Mot, the Canaanite maw of death. Mot is death incarnate, his home is the mirey pits of the underworld, the realm of the dead. Mot was born between the union of El and Asherah, the preeminent gods of the cosmos. This made him apart of the main pantheon of deities, the Elohim, brother to the likes of Attar, Yam, and Astarte among 70 others.
After another Elohim, Baal, defeated his rival and ascended the throne he declared that no other ruler besides El himself could control the world that he now did. This of course, included death itself, and as ruler, Baal wished to have Mot submit. Baal instructs his messengers, Gupan and Ugar, to deliver a message requesting Mot to yield himself to Baalâs rule. The storm god also advises the two on how to travel to the Motâs palace in the underworld, stating that Mot lives in mire, his throne is a pit, and filth is the land of his heritage. Baal warns the two about Motâs veracious appetite, that if they even get near the god heâd consume them without a momentâs hesitation. Gupan and Ugar deliver Baalâs message successfully, however Mot has a message of his own. Mot rebukes Baalâs order to submit, declaring that he himself could defeat Baal whenever he so pleased. threatening to consume Baal and cause a worldwide drought, Mot states that his hunger was âakin to that of a wild lion, or the desire of a dolphin in the sea? Or does it resemble the thirst of wild oxen, as they approach a calm pool, or bounding deer as they seek a refreshing spring. Or rather, does my hunger consume an abundant feast?â
Itâs unclear what the following events are, but it seems that El declares that Baal must now submit himself to Mot. Debilitated by fear, Baal concedes to Mot, offering to become the death godâs servant forever more. While Baal does complain to El about his circumstances his fate doesnât seem to change. Before Baal gives himself to Mot, he copulates with something called a heifer, with the heifer giving birth to his son.
No one hears from Baal after he leaves to deliver himself to Mot, with the worldâs rain and fertility drying out. Worried for their lordâs safety, Gupan and Ugar search for Baal, only to find his corpse on the shore of the river of the dead. The two immediately report to El of Baalâs demise, the supreme god subsequently retreated to his quarters to grieve for his son. The entire cosmos joined with El in grieving the loss of Baal, the sun stopped shining as its goddess Shapsh joined Baalâs wife Anat in burying and mourning him, their weeping unending.
Anat scours the land of the dead hoping to find the ghost of her beloved Baal. Despite her frantic and desperate search, she comes up with naught. Frustrated and grieving she begged Mot to restore Baal back to her side. Mot antagonizes her, saying that he was the one who killed Baal. Mot found Baal at the entrance to the underworld when Baal was delivering himself to him, and so he devoured him right on the spot. Enraged, Anat lashed out, cleaving him apart with a blade, threshing him with a sieve, burning him to ash, and grinding his remains only to feed them to scavenging birds, thoroughly eradicating Mot.
While El rests he dreams that Baal is alive. Enthusiastic at his sonâs resurrection, he asks Anat to dispatch Shapsh to find him. Evidently, the sun goddess succeeds, and Baal returns to his throne.
However, Mot too reforms from his complete annihilation. Mot angrily complains to Baal about Anat, lamenting the shame she brought upon him. Mot demands that Baal give him one of his brethren to consume and satiate his anger. Rather than capitulating to Mot, Baal tricks Mot into devouring one of his own brothers. Now livid, Mot does battle with Baal. The two were evenly matched, and eventually both lay on the ground exhausted. Thatâs when Shapsh intervened, she threatened Mot that if he continued to defy Baal, heâd be going against El himself. Thoroughly frightened, Mot concedes to Baal, declaring him king.
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Mot is one of Baalâs two main rivals alongside Yam in Canaanite myth. Rather than being a distinct deity with control over their respective phenomena, again similar to Yam, Mot was seen as the embodiment of death and the underworld. This is reflected in Motâs name, which is the word for death itself in many Semitic languages, derived from its Afroasiatic root. Mot and its other deviations are also used for the name of the realm of the dead as well.
However unlike the previously mentioned Yam, Mot wasnât worshipped. In fact, in Canaan, Mot is only mentioned within the Baal cycle. This is unique as surrounding cultures such as the Egyptians and Sumerians still revered their death divinities. Because of this, itâs been postulated that Mot was a Ugarit exclusive god, however this is highly unlikely. Even stranger is the fact that while ancestral worship was prominent in Canaanite culture, Mot wasnât affiliated with them despite being death and the underworld being the foundation of his character. Rather than Mot, the ancestors were thought to be associated with gods like Baal and Shapsh.
Mot was uniquely characterized as a dreadfully evil being. As the perpetrator behind death, droughts and famine, Mot was diametrically opposed to Baal. Baal as the bringer of the fertile rain symbolized life itself. And so the twoâs battle in the Baal represented the conflict between death and life.
Some have proposed that the battle between Mot and Baal was in actuality a cyclical seasonal myth. They hypothesize that it was believed that every year Baal was killed by Mot which would usher in the dry season. But once Baal was resurrected and defeats Mot, he would then bring upon the rain season. Despite how widespread this is treated as fact, there isnât any actual textual evidence within the Baal cycle to support this conclusion. The seasonal interpretation relies largely upon the conflation of seasonal myths of other local peoples such as the Sumerian Inanna and Dumuzid. Critics instead say that the text indicates that it was rather a singular event of a significant cataclysm. While it is possible that there was a seasonal myth relating to Baalâs decent into the underworld, its most likely untrue that the Baal cycle represents that myth. It isnt until the later development of the Phoenician god, and Baalâs son, Melqart does the seasonal myth somewhat definitively appear in Semitic culture.
The term heifer as used in the myth typically refers to a younger female cow who hasnât yet given birth. While some take this wording straightforwardly referring to an actual cow that Baal sleeps with, some suggest that the heifer actually refers to a goddess, possibly Anat or Astarte. Some have even suggested that the son born from them is Melqart, but Melqart is first attested in later Phoenician texts and seems to be native to Phoenicia.
The specifics of Baalâs death and resurrection is unclear. Some researchers have proposed that Baal hadnât actually died and somehow faked his death. They theorize that he either used the son birthed from the heifer to trick Mot into consuming him instead, or that his consciousness was able to occupy the body of the son. Nevertheless, other scholars have condemned this theory, as the text seems to explicitly state that Baal was the one who died and has not reappeared. Ultimately, as the section of text describing Baalâs death and resurrection is heavily damaged, there really isnât any way to know whether or not which of these are true.
Mot was also present in the post Hellenized Phoenician religion. Under the effect of Interpretatio graeca, a common convention in which Hellenistic cultures would appropriate foreign gods under the names of their owns Mot was referred to with a number of names from different Hellenistic deities like Hades, Thanatos and Pluto. According to the standard mythological account, Mot was born of Chronus and Rhea, whoâre in turn the Interpretatio graeca names of El and Asherah. Mot is strangely stated to have died and was only later made into the god of death because of it. In a separate and stranger creation myth, at the beginning of the world only a chaos conflated with Erebus and a âbreathâ or âwindâ exist. From the twoâs mingling or from their resulting desire, Mot is born. Most intriguingly, they attribute the creation of the cosmos to Mot. Neither of these two likely reflected the original Levantine creation myth and likely came about through Greek influence.
While most of the time Mot is most often used like a term in the Bible, it is occasionally personified much like the Canaanite Mot. This personified Mot shares the same insatiable characteristics of their Canaanite originator, but is often used as a metaphor of some kind. Some have even thought that this personification couldâve given rise to the Grim Reaper, inspired by Elijah mentioning the term in relation to reaping in his conflict against the worshippers of Baal. While Mot as a deity was lost during the conversion to monotheism, his presence could linger in the descendant faith. The cultural memory of Mot may have helped to influence the creation of the death and destroyer angels seen in the Bible and possibly even Satan himself. However this is more of a personal eccentric hypothesis rather than anything truly academic as there isnât any real evidence.
Motâs name has accrued many different variations and pronunciations throughout the centuries, such as Mut, Mawet, Maweth, Mavet, Maveth, Muth, Mawt, Mewt, Mutu, Muta and Mutuwa. Mot also had two cryptic titles, similar to Yam he was referred to as âElâs Belovedâ but also called âthe Heroâ. While the title of âElâs Belovedâ usually indicates a god with Elâs favor, his second title of âthe Heroâ doesnât seem to have an explanation. âThe Heroâ may be allegory for his strength or a reference to a currently unknown myth.
