Baal

Baal
Bronze figurine of a Baal, 14th–12th century BC, found at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) near the Phoenician coast. Musée du Louvre.
SymbolBull, ram, thunderbolt
Region
Genealogy
Parents
SiblingsHebat (in Syrian tradition), Anat
Consortspossibly Anat and/or Athtart
OffspringPidray, Tallay, Arsay
Equivalents
GreekZeus
MesopotamianHadad
HurrianTeshub
ArabicHubal
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)

Baal (/ˈbeɪ.əl, ˈbɑː.əl/), or Baʻal, 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. 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.

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 (𐎁𐎓𐎍) is the protagonist of one of the lengthiest surviving epics from the ancient Near East, the Baal Cycle.

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