Baal-zephon

File:Jebel Aqra (Kel Dağı, Mount Casius), 2008.jpg

Mount Ṣapōn

Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Baʽal Zephon (Template:Langx; Akkadian: Bēl Ḫazi (^dIM ḪUR.SAG); Ugaritic: baʿlu ṣapāni; Hurrian: Tešub Ḫalbağe;Template:Sfnp Egyptian: bꜥr ḏꜣpwnꜣ), also transliterated as Baal-zephon, was an epithet of the Canaanite storm god Baʿal (lit. "Lord") in his role as lord of Jebel Aqra, called "Mount Zaphon" in antiquity.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn He is identified in Ugaritic texts as Hadad.

Because of the mountain's importance in the Biblical narrative and location, Zephon (Template:Langx) came to metonymously signify "north" in Hebrew. Template:Sfn The name is, therefore, sometimes given in translation as Lord of the North.Template:Refn

Baʿal Zephon was equated with the Greek god Zeus Kasios and later with the Roman Jupiter Casius.

Because Baʿal Zephon was considered a protector of maritime trade, sanctuaries were constructed in his honor around the Mediterranean Sea by his Canaanite and Phoenician devotees.Template:Sfnp "Baal-zephon" thereby became a placename—most notably mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the location where the miraculous Passage of the Red Sea happened during the Exodus.

God

File:Baalzephon.png

An illustration of Baalzephon in the Infernal Dictionary by Collin de Plancy

The name Baʿal Zaphon never appears in the mythological texts discovered at Ugarit. Instead, it occurs in guides to ritual and in letters, where it is used to differentiate this form of Baʿal from others such as Baʿal Ugarit.Template:Sfnp The iconography of a storm god standing on two mountains is associated with him. The earliest discovered depiction of the god – where he stands astride two mountains in a smiting posture (a posture associated with Baal in general) – dates to the 18th century BC.Template:Sfnp Other depictions show him crowned and bearing a scepter.Template:Sfnp As a protector of maritime trade, his temples also received votive stone anchors.Template:Sfnp The treaty between Asarhaddon and King Baʿal of Tyre ranks Baʿal Zaphon third behind Baʿal Shamem and Baʿal Malage.Template:Sfnp In addition to his temple at Jebel Aqra and Ugarit, Baʿal Zaphon is known to have been worshipped at Tyre and Carthage and served as the chief god of the colony at Tahpanes.Template:Sfnp

A 14th-century letter from the king of Ugarit to the Egyptian pharaoh (KTU2 2.23) places Baʿal Zaphon as equivalent to Amun.Template:SfnpTemplate:Clarification needed Temples to Zeus Kasios are attested in Egypt, Athens, Epidauros, Delos, Corfu, Sicily, and Spain, with the last mention occurring on Rome's German border in the 3rd century.Template:Sfnp

Location

1st-millennium BC Assyrian texts mention Baʿal Zaphon as the name of the mountain itself.Template:Sfnp Locally, this mountain was worshipped in its own right.Template:Sfn

The books of Exodus and Numbers in the Hebrew Scriptures records that the Israelites were instructed by YHWH to camp across from a place named "Baʿal Zaphon" in order to appear trapped and thereby entice the Pharaoh to pursue them:Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Refn Template:Quote

Gmirkin identified this as Arsinoe on the Gulf of Suez. A Ptolemaic-era geographical text at the Cairo Museum lists four border fortresses, the third being "Midgol and Baʿal Zaphon". In context, it appears to have been located on a route to the Red Sea coast, perhaps on the canal from Pithom to a location near Arsinoe.Template:Sfnp On the other hand, David A. Falk has noted that Baal-zephon is mentioned in Papyrus Sallier IV as an ancient Egyptian place, which was probably located northeast of the Wadi Tumilat.

According to Herodotus (who considered it to mark the boundary between Egypt and Syria), at Ras Kouroun, a small mountain near the marshy Lake Bardawil, the "Serbonian Bog" of Herodotus, where Zeus' ancient opponent Typhon was "said to be hidden". Here, Greeks knew, Baal Sephon was worshipped.

Ba'al Zephon stele

File:Stele Baal Saphon AO13176.jpg

Baal Zephon stele

The only instance where the Canaanite god is depicted in both image and language is a wholly Egyptian work featuring Ba'al Zephon. Eythan Levy notes a parallel between Ba'al Zephon and the "Asiatic Seth." Seth's attributes are horns, an ankh in one hand, a was sceptre in the other, and a beard. He wears a conical hat resembling the white crown of Egypt with a long string ending in a tassel that looks like a lotus flower. Ba'al here seems to be depicted largely the same way.

See also

• Baʿal
• Baʿal Hammon

Notes and references

Bibliography

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External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Baal-zephon