Shapshu

A pair of solar deities were worshipped at Ebla, whose names were written using Sumerograms: ^dUTU and his consort ^dUTU.SAL. The native Eblaite names for these deities remain unknown, though the Iron Age Aramaic Sefire steles refer to the consort of Samaš as Nur(u) ("luminary"), possibly corresponding to nrt ỉlm špš, the most common epithet of Shapshu.[11]^{: 213–214} [12] No theophoric names referring to Shapshu are known from Ebla; the individual whose name was translated by Pettinato as Ibbi-Sipish is now considered to be translated more accurately as Ibbi-Zikir, with Zikir being a deity unknown outside of theophoric names.[11]^: 214

Shamshu (or Shapshu in the area of Alalah) was the Amorite solar deilty.[4]

Some names in the Execration texts mention Shamshu, not necessarily as a female deity ("š-m-šw ì-p-ì-ìrì-m" (*šamšu-ʾab(u)-ʾilim) - Šamšu is father of the gods; "š-m-šu ìri-m" (*šamšu-ʾilima) - Šamšu is god).[13]

While at least one deity is known under the Sumerogram ^dUTU at Emar, their native name, gender, and affiliations to other Syrian deities remain unclear.[14]

Shapshu was a major deity in Ugaritic religion. In a letter to the king of Ugarit (KTU 2.42), Shapshu (as špš ʿlm) is named second in a formulaic list of deities, behind only Baal.[15][16]^: 131 Evidence from offering lists suggests that Shapshu was one of the principal gods receiving sacrifices at Ugarit. She is given the divine epithet pgr, relating to her role during the 'night of Šapšu pgr wṯrmnm' (Shapshu, the 'funerary offering', and the 'sovereigns'),[17]^: 347 and she receives a series of offerings during the ceremony of royal accession in KTU 1.161.[18]^{: 52, 106–108} She is also known from divinatory-oracular (KTU 1.78) and magical texts (e.g. KTU 1.100).[17]^: 322

Theophoric names relating to Shapshu are numerous at Ugarit, including 66 individual names; the Hurrian sun deity Šimige also appears nine times. Her name is the fourth most common seen in personal names, behind the names of Baal, El, and Resheph.[19]

Shapshu is not known to have a consort in the Ugaritic corpus, but the figure of ủm.pḥl.pḥlt in the incantation text KTU 1.100 addresses her as ủmh, ("mother").[20]^: 197

Several incantation texts are known to invoke Shapshu. In the incantation KTU 1.100, a character referred to as 'the mother of the stallion and the mare' (ủm.pḥl.pḥlt) calls to Shapshu (her 'mother', though this may be meant in an honorific sense) for assistance in a matter relating to snakebite, as her children are apparently in danger. Shapshu acts as an arbitrator between the mother and the gods, visiting ten different deities in their dwellings until arriving at the fortress of the god Ḥoranu, who is the first to take any action in response. Ḥoranu then gathers various plants and is able to defeat the serpents and prevent the death of the mother's offspring; the incantation ends with a marriage between Ḥoranu and the mother, apparently on the condition that he share this magical knowledge with her.[20]^{: 188–204} Writing on the edge of the tablet describes this as a 'spell against the bite of a snake'.[3]^{: 378–387} In KTU 1.82, another incantation against snakebite, Shapshu is one of three benign gods (along with Baal and Anat) invoked to protect the victim from the depredations of Tunnan, Resheph, Mot, various serpents, and the creatures of Ḥoranu.[21][20]^: 111 A further incantation invoking Shapshu is KTU 1.107, where she and Ḥoranu appear early in the text. She inquires after a boy who has been bitten by a snake and the speaker calls upon her to remove the venom.[20]^{: 157–164}

The 17th-15th century BCE cylinder seal AO 20138[lower-alpha 3] depicts a female deity radiating wave-like solar rays, thought to be either Shapshu or the Hittite Sun goddess of Arinna.[22] Azize favours an identification of the figure as Shapshu due to the absence of the Sun Goddess of Arinna's characteristic headgear and the presence of two mountain peaks he interprets as the twin peaks of Mount Sapan.[16]^: 133

The sun god in iron age Phoenicia is consistently written as šmš (Phoenician: 𐤔𐤌𐤔), rather than špš, and is attested in both male and female forms. A seventh century BCE Phoenician bowl from the Etruscan Bernadini tomb at Palestrina and the 'Phoenician Ivory of Shapash'[23] both depict a female sun goddess, though the sun cult at Baalbek centred on a male deity. Azize suggests that cultural influence from Mesopotamia or the Greek cult of Helios may have led to identification of the god as male.[16]^: 193

Funerary inscriptions such as the 6th century BCE Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II make reference to tḥt šmš, "life under the sun", interpreted as referring to ephemeral life on the Earth, but also an eternal sun (šmš ʿlm, recalling the epithet špš ʿlm) as on the Shipitbaal inscription from Byblos, a symbol of eternity and the relation between the living and the dead.[16]^{: 161–165}

A month named zbḥ šmš ("sacrifice for the sun/Šmš") is attested at 5th/6th century BCE Pyrgi in Latium,[24] 300 BCE Kition, and 3rd century BCE Larnakas tis Lapithou in Cyprus. In one of the Phoenician texts at Pyrgi, line 4-5 reads '[Thebarie Velanus, king of Kisry] in the month of the sacrifice of the Sun, as a gift to her temple...'.[8]^: 104[16]^{: 183–185}

In the second century CE, Pausanias reports a conversation with a Sidonian in Aegium who referred to the sun as Apollo, and described them as being the father and sole parent of Asklepios while contrasting Greek and Phoenician notions of the gods.[25]