Mot

Death with a throat

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.

Baal in Mot's throat

After Baal builds his palace and declares his kingship, Mot answers with a threat, reminding Baal of the serpent Litan he defeated and warning that Baal must now come down into his throat (KTU 1.5 I). Baal submits. His death is announced to El, who mourns, and to Anat, who searches for him.

Mot destroyed, and back again

Anat finds Mot and treats him like grain at harvest, splitting, winnowing, burning, grinding, and sowing him (KTU 1.6 II), and the birds eat his remains. Yet in the seventh year Mot returns, demanding compensation, and he and Baal fight like wild oxen, serpents, and stallions until both fall. Only when the sun-goddess Shapash warns Mot that El will overturn his throne does he give way and acknowledge Baal's kingship (KTU 1.6 VI).

Interpretation

The grain imagery of Mot's destruction has led some scholars to read him as a harvest figure, but most now see the language as Anat's way of annihilating him completely. Mot is never finally destroyed: death can be driven back, not abolished.