About the Book
Editorial Reviews - West Semitic Deities From the Publisher Chapters: West Semitic Goddesses, West Semitic Gods, Ba'al, Dagon, Melqart, Moloch, Resheph, Hadad, Atargatis, Asherah, Astarte, Asherah Pole, Ashima, Mot, Eshmun, Amurru, Shapash, Tanit, Ba'al Shamîm, Sydyk, Nikkal, Kotharat, Berith, Ba'alat Gebal, Aglibol, Beelshamen, Allatu, Malakbel, Kotar, Attar, Liluri, Kaus, Satrapes, Azizos, Asar, Aspalis, Baltis, Arsay, Ashtar-Chemosh, Arsu, Ba'al Hermon. Excerpt: (written aleph-lamed, i.e. , , etc.) is the Northwest Semitic word for "deity", cognate to Arabic and Akkadian . In the Canaanite religion, or Levantine religion as a whole, Eli or Il was the supreme god, the father of humankind and all creatures and the husband of the Goddess Asherah as recorded in the tablets of Ugarit. The word El was found at the top of a list of gods as the Ancient of Gods or the Father of all Gods, in the ruins of the Royal Library of the Ebla civilization, in the archaeological site of Tell Mardikh in Syria dated to 2300 BC. He may have been a desert god at some point, as the myths say that he had two wives and built a sanctuary with them and his new children in the desert. El had fathered many gods, but most important were Hadad, Yam, and Mot. Cognate forms are found throughout the West and East Semitic. Forms include Ugaritic , pl. ; Phoenician pl. ; Hebrew , pl. ; Aramaic , Arabic ; Akkadian , pl. . In Northwest Semitic usage l was both a generic word for any "god" and the special name or title of a particular god who was distinguished from other gods as being "the god", or in the monotheistic sense, God. li is listed at the head of many pantheons. Eli was the father god among the Canaanites. However, because the word sometimes refers to a god other than the great god li, it is frequently ambiguous as to whether li followe... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=58593 Synopsis Chapters: West Semitic Goddesses, West Semitic Gods, Ba'al, Dagon, Melqart, Mol
