Tale of Aqhat
Aqht
Even a righteous king's piety cannot shield his household from a god's jealousy, and a mortal's refusal to yield a divine gift to a goddess provokes fatal retribution.
- royal piety rewarded with a son, then undone by divine jealousy
- a mortal's defiance of a goddess as the fatal trigger
- the craftsman god's bow as a coveted divine object
- a daughter's vengeance quest in an unresolved ending
An Ugaritic epic on three tablets copied in the same period as the Legend of Keret. The just king Danel, childless, is granted a son, Aqhat, through Baal's intercession with El. The craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis gives Aqhat an extraordinary bow, which the goddess Anat covets and tries to buy with offers of wealth and immortality. Aqhat refuses and insults her, telling her that bows are for men. Anat has him killed by her agent Yatpan to seize the bow, which is lost in the process. Danel recovers and buries his son's remains, and his daughter Pughat sets out to avenge her brother by tracking down the killer. The surviving text breaks off before the outcome is known.
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