TYPE: Head of the Pantheon
ORIGIN: Western Semitic (Phoenician)
INFORMATION:
Probably originated in Canaanite culture as a god of rain and vegetation, but became extensively revered in placed as far apart as Cyprus and Carthage. Epithets include "Bearer of Thunder". Baal Samin is first mentioned in the fourteenth century BCE 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.