baetyl

Definitions

noun a meteorite or similar-looking rough stone thought to be of divine origin and worshipped as sacred.

From Latin baetulus, from Ancient Greek βαίτυλος (baítylos, "a meteoric stone.").

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Such stones were thought to be the residence of a god hence the term applied to them by Byzantine Christian writers of the fifth and sixth centuries: 'baetyl', from bet'el, 'the house of god'.'

Archive 2008-03-01 Jan 2008
At the foot of one of the trilithons was found a baetyl 51 inches in height, now in the museum at

Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908
In Malta Sir Arthur Evans sees signs of a baetyl-worship very similar to this.

Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908
This latter was an aneiconic worship developed out of the cult of the dead; in it the deity or hero was represented by a baetyl, i.e. a tree or pillar sometimes standing free, sometimes placed in a 'dolmen-like' cell or shrine, in which latter case the pillar often served to support the roof of the shrine.

Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908
If the pillar which supports the slab is, like the free-standing pillars, a baetyl, the slab is probably a mere roof to cover and protect it; if not, the slab is almost certainly a table.

Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908
It has been suggested that this pit was made to hold the base of the cult-object, whether it was a baetyl or an idol.

Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908
This pillar can hardly be anything but a baetyl, or sacred stone.

Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908