Shapash
Also known as: Shapshu, Torch of the Gods (nrt ilm)
Mythological Narrative
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Torch of the Gods
At Ugarit the sun is a goddess, Shapash, the "Torch of the Gods". Because she crosses the sky by day and, in Ugaritic belief, passes through the underworld by night, she can go where other gods cannot, and she acts as a go-between for the realms of the living and the dead.
## In the Baal Cycle
Shapash appears at the crucial moments of the cycle's last tablets. She helps Anat lift Baal's body onto Anat's shoulder so that Anat can carry it to Zaphon for burial (KTU 1.6 I). When El dreams that Baal lives, Anat asks Shapash to search for him, and she agrees. When Baal and Mot fight to exhaustion, it is Shapash who warns Mot that El will overturn his throne if he continues, and Mot gives way (KTU 1.6 VI). The cycle closes with a hymn to her, praising her rule over the shades of the dead.
## In ritual
Shapash also appears in Ugaritic incantations against snakebite, in which a mare's daughter calls on the sun to carry her message to the gods; and in the royal funerary liturgy (KTU 1.161), where she is called on to accompany the dead king. Her solar role is not simply heavenly; it is a role of crossing.
Cross-Pantheon Parallels & Archetypes
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Shapash.
You Might Also Like
Sun-goddess of Arinna
The Hattian sun-goddess of the holy city of Arinna, queen of the land of Hatti and, with the Storm-god, the highest deity of the Hittite state cult; Queen Puduhepa's prayer equates her with the Hurrian goddess Hebat.
Anat
The young warrior goddess of Ugarit, Baal's sister and fiercest ally, who wades through battle, bullies El into granting Baal a palace, finds Baal's body, and destroys Mot.
Athirat (Asherah)
El's consort, 'Lady Athirat of the Sea' and 'Creatress of the Gods', mother of the seventy sons of El, who can persuade El when no one else can.
Athtar
The god whom Athirat proposes as king after Baal's death, who climbs onto Baal's throne on Zaphon and finds that his feet do not reach the footstool.