Mot (Semitic god)

Mot was the West Semitic god of death, infertility, and drought. On of the sons of the high god El he was the chief antagonist of the storm god Baal, whose life-giving rains brought fertility to the land. Mot, on the other hand, was the Lord of the destert dryness. In Canaanite mythology, Mot and Baal were bound in a cyclical battle in which Mot temporarily vanquished Baal only to be slain himself by Baal's sister Anath, after which Baal would be resurrected with the coming of the spring rains.

Mot in Canaanite myth

Sources regarding Mot are scarce, but he apparently played a major role in Canaanite mythology. According the Baal Cycle, discovered at Ras Shamra in 1958, he was called the "Darling of El" and was one of the primary actors in the annual fertility cycle. In this drama, Baal, the Lord of the life-giving fresh waters, has defeated the sea god Yam and established his throne on Mount Saphon. A struggle now ensues for sovereignty.

Baal's challenge to Mot

"Respects I shall not send to Mot," declares, Baal. "Nor greetings to El's beloved, the Hero!" Mot the Belove responds in kind: "I alone am He who will rule over the gods, yea, command Gods and men, even dominate the multitudes of the earth."

Baal prepares to storm Mot's realm, commanding his forces to march toward Mot's city, Hemry, where he sits on his throne. However, he cautions his minion: "Do not draw near the God Mot, lest he make you like a lamb in His mouth, like a kid in His jaws you be crushed!"

The lesser god must thus honor Mot: "The heavens halt on account of El's darling, Mot," Baal declares. "At the feet of Mot bow and fall. Prostrate yourselves and honor him!"

Despite honoring him with words, however, Baal refuses to pay him tribute. Enfuriated, Mot sends word back to Baal that, he will exact revenge by devouring Baal, thus bring a terrible curse of drought upon the earth:

"A lip to earth, a lip to heaven, and a tounge to the stars

So that Baal may enter his inwards, yea descend into his mouth

As scorched is the olive, the produce of the Earth, and the fruit of the Trees."

Mot's victory and Baal's death

Baal responds in fear and submission, sending his messengers to declare: "Hail, O divine Mot! Thy slave am I, Yea Thine forever." Mot rejoices when the lesser deities bring him this message, because Baal will be delivered unto him, and the fertility of the land will die with him. "Take thy clouds, thy wind, thy storm, thy rains!" Mot declares. "And go down to the nether reaches of the earth, so that Thou mayest be counted among those who do down into the earth, And all may know that Thou art dead!"

Before dying, however, Baal copulates with heifer: "He lies with Her seventy-seven times, Yea, eighty-eight times, So that She conceives And bears..." Baal is then found dead in the land of Deber.

Baal's death reaches the ears of the high god El, who is moved to grief over his son's death: "He pours the ashes of grief on His head, the dust of wallowing on his pate." El roams the mountains and forest weeping, lacerating his forearms and back in grief.

Anath's intervention

Baa'ls sister Anath, however, is does more than merely mourn her brother's passing. She travels throughout the land in search of his body, finally finding him prostrate on the earth in Debir. Like El, she lacerates her body as a sign of grief for Baal. She then carries him on her shoulders and brings him to Mount Saphon, giving him a proper burial and sacrificing 70 each of buffaloes, oxen, small cattle, deer, wild goats, and asses.

Then travels to the abode of El and Asherah and declares Baal's death, implying that Asherah will rejoice since she had earlier sided with Yam against Baal. "Hear, O Lady Asherah of the Sea!" cries El. "Give one of Thy sons that I may make Him king!"

They appoint Ashtar the Terrible to sit on Baal's throne, but he is inadequate to the task, as "His feet do not reach the footstool, Nor does His head reach it's top. And Ashtar the Terrible says: "I cannot rule in the heights of Saphon!" Ashtar the Terrible goes down, Goes down from the throne of Aliyan Baal, That He may rule over all the grand earth.

Anath goes now to face Mavet, the Darling of El, the Hero.

As with the heart of a cow toward her calf, As with the heart of an ete toward her lamb, So is the heart of Anath toward Baal. She seizes Mavet, in ripping His garment. She closes in on Him, in tearing His clothes. She lifts Her voice And shouts: "Come, Mavet, yield My brother!"

And the God Mavet replies: "What does Thou ask, O Virgin Anath? I was going, And roaming Every mountain to the midst of the earth, Every hill to the midst of the fields. A soul was missing amoung men, A soul of the multitudes of the earth. I arrived at the goodness of the land of Debar, The beauty of the fields of Shechelmemet. I met Aliyan Baal; I made Him like a lamb in My mouth. Like a kid in My jaws was He crushed."

The Torch of the Gods, Shapash, glows, The heavens stop on account of the God Mavet. A day, two days pass. From days to months.

The maiden Anath meets Him. As with the heart of a cow toward her calf, As with the heart of an ete toward her lamb, So is the heart of Anath toward Baal. She siezes the God Mavet. With a sword She cleaves Him, With a pitchfork She winnows Him, With a fire She burns Him, In the millstones She grinds Him, In the fields She plants Him, So that the birds do not eat His flesh, Nor the fowl destroy His portion. Flesh calls to flesh.

The Great El, Father Shunem, declares of the lost God Baal:

"For perished is the Prince, Lord of Earth. And if Aliyan Baal is alive, And if the Prince, Lord of Earth, exists, In a dream of the God of Mercy, In a vision of the Creator of Creatures, Let the heavens rain oil, The wadies run with honey, That I may know that Aliyan Baal is alive, That the Prince, Lord of Earth, exists."

In a dream of the God of Mercy, In a vision of the Creator of Creatures, The heavens rain oil, The wadies run with honey, The God of Mercy rejoices. His feet He sets on the footstool. He cracks a smile and laughs. He lifts His voice And shouts: "Let Me sit and rest, And let My soul repose in My breast. For Aliyan Baal is alive, For the Prince, Lord of Earth, exists." Aloud shouts El to the Virgin Anath: "Hear, O Virgin Anath, Say to the Torch of the Gods, Shapash: 'Over the furrows of the fields, O Shapash, Over the furrows of the fields let El set Thee. As for the Lord of the Plowed Furrows, Where is Aliyan Baal? Where is the Prince, Lord of Earth?'"

The Virgin Anath departs. Then She sets face toward the Torch of the Gods, Shapash. She lifts Her voice And shouts: "The message of Bull-El, Thy father, The word of the God of Mercy, Thy begetter: 'Over the furrows of the fields, O Shapash, Over the furrows of the fields let El set Thee! As for the Lord of the Furrows of His plowing, Where is Aliyan Baal? Where is the Prince, Lord of Earth?'"

And the Torch of the Gods, Shapash, replies: "I shall seek Aliyan Baal!"

And the Virgin Anath answers: "As for Me, tis not I, O Shapash! As for Me, tis not I, but El summons Thee! May the Gods guard Thee in Sheol!"

Shapash descends into the underworld. She enters the relm of Sheol. Upon Her return to the world above, She carries Great Baal with Her. Ball goes into the heights of Saphon. He confronts Mavet, the Hero.

Baal seizes the son of Asherah. The great one He smites on the shoulder. The tyrant He smites with a stick. Mavet is vanquished, Reaches earth.

Baal returns to the throne of His kingship, Dagon's son to the seat of His sovereignty. From days to months, From months to years, Lo in the seventh year.

And the God Mavet addresses Himself to Aliyan Baal. He lifts His voice And shouts: "Because of Thee, O Baal, I have experienced humiliation. Because of Thee, experienced scattering by the sword. Because of Thee, experienced burning in the fire. Because of Thee, experienced grinding in the millstones. Because of Thee, experienced winnowing by the pitchfork. Because of Thee, experienced being planted in the feilds. Because of Thee, experienced being sown in the sea."

Thereupon Mavet threatens to destroy Baal in revenge. He threatens to take the kingship of Baal. Baal expels Him, drives Him out of the heights of Saphon. Mavet vows His revenge eupon Baal:

"And lo, as a brother of Yam Thou art made, Baal is given As retribution for the destroyed sons of My mother!"

He returns to the Lord of the heights of Saphon, He lifts His voice And shouts: "A brother of Yam Thou art made, O Baal! As retribution for the destroyed sons of My mother!"

They shake each other like Gemar-beasts, Mavet is strong, Baal is strong. They gore each other like buffaloes, Mavet is strong, Baal is strong. They bite like serpents, Mavet is strong, Baal is strong. They kick like racing beasts, Mavet is down, Ball is down.

Up comes Shapash. She cries to Mavet: "Hear, O God Mavet! How canst Thou fight with Aliyan Baal? How will Bull-El, Thy father, not hear Thee? Will He not remove the supports of Thy throne? Nor upset the seat of Thy kingship? Nor break the scepter of Thy rule?"

The Got Mavet is afraid, El's Beloved, the Hero, is frightened. Mavet is roused from His prstration.

The God of Sterility submits to Baal. He conceeds the kingship to the Lord of Earth. Baal returns to the Heights of Saphon, but Anath does not go with Him. She turns Her anger to the enemies of Baal. To those who were fickle against Baal in His trials. The attacks mankind.

Like the fruit of seven daughters, The scent of kids and anhb-animals, Both gates of Anath's house.

And the lads chance upon the Lady of the Mountain. And lo, Anath smites in the valley, Fighting between the two cities. She smites the people of the seashore, Destroys mankind of the sunrise. Under Her are heads like vultures. Over Her are hands like locusts, Like thorns, the hands of troops. She piles up heads on Her back, She ties up hands in Her bundle. Knee-deep She plunges in the blood of soldiery, Up to the neck in the gore of troops. With a stick She drives out foes, Against the flank She draws Her bow.

And lo, Anath reaches Her house, Yea the Goddess enters Her palace, But is not satisfied. She had smitten in the valley, Fought between the two cities.

She hurls chairs at the troops, Hurling tables at the soldiers, Footstools at the heroes. Much She smites and looks, Fights and views. Anath gluts Her liver with laughter. Her heart is filled with joy, For Anath's hand is victory. For knee-deep She plunges in the blood of soldiery, Up to the neck in the gore of troops.

Until She is sated She smites in the house, Fights between the two tables, Shedding the blood of soldiery.

Pouring the oil of peace from a bowl, The Virgin Anath washes Her hands, The Progenitress of Heroes, Her fingers. She washes Her hands in the blood of soldiery, Her fingers in the gore of troops.

Arranging portions by the chairs, Tables by the tables, Footstools She arranges by the footstools. She gathers water and washes With dew of heaven, Fat of earth, Rain of the Rider of Clouds, The dew that the heavens pour, The rain that the stars pour. The anhb-animals leap by the thousand acres, The zuh-fish in the sea, by the myriads of hectares.

The word mot (spelled mt) is cognate with forms meaning 'death' in various Semitic and Afro-Asiatic languages: with Arabic موت mawt; with Hebrew מות (mot or mavet); with Maltese mewt; with Syriac mautā; with Ge'ez mot; with Canaanite, Egyptian Aramaic, Nabataean, and Palmyrene מות (mwt); with Jewish Aramaic, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, and Samaritan מותא (mwt’); with Mandaean muta; and with Akkadian mūtu.

Mot 'Death', son of 'El, according to instructions given by the god Hadad (Ba‘al) to his messengers, lives in a city named hmry ('Mirey'), a pit is his throne, and Filth is the land of her heritage. But Ba‘al warns them:

that you not come near to divine Death,

lest he made you like a lamb in his mouth,

(and) you both be carried away like a kid in the breach of his windpipe.

Hadad seems to be urging that Mot come to his feast and submit himself to Hadad.

Death sends back a message that his appetite is that of lions in the wilderness, like the longing of dolphins in the sea and he threatens to devour Ba‘al himself. In a subsequent passage Death seemingly makes good his threat, or at least is deceived into believing he has slain Ba‘al. Numerous gaps in the text make this portion of the tale obscure. Then Ba‘al/Hadad's sister, the warrior goddess ‘Anat, comes upon Mot, seizes him, splits him with a blade, winnows him in a sieve, burns him in a fire, grinds him between mill-stones and throws what remains on the field for the birds to devour.

But after seven years Death returns, seeking vengeance for the splitting, burning, grinding, and winnowing and demanding one of Ba‘al's brothers to feed upon. A gap in the text is followed by Mot complaining that Ba‘al has given Mot his own brothers to eat, the sons of his mother to consume. A single combat between the two breaks out until Shapsh 'Sun' upbraids Mot, informing him that his own father 'El will turn against him and overturn his throne if he continues. Mot concedes and the conflict ends.

In Sanchuniathon also Death is son of 'El and counted as a god, as the text says in speaking of 'El/Cronus:

... and not long afterwards he consecrated after his death another of his sons, called Muth, whom he had by Rhea; this (Muth) the Phoenicians esteem the same as Thanatos ['Death'] and Pluto.

But earlier in a philosophical creation myth Sanchuniathon has referred to great wind which merged with its parents and that connection was called Eros 'Desire':

From its connection Mot was produced, which some say is mud, and others a putrescence of watery compound; and out of this came every germ of creation, and the generation of the universe. So there were certain animals which had no sensation, and out of them grew intelligent animals, and were called "Zophasemin," that is "observers of heaven"; and they were formed like the shape of an egg. Also Mot burst forth into light, and sun, and moon, and stars, and the great constellations.

The language here is confusing, a bad summary and possibly corrupt, and the form Mot here is not the same as Muth which appears later. But it may be that the full and coherent account would have made clear that muddy and putrescent Death is the source of life.

According to H.H. Ben-Sasson's A History of the Jewish People, 1976, page 11-12: "From the Ugaritic evidence ... Other central deities [of the Canaanite pantheon] were ... Moth, the deity of death and the nether world" (Jeremiah 9:21; and Habakkuk 2:5).

External links

• Putting God on Trial- The Biblical Book of Job A Biblical reworking of the combat motif between Mot and Baal.

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