Baal
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Baal. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the chief male divinity among the Phoenicians, as Ashtoreth was the leading female one. The Carthaginians, who sprang from the Phoenicians, carcharacter corresponding to the English bried with them his worship to their new settlements, as is proved, among other evidence, by the names of some of their world-renowned heroes: thus_Hannibal, written in Punic inscriptions, Hannibaal, Hannibaal, signifies the grace of Baal; and Hasdrubal, or Asdrubal, Azrubaal="Help of Baal." The worship of Baal early existed among the Canaanites and the Moabites, whence it spread to the Israelites, becoming at last for a time completely dominant among the 10 tribes, and to a certain extent even among the two, in consequence of the ill-advised marriage of Ahab with Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal (the name means "with Baal"), King of Sidon. A number of places in Palestine and the neighboring countries commence with Baal, such as Baal-gad, Baal-meon, etc. This divinity seems to have symbolize symbolized the sun, and less frequently the planet Jupiter. He was worshipped under different forms, or in different relations: thus there were Baalberith the Covenant Baal, or lord; Baal-zebub the fly-lord; Baal Peor= the Baal of Mt. Peor, or Baal of the opening, the Moabitish national divinity. There was an affinity between Baal and Moloch. The Beltein or Beltane fires, lit in early summer in Scotland and Ireland, seem to be a survival of Baal's worship. BAALBEK (ancient Heliopolis, city of the sun), a place in Syria, in a fertile valley at the foot of Antilibanus, 40 miles from Damascus, famous for its magnificent ruins. Of these, the chief is the temple of the Sun, built either by Antoninus Pius or by Septimius Severus. Some of the blocks used in its construction are 60 feet long by 12 thick; and its 54 columns, of which 6 are still standing, were 72 feet high and 22 in circumference. Near it is a temple of Jupiter, of smaller size, though still larger than the Parthenon at Athens, 370 magazines. center of the sunworship, it became a Roman colony under Julius Cæsar, was garrisoned by Augustus, and acquired increasing renown under Trajan as the seat of an oracle . Under Constantine its temples became churches, but after being sacked by the Arabs in 748, and more completely pillaged by Tamerlane in 01, 1401, it sank into hopeless decay. The work of destruction was completed by an earthquake in 1759. BAAL-ZEBUB. Evil spirit; Beelzebub.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the chief deity of the ancient Canaanites. He was regarded as the male element of creation, the female counterpart being Astoreth or Astarte. The altars of Baal were erected on heights or on housetops. Offerings of incense, bulls, and, on occasion, human sacrifices-children in particular-were laid on the altar. Wild orgies seem to have been a feature of the worship. In art, Baal is represented riding a bull, the symbol of generative power. Grapes and pomegranates are in his hand to denote productivity. Baal was worshiped also as a sun god, the source of life. Baal means lord or master. The word appears in many combinations. Baalzebub, or Hebrew Beelzebub, means "lord of flies"; Hannibal, "the lord is gracious"; Hasdrubal, "the lord is helpful"; Baalbec, "the city of Baal," etc. Baal or a counterpart had several names. In Assyria and Babylonia, Baal was worshiped as Bel. Among the Moabites he was known as Chemosh, and his chief cult was on Baal Peor. The Ammonites worshiped the same deity under the name of Moloch. Tyre called him Melcarth, etc. See Moloch ; Ashtoreth
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts were written before the single most important find: in 1928 a farmer's plough near Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast led to the excavation of Ugarit, whose clay tablets preserved a long cycle of poems about Baal in his own language rather than through hostile Hebrew report. These texts show Baal (identified with Hadad) as a storm and rain god who fights Yam the sea and Mot death, not chiefly a solar deity as Collier's suggested in 1921 and Aiton's in 1910. They also show that 'baal' was a title, 'lord', attached to many local gods, so the confident equations with Chemosh and Moloch are no longer accepted, and Collier's derivation of the Scottish Beltane fires from Baal is now dismissed as an eighteenth-century folk etymology. Excavation of the Carthaginian tophet, begun in the 1920s, has yielded thousands of urns of infant bones; whether these represent sacrifice or the burial of children who died naturally is still argued.
Written for this edition, 2026.