2013/11/01 by Anna Elise Zernecke · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Historical and Linguistic Studies #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Ancient Near East History
paper · doi:10.13109/wdor.2013.43.2.226
openalex publication_date 2013/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/19
Summary In the Phoenician inscriptions from Byblos, the most prominent deity is Baalat Gubal, “Lady of Byblos.” She has been identified with Astarte, Anat, Aschera, Aphrodite, Isis, and Hathor. The urge to find her “true name” is based on the assumption that “Lady of Byblos” cannot be a proper name, as it is semantically transparent. The paper uses categories of linguistic onomastics to demonstrate that “Lady of Byblos” can be a proper name. As the conventions of writing in two Byblian inscriptions distinguish between proper names and titles, they are ameans to prove that “Lady of Byblos” was indeed seen as a proper name by the ancient Byblians.Moreover, its semantic transparency is not exceptional in the context of divine names from the ancient Levant.