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kudzu
03-25-2018, 04:15 PM
Yam or Yamm, from the ancient Semitic word meaning "sea," is the name of the Canaanite god of rivers and the sea. Yam was also the deity of the primordial chaos. He represented the power of the tempestuous sea untamed and raging. Also called Nahar ("river") he additionally ruled floods and related disasters.

In West Semitic mythology, Yam was given kingship over the other gods by the chief god El. When Yam's rulership turned tyrannical and he possessed El's wife Asherah, the storm deity Baal (Hadad) challenged and defeated Yam in a titanic battle, ending with Yam cast down from the heavenly mountain Saphon.

The mythic sea dragon Lotan, whom Baal also defeated, was closely associated with Yam and possibly an aspect of him. A similar sea-demon appears in the mythology of many cultures. The biblical monster Leviathan is seen as related to Lotan, and his dwelling, the sea, is called yam in the Hebrew Bible.


Yam's defeat by Baal parallels the Mesopotamian legend of the storm god Marduk's victory over the primordial sea goddess Tiamat. Numerous other parallel myths have been noted by mythologists and religion scholars, often interpreted as representing the triumph of heavenly order over primeval chaos.

In the Epic of Ba'al




A primary source for our knowledge concerning Yam is the Epic of Baal, also known as the Baal Cycle, which describes the storm god Baal coming to ascendancy in the Canaanite pantheon.

In the beginning, the kindly but distant El, the father of the gods, bequeaths the divine kingship to Yam. The sea deity, however, soon turns tyrant and oppresses the other gods. Asherah, the mother goddess, attempts to reason with Yam, but he adamantly refuses to relent. In desperation for the welfare of her children, Asherah finally consents to give Yam her own body.

Sitting in council with the other gods, Baal is outraged at this idea and determines to rebel against Yam. Hearing of Baal's plan, Yam brazenly demands that Baal be handed over to him for punishment, sending emissaries to the Assembly of the Gods who show no respect even to El. Baal secures weapons from the divine craftsman Kothar-wa-Khasis and proceeds to defeat Yam in a mighty battle, rescuing Asherah from her fate and liberating the other gods from Yam's oppression, thus becoming their lord.

However, Baal in turn proceeds to be defeated by Mot, the desert god of death and infertility, who accuses him of having killed the great sea serpent Lotan, closely associated with Yam. Baal himself is rescued by the efforts of his sister Anat, so that he may rise again and reign supreme in an apparent re-enactment of the annual cycles of rain and drought.

Little is known about the manner in which Yam may have been worshiped.

continued

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Yam_(god)

kudzu
03-27-2018, 04:27 AM
The Israelites crossed Yam Suf according to the Exodus story.

hypGnosis
03-30-2018, 01:31 PM
Kind of reminds me of somethings that could have, should have, been in Bulfinch's Mythology.
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kudzu
03-31-2018, 09:13 AM
Kind of reminds me of somethings that could have, should have, been in Bulfinch's Mythology.
.

Bulfinch wrote about Greek and Roman mythology, didn't he?

Yam was a Canaanite god .. and there were many, many gods until they were either combined into one God or eliminated from the narrative. Even though the Hindus had many, many gods, but all come under one divine force.