Resheph Semitic God

Resheph was a Semitic god of plague and war. He bore the head of a gazelle on his forehead and was an important member of the pantheon of Ugarit though not mentioned in Ugaritic mythological texts.

Resheph was identified or confused with the Babylonian death god Nergal and perhaps (this is disputed by scholars) associated like Nergal with the planet Mars. In Phoenician inscriptions he is called rshp gn 'Resheph of the Garden' and b`l chtz 'lord of the arrow'. Joint Phoenician-Hittite inscriptions refer to him as 'deer god' and 'gazelle god'.

Resheph become popular in Egypt during the 18th dynasty, and, with another Semitic god, Qetesh (goddess of sexual acts), he was taken to be the father of Min (god of fertility).

The name appears as a word in Classical Hebrew with the alternate meanings 'flame' and 'plague'.

It is speculated that the character of Resheph is connected both to the Greek Apollo and to the Vedic Rudra.