Pidar (, ''pdr'') was a god worshiped in

Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...

in the

late Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. He was associated with the

weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

, and it is often assumed his name is related to that of the goddess

Pidray Pidray (, ''pdry'') was an Ugaritic goddess of uncertain character. She is first attested as an Amorite deity in a bilingual Mesopotamian lexical list, but she is otherwise almost exclusively from Ugaritic texts. While she is well attested in thi ...

, but his character remains largely unknown.

Name and character

The proper vocalization of the name Pidar, written in the Ugaritic alphabetic script as ''pdr'', is confirmed by the syllabic spelling ''pí-dar₆'' from a text written in standard

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

. It is assumed that it was derived either from the

Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

word ''pedari'', "bull," or, less plausibly, that it is identical with

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...

''pdr'', "city." Manfred Krebernik additionally argues that the name of the goddess

, one of the daughters of

, might be related to Pidar's. Dennis Pardee outright refers to his name as a masculine form of Pidray's, though he assumes the latter name should be translated as "Fatty." This translation is based on the similarity to the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word ''peder'', "

renal In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and right in the retrop ...

fat." This explanation of the name of this goddess is not universally accepted. Pidar was associated with Baal. It is possible that in myths he functioned as his attendant. The possibility that he was simply an alternate name of the weather god has been ruled out by researchers. His character is otherwise unknown.

Pidar in Ugaritic texts

Pidar is attested in various types of

Ugaritic texts The Ugaritic texts are a corpus of ancient cuneiform texts discovered in 1928 in Ugarit (Ras Shamra) and Ras Ibn Hani in Syria, and written in Ugaritic language, Ugaritic, an otherwise unknown Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic langua ...

, including offering lists. In one such document, he receives a ram after

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:ꜥntjt, ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume tha ...

and before

Dadmiš Dadmiš (, ''ddmš'') or Tadmiš (''dta-ad-mi-iš'') was a goddess worshipped in Ugarit. She is attested in texts written both in Ugaritic and in Hurrian. Her origin and functions remain unknown. Identification The earliest researchers did not ye ...

. He is also the recipient of the same animal in a ritual which took place in the month ''Gannu'', roughly corresponding to part of March and April. In some further cases it is uncertain if the name of the deity receiving a sacrifice should be restored as Pidar or Pidray.

Theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...

s invoking Pidar, such as ''bnpdr'', ''pdrmlk'' and ''‘bdpdr'', have also been identified in the materials from Ugarit. Seven individuals bearing such names are presently known. The frequency at which they occur is therefore comparable to names invoking Nikkal, but they are much less common than these in which the theophoric element is a name of one of the most popular deities, such as Baal, El,

Resheph Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; Eblaite , ''Rašap'', , ''ršp'', Egyptian ', , ''ršp'', ''Rešep̄'') was a god associated with war and plague, originally worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was one of ...

Teshub Teshub was the Hurrians, Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon. The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian language, Hurrian. Both Phonetics, phonetic and L ...

Shapash Shapshu (Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌 ''špš'', "sun") or Shapsh, and also Shamshu, was a Canaanite sun goddess. She also served as the royal messenger of the high god El, her probable father. Her most common epithets in the Ugaritic corpus are ''nrt ...

. Contrary to an assumption present in early scholarship, Pidar is also present in Ugaritic myths. He is mentioned in a passage from the Baal Cycle in which Baal looks at his daughters Pidray and

Tallay Tallay (, ''ṭly'') was an Ugaritic goddess associated with the weather, especially with dew and light rain. She is sparsely attested in known Ugaritic texts, and does not appear in offering lists, though it is nonetheless assumed she was activ ...

. Pidar is also present in a myth focused on

Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...

in her role of a huntress.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{refend Ugaritic deities