The golden rays of Sun Goddess Shapsu (Shapash, Shapsh, Shamshu) shine in ancient Canaanite myths and stories. She's called 'Lamp of the Gods', 'Torch' and 'Luminary'.
As a messenger of Gods, specifically her father El, Shapshu compares with later Greek Hermes. In Ugaritic mythology Shapash is a major Goddess.
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Hermes is the Greek God of roads and crossroads, borders and boundaries, shepherds, travelers, communication, messengers and heralds, thieves, athletes and merchants. His son Hermaphroditus is the God of two-gendered people, androgyny or effeminacy.
Hermes also corresponds to commerce, speed, cunning, wit, politics, diplomacy, and humor. He's later represented by Roman Mercury.
Like Hermes, Shapshu / Shapash is a psychopomp, guiding the Dead down into the Underworld. Associated with death, Shapshu carries on a tradition manifested by deities such as the Sun Goddess of the Earth and Egyptian god Ra, who travel through the Land of the Dead at night, to appear in the east at dawn.
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Shapshu carries messages for her father, the God El, whom the Hittites call Elkunirsa. As she's also seen as a Solar Goddess of Creation it's clear the role of messenger is an important one.
Communication matters. Business prospers, languages multiply and means of writing them down vary. No scribe is unemployed. The official language for trade is Akkadian.
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In 2nd millenium Eurasia and the East, trade routes facilitate overland and seagoing traffic. Usually only royalty, priests and the elite can write. Kings, Queens and heroes attain the status of Gods.
For example Queen Puhudepa of the Hittites becomes Goddess Queen when her son ascends the throne. The messenger is a representative and emissary of the King or Queen, thus of the Gods themselves.
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Shapshu is sometimes equated with the Akkadian Sun God Shamash, a male deity. Her father is El, he who created the world. He's called Elkunirsa among the Hittites. Her mother's a mystery.
Because El is among the most ancient of gods he might have birthed Shapshu himself. Zeus creates Athena in the same way. Goddess of wisdom, craft and warfare, she springs fully grown from his forehead.
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Sun Goddess Shapshu / Shapash is worshipped in Ebla, one of the oldest cities of the near East. A patron Goddess of Ugarit and the Ugaritic people of North Syria, she's one of the most important deities. She's not known to have a consort. Some incantations refer to her as 'mother'.
She takes part in the deliverance of Baal from the Underworld, a place ruled by Mot, god of Death. Baal is resurrected and returns the realms above.
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She's also mentioned as a major Sun Goddess among the Amorites, an early Bronze Age nation. Amorites built the successful cities of Ebla, Carchemish and Aleppo.
In Ugaritic god lists Shapshu is listed second, after Baal the Creator. She may be invoked with incantations serving as spells. In one story, inscribed on a tablet, a character called 'the mother of the stallion and the mare' (ủm.pḥl.pḥlt) pleads to Shapshu for assistance in a venomous snake problem, as her children are in danger.
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As arbitrator between the mother and the gods, Shapsu visits ten deities and finally comes to the fortress of the god Ḥoranu. He's the first to empathize. He gathers various plants, defeats the serpents and prevents the death of the mother's children.
At the end Ḥoranu marries the mother, and shares his magical knowledge with her. Writing on the edge of the tablet identifies this as a spell against snakebite.
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Other incantations include her in a divine trio with Baal and Anat, goddess of warfare and hunting, to protect against demons and serpent gods. She's also called upon for healing of snakebite.
In the Baal Cycle, Shapshu is a bridge between the worlds of living and dead. Shapshu in Iron Age Phoenicia is equated with male Mesopotamian sun deity šmš (Shamash).
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