[German Version]

(Heb. כַּרְמֶל, “fruit garden, orchard”), limestone and chalk mountain range in northern Palestine, up to 552m high, to the south of the tribe of Asher (Josh 19:26; Tribes of Israel). The OT praises the mountain's beauty (Isa 35:2). In the 3rd and 2nd millennia bce, it is referred to in Egyptian sources as “nose of a gazelle,” and later as “holy head,” probably alluding to a sanctuary. On the Carmel, the Canaanite-Phoenician ¶ god Baal was worshiped, who is equated with Zeus in Ps.-Skylax, Periplus 104 (4th cent. bce), according to Tacitus Hist. 78.3 and Suet. Vesp. 5.6 call…