A Late Response
Rodgers, I'm sorry for how late this email has been sent. My sleep schedule has only gotten worse. At first, I thought I'd messed up my circadian rhythm doing this project for Vincent, a victim of my late nights, you know? But now I feel I am truly sick. My temperature may have dropped to more reasonable levels, but I still feel rather feverish.
This email is later than expected, I am well aware of that, and that is due to the fact I'm just not sleeping well. I find nights warm and restless and I find my days foggy. As exciting as this entire undertaking has been, I find myself anticipating its end. Perhaps after I reclaim my nights for what nature intended for us diurnal creatures, I will be back at the top of my game!
I appreciated your response to my last email and it gave me some things to think about. I understand there's only so much support you can offer without peeping the tablets themselves, but that article on Vincent Mancur you found was quite the find! I had never thought to actually research my employer, and you think I would have if he was offering to be a patron of my library! But learning about his trek through Egypt and just how much of a stickler he is for preserving the ancient past gives me confidence. I'm not too sure what to make of that group he is a part of, though. You used the word 'fraternity' but I hesitate to call it such a thing. After all, there were at least two women named as members.
But enough about personal troubles and woes! I'm sure you've likely skipped the past two paragraphs at least to get to the meat and potatoes of this email: the next tablet. So, here I will continue to share my findings with you. The tablet begins with Baal addressing both Yatpan and El:
Baal the Conqueror speaks with Yatpan.
The Most High speaks with El.
"I have fought with Yah and returned successful,
I have contended with Wah and overcome.
The enemy was at our doorstep,
The one called Jealous {was} at our gate.
I drove him off to the south,
Even unto the dry lands.
Now, I already have something to say about this tablet. Yes, Rodgers, I am well aware that it is too early to already have something to expound upon, but forgive me. You see, if my theory on this character "Yah" is correct, then this would potentially explain how the Yahweh cult rose out of Egypt. I know it is often assumed that the cult started in Midian because of the linkage to Midian from Exodus' early chapter, but consider this: if the "dry lands" here are to be a desert and are located far south, where else could Baal be talking about aside from Egypt? Rodgers, it makes too much sense! It even fits the timeline archaeological scholarship has uncovered!
The earliest possible attestation for the deity is from Egypt. You recall the inscription from the time of Amenhotep III, don't you? It likely points at Yahweh and links him to Midian and Edom! And now we have a tablet of him being driven from Canaan to Egypt – or at least the peninsula – and it is recorded likely before Amenhotep III even ascended the throne? Come now, Rodgers, you must see it!
Yah is again called "Jealous" as well and if this account is... well, if it is "true", he does indeed live up to that name. Continually railing against the gods of the Canaanites for their land and people. The author probably had a run-in with the Yahwistic cult and their doctrine but drove them off; considering the name of the game back then was less to convert and more to exterminate – as seen in the genocidal conquest of the promised land – this must have been a way that the Canaanites attributed the victory to Baal.
After he shares his success in driving away their enemy, Baal's immediate concern is for his sister. It's nice to see this sort of camaraderie between the two. We see a similar connection and loyalty between the two in the Baal Cycle, and while some texts paint Anat as more of a consort than a sister, I feel the overall nature of their relationship as understood by the Canaanites was one of siblings.
He is worried as not only has his sister not greeted him with a celebration on his return, but her clothing, armour, and crown were all found on Mount Zaphon returned. This means, to Baal, that wherever his sister is, she is likely unprotected. He makes it clear that he treasures her and has carried the garments with him to show his father El. He also says that he wishes to feast with his sister in celebration of his victory. Again, their relationship is one of siblings who revel in each other's successes.
Yatpan answers Baal first with an explanation of why she is missing, which I think he did to remind the audience while also explaining to Baal that his sister is missing because she sought to help him against Yah. Then he explains that Anat has gone somewhere beyond even Death where El cannot reach. In response, Baal points out that he has returned from his fight for Mount Zaphon and that Anat no longer needs to prepare for war:
"But I have returned and the battle is over,
I have overcome and Mount Zaphon is safe.
There is no need for Anat to prepare for battle,
There is no reason for my sister [to go to war].
Father, tell me where she has gone that I may retrieve her,
Take me where she is so I may return her to her home."
Baal's reasoning is a bit silly, if you ask me. He says that because he has returned, she should likewise return; but how would she know he was back if she was not present on the mount? Either way, the concern for his sister is noticeable as he even demands El lead him to her so that she can be taken back home. I don't know if the writer is having Baal think of her in danger, but I like to believe that the god thinks she's in trouble. Again, her armour was found on his mountain meaning wherever she is, she is unarmoured.
However, El says he cannot do this in, again, a worrying display of just how far Anat is from El's supreme power:
"Anat is beyond my sight, Baal,
The Mistress of the Peoples beyond my reach.
. . ."
So far that El cannot even see her, much less reach her. One thing this makes me think of is what is said repeatedly in the Bible: Yah can see and access Sheol. Proverbs 15:11 says that Sheol lies open before Wah. If you were an early Israelite follower of the Yahwistic cult and you came across this myth that continually states that Anat is in a place supreme El cannot see, what would you do? The assumption that Sheol originates with the Israelites could be upended. I held that knowledge going in, but this story predates the Israelites. So who's to say that it wasn't something co-opted from here? It makes a great polemic against a foreign god.
Think on it, Rodgers. El admits he cannot reach to Neth'Kol – he can't even see into it. And what is in Neth'Kol according to this text? A place called Sheol where Anat is located. And while the name Neth'Kol is continually damaged and blotted out, Sheol is not. So what better way to show your god is superior to your ancestor's god? Say your god can see the place that their god cannot. El may not be able to reach Sheol, but Yahweh can. It is bare before him. By Providence, Rodgers, this text carries so many implications!
El continues and instructs Baal to seek out Mot, the god of the underworld, as only he knows where Anat is. Or at least, he was the last to see her. So Baal follows the patriarch's advice and heads to the underworld. He heads between Mounts Targuziza and Tharummagi and heads to the swamp. There he finds Mot and unlike when he encountered Anat, Mot seems pretty stumped as to why Baal has descended:
"What reason brings you here, Haddu?
Down to the Pit
Down to my throat."
Here, Mot calls Baal by his actual name, Haddu (or Hadad, if you prefer). Similar to how Mot's interaction with Anat is unique among the gods (calling her the "violent goddess"), here Mot is likewise personal with Baal in a way that, I feel, shows Death to be the great equaliser among the gods. Sure, you may have all these titles and these honorifics, but before Death you are the core of your being. Anat was stripped down to what she actually is: a violent goddess; and Baal is called by his personal name: Haddu.
Baal demands Mot take him to where is sister is being held and Death laughs in his face then gives an answer most curious:
"The violent goddess resides in that place beyond the spheres,
The violent goddess battles in Neth['Kol]:
That depth of depths and cave of caves,
Where battle is constant and war is eternal.
Is it in my power to (pull?) a being from outside the sphere inside?
Can Death be a place of reunion with those who have (taken?) {the} transit?
No, only the violent goddess may make the journey should she choose to."
There are a few things I'd like to highlight in this passage, Rodgers. The place is called the "cave of caves" and on first translating it, my mind instantly went back to Tablet III where the foreign term roughly translated "forever-cave" was found. Notice also that Mot continually addresses Anat by the title "violent goddess". In this whole story, he only calls her by name once. Other than that, he exclusively addresses her this way.
We also see a similar issue with Mot and his reach. Wherever Anat is, it is outside the jurisdiction of the Canaanite gods. Even Mot. In a strange way, this must mean she is not dead but in another state. Thinking back to the Baal Cycle and just how viciously Anat beats Death when trying to force him to regurgitate Baal, I believe Baal here would be wanting to do the same. But unlike that situation where Baal was indeed within Death's domain, Anat is not in the underworld and thus is not under Mot's domain. So while beating Death may be cathartic for him, Baal instead has to continue dealing civilly with the chthonic deity.
Notice also that there is even stranger talk about the relationship between Neth'Kol and the underworld. Mot asks a question that I've done my best to translate directly because that's the only way it makes sense. "Is it in my power to pull a being from outside the sphere inside?" Rodgers, the underworld is within the sphere. This isn't the globe, the sphere seems to contain the whole universe as they knew it, heavens and underworld included. Why else would Mot phrase it that way?
And yet... There is more to think about, for that place is called "the place beyond the spheres" yet here Mot is speaking of a singular sphere. What if, Rodgers, what if the Canaanites were thinking of other worlds? Now, don't close the email and refer me to a mental institution so quickly, my friend. Just give me a moment and read what I have to say.
We have ample evidence that the Canaanites had no clue the earth was round, much less a sphere. Even within this own text there are hints to this sort of idea. But what we know of their cosmology is that the earth was flat atop waters and there was a firmament above which contained the heavens and was a dome. Then, below the earth was water and below that, the underworld. All that would then technically fit in a ball, wouldn't it? So Anat is somewhere outside that sphere.
But the plural form is definitely used in the phrase "place beyond the spheres". I've checked and rechecked. If that's the case, they likely conceptualised other worlds, Rodgers. And not other worlds as in planets like Mars of Mercury; I'm talking about what physicists have discussed and proven theoretically with mathematics. The many-worlds interpretation from quantum theory.
Just rereading that last paragraph fills me with a sort of dread. I feel unhinged, as if I belong in a madhouse. I know just sending this email would put my credibility as a scholar on the line, but how else can I make sense of what I'm reading? Even as I sit here recounting this, I do recall that it was here where I paused my translation for a spot of tea to calm my nerves. The caffeinated Earl Grey went down easy but I nursed it for a good half hour before returning to the text with a swimming, but stilled, mind.
The final thing I want to highlight in the section above is again the emphasis on Anat's agency. She cannot be forced to come back: it has to be her decision. Where El supposed that a brave one (and recall that Brave One is one of Baal's epithets, so that is rather on the nose) could return Anat to earth and Baal believes Mot could return her, or at least lead Baal to her so Baal can return her, Mot corrects this misconception and says that only Anat can bring Anat back. It is too bad that religion went the way it did. I believe had polytheism remained a bit longer, Feminism and its breakthroughs would have happened much earlier... or may not have been needed at all as the goddesses gained more agency.
Upon learning this, Baal is distraught and actually brings up exactly the same objection that Yatpan did in the previous tablet: if she is truly in a place where war is eternal, why would she ever choose to leave? She would have found a place where she is satisfied and would forget her home in all the war. Unless she is reminded of her home and her family, she may never return. Yatpan and Baal; a wingman and a brother. There's something to be said about having people who just know you so well that they understand how you think and wish you the best.
Baal seems to accept that Anat cannot be forcibly returned and that she may even like where she is (agency again), but he still misses his sister and demands from Mot that a messenger at least be sent to her to try and remind her of home. Mot provides a member of the Rephaim, the previously encountered Desnu, and Baal shares his message:
"Leave, lad, do not delay.
Head to Mount Kankaniya and beyond.
(Transition?) to that place beyond the spheres
And seek out Anat
Search for the Mistress of the Peoples and approach:
At Anat's feet bow down and adore,
Prostrate yourself and honour her.
Then say to the Maiden Anat
Recite to my sister,
'Message of Baal the Thunderer,
. . .'"
You can see first that this seems to mirror the message he sent to her in the Baal Cycle itself. The format is similar, though the language reads a bit older than what we have from the Ugarit tablets. This, again, makes me think these were contemporary to one another and that while this is older than the Ugaritic texts we currently have, the Baal Cycle itself is also as old. This could very well push the date back another century or two at the least.
He recites his message for Desnu. This includes his victory over the Usurper and that he wishes to celebrate his victory with her. Desnu does as he's asked and heads to Neth'Kol. Unlike Anat's arrival, Desnu faces no fighting, or if he did, it is not recounted (I say 'recounted' but I just mean written. This did not happen, I do not think). And as is expected in these tales, he finds Anat rather quickly.
With the narrative's return to Neth'Kol, we catch Anat mid battle with her new friend. She is in tip-top shape and honestly comes across as more effective in fighting now than when she first arrived:
Anat swings her sword and the foe is beheaded!
The violent goddess swipes with her sword
And dark-blood is spilt!
The burning one swings her hammer and the enemy is crushed!
The scorching one heaves with her hammer
And bones are {turned to} powder!
The term dark-blood is the best I could do. I feel that it could be translated ichor but for the sake of academic honesty and continuity with words that would be available to the writer, I've opted for a more literal translation. But you can see she isn't simply doing surface damage to her enemies, but actually beheading and spilling blood.
Anat sees Desnu during the melee and recognizes him. Considering how loose time seems to work in this place, we don't really know how long it has been for Anat; Yatpan's and Baal's concern that she has forgotten Mount Zaphon, and her family, likely holds weight. We know she's experienced many years as her initial arrival was equivalent to three days, plus a few hundred (or hundred thousand) then a few thousand (or thousand thousand), but soon after that, days lost their meaning. And then to further confuse the issue, recall that on earth it has been but three days as Yatpan started looking for her the morning she'd just left and Baal didn't return and initiate this until the third day. So that she recognizes Desnu is remarkable but also we see how she is affected by this:
Her face breaks out in sweat, her joints tremble.
For she recognizes him from her travel through the underworld.
Anat seems nervous. A similar description of response can be found in Baal when Gapn and Ugar approach a battle-satisfied Anat with news of her brother, as well as when Anat and Baal visit Asherah for her support in getting Baal a palace after subduing Sea. She asks him why he is here and then follows that up with something curious. So, so curious. But I am not confident in my translation, so I may return to those lines tomorrow night before working on the final tablet. I will leave the segment translated in my attachment; however, the lines will be marked as questionable.
Desnu follows Baal's orders and shows Anat the respect she deserves and then delivers his message from Baal to her. Again, this is similar to what happened in the Baal Cycle, but this is where the similarities end. In Baal, she immediately responds with joy, doing what is asked and then heading for Baal. In fact she tells the two messengers she is much faster than they are and one can only imagine the joy with which she raced them to her brother. Here, however, her response is not immediate and her feelings betray conflict:
On hearing the message, Maiden Anat becomes distraught.
Her feet shake and her back convulses.
Her limbs rattle and her vertebrae weaken.
She does not want to leave this place. Yatpan and Baal's concerns have proven true: she has found a new home in Neth'Kol, and we are about to see that she's found more than a home. Here is her reply which ends Tablet V:
"My brother has returned yet I am outside.
The Rider on the Clouds is back atop Mount Zaphon yet I am here.
I will remove myself from war.
I will refill my heart with love.
I will return from this wide place so we may feast.
I will go back so we may celebrate his victory.
But afford me a final period to prepare.
Give me time to say goodbye to those here."
She seems happy that Baal has returned but she laments that she was not there to greet him. And while you would expect her to run to meet him just as in the Baal Cycle, she is torn. She has a duty and she admits she will do it. She will remove herself from war and fill her heart with love. She will return to celebrate his victory. However, she's made allies and friends in this place beyond the spheres and she is sad to leave them, so she asks to stay for a final undefined period of time (since time seems to not matter) so she can say her goodbyes.
It's quite sombre and unexpected, especially in light of the Baal Cycle. That Anat loves her brother is not in question: the whole situation came about because of her desire to fight by her brother's side. She even admonished the divine council, including El, for their lack of action and support. And of course other texts have both brother and sister backing each other up as siblings should. But here she's seemingly become close to all those she has been fighting with for untold amounts of time.
I realise this ending for the tablet is not quite as cinematic as you may have expected, though I do feel that it is a sort of... natural end point before the next tablet. As if the writer wanted the listener or reader to anticipate the next tablet's reading or perhaps even leave ambiguity if Anat would even return. Considering Anat is well attested to other later tablets and carvings in the Levant, I believe it is clear she returned to Mount Inbubu and thankfully, I have a feeling the final tablet will shed light as to how she left.
I look forward to your response, Rodgers. I absolutely love hearing from you and now of all times, especially, do I enjoy our discourses. Aside from my employer, there is no one else I'm able to discuss these findings with. Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to take a nap. I've opted to not open the library today because my head is killing me. As always, I have attached my full translation to this email along with sigla used.
Your ailing friend,
Woodrow Collins
Sigla
<...> : Indicates damage to the tablet
Italics : Indicates a most literal translation for a phrase for apparent nonce words
[word or phrase] : Indicates short gaps or missing words in the parent text due to damage. The text inside is restored by either the more fragmentary parallel version or by context clues.
(word?) : Indicates damaged text that is still mostly readable but I am not 100% certain in the reading.
{words} : Indicates words inserted to give a better rendering in English or explanatory insertions
(italics) : Indicates apparent loanwords from other cultures
Tablet V
Baal the Conqueror speaks with Yatpan.
The Most High speaks with El.
"I have fought with Yah and returned successful,
I have contended with Wah and overcome.
The enemy was at our doorstep,
The one called Jealous {was} at our gate.
I drove him off to the south,
Even unto the dry lands.
I have found my sister's crown returned to my mount.
See, I have it in my hands and carry it close!
I have found my sister's armoured garments returned to my mount.
See, I have it over my shoulder and it weighs on me!
I have found my sister's rough garments returned to my mount.
See, I have it on my back and treasure it dear!
Where is Maiden Anat, that she would leave all she has behind?
Where is my sister, that I may celebrate with a feast?"
Yatpan answers,"Maiden Anat sought to join you in battle,
She petitioned the gods to join your (crusade?).
Wise El decreed that she descend to Mot to prepare for battle
And fight below the Pit to ready for war."
Baal replies,
"But I have returned and the battle is over,
I have overcome and Mount Zaphon is safe.
There is no need for Anat to prepare for battle,
There is no reason for my sister [to go to war].
Father, tell me where she has gone that I may retrieve her,
Take me where she is so I may return her to her home."
{But} El declines,
"Anat is beyond my sight, Baal,
The Mistress of the Peoples beyond my reach.
Go down to Mot and inquire of him
For only he knows the way to your sister.
Leave, Prince, and do not delay."
So Baal descends into the throat of El's son, Death,
Into the watery depths of El's Darling, Mot.
Behold! He heads to Mount Targuziza, to Mount Tharummagi.
The mounds at the edge of the underworld.
He is counted among those who go down into the earth,
Among those who are in the midst of the Swamp.
He is set upon by Mot.
"What reason brings you here, Haddu?
Down to the Pit
Down to my throat."
Baal answers,
"Rise to your feet, Death.
El, your father, has told me you know where Anat has gone,
You know where the Mistress of the Peoples is held.
Show me the way!
Take me to Maiden Anat
That I may return her to Mount Ugr,
Even return her to Mount Zaphon."
Death laughs,
"The violent goddess resides in that place beyond the spheres,
The violent goddess battles in Neth['Kol]:
That depth of depths and cave of caves,
Where battle is constant and war is eternal.
Is it in my power to (pull?) a being from outside the sphere inside?
Can Death be a place of reunion with those who have (taken?) {the} transit?
No, only the violent goddess may make the journey should she choose to."
Baal laments,
"I know my sister's thirst for war.
Would she ever leave a place where battle is constant?
I know Maiden Anat's desire for conflict.
Could she pull herself away from a place where war is eternal?
If she is well and truly in a place of eternal-war,
Then she has found a home more fitting than Mount Inbubu.
She has found a place and forgotten Mount Zaphon.
Come, Mot, and ready a messenger to bring her home.
Rise, Death, and send a message for Maiden Anat."
So Death called on one of the Rephaim,
Even from the fallen mighty, a messenger.
Baal instructs,
"Leave, lad, do not delay.
Head to Mount Kankaniya and beyond.
(Transition?) to that place beyond the spheres and seek out Anat
Search for the Mistress of the Peoples and approach:
At Anat's feet bow down and adore,
Prostrate yourself and honour her.
Then say to the Maiden Anat
Recite to my sister,
'Message of Baal the Thunderer,
Word of the Conqueror of Warriors:
Remove yourself from war,
Refill your heart with love.
See, I have returned to the mountain of my inheritance
To my pleasant house, the divine Mount Zaphon.
I have contended with Yah and have won
I have fought against [Wah] and overcome!
Return from that dark place so we may feast,
Come back so that we may celebrate.'"
So Desnu goes to that place beyond the spheres,
To the depth of depths, {this} one of the Rephaim travels.
Low, he finds Anat and the burning one battling in the valley,
The violent goddess and the scorching one at war in the planes of Neth'Kol.
Anat swings her sword and the foe is beheaded!
The violent goddess swipes with her sword and dark-blood is spilt!
The burning one swings her hammer and the enemy is crushed!
The scorching one heaves with her hammer and bones are [turned to] powder!
As soon as Anat sees Desnu, she becomes concerned.
Her face breaks out in sweat, her joints tremble.
For she recognizes him from her travel through the underworld.
She raises her voice,
"Why has Desnu come to this place?
Why has one of the Rephaim transitioned to the place beyond the sphere?
(See how the journey has changed you.?)
(See how your features have become as a foreigner."?)
Desnu falls at Maiden Anat's feet,
One of the Rephaim prostrate before the violent goddess.
Desnu answers,
"I come bearing news of Baal the Conqueror.
I come on behalf of the Valiant one.
'Message of Baal the Thunderer,
Word of the Conqueror of Warriors:
Remove yourself from war,
Refill your heart with love.
See, I have returned to the mountain of my inheritance
To my pleasant house, the divine Mount Zaphon.
I have contended with Yah and have won,
I have fought against Wah and overcome!
Return from that dark place so we may feast,
Come back so that we may celebrate my victory.'"
On hearing the message, Maiden Anat becomes distraught.
Her feet shake and her back convulses.
Her limbs rattle and her vertebrae weaken.
She replies,
"My brother has returned yet I am outside.
The Rider on the Clouds is back atop Mount Zaphon yet I am here.
I will remove myself from war.
I will refill my heart with love.
I will return from this wide place so we may feast
I will go back so we may celebrate his victory.
But afford me a final period to prepare.
Give me time to say goodbye to those here."