Baal

BAAL.

Various Forms of the Name (� 1).
Meaning and Use of the Name (� 2).
The Conception of Baal (� 3).
Special Beals in the Old Testament (� 4).
The Baal-cult in Israel (� 5).
Ceremonies of the Baal-worship (� 6).

1. Various Forms of the Name.

Baal is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament as a god of the idolatrous Israelites, as well as of the Phenicians, Philistines, and Moabites (?). The name also occurs in a proper name of the Edomites, in Phenician and Aramaic inscriptions, in Greek and Roman authors (Baal, Bal), in the Septuagint and writings dependent on it, and in Josephus. Greek and Latin writers for the most part speak of Bal, Bolos, Bel as a Babylonian as well as a Syrian and Phenician god. The form Bal is more frequently found in composite Phenician proper names as Abibalos, Hannibal, etc., according to which the Phenicians pronounced the name of the god ba`l (cf. P. Schroder, Die phonizische Sprache, Halle, 1869, p. 84). The Phenicians carried their religion wherever they went, and thus the worship of Baal was very widely spread. Even the Semitic Hyksos in Egypt, according to Egyptian testimony, worshiped the god Bar (=Ba'al; cf. E. Meyer, Set-Typhon, Leipsic, 1875, p. 47, and ZDMG, xxxi, 1877, p. 725; W. Max Miiller, Asien and Europa nach altagyptischen Denkmalern, Leipsic, 1893, p. 309).

There can be no doubt of the identity of the names Ba'al and Bel, the Babylonian god mentioned in the Old Testament, the Bel or Belos of the Greeks, i.e., the Assyrian Belu (Bilu) contracted from Be'el, which is modified from Ba'al by the influence of the guttural. In an Esarhaddon inscription Zil-Bel ("Baal is protection") is the name of a king of Haziti, i.e., of Gaza (E. Schrader, Keilinschriften and Geschichtsforschung, Giessen, 1878, pp. 78-79), where Bel is evidently used for the Canaanitic Baal. The "bol" in the names of the Palmyrene deities Aglibol and Yaribol (and "bel" in Malakbel) may be still another form of Baal.

2. Meaning and use of the Name.

The Hebrew word ba'al means "owner" or "lord," also "husband," as possessor of the wife. The names of Semitic divinities all set forth the idea of power, and thus present a conception different from that of the Aryan divinities (cf. A. Deissman, in The Expository Times; xviii, 205 sqq.). Furthermore, it has been disputed whether ba'al in the sense of " lord " was an epithet of honor attached to divinity in general, or was given as a proper name to a definite local god. In favor of the latter supposition is the fact that there was a Baal of Tyre, a Baal of Sidon, a Baal of Harran, a Baal of Tarsus, and so on. When in later times many such local deities were worshiped in close proximity, the name "Baal" designated the principal god of a place; for he alone could there be called the owner or lord. From this can be explained the later confusion between the Canaanitic Baal and the Babylonian Bel, also the fact that Baal was called Zeus by the Greeks and Jupiter by the Romans. When ba'al occurs in the Old Testament with the article, this does not prove that there was a special god called Baal; it shows only that ba'al appears in the Old Testament not as a proper name but rather as an appellative noun. The use of the article in the Old Testament can be explained from this, that in cases where the Old Testament speaks of an actual Baal-cult, some one Baal among the many is meant; the later Old Testament usage, especially that of Jeremiah, employed "the baal" in the sense of "the idol."

3. The Conception of Baal.

If Baal were merely the designation of some god

391
391 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Baader Baal as owner of a place of worship or the honorary title of a god, an inquiry into the common meaning of the word would not be necessary. But such an in quiry is suggested by the statements concerning the Baals of different places. From the Arabic appellative meaning of the word ba'l it has been supposed that in places naturally irrigated the deity was worshiped as the Baal of that place. According to Hosea (ii, 15), the idola 3. The Con- trous Israelites imagined that the ception of gods worshiped by them, whom the Baal. prophet otherwise calls "the Baals," were the authors of the good things of nature. Sacred springs are also found in places where the Tyrian Heracles was worshiped. But this does not necessarily imply that some special terrestrial notion must be connected with Baal. It is easy to understand how among an agricultural people like the Canaanites the god of heaven could be conceived as god of agriculture, for the field can not produce without the blessing of heaven. But it is possible that in different Baal-cults a tVestrial idea and the conception of Baal as heaven god, at first distinct and separate, afterward grew to gether, as in the case of Astarte (see AswroRETa). It is erroneous to assert that every individual god who had the name of Bad was worshiped as lord of heaven; still more so to hold that each was specially worshiped as a sun-god, or that Baal was everywhere and at all times so represented. While there is no evidence of the solar meaning of Baal, it is certain that the Phenicians at times attributed to their Baal or Baals some solar characteristics. As generally in the Phenician deities, beneficent and destructive powers were not separated but were represented as being combined in one and the same deity, so it was with Baal, so far at least as both powers were thought of as proceeding from heaven or more particularly from the sun. That Baal bestows natural blessing, has been seen above. Names like HannZal " grace of Baal," Asdrubal " Baal helps," Baal-shams " Baal hears," Baal-shamar " Baal keeps," and the like, designate him as a benevolent god. That human sacrifices were offered to Baal can not be inferred from the Old Testament. The passages Jer. xix, 5; xxxii, 35 speak of children who were offered to Moloch, and the Baal mentioned there is only a general designation of the idol. That the Baal-prophets cut themselves in the service of their god (I Kings xviii, 28) can not be regarded as a substitute for human sacrifice. The representative animal of Baal was the bull, which also represented the ancient god of the Hebrews. Certain Baals are named in the Old Testament with epithets which designate them more exactly: (a) Baal-Berith, worshiped by the Shechemites (Judges ix, 4; cf. verse 46; viii, 33), denotes probably the protector of a definite covenant or " the Baal before whom agreements are made." (b) Baal-Peor (Num. xxv, 3, 5; Deut. iv, 3; Hos. ix, 10; Ps. cvi, 28), also simply Peor (Num. xxv, 18; xxxi, 16; Josh. xxii, 17; cf. the name of a Moabite city Beth-Peor, " temple of Peor," Deut. iii, 29; iv, 46; xxxiv, 6; Josh. xiii, 20), was a god of the Moabites (Num. xxv, 1-5) or of the

Midianites (Num. xxv, 18, xxxi, 16), worshiped on Mount Peor, where the Israelites committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab (Num. xxv, 1) or Midian (Num. xxv, 8). (c) Baal-Zebub, see BEELZE BUB. Certain place-names compounded with Baal (not necessarily all, of. II Sam. v, 20) were originally god-names, the word beth (" temple ") being

understood in the place-name. Baals 4. Special known from such place-names are: (d) Baals in Baal-Gad (Josh. xi, 17; xii, 7; xiii, 5), the Old the" fortune-bringing Baal." Gad (Isa. Testament. lxv, il; perhaps also Gen. xxx, 11)

occurs independently as a name of a deity (see GAD). (e) Baal-Hermon (Judges iii, 3; I Chron. v, 23), usually identified with Baal-Gad, the designation of the Baal worshiped on Mount Hermon. (f) Baal-Meon (Num. xxxii, 38; Ezek. xxv, 9; I Chron. v, 8), the god of a Moabite (Reubenite) city, the full name of which reads Beth-Baal-Meon (Josh. xiii, 17), contracted into Beth-Meon (Jer. xlviii, 23), i.e., " temple of the Baal of Meon." (g) It is possible that Baal-Zephon (Exod. xiv, 2, 9; Num. xxxiii, 7), the name of a station of the Israelites on the Red Sea, belongs here. Zephon, or more correctly Zaphon, is known as a god-name from Egyptian, Phenician, Carthaginian, and Assyrian inscriptions. Baal-Tamar, a place mentioned in Judg. xx, 33, may also be derived from the name of a god, and Baal-Hamon (Song of Sol. viii, 11), Baal-Hazor (II Sam. xiii, 23), Baal-Perazim (II Sam. v, 20), and Baal-Shalisha (I Sam. ix, 4; 11 Kings iv, 42) were probably designations of local deities, of whom nothing is known.

There can be no doubt that, in ancient times, the Hebrews called their god the Baal, whether they used this name to designate Yahweh, or a

special Baal worshiped beside him. 5. The Bea- The latter can not be proved; the cult is former is indicated by names of the Israel. Davidic time compounded with Baal.

The worship of the Canaanite Baals in opposition to the Yahweh-worship had many adherents among the Israelites as early as the time of the Judges (Judges ii, 11, 13; iii, 7; vi, 25 sqq.; x, 6; I Sam. vii, 4; xii, 10). There is no proof that the Hebrews upon their settlement in Canaan adopted the Baal-cult practised there, but the fact can hardly be doubted. The earliest certainty comes from the time of King Ahab of Israel, who, influenced by his Phenician wife, introduced the Phenician Baal-worship, erecting a Baal-temple in Samaria and appointing a numerous priesthood (I Kings xvi, 31-32; xviii, 19). Elijah (q.v.) vigorously opposed this idolatrous cult (I Kings xviii). Jehoram, Ahab's son, put away a Baal-column erected by his father (II Kings iii, 2), but did not extirpate the cult. Jehu abolished the worship of the Phenician god (II Kings x, 21-28). But in the eighth century the prophet Hosea speaks of Baal-worship as existing in Israel without stating which " Baal " or " Baals " are meant. Of the Baal-cult in Judah we know only that it was abolished under the influence of Jehoiads, the priest (II Kings xi, 18). Probably under the influence of Athaliah, grandmother of Joash and daughter of the Phenician

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THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 392

Jezebel, Basl-worship had been introduced into Judah (cf. II Chron. xxiv, 7); this Baal was no doubt Melkart of Tyre. Not much reliance can be placed upon the statement (II Chron. xxviii, 2) that Ahaz worshiped the Baals (but cf. II Kings xvi, 3-4). In the statement (II Kings xxi, 3) that Manasseh reared up altars " for Baal" (better " for the Bash "), Baal may be a general term for idol. Whenever Jeremiah Speaks of the Baal (ii, 8; vii, 9; xi, 13; xxii, 29), he generally means " the idol " (so also II Kings xvii, 16), which is especially evident from II Kings xi, 13 (cf. "the Baals," ii, 23; ix, 14). In Zephaniah, too (i, 4 ), in " the remnant of Baal " the word Baal is equivalent to " idolatry." In the time of Jeremiah the idolatrous Judeans worshiped the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven. All these powers Jeremiah calls "the Baal " or "the shameful thing" (Jar. xi, 13). The name Baal was so obnoxious to the later scribes that they substituted for it the word boaheth, " shame," a word used as early as Jeremiah; and the Alexandrian Jews, as Dillmann has shown, read in their Greek text t hg word aischyne instead of Baal, which explains the use of the feminine article before Baal (cf. Dillmann, Ueber Baal mit dam weiblichen Artikel, in the Monatsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, phil.-hilt. Klame, 18$1).

For the mode of worship in Israel reference can be made only to those passages of the Old Testament in which Baal-worship is undoubtedly to be understood as the cult of the Phenician god. He was worshiped with sacrifices and burnt offer-

ings (II Kings x, 24) especially of bulb. Ceremo- locks (I Kings xviii, 23), and by kissnies of the ing his images (I Kings xix, 18). In

Baal-wor- the Baal-temple of Samaria the pillar ship. of Baal was of stone (II Kings x,

27). Usually a Baal was worshiped in conjunction with Astarte (Judges ii, 13; x, 6; I Sam. vii, 4; xii, 10). A Baal-altar with an Asherah is mentioned in Judges vi, 25. According to II Chron. xxxiv, 4, the hammanim or sun images stood on or beside the altars of Baal. When the statement is made that incense was offered upon the roofs to the Baal (Jar. xxxii, 29; cf., on the "burning of incense" to the Baal in general, Jer. vii, 9; xi, 13), not Baal-worship, but worship of the stars is meant (Jar. xix, 13; Zeph. i, 5; cf. II Kings xxiii, 12). In the time of Ahab there were many priests and prophets (about 450) of Baal (II Kings x, 19; I Kings xvm, 19). The prophets worshiped the god by leaping around the altar (I Kings xviii, 26) and by cutting themselves with knives and lances (verse 28). The leaping appears to have been a means of inducing the trance-state (verse 29), it may also have been a part of the cult. The "vestry" mentioned II Kings x, 22 probably belonged to the royal palace, and was not intended for the official robes of the priests. See ABHERAH; ASHTORETH; HIGH PLACE.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Smith, Rel. of Sam., pp. 93-113 (best); J. Selden, De die Syria, London, 1617; F. Miinter, Religion

der Karthaqar, pp. 5-61, Copenhagen, 1821; F. C. Movers, Die Phenizier, i, 169-190, 254-321, 385-498, Bonn, 1841; R. Rochette, L'Hercule Assyrian at Phinicien, in Mfoirea

Location

and His

tory.

de i'aoad6mie des inscriptions of belles-lettres, new series, vol. xviii, part 2 (1848), 9=374; D. Chwolsohn Die Saab%ar, ii, 165-171, Leipsio, 1856; L. Diestel, i Jahrbather far deutsche Theologie, 1860, pp. 719-734; H. Oort, The Worship of Baalim in Israel, from the Dutch by Colons , London, 1865; E. Schrader, Baal and Bel, in TS , 1874, pp. 335-343; w. W. Baudissin, Jahve at Moloch, pp. 14-41, Leipsie, 1874; B. Stade, in ZATW, vi (1886), 303-306; F. Baethgen, Bedtrage zur aemitiachen Religionagesehichts, pp. 17-29, GBttingen, 1888; R. Pietechmann, Ph6nszier, 182 sqq, Berlin, 1889; Bensinger, Archdologie, consult Index; Nowack, Archdologie, ii, 301-305; E. Sachau, BaalHarran is einer altaramtiisrJhen Inschrift, in Sittungaberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1895, pp. 119-122; F. Vigouroux, Lea PrUres de Baal, in Revue Biblique, part 2, 1896, 227240; DB, i, 209-211; EB, i, 401-409; H. Gunkel, Elias, Jahve, and Baal, Tdbingen, 1907.

On Baal-Peor: E. Kautaeeh and A. Socin, Die Aechfheit der moabitischen Alterthiamer gepraft, pp. 69-77, Strasburg, 1876· W. Baudissin, Studien zur semitiachen Religionegeschichte, ii, 232, Leipaie, 1878; F. Baethgen, Beitrdge zur semitiachen Religionageschiohle, pp. 14-15, 261, GSttingen, 1888. On Aglibol and Malachbel: Lajard, Recherche# our le cults de Cyprus, in M6moires de 1'aoad6mie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, new series, vol. xx, part 2 (1854), 39-40; Levy, in ZDMG, xviii (1864), 99-103; M. de VogOE, Syria centrals, inscriptions s6mitiques, 1868, pp. 62-65. On Baal in Hebrew proper names: Geiger, in ZDMG, xvi (1862), 728-732; E. Nestle, Die israelitische Eigennamen and afire religionageschichtiche Bedeutung, Leipsie, 1876; G. B. Gray, Studies in Hebrew Proper Names, London, 1896.

BAALBEK, bSl"bek': A city of Ceele-Syria, celebrated for its magnificence in the first centuries of the Christian era, and famous ever since for its ruins. It is situated on a plain near the foot of the Anti-Lebanus range, about forty

miles northwest of Damascus, and 3,800 feet above seaAevel. Its earlier name was Baalbek, " City of Baal," changed under the Seleucidm to Heli-

opolis. In Egypt there was a Heliopolis (also called On; see ON), and the plausible supposition has been offered that these two places were of common origin. In proof, the saying of the author of De dea Syria, that in the great temple of Heliopolis an antique idol was worshiped which had been brought from Egypt, is quoted, and also the statement of Macrobius in his Saturnalia, that the statue of Jupiter Heliopolitanus came from Egypt. Supporting this is the judgment of C. A. Rich, quoted below, that the substructure of the ruins at Baalbek is Egyptian, at least in part. It was only after Baalbek was made a Roman colony, under the name Colania Julia Augusta Felix Heliopolitana, that it became a place of importance. It can not be identified satisfactorily with any Bible locality. It is mentioned by Josephus (Ant., XIV, iii, 2), Pliny (Hist. nat., v, 22), and Ptolemy; and coins of the city have been found of almost all the emperors from Nerva to Gallienus.

Baalbek contains ruins of three temples: of the sun, of Jupiter, and a small one of Venus; also of a Christian basilica. The first is attributed to Antoninus Pius (138-161) by John Malala (c. 52rr 600); only six columns and their entablature and the substructure remain. The walls of the temple of Jupiter are standing, but the roof is The Ruins. gone. C. A. Rich, who examined the ruins in 1894, says (American Archited, x1vu, 1895,,pp. 3 sqq.) that the substructure of the whole, at least in part, is Egyptian, while the

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393 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Semi Saba beveled masonry under the peristyle of the temple of the sun is Phenician. The Germans, who have in hand the examination of Baalbek, have made out that a great altar, thought at first to be cut from the living rock and pieced out with masonry, but subsequently discovered to be wholly of ma sonry, is the center of the entire group. This was surrounded by a series of walls built up so as to allow the superposition of a platform level with the base of the altar, forming the floor of the great court. On the east, west, and north sides, these walls were employed to make passages and cham bers beneath the platform. To the east of the plat form was a hexagonal court, giving access to the great court, while to the west was the great temple of the sun. The temple of Jupiter is to the south of the west end of the great court, distant about fifty feet from the south wall of the latter. Around this court on three sides, also around the hexagonal court, was carried a lofty peristyle on a stylobate of three steps. Four sides of the hexagonal court held chapels, the other two sides being given to the entrances to the courts. The north and south sides of the great court held each three chapels and two niches, most richly elaborated, the east, side having two, one on each side of the entrance. On the floor of the great court on the north and the south sides of the altar were two large basins, unfinished, two and a half feet deep, with walls paneled on the outside, the panels decorated with genii and festooned flowers. Clear traces of a Christian basilica have been found on the great platform, the great altar being the center, while the line of the eastern wall of the temple of the sun is conterminous with the west wall of the basilica. The floor of the latter was seven and a half feet above the court pavement, thus preserving intact the great altar, which was built over. Of the temple of the sun the two most marked features, long known, were the six great columns with their entablature and the three megaliths at the west end, two of the latter measuring sixty three feet long by thirteen square, and sixty-four feet long by fourteen square. Another stone still lies in the. quarry near-by cut out The Great from the rock, and measures sixty Stones. nine and a quarter feet long by four teen square. The columns, of which there were originally fifty-eight, nineteen at each side and ten at each end, were seventy-five feet in height with a diameter of seven and a quarter feet, and the entablature was fourteen feet in height, These columns supported the roof. The use of the megaliths was only recently discovered. It now appears that they were carried around the south side of the base of the temple, and it is possible that they will be found on the other sides as well. It appears that the temple was built on an artificial mound of earth, and that the great stones were employed to sustain this mass. The order of architecture is the Corinthian, with all the elabora tion to which that style so easily lends itself. The floor area of the temple of the sun was approxi mately 290 feet by 160. The temple of Jupiter, also of the Corinthian

order, 227 by 117 feet, was surrounded by a peristyle of forty-two plain columns, while ten fluted ones were in the vestibule. The entablature was of very profuse and rich ornamentation.

The whole was reached from the east by a magnificent flight of steps no longer standing, 150 feet in breadth. The scope of the entire group of structures may be judged from the fact that from the east porch of the hexagonal court to the west wall of the temple of the sun is 900 feet, while the breadth of the great court was 400 feet.

In connection with recent study of these ruins two interesting questions have been answered. On the soffit of the temple of the sun, now hidden by the braces sustaining it, is a figure in relief of an eagle carrying in his talons a caduceus and in his beak a garland, the ends of which are held by two putti. It is believed that the eagle represents Jupiter, the caduceus Mercury, and the putti represent the evening and morning star, i.e., Venus, all of whom received worship at the place. Mr. Rich in the article cited shows that great masses like the megaliths were moved by a sort of crane, V-shaped, socketed on metal, to one end of which was attached a cradle in .which stones were put until the mass to be moved was counterbalanced. GEO. W. GILMORE.

BIBLIoaaAm7: Wood and Dawkin, The Ruins of Balbec, London, 1757 (still very valuable); E. Robinson, Later Biblical Researches, btf5-627, New York, 1856; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, iii, New York, 1886; H. Frauberger, Die Akropolia -von Baalbek, Frankfort, 1892; C. A. Rich, in American Architect, xlvii (1895), 3 sqq.; M. M. Alouf, Geschichte Baalbeks, Prague, 1896; Jahrbuch des kaiserlicben deutsche# arclulologisrhen lastituts, xvi (1901), 133-160, xvii (1902), 87-123; Biblia, March, 1903, 387-393; American Journal of Archeology, new series, vi (1902), 348349, vii (1903), 364, viii (1904); PEP, Quarterly Statements, Jan., 1904, b8-64, July, 1905, 262-265.

BAASHA, b5'a^sha: Third king of Israel, 952930 B.c., according to the old chronology; 925-901, Duncker; 909--886, Hommel; 914-891, Kamphausen. He was the son of Ahijah of the tribe of Issachar, apparently of a family of little repute, but probably rose to be a commander in the army. When Nadab, king of Israel, was besieging the Philistine city of Gibbethon, Baasha conspired against him, slew him, and then proceeded to establish himself on the throne by a massacre of the entire house of Jeroboam. His residence was at Tirzah, where he was also buried. He undertook to fortify Ramah, on the frontier between Israel and Judah, two hours north of Jerusalem, thus menacing the southern kingdom, but desisted on hearing that Benhadad of Damascus had invaded northern Israel instigated by Asa, king of Judah (q.v.). Whether he resisted Benhadad or made terms with him is not stated, but the cities which the latter is said to have captured were later in Israel's possession (II Kings xv, 29). The religious condition of Israel under Baasha remained as under his two -predecessors. His history is found in I Kings xv, 16-22, 27-34; xvi, 1-6.

(W: LoTz.) BIBLroasAPBY: Consult the works mentioned under ARAB.

. BABA; BABA BATRA; BABA KAMMA; BABA MEZIA. See TALMUD.

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Baboock Babiam THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 394

BABCOCK, MALTBIE DAVENPORT: Presbyterian; b. in Syracuse, N. Y., Aug. 3, 1858; d. in Naples, Italy, May 18, 1901. He was graduated at Syracuse University, 1879, and from Auburn Theological Seminary, 1882; he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Lockport., N. Y., 1882, of the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Md., 1887, and of the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York, 1900. In the following spring he went on an excursion to the Holy Land, on his way back contracted Mediterranean fever and died in a hospital in Naples. His comparatively brief life made a deep impression because he consecrated his remarkable powers and attainments to the public service. His sermons were of unusual effect. They were unconventional, sincere and fervid, glowed with a spiritual light, and held the attention of even the most indifferent. His loving heart went out to all whom he met and his single desire was to do them good. As pastor and preacher he will long be remembered and spoken of in unmeasured terms of praise. In Baltimore he was counted one of the first citizens and in New York he bade fair to repeat his personal and professional triumph. Book-making was not his aim in life and the publications which bear his name were posthumous; they are: Thoughts for Every Day Living (New York, 1901), a volume of selections; Letters from Egypt and Palestine (1902), written to the Men's Association in the Brick Church; Three Whys and their Answer (1902); Hymns and Carols (1903); and The Success of Defeat (1905).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. E. Robinson, Maltbie Davenport Babcock, New York, 1904. BABISM. Antecedents of Babiam (§ 1). Mirza Ali Mohammed, the Bab (§ 2). Persecution and Death of the Bab (¢ 3). Doctrines (§ 4).

Babism, the system of a mystic Mohammedan sect, which originated in Persia about the middle of the nineteenth century, is said to have more than 1,000 000 adherents to-day and is still spreading, and offers in its history some striking parallels to the origin and early development of Christianity. Mohammedanism is a religion sharply defined, even iron-bound in its doctrinal precision, dogmatic to the last degree in its essentials; and yet it has manifested the greatest elasticity in politics, in social life, in philosophy, and in religious beliefs (see MOHAMMED, MOHAMMEDAPTMM). Material and expressed in material terms, its theology has nevertheless embraced the abstractions of Greek philosophy, Persian mysticism, and Hindu pantheism and incarnation among the doctrines held by its adherents. Babism and its precursors most completely illustrate these anomalies. The roots of

the sect lie in the early doctrine known .

:. Antece- as Shiah, which has flourished most dents of prolifically and almost solely on PerBabism. sian soil. The foundation of Shiah teaching is the doctrine concerning the Imam. According to this system, the Imamate or Califate is not elective nor is it to be usurped; it is of divine right and altogether spiritual; Ali, through Ayesha's guile thrice defeated for succes-

sion to Mohammed and finally assassinated, was the first Imam. The essence of the Imamate is a light which passed directly from Mohammed to Ali and passes from one Imam to the next. By virtue of this light the Imam becomes impeccable, omniscient, divine, an incarnation of deity. A philosophic ground of this doctrine is that even an infallible book like the Koran to be effective requires an infallible exponent, which is furnished by the Imamate. But the Imamate, though it is a succession, is not unlimited, and of the two main branches of Shiites one reckons six and the other twelve Imams. Both branches hold the mystical doctrine that the last Imam did not die, but lives " concealed " in one of the Arabic utopias, Jabulka or Jabulsa. A corollary is that he is to reappear, e.g., as the Mahdi " the Guided," who is to " fill the earth with justice "-a prophecy and a hope which naturally lead to repeated attempts at their fulfilment and realization (see MAHDI). It is further held that there were two degrees of " concealment " or " occultation," the minor and the major. During the former, communication with the faithful was made by intermediaries who were called Abwab or " Gates " (singular baby. When the last of the Abwab died (1021) without naming a successor, the major occultation began in the entire cessation of communion between the Imam and the faithful. Naturally the Shiites have ever since been expecting the reopening of communication with the Imam and a period of enlightenment in his revealing.

The immediate precursors of the Babis were the Shaikhis, followers of Shaikh Ahmad (1753-1826), a Shiite mystic, ascetic, and thinker. His special teaching was that the Imams were personifications of divine attributes and that of these personifications Ali was chief. He gathered around him a great company of believers, the leadership of whom passed after his death to Hajji Sayyid Kazim, still a young man, but reserved, mysterious, and ascetic to a degree, under whom the sect multiplied in numbers and came to include many of the nobility. Just before his death (1843) Sayyid Kazim forbade his followers to mourn and declared that it was good that he should go in order that " the true one should appear." He died without appointing a successor. Among his disciples had been a certain Mirza Ali Mohammed, a native of Shiraz,

who was only twenty-three years of z. Mirza Ali age when Sayyid Kazim died. Mirza Mohammed, Ali was met by Mullah Husain, one of

the Bab. the searchers for a successor to the dead leader, and claimed to be the sought one, the " true one who was to appear " and the Bab or " Gate." He also claimed inspiration, established his right to the place of leader by revealing undiscovered meanings in the Koran, and convinced the searchers that their quest was ended. This claim was the more easily allowed because the year in which it was made was reck oned as the one thousandth from that of the dis appearance of the last Imam. Millenarianism of a certain kind is as potent in its influence over Mohammedans as it was in Christendom in the year 1000 of the _ Christian era. Adherents came in

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395 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Babcock Babism by the hundred when the news that the Bab had appeared was spread abroad, as it soon was in the manner peculiar to the East. To the personal attractiveness of the young leader and the agree ment of his pantheistic teachings with the mysti cism held by most Shiites there was added as a compelling force driving to association, with his following the great evils of a tyrannous civil and religious administration, so that the Babis soon became a large and important body. The next year (1843) the Bab made the pilgrimage to Mecca, returning confirmed in his opposition to the mullahs or clergy. He attacked them in his preaching, and when they sent their 3. Persecu- ablest debaters to confute him and his tion and claims, these partizans were either si Death of lenced or convinced. They then se the Bab. cured his arrest and attempted to assassinate him, but were prevented since he was under the protection of the gov ernor. When the latter died (1847), Mirza Ali was thrown into prison in Maku and finally taken to Tabriz, where his confinement was daily made more rigorous. All the time he was exceedingly prolific in a literary way, claiming indeed as evidence of his inspiration the ability to produce 1,000 lines of poetry a day. His mild ness and gentleness won the hearts even of his jailers, and converts were increased as accounts of his sufferings were made public. The most notable conversion was that of a famous, learned, and very beautiful woman to whom the Bab gave the name Jenab-i-Tahira, " Her Excellency the Pure." She was permeated with mysticism, and by her devotion and persuasiveness during her life and still more by her martyrdom (1852), she gained large numbers as adherents of the faith. Mean while in 1848 the late Shah was crowned, and selected as his prime minister a violent opponent of Babism. Under the persecution immediately instituted, some of the Babis seized arms and proclaimed the Bab sovereign, a proceeding which he discountenanced. The prime minister then had the Bab executed, July 8, 1850, expecting that his death would cause the dissolution of the sect. But Mirza Ali had nominated Mirza Yahya his successor and head of the nineteen councilors, and continuity was secured. On as suming leadership, the latter took the names of Sub-i-Ezel and Hazrat-i-Ezel, "Dawn and Holi ness of Eternity." The execution of the Bab exasperated his follow ers, and some of them attempted to assassinate the Shah. This involved the sect in new persecutions and in wholesale executions in public in which the most execrable atrocities were perpetrated (Count Gobineau has described some of the scenes in Les Religions et lea philosophies, pp. 301-303, quoted in Renan, Las Ap&rw, p. 378, Eng. transl., p. 201). As a result there was a great exodus of the adherents of the sect to Bagdad, whence, upon Persian of ficial protest against their continued residence so near to the Persian territory, the Turkish govern ment removed them to Adrianople. The leader secluded himself very persistently, conducting affairs through his half-brother Beha. The latter

suddenly proclaimed himself the one foretold by the Bab as "the one whom God shall manifest," drew after himself most of the following, and split the sect into the " Ezelites " and the " Behaites." Between the two parties hostilities so bitter broke out that the Turks sent Beha to Acre, which became the headquarters of the Behaites and the center of their propaganda. Ezel was removed to Cyprus, and his following has become almost extinct. Beha was almost as prolific a writer as the Bab, and his works are extant in a Bombay edition. He died in 1892, and his son Abbas Effendi took his place and is the present leader. The number of Babis is estimated at over 1,000,000, and they carry on a propaganda in the United States (described in AJT, Jan., 1902). See BE M.

The doctrines of the Babis rest on two bases: (1) The general system of Shiah in its pantheistic and mystical phases; and (2) the as-

4. Doc- sumption that no revelation is final, trines. but represents only the measure of truth the stage of human progress has rendered man capable of receiving. Hence, as the revelation of Moses was superseded by that of Jesus, and his by Mohammed's, and his in turn by the Bab's, so the latter's is superseded by Beha's. But Abbas Effendi has tried to throw a log under the car of progress by declaring that " whoever lays claim to a revelation before 1,000 full years have passed is a lying impostor." The explicit teachings are (1) the veneration of the Imams; (2) the fast of their concealment and the doctrine of intermediaries; (3) the reappearance of the Imam as a reincarnation; (4) the non-finality of any revelation; (5) the incarnation of deity as an avatar from time to time to give ipstruction (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Mohammed, and the Bab were such avatars, alike rejected by their hearers); (6) the possibility of an achievement, like that of the Buddhist Nirvana, of unity of the individual with True Being; (7) the fact of a final judgment; (8) the system of numbers based on nineteen: the year consists of nineteen months, of nineteen days, of nineteen hours, of nineteen minutes; the Bab had eighteen associates, he making the nineteenth and being the point of unity; the square of nineteen is the symbol of the uni verse; the Bab and his disciples represent God and, each of these having nineteen under him, make up the square which represents perfection. Com mended for practise by the Babis are: abolition of religious warfare, friendly intercourse with all sects and people, obedience to the ruler, submission to law, confession of sin to God, acquisitipn of all knowledge which contributes to human good, and mastery of some trade or profession. Prayer is three times (not five times) a day, and the believer turns his face toward Acre, not toward Mecca. The Babi fast is not the month of Ramadhan, but the last month of the Babi year and lasts nineteen days. There is evident in all this a determination to mark the separation of the sect from Moham medanism.

The Bab's dictum on worship is worthy of quotation: " So worship God that if the recompense of thy worship of him were to be the fire, no altera-

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tion of thy worship would be produced. If you worship from fear, that is unworthy of the threshold of the holiness of God, nor will you be accounted a believer; so also, if your gaze is on Paradise and you worship in hope of that, for then you have made God's creation a partner with him."

--GEO. W. GILMORE.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The best descriptions of Babism are in the writings or translations of E. G. Browne, who gives material gained from first-hand knowledge and in sympathetic vein, as follows: Traveller's Narrative, written to illustrate the Episode of the Bab, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1893; A Year among the Persians, London, 1893; Mirza Huseyn of Hamadan, Tarikh-i-Jadid, or the New History of Mirza Ali Muhammad the Bab, transl. by E. G. B., New York, 1892 (diffuse, but full; a native account with condensed narrative and valuable notes); Babism, in Religious Systems of the World, pp. 189 sqq.; Literary History of Persia, passim, New York, 1902. Other accounts are in: J. A. de Gobineau, Les Religions et les philosophies dans I'Asie Centrale, pp. 141 sqq., Paris, 1865 (detailed and sympathetic; one of his pathetic descriptions of the persecution is quoted in E, . Renan, Les Apotres, pp. 378 sqq., Paris, 1866, Eng. transl., pp. 201-202, London, n.d.); G. N. Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, i, passim, especially pp. 496-504, 2 vols., London, 1892; A. S. Geden, Studies in Comparative Religion, pp. 291 sqq., ib. 1898 (concise but clear); E. Sell, Essays on Islam, pp. 46 sqq., ib. 1901 (deals with the antecedents of the sect); AJT, Jan., 1902 (describes the American propaganda); J. E. Carpenter, in Studies in Theology, by J. E. C. and P. H. Wicksted, London, 1903; M. H. Phelps, The Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi, New York, 1903 (gives one of the later phases of the development); Beha-Ullah, Les Preceptes du Behaisme, Paris, 1906.