Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [81]
The people of what was Canaan—today comprising Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine—were Semites, but over time, Canaan became a true Middle Eastern melting pot. Canaanites, and groups called Edomites and Moabites, settled the area and were later joined by the Philistines, who may have migrated from the Mediterranean islands of Crete and Cyprus. (The contemporary word “Palestine” is derived from the word “Philistine.”) Another group that moved to the region was the Phoenicians, who had been based in such Mediterranean coastal cities as Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. Extraordinary sailors and dyers of cloth, they also get credit for devising the alphabet adopted by the later Greeks, which influenced Western writing.
With these many groups and influences merging and mingling, Canaan was a land of many gods and cults, but one group of Canaanite gods was most widely worshipped. Its chief deity was known as El—which means “god” in ancient Semitic languages. The supreme god El, often depicted as a man wearing bull’s horns, was creator of the universe. Benevolent and all-knowing, El was a somewhat remote god. His consort was Asherah, a goddess who is related to Ishtar (Inanna).
At some point in this region’s history, the Canaanite El was merged with the one god of the Hebrews, called Yahweh, who gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The significance of the divine name El is clear from the Hebrew words that include it, such as Beth-El, which means “house of God.” This was the name given to the spot where the biblical Jacob dreamed of a stairway to heaven—often interpreted as a ziggurat. Jacob took the stone on which his head was lying when he dreamed, stood it upright, and anointed it with oil. Piles of standing stones were traditionally constructed in Canaanite fertility cults. In a later scene in Genesis, Jacob wrestled with a mysterious stranger—also a typical mythical theme—who proves to be El himself. After this wrestling match Jacob’s name was changed to Isra-el, interpreted as “he strives with God.” He became the father of twelve sons, each of whom headed one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Again, the influence of “pagan” mythology on biblical faith is no small matter.
While the Canaanite El would be merged into the Jewish ideal of one god, Canaan’s other chief deity did not fare so well. Canaanite mythology was especially concerned with fertility, and to the Canaanites, Baal was the most significant abundance god. Baal (which means “lord”), whose name is connected to the Mesopotamian Bel (another name for Marduk), would go down in biblical history as a figure of supreme evil.
In a story that mirrored the victory of Marduk over Tiamat, Baal defeats Yam, another dragonlike sea god. With that victory, Baal—like his Babylonian counterpart Marduk—assumed the role of chief god. When his archenemy, Mot, lord of the underworld, invited Baal to come to the underworld, Baal accepted the invitation, hoping to overcome Mot and take control of the underworld, too. But when Mot forced Baal to eat mud, considered the food of the dead, Baal died. With the death of the god of plenty, all of the crops on earth died as well.
While El and the other gods in heaven mourned the dead Baal, Baal’s wife Anat (the Canaanite counterpart to Inanna-Ishtar), descended to the underworld, and killed Mot with a sickle. Anat then burned him and ground him, treating the god of the dead like harvested wheat. With Mot’s death, Baal was revived, life returned to earth, and the crops grew once more. But Mot returned to life and fought with Baal until the latter agreed to return to the underworld for a few months of the year, establishing the mythical reason for the season change.
Canaanite religion centered on worship of Baal, who was also responsible for the rain. According to their beliefs, the rains came when Baal had sex, with his semen falling