Yam deity of canan

the Levantine pantheon. Of all the gods, despite being the champion of El, Yam holds special hostility against Baal Hadad, son of Dagon. Yam is a deity of the sea and his palace is in the abyss associated with the depths, or Biblical tehom, of the oceans. Yam is the deity of the primordial chaos and represents the power of the sea, untamed and raging; he is seen as ruling storms and the disasters they wreak, and was an important divinity to the maritime Phoenicians. The gods cast out Yam from the heavenly mountain Sappan (modern Jebel Aqra; Sappan is cognate to Tsephon).[citation needed] The fight of Baal-Hadad with Yam has long been equated with the Chaoskampf mytheme in Mesopotamian mythology in which a god fights and destroys a "dragon" or sea monster; the seven-headed dragon Lotan is associated closely with him and Yam is often described as the serpent. Both Mesopotamian Tiamat[2] and Biblical Leviathan are adduced as reflexes of this narrative,[3] as is the fight of Zeus with Typhon in Greek mythology.[4] Baal Cycle Edit Main article: Baal Cycle In the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, El, chief of the Gods and father to the second-tier divinities, appoints Yam to fight Hadad-Baal. In the interpretatio graeca of Philo of Byblos, El corresponds to Cronus, Hadad-Baal to Zeus, Yam to Poseidon and Mot to Hades. KTU 1.2 iii: "From your throne of kingship you shall be driven, from the seat of your dominion cast out! On your head be Ayamari (Driver) O Yam, Between your shoulders Yagarish (Chaser), O Judge Nahar May Horon split open, O Yam, may Horon smash your head, ´Athtart-Name-of-the-Lord thy skull! After a great war in heaven involving many of the gods, Yam is soundly defeated: And the weapon springs from the hand of Baal, Like a raptor from between his fingers. It strikes the skull of Prince Yam, between the eyes of Judge Nahar. Yahm collapses, he falls to the earth; His joints quiver, and his spine shakes. Thereupon Baal drags out Yam and would rend him to pieces; he would make an end of Judge Nahar. Hadad holds a great feast, but not long afterwards he battles Mot (death) and through his mouth he descends to the netherworld. Yet like Yam, Death too is defeated and in h. I AB iii the Lord arises from the dead: For alive is Mighty Baal, Revived is the Prince, Master of Earth." 'El calls to the Virgin Anat: "Hearken, O maiden Anat!" Comparative mythology Edit The narrative of the conflict of Yam with Baal-Hadad has long been compared to parallels in Mesopotamian mythology, the battle between Tiamat and Enlil and Babylonian Marduk and, more generically, the Chaoskampf motif in comparative mythology.[2] See also Edit Ugaritic mythology Baal Cycle Chaoskampf