Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Goddess name "A-a" | Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian / / western Semitic | Sun goddess. Consort of the un god SAMAS . Also AYA.... |
Goddess name "Allatu(m)" | Western Semitic | Chthonic underworld goddess. Modeled on the Mesopotamian goddess ERESKIGAL and possibly also equating with ARSAY in Canaanite mythology. Recognized by the Carthaginians as Allatu.... |
God name "Amurru" | Western Semitic | mountain god. A minor consort of ATHIRAT whose attributes include a shepherd's crook and who was probably worshiped by herders. Known mainly from inscriptions. Also MARTU.... |
Goddess name "Arsay" | Western Semitic / Canaanite | Chthonic underworld goddess. According to epic creation texts, she is the third daughter of BAAL at Ugarit (Ras Samra), possibly also equating with ALLATUM.... |
Goddess name "Aseer u" | Western Semitic / Canaanite / / Hittite | Fertility goddess. Identified in Ugaritic (Ras Samra) texts as an unfaithful consort of ELKUNIRSA. Also Aserdus (Hittite).... |
Goddess name "Aspalis" | Western Semitic | Hunting goddess. There is scant mention of Aspalis from Melite in Phthia and she is probably a local version of ARTEMIS. As in certain Artemis mythology, she hanged herself and her body disappeared.... |
Goddess name "Asratum" | Western Semitic / Canaanite | Fertility goddess. Probably a corruption of the Semitic ATHIRAT or ASERAH. Also mentioned in Babylonian texts from the Hellenistic period. Also Asrat (Akkadian).... |
Goddess name "Astaroth" | Western Semitic | Fertility goddess. Goddess of sheep herders equating with the Phoenician goddess ASTARTE. Also a plural form of the name Astoreth and used as a collective name for goddesses (cf. BAAL).... |
Goddess name "Athirat" | Western Semitic / Canaanite | Fertility goddess. In Old Babylonian texts of Hammurabi she is identified as the daughter-in-law of the king of heaven. She is also known from pre-Islamic southern Arabia as a consort of the moon god AMM.See also ASERAH.... |
God name "Attar" | Western Semitic | God of the morning star. In Canaanite legend, he attempts to usurp the dead BAAL but proves inadequate to fill the god's throne. In semi-arid regions of western Asia where irrigation is essential, he was sometimes worshiped as a Rain god. His female counterpart is the Phoenician ASTARTE. Also probably identified as Dhu-S amani in more southerly regions.... |
Goddess name "BAAL (lord)" | Western Semitic / Canaanite / northern Israel, Lebanon / later Egypt | vegetation deity and national god. Baal may have originated in pre-agricultural times as god of storms and Rain. He is the son of DAGAN and in turn is the father of seven storm gods, the Baalim of the Vetus Testamentum, and seven midwife goddesses, the SASURATUM. He is considered to have been worshiped from at least the nineteenth century BC. Later he became a vegetation god concerned with fertility of the land. From the mid-sixteenth century BC in the Egyptian New kingdom, Baal enjoyed a significant cult following, but the legend of his demise and restoration was never equated with that of OSIRIS. In the Greco-Roman period, Baal became åśśimilated in the Palestine region with ZEUS and JUPITER, but as a Punic deity [Carthage] he was allied with SATURNUS, the god of seed-sowing.... |
God name "Baa! Ma!age" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Local tutelary god. Probably of Canaanite origin, closely equating with BAAL SAMIN and known only from inscriptions.... |
Deities name "Baa! Samin (lord of heaven)" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Head of the pantheon. Probably originated in Canaanite culture as a god of Rain and vegetation, but became extensively revered in places as far apart as Cyprus and Carthage. Epithets include bearer of thunder. Baal Samin is first mentioned in a fourteenth century BC treaty between the Hittite king Suppiluliuma and Nigmadu II of Ugarit. He had a major sanctuary at Byblos, according to inscription, built by Yehemilk. Josephus confirms that his cult existed at the time of Solomon. At Karatepe his name appears at the head of a list of national deities and on Seleucid coinage he is depicted wearing a half-moon crown and carrying a radiate Sun disc. Other epithets include lord of eternity and he may also have been god of storms at sea, a patron deity of mariners. By Hellenic times he equated with ZEUS in the Greek pantheon and the Romans identified him as Caelus (sky). Also Baal-Samem.... |
Deities name "Baa! Sapon" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Local tutelary god. Probably of Canaanite origin and closely equating with BAAL SAMIN. According to Ugaritic texts he lives on a mountain in the north of Phoenicia known as Saphan, which may have served as a beacon for mariners. Other local variations of mountain deities include Baal Hermon and Baal Brathy.... |
Goddess name "Baubo" | Western Semitic / Syrian | Mother goddess. Known locally from Priene and largely became syncretized with ATARGATIS, KYBELE, etc.... |
God name "Bethel" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Local tutelary god. Probably of Aramaean or Syrian origin. First mentioned in a fourteenth century treaty between the Hittite king Suppiluliuma and Nigmadu II of Ugarit [Ras Samra]. He appears more regularly on inscriptions from the end of the seventh century BC and enjoyed considerable popularity during the neo-Babylonian period. Bethel is mentioned in the Biblical text of Jeremiah 48.13, implying that some Israelites acknowledged this deity. There is no evidence of links with the historical place names, including that mentioned in Genesis 38.13.... |
Supreme god name "Dagan (2)" | Western Semitic / Canaanite / Phoenician | Grain and fertility god. The father of BAAL in Ugaritic creation epics. A major sanctuary was built in his honor at Mari [Syria] and he was recognized in parts of Mesopotamia where he acquired the consort Salas. Worshiped mainly at Gaza and Asdod, but also the supreme god of the Philistines. Known in biblical references as Dagon (Judges 16.23). Mentioned in the apocryphal Book of Maccabees. The cult is thought to have continued until circa 150 BC. Israelite misinterpretation of the Ugaritic root Dagan led to the åśśumption that he was a fish god, therefore attributes include a fish tail.... |
God name "Dolichenus" | Western Semitic / Syrian | weather god. Depicted bearded and standing upon a bull. Attributes include a double ax and lightning. He became syncretized with the Roman god JUPITER.... |