Ugarit was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 1928 with the Ugaritic texts. Its ruins are often called Ras Shamra after the headland where they lie.
Ugaritic is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycle. It has been used by scholars of the Hebrew Bible to clarify Biblical Hebrew texts and has revealed ways in which the cultures of ancient Israel and Judah found parallels in the neighboring cultures.
The Ugaritic writing system is a Cuneiform Abjad with syllabic elements used from around either 1400 BCE or 1300 BCE for Ugaritic, an extinct Northwest Semitic language, and discovered in Ugarit, Syria, in 1928. It has 30 letters. Other languages were occasionally written in the Ugaritic script in the area around Ugarit, although not elsewhere.
Ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic peoples from the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa. Since the term Semitic itself represents a rough category when referring to cultures, as opposed to languages, the definitive bounds of the term "ancient Semitic religion" are only approximate, but exclude the religions of "non-Semitic" speakers of the region such as Egyptians, Elamites, Hittites, Hurrians, Mitanni, Urartians, Luwians, Minoans, Greeks, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Medes, Philistines and Parthians.
Baʽal Zephon, also transliterated as Baal-zephon, was an epithet of the Canaanite storm god Baʿal in his role as lord of Mount Zaphon; he is identified in the Ugaritic texts as Hadad. Because of the mountain's importance and location, it came to metonymously signify "north" in Hebrew; the name is therefore sometimes given in translation as Lord of the North. He was equated with the Greek god Zeus in his epithet Zeus Kasios and later with the Roman Jupiter Casius.
The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age to the first centuries CE. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cases, monolatristic.
Kothar-wa-Khasis, also known as Kothar or Hayyānu, was an Ugaritic god regarded as a divine artisan. He could variously play the roles of an architect, smith, musician or magician. Some scholars believe that this name represents two gods, Kothar and Khasis, combined into one.
The Cypro-Minoan syllabary (CM), more commonly called the Cypro-Minoan Script, is an undeciphered syllabary used on the island of Cyprus and at its trading partners during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. The term "Cypro-Minoan" was coined by Arthur Evans in 1909 based on its visual similarity to Linear A on Minoan Crete, from which CM is thought to be derived. Approximately 250 objects—such as clay balls, cylinders, and tablets which bear Cypro-Minoan inscriptions, have been found. Discoveries have been made at various sites around Cyprus, as well as in the ancient city of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. It is thought to be somehow related to the later Cypriot syllabary.
Danel, father of Aqhat, was a culture hero who appears in an incomplete Ugaritic text of the fourteenth century BCE at Ugarit, Syria.
Shapshu or Shapsh, and also Shamshu, was a Canaanite sun goddess. She also served as the royal messenger of the high god El, her probable father. Her most common epithets in the Ugaritic corpus are nrt ỉlm špš, rbt špš, and špš ʿlm. In the pantheon lists KTU 1.118 and 1.148, Shapshu is equated with the Akkadian dšamaš.
The Legend of Keret, also known as the Epic of Kirta, is an ancient Ugaritic epic poem, dated to Late Bronze Age, circa 1500 – 1200 BCE. It recounts the myth of King Kirta of Hubur. It is one of the Ugaritic texts.
Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit or Keilschrifttexte aus Ugarit, abbreviated KTU, is the standard source reference collection for the cuneiform texts from Ugarit. The German names for this collection literally mean "Wedge-Alphabetical Texts from Ugarit" and "Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit"
The Hurrian songs are a collection of music inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets excavated from the ancient Amorite-Canaanite city of Ugarit, a headland in northern Syria, which date to approximately 1400 BC. One of these tablets, which is nearly complete, contains the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal, making it the oldest surviving substantially complete work of notated music in the world. While the composers' names of some of the fragmentary pieces are known, h.6 is an anonymous work.
The Tale of Aqhat or Epic of Aqhat is a Canaanite myth from Ugarit, an ancient city in what is now Syria. It is one of the three longest texts to have been found at Ugarit, the other two being the Legend of Keret and the Baal Cycle. It dates to approximately 1350 BCE.
Pidar was a god worshiped in Ugarit in the late Bronze Age. He was associated with the weather god Baal, and it is often assumed his name is related to that of the goddess Pidray, but his character remains largely unknown.
Dadmiš or Tadmiš (dta-ad-mi-iš) was a goddess worshipped in Ugarit. She is attested in texts written both in Ugaritic and in Hurrian. Her origin and functions remain unknown.
Pidray was an Ugaritic goddess of uncertain character. She is first attested as an Amorite deity in a bilingual Mesopotamian lexical list, but she is otherwise almost exclusively from Ugaritic texts. While she is well attested in this text corpus, her role in Ugaritic religion remains uncertain. It has been proposed that she was one of the tutelary deities of the kings of Ugarit. Another proposal connects her with the weather, though this assumption is not universally accepted. The meaning of her name also continues to be disputed. In Ugaritic myths, she is described as a daughter of the weather god Baal. In the Baal Cycle, she appears alongside the goddess Tallay, regarded as her sister. In a single passage they are also joined by Arsay. Pidray alone is also mentioned in the myth Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh.
Gaṯaru or Gašru was a god worshiped in Ugarit, Emar and Mari in modern Syria, and in Opis in historical Babylonia in Iraq. While he is relatively sparsely attested, it is known that in Ugarit he was associated with the underworld, while in Mesopotamia he was understood as similar in character to Lugalirra or Erra.
Ilib was an Ugaritic god most likely regarded as a primordial deity. As a generic term, the word ilib seemingly also referred to spirits of ancestors. The god and the concept were most likely connected with each other. Ilib's role has been compared to that played by deities such as Alalu in Hurrian religion or ancestors of Enlil, for example Enmesharra, in Mesopotamian religion. Offerings to him are mentioned in a number of Ugaritic texts.
Tavern is a ceremony meal and feast an ancient ritual that was customary in the cultures of the Levant, as Apparently the Veneration of the dead, mainly among the the Canaanites and the ancient Israelites. This meal was sometimes held in the family burial cave, with the skeletons of the family's ancestors, in plantations and granaries, or in taverns designated for ceremonies dead In the cultures of Mesopotamia there was a similar ceremony called Hispo.
