Ethbaal

Ethbaal was king of Sidon and father of Jezebel, whose marriage to King Ahab of Israel brought Phoenician Baal worship into the northern kingdom with catastrophic consequences (1 Kings 16:31). Ancient sources, including the Phoenician historian Menander of Ephesus quoted by Josephus, identify him as a priest of Astarte who seized the Sidonian throne by murdering his predecessor. His daughter Jezebel's aggressive promotion of Baal worship and persecution of the prophets of Yahweh made Ethbaal's dynasty a byword for apostasy in Israel's history.