Rather, as the god - or the chief god - of a region and a people, the most sublime and impressive phenomena, the control of the mightiest forces of nature are attributed to him.
Indeed, such may very well have been the case with Frey, the chief god of the North after Thor and Odin.
The moon-god is par excellence the god of nomadic peoples, their guide and protector at night when, during a great part of the year, they undertake their wanderings, just as the sun-god is the chief god of an agricultural people.
The chief god of the Palmyrenes was a solar deity, called Samas or Shamash (" sun "), or Bel, or Malak-bel,' whose great temple is still the most imposing feature among the ruins of Palmyra.
Thus the name of the chief god of the Babylonian pantheon, Marduk, is written by two signs to be pronounced Amar-Ud, which describe the god as the "young bullock of the day " - an allusion to the solar character of the god in question.
