| Mathbatu The Cyber Dwelling of a Canaanite Pagan |
| The Myth of Aqhat |
First, a quick introduction to the main gods in this story. Baal: A warrior god dealing with rain, storms, and fertility. One of the most well known Canaanite deities. Common epithets include "Rider of the Clouds", "Prince Baal", and "Dagon's Son". Anath: A teenage virgin goddess who has a thirst for violence and excels in combat and hunting. She is also the faithful sister of Baal. A common epithet is "Anath the Girl". El: The head of the pantheon, father to many of the gods and mankind, patron of mortal kings, consort of the goddess Asherah. Common epithets include "Father", "Bull El", "El the Compassionate". Generally a benevolent guy who likes to help his kids out. Katharat: Seven goddess associated with conception. Their epithet is "The moon's radiant daughters". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Daniel is a hero and king/patriarch from ancient Canaan. He is married, but has no sons and this causes him distress since only male offspring could inherit his position. The story begins with Daniel ritually offering food and drink to the gods for several consecutive days somewhere away from his home (possibly a nearby sanctuary/temple). On the seventh day, the god Baal approaches and is compassionate toward Daniel�s desire for offspring. Baal entreats the god El to bless Daniel with a son. �Bless him, Bull, El my father, Prosper him, Creator of Creatures. Let him have a son in his house, Offspring within his palace.� Baal goes through a list of responsibilities that a dutiful son was expected to fulfill for his father, such as honoring his family�s ancestors, defending his father against harassment, helping his father home when he is drunk, honoring the gods, and tending to any chores around the home that his father would need him to do. Taking a cup in one hand, El blesses Daniel and promises him a son. This message is relayed back to Daniel, who beams with pleasure, laughs, and voices his relief and happiness. Hurrying home, Daniel plays host for seven days to the Katharat goddesses, presumably as part of a ritual to induce conception. �He dines the Katharat, And wines the moon�s radiant daughters." Daniel and wife conceive a son and when he is born they name him Aqhat. Because of damage to the texts, the story then skips ahead several years. Aqhat is now a young man and has a sister named Paghit. Daniel is sitting by the city gates one day with various chiefs performing his official duties*. Looking up, he spots the divine craftsmen gods Kothar and Khasis marching toward him. They come with a specially crafted bow and arrows for the king. Daniel orders his wife to prepare a feast for the gods. Kothar and Khasis arrive, present the king with the bow and arrows, and enjoy the feast before returning to their homes. Daniel strings the bow and calls to his son, giving the divine gifts to Aqhat. This catches the interest of the goddess, Anath, who wants the bow and arrows for herself. She calls out to Aqhat, offering him silver and gold for his new gifts. Aqhat replies by listing the materials needed for the divine weapons and telling Anath to bring those materials to Kothar and Khasis so that they may make the goddess her own bow and arrows. Anath continues trying to entice Aqhat with promises of immortality in exchange for the desired objects. Aqhat the Hero knows that the goddess is lying because all men must die a mortal death and he says as much to her. �Maid, don�t beguile me: To a hero your guile is slime. In the end a man gets what? A man gets what as his fate? Glaze is poured on the head, Lye all over the skull. �the death of all I shall die, I too shall die and be dead.� Aqhat does not stop there. He continues by mocking her interest in weapons- an interest he thinks only men should have. He enters dangerous territory with this hot-tempered goddess. Anath outwardly laughs at his taunt, but starts to plot the hero�s demise. She warns him that the next time they meet she will kill him and then departs. Anath seeks out the god, El. She begins by respectfully approaching him and denouncing Aqhat. There is a short break in the text and El�s response is lost, but apparently it was not what Anath wanted to hear. Her obeisance gone, the goddess angrily threatens El with physical violence. �I�ll make your head run with blood, Your old gray beard run with gore. Then cry to Aqhat to rescue you, To Daniel�s son to save you From the hand of Anat the girl!� In his wisdom, El understands that Anath will not allow any obstacles to keep her from her vengeance and he formally gives her permission to kill Aqhat. �Go off, daughter, haughty of heart, Lay hold of what�s in your liver**� To resist you is to be beaten.� Anath sets out to put her plan into action. She meets with the Sutean warrior, YTPN, and reveals her scheme to him; Anath will secure YTPN in her belt and fly over Aqhat as he dines. She will be hidden among a flock of hawks that circle over him and aim YTPN at the hero. YTPN will then be sent down to surprise Aqhat and kill him. Anath�s plan works and Aqhat is killed, but during the struggle the bow and arrows are broken and lost. While the text here becomes difficult to read, it is clear that Anath is weeping and remarking on how she killed Aqhat for his weapons. Some believe this is evidence that Anath is expressing regret for murdering Aqhat. Aqhat�s father and sister do not know that he is dead yet. Daniel is residing over official duties and spots the vegetation beginning to droop and dry out. He tears his robe in grief. Paghit sees hawks circling above their home and begins to weep. Baal does not appear with his rain clouds and the land becomes hot and withered for a long time. Daniel attempts to bring the vegetation back to life, but fails. Two distressed messengers approach Daniel and convey the story of Aqhat�s death by Anath. Daniel is physically shaken by the news. A short break in the text occurs and his response is lost. The story picks back up with Daniel looking up into the sky and spotting the birds flying overhead. He cries out, �Let Baal break their wings... So they fall beneath my feet.� Right at that moment, Baal breaks the wings of the birds and they fall to the ground. Daniel cuts them open and finds no remains of his son. He calls to Baal to heal the wings of the birds so that they may fly away. Next, Daniel spots the Father of Birds and calls for the same thing to happen- Baal breaks the wings of the bird so that Daniel may look inside for the remains of his son. Again, there is nothing so Daniel asks for the wings to be healed and the bird flies off. When Daniel spots the Mother of Birds, he again calls to Baal for aid. Baal breaks the wings of the bird and Daniel opens the stomach- he finds Aqhat�s remains! Removing them, Daniel wails in mourning and buries his dead son. The grieving king proceeds to place curses upon any birds who fly over the gravesite of Aqhat and on several towns near where the murder took place. Daniel and others mourn the death of Aqhat. When the mourning period is finished, Daniel sends the mourners away and performs a ritual to the gods. Paghit then asks for her father�s blessing to find her brother�s killer and take revenge. Daniel blesses her accordingly and Paghit prepares for her mission by washing, applying make-up, and dressing in a warrior�s outfit with a knife and sword. She wears women�s clothing overtop as a disguise. At dusk she sets out for the camp of the Sutean warrior, YTPN. Pretending to have come on other business, she is welcomed into the camp by YTPN and his men. They drink wine together as he brags about killing Aqhat. The story cuts off here. Scholars tend to assume that Paghit eventually kills YTPN, thereby taking revenge and perhaps curing the land of its drought. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *As in the Myth of Kirta, the duties of the king when he sits by the city gates include judging cases for the widows, orphans, and poor to ensure that they receive justice and are treated fairly. **In Canaanite texts, the liver would be what we consider the heart today. References Parker, S. B. (1997). Ugaritic narrative poetry. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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