Ba'al with "Lightning" - Dig Reaction

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-05

[00:00:00]Welcome back everyone. We have Baal with lightning.

[00:00:03]Um this is dig of course. I think isn't Baal a Sumerian God? I think so. I'm not sure. Let's jump in.

[00:00:11]In archaeology all artifacts have value.

[00:00:14]Every chip stone and every potsherd contributes to our knowledge of the past in some small way.

[00:00:20]However, it's indisputable that some artifacts have contributed to that knowledge in greater ways than others.

[00:00:28]What museum is this?

[00:00:30]Some artifacts stand out as having extra value or are more impactful on the field in our understanding of the past.

[00:00:37]Today we want to look at one of those artifacts and understand it in its context.

[00:00:42]This is the Baal au Foudre.

[00:00:44]Baal au Foudre.

[00:00:48]Let's Oh, this is in French so I'm guessing this is at the Louvre. Dig it.

[00:00:58]This stela was excavated in 1932 by Claude Schaeffer while excavating at the modern site of Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast.

[00:01:06]Ras Shamra is the modern name for the ancient city of Ugarit. Oh, okay. Yeah.

[00:01:12]Ugarit Ugarit. It's difficult to overstate how important the finds from Ras Shamra are for our understanding of not only this site but the wider cultural and political landscape of the Late Bronze Age.

[00:01:24]This particular stela was found >> I mean this was yeah, this was one of the most important places in the in the Late Bronze Ages. side down Ages ages old. outside the gateway of the temple of the Baal complex in the northern part of the city.

[00:01:36]When was excavated the stela was found upside down lodged in approximately 45 degree angle.

[00:01:42]It was also found alongside three other stela outside the temple complex.

[00:01:47]And given the size and quality of the carving it is I think quite rightly assumed that this was originally meant to be publicly displayed in the temple.

[00:01:55]That it was found outside the temple suggests it was intentionally This is the model of the temple. buried.

[00:02:01]So it is an open question whether It just looks like a random house.

[00:02:05]Although I'm ignorant to all the different architecture of that day. was buried in antiquity or whether it was tossed aside as a part of a looting episode.

[00:02:14]Excavations at the temple clearly indicate the temple was looted both in antiquity and in modern periods and architectural elements were tossed outside the sacred precinct while searching for silver or other kind of wealth.

[00:02:26]So despite its find location, it is presumed to have originally stood somewhere within the sacred precinct of Okay. the temple of Baal.

[00:02:33]But given that it was removed from that location and seemingly intentionally buried, it has no stratigraphic context, meaning it cannot be dated archaeologically based on its strata.

[00:02:43]So we don't know >> based on the artistic style and comparanda that do have more secure stratigraphic dating. Okay, so we have maybe look at contemporaries.

[00:02:52]The excavators originally estimated a date in the 13th or 12th centuries. This was later extended to the 15th to the 12th century. And big Yeah, big gap.

[00:03:01]>> So later its earliest range was moved back to before the late 18th century.

[00:03:06]Researchers have continued to propose alternative dates, but the stratigraphy is of limited help.

[00:03:11]Closer look at the iconography may help narrow this down.

[00:03:16]The stela stands at 145 cm tall.

[00:03:18]The back of the stela is undecorated.

[00:03:20]The front of the stela depicts a young man striding forward.

[00:03:24]This pose is reminiscent of the smiting pharaoh motif known from Egyptian public monuments, including on some known from the Levantine coast.

[00:03:32]So this is why we get the lightning reference. This pose developed over a long period of Egyptian history, but consistently was used to show the pharaoh fulfilling his role of protector of Egypt against chaotic forces.

[00:03:44]It is generally regarded that It's like a scepter, basically. that same message is implied in the iconography here, except it is the deity, not a pharaoh, who is protecting against chaotic forces.

[00:03:55]We know this is a deity because they wear a horned cap. While kings could appear with horned caps in the ancient Near East, it is unattested for kings of the Levantine coast.

[00:04:04]Deities are most commonly depicted wearing horned caps. Ugaritic literature even explicitly notes Ba'al has horns.

[00:04:12]The style of the cap is also attested in glyptic art from elsewhere at Ugarit and other sites in Syria where the storm god is depicted, leading scholars to associate this figure with Ba'al, the storm god and patron deity of the city of Ugarit. Okay. Patron deity of the city of Ugarit. Okay. Is Ba'al also a patron deity of of a bunch of other places?

[00:04:35]The god has a long beard, typical of depictions of Asiatics. He also has a long locks of hair tucked behind his ears.

[00:04:42]These are the so-called sidelocks of youth, known again from Egyptian art, particularly on Egyptian princes and deities like Harpokrates or the Horus child.

[00:04:51]A pair of sidelocks are seen on what may be a prince on an ivory inlay from Ugarit.

[00:04:56]The fact he is holding a lotus flower is most likely meant to stylistically link him with the Egyptian god Nefertum.

[00:05:02]Style of cap in the stela, too, is known from elsewhere at Ugarit on a fragmentary statue head of what is presumed to be a prince.

[00:05:09]The cap style and the sidelocks emphasize both a sense of youth and royalty.

[00:05:15]The figure is wearing a kilt with a sword hanging from his belt.

[00:05:18]Both the beard and >> Oh, that's what that is. I thought it was like he had multiple arms, like this was like a Hindu type god, but apparently not.

[00:05:26]>> This style had been stylistically [clears throat] linked >> Ah, that makes sense. Okay, that makes sense.

[00:05:30]>> with depictions of the warrior god from Hattusa.

[00:05:33]In front of the deity is a smaller figure. It has stylistic parallels with a figure on a bronze plaque found at Hazor and dating to What? That is so crazy how they were able to figure that out. That is literally looks just like that.

[00:05:48]That's cool. the late Bronze Age.

[00:05:51]This figure holds up a hand in a gesture of blessing or praise. And this is generally interpreted as a king of Ugarit, likely the one who either commissioned the stela Wow.

[00:06:00]>> or work on the temple of Baal, which we'll return to in a moment.

[00:06:02]>> cool.

[00:06:05]The deity is standing on a platform that has two wavy line decorations on it. And these are perhaps the most highly debated elements of this stela.

[00:06:12]These have been variously identified as mountains and water, indicating lordship over land and sea, essentially a synecdoche to represent the cosmos.

[00:06:22]The Baal is said to reside on Mount Sapon has been used to further reinforce the identification of the top wavy lines as mountains.

[00:06:29]However, the double wavy lines have also been linked with the Egyptian ideogram for sky, again fitting for the storm god.

[00:06:35]More recent interpretations see the wavy lines not as mountain and water, but as depictions of the sea god Yam, who Baal overcomes in combat in the Baal Cycle.

[00:06:45]In this interpretation, the lower line is Yam as the sea, and the upper line is Yam as serpent.

[00:06:52]I like the cosmos explanation cuz it kind of creates a contrast there.

[00:06:59]In the deity's right hand, he holds up a weapon.

[00:07:02]The top of the stela is damaged, so it's not clear what weapon is depicted. A mace is usually what is suggested as this is a common feature of the smiting pharaoh motif. So, a mace, not like a scepter or something. In his left hand, he holds up a spear. The spear is planted into the ground, and the top of the spear shaft is sprouting into a new form.

[00:07:21]Looks like grain. This was originally taken to represent lightning, thus Baal Hadad or Hadad Fuzra. Oh.

[00:07:28]However, consensus now is that the spear is sprouting into leaves or some kind of foliage.

[00:07:33]The so-called plant spear is not Like, did they give life and take it away? a common motif among depictions of the storm god.

[00:07:41]On a seal in Ibiza, there is a possible parallel, but the actual closest analogy comes again from Ugarit itself.

[00:07:48]In the Baal Cycle, there's a line that reads, "Baal spoke, the axe is left-hand indeed brandished, the cedar was in his right hand."

[00:07:56]And this sounds remarkably similar to the depiction of Baal here.

[00:08:00]The hands are switched, the spear is in the left hand in the stele, and in his right in the poem.

[00:08:05]Also, Baal is stated to hold an axe, not a mace.

[00:08:08]It's possible he's holding an axe in the stele though, but not likely. If he is in fact holding an axe, it is likely a fenestrated or duckbill axe, common in so-called warrior graves found in Syria-Palestine and dated to the Middle Bronze Age. An axe of this type is likely listed in a liturgical prayer seeking divine favor for the city.

[00:08:27]This is really well researched. Oh my gosh, you guys got to go subscribe to Dig cuz the analysis that he's Maybe obviously he didn't come up with all of this, but he's putting it together, and it's really cool.

[00:08:39]Unfortunately, the stele is broken, and the Baal's holding will never actually be known for sure.

[00:08:45]When this all taken together, the stele seems to have more iconographic and stylistic parallels with Late Bronze Age artifacts than Middle Bronze Age artifacts.

[00:08:53]The stele also seems to have been made with close connections with the Baal Cycle in mind. The Baal Cycle So, is this like the seasons?

[00:09:01]Saying they're meant to be considered together as a pair may push the evidence too far, but they are certainly related, with the Baal Cycle informing the artistic direction of the stele.

[00:09:11]Recent research on the Baal Cycle has suggested it was composed as part of a celebration of reconstruction of the Baal Temple at Ugarit.

[00:09:18]While there may have been an older iteration of the story, it is argued the current version that we possess was composed with this rededication in mind.

[00:09:27]The scholar Nicolas Wyatt suggests that an earthquake and tsunami, for which there is some evidence archaeologically at the site, damaged the Temple of Baal around 1250 BC.

[00:09:37]That's quite interesting given that uh that year and the Bronze Age collapse.

[00:09:46]This would have necessitated repairs for the house of Ba'al, and there are certainly themes in the Ba'al cycle which would make sense with this scenario.

[00:09:53]Yam and his tsunami damaging Ba'al's temple may be in the background of the conflict between the two, and then the rebuilding of Ba'al's house would certainly have parallels with the actual rebuilding of the temple by the king of Ugarit. When did the Bronze Age collapse occur for Ugarit? Which we can date to around 1210 BC.

[00:10:11]Cuz I'm going to be complaining.

[00:10:13]>> and the Ba'al Foudre is best understood in light of its connection with the Ba'al cycle, we can propose the stela was associated with the reconstruction of the temple in the latter half of the 13th century.

[00:10:24]In fact, the line in which Ba'al is said to hold an axe in the cedar spear has the context of Ba'al confirming his victory over Yam by resuming residence in his temple.

[00:10:33]So, both the stela and the epic poem may have strong connections with the rededication of the temple of Ba'al at the very end of the 13th century. But, you know, the tsunami could play that part for Yam.

[00:10:45]So, he said.

[00:10:48]So interesting how depictions go.

[00:10:51]This would make the small figure Niqmaddu the Third, who was the king who instigated the rebuilding but who died the year the temple refurbishment was completed.

[00:11:00]While this is not confirmed, the stela may in fact date to the Middle Bronze Age. But, we think this is a reasonable interpretation the I mean, it's not far-fetched what he's saying. back and places that's manufacturing and placement in the temple of Ba'al around 1210 BC by the king of Ugarit.

[00:11:14]So, if you're ever in Paris, you can stop by the Louvre, and I'd encourage you to take a minute and take in one of the great works of the ancient world. If it's not in the Louvre, it's in the British.

[00:11:23]That's what That's what I've seen from all Bronze Age stuff. The Ba'al of Foudre.

[00:11:29]Very interesting small niche topic, you know.

[00:11:32]Ugarit, Syria Syria Syrian ancient history, Ugarit / Bronze Age history, theology history, all in one.

[00:11:43]What do you guys think the bottom of this stele is? The contrast of the mountains and the waves with the complex of Yam being part of this it's it's interesting. I wonder which one it is. It almost seems like what if they're both waves, you know?

[00:11:58]What if they're just both waves?

[00:12:01]I don't know. Interesting video.

[00:12:03]Go Go subscribe to Dig guys. Let me know which video we should watch next. Have a good one. Peace out and bye-bye.