Bêlit was a Shemite, who in Howard's story claimed that her fathers were kings of Asgalun (a seaport in Shem).

At some point, she became captain to a band of pirates from the Southern Isles on board the Tigress. The black corsairs considered her to be a goddess and followed her with unswerving loyalty.

It was then she met Conan, in the midst of a melée when the Tigress rammed Conan's ship, the Argus. Bêlit was immediately consumed with a passion that grew into devotion.
"Were I still in death and you fighting for life, I would come back from the abyss to aid you — aye, whether my spirit floated from the purple sails on the crystal sea of paradise, or writhed in the molten flames of Hell! I am yours, and all the gods and their eternities shall not sever us!" ["Queen of the Black Coast"]
She is regarded as Conan's first and greatest love. For a thousand days Bêlit and Conan plundered the Black Coast, until her untimely, tragic death. But she fulfilled her prophecy, when her ghost intervened to save Conan from the deadly attack of a winged one.

In her life, she worshipped the Shemitish deities Adonis, Ashtoreth, Derketo, and Ishtar, as well as Bel, god of thieves.

Belit is described as having dark eyes, black hair that falls in rippling over her supple back. She has an ivory skin despite her pirate activity and her Shemite origin. She wears a lot of jewelry and her only garment was a broad silken girdle.

Map of the Hyborian age :