Baal

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BAAL

BAAL . The name Baal (bʿl) is a common Semitic appellative meaning "lord" that is used as a proper name for the West Semitic storm god in ancient Near Eastern texts dating from the late third millennium bce through the Roman period. Identified as the warrior Hadd (or Hadad) in the Late Bronze Age texts from Ugarit, Baal is a popular deity in Syro-Palestinian or "Canaanite" religious traditions as a god of storms and fertility. Associated with kingship and oaths, his name appears as a divine witness to international treaties and as a common element in theophoric names. Baal was venerated in West Semitic religious traditions as a powerful god and patron of humanity for over two thousand years.

The character of Baal is most fully described in the Late Bronze Age archives of the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), where he is the patron of the royal house and protector of the city. Archaeologists have recovered hundreds of mythological, epic, and ritual texts written in an alphabetic cuneiform script from this coastal site since its rediscovery in 1929. The Baal revealed in these texts is an aggressive and powerful warrior who vies for kingship among the gods. Frequent epithets for Baal in the Ugaritic texts include "Almighty Baal" (aliyn bʿl ), "the mightiest of warriors" (aliy qrdm ), "the rider of the clouds" (rkb ʿrpt ), and "the Prince, lord of the earth" (zbl bʿl arṣ ). He is the son of the grain god Dagan and the brother of the violent Maiden Anat. Baal dwells on Mount Saphon (spn ), identified with Jebel el-Aqra (Mons Casius in classical sources), the highest peak in Syria. From here he also controls the winds and storms at sea and acts as the protector of mariners.

As a god of the storm, Baal is depicted as both a divine warrior and the provider of natural fertility in the form of dew and rains. His presence in the heavens is manifested by dark clouds, roaring winds, peals of thunder, and bolts of lightning. Ugaritic myths depict Baal as victorious in battle against the primordial forces of Sea (Yamm) and Death (Mot). He is praised for his defeat of dragons or sea monsters called Litan the Fleeing Serpent, Tunnan, and the seven-headed Twisting Serpent. Baal's distinctive iconography portrays him as a bearded god, wearing a conical hat with two horns, brandishing a mace or battle-ax in his right hand and grasping lightning and thunderbolts in the left. As king (mlk ) of the gods, Baal rules the cosmos under the authority of El, the grey-bearded patriarchal leader of the divine assembly. Baal "reigns over the gods," "issues orders to gods and humans," and "satisfies the multitudes of the earth" with his fertilizing rains in Ugaritic poetry. The absence of Baal from the world results in "no dew, no downpour, no swirling of the deeps, no welcome voice of Baal" to break the sweltering heat, according to the Aqhat epic. Baal is also associated with the fertility of the herd, as is mythologically represented in two Ugaritic texts that describe his sexual intercourse with a cow, who then bears a son as his heir.

The myth of Baal's rise to sovereignty over the gods is narrated in the six tablets of the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, which encompasses three main sections. The elderly god El presides over the divine assembly, while a younger god is enthroned as the active king of the cosmos. As the son of Dagan, Baal has a conflicted relationship with El, who resists Baal's rise to power in preference for his own sons' claims to divine kingship. In the cycle's first episode, Baal contends with Yamm (Sea) for dominion among the gods. After defeating Yamm with the help of magic war clubs crafted by Kothar-wa-Hasis, Baal seeks permission from El to build a palace as a symbol of his divine kingship. Kothar, Anat, and El's own consort, Athirat, eventually support Baal in the political intrigue, and his palace is constructed in the second section of the Baal Cycle.

The third section of the Baal Cycle describes Baal's conflict with divine Mot (Death), who challenges Baal's kingship. Mot demands that the storm god "enter the maw of Death" and descend into the underworld. Baal immediately submits to Mot's authority, but the fragmentary text obscures the sequence of events at this point. It remains unclear if Baal actually dies and enters the dreary land of the dead. Regardless, the heavenly gods believe that Baal has died. Anat discovers a corpse "in the pleasant field of Death's Realm" (ysmt šd šḥlmmt ). There is a burial, copious ritual mourning, and funerary offerings by El and Anat in honor of the fallen Baal. After these events, El and the divine council unsuccessfully seek a replacement for Baal as the king of the gods. Meanwhile, Anat approaches Mot with a pitiful request to release her brother. When her pleas go unheeded for months, Anat violently attacks Mot, chops his body into pieces, and scatters his remains upon the fields for the birds to consume. After more broken text, El has an oracular dream of Baal's return to the earth in which "the heavens rain oil and the wadis run with honey" to relieve the parched furrows of the fields. Baal then returns to the divine assembly, defeats his enemies, and is again seated upon "the throne of his dominion." Later, "in the seventh year," Mot returns to challenge Baal's sovereignty, but the sun goddess Shapsh mediates between the rival gods and resolves their dispute in favor of Baal. The Baal Cycle concludes with the establishment of Baal's kingship over the heavenly gods, the earth, and humanity.

Scholars continue to debate whether Baal is appropriately described as a "dying and rising god" whose annual death and resurrection are cultically reenacted within a seasonal calendar. Certain West Semitic texts also hint at Baal's role in the revivification of the dead in a netherworld existence. Indeed, some scholars identify Baal as the leader of the Rephaim, the underworld shades of deceased kings, but no consensus exists among scholars on this issue. The Ugaritic myth of the voracious "Devourers" also narrates Baal's defeat and seven-year absence from the earth. The fragmentary character of the relevant episodes in the Baal Cycle precludes any definite conclusion, but perhaps Baal is most accurately described as a "disappearing god," similar to certain Hittite traditions. There is no compelling evidence for the ritual reenactment of Baal's annual death and resurrection in any ancient Syro-Palestinian source. Mot's absence for seven years in the Baal Cycle further argues against the alleged seasonal pattern of the conflict between Baal's fructifying rains and Mot's sterile rule during the heat of summer. Yet the seasonal aspects of the drama between the rain god and Mot cannot be denied. With their emphasis on fertility, death, and the politics of divine kingship, the myths of Baal represent the precarious balance of powerful forces at play in the natural, divine, and human realms. In many ways, Baal himself symbolizes the fragility of life, fertility, and political stability in a hostile cosmos.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Phoenician Baal appears as the most prominent divine rival to the Israelite god, Yahweh. Indeed, the two gods share many of the same qualities and epithets. Like Baal, Yahweh is depicted as a god of the storm who sounds his voice in thunder and sends lightning (Ps. 18:10–16). Yahweh is the rider of the clouds (Isa.19:1; Ps. 68:5), who dominates the sea (ym ) and vanquishes primordial dragons or sea monsters, including Tannin and Leviathan the Twisting Serpent (Ps. 74:13–14; Isa. 27:1; 51:9–10; Job 26:12–13). Yahweh is also responsible for human and natural fertility, including the "dew of the heavens and the fat of the earth, the abundance of new grain and wine" (Gen. 27:28).

Bibliography

Parker, Simon B., ed. Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Atlanta, 1997. Excellent and accessible English translations of the Ugaritic mythological texts.

Schwemer, Daniel. Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen. Weisbaden, 2001. See pp. 443–588.

Smith, Mark S. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, I. Leiden, 1994. The first volume of a projected three-volume commentary on the Baal Cycle.

Smith, Mark S. The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel. 2d ed. Grand Rapids, Mich., 2002. An excellent introduction with comprehensive bibliographic references to recent work.

Van der Toorn, Karel, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst, eds. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. 2d ed. Leiden, 1999. See the entries by W. Hermann on "Baal," pp. 132–139, and J. C. Greenfield on "Hadad," pp. 377–382.