By the Gods!

El

The supreme deity of the ancient Canaanites, El was big man on the Levant-campus back in the day. El was the father of Ba’al, who would eventually become more popular than his dad throughout the Middle-East, and husband of Asherah (a semitic mother goddess).

In many depictions, El wore the same bull horns as did Ba’al, though we often see him portrayed in the fancy hats of an ancient Mesopotamian king. The power of fancy hats was one worth flaunting, after all. Though his main priority was sitting in a throne, enjoying being the boss, he was accredited with being a patron deity of fertility, thunder, mountains, deserts, oceans, and war. A real Renaissance-god.

Now, even though Ba’al was the god of storm and sky (a position usually held by a chief deity) his papa was #1, at least in the inception of the Pantheon. El’s full title was El Shaddai, which loosely translates (we’re pretty sure, anyway) to God of the Mountain. The Mesopotamian Holy Mountain was a big deal, and a fitting place for a king of the Gods to dwell, one might think. El was too popular for his own good, though. Or, for our good, at least; he’s brought up in so many places in so many different forms, it’s difficult to pin down what exactly he was to whom.

The most popular reference to El would be in the Hebrew Torah, where El Shaddai is the God of Abraham, and is synonymous with Yahweh. Does this mean that Abraham was originally a practitioner of the Canaanite faith? Quite possible! But either way, it seems the Hebrews adopted the title of the supreme deity in Canaan and used it as a feather in Yahweh’s cap. Ol’ El has also drawn comparisons to the Babylonian Ea (Enki) and Poseidon, if you can believe it.

Whoever you are, El, you’re almost definitely a badass.

Dagan

A god of corn and fertility who was worshipped in both Canaan and Mesopotamia, Dagan was often regarded as the father of Baal (or, depending on your definition, the Baal known as Hadad). Several kings of Akkad and Babylonia declared themselves to be “sons of Dagan,” giving us some early examples of self-deification, which we will discuss in more detail soon.

In the Old Testament (that good ol’ testament) a god called Dagon is described as the chief deity of the Philistines (those good ol’ Philistines). The mighty Samson destroyed his temple by pulling down the support pillars with his incredible strength, scoring big points for the Israelites in that ongoing struggle. This Philistine Dagon may have been a sea god, as he was represented with the tail of a fish, but there is still some dispute as to whether Dagan and Dagon are one and the same deity. 

Baal

Baal was the name given by many Canaanite tribes to their chief god. Now, Baal wasn’t the name of any one deity, per se, but it meant “Lord” or “Owner in the Canaanite language. Think of it more as a title, the chief god of any one Canaanite group being a “Baal.” The term was even applied to men in positions of power all around the Levant. The word is more commonly seen as an Israelite term for a “false god.” In biblical writings, any mention of Baal is in reference to any idol or deity other than Yahweh, seen as an evil, false, alien god. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Yahweh was a jealous guy. Suffer no rival. You’ve heard it all before. Okay. Movin’ on.

The most renowned Baal of Canaanite mythology was the god of fertility, rain and thunder known as Hadad. This god is sometimes named Baal, sometimes named Hadad, depending on the source and the translation. This particular Baal was closely associated with lightning, and is often depicted wielding a thunderbolt. He was also associated with the ideas of death and rebirth, dying and rising, as a story tells how he defeated Yam, the god of the sea, to become king of the gods, before being tricked into eating mud by Mot, the god of death, and himself dying. Mot was in turn killed by Baal’s mourning wife, which brought the mud-filled Baal back to life. Besides eating mud, (and being a bit of a weirdo) Baal seems like a pretty capable deity.