Aglibol is a god from Palmyra, originating from a north Syrian immigrant community.
He is a
moon god
A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found ...
who was worshiped in the ancient
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n city of
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
as part of a trinity alongside
Bel BEL can be an abbreviation for:
* The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for Belgium
* ''BEL'' or bell character in the C0 control code set
* Belarusian language, in the ISO 639-2 and SIL country code lists
* Bharat Electronics Limited, an Indian stat ...
and
Yarhibol
Yarhibol or Iarhibol is an Aramean god who was worshiped mainly in ancient Palmyra, a city in central Syria. He was depicted with a solar nimbus and styled "lord of the spring". He normally appears alongside Bel, who was a co-supreme god of Palmyr ...
, and associated with the
sun god
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...
Malakbel
Malakbel (Arabic: ملاك بعل) was a sun god worshiped in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, frequently associated and worshiped with the moon god Aglibol as a party of a trinity involving the sky god Baalshamin.
Etymology
Malakbel's name ...
.
Evidence of Aglibol's worship is primarily epigraphical. The earliest known mention of Aglibol was an inscription which dates back to 17 BCE and associates him with the sun god Malakbel. Several other inscriptions made by the
Bene Komare The Bene Komare were a Palmyrene tribe who were attested as one of the main four tribes of Palmyra.
Name
The tribe was known as the Komare (Chomarenoi in Ancient Greek) and were only once mentioned with the Greek name Choneitai; both names mean pr ...
also associate him with Malakbel, including a bilingual inscription from 122 CE in which Aglibol and Malakbel sponsor a citizen by the name of Manai for his piety.
Several second century CE inscriptions attest that Aglibol was venerated with Malakbel in a sanctuary known as the "Sacred Garden" (gnt' 'ilym), which was one of the four principal sanctuaries of the city. The Bene Komare tended to this sanctuary.
The sanctuary had two altars, a
sacred cypress and a bath. One of the reliefs found in the
Temple of Bel
The Temple of Bel ( ar, معبد بعل), sometimes also referred to as the "Temple of Baal", was an ancient temple located in Palmyra, Syria. The temple, consecrated to the Mesopotamian god Bel, worshipped at Palmyra in triad with the lunar go ...
show the two altars and the two gods.
See also
*
List of lunar deities
A lunar deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The following is a list of lunar deities:
African
American Aztec mythology
* ...
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
*{{Commonscatinline
West Semitic gods
Lunar gods