More on Anat

[ikhet_sekhmet]

Anat's killing of Aqhat is followed by a drought; in Stories from Ancient Canaan, Michael Coogan speculates that the lost conclusion to the myth sees Aqhat's resurrection and the restoration of fertility to the land. If so, I think there's another parallel with Inanna/Ishtar, who decreed Dumuzi's captivity in the Netherworld.

In the Epic of Baal, there's a different variation on the pattern: Anat retrieves Baal's body, and slays his murderer, Death himself, returning Baal to life.

Another parallel: in Enuma Elish, Marduk fights and defeats Tiamat, the sea; in the Epic of Baal, Baal fights and defeats Prince Sea. (Both Baal and Marduk are young up-and-coming gods, who receive a temple as the reward for their victories.)

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Coogan, Michael David. Stories from Ancient Canaan. Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1978.

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[ikhet-sekhmet.livejournal.com]

Though there is some common language and imagery, I haven't spotted any simple copying between the three lots of myths - certainly nothing like the almost word-for-word bits of the Flood story in Genesis and Gilgamesh.

Marduk's name appears just once (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=50&verse=2&version=31&context=verse) in the Bible, and not in a flattering way.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]