Shataqat

Shataqat is made on the spot to solve a problem, which makes her one of the few deities in any literature whose origin is an engineering decision. Kirta is dying; El asks the divine assembly who among them will drive out the sickness; he asks seven times and nobody answers. So he takes clay, or takes something, and makes a being whose name is the thing he needs done — 'she who causes illness to pass away' — and sends her. She flies to Kirta, drives Death out, washes him, and he asks for food. Then the epic moves on and she is never mentioned again.

Domains

• healing

Powers

• to drive death out of a body that is already dying

Relations

• subordinate to: ElEl's creature, made to order. He asks the assembly seven times, gets no answer, and makes the answer himself — which is the closest the Ugaritic texts come to saying that the head of the pantheon is also its last resort.Reference treatment of the Kirta epic, in which El creates Shataqat when no other god will answer. (secondary)
• guide of: KirtaSent to Kirta, and successful: the king who was dying gets up and eats.Reference treatment of the Kirta epic, in which Shataqat is sent to Kirta and restores him to full health. (secondary)

Sources

• Shataqat is the being El creates in the Kirta epic to cure the king's illness when no other god will answer, her name meaning 'she who causes illness to pass away'.: The Kirta epic. (primary); Reference treatment of the Shataqat narrative and of her name. (secondary)