Abstract
1. The opening column of II AB is, by common consent, one of the most obscure passages of Ugaritic literature.' According to the usual interpretation, it falls into two parts. The first (lines 2-23) contains the end of a speech in which someone complains that Baal has no house like his brethren neither precinct like the (other) children of Asherat. 2 The second (lines 94-44) then describes how Hayyan (Sir Expert),8 alias K6tar-w-Hasis (Sir Deft and Cunning),4 the divine artisan, proceeds to meet these representations by at once constructing gorgeous furniture for just such an abode. There are a number of difficulties in the way of this interpretation: In the first place, it should be observed that our passage is followed by a lengthy episode (column iii-v) in which Baal is portrayed as seeking, through the good offices of Asherat, to obtain permission from El for the desired house to be built. Only when El has given this permission is the divine architect commissioned to undertake the work. Accordingly, he could not be represented as doing so at this stage; that would stultify the subsequent mission of Asherat and upset the entire sequence of the story. Besides, we know as a matter of fact that Hayyan was first ordered to do something else, namely, to take a net and imprison therein the vanquished monster Yammu.5
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