Bel (mythology)
Bêl (; from ), signifying "lord" or "master", is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in the Mesopotamian religion of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia. The feminine form is "Bêlit" 'Lady, Mistress' in Akkadian. "Bel" is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as Belus. "Belit" appears in Greek form as Beltis (Βελτις). Linguistically, "Bel" is an East Semitic form cognate with the Northwest Semitic Baal with the same meaning. Early translators of Akkadian believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian "Enlil" was to be read as "Bel" in Akkadian. Current scholarship  holds this as incorrect, but one finds "Bel" used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions. "Bel" became especially used for the Babylonian god Marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context, it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk and no other god. Similarly, "Bêlit" mostly refers to Bel Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. However, Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Damkina, Ninmah and other names in Sumerian, was often known as "Belit-ili" ("Lady of the Gods") in Akkadian. Other gods called "Lord  could be and sometimes were identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example, though in the later period from which most of our information comes he seems to have become very much a sun god. Similarly, Zeus Belus mentioned by Sanchuniathon as born to Cronus/El in Peraea is unlikely to be Marduk. In Mandaean cosmology, the name for Jupiter is Bil" (), which is derived from the name Bel. Bel of Palmyra, Syria. A god named Bel was the chief-god of Palmyra in pre-Hellenistic times, being worshipped alongside the  gods Aglibol and Yarhibol. Originally, he was known as Bol, after the Northwestern Semitic word Ba'al (usually used to refer to the god Hadad), until the cult of Bel-Marduk spread to Palmyra and by 213 BC, Bol was renamed to Bel. The temple of Bel was dedicated to this god, which was destroyed by ISIS.