The Obituary
Mot was the Canaanite and Ugaritic personification of death and the underworld, the devouring power of drought and sterility. In the Baal Cycle his appetite is cosmic, one lip to the earth and one to the sky, and he swallows the storm-god Baal, bringing barrenness to the world. The warrior-goddess Anat then splits, burns, and grinds him to dust. Known almost entirely from the Ugaritic tablets, his cult ended with the Bronze Age collapse and was forgotten.
Worth remembering
- He is described with one lip touching the earth and the other the heavens, his throat an endless grave.
- After he swallows Baal, the goddess Anat destroys him, and his cyclical death-and-return mirrors the dry season.
Sources
- Mot was the Canaanite god of death and the underworld Wikipedia
- In the Baal Cycle Mot swallows Baal, bringing drought to the land World History Encyclopedia
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.