Baal rejects Yamm’s demand for tribute, kills one messenger, then suffers capture before using weapons made by Kothar-wa-Hasis to defeat him. He spares Yamm at Anat’s urging and takes divine kingship, while El withdraws from active rule.
Baal’s Battle with Yam
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.
Baal’s Death and Descent
Mot summoned Baal to descend into the underworld. Baal could not refuse the invitation. Before entering Mot’s realm, he mated eighty-eight times with a heifer. The heifer may have been Anat, Baal’s sister and lover, but the identification is uncertain. Baal then entered the underworld and, from the world’s point of view, died.
Baal took his children and the powers of his storm-godship with him. Without him, the world lost weather and fertility. Anat, El, and the other gods mourned and wondered what would happen to the earth without Baal, the Lord of the Earth. Mot declared that he had devoured Baal.
Anat attacked Mot. She split him with her sword, ground him with a hand mill, and sowed what remained of him in the fields. Baal was then able to return from the underworld. Weather and fertility returned with him. One account also says that Baal brought his dead ancestors from the underworld so that they could join a feast.
Baal returned to life and to the throne. The struggle did not end permanently. Mot would challenge him again, and might defeat him again. The cycle therefore continued through Baal’s death, return, and the restoration of life to the earth.
Baal’s Return and Battle with Mot
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.
