Baaltars (combination of "
Baal
Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...
" and "
Tarsus";
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
: בעלתרז ''B‘LTRZ'') was the
tutelary deity
A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety an ...
of the city of
Tarsus in the
Persian Empire.
[Hastings, p.686](_blank)
/ref> His depiction appears on coins of the Persian governors (satraps
A satrap () was a governor of the province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of ...
) of Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
at Tarsus before the conquests of Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
, in the 5th and 4th century BCE, such as Datames
Datames (Old Persian: ''Dātama'' or ''Dātāma'', Aramaic: ''Tadanmu'', grc, Δατάμης, Datámēs; 407 BC – 362 BC), also known as Tarkamuwa, was an Iranian military leader, who served as the governor (satrap) of the Achaemenid satrapy of ...
, Pharnabazes, and Mazaios
Mazaeus or Mazday (Aramaic: 𐡌𐡆𐡃𐡉 MZDY, Greek: Μαζαῖος ''Mazaios'') (died 328 BC) was an Achaemenid Persian noble and satrap of Cilicia and later satrap of Babylon for the Achaemenid Empire, a satrapy which he retained under Al ...
,Sayles, p.43
/ref> and also on coins of the early Seleucid Empire. The equivalent of Baaltars for the Greeks was Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
.
Notes
References
* Wayne G. Sayles, ''Ancient Coin Collecting VI: Non-Classical Cultures'' Krause Publications, 1999,
* James Hastings, S R Driver, ''A Dictionary of the Bible: Volume IV, Part II (Shimrath - Zuzim)'' The Minerva Group, Inc., 2004
See also
*Achaemenid coinage
The Achaemenid Empire issued coins from 520 BCE–450 BCE to 330 BCE. The Persian daric was the first gold coin which, along with a similar silver coin, the siglos (from grc, σίγλος, he, שֶׁקֶל, '' shékel'') represented the first ...
{{MEast-myth-stub
Persian mythology
Achaemenid Empire
Baal