Baal and Yamm—The Final Battle

Ugarit was an ancient city near the western coast of modern-day Syria thousands of years ago. Clay tablets discovered by archaeologists in the twentieth century unearthed a great storehouse of myths from that era. Here is one of them.

The great god El was the supreme god and the father of all gods. He had several children, all of them gods, and it was but natural that one or the other of them was quarrelling all the time. El was the most powerful of course but as he grew old and his sons grew in strength, there was the question of who would succeed him at a future date.

Baal, known otherwise as the Rider of Clouds, was the god of storms, the one who controlled the rain, thunder and lightning. His voice was the thunder and it was he who brought fertility to the earth below. As time passed, Baal grew more powerful in the skies.

Yamm, his brother, was not too happy with these developments. Yamm was the lord of the seas. As one who controlled the waters, he was unruly and uncontrollable. He would flood the land and damage the crops and was generally a destructive element, quite unlike his brother.

Jealous of Baal’s rising supremacy, Yamm sent two messengers to Mount Saphon, the seat of all the gods, asking him to surrender and become his slave. The gods were at dinner when the two messengers, appearing before them like twin fireballs, came to claim Baal. All the gods trembled with fear for they knew that Yamm was not one with whom they could reason.

Addressing El, they said, ‘Father El, we have been sent here by the Lord of the Seas, Yamm. Hand over Baal to us. From today, he shall become a slave to the mighty Yamm!’

No one spoke a word. Baal was furious at the cowardice of the gods. ‘All you cowards! Why do you not speak up?’

El turned to Baal. ‘You have no choice, Baal. You have to pay tribute to Yamm.’ Baal wasn’t too surprised that the great god was not assertive enough. He had noticed that the messengers had not even offered their respects to El.

Seizing an axe, he threw it at one of the messengers who promptly fell dead. But before he could find himself another weapon, he was seized by the other fiery one and taken away from Mount Saphon.

He was then imprisoned by Yamm. ‘Hah! You are the lord of fertility! Let’s see who controls the lands now.’ Yamm laughed.

Fortunately, Baal had one true friend, Kothar-wa-Hasis, the divine master craftsman.

Kothar-wa-Hasis managed to secretly visit Baal in captivity. ‘Do not worry, dear Baal. Haven’t you defeated Yamm in battles before? This is one such battle. We’re only in the middle of it. Take heart. I’ve brought you specially crafted weapons and victory will surely be yours!’

He took out a double-headed axe. ‘Take this . . . this is Yagrush. Its very name means “let him chase away”. This will leap from your hand and chase away the enemy.’

When Baal took the axe, it magically flew out of his hand, found Yamm and struck him between his shoulders. But Yamm was able to recover from the attack and charged upon his brother, enraged. Kothar-wa-Hasis handed over another double-headed axe to Baal. ‘Here is Ayyamur—expel anyone. With this you can vanquish him, surely!’ Baal took the axe which again slipped out of his hand to find its target, striking Yamm between his eyes. Yamm collapsed with that deadly blow and was finally defeated by Baal.

‘Kill him,’ urged Kothar-wa-Hasis, for he knew Yamm had no love for his brother.

‘No, do not!’ said a strange voice. Baal and Kothar-wa-Hasis turned at the sound. It was Anat, Baal’s sister.

Anat, also a daughter of El, was the warrior goddess who had fought many a battle with Yamm. ‘Do not slay him, brother! Treat him as a prisoner of war. Let him live the rest of his life in captivity. We must show generosity in victory.’

‘Pay no heed to your sister, Baal. He’s dangerous. Finish him, once and for all. You shall not regret it,’ whispered Kothar-wa-Hasis for he knew the treachery Yamm was capable of, should he escape.

But Baal knew he should buy his peace with El and the rest of the gods who were not too keen to see him rise. He recalled that none of them had been willing to support him when the fire messengers from Yamm appeared at Mount Saphon and took him prisoner. Anat meant well, he knew.

He looked at Anat and dropped his thunderbolt. ‘Let it be,’ he told Kotharwa-Hasis. ‘There will be more wars, I know. But this is the end of Yamm.’