Anath, Asherah, and Ashtoreth are the principal goddesses mentioned in the Ras Shamra texts. However, there appears to have been a considerable overlapping in the roles of these goddesses. In Syria, where the Ras Shamra texts were found, Anath may have been viewed as Baal’s wife, since she, though repeatedly referred to as “maiden,” is shown as having intercourse with Baal.

The references to Anath in the Ras Shamra texts give some indication of the degraded conception of the deities that the Canaanites undoubtedly shared with the Syrians. Anath is described as the fairest among Baal’s sisters, but as having an extremely violent temper. She is depicted as threatening to smash the skull of her father, El, and cause his gray hair to flow with blood and his gray beard with gore if he did not comply with her wishes. On another occasion Anath is shown going on a killing spree. She attached heads to her back, and hands to her girdle, and she plunged knee-deep in the blood and hip-deep in the gore of valiant ones. Her delight in such bloodshed is reflected in the words: “Her liver swells with laughter, her heart fills up with joy.”​—Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. Pritchard, 1974, pp. 136, 137, 142, 152.

Most prominent of the Canaanite gods, however, was the fertility god Baal, a deity of the sky and of rain and storm. (Jg 2:12, 13) In the Ras Shamra texts, Baal is often called the son of Dagon, though El is also spoken of as his father. Baal’s sister Anath is shown referring to El as her father and he, in turn, calls her his daughter. Hence, Baal probably was regarded as the son of El, though he may also have been viewed as El’s grandson. In the mythological accounts Baal is depicted as assaulting and triumphing over Yamm, the god who presided over the water and who seems to have been El’s favorite or beloved son. But Baal is slain in his conflict with Mot, who was viewed as a son of El and the god of death and aridity. Thus, Canaan, like Babylon, had its god who died a violent death and thereafter was restored to life.​—See BAAL No. 4.