Succoth-benoth

Succoth-benoth or Succoth Benoth (Hebrew: סֻכּוֹת בְּנוֹת‎, Booths of Daughters) was a Babylonian deity, one of the deities brought to the former kingdom of Samaria by the men of Israel after the exile of Canaan by Assyria. After resettling large numbers of Canaan's population "in Halah, in Gozan, on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes" (2 Kings 18:11), the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim" and settled them in Canaan.

The "men" from each of these five cities ("national groups" - NIV) made its own gods and set them up in the shrines of the land, mixing it with the worship of Jehovah. "The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuthah made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites ... Adrammelech and Anamelech." (2 Kings 17:30-31)[1] The Bible says that these deities were idols, although the Samaritans were not punished because they worshipped the God of the Israelites as well. Like Ashima, the identity of Succoth-benoth is unknown. Hayim Tawil noted that Bànitu (Akkadian: 𒁀𒉌𒌈 Ba.ni.TUM, "the creaturess") was an epithet of Ishtar in Nineveh, and postulated the name "Succoth-benoth" was a Hebrew rendition of a Neo-Babylonian or Neo-Assyrian divine name meaning "the image of Bànitu".[2]

According to the Talmud, Succoth Benoth was represented with a Hen and her Chicks, thus associating this god with the astrological constellation Pleiades.[3]