The Queen of Heaven: The Devil, the Purple, and the Fish

In Against Apion I.156–158, Josephus quotes the Phoenician royal chronicles to confirm his chronology of the Jewish exile. He records that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre under King Ithobal and that the next ruler, Baal, reigned for ten years. Though “Baal” means “Lord,” here it is a royal name rather than the god himself, showing how divine titles had become part of Tyrian kingship. The passage also proves Josephus drew on authentic Phoenician annals to support his historical claims.

Earlier, in Against Apion I.118 and 123, Josephus cites Menander of Ephesus on King Hiram of Tyre; the same ally of Solomon; who built the Broad Place, set up a golden pillar, and raised new temples “to Heracles and Astarte.” Heracles represents Melqart, Tyre’s Baal, while Astarte (Ashtart or Ishtar) was his divine consort, goddess of fertility and the sea. Josephus quotes these records to prove the reliability of Tyrian archives, but in doing so he preserves a clear picture of Tyre’s religion, where Baal-Melqart and Astarte ruled as the city’s chief deities.

From Tyre, this sacred pairing traveled west with Phoenician merchants and settlers. As Tyre founded Carthage in the 9th century BCE, Melqart and Astarte became Baal-Hammon and Tanit, the divine father and mother of the Punic world. Their cult spread across Sicily, Sardinia, Malta, and southern Spain (Gadir/Cádiz), carried by sailors who built coastal sanctuaries to the “Lord of the Sea and Sun.” In Spain and North Africa, Greek and Roman writers identified Melqart with Heracles and Astarte with Venus or Juno Caelestis. Through Carthaginian colonies and Mediterranean trade, their imagery; pillars, sacred fire, crescent crowns, and purple vestments; entered Italy, where early Roman cults of Hercules Victor and Venus Erycina retained faint echoes of their Phoenician prototypes.

Thus, the religious system Josephus glimpses in Tyre; Baal and Astarte enthroned as sun and sea, king and queen; became one of the most enduring mythic currents of the western Mediterranean, shaping the spiritual landscape from Levantine Tyre to imperial Rome.

Classical Sources and Parallels

• Herodotus 2.44; 4.87 — Describes the Tyrian temple of Heracles (Melqart) and reports that “the Tyrians founded a temple to Heracles at Gadeira (Cádiz).”

• Timaeus of Tauromenium (4th c. BCE; fragments in Diodorus 5.20–25) — Records that Phoenicians brought the cult of Melqart/Heracles to Sicily and western colonies.

• Diodorus Siculus 4.18–27, 5.74 — Equates the Phoenician Melqart with the Greek Heracles and notes that he “left sons in every land” — a mythic reflection of Phoenician expansion.

• Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 3.21 — Interprets ancient “gods” as early kings and benefactors later deified — the Roman echo of Phoenician sacral kingship.

• Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11.5 and Tertullian, Apology 23 — Identify the Carthaginian goddess Caelestis (Latin form of Astarte/Tanit) as Venus, showing her persistence in Roman North Africa.

Together, these witnesses confirm that the Baal–Astarte cult of Tyre became the Baal-Hammon–Tanit religion of Carthage, and through Punic and Greek mediation, its imagery and language found a new home in the Mediterranean religions of Rome, Spain, and Italy.

Roman Reinterpretation — From Gods to “Civilizing Heroes”

By the late Republic and early Empire, Roman authors no longer spoke of Baal or Astarte as foreign deities but as ancient culture-bringers in disguise. The Tyrian Melqart became Hercules Victor, the strong, wandering hero who tamed the world and founded cities; Rome’s own mirror of Phoenician colonizing myth. Astarte, through her Punic form Tanit-Caelestis, merged with Venus and Juno Regina, queens of heaven and protectors of empire. Temples to Dea Caelestis rose in Carthage, Ostia, and even Rome, carrying forward the imagery of crescent, star, and lion. In this Romanized form, the old Tyrian theology of sun and sea, fire and water, king and queen became the language of imperial virtue and divine order. What began as the sacred marriage of Baal and Astarte at Tyre thus lived on, transfigured, in the imperial cults of Hercules and Venus, the twin symbols of Roman power reaching from Levant to Hispania.

Herodotus records that when he visited Tyre, he saw the city’s ancient temple of Heracles; the Greek name for Melqart, the Tyrian Baal. Inside stood two great pillars, one of gold and one of “emerald” that glowed at night, proof of Tyre’s immense temple wealth and devotion to its chief god. This matches the world described by Josephus and Menander, where King Hiram built and adorned the shrines of Melqart and Astarte at the height of Tyre’s power.

Eusebius, quoting Philo of Byblos’ Phoenician History, adds the mythic background. He says Astarte, the “Queen of Heaven,” ruled among the gods, crowned herself with a bull’s head, and consecrated a fallen star at Tyre; symbols of her dominion over fertility, the sea, and celestial light. The Phoenicians saw her as the divine mother whose favor brought prosperity, linking her with the heavens, the purple dye, and the waters that sustained their trade.

Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, explains how that wealth came from the murex shellfish that produced Tyrian purple; a dye “the color of clotted blood,” reserved for kings and gods. This trade financed Tyre’s temples and gave its priests and rulers their famed purple robes.

In Greek, Phoenician, and Roman myth-histories alike, Zeus, Jupiter, Baal, and Heracles were said; or understood; to have united with mortal women to produce semi-divine founders of kingdoms. The pattern reflects an ancient Near Eastern belief that kingship derived from divine paternity. Tyrian monarchs calling themselves “sons of Baal” and Greek rulers tracing descent from Zeus were simply two expressions of the same idea: that political power came from supposed union with the divine.

Together these accounts form one picture: Tyre’s worship of Melqart (its Baal) and Astarte joined sea, sun, and kingship into a single system. Herodotus shows the splendor, Eusebius the theology, and Pliny the economy that made it possible; a vivid image of human pride seeking divine status, in contrast to the true King who reigns from heaven.

Divine Fathers and Mortal Founders: Zeus, Jupiter, Baal, and Heracles

Ancient civilizations shared a striking belief: kingship came from the gods. In Greek, Phoenician, and Roman traditions alike, divine beings were said to unite with mortal women to produce semi-divine founders of cities and dynasties.

The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (Library of History 4.18–27) writes that after completing his labors, Heracles traveled the world, subduing nations and founding cities. In every land he left behind sons born of mortal women, who became the rulers of those regions. These “sons of Heracles,” the Heracleidae, were said to fill the world with royal lines; mirroring the Phoenician idea that Baal-Melqart, Tyre’s great god, fathered kings who ruled the lands of the sea.

Eusebius, quoting Philo of Byblos’ Phoenician History (Praeparatio Evangelica 1.9–10), describes a similar pattern in Semitic form: Kronos, called Elus by the Phoenicians, had children by mortal women. Among them was Belus (Baal), honored as both god and king. These gods, mingling with mortals, begot sons and daughters who were heroes, and from them came the generations who first built cities and founded kingdoms. Here, Belus/Baal stands as the Phoenician counterpart to Zeus; a divine father whose offspring became the first rulers of men.

The Greek poet Hesiod (Theogony 886–900) recounts how Zeus came to Alcmena and begot Heracles; to Danaë he came as golden rain and fathered Perseus; to Europa he gave Minos and Rhadamanthus, wise kings among men. This is the classic Greek model of divine paternity: the sky-god uniting with mortal women to create culture heroes and lawgivers; just as Baal or Elus did in the Phoenician world.

Likewise, Apollodorus (Library 2.4.11; 2.7.2) explains that Heracles begat sons by many women, from whom descended the kings of Sparta, Argos, and Messene—the Heracleidae; who ruled by right of divine descent. For Greeks, as for Phoenicians, political power rested on the claim of divine ancestry.

Diodorus (5.74) makes the link explicit: The god whom the Greeks call Zeus was the same as the Phoenician Belus. He begot sons who first ruled among men, and those benefactors were later honored as gods. Here, Belus (Baal) and Zeus (Jupiter) are identical; both seen as divine ancestors of early kings.

The bronze statue of St. Peter in St. Peter’s Basilica at Rome; seated in majesty and holding the keys; is long rumored to be a repurposed image of Jupiter or a Roman emperor. Its classical proportions and imperial pose echo the bronzes once used for pagan worship. For centuries, pilgrims have kissed or touched its right foot, now worn smooth by millions of devout gestures. Yet Peter himself was never enthroned, nor did men kneel to kiss his feet; the fisherman-apostle called himself only a servant of Christ. If the statue truly began as Jupiter’s, the irony is sharp; the old “lord of gods,” whom the Phoenicians knew as Baal, would have delighted in men bowing to his likeness once more. Whether coincidence or providence, the image stands as a symbol of how pagan grandeur was absorbed; and sometimes disguised; within "Christian" Rome.

Across all these sources runs a single theme: divine fatherhood legitimized earthly rule. The Greeks said kings descended from Zeus; the Phoenicians said rulers were “sons of Baal.” Both framed power as inheritance from heaven.

This belief took concrete form at Tyre, where Josephus (Against Apion 1.123) preserves the record: “Pheles was slain by Ithobalus, the priest of Astarte, who reigned thirty-two years.” Here, the high priest of Astarte becomes king; a priest-king claiming authority through divine service. Ithobalus (Ethbaal) literally means “man of Baal.” His title shows that Tyrian monarchs saw themselves as born of Baal and Astarte, the god of the sun and the goddess of the sea.

In Phoenician and Punic inscriptions, rulers often call themselves bn bʿl — “sons of Baal.” Their legitimacy flowed from this divine parentage, just as Greek kings traced their lines to Zeus. The Tyrian king stood between Baal-Melqart, the fiery solar god, and Astarte, the celestial and marine goddess; embodying the union of heaven and sea that sustained Tyre’s prosperity.

Pliny the Elder adds the earthly dimension in Natural History 9, describing the costly Tyrian purple dye, “the color of clotted blood,” reserved for gods and kings. That trade financed the temples and symbolized the royal-divine link: purple robes for priests and rulers, a mark of sacred kingship.

Taken together, these traditions; Greek, Roman, and Phoenician; tell one story in many tongues. The union of gods and mortals was the ancient world’s way of explaining power: kingship as a continuation of "heaven’s" rule on earth. In Tyre, that meant the priest-king of Astarte, “son of Baal,” ruling beneath the burning sun and beside the endless sea.

From Tyre’s island rock to the Pillars of Heracles, the mythic current is the same: the divine light of heaven joins the waters of the sea, and from that union arise mortal kings who build the world of men. In this way, Baal and Astarte of Phoenicia and Zeus and Hera or Aphrodite (Venus) of Greece are two languages for one ancient story; the gods give their children to earth, and kingship is their legacy.

Phoenician Temples and Deities in Against Apion

In Against Apion, Josephus preserves rare fragments of Tyrian history drawn from Menander of Ephesus, offering a glimpse into Phoenician temple culture and divine kingship. His purpose was not to describe religion but to prove the accuracy of Phoenician records; yet in doing so, he incidentally records details about Tyre’s temples and gods.

Josephus recounts that King Hiram of Tyre, Solomon’s contemporary, “laid the embankment of the Broad Place, dedicated the golden pillar in the temple of Zeus, and built new shrines to Heracles and Astarte — that of Heracles he built first, in the month Peritius.” The “temple of Zeus” here reflects a Greek rendering of Tyre’s high god, and “Heracles” corresponds to Melqart, the city’s Baal. Thus, Hiram’s program shows Tyre’s devotion centered on Melqart and Astarte, a divine pair representing the masculine and feminine forces of life, sun and sea.

Josephus’ notice does not mention connecting the island to the mainland; that causeway was built centuries later by Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great, after conquering much of the known world, claimed to be the son of Zeus; the same supreme deity whom the Phoenicians knew as Baal. In ancient religion, Zeus and Baal were different names for the same sky-god, the self-proclaimed “lord of heaven.” From a biblical perspective, this exalted being; receiving worship, demanding temples, and calling himself god; is no less than the devil in disguise, the ancient deceiver who sought divine honors, and his offspring taxes, from men. Thus, Alexander’s claim of divine sonship was not unique, but part of a long tradition of rulers exalting themselves as offspring of the false god who opposed the true Creator.

The Beast and the God-Kings of Tyre: 666 and the Legacy of Baal

In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John warns of a beast whose number is “the number of a man… six hundred sixty-six.” (Revelation 13:18).This mysterious figure represents more than a single ruler; it is the culmination of an ancient pattern: men claiming to be gods, exalting themselves above heaven, and ruling the nations through power and worship.

This is precisely the blasphemous pattern Revelation exposes.The beast is a man whose name is divine, a ruler who demands worship, a political power that presents itself as eternal. Just as Ethbaal claimed his throne by Astarte’s temple, the beast rises from “the sea” (the underworld); the same symbolic source as Tyre’s wealth and pride. And as Tyre clothed herself in purple and gold, trading across the seas, Revelation describes Babylon the Great:

“Clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones, drunk with the blood of the saints.” (Revelation 17:4–6)

The imagery is unmistakable.Tyre; the golden city of the sea, the home of Baal and Astarte, where kings called themselves “sons of Baal”; becomes the spiritual ancestor of Babylon the Great and of the Beast himself. Ezekiel 28 had already condemned the king of Tyre for saying, “I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas.” John’s vision simply extends that same judgment to the final world system; humanity’s attempt to enthrone itself in place of God.

The number 666, “the number of a man,” speaks of this human divinization; perfection sought without God (a thief of power, forcing entry through occult rites and forbidden arts) the imitation of divine power by earthly kings. It is the legacy of Tyre, of Baal’s priest-kings, of every empire that crowns itself with heaven’s titles while standing on the shifting waters of the world.

Baal and Astarte: Fire, Water, and the Bull Crown

In Phoenician belief, Baal ruled the storm and the sun’s fire; his thunder and lightning released the waters of heaven, awakening the land to life. He was the voice of fertility, the fiery breath of creation. His "divine" (from the abyss) partner, Astarte, embodied the receptive waters; goddess of the sea, war, moon, and love the womb of nature that received his power.

Philo of Byblos, preserved by Eusebius (Praeparatio Evangelica 1.10), says:

“Astarte put upon her head the head of a bull as a mark of her sovereignty, and she found a star that had fallen from heaven, which she consecrated at Tyre.”

Her bull crown proclaimed dominion and fertility. The bull signified rulership, strength, and male vitality;(and perhaps from the same root where the papal bull and the priests of Baal still don their purple robes)its horns reflected the crescent of the moon, emblem of Astarte’s dominion over tides and cycles; a symbol that would, in later occult traditions, become central to witchcraft. By wearing them, Astarte shared Baal’s celestial authority; she was the Queen of Heaven, the female counterpart of the “Bull, my father” Baal.

Together they formed the cosmic pair: Baal’s solar and storm fire descending into Astarte’s sea and womb of waters.

"How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” — Revelation 18:7

"And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning.”

— Revelation 18:7, 9 (KJV)

Primary Sources: Baal and Astarte as Sun–Water Powers (with the Pillar Symbol)

From Ugarit (c. 1300 BCE), the Baal Cycle portrays Baal as sky-fire and storm: his thunder “opens the sluices” so “the wadis flow with honey,” bringing abundance (KTU 1.5–1.6). When “Baal is dead,” no rain falls; when he returns, the heavens pour again (KTU 1.6 IV). In short: Baal’s death = drought; his return = fertility—a pattern later mirrored in Tyre’s Melqart.

Philo of Byblos (via Eusebius, PE 1.10) presents Astarte crowned with a bull’s head (horns = lunar power), consecrating a fallen star at Tyre and setting temples “on the sea.” She embodies the receptive, life-bearing waters (moon/sea/Venus) that balance Baal’s solar fire. Together with Dagon (grain/plough), the trio spans heaven, earth, and sea (the abyss).

Seen from the Greek world, Lucian (De Dea Syria 4–6, 59) describes a goddess the Greeks call Astarte, served by priests in white and purple, bathing daily beside a lake; rituals of water purity that complement Baal’s fiery strength.The picture is consistent: Baal = fertilizing, active sky-fire; Astarte = receptive, generative waters — from which emerged two enduring symbols, the obelisk and the vesica piscis (the fish bladder). Each embodied the union of cosmic opposites: the obelisk as the solar pillar of Baal, and the vesica as Astarte’s marine-lunar womb; together expressing the ancient Near Eastern vision of creation through the meeting of heaven and sea.

The obelisk over the waters ; the same solar sign once received by the sea’s womb; still stands, a modern echo of the old gods’ union

The Sacred Pillar (Obelisk / Massebah / Betyl)

In West Semitic practice, the gods’ presence was often embodied as standing stones (masseboth/betyls) before or within temples. Archaeology at Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and the Carthaginian Tophet shows paired pillars/stelae, frequently inscribed to Baal-Hammon and Tanit (“face of Baal”). Herodotus 2.44 saw Tyre’s Melqart temple with two pillars—one gold, one emerald (shining at night). Josephus (Apion 1.118) mentions Hiram’s golden pillar in the temple of “Zeus” (i.e., Baal). Eusebius (PE 1.10) adds Astarte’s consecrated star-stone, another pillar-form. Symbolically: golden pillar = solar fire (Baal); shining/green pillar or star-stone = sea/moon light (Astarte). Together they mark the axis joining heaven and sea; altar fire (Baal) and libations (Astarte) meet between them. Phoenician sailors read the rising sunbeam on the sea as a living obelisk—the daily union of their gods.

Deuteronomy 12:3 (KJV)

“And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.”

Astarte, the Womb, and the Fish Symbol

In the ancient Near East, the sea was more than geography; it was the primordial womb of creation. From its waters life emerged, and within it moved the fish, the living emblem of fertility and divine power. Across Phoenicia and Syria, these symbols; water, womb, and fish; merged into one idea: the sea as the mother of gods and men.

Astarte, the Phoenician Queen of Heaven and Hell, embodied this mystery. She ruled the sea, moon, love, and fertility, her temples rising beside the waves at Tyre, Sidon, and Ascalon. Her rites involved bathing, libations, and doves; acts of purification and rebirth. To her devotees, the fish was sacred, a symbol of the divine life stirring within the cosmic waters.

NB.

The pope’s ring is officially called the “Fisherman’s Ring” (Anulus Piscatoris), and it’s one of the most ancient symbols of papal authority.

Roman historians record that Emperor Tiberius, during his exile on the island of Capri, surrounded himself with young boys whom he called his pisciculi ; “little fishes.” Suetonius says they were trained to swim around him while he bathed, a symbol of the emperor’s decadence and abuse of innocence.

Ancient writers describe Astarte (Venus, whom the Julian line claimed as their heavenly mother) in this imagery. Lucian (De Dea Syria 14–15, 40–42) saw her as half woman, half fish, the goddess Derketo who cast herself into a lake and became one with the waters. Her priests bathed daily in her sacred lake, where the fish were holy. Philo of Byblos (via Eusebius, PE 1.10) says that Astarte consecrated a fallen star at Tyre; meaning she made fire come down from heaven and set it in the sea, the ancient symbol of the womb. In this act she united the powers of light and water, heaven and earth, claiming the fire of the sky as her own divine life-force. Diodorus Siculus added that the Syrians gave her a fish’s tail because they “consider water the origin of all life.”

This theology found visual form in the vesica piscis; two interlocking circles whose overlapping space, almond-shaped like a fish’s bladder, became the geometric symbol of the womb. It represents the meeting of heaven and earth, spirit and matter. Though this symbol appears later, it perfectly captures Astarte’s ancient idea: the union of sky and sea that brings forth life.

Archaeology confirms how deeply this symbolism shaped daily faith. Excavations across Phoenicia, Syria, and Carthage have uncovered fish-shaped pendants, rings, and amulets in temples, tombs, and homes.

In this light, Astarte’s cosmic image; moon-crowned, sea-born, star-bearing, and fish-bodied; was not mythology alone. It expressed a theology of creation: the a fallen, "divine" fire descending into the waters. Every tide, every sunrise over the sea, was a visible reminder of her eternal power; the union of heaven’s light and the abyss.

Christian Reflection: The Sea, the Woman, and the Beast

In Scripture, every image once used for Baal and Astarte is exposed. The spices once burned for the “Queen of Heaven” (Jeremiah 44:17); the incense of seduction; become the smoke of judgment rising over Babylon (Revelation 18:8). The color purple, once sacred to Tyre and its goddess, becomes the robe of the harlot seated upon the scarlet beast (Revelation 17:4). The obelisk and the vesica piscis; symbols of heaven’s fire entering the womb of the waters; now stand exposed as monuments to that same counterfeit union between spirit and flesh. The sun and moon, the bull and the star, once emblems of divine power, are shown as mere created lights, no longer to be worshiped but ruled by Christ, “the Sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2).

What the ancients called the marriage of Baal and Astarte; fire into water, solar light into the womb; Revelation unmasks as the union of the dragon and the harlot, the devil and his bride, drunk with the blood of the saints. Out of the sea rises the Beast, claiming the authority of heaven but speaking with the serpent’s voice. The prophets foresaw it: “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest” (Isaiah 57:20).

And at the end of all things, when Babylon has fallen and the idols are gone, the Apostle’s vision declares: “And the sea was no more” (Revelation 21:1) The ancient fire and water, the false union of heaven and sea, give way to the true marriage of the Lamb and His Bride, the reuniting of heaven and earth under Christ, the New Jerusalem — clothed not in Tyrian purple, but in pure white linen, the righteousness of the saints.

The color of kings, gods... and apparently popes