[1] Cf. its use as a noun of relation e.g. a ba‛al of hair, "a hairy man" (2 Kings i. 8), b. of wings, "a winged creature," and in the plural, b. of arrows, "archers" (Gen. xlix. 23), b. of oath, "conspirators" (Neh. vi. 18).
[2] Compounds with geographical terms (towns, mountains), e.g. Baal of Tyre, of Lebanon, &c., are frequent; see G. B. Gray, Heb. Proper Names, pp. 124-126. Baal-berith or El-berith of Shechem (Judg. ix. 4, 46) is usually interpreted to be the Baal or God of the covenant, but whether of covenants in general or of a particular covenant concluded at Shechem is disputed. The Βαλμαρκως (near Beirut) apparently presided over dancing; another compound (in Cyprus) seems to represent a Baal of healing. On the "Baal of flies" see Beelzebub.
[3] The general analogy shows itself further in the idea of the deity as the husband (ba‛al) of his worshippers or of the land in which they dwell. The Astarte of Gabal (Byblus) was regularly known as the ba‛alath (fem. of baal), her real name not being pronounced (perhaps out of reverence).
[4] See further Clermont-Ganneau, Pal. Explor. Fund Quart. Stat., 1901, pp. 239, 369 sqq.; Büchler, Rev. d'études juives, 1901, pp. 125 seq.
[5] The extent to which elements of heathen cult entered into purer types of religion is illustrated in the worship of Yahweh. The sacred cakes of Astarte and old holy wells associated with her cult were later even transferred to the worship of the Virgin (Ency. Bib. col. 3993; Rouvier, in Bull. Archéol., 1900, p. 170).
[6] The sanctuary of Heracles at Daphne near Antioch was properly that of the Semitic Baal, and at Amathus Jupiter Hospes takes the place of Heracles or Malika, in which the Tyrian Melkart is to be recognized (W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. 2nd ed. pp. 178, 376). See further Phoenicia.
BAALBEK (anc. Heliopolis), a town of the Buka‛a (Coelesyria), altitude 3850 ft., situated E. of the Litani and near the parting between its waters and those of the Asi. Pop. about 5000, including 2000 Metawali and 1000 Christians (Maronite and Orthodox). Since 1902 Baalbek has been connected by railway with Rayak (Rejak) on the Beirut-Damascus line, and since 1907 with Aleppo. It is famous for its temple ruins of the Roman period, before which we have no record of it, certain though it be that Heliopolis is a translation of an earlier native name, in which Baal was an element. It has been suggested, but without good reason, that this name was the Baalgad of Josh. xi. 17.
Heliopolis was made a colonia probably by Octavian (coins of 1st century A.D.), and there must have been a Baal temple there in which Trajan consulted the oracle. The foundation of the present buildings, however, dates from Antoninus Pius, and their dedication from Septimius Severus, whose coins first show the two temples. The great courts of approach were not finished before the reigns of Caracalla and Philip. In commemoration, no doubt, of the dedication of the new sanctuaries, Severus conferred the jus Italicum on the city. The greater of the two temples was sacred to Jupiter (Baal), identified with the Sun, with whom were associated Venus and Mercury as σύμβωμοι θεοί. The lesser temple was built in honour of Bacchus (not the Sun, as formerly believed). Jupiter-Baal was represented locally as a beardless god in long scaly drapery, holding a whip in his right hand and lightning and ears of corn in his left. Two bulls supported him. In this guise he passed into European worship in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. The extreme licence of the Heliopolitan worship is often animadverted upon by early Christian writers, and Constantine, making an effort to curb the Venus cult, built a basilica. Theodosius erected another, with western apse, in the main court of the Jupiter temple.
When Abu Ubaida (or Obaida) attacked the place after the Moslem capture of Damascus (A.D. 635), it was still an opulent city and yielded a rich booty. It became a bone of contention between the various Syrian dynasties and the caliphs first of Damascus, then of Egypt, and in 748 was sacked with great slaughter. In 1090 it passed to the Seljuks, and in 1134 to Jenghiz Khan; but after 1145 it remained attached to Damascus and was captured by Saladin in 1175. The Crusaders raided its valley more than once, but never took the city. Three times shaken by earthquake in the 12th century, it was dismantled by Hulagu in 1260. But it revived, and most of its fine Moslem mosque and fortress architecture, still extant, belongs to the
reign of Sultan Kalaūn (1282) and the succeeding century, during which Abulfeda describes it as a very strong place. In 1400 Timur pillaged it, and in 1517 it passed, with the rest of Syria, to the Ottoman dominion. But Ottoman jurisdiction was merely nominal in the Lebanon district, and Baalbek was really in the hands of the Metawali (see Lebanon), who retained it against other Lebanon tribes, until "Jezzar" Pasha, the rebel governor of the Acre province, broke their power in the last half of the 18th century. The anarchy which succeeded his death in 1804 was only ended by the Egyptian occupation (1832). With the treaty of London (1840) Baalbek became really Ottoman, and since the settlement of the Lebanon (1864) has attracted great numbers of tourists.