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Baal Hadad vs Zeus

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Equated directly in the Hellenistic period as Zeus Kasios and Jupiter Heliopolitanus.

Deity · Canaanite · c. 1400 BCE

Baal Hadad

also called Ba'al, Hadad, Baal-Zebul, Rider of the Clouds

The Canaanite storm and fertility god who defeats Sea and Death — and whose title, *baal* ('lord'), the Hebrew Bible turns into a generic term for false gods.

Alignment
Disputed
Rank
Storm God
First attested
The Baal Cycle (Ugaritic Tablets) · c. 1400-1200 BCE
Named there as
Ba'lu / Haddu
Texts naming it
2
Powers attributed
3
60attestedCanaanite & Ugaritic

Deity · Greek · c. 700 BCE

Zeus

also called Dias, Jove, Ζεύς

Sky-father and enforcer of oaths, whose name descends from the same Indo-European root as Jupiter and Dyaus.

Alignment
Disputed
Rank
King of the Gods
First attested
The Iliad · c. 750 BCE
Named there as
Zeus
Texts naming it
3
Powers attributed
4
90attestedGreek

Where do they actually overlap?

Texts naming both

None. The two never appear in the same text in this corpus, which is worth knowing before accepting any confident claim that they are one figure.

Powers credited to both

Grants Victory in WarCauses Tempests

Common questions

Are Baal Hadad and Zeus the same figure?

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Equated directly in the Hellenistic period as Zeus Kasios and Jupiter Heliopolitanus. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.

Which is older, Baal Hadad or Zeus?

Baal Hadad is the older name: first attested around c. 1400 BCE, against c. 700 BCE for Zeus. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.

Do any texts name both Baal Hadad and Zeus?

No text in this corpus names both. That is not proof they were considered the same figure, but it is why the identification has to be traced through the scholarship rather than read off a page.
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