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BEL

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 662 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEL , the name of a See also:

chief deity in Babylonian See also:religion, the counterpart of the Phoenician See also:Baal (q.v.) ideographically written as En-lil. Since Bel signifies the " See also:lord " or " See also:master " See also:par excellence, it is, therefore, a See also:title rather than a genuine name, and must have been given to a deity who had acquired a position at the See also:head of a See also:pantheon. The real name is accordingly to be sought in En-lil, of which the first See also:element again has the force of " lord " and the second presumably " might," " See also:power," and the like, though this cannot be regarded as certain. En-lil is associated with the See also:ancient See also:city of See also:Nippur, and since En-lil with the determinative for " See also:land " or " See also:district " is a See also:common method of See also:writing the name of the city, it follows, apart from other See also:evidence, that En-lil was originally the See also:patron deity of Nippur. At a very See also:early See also:period--See also:prior to 3000 B.c.—Nippur had become the centre of a See also:political district of considerable extent, and it is to this early period that the designation of En-lil as Bel or " the lord " reverts. See also:Inscriptions found at Nippur, where extensive excavations were carried on during 1888–1900 by Messrs See also:Peters and Haynes, under the auspices of the University of See also:Pennsylvania, show that Bel of Nippur was in fact regarded as the head of an extensive pantheon. Among the titles accorded to him are " See also:king of lands," " king of See also:heaven and See also:earth " and " See also:father of the gods." His chief See also:temple at Nippur was known as E-Kur, signifying " See also:mountain See also:house," and such was the sanctity acquired by this edifice that Babylonian and See also:Assyrian rulers, down to the latest days, vied with one another in embellishing and restoring Bel's seat of See also:worship, and the name itself became the designation of a temple in See also:general. Grouped around the See also:main See also:sanctuary there arose temples and chapels to the gods and goddesses who formed his See also:court, so that E-Kur became the name for an entire sacred See also:precinct in the city of Nippur. The name " mountain house " suggests a lofty structure and was perhaps the designation originally of the staged See also:tower at Nippur, built in See also:imitation of a mountain, with the sacred See also:shrine of the See also:god on the See also:top. The tower, however, also had its See also:special designation of " See also:Im-See also:Khar-sag," the elements of which, signifying " See also:storm " and " mountain," confirm the conclusion See also:drawn from other evidence that En-lil was originally a storm-god having his seat on the top of a mountain. Since the See also:Euphrates valley has no mountains, En-lil would appear to be a god whose worship was carried into Babylonia by a See also:wave of See also:migration from a mountainous country—in all See also:probability from See also:Elam to the See also:east. When, with the political rise of See also:Babylon as the centre of a See also:great See also:empire, Nippur yielded its prerogatives to the city over which See also:Marduk presided, the attributes and the titles of En-lil were transferred to Marduk, who becomes the " lord " or Bel of later days.

The older Bel did not, however, entirely lose his See also:

standing. Nippur continued to be a sacred city after it ceased to have any considerable political importance, while in addition the rise of the See also:doctrine of a triad of gods symbolizing the three divisions—heavens, earth and water—assured to Bel, to whom the earth was assigned as his See also:province, his See also:place in the religious See also:system. The disassociation from his See also:local origin involved in this doctrine of the triad gave to Bel a See also:rank See also:independent of political changes, and we, accordingly, find Bel as a See also:factor in the religion of Babylonia and See also:Assyria to the latest days. It was no doubt owing to his position as the second figure of the triad that enabled him to survive the political See also:eclipse of Nippur and made his sanctuary a place of See also:pilgrimage to which Assyrian See also:kings down to the days of See also:Assur-bani-See also:pal paid their See also:homage equally with Babylonian rulers. See also See also:BELIT and BAAL. For the apocryphal See also:book of the See also:Bible, Bel and the See also:Dragon, see See also:DANIEL: Additions to Daniel. (M.

End of Article: BEL

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