Shalim (derived from the triconsonantal Semitic root
S-L-MSin-Lam-Mim is the triconsonantal root of many Semitic words, and many of those words are used as names. The root itself translates as "whole, safe, intact".-Salam "Peace":...
, and also
romanizedIn linguistics, romanization or latinization, alternately spelt as latinisation or romanisation , is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system...
as
Shalem,
Salem, and
Salim) was the name of a god in the
Canaanite religionCanaanite religion is the name for the group of Ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries of the Common Era....
pantheon, mentioned in inscriptions found in
UgaritUgarit was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast...
(Ras Shamra) in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
.
William F. AlbrightWilliam Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, linguist and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the universally acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement...
identified Shalim as the god of dusk, and Shahar, as the goddess of the dawn. In the
Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible, Shalim is also identified as the deity representing
VenusVenus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6...
or the "Evening Star," and Shahar, the "Morning Star".
An
UgariticThe Ugaritic language, discovered by French archaeologists in 1928, is known only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit, near the modern village of Ras Shamra, Syria...
myth known as
The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, describes Shalim and his sister Shahar as offspring of El through two women he meets at the seashore.
Shalim (derived from the triconsonantal Semitic root
S-L-MSin-Lam-Mim is the triconsonantal root of many Semitic words, and many of those words are used as names. The root itself translates as "whole, safe, intact".-Salam "Peace":...
, and also
romanizedIn linguistics, romanization or latinization, alternately spelt as latinisation or romanisation , is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system...
as
Shalem,
Salem, and
Salim) was the name of a god in the
Canaanite religionCanaanite religion is the name for the group of Ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries of the Common Era....
pantheon, mentioned in inscriptions found in
UgaritUgarit was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast...
(Ras Shamra) in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
.
William F. AlbrightWilliam Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, linguist and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the universally acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement...
identified Shalim as the god of dusk, and Shahar, as the goddess of the dawn. In the
Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible, Shalim is also identified as the deity representing
VenusVenus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6...
or the "Evening Star," and Shahar, the "Morning Star".
Ugaritic inscriptions
An
UgariticThe Ugaritic language, discovered by French archaeologists in 1928, is known only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit, near the modern village of Ras Shamra, Syria...
myth known as
The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, describes Shalim and his sister Shahar as offspring of El through two women he meets at the seashore. They are both nursed by "The Lady", likely
AnatAnat, also ‘Anat is a major northwest Semitic goddess.-‘Anat in Ugarit:In the Ugaritic Ba‘al/Hadad cycle ‘Anat is a violent war-goddess, a virgin in Ugarit though the sister and lover of the great Ba‘al known as Hadad elsewhere. Ba‘al is usually called the son of Dagon and sometimes the son of El....
(Athirat or
AsherahAsherah , in Semitic mythology, is a Semitic mother goddess, who appears in a number of ancient sources including Akkadian writings by the name of Ashratum/Ashratu and in Hittite as Asherdu or Ashertu or Aserdu or Asertu...
), and have appetites as large as "(one) lip to the earth and (one) lip to the heaven." In other Ugaritic texts, they are associated with the sun goddess.
Another inscription is a sentence repeated three times in a para-mythological text , "Let me invoke the gracious gods, the voracious gods of
ym."
Ym in most
SemiticIn linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages....
languages means "day," and Shalim and Shahar the twin deities of the dusk and dawn, were conceived of as its beginning and end.
Shalim is also mentioned separately in the Ugaritic god lists and forms of his name also appear in personal names, perhaps as a
divineDivinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power, or its attributes or manifestations in the world...
name or
epithetAn epithet is a descriptive word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing, which has become a fixed formula...
.
See also
- Almaqah
Almaqah or Ilmuqah was the moon god of the South Arabian kingdom of Saba' and the kingdoms of Dʿmt and Aksum in Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia. The ruling dynasty of Saba' regarded themselves as his children...
- Wadd
Wadd "Love, Friendship", known variously as Ilumquh, ʕAmm and Sīn, was the Minaean moon god. Snakes were believed to be sacred to Wadd. He is mentioned in the Qur'ān as a deity of the time of the Prophet Noah....
- Shahar
Shahar is the god of dawn in the pantheon of Ugarit. He is the twin brother and counterpart of Shalim, the god of dusk. The name is a cognate of the Hebrew word Shachar meaning dawn.-See also:* Shamash-External links:*...