MALAKBEL

(AramaicMessenger of Baal) West Semitic sun god and messenger god, worshiped primarily in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra; he was variously identified by the Greeks with Zeus and with Hermes and by the Romans with Sol. His name may have been of Babylonian origin, and he was considered the equivalent of the Babylonian sun god Shamash. Engravings on the four sides of a marble altar from Palmyra depict the four annual stages in the life of Malakbel, symbolizing the yearly sequence of the sun. Most other representations portray Malakbel with Aglibol, the moon god.