Bel was the chief deity of Palmyra and the head of its civic pantheon. His name, an assimilation of the older local title Bol to the Babylonian Bel (Bel-Marduk), means simply 'lord'. He was venerated as ruler of the cosmos and arbiter of fate, with associations to the heavens and to storms. His monumental sanctuary, the Temple of Bel, dominated the city; its cella was consecrated in 32 CE. In cult he headed the celebrated triad of Bel together with the solar Yarhibol and the lunar Aglibol, and his consort was the goddess Astarte (Beltis). Thousands of clay banqueting tesserae from his sanctuary attest the central place of his cult in the social and religious life of the caravan city.