Shahar (god)

For the moshav in Israel, see Shahar, Israel.
For the Israeli triathlete, see Shachar Sagiv.
Part of a series on
Ancient Semitic religion
The Levant
Shahar
God of dawn
Genealogy
ParentsEl (father) Asherah (mother)
SiblingsShalim

Shahar "Dawn" is a god in Ugaritic and Canaanite religion first mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, Syria).[1]

William F. Albright identified Shalim as the god of the dusk and Shahar as the god of the dawn.[2]

Shahar and Salim are the twin children of El. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.[3]

The names Shahar and Shalim are masculine, and it appears the gods are as well.

  1. ^ Golan, 2003, p. 82. "The name of the Canaanite deity of the setting sun Salim, or Salem, [...] The names [of Sahar and Salim] are rendered in modern scholarly texts as Shakhar and Shalim [...]"
  2. ^ Albright, W.F. (1994). Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-931464-01-0.; cf. the Akkadian word for sunset, šalām šamši.
  3. ^ Hinnells, John R. (2007). A Handbook of Ancient Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 122.