Baalat, or Ba'alat, is not properly a name but a title, meaning "Mistress", "Lady", or "Queen". She is the main Deity of the city of Gubla or Byblos, the modern Jebeil in Lebanon, a few miles north of Beirut. She is associated with Ba'al-Shaman, "Lord of the Heavens" as His consort and cult-partner. She is most likely a form of Ashtart, the Phoenician Goddess of love, fertility and the planet Venus, whose cult is known to have been centered in Gubla.

As the main Goddess of Gubla, Ba'alat watched over and protected the city and its royal family. Her shrine in Gubla, close to the Sea, was considered Her oldest, and indeed it has been dated way back to 2700 BCE. The city of Gubla was a very ancient one, and in Greek legend it is said to be the first city in the world. It probably can't claim to be quite that old, but there is evidence of a settlement there dating back to the Neolithic period, from about 5000 BCE. Gubla had a long history of trade with Egypt, especially in cedar wood, and Egyptian influence can be seen in its art and its religion. The city got its Greek name, Byblos, from its exportation of papyrus paper (called by the same word); later this Greek word came to mean books in general, which is how the Hebrew/Christian scriptures have come to be called the Bible.

At Aphek (Greek Aphaca, modern Afka), a town not far from Byblos, Ba'alat was worshipped in the form of a meteorite that had fallen from the sky in a blaze of fire; the Greeks equated Her therefore with their Aphrodite Urania, "Heavenly" Aphrodite. Aphek is also where the cult of Ashtart and 'Adon was centered, as the river named for the God had its beginnings there. As Ashtart is a Goddess of the planet Venus, which looks like a star from Earth, it is not surprising that a meteorite, or a "falling star" should be associated with Her. The meteorite was said to have fallen into the sacred lake at Aphek, and was later set up in Her temple there. This temple is also said to have been dedicated to the Goddess who is the mother of 'Adon, Malidthu or Myrrha (Her Greek name).

Under Egyptian influence, Ba'alat is shown on a cylinder seal from Gubla in an Egyptian style—She is seated in a close-fitting dress whose straps cover Her breasts, Her hair dressed Egyptian-style, bearing the sun-disk and cow-horn headdress of Hathor, the Egyptian's Goddess of love and beauty. Sometimes She is depicted with two feathers as Her headdress; at other times She wears a uraeus on Her forehead. In one inscription She is labelled "Beloved of Hathor", and in time Ba'alat was completely assimilated to Hathor by the Egyptians.

Also called: Ba'alath, Belit, Baltis, Baaltis, and Ba'alat Gebal, "Lady of Byblos". The Greeks knew Her by epithets of Aphrodite: Kypris, meaning "of the island of Cyprus", and Kythereia, "of the island of Kythera", both places heavily associated with Aphrodite; as well as Aphrodite Aphacitis, "Aphrodite of Aphaca".