ew cities in which these nearly
abstract beings enjoyed the veneration of the faithful.* The gods
of Syria, like those of Egypt and of the countries watered by the
Euphrates, were feudal princes distributed over the surface of the
earth, their number corresponding with that of the independent states.
Each nation, each tribe, each city, worshipped its own lord--_Adoni_**
--or its master--_Baal_*** --and each of these was designated by a
special title to distinguish him from neighbouring _Baalim_, or masters.

* The frequent occurrence of the term _Ilu_ or _El_ in names
of towns in Southern Syria seems to indicate pretty
conclusively that the inhabitants of these countries used
this term by preference to designate their supreme god.
Similarly we meet with it in Aramaic names, and later on
among the Nabathseans; it predominates at Byblos and Berytus
in Phoenicia and among the Aramaic peoples of North Syria;
in the Samalla country, for instance, during the VIIIth
century B.C.

** The extension of this term to Syrian countries is proved
in the Israelitish epoch by Canaanitish names, such as
Adonizedek and Adonibezek, or Jewish names such as Adonijah,
Adonikam, Adoniram-Adoram.

*** Movers tried to prove that there was one particular god
named Baal, and his ideas, popularised in Prance by M. de
Vogiie, prevailed for some time: since then scholars have
gone back to the view of Muenter and of the writers at the
beginning of this century, who regarded the term Baal as a
common epithet applicable to all gods.

The Baal who ruled at Zebub was styled "Master of Zebub," or
Baal-Zebub;* and the Baal of Hermon, who was an ally of Gad, goddess
of fortune, was sometimes called Baal-Hermon, or "Master of Hermon,"
sometimes Baal-G-ad, or "Master of Gad;"** the Baal of Shechem,
at the time of the Israelite invasion, was "Master of the
Covenant"--Baal-Berith--doubtless in memory of some agreement which he
had concluded with his worshippers in regard to the conditions of their
allegiance.***

* Baal-Zebub was worshipped at Ekxon during the Philistine
supremacy.

** The mountain of Baal-Hermon is the mountain of Banias,
where the Jordan has one of its sources, and the town of
Baal-Hermon is Banias itself. The variant Baal-Gad occurs
several times in the Biblical books.

*** Baal-Berith, like Baal-Zebub,