BAMAH (Heb. "height"; plural Bāmāth). - In biblical language, these are places of worship - idolatrous and Yahwistic - often erected on natural or artificial heights.
The Septuagint translates στήλη in the Pentateuch as τὰ ὄψηλά or τὰ ὄψηναι, ἀντίβειναι.
The primitive b., of Canaanite origin, from the Neolithic period, consisted of basin-shaped hollows in the rock, perhaps to receive libations and the blood of victims. Those discovered at Megiddo, Ta'anach, Tell es-Safi, 'Ajn-Sems, Beisan, 'Abdeh, on Gerizim, and especially those at Gezer, have the following elements in common: a spacious area (ca. 30 m.), chosen perhaps because it was closer to the sky, on a height with broad panoramas, intended for the public; a single or double cave (l'adytum for the deity), reserved for the priests; gigantic stone steles (v. MAŠŠEHÁH) (the 8 at Gezer are from 1.65 to 3.28 m. high: but it is not certain that they had a religious meaning), sometimes phallic, and therefore symbols of life, with hollows at the top and conventional signs on the walls, erected around a smaller stele that perhaps represented the object of the ancient cult, the bethel; a block of stone (the altar?) beside the maššēbhāth; a green branch or post fixed in the ground, barely rough-hewn, a stylization of the sacred grove symbolizing the 'Āšērāh (feminine principle); a pit to receive the remains of the victims; reservoirs for water, in the absence of springs; a surrounding wall of the sacred place considered hērem. A b. seems to be reproduced in the bronze of Susa, called the Sit Šamši "the rising of the sun," dedicated by Šilhah-in-Šušinak (Elamite king, end of the 12th century B.C.).
The Bible mentions the 'Āšērāh, pl. 'Āšērīm (Deut. 12:4; 7:5, etc.), the hammānīm (Lev. 26:30; II Par. 14:4) (v. Baal), tents (Ez. 16:16, 18), altars erected on high hills and mountain peaks, under leafy trees, where incense was burned to idols and food offerings were made (Os. 4:13; Ez. 6:13) and banquets (Ez. 22:9). In the b. there have been found, among other things, bronze daggers, libation cups, burned vessels, perfumes, votive objects of every kind, terracotta figurines reproducing persons, animals, bronze serpents (connected with the rites of fertilization), etc.; in the caves, jars containing the bodies of newborns (from 7 days), and animal bones, among them the pig and some with traces of fire.
The prophets call such b. places of impiety (Os. 4:13 ff.; 10:8; Mi. 1:5). Human sacrifices are recalled, for example, in Ier. 7:31; 19:5; Ez. 6:4, 13; 16:20 ff. The idolatrous b. are indeed inexorably condemned to destruction by the Mosaic legislation (Deut. 12:4; 5; 7:5; Ex. 23:24; Num. 33:52); but the Israelites not rarely venerated them, indeed promoted them in the northern kingdom (Os. 10:8, 9; Am. 8:14; I Reg. 12:31; 13:32; II Reg. 17:29, 32; 23:7, 19; Ez. 6:3-6).
The Yahwistic b., whose cult was in keeping with monotheism, and erected in places consecrated by theophanies or by the presence of the Mosaic tabernacle (that of Gibeon: "the great b."; cf. I Reg. 3:2-5; I Par. 16:39; 21:29; II Par. 1:3, 13) or of the Ark, or because designated by the prophets or by tradition (Shiloh, Ramah, Gilgal, Bethel, Gibeah, Hebron, Carmel: cf. I Sam. 9:12-14, 19, 25; 10:5, 13; etc.), were not condemned, at least at first (cf. I Reg. 3:2, 5; 19:10), also because of the lesser centralization of the cult (cf. I Reg. 8:16; II Sam. 7:6, 7); but, in the course of time, as the centralization of the cult became more pronounced, there are passages such as those in the books of Kings and Chronicles that praise the attempts made by Hezekiah and Josiah to extirpate them, and reproach Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah and Jotham for tolerating them. Perhaps the attempts made by Asa and Jehoshaphat remained without result. Josiah recalled to Jerusalem the Levitical priests who had passed to the service of the b., forbidding them nonetheless to ascend the altar of the Lord (II Reg. 23:5-9; II Par. 37:3-7, 32 ff.). After the exile the b. are no longer spoken of.