Her′culès (Ἡρακλῆς) is mentioned in 2 Macc.

4:19 as the Tyrian god to whom the

Jewish high-priest Jason sent a religious embassy (θεωροί), with the offering of 300
drachmæ of silver. That this Tyrian Hercules (Herod. ii.44) is the same as the Tyrian Baal
is evident from a bilingual Phœnician inscription found at Malta (described by Gesenius,
Monum. Ling. Phœn. i, 96), in which the Phœnician words, “To our Lord, to Melkarth,
the Baal of Tyre,” are represented by the Greek ‘Ηρακλεῖ Ἀρχηγέτει. Moreover, Herakles
and Astarte are mentioned together by Josephus (Ant. viii, 5, 3), just in the same
manner as Baal and Ashtoreth are in the Old Testament. The further identity of this
Tyrian Baal with the Baal whom the idolatrous Israelites worshipped is evinced by the
following arguments, as stated chiefly by Movers (Die Phönicier, i, 178). The worship of
Baal, which prevailed in the time of the Judges, was put down by Samuel (1 Sam. 7:4),
and the effects of that suppression appear to have lasted through the next few
centuries, as Baal is not enumerated among the idols of Solomon (1 Kings 11:5–8; 2
Kings 23:13), nor among those worshipped in Judah (2 Kings 23:12), or in Samaria,
where we only read of the golden calves of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28; 15:26). That
worship of Baal which prevailed in the reign of Ahab cannot, therefore, be regarded as a
mere continuation or revival of the old Canaanitish idolatry (although there is no reason
to doubt the essential identity of both Baals), but was introduced directly from Phœnicia
by Ahab’s marriage with the Sidonian princess Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31). In like manner,
the establishment of this idolatry in Judah is ascribed to the marriage of the king with a
daughter of Jezebel (comp. Josephus, Ant. viii, 13, 1; ix, 6, 6).
The power of nature, which was worshipped under the form of the Tyrian Hercules,
Melkarth, Baal, Adonis, Moloch, and whatever his other names are, was that which
originates, sustains, and destroys life. These functions of the Deity, according to the
Phœnicians, were represented, although not exclusively, by the sun, the influence of
which both animates vegetation by its genial warmth, and scorches it up by its fervor
(see Davis, Carthage, p. 276–9).
Almost all that we know of the worship of the Tyrian Hercules is preserved by the
classical writers, and relates chiefly to the Phœnician colonies, and not to the mother
state. The eagle, the lion, and the thunny-fish were sacred to him, and are often found
on Phœnician coins. Pliny expressly testifies that human sacrifices were offered up every
year to the Carthaginian Hercules (Hist. Nat. xxxvi, v, 12), which coincides with what is
stated of Baal in Jer. 19:5, and with the acknowledged worship of Moloch. Mention is
made of public embassies sent from the colonies to the mother state to honor the
national god (Arrian, Alex. ii, 24; Q. Curt. iv, 2; Polyb. xxxi.20), and this fact places in a
clearer light the offence of Jason in sending envoys to his festival (2 Macc. 4:19).
Movers endeavors to show that Herakles and Hercules are not merely Greek and
Latin synonymes for this god, but that they are actually derived from his true Phœnician
name. This original name he supposes to have consisted of the syllables (as found
in , lion, and in other words), meaning strong, and 厨, from 厨 , to conquer; so
that the compound means Ar conquers. This harmonizes with what he conceives to be
the idea represented by Hercules as the destroyer of Typhonic monsters (l. c. p. 430).
Melkarth, the Μελίκαρθος of Sanchoniathon, occurs on coins only in the form 䓽 䘑.
We must in this case assume that a kaph has been absorbed, and resolve the word into
䘑 䓽, king of the city, πολιοῦχος. The bilingual inscription renders it by Ἀρχηγέτης;
and it is a title of the god as the patron of the city. See BAAL.1

l. c. loc. cit. = the passage quoted.

1
M’Clintock, J., & Strong, J. (1891). Her Cul⿏s. In Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological,
and Ecclesiastical Literature (Vol. 4, p. 194). New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers.