Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Baphomet, an entity worshipped as an idol, demon, and deity, depending on the group, particularly by pagans and gnostics, and depending on the time, as documentation of him goes back almost 1,000 years. Some modern conceptualizations present him as a nexus of opposites, comprising a network of dichotomies and thereby personifying balance. Also called the Goat of Mendes, the Judas Goat, and the Black Goat, Baphomet is, today, either portrayed as a half-human, half-goat figure, or as a goat head. These depictions largely stem from a French occult book written in the 19th century, as we'll see. In the middle ages, idols of Baphomet included: human heads carved of wood or wrought of metal, decorated with curly black hair, stuffed human heads, and human skulls. He became inextricably linked with the Knights Templar when several heinous accusations, such as the worship of Baphomet, were levelled against this order of monastic knights. Let's get into it.The first record of Baphomet comes from a letter written by Anselm of Ribemont in 1098 that describes the Siege of Antioch, which took place during the First Crusade. One line says the Turks "called loudly upon Baphomet". It has been suggested that the name could be a corruption of Muhammad or Mahomet. Another theory, this one from Montague Summers, an English occult historian, postulates that it could be the combination of two Greek words, baphe and metis, which, put together, would mean something like 'absorption of knowledge.
