Shapash (Canaanite Goddess)

Shapash (Canaanite Goddess)

Shapash or Shapsh(u) (Ugaritic/Canaanite) was the Canaanite goddess of the sun, daughter of El and Asherah. She is known as "torch of the gods" and is considered an important deity in the Canaanite pantheon and among the Phoenicians. The Akkadian sun god, Shamash, was the Mesopotamian male equivalent of the female Canaanite Shapash. She may also be related to a preeminent deity at Ebla named Shipish, and to Shams or Chems, a pre-Islamic Arabic sun deity worshipped at sunrise, noon, and sunset.