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CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Belus appears in the Histories in two forms. One is a god at BABYLON, “ZEUS Belus,” that is, Marduk (Akk. Belu, Phoenician Ba‘al/Bêl = “Lord”), patron deity of the city (1.181.2; cf. 3.158, Gates of Cissia and Belus). Herodotus admiringly describes the Temple of “Zeus Belus,” Esagila, atop the massive ziggurat or Etemenanki; he also notes RITUALS associated with the god’s worship, including the new‐year FESTIVAL (1.181–83; Asheri in ALC, 201–3).

The name Belus also occurs as a patronymic in the mythological GENEALOGIES of the Heraclid Lydian kings (1.7.2, father of NINUS) and of the Persians (7.61.3, grandfather of ANDROMEDA). Elsewhere in Greek MYTH (Gantz, EGM 200–11), Belus similarly serves to link EUROPE with Africa and ASIA, e.g., a descendent of IO and grandfather of Aegyptus, or the father or grandfather of Phoenix (PHOENICIANS).

SEE ALSO: Chaldeans; Cissians; Heracleidae; Religion, Herodotus’ views on