NIBHAZ

(the barker), a deity of the Avites, introduced by them into Samaria in the time of Shalmaneser. (2 Kings 17:31) The rabbins derived the name from a Hebrew root nabach, "to bark," and hence assigned to it the figure of a dog, or a dog-headed man. The Egyptians worshipped the dog. Some indications of this worship have been found in Syria, a colossal figure of a dog having formerly stood at a point between Berytus and Tripolis.