Hello, I'm Gary Stevens, and welcome to the History in the Bible podcast.

All the history, in all the books, in all the Bibles.

Episode. Episode 1.5, The Names of God. Welcome back to the history in the Bible.

In the last episode, we left the British archaeologist John Garstang digging up Jericho in the 1930s. At about the same time, archaeologists were

uncovering the library of Ugarit, now known as Rashamra. Ugrit lies on the Mediterranean coast,

200 kilometres north of Beirut. It was a great trading city that connected the sea routes from

Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, with the overland routes to

the empires of the Tigris and the Euphrates, and perhaps even to India. For 600 years,

the city-state was a hub of international commerce. From the Cuneaform tablets found at Ugrit,

we know that the inhabitants spoke a language closely related to the language of the Canaanites,

whom the Israelites would later conquer, and also related to Hebrew and Arabic.

Ugarit provides us with the best glimpse we can get of the religion of Canaan before the conquest.

At the head of this religion was Elle and his queen Asher or Astati.

Beneath them was a pantheon of lesser gods.

Elle was an aged and kindly patriarch, the creator of heaven and earth, the bull of infinite

wisdom and kindness.

But he was a creator who had done his job and retired, detached and sleepy, like your

grandpa was the Christmas before he died.

Ailes' children ran the real show, especially the young Storm God and warrior Baal, also known as Haddad,

and his sister Annat. They were the ones who had the real power, the movers and shakers,

the ones celebrated in story and song, their instructions

sought and forgiveness begged.

...