El and Asherah, the chief divine couple of the Canaanite pantheon, produced the seventy gods including Mot, Yam, Anat, Astarte, and Athtar.
El sired the dawn god Shahar and the dusk god Shalim by two women he encountered at the seashore, as recounted in the Birth of the Gracious Gods.
Bethel ('House of El') was a deified sacred site and a hypostasis of El's presence, worshipped as a deity in its own right in Phoenician and Aramaic religion.
Philo of Byblos, drawing on Sanchuniathon, identified the Canaanite El with Greek Kronos as supreme father gods who overthrew their predecessors.
The Hebrew Bible identifies Yahweh with El, the supreme Canaanite deity. Patriarchal narratives use El titles (El Shaddai, El Elyon) for Yahweh, reflecting the merger of the two figures in early Israelite religion.
When Yam's messengers arrived at El's assembly demanding Baal's surrender, El was willing to comply, but Baal refused to submit. This confrontation at El's court precipitated Baal's battle with Yam for cosmic sovereignty.
In the Baal Cycle, Anat threatened El with violence to compel him to authorize Baal's palace, declaring she would make his grey hair run with blood if he refused.
Asherah interceded with El on Baal's behalf, using her influence as El's consort to persuade the supreme god to authorize the construction of Baal's palace on Mount Zaphon.
After Baal's death, El and Asherah proposed Athtar as a replacement king. Athtar ascended Baal's throne on Mount Zaphon but was too small to fill the seat and stepped down.
Baal petitioned El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, for permission to build his palace on Mount Zaphon. El initially hesitated but granted approval after Asherah interceded on Baal's behalf.
In the Aqhat legend (KTU 1.17), Danel prayed to El for a son. El granted his petition, blessing Danel with the birth of Aqhat through divine favor.
Horon appears as a chthonic deity within El's divine assembly at Ugarit. In fragmentary texts, El invokes Horon's healing powers against serpent venom and venomous bites.
El dispatched the Kathirat to assist Danel in the Aqhat epic after granting his petition for a son. The Kathirat served as agents of El's blessing, carrying out his decree of fertility.
El appeared to Kirta in a dream, instructing him to march on Udum to win a bride, and later created the healing goddess Sha'tiqatu to cure Kirta's illness.
El authorized the divine craftsman Kothar-wa-Khasis to build Baal's palace on Mount Zaphon, granting the commission that Asherah had interceded to obtain.
Meni operated within the Canaanite divine hierarchy headed by El. The concept of allotted destiny parallels El's role as the wise patriarch who dispensed fates from his dwelling at the source of the rivers.
When Mot swallowed Baal, El descended from his throne, poured dust on his head, and lacerated his flesh in mourning for the fallen storm god, his son's great rival.
Shapash served as El's messenger and agent within the divine council, traveling between the realms of the living and dead to carry out the supreme god's will in the Baal Cycle.
El favored Yam and granted him kingship over the gods, commanding Kothar-wa-Khasis to build Yam a palace, setting the stage for Baal's rebellion.
Yarikh negotiated his marriage to Nikkal before El and the divine assembly. El, as father of the gods, presided over the arrangements and sanctioned the union described in KTU 1.24.
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