Lotan means 'coiled' in Ugaritic. Lotan (Lôtān, Litan, Litānu), an enormous snake dragon, arises from the primal waters of chaos to wreak destruction in the boisterous seas of Ugarit, ancient Syria. But hark! A hero arrives.
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In some tales it's Marduk, or Baal, Nergal, Hadad, Ninurta, Zeus or Yahweh. He's a god hero, god king or warrior.
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Sometimes the forces of Chaos are female, as Tiamat in the Marduk legend. The Sea itself, water and life, has divine associations with both creation and destruction. Water is a feminine element. From death comes life, an eternal cycle.
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In this case the monster Lotan is servant to the Sea God Yam (Yammu) meaning 'sea'. Yam is a god of all water, seawater and fresh water. At the same time he can be water or manifest as the whole of the sea.
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Lotan may have origins in an earlier Syrian sea serpent, Têmtum, of the 18th - 16th century BCE. Lotan is often depicted as a seven-headed or multi-headed monster analogous to the Greek Hydra, also a dragon with seven heads.
The infamous Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible comes to be influenced by Lotan, especially as Ugarit in Syria, a well traveled trade city, is Canaanite. The epithets of Lotan include 'the Fugitive Serpent', 'the Wriggling Serpent' and 'the Mighty One with Seven Heads'.
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In the Baal Cycle, a collection of myths c. 1500 - 1300 BCE, Yam is the enemy of the Canaanite storm and weather god Baal (Ba'al). They battle to become King of the Gods. Although Yam is sponsored by ancient creator God El, Baal is always victorious.
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Hadad, the Ugaritic version of Baal, similarly fights the monster Lotan. The names of Baal and Hadad are sometimes used interchangably. Hadad is the God of Weather, Hurricanes, Storms, Thunder and Rain. He wears the traditional horned helmet of gods.
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He's often depicted with a fist full of lightning bolts, and an ax or club. His sacred animals are the Bull and Lion.
The Litani River that winds through the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon is named after Lotan. Early people believe the river is the personification of Lotan as an elemental god.
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