Baal

Yamm demanded that Baal pay tribute and accept his supremacy. El, the ancient father god, supported the demand. The other gods stayed silent and refused to oppose Yamm. Baal called them cowards. He had seen that Yamm’s messengers showed no respect even to El. Baal seized an axe and threw it at one of them, killing him. Before he could take another weapon, the second messenger seized Baal and carried him away from Mount Ṣapān.

Yamm imprisoned Baal and mocked him. Baal was the lord of fertility, but Yamm claimed control of the lands. Kothar-wa-Hasis, Baal’s friend and the divine craftsman, reached the prison in secret. He told Baal not to lose heart. Baal had fought Yamm before, and the struggle was still under way. Kothar-wa-Hasis brought specially made weapons and promised that Baal would win.

Baal used the weapons against Yamm and defeated him. Kothar-wa-Hasis urged Baal to kill his enemy, warning that Yamm was dangerous and treacherous. Anat, Baal’s sister and a warrior goddess who had also fought Yamm, told him to keep Yamm as a prisoner of war. She said that victory should be followed by generosity.

Baal remembered that the gods had refused to support him when Yamm’s messengers came to Mount Ṣapān. He also understood that killing Yamm might damage his position with El and the other gods. Baal therefore dropped his thunderbolt and allowed Yamm to live in captivity. After Yamm’s defeat, Baal claimed divine kingship. This formed part of the wider change in which El withdrew from active rule and Baal took the leading position among the gods.

Mot summoned Baal to descend into the underworld. Baal could not refuse. Before entering, he took his children and the powers of his storm-godship with him. From the world’s point of view, he was dead. Weather and fertility disappeared, leaving the earth without Baal’s divine force. Anat, El, and the other gods mourned and wondered what would happen to the world.

Anat confronted Mot and asked what he had done with Baal. Mot said that he had devoured him. Anat attacked Mot with a sword, split him apart, ground him under a hand mill, and scattered what remained of him as seed in the fields. Baal was then able to leave the underworld and return. He brought his dead ancestors with him. Weather and fertility returned with Baal.

Mot did not accept Baal’s return. He challenged him, and the two entered a new battle. Their struggle was repeated, with Baal and Mot fighting again and again. Shapash intervened in the conflict, and Baal was restored as ruler of the gods. Mot could challenge him again, so Baal’s defeat of death and the return of prosperity and fertility were not permanent.

Anat attacked Baal’s enemies and subdued them with extreme violence. Baal called her back before her destruction spread further. He tricked her into returning to his side. When Anat came back, Baal told her that he needed a palace suited to his new status.

Anat agreed to help him obtain permission. They approached El, Baal’s father, but his approval required support from Athirat, El’s consort. Baal and Anat bribed Athirat so that she would favour the construction. In another account, Anat approached El directly and threatened him until he agreed. El eventually permitted Baal to build the palace.

Baal then had Kothar-wa-Hasis construct the palace on Mount Ṣapān. The building was magnificent. Its construction followed Baal’s rise to power and gave him a dwelling suited to his position. Baal’s permission had come through different actions in the accounts. In one, Athirat was bribed before El allowed the work to proceed. In another, Anat’s threats forced El to agree.

Once El’s permission was secured, Kothar-wa-Hasis built the palace for Baal on Mount Ṣapān. Baal could then occupy the dwelling that had been sought after his return and rise to power.