Ba`alat Gebal

Fertile Crescent myth series
Mesopotamian
Levantine
Arabian
Near Eastern Religions
The Levant
El Elyon Hadad Adon Anat Arsu Asherah Astarte Atargatis Azizos The Ba'als Ba`alat Gebal	Berith Dagon Elohim Eshmun Kubaba Liluri Manuzi Mot Shaddai Salem Yam Yarikh

Ba‘alat Gebal, 'Lady of Byblos', was the goddess of the city of Byblos, Phoenicia. She was sometimes known to the Greeks as Baaltis or Atargatis.

Ba‘alat Gebal was generally identified with the pan-Semitic goddess ‘Ashtart and so equated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. However, Sanchuniathon equates her with the Greek goddess Dione and presents her as a sister of ‘Ashtart (Aphrodite) and Rhea (who is probably Asherah), all three being wives of El. He says she bore daughters to El and that it was El who gave the city of Byblos to Baaltis.

Ba‘alat Gebal was distinguished in iconography from ‘Ashtart or other aspects of ‘Ashtart or similar goddesses by two, tall, upright feathers in her headdress.

The temple of Ba‘alat Gebal in Byblos was built around 2700 BC. Dedications from Egyptians begin appearing from the second to the 6th Egyptian dynasties. Two of these inscriptions equate Ba‘alat Gebal with the Egyptian goddess Hathor.

External links

• Roman statue of Ba‘alat Gebal - Silk Road Seattle, University of Washington
• Temple of Ba‘alat Gebal