Baal, the Canaanite Thunder God

A limestone stele, 56 inches tall, 20 inches wide, and 11 inches thick. with a carved relief of the Canaanite storm-god Baal. From Ras-Shamra in modern Lebanon, a city anciently called Ugarit. 14th-13th centuries BC. Louvre Museum In his right hand Baal wields a stone or iron war club, and in his left a spear. It’s a very odd spear, though. Its wooden handle appears to be growing twigs and leaves, testifying to the power of a storm god to ensure the fertility of a nation’s crops. So I approve of the colorized depiction of it above in our thread box, and wonder about Wickipeadia’s or the museum’s claim that it is a thunderbolt. If so, it is being hurled down by the storm-god from the heavens with forked lightning at the top as the spear point at the bottom enters the earth – the opposite of a real thunderbolt, which forks as it descends? Beneath Baal’s feet are the two domains of his kingdom: a rolling chain of mountains, and the rolling waves of the sea. He stands here hugely, as we say of his big storms, of “biblical proportions.”
Like Zeus. and his brother Poseidon, the Greek storm god of the sea, Baal was depicted as a bull. Or rather a “bullock,” a young bull or calf – possibly the “calf of gold” worshipped by the idolatrous Israelites during their Exodus from Egypt (“Exodus” ch 32, 4.1). Baal probably had to be a young bull because the old creator god El was the original old bull. And so, unlike the 3-tiered crown of bull horns worn by top-tier Mesopotamian gods, Baal wears a single pair of horns on his war helmet. Beneath it the bearded god’s hair hangs down in two braids, ending in coiled ringlets – one down his back and the other on his chest. (If the image looks awkward, it is because front and side views of his torso are combined in the Egyptian manner.) His body is bare except for a striped kilt. held by a wide belt holding a curved dagger.
Beneath the dagger, and beside the spear, is a tiny figure standing on a horned altar. He is bare-headed and wears a ceremonial dress to give homage to his god. He is probably the king of Ugarit, but you can see who is The Boss here, the real power behind the throne. Here’s another version of the same scene, except that here the king has entirely disappeared!

After all, Baal – or Bael – is actually a two-word title or job description: Ba-Al – or Ba-El, meaning, “The Lord” or “The Master.” Don’t forget it!
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Picture source and info on the Louvre stele: Wikimedia Commons and the Wikipedia article, “Baal with Thunderbolt.”
As for the bottom version of the Baal stele, I don’t know if it’s authentic, a forgery or a modern knockoff from the Louvre stele. I found it at http://www.christianfaith.com.au/resources/baal-and-asherah