Canaan

Canaanite mythology often associated the snake with the mother goddess Qudšu (a variant of the goddesses Asherah and Anat), who was typically depicted in the nude either holding snakes in one hand and flowers in the other or with snakes flanking the goddess on either side (Negbi, Canaanite Gods, 99–100, no. 1701, fig. 119). Snakes were also often depicted on ceramic ritual stands, such as the one dating to the 11th century bc discovered at Beth-Shean (Rowe, Four Canaanite Temples, Pl. XVI:2). The prominent association of the snake with the mother goddess, as well as its appearance on Canaanite ritual stands, suggests that the snake was, among other things, a symbol of fertility in Canaanite religion (see Joines, Serpent Symbolism, 63–73).

As with Egyptian and Mesopotamian serpent symbolism, the Canaanites also saw the snake as an agent of chaos. This is especially evident in the Ugaritic myth of the storm god Baal’s battle with Yamm, the chaotic god of the sea. Lotan (an associate or manifestation of Yamm) is described as being a “fleeing serpent” (btn brh) and a “twisty serpent” (btn ‘qltn) with seven heads (Dietrich, Loretz, and Sanmartín, KTU, 1.5:1–4; see Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 141).