Simios, A Compendium of the Ancient Gods

Simios was the consort or divine son of Atargatis at Hierapolis-Bambyce, the male partner of the great Syrian Goddess in her chief sanctuary. His name appears in some Greek sources as Semeios or Simios; he was a sun-god and a sovereignty-god, described by Lucian and others as having the attributes of Apollo, of Asclepius, of Helios, and of Bacchus all at once — a syncretic figure whose nature varied with the perspective of the observer. The Greek tradition identified him most often with Apollo, in his solar and oracular aspects, and the Apollo-Helios identification was probably how the Hellenized worshippers most often understood him.

His cult-image at Hierapolis stood beside Atargatis's in the great temple; Lucian describes it as bearded (unlike most Apollo-images), seated on a throne, holding a sceptre, with rays of light around the head — a thoroughly eastern Apollo-figure with Mesopotamian solar iconography overlaid by Greek conventions. The image was carried in procession on great festival days, and was held to give oracular response to worshippers who consulted it: Simios would, in the proper rite, levitate from his throne, bear his priests through the air, and indicate his answers to questions by the direction of his motions.

The relation between Simios and Atargatis was variously conceived. In some accounts they were husband and wife (a divine couple, as Hadad and Atargatis at Heliopolis); in others Simios was Atargatis's son (with Hadad the absent or implicit father); in still others he was a divine prince of the next generation, the sovereign of the present era under the patronage of his mother. The proliferation of relationships reflects the different sources from which Lucian and the inscriptions and the late-Roman antiquarians were drawing — different cult-traditions within the single sanctuary.

Simios's cult, like that of Atargatis, was suppressed by the Christianization of late-Roman Syria. The Apollonian aspects of his worship may have influenced the early Christian iconography of Christ Pantocrator (the bearded, enthroned, sceptre-bearing king of the universe), which emerged in the same Syrian context in the fourth and fifth centuries; the iconographic continuities are suggestive but the historical lines of descent are hard to demonstrate. The Hierapolis temple was converted to a church and eventually destroyed in the medieval period; nothing of Simios's cult survives in living religious practice, though his name and function are preserved in the inscriptions and in Lucian's account.

Curator’s note

What the sources say, and what later tradition added. The sources for this bay

Simios is named in Lucian's De Dea Syria (chapters 32-33, 36) and in scattered inscriptions and references; the figure is one of the most obscure of the major Hierapolis deities, with much of what we know about him filtered through Greek interpretation. Lightfoot's commentary on Lucian provides the standard analysis; H. J. W. Drijvers's various works on Syrian religion treat the question of Simios's character and origin. The relationship to Atargatis is one of the unresolved problems of Hierapolis theology.

Kin in the sources

Each tie is quoted from the entry that states it.

Consort ofAtargatisSimios was the consort or divine son of Atargatis at Hierapolis-Bambyce
Child ofAtargatisin others Simios was Atargatis's son (with Hadad the absent or implicit father)
Child ofHadadin others Simios was Atargatis's son (with Hadad the absent or implicit father)
Named as the same god asApolloThe Greek tradition identified him most often with Apollo, in his solar and oracular aspects
Named as the same god asHeliosthe Apollo-Helios identification was probably how the Hellenized worshippers most often understood him
Compared withAsclepiushaving the attributes of Apollo, of Asclepius, of Helios, and of Bacchus all at once

The same god in other rooms

The ancient sources themselves name these as one god under different names. See Resheph, Helios, Apollo, Simios, Aplu, Belenos, Maponos and Grannus and Sirona hung together

When the sources speak

Dated witnesses for The Aramaean Gods of Syria. A date marks when the evidence was written down, not when the belief began. The whole timeline

c. 1200–900 BCE: Aramaean polities emerge in Syria within the post–Late Bronze Age political landscape.
9th–8th centuries BCE: Royal inscriptions and regional monuments attest Aramaean dynasties and their divine patrons.
8th–7th centuries BCE: Neo-Assyrian conquest redistributes populations and embeds Syrian cults within imperial networks.
539–332 BCE: Achaemenid rule sustains Aramaic as a major administrative language and connects Levantine and Arabian routes.
332–64 BCE: Hellenistic kingdoms introduce Greek civic and iconographic forms while local cults persist and hybridize.
4th century BCE–106 CE: The Nabataean kingdom develops Petra, Hegra, and a distinctive epigraphic and aniconic cult tradition.
64 BCE onward: Roman incorporation of Syria creates new military, civic, and commercial settings for local gods.
1st–3rd centuries CE: Palmyra’s caravan wealth supports monumental temples and multilingual dedications to Bel, Baalshamin, Yarhibol, Aglibol, and others.