twin brothers (the role of mother is filled by the Mother goddess Athrat/Astarte, while Anat’s role as a killer is subtly masked, this written myth being later than its original tale of the single all-powerful Nature goddess). The story goes thus: at the season of spring, when all rains cease and the vegetation begins to dry up in that area of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean sea, Mot kills Baal – who represents both the rains and the green vegetation – and buries him in a hidden place up north, from which the sun never shines. At the height of summer, (in the month of Tamuz, the Babylonian counterpart of Baal), Anat with the help of the Sun goddess, find Baal’s grave, takes his body out and mourn him. She then catches Mot in the shape of the dry wheat, cuts him down – i.e. reaps him – thrashes him and scatters his body to the wind as the dust-like chaff. In the autumn, Baal comes back to life, bring rains which cause the earth to soften and the green grass to grow again; the grains of wheat (=corn), which represent Mot’s dead body, are buried in the belly of the earth – i.e. sown – from which the corn grows green in the body of Baal, and the cycle begins all over again. It is quite clear here that both seasons of the year, and both aspects of the corn, are necessary for life to exist and continue.
This pagan belief in the yearly dichotomy was so strong, that in some places the myth, and the connection between the Goddess’ love and the political power, was used not only as a basis for ritual but also for actual reality. In his book The Greek Myths, Graves presents a historical evidence for such a religious-political situation: in some city-states of ancient Greece, at the pre-classical period, there