ament to let
the rain fall and split the giant trees of the woods with the double ax
that always remained his emblem.[68] When the progress of astronomy removed
the constellations to incommensurable distances, the "Baal of the Heavens"
(_Ba'al [vs]amin_) had to grow in majesty. Undoubtedly at the time of the
Achemenides, he was connected with the Ahura-Mazda of the Persians, the
ancient god of the vault of heaven, who had become the highest physical and
moral power, and this connection helped to transform the old genius of
thunder.[69] People continued to worship the material heaven in him; under
the Romans he was still simply called {128} _Caelus_, as well as "Celestial
Jupiter" (_Jupiter Caelestis_, [Greek: Zeus Ouranios]),[70] but it was a
heaven studied by a sacred science that venerated its harmonious mechanism.
The Seleucides represented him on their coins with a crescent over his
forehead and carrying a sun with seven rays, to symbolize the fact that he
presided over the course of the stars;[71] or else he was shown with the
two Dioscuri at his side, heroes who enjoyed life and suffered death in
turn, according to the Greek myth, and who had become the symbols of the
two celestial hemispheres. Religious uranography placed the residence of
the supreme divinity in the most elevated region of the world, fixing its
abode in the zone most distant from the earth, above the planets and the
fixed stars. This fact was intended to be expressed by the term Most-High
([Greek: Hupsistos]) applied to the Syrian Baals as well as to Jehovah.[72]
According to this cosmic religion, the Most High resided in the immense orb
that contained the spheres of all the stars and embraced the entire
universe which was subject to his domination. The Latins translated the
name of this "Hypsistos" by _Jupiter summus exsuperantissimus_[73] to
indicate his preeminence over all divine beings.

As a matter of fact, his power was infinite. The primary postulate of the
Chaldean astrology was that all phenomena and events of this world were
necessarily determined by sidereal influence. The changes of nature, as
well as the dispositions of men, were controlled according to fate, by the
divine energies that resided in the heavens. In other words, the gods were
almighty; they were the masters of destiny that governed the universe
absolutely. The notion of their {129} omnipotence resulted from the
development of the ancient autocracy with which the Baals we