Baalat Gebal
Phoenician · deity · phoenician archaic · deity
Baalat Gebal is the goddess of the city that gave its name to the book. Byblos ran the papyrus trade into the Greek world — biblion, the book, is named for the port — and it ran cedar into Egypt for a thousand years before that, which is why its chief goddess is drawn wearing an Egyptian wig and a Hathor headdress and is treated by Egyptians as Hathor herself. Her name is simply her office: the Lady, of Byblos. The city's kings call themselves her servants in inscriptions that are among the earliest alphabetic writing anyone has.
Domains
- tutelary protection
- fertility
Relations
- counterpart of: Hathor
Sources
- Reference treatments of Baalat Gebal, her temple and her equation with Hathor.