Shalim
Encyclopedia
Shalim was the name of a god in the Canaanite religion
pantheon, mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit
(Ras Shamra) in Syria
. William F. Albright
identified Shalim as the god of dusk, and Shahar as god of the dawn. In the Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible, Shalim is also identified as the deity representing Venus
or the "Evening Star," and Shahar, the "Morning Star".
myth known as The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, describes Shalim and his twin brother Shahar as offspring of El through two women he meets at the seashore. They are both nursed by "The Lady", likely Anat
(Athirat or Asherah
), and have appetites as large as "(one) lip to the earth and (one) lip to the heaven." In other Ugaritic texts, the two 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 Semitic
languages means "day," and Shalim and Shahar, 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 divine
name or epithet
.
Many scholars believe that the name of Shalim is preserved in the name of the city Jerusalem.
.
Canaanite religion
Canaanite 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 Ugarit
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...
(Ras Shamra) in Syria
Syria
Syria , 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. Albright
William F. Albright
William Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist 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 god of the dawn. In the Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible, Shalim is also identified as the deity representing Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from 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, bright enough to cast shadows...
or the "Evening Star," and Shahar, the "Morning Star".
Ugaritic inscriptions
An UgariticUgaritic language
The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic, Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:-Grammar:Ugaritic is an inflected language, and as a Semitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian...
myth known as The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods, describes Shalim and his twin brother Shahar as offspring of El through two women he meets at the seashore. They are both nursed by "The Lady", likely Anat
Anat
Anat, 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 Asherah
Asherah
Asherah , 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, the two 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 Semitic
Semitic
In 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, 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 divine
Divinity
Divinity 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 deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
name or epithet
Epithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
.
Many scholars believe that the name of Shalim is preserved in the name of the city Jerusalem.
Other uses
Shalem is also the name of the 4-D cinematic presentation at the Jerusalem Time Elevator in Jerusalem, IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.