or BELUS, a name by which many Heathens, and particularly the
Babylonians, called their chief idol. But whether under this appellation
they worshipped Nimrod, their first Baal, or lord, or Pul, king of
Assyria, or some other monarch, or the sun, or all in one, is uncertain.
It is, however, probable, that Bel is the same as the Phenician Baal,
and that the worship of the same deity passed over to the Carthagenians,
who were a colony of Phenicians. Hence the names Hannibal, Asdrubal, &c,
compounded with Bel or Baal, according to the custom of the east, where
great men added the names of the gods to their own. Bel had a temple
erected to him in the city of Babylon, on the very uppermost range of
the famous tower of Babel, wherein were many statues of this pretended
deity; and one, among the rest, of massy gold, forty feet high. The
whole furniture of this magnificent temple was of the same metal, and
valued at eight hundred talents of gold. This temple, with its riches,
was in being till the time of Xerxes, who, returning from his
unfortunate expedition into Greece, demolished it, and carried off the
immense wealth which it contained. It was, probably, the statue of this
god which Nebuchadnezzar, being returned to Babylon after the end of the
Jewish war, set up and dedicated in the plain of Dura; the story of
which is related at large, Dan. iii. See BABEL.
Babylonians, called their chief idol. But whether under this appellation
they worshipped Nimrod, their first Baal, or lord, or Pul, king of
Assyria, or some other monarch, or the sun, or all in one, is uncertain.
It is, however, probable, that Bel is the same as the Phenician Baal,
and that the worship of the same deity passed over to the Carthagenians,
who were a colony of Phenicians. Hence the names Hannibal, Asdrubal, &c,
compounded with Bel or Baal, according to the custom of the east, where
great men added the names of the gods to their own. Bel had a temple
erected to him in the city of Babylon, on the very uppermost range of
the famous tower of Babel, wherein were many statues of this pretended
deity; and one, among the rest, of massy gold, forty feet high. The
whole furniture of this magnificent temple was of the same metal, and
valued at eight hundred talents of gold. This temple, with its riches,
was in being till the time of Xerxes, who, returning from his
unfortunate expedition into Greece, demolished it, and carried off the
immense wealth which it contained. It was, probably, the statue of this
god which Nebuchadnezzar, being returned to Babylon after the end of the
Jewish war, set up and dedicated in the plain of Dura; the story of
which is related at large, Dan. iii. See BABEL.