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 BAALBEK

177

BABEL

York. 1905); Peake in Hastings, Diet. Bible, s. v. Baal; Tbatcher. ibid., s. v. Phoenicia: Ottlet, The Religion of Israel (Cambridge. 1905); Sayce. The Gods of Canaan, in Contemporary Review for Sept.. 1SS3; W. R. Smith, The Re- tiffion of the Semites (Edinburgh. 1SS9); BouRQUENor et DuTAU. Etudes archeologiques in Etudes Religieuses (1864-66); Lagraxge. Etudes stir les religions semitiques (Paris. 1903); Maspero. Histoire ancienne des peuples de VOritnt classique (Paris. 1S9S); Reville, La religion des Pheniciens in Rei-ue des deux mondes, for 15 May, 1S73; Tiele. La religion phcni- cienne, in Revue de I'histoire des religions (1881). Ill; ViGor- Rorx in Diet, de la Bible, s. v. Baal: Id., La Bible et les decou- vertes modemes (Paris, 1889), III; Id.. Les pr^tres de Baal et leurs successeurs dans I'antiquite et dans le temps present, in Revue bibligue for April. lS9b; de Vogte. Melanges d'archeologie oritnlale (Paris. 186S); BXthgex, Beitrage zur semitischen Rrliiiionsgeschichte (Berlin. ISSS); Baudissix, Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte (1876-78); Id., in Herzog, Realeneyklopaiie, s. v. Baal und Bel; Marti, Geschichte der israelitischen Religion (1S97); Meyer, Ueber einige semitische G"tter, in Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenldndischen Gesell- schaft (1877); Movers. Die Phonizier (1841-56); Oort. Dienst des Baal in Israel (Leyden. 1804); Schrader. Baal und Bel, in Theologische Stwiien und Kritiken (1874); Sme.vd. Lehrbuch der alttestamentlischen Religionsgesehichle (Freiburg, Leipzig, 1893. 1899).

For use of the plural {Baalim). Drtver. A'o/es on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, on I Sam,, vii. 3: Bcrxey. Xotes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Kings, on I (III) Kings, x\iii. 18.

Charles L. Souvat.

Baalbek, the Heliopolis of the Greek and Latin ■writers, a SjTian tow-n at the base of the ■n-estern slope of the Anti-Lebanon, and the see of a Maronite snd of a Melchite bishop. Nothing is knorni of the origin and ancient history of Baalbek, although con- jectural attempts have been made to identify it with Baalgad (Jos.,xi, 17; xiii. 5), Aven (A. V. Amos,i, 5), etc. Among the monuments of Baalbek were three temples: the Great Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of the Sun. and the Circular Temple of Venus; all of them date from the second century a. v. The so-called Acropolis, on the platform of which two of the temples were erected, is older. Baalbek has been destroyed almost entirely by earthquakes and wars, but even to-day its ruins are said to be the most beautiful in existence. The boldness of the architecture and the Cyclopean dimensions of some of the monolitlis of the Acropolis are among the many features interesting both to the scientist and the traveller. The political history of Baal- bek is that of the surrounding country. (See Syria.)

The introduction of Christianitj' into Baalbek is obscure. In the life of St. Eudocia, there is mention of one Theodotus, Bishop of Heliopolis, in the reign (117-138) of Hadrian. (Acta SS., 1 March, 8 sqq.) The account is of doubtful historical value and when Constantine forbade the licentious pagan practices, there were no Christians there. Constantine, how- ever, erected a chiu-ch or perhaps simply transformed one of the temples into a Christian basilica, which he entrusted to a bishop with priests and deacons (Eu-sebius. Life of Const., Ill, Iviii). During the reign of Julian (361-363) the Christians were se- verely persecuted (Sozomen, History, V, x). Pagan- ism disappeared from Baalbek only after Theodosius (379-395) had destroyed the idols and probably the Great Temple. Of the former bishops of Baalbek (Hel- iopolis) only a few scattered names have been pre- served. B.-valbek is now a titular archiepiscopal sec in pnrtibus infidelium, with the Most Rev. Robert Seton, formerly of Newark, New Jersey, U. S. A., as incumbent, consecrated .5 July, 1903. In 1801, Baalbek \\as made a Maronite bishopric, with about 30,000 Catholics. The Melcliite diocese was erected in 1868, and numbers some 5,000 Catholics with fifteen priests, mostly Basilian monks. The Armen- ians of the district are under the Armenian Arch- bishop of Aleppo, and the Latins under the vicar Apostolic of the same place. (See Aleppo.) The Orthodox Greeks (schismatical) also have a resident bishop at Baalbek; further, the town is a station of the British Syrian Schools' Committee with two 11.-12

missionary women, three native women, and a village school, a high school, and a dispensary.

On the ruins of Baalbek, see Wood .\nd Dawkins. Ruins of Baalbek (London, 1757); Murray, Handbook for Travellers (London, 1868); Legexdhe in Vig.. Diet, de la Bib., s. v.

On the religious aspect of Baalbek, see Lequien. Orien& Christ. (Paris. 1740). II. 842; Werner, Orb. terr. cath. (Frei- burg im Br.. 1890); Missiones catholica: (Rome, 1901); Bat- t.andier, Ann. pont. Cath. (Paris, 1907).

R. BUTIN.

Baanites. See Paulicians.

Babel occurs in the Vulgate only in Gen., xi, 9; the form Babylonia is found in Bar., i, 1, 4; ii, 22; vi, 1-3; I Mach., vi, 4; II Mach., viii, 20; everywhere else the Vulgate uses the form Babylon. The word is derived from the Babylonian bab-ilu, meaning "gate of God". Gen., xi, 9 suggests a different mean- ing based on the derivation of the name from the Hebrew word bUldl, to confound. The city of Baby- lon had various names among its inliabitants, e. g. Ka-dingir, Babi-dingir, Tintir, Shu-an-na, etc. Th& prophets call it "daughter of the Chaldeans" (Is., xlvii, 1), and Sesach or Sesac (Jer., xxv, 26; li, 41), a wori.1 variously explained by commentators. It. was built on the site of the modern village of Hille. According to Herodotus, a double or perhaps a triple wall, 50 cubits in width and 200 cubits in height, surrounded the town, forming a square of 120 stailia. The square of the interior wall was 90 stadia long antl 360 stadia in circumference. Both the Bible and the cuneiform inscriptions assign a very great age to the city, and the Biblical data (Gen., xi, 1-9) con- cerning the material of the walls are confirmed by the testimony of the ruins. "Let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar."

The ancient city possessed marvellous temples, splentlid palaces, and curious gardens. Among the- temples, two deserve special attention, E-sagila, the temple of Bel Merodach, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and E-zida, the temple of Nebo, west of the river. The ruins of these sanctuaries are probably identical with those of Babil and Birs Nimriid, though opinions differ concerning Babil. The buildings, were p\Tamidal in form and rose in se\eral, usually seven, step-like sections. The storied tower of Birs Nimrud counts seven of these quatlrangular plat- forms painted in seven colours, black, white, yellow, blue, scarlet, silver, and gold, and in the same order sacred to the stellar gods, Adar (Saturn), Ishtar f\'enus), Merodach (Jupiter), Nebo (Mercury), Nergal (Mars), Sin (the Moon), Shamash (the Sun). It has been learned in the excavations at Nippur that the pyramidal tower or ziggurrat did not con- stitute the whole of the Babylonian Temple. This, latter had an inner and an outer court, both nearly square and nearly of the same dimensions; the tower occupied about one-third of the area of the inner court, and near to it stood the temple proper where the sacrifices were offered. We may infer from the ihscoveries made in Nippur and in Sippara that a library and a school will be found to have been con- nected with the Babylonian temples. In the light of these discoveries the story of the Tower of Babel (Gen., xi, 4) assumes a new importance, whether we identify its remains with the ruins of Birs Nimrud or with those of the Bel temple at Nippur, or again with those of Babil. No doubt, it was its temples not less than its royal palaces and its hanging gardens that rendereil the city of Babylon "glorious among king- doms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans" (Is., xiii, 19). We meet with the city at the earliest dawn of history, and it flourishes, in spite of its temporary reverses, till it is finally destroyed by Seleucus Nica- tor; even then Jews kept on inhabiting some of the moimds of Babylon till about a. d. 1000, after which time the country was given up to the roaming tribes of Arabs, in accordance with the words of the prophett