Baal (Ba'al) is a Bronze Age Canaanite deity whose worship centers on the Levant and the industrious coastal city of Ugarit, north Syria. Baal (Bael) is also the name of a demon identified in early Hebrew writings and occult listings of the Middle Ages.
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As god of storms and fertility, Ba'al is an enemy or rival of the god Moloch, deity of fire and sacrifice. Both Gods compete to gain followers in the Ugaritic and Levant regions.
Pre-1935, scholars believe Moloch is a pagan deity receiving child sacrifice at Jerusalem. Some modern scholars propose Moloch may be the same god as Milcom, Adad-Milki, or an epithet for Baal. Moloch also sounds similar to Hebrew melek, or 'king'.
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Baal or Baʻal is a title meaning 'owner' or 'lord'. First used among people, it spreads into religion as a deity name as well as an honorific. The feminine form is baʿalah.
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In ancient Levant, Baal or Ba'al is a god of fertility, weather, rain, wind, lightning, seasons, war and sailors. His symbols include the bull, thunderbolt and ram.
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One of his stellar centers of worship is Syrian Ugarit, trade port and active metropolis. Ugarit prospers from Neolithic times. It's abandoned in 1185 BCE at the collapse of the Bronze Age. Ugarit is famous for inducting neighboring gods into the pantheon.
According to inscriptions, the name Ba'al is specifically applied to weather and fertility god Hadad and his local manifestations in the near East. As a major storm god he's equated to Greek Zeus, Hurrian Teshub and Egyptian Horus.
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In Egypt Baal relates to Chaos God Set (Seth), as Set is god of foreigners. Baal also appears in the Hebrew Bible. He's set as a foil to Yahweh who is originally worshipped in the northwest Arabian Desert. In the Hebrew Bible Yahweh is the god of the Israelites.
"Baal" defines various deities as false gods or idols. Baal is an ancient Canaanite-Phoenician deity of fertility and rain, favored as a god by the Omride rulers of Israel. According to Hebrew writings, Baal is a false god or idol who should be avoided by Jews.
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The name Baal is associated with Beezlebub, demons and the devil. Modern interpretations may derive from Baal (Bael) the Demon in European occult grimoires of the Middle Ages.
One such text, the Liber Officiorum Spirituum (Book of the Office of Spirits) features Baal, Baall, Boal, or Boall as a hoarsely-voiced king or warrior. Some sources attribute him control of 250 legions of spirits. He has powers of invisibility, the sciences ... and love.
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In the Hebrew Bible, Baal is the name given a god of false prophets in the Book of Kings (c. 950 - 460 BCE). Through Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies in the New Testament, written between 50 CE and 120 CE, Baal is linked to Lucifer.
In Ugarit, Baal is depicted as the King of the Gods, possibly subordinate to the previous King of the Gods, his father El. Baal is the most popular deity in theophoric names. Unlike some storm god kings, Baal does not challenge El for superiority.
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Scholars suggest the title is shared by Baal and El. The name Baal is thought to develop as an epithet of weather god Hadad, which is his primary name on the Mediterranean coast by c. 1500 BCE.
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The original name, Haddu/Hadad, remains in use but takes a back seat. In the Ugaritic texts, Baal is second only to El when it comes to the number of epithets applied to him, with as many as fourteen phrases attested.
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Most frequent is "the mighty one" (‘al‘iyn). Only one epithet, "the rider of the clouds" (rkb ‘rpt) relates to his depiction as a storm god. Various versions of Baal are worshiped in Ugarit according to ritual texts, including Baal of Aleppo and Baal of Saphon (Jebel al-Aqra).
A series of Ugaritic myths known as the "Baal Cycle" describes Baal's struggle to attain kingship among the gods and his battles against various rivals, especially the sea god Yam. Also called Yammu, the sea god personifies chaos and is linked to the monster Lotan.
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Baal has no permanent spouse. He may dally with goddess of the hunt, Anat, or goddess Astarte (Athtart), equivalent of Ishtar. His daughter Asray is goddess of the Ugaritic underworld.
In c. 1200 BCE, a series of catastrophes, earthquakes, drought and internal conflicts culminate in mass destruction. The Hittite Empire shatters, Kassites topple and Mycenean Greece falls as attacks by Sea Peoples complicate the chaos. Ugarit crashes in 1185 BCE.
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Gods have a way of surviving. Use of the name Baal to designate a weather god continues in Phoenician texts after the destruction of Ugarit.
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