MELQART

also spelled Melkart or Melkarth Phoenician god, chief deity of Tyre and of two of its colonies, Carthage and Gadir (Cdiz, Spain). He was also called the Tyrian Baal. Under the name Malku he was equated with the Babylonian Nergal, god of the underworld and death, and thus may have been related to the god Mot of Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit). Melqart was usually depicted as a bearded figure, wearing a high, rounded hat and a kilt and holding an Egyptian ankh, symbol of life, and, as a symbol of death, a fenestrated ax. His sanctuary in Tyre, described by the Greek historian Herodotus (who called the temple that of Heracles), was the scene of annual winter and spring festivals and is believed to have been the model for Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. Melqart was probably equated with the sun, and Baal Hammon (Baal Amon), Lord of the Incense Altar, was perhaps his title in that capacity. Baal Hammon was also the name of the chief god of Carthage, consort of the goddess Tanit.