Twcltc pedestab In the wall.
nuuuuuuuuuuLXi
Plan of the Great Temple at Baalbek.
situation (Addison, ii, 57). Among the ornaments of these buildings Richter finds confirmation of the fol- lowing statement of Macrobius: " Isis and Horus often unequivocally appear. The winged globes sur- rounded with serpents show that the priests of Baalbek received their ideas of divinity from On, the Heliopo- lis of Egypt." Speaking generally of these remains, Burckhardt says, "The entire view of the ruins of Palmyra, when seen at a certain distance, is infinitely more striking than those of Baalbek, but there is not any one spot in the ruins of Tadmor so imposing as the interior view of the temple of Baalbek" {Syria, p. 13). He adds that the architecture of Baalbek is richer than that of Tadmor. Mr. Addison remarks that "the ruins, though so striking and magnificent. are, nevertheless, quite second-rate when compared with the Athenian ruins, and display in their decora- tion none of the bold conceptions and the genius which characterize the Athenian architecture." The present Baalbek is a small village to the east of the ruins, in a sad state of wretchedness and decay. It is little more than a heap of rubbish, the houses being built of mud and sun-dried bricks. The population of 5000 which the place is said to have contained in 1751 is now re- duced to barely 2000 persons; the two handsome mosques and fine serai of the emir, mentioned by Burckhardt, are no longer distinguishable; and trav- ellers may now inquire in vain for the grapes, the pomegranates, and the fruits which were formerly so abundant (Iken, Dissert, de Baal-Hamon et Baal-Gad, in Dissertt. Ph:,lologico-Theolog. i, 136 ; Wood and Daw- kins, Ruins of Baal'jec, Lond. 1757; Pococke, Descrip- tion ofthe East, ii, 106-113; Maundrell, Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 134, 139; Volney, Voyage en rie, ii, 215-230; Thevet, Cosmngraplw, bk. vi, ch. xiv; Schubert, Reise in das Morgenland, Erlangen, 1841 ; see also Rosenmuller, Biblical Geography, ii, 252-257; Thomson, Land and Boole, i, 350-361; Kel- ly's Syria, p. 256-266; Smith's Diet, of Class. Geg. s. v. Heliopolis Syrise). — Kitto, s. v. Baal-gad.
Ba'al-be'rith (Heb. Ba'al Berith', m">3 ?33, covenmt-lord; Sept. Baa\j3tpi9 v. r. Baa\ cia9r)KiiQ ; Judg. ix, 4) is the name of a god worshipped by the people of Shechem (Judg. viii, 33), who, on account of the signification of the name, has been compared to the Zs<''c "OpicioQ of the Greeks, and the Latin Deus Fidius. Bochart and Crcuzer think that this name means "God of Berj-tus;" bat, whether or not the name of that town is to be recognised in the Berothah of Ezek. xlvii, 16, there is hardly any ground for their opinion. Movers (Phonizer, i, 169) considers the name equivalent to " Baal in covenant with the idolaters of Israel." The meaning, however, does not seem to be the god who presides over cove- nants, but the god who comes into covenant with the worship- pers. In Judg. ix, 46, he is called simply "the god Berith" (n"73 bx). We know nothing of the particular form of worship paid to this god. See Baalim. Ba'ale of Judah (Heb. Ba~ aley Yehuddi, rnirn r?r3,
lord; or cities of Judah; Sept. and Vulg. translate oi dpxovrtc 'Invda, liri Judo), a city in the tribe of Judah, from which Da- vid brought the ark into Jerusa- lem (2 Sam. vi, 2). It is else- where called Baai.au (q. v.), and was still better known as Kik.jath-jeaium (1 Chron. xiii, 6).
Ba'al-gad^Heb. id., 13 W3, lord of fortune ; Sept. BaaXydS
BAAL-GUR
584
BAALIM
r. r. BaXaydc, once [Josh, xiii, 5] r«Xy«X), a city of the Canaanites, perhaps in the valley of Leb- anon, at the source of the Jordan and foot of Mount Hermon, whose kings were taken and put to death by Joshua, hut the city itself remained unsubdued in his day (Josh, xi, 17; xii, 7; xiii, 5). It was a place evidently well known at the time of the con- quest of Palestine, and, as such, used to denote the most northern (Josh, xi, 17 , xii, 7), or perhaps north- western (xiii, 5, Hamath being to the extreme north- east) point to which Joshua's victories extended. It was in all probability a Phoenician or Canaanite sanc- tuary of Baal under the aspect of Gad or Fortune [see Gad] , from whose worship it appears to have derived its name. See Baalim. The words "the plain (nrpa) of Lebanon" would lead to the supposition that it lay between the two ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Leba- non, which is still known by the same name el-Biikaa , and it has according^ been identified b)r Iken and others (including Thomson, Land and Book, i, 353) with Baalbek (Ritter, Erdkunde, xvii, 230). See Baal- bek. But against this are the too great distance of Baalbek to the north, and the precise expression of the text — "under Mount Hermon." The conjecture of Schwarz (Palest, p. 60), supported by Robinson (Researches, new ed. iii, 519), is, that the modern rep- resentative of Baal-gad is Banias, a place which long maintained a great reputation as the sanctuary of Pan. See C.esarea Philippi. From its association with Mount Hermon, it would seem to be the same with Baal-hermon (Judg. iii, 3; 1 Chron. v, 23). — Smith.
Baal-gur. See Gcr-baal.
Ba'al-ha'mon (Heb. Ba'iil Hainan', "l-fl ^ra, place of multitude ; Sept. Re iXci/im/), a place where Solomon is said to have had an extensive vineyard (Cant, viii, 11). Rosenmiiller (AllertL I, ii, 281)"con- ceives that if this Baal-hamon was the name of a place that actually existed, it may be reasonably sup- posed identical with Baal-gad or IMwpolis; for Ha- mon was a chief Phoenician god (Davis, Carthage, p. 256, 262), perhaps the Amnion of the Egyptians (see Nah. iii, 8), whom the Greeks identified with Jupiter (Bib. Geog. ii, 253). We are not inclined to lay much stress on this conjecture (see Iken, Dissertt. philol. in loc), which, however, is adopted by Schwarz (Palest, p. 61). See Baal-gad. There was a place called Ilammon, in the tribe of Asher (Josh, xix, 28), which Ewald (Comment, in loc.) thinks was the same as Baal-hamon ; but there is little probability in this conjecture. The book of Judith (viii, 3) places a Bala- mon (BaXafttoi) or Belamon (RtXctjiMv) in central Pal- estine, near Doth aim, and therefore in the mountains of Ephraim, not far north of Samaria. See Balamo. If it be the same place (see Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 225), this vineyard may have been in one of the " fat valleys" of the "drunkards of Ephraim, who are over- come with wine," to which allusion is made in Isa. xx viii, 1. It appears to have been situated among the eminences south-east of Jenin. — Kitto ; Smith. See Beth-haggan; Baalim.