Ugarit was an ancient city that existed near the western coast of modern day Syria thousands of years ago. Clay tablets discovered by archeologists in the 20th century unearthed a great storehouse of myths from that era. Here is one of them…
The Great God El was the father of all gods. He was known as the supreme one. He had several children, all of them gods. It was but natural that one or the other quarrelled with some of the others. El was the most powerful one, of course, but as he grew old, his sons grew powerful. The question was who would succeed him.
Baal, known as the Rider of Clouds, was the god of storms, the one who controlled rain, thunder and lightning. His voice was thunder and it was he who brought fertility to the earth below. As time passed, Baal grew more powerful in the skies.
If there was one who was not too happy with these developments, it was Yamm, his brother. Yamm was the lord of the seas and the prince of the streams. He controlled the water. He was unruly and uncontrollable. He would flood the land, damage the crop and was quite destructive, unlike Baal.
Jealous of Baal’s rising supremacy, Yamm sent two of his messengers to Mount Saphon, the seat of all the gods, demanding that Baal surrender and become his slave. The gods were dining when two messengers appeared before them like twin fire balls to claim Baal. All the gods trembled with fear for they knew that Yamm was not one who could be reasoned with.
Addressing the Great God El, they said, “Father El, we have been sent here by the Lord of the Seas, Yamm. Hand over Baal to us. From today he shall become a slave to the mighty Yamm!”
No one spoke a word. Baal was furious at the gods’ cowardice. “All you cowards! Why do you not speak up?”
El turned to Baal. “You have no choice, Baal. You have to pay tribute to Yamm.” Baal wasn’t surprised that the Great God was not assertive enough. He noticed that the messengers did not even offer their respects to El. Seizing an axe, he threw it at one of the messengers who promptly fell dead.
But before he could find himself another weapon, he was seized by the other fiery one and was taken away from Mount Saphon. He was then imprisoned by Yamm. “Ha! You are the lord of fertility! Let’s see who controls the lands now,” laughed Yamm.
Fortunately, Baal had one true friend, Kothar-wa-Hasis, the divine master craftsman.
Kothar-wa-Hasis managed to secretly visit Baal in captivity. “Do not worry, dear Baal. Haven’t you defeated Yamm in battles before? This is just another one. We’re only in the middle of it. Take heart. I’ve brought you specially crafted weapons. Victory will surely be yours!”
He took out a double-headed axe. “Take this... this is Yagrush (meaning ‘Let him chase away’).This will chase the enemy, leaping from your hand.”
When Baal took the axe, it magically flew out of his hand, found Yamm and struck him between his shoulders. But Yamm recovered from the attack and charged towards his brother, enraged.
Kothar-wa-Hasis handed over another double-headed axe to Baal. “Here is Ayyamur (which means ‘expel anyone’). With this you can vanquish him, surely!” Baal took the axe which leapt out of his hand to find its target and struck Yamm between his eyes. Yamm collapsed with that deadly blow and was defeated by Baal.
“Kill him...” urged Kothar-wa-Hasis , for he knew Yamm had no love for his brother.
“No, do not!”
Baal and Kothar-wa-Hasis turned at the sound of that voice. It was Anat, Baal’s sister.
Anat, daughter of the Great God El, was the warrior goddess who had herself fought many a battle with Yamm.
“Do not slay him, brother! Treat him as a prisoner of war. Let him live the rest of his life in captivity. We must show generosity in victory,” said she.
“Pay no heed to your sister, Baal. He’s dangerous... finish him, once and for all. You shall not regret it,” whispered Kothar-wa-Hasis for he knew the treachery Yamm was capable of, should he escape.
But Baal knew that he should buy his peace with El and the rest of the gods who were not too keen to see his rise. He recalled that none of them were willing to support him when the fire messengers from Yamm appeared at Mount Saphon to take him prisoner. But he knew that Anat meant well.
He looked at Anat and dropped his thunderbolt. “Let it be,” he told Kothar-wa-Hasis. “ There will be more wars, I know... But this is the end of Yamm.”
To be continued…