BAAL THE DESTROYER

Syro Hittite C.1800 BC. Red terracotta. 6 3/8” height with characteristic rudimentary body and flared base. The head with hood or crown descending as drapes over the shoulders and outstretched arms. Beaked face. Wear and encrustation from burial but well delineated and a good early figure. Baal was both feared and embraced as a bringer of crop fertility. In the Bible, Jezebel introduced the Phoenician cult of Baal to Israel in opposition to the worship of Yahweh. This figure would have been housed in a shrine, dominant in a Semitic household and considered an overseer of morals and activities.