By Dr. Margaret Hollis, Lead Editor Last reviewed 13 June 2026 First published 13 June 2026 Fact-checked by Dr. Tom Marsden, Trinity College Dublin

What Is Baphomet?

The Baphomet is one of the most famous and mysterious objects in the history of the Knights Templar. According to the confessions extracted under torture in 1307, the Templars were said to worship a mysterious head called Baphomet at the ceremony of initiation. The head was variously described as a skull, a figure with three faces, a golden head, and a dried head. The Baphomet charge was one of the most sensational elements of the trial, and it has given rise to a vast mythology in subsequent centuries.

This article examines the history of the Baphomet charge. It is a companion to The Trial of Jacques de Molay and to Templar Mythology, Symbolism and Hidden Knowledge.

The Confessions of 1307

The Baphomet charge first emerged in the confessions extracted under torture in France in October and November 1307. According to the standard confession, the candidate was shown the Baphomet at the ceremony of initiation, and he was required to venerate it. The head was sometimes described as a skull, sometimes as a figure with three faces, sometimes as a golden head with precious stones for eyes.

The most famous description of the Baphomet comes from the confession of Esquiu de Floyran, a Templar preceptor in the south of France. He described the Baphomet as “a head, appearing to have three faces, and other things.” Other descriptions include:

A skull of unusual appearance.
A dried head, sometimes identified with a specific historical figure.
A figure with three faces or three heads.
A golden head with precious stones for eyes.
A small figure in the form of a man.

The variety of descriptions suggests that the Baphomet was either a product of the brothers’ imagination under torture, or that the trial judges were trying to extract a specific confession that fit their pre-existing theories.

For the context of the confessions, see Were the Knights Templar Guilty of Heresy?.

Possible Identifications

Several possible identifications of the Baphomet have been proposed over the centuries:

Muhammad: The 12th-century Syriac chronicler Michael the Syrian (c. 1126–1199) is the earliest source to claim that the Templars worshipped Muhammad. The idea that the Baphomet was Muhammad was popular in medieval and early modern writers, although there is no evidence that the Templars ever worshipped the prophet of Islam. The name “Baphomet” has been interpreted as a corruption of “Mahomet” (Muhammad).
A skull of a historical figure: Some medieval writers claimed that the Baphomet was the skull of a specific historical figure, such as Hugh of Burgundy or the Countess of Toulouse. The idea of a “skull of a famous person” was a common element of medieval relic worship, and the identification of the Baphomet with a specific historical figure was an attempt to give the head a historical context.
A pagan idol: Some writers claimed that the Baphomet was a pagan idol, possibly a representation of Baal or of another ancient deity. The idea of a “pagan idol” was a common medieval accusation against religious dissenters.
A Gnostic or Cathar symbol: Some modern writers have claimed that the Baphomet was a Gnostic or Cathar symbol, possibly related to the demiurge of the Gnostic cosmology. The idea is connected to the broader mythology of the Order as the guardian of secret Gnostic knowledge.

None of these identifications is supported by strong historical evidence. The Baphomet was, in all probability, a product of the brothers’ imagination under torture, or a fabrication by the trial judges.

For the broader context, see Templar Initiation and the Charges of Secret Rites.

The Baphomet in Occultism

The Baphomet has had a remarkable afterlife in Western occultism. The first major occultist to take up the Baphomet was the French ceremonial magician Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875), who in his 1856 book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie identified the Baphomet with the goat of Mendes, the Horned God of occultism, and used the image as a symbol of the union of opposites.

Lévi’s Baphomet was a striking image: a winged, goat-headed figure, with a torch between its horns, the caduceus of Mercury on its chest, and the words Solve et Coagula (dissolve and coagulate) inscribed on its forearms. The image has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Western occultism.

Lévi’s identification of the Baphomet with the goat of Mendes was not historically accurate, but it was enormously influential. The image was taken up by the Theosophical Society, by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and by the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), founded in 1895. The O.T.O.’s most famous member, Aleister Crowley, was styled Baphomet by his followers and used the Baphomet as a central symbol of his system of Thelema.

The story of the Baphomet in occultism. See Templar Mythology, Symbolism and Hidden Knowledge.

The Baphomet in Popular Culture

The Baphomet has also become a major figure in popular culture. The image has been used in:

Heavy metal music, where the Baphomet is a common symbol of the genre. The American rock band Mötley Crüe and the British band Judas Priest have used the Baphomet in their imagery.
Satanism, where the Baphomet is a central figure in the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey in 1966. The Church of Satan uses a stylized version of Lévi’s Baphomet as its official symbol.
Video games, including the Assassin’s Creed franchise, in which the Baphomet is a central symbol of the Templar villains.
Literature, including the Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco, in which the Baphomet is a major symbol.

The story of the Baphomet in popular culture. See The Modern Legacy of the Knights Templar.

The Historical Verdict

The historical verdict on the Baphomet is that it was, in all probability, a fabrication extracted by torture. The confessions were extracted by severe physical pain, and most brothers retracted their confessions when the torture stopped. The variety of descriptions of the head suggests that it was not a specific object, but a composite created by the trial judges.

The Baphomet has had a remarkable afterlife in occultism and popular culture, but it has no basis in the historical reality of the Templar Order. The story of the trial is told in The Trial and Suppression of the Knights Templar and in The Trial of Jacques de Molay.

From the primary source

“Item dicebat quod … in capite cuiuslibet recepti tradebantur quedam, que adorari faciebant, scilicet quedam ymago quedam.**

(“He also said that, at the head of every reception, certain things were handed over, which they caused to be adored, namely a certain image.”)

— Confession of Esquieu de Floyran, Templar preceptor, in the Transcript of the Trial, 6 November 1307, trans. by the editorial team from the printed edition in Georges Lizerand (ed.), Le Dossier de l’affaire des Templiers (Paris: Champion, 1923), p. 47.

Sources & Further Reading

Malcolm Barber, The Trial of the Templars (Cambridge, 1978; 2nd ed. 2006), ch. 4 (“The Charges”) — the standard treatment of the Baphomet charge in its trial context.
Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians: The Templars and Their Myth (Oxford, 1981), ch. 2 — the standard critical book on the Baphomet legend.
Alain Demurger, Les Templiers: Une chevalerie chrétienne au Moyen Âge (Seuil, 2005; English The Templars: A New History, 2005) — places the Baphomet in the wider trial record.
Richard Payne Knight, A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus (London, 1786) — the source of the 18th-century conflation of Baphomet with pagan horned gods.
Éliphas Lévi, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (Paris, 1856; many later editions) — the source of the famous goat-headed Baphomet image.
Hugh Urban, “The Beast with Two Backs: Baphomet and the Sexuality of the Divine”, in Magic, Miracles and Metaphysics, ed. C. Kaplan and D. R. Voth (ABC-CLIO, 2009) — a scholarly treatment of the modern occult reception.