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Mythos Atlas

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El (Ilu) vs Mot

El (Ilu)
El (Ilu)Canaanite Pantheon (Ugarit)
Mot
MotCanaanite Pantheon (Ugarit)

El (Ilu) and Mot are recorded as parent and child in the Canaanite Pantheon (Ugarit).

At a glance

El (Ilu) and Mot compared
El (Ilu)Mot
TraditionCanaanite Pantheon (Ugarit)Canaanite Pantheon (Ugarit)
Domainskingship over the gods, creation, wisdom, the divine assemblydeath, the underworld, drought and sterility
Symbolsthe bull, grey beard, the tent at the source of the two riversan open throat, the muddy city Hmry
Also calledIlu, Bull El (ṯr il), Father of Years (ab šnm), Creator of Creatures (bny bnwt)Death, Beloved of El (ydd il), Son of El (bn ilm)

Where they meet

The atlas records no domain or symbol that El (Ilu) and Mot share.

They are compared because of how the myths connect them, not because of what they rule.

Where they part

Only El (Ilu)

Associated with kingship over the gods, creation, wisdom, and the divine assembly.

Only Mot

Associated with death, the underworld, and drought and sterility.

How each was worshipped

El (Ilu)

El heads the Ugaritic offering lists; no temple at Ugarit is securely identified as his.

Mot

No cult sites or festivals are recorded in the atlas.

The two figures

Canaanite Pantheon (Ugarit)

El (Ilu)

The aged king and father of the gods at Ugarit, 'Bull El', 'Father of Years', who presides over the divine assembly from his dwelling at the source of the two rivers and whose permission every younger god seeks.

El's name is simply the common Semitic word for "god". At Ugarit he is the head of the pantheon, the "Father of Years" and "Creator of Creatures", with a grey beard that other gods praise for its wisdom. He dwells far from the other gods "at the source of the two rivers, in the midst of the springs of the two deeps", in a tent or pavilion, and the assembly of the gods meets on his mountain. His consort is Athirat, and the gods are collectively "the sons of El".

Read the full El (Ilu) entry

Canaanite Pantheon (Ugarit)

Mot

Death personified, whose throat reaches to the heavens and whose lip touches the earth, who swallows Baal and is himself destroyed by Anat and then fights Baal to a standstill.

Mot is death itself, not a ruler of the dead. The Baal Cycle gives him an enormous appetite: one lip to the earth, one lip to the heavens, a tongue to the stars (KTU 1.5 II), and a craving that the text compares to a lion's hunger and a dolphin's thirst. His city is Hmry ("Miry" or "Muddy"), where he sits on a throne in a land of filth, and messengers are warned not to come too close in case he swallows them.

Read the full Mot entry
About this comparison

Comparisons pair figures that play a similar role across traditions, or that the myths connect within one. A shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.