02 What Deities did they worship? (Canaanite/Ugaritic Mythology)
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This article is from the Canaanite/Ugaritic Mythology FAQ, by Christopher B. Siren cbsiren@hopper.unh.edu with numerous contributions by others.
02 What Deities did they worship? (Canaanite/Ugaritic Mythology)
As mentioned above, different cities had different concepts of not only
which gods were ranked where in the pantheon, but also of which gods were
included and what some of their basic attributes were. While El or Il,
whose name means 'god', is commonly described as the creator of the
earth, the Arameans ranked Hadad before him. Also, many city gods were
named Baal, meaning 'lord'. Baal-Sidon, the city god of Sidon was thus
an entirely different deity than Baal-Hadad, the storm god. Given the
dearth of material from outside of Ugarit, if other cities or regions
are not mentioned in the entry, the details can be assumed to be
particular to Ugarit.
The Phoenician era saw a shift in Canaanite religion. The larger
pantheon became pushed to the wayside in favor of previously less important
singular deities who became or, in the case of Baalat, already were the
patron city-gods, born witness to by ruling priest-kings.
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