Continuing where we left off last week: Long, long ago in Ugarit, Baal, the god of the storms, the one who controls the rain, wins the battle of supremacy over Yamm, the sea god…
Although Baal won the war with Yamm and proclaimed his supremacy, El, the Great God was not exactly applauding. El was not favourably disposed towards this son of his anyway. As always, Baal’s sister Anat, the warrior goddess, stood by him.
“What is the point of being the most powerful of the gods, dear sister?” asks Baal. “I don’t even have a dwelling of my own. Why do I still have to live in Mount Saphon in the house of father El? Must I share a residence with Athirat, the mother goddess, Pidrayu (honeydew), Tallayu (mist) and Arsayu (flowering)?’’
Anat is silent for a while. She had asked father El on behalf of her brother already but got no favourable result. She had even threatened to attack El and bloody his beard but to no avail. “Father El will not hear of anything. All he listens to is Athirat... ’’she says. And then she comes up with an idea. “Let’s get Athirat to intercede on your behalf.”
“Are you out of your mind?” asks Baal. “Have you forgotten how she spoke ill of me to father El? She has always preferred Yamm over me. She complained that I was turning earth to mud and the gods therefore had only loam and sludge to eat! She was the one who goaded Yamm to fight me!”
“Don’t worry, Baal. We’ll make her happy and then it will be she who asks father El for you,” says Anat for she has a plan. It’s Kothar-wa-hasis, the master craftsman, they decide to turn to for help.
Kothar-wa-hasis makes a magnificent canopy of silver and gold with a dais, a cushioned throne and a foot stool covered in white gold. He also makes a couch with golden supports, a table engraved with winged monsters and an exquisite bowl filled with ten thousand oxen.
Bearing the gifts, Baal and Anat go to Athirat, the mother goddess. Athirat is the mother of all seventy gracious gods, including Baal, Anat and Yamm. But that does not guarantee the love of a mother. When she sees her two children approach, she trembles with fear and breaks into a sweat for she knows they hold no tender feelings for her. She continues to wash her clothes as she sees them draw closer.
She remembers her youth when she used to wash her clothes with her sister Rahmaya by the sea. It was then that young El, smitten by her beauty, asked her to be his wife.
When Baal and Anat bring her the gifts, she is pleased.
Over a banquet she readies for them, Baal seeks her help and says that he wants her to ask father El for a place for himself. “Discard all this suspicion about me, mother goddess! I’m not a destroyer as you believe me to be. I promise bountiful rain on earth, not flood or drought.” Baal makes his case as Anat watches silently. Athirat agrees.
She sets out the next day to meet her husband, the Great God El. She rides a donkey adorned in reins of silver and straps of gold. Anat follows her without her knowledge while Baal returns to Mount Saphon and waits.
El is delighted to see his beautiful wife and they spend a delightful evening eating fine food and drinking wine. Athirat can see that her husband is in a pleasant frame of mind and brings up the topic. “I think we need to build Baal a house of his own now...” she begins, her voice soothing and sweet as honey.
“For Baal? Why? Because he defeated Yamm and proved that he’s the strongest of gods?” asks El, his brow darkening in anger.
“But he has promised much... says he will send forth cloud and lightning and the earth will be blessed with rain and snow. Besides… ” Athirat pauses to see if El is coming around. She refills his wine cup.
“All right,” mutters El gruffly, “What, now I have to make bricks for him?”
“Kothar-wa-hasis will make it,” says Athirat. “The house can be of bricks or cedar. He can get his precious metals from the mountains then.”
El finally consents and Anat races back to Mount Saphon to convey the good news to her brother. “A house for you dear brother, finally!” she says, embracing Baal.
Again it is Kothar-wa-hasis who returns to meet them and this time he has a job with the approval of all the gods — a palace for Baal. Kothar-wa-hasis gets to work at once. “Do you wish to have windows? I think you should have one in the middle of the palace at least,” says Kothar-wa-hasis.
“No! You know I’ve not slain Yamm,” Baal looks at Anat as he says this for it was she who had begged him to not kill Yamm.
“Are you sure?” asks Kothar-wa-hasis again.
“Yes. We can’t let Pidrayu (honeydew), Tallayu (mist) escape. They must be protected from Yamm.” Kothar-wa-hasis builds the palace from cedar in Lebanon. Then he lets it burn for seven days. All that is left now is in gold and silver! A splendid home for Baal is ready now. Delighted, Baal calls for a celebration feast.
To be continued...
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