Bel (/ˈbɛjl/; from Akkadian bēlu), signifies "Lord" or "Master", is a title rather than a genuine name, is applied to various gods in the Mesopotamian religion of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia. The feminine form is Belit 'Lady, Mistress'. Bel is represented in Greek as Bē̂los and in Latin as Bēlus. Belit appears in Greek form as Beltis (Βελτις). Linguistically Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Baal with the same meaning.
Early translators of Akkadian believe that the ideogram for the god is called in Sumerian Enlil was to be read as Bel in Akkadian. Current scholarship holds this as incorrect, but one finds Bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions.
Bel became especially used for the Babylonian god Marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk and no other god. Similarly Bêlit without some disambiguation mostly refers to Bel Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. However, Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Damkina, Ninmah and other names in Sumerian, was often known as Belit-ili 'Lady of the Gods' in Akkadian.
Other gods called "Lord" could be and sometimes were identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example, attested as a messenger of Bel but existing as a deity separate to Bel/Marduk, though in the later period from which most of our information comes he seems to have become very much a sun god.
Similarly, Zeus Belus mentioned by Sanchuniathon as born to Cronus/El in Peraea is unlikely to be Marduk.
In Mandaean cosmology, the name for Jupiter is Bil (ࡁࡉࡋ), which is derived from the name Bel.
Bel of Palmyra, Syria[]
A god named Bel was the chief-god of Palmyra in pre-Hellenistic times, being worshipped alongside the gods Aglibol and Yarhibol. Originally, he was known as Bol, after the Northwestern Semitic word Ba'al (usually used to refer to the god Hadad), until the cult of Bel-Marduk spread to Palmyra and by 213 BC, Bol was renamed to Bel. The temple of Bel was dedicated to this god, which was destroyed by ISIS.