BA'AL, a Hebrew word signifying lord, owner, or master, and applied as a general title of honor to many different gods. In Hosea ii. 16, it is mentioned as a name which had been given to Jehovah himself; but when used with the definite article, it specially designated the principal male deity of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, as Baaltis or Astarte was the principal female deity. In connection with Babylon and Assyria, the same deity is spoken of under the name of Bel or Belts. Originally, B. was the god of the sun, the ruler and vivifier of nature, and Astarte the goddess of the moon. In tho later star-worship of the western Asiatic nations, B. was the name of Jupiter, the planet of fate, or, as some suppose, of Saturn. The proper Phoenician name of B.. however, was Melkart. Melkrat, or Melchrat, which is usually supposed to mean " king of the city"—i.e., Tyre; but others consider it a contraction of two words signifying "king of the earth;" while the learned Selden is of opinion that it is equivalent to "strong king." B. was perhaps the same god as the Phoenician :Moloch. The Greeks con founded B. or Melkart with their own Hercules; and, for the purpose of distinction, termed him the Tyrian Hercules. From the earliest foundation of Tyre, he seems Ix) have been the tutelar god of that city, and his worship apparently extended thence until it was prevalent in all the towns of the Phoenician confederation, and was established in their remotest colonies, such as Malta, Carthage, and Cadiz. It also overspread the neighboring countries of Assyria and Egypt. Each country or locality lied its B. or
chief god. According to Scripture, the temples of this idol (at least in Phoenicia and Assyria) were built on the tops of hills, or still more frequently in solemn groves, and sometimes altars were erected to him on the roofs of houses. His priests were numerous. Incense was the most frequent offering presented to him, but we also read of sacrifices of bullocks, and even of children. In 1 Kings, chap. xviii., we react that the priests of B. danced about the altar during the sacrifice, and barbarously cut and man gled themselves, if their god did not speedily answer their prayers.
The word B. enters into the composition of many Hebrew, Chaldee, Phoenician, and Carthaginian names, such as Jezebel, Hasdrubal (" Help of Baal "). Hannibal ('• Grace of Bind "), Ethbaal (" With Baal "), Baal-bec (" City of Baal "). The word is also fre quently found in conjunction with some epithet, and in such cases appears to have denoted a different deity, though it is not impossible that it may have been the same person regarded in another aspect, and as exercising merely a different function. Thus, we hive Baal-Berith, " the Covenant Lord," who was specially worshiped by the people of Shechem; Beal-Peor, the Priapus of the Moabites and Midianites;. and Beelzebub, or Baalzebub (the' Fly-god), the idol of the Philistines at Ekron, where he had a temple.—The Celtic deity Beal is usually identified with Baal. See BELTEIN.