Ugaritic texts

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The Baal Cycle, the most famous of the Ugaritic texts, displayed in the Louvre P1180250 Louvre Langue ougaritique Tablette poeme mythologique AO16641 et 16642 rwk.jpg
The Baal Cycle, the most famous of the Ugaritic texts, displayed in the Louvre

The Ugaritic texts are a corpus of ancient cuneiform texts discovered in 1928 in Ugarit (Ras Shamra) and Ras Ibn Hani in Syria, and written in Ugaritic, an otherwise unknown Northwest Semitic language. Approximately 1,500 texts and fragments have been found to date. The texts were written in the 13th and 12th centuries BC.

Contents

The most famous of the Ugarit texts are the approximately fifty epic poems; the three major literary texts are the Baal Cycle, the Legend of Keret, and the Tale of Aqhat. The other texts include 150 tablets describing the Ugaritic cult and rituals, 100 letters of correspondence, a very small number of legal texts (Akkadian is considered to have been the contemporary language of law), and hundreds of administrative or economic texts.

Unique among the Ugarit texts are the earliest known abecedaries, lists of letters in alphabetic cuneiform, where not only the canonical order of Phoenician script is evidenced, but also the traditional names for letters of the alphabet.

Other tablets found in the same location were written in other cuneiform languages (Sumerian, Hurrian and Akkadian), as well as Egyptian and Luwian hieroglyphs, and Cypro-Minoan.

Discoveries

The Danel epic, in the Louvre Danel epic AO17323 mp3h8906.jpg
The Danel epic, in the Louvre

Initial discovery

On excavation of the city of Ugarit, found accidentally in 1928–29 at Ras Shamra, Syria, several deposits of cuneiform clay tablets were found; all dating from the last phase of Ugarit, around 1200 BC. [2] The texts were found to be written in an otherwise unknown Northwest Semitic language. [1] Other tablets found in the same location were written in other cuneiform languages (Sumerian, Hurrian and Akkadian), as well as Egyptian and Luwian hieroglyphs, and Cypro-Minoan. [1]

The tablets were found in diplomat, (Rapanu’s) private palace library, and his temple library. His libraries were a rarity of the times. His libraries at Ugarit contained diplomatic, legal, economic, administrative, scholastic, literary and religious texts. [1]

1958 excavations

During excavations in 1958, yet another library of tablets was uncovered. These were, however, sold on the black market and not immediately recovered. The "Claremont Ras Shamra Tablets" are now housed at the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, School of Religion, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California. They were edited by Loren R. Fisher in 1971. [3]

1973 excavations

After 1970, succeeding Claude Schaeffer were Henri de Contenson, followed by Jean Margueron, Marguerite Yon, then Yves Calvet and Bassam Jamous, who since 2005 has held the office of Director General of Antiquities and Museums. [4] In 1973, an archive containing around 120 tablets was discovered during rescue excavations. [4]

1994 excavations

In 1994 more than 300 further tablets dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age were discovered within a large ashlar masonry building. [5]

Notable texts

An abecedarium scribal exercise in Ugaritic alphabet 22 alphabet rtl.jpg
An abecedarium scribal exercise in Ugaritic alphabet
A letter in Ugaritic Tablet-private letter-AO 19940-P5280339-white.jpg
A letter in Ugaritic

Approximately 1,500 texts and fragments have been found to date, [2] all of which have been dated to the 13th and 12th centuries BC. [2] The most famous of the Ugarit texts are the approximately fifty epic poems. [2] The most important literary document recovered from Ugarit is arguably the Baal Cycle, describing the basis for the religion and cult of the Canaanite Baal; the two other particularly well known texts are the Legend of Keret and the Tale of Aqhat. [6] The other texts include 150 tablets describing the Ugaritic cult and rituals, 100 letters of correspondence, [7] a very small number of legal texts (Akkadian is considered to have been the contemporary language of law), [8] and hundreds of administrative or economic texts. [9] [2] Some other tablets include scribal exercises; [10] some of them are unique for being the earliest known abecedaries, lists of letters in alphabetic cuneiform, where the canonical order of Hebrew-Phoenician script is evidenced, and one of them might even indicate the traditional names for letters of the alphabet. [11]

The tablets have been used by scholars of the Hebrew Bible to clarify Biblical Hebrew texts and have revealed ways in which the cultures of ancient Israel and Judah found parallels in the neighboring cultures. [12] The tablets reveal parallels with Israelite practices described in the Bible; for example, Levirate marriage, giving the eldest son a larger share of the inheritance, and redemption of the first-born son were practices common to the people of Ugarit as well. [13]

See also

Resources

Related Research Articles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ugaritic alphabet</span> Cuneiform consonantal alphabet of 30 letters

The Ugaritic writing system is a Cuneiform Abjad, consonantal alphabet, with syllabic elements used from around either 1400 BCE or 1300 BCE for Ugaritic, an extinct Northwest Semitic language. It was discovered in Ugarit, modern Ras Al Shamra, Syria, in 1928. It has 30 letters. Other languages, particularly Hurrian, were occasionally written in the Ugaritic script in the area around Ugarit, although not elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amarna letters</span> Egyptian archive of correspondence on clay tablets

The Amarna letters are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru, or neighboring kingdom leaders, during the New Kingdom, spanning a period of no more than thirty years between c. 1360–1332 BC. The letters were found in Upper Egypt at el-Amarna, the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital of Akhetaten, founded by pharaoh Akhenaten (1350s–1330s BC) during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.

Kotharat were a group of seven goddesses associated with conception, pregnancy, birth and marriage, worshiped chiefly in northern part of modern Syria in the Bronze Age. They are attested in texts from Mari, Ugarit and Emar. There is no agreement among translators over whether they had individual names in Ugaritic tradition. They were considered analogous to the Mesopotamian Šassūrātu, a collective term referring to assistants of the goddess Ninmah, and to Hurrian Hutena and Hutellura. It has been suggested that the latter were at least in part patterned after the Kotharat.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canaanite religion</span> Group of ancient Semitic religions

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danel</span> Ugaritic culture hero

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legend of Keret</span> Ugaritic epic poem

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hurrian songs</span> Collection of music dating from approximately 1400 BC

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tale of Aqhat</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DAGAL</span> Cuneiform sign

The cuneiform DAGAL sign, which is a capital letter (majuscule) Sumerogram with the Akkadian language meaning of to be wide, or extensive; also "many", Akkadian "rapāšu", is a minor usage cuneiform sign used in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. An equivalent usage sign for DAGAL is used in the Amarna letters, gáb, for Akkadian language "gabbu", and is found in such letters as EA 362, EA 367, and others. Gáb has other syllabic values, which are used for separate Akkadian word components.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Aaron Demsky, 1977. "A Proto-Canaanite Abecedary dating from the period of the Judges and its implications for the history of the Alphabet", Tel Aviv 4:47ff.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Huehnergard 2012, p. 3.
  3. Loren R. Fisher, The Claremont Ras Shamra Tablets, Loyola Press, 1972, ISBN   978-88-7653-248-1
  4. 1 2 Henri de Contenson, Préhistoire de Ras Shamra, Ras Shamra-Ougarit VIII, 2 volumes, ERC, 1992; Marguerite Yon, The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra, Eisenbrauns, 2004, ISBN   1-57506-029-9 (Translation of La cité d'Ugarit sur le Tell de Ras Shamra 1979)
  5. Malbran-Labat, F. 1995. Les archives de la maison d'Ourtenou, Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, pp. 443–451 and La découverte épigraphique de 1994 à Ougarit, Studi micenei ed egeo-anatolici 36: 103–11
  6. Schniedewind & Hunt 2007, pp. 26, 117: "Three major literary texts—the Baal Cycle, the Keret Legend, and the Tale of Aqhat—have been discovered in Ugarit. These materials form the major, and perhaps the most significant, portion of the Ugaritic alphabetic corpus... Most of the major literary texts from Ugaritic are in the form of narrative poems. Included here are selections from the three most famous poems: the Baal Cycle, the Keret Epic, and the Story of Aqhat."
  7. In Ugaritic: KTU 2 2.1–2.83
  8. In Ugaritic: KTU 2 3.1–3.10
  9. In Ugaritic or Ugaritic and Akkadian: KTU 2 4.1–4.792
  10. KTU 2 5.1–5.25
  11. Demsky, Aaron (1977). "A Proto - Canaanite Abecedary Dating from the Period of the Judges and its Implications for the History of the Alphabet". Tel Aviv. 4 (1–2): 15. doi:10.1179/033443577788497786. ISSN   0334-4355.
  12. Greenstein, Edward L. (November 2010). "Texts from Ugarit Solve Biblical Puzzles". Biblical Archaeology Review . 36 (6): 48–53, 70. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  13. Schniedewind & Hunt 2007, pp. 28–30.
  14. 1 2 Huehnergard 2012, p. 6.