In Search of God Baal in Phoenician in Cypriot Epigraphy (Fist Millennium BCE)

In academic research, much of our effort is devoted to reassessing scholarly assumptions and upgrading our knowledge according to new data and/or innovative methodological frameworks. This paper shares these concerns relating to what scholars often too quickly regard as “the god Baal”. By analysing the whole extant epigraphic documentation attesting the term bʿl from Phoenicia and Cyprus, made possible thanks to the MAP database, we will argue that scholars should be more prudent in evoking this divine entity as such, and act accordingly when studying his cult, diffusion and iconography.