Category: Sacred Stones
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Baetylus
Baetylus (also Baetyl, Bethel, or Betyl, from Semitic bet el “house of god”; compare Bethel, Beit El) are sacred stones that were supposedly endowed with life, or gave access to a deity. According to ancient sources, at least some of these objects of worship were meteorites, which were dedicated to the gods or revered as symbols of the gods themselves. Other accounts suggest that contact with…