An oolitic limestone bas-relief stele from Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria), showing the storm and rain god Baal, also known as Hadad, in a striding pose on a pedestal carved with mountains and sea, symbols of his dominion over the natural world. Baal raises a club overhead in his right hand and holds in his left, pointing toward the ground, a lance whose shaft resembles vegetation, understood as a stylized thunderbolt. He wears an Egyptianizing horned crown, a striped kilt, a curved dagger and a mantle, a blend of Egyptian and Syrian artistic conventions typical of Late Bronze Age Ugarit. A smaller male figure beside him, most likely representing the king of Ugarit, stands in a gesture of deference. Discovered on 28 May 1932 about twenty metres from the Temple of Baal on the acropolis of Ugarit, by the archaeological mission led by Claude Schaeffer, it is considered the most important of the Ugaritic stelae for its scale and the clarity of its iconography of the storm god at the height of his power.
Facts
Custody
Current LocationMusee du Louvre, Paris, Sully Wing, Room 301 (Departement des Antiquites orientales) 1 Current Custodian Custody HistoryExcavated 28 May 1932 by Claude Schaeffer's mission near the Temple of Baal, Ras Shamra acropolis; excavation number RS 4.427; accessioned at the Louvre as AO 15775. 1 Physical Form
MediumOolitic limestone bas-relief 1 Dimensions144 cm high, 57.5 cm wide, 29 cm deep 1 Origins
Date of CreationMiddle to Late Bronze Age, about 2000 to 1150 BC 1 CountrySyria (findspot); France (current location) 1 Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectSourced to the subject's own accountBaal (Hadad), the Canaanite storm and rain god, striding in triumph over mountains and sea, brandishing a club and a stylized thunderbolt, with a smaller figure of the king of Ugarit beside him. 2 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightSourced to the subject's own accountThe stele itself is millennia past any copyright term, but a specific modern photograph of it carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Syria directly: "stele from Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria), showing the storm and rain god Baal, also known as Hadad, in a striding pose on a pedestal carved with mountains and sea, symbols of his dominion over..."
Ugarit, Cities This source names Ugarit directly: "limestone bas-relief stele from Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria), showing the storm and rain god Baal, also known as Hadad, in a striding pose on a pedestal carved with mountains and sea, symbols..."
This source names Ugaritic directly: "considered the most important of the Ugaritic stelae for its scale and the clarity of its iconography of the storm god at the height of his power."
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