HADAD

also spelled Had, Hadda, or Haddu the Old Testament Rimmon, West Semitic god of storms, thunder, and rain, the consort of the goddess Atargatis. His attributes were identical with those of Adad of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. He was the chief baal (lord) of the West Semites (including both sedentary and nomadic Aramaeans) in north Syria, along the Phoenician coast, and along the Euphrates River. As Baal-Hadad he was represented as a bearded deity, often holding a club and thunderbolt and wearing a horned headdress. The bull was the symbolic animal of Hadad, as of the Hittite deity Teshub, who was identical with him.