Divine Council in the Ancient Near East. Mesopotamian religions commonly held the notion of a group of deities headed by a supreme god. This divine council or assembly met to discuss matters related to the balance of the universe and human history. The god who presided over this group typically obtained his status through military deeds in cosmic battle. The other divine beings on the council obeyed the enthroned god based on the authority he had earned on the battlefield (Evans, “Assemblies,” 114; Smith, Biblical Monotheism, 41).

The divine council of the Ugaritic pantheon, as illustrated in Ugaritic texts, displays the following characteristics (Miller, “Aspects,” 53; see Kitra I.15; II.7, 11):

• complexity;

• systematization;

• rank;

• transformation.

Ugaritic texts refer to “the circle of El” (dr il), “the circle of El in the assembly of Baal” (dr il wphr b‘l), and “the helper gods of Baal” (/il t‘dr b‘l; Miller, “Aspects,” 54), demonstrating that the deities El and Baal held the central position in the divine hierarchy. The other divine entities functioned as El and Baal’s divine armies and allies in the cosmic battles.