Baphomet is the name of an idol that the Knights Templar were accused of worshipping during their trials in the early fourteenth century. Most historians see the charge as a fabrication and the name as a corruption of "Mahomet." The familiar winged, goat-headed figure was created much later, in 1856, by the French occultist Eliphas Levi, and has since become a widely recognized occult symbol.
Baphomet at a glance
| Type | Alleged idol; later occult symbol |
|---|---|
| First linked to Templars | Trials beginning 1307, under Philip IV of France |
| Likely etymology | Old French corruption of "Mahomet" (Muhammad) |
| Modern image | Eliphas Levi, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1854-1856) |
| Later adopters | Aleister Crowley; Church of Satan; The Satanic Temple |
| Satanic Temple statue | Unveiled 2015 |
The Name and Its Origins
The word Baphomet appears in medieval sources before the Templar affair. A letter written during the First Crusade around 1098 mentions "Baphometh" in a way that most scholars read as a Latin form of Mahomet, the usual medieval European name for the Prophet Muhammad. Occitan troubadour poetry of the thirteenth century uses similar forms such as "Bafomet" in the same sense. For this reason the dominant view today is that Baphomet is simply an Old French corruption of the name Muhammad, used by Christian writers who wrongly imagined that Muslims worshipped images of their prophet.
Other etymologies have been proposed over the centuries. In the eighteenth century it was suggested that the word came from Greek words meaning "baptism of wisdom." In the twentieth century the scholar Hugh Schonfield argued that the name, decoded with the Hebrew Atbash cipher, yields the Greek word Sophia, wisdom. These readings have attracted interest in esoteric circles but are not accepted by most historians.
The Trials of the Knights Templar
On 13 October 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar in his kingdom. The order was charged with a range of offenses, including denying Christ, spitting on the cross, indecent initiation rites and worshipping an idol, sometimes described as a head. In a small number of the confessions obtained, many of them under torture, the idol is given the name Baphomet. The descriptions were inconsistent: some witnesses spoke of a bearded head, others of a figure with several faces, and many knew nothing about it at all.
Most historians conclude that the charges were fabricated or exaggerated to serve the political and financial interests of the French crown, and that the confessions reflect the pressure of interrogation rather than real practices. Pope Clement V suppressed the order in 1312, and its last grand master, Jacques de Molay, was burned in Paris in 1314. The idea of a secret Templar idol nevertheless survived and later fed legends about hidden Templar wisdom.
From Romantic Theory to Eliphas Levi
Interest in the Templars revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, partly through Freemasonic legends that claimed descent from the order. In 1818 the Austrian orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall published an essay arguing that the Templars were secret Gnostics who worshipped Baphomet; his evidence, which included objects later judged to be forgeries or misidentified, was rejected by other scholars.
The image most people associate with Baphomet was created by the French occultist Eliphas Levi in Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1854-1856). His frontispiece shows a seated winged figure with a goat's head, a pentagram on the brow, a torch between the horns, female breasts and a caduceus at the lap, with one arm pointing up and the other down. Levi intended it as a symbol of the balance of opposites, not as a devil to be worshipped. The raised and lowered arms echo the Hermetic principle discussed in the entry as above, so below.
Hoaxes, Crowley and Modern Satanism
At the end of the nineteenth century, Levi's figure was reused in the anti-Masonic writings of Leo Taxil, who claimed that Freemasons secretly worshipped Baphomet. In 1897 Taxil publicly admitted that his revelations were a hoax, but the image of Baphomet as a Masonic or satanic idol had already spread widely.
In the twentieth century Aleister Crowley took Baphomet as his title within the Ordo Templi Orientis and interpreted it in terms of the union of opposites. The goat's head inside an inverted pentagram, drawn from a nineteenth-century French occult book by Stanislas de Guaita, was adopted by the Church of Satan in the 1960s as its emblem, often called the Sigil of Baphomet. In 2015 The Satanic Temple unveiled a large bronze Baphomet statue, intended as a response to Ten Commandments monuments on public land and presented as a statement about religious pluralism.
Interpretation and Related Symbols
Baphomet is therefore best understood as a layered symbol. Its medieval layer is a slander, arising from Christian misconceptions about Islam and from the politics of the Templar trials. Its nineteenth-century layer is an artistic and philosophical creation of French occultism, meant to express the reconciliation of opposites such as male and female, light and dark, spirit and matter. Its modern layer includes both religious and satirical uses by contemporary Satanist groups.
The figure strongly influenced popular imagery of the Devil, including the design of The Devil card in many modern tarot decks. Readers may also compare the Gnostic deity Abraxas, the accusations of devil worship discussed in the Black Mass, and the ceremonial magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Related entries
On The Mystica today: The Devil tarot card
Frequently asked questions
Did the Knights Templar really worship Baphomet?
Most historians think not. The accusation appeared in confessions extracted during the trials that began in 1307, often under torture, and descriptions of the supposed idol were inconsistent. The charges are generally seen as fabricated or exaggerated to justify the destruction of the order by the French crown.
What does the name Baphomet mean?
The most widely accepted explanation is that it is an Old French corruption of "Mahomet," the medieval European form of the name Muhammad. Alternative theories, such as a Greek "baptism of wisdom" or an Atbash cipher producing "Sophia," are popular in esoteric circles but lack scholarly support.
Who created the goat-headed image of Baphomet?
The French occultist Eliphas Levi drew it for his book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, published in 1854-1856. His winged, androgynous figure with a goat's head was designed as a symbol of the balance of opposites. Later groups reused and reinterpreted the image in very different ways.
Sources and further reading
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026.