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In general it may be said that all these old Semitic gods had one and the same character; each in his place was supreme, and it is difficult to find any difference in real character and function among the great gods, as Ea, Bel, Marduk, Sin, Shamash, Ishtar, Nabu, Ashur, Eshmun, and others. +651+. The same remark will probably hold good of the popular worship of the old Greeks.
"What art Thou doing?" asked he. "I can only say this much to thee, worthiness," replied Pentuer, "that this divinity points with one hand at the star Eshmun. This hand leads Phoenician ships through the sea during night hours." "Then the Phoenicians, too, have this god?" "They do not even know of him.
They have a head called Eshmun, who is the god of the eighth or highest sphere. The Cabiri are beings of a moral character; they are not only mighty ones and creators, but they are the children of Sydyk that is, of Righteousness; and they give counsel.
The Asiatics confirmed the words of the priest, and added that far away in the north, water turned into stone very often, and fog turned into a white salt which is tasteless, but breaks in the hands and causes pain in the teeth. The prince admired Pentuer's wisdom still more. Meanwhile, the northern side of the heavens grew clear, showing the Great Bear and the star, Eshmun.
Juba, king of Numidia, prepared to do the same after the battle of Thapsus. Large and costly temples were built, generally in the Egyptian style. Such were the temples of Melkart at Tyre and Cadiz, of Eshmun at Sidon, and of "the Lady of Byblos" at that city.
The god depending from a string trembled, but indicated with outstretched hand, the sacred star, Eshmun, the guardian of travelers. They went on foot at a good pace, leading the horses. The cold was so sharp, that even Asiatics blew on their hands, and the Libyans trembled. With that, something began to crackle and break underfoot. Pentuer stopped, and bent down.
The other principal Phoenician deities were El, Melkarth, Dagon, Hadad, Adonis, Sydyk, Eshmun, the Cabeiri, Onca, Tanith, Tanata, or Anaitis, and Baalith, Baaltis, or Beltis. El, or Il, originally a name of the Supreme God, became in the later Phoenician mythology a separate and subordinate divinity, whom the Greeks compared to their Kronos and the Romans to their Saturn.
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