Smiting God

Place CreatedAsia

CultureCanaanite

PeriodMiddle Bronze Age

Date2000-1600 BCE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift in honor of Monique Seefried

Dimensions7 1/2 x 2 3/4 x 2 3/4" (19 x 7 x 7 cm)

Object number2002.019.001

Label TextBa'al, a deity mentioned in the Bible, was often depicted as a figure in full stride with one arm raised and the other held out, each intended to wield a weapon such as a spear and mace or thunderbolt. A number of Cannanite gods are shown in this pose, so it is difficult to say for certain who is represented here. Most of these deities wear an Egyptian style kilt and the tall atef crown, commonly associated with the Egyptian god Osiris. Egypt had long dominated the region politically, economically, and culturally, and so had a tremendous influence on the art of the Levant at this time.

This image was cast in bronze and has two tangs at the sole of each foot to attach it to some sort of base. It would probably have been left as an offering in a temple. The Bible records the Israelites destroying a temple of Ba'al filled with his images: They broke down the altars of the Ba'al in his presence, and the incense altars which [were] above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and scattered [it] on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. (2 Chronicles 34:4)
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - February 12, 2018
Michael C. Carlos Museum Morgens West Foundation Galleries of Ancient Near Eastern Art, November 10, 2018 - Present
Published ReferencesRoyal-Athena Galleries, Art of the Ancient World Volume XI (2000), 58, number 150.
Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 34.

ProvenanceEx. coll. A.M. Eldefrawi, San Diego, California, acquired in Lebanon, early 1960s. With Jerome Eisenberg (1930-2022) [Royal-Athena Galleries], New York, New York, from at least 2000. Purchased by MCCM from Royal-Athena Galleries.

Status

On view

Collections