Page "Anat" Paragraph 9

Like Inanna in the Epic of Gilgamesh, ‘ Anat complained to El and threatened El himself if he did not allow her to take vengeance on Aqhat.

El conceded.

‘ Anat launched her attendant Yatpan in hawk form against Aqhat to knock the breath out of him and to steal the bow back.

Her plan succeeds, but Aqhat is killed instead of merely beaten and robbed.

In her rage against Yatpan, ( text is missing here ) Yatpan runs away and the bow and arrows fall into the sea.

All is lost.

‘ Anat mourned for Aqhat and for the curse that this act would bring upon the land and for the loss of the bow.

The focus of the story then turns to Paghat, the wise younger sister of Aqhat.

She sets off to avenge her brother's death and to restore the land which has been devastated by drought as a direct result of the murder.

The story is unfortunately incomplete.

It breaks at an extremely dramatic moment when Paghat discovers that the mercenary whom she has hired to help her avenge the death is, in fact, Yatpan, her brother's murderer.

The parallels between the story of ‘ Anat and her revenge on Mot for the killing of her brother are obvious.

In the end, the seasonal myth is played out on the human level.