Baalat
Baalat
was goddess of the Canaanite and West Semetic area and
feminine counterpart of the storm god Baal. Baalat menas
'lady' or 'mistress' and like the word baal is often equated
with a locality as in the title 'Baalat Gebel' - 'lady of
Byblos'. In Egypt, the goddess was associated with Hathor
probably because they were both linked with the products and
resources of the region to the northeast of Egypt and also
because of the Canaanite deity's proclivity for sexuality.
At Dendera Hathor was in fact described as residing at
Byblos. In the small temple of Hathor located at Serabit
el-Khadim in the Sinai, a sandstone sphinx was dedicated
with both the name of Hathor in hieroglyphs and the name of
Baalat in an early Semitic alphabetic script. Worship or
recognition of Baalat in Egypt may have gone back as far as
the time of the cedar wood trade with Lebanon during the
reign of the 3rd dynasty king Snefru. However her
assimilation with Hathor meant that she was rarely regarded
as an independent deity and was probably of most interest to
ancient Egyptians working or trading in the outlying regions
where she was commonly found.
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