Baʿalshamīn / Baʿals¹amāy

A god worshipped first by the Phoenicians as “Baʿal of the heavens” from at least 950 BCE, and then throughout Syria where the Aramaic form Baʿal-šamīn was interpreted as a divine epithet “Lord of the heavens”. He was believed to control the weather and was worshipped by the nomads and farmers alike. In South Arabia in the monotheistic period (4th century CE onwards), Bʿls¹myn (‘the Lord of heaven’) was used as an epithet of the One God.

The deity is first encountered as bʿl . šmm "Baʿal of the heavens" in c. 950 BCE in the Phoenician inscription of king Yeḥimilk of Byblos, where he is paired with bʿl gbl "Baʿal of Byblos" (Niehr 2003: 11–33, 35–42). As Niehr points out, the word-divider shows that bʿl . šmm is a designation of the god not yet the theonym Baʿalšamem (Niehr 2003: 38). In later centuries, as the cult spread throughout Syria, the name "Baʿal of the heavens" came to be interpreted as "Lord of the heavens" and was most commonly used in its Aramaic form, baʿalšamīn. By the Hellenistic and Roman periods, he was a popular deity in the southern Levant, especially among farmers and nomads who were dependent on his favour, i.e. rain. He may have been worshipped by the Nabataeans in Petra (Milik in Khairy 1981: 25–26). A temple to him was erected at Sīʿ in the Ḥawrān and the nomads of what is now southern Syria and north-eastern Jordan mention pilgrimages to Sīʿ in their ("Safaitic") graffiti (e.g. BRenv.A 1). Indeed in one Safaitic graffito he is called bʿls¹mn ʾlh s¹ʿʿ "Baʿls¹amīn the god of Sīʿ" (CSNS 424).

In these graffiti, the name is almost always bʿls¹mn, a loan from Aramaic baʿalšamīn. However, in seven texts (C 88, LP258, LP260, WH 54, WH 2411, Is.M 85.1, Is.H 520) it appears as a calque, bʿls¹my *Baʿal-s¹amāy (cf. Safaitic s¹my "heavens"). Lack of expected rain is described as Baʿls¹amīn withholding it (LP 722, C 1240, C 3261), sometimes over Roman provinces (e.g. RWQ 333), while good years are described as "the year Baʿls¹amīn came" (e.g. QZMJ 83). One author says "he was waiting for Baʿls¹amīn" (i.e. the rains, NEH 1.2). However, while the relationship between this deity and rain is clear, he is often asked, either alone or in a list of other deities, for security (e.g. C 4650), revenge (C 3149), booty (LP 259), return of a loved one (BES15 204), curses on those who might damage the inscription (C 2382), etc. These latter are in texts which make no mention of rain (or lack of it), or water, pasture, drought, etc. Sometimes they mention sacrificing to him (e.g. C 4358, 4360, 4410+4409) but do not specify what they sacrificed or why.

Baʿlshamīn is not found in the Hismaic, Hasaitic, Thamudic B, C, D and Himaitic inscriptions, and only once as a deity in Dadanitic. This is JSLih 064, a puzzling text for which no entirely satisfactory interpretation has yet been published. All that can be said is that it declares that Bʿls¹mn has made a place sacred or forbidden (ʾḥrm) from something a woman might do (bʿls¹mn ʾḥrm h-qrt mn mh trqh mr ʾt). It is signed by a priestess. It also occurs in Dadanitic, in the form bʿs¹mn, as a lineage name (JSLih 194) and in the personal name ʾmt-bʿs¹mn "handmaid of Baʿas¹amīn" (U 001, U 023, and U 056), in both of which the l is assimilated to the following s¹. Only once is it found in Taymāʾ, in a damaged Aramaic inscription in what is probably a theophoric name ...b{ʿ}{š}mn (TM.IA.003).

In South Arabia, bʿls¹myⁿ "the owner of the heavens" does not seem to have been worshipped as a sky deity in the polytheistic period, a role played by dhu-Samāwī (ḏ-s¹mwy). As Robin explains, the title bʿls¹myⁿ in South Arabia is an innovation of the monotheistic period (from the fourth century CE onwards) and is used as an epithet of the one God Raḥmanān (Rḥmnⁿ) and with name of the Jewish God ʾln(Robin 2003: 103; Robin & Rijziger 2018).

Michael C.A. Macdonald

References and suggested reading

• Khairy, N. 1981. A new dedicatory Nabataean inscription from Wadi Musa. With an additional note by J.T. Milik. PEQ 113: 19–26, pl. 3.
• Niehr, H. 2003. Baʿalšamem. Studien zu Herkunft, Geschichte und Rezeptionsgeschichte eines phönizischen Gottes. (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 123). Leuven: Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies.
• Robin, C.J. 2003. Le judaïsme de Ḥimyar. Arabia 1: 97–172.
• Robin, C.J. & S. Rijziger 2018. "The Owner of the Sky, God of Israel" in a new Jewish Ḥimyaritic inscription dating from the fifth century CE. Der Islam 95: 271–290.

_{Alternate spellings: Baʿalshamîn, Ba'alshamin, Baʿalsamay, Ba'alsamay, Baʿalsamāy, Baʿalšamem, Baʿalshamem, Ba'alshamem, Baʿalšamīn, B'lsmn, Bʿlsmn, Bʿls¹mn, B'ls¹mn, Bʿlšmyn, B'lšmyn, Bʿls¹my, B'ls¹my.}