Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 Part 21

Further, he has no systematic works; his doctrines exist for the most part in short detached essays, in comments on the writings of Boehme and Saint Martin, or in his extensive correspondence and journals. At the same time there are salient points which mark the outline of his thought. Baader starts from the position that human reason by itself can never reach the end it aims at, and maintains that we cannot throw aside the presuppositions of faith, church and tradition. His point of view may be described as Scholasticism; for, like the scholastic doctors, he believes that theology and philosophy are not opposed sciences, but that reason has to make clear the truths given by authority and revelation. But in his attempt to draw still closer the realms of faith and knowledge he approaches more nearly to the mysticism of Eckhart, Paracelsus and Boehme.

Our existence depends on the fact that we are cognized by G.o.d (_cogitor ergo cogito et sum_). All self-consciousness is at the same time G.o.d-consciousness; our knowledge is never mere _scientia_, it is invariably _con-scientia_--a knowing with, consciousness of, or partic.i.p.ation in G.o.d.

Baader's philosophy is thus essentially a theosophy. G.o.d is not to be conceived as mere abstract Being (_substantia_), but as everlasting process, activity (_actus_). Of this process, this self-generation of G.o.d, we may distinguish two aspects--the immanent or esoteric, and the emanent or exoteric. G.o.d has reality only in so far as He is absolute spirit, and only in so far as the primitive will is conscious of itself can it become spirit at all. But in this very cognition of self is involved the distinction of knower and known, from which proceeds the power to become spirit. This immanent process of self-consciousness, wherein indeed a trinity of persons is not given but only rendered possible, is mirrored in, and takes place through, the eternal and impersonal idea or wisdom of G.o.d, which exists beside, though not distinct from, the primitive will. Concrete reality or personality is given to this divine _Ternar_, as Baader calls it, through _nature_, the principle of self-hood, of individual being, which is eternally and necessarily produced by G.o.d. Only in nature is the trinity of _persons_ attained. These processes, it must be noticed, are not to be conceived as successive, or as taking place in time; they are to be looked at _sub specie aeternitatis_, as the necessary elements or moments in the self-evolution of the divine Being. Nor is _nature_ to be confounded with created substance, or with matter as it exists in s.p.a.ce and time; it is pure non-being, the mere otherness (_alteritas_) of G.o.d-his shadow, desire, want, or _desiderium sui_, as it is called by mystical writers.

Creation, itself a free and non-temporal act of G.o.d's love and will, cannot be speculatively deduced, but must be accepted as an historic [v.03 p.0088]

fact. Created beings were originally of three orders--the intelligent or angels; the non-intelligent natural existences; and man, who mediated between these two orders. Intelligent beings are endowed with freedom; it is possible, but not necessary, that they should fall. Hence the fact of the fall is not a speculative but an historic truth. The angels fell through pride--through desire to raise themselves to equality with G.o.d; man fell by lowering himself to the level of nature. Only after the fall of man begins the creation of s.p.a.ce, time and matter, or of the world as we now know it; and the motive of this creation was the desire to afford man an opportunity for taking advantage of the scheme of redemption, for bringing forth in purity the image of G.o.d according to which he has been fas.h.i.+oned.

The physical philosophy and anthropology which Baader, in connexion with this, unfolds in various works, is but little instructive, and coincides in the main with the utterances of Boehme. In nature and in man he finds traces of the dire effects of sin, which has corrupted both and has destroyed their natural harmony. As regards ethics, Baader rejects the Kantian or any autonomic system of morals. Not obedience to a moral law, but realization in ourselves of the divine life is the true ethical end.

But man has lost the power to effect this by himself; he has alienated himself from G.o.d, and therefore no ethical theory which neglects the facts of sin and redemption is satisfactory or even possible. The history of man and of humanity is the history of the redeeming love of G.o.d. The means whereby we put ourselves so in relation with Christ as to receive from Him his healing virtue are chiefly prayer and the sacraments of the church; mere works are never sufficient. Man in his social relations is under two great inst.i.tutions. One is temporal, natural and limited--the state; the other is eternal, cosmopolitan and universal--the church. In the state two things are requisite: first, common submission to the ruler, which can be secured or given only when the state is Christian, for G.o.d alone is the true ruler of men; and, secondly, inequality of rank, without which there can be no organization. A despotism of mere power and liberalism, which naturally produces socialism, are equally objectionable. The ideal state is a civil community ruled by a universal or Catholic church, the principles of which are equally distinct from mere pa.s.sive pietism, or faith which will know nothing, and from the Protestant doctrine, which is the very radicalism of reason.

Baader is, without doubt, among the greatest speculative theologians of modern Catholicism, and his influence has extended itself even beyond the precincts of his own church. Among those whom he influenced were R. Rothe, Julius Muller and Hans L. Markensen.

His works were collected and published by a number of his adherents--F.

Hoffman, J. Hamberger, E. v. Schaden, Lutterbeck, von Osten-Sacken and Schluter--_Baader's sammtliche Werke_ (16 vols., 1851-1860). Valuable introductions by the editors are prefixed to the several volumes. Vol. xv.

contains a full biography; vol. xvi. an index, and an able sketch of the whole system by Lutterbeck. See F. Hoffmann, _Vorhalle zur spekulativen Lehre Baader's_ (1836); _Grundzuge der Societats-Philosophie Franz Baader's_ (1837); _Philosophische Schriften_ (3 vols., 1868-1872); _Die Weltalter_ (1868); _Biographie und Briefwechsel_ (Leipzig, 1887); J.

Hamberger, _Cardinalpunkte der Baaderschen Philosophie_ (1855); _Fundamentalbegriffe von F. B.'s Ethik, Politik, u. Religions-Philosophie_ (1858); J. A. B. Lutterbeck, _Philosophische Standpunkte Baaders_ (1854); _Baaders Lehre vom Weltgebaude_ (1866). The most satisfactory surveys are those given by Erdmann, _Versuch einer Gesch. d. neuern Phil._ iii. 2, pp.

583-636; J. Claa.s.sen, _Franz von Baaders Leben und theosophische Werke_ (Stuttgart, 1886-1887), and _Franz von Baaders Gedanken uber Staat und Gesellschaft_ (Gutersloh, 1890); Otto Pfleiderer, _Philosophy of Religion_ (vol. ii., Eng. trans. 1887); R. Falckenberg, _History of Philosophy_, pp.

472-475 (trans. A. C. Armstrong, New York, 1893); Reichel, _Die Sozietatsphilosophie Franz v. Baaders_ (Tubingen, 1901); Kuno Fischer, _Zur hundertjahrigen Geburtstagfeier Baaders_ (Erlangen, 1865).

BAAL, a Semitic word, which primarily signifies lord, owner or inhabitant,[9] and then, in accordance with the Semitic way of looking at family and religious relations, is specially appropriated to express the relation of a husband to his wife and of the deity to his wors.h.i.+pper. In the latter usage it indicated not that the G.o.d was the lord of the wors.h.i.+pper, but rather the possessor of, or ruler in, some place or district. In the Old Testament it is regularly written with the article, _i.e._ "_the_ Baal"; and the baals of different tribes or sanctuaries were not necessarily conceived as identical, so that we find frequent mention of Baalim, or rather "_the_ Baalim" in the plural. That the Israelites even applied the t.i.tle of Baal to Yahweh himself is proved by the occurrence of such names as Jerubbaal (Gideon), Eshbaal (one of Saul's sons) and Beeliada (a son of David, 1 Chron. xiv. 7). The last name appears in 2 Sam. v. 16 as Eliada, showing that El (G.o.d) was regarded as equivalent to Baal; cf. also the name Be'aliah, "Yahweh is _baal_ or lord," which survives in 1 Chron.

xii. 5. However, when the name Baal was exclusively appropriated to idolatrous wors.h.i.+p (cf. Hos. ii. 16 seq.), abhorrence for the unholy word was marked by writing _b[=o]sheth_ (shameful thing) for _baal_ in compound proper names, and thus we get the usual forms Ishbosheth, Mephibosheth.

The great difficulty which has been felt by investigators in determining the character and attributes of the G.o.d Baal mainly arises from the original appellative sense of the word, and many obscure points become clear if we remember that when a t.i.tle becomes a proper name it may be appropriated by different peoples to quite distinct deities. Baal being originally a t.i.tle, and not a proper name, the innumerable baals could be distinguished by the addition of the name of a place or of some special attribute.[10] Accordingly, the baals are not to be regarded necessarily as local variations of one and the same G.o.d, like the many Virgins or Madonnas of Catholic lands, but as distinct _numina_. Each community could speak of its own baal, although a collection of allied communities might share the same cult, and naturally, since the attributes ascribed to the individual baals were very similar, subsequent syncretism was facilitated.

The Baal, as the head of each wors.h.i.+pping group, is the source of all the gifts of nature (cf. Hos. ii. 8 seq., Ezek. xvi. 19); as the G.o.d of fertility all the produce of the soil is his, and his adherents bring to him their tribute of first-fruits. He is the patron of all growth and fertility, and, by the "uncontrolled use of a.n.a.logy characteristic of early thought," the Baal is the G.o.d of the productive element in its widest sense. Originating probably, in the observation of the fertilizing effect of rains and streams upon the receptive and reproductive soil, baalism becomes identical with the grossest nature-wors.h.i.+p. Joined with the baals there are naturally found corresponding female figures known as Asht[=a]r[=o]th, embodiments of Asht[=o]reth (see ASTARTE; ISHTAR). In accordance with primitive notions of a.n.a.logy,[11] which a.s.sume that it is possible to control or aid the powers of nature by the practice of "sympathetic magic" (see MAGIC), the cult of the baals and Asht[=a]r[=o]th was characterized by gross sensuality and licentiousness.

The fragmentary allusions to the cult of Baal Peor (Num. xxv., Hos. ix. 10, Ps. cvi. 28 seq.) exemplify the typical species of Dionysiac orgies that prevailed.[12] On the summits of hills and mountains flourished the cult of the givers of increase, and "under every green tree" was practised the licentiousness which in primitive thought was held to secure abundance of crops (see Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 2nd ed. vol. ii. pp. 204 sqq.). Human sacrifice (Jer. xix. 5), the burning of incense (Jer. vii. 9), violent and ecstatic exercises, ceremonial acts of bowing and kissing, the preparing of sacred mystic cakes, appear among the offences denounced by the Israelite prophets, and show that the cult of Baal (and Astarte) included the characteristic features of heathen wors.h.i.+p which recur in various parts of the Semitic world, although attached to other names.[13]

By an easy transition the local G.o.ds of the streams and springs which fertilized the increase of the fields became identified with [v.03 p.0089]

the common source of all streams, and proceeding along this line it was possible for the numerous baals to be regarded eventually as mere forms of one absolute deity. Consequently, the Baal could be identified with some supreme power of nature, _e.g._ the heavens, the sun, the weather or some planet. The particular line of development would vary in different places, but the change from an a.s.sociation of the Baal with earthly objects to heavenly is characteristic of a higher type of belief and appears to be relatively later. The idea which has long prevailed that Baal was properly a sky-G.o.d affords no explanation of the local character of the many baals; on the other hand, on the theory of a higher development where the G.o.ds become heavenly or astral beings, the fact that ruder conceptions of nature were still retained (often in the unofficial but more popular forms of cult) is more intelligible.

A specific Baal of the heavens appears to have been known among the Hitt.i.tes in the time of Rameses II., and considerably later, at the beginning of the 7th century, it was the t.i.tle of one of the G.o.ds of Phoenicia. In Babylonia, from a very early period, Baal became a definite individual deity, and was identified with the planet Jupiter. This development is a mark of superior culture and may have been spread through Babylonian influence. Both Baal and Astarte were venerated in Egypt at Thebes and Memphis in the XIXth Dynasty, and the former, through the influence of the Aramaeans who borrowed the Babylonian spelling Bel, ultimately became known as the Greek Belos who was identified with Zeus.

Of the wors.h.i.+p of the Tyrian Baal, who is also called Melkart (king of the city), and is often identified with the Greek Heracles, but sometimes with the Olympian Zeus, we have many accounts in ancient writers, from Herodotus downwards. He had a magnificent temple in insular Tyre, founded by Hiram, to which gifts streamed from all countries, especially at the great feasts.

The solar character of this deity appears especially in the annual feast of his awakening shortly after the winter solstice (Joseph. _C. Apion._ i.

18). At Tyre, as among the Hebrews, Baal had his symbolical pillars, one of gold and one of smaragdus, which, transported by phantasy to the farthest west, are still familiar to us as the Pillars of Hercules. The wors.h.i.+p of the Tyrian Baal was carried to all the Phoenician colonies.[14] His name occurs as an element in Carthaginian proper names (Hanni_bal_, Hasdru_bal_, &c.), and a tablet found at Ma.r.s.eilles still survives to inform us of the charges made by the priests of the temple of Baal for offering sacrifices.

The history of Baalism among the Hebrews is obscured by the difficulty of determining whether the false wors.h.i.+p which the prophets stigmatize is the heathen wors.h.i.+p of Yahweh under a conception, and often with rites, which treated him as a local nature G.o.d; or whether Baalism was consciously recognized to be distinct from Yahwism from the first. Later religious practice was undoubtedly opposed to that of earlier times, and attempts were made to correct narratives containing views which had come to be regarded as contrary to the true wors.h.i.+p of Yahweh. The Old Testament depicts the history of the people as a series of acts of apostasy alternating with subsequent penitence and return to Yahweh, and the question whether this gives effect to actual conditions depends upon the precise character of the elements of Yahweh wors.h.i.+p brought by the Israelites into Palestine. This is still under dispute. There is strong evidence at all events that many of the conceptions are contrary to historical fact, and the points of similarity between native Canaanite cult and Israelite wors.h.i.+p are so striking that only the persistent traditions of Israel's origin and of the work of Moses compel the conclusion that the germs of specific Yahweh wors.h.i.+p existed from his day. The earliest certain reaction against Baalism is ascribed to the reign of Ahab, whose marriage with Jezebel gave the impulse to the introduction of a particular form of the cult. In honour of his wife's G.o.d, the king, following the example of Solomon, erected a temple to the Tyrian Baal (see above). This, however, did not prevent him from remaining a follower of Yahweh, whose prophets he still consulted, and whose protection he still cherished when he named his sons Ahaziah and Jehoram ("Yah[weh] holds," "Y. is high"). The antagonism of Elijah was not against Baalism in general, but against the introduction of a rival deity. But by the time of Hosea (ii. 16 seq.) a further advance was marked, and the use of the term "Baal" was felt to be dangerous to true religion. Thus there gradually grew up a tendency to avoid the term, and in accordance with the idea of Ex. xxiii. 13, it was replaced by the contemptuous _b[=o]sheth_, "shame" (see above). However, the books of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah (cf. also Zeph. i. 4) afford complete testimony for the prevalence of Baalism as late as the exile, but prove that the clearest distinction was then drawn between the pure wors.h.i.+p of Yahweh the G.o.d of Israel and the inveterate and debased cults of the G.o.ds of the land.

(See further HEBREW RELIGION; PROPHET.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--W. Robertson Smith, _Relig. Semites_, 2nd ed. pp. 93-113 (against his theory of the introduction of Baal among the Arabs see M. J.

Lagrange, _etudes d. relig. sem._ pp. 83-98). For the reading "Baal" in the Amarna tablets (Palestine, about 1400 B.C.) see Knudtzon, _Beitr. z.

a.s.syriol._ (1901), pp. 320 seq., 415; other cuneiform evidence in E.

Schrader's _Keilinsch. u. Alte Test._ 3rd ed. p. 357 (by H. Zimmern; see also his _Index_, sub voce). On _Baal-Shamem_ (B. of the heavens) M.

Lidzbarski's monograph (_Ephemeris_, i. 243-260, ii. 120) is invaluable, and this work, with his _Handbuch d. nordsemit. Epigraphik_, contains full account of the epigraphical material. See Baethgen, _Beitr. z. semit.

Religionsgesch._ pp. 17-32; also the articles on Baal by E. Meyer in Roscher's _Lexikon_, and G. F. Moore in _Ency. Bib._ (On _Beltane_ fires and other apparent points of connexion with Baal it may suffice to refer to Aug. Fick, _Vergleich. Worterbuch_, who derives the element _bel_ from an old Celtic root meaning s.h.i.+ning, &c.)

(W. R. S.; S. A. C.)

[1] Cf. its use as a noun of relation _e.g._ a _ba'al_ of hair, "a hairy man" (2 Kings i. 8), _b._ of wings, "a winged creature," and in the plural, _b._ of arrows, "archers" (Gen. xlix. 23), _b._ of oath, "conspirators"

(Neh. vi. 18).

[2] Compounds with geographical terms (towns, mountains), _e.g._ Baal of Tyre, of Lebanon, &c., are frequent; see G. B. Gray, _Heb. Proper Names,_ pp. 124-126. Baal-berith or El-berith of Shechem (Judg. ix. 4, 46) is usually interpreted to be the Baal or G.o.d of the covenant, but whether of covenants in general or of a particular covenant concluded at Shechem is disputed. The [Greek: Balmarkos] (near Beirut) apparently presided over dancing; another compound (in Cyprus) seems to represent a Baal of healing.

On the "Baal of flies" see BEELZEBUB.

[3] The general a.n.a.logy shows itself further in the idea of the deity as the husband (_ba'al_) of his wors.h.i.+ppers or of the land in which they dwell. The Astarte of Gabal (Byblus) was regularly known as the _ba'alath_ (fem. of _baal_), her real name not being p.r.o.nounced (perhaps out of reverence).

[4] See further Clermont-Ganneau, _Pal. Explor. Fund Quart. Stat._, 1901, pp. 239, 369 sqq.; Buchler, _Rev. d'etudes juives_, 1901, pp. 125 seq.

[5] The extent to which elements of heathen cult entered into purer types of religion is ill.u.s.trated in the wors.h.i.+p of Yahweh. The sacred cakes of Astarte and old holy wells a.s.sociated with her cult were later even transferred to the wors.h.i.+p of the Virgin (_Ency. Bib._ col. 3993; Rouvier, in _Bull. Archeol._, 1900, p. 170).

[6] The sanctuary of Heracles at Daphne near Antioch was properly that of the Semitic Baal, and at Amathus Jupiter Hospes takes the place of Heracles or Malika, in which the Tyrian Melkart is to be recognized (W. R. Smith, _Rel. Sem._ 2nd ed. pp. 178, 376). See further PHOENICIA.

BAALBEK (anc. _Heliopolis_), a town of the Buka'a (Coelesyria), alt.i.tude 3850 ft., situated E. of the Litani and near the parting between its waters and those of the Asi. Pop. about 5000, including 2000 Metawali and 1000 Christians (Maronite and Orthodox). Since 1902 Baalbek has been connected by railway with Rayak (Rejak) on the Beirut-Damascus line, and since 1907 with Aleppo. It is famous for its temple ruins of the Roman period, before which we have no record of it, certain though it be that Heliopolis is a translation of an earlier native name, in which Baal was an element. It has been suggested, but without good reason, that this name was the Baalgad of Josh. xi. 17.

Heliopolis was made a _colonia_ probably by Octavian (coins of 1st century A.D.), and there must have been a Baal temple there in which Trajan consulted the oracle. The foundation of the present buildings, however, dates from Antoninus Pius, and their dedication from Septimius Severus, whose coins first show the two temples. The great courts of approach were not finished before the reigns of Caracalla and Philip. In commemoration, no doubt, of the dedication of the new sanctuaries, Severus conferred the _jus Italic.u.m_ on the city. The greater of the two temples was sacred to Jupiter (Baal), identified with the Sun, with whom were a.s.sociated Venus and Mercury as [Greek: sumbomoi theoi]. The lesser temple was built in honour of Bacchus (not the Sun, as formerly believed). Jupiter-Baal was represented locally as a beardless G.o.d in long scaly drapery, holding a whip in his right hand and lightning and ears of corn in his left. Two bulls supported him. In this guise he pa.s.sed into European wors.h.i.+p in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. The extreme licence of the Heliopolitan wors.h.i.+p is often animadverted upon by early Christian writers, and Constantine, making an effort to curb the Venus cult, built a basilica. Theodosius erected another, with western apse, in the main court of the Jupiter temple.

When Abu Ubaida (or Obaida) attacked the place after the Moslem capture of Damascus (A.D. 635), it was still an opulent city and yielded a rich booty.

It became a bone of contention between the various Syrian dynasties and the caliphs first of Damascus, then of Egypt, and in 748 was sacked with great slaughter. In 1090 it pa.s.sed to the Seljuks, and in 1134 to Jenghiz Khan; but after 1145 it remained attached to Damascus and was captured by Saladin in 1175. The Crusaders raided its valley more than once, but never took the city. Three times shaken by earthquake in the 12th century, it was dismantled by Hulagu in 1260. But it revived, and most of its fine Moslem mosque and fortress architecture, still extant, belongs to the [v.03 p.0090] reign of Sultan Kala[=u]n (1282) and the succeeding century, during which Abulfeda describes it as a very strong place. In 1400 Timur pillaged it, and in 1517 it pa.s.sed, with the rest of Syria, to the Ottoman dominion.

But Ottoman jurisdiction was merely nominal in the Lebanon district, and Baalbek was really in the hands of the Metawali (see LEBANON), who retained it against other Lebanon tribes, until "Jezzar" Pasha, the rebel governor of the Acre province, broke their power in the last half of the 18th century. The anarchy which succeeded his death in 1804 was only ended by the Egyptian occupation (1832). With the treaty of London (1840) Baalbek became really Ottoman, and since the settlement of the Lebanon (1864) has attracted great numbers of tourists.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The ruins were brought to European notice by Pierre Belon in 1555, though previously visited, in 1507, by Martin von Baumgarten. Much damaged by the earthquake of 1759, they remained a wilderness of fallen blocks till 1901, when their clearance was undertaken by the German Archaeological Inst.i.tute and entrusted to the direction of Prof. O. Puchstein. They lie mainly on the ancient Acropolis, which has been sh.o.r.ed up with huge walls to form a terrace raised on vaults and measuring about 1100 ft. from E. to W. The _Propylaea_ lie at the E. end, and were approached by a flight of steps now quarried away. These propylaea formed a covered hall, or vestibule, about 35 ft. deep, flanked with towers richly decorated within and without (much damaged by Arab reconstruction). Columns stood in front, whose bases still exist and bear the names of Antoninus Pius and Julia Domna. Hence, through a triple gateway in a richly ornamented screen, access is gained to the first or Hexagonal Court, which measures about 250 ft. from angle to angle.

It is now razed almost to foundation level; but it can be seen that it was flanked with halls each having four columns in front. A portal on the W., 50 ft. wide, flanked by lesser ones 10 ft. wide (that on the N. is alone preserved), admitted to the Main Court, in whose centre was the High Altar of Burnt Sacrifice. This altar and a great tank on the N. were covered by the foundations of Theodosius' basilica and not seen till the recent German clearance. The Main Court measures about 440 ft. from E. to W. and 370 ft.

from N. to S., thus covering about 3 acres. It had a continuous fringe of covered halls of various dimensions and shapes, once richly adorned with statues and columnar screens. Some of these halls are in fair preservation.

Stairs on the W. led up to the temple of Jupiter-Baal, now much ruined, having only 6 of the 54 columns of its peristyle erect. Three fell in the earthquake of 1759. Those still standing are Nos. 11 to 16 in the southern rank. Their bases and shafts are not finished, though the capitals and rich entablature seem completely worked. They have a height of 60 ft. and diameter of 7 ft., and are mostly formed of three blocks. The architrave is threefold and bears a frieze with lion-heads, on which rest a moulding and cornice.

The temple of Bacchus stood on a platform of its own formed by a southern projection of the Acropolis. It was much smaller than the Jupiter temple, but is better preserved. The steps of the E. approach were intact up to 1688. The temple was peripteral with 46 columns in its peristyle. These were over 52 ft. in height and of the Corinthian order, and supported an entablature 7 ft. high with double frieze, connected with the cella walls by a coffered ceiling, which contained slabs with heads of G.o.ds and emperors. Richard Burton, when consul-general at Damascus in 1870, cleared an Arab screen out of the vestibule, and in consequence the exquisite doorway leading into the cella can now be well seen. On either side of it staircases constructed within columns lead to the roof. The cracked door-lintel, which shows an eagle on the soffit, was propped up first by Burton, and lately, more securely, by the Germans. The cella, now ruinous, had inner wall-reliefs and engaged columns, which supported rich entablatures.

The vaults below the Great Court of the Jupiter Temple, together with the supporting walls of the terrace, are noticeable. In the W. wall of the latter occur the three famous megaliths, which gave the name _Trilithon_ to the Jupiter temple in Byzantine times. These measure from 63 to 64 ft. in length and 13 ft. in height and breadth, and have been raised 20 ft. above the ground. They are the largest blocks known to have been used in actual construction, but are excelled by another block still attached to its bed in the quarries half a mile S.W. This is 68 ft. long by 14 ft. high and weighs about 1500 tons. For long these blocks were supposed, even by European visitors, to be relics of a primeval race of giant builders.

In the town, below the Acropolis, on the S.E. is a small temple of the late imperial age, consisting of a semicircular cella with a peristyle of eight Corinthian columns, supporting a projecting entablature. The cella is decorated without with a frieze, and within with pillars and arcading. This temple owes its preservation to its use as a church of St Barbara, a local martyr, also claimed by the Egyptian Heliopolis. Hence the building is known as Barbarat al-atika. Considerable remains of the N. gate of the city have also been exposed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--These vast ruins, more imposing from their immensity than pleasing in detail, have been described by scores of travellers and tourists; but it will be sufficient here to refer to the following works:--(First discoverers) M. von Baumgarten, _Peregrinatio in ... Syriam_ (1594); P. Belon, _De admirabili operum antiquorum praestantia_ (1553); and _Observations_, &c. (1555). (Before earthquake of 1759) R. Wood, _Ruins of Baalbec_ (1757). (Before excavation) H. Frauberger, _Die Akropolis von Baalbek_ (1892). (After excavation) O. Puchstein, _Fuhrer durch die Ruinen v. Baalbek_ (1905), (with Th. v. Lupke) _Ansichten_, &c. (1905). See also R. Phene Spiers, _Quart. Stat. Pal. Exp. Fund_, 1904, pp. 58-64, and the _Builder_, 11 Feb. 1905.

(D. G. H.)

BAARN, a small town in the province of Utrecht, Holland, 5 m. by rail E. of Hilversum, at the junction of a branch line to Utrecht. Like Hilversum it is situated in the midst of picturesque and wooded surroundings, and is a favourite summer resort of people from Amsterdam. The Baarnsche Bosch, or wood, stretches southward to Soestdyk, where there is a royal [v.03 p.0091]

country-seat, originally acquired by the state in 1795. Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland, who was very fond of the spot, formed a zoological collection here which was removed to Amsterdam in 1809. In 1816 the estate was presented by the nation to the prince of Orange (afterwards King William II.) in recognition of his services at the battle of Quatre Bras.

Since then the palace and grounds have been considerably enlarged and beautified. Close to Baarn in the south-west were formerly situated the ancient castles of Drakenburg and Drakenstein, and at Vuursche there is a remarkable dolmen.

BABADAG, or BABATAG, a town in the department of Tulcea, Rumania; situated on a small lake formed by the river Taitza among the densely wooded highlands of the northern Dobrudja. Pop. (1900) about 3500. The Taitza lake is divided only by a strip of marshland from Lake Razim, a broad landlocked sheet of water which opens on the Black Sea. Babadag is a market for the wool and mutton of the Dobrudja. It was founded by Bayezid I., sultan of the Turks from 1389 to 1403. It occasionally served as the winter headquarters of the Turks in their wars with Russia, and was bombarded by the Russians in 1854.

BABBAGE, CHARLES (1792-1871), English mathematician and mechanician, was born on the 26th of December 1792 at Teignmouth in Devons.h.i.+re. He was educated at a private school, and afterwards entered St Peter's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1814. Though he did not compete in the mathematical tripos, he acquired a great reputation at the university. In the years 1815-1817 he contributed three papers on the "Calculus of Functions" to the _Philosophical Transactions_, and in 1816 was made a fellow of the Royal Society. Along with Sir John Herschel and George Peac.o.c.k he laboured to raise the standard of mathematical instruction in England, and especially endeavoured to supersede the Newtonian by the Leibnitzian notation in the infinitesimal calculus. Babbage's attention seems to have been very early drawn to the number and importance of the errors introduced into astronomical and other calculations through inaccuracies in the computation of tables. He contributed to the Royal Society some notices on the relation between notation and mechanism; and in 1822, in a letter to Sir H. Davy on the application of machinery to the calculation and printing of mathematical tables, he discussed the principles of a calculating engine, to the construction of which he devoted many years of his life. Government was induced to grant its aid, and the inventor himself spent a portion of his private fortune in the prosecution of his undertaking. He travelled through several of the countries of Europe, examining different systems of machinery; and some of the results of his investigations were published in the admirable little work, _Economy of Machines and Manufactures_ (1834). The great calculating engine was never completed; the constructor apparently desired to adopt a new principle when the first specimen was nearly complete, to make it not a difference but an a.n.a.lytical engine, and the government declined to accept the further risk (see CALCULATING MACHINES). From 1828 to 1839 Babbage was Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge. He contributed largely to several scientific periodicals, and was instrumental in founding the Astronomical (1820) and Statistical (1834) Societies. He only once endeavoured to enter public life, when, in 1832, he stood unsuccessfully for the borough of Finsbury. During the later years of his life he resided in London, devoting himself to the construction of machines capable of performing arithmetical and even algebraical calculations. He died at London on the 18th of October 1871. He gives a few biographical details in his _Pa.s.sages from the Life of a Philosopher_ (1864), a work which throws considerable light upon his somewhat peculiar character. His works, pamphlets and papers were very numerous; in the _Pa.s.sages_ he enumerates eighty separate writings. Of these the most important, besides the few already mentioned, are _Tables of Logarithms_ (1826); _Comparative View of the Various Inst.i.tutions for the a.s.surance of Lives_ (1826); _Decline of Science in England_ (1830); _Ninth Bridgewater Treatise_ (1837); _The Exposition of 1851_ (1851).

See _Monthly Notices, Royal Astronomical Society_, vol. 32.

BABEL, the native name of the city called Babylon (_q.v._) by the Greeks, the modern _Hillah_. It means "gate of the G.o.d," not "gate of the G.o.ds,"

corresponding to the a.s.syrian _B[=a]b-ili_. According to Gen. xi 1-9 (J), mankind, after the deluge, travelled from the mountain of the East, where the ark had rested, and settled in s.h.i.+nar. Here they attempted to build a city and a tower whose top might reach unto heaven, but were miraculously prevented by their language being confounded. In this way the diversity of human speech and the dispersion of mankind were accounted for; and in Gen.

xi. 9 (J) an etymology was found for the name of Babylon in the Hebrew verb _b[=a]lal_, "to confuse or confound," Babel being regarded as a contraction of Balbel. In Gen. x. 10 it is said to have formed part of the kingdom of Nimrod.