I. Name

The Hebrew term ʿôlām, customarily translated as ‘eternity’, corresponds etymologically with the divine name Oulomos occurring in a Phoenician cosmology attributed to Mochos of Sidon. Although the authenticity of this deity has long been a matter of uncertainty, the occurrence of the theonym Ḫalma in texts from Emar shows that a god ‘Eternity’ was indeed part of the West Semitic pantheon. His name occurs in first millennium cuneiform texts from Nineveh as Alam and Alama. Whilst the occurrences of ʿo…