the "Phoenician Neptune".
• Patron God: Baal Arwad was the chief god of Arwad, a town in Syria on an eponymous island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Baal Baaros / Zeus Beelbaaros

ܒܵܥܵܠ ܒܵܥܪܵܗ | בַּעַל בָּעַרָה | Βεελβααρος | Baal Baaros^note translated "Lord of Baaros", possibly derived from Hebrew root bāʿar, meaning "to burn"

Baal Baaros was the tutelary god of Baaros/Ba'arah (possibly modern-day Kefar Baru and/or the Ma'in Hot Springs). A basalt altar dedicated to him was erected in Tell al-Hara in Batanaea, likely during the Herodian period.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: At Tell al-Hara, Baal Baaros was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to as Zeus Beelbaaros.
• Healer God: Baal Baaros might have been associated with the healing properties of the Hammei-Ba'arah ("baths of Ba'arah", the modern-day Ma'in Hot Springs). It has been suggested that Diomedes, son of Chares, the Roman governor and military commander of Batanaea, had visited the Ba'arah springs as a result of health problems, and, after successful treatment, felt the need to give thanks and raised an altar to the local god of the baths upon returning to Batanaea.
• Making a Splash: Baal Baaros might have been associated with the Ma'in Hot Springs, with its ancient name Ba'arah having possibly been derived from bāʿar ("to burn"), which referred to the fact that traces of an underground fire were noticeable at the location as well as the unbearable heat in the valley produced by streams of hot water which issued forth both from the depths of the earth and from the spurs of the black mountains, which absorbed the hot mists with which they were covered.
• Patron God: Baal Baaros was the tutelary god of Baaros, the exact identity and location of which is uncertain. A common identification is with the village of Kefar Baru, located east of the Dead Sea about 5 kilometers northwest of the fortress Machaerus in Perea. Additionally, Baal Baaros has also been linked with the Ma'in Hot Springs (variously called Ba'arah, Baaras, and Baarou in antiquity), similarly located east of the Dead Sea near Madaba, which is a series of hot springs that were famous in antiquity for their curative properties and the sweetness of their waters, as well as containing a miraculous plant (possibly a mandrake) credited with being able to drive away wicked spirits. However, the link of Baal Baaros with either Kefar Baru or the Ma'in Hot Springs remains uncertain due to Tell al-Hara in Batanaea, the location of the altar dedicated to the god, being located more than 150 kilometers to the north in Syria. As such, based on the possible etymology of Baaros having been derived from bāʿar ("to burn"), it has been suggested that Baal Baaros was instead associated with an unidentified location in the Lava Lands of Syria.
• Playing with Fire: Baal Baaros might have been associated with fire, with his name possibly having been derived from bāʿar ("to burn"). He might have been associated with the underground fire noticeable at the Ma'in Hot Springs, or alternatively with an unidentified location in the Lava Lands of Syria.

Baal Berith / El Berith

ܐܺܝܠ ܒܹܪܝܼܬ݂ / ܒܥܸܠ ܒܹܪܝܼܬ݂ | אֵל בְּרִית / בַּעַל בְּרִית | Baʿal Berīt^note translated "lord of the covenant" / ʼĒl Berīt^note translated "god of the covenant"

Baal Berith/El Berith was the god, or two gods, worshipped in Shechem (modern-day Tell Balata), in ancient Canaan. He appears to have been associated with fertility and vegetation, as the Shechemites were said to celebrate a festival in his temple after they had gone out to harvest and processed their grapes. The covenant between Baal Berith and the Shechemites may have involved sacrificing donkeys, as they were called "men of Hamor", which is comparable to "sons of Hamor", which in the ancient Middle East referred to people who had entered into a covenant sealed by the sacrifice of a hamor, a donkey. Aside from Baal Berith's temple in the city, a temple of El Berith was also present in a crypt (either a subterranean cave or a hidden dark room or a vault) in Migdal-Shechem ("Tower of Shechem"), which was situated either inside the city or in its neighbourhood.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: The relationship between Baal Berith and El Berith remains somewhat of an enigma, as it was never specified whether they were distinct gods or simply one god with two names. It is commonly suggested that one or both of their names might have been epithets of the well-known and important gods Baal and El, as both of them had a presence at Shechem. In Ugaritic texts, the word brt ("covenant") was found in connection with Baal, and Baal Hadad's presence at Shechem is known from a figurine discovered at Tell Balata and the occurrence of three personal names containing the theophoric "Hadad" on cuneiform fragments from Shechem. On the other hand, El's presence at Shechem is suggested by an altar named El Elohe Israel ("El, the god of Israel"), which was a confessional altar or shrine erected by Jacob in a field in Shechem according to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. However, it is considered unlikely that both Baal and El served as covenant partners at Shechem.
  • Baal Berith and/or El Berith might have had a connection to Beruth, a primordial mother goddess mentioned in Sanchuniathon's euhemerized account. However, her name is considered to have been more likely derived from bʾrôt, a name for the primordial sea, tehom.
  • According to rabbinic literature, Baal Berith was identical with Baal Zebub (likely a distortion of the name Baal Zebul), the god of the Philistine city of Ekron, whom the Jewish people worshipped after the death of Gideon. Baal Zebub's idol was supposedly called Baal Berith because such Jews might be said to have made a covenant of devotion with the idol, having been unwilling to part with it for a single moment.
• Green Thumb: He might have been associated with fertility and vegetation, specifically with vineyards and grapes, as the Shechemites celebrated a festival at his temple after they had finished harvesting the field.

Baal Biq'ah

בַּעַל בִּקְעָה | Ba'al Biq'āh^note translated "lord of the plain"

Baal Biq'ah was the tutelary god of the Beqaa Valley, situated between Mount Lebanon to the west and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the east. He was also associated with healing, specifically as a god of sight who healed blindness and, inversely, would smite the guilty with blindness. Additionally, he was sometimes invoked as a divine witness in oaths, and was the namesake of the city of Baalbek (although the storm god Baal Hadad was the actual patron god of the city).

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars have linked Baal Biq'ah to the storm god Baal Hadad, specifically in his role as the patron god of Baalbek, which had been named after Baal Biq'ah. By extention, he was also possibly equated by the Romans with Jupiter Heliopolitanus, the Roman equivalent of the patron god of Heliopolis/Baalbek.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As a god of the plain, he likely had this power.
• Healer God: Baal Biq'ah was invoked to heal blindness, and was also capable of smiting the guilty with blindness.
• Patron God: Baal Biq'ah was the tutelary god of the Beqaa Valley, situated between Mount Lebanon to the west and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the east. He was invoked as a divine witness in oaths and for healing blindness.

Baal Bosoros / Zeus Baalbosoros

Βάαλβοσόρος | Baal Bosoros^note possibly translated "Lord of Bosor"

Baal Bosoros was a god worshipped at Gerasa (modern-day Jerash). He was likely the tutelary god of a specific location, possibly the city of Bosor (possibly modern-day Busra al-Harir).

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Baal Bosoros was one of several local deities in Gerasa who was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, a Greek inscription at Gerasa referred to him as Zeus Baalbosoros.
• Patron God: Baal Bosoros is generally believed to have been the tutelary god of a specific location, possibly the city of Bosor (possibly modern-day Busra al-Harir).

Baal Ephara / Zeus Beelepharos

ܒܵܥܵܠ ܐܸܦ̮ܪܵܝ | בַּעַל אֶפַרַע | Βεελεφαρῳ | Baal Ephara^note translated "Lord of Ephara"

Baal Ephara was the tutelary god of Ephara (modern-day Efra), a small mountainous Syrian village in the Rif Dimashq Governorate. The village used to be an ancient Roman summer resort due to its weather, and a Roman sanctuary, presumably dedicated to Baal Ephara, was located in the village. A dedication to the god was located in Halboun, a Syrian village located 10 kilometers east of Ephara, and two inscriptions in Rome outside the pomerium, one at Pozzo Pantaleo on the Via Portuensis and another near the Lateran, attested to the existence of a sanctuary to Baal Ephara in the vicinity.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: The Romans equated Baal Ephara with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, a Greek dedication at Halboun referred to him as Zeus Beelepharos, while in Rome he was identified as Jupiter Beellefaro.
  • Scholar Edward Lipiński considered Baal Ephara to be the same deity as the biblical Baal Peor, the tutelary god of Mount Peor. However, Baal Peor was attested elsewhere as Zeus Baalpeor, suggesting that they were regarded as separate gods.
• Patron God: Baal Ephara was the tutelary god of Ephara (modern-day Efra). A Roman sanctuary known to have been in the village is generally believed to have been dedicated to him.
• Spell My Name With An S: In Greek, his name was written as Beelepharos, while Latin inscriptions transliterated it as Beellefaro and Beheleparo.

Baal Galasos / Zeus Beelgalasos

Βεελγαλασος | Baal Galasos^note possibly translated as either "lord of the high mountain" or "lord of laceration". Possibly derived from either the Arabic root gals, meaning "high mountain, rough and hard ground", or from the Syriac root g'las, meaning "to lacerate, to grow teeth, to serrate"

Baal Galasos was the tutelary god of Faqra, a site on the slopes of Mount Sannine in the Mount Lebanon range. His temple was located at Qalaat Faqra, an extensive Roman fortress, and a tower was dedicated to him around 43/44 CE during the reign of Emperor Claudius. He was also attested in the theophoric name Galassos, which was the name of a Syrian philosopher.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: The Roman Soldiers at Qalaat Faqra equated him with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and their inscriptions thus addressed him as Zeus Beelgalasos.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As a mountain god, he likely had this power. Based on the possible etymology of his name, he might have been specifically associated with the limestones at Qalaat Faqra.
• Patron God: Baal Galasos was the tutelary god of Faqra, and an inscription dedicated to the god addressed him as an "ancestral god".

Baal Mares / Beelmarès / Zeus Baithmare

Βεελμαρι / Βαιθμαρηι | Baal Marès^note possibly translated "Lord of Maréa"

Baal Mares was the tutelary god of Baithmare (modern-day Bab Mareaa), a village east of Sidon in the southern region of the Beqaa Valley. He was attested in an inscription from Tyre dedicated to him, and also received a bronze ship (which was later converted into a lamp) as an offering from a worshipper about 5 km away from Bab Mareaa.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: The Romans equated Baal Mares with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, Greek inscriptions referred to him as Zeus Baithmare.
• Patron God: Baal Mares was the tutelary god of Baithmare (modern-day Bab Mareaa), a village east of Sidon in the southern region of the Beqaa Valley.
• Spell My Name With An S: In Greek inscriptions, his name was spelled as Beelmares and Baithmare.

Baal Meon

בַּעַל מְעוֹן | Baal Meon^note translated "lord of the habitation" or "lord of the dwelling"

Baal Meon was the tutelary god of Beth-Baal-Meon (possibly modern-day Ma'in), a large town located east of the Jordan River, near the Ma'in Hot Springs. According to the Hebrew Bible, it was one of the towns allotted to the tribe of Reuben. The town was captured by King Mesha of Moab in the 9th century BCE, who rebuilt it as a Moabite town and constructed a pool or ditch there. King Mesha is believed to have built a temple in the town to serve as a royal sanctuary, allowing him to incorporate the conquered town into his kingdom.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Baal Meon has been linked by scholars with Chemosh, the patron god of the Moabites, due to both of them being mentioned in the Mesha Stele. However, this link was based on the outdated idea that local deities such as Baal Meon were always merely local manifestations of major deities such as Chemosh, with only minor local differences setting them apart. Modern scholars generally agree that Baal Meon was not the same god as Chemosh.
  • Baal Meon has also been linked to Baal Baaros, who was possibly the tutelary god of the Ma'in Hot Springs, which the town of Beth-Baal-Meon was located close to.

Baal Tzeida / Jupiter Baaltzeida

בַּעַל צֵידָא | Baal Tzeida^note possibly translated "lord of hunting", "lord of ensnaring", or "lord of fishing"

Baal Tzeida was a god worshipped at Gerasa (modern-day Jerash). He was likely the tutelary god of a specific location, possibly Bethsaida, an ancient town located on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Baal Tzeida was one of several local deities in Gerasa who was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, a Latin inscription at Gerasa referred to him as Jupiter Optimus Baaltzeida.
• Patron God: Baal Tzeida is generally believed to have been the tutelary god of a specific location, possibly Bethsaida, an ancient town located on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Bakathsaphrein / Dii Bakathsaphrein

Διὶ Βακαθσαφρειν | Dií Bakathsaphrein^note translated "god of Bqaa Safrine"

Dii Bakathsaphrein was the tutelary god of Bqaa Safrine, a village located about 30 km east of Tripoli in Lebanon. He was attested in a 2nd century CE dedication inscribed on the diadem of a bronze statuette with a female head. The inscription was written by a woman named Victoria, daughter of Abdous, who was from a village called Naboukanath, in fulfillment of a vow, with all her household, in token of gratitude.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Bakathsaphrein was conflated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to in Greek as Dii Bakathsaphrein, with "Dii" being the dative singular form of Zeus.
• Patron God: Dii Bakathsaphrein was the tutelary god of Bqaa Safrine, a village located about 30 km east of Tripoli in Lebanon.

Beelseddes

Beelseddes^note possibly translated "lord of the mountain" or "lord of the field"

Beelseddes was the tutelary god of Mount Sannine, a mountain in the Mount Lebanon range. A temple dedicated to the god was located at Temnine Et Tahta, a village near the eastern slopes of Mount Sannine, and was set up by three people with Latin and Greek names.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: The Greeks and Romans equated him with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, he was addressed in inscriptions as Jupiter Optimus Beelseddes.
• Patron God: Beelseddes was the tutelary god of Mount Sannine, a mountain in the Mount Lebanon range.
• Spell My Name With An S: The name Beelseddes is generally accepted to have been a Latin transliteration of his Semitic name, which is presumed to have been Baal Sade.

Bethel / El Bethel / Baitylos / Mar

ܒܹܝܬܐܹܝܠ | בֵּיתאּאֵל | 𐎁𐎚𐎛𐎍 | 𐡁𐡉𐡕𐡀𐡋 | 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤀𐤋 | 𒀭𒁀𒀀𒀀𒋾𒀭𒈨𒌍 | Βέτυλος | Bêṯ'ēl^note translated "house of god"

ܡܵܪ | מָר | 𐎎𐎗 | 𐡌𐡓 | 𐤌𐤓 | Mār^note translated "lord, master, ruler" in Aramaic and Syriac

Bethel, probably an abbreviation of El Bethel, was a god of storms, rain, fire, and protection, who was primarily worshipped by the Arameans in central Syria. He was also associated with baetylia, sacred stones that were supposedly endowed with life, or gave access to a deity. According to Sanchuniathon's account, Bethel was a son of Shamayim/Epigeus and Eretz/Ge, and the brother of El, Dagon, and Atel. He resided in the land of Rash, a mountainous highland area in Aram (possibly modern-day Silsilat al-Jibal as-Sāḥilīyah), where Bethel was described as "dwelling on the mountains", and Mount Lebanon served as his garden. However, he also had an impressive palace in the skies, with the beams having been made from Lebanese wood and having room for "a thousand altars for Bethel". He was likely the namesake of the town Bethel (modern-day Beitin), where, according to the Hebrew Bible, the patriarch Jacob built and annointed a stone pillar to the god who had appeared to him in his dream. The Hebrew Bible in general associated the god of Bethel with sacred space on a smaller scale, such as stones, pillars, altars, terebinths, and oaks. Bethel had an unbroken tradition of having a shrine from the third millennium BCE, and eventually became a major sanctuary of Yahweh in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Bethel was also possibly worshipped throughout the Northern Kingdom of Israel, as a saying directed against Moab in Jeremiah 48:13 stated that the house of Israel "was ashamed of Bethel, the source of their confidence" the same way that Moab was going to be ashamed of their national god Chemosh. The earliest known attestation of Bethel was in the 7th century BCE treaty between Baal I of Tyre and the Assyrian king Esarhaddon. During the Babylonian exile in the 6th and 5th centuries, a number of exiled Judaeans in places such Al-Yahudu had names with Bethel as a theophoric element, likely due to the influence of Samarians who had previously fled to Judah in the wake of Samaria's fall. Bethel was prominently worshipped by the polytheistic Elephantine Jews and Syrian-Arameans of Aswan in Egypt up to at least the late 3rd century BCE. The latest known reference to Bethel was in a 3rd century CE inscription from Dura-Europos, in which he was referred to as the ancestral god of the dwellers along the Orontes River.

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• Animal Motifs: Likely due to being associated with El and Baal, Bethel appears to have been associated with bulls. It has been suggested that the epithet of Jacob's god, ’ăḇîr Yaʿăqōḇ ("The Mighty One of Jacob"), might have originally been written as ʾabbir Yaʿăqōḇ ("The Bull of Jacob"), with the Masoretic Yahwist redactors having consciously and artificially omitted the doubling of the b in order to avoid any suspicion that Yahweh was to be identified with the bull. According to the Hebrew Bible, when Jeroboam assumed power in the Northern Kingdom, he is said to have made two young golden bulls and set one up at Bethel, possibly derived from a pre-existing bull cult there. At Elephantine, Bethel received the first-born of bulls as his offerings.
  • Bethel was also to an extent associated with lions. In the treaty between King Esarhaddon of Assyria and King Baal I of Tyre, Bethel and his consort, Anat-Bethel, were invoked to deliver any oath-breakers to a man-eating lion.
• Big Good: Bethel was viewed as a beneficent deity who protected the weak and took away their distress. He was referred to as "father of the orphan" and "judge of the widow", who caused them to become instantly hopeful and laugh when they lifted up their hands.
• Blow You Away: At Elephantine and Aswan, in keeping with Bethel's role as a storm god, the winds were interpreted as the god's "snorts" and "breaths", and he was also considered to reside in the sky, having "stretched out the skies" and put "the stars into trembling". One of his epithets was Mar Shamayin ("Lord of Heaven") and the palace of Bethel was located "in the heavens" and "with the stars".
• Cosmic Motifs: Bethel's astral appearance had solar and lunar characteristics, and he was stated to turn red like the sun and shine like the moon. In the ritual songs for the New Year celebration at Elephantine and Aswan, Bethel was addressed by his worshippers as their "Crescent" and was portrayed as the moon. When clouds covered the sky, it was interpreted as Bethel having withdrawn to his heavenly chamber to sleep with his wife. Bethel was then asked to send away the clouds by rousing himself from sleep and coming out of the bedchamber.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Bethel is generally supposed to have originally referred to the cult stone in the Canaanite town Luz in which the supreme god El was considered to have been present. Eventually, the central place given to the object in ritual promoted it to the rank of an independent god named Bethel, who then became the tutelary god and namesake of the town.
  • Because the sacred site at Bethel was also considered holy by the Israelites, the god Bethel was conflated with the Israelite god Yahweh, most likely at the time the Pentateuch was written in the early Hellenistic period, and the tradition shared with the cults of the neigboring peoples blurred the uniquely Israelite traits of the site near Bethel. The biblical narrative of Jacob's dream at Bethel is generally believed to have been written by monotheistic Yahwists who tried to rupture the pre-biblical sanctity of the place and sever all pagan Canaanite associations with it by emphasizing Yahweh as the god of Jacob and attributing the holiness of Bethel solely to the theophany that Jacob experienced there. The two were similarly equated in Egypt by the polytheistic Elephantine Jews and Syrian-Arameans at Aswan, who identified them with each other to such an extent that their texts shifted almost imperceptibly from one divine name (or epithet) to the other. In the papyrus Amherst 63, Bethel was frequently referred to as Mar ("Lord"), an epithet not used for other gods with the exception of Yahweh (referred to as "Yaho") in three Israelite psalms, which was based entirely on the identification of Bethel and Yaho.
  • At Elephantine and Aswan, Bethel acquired many of the traits of Baal Hadad, having been portrayed as a storm god who brought rain and bestowed fertility on the land, but also hurled thunderbolts and could put all of nature in disarray. The Amherst papyrus additionally described a confrontation between Bethel and the Sea, in which he set the Sea's "dominions" alight, which was seemingly derived from the conflict between Baal Hadad and the sea god Yam in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. Another distinct echo of the Ugaritic Baal mythology was that Bethel's consort was identified as Anat (specifically Anat-Bethel), who was more commonly depicted as the spouse of Baal Hadad. The symbolic marriage of Bethel and Anat was celebrated as a demonstration of Bethel's pre-eminence over the other gods. The one characteristic that might have distinguished Bethel from Baal was the emphasis on fire as Bethel's weapon.
  • By the third century CE, Bethel had been conflated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was referred to as Zeus Betylos. An altar dedicated to Zeus Betylos was erected at Dura-Europos.
• Ethnic God: Bethel was the principal god of the Arameans in the land of Rash, a mountainous highland area in Aram (possibly modern-day Silsilat al-Jibal as-Sāḥilīyah, the mountain range that prolongs Mount Lebanon and leads up to Mount Zaphon in the north). Corroborating evidence indicates that the Arameans in central Syria prominently worshipped Bethel in places such as Hamath (modern-day Hama) and Siyan (modern-day Tall Siyānu, a town about eighty kilometers west of Hamath, located on the western flank of the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range), as well as in general along the Orontes River. Following the fall of Hamath in 720 BCE, many Syrians took shelter in "a city of sources, a fortress of palms" (likely Palmyra), where they intermingled with Samarians and Babylonians. The three Aramaic communities eventually migrated together to Egypt about a century later, where they worshipped Bethel as the chief god of their pantheon at Elephantine and Aswan. His prominence among the Arameans was evident through his titles such as "God of Rash", "Resident of Hamath", and "Guardian of Siyan".
• God of Fire: At Elephantine and Aswan, Bethel was associated with fire, which was usually described as a consequence of the thunderbolts he hurled. He was described as primarily employing fire as his weapon against the sea, thus setting the sea's dominions alight. This aspect of Bethel was also attested in the theophoric name Bethelnuri ("Bethel is my fire").
• God of Thunder: At Elephantine and Aswan, Bethel was envisioned as a storm god who "creates all the rainclouds", thus bringing rain and bestowing fertility on the land. However, he also had a terrifying side, as the thunderbolts he hurled could cause fires to break out. He was described as a storm that flew over the reed marshes and caused fire to erupt among the canes, producing smoke "like the smoke of incense" and then later flying over the places he had saturated.
• Patron God: Scholars generally agree that older El tradition, which were eventually fused and overcoated with later Yahweh tradition, originally identified El Bethel (i.e. El manifesting as Bethel) as the patron god of the biblical patriarch Jacob. He was portrayed as intimately involved in Jacob's life and his sustenance. He traveled with Jacob wherever he went, protected him on the way and kept him from harm. He provided him with children, flocks, land, food, and clothing. El Bethel was described as "the Mighty One of Jacob", "Stone (Rock) of Israel", and "Shepherd", whose blessings were abundant, and Jacob described his god as the one who had been his shepherd from the very day of his birth. Jacob/Israel also referred to seeing his god face-to-face and having wrestled with him until dawn, for which his god then blessed him.
• Phosphor-Essence: Bethel was likened to the sun and moon, he "turned red" like the sun and "shined" like the moon, implying that the change of day to night was taken as another epiphany of Bethel.
• Playing with Fire: Bethel caused fires to erupt from the thunderbolts that he hurled, and prominently used fire as his primary weapon during his battle against the sea, described as him speaking until the sea's dominions caught fire "like shattered sparks of light". Similarly, Bethel was later described setting reed marshes alight and producing smoke "like the smoke of incense".
• Shock and Awe: At Elephantine and Aswan, Bethel was described as a storm god who hurled thunderbolts which set everything they hit on fire and lit up the world.
• Top God: Bethel was regarded as the king of the gods residing in and around the land of Rash, whose connection to him was evident through their compound names, such as Eshem-Bethel, Herem-Bethel, and Anat-Bethel.
• Winged Humanoid: Bethel was described as having wings, which he could lift "like an eagle" and used to fly over the places that he drenched.

Hadaranes

ܗܲܕܲܪܲܢܹܤ | הָדָרָנְשׂ | Hadaranes^note Derived from Hebrew word hadar, meaning "splendor, majesty, glory"

Hadaranes was the tutelary god of Nihatha (modern-day Niha), a village in the Beqaa Valley about 18 km north of Zahlé. He was worshipped alongside the fertility goddess Atargatis, who was known locally as Dea Syria Nihathena, and the two shared a sanctuary in Niha. A virgin and prophetess called Hochmaea dedicated an altar to Hadaranes at Niha in fulfillment of a vow to the god, who had ordered her to abstain from eating bread for twenty years. Hadaranes was also attested at Deir Al-Ahmar, a town 15 km northwest of Baalbek, where an inscription was dedicated to him by a man named Haiaeus in return for the god providing salvation for Haiaeus and his sons.

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• Animal Motifs: On an altar dedicated to Hadaranes, he was depicted flanked by two animals. However, the animals on the altar were damaged and thus not immediately identifiable, with scholars having variously suggested them to be rams, goats, bulls, or lions. The presence of carved representations of bulls heads at a double temple in Hosn Niha, which was possibly dedicated to Hadaranes and Atargatis, suggests that he was indeed associated with bulls.
• Patron God: Hadaranes was the tutelary god of Nihatha (modern-day Niha), a village in the Beqaa Valley about 18 km north of Zahlé. He shared this position with the fertility goddess Atargatis (locally referred to as Dea Syria Nihathena), and thus the two also shared a sanctuary in Niha.

Kabkabum

כּוֹכָבִים | 𐎋𐎁𐎋𐎁𐎎 | 𐤊𐤊𐤁𐤌 | Kabkabum^note translated "stars"

The Kabkabum were the gods of the stars. They comprised the divine council of El and held their meetings at Mount Saphon (modern-day Jebel Aqra). They resided in the heavens alongside the sun goddess Shapash and Shahar and Shalim, the gods of dawn and dusk respectively. They might have been regarded as sons of El, as the "assembly of the stars" was paralleled with the "circle of the sons of El". A singular deity called Kabkabum was seemingly attested at Ebla in two parallel incantations, as well as a theophoric element in personal names at Mari and Terqa, most notably in the name of the Amorite king Ila-kabkabu ("my star is divine"). At Ugarit, a ritual was held at an unspecified month (likely either khiari during the spring equinox or risyn ("first-of-the-wine") during the autumnal equinox) during which a banquet was served in the Kabkabum's temple, referred to as the "house of the star-gods", as part of the festivities. Star worship was generally practised on house-tops and "high places", during which incense was burned. According to the Hebrew Bible, star worship was strong in the Kingdom of Israel from the 8th century BCE onward, mostly due to Mesopotamian political influence, and the presence of their cult was blamed as one of the causes of the fall of Northern Kingdom. In the Kingdom of Judah, astral cults were first introduced by King Manasseh in the early 7th century BCE, who built altars to "all the hosts of heaven" in the two inner courts of the Temple of Solomon, as well as putting up altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz. Star worship was ultimately abolished by King Josiah's reforms around 625 BCE, during which he burned all the cultic objects kept in the Temple, dismissed and killed the priests, and destroyed the altars built by Manasseh. However, astral cults were not entirely uprooted, and continued to exist in private as well as often get mentioned in prophetic texts.

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• Cosmic Motifs: Unsurprisingly, they were associated with the stars.
• Star Power: As the gods of the stars, they had this power.

Madbach / Zeus Madbachos / Zeus Bomos

𐡌𐡃𐡁𐡇 | 𐤌𐤃𐤁𐤇 | ܡܲܕܒܚܵܐ | מַדְבַּח | Μάδβαχος / Βωμός | Maḏbaḥ^note translated "altar"

Madbach was a god associated with altars and the tutelary god of Jebel Sheikh Barakat and Burj Baqirha, a mountain and hill respectively which are both located in the Dead Cities area in northwestern Syria. His consort was the goddess Selamanes, and the two were worshipped as "ancestral gods", with Madbach in particular being described as "great" and "attentive". The temple at Jebel Sheikh Barakat served as a sanctuary for Zeus Madbachos and Selamanes, and an inscription marked the temple's completion in 143 CE "at the god's expense". The Roman temple at Burj Baqirha, probably established on the site of an earlier Semitic cult center, was completed in 161 CE and dedicated to Zeus Bomos ("Zeus of the Altar"), seemingly the Graeco-Roman equivalent of Madbach's name. Madbach was also attested in Egypt as a theophoric element in the Aramaic personal name Išm-madbah ("guilt of Madbach").

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• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of altars. Deification of cultic objects was a common phenomenon in the Ancient Near East. Objects in close contact with the divine presence were believed to contract numinous qualities themselves and could, under circumstances, become objects of worship.
• Deity Identity Confusion: By the 2nd century CE, Madbach had been equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, with at least two Roman temples addressing him as Zeus Madbachos and Zeus Bomos respectively.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As a mountain and hill god, he likely had this power.
• Patron God: Madbach was the tutelary god of Jebel Sheikh Barakat, a mountain near the town Darat Izza in the Aleppo Governate, and Burj Baqirha, a hill situated on the northern edge of Jebel Barisha in the Idlib Governorate. By extension, Madbach may also have been the patron god of the villages located on or near those sites, such as Qatura, located immediately to the north of the temple of Zeus Madbachos and Selamanes, which occupied the entire summit of the peak of Jebel Sheikh Barakat, and Baqirha, situated on top of Burj Baqirha, where the temple of Zeus Bomos stood at the upper southern end away from the settlement near the street.

Malik / Milkashtart

ܡܲܠܝܼܟ | מַלִךְ | 𐎎𐎍𐎋 | 𐡌𐡋𐡊 | 𐤌𐤋𐤊 | Malik^note Derived from Semitic root mlk, meaning "to rule"

Malik was an underworld god seemingly associated with royalty, possibly including cults of dead kings, and the Maliku, chthonic entities generally interpreted as either shades of the dead or minor underworld deities. He appears to have been envisioned as a benevolent deity, who acted as a father who protected, provided, and listened to his worshippers in return for their service to him. Based on the theophoric names Akaal-Malik ("Malik has devoured") and Iphur-Malik ("Malik has gathered"), it's possible that Malik was credited with granting children to families recently diminished by death, thus making the families "whole" again, although definitive evidence of this is lacking. Malik was attested as early as the third millennium BCE, where he played a significant role in the popular cults of Ebla, Mari, Emar, Alalakh, and many other cities. He was likely originally worshipped by the Amorites, who then brought him to Ebla and Mari, thus explaining his exclusion from the older, fixed pantheon lists from those cities despite his evident popularity. During the Late Bronze Age, his main cult centers were located in Ashteroth (modern-day Tell Ashtara) and Edrei (modern-day Daraa), both cities located in Bashan, the northernmost region of the Transjordan, and he was also worshipped as Ugarit. Malik largely disappeared from the Canaanite mainland at the beginning of the first millennium BCE, but retained popularity among the Phoenicians under the name Milkashtart, likely derived from his Ugaritic name mlk'ttrt ("Malik in Athtart"). He was worshipped at Hammon (possibly either modern-day Umm al-Amad or the Nur Mountains), Carthage, Leptis Magna, and Gadir (modern-day Cádiz) until at least the 2nd century BCE.

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• Crossover Cosmology: Malik was attested in Mesopotamia as early as the pre-Sargonic Early Dynastic period, although his worship at that time appears to have been exceedingly rare, as he was only attested as a theophoric element in one name found at Ur. Malik seemingly became much more popular in subsequent periods, being far more frequently attested throughout Mesopotamia such as receiving offerings at Puzrish-Dagan (modern-day Drehem), a god-list from the Anu-Adad temple at Assur, and theophoric names at Nuzi. The Mesopotamians apparently regarded Malik as a mythical king of Mari, although he was a relatively minor deity in the city itself, having been excluded from the four known pantheon lists from Mari. Malik also appears to have eventually been viewed more negatively in the Mesopotamian "heartland", possibly due to his equation with Nergal, which caused his popularity, at least as as a theophoric element in Akkadian personal names, to experience a marked decline from the Old Babylonian period onward.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Malik was equated with the Mesopotamian plague and underworld god Nergal in two Akkadian god-lists during the Old Babylonian period, which in turn also resulted in scholars suggesting an additional identification between Malik and Resheph, who was more usually associated with Nergal in god-lists. Although sometimes cited as additional evidence of Malik's chthonic nature, several factors prevent any difinitive conclusions from being drawn. Malik and Resheph both appeared together as distinct deities multiple times at Ugarit, as well as having different cult centers. Additionally, the conflation between Malik and Nergal is inconsidered inconclusive because the mere fact that a god is of a chthonic character and even of the highest rank in the underworld does not necessarily imply equation with all gods of that discription, as well as the fact that Nergal's status as the lord of the underworld was a later development which resulted from him becoming the consort of the underworld queen Ereshkigal.
  • Due to Malik's absence from the four known pantheon lists from Mari, despite his evident importance and popularity in the city, scholars such as Philippe Talon and J. J. M. Roberts have suggested that he was identified with Dagon, the chief god of the city's pantheon, possibly having originally been an epithet of Dagon in Akkadian (although a Syro-Palestinian origin origin for Malik is considered more likely). Talon observed that, in Mari, Dagon was referred to as Bel Pagre ("Lord of Corpses") and received funerary offerings called niqî pagrai ("sacrifice for the dead"), which Talon suggested was the same as the offerings ana maliki ("for the Maliku"). The attestation of the proper name Dagan-Malik ("Dagon is Malik" or "Dagon is king") could point to the equation. However, others such as Professor John Healey instead concluded that evidence for Dagon's underworld characteristics was "circumstantial rather than conclusive", and that many other deities with underworld connections could not possibly all have been originally been identified with Malik (or one another). Additionally, it was also noted that the proposed identification of Malik and Dagon could have simply been a local phenomenon, limited to Mari and its environs.
  • Due to the similar spellings of their names, Malik has been linked to both Milcom, the chief god of the Ammonites, and Moloch, a god associated with child sacrifice. Although an equation between Malik and Milcom possibly occured in Mesopotamia, where Malik's name was sometimes written as "Milkum" and "Malkum", the possible connection between the two is nonetheless currently considered impossible to establish. Regarding Malik and Moloch, although Malik was an underworld god connected with the cult of dead kings, he appears to have been viewed as a benevolent deity and no texts have been found linking him with child sacrifice.
• Lost Common Knowledge: The exact nature and functions of Malik are highly uncertain, with present knowledge among scholars, at least regarding his status at Ebla, only permitting the conclusion that he had "something to do with royalty".
• Nice Guy: Malik was generally viewed as a benevolent god who had an intimate relationship with his worshippers, as indicated by theophoric names such as Aba-Malik ("Malik is father"), Apil-Malik ("Heir of Malik"), Ebdu-Malik ("Servant of Malik"), and Rei-Malik ("Malik is my shepherd"). His benevolence was further attested in an expression from the Old Babylonian period, which stated "Malik and A.MÁ may give you life". This characterization of him also appears to have remained consistent among the Iron Age Phoenicians, who credited him with watching over them, and made offerings to him in order to receive his blessing.
• Spell My Name With An S: While "Malik" is the oldest known form of his name, it was nonetheless spelled in a variety of ways as early as the third millennium BCE. Common variations included "Malki" and "Milkum", while the variation "Muluk" was largely limited to Mari and its immediate surroundings, being attested as the name of one village and as a theophoric element in personal names. Additionally, the variations "Milku" and "Milki" were attested as early as the Ur III period at Isin, and might have been influenced by the later Phoenician-Punic vocalization of their word for king, which was complete with case-endings "u" and "i". One peculiar form, "Mulik", was also attested at Ugarit, generally taken as a rare example of the Canaanite vowel shift in that area.

Melekh Yabruda / Maleciabrudes

ܡܲܠܟܵܐ ܝܵܐܒܪ̈ܘܼܕ | מֶלֶךְ בְּרוּד | Mélekh Yabruda^note translated "King of Yabruda"

Melekh Yabruda was the tutelary god of Yabruda (modern-day Yabroud), a Syrian city east of Baalbek located on the slopes of the Qalamoun Mountains, which are the northeastern portion of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. He was attested on an altar in Beirut, and was also one of several Syrian gods worshipped in Rome at a temple located on the slope of the Janiculum, a hill in western Rome.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: The Roman equated Melekh Yabruda with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, altars dedicated to the god addressed him as Jupiter Optimus Maximus Maleciabrudes.
• Patron God: Melekh Yabruda was the tutelary of Yabruda (modern-day Yabroud), a Syrian city east of Baalbek located on the slopes of the Qalamoun Mountains, which are the northeastern portion of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range.
• Spell My Name With An S: In Latin, his name was transliterated as Malechiabrudeno and Maleciabrudi.

Mesgida / Turmasgade / Zeus Tourmasgades

𐡌𐡎𐡂𐡃𐡀 | 𐤌𐤎𐤂𐤃𐤀 | ܡܲܣܓܿܕܼܵܐ | מִסְגָּד | Τουρμασγάδης | Mesgida^note translated "place of worship" / Turmasgade^note translated "mountain of worship"

Mesgida, also known as Turmasgade, was the god of cult places, mountains, the sun, victory, and military success. He was generally believed to originated from either Commagene or Syria, and that his popularity among both Aramaic and Roman soldiers caused his worship to spread to other parts of the Roman Empire, particularly to the Central Balkan Roman provinces as well as Roman Syria and Judaea. His possible status as an old deity whose cult had a continuity in Commagene was supported by a votive altar dedicated to Turmasgade by Pitoronis (likely a man of Aramaic origin) at Dülük Baba Tepesi and a dedication to the god made by the commander of the Cohors II Flavia Commagenorum at the Roman fort Micia in Dacia. Turmasgade was closely associated with Jupiter Dolichenus, as a small votive altar dedicated to Turmasgade was found at the sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichenus in Dülük Baba Tepesi and the two also shared a temple, the Dolicheneum, at Dura-Europos, where they held equal rank. Mesgida was also worshipped by the Elephantine Jews and Syrian-Arameans in Egypt, who swore oaths by him. He was attested in nine inscriptions from Rome, Augusta Treverorum (modern-day Trier), Micia, Romula, Elaiussa Sebaste, Dura-Europos, Caesarea Maritima, and the village of Doliche (modern-day Dülük), with a circular altar mentioning him having been located in the sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichenus at Dülük Baba Tepesi, a hill south of the village.

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• Animal Motifs: Likely due to being conflated with Zeus/Jupiter, Turmasgade was commonly represented by an eagle as his symbol. His iconography regularly depicted an eagle standing either on the head of an animal (usually a bull, stag, or horse) or on top of an object which represented the god's qualities and attributes.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Roman soldiers generally equated Turmasgade with Jupiter, and four known dedications to the god addressed him as either Jupiter Optimus Maximus Turmasgade or Iovi Turmazgadi. Additionally, the Roman soldiers at Dura-Europos also conflated him with the greek sun god Helios and Mithras, the chief god in the mystery religion of Mithraism, with a votive altar identifying the god as Jupiter Helios Mithras Turmasgade.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As a mountain god, he likely had this power.
• Patron God: Turmasgade is generally believed to have originated as a local mountain god in Commagene, specifically in the locality of Doliche (modern-day Dülük), as he shared a temple with Jupiter Dolichenus at Dülük Baba Tepesi, a hill south of Doliche.
• The Power of the Sun: Turmasgade was associated to some extent with the sun, and thus had a solar aspect. A votive altar dedicated to him in the Dülük Baba Tepesi temple depicted him as a solar god woth seven rays protruding from his upper head.
• Spell My Name With An S: The god's original Aramaic name was Tur Mesgida, and was transliterated into Greek variants such as Τωρμοσγάδη(ς), Τουρμασγάδη(ς), and Τουρμασγάδες. The form Τουρμασγάδη(ς) was found on the inscriptions of Dura-Europos and other localities. Latin forms of his name were Turmasgade, Turmasgada, and Turmazgadi (always in the dative).
• War God: Turmasgade was the god of victory and military success, and almost all monuments to him were dedicated by soldiers or persons connected to the army. A votive altar most likely dedicated to Turmasgade found in Caesarea Maritima featured an eagle holding a thunderbolt in its claws being crowned by the Roman goddess Victoria. He presented a role model for soldiers and was venerated as a protector against all evils and failures. By extension, he was regarded as a deity who brought success not only on the battlefield, but also in other spheres of mundane life.

Mifsenus

ܡܝܼܦ̮ܣܸܢܘܤ | מִיפסֵנוּס | Mifsenus

Mifsenus was the tutelary god of Mifsa (modern-day Hosn Niha), a small town in the Beqaa Valley, located 1 km on the slopes above the village of Niha. A temple dedicated to Mifsenus was present in Mifsa, and a Latin inscription found there mentioned several sources of funding of the temple: to the property of the sanctuary and to those of the village was added the contribution of cultores dei Mifseni ("faithful of the god Mifsenus"), under the control of nine officials.

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• Patron God: Mifsenus was the tutelary god of Mifsa (modern-day Hosn Niha), a small town in the Beqaa Valley, located 1 km on the slopes above the village of Niha.

Moloch / Molech

ܡܘܿܠܸܟ݂ | מֹלֶךְ | Μόλοχ | Moloch^note Etymology uncertain. Possibly derived from the Semitic root mlk, meaning "to rule", but with the vowels of bōšet, meaning "shame", or as a qal participle from the same verb. Alternatively, could instead be derived from the Phoenician word mūlk, a term that possibly means something like "[taking] possession", seemingly derived from the root ylk, meaning "to offer, present", and seems to have been a general term for "sacrifice"

Moloch was a god associated with fire and child sacrifice, who was reputedly worshipped in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. His worship consisted of a ritual involving "passing a child through the fire", which was strongly condemned by the Yahwist priesthood, and his most prominent place of worship was a type of shrine called the Tophet (possibly meaning "hearth", "fireplace", or "roaster") located in Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom. According to the Hebrew Bible, Moloch's worship was introduced into Israel possibly as early as the reign of Solomon, and the Judean Kings Ahaz and Manasseh were explicitly accused of having participated in his cult. Although the Tophet was ultimately destroyed during the reign of King Josiah as part of a far reaching religious reform, Moloch's cult seemingly continued at least in isolated locales, with the succeeding Kings Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah having been broadly condemned of having engaged in the practice.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Although Moloch has traditionally been identified as a deity, that notion has been challenged by scholars for several reasons. Moloch is rarely mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, is not mentioned at all outside of it, and connections to other deities with similar names are uncertain. In 1935, theologian Otto Eissfeldt proposed, on the basis of Punic inscriptions, that Moloch was a form of sacrifice rather than a deity. Punic inscriptions indicate that a "mulk-sacrifice" was a technical term for a type of sacrifice, and was never offered to a god name mlk but rather to other deities.
  • Although the rituals of Moloch's cult have traditionally been interpreted as them engaging in child sacrifice, a minority of scholars have argued that the ceremonies to Moloch might in fact instead have been a non-lethal dedication ceremony rather than a sacrifice, which involved children being made to pass between two burning pyres as a purificatory rite. These theories are partially supported by commentary in the Talmud and among early Jewish commentators of the Bible, such as Maimonides, David Kimchi, and Sel Jarchi. However, this interpretation is generally rejected, with scholars such as Paolo Xella and Francesca Stavrakopoulou note that the Bible explicitly connects the ritual to Moloch at the tophet with the verbs indicating slaughter, killing in sacrifice, deities "eating" the children, and burnt offerings. Similarly, the 12th century Jewish biblical commentator Abraham ibn Ezra stated that "to cause to pass through" was the same as "to burn".
• Animal Motifs: Medieval and modern sources tend to portray Moloch as a bull-headed humanoid idol with arms outstretched over a fire, onto which the sacrificial child is placed. This portrayal can be traced back to medieval Jewish commentaries, which connected the biblical Moloch with depictions of Carthaginian sacrifice to "Cronus" (Baal Hammon) found in sources such as Diodorus, with George Foote Moore suggesting that the bull's head may derive from the mythological Minotaur. John S. Rundin suggests that further sources for the image are the legend of Talos and the brazen bull built for king Phalaris of the Greek city of Acragas on Sicily. He notes that both legends, as well as that of the Minotaur, have potential associations with Semitic child sacrifice.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Due to the similar spellings of their names, Moloch has been linked to the underworld god Malik and the Ammonite chief god Milcom, although the equation of either deity with Moloch is ultimately considered unlikely. Although Malik was an underworld god connected with the cult of dead kings, he appears to have been viewed as a benevolent deity and no texts have been found linking him with child sacrifice. Similarly, although certain translations of the Hebrew Bible seemingly conflated Moloch and Milcom, referring to both of them on separate occasions as the chief god of the Ammonites (possibly a scribal error), a distinction was also suggested between them as it was specified that Josiah destroyed distinct holy places for the two. While Moloch's cult place was the Tophet in the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, Milcom was instead worshipped at a sanctuary south of the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. Additionally, the cult of Moloch was repeatedly specified to have been Canaanite in origin, whereas Milcom was an Ammonite deity.
  • Among scholars who deny the existence of a deity Moloch, debate remains as to which god (if any) the Israelite mulk-sacrifices were offered. Moloch has sometimes been linked to Baal Hadad, as Jeremiah seemingly equated the two and stated that Baal had cult sites located at the "high places" in the valley of Hinnom. This is considered to have, at most, reflected a popular confusion of the two (or their cults) since elsewhere they were spoken of distinctly. It has also been argued that the sacrifices were for Yahweh, partially on the basis of the stories of Abraham and Jephthah offering their children to Yahweh, as well as Micah 6:6-7 and other passages.
• God of Fire: Moloch has generally been interpreted as a fire god, who appear to have been common to all the Canaanite, Syrian, and other tribes, who worshipped the destructive element under an outward symbol, with rites such as human sacrifices, purifications, ordeals by fire, devoting of the first-born, mutilation, and vows of perpetual celibacy and virginity.
• Human Sacrifice: Moloch was commonly associated with child sacrifice, and his worshippers engaged in a ritual involving "passing a child through the fire". The exact purpose of the sacrifices to Moloch are not entirely certain. A common interpretation is that they were expiatory rites, meant to atone for the sins of the sacrificers. However, scholars such as the 19th century German orientalist Franz Karl Movers suggested that the child sacrifices were instead purification rites in which the victims were meant to be purged from the dross of the body and attain union with the deity. In support of his interpretation, Movers cited the myth of King Malcandar of Byblos, in which the king's child was suckled by the goddess Isis with her finger, and each night she burned whatever was mortal in its body. When Astarte, the mother, saw this she uttered a cry of terror, and the child was thus deprived of immortality. However, others have instead drawn comparisons to the sacrifice of King Mesha of Moab, who sacrificed his eldest son to his god Chemosh in order to defeat the overwhelming forces of Israel, Judah, and Edom in battle. With this interpretation, the sacrifices to Moloch would have been propitiatory rites meant to appease Moloch.

Nibhaz

ܢܸܒܚܵܙ | נִבְחַז | Nīḇḥaz^note possibly translated "the barker"

Nibhaz was one of the deities of the Avim (also called Avvites), a group of Canaanites who dwelled in Philistia in Hatzerim ("villages" or "encampments") on the south-west corner of the sea-coast as far as Gaza. After Philistia was conquered by an Assyrian king (probably Sargon II), at least some of its residents were deported to Samaria, where they continued worshipping their gods. However, it's possible that the resettled Avim in Samaria originated more specifically from either a Syrian town called Avva (modern-day Kafr Aya), located on the Orontes River southwest of Emesa (modern-day Homs), or the Elamite city of Ama, which was located on the Uqnu River (modern-day Karkheh River) and was occupied by Aramean tribes. Rabbinic tradition derived his name from the Hebrew root nabach ("to bark"), and thus associated him with dogs. Some indications of dog worship have been found in Syria, with a colossal figure of a dog having formerly existed between Beirut and Tripoli.

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• Animal Motifs: Based on the possible etymology of his name, Nibhaz was associated with dogs. As such, the idol of him erected by the Avim is interpreted as having had the form of either a dog or a dog-headed man.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Due to their similar names, Nibhaz has been linked by scholars to the Elamite god Ibnahaz. However, the identification between them was based on the interpretation that the Avim originated from a town called Awwah in Babylonia, east of the Tigris, and that they had taken up the worship of local, Elamite deities. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that Nibhaz was instead derived from the Mesopotamian wisdom and literacy god Nabu.
  • Because of his association with dogs, Nibhaz has also been linked to the Egyptian underworld god Anubis. However, although the Greeks and Romans interpreted him as a dog-headed man, the head of Anubis was actually that of a jackal.
• Ethnic God: Nibhaz was identified as the national god of the Avim alongside Tartak, and they were worshipped in the form of idols.

Patanus / Zeus Patanus

Πατανυς | Patanus

Patanus was a god worshipped at Bosra, a town in southern Syria.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Patanus was one of several local deities in Bosra who was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, a Greek inscription at Bosra referred to him as Zeus Patanus.

Phainesios / Zeus Phainesios

Φαινήσιος | Phainesios

Phainesios was the tutelary god of Phaina (modern-day Al-Masmiyah), a town in southern Syria, located northeast of Daraa. He was attested in an inscription from Damatha (modern-day Damit il-Alya) in central Trachonitis (modern-day Lajat), which was written on an altar dedicated to the god by a man named Seleukos. The inscription addressed Phainesios as "hearer of prayer", and Seleukos dedicated the altar in fulfillment of a vow and to express his piety.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Phainesios was conflated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to as Zeus Phainesios.
• Patron God: Phainesios was the tutelary god of Phaina (modern-day Al-Masmiyah), a town in southern Syria, located northeast of Daraa.

Saarnaios / Zeus Saarnaios

Σααρναιος | Saarnaios

Saarnaios was the tutelary god of Saarna (modern-day Aabeidat), a village north-east of Byblos. He was attested in a dedication in a church at Aabeidat, as well as an inscription in the mountain above Amsheet.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Saarnaios was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to in Greek inscriptions as Zeus Saarnaios. His full title was Zeus Ouranios Hypsistos Saarnaios Epikoos ("Zeus, the heavenly, the highest, of Saarna, who listens").
• Patron God: Saarnaios was the tutelary god of Saarna (modern-day Aabeidat), a village north-east of Byblos.

Safathenos / Zeus Safathenos

Σαφαθηνός | Safathenos

Safathenos was the tutelary god of Safa (modern-day Al-Safa), a hilly region in southern Syria consisting of a basaltic lava field of volcanic origin. He was attested in an inscription on an altar in Bosra, in which two men named Archelaos and Julios petitioned the god to grant them success. His worship at Bosra was made official under Herod the Great, and Safathenos was generally worshipped by the residents of and visitors to the city.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Safathenos was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to in Greek inscriptions as Zeus Safathenos.
• Magma Man: Safathenos was associated with the Al-Safa basaltic volcanic field, which itself lies within the northern part of the massive alkaline Harrat al-Sham volcanic field that extends from southern Syria, through eastern Jordan to Saudi Arabia.
• Patron God: Safathenos was the tutelary god of Safa (modern-day Al-Safa), a hilly region in southern Syria consisting of a basaltic lava field of volcanic origin.

Seeia

שׁעֵיעַו | Σεεια | Seeia

Seeia was the goddess of luck and the tutelary goddess of Si'a (a village near Qanawat in the southern reaches of the Jabal al-Druze) and the Hauran region in general. She had a small square temple in the center of the sanctuary adjacent to the Baalshamin precinct at Si'a, which contained a bilingual Aramaic-Greek inscription identifying her as the protector of the area and its fields. Seeia was commonly viewed as a local personification of the Greek goddess Tyche, and a Tychaion, a temple dedicated to her, was present at each of her cult centres in Al-Sanamayn, Bteineh, Hayat, Khabab, Shaqra, and Sūr al-Lejā. Additionally, inscriptions dedicated to "Tyche" were found at Manāra Henū, Obṭ'a, Zebīreh, Tubna, Deir, Ṣalkhad, and Muṭa'iyyeh.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Seeia has generally been interpreted as a local personification of the Semitic luck god Gad and Greek luck goddess Tyche, both of whom were widely worshipped in the Near East. The smiling beardless male faces decorating the heterodox Corinthian capitals from Seeia's temple at Si'a are believed to represent either Gad or local genies.
• Lady Luck: Seeia was the goddess of luck who looked after and protected the Hauran region in general and the village of Si'a in particular. The frequent presence of her cult in the Hauran is generally explained because the goddess was also seen as a help to the local tribes.
• Patron Goddess: Seeia was the tutelary goddess of Si'a (a village near Qanawat in the southern reaches of the Jabal al-Druze) and the Hauran region in general. A bilingual Aramaic-Greek inscription from her temple in Si'a identified her as the protector of the area and its fields. However, she was not the main deity in the Hauran region, with the oldest temple in the area having been dedicated to the Palmyran sky god Baalshamin.

Shalman / Shalaman / Selamanes

ܫܲܠܡܵܢ | שַׁלְמַן | 𐎌𐎍𐎎𐎐 | 𐡔𐡋𐡌𐡍 | 𐤔𐤋𐤌𐤍 | Σελαμάνες | Šalman^note translated "the one who brings well-being" or "the peaceable". Possibly derived from either Semitic shalóm, meaning "complete, healthy" or "peace", or Arabic salmān, meaning "safe, secure"

Shalman was a god associated with plains and a tutelary god of Jebel Sheikh Barakat, where he was worshipped as an "ancestral god". By the Hellenic period, Shalman was regarded as a female goddess and the consort of Madbach. He was attested in the second millennium BCE as a theophoric element in personal names at Mari and Ugarit, as well as possibly later on in theophoric names from Moab and Edom.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Shalman is generally considered to have been derived from the Arabian god Salman, who was attested in both North and South Arabia and was also worshipped by Arabs in Hatra and Palmyra, as well as the Mesopotamian god Shulmanu, who was primarily worshipped by the Assyrians.
  • In an Egyptian votive stela from the 20th or 21st dynasty, a deity called "Resheph-Shalman" was attested, suggesting that Shalman was seemingly conflated with the plague god Resheph.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As a mountain god, he likely had this power.
• Gender Bender: At Jebel Sheikh Barakat, Shalman was regarded as a female goddess and identified as the consort of Madbach.
• Patron God: Shalman was the tutelary god of Jebel Sheikh Barakat, a mountain near the town Darat Izza in the Aleppo Governate, alongside the altar god Madbach. By extension, Shalman may also have been the patron god of the villages located on or near those sites, such as Qatura, located immediately to the north of the temple of Zeus Madbachos and Selamanes, which occupied the entire summit of the peak of Jebel Sheikh Barakat.

Tartak

ܬܲܪܬܲܩ | תִּרתָֹּק | Tartak^note Etymology uncertain. Possibly a portmanteau of the Hebrew words trei tikin, meaning "two sacks", referring to donkeys, who customarily carried two sacks. Alternatively, it might instead have been derived from the Chaldean word rathak, meaning "chariot"

Tartak was one of the deities of the Avim (also called Avvites), a group of Canaanites who dwelled in Philistia in Hatzerim ("villages" or "encampments") on the south-west corner of the sea-coast as far as Gaza. After Philistia was conquered by an Assyrian king (probably Sargon II), at least some of its residents were deported to Samaria, where they continued worshipping their gods. However, it's possible that the resettled Avim in Samaria originated more specifically from either a Syrian town called Avva (modern-day Kafr Aya), located on the Orontes River southwest of Emesa (modern-day Homs), or the Elamite city of Ama, which was located on the Uqnu River (modern-day Karkheh River) and was occupied by Aramean tribes. Rabbinic tradition stated that he was worshipped in the form of a donkey. Alternatively, the French Protestant leader and professor of theology and Hebrew Pierre Jurieu proposed that the etymology of Tartak's name was derived from the Chaldean word for chariot, and that Tartak was envisioned as either a sun god riding a chariot or being the sun chariot itself.

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• Animal Motifs: Based on the possible etymology of his name, Tartak was associated with donkeys. As such, the idol of him erected by the Avim is interpreted as having had the form of a donkey or a donkey-headed man.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Due to their similar names, Tartak has been linked by scholars to the Elamite god Dakdadra. Further support for a connection between them was the occurence of a transposed form of Dakdadra's name in the Naram-Sin treaty as Dirtak, which seemed even closer to the Hebrew transcription. However, the identification between them was based on the interpretation that the Avim originated from a town called Awwah in Babylonia, east of ths Tigris, and that they had taken up the worship of local, Elamite deities. Although it has since been determined that the logogram DIR.TAK was actually to be read as Siašum, a link between the two deities is still favoured by some.
  • A second possibility was the identification of Tartak with the fertility goddess Atargatis, which was based on the association of the town Avva with the city of Hamath, thus placing it in northern Syria and making it likely that the displaced Avim were Arameans who venerated Atargatis. It has thus been suggested that the Hebrew form Tartak was derived from a dissimilated and metathesized form of an Aramaic original, which has been attested as ʿAtarʿatheh.
• Ethnic God: Tartak was identified as the national god of the Avim alongside Nibhaz, and they were worshipped in the form of idols.

Thamaneitanos / Zeus Thamaneitanos

Θαµανειτανος | Thamaneitanos

Thamaneitanos was the tutelary god of Thamneita (modern-day Temnine), a double village consisting of Temnin el-Foka ("Temnin the upper") and Temnine Et Tahta ("Temnin the lower") located about 8 km northeast of Zahlé in Lebanon. He was attested in an inscription on a small bronze tablet found at Maallaqa, a village near Zahlé.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Thamaneitanos was equated by the Romans with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter. As such, he was addressed in inscriptions as Zeus Thamaneitanos.
• Patron God: Thamaneitanos was the tutelary god of Thamneita (modern-day Temnine), a double village consisting of Temnin el-Foka ("Temnin the upper") and Temnine Et Tahta ("Temnin the lower") located about 8 km northeast of Zahlé in Lebanon.

Theo Adatha / Dii Adatha

Θεῶ Ἀδαθα | Theó Adatha^note translated "god of Adatha"

Theo Adatha was the tutelary god of Adatha (possibly referring to a town west of Palmyra). He was attested in an inscription on a silver libation bowl found in one of the houses at Dura-Europos, dated to 232/233 CE. The bowl was dedicated to the god by a resident of Bethzena.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Theo Adatha was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to in Greek inscriptions as Dii Adatha, with "Dii" being the dative singular form of Zeus.
• Patron God: Theo Adatha was the tutelary god of Adatha, the exact identity and location of which is uncertain. A town called Adatha was located close to and apparently west of Palmyra, and Roman units of the Equites sagittarii indigenae were stationed there. Other possible candidates are the modern-day Palestinian villages of Al-Haditha (in the Ramle Subdistrict) or Hadatha (in the District of Tiberias). Alternatively, it's been suggested that ad was not part of the town's name but might instead have been a preposition, thus changing the reading to ad Atha ("near Atha"). However, while a place called Atha was attested in Roman records at Dura-Europos, the correct reading in the dedication is generally considered to be "Adatha".

Theou Aremthenou

θεοῦ Αρεμθηνου | Theoû Aremthenou^note translated "god of Aremtha"

Theou Aremthenou was the tutelary god of Aremtha (modern-day Aaremta/Aarenta), a hill in the town of Brummana. He was attested in an inscription at Deir el-Qalaa, which was addressed to the god Balmarcod "on the order of the god of Aremtha". The modern Mar Cha'aya church on the hill was partly built with Roman temple blocks, suggesting that there may have previously been a Roman temple there.

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• Dishing Out Dirt: As a hill god, he likely had this power.
• Patron God: Theou Aremthenou was the tutelary god of Aremtha (modern-day Aaremta/Aarenta), a hill in the town of Brummana.

Theou Orneas / Dios Orneas

θεοῦ Ωρνεας | Theou Orneas^note translated "god of Arne"

Theou Orneas was the tutelary god of Arne (modern-day Tell Aran), a town located about 27 km southeast of Aleppo, close to Sabkhat al-Jabbul. He was attested in an inscription at Arne, which commemorated the decoration of the god's temple, apparently sponsored by the god himself, likely referring to sacred funds.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Theou Orneas was equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, and was thus referred to in Greek inscriptions as Dios Orneas, with "Dios" being the genitive singular form of Zeus.
• Patron God: Theou Orneas was the tutelary god of Arne (modern-day Tell Aran), a town located about 27 km southeast of Aleppo, close to Sabkhat al-Jabbul.

Theou Remala

θεοῦ Ρεµαλ̣α̣ | Theou Remala^note translated "god of Remala(s)"

Theou Remala was a god worshipped at Haloua, a city located on the northwestern part of Mount Hermon in the Beqaa Governorate. A stele dedicated to the god, dated to around 156 CE, was located in Haloua, which stated that Theou Remala had ordered the stele to be erected and that the order had been transmitted to the worshippers by the angel god Melicertes, who served as the god's divine messenger. The precise identification of Remala is unclear, but is generally assumed to have either been a toponym (possibly the ancient name of Haloua) or the genitive of the name of the cult founder.

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• Patron God: Theou Remala has generally been interpreted as the tutelary of either a location called Remala (possibly the ancient name of Haloua) or a man called Remalas, who was presumably the founder of the god's cult.

Tsurbarak / Zeus Tourbarachos

צוּרבָרַךְ | Τουρβαραχος | Tsúrbāraḵ^note translated "blessed rock"

Tsurbarak was the tutelary god of Jebel Sarir, a mountain near the village of Tell Elkarame and east of the town of Sarmada in the Idlib Governate. A Roman temple dedicated to him was built at the peak of Jebel Sarir in 116 CE, when the road from Antioch to Aleppo was being developed for military traffic to support Roman campaigns to the east.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: By the second century BCE, Tsurbarak had been equated with the Graeco-Roman god Zeus, with his temple on Jebel Sarir addressing him as Zeus Tourbarachos.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As a mountain god, he likely had this power.
• Patron God: Tsurbarak was the tutelary god of Jebel Sarir, a mountain in the Idlib Governate in northwestern Syria. He might also have been the patron god of Tell Elkarame, a village located near the mountain, from which a dirt road leads to the temple at the peak.

Zeus Arotesios

Zeus Arotèsios^note translated "Zeus the ploughman"

Zeus Arotesios was a god of weather and fertility, as well as the tutelary god of Hippos/Sussita, an ancient city in the northern Jordan Valley, located on a hill on the slopes of the Golan Heights overlooking the Sea of Galilee. After Hippos was established by Seleucid colonists under the name Antiochia Hippos, Zeus Arotesios continued to be worshipped alongside the Greek Zeus Olympios, and was featured on the city's coins as a figure in a very short tunic standing in the centre of a structure with columns and pediment.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Due to the influence of the Greek Seleucid dynasty and, later on, the Romans, Zeus Arotesios became Hellenized and underwent interpretatio Graeca, likely due to the influence of the Greek Zeus Olympios. However, Zeus Arotesios was never fully equated with Zeus Olympios, and maintained his distinct, un-Greek iconography.
  • Zeus Arotesios has been linked by scholars to the Syrian prosperity god Dagon, who was also associated with fertility and the plough. Additionally, Dagon was attested with similar epithets in various sources, namely as Zeus Arotrios in Philo of Byblos' The Phoenician History and Zeus Arouraios in the Onomastica Sacra.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The god's original name is unknown, and he was only attested under the Hellenized name Zeus Arotesios.
• Patron God: Zeus Arotesios was the tutelary god of Hippos/Sussita, an ancient city in the northern Jordan Valley, located on a hill on the slopes of the Golan Heights overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
• Weather Manipulation: Zeus Arotesios was associated with the weather, specifically with fertilizing the land through rain.

Sanchuniathon's cosmogony

The following deities were primarily attested in the cosmogony of the Phoenician author Sanchuniathon, whose works survived only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius. However, in its surviving form, the text has been heavily euhemerized, with the original deities being portrayed as mortal humans.

Aion / Aeon

Αἰών | עולם | Aiṓn^note translated "eternity"

Aion was a primordial deity of eternal time. They and their sibling Protogonos were the children of Kolpia and Baau. Aion was credited with discovering food from trees. With Protogonos, they had two children, Genos and Genea.

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• Ambiguous Gender: Aion's gender is uncertain, although they're sometimes interpreted as male due to being named first.
• Brother–Sister Incest: They had children with their sibling Protogonos.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars generally agree that Aion was equivalent with Oulomos, god of eternity, from the alternate Phoenician cosmogony of Mochus. This consensus is based on the fact that they were both primordial deities whose names had been derived from the Hebrew word olam ("eternity"). Orelli, the latest editor of Philo's The Phoenician History, conflated Aion with Eve, the first woman in the Hebrew Bible, despite Aion being a masculine name.

Protogonos / Protogonus

Πρωτογόνος | קַדמוֹן | Prōtogónos^note translated "first-born"

Protogonos was a primordial deity of procreation. They and their sibling Aion were the children of Kolpia and Baau. With Aion, they had two children, Genos and Genea.

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• Ambiguous Gender: Protogonos' gender is uncertain, but they're sometimes interpreted as either female or intersex due to being named second.
• Brother–Sister Incest: They had children with their sibling Aion.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Orelli, the latest editor of Philo's The Phoenician History, conflated Protogonos with Adam, the first man in the Hebrew Bible.

Genos

Γένος | Génos^note translated "race"

Genos was the god of family. He and his sister Genea were the children of Aion and Protogonos. They were the first inhabitants of Phoenicia and, it is implied, spoke the Phoenician language. When great droughts came, they stretched forth their hands towards the sun, whom they called Baalshamem, thus establishing the origins of religion and prayer. With Genea, Genos had three sons, Phos, Phur, and Phlox.

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• Brother–Sister Incest: He was married to his sister Genea.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Orelli, the latest editor of Philo's The Phoenician History, conflated Genos with Cain from the Hebrew Bible.
• Famous Ancestor: Genos and his wife were the first to settle in Phoenicia, as well as establishing the customs of religion and prayer.

Genea

Γενεά | Geneá^note translated "generation"

Genea was the goddess of generation. She and her brother Genos were the children of Aion and Protogonos. They were the first inhabitants of Phoenicia and, it is implied, spoke the Phoenician language. When great droughts came, they stretched forth their hands towards the sun, whom they called Baalshamem, thus establishing the origins of religion and prayer. With Genos, Genea had three sons, Phos, Pur, and Phlox.

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• Brother–Sister Incest: She was married to her brother Genos.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Orelli, the latest editor of Philo's The Phoenician History, conflated Genea with Cain's wife (named Awan in some traditions) from the Hebrew Bible.
• Famous Ancestor: Genea and her husband were the first to settle in Phoenicia, as well as establishing the customs of religion and prayer.

Phos

Φως | Phôs^note translated "light"

Phos was one of the gods of fire. He and his brothers were the children of Genos and Genea. They were credited with having discovered the method of generating fire by the rubbing together of sticks, and then taught humanity the use thereof. Along with his brothers, Phos begat giant sons of vast bulk and height, whose names were conferred upon the mountains which they occupied: Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathu.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars have disagreed whether Phos and his brothers were fictions made up to suit their inventions, or three Phoenician gods, but the latter is considered preferable. Lokkegaard attempted to identify them with figures known from Ugaritic epics. He identified Phos with the hypothetical Ugaritic god Ảr (meaning "light"). However, Ar was only attested as Bt Ar (meaning either "daughter of light" or "house of light"), a title of Pidraya, which referred to her father Hadad, and there is no proof that a god of fire had that name. Alternatively, P.D. Miller suggested instead that Phos was equivalent with the Ugaritic goddess Zabib (meaning either "flame" or "fly"), who was mentioned in the Temple of Baal.
• Playing with Fire: He and his brothers discovered the use of fire and taught it to humanity.

Pur

πῦρ | Pûr^note translated "fire"

Pur was one of the gods of fire. He and his brothers were the children of Genos and Genea. They were credited with having discovered the method of generating fire by the rubbing together of sticks, and then taught humanity the use thereof. Along with his brothers, Pur begat giant sons of vast bulk and height, whose names were conferred upon the mountains which they occupied: Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathu.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars have disagreed whether Pur and his brothers were fictions made up to suit their inventions, or three Phoenician gods, but the latter is considered preferable. Lokkegaard attempted to identify them with figures known from Ugaritic epics. He identified Pur with the hypothetical Ugaritic god Nur (meaning "a light" or "lamp"). However, the word Nur was only attested as wnr (which can mean "and Nur"), and there is no proof that a god of fire had that name. Alternatively, P.D. Miller suggested instead that Pur was equivalent with the Ugaritic goddess Ishat (meaning "fire"), who was mentioned in the Temple of Baal.
• Playing with Fire: He and his brothers discovered the use of fire and taught it to humanity.

Phlox

φλόξ | Phlox^note translated "flame"

Phlox was one of the gods of fire. He and his brothers were the children of Genos and Genea. They were credited with having discovered the method of generating fire by the rubbing together of sticks, and then taught humanity the use thereof. Along with his brothers, Phlox begat giant sons of vast bulk and height, whose names were conferred upon the mountains which they occupied: Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathu.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars have disagreed whether Phlox and his brothers were fictions made up to suit their inventions, or three Phoenician gods, but the latter is considered preferable. Lokkegaard attempted to identify them with figures known from Ugaritic epics. He identified Phlox with Ugaritic goddess Ishat (meaning "fire"), who was mentioned in the Temple of Baal. Alternatively, P.D. Miller suggested instead that Phlox was equivalent with a hypothetical god named Lahat (meaning "flame"), although there is no proof that a god of fire with that name existed.
• Playing with Fire: He and his brothers discovered the use of fire and taught it to humanity.

Cassius

Κάσσιος | Cassius

Cassius was a mountain god who resided in the mountain that was eventually named after him, Mount Casius, which was also called Mount Zaphon by the Canaanites. He and his brothers were the giant sons of Phos, Pur, and Phlox, and they in turn begat two sons, Samemroumos (also called Hypsouranius) and Ousoos.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars agree that Cassius was equivalent with Baal (specifically in his form as Baal-zephon), who was the god associated with Mount Casius.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: Cassius and his brothers were giants of vast bulk and height, who each lived on separate mountains.

Libanus

Λίβανος | Libanus

Libanus was a mountain god who resided in the mountain that was eventually named after him, Mount Libanus (present-day Mount Lebanon). He and his brothers were the giant sons of Phos, Pur, and Phlox, and they in turn begat two sons, Samemroumos (also called Hypsouranius) and Ousoos.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars agree that Libanus was equivalent with Baal-Libanus ("Lord of Mount Libanus"), the god associated with Mount Libanus.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: Libanus and his brothers were giants of vast bulk and height, who each lived on separate mountains.

Antilibanus

Αντιλίβανος | Antilibanus

Antilibanus was a mountain god who resided in the mountain that was eventually named after him, Mount Antilibanus (present-day Anti-Lebanon Mountains). He and his brothers were the giant sons of Phos, Pur, and Phlox, and they in turn begat two sons, Samemroumos (also called Hypsouranius) and Ousoos.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars agree that Antilibanus was likely equivalent with a possible deity called Baal-Hermon ("Lord of Mount Libanus"), the god associated with Mount Hermon, a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: Antilibanus and his brothers were giants of vast bulk and height, who each lived on separate mountains.

Brathu

βράθυ | Brathu

Brathu was a mountain god who resided in a mountain that was eventually named after him. He and his brothers were the giant sons of Phos, Pur, and Phlox, and they in turn begat two sons, Samemroumos (also called Hypsouranius) and Ousoos.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Scholars agree that Brathu was likely equivalent with a god named Baal ("Lord"), who was a local deity associated with a certain mountain. However, the exact identity of Brathu's mountain is uncertain. Scholars Boudissin and Eissfeldt argued that the word was a distortion of Thabur (i.e. Mount Tabor), and connected it with the widespread cult of Zeus Atabyrios in many parts of the Mediterranean world. Another approach, followed by Cross, was to take it as "the cypress (mountain)", which is the Amanus, with Brathu being the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word Berosh.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: Brathu and his brothers were giants of vast bulk and height, who each lived on separate mountains.

Samemroumos / Hypsouranios

שמםרמס | Υψουράνιος | Samemroumos^note translated "high heaven"

Samemroumos, also known as Hypsouranios, was the god of settlements and construction. He was the son of either Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, or Brathu, and used a matronym due to his uncertain paternity. Samemroumos dwelt in Tyre, and invented huts constructed of reeds, rushes, and papyrus. He also quarreled with his brother Ousoos, who was a nomadic hunter and the inventor of clothing. His family line eventually produced two noteworthy descendants, Agreus and Halieus.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Samemroumos is generally accepted to have been equivalent with a local deity of a location that bore his name, although the location itself is uncertain. Sidonian inscriptions seemingly bearing his name were found in reference to part of Greater Sidon, suggesting that he was the local god of a district in Sidon, and that his rivalry with his brother represented the long history of conflict between Sidon and Tyre for the dominant position in Phoenician affairs.
  • However, this interpretation is no longer considered acceptable, as Samemroumos was described as living in Tyre and the important conflict between the cities would not have been represented by the insignificant conflict between the brothers. Instead, Samemroumos is believed to have represented the sedentary dwellers of the island portion of the city, while his brother represented the more nomadic hunters on the mainland.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: His paternity was uncertain due to his mother's promiscuity, as it was said that "the women of those times, without shame, having intercourse with any man they might chance to meet".
• Sibling Rivalry: Samemroumos had a rivalry with his brother Ousoos, which is believed to reflect the conflicts between the places with which their names were associated.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name was originally read as Memroumos, which is now considered incorrect.

Ousoos / Usous

Οῠσωος | Ousoos

Ousoos was the god of nomads and clothing. He was the son of either Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, or Brathu, and used a matronym due to his uncertain paternity. Ousoos was a nomadic hunter, and invented clothing made from the skins of the wild beasts which he could catch. He also quarreled with his brother Samemroumos, who dwelt in Tyre, and invented huts constructed of reeds, rushes, and papyrus. When violent tempests of winds and rains caused the trees in Tyre to rub against each other and catch fire, Ousoos took a tree, lopped off its boughs, and became the first man who dared to venture out on the sea. After his successful voyage, Ousoos consecrated two stelae to Fire and Wind, which he worshipped by pouring out the blood of the wild beasts he had caught on to them.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Ousoos was originally identified with the Biblical Esau, an identification which seemed appropriate because the names were similar; both were hunters and each had a brother who dwelt in or invented shelters and with whom he quarreled.
  • Ousoos is generally accepted to have been equivalent with a local deity of a location that bore his name, specifically a section of Tyre called Uzu, the mainland coast facing the island city.
  • In contrast to Ousoos, it was suggested that Samemroumos was the local god of a district in Sidon, and that the rivalry between the brothers represented the long history of conflict between Sidon and Tyre for the dominant position in Phoenician affairs.
  • However, this interpretation is no longer considered acceptable, as Samemroumos was described as living in Tyre and the important conflict between the cities would not have been represented by the insignificant conflict between the brothers. Instead, Ousoos is believed to have represented the more nomadic hunters on the mainland, while his brother Samemroumos is believed to have represented the sedentary dwellers of the island portion of the city.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: His paternity was uncertain due to his mother's promiscuity, as it was said that "the women of those times, without shame, having intercourse with any man they might chance to meet".
• Sibling Rivalry: Ousoos had a rivalry with his brother Samemroumos, which is believed to reflect the conflicts between the places with which their names were associated.

Agreus

צד | Ἀγρεύς | Agreus^note translated "hunter"

Agreus was the god of hunting. He was a descendant of Samemroumos/Hypsouranios, and was credited with inventing the art of hunting, from whom were hunters were named. Agreus had a brother, Halieus, who invented the art of fishing, and one of his descendants was Chrysor.

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• Classical Hunter: Agreus was credited as having been the first hunter.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Some scholars doubt whether there was a god with this name or whether he was a fiction invented by Philo to suit the invention, although it's generally been agreed that the text argues strongly that Philo turned gods into inventors rather than created fictions. It's been suggested that Agreus was equivalent with the Canaanite/Phoenician god Tsad (meaning "to hunt").

Halieus

צוד | Ἁλιεύς | Halieus^note translated "fisherman"

Halieus was the god of fishing. He was a descendant of Samemroumos/Hypsouranios, and was credited with inventing the art of fishing, from whom fishermen were named. Halieus had a brother, Agreus, who invented the art of hunting, and one of his descendants was Chrysor.

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• Deity Identity Confusion: Some scholars doubt whether there was a god with this name or whether he was a fiction invented by Philo to suit the invention, although it's generally been agreed that the text argues strongly that Philo turned gods into inventors rather than created fictions. It's been suggested that Halieus, under the hypothetical Hebrew name Tsud (meaning "to fish"), was a local fishing god worshipped in Sidon, as its name itself meant "fishery" or "fishing town".

Chrysor

Χρυσωρ | Chrysor

Chrysor was the god of crafts, magic, and sailing. He was a descendant of Agreus and Halieus, and he and his brothers were credited with the invention of iron and the manifold uses of it. Chrysor also exercised himself in words, charms, and divinations, as well as being the first sailor, having invented the first light fishing boats and the hook, bait, and fishing line. His brothers were said to have invented the making of walls with bricks. In Sanchuniathon's euhemerized account, Chrysor was deified after his death, with his worshippers calling him Diamichius ("the great inventor").

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• The Blacksmith: Chrysor was one of the inventors of metallurgy.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Chrysor is firmly accepted as having been the same god as the Ugaritic craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis, with the two serving identical functions, as well as the creator god Chousoros. By extension, it's possible that Chrysor and his brothers were Decomposite Characters derived from Kothar, as the invention of brick walls by Chrysor's brothers appears to be based on Kothar's additional role as divine architect.
  • Additionally, Chrysor's title of Diamichius has been linked to Zeus Meilichius (i.e. Zeus in his aspect as "the easily-entreated"), but it's been noted that the attributes of Zeus Meilichius, an underworld power viewed as a giver of fertility and wealth, but also of punishment and death, seem inappropriate to Chrysor, making a connection between them unlikely. The 19th century German orientalist Heinrich Ewald proposed that the connection was the result of a translation and transliteration of אֵל מָלִיחַ ("El Maliach"), meaning "god of herring", thus alluding to Chrysor's connection with sailors. However, modern scholars consider such a translation unlikely due to a lack proof, pointing out that the form mlych is unattested and unlikely in Phoenician, and would not yield the vowels of Meilichios nor make good sense.
  • Chrysor was also identified in the text with the Greek Hephaestus and Roman Vulcan.
• Renaissance Man: Aside from inventing and using iron, Chrysor was also credited with inventing the raft and fishing implements.

Technites

Τεχνίτης | Technites^note translated "artisan"

Technites was one of the gods of bricks and tiling. He was a descendant of Chrysor and the brother of Geinos Autochthon. With his brother, Technites was credited with discovering the use of chaff in brick making, of drying bricks in the sun, and of how to build roofs.

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• Dishing Out Dirt: Technites and his brother were credited with finding out how to mix stubble with the brick-earth, and drying the bricks in the sun.

Geinos Autochthon

Γέϊνος Αὐτόχθων | Geinos Autochthon^note translated "earth-born native"

Geinos Autochthon was one of the gods of bricks and tiling. He was a descendant of Chrysor and the brother of Technites. With his brother, Geinos was credited with discovering the use of chaff in brick making, of drying bricks in the sun, and of how to build roofs.

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• Dishing Out Dirt: Geinos and his brother were credited with finding out how to mix stubble with the brick-earth, and drying the bricks in the sun.

Agros

Αγρός | Agros^note translated "field"

Agros was the god of agriculture and the fields. He was a descendant of Technites and Geinos Autochthon, as well as the brother of Agrotes. He and his brother were credited with inventing courts, porticos, and crypts. Husbandmen, and hunting with dogs, were also said to derive their origin from them. The brothers were also called Aletae ("wanderers"), and Titans.

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• Farm Boy: Agros was associated with agriculture and the fields.

Agrotes

Αγρότες | Agrotes^note translated "farmers"

Agrotes was the god of farming. He was a descendant of Technites and Geinos Autochthon, as well as the brother of Agros. Agrotes had a wooden statue that was venerated, and a shrine (or portable temple), drawn about in Phoenicia by yokes of oxen. In books (or at Byblos), he was distinctly called the "greatest of the gods". He and his brother were credited with inventing courts, porticos, and crypts. Husbandmen, and hunting with dogs, were also said to derive their origin from them. The brothers were also called Aletae ("wanderers"), and Titans.

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• Farm Boy: Agrotes was associated with farmers.