n later times Pheenician cities, like other peoples of the ancient world, introduced foreign gods into theirtemples. Egypt especially furnished its share, and Babylonian deities are not wanting ; while in regard to the other nations around them (other Canaanites, Arameeans, etc.), it is often difficult to say whether one has borrowed from the others, or all have received them from a common stock. In Greek times the identification of their own gods with Greek deities did much to change the nature and worship of both.
The relation of the individual (we have no evi- dence of the tribal relation prominent in Arabia, and undoubtedly present among the early Israelitey
ῬΗ(ΕΝΊΟΙΑ
οἵ. TRIBE) to the god is expressed by the various words expressing dependence on or relation to, prefixed to names of gods to form names of per- sons, 6.0. 73y ‘servant of’ (which occurs with the name of nearly every Phenician god known); τῶν ‘man of’; 73 ‘branch, member of’ (see Bloch, Phen. Gloss. 8 19, note) ; -*n (for nx) ‘ brother of’ ; —3 ‘client of’; and once or twice -38 and “3 ν ‘father, or my father is’... Women’s names are also formed by prefixing the following and similar words to the divine names “na ‘daughter of’; -nnx and -nn ‘sister of’; "τὸν ‘handmaid of’; “nwnx ‘ bride of.’
(a) Thedeities.—Altogetherabout50names of gods are known from the Phen. inscriptions (see Lidz- barski, 152 ff.). Of many of these we know nothing but the name. Among the most important are the following (in the order of the Phen. alphabet) :—
IN (Gr. “Adwus, cf. Heb. ὙΠῈ), originally an appellative. A god in Byblos, then in Cyprus, where he was also joined with Eshmun. Origen and Jerome identify him with Tammuz (Ezk 8"), who was really a Babylonian god. In some places he is joined with Osiris. For the probable mean- ing of the Adonis feast, see Baudissin, Studien zur sepitischen Religionsgeschichte, ii. 188, note.
ἐξ (cf. Heb. 5x) occurs in several proper names, but it is still doubtful whether it stands for a par- ticular god. Philo of Byblos says that he was the chief god of Byblos, but had neither temple nor cultus. The feminine form nx occurs on two Carthaginian inscriptions as the name of a goddess with priests of her own.
jows (called by the Greeks ’AckAjmos) is not mentioned in the OT, but was worshipped in Sidon, Berytos, Carthage, Cyprus, ete.; and his name occurs frequently in proper names, and compounded with Melkarth (cf. Ed. Meyer in Roscher’s Lexikon d. Griechischen u. Romischen Mythologie, i. 1385 f.).
by (Gr. Βάαλ, Βῆλος, Βήλ, and in proper names Βάλ) was worshipped also by the Israelites, Philis- tines, and probably by Moabites. He appears in Palmyrene inscriptions as 1 and $2. He was prob- ably also indigenous in Arabia (Néldeke in ZDMG xl. 174), and is evidently connected with the Baby- lonian Bel. See BAAL. The feminine form nby3 (Gr. BaaArls, Βῆλτις) occurs in the Tel el-Amarna tablets as Ba‘alat §a Gubla. It is as goddess of the same place that she is mentioned four times in CJS 1. It seems also to be present in the OT place-names ndy3, Ia n2y3, and nidya.
33 appears in Pheenician inscriptions only in proper names, but occurs as a god in Is 65", in the 32 5920 of Jos 1557, and in Ezr 2", also in Aramaic (ZDMG xlii. 474), in Arabia (Wellhausen, Reste d. Arab. Heidertums?, 146), and probably in Pal- myrene, but is unknown to the Babylonians. He was a god of Fortune (see art. GAD); but the city-
od Τύχη of Greek inscriptions and coins from
Syria, with whom he has been generally identified, is regarded by Banudissin (Herzog-Hauck, vi. 334 f.) as referring more probably to Atergatis.
bp, originally an appellative,—cf. Molech and Milcom of the Ammonites (see MOLECH),—is men- tioned in the Tel el-Amarna tablets in the names Abi-milki, Di-milki, ‘Abd-milki, etc., and in many names in the Phoenician inscriptions. A goddess ΠΡΟ is also found in Carthage, Hadrumet, and Sardinia.
maipbp (=mp-7bn ‘ city-king’) is not mentioned in the Or, but was the Ba'al of Tyre, and was iden- tified by the Greeks with Ἡρακλῆς (so in CJS 122, c. 180 B.c.). His temple, according to a tradition in Herodotus (ii. 44); was founded about B.c, 2740, His name is also found in Cyprus, Malta, and
PHENICIA 861
Carthage, and in such proper names as Hamilkar, and is preserved in the Greek Μελικέρτης. In com-
ound names of deities he occurs with Eshmiun, Zad, and Resheph (see Ed. Meyer in Roscher’s Lexikon, ii. 2650 ff.).
j3D occurs in the proper names 2073, }2072y, and 1n320, Which last is also the name Σαγχουνιάθων of Philo’s fictitious authority.
nay (in the Greek part of CJS 95 represented by *A@nva) is met with in the OT in the place-names Beth-anoth (Jos 15), Beth-anath (Jos 19%, Jg 133), and Anathoth (Jer 1, etc.). As a goddess of war she was known and honoured by the Egyptians in the 17th and 18th dynasties, having, according to Meyer (ZDMG xxxi. 718 f.), been taken over from the Hittites. A connexion with the Babyloniay Anatu is not proved.
nanwy (Gr. ᾿Ασταρτη), identified by the Greeka with ’Agpodirn. See ASHTORETH.
ἫΝ seems to be connected with the Heb. vs ‘to hunt, fish,’ but occurs only in names of men and of compound deities.