Ilat, but we find comparatively few cities in which these nearly abstract beings enjoyed the veneration of the faithful.* The gods of Syria, like those of Egypt and of the countries watered by the Euphrates, were feudal princes distributed over the surface of the earth, their number corresponding with that of the independent states.  Each nation, each tribe, each city, worshipped its own lord—­Adoni** —­or its master—­Baal*** —­and each of these was designated by a special title to distinguish him from neighbouring Baalim, or masters.

* The frequent occurrence of the term Ilu or El in names of towns in Southern Syria seems to indicate pretty conclusively that the inhabitants of these countries used this term by preference to designate their supreme god.  Similarly we meet with it in Aramaic names, and later on among the Nabathseans; it predominates at Byblos and Berytus in Phoenicia and among the Aramaic peoples of North Syria; in the Samalla country, for instance, during the VIIIth century B.C.

** The extension of this term to Syrian countries is proved in the Israelitish epoch by Canaanitish names, such as Adonizedek and Adonibezek, or Jewish names such as Adonijah, Adonikam, Adoniram-Adoram.

*** Movers tried to prove that there was one particular god named Baal, and his ideas, popularised in Prance by M. de Vogiie, prevailed for some time:  since then scholars have gone back to the view of Muenter and of the writers at the beginning of this century, who regarded the term Baal as a common epithet applicable to all gods.

The Baal who ruled at Zebub was styled “Master of Zebub,” or Baal-Zebub;* and the Baal of Hermon, who was an ally of Gad, goddess of fortune, was sometimes called Baal-Hermon, or “Master of Hermon,” sometimes Baal-G-ad, or “Master of Gad;"** the Baal of Shechem, at the time of the Israelite invasion, was “Master of the Covenant”—­Baal-Berith—­doubtless in memory of some agreement which he had concluded with his worshippers in regard to the conditions of their allegiance.***

     * Baal-Zebub was worshipped at Ekxon during the Philistine
     supremacy.

** The mountain of Baal-Hermon is the mountain of Banias, where the Jordan has one of its sources, and the town of Baal-Hermon is Banias itself.  The variant Baal-Gad occurs several times in the Biblical books.

     *** Baal-Berith, like Baal-Zebub, only occurs, so far as we
     know at present, in the Hebrew Scriptures, where, by the
     way, the first element, Baal, is changed to El, El-Berith.

[Illustration:  226.jpg LOTANU WOMEN AND CHILDREN FROM THE TOMB OF RAKHMIEI]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from coloured sketches by Prisse
     d’Avennes.

The prevalent conception of the essence and attributes of these deities was not the same in all their sanctuaries, but the more exalted among them were regarded as personifying the sky in the daytime or at night, the atmosphere, the light,* or the sun, Shamash, as creator and prime mover of the universe; and each declared himself to be king—­melek—­over the other gods.** Bashuf represented the lightning and the thunderbolt;*** Shalman, Hadad, and his double Bimmon held sway over the air like the Babylonian.