Shapash

Shapash (in alphabetic Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌, vocalized as Šapašu or Šapšu; in Biblical Hebrew: שֶׁמֶשׁ, Šemeš) is the sovereign sun goddess of Late Bronze Age Canaanite and Ugaritic religion. Unlike ancient Mesopotamian theology, which personified the sun as the male deity Shamash, Northwest Semitic peoples of Ugarit and ancient Southern Arabia revered the celestial sun as a benevolent, all-seeing female divinity of supreme judicial authority and compassion. Formally invoked as the 'Torch of the Gods' (Niratu ʾIlāti Šapšu), Shapash journeys across the sky by day illuminating all civilized lands and, upon evening twilight, descends into the chthonic subterranean realm to oversee the spirits of ancestral dead (the Rephaim / rpum) before rising anew on the eastern horizon. Across the cuneiform tablets of the Baal Cycle unearthed at Ras Shamra (on the northern Syrian coast), Shapash serves as cosmic arbiter and the confidential royal envoy of patriarch El. When the storm god Baal is swallowed by Motu (Death), Shapash responds immediately to Anat's lamentation, descending into the underworld abyss to help the maiden warrior lift Baal's lifeless corpse onto Anat's shoulders and transport him up to Mount Saphon for solemn burial rites (KTU 1.6 I). In the climactic conclusion of the epic (KTU 1.6 VI), as Baal and Motu engage in a ferocious single combat that threatens the cosmic fabric, Shapash shouts down from the firmament, warning Motu that Bull El will overturn his underworld throne and shatter his royal sceptre if he continues, a divine ultimatum that compels Motu to surrender and confirms Baal's everlasting kingship. In anti-venom incantations (KTU 1.100), she is invoked as the supreme celestial messenger who conveys prayers to deities residing across the ancient Near East.

7 min read · Reviewed on October 1, 2026 · How we research

The solar disk, the torch, the rays and the all-seeing eye

Primary sources

• Ilimilku of Shubanu, high priest and royal scribe of Ugarit, Baal Cycle from Ras Shamra: The Ransoming of Haddu and the Hymn to the Torch of the Gods (tablets KTU 1.6 I–VI). translation: Critical edition and textual apparatus in 'The Ugaritic Baal Cycle' and the academic repository Mythos Atlas. read
• Scribes of the Liturgical Archive of Ras Shamra, Astronomical Tablet of the Solar Eclipse of Ugarit (tablet KTU 1.78 / RS 12.061). translation: Edition and astronomical analysis at Lund University and specialized literature. read
• Scribes of Ugarit & Medical Priests of Ras Shamra, Mythological Incantation against Snakebite: The Cosmic Mission of Shapash (tablets KTU 1.100 and KTU 1.107). translation: Textual apparatus and mythological notes by Dennis Pardee in SBL handbooks. read
• Priests of the Acropolis of Ugarit, Ritual Lists and State Sacrifices of the City of Ugarit (KTU 1.40, KTU 1.43, KTU 1.118:13, KTU 1.148:6). translation: Epigraphic catalogue of the Mission de Ras Shamra archived on Wikipedia. read
• Scribes and Poets of Ugarit, Necromantic Liturgy and Invocation of the Ancestral Kings Rephaim (tablet KTU 1.161). translation: Ugaritic studies and canonical documentation in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. read

Studies

• Watson, Wilfred G. E. & Wyatt, Nicolas, Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Brill, 1999. open
• Doak, Brian R., Ancient Phoenician and Punic Religion. Oxford University Press, 2019. open
• Wiggins, Steve A., A Reassessment of Asherah and Solar Deities in the West Semitic World. Gorgias Press, 2007. open
• Caquot, André & Sznycer, Maurice, Textes ougaritiques: mythes et légendes. Éditions du Cerf, 1974. open
• Wyatt, Nicolas, Religious Texts from Ugarit: The Words of Ilimilku and his Colleagues. Sheffield Academic Press, 1998. open
• Taylor, J. Glen, Yahweh and the Sun: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sun Worship in Ancient Israel. JSOT Press, 1993. open