Image Details

© RMN-GRAND PALAIS / ART RESOURCE, NY

RIDER ON THE CLOUDS. Measuring almost 5 feet tall and dating from the late 13th century BCE, this stela was discovered at the site of Ugarit in northwestern Syria. It depicts the storm god Baal, with his right hand raised and holding a club or mace, and his left hand stretched in front of him holding a thunderbolt. The smaller figure in front of him may represent a king of Ugarit. His hands clasped in prayer, the king is likely receiving divine protection from Baal. A number of biblical passages suggest that when Yahweh became Israel’s patron deity under the Omrides, he took on many of Baal’s features, including being a storm god and appropriating Baal’s frequent epithet “rider on the clouds.”