Baal

For other uses, see Baal (disambiguation).
Baʿal
Solid cast bronze of a votive figurine representing the god Baal discovered at Tel Megiddo, dating to the mid-2nd millennium BC.
SymbolBull, ram, thunderbolt
Region
Genealogy
Parents
SiblingsHebat (in Syrian tradition), Anat
Consortspossibly Anat and/or Athtart[1][2]
OffspringPidray, Tallay, Arsay[3]
Equivalents
GreekZeus[4]
MesopotamianHadad
HurrianTeshub
EgyptianSet (due to being a foreign god in Egypt, since Set was the god of foreigners – otherwise Baal Zephon equivalent with Hadad who is analogous to Ba’al, was also equated with Horus)[5]
Deities of the ancient Near East
Ancient Egyptian
Arabian
Eblaite
Elamite
Hurrian and Hittite
Levantine
(Canaanite and Ugaritic)
Mesopotamian
Religions of the ancient Near East

Baal (/ˈbeɪ.əl, ˈbɑː.əl/),[6][a] or Baʻal,[b] was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord' in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods.[11] Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but inscriptions have shown that the name Ba'al was particularly associated with the storm and fertility god Hadad and his local manifestations.[12]

The Hebrew Bible includes use of the term in reference to various Levantine deities, often with application towards Hadad, who was decried as a false god. That use was taken over into Christianity and Islam, sometimes under the form Beelzebub in demonology.

The Ugaritic god Baal is the protagonist of one of the lengthiest surviving epics from the ancient Near East, the Baal Cycle.

  1. ^ M. Smith, ‘Athtart in Late Bronze Age Syrian Texts [in:] D. T. Sugimoto (ed), Transformation of a Goddess. Ishtar – Astarte – Aphrodite, 2014, p. 48-49; 60-61
  2. ^ T. J. Lewis, ʿAthtartu’s Incantations and the Use of Divine Names as Weapons, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 71, 2011, p. 208
  3. ^ S. A. Wiggins, Pidray, Tallay and Arsay in the Baal Cycle, Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 2(29), 2003, p. 86-93
  4. ^ "Baal (ancient deity)". Encyclopedia Britannica (online ed.). 29 March 2024.
  5. ^ Kramer 1984, p. 266.
  6. ^ "Baal". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2019-12-26. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  7. ^ "Baal". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2019-12-26.
  8. ^ a b "Baal". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
  9. ^ Webb, Steven K. (2012). "Baal". Webb's Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide.
  10. ^ De Moor & al. (1987), p. 1.
  11. ^ Smith (1878), pp. 175–176.
  12. ^ AYBD (1992), "Baal (Deity)".


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