KOTHAR

(West Semiticskill) also called Kothar-wa-Khasis (skill-and-cunning) ancient West Semitic god of crafts, equivalent of the Greek god Hephaestus. Kothar was responsible for supplying the gods with weapons and for building and furnishing their palaces. During the earlier part of the 2nd millennium BC, Kothar's forge was believed to be on the biblical Caphtor (probably Crete), though later, during the period of Egyptian domination of Syria and Palestine, he was identified with the Egyptian god Ptah, patron of craftsmen, and his forge was thus located at Memphis in Egypt. According to Phoenician tradition, Kothar was also the patron of magic and inventor of magical incantations; in addition, he was believed to have been the first poet.