Ancient Canaan, Gods, El, Baal, Shapshu, Athtart, Anat, Mot

Radmanu (Pradmanu): a minor servitor of Baal: Ugar (cultivated field?) Baal's other page and messenger to both Anat and Mot. He is possibly the patron city-god of Ugarit. Pidray 'daughter of the mist','daughter of light (lightning)' Baal's daughter. She is sometimes a love interest of Athtar. Tallay 'she of dew', 'daughter of drizzle' Baal's daughter. Arsay  'she of the earth', 'daughter of [ample flows]' Baal's daughter. Ybrdmy Baal's daughter.

Athtart (Athtart-name-of-Baal, Astarte, Ashtoreth, Ashtart): She is a consort of Baal, and lesser goddess of war and the chase. Outside of Ugarit, many nude goddess statues have been tenuously identified with her as a goddess of fertility and sex.

In Sidon she merited royal priests and priestesses. There she served as a goddess of fertility, love, war and sexual vitality and to that end had sacred prostitutes. She was the Phoenecian great goddess and was identified with Aphrodite by the Greeks.

She restrains Baal when he intends to attack Yam's messengers. She rebukes Baal for holding Yam captive and calls on him to 'scatter' Yam, which he does. Apparently she, along with Anat, is willing to become Baal's cupbearer once he achieves a proper palace.

Anat (Anath, Rahmay - 'the merciful'): She Baal's sister and the daughter of El. Goddess of war, the hunt, and savagery. She is an archer. Virgin, sister-in-law (progenitor?) of peoples (Li'mites'?). She and Athirat are nursemaids to the gracious gods. She restrains Baal when he intends to attack Yam's messengers.

In missing texts, she killed Yam-Nahar, the dragon, the seven-headed serpent. She also destroyed Arsh, Atik, Ishat, and Zabib, all enemies of Baal. She holds a feast at Baal's palace to celebrate his victory over Yam. After the guests arrive, she departs her abode and adorns herself in rouge and henna, closes the doors and slaughters the inhabitant of two nearby towns, possibly Baal's enemies. She makes a belt of their heads and hands and wades through the blood.

She lures the towns' warriors inside to sit and joyfully massacres them. She then makes a ritual peace offering and cleans up. This is possibly related to a seasonal fertility ritual welcoming the autumn rains. Anat receives messengers from Baal thinking that some new foe has arisen, but they assure her that he only wishes that she make a peace offering that he might tell her the secret of lightning and seek it on Mt. Zephon. She does so, demanding first to see the lightning, and is welcomed by Baal from afar. Hearing him complain of lack of a proper mansion, she storms off to El, creating tremors.

Hebrew Prisoners

She threatens to mangle his face lest he heed her and have Baal's court constructed, yet her plea is rejected. She is assisted in her petition, possibly by Athtart. She accompanies Baal to Athirat with a bribe and assists Athirat in her successful petition to El for Baal's court.

After Baal dies, she searches for him and, finding his body goes into a violent fit of mourning. She has Shapash take his body to Mt. Zephon, where she buries it and holds a feast in his honor. After seven years of drought, she finds Mot, and cuts, winnows, and sows him like corn. She attends the feast where Daniel presents Aqhat with a bow and arrows set made by Kothar-and-Khasis.

Desiring the bow, she offers Aqhat riches and immortality, for it. He refuses and so she promises vengeance upon him should he transgress and leaves for Mt. Lel to denounce him to El. Upset with El's response, she threatens to strike his head, sarcasticly suggesting that Aqhat might save him.

El remarks that he won't hinder her revenge, so she finds Aqhat, and taking the form of a kinswoman, lures him off to Qart-Abilim. Unsuccessful with her first attempt there, she calls her attendant warrior Yatpan to take the form of an eagle, and with a flock of similar birds pray strike Aqhat as he sits on the mountain. They do so and Aqhat is slain, unfortunately, the bow falls into the waters and is lost and Anat laments that her actions and Aqhat's death were in vain. When Baal was out hunting, she followed after him and copulated with him in the form of a cow. She gave birth to 'a wild ox' or a 'buffalo', visiting Mt. Zephon to tell Baal of the good news.

This is probably not their only affair.

Baalat: The 'mistress' of Gubla she was not found in Ugarit. This great fertility goddess was the foremost deity of that city. She served as protector of the city and of the royal dynasty. She was associated with Baal-Shamen and she assimilated the characteristics of the Egyptian goddesses Hathor and Ast (Isis). Tanit: Known as the 'lady of Carthage' and the 'face of Baal', Tanit was the great goddess of the Carthaginians and, with Baal Hammon co-protector of that city. She is listed first of all deities in Carthage.

Shapshu (Shapash): She is the sun-goddess (Akkadian Shamash - a male deity) and is known as the torch of the gods and pale Shapshu. She often acts as messenger or representative on El's behalf. She has some dominion over the shades and ghosts of the nether-world. Kothar-and-Khasis may be her companion and protector.

She tells Athtar that he will loose kingship to Yam under El's auspice and rebuffs his complaints by recalling his lack of wife and children. She is said to be under Mot's influence when Baal is preoccupied with his lack of a palace and not raining. The weather then is particularly hot.

When Mot's messenger seeks Baal, she advises the thunder-god to procure a substitute, to satisfy Mot and then take his servants and daughters and venture into the underworld. At the direction of Anat, she carries Baal's body back to Mt. Zephon. She is told by El that he dreamed Baal was alive and she searches for him. When Baal returns and fights with Mot, she separates them, declaring that Baal has El's favor.

Ancient Canaan, Gods, El, Baal, Athirat, Asherah, Yam

While Baal is declared king and judge, he remains a resident of El and Athirat's palace as El refuses him permission to build an appropriate mansion, in spite of Shapash. When Baal-Hadad's monsters assail the handmaidens of Yarikh and Lady Athirat of the Sea, he advises them to give birth to beasts which will lure Baal-Hadad away on a hunt.

He favors King Keret, who may be his son, offering him riches upon the death of his many spouses and eventually promising him the princess Huray and many children, provided he make the proper sacrifices and follow his instructions. After Keret takes ill, El eventually convenes an assembly of the gods in order to ask one of them to rid Keret of his illness. Eventually, El dispatches the demoness Sha'taqat who cures Keret. Anat brings her complaints of Aqhat before him and threatens to strike him in the head when he gives his response. He then replies that he knows how contemptuous she is and won't stand in her way.

Athirat: (Asherah, Ashtartian - 'the Lady of the Sea', Elat - 'the goddess'),  El's loving consort and is protective of her seventy children who may also be known as the gracious gods, to whom she is both mother and nursemaid. Her sons, unlike Baal initially, all have godly courts. She frequents the ocean shore. In the Syrian city of Qatra, she was considered Baal-Hadad's consort.

While washing clothing with a female companion by the sea, she is spied by El, who roasts a bird and invites the two to choose between being his daughters or his wives. They choose to become his wives and in due course give birth to the gracious gods, the cleavers of the sea, including Shachar and Shalim. The new family builds a sanctuary in the desert and lives there for eight years. Baal and Anat hope to use her to influence El on the issue of Baal's palace.

Initially suspicious and fearful of them on behalf of her children, but she warms up when she see that they have brought gifts. She and Anat successfully intercede with El on Baal's behalf for permission for Baal to build a more suitable court.

Athirat

 When Baal is found dead, she advocates her son Athtar be made king. Her sons, the "'pounders' of the sea", apparently colluded with Mot and were smited by Baal with sword and mace upon his return. Baal-Hadad's creatures devour her handmaidens, so she sends them to El. El tells them to go into the wilderness and there birth horned buffalo, which will distract Baal-Hadad. She and Anat serve as nursemaids for Keret's son Yassib, but reminds Keret of his pledge of wealth for Huray, perhaps causing his decline in health because of its lack of fulfillment.

Qadshu: A Syrian goddess, who has occasionally been tentatively identified with nude fertility goddess statues. Also spelled Qodesh, meaning 'holy', and used as an epithet of Athirat. She had been identified with the Egyptian Qetesh, Qodesh-and-Amrur, 'fisherman of Athirat', Baal's messenger to Kothar-and-Khasis. He is also Athirat's servant and dredges up provisions to entertain her guests from the sea with a net. It is interesting to note that in Dan 4:13(10) similar words appear to refer to an angel and have been translated as 'holy messenger' or 'holy sentinel'.

Kothar-and-Khasis: ('skillful and clever', also called Chousor and Heyan (Ea) and identified with Ptah). He is the craftsman god and is identified with Memphis. He is ordered by El to build Yam's throne. He upbraids Yam for rising against Baal and threatens him with a magic weapon. He gives Baal the magic weapons Yagrush (Chaser) and Aymur (Driver). He crafts Baal's bribe for Athirat, a temple serving set of gold and silver. He build's Baal's second house and insists over Baal's objections on including a window. He constructs a bow and arrows set for Aqhat, presenting them first to Daniel and staying for a feast.

Shachar 'Dawn', Shalim 'Sunset/Dusk': Twins and one of the first, if not only, pair of gracious gods, the children and cleavers of the sea. They were born of El and Athirat or her female companion. The new family builds a sanctuary in the desert and lives there for eight years. According to Isaiah 14:12, he is the father of Helel or Lucifer, the 'light-bringer', usually taken to mean the morning-star.
Shamu (Baalshamem?) Not found in the Ugarit texts, this sky god was the chief of the pantheon at the Syrian city of Alalakh.

Asherah

Baal: (also called Baal-Zephon(Saphon), Hadad, Pidar and Rapiu (Rapha?) - 'the shade')
The son of El, the god of fertility, 'rider of the clouds', and god of lightning and thunder. He is 'the Prince, the lord of earth', 'the mightiest of warriors', 'lord of the sky and the earth' (Alalakh). He has a palace on Mt. Zephon. He has a feud with Yam. His voice is thunder; his ship is a snow bearing cloud. He is known as Rapiu during his summer stay in the underworld. He upbraids the gods for their cowardice when they intend to hand him over to Yam's messengers and attacks them but is restrained by Athtart and Anat. Kothar-and-Khasis gives him the magic weapons Yagrush (Chaser) and Aymur (Driver). He strikes Yam in chest and in the forehead, knocking him out. Athtart rebukes Baal and calls on him to 'scatter' his captive, which he does.

In a alternate version of this episode, he slays Lotan (Leviathan), the seven-headed dragon. The battle may have been representative of rough winter sea-storms which calmed in the spring and which were preceded and accompanied by autumn rains which ended summer droughts and enabled crops to grow. After his victory he holds a feast and remarks on his lack of a proper palace, instead retaining residence with El and Athirat. He sends messengers to Anat to ask her to perform a peace-offering that he might tell her the word which is the power of lightning and seek lightning on the holy Mt Zephon.

She does so and he welcomes her. Hearing his complaints Anat leaves to petition El for a new palace for Baal. Rejected, Baal dispatches Qodesh-and-Amrur to Kothar-and-Khasis with a request to make a silver temple set with which to bribe Athirat. He and Anat view Athirat with trepidation keeping in mind past insults which he has suffered at the hands of the other gods. He and Anat ask Athirat to ask El for permission to build a more extravagant house and Athirat's request is granted. Gathering cedar, gold, silver, gems, and lapis at Mt. Zephon, he calls Kothar-and-Khasis, feeding him and instructing him on how to build the palace. He doesn't want a window, for fear of Yam breaking through or his daughters escaping, but Kothar-and-Khasis convinces him to allow its inclusion so that he might lightning, thunder, and rain through it.

Canaan Head

At its completion he holds a feast, takes over scores of towns and allows the window to be built. He threatens to ask Mot to invite any of Baal's remaining enemies to come for a visit and at night, binds the lightning, snow and rains. He sends Gupn and Ugar to Mot to invite him to acknowledge his sovereignty at his new palace. He sends messengers to Mot to carry this message to him and they return with a message of such weight that Baal declares himself Mot's slave. He hopes to ameliorate Mot by having Sheger and Ithm supply live sheep and cattle for the god to feast upon. Fearing Mot he seeks Shapshu's advice and sires a substitute on a cow. He (or possibly his substitute) dies and remains in the underworld for seven years.

El dreams that he is alive again but he is absent. Ashtar attempts to take Baal's place, but can not. Shapshu searches for him. Baal returns and fights Mot's allies, the sons of Athirat and the yellow ones. After seven years, Mot returns, demanding one of Baal's brothers lest he consume mankind. Baal rebuffs him and they fight tooth and nail. Shapshu separates the two declaring that Baal has El's favor and Baal resumes his throne.

Baal-Hadad: As Baal-Hadad, he sends monstrous creatures to attack the handmaidens of Yarikh, and of Athirat of the Sea. He hunts the horned, buffalo-humped creatures which were birthed by the handmaidens at the advice of El. During the hunt he is stuck in a bog for seven years and things fall to pot. His kin recover him and there is much rejoicing. Once when he was out hunting, Anat followed him. He spotted her, fell in love and copulated with her in the form of a cow. She gave birth to 'a wild ox' or a 'buffalo', telling him of the event on Mt. Zephon. This is probably not their only affair.

Hebrew Origin by Cornelius Tacitus (56 - 111 A.D.)

The Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (56-118 A.D.) had these thoughts on the origins of the Hebrews/Haribu/Habiru/Habibu. This is in the context of Titus Caesar, who had been selected by his father to complete the subjugation of Judaea (70 A.D.)

Tacitus: History Book 5
2. As I am about to relate the last days of a famous city, it seems appropriate to throw some light on its origin. Some say that the Jews were fugitives from the island of Crete, who settled on the nearest coast of Africa about the time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the power of Jupiter.

Evidence of this is sought in the name. There is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida; the neighbouring tribe, the Idaei, came to be called Judaei by a barbarous lengthening of the national name.

Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Many, again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin, who in the time of king Cepheus were driven by fear and hatred of their neighbours to seek a new dwelling-place. Others describe them as an Assyrian horde who, not having sufficient territory, took possession of part of Egypt, and founded cities of their own in what is called the Hebrew country, lying on the borders of Syria. Others, again, assign a very distinguished origin to the Jews, alleging that they were the Solymi, a nation celebrated in the poems of Homer, who called the city which they founded Hierosolyma after their own name.

3. Most writers, however, agree in stating that once a disease, which horribly disfigured the body, broke out over Egypt; that king Bocchoris, seeking a remedy, consulted the oracle of Hammon, and was bidden to cleanse his realm, and to convey into some foreign land this race detested by the gods.

Canaan Head

 The people, who had been collected after diligent search, finding themselves left in a desert, sat for the most part in a stupor of grief, till one of the exiles, Moyses by name, warned them not to look for any relief from God or man, forsaken as they were of both, but to trust to themselves, taking for their heaven-sent leader that man who should first help them to be quit of their present misery.


They agreed, and in utter ignorance began to advance at random. Nothing, however, distressed them so much as the scarcity of water, and they had sunk ready to perish in all directions over the plain, when a herd of wild asses was seen to retire from their pasture to a rock shaded by trees. Moyses followed them, and, guided by the appearance of a grassy spot, discovered an abundant spring of water. This furnished relief. After a continuous journey for six days, on the seventh they possessed themselves of a country, from which they expelled the inhabitants, and in which they founded a city and a temple.

Canaan Head

The Shasu: Shasu is an Egyptian word for semitic-speaking pastoral cattle nomads who appeared in the Levant from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age or Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. They were organized in clans under a tribal chieftain, and were described as brigands active from the Jezreel Valley to Ashkelon and the Sinai. The name evolved from a transliteration of the Egyptian word š3sw, meaning "those who move on foot", into the term for Bedouin-type wanderers. The term first originated in a fifteenth century list of peoples in Transjordan.

It is used in a list of enemies inscribed on column bases at the temple of Soleb built by Amenhotep III. Copied later by either Seti I or Ramesses II at Amarah-West, the list mentions six groups of Shashu: the Shasu of S'rr, the Shasu of Lbn, the Shasu of Sm't, the Shasu of Wrbr, the Shasu of Yhw, and the Shasu of Pysps.

The Gods of Canaan/Phoenicia
The Phoenician era saw a shift in Canaanite religion. The larger pantheon became pushed to the side in favor of previously less important, singular deities who became or were already, the patron Gods of Cities.
Different cities had different concepts of which Gods were most important and what some of the gods basic attributes were. While El or Il, whose name means 'god', is commonly described as the creator of the earth, the Aramaeans ranked Hadad before him. Also, many city gods were named Baal, meaning 'lord'. Baal-Sidon, the city god of Sidon was thus an entirely different deity than Baal-Hadad, the storm god.

Baal

El: (also called Latipan, and possibly Dagon)
He is known as the Father of the gods, 'the father of mankind', the 'Bull', and 'the creator of creatures'. He is gray haired and bearded and lives at Mt. Lel. He is a heavy drinker and has gotten extremely drunk at his banquets.

As a young god, he went out to the sea and, spying two ladies, one of whom is presumably Athirat, becomes aroused, roasts a bird and asks the two to choose between being his daughters or his wives. They become his wives and in due course they give birth to Shachar, Shalim, and possibly other gracious gods, who could be Athirat's seventy children and/or much of the rest of the pantheon. The new family raises a sanctuary in the desert and lived there for eight years.

He orders that Yam be given kingship and sets Kothar-and-Khasis to build the new king a throne. The gods warn that Yam has been shamed and may wreck destruction, so El ameliorates him by renaming him mddil - 'beloved of El' and throws a feast for him. El warns though that this is contingent on his driving out Baal, who may fight back. Following Yam's demise, he favors the god Mot.

Ancient Canaan, Levant

Canaan is often refereed to as the "Natufian" culture, which was an Epipaleolithic culture of Africans who migrated into the area thousands of year earlier.

The Natufian existed from 13,000 to 9,800 years ago, it was unusual in that it was sedentary, or semi-sedentary, before the introduction of agriculture. The Natufian communities are possibly the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world.

There is some evidence for the deliberate cultivation of cereals, specifically rye, by the Natufian culture. Generally though, Natufians made use of wild cereals, hunted animals like gazelles, and fished. The term "Natufian" was coined by Dorothy Garrod (1892-1968) who studied the Shuqba cave in Wadi an-Natuf, Palestinian Territories.

Ancient Canaan was probably the first place, outside of Africa, where ancient man first became "settled" (Agricultural). Archeological excavations have shown evidence of human habitation in Canaan, from Paleolithic and Mesolithic times.

At the site of the ancient city of Jericho, evidence reveals a settled community and an agricultural way of life had existed there, since about 9,000 B.C. By about 7000 B.C. Jericho had developed into a large settlement which may have contained as many as two thousand individuals, and was defended by a substantial wall.

The dead were often buried beneath the floors of houses. In some instances the bodies were complete, but in others the skull was removed and treated separately, with the facial features reconstructed in plaster.

Canaan Skull

  The removal of the skull from the body and its separate burial was widely practised in the Levant during the seventh millennium B.C. the skull was remodelled with plaster to build up the facial features.

Shells, either cowries or bivalves, were set into the empty sockets to represent the eyes. The skull was decorated with red and black paint to depict individual characteristics such as hair and even moustaches. It is possible that this practice was part of an ancestor cult. Similarly plastered skulls have been found at sites in Palestine, Syria and Jordan.

By about 4,000 B.C, there existed small settlements of farming people who built mud-brick houses and some underground dwellings. In the Early Bronze Age, the inhabitants of Canaan, built the first walled towns. These towns were small with walls of rough stones or unbaked mud brick.

The town were surrounded by peasant farmers growing a range of local horticultural products, along with commercial growing of olives, grapes for wine, and pistachios, surrounded by extensive grain cropping, predominantly wheat and barley. Harvest in early summer was a season when transhumance nomadism was practiced — shepherds staying with their flocks during the wet season and returning to graze them on the harvested stubble, closer to water supplies in the summer.

Canaan Skull

As time progressed, the fortifications in these early towns grew more complex. By the end of the Early Bronze Age, some towns were surrounded by double and triple walls, for defense. Families lived within these city walls, in houses clustered around courtyards. The existence of these heavily fortified city walls, is evidence that this was not a peaceful period. Evidence seems to indicate that they buried their dead in stone dolmens. By the Middle Bronze Age (2,000 B.C.) Canaan was an Egyptian province, but there was apparently great wealth and strong self-government for each individual city-state.

The wealthy aristocratic rulers embellished their cities with large-scale, public buildings, temples and palaces. They also decorated their palaces and temples with beautiful wall paintings. Their pottery was now elaborate in style, and beautifully painted or sculptured. They also smelted copper.
Later, town planning was also in effect, evidenced by paved streets that were built in a grid pattern. Cities were now surrounded by huge fortifications, with ramparts built to defend against battering rams. By now people buried their dead with elaborate rituals, in caves, with several generations of family members placed in the same tomb. Rich goods were found with these burials, including pottery vessels, wooden containers, weapons, tools and jewelry. The Levant refers to the area which includes modern Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan and northern Arabia.

Shepard King Apepy

Apepa probably had the longest reign of all Hyksos kings. His personal name Apepy (Greek: Apopis) was obviously taken from the Egyptian god Apep and his throne name means - "Great and Powerful Like Re". He's believed to have been a well educated ruler who got into a war he was strongly opposed to.

He probably triggered it himself by sending a provocative letter (now in British Museum) where he addresses the Egyptian king Tao II in Thebes with a complaint that was really odd. He wrote that he couldn't sleep at night because he was disturbed by the snoring and roaring of king Tao's hippopotami in Thebes 800 km to the south!.

Soon after this message, king Tao is believed to have taken up arms against him and thereby the war of liberation was started. It's quite possible that his power at this late state of his reign had been going over to others, and the letter was a product of their will, and not his own. Manetho (by Flavius) gives him a 36 yearlong reign and scholars of today up to 42 years to around 1600-1559 B.C.

The Hyksos statues above, was identified as Hyksos statues by the eminent François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (1821 – 1881) French scholar, Archaeologist, Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.