Baal Cycle

for Baal.
She cut skin with a stone, […] [with a razor].
She gashed cheeks and chin; […]
she plowed her upper arm like a garden,
her chest like a valley […] her back.
Baal is dead! What of the people? The Son of Dagan,
what of the multitudes? After Baal we will go down
into the earth. With her went down the Lamp
of the Gods, Shapshu. Until she was sated with weeping,
she drank tears like wine. Aloud
she cried to Shapshu, Lamp of the Gods:
Load Valiant Baal onto me, please.
Shapshu, Lamp of the Gods, listened.
She lifted Valiant Baal onto the shoulder
of Anat. When she had set him there, she brought him up
into the uttermost parts of Sapan. She wept for him
and buried him. She put him in a hole
of the gods of the earth. She slaughtered seventy
wild bulls as an offering for Valiant
Baal. She slaughtered seventy oxen
[as] an offering for Valiant Baal.
[She slaughtered] seventy sheep
[as an offering] for Valiant Baal.
[She slaughtered] seventy deer
[as an offering] for Valiant Baal.
[She slaughtered seventy] mountain goats
[as an offering for Valiant] Baal.
[She slaughtered seventy] roe deer
[as an offering] for Valiant Baal.
[…] Anat
[…] the gods.
[Then] she set her face toward
[El] at the source of the two rivers, amid
She rolled back the tent of El
and came to the pavilion of the king, the Father of the Bright One.
At the feet of El she bowed and fell down,
she paid him homage and honoured him.
She lifted up her voice and cried: Let her rejoice now
Athirat and her sons, the goddess and the band of her kinsmen!
For dead is Valiant Baal,
for perished is the Prince, Lord of the Earth!
Aloud cried El to the Great Lady-who-tramples-Yamm
Listen, O Great Lady-who-tramples-Yamm.
Give the first of your sons;
I shall make him king.
And the Great Lady-who-tramples-Yamm replied
Shall we not make king one who has knowledge and wit?
And the Compassionate, El of mercy, replied⁠a
LLet the finest of pigments be ground,
let the people of Baal prepare unguents,
the people of the the Son of Dagan crushed herbs.
The Great Lady-who-tramples-Yamm replied:
Indeed, let us make Athtar the Brilliant king
Athtar the Brilliant shall rule!
Then Athtar the Brilliant went up into the uttermost parts of Sapan;⁠b
he sat on the throne of Valiant Baal.
But his feet did not reach the footstool;
Then Athtar the Brilliant said:
I shall not rule in the uttermost parts of Sapan!
Athtar the Brilliant came down,
he came down from the throne of Valiant Baal,
and ruled in the earth
[…] drew water in wide jars,
[…] drew water in jars.