DIVINITIES OF PALMYRA
In the pantheon of Palmyra, which was quite composite and included divine figures of diverse origins and therefore eminently synthetic, two major groups of deities can be distinguished, separate from the remaining gods: the deities of Arab origin and those that form a group around the principal god of the city, Bel; these are either of Canaanite origin or derive from Babylonia. The other gods are mainly Syrian.
Among the deities of the first group, the goddess Allât enjoyed great veneration. She was a celestial divine figure, beneficent, one of the good deities, identified with the Greek Athena, depicted holding a scepter, with a halo and an eight-pointed star; she has also been identified with the planet Venus. The god Azizu, the strong one, precedes the chariot of the Sun; he is a warrior and bellicose god, but also beneficent; he often forms a pair with Monimos, who instead follows the Sun. Azizu is the morning star; he has been assimilated to Ares; together with Arsu, the evening star, he is called the rewarding, merciful, beneficent god; he is conceived as a youth, *puer*. It has been suggested that the name Arsu was nothing more than a translation of Monimos with the sense of benefactor. Arsu would therefore be identical with Monimos. Of the god Šaj'al-Qawm = the protector of the people, it is said that he is good and does not drink wine, but his cult does not seem to have taken deep root in Palmyra. Perhaps of Arab origin is also the god Gad, Fortune, called in Greek *Tychē* and associated with a blessed spring and conceived moreover as the protective genius of the individual. The *Tychē* of Palmyra was later assimilated to Atargatis.
The god Bel, the Belos of the Greeks, is the central divine figure of the most important group, the *Šol*, *nāṭrōṅ*, the most powerful god of the city, the Lord par excellence. From this god should be distinguished Bol, which however was later confused with him. Bel is a solar god and has been assimilated to Zeus. He is sometimes depicted between Jarhibōl and 'Aglibōl, his attendants. The wife of Bel was Beltis, his messenger Malakbēl. Jarhibōl was also a solar god, to whom the Efka spring was consecrated, and is sometimes named together with 'Aglibōl = bull or calf or chariot of Bol, also of solar character. Šamaš was the god of the sun, propitious and one of the national gods. Atargatis was the paredra of Malakbēl; a female deity was Semia. Also venerated were Nabû, Nanai, and Tammūz of Babylonian origin. Bêlsamîn was the god of the sky. A beneficent god was Sadrafa, Šāṭrāṭnṣ.
The Palmyrenes often did not give a particular name to their gods, but preferred certain epithets, which could be applied to different deities. Therefore, inscriptions mention a good god, merciful, rewarding, lord of the god or blessed be his name forever, without knowing precisely which deity is meant.