60. 10 vols.: Vol. XV. contains his biography, by F. Hoffman).
Consult: J. Claasen, Franz von Baader's Leben und theosophische Werke als Inbegriff christlicher Philosophie: Vollständiger, wort- getreuer Auszug in geordneten Einzelsätzen (Stuttgart, 1886-87); Otto Pfleiderer. The Phi- losophy of Religion on the Basis of its History, Vol. II. (Eng. trans., London. 1887); for an elaborate article upon his teachings, see Hoff- mann, Biographie und Briefwechsel (Leipzig, 1887); Welzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, Vol. I. (Freiburg, 1877).
BAAL, ba'al.
A word common to the Semitic languages, and signifying owner or possessor. It is applied to the ordinary social conditions. The owner of a house or a field is its Baal, and similarly the husband is the Baal to his wife. From such a usage the term came naturally
to be applied to the patron deity of a place to
whom, in a measure, the place belonged, since
he presided over its destinies. This application
of Baal is particularly appropriate in the case
of people who had reached the agricultural
stage, and who would naturally ascribe the ulti-
mate ownership of the fields to the local deity,
whose favor was shown by a rich return from
the soil. Hence Baal became, among Canaanites
and Phœnicians, the general term designating a
local deity; and the complement, added to the
term, would indicate what particular Baal was
meant. Thus we have a Baal of Tyre, of Sidon,
of Mount Hennon, of Peor, of Meon, of the
Lebanon, etc. Again, a Baal might be distin-
guished by some special attribute, and this would
then be added to the term ; as, e.g. Baal-Berith,
'Baal of the Covenant,' Baal-zebub, 'Baal of flies,'
and the like: and, lastly, we find Baal as a gen-
eral term for 'lord,' used as a honorific ad-
junct to the real name of a deity, — as Baal-Gad,
Baal-Zephon, — in which cases Gad and Zephon
are names of gods. There were thus as many
Baals as there were towns, or sanctuaries, or
objects which had a religious significance. Still it is natural that certain Baals should become more prominent than others, and it might even happen that one should become the Baal par excellence. Thus in Babylonia, through a chain of development which we need not dwell upon here, the deity of one of the most ancient cities (Nippur) became the Baal or Bel of Babylonia, and was known to later ages simply as Bel; and again, in the West, the Baal of Tyre, whose name was Melkart, assumed at one time such prominence that his worship was introduced among the Hebrews by Ahab, and he is sometimes referred to in the Old Testament simply as Baal.
Another and rather curious development taken on by the Baal idea was the dissociation of the deity from any particular place: and this gives rise to such cults as that of Baal-Hamon and Baal-Shamem, which acquire prominence among the Phœnicians and their offshoots. The former may be the personification of the sun-god, though this is not certain; the latter is the god who dwells in heaven, and bears analogies, there- fore, to the Greek Zeus. In tracing the reli- gious development of ancient nations in gen- eral, we must make allowance for this tendency to form conceptions of divine powers which seem to reach out into higher spheres. The Baal- worship among the Hebrews, of which we hear
so much in the Book of Kings and in the Prophets, represents the adoption on the part of the Hebrews of the Canaanitish cults. In dis- possessing the Canaanites, the Hebrews wished to assure themselves of the good-will of the numer- ous Baals; and since fertility of the soil was in the control of the Baals, as the Canaanites believed, the Hebrews, when they became agri- culturists on Canaanitish soil, naturally took over the worship of the Baals at the various ancient sanctuaries of the land. In order to reconcile this departure with fidelity to the na- tional deity, Jehovah himself was called Baal, and His name was thus associated with the cults at the altars and sanctuaries, which generally were erected on prominent spots, the so-called 'high places,' or in groves. With Elijah, a move- ment to purify Jehovah's worship of its foreign elements begins, which, taken up vigorously by the prophets of the Ninth and Eighth centuries B.C. leads to tentative attempts in Judæa, such as the reforms of King Josiah, to stamp out the Baal rites; but it is not until the new condi- tions brought about by the destruction of the southern kingdom that the hope of the Jeho- vists to establish Jerusalem as the only legiti- mate sanctuary of Jehovah is realized, and after the return of the exiles the worship is recon- structed on the lines laid down by such 'purists' as Isaiah, Jeremiah. and Ezekiel.
BAALBEK, b-il'bek.
The name of a ruined
city in ancient Cœle-Syria, signifying the 'city of
Baal,' the sun-god. The name was converted by
the Greeks, during the Seleucidan dynasty, into
its Greek equivalent, Heliopolis. It is situated
in latitude 34° 1' N., longitude 36° 11' E.,
in the plain of Buka'a, "at the northern ex-
tremity of a low range of bleak hills, about
one mile from the base of Antilibanon," in a
well-watered and deliglitful locality, rather more
than 40 miles northwest of Damascus. It was
once the most magnificent of Syrian cities, full
of palaces, fountains, and beautiful monuments.
It is now famous only for the splendor of its
ruins. The most imposing is that of the great
Temple of the Sun, which was a rectangular
building 290 feet by 160, having its roof sup-
ported by a peristyle of 54 Corinthian columns,
"19 at each side and 10 at each end." Of these,
6 are yet standing. The circumference of these
columns is about 22 feet, and the length of the
shaft 58; with pedestal, capital, and entabla-
ture, they measure about 80 feet in height.
The temple occupies a platform on the Acropolis,
about 1000 feet by 450 feet, approached on the
east by a broad flight of steps, which lead to
a portico. Beyond this is a hexagonal court,
through which a large gateway opens into the
great square, at the west end of 'which is the
temple, on a lofty stylobate. Except the col-
umns mentioned, little of the great temple, or
of the buildings in front of it, is left standing,
but the ground is covered with their ruins. The
vast size of the stones used in the substructures
of the great platform is remarkable, some of
them being over 60 feet long and 12 thick. South
from the great temple is a smaller one, known
as the Temple of Jupiter. It is similar in form,
having its peristyle and the walls of its cella
still mostly standing. Its dimensions are 227
feet in length by 117 feet in breadth, with 15
columns at the sides and 8 at each end. Both
temples, as well as the surrounding structures.
