Last Update: 8 January 2004
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Yam-nahar / Yam / "Sir Sea" / "Sir Stream" / Yaw / Yamu / "Prince Sea" / "Judge River" / Tannin / Primeval Serpent / Lotan / Crooked Serpent / Sea Monster / close-coiling One / Tyrant of Seven Heads
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Region: Canaanite
Time Period: 14th Century BC
References in Literature: Poem of Baal
Sources: "Thespis Ritual, Myth and Drama in the Ancient Near East", Illiana, AH, Deity Temple

Notes:
  • River god that lives under the sea in a grand palace.
  • May have been served by dragons, serpents, and Leviathan
  • Feuds with and is destroyed by Baal
  • Is sometimes associated with Lotan
  • May have had a dragon follower
  • Made a king by El, others say he's the actual son of El
  • Embodies wild weather - floods, oceans, winter
  • 7 headed sea serpent or dragon
  • not necessarily evil, just very powerful

Cannanite texts, found between 1930 and 1933 include the Poem of Baal which describes the battle between the god and Yam.

Related Tales:

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