El the Warrior

Abstract

There has been no lack of attention focused on the deity El in the Ugaritic texts. In addition to various articles that have dealt with the characteristics and functions of this deity two excellent monographs have appeared by Marvin Pope and Otto Eissfeldt. The thrust of most of the literature pertaining to this deity has been the assumption that while El is father of the gods and the “executive” deity of the pantheon at Ugarit, he is essentially an otiose deity, whose power seems rather limited when compared to that of other deities, whose fear of other gods is obvious, and whose gradual decline in the face of Baal's rise to prominence seems clear.