HADAD. - Throughout ancient western Asia, the god of storm, lightning, and rain was one of the most prominent divinities in the pantheon of each of the many nations inhabiting II. This god was called H. by the Aramaeans and Adad or Addu by the Babylonians and Assyrians, while the Sumerians used the name Iškur to designate him. But other nations of those regions worshipped him under other names. He also belonged to the pantheon of the Elamites, Urarteans (Biainei), Hurrians, Canaanites, Hittites, and the numerous other peoples of Asia Minor.
Everywhere he was believed to hurl the lightning that splits and sets fire to the trees of the forest, to send the rain that can be as beneficial as it is harmful, and to cause the wind and hurricane to blow. He was therefore depicted with the three-pronged thunderbolt in one hand and the axe and hammer in the other. He is often represented standing upon the back of a bull, which was his sacred animal, since thunder was believed to be nothing other than the bellowing of H.'s bull. Among the Canaanites he was the principal god and therefore bore the name Baal, that is, “lord” par excellence. He was likewise the principal god among the Hittites: the Hittite Empire stood under the protection of their storm god. The Babylonians and Assyrians worshipped him especially as the god of divination, in which he was associated with the sun god Šamaš, since lightning and everything that occurs in the sky constitute phenomena from which the future may be determined.