Chemosh

Chemosh
Possible depiction of Chemosh as a warrior god on the Shihan stele
Moabite𐤊𐤌𐤔
Kamōš
Venerated inMoab, Jordan
Major cult centerKirioth
Equivalents
ArabianʿAṯtar

Chemosh (Moabite: 𐤊𐤌𐤔, romanized: Kamōš; Biblical Hebrew: כְּמוֹשׁ, romanized: Kəmōš) is a Canaanite deity worshipped by Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples who occupied the region known in the Hebrew Bible as Moab, in modern-day Jordan east of the Dead Sea, during the Levantine Bronze and Iron Ages. Chemosh was the supreme deity of the Canaanite state of Moab and the patron-god of its population, the Moabites,[1][2] who in consequence were called the "People of Chemosh".[3] The name and significance of Chemosh are historically attested in the Moabite-language inscriptions on the Mesha Stele, dated ca. 840 BCE. Chemosh is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.[2]

  1. ^ Lipiński 2006, pp. 319–360.
  2. ^ a b Müller 1999.
  3. ^ Lipiński 2006, pp. 401.