Baal

Sculpture

-

Museum of Antiquities - University of Saskatchewan

Name/Title

Baal

Entry/Object ID

06NE15110

Description

A stele relief depicting the god Baal standing facing left with his left foot forward in a striding motion. His right hand is raised holding a club with a lightning bolt/spear in his left hand. He wears an elaborate head piece and a goatee with a dagger on his left hip. A smaller figure stands under Baal's dagger.

Type of Sculpture

Relief

Artwork Details

Medium

Plaster

Context

In Canaanite mythology, Baal was associated with weather, in particular lightning, wind, and rain, whose powers of fertility revived crops every year. When the rains stopped, the Canaanites believed Baal had departed to reside in the underworld, prompting them to perform annual rituals to resurrect their most important god. Baal’s other duty was to battle against the gods in charge of natural disasters. His victory over these gods lead to him being declared ‘The Rider on the Clouds’ who was most active during storms. This stele is rendered in an artistic style that echoes that of the various cultures the Canaanite people had contacts with. Thee most obvious feature of the relief, the god Baal in the “smiting” pose, can also be found in representations of gods and pharaohs in Egyptian art.

Made/Created

Date made

1799 BCE - 1400 BCE

Time Period

Bronze Age

Ethnography

Culture/Tribe

Near Eastern - Semitic

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Overall

Height

151 cm

Width

51 cm

Depth

4 cm

Research Notes

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Caubet, Annie. "Stela Depicting the Storm God Baal." Louvre Museum. Public: No

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Cassuto, Umberto. "The Palace of Baal." Journal of Biblical Literature, 61(1). Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1942, 51-56. Public: No

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Green, Alberto R.W. "The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East." Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2003. Public: No

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Gates, Charles. "Ancient Cities: the Archaeology of urban life in the Ancient near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. London and New York: Routledge, 2003. Public: No

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Yon, Marguerite. "The city of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra." Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2006. Public: No

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Researcher

Notes

Driver, G.R. "Canaanite Myths and Legends." Old Testament Studies Number III. Edinburgh: T.&T. Clark: 1971. Public: No

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Ornan, Tallay. Let Ba’al be Enthroned: The Date, Identification and Function of a Bronze Statue from Hazor. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 70(2), 2011, 253-280 Public: No

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Cornelius, Izak. The Iconography of the Canaanite gods Reshef and Baal. Late Bronze and Iron Age I periods (c 1500-1000 BCE). Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 140. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; Fribourg: University Press, 1994. Public: No