Baal

Nationality/Culture

Canaanite

Pronunciation

BAY-uhl

Alternate Names

Hadad, Belos

Appears In

The Hebrew Bible, the Baal cycle

Lineage

Son of El

Character Overview

Baal (pronounced BAY-uhl) was one of the most widely worshipped gods in ancient Canaan (pronounced KAY-nuhn), the early name for present-day Israel and neighboring regions. Associated with fertility and rain, Baal was the son of El, the supreme god of the Canaanites, and the husband and brother of Anat, the ferocious goddess of war.

Baal is a common Semitic word that means “lord” or “owner.” The tide was given to the local god of nearly every city in Canaan. Because of the importance of rain to life in the dry lands of the Near East, these local gods were usually associated with fertility and the cycle of wet and dry seasons. Baal developed into a single, widely known god, called Lord of the Earth and Lord of the Rain and Dew. Clay tablets found at the ruins of the ancient town of Ras es-Shamrah (in present-day Syria) contain a series of stories about how Baal became the rain god and gained power over the waters of earth. These stories are known as the Baal cycle.

Major Myths

According to the myths, Yam, the sea god, demanded that Baal be made his slave. He sent messengers to Baal, asking him to surrender, but Baal attacked the messengers and drove them away. Baal then fought with Yam and, using two magic weapons, defeated him and seized control of the waters.

Other myths about Baal relate to fertility and the cycle of the seasons. One such story tells of the battle between Baal and Mot, the god of death and infertility. After conquering Yam, Baal complained that he had no house like the other gods did. El agreed to let the crafts god Kothar build Baal a fine house. When it was finished, Baal held a great feast, but he did not invite Mot or send him respectful presents. Greatly insulted, Mot asked Baal to come to the underworld , or land of the dead, to dine. Although he was afraid, Baal could not refuse the invitation. The food served at Mot's table was mud, the food of death, and when Baal ate it, he was trapped in the underworld.

While Baal was in the underworld, famine struck the earth, and El searched for someone to replace Baal. Asherah (pronounced ASH-er-ah), a fertility goddess, convinced El to give Baal's throne to her son Ashtar. But when Ashtar, the god of irrigation, sat on the throne, his feet did not even touch the floor. Realizing he could not fill Baal's place, Ashtar gave up the throne.

Meanwhile, Baal's wife and sister, the fierce goddess Anat, traveled to the underworld. After splitting Mot with her sword, she separated his pieces with her fan, burned the pieces in a fire , ground them in a mill, and planted them in the ground. These actions brought Baal back to life. Mot was later restored to life, and the two gods battled each other again. In the end, the sun goddess Shapash separated them, Baal regained his throne, and the land became fertile again.

Baal in Context

Worship of Baal was widespread in the ancient Near East. The clay tablets of Ras es-Shamrah, which relate the Baal cycle, date from about 1500 bce. Baal was also popular in Egypt from about 1400 to 1075 bce. In Mesopotamia, Baal was known to the Babylonians and Assyrians and was identified with their national gods Marduk and Ashur. The Greeks called the god Belos and identified him with Zeus (pronounced ZOOS).

Like the other inhabitants of Canaan, the ancient Hebrews worshipped local gods called Baal and honored their children with names ending with baal, such as Ishbaal, the son of King Saul. In fact, the Hebrew god Yahweh (pronounced YAH-way) appears to have shared many of Baal's characteristics.

As the worship of Yahweh became more important, Baal fell out of favor with the Hebrews. In the 800s bce, a queen of Israel named Jezebel introduced a cult of Baal borrowed from the Phoenicians. She set up the cult as a rival to the official worship of Yahweh. Opposition to Baal grew so strong that over the next century the name Baal was replaced with the term boshet, meaning shame. In later texts, the name of Saul's son was changed from Ishbaal to Ishbosheth. Later still, Christians considered Baal to be a name for a devil.

Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies

In the New Testament of the Bible, Beelzebub is one of the names Jesus gave Satan. In some places, he is Satan's main assistant rather than Satan himself. The name comes from Baalzebub, the name of the god of the Philistine city of Ekron. Baalzebub, which means “lord of the flies,” is probably a distorted version of Baal, or “lord of the house.” The origin of the word is unknown.

Key Themes and Symbols

In the story of Yam and Baal, Yam represents the destructive nature of water, as in rivers and seas flooding the land and ruining crops. Baal represents water's positive powers, including how rain and dew provide moisture needed to make crops grow. The myth of Baal and Mot emphasizes the importance of rain to the land. Baal represents the fertility of spring rains, while Mot represents the drought of the summer months. The actions taken by Anat against Mot, such as splitting, winnowing, burning, grinding, and planting, are steps taken by farmers when they harvest wheat. They prepare it for use as food during the winter and sow it to create more crops the next year. By defeating the drought, represented by Mot, the rains, represented by Baal, renew the earth each year and allow life to flourish in the dry climate of the Near East.

Baal in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life

Though some ancient examples of art and sculpture depicting Baal exist, the deity fell out of favor and was seldom depicted in recent times. The later Christian view of Baal as a demon or king of hell has become the most enduring image of the deity. Baal is represented as a demonic character in role-playing games such as Magic: the Gathering, and appeared as a character in the TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007). Baal is also the title of a 1923 play by Bertolt Brecht, though the play's main character, also named Baal, is neither a god nor a demon but a murderous poet.

Read, Write, Think, Discuss

Baal was considered a very important god in the region of Canaan, in the arid Middle East. How do you think the geography and climate of this region helped to shape Baal's position and popularity?

SEE ALSO Devils and Demons; El; Satan; Semitic Mythology; Underworld