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HANDBOOK OF UGARITIC STUDIES

HANDBUCH DER ORIENTALISTIK


HANDBOOK OF ORIENTAL STUDIES
ERSTE ABTEILUNG

DER NAHE UND MITTLERE OSTEN


THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST
HERAUSGEGEBEN
H.

A L T E N M L L E R
K.R.

B. H R O U D A

V E E N H O F

VON

B.A.

C.H.M.

L E V I N E

R.S.

O ' F A H E Y

V E R S T E E G H

N E U N U N D D R E I S S I G S T E R BAND

HANDBOOK OF UGARITIC STUDIES

'/68'

HANDBOOK
OF
UGARITIC STUDIES

E D I T E D

BY

WILFRED G.E. WATSON AND NICOLAS WYATT

/ 6 81-'

BRILL
LEIDEN B O S T O N K L N
1999

L i b r a r y of C o n g r e s s Cataloging-in-Publication D a t a
Handbook of Ugaritic studies / [edited] by Wilfred G.E. Watson and
Nicolas Wyatt.
p.
cm. (Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung, Nahe
und der Mittlere Osten, ISSN 0169-9423 ; 39. Bd.)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004109889 (alk. paper)
1. Ugarit (Extinct city) 2. Cuneiform inscriptions, Ugaritic.
3. Ugaritic philology. I. Watson, Wilfred G.E. II. Wyatt.
Nicolas. III. Series.
DS99.U35H35
1999
939'.43dc21
99-13946
CIP
D i e D e u t s c h e Bibliothek - C I P - E i n h e i t s a u f n a h m e
Handbuch der Orientalistik.
Leiden ; Boston ; Kln : Brill
Teilw. hrsg. von II. Altenmller . - Teilw. hrsg. von B. Spuler
Literaturangaben
Teilw. mit Parallelt.: Handbook of oriental studies

Abt. 1. Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten = The Near and Middle East /
hrsg. von H. Altenmller ...
Teilw. hrsg. von B. Spuler
Bd. 39. Handbook of Ugaritic studies. -

1999

H a n d b o o k of U g a r i t i c s t u d i e s / by Wilfred G.E. Watson and


Nicolas Wyatt (eds.). - Leiden ; Boston ; Kln : Brill, 1999
(Handbuch der Orientalistik : Abt. 1, Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten :
Bd.39)
ISBN 90-04-10988-9

ISSN 0169-9423
ISBN 90 04 10988 9
Copyright 1999 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill
provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance
Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

This handbook is dedicated to Cyrus H. Gordon

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations
Prcface
W I L F R E D WATSON -

Chapter O n e

xi
xii
NICOLAS W Y A T T

General Introduction

W I L F R E D WATSON -

NICOLAS W Y A T T

Chapter Two Ras Shamra, Minet el-Beida and


Ras Ibn Hani: T h e Material Sources

ADRIAN CURTIS

Chapter Three T h e Written Sources


1 T h e Syllabic Akkadian Texts

28
28

W I L F R E D VAN SOLDT

T h e Alphabetic Ugaritic Tablets


WAYNE

46

PITARD

T h e Hurrian and Hittite Texts


MANFRIED DIETRICH -

WALTER

58
MAYER

Chapter Four T h e Ugaritic Language


1 T h e Decipherment of Ugaritic
KEVIN

CATHCART

T h e Ugaritic Script
MANFRIED DIETRICH -

76
76
81

OSWALD

LORETZ

Ugaritic G r a m m a r

91

JOSEF TROPPER

Ugaritic Lexicography
WILFRED

Ugaritic Words in Syllabic Texts


JOHN

122

WATSON

134

HUEHNERGARD

Chapter Five Ugaritic Stylistics


1 Ugaritic Prose

140
140

M E I N D E R T DIJKSTRA

Ugaritic Poetry
WILFRED WATSON

165

Chapter Six T h e Ugaritic Literary Texts


1 T h e Mythological Texts

193
193

J O H N GIBSON

T h e Legend of Keret

T h e Story of Aqhat

T h e Rpum Texts

203

BARUCH MARGALIT

234

NICOLAS W Y A T T

259

WAYNE PITARD

T h e Incantations

270

KLAAS SPRONK

Chapter Seven T h e Ugaritic Cultic Texts


1 T h e Rituals
PAOLO M E R L O -

287
287

PAOLO X E L L A

T h e Offering Lists and the God Lists

305

GREGORIO DEL O L M O LETE

T h e O m e n Texts

353

PAOLO X E L L A

Chapter Eight T h e Correspondence of Ugarit


1 T h e Ugaritic Letters

359
359

JESS-LUIS CUNCHILLOS

T h e Akkadian Letters
JOHN

HUEHNERGARD

Chapter Nine

T h e Legal Texts from Ugarit

IGNACIO MARQUEZ

1
2
3
4

375

ROWE

Introduction
T h e Akkadian Legal Texts
T h e Ugaritic Legal Texts
T h e Hittite Legal Text

Chapter T e n

390

T h e Economy of Ugarit

390
394
411
420
423

M I C H A E L HELTZER

1
2
3

T h e Administrative Texts
Commerce
Crafts and Industries

Chapter Eleven

T h e Society of Ugarit

423
439
448
455

JUAN-PABLO V I T A

Peoples, Cultures and Social Movements

455

2
3
4
5

T h e Royal Family, Administration and Commerce


T h e Family and the Collective
Crafts and Professions
T h e Army

Chapter Twelve

T h e Onomastics of Ugarit

....

467
475
484
492
499

RICHARD HESS

1
2

Personal Names and Prosopography


Ugaritic Place Names

Chapter Thirteen
An Overview

499
515

T h e Religion of Ugarit:
529

NICOLAS W Y A T T

Chapter Fourteen

T h e Iconography of Ugarit

586

IZAK CORNELIUS

Chapter Fifteen

A Political History of Ugarit

603

ITAMAR SINGER

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Preliminary Remarks
Ugarit in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages
Ugarit under Egyptian Influence
Ugarit under Hittite Rule
Ugarit in the Age of 'Pax Hethiticd
T h e Weakening Grip of the Hittites
T h e Last Years of Ugarit

Chapter Sixteen T h e Tablets and the Computer


1 T h e Current State of Ugaritic Sudies and
Technology
T H E O D O R E LEWIS -

603
608
621
627
646
683
704
734
734

STEVEN WIGGINS

Storage and Analysis of the Texts

747

JESS-LUIS CUNCHILLOS

References
Abbreviations
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Indices
Index of Topics
Index of Personal Names
Index of Divine Names

755
755
761
824
827
839
843

Index
Index
Index
Index
Index
Index
Index

of
of
of
of
of
of
of

Toponyms
Ugaritic Words
Syllabic Akkadian
Various Languages
K T U Texts
R I H Texts
RS Texts

844
847
850
851
852
871
871

LIST O F I L L U S T R A T I O N S

Map
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Western Syria in the Late Bronze Age


A list of offerings with the first tablet number
( K T U 1.39 = RS 1.001)
T h e alphabet tablet from Ugarit (14th/13th
cent, BCE)
T h e long cuneiform alphabet from Ugarit and its
relationship to Phoenician and Canaanite
T h e short cuneiform alphabet from Ugarit
T h e Ugaritic script in relation to the Western and
Southern scripts
T h e alphabet tablet from Beth Shemesh
Tablet with the South Arabic Alphabet
Deciphered alphabets of the South-Eastern
h-l-h-m- tradition
T h e spread of cuneiform alphabets in the Eastern
Mediterranean
Calcite statue (of El?)
'Baal au foudre' stela
Menacing god
Gold decorated patera
'Qedeshet'-type gold pendant
Ivory bed panel: royal couple caressing
Cylinder-seal impression (Minet el-Beidah)
Decorated rhyton
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3

xiv
81
82
83
84
86
87
87
88
90
588
590
592
594
596
597
599
600
752
753
754

PREFACE

T h e Handbook of Ugantic Studies is the product of the labours of a


large team of scholars from many countries. Its gestation has been
quite lengthy, with many emergencies, false alarms, high bloodpressure, worrying scans, premature contractions and so forth.
T h e original editor, Johannes de Moor of K a m p e n , began the
organization of the volume, drew up an outline and undertook the
arduous task of contacting contributors from a r o u n d the globe.
However, for personal reasons, he felt compelled to withdraw from
the enterprise at an early stage and the publishers then invited Wilfred
Watson (Newcastle) to take over. This, of course, was felt to be a
great honour, but due to the need for a fellow-worker, Nicolas Wyatt
(Edinburgh) was then invited to act as co-editor. T h e use of e-mail
has enabled the editors to work closely together on all the stages of
the production of the Handbook and to maintain contact with many
of the contributors. It was also helpful for the translation of contributions in German, Italian and Spanish (15 out of the 47 sections)
prepared by Watson, with some revision by Wyatt and the contributors concerned.
Unfortunately, there was a gap of several months before the project was resumed under its new editors and for a variety of reasons
a number of scholars withdrew from the project. Only when it was
reestablished under the direction of the new editorial team did the
entire membership of the Mission de Ras Shamra withdraw. This
meant that new contributors had to be found, some at quite short
notice. Further withdrawals at intervals right to the end of the project have discouraged us, and we have to thank Patricia Radder of
Brill, as well as those contributors who generously stepped into the
breaches left by others, in some cases very late in the day, to enable
us finally to make the volume ready for delivery.
Since this volume has been published in English, we have by and
large standardized ancient names where there are recognized English
equivalents, so that, for instance, ancient 'Karkami' and 'Kargami'
are rendered 'Carchemish'. Similarly, 'Ilu' becomes , 'Ba'lu'
becomes 'Baal', and so on. We have not however imposed total
consistency, so that 'Hatti' and 'Muki', for instance, which have no

standard m o d e m forms, retain their diacritics. For Ugaritic texts


K T U numbers are followed, with cross-reference to RS numbers,
and in some instances where contributors have added PRU, Ug or
R S O numbers these have been retained.
We feel obliged to honour the Kotharat, the goddesses of childbirth, whose gracious intervention has finally achieved a safe parturition. It is frequendy observed, to move to the spheres of influence
of other deifies, that among the most traumatic human experiences
other than death are house-buying and divorce. Perhaps we should
add to this list the editing of large reference books. sbc alpm Iktrt:
seven oxen to the Kotharat!
G.E. W A T S O N
University of Newcastle

WILFRED

August 1998

NICOLAS

WYATT

New College, Edinburgh

Western Syria in the Late Bronze Age

CHAPTER O N E
GENERAL

INTRODUCTION

WILFRED G . E . WATSON -

NICOLAS W Y A T T

PREVIOUS COMPREHENSIVE

STUDIES

As yet no handbook of Ugaritic studies has been published with the


scope and range of the present volume. However, there have been
forerunners on a smaller scale. T h e first substantial work of this kind
was by DUSSAUD 1937', 1941 2 . In two volumes, it was greatly influenced
by the Hebrew Old Testament, of course, and with some of the misconceptions of the time (particularly in respect of alleged geographical allusions). Another comprehensive survey by DE LANGHE 1945,
described the discovery and history of Tell Ras Shamra, the texts
found there, the writing and language of the alphabetic texts, their
archaeological, geographic and historical background (with a list of
the personal names) and a description of the family, social and political life of Ugarit. Here SCHAEFFER 1939a may also be mentioned.
Later came D R O W E R 1975, K I N E T 1981 and CURTIS 1985. T w o more
recent works which cover some of the same ground as the present
volume and also include maps and rich illustrations are BALDACCI
1996 and CUNCHILLOS 1992b. Some recent encyclopaedia entries
include C A Q U O T 1979b, C O U R T O I S 1979, Y O N 1992a, P A R D E E
BORDREUIL 1992; and brief descriptions of the language are provided
by PARDEE 1997d and W A T S O N 1994b. A survey of work up to 1980
is provided by Y O U N G , G . D . 1981, Cunchillos has produced a useful handbook for students (CUNCHILLOS 1992b) and the proceedings
of further international conferences have been published (UBL 11
Manchester 1992, ALASP 7Mnster 1993, R S O 11Paris 1993,
UBL 12Edinburgh 1994). T h e successive volumes of Ugartica and
PRU, together with other volumes of the R S O series have provided
updated instruments of research.

SOME C U R R E N T

WORK

T h e tablets, our primary source of information, are unfortunately


deteriorating fast. O n a more positive note, photographs of the texts
are in preparation (ZUCKERMAN - ZUCKERMAN 1997) and computer
programs have been applied to scan them (see section 15). A new
edition of the tablets in transcription has been published ( T 7 7 2 ) ' as
well as a concordance of the tablet-numbers ( T E O = R S O 5/1). An
edition of the texts is now available both on the Internet and on
C D - R O M (CUNCHILLOS - V I T A 1993a; CUNCHILLOS 1998b, 1998c,
and ongoing work in the United States with the West Semitic Research
Project) which has the a d v a n t a g e of being u p d a t e d continually.
O t h e r reference works available are concordances (CUNCHILLOS
V I T A 1995a, which largely replaces W H I T A K E R 1972) and word lists
(DIETRICH - L O R E T Z 1996b). O f particular significance is the first
volume of the new dictionary (DLU = DEL O L M O L E T E - SANMARTIN
1996). In addition, three teaching g r a m m a r s (SEGERT 1984; CUNCHILLOS - ZAMORA 1995; SIVAN 1997) and outlines of g r a m m a r (CAZELLES
1979; CUNCHILLOS 1992b; PARDEE 1997d) have been published.
Comprehensive coverage of the Akkadian of Ugarit is available
(HUEHNERGARD 1989; VAN SOLDT 1991a) and the Hurrian of Ugarit
has also been studied ( D I E T R I C H - M A Y E R 1995, etc.). Studies are
available on the town of Ugarit - Ras S h a m r a (SAAD 1978; R S O
1, 3, 6, 8, 10) and on Ugaritic religion (DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a =
1999) a n d ( W Y A T T 1996a), sociology ( V I T A 1995a; A B O U D 1971;
H E L T Z E R 1976, 1982) and other topics ( G R A Y 1965; RSP 1-3) including the hippiatric texts ( C O H E N - SIVAN 1983; PARDEE 1985;
2
SANMARTIN 1988a; C O H E N 1996).
Ugaritic remains a flourishing discipline. UF is now in its 30th
year and periodicals such as /1/0, AuOr, JNES, JSS, SEL, Semitica,
Syria, WO and
carry articles and reviews on Ugaritic. Unfortunately,
the Newsletter for Ugaritic Studies has been discontinued (last issue
A p r i l - O c t o b e r 1989) in spite of efforts to reactivate it.
Several translations have been available: C L E A R 1976 2 ; C O O G A N
1978; GINSBERG 1969 3 , 129-55; HVIDBERG - HANSEN 1990; DE M O O R
1987; R I N - R I N 1992; GIBSON 1978 (a revision of D R I V E R 1956),
DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a and X E L L A 1982a. A n u m b e r of new trans' For corrections see T R O P P E R 1995b, 1995-6, 1998; P A R D E E 1998.
See T R O P P E R 1997b for a survey a n d evaluation of recent work.

lations have appeared including TO 2, CS i, with the translations of


Ugaritic texts by PARDEE and others (also PARDEE in R S O 4, 12),
as well as PARKER (ed.) 1997 and most recently, W Y A T T 1998C, with
extensive footnotes, and DEL O L M O L E T E 1998b. Monographs on single texts include G R A Y 1964 2 (on Keret), M A R G A L I T 1989a (on the
Aqhat text) and SMITH 1994 (on the Baal Cycle).
Full bibliographies on Ugaritic up to 1988 are provided by D I E T RICH - L O R E T Z et al. 1967-86; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1996a; C U N CHILLOS 1990 ( T E O 2 = R S O 5/2); while BORDREUIL - PARDEE 1989
(TEO 1 = R S O 5 / 1 ) is particularly useful for determining the locations of tablets in various museums, their condition and what they
contain.
Work currently in hand includes a three-volume work on Ugaritic
g r a m m a r ( T R O P P E R ) ; a series of articles on toponyms (VAN SOLDT
1996; 1998); an English translation of DEL O L M O LETE 1992a (1999),
new editions of the ritual texts (PARDEE in press) and the letters
(PARDEE), the second instalment of which is eventually to appear in
an English language edition, a study of religion (WYATT), and further volumes of SMITH 1994 and CS.

FUTURE RESEARCH

With this description of the present state of studies, which shows the
discipline to be in a healthy condition, it is important to point to
further work that is required, although some indications are provided in the various contributions. Topics to be studied more exhaustively include the alphabetic and syllabic personal names, as well as
archaeology; and as yet there is no comprehensive translation of the
so-called administrative texts. T h e texts in Ugaritic have tended to
be the focus of attention, with the result that other areas have suffered
from comparative neglect.

T H E HANDBOOK OF U G A R I T I C STUDIES

Due to the international nature of this undertaking, which entailed


a large n u m b e r of scholars, and in spite of the advantages of communication by e-mail, the articles in the Handbook cover the material to different depths and there is also inevitably some overlap

between them. Even so, many contributors discuss a range of topics either not previously dealt with, such as iconography and technology, or with more detail than previously available. T h e main
thrust of the book has been to provide surveys of what has been
achieved, a task which often proved difficult either due to the absence
of previous surveys or because of the sheer range of opinions voiced.
It is hoped that a balance has been struck in respect of the amount
of detail provided and coverage is intended to be comprehensive and
representative rather than complete. Finally, the extensive consolidated bibliography will certainly be of use for reference, filling the
gap between 1988 (covered by A O A T 20/6) and 1998. This work
has appeared in the seventieth anniversary of the discovery of Ras
Shamra, a propitious portent, perhaps, of discoveries to come.

CHAFFER T W O
RAS

SHAMRA,

MINET

T H E

EL-BEIDA

MATERIAL

ADRIAN H . W .

AND

RAS

IBN

HANI:

SOURCES

CURTIS

INTRODUCTION

Seventy years have elapsed since a chance discovery was made close
to the coast of Syria which was to spark off a series of archaeological investigations which have continued right up to the present. Not
only have the excavations revealed an important commercial centre
the ancient city of Ugaritwhich flourished in the second millennium BCE, thereby shedding light on the history and culture of the
area and of the wider ancient Near Eastern world. They have also
yielded a hitherto unknown language or dialectUgariticwhich
has made an important contribution to the study of the north-west
Semitic languages in addition to giving access to the life and thought
of the people of the city. T h e facts, firsdy that the newly discovered
language was seen to be akin to Hebrew, secondly that the texts,
once deciphered, were found to contain references to deities mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in particular the god Baal, and thirdly
that the site was geographically rather closer to the land occupied
by the Israelites than the other great centres of ancient Near Eastern
civilization (though the considerable distance has sometimes been
minimised) all doubtless contributed to the early claims that a site
of major significance had been discovered. This had its pluses and
its minuses. It brought the discoveries to earlier prominence and to
a wider audience than might otherwise have been the case. But the
issue of the relevance of the discoveries at Ugarit for the study of
the Hebrew Bible, exacerbated by the tendency to assume that Ugarit
was a Canaanite city, has often been unduly dominant, at the expense
of an appreciation of Ugarit and its texts in their own right. T h e
excavation of other ancient cites in Syria, notably Ebla and Emar,
has helped to redress the balance somewhat and enabled Ugarit to
be seen in its rather more immediate geographical milieu.

D I S C O V E R Y AND E A R L Y

EXCAVATIONS

T h e chance discovery alluded to above took place in the spring of


1928 some 10 km to the north of Latakia, close to a small bay, the
white rocks at whose entrance had given it the name Minet el-Beida
(formerly known as Leukos Limen, both names meaning 'white harbour'). A local farmer was halted in the task of ploughing his land
when his ploughshare struck a large piece of stone which, on closer
examination, turned out to be one of a number of stone slabs which
formed the roof of a vaulted tomb. It appears that a number of
antiquities had alread been found in the vicinity, so the discovery
was brought to the attention of the Service des Antiquits en Syrie et au
Liban. Its director at the time was Charles Virolleaud, who was subsequendy to play a major role in the decipherment of Ugaritic and
the early publication of the Ugaritic texts. He sent a member of his
staff", Lon Albanse, to visit the site and it was identified as a necropolis. Some pieces of ceramic were found which appeared to be of
Mycenean or Cypriot origin and to date from approximately the
thirteenth century BCE. However the site was not, at that stage,
thought to be particularly interesting.
Fortunately a plan of the tomb and some pottery samples were
sent to the Louvre in Paris for further examination. There they came
to the notice of Ren Dussaud, who was at the time Keeper of the
Department of Oriental Antiquities, and who noted that the tomb
appeared to be reminiscent of Cretan funerary vaults. He suggested
that what had been discovered might be the necropolis of a significant
city. Albanse had already noticed that there was a mound nearby
whose shape suggested that it might be a tell. This hill was known
as Ras Shamra, the name (which means 'fennel head [land]') being
derived from the plants which grew on its surface. So it was decided
that excavations should be carried out on the site, under the auspices of the French Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, under the
direction of Claude F.A. Schaeffer.
It was in the Spring of 1929 that the first team of archaeologists
(accompanied by a detachment of soldiers to safeguard them) arrived
on the site, their equipment having been transported on the backs
of camels because the roads in the vicinity could not be used by
motor vehicles. T h e initial work undertaken involved a survey of the
vicinity, and traces of occupation stretching from the Neolithic period
to the time of the Romans were discovered. It was on April 2nd

that excavations proper began, and within a relatively short period


early suspicions were confirmed when it became clear that a considerable complex had been found. It emerged that the 'necropolis'
comprised two different areas, the seaward of which revealed finds
of pottery and animal bones but no human remains. T h e other area
comprised well-built vaulted tombs containing a variety of artefacts.
Some of the earliest finds within the tombs were of considerable
interest and importance. For example, they began to give an inkling
of the cosmopolitan nature of the site, revealing artefacts which suggested an Egyptian or Cypriot origin. Among these earliest discoveries were a number which have come to have particular prominence
in treatments of the discoveries from Ras Shamra. O n e was a small
statuette (AO 1 1 . 5 9 8 , C A Q U O T - SZNYCER 1 9 8 0 , pi. IXd), just 2 2 cm
in height, of a male figure with one arm raised above his head and
the other reaching forward, and with one leg in front of the other
as though marching or else poised to throw something. T h e figure
wore the accoutrements of a warriorhelmet, armbands and greaves,
and the fact that the helmet (and head) were covered in gold leaf
and that the armbands and greaves were of silver suggested that this
was perhaps a deity. T h e figure was initially identified with Resheph,
a god of plague, on the basis of other known representations of the
god. However, it has subsequently been thought much more likely
that the figure represented Baal, depicted as the storm-god armed
(originally) with club and spear, symbolising the thunder and lightning, his 'weapons'. This latter identification is supported by the striking similarity between the pose affected by the statuette and that of
the figure on the famous 'Baal stele' (RS 4 . 4 2 7 ; C A Q U O T - SZNYCER
1980, pl. X) which was not, of course, known at the time of the
earlier suggested identification (Fig. 11, p. 590).
Another important early find was in fact made in a tomb which
showed every sign of having suffered at the hands of tomb-robbers
who perhaps did not regard a small ivory box-lid (AO 1 1 . 6 0 1 ,
C A Q U O T - SZNYCER 1 9 8 0 , plates IV & V), only 1 3 cm high, as an object of value. Carved on it was a seated female figure with an ornate
hairstyle, naked above the waist but wearing a very full skirt, holding
what appear to be ears of corn in either hand and flanked by animals (probably goats or ibexes) standing on their hind legs. T h e style
was unmistakably Mycenean, and it was suggested that the depiction was of a fertility goddessperhaps the 'Mistress of the Animals'
though the precise identity of the figure was unclear.

After just over a month (on May 9th) attention was turned from the
necropolis to the tell itself, just over a kilometer away, in order to
answer the question whether it did indeed contain the ruins of a city
of which the necropolis was the cemetery. T h e summit of the mound,
which was some 17-20 m above the surrounding terrain, was very uneven
but showed no clear sign of any ancient structures. After a survey
of the tell's surface, the decision was taken to make the first trial
excavation at the point on the mound's surface which was closest to
the sea. T h e decision was influenced by reports that local inhabitants
had come across artefacts, some of gold, in an olive orchard which
lay below that part of the tell. Schaeffer wondered whether the objects might have come from a royal palace. His acumen was well and
speedily rewarded. Almost as soon as digging commenced, the excavators came upon the foundations of a large edifice which seemed
to have suffered destruction by fire. A bronze nail embedded between
the blocks of a pillar, and a bronze dagger which had suffered distortion as a result of the intense heat of the conflagration, pointed
to a date for the edifice in the second millennium BCE. Confirmation
of this dating was provided by the discovery of parts of an Egyptian
statue made of granite and bearing a hieroglyphic inscription whose
style of writing was dated to the New Kingdom period.
As excavation continued, the scale and plan of the building began
to become clearer. So that the extent of the building might be assessed,
another trench was begun some 20 m to the east. More foundations
were revealed, whose depth and direction suggested that they belonged
to the same building, but here the rooms seemed to be smaller and
it was thought likely that they were storerooms. Pieces of ceramic
pointed to a date for the building which coincided with that of the
necropolis and suggested that both had ceased to be used by the
end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the twelfth century BCE.
O n May 14th, less than a week after excavations had begun on
the tell, in the corner of one of the small storerooms, a tablet of baked
clay bearing a cuneiform inscription was discovered. Soon others
began to emerge within a small radius. Some had been rendered
very friable, presumably by the fire of which evidence had already
been found, and great care was needed to prevent them crumbling.
It was necessary for some to be removed still encased in soil and
allowed to dry slowly. This first epigraphic find involved a total of
twenty tablets of varying sizes, and perhaps the most intriguing fea-

ture was that they had revealed a hitherto unknown cuneiform script.
Shortly afterwards, in a newly opened area in another part of the
tell, a deposit of 74 bronze artefacts was discovered under a stone
slab (see SCHAEFFER 1939, pl. X X I I fig. 2 for photograph of hoard
in situ). These objects included various tools and weapons, all apparendy unused, and a small tripod decorated with pomegranate flowers.
It was soon noticed that some of the tools bore incised inscriptions
in the same script as that which had just been found on the clay
tablets ( K T U 6.6, 6.10, 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9 = RS 1.[051]; 1 .[052];
1. [053] ; 1. [054] ; 1.[055] respectively). Charles Virolleaud, who examined the newly found tablets and the inscribed tools, suggested
that the writing on the tools might perhaps provide the clue to the
decipherment of the hitherto unknown script. (The inscription on
the tools in fact turned out to read (or, in the case of K T U 6.7,
include) the words rb khnm, 'chief of the priests', suggesting that the
building where they had been discovered was the home of the chief
priest, and that the bronze items were perhaps a dedicatory offering
made by one of the metal-workers of the city.)

SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

T h e earliest excavations had done more than enough to suggest that


an important city had been discovered, and that a campaign lasting
a number of seasons was justified. At that stage the identity of the
newly discovered city was not known. However, a tablet unearthed
in 1931 was to provide the clue. Schaeffer, in the context of giving
a preliminary report of the 1931 campaign (Schaeffer 1932) made
public the fact that the tablet contained a phrase which was transliterated as nqmd mlk grt ('Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit'), suggesting that
this might be the ancient city of Ugarit whose existence was already
known from e.g. the Tell el-Amarna letters, which suggested that its
location must have been somewhere in the vicinity of Ras Shamra.
(The identification had apparently already been suggested by Albright
(ALBRIGHT 1 9 3 1 - 2 , 1 6 5 n. 9).) Excavations continued until the outbreak of the Second World War, initially both in the region of the
harbour as well as on the tell. Soundings were taken on the tell to
attempt to establish the antiquity of the site and its principal occupation levels (CONTENSON 1 9 9 2 ) . These indicated that occupation

went back as far as the Neolithic period, and suggested five major
phases of occupation:
Level
Level
Level
Level
Level

I
II
III
IV
V

ca. 1200-1600
ca. 1600-2100
ca. 2100-3500
ca. 3 5 0 0 - 4 0 0 0
Neolithic

(Subsequent excavations have revealed a much more complex stratigraphy, and discerned some twenty occupation levels stretching from
the Early Neolithic period \ca 6 5 0 0 - 6 0 0 0 BCE] down to a R o m a n
occupation in the first and second centuries CE.)
In the pre-war seasons of excavation on the tell, work was carried
out in particular on the acropolis, revealing what came to be identified
as the Temple of Baal, the Temple of Dagan and the House of the
High Priest. This last emerged as much more than simply a dwelling
place for an important cultic official, but as a temple library and
scribal school where texts were written and stored and where new
scribes could learn their art. After the interruption of the war years,
a limited resumption was possible in 1948, but it was not until 1950
that full-scale work could again be undertaken. Excavations were
concentrated first in the area of the Royal Palace. More will be said
about this imposing edifice later, but it is appropriate to note that
this was not just the residence of the royal family and court but also
an administrative headquarters. A number of groups of texts were
discoveredfive which have been labelled as the Eastern Archives,
the Central archives, the Southern Archives, the South-Western Archives and the Western Archives. A further group was found within
what was originally identified as a firing kiln and therefore thought
to comprise the last tablets to be written before the destruction of
the city at the end of the LBA (but see M I L L A R D 1995).
In the Royal Palace area, excavations were extended southwards
to reveal what came to be known as the 'Southern Palace'. Subsequently a building which has been named the 'Northern Palace' was
found in the proximity of the Royal Palace. T o the west of the Royal
Palace was found a residential area which included a number of
buildings which have been named as a result of discoveries made
within them or because of evidence of their ownership. These included
the houses of Raap'abu and of Rap'anu, in the latter of which was
found an archive of texts, and the so-called 'House of the Scholar'

and 'House of Alabasters'. Excavations were also carried out on the


northern side of the tell in the so-called 'Lower City' below the
acropolis, in the 'Southern Acropolis' (where a house which is thought
to have belonged to a diviner was revealed, since it contained clay
models of livers and a number of para-mythological texts) and in
the 'Southern City', which seems to have contained a public square
and a building which housed a library of texts. Between 1978 and
1984, excavations concentrated on the 'City Centre' which seems to
have been primarily a residential area (YON et al. 1 9 8 7 ) . Perhaps the
most significant of the discoveries made in that part of the city was
another temple, originally known as the 'Rhyton Temple' because
of the finding of a n u m b e r of distinctively shaped drinking vessels in its vicinity. As will be noted later, it is possible that this
temple was in fact dedicated to the worship of El, the head of the
pantheon.

TEXTUAL

DISCOVERIES

In the foregoing brief account of the principal areas of excavation,


a number of references have been made to the discovery of archives
or libraries of texts. It is therefore appropriate to make some general observations about the textual discoveries. T h e cosmopolitan
nature of the city is borne out by the number of different languages
evidenced in the texts. Many tablets were written in Akkadian, a
language which has been described as something of a lingua franca in
the ancient Near East, there were texts in Sumerian, H u m a n , Hittite,
in Egyptian hieroglyphs and in the linear script of Cyprus, as well
as those in the hitherto unknown language which was thought to be
the local language and hence known as Ugaritic. It was clear that the
method of writing the unknown language was that employed throughout Mesopotamia, i.e. a cuneiform script produced by means of the
use of a clay stylus to inscribe clay tablets which were subsequently
baked hard. It was also clear that the basis of the writing of the language was very different since only about thirty different signs were
employed. Thus it seemed that a significant advance had been made
over the earlier cuneiform scripts which were based on ideographic
or syllabic principles and involved much larger numbers of signs.
This is not the place to enter into the argument as to whether Ugaritic
is truly alphabetic (because three of its signs could be described as

'syllabic' in that they convey the consonant aleph followed by the


vowels a, i, and u respectively; see below, 4.1, 4.2). Suffice it to
say that the script is generally regarded as alphabetic, and therefore
as one of the earliest if not the earliest example of an alphabet.
(Another alphabetic script was being developed further south in the
area of the Sinai peninsular for the writing of a Semitic language
or dialect.) H o w this particular script was produced is not clear. It
is possible that was a conscious modification of the more complex
cuneiform scripts already in use, but it may have been developed
from a linear script to enable it to be more easily written on clay
tablets by employing the cuneiform method of writing ( M I L L A R D 1 9 7 9 ;
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1 9 8 9 ) . It is noteworthy that this newly developed script was used not only for the writing of the local language
but also, at Ugarit, for the writing of Hurrian (LAROCHE 1968a).
Indeed, one of the thirty signs of the 'Ugaritic' alphabet may have
been developed for the writing of Hurrian (SEGERT 1983b).
This newly-discovered language was in fact deciphered remarkably rapidly. T h e first texts were published commendably quickly by
Virolleaud, enabling other scholars to work on them. Notable among
those who did so were E. D h o r m e of the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem
and H. Bauer of the University of Halle, both of whom were experienced in cracking codes. It is not appropriate to go into detail
about the decipherment here, since it will be dealt with in another
chapter (see C A T H C A R T , below 4.1). Suffice it to say that it was a
mixture of great erudition and inspired guesswork. T h e speed with
which the decipherment was achieved can be illustrated by the fact
that Virolleaud was able to publish his translation of what he called
the 'Epic of Aleyan and Mot' as early as 1931 (VIROLLEAUD 1931a).
It is important to note that, although the language has come to
be known as Ugaritic, examples of this script have been found in
other locations, some relatively close to Ras Shamra (e.g. Ras Ibn
Hani and, a little further afield, at Tell Sukas [ K T U 4.766 = Varia:
T S 4001] and Tell Nebi-Mend (Qadesh on the Orontes) ( K T U 6.71
= T N M 022). Some have been found at much greater distances, in
Lebanon ( K T U 6.2 = Varia: K L 67:428p; 6.67 = K L 77:66; 6.70
= Sar 3102), in Cyprus ( K T U 6.68 = H S T ) and also in Israel.
Tablets bearing the Ugaritic script have been found at T a a n a c h
( K T U 4.767 = T T 433) and at Beth Shemesh ( K T U 5.24 = 8.1 =
AS 33.5.165), and an inscribed dagger was found in the vicinity of
Mount T a b o r ( K T U 6.1 = PAM = IAA 44.318). Although these

examples are limited in number, their existence is significant not


least in the context of the discussion as to whether the beliefs and
practices alluded to in the Ras Shamra texts were limited to the
immediate proximity of Ugarit or whether they reflect a much more
widespread phenomenon. This in turn leads to the further question,
hinted at earlier, as to whether it is correct to describe Ugarit as a
'Canaanite' city, and its religion and culture as 'Canaanite'.
Before leaving the textual discoveries, it is appropriate to mention
the variety of different types of literature contained therein. T h e
number of languages represented among the texts has already been
noted, and one particular type of text which must have been very
important in ancient Ugarit was the 'dictionary' or 'word-list' in
which words in Akkadian might be listed with their Sumerian or
Hurrian equivalents. Such texts are also of great importance for the
modern study of the languages of the ancient Near East. Reference
has also been made to the discovery of archives, notably in the Royal
Palace, and many texts of a diplomatic, legal, administrative or commercial nature were found (see PRU 2-6). Other finds include private
correspondence and even veterinary texts (PARDEE 1985). Various
types of text might be included within the category 'religious' (see
below, 6, 7). Lists of deities and of sacrifices give an indication
of the large number of deities worshipped and perhaps hint at their
relative importance. Some texts can perhaps be described as 'rituals'. Then there are those longer texts which contain myths or legends, describing the exploits of the deities and of other 'heroes' who
may have been regarded as h u m a n beings but who had encounters
with or stood in a close relationship to the gods. It is these myths
and legends, and particularly the stories of the activities of the god
Baal, which have been taken up by students of the Hebrew Bible
in the hope that they may shed light on the relationship not only
between the Israelite deity Yahweh and his arch-enemy Baal, but
also on the connection, if any, between Yahweh and El the head of
the Ugaritic (and 'Canaanite') pantheon.

U G A R I T IN THE LATE BRONZE A G E

In the course of the earlier account of the excavations, a number


of major buildings was noted, and it is appropriate to say a little
more about some of them now in the context of an attempt to give

something of an impression of the city as it must have been in the


years prior to its destruction. Ugarit must have been dominated by
its acropolis, on which the most prominent building was the Temple
of Baala fact which is doubtless an indication of the importance
of the deity to the people of the city. T h e identification of the building was made possible by the discovery there or nearby of stelae
naming or depicting him. T w o are particularly noteworthy. O n e was
a dedicatory stele presented by a person named M a m y who seems
to have been the equivalent of the Egyptian ambassador to Ugarit
( R S 1. [089] + 2. [033] + 5.185; Y O N 1991, 328, fig. 8; C A Q U O T SZNYCER 1980 plate XII). T h e other, found a little to the west of
the temple itself, has come to be the most familiar of the depictions
of Baal (RS 4.427). He is shown standing with one leg in front of
the other, wearing a helmet which seems to be decorated with horns
(a symbol of divinity or perhaps fertility), a skirt or loin cloth and
a scabbard. His right arm is raised above his head, holding what
appears to be a club (probably a symbol of the thunder), and his
left arm is stretched in front of him, holding an object which is
pointed like a spear and which is probably a stylized lightning-flash
(Fig. 11, p. 590; see S C H A E F F E R 1934, F E N T O N 1996). T h u s Baal
appears as the divine warrior, armed with the weapons associated
with the god of rain and storm. Another small figure on the stele
may perhaps be the king. (A number of other statuettes, including
that already mentioned, have been identified as representations of
Baal because they show a figure in the same pose and garb.)
T h e temple building itself conformed to a very familiar pattern
(SCHAEFFER 1 9 4 9 , 4 fig. 2 ) . It was surrounded by a walled enclosure
or sacred precinct, within which was discovered what was probably
the base of an altar which would have been approached by two
stone steps. T h e temple proper comprised an outer room which was
approached by a monumental staircase, part of which has been preserved, and an inner room containing a structure of large stone
blocks which may have been an altar or a platform, perhaps where
an image of the god would originally have been located. This pattern of inner sanctum, outer room and sacred precint or courtyard
is reminiscent of other Semitic sanctuaries, notably Solomon's Temple
in Jerusalem as described in the Hebrew Bible.
T h e r e was a n o t h e r temple on the acropolis which had been
identified as the Temple of Dagan because of the discovery outside
its southern faade of two stelae containing dedications to this deity

( K T U 6.13 = RS 6.021; K T U 6.14 = RS 6.028; YON 1991, 334,


fig. 14). T h a t Dagan should have had a temple in such a prominent position on the acropolis is perhaps somewhat surprising since
he plays no active role in the mythological texts so far known.
However, the texts do suggest that he was considered to be Baal's
father, which might account for his temple being located in the same
vicinity. A feature of this temple was the thickness of the walls, a
fact which even gave rise to the speculation that some particularly
esoteric practices were performed therein. However this is far from
certain and there are other possible explanations, e.g. that the walls
supported an upper storey or tower. T h e general plan of the temple was similar to that of Baal. Close to the Temple of Dagan were
found a number of drinking troughs which, it has been suggested,
might have been used for the pouring of libations. But is not absolutely
clear that they actually had any direct association with the temple.
Between the two temples on the acropolis lay the building which
was identified as the high priest's house, thanks to the discovery of
the cache of bronze tools and weapons, some of which, as has already
been noted, bore the dedication 'chief of the priests'. It was built of
dressed stones, with rooms opening off a central courtyard. Within
the building were found three groups of texts, including those longer
texts in the Ugaritic language which record the activities of the gods,
in particular the god Baal. Other texts had the appearance of being
writing exercises. This suggested that the building functioned not
only as a residence for the high priest but that it was also a school
where scribes could learn to write and where texts were copied and
stored. It may also therefore have been a temple library. Whether
some of the mythological texts were actually used in the cult of the
temple, and if so in what way, it is impossible to be certain, but some
of them do contain hints that they may have been read or enacted
in the context of the worship of the temple.
In addition to the two temples on the acropolis, for a long time
the only other building identified as a sanctuary was located in the
vicinity of the Royal Palace (SAAD, 1 9 7 9 , 1 1 5 - 6 ) . However, in the
course of the excavations in the City Centre, another building was
unearthed which was identified as a sanctuary. This is the edifice
which, as noted earlier, came to be known as the 'Rhyton Temple'
because of the discovery of a number of conical drinking vessels in
its vicinity which were thought to be cult items associated with the
sanctuary ( Y O N et al. 1 9 8 7 , 2 1 3 - 4 8 ; Y O N 1 9 9 6 , 4 0 5 - 2 2 ) . T h e building

contained an entrance porch leading to the main central area, comprising a large room containing benches and a platform or altar and
another smaller room. There appear also to have been various annexes
to the main building. But is it possible to say to which deity this
temple was dedicated? T h e discovery of a stone statue of a figure
seated on a throne may provide the clue since it is thought to be a
representation of EL, the head of the pantheon ( R S 8 8 . 7 0 ; Y O N 1 9 9 6 ,
422 fig. 4c). It would be surprising if there were not a temple dedicated to EL in Ugarit. T h e texts do suggest that EL was perhaps
receding somewhat into the background, in favour of the younger,
more active Baal (though it should be remembered that many of
these texts are particularly concerned with Baal and the construction of his 'palace' or temple, and doubdess reflect the beliefs of his
worshippers). Nevertheless, EL is still the head of the pantheon who
presides over the assembly of the gods, and whose permission is
needed for major projects such as the building of Baal's palace/temple). So perhaps the 'Rhyton Temple' is in fact the Temple of EL.
T h e most impressive building in the city, certainly so far as its
size was concerned, was doubtless the Royal Palace. There is reason to believe that it began (perhaps in the 15th century) as a relatively small building comprising a number of rooms arranged around
two courtyards, but that it developed thereafter in a n u m b e r of
phases of construction until, by the 13th century, it was a huge complex containing some ninety rooms, five large courtyards and some
smaller courts and what has been described as the 'garden'. At its
zenith it measured some 120 m by 85 m. (On the stages of development of the Royal Palace, see SCHAEFFER 1962, 9-17.) O n e of
the courtyards contained an ornamental pool surrounded by two
tiers of shaped stones. Elaborate arrangements were made for the
palace's water supply, a covered channel having been constructed to
bring water from a trough which was next to a well some distance
from the palace itself. Servants presumably drew water from the well
to feed the trough and in turn the channel bringing water to the
palace.
T h e main entrance to the palace seems to have been from the
west, through a doorway approached by low steps and flanked by
two columns whose bases remain in situ. A feature of the Royal
Palace is the high quality of the stone-work which must have involved
skilled masons. O n some of the interior walls, traces of plaster can
be seen and gaps between some of the courses of stone suggest that

originally wooden beams were employed in the construction. T h e


presence of a number of staircases shows that there was an upper
storey, and it is suggested that the private living quarters of the royal
family may have been on the first floor, and that the ground floor
would have been the location of various public and reception areas
as well as the administrative headquarters, archives and store rooms
(for the texts found in the archives of the Royal Palace, see PRU
2-6). T h e discovery of a kiln in the courtyard where the ornamental pool was situated shows that texts were written in the palace and
not simply stored there, and the presence of writing exercises and
glossaries suggests that here too, as in the House of the High Priest,
scribes were trained in the art of writing.
T h e Royal Palace seems to have been guarded by a tower and fortress located at the western extremity of the tell. Access to the fortress
from outside the city was via what has become known as the 'postern'
gate. In the vicinity of the Royal Palace were a number of other impressive buildings, including what may have been official residences
and the royal stables. In a residential area within this north-western
part of the city were houses whose occupants must have been significant
or wealthy citizens. T h e owners of some of the houses are known.
T h a t of Rap'anu contained a library of texts and had over thirty
rooms. T h a t of Rasap'abu, a tax collector, also contained a library, as
did the house of an unknown person nicknamed 'the Scholar'. T h e
presence of some forty alabaster vessels led to another of these houses
being named the 'House of Alabasters'. Evidence of staircases points
to the fact that many of the houses would have had an upper storey,
where it is probable that much of the living accommodation would
have been located.
Arrangements for sanitation and water supply in the larger houses
was often impressive. Some were built round courtyards which contained a well and perhaps a trough into which the water, once drawn,
would be poured. Used water was conveyed away along channels
and gutters. Beneath the houses (or courtyards) were carefully constructed family tombs with vaulted ceilings reminiscent of a type of
Cretan tomb. A staircase would lead down into the funerary vault,
which was paved and whose walls contained niches or 'windows'. It
seems likely that the bodies were not placed in coffins, but were laid
direcdy on the floor, probably wrapped in shrouds. T h e discovery
of various items of funerary equipment (despite evidence of the activity of tomb robbers who had presumably removed objects which

they considered to be of value) suggests that perhaps it was felt necessary to make some sort of provision for the dead, a fact which, if
correct, would be of relevance for the question whether the people
of Ugarit believed in some form of afterlife. T h e presence of cups
may also indicate the notion of the provision of sustenance for the
dead. Earlier descriptions of these tombs noted the presence of clay
pipes which were thought to be for the purpose of providing liquid
(or perhaps even libations) for the dead. But it is perhaps more likely
that these were less glamorously part of the drainage system (PITARD
1994).

In some of the excavated areas further from the palace, for example to the south of the acropolis and in the so-called 'Southern City',
the houses were often rather smaller and closer together, built along
narrow streets. In the latter area, where it seems likely that some of
the city's artisans and craftsmen lived, there is evidence that houses
were built around a public square, close to which was a large building which contained a library of texts.
Preliminary excavation reports have been published in the journal Syria.

A R T AND C U L T U R E

This survey has already mentioned craftsmen and metal-workers,


scribes and texts, stonework and carved ivory, elaborate drinking vessels, statuettes and other representations of deities. All such things
suggest that the city of Ugarit was a place of some culture. A feature of the discoveries at Ugarit is the variety of artistic influences
which they reveal, notably from the Aegean world, but also from
further afield, e.g. Egypt. It is not always clear to what extent such
objects are imports (Ugarit was after all a centre of commerce), or
local products influenced by the artistic styles and techniques of other
regions with which the city had contact.
Ugarit seems to have been renowned for its metal-working. A feature of the discoveries has been the number of different types of
weight which have been found. M a n y of these are geometrically
shaped, but others take the form of e.g. a bull (SCHAEFFER 1 9 3 9 , pll.
X X , XXI) or even a h u m a n head (ibid. pl. XXI). A weight in the
shape of a head was found among a set of weights discovered along
with the bronze pans from a pair of scales, and gave rise to the

speculation that this was perhaps a replica of the head of the metal
worker himself, and that he was therby making it absolutely clear
whose weights they were! T h e actual value of the various weights
suggests that both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian weighing systems
were in use in Ugarit.
Two particularly fine examples of metal-work deserve mention.
These were a bowl (sometimes described as a cup) and a rimmed
plate or patera, both made of gold, which were unearthed together
in 1 9 3 2 (Fig. 1 3 , p. 5 9 4 ; SCHAEFFER 1 9 3 9 pll. XVII, XVIII^ ibid.,
1 9 4 9 , 1 - 4 8 ) . T h e bowl, 17 cm in diameter, was embossed with various decorative features, notably three concentric circles of animallike figures, some of which appear to be winged and are probably
mythological creatures. T h e principal scene depicted on the rimmed
plate (19 cm in diameter) is easier to interpret. It is a hunting scene,
showing a figure (often thought to be the king) in a chariot, armed
with a bow and arrows, in pursuit of various animals and followed
by a dog. Noteworthy among other items of gold which have been
found at Ugarit are a number of pendants, some of which were decorated with geometric devices, e.g. stars (see SCHAEFFER 1 9 3 9 , pi.
X X X I I fig. 1). Other pendants depicted a naked female, sometimes
showing the full figure from head to feet (Fig. 14, p. 596), and sometimes showing just the head and torso with particular concentration
on the breasts and pubic region (see SCHAEFFER 1 9 3 9 , pl. X X I X
fig. 1). It is thought likely that these were representations of a goddess, probably associated with fertility.
In addition to evidence of skilled metal work, it is also clear that
carved ivory was used as a decorative feature. Mention has already
been made of the little ivory box-lid, of Mycenaean style, perhaps
depicting a fertility goddess. Various ivory items were found during
excavations in the Royal Palace in 1952, one of which was particularly impressive (SCHAEFFER 1954b; C A Q U O T - SZNYCER 1980, pll.
XXVIII, XXIX). This was a large ivory panel, measuring approximately 1 m by 50 cm, comprising eight smaller plaques, six of which
were carved with scenes and two (at either end) were representations of trees. Because of the fragile state of the panel, it could only
be removed from the ground with some difficulty, but, when the
task was eventually achieved, it became evident that this was an even
more impressive piece than had at first been appreciated. There was,
in fact, another set of plaques underneath the first, making it clear
that this was a double-sided panel, comprising sixteen panels in total,

which had probably decorated an item of furnitureperhaps a couch


or a bed. Some of the pictures are clearer than others, and it is possible that they are to be understood as depicting scenes from the
life of the king. In one he appears to be about to thrust a spear
into an animal, while in another he is about to put out the eyes of
an enemy w h o m he grasps by the hair. But not all are quite so
gruesome since he is also shown with (and perhaps about to embrace)
his wife. O n e other panel deserves special mention. It shows two
smaller figures sucking the breasts of a larger winged figure with a
horned head-dress, presumably a goddess (SCHAEFFER 1954a, pl. VIII;
C A Q U O T - SZNYCER 1980, pi. XXIXb). This depiction calls to mind
an indication in the story of Keret that his hoped-for heir will suck
the breasts of Anat (or perhaps R a h m a y [ W Y A T T 1998C, 209]) and
Athirat.
Before leaving the heading of 'Art and Culture', it is important
that a word is said about music at Ugarit (CAUBET 1996a). A m o n g
the discoveries have been a n u m b e r of objects which are clearly or
probably musical instruments. These include horns made from the
ivory of the elephant and of the hippopotamus, a pair of small bronze
cymbals, and what are probably scrapers and clappers used in musical accompaniments. T h e picture provided by such discoveries is
enhanced by a number of representations of musical activities. Cylinder
seal impressions (AMIET 1992, nos. 265, 273) have been interpreted
as showing dancers and, perhaps, acrobats. A small bronze shows a
kneeling figure playing cymbals or a tambourine, and a rather damaged limestone figure may represent someone playing a double-flute.
(Line drawings of the above are given in C A U B E T 1996a.) Particularly
intriguing was the discovery of a tablet (RS 15.030+ = Ug 5, 463,
487) inscribed with the words of a hymn or prayer in the Hurrian
language and which seemed also to carry a sort of musical notation
indicating chords. T h e precise relationship between the hymn and
the music is not clear, but an attempt has actually been made to
reconstruct this piece of music, and to record it sung to the accompaniment of lyres ( K I L M E R 1974; K I L M E R et al. 1976).
For further discussion on the religious aspect of Ugaritian art, see
below 1 3 . 1 2 ( W Y A T T ) and 1 4 (CORNELIUS).

T H E PORT AREA

T o the south of Minet el-Beida, in the vicinity of the first discoveries,


were located the remains of an occupation which dated from the
14th century (and possibly even the late 15th century) BCE and lasted
until the time of the destruction of Ugarit. It has been suggested
that these might be the ruins of a quite separate city, Mahadou, but
it is probably appropriate to regard this as the port area of Ugarit,
to be associated with the city's commercial activities which many
textual discoveries attest, and that it was in this area that those particularly involved in maritime activities would have lived. T h e houses,
some of which suggest that they may have belonged to people of
substance, were built along straight, intersecting streets. Many were
arranged around courtyards, often containing a well, and comprised
several rooms. Underneath one of the rooms would be a vaulted
tomb approached by a staircase (see R S O 1, 3). Other buildings
were stores and warehouses, and one was found to contain some 24
large pottery jars, many in a remarkable state of preservation. In
fact, large numbers of pottery vessels of various types but often suggesting a Cypriot or Mycenean origin and probably used in commercial activities, were found in the area. (In this context it is relevant
to note that, on the cliff north of Minet el-Beida, a misfired Cypriot
vase was discovered, suggesting that there was a pottery workshop
nearby, and that perhaps Cypriot settlers lived in the vicinity of
Ugarit.) O t h e r discoveries included an Egyptian axe and several
Egyptian-style ivory cosmetic boxes, some of which were in the shape
of a duck (SCHAEFFER 1939b pl. X I V fig. 1). These pointed to trading links further south as well as with the Aegean world. Metal-work
finds included various bronze tools and weapons as well as silver
rings and lead ingots. Weights made of stone or haematite, cylinder
seals and, perhaps not surprisingly, stone anchors (some of which
had also been found on the tell; FROST 1969; SCHAEFFER 1978; FROST
1991) featured among the discoveries. Another noteworthy find was
a deposit of murex shells, for which the Mediterranean coast is noted,
used for the making of the purple dye.
T h e port area may also have contained its places of worship, as
is indicated by the presence of altars and other cultic installations,
including what may have been a small sanctuary. O n the port area
see now Y O N 1 9 9 7 .

R A S IBN H A N I

About 8 km north of Latakia and 4.5 km south-west of Ras Shamra


there is a small cape which juts out into the Mediterranean. There
are some grounds for believing that it may have been an island in
the second millennium BCE (see below). It was already known that
there had been a Roman occupation there because of the remains
of buildings which were observable, and Gabriel Saad had noted
in 1965 that there was what appeared to be a low tell in the middle part of the cape. But it was yet another chance discovery which
led to excavations being carried out in this area. In the course of
earth-moving activities associated with urban developments (including plans to build the Meridien hotel) on the cape, a tomb was discovered in 1973 which gave rise to the possibility that there might
have been a significant occupation in the LBA. Thus, as a matter
of urgency, excavations were undertaken u n d e r the auspices of
the Direction gnrale des antiquits et des muses de Syrie, and a joint FrancoSyrian team was established, in charge of which were A. Bounni and
J . Lagarce ( L A G A R C E 1995).
When work began in earnest in 1975 it took place on the southern side of the low tell, in the face of constant difficulties caused by
the presence of modern earth-moving machinery in the vicinity. It
was undertaken in the hope of clarifying the different phases of occupation. Evidence soon emerged of thick rubble walls which had often
been reduced to foundation-level by the prdations of later builders
in the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period who used its stones. What
was clear was that these were the walls of a building from the LBA.
This became known as the 'Southern Palace'. T h e following year,
a survey was undertaken using geophysical techniques which measured electrical resistivity. This provided useful indications of the
westward extent of the 'Southern Palace'. It was decided to remove
the surface soil by means of mechanical diggers, thereby making it
possible to gain a clearer impression of the plan of the southern part
of the building. It was in the course of this activity that the presence of pottery reminiscent of Mycenaean ware from the beginning
of the Iron Age was first noticed. Excavations in the area of the
'Southern Palace' continued until 1980, particular attention being
paid to the Hellenistic remains.
Studies of the geomorphology of the cape which have been carried out since 1976 have, as has already been indicated, given rise

to the speculation that it may have been an island during the second millennium BCE. Sections of stone paving which showed through
the sand from place to place to the south-east of the 'Southern
Palace' seemed to be the vestiges of a roadway. These pieces of paving seemed to predate the sand-bar on which part of the Hellenistic
town was situated. Further study of the roadway has been impossible since 1976, but, in 1991, radiocarbon tests were carried out on
two samples of natural cement formed between the paving-blocks of
the roadway when they were submerged as a result of an earlier
phase of erosion. These tests yielded dates of 1179-860 and 791-441
and led to the suggestion that the road must have been constructed
prior to 1179/860 and was subsequently submerged. T h e most likely
time for its construction, in view of what is known of the site, would
have been the LBA, the period of building of the 'Southern Palace'
(and other important buildings as will be noted later), and it is possible that the roadway originally led to the eastern entrance to the
'Southern Palace'.
In 1977, a new area close to the tomb which had been discovered in 1973 was opened up. It soon became clear that this was a
site of considerable importance and led to subsequent excavations
being concentrated in this area and on the edifice which has come
to be known as the 'Northern Palace'. Various soundings were undertaken with a view to establishing the extent of the building in the
LBA. It became clear that this was a major building including not
only residential areas but also an administrative centre and that it
housed workshops, e.g. for metal-working. It proved difficult to produce a plan of this 'Northern Palace', partly due to the fact that,
as in the 'Southern Palace', stones had been removed to be re-used
later (but see the plan in L A G A R C E 1 9 9 5 , 1 5 4 ) . Some indication of
its extent was provided by the presence of what appeared to be a
street running along its western periphery and, less certainly, another
to its east. T h e block which lay between these two limits has been
analysed as divisible into two quite distinct sections. T h e first, to the
south-west, was basically rectangular and arranged around a central
courtyard; the second, to the north-west, was a much more confused
conglomeration of rooms. It is thought unlikely that these two sections of the building were entirely separate, and that there must
therefore have been a corridor or passageway linking them. There
is some evidence which makes it possible to suggest the original function of some of the rooms. For example, an impressive room off the

central courtyard, approached by an entrance flanked by two columns,


may have been a throne room (room XII). Apparendy next door to
this 'throne room' was a workshop which seems to have been used
for working in bone (room XX). This juxtaposition of rooms seems
rather strange, and has led to the suggestion that the latter may
originally have been on the first floor but that, with the destruction
of the building, its contents fell through to ground level where they
were subsequently found. T h e presence of staircases suggests that the
building had more than one storey. Caution is therefore necessary
in identifying the original function of the building's rooms. Nevertheless,
it has been thought possible to make some judgements about the
likely use of certain parts of the building in the LBA.
T h e main access to the 'Northern Palace' was probably from the
south and into the rectangular south-western area of the building,
which seems from its stonework, general plan and lay-out around
the courtyard, to have been the most prestigious part of the edifice.
It has been described as the 'reception area'. By contrast, the northwestern part of the building followed a much less geometric plan
and gives the impression of being something of an annexe. This is
not to suggest that this part of the building was unimportant. It was
in this area that rooms housing tablets were located, and perhaps
where administrative activities were undertaken. Access from one
part of the building to the other may have been via a courtyard
and a room with benches which is perhaps to be understood as a
guardroom controlling access to the less public areas of the 'Northern
Palace'.
T h e 'Northern Palace' appears, then, to have been an important
residence, administrative and production centre. But whose residence?
The very nature of the building would suggest the likelihood that it was
a royal residence and one particular tablet ( K T U 2.82 = R I H 78/12)
found on the site may provide the clue since it is addressed ' T o the
queen, my mother'. Although the queen is not named, it is suggested
that she may have been Ahatmilku, the mother of 'Ammittamru II
who reigned in Ugarit in the middle of the thirteenth century BCE.
A seal impression bearing the imprint of this king was found in connection with administrative documents in the 'Northern Palace' in
1982 and 1983, indicating that some at least of the texts discovered
there originated during his reign.
Further excavations sought to establish the relationship between

the 'Northern Palace' and the buildings on cither side of it. T h e r e


are some grounds for the belief that the building which lay immediately to the east may have functioned as a service building for the
'Northern Palace', not least because there did not appear to be sufficient room for a completely separate building between the palace
and the eastern extremity of the city. More importantly, several of its
rooms seem to have served a utilitarian function, including cookery
and the baking of bread. T h e rooms seem to have been well constructed and paved, and one housed a toilet.
T h e building to the south-west (which became known as Building B)
was separated from the 'Northern Palace' by a street, though it is
possible that the buildings may have been joined in an unexcavated
area. T h e r e is some evidence of 'city planning' in this area, though
not to the extent which would have yielded a number of blocks separated by parallel streets. It seems that some of the streets went
round corners, which would have had the effect of reducing the
strength of the wind, and that at least one was a cul de sac. But the
symmetry of this building with the 'Northern Palace' is noteworthy
and it is not impossible that the two buildings were constructed to
the same basic plan. It too comprised a paved area (perhaps a courtyard) off which several rooms opened, one of which contained a
staircase. T h e symmetry even extends to the presence of two wells
in 'opposite' rooms, and kilns in 'opposite' rooms. T h e kiln in building was well-preserved and impressive though its precise function
was unclear. It was located in a room along whose eastern wall ran
a bench covered in white mortar which supported several vessels
and a lamp. T h e r e were pieces of ceramic and bone on the floor.
Another intriguing discovery in this building comprised about ten
ceramic objects which have been described as scoops. It has been
suggested that they may have been used for the distribution of rations,
a possibility which might support the suggestion that this too was a
public building.
H o w long did this LBA occupation last on Ras Ibn Hani? T h e r e
is some evidence of repairs or resurfacing of the floors, particularly
in the 'Northern Palace', which might suggest a relatively lengthy
period of occupation. It is also possible that there there is evidence
for the secondary usage of certain rooms, e.g. in the 'bakery' in the
'service building', and that a funerary vault under the 'Northern
Palace' was not, in its present state, contemporary with the building's

construction. However, there is no clear evidence, e.g. from the pottery found on the site, for a beginning of this occupation earlier than
the 13th century BCE. Pottery may be of more use in suggesting the
possibility that the end of Ras Ibn Hani mirrored the end of the
city of Ugarit itself, in view of the fact that people using a particular type of Mycenaean ware seem to have occupied the site immediately after its destruction. This would lend support to the view that
both Ugarit and Ras Ibn Hani were destroyed in the context of the
advance of the 'Sea Peoples' as they pressed south through the regions
of the Levantine coast.
T h e 'Northern Palace' seems to have suffered a violent destruction by fire, but not before it was abandoned and emptied of essential moveable items by the inhabitants. This fits with what appears
to have been the case in Ugarit. A similar situation seems to have
occurred with the 'Southern Palace', i.e. that it was emptied prior
to being destroyed by fire. However, it is not clear that this was the
case in 'Building B', where evidence of fire seems to be restricted
to a room which was probably used for cooking or baking and which
may therefore have been caused by that activity. It does not seem
to have been the result of a major conflagration involving the whole
building. T h u s caution is needed. Nevertheless, it is possible to suggest that archaeology (to some limited extent supported by the texts
found on the site) points to a foundation of what might be thought
of as this outer suburb of Ugarit not earlier than the late 14th century and more likely in the early 13th century BCE. This expansion
of Ugarit may reflect a period of relative stability and prosperity. Its
destruction was not later that the early 12th century and perhaps
more likely at the end of the 13th century, probably at the hands
of the 'Sea Peoples'.

CONCLUSION

It seems appropriate, therefore to think of ancient Ugarit as comprising not merely the city on the tell of Ras Shamra, but also, at
its zenith in the LBA, the city proper together with the port area
and the oudying suburb of Ras Ibn Hani. It was an important strategic and commercial centre, standing at the 'crossroads' of major land
and sea routes, and was doubtless quite cosmopolitan. It was a city
of impressive buildings, high culture and literary artistry, which has

bequeathed to later generations a script which may represent one of


the major steps forward in the development of writing systems. It is
perhaps fitting that the n a m e of the city should be best known
because of the language and method of writing to which it has given
its nameUgaritic.

CHAPTER THREE

THE WRITTEN SOURCES

T H E SYLLABIC AKKADIAN

TEXTS

W I L F R E D VAN S O L D T

1.1

Introduction

T h e most surprising discovery made by the late C.F.A. Schaeffer


during his first campaign at Tell Ras Shamra was undoubtedly the
group of tablets written in an unknown cuneiform script.' This discovery attracted so much attention that the decipherment of the
script was accomplished in less than a year. 2 Overshadowed by the
tablets in the new (alphabetic) script was the find of a number of
texts written in a script already well-known to the excavators, the
Mcsopotamian (syllabic) cuneiform script. T h e first campaign yielded
only a handful of these texts 3 but during the years to come, and especially after the discovery of the royal palace, many syllabic texts came
to light. Not all of these were written in the languages of Mesopotamia, Sumerian 4 and Akkadian. A n u m b e r of tablets had been drawn
up in Hurrian 3 and in Hittite. 6 However, the number of tablets in
Sumerian and Akkadian (the latter is by far the most important) is
very large indeed and new ones are being discovered regularly. 7
In this chapter of the handbook I shall study the syllabic Akkadian
texts found at Ugarit by looking at their archaeological context and
1

SCHAEFFER

BAUER

1929,

2 9 5 ; VIROLLEAUD

1932, 9. S e e

1929.

4.1.

V I R O L L E A U D 1929, 3 0 4 - 5 and PL. I . X X V I L X X V I I . For a complete list of the


P A R D E E 1989, 1 6 - 2 3 ; VAN
tablets found during the first campaign, see BORDRF.UIL
S O L D T 1991a, 5 3 2 - 5 .
4
Sumerian is only attested in schooltexts: lexical, literary and religious texts
copied by apprentice scribes, see below.
5
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 3 3 9 4 0 .
6
L A R O C H E , Ugaritica 5 , 7 6 9 - 7 9 .
7
See, for example, B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1995a; D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z 1994b; Y O N
3

1 9 9 5 ; BORDREIJIL

M A I .BRAN-I .ABAT

1995.

their general contents. A study of the former involves a survey of


the various archives where the texts have been discovered, a study
of the latter will encompass such varied aspects as the genres found
in the texts, their distribution over the archives, the education of the
scribes, and a short description of the characteristics of their Akkadian.
Naturally, in discussing the archives and genres I cannot avoid mentioning the alphabetic texts as well. T h e focus, however, will be on
the syllabic texts.
1.2

The archives

In contrast to many other excavators, Schaeffer at least attempted


to keep a record of every individual object which he found during
his excavations. He did so by assigning topographical points (points
topographiques, hence p.t.) which were written on a label attached to
the object and entered in a plan of the excavated area. Moreover,
he kept a notebook in which every object was described and listed
with its p.t. and the depth at which it had been found. A combination of the plan and the elevation of the findspot (deduced from
the depths and an elevation plan of 1928, before the excavations
had begun) would giveat least in principlethe correct findspot.8
First I shall discuss the archives found in the royal palace, then
we shall take a look at the ones found in private houses. In order
to save space I shall refer to the pertinent chapters in VAN S O L D T
1991a, where all the previous literature can be found. New publications are added wherever necessary.
1.2.1

The palace archives

T h e Western Archive 9 was located in rooms 3, 4 and 5 near the


main entrance 10 and contained almost only administrative texts, mainly

There are, however, many problems with the way the excavator kept his record.
During the first nine campaigns new p.t.s. were given for every new pit that was
opened. This led to duplicate numbers with the threat of confusion. Therefore, a
unified system was set up in 1938 which also covered previous seasons (VAN S O L D T
1991a, 673-4; the new p.t.s. are sometimes provided by B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E
1989, 16-50). However, the multitude of p.t.s. given in the record for a single tablet
from the house of the High Priest (1929 1934) makes any attempt to locate them
hazardous.
9

10

VAN S O L D T

1991A,

See the plans in

49-60.

MARGUERON

1995a, 194 5.

in alphabetic cuneiform. Noteworthy are a few letters and schooltexts and especially two 'work copies' of the treaty with the Hittites,
in which the tribute is stipulated." Similar tablets were found elsewhere in the palace. Dated texts point to the time of 'Ammittamru
II and later (VAN S O L D T 1991a, 57-8), with the notable exception of
the translated 12 treaty from the time of Niqmaddu . Whether the
tablets had been stored on an upper storey cannot be ascertained.
No stairs were found in this part of the building.
T h e Eastern Archive 13 (rooms 54-56) is more diverse in contents
than the Western Archive, although administrative textsmainly in
Ugariticstill form by far the biggest group. Interesting is a small
group of juridical texts, most of which are styled as private contracts. 14 It is only from rooms 54 and 55 that we have royal deeds. 15
T h e most remarkable group of texts from this archive, however, is
formed by the letters. More than fifty letters were found, a fair
number of which can be ranked as international correspondence.
T h e letters were mainly addressed to king Ibirnu and his(?)16 queen
Taryelli. 17 Only a few texts survive from before this king. 18 T h e
tablets were at least partly stored on an upper storey.
The Central Archive 19 consists of three different wings with different
contents.

11

RS 1 1.732 (PRU 3, 181; 4, 47) and RS 1 1.772 (KTU 3.1). For the latter, see
K T U 2 199-200 and VAN S O L D T 1990a, 354-7.
12
Translations of Akkadian texts into Ugaritic such as K T U 3.1 = RS 11.772
are not really summaries nor are they faithful copies of the original. For K T U 3.1
see K N O P P E R S (1993), who suggests that the text is a covering letter including a tribute list sent by Niqmaddu. However, since the text is in Ugaritic, I tend to regard
it as a simplified copy for the use of the administrators in the Western Palace
archive. According to M I L L A R D 1995, 120, not all letters in Ugaritic which were
sent by foreign powers need to have had Akkadian or Hittite originals. The messenger could have memorized the message which was then written down in Ugarit.
13
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 6 0 - 7 3 .
14
RS 15.37 (PRU 3, 35), 15.81 (PRU 3, 37), 15.173 (PRU 3, 40), 15.180 (PRU
3, 36), 15.182 (PRU 3, 35), 17.248 (PRU 4, 236), 17.388 (PRU 6, no. 50), 17.426
(PRU 6, no. 51). Note also 15.128 (KTU 3.3), a legal text in Ugaritic.
15
RS 15.113 (PRU 3, 168), 15.114 (PRU 3, 112), 15.131 (PRU 3, 133).
16
VAN S O L D T 1985-6, 71; 1991a, 15-8.
17
That the diplomatic correspondence in general was kept in the eastern archive
as contended by Courtois 1988 is not true; many international letters were found
in other archives as well. It is possible, however, that the correspondence of Ibirnu
was concentrated in this wing of the palace.
18
Niqmepa': RS 15.117 (KTU 7.63); 'Ammittamru II: RS 15.114 (PRU 3, 112),
RS 15.131 (PRU 3, 133) and probably RS 17.383 (PRU 4, 221).
19
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 7 4 - 9 6 .

T h e northern wing is made up of rooms 30 and 31 and is the


most important. Here almost all the royal deeds concerning real
estate were filed and the distribution of the texts suggests that most
of them were kept in dossiers on the upper storey which, after the
destruction, fell on top of the debris in court IV. 20 Genres other than
legal texts as well as texts in Ugaritic are rare in this part of the
building.
T h e eastern wing (room 64) contained mainly economic texts,
some of them in Ugaritic. T h e few legal texts are not concerned
with real estate. More important is a group of letters between king
'Ammittamru II and the king of Carchemish. A few other letters
(mainly in Ugaritic) are addressed to the queen. This queen was
most probably 'Ammittamru's mother Ahatmilku, although Taryelli
cannot be excluded. 21 Part of the tablets had been stored on the
upper storey.
T h e southern wing archive (room 66; tablets were also found in
65 and 67) consisted mainly of administrative texts, almost all in
Ugaritic. Of interest is a small group of legal texts from room 66
dealing with the sale of land to queen Taryelli and witnessed by a
certain Tipit-Ba'lu. 22
T h e Southern Archive 23 was located in a late addition to the
palace, rooms 68 and 69 to the south of court V. In this archive
all tablets were found that regulate the relations of Ugarit with the
foreign powers, the Hittite king and the king of Carchemish. T h e
archive proper was probably kept on an upper storey, which could
be reached through room 69, while room 68 served as a secretariate. Apart from the many treaties and international juridical texts, 24
however, we also find a number of local real estate transfers, as well
as a few administrative texts, some of them in Ugaritic. T h e dates
obtained from the texts cover the entire historical period at Ugarit.
T h e Southwestern Archive 25 (rooms 80 and 81) contained mainly
administrative texts in Ugaritic. O t h e r genres, such as letters and
schooltexts, were written in Ugaritic as well. Of special interest is the

20

VAN S O L D T

1986, 2 0 0 - 3 ;

21

VAN S O L D T

1991A,

22

1991A,

91-2.

78.

Published as Usfltica 5, nos. 159-61. For the seal of Tipit-Ba'lu, see ibid..,
p. 261.
23
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 97-109.
24
Published in PRU 4.
25
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 114-24.

synoptic table of scripts found in room 81, 26 A substantial group of


religious texts was written in Hurrian in syllabic script. 27 Two legal
texts 28 were found as well. All available dates point to the reign of
'Ammittamru II and later. T h e tablets could have been stored on
an upper storey, although one can also think of shelves along one
of the walls.
Miscellaneous tablet finds in the palace. Several groups of texts
have been found outside the archival rooms described above, such
as rooms 73 and 90 (both mainly administrative). T h e most important find, however, is that of a cluster of tablets in court V, formerly
believed to have been put there for baking. 29 As it turned out later,
the traces of oven material proved to be burnt debris, and the cluster of tablets was probably a mixed lot, some of which may even
have belonged to an older, discarded archive (at least according to
M A R G U E R O N 1995b, 66-7; M I L L A R D 1995, 119 speaks o f ' t h e result
of inverting a carefully packed basket'). A number of them, however,
have to be dated shordy before the final destruction of the city, as
shown by the translation into Ugaritic of a letter to king 'Ammurapi 3
( K T U 2.39 = RS 18.38).
1.2.2

The private archives

A number of houses proved to be important findspots of cuneiform


tablets. T h e owners of these private archives may have been scribes
themselves or may have needed the services of scribes. This is not
always clear and sometimes it even proves impossible to ascertain
the very name of the owner.
T h e so-called Southern Palace 30 probably was the house of the
chief administrator (atammu rabu) Yabni-apu (abbreviated Yabninu), 31
who had an administrative archive in rooms 203 and 204. Almost
all tablets are administrative in nature (all but a few in Akkadian)
and from a letter we learn about a scribe who, surprisingly enough,
has a good Akkadian name: Nahi-a1mu. 32 Provided the scribe him-

19.159 (KTU 5.14), see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 122 and 325.


Ugantua 5, 465-96.
28
RS 18.283 (PRU 6, no. 67) and 19.98 (PRU 6, no. 31). Especially the latter,
a real estate transfer, seems out of place.
29
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 1 1 0 - 4 .
30
C O U R T O I S 1990; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 1 4 9 - 5 8 and 1991b, 3 4 0 .
31
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 1 5 5 - 7 . C O U R T O I S 1990 (only Yabninu).
32
Spelled Vna-f}-ial-mu by his Ugaritic colleague (RS 19.53 = PRU 6, no.
18:2). F or the name, see (IAD s.v. nafyu le. For Middle Assyrian references, see
26

27

RS

self was Mesopotamia!! and not a native of Ugarit in Mesopotamian


disguise, the rigid Mesopotamian orthography observed for texts from
this archive 33 may at least partly be due to him. In view of the many
Assyrianisms, both in sign forms and in grammar (see 3.1.5), we
have to assume that Nahi-a1mu was an Assyrian scribe working in
Ugarit. T h e archive was in use until the destruction of the city.
T h e house of Rasap'abu 3 4 is one of the three buildings containing
an archive discovered in the residential quarter east of the royal palace
(the two following archives were found here as well). T h e owner was
a man called Rasap-'abu, the supervisor of the harbour (Ma'hadu)
and the archive mainly consists of legal texts (partly dealing with
Rasap-'abu's affairs) and administrative texts. T h e legal texts date
from the reign of Niqmaddu II through that of c Ammittamru II.
There are only very few school texts from this house; two of them
are practice letters in Ugaritic. 3 '
T h e house of the lettr36 is named after its contents: literary, religious, and lexical texts. T h e house may originally have belonged
with that of Rasap-'abu, the name of the owner is still unknown.
Apparently, the house served as a school.
T h e house of Rap'nu 3 7 can easily lay claim to the status of the
most important school in Ugarit. Among its hundreds of tablets the
most important category is that of the lexical texts. Strangely enough,
hardly any literary and religious texts have come to light, which
seems to indicate that the scribes did not practise their knowledge
in context very much. 38 T h e presumed name of the owner is known
from three letters in which he appears twice as recipient and once
as sender. 39 Another important group of texts in this archive is formed
by the international letters. A large part of the royal correspondence
was kept here (and not in the palace), and it is here that we find
some of the famous letters dealing with the threat of the Sea Peoples.40
Since the architectural remains and the archive are still unpublished

SAPORETTI
see

1970 I, 344;

HLSCHER

1996,

SAPORETTI

FREYDANK

33

VAN S O L D T

1991a,

372.

34

VAN S O L D T

1991A,

160-3.

35

RS 17.63 (KTU 5.10) and 17.117 (5.11).

36

VAN S O L D T

1979, 91. For Middle Babylonian,

146a.

1991A,

163-5.

1991a, 165-81.
38
VAN S O L D T 1995a, 179.
3!
' Cf. Ugaritica 5, nos. 53-5.
40
For the correspondence in general, see Ugaritica 5, nos. 20-80; The Alashiya
letters are nos. 22 and 24 (no. 23 comes from the antiques market).
37

VAN S O L D T

not much can be said about the stratigraphy of the building. T h e


dates obtained from the tablets are generally late: 'Ammittamru II
through c Ammurapi\
T h e Tablet House (Maison-aux-tablettes)^ has recentiy been published by C A L L O T (1994, 53-61). In the centre of a residential area
opened up in 1959 the excavators discovered a big house with a
large number of tablets. Most of these tablets are school texts: lexical and literary texts written by apprentice scribes. T h e few letters
and legal texts do not help to identify the owner of this important
house. T h e majority of the tablets had been stored on an upper
storey. However, a small group of texts was found below floor level.42
In view of the joins which can be made between tablets of both
groups (VAN S O L D T 1991a, 185, 187, 192)43 the two groups cannot
be separated in time (contra C A L L O T 1994, 61). Dates deduced from
the texts point to the time of 'Ammittamru II and later.
T h e Archives on the South Acropolis. In a heavily damaged building on the southern part of the Acropolis two archives were discovered; the first was named the archive of the Hurrian Priest, the
second the Lamatu-archive. 44 This first archive was located in two
rooms (10 and 11) in the northeastern wing of the house, one of
which ( 1 0 ) was interpreted as a cella ( C O U R T O I S 1 9 6 9 ) . T h e archive
contained almost exclusively texts in alphabetic cuneiform. T h e second archive was housed in the southwestern wing of the house and
contained a large number of syllabic cuneiform texts. Since most of
these are lexical and literary texts the wing must have housed a
school. T h a t the teacher(s) in this school must either have been
Babylonian or have been trained by Babylonian scribes can be seen
from the ductus in which they wrote and from their Akkadian. 45 T h e
few letters and legal texts do not allow an identification of the owner.
T h e tablets in the Lamatu-archive had partly eroded down the slope
of the Acropolis, but it is clear from the many joins that they belong
with the archive. 46 Circumstantial evidence points to a relatively late
date for both archives.

41

VAN S O L D T

1991a, 1 8 2 - 9 3 .

42

VAN S O L D T

1991A,

43

190-1;

CALLOT

1994,

61.

The most striking example is RS 22.403 + 431B + 433A-C, a copy of Lu 1,


pieces of which were found at 0.70, 1.00 and 2.50 m below the surface.
44
For the former, see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 193-203, for the latter, ibid., 204-11.
45
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 209, 3 7 3 - 4 , 521.
46
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 209-11.

T h e Library of the High Priest 47 on the Acropolis was the first


archive to be discovered and, as it happens, it contained the literary texts in Ugaritic which brought Ugarit instant fame. Apart from
these important texts, the building must have housed a school, as
can be seen from a number of lexical texts. 48 As pointed out at the
beginning, the findspots of the tablets cannot always be identified
with certainty. An assessment of the stratigraphy will have to await
new research. Dates obtained from the texts probably point to the
period from Niqmaddu II (the Ugaritic literary texts)49 until the end
of Ugarit's existence (most other texts).
T h e house of Urtenu 5 0 was discovered by accident in 1971 after
a tablet had been found in debris from building activities by the
Syrian army. In 1973 the excavators were allowed to search the
debris but a regular excavation could only be carried out from 1986.
At the end of the 1994 season more than 500 texts had been recovered from this house, 51 thereby making it the biggest archive discovered so far. T h e great majority of the texts is in Akkadian, but
there are a few important texts in Ugaritic as well. O n e of these is
a literary fragment written by Ili-malku,' 2 the scribe who wrote a
number of literary texts in the house of the high priest. T w o groups
stand out among the Akkadian texts, a number of international letters
dealing with important historical events, 53 and a group of lexical texts
written by apprentice scribes. 54 T h e owner of the house, (the scribe?)
Urtenu, is known from a number of letters and an incantation in

1991a, 2 1 2 - 2 0 ; C U N C H I L L O S 1989.
1995a, 194.
49
For arguments for this date, see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 27-9. However, according
to B O R D R E U I L
M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995, 447-8, the king mentioned in the colophons
is more likely to be Niqmaddu III than Niqmaddu II.
50
Y O N 1995; For Urtenu, see already VAN S O L D T 1991a, 221. B O R D R E U I L
M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995; R S O 7 ; B O R D R E U I L
P A R D E E 1995b, 3 1 2 ; M A L B R A N - L A B A T
1995a, L O M B A R D 1995. For previous literature, see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 221-3.
51
YON 1995, 439.
47

VAN S O L D T

48

VAN S O L D T

52

BORDREUIL -

PARDEE

1995,

28;

BORDREUIL

MALBRAN-,

1995,

447

8.

In view of a number of syllabic spellings with -a-, I prefer the vocalization Ili-malku
to the more traditional Ili-milku, see provisionally van Soldt 1991a, 21 n. 182 and
M.S.

SMITH

1994,

3 n.

6.

53

For example, the battle of Nihriya, R S O 7, no. 46, a letter from NorthBabylonia (no. 47, in line 3 read DIi-tlmi-, 'Shepherd of M a n ' [<Itr-Mer]),
and a letter from the Hittite king concerning the Sikila'ites, who are said to live on
boats (no. 1 2 ) . For a short description of the letters found in 1 9 9 4 , see B O R D R E U I L MALBRAN-LABAT
34

1995,

445-6.

R S O 7, nos. 48-77.

Ugaritic. 53 His son Ur-Teub was also a prominent resident. 56 Almost


all tablets were found in a layer of ca. 1.50 m above the floor, only
two were lying under the floor. According to Lombard, the latter
probably form an older group, whereas the former belong to the
destruction level and had probably fallen from a higher elevation,
perhaps an upper storey. 57 T h e dates obtained from the texts point
to the time of N i q m e p a ' and later. 58
Miscellaneous tablet finds. For the sake of completeness, a few
more clusters of tablets should be mentioned. First, there is the small
group of texts found in the centre of Ugarit (Centre Ville) mainly consisting of schooltexts 59 and, second, we have a substantial group of mainly
Ugaritic texts from the northern palace at Ras Ibn Hani. 6 0 T h e latter can be dated to the period shortly before Ugarit's destruction.

1.3

Text genres

After this survey of the different archives it seems appropriate to


summarize the contents of the tablets and to look at their distribution in place (see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 133-40, 2 2 6 - 7 ) and time. For
reasons of convenience I shall discuss them by genre.
T h e treaties form one of the most important groups of texts. 61
T h e y provide us with a wealth of historical material not only pertaining to Ugarit itself but also to the states with which it was in
contact. Since Ugarit was a vassal of the Hittite king, the treaties
describe the relations between the two states. These important documents, which date from the entire historic period, were kept on file
in a separate wing of the palace, the southern archive. Copies and
summaries to be used in other archives were prepared and have
been found here and there. 62
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 221; B O R D R E U I L
P A R D E E 1995, 31. See also the literature
mentioned in note 50.
%
R S O 7, no. 25:1. New attestations can be found in B O R D R E U I L
MALBRANI^ABAT 1995, 446 and 449, where we probably have to read Ur-Teub instead of
MALBRAN-LABAT
Ur-Ba'al. For Ur-Teub as the son of Urtenu see B O R D R E U I L
1995, 446. For the name, see G R O N D A H L 1967, 423.
57
L O M B A R D 1 9 9 5 , 2 3 2 and cf. 2 3 7 . For the texts found in 1 9 9 4 , see Y O N 1 9 9 5 .
55

58

VAN S O L D T

1991A, 2 2 2 - 2 2 3 ;

59

VAN S O L D T

1991a,

BORDREUIL -

MAI.BRAN-I.ABAT

1995,

448.

224.

J . and E . L A G A R C E 1995; B O U N N I - S A L I B Y
L A G A R C E 1996. For earlier literature, see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 225.
61
Almost all treaties have been published in PRU 4. An additional fragment was
published as R S O 7, no. 1.
62
See my remarks to the texts from the western palace archive. Note also the
60

T h e international legal texts are records which deal with legal


matters involving persons from outside Ugarit. Most, but not all, of
these texts are verdicts passed by the Hittite king or by his viceroy,
the king of Carchemish. Sometimes a representative of the crown,
either a prince or a high official (often a kartappu), is deemed worthy to supervise a case. 63 Occasionally, we also find settlements
between kings of two different vassal states without Hittite supervision. 64 Ninety-five percent of these texts were found in the palace
and of these, eighty-five percent in the southern archive. 63 This suggests that the international legal texts, just like the treaties, were in
principle filed in the southern palace archive. Since the dates range
from Hattusili III to Ta1mi-Teub of Carchemish, the texts were
apparently kept on file for a long time.
T h e domestic legal texts deal with matters pertaining to the citystate only. They can be found in almost every archive 66 and could
date to any king of Ugarit. This means that these documents were
considered important enough to be kept on file for a long time. A
special case are the texts dealing with land transfers supervised by
the crown: with just a few exceptions all these texts were found in
the northern wing of the central palace archive. Legal texts dealing
with land transfers found elsewhere are rare and they usually belong
to private archives. 67 T h e texts from the palace were kept on the
upper storey and grouped according to dossier. Their dates range
from Niqmaddu II to Niqmaddu III. 68
T h e international letters are state letters exchanged between members of the royal family as well as high officials (such as the skinu)
of Ugarit and foreign rulers or their representatives. In view of the
importance of the contents of many of these letters it is surprising

list K T U 4.610 = RS 19.017 from the southwestern archive, in which the share of
the tribute for the Hittite king (argmn p) is calculated for every town and guild.
63
Compare, for example RS 17.244 (PRU 4, 231) in which two high Hittite
officials are supervising a settlement in court. In RS 17.314 (PRU 4, 189) prince
Arma-ziti is present.
64
Compare, for example, RS 17.228 (PRU 4, 141), a settlement between
'Ammitttamru II and augamuwa of Amurru on the famous matter of the former's (ex-)wife.
65
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 2 2 6 - 3 1 .
66
No legal texts have been found in the house of the Hurrian Priest or that of
the High Priest.
67
For example, RS 22.399 + 23.77 from the 'Tablet House'.
68
O r Ibirnu, if RS 15.139 (PRU 3, 166) still belongs with these texts.

to find them not only in the palace but also in some private archives. 69
Moreover, except for a later copy(!) of a letter from the time of
Niqmaddu II 70 filed in the southern palace archive (and probably
considered a state document), all the letters are dated to the time
of 'Ammittamru II or later. 71 Both this dispersion and the relatively
short period of preservation indicate that these texts were not considered as important as the treaties and the legal texts. Quite a few
letters give the name of the king of Ugarit as the sender, from which
we may conclude that in a n u m b e r of cases a copy of the letter was
kept. For the few international letters in Ugaritic, see the remarks
on the Western Palace archive.
T h e private letters are letters sent from private persons to the
royal family or to a high official (usually the skinu) or between private persons, one of whom can be outside Ugarit. T h e former are
usually found in the palace, the latter in private archives. Some letters of the first group, however, have also been found in the houses
of R a p ' n u and the 'Tablet House', 7 2 a situation familiar from that
of the international letters. This genre is found in almost every single archive; only the house of Rasap-'abu has not produced any private letters. T h e texts can be written in Akkadian or in Ugaritic,
two letters are in Hurrian. 7 3 By their very nature private letters can
seldom be dated. T h e few indications that we have point to a late
date, the reign of 'Ammittamru II and later.
T h e administrative texts are documents usually styled as lists in
which persons, either as individuals or as a group (towns and guilds),
are mentioned who receive or deliver commodities, who pay taxes
or are just listed with their place of residence. T h e majority of these
texts is written in Ugaritic, the rest is in Akkadian. T h e r e is not a
single archive which has not produced at least one administrative
text. T h e r e are, however, a n u m b e r of archives which can be labeled
'administrative' by the sheer quantities of texts of this genre in comparison to other genres. Such archives are the western (75%), the
eastern (64%), and the southwestern (75%) palace archives (76% of
all administrative texts come from the palace) and the southern palace
69

Especially in the houses of Rap'anu and Urtenu.


RS 17.334 (PRU 4, 54).
71
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 2 2 8 .
72
Rap'anu: Ugaritica 5, nos. 20, 44, 48, 49, 52; K T U 2.68 - RS 20.199; 'Tablet
House': RS 22.347 and 22.419.
73
R S 11.853 (PRU 3, 327) and R S 23.31, see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 364.
70

(90%). T h a t the last archive is mainly administrative is not surprising: its owner is Yabni-apu (Yabninu), the chief administrator
(.atammu rabu). Dates obtained from a number of texts point to the
last 50 years of Ugarit's existence, a time span which serves as an
indication for their limited importance. 7 4
T h e lexical texts form the primary study material for students of
Akkadian ( 3.1.4). Thus they can be expected in buildings which
served as schools. Since the palace has produced only two lexical
texts and two syllabic practice texts it probably did not house a
school. 75 Different is the situation in the private houses, where large
numbers of these texts have been uncovered. 7 6 Especially the houses
of the Lettr, R a p ' n u , Urtenu, the High Priest, the 'Tablet House'
and the Lamatu-archive were very rich in lexical material. All these
houses must have had a school within their walls. Dates are usually
lacking, so that we cannot be sure if the texts were kept for longer
than one or two generations. T h e lexical texts are closely associated
with the next genre.
T h e literary and religious texts are actually two groups with a
different purpose. Both groups, however, served as advanced study
material for students of Akkadian 77 ( 4) and were normally found
in archives which also show a sizable number of lexical texts. As with
the latter, the palace archives have produced just a handful, whereas the house of the Lettr, the Tablet House and especially the
Lamatu-archive have been rich sources. Also interesting is the number of texts from the City Centre: five out of eleven (the others were
lexical texts). Most conspicuous is the (almost) complete absence of
this genre from the houses of R a p ' n u and the High Priest. For the
possible implications, see 3.1.4. In the house of Urtenu literary
and lexical texts have recently been uncovered. 78 Dates are difficult
to ascertain for this genre, a characteristic shared by the lexical texts.
As for the Ugaritic literary and religious texts, for which the alphabetic
script had perhaps been introduced, 7 9 they are discussed in another
chapter.

1991a,
1991a,
76
VAN S O L D T 1991a,
77
Not to be included
the southwestern palace
74

VAN S O L D T

75

VAN S O L D T

139, 231.
140.
7 4 7 - 8 ; 1995a, 1 9 4 .
are, of course, the many texts in Hurrian, especially from
archive (Ugaritica 5, 462-96).

78

BORDREUIL -

79

Note that the literary texts are the oldest alphabetic texts uncovered so far, at

MALBRAN-LABAT

1995,

446.

In conclusion, one can say that the genres can be divided into
two groups, those that were kept on file for future reference and
those that were discarded not more than two, or at most three generations after they had been drawn up. T h e former group consists
of the treaties and legal texts, both international and domestic. They
were usually kept on file inside one of the palace archives. T h e latter group comprises the letters both international and private, the
administrative texts and the schooltexts (the lexical, literary and religious texts). These genres, especially the international letters, are
much more dispersed and probably had only ephemeral importance.

1.4

Scribal education80

As indicated in the previous paragraph, the education of scribes-tobe took place in private houses and not in the palace. T h e syllabic
cuneiform script and the languages for which it was used in Mesopotamia, Sumerian and Akkadian, was a highly complicated tool
which could only be learned during many years of study and practice. T h e study material was organized in a didactic manner, in an
order which ensured a rising level of difficulty. No school books were
available to the students; teachers knew the texts by heart and taught
from memory. 8 1 T h e order of the schooltexts can be deduced from
combinations of texts on single tablets and from catchlines. T h e most
elementary exercise was a list of signs arranged by their phonetic
values (tu - ta - ti, bu - ba - bi, etc.), then a few lists with simple
ideograms followed, of which we have unilingual (Sumerian) as well
as bilingual versions (Sumerian - Akkadian). These lists are the
'Silbenalphabet/-vokabular A' and the Syllabary A with its vocabulary. T h e latter was a complete list of simple signs, which in Ugarit
also had a trilingual and even a quadrilingual version: columns in
Hurrian and Ugaritic were added to the Sumerian and Akkadian.
After this probably came a long list of divine names (the 'Weidner
G o d List'), a list of grammatical forms and a table of measures, the

least if the date of Niqmaddu II can be upheld ( B O R D R E U I L


MALBRAN-LABAT
1995, 447-8 suggest Niqmaddu III). If so, it is possible that the alphabetic script gradually came to be used for other genres, such as letters and administrative texts,
as well.
80
See in general, VAN S O L D T 1995a.
81
Only two texts can be shown to have been written outside Ugarit: Ugaritica 5
nos. 119 and 169 = RS 20.121 and 25.421.

exact order is still uncertain. 82 W h e n the student had mastered these


exercises he was ready for the larger compendia, the series Harrahubullu, Lu, Izi and Diri. Harra-hubullu is a series of 15 tablets
which contains the terminology for writing legal and administrative
texts as well as a thematic catalogue of material culture. T h e series
Lu continues with a list of professions, and the last two series, Izi
and Diri, give compound ideograms.
W h e n the student started to work on a new lexical text he would
normally make an excerpt on which he wrote the ideogram, its pronunciation and the Akkadian translation (in a number of cases the
latter two are broken off and one may wonder if that was done for
didactic purposes). After this exceipt the student wrote the whole
text with an Akkadian translation (or even with Hurrian and Ugaritic
translations). T h e last stage was the unilingual version; the student did
not need the translation any more, but he would now memorize the
whole text.
W h e n the student had completed these lists he could practise his
knowledge in context. T o this end, he would write literary and religious texts, also from dictation, which often proved to be too difficult
for the would-be scribes. T h e many mistakes that they made testify
to the problems they had in understanding the texts. Some archives
are almost devoid of literary texts, although they produced plenty of
lexical texts (the houses of R a p ' n u and the High Priest). Perhaps
this means that the level of practising Akkadian words in context
was not taught in these schools.
W e know very little about the teachers. It seems that the profession of scribe was often kept in one family and that sons were probably taught by their fathers. 83 T h e names of the scribes who taught
the first students at Ugarit how to read and write are, unfortunately,
unknown. T h a t they probably came from a Hurrian-speaking area
can be deduced from the strong Hurrian influence on the Akkadian
of the first period (see 3.1.5) as well as the Hurrian translations in
a n u m b e r of vocabularies. At any rate, the study material derived
from Mesopotamia after the Old Babylonian period from a centre
other than Nippur (probably North Babylonia). 8 ' 1

82

See

83

VAN S O L D T

84

VAN S O L D T

1995a, 172 3.
1995a, 1 8 1 - 2 , 2 1 1 - 2 .
1995a, 1 8 2 .

VAN S O L D T

1.5

The Akkadian of Ugant85

In this final paragraph I shall present a brief description of the


Akkadian as we find it in the texts written at Ugarit. T h e corpus
consists of all the genres enumerated in 3.1.4, with one restriction:
the literary and religious texts have to be excluded from a study of
syntax. As we have seen, these texts were written by the scribes as
part of their training. T h e y ultimately derive from Mesopotamia as
study material and therefore cannot be used for a syntactical study. 86
However, they should certainly be used for the study of paleography, orthography and morphology (contra D I E T R I C H 1 9 9 6 , 4 0 ) . 8 7 Rather
than giving a brief survey of all the grammatical features which we
find in the texts, I will limit myself to a description of the various
influences which can be detected during the ca. 150 years that texts
were written in the city. Since the study material came from Babylonia
and was probably early Middle Babylonian it is not surprising to
find that the Akkadian at Ugarit was basically Babylonian, 88 but with
a n u m b e r of influences from other languages: Hurrian, Assyrian and
Ugaritic.
Hurrian has left its mark in various ways. We find Hurrian translations in lexical texts, a n u m b e r of (mainly religious) Hurrian texts,
including two letters, 89 lots of Hurrian names, 90 and a few Hurrian

1989; VAN S O L D T 1991a.


1991a, 4 7 5 .
87
I am afraid I cannot agree with D I E T R I C H ' S statement ( 1 9 9 6 , 4 0 ) that 'these
[lexical and literary] texts cannot really be used in the [general] definition of the
"Akkadian of Ugarit"'. These texts were written from dictation by scribes whose
native language was Ugaritic and they show the same orthographical and morphological characteristics as the records of daily life. The scribes built their scribal career
on what they learned at school. They did not adopt a completely different grammar
once they had finished. That the texts ultimately came from a Hurrian-speaking
area (see 4) is irrelevant for the Akkadian of Ugarit. In Bogazky the texts show
Hittite influence, in Emar and Ugarit, West Semitic influence. It is these influences
which have to be detected and which I have tried to describe. In my opinion, the
lexical and literary texts are as important as the other genres and they should be
treated as such, with some reservations. Both Huehnergard and I have carefully
kept the two groups (school texts and records of daily life) apart in our grammars
(see, for example, H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 9 - 1 0 and VAN S O L D T 1991a, 3 7 2 - 3 , 4 7 3 - 4 ) .
88
T o mention a few examples, there is only one clear case of Assyrian vowel
harmony (VAN S O L D T 1991a, 3 9 1 - 2 ) , the Middle Babylonian 2-umlaut occurs frequently (ibid. 390-1), and for / w / in anlaut the texts write wa- rather than - (ibid.,
3 8 9 - 9 0 ) . Many more examples can be cited.
89
See the list in VAN S O L D T 1991a, 339-40. For the alphabetic Hurrian texts,
see K T U 2, 654.
90
G R O N D A H L 1967, 203-67.
85

HUEHNERGARD

86

VAN S O L D T

words in legal and administradve texts, such as the conjunction undu,


"when", 9 ' and the verbal form pu-fyu-ka-ru-i = pg.ugar.od.i, "she has
made an exchange". 9 2 T h e strongest influence, however, is found in
the orthography of the Akkadian texts. Documents written during
the reign of king Niqmaddu II and his immediate successors show
a number of features reminiscent of the orthography in the Akkadian
Mittanni letters. First, there is the occasional confusion of stops (such
as DU for / / , PA for / b / , etc.) and, second, there is the use of signs
to mark I el as opposed to H/ (such as the use of ci for / qe/ instead
of or QI). Both p h e n o m e n a can also be found in the Mittanni letters of Turatta. They probably find their origin in the syllabary
used by the Mittannian scribes for their Hurrian texts. 93 These features are very strong during the time of Niqmaddu II, but they start
disappearing during the time of his successors. During the reign of
his grand-son 'Ammittamru II they have practically disappeared.
Thus, forms of the verb leq are always spelled with 'Mittannian' GI
during the reigns of Niqmaddu II, but are slowly being replaced by
'Babylonian' during the reigns of Niqmepa c and c Ammittamru II,
which in turn must give way to the 'Assyrian' QI in the time Ibirnu
and Niqmaddu III. 94 T h e same phenomenon can be observed for
the conjunction undu.95 Probably also of Mittannian origin is the construction X-/w sa Y for the construct state or a simple construction
with sa during the reigns of earlier kings. 96
Assyrian influence is relatively weak (but present) in the older texts
from Ugarit. However, its influence grows gradually during the historic period, specifically in morphology. 97 Thus, we find the frequent
use of the Assyrian pronominal forms st and sit for Babylonian
and , and -sunu for Babylonian -unti. W e also find the Assyrian
genitive in -e/e and the -prefix in the third person of verbs pmae
aleph. T h e latter appears to be on the increase. 98 Assyrian features
appear to be especially prominent in the archives of the Southern
Palace and the Tablet House; compare, for example, the use of
91

HUEHNERGARD

1989,

2 0 1 ; VAN S O L D T

1991A,

464.

1991a, 350 note 209; see S P E I S E R 1955, 164b, who suggests that
the form is either a noun or a verbal form. H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 93 opts for a noun.
93
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 375-81; 1995b, 208-9.
94
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 2 6 3 .
95
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 4 6 4 .
96
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 517; cf. H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 227-9.
97
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 471.
98
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 4 3 0 .
92

VAN S O L D T

Assyrian signs f o r m s " and the verb tadnu in texts from the Southern
Palace, 100 see below. Assyrian sign forms are also attested in some
texts from outside Ugarit. 101
Ugaritic made by far the strongest impact on the Akkadian texts.
However, it is not constant. In the older texts the Ugaritic influence
is mainly noticeable in syntax, but gradually it also becomes stronger
in morphology. It is impossible to list all the phenomena that can
be ascribed to Ugaritic influence. Instead, I shall select a few salient
examples. Most important of these is, again, syntax. From the earliest texts on, the Akkadian documents do not conform to standard
Babylonian grammar, but follow patterns that have their origin in
the language of Ugarit. Thus, instead of the order subject - object indirect object - verb (the verb is normally the last constituent of the
clause), the normal order of constuents in a main clause in Babylonian,
the texts from Ugarit usually have subject - verb - object - indirect object
and, even when they do use the Babylonian word order, the verb
can still be followed by an adverb. 102 In morphology the growing
preference for nouns with case vowels and triptotic declension (also
in lexical and literary texts!) in the construct state is the most obvious feature. 103 O t h e r examples are the lack of a subjunctive in subordinate clauses, the application of the Barth-Ginsberg law in verbal
prefixes, and the occasional use of Ugaritic verbal forms. 104
These three types of influence affected every single archive. However,
there is a certain distribution according to archive. For example,
Ugaritic influence, although noticeable everywhere, is particularly
strong in the domestic legal texts and, since most of these come from
the central palace archive, this type of influence is most obvious
there. Assyrian influence is strong in two archives: the Tablet House
and the Southern Palace. For the latter it is not difficult to find an
H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 277; most of his examples in the second paragraph come
from the Southern Palace archive.
100
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 438; H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 278.
101
As, for example, in R S O 7, no. 12, see also the photo, Ugaritica 7, pl. XI.
Note that the letter also shows a number of Assyrian grammatical characteristics.
102
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 4 8 5 .
103
H U E H N E R G A R D 1981; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 417-26; for the chronological distribution, see ibid., 418.
104
For the subjunctive, see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 440 and H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 169.
For the Barth-Ginsberg law, see VAN S O L D T 1991 a, 431. The prefixes ta- and ti- are
not in free variation (thus H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 159), but show a distribution in time:
ta- in older texts (Niqmaddu II and Niqmepa'), ti- in later texts ('Ammittamru II).
For Ugaritic verbal forms, see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 432, 436-7, 441-2.
99

explanation: the only scribe attested so far for this archive appears
to have been an Assyrian (see the Southern Palace archive, above).
In the former, we probably have to think of a solution along similar lines. At any rate, it is clear that foreign scribes were working
in Ugarit. T h e same is probably true for the Lamatu-archive. T h e
schooltexts found here show reasonably good Babylonian written with
Babylonian signs in a Babylonian orthography. T h e number of mistakes is much smaller than in archives like that of R a p ' n u and that
of the Tablet House. T h a t the students who wrote these texts (and
the one teacher mentioned in one of them) were natives of Ugarit
is clear from the colophons. 105 T h e name of a teacher from Babylonia
does not appear in the documents at our disposal.
A final word on the political situation during the time the texts
were written at Ugarit. As explained in VAN S O L D T 1991a ( 5 2 2 - 3 ) ,
the development of the various language influences is closely connected with the political situation in the final stage of the Late Bronze
Age, the period from which we have written documents from Ugarit. 106
At the beginning of this period the Mittanni empire was still an
important power, although under heavy attack from the Hittites. T h e
state of Mittanni was a cultural centre which was a much closer
neighbour to Ugarit than Assyria or Babylonia and we may assume
that Mittannian teachers probably worked in Syria. This would at
least explain the strong Hurrian influence that we find during the
earliest Ugaritic kings. After the defeat of Mittanni, Assyria slowly
took its place and Assyrian troops reached the Euphrates during the
first half of the thirteenth century. It is therefore not surprising to
find an increasing Assyrian influence and even an Assyrian scribe at
Ugarit. With Mittanni out of the way, the road to Babylon was open
again and correspondence with this part of Mesopotamia shows that
contacts existed. 107 Finally, Ugaritic influence, already strong at the
beginning of the historic period, becomes stronger as time passes.
T h a t the native language of the scribes at Ugarit interfered more
and more with their Akkadian is to be expected and provides a good
parallel for developments in other cities outside Mesopotamia where
Akkadian was written.
VAN S O L D T 1 9 8 8 , 3 1 6 ; 1 9 9 5 , 2 1 0 (students:. . . -iskur and . . . -la-na) and 2 1 1
(teacher: Gamir-Haddu son of Nu'me-Rasap).
106
For a survey of the history of Ugarit, see the chapter by I. S I N G E R ( 1 5 ) .
107
Babylonian letters are R S O 7, nos. 39, 40 and 47. The last one is from the
area of Mari.
105

T H E ALPHABETIC UGARITIC

WAYNE T .

2.1

TABLETS'

PITARD

Introduction

During the first season of excavations at Ras Shamra in 1929, a number of clay tablets were found in the ruins of a house on the city's
acropolis. T o the great surprise of the excavators, the tablets were
written in a previously unknown script, rather than in the expected
Akkadian cuneiform. Charles Virolleaud, who was assigned the publication responsibilities, copied these peculiar texts and published the
facsimiles in Syria the following year, to allow scholars to work on
decipherment of the script. Within months Virolleaud, Bauer and
D h o r m e had each independently worked out a substantial percentage of the script (on the history of the decipherment, see 4.1). It
proved to be a cuneiform adaptation of the linear alphabetic script,
the ancestor of all the western alphabets, that had been invented in
the Levant sometime in the first half of the second millennium BCE.
With the decipherment of the script, scholars began to realize the
extraordinary treasure that had been found at Ugarit. T h e texts were
written in the local Semitic language of the town, and a number of
them had a religious content. During the excavations of the next
two seasons, astounding new tablets in the same language and script
emerged from the rubble in and around the house, and it became
clear that Schaeffer had discovered a library of 'Canaanite' religious
and literary texts unparalleled anywhere else in the Levant. For the
first time native texts which allowed a direct view into Canaanite
mythology, legend and cultic practice were available. But it also
became immediately clear that these texts showed astonishing cultural relationships with the Israelite literature of the Hebrew Bible.
In fact, the impact of these texts on biblical studies can hardly be
overestimated, and an argument can be made that the Ugaritic tablets
are the most significant single discovery this century for the study
of Israelite religion and the Hebrew Bible. 2

' I thank Dennis Pardee, who read over this chapter and made a number of
valuable corrections and comments. Any remaining inaccuracies, of course, are my
own responsibility.
2
Numerous books and articles have dealt with the relationship between the

T h e library recovered during the first few seasons of excavations


was not the only collection of alphabetic cuneiform tablets to be
found at Ugarit. In succeeding years, archive after archive was discovered throughout the ancient city, in the royal palace and related
buildings, in the homes of high government officials, and in those
of priests and scribes. Hardly a season of excavations has occurred
over the past seventy years without the discovery of more documents.
Surprisingly, no other excavation in the Levant has recovered a
substantial number of tablets in alphabetic cuneiform, with the exception of nearby Ras Ibn Hani, 4.5 km southwest of Ugarit, where a
palace belonging to the kings of Ugarit was excavated. Several sites,
including Minet el-Beida, Ugarit's harbour town, Tell Sukas, and
Tell Nebi M e n d in Syria; Kamid el-Loz and Sarepta in Lebanon;
and Tell Taanak, M o u n t T a b o r , and Beth Shemesh in Israel, have
p r o d u c e d individual tablets or inscribed objects with alphabetic
cuneiform inscriptions, thus indicating that the script at least was
known across the entire Levant. 3 Presumably other archives in the
script will eventually be discovered, but for now the tablets from
Ugarit essentially stand in lonely splendour.
As of the 1996 campaign there were approximately 1046 published alphabetic tablets and fragments of identifiable genres known
from Ugarit, as well as 217 unclassified fragments with legible signs,
69 inscribed objects other than tablets, ca. 416 unpublished fragments, most of them tiny, unclassified pieces, and 90 unpublished
tablets and fragments from the 1986-96 excavation of the house of
Urtenu, currently in preparation by the epigraphic team of the Mission de Ras Shamra-0ugat. Ras Ibn Hani has produced 39 published
texts of identifiable genres, one inscribed object, four unclassified
fragments and 93 as yet unpublished pieces. 4
Several editions of the tablets have been published over the years.
Most texts found between 1929 and 1939 received their initial publication in the journal Syra. A comprehensive edition of all the texts

Ugaritic texts and Israelite religion. Most recently see B R O O K E - C U R T I S - H E A L E Y


1994, W Y A T T 1996a and P I T A R D 1998.
3
All of these inscriptions have been included in KTU2.
4
The numbers here are calculations based on my analysis of B O R D R E U I L
PARDEE
1989, KTU2, and private communication concerning the recent finds in the house
of Urtenu from D. Pardee, to whom I am very grateful. Because of the complex
nature of the fragmentary state of the tablets, the numbers in this article must be
considered approximate.

from that period, including transcripdons, facsimiles and photographs,


was published in 1963 ( H E R D N E R 1963). T h e finds of the p o s t - W W
II campaigns have been published in the three official series of the
Mission archologique de Ras Shamra-Ougant, Palais Royal d'Ugarit (PRU
2 a n d 5), Ugaritica (5 a n d 7) and Ras Shamra-0ugart ( R S O 7). N e w
editions (transcriptions, facsimiles, photos a n d translations) of m a n y
of these texts, including the paramythological ( P A R D E E 1988b) and
cultic texts, as well as the letters, are in the process of publication
by the Mission's current epigraphic team, P. Bordreuil and D. Pardee,
in t h e R S O series. N e w tablet finds will also a p p e a r in R S O .
Comprehensive collections of the texts (transcriptions) have been produced by G O R D O N (1965), KTU (1976, second edition 1995), and
CUNCHILLOS - V I T A (1993a). And an edition of the texts for the computer, T h e Ugaritic Tablets Digital Edition, is also in progress (see
18.1).
T h e r e is no comprehensive translation of the entire corpus, but
several translations of the m a j o r religious and literary texts and a few
translations of the letters have appeared. T h e most significant ones
are the following: G O R D O N 1949 and 1977; D R I V E R 1956; AISTLEITNER
1964;

GINSBERG

1969;

TO

1 and

2; COOGAN

1978;

GIBSON

1978;

1981a; X E L L A 1981; DE M O O R 1987; PARDEE 1997a;


(ed.) 1997; W Y A T T 1998C. G O R D O N 1949 and TO 2 include
translations of letters, in addition to the religious texts. M a n y of the
economic texts were translated into French in their editio princeps. A
complete listing of all inscriptions f o u n d at Ugarit a n d Ras Ibn H a n i
may be f o u n d in BORDREUIL - PARDEE 1989.
DEL O L M O L E T E
PARKER

2.2

The archives and their locations

O n e of the most extraordinary aspects of the epigraphic finds at


Ugarit is the great n u m b e r of separate archives found in the city.
T h e largest quantity of tablets came from the Royal Palace, but substantial archives have also been discovered in eleven other locations.
Nine m a y be described as the private residences of m e m b e r s of the
Ugaritian u p p e r class. T h e s e include the House of the High Priest
on the Acropolis; the Houses of Rap'anu, Rashapabu and 'the Scholar'
(Maison du Lettr) in the residential quarter to the east of the Royal
Palace; the House of Yabninu (originally called the Southern Palace,
but now identified [ C O U R T O I S 1 9 9 0 , Y O N 1 9 9 8 : 5 7 ] as a private residence) just south of the Royal Palace; the House of the H u r r i a n

Priest (also known as the House of the Priest with the Liver and
Lung Models) in the area called the South Acropolis, which possessed two separate archives known as the Cella of Tablets, and the
Library of Lamashtu Texts; the House of Literary Texts in the area
called the Southern City (la Ville Sud), and the House of Urtenu in
the South Centre area. In addition to the private archives, a group
of administrative texts originated in the area just north of the palace,
called in the reports 'the Northwest Hill (Butte Nord-ouest) of the tell',
but the tablets are not identified as belonging to a specific building.
And finally, an important archive was found in the Northern Palace
at Ras Ibn Hani, an additional residence of the Ugaritian king. In
addition to these, smaller finds of texts occurred at numerous other
locations, both in houses and in plazas and streets. 5
T h e tablets from the Royal Palace were found primarily in five
discrete archives located in various wings of the building. All of these
archives were originally located on the upper floor of the palace and
fell into the ground-level rooms when the palace was destroyed. 6
Each of them contained both alphabetic and Akkadian tablets. Three
proved to possess more alphabetic than syllabic texts. These were
the West Archive (found in Rooms 3-5), which consisted of a number of documents dealing with the administration of the towns and
villages in the kingdom of Ugarit; the East Archive (Rooms 52~56),
another collection of administrative records concerning various goods,
weapons, personnel, etc.; and the Southwest Archive (Room 81),
again primarily administrative, but containing a few religious and
scribal texts as well. In addition, about 75 alphabetic texts (ca. 30

A good sense of the extent of finds throughout the city can be gained by examining the 'Index des Points Topographiques par Quartier et Locus' in B O R D R E U I L P A R D E E 1989, 423-45. Here each inscription is listed according to find spot. In
addition to the archives described above, small finds of texts were made in eleven
other buildings, as well as in numerous courtyards and plazas. In addition, there
are many tablets whose exact find spots are not known. The following description
of the archives is based on the extensive article on the archaeology of Ugarit by
C O U R T O I S (1979, 1155-1285), the new and important book by Y O N (1998a, 998b),
the discussions in VAN S O L D T 1991a, 47-231, and B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1989.
6
This circumstance appears to be typical of most of the archives found at Ugarit.
Most of the tablets located in the private houses were also stored on the upper
floor and were retrieved in the rubble of the collapse. The chaotic nature of a
house collapse explains why tablets belonging to the same archive may be strewn
through more than one ground-level room and even outside in the street or plaza
abutting the house. See YON 1998a, 59, 78, 84, 101, 106 for discussions of this situation in specific houses.

intact) were found in Court V, in what was originally thought to


have been an oven for baking tablets. Now it appears that they were
simply part of the Southern Archive which fell from the upper floor
when the palace was destroyed ( Y o n 1 9 9 8 : 4 9 - 5 0 ) . These tablets
included about ten letters that appear to date to the very end of
Ugarit's existence, along with standard administrative texts. T h e other
two archives contained primarily Akkadian texts (the Central Archive
preserving numerous juridical texts, and the Southern Archive holding
important international documents), but both also had some alphabetic texts as well. Besides these large archives, numerous tablets and
fragments were found elsewhere in the palace. In fact, inscribed objects
were recovered from some 57 of the rooms and courtyards of the
Royal Palace (cf. B o r d r e u i l - P a r d e e 1 9 8 9 , 4 2 4 - 3 3 ) .
T h e archives from the other governmental locations varied somewhat
in genre. T h e collection found to the north of the Royal Palace (the
Northwest hill of the tell) was a mixture of Akkadian and alphabetic
administrative documents. But the Northern Palace at Ras Ibn Hani
contained tablets of several genres, including some religious texts and
letters, though the majority of the tablets again were administrative.
T h e contents of the archives found in the private houses show
considerable diversity. Collections of tablets were recovered from the
houses of four high government officials, those of Rap'anu, Rashapabu,
Yabninu, and Urtenu. In all four cases, most of the tablets were
written in Akkadian (see 3.1), but a few were in the alphabetic
script. T h e R a p ' a n u archive produced a number of important Akkadian international documents, but it also contained fourteen alphabetic administrative documents and three scribal exercise tablets. T h e
Rashapabu collection primarily consisted of personal documents in
Akkadian and contained only two scribal exercises in the alphabetic
script, along with two administrative tablets, and, most significandy,
the best preserved hippiatric text from Ugarit ( K T U 1.85 = RS
1 7 . 1 2 0 , see below). T h e texts in the House of Yabninu were largely
Akkadian, with a few alphabetic administrative documents. And the
House of Urtenu, in addition to its largely Akkadian material and
alphabetic administrative tablets, has so far yielded some 27 letters
and four religious texts.
T h e other five major house archives primarily contained religious
and literary texts. T h r e e of these, the House of the Scholar (Maison
du Lettr), the House of l iterary Texts, and the library of the Lamashtu
Texts, consisted almost entirely of Akkadian texts of various types,

with very few alphabetic inscriptions. T h e House of the Scholar produced only two alphabetic tablets, a letter and an administrative text,
within its lexical, religious and literary library. T h e House of Literary
Texts contained significant Babylonian literary works, but it also produced the famous alphabetic text in which someone (Anat?) appears
to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Baal ( K T U 1 . 9 6 = RS 2 2 . 2 2 5 ;
but cf. 6 . 5 . 3 ) , as well as a fragmentary hippiatric text, an abecedary
and a few administrative tablets. T h e Library of the Lamashtu Texts
added only two administrative tablets to the alphabetic corpus.
T h e other two locations contained the extensive collections of
Ugaritic literary and religious documents. T h e archive in the House
of the High Priest, the first one discovered at Ugarit, produced the
single most famous collection of texts from the site. Here were found
the major literary texts of Ugarit, alongside a number of cultic tablets,
letters, and administrative texts. T h e 'Cella of Tablets' in the House
of the Hurrian Priest provided a collection of paramythological and
cultic tablets all together in a single room. In addition to the tablets,
some thirty liver models and one lung model were found in the
room, several of which had alphabetic inscriptions naming the participants in various extispicy rituals.'

2.3

Genres of texts in alphabetic cuneiform

T h e alphabetic script was used for a variety of purposes by the


scribes of Ugarit, but it was generally limited to texts that dealt with
local matters, religious, economic or administrative. Texts with an
international function were written in Akkadian." Most of the alphabetic tablets are written in the local West Semitic language, Ugaritic,
but the script was also used to write texts in Hurrian.
T h e r e are a n u m b e r of ways in which the alphabetic tablets
may be classified by genre. G o r d o n ( 1 9 6 5 , 2 9 0 - 1 ) divided them into
ten basic categories, 9 while KTU2 places the tablets into six genres
7
A particularly good discussion of the archaeological aspects of the archive discovered in the Cella of Tablets may be found in P A R D E E 1988b, 4-12 (archaeological description by J.-C. Courtois) and 261 6 (Pardee's own discussion).
8
There are a few letters in alphabetic Ugaritic that have international content,
but it is most likely that they are Ugaritic translations of Akkadian originals or
BORDREUIL 1 9 9 2 : 6 . 7 1 1 ) .
drafts of letters to be translated into Akkadian ( P A R D E E

See

K T U

78/03,
9

2.36+

KTU

2.38 =

RS
RS

17.435+,
18.031

KTU

and

2.76

KTU

RS

2.39 =

RS

34.356,

KTU

2.81

RIH

18.038.

They are: (1) literary texts, (2) religious or ritual texts, (3) letters, (4) tribute,

(excluding the categories, 'Not Classified Texts,' and 'Illegible T a b lets.'). 10 P a r d e e - B o r d r e u i l ( 1 9 9 2 ) 7 0 6 - 2 1 subsume all of them
under three large umbrella designations ('Religious, Epistolary and
Administrative'). T h e following description makes use of the genre
divisions chosen by the editors of the Handbook, so that the reader
may easily move from this summary to the more detailed discussions in the succeeding chapters.
2.3.1

Literary texts

As of 1996 approximately 179 alphabetic tablets and fragments that


can be identified as religious a n d / o r literary documents had been
discovered at Ugarit and Ras Ibn H a n i . " O f these, some 148 are
in the Ugaritic language, while twenty-eight are Hurrian texts, and
three are in the Akkadian language, but written in the alphabetic
script. 12 These documents can be divided into two general categories:
(a) Literary texts, including the large poetic narratives. These constitute the only surviving collection of Canaanite mythological and
literary works and are thus the most important source currently
known for the study of Canaanite religion and culture. Their influence

(5) hippiatric texts, (6) administrative, statistical and business documents, (7) tags,
labels or indications of ownership, (8) Hurrian texts, (9) Akkadian texts written alphabetically, and (10) Miscellaneous.
Iu
They are (1) Literary and Religious Texts, (2) Letters, (3) Legal Texts, (4)
Economic Texts, (5) Scribal Exercises, (6) Inscriptions on Seals, Labels, Ivories, etc.
(KTU2, ix).
11
T h e find spots for the religious texts are as follows: fifty-six tablets, including
the major literary texts were found in the House of the High Priest during the first
four seasons of excavation (1929-32). Twenty others were found elsewhere on the
acropolis. T h e Cella of Tablets in the House of the Hurrian Priest, excavated during the twenty-fourth season of excavations (1961), provided sixty religious texts.
Seventeen others were found in various rooms of the Royal Palace ( K T U 1.78 =
RS 12.061, K T U 1.79 = RS 13.006, K T U 1.80 = RS 15.072, K T U 1.81 = RS
15.130, K T U 1.82 = RS 15.134, K T U 1.83 = RS 16.266, K T U 1.84 = RS
17.100[a]+, K T U 1.86 = RS 18.041, K T U 1.87 = RS 18.056, K T U 1.88 =
RS 18.107, K T U 1.89 = RS 18.[508], K T U 1.90 = RS 19.013, K T U 1.91 = RS
19.015, K T U 1.92 = RS 19.039, K T U 1.93 = RS 19.054, K T U 1.94 = RS 19.059,
K T U 1.95 = RS 19.179), and fourteen came from the North Palace at Ras Ibn
Hani (KTU 1.163-176 = RIH 78/14, 77/02B+, 77/04+, 77/08A+, 77/10A, 77/10B+,
78/20, 78/11, 78/16, 7 8 / 0 1 + , 78/04, 7 8 / 0 9 + , 77/18, 78/26). T h e few other
tablets of this genre were found in various houses on the site. This includes three
unpublished texts from the house of Urtenu, RS 88.0237, 92.2016 and 92.2014.
12
T h e alphabetic Akkadian texts are K T U 1.67 = RS 5.199; K T U 1.69 = RS
5.213; K T U 1.70 = RS 5.156+. O n e tablet, K T U 1.73 = RS 5.303 bis, has seven
lines of Akkadian in the alphabetic script, followed by eleven lines in Ugaritic.

on biblical studies has been enormous, by illuminating the cultural


background of Israelite religion and its early development. In addition, they have played an important role in advancing the study of
Hebrew grammar, philology and poetics, (b) Cultic texts, which have
also served the dual function of clarifying numerous elements of
Ugaritic/Canaanite and Israelite religious practice.
2.3.1 (a) T h e literary texts. This category includes the largest tablets
found at Ugarit, a series of carefully inscribed, multi-columned tablets
containing substantial narrative poems. T h r e e distinct multi-tablet
narratives have been recognized, along with some single-tablet poems
and fragments. T h e major narratives are: (1) the Baal-Anat Cycle, a
series of six tablets which recount three primary stories about Baal,
the Canaanite storm/fertility deity who was the patron deity of Ugarit,
and his rise to power among the gods. T h e first gives an account
of the conflict between Baal and Y a m m , 'Sea,' for dominance in the
council of the gods. T h e second story deals with the building of
Baal's palace, while the third describes his defeat by Mot, 'Death,'
and his subsequent rescue by his sister/wife(?), Anat. (2) The Legend
of Keret, a narrative poem about a king of the land of Hubur, who,
with the help of El, ruler of the Canaanite gods, is able to secure
a wife and produce progeny, only to find himself dealing with devastating illness and a rebellion by his ambitious eldest son. T h e narrative is, unfortunately, incomplete. Substantial portions of three
tablets of the epic are preserved, but at least one additional tablet
must have existed, since the third tablet ends in the middle of a
scene. (3) The Legend of Aqhat, a narrative poem concerning Danel, a
pious man who longs for a son. His desire is granted by El, and
Danel and his wife have the child Aqhat. When Aqhat has grown
to be a young man, he is murdered on the orders of the goddess
Anat after he refuses to give the goddess his special bow. Aqhat's
sister seeks out the murderer to avenge her brother's death, finds
him and is about to kill him when the final preserved tablet ends.
Again at least one tablet is missing at the end of the story, and it
is not certain whether the first preserved tablet is actually the beginning of the tale.
In addition to these texts, there are several other mythological
narratives whose stories are shorter and do not extend beyond a single tablet. For example, The Birth of the Pleasant Gods ( K T U 1.23 =
RS 2.002) and The Marriage ofNikkal and Yarih ( K T U 1.24 = RS 5.194)

provide reladvely straightforward narratives about the gods. Several


other, more fragmentary mythical tales have been preserved, but the
interpretation of their story lines is much more uncertain. In this
category we can place some texts concerning Baal (e.g., K T U 1.10 =
RS 3.362; K T U 1.12 = R S 2. [012]), three fragments dealing with
a group of beings called the Rpum ( K T U 1.20 = RS 3.348; K T U
I.21 = R S 2.[019]; and K T U 1.22 = R S 2. [024]), a small text
describing a conflict between a deity whose name is not preserved
(probably either Anat or Baal) and Y a m / N a h a r , the sea monster of
chaos ( K T U 1.83 = R S 16.266), 13 and a newly discovered mythological fragment (RS 92.2016), from the house of Urtenu in the
southern part of the city. T h e r e are also a number of tablets that
have a clear ritual function in which mythic themes play an important role. P a r d e e (1988b 261-6) has designated this type of text as
'paramythological.' Included in this category are such texts as (1)
K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252, a description of a feast a m o n g the gods
that appears to conclude with the call for a blessing upon the king
of Ugarit and the city itself. (2) K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244, a text
describing the plea of a horse goddess to several deities, seeking a
cure for a snakebite. At the end of the text the god Horon disperses
the venom. (3) K T U 1.114 = R S 24.258, an account of a feast
(marzihu) held by El, during which he gets drunk. This story concludes with a recipe for dealing with a hangover. (4) K T U 1.124 =
RS 24.272, a text that concerns healing the sick, but which describes
in mythic form a consultation with a deity called Ditanu.
Almost all of the major literary tablets (the Baal-Anat Cycle, the
Legends of Keret and Aqhat, T h e Birth of the Pleasant Gods, T h e
Marriage of Nikkal, the Rpum texts, etc.) were found in the archive
of the House of the High Priest on the acropolis. The three multi-tablet
works and a few additional fragments (two of the Rpum texts, and
the mythological fragment found in the house of Urtenu in 1992
(RS 92.2016), were produced by a single scribe named Ilimilku. A
colophon at the end of K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009] indicates that he
did his work during the reign of a king Niqmaddu of Ugarit. Until
recendy scholars have generally assumed that this king was Niqmaddu
II, who reigned during the mid-fourteenth century. But with the discovery of a fragment of an Ilimilku mythological text (RS 92.2016)
13
The recognition that the monster being fought in this text is Y a m / N a h a r is
new. See the edition of the text in P I T A R D , 1 9 9 8 . Cf. also W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C , 3 6 8 - 9 .

in the house of Urtenu, an official who served Niqmaddu III during the latter part of the thirteenth century, it seems more likely that
Ilimilku produced the tablets during the latter's reign. 14
2.3.1 (b) T h e cultic texts. Somewhat over one hundred alphabetic
tablets and fragments may be considered cultic texts. Most of them
are in the Ugaritic language, but twenty-nine are in Hurrian and
several contain a mixture of Ugaritic and Hurrian elements. 15 These
texts are considerably shorter than the literary tablets (the mythological and legendary narratives constitute approximately sixty percent of the preserved lines of the Ugaritic religious texts). These texts
may be divided into three general types:
(1) Ritual texts, which provide information about the performance
of rituals. Some of the literary tablets described above also fit into
this category. These texts are often very difficult to understand, since
they are 'professional texts,' intended for the use of the priests. They
contain obscure technical vocabulary, and do not provide explanations of the concisely described events that make up the rituals.
Examples of such ritual texts include K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126, a
funerary ritual for the deceased King Niqmaddu III; and an expiatory ritual found in several exemplars, but best preserved in K T U
1.40 = RS 1.002. (See 7.1).
(2) Offering and deity lists. This is the most common type of cultic
text found at Ugarit. Most of these simply provide listings of offerings
made to the gods. They usually give the name of the deity, the thing
offered, and sometimes the name of the type of offering (e.g., srp,
'burnt offering,' lmm, 'peace offering'). These lists are important for
identifying the gods actively worshipped at Ugarit, and, to an extent,
their relative positions in relation to one another. (See 7.2).
(3) Omen texts. T h e examination of the internal organs of sacrificed
animals and the study of abnormal animal and h u m a n foetuses were
two ways in which the priests looked for signs of the future. This
type of practice is well known throughout the Near East, and a number of texts from Ugarit reflect the local version of it. Five inscribed

14
On the date of Ilimilku, see B O R D R E U I L
M A L B R A N - I ^ A B A T 1995, 4 4 7 - 8 . For
the chronology of the kings of Ugarit, see the discussion in VAN S O L D T 1991a, 1 4 6 .
15
See, for example K T U 1.132 = RS 24.291, a sacrificial list that is made up
of a peculiar mixture of Hurrian and Ugaritic phrases, and K T U 1.148 = RS
24.643, another sacrificial list that has two sections in Ugaritic and one in Hurrian.

liver models and a lung model with an inscription on it illustrate


the practice of exdspicy. 16 In addition some texts listing omens related
to abnormal foetuses have been recovered ( K T U 1.103 + 1.145 =
R S 24.247; and K T U 1.140 = RS 24.302). From Ras ibn Hani
comes a tablet with omens related to astronomical phenomena ( K T U
1.163 = R I H 78/14). (See 7.3).
2.3.2 Correspondence
With the discovery of twenty-four as yet unpublished letters in the
house of Urtenu between 1988 and 1996, there are now over 110
letters in the alphabetic script, including those from Ras Ibn Hani.
Most of these are correspondence between members of the royal
court, including the royal family and the major officials of Ugarit.
While Akkadian was used in international correspondence, the Ugaritic
language and script were the vehicles for local and more personal
communication in the city. T h e r e are a number of letters to and
from the king of Ugarit, rarely named, and there are several letters
to the queen as well. O t h e r letters are from one official to another,
and there are a few personal letters from and to non-royal family
members.
Nearly half of the letters (approximately 49) were found in the
Royal Palace, while 27 come from the house of Urtenu, whose key
position in the Ugaritic government at the end of the 13th and
beginning of the twelfth centuries is abundantly illustrated in them.
T h e other letters in alphabetic script were found in various buildings throughout the site. (See 8).
2.3.3

Legal texts

A very small n u m b e r of alphabetic tablets that deal with specifically


legal matters have been discovered so far at Ugaritbarely a dozen,
published and unpublished. A m o n g these tablets, we find a few contracts, agreements in which persons take on the responsibility to act
as security for loans, receipts for payment of redemption money to
release persons from a type of servitude known as unt, and royal
grants of property. This category overlaps with certain aspects of the

16

The liver texts are K T U 1.141-144, 155 = RS 24.312, 24.323, 24.326, 24.327
and 24.654. The lung model is K T U 1.127 = RS 24.277.

administrative texts, discussed below ( 9.2), and some scholars might


place a number of additional texts in this category.
2.3.4

Administrative texts

This is by far the most common genre of alphabetic document recovered at Ugarit. Nearly eight hundred have been published, and many
of the as yet unpublished texts fit into this category as well.17 T h e
majority of these tablets arc lists compiled for various purposes. There
are lists of names, professions, towns and villages, as well as records
of land transfers, deliveries of goods, distribution of rations, inventories, and payment of taxes. Most of these tablets are quite small,
possessing fewer than twenty lines. Only a handful of administrative
tablets exceed fifty lines of text. (See 10.1).
2.3.5

The hippiatrc texts

Four exemplars of a text describing treatments for various medical


conditions of horses have been found at Ugarit. W h a t makes this
text interesting is that the prescriptions for treatment of the various
equine ailments make no use of magical or other religious elements,
but rather focus on recipes for the mixing of various plants together,
which are then administered to the sick animal. T h u s they are medical in nature and find their closest parallels in Mesopotamian texts
that deal with human illnesses. Only one of the Ugaritic hippiatric
tablets is nearly complete ( K T U 1.85 = RS 17.120), but the occurrence of three other copies indicates the value placed on the treatments described here.

P A R D E E - B O R D R E U I L ( 1 9 9 2 ) , writing before the discoveries of 1 9 9 4 and 1 9 9 6 ,


estimated that there are approximately 900 administrative texts from Ugarit and
Ras ibn Hani. We can now add about forty from the 1994 finds and five from
17

1996.

The

Hurrian

Manfried

and

Dietrich

Hittite

W a l t e r

Texts

Mayer

Due to the integration of Ugarit into the cuneiform writing tradition of Middle Babylonian Koine during the 14th century, clay tablets
in palace, priest and private libraries have reached us which show
that the indigenous Ugaritic population of the harbour town at the
close of the 13th century was multilingual: Besides documents in the
local language of Ugaritic and Middle Babylonian Koine were found
some in Hurrian and Hittite, demonstrating the ethnic mix of the
population.'
T h e discussion which follows starts from the evidence for Hurrian
and Hittite, with Hurrian plainly having priority since the documents
found so far outnumber those in Hittite. In terms of topic, linguistic,
cultic and historical questions are to the fore.

3.1

The Human texts

First we provide a list of the texts grouped according to which of


the various libraries they come f r o m a n d we depend on material
published before 1998. 2
3.1.1

Texts from palace libraries

Within the palace, only texts and fragments in syllabic script were
found. 3 Apart from a letter (RS 11.853) and an Akkadian-Hurrian
wisdom text (RS 15.010), these are exclusively songs which are religious in content with indications of melody and directions for playing, most of them have been preserved only as fragments: RS 14.015,
14.018, 15.030 + 049 + 17.387, 18.282, 19.084, 1 9 . 1 4 2 - 1 5 1 ,
19.153-155, 19.164evidently, to this group of texts also belong the

Isolated Cypriot texts and documents, with A1aia-Cyprus as their theme, provide grounds for the assumption that the close connections of Ugarit with its neighbouring Mediterranean island also entailed a Cypriot component of the population.
2
Cf. VAN S O L D T 1991a, 339-40.
3
If the fragment K T U 4.669 + 7.130 = RS 19.174A + 19.174c, the contents
of which cannot be defined, should prove to be Hurrian, it would be the only
Hurrian text in alphabetic script to be found in the palace.

scattered finds RS 9.253 and 9.483A from the northwest region of


the palace (Butte nord-ouest).
Except for RS 1 5 . 0 3 0 + . . RS 1 5 . 0 1 0 from the eastern archive
of the palace and the scattered finds RS 1 4 . 0 1 5 and 1 4 . 0 1 8 , all the
tablets come from the southwestern archive. T h e letter and the scattered finds were published in L a r o c h e 1 9 5 5 , the wisdom text in
N o u g a y r o l - L a r o c h e 1 9 5 5 and the remainder in L a r o c h e
1968.
3.1.2
3.1.2.1

Texts from the priests' libraries


T h e library of the Grand Prtre

During the first five campaigns (1929-33), on the acropolis and in


the maison du Grand Prtre4 between the two main temples of Baal
and Dagn, numerous clay tablets in alphabetic script were found
which throw light on the cultic and religious life of Ugarit. These
are written in Hurrian or a Mischsprache of Hurrian and Ugaritic.
From the house of the Grand Prtre come the following textswhere
possible we have given an indication of genre for each text:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

KTU
KTU
KTU
KTU
KTU
KTU
KTU
KTU

RS 1. [066]
1.32
1.33
RS 1. [067]
1.34 z= RS 1 .[076]
1.35 = RS 1. [069]
RS 1 .[070]
1.36
1.37
RS 1 .[071]
RS 1.004
1.42
1.44 = RS 1.007

9. K T U 1.51
10. K T U 1.52
11. K T U 1.54

12. K T U 1.59
13. K T U 7.40
14. K T U 7.43

BORDREUIL -

PARDEE

RS 1.027
RS 1.028 + 035
RS 1.034 + 045
RS 1. [ 0 4 9 a ]
RS 1 .[074]
RS 1.031

1989,

15-39;

fragment
fragment
fragment
- uncertain
fragment
fragment
hymn
incense incantation for
Kumarbr'
uncertain
- uncertain
incense incantation for
auka 6
fragment
fragment'
fragment

VAN S O L D T

1991A,

212-7.

Most recent edition: D I E T R I C H


MAYER 1994, 7 4 - 8 1 .
6
Most recent edition: D I E T R I C H
MAYER 1994, 8 1 - 5 .
' The tablets of numbers 1-13 were found together in room 1.

- list of sacrifices 8
uncertain

15. K T U 1.60 = RS 2. [006]


16. K T U 1.64 = R S 3.372

In addition, from the area of the acropolis come the two tablets:
17. K T U 1.66 = RS 5.182
18. K T U 1.68 = RS 5.200

- uncertain
- uncertain

Even though no precise information about the findspot is available,


the following tablets must also be assigned to the same area:
list of sacrifices 9
fragment

19. K T U 1.26 = RS 1-11.[048]


20. K T U 1.30 = RS 1-11.[046]
3.1.2.2

Library of the Prtre Hounite

During the 24th campaign in 1961 a group of clay tablets written


in the alphabetic script was dug up in the southern area of the
'acropolis' in room 10 of the house of the Prtre Hounite,w of which
the contents were cultic and religious themes. O f these, eleven are
definitely in pure Hurrian or in a mixture of Hurrian and Ugaritic:
1. K T U 1.110 = R S 24.254
2. K T U 1.111 = RS 24.255
3. K T U 1.116 = RS 24.261
4. K T U 1.120 = RS 24.269 + 297
5. K T U [.125
6. K T U 1.128

RS 24.274
RS 24.278

7. K T U 1.131 = RS 24.285

8
9

Most recent edition:


Most recent edition:

10

BORDREUIL -

11

Most
Most
Most
Most
Most
Most

12
13
14
15
16

recent
recent
recent
recent
recent
recent

PARDEE

edition:
edition:
edition:
edition:
edition:
edition:

DIETRICH

MAYER,

DIETRICH -

MAYER,

1989, 298; cf.

VAN

1998;

list of sacrifices of the


palace"
oracular decision for a
royal sin-offering 12
offering at the Festival
of Atarte 13
fragment of an
incantation
death ritual 14
incense incantation for
El15
incense incantation for
Ushara 1 6
1997B.

1998; 1997b.
S O L D T 1991a, 194: 'Hurrian Priest'.

DIETRICH

MAYER

1995,

DIETRICH

MAYER

DIETRICH -

MAYER,

DIETRICH -

MAYER

12

6.

DIETRICH

MAYER

1995, 1 7 22.
1997b; 1998.
1997a.
1994, 87 94.

DIETRICH

MAYER

1994, 94

101.

8. K T U 1.132 = RS 24.291
9. K T U 1.135 = RS 24.295
10. K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643

11. K T U 1.149 = RS 24.644


3.1.3

ritual for the palace


goddess Pidray' 7
- palace offering from a
ceremonial ritual 18
palace offering from a
ceremonial ritual for
Atarte
- unintelligible

Texts from private libraries

In the private libraries east of the palacefor instance in the House


of Rap'nu 1 9 and southeast of the palacefor instance in the Maison
aux tablettes20were found numerous fragments of multilingual lexical lists with a column in Hurrianthese texts have been discussed
above ( 3.1). 2 '
Noteworthy is the as yet unpublished letter RS 23.031 22 from outside Ugarit, which was discovered as a 'scattered find' on the edge
of the Maison aux tablettes. It is written in Akkadian heavily interspersed with Hurrian.
3.1.4

Formal aspects

As the foregoing lists show, the Hurrian texts in alphabetic script


are chiefly lists of sacrifices set within rituals, and incantations. T h e
first thing that deserves to be established is that the symbiosis between
Hurrians and Ugaritians, already evident in the use of the Ugaritic
alphabetic script, under the influence of an Akkadian tradition finds
its written expression both in language, i.e. grammar and lexicon,
and in cult and pantheon. 2 3 This is most evident in the lists of
sacrifices and in an oracular decision ( K T U 1.111), where the text
throughout is a mixture of languages: T h e ritual sections are in
Ugaritic, the lists of gods which are concerned with the sacrifices

17
18

Most recent edition:


Most recent edition:

19

BORDREUIL -

PARDEE

20

BORDREUIL

PARDEE

1996a.
1997b; 1998.
1989, 228; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 165-10.
1989, 282.292; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 182 91.

DIETRICH

MAYER

DIETRICH

MAYER

1987b.
Photo: B O R D R E U I L P A R D E E 1 9 8 9 , 2 9 7 : Fig. 3 8 a : reverse with seal impression.
23
On the problem of symbiosis and its effects, e.g. of Akkadian on the Hurrian
M A Y E R 1992, 39-40.
of the Mittanni Letter see D I E T R I C H
21

22

HUEHNERGARD

and which come from both cultures, are however in Hurrian and
seem to be almost fossilized.
An essentially formal aspect is also the re-use of previously inscribed
tablets for which the term 'palimpsest' can be used, as shown for
example by K T U 1.114, K T U 1.116 and K T U 1.131, to mention
the three most important, where individual wedges and traces of
signs especially on uninscribed sections can only be explained if the
tablet had already been written on, before the new text was applied. 24
All these tablets come from the archive of the Prtre Hounite. T h e
priest responsible had re-used an already inscribed tablet after a new
covering for a text for a particular occasion. T h e reasons for this
practice can only be speculated on: perhaps to save on clay for a
text of lesser importance which was used only for a particular occasion a n d / o r lack of clay suitable for making tablets.

3.2

The Hittite texts

In spite of the close political relationship to the Hittite kingdom, especially to the sub-capital Carchemish, in Ugarit only a private Hittite
legal document (RS 17.109) and a polyglot Sumerian literary text
with a translation into Akkadian and Hittite (RS 25.421) have been
found. 2 5

3.3
3.3.1

The language of the Hurrian texts from Ugarit

Previous research

As yet there is no adequate appraisal of the Hurrians and of the


Hurrian of Ugarit in current descriptions of Hurrian studies. Detailed studies of g r a m m a r and lexicon dependent on the Mittanni
Letter cannot hide the fact that they are all based on the bad transcription 26 of a defective copy. 27 With these premisses it was without
exception difficult to establish links with Ugarit and also with Bogazky
where, to some extent, there was a very different Hurrian dialect.
In this connection the as yet unpublished textual material from

24
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1993 for K T U 1.114; D I E T R I C H
for K T U 1.116; 1995, 23 n. 58: as yet unnoticed.
25
See K M M E L 1969; N E U 1995b, 126-8.
26

FRIEDRICH

1932,

8-32.

27

SCHRDER

1915,

200.

MAYER

1994, 96 n. 78,

E m a r must play a role which has still to be determined. As shown


by comparisons between the Akkadian literary texts from E m a r and
Ugarit, there were close scholarly ties between both places which
found expression in their common tradition ( v a n S o l d t 1994). Similarly, on the basis of their proximity in time and space, E m a r could
provide illumination on several points regarding the development of
the Hurrian of Ugarit.
V a n Soldt has shown in detail that the Babylonian of Ugarit came
under Hurrian influence only until the mid-13th century. Afterwards,
it was increasingly open to Assyrian influence ( v a n S o l d t 1991a,
519-23)for us today this drastic change is certainly one of the tangible results of the defeat of Hanigalbat. Remarkably, so far only
very few tablets in Hurrian from the period of Hurrian domination
before the mid-13th century have been found from excavations: Most
of them come from the end of the 13th century and so from the
time of Assyrian influence. At the same time these texts also show
that Hurrian played a role even in the royal house up to the fall of
Ugarit which is not to be underestimated.
T w o opposing traditions have to be distinguished in the Hurrian
texts from Ugarit: O n the one hand there are texts from the palace
in syllabic cuneiform, which in morphology, less so in orthography,
exhibit interesting parallels with the Mittanni Letter. O n the other
hand, there are texts in alphabetic cuneiform, which were principally
found in two priestly libraries and reflect cultic practice. T h e latter,
with their consonantal script, present many problems for the recording of the Hurrian of Ugarit and also give us much to think about.
In any case, the conclusions which S p e i s e r (1941-2) and B u s h (1964)
drew in respect of the consonantal inventory of Hurrian on the basis
of texts in the Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet require correction. T h e
main problem is that the consonantal script itself still conceals barely
comprehensible difficulties even for Semitists. 2 " All the more reason
for Hurrian studies to exercise caution in the adoption of the preliminary results of Semitic research. O n top of that comes the difficulty
that H u r r i a n itself through a long tradition in the West(-Syrian)
cuneiform system has been moulded by Middle Babylonian Koine
and has thus lost many of its characteristic features.
28

See most recently

TROPPER

1994b.

3.3.2

Grammar

3.3.2.1

Phonology and orthography

3.3.2.1.1

Sibilants

T h e Hurrian texts written in the alphabetic script distinguish only


two sibilants: t denotes the voiceless sibilantsuch as unt (unub e)
( K T U 1.128:6.7.9), tdn (tad=en) ( K T U 1.44:3[to], similarly K T U
1.128:8), tritt (tan=at = t=a) ( K T U 1.44:11-2, K T U 1.128:20-21)and d the voiced sibilante.g. endr (en-nadura) K T U 1.128:4.6, jjllyd
[hill-ill-y add) ( K T U 1.44:4-5). This matches the observations made
by T r o p p e r concerning the inventory of consonants in the alphabetic
script of Ugarit. 29 Thus, all attempts to reconstruct the phonemic
inventory of H u r r i a n n o t only the sibilantson the basis of alphabetic spellings are premature and to be rejected.
If a different sibilant grapheme occurs then the word in question
can only be a loanword from Semitic culture. T h u s words like sp
(sup(p) = e) ( K T U 1.54:13), bsl (bask) ( K T U 1.44:5), zg (zagge) ( K T U
1.44:10) or rznn (rz-enni= ne) ( K T U 1.128:12) are equally Semitic
loanwords as e.g. kl (sukkalle) ( K T U 1.44:10, K T U 1.54:14, K T U
1.128:16, K T U 1.131:15) uhr (uhara) ( K T U 1.131:1.11.12) or mr
(maru) ( K T U 1.131:15).
It is noteworthy that the ergative ending
on a participle of
action, which as yet is only attested with the verb at 'to release',
occurs as t ( K T U 1.44:8; K T U 1.54:13), as ( K T U 1.128:17) and
as d, ( K T U 1.131:11). This results therefore in some uncertainty in
the way the ergative ending is written, which as is known from the
morphology of Ugaritic and Koine texts, can be conditioned by the
proximity of t with a partial assimilation completed ad libitum.
T h e graphic representation of sibilants in the root tae 'gift', known
from the Mittanni Letter, is by means of a in tzgd
[taz-uiie-da)
K T U 1.128:8 and corresponds to the signs containing in the Koine
syllabary. Besides, this also corresponds to the spellings in the Hurrian
incantation from Mari: ta-zi-.30

1994b, 25-49: sibilants and interdentals.


1939, 2, 7.8.9; cf. also the spellings of the
1.128:13) and Kzg (KTU 1.116:6.14).
29

TROPPER

30

THUREAU-DANGIN

D N

Kdg

(KTU

3.3.2.1.2 Velars
T h e emphatic velar q also indicates that a word in a Hurrian context is a loanword from Semitic: ql (ql) 'with a loud voice' ( K T U
1.44:4).
3.3.2.1.3 T h e liquids r and / as word-initial
Since there is no initial I or r in Hurrian, it can be assumed that
words beginning this way correspond to Semitic foreign and loanwords. T h u s we derive rznn (rzenni-ne) ( K T U 1.128:12) from Akk.
rsu 'helper' and li (le'e) ( K T U 1.128:4) from Akk. leu 'capable, able'
and consider them as foreign words.
In a borrowed word, initial r can be avoided either by a preposed
vowel (cf. the D N Irappa < Raapu) or by means of a metathesis between r and the following consonant, as in the case of trbn (,tarb = enne)
( K T U 1.54:3), which derives from Akk. rsibtu 'one who commands
respect'. T h e uncertainty in respect of liquids emerges also in the
attribute bsl (basle) ( K T U 1.44:5), occurring in a context which is
parallel to that of srbn (sarb-enne) 'rich in willows' ( K T U 1.131:3.5).
Since loanwords of this kind occur in a H u m a n i z e d form, it has
to be accepted that they belong to an earlier stage of borrowing
than those which still retain an unchanged Semitic phonology.
3.3.2.1.4 T h e tenuis d
T h e tenuis d is inserted in earlier borrowings where the underlying
Semitic word has the emphatic dental /: pdrrn (padr-ma(n)) K T U
1.44:11 and K T U 1.128:20, which must go back to Akk. patru 'to
release'.
Before the stressed vowel u an original t is 'weakened' to d as
shown by the example mrdml (mrdmele) K T U 1.131:2, which is the
H u m a n i z e d form of Akk. mrtma-ilim 'El's daughter'. This phenomenon also occurs in the Mittanni-Letter, where it also applies to
Hurrian words.
3.3.2.1.5
Matres lectionis
In line with usage in late Ugaritic texts, the incantations show a certain tendency to plene writings, with y for | i / / | and if for | u / / | :
kby kbny (kubb = i kib-enn = iye), mryt (mite) ( K T U 1.131:2), nw (re'u)
K T U 1.42:38 and ilwny (iln) ( K T U 1.128:17-8).

3.3.2.1.6 Hiatus
T h e auka-Incantation transmits this divine name in the form twtk
( K T U 1.54:2.11.13) and is thus outside normal tradition, which uses
the M-aleph for the glide: tutk ( K T U 1.42:22; K T U 1.59:1.5; K T U
1.60:2; K T U 1.64:26; K T U 1.116:3.9.13; K T U 1.120:3; K T U 1.135:2;
K T U 1.149:10.11).
T h e word 'heaven' only occurs in the spelling with a w-aleph: hum
(haurunne) ( K T U 1.68:27 and K T U 1.128:2).
3.3.2.2

Morphology

3.3.2.2.1 Nouns
T h e following determined or undetermined cases are attested: the
absolutive, ergative, directive, ablative and comitative.
T h e absolutive: Alongside the use of the absolutive as an adverbial it also functions as a vocative. As far as can be ascertained,
the forms of this absolutive used as a vocative are not determined.
T h e r e are too few occurrences for making a reliable assertion as
to whether there really is a connection between indeterminateness and the vocative.
T h e ergative shows no deviation from normal usage.
T h e directive and the ablative. Apart from the use of the directive,
which is well documented, and in Hurrian corresponds to West
Semitic and Ugaritic I 'to, for, towards' it also occurs in the El
Incantation with an ablative function, whereas the ablative occurs
only once: il.dn (ile-dan) 'away from ( K T U 1.128:16), where
it has been retained in a fixed formula. In general the findings
of the Mittanni Letter confirm this, where the ablative seems to
vanish in favour of the directive. 3 '
T h e comitative. T h e determinate plural of the comitative is relatively well documented: ath.ndrm (athe- nadura - ma[n\) ( K T U 1.128:3),
in(.)dr (en-nadura) ( K T U 1.128:4.6), trnd.rm
(ture-nadura-ma\n\)
( K T U 1.128:5). However, it occurs as indeterminate in the UharaIncantation: armdr (ar-urn-adura)
( K T U 1.131:14).
3.3.2.2.2 Pronouns
T h e enclitic personal pronoun, 2. sg., occurs in hldp (held= a=ppa[n])
'you (sg.) are exalted' ( K T U 1.128:4.5).

31

DIETRICH -

MAYER

1993,

150-1.

3.3.2.2.3 Verbs
Transitive verbs are attested in the 3 pi. imperative of the indicative
hllyd(hill=ill~yada)
( K T U 1.44:4-5) and the cohortative singular: agrl
uwln (agr-ile uw=ilen) shall incense (and) slaughter!' ( K T U 1.128:19).
In the intransitive conjugation the 1. sg.umtn (um-a-ttari)
(KTU
1.131:12)and the 2. sg hldp (held= a= ppa[n]) ( K T U 1.128:4.5)are attested.
3.3.2.3

Syntax

T w o simple intransitive/stative clauses form the end of the incantation in the style of noun clauses: gr a*r*mdr mr kl '(Here is) the
igT-vessel with the (offering that) has been brought. Maru (is the
Uhara) messenger' ( K T U 1.131:13-15). It cannot therefore be excluded that both gr and ski are in the locative-stative: *sagara and
*ukkalla respectively.
A special indication of Semitic influence on the Hurrian of Ugarit
is the compound: within the god-lists, unnamed gods are defined by
apposition. Thereby the apposition is, on the model of the Semitic
construct state, so closely connected that it forms a unit with it of
which only the apposition has the case-ending syntactically required
for both words; cf. such expressions as en tlnd 'for the /z/fe-god(s)'
( K T U 1.110:1; K T U 1.111:7) or ewrn prznd 'for the lord over the
decision' ( K T U 1.110:4) instead of *end tlnd or *ewmd prznd.
3.3.2.4

Style

Incantations are particularly subject to the usual rules of poetic language with stylistic usages such as parallelism and chiasmus: Simple
parallelism is evident for example in K T U 1.131 in the opening
address (uhr mryt mrdml ttl srbn 'Ushara, Lady of Mari, || daughter
of El from Tuttul rich in willows', lines 1-3), with the chiastic positioning of its members in the following predicate (kby kbny mdm kt*[y\
'who plans her destiny, || who utters wisdom', lines 3-4). In the
second case the inversion of predicate and object in the second member requires the addition of the enclitic -m(a).
A typical poetic characteristic is also the emphasis of an independent imperative by the enclitic -m(a), as shown by the form him
'speak up!' ( K T U 1.131:13). In a non-poetic context this -m(a) irrespective of whether its origin is Hurrian or Ugariticcan also be
attached to nouns when at the head of a list: atf}lm 'a/AZ-offering
( f o r ) . . . ' ( K T U 1.110:1; K T U 1.111:3.8).

3.3.3

Lexicon

Whereas the rituals and sacrificial texts are written in a H u r r o Ugaritic Mischsprache, the incantations, in 'good' Hurrian probably
also reflect authentic Hurrian thought. However, they are directed
to a mixed Hurro-Syrian pantheon: to Kumarbe of Uriga and K u m m a
including the cult centre Tuttul, to Akkadian auka of Niniveh, to
Ushara of Mri and to El of Ugarit. In line with this mixed tradition, which ultimately represents the result of a lengthy symbiosis, it
is not surprising that the texts contain numerous Semitisms and also
countless borrowings from neighbouring Asia Minor. This finds expression not only in the names of the gods, their messengers and
their places of worship, but also in the lexicon. Here we have provided a list of lexemes which as yet have not been explained or have
been explained inadequately.
3.3.3.1

Semitic words

hannuge (hnng-) 'merciful' ( K T U 1.132:9) < Ug. hnn;


bazzizi= (hzz-) 'wisdom' ( K T U 1.116:5; K T U 1.125:11) < hassu;
iln (ilwny) 'divine' ( K T U 1.128:17-8 ) < *ilnyu;
le'e (H) 'powerful one' ( K T U 1.128:4) < lew,
kelage (lklg-) 'a pot' ( K T U 1.128:11) < (WSem.) qlh (Ug. qlh, Eg. qrh.t);
kalle- (Id-) 'cup, bowl' ( K T U 1.128:11) < kallu;
kad(d)ale= (kdl-) a container ( K T U 1.128:11) < ka/undulu;
mmurte- (mmrt-) 'audience gift' ( K T U 1.128:10) < nmurtu:
mnte (mryt) 'Lady of Mari' ( K T U 1.131:2) < mntu;
mrdmele (mrdml) 'El's daughter' ( K T U 1.131:2) < *mrtma-ilim;
mulugi= (mlg-) approximately 'gift' ( K T U 1.116:31) < mulgu
nadi- (nd-) 'what is laid' ( K T U 1.116:4) (bis) < nadi(u)
ninnaggi= (nng-) 'incense bowl' ( K T U 1.116:31) < *ninnakku <
nignakk/ qqu;
padri= (pdr-) 'release, solution' ( K T U 1.44:11; K T U 1.128:20)
< patru;
qle (ql) '(loud) voice' ( K T U 1.44:4) < (WSem.) *qlu;
re' (riw) 'shepherd' ( K T U 1.42:38) < r';
rzenne (rzn-) 'helper' ( K T U 1.128:12) < rsu;
sikitt-enne(sktn-) 'one who creates living things' ( K T U 1.125:1)
< sikittu;
sup(p) (sp) 'to pray' ( K T U 1.54:13) < suppw,
sarb/ basle (srb-/bsl) 'rich in willows' ( K T U 1.44:5; K T U 1.131:5) <
sarbatu;

agare (gr) a container ( K T U 1.131:13) < akr (?);


s'ukkalle (ski) 'messenger of the gods' ( K T U 1.44:10; K T U 1.54:14;
K T U 1.128:16; K T U 1.131:15) < sukkallu;
tarb- enne (trbn) 'one who commands respect' ( K T U 1.54:3) < ribtu;
zogge (zg) 'first-rate, foremost' ( K T U 1.44:10) < sank < sag.
3.3.3.2

Hurrian and non-Semitic words

ag=uge= (agg-) approximately 'tray' ( K T U 1.128:10);


agruthe (agrth-) 'incense holder' ( K T U 1.125:14);
arum (arm-) approximately 'offering' ( K T U 1.131:14);
at= (at-) 'to release' ( K T U 1.44:6.8; K T U 1.54:10.12; K T U
1.128:16.17; K T U 1.131:10.11);
el= (el) 'to speak' ( K T U 1.128:1) ( Ur. ale);
ep= (ep-) 'to receive' ( K T U 1.44:3; K T U 1.131:5) (cf. Hitt. e/ap(p)-);
liubruthe- (ffbrt['}-) 'receptacle for a sacrifice or holy water' ( K T U
1.125:15);
kubb- (kb-) 'to plan' ( K T U 1.131:3.4) (cf. Glossenkeil-W\ti. kup= I);
kiyade= (kyd-) 'sea' ( K T U 1.125:12);
muti= (mt-) 'justice' ( K T U 1.116:5);
nirul (nrl-) 'to prove to be good/merciful' ( K T U 1.125:3);
tagi= (tg-) 'beautiful' ( K T U 1.125:18; K T U 1.132:11);
taz-uge (tzg-) approximately 'offering table' K T U 1.128:8;
tad- (Id-) 'to accept' ( K T U 1.44:3 (bis); K T U 1.116:4; K T U
1.128:8) (cf. Ur. sat=);
tay-enn(tyn-) 'located by water' ( K T U 1.125:3);
tun (tn-) ' h a n d ' ( K T U 1.44:7; K T U 1.54:11; K T U 1.128:17;
K T U 1.131:11);
tiw= (tw-) 'to escort' ( K T U 1.125:4) (cf. Ur. sm=);
ude= (udr) 'result of extispicy' ( K T U 1.116:27; K T U 1.125:17)
(< Sum. uzu).

3.4

The pantheon of the cultic texts

Corresponding to their mixed language the rituals and offering lists


also reflect a mixed Hurro-Ugaritic pantheon.
As there is a representative list of Hurro-Ugaritic deities in the
central second section of K T U 1.116, in other sacrificial texts it is
also possible to start from corresponding sequences. T h u s it would
be possible to draw up a more or less 'canonical' list of the HurroUgaritic 'palace pantheon', corresponding to the Akkado-Ugaritic

'canon' 3 2 according to the alphabetic texts K T U 1.47 and K T U


1.118 and the syllabic text R S 20.24. 33
Besides K T U 1.116, the offering lists in K T U 1.26, 1.60, 1.110,
1.111, 1.125, 1.132 and 1.135 are of prime significancefrom these
are derived K T U 1.26 a n d 1.60 f r o m the House of the Grand
Prtre, the others, as well as K T U 1.116 from the House of the Prtre
Hounite.
K T U 1.26, 1.60 and 1.135 are only fragmentary and and each
comprises only the middle section of the tablet; the upper or lower
halves are missing. In preserved passages a pantheon is given which
largely follows the sequence of the 'palace pantheon', with minor
discrepancies.
Starting with the structure of these three tablets, which is like
the structure in K T U 1.116, then the information which probably concerns specially celebrated deities has not been preserved.
K T U 1.110 is completely preserved and provides a list of deities
who are to be honoured seven times with an unspecified sacrifice. 34
These deities are the 'great ones', also given in the list of palacegods in K T U 1.116; auka and her female retinue and H a m m u ,
however, are not mentioned. Where they occur, the sequence has
minor discrepancies in the lower section of the list. T h u s Anat,
Simige and Nikkal come before the city god, and Nubadig closes
the list.
Even when subordinate deities as well as deified paraphernalia
and expressions of well-being are lacking, the agreement otherwise
with K T U 1.116 indicates that this is also a sacrifice for the most
important deities of the 'palace pantheon'.
K T U 1.111 describes an oracular decision for a three-day royal
offering for sin. 35 Here only the 'great' gods are listed. T h e only
goddess to appear is Nikkal, as consort of the moon god K u u h /
Yarih who here plays a major role.
K T U 1.125 is directed specially to El as a death ritual. O f the
'great' gods, only Teub, Kuuh, Ea and Attabi are mentioned
beside El, and there are no goddesses. Instead in K T U 1.116 there

32

DIETRICH

33

NOUGAYROL

LORETZ
1968,

1988b, 300-5.
42-64.

34

DIETRICH -

MAYER

1995,

12

35

DIETRICH -

MAYER

1995,

17-22.

6.

are deified paraphernalia and expressions of well-being and in addition, deities from the realm of the dead ( D i e t r i c h - M a y e r 1997).
K T U 1.132 describes a three-day ritual for the palace goddess 36
Pidray. T h e sacrifices which had to be made during the feast are
principally directed to the palace goddess and her retinue, 37 in
which the daily list of offerings begins with the talli-deity (in tlnd:
lines 4, 18 and 22).
This brief description of the relevant texts with lists of offerings shows
that K T U 1.125 and K T U 1.132 evidently lie outside the frame
which the other texts profess. For the investigation of a H u r r o Ugaritic pantheon they are thus only of limited use.
T h e list provided in the following table shows the differences in
sequence. They seem to be independent of the rank of individual
gods. O n e gets the impression that the god-lists were compiled individually for particular occasions. T h u s a group of repeatedly recurring 'chief deities' can be drawn up which occurs to some extent in
almost all the textsas expected the exceptions are K T U 1.125 and
K T U 1.132. This group regularly begins with the talli-god and
includes the father-god, El, Teub, auka, Kumarbe, Kuuh, Ea,
Atabe, the city-god, H a m m u , Nubadig, Anat, imige, Piaaphe,
Hebat, Daqit, Hudena-Hude11ura, Ihara, Allai and Nikkal as well
as Ninatta-Kulitta and finally Adammait thus includes 23 deities
and to some extent represents the kernel of a 'palace pantheon'. T h e
lists in K T U 1.110 and K T U 1.111 are shorter, with 13 and 11
deities respectively. 38
These findings are in general also confirmed by K T U 1.42, which
is provided in the last column of the following table of sacrificial
lists for comparison.
K T U 1.116 extends this group of gods by a series of numina which
are hard to identify, to which are added deified paraphernalia and
expressions of well-being. In the other texts these are only quite inadequately documented, which may be partly due to the incomplete
condition of the tablets and partly due to an existing but not completely transparent eclecticism, as in the cases of K T U 1.125 and
K T U 1.132.
36

Against KTU'1 line 3 is to be read b bt mlk.


The only deity who is certainly male is Nubadig (line 10).
38
No account is taken here of the deities mlk, 'ttr and yrfa, mentioned in a Ugaritic
context and not in a closed list of sacrifices.
37

Text
(KTU)

1.116

1.26

1.60

1.110

1.135

in tin
in atn
il
(/ kmrb)
ttb

11
12
13

2
[2]
[2]

[2]
[2]
[2]

1
2
3

[2]
[2/3]
3

13
4.13.31
14

[2]
3
3

[2]
3
4

4
4
5

5.14
14
iy

[3]
[4]

[5]
5

4
6

5
6
7
10
8

6
9

(/m
tutk
(il/)
kmrb
kz/dg

(/kdg)
attb
15
in ardn
15
in h,mn
6.16
nbdg
8.16.35
c
17
nt
(/amm)
tmgn
17
pddpl}n
18
bbt
19
dqt
19
ffdn20
ijdlr
i/ul}r
21
atn
21
(ib/)
22
nkl
nnt-klt
7.223.34
adm
23
kbb
23
24
P"g
xxhr
25
xxndr
26
udn
27
abn
28
tgn
29
kldn
29

ant
f}wrt
iy
pdgn

33

[4]
[4]
[5]
[5]
5
[5]
[6]

[]
[]
6

9
11
12
16
15

10
7
7

6
[7]
7
8
9
11
10

13

[]

[]

1.111

4.18.22

8
3
4.9

4.9

9
11
10

10

15

1.132

12
12
14

[]

[]
[]

10
11
12
14
13

13
14
[17]

1.125

5.14.20
7
8

19.23

5.10
10
10
[10]
11

12

1.42

1-5
6-9

10-14
22-25
6-9

60,
15-16
29-31

50-53
44-46
38-40
35-37
56ff.

32-34

47-49

16

18
16

[18]

[1]5

[19]

[16]

11
12

(table cont.)
Text
(KTU)

1.116

1.26

1.60

1.110

1.135

1.125

1.132

1.111

1.42

bwr
sbr

6
9

bnrig
tyd

12

13
14

nwnvn

agrb

15

hbrtbn
ddm
pdry

17-21
2-3

60

Of the deities listed, El, Ea, c Anat and Nikkal, for example, originally come from the Syro-Canaanite world of gods, as their names
indicate, whereas Teub, Kuuh, K u m a r b e , imige, auka and
Nubadig are evidently Hurrian. Which particular numina lie hidden
behind ta//z-deities, the father-gods and the city-gods, and where they
come from, to the extent that they do not denote groups of gods
here, must remain open for the time being.
What decisions can be made concerning the insertion of separate
sections in the Syro-Ugaritic and Hurrian panthea? At all events the
lists represent a mixed religious tradition. Therefore, one can hardly
speak of 'canon' of the pantheon, as given in the Akkado-Ugaritic
memoranda.

3.5

Historical Aspects

T h e Uhara-incantation K T U 1.131 shows that this text is written


in 'good' Hurrian an observation which agrees essentially with the
incantations of Kumarbi ( K T U 1.44), awuka from Niniveh ( K T U
1.54) and El ( K T U 1.128).39 A reason for this phenomenon may lie
in the long tradition of the texts which, as for example K T U 1.131,
may go back to the Yamhad-pcriod of the 18th 17th centuries. If the
question is again posed concerning the reason for such a long and
good tradition, then the explanation lies in the genre of incantation.

39

See

DIETRICH

MAYER

1994.

Here also the Hurrian wording has still been conscientiously transmitted even when Hurrian was no longer a commonly understood
language in Ugarit. Incantations, in fact, as in any language, have
to be difficult to pronounce and difficult to understand in order to
be effective. 40
From this observation can be derived a bridge to the mixed language particularly of the sacrificial texts. Starting from the existence
of a Hurrian pantheon and the rituals connected with it, then it can
be shown that it was no longer possible to carry out these sacrifices
and rituals at the time these texts were composed, since the Hurrian
instructions had become unintelligiblenothing is more important
for a ritual than its correct performance. T h u s these rubrics had to
be supplemented or replaced by rubrics in Ugaritic. An immediate
result was that originally non-Hurrian deities were accepted into the
rituals and lists.41 By their nature the incantations remained unaffected,
although they were directed to deities who, like El, belonged to the
Semitic pantheon.
It is also clear from this that at the time when the texts were
written down by the Prtre Hounite and his school, the Hurrian cult
was no longer alive but was only cultivated in certain fields. This is
certainly the result of a long process and can scarcely be traced back
to a specific historical date. T h u s it is in any case feasible that the
seizure of power towards the middle of the 2nd millennium by a
ruling house from the south 42 whose followers we care to name
'Ugaritians' as shorthand for their written tradition, had taken the
first steps towards the elimination of the Hurrian cult from Ugarit.
T h e n their kings, who had erected their palaces to the south of the
'acropolis' ( D i e t r i c h 1 9 9 7 ) , performed their cult also in the temples
on the 'acropolis'; they moved there with their Semitic deities. T h e
dominant role assumed by these deities is particularly clear from the
god-lists, where of the individual gods, El is at the top and others
such as Ea, Attabi, Anat and Nikkal are ranked below him only as
of minor importance and cannot be omitted from any list. Quite
clearly, at the same time the Semitic language of the new masters
took root in the Ugaritic cult, so that ultimately Hurrian was eliminated from the ritual texts. 43

40
41
42

43

On this cf. VAN D I J K 1982.


Cf. for example, D I A K O N O V 1981, 86-7.
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 3 1 0 - 1 .
The deathblow to the Hurrian cult in Ugarit must already have been pre-

In connection with these remarks on the history of the cult and


religion, the question can be posed concerning the Hurrian component of the population of Ugarit. It is hardly likely that the Hurrian
cult was cultivated in a city without its own priests and congregation. How large this congregation was is difficult to say, as we do
not know how widespread the cult was in town and 'acropolis'. O n
the one hand, it might have been restricted to Hurrians in certain
social classes, and on the other there might have been participants
who did not belong to the Hurrian population.
This provides no answer to the question concerning the level of
the Hurrian element of the population in Ugarit. 44 T h e onomasticon alone is no proof for the ethnic origin of the person bearing a
particular namethere are sufficient examples in the ancient Near
East of that. It is also quite likely that in the land around Ugarit
there were villages with an above-average Hurrian component in the
population. 45
T h e publication of the Babylonian texts of the priests' libraries of
E m a r has provided close connections, in terms of literature and the
history of religions, between Ugarit and E m a r at the end of the 13th
century. T h u s it is to be hoped that the Hurrian texts from Emar,
which are as yet unpublished, can throw some light on the questions which with regard to the Hurrians of Ugarit still remain open.
(Translation: W.G.E.

Watson)

pared by the complete suppression of Hanigalbat by Adad-nrr I (1305 1275)


and Shalmaneser I (1275-1245), which entailed the end of the Hurrian kingdom
in Syria and thus the termination of its language, cf. VAN S O L D T 1991a, 521-2.
44
Cf. however H A A S 1978, 66.
45
Just as, for example, there were Kassite villages in the area of Arraphe, cf.
DOSCH -

DELI.ER

1981.

C H A P T E R

F O U R

T H E UGARITIC LANGUAGE

T h e

Decipherment

Kevin J.

1.1

of

Ugaritic

C a t h c a r t

Introduction

T h e decipherment of Ugaritic is associated with the names of three


persons in particular: Hans Bauer, Edouard D h o r m e and Charles
Virolleaud. T h e first lot of tablets, which had been discovered at
Ras Shamra in May 1929, was brought to Paris and given to Virolleaud for cleaning, transcription and decipherment. It was immediately clear to the French Assyriologist that the tablets comprised two
quite distinct kinds of documentssome in a well-known language,
Akkadian, but many others in an unknown language written in an
extremely simplified cuneiform (Virolleaud 1929, 305-6). T h e number of signs was twenty-six or twenty-seven, so the script was almost
certainly an alphabet. Virolleaud thought, quite righdy, that the decipherment of the newly discovered cuneiform writing would be made
easier because the words were generally separated from one another
by a vertical sign. He also noticed that the words were short, consisting of one, two, three or four letters, and he concluded that the
vowels were not written.

1.2

Charles Virolleaud

Virolleaud provided a starting-point for the decipherment of the Ras


Shamra alphabet by his acute observation that a short text engraved
on four of five bronze axes or adzes also occurred in the first line
of one of the clay tablets (1929, 306-7). T h e text on the tablet was
preceded by another single-letter word Y^/. Since contemporary
Akkadian letters began with the preposition ana, 'to', it seemed likely
that W / w a s a l s o a preposition. A fifth adze had the same inscrip-

tion but the words were preceded by another word of four letters:
^ 5J3> ^
c n > Virolleaud suggested that this word should mean
'axe', pointing to a tenth-century arrow-head from Sidon: KAI 20
hs cd\ 'the arrow-head of Addo'. T h u s the first word must denote
the object on which it is written and the second word has to be the
name of the owner. Virolleaud believed that in the absence of a
bilingual inscription, success in working out the meaning of the words
on the adzes would lead to the decipherment of other texts. In this
his first paper, which was the text of his communication to the
Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris on 20 September 1929,
he made no hard suggestions as to the identity of the language. He
excluded 'Mittannian', then suggested that perhaps a search should
be made in Asia Minor for the key to the new writing, and even
wondered whether Cypriot colonists had invented the cuneiform
alphabet. More to the point, although he did not realise it at the
time, he posed the question whether the Ras Shamra alphabet was
older than that of the Phoenicians or was an imitation or adaptation
of it ( V i r o l l e a u d 1929, 310). Some months later, however, Virolleaud
was expressing the view that the search for decipherment should be
directed towards Cyprus and the Aegean world: 'Malgr la difficult
actuelle d'un dchiffrement, il faut probablement orienter la recherche
vers Chypre et le monde gen' ( V i r o l l e a u d 1930, 353).

1.3

Ren Dussaud

It is worth mentioning that, at an early stage, Ren Dussaud ( D u s s a u d


1929, 298-9 n. 3) was firmly of the view that the alphabetic writing of Ras Shamra had been invented under the influence of the
Phoenician alphabet; but he did not elaborate on his views. In a
monograph published eight years later ( D u s s a u d 1937, 49 n. 2), he
recalled that Virolleaud in his communications of 20 Sept. 1929 and
14 Feb. 1930, and in his publication of the texts discovered in 1929,
did not yet regard the new cuneiform characters of Ras Shamra as
letters of the 'proto-Phoenician' alphabet. However, Virolleaud's
observations about the inscriptions on the five adzes were very useful indeed, as will be seen below, and his generosity in publishing
the newly discovered texts as soon as possible, so that scholars could
study them, was very laudable. T h e account of his contribution to
the decipherment of Ugaritic must properly be given below after the
contributions of Bauer and D h o r m e have been described.

1.4

Hans Bauer

Virolleaud's article containing transcriptions of the Ugaritic texts


reached H a n s Bauer on 22 April, 1930. In less than a week he had
already m a d e enough progress to inform Dussaud in Paris that he
had identified m a n y of the letters ( D u s s a u d 1930a, 130-1; 1930b,
200). According to a report in the Berlin newspaper Die Vossische
Leitung, he claimed to have identified twenty signs with certainty and
four others tentatively ( B a u e r 1930a). In fact Bauer had correctly
identified the signs for b, g, d, h, w, h, y, I, n, \ r and t. H e had also
identified two aleph-sigris but did not of course understand their precise value. Some of his incorrect readings were obstacles to progress:
for example k (for m), m (for s) and a second w (for k). However,
Bauer's basic a p p r o a c h and m e t h o d were excellent. T h e sixteen-page
introduction in his Entzifferung has been described as 'a masterpiece
of decipherment description' by Cyrus G o r d o n ( G o r d o n 1982, 109,
n. 6). Having assumed that the language was Semitic, he worked
with the knowledge that certain consonants were commonly found
as prefixes and suffixes and he quickly identified the sign for / through
Virolleaud's observation that the sign at the beginning of the first
line on the clay tablet was a preposition, the equivalent of Akk.
ana. Bauer received E d o u a r d D h o r m e ' s first p a p e r with his independent results ( D h o r m e 1930a) too late for correcting the errors in
his first m a j o r publication on the decipherment ( B a u e r 1930c), but
in a subsequent publication ( B a u e r 1930d) he gratefully acknowledged the signs for k, m, s, p, q and furnished by D h o r m e . Bauer's
e m e n d e d alphabet, known as the '5 O c t o b e r alphabet', was also
more accurate due to his identification of the word hrsn (earlier read
grzn), 'adze'.

1.5

Edouard Dhorme

At the Ecole Biblique in J e r u s a l e m , D h o r m e had also m a d e rapid


progress in the decipherment. H e and Bauer had worked (on opposite sides) as cryptanalysts during the First World W a r . It is clear,
however, that they had a good academic relationship and with their
excellent skills both of them accomplished m u c h in a relatively short
period. Like Bauer, D h o r m e identified the sign \f\f\f at the beginning of the first line of the clay tablet as 'Phoenician /', 'to'. T h e n he
worked out the frequendy occurring name bcl. Unfortunately, although

he had now identified the consonant b, problems arose when he read


bn where he should have read bt, for the letters and t are very
frequent, and he was thrown off course. He was able to rectify matters when he saw Bauer's announcement that he had discovered the
key to the Ras Shamra texts. He paid particular attention to Bauer's
suggestion ( B a u e r 1930a) that the word for 'adze' found on one of
the implements was grzn as in Hebrew (see the Siloam tunnel inscription and the Hebrew Bible). Even though Bauer's reading was erroneous, the signs for r and were read correctly. Since D h o r m e had
already identified the sign for k at the end of the word mlk, he could
now read Irb k-nm, which he quickly recognised as Irb khnm, ' T o the
chief of priests'. T h e title rb khnm was also on the adzes. So he had
now worked out the sign for h. In his alphabet, D h o r m e had correctly identified the signs for b, d, h, w, y, k, l, m, n, s, c, p, q, r, s, t
and two aleph-sigris, although like Bauer he did not have the full
truth about these last signs. Due to the incorrect reading grzn, he
gave the sign for h the value g, and s the value z- He also expressed
the opinion that for some consonants like aleph and 'ayin two different
signs could be used, and he understood this as evidence that the
final simplification of the writing system had not taken place ( D h o r m e
1930a, 575).
This first article by D h o r m e was dated 15 August 1930, but there
was a post scriptum, dated 14 September 1930, in which he commented on Bauer's first results. T h e signs which Dhorme read as m
and s were read by Bauer as k and m respectively. In his second
and third papers, dated 26 November, 1930 and 8 December 1930
respectively ( D h o r m e 1930b, 3 - 4 ; 1931, 32), Dhorme pointed out
that the divergences between his alphabet and Bauer's were greater
than he thought. When Bauer's Entzifferung appeared at the beginning of October it was clear that the two scholars differed not only
on k, m and but also on i. p, and q. Dhorme's first paper had
appeared too late to be considered by Bauer. As we have seen, Bauer
immediately corrected his alphabet in the light of Dhorme's readings, all of which he accepted and gratefully acknowledged.
Virolleaud's method of decipherment also involved the recognition of the preposition /, 'to'. H e looked for words containing / which
were common in West Semitic and soon identified mlk and its plural
mlkm. H e found the name of the god bcl and also the feminine form
b'lt. As a result of this he soon identified bt which could be 'daughter' or 'house'. T h e r e was a three-letter word in the texts with / in

middle position and the same sign before and after it. T h e only
word in the Semitic languages to fit this combination of signs was
the numeral 'three', which is l in Hebrew and tit in Arabic. T h e
early decipherers did not immediately establish the correct value of
Ugar. t. Virolleaud also recognised that the Ras Shamra alphabet
possessed three aleph-signs. H e seemed to have worked out the value
of more than twenty signs, but when the French newspapers reported
his decipherment of a 'mysterious alphabet', as if it were the first
successful attempt, Dhorme, clearly irked by the announcement, commented 'Nos lecteurs savent quoi s'en tenir sur la porte de ces
affirmations' ( D h o r m e 1931, 33).
An examination of J o h a n n e s Friedrich's publications on Ugaritic
( F r i e d r i c h 1933a; 1933b) shows that his grasp of the issues was very
sound in the early days of Ugaritic studies. T h e r e was still much
work to be done, but with an ever-increasing supply of texts, scholars would arrive at a complete decipherment.

Manfried

The

Ugaritic

Dietrich

Script

Oswald

Loretz

Ugarit, Home of the Oldest Alphabets


In 1929 and 1930, C.F. Schaeffer discovered clay tablets from the
14th and 13th centuries bce on the tell known as Ras Shamra
ancient Ugaritin Northern Syria, close to the modern harbour
town of Latakia. These tablets did not belong within Mesopotamian
cuneiform tradition but were instead written from left to right, in
a script which comprised only 30 different signs. T h e decipherers
Bauer and Dhorme immediately surmised that in spite of the unusual
direction of the writing, they contained a hitherto unknown Semitic
alphabetic script (Fig. 1). Comparison with other Semitic languages
indigenous to Northwest Syria and Palestine soon confirmed this hypothesis. Thereafter, most of the signs could very quickly be identified

Fig. 1 A list of offerings with the first tablet number (KTU 1.39 =
RS 1 . 0 0 1 ; Photo: U G A R I T - F O R S C H U N G Archive)

Fig. 2

The alphabet tablet from Ugarit (14th/13th cent, bce)


(Photo: D i e t r i c h ) (KTU 5.6 = RS 12.068)

and the language they represented could be described as an idiom


which in terms of content seemed to be comparable to Canaanite
texts, but from a phonological perspective, however, was more like
Arabic.
Immediately after the decipherment, the question arose concerning the classification of the language of the texts from Ugarit, i.e.
Ugaritic, within the family of Northwest Semitic. T h e problem of
the dextrograde direction of writing could be explained as a relic of
the cuneiform tradition from which the Ugaritians already had the
idea of converting their texts onto clay tablets. This debate is still
open, as shown by discussions in articles, books and lectures during
specialist conferences.
Independently of the classification of the vocabulary with its own
peculiar phonology, within a closer or more distandy related dialect,
the discovery of school tablets in 1949 created a new dust storm as
they were written in letters in alphabetic sequence (Fig. 2). T h u s we
were dealing, completely unexpectedly, with the oldest documentation of the alphabet as a literary product: in the schools of Ugarit,
an alphabet was taught and learned, within a framework exactly as
known from the texts of the Hebrew Bible and from Middle Phoenician
several centuries later.
T o all intents the Ugaritic alphabet looks like, so to speak, the
Phoenician alphabet with 22 consonants, extended by the insertion
of 5 additional letters plus 3 at the end. Consequentiy, the Phoenician

alphabet formed the forerunner of the longer Ugaritic alphabet. T h e


events can be outlined as follows (Fig. 3).
T h e establishment of a longer alphabet comprising 30 letters could,
however, also be understood as the original and earlier one, from
which a shorter alphabet developed through the loss of 8 letters, i.e.
the later Phoenician alphabetadvocated by Albright and his students up to the present as the 'reduction theory'. However, that
would contradict what happens when an alphabet is adopted and
where necessary extended by adding further letters, according to the
principle 'an alphabet comes after a language'. This became clear
when a group of tablets was published, also from Ugarit and contemporary with the others, which displayed the following 'Phoenician'
characteristics (Fig. 4): a script going from right to left and a short
22-letter alphabet. This proved that in Ugarit two alphabets coexisted: a shorter alphabet with the characteristics of later Phoenician,
and a longer one, expressly for writing down Ugaritic. T h e result of this
was that our monograph on the alphabet was called 'The Cuneiform
Alphabets' (Die Keilalphabete, D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1988a).1
With regard to the nature of the letters in the texts written in
alphabetic cuneiform, the following outline can be given: T h e letters, which were written from left to right and determine the script,
ug.

&

m .

Ug.
>
Phoen.

-Can.

>

^
w

ug.

ff

^ - ^ r r r - r

Phoen.
-Can.
Fig. 3

<

<

FT K * * - *

Ug.

^ c

>1


>u

The long cuneiform alphabet from Ugarit and its relationship to


Phoenician and Canaanite ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1988a, 128)

See also

DIETRICH

LORETZ

1989.

B
KTU 1.77
KTU 4.31

Iff

Y K

f
^

pK

Q.

-<

KTU 4.710

L
KTU 1.77
KTU 4.31
KTU 4.710

Fig.

m ?
m ?
m>

i<Kt

<J

The short cuneiform alphabet from Ugarit


1988a, 270)

(Dietrich

Loretz

represent vowelless consonants, opening or closing syllables, with an


implicit vowel of unspecified nature and lengthexcept, of course,
for the aleph-letters. More precise details on the nature of a consonant and the vowel most probably assigned to it can be m a d e
by means of the transmission of Ugaritic words in syllabic spelling
(Huehnergard
1987b) or by comparison with cognate languages,
where the vowels are known.
Now, however, we are faced with the task of allocating a homeland and if possible also the nearest cognate to both alphabets: in
view of the clear line of development of the expansion of a previous alphabet, theoretically speaking it was no longer necessary to
look for the closest cognate to the shorter alphabet tradition, as
attested directly and indirectly in Ugarit. T h e y were there and had
to be sought within the framework of the old and possibly protoCanaanite alphabets, the history of which was already established.
T h e cognates of the longer alphabet tradition attested in Ugarit were,
however, much more difficult to determine. T o be able to tackle the
related questions it was necessary to discover what the cuneiform
signs made in clay might possibly have looked like as strokes, i.e. in
linear form (Fig. 5). It was clear that they could have been transposed from linear shapes to cuneiform signs and no longer needed

to be discussed. Thus it was necessary to discover which principles


the scribe and artist might have followed. We have considered these
principles and have attempted to connect the reconstructed linear
signs with similar signs in the other alphabets of Semitic languages.
In this way we showed that the linear form of the Ugaridc alphabet
exhibits the direction both of the Phoenician alphabet and of the
old South Arabian alphabetic tradition. Accordingly, we started to
look for epigraphic and historical supporting evidence.
As a result of our endeavours we received quite unexpected proof
from St Petersburg: L u n d i n (1987) suspected that the small clay tablet
dug up by E. Grant in 1933 in Beth Shemesh, in Southern Palestine
dating to the 14th/13th century bce (Fig. 6) contained the beginning of the alphabet in the South Arabian tradition, of which the
earliest witness so far dates to the mid first millennium bce, i.e. about
700 to 800 years later. After closer inspection of the photographs
from the excavation, and of other photographs, we came to the conclusion that on this small clay tablet there was not only the beginning of the South Arabian alphabet (h-l-h-m) but the complete alphabet,
written from left to right round the tablet. T w o things were clear,
therefore. First, that the old South Arabian alphabet with the corresponding sequence of letters was already in existence at this time.
Second, it was also clear that following the general trend in the midsecond millennium bce, of transposing both script and language to
clay in line with the Babylonian model, it was in cuneiform script.
T h e r e was no need to emphasize that the signs used were not very
different from those used in Ugarit: the forms underlying both attempts
at transposition lay in their linear shape, as Fig. 5 shows, and they
are very similar ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1988a, 277-96).
In respect of the geographical distance of Beth Shemesh in Southern
Palestine from Ugarit, doubts about a connection between the alphabet traditions are justified; the rejection of such a connection would have
been premature, however. For the Syrian-French excavations in 1988
have brought to light in south east Ugarit the archive of a trader
and dignitary called U r t e n u , in which a 'palimpsest'-tablet was
inscribed with the South Arabian alphabet of the /W-A-m-tradition
(Fig. 7; B o r d r e u i l - P a r d e e 1995a). With this tablet the proof has
finally come that the connection of the Ugaritic Long Alphabet to
the South Arabian alphabet, which also has a tradition going back
to the 14th-13th century bce, was completely justified.
A comparison of the sequence of letters in the old Arabic alphabet

Sem.
value

Western alphabets
proto- Ane. Phoen.
Can. Can. Ah. Byblos
Yhmlk
if

b
3
JL

"

V*

h
to

Palest.
Mea
Siloam

cuneiform linear
protoform
Arab.
(reconstr.)
I 1
n

1 <- - r
.
m-

gm

i p
t1 "

,43

F i t

1
V

fct-J ^

>

>

<=>

>

HO

i
il
Il **

rrr
-

V
O

lU

Hf
s

; J

.7

i.

X +

*
i
'JL

<P
?

+ y
W
+

H
H

YY
<D

/1
H

o
n

-o -

_ H-X 4

t f * -M
e

*
*
o

oo

7 V ?
O
31


:
e m r H*

X
W f

-> 1

r"

A 3

n ?
Il
96
I

o-

<7

II

t=

d n

- ri

1
r
t
s

(-)

W
ri

- > O

\ X

a
. . . Ill- -w
V - n>rt

III -

Saf.

-a cr) r r

H*

OSA Iih.

4 X

*>-

1
C

?
*

/ <

~~

h
an

va

i
k

->

^J " F

V
*

Southern alphabets

LONG ALPHABET

*
}

>;

>

X
IX

1
D3

t
- -t

? I C

(P)
fill)

Fig. 5

The Ugaritic script in relation to the Western and Southern scripts


( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1988a, 102)

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

The Alphabet tablet from Beth Shemesh


( D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988a, 285)

Tablet with the South Arabic Alphabet


(BORDREUIL

PARDEE

1995,

856)

Beth eme
Ugarit
{J. Ryckmans

H L H M Q. w
H L H M Q. w
H L H M Q. w

Beth eme

'

Ugarit

' '

{J. Ryckmans

'

Fig. 8

'

'

R
R

TS
N U [] F
T D K N U S S

S/Z}

B(G)

G(B)

D Y

F}

Deciphered Alphabets of the South-Eastern A-/-^-m-Tradition

with the traditions of Beth Shemesh and Ugarit gives the following
results (Fig. 8)in the third line the South Semitic alphabet is given
in brackets for convenience, as established by R y c k m a n s ( 1 9 8 5 ) from
texts dating to the first millennium bce.
This comparison shows clearly that the sequence of letters of the
cuneiform alphabets attested in Beth Shemesh and Ugarit as well as
the South Arabic-South Semitic alphabet reconstructed by Ryckmans
show very few divergences. T h e fact that the signs, as shown by
hand-copies and photographs, vary slightly as well, leads to the conclusion that the traditions, certainly not least in view of their geographical separation, must to some extent have developed independently.
These divergences are basically so slight that their common origin
never completely vanished from view.
This report on the discovery of the two cuneiform alphabets as transmitted in Ugarit as well as their summary comparison should show that
the commercial centre Ugarit in the third quarter of the second millennium was a turning point in the early history of the alphabet in
two ways:
1. With the earliest recorded alphabet so f a r w h e t h e r in the '-b-g
sequence of the north west tradition or the h-l-h-m sequence of
the south eastern traditionwe are quite unexpectedlyor rather,
as was to be expectedat a point in its development which already
has the appearance of the conclusion to a forerunner. Just when
we thought we were close to the origin of the evolution of the
alphabet and finally were able to propose a date for the 'discovery
of the alphabet', we have to envisage a world with two alphabets (Fig. 9).

2. T h e origin of the cuneiform alphabet from Ugarit also reflects a


history of two alphabets: a Levantine tradition with 22 letters was
shall we say overlaid by an Arabic tradition so that, with some
additions, a 30-letter alphabet was derived. T h u s we find ourselves in the midst of a historical process on which it is worthwhile to reflect a little: the inhabitants of a city who towards the
middle of the second millennium had migrated from south eastern Palestine to the northern Levant, had developed a commercial ruling dynasty in Ugarit which in the history of literature
and the art of the scribe had thus created a lasting monument,
so that on arrival its native tongue could be inserted into an existing scribal school and writing tradition and thus the alphabet
already discovered could be expanded. T h e authentic Ugaritic
alphabet which arose in this way is ultimately to be perceived as
a witness of inter-cultural activity with branches as far afield as
Cyprus (Hala Sultan Teke).
With the examination of the cuneiform alphabets transmitted in
Ugarit we find that in terms of the history of the alphabet we are
not, as many would argue, at its inception. Instead, we are once
again at the conclusion of separate developments which nevertheless
in terms of their significance represent an important step in universal history. Although we find ourselves in the mid-second millennium
bce, we have still not yet reached a point at which we can speculate on the origin of the alphabet.
(Translation:

W.G.E.

Watson)

.ArstaiTai Hamm
W Bars
,8f*S
-Halet>/Ateppo
SfTre
f is
Ris amrj/Uqarit

/larnaka/Kition
Hata Sultan Tekke

Uj
CQ
Palmyra/Tadncr

Neti Mwd/CLadeS.

Sarafand/Sarpta,
#Ruweisah

"TK3md ei-Lz/Kumidi
Damaskus

Sean

Mountains of
s G ILE AD

Oer
.0$

HWj
Heni J
.Balu'an

.QakSBarnea

Ugaritic cuneiform

Proto-Canaanlte Inscriptions

Ancient Canaanite Inscriptions

Ancient Phoenician Inscriptions


(up to the end of the 8th cent. BCE)

Ancient Aramaic Inscriptions


(up to the end of the 8th cent. BCE)

Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions


(up to the end of the 8th cent. BCE)

is

ill

7S

100kw

drawing: G. Neuber

Fig. 9

The spread of cuneiform alphabets in the Eastern Mediterranean


( D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988a, 359: Map)

Ugaritic

Josef

3.1
3.1.1

Grammar

Tropper

Introduction

The classification of Ugaritic

Ugaritic, the local language of the city state of Ugaritic, is one of the
Semitic languages. T h e classification of Ugaritic within Semitic is still
a matter of dispute.
T h e Semitic languages can be broadly divided into an East Semitic
branch (Akkadian) and a West Semitic branch. West Semitic can be
further divided into a South Semitic and a central Semitic branch
(Canaanite, Aramaic and North Arabic). Of the central Semitic languages, Canaanite and Aramaic can be traced back to a common
former stage which is called 'Northwest Semitic'. T h e r e is hardly any
doubt nowadays that Ugaritic is more closely related to Canaanite
and Aramaic than to North Arabic. 1 T h u s Ugaritic is shown to be
a Northwest Semitic language. Since Ugaritic is closer to the later
Canaanite languages than to Aramaic due to more important linguistic isoglosses, either it belongs to Canaanite or it is the (only) representative of a separate language branch of Northwest Semitic closely
related to Canaanite.3.1.2

Current research in Ugaritic grammar

3.1.2.1 T h e four most important overall summaries of Ugaritic


g r a m m a r published so far are:
1. C.H. G o r d o n , Ugaritic Grammar (Rome 1940) with two further editions: Ugaritic Manual (Rome 1955) und Ugaritic Textbook (Rome 1965).
2 . S . S e g e r t , A Basic Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (Berkeley, Los
Angeles, London 1984).

' The opinion maintained in the early period of research that Ugaritic is particularly close to North Arabic can no longer be held today. The two most important arguments for this theory, the extensive phoneme inventory of Ugaritic and
Ugaritic-Arabic isoglosses have been substantially modified by the results of recent
research.
2
For most recent discussion see especially ISAKSSON 1989 and T R O P P E R 1994b.

D. S i v a n , Ugaritic Grammar (Encyclopaedia Miqra'it 9 ; Jerusalem


1993) [in Hebrew],
4. D. S i v a n , A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language ( H d O 1/28 Leiden,
New York, Cologne 1997).
3.

By now, Gordon's summaries have been largely superseded. T h e


later grammars listed merely present a concise grammatical outline
of Ugaritic. As yet there is no complete, modern reference grammar
of Ugaritic. In his Habilitation submission presented in 1997 at the
Freie Universitt Berlin with the dtie Untersuchungen zur ugaritischen Grammatik. Schrift- Laut- und Formenlehre3 the author has laid the foundation
stone for such a grammar.
3.1.2.2 In spite of research spanning several decades, a large number of problems of Ugaritic g r a m m a r remain unsolved, due to the
following factors:
(a) Ugaritic is a dead language attested only in writing.
(b) Closely cognate contemporary languages are known only sketchily.
(c) T h e corpus of Ugaritic texts is recorded in a writing system without vowels, except for a few words in syllabic spellings.
(d) T h e range of grammatically important Ugaritic texts is restricted.
(e) M a n y texts are of uncertain interpretation.
(f ) T h e corpus of Ugaritic texts contains a set of very different genres, each with its own grammatical features.
3.1.3

Aim of this grammatical outline

Here follows a brief grammatical outline of spelling, phonology, morphology and morpho-syntax of the Ugaritic language. It contains
only the central topics of grammar. Facts on which scholars are
widely in agreement are described without reference to secondary
literature. However, areas where there are problems are provided
with a short commentary. In this way the outline of grammar will
describe the present state of research on Ugaritic grammar.

Research on Ugaritic Grammar. Script, Phonology and Morphology.

3.2
3.2.1

Orthography

The principles of consonantal orthography

T h e basic principle of the Ugaritic alphabetic script is that each consonantal phoneme of the language is equivalent to one sign in the
script. By the introduction of the three additional signs of the Ugaritic
alphabet, < i > , < u > and < s > , the principle is violated in two ways:
the phoneme / V is represented in Ugariticdepending on the following vowelby < a > , < i > or < u > (cf. 3.2); the phoneme / s / is
represented by <s> or < s > . 4
Lengthened (doubled) consonants were not differentiated from single consonants. They can be determined only by comparative philology or on the basis of syllabic spellings.
3.2.2

The aleph signs

a. T h e most remarkable feature of the Ugaritic alphabet is that


it has three different signs for writing the glottal stop / V , i.e. an
a-aleph = < a > , an z'-aleph = < i > and a w-aleph = < u > .
b. It is generally agreed that the three Ugaritic aleph signs are used
in syllable-initial position: < a > represents the syllables a/ and /'/,
< i > represents / V , / , and probably also / W (shcwa) and
lasdy < u > represents I'ul, / and /'0/.
c. T h e way in which syllable-final, i.e. vowelless aleph is written is
a matter of dispute. T h e r e are quite different theories. T h e extreme
views are as follows: 1.) Any syllable-closing aleph is represented
by <i>. 2.) T h e choice of sign for syllable-closing aleph depends on
the quality of the preceding vowel. 3.) Syllable-closing aleph is no
longer expressed in Ugaritic: / V becomes / / , / f / becomes I I I and
/ u } / becomes / / . T h e aleph signs < a > , < i > and < u > act as vowel
letters (matres lectionis) for the resulting contracted vowel: / / , ll and
II?

4
For the phonetic value of this grapheme, which gained entry into the Ugaritic
alphabet only at a later date, see S E G E R T 1 9 8 3 (<s> = [su]) and recently T R O P P E R
1995. Thus the grapheme <s> has the value ['s]. It was inserted after the Ugaritic
phoneme / s / written with <s>, which originally (also) had the phonetic value ['s],
had been deaffricated to [s] in certain phonetic contexts.
5
For the proponents of these theories see V E R R E E T 1983a, 2 2 3 - 6 .

d. T h e theory of the position of aleph defended here is more complex than the proposals mentioned above. 6 O n the one hand it envisages the possibility that the syllable-closing glottal stop in Ugaritic
was not always strongly articulated (= quiescent aleph). O n the other
hand it follows that in Ugaritic / a V after the loss of a syllable-closing
glottal stopmost probably irrespective of stressbecame either / /
or / 0 / (cf. Heb. ns't < *naa>t as distinct from Heb. ro < *ra> ).
O n this basis the following 'rules' can be formulated: the (articulated) syllable-closing glottal stop is written with an < i > , irrespective
of the preceding vowel. If the glottal stop is not articulated, i.e. the
aleph is quiescent, then the following applies: < a > stands for / / <
*a}; < i > stands for III < *i'; < u > stands either for // < *u} or
for loi < V .
e. T h e graphic notation of a syllable-closing glottal stop is non-homogeneous in the corpus of Ugaritic texts, as some alephs evidendy
represent a strong aleph, others a quiescent aleph. T h e former are
phonemic spellings, the latter phonetic spellings: e.g. yihd lya'fyud-l
'he takes/took' ( K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+5.155 1, etc.) againstyahd
lyhud-I <*ya}(}ud- ( K T U 4 . 4 4 = RS 9.453:28) or yuhd(m) lyffVd-l
<*ya'hud- ( K T U 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+3.341+3.347 iv 16; K T U 1.22
= R S 2.[024] ii 17*; K T U 1.103+ = R S 24.247+: 17) and tuhd/tfj. Vdl<*ta'hud- ( K T U 1.2 = RS 3.367 i 40).7 Within a word there
are more spellings with strong aleph, but at the end of words there
are more with quiescent aleph.
3.2.3

Vowel notation

In principle, in alphabetic spelling vowels are ignored, apart from


the aleph signs which in syllable-initial position express the vowel
following an / V (as well) ( 3.2.2b). Exceptions are rare. T h e sporadic use of < y > as a vowel letter (mater lectionis) for / / is worth
emphasizing, especially at word-close, e.g. ily ugrt /}il 3UgaritV/ 'the
gods of Ugarit' ( K T U 2.26 = R S 16.264:4-5). 8

On this see T R O P P E R 1990b.


Cf. Heb. yhz (18x; alongside 3 X ye"hz).
8
On vowel letters in Ugaritic see BI.AU - L O E W E N S T A M M 1970 and
L O R E T Z 1973c.
7

DIETRICH

3.3
3.3.1

Phonology9

The consonantal phoneme system

According to the Ugaritic alphabet, which comprises twenty-seven


'ordinary signs' and three 'supplementary signs', there were at least
27 consonantal phonemes in Ugaritic. This relatively wide range of
consonants can be subdivided into obstruents (plosives and fricatives), nasals ( / m / , / / ) , liquids ( / / / , /r/) and semi-vowels (/w/,
/y/).
Depending on how they were articulated (unvoiced, emphatic, voiced)
most of the obstruents can be arranged in rows of three columns,
as follows:
unvoiced
labials
dentals
interdentals
(alveolar) sibilants
(palato-alveolar) sibilants
velars
uvulars
pharyngeals
laryngeal

3.3.2

/p/
/t/
/t/
/s/
//
/k/
/ y
/h/
/h/,

emphatic
-

/t/
/z/
/s/
/q/

voiced
/b/
/d/
/d/
/z/
'g'
igi
/7

/7

Comments on uncertain consonantal phonemes

a. T h e Semitic phoneme / d ! is written consistently with < d > only


in texts K T U 1.12 = RS 2.[018] and K T U 1.24 = R S 5.194. In
the other texts it is written predominantly with the sign < d > a p a r t
from specific phonetic environments 1 0 which indicates a conditioned
coalescence of / d / and / d / in Ugaritic.
b. Etymological / / usually occurs in Ugaritic spelling as <z>. However, there are a few words in which < g > stands for etymological
/ / . " Incontrovertible examples are Ingr, 'to guard', Vgm\ 'to be
thirsty' and gr, 'mountain'.

On this topic see FRONZAROLI 1955b.


Often in the vicinity of Irl (cf. UT 5.3), /m/ and /n/.
11
See FRONZAROLI 1955b, 33-5, / 5.7 and D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z , 1967, 312-4.
RSSLER 1961 has a different view.
10

c. Ugaritic has four sibilants, i.e. / s / , / s / , / z/ and / / . T h e first


three phonemes stand out by their distinctive feature of affrication
and should have been realised as ['s - 's5 - d z]. In contrast, // is
a fricative palato-alveolar sibilant, i.e. [].
d. T h e lateral phonemes /s2/ (= / / ) and / / / attested in other
Semitic languages are regularly represented in Ugaritic spelling by
the graphemes <> and <s>. Rarelyfor instance in K T U 1.12 =
RS 2.[012]etymological / / / appears in Ugaritic as < ? > .
3.3.3

PS

Equivalence table of selected Semitic consonants12

OSA

Arab.

Ugar.

Heb.

Aram.

Eth.

Akk.

s
s

s
s

d
h

s
h

<

early
t

d
s3
s1
s2

X
y

d
s 3 /s
s'/s
S2/
d
h
g

3.3.4

d
s
s

d
h
g

t
? g*
d, d
s

s, z*
b
g

s
s
h
c

late
t
t
d

s
c

The vocalic phoneme system

Proto-Semitic has a) three short vowels, / / , //, / / , b) three long


vowels, / / , / / , / / , and two dipththongs, / a y / and /aw/. Ugaritic
has preserved the primary vowels / a / , /i/ and /u/ as both long
and short. T h e PS diphthongs *ay and *aw, however, have been
contracted to monophthongs: *ay > //\ *aw > // (see 3.3.5.3a).
3.3.5

Sound changes

A large number of sound changes are documented in Ugaritic spelling


following phonological rules. T h e most fundamental are set out here.

12

OSA Old South Arabic; Arab. = Classical Arabic; Aram. = Aramaic; Eth. =
Ethiopie; Akk. = Akkadian; PS = Proto-Semitic.

3.3.5.1

Consonantal sound changes

(a) Sound change *w > lyl at word-initial, e.g. \ybl < *wbl, 'to
carry, bring'. 13
(b) Voicingdevoicing, 14 especially with labials, e.g. ybcl /yib'alu/ 'he
makes' ( K T U 1.17 = RS 2. [004] vi 24; <p'l) and tpky /tapkiyu/
'you (sg.) weep' ( K T U 1.107 = RS 24.251+: 11; <bky).
(c) Regressive assimilation: *dt > / t t / , e.g. aht /'ah(h)att-/ < *'ahadt'one' ( K T U 1.48 = RS 1.019:13 etc.); *nC > /CC, e.g. ap = syllabic spelling ap-pu /'appu/ < * 'anpu 'nose' ( K T U 1.2 = R S
3.367 i 13 etc.); *IC > /CC/, only in qh 'to take' (see 3.4.4.4c).
3.3.5.2

Vocalic sound changes 1 ' 1

(a) Vowel harmony: *qattv\l > /qv\ttv\l/, e.g. ibr /'ibbr-/ < *'abbr
'bull' ( K T U 1.10 = R S 3 . 3 6 2 + iii 35 etc.); *>ViC.v2C(C) >
^V2C.V2C(C) ( V = short vowel), e.g. urbt /'urubbat-/ < *'arubbat'opening, hatch' ( K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+ 61, etc.), irt irit-/
< *>arit- 'wish' ( K T U 1.104 = RS 24.248:1, etc.).
(b) Vowel syncope: pretonic: (Cv)CvCvC.v > (Cv)CvCC.v (V = short
vowel), e.g. rit /ra'sat-/ < *ra'at- 'heads' ( K T U 1.2 = RS 3.367
i 23.24, etc.); post-tonic: C.vCvCvCv > C.vCCvCv or C.vCCvCvCv >
CvCCvCCv (V = short vowel).
3.3.5.3

Sound changes in diphthongs and triphthongs 16

(a) Contraction of diphthongs: *aw > /<?/; *ay > /<?/; *iy > //\
>

*uw

//.

(b) Preservation of some types of triphthong ( / u w a / , /iyv/,


/aw/y/,
/vw/yv/)
as opposed to the contraction of other types of triphthong (*awu> //\ *aw> //*ayu > //; *ay > / f / ; *awa> //\
*aya > //; *uwu > //).

13

However, word-initial /w/ is preserved (a) in the conjunction w, 'and', (b)


before the vowel lui (D-stem infinitives of the I-y < I-w roots, e.g. wld lwullad-1
'to bear (a child)' [KTU 1.14 = RS 2.[003]+ iii "48 etc.] and wpt-m lwuppat-1 'to
insult' [KTU 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ vi 13]).
14
On this topic see G A R R 1 9 8 6 and V O I G T 1 9 9 1 .
15
For syllabic spellings see H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 268-83.
16
For syllabic spellings see H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 288-92.

3.3.5.4

Sound changes within syllables

(a) Prothesis (to avoid a word-initial consonant cluster): e.g. usbc/(')usbac-/


< *sibac- 'finger (pi.)' ( K T U 1.2 = R S 3.367 iv 14, etc.).
(b) Specific pausal forms: words at the end of a sentence occasionally have a phonetically altered form (e.g. reduction of the ending or special lengthening of the stressed syllable).

3.4
3.4.1
3.4.1.1

Morphology and morphosyntax

The pronoun
T h e personal pronoun

a. Nominative forms: l.c.sg. ank syll. a-na-ku anku/ (longer form)


or an /3an/ (shorter form); 2.m.sg. at = syll. at-ta /}atta/ < *}anta;
2.f.sg. at /3atR/ < *'anti; 3.m.sg. hw = syll. -wa /huwa/ < *hu}a;
3.f.sg. hy /hiya/ < ^hi'a; 2.m.pl. atm /'attum/ < *'antum; 2.c.du. atm
attum/ < *'antum; 3.c.du. hm /hum/.17
b. Oblique forms (gen./acc.): 3.m.sg. hwt /huwati/ ( K T U 1.3 = R S
2. [014] vi 20 etc.); 3.f.sg. hyt /hiyati/ ( K T U 1.3 = R S 2. [014]
iii 10 etc.); 3.m.p1. hmt /humti/ ( K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ iii 9
etc.); 3.c.du. hmt /humti/ ( K T U 1.17 = R S 2. [004] 20.30; K T U
1.19 = RS 3.322+ iii 44).
3.4.1.2

Pronominal suffixes

l.c.sg. possessive suffix -0 or -y / - / , -y /-ya/;R l.c.sg. object suffix


- /-n/; 2.m.sg. -k /-ka/; 2.f.sg. -k /-k/; 3.m.sg. -h = syll. - /-h/;
3.f.sg. -h /-ha/; l.c.pl. -n /-na/(?); 2.m.pl. -km /-kurnu/; 2.f.p1. -kn
/-kun(r)a/; 3.m.pl. -hm /-hum/;
3.f.p1. -hn /-hun[n)a/; I.e.du. -ny
/-nay/; 2.c.du. -km /-kum/; 3.c.du. -hm /-hum/.
3.4.1.3

Demonstrative pronouns

- 'this' (adjectival): hnd (many); hndn ( K T U 2.71 = RS 29.095:10).


- 'this' (nominal): hndt ( K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ iv 62; K T U 2.38 =
RS 18.031:12; K T U 2.45 = R S 18.140:7).

17

l.c.pl., 2-f.pl., 3 m./f.pl. and I.e.du. forms are not attested.


After a short H-/ vowel and after various long vowels it is / -ya/, otherwise it
is / I / .
18

- 'that' (adjectival): hnhmt ( K T U 3.3 = RS 15.128:8; perhaps also


K T U 4.659 = RS 19.166:6).
- 'that' (nominal): hnk ( K T U 2.33 = R S 16.402:23); hnkt ( K T U 2.41
= RS 18.147:13; K T U 2.21 = RS 15.174:10).
3.4.1.4

T h e determinative pronoun (relative pronoun)

T h e forms of the Ugaritic determinative pronoun, which also functions as a relative pronoun, are: m.sg. d /d/ (Nom.), / d / (gen.),
/d/ (acc.) and d = /d/ (only K T U 1.24 = R S 5.194:45 [gen.]);
f.sg. dt = /dtu/, /dti/, /data/; c(?).p1. dt /dtV/. T h e r e is also an
indeclinable variant d = /da/(?).19
3.4.1.5

Interrogative pronouns

- 'who?': my /mya/(?) (several occurrences); mn ( K T U 1.3 = RS


2.[014] iii 37; K T U 1.3 iv 4; perhaps K T U 1.5 = RS 2. [022] +
iv 23.
- 'what?': mh /mah(a)/ (several occurrences); mhy ( K T U 2.14 = RS
[Varia 4]:9 only); mat ( K T U 1.14 = R S 2. [003]+ i 38 only); mn
(uncertain occurrences: K T U 1.5 = RS 2. [022] + iv 23; K T U 2.45 =
R S 18.140:25; K T U 2.72 = RS 34.124:22; in K T U 1.16 = R S
3.325+ ii 19.20 it means 'how many?').
3.4.1.6

Indefinite pronouns

- 'anyone': mnk ( K T U 3.2 = R S 15.111:12 [mnk mnkm]); mnkrn ( K T U


2.19 = RS 15.125:12; K T U 3.2 = RS 15.111:13); mnmn ( K T U
1.123 = R S 24.271:22 [mr mnmn]);20 mnn ( K T U 5.9 = RS 16.265
i 2).
- 'anything': mhk ( K T U 2.38 = RS 18.031:26); mhkm ( K T U 2.30 =
RS 16.379:22; K T U 2.71 = RS 29.095:14 [<h>mhkm]); mnm (many
occurrences).
- 'whatever' (adjectival): ay ( K T U 1.23 = RS 2.002:6; K T U 1.24 =
R S 5.194:44).

19
It occurs only as a determinative pronoun before a noun clause or as a relative pronoun before a nominal relative clause.
20
Cf. Akk. mammon < *man-man 'anybody' as well as the expression mar marnmana(ma), 'anybody's son' (CAD M / l , 200-1).

3.4.2
3.4.2.1

The noun
Noun formation

Several different patterns are used for the formation of nouns (nouns
and adjectives) in Semitic: monosyllabic forms; polysyllabic forms;
forms with lengthened components; forms with prefixes, infixes and
suffixes. Most patterns can be assigned to specific classes of meaning. T h e r e are severe limitations on identifying nominal patterns in
Ugaritic as the alphabetic spelling often permits no conclusions regarding formation. 21 T h e Ugaritic noun forms attested in syllabic spelling
are rich in information. 2 2
3.4.2.2

Gender

T h e r e are two grammatical genders: masculine (masc.) and feminine


(fem.). Masc. nouns are basically unmarked, whereas as a rule fem.
nouns have a special ending.
By far the commonest feminine morpheme is -(a)t. T h e choice of
the m o r p h e m e variant -at instead of -t is largely dependent on syllable structure. T h e -(amending also denotes nomina unitatis (singular
nouns), e.g. mnht '(single) gift' ( K T U 4.709 = R S [Varia 13]:6) in
relation with the generic name mnh 'gift(s)' ( K T U 1.2 = RS 3.367
i 38 etc.). Besides the feminine ending -t = /-{a)/ probably a rare
feminine ending y /-ayV/ is also attested: ncmy 'the (exceedingly)
lovely' ( K T U 1.5 = RS 2. [022]+ vi 6.28; K T U 1.17 = RS 2. [004]
ii 42). T h e r e are also grammatically feminine nouns without a feminine ending, e.g. um 'mother'.
3.4.2.3

Number

T h e r e are three numbers in Ugaritic: singular (sg.), dual (du.) and


plural (pl.). T h e sg. is unmarked. T h e du. and pi. are denoted by
special morphemes.
In Ugaritic the du. is productive and is marked by the m o r p h e m e
- 0 = / / which always coalesces with the case ending: nominative
-a, oblique (gen./acc.) -e. In the absolute state the ending is lengthened by mimation: nom. -m /-mi/, obi. -m /-ma/ (alternatively: /-mi/). As a rule, the dual ending is added onto the singular
21

C f . SEGERT

22

On this topic see

1 9 8 4 4 3 ; SIVAN

1997,

HUEHNERGARD

60.

1987b, 302 17.

form. It comes after the gender m o r p h e m e -t /-(a)t/ of (marked)


fem. nouns.
T h e pi. is marked by a m o r p h e m e which causes vowel lengthening. With fem. nouns the plural marker comes before the gender
marker and the case endings: nominative /-tu/, oblique /-ti/; in
the masc. noun it merges with the case endings: nominative / - / ,
oblique /-/ (absolute state: /-ma/, /-ma/). T h e nominal base of
the pi. is mosdy the same as the sg. In certain nominal patterns and
certain weak root classes, the plural basis differs from the base of
the singular. It should be emphasized that <qVtl>-forms generally
have a bisyllabic base <qVtal> in the plural (e.g. pi. ram/1 /ra'as-/
of sg. ris / ra's-/).
3.4.2.4

Case

a. Ugaritic has three main cases: nominative (nom.), genitive (gen.)


and accusative (acc.). They are marked by vocalic morphemes which
follow the gender marker in fem. nouns.
In the (masc. a n d fem.) sg. the three main cases are mostly
differentiated by three different vowel endings: nom. -u, gen. -i, acc.
-a (triptotic endings). Nouns of certain patterns (including certain personal names) have only two different case-endings in the sg.: nom.
-u, gen./acc. = oblique (obi.) -a (diptotic). In the du. and masc. pi.
the inflection is exclusively diptotic: d u . n o m . -, du.obi.-; m.pl.
nom. -; m.pl. obi. -f.23
b. Besides the three main cases, Ugaritic has two further cases with
primary adverbial function, i.e. the terminative and the locative. Both
are comparatively little used.
T h e terminative functions as an independent adverbial case, primarily for denoting direction. It is marked by the --ending which,
in connection with the so-called 'he locale (locative h) of Hebrew
g r a m m a r is probably to be vocalised as /-ah/. T h e terminative ending is probably added on to the uninflected noun stem: arsh =
/',arsah/ 'towards the earth' ( K T U 1.14 = RS 2. [003]+ i 29). It only
occurs for certain in the abs. state.
T h e locative is marked by the ending / - / , e.g. sbu p /sabVu/

23
Occasionally the oblique ending seems (already) to have assumed the function
of the nominative ending, e.g. ily ugrt (= /ill UgaritV/) tgrk tlmk 'may the gods of
Ugaritic guard you (and) grant you well-being' (KTU 2.16 = RS 15.008:4-6).

'at sunset' ( K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+:47.53). Examples are difficult


to identify as the locative ending is only evident from spellings in
forms of III-' roots. T h e r e seem to be several different functions of
the locative. It denotes place (locative), time, the ablative, the instrumental, measure and quantity, final nuances (with infinitives or verbal nouns) and the paronomastic infinitive (e.g. bt krt bu tbu, 'she did
enter Kit's house' [ K T U 1.16 = RS 3.325+ vi 3]).
c. T h e form of the noun in the imperative and in direct address
the vocadveis expressed by various syntagmata: (a) by an unintroduced noun, (b) by the noun introduced by the particle /, (c) by
a noun introduced by the particle y or (d) by a noun with a 1st
pers. noun suffix. There is no explicit information on the case-endings
of the vocative in Ugaritic in spite of a few occurrences of III-' radical nouns. It is uncertain whether a noun in all the constructions
just mentioned (a-d) has the same morphological form. It is also
uncertain whether the vocative has the same form as one of the
three main cases. T h e r e are indications that in the singular the vocative can be expressed without any case-endings and that the accusative
case serves as a vocative.
d. In the corpus of Ugaritic texts there are occasionally m.sg. nouns
without any inflection. 24 This could be a relic of what is known as
the 'absolute case', 25 comparable with the 'absolute state' of Akkadian g r a m m a r (cf. GAG 62 c-j).
3.4.2.5

State

T h e noun has two states which depend on the syntactic position of


a noun: 1. the absolute state (abs. st.), 2. the construct state (cstr. st.).
T h e abs. st. is unmarked in the singular and so is the same as the
cstr. st. In the dual and plural it is sometimes marked by a final
-m, known as nominal mimation. T h e cstr. st. is unmarked for all
numbers and differs from the abs. st. in the dual and plural by the
lack of mimation. Both states in Ugaritic have (the same) case-endings.

24
25

f o r syllabic spellings see H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 300-1.


On the absolute case in Hamito-Semitic see SASSE 1984.

3.4.2.6

Determination/Indetermination

Ugaritic has no morphological marker for determination or indtermination. T h e r e is neither a definite article nor a specific determined
case, and mimation on nouns has neither a determinative nor an
indeterminative function. 26
3.4.3

Cardinal numbers

a. T h e cardinal numbers 1 - 1 0 are as follows:


one'
two'
three'
four'
five'
six'
seven'
eight'
nine'
ten'

ahd /'ah(h)ad-/;

aht/'ahhatt-/

in /tin/ (nom.), /tin/ (obi.); tt /titt/ (nom.), /titt/ (obi.)


tit / talf, tilt /taltat-/
arb'/'arba'-/; arb't /'arba'at-/
hm /hami-/\ hmt
/ham(i)at-/
It / M - / ; ttt
//tittat-/
b' /sab'-/; b' t /sab'at-/
tmn / tamn/ < *tamniy-; tmnt /tamnt-/
ts" /tie-/\ t' t /lis'at-/
'r /'a(a)r-/ < *Caar-; 'rt /Cas\a)rat-/

T h e uninflected (masc.) forms of the cardinal numerals 3 - 1 0 can be


coupled with nouns of either gender. In the Baal Cycle, the Aqhat
Epic and a few other poetic texts, however, fem. numerals are generally used with masculine countables (syntax with 'polarity of gender'). In prose, fem. numerals are used exclusively with the ellipsis
of tql 'shekel' and ym 'day'.
b. T h e numerals from 11-19 are made up of the units 1 - 9 and the
expression for 'ten' (Cr / Crt / esrh). T h e sequence is mosdy 'unit
ten', e.g. (a) hm Cr, (b) hm Crh and (c) hmt Crt '15'. Type (a) is only
used together with masc. nouns. Type (b) occurs with fem. and masc.
nouns. Type (c) is used only with the ellipsis of tql 'shekel' or ym
'day'here as an ordinal numeral. Numerals 12-19 can also be constructed in the reverse sequence ('tenunit'). In these cases the unit
is always followed by the word kbd which can be rendered 'plus',
e.g. csr arbc kbd '14'.
c. T h e numeral 20 is formed from the dual or plural form of Cr
' 10', the tens from 30 to 90 from the plural forms of the numerals
3 to 9: Crm, tltm, hmsm, ttm, sb'm, tmnym, ts'm. T h e cardinal numerals
26

Against

SEGERT

1 9 8 4 , 5 2 . 6 ,

62.6,

73.21.

2 1 - 9 9 comprise two or at most three words: the ten, the unit and
usually a word linking the ten and the unit, e.g. tt I ttm '66' ( K T U 1.4
= R S 2. [008]+ vii 9) or tmnym tmn kbd '88' ( K T U 4.179 = RS
15.103:14).
d. '100' is mit /mi't-/,
'200' mitm (dual of mit). T h e hundreds from
300 are formed by connecting a unit and mat /ma'at-/ (pi. of mit),
e.g. tit mat.
e. '1,000' is alp /calp-/, '2,000' alpm (dual of alp). T h e thousands from
3,000 are formed from a unit and alpm (pi. of alp), e.g. hms alpm
'5,000' ( K T U 4.181 = RS 15.106:2).
f. T h e word for '10,000' (or 'myriad') is rbt or rbbt.
3.4.4

The verb

3.4.4.1

Introduction

T h e inflected verb differentiates gender, number, person, aspect/tense


(imperfective or perfective; antecedent, contemporaneous, subsequent),
mood (indicative or volitive [imperative, jussive]), diathesis (active, reflexive, passive) and aspect (e.g. factitive, causative). Gender, number
and person are differentiated by various prefixes a n d / o r suffixes. Various
verb stems differentiate diathesis and aspect (see 3.4.4.3); aspect/tense
and mood are differentiated by a) subtypes of the prefix conjugation, b) the imperative and c) the suffix conjugation.
Alongside the genuine (finite) verbal forms two nominal (infinitive)
categories occur in connection with the verb system, i.e. participles
and infinitives. T h e y are morphologically and semantically directly
related to verbal categories. Besides gender and number their inflection also differentiates diathesis and aspect.
3.4.4.2
3.4.4.2.1

Morphological classes of the basic stem


T h e imperative

a. T h e imperative (impv.) is the mood of c o m m a n d in the 2nd pers.


Morphologically, it is identical with the short form of the prefix conjugation without the prefix and phonemically monosyllabic, i.e. <qtVl>
(V = / a / , / i / or / / ; the same thematic vowel as in the prefix conjugation). As a word-initial consonant cluster is not tolerated, the
impv. becomes bisyllabic, usually by insertion of an auxiliary vowel

after the first radical ( anaptyxis), generally / 2 / , m o r e rarely / / :


e.g. isp /}isfn/ < *'Vsup{f.sg.) 'collect!' ( K T U 1.107 = R S 24.251+:33
etc.); uhd /"hud/ < *>hud 'seize!' ( K T U 1.82 = R S 15.134:6).
b. T h e inflected endings of the impv. are the same as the endings
of the 2nd person of the short form of the prefix conjugation: qHVl,
f.sg. qHVl, m.pl. q'tVl (f.pl. not attested); c.du. q'tVl.
c. Besides the uninflected form of the m.sg. impv.in line with
H e b r e w t h e r e is probably a lengthened ('emphatic') form qUVla,
marked by the suffixed m o r p h e m e /-a/,'21 e.g. sa /sa'a/ < *sa'a (^Ins3)
'raise/lift up!' ( K T U 1.5 = R S 2.[022]+ 13; K T U 1.14 = R S
2. [003]+ ii 22).
3.4.4.2.2 T h e prefix conjugation
a. 'Prefix conjugation' (PC) is the generic term for various different
morphological subtypes which have differing verbal meanings. Inflection
is by means of prefixes and suffixes. In morphological terms and
functions the following subtypes of the PC can be distinguished (cf.
3.4.4.2.5):

Form

short form
extended short form
long form

Function

a) perfective aspect, preterite


b) 'jussive' mood
jussive/cohortative mood
imperfective aspect, present

Abbreviation

PC s p
PC s j
PC s e
PC1

b. T h e prefix c o n s o n a n t s of the P C are: 3.m.sg. y-\ 3.f.sg. a n d


2.m./f.sg. t-; l.c.sg.
3.m.p1. t-/*y-;26 3.f.p1. and 2.m./f.p1. t-\ l.c.pl.
29
3.f.du. a n d 2.c.du. /-.
-; 3.m.du. y-/1-;

27

It is the same morpheme as occurs in the PCfe (cohortative mood); see


3.4.4.2.2f.
28
Normally a /-prefix (see D O B R U S I N 1981). There was also a variant with a
jy-prefixprobably attested only in two cases (KTU 1.4 = RS 2-1008]+ 17: yblk
'they should bring' || tblh, K T U 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ 38.40:yblnn 'they brought').
This variant is no (longer) productive and only attested in grammatical parallelism
with the 'normal' /-prefix form.
29
Forms with the y- and /-prefix both occur (with almost the same frequency).

c. T h e personal suffixes of the PC are the endings of the short form


of the prefix conjugation (PC S ): 3.m./f.sg., 2.m.sg., l.c.sg./pl. -0;
2.f.sg. /-/; 3./2.m.pl. / - / ; 3./2.f.pl. /-a/(?); 30 3./2.du. /-/.
d. T h e PC in the basic stem of the underlying 'strong' roots has the
following structure: <CV\qtV2l> (paradigm root Vqtl; C = any prefix
consonant; V | = prefix vowel; V 2 = thematic vowel). T h e thematic
vowel (TV) is / a / , / z / or / / , the prefix vowel (PV) either / a /
(before T V /u/ or til) or lit (before T V /a/). T h e following PCpatterns occur: <Caqtul>, <Caqtil> und <Ciqtal>.3] T h e choice of
T V is essentially dependent a) on the semantic class of the root (roots
with a fundamentally stative meaning usually have the T V / a / , roots
with a fientic basic meaning have either t u l or t i t as a T V , b) and
on the phonetic quality of the third and second root consonant (roots
with gutturals in second or third position often have / a t as TV).
e. T h e paradigm of the PC S is therefore (paradigm root ^lqtl, T V / u l ) :

Singular
3.m
3.f.
2.m.
2.f.
I.e.

yaqtul-0
taqtul-0
taqtul-0
taqtul-
c
aqtul-0

Plural
taqtul-
taqtul-na(?)
taqtul-
taqtul-na(?)
naqtul-0

Dual
y/taqtul-
taqtul-
taqtul-

taqtul- (as masc.)


- ( ? )

f. T h e forms of the PC S without endings have a morphological variant with the suffixed m o r p h e m e I-at instead of - 0 (= PC s e). 32 It is
only attested in connection with jussive forms and so can be termed
a lengthened or 'emphatic' jussive. T h e lengthened jussive is attested
in an unequivocal spelling a large n u m b e r of times only in the 1st
p. sg. In analogy with Hebrew this form can be called 'cohortative'.
As the lengthened jussive is not attested for every person and is not
in functional opposition to the ordinary jussive (= PC s j), it is not an

30

VERREET

1984,
S

3 1 7 - 9 has a different view and postulates a P C L tqltn = /taq-

tulna/ and a PC Iqtl = /laqtul/ for the 3.f.p1. However, a PC-form of the 3.f.p1.
without the -n ending does not exist.
31
For these vocalic sequences see already B A R T H 1894, 4-5. For the validity of
'Barth's Law' in Ugaritic see especially V E R R E E T 1983b.
32
It is therefore the same morpheme as probably also occurs in Ugaritic on the
lengthened impv. (m.sg.); see 3.4.4.2.1c.

autonomous grammatical category. In other words, unlike Arabic,


Ugaritic does not have a specific 'yaqtula-mood'.
g. T h e long form of the prefix conjugation (PC 1 ) differs from the
PC S by an additional suffixed morpheme. Forms without an ending
in the PC S have the ending / - u / in the PC1'; forms with a vocalic
ending in the PC'S (except for the 3./2. f.pl.) have the additional
ending -n = /-na/ or /-ni/ in the PC 1 :

Singular
3.m.
3.f.
2.M.
2.f.
1 .c.

yaqtul-u
taqtul-u
taqtul-u
taqtul-na
'aqtul-u

Plural

Dual

taqtul-na
taqtul-na (?)
taqtul-na
*taqtul-naa (?)
naqtul-u

h. In earlier research the question was hotly debated whether in


Ugaritic there was also a long form of the prefix conjugation with
the pattern <CaqattVl>, comparable to Akkadian iparrVs, Ethiopie
y^qathl or similar formations in modern South Arabic languages. 33
F e n t o n (1970) and M a r c u s (1975, 75-104, esp. 97ff.) demonstrated
independently, however, that this category does not exist in Ugaritic.
T h e Ugaritic texts published over the last twenty years provide
absolute proof of this.
3.4.4.2.3 T h e suffix conjugation
a. T h e Suffix conjugation (SC) is not a homogeneous category in
Ugaritic, as is also the case in other West Semitic languages. T h e r e
is a fundamental difference between SC-forms with stative meaning
and those with a fientic (perfective, mostly preterite) meaning. T h e
former can be called 'statives', the latter 'perfects' (abbreviations:
'SCs' and 'SCp'). T h e subtypes mentioned also differ from each other
morphologically by different thematic vowels (see c).
b. T h e paradigm of the suffix conjugation is as follows:

33

See

esp. GOETZE

1938,

296-309.

Singular
3.m.
3.f.
2.m.
2.f.
I.e.

qatVl-a
qatVl-at
qatVl-ta
qatVl-ti
qatVl-tu35

Plural
qat VI-
qatVl-/ (?)
qatVl-tum(Vf4
*qat Vl-tun(n)a
*qat Vl-na/

Dual
qatVl-
qatVl-t
qatVl-tum

qatVl-tum (also masc.)


qatVl-na/iy

c. T h e thematic vowels of the SC are / a / , / i / and / u / . / a / is reserved exclusively for the fientic-perfective subtype of the SC (SCp),
/ u / for the stative subtype of the SC (SCs). I i i occurs in both subtypes. In the fientic subtype, however, it is limited to roots with I I /
III guttural, where the thematic vowel of the PC is / a / . T h e system
of thematic vowels in the SC and their equivalents in the PC can
be summarized as follows: SC qati/ ula - PC Ciqtal (stative); SC qatala PC Caqtu/il (fientic); SC qatila - PC Ciqtal (fientic II/III-guttural).
3.4.4.2.4 Finite Verb Forms with Energie Ending
a. Besides the inflectional endings, finite verb formsespecially in
poetry and in object suffixesoften exhibit a so-called energic ending,36 spelled either -n or -nn. At least two perhaps even three different
alloforms of the energic m o r p h e m e can be distinguished (energic
types I / I I / [ I I I ] ) . As the energic endings may occur, basically, on all
finite verb forms, whether they are indicative or volitive, the energic is not a mood in the strict sense.
b. By far the the most commonly attested allomorph of the energic
is -n /-()nnV/ (= energic type I). It may stand alone and or before
the 3rd pers. sg. pronominal suffixes. In combination with 3rd pers.
sg. suffixes, the ending is -nh, to be vocalised as I-anna-hI or / -annaha/ respectively.
c. T h e r e is also an energic allomorph: -nn = l-ninl(?) (= energic
type II). It occurs exclusively in combination with 3rd pers. sg.
suffixes. T h e initial consonant, I hi, of the pronominal suffix is thus

34
Alternatively /i/- vowel, i.e. / qatVl-tim(V)/. Similarly for 2.f.p1. (/qatVl-tin(n)/)
and 2.c.du. (/qatVl-tim/).
35
Alternatively: /-til (as in Canaanite). In favour of /-t/ however is that the
independent personal pronoun l.c.sg. in Ugaritic also ended in / - / (/'anku/).
36
On this topic see especially V E R R E E T 1 9 8 8 , 7 9 - 9 8 and K R E B E R N I K 1 9 9 3 .

always assimilated to the second /n/ of the energic ending: -nn


/-nVnn/ < *-nin-hu or /-nVnna/ < *-nin-ha respectively.
d. Perhaps Ugaritic also had a third allomorph of the energic, i.e.
-n = /-an/ (= energic type III). T h e orthographical proof for this
allomorph has not yet been produced.
3.4.4.2.5 Aspect and tense
Verbal aspects and (relative) tenses are mainly differentiated by the
subtypes of the PC and the fientic variant of the SC. T h e functions
of these categories can be set out in the following table (paradigm
root ^lqtl, 3.m.sg.):

anteriority
contemporaneous
posteriority

yaqtul (PCsp)
*yaqtul(a) (PC s j/e)

perfective

imperfective

qatala (SCp)
*qatala (SCp)
qatala (SCp)

yaqtulu (PC L )
yaqtulu (PC L )
yaqtulu (PC L )

All the fields on the right = imperfective column of the table are
filled by the long form of the prefix conjugation (PC 1 ). T h e left =
perfective column includes the short form of the prefix conjugation
(PC S ) and the perfective-fientic suffix conjugation (SCp). In the field
'perfective anteriority', the P C s p and the SCp have practically the
same function. T h e field 'perfective-contemporaneous' is empty because facts which occur simultaneously are essentially imperfective.
Only a special function of the SCp, i.e. the function of the so-called
'performative perfect', 37 can be placed in this field. T h e field 'perfective-posteriority'with reference to indicative statementsis only
covered by the SCp. T h e function of the variants of the PC S also
in that slot is exclusively volitive (jussive).
T h e table shows clearly that the PC1 is always imperfective and
the PC S is always perfective. As the PC L is used for simultaneous
situations, this category is conventionally labelled the 'present'. As,
on the other hand, the indicative P C s p generally expresses previous
events, this category is conventionally called the 'preterite'. These
labels, which suggest an opposition of tense between PC 1 ' and PC S ,
are not in fact correct, as the PC1- can also denote previous events,
37

E.g. I rgmt Ik hereby surely tell you . . .' (KTU 1.2 = RS 3.367 iv 7).

provided that they are imperfective. An imperfective presentation is


demanded especially for situations which are marked by the features
of plurality or repetition. 38 T h e P C s p occurs for certain only in narrative verse and is used there as the usual narrative form for single
and instantaneous actions of the past. 39 In other genres perfective
actions of the past are obviously always expressed by the SCp.
However, the SCp also occurs in narrative poetry, sometimes as a
free variant of PC s p. 4 0
3.4.4.2.6 Moods
In the Ugaritic verbal system the 'indicative' (= declarative mode) and
'volitive' (= wish and c o m m a n d mode) moods are differentiated. T h e
categories PC s p, PC1- and SC (SCp and SCs) are used for indicative
statements. 41 T h e following have volitive functions: a) the imperative,
b) the PC S ] (jussive) and the PC s e (cohortative) as well asrelatively
rarelyc) both subtypes of the suffix conjugation, i.e. SCp and SCs.
T h e r e is no specific use of mood in subordinate clauses. Volitive
moods, i.e. P C s j and PC s e, occur only in subordinate clauses with
volitive (final) meaning. In Ugaritic there is no specific 'subordinating mood', comparable to the Akkadian 'subjunctive', which only
occurs in dependent clauses. 42
3.4.4.2.7 Participles
T h e pattern for the formation of the active participle of the basic
stem (G-ptc. act.) is <qtil>. For the passive participle of the basic
stem (G-ptc. pass.) probably the pattern <qatl> is generally used,
as in Canaanite. 4 3
38
E.g. p'rih I tmgyn hdm / rih I ymgy apsh 'His feet did not reach the footstool,
his head did not reach as far as its (upper) end' (KTU 1.6 = RS 2.[009]+ i 59-61
[general-continuing event, expressed by the PCL]).
39
See for instance 1u ilm rathm 'the gods lifted up their heads' (KTU 1.2 = RS
3.367+ i 29). The morpho-syntactic autonomy of the category PC s p is, however,
questioned by some scholars; for discussion see M . S . S M I T H 1994, 39-41. According
to Smith, PO s p and PC 1 although in morphological contrastare free variants.
40
On the parallelism between PC s p and SCp see M.S. S M I T H 1994, 49-51 and
1995, 797-9. On other functions of the Ugaritic S C see M . S . S M I T H 1994, 45-57
and 1995.
41
For the use of these categories see 3.4.4.2.5.
42
For a different view cf. V E R R E E T 1 9 8 8 , esp. 8 - 1 0 .
43
Over the years scholars have repeatedly stated that in Ugaritic there could
also or only be other patterns for the passive participle of the basic stem. The discussion centres on the patterns <qatl> (G-Ptc. pass, in Aramaic) and <maqtl> (G-Ptc.
pass, in Arabic). So far, however, no proofs have been provided.

3.4.4.2.8 Infinitives/Verbal nouns


As in Hebrew, an absolute infinitive and a construct infinitive may
be differentiated. T h e former corresponds syntactically to a noun in
the absolute state, the latter to a noun in the construct state or a
noun after a preposition.
T h e infinitive (inf.) of the basic stem generally has the pattern
<qatl>. Besides this there is in Ugaritic a series of differently constructed verbal nouns of the basic stem. T w o patterns are noteworthy. O n e is <qitl>, which occurs several times in syllabic spellings, e.g.
ni-ib-r /nigru/ 'guard' (Ug 5, 137 = RS 20.123+ i 5').44 T h e other is
<ti/al(a)t>, which occurs only in I - w / y roots and ^1hlk, e.g. sat /si'at-/
'going out, expression' ( K T U 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ vii 30.32); d't /dacat-/
'knowlege' ( K T U 1.2 = RS 3.367+ i 16.32); Ikt /likt-/ 'going' ( K T U
1.10 = RS 3.362+ ii 28, 29). Whereas the pattern <qatl> is used
for both the absolute and the construct infinitives, other patterns can
only denote the construct infinitive.
3.4.4.3 T h e system of verbal stems: basic and derived stems
a. T h e Semitic languages use a large number of different patterns
to express aspect and diathesis, called 'verbal stems'. T h e simple
basic stem of Semitic is morphologically unmarked. T h e 'derived'
verbal stems are, instead, indicated by specific morphological markers.
b. Ugaritic has the following ten verbal stems, which can be arranged
as follows:
symbol

stem

functions

G
Gp
Gt
D
Dp

basic stem
passive basic stem
reflexive basic stem
intensive
passive intensive

basic lexical function


passive of G45
reflexive of G etc.46
intensive, factitive etc.
passive of D

For further examples see H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 305-6.


On occurrences of the Ugaritic Gp-stem see M A R C U S 1971.
4<i
E.g. reciprocal, durative and iterative. At times no clear difference in meaning between Gt and G can be established. On the Gt and tD stems in Ugaritic
45

see
47

KREBERNIK

1991.

In stative verbs the function is chiefly factitive/causative (e.g. 'be good': 'to
make [someone/somethingl good'). In intransitive-fientic verbs the D-stem chiefly
provides transitivity. In transitive-fientic verbs it strengthens or pluralizes the verbal

(table cont.)

symbol

stem

functions

tD

reflexive intensive
or causative
passive
reflexive
or passive

reflexive of D etc.
causative
passive of
reflexive of etc.48
reflexive, passive49 etc.50

l
St

Four of the ten patterns can be called 'cardinal stems': G, D, and


N. G is unmarked (= Heb. qal); D is marked by gemination of the
middle radical ( Heb. piel); is marked by the prefix /- (= Heb.
hiphil in function); 51 is marked by the prefix n- (= Heb. niphal).
All the 'cardinal stems'except for have both a passive and
a reflexive variant. T h e reflexive forms have an additional element
t\ in the Gt it comes after the first radical, in tD (= Heb. hithpael)
before the first radical and in t directly after the causative marker
-. T h e passive forms, i.e. Gp, D p (= Heb. puai) and p ( Heb.
hophal in function) are differentiated from the corresponding active
forms only by different vowels. As this characteristic is usually not
expressed in the alphabetic spelling, in most cases examples of the
passive stems can be determined only from syntax or context. Some
authors 52 doubt 5 3 their existence in Ugaritic.
c. T h e paradigm of the verb stems (forms are vocalized; finite forms
are always 3.m.sg.; ptc. and inf. u n i n f e c t e d ; n.o. = no [certain]
occurrences):
meaning (plurality of agents or objects; repetition of an action). The D-stem is also
used for denominative meanings.
48
On the , p and t in Ugaritic see T R O P P E R 1990a, 2 1 - 1 1 1 .
49
Chiefly or only in prose texts.
50
E.g. reciprocal, ingressive and inchoative.
51
As non-sibilant causative morphemes occur in other Northwest Semitic languages
(e.g. the causative marker h- in the Heb. hiphil), repeated attempts have been made
by sholars over the years to prove these types of causative also occur in Ugaritic.
The attempts in question have not been convincing, however (see T R O P P E R 1990a,
113-82).
52
The most uncompromising opponent of the existence of the passive stem in
Ugaritic is V E R R E E T 1 9 8 5 , 3 2 4 - 3 0 . It should be noted, however, that all the central Semitic languages have passive stems.
53
There are no other verbal stems in Ugaritic. On the so-called 'lengthened stems'
(L) see under 3.4.4.4f and 3.4.4.4h, on the so-called 'reduplicated stems' see
under 3.4.4.4i. In Ugaritic there are no stems corresponding to IX, XI or XII-XV
of Arabic.

PC s j
G
Gp
Gt
D
Dp
tD

St

3.4.4.4

yaqtu/il
yiqtal
yuqlal
yiqtati/ al54
yuqattil36
yuqattal ?
yVtqattVl
yuaqtil39
yuaqtal
y Vtaqtil
yiqqatilM

impv.

se

q1 tu/il
q'tal

qatala
qati/ula
quti/ ala
(')qtat(a)la
qattila
qutti/ala ?
('i)tqatti/ ala57
aqtila
uqta/ ila

n.o.
('i)qtatil
qattil

n.o.
n.o.
aqtil

n.o.
n.o.
naqtVl ?

ptc.
qtil (act.)
qatl (pass.)

muqtatil ?
muqattil
muqattal ?

inf.
qatl

tVqtatil55
quttal

n.o.

n.o.
VqtVl

n.o.

musaqtil
muaqtal
mutaqtil

naqtala

n.o.

naqtal

n.o.
n.o.

Morphological peculiarities of the 'weak' verbs

a. Five I - ' verbs have irregular G-PC-forms of the type yuC2C3


/yCi VC3/ instead of or as well as yiC2C3 - /yaCC2 VC:/ (cf. 3.2.2e):
^bd 'to perish', ^hb 'to love', ^hd 'to seize', kl 'to eat', yl'sp 'to
gather'. 6 1
b. I-h verbs usually have strong forms. Exceptions are verbs with / / /
as the second radical, i.e. ^lhlk 'to go' and ^hlm 'to strike, hit'. Both
verbs have G-PC-forms without /h/, e.g. ylk- /yalik-/ o r y l m - /yalum-/.
Whereas the remaining forms from VA/m are strong (e.g. G-impv.
him- /hum-/), ^Jhlk is weak in other ways, i.e. it produces forms without /h/: G-Impv. Ik- /lik-/; G-verbal noun Ikt /likt-/; Gt-PC ytlk
/yitalik/. -PC-forms from ^lhlk are instead strong: ashlk aahlik/
( K T U 1.3 = R S 2.[Ol4]+ 2, etc.).62
54

In forms with endings there was probably syncope of the corresponding vowel:
/yiqlatl/ < *yiqtatVl (cf. 3.3.5.2b). The same applies to other forms of the paradigm with similar syllabic structure.
55
Occurrences: Imthsh 'her fighting' (KTU 1.3 = RS 2. [014]+ ii 19); trntbs 'fighting'
(KTU 1.3 = RS 2.[014]+ ii 29); tljtsb 'quarrel' (KTU 1.3 ii 20.30).
56
/y/t/nuqattil/, l.c.sg. but /'aqattil/ < *'uqattil (vowel harmony; see 3.3.5.2a).
57
Alternatively: /taqatti/ala/. The only certain example: w Ikms /wa-t(a)kamm Vsa/
'he fell to his knees' (KTU 1.12 = RS 2. [012] ii 54). Another possible example:
tmz' (KTU 1.19 = RS 3.322+ i 36.46).
58
Possibly /tuqattil/, cf. the uncertain syllabic spelling: tu-a-p-[ku(?)] /tuhappiku/
(Ug 5 137 = RS 20.123+ ii 23).
59
/y/t/nuaqtil/\
l.c.sg. however /'aaqtil/ < *'uaqtil (vowel harmony).
60
< *yinqatil (chiefly undifferentiated by spelling).
61
The same verbs also have similar forms in Hebrew (verbs with 'weak aleph'
as the first radical). On the topic see esp. T R O P P E R 1990b, 367.
62
On the morphology of I-h verbs see T R O P P E R 1990d.

c. In I-n verbs and Mqh 'to take', the first radicalwhen vowellessis
assimilated to the following consonant, e.g.ygr /yaggur-/ < *yangur- (Vngr
'to guard' G-PC) or yqh /yiqqah/ < *yilqah (Mqh G-PC). 6 3 In most
I-n verbs the G-impv is formed without the first root, e.g. la/sa'a/
< *a3a (^ln' 'to raise', lengthened impv. m.sg. [ K T U 1.4 = R S
2.[008]+ viii 5]). u /a'/ (VraT, m. pl. [ K T U 1.2 = R S 3.367 i 27
etc.]), sk /saf/ (<nsk 'to pour', f. sg. [ K T U 1.3 = R S 2. [014]+ iii
16 etc.]) as well as qh/qah/ ilqh, m. sg. [ K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008] +
ii 32, etc.]). T h e verb ^lngr 'to protect' constitutes an exception: impv.
m. sg. ngr /mgur/ 'look out!' ( K T U 1.4 viii 14 [alternatively: N-impv.
/naggVr/ < *nangVra\).
d. III- J verbs arebesides \\\-w/y verbsof central importance for
understanding the Ugaritic verbal system as in principle in such verbs
the spelling allows verbal aspects and moods to be differentiated
clearly. PC1 forms occurs with the spellingyC\C 2 u (3.m.sg); for forms
of the PC S , however, the spellingyC\C 2 i (3.m.sg) is expected. In fact,
though, the situation is more complex as in Ugaritic word-final aleph
was no longer reliably pronounced. 6 4 O n this basis only verbs with
the PC thematic vowel H / permit an unequivocal differentiation of
the underlying classes: e.g. P Q ysu /yasi'u/ 'he goes out' i^yf) versus
PC S ysi /'yasiV (or /yasV/ < *yas) 'he should go out / he went out'.
In PC S forms with the thematic vowels / / and / a / this differentiation
is not given with certainty: spellings such as ybu (yn') and yu (yn1)
can be understood as PC 1, (/yabu'u/ or /yia?u/), but possibly they
could also be PC S forms (/'yab/ < *yabu', /yis/ < *yina').65
e. Verbs with /w/ or /y/ as the first, second or third radical present several forms which are irregular with respect to the forms of
the paradigm of the 'strong verb', as the semi-vowels /w/ or / y / ,
depending on position in the syllable, can occur either as consonants
or as vowels.
f. T h e paradigm of I - w / y verbs, which in Ugaritic includes ^lytn 'to
give', is characterised by the occurrence of forms both with and
without a (consonantal) first radical. If the word begins with a semi-

63
However, there is no assimilation of / / / in the N-stem: SC nlqht /nalqahat/
(KTU 4.659 = RS 19.166:1).
64
See 3.2.2d (quiescent aleph).
65
O n the grapheme < u > for / 0 / < *aJ see 3.2.2d. There are no attested forms
of the spelling ysi. On the topic see T R O P P E R 1990c.

vowel it is normally retained, as long as there no aphaeresis of the


whole initial syllable occurs as in impv. G. As word-initial *w in
Ugaritic generally becomes /y/ (see 3.3.5.1a.), except before a / u / vowel (inf. D), it is not possible to distinguish I-w roots from I-y
roots by spelling in most cases. In non-initial position the semi-vowel
(Iwl) is retained only after a / / - v o w e l (D-PC); in the other cases
either it causes a lengthening of the preceding vowel (e.g. in forms
of the stem) or it disappears unreplaced (e.g. G - P C forms). T h e
function of the inf. cstr. is generally filled by verbal nouns of the
pattern <ti/al(a)t> (see 3.4.4.2.8).
Significant forms of the paradigm for l-w verbs i^yrd < *wrd 'to
descend'): 66
PC S
G
Gp
Gt
D
S

yard
yurad
yittarid
yuwanid
yusridbl

impv.

SC

ptc.

inf.

nd

yarada

yrid

yard

od

sonda
nrada

musrid

wurrad

g. In forms of II-w/y verbs, the second (weak) radical never occurs


as a c o n s o n a n t but always causes a lengthening of the original
preceding or following vowel, G"PC' 3.m.sg. /yaqmu/ < *yaqwumu,
G - S C /qma/ < *qawama (yqurni).68 T h e thematic vowel of the , is usually / / in II-; verbs (e.g. /yaqmu/), in II-y verbs usually H/ (e.g. lyatuI).
Instead of the ('normal') intensive stems (D, D p and tD), I I - w l y
verbs form stems which are marked by lengthening the vowel between
the first and second radical and reduplication of the third radical (=
Heb. polel, polal, hithpolel). T h e y are conditioned variants of the
'normal' intensive stems (D, D p , tD) and have the same functions.
H e r e they are denoted by the symbols D*, Dp* and tD*. 69

66

The paradigm for I-y verbs is still blank at many points due to the lack of
significant forms.
6
' However, l.c.sg. /'a(md1.
<>8
Conventionally vocalized as /yaqmu/ or /qma/.
69
These stems are conventionally called 'lengthened stems' and denoted by 'L',
'Lp' and 'tL'. The term 'lengthened stem' has been taken from Arabic but is

Significant forms of the paradigms for II-; and II-y verbs i^qwm
'to rise' and ^yt 'to place'): 70
PC1

impv.(m.sg./pl.)

yaqmun
yatu
yuqo/mimu
yuq/ mamu
yitq/ mimu
yu(a)qmu

G
D*
Dp*
tD*

SC

ptc.

qum/ qm
it/t
qo/mim

qma12
ta

qm-(?)73
sat-(?)
muqo/mim-

aqim/aqm

aqma

mu(a)qm-

inf. abs.
qm-(?)

JSJK?)

h. T h e paradigm of I I I - w / y verbs is marked by the occurrence of


forms both with and without a (consonantal) third radical. In originally syllable-closing position (also when final) the weak third radical is always vocalic (contraction of diphthongs *iy > / / , *ay > //,
*uw > //, *aw > /0/ [see 3.3.5.3a]). In intervocalic position it is
partly preserved as a consonant (e.g. ybky = /yabkiyu/ 'he weeps'
[G-PC 1 3.m.sg.]), partly the relevant triphthong is contracted. Which
triphthongs in particular remain and which are contracted is still not
clearly explained 74 in spite of extensive research. 70 It seems that occasionally paradigmatically identical forms occur both with and without contraction.
Forms III-; and III-jy verbs are usually orthographically identical.
Some indications of different paradigms of these two classes are provided however by forms such as atwt atawat/ (y'tw) 'she came'
( K T U 1.4 = R S 2.[008]+ iv 32) versus mgyt /magayat/ ^mgy) 'she
arrived' ( K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+ ii 23, etc.).

misleading. Ugaritic 'L'-stems correspond to the III and VI verbal stems of Arabic
neither in form nor in function.
70
The II? forms in the derived stems are the same as II-w forms.
71
Shortening of the long vowel between the first and third radical when the syllable in question is closed, e.g. PC * /yaqum/ and PC L/S 3.f.p1. /laqumn/, analogically, impv. m.sg. /qum/, PC S II-j /tait/, impv. m.sg. U-y /it/.
72
Before personal endings beginning with a consonant, either Iqam-I < *qmor /q/m/ (cf. Heb. bnt [byn 'to understand', G-SC l.c.sg.]). The same applies
analogously to the SC-forms of the derived stems.
73
Uncontracted forms of the type *qyim or *q'im are unattested.
74

75

See

SIVAN

1984

and

VERREET

1985,

330-41.

The rules concerning triphthongs in respect of noun forms (cf. 3.3.5.3b) cannot be transferred to verbs without being modified.

O n the basis of comparative linguistics, one can conclude that in


P C as well as in SC different thematic vowels existed (III-w: / u / and
/a/; III^: /i/ and /a/). In III-y the commonest type was definitely
*yaqtiy- (PC) versus *qataya (SC), in III-w *yaqtuw- (PC) versus *qatawa
(SC).
Significant forms of the lll-y paradigm, basic stem (Ibny 'to build'):
PC
yabmyu (PC1); yabnf6 (PCS).
impv. b'n (m.sg.); niy or bvn (f.sg.); bVniy or bVn (m.pl.).77
SC

ptc.
inf.

banaya or (rarely) ban (3.m.sg.); banayat or bant (3.f.sg.); banta

(2.m.sg.); banay (3.m.pl.).


bniyu/a (m.sg. nom./acc.); bniyi (m.sg. gen.); bnt- (f.sg.).78
banyu/i/a

or

ban//.

i. T h e paradigm of weak geminate verbs (II-gem.) still presents m a n y


uncertainties. In the basic stem they are both 'strongly' constructed
forms, i.e. forms with reduplicated 2nd = 3rd radical, and 'weak'
forms, i.e. forms with doubled 2nd = 3rd radical. Doubled consonants, when final, are reduced to a single consonant. T h e distribution of strong and weak forms is not as in classical Arabic. However,
there are parallels with the H e b r e w paradigm for II-gem.
Significant forms of the II-gem. paradigm, basic stem iysbb 'to go
round'):
PC

with endings: yasubb- (e.g. PC1 3.m.sg. yasubbu).


without endings: yasbub or yasub < *yasubb.

impv.
SC
ptc.

sub < *subb (m.sg.); subb (m.pl.).


sabba (3.m.sg.); sabbata (2.m.sg.);80 sabbanVy (I.e.du),
sbib-.

Forms of the derived stemsas far as can be ascertainedare strong


throughout. In agreement with H e b r e w (plel = p c e c ) it is possible
that instead of or alongside 'usual' D-stems (D, Dp, tD) the Ugaritic
II-gem. verbs form so-called 'lengthened stems' (D*, Dp*, tD*), 8i e.g.
76
Analogously III-w: PC s j 3.f.sg. tdu /tad'/ < *tad'uw 'she flew' (KTU 1.16 =
RS 3.325+ vi 6.7).
77
Analogously III-w: du /ds'/ (m.sg.) (KTU 1.19 = RS 3.322+ iii 28); di /di/
< *ds'iyi (f.sg.) (KTU 1.16 = RS 3.325+ 48); du /d$'/ < *ds'uy (m.pl.) (KTU
1.19 = RS 3.322+ iii 14).
78
Analogously III-;: dit /d't-/ (KTU 1.108 = RS 24.252:8).
79
II -gem. verbs which are also I- provide an exception: all the forms have a
reduplicated 2nd = 3rd radical, e.g. tlt/latut/ < *lanlut 'they (3.f.du.) trembled'
(KTU 1.3 = RS 2. [014]+ iii 33, etc.).
80
Cf. Heb. sabbot < *sabbt.
81
For the term 'lengthened stem' and the sigla see g.

D*-PC *yusabib- instead of D-PC *yusabbib- (vowel lengthening instead


of consonant lengthening). T h e orthography is ambiguous.
j . Only a few Ugaritic verbs have four radicals. T h e three most
important formations are Crr/l-C3-C4,82
b) Ci-C 2 -C r C 2 83 u n d c) Cr
C2-C3-C3.84 T h e forms of types (b) and (c) are conventionally understood as 'reduplicated stems' (R-stems) of roots with three or two
radicals. 85
3.4.5
3.4.5.1

Particles86
Adverbs

a. Adverbs of place:
tm, tmt, tmn, tmny. 'there'; 7, cln 'above'; I pnm 'before'; b'dn 'behind';
atr '(directly) after'; pnm 'within/inside'.
b. Adverbs of time:
ht, htm, cnt 'now'; idk, ap(.)hn, apnk, b km 'then; thereupon; a!}r
'after(wards), later', atr '(directly) after'; ahrm 'in succession'(P); clm
'on the following/next (day)' (alternatively: 'further').
c. Modal adverbs:
k, kd, kmt 'thus, in this way'; Ibdm 'alone'.
d. Interrogative and indefinite adverbs:
iy, i, 'where?'; an 'whither?'; ik, ikm, iky, 'how? why?'; Im 'what for?
why?'.
3.4.5.2

Prepositions

T h e Ugaritic prepositions mostly denote an adverbial position but


in connection with certain verbscan also be used directionally.
T h e y can then fundamentally express both directions, terminative
and ablative. 87
82 <grd (KTU
1.14 = RS 2.[003+] i 11.23: SC grd); ^lprsh (KTU 1.2 = RS
3.367 iv 22.25: SC [probably N-stem] yprsh).
83 <gtgl (KTU 1.13 = RS 1.006:33: SC glgl)\ -Jgrgr (KTU 1.23 = RS 2.002:66:
PC tgrgr); Ihmhm (KTU 1.17 = RS 2.[004] i 40.41: SC hmhmt); ylkrkr (KTU 1.4 =
RS 2.[008]+ iv 29: PC ykrkr, <qiqi)\ (KTU 1.114 = RS 24.258:5: PC yqtql).
84 ylshrr (KTU 1.3 = RS 2. [014]+ 17; KTU 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+ ii 24, etc.:
SC shut).
85
See t / T 9.41-2.
86
On this topic see especially A A R T U N 1974, 1978.
87
On this topic see P A R D E E 1975, 1976.

a. monoconsonantal prepositions:
b (also: by), syll. bi-i /b/ 'in, at, on, with, from'; / (also: ly), syll.
le-e // (or / l e / ) 'towards, for, against; from; away from; to';
k /ka/ with the (lengthened) variant kmm 'as, like'.
b. prepositions formed from bi- or triconsonantal roots:
yd /yada/ 'next to, together (with)'; 'm /'imma/ '(together) with;
towards'; bn /bna/ 'between'; cd /cad/('?) 'until'; 7 /Cal// 'upon;
towards; down from; away from'; tht /tahta/ 'under, beneath'; qdm
/qudma/(?) 'before; in front of'; b'd /ba'da/ 'behind'; atr /'at(a)ra/
'in the wake of; (directly/immediately) after'; tk /tk/(?) '(right) in
the midst of; into'; qrb /qarba/ 'in the interior; into'.
c. Composite prepositions: (preposition b or / + noun):
bd /bdi/ < *bi yadi ' i n / f r o m the hand of; from'; b tk /bi tki/ 'in
the midst of'; b qrb /bi qarbi/ 'in the midst of'. I p /li p/ 'according to, in the m a n n e r of'; I pn /li pan/ 'to the front of; before;
before (temporal); away from (spatial)'; I p'n /li paen/ 'at (both)
feet of; (low) before'; I ir /li in/ 'on top of; on; onto (movement); from o f f / o n (movement)'; I bl /li bal/ 'without'.
d. Prepositions can be lengthened by the enclitic particles -m or -90
with no essential change in meaning. T h e forms b-m, k-m, l-m, cm-m,
l-n und cm-n are attested. T h e y are especially favoured in poetry.
3.4.5.3

Conjunctions

a. coordinating:
- w /wa/ 'and; but': copulative conjunction.
p /pa/ 'and t h e n / t h e r e u p o n / c o n s e q u e n d y ' : copulative conjunction;
it marks a temporal or logical sequence. 90
- ap (extended variant: apn) 'thus, just as; even'. 91
- u /'0/ < *}aw 'or': disjunctive conjunction.
b. subordinating:
- ahr 'after': to introduce a temporal clause.
- id 'when; as soon as': to introduce a temporal clause.
c
d 'while; as long as; until': to introduce a temporal clause.
88
89
90
91

See d.
See 3.4.5.9.
On Ugaritic p see W A T S O N 1990e, 1994e.
Also functions as an asseverative particle.

- hm /him/ with the phonetic variant im /'im/ 'if, in case': to introduce a conditional clause.
k /k/ (variant spelling: ky) 1. 'because': to introduce a causal
clause; 2. 'that': to introduce an object clause; 3. 'as, when i f : to
introduce a temporal or conditional clause.
- km /kma/ 'as; as soon as'.
- him !; as; as soon as'.
3.4.5.4

Interjections

- Presentation particles ('lo!'): hn (extended variants: hnn\ hnny); hi


(extended variants: him, hin, hlk); mk.92
- vocative particles: y /y/\ l (cf. 3.4.4.2.4c).
i /'/ 'truly!' (only in oaths); an 'oh!' (exclamation).
3.4.5.5

Asseverative particles

- k, al, dm, I, mc: 'truly!; certainly!'.


3.4.5.6

Optative particles

- I /l/ (alternatively: /la/):


sive (PC s j/e).
- ahl: 'alas!; if only!'.
3.4.5.7

proclitic optative particle before a jus-

Negatives

- / / l a / : for negating words and verbal clauses. 93


- al /'al/: for negating volitive verbal clauses (only before P C s j / e ) .
bl /bal/ (extended variant: bit): for negating words and noun clauses;
in verbal clauses only in an interrogative sense.
3.4.5.8

Existential particles

- it /'it/ < *'itay: 'there is/are'.


- in /'na/ < *'ayna (extended variants: inm; inn): 'there is/are not'.

92

Alternatively: 'then, after that' (adverb of time).

93

WATSON

1991C.

3.4.5.9

Enclitic particles

T h e most important enclitic particles in Ugaritic are -m,94 -n, -y, -k


and -t. T h e enclitics -m and -n, which are by far the most frequent,
serve generally to emphasise certain constituents of a sentence. T h e
enclitic -y obviously acts as a marker of direct speech; 95 -k and -t
occur chiefly in connection with pronouns and adverbs. 96
(Translation: W.G.E.

94

Watson)

O n which see W A T S O N 1992c, 1 9 9 4 F .


See T R O P P E R 1994a.
96
Note the special abbreviations: C = any consonant; c. = common gender; obi. =
oblique case; PC = prefix conjugation; PC S = short form of the prefix conjugation;
PC s e = lengthened short form of the prefix conjugation (cohortative); PC s j = short
form of the prefix conjugation with jussive function; PC s p = short form of the prefix
conjugation with perfective-preterite function; PC1' = long form of the prefix conjugation; PV = vowel of prefix; SC = suffix conjugation; SCp = fientic sub-type
of the suffix conjugation; SCs = stative sub-type of the suffix conjugation; syll. =
syllabic; T V = thematic vowel; V - any vowel.
95

U g a r i t i c

W i l f r e d

4.1

L e x i c o g r a p h y

G . E .

W a t s o n

Previous work

Not unexpectedly, the meanings of Ugaritic words have been a matter for discussion and analysis right from the earliest days of Ugaritic
studies and it is due to the difficulties inherent in these texts that
many words remain unexplained to this day. Several surveys of previous studies are available 1 and there is no need to repeat all this
material here. As yet, the only complete dictionary is Aistleitner's
Wrterbuch der ugartischen Sprache (1963, etc.). T h e only other comparable 'dictionary' is the glossary which formed part of Gordon's series
of handbooks to Ugaritic: with each new edition, the glossary was
revised as new texts were discovered and different solutions were
proposed. 2 Like the Wrterbuch, Gordon's glossary listed all the words
found in the Ugaritic texts discovered at the time, including personal and place names. Partial glossaries are to be found in Segert's
g r a m m a r ( S e g e r t 1984, 175-205) and in the various translations of
the Ugaritic texts now available. 3 Specialised glossaries are included
in studies on the following: the hippiatric texts, 4 the ritual texts. 5 Also
important are the studies of prepositions 6 and the particles 7 and in
spite of its age, d e M o o r 1971 remains a mine of lexical information.
Of particular interest are the study of terms connected with textiles used in the Ugaritic texts ( R i b i c h i n i - X e l l a 1 9 8 5 ) and the
discussion of terms for sheep and goats ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1 9 9 3 ,
1 8 3 - 9 7 ) and of terms for sacrifice ( d e l O l m o
L e t e
1 9 9 5 ) . Useful,
too, are Pardee's listing of lexical items with bibliography ( P a r d e e
1987) and the studies of syllabic spellings. 9 T h e personal names of
8

DE M O O R

GORDON

DRIVER

not
4

TO

1 9 7 3 ; DEL O L M O L E T E 1965

1955;

(1967);

1940;

GIBSON

1978;

1947

SANMARTIN
and

1988; WATSON

1995a.

1955.

DEL O L M O

LETE

1981;

TO

II

and

C A R T U

but

I.

COHEN

SIVAN

1983;

PARDEE

1985.

See

also

SANMARTIN

1988b

and

COHEN

1996.
5

DEL O L M O

PARDEE

LETE

1975,

AARTUN

1974,

See

review

HUEHNERGARD

the

1992a,

1976,

20-1

1999,

00-0;

XELLA

1981.

1979.

1978.
b y DURAND
1987b;

SIVAN

1990.
1984a;

see review by

HUEHNERGARD

1987a.

Ugarit are also a source of lexical items even though their meaning
may not have been noticed overtly either by those who gave them
or by those who bore them. T h e classic collection by G r o n d a h l
( G r o n d a h l 1967) is a useful if somewhat dated reference work in
this respect. Some recent studies have provided additional material. 10
T o p o n y m s also contribute lexical items but their origins are more
difficult to ascertain."
Several series of articles on Ugaritic lexical problems have been
written by various authors, some of which are to be continued, 1 2 as
well as sets of studies on Ugaritic semantics. 13 T h e r e are many notes
and articles on individual words or groups of words which cannot
be listed here. 14 It is very helpful when a study is devoted to words
belonging to a particular semantic field: sociology ( R a i n e y 1963),
fabrics and dyes ( v a n S o l d t 1990), sacrifice ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1995),
crafts ( S a n m a r t i n 1995) and the army ( V i t a 1995a). For various reasons, some words receive more attention than others, for example,
words which occur in the mythological texts. 15 A reverse glossary
(English-Ugaritic) is provided in UT, 530-7. 1 6
In recent years actual dictionaries are starting to be published.
O n e is the Diccionario de la lengua ugartica (DLU) by del O l m o Lete
and Sanmartin, a two-volume work of which the first volume has
appeared and the second is at an advanced stage of preparation.
Another is Cohen's Comprehensive Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language, as
yet unpublished. 1 7 T h e third such lexicon (UHw), ] R which was initiated in Mnster at Ugarit-Forschungen several years ago, will soon
be ready for publication but is available in the form of a word-list
19
( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1996b).
1990a, 1990b, 1993, 1995b, 1996a.

10

WATSON

11

S e e ASTOUR

1 9 8 7 ; cf.

12.2.

and D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z SANMARTIN; bibliography in SEL


5 1988, 2-12. Many of their studies are concerned with differentiating homonyms.
12

DIETRICH -

AARTUN

1968,

LORETZ

1984,

1985,

1 9 9 1 ; BERGER

1978, 1979, 1980, 1988;

XELLA

GREENFIELD 1 9 6 7 , BADRE

BORDREUIL

1984, WATSON
13

14

See

now

1978,

1 9 7 0 ; MARGAI.IT

1978b, 1980. See also


MUDARRES

1 9 8 2 ; SANMARTIN
DE

MOOR

1977,

1965, 1979,

AJJAN - V I T A L E 1 9 7 6 ,

RENFROE

etc.

DEL O L M O L E T E

1 9 8 4 ; SANMARTIN

1973.

See, for example, W A T S O N 1996c.


15
E.g. lmm, which denotes a type of sacrifice, has 25 entries in P A R D E E 1987, 410.
16
A semantic glossary is provided in C A R T U ,
177-92.
17
As mentioned in SIVAN 1997, xix.
18 Ugatisches Handwrterbuch.
19
Supplemented by the extremely helpful 'glossary' in D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z 1996a,
543926. Card indices of lexical material are also held in research institutes (see,
for example, R I B I C H I N I - X E L L A 1985, 1 1 ) .

4.2

The texts

T h e texts under discussion are, of course, those in Ugaridc found


at Ras Shamra, Ras Ibn Hani and elsewhere (conveniently collected
in KTU'2), supplemented by more recent discoveries. T h e Akkadian
texts are relevant chiefly for the lexical material they provide, either
directly (as in the lexical texts) or indirectly (see K h n e 1974, 1975).
O f particular interest is the treaty 20 ( K T U 3.1 = R S 11.722+) of
which large sections in Ugaritic correspond to its Akkadian exemplars (RS 1 1.732, 17.227, 17.382; K n o p p e r s 1993 with previous bibliography). It can also be noted that some Ugaritic letters may in
fact be translations from Akkadian, Egyptian and Hittite.

4.3

Problems

Aside from the large n u m b e r of words which are known from comm o n Semitic (um, 'mother', klb, 'dog', etc.)21 it is difficult to determine the m e a n i n g of m a n y lexical items in Ugaritic for several
reasons. For one thing, the corpus is small and the range of significant
contexts is accordingly quite limited. Also, vowels (aside from the
use of the three aleph signs, 'a, 'i, 'u) are not indicated, and it is therefore not always easy to distinguish homographs. While prose and
verse texts share much of the vocabulary (e.g. thm, 'message'), certain
words are found only in non-literary contexts (e.g. gzl 'spinner' [ K T U
4.358 = RS 18.048:9]) whereas others occur only in verse (e.g klat
'both' [ K T U 1.1 = RS 3.361 iv 10 etc.]; phi 'stallion' [ K T U 1.4 =
R S 2.[008]+ iv 5.9.15, etc.]; rt 'dirt' [ K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+
29, etc.]). 22 M a n y words are difficult or obscure, or have uncertain
etymologies, e.g. ilqsm, bnn, b^r, gml, gpr, ddym, dnt II, dqr, dnt, kb, kbm,
kdr, kmlt, knh, kpsln, krln, cbk, cprt, crgz, ctrb, gb, gbt, gprt, dmt,23 tkt, etc.,
and the meanings of others (aktn, agzr, aqhr, askrr, idm, idrp, idt, udbr,
unk, Cd, etc.) cannot as yet be determined. Some words occur in broken or difficult contexts, e.g. hkm, hnn, hsm, htn, kdt, gbz, gbt, gdm (see
DLU for details). With the discovery of new texts, previously unknown
words continue to be added to the lexicon but the meanings of these

20

O r letter accompanying a treaty ( K N O P P F . R S 1 9 9 3 ) .


Even here there can be false assumptions, as SANMARTIN ( 1 9 9 6 ) has shown in
respect of ahl which means 'town' (Akkadian alum) rather than 'tent' (as in Hebrew).
22
For the vocabulary of the Ugaritic letters see C U N C H I L L O S 8.1.5.
21

23

But see WYATT

1992C.

can also be uncertain, e.g. udn, 'to give ear', ghr, 'to sound forth(?)',
zb, 'to foam(?)', qnn, perhaps 'to stand up', in RS 92.2014 ( P a r d e e
1997a, 327-8)

4.4

Principles

In view of the vast literature on Ugaritic lexicography and the often


conflicting or at least divergent conclusions reached by scholars, there
have been several attempts to set out solid methodological principles
for the determination of meanings. 24 These are discussed here briefly.
O n c e the conect reading of the text has been established, the context is
of crucial importance. In fact, all agree that context is the most
important single element for ascertaining what a word may mean.
Syllabic spellings must also be taken into account, 25 and finally, comparative philology can be used. For this approach to be valid a set of
rules must be applied: context is more significant than etymology;
without context, etymology can only uphold a hypothetical proposal;
phonological rules should only be flouted with supporting evidence;
words in another language may not necessarily have the same meaning in Ugaritic; homographs and homonyms should be assumed only
as a last resort; syntagmata and idioms as well as words need to be
compared; a distinction must be made between the (archaic) poetic
texts and the language of the letters, rituals and administrative texts;
in the poetic texts it is important to determine stichometry and parallelism; in general, the rules of g r a m m a r and syntax should be
applied. Finally, non-linguistic evidence should not be neglected.
Some illustration of these principles is provided below.

4.5

Use of cognate languages

Comparison with other Semitic languages can provide a significant


contribution to determining the meanings of words, but a degree of
caution is required. Healey has surveyed the contributions available from Hebrew, Phoenician, Arabic, Akkadian, South Arabian 2 6
and Ethiopie ( L e s l a u 1 9 6 8 ) , particularly Aramaic and Syriac 1 9 8 8 ) . 2 7

24

HELD

25

See S I V A N 1984a; H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b.


See especially R E N D S B U R G 1 9 8 7 .

26

1959,

1 6 9 ; DE M O O R

1973,

98;

PARKER

1979-80.

His conclusion, though, is that context is 'the ultimate arbiter'. 2 8


Arabic has been much used (and misused) as a resource for determining the meaning of Ugaritic words. This approach has been
examined in detail by Renfroe 2 9 who has shown that there are many
genuine Arabic-Ugaritic isoglosses but an equal if not greater number of spurious ones. In many cases we may simply have to say that
there is insufficient evidence for any firm conclusions. It always has
to be remembered that the meaning of a word in a cognate language cannot simply be transferred to Ugaritic and at times is no
more than a guide. T h e same applies to the contribution from Eblaite
(Sanmartin

1991).

4.6 Methodolog))
T h e first task necessary before resolving the meaning of a Ugaritic
word is to survey all previous attempts, which is often very timeconsuming, with no guarantee of complete coverage. T h e scholar
must then establish the correct reading on the tablet, determine the
context, perhaps use etymology based on established language laws,
refer to a wide range of Semitic languages, if necessary, use other
languages (including Egyptian, Hittite, Hurrian, and even Sanskrit
and Sumerian) and avoid the multiplication of homonyms and homographs. These rules, however, are an over-simplification. In practice,
several other factors need to be taken into account, as the following examples show.

4.7

Selected examples

Some examples can help to illustrate the above. Evidence from cognate (Semitic) languages can come from Phoenician ( d e l O l m o L e t e
1 9 8 6 ) , Hebrew, Akkadian, Aramaic and Arabic as well as from such
languages as Ethiopie 30 and even Syriac. For example, the verb nsr,
parallel to bky 'to weep' ( K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi 4-5), can be
explained from Syriac n'sar/nasar, 'to sigh, groan, m u r m u r , howl,
shriek, lament'. 3 1 Choice of the correct cognate is important; for
27

HEALEY

1988.

28

HEALEY

1988,

29

RENFROE

30
31

68.

1985, 1986a, 1986b, 1989, 1992.


See D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 199Id on 'r.
H E A L E Y 1 9 7 6 ; SANMARTIN 1 9 7 8 , 4 5 1 . However, cf.

WYATT 1998C, 237,

n.

280.

instance in the expression b bz'zm ( K T U 1 . 8 0 = RS 1 5 . 0 7 2 : 4 ) which


could mean 'from the booty of goats', in view of Heb. baz, 'plunder,
spoil' (HALOT, 117). However, in the contexta list of sacrifices
it is more likely to mean 'a young animal from the udder of the
goats', i.e. an unweaned kid, where Ugaritic bz is an isogloss of
Arabic buzz, Jewish-Aramaic bzz3, etc. all denoting 'teat' ( S a n m a r t i n
1 9 7 9 , 7 2 3 - 4 ) . Extra-linguistic evidence can also help determine meanings, for example, glp may denote murex used as a body-dye, since
this type of shellfish was common near Ras Shamra ( d e M o o r 1 9 6 8 ) .
Correct syntactic analysis is important for determining the meanings of words as shown by Husser ( H u s s e r 1995) in respect of atr
in I'pr dmr atrh K T U 1.17 = RS 2.[004] i 2 7 - 8 (and par.). This
expression has been understood in various ways but because of the
parallelism with the previous line (lars mssu qtrh, 'who makes his spirit
come out towards the earth'), which refers to correct burial, the
preposition I also means 'to(wards)'. It is probably to be translated
'who protects his step towards the dust', and therefore atr cannot
mean 'place', 'shrine' or even 'sanctuary'. T h e meaning of a word
can depend on several factors including the structure of a text and
recognition of the correct meaning of another word in the same passage. For instance, in K T U 4.392 = RS 18.130, prs means neither
'steering pole (of a chariot)' nor 'horse' but more probably a type
of 'ration': Ihms mrkbt hm csrh prs bt mrkbt, 'For the five chariots of
the five divisions: ten />r-rations from the chariot-house', since hm
C
rh does not mean 'fifteen' but 'five divisions (of the army)' followed
by the numeral 'ten' ( V i t a 1996).32 It is also important to compare
not just isolated words but syntagmata in Ugaritic with those in another
(Semitic) language. Del O l m o Lete has provided a list of syntagmata
common to Ugaritic and Phoenician. 33 O f interest, too, is the term
hrs which occurs in the economic texts in connection with chariots
(e.g. K T U 4.145 = RS 15.034:8-9) as a syntagm in the form w.hrs
and means 'precisely, exactly', a usage borrowed from Akkadian. 34
T h e personal names provide a wealth of vocabulary, with many
items not otherwise attested, e.g. rgln ( K T U 4.619 = RS 19.047:7),

32

T h e text remains difficult because the term ant (line 2) is not yet understood.
1986b, 46~7 = 1996a, 32-3. For comparison with a syntagm
from Aramaic cf. W A T S O N 1992d.
34
DEL O L M O L E T E 1979; cf. V I T A 1995a, 57.
33

DEL O L M O L E T E

which is formed from the word rgl, 'leg'. T h e same applies to placenames such as bir, 'well' ( K T U 1.91 = RS 19.015:29, etc.). For both
types of names syllabic spellings can be of use in determining meanings.

4.8

Lexical tablets

Of considerable importance are the polyglot vocabularies which have


been found in Ugarit. These list the equivalents of words in four
languages (Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian and Ugaritic) and in five
of the eight tablets discovered so far, the Ugaritic column has been
preserved (details in H u e h n e r g a r d 1987b, 21-3). According to
Huehnergard, about 114 Ugaritic words have been vocalized in syllabic cuneiform spellings. For example:
Sumerian

Akkadian

Hurrian

Ugaritic

Meaning

UL
EZEN

et-lu
za-am-ma-r35

u-ta-an-ni
hal-mi

ba-ah-hu-r
si-i-ru

'youth'
'song' 36

T h e sources for the vocalization of Ugaritic are (1) the three aleph
signs, (2) syllabic spellings of Ugaritic words and to a lesser extent
(3) comparative Semitics. T h e aleph signs give some indication of the
associated vowels (or the absence of a vowel; see 4.3.2.2). T h e syllabically written Ugaritic words and names are particularly helpful.
T h e list of such items in v a n S o l d t (1991a, 301-8) has 156 entries.
H u e h n e r g a r d provides a glossary with approximately 280 entries
(Huehnergard
1987b, 103-94). Similarly, S i v a n 1984, 185-295,
although his sources are not confined to texts found at Ras Shamra
(see 4.5). 3 ' Reference to other Semitic languages can only provide
an indicadon of possible spellings and has to be used with caution.

4.9

Non-Semitic words in Ugantic

T h e city of Ras Shamra was a melting pot of several nationalities


speaking different languages and both court and administration dealt
with documents in several languages. In ritual, particularly, sections
of text were written in Hurrian and Hurrian words occur liberally

As H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 97 notes, za-am-ma-r stands for zamru (the double


-mm- is incorrect) and all the forms are nouns rather than infinitives.
36
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 7 4 7 - 5 3 : 'Appendix C : The lexical texts at Ugarit'.
37
See VAN S O L D T 1989d for review.
35

in the Ugaritic texts. It is not suprising, then, that m a n y words in


the Ugaritic lexicon are in fact b o r r o w e d f r o m H u r r i a n , occasionally f r o m Hittite a n d m o r e rarely f r o m Egyptian or f r o m other nonSemitic languages. O v e r the years m o r e a n d m o r e such words have
been identified. 3 8 T h u s , although most Ugaritic lexical items have a
Semitic etymology, several are (or m a y be) of non-Semitic origin.
S o m e of these words are listed here u n d e r the following headings:
(1) H u r r i a n words, (2) Hittite words, (3) Egyptian words, (4) Sumerian
words, (5) I n d o - E u r o p e a n words, (6) words from other languages.
4.9.1 H u r r i a n words include alhn, 'steward' ( K T U 4.392 = R S
18.130:4; cf. K T U 4 . 1 0 2 = R S 11.857:25; K T U 4 . 3 3 7 = R S
18.024:11) b o r r o w e d f r o m H u r r o - U r a r t i a n allae-hhi-nn, 'housekeeper',
all, '(festive) g a r m e n t ' ( K T U 1.12 = R S 2.[012] ii 47, etc.), H u r r i a n
allu (Neu 1996, 314, . 22); itnn, 'gift' ( K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244:74),
Hurrian uatnannuf grbz, 'helmet' ( K T U 4.363 = R S 18.055:2), Hurrian
gurpisi; hdm, 'footstool' ( K T U 1.3 = R S 2.[014] + ii 22, etc.), H u r r i a n
atm ( W a t s o n 1996b); hbrt, 'vessel, container' ( K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008] +
ii 9), H u r r i a n hubrushi; hptr, 'pot, c a u l d r o n ' (K TU 1.4 ii 8), H u r r i a n
huppataru; hrd, 'warrior', Hurrian huradi/e ( S t i e g l i t z 1981); kht, 'throne'
( K T U 1.2 = R S 3.367 i 23, K T U 1.4 vi 51 etc.), 40 probably H u r r o U r a r t i a n ; kkrdn, ' c h e f ' ( K T U 4.126 = R S 14.084:27); kmn, '(a surface measure)' ( K T U 1.3 = R S 2. [014]+ iv 38 etc.), H u r r i a n kumnw,
llh ( K T U 4.363 = R S 18.055:5) denotes part of trappings or harness, H u r r i a n lulahhi, (DLU, 245); gr, 'total', H u r r i a n heyar; pg[n)dr,
'a type of fabric' ( K T U 4.270 = R S 17.111:10), H u r r i a n pahandam-f
tbl, 'smith' ( K T U 4.790 = R S 86.2235:15), Hurrian tabid- ( D i e t r i c h L o r e t z 1990); tgpt, 'fe1t(?)' ( K T U 4.183 = R S 15.116 ii 10, etc.),
H u r r i a n tahape ( W a t s o n 1995c, 540); tkt, 'chariot' ( K T U 1.4 = R S
2. [008]+ 7, etc.), H u r r i a n uktu ( L o r e t z 1996). Note that some
words are Semitic with H u r r i a n endings, e.g. hdgl, 'arrowsmith' ( K T U
4.138 = R S 15.016:2, etc.) which is a H u r r i a n form of U g . hz,
'arrow' with the Hurrian -(hii)li ending ( S a n m a r t i n 1995, 179). Others

38

See the list provided by DE M O O R 1973, 98. Not all are correct, of course.
For additional material the indices of Ugarit-Forschungen and other periodicals may
be consulted. For a survey see W A T S O N 1995c, 1996c. See also P A R D E E 1996.
30
Borrowed through Middle Assyrian utnannu: cf. VON S O D E N 1988.
40
However, cf. DEL O L M O L E T E
SANMARTIN 1 9 9 5 .
41

DIETRICH -

LORETZ

1977;

RIBICHINI

XELLA

1985,

61.

are Semitic words in H u r r i a n guise, e.g. kid, 'bow' ( K T U 4.277 =


R S 17.141:1) is a form of qatu, 'bow' ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1978b).
4.9.2 Hittite words: ans, 'small of the back' ( K T U 1.3 = R S 2. [014] +
iii 3 5 ) , Hittite anaa ( d e M o o r 1 9 8 0 ) ; uiyn, '(an official)' ( K T U 6 . 2 9
= R S 1 7 . 3 6 4 : 3 ) , Hittite ur(/i]yanni; dgt, 'incense' ( K T U 1 . 1 9 =
RS
3 . 3 2 2 + iv 2 3 , etc.), Hittite tuhhui-/tuhf}uwai-;
htt, silver' ( K T U 1 . 1 4
= R S 2 . [ 0 0 3 ] + iv 1; K T U
1 . 1 4 ii 1 7 ) , Hittite (or Haitian) (fottu()-;
hndlt, '(coloured wool)' ( K T U 4 . 1 8 2 = R S 1 5 . 1 1 5 : 1 7 ) , Hittite siGhandala;
hsn, 'domestic' ( K T U 4 . 1 3 7 = R S 1 5 . 0 1 5 + : 1 . 1 0 ) , Hittite baann-;
mtyn, '(garment)' ( K T U 4 . 1 4 6 = R S 1 5 . 0 3 5 : 5 ) , Hittite
maiya\a
garment)' ( R i b i c h i n i - X e l l a 1 9 8 5 , 5 2 ) ; spsg, 'glass' ( K T U 1 . 1 7 =
R S 2. [004] vi 3 6 - 7 etc.), Hittite zapzagi-, which denotes precious
stones or a mineral ( N e u 1 9 9 5 ) ; tpnr, 'chief scribe' ( K T U 3 . 1 = R S
1 1 . 7 7 2 + : 3 2 ; K T U 4 . 4 4 = R S 9 . 4 5 3 : 2 8 ) , Hittite tuppanuri, etc.
4.9.3 Egyptian words: 4 2 br, ' b o a t , (war)ship' ( K T U 4.81 = R S
11.779:2-3, etc.); ht, ' b r e a d ' ( K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+:22), Egyptian
ht3 ( W a t s o n 1995a, 223-4); htt, 'silver' (see above), Egyptian hd; kw,
'drinking vessel' ( K T U 4.691 = R S 20.010:6), Egyptian kb; krk,
' p i c k a x e ' ( K T U 4 . 3 9 0 = R S 18.119:8 etc.), E g y p t i a n grg 'pick'
( S a n m a r t i n 1987b, 151); ktp, '(weapon)' ( K T U 1.6 = R S 2. [009] +
2); rr, p r a y ' (enclitic of entreaty; K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+ i
20, etc.), tkt, 'ship' ( K T U 4.81 = R S 11.779; K T U 4.366 = R S
18.074); etc.
4.9.4 Sumerian words: ad, 'father' ( K T U 1.23 = R S 2.002:32 etc.);
ilg, 'stone' ( K T U 4.751 = R S 29.096:11); ksu, 'seat, throne', ( K T U
1.3 vi 15 etc.), krs/su, '(a type of forage or fodder)' ( K T U 4.225 =
R S 16.198 [a]+:16); plk, 'spindle' ( K T U 1.4 ii 3.4), etc.
4.9.5 I n d o - E u r o p e a n / I n d o - A r y a n words: agn, 'cauldron' ( K T U 1.23
= R S 2 . 0 0 2 : 1 5 . 3 1 . 3 6 ) m a y be cognate with Sanskrit agni 'fire'; mryn
probably Indo-Aryan, e.g. Sanskrit marya, 'hero'; sm, 'king', ( K T U
1 . 2 2 = R S 2 . [ 0 2 4 ] i 1 8 ) ; ssw/ssw, 'horse' ( K T U 1 . 7 1 = R S 5 . 3 0 0 : 7
etc.), Sanskrit asva ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1 9 8 3 ) ; tnn, 'archer' ( K T U
4 . 3 5 = R S 8 . 1 8 3 + ii 1 1 etc.) a n d p e r h a p s others such as smrgt

42

WARD

1961

now needs updating.

'emerald', 43 Sanskrit marakata and Greek smaragdos (also found as maragdos), both meaning 'emerald' (WYATT 1 9 9 8 C , 9 1 , n. 9 0 ) .
4.9.6 Words from other languages: adr, 'door (?)' ( K T U 4.195 =
R S 15.184:5), explained by anduru of uncertain origin; 44 irp, 'vase,
container' ( K T U 4.123 = RS 13.014:20), is perhaps Hurro-Hittite,
unless to be explained by Egyptian irp, 'wine' and therefore, possibly, 'wine-container'; utiyn ( K T U 3.1 = R S 11.772+:30 has the syllabic spelling u-r[i-ia]-ni ( P R U 3 203 = R S 16.257+ iv 21) and may
derive from Hurrian, Hittite or some other language (cf. DLU, 62).
Generally speaking, in the case of some loanwords it is difficult
to know whether they have been loaned directly, or indirectly through
another language such as Akkadian, or even whether they are in
fact Kulturwrter or Wanderwrter. Some words may even have been
borrowed back from the language which initially borrowed them,
e.g. kht, 'throne', from Hurrian keshi, itself a loan from Semitic ksu
(DEL OLMO LETE - SANMARTIN 1995) and the same may apply to
mgn, 'gift' and mryn, 'warrior' ( O ' C O N N O R 1989). T h e r e were also
inner-Semitic borrowings, 45 and a distinction must be made between
cognates and actual loans, such as nmrt from Akk. namurratu, 'splendour' (PARDEE 1988b, 115).46

4.10

Homonyms

H o m o n y m s can be distinguished by context, comparative philology


and occasionally from syllabic spellings. Simple examples of homonyms
are bt 'house' and bt ' d a u g h t e r ' , both nouns; from comparative
Semitics and (where attested) syllabic spellings, it is possible to determine that the first word corresponds to / b t u / and the second to
/ b i t t u / (SIVAN 1984, 210.212). In the case of weak verbs it is also
difficult to determine the correct form of the root (e.g. does gl derive
from gll, gly or gyl?). Since the Ugaritic corpus is so small, it is quite
possible that a 'word' which occurs only a few times may have as

43

K T U 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ i 32, which is read mrfrt in KTU2.


Listed as = daltu, 'door' in C A D A / 2 , 117; AHw, 51a ( C E C C H I N I 1984, 47).
45
Including loans from Ugaritic to Akkadian, e.g. Ug. mit, 'oar', which was borrowed by Ugaritic Akkadian ( V I T A 1995b).
46
In K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252:21.24; nouns with preformative n- are Akkadian,
not Ugaritic, as P A R D E E notes (ibid.).
44

many different meanings. 47 Examples include b'r I, 'to burn', b'r II,
'to a b a n d o n ' (only in the D stem); 48 gl I, 'shout of joy', gl II, 'cup'
and gl III, '(type of field)'; ptt I, 'linen' and ptt II, '(make-up) case'
( K T U 4.247 = R S 16.399:22; SANMARTIN 1987a, 54, n. 7).
A clear example of the importance of distinguishing homonyms
(and incidentally of correct word division) is provided by
yrk tcl bgr
She climbed the mountain by the flank,
mslmt bgr tliyt by the incline, the immense mountain.
wfl bkm ban She climbed bkm, Araru,
bm an wbspn Araru, Sapnu,
bn'm bgr tliyt the fair, the immense mountain
(KTU 1.10 = RS 3.362+ iii 27-31)
Although the sequence bkm looks like the particle bkm, 'thereupon',
this is impossible here as such particles are never postpositive: they
always come first in the clause (RENFROE 1 9 9 2 , 58). Instead, here
km means 'hill, m o u n d ' (as proposed by AARTUN 1 9 6 8 , 2 9 1 ) and it
is preceded by the preposition b (as part of the syntagm cly + b, 'to
climb'). 49 Hence the third line should be translated 'She climbed the
m o u n d , Araru'. 5 0

4.11

Ghost words

Non-existent words are due to scribal error, false readings, incorrect


analysis or incorrect word division. Examples of words written incorrecdy are any ( K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ i 7-8) which is to be read
liny, a place-name and tdrs ( K T U 1.45 = RS 1.008+:5), to be read
tdrq, 'tread'. T h e word ski, 'vizier' in K T U 3.1 = R S 1 1.772+:38
2
(KNOPPERS 1993) may have to be read skn (so KTU ). A classic example is ulp, taken by some scholars to mean 'noble, chief or the like',
though it is really to be understood as u, 'and' + Ip, 'like' 51 or as
u + / + p, 'whether from the mouth o f (see 13.6.2). In some cases,
the word division is uncertain, e.g. the sequence grbtil ( K T U 1.19 =

47

See especially the studies by

DIETRICH -

LORETZ

and

DIETRICH

LORETZ

SANMARTIN.
4,1

DIETRICH

LORETZ

49

Cf.

1975,

PARDEE

SANMARTIN

1975.

362.

50

However, cf. DLU, 107.


Where tp is the preposition I + p, 'mouth'; cf.
2 9 1 - 2 , with bibliography.
51

DE M O O R

SANDERS

1991,

R S 3.322+ iii 47) could be analyzed as gr bt il 'resident in the house


of Ilu', as grbt il, 'leprosy of Ilu' 52 or even as grb til 'may you seek
asylum as a leper'; 53 kgmn may = k + gmn, 'like a funeral offering(?)'
or kgmn = Hurrian 'three-year old'. 54 O n the other hand, in K T U
1.96 = RS 22.225:1, most scholars corrected cnn to cnt[ 'Anat', thus
eliminating a previously unnoticed word which may mean 'evil eye'. 55

4.12

Future research

Although the core vocabulary of the Ugaritic texts is now understood to a large extent, there still remain many lexical items which
either need to be determined or require further clarification. For example, in the Keret epic, msb'thn bslh ttpl, ' T h e seventh of them fell
by (the) sW ( K T U 1.14 = R S 2. [003]+ i 20-1), it is uncertain
whether the deaths described refer to his wives or to his children or
indeed to the way the last victim died. T h e word slh could mean 'a
throwing weapon', 'a sword', 'war', 'lightning', the god 'Salhu', 'parapet' or a disease which affects babies (Babylonian ulhu). If the last
meaning applies, then this death must have affected Kirta's children,
which in turn is significant for the meaning of the epic (WATSON
1997c).
However, the task of determining the meaning and or etymology
of individual words is not simply a luxury for students of Ugaritic.
Scholars in other branches of Semitic studies or in other disciplines
frequently need to consult reference works on Ugaritic for their own
purposes. Examples include the compilers of DNWSI and HALOT or
of encyclopaedias of various kinds or of comparative studies (e.g.
H O C H 1994). It is important, therefore, to establish as accurately as
possible what Ugaritic words mean. O u r main difficulties in understanding correctly many a difficult passage are principally that there
is no similar passage in Ugaritic or that the context is uncertain. In
other words, the Ugaritic corpus is simply too small owing to lack
of texts. Future discoveries and continuing research are our only
hopes in this exercise.

52

HILLERS

53

RENFROE

1985.

1986, correcting amd, the first word of the line, to tmd. See

WATSON

1989a, 47~8.
54

DIETRICH -

55

DEL

6.5.3.

OLMO

LORETZ
LETE

SANMARTIN

1992b;

LEWIS

1976.

1996,

WYATT

1998c, 375 n. 1. See

SPRONK

U G A R I T I C W O R D S IN SYLLABIC

JOHN

TEXTS

HUEHNERGARD

E m b e d d e d within the syllabic cuneiform texts written by scribes at


Ugarit are over three hundred Ugaritic lexical items. These Ugaritic
forms appear in all genres of Akkadian texts.
In one group of syllabic cuneiform texts, those of the polyglot Syllabary A Vocabulary (Sa Voc.), the Ugaritic words were intentionally recorded by the scribes. T h e S a Voc. was a Mesopotamian lexical
series in which columns of individual cuneiform signs, in a fixed
order, were equated with one or more Akkadian words in a second
column (LANDSBERGER - H A L L O C K 1 9 5 5 ) . This lexical series was imported to scribal centres in the west, including Hattua, Emar, and
Ugarit. T h e Ugarit exemplars of the S a Voc. are unusual in that
they do not have merely the two columns of the exemplars found
elsewhere; instead, they add either one additional column giving lexical equivalents in Hurrian 1 or, more often, two additional columns
with equivalents in both Hurrian and Ugaritic. Six exemplars of this
quadrilingual type are known (VAN S O L D T 1 9 9 0 , 7 2 8 - 3 0 ) , on which
more than one hundred Ugaritic words are wholly or partly preserved. Thanks to the presence of Akkadian equivalents (and, when
those are broken away, the fixed order of the cuneiform signs), the
meanings of the Ugaritic words in the S a Voc. exemplars can be
established with more precision and certainty than is the case with
the Ugaritic lexical items attested in other text genres. Nearly all
parts of speech are attested a m o n g these forms as the examples on
p. 135 illustrate.
Apart from the S a Voc. exemplars, Ugaritic words appear in Akkadian texts either (a) as parts of the names of local geographical features or plots of land or, much more often, (b) by chance, essentially
lapsus calami in which the scribe either forgot the appropriate Akkadian
word and substituted a Ugaritic form or thought that the (Ugaritic)
form he was writing was proper Akkadian. T h e former group, which
by their nature are substantives and adjectives, occur in legal and

R S 21.062 (Ug 5 no. 135); also R S 94.2939, discussed by M. S A L V I N I and


B. A N D R - S A L V I N I at the 45th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Cambridge,
Mass., July 6 1998.

in
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in LH LO
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( Il C
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sa " + :3 + :S + :s
+
+ :=
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a h Il> 13 O
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CM co CM C
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/3 C/3 C/3 C C/3 C

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ci ci Ci 0 Ci 0
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o
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ja

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5

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Q

3
'S.

=3
3

3
'ci.
D.
jaa

CL

CL

a
o.

-S

CL

'3

ct
S
I
"3

S,
c

aI
a

>s

-D
! J

Q
D

a.

Q
D

13

_3

oo
a.

S
-Si

Q.

H
U

>

'o

c/3

js.
o

=e
jag

c
-S

-S

J
<

CQ

S3

1.

economic texts; many of them correspond to designations attested


in alphabetic texts, such that alphabetic gt X corresponds to syllabic
A. (me5/1,i ' a) * or ( ) AN.ZA.GR X (see H U E H N E R G A R D 1987a, 11
n. 51), as in
gt gwl = A.me
(/guw(w)1i/ 'circuit');
gt dpm = A.A-,ia d-ip-ra-ni-ma (/diprnrma/ 'junipers');
gt m'br = "AN.ZA.GR ma-ba-n (/ma'bari/ 'ford');
gt 'mq = [AN.ZA].GR: am-qa (/'amqa/ 'stronghold?');
gt gl = A.* 3 : hu-li (/gli/ 'low ground?').
T h e largest n u m b e r of Ugaritic words in syllabic texts, however, are
those that appear, seemingly at random, for an expected Akkadian
form. About a fourth of the Akkadian texts contain one or more
such Ugaritic words. T h e y are found in all genres, although they
are, understandably, relatively u n c o m m o n in texts that are copies of
Mesopotamian originals, i.e. lexical texts (other than the S a Voc.)
and literary texts; note, however, the following examples:
lexical EME.UR.GI 7 = la-a-nu UR.GI 7 me 'hound's-tongue' (a plant
name), with Ugaritic /1anu/ for Akkadian lin(u) (RS 22.034 +
349 = MSL 10 107ff. A, 110);
literary lip-hu-d-ma 'may they fear' RS 17.155 = Ug 5, no. 17a r. 7',
in which the root is Northwest-Semitic p-h/h-d 'to fear' (VON S O D E N
1969) but the form, as is usually the case in the few examples found
in literary texts, has been made to conform to an Akkadian paradigm (here, precative).
Ugaritic vocabulary is much c o m m o n e r in the many legal and economic texts written in syllabic cuneiform. Some economic texts contain several Ugaritic words, or even a preponderance of them (e.g.
RS 19.071= PRU 6, no. 114). An extreme instance is R S 17.240 =
PRU 6, no. 136, a list of men of different professions who are owed
a shekel (of silver), in which it is likely that every syllabically-written
word is Ugaritic; this text may be compared with the very similar
alphabetic text K T U 4.99 = R S 11.845, in which most of the same
terms occur, albeit in the plural and not in the same order:
RS 17.240 = PRU 6, no. 136
r 1 GN UG[U I
1 GN MIN 1[
1 GN MIN 1[
1 MIN '"[.TAM]
5

1 MIN

pa-[si-lu]

1 MIN '"SAN [GA]

KTU 4.99 = RS 11.845

pslm (line 17)

khnm (line 9)

1 MIN

^ma-h[i-s]

1 MIN ^karbi-s[]
1 MIN

10

na-ffi-ru

mf}sm (line 15)


kbm (line 7)
(cf. ngr krm in KTU 4.609 = RS
19.016.12)

1 MIN '> 5 (QA)-/a-%]


1 M I N xHa-si-[ru]
1 MIN

ia-q- [u]

ysrm (line 11) or

iu

ia-si- [hu] y shm

(line 19)
yqm (line 6)

1 MIN '"UGULA ma-[i


1 M I N ^mur- [

15

1 MIN lna-s[i-ku]

mru ibr^n* (line 12) and mru skn


(line 13)
nsk ksp (line 14)

As the examples cited thus far suggest, most of the Ugaritic forms
that occur in Akkadian texts (except for the S a Voc. quadrilinguals)
are nouns. A few finite verbs are also found, however, such as the
following suffix-conjugation forms:
G
D

3ms ta-ba-'a /taba'a/ 'he departed' RS 19.032 = PRU 6, no. 77:1;


3mp sa-ma-t /samat/ 'they devolved' RS 16.147 = PRU 3, 90b: 13;
3ms al/a-li-ma /a11ima/ 'it delivered' RS 20.012 = Ug 5, no. 96
passim,

?N 3mp na-ap-ta-ru /naptar/ 'they exchanged?' RS 15.123 + 16.152


= PRU 3, 89a:5.
T h e syllabically-written Ugaritic words are usually not identified as
such by any graphic device; they simply occur within an otherwise
Akkadian context, as in
ul-ma-tu GALme sa S'SM '4 large ship's hammers' (/hu1mtu/)'
RS 19.112 = PRU 6, no. 141:4;
'AN.ZA.GR TN (kVR<me) (la) al/a-li-ma 'the manor of TN has
(not) delivered (/sallima/) slaves' RS 20.012 Ug 5 no. 96, passim,
ma-a-ra sa TN 'and the tithe (/ma'ara/, acc.) of TN' RS 16.244
= PRU 3, 93b:7.
4

urudu

In many instances, however, the Ugaritic words are preceded by a


special sign that is written with two small angled wedges. This sign,
usually termed a 'gloss mark' Glossenkr), has several functions in
the syllabic texts from Ugarit (see H u e h n e r g a r d 1987a, 204-8), but
its most c o m m o n use is to mark the word that follows it as nonAkkadian (i.e. in all but a few examples, as Ugaritic). T h e gloss mark
is indicated by a colon in transliteration:
Emcs-/w KAme- sa : ma-a'-a-ri-a 'the grain and beer of its (sc. a
TN) tithe (/ma'sari/)' RS 16.153 = PRU 3, 146-7:10-1 (compare
the last example cited above);

i-na A. : ad-ma-ni 'in "redland (/'admni/) field'" RS 15.145 = PRU


3, 122-3:8, 12;
u -tu4 PN a-na 'MJLUGAL'-ft : sa-ma-ta 'and PN's field devolved
(/samata/) upon the queen' RS 15.086.15-16 = PRU 3, 51-2.
Most of the syllabically-written Ugaritic words are also attested in
alphabetic texts. O v e r one-fifth of the forms, however, are thus far
unknown in alphabetic form. In the case of some presumably comm o n words, such as the first example cited below, the absence of
an alphabetic attestation m a y be due to the poetic nature of m u c h
of the Ugaritic corpus.
ri-i\g]-lu /riglu/ 'foot' RS 20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137 i 10';
b[i]-f}i-ru UTUu-g[a-ri-it] 'the elite troops (/bihir/) of Ug[arit]' RS
17.432 = PRU 6, no. 71:5';
[k]a-ma-'a-\lu) /kama'tu/ 'truffles' RS 19.035B + = PRU 6, no. 159:3';
ti-ib-nu /tibnu/ 'straw' RS 20.149 = Ug 5, no. 130 iii 17'.

kimc5

Several Ugaritic consonantal p h o n e m e s do not occur in Akkadian.


T h e s e were generally represented in syllabic writings by signs whose
consonantal c o m p o n e n t approximated that of the Ugaritic sound:
/ 0 / appears only rarely, as in i-zi-ir-\tu^\ /'iirtu/ 'help' RS 20.149
= Ug 5, no. 130 iii 7';
/ 0 / is written with -signs: mu-a-bu /mo6abu/ 'seat' RS 20.123+ =
Ug 5, no. 137 iii 32"; ^u-uq-du(-)ma /9uqdu/ 'almond' RS 19.035B +
= PRU 6, no. 159:4'; ma--I}a-tu-ma /ma0hatma/ '(cloths)' RS
19.028 = PRU 6, no. 126:1;
/ z / probably appears in: zu-ur-PI /zurwu/ '(aromatic) resin' EA 48:8;
/ h / and / g / are written with -signs: ha-ra-^u} /harrau/ 'artisan' RS
20. 189a + ( L a r o c h e 1979b, 479) 7; fr-qu / h q u / 'lap' R S
20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137) i 9'; ^ha-ma-ru- / g a m a r u - h u / 'his
apprentice' RS 19.042 = PRU 6, no. 79, 11; /}u-ul-ma-tu4 /gu1matu/
'darkness' RS 20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137: i 15';
/ V , / h / , and / V are sometimes written with the Akkadian '-sign, as
in m-1 a-tu /ni J tu/ '(implements)' RS 19.135 = PRU 6, no. 142:2;
&meisa-'a-tu /s'tu/ '(wooden) bowls' RS 19.064 = PRU 6, no.
163: r. 4'; ma-a'-sa-H /ma'sari/ 'tithe' RS 16.153 = PRU 3, 146-7:11;
sometimes indicated by 'broken writings', as in ma-a-a-li /ma 5 a1i/
orac1e(?)' RS 15.092 = PRU 3, 54ff:25; tu-a-p-[ku] /tuhappiku/
'to be upset' RS 20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137: ii 23'; si-il-a /sil'a/
'c1iff(?)' RS 16.249 = PRU 3, 96ff.:5; and sometimes, especially
word-initially, not represented, as in a-na-ku /'anku/ RS 20.149 =
Ug 5, no. 130: iii 12'; -[P]I-[/]u 4 /huwtu/ 'word' RS 20. 189A +
( L a r o c h e 1979b, 479) 12; ab-du / ' a b d u / 'slave' R S 20.123+ = Ug
5, no. 137: iii 4.

T h e greatest linguistic benefit of the syllabically-written words is the


evidence they provide for the vocalization of Ugaritic. T h e y show,
for example, that the patterns of some Ugaritic words differed from
those of their Northwest Semitic and Arabic cognates, as in
da-ab-hu / d a b h u / 'sacrifice' RS 20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137: iii 6, versus
Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic *dibh\
: ma-ad-da-t /maddatu/ 'measurement' RS 17.022 + 087 = Ug 5,
no. 5:9, versus Hebrew midd;
a-du-r /'aduru/ 'mighty' RS 20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137: ii 34', versus
Hebrew 'addr.
A n u m b e r of phonological processes are also exposed by the vocalized syllabic forms. A m o n g these are
vowel assimilation around gutturals: tu--ru /tuhru/ < *tahru 'pure'
RS 20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137: ii 1; [ u ' r u d u ' m e J W ^ ' - [ j ] ^ W m e
/mihrsma/ < *mahsma '(implements)' RS 19.135 = PRU 6, no.
142:4; ta-a-ma-tu4 /tahmatu/ < *tihmatu 'sea' RS 20.123+ = Ug
5, no. 137: iii 34";
raising of a and before w and y: [h]u-V\-tu^ /huwwatu/ < *hawwatu
'land' RS 20.123+ = Ug 5, no. 137: ii 10'; h-V\-ma /hiyyma/ <
*hayyma 'life' RS 20.426c + 20 = Ug 5, no. 131:6';
optional syncope of short vowels in open syllables: na-ba-ki-ma and :
na-ab-ki-ma /nab(a)kma/ 'springs' RS 16.150 = PRU 3, 47a: 16 and
RS 16.263 = PRU 3, 49b:5;' [b]a-ma-ru-m[a] and 1meif}a-am-rumamei/gam(a)rma/ 'apprentices' RS 15.042 + 110 = PRU 3, 196:
i 1 and RS 25.428:6 (see PRU 6, 150 n. 3); -W-[<] 4 /antu/ <
*anatu 'year' RS 20. 189a + b ( L a r o c h e 1979b, 479) 11 (see v a n
S o l d t 1990b).
T h e Ugaritic vocabulary attested in Akkadian texts has been studied
in detail in B o y d 1975, S i v a n 1984a (see the reviews of H u e h n e r g a r d
1987b, v a n S o l d t 1989d), H u e h n e r g a r d 1987a (see the important
review of v a n S o l d t 1990b), and v a n S o l d t 1991a. Several studies of individual lexical items have also appeared, including, recendy,
Lambert
1988; S a n m a r t i n 1987b, 1992; v a n S o l d t 1989a; V i t a
1995b, 1996a; W e g n e r 1995; W i l h e l m 1992; X e l l a 1990.

UGARITIC STYLISTICS

Ugaritic

Meindert

1.1

Prose

Dijkstra

Introduction

It is rather difficult to give a precise definition of Ugaritic prose


texts. In general, they include all those texts that are assumed not
to be poetic texts, or at any rate do not reveal clear marks or criteria of poetry as found in the major Ugaritic myths and legends.
However, the distinction between poetry and prose is rather clear,
where poetic sections of myths and legends are interrupted by prose
sentences containing ritual prescriptions, instructions for performance
and recitation, or colophons ( K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+ le.edge, K T U
1.6 = R S 2.[009]+ vi 5 4 - 8 ; K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ le.edge, K T U
1.17 = R S 2. [004] le.edge). For instance K T U 1.4 4 2 - 3 : wtb
Imspr. . ktlakn glmm 'and repeat the recitation that the lads were sent'
and K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ vi. le.edge whndt.ytb.Imspr 'and this (passage) should be recited once more' (referring to the legend from iv
23 onwards). W e shall see that hndt is a typical prose word. A similar line of instruction is included in the myth of K T U 1.23 = R S
2.002.56 ytbn yspr 1hm 1slmm* wyr pf}r klat, ' O n e shall repeat the
recitation five times before the images and the congregation together
shall sing. . .'. K T U 1.23 is a good example of how prose ritual prescriptions are interspersed in a poetic text, particularly in the opening sections ( K T U 1.23.12, 14-5, 18-22), but in the expiation ritual
K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002+.35 the instruction w.tb.lmpsr 'and start to
recite again . . .' appears in a prose discourse.
T h e majority of documents published in KTUX and 2 are prose texts.
T h e largest group, the economic or administrative texts, usually contain lists of persons and cities, or villages, often introduced by a label
or heading identifying the nature and purpose of the list and some-

times also preceded by the general marker spr. O f t e n only these


headings permit some grammatical and syntactic analysis. Together
with the letters, they may help to assess the criteria and character
of the Ugaritic vernacular used during the years of Ugarit's final
flourishing, basically the last fifty years following the reign of Ammittamru III, though some older documents survived ( K T U 3.1, 3.4,
7.65 = R S 11.772+, 16.191+ and 16.402[B]) mentioning such kings
as N i q m a d u II and his son Niqmepa. It has been assumed that these
latest texts reflect the m o r e developed language of everyday use
(SEGERT 1984, 13.1).

T h e purpose of this chapter is to review the different types of


prose style and syntax found in distinctive prose genres such as letters, contracts, or rituals. Distinct use of a given verb form may
occur in different types of discourse. Prose discourse is a constellation of functionally used verbal or noun clauses pertaining to a given
type of prose. Discourse types may, for instance, be narrative, precative, persuasive, prescripdve or performative and each function implies
the use of certain modes of verbs and noun clauses. This review
starts from the assumption that each type of prose is, in effect, such
a cluster of functionally and semantically used verbal or noun clause
types ( L O N G A C R E 1 9 9 2 , 1 7 7 - 8 ) . It implies that reports are basically
narradve, ritual and medical instructions prescripdve, and prose incantantions and letters persuasive. T h e borderlines between the different
types of discourse are not always well defined; performative elements
may also occur in rituals and incantations. Letters may contain narrative parts in so far as they function as reports. Such a functional
approach related to context and genre for the study of verb and
syntax in Ugaritic prose is more appropriate than the generic aspectual a n d temporal distinction made, for instance, by S E G E R T 1984
(particularly 64.2, but see R A I N E Y 1987, 397; T R O P P E R 1993a,
389ff.). W e cannot deal extensively here with the function of perfect
and imperfect in poetry in comparison with its function in prose,
but there is more overlap between prose and poetry than Segert
suggests. H e states that the perfect a n d imperfect acquired temporal character in the late Ugaritic vernacular (about 1200 BCE;
S E G E R T 1984, 64.21). However the perfect is used in poetry as a
narrative m o d e describing a completed action in the past, whereas
it still may a p p e a r in its constative and performative function in late
Ugaritic prose depending on the context, for instance in contracts
and rituals. Segert's assumption may in general apply to Ugaritic

correspondence and administradve texts, but the modes of use m a y


be different for other types of discourse.

1.2
1.2.1

Classification of the prose texts

Administrative texts

KTU2 lists 792 texts as economic or administrative. T h e y are by far


the largest group of prose texts. Not all of t h e m are administrative
texts (e.g. K T U 4 . 6 6 9 + = R S 1 9 . 1 7 4 A B is possibly H u r r i a n [ D I J K S T R A
1 9 9 4 , 1 2 5 - 6 ] and 4 . 6 5 9 = R S 1 9 . 1 6 6 a sales contract for a female
slave) a n d m a n y fragments are chips a n d bits that m a y in time be
joined to other documents (e.g. K T U 4.412 + 545 + 518 + 512 =
R S 1 8 . 2 5 1 + 1 8 . [ 4 7 1 ] + 1 8 . [ 4 3 5 ] + 1 8 . [ 4 2 6 ] ) . However, some texts
listed as religious texts, letters or juridical documents would better
be assessed as administrative documents (e.g. K T U 1 . 9 1 = R S 1 9 . 0 1 5 ,
l
2 . 2 7 = R S 1 6 . 3 7 8 A , 2 . 6 9 = R S 2 4 . 6 6 0 C a n d spr mnh bd mnny
K T U 3 . 1 0 = R I H 8 4 / 3 3 , c o m p a r e also K T U 4 . 9 1 = R S 1 1 . 7 9 5 ) .
1.2.2

Letters

T h e second largest corpus of Ugaritic prose texts that are susceptible of basic linguistic analysis are letters ( K T U 2.1-83). T h e r e is
some doubt as to the epistolary nature of some of the texts ( K T U
2.2 = R S 3.334, 2.5 = R S 1.020, 2.7 = R S 1.026+, 2.19 = R S
15.125 [manumission of a royal slave], 2.27 = R S 16.378A, 2.31 =
R S 16.394, 2.60 = R S 18.[528], 2.62 = R S 19.022 and 2.69 = R S
24.660G). Quite a few letters are purely formal epistles, or contain
only short messages apart from the usual airs and graces ( K T U 2.4 =
R S 1.018, 2.10 = R S 4.475, 2 . 1 1 - 7 = R S 8.315, 9.479a, 11.872,
[Varia 4], 15.007, 15.008, 15.098, 2.24 = R S 16.137 [b\+, 2.26 =
R S 16.264, 2 . 3 0 - 3 1 = R S 16.379, 16.394, 2.40 = R S 18.040, 2 . 6 3 64 = R S 19.029, 19.102, 2.68 = R S 20.199 a n d 2.71 = R S 29.095),
or they are too broken for coherent translation ( K T U 2.1 = R S
3.427, 2.3 = R S 1.013+, 2.6 = R S 1.021, 2 . 8 - 9 = R S 1.032, 2.[026],
2.18 = R S 15.107, 2.20 = R S 15.158, 2.22 = R S 15.191 [a], 2.25 =
R S 16.196, 2.35 = R S 17.327, 2 . 4 8 - 5 9 = R S 18.285[a], 18.286[ab],
18.287, 18.[312, 364, 380, 386, 387, 400, 443, 482, 500], 2 . 6 5 - 6 7
= R S 19.158B, 19.181 AB, 2 . 7 7 - 8 0 = R I H 7 7 / 0 1 , 77/21A, 7 7 / 2 5 ,
7 8 / 2 1 and 2.83 = R I H 78/25). Only a few offer larger portions of
prose to give an impression of the 13th century West Semitic per-

suasive m o d e of discourse used in diplomatic and business letters


(KTU
2.33

2.10

RS

4.475,

RS

16.402,

17.434

and

17.434ba,

RS

18.113a,

2.45

2.36

2.23
+

2.38
=

RS

37
=

RS

73

16.078+,
+

74

RS

18.031,

18.140,

2.70

RS

2.39
=

2.31

RS

RS

16.394,

17.435+,

17.438,

RS

29.093,

18.038,
2.72

2.42
=

RS

a n d 2 . 8 1 = R I H 7 8 / 0 3 + 7 8 / 3 0 ) . Twenty or so more letters


were found in 1 9 9 4 in the house of U r t e n u ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1 9 9 6 ;
D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1 9 9 7 ) , but are not yet available for analysis.
34.124

1.2.3

Ritual texts

Quite a large group are about fifty Ugaritic rituals and five lists of
gods. With this group should also be mentioned about 26 completely
or partially Hurrian ritual texts. T h e Ugaritic rituals include a series
of monthly rituals as a kind of service book through the cultic year.
T h e y contain prescriptions for daily sacrifices, seasonal festivals a n d
prayers. T h e H u r r i a n texts include sacrificial lists, sacrificial agr hid.
hymns a n d perhaps incantations:
1.2.3.1

Monthly rituals through the year

yrh ryn K T U 1.411| 1.87 = R S 1.003+, 18.056 and partial duplicates 1.39 = R S 1.001a.2-10|| 1.41 = R S 1.003+.11-9, 1.126 = R S
24.276.18ff.il 1.41.44-9;
yrh sm[et] K T U 1.87.54ff.|| 1.46+ = R S 1.009+ [ D i j k s t r a 1984, 6 9 f f ]
and partial duplicates 1.109 = R S 24.2531| 1.46+. 10-32, 1.130 =
R S 24.284111.46+. 11-21, 1.58? = R S 1.047, 1.134? = R S 24.294;
yrh n[ql] K T U 1.138 = R S 24.298;
yrh ib'lt K T U 1.119 = R S 24.266;
yrh hyr K T U 1.105 = R S 24.249, 1.112 = 24.256, 1.132 = R S
24.291 (partially Hurrian, continuation of 1.112? = R S 24.256), 1.148
= R S 24.643 rev?;
yrh gn? K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+, partial duplicates 1.134 = R S
24.294 obv., 1.171 = R I H 7 8 / 1 6 .
1.2.3.2

Related texts with daily rituals a n d lists of sacrifices

K T U 1.48 = R S 1.019, 1.49 = R S 1.022, 1.50 = R S 1.023, 1.53 =


R S 1.033, 1.57 = R S 1.046, 1.58 = R S 1.047, 1.76 = R S 6.215,
1.81 = R S 15.130, 1.91 = R S 19.015, 1.104 + 7 . 1 3 3 = R S
24.248+24.305 ( D i j k s t r a 1998, 280-2), 1.110 = R S 24.254 (Hurrian

with Ugaritic gloss bW pamt), 1.111 = R S 24.255 (obv. Hurrian);


1.134 = R S 24.294, 1.136 + 1.137 = R S 24.296ab, 1.146 = R S
24.253, 1.156 = 24.656, 1.159 + 1.160 = R S 28.059AB, 1.162 = R S
[Varia 20], 1.165 = R I H 7 7 / 0 4 + 7 7 / 1 1 , 1.170 = R I H 7 8 / 1 1 ,
1.171 = R I H 7 8 / 1 6 , 1.173 = R I H 7 8 / 0 4 , 7.46 = R S 1.042, 7.177
= R S 24.653B;
id yph/ydbh
mlk: K T U 1.41 = R S 1 . 0 0 3 + . 5 0 - 5 , 1.90 = R S
19.01311 1.168 = R I H 7 7 / 1 0 b + 7 7 / 2 2 , 1.115 = R S 24.260, 1.164 =
R I H 7 7 / 0 2 B + , 1.139? = R S 24.300.
1.2.3.3

Procession

rituals

km t'rb GM,) bt mlk: K T U 1.43 = R S 1.005, 1.148 = R S 2 4 . 6 4 3 . 1 8 22, 1.139? = R S 24.300.


1.2.3.4

Occasional sacrificial festivals

K T U 1.91 = R S 19.015 obv. a catalogue of royal festivals;


spr dbh K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126;
dbh il bldn K T U 1.162 = 1.91.6 (= R S [Varia 20], R S 19.015.6);
dbh spn K T U 1.148 = R S 2 4 . 6 4 3 . 1 - 1 2 , 1.91.3;
dbh cttrt qrat.bgrn (partially H u r r i a n ) K T U 1.116 = R S 24.261;
a lung model with ritual a n d sacrificial instruction K T U 1.127 =
R S 24.277.
1.2.3.5

G o d lists

K T U 1.47 = R S 1.017, 1.74(?) = R S 6.138, 1.102 = R S 24.246,


1.113 = R S 24.257 (deified kings), 1.118 = R S 24.264+.
1.2.3.6

Expiation rituals

K T U 1.4011 1.84111.121 + 1.122 + 1.153 + 1.154 + 7.162? = R S


1.002 II 17.100[A]+ || 24.270a[b] + 24.650b + 24.652G+ + 24.652b?.
1.2.3.7

H u r r i a n rituals

K T U 1.26 = R S 1 - 1 1 . [ 0 4 8 ] , 1.30 = R S 1 - 1 1 . [046], 1.32 = R S


1.[066], 1.33 = R S 1.[067], 1.34 = R S 1.[076], 1.35 + 1.36 +
1.37 = R S 1. [069 + 070 + 071], 1.42 = R S 1.004, 1.44 = R S
1.007, 1.51 + 52 = R S 1.027 + 1.028+, 1.54 = R S 1.034+, 1.59 =
R S 1.[049a], 1.60 = R S 2.[006], 1.64 = R S 3.372, 1.66 = R S 5.182,
1.68 = R S 5.200, 1.110 = R S 24.254, 1.111 = R S 24.255 (rev.

Ugaritic), 1.116 = RS 24.261, 1.120 = R S 24.269+, 1.125 = R S


24.274, 1.128 = R S 24.278, 1.131 = RS 24.285, 1.132 = R S 24.291,
1.135 = R S 24.295, 1.148 = R S 24.643.13-7, 1.149 + 150 = R S
24.644 + 24.644[a], 4.669+ = R S 19.174A.
Administrative texts quite often also contain information about
rituals, in particular when they deal with the distribution and allocation of wine, food and other commodities for the cult, e.g. hmyn.bdbh
mlkt bmdr' 'five (kd) of wine for the sacrifice of the Q u e e n in the
sown land' ( K T U 4.149 = R S 15.039.14 6, see further K T U 1.91 =
R S 19.015, 4.168 = R S 15.082, 4.182 = R S 15.115, 4.213 =
R S 16.127.24, 4.219 = R S 16.179.2-3). Most ritual texts stem from
the High Priest's house and the house of the Hurrian Priest (PH
rooms 10-11) and just a few from Ras Ibn Hani.
1.2.4

Religious texts in literary prose

T h e r e is quite a large group of smaller texts and fragments which


may be classified as literary religious texts, if not myths. Some of
them were clearly composed as poetry (e.g. K T U 1.10 = RS 3.362+,
1.12 = R S 2.[012], 1.92 = RS 19.039+, 1.96 = R S 22.225 and
1.100 = RS 24.244), but some may be fragments of myths and incantations in prose or a kind of poetic prose ( K T U 1.9 = R S 5.229,
1.24 = RS 5.194, 1.25 = R S 5.259, 1.45 = RS 1.008+, 1.65 = R S
4.474, 1.82 = RS 15.134, 1.83 = R S 16.266, 1.96 = RS 22.225,
1.107 = R S 24.251+, 1.151 (?) = R S 24.647 and 1.169 = R I H
78/20). T h e r e are also occasionally prayers, one in poetic form ( K T U
1.119 = R S 24.266.26-36), but also in prose ( K T U 1.65 = R S 4.474
and 1.123? = R S 24.271), a blessing or dedication ( K T U 1.77 =
R S 6.411), a small collection of fables ( K T U 1.93 = R S 19.054)
and, perhaps, a wisdom text ( K T U 2.21| 2.5? = R S 3.334, 1.020).
With this group, we may also mention the few Akkadian .n/?M-prayers
in Ugaritic alphabetic script ( K T U 1.67 (+) 1.69 = R S 5.199 +
5.213, 1.70 = R S 5.156+, 1.73 = R S 5.303fc, 7.50 = R S 5.157,
7.52 = RS 5.196 and 7.55 = R S 5.218).
1.2.5

Other miscellaneous prose texts

Minor groups of prose texts are the juridical texts, medical prescriptions and omens. T h e juridical texts are mainly found in K T U
Section 3, but see also K T U 2.19 = R S 15.125 (manumission of a
slave) and K T U 4.659 = R S 19.166 (sales record of a female slave?)

a n d the custom licences (or h a r b o u r dues?) a n d caravan licences


(KTU

4.172 =

RS

15.093, 4.266

RS

17.074, 4.336

RS

18.023

and 4 . 3 8 8 = R S 1 8 . 1 1 3 ) . As sealed documents, the licences can be


considered a kind of juridical contract. T h e distinction between legal
documents and administrative records is not always clear. K T U 3.7 =
R S 1 8 . 1 1 8 and 3 . 1 0 = R I H 8 4 / 3 3 are rather administrative lists,
though they deal with legal charges such as ^ - o b l i g a t i o n s and debts,
as do K T U 4 . 3 3 8 = R S 1 8 . 0 2 5 and 4 . 3 4 7 = R S 1 8 . 0 3 5 + . Medical
prescriptions are found in K T U 1 . 1 7 5 = R I H 7 7 / 1 8 . T h e y are
sometimes included in other texts K T U 1 . 1 1 4 = R S 2 4 . 2 5 8 . 2 9 - 3 2
(an incantation for medical treatment of delirium) a n d 1.124 = R S
2 4 . 2 7 2 (an oracular report), a n d also perhaps the fragment K T U
1 . 8 8 = R S 1 8 . 1 0 7 . T h e s e prose texts and sections are related to the
hippiatric medical text of which four copies have been discovered
(KTU

1.71 =

RS

5.300,

1.72 =

RS

5.285+,

1.85 =

RS

17.120

and

T h e large corpus of ancient N e a r


Eastern o m e n literature was also represented in Ugarit by a d r e a m
book (spr hlmm K T U 1 . 8 6 = R S 1 8 . 0 4 1 ) , a collection of astronomical omens ( K T U 1 . 1 6 3 = R I H 7 8 / 1 4 ) and birth omens of the summa
izbu type ( K T U 1.103+ = R S 2 4 . 2 4 7 + a n d 1.140 = R S 24.302:
D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1990a); also omens inscribed on fields of lung
and liver models ( K T U 1 . 1 2 7 = R S 2 4 . 2 7 7 , 1.141-4 = R S 24.312,
2 4 . 3 2 3 , 2 4 . 3 2 6 , 2 4 . 3 2 7 and 1 . 1 5 5 = R S 2 4 . 6 5 4 ) and a report of an
astronomical o m e n ( K T U 1.78 = R S 12.061). T h e r e is, perhaps,
also a protocol of n e c r o m a n c y with some ritual prescriptions ( K T U
1.124 = R S 2 4 . 2 7 2 : D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1990a).
1.97 =

RS

23.484; C o h e n

1.3

1996).

Administrative prose

By far the largest group of prose texts are the administrative texts,
which include census lists of persons, guilds and cities, p a y m e n t rolls,
receipts and records of received or distributed commodities. T h e y
are a main source for private n a m e s a n d also a lexicographic goldmine, though m a n y words are still poorly understood. For the structure of the language they are less informative, since their syntactical
structure and style is often very simple. M a n y texts only have a simple label as heading mentioning a guild (hrtm 'ploughmen', K T U
4.65 = R S 11.602, 4.122 = R S 13.012; tnnm a kind of soldier, K T U
4.66 = R S 11.656; mrynm 'knights', K T U 4.623 = R S 19.049[b];
nqdm, 'sheep breeders', K T U 4.681 = R S 19.180; mdrglm 'guards ? ',
K T U 4.751 = R S 29.096; khnm, 'priests', K T U 4.761 = R S 34.123)

or a village/city/gentilic. T h e s e guild markers themselves are listed


as such too ( K T U 4.29 = R S 3.320, 4.38 = R S 8.272, 4.47 = R S
10.043, 4.68 = R S 11.716.60ff., 4.99 = R S 11.845, etc.); likewise
geographical markers in topographical lists (K TU 4.63 = R S 10.052,
4.232 = R S 16.355, etc.). Both serve as headings in texts which
contain persons grouped by trade, profession or provenance ( K T U
4.35 = R S 8 . 1 8 3 + , 4.69 = R S 11.715+, 4.71 (+) 72 = R S 11.721,
11.722, 4.103 = R S 11.858, 4.183 = R S 15.116, 4 . 4 1 2 + = R S
18.251 a n d 4.633 = R S 19.086A).
T h e different p a r t s of these simple syntactical structures are:
(1) heading (with or without introductory spr); (2) lists of persons,
towns, etc. (together with n u m b e r , commodity, etc.); (3) s u m m a r y or
total (with or without tgmr). T h e s e sections are often extended by
descriptive, or restrictive remarks in relative clauses. T h e style is usually concise in the extreme, leaving out self-evident terms a n d phrases
(e.g. tql, kbd, dd, tgmr, etc.). F r o m such texts, only a few prose sections
can be gleaned, in particular f r o m texts such as K T U 4.145 = R S
15.034, which is a small report revealing the p o o r condition of the
king's chariotry:
(1) tmn.mrkbt.dt. (2) 'rb.bt.mlk (3) yd.apnthn (4) yd.hzhn (5) yd trhn/
(6) w.l.tt.mrkbtm (7) inn. utpt/ (8) w.tlt.smdm.w.hrs (9) apnt.bd.rb.hrm
(10) d.sa.hwyh
Eight chariots, which entered the royal palace with their wheels, their
ax1es(?), their bearings(?), but two chariots have no quiver; and of three
two-horse carriages(?), the wheels are in the hands of the chief smith,
who took (them) out for repair.
It is a good example of the descriptive style found in administrative
texts (also K T U 4.136 = R S 15.013). T h e nature of the d o c u m e n t s
is often indicated by the w o r d spr, while the subject m a t t e r m a y be
persons, trades a n d professions, or commodities, tribute, rations a n d
fields u n d e r these headings extended with different types of relative
sentences: spr np d.crb bt.mlk w.b spr.l.st, 'List of people w h o entered
the royal palace, but who were not put into the list. . . ' ( K T U 4.338 =
R S 18.025.1-3). Usually, clusters with construct nouns do not exceed
three nouns or names, such as spr argmn p ( K T U 4.610 = R S 19.017);
spr ksp mnny ( K T U 4.791 = R I H 8 4 / 0 4 ) ; but cf. spr hpr.bns.mlk ( K T U
4.609 = R S 19.016), spr hr's qst iptl ( K T U 4.215 = R S 16.130).
D o c u m e n t s often have no h e a d i n g and start in mdias res. C o m modities listed and other entries are occasionally extended by descriptive relative n o u n clauses or participles: ktn.d.sr.phm.bh, '. . . a robe

that has a string(?) of carbuncles on it' ( K T U 4.132 = R S 15.004.4);


w.lp. d sgr.b/, '. . . a garment that has a fibula' ( K T U 4.166 = R S
15.078); tit mrkbt spyt.bhrs [.] f ir[.] smdm.trm.d[.l.s]py/w.trm.
ahdm.
spym/tit mrkbt d.l.spy, 'Three chariots covered with gold, ten pairs of
tr which are [not co]vered and a doub1e(?) set of tr covered, three
chariots that are not c o v e r e d . . . ' ( K T U 4.167 = R S 15.079.1-7),
but also verbal clauses: yn d.ykl.bd.k[hnm] (2) b.dbh.mlk, 'Wine that is
delivered into the hands of the pr[iests] for the sacrifice of the king'
( K T U 1.91 = RS 19.015.1-2; T R O P P E R 1991b, 355); qmh. d.kly.ksh.illdrm
bd.zlb[n], 'Flour that was completely spent according to the order(?)
of Illdrm into the hand of %b[n] . . . ' ( K T U 4.362 = RS 18.052.1-2),
ksp.d.slmyrmn.'l.bt, 'Silver that Yrmn paid for (the mortgage on?) the
house . . . ' ( K T U 4.755 = R S 31.080; also K T U 4.95 = R S 11.836+,
4.166 = R S 15.078, 4.213 = RS 16.127, 4.290 = R S 17.297 and
4.348 = R S 18.036) and . . . prs qmh d nlm, '. . . a /w-measure of flour
that has been paid for' ( K T U 4.328 = R S 18.008.1). In relative
noun clauses the expression for existence it is often added ( K T U
4.235 = RS 16.369, 4.422 = R S 18.293, 4.617 = RS 19.044, 4.752 =
RS 29.097 [ S E G E R T 1982, 55.7]), and the usual negation in such
relative noun clauses is in(n) ( K T U 4.53 = RS 10.090, 4.180 = R S
15.105, 4.214 = R S 16.128 and 4.379 = R S 18.098).
Ugaritic scribes seem to have used two conventions to sum up the
totals of their administrative documents, either by writing the totals
(U.NGIN = napharu/gabbu) in cuneiform Sumero-Babylonian shorth a n d ( K T U 4.48 = RS 10.045, 4.63 = R S 10.052, 4.68 = R S
11.716, 4.69 = RS 11.715+, 4.71, 4.72 = RS 11.721, 11.722, 4.90 =
R S 11.797, 4.93 = R S 11.776+, 4.100 = R S 11.850, 4.102 = R S
11.857, 4.165 = R S 15.076, 4.219 = RS 16.179, 4.232 = R S 16.355,
4.299 = R S 17.345, 4.308 = RS 17.386, 4.340 = R S 18.027, 4.435 =
R S 18.[306], 4.610 = R S 19.017, 4.704 = R S 21.002, 4.745 = R S
25.417, 4.754 = R S 31.043, and 4.784 = R S [Varia 38],2; VAN
S O L D T , 1995, 485-6) or in Ugaritic tgmr, and sometimes even both
ways (e.g. sb'.mat ttm kbd/7 me-at 60 H I . M E , K T U 4.340 = RS
18. [027]). As with the headings, the pattern of such totals is not consistent. Usually the tgmr of the commodity received or distributed,
or the group or city is mentioned first (e.g. K T U 1.91 = R S 19.015,
4.67 = R S 11.714, 4.156 = R S 15.053, 4.269 = R S 17.106 and
K T U 4.151 = R S 15.044, 4.179 = RS 15.103, 4.777 = R I H 8 3 / 0 7 +
respectively), but it may also follow the total a m o u n t ( K T U 4.230
= R S 16.341, 4.764 = R S 34.176 and 4.137 = R S 15.015+, 4.141

= R S 15.022+ and 4.173 = R S 15.094 respectively), but the word


tgmr is also often left out ( K T U 4.164 = R S 15.075, 4.344 = RS
18.030, 4.427 = RS 18.299, 4.163 = R S 15.073.15ff, and 4.174 =
RS 15.095 respectively). T h e style of these texts is basically descriptive and strongly paratactic. Complex syntactic structures with subordinate clauses are almost absent.

1.4

Literary prose of incantations, stones and reports

Everybody knows, or rather thinks he knows the difference between


prose and poetry ( W a t s o n 1984d [1995] 44). T h e problem is to
establish sound criteria. We cannot deal here with this question in
extenso (see P a r d e e 1993a). T h e criteria often used to distinguish prose
from poetry in Hebrew literature, namely the absence or rarity of
prose elements such as the relative marker }"ser (less often the relative
pronoun), the definite article, the object marker and the narrative
waw, are not very helpful for Ugaritic prose. T h e existence of a narrative waw discourse in Ugaritic is still disputed and indeed, if it is
not to be found in the context of the incantation K T U 1.100 = RS
24.244.67-8: mgy.hrn.l bth w (68)ystqilh^rh, ' H o r o n reached his house,
and he entered his court', it occurs, perhaps, in a few prose texts
such as, for instance, the report about a necromantic inquiry ( K T U
1.124 = R S 24.272): ky mgy.adn (2) ilm rbm.'m dtn (3) wysal.mtpt.yld (4)
w/ny.nn.dtn (5) t'ny. . . uymg (11) mlakk.'m dtn (12) Iqh mtpt (13) uy'ny.nn
dtn . . .' W h e n the Lord of the Great Gods came to Ditanu and asked
for the boy's (oracular) decision, Ditanu answered him: "You will
a n s w e r . . . and your messenger to Ditanu arrived after he received the
(oracular) decision." T h e n Ditanu answered:. . .' As long as no vocalized narrative texts are available, the question will remain undecided.
O n the other hand, the use of parallelism or parallelizing style in
Ugaritic texts is not confined to poetry. As in the Hebrew Bible, it
is also found in many prose texts. T h e greater use of relative pronouns and particularly, a set of demonstratives (hnd-hnk/hndt-hnkt/hnhmt,
including the definite article hn-, R a i n e y 1971, 160; C u n c h i l l o s
1983b) and interrogative pronouns (mn(m)-mnk(m); mh-mhkm, etc.) in
prose texts such as economic texts, letters, contracts, etc. ( W a t s o n
1984d [1995], 62) is a fairly clear criterion, but not the only one.
Several texts show a mixed style of prose and poetry. It is hard to
say whether these literary texts are prose containing poetic elements,
or a kind of poetry in which the rules of poetic parallelism are weakly

used. T h e r e can be no doubt that m a j o r works from Ugarit such as


the Ba'al Cycle, the legends of Aqhat and Keret, the astral myth of
Shahar and Shalim were composed as oral poetry, in which inserted
prose elements clearly stand out in their context. Some minor myths
and incantations were also composed in the concise prosody of the
major works ( K T U 1 . 1 0 = R S 3 . 3 6 2 + , 1 . 1 2 = R S 2 . [ 0 1 2 ] , 1 . 8 3 =
R S 1 6 . 2 6 6 and 1 . 9 2 = R S 1 9 . 0 3 9 + ) , but a few are in prose, or
have prose sections alternating with mythical passages in poetry. For
instance, K T U 1 . 1 0 7 = R S 2 4 . 2 5 1 + clearly opens with a mythical
poem ( K T U 1 . 1 0 7 . 1 - 1 4 ) , but the poison-expelling charms on the
reverse are in prose ( K T U 1 . 1 0 7 . 3 2 - 4 5 ) . T h e incantation text K T U
1 . 8 2 = R S 1 5 . 1 3 4 , so far as it is readable and understandable, is
also couched in prose. Its sections are marked by quick changes of
subject and by subordinate clauses in persuasive style, but no clear
parallelism can be traced:
\y\mhs.bcl [xxjy.tnn.wygl.wynsk.'d [x]
[x]xy.lars[.id\y.alt.I ah.idy.alt.in ly
[x\b/dt.b'l.hz.rsp.bn.km.yr.klyth.wlbh
[xx]x.pk.b gr.tn.pk.bhlb.k tgwln.ntk
[xx]wptk.l tsy.hm.tgrm.l mt.brtk
[xx]hp.an.arnn.qlJp.hw.btnm.uhd.bClm
[wa]tm.prtl.l rih.hmt.tmt.
Let Ba'al smite the breed(?) of Tunan and reveal and pour out the . . .
(2). . . on the earth. Then I shall not feel the curse, then the curse
will not for me be (3) harmfu1(?). The archer Reshef (is) between the
two of you. He will shoot at his kidneys and his heart. Let your
mouth . . . in the lowland, let your mouth resound in the woods, when
you grind(?) your teeth (5) [against him]. And your lips will surely
rejoice, if you keep until death your covenant. (6) [I shall
] myself,
I shall ring out with the Sun's voice: the life of the serpents I shall
take away, Ba'al, and nail down the iron pole on his head
(KTU 1.82.1-7)
Likewise the minor myths of Yarikh and Nikkal ( K T U 1.24 - R S
5 . 1 9 4 ) , Astarte the Huntress ( K T U 1 . 9 2 = R S 1 9 . 0 3 9 ) a n d El's
drunkeness ( K T U 1 . 1 1 4 = R S 2 4 . 2 5 8 ) show a mixed style of prose
and poetry. Of the last text the medical prescription is entirely in
prose ( K T U 1 . 1 1 4 . 2 9 - 3 1 ) . T h e first text has a narrative framework
in prose, whereas some of the speeches are couched in verse. This
may also be true of the fable K T U 1 . 9 3 = R S 1 9 . 0 5 4 ( D I J K S T R A
1994,

125):

(1) arh td.rgm.b gr (2) b py.t'lgt.b 1n[y] (3) gr.tyb.b npy.rg[m] (4) hzvt.b'l.itm['.y
gr'] (5) M ly.y p. i[k(?)] (6) hkr(.b]ry[ } . . .

The Cow let out a cry against the Mountain: 'In my mouth is stammering, on [my] tongue is agitation, in my throat rolls "thun[der]".
Heed the word of Ba'al [O Mountain!] Listen to me, you braggart!
Why this distress of my [bo]dy . . . ? . . . '
K T U 1.92 and 1.114 contain prosodie phrases and epic formulae
borrowed from the major myths ( D i j k s t r a 1 9 9 4 , 1 1 6 ) , but the narratives are basically prose compositions despite this poetic flavour.
For K T U 1.92, one has to assume that many verses have been shortened to monocola, if it was a piece of narrative poetry. In K T U
1 . 1 1 4 , the sequences of perfect (with inversion of the subject) and
imperfect forms suggest the transformation of poetically structured
verses into prose sentences (so also K T U 1.96 = R S 22.225.Iff.).
Consider
il dbh . . . sh . . . tlhmn.ilm.wtstn . . . After El slaughtered . . . called . . .
the gods ate and drank . . .
After he rebuked El his father,
b il.abh.gcr. ytb il.. .
El sat down . . .
After
El sat down at his
il.ytb.b mrzhh yt. .
marzeah, he drank . . .
After El wanted to go home,
il.hlk I bth . . .y'msn.nn . . .
they carried him . . .
A similar mixed style is also present in the ritual K T U 1.161 - R S
34.126, the incantation K T U 1.169 = R I H 7 8 / 2 0 and the prayers
K T U 1.65 = R S 4.474, 1.108 = R S 24.252 and perhaps 1.123 =
R S 24.271. W e observe in these texts a certain repetitive style, even
chains of adverbial clauses and comparisons: k qtr.urbtm.k btn. cmdm
(3) kyim.zrh.k Ibim.skh, 'like smoke from a chimney; like a snake from
a pillar; like a mountain-goat to the hill-top; like a lion to a lair'
( K T U 1.169.3-4); il h il add (10) bcd spn bcd[ (11) ugrt (12) b mrh il
(13) b nit il (14) bsmd il (15) b dtn il, etc., El, hurry! El, stand
up, on behalf of Saphon, on behalf of Ugarit, with the javelin of
El, with the spade(?) of El, with the span of El, with the threshings1edge(?) of El, etc.' ( K T U 1.65.9-15); b mrmt (8) b miyt.bzlm.b qd,
'. . . on the heights, in the lowland, in darkness and in the sanctuary' ( K T U 1.169.7-8); b cz (22) [rpi.] mlk.'lm. b dmrh.bI (23) [anh].bhtkh.b
nmrth . . ., 'in the safety [of the Healer], the eternal king, in his protection, in his strength, in his dominion, in his benevolent power . . .'

( K T U 1.108.21-3; also 1.108.4-5). C o m p a r e also the chain of adverbial p h r a s e s a n d //^-greetings K T U 1 . 1 6 1 . 2 2 - 6 (with tht), 3 1 - 4
and the chain of epithets in K T U 1.100.1: um phi ph.lt bt.'n.bt.abn.
bt.mm.wth. . ., ' T h e m o t h e r of the he-ass, the she-ass, daughter of
the spring, daughter of the stone, daughter of heaven and flood . . .'.
Similarly, the chains of epithets and participial predicates in the liturgical prayer K T U 1.108.Iff. T h e y are all instances of poetic prose
with repetition and even occasional parallelism within a prose context. Despite these poetic elements, such passages as K T U 1.65.9ff.
and K T U 1.108.Iff. form one extended prose sentence, bursting the
bounds of an originally poetic structure. Even the small fragment
K T U 1.83 = R S 16.266, p e r h a p s part of an incantation (DE M O O R
1987, 181-2), shows this mixed style:
. . . [ts]un. b ars (4) mhnm. trp ym (5) 1nm.tlhk (6) mm. ttrp (7) ym dnbtm.
(8) tnr. I btn (9) ist. trks (10) I miym Ibnm* (11) pi. tbtn. yymm* (12) hmlt.

ht. ynh*[r] (13) itph. mk* [ ] (14) thmr. [ ] . . . (text newly collated by
PITARD

1998,

263

. . . [She we]nt out into the land of Mahanayim to vanquish(?) Yam


with the forked tongue that licks the sky. She vanquished Yam with
the forked tail, Tunan she muzzled. She bound him onto the heights
of Lebanon (saying): You swill no longer humiliate me, Yam. Mankind
may be scared, River (but) you will not see [me] collapse. You may
foam [. . .]
Related to the persuasive prose style of incantation is the prose of
letters and an occasional wisdom text such as K T U 2.2 = R S 3.334
(II 2.5? = R S 1.020), perhaps dictated as a scribal exercise:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

[/] rHSyy[al]
[]lm.brt.yl[m.rn\
\s\gr.l lmt.l[m]
b*th.p lmt.p* lm

(5) b*t.lbn.trgm*[?]
(6) / stmt.I lm.b[tk]
(7) by.nt.mlit.t[mla]
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)

ymgyk.bnm.ta[r]
bnm.wbnt.ytnk*
[bYLbny.ht.w\x.x.]
[w]h*t.msgr.bnk[ ]

(12) [wh]n.thmM[ ]

First of all, my friend, one should a[sk] for


[p]eace. A man should keep the bolt(?)
secure. (If) it is not safe, will its house be
at peace? When it is safe, then the house
will have
peace. To a man you should say:
'It is not safe, so [your] house will not be
at peace!'
Believe me, after a full year has surely
[passed]
children you asked for will come to you.
Sons and daughters will Ba'al give you.
My son, spoil (it) and . . .
you will have [spoi]1ed the bolt(?) of your
children.
[And 1o]ok, the word of Ba'al. . .

1.5

The prose of letters

Letters form the most interesting group in which to study the syntax of Ugaritic prose in the latter days of its floruit. W e shall not
deal here with the well known formulae of sender and addressee
(thm X rgm l Y), the airs and graccs (yslm Ik, ilm tgrk tlmk, with its
variants), the prostration formula (lpen PN[bCd bCd/tnid] mrhqtm qlt/qlny),
enquiries about health (al lm formula), requests for an answer (wrgm
[t]ttb l/cm-PN), to reply or to pay attention to the message (wbcly. . .ydc
[rgmh]), or even the closing remark to reassure somebody (wap mhkm
b Ibk al tst, etc.). These have all been thoroughly and properly studied
in the past ( A h l 1 9 7 3 ; K r i s t e n s e n 1 9 7 7 ; P a r d e e 1 9 8 4 ; P a r d e e
Whiting
1987; C u n c h i l l o s 1983a, 1989a). Here attention will be
paid to the larger passages of prose only in so far as they are preserved and help to give a glimpse of late colloquial Ugaritic.
Characteristic of this Ugaritic 12th-century written vernacular is
the increased use of plene writing with -y in prepositions by, ly, ky,
iky, construct state: ily ugrt and verbal forms tmgyy, etc., but also an
increase in enclitic - j as a marker of direct speech, in particular in
letters ( T r o p p e r 1994d, 474-5). T h e difference between plene written -y and enclitic -y is not always easy to detect ( T r o p p e r 1994d,
480-1). O t h e r changes in vocalization and phonology include the
quiescent aleph, sbcd < bC,id, yr < yar, etc., though also incidentally
found in poetry, cbdnn < acbdnn; cdbk < a'dbk ( K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009] +
ii 21; 1.18 = R S 3.340 iv 22);ytmr < yitmr ( K T U 1.3 = RS 2. [014] +
i 22), the shift of ' < h, for instance in im < hm ( K T U 2.15 = RS
15.007.8; 2.72 = RS 34.124.9, 10, 17; 3.9 = RS [Varia 14].6; T r o p p e r
1989b, 421-3); vowel harmony ulp (*ullupi) < alp (*allupi); ihy and
uhy < ahy, ibr (Hbbiru) < abr (*abbiru). See further below 8.1.
T h e g r a m m a r and syntax of this late Ugaritic prose are enriched
by the use of the article and demonstrative element hn, rarely independent in hn Ws, K T U 1.40 = R S 1.002 (perhaps also 1.114 =
RS 24.258.28 and in assimilated form in K T U 2.70 = RS 29.093.15-6,
w.hwt (16) hbt, 'and I repaired the house'), but frequently as part of
a set of demonstrative pronouns: masc. hndhnk; fem. hndthnkt pi.
hnhmt. Morphological developments may include the loss of diptotic
plural and the occurrence of imperatives with prothetic aleph i: ibky,
ihn ( K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126; T r o p p e r 1993a, 391-2); igr ( K T U
2.33 = RS 16.402.1); or aleph a: add ( K T U 1.65 = RS 4.474.9).
Furthermore, we may note the wider use of the absolute infinitive

with separate personal p r o n o u n to continue a finite verb or imperative, wtbc ank ( K T U 2 . 1 7 = R S 1 5 . 0 9 8 . 6 ) ; w.ttb.ank ( K T U 2 . 3 8 =
R S 1 8 . 0 3 1 . 2 3 ) ; wrgm hw/ank ( K T U 2 . 4 2 = R S 1 8 . 1 1 3A. 1 9 , 2 5 ) ; hbt
hw (6) hrd w.sl hw (7) qrt, '. . . it eliminated the guard a n d pillaged
the c i t y . . . ' ( K T U 2 . 6 1 = R S 1 9 . 0 1 1 . 5 - 7 ) ; w.ybl.hw ( K T U 2 . 7 2 =
R S 3 4 . 1 2 4 . 2 7 a n d passim), though this is incidentally also attested in
poetry ( S E G E R T 1 9 8 4 , 6 4 . 4 2 ) .
T h e variation in the use of the conjunction p(m)- is significant,
a n d greater than in poetry (DE M O O R 1969, 2 0 1 - 2 ; K T U 2.2 = R S
3.334.4, 2.3 = R S 1.013+.19, 2.10 = R S 4.475.12, 2.14 = R S [Varia
4].12, 2.15 = R S 15.007.7, 2.23 = R S 16.078+.17, 2.26 = R S
16.264.7, 2.33 = R S 16.402.28, 2.70 = R S 29.093.27, 2.71 = R S
29.095.11 [pm], 2.72 = R S 34.124.1 1, 22, 42, 2.73 = R S 17.434.14;
W A T S O N 1990e, 1994e) a n d the occurrence of pi and pn 'lest, you
may not' ( K T U 1.83 = R S 16.266.11, 1.114 = R S 24.258.12). Also
new, specific verbs such as dhl, 'to be afraid' ( K T U 2.16 = R S
15.008.12, 2.31 = R S 16.394.21); hbt, 'to knock down, eliminate'
( K T U 2.4 = R S 1.018.19, 2.47 = R S 18.148.16, 2.61 = R S 19.011.5),
or verb forms like tn cm/l 'put something at the disposal of P N '
( K T U 2.36+ = R S 17.435+.6, 13, 2.45 = R S 18.140.19, 2.50 = R S
18.287.16, perhaps also 2.32 = R S 16.401.7, 10, 2.39 = R S 18.038.35,
2.79 = R I H 77/25.3), presumably a -stem ofy/ntn;
-stem 'hr 'to
withhold, keep back (things)' ( K T U 2.42 = R S 18.113A.11, 2.79 =
R I H 7 7 / 2 5 . 4 ) a n d the Gt-stem sal 'to make a request, e n q u i r e '
(2.17 = R S 15.098.15, 2.42 = R S 18.113A.23, 2.70 = R S 29.093.12,
2.71 = R S 29.095.10).
Further, we may note the continued use of bl in compounds like
blym, 'never' ( K T U 2.45 = R S 18.140.23; 4.272 = R S 17.118.7),
bl bns, 'nobody' ( K T U 2.45 = R S 18.140.25), l.bl.hrb || Ibl ks, 'without a knife, or cup ( K T U 1.96 = R S 22.225.4-5) a n d bl sml ( K T U
1.169 = R I H 78/20.7), though also used in poetry: bl spr/hg ( K T U
1.14 = R S 2. [003]+ ii 37-8); blmt, 'immortality' ( K T U 1.17 = R S
2. [004] vi 27, etc.), the increased use of the perfect or participle Nstem ntkp ( K T U 2.10 = R S 4.475.14); nUi (2.34 = R S 17.139.13);
nskh (2.38 = R S 18.031.15); nmkr ( K T U 2.48 = R S 18.285[A].5); nplt
(2.82 = R I H 7 8 / 1 2 . 4 , 11); also in administrative and legal texts: nkly
( K T U 4.213 = R S 16.127.24, 4.230 = R S 16.341.15; 4.280 = R S
17.236.6, etc.); night ( K T U 4.659 = R S 19.166.1) a n d nlm ( K T U
4.328 = R S 18.008), but also a new preposition like ml(y), 'opposite
(me)' ( K T U 2.50 = R S 18.287.12; 2.75 = R S 34.148.11). T h e r e is no

clear evidence that a special subjunctive m o o d was maintained in


prose texts ( T r o p p e r 1991b, 3 5 3 - 5 , pace V e r r e e t 1988). T h e deictic
or a n a p h o r i c use of -n, in p a r t i c u l a r in the apodosis of o m e n s
( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1990a, 104; T r o p p e r 1994c, 466-7), but also
elsewhere ( K T U 1.124 = R S 24.272.14, 2.37 = R S 17.438.10, 2.39
= R S 18.038.21, 2.42 = R S 18.113a.6, 10, 26) may suggest influence
of the H u r r i a n 'article' -ni (but see T r o p p e r 1993b, 468).
It is inherent in the nature of letters that we find narrative parts
(reports using the perfect, e.g. K T U 2.38 = R S 18.031) and prescriptive sentences (instructions); but the f u n d a m e n t a l convention is
that of an oral message exchanged between parties. This means that
the m o d e of discourse in letters is usually persuasive, a m o d e of discourse couched in a kind of virtual verbal exchange between sender
and addressee, but from the temporal perspective of the writer. A
m o d e of discourse that varies with the field (diplomacy, international
commerce, royal bureaucracy) and tenor (grade of social relationships between parties, see also P a r d e e - B o r d r e u i l 1992, 711).
Letters are essentially a verbatim account of verbal exchanges between
parties w h o argue their case. As part of the discourse the words of
the other party are quite often quoted or referred to ( D i j k s t r a 1987).
This style of persuasion is marked by statements accentuated with
particles or adverbs such as ap/ p/ hn, emphatic use of the separate
personal pronouns, interrogative particles and pronouns, such as ik,
'how', Im, 'why', my/mn(m), 'who(ever)', mndc, 'whoever knows, perhaps', rhetorical questions and other turns of speech introduced by
ht, 'now', hm . . . p/w/zero,
' i f . . . then', etc. If we are aware of the
sequence of inferences and thrust for persuasion m a d e coherent by
a set of characteristic phrases and other cohesive devices in gramm a r and style, the letters are essentially a genre of persuasive discourse, even if stories are told, oaths are sworn and instructions are
given within such a persuasive m o d e of discourse. Unfortunately only
a few of the m o r e elaborate letters are complete or have a passage
that allows for coherent translation and rhetorical analysis. Any translation given below admits that other translations are possible in some
instances, but I a m concerned here only with the mode of discourse
and the general thrust of a given passage. An example of such a
dialogical discourse of persuasion including an oath is K T U 2.10 =
R S 4.475.5-15,
. . . trgds (6) w.l.klby (7) rrt.hti (8) nhtu.ht (9) hm.inmm (10) nhtu.w.lak
'my.wyd (12) ilm.pkmtm (13) 'z.mid (14) hrn.nlkp (15) m'nk

(11)

. . . from Trgds and Klby I have heard that we suffered a heavy defeat.
However, if we did not suffer a defeat, send me a message and, as
for the hand of the gods, it will indeed be as strong as Death (against
you) if your answer be negative(?).
Letters often include reports. A good example is the letter from the
king of Tyre to the king of Ugarit about the shipwreck of a Ugaritian
fleet sent to Egypt, but there are also short reports such as K T U
2.17 = RS 15.098, 2.30 = RS 16.379, 2.33 = RS 16.402.4ff., 2.40 =
RS 18.040, 2.61 = RS 19.011 and 2.75 = RS 34.148. We often
find here as a typical report marker the formula 'the king my lord
may know it/his word!' ( K T U 2.17, 2.33, 2.40, 2.75; perhaps also
2.35 = RS 17.327), or advice not to fear or to worry too much
about the reported developments ( K T U 2.16 = RS 15.008, 2.30,
2.38 = RS 18.031 and 2.71 = RS 29.095).
(10) anykn.dt (11) likt.msrm (12) hndt.b.sr (12) mtt.by (14) gm.adr (15)
nkh.wb.tmtt (17) lqh.kl.dr'\ 18) bdnhm.w.ank (19) kl.np (20) kMm.bd.rb.tmtt.lqht
(21) w.Ub.anUhm (22) wanyk.lt (25) by.'/cy.'ryt (26) w.ahy.mhk (27) b.lbh.al.yt
This fleet of yours, which you sent to Egypt, was shipwrecked at Tyre.
It was hit by a heavy storm. And the master of shipwrecks took all
the cargo from their holds. However, I in turn took all their cargo,
all the livestock for their provision from the hand of the master of
shipwrecks and returned it to them. And your second fleet is in for
repair(?) at Acre, but my brother should worry about nothing.
(KTU 2.38.10-27).
In particular, the mode and tenor of the discourse in international
diplomatic letters becomes very persuasive, if not suggestive. In many
instances we are here perhaps dealing with drafts and translations
of official letters, of which the originals were sent and received by
the royal chancelleries in official Akkadian. They negotiate about
tribute, settle border disputes and deal with conflicting interests and
loyalties. Consider the following anthology:
ky.hkt. bt. mlk. thmk. hin [y] (6) \lj\rs.a rgmny [ .\'m. p. tn ,\ank\ (7) [w]at.m[h]r.k[x]
t.d.tt.b.ms[mt] (8) \ht\.Iqdm.udh.mgt.wmlkn.[] (9) [m]hrt[.]nib.'mnkm.I.qrb.[xx]
(10) [xj.i[x]t.w.at/my.l.mgt.[xY.] (11) [w.]ma[k]tk/my.l.likt
([12)
[x] .km.knt.ly.ht.hln.hrs.[xx] (13) | xxx] Jtnt.Cmy.'m.pJtn[t]
When you sent your message to the royal palace (saying), 'Herewith
I put the gold of my tribute at the disposal of the Sun', [as for] you,
the equivalent of the . . . as was settled in the trea[ty], you should present it now! Its payment(?) is due. And the king [said?], 'Tomorrow
we shall return to you to deliver the . . ., but you have not come to
me [. . . nor] did you send your embassy to me. [Now was this] as

arranged with me? So, the gold [of your tribute that was] put here
at my disposal, I shall put (it) at the disposal of the Sun.
(KTU 2.36+ = RS 17.435+.5-13)
Li[th]dn.p (6) ad[nk.'] bdk.ukJkn (7) k.'[bdm.]sglth.hw (8) w.b[nh].uk.ngr (9)
rg[mh.l]adny.l.yfysr (10) w.[ap.y]d'.l.ydet
(11) ht[.hm].l.p.belk (12) 'b[dm.]sglth.at (13) ht[.hm].p.b'lk (14) yd'm.l.yd't
(15) 'myJps.b'lk (16) nt.ntm.lm.<.>l.tlk
Did not the Sun his father and his servant make an agreement(?) either
that he would record that he and his sons would be servants of his
own property, or that he would keep his promise (saying): 'My father
will not lack anything' and [also]: acknowledge you fully'.
Now, if to the Sun your lord, you are servant of his own property,
so then, if you recognize the Sun your lord fully, why did not you
come to the Sun your lord for one, for two years?
(KTU 2.39 = RS 18.038.5-16)
Likewise K T U 2.23 = RS 16.078+. T h e tenor of such letters is often
haughty, if not aloof on the part of the Great King, his queen and
his officials. T h e Great King speaks about himself in the third person, the greetings are curt and there is no love lost, whereas the
attitude of the vassal king is submissive and the airs and graces are
elaborate, if not exhaustive. More than half the letter from Ammittamru
to the Egyptian Pharaoh is filled with the repeated string of royal
tides: p.mlkJb.ml.mpm.mlkMcm.mlk.sdq.mlk.mlLLbMI^wt msrm . . . , ' . . . the
Sun, the great king, the king of Egypt, the benevolent king, the righteous king, the king of kings, lord of the whole country of Egypt . . .'
( K T U 2.81 = R I H 7 8 / 0 3 + ; see somewhat less tediously K T U 2.23
= R S 16.078+, 2.76 = RS 34.356.1-2, 9 - 1 0 [a draft?]). All along,
the writer repeatedly praises his overlord as benevolent king, trying
to negotiate a lower tribute: [mtn.]gm.bCly.nCm.hn.ksp.d.sen (25) ['bdk.b]
nt.qdm.alpm.mznh (26) [ht. cbdk.] yir.snp.ln.dym.hw, '. . . Another matter,
my benevolent lord. Look, the silver which [your servant] has
paid for many years, two thousand (shekels) is its weight. (Now your
servant] asks, will two thirds be sufficient for us? . . .'. Another flower
of such submissive speech is K T U 2.23 = RS 16.078+. 15-24:
w.an[k.cbdk.]d (16) ar[.hym.lp] (17) mlk.r[b.b'l}y.p.l. (18) hy.np[h. ]/ (19)
/./w.//[/.] spn.b'ly (20) w. urk.ym. b'ly (21) l.pn.amn.w.l.pn (22) il.msrm. dt.tgm
(23) np.p [.]mlk.rbMy
. . . And I am [your servant] who begs [for life to] the Sun, the great
king, my lord. Then do I not pray for the life of his soul before Ba'al
Saphon my lord, and length of days for my lord before Amun and

before the gods of Egypt who protect the soul of the Sun, the Great
King, my lord?
In the exchange of messages between the king a n d officials, we sometimes find such elaborate phrases in addition to the usual formulae
of submission, ankn.rgmt.l.b'l.spn. (7) Ups.'lm.l.'ttrt (8) l.'nt.l.kl.il.alty (9)
nmiy.mlk.'lm, ' . . . I pray to Ba'al Saphon, to the eternal Sun, to Astarte,
to Anat, to all the gods of A1aia for the splendour of an everlasting kingship!' ( K T U 2.42 = R S 18.1 13a.4-9).
N o t only are developments reported, but problems are also discussed a n d instructions given in the same persuasive sort of style.
T h e U g a n d a n king reports violations of his territory by Egyptian caravans, a n d the Hittite q u e e n , probably in consultation with the Hittite
deputy-king of C a r c h e m i s h , instructs him to direct t h e m past Q a d e s h
through the valley of the O r o n t e s ( K T U 2.36+ = R S 17.435+ .16ffi;
D I J K S T R A 1989, 142-4). An interesting instance is the letter f r o m
G e n e r a l Iwri-tarruma ( K T U 2.33 = R S 16.402), reporting an attack
by the kings of Mugihe (Alalakh) a n d , p e r h a p s , Nuhai against
N i q m a d d u II. After some explanations a b o u t the course of strategy
taken, he c o m e s with a m a z i n g e l o q u e n c e to the subject of reinforcements:
w.mlk.b'ly (23) ImJkn.hnk (24) l.'bdh.alpm.sswm (25) rgmt.Hy.lh.lm (26)
l.ytn.hm.mlk.<b>'ly (27) w.hn. ibm.sq.ly (28) p.l.at.atty (29) riry.lh.l pn.ib
(30) ht.hm.yrgm.mlk (31) b'ly.tmgyy.hn (32) alpm.wm. hnd (33) w.mlk.b'ly.bnl
(34) bnny.'mn. (35) mlakty.hnd (36) ylak.'my (37) w(l.lh.hn (38) [a]lpm[.]umi
(39)
[x].l.[yx]xs/l.w.ib
And the king my lord, why did he assign such a thing to his servant?
Two thousand horses, you said, would come soon! Why has the king,
my lord, not provided them yet? Look, the enemies are pressing me
hard, but I cannot put my womenfolk and children just in front of
the enemy! Now, if the king my lord orders it, they will arrive here,
those two thousand horses. And the king my lord may also send to
me mediators(?) with this my embassy. And let them come up soon
hither, the two thousand horses [and] let him not [. . .] and withdraw!
(KTU 2.33 = RS 16.402, 22-39)
Fragments of such eloquent pieces of prose, in which someone is
pleading his case, are also found, for instance, in K T U 2.41 = R S
18.075, 2.42 = R S 18.113A, 2.45 = R S 18.140, etc., but unfortunately they are too broken for their lines of reasoning to be followed
in detail. In K T U 2.70 = R S 29.093, we find a complaint a n d a
request. Obviously one of the senders of this letter is a w o m a n (as
also K T U 2.11 = R S 8.315):

hlny.bn.'yn ( 12) ystal.'m.amtk (13) lak.lh.wkhdnn (14) w.ank.hr ( 15) Iqht.w.hwt


(16) hbt.wlm.tb (17) bn.'yn (18) w.lqh.tqlm (19) ksp.bd.amtk
tn.'bdk (21) tmt.'mnk (22) k I On.akl.Uun (23) w.k tal (24) bt.'bdk (25) w.kymgy
(26) ebdk.l ihn (27) 'mk.p.l.ysb' I (28) hpn.l b'ly (29) mnm.it.l 'bdk

Here, the son of came to request (silver) from your handmaid. It


was sent to him, but he hid it. I enlisted a contractor and I repaired
the house. Why has the son of returned to take the two shekels
of silver from the hand of your handmaid?
And two of your servants are there with you in order that you may
give food to them. Now if your servants ask for accommodation and
if they arrive in peace to you, will not then a handful satisfy them?
T o my lord belongs everything that your servants own.
(KTU 2.70 = RS 29.093.11-29)
Letters evidently often react to messages received about information,
allegations of disloyalty, requests for help or neglect to pay outstanding debts a n d tardiness in fulfilling obligations. T h e r e is nothing new
u n d e r the sun! M a n y of the letters refer to messages received and
even quote from them (examples in D i j k s t r a 1987a, 3 8 - 9 to which
K T U 2.36+ = R S 17.435+ passim, m a y be added).
lm.tlikn.hpt.hndn (11) p.mrrt.mlk (12) inn.im.bn.qln* (13) im.bn.alyy.im (14)
msm't.mlk (15) wtlkn.tn. tnm (16) 'my.wttbm.lby (17) wlht.bt.amr (18) ky.tdbr.umy
(19) l.pn.qrt (20) im.ht.l.b (21) msqt.yt_bt (22) qrt.p.mn (23) likt.ank.lht (24)
bt.mlk.amr (25)ybnn.hlk (26) 'm mlk.amr (26) w.ybl.hw.mit (28) hrs.w. mrdt<t>.l
(29) mlk.amr.w.lqh.hw (30) mn.b.qrnh (31) w.ysq.hw.l.ri (32) bt.mlk.amr (33)
mnm.ht[at.brt]

Why did they release these two, as if they were not subordinate to
the king? Either being the son of Qln, or the Son of Alyy, or a subordinate of the king, these two should have come to me together and
should have broken my heart. As for the letter about the daughter of
the king of Amurruwhen my mother speaks on behalf of the city:
'If now the city will not go on to live in anxiety, who then must I
send with the letter about the daughter of the king of Amurru?' Let
Yabninu go to the king of Amurru and let him bring a hundred
(shekels) of gold and the repudiated woman(?) to the king of Amurru
and let him take oil in his horn and pour it on the head of the daughter of the king of Amurru. Whatever sin [she] committed [she will be
free?] . . .
'
(KTU 2.72 = RS 34.124.10-33)
It is characteristic of this m o d e of prose to construct complicated
sentences in an elaborate rhetorical, often conditionally phrased style.
For instance, the passage quoted from K T U 2.39 = R S 18.038.1 1 - 6
is probably one long sentence. Sentences introduced with conditional

hm, temporal k(y)- (preceded or followed by the conjunction p(m)-,


but often also simply the copula w-, K T U 2.10 = R S 4 . 4 7 5 . 9 - 1 0 ,
2.31 = R S 16.394.16ff., etc. or without connection, K T U 2.33 =
R S 16.402.30-1) are numerous, as are statements a n d conditional
sentences emphasized with hn, ht and ap (e.g. ht hm . . . K TU 2.10.8-9,
2.33.30, 2.39.1 I f f ; wap ht... 2.3 = R S 1.013+.20; wap.ank.. . 2 . 1 1 =
R S 8.315.13, 2.33.15, 2.41 = R S 18.075.19), and rhetorical a n d real
questions with or without ik(y), mh(y), e.g. w.k tal bt cbdk w k ymgy
c
bdk l lm cmk pi ysbc Ihpn, 'And if your servants ask for a c c o m m o d a tion and if they reach you safely, would not a handful be sufficient?'
( K T U 2.70 = R S 29.093.23-8, also 2.23 = R S 16.078+. 17ff. and
perhaps, 2.39.5ff).
Quite often in the prose of letters and elsewhere (e.g the narrative K T U 1.114 = R S 24.258, the ritual K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256.6-7)
the preferred word order V S is changed to SV: wum tsmf} mad. . .,
'and my mother should rejoice g r e a d y . . . ' ( K T U 2.16 = R S 15.008.10);
whn.ibm. sq.ly . . ., 'And look, the enemies are pressing m e hard . . .'
( K T U 2.33 = R S 16.402.27), perhaps for emphasis (other examples
T R O P P E R 1994c, 467-70). A related interesting p h e n o m e n o n in this
m o d e of prose is casus pendens or nominative absolute ( W A L T K E O ' C O N N O R 1990, 4.7), e.g. in the oath-sentence: wyd ilm p kmtm cz
mid hm ntkp m'nk, 'as for the h a n d of the gods, it will indeed be as
strong as Death, if your answer is negative(?)' ( K T U 2.10 = R S
4.475.11-5); note the incongruity of yd (f.) and cz (m.)5 but this seems
to be the idea (pace P A R D E E 1987; W A T S O N 1990, 8 1 - 2 , 1994, 495);
[w].b.ym.k.ybt.mlk (15) [t]ydr.w.ap.ank (16) [i]hd.lgr. amn, '[And] as for
today, if the king stays in [T]ydr, I for my part took hold of M o u n t
A m a n u s . . . ' ( K T U 2.33 = R S 16.402+. 15-6; for the geographical
n a m e ty[n\dr, see D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1994, 65-7); wmlk bcly Im skn
hnk rbdh 'and as for the king my lord, why did he assign such a
thing to his servant?' ( K T U 2.33.22-4); hn.mrt d tt asu b Idtk, 'Look,
the patrimony which was (legally) settled, I shall release after you
have given birth' ( K T U 2.34 = R S 17.139.32-3); cmy p b'Ik snt sntm
Im Itlk, 'to the king your lord, why did you not come for one or
two years? ( K T U 2.39 = R S 18.038.15-6); wlht akl Iy likt cm p bclk
ky akl bhwtk. inn. pn tubd, 'As for the tablet about food, when you
sent to the Sun the message that there is no food in your country,
the Sun was indeed d i s h e a r t e n e d . . . ' ( K T U 2.39.17ff). T h e r e are
m a n y other examples, for instance, in administrative texts: mlb.trmnm
(6) k.ytn.w.b.bt (7) mlk.mlb (8) ytn.lhm, '. . . As for the clothing of the

trrnnm-gods when it is old, then in the house of the king clothing


should be given to them' ( K T U 4.168 = RS 15.082.5-9).

1.6

Performative and prescriptive prose

In this group I would include the medical texts, omens, rituals and
contracts, though a distinction from other prose texts is not always
easy. For instance, the protocol of necromancy through the medium
Dtn, one of the royal deified ancestors, contains as a report an amalgam of narrative discourse, ritual and medical prescriptions ( D i e t r i c h
L o r e t z 1990a, 212, 216). T h e Ugaritic liturgical prayer K T U
1.108 = RS 24.252 is an interesting amalgam of performative ritual language and descriptive hymnic prose with occasional parallelism. Though the style of contracts is basically performative and
very formal, lym hnd RN mlk ugrt ytn bt/d. . ., ' O n this day, R N the
King of Ugarit gave the house, the field . . ( K T U 3.2 = RS 15.111;
3.5 = RS 16.382); lym hnd iwrkl pdy . . ., ' O n this day, Iwrikalli
redeemed P N . . . ' ( K T U 3.4 = RS 16.191+), we occasionally find
instances of persuasive style complete with metaphor: . . . l.yihd stqlm
(2) b unt.km.p (3) d brt.kmt. (4) br stqlm (5) b unt cd clm, 'No one shall
take Stqlm in corve-service. As the Sun who is free, so Stqlm is
free from corve-service for e v e r . . .' ( K T U 2.19 = RS 15.125).
T h e largest category in this section comprises rituals. They are
written with an exasperating concision ( P a r d e e - B o r d r e u i l 1 9 9 2 ,
709). Many of the ritual texts look like administrative texts: a list of
gods and the sacrifices administered to them. Some of them are even
simple onomastica of gods ( K T U 1 . 4 7 || 1 . 1 1 8 ; Akkadian RS 2 0 . 2 4 ,
N o u g a y r o l , 1 9 6 8 , 4 2 6 4 ) , perhaps a kind of canonical list of gods.
Excerpts from this list and others, are extended in the rituals by
sacrifices administered to them. This may happen by simple juxtaposition of name and sacrifice, e.g. b'l i, atrt s tkmn wnm 'nt , rp
/, etc. ( K T U 1 . 4 1 = RS 1 . 0 0 3 + . 15-6, with parallels), but also with
a dative I (wtn sm lbclt bhtm, csrm lins ihn, K T U 1 . 4 1 . 5 , see also 1 . 8 1 =
RS 1 5 . 1 3 0 ; in H u m a n texts dative -d/-da, plural -tt/-asta). These
lists can be preceded by date formulae of months and days: byrh ris
yn. bymhdt. . . btltt esrt, 'In the month Risyn (First Wine) on the day
of the new moon . . . on the 13th day . . .' Occasionally, and often
interspersed between this lists of sacrifices, we find references to
processions and other cultic rites to be performed. A basic question
remains as to whether these rituals were meant to be 'prescriptive'

or 'descriptive' ( L e v i n e 1963; P a r d e e - B o r d r e u i l 1992, 709). M y


own preference is to see the references to ritual activities as habitual. This is consonant with the frequent use of imperfects indicating an incomplete action, if not an action to be performed, i.e. a
jussive mode, or a prescriptive imperfect ( P a r d e e - B o r d r e u i l 1992).
This prescriptive nature of the rituals is also consonant with the fact
that some rituals have complete or partial duplicates. T h e ritual prescriptions usually mention or imply the king and the priest as officiants:
btltt 'srt. yrtfis. mlk.brr, 'on the 13th day the king shall wash himself
clean' ( K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+.3 a n d passim), wynt qrt/db I cnt walp
w l il wb urbt y tk gdlt ilhm, ' a n d he shall p r e p a r e a city-pigeon before
Anat, a cow a n d a sheep for El a n d in the chimney he shall p o u r
out (the blood o f ) the cow for the ancestor-gods(?)' ( K T U 1.41.10
a n d passim), wtlhm. att. . . kl lylhm bh . . . , ' . . . a w o m a n m a y eat (from
i t ) . . . nobody should eat f r o m i t . . . ( K T U 1.115 = R S 24.260.8,
10).;. . .yt.rpu.mlk.Clm. wyt (2) [/] gtr.wyqr. . wtst.'nt.gtr. . ., '. . . let the
Healer, the eternal king, drink a n d let [the god] G a r u - a n d - Y a q a r u
d r i n k . . . a n d let A n a t of G a r u d r i n k . . .' ( K T U 1.108 = R S
24.252.1-2, 6). This prescriptive prose style is particularly clear in
the ritual where the king a n d the officiant priests celebrate together:
id[.yd]bh.mlk l.prgl.srqn.b.gg (51) ar[b]'.arb'.mtbt.azmr.bhJJr[p]
(52)
al[p.]w..lmm.pamt.b'.klbh
(53) yr[gm.]mlk.sbu.p.w.hl.mlk
(54)
w.l[b]n.spm.w.mh[y pn]h.t[t]tbn (55) b.b[t].w.km.it y [u.l.]smm. yd[h]
Then the king shall sacrifice to PRGL SRQN on the roof, on which
there are four by four dwellings of foliage: a sheep as a burnt offering
and a cow and a sheep as a peace-offering. Seven times the king shall
say whole-heartedly (the prayer): 'Host of the Sun and army of Maliku'.
Clothe him with covers(?) and wipe his face, and let him return to
the temple; and when he is present, he shall raise his hands to heaven.
(KTU 1.41 = RS 1.003+.50-5)
. . . [ s]l[m.u]hiy ylb (23) mlk.ylk.lqli.ilm (24) atr.ilm.ylk.p'nm (25) mlk.p'nm.yl[k.]
(26) b' pamt.lklhm
. . . [the] sta[tue of U]hari one shall dress. The king shall proceed to
accompany the gods, people shall go behind the gods barefoot. The
king shall also go barefoot, seven times for both(?) of them.
(KTU 1.43 = RS 1.005.22-7)
A n o t h e r instance of performative style in ritual, but in the second
person plural, is the sacrificial ritual of the ancestor cult ( K T U 1.161 =
R S 34.126). T h e perfective forms have been u n d e r s t o o d as prescriptive narrative (as also in the H e b r e w Bible Lev. 8 - 9 ; d e M o o r

1976, 335; H E A L E Y 1978b, 85), but


performative or precative perfects:

would suggest that they are

spr dbh (2) qritm.rp.a[rs] (3) qbitm.qbs.d[dn] (4) qra.ulkn.rp[a] . . . tqdm


C
sr (31) lm.lm 'mr[pi] (32) wlm.bn/Jlm.tiyl (33) lm.bth.lm.ugrt (34) lm.lgrh
Book of the Sacrifice of the 'Shades': Y o u shall n o w invoke the Healers
of the E a r t h , you shall n o w s u m m o n the Assembly of D D N : 'Invited
be U L K N , the H e a l e r . . .' Y o u shall a p p r o a c h the festive assembly by
saying the peace: Peace to A m m u r a p i ; p e a c e to his sons; p e a c e to
Tryl\ p e a c e to his house; p e a c e to Ugarit; p e a c e to its gates.

Performative imperatives and jussive imperfects 2nd person sing, and


plur. also occur in rituals: b tC Crh (2) trbd.'rs []pd-{?>)-iy.b t.mlk.. . (25)
I pn ll.trr (26) V/. . ., ' O n the 19th day, you shall prepare the nuptial bed of Pidriya in the suite of the king. . . before the night, you
shall shake up the b e d . . . ' ( K T U 1.132 = RS 24.291.1-3, 25-6).
Note also the poetic prose incipit of the prayer in K T U 1.119 =
RS 24.266: k gr 'z.tgrkm.qrd (27) hmytkm.'nkm.lb'l.tsun, 'When a strong
one attacks your gates, a warrior your walls, you shall raise your
eyes to Ba'al (saying:)...' (R.P. G O R D O N 1991, 161-3). Such performative style is characteristic of Ugaritic rituals, just as for ancient
Near Eastern rituals in general. A last good example is the expiatory ritual K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002 found in several mutilated copies:
A n d present a y o u n g he-ass to obtain the re1ease(?) of the Ugaritians
a n d the expiation of the sojourners within the walls of Ugarit, the
expiation of Tman, the expiation of crmt, the expiation of Ugarit a n d
the expiation of N i q m a d d u . W h e t h e r y o u r faithfulness d e p a r t e d f r o m
the Q a t i a n clans, the D a d m i a n clans, the H u m a n clans, the Hattic
clans, the A1aian clans, the clans of Gbr, the clans w h o r o b b e d you,
the clans of y o u r faithfu1(?), the clans of Qrzblwhether
y o u r faithfulness d e p a r t e d either because of y o u r a n g e r or because of y o u r i m p a tience, or because of the quarrels you h a d , w h e t h e r your faithfulness
d e p a r t e d for sacrifices a n d oblation, o u r sacrifice we should sacrifice.
T h i s is the oblation we oblate, this the offering we offer. Let it rise
to the F a t h e r of the gods, let it rise to the family of the gods, to
T u k m a n a n d u n a m , this he-ass.
( K T U 1.40.26-34)

T h e omen texts show a fixed pattern of prose sentences and syntax,


like their Mesopotamian counterparts. Obviously, this type of literature derived from Babylonian tradition. Fragments of a dreambook
( K T U 1.86 RS 18.041) and a collection of astronomical omens
( K T U 1.163 = R I H 78/14) have been preserved. T h e birth omens
are represented by two main groups: the summa izbu 'If an abortion'

( K T U 1.103+ = RS 24.247+) and the umma sinnitu (.. .) ulid 'If a


woman gives birth to a . . .' omens ( K T U 1.140 = RS 24.302). T h e
former is the better preserved collection and shows the well-known
protasis-apodosis k tld X . . . Y(-r) structure. Characteristic of omens
is the subject (+) verb order in the apodosis ( T r o p p e r 1 9 9 4 c ,
469-70):
O m e n s of small livestock. [If] a ewe(?) bears a stone, then the m a j o r ity in the land will fall victim; (if) a snake follows after it, the y o u n g
of its cattle will be weak, (if) also a . . .; famine will be in the land,
(if) it has no . . ., the country wall be destroyed; a n d (if) [its belly] is
open, a famine will be in the land . . .

Certain omens were checked by a second opinion of the haruspex


( K T U 1.78 = RS 12.061), but inspection of the omina also drew
forth ritual activity to eliminate the effects of bad omens. T h e lung
model K T U 1.127 = RS 24.277, for instance, reveals an interesting instance of relationship between omen interpretation and ritual.
It may have been an instruction model, but this is far from certain,
since parallels are still lacking ( M e y e r in D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1990a,
270-1). Nevertheless certain parts arc marked by 'borders' containing small texts with ritual instructions, seemingly derived from omina
observations. T h e most interesting instance is the instruction of a
scape-goat rite to eliminate the danger of a city taken or a plague
(Dietrich
L o r e t z 1990a, 32-38, 270-1):
hm qrt tuhd.hm mt y'l bn (31) bt bn bus yqh

z (32) wyhdy mrhqm

If a city is besieged (and) if plague attacks a m a n , the citizen's household will take a goat a n d banish it to the remotest parts.

(KTU 1.127.30-2)
However not many other examples of such characteristic prose can
be gleaned from the rituals. T h e style is often extremely concise and
many phrases are still poorly understood, for instance Crb.p. whl.mlk
( K T U 1.87 = RS 18.056.56-7; 1.46+ = RS 1.009.9-10, 44, 1.112 =
RS 24.256.9, 1.119 = RS 24.266.4, 2 3 - 4 , 1.126 = R S 24.276.23?,
1.132 = RS 24.291.27-8), variant sbu p (whl ym crb p) whl mlk
( K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+.47-8, 5 3 - 4 , 1.112.14-5), also ttb rgm (bgn)
whl mlk ( K T U 1.106 = RS 24.250+.23-4, 33). T h e context suggests
a kind of morning or evening prayer spoken by the king.

Ugaritic

Wilfred

2.1
2.1.1

G..

Poetry

Watson

Introduction

Scope

Almost from the very beginning of Ugaritic studies, account was


taken of the verse component, 1 but as yet there has been no fullscale description of Ugaritic poetry nor has there been an exhaustive examination of the principles involved, although several partial
surveys are available. 2 T h e best and fullest account so far is P a r k e r
(1989, 7-98) 3 while a very detailed analysis of parallelism including
phonological features in only one short passage ( K T U 1.3 = RS
2.[014]+ i 2~25) has also been completed ( P a r d e e 1988c, 1-67). In
view of this state of affairs, the presentation here is not systematic;
instead, it sets out a number of related topics under several headings. First, though, some account is required of the nature of the
material under consideration and the problems it entails.
2.1.2

The texts

T h e corpus of Ugaritic poetry is fairly easy to define: it includes all


the mythological and epic texts, which are mostly in narrative verse,
and excludes letters, legal and economic texts as well as most of the
ritual texts as non-poetic. 4 Some texts, however, are borderline, e.g.
K T U 1.119 = RS 24.266:28-36); K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126 ( P a r d e e
1993a) and some verse texts contain prose elements ( C r o s s 1974)
e.g. K T U 1.113 = R S 24.247:1-11 = verse; 12ff. = prose list. Some

DUSSAUD

1935,

1 9 3 6 (19412); GASTER

1933,

GINSBERG

1936,

OBERMANN

1936,

as well as C O P P E N S 1 9 4 6 , 1 9 4 4 , Y O U N G 1 9 4 8 , 1 9 4 9 , etc., though inevitably


the relationship to Hebrew poetry was to the fore.
2
T / T 1 3 , K O S M A L A 1 9 6 6 , 1 7 2 - 6 ; G R A Y 1 9 6 5 passim, S E G E R T 1 9 7 9 ; 1 9 8 3 ; 1 9 8 4 ,
109-10;

DEI. O I . M O LF.TF. 1 9 8 1 ,

31-62;

AVISHUR

1994,

13

25.

For a critique cf. DEL O I . M O L E T E 1990, esp. 190-4.


4
'Features known as parallelistic may also occur in prose texts. Some Ugaritic
epistolary formulae exhibit parallelism, and even some of the expressions in the
body of the letters are arranged in parallelistic structures. This criterion alone cannot determine whether the text is poetry or prose. The other distinguishing feature
of a poetic text is its division into prosodie units of approximately the same length'
(SEGERT

1979,

730).

speech introductions are extra-colonic but others comprise an integral


part of the verse (see 5.2.4.1). T h u s , the corpus includes the
Baal Cycle (KTU 1.1-6 = RS 3.361, 3.367, 3.346, 2. [014]+, 2. [008]+,
2.[022]+, 2.[009]+); the 'Stories' of Keret and Aqhat ( K T U 1.14-16
= R S 2.[003]+, 3.343+, 3.325+; K T U 1.17-9 = RS 2. [004], 3.340,
3.322+); the Rapi'uma texts ( K T U 1.20-1.22 = RS 3.348, 2.[019],
2.[024]); a wedding poem ( K T U 1.24 = R S 5.194); incantations
( K T U 1.82 = R S 15.134; K T U 1.96 = R S 22.225; K T U 1.100 =
RS 24.244; K T U 1.107 = R S 24.251+); a prayer ( K T U 1.119 =
RS 24.266:28-36; see d e l O l m o L e t e 1987, W a t s o n 1996); a mythic
marriage ritual ( K T U 1.23 = RS 2.002; cf. W a t s o n 1994a); a funeral
ritual ( K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126; see P a r d e e 1993a) and various
fragments. 5 A broad distinction can therefore be made between longer
texts (mosdy narrative) and relatively short texts (the remainder), with
K T U 1.100 = RS 24.244 occupying a mid-posidon. O n the whole
problem see 5.1.4.
2.1.3

Problems in studying Ugaritic verse

Apart from the poor condition of some tablets which


readings uncertain as well as leaving large gaps in the
and the fact that the corpus is relatively small, certain
culties combine to make the analysis of Ugaritic verse

makes many
poetic texts,
specific diffiproblematic.

Principally, for most of the tablets the stichometry is uncertain or


at least not made clear.6 Exceptions include K T U 1.10 = RS 3.362+
(and to some extent K T U 1.23 = R S 2.002), where the verse-line
corresponds to tablet line (cf. d e l O l m o L e t e 1991a, 463 and
n. 3, W a n s b r o u g h 1983 and W a t s o n 1982). Occasionally, stretches
of text are written with correct stichometry (e.g K T U 1.15 = RS
3.343+ iii 1-23, with 23 consecutive verse-lines which match the
lines on the tablet) and some of the worst sections are in Aqht.
At times, the vocabulary poses difficulties (e.g. gmn in K T U 1.6 =
RS 2. [009]+ i 19ff.). Generally, this is not particularly an obstacle
to determining poetic structure. However, when whole passages
which are repeated are not entirely understood, (e.g. K T U 1.3 =
RS 2. [014]+ iii 14-7 and par.) problems do arise.

E.g.

MARGALIT
6

See

1.8 = R S 3.364; K T U 1.83 = R S 16.266see P I T A R D 1998, DEL


1996; K T U 1.92 = R S 19.039+see DE M O O R 1985, D I J K S T R A 1994,
1989b; K T U 1.93 = R S 19.054see D I J K S T R A 1986.

K T U

OLMO LETE

LORETZ

1976,

1986,

KOTTSIEPER -

LORETZ

1987.

T h e lack of vocalization and in general the absence of a tradition


of pronunciation (although syllabic spellings are of some help where
available) mean that we do not know how this poetry was recited
or sung and there is no indication of metre (see below), especially
as it is not known for certain where the stress lay.
T h e r e are several scribal mistakes; in addition, very often lines
appear to be omitted (as is apparent from comparison of nearparallel passages) 7 but it is not always clear when this was intentional (see 5.7 on expansion/contraction) and when not (see d e
M o o r 1978a, 130-1).
Almost all Ugaritic narrative is in verse, with no strictly comparable material in prose. Exceptions are the letters and to some
extent the ritual texts, but these have their own special styles and
to some extent Akkadian influence is evident in the letters, some
of which were translations (see, e.g. M a r q u e z R o w e 1 9 9 2 ) . It is,
for instance, difficult to describe 'normal' syntax and then compare it with the syntax of poetry, due to the lack of material ( S i v a n
1 9 9 7 , 2 1 0 ) (however see 5 . 2 . 3 . 3 and 5 . 2 . 3 . 5 below on verb
forms and ellipsis).
2.1.4

Approaches

O n the positive side, some assistance is provided by the tablets and


several factors make study of Ugaritic verse easier. Quite often, as
has been noted, whole passages of verse are repeated. Sometimes
the correct stichometry is used and as has been said, the corpus is
reasonably well-defined. Enough of the texts is understood for a
degree of certainty in describing their poetic aspect and information
from similar traditions (Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician) can be of
some help. Also, text editions with translations now tend to include
comments on poetic structure. 8 M.S. Smith, who provides vocalization, semantic parallelism, word-count, syllable count, comments:
Some remarks bearing on various sorts of parallelismsyntactic,
morphological and sonant. . .often follow the presentation of cola,
although syntactic parallelism is not treated according to any specific
system. Rather, it has been my interest to indicate how these sorts of

See, e.g.

DEL O L M O L E T E

MARGALIT

ROSENTHAL

1939.

1991, P A R D E E 1988a, S M I T H 1994a, W Y A T T 1998c, etc.; see also


1980b (with the critique by DEL O I . M O L E T E 1983) and M A R G A L I T 1989a.

parallelism may bind and contrast cola, especially in the absence of


apparent semantic parallelism (M.S. S m i t h 1994a, xxxiv).9
2.1.5

Metre

It is now generally accepted that Ugaritic verse is not metrical. Young


discussed the possible existence of metre in Ugaritic verse and concluded: 'If there is any metric [i.e. metrical] system in Ugaritic, it
should show itself in some regular manifestation observable in the
texts themselves without our trying to fit any system into t h e m '
(YOUNG 1950, 124). T w o factors led him to this conclusion: (1) 'there
is no consistency in the sequence of similar stich combinations within
a poem or within sections of a poem, much less a consistency of an
accent-per-word pattern for the successive stichs themselves' (YOUNG
1950, 124) (2) 'if an accentual meter existed at Ugarit, it might be
seen in consistency between parallel passages within single poems, if
meter were important to the composer, singer, or reciter of the
poetry. N o such consistency is found' (YOUNG 1950, 128). He added:
poetry in which the outstanding feature is parallelism of thought;
a poetry written in a language in which the majority of words are
of one, two, or three syllables, and in a language in which almost
any clause can be couched in from two to four words, is a poetry
which naturally lends itself to the creation of lines of uniform metric length' (YOUNG 1950, 132). His conclusions have been accepted
by Pardee who states that since there is no 'regular, predictable or
at least observable recurrence' of rhythmic units in Ugaritic poetry
it has no metre (PARDEE 1981, 116) and PARKER (1989, 9-10) provides additional arguments. 1 0 It has been suggested by de M o o r that
Ugaritic verse is written in free rhythm to match its musical accompaniment. Such music was probably led by a soloist and would fit the
short stichoi of ancient West Semitic poetry. T h e fact that consecutive lines had a degree of regularity can be explained by the poets'
'pursuit of symmetry' (DE M O O R 1978a, 132). Ultimately, 'parallelism
was the primary structural principle of Ugaritic poetry and . . . length

T h e aspect of literary translations of these texts cannot be discussed here; cf.

SEGERT
10

1979,

MARGALIT

259-72).

738,

HORWITZ

cf. SEGERT

PARKER

1975,

1979,

1973,
730

1990 and

LEWIS

1996.

endorsed by Z E V I T 1 9 8 3 (but cf. P A R D E E 1 9 8 1 - 2 ,


argues that the word-divider had a metrical function, but

1995, 215;
(on

K T U

1.24

RS

5.194)

and

WANSBROUGH

1983.

of line was only prescriptive in the general principle of approximation' ( P a r d e e 1 9 8 1 , 1 2 6 ) .

2.2

Language

In general, the language of Ugaritic verse is archaic ( P a r d e e 1 9 8 1 - 2 ,


267) and to some extent it also has its own vocabulary (see above). In
respect of verb forms, the rules followed are unlike those for prose.
T h e use of the qtl (or qatala) form in Ugaritic verse is distinctive:
'While *qatala constitutes the characteristic form for past narration
in the prose texts, its poetic usage is more restricted; the prefix forms
[yqtl, etc.] arc the norm for poetic narration' ( M . S . S m i t h 1 9 9 5 ,
7 8 9 , following F e n t o n 1 9 7 3 ) . " Besides being used for the stative,
reporting the past, continuing other perfects, the pluperfect, subordination and the performative, there arc three usages specific to
Ugaritic verse. These are 'contrast with prefix forms', 'report of action
c o m m a n d e d in the imperative' and 'delimitation of a section' (M.S.
S m i t h 1 9 9 5 , 7 9 0 , with further references). Different or identical verb
forms can occur in parallel lines (see 5 . 2 . 3 . 3 ) . Little research has
been carried out on syntax, but for the Story 12 of Keret, it has been
shown 'that word and sentence order remains completely unaffected
by the type of verbal form present' ( W i l s o n 1 9 8 2 , 3 1 ) . 1 3

2.3
2.3.1

Parallelism and the verse-line

General

T h e basic component of Ugaritic verse is the verse-line which can


be divided into two (parallel) half-lines or provided with a parallel
line to form a bicolon. It is generally accepted, then, that parallelism
is a fundamental component of Ugaritic verse, and it differs from
prose precisely because parallelism is so prevalent." T h e r e are several
11

However, cf. 4.4.2.5.


According to G I B S O N 1975, Keret is a myth and Ai/liai a folktale. On literary
forms in Ugaritic cf. DEL O I . M O L E T E 1984b.
I;!
W I L S O N ( 1 9 8 2 , 3 1 ) concludes: 'Such interchangeabilitv of verb forms with no
appreciable effect on word order or sentence structure may well indicate a "frozen"
state for some poetic passages, in which word order is fixed and immovable. Such
passages could be inserted at any point of a narrative with only the necessary change
of verbal form in the new context'. See also SIVAN 1 9 9 7 , 2 1 0 - 4 .
14
'There is little disagreement that the most obvious and pervasive convention
of the Ugaritic poems is parallelism' ( P A R K E R 1989, 7, cf. 10).

types of parallelism, depending on meaning (i.e. semantic parallelism


which can be synonymousincluding numerical parallelism, antithetic or contrasting, alternating), syntax (grammatical; nominal and
verbal; chiastic) and the lines (or parts of lines) comprising parallelism can have various degrees of separation (standard or near, internal, and distant) and can be grouped into bicola, tricola, etc. These
types may or may not overlap.
2.3.2

Semantic parallelism

T h e r e are various sub-types of semantic parallelism.


2.3.2.1

Synonymous parallelism

This is the standard form of parallelism, 15 where line A and line


say virtually the same thing:
(A) They ply with gifts Lady Athirat of the Sea,
tmgnn rbt atrt ym
tg zyn qnyt ilm
(B) they implore the Progenitrix of the gods
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ iii 25-6)
2.3.2.2

Numerical parallelism

Since numbers have no synonyms, synonymous parallelism involving


numbers takes the form of || + 1 (where is an integer), as in
hm tn dbhm ska b'l
lit rkb crpt
dbh bit wdbh dnt
wdbh tdmm amht
(KTU 1.4 iii 17-21)

For two sacrifices Baal hates,


three, the Cloud-rider:
a sacrifice of shame and a sacrifice of prostitution
and a sacrifice of handmaidens' lechery

T h e r e are several other examples. 16


2.3.2.3

Antithetic parallelism

Although relatively rare, contrasting or antithetic parallelism does


occur, 17 e.g.

P A R K E R 1974, P A R D E E 1988b, S E G E R T 1984, 109.


See the bibliography in W A T S O N 1991b, 241, n. 2 and 242, n. 3, esp.
1973 and 1981 and L E E 1973.
17
W A T S O N 1986 = 1994b, 468-77.
15

16

AVISHUR

t pt lars pt 1mm
set a lip to the earth, a(nother) lip to the sky
(KTU 1.23 = RS 2.002:61-2)18
and, in spite of the missing text:
[A1]oud did Anat laugh,
[g]/n tshq cnt
wblb tqny [. . .]
but in her heart she was hatching [a plot?]
(KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] vi 41-2)
2.3.2.4

Alternating parallelism

More problematic is the existence of what appear to be non-parallel bicola (SEGERT 1983, 300). Such non-parallel lines can be explained
in several ways. For example, a line such as hm it Ihm wtn wnlhm, 'If
there is food, then give so that we may eat' appears to be prose,
but in view of its counterpart, the lines are evidently in alternating
parallelism (indicated by A / A ' and B/B'):
hm [it 1 ]hm
(A) If there is food,
wtn wnlhm
(B) then give so that we may eat
hm it [yn]
(A') If there is wine,
\yi\tn. wnt
(B') then give, so that we may drink
(KTU 1.23 = RS 2.002:70-2). 19
Elsewhere the overriding pattern of parallel couplets tended to generate non-parallel couplets.
2.3.3

Grammatical and syntactical parallelism

A complete match in grammatical terms is evident in


lhm qy ilm
Give food, drink to the gods,
sad kbd hmt
wait on, honour them
(KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] 19-20).21
T h e verbs in the parallel
giving rise to types such
etc. 22 O n qtl in Ugaritic
Note also that a verbal

WO*
WO

lines of a couplet can be in various 'tenses',


qtl || qtl, qtl || yqtl, yqtl || qtl and yqtl || yqtl
verse see above.
clause can be in parallel with a noun clause:

18

See MERLO

19

adduces K T U 1 . 1 9 = R S 3 . 3 2 2 + iv 4 6 5 0 .
V = 'verb'; = 'object'.
Parallel to K T U 1 . 1 7 = R S 2. [ 0 0 4 ] 2 9 - 3 0 , perhaps with hendiadys here.

20
21
22

DE M O O R

CASSUTO

WATSON

1996.

1993, 2 0 4

1971,

FENTON

1969,

1989 = 1994c, 240-9.

1973,

HELD

1962,

1965,

M.S.

SMITH

1994,

al trgn ybtltm
Do not delude me Virgin,
dm Igzr srgk hhm
for your delusion to a hero is sheer rubbish.
(KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004]+ vi 34-5)
Perhaps chiastic parallelism belongs here, as in
sb ksp Irqm
turned had the silver into sheets
hrs nsb llbnt
the gold had turned into bricks
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ vi 34-5)
where the components of line 1 are switched around in line 2. 23 O n
chiasmus see W e l c h ( 1 9 7 4 ) . 2 4
2.3.4

Parallelism based on degree of separation

Internal or half-line parallelism occurs when only one line is involved,


for example:
rgm cs 1ht abn
Word of tree and whisper of stone
(KTU i . 3 = RS 2.[014]+ iii 22-3 and par.).
Here, the two halves of the line are in parallel. 2 ' 1 Standard or near
parallelism is none other than the couplet formed by adjacent lines
(see above). In distant parallelism, which serves to bind together longer
sections of text, there is a gap between the lines involved ( P a r d e e
1988c, 193-201, esp. 199-200). In general, the standard verse pattern comprises two sequential lines, as if parallelism were the accepted
norm, although it is not always present. Quite often couplets can be
formed from two (formulaic) monocola ( P a r k e r 1989, 23).
2.3.5

Ellipsis and ballast variant

Ellipsis (or gapping) is the absence of one or more elements (e.g. a


verb) from a line which would be expected but is or are understood
to be present. 26 For example, the verb tbl (+ suffix) is taken to be
present in the second line of
tblk grm mid ksp
May the mountains bring you plenty of silver,
tblk gb'm mhmd hrs
the hills bring you choicest gold27
(KTU 1.4 (= RS "2. [008]+) 31-3)
23

S e e WATSON

24

Note also 'gender-matched parallelism' (on which cf. W A T S O N 1981a).


See W A T S O N 1984b, 1985, 1988b = 1994b, 104 44. K O R P E L - DE M O O R 1998, 11.
See S I V A N 1997, 215-6.
The 'missing' element is indicated by (DE M O O R 1993, 200).

25
26
27

1 9 8 3 C , DE M O O R

1993,

193.

A ballast variant is the use of a longer expression (usually in the seco n d line) for its corresponding a n d evidently shorter equivalent (usually in the first line) a n d is related to ellipsis. ' T h e principle of ellipsis
in poetry is the converse of (and goes h a n d in h a n d with) the principle of ballast variants.' (UT 13.105). For example:
wykn bnh bbt
Sired be a son for him in the house,
wykn 1rs bqrb hklh Sired be a scion within his palace
(KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] i 25-6 || 42-3)
H e r e , the ballast variant of bbt in the first colon is bqrb hklh in the
second colon, which compensates for the the ellipsis of wykn in the
second colon Similary, zbl b'l ars is the longer equivalent of aliyn bcl
(matching the ellipsis of widc) in:
wid' khy aliyn b'l
kit zbl b'l ars

Then I shall know that Mightiest Baal lives,


I shall know that the Prince, Lord of the Earth,
exists.
(KTU 1.6 iii 8-9; also K T U 1.17 i 36-7; K T U 1.18 iv 17-8).
Ellipsis in the first colon is rare, occurring almost exclusively in 'staircase parallelism' (see 5.2.4.2):
ht ibk b'lm tmhs
Now, your enemy, Baal, do strike,
ht ibk tmhs
Now, your enemy strike etc.
(KTU 1.2 = RS 3.367 iv 8-9)
As A l t e r (1985, 23-6). has explained, such ellipsis frees space in
the second line for some elaboration of a parallel item in the first
line a n d also isolates the e x p a n d e d topic for attention. 2 8

2.4

Verse

paragraphs

Lines of verse can occur in relative isolation (monocola) or clustered


in sets varying f r o m two (couplets) to seven or more. T h e s e combinations of cola 29 are described here.

28

See also G R E E N S T E I N
single word in K T U 1 . 2 =
1.14

2. [ 0 2 4 ]
1.3 =
29

RS

i
RS

2. [ 0 0 3 ] +

21-4,

RS

iv 4 2 - 3 ;

SIVAN
3.367

K T U

YONA
20-1;

1.16 =

1983,

iv
302;

39-40.
1984,

108

71.32.

(1998,

K T U
RS

and ellipsis of an expression in

2. [ 0 1 4 ] +

SEGERT

1983.

404-5)

1.3 =

3.325+
K T U

vi
1.2

RS

discuss ellipsis of a
iv 5 ; K T U

2.[014]+

11-2;
=

RS

K T U

1.22

3.367

iv

6;

RS
K T U

2.4.1

Monocola

Although the standard strophic form is the couplet, single lines or


monocola occur very frequently. T h e y appear as introductory monocola drawing attention to speaker and in this form are prose, e.g.
rr Imtt hry 'Listen, Lady Hurriya' ( K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi
16-7). W h e n expanded to a bicolon or tricolon (see section on expansion/contraction), they are verse. Several are speech-openers.
It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a line of verse forms
part of a longer unit (bicolon, tricolon, etc.) or is entirely separate, e.g.
e

d Ihm sty ilm


While they ate the gods drank.
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ vi 55)
Is this line a monocolon or an introduction to the next two lines?
T h e function of the monocolon is to open and close sections of verse.
T h e y can also mark a climax, as in
sgrthn. abkrn
The youngest of them I shall make the firstborn
(KTU 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii 16).
Some monocola exhibit inner parallelism 30 and so conform to the
prevailing feature of Ugaritic verse. An example is the standard formula
balp Id rbt kmn

by the t h o u s a n d iddu, the m y r i a d kumnu

(KTU 1.3 = RS 2. [014]+ iv 38 and many times elsewhere).


2.4.2

The tricolon

T r u e tricola, where all three lines are in parallelism (AAA"), are


rare, e.g.
I ys' alt tbtk
Surely he will
I yhpk ksa mlkk
Surely he will
I ytbr ht mtptk
Surely he will
( . 6 = RS 2. [009]+ vi 27-9

remove the prop of your seat,


upset the throne of your kingship,
smash the sceptre of your rule.
(and par.).

Some comprise a monocolon followed by a bicolon (ABB'):


She prepared a lamb in flour
tcdb imr bphd
hps ktr whss
for the appetite of Kothar-and-Hasis
1brlt hyn dhrydm
for the craving of Hayin, skilful with both hands.
(KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] 22-5)

30

See

WATSON

1984b, 1985a, 1988b = 1994b, 104-44.

or, have the reverse formation (AA'B):


ydd wqlsn
He stood and insulted me,
yqm wywptn
He got up and spat on me,
btk phr bn ilm
right
in the gathering of El's sons
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ iii 12-4).
A special type of tricolon, called 'staircase parallelism', where the
initial line is interrupted by a vocative and then repeated in complete form, occurs several times, 31 e.g.
ir hym laqht gzr
Ask for life, Hero Aqhat,
irs hym watnk
Ask for life I and I shall give it to you,
blmt waslhk
for non-death, and I shall grant (it) to you.
(KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] vi 26-8)
O n e function of tricola is to slow the pace of the narrative which
then requires more attention ( P a r k e r 1 9 8 9 , 1 6 ) .
2.4.3

The quatrain or tetracolon

T h e r e are various forms of the four-line strophe, including


AAA" A' "
Her father set the beams of the scales,
her mother, the trays of the scales.
Her brothers settled the pointer,
her sisters, the stones of the scales.
(KTU 1.24 = RS 5.194:33-7)
adnh yt msb mznm
umh kp mznm
ihh yt'r mrrm
ahth labn mznm

AA'BB'
tmh ht atrt wbnh
Let Athirat and her sons now rejoice,
ilt wsbrt aryh
the goddess and the throng of her kin,
kmt aliyn b'l
for dead is Mighty Baal,
khlq zbl b'l ars
expired has the Prince, the earthlord
(KTU 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+ i 39-43)
Some are formed when one couplet is inserted into another, as in
dnilysb palth
Daniel went round his blighted land,
bsql yph bpalt
he saw a stalk in the blighted land,
bsql yph byglm
he saw a stalk in the weeds,
bsql yhbq wynsq
he hugged and kissed the stalk.
(KTU 1.19 = RS 3.322+ ii 12-5).32
31

See

281-309.

AVISHUR

1972,

GREENSTEIN

1974,

1977,

LOEWENSTAMM

1969

1980,

'Staircase parallelism' is more correctly analysed as apostrophe plus ep-

analepsis ( W A N S B R O U G H 1 9 8 2 ) .
32
As identified by D I E T R I C H

LORETZ

1973a (but cf. 1973b) and

DEL O I . M O

LETE

2.4.4

The pentacolon

An example is:
bh p'nm ttt
On her, her feet quake,
e
behind her, her loins burst,
b dn ksl ttbr
'In pnh td'
above, her face perspires,
tgs pnt kslh
the joints of her loins quiver,
ans dt irh
the muscles of her back.
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ ii 16-20; || KTU 1.3 = RS 2. [014]+ iii
32ff. KTU 1.19 = RS 3.322+ ii 44ff.)
Again, much like the quatrain (see above) pentacola arise when a
tricolon is inserted into a bicolon, as in
Who sings and plays
dyr vuydmr
bknr wtlb
with lyre and flute,
btp wmsltm
with drum and cymbals,
bmrqdm dsn
with ivory castanets
bhbr ktr tbm
in the company of sweet(-voiced) Kothar.
(KTU 1.108 = RS 24.252:3-5)33
2.4.5

Longer sequences

Hexacola are relatively rare in Ugaritic (cf. L o r e t z 1 9 8 9 ) . T h e following comprises an introductory line and a five-line speech:
tm ydr krt t' itt
There Keret the votary vowed a gift:34
atrt srm wlilt sdynm 'Oh, Athirat of Tyre, and goddess of Sidon,
hm hiy bty iqh
if I take Hurriy to my house,
asr'b glmt hgry
and bring the damsel into my dwelling,
tnh kspm atn
twice her mass in silver shall I give,
wtltth hrsm
and three times her mass in gold!'
( K T U . 14 = RS 3.343+ iv 36-43)
O t h e r hexacola may be K T U 1.3 = RS 2.[014]+ iii 3 - 8 a ; K T U
1.3 iv 4 8 - 5 3 () 3 9 - 4 4 || K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+ i 12-8; iv

1981a, 34 and DE M O O R 1978a, 137, n. 41. Other examples in W A T S O N 1997a,


30-5 and 1997b.
33
For another example cf. D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1 9 8 2 .
34
The meaning of iitt (= i + lit?) is disputed (cf. DLU, 1 and 60); here I follow
W Y A T T 1998C, 2 0 0 - 1 ; see esp. nn. 115 and 117. Another possible translation is
'The gift of 'Atiratu of Tyre, the goddess of Sidon (is this):' ( P A R D E E 1997a, 336).
For yet another translation cf. M A R G A L I T 1997.

50-7); K T U 1.12 = R S 2. [012] ii 5 8 - 6 1 ; K T U 1.17 = R S 2.[004]


vi 43-5. 3 3 O t h e r sets are heptacola, K T U 1.6 = R S 2. [009]+ 11 - 9
and its near-parallel K T U 1.6 ii 31 -5,36 the eight-line sequence K T U
1.5 = R S 2.[022]+ i 14-22 and the nine-colon set K T U 1.107 = R S
24.251+ 3 8 - 4 4 .

2.5

Strophe and

stanza

A stanza is 'a fixed . . . or variable . . . grouping of lines that is organized into thematic, metrical, rhetorical, musical, or narrative sections' ( M e y e r s - S i m m s 1989, 288), though whether this definition
would be recognised by the poets of Ugarit is a moot point. T h e
only p o e m with an a p p a r e n t sequence of strophes or stanzas 37 is
K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244 which is divided into 14 sections by ruled
lines. O f these, sections 2 - 1 1 have the same n u m b e r of verse-lines
(i.e. 10) due principally to almost wholesale repetition. T h e first section ( K T U 1.100:17) has 14 lines because the initial couplet has
been expanded to a quatrain (see W a t s o n 1997a, 3 5 ) . 3 I ! T h e last two
sections differ completely from all the others. T h u s , although these
sections are actually marked off on the tablet, as P a r d e e (1978, 104)
comments: 'this is unquestionably o w i n g . . . to the extra-poetic structure of the text and the comparable length of the sections is owing
to the repetition within this structure' and 'any attempt to find strophes in Ugaritic poetry as a prosodie or poetic e l e m e n t . . . is d o o m e d
to failure'. 3 9 Analysis is limited to identifying shorter or longer sets
of verse-lines (couplets, tricola, quatrains, etc., as above), with no
regularity or predictability. 40 Even so, this remains a useful exercise,
and Ugaritic poetry can be segmented into sections based on content,
sometimes marked off by features such as certain particles (apnk, etc.)

35

KORPEL -

DE M O O R

1986,

190-1

36

1988,

30-1.

See previous note. Cf. VVYATT 1998c, 1 3 5 n. 8 3 and 1 4 1 n. 108.


37
The terms 'strophe' and 'stanza' as denoting lines of verse grouped into sets
are used almost interchangeably (cf. C U D D O N 1 9 9 2 , 9 1 5 - 6 , 9 2 1 ) , although stanza is
more correct. On strophe, M E Y E R S - SIMMS 1 9 8 9 , 2 9 1 note: 'In contemporary usage,
the term usually refers to any stanzaic unit containing irregular lines'.
38
Each 'stanza' has 10 lines (= 1 + 9); the first has 14 (4 + 1 + 2 + 7).
39
See also P A R D E E 1993a, 208, n. 2 (ruled lines do not mark off'strophes').
40
A very interesting attempt at dividing the Story of Keret into (three) chapters,
each further subdivided into 6 cantos of 5 canticles or strophes, has been made by
S P R O N K 1 9 8 8 , although the incomplete form of the original text precludes cast iron
conclusions. See also LICHTENSTEIN 1 9 6 6 . On a smaller scale cf. D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z
1 9 7 8 , HUSSER

1995,

KLEVEN

1988.

a tricolon, peculiar syntax ( d e M o o r 1993, 197-200), speech introductions and the like, though these generally reinforce what has already
been indicated by the meaning of the passage concerned (see, for
example, the headings in d e l O l m o L e t e 1991a, 158-235, etc.).41

2.6

Repetition

Repetition takes on various forms. Repetition of sound takes the form of


end-rhyme, alliteration, assonance and wordplay and is discussed
below ( 5.2.10). Repetition of words can occur at the beginning of
a line (anaphoric), at line end (cataphoric), as immediate repetition of
words (epizeuxis), and in the form of identical word pairs 42 (or repeated
over several cola, as keywords). Sometimes whole lines (or sets of lines)
are simply repeated, which in terms of strophe and stanza, results in
envelope figure and refrains. Lasdy, complete passages recur, sometimes
unchanged, sometimes in altered form (see 5.2.7; P a r k e r 1989,
26-52). A selection of these types of repetition is considered here. 43
2.6.1

Repetition of words

For example, repetition of one word at line-initial, as in


idk al ttn pnm
Then you shall set off
towards Mount Trgzz,
'm gr trgzz
c
m gr trmg
towards Mount Thrmg,
towards the two hillocks at the edge of the earth
'm tlm gsr ars
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ viii 1-4)
T h e function here is apparently to depict a long journey. Repetition
of a word consecutively occurs rarely and most examples come from
a single text ( K T U 1.23 = R S 2.002). O n e function may be to
d e m a n d attention or convey urgency:
J n k r n S r p
Hey! Watchman! Watchman! Open!
(KTU 1.23 = RS 2.002:69-70)
Similarly, y mt mt, O h , husband, husband!' ( K T U 1.23:40 and 46);
y ad ad and ad ad, 'Father, father!'; urn urn, 'Mother, mother!'. M o r e

41

For an attempt along these lines cf. S A U R E N - K E S T E M O N T 1 9 7 1 , although their


scheme was much too rigid.
42
See especially B O R N E M A N N 1 9 7 0 .
4:
On repetition in Ugaritic see Z U R R O 1 9 8 7 and H E N S - P I A Z Z A 1 9 9 2 .

striking is the repetition of six consecutive lines beginning tld pgt. . .


'She shall bear a girl. . ( K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii 7-12). 44
2.6.2

Repetition of lines

ytlk llbnn ufsh


They went to Lebanon and its trees,
1ryn mhmd arzh
to Siryon (and) its choice cedars;
hn llbnn w'sh
Yes, Lebanon and its trees,
1yn mhmd arzh
to Siryon (and) its choice cedars.
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ vi 18-21)
Again, the purpose of the repetition, perhaps, is to depict a long
journey.
2.6.3

Repetition of passages

Ugaritic narrative poems are constructed using passages which are


repeated, sometimes verbatim, sometimes with slight variations. 43 Sets
that recur several times include the list setting out the six duties of
the model son ( K T U 1.17 = R S 2. [004] i 2 6 - 3 3 and par.; H u s s e r
1995); the 'gift-list' in the Keret Story ( K T U 1.14 = RS 2.[003] +
iii 2 2 - 5 and par.; H e n s - P i a z z a 1992) and the 'peace-offering ritual'
( K T U 1.3 = R S 2.[014]+ iii 14-7). Typically, a passage comprising
a ' c o m m a n d ' is then repeated for the 'performance' or fulfilment of
that c o m m a n d , e.g. K T U 1.14 ii 6iii 19 and K T U 1.14 iii 52-iv
31, or else an invitation ( K T U 1.22 = R S 2. [024] iii 2~4) and its
acceptance (lines 5 - 8 ; see d e l O l m o L e t e 1981a, 58-60) It is significant, perhaps, that segments of verse (couplets, etc.) could occur in
different sequences, for example, in K T U 1.14 4 0 - 2 (restored) ||
vi 10-2, the couplets
A

wng mlk Ibty


rhq krt Ihzry
al tsr udm rbt
wudm trrt
udm ytnt il
wusn ab adm

B
C

And depart, king, from my house,


go far, Keret, from my dwelling!
Do not besiege Greater Udum,
or Lesser Udum;
Udum is a present of El
and a gift of the father of Man

come in the sequences ABC ( K T U 1.14 iii 27-32), BCA ( K T U 1.14


40-5) and ACB ( K T U 1.14 vi 10-5) and in addition, the word
44

According to P A R D E E 1997a, 338, n. 51 this may be a list of the daughters'


names, now lost.
45
Cf. DEL O L M O L E T E 1991a, 58-62, P A R K E R 1989, 26-52.

pair ng II rhq is inverted the last two texts. Unless due to dictation
error, this indicates that verse was composed in formulaic passages,
perhaps orally.

2.7

Expansion and contraction

In Ugaritic the poets were free to expand single lines to bicola and
in turn form tricola from bicola. T h e process could also be reversed,
with longer strophes becoming shorter. It is certainly the case that
a line can be expanded to a couplet, as in:
rr rr latiyn b'l
Listen, please, Mightiest Baal!
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ vi 4)
which becomes
m' laliyn b' I
Listen, Mightiest Baal,
bn Irkb 'rpt
understand, Cloud-rider!
(KTU 1.4 59-60)46
A single line can also be extended to a tricolon. For instance, Pughatu's
core epithet is tkmt mym '(she who) shoulders water', and it can occur
alone ( K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ iv 28); it can also be expanded by
two further epithets: hspt Is'r tl, 'scooping dew from the barley' and
yd't hlk kbkbm, 'knowing the course of the stars' (cf. M a r g a l i t 1989a,
364-5). T h e prose formula wrgm Ikrt t' thm pbl mlk,47 'And say to Krt
the Noble, "Message of King P b l " ' ( K T U 1.14 = RS 2.[003]+
32-3), which derives from everyday usage, is expanded by applying
parallelism to each half to form two bicola:
wrgm Ibn ilm mt
And say to divine Mot,
tny lydd il gzr
Repeat to El's beloved, the hero
thm aliyn b'l
"Message of Mightiest Baal,
hwt aliy qrdm
The word of the Mightiest warrior".
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [014]+ viii 29-35)48
However, it is sometimes difficult to determine whether a poet has
intentionally added or omitted a line (or lines) or whether these are
accepted variants. For example, in

46
47
48

See L O E W E N S T A M M 1980a = 1992, 230-9,


Restored from similar formulae.
L O E W E N S T A M M 1980b, 256-61.

DE M O O R

1978b, 1980.

sh hrn bbhtk
Call a caravan into your house,
c
dbt bqrb hklk
merchandise into the midst of your palace.
tblk grm mid ksp
The rocks will bring you much silver,
gb'm mhmd hrs
the hills attractive gold.
yblk udr ilqsm
let the quarries bring you choice gems.
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ 15-6 and KTU 1.4 38-40)
T h e last line is present in the two parallel passages but has been
omitted in K T U 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ 31-3. Is this a mistake or a
deliberate contraction? Since it is of little significance, it was probably left out unintentionally. However, in the two club-naming passages, it is only when the c o m m a n d line
yprsh ym wyql lars
May Yam crumple and fall to earth
(KTU 1.2 = RS 3.367 iv 22-3)
is given to the weapon that it is effective and achieves the intended
result (line 26); this line does not appear either in the previous n a m ing or in the unsuccessful previous attempt, which indicates its omission there to be intentional. Each case has to be judged carefully
because the copyists 49 did occasionally leave out lines by mistake but
generally speaking the poets could expand or contract as they saw fit.

2.8

Word pairs

It has been noticed that there seems to be a large set of word pairs
which recur in Ugaritic verse and that many have equivalents in
other verse traditions of the ancient N e a r East. 50 T h e problem then
arises: Did the poets have a sort of 'dictionary of word pairs' on
which they drew to compose their verse, which was probably originally oral, 51 or were these pairs the side-effects of their use of parallelism and of (oral) formulaic language?'' 2 As is evident from the
following, the matter is unresolved.
In such word pairs, the - w o r d ' is usually c o m m o n e r than the
'B-word', e.g. klb || inr, 'dog' || 'puppy' ( K T U 1.16 = RS 3.325+
i 12; K T U 1.114 = RS 24.258:13) and any particular -word may

49

50

See

HORWITZ

1974,

1977,

1979.

Cf. AVISHUR 1984, D A H O O D 1972, 1975, 1981, DEL O I . M O L E T E 1984a, W A I T E R S


1976. However, see the cautionary remarks of VAN DER L U G T
DE M O O R 1974.
51
See P A R D E E 1988a, 160, D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1980b.
52
Another possibility is that they arose through word association (BERLIN 1 9 8 3 ) ,
but see below.

be paired with several different B-words (e.g. ib, 'enemy' || srt, 'adversary' or qm 'one who rises against' or nu, 'hater'). 5 3 Often a word
pair is related to a theme, e.g. ars || d, 'earth' || 'field', and is connected with fertility as in
n'm lars mtr b'l
Pleasant to the earth is Baal's rain,
wild mtr 'ly
and to the field the rain of the Most High.
(KTU 1.16 = RS 3.325+ iii 5-6, 7-8)
as also in K T U 1.3 = R S 2.[014]+ iii 16-7 and par., K T U
R S 2. [022]+ 18-9; K T U 1.6 = R S 2. [009]+ ii 16-7, 19-20.
word pairs are bound to a formula or formulaic expression
fewer that are non-formulaic and m a n y of these are repeated
as Aitken has shown for the Aqhat Narrative. H e comments:

1.5 =
Most
with
pairs,

This calls into question the notion of the word pair as a compositional
device, functioning independently of the formulas and formulaic expressions or of a thematic or/and formulaic context within the tradition.
While there are indications that a narrator could 'learn' a word pair
as a word pair in one context and use it quite independendy in another,
this was the exception rather than the rule. In the overwhelming majority of examples, the repository of word pairs is the formulas and themes
of the narrative tradition, and their appearance in the narrative is a
spontaneous reflex of the formulary and thematic habits of that tradition, and not of the production and manipulation of word pairs.
Neither spontaneous word association, nor the 'learning' and subsequent deployment of 'generally useful' word pairs has played a significant
part in the generation of recurrent word pairs within the narrative
54
( A i t k e n 1989b, 38).
Very rarely, word pairs are reversed, generally to denote some form
of reversal of events. C o m p a r e
al tt urbt bbhtm
You shall not install a window in the mansion,
hin bqrb hklm
an aperture within the palace.
(KTU 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ 64-5 || 61-2; vi 5-6, 8-9)
with the reversal of urbt || hin, which matches the sense, in
ypth hin bbhtm
Let an aperture be opened in my mansion,
urbt bqrb hklm
a window within the palace.
(KTU 1.4 vii 17-9 II 25-7).55

53
54
55

Cf. AVISHUR 1984, 344-9 and S E G E R T 1984, 108.


See also K U G E L 1981, 27-40.
See W A T S O N 1981b = 1994b, 262-6.

W o r d pairs, then, were an integral part of the poet's composing technique and the very traditional character of versification in Ugaritic
resulted in most pairs remaining 'fixed'.

2.9
2.9.1

Formulae and formulaic patterns

Formulae

T h e Ugaritic poems were composed using traditional formulae, sometimes with modifications or complete transformations. 5 6 A c o m m o n
type of formula is the one which introduces speech and it can take
many forms. Typical examples are
wy'n Itpn il dpid
Answer did Lutpan, kindly god
(KTU 1.1 = RS 3.361 iv 13)
where the slot Itpn il dpid could be filled by the appropriate name
or epithet, and
yu gh wysh

He raised his voice and exclaimed

which can be altered to suit gender and n u m b e r where necessary.


T h e r e is a whole range of such formulaic introductions. 5 . It was also
accepted convention that such introductions could occasionally be
omitted, either because they were implicit or for dramatic effect.'' 8
2.9.2

Formulaic patterns

T h e formulaic patterns to portray the passing of time are of two


types. T h e first has as its core two expressions, one denoting time
and the other an activity, as in the single line:
hn ym ysq yn
Behold, for a day they pour wine
(KTU 1.22 = RS 2.[024] i 17)
and either or both expressions can be extended to cover more time
(up to a sequence of seven days) or further activity (cf. K T U 1.16 =
R S 3.325+ vi 21-4; K T U 1.17 = R S 2. [004] ii 30-40). In the second pattern, the time expression denotes a period of days, months
or years and activity is continuous, e.g.
56

See

57

WATSON

1 9 8 1 , also M E I E R 1 9 8 6 .
1983a = 1994b, 414- 24; 1992a. Some of them had elaborate preambles;
cf. W A T S O N 1994d.
5B
W A T S O N 1990 = 1994b, 425-30.
WHITAKER

ym ymm yt'qn
A day, two days elapse,
lymm lyrhm
from days to months,
rhm 'nt tngth
Maid Anat (still) looks for him.
(KTU 1.6 = RS 5.180+ ii 26-7).
O n c e again these patterns can be extended. They are used for themes
such as making a journey ( K T U 1.14 iv 31-5), preparing a banquet
( K T U 1.22 = R S 2.[024] i 21-6) or to depict a ruling monarch
( K T U 1.6 5 - 1 0 ; K T U 1.16 vi 21-4). T h e y also have other functions within the wider framework of the narratives. 59

2.10

Sound patterns

In spite of the lack of vocalization, some idea of the patterns of


sound exploited by the poets can be gained from the texts and a
few examples are provided here.
2.10.1

Alliteration

Particular words and forms were often chosen for reasons of alliteration although this feature should not be exaggerated. 6 0 First comes
the simple word-initial type, as in
ap ank ahwy aqht gzr
I too shall revive Hero Aqhat
(KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] vi 32-3).
Quite often consecutive lines of verse began with the same letter
which may indicate they were intended to be read as well as performed. An example, with line-initial i- twice, is
in b'l bbhth
Baal is not in his mansion,
il hd bqrb hklh
the god Hadd, in his palace.
(KTU 1.10 = RS 3.362+ ii 4-5)
1980 = 1994c, 431-4). In addition, multiple alliteration
seems to have played a part in longer sections of verse as has been
shown by P a r d e e ( 1 9 8 8 c ) .

(Watson

5N
A I T K E N 1987. See also LOEWENSTAMM 1965 = 1980, 192-209, P A R K E R 1989,46-52
('Repetition with a numerical framework'), T R O P P E R 1995 and YVHITAKER 1969. On
theme cf. A I T K E N 1990, 1991a, H I L L E R S 1973, L L O Y D 1990 and on motif, W A T S O N 1984a.
60
M A R G A L I T 1975, 310-3, 1979, 1980a.

2.10.2

Wordplay

Undoubtedly, plays on words formed part of Ugaritic verse but


because our knowledge of the language is limited, many puns escape
us.1'1 A few examples can be given, however.
ytt nhm mhrk
I hereby give you a snake as your bridal gift
bn bin itnnk
a serpent's son as your present.
(KTU 1.100 = RS 24.244:75-6)
Here, the use of the rare word itnn is apposite as it evokes tnn, the
mythical serpent monster, and the wordplay between itnn ('present')
and nh || bn btn, both denoting 'serpent' is transparent.
Another example is
' ym
lymk
Yam was strong, he did not sink.
(KTU 1.2 = RS 3.367 iv 17)
T h e play between Ym (probably pronounced yammu) and the verb
form ymk (yamukku) is self-evident. Another verb such as yql, 'he fell',
would have been less effective. 62

2.11

Figurative language

Ugaritic poetry is relatively rich in figurative language and includes


similes, metaphors and metaphorical expressions, personification and
apostrophe 6 5 as well as imagery. Occasionally it is difficult to know
where to draw the line between mythological language (as in 'the rain
of the Cloud-Rider', which refers to Baal) and extravagant expression (e.g. 'rain with which the stars anointed her'). Here, examples
are provided under appropriate headings, though it is not always
easy to make clear-cut distinctions. 64
2.11.1

Simile

In similes, the particle k (or km), 'like', is used, as in


tit kyn udm't
She drinks tears like wine
(KTU 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+ i 10)

61
62
63
64

For a complete survey see W A T S O N 1999.


'Janus parallelism' is another form of wordplay; cf.
See, e.g. W A T S O N 1984c = 1994b, 460-4.
See, in general, K O R P E L 1 9 9 0 .

NOEGEI.

1995.

though it can be omitted through ellipsis. Similes rarely come singly,


as they are mostly in sets of two, for example:
klbs km 1p dm ahh

He was clothed like a mantle in his brothers'


blood,
km all dm aryh
like a cape, in his kinsmen's blood.
(KTU 1.12 = RS 2.[012] ii 46-7) 65
or in sets of three:
thth kkdrt
rc[/]
Beneath her like balls were hea[ds],
lh kirbym kp
above her like locusts were palms,
kqsm grmn kp mhr
like grasshoppers in a swarm, warrior palms.
(KTU 1.3 = RS 2. [014]+ ii 9-11)
c

and once, a set of four: K T U 1.169 = R I H 7 8 / 2 0 : 3 - 4 . Similes can


be drawn out at length (as extended similes), indicative, perhaps of an
oral, improvising style, e.g.
km tdd cnt sd
Just as Anat hurries to the chase,
(and) sets the birds of the skies soaring away,
ttr cpt smm
tbl} alpm ap sin
(so) they butchered oxen as well as sheep,
ql trm wmri ilm
felled bulls and the fattest of rams, etc.
(KTU 1.22 = RS 2. [024] i 10-4).66
Only one cumulative simile has been identified:
klb arh I'glh
Like a cow's heart for its calf,
klb tat limrh
like a ewe's heart for its lamb,
so is Anat's heart after Baal.
km lb cnt atr b'l
(KTU 1.6 = RS 2.[009] ii 6-9)
2.11.2

Metaphor

M e t a p h o r is little used in Ugaritic verse. For example, fertility is


expressed metaphorically as
mm mn tmtm
Let the heavens rain oil,
nhlm tlk nbtm
the wadis run with honey.
(KTU 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+ iii 6-7;
M a n y metaphorical expressions are used such as dm csm 'blood of trees',
for grape juice and tl mm 'dew of heaven' for rain. In some metaphors
the mythological meaning may be muted, e.g. wytn qlh b'rpt, 'and may
he (Baal) give his voice in the clouds' ( K T U 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ 8).
65
66

For another example cf. W A T S O N 1991a.


See also I R W I N 1983, but cf. P A R D E E 1988a, 127-9.

However, 'the lack of comparable contexts in Ugaritic prose makes


the recognition and evaluation of these and other poetic figures
difficult and uncertain' ( S e g e r t 1 9 7 9 , 7 3 3 ) .
2.11.3

Imagery

Besides expressions such qr cnk 'the well of your eyes' ( K T U 1.16 =


R S 3.325+ i 26) to denote tears, weapons are said to fly off and
strike like birds of prey ( K T U 1.2 = RS 3.367 iv 13-7), a tree
stands for descendants ( K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ iii 53-4; cf. P a r d e e
1997a, 354, n. 121), Mot's domain is described as being a town (qrt)
called 'Miry' {hmiy), in a land called 'Filth or M u d ' {fih: K T U 1.4
= R S 2. [008]+ viii 12-4 || K T U 1.5 = R S 2. [022]+ ii 15-6), a
mountain weeps (KTU 1.16 = RS 3.325+ i 7) and so on. Occasionally
the imagery is obscure due to our lack of knowledge (e.g. K T U
1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi 5 7 - 8 ; K T U 1.17 = R S 2.[004] vi 36-7).
Hyperbole also occurs ( W a t s o n 1979 = 1994b, 452-60). T h e use of
abstract for concrete is extremely rare, perhaps only srt, 'adversary'
(see above) and t'dt 'legation' 67 ( K T U 1.2 = R S 3.367 i 22; cf. G r a y
1965, 22, n. 6).68

2.12

An example

In order to illustrate some of the poetic structures, rhetorical techniques and expressive language described above, a passage is set out
here in tabular form, with analysis, comments and discussion.
2.12.1

A king is chosen ( K T U 1.6 = R S 2.[009]+ i 43-65)

description

text

line translation

introd. to sp.

"gm ysh il
44
Irbt alrt ym

01
02

Aloud shouted El
to Lady A.Y.

non-par.
bicolon

rr ''Irbt alrt ym

03

"Listen, Lady A.Y.

monocolon

Give (me) one of your mlk


sons so I can make
him king!"

monocolon

speech:
El

In 46ahd bbnk amlkn 04

67
68

As aptly translated by M . S . S M I T H 1994a, 2 6 6 .


For an example of imagery cf. W A T S O N 1992b.

keyword ||m

(table cont.)
description

text

line translation

introd. to sp.

[7

wt'n rbt atrt ym

05

And Lady A.Y. replied

keyword ||m
monocolon

speech:
Athiratu

bl nmlk yd' yIhn

06

'Shall we not make a


person of intellect
king?'

introd. to sp.

uy'n Itpn il dpid

07

And El, merciful god,


replied

monocolon

dq anm lyrz

08

tricolon

h[

09

'One feeble of strength


cannot run
(or) like B. release the
javelin
like the son of
Dagan
'

11

And Lady A.Y. replied

monocolon

'Shall we not make


Awesome Athtar king?
Let Awesome Athtar
be king!'

speech:
El

'm b'l ly'db mrh

b2

'm bn dgn ktmsrn 10

introd. to sp.

speech:
Athiratu

51

bit nmlk 'ttr '

12

5i

ymlk 'ttr 'rz

13

narrative

w'n rbt atrt ym

mlk

mlk

monocolon

bicolon

mlk

56

apnk 'ttr '


j7 bsrrt spn

14 Then Awesome Athtar


15 went up to the heights
of Sapnu,
ylb Ikht aliyn 59b'l 16 he sat on the throne of
Mighty Baal;

tricolon

p'nh Itmgyn a)hdm

his feet did not reach


the footstool,
his head did not reach
its extremity.

bicolon

monocolon

57

rilh lymgy

61

aps/i

17
18

introd. to sp.

uy'n 'ttr '

19

And Awesome Athtar


said:

speech:
Athtar

,a

20

shall not be king in


the heights of Sapnu'

narrative

lamlk bsrrt spn

yrd 'ttr 'rz

yrd "'Mt aliyn b'l


K

'uymlk bars il klh

Awesome Athtar came


down,
22 came down from the
throne of Mighty Baal,
23 and was king in all the
vast earth.

mlk

21

monocolon
tricolon

mlk

2.12.2

Comments

T h e following selective remarks are set out in the sequence of topics adopted above, and there is a brief overall evaluation (on the
whole passage see now X e l l a 1996a).
General
T h e passage is a combination of speech and narrative, linked by the
formulaic introductions to speech which are all monocola (except for
0 1 - 0 2 which is a non-parallel bicolon).
Stichometiy
In 13 of the 23 lines, the verse-line corresponds to the line on the
tablet (i.e. 05-16, 0 9 - 1 5 and 20-23). Lines 14-18 could be analysed
in several other ways (e.g. monocolon + two bicola) or one could
argue that they form a pentacolon. fiy O n the other hand, although
amlkn (04) could be a single-word separate line, it would seem to
belong to tn ahd bahk amlkn, like the corresponding expression tn ahd
bahk ispa (see below). Similarly, some scholars argue that ktmsm (10)
comprises a separate line, 70 although this view has not been accepted
here. Others argue that 0 8 - 1 0 comprises a couplet.' 1
Language
Difficulties are caused by the lack of a clear translation, especially
of 0 8 - 1 0 (survey: d e l O l m o L e t e 1984, 77). T h e expression bars il
klh has been translated in various ways. 72 T h e epithet ydc ylhn, perhaps 'he knows, he understands', may be a hendiadys and occurs
only here. Also unique is aps, 'edge' and the form nmlk is found only
here (twice);73 on bit, see below. T h e verb form amlk is used elsewhere only in K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi 37, 53, also in the context of a failed would-be usurper to the throne. T h e formula tn ahd
bahk, 'Give (me) one of your brothers (so that I may . . .)' occurs later
in this text ( K T U 1.6 = R S 2. [009]+ 19-20, where Mot is speaking to Baal), but nowhere else.

69
70
71

According to M A R G A L I T (1980b, 143), lines 01 13 are all 'monostichs'.


See e.g. G O O D 1994, P A R D E E 1997a, 269, n. 246.
K O R P F . I . - DE M O O R 1 9 8 6 , 1 8 0 = 1 9 8 8 , 12. For a different approach see

EMERTON
72

1965, 441

2.

E.g. 'la terre dont il est matre', by X E L L A 1 9 9 6 , 3 8 7 , discussion 3 9 0 - 1 .


73
T h e first occurrence (06) could be an N-stem, but this verb form is rare and
here it is causative, probably D (SIVAN 1 9 9 7 , 1 1 6 . 1 3 5 ) .

Parallelism
T h e best examples are 12-13 and 17-18. In many 'couplets' it is
absent (eg. 01-02); 'staircase parallelism' is present in lines 21-23.
Antithetic, distant parallelism is effected by lines 16 and 22 (_ytb Ikht
aliyn b'lyrd Ikht aliyn b'l) and lines 20 and 23 (lamlk bsrrt spn ymlk
bars klh).
Strophes and stanzas
T h e strophic sequence of monocola, bicola and tricola is unpredictable, 74 and inasmuch as there is any demarcation into stanzas or
sections, these seem to be 0 1 - 0 6 , 0 7 - 1 3 , 14-18 and 19-23. T h e
only clear division is signalled by the combination of apnk and a tricolon (14-17).
Repetition
T h e title rbt atrt ym, 'Lady Athirat Yam', occurs 4 times in 23 lines,
c
ttr crz, 'Awesome Athtar', occurs 5 times, but mlk occurs 6 times. In
view of the content, which primarily concerns kingship, the keyword
here, then, is mlk, 'to rule, be king'. Crucially, it is missing from the
first narrative section (14-18), where Athtar attempts to sit on Baal's
throne and fails miserably (mlk - 0). However, in the second narrative
section, where he actually rules over the earth, it does occur, only
once but to effect. It is interesting that when bl is repeated it takes on
a form with enclitic -t which is found only here ( A a r t u n 1974, 27).75
Sound patterns
Consecutive lines beginning with the same letter are 0 9 - 1 0 ( f ), 15-16
(y) and 2 1 - 2 2 (y again). Alliteration also occurs in the n a m e + epithet sequences, notably 'ttr 'rz, and perhaps in the obscure yd' ylhn;
see also srrt spn. T h e r e is probably wordplay between 'rz and yrzWord pairs
These include p'n || ris (found only here) and the repeated pairs / ||
I, mlk mlk, mgy || mgy and 'm || 'm.
Figurative language
Apart from the comparisons in the difficult tricolon where the wouldbe king is compared to Baal, there is virtually no figurative language,
but Athtar does perform a symbolic act (descent from the throne).
' 4 It is possible that lines 2 0 - 2 3 form a split couplet with inserted bicolon; cf.
1997a, 3 1 .
75
For a similar usage in respect of enclitic -m see W A T S O N 1992c, 238-9.

WATSON

2.12.3

Discussion

T h e passage demonstrates the difficulties caused by uncertain stichometry and obscure language, especially in 06 and 08-10. Also,
it is not always clear how lines were grouped together to form couplets or higher units. However, overall the structure is quite evident
and there are no textual problems to complicate matters. T h e mix
of speech and narrative is fairly typical and the use of repetition and
stock formulae is offset by the presence of rare vocabulary and grammatical forms. T h e interpretation of the passage is quite clear (no
suitable successor to Baal has been found) 76 and is reinforced in
particular by the keyword (mlk), while of course the passage forms
part of a larger whole (the Baal Cycle).

2.13

The character of Ugaritic poetry

M u c h of the above is concerned with techniques and rhetorical


devices, 77 but this does not mean that the aesthetic dimension is
absent. Even though we do not know who the poets of Ugarit were
nor for w h o m they composed their verse, it is evident that they were
masters of the language and well able to manipulate it in a variety
of ways, attracting and holding the attention of their listeners or
readers. 7 " T o do justice to such aspects would require detailed study
of each composition for which there is no space here. 7u Enough has
been provided, one hopes, to whet the appetite for closer reading.
As in some other ancient N e a r Eastern verse traditions, perhaps
the most salient feature of Ugaritic poetry is its unpredictability, a feature which runs right across the board from prosodie structure to
complete compositions. This means in effect that, with a few exceptions, length of line, whether two lines will be parallel or not and
if so, the type of parallelism adopted, whether a speech will or will
not have an introduction and whether the introduction will comprise one line or several, sequences of bicola, tricola and so on, how

76

For a nuanccd approach cf. W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C , 1 3 2 , n. 7 5 .


Though the survey has not been exhaustive, e.g. rhetorical questions have not
been considered (cf. H E L D 1969).
78
See, for instance, W A T S O N 1988a = 1994b, 434-45 on delaying devices in
Ugaritic verse.
7
'' For examples of close analysis see H E T T E M A 1989 90, M A R G A L I T 1989a, T S E V A T
77

1986,

VERREET

1987.

many lines there are in a 'strophe' or 'stanza', etc., are all completely variable.
Generally speaking, studies of Ugaritic poetry pay considerable
attention to similarities with other verse traditions, particularly ancient
Hebrew (e.g. A v i s h u r 1 9 9 4 , P a r k e r 1 9 8 9 ) . While this is useful, especially when features from other traditions can throw light on Ugaritic,
it is also of interest to determine in what respects Ugaritic differs from
such verse traditions. T h e question to be asked is: what is unique or
special to Ugaritic verse? According to S e g e r t ( 1 9 7 9 , 7 3 1 ) , 'The most
prominent feature of Ugaritic poetry is its parallelistic structure. It
can be said that no other literature of the ancient N e a r East, Semitic
or non-Semitic, exhibits such consistent application of this structure'.
O t h e r features which could be mentioned include the use of verse
for narrative (which though rare or virtually unknown in Hebrew or
Phoenician, is common in Mesopotamian tradition) and a general lack
of hymns (though this could be due to chance). In addition, there
is a tendency to alter repeated (parallel) passages slightly. Special
verse patterns such as 'staircase parallelism', and its combination with
anadiplosis (notably in K T U 1.10 = RS 3.362+), the use of word
pairs in fixed sequences, with variation and inversion rare, the use
of chiasmus to show two or more individuals acting as one (e.g.
K T U 1.17 = R S 2. [004] 10-1) and the split couplet 80 all seem to
be peculiar to Ugaritic. Also, unlike Hebrew and Akkadian verse,
there is no clustering of similes or of lines with inner parallelism. 81
However, descriptions of actions as preludes to speech and lengthy
introductions to speech are c o m m o n e r in Ugaritic than in Hebrew
verse, whereas abrupt or unmarked speech is rare. 82 'If there is a
specific contribution made by Ugaritic to a poetic tradition . . . [it]
seems to lie in injecting originality into a well-worn, stereotyped body
of versification . . . T h e single copies of the Ugaritic tablets that have
been found are, perhaps, the work of a single school which re-worked
stock and static verse and made it sparkle with new life'. 83

80

WATSON

81

WATSON

82

WATSON

83

WATSON

1997a,
1985b
1994d,
1983b

1997b.
= 1994b, 157.
cf. W A T S O N 1990 = 1994b, 425-30.
= 1994b, 68.

U G A R I T I C L I T E R A R Y T E X T S

T h e

Mythological

John

1.1
1.1.1

C.L.

Texts

Gibson

The Baal cycle

The tablets

T h e Baal mythological cycle is the largest text from ancicnt Ugarit,


taking up six tablets ( K T U 1.1 6: 1.1 = RS 3.361, 1.2 iii = R S
3.346, 1.2 iiv = R S 3.367, 1.3 = RS 2.(014]+, 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+,
1.5 = RS 2. [022]+, 1.6 = RS 2.[009]+) and comprising in its surviving portions around fifty per cent of the contents. Each tablet is
written on both sides and usually has six columns, although 1.2 has
only four and 1.4 has eight. K T U 1.6 has the heading 'of Baal' and,
although the other tablets have their tops missing and it remains a
conjectural point, this was probably written on them all and is the
title of the whole composition. K T U 1.4 has a note on the edge,
' T h e scribe is Ilimilku, the master, Niqmad being king of Ugarit',
while K T U 1.6 has at the close a full colophon, giving the information that Ilimilku was not only the scribe but a student or assistant of a high religious officer of King Niqmad, probably the second
of that name. So the composition was officially approved. At a banquet scene in K T U 1.3 i there is talk of chanting and singing and
of a minstrel (n'm). This suggests a possible Sitz im I^ben in the royal
palace, though equally possible is some festival in the temple of Baal,
in the library of which the tablets were inscribed. No doubt the king
himself was often present. For a translation and full bibliography
consult W y a t t , 1998c, 33 146.
1.1.2

The contents

T h e plot or story-line centres around a contest (under the overall


supervision of El) for the kingship over gods and men, and divides
itself usefully into three parts, cach consisting roughly of two tablets.

1.1.2.1

Baal and Y a m - N a h a r ( K T U 1.1-2)

T h e first part leads up to Baal's defeat of his rival Prince Yam (sea),
also called J u d g e N a h a r (river), with the help of two maces constructed for him by the divine craftsman, Kothar-and-Hasis, a story
told in the last column of 1.2 (iv). T h e evidence of what happened
prior to the battle is, however, not at all so clear, since 1.1 is very
imperfectly preserved. But near the beginning (1.1 ii) a message is
sent from the supreme god, El, to Anat, Baal's sister, calling on her
to perform what seems to be some kind of ritual, which involved
setting an offering of war in the earth (perhaps the burying of
weapons) and, following this, offerings of love and peace. This ritual may originally have had to do with ceremonies for the cessation
of hostilities; but it was not, as far as we can tell, performed by
Anat, so it is more likely that the passage uses ritual language to
express a wish on El's part that the notorious goddess of war and
love should a b a n d o n her more savage ways and, in particular, not
employ them in her brother's support. It is an important indication
of the way El desires things to work out. Thereafter in 1.1 iii Kotharand-Hasis is summoned to El's distant abode, perhaps as an ally of
Baal, to be given a similar warning; for clearly Y a m - N a h a r is at this
point being favoured by El, since in 1.1 iv he accords him royal status in a kind of ceremony of coronation.
By 1.2 i, however, Y a m - N a h a r is worried; for he sends an embassy
to the divine assembly, complaining that Baal has been reviling him
and demanding his surrender. El appears to sympathize but Baal,
who is present, objects strongly and sends an angry reply back to
Yam-Nahar. In 1.2 iii, a large fragment (perhaps out of place in its
present position), El instructs Kothar-and-Hasis to build a palace for
Y a m - N a h a r , and the claims of a minor rival, Athtar, are dismissed.
W h e n , after a sizeable gap, the text resumes, the battle between Baal
and Y a m - N a h a r is joined, Baal with the encouragement of Kotharand-Hasis wins and, though it is not according to his plans, the
supreme god has presumably to accept that Baal is now king.
1.1.2.2

T h e Palace of Baal ( K T U 1.3-4)

These tablets concern the building of a palace for Baal, from which
he may exercise his newly achieved kingly power. After a victory
banquet (1.3 i), the goddess Anat resumes her warlike ways and

mercilessly slaughters the inhabitants of two u n n a m e d towns, thereafter repeating the process with a n u m b e r of soldiers and guests in
her own mansion (1.3 ii). At the beginning of the next column (1.3
iii) she sings of her affection for her brother, but Baal, perhaps like
El before him, perturbed by her behaviour, sends messengers to her
requesting her to perform the same 'ritual' for peace as El had previously asked for, but also tells her to visit him and help him search
for the secret of the lightning. She has to be reassured that YamN a h a r and his cohorts, w h o m she had worsted in the past, had been
finally dealt with and were no longer a threat to Baal (1.3 iv); but
she decides to call on him to find out for herself what is really worrying him. It transpires that what Baal has set his mind upon is to
have a palace like other gods, and she herself goes to El's abode to
press Baal's suit, which she does in too threatening a m a n n e r and
apparendy has it turned down (1.3 v).
A new plan has to be concocted, the working out of which takes
up the last column of 1.3, all of 1.4 i-iv and half of 1.4 v. This
involves the preparation of gifts for El's consort, Athirat, and the
enlisting of her intercession with the supreme deity. T h o u g h we know
from elsewhere that she is no friend of Baal's, she persuades him to
let Baal have his palace. Anat takes the good news to Baal, and he
immediately summons Kothar-and-Hasis to build a palace for him
on his sacred mountain Saphon (1.4 27ff.). At the end of of colu m n the divine craftsman suggests that it should have windows in
it, but at the beginning of column vi Baal refuses to entertain the
idea lest, it seems, his old enemy Y a m - N a h a r may gain entrance
and again wreak havoc on earth. The house is soon finished and a
celebratory feast held (1.4 vi). Column vii tells how Baal then marches
through the surrounding territory, annexing a large n u m b e r of cities
and towns and thereby forming an empire for himself. Returning
home flushed with success, he puts away his former fears and resolves
that after all he will have windows in his palace. H e thunders out
of them; the earth reels and people far and near are terrified, his
enemies cling to the rocks in dismay, and he openly taunts them:
would anyone, prince or commoner, now dare to resist his royal
power? Column 1.4 viii nicely leads into the third main division of
the cycle as Baal sends messengers to the underworld abode of Mot
inviting him to a feast to acknowledge his sovereignty.

1.1.2.3

Baal and Mot ( K T U

1.5-6)

Mot's embassy back to Baal dismisses this invitation contemptuously


(1.5 i). Rather Baal, just as he once transfixed Yam-Nahar, will soon
be descending to Mot's subterranean domains where he will be swallowed down and torn limb from limb by him. Baal, now in dread
of Mot, sends an abject reply (1.5 ii). In 1.5 (after two very poorly
preserved columns) Mot's messenger is advising Baal to take his wind
and cloud and his other attendants down to the underworld and
assume the condition of the strengthless dead. Baal obeys, but on
his way he has connexion with a heifer, who is delivered of a boy
w h o m Baal clothes in his own robe. 1.5 vi relates how the substitute's dead body was found at the edges of the earth and El, on
hearing the news in his mountainous home, descends from his throne
and wallows in sackcloth and ashes, wondering what will now become
of Baal's followers.
In K T U 1.6 i Anat and the sun-goddess Shapsh together bury
the surrogate corpse, and Anat goes on to the abode of El to inform
Athirat and her brood that they can now rejoice because Baal is
dead. A short interlude follows in which Athirat proposes Athtar for
the vacant kingship, but on proving unfit to take Baal's place he
resigns. In K T U 1.6 ii Anat, seemingly now aware of what has happened, goes to the underworld to search for the real Baal. She confronts Mot and summarily slays him, and then (1.6 iii) returns to El
to inform him that Mot is no more. She invites El to have a dream,
in which he sees the heavens raining oil and the valleys running
with honey; this shows that Baal still lives. In 1.6 iv Anat is invited
by El to speak to Shapsh, and they make plans for Baal's return.
K T U 1.6 and vi tell of Baal's restoration to full vigour in the
world above, and also of Mot's recovery after seven years. T h e y
argue threateningly with each other, at least some of the time on
Mt Saphon, and finally fall to fighting. T h e y butt and gore like wild
animals, and both fall exhausted to the ground. At this juncture the
goddess Shapsh arrives to warn Mot that fighting with Baal is useless, for El is now on Baal's side. Mot, at last afraid, picks himself
up and declares that Baal is rightfully king.
1.1.3

Interpretation

Since the early days of Ugaritic research the Baal cycle has nearly
always been interpreted as a ritual and seasonal text, either enacted

dramatically at Ugarit's New Year festival in the autumn or, more


broadly, as reflecting ritual events that took place at certain points
of the Syrian agricultural year (see e.g. H v i d b e r g 1962 [1938],
G a s t e r 1950, d e M o o r 1971, 1972). Such views, in various shapes,
are still influential in ancient Near Eastern, including Old Testament,
studies, but over the years they have been increasingly and quite
severely criticised ( F o n t e n r o s e 1966, G r a b b e 1976, M . S . S m i t h 1986,
W y a t t 1996a, 1998a). Few would argue today that where we have
a myth, a ritual basis must be assumed or that the proper ordering
of the seasons and their role in natural, or even h u m a n fertility were
the only or even the chief interests of Ugaritic mythology.
A good example of an agrarian meaning being read into a passage is the description of Anat's destruction of Mot in K T U 1.6 ii
3Iff., which speaks of her threshing him with a 'blade', winnowing
him with a sieve, burning him with fire, grinding him with millstones, and then throwing his remains into the open fields for the
birds to eat. Commentators have seen in this a mythological counterpart of a ritual ceremony held each year at the time of the grain
harvest. H o w Mot's discomfiture at this time is to be equated with
his normal role later in bringing about the summer dryness, or with
his ongoing role in swallowing h u m a n bodies, is not said. M u c h
more likely is the view that the whole scene is metaphorical ( L o e w e n s t a m m 1972); cf. the not dissimilar language used of the destruction
of the golden calf in Exodus 32:20. In other words, Anat destroys
Mot thoroughly; there is nothing more to it than that.
O f late it has been argued (e.g. by W y a t t 1996a, 1998a) that
some of the themes in the Baal cycle, notably the Chaoskampf, are
much more archetypal than merely agricultural, and that they may
really be referring to issues of kingship and the exercise of power in
the ancient world. T h e way the gods behave is a mirror image of
the way rulers in this world behave or should behave. Approaches
along these lines could be much more fruitful.
T h e part played in the story of the cycle by the supreme god El
is particularly revealing here (see further G i b s o n 1 9 8 4 ) . T h e three
great deities (and one minor candidate), whose exploits fill the cycle,
are battling essentially for supremacy over the earth. T h e kingship
to which they aspire is, as El's viceregent, to control the earth, YamN a h a r through the waters which surround it and are the source of
its streams and rivers, Baal through his rains and thunder and the
air which people breath, Mot through the droughts and dryness he

can cause. Baal is the victor in the contest, becoming the 'prince,
lord of earth' ( K T U 1.3 i 3 - 4 ; 1.5 vi 10; 1.6 iii 9; 1.6 iv 29), holding at bay the unruly waters from outside and bringing the dry season to an end by his rains. But there is much more than these
naturalistic roles to the three of them. Y a m - N a h a r also engenders
moral chaos or evil in the lives of mankind, Mot eventually finishes
everyone off, while Baal by his control of the atmosphere can be
regarded as the life-force in the world of Ugarit. H e did not only
secure year by year the ordered succession of the seasons, but every
day of every year he had to wage a constant battle against evil and
death in the lives of humanity, so that the one did not cause too
m a n y depredations or the other gain too m a n y victims too soon.
T h a t was really why Baal became the favourite god of the people
of Ugarit.
But he became this in the last resort u n d e r the supervision, indeed
by the connivance of El reigning from his distant abode beyond the
earth. From the standpoint of people on earth, looking around them
in fear and trembling, the encounters between the negative and positive forces in their environment were tense and awesome affairs,
and Baal's victory was always in the balance and never certain. But
the people of Ugarit could also take comfort from their belief that
beyond the squabbling powers that impinged so insistendy on their
everyday lives stood a remoter but by no means disinterested figure,
the god El, who had fathered the gods, the nice and nasty both,
and had created the universe, contrary powers and all, who must
therefore have planned it that way and built both good and evil into
its very fabric, and who could for that very reason be trusted to
uphold its equilibrium. For all his mistakes, his choosing the wrong
side, his blustering, his pleading, his changes of mind, his putting
up with impertinence from his underlings, hisif you willlack of
power, he was the one ultimately in charge, whom the other gods
had to visit for approval whenever they had an enterprise planned,
and whose was the final decision, which, however reluctandy, they
had to accept. And perhaps most remarkably of all, he masterminded
the balance he sought, not by calling on openly superior force but
by relying upon an engaging mixture of diplomacy and conciliation,
sharpness and persuasion. H e arranged it so that usually good and
life triumphed, but even evil and death were his 'darling' and 'beloved'
children ( K T U 1.1 iv 20; 1.4 viii 23~24) and had, as it were, their
rights too. This is the view of reality espoused by the people of

Ugarit, their explanation of the divine ways with the universe and
with h u m a n beings, their estimate of power and the m a n n e r it is
exercised; it is, for all the fancifulness with which ancient peoples in
their myths expressed themselves, mature and not lacking either faith
or irony. It may have involved naturalistic reasoning, but it involved
a great deal more besides.

1.2

Other mythological texts

T h e r e are in KTU quite a few other mythological texts or at any


rate partly mythological texts, that is, passages embedded in legends,
hymns or rituals. T h e larger of these, like Keret ( K T U 1.14-16 =
R S 2.[003]+, 3.343+ and 3.325+) and Aqhat ( K T U 1.17-19 = R S
2.[004], 3.340 and 3.322+) which some may prefer to call legends
or sagas, or the Rpum texts ( K T U 1.20-22 = RS 3.348, 2.[019] and
2.[024]), are given separate treatment later in this chapter ( 6 . 2 - 4
below). M a n y of the rest are mere fragments, e.g. extracts from the
Baal cycle used probably for scribal practice ( K T U 1.7 = RS 5.180+,
K T U 1.8 = R S 3.364, and K T U 1.133 = R S 24.293). I concentrate
here on the most intriguing and (relatively) well preserved texts. They
are all commented on, with up-to-date bibliography, in W y a t t , 1998c.
1.2.1

Baal and Anat ( K T U 1.10 = R S 3.362+)

This tablet has three columns of text on one side of the tablet only.
O f the first column little readable text survives, but at the beginning
of the second Anat calls on Baal (also called Hadd) in his palace.
O n being told that he is out hunting in the Shamak marsh, she follows him there, and is warmly welcomed. She sees a cow giving
birth and is apparently seized with passion, as is Baal who mounts
her before returning to his sacred mountain. As a consequence she
gives birth to a bull and, on her taking the news to Baal, he rejoices.
Some scholars attach the tablet to the Baal cycle, but it is more
likely that it belongs to a series recounting his dalliances with his
sister (e.g. K T U 1.11 = R S 3.319 and K T U 1.13 = RS 1.006). It
is not obviously thogonie, ritualistic or seasonal.
1.2.2

The Devourers ( K T U 1.12 = R S 2.[012])

This difficult text survives in two columns. T h e first tells of the conception of monstrous creatures by the handmaids of the deities Yarih

(the moon-god) and Athirat (the wife of El), who complain to El that
they are being caused distress by carrying them. T h e head of the
gods, doubtless their begetter, is amused by this, and instructs the
handmaids to go into the desert to bear their offspring. In his naming of them they are likened to bulls and steers. Baal is present, and
he expresses a great interest in them, perhaps for hunting purposes.
In the second column, after a long gap, the offspring, called the
'devourers', set upon and destroy Baal, who falls into a swamp, after
which the earth suffers a drought for seven or eight years. H e is
eventually found by his brothers and and restored. At the end of
the text a few lines tell the king to perform a water ritual, presumably to guard against the disaster caused by the 'devourers'. This
disaster cannot be a seasonal disaster but is a long-lasting one. T h e
real point does not seem to be about Baal but about El fathering
such dangerous creatures.
1.2.3

Hymn to Anat ( K T U 1.13 = RS 1.006)

A hymnic text, interesting mythologically for its portrayal of the complex character of Anat, called the 'virgin' in the Baal cycle, and in
the final lines here described as voracious to bring forth, although
her w o m b had not known conception. T h e r e is no need to connect
the hymn with any specific ritual, e.g. an incantation against infertility.
1.2.4

The Gracious Gods ( K T U 1.23 = R S 2.002)

A quite substantial text, written on both sides of a single column


tablet and nearly complete. It is clearly a cultic tablet, most of the
obverse consisting of little hymns, blessings on the king and queen
and the ministerial personnel, instructions about repeating certain
lines, about niches for the gods, about incense offerings, and so on.
T h e r e are also citations from a few mythological texts, in some cases
merely a heading, but in two cases rather fuller; in 11. 8 - 1 1 , there
is a short excerpt about Mot-and-Shar ('death and the prince', a byname of the god of death), and in 11. 3 0 - 7 6 a longer story about
El's seduction of two w o m e n (perhaps the goddesses Athirat and
Anat), who give birth to Shahar and Shalim and then to the gracious gods as a whole. Mot-and-Shar holds in his hands the sceptres of bereavement and widowhood, and is felled by the 'pruners
of the vine'. His removal from the scene makes it possible for El,

the progenitor of the gods, to father offspring on the two women.


It is interesting that the first deities to be born are S h a h a r and
Shalim, whose names mean 'dawn' and 'dusk'; we may compare the
beginning of Genesis where the division of day and night is the first
act of creation. But it is the behaviour of the gracious gods after
birth that is worth remarking on. T h e y open their mouths greedily
to swallow the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, and are sent
off by El with their mothers into the desert where for seven or eight
years they hunt for food. T h e y eventually come upon someone callcd
the 'watchman of the sown land' who invites them in to continue
their eating and drinking.
Is the meaning of this myth that the gods are not satisfied with
the natural provision of the open country, but require in addition
the offerings of the cultivated land which h u m a n beings bring them?
It is unlikely that such a profound observation, in effect that though
mankind are clearly dependent on the gods, they in their turn are
dependent (or at least partially so) on mankind, would be confined
to one particular ceremony, agricultural, fertility-angled or otherwise.
Doubdess this myth found expression on numerous liturgical occasions
at Ugarit. It is a not untransparent theogony or explanation of how
and why the gods came into existence.
1.2.5

Nikkal and the Kotharat ( K T U 1.24 = RS 5.194)

T h e mythological portion of this text, written like the last one on


two sides of a single tablet, relates how a deity called Hirhib, king
of summer, who behaves like a typical eastern marriage-broker, arranged the betrothal of a lunar goddess Nikkal to the moon god
Yarih. It is probably, like the second narrative in the previous text,
an extract from a fuller thogonie myth. This tale is preceded and
followed by hymns of praise and invocation to Nikkal, Hirhib and
the Kotharat, who are the sages-femmes of the Ugaritic pantheon. In
the first hymn the Kotharat are summoned to oversee the birth of
a son to the two moon deities. T h e last lines of the second hymn
with their allusions to incantations to the Kotharat, betray the purpose of the whole poem, which is to secure for a h u m a n girl Prbht
the same blessing and protection in her forthcoming marriage as had
been enjoyed by the goddess Nikkal in hers. Probably, with the necessary change of the girl's name, the text was regularly recited at
ceremonies of engagement and courtship.

1.2.6

Shapsh and the Mare ( K T U 1.100 = RS 24.244)

This is a long and excellently preserved but difficult text containing


in the opinion of most commentators a charm against snake-bite.
T h e daughter of the sun-goddess Shapsh (or perhaps simply a mare,
as her n a m e may be translated) calls on her to carry a message to
El, Baal and various other deities in order to obtain help from them
in curing the malady. Only when the god H o r o n (apparently a
chthonic deity) is a p p r o a c h e d is a positive response forthcoming.
According to others, however, the text is chiefly a mythical narrative,
not a charm and the serpent mentioned represents some cosmic disaster which is removed by H o r o n .
1.2.7

El's Banquet ( K T U 1.114 = R S 24.258)

This is description of a banquet to which El invites the other gods


and at which he falls outrageously drunk. T h e last lines on the reverse
contain an incantation for the cure of a disease or perhaps, as has
been suggested, a hangover.
T h e texts assembled here, some of recent discovery, give us a glimpse
of the diversity of Ugaritic mythology but, apart from the Baal cycle
and other larger texts like Keret and Aqhat, their extent is not very
great. W e have some way to go before a comprehensive account is
possible. Perhaps the only things we can say is that myths are not
always, if much at all, connected with ritual, and especially that Near
Eastern, including Ugarit, mythology is not always, if much at all,
obsessed with matters of seasonal agriculture or fertility.

The

Legend

Baruch

2.1

of

Keret

Margalit

The history of the text: discovery, publication, editions

2.1.1 T h e poem of Keret is one of the three major literary works


which gifted Canaanite poets of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200
bce) bequeathed serendipitously to 20th century civilization. Excavated
at modern Ras Shamra on the northern Mediterranean coast by a
French archaeological team in the early thirties (1930-31), the poem
was published in three u n e q u a l instalments by the Assyriologist
V i r o l l e a u d , beginning with a monographic study in 1936 and concluding several years later with a series of articles in the periodical
Syna (vols. 22-23) published during the war. Accordingly, only the
monograph was widely known and accessible before 1945, although
a great deal of interpretation, much of it fanciful, was current in the
interim.
2.1.2 After the war, the text was republished or re-edited several
times. G o r d o n reproduced Virolleaud's text in the successive editions
of his Ugaritic G r a m m a r . A new and critical edition was published
by H e r d n e r in 1 9 6 3 . This much acclaimed two-volume work consists of all the alphabetic texts, literary and other discovered in the
thirties, together with photographic plates and autograph facsimiles.
Generally abbreviated as CT[C)A, this edition established the by-now
standard numeration of the Keret text as 1 4 - 1 5 - 1 6 , corresponding to
Virolleaud's IK-IIIK-IIK respectively.
2.1.3 CT[C)A was followed by a new edition published in 1976 by
a team of Ugaritic specialists affiliated with the University of Mnster
(Westphalia) headed by Oswald Loretz. Entitled Die Keilalphabetischen
Texte aus Ugart (KTU), it contains (in transliteration only) all the alphabetic texts discovered up to 1970. In this edition the Keret poem appears as K T U 1 . 1 4 - 1 5 - 1 6 = RS 2.[003]+ 3.343+ 3.325+, the initial
cipher indicative of its classification as a literary-poetic text. A revised
edition appeared in 1995. It too has the transliterated text only.
2.1.4 T h e text of the poem, labelled krt by the ancient scribe after
the royal hero of the story, is distributed over three rectangular clay

tablets of similar size (21x17 c m ; 15x17 cm; 2 3 x 1 7 . 5 cm). Each


tablet comprised originally six double-ruled columns, three on each
side, a n d altogether contained a p p r o x i m a t e l y a t h o u s a n d lines of
compactly written text. O f the three, only K T U 1.14 = R S 2. [003] +
is relatively well-preserved, a n d with the aid of the m a n y duplicate
passages in this portion of the p o e m can be restored nearly to its
pristine state. Most Ugaritic specialists hold that the extant tablets
never comprised the entire p o e m a n d assume that one or m o r e
tablets have been lost, especially at the conclusion ( K T U 1.16 = R S
3 . 3 2 5 + vi); this despite the colophon at the end of K T U 1.16 = R S
3 . 3 2 5 + vi n a m i n g the scribe Ilumilki w h o committed the p o e m to
writing (spr).
2.1.5 Since its discovery, Keret has been translated m a n y times a n d
into several languages, either as part of an anthology of Ugaritic literary texts or m o r e broadly of ancient N e a r Eastern texts.
T h e m a j o r translations, a n d the most widely cited, are the
ones by (a) G i n s b e r g , first in his A S O R m o n o g r a p h ( 1 9 4 6 ) a n d subsequently as part of P r i t c h a r d ' s anthology (AJVET); (b) G . R . D r i v e r
( 1 9 5 6 ) later substantially revised by G i b s o n ( 1 9 7 8 ) ; (c) H e r d n e r , in
a work jointly p r o d u c e d with C a q u o t a n d S z n y c e r (TOi) in 1 9 7 4 ,
a n d (d) d e l O l m o L e t e in 1 9 8 1 , where the Spanish translation is
a c c o m p a n i e d by extensive analytical discussion a n d a unique synoptic
presentation of alternative translations. 1
2.1.5.1

2.2

The history of (misinterpretation

2.2.1 T h e history of the p o e m ' s interpretation during the past sixty


years can be divided into three phases. Initially it was the subject
of extravagant claims of historicity a n d 'biblicization'. 2 T h e hero was
thought to have been a Phoenician king whose legions, including
m e m b e r s of the Israelite tribes of Asher a n d Zebulon, waged w a r
in the N e g e b region of Palestine a n d in E d o m . Progeny or devotees
of the biblical T e r a h , the father of A b r a h a m , were also thought to
be involved. However, rapid progress in Ugaritic philology p u t a
1

Also noteworthy are G O R D O N 1977, 34-59; DE M O O R 1987, G R E E N S T E I N 1997,


9 - 4 8 ; L O R E T Z 1997 and P A R D E E 1997a, 333-43. See also W Y A T T 1998C, 175-243.
2
Uncannily reminiscent of the Eblaite euphoria some 40 years later; plus a
change. . . .

quick and merciful end to this euphoric era and to the fata M o r g a n a
of biblical persons and tribal entities. O f the alleged geographical
allusions, only the shrine of Asherah in the environs of Tyre and
Sidon would survive the debacle; and even this determination was
destined not to go uncontested (Cf. A s t o u r 1973, 29-39).
2.2.1.1 Still, there is wide if not consensual agreement today that
two fundamental insights of this early era in Ugaritic studies retain
their validity, viz., (a) Late Bronze Age Keret, like Aqhat, reflects a literary genre qualitatively different from the mythological tales of Baal,
Anat, and the members of the Ugaritic pantheon generallythis
notwithstanding the prominent roles of divine actors in both poems;
(b) the main works of Ugaritic literatureBaal-Mot, Keret and Aqhat
are 'classics' of Late Bronze Age Canaanite civilization and culture
and as such were known in Iron Age C a n a a n generally and in ancient
Israel specifically.
2.2.2 A second and similarly fleeting phase in the interpretation of
Keret was introduced by the Scandinavian, secondarily British, Myth
and Ritual School, representedat its most extremeby the publications of Engnell and Mowinckel. T h e former considered the poem
'a ritual for the Ugaritic sukkot festival' ( E n g n e l l 1967, 149) T h e
wedding party for Keret and his bride described in K T U 1.15 =
RS 3.343+ is characterized as 'originally the [ ] of the god
and goddess, celebrated annually and co-experienced by the participants as they watched the cult-drama and also when indulging in
sacral prostitution' ( E n g n e l l 1967, 148). For Mowinckel, on the other
hand, the poem exemplified myth attenuated as legend; behind the
portrait of the hero as a Phoenician king stands the figure of Adonis:
'[in Keret] the god is . . . strongly anthropomorphized; the original
god has become the dynastic founder, the mythic first ancestor of
the royal family . . . the poem is no longer a real myth, but a mythic
hero-legend.' 3
2.2.2.1 If the shortcomings and misconceptions of the French historical school were the result of inadequate philology, those of the
myth-ritualists were the product of faulty methodology. By means of

MOWINCKEL

MOWINCKEL

1954,

1941, 142-3, as translated by


52-5.

ENGNELL

1967, 148. See further

careful selection and tendentious interpretation of certain model texts,


'evidence' is created proving the existence of 'an organic [ANEastern]
culture . . . whose special feature is the domination throughout by the
divine kingship idea' ( E n g n e l l 1967, 2). This 'pattern' is then applied
to other texts assumed a priori to reflect this 'pattern'. T h e explanatory value of this theory is commensurate with its (non-)falsifiability.
Basic to this approach, which breathed its last in Ugaritic studies
with G r a y ' s monograph in the mid-fifties, 4 is the axiom that any
ancient N e a r Eastern literary text, be it myth or legend, is necessarily 'functional', and almost invariably so in the cultic sphere where
the ancients are presumed to have spent all their leisure time. In
Gray's words, 'the t e x t . . . was not an aesthetic exercise'presumably the author's understanding of literary creativity'but served a
practical purpose in the community where it was current to achieve
some desired end or to conserve . . . all the social conventions and
the social order'. 5
2.2.2.2 It is also typical of this approach that its advocates do not
feel constrained to demonstrate precisely how this 'conservation of
values' is actually implemented in the poem or how an audience
might infer such a conclusion. It never occurs either to Engnell or
to Gray to query whether the story might not be understood by at
least some readers or listeners in a quite different, even opposed,
manner, e.g., as underlining the perilousness of a social order predicated on the health of an individual, mortal king supported in turn
by a bunch of rather inept gods; or that the author of Keret, far from
preaching the doctrine of divine kingship, might in fact be condemning it by means of a lethal dose of parody. In the final analysis, the failure of the Myth and Ritual school lies in its denial of the
literary ontology of the text. 6
revised and attenuated in G R A Y 1 9 6 5 .
4 - 5 . In all fairness it should be noted that he concedes that the
poem 'was not deliberately [so] designed' (ibid., 5). But nowhere are we informed
what this 'original' design may have been, since it surely was not a mere 'aesthetic
exercise'. This concession, however, contradicts the Myth-Ritual postulate of a cultic 'Sitz-im-Leben' for all texts with divine characters and in fact heralds the school's
demise.
6
Contrast the astute observation of DE L A N G H E 1 9 5 8 , 1 3 1 , citing B A U M G A R T N E R
( 1 9 4 1 , 8 9 - 9 1 ) that 'aesthetic interests stand side by side with religious interests' in
the Ugaritic literary texts. However, very few specialists in Ugaritic have taken this
admonition to heart, either before or after. This is true even of B E R N H A R D T ( 1 9 5 6 ) ,
who is at pains to criticizevery successfullythe Myth-Ritualists but whose own
4

GRAY

1954,

GRAY

1954,

2.2.3

O n e cannot take leave of the 'pre-historic' era of Ugaritic


studies without taking note of the important study by the Danish
Semitist P e d e r s e n . Published in 1 9 4 1 with only V i r o l l e a u d ' s monograph at hand ( 1 9 3 6 ) , Die Krt Legende is probably the only study of
this era whose influence abides to the present. This influence has
unfortunately perpetuated a basic misconception in the interpretation of the poem.
2.2.3.1

to his credit, rejects outright the Myth-Ritual


interpretation of M o w i n c k e l E n g n e l l ' s study ( 1 9 6 7 ) had yet to app e a r w h e n he states categorically that Keret 'ist nicht der Ausdruck
kultischer Vorgnge und ist kein Mythus' ( P e d e r s e n 1 9 4 1 , 6 4 ) . Methodologically he stands close to the French School. He assumes that
we are dealing with a historiographie work whose historical kernel
is heavily overlaid with legend'wie der israelitischen Passahlegende'
( P e d e r s e n 1 9 4 1 , 6 4 ) . T h e hero 'ist ein Urknig, Grnder einer Dynastie'
( P e d e r s e n 1 9 4 1 , 6 5 ) i n reality, not just in the plot; and the principal theme is 'die Sicherung der Dynastie durch N a c h k o m m e n schaft' ( P e d e r s e n 1 9 4 1 , 6 4 ) . In other words, Keret is at heart a work
of propaganda commissioned by a royal house and executed by a
poet with the soul of a priest.
2.2.3.2

Pedersen,

2.2.3.2.1
T h e theme of divinely sanctioned dynastic kingship, moreover, is deemed to reflect a society 'deren Knigsgeschlecht schon
als eingewurzelt betrachtet werden kann', analogous to the Israelite
society which spawned the Davidic royal ideology: 'hier wie dort
handelt es sich u m Legenden welchen den festen Bestand der herrschenden Dynastie besttigen und begrnden' ( P e d e r s e n 1 9 4 1 , 1 0 4 ) .
T h e author of Keret is so to speak a 'kept w o m a n ' of the political
authorities. His hand is free to write but his soul is in bondage. O n e
does not normally take the work of such writers seriously, whatever
their technical virtuosity.

2.2.3.3
This view of the Keret poem as a work of royal propag a n d a b y implication if not explicitly, by the ruling house of the

position is merely a re-statement of PEDERSEN'S: 'Richtiger wird man jedoch von


einer Besttigung der Erwhlung der Keret-Dynastie sprechen' {ibid., 119). This is
the raison d'tre of a political manifesto, not a work of art.

kingdom of Ugarit whose dynasty Keret is presumed to have founded


is very widespread in contemporary Ugaritic scholarship; and it is
hugely mistaken. 7
2.2.3.3.1 T h e curious omission, on these assumptions, of any reference to K e r e t o r his son and heir Yassibas king(s) of Ugarit
has long been noted. It is reinforced by a similar omission in the
so-called 'Ugaritic king list' ( K T U 1.113 = R S 24.257). However,
the real shortcoming of this view is that it fails to distinguish the
substance of the plot from the authorial intention, the creation from
the creator. T h e statements placed in the mouths of the characters
are naively taken as the author's own point of view. 8
2.2.3.4 In fact, a close, methodologically unbiased scrutiny of how
the author of Keret depicts his characters must surely lead to the conclusion that far from endorsing sacral dynastic kingship the poet actually ridicules it. T h e opening scene, for example, portrays the king
as a hapless soul who has gone through seven wivesthe first of
w h o m simply 'walked out' (tbc) on him!and who can think of no
better expedient than, like a baby, to cry himself to sleep (only the
soothing lullaby is missing. . .). Subsequently he will conscript all the
men of his kingdomincluding the disabled and the newly-wed
for a 'historic' military campaign to the Bashan for the grand purpose o f . . . obtaining a wife! It is inconceivable that this entire scenario
should have evoked from a contemporary audience anything but
gales of laughter. 9

Cf. e.g., B E R N H A R D T ( 1 9 5 6 , 1 2 0 ) : 'der text [steht] in enger Verbindung mit der


durch Keret begrndeten Herrscherdynastie . . . und [hat] als Tendenzdichtung die
Aufgabe . . . die besondere gttliche Erwhlung gerade dieser Dynastie ganz augenfllig darzustellen.' Cf. also above, . 6.
8
Thus, even if it be true 'dass wir in Keret einen typischen Vertreter des altorientalischen Sakralknigtums vor uns haben' ( B E R N H A R D T 1 9 5 6 , 1 1 6 ) , it does not
follow that this is an ideology which the author either espouses or wishes to propagate. Can one legitimately infer from the detailed description of the Persian monarchy in Esther that the author is desirous of propagating an ideology of oriental
despotism? Indeed, but for the strong nationalistic motives attributed to its (supposedly) Jewish author, the book of Esther might well have been understood as
political satire.
9
T h e fact that the latter stratagem is concocted by Keret's divine patronwith
Baal nowhere in sight!does not make it more 'respectable'; it merely adds to the
scope of the ridicule. El in Late Bronze Age Ugarit is a museum piece and a soulbrother of Shakespeare's Falstaff.

2.2.3.5 But the most telling refutation of the dynastic interpretation comes from the final scene of the poem (a scene unknown to
Pedersen at the time of his essay) in its portrayal of Yassib, the king's
eldest son and divinely-ordained (as well as politically confirmed)
heir. It is difficult to imagine a less favourable comment on dynastic kingship or a more incongruous endorsement of a royal line supposedly founded by Keret.
2.2.3.5.1 In short, there is altogether too much comedy
ody in Keret for it ever to have served as propaganda for
but the joy of living. For the author of Keret, not even the
sacred, much less the political institution of kingship. His
devotion are given unconditionally only to his art." 1

and paranything
gods are
love and

2.2.4
2.2.4.1 G i n s b e r g ' s short monograph published in 1946, inaugurated
a new era in the poem's interpretationor rather, explication. O n e
of his severest critics, Gaster, hailed it as 'a marked and revolutionary advance in our understanding [of the text]' ( G a s t e r 1947,
385). Ginsberg's was the first study to have addressed the material
in its (extant) entirety: K T U 1 . 1 4 - 1 5 - 1 6 = RS 2. [003]+ 3.343+
3.325+, are fully at his disposal and will be so henceforth for the
scholarly world to study and analyse. It is Ginsberg's contribution to
have been the first to establish the narrative coherence of the text.
However, Gastera dues-paying m e m b e r of the Myth and Ritual
schooltook Ginsberg to task for 'his obvious lack of acquaintance
with c o m m o n facts and methods of comparative religion, anthropology, and folklore . . . This leads . . . to an egregious disregard for
the cultural context and background of the narrative.' ( G a s t e r 1947,
286-7).
2.2.4.1.1 But Ginsberg consciously and deliberately eschewed 'metaphysical' interpretation; he was a devout positivist. His strength lay
lu

In a recent interview to a Montreal newspaper on the occasion of his 85th


birthday (The Gazette, Mar. 7/97), Irving LaytonCanada's (unofficial) poet-laureate
offered the following assessment of his life in the service of his art: 'Poetry never
let me down. My worry is, have I ever let poetry down? I should like to think that
I've never dishonoured poetry or turned my back on it. . . . A world without poetry
would be just intolerable. Unbearable.' O n e cannot mistake the (unintentional) piety
of this inveterate God-baiter and iconoclast. T h e ancient Canaanite bard would
surely have given this credo his unqualified assent.

in his philological dexterity at the level of grammatical analysis. H e


was primarily interested in words and how they combine to form
grammatical structures. T h e ideational content is secondary and the
literary craftsmanship incidental. Nevertheless, Ginsberg took a definite
stand on several 'metaphysical' issues (without however making them
a part of his discussion or interpretation). H e considered it 'probable' that the story 'contains a certain core of history'; he also deemed
it 'probable' that text K T U 1.14 = R S 2. [003]+ was preceded
'by one or more lost tablets'. Probability becomes certainty on the
question of the poem's alleged non-conclusion in K T U 1.16 = RS
3.325+."
2.2.4.2 For all his skill in explicating the text, Ginsberg either misconstrued or overlooked several key elements in the plot, beginning
with the mistaken notion 12 of Keret as the victim of the catastrophic
loss of countless children deemed to have perished in bunches: a
third, a fourth, a fifth, etc. 13 H e is completely unaware that the real
reason for convening the nobility of Bt-Hbr ( K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+
iv-vi) is to confirm Yassib as Keret's successor. In fact, Ginsberg's
translation of K T U 1.15 = R S 3.343+ v-vi lacks the thread of narrative coherence. This in turn leads him to wonder whether K T U
1.16 = R S 3.325+ i is the direct continuation of K T U 1.15 = R S
3.343+.
2.2.4.2.1 T h e r e are also some incongruities in Ginsberg's rendering of K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+. T h e phrase pnh. tgr. ysu ( K T U 1.16
= R S 3.325+ i 52-3), referring to the king's daughter 'Octavia' as
she emerges from the gateway of her (convent) residence, is under" The assumption of a story with large gaps before, within, and after the extant
tablets is very useful for the philologist operating exclusively with the microscope
of comparative grammar. If we possess only a half of the original work, then we
obviously are severely handicapped, if not outright precluded, from interpreting it
macroscopically on the metaphysical level. It is also something to fall back on when
one's interpretation of a given section, at the philological level, seems literarily vapid
or even inconsistent with that of a preceding or following section, whether in terms
of characterization or plot. It is not without irony that one notes the common
ground shared by Ginsberg and the myth-ritualist: neither takes seriously the poem
of Keret as literature or its author as artist. Both approach the text as so much grist
for the grinding.
12
Corrected early on by Cassuto but ignored by Ginsberg, even in his later work.
13
Here loo one senses how the lack of esteem for the pagan as poet enables the
Western scholar to attribute to him such a literary inanity, not to say moral obtuseness, in so quantifying human beings. Surely the biblical prejudice of the idolatrous
Canaanite and his 'debased' culture is here subverting the scholarly enterprise.

stood to mean 'Its sheen (i.e., of brother Ilhu's lance \mrh\) lights up
the gateway'. H e makes no effort to translate K T U 1.16 = RS
3.325+ ii 2 4 - 3 4 , although the text is quite well preserved; and he
passes over in silence the sudden a p p e a r a n c e of Octavia in her
father's bed-chamber in lines 5 0 - 1 . In col. iii, 8 - 9 , the language
tnnth . . . tltth does not evoke in Ginsberg's mind the association with
Keret's vow in K T U 1.14 = R S 2.[003]+, and his understanding
of the a C tiqat episode (v 28-vi 14) is both faulty and incomplete;
especially curious in his failure to render yqrs, while citing the analogy with Gilg. I ii 34 and its reference to tta iqtaris. Finally, the
curse which concludes K T U 1.16 R S 3.325+ (vi 54-8) is deemed
by Ginsberg to be 'unintelligible', in which case one wonders at the
certitude which informs his opinion as to the non-conclusion of the
poem at this point.
2.2.4.3 T h e foregoing critique, be it noted, is based not on Ginsberg's
early translation ( G i n s b e r g 1946) but rather on his contribution to
P r i t c h a r d ' s anthology, first published in 1950 and subsequently
(unrevised!) in 1955 and 1969. T h e authority of Ginsberg's name
he was widely considered to be the 'doyen of Ugaritic studies' in the
fifties and sixtiesand the popularity of Pritchard's anthology, which
soon became a standard reference work for biblical and ancient Near
Eastern studies, go a long way towards explaining the rather limited
progress made subsequently in the elucidation of the poem at the
most basic level of narrative explication. T h e unspoken if not also
unconscious assumption is that short of a windfall discovery of additional copies, Ginsberg's translations of the major Ugaritic poetic
texts ( K T U 1.1-6 = R S 3.361, 3.367, 3.346, 2.[014]+, 2.[008]+,
2.[022]+, 2.[009]+; K T U 1.14-16 = R S 2. [003]+, 3.343+, 3.325+;
K T U 1.17-19 = RS 2.[004], 3.340, 3.322+) have defined the limits of what scholars can ever hope to know of them.
2.2.5
2.2.5.1 A new phase in the study of Keret is introduced by M e r r i l l ' s
short essay ( 1 9 6 8 ) , marking the first serious attempt to deal with the
poem as a literary uvre and providing the inspiration for an important essay by P a r k e r ( 1 9 7 7 ) nearly a decade later.
2.2.5.2 ' T h e hypothesis of this paper', writes Merrill, 'is that the
poem . . . points to the 'house of Keret' as the basic issue. Every part

of the narrative finds its focus and delineation in this motif.' ( M e r r i l l


1968, 7). T h e story, it is supposed, 'begins with the ruined and
impoverished house of Keret. T h e king stands alone, without heir,
wife, or progeny.' ( M e r r i l l 1968, 9). By the end of K T U 1.15 =
R S 3.343+, 'the narrative of the king who has lost his 'house' and
regains it appears to be complete in itself. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end . . .'; and with mild surprise, 'yet the story continues' ( M e r r i l l 1968, 9-10). T h e 'fact' that the story continues beyond
its 'logical' conclusion leads Merrill to the conclusiontaken up
and elaborated subsequently by Parkerthat the unfulfilled vow to
Asherah, and her ensuing wrath, 'become the basis for the addition
of the other 'narratives' which are woven around the central concern for the 'house of Keret' and find their sub-themes in the three
areas of fertility, salubrity, and sovereignty.' Keret, on this hypothesis, is a composite work, although Merrill stops short of assuming
multiple authorship.
2.2.5.3 It is the merit of Merrill's essay to have dealt with the story
in its own terms and with a vocabulary drawn from the field of literary criticism rather than comparative religion or Semitic linguistics. Implicit at least is the assumption of an author who has something
interesting, perhaps even important to say, and who commands the
necessary tools of the trade which he employs with the skill and
imagination worthy of an artist. This approach also implies an audience who can appreciate such a work, not as a cultic libretto or a
catechism of theological-political indoctrination, but as an artistic
endeavour, which, like good wine, is to be savoured and enjoyed.
2.2.5.3.1 But for all the freshness and originality of its approach,
Merrill's essay, like Parker's subsequently, goes astray in its effort to
determine what the author is trying to say, as well as the specific
techniques which he has chosen for this purpose. T h e hypothesis of
a composite work, and a fortiori of multiple authorship, is symptomatic of a basic misconception, or rather, misperception.
2.2.5.4 T h e view of an ancient work of Semitic literature as composite comes easily to scholars trained primarily in Old Testament
exegesis, as their partiality to myth-ritualism and cultic solutions generally tends to reflect their roles as (practising) theologians in the
Judaeo-Christian tradition. But it is nonetheless a view quite unfounded

here in Keret and in Ugaritic literature generally. 14 T h e r e is no evidence for a 'history' of any of the m a j o r Ugaritic poems, although
such is not to be precluded a limine.^
2.2.5.4.1 T h e vow-to-Asherah episode, it must be insisted, is absolutely central to the plot of the story for the simple reason that it
alone supplies the story with its dramatic quality. Without the vowepisode the story is a tale not worth the telling, much less the price
of admission to its performance. T h e absence of a corresponding
instruction in the dream-episode does not prove the vow to be secondary: if someone were intent on tampering with the original by
'grafting' on the vow episode, he would have had little difficulty
making the necessary emendation in K T U 1.14 = R S 2.[003]+. 1 6
2.2.5.4.2 T h e omission, on the other hand, speaks volumes for the
authorial intention. T h e r e is nothing more characteristic of the (male)
dramatis personae in Keret than their personal shortcomings and imperfectionsincluding most definitely the head of the pantheon who
(like Y H W H in the Garden-of-Eden story) fails to anticipate his clientservant's initiative. 1 '
2.2.5.4.3 However, there is a second and more basic problem in
Merrill's theory, viz., his initial assumption that the well-being of
14

It would be inappropriate in this connection to cite in rebuttal the complicated history of the Gilgamesh epic for obvious reasons related to the chronological spans of the respective works.
15
One should also not wish to deny the existence of 'parallel traditions' in Ugaritic literature, notably the stories dealing with the construction of Baal's palace
(KTU 1.3 II 1.4). However it has yet to be demonstrated (though often assumed)
that 1.3 and 1.4 belong to a single literary work or that they constitute a consecutive narrative.
16
T o be noted in this connection are the ill-preserved conversations of the
Udumite king, first with his wife Na'amat (KTU 1.14 = RS 2.[003]+ 14-23)
and subsequently with his messengers, commissioned to scale Mt Inbb and offer
sacrifice to the gods {ibid., 24-9; cf. Margalit, 224 31), both of which are unforeseen in Keret's dream. Since no authorial design can be discerned in their omission from the dream, and since nothing in the sequel would seem to presuppose
these conversations, the theoretical possibility of a 'second hand' can be entertained
here. However, as presently constituted the scene has the positive effect of 'humanizing the enemy', a sentiment very close to the (original) author's heart, as is evident from the emotional departure-scene which follows shortly at the beginning of
K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+.
17
It should not be overlooked that once Keret awakes, El 'disappears' from the
story. He will return as a guest at the wedding reception, but he cannot be supposed to have monitored his client's actions in the interim.

KereCs dynasty stands at the centre of the poet's concern and creation.
It is simply not true that the king is portrayed at the beginning of
the poem as impoverished note how easily Keret dismisses El's offer
of 'silver and gold' in the dream, and the king of U d m ' s bribe subsequently during the siege. H e lacks progeny, but not for having
been bereaved; like Dan'el, he lacks a male heir for not having sired
one! N o w just as the birth of a son in Aqhat does not signal the
completion of the story but more nearly its commencement, so too
does the birth of Keret's offspring provide the impetus for moving
the story to its climax. T h e truly important developments in the
story come after the birth: in the case of Aqhat, the lad's treacherous m u r d e r by the goddess Anat and her Sutean mercenary, followed by the homicidal act of blood-redemption by the hero's sister.
In the case of Keret, the 'meat' of the story is the king's illness and
the behaviour of his offspring in response. T w o of them, without
aspirations to the throne, are devoted, loving, and obedient. T h e
third, predesdned by birth as heir-apparent, is the spoiled-brat antithesis. T h e attempted putsch by Yassib and the thunderous curse called
down on his head by his enraged father ( K T U 1 . 1 6 = R S 3 . 3 2 5 +
vi) bring the story full circle as it drives home the principal message: Keret is miserable at the beginning of the story for want of a
son and heir; he is equally miserable at its conclusion precisely
because of his son and heir. If the curse were not so funnyYassib
examining his teeth in the cup of his h a n d t h e ending would indeed
be sad. This is the essence of the poem as tragi-comedy, mixing the
tears of laughter with those of pain.
2.2.5.4.4 T h e fate of the 'house of Keret' is thus of no particular
interest either to the poet or his audience. T h e real 'star' of Keret is
neither the king nor the gods but the invisible Moira who like the
poet delights in irony and makes the h u m a n life-experience at once
fascinating and unpredictablethe very qualities required of a good
story!
2.2.6
For P a r k e r ( 1 9 7 7 , 1 6 7 ) , the poem of Keret is a conflation
of three originally independent stories executed by different poets at
different times and with variable degrees of editorial skill. ' O u r conclusion . . . is that the first section [= A] of Keret originally stood on
2.2.6.1

its own, and the material dealing with Keret's sickness [= B] was
attached to it by the insertion of the promise [= vow] passage into
the journey to U d m . . 18 U p to this point Parker is echoing Merrill.
But he goes further in positing multiple authorship and in his understanding of the Yassib episode ( K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi) as an
'originally independent story . . . tacked [iic] onto section B' ( P a r k e r
1977, 169).
2.2.6.1.1 T h e alleged 'third story' (C) is of course quite incomplete,
and is assumed to have continued on (a) no longer extant tablet(s).
It follows accordingly that 'we are scarcely in a position to speak of
the theme or function of the whole work' ( P a r k e r 1 9 7 7 , 1 7 4 ) . Here
too (cf. critique of Ginsberg above) the assumption of incompleteness serves as a safeguard against criticism based on literary considerations; the 'answers' to difficult questions can be conveniently
assumed to lie in the unattested and empirically unverifiable 'hereafter'.
2.2.6.1.2 E.g. it would be most surprising if a literary work which
had evolved in this 'tacky' way could be shown to have a unifying
theme or structure. Yet according to Parker, the combination of story
A and the 'neatly grafted' story yields, remarkably, a unified theme
described by him as 'the vulnerability and helplessness of the king
on the one hand, but also the benevolent power and wisdom of El
on the other." 9
2.2.6.2 We have discussed earlier some of the weaknesses in Merrill's
argument for the secondary nature of the vow episode. In his monograph P a r k e r ( 1 9 8 9 ) tries to meet one of these objections, but in
so doing actually reinforces it.
2.2.6.2.1 Parker acknowledges that (a) the reason for suspecting the
vow is its absence from the list of detailed instructions in the dreamtheophany of K T U 1.14 = RS 2. [003]+ which the king subsequently

IB

'The poets [TTD] who thus extended the poem . .


(PARKER 1 9 7 7 , 167).
1977, 174. In P A R K E R 1989 he claims to have discovered significant
structural differences between A and B. But at best these differences do not necessitate a distinction of authors. They are certainly consistent with the stylistic versatility and literary virtuosity of a single writer.
19

PARKER

carries out to the letter and which include, incidentally, a sacrifice


to the god Baal, presumably to enlist his support for the venture;
(b) a good 'grafter' would accordingly have encountered little difficulty in making the necessary adjustment. Therefore (c) the omission was motivated ideologically, viz., by reverence for El's reputation.
T h e grafter did not want to make El responsible for the subsequent
debacle.
2.2.6.2.2 Setting aside the conjectural and suspiciously ad hoc nature
of this latter supposition, it is surely clear that it effectively undermines
the case for multiple authorship. T h e same pious concern for El's
reputation could as easily have motivated the original author of the
poem! In other words, the vow-episode loses through this 'explanadon'
its entire value as an empirical indication of multiple authorship. 2 0
2.2.6.3 T h e case for viewing the Yassib episode as secondary
Parker's own contribution to the hypothesis of a composite work
is devoid of even the prima facie evidence supporting the secondariness
of the vow episode. O n e suspects that the very idea owes its birth
to the widely held view of the poem as lacking, in its extant form,
a conclusion, and hence needs have been continued elsewhere. It
seems improbable that Yassib would make his one and only appearance at the end of the story. T h e missing conclusion, it is supposed,
will have described how Yassib was punished for his insolence by
forfeiting his claim to the throne in favour of his younger sister
Octavia, the favourite of El and the gods (.sgrthn. abkm. etc.).
2.2.6.3.1 Were such a denouement actually attested, it might well
be taken to support a theory of compositeness and multiple authorship, for it would totally contradict, in substance and spirit, much
of what has transpired in the poem up to this point.
2.2.6.3.2 T h e fear is however unfounded. In point of fact, the role
of Yassib is much more firmly rooted in the story than is readily
apparent from his single appearance in K T U 1.16 = RS 3.325+ vi.
Parker's hypothesis appears to antedate the realization that the baro-

20
Here too the influence of O.T. scholarship is readily apparent. Bible scholars
commonly assume 'pious glosses' in the text originating with 'pious Jews' of the
post-exilic era.

niai council in K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+ v-vi was only ostensibly


convened to 'weep for Keret', and tbat its agenda was secretly political: to confirm Yassib as successor in the event of Keret's demise
a decision ultimately taken, albeit after stormy debate. 2 ' With this
'certificate' in hand, Yassib has no reason to challenge his father
during the latter's illness (as Parker suggests he ought to have done
if his role were original); he need but bide his time until the king's
imminent demise. It is only when his expectations are frustrated by
Keret's miraculous recovery that he makes a pathetic attempt to unseat
him. Yassib, for whose confirmation so m u c h energy had been
expended but whose true character the author has skillfully concealed up to this point in the story, is now revealed at the conclusion for the 'wimp' that he is!
2.2.6.4 T h e r e are two points to be emphasized in connection with
Parker's hypothesis: (a) that story the king's illnessis securely
tied to the figure of Yassib and his succession and can never have
existed independently thereof; (b) that the case for the Yassib episode
as an independent story C hangs entirely on the assumption that the
poem is not concluded at the end of K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi.
2.2.6.5 T h e final point to be m a d e against Parker's case is the catastrophic consequences which the deletion of the Yassib episode has
on the literary structure and message of the poem.
2.2.6.5.1 If Keret were a typical 'happy ending' narrative, the story
(Parker's story in particular) ought to have ended with the king's
recovery (much as Merrill's 'original story' ought to have ended with
the wedding reception in K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+!). For if at the
beginning ( K T U 1.14 = R S 2.[003]+) the king is alone and in tears,
and then subsequently, facing death, he is tearfully embracingpossibly for the last timehis beloved 'blossom' Octavia ( K T U 1.16 =
R S 3.325+ ii 50ff.), he is surely smiling from ear to ear, surrounded
by his faithful wife and adoring children, at the feast described (laconically) in K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi 15-21; and his resumption of

21

The language of the council's decision can be presumed identical with the resolution presented by its president, the rk-il (KTU 1.15 = RS 3.343+ 18-21): 'rb.
p. lymg19 krt/sbia. p'10 b'lny/uymlkn [ j ] ^ ( . ) 'In 'When Keret arrives at the western
horizon (i.e., dies)|Our lord, at the setting s u n | T h e n will [Ya]ssib rule over us'.
Cf. M A R G A L I T 1982, 425; 1995, 252-2.

work as king of Bt-Hbr (ibid., 11. 22-4) ought to have been greeted
with much fanfare and public celebration.
2.2.6.5.2 T h e 'addition' of the episode of filial infidelitya sin punishable by death in the Bible and which the very name 'Aqhat' (lit.,
'the-obedient-one') attests to as heinous in ancient Canaanite societyturns this would-be happy ending on its head at the same time
as it brings the story full-circle to tragi-comic conclusion. In K T U
1.14 = R S 2. [003]+ Keret is miserable for want of a son and heir;
at the end of K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi he is miserable for having obtained a son and heir. Nothing more can or need be said.
2.2.7
2.2.7.1 But a word should be said, in conclusion of our critique,
on vestiges of the historical approach to the poem still current.
2.2.7.1.1

Parker writes:

I would see the origin of the poem in a story about a king who undertook a campaign against another king to claim the king's daughter as
his bride. Negotiations between the king resulted in the ceding of the
woman in question, and hence in the marriage of the two and the birth
of children. . . . It is this much that forms the most solid basis for those
who claim that die poem reflects historical events . . .' ( P A R K E R 1 9 8 9 , 39)
2.2.7.2 This statement, I submit, is as true (or false) of Keret as it
is (mutatis mutandis) of Hamlet, Julius Caesar, or Antony and Cleopatra,
none of which can be considered 'historical' works reflecting historical events. T h e y are works of the imagination, pure fiction, in which
historically attested personal a n d geographical names, scraps of history, social and religious customs are expertly utilized as trappings
for the plot and its characters by craftsmen minutely knowledgeable
in historical arcana andall importandymasters of disingenuity in
the service of artistic integrity.
2.2.7.2.1 But even if the poet be inspired by a 'real event'which
in the case of Keret one is entitled to doubtthis determination is
no more consequential for understanding the poem and its author,
than is the Danish chronicle which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet.
At most, such knowledge can produce some learned footnotes to the
text, enhancing its appreciation by cognoscenti but irrelevant and
boring for poet and audience alike.

2.3

The story in outline, the message in detail

2.3.1 Although there is no hard evidence to indicate that the poem


of Keret was ever the subject of dramatic presentation in a theatre
or like setting, it is useful, and certainly not misleading to summarize its contents as if it were. T h e material is most amenable.
2.3.1.1 T h e 'prologue' in the opening lines of K T U 1.14 = RS
2. [003]+, now largely defective, introduced the hero, Keret, as king
of Bt-Hbr, situated '[by the se]a'. T h e king is a man of valour
([gbr. hyl]) and a devotee of El (glm. il) who is his 'patron' (ab); but
he is wretched for want of wife and children to fill his 'naked' (crwt)
palace. Seven dmes was Keret wed, but each marriage ended abrupdy,
for the most part tragically with the death of the spouse; in one
case, in childbirth. T h e absence of a (male) heir apparent causes his
seven brothers to cast greedy eyes on his throne.
Comment: (1) 'Bt-Hbr by-the-sea' ([gblt. y]rr) is a pseudonymic riddle to be solved by the audience in the course of the p o e m / p l a y .
(2) By presenting the king as a devotee of Elin contrast to the Baalworshipping poet and his audiencethe author conveys the message
that the story is about a historical figure of long-ago, the era of the
ancestors. 22 Keret is thus a 'patriarchal narrative'. T h e members of
the hero's clan (lim || umt) are to be found roaming the steppelands
between the (Phoenician) coast and the Euphrates ([ f ]</. nhr). (3)
Except for the royal backdrop, the scene is uncannily reminiscent of

22

For the author of Keret, this 'patriarchal era' began with Ditanu (Ug. dtn, var.
ddri) cited obliquely in K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii 2 - 3 || 13-5) thought to have
lived in the early MBA (ca. 2100 BCE; cf. K I T C H E N 1977, 131-42; H F . L T Z E R 1981,
1 10) and developing into an eponymous ancestor. It needs be emphasized however that Keret's Ditanu-ancestry does not make him a direct ancestor of the Ugaritic
kings Niqmaddu and Ammittamru ( K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126). Like Abraham,
Ditanu is 'the father of many [Amorite] nations'. This much however can be said:
the city-state kingdoms which speckled the Phoenician and north-Syrian coastline
in the early 2nd millennium BCE were all ruled by classes of Amorite stock. The
dynastic houses of Byblos and nearby Ugarit in particular could accordingly have
been related by ties of blood a n d / o r marriage, and both of them to clans residing
in Bashan (cf. K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252: 23-4). T h e phrase qbs. dtn, roughly 'union
of Ditanu' (KTU 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii 2 - 3 || 13-5), like its parallel rpi. ars (ibid.,
K T U 1.108) denotes the transnational aspect of this consanguinity, the word ars
'land' contrasting with socio-political terms like qrt 'city' and mlk 'kingdom'. (This
usage of ars [Heb. 'eres] survives in the Hebrew Bible in the phrase 'am-h-'res,
denoting an institution of landed gentry who can 'make or break' a king. Cf. provisionally M A R G A L I T 1995, 255-6.)

the El-worshipping, Harran-based patriarchs of the Bible, one of


whom complains bitterly that he is without (legitimate) heir and who
subsequently sends his trusted servant to obtain a wife for his son
in the 'old country'.
2.3.2

Act 1, Scene 1

2.3.2.1 T h e curtain rises on the king about to retire for the night
to his sleeping c h a m b e r which he enters shedding tears of self-pity.
Curled up in bed in a foetal position, he falls asleep. His patron
deity now appears in his dream, having heard the heart-rending sobs
of his valiant servant. Wise but not omniscient, El inquires as to the
cause of the king's distress. Ever the jester, he speculates whether
Keret, dissatisfied with the modest extent of his kingdom, has designs
on his own; or perhaps, he wonders aloud, the king is short of money
to cover his regal expenses. In reply, the king assures his patron that
he wants for nothing material, and that his only wish, and the
panacea to his pain, is to sire a family, sons in particular.
2.3.2.2 El is sympathetic; and the remainder of the dream (and
scene) is devoted to divine monologue wherein the deity issues a
series of detailed instructions as part of an elaborate plan for the
hero to realize his ambition. At the centre of the plan is the full
mobilization of the kingdom for a military expedition to the (Bashanite) kingdom of Udum(u), to be followed by a siege and ultimatum
to its king: surrender your eldest daughter, the fair Hry, to be Keret's
wife (or face the consequences).
2.3.3

Scene 2

2.3.3.1 T h e King awakens with a start, but with total recall of the
dream which he immediately begins to implement to the letter. He
attends first to his personwashing (for cleanliness) and rouging (for
war) then to the gods to w h o m he offers sacrifice, and then to the
business of war.
Comment: (1) El's oneiric thcophany is part and parcel of n o m a d i c /
Amurritic religion centering on El and his consort Asherah. El resides
in the subterranean fresh-water deep which feeds the palm-trees of
the oasis where the n o m a d pitches camp. W h e n the latter retires for
the night and sets his sleepy head down to rest, he is lulled to sleep

by the gurgling stream nearby. It is both logical and natural that


El, residing close by, should pay him an occasional visit in his dream,
especially when the nomad is troubled. (2) Again, the correspondence
with the biblical tradition-complex (in its and versions particularly)
is uncanny. T h e El(-Shaddai)-worshipping patriarchs receive their
divine visitations in nocturnal dreams. T h e same is true of the Elworshipping Aramean clairvoyant Balaam of the D A P T . Y H W H , by
contrast, never appears in a dream to his servant Moses, 23 and there
are no dream-theophanies in the Hexateuch outside Genesis and
N u m . 2 2 - 4 . (3) T h e characterization of both El and his protg is
parodical. T h e valiant warrior of the prologue is totally deconstructed
by the pathetic king crying himself to sleep like a baby. Crying is
womanish (2 Sam. 1:24; Lam. 1:2, etc.) and a sign of weakness in
men except in well-defined special circumstances. It never occurs to
the biblical author to depict A b r a h a m as weeping in Gen. 15; nor
does the son-less Dan'el weep when petitioning for a son (1.17). Both
are in contrast with the similarly situated H a n n a h (1 Sam. 1:10).
T h e proverbially wise El (by dint of age and experience) is parodied
by means of the patently ridiculous plan which he concocts: the total
mobilization of the kingdom, including the sick, the blind, and the
newly-wed normally exempt from military draft, and a strenuous and
very expensive seven-days march to the hinterland region of Bashan
for no better reason or exigency than to obtain (yet) a(nother) wife
for the king. Were this not enough, the poet will subsequently inform
us that Pbl, the king of Udum(u), is himself a devotee of El, and
his kingdom a 'gift' (un) from this same deity ( K T U 1.14 = R S
2. [003]+ vi 12-4). All El need have done was to send an oneiric
message to Pbl and the fair princess would have been on her way
to Bt-Hbr. 2 4 This contrasting of exaggerated means utilized for trivial ends is of course a staple of comedy and burlesque (cf. the M a r x

23
Cf. Num. 12:6 8. A later tradition, no longer familiar with the religio-historical presuppositions of the patriarchal faith, attributed this fact to the uniqueness
of Moses' prophetic status.
24
H e could also have spared U d u m the pains of siege, and its monarch the
pangs of uncertainty, by revealing himself in a dream to Pbl and thereby confirm
Keret's ultimatum as indeed inspired and supported by divine degree. But then El
would be seen to be truly wise and compassionate rather than the comical dotard
intended by the poet.

brothers), a contrast further accentuated here by the disparity between the normally peacable and compassionate El (Itpn. dpid) advising,
and devizing, a strategem of war. 25 (4) T h e use of parody at this
early stage in the story must be understood as setting the tone for
all that ensues. It is the dramaturgic equivalent of Shylock's 'poundof-flesh' bond contracted (ostensibly) 'in a merry sport', and to the
over-reaction of foolish king Ahasuerus (Est. 1) to the queen's refusal
of a royal summons (itself a parody of a king 'ruling from India to
Ethiopia'). It serves notice that the poem of Keret is a species of 'mock
epic', perhaps the oldest of its kind in recorded history.
2.3.4

Scene 3

2.3.4.1 T h e a r m y of Bt-Hbr marches in battle array to U d m


(= U d u m u in the land of G a < s h u - > r u [EA 256]). T h e march is
broken up into two more or less equal segments: 3 days from BtH b r to Tyre, where Keret pays an unscheduled (or at the least unanticipated in the dream) visit to the shrine of Asherah, El's wife, where
he takes a vow (cf. Gen. 28) that if his mission be successful (one
senses clearly the insecurity of this valiant warrior) he will pay to
Asherah's shrine 'twice [his bride's] weight in silver, thrice in gold'.
2.3.4.2 T h r e e days later, on the seventh day of the campaign,
Keret's army arrives at U d u m and camps outside its walls after having cleared the countryside. T h e r e follow the futile efforts of Pbl,
king of U d u m , and his queen N a ' a m a t to relieve the siege, first
by offering Keret a bribe of silver, gold, three horses and chariot
(with attendant squire), and, simultaneously, sending messengers to
offer sacrifice atop nearby Mt. Inbb, the mythological abode of the
(war-)goddess Anat. T o no avail; Keret is a d a m a n t (and the gods,
by implication, unresponsive): only the surrender of beautiful H r y
in the description of whose (as yet unseen) beauty (he has only El's
word for it) the king waxes poeticwill suffice to remove the siege
(cf. mutatis mutandis 2 Sam. 20:14-22). T h e scene concludes with Hry
taking tearful leave of her family and friends as she sets out for
Keret's c a m p and her new life as queen of Bt-Hbr.

25

O n e may note the uncanny if fortuitous resemblance of El's plan with that of
Portia's 'virtuous father' (The Merchant of Venice), mocking the 'holy men [who]
at their death have good inspirations'. El's plan is similarly 'inspired'.

Comment: (1) O n the identifications of U d m and Mt. Inbb respectively, cf. M a r g a l i t 1995, 2 2 5 - 4 3 . (2) Although formally a married
couple, El and Asherah do not live together (cf. K T U 1.4 = R S
2. [008]+ iv).26 (3) T h e fact that the king's initiative, for all its good
intentions, eventually lands him in hot water couldif Keret were a
'serious' piece of literaturebe taken as implying the futility of human
endeavour and the advisability of resignation to divine will. But if,
as I maintain, Keret is tragi-comical, then the crisis precipitated by
the king's ill-fated initiative (the result, be it recalled of his absentmindedness) can and should be seen as contributing to his portrayal
as a pathetic figure, a 'Schlemiel' or 'Sad-Sack' who can do no right,
a master bungler. Keret, like Dan'el, is a 'talker', not a 'doer'. (4)
This characterization of the king is underscored by Pbl and Na'amat's
reluctance to become Keret's in-laws. After all, such an attitude is
not self-evident given Keret's credentials. A king of the backwater
kingdom of U d u m would normally have given his eye-teeth for a
liaison with the royal house of Bt-Hbr, alias Byblos. However,
Keret's reputation as a matrimonial 'jinx' has preceded him to Udum.
2.3.5

Act II

2.3.5.1 Scene 1. T h e reception celebrating the marriage of Keret


and Hry is attended (i.a.) by the gods, including El and Baal. Asherah
is conspicuous by her absence. During dinner, Baal prompts El to
toast the newly-wed couple. El is glad to oblige: raising his wineglass, his blessing consists of a promise that Keret's wife will bear
him multiple offspring (cf. Gen. 15:5, etc.): seven || eight boys and a
like n u m b e r of girls. T h e eldest of the boys, to be named Yassib, will
be Keret's heir (poetically, he will be nursed by goddesses); the youngest
of the girls, 'Octavia', will be El's favourite (bkr, literally, 'first').
Comment: (1) T h e senior gods arrive at the party in pairs; the
'assembly', consisting of the minor (younger) and anonymous gods,

2I

' The separation of El and Asherah on the mythopoeic level is surely a reflection
of the transformation of their originally pastoral-nomadic cult following the sedentarization of their worshippers. El is put out to pasture in the Upper Jordan Valley,
his domain extending from the foot of Mt Hermon near Dan as far as the Sea of
Galilee. But his consort starts up a new career among Tyrians as rbl. alrt. ym 'Lady
Asherah-of-the-Sea' where she is presumably worshipped as the patroness of fishermen (cf. her attendants qdl. wamrr described (KTU 1.3 = RS 2.[014]+ vi 10-1;
K T U 1.4 = RS 2. [008]+ iv 2-4) as dgy. rbl. alrt. y m 'fishermen of Lady Asherahof-the-Sea'.

arrive in threes. T h e absence of Asherah is accentuated by pairing


El with Baal. Anat (here labelled 'Rhmf [Heb. rehem]) is accompanied by the similarly bellicose Reshef. Kathir-and-Hasis, sporting a
binomial n a m e , escorts himself (our poet is a 'kibitzer'). (2) T h e
choice of R h m y as an alias for Anat is motivated by two considerations: (a) the alliteration with Rip; (b) the synonymity with ( c )Anat,
both referring to the female genitalia. 27
2.3.5.2 Scene 2. T h e scene shifts to the (unspecified) domicile of
Asherah. Seven years, and several birth-days, have elapsed and Keret's
pledge is still unpaid. With the king now in default, Asherah takes
her own vow: to make Keret pay . . . with his life!
Comment: 'Heaven has no rage . . . nor hell no fury, like a woman
scorned'. Cf. also Ps. 50:14, Eccl. 5:3.
2.3.5.3 Scene 3. A party in Keret's h o m e m o r e precisely, his atr
for the nobility of Bt-Hbr, its 'Bulls' and 'Stags' in the poet's saucy
language. In preparation, the king instructs his queen to 'dress-up
like a maiden' (km[.n]crt) by hiding her bulges, doing up her hair,
and manicuring her fingernails. T h e ostensible purpose of the party
is to 'weep' (ritually) for the ailing Keret. But the secret agenda is
political, viz., to confirm the juvenile Yassib as heir and successor
to the throne of Bt-Hbr upon the king's supposedly imminent demise.
O n c e this political purpose is made known to the guests at the party,
a furious debate erupts, accompanied by shouting and clenched fists,
in the course of which the 'president' (irk. il, lit., 'chief member')
stands up to speak and pledges the support of the assembly for the
young prince. T h e ailing king replies. Invoking the private parts of
the president's wife, he blesses him for his support. H e then informs
the council that he expects to die within the month, blaming his
misfortune on Athirat's abiding hatred for his kingdom. His personal
fault he passes over in silence. However, the king's remarks, far from
stilling debate, add fuel to its fire, in the course of which both the
king and his queen are forced to intervene to restore order. T h e
king accuses his opponents of 'drinking his blood', while the queen
reprimands her guests for their indecorum as well as for their insin-

27

Cf. D E E M 1978; M A R G A L I T 1995, 241 2. T h e basic meaning of 'nh is 'open


up', normally of speech. Its use with sexual activity (cf. Ex. 32:18b) reflects a perceived symmetry between oral and vaginal anatomy (cf. Prov. 30:20).

uation that the king might be feigning illness in order to obtain an


endorsement of the crown-prince as successor to the throne. Hry
assures the noblemen that Keret's illness is, unfortunately, neither
dream nor fantasy; and he has the body sores and fever to prove
it! T h e conclusion of the scene is lost, but a political victory for the
royal family is a necessary inference. 28 From this moment on, Yassib
is heir-apparent in fact as well as in theory, and his enthronement
evidently a matter of days.
Comment (1) T h e location of the banquet in a tent (hmt) set up
in the family atr or burial-ground (cf. K T U 1.17 = RS 2.[004] i-ii)
points to a kispum or mrzfi, i.e., a feast associated with the cult of
the ancestral dead (dbh. ilm). This would furnish a convenient pretext for convening the nobles and a suitable occasion for 'beweeping' the sick king. It also is consistent with the all-male guest list as
well as the king's instructions to his wife to dress appropriately (cf.
K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+ iii 10-22). This banquet is definitely a
'stag affair'.
(2) T h e scene implies the existence of a political group whose
authorization the king requires to transfer power to his son and thus
establish a dynasty. This council of barons is a fcudalistic body whose
duties, and prerogatives, are to 'advise and consent'. Neither servile
nor rubberstamping, it can make or break a king. A residue of tribal confederation, this group of grandees may be seen as the sociopolitical equivalent and 2nd-millennium precursor of the biblical
'am-h'res. (3) It is further implied in this scene that while the legitimacy of the dynastic principle is acknowledged, its cultural roots
are shallow indeed. T h e tribal tradition of charismatic leadership,
understood in terms of military prowess, is still very much alive, and
it goes far towards explaining the fierce opposition to the blankcheque endorsement of the king's son, still very young and untried
in battle and leadership. (4) Keret is in all likelihood (portrayed as)

28

T h e spirit and circumstances of Keret's speech are strongly reminiscent of the


speech delivered by Hattusi1i before the panku-assembly: 'Behold I have fallen
sick. . . . Behold, Mursilis is now my son . . .' It may not be too venturesome to
suggest accordingly that the missing portion of Keret's speech may have been formulated in a vein similar to the continuation of Hattusilis' address: 'In the hour
when a call to arms goes forth . . . you . . . must be [at hand to help my son]. When
three years have elapsed he shall go on a campaign. . . . If you take him (while still
a child) with you on a campaign, bring [him| back [safely].' (Translation apud
GURNEY

1990,

171).

the first m e m b e r of his family to have occupied a throne, which he


may well have seized by overthrowing an incumbent ruler. His rise
to p o w e r a n d this is probably the extent of the story's historicity
(which in any case is only presupposed by the narrative)would
have been a model Idrimi who, with a b a n d of ruffians and outlaws,
conquered Alalakh and set himself up as king. Like Keret's El-religion
and his affiliation with a clan dispersed in the Syrian steppeland,
the present scene reflects the political ethos of an earlier epoch, viz.,
the formative stages of Amorite settlement in Phoenicia and N. Syria
and the struggle to establish the legitimacy of dynastic kingship in
a society barely weaned from non-hereditary charismatic leadership
and tribal organization.
2.3.6

Act III

2.3.6.1 Scene 1. As the scene opens, preparations are underway


for Keret's funeral (although the king is still quite alive). T h e sound
of caterwauling w o m e n t h e poet prefers the comparison with howling dogs and coyotesfills the royal mansion. Overcome emotionally
by these depressing sounds and by the realization which they spur
of his father's imminent demise, the loving and devoted son Ilhu
approaches the king's bedside. With tears rolling down his pubescent
cheeks, he queries his father in disbelief (in the process giving expression to the current ideology of divine kingship in Canaan): 'Is Keret,
the divine offspring of El and Athirat, not immortal?! D o gods die?!'
2.3.6.1.1 T h e compassionate Keret responds with words of comfort to his distraught son; and by way of occupational therapy counsels him to set out on a mission to sister Octavia, residing elsewhere,
and to bring her home. T o spare her sensitive feelings, the pretext
is to be an invitation to a family feast rather than a funeral. (But
since Keret's funeral will doubtless be followed by a lavish wake
cf. K T U 1.6 = R S 2. [009]+ i 18-31the lie is truly lily-white.) Ilhu
obediently complies and takes his leave.
Comment: T h e text at this point is in disarray, resulting in the dism e m b e r m e n t and dislocation of Ilhu's speech. T h e awareness of this
disturbance by a subsequent copyist led to its rewriting; but the corrected version unfortunately found its way into the second column
of K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+, causing yet another disturbance. (2) W e
are not informed here either as to the reason for Octavia's residence
away from home or its location. If this information was not forth-

coming in a no longer extant part of the preceding text (e.g., at the


end of K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii), the poet left it to the audience
to fathom the answers from the continuation.
2.3.6.2 Scene 2. After climbing a mountain and praying there (to
Baal!) for a safe journey, Ilhu sets out. Arriving at Octavia's convent-residence (hmh<m>), he squats on a nearby hillock, with the
gateway-entrance in view, to await his sister. As she emerges from
the gate, on her way to fetch water, Octavia espies her brother. In
her excitement, she drops (more likely, hurls) the encumbering vessel
in her hand and makes a dash to embrace Ilhu, her head now nestling tenderly in his shoulder. But it does not take long for Octavia
to collect h e r s e l f a n d to sense that brother Ilhu has not just droppedby for a chat. Her female intuition tells her that something is awry,
possibly relating to her father. T o her query, 'is father ill?' Ilhu
replies that, of course, all is well with the king, and that he has
come to invite her to a family party. Sensing her incredulity, Ilhu
unfolds his cover-story with lavish improvisation: it will be a sumptuous affair, attended by the gods and the who's-who of Bt-Hbr;
musical entertainment will be provided by nubile lasses singing songs
'to set one on fire'. He himself, Ilhu continues in his prevaricating
best, was asked by the king to go out and trap birds as delicacies
for mother Hry and brother Yassib; 'and since father knows that
my hunting would take me near where you live, he thought it might
be nice to extend you an invitation. So here I am!'.
2.3.6.2.1 Octavia's response leaves no doubt as to her incredulity.
First she asks her brother to pour a cup of wine from his portable
jug. After removing the plug, Ilhu obliges. She now turns to her
brother and, in a tone mixing hurt pride with barely concealed anxiety, she asks: 'Why do you make a fool of me? H o w long has father
been ill?'
2.3.6.2.2 Faced with such precocity, Ilhu breaks down and proceeds to tell his sister the sorry truth. Upon hearing this, the heartbroken Octavia cries out and shudders (V hi); she commences a
funereal song-and-dance around her brother. She then repairs with
him to the parental home.
2.3.6.2.3 Upon arrival, Octavia enters, silently and abashcdly, her
father's bed-chamber. Approaching his bed, she kisses him affectionately

on his feverish forehead. She is his little 'blossom' (ib). She leaves
shortly thereafter, heeding her father's request to climb a mountain
and pray there for his recovery. 29
Comment: (1) T h o u g h not expressly stated, it is a reasonable inference from this portion of the narrative that Octavia has become a
nadtu-priestess, or nun, residing in a cloister and in the service of
the sun-goddess, Shapsh. A m o n g other things, this hypothesis will
explain (a) why Octavia is residing away from her parental home;
(b) why Ilhu does not even consider entering the gateway to notify
his sister of his arrival. As a female retreat, it is presumably off-limits
to men. (2) Octavia's funereal song-and-dance, encircling her brother,
is described in language similar to that used by Ilhu to describe the
wailing-women in Keret's house. This may help to explain the intrusion here of extraneous material originating as a (corrected) version
of Ilhu's plaintive speech to his father. (3) It is typical of Ugaritic
epic literature to portray w o m e n as superior in intellect a n d / o r
courage to men; 30 and the present encounter of brother and sister
is certainly no exception. El compares unfavourably with Athirat,
Dan'el with his daughter Pughat, and Ilhu with Octavia. 31
2.3.7
2.3.7.1 Scene 3. T h e text of this scene is very fragmentary, and
its contents consequently are obscure. T h e king's illness, like Aqhat's
murder, has resulted in drought, and the stocks of grain, wine, and
oil are depleted. A set of obscure ritual acts, intended presumably
to induce rainfall, is followed by a delegation of farmers to the king,
presumably (since the continuation is lost) to apprise him of the situation and to ask for help.

29

A considerable part of the text summarized above is missing, and the summation at certain points presupposes the correctness of the restorations. Cf. the discussion in M A R G A L I T 1 9 9 5 , 2 6 4 - 8 9 for this and other matters relating to this passage.
30
It is also not uncommon in O.T. literature: Adam is clearly inferior in intellect to wife Eve (which is why the 'wily' snake takes her on first). The same holds
true for Isaac and Rebekkah, Barak and Deborah, Sisera and Jael, Haman and
Esther, etc. A notable exception is David and Michal. The latter is possibly the
most 'trag(ed)ic' figure in the entire Bible: bright, beautiful, and courageousand
an habitual 'loser'.
31
Anat is only seemingly an exception: for while nominally female, she acts and
dresses like a (violent) man, and is therefore the villain of Aqhat. She contrasts both
with her virtuous brother Baal and the heroine Pughat; and the poet does not stop
short of ridiculing the penis-envy of this self-hating goddess by depriving her of the
coveted bow once acquired (KTU 1 . 1 9 = RS 3 . 3 2 2 + i).

Comment: W e have here another expression of the 'ideology of


divine kingship': the illness of the king induces a paralysis of Nature.
However, there is no more reason here than in the previous instance
to assume that this ideological stance reflects the authorial point-ofview. Like the portrait of the sick hero, and (shortly) the inept gods,
this ideology is also subject to satirization, as if what is true of the
great Baal ( K T U 1.5 = RS 2.[022]+ ii 5-7) is true of the pathetic
king of Bt-Hbr.
2.3.7.2 Scene 4. T h e desperate situation created by the king's illness sets the stage for a curious development: the artisan god, Kathirwa-Hasis, whose wisdom (say the gods) is second only to El's, is
approached by a delegation of the divine assembly'El's sons' ((dt.
bn. il)and asked to take an urgent message to a hitherto and otherwise unknown character named lis and his (characteristically unnamed) wife, bearing the title ngr(t) of the H o u s e / T e m p l e of El, (var.
Baal). In the message promptly delivered by the hobbler Kathir-waHasisdescribed by the poet as running with the grace of an ass
lis is instructed to go up to the tower and to shout at the top of
his lungs'like a waterfall || like a bull' to the inhabitants of the
city. T h e sequel is lost, and with it presumably the statement of purpose, viz., a call to prayer and supplication on behalf of the dying
king and the drought-imperiled kingdom.
Comment T h e present scene, if correctly interpreted, brings the
satirical tone of the poem strongly to the fore; indeed, the satire
comes close to becoming farce. El is in deep trouble: his plan for
his protg has miscarried, and the protg himself and his famished
kingdom are teetering on the brink of disaster. El's distress signal
(which one may presume to have been lost in the lacuna at the
beginning of K T U 1.16 = RS 3.325+ iv) has been picked up by
the assembly of his sons which now goes into (pathetically ineffectual)
action. In their infinite divine wisdom they turn to the wise but crippled Kathir to deliver an urgent message to the temple crier (ngr)
or mu'addin32and for good measure, to his wifeto summon the
32

The semantic correspondence of Ug. ngr and the Arabic mu'addin (< 'dn (II)
'cause-to-hear, announce') is very close indeed. T h e Ugaritic term is cognate with
Akk. nagaru 'Ausrufer, Herold' (., 711). The translation 'herald' in the present
context is, however, misleading in that it implies a palace functionary charged with
making public pronouncements. Ils is rather a temple functionary; and since his j o b
is to summon the faithful to prayer, he is necessarily (a) mortal, and (b) a BronzeAge Canaanite precursor of the Islamic mu'addin.

faithful to prayer and supplication, without which the gods can do


nothing to save Keret and his kingdom. From here it is surely but
a small step to the conclusion that the 'sons of EP (notably excluding heroic and virtuous Baal) can do nothing because they are good
for nothing.
2.3.7.3 Scene 5. T h e race is on to save Keret's life, for which purpose El has convened the divine assembly in emergency session. El
arrives accompanied by wife Athirat. H e opens the session with a
plea to his consort to spare Keret's life. Asherah replies that the
king's life 'is in the hands of his wife Hry': she (now that the king
is incapacitated) has to pay Athirat 'twice her weight in silver, thrice
in gold' (with the interest waived) if Keret is to be cured.
2.3.7.3.1 Even El cannot apparently raise such a sum, much less
Keret, whose kingdom is down at the heels. T h e 'father of m a n '
turns accordingly to his sons for help; but they remain deafeningly
silent, either because they are cowed by the presence of their mother
or they are simply at a loss for ideas. El is now left with no choice
but to deal personally with the problem.
2.3.7.3.2 His solution: to create a female exorcist named 'tqt (< etq
'(cause to) remove'), the details of which are obscured by the tablet's
poor state of preservation. But they are not beyond recovery. El creates his creature, in primordial fashion, from (red) clay (cf. J o b 33:6),
inserts snake-poison into her vagina (to thwart reproduction?), christens her over a cup of sanctified wine, and then brings her to life
by 'pouring' into her mouth '[the soul] of a god and the blood of
a [human]'. Fortified by El's blessing and directed by his detailed
instructions, Sctqt flies off to Bt-Hbr.
Comment: (1) T h e divine assembly, as we learn from K T U 1.15 =
R S 3.343+ ii, is m a d e up of the minor deities consisting of the
sonsnot including daughtersof El. It corresponds, one may assume,
to the 'council of princes' reflected in 1 Kgs. 12:8ff. T h e presence
of Athirat is thus a breach of protocol warranted by the emergency
as well as by the divine mother's direct responsibility for creating it.
(2) Athirat's offer at first sight seems to hold the key to a satisfactory resolution of the crisis. However, it must be remembered that
after fifteen births and nursing periods, the once streamlined Hry is
now bulging at both waist and bosom (cf. above, 2.3.5.3 [= K T U

1.15 = R S 3.343+ iv 10-3]). (3) T h e echoes of cosmogony in this


scene are part of the parody. Like the exaggerated mobilization in
K T U 1.14 = RS 2.[003]+, the creation of S'tqt is a case of mockheroic 'overkill'. W h a t S'tqt does for Keret could, and would, have
been done by any run-of-the-mill exorcist in Bt-Hbr. El, says the
poet, may be very wise (who else knows how to create life?); but he
is sorely lacking in c o m m o n sense.
2.3.7.4 Scene 6 describes how S'tqt saved Keret's life. U p o n arrival,
she immediately gets down to business. She fastens a string to the
patient's navel and places a wreath of medicinal leaves on his feverish head, while repeatedly wiping his brow of sweat. She then opens
his mouth and forces him to eatwe are not told w h a t a n d presto!
the king is well. A rejuvenated Keret promptly orders wife H r y to
slaughter a fading lamb for dinner to celebrate his recovery.
Comment T h e poet's feminist bias finds expression here once again.
Just as the w o m a n Athirat foils the male El's plan, so the female
S'tqt saves the day (while foiling the foiler). But woman's superior
intelligence, courage, and enterprise are, alas, not enough to alter
the existential 'female condition': S'tqt, like Athirat, is subordinate
and subject to El. T h e 'tree' of Athirat cannot exist without El's
fertilizing water, and S'tqt will die, without fruit, once her mission
is accomplished, as will Pughat, whose heroism is recounted in a
tale n a m e d for her b r o t h e r (in marked contrast to the 'book of
Esther').
2.3.7.5 Scene 7. T h e crown-prince and heir-apparent, whose birth,
heralded by the gods, fulfilled his father's most fervent wish, makes
his firstand lastappearance in this scene, as if to say: if you meet
him once, it is enough for a lifetime. Obviously displeased and disappointed by his father's dramatic recoveryYassib, be it recalled,
is still an adolescent!he decides to act. Encouraged by 'the fiend
at his elbow', he enters the throne-room where his father is seated
and orders him to step down, on grounds of incompetence in the
discharge of his royal duties. Keret's reaction is a mixture of rage
and anguish; and as the curtain falls there resounds a curse, at once
fearsome and funny, called down by the king on the head of his
perfidious son.
Comment: (1) Keret's recovery obviated a tragic end to the story;
but the finale is its tragi-comic equivalent. For upon hearing his son's

words, the king might well have wished he were dead. (2) Yassib is
'instructed' (V wsr) by his jinn (Ug. ggr)he is a school-boy listening to the wrong teacher. (3) T h e charges laid by Yassib against his
father are instructive for the insight they provide to the Canaanite
view of kingship. T h e most important task of the king is not to lead
in battle (which is precisely what Keret does in K T U 1.14 = RS
2.[003]+) but to administer justice fairly and compassionately (something he is never seen to do). 33 T h e Canaanite king is first and foremost a 'judge', in contrast to his Amorite counterpart whose claim
is based on personal charisma as a warrior proven in batde (gibbr
hayyil). In this sociological sense, Aqhat is older than Keret, in that the
former describes its (male) heroes, young and old, in terms derived
from the military lexicon. Keret is a mlk,H Dan'el a gzr. (4) In addition to ferocity and hilarity, the curse also contains the most important clues, suitably and cleverly embroidered into the finale, to the
identity of pseudonymic Bt-Hbr, lit., 'House-of-Union'. 3 5 T h e king
calls on 'Astarte-name-of-Baal'i.e., Baalatand Yassib's dislodged
teeth are to fall out 'altogether', for which the poet chooses the rare
(b)gbl (Palmyrene-Aramaic gbl 'community', M H e b . gbl 'to mixtogether (as porridge)', which plays on the original form of 'Byblos',
i.e. G B L / G u b l a (Heb. Gba).

2.4

The moral of the story (in sum)

2.4.1 T h e moral of the story is clear, a proud and praiseworthy


testimonial to the venerable Stoic tradition c o m m a n d i n g the allegiance of the wise throughout the ages:

33
Contrast the description of the (non-royal!) judge Dan'el! For all their impudence, Yassib's words thus contain a germ of truth. This motif of 'truth from the
mouth of babes' is especially prominent in Aqhat (cf. M A R G A L I T 1989, passim).
Noteworthy too is Absalom, like Yassib motivated by a desire to depose his father,
who sets himself up as a judge in the gateway, intercepting his father's 'clients', in
order to establish his credentials for kingship.
34
As well as (Heb. s'a) a title which he (presumably) shares with the other
members of the Bt-Hbr nobility.
35
Cf. Akk. /)ibru(m), a Canaanite loanword denoting 'clan' (OB) and 'in gathering (of fruit)' (LB)cf. AHw, 344. In the 11th cent. Egyptian Wen-Amon story,
f}-b-r denotes a joint commercial venture (AJVET 27, n. 17). ^l(fbr and Igbl are thus
fully synonymous terms.

2.4.1.1 G r a n d the plans of gods and man,


But when the day is done
Bones broadly scattered dry in the sun,
For ironic Moira the fray hath won.
And nought remains for Apollo's progeny,
But to sing her praise
In comic agony.
2.4.2 'Life', not 'kingship', stands at the centre of Keret as it does in
Aqhat and Baal-Mot. But whereas Baal-Mot focuses on the uncanny
dialectic of Life and Death on the (awesome) cosmic plane, Aqhat
and Keret focus on the (absurd) human-life condition, the former on
its tragic aspect, the latter on the tragi-comic ('if it weren't so funny,
it would be sad . . .'). If Aqhat is a C a n a a n i t e Hamlet, Keret is a
Canaanite Merchant of Venice. Like his great English counterpart,
the Canaanite bard is a master at manipulating emotion; but to mistake him for a 'politician' (or a 'preacher'), and his art for propaganda
(or a sermon), is at once an insult and a betrayal.
2.4.2.1 O u r poet- indeed any poet (of integrity)writes (or sings)
for an audience which is 'free', not 'captive'. He is by nature the foe
of tyranny, be it of the body or of the mind. He is anathema equally
in Plato's Republic and in Augustine's 'City of God'. He kneels (only)
in the Temple of Moira, at the feet of Apollo. 36

36
What J. H U I Z I N G A (Homo loudens) has said of 'play' is equally true of writing
poetry: 'all play is a voluntary activity. Play to order is no longer play; it could at
best be a forcible imitation of it. By this quality of freedom alone, play marks itself
off from the course of the natural process. It is something added thereto and spread
out over it like a flowering, an o r n a m e n t , a g a r m e n t . ' (Beacon ed., 1955, 7).
Elsewhere (ibid., 132) he rightly observes that poetry as such is a form of play.

The

Story

of

Aqhat

Nicolas

3.1

(KTU

1.17-19)

W y a t t

Introduction

Tablets R S 2.[004], 3.340 and 3.322+349+366, discovered in the


'High Priest's House' on the acropolis at Ras Shamra-Ugarit in 1930
and 1931, 1 were quickly established as constituting the same literary
work.- T h e mention of Danel by name in another third-season find
from the same location, R S 3.348 (IV D = 1 R p = U T 121 = C T A
20 = K T U 1.20), led to the initial incorporation of this tablet in
the series, but its successor Rpum tablets were never thus regarded,
and for practical purposes it too was eventually discarded from the
sequence. 3
N o authorship is mentioned on any of the tablets. However, the
lower edge below K T U 1.17 vi reads [ ]prln, (KTU2 prln) and is generally restored on the basis of K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+ vi 5 4 - 5 as
[spr.ilmlk.bny.lmd.atn.]prln, thus restoring the n a m e of Ilimilku, the
scribe to w h o m K T U 1.1-6 = R S 3.361, 3.367, 3.346, 2.[014]+,
2. [008]+, 2. [022]+, 2. [009]+ and K T U 1.14-16 = R S 2. [003]+,
3.343+, 3.325+ are attributed (with colopha at 1.4 viii lower edge,
1.6 vi 5 4 - 8 and 1.16 vi 59 lower edge). RS 92.20 1 6 4 (as yet unpublished) also apparently bears the name of Ilimilku. In the case
of the published tablets, the script is similar in all the tablets at-

1
See B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E ( 1 9 8 9 ,
systems for the texts are as follows:

26, 30-32).

The most widely used numbering


DIETRICH -

RS

VIROLLEAUD

GORDON

HERDNER

2. [004]

2D

3.340

3 D

3.322+

2 Aqht
3 Aqht
1 Aqht

C T A 17
C T A 18
C T A 19

LORETZ -

SANMARTIN

K T U 1.17
K T U 1.18
K T U 1.19

T h e tablets are located as follows: K T U 1.17, 19 in the Louvre (AO 17. 324 and
A O 17.323 respectively), K T U 1.18 in the British Museum (AO 17.325 = BM
L84).
2
Published by V I R O L L E A U D 1936a (Editio Princeps).
3
Typical expressions are 'clearly at least one further tablet must have followed':
G I B S O N 1 9 7 5 , 6 6 . 'At least four tablets': DE M O O R 1 9 8 7 , 2 2 4 . P A R K E R 1 9 9 2 , 9 9 ,
1 3 4 - 5 , still evidently had a fourth tablet in mind, but refrained from identifying it
with K T U 1 . 2 0 = RS 3 . 3 4 8 . See also P A R K E R 1 9 9 7 , 4 9 .
4
Provisionally K T U 9.432. See C A U O T 1992, B O R D R E U I L 1995a, 2.

tributed to Ilimilku, so that the identification is reasonable. 5


As will be clear from the synopsis below, considerable portions of
Aqhat are missing. K T U 1.17 is a tablet originally of six columns,
of which two are entirely missing, while the beginning and end of
the four surviving columns are missing (an estimated twelve or so
lines in all on the recto, and on the verso, with a shearing break
down the upper surface, perhaps twenty or so), with the wedgeshaped breaks on columns i and vi resulting in even further loss.
K T U 1.18 is a tablet of four columns originally, of which two are
entirely missing. Again, the beginning a n d end of the surviving
columns are missing (some twenty-five lines or so), and wedge-shaped
breaks further reduce the surviving text, with no complete lines in
col. i, and only nine complete in col. iv. K T U 1.19 is the best preserved of the three; the only substantial losses here result from friable edges along the three sections into which the tablet has broken,
with the additional loss of a central section in col. i, the bottom
right hand corner of col. ii, the top corner of col. iii, and a small
vertical section in the lower part of col. iv. T h e surface is also eroded
at the beginning of col. i and in the upper central section of col.
iv. At a rough estimate, from these three tablets slightly over half
the lines are missing, say approximately 430 from an original 840
(fourteen columns of ca 60 lines each), or fifty-one percent. While
these figures are not set in stone (or clay), any adequate interpretation of the text must remain provisional, having to take into account
the fact that it can never tell more than half the story.

3.2

Synopsis of the story

Substantial portions of the text are missing, as we have noted. T h e


following narrative sequence can however be understood.
17

Danel has no son and so performs devotions to obtain divine


assistance. For six days he sacrifices to the gods, apparently
spending every night in the temple. O n the seventh day Baal
intercedes for him, asking El to provide a son who will perform all the filial duties necessary for a father to be blessed.
El blesses Danel and promises . . .

For recent discussion on the programme of Ilimilku see W Y A T T 1997, 1998a


and below in this chapter. I also enlarge on his significance at 13.4.2 below.

ii

iii
iv

vi

18

ii
iii
iv

19

ii

iii

a son. T h e son is probably born in the missing section


between the columns, and news is brought to Danel, who
rejoices and holds a feast in his palace for the goddesses of
childbirth.
missing
missing
Kothar arrives, bringing a composite bow as a gift. He is
feasted/' and the bow is given to A q h a t . . .
A feast is apparently taking place. Anat asks Aqhat to give
her the bow. H e tells her to take the raw materials to
Kothar: he will make her one. She persists in her demand,
and offers him immortality. Aqhat tells her to stop lying,
and says that a bow is in any case a man's weapon. She
departs to El in a rage, accusing Aqhat of impiety.
Anat threatens El that she will be violent if she does not get
her way, and he gives her a free hand. She approaches Aqhat,
seemingly mollified, inviting him to go hunting with her.
missing
missing
After a successful hunt, Anat summons Yatipan, instructing
him to assume the form of a falcon, and pounce on Aqhat,
killing him. H e does so . . .
and the bow falls into the river and is shattered. Anat mingles regret for the bow with a savage assault on Aqhat's
corpse, which she tears in pieces. Back in his capital, unaware
of what has happened, Danel sits to dispense justice; Pughat
sees the withering of the plants, and sensing a disaster, rips
Danel's cloak. H e utters a curse.
Danel, still evidently not appreciating the situation, wishes
that his son would harvest the now shrivelling grain. T w o
messengers arrive and tell of Anat's complicity. D a n e l . . .
then curses the falcons. As each falls from the sky in turn
he examines its entrails. Those falcons found to be empty
are healed. Finally he finds Aqhat's remains in Sumul's
stomach, and buries him. H e then goes round the country,

6
This is the folk-tale idiom for worship with sacrifices, but uses the figure of
face to face, person to person, communication between deity and devotee.

iv

cursing all the villages in the vicinity of the murder. Aqhat


is mourned for seven years, Danel concluding the rites with
a sacrifice. Pughat then dons a r m o u r beneath her woman's
clothes, and sets off to find Yatipan. Already half drunk,
and thinking that she is Anat, he demands wine, and while
she plies him with it boasts of his exploit. . J

As can be seen from this synopsis, there are tantalizing gaps in the
narrative. Particularly u n c l e a r a n d consequently open to variations
in reconstructive guessworkis the sequence of events in K TU 1.18.
T h e synopsis above represents this author's reading of the story.
Again, the last column of K T U 1.19 breaks off at the most inopportune moment. It is commonly supposed that Pughat went on to
kill Yatipan, which would provide a relatively satisfying dnouement,
but would leave Anat, the true villain of the piece, unscathed. O n
the other hand, as pointed out below, 8 this is to apply our moral
expectations to a divine power, and may misread the author's intention. W h e t h e r or not K T U 1.20-22 = R S 3.348, 2.[019], 2.[024]
have any close relationship with Aqhat must remain an open question. But while they are narrative in form (and they appear to be
three versions of substantially the same narrative, though Pitard opines
below 6.4that tablets K T U 1.21 and 1.22 = RS 2. [019], 2. [024]
may be two parts of one whole), we cannot assume that the mention of Danel proves a link, since a n u m b e r of stories may have
been attached to the same figure.

T h e following translations have been published: V I R O L L E A U D 1936a, G A S T E R


1936, 1937, 1938. 1950, 257-313, 1961, 316-76, C . H . G O R D O N 1949, 84 103,
1977, 9-29, FRONZAROLI 1955a, D R I V E R 1956, 48-67, J I R K U 1962, 115-36, AISTLEITNER
1964, 65-82, G I N S B E R G 1969, 149-55, C A U O T - S Z N Y C E R 1974, 401 58, C L E A R
1976, 5 0 - 6 9 . X E L L A 1976, 1982, 193-216, G I B S O N 1978, 103-22, C O O G A N 1978,
27-47, M A R G A I . I T 1989a, DEL O L M O I J T E 1981a, 327-401, DE M O O R 1987, 224-66,
A I T K E N 1990, BALDACCI 1996, 333-65, P A R D E E 1997a, 343-56, PARKER 1997, 49-80,
W Y A T T 1998c, 245-312.
Other studies include CASSUTO 1938, BARTON 1940, STOCKS 1943, GINSBERG 1945a,
1945b, O B E R M A N N 1946, H E R D N E R 1949b, G R A Y 1957, 73-91 = 1965, 106-26,
EISSFELDT 1966, K O C H 1967, K A P E L R U D 1969, 70-82, H I L L E R S 1973, DIJKSTRA DE M O O R

1976,

1975,

DRESSLER

1975,

1979,

1983,

GIBSON

1 9 7 5 , WATSON

1976,

.,

1979, M A R G A I . I T 1981a, 1983a, 1983b, 1984a, 1984b, 1989a, DEL


O L M O I J T E 1984a, 115-42, CAHJOT 1985, 1987, 1990, PARKER 1987, 1989, 99-144,
C O O P E R 1988, DE M O O R 1988a, A I T K E N 1989a, 1989b, 1990, HUSSER 1995, 1996.
For a fuller bibliography down to 1988 see M A R G A L I T 1989a, 503-6.
R
See 13.3.2.1.
DIJKSTRA

3.3

History of interpretation*

published the editio pnceps of the Aqhat tablets.


H e accepted Ilimilku's authorship of the present narrative, whatever
their antecedents, 1 0 and dated the tablets to the mid-fourteenth century ( 1 9 3 6 , 8 2 ) . O n genre he was imprecise, referring to 'legends'
( 1 9 3 6 , 8 3 ) and to 'mythological texts' ( 1 9 3 6 , 8 5 ) , or even both together
( 1 9 3 6 , 1 0 9 ) without demur. By ordering them as he did (n. 1) he
inevitably missed the logical progression which was subsequently
recognized. M a n y of his explanations of the vocabulary have had to
be revised, but his study is not to be underestimated as important
pioneering work, however m u c h may now be of primarily historical
interest. An interesting instance is his discussion ( 1 9 3 6 , 8 7 - 9 6 ) of the
names of the characters. H e concluded (p. 96) that Aqhat is 'a member of the family of the god of death; he is, in effect, one of the
gods who dies . . .'; he resumed this argument later (p. 110), claiming that Mot 'personifies the ripe ear of wheat', with the result that
Aqhat is also supposed to be 'the harvest-genius'. T h e r e was an unfortunate tendency to draw conclusions of this kind in early Ugaritic
scholarship, which it took decades to escape. Everything was allegorical! T h e result was the wholesale application of various permutations of the seasonal interpretation (a variant on the myth-and-ritual
theme) to all the larger compositions, with a consequent delay in
the recognition of more balanced assessments. Virolleaud also understood the terms qst ('bow') and qs't ('arrows') to mean 'chalice' and
'vases' respectively," which rather destroyed the symbolic centrepiece
of the whole story.
Virolleaud

(1936)

in a brief note on the text, placed the tablets in


what is now regarded as the correct order, and recognized Aqhat's
h u m a n nature. B a r t o n 1 9 4 0 drew attention to the apparent links
Cassuto

1938,

There is insufficient space to offer a complete survey here, and much of the
earlier discussion is in any case now outmoded. I shall therefore merely oudine one
or two salient features of early discussion, and concentrate on later work. For literature before their respective publication dates see also the surveys in CAQUOT SZNYCER - HERDNER 1974, 401-15, DEL OLMO LETE 1981a, 327-401, and MARGALIT
1989a, 3-92.
1(1
He writes of them being 'redacted in the fourteenth century' and of a considerable lapse of time between their original formation and reduction to writing
by Ilimilku (VIROLLEAUD 1936a, 83). This dating is now in course of modification.
See PARDEE 1997c, 376 n. 2, and below, 13, nn. 284, 289, 311.
11
VIROLLEAUD 1936a, 117, 203-5.

of the narrative with the Galilee region, 12 while G i n s b e r g 1945a,


1945b, recognized that Danel was a king, and in his detailed treatment of a n u m b e r of key passages broadly set Aqhat studies in their
present mode.
Gaster developed his views through a n u m b e r of articles and two
editions of Thespis ( G a s t e r 1936, 1937, 1938, 1950, 257-313, 1961
[1966 printing], 316-76). We may take his final account as his considered view. H e treated Aqhat as myth, and classified it as 'the disappearing god type'. It is a purely literary work as it stands, but with
its roots in ritual drama: 'it was, au fond, nothing but an artistic transformation of the time-honored seasonal drama'. 1 3 After offering a
synopsis of the narrative, in which the reader may feel uncomfortably that he is being led more by rhetoric than by hard facts, he
launched into his interpretation (1961 [1966], 320-7).
'If our basic approach is correct,' he averred, 'this story will go back
to a primitive seasonal myth relating how a mortal huntsman challenged the supremacy of the goddess of the chase and how his subsequent execution for this impiety caused infertility upon earth.'
H e went on to invoke T a m m u z , Osiris, Adonis 'and the like'. We
can see the patterning process at work. Only the prior assumption
of some seasonal theory (probably also misrepresenting fundamental
elements in these traditions too) could justify a parallel treatment.
More substantial, however, was his invocation of the Orion myth.
This is indeed a widespread tale (in my view possibly quite independent of T a m m u z and company), of the hunter who confronts
and insults a goddess or is in some way brought to her attention. 14
Unfortunately, Orion is the subject of a large n u m b e r of myths, and
not one of them corresponds very closely to the plot of Aqhat. It
requires a synoptic approach to discern any extensive parallels between
what are essentially variations on a theme. Furthermore, Orion is
inseparable from the constellation of the same name, while Aqhat

12
O n e of the grounds for considering that the rulers of Ugarit were originally
from the Hauran-Galilee region lies in the familiarity of the tradition with the
toponyms of the region. See discussion, with further references, in M A R G A L I T 1989a,

14-7.
13

GASTER

1961 (1966), 316.

See also G R U P P E 1 9 0 6 , i 6 9 - 7 0 (cited Gaster),


i 1 5 1 - 4 ( 4 1 ) , and A S T O U R 1 9 6 7 , 1 6 3 - 7 5 (discussed
below). Graves' explanation of Aqhat ( 1 9 6 0 , i 1 5 3 - 4 ) , apart from calling it a Hittite (!)
myth, interprets it astronomically.
14

GASTER

1961

(1966)

320-6.

FONTENROSE 1 9 8 1 , G R A V E S 1 9 6 0 ,

has no obvious links with the stars; 15 and while it would be nice
to find them, we should beware of assuming them on the basis of
'parallels' some centuries younger. But Gaster's work on this aspect
deserves more extensive re-evaluation as our knowledge of the stellar dimension to U g a n d a n religion, now known only fragmentarily,
develops further. But even establishing a stellar basis does nothing
for the explication of a text from which any such putative elements
are now clearly missing. 16
D r i v e r (1956, 8) gave only a slight treatment of the significance
of the story. H e stated that the theme of Aqhat 'is a righteous king's
need of a son', but a couple of paragraphs later wrote that 'the main
theme of the myth is clearly the death and resurrection of Aqhat',
thus introducing a new perception of what concerned the narrator,
before concluding that in view of the damaged condition of the material 'no satisfactory interpretation of the myth is possible'! This final
assessment is certainly the most cautious. But it should be noted that
Driver raised two interesting issues: the problem of whether Danel
was a king, and the death and resurrection motif.

(1967, 163-75) referred to Gaster's treatment of Aqhat in


relation to Orion, but, without discounting it and noting its Mesopotamian antecedents, argued that a much closer figure for fruitful
comparison is the Greek Actaeon. H e noted that Actaeon's mother
Autono was daughter of C a d m u s and H a r m o n i a , thus evincing a
Semitic pedigree, since C a d m u s and the whole Boeotian tradition
reflect West Semitic influence. H e argued (p. 165) that the two
names, Aqhat and Actaeon, are related, and that not only are both
torn asunder, one by 'eagles' (rather falcons), 17 the other by dogs
(falcons and dogs are animals in the service of hunters), but (p. 167)
that in both stories there is a seasonal element, the fifty hounds of
Actaeon representing the cycle of the year, while Aqhat's death provokes a severe drought. Like Gaster, he went on to suggest a stellar element behind the Orion parallels (p. 168), and noted that the
latter's name, too, is susceptible of a Semitic etymology (y'Sr, 'r) and
may even appear in the form aryn as an Ugaritic personal name. 1 8
Astour

|R>
G A S T E R ' S (1961 [1966], 322) linking of the bow with the constellation of Canis
major is certainly intriguing!
"' T h e only hint at a richer background is Pughat's epithetal yd't hlk kbkbm, 'who
know(s) the courses of the stars', K T U 1.19 = RS 3.322+ ii 2 - 3 etc.

17

WYATT 1998C, 2 8 4 a n d n .

18

Cf.

GRONDAHI.

151.

1967, 27, 220,

365.

'Hurrian?': DLU,

54.

He further argued for a link between Sumul {ml), 'mother of the


eagles (falcons)' and Greek Semele. 19
C a q u o t - S z n y c e r ( 1 9 7 4 , 4 0 9 ) drew attention to the incomplete
state of the text and advised caution in interpretation. Critical of
mythological and seasonal interpretations, they insisted (p. 413) that
the story was neither history, not historical epic, nor myth, and was
not the subject of seasonal, national or exceptional recital. T h e y
found a definition of its genre elusive, but compared it with Gilgamesh, Adapa and Etana, ragarding it as an Ugaritic 'classic' (conveniently vague!). They did not use the term, but to judge from their
treatment (p. 414) appear to have assessed it as wisdom literature. 20
G i b s o n ( 1 9 7 5 ) set out to clarify thinking on the nature of myth
and other genres. Noting that one of K i r k ' s ( 1 9 7 1 , 2 6 8 ) features of
myth was the fantastic dimension, he noted such features in Aqhat
(and Keret), but added that 'a speculative or perhaps better, an ideological bias' (p. 62) should be present for a narrative to qualify as
myth. But he denied any link between the present narrative and Ugaritian royal ideology. T h e scenes such as the confrontation between
Anat and Aqhat, which he considered to have an ideological dimension, he regarded (p. 67) as 'secondary, supplying for all their vigour
only the backcloth against which Daniel's piety is put to the test'.
H e further opined that the bow too was a secondary feature, and
that in a putative fourth tablet Aqhat was finally restored to life.

dealt briefly with Aqhat in the broader context of ancient Near Eastern tales. Her treatment was too cursory
to contribute much to the discussion, but she served the useful purpose of highlighting the conventional folklore motifs to be found in
the story.- 1
In his edition of the texts, d e l O l m o L e t e 1 9 8 1 offered an extensive analysis of Aqhat. H e classified it as 'epic', along with Keret, and
ran through the scenes, analyzing the literary sub-type of each episode,
drawing on parallels in biblical and other ancient Near Eastern literatures. In reverting to a general statement of the text's 'sense and
function' (pp. 3 5 4 - 6 4 ) , he reiterated its epic nature, judging it however
Irvin

19

(1978,

ASTOUR

76-78)

read the

D N

sml at

K T U

1.39

RS

1.001.14,

but this is now dis-

counted.
20
M A R G A L I T 1989a, 58, characteristically summed up their exposition as an
account of 'a pastor or a priest. . . [who] teaches platitudes'!
21
She identifies them according to T H O M P S O N 1 9 5 5 - 8 .

more 'mythical' than Keret, since the deities are more involved as
dramatis persona, and not merely invoked in conventional religious
terms. ' T h e gods avenge themselves' in response to Aqhat's insolence, he stated (p. 355), discerning a general theological argument
here, and the supreme god 'has to yield to the caprice of an inferior deity'. 22 This theological quality makes it difficult to estimate a
historical basis for the story, as though that were desirable. Del O l m o
Lete attempted to give a serious theological account, but his assessment of 'the caprice of the gods, their amoral conduct' (p. 356)
seems to me to misconstrue the significance of mythological 23 action.
H e later (p. 358) drew attention to another theological point, the
contrast between Danel who is obedient to the gods and receives a
positive response, and Aqhat who confronts them and is accordingly
rebuffed. But while this is true in terms of narrative device, and of
psychology and pastoral theology, it perhaps disguises the real problem on a purely metaphysical level, which is that the different deities
encountered in the story are quite differently motivated in their relationships with humans. T h a t is, the deities as reifications of certain
metaphysical principles are credited with their own motivation, which
operates independently of immediate h u m a n motivation. Anat is after
all, as goddess of war and hunting, by nature vicious, pitiless and
scheming. T h a t is the role she is constructed to play. We are left
feeling that no a m o u n t of diplomacy on Aqhat's part would have
saved him. Certainly no a m o u n t of piety on Danel's part does him
any good.
Margalit has written a n u m b e r of studies on Aqhat, culminating
in his large-scale commentary ( M a r g a l i t 1981a, 1983b, 1984c, 1989),
the first study on a single narrative from Ugarit on this scale. 24 This
is extremely thorough, but is a very difficult volume to work with,
in view of its division into separate blocks dealing with the same

22
For my slightly different assessment of the general theological principles at
work see below, 13.3.2.6.
23
I am writing here of the mental disposition rather than the literary genre,
though the two naturally overlap. As though grappling with this issue, del Olmo
Lete (p. 356 and n. 90) writes that Aqhat is 'nearer "myth" than the "epic of Kirta"',
and (n.) '[Aqhat's] intermediate position between saga and myth is recognized'.
'Caprice' is also a term appearing in de Moor's assessment (below). For further
observations on the adequate assessment of myth see 13.4 below.
24
The studies on the Baal cycle by DE M O O R (1971) and VAN Z I J L (1972a) are
not formal commentaries in the same sense, and in any case the Baal material is
altogether more heterogeneous than Aqhat or Keret.

materials from different perspectives and no adequate cross-referencing aids. Trying to achieve this during use is a taxing occupation. It begins (pp. 3-92) with a useful survey of previous work,
though this is perhaps excessively negative, not to say waspish, in its
assessment of others' efforts. 25 T h e r e follows a prosodie analysis (pp.
93-105), separated by nearly four hundred pages from the appendix on the principles of Ugaritic prosody (pp. 495-502). It is fair to
say that Margalit has ploughed a lonely furrow on this topic, for
few have expressed support for his approach, or are as optimistic as
he that he has solved the considerable problems the topic raises.
Following the initial position-statement on prosody, he offered a
textual analysis (pp. 107-14), followed by a text layout (unvocalized,
pp. 117-41); this is followed in turn by a translation (pp. 143-66),
then by textual and epigraphic notes (pp. 167-246), and finally by
a literary commentary, prefaced by short units of the unvocalized
text (again!) and punctuated by excursi on various topics (pp. 2 4 7 469), before an exegetical overview, a brief statement on Ugaritic
literature and the Hebrew Bible and the final appendix. T w o theoretical positions dominate the work, the non-royal nature of Danel
(on which see further below), and the so-called 'Kinneret hypothesis', according to which the narrative is at home in the Galilee region.
He even considered the Kinneret to be an actor in the drama (p. 411:
'the personified Kinnereth, "unwilling" to disclose the identity of the
assailant, must be punished as "accessory after the fact"'). This seems
a trifle excessive.
Parker has written two studies ( P a r k e r 1987, 26 1989, 99-144) on
Aqhat. In the former, he deplored the atomistic nature of previous
philological approaches to the poem, and the patternistic bias of religious approaches. T h e time had come for a literary approach. While
caution must be urged in view of the fragmentary nature of the text,
a useful approach, on essentially form-critical terms, was the establishment of the types of traditional material employed. 27 'Hypothetically

25

The treatment of K A P E L R U D 1969 encapsulates this rather well: 'Author (sic)


states at the outset (p. 70): "The Aqht text is still an enigma, and so far no satisfactory solution of its problems has been found". Had he limited himself to this
statement, the net balance of author's contribution would have been more positive
than it is in fact.' Some put-down!
2li
Published in the M.H. Pope Festschrift ( M A R K S - G O O D 1987). Given as an
SBL paper in 1980, and discussed briefly in M A R G A L I T 1989a, 7 1 6 .
27
Cf. discussion of del Olmo Lete above.

any consistent thrust uniting those peculiarities may be treated as


the theme of the whole' (p. 71). H e isolated five main sections, and
treated each in turn. These are as follows, in his treatment.
A), the birth of Aqhat, deals with the familiar theme of the childless hero who appeals to the god for help; the god responds, and
the child is born. T h e Egyptian tale of the Doomed Pnce and the
Hurrian Appu story, the story of H a n n a h and Samuel in I Samuel,
and the Ugaritic Keret story, are cited as comparable examples of
the type.
B), the bow of Aqhat, describes the making and delivery of the
bow. T h e account of Kothar's visit has analogues in Genesis 18:116
and 19:1-16. Sharing certain traits is 2 Kgs 4:8-17, and a modified
version of the form appears in 1 Kgs 17:916.
C), the death of Aqhat, describes Anat's coveting of the bow, her
overtures to the hero, and confrontation with El when rebuffed, culminating in her being given a free hand in accomplishing Aqhat's
death with Yatipan's help. Comparison is made with the hero with
Ishtar in Gilgamesh, both episodes deriving from an older Vorlage, and
also with Anat's dealing with El in K T U 1.3 = R S 2.[014]+. 2 8
D), the consequences of Aqhat's death. Parker noted that the narrative movement almost comes to a standstill in this section, apart
from describing a n u m b e r of ritual activities which accompany the
inevitable environmental consequences of Aqhat's murder. Awareness of Aqhat's death (as the cause of drought) dawns only slowly,
and then Danel's curses are directed towards the birds who have
devoured his son, 29 and to the cities held responsible for unresolved
homicides in their neighbourhoods. N o similarly extended parallels
from ancient near eastern literature are cited.
E), Pughat's mission of vengeance. Comparisons scholars have
made with the stories of J u d i t h and Jael and Sisera are noted. While
the latter connection is discounted, extensive similarities with the former are discussed.

28
P A R K K R 1 9 8 7 , 7 7 , notes that while the language in Baal and Aqhat is remarkably similar, the theme of the goddess' insubordination before the high god is far
less apposite in the former. He adduces a closer relationship between Aqhat and
Gilgamesh.
29
P A R K E R 1 9 8 7 , 7 9 , appears to hold the father of the raptors responsible. In fact
it is their mother, Sumul, who is so described, in K T U 1 . 1 9 iii 2 8 - 3 9 . The birds
are identified as vultures, p. 78. For the present author they are rather falcons.

Parker concluded that Aqhat would have originally ended with an


account of the fulfilment of Pughat's vengeance, and a return of fertility to the land, 30 but with no reference to Aqhat's restoration to
life. H e ended with an assessment in which the mythological emphasis drawn by previous scholarship was played down, while the social
dimension was highlighted as the main theme of the author's intention. H e made some interesting observations on gender roles, contrasting Anat's 'innate and blatant masculinity' with Pughat's 'assumed
and concealed masculinity' (p. 82). his conclusion raises a n u m b e r
of questions (expressed rhetorically) rather than providing answers
for them. H e saw the possibility of a critique of the values of the
contemporary monarchy and administration.
Useful as this analysis of the structures and congeners of the Aqhat
story are, it does not actually tell us much about the moral or ideological dimensions which may lie behind it (that is, the author's
intention). If his final questions had been answered, we might have
some clear idea where Parker stood. Margalit, though too harsh in
his judgment, 3 1 is perhaps justified in complaining that this tells us
more about comparative literature than about Aqhat. It certainly
shows the relatively sterile nature of analysis which gives no account
of why an author works in this or that way, beyond the fact that it
all boils down to 'traditional themes'.
Parker returned to the topic in a further study ( P a r k e r 1989).
Here he set out the broad characteristics of Ugaritic narrative verse,
as it was evidenced in particular in the Keret and Aqhat stories. H e
then turned to Aqhat itself (pp. 99-144), and outlined much the same
discussion as above. His conclusion was extended to a demonstration of how, while drawing on common mythic and legendary themes,
the author(s) ('composers') have, 'by adopting, transforming and
combining several different traditional narratives, produced a larger
work of striking unity' (p. 142). Again he emphasized the familial
values promoted in the story, as distinct from conventional mythological themes, raised the question of authorial motive, and now suggested that as a piece of 'classical' literature in Ugarit, Aqhat may

30
Does he mean an element of the 'fertility cult' here? He does not say. At
most, what can be said is that fertility represents divine blessing, while sterility is
the outcome of a curse, and in broad terms fertility also has to do with royal power
and its effective implementation. The loss of a prince is a threat to a kingdom.
However, P A R K E R notes ( 1 9 8 7 , 8 3 ) the lack of overt emphasis on royal issues.
31
M A R G A L I T 1989a, 72.

have afforded its readers and hearers the opportunity of seeing themselves mirrored in the world of the story, 'a satisfying portrayal of
life in an idealized past era, a life with its own tragedies, but also
with its own orderly and beautiful institutions that in the end prevailed' (p. 143).
In his translation of the texts, d e M o o r 1 9 8 7 , 2 2 4 - 6 6 , made a
n u m b e r of comments on the literary features of the story. In keeping
with his broader assessment of Ugaritian theology, 32 he saw Aqhat as
dealing 'with life and death, and with the fate of m a n who all too
often appears to be the victim of divine caprice'. Read in the light
of his earlier and later treatments of Ugaritic theology, this is not a
perspective to be taken seriously, since he appears to have envisaged
a culture incapable of the moral insight to question its own bankrupt theology. T h e authors are thus as benighted as their literary
characters. At best Ilimilku reflects a disillusioned and pessimistic
oudook supposedly typical of the Late Bronze Mediterranean world. 33
Into this scenario d e M o o r (1990, 97 = 1997, 99) wove an argument developed some years earlier ( d e M o o r 1988a), discerning in
Aqhat a further outworking of the seasonal pattern he had previously
argued to be the foundation of the Baal Cycle ( d e M o o r 1971). In
the 1988 article he expressed the principle thus: 'Ilimilku . . . deliberately wove a seasonal pattern into the Legend of Aqhatu out of
his conviction that life on earth revolves according to a circular pattern that had been laid down in the pristine age of myth' (p. 61).
H e then proceeded to fix episodes in the narrative in sequence
through the calendrical year in the same m a n n e r as had been done
for the Baal cycle. T h e substantial objections raised by some scholars to the seasonal interpretation were dismissed as of no consequence ( d e M o o r 1988a, 75 n. 6).
(1990) 34 offered a very thorough analysis of the narrative
from a folk-literature perspective, drawing on the work of Propp,
Dundes and Dolezel. H e saw the narrative structure in terms of a
series of different thematic levels, and of alternating patterns; 'lacks'
Aitken

32
D E M O O R 1986b, 1990, 42-100 (= 1997, 41-102). For my views on this issue
see 13.3 below.
33
See DE M O O R 1990, 99 (= 1997, 101). In my view the observations made here
result from a mistranslation of K T U 1.19 ii 34-36. For my translation see W Y A T T
1998c, 301.
34
This is the published form of an Edinburgh PhD dissertation from 1978. The
latest entries in the bibliography are from 1984.

being 'liquidated' (not the most apposite term in view of Aqhat's liquidation!) as desires were met or situations reversed (e.g. a son for
the hero, a bow for the hero, the bow for Anat, and so on) or a
status quo maintained. A m o n g the oppositions a set of equivalences
(called 'the synonymous sequence') is also developed, and periodic repetition (e.g. searching the falcons' gizzards for the remains of Aqhat
maintain tension and development to a climax. Aitken was able to
achieve this, quite legitimately, in spite of the considerable gaps in
the narrative, and showed the tight construction of the surviving text,
and, as he put it (p. 206), 'of the skill and artistry of its narrator,
the Ugaritic teller of tales'.

3.4

Some recurrent and unresolved issues in Aqhat

A n u m b e r of individual episodes and themes in the story have been


the subject of particular discussion.
3.4.1

The Incubation theory

Like O b e r m a n n (1946), Gaster interpreted the temple episode ( K T U


1.17 i) as an incubation scene, 35 as did Gray, 3 6 del O l m o Lete 37 and
Parker. 3 8 This view has however been persuasively challenged by
M a r g a l i t
1989a, 2 6 0 - 6 , and by H u s s e r 1992, 2 9 - 6 2 , 1996, 9 3 - 5 ,
who marshall substantial arguments against the incubation interpretation. Margalit, citing H a m i l t o n ' s (1906) study, observes that
none of the conditions required is fulfilled: chthonian gods are not
involved, no illness is involved, there is no reason to think that
Danel's sleeping is part of the ritual, there is no direct theophany,
and no cultic personnel are involved. Furthermore, no other ancient
Near Eastern candidate fulfils the conditions either, and we are left
with a late hellenistic institution with no obvious points of contact.
Husser's original discussion was complex and extended, taking Oberm a n n on at every juncture. His later paper summarized his main
findings, broadly in accord with Margalit. H e noted that it was gaps
in the text, filled out in academic imagination, which appeared to
justify the incubation interpretation. Furthermore, it was not to Danel

35
36
37
38

GASTER 1 9 6 1 , 3 1 6 .
GRAY 1 9 6 9 , 2 9 6 .
D E L OLMO LETE 1981a, 3 3 2 - 3 ,
PARKER 1 9 8 7 , 7 2 ; 1 9 9 2 , 1 0 0 .

1984a, 119 2 0 , 1984b.

that Baal drew near (in a theophany), but to El, to whom he speaks
about Danel in the third person. If 'incubation' is to be used to
describe the scene, it requires a considerable extension of the classical meaning of the term.
3.4.2

The occasion of Aqhat's birth

W h e n was Aqhat born? T h e conventional interpretation of K T U


1.17 ii has been that it is part of the build-up to the account of the
birth of Aqhat, which must have been narrated in the gap following. This is explicitly stated, for instance, by M a r g a l i t 1989a, 147,
and in some other discussions appears to be assumed, though not
spelt out (e.g. P a r k e r 1987, 73). But a convincing case has been
m a d e by Caquot - Sznycer, and developed further by Husser, that
the birth must have taken place in the gap between the end of
col. i and the beginning of col. ii.39 T h e later presence of the Kotharat
is to be understood, no doubt, as for that purpose, but they evidently delay for some days after, perhaps to confirm a safe birth
and the healthy state of the child. O n this alternative interpretation,
the arrival of the Kotharat and the counting of days and months in
K T U 1.17 = R S 2. [004] ii refer not to conception and pregnancy,
but to the immediate post-natal period and the child's infancy. 40
3.4.3

Aqhat's encounter with Anat

T h e encounter between Anat and Aqhat in K T U 1.18 i (in particular 1. 24) has also given rise to much discussion. T h e key part of
the text reads at.ah.wan.x[ ]. It has been frequently restored, to read
at.ah.wan.a[htk].41 Was there a sexual encounter between Aqhat and
Anat? This was asserted by A l b r i g h t (1944, 33-4), but rejected by
G i n s b e r g (1945b, 19). T h e best argument against the c o m m o n view,
i.e. that there was, is that of D r e s s l e r 1979, followed by X e l l a
1984b. I have accepted this view. 42

39

N.

CA>UOT -

SZNYCER

1974,

405,

425

n.

f.,

HUSSER

1996,

WYATT

1998C,

262

50.
40

Note the pluperfect sense of 'rb bbth ktrt, 'the skilful goddesses had entered his
house', in K T U 1 . 1 7 ii 2 6 : H U S S E R 1 9 9 6 , 9 1 - 2 , W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C , 2 6 4 and n. 6 1 .
41
Thus KTU1.
42
Instead of 'You are my brother and I am your sis[ter]', the passage is to be
read 'Come, brother, and I shall [ ]'. The putative reading a[htk\ is impossible. See
WYATT

1998C, 2 7 9

and

n.

132.

3.4.4

Danel's social status

There has been some debate as to whether Danel is a king. G i n s b e r g


(1945a, 4 n. 6) noted that Danel sits at both threshing-floor and city
gate to dispense justice, citing 1 Kgs 22:10, 2 Chr. 18:9 as parallels, and also noting the widespread ancient Near Eastern use of the
royal theme of caring for widows and orphans. G i b s o n (1975, 66)
remarked that 'Danel is only once called a king', as though apologizing for the author's loose use of language! He preferred to see in
Danel a patriarch of the J o b a n or Abrahamic kind. T h e formal royal
view has not gone unchallenged, as noted above. M a r g a l i t (1989a,
2 5 3 - 4 , 278, 292-3, 309, 361 2, 410, 424-7) in particular has been
most persistent in arguing that Danel is not to be seen as a king.
His arguments (1989a) were as follows, though the case was m a d e
more by assertion than by demonstration. A premonarchical society
was envisaged by Margalit (p. 309), in which 'notables' dispensed
justice. Danel's 'political status is that of unus (doubtfully primus) inter
pares. H e is one of the "city elders" . . . ' (p. 361). Finally, he did not
recognize the sense 'king' of mlk in K T U 1.19 = RS 3.322+ iii 46.
He construed it (1989a, 163, 410) as 'your down-course' (Ar. may I).
In view of Gibson's comment, it is worth noting that with substantial portions of the text missing, not too much should be made of
the apparent hapax appearance of mlk here. Margalit's case can hardly
be said to be very strong, and much rhetoric and repetition can
hardly substitute for reasoned discussion.
T h e counter-arguments are as follows. Firstly, the title mt rpi, however it is taken, has a royal significance. In my translation (1998c,
250 n. 5) I have taken it in the sense ' m a n (i.e. ruler) of R a p h a ' .
T h e alternative sense is to take it as a promise of Danel's later (postmortem) incorporation into the rpum (deified dead kings of high rank).
T o this cf. the element in the blessing of Keret which foresees his
inclusion a m o n g the rpum, K T U 1.15 = R S 3.343+ iii 2 - 4 , 13-5).
Secondly the blessing formula restored at K T U 1.17 i 3 4 - 6 , on
the strength of K T U 1.15 = R S 3.343+ ii 16-20, is to be construed
as explicitly royal in its object. As Jackson and Dressier have noted,
there is a close affinity between the scene described and the Ugaritian royal seals. 43 Within this formula, the form cbd reappears (pace
Margalit), with reference to Danel, at K T U 1.17 i 36 (previously

43

JACKSON -

DRESSLF.R

1975. See also WYATT 1997, 787-9.

misread as .bdh, with preceding word-divider), and this too is an


explicitly royal title.44
Thirdly, Danel also performs an action reminiscent of El himself
at K T U 1.17 i 10-11, in placing his feet on his footstool. This is
to be understood as an accoutrement of royal rank (cf. Ps. 110:1).
Fourthly, the description in K T U 1.17 i of Danel 'enrobed' (uzr)
for the performance of his devotions may be an allusion to the ritual garment in which Ugaritian kings are shown robed in various
representations. 4 5
Fifthly, as already observed by Ginsberg (above), Danel's sitting
at the city-gate to judge, at K T U 1.17 4 - 8 , 19 i 19-25, and particularly the reference to widows and oiphans as the beneficiaries of his
dispensation of justice (a clich for royal justice throughout ancient
Near Eastern literature; contrast Keret at K T U 1.16 vi 3 3 - 4 , 45-50!)
is the fulfilment of a specifically royal duty. Margalit's attempt to
democratize this is without substance.
Sixthly, the use of hkl at K T U 1.17 i 26, 43, ii 25, is most reasonably to be construed as denoting a royal palace. T o accept it as
less is to require that the term is used as a sustained hyperbole. T h e
former alternadve is altogether the more natural. While it is of course
the pair-word to bt, it is used elsewhere in the Ugaritic corpus only
of kings' and gods' 'houses', that is, palaces in the first instance and
temples in the second.
Finally, the form mlk occurring at K T U 1.19 iii 46 is most reasonably to be taken to m e a n 'king', with reference to Danel himself, as the subject of the verb in the sentence. T h e syntax raises no
problems, and an appeal to Arabic cognates is unnecessary.
These pieces of evidence represent a prima facie case for Danel's
kingship, and it can only be the prior assumption that he is not a
king which can challenge their cumulative force. O n the other hand,
the anti-monarchical case requires the demolition of the whole argument, point by point. T h e royal status of Danel is not necessarily
an essential element in the broad interpretation of the story, for the
heroes of tales are often kings or the sons of kings, and it merely
adds an aristocratic gloss to the narrative; but it also lends some
support to the view expressed below that the story has been given

44
A king is 'bd DN, 'servant (or "gardener"WYATT 1990b) of DN'. Thus with
Judahite kings 'bdyhuoh, 'servant of Yahweh', or 'gardener of Yahweh'.
45

See

WYATT

1998C,

251

n.

6.

an ideological twist by Ilimilku. Quite apart from its interpretative


significance, the fact remains that Danel's kingship appears to be
taken for granted.
3.4.5

The bow

Dressier and Hillers have both drawn attention to the significance


of the bow in the story of Aqhat. It is evidently of some considerable importance, since the desire for it motivates Anat to murder
the hero. In the broadest sense it is a symbol of power. But what
else is it?
H i l l e r s (1973) argued that it was in effect a phallic symbol. Its
theft by Anat would constitute an act of emasculation. He read into
this a n u m b e r of modern psycho-literary insights.
D r e s s l e r ( 1 9 7 5 ) countered that much of Hillers' argument centred on damaged text (and its restoration), hardly a sound basis for
far-reaching hermeneutical claims. T h e bow was indeed a masculine
symbol, but not a phallic one. T h a t is, it pointed to manly virtues,
but without explicidy sexual innuendo. He drew attention to H o f f n e r ' s
( 1 9 6 6 ) discussion of gender-symbols in defence of his own restrained
view, and rebutted each instance of an ancient literary allusion to
bows, arrows and quivers in which Hillers had discerned a sexual
innuendo.
3.4.6

What becomes of dead men?

T h e retort offered by Aqhat to Anat's offer of eternal life in exchange


for the bow has long puzzled scholars. M a r g a l i t ( 1 9 8 9 , 3 0 7 - 1 0 ) ,
while having nothing to say on the specific matter of post-mortem existence, presents Aqhat's observations in K T U 1 . 1 7 vi 3 6 - 3 8 as an
allusion to the Neolithic liming of skulls attested at Jericho. T h e idea
that a LBA text would be preserving ritual details of a very specific
kind (and long discontinued, to judge from mortuary evidence throughout the intervening period) seems most unlikely to me, and may be
discounted. The further idea that LBA people might discover such
ancient skulls (lying in shallow deposits) and contemplate their meaning (p. 309), while a charming idea, is scarcely a sufficient basis for
postulating a systematic anthropology of death. T h e more general issue
of the nature of beliefs regarding the afterlife has been dealt with
at some length by S p r o n k ( 1 9 8 6 ) , who takes a maximalist line, much
in the tradition of D a h o o d ( 1 9 7 0 ) , who cited the present passage in

his argument for a positive view of the afterlife, and even attributed
a firm belief in a beatific vision to the psalmists.
T h e following translation of K T U 1 . 1 7 vi 3 6 ~ 3 8 4 6 represents my
rather less fulsome view of the matter. T h e key word in the problem of translation has been hrs occurring in 1. 37. I have explained
it as representing perhaps a misspelling of the more c o m m o n hrs,
'gold'. D i j k s t r a - d e M o o r ( 1 9 7 5 , 1 9 0 ) offered the same explanation, considering hrs however as a parallel form, d e M o o r ( 1 9 8 7 ,
239) later abandoned this view in favour of 'potash', but I consider
that his initial insight was to be preferred.
Man, (at his) end, what will he receive?
What will he receive, a man (as his destiny?
Silver will be poured on his head,
gold on top of his skull,
[and] the death of all I shall die,
and I shall surely die.
As I read this, Anat does indeed voice the possibility of a life after
death, probably based on the beliefs held regarding dead kings, all
of w h o m are 'divine' in some sense (cf. K T U 1.113 = RS 24.257.
13-26, where each R N is prefixed by il). Some dead kings (though
to judge from the evidence, legendary rather than historical figures,
since no members of the king-list apparently qualify) are even given
the accolade rpum (cf. 6.4), which I understand to denote dead and
deified kings, comparable perhaps to the heroes of the Greek cult.
However, while this idea is here broached, and Ilimilku may indeed
be floating the idea through the agency of Anat's speech, he also
offers through the medium of Aqhat's wholly negative answer a sound
critique of such unrealistic views.
46
Cf. W Y A T T 1998C, 274 and n. 115. I have modified the third colon here. T h e
colon begins spsg, translated in 1998c as 'a precious substance ? ', and variously translated as 'glaze' (|| 'quicklime': G I B S O N 1978, 109), 'enamel' (|| 'whitewash': DEL
O L M O L E T E 1981a, 378), 'glaze' (|| 'potash': DE M O O R 1987, 239), 'a coating' (|| 'limeplaster': M A R G A I . I T 1989, 151). 1 noted (1998c, 274 n. 115) that this is reminiscent
of Prov. 26:23, where the expression kesep siggim, was read by G I N S B E R G (1945b,
p. 2In. 55) as k-spsg\ym\, 'like glaze' on the strength of the Ugaritic. But this argument may be regarded as circular, in which one unknown is used to interpret
another. Perhaps the original kesep is to be retained in Proverbs, and restored to
the Ug. text as <k>spsg || hrs/*/j'rs. T h e -sg(ym) remains unexplained in both cases,
but that is another issue. But Ugaritic is relatively stereotypical in its use of regular word-pairs, and ksp || for s is fairly commonplace, occurring many times in the
repertoire. Furthermore, the Heb. term is pi. in form, while the Ug. is sg., thus
reducing the appearance of a seemingly identical terminology.

3.5

New angles on Aqhat

T h e present author has attempted 4 7 to inteipret the work of Ilimilku


overall, as motivated in all probability by the concerns of his office
as priest and sacrificer of the king. Such a substantial amount of
material ( K T U 1.1-6, 1.14-6, 1.17-9, perhaps 1.10, and now 9.432
= R S 92.2016, still unpublished as this goes to press) by one named
person, however we apportion his editorial and compositional input,
is quite remarkable in the Late Bronze, and we may at least ask
whether he did not have some broad ideological concern to express.
Working on the basis of the view, now under challenge, that the
N i q m a d d u of the colopha is N i q m a d d u II, it is proposed that we
have in this substantial opus a legitimization of the new king, whose
reign may have begun in inauspicious circumstances (death of a prior
claimant? usurpation?), whose claim required every kind of support
available in a hearts and minds campaign. T h e place of Aqhat in
this hypothetical p r o g r a m m e was almost circumstantial, since the
weighty arguments were already spelt out in the Baal myths and in
Keret. But it would tend to reinforce some features of the Keret story:
thus the restitution of the blessing episode to the text would tend to
confirm the author's view that Danel is indeed a king. This in turn
would highlight the significance of the magnificent bow, fit for a
god, and of course of its function as a royal weapon (the king as
hunter is an analogue of the king as warrior), and thus attach a
peculiar importance to Aqhat, the hapless recipient of this wonder.
While not in the same form as the search for Baal and the allusion
to it in searching for help for Keret, Danel's search for Aqhat's
remains is perhaps intended to invoke the same theological associations, as though Baal's death is a type of a king's, here a future
king, with an aspiration to some happy hereafter. This of course is
what Anat offers the prince, but which he sharply rejects. Are we
to see in the raising of such questions a grappling with issues which
tradition has indeed sanctified by habit, but whose answers are no
longer regarded as good enough? Ilimilku might thus be seen as one
of O'Shaunessy's poets, the movers and shakers of the world.
In attempting to identify the poet's motivation (as well as to quantify his personal input into a representation of essentially traditional

W Y A T T 1997, 1998a. See also notes to the text in 1998c, 3 4 - 6 , 1 7 6 - 8 , 2 4 6 - 8


(written before 1998a), where I initially explored some of the ideas in question.
47

material), I am of course entering into a mode as subjective as that


which I have implicitly or explicitly criticized above in other scholars' work. But there seems to me to be a world of differencehowever difficult it may be to achieve itbetween attempting to foist
on an ancient author one's contemporary prejudices and discovering what were indeed his own concerns in the matter. In the matter of the 'caprice' of the gods, mentioned by two authors cited, I
think we have an example of the all too c o m m o n tendency to allow
m o d e r n theological values, already c o m m o n l y imported into the
Hebrew Bible, and declared to be resident there, to affect the agenda.
Not content with an invented 'biblical world view' which is more
often that of the post-reformation period, there seems to be an
attempt to make Ilimilku himself an early reformer! Yet I see no
tension at all in broad matters of metaphysics between Ilimilku and
his world. So far as the internal and traditional theology of Aqhat is
concerned, and which there is no reason to believe is under attack
by Ilimilku, the kind of perspective outlined below ( 13.4.2) is to
be discerned: polytheistic theory at the same time offers a coherent
overall structure at the macrocosmic level for the maintenance of
meaning and value in the world, and in the interaction of its particular deities accommodates the microcosmic realities of individual
problems, individual decisions and their consequences, and the tensions which are bound to exist between the real and the ideal world.
Anat's behaviour is predictable, and in no way a reflection of inadequate or immoral theology. As the embodiment of precisely the
dysfunctional aspect of the world, represented by all forms of killing
(hunting and war), she is a terrible power to encounter. Aqhat's brisk
rebuttal of her overtures, while c o m m a n d i n g our respect, inevitably
brings on his own head the whole weight of the traditional sanction
on those who blaspheme (sc. question the divinely ordained order of
things). T h e r e is a degree of tragedy and of awful inevitability, as
the sequence of automatic cursing and automatic revenge is set in
train, but this does no more than express in graphic terms the principle of accountability.
O n the matter of genre, there has been much discussion on that
of the Keret and Aqhat stories. Are they myths, legends or sagas?
W h e n myth is defined as 'stories about the gods' (e.g. by Gunkel
and Eissfeldt), then the presence of h u m a n characters in the story
compromises any attempt to categorize the story as myth. Since no
such inhibitions seem to affect discussion of mythology in any arena

other than the biblical one (where also it is arguably an inappropriate basis for classification, since it really belongs to a polemic
rather than a detached analysis), it may be regarded as irrelevant to
serious discussion of the Ugaritic texts. More to the point is perhaps
the matter of authorial intention. If myth be defined, as it is likely
to be in social scientific terms, as stories bearing an ideological (which
may include a religious) or paradigmatic message to their public,
then the issue of the nature of the characters, divine, h u m a n , or even
animal, is secondary. These elements are important. Fables, folk and
fairy tales, though they contain characters drawn from myth, have
lost the absolute imperative of the ideological norm, which demands
obedience to a conventional set of values, duties and taboos, and
effectively authorizes sanctions against non-conformists. But an element of freedom in the development of a tradition exists. T h u s the
myth (e.g. the Chaoskampf, which is integral to the maintenance of
royal ideology) may slowly evolve into other forms, such as 'St George
and the dragon', which retains vestiges of ideology, and the 'Celtic
dragon myth', which does not. T h u s genre is not absolute, as a given
narrative may be developing from one genre to another.
We noted above del O l m o Lete's and Parker's remarks on the
matter of genre. These highlighted, to my mind, the inadequacy of
the 'genre' approach, in so far as it seeks to establish literary types,
each with its own distinctive mental disposition, attitude to history,
to religion, and so on. These divisions are part of our need to structure our thoughts on such issues, and all too frequently bring a sledgeh a m m e r to crack a nut. Absolute categorizations, of the 'saga',
'legend', 'myth', 'epic' kind, are always subjective, if only because
no one agrees on definitions, and merely cut off various avenues of
retreat from the absolute judgments which each genre is felt to entail.
I prefer like many scholars to speak more neutrally of the 'story' of
Aqhat (and of Keret), noting different tendencies on various issues. This
avoids hostages to fortune, and still leaves narrators free to indulge
in a degree of eclecticism, perhaps drawing on different, or even
hybrid genres, and us free to estimate the broad mental stance of
the tradition, unencumbered by the demands imposed by arbitrary
classification.
T h e most obvious starting-point for an assessment should be the
global one of the LBA Weltanschauung of Ugaritian culture, as established through broad studies of its cosmology, theology, mythology
and ritual forms. I am entirely happy to call this 'mythological', in

the sense in which a modern religious response in devotion, scripturereading and cult remains mythological, since it operates on a different
level from the purely empirical. 'Mythological' is the more useful in
that while it relates to myth, it may also denote quasi-mythic features in other genres, such as deities featuring as characters, the suspension of empirical laws for narrative effect, and so on. 48
Aqhat is to be seen as a story, built up as Parker showed around
a n u m b e r of motifs, and as Aitken showed around a n u m b e r of
themes, motifs, formulae and word-pairs. T h e stages of its literary
prehistory are no longer recoverable, partly on account of the considerable skills of the tradents, partly because no one motivation
seems evident in its construction; but in the hands of Ilimilku there
is a case to answer that the poet pressed it into service in the interests of royal propaganda. T o this extent it has become an ideological text. And in so far as Ilimilku has brought an ideological element
into traditional material, he has blurred the distinction between genres, and produced composite works.

3.6

Some observations on style

A n u m b e r of commentators have remarked on the 'patriarchal' characterization of Danel, undoubtedly with an eye to similarities in the
presentation of the patriarchs of the Genesis narratives. T h e r e too
a domestic, almost bucolic gloss is given to narrative themes which
address the most urgent needs of h u m a n societies, their very physical survival, expressed most typically in the yearning of a m a n for
a son, who will support him in his declining years and perform his
obsequies. T h e r e is a surprising tautness to the text (well illustrated
in Aitken's treatment), with no word too m a n y and an action that
proceeds deliberately, its pace tailored to the various levels of meaning requiring weaving into the whole.
T h e fourfold repetition of the duties of the pious son, for instance,
is no mechanical overkill by a poetaster, but a skilful development
of one of the main themes of the story. While it is unprovable, it
is worth suggesting that this is one of Ilimilku's own insertions into
the traditional Vorlage, since it is so germane to his own concerns, if
my analysis is correct. In K T U 1.17 = R S 2. [004] i 2 6 - 3 3 the for-

48

Much biblical historiography is 'mythological' in this sense.

mula is voiccd by Baal, interceding on Danel's behalf with El. In


1.17 i 42~7 (and the missing conclusion) it is repeated by El in his
response to Baal. These two narrations therefore take place in heaven,
in the divine abode. As 1.17 ii becomes legible in 11. 1 - 8 the formula is already being repeated in a message by an unnamed deity
to Danel, confirming the promise of the birth that has now taken
place, and finally, the fourth instance, in 1 . 1 7 ii 1 6 - 2 3 , Danel himself repeats the formula as guarantee of divine blessing. Not only is
this a classic instance of the 'semantic rectangle' ( J A M E S O N 1 9 7 2 ,
1 6 3 - 7 ) in use as a literary tool, but it shows a clear progress from
an idea deliberated a m o n g the gods and only finally, via a revelation, appropriated by the h u m a n recipient. T h e theological weight
this confers on the text goes far beyond the merely folkloric.
A similar technique is used in the episode of Danel searching
the gizzards of the raptors. In the three successive scenes in K T U
1.19 = RS 3.322+ iii (edge and) l - 1 4 a , 14b-28a and 2 8 b - 4 0 a we
see Danel progressively home in on the place where his son's remains
lie. Firstly a rather unfocusscd look a m o n g falcon-gizzards in general; then an examination of Hargab's gizzard, and finally the discovery in Sumul's gizzard of fragments of the hero. This time there
is only a threefold repetition; but this too is masterly, for with the
semantic rectangle incomplete it leaves the reader with a sense of
tension, of a search not really brought to a final conclusion. This is
further heightened by the consequent threefold treatment of the cursing of localities held responsible. Again, the sense of tension. The
reason for this is surely that the real culprit is still at large. W e may
see the problem resolved on one level with the probable vengeance
wrought on Yatipan by Pughat, appropriately disguised as Anat, as
the final column breaks off. O n another level Anat is of course to
blame, and yet as a goddess she must remain above formal, or at
any rate articulated suspicion. It is on account of no weakness, and
certainly of no theological bankruptcy, that the goddess appears to
emerge unscathed. While her cruelty is not perhaps to be compared
in too facile a m a n n e r with Yahweh-El Shaddai's inscrutability in
J o b , we are faced with the same fruitless search for the fulfilment
of h u m a n expectations in the face of the divine nature. 4 9

49

For further comments on Anat's theological significance see below, 13.4.

In both contexts too, in Genesis and Aqhat, we discern ideological concerns either overtly expressed, or simmering beneath the surface. T h e patriarchs are royal and priesdy ancestors, and Danel is
a king, whose fecundity determines the future of his kingdom. T h e
domestic flavour is deceptive: in their final form both traditions are
pregnant with ideological power.

The

Wayne

4.1

RPUM

T.

Texts

Pitard

Introduction: the tablets

T h e so-called "Rpurr or 'Rephanr texts, K T U 1.20 = RS 3.348 (CTA


20, U T 121), K T U 1.21 = R S 2.[019] (CTA 21, U T 122) and K T U
1.22 = R S 2. [024] (CTA 22, U T 124, 123), are three small fragments of at least two large, multi-columned tablets.' T h e y preserve
in very broken form a portion of a narrative concerning a group of
beings called rpum.'1 While extremely problematic and ambiguous,
these texts have played an important role in the discussion of Ugaritic
and Canaanite concepts of death and the afterlife, as well as in the
reconstruction of the Ugaritic political and social order.
T w o of the fragments ( K T U 1.21 = R S 2. [019] and 1.22 = R S
2. [024]) were found during the second season of excavations (1930),
either inside the House of the High Priest on the acropolis or in the
rubble directly outside the southern wall of the house. 3 T h e third
1

K T U 1.20 = R S 3.348 was first published in V I R O L L E A U D 1936a, 228-30, in


his editio pnnceps of the Aqhat Epic. T h e other two, K T U 1.21 + RS 2. [019] and
K T U 1.22 = RS 2. [024], along with a rdition of K T U 1.20, first appeared in
V I R O L L E A U D 1941a. Besides the transcriptions in the standard collections (CTA and
KTU, KTU2 = CAT), a recent edition of the texts, with extensive photographs, may
be found in P I T A R D 1992. Major translations include V I R O L L E A U D 1941a, 1-30;
D R I V E R 1956, 66-71; A I S T L E I T N E R 1964, 83-86; C A Q U O T etat. 1974, 461-80; G O R D O N
1977, 29-31; C O O G A N 1978, 48-51; L ' H E U R E U X 1979, 129-59; DEL O L M O L E T E
1981a, 405-24; S P R O N K 1986, 163 77; DE M O O R 1987, 266-73; D I J K S T R A 1988,
35-51; L E W I S 1996b, 128-31; L E W I S 1997, 196-205; W Y A T T 1998C, 316-23.
2
T h e meaning of the word is usually related to the root rp', which means, 'to
heal'. T h e correct pronunciation of rpum in Ugarit remains controversial. T h e two
most popular proposals are (1) rpi'ma, vocalizing it as a participle, which would
mean, 'healers', and (2) rapi'ma, a stative form that can be rendered, 'the healthy,
hale ones'. See the discussion of the possibilities in L ' H E U R E U X 1 9 7 9 , 2 1 5 - 2 1 ; P A R D E E
1981-82,
3

266;

and

NACCACHE

1995.

Unfortunately the inventory lists for the first two seasons were lost, probably
during World War II (cf. B O R D R E U I L
P A R D E E 1 9 8 9 , 1 3 ) . It is known that these
tablets were registered with topographic points that were marked on ground-plans
that still exist. T h e tablets of the second season were numbered with points 2 1 0 - 6 4 .
Unfortunately, excavations that year took place all along the western side of the
house, in the street along its southern boundary, in the room to the west of the
southern entry, and in a room to the east of the larger interior courtyard. So these
topographic points are scattered throughout the house (see the plan in B O R D R E U I L P A R D E E 1 9 8 9 , 2 5 ) . Because the third fragment and most of the other literary texts
were found in the entry room or just outside the doorway, it seems probable that

was discovered the following year in or near the house's southern


doorway, in the same area where the Keret and Aqhat epics emerged,
along with some of the Baal tablets. Of the three texts only K T U
1.22 = R S 2. [024] preserves some complete lines. K T U 1.20 = R S
3.348 contains parts of two columns on one face. T h e left column
is m a d e up of the right halves of eleven lines of text, while the right
column preserves somewhat over half of twelve lines. K T U 1.21 =
RS 2.[019] preserves part of a single column on one face (the right
two-thirds of thirteen lines), but only the last five letters of one line
on the other side. T h e largest of the three fragments, K T U 1.22 =
RS 2. [024] preserves a left column of twenty-eight lines, twenty-two
of which are complete, and a badly broken right column of twentysix lines, with only about one-third of each line preserved. O n the
other side of the latter tablet are two identifiable letters, plus fragments of two others, each the first letter of a line. We thus have an
aggregate of 95 attested lines, only 22 of which are complete, while
an additional 24 are somewhat more than half-preserved.
K T U 1.21 = RS 2. [019] and 1.22 = R S 2. [024] may come from
a single tablet. T h e scripts of both appear to have been written by
the same scribe, probably Ilimilku, who also produced the other
major narrative texts in the archive. O n the other hand, K T U 1.20 =
RS 3 . 3 4 8 seems to belong to the work of a different scribe (cf. P i t a r d
1992, 75, n. 8), and thus presumably to a separate tablet. Since the
literary tablets found in this archive range in size from about 200
to about 500 lines, we may conclude that the 95 lines attested on
the rpum texts are probably no more than a quarter and perhaps
only one-tenth of the lines that would have existed on the two tablets
when intact.
In the entire collection of narrative poetic texts from Ugarit few
are as obscure and difficult to interpret as the rpum fragments. Rarely
have the ambiguities of a vowelless script and the piecemeal preservation of so many damaged lines conspired so powerfully to frustrate attempts at drawing decisive conclusions about a text. T h e
broad context within which the action depicted in these fragments
occurs is quite obscure, a n d only a few things about the events
described in the preserved lines can be discerned with certainty. It
is clear that the characters called the rpum (also designated with the
parallel terms ilnym, 'godly ones', and ilm, 'gods') are invited to a
banquet. At least one invitation seems to be given by the king of
the gods, Ilu ( K T U 1.21 = R S 2. [019] ii 8), but virtually identical

invitations are offered five other times in the three fragments, each
in a broken context that does not allow us to confirm whether these
come from the same deity. Each invitation seems to be followed by
a description of the journey to the banquet.' Both K T U 1.22 = R S
2.[024] and K T U 1.20 = R S 3.348 seem to describe the arrival of
the group at a threshing floor, where the banquet is apparently given,
and K T U 1.22 = R S 2. [024] i 10-25 describes the feast as lasting
for a week. O n the seventh day, it appears that the god Baal arrives.
But his function in the story, and indeed the purpose of the gathering of the rpum for the banquet remains unclear, and the text breaks
off at this point. Beyond these few elements of the story, little certainty about the plot of the narrative and its meaning is possible.
Not only is the larger context of the fragments lost, but the broken nature of the narrative makes it impossible to ascertain even
some of the basic elements of the preserved story line. For example, not only is it uncertain whether all six invitations are offered
by the same character, but it is also unclear whether the invitation
is addressed to the same set of rpum, or whether different groups of
rpum are being invited to the feast. Further, the fragments contain
almost no information about the characteristics and identity of the
rpum. In fact, about all we can say with certainty about them is that
they travel by chariot and that they eat heartily at the feast. O n e
passage in the more complete column of K T U 1.22 = RS 2.[024]
(col. i, lines 4-10), seems to describe a company of rpum who arrive
at the banquet, but the text, though completely preserved, is frus-

K T U 1.21 = RS 2.[019] and K T U 1.22 = RS 2. [024] were discovered either in


the street or in the room west of the entry.
4
Four of the five versions of these lines in K T U 1.21 = RS 2. [019] and K T U
1.22 = RS 2.[024] appear to read (with the possibility of some variation) atrh. rpum.
lldd I atrh.ltdd.ilnym, while the last version of these lines, which directly precedes the
description of their arrival at the banquet, drops the I before the one preserved Idd.
This is also the case in K T U 1.20 = RS 3.348, where the lines appear in col. ii 1.
The ambiguity of the I has encouraged several interpretations of the lines. Some
take it as an emphatic particle, and thus render these lines with the understanding
that the rpum are travelling in each case; thus, for example, 'After him the shades
verily proceed' ( G O R D O N 1977, 30-31). Others propose that the I is a precative particle and that the lines should be translated with jussive force, either as part of the
invitation (e.g., S P R O N K 1986, 169 72: 'May the rpum flutter to the holy place'), or
as an expostulation of the poem's narrator (e.g., L E W I S 1996b, 129: 'To his shrine,
shades, hasten'). DIJKSTRA 1988, 4 1 - 4 3 and others have argued that the / is best
understood as a negative particle. They suggest that the rpum refuse to hasten until
they are finally convinced by the fifth invitation (thus, 'After him the shades did
not move').

tratingly ambiguous. O n e finds critical words here that may be interpreted either as proper names of the rpum, or as verbs describing
actions taken by some of the story's characters. 5 In other cases, one
cannot be sure whether certain construct nouns are to be construed
as singular or plural. T h u s the mhr b'l, mhr ent, and rpu b'l, in lines
8 - 9 , may be titles of individual characters (i.e. 'the warrior of Baal',
'the warrior of Anat', and 'the rpu of Baal'), 6 or they may designate
large numbers of persons (i.e. 'the warriors of Baal', 'the warriors of
Anat', and 'the rpum of Baal'). 7 T h e ambiguity here makes it impossible to use this section to help define the nature of the rpum.
O t h e r problems arise. H o w is one to understand the relationship
between the three fragments? Since K T U 1.22 = R S 2. [024] and
K T U 1.20 = R S 3.348 both describe the arrival of the rpum at the
threshing floor where a banquet is served, is it best to assume that
the two fragments are separate versions of the same scene, fortuitously overlapping, 8 or are they describing two different banquets?
T h e latter interpretation is possible since K T U 1.20 = R S 3.348
depicts the banquet as being hosted by a h u m a n , Danel, a character
also known from the Aqhat epic, while the banquet of K T U 1.22 =
R S 2.[024] may be hosted by Ilu. Since the former text almost certainly comes from a different tablet, it may actually be part of a
completely different narrative that just happened to have a similar
convocation of the rpum as a story element.
In addition, what is the relationship between K T U 1.22 = R S
2.[024] and K T U 1.21 = R S 2.[019]? 9 D o they belong to a single

Beyond this problem of interpretation, the translations just quoted also point up
another major ambiguity in these lines. T h e word alrh may be analyzed as a preposition with a suffix, 'after him', or it can be understood as a noun, atr, 'place, shrine'
with a possessive pronoun, 'to his shrine', or simply a directional marker, 'to the
place/shrine'.
5
For example, is tmq in line 8 a verb (as translated by D R I V E R 1956, 69; L ' H E U R E U X
1979, 152-53; C A Q U O T 1974, 474-75; S P R O N K 1986, 171; DE M O O R 1987, 272; L E W I S
1997, 203) or the proper name of a character (as translated by AISTLEITNER 1964, 85;
DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 423; DIJKSTRA 1988, 47; W Y A T T 1998c, 321 n. 38)? The same
question arises concerning the word yhpn in line 9. Some commentators take it as
a proper name (AISTLEITNER 1964, 85; DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 423; DIJKSTRA 1988,
47; W Y A T T 1998c, 321); others as a verb ( G O R D O N 1966, 141; D R I V E R 1956, 69;
L ' H E U R E U X 1979, 152-53; SPRONK 1986, 171; DE M O O R 1987, 272; L E W I S 1997, 203).
6
Rendered thus by D R I V E R 1956, 69; C A Q U O T et al. 1974, 474-75; DEL O L M O
L E T E 1981a, 423; DIJKSTRA 1988, 47; W Y A T T 1998C, 321.
7
Translated thus or similarly in G O R D O N 1 9 6 6 , 1 4 1 ; A I S T L E I T N E R 1 9 6 4 , 8 5 ;
L'HEUREUX
8
9

E.g.
See

1 9 7 9 , 1 5 2 - 5 3 ; SPRONK 1 9 8 6 , 1 7 1 ; DE M O O R

DE M O O R
DIJKSTRA

1987b, 267; DIJKSTRA 1988, 35-39.


1987b for a discussion of this issue.

1 9 8 7 , 2 7 2 ; LEWIS 1 9 9 7 ,

203.

tablet, or may they belong to two separate ones, once again overlapping in the part of the story recounted? T h e latter possibility
cannot be ruled out, since the vast majority of the lines in K T U
1.21 = RS 2. [019] i are repeated in K T U 1.22 = RS 2. [024] ii. In
particular, the former preserves two invitations to the rpum, followed
by two descriptions of them making the journey toward the shrine
or palace, while the latter has a threefold appearance of the same
basic lines. Would such an extraordinary amount of repetition in
two small fragments of a single tablet be plausible, or is it better to
identify them as duplicates? Again, there is no definitive argument
for either interpretation. T h e a m o u n t of repetition is indeed surprising in such a small n u m b e r of preserved lines. O n the other
hand, multiple reiterations are well attested in the Ugaritic poems, 1 0
and it is possible to develop scenarios of the story that would allow
for so m a n y recurrences of the invitation (e.g., that different groups
of rpum are being invited to the feast).
And finally, is there a relationship between these fragments and
the Aqhat epic? T h e appearance of Danel in K T U 1.20 = RS 3.348
has led a n u m b e r of scholars to argue that the rpum texts are the
remains of a fourth tablet of the Aqhat narrative." T h e y interpret
the banquet as a preliminary to the restoration of Aqhat to life or
some similar dnouement which would have brought the story to its
conclusion. T h e problem with this proposal is that, apart from the
presence of Danel in this text, there is nothing in the rpum texts that
suggests that the action described in these fragments relates in any
way to such a proposed scenario. Others have pointed out that Danel
may have been the subject of more than one narrative at Ugarit,
and that his presence here does not require that the fragments be
related to the other known narrative in which he plays a role. 12 At
this point it seems best not to insist on a relationship between them
and the Aqhat story.

4.2

The Identity of the R p u m

Undoubtedly the biggest hindrance to gaining a proper understanding of these texts is the uncertainty about the nature of the rpum,
10
See for example the four-fold repetition of the duties of an ideal son in the
Aqhat epic (KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] i 25-33; 42-7; ii 1-9; 14-23).
" For example, S P R O N K 1986, 160-1; C A Q U O T et al. 1974, 463; DE M O O R 1976,
332; M A R G A L I T 1989a, 464-5; G R A Y 1965, 126-9.
12
E.g. P I T A R D 1992b, 73; D I J K S T R A 1988, 36; and L E W I S 1996b, 119.

the primary characters in the narrative. In spite of their appearance


not only in these texts, but also in a few others, 13 scholars have been
unable to reach a solid consensus on their identity. T h e primary
proposals include the following:
(1) They are ghosts of the dead, most likely the spirits of deceased
kings, and perhaps of the nobility. Several scholars argue that these
spirits were thought of as deified.
(2) T h e y are a group of deities who join Ilu in special gatherings
and who are called upon to protect the king and his city.
(3) T h e y are living m e m b e r s of the aristocracy, perhaps an elite
group of chariot warriors, or perhaps a group of priests involved in
rituals of fertility. In this context the term may be viewed as a tribal
name, probably related to another tribal designation, Ditanu, which
appears in parallel with rpum in the Keret epic and in K T U 1.161 =
R S 34.126.
(4) A n u m b e r of scholars argue that the term may in fact be used
to designate more than one of these three groups.
4.2.1

The r p u m as spirits of the dead

T h e most commonly-accepted proposal is that the rpum are spirits of


the dead. 14 There are several good reasons to support this identification.
(1) T h e cognate of rpum in biblical Hebrew, r'p'm, has as its primary meaning, 'spirit of the dead, ghost'. T h e same meaning attaches
to the word in Phoenician.
(2) K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126, in which the rpu ars, 'the rpum of the
earth', and the rpim qdmym, 'the ancient rpum\ appear in the context
of a funerary ritual, suggests that they have a relationship to the
dead. In this context they are summoned to take part in the funeral
of N i q m a d d u III of Ugarit (late 13th century) and perhaps to bless
the new king, 'Ammurapi. In the ritual, the summons of the 'ancient
rpum' is followed immediately by the invocation of the spirits of two
identifiable, deceased kings of Ugarit (not explicitly referred to as
rpum, however). Scholars have argued that the 'rpum of the earth'
13

They are also mentioned in K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126, a funerary ritual text;


in the Keret epic (KTU 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii 3 and 14); at the conclusion of the
Baal cycle (KTU 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+ vi 46), and perhaps in K T U 1.108 = RS
24.252.23-4 and K T U 1.82 = RS 15.134.32, both of which are damaged.
14
See for example, C A Q U O T 1960; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z - S A N M A R T I N 1976c; P O P E
1977; S P R O N K 1986, 161-96; F O R D 1992; W Y A T T 1998C, 3 1 5 n. 1.

and the 'ancient rpun are royal ancestors of 'Ammurapi from the
distant past. Since the word, ars, 'earth', was sometimes used to designate the netherworld, one can render rpu ars, 'the rpum of the
netherworld'.
(3) A passage at the end of the Baal epic K T U 1.6 = R S 2. [009]+ vi
45-9) contains two bicola in which the four words rpim, ilnym, ilm,
and mtm may be understood as synonymous with one another: p
rpim.th.tk \ p thtk.ilnym | 'dk.ilm \ hn.mtm.'dk. This may be translated
as 'Shapshu (the sun goddess), you rule over the rpum, | Shapshu,
you rule over the godlike ones. | T h e gods are your company, |
See, the dead are your company'. It should be noted, however, that
these interpretations of K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126 and 1.6 = RS
2. [009]+ are by no means certain (see below). T h e y cannot be considered decisive for favouring this identification of the rpum.
4.2.2

The r p u m as deities

M u c h of the same evidence can be used to argue that the rpum are
better understood as deities, rather than spirits of the dead. 1 5 Some
scholars would identify them specifically as minor netherworld deities, closely associated with Baal. Others have proposed that the term
may designate any deity, major or minor, who is called upon by Ilu
to perform a special function. Arguments for identifying the rpum as
deities include the fact that the term rpum is several times paralleled
by the term ilnym, 'godlike or godly ones', quite plausibly a divine
title, and perhaps by the term ilm, 'gods' as well."' Arguments against
identifying them as the dead (as described above) and for seeing
them as deities instead also include the following:
(1) Later meanings of words do not always parallel earlier meanings
of the cognates in other languages. T h u s the Hebrew and Phoenician

15
See S C H M I D T 1 9 9 4 , 8 3 - 9 2 and L ' H E U R E U X 1 9 7 9 , 1 1 6 - 9 for a history of this
view. L ' H E U R E U X also argues that the rpum of our texts are deities, not spirits of
the dead, though in other passages the word may designate such spirits. See ibid.
2 0 5 - 6 , 2 1 5 - 3 0 . The idea that the rpum are deities should be distinguished from the
view of those who argue that the dead are deified at Ugarit and thus can be
identified as both spirits of the dead and gods.
16
The occurrences are: K T U 1 . 2 0 = RS 3 . 3 4 8 i 1 - 2 ; K T U 1 . 2 1 = RS 2 . [ 0 1 9 ]
i 3 - 4 , 11-2; K T U 1.22 = RS 2. [024] ii 5 - 6 ; all relatively certain, but all in broken contexts, and in K T U 1 . 6 = RS 2 . [ 0 0 9 ] + vi 4 5 - 9 . Parallels with the word dm,
'gods', probably occur in K T U 1 . 2 0 = RS 3 . 3 4 8 ii 1 2 and 8 - 9 , both, however,
in very broken contexts.

cognates are far from decisive. T h e context of a word like rpum


within the local literature is more significant for its interpretation.
However, nothing in our three rpum texts specifically points to a
ghostly identity for the rpum. In fact, there is no hint in any of the
fragments that the regular habitation of the rpum is the netherworld.
T h e only clear action tells of the rpum preparing their chariots, travelling to a threshing floor and having a feast, none of which particularly hint that the beings are spirits of the dead. Near Eastern
evidence for spirits of the dead travelling from the netherworld in
horse-drawn chariots is nil, while such transportation for deities,
whether from the netherworld or elsewhere, seems quite reasonable.
T h e lack of netherworld indications in the rpum texts might suggest
that, while K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126 indicates a connection between
the rpum and funerary activities (see below), their sphere of activity
may not necessarily be restricted to that realm.
(2) Although the rpu ars and rpim qdmym of K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126
are involved in a funerary context, this does not mean that they are
necessarily spirits of the dead. T h e y may also be identified plausibly as deities. T h e names of the beings specifically identified in K T U
1.161.4-7 as rpum are not attested as royal names of Ugarit (or elsewhere), but in fact resemble divine names more than h u m a n ones
(see particularly the composite name, sdn-w-rdn, (lines 6, 23) and tr
'limn (lines 7, 23-4). W h e n the two recognizable, deceased kings of
Ugarit are named (lines 11-2, 25-6), each is designated as mlk, 'king',
rather than rpu. T h u s those who are obviously spirits of the dead
appear to be given a different designation in the text. In sum, the
evidence from this tablet does not compel one to identify the rpum
as ghosts.
(3) T h e reference to the rpum in the Baal Epic ( K T U 1.6 = RS
2. [009] vi 45-9), which can be interpreted as equating the rpum with
the dead, is in fact ambiguous, because the word, mtm, often translated 'the dead' in this passage, could actually be a h o m o n y m well
attested at Ugarit that means 'humans'. In this case, the passage
may be translated, 'Shapshu, you rule over the rpum, | Shapshu, you
rule over the godlike ones. | Gods are your company, | See, humans
are your company'. 1 7 If this is the correct rendering, there would
be no direct parallel connection between the first bicolon and the
second, as assumed by those who suggest that all four words refer
17

See

SCHMIDT

1994,

84-8.

to the dead. Rather, the two extol the importance of Shapshu in


her relations with various elements of the world orderthe rpum/ilnym,
minor gods, perhaps related to the netherworld; then ilm/mtm, the
divine and h u m a n spheres as a whole.
Although none of the three points made here disproves the identification
of the rpum with the dead, they each emphasize the fact that none
of the arguments for such identification is fully compelling. O n the
other hand, while the texts are compatible with the view that the
rpum are deities, none of them require that meaning to make sense.
4.2.3

The r p u m as living persons

Some scholars have argued that at least certain of the Ugaritic references to the rpum are best understood as referring to living persons. 18 In this interpretation, they are usually identified as an elite
group of chariot warriors who had strong connections with the king.
Those who support this idea argue primarily from the passage in
the Keret epic, K T U 1.15 = R S 3.343+ iii 2 - 4 and 13-5 in which
Keret is praised by Ilu himself: 'Greatly exalted is Keret in the midst
of the rpum of the earth (or land), | in the gathering of the assembly of Ditanu'. Supporters argue that 'rpum of the earth' in this passage can hardly refer to the spirits of the dead, since it would be
inappropriate in the context of the exaltation of Keret to proclaim
his preeminence a m o n g the dead. 1 9 T h e 'assembly of Ditanu' (qbs
dtn), the phrase that is parallel to rpu ars in the passage, can plausibly be identified as a designation for the leaders of the Ditanu clan.
This suggests an earthly, political and social context for the rpum.
T h e military imagery of our three rpum texts (especially the use of
chariotry and the appearance of what seems to be a military host
in K T U 1.22 = R S 2. [024] ii 4 - 1 0 ) fits reasonably into this reading as well. Most scholars who identify the rpum as living humans

18
See L ' H E U R E U X 1 9 7 9 , 1 2 0 7 for a history of this type of proposal. More
recently see S C H M I D T 1 9 9 1 , 7 1 - 1 2 1 for a detailed defence of the argument, including a number of new elements. G R A Y 1 9 4 9 argued that the rpum were elite leaders, perhaps heads of clans, or perhaps priests, who accompanied the king in rituals
designed to insure fertility of crops. This view has generally not been followed.
19
Those who believe that the rpum are spirits of the dead or deities dispute this,
arguing that since the rpum play an important role in the preservation and support
of the king, Keret's exaltation in the midst the ancestors is a reasonable image to
use in the story. See P O P E 1 9 7 7 , 1 6 6 - 7 ; F O R D 1 9 9 2 , 7 3 - 6 .

also assume that even after these chariot warriors died, they continued to be called rpum, so that there were both living and dead
rpum. This would explain the origin of the usage of the term for the
dead. Note is often made of the fact that the Bible refers to an
ancicnt tribe of giants, located in northern C a n a a n and Transjordan
before the establishment of Israel, as rephaim (Gen. 14:5, 15:20; Deut.
2:11, 20; 3:11, 13; Jos. 12:4, 13:12; 17:15). K n o w n for their military prowess, these rephaim are thought to be a dim memory of the
elite warrior class of that name in the Late Bronze Age. So again
we find some plausible arguments, but again none of the texts used
to support the interpretation provide irrefutable evidence. Plausible,
alternative interpretations of each of these passages have been made.
T h u s in the final analysis, no decisive conclusions about the identity of the rpum can yet be drawn. It is quite possible, as several
scholars have argued, that the word had more than one meaning in
the Ugaritic texts and that different contexts require different meanings. O n the other hand, other scholars have made plausible cases
for seeing all the occurrences of the word as referring to a single
group of beings, either spirits, gods, or humans. Only further discoveries of texts relating to the rpum are likely to improve the present situation.
From the preceding discussion, it is clear that these texts are exceedingly ambiguous and that great caution should be used in drawing upon them to reconstruct aspects of Ugaritic or Syro-Palestinian
culture. In many cases such caution has not been employed, so that
the rpum texts have been used extensively as the basis for elaborate
descriptions of Ugaritic concepts concerning afterlife by scholars who
identify the rpum as spirits of the dead. 20 A similar situation has also
occurred in some of the reconstructions of the Ugaritic military and

20

For example, DE M O O R 1 9 7 6 , 3 2 9 - 3 3 and S P R O N K ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 5 5 - 6 , 1 7 0 - 4 ) , using


K T U 1 . 2 2 = R S 2 . [ 0 2 4 ] ii 5 - 7 and K T U 1 . 2 1 = R S 2 . [ 0 1 9 ] i 5 - 6 as their primary sources, reconstruct an event at the Ugaritic New Year Festival in which the
deceased nobility, the rpum, are brought back to life, along with Baal, their patron.
But such a reconstruction relies for its foundation upon the identification of the
rpum as spirits, which remains uncertain, alongside problematic readings of both key
passages. Their interpretation of the first passage is based on questionable renderings of two problematic verbs, the first of which (his ytb, which occurs twice here)
is based on a misreading of the text (the verb is y'bs, instead), and the second, qym,
more plausibly rendered as a noun than a verb (see VAN DER T O O R N 1 9 9 1 , 5 2 ) . In
the second passage, they must reconstruct both of the critical verbs needed for their
interpretation.

its relation to the royal house by those who view the rpum as living
elite warriors. 2 ' It is important not to place too much interpretational weight on ambiguous and problematic texts such as these.
Before they can be used as sources for dealing with the wider issues
of Canaanite religion and society, a clearer understanding of the
texts themselves is necessary.

21

See, for example,

GRAY

1952,

39-41.

THE

INCANTATIONS

KLAAS

5.1

SPRONK

Introduction

T h e incantation can be defined as 'rhythmic or formulaic words of


power to accomplish a desired goal by binding spiritual powers'.' A
n u m b e r of Ugaritic texts written in alphabetic script unearthed in
Ras S h a m r a and Ras Ibn H a n i fit, completely or in part, under this
heading. In none of these texts, however, do we find a word specifically
denoting the incantation, like Akkadian siptu.2 This word is attested
at the end of a syllabic Akkadian incantation found in Ras S h a m r a
'against fire' (RS 17.155). 3 We do find the more general indication
mnt? This has an equivalent in Akkadian mintu. In Akkadian incantations it is used next to siptu. It seems to refer in the first place to
the act of reciting and repeating the incantation, because it is derived
from the verb man,b 'to count' (cf. Hebrew mnh). In K T U 1.24 =
RS 5.194:46-7, mnt denotes the enumeration of goddesses listed in
the following lines. It is paralleled by spr, 'list'. In K T U 1.82 = R S
15.134:20 and K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244 it is used in texts that as
a whole can be labelled as incantations. In other 'pure' incantations,
like K T U 1.96 = R S 22.225 and K T U 1.169 = R I H 7 8 / 2 0 , this
or another general term for the genre is missing.
It appears to be impossible to distinguish the 'Ugaritic Incantations'
sharply. 6 Also, the calling of divine beings by their names at the end
of K T U 1.24 = R S 5.194 may have had some kind of magical purpose. T h e same can be said of other parts of some of the mythical
or ritual texts. Add to this, firstly, that is often difficult to distinguish

LUDWIG

1987,

151.

For the much larger corpus of Akkadian incantations see the surveys by F R B E R
1981, 1984 and 1987.
3
Cf. A R N A U D 1995a. Within the context of the incantations' 'fire' can be regarded
as a reference to demons; cf. K T U 1.2 = RS 3.367 i 3, where the demoniacal
helpers of Yam are described as 'one, two fires'.
4
See on mnt P A R D E E 1 9 8 8 , 2 0 6 - 8 . According to DE M O O R 1 9 8 7 , 2 4 8 the masculine mn is attested in K T U 1 . 1 9 = RS 3 . 3 2 2 + i l l .
5
Cf. the expression man iptu, 'to recite an incantation', in Akkadian, cf. CAD
, III, 89.
6
Cf. J E F F E R S 1 9 9 6 , 1 8 , facing the same problem with regard to the more general theme of magic and divination.

a prayer from an incantation, in the second place, that as a rule


magical and related texts are difficult to interpret, and that, finally,
many of the tablets concerned are damaged, then it comes as no
surprise that in the editions of and commentaries on Ugaritic texts
we find different proposals for classification:
According to Avishur the only texts which 'can clearly be classified
as incantations' are K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244; K T U 1.107 = R S
24.251+; and K T U 1.169 = R I H 78/20. 7
Xella lists under 'preghieri ed incantesimi': K T U 1.65 = RS 4.474;
K T U 1.123 = R S 24.271; K T U 1.100; and K T U 1.107. 8
DE M O O R comes to five incantations as 'more or less independent
prayers without ritual prescriptions', next to incantations 'embedded in rituals': K T U 1.82 = R S 15.134; 1.83 = RS 16.266; K T U
1.169; K T U 1.93 = RS 19.054; and K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252. 9
Dietrich - Loretz come to eight alphabetic texts that in their view
are representative of this 'Gattung', leaving out two thematically
related but heavily damaged texts. T h e y subdivide these eight texts
into four categories:
(1) 'Evokationen kniglicher Ahnen': K T U 1.124 = RS 24.272
and K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126;
(2) 'Beschwrungen gegen Krankheit, Unfruchtbarkeit, D m o n e n ,
Folgen von Trunkenheit und Totengeistern': K T U 1.13 = R S
1.006; K T U 1.82; K T U 1.114; K T U 1.169;
(3) 'Beschwrung gegen Schlangengift': K T U 1.100;
(4) 'Beschwrung gegen die schdliche Naturkrfte': K T U 1.23 =
R S 2.002.'
C a q u o t lists K T U 1.82; K T U 1.114 = RS 24.258; K T U 1.100;
K T U 1.107; and K T U 1.169 under the heading 'tablettes mythicomagiques'."

B
,J

AVISHUR
XELLA

1981,

13.

1981, 207-50.

DE MOOR 1987,

175-90.

1988b, 328-7. In KTU1 the following texts are also marked


as possible incantations: 1.20-22 = RS 2. [024], 2. [019], 2. [024]; 1.65 = RS 4.474;
1.86 = RS 18.041; 1.96 = RS 22.225; 1.107 = RS 24.251+; and 1.123 = RS
24.271. Apparently, these belong to the 'damaged' or 'related' texts referred to by
Dietrich - Loretz.
" C A Q U O T 1989, 51-123. It is remarkable that he pays no attention to these
texts in his survey in C A Q U O T 1979b.
10

DIETRICH -

LORETZ

In his description of Ugaritic religious practices in daily life del


O l m o Lete mentions as 'conjuras': K T U 1.100; K T U 1.107; K T U
1.82; K T U 1.96; and K T U 1.169; 12 and as 'recelas mgicas': K T U
1.124 = R S 24.272:13-5 and K T U 1.114:29-31. 1 3
A recently published survey of documents from the biblical world
contains as examples of Ugaritic incantations: K T U 1.100; K T U
1.169; K T U 1.114; and R S 92.2014.' 4
Apparently the old Ugaritic texts on these matters cannot be clearly
classified. It is better in this situation not to put too much weight
on our modern definitions and choose a more general approach to
the Ugaritic texts about h u m a n efforts to have an influence upon
the supernatural, from raising one's hands in prayer to binding hostile spiritual powers by magic. This means that the boundaries between
'literary' and 'cultic', and those separating 'myth', 'incantation', 'ritual', and 'god lists' are not always as clear as editors of a handbook
might want them to be.

5.2

Speaking to the gods in hymns and prayer

T h e genre of prayer appears to be rare in the texts of ancient


Ugarit. 15 O n e should not, however, conclude from this that the people
of Ugarit did not have deep religious feelings or that they were reluctant to address their gods direcdy. T h e lack of separate hymns or
prayers is simply due to the fact that praising the gods or seeking
their favours is usually set in a larger context. Recitation of the great
myths can be seen as a means of expressing respect for the gods
and their glorious deeds. For instance, telling each other about Baal's
victory over Yam and Mot with the words of the myth of Baal
expresses one's confidence in the power of the supreme god over
chaos and death. T h e hymn addressed to the sun-goddess Shapash
at the end of the myth ( K T U 1.6 = R S 2.[009]+ vi 45-53) is put
in the mouth of Anat, but it is also a way in which the people of
Ugarit thankfully praise the sun-goddess for watching over the boundaries between night and day, the world of the living and the world
of the dead. Hymnic elements can also be found in the second part

12
13
14

15

1992a, 241-60 = 1999, 359-87.


1992a, 261 = 1999, 388.
H A L L O 1997, 295-8; 301-5; and 327-8.
Cf. W A T S O N 1984a, 360 and M I L L E R 1988.
D E L OLMO LETE

DEL OLMO

LETE

of the much debated text K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252, , e which is discussed below together with texts related to necromancy. Hymns also
seem to have formed a standard element in Hurrian prayers accompanying incense offerings ( K T U 1.44 = RS 1.007; K T U 1.51 = R S
1.027; K T U 1.54 = RS 1.034+; K T U 1.128 = RS 24.278; K T U
1.131 = RS 24.285). 17
In the legend of Aqhat we hear of his father Daniel praying (Ug.
sly) for rain ( K T U 1.19 = RS 3.322+ i 38 46). He calls on the
name of Baal, as 'rider of the clouds', and on his 'delightful voice',
that is of the thunder heralding coming showers. In a subsequent
scene, Daniel beseeches (Ug. sly) the gods that the small stalks in
the dry land may shoot up ( K T U 1.19 ii 15-25).
It is more c o m m o n for prayer to be part of ritual actions, as we
can see in the legend of Keret. T h e c o m m a n d to raise the hands
(in prayer) is paralleled by a reference to a sacrifice to El ( K T U
1.14 = R S 2.[003]+ ii 22-3). W e can also find this combination in
the ritual text K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+, with prescriptions about the
annual celebration of the grape harvest in the month 'First of the
Wine'. T h e text ends with the same call for prayer as in the legend
of Keret. In K T U 1.87 = R S 18.056, a copy of K T U 1.41, these
last lines containing the reference to the king's prayer are missing.
T h e action described in K T U 1.41:50-5 is situated in another place:
not in the temple, but on its roof; and it refers to a sacrifice offered
to an unknown deity (prgl sqrn). This is probably a deity of Hurrian
origin. So the expansion of the text can be explained as due to later
Hurrian influence upon an older Ugaritic ritual. T h e king is said (or
prescribed) to offer a recitation (yrgm mlk), but we hear nothing of
its contents. Perhaps building on the assumption of Hurrian influence
one should think here of something like the Hurrian incense prayers
mentioned above. These texts all follow a similar pattern: after the
heading we read the names of the gods to w h o m the prayer is
addressed, together with a short hymn. T h e gods are asked to come
and receive the offerings and then to do something on behalf of the
suppliant. T h e texts end with mention of the messenger and in some

16
A V I S H U R 1994, 297-8 even speaks of the entire text as a 'hymn in honor of
EF, because of the striking similarity with Hebrew psalms and its vocabulary being
reminiscent of that found in hymns.
17

18

Cf.

DIETRICH -

MAYER

1994.

Cf. DE M O O R 1987, 252, n. 190 and


interpretation of 'ahl see DEL O L M O L E T E

MARGALIT
-

1984b, 140-1; for a different


1996, 16.

SANMARTIN

cases with promises of new offerings and a final doxology. T h e words


spoken by the king according to K T U 1.41:53, on the roof of the
temple, could have been something like this calling up the gods and
asking their favours. Because the tablet is damaged here, it is not
clear whether this invocation is accompanied by the king wiping his
face (mh pnh)i9 or by clapping his hands (mh ydh).20 T h e reference to
prayer in line 55, back in the temple, could be related to the closing hymn in the Hurrian incense prayers.
In the older secondary literature K T U 1.65 = R S 4.47 4 21 has
been interpreted as a prayer to El and the assembly of the gods. 22
More recently commentators of the text appear to be reluctant to
classify it. Xella points to the resemblance of the first lines (naming
El, the sons of El, the family of the sons of El, the assembly of the
sons of El, and tkmn-w-snm) with the repeated address of the ritual
text K T U 1.40 = R S 1.003+. H e assumes as a working hypothesis
that K T U 1.65 is some sort of prayer. 2 3 Dietrich - Loretz take this
text as a scribal exercise. 24 In his elaborate study of this text Avishur
also concludes that the old view (of H.L. Ginsberg) that this text is
a prayer, seems to be closest to the truth. Comparison with the
Q p m r a n W a r Scroll (chapters 4 - 6 and 9, about names with as a
second element to be written on banners and weapons) leads him
to classify it as a list of war banners. 2 5 Because these banners are
'battle cries intended to arouse the deity to assist the warriors', this
text resembles a prayer. Although m u c h remains uncertain, one
should not rule out the possibility that this is indeed the text of a
prayer, related to sacrifices as mentioned in K T U 1.40, calling up
the gods (lines 1-5), appealing to the consideration of the supreme

19

C f . DE M O O R

1987,

159,

20

165, a n d

DE T A R R A G O N

1989,

154,

159.

Cf. L E V I N E
DE T A R R A G O N - R O B E R T S O N 1 9 9 7 , 2 9 9 , 3 0 1 . On the clapping of
hands serving 'to intensify the accompanying words and perhaps even to effectuate
the action' see Fox 1995.
21
Cf., for instance, B E R N H A R D T 1975, 239-40: 'Bittgesang an El und die Versammlung der Gtter'. See on this text A V I S H U R 1994, 308-9, who also lists and discusses
previous research.
22
Cf., for instance, B E R N H A R D T 1975, 239-40: 'Bittgesang an El und die Versammlung der Gtter'.
23
X E L L A 1 9 8 1 , 2 1 3 : 'almeno come ipotesi di lavoro, una sorta di "preghiera"'.
24
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1 9 8 1 , 6 4 - 7 ; in their translation of this text in 1 9 8 8 they
call it 'Opfer fr El und seine Reprsentanten'; note also the problems with classifying this text in ATI/ 2 , 91: 'scribal exercise?, invocation of II?, prayer?, incantation?'.
25

AVISHUR

1994,

326,

525,

gods by referring to their noble character (6-9) and naming places


and divine attributes in and with which these words have to be
recited (lines 1 Off.). Del O l m o Lete sees it as a 'cultic invocation of
the divine panoply and to its apparent presence in the sanctuary'. 2 6
In his opinion this primarily concerns Baal's weapons, celebrated in
mythology.
A more generally accepted example of a prayer in alphabetic
Ugaritic is the end of the ritual text K T U 1.119 = R S 24.266. 27
This text starts as a common prosaic ritual prescription about the
right time, place, and sort of sacrifice to the right god. In line 26
there is a transition to a direct address to Baal by referring to the
problem of a strong foe attacking the gates of the city. T h e style
changes here from prose to poetry. 28 T h e prayer (sit, line 34; cf. the
verb in K T U 1.19 = RS 3.322+ i 39) is introduced by the command: 'raise your eyes to Baal' (line 27). T h e request to drive away
the enemy is accompanied by a n u m b e r of vows and sacrifices by
the suppliant, in exchange for Baal's help. T h e text ends with the
statement, repeating the words at the beginning, that Baal will hear
the prayer.
K T U 1.123 = R S 24.271 29 is probably best described as a benediction,'" because of the repeated lm in the opening lines, followed
by a n u m b e r of divine names. T h e text seems to end in a similar
way, the last word being again slm. Lines 14ff. mention righteousness and mercy. This is reminiscent of K T U 1.65 and can be interpreted in the same way as expressing the hope for and confidence
in a positive attitude of the gods towards the one saying these words.
However, any interpretation of this text in its present severely damaged state must remain uncertain.

26

D E L OLMO LETE

341-3

and

WATSON -

1992C, 255; cf. also


WYATT

DEL O L M O L E T E

1992a, 228-9 = 1999,

1997.

27
See on this text X E L L A 1981, 25-34; W A T S O N 1984d, 360-2; DE M O O R 1987,
171-4; M I L L E R 1988; DEL O I . M O L E T E 1989; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 197-205 =
1999, 292-306; P A R D E E 1993, 213-7; AVISHUR 1994, 253-6; W A T S O N 1996b.
28
O n this phenomenon see especially P A R D E E 1993a.
29
Cf. X E L L A 1 9 8 1 , 2 1 6 - 3 , with references to the older literature.
30

DE MOOR

1 9 7 0 3 1 2 ; RAINEY

1974,

191. CAQUOT

1979,

1404 and

suggest that it is a scribal exercise. KTU1,


possible genre: 'prayer, liturgy?, scribal exercise'.
LORETZ

1981,

74-5,

135,

DIETRICH

gives as the

5.3

Binding hostile supernatural forces by incantations

T h e texts discussed under this heading are the ones that best fit the
narrow definition of an incantation given at the beginning. It concerns
independent texts with words of power used against evil forces from
the realm of gods and demons. T h e interpretation of these texts is
very difficult, not only because of the state of conservation of most
tablets, but also because of the genre of the texts, with unknown
vocabulary and often without a clear structure or line of thought.
T h e best example of an Ugaritic incantation is K T U 1.169 =
R I H 78/20. 3 1 Although there is much difference of opinion a m o n g
the interpreters about many details, it is generally accepted that we
are dealing here with a spell to drive off evil powers causing sickness, with the help of Baal, H o r o n and Ashera. It is not clear which
disease is meant here, 32 nor which power is causing it; according to
some it is indicated by dbbm in lines 1 and 9, although it is translated in different ways: 'flying demons' (de Moor), 'tormenters' (Pardee),
or 'accusers' (Fleming). Others (Dietrich - Loretz, Caquot) relate it
to Akkadian dabbu, 'word', and interpret it as a reference to the
words spoken to expel the (unnamed) demon. This difference of opinion returns in the interpretation of kspm (line 9) as 'sorcerers' indicating the black magic of demons, but according to others the magic
with which one can expel the forces of evil.33
T h e r e is more consensus about the verbs used in connection with
the expelling magic : ydy (line 1), 'to drive off', and gr/(line 9), 'chase
away'. Both are used in the legend of Keret in the repeated question 'who a m o n g the gods is able to cast out {ydy) the disease, to
expel (grs) the illness?' ( K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi 10-28). In line
10, in close connection with ksp and grs, we find the root hbr. This
is reminiscent of the use of hbr in the H e b r e w Bible and Akkadian
abru, 'to bind', in Mesopotamian incantations. Avishur points to
Deut. 18:10-11 and to Isa. 47:9 with the word pair hbrym || kpym,
'enchantments 11 spells', and to a similar pair in the Akkadian Maql-

31

Cf.

A V I S H U R 1981; DE M O O R , 255-7; DE M O O R 1987, 183-6; D I E T R I C H 1988, 333-6; C A Q U O T 1989, 53-60; FLEMING 1991; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a,
2 5 9 - 6 0 = 1999, 385-6; P A R D E E 1993, 211-3; FLEMING 1997; W Y A T T 1998C, 442~9.
32
D E M O O R 1980b, 257, and 1987, 184, n. 13, assumes that the patient suffered
from a 'cataleptic or epileptic seizure', Pardee thinks of 'male sexual disfunction'.
33
According to J E F F E R S 1 9 9 6 , 6 7 - 8 , one can leave open both possibilities.
LORETZ

incantation. 3 4 So here hbr would denote the negative influence of evil


spells. Avishur translates: 'Horon will expel the binders and the Youth
soothsayers', relating the last word (dctm) to Hebrew yd'ny. Dijkstra
interprets these terms in a similar way, but he assumes a positive
meaning: ' H o r o n be the enchanter, and the Young M a n the one
who provides knowledge. 35 In the hymn at the end of the Baal myth
this word pair hbr || dct ( K T U 1.6 = R S 2. [009]+ vi 49-50) would
have the same meaning. Most commentators, however, prefer the
more c o m m o n meaning of hbr, 'friend', and d't, 'intimate'. 3 6
In the text we hear of the one who has to recite the incantation:
'the /^-priest' (line 3). This title is also used in the colophon of the
Baal myth ( K T U 1.6 vi 57) and seems to refer to a high-ranking
teacher. 37 In K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002:32 we find the related verb parallel to dbh, 'to sacrifice'. According to some interpreters this officiant
used a staff as a magic device, 38 but the meaning of the word ht
denoting it (line 5) is, again, disputed. 39 This person executing the
incantation by word and probably also by gestures and other ritual
activities can be compared to the Mesopotamian incantation priest
called ipu. It is interesting to note that this exorcist is often mentioned in the colophon of the incantation texts as a scholar who
wrote and checked the tablet. 40
O t h e r correspondences with Mesopotamian incantations are the
use of similar metaphors, especially the spirits being said to leave
'like smoke' 41 and the naming of gods acting on behalf of the oppressed
against the evil spirits. In some Mesopotamian rituals the incantation priest even says that it is not he himself who speaks, but that
it is an incantation of Ea 42 or Ninkilil, 'lord of the incantation. 4 3 This

1981a, 22-3.

34

AVISHUR

35

DIJKSTRA

36

C f . DEL O L M O L E T E -

1985,

150.
SANMARTIN

1996,

126-7

and

172. DIETRICH -

LORETZ

1988b, 335 translate 'Genossen || Komplizen'. According to J E F F E R S 1 9 9 6 , 33 both


suggested meanings of hbr are related: 'comrades can be linked together by sworn
words, oaths and the like'.
37

C f . VAN S O L D T

38

1988 and

FLEMING

1991,

146.

Cf. F L E M I N G 1991, 148-50.


39
Cf. D E L O L M O L E T E - S A N M A R T I N 1996, 202-3.
40
See the texts mentioned in CAD A, II, 434, s.v. ipu a.
41
See, for instance, Maql V: 166-169 (translation by F R B E R 1987, 265). Cf.
A V I S H U R 1981, 18; F L E M I N G 1991, 146; and W A T S O N 1994b, 405-6.
42
Cf. CAD , II, 431-2, s.v. ipu a.2; CAD III, 90, s.v. siptu e.2'.
43
Cf., for instance, the recently discovered incantation against Lamatu, discussed
by

MICHEL

1997.

can be compared to K T U 1.169 = R I H 7 8 / 2 0 beginning with the


statement that it is the breath of Baal which drives out the evil spirits. Unfortunately, the text is broken here. Next to Baal a special
function seems to be reserved for H o r o n (lines 9 - 1 0 ) and Ashera
(line 16).
A n u m b e r of these basic elements of K T U 1.169 are also found in
another clear example of an incantation in alphabetic Ugaritic script:
K T U 1.82 = R S 15.134. 44 This seems to be a collection of six
different incantations, to be recited on different occasions, but also
sharing c o m m o n elements (such as the reference to the snake in lines
6 and 35). T h e fourth part is explicitly introduced as an incantation
with the technical term mnt (see p. 270) in its first line (= line 20).
Like K T U 1.169, this text is difficult to interpret, but it gives us
more information about the gods invoked to help and especially
about the demons to fight. T h e benign gods are Baal (lines 1 and 6),
his consort Anat (line 11 and twice in line 39), and the sun-goddess
Shapash (line 6). T h e evil forces they have to destroy are:
T u n n a n (line 1), known from the myth of Baal ( K T U 1.3 = R S
2. [014]+ iii 40) as a monstrous helper (dragon) of Yam, the god
of the sea, one of Baal's prime opponents. According to the myth
T u n n a n is slain by Anat. H e also seems to have been mentioned
in the small fragment K T U 1.83 = R S 16.266, next to Yam,
'bound (by c Anak?) on the heights of Lebanon'. 4 5 This reference
to T u n n a n , however, is uncertain, not only because of the poor
state of conservation of the tablet, but also because it is based on
a correction of the text in line 8, reading tnn instead of t'an.*6
Reshep (line 3), the god of pestilence, who is mentioned next to the
'lads of Y a m ' in the legend of Keret as the god who caused the
death of one of the king's wives ( K T U 1.14 = R S 2.[003]+ i 19).
Mot (line 5), the god of death. Next to Yam he is the other powerful opponent of Baal ( K T U 1.5 = R S 2.[022]+).

44

Cf.

VAN

ZIJL

1972,

1974,

1975;

DE

MOOR

SPRONK

1984;

CAQUOT

1988

1988, 336-9; C A Q U O T 1989, 61-70; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a,


251-5 = 1999, 373-9.
45
Cf. P I T A R D 1 9 9 8 ; DE M O O R 1 9 8 7 , 1 8 1 - 2 assumes that this text was part of an
incantation.
46
C A Q U O T 1 9 8 9 , 2 8 - 3 0 states that tnn is the key term of the text, but he ignores
the fact that for this interpretation the text has to be changed.
DIETRICH

LORETZ

Serpents (lines 6 and 35), who are the prime object of another Ugaritic incantation ( K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244 and K T U 1.107 = R S
24.251+; see below).
Creatures of H o r o n (line 13). This reading is uncertain, but the
name of Horon, who is the lord of the demons, returns in lines
27 and 41. Horon is mentioned in the legend of Keret as a threatening power in a curse: 'may H o r o n break your head' ( K T U 1.16 =
3.325+ vi 56-7; this phrase can also be restored in the broken
text K T U 1.2 = R S 3.367 i 7-8). In the Ugaritic incantations
H o r o n plays an ambivalent role: on the one hand he is a fearful
threat, on the other h a n d he can be called u p o n to take the
demonic threat away (cf. K T U 1.100 and K T U 1.169).
In the second part of the text the evil forces are indicated more
'poetically' as 'creatures of agitation' (lines 18 and 41), 'creatures
of insanity' (line 18), 'sons of disease (or: terror)' (line 23), '1egions(P)'
(line 26; cf. Mark 5:9), 'flies (or: accusers)' (line 26), 'those of the
flood(?)' (line 27), 'stupor(?)' (line 28), 'the fugitive' (line 38; cf.
K T U 1.5 = R S 2. [022]+ i 1, where it is used as epithet of a seamonster related to Yam).
It is not clear what is precisely the nature of the distress caused by
these evil forces. In the first lines there seems to be reference to
problems of a girl with her menstruation, that is with her fertility.
T h e names of the demons in the second part of the text point in
more general terms to disease and insanity. W h a t is clear is that
these evil forces have to be driven out (grs, lines 12 and 40; see also
K T U 1.169:9) or have to be b o u n d (rky, lines 10 and 38). Both verbs
are c o m m o n terms in this genre.
For the place of this and other incantations within the religion of
Ugarit it is important to note the close relation with the myth of
Baal. T h e batde described there of Baal and Anat, supported by Shapash, against Yam, Mot and their helpers does not appear to be something from a distant past. It has its repercussions on daily h u m a n life.
T h e victory over the forces of evil has to be gained time and again.
As was remarked above, Horon takes a central place in K T U 1.100 =
R S 24.244. 47 Fortunately, this text is well-preserved. It is in itself not

47

See on this text especially the elaborate study of


references to previous studies. Cf. also DE M O O R 1 9 8 7 ,

PARDEE

1988,

193-226,

1 4 6 - 5 6 ; DIETRICH -

with

LORETZ

a pure incantation, but can be classified as a ritual in mythological


form. It contains, however, a n u m b e r of brief incantations indicated
as mnt. T h e text tells of a mare, 'the mother of the stallion'. She is
probably a goddess acting on behalf of her worshippers. W e are told
that she seeks support from the great deities of the Ugaritic pantheon against venomous serpents. T h e sun-goddess Shapash is indicated as her mother and acts as an intermediary. Each request ends
with the same incantation in order to charm (lf}; cf. the use of
Akkadian lahu, 'to whisper', together with siptu, 'incantation', 4 8 and
the use of Hebrew 1h, specifically related to the charming of snakes
i n j e r . 8:17; Ps. 58:5-6; Q o h . 10:11; and Sir. 12:13), expel (ydy) and
bind (ytq) the snake and its poison. Apparently, this incantation was
repeated eleven times, each time on the basis of another authority.
T h e twelfth, Horon, responds in a different way. With a magical
rite, using a m o n g other things a tamarisk and 'the tree of death',
he succeeds in letting the poison 'become weak and flow away'. This
climax of the text is, as is appropriate in magic texts, described with
a n u m b e r of puns. 49 T h e text ends with a dialogue between a groom
and a bride; apparently these are H o r o n and the 'mother of the
stallion'. T h e y speak about marriage with the serpents (a phallic symbol?) as bride-price.
A clearly related text is K T U 1.107 = R S 24.251+. 5 0 Here the
snake is called 'devourer', a c o m m o n designation of demons (lines
10 and 20).51 In the more elaborate mythological part of the text
Shapash plays a more active role. 32
T h e r e can be no doubt about H o r o n being viewed here in a positive way, be it that he is clearly not the first choice. T h e eleven
incantations preceding the final invocation seem to be meant to show
that no other choice was left than to go to Horon's 'fortress', probably an indication of his hardly accessible residence in the nether-

1988, 345-0; L E V I N E - DE T A R R A G O N 1988; C A Q U O T 1989, 79-94; P A R D E E 1997a


and W Y A T T 1998C, 378-87.
48
Cf. CAD , III, 90, s.v. siptu A.e.3'.
49
Cf. G R E A V E S 1994 and P A R D E E 1997a, 298, n. 26. See on this phenomenon
in Mesopotamian incantations F R B E R 1986.
50
Cf. X E L L A 1981, 241-0; P A R D E E 1988b, 227-56; and C A Q U O T 1989, 95-100.
51
Cf. DE M O O R 1 9 8 1 - 2 , I 1 0 . He refers, among other things, to the clear representation on a Phoenician amulet from Arslan Tash (seventh century BCE) of a
demoniacal man-eater.
52
O n this part of the text and a number of resemblances with the story of the
Garden of Eden according to the Hebrew Bible, see DE M O O R 1988b.

world. O n e
demons by
It is also
and ritual.
liturgy.

can compare this to Jesus being accused of casting out


Beelzebul, the prince of demons (Mark 3.22).
important to note the combination of myth, incantation,
This appears to be a c o m m o n feature of the Ugaritic

O n e of the new Ugaritic texts discovered in 1992 is the incantation


R S 92.2014, 5 3 which is in many respects similar to K T U 1.100,
K T U 1.107, and K T U 1.169. As in K T U 1.169 the offending evil
force remains unnamed: dy lyd\ 'the one not known'. H e is presented as a foaming snake and as a scorpion and is exorcised in a
magic rite with 'bits of sacred wood'. This is reminiscent of the
action taken by Horon against snakebite according to K T U 1.100
and K T U 1.107. In this way he prevents the serpent from coming
up (ely) and the scorpion from standing up (a new Ugaritic root qnr).
T h e second part of the text (lines 8-13) is an incantation against
dbbm and kpm. These words are also used in K T U 1.169. In R S
92.2014 they are mentioned next to rs\ 'the evil m a n ' and bn nm,
'son of m a n ' , which seems to be an indication of all possible men.
T h e incantation is directed against any evil word spoken: 'may they
pour it to the earth'.
T h e incantation is dedicated to Urtenu, the holder of the archive
to which this tablet belongs: 'for his body (gb), for his members (tmntf.
These two words also occur in K T U 1.169:5-6. T h e incantation has
a function in securing the physical well-being of Urtenu.
O n e final text to be mentioned within this framework of independent incantations is K T U 1.96 = RS 22.225. This is usually interpreted as a short mythological text about Anat literally or, what
seems to be more likely, figuratively devouring Baal. 54 T h e reference
to Anat was found in the first word of the tablet. New collations,
however, show that the first letters are cnn, not W.55 In the first edition of K T U it was suggested that cnn is a scribal error for cnt, but
in the second edition this 'rectification' was left out. A n u m b e r of
scholars now suggest that cnn is related to the repeated reference to
53
It is briefly described by B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1995, 2 8 and 3 1 ; a first translation was offered by P A R D E E 1997a.
54
Cf. DE M O O R 1 9 8 7 , 1 0 9 - 1 0 ; and A S T O U R 1 9 8 8 , with a survey of previous
research.
55
See now L E W I S 1996a, with excellent photographs and drawings.

n, 'eye', in lines 5 - 1 3 and explain the text as an incantation against


the evil eye. 56 This is a well-known object of incantations in Mesopotamia. 5 7 A clear example is also found in a later Phoenician incantation against 'the coming of the big eye' and with m a n y other
descripdons of the evil eye, just as in the second part of K T U 1.96. 58
Even more interesting within this comparison is that on the tablet
of the Phoenician incantation we see a drawing of a demon devouring the one he attacks. In the heading the d e m o n is called mzh,
'sucker', namely of blood. This has a counterpart in K T U 1.96:4-5
which states that the demoniac power eats the flesh and drinks the
blood of his victim.

5.4

Conjuring up the spirits of the dead

T h e demons to be driven out with the help of incantations are associated with death and the netherworld. As we have seen above, some
of them are represented as helpers or satellites of Yam and Mot (cf.
K T U 1.82 = R S 15.134:1, 5, 27, 38). It is very likely that as in
Mesopotamia the people of Ugarit feared the influence of malign
spirits of the dead. 5 9 From Mesopotamia we know many incantations with the object of expelling them. In Ugarit we hear more of
their positive counterpart: invoking the dead to ask their advice and
help. 60 This was also an act of veneration. By offering their sacrifices
and honouring them by calling their names, they hoped to prevent
hostilities from the dead towards the living.
T h e interpretation of the texts concerned is a matter of much dispute. According to some scholars there is not enough evidence to
speak of a cult of the dead. In their view there was probably no
more than a funerary cult intended to offer a good burial for the
deceased, helping them on their way to the netherworld; which is
to be clearly distinguished from any belief in supernatural power of

56
Cf. DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 255-9 = 1999, 379-84, and 1992b; his interpretation is accepted by W A T S O N 1992b, 367, n. 5; W A T S O N 1994b, 237; L E W I S 1996a,
118 and W Y A T T 1998C, 375-7. T h e suffixed -n is usually explained as a deictic element, comparable to Hurrian -ne\ cf. D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1990a, 104.
57

C f . THOMSEN

58

O n this seventh century incantation from Arslan Tash see

1992.

111.
59

C f . BOTTRO

60

Cf.

SPRONK

1983 and

1993.

1986, 145-206 and

LORETZ

1993, 287-30.

DE M O O R

1981-2,

the dead. 61 This is not the place to enter that discussion. M a n y of


these texts are already discussed elsewhere in this handbook. Within
the present context the survey can be confined to the elements related
to the incantation texts.
K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126 62 is a ritual text associated with the burial of a king of Ugarit. It reports the invocation of all possible ancestors, with many names of former kings, but also with more general
indications such as 'rephaim of the earth' and 'rephaim of old'.
Apparently, one was anxious not to forget any of the important
deceased ancestors. This can be compared to a similar p h e n o m e n o n
in the 'Genealogy of the H a m m u r a p i Dynasty' 6 3 listing all spirits of
the dead that are considered important to the well-being of the living king: the royal dead, the heroes and also the spirits who might
become hostile, namely 'any dynasty which is not recorded on this
tablet, and any soldier who fell while on his lord's service, princes,
princesses, all humanity, from the east to the west, who have no one
to care for them or to call their names'. 6 4 T h e idea behind this was
that the dead who remained u n n a m e d and uncared for could become
a threat to the living. So especially the unknown spirits of the dead
(cf. dy lydc, 'the unknown one' in R S 92.2014) were feared. Also the
fact that in K T U 1.161 of the great gods only the sun-goddess
Shapash is mentioned, is reminiscent of the incantations. She appears to be the most important intermediary between the living and
the dead.
T h e Rephaim texts ( K T U 1.20-22 = R S 3.348, 2. [019], 2.[024]),
only partly preserved, seem to describe a similar invocation and
actual gathering of the spirits of the dead. T h e state of the tablets
hardly allows any conclusion on their function. 6 5 T h e relation with
the legend of Aqhat suggests that the rephaim may have been called
up by the father of Aqhat on the occasion of the burial of his son.
T h e fact that the rephaim come together on the threshing floor may
indicate that they could be of help in restoring the fertility which
was lost at the death of Aqhat.

61

Cf. S C H M I D T 1994, 47 1 3 1 and P A R D E E 1996a.


See on this text especially B O R D R E U I L
P A R D E E 1 9 9 1 , 1 5 1 - 6 3 , and also the
recent study of T S U M U R A 1 9 9 3 . A survey of recent research can be found with
62

LORETZ

1993,

296-300.

63

C f . FINKELSTEIN

64

Cf. on this part of the text also L A M B E R T 1 9 6 8 .


Note the call for a 'minimalist' approach by P I T A R D 1992a and

65

1966.
LEWIS

1996b.

K T U 1.108 = R S 24.252 can be regarded as an example of the


belief in ancient Ugarit that the spirits of the dead could be invoked
to help and bless the living. 66 Baal seems to be presented here as
the first of the rephaim. Together with Baal and other gods these
spirits of the dead enjoy a banquet presented to them in order to
propitiate them.
In K T U 1.124 = R S 24.272 we may find another way in which
the spirits of the dead could support the living. 67 T h r o u g h a mediator they give precise advice on how to cure a sick child. If this
interpretation is correct, it would offer a good illustration of the spirits of the dead acting according to the probable meaning of their
name: rp'um, 'healers'.

5.5

Elements of incantations in other texts

We have already come across the phenomenon of incantations embedded in other texts. Some of these also deserve our attention.
K T U 1.13 = R S 1.006 is interpreted by Dietrich - Loretz as an
incantation against infertility: 68 a hymn to Anat is followed by a
prayer for fertility, which is answered by a mythological fragment
about Anat and Baal solving a similar problem. In particular, the
urgent call for supernatural assistance (lines 23-29) can be regarded
as an incantation. Note also the special role in this context of 'messengers from heaven' (ml'ak smm, lines 21-22). T h e y belong to the
class of divine beings who, standing in between humans and the
great gods, often play a prominent role in incantations, either as
helpers or as offenders.
A combination of myth and ritual can also be found in K T U 1.23
= RS 2.002. Although there is no consensus about the interpretation of this text, there can be no doubt about the relation to the
question of fertility. 69 T h e text is associated by Dietrich - Loretz
with the incantations because of its beginning: }iqr'a, invoke (the

66

See for a survey of previous research on this 'Zankapfel der Ugaritologen'


1993, 293-5; cf. also P A R D E E 1988b, 75-118, and A V I S H U R 1994, 277-307.
67
See on this text D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1990a, 205-40; L O R E T Z 1993, 289-93;
and, for a different interpretation, P A R D E E 1988b, 179-92.
68
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 339-42 with a reconstruction of the ritual; cf. also
DE M O O R 1980a. For a different interpretation see DEL O L M O L E T E 1981b and
M A R G A L I T 1995, 231-8.
LORETZ

69

C f . SEGERT

1985

and

DE M O O R

1987,

117-8.

gracious gods)'. In their opinion it is an incantation against malign


forces of nature. 7 0 Also the part of the text dealing with mt w sr,
'death and evil' (lines 8-11) resembles the incantations; in particular the reference to the binding (smd, line 10) of the demon-like god
points in this direction.
K T U 1.114 = RS 24.258 is labelled by Dietrich - Loretz as an
incantation for the medical treatment of drunkenness. 7 1 T h e text
describes El drinking himself nearly to death and two goddesses
finding a remedy to cure his sickness. T h e remedy seems to be
described in the last lines as a recipe for humans with the same
problem. 7 2 This and similar texts (cf. K T U 1.23; K T U 1.100; K T U
1.107) can teach us something about the use of myths in the daily
life of ancient Ugarit. Apparently, it was believed that reciting the
right story on the right occasion, combining it with the right prayer
and cultic acts, had magical power. Interpreted in this way, K T U
1.114 is related to 'pure' incantations. T o this can be added that in
lines 19-20 we hear of a demon-like figure threatening El in his
drunkenness (lines 19-20). This hby is described as 'the one with two
horns and a tail'. T h e name itself can be translated as 'crawler' and
seems to refer to a scorpion." In Ugaritic incantations this is a common indication of the evil force to be expelled.
In the myth about the moon-god Yarikh obtaining his bride Nikkal
( K T U 1.24 = R S 5.194) we find some elements related to the incantations in the second section of the text (lines 40-50), which is separated from the rest of the text by a horizontal line. It concerns a
hymn to goddesses called the Kathirat, daughters of the new moon
Hilal. T h e y are described as birds settling down on the trees. T h e
singer calls them by their names, stating that 'their list' (mnthn] cf.
the use of mnt in K T U 1.82:20 a n d K T U 1.100) is on his lips.
According to this text the Kathirat can be regarded as lower goddesses who are especially related to marital affairs. Their status is
comparable to that of demons and (deified) spirits of the dead, who
just like the Kathirat, are often compared to birds. 74 Calling their

1988b, 3 5 0 - 7 .
1988b, 342-5; cf. also P A R D E E 1988b, 13-74;
1997a; and C A T H C A R T 1996; W Y A T T 1998c, 4 0 4 - 1 3 .
72
Cf. W A T S O N 1990a.
70

DIETRICH -

71

DIETRICH

LORETZ

LORETZ

73

C f . CATHCART

74

C f . SPRONK

1996,

1986,

5.

100.

PARDEE

names at the end of the myth about a divine wedding probably


functioned as a way to invoke their blessings on the occasion of a
h u m a n wedding.
For the sake of completeness another two texts deserve some attention. In the second edition of K T U the genre of tablet 1.86 = R S
18.041 is indicated as 'myth?, ritual?, incantation?'. 7 5 Recently, it has
been demonstrated that it is likely that we are dealing here with a
hippiatric text about breeding. 7 6
K T U 1.93 = RS 19.054 is listed by de M o o r a m o n g the incantations, interpreting it as a prayer to Anat for help in reciting his
incantation properly, that is, without stammering. 7 7 If this interpretation of the short and damaged text is correct, 78 then it would illustrate the importance of incantations in the religious life of the people
of Ugarit.

75

KTU\

76

C f . DEL O L M O L E T E -

77

DE

78

106.
MARQUEZ

1987, 186-7.
For other interpretations see

ROWE

1995.

MOOR

CAQUOT 1989, 3 7 - 9

and the literature listed there.

C H A P T E R SEVEN

THE UGARITIC CULTIC TEXTS

Paolo

1.1

T h e

M e r l o

Rituals

Paolo

X e l l a

The problem of the ritual documents

T h e Ugaritic texts which can be classed as ritual texts or have a ritual background did not at first attract the attention of scholars to
the same extent as the mythological texts, on which an enormous
bibliography has emerged. T h e very formal characteristics of these
documents have contributed to discouraging any approach to them.
T h e y are mostly schematic texts, written in a concise and technical
language which proceeds by allusions, using an accurate and precise
liturgical vocabulary which cannot be studied with the help of, for
example, the parallelism characteristic of poetry. In addition, there
is the frequent use of stereotyped formulae, the understanding of
which depends on actually identifying the rites to which they allude.
Lastly, the focus of the syntax is extremely difficult because 'prescriptive' rubrics and 'descriptive' sections alternate with no obvious
criteria and are accompanied by long lists of gods followed (often
asyndetically) by the victims or offerings intended for them.
A good stimulus to the study of ritual texts, which have been neglected
for so m a n y years (apart perhaps from a couple of specific contributions) 1 came from the article by Levine 2 on the possibility of identifying prescriptive and descriptive rituals, even if this distinction now
seems applicable only to a limited extent. This is either because
1 9 5 5 . Cf. also U R I E 1 9 5 9 .
1963. The distinction he proposes between 'prescriptive' rituals and
'descriptive' rituals is only acceptable in broad outline since it is clear that even a
description is significantly prescriptive in nature (libretto for ceremonies; cf. the use
of the imperfect/future). It is, thus, a spurious problem. Cf. also L E V I N E 1965; 1974,
8ff. and 1983.
1

DE

LEVINE

GUGLIELMO

several texts do not, strictly speaking, belong to either of the two


categories or else because the descriptive texts are also standard and
are also often devised and written down as m e m o r a n d a .
However, the situation has improved markedly over the last twenty
years, which have seen the first monographs on these documents as
well as a series of minor studies devoted to analysing the lexicon,
structure and function of the various texts, their implications for the
history of religions, the divinities involved in the rites, the typology
of the rites, etc. If we limit ourselves here only to wide-ranging works,
first of all comes the publication in 1979 of a long and excellent
comprehensive t r e a t m e n t of the ritual texts in the Supplment au
Dictionnaire de la Bible written by Caquot. 3 T h e n , at the beginning of
the eighties, there appeared the first monographs on the topic by de
Tarragon 4 (which is more discursive) and by Xella 5 (which is more
systematic). Besides a large n u m b e r of other minor studies (which
appeared chiefly in Ugant-Forschungen), a new wide-ranging contribution appeared in the section written by de T a r r a g o n in the book
edited by Caquot, de T a r r a g o n himself and Cunchillos (TO 2) which
was published in 1989 (although written a few years earlier) even
though it did not provide any remarkable new interpretations (in a
few rare instances even marking a regression). With del O l m o Lete's
monograph, 6 substantial progress has been achieved in spite of the
way the author has chosen to present the material (in practice it is
a comprehensive study of the religion of Ugarit). In this survey can
also be noted the translations m a d e by Dietrich and Loretz of a certain n u m b e r of ritual texts in the collection TUAT and elsewhere 7
as well as the inclusion of several cultic documents in the anthology
of de Moor 8 and in the study by Pardee of texts which he curiously
called 'para-mythological'. 9

1.2

Classifications of form and content

T h e ritual texts supply direct and extremely valuable information


about religious practices (chiefly but not exclusively royal and pub3

CAQUOT

D E TARRAGON

XELLA

DEL OLMO

DIETRICH -

DE

PARDEE

1979.
1980.

1981.

MOOR

LETE

1992a

LORETZ
1987.

1988b.

1988b,

1999.
1990a.

lie) of ancient Ugarit, even if we reiterate that the material is difficult,


to be approached with caution, using clear methodological principles. Apart from attempts to consider these documents as a specific
'literary form', the main fixed points of departure for analysis are as
follows. In terms of the history of religions, they have an undoubtedly cultic character, while in terms of linguistics, they belong to a
form of linguistic expression that can be defined as 'chancellery language', 10 which places them on the same level as the economic and
administrative texts and the hippiatric texts.
As for their being documents with a religious purpose, the ritual
texts have to be studied against the background of all that we know
about the beliefs and cults of Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age,
with the proviso of also using, to the greatest extent possible, the
archaeological data from Ras S h a m r a and Ras Ibn Hani in order
to provide a better framework as to how the rites functioned, and who
were their participants and the recipients of the various ceremonies.
O f course, local mythology also has to be a constant and fundamental reference point for understanding the rites and their underlying ideology. T h e objection (which is often raised) that the 'literary'
texts reflect a stage of Ugaritic religion which is different and older
(than the ritual texts) in fact has very little foundation, for it is based
only on the formal opposition between poetic language and the nonpoetic or non-literary language" in which the ritual texts are cast.
In terms of the history of religions it is true that in some cases there
is a certain divergence, for example between the rank and personality of the divine figures described in the myths and those venerated in the cult. However, the history of religions teaches us that
the mythic dimension has its own laws, times and coordinates, such
that the actions or features of a god in the mythological narratives
need not necessary have an exact equivalent in the ritual universe
regulated by man in terms of his own needs (even such banal and
practical needs as the eating and [re-]distribution of meat by means
of ritualizing immolations and celebrating religious feasts). T o cite
only one striking case, it is precisely in the 'later' ritual texts that
the god Elincorrectly considered by some to be in decline with
the passage of timeoccupies a position of undoubted pre-eminence
over all the other deities. 12

10

FRONZAROLI

11

LIVERANI

12

Cf.

XEI.LA

1975.

1964.

(forthcoming).

If, instead, we consider the content of the texts rather than their
outward form, mythology and culdc documentation comprise two
complementary and fairly organic aspects of Ugaritic religion which,
as in all the cultures of the ancient world, is expressed differently at
different levels. Lastly, as regards the matter of the relationships
between myth and ritual, which are inextricably connected, it is
sufficient to r e m e m b e r the existence of texts such as K T U 1.23 =
R S 2.002, correctly defined as 'cultic myth'; 1 3 or, the fact that recitations, prayers, exorcisms and incantations are religious acts which
can all be projected into the mythic dimension (while the recitation
of a myth is itself a rite!).
Besides these considerations, another important fact to keep in
mind in the study of the Ugaritic rituals is the comparative dimension within the religious traditions of Syria-Palestine and Northern
Mesopotamia. With the increase in our knowledge of the religion
and sacrificial system of centres such as Ebla, 14 Emar 1 5 as well as
Mari (with the requisite changes), 16 it is necessary to get away from
the usual and repeated references to the Bible in order to reconstruct the religious tradition peculiar to Syria, the consistency and
essential continuity of which are perceptible.
It should also be r e m e m b e r e d that additional and often direct
information on the cult and on various rites, both sacrificial and
non-sacrificial, can be gained from other types of text, i.e. the economic and administrative texts, 17 the letters and the mythological
texts. T h e most famous example in the last category comprises the
rites carried out by Keret ( K T U 1.14 = R S 2. [003]+ ii 50ff. and
parallels) which, though to some extent awaiting proof, are undeniably connected with cultic practice.
However, it is understandable how, faced with a mass of documents sharing a definite (and more or less direct) connection with
the cult, but without uniform formal characteristics, specialists have
attempted to sort this material, proposing classifications and subclassifications of various kinds.
In a monograph written in 1 9 8 1 ( X e l l a 1 9 8 1 ) one of the authors
set out a subdivision of the texts as follows: 1) monthly liturgies and
13

14
15
16
17

D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 15 = 1999, 15.


Cf. in general F R O N Z A R O L I 1993 and P O M P O N I O - X E L L A 1997.
Cf. especially F L E M I N G 1 9 9 2 and, for example, D I E T R I C H 1 9 9 0 .
An excellent synthesis in D U R A N D 1 9 9 5 .
DEL OLMO LETE
S A N M A R T I N 1998. On these aspects see below.

lists of offerings; 2) divination texts and oracles; 3) prayers; 4) incantations; 5) atonement sacrifices; 6) liturgies for kings; 7) votive texts;
8) lists of gods. 18 This proposed classification has largely been followed by G . del O l m o Lete ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a = 1999) with
a series of additional subdivisions which refine the original grid still
f u r t h e r , even for example distinguishing prescriptive rituals into
sacrificial or non-sacrificial, pure or mixed, single or multiple, etc. 19
T h e table proposed by the Spanish scholar is undoubtedly a good
theoretical grid for classification, provided that it is not taken rigidly
as a formal reference point. In this Handbook, which has a more general approach, we shall retain the distinction between prescriptive
and recited rituals. Whether the sacrificial action does or does not
involve blood is a further classification which, in some sense, cuts
across the others and can connote a n u m b e r of other ceremonies.
Likewise, whether the ritual actions are more or less complex, the
length of time they take and where they are performed, are factors
which do not alter the basic typology.
Ultimately it has to be said that our as yet imperfect knowledge
of the sacrificial vocabulary of Ugarit and our continuing ignorance
of the deep structures of Syrian religion in the Bronze Age should
put us on guard against claims of elaborate classification which are
too detailed and too systematic.

1.3

Rite and sacrificial material: terminology and

typology

As indicated above, to describe or record various actions of the cult,


the Ugaritic ritual texts use a series of technical terms which sometimes have a more generic meaning and sometimes are very technical. Even if we are still very far from having resolved all the
problems of interpretation, the meanings of some terms have now
been determined with enough certainty. 20 T h e word dbh is a prime

X E L L A 1 9 8 1 ; in fact there is also a section on Hurro-Ugaritic rituals, due only


to the bilingualism marking these documents, recently studied in a systematic way
particularly by M. Dietrich, W. Mayer and M. Dijkstra in various publications
(chiefly UF and A O A T / A L A S P ) .
19
A different approach has been adopted by D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 300ff.,
which however is also reductive because it is determined by the anthological nature
of the series (TUAT) in which it appears.
20
X E L L A 1989; D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 19-22 = 1999, 20 1; 1995. Nevertheless
there are still quite a few disputed or even completely enigmatic cases, for example,
18

example of a term to denote the sacrificial ceremony which is both


specific and generic at the same time.
O f as yet unknown etymology, 21 dbh (generally attested as a noun
although it also occurs in verbal form) is a key term in the Ugaritic
sacrificial lexicon. It has been suggested that a whole series of terms
(for example,ytn, kbd, nkt, np, nrr, na, ntk, ql, qrb, lm, t (?), t'y) should
be considered essentially as its synonyms, 22 but each of t h e m a p a r t
from proven cases of functional synonymityis of course distinct and
must be investigated separately as a specific element of a highly technical lexicon. In fact, dbh is a polysemantic term, as noted already
by Aistleitner, 23 who correctly distinguished between (a) the meaning
'schlachten/Schlachtopfer' and (b) the meaning 'Gastmahl essen/Mahl'.
T h e Ugaritic term is not semantically related to Hebrew zbh (verb
and noun) but instead to Akk. zbu, 'food offering', which in turn is
synonymous with naptnu (originally an accounting term used for food
rations, used in the cult but also in non-cultic texts). T h e so-called
polyglot vocabulary of Ug 5 (137 iii 6)24 gives the equivalents EZEN =
i-si-nu = e-\l]i = da-ab-hu, from which can be deduced the clear
meaning 'feast', 'soire'. This meaning is abundantly confirmed by
the use of the term in the ritual texts. It is a sacrificial meal, i.e. a
sacred banquet, as has been proved by several terms which are parallel or actually synonymous to itdgt, msd, trm, esrt. However, the
meaning of the word sometimes seems to be more generic (precisely
'feast' in general), 23 since dbh sometimes includes not only foodstuffs
(for example, cf. oil and honey in K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+:20-l)
but also objects, clothes or metals. T h u s it is an offering in a generic
sense even if, as seems to be the case, the gift par excellence to the
gods is still food (cf. the implicit equivalence dbh kispum in K T U
1.142 = R S 24.323). 26
An excellent example of a grandiose and complex dbh is provided
by K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643, 27 the dbh of Sapunu, which seems to

cf. terms such as iyn, m'rb (in spite of its apparently clear etymology), sin, trmt and
others as well.
21

FRONZAROLI

1965.

1992a, 2 0 - 1 = 1999, 21-3, although he notes that the synonymy refers only to the basic meaning of 'to offer'.
22

DEL OLMO

23

AISTLEITNER

24

Cf. H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 117; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 303. Cf. 4.5.


Cf. for example the opening line of K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126: spr. dbh. zlm.
Cf. DLU, 128a for the references.
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 88-91 = 1999, 129-33. (with previous bibliography).

25
26
27

LETE

1974,

722.

include a whole series of different rites within the ceremony. In this


case, however, it seems that the iZmm-sacrifice does not form part of
the general typology of the dbh, but it cannot be excluded completely
that in the first section of this text the offerings are to be considered as performed as a /r/?-sacrifice (which was not mentioned because
it was implicit). A text such as K T U 1.170 = R I H 7 8 / 1 1 shows
that the dbh included sacrifices such as the srp, as is also indicated
by the semantic field of the Hurrian term athl, sometimes used as
equivalent to dbh and sometimes as equivalent to srp.2*
If, out of several possible cases, we consider the so-called atonement
ritual K T U 1.40 + 84 + 121 + 122 + 154 = RS 1.002,29 significandy,
the terms dbh and tc denote the inner cultic sphere in which the
Ugaritic homo religiosus has committed sin.
Above we have referred to attempts at formal classification of the
ritual texts. Without going into over-precise subdivisions, we note
that the ritual actions can be simply classed into the following categories: 30 ritual blood sacrifices, bloodless sacrificial offerings, processions, enthronements-investitures, cultic meals. T o these can be
added texts or parts of texts comprising recitation (including prayers).
T h e first category is thus represented by ritual actions involving blood.
A m o n g these, the designation attested most often in the rituals of
Ugarit is provided by the brace of terms srp and lmm, which almost
always occur together in close succession. These are two specific
terms for sacrifice, the first of which is evidently connected with the
action of 'burning' the victim (as the root *srp shows) as is the case
in the other Semitic languages (although this does not mean that it
was always a holocaust); the second term, lmm, is possibly to be
translated 'communion sacrifice' or 'peace sacrifice', based on etymology and also on comparison with H e b r e w elamm.U Explicit
confirmation that (with the requisite modifications) in Ugarit also it
is a communal meal of the offerers, comes from K T U 1.115 = R S
24.260:9-10: l il bt lmm kl l y Ihm bh, 'a ram to the god of the
(royal) house as a //mm-offering; all eat it'. 32

2R

DIETRICH -

MAYER

1995,

12-3.

1981, 251-76; DEL O L M O L E T E , 1992a, 9 9 - 1 0 9 = 1999, 1 4 4 - 6 0 ; DE


M O O R - SANDERS 1991; W Y A T T 1998C, 342-7.
30
D E T A R R A G O N 1980, 55-129; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 28-32 = 1999, 3 4 - 4 0 ;
cf. also DEL O L M O L E T E 1995, passim.
31
Current views and bibliography in DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 3 0 - 1 and n. 81 =
29

XELLA

1999,
32

37-40

XELLA

and
1981,

n.

82.

1 0 8 ; DEL O L M O L E T E

1992a,

177

81

= 1999, 257-64.

Also part of the other actions of the blood ritual is the act of
'immolation' (nkt) or 'slaughter' (qll) of the victim. Nevertheless, the
ritual texts provide evidence of further types of sacrificial offerings
of which the meaning is not always precise, as in the cases of npt
(related perhaps to Hebrew tenp),33 tzg (which may denote either
the victim or the rite)34 and also t'y, mentioned already, a polysemantic term which also seems to denote an offering connected with
the royal cult. 35
Besides rites involving blood, the Ugaritic texts also mention bloodless ritual actions. A m o n g the ceremonies which do not involve the
sprinkling of blood can be mentioned here the fairly widespread
practice of performing 'libations' (the verb *ntk or the derived noun
mtk), especially of water and wine, documented in several texts (cf.
for example, K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+:12; K T U 1.107 = RS 24.251:46;
K T U 1.119 = R S 24.266:25), although they provide no information
about the details of the ceremonies. T h e bloodless offerings also
include, of course, offerings of vegetable food, and of various types
of object, metal or cloth, which are amply documented in the ritual texts as well as in the economic and administrative texts. 36
A further category of ritual actions comprises the processions, identifiable by a series of terms (for example, yrd, hlk, Iqh, cly, crb, etc.)
and correcdy included by G. del O l m o Lete among the 'non-sacrificial
liturgies'. 37 T h e processions mentioned in the Ugaritic rituals have
in fact as a central point a series of ceremonial actions in honour
of divine statues, 38 in which, as usual, the role carried out by the
king and his family is completely in the foreground. In this connection, the ritual K T U 1.43 = R S 1.005 can be mentioned which
is focussed completely on the procession of divine statues. 39 It begins
with k t'rb* 'ttrt. hr. gb/bt mlk 'When 'Attart of Hurri 4 0 enters the gb
of the royal palace', and has the important conclusion (lines 24-26):
mlk. ylk. Iqh. ilm || atr. ilm. ylk. penm./mlk. p*c*nm. yl[k]/sbc pamt. Iklhm,
'the king will go to take (the statues o f ) the gods || behind (the stat33

34

MILGROM

1972.

1981, 39-40.
35
D E L O L M O L E T E 1988a; cf. also F R E I L I C H 1992.
36
D E L O I . M O L E T E - SANMARTIN 1998; cf. in general
1999, passim.
37
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 96 = 1999, 1 4 0 - 1 .
38
D E T A R R A G O N 1 9 8 0 , 9 8 - 1 1 2 ; in general D I E T R I C H
39
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 189-94 = 1999, 282-91.
40

XELLA

C f . BONNET -

XELLA

1996.

DEL O L M O L E T E

LORETZ

1992.

1992a =

ues o f ) the gods he will go on f o o t / t h e king will go on foot/seven


times with all of them'.
Further references to ceremonies of transporting statues are also
given in K T U 1.91 = R S 19.015, a key text (classed as administrative) which lists concisely various rites which can be identified in
more detail in other documents. 4 1 Line 10: k t'rb. cttrt. d. bt m[lk]
'When 'Attart of the steppe enters the royal palace' (cf. K T U 1.148 =
R S 24.643:18-22) and in line 11: k t'rbn. rpm. bt. mlk, 'When the
Raaps enter the royal palace' (cf. K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+, as
well as K T U 1.43 = RS 1.005:9ff.). K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256: 42
6 - 9 , where images of the deities (genuine gods and divinized ancestors) are moved around in various cultic installations as part of the
dynastic cult, is not exactly of the same type.
Another category of ritual actions is that of investiture-enthronement.4:i
Here we are referring, for example, to actions described by verbs
such as ytb 'to sit (down)' or lbs 'to dress/be dressed' (for the semantic field of clothes or ritual dressing cf. especially azr and nps, as well
as other terms) but which, in a religious context, refer to specific
ceremonies the details of which are unknown to us. A clear case of
royal investiture can be identified, for example, in K T U 1.41 = R S
1.003+:53-5, sbu. p whl mlk/w l*[b]n. spm. w mh[pn]h*
t*[t]tbn/b.
b*\t\ w km. ity[u. L] mmyd[h] 'the sun sets and the king is desacralized and, robed splendidly and with his face cleansed, they shall
enthrone him (lit. they shall make him return) in the palace and
once there, he shall raise his hands towards the sky'. 44 Although it
mentions the royal throne, the expression 'and at night the throne
is prepared' alludes to a ritual action which is not completely clear
in K T U 1.106 = RS 24.250+:26~8 (w III tcr[k] ksu).
Important moments in the liturgies, apparently without involving
blood, can be recognized in the invocations, recitations and prayers
(cf. for example dn (?), nsa + yd, pth. + yd (?), sh, qra, r), in acts of
divination and oracles (phy (?), rgm, r, ttb + rgm, etc.) and in expiation rites (cf. K T U 1.40 + 84 + 121 + 122 + 154 = RS 1.002,
cited already and marked by its peculiar structure and lexicon).

1979; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 173-7 = 1999, 257-64.


Rites to be celebrated in the month of tjyr (likewise K T U 1 . 1 0 5 = RS
On the passage quoted cf. X E L L A 1 9 8 8 .
43
D E L O I . M O L E T E 1992a, 96 = 1999, 1 4 1 .
44
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 83-5 = 1999, 122-5.
41

42

XELLA

24.249).

Finally, a m o n g the ritual actions, communal meals can be mentioned (cf. what has been said above concerning dbh and lmrr) which
frequendy acquire religious significance, and include the consumption of drinks (specified by terms such as kly, Ihm, nsl (?), (db, Cr, sty),
either as a convivial occasion which joins together men, the gods
and the spirits of the ancestors, or else as a ritualized and regulated
occasion where food (especially meat) is eaten.
As for the sacrificial material, 45 in rites involving blood, the offerings
of animals were substantially similar to those known in the other
religious traditions of the ancient N e a r East. T h e animals offered
most frequently are bovids (the ox, alp, the bull, tr, the cow, gdlt,
lit. 'female head of cattle'), ovines, denoted genetically as sin (the
ram, i, the sheep, dqt, lit. 'head of small catde' or tat, she-goat, cz),
birds, called generically csr, with the dove, ytnt or the turtle-dove, tr
specified. However other kinds of animals also occur such as donkeys, V and also fish, dg. Besides complete animals, the various parts
of the victim were offered, limbs and entrails (ap, nps, lb, kbd, mtnt
are the easiest to identify) as studied in detail by G. del O l m o Lete. 46
Animal offerings are certainly not the only ones attested in the
Ugaritic rituals and several times gifts were dedicated to the gods
either of vegetables such as wine (yn), oil (mr), e m m e r (ksm), flour
(qmh) honey (nbt), or else of precious metals such as silver (ksp) and
gold (}}rs) or even objects in c o m m o n use including articles of clothing and crockery.

1.4

The role of the king

By now it is well known that the king had a role of particular importance within the Ugaritic cult and was by far the principal officiant. 47
T h e texts of Ugarit, in fact, show not only how the palace has control over the personnel appointed to the cult but how the king himself is often the main celebrant within a liturgy and how frequently
the ceremonies take place in locations and internal buildings actually within the royal palace. Moreover, the importance of the dynas-

45
Cf., for example,
1999, 40-2.

1980, 31-54;

DEL O L M O L E T E

1992a, 32~3 =

L E T E 1989b.
1984; Y O N 1985; D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 115-95 = 1999, 166-291;
L E T E 1993b; A B O U D 1994, 123-92.

4,1

DEL OLMO

47

HEALEY

DEL O L M O

DE T A R R A G O N

tic cult together with the veneration of the divinized royal ancestors
has emerged as one of the most typical aspects which characterize
the religion of Ugarit in a peculiar symbiosis between the living a n d
the d e a d for the c o m m o n good. 4 8
T h e high n u m b e r of rituals f o u n d in Ugarit testify to a series of
liturgies where the ritual actions clearly refer to the king, expressed
frequently by the use of fixed 'ritual formulae' which indicate his
state of (ritual) purity a n d refer to special m o m e n t s in the day. 49
T h e best known and best attested form of ritual action where the
king is seen as the protagonist is the one concerning his ritual purification. This must certainly have been achieved by means of special
ablutions, expressed by the f o r m u l a yrths mlk bn 'the king washes
< a n d is> purified'. This formula often introduces a series of ceremonies in which the king takes part, at the close of which there
occurs, connected with nightfall or sunset (sba/u p, crb p) the further formula whl mlk 'and the king is desacralized'. T h u s the purification
of the king seems to be a prerequisite for him to be able to p e r f o r m ,
assist at or take part in the ritual (cf., for example, K T U 1.119 =
R S 2 4 . 2 6 6 : 4 - 6 ; K T U 1.112 = R S 2 4 . 2 5 6 : 1 0 - 5 , etc.).
A n o t h e r series of 'formulae' which are quite similar to each other
even if not exactly identical, allude to the king's role in oracle practice
(mlk brr rgm y ttb/rgm y ttb mlk bn, ttb rgm whl mlk) probably acting as
mediator for the replies a n d always in conditions of ritual purity. 0 "
T h e r e are m a n y other examples of the sovereign being involved
in the cult. A m o n g the most i m p o r t a n t a r e K T U 1.119 = R S
2 4 . 2 6 6 : 1 3 - 4 in which 'the king sacrifices in the temple of , or
K T U 1.164 = R I H 7 7 / 2 b + ' W h e n the king sacrifices in the hmn
(i.e. the palace chapel)'; the king takes part in processions, as in
K T U 1.43 = R S 1.005:23-5, cited already; a cantor has to sing in
front of the king, w h o has his h a n d s spread out: K T U 1.106 = R S
24.250+: 15-7; the king's throne is p r e p a r e d at night, probably to
allow him to be seated d u r i n g the p e r f o r m a n c e of nocturnal rites:
K T U 1.106 = R S 2 4 . 2 5 0 + : 2 7 - 8 , a n d so on.

48

Restated by D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 130 4 = 1999, 192-8 (in respect of K T U


1.161 = RS 34.126) and passim, where five whole chapters (3- 6) are devoted to the
religion and cult of the king.
4
" X E L L A 1984c.
50
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 22 = 1999, 24.

T h e ceremony described at the end of K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003:505 is particularly interesting; here the cultic role of the king is very
obvious: the rite, which is still difficult to identify exactly, is performed in the month of riyn and takes place on the terrace of the
royal palace (it is less likely that it was a temple); it exhibits remarkable similarities with the H e b r e w ritual of the New Year which
was also celebrated on the day of the full moon in the first month
of the year, at the season of the wine harvest, with the construction
of huts. 52
51

Also worthy of mention is the possible sacred marriage ceremony


mentioned in K T U 1.132 = R S 24.291, studied again recently (with
new proposals) by Dietrich and Mayer, 5 3 in which it seems that the
union of the king with the goddess Pidrayu was celebrated. She was
the daughter of Baal and evidently must have embodied the ideal
wife at the highest level. 54
Besides the rites in which the king took part, the locations where
the liturgy took place were often included within the palace complex and the chapels attached to it.
O n e of the places in which ritual actions involving the king's presence were often performed is the hmn, undoubtedly a chapel reserved
for the royal and dynastic cult, a raised and covered structure, a
sort of earthly projection of the heavenly dwelling, which forms part
of the royal palace and was used chiefly for the royal dynastic cult. 55
T h e r e are other places in which the rituals were performed and
probably must have belonged to the king's residence such as the
'terrace' (gg) mentioned above or the 'garden' (gn). This second term,
which is also a name for a m o n t h in the Ugaritic calendar when an
impressive n u m b e r of ceremonies are performed, is already attested
in the texts from Ebla' 6 and denotes a cultic area inside the royal
palace which was a sort of cemetery, the location for funerary rites
intended for the ancestors and the chthonian deities. 37

51

Lines 50-55 of this tablet are separated from lines 1-49. Only the latter have
a duplicate in K T U 1.87 = RS 18.056.
52
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 83-5 = 1999, 122-5.
53
D I E T R I C H - M A Y E R 1996a; cf. the new proposal to read bb*t mlk instead of bit
mlk in line 3.
54
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 1 4 3 = 1999, 212.
55
D E L O L M O L E T E 1984d; X E L L A 1991, I69ff. and passim.
5,I
X E L L A 1995c.
57
Cf. for example S P R O N K 1986; L E W I S 1989; D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 149-56 =
1999, 219-32. For a more reserved critical attitude cf. VAN DER T O O R N 1991.

T h e reference to gn brings us to the ceremonial role of the king


in his capacity as principal celebrant, a role exercised even more
within the funerary cult in honour of the dead and deified kings of
the dynasty. This fundamental aspect of Ugaritic religion is attested
in a whole series of indications and texts (three, in particular K T U
1.108 = RS 24.252, K T U 1.113 = RS 24.257 and K T U 1.161 =
RS 34.126 which, although their general meaning and many details
are still disputed, throw considerable light on the phenomenon which
seems to be peculiar to the Syrian region).
T h e first of these documents ( K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252) 58 seems
in fact to attribute to the dead king the title of rpu mlk clm 'Rapiu,
eternal king' (lines 1 and 21-22). Unfortunately, the break and the
theoretical possibility of attributing the title rpu to a god (in this case
Baal) rather than to the king makes the interpretation of the whole
text very uncertain. K T U 1.113 = RS 24.257 (see 7.2) is a clear
testimony that the dead kings were considered as divine. Lastly, K T U
1.161 = RS 34.126 59 is introduced as is known as the 'liturgy of
sacrifice of the shades [= protective spirits]' (spr dbh zlm), i.e. a 'libretto'
of the funeral celebration which was performed to accompany the
descent of the dead king into the underworld. T h e liturgy begins
with the invocation of the Rapiuma, the ancestors belonging to the
dynasty, after which we are present at a lament with a ritual meal
followed by the c o m m a n d given by the goddess apa to the dead
king (here probably Niqmaddu III, line 26) to descend into the underworld. T h e text then continues with the sacrifice of a bird (probably as an offering for the dead king) performed seven times and it
ends with a propitiatory blessing of well-being towards the king, the
ruling house and the whole city of Ugarit. It is precisely this final
blessing which shows us the purpose of the cult of the ancestors
which the Ugaritic kings carried out: it expresses in fact the concern for obtaining prosperity, protection and oracular responses 1 '"
from the Rapiuma, fittingly honoured for that purpose. 61
Finally, it can be noted that the role of the royal house in Ugaritic
liturgy does not seem to have been strictly confined to the king.
1988b, 75-118; ( C A Q U O T - ) DE T A R R A G O N
(CUNCHILLOS) 1989, 1 1 1 - 8 ;
1992a, 126-30 = 1999, 184-92, W Y A T T 1998C, 395-8.
59
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 130-4 = 1999, 192-8, with previous bibliography.
See also W Y A T T 1998C, 4 3 0 - 4 1 .
60
T R O P P E R 1989a; L O R E T Z 1993.
61
T h e 'minimalist' position recently adopted by P A R D E E 1996a, 281 does not
seem completely justified.
58

PARDEE

DEL O L M O L E T E

Already K T U 1.112 = RS 24.256 studied above shows that the


whole royal family took part in ritual actions. In addition, K T U
1.170 = R I H 7 8 / 1 1 , even in a broken context, seems to show the
existence of a sacrifice carried out by the queen, which is confirmed
by the administrative text K T U 4.149 = R S 15.039:14-6 which
records quantities of wine for the sacrifice by the queen on sown
field.62

1.5

Other cult personnel

Besides the foreground role performed by the king as officiant, we


also know of other personnel appointed to the cult even if, surprisingly enough, neither khnm nor rb khnm ever feature in the ritual
texts, apart from a the doubtful reference to a 'throng of priests',
tltt khn[m], in the second broken incantation against serpents' venom,
K T U 1.107 = R S 24.251 + : 18. Otherwise note can be taken of a
'cantor', sr, in K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+: 15, a qdl K T U 1.112 =
R S 24.246:21, a category which can perhaps be defined as 'purifiers',
mhllm in K T U 1.119 = RS 24.266:23, whereas a certain exorcist
termed mihi is the h u m a n protagonist in the great incantation against
serpents, K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244.
All this personnel belongs to the category of dependents of the
royal house (bnl mlkf3 and therefore, strictly speaking, a class of
priests independent of the king is not attested in Ugarit. 64
T h e rare mention of personnel with religious functions in the cultic texts is partly completed by references which can be derived from
the administrative and economic texts, 65 although there is no mention
of their cultic duties. In this category of documents we find several
references to 'priests', khnm (in the Akkadian texts: l u . m e s s a n g a ) ; individually or collectively, in 'community', dr khnm ( K T U 4.357 = R S
18.046:24), with their 'chief' rb khnm (in the Akkadian texts: l . u g u l a
66
s a n g a ) , a title which occurs also on the famous hatchets
and in
the colophon to the 6th tablet of the Baal cycle mentioned above.

62

Already noted in X E L L A 1 9 8 1 , 1 4 9 .
Cf. for example H E L T Z E R 1982, 131-9; LIPINSKI 1988.
64
According to the colophon of the tablet K T U 1.6 = RS 2.[009]+ vi 55-7,
even the high priest Attanu-prln was a dependent of king Niqmaddu, albeit at the
highest level. T h e title nqd can be related to the cult only hypothetically.
63

65

DEL

66

See most recently

OLMO

LETE -

SANMARTIN
BORDREUIL

1998,
1998.

176-84.

T h e r e are also the 'consecrated ones', qdm, for w h o m a divinatory function has also been proposed, hypothetically, 67 and then the
'singers', rrn, personnel connected in various ways with music in the
cult and perhaps also outside the cult and lastly the 'water carriers
of the sanctuary', ib mqdt, a function which has parallels in the
Hebrew world, in Hcllenistic-Roman Syria and elsewhere.

1.6

The times of the celebrations

As is almost the general rule in the ancient Near East, the calendar 6 8 of Ugaritic liturgical celebrations is based on the lunar cycle
and therefore the days in which the cult takes on greater importance are evidently at the beginning or middle of the month, corresponding to the new moon (ym hdt, i.e. the first day of the month)
or the full moon (ym mlat, i.e. the fifteenth day of the month). O n
these days great sacrifices are carried out, accompanied by the usual
rite of purification of the king, as shown for example by K T U 1.46 =
RS 1.009, K T U 1.109 = R S 24.253 and K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+.
However, there are also other liturgies for other days of the month,
often in 'weekly' cycles (i.e. a quarter of a month), but also on several other days of the month. And then some rites took place in
the evening or at night, as can be deduced from the indications I II
and Ipn II.
With regard to the annual cycle of the cult, however, unfortunately we are not yet completely certain of the exact sequence of
the months of the Ugaritic calendar since the local names are considerably different from the standard names of Mesopotamian tradition. And comparison with what we know of the months of various
Eblaite calendars from over a millennium earlier does not help much
either. Some scholars have tried to reconstruct a particular seasonal
liturgical sequence on the basis of the mythological texts, 69 but this
attempt has not been accepted by scholars. As far as the strictly ritual texts is concerncd, we know of liturgical texts related to certain

S A N M A R T I N 1 9 9 8 , 1 8 0 - 1 . On the root cf. X E L L A 1 9 8 2 .


1980, 17-30; D E L O I . M O L E T E 1992a, 2 2 - 4 = 1999, 2 4 7 ;
C O H E N 1993, 3 7 7 8 3 ; A R N A U D 1993b. For chronological indications to the cult
which can be obtained from the economic and administrative texts cf. DEL O L M O
L E T E - S A N M A R T I N 1998, 186-8.
6fl
Especially DE M O O R 1971. Cf. also DE M O O R 1972 and 1988a.
67

DEL OLMO

68

DE

LETE -

TARRAGON

specific m o n t h s such as the m o n t h s of ib'lt ( K T U 1.119 = R S


24.266:1-17), nql ( K T U 1.138 = R S 24.298) and hyr, the second
m o n t h of spring corresponding to A p r i l / M a y ( K T U 1.105 = R S
24.249 and K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256). In addition we are acquainted
with the ritual of the m o n t h of ris yn ( K T U 1.41 = R S 1 . 0 0 3 / K T U
1.87 = R S 18.056). This last m o n t h ('first of the wine') fell in the
time of the wine harvest and corresponded to the month S e p t e m b e r /
October; it was probably the beginning of the cultic year in Ugarit.
Its ritual, with an extremely long list of sacrifices, is marked by an
initial and highly symbolic offering of a bunch of grapes, undoubtedly to be understood as firstfruits, to the god El.

1.7

The places for the celebrations

T h e Ugaritic liturgy certainly did not only take place in the temples. In fact the ritual texts mention several sacred places, some of
which have been confirmed from archaeology whereas others still
remain unidentified. 70 For reasons of completeness it is necessary to
note, however, that certain 'cult places', identified on the basis of
archaeological evidence, actually have no equivalents in the specific
terms of the ritual texts. 71
T h e temple of Baal, identified with one of the two great temples
on the acropolis, takes on a foreground role in the ritual texts ( K T U
1.119 = R S 24.266; K T U 1.105 = R S 24.249:19; K T U 1.104 =
R S 24.248:13; K T U 1.109 = RS 24.253:11), a n d also in the mythological texts (especially K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+; but see also K T U
1.17 = R S 2. [004] i 31). It is built on a platform which is approached
by means of a monumental stairway; it comprises a vestibule which
comes before the naos (or inner cella) and, in the southwest corner,
is preceded by a structure which can be explained as the holy of
holies. In front of the entrance, within the court surrounding the
sanctuary to the south, there is a structure measuring 2 x 2 metres,
usually explained as an altar (it is thought that it may be the altar

70

The first of these is the so-called sanctuary of the Hurrian gods close to the
royal palace, the nature and cultic function of which seem to be certain; the second is the so-called sanctuary of the rhyta, located in the residential area of the city;
cf. Y O N 1 9 9 6 .
71
On cult places in Ugarit cf. generally Y O N 1984; D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a,
2 4 - 8 = 1999, 27-34; DE T A R R A G O N 1996; DEL O L M O L E T E - S A N M A R T I N 1998,
184-6.

mentioned in K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+:41 mdbh b'l). It is interesting


to note that the raised structures mentioned as the 'tower of Baal
of Ugarit' ( K T U 1.119 = RS 24.266:12) and the 'terrace' (gg in
K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+:50), where sacrifices were offered, are probably confirmed from archaeology by the enormous width of the foundation walls of the temple of Baal and in the purported existence
of a stairway on the eastern side of the temple.
Archaeology has brought to light a second great temple on the
acropolis. Due to the finding of the two inscribed stelae K T U 6.13 =
RS 6.021 and K T U 6.14 = R S 6.028 in its vicinity, it has been
considered as dedicated to the god Dagan. However, unfortunately
the Ugaritic ritual texts never mention a temple of Dagan, 7 2 so that
it seems more reasonable to attribute this temple to the god El in
agreement with the evidence from the ritual texts K T U 1.87 = RS
18.056:42 and K T U 1.119 = R S 24.266:13-4 and with the mythological texts K T U 1.17 = RS 2. [004]+ i 3 1 - 2 and K T U 1.5 = R S
2. [022]+ iv 21. This temple also, like the other one dedicated to
Baal, is built on a platform, has massive foundations which suggest
the existence of a very high upper storey and is subdivided into a
vestibule and a cella.
Besides these temples which have been identified archaeologically,
the ritual texts also mention the temple of Ilat ( K T U 1.41 = R S
1.003+:24 mdbh bt ilt 'altar of the temple of Ilat') and the 'temple
of the lady of the high t e m p l e s ' (ibid. 37 [b]t b'lt bt[m rmm]).
Unfortunately, nothing worthwhile can be said about these two temples given that the context provides nothing useful regarding their
description. From the texts in prose we know of the existence of a
temple dedicated to El (cf. above on the hypothesis regarding Dagan),
a temple to 'Attart ( K T U 4.216 = R S 16.165:2), a temple of Raapgn (ibid, line 3) and other sacred structures dedicated to Iiis ( K T U
4.781 = R I H 8 3 / 2 8 + 31 + 8 4 / 1 5 + 26:2) and to the unknown
deity dml (the letter K T U 2.26 = RS 16.264:6).
Besides the temple structures, a whole series of names of other
specific places of cult are known. T h e most important of these is
the hmn, which has already been mentioned, i.e. the palace chapel
dedicated chiefly to the dynastic cult (and comprising perhaps qd,
c
ly and kbm, i.e. a small sacred area, steps and other unidentified
72
Cf. N I E H R
ing in KTU1.

1994,

and on

K T U

1.104

RS

24.248:13

cf. also the new read-

structures). But there are also other places about which nothing certain is known, such as the 'garden' (gn) already mentioned, cited for
example in K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+:22~3, or else the gb ('sacrificial
pit'?, 'cistern' ? or 'platform' ?, cf. K T U 1.43 = R S 1.005:1-2), the
urbt, the cgml, the gb and others as well (such as the 'tower' mgdl, the
'staircase' (?) m'lt, etc.).
In spite of the lacunae and the uncertainties, the combined use
of textual, archaeological and comparative data makes the ritual system of Ugarit certainly the best known within west Semitic religions
with the prospects of further knowledge in connection with excavations which continue uninterruptedly.

T h e

Offering

Lists

and

Gregorio

del

O l m o

2.1

the

G o d

Lists

Lete

Introduction

T h e 'list' as a literary form is well known in the scribal practice of


the ancient N e a r East 1 and is well represented in its archives. T h e s e
provide us with canonical series which comprise a sort of universal
encyclopaedic vocabulary arranged by theme, together with other
lists of similar origin.
These lists, which come from administrative archives, record different
products a n d items that ' c o m e into' or 'leave' the public warehouses,
evidently for the purposes of accounting. In principle, their fate is
irrelevant as far as accounting goes, which m e a n s that there is no
need for a special category for recording products intended to be consumed in the cult as sacrificial victims. In fact, in the archives of
Ugarit, such account records occur mixed together with others which
have all kinds of destinations ( d e l O l m o L e t e - S a n m a r t i n 1998).
However, we are able to identify t h e m and given their syntactic
structure, consider them to be cultic texts. This structure is set out
as the attribution of an offering to a divine recipient following various grammatical models ( d e l O i . m o L e t e 1992a, 1 3 20 = 1999,
1121 ); such an attribution implies a cultic action even though its
model does not need to be m a d e explicit. As a result, in their simplest form these texts a p p e a r as a series of two juxtaposed lists, one
of offerings a n d the other of gods. T h e y can be analysed separately
or in relation to each other, in both cases providing some information on the development of cultic practice in this community. It is
clear that in such a case the 'list of gods' determines the origin and
a r r a n g e m e n t of the ritual, either implying the existence of cultic p a n theons or using other p a n t h e o n s which originated outside the cult.
In terms of administration, t h o u g h , the i m p o r t a n t element is the
record of offerings.
However, this concise form of cultic list is not the only one; there
are others which supply information a b o u t the m o m e n t , place or

OPPENHEIM

1 9 7 7 , 244FF.; L A M B E R T 1 9 5 7 - 7 1 , 4 7 3 - 9 ; C A V I G N E A U X 1 9 8 0

3,

609-41.

type of cultic act, even providing descriptions of it, which suggests


that at least some of these texts are rather more than mere account
'records' ( d e T a r r a g o n 1995a, 104).
Even so, in principle the references to the recipient or sacred
m o m e n t of offering, even to the rite, seem to have the purpose of
merely certifying or justifying delivery, issue or expense in the accounts,
just like their civil counterparts concerning the moment or method
of a business transaction. Thus, they do not seem to be accounts
which strictly tabulate items but rather they all seem to be tinged
with contextual references. This is possibly connected with the formation and function of the scribe, Quite often the development of
these facts takes on an informative value which transcends mere
accounts and becomes a more or less schematic description, in space
and time, of a complex cultic action. Given the importance of the
cult in ancient cultures, it is legitimate therefore to suppose that these
texts were produced as meta-economic texts, with their own sacral
meaning, and have been analysed as such. 2
Keeping this in mind, it is often quite difficult to determine when
the text is merely a list for accounts (list) and when it is descriptiveprescriptive (ritual). It all depends on what is implied by the information as a whole. Here we shall discuss basically texts which seem to
be pure lists or largely lists, i.e. in which the other information can
be considered (merely) circumstantial. Texts which lie outside this
frame of reference are left to be analysed as a whole as rituals, i.e.
examples of the liturgy of Ugarit, and from them we shall extract
here only the series of offerings and divine names they provide.
O n the other hand, these elements (offering and recipient) which
are supplied together in the lists mentioned, could be recorded quite
separately. This happens especially in the pantheons or n a m e lists
of gods, whereas the possible lists of products or offerings can easily be camouflaged a m o n g texts which we consider to be strictly
administrative if there is no indication of their use or purpose (del
Olmo

Lete

Sanmartin

1998,

192-4).

This has been the approach adopted by us (DEL


and earlier by DE T A R R A G O N 1980 and X E L L A 1981.

OLMO

LETE

1992a = 1999),

2.2

God Lists

We shall begin with the lists of gods, given the importance this literary form acquired in ancient near Eastern religion: from the beginning, the principal entities to be listed were the gods.
These lists could have functioned merely as templates with which
to fill the records of delivery or lists of offerings, but they also
undoubtedly had a meaning transcending their practical use. This is
suggested by the n u m b e r of copies that were made and their translation into Akkadian, as we shall see below in connection with List
A of the gods. This is a process of systematization which combines
profession of faith in the divine person with the invocation of his
name, elements basic to all ancient Near Eastern religions.
Apart from the 'List , which is arranged in the Mesopotamian
style and so is foreign, there were at least two indigenous lists, originating in a different period and a different ideology, both translated
into Akkadian and occurring together in the cult in the lengthy text
K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643 ( P a r d e e 1997b, 67-71). T h e palace shared
in this religious process of systematic theology in respect of the divine
universe providing its own 'pantheon', also for cultic use. Besides
these and other name-lists or exempt lists we shall provide next those
to be found in ritual contexts, sacrificial and non-sacrificial.
2.2.1
2.2.1.1

Lists of divine names


T h e List Ann

T h e Ugaritic fragments of this classic list of Mesopotamian gods copy


their model faithfully and are a witness to how venerable and widespread they were throughout the ancient N e a r East, no doubt together with the school tradition of the literature of lists. However,
as such, they provide nothing new or important about the religion
of Ugarit. For that topic we refer to the bibliography. 3 More important as part of the same scholarly tradition is the information provided by the polyglot vocabularies since they allow us to trace the
equivalences made in Ugarit between the Sumerian-Akkadian and

On the Mesopotamian list Anu in general cf. the fundamental article by W E I D N E R


1929 and the bibliography provided later by B O R G E R 1975, I I I 64-5; also L I T R E
1958. For this list in Ugarit cf. N O U G A Y R O L 1968a, 2 1 0 - 3 0 , 246 9, 324. Another
new fragment has been published by A R N A U D 1982a.

Hurrian pantheons and their own; however little of the text has been
preserved ( N o u g a y r o l 1968a, 246-9).
2.2.1.2 List A ( K T U 1.118 = RS 24.268+, K T U 1.47 = RS
1.017, K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643:1-9, R S 20.24)
T h e basic text of the principal or canonical list (A) is K T U 1.118 =
R S 24.268+, whereas K T U 1.47 = RS 1.017 which has the addition of il spn at its beginning, is very damaged, and can be reconstructed from the other text. O n the other hand, the good condition
of the Akkadian text RS 20.24, a version of the previous text, is of
inestimable value for determining what the Ugaritic names/epithets
mean and their relation to the Mesopotamian pantheon ( d e l O l m o
L e t e 1986a, 293-9; H e a l e y 1985, 115-23; 1988a, 103-12). In turn,
K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643:1-9 confirms the fixed character of this
canonical sequence in the cultic domain: its first nine lines give us
a simple listing of the gods of List A, followed by the victim allotted them in the festival of Sapunu (cf. below). This first section is
repeated in lines 10-12 as a sort of summary, in accordance with
the two sets of offerings required by the rp wlmm ritual.
RS

20.24

DINGIR a-bi
Hum*"m
ci
da-gan
A
adad be-el hurn ha-zi
A
adad II
A
adad III
A
adad IV
d
adad V
A
adad V I
A
adad V I I
D

IDIM

IDIM

sa-s-ra-tum
A
sin
A
l}uran ha-zi
A
-a
%-bat
A
a-ta-bi
d
huranumr u a-mu-tu[m]
a-ra-tum
A
a-na-tum
A
ama

K T U

1.118

ilib
il
dgn
b'l spn
b'lm
b'lm
b'lm
b'lm
b'lm
b'lm
ars wmm
kt[r]t
\y)rh
[s]pn
kir
pdry
'ttr
grm w\'mqt]
WW
'nt
p

1.47

1.148:1-9

il spn
[il spn]
ilib
[ilib]
i[l]
il
dgn
[dgn]
b'l spn
b'l spn]
b'lm
b'lm
b'lm
[b'lm]
b'lm
b'lm
b'lm
[b]'l[m]
[b]'lm
[b'lm]
[b'l\m
[ars] wmm ars wmm
[ktr]t
klr[t]
yrb
]
spn
[spn]
klr
m
pdry
[pdry]
m
[grm w'mqt] grm w'mqt
atrt
[alrt]
'nt
M
p
[p]

al-la-tum
i-ha-ra
d
is'tar"lm
HlmT* til-la-ad Aadad
d
nergal
d
d-ad-mi-i
d
pu-lfur ilnimes
d
tmtum
d

dDU(

dgis
d

'BUR.ZI.NG.NA

ki-na-rum

MA.LIK.ME

sa-li-mu

arsy
uhry
'ttrt
il t'dr b'l
r[]p
ddm
phr ilm
ym
utht
km
mlkm
lm

[a]rsy
[u]hry
['] ttrt
il t'dr b'l
rp
ddm
phr ilm
ym
knr
mlkm
Ilm

arsy
'ttrt
uhry
il 't'dr b'l
rp
ddm
phr ilm
ym
utht
(k]nr

Leaving out the addition of the reinterpretative title (il spn), the structure of this list provides the following elements:
a) It begins with a 'triad' which to some extent defines the personality of the s u p r e m e god u n d e r three cultically distinct epithets:
ilib, il, dgn (see also K T U 1.123 = R S 24.271:1-3: ab wilm. . . il. . . il
r dgn . . .). Very probably they suppose a development (il as 'father'
of the divine family) of his personality a n d an attempt at combining p a n t h e o n s , as a reflection of myth, portraying Baelu as 'son of
Dagnu' a n d considering Ilu to be his 'father' (DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a,
56 n. 77 [1999, 74 n. 78] with bibliography).
b) A similar process is assumed in the case of Ba'lu a n d (H)ad(a)du, 4
H e is the great C a n a a n i t e god of the second millennium, the protector of Ugarit (b'l ugrt), defined in principle by the attribute of his
residence spn, specified by the Akkadian version as '(H)Adad, lord
of M o u n t H a z . In his sevenfold epithet are concentrated all the
m a n y (local) e p i p h a n i e s (b'l ugrt, hlb . . .)} In K T U 1.118 = R S
24.264+, a line separates this group f r o m the following heading.
c) T h e descriptive series invoking Ba'lu is followed by a g r o u p of
seven deities, h e a d e d by the dual divinity 'Earth a n d H e a v e n ' , a p p a r endy 'chthonian-astral' or cosmic in nature, in chiastic relation (stellar/

4
Akkadian makes a clear distinction between the proper noun Adad (IM) and
the common noun be-el, 'lord', which are combined in Ug. b'l (cf. line 4: ''adad be-el
t}uran fra-zi = b'l spn). The Ug. epithet hd of myth is not used here nor is add of
ritual (cf. K T U 1.65 = RS 4.474:9), in spite of the Akkadian translation. But it is
possible that d IM was not read as AAdad in Ugarit; the Akkadian version is a Ugaritic
interpretation (interpretatio) for 'foreigners' (DIETRICH - LORETZ 1981, 67-8).
5
In this context K T U 4.15 = RS 9.469 must be considered, which is possibly
a list of local or family epithets (stelae?) of Ba'lu.On divine 'heptads' in Mesopotamia
cf. the bibliography given by BORGER, above, n. 2.

terrestrial deities) with this polar pair which heads the group (ktrt,6
yrh, 'ttr || spn, ktr, pdry).
d) T h e next group, again of seven deities, is also headed by the dual
name/divinity 'Mountains and Valleys'. It is combined with six goddesses (1 + 6 ) , apparently arranged hierarchically and related to the
male gods of the previous groups. This separation of the sexes confirms
the absence of 'pairing' in the Ugaritic pantheon.
e) T h e last group is different in each of the various texts. T h e
most complete list is provided by K T U 1.118 = R S 24.264+ and
the Akkadian version, whereas the others omit one or other element.
Here too the series is introduced by a composite divine name, 'the
helper gods of Ba'lu'. T o it corresponds another composite epithet,
'the assembly of the gods', equivalent to 'the family of Ilu'J At all
events, this last group is somewhat of an appendix and possibly contains later additions. In it is developed the process of 'divinizing'
objects (utf}t, km) and persons (mlkm).8
T h e final result is a pantheon of 33 divine invocations, excluding
the title added in K T U 1.118 = R S 24.264:1 (and K T U 1.148 =
R S 24.643:1). T h e hierarchical principle governing the composition
of this 'god list' is not clear; they do not seem to be arranged according to 'personal' importance. Even so, it is possible to say that the
'canonical list' (A) does in fact include the group of principal gods
of Ugarit, exacdy as they appear in myth and the official cult ( K T U
1.148 = RS 24.643:1-9]. It represents a mythologizing expansion
which tends to make organic distinctions between the gods and at
the same time to assimilate other foreign pantheons within its own
religious framework, from the multiple cultural influence which affected
Ugarit: Amorite, Hurrian, Hittite, Sumerian and Akkadian.

6
This is an overall term for a group of 'seven' deities, as we know from K T U
1.24 = RS 5.194:47-50 (DEL O I . M O LETE 1991, 74-5).
7
Cf. K T U 1.123 = RS 24.271:32 which refers to drm ilm, 'the two divine families' (?); K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002:25 and par.; and K T U 1.65 = RS 4.474:2-3, with
its invocation of dr/mpl}rt bn it.
8
In the cult a small reduction of the standard list as it has come down to us
in its final form, is evident: from a pantheon of 33/34 epithets it has become a
group of 28/29, a number which is 'cultically' determined in K T U 1.148 = RS
24.643:1-9, in all likelihood, by the clays of the month, as will be apparent in the
fifth section (lines 23-45). One b'lm as well as 'ttr, uhtt, mlkm and lm are omitted
and the sequence of uf)iy and 'ttrt is inverted.

2.2.1.3

List ( K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643:23-45; R S 26.142)

K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643:23-45, instead, provides us with a new


list of the il hyr, 'gods of the (month) Hiyaru. W e have no separate
Ugaritic version of this text, but it is evidently a fixed and canonical list as is shown by the coincidence of the cultic use with the
independent Akkadian version (RS 26.142). As both texts are d a m aged, we lack a complete list of gods. 9 W e now set out both texts
arranged in order (the Akkadian text follows the recent reconstruction by A R N A U D 1994, 107-9) a n d their Ugaritic equivalents:
RS 26.142
1. dingir [a-bi\
d
Ki [ clidim]
dingir-[/M4]
d
Nin.mah x? [
d
5. Da-gan
d
U Hal-bi
d
U d hur.sag Ha-zi
d
'Ikur' tur
d
[XX]X
10. [ d hur.]sag Ha-zi
[ d ]-a
A-ta-bv. dBe-el]'ul-ba)-ad-da

K T U 1.148
23. ilib
ars wmm
25. il
a/ktrt
dgn
b'l hlb
b'l spn
trty
yrh
spn
30. ktr
'ttr
atrt
gr witm
rp idrp
]gr
gl]mt
35

15. 'dingir.me gi.sag.kul'


dingir.me da-ad-me-na

km
] mr
40. il m[
[...] w thmt
[...] xmr
[z7] sk[r]
\il.d\dm

Interpretation
ilib
Earth and Heavens
Ilu
Nin.mah [ ]
Dagnu
Ba'lu of Halba.
Ba'lu of Mount Hazi.
Ba'lu the second (?)
[] (?).
[Moun]t Hazi.
Ea
'Attaru
Atiratu
Sagru and Itmu

Rapu of idrp
?
The Damsel
?

Kinru
Miru
The god of [...]
and Tihmtu
Gods of the bolt
Gods of Dadmena

As yet unpublished texts may perhaps help complete and identify them (BORP A R D E E 1995, 31). P A R D E E (1992, 167) suggests that K T U 1.148 = RS
24.643 is an incomplete tablet which does not reproduce the full god list RS 26.142.

DREUIL -

DINGIR.ME la-ab-a-na
dug bur.zi.ni.naga.t!
d
gi"ZA.MM
20. d U
d
U
d
U
d
d

Ma-[lik. mes]
25. d D[I

il.lb[n]n

[...]
b'lm
45. [....]

Gods of Labana
Incense burner (?)
Lyre
Ba'lu
Ba'lu
Ba'lu
Ba'lu
Mali[kuma]
?

In our view this is yet another pantheon used in the cult. As in the
case of K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643:1-9, it is very probable that this
is also a modification of an earlier pantheon, reduced to 28 deities,
in line with the monthly nature of the ritual. 10 Everything indicates
that K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643:23ff. is to be considered a ritual connected with the 'funerary' cult of the month of Hiyaru, which is older
than the 'festival of Sapunu' (lines 1-9).
2.2.1.4 List C ( K T U 1.102 = R S 24.246; K T U 1.139 =
R S 1.001:13-9)
W e have to consider the list of gods provided by K T U 1.102 = R S
24.246:1-14 along the same lines (exempt list and cultic use). It is
a list (C) used in the cult in K T U 1.139 = R S 1.001:13-9, i.e. this
is a standard list not a casual one. Thus, the group of 14/16 deities
mentioned there presupposes a selection which in n a m e and number largely agrees with the one provided by the group of texts which
we call 'dynastic' (cf. below).
1. il bt
uhry
ym.b'l
yrf}
5. ktr
pdry
dqt
trt
10. r'sp
'nt f}bly
10

T h e 'month' would only be a pattern, without necessarily implying, on the


other hand, a daily celebration in honour of each one of the gods. Also, comparison with RS 26.142:16 suggests correcting ktrt to atrt (nin.mah) in K T U 1.148 =
RS 24.643:25, so written probably because of the sequence mm w ars ktrt in list A
(but cf. atrt in line 31; Pardee reads [-]-rt).

p pgr
iltm hnqlm
yrh kty

This 'list of gods' contains a group of deities exclusive to the quoted


texts (trmn, dqt, trt and the epithets cnt hbly, p pgr, iltm hnqtm; yrh(m)
kty also occur in K T U 1.123 = R S 24.271:7), and also includes the
major deities of Ugarit [b'l, ym, yrh, ktr, cnt, p).
2.2.2
2.2.2.1

Lists of names of divine kings


List D ( K T U 1.102 = RS 24.246:15-28)

T h e dynastic nature mentioned above explains why the list of K T U


1.102 = RS 24.246:1-14 is continued on the reverse of the tablet
by another (D) of theophoric names, to which in K T U 1.39 = RS
1.001:19" correspond the references to glmt, bclt bhtm, ins ilm. This
suggests that these theophoric names are also divine names, actually
of the kings of Ugarit, of their ins ilm, 'divine peoples', of which
K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250:3-5 already provides proof (three: ydbil,
yaril, cmtr) as recipients of offerings and the colophon K T U 1.6 =
R S 2.[009] vi 58 assigns one (yrgb.bcl) to king Niqmaddu of Ugarit. 12
This interpretation, however, has incurred some opposition, although
alternative suggestions are not convincing. 13
Consequently, we consider K T U 1.102 = RS 24.246 to be one list
or single pantheon which belongs to the dynasty with its gods and
divinized dead, which as such (ins ilm, gtrm, rpum) are only listed globally in the c o m m o n standard patheon under the official title of mlkm.
These divine names are:

11
Understood in this way, K T U 1.39 = RS 1.001 is a 'generic' royal ritual
which closes by invoking the ins ilm, specified in K T U 1.102 = RS 24.246:15-28,
and as such could be added to it together with the sacrificial element thus supposed, e.g. in K T U 1.106 = RS 24.250+:2-5 (gdlt).
V1
On K T U 1.102 = R S 24.246 in general cf. V I R O L L E A U D 1968, 594; DE M O O R
1970b, 326-7 (see 1990, 241); H E R D N E R 1978, 3-7; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z
SANMARTIN
1975b, 545-6; C A Q U O T 1979b, 1404; S T A M M 1979, 753-8; X E L L A 1981, 328-31;
D E L O L M O L E T E 1986a, 282-5; 1987:43-6; 1992a, 117-20 = 1999, 168-75.
13
Cf. P A R D E E 1996b, 273-87; S C H M I D T 1994, 71; 1996, 300; the reply by DEL
O I . M O L E T E 1996b, and the counter-reply by P A R D E E 1998b.

15. y(r)gbhd
yrgbb'l
ydbil
yaril
yrgmil
20. 'mir
ydbil
yrgblim
'mtr
yaril
25. ydbb'l
yrgmb'l
'zb'l
ydbhd
2.2.2.2

List ( K T U 1.113 = R S 24.257)

A supplementary text, possibly with a similar pattern to the one


cited, is K T U 1.113 = R S 24.257 on the reverse of which (lines
13-26) we have the list () of the proper names of the (dead) kings
of the dynasty of Ugarit. 14 It reflects the same royal ideology as supposed in the previous text, providing us with the list of 'personal'
names of the kings of Ugarit preceded by the determinative il. It is,
therefore, a classification of them as 'divine beings' or divinized
beings, 15 as already dead of course, and reigning in the 'Underworld',
for we have no indications that the kings of Ugarit were deified in
their lifetime, in spite of the possible proleptic use of these names
while a king was still alive.
T h e reverse seems to be a hymn or evocation, whereas the obverse
is a text divided into two columns, as is evident from the traces of
a double vertical line before the last lines on the right. T h e text has
been studied in detail by Kitchen and interpreted as a 'rising' or

14

Cf. V I R O L L E A U D 1962, 94~5; 1968. 561-2; K I T C H E N 1977, 131-42; X E L L A


1981, 288-91; D E L O L M O L E T E 1987a, 47-9, 68; 1992a, 121-3 = 1999, 176-80;
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1983a, 496f.; P A R D E E 1988b, 165-78; L E W I S 1989, 47-52;
Y O U N G E R 1997, 356-7; W Y A T T 1998C, 399-403.
15
An interpretation opposed to the divinization of kings, following an earlier
proposal by Liverani, is defended by S C H M I D T 1994, 67fT.; 1996, 289-304; however
cf. P A R D E E 1996, 276. L E W I S 1989, 49ff., instead, suggests a weakened 'divinization'
of the kings of Ugarit which in our opinion does not do justice to all the ritual
texts which give abundant evidence of the cult of dead kings and their entry into
the 'pantheon', though this does not necessarily mean they were worshipped as the
'great' gods were; nor were the other 'minor' gods of the pantheon worshipped in
that way either.

'retrograde' list of the kings of the Ugaritic dynasty, starting with


the predecessor of 'Ammurp, the last king of Ugarit, under whose
c o m m a n d this list of divinized ancestors was drawn up. Inevitably,
the various possible reconstructions of the text leave a wide margin
for hypotheses and there is no use trying to insist on any particular
one. T h e text is as follows:
12. [
[
[
15. [
[

[
[il
[il
20. [il
[il
[il
[il
[

25. [
[

]
]
]

'mttm]r
nqm\ d
arhi]b[
nq]mpC[
'mt]tmr
nq]md
]
]

]xx[ ]
il 'm]ttmr
il n]qmp'
il Cm<r>pi
il ibm
il/drd
il tiqmp'
il ibm
i]l 'mrpi
il] nqmpC
il ibm
il nqmp'
il ibm
il nqmd
il yqr

Elsewhere we have suggested reading this list in descending order.


T h e left-hand column, which ended with the historical sequence
Ar-H alba/Niqmepac/cAmmittamru/Niqmaddu
(lines 2 4 - 2 6 are written on
the edge) continued with the last three names on the right which
corresponded to the last three kings of Ugarit Ibiranu/Niqmaddu/ Taqaru,
with the last name applied to the ruling king, CAmmurpi, bearer of
the dynastic seal inscribed with that name. 1 6 Each king is the 'new'
Yaqaru,]1 in this case the last sovereign of Ugarit. Even so, we do
not know the structure of the names in the left-hand column and
their possible relationship to those on the right.
16

Cf. DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 123 = 1999, 179. See also the new combined
reading of both columns and their comparison with the names of K T U 1.102 =
RS 24.246:15-28, proposed by DE M O O R 1990, 2 4 0 - 1 . For a general discussion of
these matters cf. A B O U D 1994, 3-11.
17
Cf. N O U G A Y R O L 1955, X L X L I I I ; L I V E R A N I 1962, 137; C A Q U O T 1978a, 574f.;
X E L I A 1983, 404; R I B I C H I N I - X E L L A 1979, 155-6.; D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 123
= 1999, 179. This in turn would explain why the determinative il is placed before
yqr and not before the personal name of the ruling king, which would imply some
'divinization' in his lifetime. T h e king would undoubtedly be supposed as having
divine 'character' in his lifetime, at least for reasons of protocol and in anticipation as is apparent from K T U 1.16 = RS 3.325+ i 9 1 1 , 20-3, and from his epithets adn (ilm rbm), b'l (?) and trmn (cf. K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009] vi 58).

2.2.3

Lists which are litanies of gods' names

A couple of texts, which seem to be prayers in the form of litanies,


each provide lists of divine names which are completely strange in
respect of their formal characteristics and the sequence of epithets,
which also seem unrelated to each other. Whereas the first list keeps
to the list of known deities, the other list has a series of divine names
otherwise unknown in Ugaritic literature. Perhaps this is an expression of social religion which lies outside the 'official' systematic
arrangement.
K T U

1.65

il
bn il
dr bn il
mphrt bn il
tkmn wnm
il watrt
il h il
add
b'l spn
b'l ugrt
il ( 7 )

1.40

ab
bn il
dr bn il
mphrt bn il
tkmn wnm

1.123

il wilm
il
il r
dgn wb'l
tt wkmt
yrh wksa
yrhm kty
tkmn wnm
ktr whss thr wbd
'ttrt 'ttpr
hr wlm
ngh wrr
'd wr
sdq mr
hn bn il dn
kbd wnr

ilqds mlk
kbd dil gd[
mr mnmm
bmn aryn
a^hn tlyn
atdb wtr
qd wamn
ktr hss
il bt
il hst
rp
ins ilm
drm ilm

These texts which are prayers in the form of litanies have a set of
characteristics in c o m m o n which are extremely interesting:
a) First of all, they all have a clear preference for double invocations, either of the 'construct' type (bel spn) or of the 'copulative' type
(il watrt). This predominant use of a particular linguistic construction
possibly has cultic reasons and is perhaps connected with the correct use of the ' n a m e ' of the god and his proper match as an expression of his particular personality and therefore of his invocation. This
match follows criteria which are not 'matrimonial', apart from a few
exceptional cases (il watrt). Criteria of ethnic and functional origin
are more prevalent (bcl-dgn, 'nt-'ttrt, yrh-rp . . .). (DE M O O R 1970a, 227).18

18

On the possible merging of pantheons implicit in such double names cf. DEL
L E T E 1992a, 40 = 1999, 52.

OLMO

b) In this type of cultic text there is also a marked persistence of


fixed sequences. A text such as K T U 1.65 = R S 4.474, possibly also a
'litany', begins with the same sequence which forms the concluding
invocation, repeated 5 or 6 times, of the long expiation text K T U
1.40 = RS 1.002+. It comprises, undoubtedly, a cultic sequence of
prayer or general invocation of the supreme god and of all 'his family', the pantheon, in a nutshell, which ends in the first text by the
invocation of il watrt, as a suitable literary and genealogical inclusio.
More surprisingly, instead, at first is the mention in this series, as a
single specific deity (or as separate deities), of tkmn wnm, about whom
we have no exact information, 1 9 although, as is clear from this series,
they are connected specifically to the supreme god (cf. K T U 1.114 =
R S 24.258:18-9.) and to the pantheon in general. Accordingly, the
hypothesis can be put forward that they are 7/m's 'messengers' or
'dioscuroi', in parallel with qd amn (cf. the reference to both pairs
in K T U 1.123 = R S 24.271:26), the messengers of Atirat according
to mythology.
2.2.4
2.2.4.1

Cultic lists of gods


Lists of gods in sacrificial texts

Most of the cult texts of Ugarit are provided with rubrics which prescribe or describe the sacrificial ritual to accompany the various festivals or days of the month. T h e literary plan (cf. d e T a r r a g o n
1980, 55ff. who analyses the cult vocabulary; for the syntax of the
texts and their formulae cf. d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a, 19ff. = 1999, l l f f . )
is extremely simple and it invariably specifies, as said above, the victim of the offering or sacrifice and the divinity to whom it is offered,
together with directions for the ritual to be performed on it, but
without spelling out the details. These texts, therefore, comprise the
best evidence of the cultic and official pantheon of Ugarit and of
the catalogue of gods of liturgical practice in its most generic and
popular form: sacrifice. T h e other texts belong to rarer and more
specific events (divination, atonement, royal cult). T h e texts considered here are as follows, omitting a long series of fragments which
are inconclusive in this respect and add nothing new: K T U 1.39 =

19
They occur in other ritual texts, but are unknown in mythology and in the
Canaanite pantheon; cf. P A R D E E 1988b, 195 9.

R S 1.001, K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+, K T U 1.43 = R S 1.005, K T U


1.46 = R S 1.009, K T U 1.48 = R S 1.019, K T U 1.49 = R S 1.022,
K T U 1.50 = RS 1.023, K T U 1.81 = R S 15.130, K T U 1.87 = R S
18.056, K T U 1.105 = R S 24.249, K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+, K T U
1.109 = R S 24.253, K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256, K T U 1.115 = R S
24.260, K T U 1.119 = R S 24.266, K T U 1.126 = R S 24.276, K T U
1.130 = R S 24.284, K T U 1.139 = R S 24.300, K T U 1.148 = R S
24.643, K T U 1.162 = R S [Varia 20], K T U 1.163 = R I H 7 8 / 1 4 ,
K T U 1.164 = R I H 7 7 / 0 2 B + , K T U 1.165 = R I H 7 7 / 0 4 + , K T U
1.168 = R I H 7 7 / 1 0 B + , K T U 1.170 = R I H 7 8 / 1 1 , K T U 1.171 =
R I H 7 8 / 1 6 , K T U 1.173 = R I H 7 8 / 0 4 (for other fragments cf.
X e l l a 1981, 128-68; d e T a r r a g o n 1989, 222-3).
Besides the separate lists reproduced above, these cultic texts of
Ugarit have preserved for us stable and repeated sequences which
presuppose the existence and persistence, at least in the cult, of fixed
series of divine names, transmitted in these 'lists of offerings' (cf.
below) a n d are thus indirectly 'lists of gods'. However, most, of
KTU 1.41/1.87 KTU 1.39
il
b'lt bhtm
ins ilm
t'
ils
t'm
ilhm
t'm2i
ym
ilh
ilh
ilhm
ilhm
ilhm
ilhm
b'l
b'l
atrt
atrt
ikmn wnm
tkmn wnm
'nt
'nt
rp
rp
dr il wphr b'l
dr il wphr b'l
lm
lm
ilhm b'lm
ilhm b'lm
spn
b'l spn
glmt
ilt mgdl
yrh
ilt asrm
nkl
b'lt bhtm
ins ilm
ilhm
p

KTU 1.41/1.87
'nt
il
ilhm
tkmn wnm
rp
rp
ilh
ilhm
il
tkmn wnm
ilt bt
b'l spn
spn
b'l ugrt
ilib
[atrt]
ridn
atrt
ins ilm
b'l
spn
b'l ugrt
'ttrt

KTU 1.39
il
ilhm
tkmn wsnm
rp

KTU 1.39:
b'l spn
spn
b'l ugrt
ilib

b'l ugrt
'nt spn

these sequences of recipients of offerings are not fixed a n d seem to


be somewhat h a p h a z a r d , although in fact they were not a n d this
impression is due to lack of documentation. 2 0 In any case, it is irelevant n o w to call it a 'list' of gods. O n l y in a few cases does the repetition of the sequence in different texts or in different sections within
the same text prove it to be normative. In fact, several of t h e m must
be split up in different series, as they represent different cultic actions
or the repetition of the same action on different days.
T h u s we have in K T U 1.41/1.87 = R S 1 . 0 0 3 + / 1 8 . 0 5 6 , K T U
1.39 = R S 1.001 a n d K T U 1.109 = R S 24.253 a significant a n d
important list of divine n a m e s (or rather, a set of sub-sets) which we
can consider standard in the cult. Apparently, this sequence is related
to the ' c o m m u n i o n ' sacrifice (lmm), which is expressly mentioned.
Within this sequence can be noted several repeated sub-sections
(e.g. il/h, ilhm, (il), tkmn wsnm || (il), bclt bhtm, ins ilm, (ils), ilhrr). It
is possible that each g r o u p or section of the list belongs to a specific
ritual. T h e d a m a g e d condition of the texts makes proof difficult.
Smaller sections also occur in other sacrificial texts such as: b'l spn,
rm, lm, b'l spn, spn (cf. K T U 1.46 = R S 1.009:12-5; K T U 1.109 =
R S 24.253:5-10; b'l ugrt, ilib, il, b'l, 'nt, spn, pdry (cf. K T U 1.46:16-7;
K T U 1 . 1 0 9 : 1 1 - 4 ; cf. DE M O O R 1970a, 221); b'l ugrt, b'l hlb, yrh, 'nt
spn, pdr(y) (cf. K T U 1.130 = R S 2 4 . 2 8 4 : 1 0 - 5 ; K T U 1.109:16-8).
Yet other sections or even couples are very stereotyped a n d not very
relevant, e.g. the beginning of K T U 1.46 or the end of K T U 1.130.
Lasdy, some texts such as K T U 1.50 = R S 1.023, K T U 1.81 =
R S 15.130 a n d K T U 1.119 = R S 24.266, have completely a n o m alous sequences both f r o m the canonical a n d the cultic points of
view. O t h e r s again are too broken for a n y conclusions to be drawn,
e.g. K T U 1.48 = R S 1.019, K T U 1.49 = R S 1.022, K T U 1.90 =
R S 19.013, etc.
As an example of the incongruity of the lists of gods in the ritual texts see some of the sequences provided by the subgroup of
texts which, however, as their tenor is royal or of the palace, are to
some extent pertinent ( K T U 1.43 = R S 1.005, K T U 1.46 = R S

20

Cf. P A R D E E 1997b, 68: 'les listes divines que l'on peut tirer des rites sacrificiels . . . sont, potentiellement au moins, innombrables', DE M O O R 1970a, 2 0 4 1 6 ,
provides a table arranging the gods in 38 sets; it is hardly relevant.
21
Other scholars consider the term to denote a generic type of 'offering'.

1.009, K T U 1.105 = R S 24.249, K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+, K T U


1.109 = R S 24.253, K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256, K T U 1.115 = R S
24.260, K T U 1.162 = R S [Varia 20], K T U 1.165 = R I H 7 7 / 0 4 + ,
K T U 1.168 = R I H 7 7 / 1 0 B + , K T U 1.170 = R I H 7 8 / 1 1 , K T U
1.171 = R I H 7 8 / 1 6 , K T U 1.173 = R I H 78/04).
KTU 1.112
b'lt bhtm
ins ilm
'ttrt hr
gtrm
il
b'l spn
b'l ugrt
atrt
btbt
il msd(?)
btbt

1.106
1.105
b'lt bhtm rsp
b'l 'rkm ins ilm
btbt
ydb il
b'l
yar il
'mtr
spn
rp bbt
rp
ins ilm
ins ilm
rp mlk pdry
b'lt bhtm ilm ars
ktr
arsy

T h e r e is no fixed
group seen above,
ushr, bbt, hlmi, qlh
( K T U 1.43 = R S
( K T U 1.105 = RS
R I H 78/16); rp,
19.015:14-5).

1.43
('ttrt)
il(m)
ktr
(gtrrr)
p
yrh
gtr
'nt
p
yrh
gtr
ilt bt
gtrm
'ntm
'ntm
lm(?)
ufyiy(?)

1.115
uhr hlmz
bbt il bt
hlmz
qlh
il bt
att
il bt
bbt
ushr
hlmi
qlh

1.139
ilib
b'l
il t'tr b'l
'ttrt
glmt
pdry(?)

1.162
ilib
z(!)/
b'l
dgn
yrh
ym
il t'dr b'l
'nt hbly
a$.)rt22
dr il wphr b'l
spn

order in these sequences of deities, but as in the


within the same text, some sections are repeated:
( K T U 1.115 = R S 24.260); p, yrh, gtr, 'nt/ilt bt
1.005); and some of two names only: rp, ins ilm
24.249, K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+, K T U 1.171 =
b'lt bhtm(?) ( K T U 1.105; cf. K T U 1.91 = R S

T h e only conclusion in this case is the strong dynastic or palatine


nature of these series of deities (DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 4 4 - 5 ; 1999,
58-9.). Here also there is the shortened group of the great gods of
the official pantheon, not always in dominant position. Arranged
hierarchically, we can set them out followed by the index of their
frequency: ilib (4), il (5), dgn (2), b'l (5), b'l spn (3), b'l ugrt (1), atrt (3),
spn (3), ktr (2), s'ps (2), yrh (3), 'nt (4), 'ttrt (1?), pdiy (2).

22

Cf. DEL O L M O L E T E 1 9 9 7 , 164ff. Note that this list agrees both with List A
(beginning: ilib, il, b'l, dgn) and the dynastic List C (where dgn, ym, 'nt f}bly are
specifically mentioned).

From all this it can be deduced, as was already apparent in the


separate lists, that within standard orthodoxy the palace, the royal
family, has a special cult of particular or selected deities. Some are
dynastic in type and almost all of them are foreign to the original
Semitic pantheon of the city; these dynastic gods correspond, perhaps, to what the letters call 'gods of the king/queen'. Others are
'tutelary' deities of the palace and as generic epithets can occur in
other rituals as protectors of the 'house' of each of the faithful. Lastly,
others still are 'ancestral' and correspond to the cult ancestors.
T u r n i n g to the general group of sacrificial texts, their series of
divine names have the following features:
a) T h e r e is consistency in the heading to the texts, in the main
occupied by Ilu, in one or other epithet (il, ilib), followed by Ba'lu
in one of his epithets (b'l, b'l spn, spn).
b) Starting with the initial position, in any case, the sequence does
not always follow the hierarchy expected from mythology (most often
it does in the three or four first positions). T h e order is now determined by different criteria from importance and function in the pantheon; perhaps the criteria are patronage and cult specialization.
c) T h e absence of a vertical order is also corroborated by the lack
of a horizontal one: in these lists there are no sequences of divine
'pairs', a lack already noted in myth.
d) Some local epithets retain their meaning in these texts (b'l ugrt,
b'l hlb, 'nt hlb, 'nt hl[?]), as well as b'l spn, 'nt spn from mythology.
e) Some deities, who frequently feature in the dynastic and divinatory pantheons in special forms, also appear here (gtr[rri\, 'ttr, 'ttpr,
bbt[m], b'lt bhtm, ins ilm), clear testimony to the introduction of the
palace cult into the town cult.
f ) T h e absence of Mtu as a recipient of sacrifices may be noted,
although he is known as a harmful deity against whom one has to
take precautions (cf. K T U 1.127 = RS 24.277:29).
Statistically, in terms of their occurrence in various literary genres
(DE M O O R 1970a, 217; above, n. 20) the principal gods of the culticsacrificial pantheon of Ugarit, those receiving the most offerings are:
1.
2.
3.
4.

ill dgn
b'l/hdd
'nt
rp

5. yrh.
6. ktr
1. 'ttr
8. tkmn wsnm

9.
10.
11.
12.

p
lm
ins ilm
b'lt bhtm

13. 'ttrt
14. uhry
15. alrt
16. pdry
17. arsy

2.2.4.2

Lists of gods in non-sacrificial texts

Another series of texts of ritual practice refers to non-sacrificial cultic


actions, in which the worshipper addresses a divinity with the word
or goes in search of it. These actions may be accompanied by sacrifices,
although they remain marginal and these texts do not have the form
of stricdy sacrificial offerings to a deity. As they comprise a uniform
category, to a certain extent, due to the language or life-setting which
they share, it is worth considering the divine recipient of such rituals, although we shall not analyse them in detail. These texts are:
K T U 1.40 = R S 1.002+, K T U 1.65 = R S 4.474, K T U 1.78 = R S
12.061, K T U 1.82 = R S 15.134, K T U 1.90 = R S 19.013, K T U
1.96 = R S 22.225, K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244, K T U 1.103+ = R S
24.247+, K T U 1.104 = R S 24.248, K T U 1.107 = RS 24.251+,
K T U 1.123 = R S 24.271, K T U 1.124 = R S 24.272, K T U 1.127 =
R S 24.277, K T U 1.140 = R S 24.302, K T U 1.141 = R S 24.312,
K T U 1.142 = R S 24.323, K T U 1.143 = R S 24.326, K T U 1.144 =
R S 24.327, K T U 1.155 = R S 24.654, K T U 1.169 = R I H 78/20.
Others in this category (divinatory and oracular) do not mention gods,
an extremely important fact, which emphasizes the specific nature
of magical liturgy in contrast to sacrificial liturgy. T h e result is as
follows, divided into two categories:
b) incantation-magic

a) divination-oracle
KTU

Ipl
rp

1.78

KTU

1.124

adn ilm(?)
dtn
dtn

KTU

1.100

(.pi)
(phlt)
(ps')
il
b'l
dgn
'nt w'ttrt
yrh
rip
'ttrt
ZZ wkmt
mlk
ktr whss
Ihr wslm
hm

KTU

1.107

hm( 3)
IpI(3)

il whm
b'l wdgn
'nt w'ttrt
yrh wrsp
'ttr 'ttpr
ZZ wkmt
mlk b'ttrt
ktr whss
Ihr wslm

In the divination and oracle texts, as noted above, the scant reference to deities and then basically only in descriptive terms (cf. K T U

1.124 = RS 24.272:2), as granting omens, not as recipients of offerings,


is evident, a d a t u m which highlights the importance of 'magical
liturgy' in contrast to sacrifice.
O n the other hand, texts of magic and incantation, like the litanies discussed above, have a long series of double deities in almost
the same sequence. T h e standard double series is given in K T U 1.107 =
R S 24.251+. This text and K T U 1.100 = RS 24.244 also invoke
hrn and p in a special way, as the principal deities in incantation.
Again, the repetitive sequence (partly reflected in K T U 1.123 = R S
24.271; cf. above) exhibits a fixed cultic structure of curse-prayer
with possibly a magical and thus unalterable meaning. Several of
these couples are already known in mythological literature (hr-lm,
ktr-f}ss and to some extent, cnt-cttrt, bcl-dgn); others occur determined
by cultic-magical use (il-hrn, yrh-rsp); and others still need to be studied more closely to explain the meaning of the relationship ('ttrt-'ttpr,
ZZ-kmt; for mlk-bettrt cf. K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252:1-2). Otherwise,
apart from these last deities or invocations/epithets, the remainder
belong to the mythological pantheon.
As a whole, then, the pantheon of these texts is evidently very
fixed and sequential, with a preference for 'double' and 'paired'
names, as expressed in K T U 1.100 = R S 24.244 and K T U 1.107
= R S 24.251+.

Appendix:

T h e

Lists

of

Hurrian

Gods

T h e influence of Hurrian religious, mythological and cultic tradition


in Ugarit is strong and is attested by the many texts written in that
language found in various archives ( K T U 1.26 = RS 1-11.[048],
K T U 1.30 = R S 1-11.[046], K T U 1.32 = R S 1.[066], K T U 1.33 =
R S 1.[067], K T U 1.34 = R S 1.[076], K T U 1.35 = R S 1.[069],
K T U 1.36 = RS 1 .[070], K T U 1.42 = R S 1.004, K T U 1.44 = RS
1.007, K T U 1.51 = RS 1.027, K T U 1.52 = R S 1.028+, K T U
1.54 = RS 1.034+, K T U 1.59 = RS 1. [049 a], K T U 1.60 = RS
2.[006], K T U 1.64 = R S 3.372, K T U 1.66 = RS 4.474, K T U
1.68 = RS 5.200, K T U 1.110 = RS 24.254, K T U 1.116 = RS
24.261, K T U 1.120 = R S 24.269+, K T U 1.125 = R S 24.274, K T U
1.128 = RS 24.278, K T U 1.131 = R S 24.285, K T U 1.135 = RS
24.295, K T U 1.149 = RS 24.644) as well as some bilinguals, for

example K T U 1.111 = R S 24.255 and K T U 1.132 = RS 24.291,


in which the Semitic and Hurrian epithets are mixed ( X e l l a 1 9 8 1 ,
303-21; P a r d e e 1997b, 66ff.).
Besides this evidence from liturgical practice, the Hurrian pantheon in Ugarit was also known through canonical lists (?), as shown
by texts such as K T U 1.26 = R S 1 - 1 1 . [048] (broken; note the
attributive m o r p h e m e -d) and is included in others of a ritual nature
such as K T U 1 . 1 1 0 = RS 2 4 . 2 5 4 and K T U 1 . 1 1 6 = RS 2 4 . 2 6 1
(cf. K T U 1 . 1 4 8 = R S 2 4 . 6 4 3 : 1 3 - 7 ) . By combining the various series
it is possible to sketch out the following list of the Hurrian pantheon
exacdy as it was known and used in Ugarit. Little is known about
its actual meaning, for which reference may be made to discussion
of Hurrian religion. 2 ' It is given here together with a normalized
transcription (in Akkadian) ( L a r o c h e 1 9 8 0 ; W i l h e l m 1 9 8 2 = 1 9 8 9 ;
for the Hurrian normalisation cf. D i e t r i c h - M a y e r 1 9 9 4 , 1 9 9 7 ) .
KTU 1.110

KTU 1.116 KTU 1.132 KTU 1.111

in tin/Eni Salanni
in atn!Eni attanni
il/Ilu
ttb/ Teub/p
kdg/ Kuuh
irw prz/(?)
kmrw/Kumarw/bi

'ttrt
tutk
kzg
in hmn
nnt
kit
nbdg
bbt/Bibita
tutk/ Sawuka
in Ilm
in atn
il
ttb
tutk
kmrb
kzg

iy/E(y)a
attb/Atabi
'nt/'Anatu
tmg/ Simike

attb
in ard
in hmn

in tin
hbt
bdr
dqt
hdn
Ijdlr
hnng
nbdg

in atn
il
ttb
kmrb
kdg
in prz
nkl
yrh

tgn
kid

in sin
il
ttb

Ugaritic
Pantheon
ilib
il
dgn
b'l
yrh
mlk
nkl
yrh

kmrb
kdg
iy iy
attb
in ard
tmg

'ttrt
p

23
Cf. V I E Y R A 1970, 5 3 8 - 6 6 ; V O N S C H U L E R 1965a, 141-215; W I L H E L M 1982,
6 9 - 1 0 5 ('Gtter, Mythen, Kulte und Magie') = 1994, 49-76; D I E T R I C H - M A Y E R
1994, 7 3 - 1 1 2 ; (1995, 7 42); M A Y E R 1996, 2 0 5 - 1 1 ; P A R D E E 1997b, 63-80; D I E T R I C H M A Y E R 1997, 161-81. T h e r e is a great deal of material in the first two volumes
in the series Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians, Winona
Lake, IN 1981/1987.

nkl/Nikkalu
in ard/(?)
nbdg/Nub adig

nbdg
'nt
tmg
pddph/Piaaphi
hbt/Heb/pat
dqt/D/ Taqitu
hdn/Hud/ tena
hdlr/Hud/ tellura
ihr/ Ihara
aln/Allani
nkl/Nikkalu
nnt/Ninatta
klt/ Kulitta
adm/Adamma
kbb/Kubaba

T h e first series of the Hurrian pantheon of Ugarit (in tin, in atn, il,
ttb, kmrb, kdg, iwr prz, nkl, tutk) corresponds to the beginning of the
Ugaritic canon and in fact represents the group of the great Hurrian
gods, repeated with remarkable consistency in K T U 1.110 = RS
24.254:1-5; K T U 1.111 = RS 24.255:3-5, 8 - 1 0 ; K T U 1.116 = RS
24.261:11-4, suggesting a certain established sequence in which the
position of certain deities can fluctuate and Sawuka is not always
present. T h e mother goddess Hebat is missing. This series, in which
Teub does not occupy a privileged position, is in fact an adaptation of the classical Hurrian pantheon to the canon of Ugarit.
A second series (cf. K T U 1.110 = R S 24.254:6-10; K T U 1.111 =
R S 24.255:10-2; K T U 1.116 = R S 24.261:14-7) includes the following deities:
iy / Eya
attb / Atabi
'nt / 'Anatu
in ard / (?)
in hmn / (?)
tmg / Simegi
nbdg / Nubadig

Kotaru(?)
'Attar(t)u
'Anatu
(?)
(?)

Sapu

(?)

These two series are completed by the list of gods provided by texts
such as K T U 116 = R S 2 4 . 2 6 1 : 1 8 - 2 3 a n d K T U 1.132 = R S
24.291:4-12, already difficult to square with the Semitic pantheon.
This is, in principle, a cultic pantheon known from the sacrificial
texts. However, the syntax used for listing some of them makes them
equivalent to a 'god list'. W e are unable, however, to decide whether

the lists are canonical or simply functional. T h e same problem is


presented by K T U 1.42 = R S 1.004, a cultic text in which seventeen repeated records list as many Hurrian deities in this sequence:
1.
2.
3.
4.

in atn
il kmrb
ttb lb
iy kdg

5.
6.
7.
8.

ddm
u[k]
]nd
attb

9. hdn f}dlr
10. tgrbn pddph
11. tmg
12. irxxi/hdrp

13. cnt
14. ibnkl pdgl
15. nbdg
16. in k[]l/d in trhn in atthn ttb
17. bbt

These are the same gods just quoted but in a different order.

2.3

Lists of offerings

As was noted above, most of the texts labelled as 'cultic' or 'ritual'


are really only 'lists of offerings' where the divine recipient is noted.
T h e y can thus be considered as administrative accounts which entail
descriptive ritual elements. Their classification will be along similar
lines to those used before: first we shall consider lists which are independent and then those which form part of more or less complex
cultic contexts. We shall only consider data that are certain; disputed
or purely hypothetical elements are dealt with in a description of
the Ugaritic cult as a whole. 24
2.3.1

Lists without offerings

2.3.1.1 Record of sacrificial material ( K T U 1.91 = R S 19.015,


K T U 1.48 = RS 1.019, K T U 1.87 = R S 18.056)
a) Perhaps the clearest and purest example of a 'list of offerings', in
terms of administration, is provided by K T U 1.91 = R S 19.015. 23
T h e introduction (lines 1-2), specifies the product (yr) and the occasion of its generic use in the cult (dbh mlk). Next there follows the
only example we have of a 'record of rituals' (lines 3-20), referred
to by their keyword or brief description of the basic ceremony (del
O l m o
L e t e
1992a, 174-7; 1999, 2 5 9 - 6 4 , for its identification and
comparison with extant rituals). O n the reverse (lines 21-34) are

24

Cf. in general DEL O L M O L E T E 1999, 7-23.


Cf. V I R O L L E A U D 1965, 7-10; F I S H E R 1970, 49Iff.; DE M O O R 1 9 7 2 / 1 1 , 26-8;
X E L L A 1979, 833; 1981, 335-6; D E T A R R A G O N , 1989, 174-7; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z
1988, 321-2; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 171-7 = 1999, 254-64.
25

noted the places which are to provide the product mentioned, even
distinguished as to category (jyn: msb/hsp). T h e final section (lines
35-36) gives the sum total of what has been provided.
Although not really a ritual, it provides information about the elements of ritual (time, type, subject, predicate, object/material) and
so forms part of the corpus of cultic literature. From it can be deduced
clearly, unless the contrary is stated, that everyday wine of ordinary
quality, the so-called msb was used even in the cult. As confirmed
by the administrative texts ( d e l O l m o L e t e - S a n m a r t i n 1 9 9 8 ,
1 9 2 - 4 ) , this was a product normally used in the Ugaritic cult and
will again be mentioned in other lists of offerings considered here.
Wine to be consumed . . .
in the king's 'sacrifices':
the 'sacrifice of Sapunu',
Ibnm (shall provide) ten ('gallons') of wine
hlb gngnt "
"
three
" "
of wine
bir ( " " ) ten (kdm) of mz[b (wine) and two] kdm of hsp (wine)
hpty " " two kdm of m^b (wine)
Total (amount of) wine . . .".: sev[enty four kdm],
and of hsp (wine): two, as one lot.
(KTU 1.91 = RS 19.015:1-4, 21-36)
As it is an administrative text, its interest lies in the material and
the provider. Even so, it is not possible to be deceived about the
value of this type of text. Not only do such texts give information
but they also define a fiscal-cultic situation, and as such have prescriptive value, both for what refers to the centres providing material and for its use in the rituals mentioned. As such, the text could
belong either to the archive of the civil or palace warehouse, or to
the cultic or temple archive. In fact, there was only a single economy in these kingdoms. 26

26

T h e text was found in room 81 of the South-Western archive of the royal


palace of Ugarit; cf. V I R O L L E A U D 1 9 6 5 , 7. On the relationship between both administrations in general cf. LIPINSKI 1 9 7 9 .

b) Similarly, K T U 1.48 = R S 1.019 27 records one material for


offering, in this case 'birds' (csrm), intended for a particular type of
sacrificial ritual ([dbh] tph bcl), noting in one case the divine recipient and in others the type of ritual use in it, and also noting at the
end a pair of centres which provide it (lines 18-19). It does not preserve, however, the strict nature of a record which the previous text
had, but instead is already close to the lists of cultic offerings to be
seen below.
We do not think, then, that it is a ritual of popular cult, (it was
found in the house of the 'High Priest'), nor is it from a small group
with meagre resources ( X e l l a 1984a, 165-8; P a r d e e 1988c, 185,
n. 19). It is rather an administrative record related to the official
cult, determined by the importance which birds had as an offering
to the ins ilm, 'the divine peoples' in a sacrifice of a dynastic type
(tph b'l) ( P a r d e e 1988c, 185; d e l O l m o L e t e 1987a, 66). T h e mention of the respective rituals and their divine recipients gives the text
its 'ritual' character, at least as an 'agenda'. It is a pity that the poor
state of preservation does not permit more definite conclusions.
[Book-keeping record] of birds
[(for) the sacrifice] of the stock of the 'Lord'/sovereign: 28
three birds
for29 the 'Lady of the Mansions',
three [. . .] for Dagnu,
[ . . . . ] [ . . . .];
one tp sn't game bird,
one tr bist30 bird
whose owner put
hgm [ ]rf;31
27

Cf. X E L L A 1981, 113-6; 1984a, 165-8; P A R D E E 1988b, 173-91; 1989, 43,


n. 10; DE T A R R A G O N 1989, 167-8; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 6 8 - 9 = 1999, 89-90.
28
Here, b'l is a royal title whereas in Ugaritic, the 'family of Ba'lu is pf)r/dr b'l.
For the empirical meaning of Iph/s'ph cf. K T U 1.14 = RS 2.[003]+ i 24 (= bt, line 7).
29
P A R D E E , 1988c, 178, 186, suggests the restoration [/] before the I. Although
not impossible, reference to a 'ram' would be strange if our text is understood as
a record of 'birds'.
30
They would be two unidentified types of birds, with feminine adjectives ('disagreeable', 'foul-smelling'), the grammatical gender denoted here by the noun 'sr\
cf. X E L L A 1984a, 168; P A R D E E 1988C, 188. However, reference to a 'bull' would
be odd in this and the other cultic texts, although the translation 'a bull which his
master placed on the fire (b it)' cannot be excluded; cf. DE T A R R A G O N 1989, 168,
. 89.
31
Possibly an unidentified type of plant which 'sweetens' 'wild' birds for offerings
and sacred repast. T h e restoration l[al]rt would fit the context but is purely hypothetical; cf. P A R D E E 1988c, 182, 188.

two32 [birds] for [ . . . . ] ;


one in the hmn [ . . . . ] two(?).
On the (very/same) day of the sacrifice of the stock of the 'Lord':
one for the 'libation'" of [. .],
one for the offering to the [divine ]34 mountain,
four birds,
the 'estate' of trmn\
one, Salhu.
c) It is probable that K T U 1.87 = R S 18.056:58-61 (DEL O L M O
L E T E 1992a, 69 = 1999, 91) is also an account record in which are
noted the contributions to the cult made by individuals, although
this time we do not know what type of offering was involved. T h e
fact that it is added to text K T U 1.87 (but not however to its duplicate K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+), indicates the purely administrative
value put on these texts and allowed them to be supplemented
archivally with other notes of similar significance when space on the
tablet allowed.
d) A list of multiple offerings as a simple record with no divine recipient is also provided by K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643:18-22 (cf. below).
T o complete the picture of pure cultic records, the various administrative texts have to be cited (category 4 in KTU) which record
material for offerings, since they do not differ in genre and scribal
structure from those above mentioned; they also mention festivals
and gods who receive the offerings (cf. K T U 4.149 = RS 15.039
(wine; cf. K T U 4.213 = R S 16.17:24), K T U 4.168 = R S 15.082
(clothing), K T U 4.182 = R S 15.115 (clothing), K T U 4.219 = R S
1 6 . 1 7 9 : 1 - 3 , K T U 4 . 2 7 9 = R S 17.156(?), K T U 4 . 2 8 0 = R S
17.236:13-4 (silver), K T U 4.284 = R S 17.285:5-6(?) (wine and
oil), K T U 4.781 = R I H 8 3 / 2 8 + : 1 - 2 (oil). However the accepted

32

Cf. P A R D E E 1988c, 182, 188; cf. G O R D O N , UT, 4 3 - 4 , on the ambiguous use


of tn in respect of agreement of gender.
33
In view of the context and perhaps its parallelism with mkt, the meaning of
which is quite definitely 'immolation' (cf. K T U 1 . 4 0 = R S 1 . 0 0 2 : 2 4 and par.; X E L L A
1981, 116), I prefer to understand mzy as referring to a type of offering, although
difficult to justify etymologically (cf. Akk. maza'u, 'to squeeze', Arab, mazza, in connection with sour or semifermented drinks; cf. VON S O D E N , AHW, 6 3 7 ; CAD M / l ,
4 3 9 ; L A N E , AEL,
2 7 1 0 ) ; see also D I J K S T R A 1 9 9 5 . In any case, the presence of a P N
here is hardly likely in terms of context and morphology; cf. P A R D E E 1 9 8 8 C , 1 8 8 9 .
There are several possible restorations for the end of the line; e.g. bn [il(m)/bt].
34
Cf. K T U 1.3 = RS 2.[014]+ iii 29 (btk gry il spn).

distribution of the texts obviates that; texts which we have otherwise


grouped together and analysed elsewhere ( d e l O l m o L e t e - S a n m a r t i n
1998).
2.3.1.2 Lists of assigned offerings ( K T U 1.90 = R S 19.013, K T U
1.164 = R I H 7 7 / 0 2 B + , K T U 1.168 = R I H 7 7 / 1 0 B + , K T U 1.162 =
R S [Varia 20], K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643, K T U 1.105 = R S 24.249,
K T U 1.109 = RS 24.253, K T U 1.46 = R S 1.009, K T U 1.130 =
R S 24.284, K T U 1.43 = R S 1.005, K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+, K T U
1.87 = R S 18.056).
However most of the lists of offerings are to be found a m o n g the
texts labelled rituals, the ritual nature of which is generally reduced
to listing victims and offerings for each deity, with a generic description (in the heading or beginning of each section) of the cultic occasion and even the place where the offering takes place. This implies
that these texts are basically lists of offerings and lists of gods (cf.
above).
a) As an intermediate stage between pure records of offerings and
lists of assigned offerings can be cited a series of texts which in their
fragmentary condition give offerings to one or two deities only: K T U
1.90 = R S 19.013, K T U 1.164 = R I H 7 7 / 0 2 B + , K T U 1.168 =
R I H 7 7 / 1 0 B + . T h e y belong to the genre of 'visits'(?) (id yph mlk)
and thus are close to the group of divination texts and oracular consultations in which we have already noticed a reduction in the number of gods mentioned.
T h e king is expressly m e n t i o n e d as the officiant of the ritual.
Otherwise, the texts do not specify the place of worship ( K T U 1.164
= R I H 7 7 / 0 2 B + 1: b hmr), which has to be assumed, as does its
moment in the cultic calendar. As most of the texts come from Ras
ibn Hani, it is taken for granted that these rituals are celebrated in
the cultic installations of the palace. 35 T h e textual agreement a m o n g
them is surprising, with only the relevant verb (ydbh/yph) changing.
T h e initial, single introductory offering is followed by the double
rp/lmm ritual, all dedicated to the deity w h o m the king 'visits'/
'sacrifices', sometimes accompanied by others in the repetition lmm:
rp, cnt, ilib || -, cnt, ins ilm, il, mn(?). T h e r e is also great uniformity
35

For a general bibliography on the texts from RIH cf.


212 n. 74 = 1999, 316 n. 75.'

DEL O L M O L E T E

1992a,

in the the distribution of the victims in the parallel sections of these


texts: hgb/slh/0, ap wtips, ksp whrs || 0/hi, alp ws || / [ csrm\. K T U
1.164 = R I H 7 7 / 0 2 B + , which does not apparently pertain to a visit
but to a sacrifice, is the one showing the greatest variation within
the same pattern. T h e bad state of preservation does not allow all
the information which these texts provided concerning Ugaritic liturgy
in its various rituals to be extracted. O n l y K T U 1.164 = R I H
7 7 / 0 2 B + : 19-20 and K T U 1.90 = R S 19.013:20-2 provide the end
section, which in both cases seems to refer to the desacralization
process and the conclusion of the king's liturgical activity, a moment
whose precise definition was seemingly important.
b) O n e of the most outstanding examples of this type of offering list
is provided by K T U 1.162 = RS [Varia 20], Here, the syntactic
structure used (/ + D N + X), except in the first offering (to ilib),
forces the series of divine names (cf. above) into first position, followed by the list of victims: invariably one ' r a m ' (s), except in the
first case ('two head of cattle and two rams' to ilib) and the last
('one calf', to Sapunu). T h e beginning and end of the text provide
ill-defined ritual elements. Entitled dbh il bldn, it quite definitely deals
with one of the dbh mlk enumerated in K T U 1 . 9 1 = RS 1 9 . 0 1 5 (cf.
line 6 : il bldn), possibly known as nskt qlc (cf. line 2 ) (DEL O L M O L E T E
1998a, 164-7).
c) However an even more striking and complete example of a 'list
of offerings', sacrificial in type, is provided by K T U 1.148 = R S
24.643, as is shown when set out as a table (DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a,
8 9 - 9 1 = 1999, 131-3). 36 T h e text is complex and contains several
rituals, in the m a n n e r of the familiar anthology genre found in other
texts of this type. Horizontal lines separate the said rituals. T h e chief
concern of this a r r a n g e m e n t of the text into sections a n d cultic
moments is the attribution and recording of the offerings. This does
not prevent it from also providing important supplementary information concerning ritual (type of sacrifice, place, occasion . . .). T h e
syntax is asyndetic (DN + X), which gives the 'god list' pride of
place.
36

Cf.

1966, 279-82; V I R O L L E A U D 1968, 580 4; L A R O C H E 1968a, 517-518;


1970b, 306-12; F I S H E R 1970, 493-4; M I L A N O 1977, 23-4; C A Q U O T 1979,
1406; DE T A R R A G O N 1980, 109-10, 201 (index); 1989, 224-8; X E L L A 1981, 91-312;
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 305 8; P A R D E E 1992, 153-70; D E L O I . M O L E T E 1992a,
88-94 = 1999, 130-8; W Y A T T 1998c, 427-9.
ASTOUR

DE M O O R

T h e first section, corresponding to the dbh spn (lines 1 - 9 + 10-12;


cf. K T U 1.91 = RS 19.015:3) presents the series of divine names
which we call 'List A' (cf. above) and undoubtedly corresponds to
the principal liturgy carried out by the dynasty in honour of the
gods of Ugarit. T h e corresponding offerings are divided into three
groups: 'one head of cattle and one r a m ' (alp w) for the first four
invocations, as well as for the following seven of Ba'lu\ for the remaining gods of the p a n t h e o n , 'one r a m ' , with an addition, with no
specific recipient, of 'two head of catde, two birds and one cow'.
T h e repetition lmm (lines 10-12) mentions only 'one r a m ' for ilib
and ilu, and 'one head of cattle for the other six b'lrr (alp, kmm), but
the logic of this distribution is not evident. Probably this second section represents only one incipit and the ritual lmm included identical victims (alp) for the rest of the pantheon. 3 7
T h e following festival, 'when 'Attartu of the steppe enters the royal
palace' (lines 18-22; cf. K T U 1.91 = RS 19.015:10) provides a simple record of offerings, with no divine recipient, apparently ceremonial rather than sacrificial in nature ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a, 93 =
1999, 136):38 articles of clothing and vegetable products.
Lastly, the section on the reverse (lines 23-45) is a unit corresponding to the ritual of the 'gods of (the month) Hiyarv and in this
case the series of divine names corresponds to list B (cf. above). T h e
victim offered is basically the 'ram', alternating with 'head of cattle
and r a m ' offered to Ba'lu(?) (lines 26-45).
e) Tablet K T U 1.105 = R S 24.249, 39 also concerning a ritual of
the month Hiyaru, has the clear structure of a 'list of offerings'. Aside
from the possible inverted order of the two faces, it presents a series
of blocks of offerings distinguished by place, time and type of offering.
However this is not a 'list of gods'. By the interchange of semantic
patterns, victims are assigned to various gods and in particular, many
37
The third section (lines 13 17) is written in Hurrian, which is unusual for a
mere account listing offerings, although the Hurrian insertion does not seem to be
one.
38
The kind of offerings makes this section coincide partly with the one presented
by the ritual of the 'Entry of 'Attartu of the tomb(s)' (KTU 1.43 = RS 1.005:1-5),
although there animal victims were also offered.
39
Cf. V I R O L L E A U D 1968, 588-92; H E R D N E R 1978, 11-5; C A Q U O T 1977, 461-2;
1979b, 1408-9; F I S H E R 1970, 485-501; 1975, 142-7; DE M O O R 1970b, 318-22;
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z - S A N M A R T I N 1975b, 158; DE T A R R A G O N 1980, 21-2, 165-76,
201 (index); 1989, 181-4; X E L L A 1981, 35-42; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 314-5;
D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 206-8 = 1999, 307-10.

others are recorded without any specific assignment, in terms of the


cultic installation in which the sacrifice takes place.
Accounts are thus given for the following victims, according to
cultic situation (including the purification of the king) and various
recipients: on the day of the new moon, 'one head of cattle and one
r a m ' (alp w) to the b'lt bhtm; day 14, two 'rk-m ('puff-pastry cakes'[?])
to Ba'lw, [the 18th] in the gb of Sapunu as a /^-sacrifice, 'gold and
silver' for t', 'two rams' for btbt as a holocaust, 'one head of cattle'
as a peace-offering for Ba'lu, 'one bird' for Sapunu, 'one (piece o f )
offal' and 'one r a m ' for Raspu, 'two birds' for the ins ilm and (for
another deity) 'two ewes'; in the gb of rp, as a holocaust 'one r a m '
and 'one white ewe'(?); in the gb of Hiyaru, '38 sheep' (sin) and 'seven
head of cattle'; in the temple of Ba'lu, 'two rams' (to the same?),
'one head of cattle and one r a m ' (alp ws) to Raspu, 'rams' from three
different places to the b'lt bhtm and 'two rams' to Ktaru as a tzgsacrifice, 'two rams' and 'one bullock' (pr) from a specified place.
T h e gods venerated do not form any particular list.
T h e restricted and domestic nature of the deities commemorated
is striking. In this respect, the agreement with K T U 1.106 = RS
24.250+ and K T U 1.112 = RS 24.256 is impressive: b'lt bhtm, btbt,
ins ilm, on the one hand, and rp, b'l, spn [+ ktr], on the other. It
belongs, therefore, to the range of palatine texts with their own pantheon and in connection with celebrations which are strongly funereal
in nature. This was already to be assumed not only from the place
of the offerings (gb), but also from the name of the month (hyr).
f ) According to the heading, the Ugaritic text K T U 1.109 = RS
24.253 is a list of offerings made during the full moon in various
sacred locations and according to a different type of sacrifice, 40 preceded by the well known ritual of 'purification of the king'. T h u s
we have in this full m o o n ritual the well known multiplicity of
sacrificial units on the same day in various sacred places, in palace

40

Cf.

1968, 592-3; C A Z E L I . E S 1969, 505; DE M O O R 1970b, 322 6;


1978, 16-221; X E L L A 1981, 49-54; D I J K S T R A 1984,
69-76; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 316 8 ; DE T A R R A G O N 1989, 188-91; DEL O I . M O
L E T E 1992a, 182-5 = 1999, 271-7. T h e most important study of these texts (KTU
1.109 = RS 24.253 and K T U 1.46 = RS 1.009) is by Dijkstra, who completes it
with other fragments (KTU 1.28 = RS I 11[021], K T U 1.56 = RS 1.044, K T U
1.31 = RS 1-11 [022], K T U 1.27 = RS 1.[064]; and perhaps K T U 1.134 = RS
24.294 and K T U 1.160 = RS 28.059); K T U 1.130 = RS 24.284 is a duplicate/partial variant of them.
CAQUOT

VIROLLEAUD

1977, 462;

HERDNER

and town, mostly, also in this case, to the great tutelary gods of the
dynasty and with the cult of the 'dead' predominant.
T h e text, with alternating syntax (X + / + D N type of sacrifice
D N + X), is arranged into two sections, separated epigraphically by
a horizontal dividing line and defined by two 'types' of 'generic' cultic action which incorporate c o m m o n and known sacrificial actions.
T h e first, of the 'rt type (line 5), includes two series of sacrifices srp
wlmm (lines 10, 15), identical in one case (kmrr) and different in the
other. This twofold series, most probably carried out in two different
sanctuaries (palace and town), closes with another lmm-sacrifice (line
23), celebrated in a particular installation in an unknown sacred
place (burbt, line 19). Whereas the second section, of the npt-type
(line 24), also includes a repetitive series of srp wslmm-sacrifice (line
28, kmrr), which in turn is followed by what can be considered a
new series of rp wslmm (lines 36-7), with an interlude (lines 29-31)
in a new cultic installation of unspecified location (qgrt tlhn, lines
29-31). This ritual symmetry forces us to take into account the
specific nature of the generic Crt/npt rituals, which should not therefore be placed at the same cultic level as the 'sacrificial' rituals. T h e y
represent 'ceremonies of ceremonies', mixed rituals.
Accounts for the following sets of victims are given: as a holocaust (srp): 'two cows one month old' (yrh) for Ba'lu of Sapunu, along
with 'two ewes' and 'one dove' for Ba'lu; 'two loins' and 'one r a m '
for rml; 'one liver' and 'one r a m ' for lm; 'one liver of one head of
cattle' and again 'one r a m ' for Ba'lu of Sapunu; 'one ewe' for Sapunu.
As a peace offering (lmm), the same again. Again, as a holocaust:
'two livers' and 'one (piece o f ) offal' (for Ba'lu?); 'one cow' for ilib;
for Ilu, Ba'lu and Pidrayu, 'one r a m ' each; for 'Anatu of Sapunu, 'one
head of cattle and one r a m ' (alp w). As a communion sacrifice: for
ilib, Ba'lu of Ugarit, Ba'lu of hlb and Tarhu, one ' r a m ' each; for 'Anatu
of Sapunu, 'one head of cattle and one ram'; for Pidrayu and ddms,
'one r a m ' each. A new series of communion victims includes: 'one
r a m ' for each of the gods ilib, Dagnu, il t'dr b'l, Ba'lu, 'Anatu and
Rapu, as well as 'one head of cattle and one r a m ' for Ba'lu. T h e
first series of the npt ritual includes: 'one r a m ' for Ilu, 'two rams'
for 'Anatu of his; and for the gtrm, 'the left gsb of two head of cattle' plus 'one head of cattie and one ram'. T h e second part, besides
'thirty rams' spiced with 'tamarisk' for Ba'lu in 'the burner of the
table of the Lady/ies of the Mansions', includes by double entry
(kmrri), holocaust and communion: 'two calves [?]' (7m) for Ba'lu of
Sapunu; 'one r a m ' for il bt[(?), Sapunu and Ba'lu of Ugarit, one each;

'one cow' for ilib, and for Ba'lu of Ugarit and 'Anatu of Sapunu, 'one
head of cattle and one r a m ' jointly.
However, the smaller n u m b e r of deities c o m m e m o r a t e d in this
liturgy is evident, with emphasis on the three great deities: Ilu, Ba'lu,
'Anatu, under various invocations. In the first section they are canonical deities (+ rms), whereas in the second section gtrm, il bt and b'lt
bhtm are mentioned, invocations which place us squarely in the context of the dynastic ancestor cult (on the relationship of this series
of gods occurring in these texts, K T U 1.109 = RS 24.253, K T U
1.46 = RS 1.009, K T U 1.130 = RS 24.284, cf. above).
g) O n the other hand, the fact that the full moon ritual included in
K T U 1.109 = RS 24.253:1-14 occurs literally in the sequence of a
menology (K TU 1.46+ = R S 1.009+) shows the solid structure of
each cultic unit, which remains unchanged. K TU 1.46:10-7 is, then,
a word for word repetition of K T U 1.109:1-14, as we have just seen.
Instead, the beginning ( K T U 1.46 = R S 1.009:1-10) belongs to
another cultic unit, indicated by time (new moon) and is, more clearly
than the following, a pure list of offerings. 41 It tells us nothing, however, about the local situation of the rites.
Otherwise, the literary structure and the syntax are like those of
the previous text ( K T U 1.109 = R S 24.253). O n the 1st day we
have, apparently, the classic duo rp wlmm: 'one sltf and 'one (piece
of) offal' (np) for t' and 'two livers' for the 'god of the mansion' (il
bt); equivalently, 'one r a m ' for ilib, Ilu, Ba'lu and Dagnu; 'one cow'
for 'ttr-'ttpl and 'Anatu; 'one ewe' for Sapunu; several other victims are
dedicated to recipients now missing. And also on the 3rd, this time
with absolute clarity, and by double entry (kmm): 'one r a m ' for ilib,
Ilu, Ba'lu, Atiratu and Yammu; 'one cow' for b'l knp and another missing deity, as well as 'one ewe' for Sapunu. O n this day in addition,
a 'supplement' to the standard dual pattern, as was the case in K T U
1.109 = RS 24.253:19ff: '[one ram and] one head of cattle' for b'l
and 'ttrt; 'two birds' to the ins ilm; 'two cows' to the two bbtm.
In the group of deities mentioned in this coda to the 3rd day
there occur the ins ilm, the deified dead of the dynasty, honoured
by their habitual offering of 'two birds' (esrm), corresponding to the
gtrm who occur in K T U 1.109 = RS 24.253:26. Reference to the
bbt-m, which follows immediately, also gives the ritual the significance

41

Cf. GRAY

1989, 164-6;

1 9 6 5 , 9 0 - 2 ; XELLA
DEL O L M O

IJTE

1 9 8 1 , 5 5 - 8 ; DIJKSTRA

1984, 69

1992a, 186-7 = 1999, 278-80.

7 6 ; DE T A R R A G O N

of royal cult which we had noted in this text, and mention of te


(line 1) only corroborates this.
h) Unfortunately fragmentary, K T U 1.130 = RS 24.284 42 is considered by Dijkstra to be a schoolboy copy of K T U 1.46 = R S
1.009:11-7 || K T U 1.109 = R S 24.253:3-18 and he suggests reading the sides of the tablet in reverse order. T h e sacrificial sequence
of K T U 1.109 supports this. In spite of their variants, these texts
are interesting inasmuch as they can throw light on the royal character of these rituals.
These texts, then, fix the liturgy of the most sacred days of the
lunar calendar, new moon and full moon, carried out in various
sacred places of the Ugaritic cult, the urban and palace sanctuary,
under the highest officiant, the king. T h e basic rite described here
is that of sacrifice, in its various forms, accompanied as is usual by
the purification/desacralization of the officiant. W h a t is not clear in
this ritual, as in other rituals, is the principle which determines the
choice of deities and their epithets, as well as the reladonship between
each type of victim and the deity to whom it is offered.
i) Another text which is, in fact, a pure list of offerings, apart from
the non-sacrificial ritual elements at its close, is K T U 1.43 = R S
1.005. 43 T h e whole text is a single ceremonial procession in honour
of various deities ('Attartu, the gtrm) who 'enter' the palace where they
receive the offerings and a banquet is held (Crt). This 'processional'
aspect connects it with K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643:18-22, where
another rite of the same kind occurs. K T U 1.91 = R S 19.015:10-1
refers to these texts as dbh mlk rituals and our text could be one of
them. T h e nature of the offerings are in line with this ritual, mosdy
of the type 'clothes' or 'precious metal', as we have seen (cf. above),
whereas the animal victims seem to be relegated to the background.
Because of this we saw a reference to it perhaps in K T U 1.91 =
R S 19.015:8 (izr) ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a, 175 = 1999, 260).

42

C f . M I L I K 1 9 7 8 , 1 3 5 - 8 ; X E L L A 1 9 8 1 , 1 0 1 - 4 ; DIJKSTRA 1 9 8 4 , 7 4 - 5 ; DE T A R R A G O N

1989,
43

216-8;

DEL O L M O L E T E

C f . FISHER

1970, 4 9 2

TARRAGON 1 9 8 0 , 9 8 - 1 0 7 ,

8 6 - 9 0 ; DE M O O R
O L M O LETE

357-9.

1992a,

1992a,

188-9

4; DIETRICH 111, 113; 1989,


=

1999,

280-2.
SANMARTIN

1975g,

525-8;

1 6 1 - 3 ; CAQUOT 1 9 7 9 , 1406; XELLA

1987, 1 6 8 - 7 1 ; DIETRICH 189-94

LORETZ -

1999, 2 8 2 - 9 1 ;

LORETZ

1988b, 3 2 6 - 7 ; 1 9 9 1 , 8 7 ;

PARDEE

1993, 301

17; W Y A T T

DE

1981,
DEL

1998C,

T h e inclusion of the genre (kt'rb) in K T U 1.91 = RS 19.015 already


guarantees its royal character, which is also clear from the actual
text as it mentions the place where the rite takes place (lines 2, 10:
bt mlk) and from the behaviour of the king at its close (lines 23-26).
This ritual colophon provides the situation and defines the 'genre'
of the preceding cultic actions. T h e y are processions in which the
king takes part, 'following' and 'carrying' the 'gods' (statues), going
out to meet them and accompanying them as they are moved to
the chapel or palace cultic installation, when they 'enter' the palace.
These, then, are rituals, though we cannot say whether they are successive or separate, of procession or transfer of sacred images from
their usual place (the temple) to the royal palace; rituals which are
accompanicd, as is usual, by sacrifices and other offerings, once the
gods have arrived and been enthroned in their new quarters.
However, they do not provide us with an indication of the 'moment'
of this ritual (or these rituals), no doubt well known to those using
them as significant moments of the annual liturgical cycle, like Mediterranean pilgrimages and patronal feasts, which need no further
specification in the calendar.
T h e structure of the ceremonial supposed in the text is very clear,
arranged into two explicit rites and another six which are merely
mentioned, presumably partial repetitions of the second (double) rite.
Of these eight rituals, the first (lines 1-8) forms a separate unit, with
its own final rubric (lines 7-8: repetition 'seven times') which marks
it off and makes it parallel to the seven other sections, which in turn
are given this rubric at the end of the text (line 26: repetition 'seven
times'). It all refers to the gtrm or cntm (the seventh is fragmentary).
In its first section (lines 1-8) the ritual supposes three different
types of offering-rite (Cr, trmt, lmm), directed to the (astral) gods and
to Ktaru (or Gataru), seven times to each of the two groups. It is
strange to find that there are also 'seven' elements or materials for
the offerings indicated here (lb, ktn, upgt, hrs, s, alp, sin), which may
not have any special significance, although it could correspond to
the series of 'seven' offerings, instead of supposing a sevenfold repetition of the whole thing. In that case, the rubric would be explanatory.
T h e 'time' (parr) refers to the action and not to its object, as has
also to be supposed in line 26. This way of glossing the sacrificial
rite and the listing of its elements in the other rites where they are
mentioned should be borne in mind as a peculiarity of these Ugaritic rituals.

It is most probably, then, a procession ritual which takes place in


the cultic installations of the palace when the goddess ' 'Attartu of the
tomb(s)' (DEL O L M O L E T E 1996a, 47-52) makes her 'entrance' into
them. This invocation, in connection with the following section centring on the gtrm, as well as the reference to the 'Temple of the
astral gods' make this text parallel to K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256, with
its reference to the 'ascent' of the gods and of the royal family to
the hmn of the palace' seven times' ( K T U 1.112:6-8), the offering
to the goddess "Attartu of the tomb(s)' ( K T U 1.112:13; the only two
references to this goddess in Ugaritic literature) as well as the appearance of the gtrm on the day of the full moon ( K T U 1.112:18).
T h e second section of the ritual (lines 9-16), also an 'entry rite',
has a clear twofold structure with respect to the deities (p-yrfo, gtrc
nt/ilt bt) and offerings (fors, ksp, ap-nps). W e do not know whether
the final sacrificial element (alp w) refers to the previous text, as a
complementary peace offering, or to the following damaged text.
T h e first hypothesis seems the more likely. At all events, it is clear
that the epicentre of this section focuses on the gtrm and that in
principle there are 'two' of them, which occasions the repetition of
the ritual. This repetition of the ritual enables us to reach the number of seven cultic actions presupposed by line 26 and also mentioned
in the first ritual (lines 7-8). With this it also partly agrees in the
'material' for the offerings (precious metals and animals, hrs/alp-),
besides the peculiarity of the funerary offering typical of holocaust,
ap wnps. However, the type of offering is not specified, and nor of
course, is the moment, although it is included as in the previous ritual, in the occasion commemorated ('When the . . . e n t e r . . .'). Instead,
the place remains the palace, i.e. the ritual continues to be royal,
as the deities celebrated indicate.
In what remains of the lines in the second part of this section
(lines 17-21) the repetition of the previous ritual is stated (without
elaboration) twice more per pair, six in all (plus the cultic action
presupposed in line 21).
Finally, with line 22 a ritual of royal behaviour begins (lines 22-26),
the third part of the second section of the text, which complements
the previous section on offerings.
Syntactically, the heading and the ending are predicative in structure, (DF. T A R R A G O N 1980, 98, 110), whereas the central section is
of the standard nominal type: X + I, I + X, type + X. This double syntactic pattern agrees with the twofold sacred action or rite
which makes up this ritual: procession and sacrifice.

j) A virtually 'pure' list of offerings with a duplicate (a rare phen o m e n o n in Ugaritic literature) is provided by K T U 1.41 = R S
1.003+ and K T U 1.87 = RS 15.130, with slight indications of time,
place and ceremonial type; 44 they comprise one of the clearest witnesses of a monthly liturgy or menology (a sequence of sacred, especially sacrificial, celebrations, corresponding to particular days of one
month), which has been transmitted to us among the rituals of Ugarit.
It refers to the month of riyn ('of the first/new wine') and of course
has the format of a firstfruits ritual ('bunches/clusters are cut for Ilu')
of 'New Year' (autumn).
However, this aspect is blurred in the sequence of sacrificial rites.
Unlike other texts of the same genre, here there is a surprising confusion and mix of the parameters temporal and local by which it is
usually organized. Thus, for example, the numerical sequence of days
is not followed. T h e reason here could be that attention has been
given to the importance of the rites, which here as elsewhere correspond
above all to ceremonies celebrated on the d a y / n i g h t of the 'full
moon', and these have therefore been placed in first position. Full
moon and new moon appear to be decisive dates for the 'temporal'
parameter, whereas, the computation of the week also retains its
significance, as we shall see, as is evident in other menological texts.
Within this to some extent temporal confusion, the parameters of
time and type of offering acquire special significance for understanding the overall structure of the text. It is divided into 6 sections
and 2 appendices, which differ in each text; the one of K T U 1.41 =
R S 1.003:50-5 is a sacrificial ritual text; the one of K T U 1.87 =
R S 15.130 is, in turn, twofold: lines 5 4 - 5 7 , sacrificial ritual, lines
5 8 - 6 2 , a record (cf. above). T h e list of offerings is the following, distributed over the days of the month (is it one of the hdtm of K T U
1.91 = R S 19.015?): on the 1st day: 'one bunch of grapes (utkl)' for
Ilu and 'two rams' for 'Attartu (cf. line 49; apparently in different ceremonies). T h e 14th day comprises 4 or 5 sacrificial rites of different
type and recipient, accompanied by another group of non-sacrificial
cultic actions, with the king as officiant, although the sacred place
where they occur is not specified. It opens (lines 4 - 6 ) with the
'offering of the firstfruits' (ris argmn), possibly to the gods in general,

44

Cf.
157-65;

1963, 105ff.; DE M O O R 1972, 13-7; 1987,


1975e 143-6; X E L L A 1981, 5 9 - 7 5 ;
D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 311 4; DE T A R R A G O N 1989, 152 60; DEL O L M O L E T E
1992a, 72-87 = 1999, 96-128; L E V I N E - DE T A R R A G O N 1993, 76-115; L E V I N E DE T A R R A G O N
R O B E R T S O N 1997a; W Y A T T 1998C, 348-56.
HERDNER

DIETRICH

1956, 104-12;
-

LORETZ

LEVINE

SANMARTIN

or to the supreme god Ilu, and refer no doubt to the products of


the season of the year, primarily to wine (cf. lines 1~2: ris yn || ris
argmn). It is accompanied (lines 5 - 6 ) by a fourfold sacrificial offering
to the same n u m b e r of deities, according to standard alternating syntax (X + I + D N ; X + DN), with a total of 'six' victims ('four rams'
and 'two birds'). 45 M o r e significant, however, is the group of these
deities: b'lt bhtm, ins ilm, ils, ilhm (cf. above for their sequence and
relationship to what is offered in K T U 1.39 = R S 1.001). If we
except ils, who is apparently out of place (? absent in lines 23-39),
the other invocations are typical of the 'palace' liturgy, a n d are
inserted into the cult of the dead and deified kings and transformed
into gods of the palace. T h e r e follow two rituals of the king, one of
expiation and one of proclamation of this great day of the full moon
of the month of ris yn, with no ritual of offerings specified. Next we
have a new sacrificial act (srp) in the 'gml and the urbt; the second
installation is already known from other texts. T h e recipients of the
sacrificial victims are five or six deities: the great gods (?), Ilu and
'Anatu, on the one hand, and again the ilhm, together with tkmn wnm
and Rapu, on the other, in two distinct groups, thus forming the
same series that appears in K T U 1.39 = RS 1.001:2-4, clearly a
palace text.
Next (lines 13-17), the corresponding sacrificial action of the lmm
type is introduced, as in K T U 1.39 = R S 1.001:4-8. T h e r e follows
a simple listing of a series of offerings and recipient deities, using
the syntactic patterns X + D N , D N X, which alternate. O n c e again
the most striking aspect is the reappearance in pride of place of the
invocation ilh/ilhm, now forming an opening 'triad' (ilh, ilhm, ilhm),
with five items of offering ('two ewes', 'one head of catde and one
ram', 'one cow'). T h e r e follows a list of eight deities/invocations, 4 6
with seven victims ('five rams' and 'two cows'), which in fact represent a synthesis or summary of the official 'pantheon' in its various
sections (cf. 'List A', above): b'l/atrt, 'nt/rp, dr il, phr b'l, lm, with
the ubiquitous tkmn wsnm included a m o n g the goddesses, which does
not occur there. Possibly it is a type of sacrifice of 'general communion', offered to the whole pantheon, as is made clear in K T U

15
T o these animal victims must be added 'the cruet of oil', so that we would
have 'seven' units of offering, as a group complementing the offering of 'firstfruits'.
Curiously, here dr il and pfrr b'l are grouped together whereas they are separate in the official 'pantheon'; cf. 'List A', above.

1.148 = RS 24.643:1-9. T h e precedence given to ilh or ilhm only


attempts to ensure the ancestral meaning: positioned at the head of
the other gods, ilh is here synonymous with ilib, just as ilib is synonymous with il at the head of the pantheon; the primordial 'divine
being' of the gods and so of the actual divinized dynasty or mlkm,
also present in the pantheon.
T h e unity and peculiar nature of the following ritual action (lines
17-19) is confirmed as a new type of sacrifice by K T U 1.39 = R S
1.001:8-10, whereas in both texts we have different continuations.
This time the sacrifice of 'burning' (urm) and the three combustible
materials (entrails, cereal or early grass and grain) are again offered
to the ilhm, this time called b'lm, who thus retain pre-eminence as
recipients of offerings in the five sacrificial actions of this section. In
this case the syntactic pattern is X + D N + X.
new type of offering (m'rb) ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z - S a n m a r t i n
1975e, 145; X e l l a 1981, 66; L i p i n s k i 1985, 216-7; d e M o o r 1972,
15 n. 47; 1987, 161, n. 36)47 also begins the third ritual section (lines
19-22), comprising a dbhw of vegetables (oils and bread) in unspecified quantities, and of animal produce (honey and dove), remarkably unusual in Ugaritic liturgy and not dedicated to any particular
deity. It is a global offering which yqh bt mlk, to be understood as
a 'tribute-offering which the palace takes'.
A

This meaning is confirmed by the next rite (lines 22-23), which


specifies that another offering of the same vegetal kind 'wine and
flour', and perhaps as part of the same m'rb sacrifice, has to be
poured out, without indicating to which deity, in the gr. T h e offering
of 'wine' returns us to the beginning of the text and together with
the 'flour' 49 provides a suitable funerary communion offering. This
closes the series of ritesseven in allwhich are celebrated on the
14th day of the month in the palace and its cultic installations.

4/
Related to the root *'rb, Heb. ma'arb, Akk. irbu, aibtu, the word seems to mean
approximately 'entry', in a commercial sense; however it could also have a 'funerary' connotation in connection with the 'setting' said of the 'sun' which 'enters' (the
underworld).
48
Here dbh denotes the type of offering, intended for a 'festal banquet'. Text
and context are reminiscent of the dbh mlk of K T U 1.91 = RS 19.015:2; cf. DE
M O O R 1987, 161, . 38; DE T A R R A G O N 1989, 155, . 54; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a,
172 = 1999, 256.
4!)
In the previous line 'leavened loaves' were mentioned, their correlative, just
like wine is the correlative of oil-honey.

Next, the text takes us to another cultic scenario on the same


date, the temple of the 'goddess'///^, on the 'steps' of whose altar
(lines 23-38) three series of sacrificial rituals take place.
T h e first sacrificial ritual (lines 23-9), expressed according to the
syntactic patterns X + / + D N || X + D N , comprises twelve sets of
victims ('two birds' twice, 'two rams', 'four cows' and 'one ewe') and
nine divine recipients: spn/glmt, yrh/nkl || b'lt bhtm, ins ilm, ilhm || sps,
rsp. Even so, the particular meaning of the group and reason for
each offering elude us; the second sequence repeats the beginning
of the text, lines 5 - 6 , but without ils.
T h e second series (lines 29-33) has the syntactic pattern X + D N
and five deities celebrated with six victims ('two cows' and 'four ewes'):
ilh, ilhm, il, tkmn wsnm, ilt, like that of lines 10-13, with 'nt for b'lt
bhtm and without rsp. T h e sacrificial series closes with the offering
of two victims ('ewes') with no recipient expressed, perhaps omitted
by mistake, although the precise place of the ceremony is indicated
and the sacrificial series is divided into two.
In the third series (lines 33-38), there are again five/six recipient
deities for the offerings: b'l spn, spn, b'l ugrt, ilib, atrt, ri-(?), to which
six or seven sacrificial units correspond ('two cows', 'one ewe', 'two
birds' and ' o n e / t w o rams'), assigned according to syntactic pattern
X + / + D N . T h e group of gods is almost the same as in the following section, but in a different sequence and with some variations:
in this last section Ilu has to be supposed for Ilib, as is usual, and
considered as being offered the 'shekel of silver'; in line 41 Sapunu
has been omitted.
This section divides the sequence into two subgroups in respect
of the place of offering: il, atrt, ins ilm, b'l Spn, Spn, b'l ugrt, who also
occur in K T U 1.109 = R S 24.253:32-5. T h e break in the text prevents us being able to determine how the surprising remark 'thirty
times' (which comes next and occurs in other texts) is connected
with the preceding. In all likelihood it refers only to the last sacrificial
offering, as can be inferred from the multiple parallelism with K T U
1.39 = R S 1.001:20-2, a parallelism which probably suggests reading the damaged In- as l(r)i[n ilm], to w h o m inevitably there correspond 'srm, 'two birds'.
T h e triple series closes with a unit of ritual which again mentions
(lines 36-8) the sacred place in which it occurs and refers us back
to the beginning (lines 23-4), a perfect literary inclusio: the altar of
the temple of the 'Lady/ies of the Exalted Mansions'/Ilatu. T h u s far,

the rituals which take place on the 14th day, the day of the full
moon, the sacred climax of the month ris yn, in two cultic locations:
the palace sanctuary and the temple of Ilatu (possibly also located
within the palace).
T h e final section (lines 38-48) records the offerings corresponding to the first week of the month, on its last days, which are 'festive' days: the 5th, 6th and 7th. T h e ritual of the 5th day takes
place (lines 38-45) in the temple of Ilu, so going back to the heading of the text, which presupposed the offering of the firstfruits to
that god. T h e text is broken, but a first series of offerings is discernible: 'one shekel of silver' and various animal victims offered to
Ilu, Atiratu and to the ins ilm, with the known pattern X + / + D N .
T h e series next continues on 'the altar of ^a'/w'-presumably in the
same temple (?)-with a series of sacrifices ('one cow' and 'two ewes')
offered to various invocations of that deity, using the same pattern.
T h e correlation of this series with the one occurring in lines 3 3 - 6
is surprising: both reproduce the two groups of deities, of Ba'lu and
of Ilu, but in reverse order, and in both, the repetition of its last
element a specified n u m b e r of times (30/22) is assumed, with or
without a particular recipient. In this case it seems that the offering
which has to be repeated is specified: 'one ram', 'one cruet of oil'
and 'one cow'; an offering which is taken up again on the 6th day
(lines 45-6): 'two cruets of oil' and 'one cow'. T h e only new element is a reference to the exact culdc installation, the cly, the 'sacrificial
(place)', in which the ceremony is carried out and which has already
occurred before (line 37), in connection with the temple of Ilatu/'hady
of the Mansions', the location of the previous series of ritual actions.
T h e sacred and sacralizing ritual ends on the 7th day (lines 47-48)
with the desacralization of the (feast) day and of the king officiating
at sunset. This refers us back, by literary inclusio and ritual sequence,
to the new purification, which will take place on the 13th and 14th
days (lines 3 and 6-7), and to the following 'proclamation' of the
day (lines 7-8), related to the beginning of our text.
We have already anticipated above how this ritual ends (lines 48-9)
with the return to the ceremonial of the 1st day of the month (new
moon) in order to complete all its elements (lines 1-2), thus closing
the text almost as a literary unit with a final inclusio.
T h e liturgy of the month of ris yn is thus outlined in its first two
weeks between the climactic limits of new moon and full moon. T h e
rites of the first week (1st, 5th, 6th and 7th days) take place, apparendy,

in the temple of Ilu, whereas those of the end of the second week
(13th and 14/15th days) take place in the cultic installations of the
palace and in the temple of Ilatu/'Lady of the Mansions', possibly
part of them.
T h e appendices K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+:50~5 and K T U 1.87 =
R S 18.056:54-7 include two specific rituals which simply mention
the victims required. T h e first describes with sufficient detail, 'the
Canaanite ritual of huts' in which are offered 'one r a m ' in holocaust
and as a peace offering 'one head of cattle and one r a m ' (alp ws),
seven times, to an unknown deity (prgl.sqrn) (on this cf. d e l O l m o
L e t e 1992a, 84 = 1999, 123-4). T h e second simply notes the offering
of 'one r a m ' on the 14th day of a certain month (for K T U 1.87 =
R S 18.056:58-61; cf. above 7.2.2.1.1 'Record of sacrificial material', c).
As a whole, this text has the structure of a multiple and complex
mixed sacrificial ritual (temporal-local-typological), i.e. an ordo mensualis
or ritual 'menology' of the 'New Year' liturgy in Ugarit.
2.3.1.3 Lists of offerings in context ( K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256,
K T U 1.115 = R S 24.260, K T U 1.43 = R S 1.001, K T U 1.106 =
RS 24.250+)
a) Instead, in the ritual K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256 50 the offerings are
set within more explicit cultic contexts. Only lines 2 2 - 7 are in the
nature of a 'list of offerings' which have been allocated, with a syntactic variant. T h e text is a collection of ceremonies which take place
also 'in the month of Hiyaru(?Y, and within it, ten 'feast days' are
specified. These, calculated from the new moon ( d e V a u x 1961, 468ff.
' T h e Liturgical Calendar. T h e new moon'), are the 1st, 3rd, 7th,
8th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th days.
In this text, various rituals of a sacrificial nature, of offerings, are
joined with others which are non-sacrificial, such as rituals of purification, procession or oracle, which require special consideration.
T h e first fact that stands out is that each type of offering ritual (hdrgl,
iyn, npt) begins on the first day of the corresponding first three weeks
of the m o n t h (1st, 8th, 15th).
50

Cf. H E R D N E R 1978, 21-6; X E L L A 1981, 43-8;


1989, 197-9; D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z 1988b, 315-6; DEL
1999, 232-53.

1980, 113-36;
1992a, 156-70 =

DE T A R R A G O N
OLMO LETE

T h e offerings are arranged into three categories: animals (sheep,


cattle, birds), vegetables (grain/bread, wine), minerals (silver, pottery),
with a clear tendency to grouping them into sets of 7 and 3 units of
offering ( 7 / 3 / 7 / 7 / 1 4 / ? / 3 ? ) . 5 1 T o this cultic and sacrificial arithmetic
must be added the 7 'ascents' made by the king's sons on the first
day of the month, perhaps in connection with the 7 sets of offering.
Distributed according to their recipients, these offerings correspond
to the tutelary gods of palace and dynasty. In reality they receive,
as we have seen, the offerings of the royal family on the 1st day:
b'lt bhtm, the 'Lady of the Mansion(s)' ( d e M o o r 1970a, 199 ('Anatu?);
1971, 8 5 - 6 n. 4, 95 ('Mistress of the Mansion'); d e T a r r a g o n 1980,
163ff.),52 'one shekel (of silver)' and 'one platter', as well as 'one r a m '
and 'two birds' t o / f o r the ins ilm. T h e 8th day: the offering of
'grain/bread', 'one shekel (of silver)' and '(one j a r of) wine' is directed
to 'Attartu hr, whereas on the 14th day the mysterious gtrm receive 'two
rams' ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a, 161-2 = 1999, 239-40.), most probably belonging to this sphere of dynastic deities. O n the 15th day,
the climax of the festival, the following are offered from the sacrificial
hecatomb: 'one r a m ' to each of the gods Ilu, Ba'lu of Sapunu and
Ba'lu of Ugart; 'two' to btbt and the same n u m b e r to Atiratu; lastly,
to the il msd/ilt mgdl, 'one platter/one ram' (depending on the reading),
plus 'seven cows' and 'fourteen ewes'. O n the 16th day, 'one r a m '
is again offered to btbt (there follows a lacuna in the text). Finally,
on the 17th day, the deity iln receives three(?) unspecified offerings.
As is evident, the deities venerated form a small group, even if
the lost sections of the text arc taken into account. Apart from the
classic group of the great gods of Ugarit (Ilu, Atiratu, Ba'lu, 'Attartu],
we also have a collection of deities, generally under obscure descriptive names, who form part of what we may call the 'tutelary gods'
of palace and dynasty (cf. List C above): b'lt bhtm, ins ilm, gtrm, btbt.
This limitation of divine recipients in turn corroborates the 'private',
51
Similar series of 2 / 7 / 1 4 animal victims can also be noted in the Hebrew Bible
(cf. e.g. Num 29:2ff.) and in other Ugaritic texts; on this, also in connection with
the materials for offerings (silver, grain/bread, wine), cf. DE T A R R A G O N 1980, 34ff.,
43ff. Of course here 'bread' and 'wine' stand for the respective unit, as specified
elsewhere: 'one measure/loaf o f . . .', 'one jar o f . . .'. The offering of king Keret
also includes bread and wine (cf. K T U 1.14 = RS 2. [003]+ ii 16-9).
52
O n the other hand, the empty space in line 2 suggests that another deity
received the two rams mentioned first.
53
For the various interpretations of this epithet cf. D E L O L M O LF.TE 1987a, 66;
1992a, 92 n. 134, 160 n. 68 = 1999, 134 n. 167, 239 n. 70.

palace nature of this ritual ( d e l O l m


5 9 - 6 2 ; d e T a r r a g o n 1980, 162-9).

L e t e

1992a, 4 4 - 7 = 1999,

b) K T U 1.115 = R S 24.260 5 4 has particular importance for the


information it provides about the royal pantheon, as well as for its
clear structure, which almost suggests that this text is literary. Ultimately,
however, it is a list of offerings in a clear context.
This royal ritual takes place in the palace, more specifically, in its
sanctuary (line 7: qd), as we already know from other texts. It is of
the dbh type (line 1) and includes two banquets (lines 8 / 1 9 : t/ylhm),
one connected to a hll y dm-ritual (lines 6-8) and the other forming
part of a slmm sacrifice (lines 9-10). T h e m o m e n t is given in the
opening statement ('When the king sacrifices to Uharay'), although
we do not know when it actually took place.
Its basic syntax is sacrificial, with alternating patterns: X + / +
D N / X + / + D N + type / X + type / / + D N + X , with two
prescriptive-explanatory verbs: ydbh, t/ylhm.
T h e most striking and peculiar thing about this ritual is its dedication to only one pair of deities (usfyr, bbt), who seem to be connected with the palace cult as tutelary or 'patron' gods of the palace,
whereas they do not belong to the official pantheon of Ugarit (del
O l m o
L e t e
1992a, 5 4 - 8 = 1999, 71-8) with the specific invocation
under which they are c o m m e m o r a t e d here. However, they are the
first two deities of the dynastic pantheon (list C; K T U 1.102 = R S
24.246:1-2). This divine couple is the structural element of the text,
which is arranged in repetitive series in a concentric chiasmus.
T h e text shows a marked concentric structure with a symmetrical
twofold distribution of offerings, like the one seen in K T U 1.43 =
R S 1.005, there centred on the deities gtr and 'Anatu: 'ram', 'dove',
'ram' || ' r a m ' || 'ram', 'ram', 'dove'.
T h e ritual ends with an indication of time which claims to specify, in line with the normal semantics of ahd, the occurrence of the
double sacrificial-banquet rite on one and the same day.

54

Cf. V I R O L L E A U D 1965, 586-8; F I S H E R 1969, 197-205; 1970, 49Iff.; 1975,


139-41; DE M O O R 1970b, 316-7; L E V I N E 1974, 9-11; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z - SANMARTIN
1975i, 1975j; C A Q U O T 1979, 1407; J A N O W S K I 1980, 246-9; DE T A R R A G O N 1980,
87-91; 1989, 200-2; X E L L A 1981, 105-8; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1981, 85-8; 1988b,
319-20; A A R T U N 1984, 6-7, 18-9, 24-5, 32-3; 1985, 21; D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a,
177-8 = 1999, 264-6.

c) K T U 1.39 = R S 1.001 provides various series of'sacrifices', holocausts and communion sacrifices, probably offered to the dead kings
under their various invocations: t\ ilh, ilh b'l, and of course, ins ilm.
T h e r e is an actual moment, 'the night of Sapu pgr wtrmnm' (of the
' d e a d / f u n e r a r y offering' and of the 'sovereigns'), in which these trmnm
are honoured with a sacrificial ritual which involves all the gods of
the dynastic pantheon, as we saw above (List C; lines 12~9).
It is a text-list of sacrificial liturgy in which a series of offerings/
victims is itemized following the known formulae of sacrificial syntax. 55
T h e r e are very few temporal and local parameters and they are of
no help in determining clearly the structure of the text. At all events,
from line 12 it seems to be divided into two parts each with the same
n u m b e r of lines, which in respect of the cultic ' m o m e n t ' and the list
of gods which the second provides, are structurally and intentionally
different. T h e ritual of the second part (lines 12-22) takes place III,
'at night', and in bt mlk, 'the palace'. These specifications and the
systematic use of the god list of K T U 1.102 = R S 24.246:1-14,
referred to above, indicate that the whole thing is a royal dynastic
ritual of the funerary cult, presented autonomously, independent of
the day of the month in which it is to be celebrated.
Instead, the text has another parameter which is much better for
determining its structure. This is the one connected with the ritual
typology which is specified with unusual precision and in this matter is very like K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256. Its first part, (lines 1 - 9 ,
9 - 1 0 , 10-11) is thus arranged according to four different types of
offering/sacrifice (rp-lmm, urm, npt), each one with its particular
series of gods, some even repeated, as might be expected a prion.
This sequence has a parallel in K T U 1.41 = R S 1.0034:11-17,
17-19, which gives it its 'standard' character (cf. above 'Lists of gods
in sacrificial texts' 2). T h e second part (lines 12-19, [19]-20-22),
instead, with a list which is itself already a unit, as we have seen,
presents one single type of sacrifice, unspecified.
T h e end of the text (lines [19]-20-22, reverse of the tablet) is a
supplementary ritual, which could be understood as the 'thirty times'
repetition, i.e. over a ' m o n t h ' (pgr?), of the offering/sacrifice to 'two'
new deities (b'lt bhtm, ins ilm), and thus as an extension of the standard

55

Cf. D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z - S A N M A R T I N 1975e, 1 4 1 - 3 ; X E L L A 1979-1980, 147ff.;


1981, 76-80; DE T A R R A G O N 1980, 65ff.; 1989, 135-9; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b,
3 0 8 - 1 0 ; D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a, 145-9 = 1999, 213-9.

list of K T U 1.102 = R S 24.246:1-14, as a synthesis of the royaldivine list of the reverse (cf. above 'List of Names of Divine Kings').
T h e distribution of offerings is as follows. As a burnt sacrifice: to
the t\rri) as a whole, 'two ewes', 'one dove', 'two loins and one liver
from a head of catde'; to Ilu, 'one ram'; 'one cow' to the ilhm, 'one
ewe' to tkmn-nm and another to Raspu. As a peace offering: to the
ilhm as a whole, 'two ewes', 'one head of cattle', 'one ram', 'one
cow'; to Ba'lu, Atiratu, tkmn-nm, 'Anatu and Raspu, 'one r a m ' each;
'one cow' to the groups dr il and phr b'l and another to lm.
In a burnt sacrifice (urm): to the ilhm b'lm, 'a burnt heart' and
'fifteen measures of forage and spelt'. 56 In a sacrifice of 'presentation' (half of it?): one ' r a m ' each to b'l spn, b'lt bhtm, ilt mgdl and ilt
asrm. Lastly, as a /)gr(?)-sacrifice: to the pantheon of K T U 1.102 =
R S 24.246:1-14, 'one cow' to ten of its deities, 'one ewe' to another
four, 'one r a m ' to one deity and two unspecified offerings (dbhrr) to
two others, without it being possible to determine the meaning and
significance of this variety of victims. In the final 'coda': 'thirty times
one cow' to the b'lt bhtm and 'two birds' to the ins ilm.
W e can, then, understand this text as a 'sacrificial agenda' which
lists the various types of sacrifice related to the royal funerary liturgy:
rp-lmn, urm, npt, pgr and the 'daily sacrifice', with the time and
place of celebration unspecified.
d) K T U 1.106 = R S 24.250+ is also a royal funerary ritual of a
particular month, the month of gn;57 there victims are offered to all
the 'divine peoples' and to some dead kings (the most recent?) in
particular, under their 'divine' names: yarsil, ydbil, 'mtr (cf. 'Lists of
Names of Divine Kings', above 7.2.2.2). T h e sacred time corresponds
to days 8, 22 and 25 (cf. lines 18, 24, 25-26). This implies that the
ceremonies mentioned in lines 1 - 1 7 (18) took place on the first or
on subsequent days of the first 'week' of the month in question.
As for the sacrificial rite, we have the known type rp, '(as a) holocaust' (cf. lines 2 and 7), repeated twice, apparently corresponding
to the twofold mention of the recipient deities (rp/ ins ilm/group of
three || rp/in ilm/[?]), and of the victim (hgb/np w + 'srm). T h e
56
This sacrificial offering is unique in all the cultic literature of Ugarit. On the
meaning of the types of rituals termed urm and npt and their possible relation to
rp wlmm cf. DEL O L M O L E T E 1 9 9 5 , 4 5 , nn. 4 9 , 5 1 .
57
Cf. H E R D N E R 1978, 26-30; X E L L A 1981, 8 1 - 5 ; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b,
324-5; DE T A R R A G O N 1989, 185-7; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 149-56 = 1999, 219-32.

remainder or second part of this initial ritual of sacrifice has elements remarkably in parallel with those in K T U 1.112 = RS 24.256:
1) the participation of the royal family, 'sons' and 'daughters', and
then of the king himself (cf. lines 9 - 1 0 , 17);
2) the performance of the cultic action in the cult installations of
the palace: the sacrifice of 'one r a m ' to Pidrayu and 'seven ewes' in
the hmn, 'one r a m ' in the qds/'ly/hmn of Nikkalu, another in the kbm
and 'one cow' 'at the door of the royal mausoleum' ( d e l O l m o L e t e
1992a, 153 = 1999, 227);
3) the sevenfold rhythm of the ceremonial (cf. K T U 1.106 = R S
24.250+: 12-3; K T U 1.112 = R S 24.256:6-7);
4) in both texts the 'cantor' takes part (lines 157), and there is
an 'oracular response' (ttb rgm) in both, at a later stage (cf. lines 23
and 32). Also in both, but at different times, the desacralization/
purification rite of the king is mentioned, although this fact is not
of itself significant.
O n the 8th day the sacrificial rite includes, together with the usual
victims numbering 'seven cows', 'fourteen ewes' and 'one (piece o f )
offal' (cf. K T U 1.112 = RS 24.256:26-7), a new class of offering,
unknown in the other rituals of Ugarit: 'fish stew' (blt dg). Similar
ritual elements recur and close the cultic action of the third week
(cf. lines 32-3).
T h e decisive day of the ritual is the 25th. It comprises a sacrificial-banquet)
at night before the king, seated on his throne, in
honour of and in communion with arsy and 'gods of the underworld'
(ilm ars) with 'provisions' (lhmt) selected and prepared beforehand
(cf. lines 25 and 28: 'nine ewes', 'one head of cattle' a n d 'one
goose'), offered to the gods, and 'two ewes' and 'one cow' offered
to the goddess.
As for place, the cultic action shifts on day 8 from the cult installations of the palace mentioned in lines 13-4, to a new sacred location, known only from this text and giving its name to the month
of the ritual: the 'garden' (gn) ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1996a, 103-4, for
the identification of the gn), which fits in well with the 'infernal'/'funerary' nature of the deities honoured in this ritual.
Apart from the sacrificial moment (lines 1 - 1 5 , 1922, 30-31) in
honour of and communion with deities either specifically mentioned
or assumed, it also includes the desacralization/purification rite of
the king, already known from other texts (lines 24, 26, 34), and two

new royal ceremonies, which can be considered peculiar to it and


to which we have already referred: the singing before the king and
the preparation of the funerary banquet. Its interpretation must, however, be left for another systematic analysis which goes beyond consideration of the text as 'list of offerings and gods'.
e) Together with mere lists of offerings like those above, a text such
as K T U 1.119 = R S 24.266 58 provides a more complex context, a
mixture of list a n d elements of recitation; more specifically, a psalm
of prayer in the event of a national threat, the only one in any text
of this type. It poses the question, at least in this case, of whether
they are administrative (cf. above). However it has to be remembered that the tablet was found in the 24th campaign (1961) in the
library of the priest bn agptr, i.e. in principle in an archive more concerned with ritual than with administration. T h e relationship of this
cultic element to the foregoing list of offerings is not clear. A 'list'
which itself already provides 'rituals' that transcend the simple record
of a victim: exact sacred place and time, type of ceremony and in
particular, repeated mention of the royal desacralization rite, which
may or may not have included some sort of victim to justify the
allusion in a simple record of offerings. N o r can we be sure whether
both sides of the tablet belong to the same text or to two different
texts. T h e second (the reverse) could quite well be an authentic liturgical ritual, even though it also begins like a list of offerings (lines
18-22). In fact the lower part of the tablet is broken, which means
that we have two separate texts, obverse and reverse, corresponding
perhaps to two separate rituals, either of the same m o n t h or of
different months.
T h e obverse (lines 1-17) has a list of offerings which corresponds
to the sacrificial ritual of the month of ib'lt, specified for various days:
7th, 17th and 18th; this datum divides the text into three sections:
lines 1 - 4 , 4 - 1 1 , 11-17. T h e first two are clearly distinguished by
the sequence desacralization/purification of the king, which means
that between days 7 and 17 the king does not celebrate ritually,
whereas the ceremony of days 17 and 18 forms a single unit. This

58

Cf. H E R D N E R 1973, 693-703; 1978, 31-9; A V I S H U R 1978, 254-62; X E L L A 1978,


127-36; 1981, 25-34; D E T A R R A G O N 1980, 17ff.; 1989, 206-11; M A R G A L I T 1981b,
62-83; S A R A C I N O 1983a, 263-369; 1983b, 3 0 4 - 6 ; DE M O O R 1983, 251-2; 1987,
171-4; M I L L E R 1988, 139-55; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1988b, 819; D E L O L M O L E T E
1992a, 197-205 = 1999, 292-306; P A R D E E 1997a, 283-5; W Y A T T 1998C, 416-22.

liturgy takes place in the temple of Ba'lu, bt b'l ugrt (lines 3, 9-10),
mgdl b'l ugrt (line 12), and then moves to the temple of Ilu, qds il, bt
il (lines 6, 14) for the second and third rituals. Even the various
areas of the temple of Ba'lu where the offerings are made are specified, which will not be discussed here. Also specified are the various
sacrificial actions of the syntactic pattern ' X + I + D N [+ type of
offering + officiant'] with, exceptionally, more verbal than nominal
syntax. Victims: besides the usual ones (large and small flocks: ram,
cow, bull, lamb), there occur others which are rarer or specific ([piece
o f ] offal, dove, donkey). T h e officiant: when specified, he is the king,
also the subject of other non-sacrificial rites (purification). However
the strangest datum of this text comprises the (divine) recipients of
the offerings, together with their type, an element which is by no
means clear.
In the first section (lines 1-4) 'two rams' are delivered for b'l and
sacrificed in the temples mentioned. In the second section (lines 4-11)
'three cows' are delivered to the sanctuary of Ilu and to the b'lm and
to the 'hero' (glrri), 'two sheep' ('ewes') and 'one cow' to the Damsels
(glmt), plus 'one lamb' and 'one dove' which 'are burned (tmr) It',59
in the testimonial of the temple of Ba'lu of Ugarit'. As in other cases,
the ritual of the 17th day forms a continual unit with the ritual of
the 18th day, section three (lines 11-17), and so the desacralization
of the king is not specified. O n this day the offering of 'one head
of cattle' (alp) is made in the temple of Ba'lu; in the temple of Ilu,
'one (piece of) offal' (np) for Uharayu(?), another for Ba'lu and 'a
donkey' for whom or why we do not know.
T h e fourth section (lines 18-36, reverse) has two clearly differentiated parts: a ritual (lines 18-24 + 25) and a prayer (lines 26-36).
In it are noted the victims which correspond to a 'week' of offerings
(apparently reserved for Ba'lu), of which have been preserved those
of the 'two birds' (twice), 'one liver' and 'one "little chain"(?) of a
liver'. This complex of victims ('srm, kbd, rt) belongs more to divination or summoning rituals. It is possible, then, that although it takes
place in the same sacred place, the ritual on the reverse is completely
59
This lexeme, t'(y), has normally been given the meaning of 'offering' in one
of its types (which is not defined); however closer analysis makes it preferable to
see here and in other texts a divine-cultic title of the dead and divinized kings of
Ugarit, a title which is already attributed in epic to the legendary King Keret ( K T U
1 . 1 6 = R S 3.325+ i 24 and par.); cf. DEL O L M O L E T E 1988a. Cf. Wyatt 1998c,
200 n. 115.

different from the ritual on the obverse. It is not sacrificial, but a


magical entreaty, with the king as subject in both functions.
T h e weekly sequence of this section has a structure like that of
the 'graded numerical sequence' in myth and epic ( d e l O l m o L e t e
1981a, 60-1), with a climax on the seventh day. T h e syntax is nominal as usual, on days (3 and) 4 and 5 (and 6) together (num. +
X + [/ + D N + specification of place]), whereas it is verbal (ykbd)
on days 1 and 2; on the 7th, also, as a recitation, not as sacrificial
(dn). Analysis of these elements is left to the discussion of these texts
as 'ritual' as are the place and mode of the action. T h e same applies
to the fifth and final section (lines 26-36), which is a prayer.
As a whole, this double complex ritual refers to only a limited
range of 'deities' to w h o m offerings are presented (b'l, il?, b'l?/il?,
b'lm, glm, glmt, t'/b'l?, isf}iy?/b'l? ? ?/b'l). From this point of view, the
ritual is largely 'related to Baal' in respect of recipient and 'royal'
in respect of officiant. At all events, this whole set of ritual and
recited elements has already appeared in other Ugaridc texts, those
called 'cultic myths' ( K T U 1.23 = R S 2.002, K T U 1.24 = RS 5.194;
'mythological rituals' instead are K T U 1.108 = R S 24.252 and K T U
1.161 = R S 34.126). In practice, this mix of cultic elements was
probably c o m m o n e r than appears from their inadequate distribution
in literature and cult (a category which is largely a matter of lists).
Some scholars already speak of the character of myths as recitations,
an element of ritual, and m a n y cultic texts must have had elements
which presumably were recited, as is the case in the text analysed
here. Ritual was never movement without speech, nor was 'myth'
recited without movement: gesture and speech belong together.
Here we conclude this survey of the texts of cultic practice in Ugarit
in respect of 'lists of gods and offerings', a literary form under which
many of them are given, although it allows glimpses of a more complex liturgy than the act of sacrifice sketched out in these lists and
was its culminating sacred act. In this handbook another section is
devoted to disentangling and explaining the complex ritual involved
in the liturgy of Ugarit (see 7.1).
(Translation:

W.G.E.

Watson)

T h e

O m e n

P a o l o

3.1

T e x t s

X e l l a

Mesopotamian tradition

T h e great M e s o p o t a m i a n tradition of divination was well known


a n d accepted in Ugarit, a city whose archives have preserved several tablets (mostly in alphabetic cuneiform) which belong to the
same f a m o u s tradition. In particular, we have on the one h a n d some
texts with teratological omens which concern predictions derived f r o m
deformed or monstrous births of animals or h u m a n beings. O n e fragm e n t a r y d o c u m e n t instead reports several astrological omens, while a
short tablet concerning an eclipse of the sun m a y also be noted;
there are also several small models of livers a n d an inscribed model
of a lung which derive f r o m the practice of extispicy.
In general one can say that in Ugarit M e s o p o t a m i a n tradition
was followed quite slavishly, even if there are some indications of
adaptation and specific formulations connected with local requirements, both political and social. O n e significant fact, in this respect,
is that it was sometimes felt necessary to compose the texts of the
o m e n s in the local language, as witness to a certain desire for cultural appropriation.

3.2

The teratological omens

T h e teratological omens, that is, those which contain presages d r a w n


f r o m the observation of d e f o r m e d births (or abortions) of animals
a n d h u m a n s , are represented in Ugarit by three alphabetic texts,
K T U 1.103+ = R S 24.247+, K T U 1.145 = R S 24.328A+ a n d K T U
1.140 = R S 24.302. T h e y all c a m e to light to the south of the acropolis, in w h a t has been called the Cella aux tablettes, which was part
of the house of a famous diviner (here, incidentally, were also f o u n d
models of livers a n d of a lung as well as the difficult [necromantic?]
text K T U 1.124 = R S 24.272). T o this can be a d d e d a f r a g m e n t
of a tablet in syllabic cuneiform (RS 7.001 = A O 18.892), as yet
unpublished, which was f o u n d on the surface. 1

Essential bibliography: KRONER 1978;

DIETRICH

LORETZ

SANMARTIN

1975d;

This small group of texts is of the greatest interest because it documents translation into the local language of a type of divination
text which is typically Mesopotamian (the Babylonian series Summa
izbu studied by Leichty). 2 T h e documents in question, which are
approximately contemporaneous with those found in the great Syrian
archive of Mesken-Emar, 3 also allow us to examine further the history of the spread of this genre. In fact they date back to a period
earlier than the corresponding documents in Akkadian and Hittite
found at Bogazky ( R I E M S C H N E I D E R 1 9 7 0 ) and represent the most
direct chronological link with the Old Babylonian tablets which circulated in series before their final 'canonization' in 24 tablets, evidence for which is provided from Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh.
T h e Geburtsomina of Ugarit are typologically related to those from
Bogazky and, if we follow the classification proposed by Riemschneider, 4 these too can be divided basically into two types: K T U 1 . 1 0 3 +
= R S 2 4 . 2 4 7 + and K T U 1 . 1 4 5 = R S 2 4 . 3 2 8 A + refer to anomalous
animal births (which are to be set alongside Tablet V of the canonical series), whereas K T U 1 . 1 4 0 = R S 2 4 . 3 0 2 concerns h u m a n births
(and seems to derive from Tablets I - I V of the canonical series).
T h e teratological omens from Ras S h a m r a are a fairly faithful
reflection of the 'principles' 5 of what is termed deductive divination,
such as the classic opposition rightleft, where the right refers to
everything concerning the country and its inhabitants, whereas the
left concerns the king and enemy countries. 6 In this perspective, every
defect or anomaly found on the right comprises an unfavourable
omen, but if it is found on the left it is interpreted favourably. Every
'increase'even if strange or monstrousof the right side, therefore, corresponds to events which are positive for the king and his
kingdom. T h e absence of limbs or organs seems instead to portend
bad omens.

XELLA

CAPOMACCHIA

1990a, 87-165;
= 1999, 353-9.

LORETZ
2

LEICHTY

Cf.

RIEMSCHNEIDER

1979;

XELLA

DIETRICH -

1981, 191-206;

LORETZ

PARDEE

1986;

DIETRICH

1990C; DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 2 3 7 - 4 1

1970.

1985-87, V I / 1 - 2 and V I / 4 , 686-93.


1 9 7 0 , who correcdy distinguished on the basis of the protasis,
texts introduced by the clause lk-ku-zu SAL- . . . a-a-i (human births) from those
introduced by the clause k-ku IZ-BU (animal births).
5
See, in general, B O T T R O 1 9 7 4 .
fi
Cf. W Y A T T 1996c and below, 13.2.2.
ARNAUD

In line with the typology of these omens in the earliest period of


their circulation, there are no references to the individual and private sphere: every prediction is of an official nature and in fact
always refers to the king or the country.
In the Ugaritic omens also one catches a glimpse of this association of ideas based on analogy: note for example the interpretation
of certain bodily features of the foetus. A m o n g the examples that
can be adduced the following can also be noted: if the foetus looks
like a bird the prediction is that the gods will fly away from the land;
the head of the foetus symbolizes the king or the governor of the
land; missing or deformed feet or paws (which therefore prevent
walking) are interpreted in the sense that the land will not be able
to progress as usual in its existence due to epidemics or internal strife.
In Ugarit, then, the dichotomy between (a) anomalies and malformations, and (b) similarities with animals has also been adopted.
From the limited material available it is not possible to verify the
presence and consequences of multiple body-parts and of a whole
range of cases of deformity a n d / o r defects, but even so everything
suggests complete agreement with the Babylonian model.
In Ugarit as in Bogazky there was, then, full acceptance of
Mesopotamian tradition, even if the Old Babylonian originals were
certainly slightly adapted for local needs which were exclusively of
public concern. W h a t are called the 'stock apodoses' display a limited range of events which evidently reflects military politics on a
small scale, as in Ugarit.

3.3

Astrological omens

Already attested in the Old Babylonian period, the Mesopotamian


collections of astrological omens ( W e i d n e r 1 9 4 1 - 4 , 1 7 2 - 9 5 ) were
circulated widely around the mid-second millennium bce and as a
result we find copies scattered in 'peripheral' centres such as Bogazky,
Alalah, E m a r and even Ugarit. 7 At Ras Shamra in particular, besides
a few as yet unpublished syllabic texts (RS 2 3 . 3 8 , R S 2 5 . 4 4 0 A and
RS 2 5 . 1 4 1 + 4 5 4 f ) , a broken tablet in alphabetic cuneiform has
been found in the northern palace of Ras Ibn Hani ( K T U 1.163 =
RIH 7 8 / 1 4 ) . 8 It contains presages based on meteorological observations,
7
8

Detailed bibliography in D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z 1990a, 165 95.
B O R D R E U I L - C A Q U O T 1980, 352; D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z 1990a, 165-95 (cf. 168-70);

of the sun and the moon, and is connected with the Mesopotamian
series Enma Anu Enlil ( W e i d n e r 1941-44). As usual, the sentences
comprise a protasis and an apodosis and the presages concern the
well-being of the king, the ruling house and their possessions. T h e
text is too broken to supply information or provide specific parallels
with the omens of Mesopotamian tradition. T h e most detailed analysis available, also at the comparative level, is by D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z
(1990a) and for the time being it is not possible to progress further.
T h e widespread belief in astrology in Ugarit is documented not
only by references to the '(divine) stars' in some ritual texts and from
allusions in texts such as K T U 1.23 = R S 2. [024] and K T U 1.19 =
RS 3.322 + ii 1-3, 9 but also by an unusual document, K T U 1.78 =
R S 12.61. It concerns an eclipse of the sun, the simultaneous appearance of the planet Mars and the presages derived from it.10 This
astral conjunction seemed to take on a fatal and dangerous character, confirmed by the consultation of livers expressly carried out. At
all events, the precise date of the event (probably March 5th, 1223
bce) is still debated by specialists and there is no unanimous opinion." T h e exceptional nature of the document, which lies halfway
between astrology and hepatoscopy, further complicates its translation and interpretation. T h e translation provided here is still provisional and hypothetical:
1
2
3
4
5
6

bit. ym.hdt
hyr 'rbt
p Igrh
rp
kbdm tbqrn
skn

DEL O L M O L E T E

LORETZ

In the si1ence(?)12
(of the month) hyr down went
the Sun: her gatekeeper was
Raap.
(For this) (1/2) liver(s) was/were examined:
danger!

1992a, 236 = 1999, 352;

DIETRICH

LORETZ

1988b, 94-5;

DIETRICH

1990C.

As correctly noted by DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 236, n. 68 = 1999, 352, n. 69.


Essential bibliography: DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 235 = 1999, 350; D I E T R I C H L O R E T Z - SANMARTIN 1974b, 464-5; F U L C O 1976, 38ff.; X E L L A 1981, 171; D I E T R I C H L O R E T Z , 1988b, 99, 100; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1990a, 39-85.
10

11

KUDLEK -

1987-8;

MICLER

1989;

1 9 7 1 ; SAWYER -

STEPHENSON

1 9 7 0 ; DE J O N G -

VAN S O L D T

1990a, 2 8 1 - 5 (contribution by W . C .
S E I T T E R - H . W . D U E R B E C K ) . P A R D E E - S W E R D L O W 1993; W Y A T T 1998C, 366-7.
12
For a discussion of b It see D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1990a, 50ff.; the meaning proposed here is hypothetical.
WALKER

DIETRICH

LORETZ

3.4

Extispicy

Also typical of Mesopotamian divination tradition are the texts of


omens written on some models of livers and on one model of a
lung, found in the house of the so-called diviner-priest (which was
probably also a sort of school), also quite an important person in
his official capacity.
T h e five models of livers we now have ( K T U 1.141 = R S 24.132;
K T U 1.142 = R S 24.323; K T U 1.143 = R S 24.326; K T U 1.144
= RS 24.237; K T U 1.155 = RS 24.264) 13 report on the results of
hepatoscopic analysis concerning various events and it cannot be
excluded that they record independent developments in respect of
the tradition from which they come.
Whereas K T U 1.155 = RS 24.654 is too damaged to provide any
information at all, the other texts are very interesting. K T U 1.141
= RS 24.312 refers to the acquisition of a youth (a slave? gzr) from
an Alashiote (= a Cypriot) by Agptr, a well-known person in Ugarit; 14
K T U 1.142 = RS 24.323 mentions a sacrificedbhin honour of
a dead person (a sort of kispum?), on the occasion of which the commissioner asks the diviner for a response. T h e contents of K T U
1.143 - RS 24.326, on the other hand, are rather vague, as the
text refers only to the performance of an extispicy requested by someone, without going into the causes which led to the sacrifice. Finally,
K TU 1.144 = RS 24.327 is an omen which was probably requested
by a prince with regard to the hupsu-mcrcenanes
who must have
caused worries at the political level ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1990a, 15).
T h e model of a lung ( K T U 1.127 = RS 24.277), which merits a
separate study, is also connected with a Mesopotamian tradition. 15
T h e incised text is divided into sections marked off" by lines which
probably correspond to the anatomical regions of the lung. It seems
likely, nevertheless, that the various parts of the text are connected
to each other and comprise a unity, even if it is difficult to understand (cf. for example the uncertainty concerning the term nat which

13

Essential bibliography:
1990a, 24 Iff.; DEL

LORETZ
14

O n

15

KRAUS

him

liography in
1999, 91-5.

cf. COURTOIS

1985, 185 7;
DIETRICH

XELLA
OLMO
1979,

MEYER
LORETZ

1981, 184-90; M E Y E R 1987, 218ff.;


1992a, 232-4 = 1999, 347-9.

DIETRICH

LETE

1271.

in D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z 1990a, 255ff. Specific bib1990a, 18; add DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 69 72 =

could even be translated 'removal'). 16 T h e most plausible hypothesis


is that this model has been inscribed with several divination exercises, performed at different times, but concerning the same event
and with the same aim: to avert the danger of an enemy attack by
means of a series of rites, including also a ceremony belonging to
the well-known typology of the 'scapegoat' (lines 29-32).
It should be stressed, then, that the lung model provides us with
evidence of the fusion of two different religious traditions, one of
Mesopotamian divination and the other of West Semitic atonement
ceremonies, for which the oldest documentation is now supplied by
the texts from Ebla in the 24th century b c e ( X e l l a 1996b).
(Translation: W . G . E .

16

DIETRICH -

LORETZ

Watson)

1990a, 25f., with a discussion of the various hypotheses.

CHAFFER

EIGHT

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF UGARIT

T h e

U g a r i t i c

Jesus-Luis

1.1

L e t t e r s

C u n c h i l l o s

Introductory

T h e origin of letter-writing is most probably to be sought in oral


messages transmitted through an intermediary. By the mid-second
millennium bce, communication by letter had developed considerably. Likewise, the role of the intermediary between sender and recipient. D e p e n d i n g on the culture, the intermediary would be called
mar ipr in Akkadian, wpwty2 in Egyptian and ml'P in Northwest
Semitic. T h e intermediary carried a short written text which served
him as a letter of accreditation in the presence of the recipient a n d
allowed him to expand the message, replying to any requests for
explanation the recipient might pose.
1.1.1

The texts

T h e 86 letters or fragments written in alphabetic cuneiform and in


Ugaritic with their various collations are as follows: K T U 2.1 = R S
3.427, K T U 2.2 = R S 3.334, K T U 2.3 = R S 1.013 + 1.043, K T U
2.4 = R S 1.018, K T U 2.5 = R S 1.020, K T U 2.6 = R S 1.021,
K T U 2.7 = R S 1.026 + 2.[025], K T U 2.8 = R S 1.032, K T U 2.9 =
R S 2. [026], K T U 2.10 = R S 4.475, K T U 2.11 = R S 8.315, K T U
2.12 = R S 9.479a, K T U 2.13 = R S 11.872, K T U 2.14 = R S
[Varia 4], K T U 2.15 = R S 15.007, K T U 2.16 = R S 15.008, K T U

1956, 68-110; B O T T E R O 1977, 333-4, 233-6 and 211 sub 3;


1964, 212-3; O T T E N 1964, 213-4; L U K E R 1968, 55-77; H O L M E S 1975,

MUNN-RANKIN

EBELING

376-81.
2

S e e VALLOGGIA

CUNCHILLOS

1976.

1981a, 1982, 1991.

2.17 = R S 15.098, K T U 2.18 = R S 15.107, K T U 2.20 = R S


15.158, K T U 2.21 = R S 15.174, K T U 2.22 = R S 15.191 [a], K T U
2.23 = R S 16.078+, K T U 2.24 = R S 16.137[bis]+, K T U 2.25 =
R S 16.196, K T U 2.26 = R S 16.264, K T U 2.27 = R S 16.378a,
K T U 2.28 = R S 16.378b, K T U 2.29 = R S 16.378c, K T U 2.30 =
R S 16.379, K T U 2.31 = R S 16.394, K T U 2.32 = R S 16.401, K T U
2.33 = R S 16.402, K T U 2.34 = R S 17.139, K T U 2.35 = R S
17.327, K T U 2.36+ = R S 17.435+, K T U 2.38 = R S 18.031, K T U
2.39 = R S 18.038, K T U 2.40 = R S 18.040, K T U 2.41 = R S
18.075a, K T U 2.42 = R S 18.113A, K T U 2.43 = R S 18.113[b],
K T U 2.44 = R S 18.134, K T U 2.45 = R S 18.140, K T U 2.46 =
R S 18.147, K T U 2.47 = R S 18.148, K T U 2.48 = R S 18.285[a],
K T U 2.49 = R S 18.286+, K T U 2.50 = R S 18.287, K T U 2.51 =
R S 18. [312], K T U 2.52 = R S 18.[364], K T U 2.53 = R S 18.[380],
K T U 2.54 = R S 18.[386], K T U 2.55 = R S 18.[387], K T U 2.56
= R S 18.[400], K T U 2.57= R S 18.[443], K T U 2.58 = R S 18.[482],
K T U 2.59 = R S 18.[500], K T U 2.60 = R S 18.[528], K T U 2.61 =
R S 19.011, K T U 2.62 = R S 19.022, K T U 2.63 = R S 19.029, K T U
2.64 = R S 19.102, K T U 2.65 = R S 19.158b, K T U 2.66 = R S
19.181a, K T U 2.67 = R S 19.181b, K T U 2.68 = R S 20.199, K T U
2.69 = R S 24.660G, K T U 2.70 = R S 29.093, K T U 2.71 = R S
29.095, K T U 2.72 = R S 34.124, K T U 2.75 = R S 34.148, K T U
2.76 = R S 34.356, K T U 2.77 = R I H 7 7 / 0 1 , K T U 2.78 = R I H
7 7 / 2 1a, K T U 2.79 = R I H 7 7 / 2 5 , K T U 2.80 = R I H 7 8 / 2 1 , K T U
2.81 = R I H 7 8 / 3 + 30, K T U 2.82 = R I H 7 8 / 1 2 , K T U 2.83 =
R I H 7 8 / 2 5 , K T U 5.9 = R S 16.265, K T U 5.10 = R S 17.063, K T U
5.11 = R S 17.117. 4 T o date we know of 20 other unpublished letters. 5

1.1.2

Structure

Usually, a letter comprises heading, m a i n message a n d ending. T h e


study of letters written in Ugaritic has not progressed m u c h since
C u n c h i l l o s
1989a; see there for lengthier discussion of matters raised
here.

4
C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1993a, 239-306, 8 6 3 - 4 ; the texts, in corrected form are
available in Sapnu, Publicaciones en Internet, at http://wwvv. labherm.filol.csic.es.
5
See M ALB R A N - L A B A T 1995a, 103 n. 2.

1.2

Heading

T h e heading, also called the introduction, comprises the address,


proskynesis, greetings a n d wishes.
1.2.1

The address can take on various forms:

(a) / recipient rgm + thm sender


(b) thm sender + I recipient rgm
T h e n a m e of the more important person preceded the name of someone of lower rank, unless out of politeness the n a m e of the recipient
had to come first ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1328). In other words, the second
formula shows that the sender has higher rank than the recipient,
whereas the first formula shows the higher rank of the recipient or
else is an indication of politeness between persons of the same rank.
If this is the case, Ugaritic usage would be the same as in other
regions ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1328 with bibliography).
However, not all scholars share this opinion. For some, hierarchy
is the only criterion that explains the precedence of the n a m e in both
cases ( K n u t s o n 1975, 199; K r i s t e n s e n 1977, 144-5; C a q u o t 1979b,
1414). Ugaritic usage would then differ from that of other areas,
except for El A m a r n a ( K n u t s o n 1975, 199).
As we shall see later on ( 8.1.2.2), proskynesis occurs only when
the first formula is used. This is the one, then, that is used when
an inferior addresses a superior.
T h e personal names of both the sender and the recipient are quite
often replaced by terms denoting relationship. For example, adty, 'My
L a d y ' , occurs in K T U 2.12 = R S 9 . 4 7 9 a . 2 ; K T U 2.24 = R S
16.137[bis]+:2; K T U 2.33 = R S 16.402:1; K T U 2.56 = R S 18.[400]:1;
K T U 2.68 = R S 20.199:1; K T U 2.82 = R I H 78/12:2; adtny 'our
Lady', K T U 2.11 = R S 8.315:1, adny 'my lord', K T U 2.64 = R S
19.102:2; b'ly 'my lord', 'my master', K T U 2.40 = R S 18.040:1;
K T U 2.42 = R S 18.113 a: 1 ; K T U 2.61 = R S 19.011:2; K T U 2.63
= R S 19.029:1; K T U 2.64 = R S 19.102:10; bclh 'his master', K T U
2.47 = R S 18.148:2; b'lny 'our master', K T U 2.70 = R S 29.093:1;
b'lkm 'your (pi.) master', K T U 5.10 = R S 17.063:3; umy 'my mother',
K T U 2.11 = R S 8.315:1; K T U 2.13 = R S 11.872:2; K T U 2.16 =
R S 15.008:2; K T U 2.30 = R S 16.379:1; K T U 2.34 = R S 17.139:2;
K T U 5.10 = R S 17.063:3; K T U 2.82 = R I H 78/12:1; buy 'my son',
K T U 2.14 = R S [Varia 4]:3;
'my brother', K T U 2.14 = R S

[Varia 4]:3; K T U 2.38 = R S 18.031:2; ihy 'my brother', K T U 2.44


= R S 18.134:2; ahty 'my sister', K T U 2.21= R S 15.174:3; ahth 'his
sister', K T U 5.10 = R S 17.063:1; 'bdk 'your servant(s)', K T U 2.11
= R S 8.315:4; K T U 2.12= R S 9.479a.5; K T U 2.24 = R S
16.137[to]+:4; K T U 2.33 = RS 16.402.2; K T U 2.40 = R S 18.040.4;
K T U 2.42 = R S 18.1 13a:3; K T U 2.64 = R S 19.102:12; K T U 2.68
= R S 20.199:3; K T U 2.75 = R S 34.148:4; K T U 2.81 = R I H 7 8 / 0 3
+ 30:5), bnk 'your son', K T U 2.13 = R S 11.872:4; K T U 2.30 =
RS 16.379:3; K T U 2.64 = R S 19.102:5; ahk 'your brother', K T U
2.38 = RS 18.031:3.
T h e terms 'father', 'mother', 'brother' and 'son' do not have the
literal meaning of blood-relationship a m o n g those concerned. T h e y
are terms of respect. T h e king is called 'father' and the queen,
'mother' (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 247-8).
T h e noun thm, 'message', differentiates the Ugaritic formula from
contemporary Akkadian formulae (El A m a r n a and even Ugarit itself)
which begin with umma, 'thus'. 6
Sometimes an unbroken line separates the address from what follows (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 249). N o account is taken of this line
by epigraphists, except for TU. T h e unbroken line is one of the
punctuation marks of Ugaritic. It corresponds to our full stop, new
paragraph (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 248-9) except when it is used as
a writing guide. In that case it recurs regularly in all or nearly all
the lines of the text.
I.2.2 The proskynesis is a formula of prostration and respect towards
the recipient. It is used only with the first type of address formula
as given above. T h e r e are four different types. T h e simplest is / p'n
qlt, 'at the feet of (the recipient) fall' ( K T U 2.13 = R S
I I . 8 7 2 : 5 - 6 ; K T U 2.30 = R S 16.379:4-5; K T U 2.64 = R S 19.102
obverse:6-7; K T U 2.79 = R I H 7 8 / 3 + 30:5-6; K T U 2.80 = R I H
7 8 / 1 2 : 2 - 3 ; see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 249, n. 26). Somewhat more

It occurs in K T U 2.4 = RS 1.018; K T U 2.10 = RS 4.475; K T U 2.11 = RS


8.315; K T U 2.12 = RS 9.479A; K T U 2.13 = RS 11.872; K T U 2.16 = RS 15.008;
K T U 2.21 = RS 15.174; K T U 2.24 = RS 16.137[to]+; K T U 2.26 = RS 16.264;
K T U 2.30 = RS 16.379; K T U 2.33 = RS 16.402; K T U 2.34 = RS 17.139; K T U
2.39 = RS 18.038; K T U 2.40 = RS 18.040; K T U 2.42 = RS 18.113A; K T U 2.44
= RS 18.134; K T U 2.46 = RS 18.147; K T U 2.49 = RS 18.286+; K T U 2.61 =
R S 19.011; K T U 2.63 = RS 19.029; K T U 2.64 = RS 19.102; K T U 2.71 = RS
29.095; K T U 2.76 = RS 34.356; K T U 2.78 = RIH 7 7 / 2 1a.

distant is I pcn mrhqtm qlt 'at the feet of I / w e fall from afar'
K T U 2.11 = RS 8.315:5-7; K T U 2.33 = R S 16.402:3-4; K T U
2.45 = RS 18.140:11-2 (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 249, n. 27). More
solemn is / pen tnid sbcd mrhqtm qlny 'at the feet of twice seven
(times) I / w e fall' K T U 2.64 = R S 19.102 obv. 13-16; K T U 2.70
= R S 29.093:8-10. O r also I p'n bCd wsb'id mrhqtm qlt 'at the feet
of seven and seven (times) from a distance I fall' K T U 2.12 =
RS 9.479a:6-11; K T U 2.24 = RS 16.137[w]+:5-7; K T U 2.40 =
RS 18.040:5-8; K T U 2.42 = R S 18.1 13a:4-5; K T U 2.51 = R S
18.[312]:2-3; K T U 2.68 = R S 20.199:4-7 (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a,
249, n. 29). T h e two last expressions could have the same meaning
although it is not completely certain and they could have different
nuances (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 250). fall' is a translation of qlt
from Vqyl, cognate with Akkadian qlu (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 250).
'From afar' is a translation of mrhqtm or mrhqm, an adverb derived
from Vrhq.
1.2.3 Greetings. T h e sender usually greets the recipient with a jussive: ylm I- 'Peace to N ! (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 251 and n. 3 6 ) ,
which occurs in several letters.' Its variants a r c y l m ly8 and InylmP
T h e nominal use of lm cannot be excluded in some cases. 10
1.2.4 Wishes. T h e greeting can be followed by a wish with a religious content as expressed by the sender in favour of the recipient.
W h e n both elements are present, the action seems to be progressive.
Indeed, with the greeting the sender wishes the recipient to enjoy
good health when receiving the letter, while with the wishes he
expresses the hope that the gods may continue preserving the recipient's good health. T h e same progression is glimpsed in the body of
the letter. T h e greeting, then, can be differentiated from the wishes or

K T U 2.1 = RS 3.427; K T U 2.4 = RS 1.018; K T U 2.6 = RS 1.021; K T U


2.10 = RS 4.475; K T U 2.13 = RS 11.872; K T U 2.16 = RS 15.008; K T U 2.21
= RS 15.174; K T U 2.30 = RS 16.379; K T U 2.33 = RS 16.402; K T U 2.34 =
RS 17.139; K T U 2.38 = RS 18.031; K T U 2.41 = RS 18.075; K T U 2.44 = RS
18.134; K T U 2.46 = RS 18.147; K T U 2.52 = RS 18.[364]; K T U 2.63 = RS
19.029; K T U 2.67 = RS 19.181B; K T U 2.71 = RS 29.095; K T U 2.81 = RIH
7 8 / 3 + 30.
8
K T U 2.30 = RS 16.379; K T U 2.33 = RS 16.402; K T U 2.68 = RS 20.199;
K T U 2.72 = RS 34.124. See C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 252.
9
K T U 2.79 = R I H 7 8 / 3 + 3 0 . 6 , see C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 2 5 2 ~ 3 .
10
K T U 2.70 = RS 29.093; K T U 2.72= RS 34.124; K T U 5.10 = RS 17.063.

expression of wish/desire 1 1 although there are different opinions (see


C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 2 5 3 - 4 ) .
T h e religious expression normally used in the wishes (see C U N C H I L L O S
1989a, 2 2 9 - 3 4 ) is ilm tgrk tslmk, ' M a y the gods protect you and keep
you healthy!'.1'-' Ugaritic uses two verbs because two actions are meant
to be represented (see C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 254). T h e verb tgr, Ingr,
denotes the action of 'protecting'. 1 3 Theoretically, tlm could be the
aphel causative or the intensive D stem. However, both Akkadian
and H e b r e w normally use the verb Sim in the intensive stem. Ugaritic
probably does the same. 1 4 T h u s , the expression manifests the wish
that the gods continue preserving the health of the recipient.
T h e formulation of the wishes or desires can change. T h e letter
writer has freedom of expression which is evident, for example, in
K T U 2.16 = R S 15.008:4-6, when he writes ily ugrt tgrk tslmk, ' M a y
the gods of Ugarit protect you a n d keep you healthy!', an expression which has its equivalent in the Akkadian of Ugarit: ilnu ugarit
ana ulmni lissurka or else ilnu sa ugarit ana ulmni lissurka (see
C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 256). T h e a u t h o r of the letter K T U 2.4 = R S
1.018 sends wishes to the High Priest ilm tslmk tgrk t'zzk, ' M a y the
gods keep you healthy, protect you and keep you hardy!' (lines 4 - 6 ) .
A longer version occurs in K T U 5.9 = R S 16.265:2-6: ilm tgrk tslmk
t'zzk alp ymm w rbt nt b'd clm, ' M a y the gods protect you, keep you
healthy, keep you hardy for a thousand days a n d ten thousand years
for ever!'. Finally, there is the formula b'lysul lmk, ' M a y Ba'al take
care of your health!' of K T U 5.11 = R S 17.117:2, which becomes
intelligible if c o m p a r e d with the H e b r e w expression THWHys'l
Islmk,
of Arad Letter 18 a n d the Akkadian expressions ilnu ulumka . . . lisal
of EA 9 6 : 4 - 6 , ilnu lial ulumka of T a a n a k 1.5-6 and Aramaic clhyc
ylw lmk of A P 56:1 (see C U N C H I L L O S 1983a).

11

Further details and discussion in C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 2 5 1 - 2 .


With some variations it occurs in K T U 2.1 = RS 3.427:1-2; K T U 2.4 = RS
1.018:4-5 (ilm tslmk tgrk) K T U 2.6 = RS 1.021:5-6 (ilm tgrkm ts'lmkm), K T U 2.11
= RS 8.315:7-9; K T U 2.13 = RS 1 1.872:7-8; K T U 2.14 = RS [Varia 4]:4-5;
K T U 2.21 = RS 15.174:5-6 (ilm tslmk tgrk)] K T U 2.30 = RS 16.379:6-7; K T U
2.34 = RS 17.139:3-4; K T U 2.38 = RS 18.031:4-5; K T U 2.41 = RS 18.075:1-2;
K T U 2.44 = RS 18.134:4-5; K T U 2.46 = RS 18.147:4-5; K T U 2.63 = RS
19.029:5-6; K T U 2.68 = RS 20.199:9-10 (collation: Pardee); K T U 2.70 = RS
29.093:6-7; K T U 2.71 = RS 29.095:4-5 (ilm tslmk tgrk); K T U 2.75 = RS 34.148:6.
13
Others consider the root to be gyr; see C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 2 5 5 .
14
See C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 254-5; T R O P P E R 1990a, 164.
12

1.3

Body of the letter or message

1.3.1 Structure of the message. T h e second part of the letter is laid


out in dialogue form, marked in some cases 15 by the adverbs hnny,
'here' and tmny, 'there' (further details in C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 257,
n. 66). Generally (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 258, n. 68) the sender uses
hnny,lfi or its equivalent hlny17 to open the section where he provides
news of his circumstances, limited to the expression 'everything is
(very) fine with 18 (me/us)' ( mn(y) kll (mid) lm in various forms (see
C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 259, n. 70). T h e term tmny is used to begin the
expression (see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 259, n. 73) by the sender that
all may go well with the recipient cm mnm lm.
T h e two expressions introduced by hnny and tmny in the body of
the letter are the counterpart of the greeting and wishes in the structure of the text. T h e greeting, like the expression introduced by hnny,
denotes the situation as at present, whereas the wishes, like the expression introduced by tmny, are set in the future. In both cases there
is an element of progression.
In cm mnm lm, the verbal form Sim is probably an optative
qatala, and in cmn(y) kll (mid) lm the qatala is in the present. 19
1.3.2 Syntax. Within the dialogue section, the key to the wording
and of course to understanding is syntax. Unfortunately, this is the
least known part of Ugaritic grammar. T h e research undertaken by
us in Madrid has not yet provided results. T h e key to syntactic structure frequently lies in particles which are still largely not understood,
although their mysteries have been penetrated to some extent. Thus,

15
In K T U 2.1 = RS 3.427; K T U 2.11 = RS 8.315; K T U 2.13 = RS 11.872;
K T U 2.21 = RS 15.174; K T U 2.24 = RS 16.137[w]+; K T U 2.30 = RS 16.379;
K T U 2.34 = RS 17.139; K T U 2.36+ = RS 17.435+; K T U 2.38 = RS 18.031;
K T U 2.46 = RS 18.147; K T U 2.56 = RS 18.[4001; K T U 2.65 = RS 19.1 58B;
K T U 2.67 = RS 19.181B; K T U 2.68 = RS 20.199; K T U 2.70 = RS 29.093; K T U
2.71 = RS 29.095; K T U 2.72 = RS 34.124; K T U 2.76 = RIH 7 7 / 2 1a; K T U
2.83 = R I H 78/25.
16
K T U 2.11 = RS 8.315:10; K T U 2.38 = RS 18.031:6; K T U 2.46 = RS
18.147:6; K T U 2.56 = RS 18.[400]:4; K T U 2.65 = RS 19.158 b:1; K T U 2.71 =
RS 29.095:5; K T U 2.72 = RS 34.124:4.
17
K T U 2.1 = RS 3.427:3; K T U 2.13 = RS 11.872:9; K T U 2.21 = RS 15.174:7;
K T U 2.24 = R S 16.137 [Aw] + :8; K T U 2.30 = RS 16.379:8; K T U 2.36+ = RS
17.435+:2; K T U 2.47 = RS 19.181 B:4; K T U 2.70 = RS 29.093:11; K T U 2.76
= RIH 77/21a:4; K T U 2.83 = RIH 78/25:2.
18
See C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 258, n. 69.
19

See

CUNCHILLOS

1986,

259

60; 260,

n.

75.

ht, usually translated by 'now' 2 0 has the peculiarity of always marking


the passage to the second part of the discourse 21 or argumentation.
It means 'also', in the first case and 'but' 2 2 when followed by the
conditional particle hm, 'if'. O t h e r particles, such as w which begins
an apodosis, also contribute to the recognition of structural elements. 23
Ugaritic w, as in Hebrew, can also denote the beginning of a conditional clause or a subordinate conditional clause. 24 In this way, step
by step the syntax is revealed, but the picture is still incomplete.
If we consider the letter as a whole and not just the body of the
message, we can add that epistolary style may be marked by the use
of a large n u m b e r of jussive, imperative and optative forms. T h e third
person jussive is used frequentiy, for example in yslm Ik in the greeting and ilm tgrk tslmk in the wishes, but also in the body of the message, for instance in tmny mnm lm and sometimes throughout the
whole letter as in K T U 2.16 = RS 15.008. Perhaps this is one of
the characteristics of epistolary style,25 which is due to the involvement of a third person in the communication, an intermediary who
reads the written message aloud. Scholars who do not accept the
role of the mlak have great difficulty in understanding the use of the
third person. 2 6 It cannot be excluded that the use of the third person is an expression of respect.
1.3.3 Literary aspects of the letters. T h e letters are the work of various
authors preserved in a single copy, as short unvocalized texts full of
hapax legomena which allude to contexts which are unknown to us.
These are the historical contexts in which the letters were written,
the archaeological contexts in which they were found. We also lack
the essential communication link of the 2nd millennium BCE, the
maVak who held the key to interpretation, the additional explanations d e m a n d e d by the text so as to be fully understood by the recipient. So much for the inherent difficulties of the letters. However, it

20

See C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 262, n. 77; DLU, 169-70.


For example in K T U 2.4 = RS 1.018 and K T U 2.14 = RS [Varia 4]. See
C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 273 n. 6 and 295 n. 12 respectively.
22
See C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 337, n. 36; 278, n. 10.
23
C U N C H I L L O S 1989b, commentary on the letters K T U 2.10 = R S 4.475; K T U
2.30 = RS 16.379; K T U 2.33 = RS 16.402.
24
See C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 338 n. 4 0 .
21

25

PARDEE -

26

KRISTENSEN

WHITING
1977,

1987.
145

in respect of

K T U

2.47

RS

18.148.

has to be accepted that on the other h a n d it presents several advantages c o m p a r e d to other literary genres. T h e letter has spatial boundaries which cannot be said of more complex literary texts such as
myths and legends. This factor assures us b e f o r e h a n d that if the
tablet is intact, the m e a n i n g of the letter will be complete.
It has been claimed that the correspondence in Ugaritic is only
a translation f r o m Akkadian texts. T h e arguments for and against
have been set out elsewhere. 2 7 T h e r e is a strong possibility that
Ugaritic correspondence was original.

1.4

Closing formula

T h e body of the message is followed by a request for information


concerning the recipient and his surroundings. T h e formula is usually rgm ttb I-, 'Send a reply to (lit. return a word to)!'. T h e verbal
form ttb is a Shaphel imperative of the verb twb, with assimilation
of the p h o n e m e / a / typical of the Shaphel to / t a / . W h e n the letter is written in the third person, tttb is used in the closing formula,
3rd pers. fem. sing, jussive: ' M a y she return a word to her servant!'.
This occurs in K T U 2.12 = R S 9.479A: 1428 and K T U 2.16 = R S
15.008:19. 29

1.5

Conclusion

Historical and social importance of the correspondence. T h e sender of most


of the letters preserved is a k i n g / q u e e n or a prince/princess. Some
seem to come f r o m lesser court officials.
O f all the letters preserved, the one by queen Pudugibat or Puduhepa
( K T U 2.36 = R S 17.435+), is undoubtedly the most interesting for
its historical significance, but also for the information it provides on
diplomatic relations and even on the political tactics used by Niqmaddu,
king of Ugarit. P u d u h e p a was the wife of Hattusilis, the m o t h e r of
Tudhaliya and a c o n t e m p o r a r y of Ramesses II.
T h e kingdom of Ugarit was a vassal of Hatti, and the king of Ugarit
was obliged to present himself each year in the Hittite court, bringing a tribute established beforehand. As the letter shows, the king

27
28
29

See
See
See

CUNCHILLOS
CUNCHILLOS
CUNCHILLOS

1989a, 264-7.
1989a, 286 n. 6.
1989a, 3 0 2 n. 2 5 .

of Ugarit had to bring a quantity of gold for the House of the king,
but the same a m o u n t also for the House of the queen. N i q m a d d u
sent the required a m o u n t of gold that was due to the king by adopting the ruse of sending it to the House of the queen. Similarly,
Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit, had to send a certain quantity of precious stones which had been worked in his kingdom to the Hittite
court. N i q m a d d u pretended not to have any gem cutters.
In the rest of the letter, he asks the Hittite court for help in assuring that the caravans going to Egypt would pass through Ugarit, no
doubt thinking of the benefits such commercial traffic would entail.
In another letter, ( K T U 2.38 = R S 18.031), the king of Tyre informs the king of Ugarit that the fleet he had sent to Egypt found
itself in the middle of a great storm which forced the fleet to split,
half going to Tyre and the other half to Acre. T h e fleet was carrying wheat. T h e captain m a d e them take the wheat out of the
amphoras and lay it out to dry, but first he delivered it to the king
of Tyre, the one responsible on land. T h e king of Tyre informed
the king of Ugarit that the cargo had again been loaded on the
boats and that the fleet had resumed its journey.
Another letter, ( K T U 2.68 = RS 20.199), by Urfcteub, seems likely
to deal with the old Hittite king who had fallen into disgrace and
had had more than friendly relations with Ugarit.
Each of the letters is a remnant of someone's life and reflects the
society to which he belongs.

1.5

Appendix: the vocabulary of the letters

. - T h e total n u m b e r of Words with their Morphological Display


(or WMD)30 in the Ugaritic corpus published so far is 6521. 31 T h e
n u m b e r of WMD exclusive to a single literary genre is as follows:
Administration: 2031; Myth: 1164; Epic: 495; Ritual: 438; Correspondence: 332; Assorted Fragments: 81; School Exercises: 44; Law: 44;
Inscriptions: 40; Hippiatric texts: 37.
876 of the 6521 WMD contained in the published Ugaritic texts
occur in the Correspondence. Of these, 544 are also c o m m o n to
other genres, leaving 332 as exclusive to the Correspondence.

30
Palabras en Alorfologia Desplegada or PAID in Spanish. Here the English abbreviation is used for convenience. See 16.2.2.
31
C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1993a, 1-2191.

B . - T h e Vocabulary of the C o r r e s p o n d e n c e shared with other literary genres:


1.- C o r r e s p o n d e n c e and Administration: adc; adty, ahty, alyyn; anyt;
argmnm; atlg, ibm\ iwrdn; iwdr, iwrpzn; ihy; lytlrrv, ilp; iltkm; itn; ittl; ubr'y;
ully; urgttb; bdhm; blym\ bcly\ bclyskn\ b'rm; gzl; gib; grgs; dym; dmn; drdm,
drm; hyil; hpr.; hlpn, hpn\ hpnm; ybnn; ymz', kbr.; ky, kkr, klby; ksphm; ktt;
Iby; Iqht; mz'/m; wz^wA; mkr, mlb] mly; mlkytn; mrdt, sny; cbdbcl; cbdyrh; cbdm;
c
yn; 'ky, 7; 7r, 7; cttry, plsy, pm\ psn; spy, rhbrv, kn; lmy; ml, sm't; s't,
stn; tyt; tlmyn; tmtt; fry; trgds; trtn; tby; tpbtcl\ tpn.
2 . - Correspondence and Myth: ad\ adnh; ah; ams\ ar; ilak; iph\ irstk;
bnk\ dbr, dtm; hdd; hdt\ hin, hmk\ h; hsri\ y bit, ycmsn\ klm\ kpr, lah, lit, lp\
mla; mlak; mgt; mrt, mtt; n'mm; sip", cbdk\ cnn\ pcnk; slm; qbt, qdt, qlh\ qlt;
qmh; rgmt, bCd, dt; kb; ntm\ pr, thmk) tm; t'tqn; tgrk; tttb; tbh\ tmt.
3 . - C o r r e s p o n d e n c e a n d Epic: adnk; ahtk; amrk; argm\ akn; atn; ikm;
itt; bClny; d'\ dt\ hndt, ytbC mndC\ Crym\ tadnv, tdbr, tmgy; ta; tqb; tnnth.
4 . - C o r r e s p o n d e n c e a n d Ritual: , aspt\ dbhn\ dr', hwth] hrdh\
htm] y dbh; ysal; mzn\ mit.; msqt, mrhqm, ndr, si.
5 . - C o r r e s p o n d e n c e and Law: iky, brt; mgsh, cmnk.
6 . - C o r r e s p o n d e n c e and Assorted Fragments: hdr, mli; tzn; tsc.
7 . - C o r r e s p o n d e n c e and School Exercises: h; t; mtr.
8. C o r r e s p o n d e n c e a n d Vocabularies: ikt.
9 . - C o r r e s p o n d e n c e and the Hippiatric Texts.
C . - Vocabulary exclusive to the C o r r e s p o n d e n c e , as has been seen,
comprises 332 WMD. A preliminary analysis results in the following:
Verb forms:
labd 'to be eternal', 'to perish': tubd.
Vahb 'to love': ihbt.

\lawd 'to weigh, pay': udh\ tud.


^1aw 'to make a gift, give': nul.
^azr 'to gird': yizr.
^lahd 'to grasp, seize': did] didn.
Jahr 'to delay': yihr; tiffrhm.

^aty 'to come': nitk.


^ar 'to ask, desire': art; yir.

^lbll 'to moisten, ferment': iblblhm.


V67 'to work, make': ysb'l, ib'ltn.
Jb'r 'to burn', 'to abandon, destroy': ibcr; b'r, yb'm.
ylbqt ' to seek': bqt\ ybqj.

yIbtt 'to move away', S 'leave aside': ybt\ ubt\ ubtm.


^lgd' 'to cut': agdc.

Igrr 'to move': igr.

Adhl 'to fear, be scared': tdhl.


Idhs 'to be excited/nervous': tdhs.
\Ihbt 'to humble, demolish': hbt; yhbt\ thbt.
1
ihdy 'lacerate, gash oneself': hdy.
^lwhl 'to be discouraged': twhln.
"Jwzn 'to weigh': yzn.
Jwpt 'to spit': pt?2
Vzwd 'to provision, supply', Nifal 'to be provisioned, supplied': nzdt.
Ahdy 'to see, look', 'rejoice': hd.
Ihwy 'to prostrate oneself, 'to live': hw, hytn.
"Jhlq 'to perish', 'to be absent': hlqt.
yhpn 'to cover, protect, wrap': yhpn.
'to snatch, conquer, defeat': hti; nhtw, f}tat.
Jycf 'to know': yd'm; Idc.33
^y'b 'to be spacious': y'b.
lysa 'to go out': assu; yssa; su.
ylyra 'to fear, be frightened': yritn.
\lyrd 'to descend': yrdnn.
yytn 'to give, sell': atnnk) ytnh, ytnnn; tnt; tnth; tntn.
^lytb 'to sit, dwell in': ytbt; ytbtn.
*ikwn 'to be establish', 'to create, make preparations': tknn, tknnnn\
ykn.
^lkhd 'to erase', 'to hide': khdnn.
Mhm 'to eat', 'to fight', 'to be suitable': ilhmn.
vlik 'to entrust with, commission, send': ilakh, labrr, likt, lut, tlikr, tlikn.
lwy 'to follow, enclose, go round': aslu (?).
Mwt 'to mould (clay)': Itt (Gt).
ymkr 'to trade': amkrn.

^lmla 'to fill': mlit (part. act. G. fem.pl.).


>Imgy 'to arrive, come, reach': ymgyk; mgyy; mgyk\ tmgyy.
^lnad 'to raise': nitk.
yinhr 'to cause to flow': /Ar.34
^nw' 'to move', 'ask, request': n'kn.
AIns' 'to uproot': //.
Ingr 'to protect': tgrkm; tgm.
Intb 'to pull up': ntb.
Vsyr 'to travel': syr.
yspr 'to write, tell, relate': yspm.
Vewr 'to be naked', 'to go blind', 'to worry': t'wr.
"J'zz 'to be strong, prevail', D 'to preserve strength': t'zzk.
Vemt 'to hit, tie, wrap': cmt.
VVy 'to empty, unload', 'to turn': cryt.
" Hapax. It comes from a pupil's exercise.
Hapax. Text in bad condition, but it is a preposition + inf. const, of yd'.
34
Hapax. Possible but not certain.
33

V'/r 'to invite': t'sr.


Vctq 'to pass, move forward', 'to become old': tctq\ s'tq.
^gzr 'to fortify': agzr.
^lphy 'to discern, see, perceive, experience': iphn\ phn'\ phnn.
4pit 'to set free, save': npl.
Vsba 'to grow, to rise (of the sun)', 'to decrease, to set (of the sun)': sb\
\Iswq 'to squeeze': sq 'to press'.
AIshq 'to laugh': tsshq.
\Ispy 'to cover, put on', 'observe, keep guard': aspy\ tspy.
Iqwr 'to flow', 'be curved': qr.
^qyl 'to fall': qlny.
^lqr 'to knot, join': qr; tqr.
^Jqty 'to end': tql.
ylrhl 'to worry, travel': trhln.
^lri 'to swell up, have a headache': rus.
vrws 'to be poor': yrs.
TO 'to destroy': yrs.
vay 'to wait, lie in wait': asi.
^al 'to deal with, watch over/supervise': yul.
^Iil 'to question, ask, request': il; silt, iai, ialhm, tal; ytal; yil.
^livr 'to besiege, enclose': ym.
Jyt 'to place, set': itn.
1
1kh 'to meet/find': tkh; nkh.
ylh 'to send', 'to found, build': nlh.
y Ilm 'to be well, be in peace': lmt; lmtn\ tlmk; tlmkm.
^lmh 'to rejoice': mht.
^lm' 'to hear': sm'fi; trrnv, mrrt.
^lqp 'to strike, break': yqp.
4ty 'to drink, taste': itn.
yltbr 'to break, smash': ttbrn.
^ltkp 'to be demolished, resist, repel': ntkp.
Vt'y 'to correct, inspect', 'to offer': tt'y.
Nouns:
adn 'Lord, father, master, foreman': adny; adnty.
idn 'permission, consent': idn.
adt 'Lady': adtny.
az 'fringed carpet': azt.
amt 'maid, maidservant, slave; forearm, elbow': amtk.
any 'fleet': anyk\ anykn.
argmn: 'tribute' argmny.
ins 'people': ink.
udr 'nobility, the most noble'; 'camels'; 'slope, skirt (of a mountain)':
udrh\ udrk.
udr 'courier, messenger'; 'salvation': udrh.
u/} 'brother': uhy.
un 'sorcery, magic': unk.

urk 'length': urk.


bnny: bnny (or preposition bn 'between' + suff. -ny 'us').
bs 'linen': bs.
g 'voice': gy.
gm 'rain': gm.
dbr 'plague, pestilence; thing, word'; 'pastureland, pastures, hut': dbrm.
dn 'receptacle, amphora': dnh\ dntm.
dr' 'arm'; 'wheat seed': dr'hm.
hwt 'life'; 'house, dynasty, country, territory, district, region'; 'animal,
serpent': hwtk, hwtm.
hmy 'wall'; hmy.
hbt 'freeman, fugitive'; 'soldier, proletarian': /)btm.
hrd 'guard, sentinel'; 'part of the conscript army': hrdk.
kw 'liquid measure': kw.
ksu 'throne': ksiy.
ksp 'silver': kspym 'silversmiths'.
lb 'heart': Ibk.
lbs 'garment': Ibsk.
Ig 'gallon': Igk.35
Idt 'receptacle, cellar': Idtk.
Ih 'cheek, jaw, snout, fauces'; 'tablet, writing, dictation, message': Ihy.
mid 'abundance': midy.
md 'surveyor': mdym.
mhr 'surveyor'; 'dung'; 'courtier'; 'coat, cloak': mhrk.
mkr 'trader': mkrn.
mlakt 'mission, assignment, embassy': mlakt] mlaklh\ mlakly; mlaktk.
mli 'full, complete' (qatil mla 'to fill'): mlit.
mlg 'a type of sacrifice': mlgt.
msgr 'casde, fortress': msgr.
m'n 'reply': m'nk.
mrdt 'carpet': mrdtt.
mrkbt 'chariot': mrkbtk.
mtn 'repetition, reply': mtnn.
n'r 'boy, lad, soldier, knight/horseman, cadet'; 'a type of roasted or
dry flour'; 'mix, mixture': n'ry.
np 'throat, cheeks, desire, person, animal, living being': npy.
npn 'abundance'; interjection: 'by (my) life!'.
npt 'type of offering': nptn.
nr 'yoke': nrm.
nt 'inner part': nt; nty.
sglt 'property': sglth.
shl 'driller (of precious of semi-precious stones)': shlk; sf}lm.
'ps 'frontier': 'ps.
't 'moth, louse': 'tty.

Hapax. T h e text is very corrupt.

gb 'sacrificial pit': gbny.


gl 'depression, hollow', 'reedbed': glhm.
qnu 'lapis lazuli': qnim; qnuym.
qrt 'city': qrtn.
rgm 'word, speech, matter, claim, complaint': rgmh; rgmy.
rc 'shepherd', 'friend, companion': r'.
M 'field': sdk.
sin 'gift, peace offering': sink.
lm 'peace, appeasement, peace offering'; 'satisfied'; 'victim of communion sacrifice': lmk.
m 'name': my.
ty 'water, river': ty; th; 0>ny.'iR
thm 'errand, resolution, decree, message': thmhy.
Personal names:
agzr] ahtmlk; ibrkd; iwrphn; ihqm; illdr; irrtrm; gnryn; ddyn: yrmhd: ytrhd; nmy\
nmry; 'bdmlk; pgn; pdgb; pzy\ pzy, plz', pnht\ pgsdb\ ptmy\ ttyy.
Divine names:
atrty, 'Athirat'.
Toponyms:
grgms 'Carchemish'; Iwsnd 'Lawasantiya'; mgh 'Muki'; ngt 'Nuhae';
gblm 'Byblos' (unless it is a gentilic: 'Byblians'); ns.
Gentilics:
ugrtym 'Ugaritians'; mny: smnyk.
Names of professions:
kspym 'silversmiths'; mdym 'surveyors'.
Numbers: snp 'two-thirds'.
Personal pronouns: ankn T .
Demonstrative pronouns: hndn\ hnt, hnkt.
Indefinite pronouns: mhy; mhk\ mhkm\ klklhm\ kllh.
Adverbs: ikmy; inm\ innm; hnny; midm; mrhqt; mrhqtm; sb'id 'seven times';
tmny; tnid 'twice'; 'rid 'ten times'.
Prepositions: 'mrv. 'mny; 'mnkm; 'Un 'against'; gmt 'according to, in accordance with'; bn 'between': bnny (with suff. -ny 'us').
Conjunctions: uy; uk; uky.
Excluded from the above classification are: 1. T h e WMD which are
susceptible to different analyses. T h e list is as follows: akin, ally, ankm,
ptn, tittm, tbt, tnlh, ttk.
2. Also excluded from the previous grammatical classification are
the WMD for words which as yet remain unexplained. T h e list is
as follows: ahnnr; itrhw; ul'nk; us'nk; bas; bby; bnptn; hzb; hhb; hkm; htm;
ysin; ysunn; stn; t'pr; pkdy; prhn; tlhmy.

36

Hapax. It occurs in K T U 5.11 = RS 17.117.

T h e next step is to determine whether other noun or verb forms,


i.e. the same noun with different suffixes or other forms from the
same root are attested in other literary genres besides Correspondence.
T h i s a n d other supplementary information can be found in the
Concordance of Ugaritic Roots, in preparation (see 16.2).
(Translation:

W.G.E.

WATSON)

T h e

Akkadian

John

2.1

Letters

Huehnergard

Introduction

Some 354 letters or fragments of letters have been found at Ras


Shamra. O f these, 134, or just over one-third of the total, were discovered during the 1994 season of excavations in the 'House of
Urtenu', and have not been published as of this writing. 1 Of the 220
letters or letter fragments found before 1994, 24 remain unpublished;
thus, the total n u m b e r of letters available for study is 196.
While many of the published Akkadian letters were written within
the kingdom of Ugarit, many others were sent to Ugarit from cities
and states across the Near East. Perhaps as m a n y as 43 of the letters
may be said with some degree of confidence to have originated within
Ugarit itself, or to be copies of letters sent from the Ugaritian court.
But about twice that number, roughly 85 of the letters, give some
indication of their point of origin outside Ugarit, and a m o n g these
at least 17 places of origin are attested: A1aiya, Amqu, Amurru,
Assyria, Atate, Beirut, Carchemish, Egypt, Hatti, Mari, Muki, Parga,
Qadesh, Sidon, Siyannu (and Unatu), Tarhudae, and Tyre (perhaps
also Alalah, E m a r and M a ' h a z , as well as a second town n a m e d
Beirut/Bi'rut; see the listing at the end of this chapter). It is not surprising, perhaps, that the largest numbers of letters come from Ugarit's
overlord, Hatti, and Hatti's provincial capital, Carchemish. O f course,
there are a great many letters between individuals, in which the
sender did not specify his or her location at the time of writing, or
in which in any case such information can not be recovered.

2.2

Format and Formulae

Most of the Akkadian letters exhibit a c o m m o n format (see A h l


1 9 7 3 ; Y a m a d a 1 9 9 2 ) . T h e y begin with an address, which gives the
identities of the sender and the addressee, in the form of a c o m m a n d
to the scribe/messenger: in its simplest form, 'Say to [the addressee];

See

M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995; L A C K E N B A C H E R 1995a; and especially


1995b for overviews of the 1994 Akkadian tablets.

BORDREUIL -

MALBRAN-LABAT

thus/word-of [the sender]' or the inverse, 'Thus/word-of [the sender];


say to [the addressee]'. Normally the party that appears first in the
address is the one with a higher social rank ( N o u g a y r o l 1955, 2-3).
T h e r e usually follows a salutation, which may contain any or all of
the following elements: a statement of obedience if the sender is
of lower social rank than the addressee; a wish for the well-being of
the addressee; an invocation of divine blessing. A salutation is omitted in letters from the Hittite overlord. Following the salutation there
may be a stereotyped statement of the sender's well-being and a
polite request for news of the well-being of the addressee. T h e n
comes the body of the letter. These various elementsaddress, salutation, statement/inquiry of well-being, bodyare often separated
from one another on the tablet by a ruled horizontal line. T h e scribe
may also use such a line to mark off separate topics in the body of
the letter.
T o illustrate the introductory formulae, the following letters may
be presented. In the first, R S 20.238 = t/g 5 no. 24, the king of
Ugarit writes to a king of superior rank; after the address, there is
a statement of obedience (prostration) and a lengthy wish for the
well-being of the addressee and his household; then follows the body
of the letter.
Ana ar mat Alaiya abi-ya qibi-ma;
umma ar mat Ugarit mri-k-ma:

Say to the king of the land of A1aiya,


my father; message of the king of
the land of Ugarit, your son:

Ana p ab-ya a[mq]ut.


I f[a1]1 at my father's feet.
Ana muf}hi ab-ya l ulmu. Ana btt- May my father be well. May your
ka hrt-ka sb-ka, ana gabbi mimm
houses, your wives, your army, everya ar mt Alaiy[a] ab-ya d[a]nni dannithing of the king of the land of
l ulm[u].
A1aiy[a], my father, be v[e]ry, very
weip].
Ab, anumma elepptu a nakr Ulaka;
ln-ya ina iti iairip, u amt []
banta \in\ a libbi mti te[p]. Abya
ul [d]e k gabbu sb . . . -ya ina mt
Hatti ab u gabbu e[lepp]t-[y]a ina
mt Lukk abu? \Ad~\ni ul ikudan-ni.
U mtu km-ma nadt. Ab-ya amt
annta l de. Inanna 7 ekpptu a nakr
a illakan-ni, u amt maikta tep-ni.
Inanna umma elepp[tu] a nakr antu

My father, now then, the enemies'


ships have been coming; they have
been setting fire to my towns, and
so they (the enemies) have do[n]e
something [u]np1easant [i]n the land.
Does my father not know that all
my . . .troops are situated in Hatti
and all [m]y s [hip] s are situated in
Lycia? They have not [ye]t reached
me. The land could be overthrown

ibai-mi, t[m]a \ayy\akmma upr[a]nni, u l de.

this way. M y father should be aware


of this. N o w the enemies' ships that
have been coming against me are
seven, and they (the enemies) have
done something heinous against us.
N o w , if there are more of the enemies' ships, send [m]e ne[w]s [so]mehow, that I may know.

In the next letter, R S 19.070 = PRU 4, 294, the king and queen of
Ugarit write to a man of lesser rank; after the address there follow
a brief expression of well-wishes and an invocation of divine blessing.
Message of the king of the land of
Umma ar mat Ugarit u arrat mat Ugarit]
Ugarit and the queen of the land of
ana Kila'e ab-ni qib-ma:
Ugarit; say to our father Kila'e:

Lu utmu ana muhhi-ka.


Iln ana ulmni lissur-ka.

M a y you be well.
M a y the gods keep you in good
health.

W e have sent herewith our mesAnumma Ili-milku mar-ipr-ni ana


senger
-milku to inquire after the
c?li Mmi a atri btx-ni naltapar-u. [. . .
welfare of our lord the king. [ . . .

Finally, a letter to the king of Ugarit from one of his agents, R S


17.383 = PRU 4, 22Iff., illustrates the stereotyped statement of the
sender's well-being and inquiry concerning that of the addressee; we
quote here only the introductory part of the letter:
Ana ar mat Ugarit beh-ya qibi-ma;
umma Taguhli ard-k-ma:

Say to my lord the king of Ugarit;


message of your servant Taguhlu:

I fall at my lord's feet from afar


Ana p bl-ya itu rqi inu sebu
amqut.
twice seven times.
N o w then all is well with the king
Enma itti sarri u itt-ya gabba ulmu.
and with me. Is everything well diere
Aranu itti arri bl-ya mnumm ulmnu?
with my lord the king? M a y news
Tema litenni.
be sent back to me.

2.3

Topics of the Letters

A wide range of topics is addressed in the Akkadian letters. Most of


the letters from Ugarit's overlords, Hatti and Carchemish, concern
military and political matters, such as movements of enemy troops;
requests for troops, arms, or information; border disputes; the activities of merchants; and other legal matters. Others, however, have
to do with the sending of gifts and tribute, or accompany the sending of a high official. Letters from other courts often discuss gift
exchange, alliances, and good relations, or present requests for commodities. Letters between individuals concern economic matters, offer
or request news, or simply bear a greeting from sender to addressee,
with a request for a return letter.

2.4

Grammar

T h e letters found at Ras Shamra, like the other Akkadian texts, are
for the most part written in the western peripheral type of Middle
Babylonian that is termed Hurro-Akkadian or Syro-Anatolian. This
type of Akkadian usually exhibits a certain a m o u n t of confusion in
the writing of stops and sibilants; an enclitic particle, -me, which
tends to replace normative Akkadian -ma on prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, and pronouns (e.g., in the conjunction km instead
of kma; the adverb anumm instead of anumma\ and the indefinite pronoun mannumm instead of mannumma); the frequent appearance of
the conjunction u to introduce main clauses after protases of conditional sentences, after relative clauses and other subordinate clauses,
and after instances of casus pendens. Peripheral Akkadian texts also
tend to exhibit an admixture of several core Mesopotamian dialects
into the Middle Babylonian matrix, such as Old Babylonian and
Old and Middle Assyrian forms. T h e y also betray substrate influence,
i.e. features of the scribes' native languages, including lexical items,
phonological and morphological patterns, and syntactic structures.
Finally, the peripheral texts also show a certain a m o u n t of grammatical simplification and reduction, the result of creolizing tendencies as the scribes attempted to write their imperfecdy-learned Akkadian.
T h e features just listed are common to all Syro-Anatolian Akkadian
texts, including the Ras S h a m r a Akkadian letters. Texts written
in a particular locale, however, will exhibit each of the various features to a greater or lesser extent than texts written elsewhere. In

other words, the g r a m m a r and orthography of peripheral texts vary


according to their provenance. For example, letters from Sidon tend
to have a large n u m b e r of Assyrian forms ( A r n a u d 1 9 9 2 ) , as in the
following:
RS 34.149 = RSO 7, no. 38.
Umma Adad-isme ar mt Sidni;

Message of Adad-ime king of the


land of Sidon;

ana ar mat Ugarit ahi-ya qibi-ma:

say to the king of the land of Ugarit,


my brother:

Alterne l [ip]ura ahu-ya an[a muhhi]- I have heard that my brother


[wro]te t[o m]e: '. . .'
ya: .
Ittalak ana l Sid[n]a il-ya ana'
ep' ipn-u. Aptiqis-su ina akl ina
bt[ -s]u ina m a [ui]b annaka.
A[numm]a ana muhh-[ka utta"]er-u.

He arrived at Sid [on], to me, to


produce his message. I provided him
with bread in [h]is hous[e] for the
days that he [stay]ed here. [I have
now retur]ned him to [you].

T h e following distinctions between texts written at Ugarit proper and


texts written at Carchemish have been noted, inter alia ( H u e h n e r g a r d
1979):

UGARIT

CARCHEMISH

sporadic instances of incorrect broken writings


intervocalic / w / written either <W>
or <M>
does not always > I before dental;
utu and ultu
inandin, less often inaddin
attu- does not occur
3fs prefix normally t-, rarely isubordination marker -u virtually
absent
mixing of Ill-weak forms: ileqqe/
ilaqqe, iqtabi/ iqtebi
many clauses not verb-final
ynu is common
l is rare
preterite and perfect interchangeable
for past tense

unexpected broken writings virtually


absent
intervocalic / w / written <M> only
> I before dental always, except
for iltu (never ultu)
inaddin, never inandin
attu- does occur
3fs prefix i- (t- in one text only)
subordination marker appears about
half the time
Ill-weak forms all normative Babylonian
nearly all clauses verb-final
ynu unattested
l is common
perfect in main clauses, preterite in
subordinate

T h e following two letters, the first from the king of Carchemish and
the second from the king of Ugarit, illustrate several of these distinctions:
RS 17.423 = PRU 4, 193.
Umma sarrim-ma;
ana Ibrni ar Ugarit qib-ma:

Message of the king;


say to Ibrnu king of Ugarit:

Lu ulmu ana muhhi-ka.

May it be well with you.

Enma Misra-muwa arnu itti Kuzvarru-ma abi illaka. U atta itu zttu k tbi l tteneppu-u. Appnama
ana sis-u tibna l tattanaddin-ma.
Summa atta ul td-u, ah-u a Upparmuwa t; mr anim-ma t. U itu
Ztt-u k tbi l tteneppu-u.

Now then, Misra-muwa is coming there to stay with Kuzi-Sarruma. You must treat him consistently
well, according to his due. In addition, you must keep his horses supplied with grain (and) straw. In case
you do not know him, he is the
brother of Uppar-muwa; he is the
king's own son. So you must always
treat him consistently well, according to his due.

RS 20.184 = Ug 5 no. 28.


Say to my lord Hemi-Teup;
message of your servant Ammitamru:
I fall at my lord's feet.
Ana p bl-ya amqut.
May my lord be well. May your
Ana muhhi bl-ya l ulmu. Ana btka hrt-ka, ana gabbi mimmu a bl- house, your wives, everything of my
lord's, be very, very [well].
ya danni danni l [ulmu].
Ana Hemi-Teup bl-ya qib-ma;
umma Ammitamri ard-k-ma:

Bl-, enma k uebbal arru bl-ya


My lord, now then, whenever my
sis ana ard-u ina qti a Taguhli [...], lord the king would send horses to
u hataddi arad-[u . . .]. K aknak- his servant in the charge of Taguhlu
k[u. . .?].
[...], h\is\ servant would always be
glad [...]. How does it seem toyo[u? ...]
Now, horse [s . . .]
Inanna sis[. . .]
. . . several lines missing. . .
. . . several lines missing . . .
[Anumma'] Amu[tara' ana mu]/}hi arri [Herewith] I have sen[t] Amu[taru
bl-ya altap[ar]. Bl-ya Amutara [ana\ t]o my lord the king. May my lord
pn ani bl-ya lumbu. Amt-u k
present Amutaru [t]o my lord the
a tbi bl-ya ana pn arri bl-ya king. May my lord discuss his conlidbub u k damqi lir[ibu].
cerns before my lord die king as well
as possible, and prese[nt him] as
properly as possible.

U bl-ya ana pn ani bl-ya liqbi


u 2 sis damqti u 1 qata damiqta sa
mt Hanigalbat luba ana ard-u ina
qti Amutari (arKu pn-ya.

Also, may my
my lord the king,
two good horses
from Hanigalbat
the charge of my

U atta bl- 1 qata damiqta a mat


Hanigalbat bila ana ard-ka ina qti
Amutari ^arKu pn-ya.
Anumma ana ulmni bl-y[a] itn
kit rabtu damiq[tu] u itn kit an
damqu ultbilakku.

Also you, my lord, send one good


bow from Hanigalbat to your servant in the charge of my .. . Amutaru.
Herewith, as a greeting gift for
m[y] lord, I have sent you one goo[d]
large linen garment and one other
good garment.

Such grammatical peculiarities exhibited by


be used as evidence for the provenance of
origin is otherwise uncertain, or at least, in
gest that a given letter is probably not from

2.5

lord speak before


that he may send
and a good bow
to his servant in
. . . Amutaru.

individual dialects m a y
a letter whose point of
some instances, to suga given place.

Akkadian Letters according to Place of Origin

Letters discovered at Ras S h a m r a before the 1994 season are listed


below according to where they were written. T h e assignment of
provenance is frequently uncertain; this is reflected in the list by ?
or ?? before a R S n u m b e r . Letters for which the place of origin is
unknown a p p e a r at the end of the list.
2.5.1

Alalah

Perhaps R S 4.449 ( V i r o l l e a u d
also B u n n e n s 1987.
2.5.2

1936a, 23ff.): Muki or Alalah?; see

Alasiya

R S 20.018 = Ug 5, no. 22;


perhaps also R S [Varia 16] ( R S L 1) = Ug 5, no. 23: Alasiya or
Carchemish; see B e r g e r 1969, 219; Y a m a d a 1992.
2.5.3

Amqu

?RS 17.424e + 397b = PRU 4, 2 1 9 - 2 0 .

2.5.4

Amurru (see

Izre'el

1991)

?RS 15.024 + 050 = PRU 3, 18b;


?RS 16.111 = PRU 3, 13-4;
??RS 16.116 = PRU 3, 10b;
R S 17.116 = PRU 4, 132ff;
R S 17.152 = PRU 4, 214;
R S 17.286 = PRU 4, 180;
??RS 19.006 = PRU 6, no. 1;
? R S 20.033 = Ug 5, no. 20; see I z r e ' e l - S i n g e r 1990;
R S 20.162 = Ug 5, no. 37;
R S 23.023 (unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995b, 35-6);
R S [Varia 27] ( F a l e s 1984).
2.5.5

Assyria

??RS 6.198 ( T h u r e a u - D a n g i n 1935);


??RS 34.165(+) = R S O 7, no. 46;
perhaps also R S 18.054a = PRU 4, 2 2 8 - 9 : Assyria or Sidon; see
M a y e r 1971, 2; A r n a u d 1992, 193 (5.4).
2.5.6

Atate

?RS 34.134 = R S O 7, no. 31;


??RS 34.141 = R S O 7, no. 32;
??RS 34.173 = R S O 7, no. 33.
2.5.7

Beirut

R S 11.730 = PRU 3, 12-3;


R S 34.137 = R S O 7, no. 37;
R S 8 6 . 2 2 1 2 (unpublished; see A r n a u d
see also the next entry.
2.5.8

1992,

192

(3.5));

Bi'rut

R I H 8 1 / 4 ( A r n a u d 1 9 8 4 , who suggests that this Bi'rut is the Ugaritian


port rather than the Phoenician city).
2.5.9

Carchemish (see

Huehnergard

R S 8.333 = PRU 3, 7 - 8 ;
R S 15.077 = PRU 3, 6 - 7 ;

1979)

R S 16.003 = PRU 3, 3 - 4 ;
?RS

17.078

PRU

4,

196-7;

R S 17.289 = PRU 4, 192;


RS

17.292

PRU

4,

188;

R S 17.385 = PRU 4, 194;


R S 17.423 = PRU 4, 193;
R S 20.022 = Ug 5, no. 2;
?RS 20.174a = Ug 5, no. 25;
??RS 20.182c = Ug 5, no. 63;
?RS 20.216 = Ug 5, no. 35;
R S 20.237 = Ug 5, no. 31;
?RS

25.461

(Lackenbacher

1989,

317-9);

R S 34.136 = R S O 7, no. 7;
R S 34.138 = R S O 7, no. 8;
?RS 34.143 = R S O 7, no. 6;
R S 34.145 = R S O 7, no. 9;
R S 88.2013 (unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t in 1995b, 39);
perhaps also R S 13.007b = PRU 3, 6a: Carchemish or Hatti;
perhaps also R S [Varia 16] ( R S L 1) = Ug 5, no. 23: Alasiya or
Carchemish; see B e r g e r 1969, 219; Y a m a d a 1992.
2.5.10

Egypt

86.2230 (unpublished; see A r n a u d 1992, 181 . 6);


R S 88.2158 (unpublished; see L a c k e n b a c h e r
1995b);
perhaps also R S 26.158 = Ug 5, no. 171: Hatti or Egypt.
RS

2.5.11

Emar

?RS [Varia 26?] (Latakia 88) = R S O 7, no. 30; see


105 with n. 33.
2.5.12

Hatti (see

Hagenbuchner

1989)

?RS 15.033 = PRU 3, 15-16;


R S 17.130 = PRU 4, 103ff. (letter/treaty);
R S 17.132 = PRU 4, 35ff);
R S 17.133 = PRU 4, 118-9 (letter/legal);
??RS 17.144 = PRU 6, no. 6;
R S 17.247 = PRU 4, 191;
?RS 17.429 = PRU 4, 2 2 7 - 8 (letter?);

Arnaud

1982a,

R S 18.003 = PRU 4, 103ff. (letter/treaty);


R S 20.212 = Ug 5, no. 33;
R S 20.255A = Ug 5, no. 30;
R S 34.129 = R S O 7, no. 12;
?RS 34.133 = R S O 7, no. 36;
??RS 22.216
?RS 88.2009
perhaps also
perhaps also
perhaps also
perhaps also
2.5.13
?RS

Ma'fraz

10.046

2.5.14

(unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t in 1995b, 36);


(unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t in 1995b, 39);
R S 13.007b = PRU 3, 6a: Carchemish or Haiti;
R S 17.383 = PRU 4, 221ff.: Hatti or Ugarit;
R S 17.422 = PRU 4, 223ff.: Hatti or Ugarit;
R S 26.158 = Ug 5, no. 171: Hatti or Egypt.

(Virolleaud

1941,

1-2;

see also PRU

3,

9-10).

Man

?RS 34.142 = R S O 7, no. 47.


2.5.15

Muki

R S 20.003 = Ug 5, no. 26;


perhaps also R S 4.449 ( V i r o l l e a u d 1936a, 23ff.): Muki or Alalah?;
see also B u n n e n s 1987.
2.5.16

Parga

R S 15.019 = PRU 3, 13b.


2.5.17

Qadesh

R S 20.016 = Ug 5, no. 38;


R S 20.172 = Ug 5, no. 39;
?RS 20.200b = Ug 5, no. 40;
R S 34.146 = R S O 7, no. 15;
R S 80.387 ( A r n a u d 1982a, 221-2).
2.5.18

Sidon (see

Arnaud

1992)

R S 11.723 = PRU 3, 9b;


RS

25.430a

RS

34.149

RS

86.2208

(unpublished; see
=

R S O

7, n o .

Arnaud

1992,

193

(5.7));

Arnaud

1992,

193

(5.11));

38;

(unpublished; see

RS

86.2221

Arnaud

86.2225

1992,

+ 8 6 . 2 2 4 0 (unpublished; see
much of text transliterated and trans-

86.2226

1 7 9 - 9 4 (5.12);

lated in footnotes);
?RS 8 6 . 2 2 3 4 (unpublished; see A r n a u d 1 9 9 2 , 1 9 3 ( 5 . 1 3 ) ) ;
perhaps also R S 1 8 . 0 5 4 A = PRU 4 , 2 2 8 - 9 : Assyria or Sidon; see
M a y e r

2.5.19.1

1971,

2; A r n a u d

1992,

193

(5.4).

Siyannu

RS 17.083 = PRU 4, 216;


R S 17.143 = PRU 4, 217-8;
?RS 17.288 = PRU 4, 215;
R S 17.425 = PRU 4, 218b;
?RS 20.017 = Ug 5, no. 43;
RS 20.021 = Ug 5, no. 42;
??RS 21.183 = Ug 5, no. 41.
2.5.19.2

Siyannu/Unatu

R S 34.158 = R S O 7, no. 16;


perhaps also R S 20.219 = Ug 5, no. 44: Ugarit or Siyannu.
2.5.20

Tarhudai

R S 34.139 = R S O 7, no. 14.


2.5.21
R S

Tyre

[Varia 25] = Latakia

2.5.22

Ugarit (see

7 (Arnaud

H u e h n e r g a r d

1982b).

1989)

Aphek 5 2 0 5 5 (TA 8 , 7 - 8 [ O w e n ] ; see also S i n g e r


?Ber1in 1690 (EA 48);
Berlin 1692 (EA 45);
?Ber1in 1693 (EA 47);
?Ber1in 1694 (EA 46);
Cairo 4783 (EA 49);
? C K 7 (private collection; unpublished; see A r n a u d
?RS 15.011 = PRU 3, 19;
?RS 15.014 = PRU 3, 5;
??RS 15.063 = PRU 3, 20a;
RS 16.112 = PRU 3, 4b;

1983);

1992,

192

(3.6));

?RS 17.239 = PRU 6, no. 8;


R S 17.455 = PRU 6, no. 3;
R S 19.070 = PRU 4, 294;
?RS 19.080 = PRU 6, no. 2;
?RS 20.013 = Ug 5, no. 49;
??RS 20.015 = Ug 5, no. 53;
??RS 20.019 = Ug 5, no. 48;
?RS 20.023 = Ug 5, no. 54;
??RS 20.141b = Ug 5, no. 34;
?RS 20.158 = Ug 5, no. 51;
R S 20.168 + 195p = Ug 5, no. 21;
R S 20.178 = Ug 5, no. 55;
? R S 20. 182a(+)b =

Ug 5 , n o .

36;

R S 20.184 = Ug 5, no. 28;


R S 20.200c = Ug 5, no. 29;
??RS 20.232 = Ug 5, no. 58;
R S 20.238 = Ug 5, no. 24;
?RS 20.239 = Ug 5, no. 52;
?RS 20.243 = Ug 5, no. 32;
??RS 22.347 (unpublished; see

Malbran-Labat

?RS

25.131

(Lackenbacher

1989,

?RS

25.138

(Lackenbacher

1989,

318,

in 1995b, 35);

320);

318-20);

?RS 32.204 = R S O 7, no. 19;


?RS 34.135 = R S O 7, no. 17;
?RS 34.140 = R S O 7, no. 11;
?RS 34.150 = R S O 7, no. 10;
?RS 34.151 = R S O 7, no. 13;
??RS 34.153 = R S O 7, no. 35;
?RS 34.154 = R S O 7, no. 18;
?RS 34.180,17 (34.180f) = R S O 7, no. 26;
?RS [Varia 10] (1957.2) = A n O r 4 8 , 2 3 - 4 ;
perhaps also R S 17.383 = PRU 4, 22 Iff.: Hatti or Ugarit;
perhaps also R S 17.422 = PRU 4, 2 2 3 f f : Hatti or Ugarit;
perhaps also R S 20.219 = Ug 5, no. 44: Ugarit or Siyannu.
(Unatu: see Siyannu
2.5.23
RIH
RS

8.2.5.19)

Provenance unknown

77/17
1.056

(Arnaud-Kennedy

(Virolleaud

1929,

1979,
pl.

318);

76/1);

R S 1 .[057] ( V i r o l l e a u d 1929, pi. 76/2);


R S 1-11.[028] = A O 19.952 (unpublished; pardal transliteradon in
n. 1);
PRU 3,
R S 11.794 = PRU 3 17-8; (letter?);
R S 11.834 = PRU 3 17b;
R S 12.005 = PRU 3 16-7
R S 12.033 = PRU 3 1 4 - 5
R S 15.018 = PRU 3 1 1 - 2 ;
R S 15.108 = PRU 3 2 0 - 1 (letter?);
R S 15.124 = PRU 3 21b (letter?);
R S 15.178 = PRU 3 8 - 9 ;
R S 17.142 = PRU 6 no. 4;
R S 17.148 = PRU 6 no. 7;
R S 17.315 = PRU 4 111;
R S 17.390 = PRU 6 no. 10;
R S 17.391 = PRU 4 226a;
R S 17.393 = PRU 4 2 2 6 - 7 ;
R S 17.394 + 427 = PRU 4, 220b;
R S 17.398 = PRU 6 no. 11;
R S 17.428 = PRU 6 no. 9;
R S 17.451 = PRU 6 no. 12;
R S 17.452 = PRU 6 no. 5;
R S 17.456 = PRU 4 228b (letter?);
R S 18.057 = PRU 6 no. 13;
R S 18.089 = PRU 6 no. 15;
R S 18.268 = PRU 4 229b;
R S 18.281 = PRU 6 no. 17 (letter?);
R S 19.050 = PRU 6 no. 14;
R S 19.053 = PRU 6, no. 18
R S 19.115 = PRU 6, no. 19
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS

20.095 = Ug 5, no. 65;


20.130 = Ug 5, no. 46;
20.141a = Ug 5, no. 76;
20.150 = Ug 5, no. 56
20.151 = Ug 5, no. 50
20.159 = Ug 5, no. 74
20.182d = Ug 5, no. 67;
20.189d = Ug 5, no. 73;
20.191 = Ug 5, no. 75;
20.194 = Ug 5, no. 62;

RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS

20.196d = Ug 5, no. 77 (letter?);


20.200A = Ug 5, no. 78;
20.2 1 4 d = Ug 5, no. 79;
20.225 = Ug 5, no. 45;
20.227 = Ug 5, no. 57;
20.242 = Ug 5, no. 72;

20.244 = Ug 5, no. 61 (same tablet as


1974]);
R S 20.246 = Ug 5, no. 68;
R S 20.248 = Ug 5, no. 59;
R S 20.426,14+ = Ug 5, no. 70;
R S 20. [438] = Ug 5, no. 47;
R S 21.006c? = Ug 5, no. 80 (letter?);
R S 21.007c = Ug 5, no. 71;
R S 21.054b = Ug 5, no. 66;
RS

RS

21.063f

1974]);
R S 21.064
R S 21.072
R S 21.201
R S 22.006
RS
RS
RS
RS

RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS

=
=
=
=

Ug 5, no. 60 (same tablet as

RS

RS

21.063f?

[Khne

20.244?

[Khne

Ug 5, no. 64;
Ug 5, no. 69;
PRU 6, no. 20;
PRU 6, no. 16;

23.031 (unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t


23.365 (unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t
2 3 . 3 6 8 (unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t
28.017 (unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t
34.070 = R S O 7, no. 29;
34.152 = R S O 7, no. 40;
34.155 = R S O 7, no. 21;
34.160 = R S O 7, no. 24;
34.161 = R S O 7, no. 22;
34.163 = R S O 7, no. 39;
34.164 = R S O 7, no. 34;
34.167 + 175 = R S O 7, no. 25;
34.170 = R S O 7, no. 23;
34.171 = R S O 7, no. 20;
34.174 = R S O 7, no. 41;
34.180,12 (34.180e) = R S O 7, no. 28;
34.180,5 (34.180g) = R S O 7, no. 42;
34.180,60 = R S O 7, no. 27;
88.2011 (unpublished; see M a l b r a n - L a b a t

in
in
in
in

1995b, 37);
1995b, 35);
1995b, 3 7 ) ;
1995b, 35);

in 1995b, 39);

RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS

86.2216 (unpublished; see R S O 5 / 1 , 357);


86.2232 (unpublished; see R S O 5 / 1 , 359);
86.2236 (unpublished; see R S O 5 / 1 , 359);
86.2241a (unpublished; see R S O 5 / 1 , 360);
86.2249a (unpublished; see R S O 5 / 1 , 360: letter?);
[Varia 34] = A O 29.507 (unpublished; see R S O 5 / 1 , 381).

C H A P T E R NINE
T H E

L E G A L

T E X T S

Ignacio

1.1

F R O M

M a r q u e z

U G A R I T

Rowe*

Introduction

Definition and scope

What constitutes a legal document? And what is the difference between


a legal and an administrative text, both often associated and sometimes even confused? These are two basic questions we should attempt
to answer before we begin to discuss the evidence.
Strictly speaking, a legal document serves mainly as written proof
that a transaction has taken place. Since the transaction itself can
be validated if, and only if, it is performed before a body of witnesses, the legal document, as opposed to administrative records,
must mention the n a m e or names of the witnessing party. It should
also be noted in passing that although the practice of signing or sealing, i.e. affixing a personal mark, is almost a prerequisite in the composition of a legal document (for it provides the proof that the person
who signs is present or has assumed the obligation undertaken in
the transaction) it is by no means confined to this genre (administrative texts or letters may also bear such marks).
However satisfactorily these definitions may have answered the
opening questions, anyone who has dealt with this kind of source
knows well that the problem is not so simple. Indeed, the dividing

* I wish to express my most sincere thanks to Pierre Bordreuil and Dennis Pardee,
epigraphists of the Mission de Ras Shamra, who kindly made available to me their
transliterations and copies of the unpublished Ugaritic texts discussed in this paper.
I am also grateful to Mme Florence Malbran-Labat, also epigraphist of the Mission
de Ras Shamra, who kindly provided me with the contents of the newly excavated
Akkadian legal documents as well as with her transliterations and copies of other
unpublished texts. My especial thanks go to Dennis Pardee, who read critically an
earlier draft of this paper, making several corrections and annotations. It goes without saying that any mistakes remain my own responsibility.

line between a legal and an administrative document is far from


ideal. For example, as early realized, bills and receipts that are usually classified a m o n g administrative records may sometimes mention
that the act has been performed before witnesses; and, on the other
hand, some contracts may unexpectedly omit any reference to them.
This general problem is also found in the corpus of legal texts
from Ugarit. As already remarked by Nougayrol in publishing the
first important group of clay tablets of legal content unearthed at
Ras Shamra, three out of his thirty-eight texts lay in fact ' la limite
du domaine juridique'. 1 As a result of these attested cross-reladonships
(in addition to the uncertain identification of badly damaged fragments) the n u m b e r of legal documents of Ugarit obviously varies
in accordance with the individual scholar's point of view. Although
this is no place to discuss every controversial case, mention will be
made here of the criteria followed and the consequent inclusion or
exclusion of documents.
Given the broad scope of a handbook it has been considered more
convenient here to frame our material not according to its linguistic provenance but rather according to its find-spot. This means that
we shall include not only the m a j o r group of domestic legal texts
(over 250 texts and fragments) but also the international legal documents comprising edicts and treaties (about 100 texts and fragments)
that have been found at Ugarit, which stem namely from the courts
of Hatti, Carchemish, Amurru, Siyannu as well as that of Ugarit itself.2
Regardless of the place of the composition of the texts, legal documents found so far at Ugarit are inscribed without exception on
single clay tablets (and called accordingly in Akkadian tuppu, and in
Ugaritic spr) without envelopes.

1.2

The find-spot

Due to the ever-increasing corpus of texts excavated at Ras Shamra,


only a general, but not complete, picture of the archaeological distribution of the written material of Ugarit can be attempted. Another

NOUGAYROL

1952,

182 n.

2.

This same scope was also applied in the last survey of the legal texts published
by D . Pardee and P . Bordreuil in the ABD article on Ugarit ( P A R D E E - B O R D R E U I L
1 9 9 2 , 718FF.). In contrast, in the corresponding contribution to SDB, Sznycer dealt
only with the legal texts written in the Ugaritic language (SZNYCER 1 9 7 9 , 1417FF.).

limit to the interpretation of the archaeological context of tablets


and fragments is the presence of stray finds: intrusions a m o n g the
different archives of Ugarit do exist as shown by joins between far
distant pieces. 3
T h e bulk of the legal texts of Ugarit was unearthed from the royal
palace archives at Ras S h a m r a (around 300 texts and fragments). It
was soon observed after the excavation of the palace that the concentration of these records followed a deliberate pattern according
to their genre. Indeed, the royal domestic legal texts, in which the
king appears regularly either as the person presiding or as one of
the parties of the transactions, come mainly from the so-called 'central archive', while legal texts dealing with international affairs were
kept as a rule in the palace 'southern archive'.
Several private archives outside the royal palace have also yielded
legal material. Each of them contains a relatively small n u m b e r of
texts (they rarely exceed 10 records) and apparently deal with the
private business of the owners of the households over some generations. As reported from the last epigraphic finds, the archive in the
house of Urtenu kept copies of three international legal documents. 4
In this regard, one should note that the owners of these archives
were presumably high officials of the kingdom of Ugarit, so that
both the existence and content of the archives may be explained to
a certain extent on account of their political and social status.

1.3 Chronology
Dating texts was not practised at all by Ugarit scribes. Strictly speaking, not even legal records were dated, in contrast to the c o m m o n
legal tradition. This is also true of the international documents drawn
up by scribes of the courts of Hatti, Carchemish, Amurru or Siyannu.
T h e only chronological reference is the n a m e of the king (obviously
normally attested in royal documents) or a possible prosopographical connexion, such as for example the name of the scribe. In any
case, the most accurate date we can give for any document stands
grosso modo for the span of one particular reign.
T h e chronological frame of our material covers the reigns of seven
successive kings, from N i q m a d d u II down to c Ammurapi', in all like3

Cf.

MALBRAN-LABAT

VAN S O L D T

1991a, 50.
1995b, 1 1 0 - 1 1 .

lihood the last m o n a r c h of Ugarit. T h i s means that this corpus


belongs to a period, in absolute terms, of about 150 years, from
around 1330 bce down to the destruction of Ugarit. 5

1.4

Language and script

N o doubt Ugarit has provided us with very rich textual material,


both in n u m b e r and variety, attesting up to seven different languages
and five different scripts. Scribes at Ugarit, however, were mainly
biscriptal:6 they basically wrote Ugaritic, their own tongue, in alphabetic cuneiform, and Akkadian, the lingua franca of the time, in syllabic cuneiform.
W h a t was noted for the archival distribution of the legal texts is
also true for the language and script. T h e genre in question seems
to be closely connected with the language employed. Indeed, except
for a few cases, legal texts are drawn up in Akkadian in syllabic
cuneiform. T h e few exceptions correspond to several Ugaritic documents and one Hittite text.
T h e reason why the treaties and international legal documents
found at Ras S h a m r a were composed in Akkadian can be easily
explained on account of the aforementioned diplomatic nature of
the language. Concerning the domestic texts, however, the explanation has to be sought elsewhere, especially because scribes did chiefly
choose Ugaritic to write their local administrative records.
Admittedly, this question seems to be intimately related to the
genre of the material. In coining the expression and discipline of
'cuneiform law' Koschaker m e a n t to make clear that the strong
appeal of Mesopotamian or, more exactly, Babylonian law to other
cultural centres of the ancient Near East was fixed at a formal level,
of which script and language constituted the basic aspects.' A closer
look at the internal evidence shows furthermore that the few Ugaritic
examples are fully influenced by their Akkadian counterparts.
Because the division of legal texts in this section is made according to the language of the texts the order will follow the linguistic
conventions of this genre in Ugarit.

5
6
7

We follow here the absolute dates proposed by VAN S O L D T (1991a,


This designation was coined by VAN S O L D T (1995a, 186).
KOSCHAKER

1935,

27.

1-46).

T h e

Akkadian

Legal

Texts

W e have mentioned above that Akkadian was the language par excellence of legal documents. W e also stated that this Akkadian corpus
consists of two main different genres or sub-genres, namely records
dealing with domestic affairs and records that concern foreign affairs.
Accordingly, we propose here to deal with them separately. It should
be noted that scribes at the royal court of Ugarit were probably
familiar with this distinction; not only because of the content of the
documents they could read or the characteristic physical aspect of
the tablets (such as their shape or seal impressions) but also because
they deliberately filed them separately within the royal archives, as
pointed out above.

2.1

The domestic legal texts

Texts dealing with domestic transactions, and thus written at Ugarit,


are by far the major group of legal documents. Nougayrol suggested
classifying these records according to the nature of the witnessing
party (as we have seen, the main defining element of this genre). H e
distributed them into three different categories: 1) acts performed
before witnesses, 2) those performed before the king and 3) acts of
the king, in which no mention of the witnessing party is made. 8
Concerning the latter type, it is generally agreed that the active role
of the king must have rendered unnecessary the mention of witnesses
in the text. In other words, one must assume that the king presided
over these transactions too. This, as we shall see, can be supported
by the seal impression of the tablets in question.
As a result, we suggest dividing the domestic legal texts of Ugarit
into two main groups: 1) records describing acts presided over by
or performed before the king, and 2) records describing acts performed before witnesses.
In spite of this division, both royal and non-royal documents were
written by Ugaritian scribes (in fact, we know of scribes who wrote
both kinds of texts) and present, therefore, several c o m m o n features
that distinguish them from other, foreign texts. At first sight, it is
possible to distinguish a legal text composed at Ugarit on the basis
8

See

NOUGAYROL

1952,

182T. a n d

1955,

23.

of both the shape of the tablet and the sealing practice. T h e prototype is the c o m m o n tablet (about 90 x 70 m m , the thickness
exhibits more variation, reaching sometimes about 40 mm) with one
single seal impression placed on top of the obverse, hence at the
head of the text (sometimes divided by a ruling). A close look at the
tablets shows that the seal was rolled (very seldom stamped) before
the text was written. T h e text, on the other hand, also presents several characteristic features of this local legal practice. N o doubt the
most typical example is the invariable opening adverbial phrase 'From
today' (itu mi annm).

2.2
2.2.1

The royal legal texts

Definition and scope

This group consists of those legal texts in which the king of Ugarit
presides, explicidy or not, over the transactions involved. These 'actes
royaux', as Nougayrol called them, are as a rule characterized by
one main feature: they consistently bear the same seal impression,
that of the so-called 'dynastic seal' of the kings of Ugarit. This feature is of course essential to define a legal text, for the presence of
this impression implies that the owner of the seal, i.e. the king, was
present at the transaction. Therefore, the preservation of the royal
seal impression, or the corresponding seal identification formula,
quickly characterizes a royal document. O f course, the form and
content which describe the nature of the transaction are also good
indicators for identifying these texts. I have counted altogether about
170 texts and fragments in Akkadian that describe domestic transactions presided over by the king.
2.2.2

Find-spot

All but three of the documents were found within the walls of the
royal palace. This should not be surprising when dealing with royal
documents. Most significant, however, is the distribution of these
texts within the palace proper. O f the approximately 170 texts and
fragments, at least 147 come from the same royal archive, n a m e d
by Schaeffer 'les Archives Centrales'. A closer look at the archaeological context has shown that these records were in all likelihood
stored on file in a room located on the upper floor of the northern

wing of this area. 9 Also of interest is the fact that almost all the legal
texts discovered in this archive are royal documents. Therefore it is
reasonable to assume that this archive was probably meant to keep
royal domestic legal documents.
2.2.3

Form

T h e physical characteristics of these documents have been referred


to above. O n e should note, however, the existence of exceptionally
large tablets like the Sammelurkunde R S 15.109+. W e also mentioned
that the seal impressed at the head of these tablets, except for just
a few cases, is the 'dynastic' or state seal of Ugarit. This cylinder
seal, as the legend reads, belonged to 'Yaqarum, son of N i q m a d d u ,
king of Ugarit', very likely the Amorite ancestor and founder of the
Ugaritic dynasty. All the members of the dynasty from N i q m a d d u II
down to the last monarch c Ammurapi' used as a rule this seal as
well as an official replica of it to sign their records. O t h e r royal seals
did exist and were occasionally impressed on royal documents like
the stamp ring-seal of N i q m a d d u (presumably N i q m a d d u II) on RS
17.147.
T h e form of the royal documents follows a very regular and concise pattern. T h e first section consists of a description of the completed part of the transaction; it is thus phrased in the past (preterite
or perfect) and in objective style. For example, the king has granted,
the buyer has purchased. Characteristic of this part is the opening
adverbial expression 'from to-day', mentioned above, usually combined with the closing expression '(and) for ever' (ana/adi dntim is
the most frequent formula). T h e king appears then after that introductory phrase either as having presided over the transaction, 'before
R N ' (ana pni RN), or as first and active party. Apart from the king
the other parties involved are properly identified too by name with
or without further qualification. Sometimes a summary or the result
of this event marks the end of this section.
Next follow the so-called 'final clauses'. These deal with the presentfuture stipulations or obligations of the transaction such as the guarantee, eviction or services inherent to the contract, and are therefore
phrased regularly in the durative, also in objective style. For example,

See

VAN S O L D T

1991a, 88-93.

no-one will take the estate granted or purchased from the grantee's
or buyer's hands; the grantee will or will not have to perform the
ilku/pilku-servce.
Finally, the document closes with the formula that identifies the
dynastic seal, either as '(great) seal of the king' or as 'seal of R N ' ,
often followed by the name of the scribe who is sometimes qualified
as witness.
Schematically, then, the structure of royal d o c u m e n t s can be
described as follows: 10
a)
b)
c)
d)

dynastic seal impression,


operative section,
seal identification formula,
name of the scribe.

O n the other hand, a royal document can describe one or more


transactions. These c o m p o u n d transactions deal as a rule with the
same party involved as beneficiary. At least in some cases it seems
that each of them may have been previously written in one single
document (the most illustrative example is the above mentioned document RS 15.109+, already qualified as Sammelurkunde). These transactions may belong to the same category, called accordingly by
Nougayrol 'actes multiples homognes' (e.g. RS 15.109+, RS 15.122,
RS 16.248), but also to different ones. O n e example of the latter
'actes multiples htrognes' is RS 15.85 which contains a royal
transaction (in lines 1-10) beside a non-royal one, i.e. performed
'before witnesses' (in lines 11-21).
Before closing this chapter, it should be noted that the legal practice of Ugarit hardly had any recourse to the divine action against
transgressors of contracts; on the other hand, there are no examples
of promissory oaths.
2.2.4

Content

Almost all the royal documents that preserve a more or less complete and intelligible text are deeds of conveyance. Gifts (e.g. RS
15.88, RS 15.145, RS 16.142, RS 16.150), sales (e.g. RS 15.136,

10

196

Other schemes have been proposed by N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 5 , 2 4 , H A A S E 1 9 6 7 ,


(for the sale documents), K I E N A S T 1 9 8 0 , 5 3 3 (also for the sale documents) and

KIENAST

1979,

433.

R S 16.137, R S 16.156), purchases (e.g. R S 15.119, R S 16.284),


barters (e.g. R S 15.123+, R S 16.158, R S 16.246) or divisions of
inheritance (e.g. R S 15.90, R S 15.120), and even royal verdicts that
concern litigations on landed property (e.g. R S 16.254c, R S 16.356)
record the resulting transfer, usually heritable, of title to real estate.
Real estate in the legal texts of Ugarit basically consists of houses
and land which include, as the most characteristic cultures of this
Mediterranean area, vineyards and olive groves. T h e description of
the property conveyed is as a rule very concise providing only the
name of the previous tenant; no measurements or boundaries are
given and sometimes a brief geographical reference of its location is
mentioned. By far the largest group of documents is composed by
deeds of royal gifts, with or without countergift (i.e. in return for a
sum of money like R S 15.126, R S 16.135, R S 16.167 or R S 16.174).
In a few records the gift concerns entire villages (e.g. R S 15.114,
R S 15.147) a n d / o r some of their taxes (e.g. R S 16.153, RS 16.244).
A m o n g the few transactions that do not concern, strictly speaking, the law of property one should mention several deeds of adoption (e.g. R S 15.92, R S 16.200, R S 16.344) and manumission (e.g.
R S 16.267) as well as grants of privileges like franchises (e.g. R S
16.238+) or promotions (e.g. R S 16.348).
As for the parties involved in these transactions, no doubt the king
stands as the main protagonist. Documents from the time of c Ammittamru II are by far the most attested. T h e donees of royal gifts are
often found not only benefiting from several grants but also as the
contracting parties of deeds of sale, purchase and barter. Accordingly,
Nougayrol grouped these records under different 'dossiers'. Among
these individuals, who are not always well identified, we find members of the royal family and officials of the court of Ugarit.
2.2.5

An example

Transactions described in royal deeds obviously differ from text to


text, not only in contents but also in form due to the particular style
of each scribe. Nevertheless, for the sake of illustration, we have chosen one of these documents, namely R S 16.275, a gift of real estate
from N i q m a d d u II to his brother Nuriynu, to show the pattern
described above.

Obv

Impression of dynastic seal

is-tu u4-mz [an-ni-(i-)im]


l

nq-ma- ikur

dumu

['Ammittamru]
aru
lugal
u-ga-n-i[t]
it-ta-i -/[tt]

Rcv

sa lpa-be-y[i]
i-na uru lul] -l[a-mi]
id-d[in-u]
a-na ^nu-r[i-ia-na]
a-na dumu.me[-r]

10

a-na da-n-tim[-ma]
ma-am-ma-an la-a i-l[eq-q(-u)]
is-tu u-ti lnu-n-ia-[na]
i-tu u-ft dumu[.me-iu]

a-na da-n-tim-rn[a ]
15

na4

kiib s'a 1uga[]

2.3
2.3.1

From today
Niqmaddu, son of
'Ammittamru,
king of Ugarit,
has taken the house
of P N
(which is located) in T N
and has given it
to Nuriynu
and to his sons
for ever.
No-one will take it
from the hands of Nuriynu
or from the hands of his sons
ever.
Seal of the king.

The non-royal legal texts

Definition and scope

This second group of domestic legal texts consists of those records


which describe transactions p e r f o r m e d before witnesses a n d that were
not presided over by the king. As opposed to royal deeds, these documents are regarded as 'private deeds'.
Following o u r definition above, we have excluded f r o m this corpus m e m o r a n d a (e.g. R S 15.41) or bills (e.g. of personal security like
R S 15.81 or R S 16.287) in which no mention of a body of witnesses is m a d e . O n the other h a n d , a text like R S 16.354 which
recapitulates a series of debt-notes with their respective testimonies,
lies precisely on the borderline of the legal domain. All in all the
material consists of about 65 relatively well-preserved d o c u m e n t s a n d
of several fragments.
2.3.2

Find-spot

As one would expect, most of these d o c u m e n t s have been f o u n d in


private archives. T h e m a j o r concentrations c o m e f r o m the so-called
'Residential Q u a r t e r ' : nine d o c u m e n t s f r o m the house of R a s a p ' a b u
a n d eight m o r e or less complete d o c u m e n t s a n d several fragments
f r o m the house of R a p ' n u . O n e should also mention the recently

discovered archive of Urtenu which counts now some seven Akkadian


legal records. O f interest is the fact that the royal palace has also
yielded private documents. T h e reason for this find-spot is not easy
to explain. It has been suggested that the king was highly involved
in the legal life of Ugarit. But other explanations are also possible.
It is plausible, for example, that some of the documents could actually
belong to court officials or other personnel closely connected with
the palace. In this regard, one should note that three of these deeds
(RS 17.86+, RS 17.102, RS 17.325) belonged to the queen's 'dossier'
and at least two of them (RS 11.856, R S 15.182) to the skiniCs.
2.3.3

Form

As already mentioned above, the physical appearance of these tablets


is not essentially different from that of royal documents. T h e seals
impressed at the head of the documents were usually anepigraphic
cylinder seals and belonged to the private people involved in the
transactions, especially those undertaking obligations. A small number of deeds, however, are without seal impression (e.g. RS 11.856,
R S 20.176) and some of them show the sealing space in blank (like
R S 20.146).
T h e schema and form of these texts are also similar to the ones
described above for royal documents, and as was mentioned above,
we know of scribes like Nu C me-raap, Iltahmu or M u n a h h i m u who
wrote down both royal and private transactions. T h e text begins
with the phrase 'from to-day', followed by the mention 'before witnesses' (ana pni bti) which thus determines the 'private' character of the deed. After these introductory expressions the operative
section describes in the past and in objective style the fulfilled part
of the transaction. Next follow the obligation clauses drawn up in
the durative and also in objective style. N o stipulations on services
are attested in private deeds; on the other hand, penalty clauses
occur rather frequently in these texts.
T h e note that identifies the seal impression and the list of witnesses, which often includes the scribe, close the document. T h e following scheme can be outlined:"

" See previous note.

a)
b)
c)
d)

private seal impression


operative section
seal identification formula
list of witnesses (often including the n a m e of the scribe)

2.3.4

Content

Private archives contain a relatively restricted n u m b e r of deeds and


they are concerned with the activities of the members of the family. A m o n g them we find deeds of conveyance like sales of land (e.g.
RS 15.182, R S 17.61) and persons (e.g. RS 11.856, RS 20.236), purchases (RS 15.37, R S 17.22+) and gifts especially in contemplation
of death (RS 8.145, R S 17.38, R S 17.378a). As with royal documents, houses and lands are described in a very concise m a n n e r
(note the exceptional reference to measurements in RS 17.22+).
Very c o m m o n a m o n g such family transactions are deeds that concern the law of persons, such as deeds of emancipation (e.g. RS
8.279bis, RS 16.129, RS 20.176, RS 27.53) and deeds of adoption
(RS 17.21, RS 20.226, R S 21.230, R S 25.134).
Little is known of the identity of the contracting parties. As we
have already mentioned, the queen appears in some of these documents (deeds of sale) and one can argue that many of the other contractors must have belonged to the relatively high social class in
Ugarit. O n the other hand, the n u m b e r of witnesses is not uniform;
three to five witnesses seems to have been the general tendency but
examples of texts with as few as two and as many as fourteen witnesses (e.g. R S 14.16) are attested.
2.3.5

Publication and studies

T h e majority of these Akkadian texts was published by Nougayrol


in three volumes of the French Mission de Ras Shamra: N o u g a y r o l
1955, 1968 and 1970. T h e former contains most of the royal legal
texts and also includes an excellent study of the material. In the same
volume, B o y e r (1955) offers a juridical interpretation of the documents as compared to other cuneiform legal sources. O t h e r scattered
non-royal texts were published by T h u r e a u - D a n g i n (1937), V i r o l l e a u d
(1941c no. I I , 1951 no. V I ) and, more recently, L a c k e n b a c h e r (1991)
and Malbran-Labat ( B o r d r e u i l et al. 1991, no. 29). A few still remain
unpublished.
Apart from some scattered partial studies, two dissertations have

dealt with the legal texts of Ugarit, chiefly those written in Akkadian:
M i l l e r 1 9 8 0 and L i b o l t 1 9 8 5 . T h e former basically consists of an
English translation with a brief commentary of all the domestic legal
documents (including also some administrative records); and the latter
exclusively deals with the royal land grants, presented in transliteration and translation in chronological order, and aims at determining the evoludon of Ugaridan society through a thorough examination
of the changes in language, namely the clauses on heritability in
these texts. A study by the present author of both the language and
the content of the royal deeds of conveyance is forthcoming.

2.4
2.4.1

The international legal texts

Definition and scope

U n d e r this category we include all legal documents unearthed at


Ugarit that are concerned with international matters such as treaties,
edicts, verdicts or any other transactions that involve parties of more
than one state. This material consists of approximately one hundred
texts and fragments. More often than not it is the state or states
proper that are involved, in which case the parties stand for the
rulers themselves or also sometimes their plenipotentiaries. Therefore
the division of the evidence in accordance with the witnessing party
corresponds mutatis mutandis with the palace, viz. the court of the
state of origin. A verdict promulgated by the Hittite suzerain usually
took place at his own court, and the same holds true for arbitrations
or agreements drawn up by the scribes of the kings of Carchemish,
Ugarit, A m u r r u or Siyannu (the provenance of a small n u m b e r of
texts and fragments cannot be determined due to the obscure or
fragmentary context).
2.4.2

Find-spot

International documents found at Ugarit obviously concern in one


way or another the state of Ugarit proper. Therefore, as one would
expect, most of these records have been discovered in the archives
of the royal palace. As we have already mentioned, the distribution
of these texts follows a clear pattern. Over three quarters of this
material come from the same concentration of tablets, the so-called
'southern archive'. Like the domestic royal legal texts found in the
palace central archive, international documents were probably stored

on file on the upper storey, 12 and they seem to have been kept there
separately. Moreover, some of them were identified by means of
labels or tags attached either to the tablets themselves or the baskets in which they were placed. 13
Although some of the few finds outside the royal palace could
have been misplaced, it is nonetheless probable that several private
archives belonging to high state officials would also have contained
some of the international legal documents (as is certainly true of the
epistolary material). This seems indeed to be the case of the archive
of Urtenu which, according to the last epigraphic report already
mentioned above, has yielded three documents of Hittite origin.

2.5
2.5.1

The texts from Hatti

Definition and scope

It goes without saying that the nature of the foreign records found
at Ugarit is intimately connected with the political and diplomatic
relations existing between the states involved. Indeed, the fact that
Ugarit was annexed to the Hittite empire as a vassal state during
the reign of Niqmaddu II explains why the approximately thirty legal
documents stemming from the Hittite court discovered at Ras Shamra
basically consist of vassal treaties, edicts and verdicts establishing
Ugarit's foreign relations. Dated texts range from the days of the
annexation of Ugarit by Suppiluliuma I down to the reign of T u d haliya IV.
In opening the section on legal texts we referred to the general
problem of drawing the line that divides legal texts from administrative records. With Hittite documents the controversy is further
raised mainly due to the form of the texts. As is well known, Hittite
scribal practice often opens the text with the epistolary Akkadian
formula umma P N / R N 'Thus (says) P N / R N ' , regardless of the basic
nature of the document (e.g. in treaties or annals). Furthermore, the
use of subjective or objective style in the body of the text is not conclusive either since both are attested in letters and legal documents,
and they may also occur side by side in the same text. As a matter of fact, one may wonder whether the Hittite Great King made

12
13

See VAN S O L D T 1991a, 97.


See labels nos. 27-32 in VAN

SOLDT

1989b.

any distinction at all: he decreed and proclaimed, the document was


issued, and next it was presented or sent to the vassal king. Therefore,
what really mattered was the point of view in which the text was
couched (and accordingly sealed) rather than the formulae used. O n e
should recall here the three duplicates of a text called by Nougayrol
'lettres-dits' (RS 17.130 and dupl.). T h e introductory formula ana
R N qibma, 'speak to R N ' , leaves no doubt about the epistolary character of the documents; the text, however, describes Hattusili Ill's
regulations conccrning the business activities of the merchants of U r a
in Ugaritic territory. T o the same domain of ambiguity belongs the
suzerain's letter-verdict R S 17.133 sealed with queen Puduhepa's seal
about a litigation over a shipwreck. Finally, RS 17.132 should be mentioned, a letter containing the early proposal from Suppiluliuma I to
N i q m a d d u II for a military alliance which includes the legal stipulations following the description of the contractual agreement.
2.5.2

Form

In spite of these concurrent problems of definition, a Hittite tablet


of legal content is in principle not very difficult to identify at first
sight. O n e can even speak of prototype if by this we understand the
more c o m m o n appearance of documents. This would be a relatively
large tablet (larger than the prototype of Ugarit: the thickness averages some 40 mm) and 'cushion'-shaped showing a highly raised surface on the centre of the obverse where the deep impression of the
stamp seal (in our corpus especially the T a b a r n a seal) is to be found.
O t h e r types are of course attested; the above mentioned verdict and
edict-letters, for example, bear the seal impression on a sort of appendix protruding from the left upper edge (or 'shoulder', as Nougayrol
would put it) of the tablet. T h e exception to this kind of tablets are
the duplicates of the treaty between Muri1i II and N i q m e p a ' (RS
17.79+ and dupl.), which possibly represent copies of an original
metal tablet kept at Hattua (in fact, some of the duplicates could
have been made at Ugarit). Their shape is already unusual: they are
extraordinarily large and flat on both sides; also exceptional is their
fine script as well as the absence of any seal impression.
As for the text, apart from the already mentioned c o m m o n opening letter-formula (in documents issued by the Great King we normally find umma Sami R N 'thus [says] "the S u n " R N ' followed by

his titles and filiation), one should mention the usual recourse to
divine action to secure and guarantee the undertaken agreements.
2.5.3

Content

O f course the basic 'binding' text (Akk. tuppu a nksi/kilti) for the
above-mentioned international state of affairs is the vassal treaty.
T w o such texts have been found at Ugarit. O n e is the treaty between
uppiluliuma I and N i q m a d d u II (RS 17.340, RS 17.369), and the
other is the one already mentioned between Muri1i II and Niqmepa'.
Like other Hittite vassal treaties, the stipulations contained in these
texts concern the extradition of fugitives, the frontiers of the kingdom of Ugarit, military assistance and the vassal's loyalty. O t h e r
documents complete this main agreement, for example the edict
establishing the detailed inventory of the tribute due to the Hittite
overlord (RS 17.227 and dupl., cf. also R S 17.380+) or the decree
regarding extradition of fugitives concluded by Hattusili III (RS
17.238). Complaints of, or disputes between vassal states concerning
one of these basic stipulations were arbitrated by the Hittite Great
King himself; so the decision given by Muri1i II on the dispute of
border territory between Ugarit and Muki (RS 17.62+ and par.)
and between Ugarit and Siyannu (RS 17.235+ and par.), or also
the above mentioned verdict promulgated by Hattusili III regulating
the business activities of the merchants of U r a in Ugaritian territory.
Problems concerning the dynastic succession of the kings of Ugarit
also belonged to the jurisdiction of the Hittite overlord; so, for example, the case of divorce of 'Ammittamru II and the daughter of the
king of Amurru, who was also niece of the Hittite king (RS 17.159,
RS 17.365+), or the case of conspiracy against this same king apparently plotted by the sons of the queen of Ugarit (RS 17.35+-), both
adjudicated by Tudhaliya IV.

2.6
2.6.1

The texts from Carchemish

Definition and scope

N o doubt, the role of the king of Carchemish as viceroy of the


Hittite Great K i n g a n d thus overlordof the Syrian vassal states
accounts not only for the considerable n u m b e r of documents issued
from this court and found at Ugarit, namely about thirty texts and

fragments, but also their significant nature: most deal with inter-state
arbitrations. Although a few are dated to Ta1mi-Teub most of the
material belongs to the reign of his father Ini-Teub.
Here also special reference should be made to one text that may
defy classification. Like R S 17.132, R S 17.334 opens with the expression umma arrima 'thus [says] the king' and contains the proposal
from arru-kuuh to N i q m a d d u II for a military alliance against the
king of Nuhai and includes the resulting stipulations of the agreement. O f particular interest is the fact that this text is preserved in
a copy sealed by Ini-Teub of the original, broken document.
2.6.2

Form

Characteristic of the legal texts from Carchemish is their physical


appearance. All arbitrations and most other deeds are written on
oblong formatted tablets and the cylinder-seal is rolled in the middle of the reverse. O n the other hand, the text of verdicts begins
invariably with the formula 'before P N ' or more often 'before R N '
(ana pni RN). Only three records (RS 17.146, R S 17.230, R S 18.19)
differ from this pattern and the three are shaped after the Hittite
prototype (note that they are all deeds of agreement). T h e difference,
however, is that the name and titles of the king of Carchemish are
not introduced by umma.
Arbitrations of lawsuits are phrased after a clear standard pattern.
After the opening formula 'before R N / P N ' , the two litigant parties
coming to court are n a m e d and the statement of one or both of
them is presented, usually in subjective style. Next the verdict of the
king is mentioned also in subjective style, followed by the result or
execution of the royal decision phrased this time in objective style
and in the past. T h e text ends with the clauses that forbid any future
claims coming from either of the two parties and the final clause
that states the irrevocable character of the document. Deities are
invoked in only one of the deeds of agreement as guarantors of the
transaction.
2.6.3

Content

By far the largest group of documents from Carchemish concern


international arbitrations. Almost all these transactions are presided
by king Ini-Teub. A m o n g the parties involved one should mention
the king of Ugarit and his skinu as well as the whole community

of Ugaritian citizens. These verdicts concern different matters such


as, for example, an action for a debt (e.g. RS 17.314, R S 17.346)
or a complaint about the death of a prisoner (RS 19.63); but the
most frequendy attested are cases of assault, theft and especially the
murder of merchants in Ugaritic territory (e.g. RS 17.128, RS 17.145,
R S 17.158, R S 17.234). This major problem is precisely the subject
of the four preserved deeds of agreement between the states of Carchemish and Ugarit (RS 17.146, RS 17.230, R S 18.19, R S 18.115).
O n the other hand, the role of the king of Carchemish as viceroy
of the Hittite Great King over Ugarit is reflected in other inter-state
arbitrations such as R S 17.59, in which Ini-Teub presides and
enacts Tudhaliya IV's exemption of 'Ammittamru II from his military obligations in the war against Assyria, or the same cases that
were presided by the Hittite suzerain himself, such as the divorce
between 'Ammittamru II and the daughter of the king of A m u r r u
(RS 17.396, RS < 2 0 . > 1957.1) or the family conspiracy against the
same king of Ugarit (RS 17.352).

2.7
2.7.1

The texts from Ugarit

Definition and scope

Scribes at Ugarit also drew up transactions undertaken by parties


from different states and some of these documents (around ten) have
been found at Ugarit. T h e problem, however, is again one of definidon,
for a few of them are said to have been presided over by foreign
officials. T h e fragmentary verdict R S 17.371+, for example, which
is written by Nu'me-Rasap, the well-known scribe of domestic legal
texts of Ugarit, is arbitrated by the kartappu of Carchemish. How,
then, are we to classify these records? Admittedly these cases do not
agree with the criterion stated above, namely correspondence between
witnessing party and place of composition of the tablets. T h e r e seems
to be little doubt that in these arbitrations the court of the overlord
(Hatti or Carchemish) was transferred for some reason to the seat
of the vassal (note e.g. that in R S 17.371+ one of the parties is the
king of Ugarit); in such cases the overlord himself would then appoint
at least one of his officials as authorized arbitrator. Following in a
strict sense the tide of this chapter we have resolved to include these
documents here.

2.7.2

Form

T h e main physical characteristics of documents composed at Ugarit


have already been described above. It is interesting to observe that
R S 16.170 in which the king of Ugarit acts as overlord is shaped
and styled in exactly the same way as any other royal legal document (one should further note that this document was found a m o n g
the royal documents in the palace central archive). By contrast, the
documents that describe acts presided over by a superior, foreign
authority at Ugarit significantly show a distinctly eclectic aspect. For
example, R S 18.02 in which the king of Ugarit redeems certain
people from the Hittite priest of Istar of Zinzaru, is shaped after the
Carchemish fashion (i.e. an oblong tablet) and sealed with the Hittite
stamp seal of the priest in the Hittite fashion (i.e. in the middle of
the obverse); nevertheless, since the scribe is N u ' m e - R a s a p the text
clearly follows the local form of Ugarit (as in, for example, the opening phrase 'From to-day').
2.7.3

Content

In spite of its fragmentary state, R S 16.170 describes in all likelihood a verdict of king N i q m e p a ' concerning the long-standing conflict
of border territory between the kingdom of Ugarit and Siyannu, then
its vassal state, thus previous to its defecdon to the king of Carchemish.
O n e tablet that belongs to the large dossier of the divorce of king
'Ammittamru II and the daughter of the king of Amurru (RS 16.270)
bears the impression of two seals of 'Ammittamru, the dynastic seal
and his personal one, and seems to have been written by a scribe
of Ugarit.
As for the arbitrations of foreign commissioners at Ugarit, RS
17.371+, which is somewhat damaged, probably refers to a litigation involving the merchants of Ura, and R S 18.02, as already stated,
is a deed of redemption. O t h e r deeds written at Ugarit record private international transactions. For example, R S 16.180 and R S
17.251 are deeds of sale; the former records the sale of a horse from
the huburtanru of the king of Carchemish to the king of Ugarit (note
the possible badly preserved Ugaritic summary at the end of the
text), 14 and the latter, written by Burqnu, describes the sale of an
individual by two Hittite brothers to the skinu of Ugarit.
14

See

MARQUEZ

ROWE

1996a, 457f.

2.8
2.8.1

The texts from Amurru

Definition and scope

A few legal texts written by scribes from the chancellery of A m u r r u


have been found at Ugarit. T h e two matters that are recorded reflect
on the one h a n d the neighbouring situation of both kingdoms and,
on the other, the intermarriage that was relatively frequently practised between both dynasties. T h e former is represented by one text,
R S 19.68, a treaty between N i q m a d d u II and Aziru, which is possibly one of the oldest agreementsif not the oldestrecovered from
the royal palace archives. T h e latter is constituted by four documents that belong to the large dossier concerning the divorce ease
between ' A m m i t t a m r u II and the daughter of Benteina and sister
of augamuwa.
2.8.2

Form

Some formal features of the treaty R S 19.68 have led to the origin
of the tablet being called into question. Indeed, the mention throughout this parity agreement of the royal n a m e N i q m a d d u in first position as well as the interference of subjective style within the text
phrased from the viewpoint of the Ugaritic king could suggest that
the text was composed by a scribc of the royal court of Ugarit. O n
linguistic and epigraphic grounds, however, it seems more likely that
A m u r r u was the original provenance of the scribe; 15 on the other
h a n d , the seal impression at the head of the text corresponds to the
cylinder seal of Aziru. T h e later documents of his descendant augam u w a show the strong Hittite influence that developed through the
years. Indeed, not only are the tablets in the 'cushion' shape but,
more significandy, the cylinder seal of Aziru gives way to Sausgamuwa's
stamp seals inscribed with Hittite hieroglyphs, of which the impression can be found in the middle of the raised surface of the obverse
of the tablets (so in 'tablette G. Badr',' 6 R S 17.228, R S 17.318+,
and R S 17.360a+, which also bears the cylinder seal impression of
Aziru on top of the obverse).
As for the text, the scribes of the chancellery of A m u r r u , like the
ones of Ugarit, used the formula 'from to-day' to open the d o c u m e n t

15

See

16

Edited by

NOUGAYROL

1956,

ARNAUD

281,

- SALVINI

and

IZRE'EL

1991-2.

1991,

21.

(RS 17.228, R S 17.360A+, R S 19.68). Divine curses are attested


only in the treaty R S 19.68.
2.8.3

Content

T h e treaty between N i q m a d d u II and Aziru describes the latter's


r e n o u n c e m e n t of the f o r m e r claims of A m u r r i t e rulers to adjacent
Ugaritian territory (including Siyannu); the text declares that Aziru
accordingly received satisfaction, namely 5,000 shekels of silver. Furt h e r m o r e , military aid f r o m the A m u r r i t e king in case of an e n e m y
attack against his n o r t h e r n neighbour is stipulated.
T h e divorce between 'Ammittamru II and the daughter of Benteina
obviously provoked a serious international diplomatic conflict. This,
as we have seen, is well reflected not only by the n u m b e r of records
that were needed to regulate the affair but also by the authorities
w h o h a d to supervise it, such as the Hittite e m p e r o r (who was in
turn the divorcee's uncle) or his viceroy in Syria, the king of C a r c h e m ish. T h e documents that were issued a n d sealed by the king of A m u r r u
a n d b r o t h e r of the divorcee describe his obligations in the agreem e n t : 'tablette G . B a d r ' concerns her expulsion, a n d R S 17.228, R S
17.318+, a n d R S 17.360A+ concern her final extradition (for execution) a n d resulting compensation of 1,400 shekels of gold.

2.9
2.9.1

The texts from Siyannu

Definition and scope

O n l y two legal d o c u m e n t s stemming f r o m the court of Siyannu have


been f o u n d at Ugarit. T h e y are both related to the long-standing
disputes of b o r d e r territory between both states (see above the verdict of king N i q m e p a ' or the final reguladons decreed by the e m p e r o r
Mursiii II). R S 18.01 was issued by king Padiya a n d R S 17.123 by
king 'Abdi-Ninurta.
2.9.2

Form

T h e physical a p p e a r a n c e of both tablets is hardly distinguishable


f r o m the Ugarit prototype (possibly as a result of political influence).
T h e cylinder seal impressed by Padiya at the head of the d o c u m e n t
is that of his predecessor, Sassi (used thus as a 'dynastic seal'); c Abdi-

Ninurta, in turn, rolled another, anepigraphic one. Also like the documents composed at Ugarit, they are introduced by the opening
phrase 'from to-day' and they are couched in objective style.
2.9.3

Content

Both deeds concern real estate property. More precisely, they describe
the final result and state of affairs after litigation concerning the ownership or jurisdiction of land that belonged to frontier districts between
Ugarit and Siyannu. This is explicitly mentioned in R S 17.123 in
which the arbitrator was the Hittite overlord. T h e districts involved
in this case are uki and H a r m a n a . Vineyards of the former frontier district are also the object of partition in R S 18.02, this time
between the religious associations (marzihu) of Ugarit a n d Siyannu.
2.9.4

Publication and studies

T h e bibliographical picture is almost the same as we have seen for


the domestic texts. T h e great majority of the international material
was magisterially published by Nougayrol in two volumes of the
French Mission de Ras S h a m r a : N o u g a y r o l 1956 and 1970. T h e
former contains most of the documents as well as an excellent study
of them. O t h e r scattered texts have been published by F i s h e r (1971),
Malbran-Labat

( B o r d r e u i l et al.

1991, no.

1) a n d A r n a u d

Salvini

(1991-2), and a few still remain unpublished.


T h e treaty between Muri1i II a n d N i q m e p a ' was thoroughly
analysed by d e l M o n t e (1986), and B e c k m a n (1996c) has recently
provided us with a h a n d b o o k of Hittite international documents.
Mention must also be m a d e of two other m o n o g r a p h s that offer a
c o m p r e h e n s i v e picture of the international relations as described
a m o n g others by the documents of Ugarit: K e s t e m o n t 1974a (more
restricted to the juridical aspects) a n d L i v e r a n i 1990.

T h e

Ugaritic

Legal

Texts

Since Akkadian was the language par excellence of legal documents it


is hardly surprising that this genre is far less represented in the
Ugaritic corpus. This is illustrated, for example, by the fact that the
chapter of legal texts in the standard edition of this corpus (indexed

with the digit ' K T U 3.') runs to barely six pages. 1 ' Indeed, we should
regard these few legal documents written in alphabetic cuneiform as
exceptions. Probably on this account and also because the phraseology of some of the d o c u m e n t s was obviously inspired by the
Akkadian pattern, it has been suggested that these texts could be
translations of Akkadian originals. 18 This seems to be true of the one
international document, namely the edict that establishes the inventory of the tribute due to the Hittite overlord. However, this is not
so obvious for the rest of the material, not even for royal documents
that clearly show a parallel phraseology. 19 Indeed, concerning the
latter, how could one explain that the so-called 'translated copies'
were found a m o n g other original Akkadian documents in the palace
central archive? And where, then, were the Akkadian 'originals'
accordingly kept which, on the other hand, have so far not been
found? In fact, it seems reasonable to ask why scribes who were
admittedly biscriptal would not have written, if only exceptionally,
legal texts in Ugaritic (note that Burqnu, for example, drew up at
least three documents in Akkadian [RS 8.145, R S 25.137 and R S
17.251] and one in his own tongue [ K T U 3.8 = R S 19.066]). 20
T h e fact that these texts are written in Ugaritic implies that they
were most likely drawn u p at Ugarit. In this chapter we shall follow the plan proposed for the Akkadian corpus. Accordingly we shall
divide Ugaritic legal documents into two sub-genres: on the one
hand, the domestic texts and, on the other, the one international
document.

3.1

The domestic legal texts

All Ugaritic legal texts but one deal with domestic transactions.
According to the nature of the witnessing party these documents can
be classified into two categories, the same ones by which we classified
the Akkadian domestic texts, namely the royal and the non-royal
documents.

17

One should note that in spite of the corrections and additions to this edition
LORETZ
SANMARTN 1 9 9 5 ) that will be pointed out throughout this
paper this preliminary appreciation is not significantly changed.

(DIETRICH
1R

19

See

KIENAST

1979, 433,

444,

or

LIBOLT

1985,

359.

For the parallel phraseology see e.g. N O U G A Y R O I . 1962, 29, R A I N E Y 1969, 132ff.,
K I E N A S T 1979, M I L A N O 1980, 182ff.
20
Of course one may still question with VAN S O I . D T (1991a, 2 7 n. 213) whether
this text is not a Ugaritic copy of an Akkadian original.

3.2
3.2.1

The royal legal texts

Definition and scope

As defined above, this group consists of those legal texts in which


the king of Ugarit presides, explicitly or not, over the transactions
involved. These royal documents (in Ugaritic: spr mlk as attested in
K T U 2.19:13 21 include four published examples ( K T U 2.19 = RS
15.125, 22 K T U 3.2 = RS 15.111, K T U 3.4 = R S 16.191+ and
K T U 3.5 = RS 16.382) and one unpublished text (RS 94.2168)
found in the recently excavated archive of Urtenu. From this same
archive came another unpublished record (RS 94.2965) arranged
similarly, and containing clauses typical of royal legal documents;
although no reference of the witnessing party is made and no royal
seal is impressed (nor is there a space left free on the tablet for sealing) it is possible to understand implicitly that the king presided over
this transaction. (One should note that R S 94.2168 also does not
bear the royal seal impression: were these two documents actually
private 'copies'?) Furthermore, an unclassified fragment ( K T U 7.63
= R S 15.117) that has often been taken to list the royal tides of
N i q m e p a ' could also belong under this category. 23
3.2.2

Find-spot

As already mentioned, one or two royal documents have been found


outside the royal palace, namely in Urtenu's house. T h e other four
deeds (as well as the fragment K T U 7.63 = RS 15.117) come from
the palace archives. O f interest is the fact that these four tablets
come entirely from the same concentration, the so-called palace central archive where, as we have seen, most Akkadian royal domestic
legal documents were kept ( K T U 7.63 was discovered in the palace
eastern archive).

21
V I R O L L E A U D ( 1 9 5 7 , 15FF.) used the designation 'actes royaux' differently, for he
also included royal letters.
22
Although still included under the epistolary category with the resulting digit
in D I E T R I C H
LORETZ
S A N M A R T I N 1 9 9 5 , 1 6 8 , it is now generally agreed that this
fragment is of legal content (see already K I E N A S T 1 9 7 9 , 4 3 3 , 444ff).
23
Note that VAN S O L D T (1991a, 5 6 4 ) suggests cataloguing the text as epistolary
or legal.

3.2.3

Form

We have referred to the fact that royal legal texts drawn up in Ugaritic reflect, and presumably imitated the Akkadian pattern. Actually
it is reasonable to assume that the same scribes shaped and wrote
both the Akkadian and Ugaritic tablets. For example, as regards the
shape of tablets, it is interesting to observe that although written in
the shorter alphabetic script Ugaritic royal documents have the same
average measurements attested for their Akkadian counterparts (e.g.
K T U 3.5 = R S 16.382 measures 90 x 70 x 35 mm). T h e sealing
practice is also identical: the royal seal impression is placed on top
of the obverse and could be divided from the text by a ruling. Note
that the dynastic seal of the kings of Ugarit was rolled on K T U 3.2
a n d K T U 3.5, whereas the ring-seal of N i q m a d d u (presumably
N i q m a d d u II) was stamped twice in order to fill the sealing space
in K T U 3.4 (although not preserved, K T U 2.19 was certainly sealed
by the king as stated in 11. 6ff.).24
As for the text, the phraseology clearly reproduces the Akkadian
formulae. Thus, the text begins with the temporal expression 'From
to-day' (I ym hnd), which could also be combined with the closing
expression '(and) for ever' ('d 'Irri). T h e first section of the text describes
the completed part of the transaction, obviously phrased in the past
(perfective) and in objective style. T h e king appears in first position
either as active party (so in K T U 3.2 and K T U 3.5) or as having
presided over the transaction (so in R S 94.2168, omitted in K T U
3.4), introduced by the preposition 'before' (/ pnperhaps
to be
restored before the royal n a m e in K T U 7.63:1). Next follow the final
clauses that deal with the obligations of the transaction, phrased this
time in the future (imperfective) and also in objective style.
Although the seal identification clause is only preserved in K T U 2.19,
its restoration at the end of texts K T U 3.2 and K T U 3.5 seems very
plausible. Perhaps the same holds true for the name of the scribe
which is not attested in these texts. T h e scheme of the Ugaritic royal
documents is thus not very different from their Akkadian counterparts.
3.2.4

Content

T h e contents of these texts is as follows: K T U 3.2 = R S 15.111 and


K T U 3.5 = R S 16.382 are both deeds of royal gift; R S 94.2168
24

As shown after collation, the upper part of the fragment K TU 7.63 is lost.

concerns the rights of succession of c Abdi-milku's children and in


particular the inheritance of the property he received from the king;
and R S 94.2965 lists estate property acquired by a Yabninu together
with the rights and obligations b o u n d to it.
K T U 2.19 = RS 15.125 is a deed of franchise (note the Ugaritic
designation spr d tbrrt in lines 9-10), namely from the ?7/t-service
(called in Ugaritic unt). T h e final document, K T U 3.4 = RS 16.191+,
concerns the redemption of seven persons from the Berutians by one
Iwrikili for 100 shekels of silver and the resulting obligations imposed
on them.
As for the parties involved, 'Ammittamru II is the donor king of
K T U 3.2 and K T U 3.5 as well as the donor and guarantor of the
rights of succession in R S 94.2168, and N i m q a d d u (II/III) is the
grantor of privileges in K T U 2.19. Unfortunately it is difficult to
idendfy the other contracting parties due to the want of more solid
prosopographical evidence. Still, it is possible to relate some of the
Ugaritic documents to the Akkadian 'dossiers'. For example, amtm,
the donee's father in K T U 3.2, could be identified with the wellattested Amutarunu. And the c Abdi-milku whose inheritance is the
topic of RS 94.2168 is very likely the homonymous main party of
one of the largest dossiers identified by Nougayrol; moreover, we
learn from this Ugaritic text that he was married to the king's daughter. This explicit information supports the assumption that many of
the beneficiaries of these dossiers were members of the royal family
as well as court officials (with this regard, one should note that the
protagonist of the fragment K T U 7.63 = RS 15.117 is the skinu of
the palace and door-keeper of the king).
3.2.5

An example

In order to illustrate the similarities in the scheme and form between


these Ugaritic documents and their Akkadian counterparts, we present here in transliteration and translation the royal document K T U
3.5 = R S 16.382:
Impression of dynastic seal

I ym . hnd
'mttmr . bn
nqmpc . mlk
ugrt . ytn
d . kdgdl

From today
'Ammittamru, son of
Niqmepa', king of
Ugarit, has given
the field of P N h

uskny . d . b d[y]
Lo.E.

10
Rev.

15

20

x m . [y\d gth
yd . zth . yd .
[A] rmh . yd
[k]lklh
w ytn.nn
I . b'ln . bn
kltn . w . 1
bnh . 'd [.] 7m
Ihr . elmt
bn bnm
I . yqhnn . bd
bcln . bn . kltn
w . bd . bnh . ed
'lm . w . unt
in . bh

from TN , (which is located)


in the territory of
TN 2 , together with its factory,
and its olive grove, and
its vineyard, and
whatever belongs to it,
and he has given it
to PN2, son of
PN:), and to
his sons for ever.
In the future
no one
will take it from the hands
of PN 2 , son of PN3,
and from the hands of his
sons ever. And there is no
service on it.

(end broken off)

3.3
3.3.1

The non-royal legal texts

Definition and scope

W e include under this second group of domestic legal texts those


records which describe transactions performed before witnesses (Ugaritic
yph) and that were not presided by the king. Such definition immediately excludes from our corpus texts like K T U 3.3 = R S 15.128,
a bill concerning personal security, K T U 3.7 = R S 18.118, a list of
Egyptian persons entering the ilku (Ugaritic n/)-service, 25 and K T U
3.10 = R I H 8 4 / 3 3 , a list of debtors, 26 in which no mention of a
body of witnesses is made. O n the other hand, K T U 3.6 = R S
17.[468] is too fragmentary for classification. 27 As a result, only two
other K T U 3. series texts can be included under this category, namely
K T U 3.8 = R S 19.066 and K T U 3.9 = R S [Varia 14] = R S
1957.702, which do list the witnesses of the transaction. In addition,

25

See more recently M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1993b.


Note that it partially duplicates K T U 4.791 (see B O R D R E U I L 1995a, 4-5) listed
thus within the administrative records; other debts lists are e.g. K T U 4.123 = RIH
8 4 / 0 4 obv., K T U 4.283 or K T U 4.310.
27
Note that even D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z - S A N M A R T I N ( 1 9 9 5 , 2 0 2 ) admit that its
content is 'uncertain'; the presence of the sequence <y h> (> yph [?]) at the end
of 1. 2 is in a completely fragmentary and obscure context.
26

reference should be made to other texts that have been classified as


administrative and could in fact lie on the borderline of the legal
domain. Like the above mentioned Akkadian text RS 16.354, K T U
4.386 = RS 18.111 (restoring [y]ph at the beginning of 1. 3 and also
possibly [yp]h at the beginning of 11. 7 and 9), K T U 4.632 = R S
19.073, K T U 4.778 = R I H 8 3 / 1 2 with its duplicate K T U 4.782 =
R I H 84/08, 2 8 K T U 9.477 = R I H 8 3 / 3 9 + 2 9 and perhaps also K T U
4.258 = RS 17.007+ (sec 1. 5) record a series of debt-notes together
with the witnesses involved. As a matter of fact, the explicit mention of witnesses is what distinguishes these texts from other debtnotes tablets like K T U 3.10. Significantly, the same holds true for
K T U 3.8 vis--vis K T U 3.3. Both are bills of personal security and
use a similar phraseology (also parallel to the Akkadian counterparts
RS 15.81 or RS 16.287 referred to above). 30 However, as already
stated, neither the latter nor the Akkadian texts mentions any witnesses. 31 Stronger doubts about the legal nature of K T U 3.8 and
also K T U 3.9 have been expressed basically because both lack seal
impressions and do not use phrases typical of legal texts (like the
introductory formulae 'from to-day' or 'before witnesses'). As a result,
it has been suggested that these texts should rather be identified as
'memoranda'. 3 2
Despite the doubts of classification, which may indeed question
once more the accuracy of our definitions, both documents will be
included under this category following thus our basic premise, viz.
the more or less explicit mention of witnesses in the texts.
3.3.2

Find-spot

Very little can be said about the find-spots of K T U 3.8 and K T U


3.9. T h e former was found in the open space between the royal
palace and the so-called 'southern palace'. As recently pointed out,

28
See B O R D R E U I I , 1987, 29 . Note that some of the debt-notes in this text do
not mention the witness.
29

30

See

B O R D R E U I L et at.

1984,

430.

See M I L A N O 1980, 186ff. and H O F T I J Z E R - VAN S O L D T 1991a, 189ff.


31
The list of persons on the reverse (11. 10ff.) correspond to the sureties (cf. 1. 1 :
spr. 'rbnm, see most recently H O F T I J Z E R
VAN S O L D T 1 9 9 1 , 1 8 9 ) and not to the
body of witnesses (as stated by M I L A N O [ 1 9 8 0 , 1 8 8 ] ) .
32
So K I E N A S T 1979, 432f, with critical comments upon the former inclusion of
this and other K T U 3. series texts within the category of 'Vertrge' in D I E T R I C H
LORETZ
SANMARTIN 1976a (see also S Z N Y C E R 1979, 1 4 1 8 ) .

tablets unearthed in this area 'could have come from different parts
of the surrounding buildings', 33 which means either from the palace
or from a private house. As for the latter, it is almost certainly from
illegal excavation at Ras Shamra. 3 4
It is not without interest that all witnessed debt-notes come from
the palace archives and that two of them (the two duplicates) were
found in the palace at Ras Ibn Hani.
3.3.3

Form

We have already mentioned that K T U 3.8 and K T U 3.9 lack some


of the characteristic features of legal documents. T o begin with, neither of them bears a seal impression. O n the other hand, the formulas that usually introduce a legal text, like 'from today' or the
one attested in the Akkadian counterparts 'before witnesses', are
absent. Nevertheless, examples with these same atypical features can
be found within the Akkadian corpus (compare also the Ugaritic
royal document R S 94.2965). R S 11.856, for instance, describes the
transaction without any such introductory formulas, lists the witnesses
at the end of the text after a ruling and bears no seal impression.
These are exactly the same characteristics and scheme as in K T U
3.8 (significantly, the unusual shape of both tablets is similar). 35 As
for the text itself, K T U 3.8 follows the general pattern of legal documents. It is phrased in objective style, the completed part of the
transaction is in the past (perfective) and the final clauses in the
future (imperfective). After listing the three witnesses, the name of
the scribe is mentioned at the very end of the document.
T h e text of K T U 3.9, on the other hand, is exceptional in that
it combines both objective and subjective style, an unusual feature
in domestic contracts. T h e names of two witnesses close the document.
3.3.4

Content

K T U 3.8 is a deed of security: five persons assume surety for two


debtors. K T U 3.9 concerns the inauguration of a religious associaV A N S O L D T 1991a, 146.
Note that it has recently been possible to trace back the find-spot of another
Claremont Ras Shamra tablet, namely from the palace archives ( A R N A U D - SALVINI
1991-2, 8 . 5).
35
Viz. they are small and nearly square: K T U 3.8 measures 48 X 42 X 28 and
RS 11.856, 40 40 22 mm.
33

34

tion (mrzh) by a a m u m a n u and stipulates the binding obligations


for both its founder and leader and the rest of its members.

3.4
3.4.1

The international legal text

Definition and scope

It is hardly surprising to find only one Ugaritic text, K T U 3.1 =


RS 1 1.772+, under this category since Akkadian was not only the
legal but also the diplomatic language par excellence at that time in
the N e a r East. As a matter of fact, what is truly surprising is precisely the very existence of one d o c u m e n t written in alphabetic
cuneiform that describes a transaction between two states, namely
Hatti and Ugarit. T h e discovery in the palace southern archive of
the Akkadian parallel text, namely the edict that establishes the inventory of the tribute of N i q m a d d u II owed to his overlord Suppiluliu m a I (RS 17.227 and dupl., see above 9.2.5.3), clearly showed
that we are dealing here with an Ugaritic version. 36 This interpretation, however, has been recently challenged arguing that the language and formulae of K T U 3.1 do not correspond to a legal
document but, rather, that they reveal the epistolary nature of the
text. 37 This opinion, however, takes into consideration neither the
ambiguous language used by Hittite scribes (as discussed above under
9.2.5.1), also present in the Akkadian original edict, nor proper
Ugaritic epistolary structure. 38
3.4.2

Find-spot

T h e different fragments of this tablet were found scattered within


and around the palace western archive. O f interest is the fact that
the Akkadian tribute list RS 11.732[] was discovered at this same
archive and that the content thereof is predominantly administrative.
O n this account, it has been reasonably suggested that the Ugaritic
version of the edict was kept there for administrative purposes. 39

36

See e.g.
1990a, 354ff.
37

38
39

NOUGAYROL

1956, 37ff.,

DIETRICH

LORETZ

K N O P P E R S 1993, followed by T R O P P E R 1995b, 235.


See also the remarks of P A R D E E ( 1 9 9 8 ) .
See VAN S O L D T 1991a, 57-8.

1966a, or

VAN

SOLDT

3.4.3

Form

As already m e n d o n e d , the text is preserved from several fragments


(RS 11.772+11.780+11.782+11.802). T h e original tablet must have
been relatively large. Unlike the Akkadian duplicates, however, K T U
3.1 is not 'cushion'-shaped and its width, namely 30 m m , and rather
flat surface seems to rule out a prion the original presence of the
Hittite seal impression in the lost middle part of the obverse.
T h e scheme of the text corresponds to the Akkadian original, the
first preserved paragraphs to the historical introduction, and the following to the detailed definition of the tribute. Although not preserved, the end of the text may have contained the invocation to
the gods as witnesses and guarantors of the agreement, as in the
Akkadian text.
Finally, it has been pointed out that the order of some of the
tribute items as well as that of the Hittite officials follows the text
of the treaty of Muri1i II (RS 17.380+) rather than the edict of
Suppiluliuma I.40
3.4.4

Content

T h e historical introduction so typical of Hittite edicts and agreements relates how N i q m a d d u II refused to take part in the antiHittite coalition and thus stresses his loyalty towards his overlord
Suppiluliuma I. T h e text then describes in detail the inventory of
the tribute that as a result the king of Ugarit owed to the Great
King, the queen his wife, as well as his high officials.

The

Hittite

Legal

T e x t

T h e excavations at Ras Shamra have so far yielded only two cuneiform


texts written in the Hittite language. O n e is part of a trilingual literary composition (RS 25.421+) and the other is a complete legal
document (RS 17.109). T h e latter, with which we are here concerned, is thus unique in that it is the only Hittite original document
found at Ugarit. Shortly after its discovery, Hittitologists, too, agreed
with the uniqueness of RS 17.109 for not only was this tablet the
first Hittite legal document discovered outside the Anatolian core of
40

See

VAN S O L D T

1990a, 341.

the Hittite empire but also the only source which could shed light
on the form of Hittite private legal practice.

4.1

Definition

R S 17.109 was catalogued by E. Laroche with the n u m b e r C T H


296 as one of the Hittite 'procs' within the brief chapter of law.
H e titled it 'tmoignage crit de Pallariya'. Indeed, the text describes
the tesdmony of a witness of an inter-state transacdon, namely between
Hatti and Ugarit; the deposition is made before two witnesses and
properly authenticated by means of a seal impression. O n epigraphic,
linguistic and also prosopographic grounds, the tablet can be safely
dated to the second half of the 13th century bce, and thus it fits
into the general chronology of the Ugarit archives. O n the other
hand, the fact that the text is written in the classical script of Bogazky
does not necessarily mean that the tablet was drawn up at the Hittite
capital. As we have already seen, it is possible, and in this case even
probable, that Hittite officials would arbitrate international affairs in
foreign states or courts like Ugarit.

4.2

Find-spot

T h e tablet was found in the palace southern archive. This find-spot


agrees well with the nature of RS 17.109 since, as we have mentioned in several occasions, this royal archive was meant to keep the
legal documents concerned with foreign affairs.

4.3

Form

T h e shape of RS 17.109 is rather peculiar. In fact, it belongs to a


category of Hittite tablets we have already seen above ( 9.2.5.2).
T h e tablet bears a kind of appendix that protrudes from the middle of its upper part, on top of which the stamp-seal impression is
to be found.
Also typical of Hittite scribal practice (and of deposition documents), the text opens with the word umma (here as an Akkadogram).
In this case it introduces the statement of one of the parties involved.
T h e n his witness declares, also phrased in subjective style and in the
past. Next follow the clauses that settle the affair and validate the
written document, mainly provided for the other, absent party.

After a ruling, the mention of the two witnesses (of whom one
probably acted as judicial officer) close the text.

4.4

Content

As catalogued by Laroche, R S 17.109 is a deed of deposition. It


contains the declaration of Pallariya, the witness of a transaction,
namely the receipt of a large a m o u n t of silver by the Hittite tax collector from the skinu of Ugarit. T h e same state officials, especially
the latter, are often protagonists in other international legal cases
that were most often arbitrated, as we have seen above ( 9.2.6), by
the king of Carchemish.

4.5

Publication and studies

T h e tablet was published in transliteration and translation by L a r o c h e


(1968b no. 1); recently, S a l v i n i (1995a) has provided us with the
copy and photos, and also a few reading improvements. Apart from
Laroche's first interpretation, one should also mention the contributions by H a a s e (1971), v o n S c h l e r (1971) and M a r q u e z R o w e
(1999).

T H E

E C O N O M Y

Michael

O F

U G A R I T

H e l t z e r

T h e economy of the kingdom of Ugarit is considered here under


three headings: the administrative texts, commerce and crafts and
industries.

T h e

Administrative

1.1

Texts

General

T h e administrative texts written in both Ugaritic and Akkadian belong to the time span from the middle of the 13th century bce to
the destruction of the kingdom in about 1180 bce or a few years
later. It is impossible to separate the Ugaritic and Akkadian texts,
for they deal with the same issues, and often the same persons are
mentioned in the texts in both languages. It is also impossible to
determine the exact n u m b e r of the texts, for (a) there are hundreds
of tablet-fragments, which rarely can be used to explain anything;
(b) many texts and text fragments in the administrative economic
field are still unpublished. 1
T h e r e is also the problem of dividing the texts according to content. Some of the administrative texts are economic, others are agrarian, etc. In all, we possess approximately 550 clearly and fairly legible
texts of this kind in Ugaritic and 160 in Akkadian, a ratio of 7:2.
We can divide these texts, albeit not absolutely, into primary tablets
made on the spot or at the time of the administrative (economic or
fiscal) act, and tablets which are monthly or even annual summaries.

' For the overall number of the texts and their editions, cf. TEO. The Akkadian
texts are generally cited according to their publication in PRU 3, 4, 6 and Ug 5.
Other occasional publications are quoted separately. On unpublished texts cf.
KTU2, 9.

In some instances it is also difficult to draw a dividing line between


administrative and commercial texts (in cases when the prices of the
goods are not given). W e also include here the texts excavated in
the territory of the kingdom of Ugarit (Ras-ibn Hani (RIH)).
In general, all these texts reflect the structure of Ugaritic society,
which was divided into two sets. O n e comprised the 'sons of Ugarit'
(Akk. mrM
Ugart), i.e. the villagers, who had a certain communal organization ( H e l t z e r 1976). T h e other comprised the 'servants
of the king' (Ug. bn mlk, Ugaritic Akk. bunusu milki, Akk. ardU
arri) or royal servicemen, who received various deliveries for their
service from royal stores and also, for performing their duties, land
allotments on c o n d i t i o n a l h o l d i n g ( H e l t z e r 1982). T h i s social
stratification is known from the text PRU 4, 107 = R S 17.238, which
also mentions the 'servants of the servants of the king' (Akk. ardeU&
ardm'& arri). From this text, as well as from the administrative texts,
it is clear that some of the royal servicemen were in a position to
have underlings. T h e royal servicemen were organized into professional groups and at the head of every group stood a royal nominee-official or rb (lit. 'great', 'big'). They performed their duties (taxes,
conscription and corves). 2 T h e various professions of craftsmen, agricultural workers, different military groups, priesdy professions, officials
and palace personnel were organized in groups sometimes of ten.

1.2

Classification of the administrative texts

T h e r e is some difficulty in classifying the administrative texts as they


are largely of mixed contents, but in general it is possible.
1.2.1

Lists of villages

We shall begin with the lists of villages (Ug. qrt, Akk. lu). This category contains the texts which merely provide the names of villages
(since the numbers which follow them are sometimes broken, as are
the first and last lines, where the purpose of a text was given). 3 T h e y
can be further classified as:

Therefore it is impossible to define them as 'guilds', as this would presuppose


at least some degree of internal self-government which is not apparent in the bnl
mlk texts.
3
K T U 4.94 = RS 11.832; K T U 4.303 = RS 17.370[B]; K T U 4.365 = RS
18.073; K T U 4.414 = RS 18.251 [c]; K T U 4.621 = RS 19.048[A]; K T U 4.622 =

a) Lists of mobilization of villagers for military purposes (or sometimes for the corve); sometimes arms were delivered to them: 'bows'
(qstm), 'shields' (Akk. gabbME), 'slings' (qlcm) and 'spears' (mrhm).4
b) A list of payments of tribute in silver to the Hittite king (professional groups of bn mlk also appear in this text, K T U 4.610 =
R S 19.017).
c) Payments by the villagersnot individually but as a unitof
silver, wool, cereals, olive oil, wine and cattle to the royal treasury. 3
d) Tablets recording the distribution of 'food' (akl) or 'rations' (hpr)
to the villages in corpore at the time of performing their corve and
other texts where the villages are listed ( K T U 4.41 = RS 8.280).
1.2.2

The gt

W e learn from the administrative texts that there was a well developed royal economy in the kingdom ( H e l t z e r 1979a). It was divided
into units (Ug. gt, Akk. dimtuf which were dispersed over all the
kingdom. 7 Here too certain groups of texts shed light on the economic activities on the gt's. Texts include:

19.048[B]; K T U 4.629 = RS 19.061; K T U 4.661 = RS 19.167A: K T U 4.676 =


RS 19.174i; K T U 4.684 = RS 19.257; K T U 4.685 = RS 19.258; K T U 4.686 =
RS 19.259; K T U 4.693 = RS 20.157; K T U 4.770 = RIH 77/27; PRU 6, 97 =
RS 19.118; PRU 6, 169 = RS 18.279; Ug 5, 102 = RS 20.207A; 103 = RS 20.143B;
104 = RS 20.144; etc.
4
K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716; PRU 3, = RS 11.841; PRU 6, 131 = RS 19.35A; cf.
also K T U 4.63 = RS 10.052 where mobilized people of various villages receive
their arms; PRU 6, 95 = RS 19.74; K T U 4.683 = RS 19.256; and Bordreuil 4 =
RS 34.131 etc.
5
K T U 4.73 = RS 11.724+; K T U 4.93 = RS 11.776 + 11.800; K T U 4.95 =
RS 11.836+; K T U 4.108 = RS 12.003+; K T U 4.113 = RS 12.018; K T U 4.232 =
RS 16.355; K T U 4.267 = RS 17.103; K T U 4.308 = RS 17.386; K T U 4.553 =
RS 18.[479]; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016; K T U 4.611 = RS 19.018; PRU 3, 194 =
RS 11.830; PRU 3, 191 = RS 11.841 [a]; PRU 3, 191 = RS 15.020; PRU 3, 191 =
RS 15.179: PRU 3, 192 = RS 15.183; etc. PRU 6, 104 = RS 19.43; PRU 6, 105 =
RS 19.117; PRU 6, 106 = RS 19.119; Ug 5, = RS 19.80; Ug 5, 111 = RS 19.129;
Ug 5, 113 = RS 19.26; Ug 5, 187 = RS 19.27 (although it is not always certain
whether these are payments or deliveries).
6
T h e literal meaning of gt is 'oil or wine press' ( H E L T Z E R 1979b).
7
T h e texts concerning the more than 70 royal gts are: K T U 4.89 = RS 11.796;
K T U 4.96 = RS 11.840; K T U 4.97 = RS 11.841; K T U 4.103 = RS 11.858:45;
K T U 4.110 = RS 12.006; K T U 4.122 = RS 13.012; K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001;
K T U 4.139 = RS 15.017; K T U 4.141 = 15.022+; RS 4.142 = RS 15.023; K T U
4.175 = RS 15.096; K T U 4.200 = RS 15.189; K T U 4.213 = RS 16.127; K T U
4.243 = RS 16.395; K T U 4.271 = RS 17.115; K T U 4.296 = RS 17.031; K T U
4.297 = RS 17.326; K T U 4.307 = RS 17.384; K T U 4.313 = RS 17.399; K T U
4.320 = RS 17.444: K T U 4.345 = RS 18.033; K T U 4.358 = RS 18.048; K T U

a) T h e tablets concerning villagers, villages and royal service people whose service fields were in the area of a certain gt and connected with it, who had to deliver their share of their own produce
to the gt,a where it was processed.
b) Texts concerning stocks of agricultural tools on various gts.9
c) Lists of the state of cattle on the gts. These include beasts of
burden (oxen and donkeys), cattle for fattening (mr) and poultry, 10
listed together with the working teams.
d) Texts concerning agricultural products (cereals, wine, oil, etc.)
which are at the gt, including fodder and products delivered by the
villagers and (non-agricultural) craftsmen to the gt stores. Sometimes
the name of the month is given, in which case these are monthly
reports."
e) Tablets concerning 'royal servicemen' (bn mlk), who had agricultural professions: 'ploughmen' (hrtm),12 'vine dressers' (gpnym), '(sheep-)
shearers' [gzzm), 'shepherds' (nqdm and r'ym), and other personnel
who were partly referred to as ' m a n of the gf (bn gt) and 'belonging to the gf (bdl gt).n
4.365 = RS 18.073; K T U 4.380 = RS 18.099; K T U 4.382 = RS 18.106+; K T U
4.386 = RS 18.111; K T U 4.397 = RS 18.136; K T U 4.400 = RS 18.139; K T U
4.405 = RS 18.143[c]; K T U 4.409 = RS 18.146 bis; K T U 4.424 = RS 18.296;
K T U 4.618 = RS 19.045; K T U 4.625 = RS 19.052; K T U 4.636 = RS 19.097;
K T U 4.638 = R S 19.100B; K T U 4.750 = RS 29.094; PRU 6, 122 = RS 21.203;
Ug 5, 95 = RS 20.01; Ug 5, 96 = RS 20.12, etc.
8
K T U 4.110 = RS 12.006; K T U 4.244 = RS 16.396; K T U 4.643 = RS 19.105,
etc.; cf. also L I V E R A N I 1979c.
9
K T U 4.625 = RS 19.052; K T U 4.632 = RS 19.073, etc.; cf. also PRU 6,
141 = RS 19.112 (?).
10
K T U 4.89 = RS 11.796; K T U 4.128 = RS 14.176; K T U 4.175 = RS 15.096;
K T U 4.275 = RS 17.125; K T U 4.296 = RS 17.140; K T U 4.358 = RS 18.048;
K T U 4.367 = RS 18.076; K T U 4.618 = RS 19.045; K T U 4.636 = RS 19.097;
Ug 5, 95 = RS 20.01.
11
K T U 4.143 = RS 15.031; K T U 4.213 = RS 16.127; K T U 4.243 = RS 16.395;
K T U 4.269 = RS 17.106; K T U 4.271 = RS 17.115; K T U 4.345 = RS 18.033;
K T U 4.397 = RS 18.136; K T U 4.400 = RS 18.139; K T U 4.636 = RS 19.097.
12
K T U 4.65 = RS 11.602:1.
13
K T U 4.35 = RS 8.183+; K T U 4.65 = RS 11.602; K T U 4.71 = RS 11.721;
K T U 4.87 = RS 11.789; K T U 4.96 = RS 11.840; K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845; K T U
4.106 = RS 12.001; K T U 4.122 = RS 13.012; K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001; K T U
4.126 = RS 14.084; K T U 4.129 = RS 15.001; K T U 4.141 = RS 15.022+; K T U
4.153 = RS 15.046; K T U 4.175 = RS 15.096; K T U 4.183 = RS 15.116; K T U
4.213 = RS 16.127; K T U 4.243 = RS 16.395; K T U 4.269 = RS 17.106; K T U
4.296 = RS 17.031; K T U 4.307 = R S 17.384; K T U 4.320 = RS 17.444; K T U
4.332 = RS 18.010+; K T U 4.355 = RS 18.045; K T U 4.358 = RS 18.048; K T U
4.374 = RS 18.082; K T U 4.378 = RS 18.087; K T U 4.382 = RS 18.106+; K T U
4.440 = RS 18.[317]; K T U 4.491 = RS 18.[389]; K T U 4.493 = RS 18.[391];

f ) M a n y texts also deal with the deliveries from the gts for certain persons. T h e goods are wheat, emmer, wine, oil, wood, cattle,
textiles, metal artifacts, etc. 14 At times it is difficult to differentiate
between storage stocks and deliveries.
It should be noted that these texts may overlap with commercial
ones and we cannot draw a clear dividing line. Furthermore, many
of the texts are of mixed content and it is sometimes impossible to
classify them precisely.
1.2.3

The royal servicemen

These are texts dealing with the 'royal servicemen' (Ug. bn mlh, Akk.
ard ani) according to their professional groups. Again the divisions
are not definitive.
a) Texts where the professional group is mentioned as a unit, the
personal names of its members not being given, and where the whole
group receives deliveries of some kind. 1 '
b) Lists of royal servicemen of different professions (hrs anyt, 'shipwrights', hrs bhtm 'house-builders', nskm '(metal) casters', etc.) where
each professional is listed and identified only by his name plus his
father's name, or by his father's n a m e alone (bn X 'son of (PN) X').
Sometimes they also receive certain deliveries in silver, or in kind
and sometimes in these texts give a total of the amount of the delivery. These texts also tell us in which village of the kingdom of Ugarit
they resided. 16
K T U 4.608 = RS 19.014; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016; K T U 4.618 = RS 19.045;
K T U 4.630 = RS 19.062; K T U 4.636 = RS 19.097; K T U 4.729 = RS 24.301;
K T U 4.740 = RS 24.660e; PRU 6, 118 = RS 18.116; Ug 5, 96 = RS 20.012.
14
K T U 4.36 = RS 8.208; K T U 4.38 = RS 8.272; K T U 4.128 = RS 14.176;
K T U 4.131 = RS 15.003; K T U 4.144 = RS 15.032; K T U 4.149 = RS 15.039;
K T U 4.153 = RS 15.046; K T U 4.175 = RS 15.096; K T U 4.213 = RS 16.127;
K T U 4.216 = RS 16.165; K T U 4.230 = RS 16.341; K T U 4.243 = RS 16.395;
K T U 4.263 = RS 17.049; K T U 4.269 = RS 17.106; K T U 4.352 = RS 18.042;
K T U 4.377 = RS 18.086; K T U 4.378 = RS 18.087; K T U 4.387 = RS 18.112;
K T U 4.495 = RS 18.[394]; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016; K T U 4.630 = RS 19.062;
K T U 4.636 = RS 19.097; K T U 4.705 = RS 21.056, etc.
15
K T U 4.105 = RS 13.014[Aw]; K T U 4.126 = RS 14.084; K T U 4.139 = RS
15.017; deliveries: K T U 4.29 = RS 3.320; K T U 4.36 = RS 8.208; K T U 4.38 =
RS 8.272; K T U 4.47 = RS 10.043; K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845; K T U 4.217 = RS
16.176; K T U 4.312 = RS 17.397[A]; K T U 4.416 = RS 18.252; K T U 4.485 =
RS I8.[381]; K T U 4.745 = RS 25.417 and K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001 (cereals);
K T U 4.216 = RS 16.165 (wine); K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016 (hpr monthly 'ration's);
K T U 4.610 = RS 19.017 (argmn p 'tribute to the Sun', i.e. the Hittite king).
16
K T U 4.35 = RS 8.183+;' K T U 4.43 = RS 9.011; K T U 4.44 = RS 9.453; K T U

c) T h e bn mlk can be considered as a special category, designated


as being at the disposal of the king, queen (or queen-mother), the
'vizier' (Ug. skn, Akk. skinu) or other functionaries who are defined
as overseers. T h e formula here is generally spr bn (mlk) dt bd (mlkt,
skn, or a PN), 'list of the (royal) men who are at the disposal of (the
queen, the skinu or a PN)'. 17 Furthermore, these texts sometimes
note particular work in a village, on a gt or work of another kind.
d) As noted above, the professional groups had their nominated
rb, 'chief' or 'elder'. 18 Data have not survived regarding all the groups,
but we know that there were rbs in the following groups: nqdm 'shepherds', 19 hrsm 'craftsmen', in this case 'cartwrights', 20 note also the rb
khnm 'chief priest', 21 etc. In some cases there could be an 'overseer'
ngr (Akk. kilf2 instead of the rb.
4.66 = RS 11.656; K T U 4.69 = RS 11.715+; K T U 4.471 = RS 18. [363]; K T U
4.90 = RS 11.797; K T U 4.92 = RS 11.799; K T U 4.98 = RS 11.844; K T U 4.114 =
RS 12.027; K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001; K T U 4.128 = RS 14.176; K T U 4.134 =
RS 15.006; K T U 4.155 = RS 15.051; K T U 4.177 = RS 15.101; K T U 4.181 =
RS 15.106; K T U 4.187 = RS 15.157+; K T U 4.188 = RS 15.169+; K T U 4.201 =
RS 15.192[d]; K T U 4.215 = RS 16.130; K T U 4.217 = RS 16.176; K T U 4.230 =
RS 16.341; K T U 4.261 = RS 17.023; K T U 4.269 = RS 17.106; K T U 4.272 =
RS 17.118; K T U 4.286 = RS 17.290; K T U 4.310 = RS 17.392; K T U 4.321 =
RS 18.005; K T U 4.322 = RS 18.007a; K T U 4.355 = RS 18.045; K T U 4.367 =
RS 18.076; K T U 4.370 = RS 18.079; K T U 4.374 = RS 18.082; K T U 4.378 =
RS 18.087; K T U 4.379 = RS 18.098; K T U 4.422 = RS 18.293; K T U 4.440 =
RS 18.[317]; K T U 4.485 = RS 18.[381]; K T U 4.545 = RS 18.[471]; K T U 4.561 =
RS 18.[549]; K T U 4.617 = RS 19.044; K T U 4.624 = RS 19.049[A][c]; K T U
4.633 = RS 19.086A; K T U 4.655 = RS 19.158A; K T U 4.681 = RS 19.180; K T U
4.690 = RS 20.009; K T U 4.714 = RS 22.231; K T U 4.761 = RS 34.123; K T U
4.772 = R I H 78/06; PRU 3, 195 = RS 15.009; PRU 3, 194 = RS 11.839; PRU 6,
143 = RS 21.200; PRU 6, 147 = RS 19.127; PRU 6, 148 = RS 17.97; PRU 6,
149 = RS 15.354.
17
We must distinguish between the '(grand) vizier' skin mti 'skinu of the land'
(i.e. of the kingdom) and the sknm 'skinus' of various villages of the kingdom, i.e.
the 'elders of the settlements' (Akk. ffazannu).
18
K T U 4.110 = RS 12.006; K T U 4.141 = RS 15.022+; K T U 4.144 = RS
15.032; K T U 4.223 = RS 16.194 (?); K T U 4.264 = RS 17.052; K T U 4.367 =
RS 18.076; K T U 4.379 = RS 18.098; K T U 4.635 = RS 19.096; spr rb 'rt 'list of
elders (overseers) o f t e n (men)' ( K T U 4.714 = RS 22.731:1) and K T U 4.609 = RS
19.016.
In
K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009] + vi 56.
20
K T U 4.145 = RS 15.034:9.
21
K T U 6.6 = RS 1.[051]; K T U 6.7 = RS 1.[053]; K T U 6.8 = RS 1.[054];
K T U 6.9 = RS 1 .[055]; K T U 6.10 = RS 1 .[052].
22
ngr mdr' 'guard of the sown' ( K T U 4.141 = RS 15.022+ iii 16); ngr krm 'guard
of the vineyard' ( K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016:12'; K T U 4.618 = RS 19.045:6); kil
narkabti 'overseer of the chariots' or 'chariotry' (PRU 3, 84 = RS 16.157; PRU 3,
79 = RS 16.239; PRU 3, 85 = RS 16.250:17); lXjkil s'angi 'overseer of the priests'
(PRU 3, 168 = RS 16.186:13').

e) T h e 'elder' (rb), it seems, is also connected with the distribution of raw materials to the royal artisans. It was his responsibility
to deliver their produce to the treasury (and possibly to the gt).
Another type of these texts shows us the delivery of materials for
repairing military equipment (chariots). 23
f ) Like the villages mentioned above, the professional groups
both military and non-militaryparticipated in the formation of the
army and were subject to conscription. Naturally, the military professionals were obliged to fulfil their periodic guard service as hrdm
(Akk. hurdu) 'watchmen' or 'mobilized men'. They received everything from the royal storesarms, chariots, horses, even caparisons
(horse-cloths) and other items of their equipment. These military professional groups appear in the texts as mrynm (Akk. maryannu) 'charioteers'; mdrglm (Akk. u n . t u ) 'watchmen, guards', tnnm (Akk. anann)
'warriors' and others. 24 Soldiers of foreign origin (Ug. trtnm Akk.
erdana) as is evident from the texts, had to serve under the same
conditions, and, received the same kind of deliveries and lands in
conditional holding. 25 Naturally, our knowledge here is also limited
by the fragmentary state of the administrative tablets.
g) As noted, there are texts on tribute delivered to the Hittite king
to which the professional groups of all specializations contributed
together with the villages. T h e same applies to the small n u m b e r of

4.145 = R S 15.034; for a different interpretation cf. V I T A 1995a, 42-7.


K T U 3.7 = RS 18.118; K T U 4.33 = RS 5.248; K T U 4.53 = RS 10.090;
K T U 4.54 = RS 10.103; K T U 4.58 = RS 11.[902]; K T U 4.69 = RS 11.715+
(also bdt mrynm and bdl mdrglm 'subjects of the maiyannu/mdrglm'), K T U 4.99 = RS
11.845; K T U 4.102 = RS 11.857; K T U 4.103 = RS 11.858; K T U 4.126 = RS
14.084; K T U 4.137 = RS 15.015+; K T U 4.149 = RS 15.039; K T U 4.152 = RS
15.045; K T U 4.162 = RS 15.067+; K T U 4.163 = RS 15.073; (also bn mrynm'sons of the maiyannu', K T U 4.170 = RS 15.084 (also n'r mrynm 'youths of the
maiyannu'), K T U 4.173 = RS 15.094 (also bn mrynm), K T U 4.174 = RS 15.096;
K T U 4.179 = RS 15.103; K T U 4.183 = RS 15.116; K T U 4.213 = RS 16.127;
K T U 4.216 = RS 16.165; K T U 4.230 = RS 16.341; K T U 4.244 = RS 16.396;
K T U 4.322 = RS 18.007A; K T U 4.379 = RS 18.098; K T U 4.387 = RS 18.112;
K T U 4.416 = RS 18.252; K T U 4.485 = RS 18.[381]; K T U 4.528 = RS 18.[448];
K T U 4.561 = RS 18. [489]; K T U 4.623 = RS 19.049[]; K T U 4.635 = RS 19.096;
K T U 4.751 = RS 29.096; PRU 3, 192 = RS 12.034+12.043; PRU 3, 123 =
RS 15.123 + 16.152; PRU 3, 118 = RS 15.155; PRU 3, 142 = RS 16.136; PRU
3, 79 = RS 16.239; PRU 3, 96 = RS 16.249; PRU 3, 199 = RS 16.126B + 16.257 +
16.258 + 16.345; PRU 6, 31 = RS 19.98; PRU 6, 90 = RS 19.114; PRU 6, 93 =
RS 17.131; PRU 6, 131 = RS 19.035A; PRU 6, 136 = RS 17.240; Ug 5, 68 = RS
20.246. Cf. also H E L T Z E R 1979C.
25
H E L T Z E R 1979d; see in general V I T A 1995a, 93 129.
23

24

K T U

archers, w h o m the villages and the professional groups had to contribute to the guard, according to K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716.
h) A very important part of the administrative texts are the agrarian
tablets, mostly in alphabetic cuneiform or Ugaritic. In contrast to
the legal agrarian texts, written in Akkadian, which list individual
cases in which the serviceman (military or civilian) receives land
grants in conditional holding from the king for his service, these are
administrative documents simply recording the delivery of a field to
a person or its transfer from one person to another. Sometimes the
texts record the service fields (or vineyards) in certain villages. In the
Ugaritic texts these fields are called ubdy, updt or ubdit. T h e word is
of Hittite origin, meaning 'carrying out, performing obligations' ( I m p a r a t i 1974, 107) and has the same meaning as the Akkadian word
pilku, known only from Ugarit ( H e l t z e r 1981; W a t s o n 1995c, 542).
T h e texts are composed in general according to the following formulae: sd ubdy (name of profession) dt b (name of gt x), ' T h e service
field of the professionals X, who are at the gt. . .' O r : d/krrn ubdy
P N b (name of village), 'field/vineyard ubdy of PN in (name of the
village)'. T h e r e are also other formulae with slight variations. In some
cases we read simply sd bd PN, 'a field in the hands of PN'. A number of texts list several fields as at the disposal of one person. Often
the title of the passage of the text where several persons are mentioned with their fields denotes the profession of the servicemen who
had the fields (or vineyards) at their disposal.
T h e r e is also an example of the redistribution of fields. In this
case the formula is as follows: sd X bd ' T h e field of (PN) X to
the hands (i.e. at the disposal) of (PN) Y'. Possibly it designates the
fields of the nayylu, persons who did not fulfil their obligations, which
were given to other servicemen ( H e l t z e r 1 9 8 2 , 1 9 - 2 2 ) .
Last, but not least, a very interesting feature here is the distribution
or transfer to certain persons of fields designated as sbr (possibly an
abbreviation for (sd) sbr, Akk. eqel sibbiru, 'communal (or public) field');
this has a possible parallel in the early R o m a n republican ager publicus.26

26

T h e ^ - f i e l d s are said to belong to the following classes: trrm 'the trrmprofessionals' (KTU 4.7 = RS [Varia 18]T); mdm 'friends (of the king)' (KTU 4.103 =
RS 11.858:1) miynm 'marjwmu-warriors' (line 8); 'liaison men' (line 20); 'rm
'overseers of ten men' (line 30); mri ibm 'liaison men of (prince) Ibirnu' (line 37);
tgrm 'gatekeepers' (line 39); rm 'singers' (line 41), nqdm 'shepherds' (line 44); mdrglm
'watchmen' (line 54), etc.; sd ubdy Iltm' dt bd skn 'Ubdy 'fields in the (village) llistam'i,
which are at the disposal of the skinu' (KTU 4.110 = RS 12.006:1-2); zt ubdym

i) A n u m b e r of texts are devoted to pasturing cattle, a n d the


important thing here is that the royal servicemen 'shepherds', r'ym,
were engaged in this. At least some of these had their 'youth(s)' sgr(rr)
or 'apprentices' (Imdm). T h e y worked not only in the royal economy
on the gts but took cattle for pasture from the villagers of the kingdom of Ugarit, as well as from various professional groups of royal
servicemen. 27 T h e r e is also a particular tax from villagers and royal
servicemen known as, kaspu a maqqadi, 'silver for pasturing'. 2 8
1.2.4

Cadastral texts

T h e r e is a group of cadastral texts, but it is not absolutely clear


whether the persons mentioned in them are villagers living in the
communal framework or royal servicemen. They are mentioned in
the same text as living in different villages. Besides the head of the
household (or family) are listed his wife (or wives), sons, daughters
(in one case even his son-in-law) and male and female slaves ('bd,
amt). Some persons designated as gzr 'youth' and pgt 'girl' figure here.
Possibly these are children, teenagers or dependent members of the
family. 29
'ubdy olive groves' (KTU 4.164 = RS 15.075:3); also K T U 4.183 = RS 15.116;
K T U 4.222 = RS 16.193; K T U 4.244 = RS 16.396; K T U 4.282 = RS 17.246;
K T U 4.340 = RS 18.027; K T U 4.344 = RS 18.030; K T U 4.356 = RS 18.046;
K T U 4.357 = RS 18.047; K T U 4.389 = RS 18.117; K T U 4.399 = RS 18.138;
K T U 4.416 = RS 18.252; K T U 4.423 = RS 18.295; K T U 4.424 = RS 18.296;
K T U 4.425 = RS 18.297; K T U 4.692 = RS 20.145 ubdy yshm'the ubdy fields of
heralds'. And according to K T U 4.631 = RS 19.072 a number of ubdy-fields in
the village are distributed among various persons. In addition there is mention of
the handing over of the field I qrt 'to the village', which received the field under
its collective responsibility (lines 4 - 6 , 6, 9, 14, 16, 17, 21, 23-24). The sibbiru-elds
are mentioned in PRU 3, 143 = RS 16.137; and PRU 6, 55 = RS 18.022; cf. also
K T U 4.375 = RS 18.084 (jr-fields in various villages).
27
H E L T Z E R 1 9 8 2 ; texts: K T U 4 . 7 5 = R S 1 1 . 7 3 5 + ; K T U 4 . 1 2 5 - R S
14.001;
K T U

4.129=

K T U

4.243

RS

K T U

4.391

RS

K T U

4.618

RS

RS

15.001;

K T U

16.395;

4.153

K T U

18.129; K T U
19.045;

4.374
4.440 =

K T U

4.729

RS

RS

RS
=

15.046;

K T U

4.175

RS

18.082;

K T U

4.378

RS

18.[317]; K T U

RS

24.301;

K T U

15.096;
18.087;

4.493 =

RS

18.[391];

4.740

RS

24.660E;

these mention /ym ('shepherds') and their sgr(m) and Imdm. In PRU 6, 118 = RS
18.116 the /ym receive cattle for pasturage from various persons; the delivery of
cattle into the charge of certain persons is recorded in PRU 3 , 1 8 8 = R S 1 6 . 2 9 0 ;
PRU

3, 2 0 5

RS

16.155;

PRU

6,

RS

19.69;

28

119

PRU

PRU

6,
6,

115

120 =

RS

RS

17.37;

19.116;

PRU
PRU

6,
6,

117
121

=
=

RS
RS

17.136;
19.141.

PRU 6, 116 = R S 17.64 ( M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1995a).


K T U 4.80 = RS 11.778; K T U 4.295 = RS 17.312; K T U 4.360 = RS 18.050;
K T U 4.417 = RS 18.258; K T U 4.419 = RS 18.289; K T U 4.432 = RS 18. [303];
KTU 4.519 = RS 18.[436]; K T U 4.644 = RS 19.106. Cf. also H E L T Z E R 1976, 84-90.
2!l

1.2.5

The navy

T h e maritime location of Ugarit gave rise to the engagement of its


inhabitants in building ships, manufacturing equipment for ships and
joining their crews. As mentioned, we know of 'shipwrights' (hr any)
who were royal ardsans. But whether the ships crews were royal
servicemen or mobilized villagers is uncertain, though the latter seems
more probable. T h e texts refer to various types of ships and naval
equipment at the royal stores, and even to shipbuilding. 30 Documents
on foreign trade involving ships are not considered here.
1.2.6

Deserters

W e have observed that there are m a n y texts concerning various


obligations of the population of Ugarit of various social positions.
But not everyone was able or willing to fulfil his obligations. Apart
from the legal texts, where villagers and royal servicemen were proclaimed nayylu (cf. above), some administrative texts mention 'deserters' (aml ME mu-un-na-<ab>-tu-ti;
PRU 6, 76 = R S 17.361) and
another tablet lists six men from various villages who la-li-ku sa il-ki
'did not perform the ilku (corve)'. 31
1.2.7

The bdlm

T h e foregoing (cf. 10.1.3.1 on the ardME ardME arri, a n d


10.1.2.3 on the sgrm and 1mdrr) leads us to texts concerning persons who were the subjects of royal servicemen and who also received
rations and deliveries from the royal stores. T h e y too belonged to
the bn mlk the 'royal servicemen', but as the delivery texts indicate,
they were of a lower category. In this connection there arises the
question of the Ug. bdlm (Akk. bidalma), who appear in the admin-

30

Ship's crews from various villages K T U 4.40 = RS 8.279 and PRU 4, 138 =
RS 19.46 with an indication that the ships belong to the king (anyt mlk) appears on
tablet K T U 4.421 = RS 18.291; various types of ships belonging to (or used by)
coastal villagers of the kingdom. K T U 4.81 = RS 11.779; K T U 4.366 = RS 18.074;
K T U 4.371 = RS 18.080A; PRU 6, 73 = RS 19.1 07A, equipment for ships PRU
6, 141 = RS 19.112 together with food {PRU 6, 150 = RS 18.101A and possibly
PRU 6, 164 = RS 19.90). Ships of the king of Carchemish in Ugarit. R S O 7 5,
23-5, RS 34.147; cf. also H E L T Z E R 1976: 2 1 - 4 ; H E L T Z F . R 1982: 1 8 8 - 9 1 and V I T A
1995a, 159-76.
31
PRU 6, 77 = RS 19.032; cf. also Ug 5, 96 = RS 20.012, where besides mentioning 'servants' (arrff M ) who performed (Mima), also mentions 16 persons la sal-lima 'who did not perform their duties'.

istrative texts. T h e y are first mentioned in alphabetic and syllabic


texts as bdl mrynm/maiyannu bi-da-lu-ma. T h e y also a p p e a r after the
reference to the tamkars 'traders, merchants', and there are also bdl
of mdrglm ' w a t c h m e n ' and of qrtjm ( K T U 4.85 = R S 11.786) etc.
T h e bdlm/bidalma noted in PRU 3, 199 = R S 16.126b + 16.257 +
16.258 + 16.345:12 f e a t u r e t h e r e as a g r o u p after the tamkr
(L Ml'DAM.GRM ), Rainey and Astour understand this term to m e a n
' m e r c h a n t ' ( R a i n e y 1963, 136-7; A s t o u r 1972a). Heltzer, instead,
argues that if we add together the bdlrn/bidaluma of all groups of the
servicemen, they a m o u n t to approximately one-third of the total and
so it is not possible for all of them to be merchants or traders. 32
Heltzer explains the word not from the Akk. badlu, 'to trade' but
as bd + /, 'into the hands o f ' . T h u s , they must have been the auxiliary personnel of the maryannu, lamkru, etc. ( H e l t z e r 1978a, 122,
n. 10). Sanmartin proposes that bdlm m e a n s 'substitutes, reservists',
or even 'subjects'. 3 3 T h e word bdlm, written in syllabic cuneiform as
bi-da-lu-ma, appears in the same text (PRU 3, 199 = R S 16.126b +
16.257 + 16.258 + 16.345) as the Akkadian word tamkr a n d by
analogy with lXJMEmu-/ce-nu-tum LU M a-i-ru-ma 'the mukntum of the
airu ('rm "overseers o f t e n " ) ' (PRU 3, 199 = R S 16.126b + 16.257 +
16.258 + 16.345 iii 30) and LME5mu-ke-nu-tum L M E u n . t u 'mukntum of the u n . t u (i.e. mdrglm)' (ibid., iv 20), they have to be considered as 'substitutes' or 'subjects' of the people to w h o m they belonged.
In all the other texts from Ugarit where the bdlm a p p e a r they are
not connected with trade. 34 W e mention this discussion here to demonstrate that not all questions of interpretation of Ugaritic terms have
been definitely settled.
1.2.8

The clergy

A n u m b e r of texts are devoted to the clergy. First of all come the


khnm (Akk. ang) 'priests' a n d the qdm (Akk. br) 'diviners'. Besides
the temple personnel there are, presumably, lists from local sanctuaries.
32
Cf. also H E L T Z E R 1 9 8 2 , 1 1 4 . According to K T U 4 . 6 9 = R S 1 1 . 7 1 5 + ii 6 - 1 0
bdl mrynm are listed after the mrynm, K T U 4 . 1 3 7 = R S 1 5 . 0 1 5 + : 4 ; K T U 4 . 1 7 3 =
R S 1 5 . 0 9 4 : 5 and K T U 4 . 1 6 3 = R S 1 5 . 0 7 3 : 8 bn mrynm 'sons of maiyannu, K T U
4 . 1 7 9 = R S 1 5 . 1 0 3 n'r mrynm, lit.' 'youth of the maiyannu'. Naturally, the subjects
of the maiyannu are mentioned very often.
33
S A N M A R T I N 1988a, 1 7 1 - 4 ; 1991, 183-4. R E N F R O E (1988, 2 2 1 7) comes to a
different conclusion.
34

K T U

K T U

4.85

4.116 =

=
RS

RS

11.786;

K T U

12.048:20; K T U

4.86

4.134 =

RS
RS

11.788;

K T U

15.006; K T U

RS

11.840;

4.214 =

4.96

RS

16.128.

T h e khnm and qdm, like other temple personnel, belonged to the


royal servicemen (bn mlk), and the texts do not indicate whether the
clergy exercised strong political or economic influence. T h e r e are
texts recording the presentation by the king of fields to the priests
in conditional holding, as well as distributions of natural products to
them. 3 5 As noted above, there was also a 'high priest' (rb khnm).36
1.2.9

Mobilization

W e mentioned above the lists concerning about mobilization of villagers and royal servicemen into the army, and also deliveries to
various people in military professions, who according to the administrative texts did not differ formally from other professional groups.
T h e villagers and servicemen, as noted, also received arms for their
military or guard duty. 37 T h e r e are also texts listing various groups
of royal servicemen, always stating that they performed their service
'at the royal house (palace)'. 38
1.2.10

Administrators

A n u m b e r of very important sections, although not the longest, from


texts concern the royal administrators, who are also mentioned in
letters, and in legal and international political texts.
T h e r e are deliveries of silver (?), flour and garments to the skinu, namely, the skinu of the country. 39 Information is also available
about the family of the skn/skinu.*0 Moreover, some tablets shed

35

K T U 4.29 = RS 3.320; K T U 4.36 = RS 8.208:1; K T U 4.38 = RS 8.272;


K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716:72; K T U 4.69 = RS 11.715+ vi 22-37; K T U 4.99 = RS
11.845:9; K T U 4.126 = RS 14.084:6; K T U 4.282 = RS 17.246:5; K T U 4.357 =
RS 18.047:24; K T U 4.412 = RS 18.251 [A] ii 1 - 5 (the beginning of the column is
broken but the qdm follow and usually they were preceded by the khnm), K T U
4.41 = RS 18.252:6; K T U 4.633 = R S ' 19.086A:4-14; K T U 4.745 = RS 25.417:5;
K T U 4.761 = RS 34.123; PRU 3, 199 = RS 16.126B +16.257 + iii 37-55; PRU
3, 168 = RS 16.186:13; PRU 6, 43 = RS 17.131; PRU 6, 27 = RS 17.001; PRU
6, 136 = RS 17.240.
36
K T U 6.6 = RS 1.[051]; K T U 6.7 = RS 1.f053]; K T U 6.8 = RS 1.[054];
K T U 6.9 = RS 1.[055]; and some non-administrative texts in Akkadian and Ugaritic.
37
PRU 3, 191 = RS 11.841 [A]; PRU 6, 131 = RS 19.035A which documents a
consignment of arms.
38
K T U 4.137 = RS 15.015+; K T U 4.163 = RS 15.073; K T U 4.173 = RS
15.094; K T U 4.174 = RS 15.095; K T U 4.179 = RS 15.103.
39
K T U 4.342 = RS 18.028[a] K T U 4.361 = RS 18.051; K T U 4.132 = RS
15.004:5; cf. also LIPINSKI 1973.
40
K T U 4.102 = RS 11.857:16.

light on the difference between the skn/skinu of the country and the
local skns who were the royal nominees as governors of certain vil-

lages (Ug. skn qrt, Akk. skin li or ha?jinnu h).4]


O t h e r administrative personnel such as the 'r(m) (Akk. airu), 'overseers) of (teams) of ten', also feature in the administrative texts.
These, together with the maryannu and others, receive large quantities of oil,42 as well as other products, possibly on a yearly basis,
including lands in dependent holding.
T h e administrative texts make it possible to distinguish different
groups of the mrum (Akk. mur'u), possibly of the king; mr'u skn (Akk.
mur'u skinu); and mr'u ibm (Akk. rnur'u ibirna (apparently, when Ibir-

nu was the heir to the throne). Similar is the mr'u utryn (Akk. mur'u
uriyanni) 'the mr'u of the heir.' All the texts listing deliveries to them,
together with their appearance in non-administrative texts, show them
to be some kind of liaison-officers 43 of the king, the heir to the throne
and the skinu. T h e administrative texts hardly mention scribes, unlike
the other texts from Ugarit. 44 However, the 'friends of the king', Ug.
md(m) (Akk. mdu), are often also mentioned in administrative texts. 45

1.2.11 Ancillary palace personnel


T h e auxiliary palace personnel likewise finds a place in the administrative archives of Ugarit. We believe that at least the gatekeepers

41
K T U 4.63 = RS 10.052; K T U 4.288 = RS 17.293; K T U 4.609 = RS
19.016:11.
42
PRU 3, 199 = RS 16.126B +16.257 + iii B; cf. also K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716;
K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845; K T U 4.103 = RS 11.858; K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001;
K T U 4.392 = RS 18.130; K T U 4.415 = RS 18.251 []; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016;
PRU 3, 134 = RS 15.137; PRU 6, 93 = RS 17.131; PRU 6, 116 = RS 17.064;
PRU 6, 131 = R S 19.035A:3; PRU 6, 72 = R S 19.065 and other texts; cf. V I T A
1995a, 145-7. Note also the rb 'rt 'chief of ten' ( K T U 4.714 = RS 22.231).
43
HELTZER 1982: 154-6; K T U 4.36 = RS 8.208; K T U 4.47 = RS 10.043; K T U
4.48 = RS 10.045; K T U 4.69 = RS 11.715+; K T U 4.92 = RS 11.799; K T U 4.99
= RS 11.845; K T U 4.103 = RS 11.858; K T U 4.105 = RS 13.014 [bis]; K T U
4.126 = RS 14.084; K T U 4.137 = RS 15.015+; K T U 4.163 = RS 15.073; K T U
4.173 = RS 15.094; K T U 4.174 = RS 15.095; K T U 4.179 = RS 15.103; K T U
4.207 = RS 16.006; K T U 4.212 = RS 16.107; K T U 4.332 = RS 18.010+; K T U
4.410 = RS 18.250BA; K T U 4.416 = RS 18.252; K T U 4.745 = RS 25.417;
PRU 3, 162 = RS 16.348; PRU 3, 194 = RS 11.839; PRU 3, 199 = RS 16.126B
+ 16.257 + iv; PRU 6, 93 = RS 17.131; PRU 6, 116 = RS 17.64; PRU 6, 131 =
RS 19.35A; PRU 6, 136 = RS 17.240.
44
K T U 4.89 = RS 1 1.796.
45
H E L T Z E R 1982, 161-3; K T U 4.38 = RS 8.272; K T U 4.47 = RS 10.043; K T U
4.54 = RS 10.103; K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845; K T U 4.103 = RS 11.858; K T U

of the palace belonged there. Thus, the texts even mention the 'gatekeeper of the king' (,tgr mlk) and 'the gatekeeper of the palace' (tgr
M/). 46 Some texts refer to the palace 'fowlers' (yqm, syllabic ya-qiu-m),47 Also mentioned are 'tailors' (IX,TUG.LA),48 an 'acrobat' ( ]V huppu)
for performing, a 'jester' (aluzinnu)49 and a 'seal-cutter' ( u parkullu).M
A 'singer' (Lnru), a 'cook' (l u nuhatimmuf 1 and a 'cymbalist' ( L l masi-lii) appear in the same text. 52 It is also interesting that a m o n g the
'royal servicemen' (bn mlk) a 'barber' (gallbu) figures once also.
1.2.12

The royal stores

W h a t is known about the royal stores is derived almost exclusively


from the alphabetic texts. Note that we do not know about the distribution of these products, for they are neither staple foods nor wine
or oil. Naturally they were a m o n g the goods made by local artisans
or imported by the authorities. But due to the lack of information
on the prices of these products, and since tamkrs are not mentioned
in connection with them, we cannot ascribe them to the commercial texts. Even so, they provide us with a wealth of economic data.
Thus, various textiles and garments are listed, including pgndr,53 kndw
'net', 5 4 kndpnt (?),55 hpn 'a kind of blanket', 56 pld (Akk. palidu), some

4.188 = R S 15.169+; K T U 4.245 = R S 16.397 i and ii; K T U 4.387 = R S 18.112;


K T U 4.690 = R S 20.009; PRU 6, 93 = R S 17.131.
4,1
K T U 4.224 = RS 16.195; K T U 4.63 = RS 10.052; cf. also K T U 4.195 =
RS 15.184 and K T U 4.103 = RS 11.258; K T U 4.126 = R S 14.084; K T U 4.128
= R S 14.176; K T U 4.141 = RS 15.022+; K T U 4.195 = R S 15.184; K T U 4.609
= R S 19.016: 7.63 and PRU 6, 93 = R S 17.131.
47
K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845; K T U 4.114 = RS 12.027; K T U 4.126 = RS 14.084;
PRU 6, 136 = RS 17.240; Ug 5, 96 = RS 20.12.
48
PRU 6, 93 = R S 17.131:17.
49
PRU 6, 93 = RS 17.131:21, 22.
50
PRU 6, 93 = R S 17.131:24.
51
PRU 6, 93 = R S 17.131:24-25.
52
PRU 6, 136 = R S 17.240:10.
5:1
Hurrian pa/fandari, and in our opinion, Mycenaean pekitira, some kind of cloth
or blanket; K T U 4 . 4 = R S 2 . [ 0 3 2 ] : 1 - 2 ; K T U 4 . 3 7 0 = R S 1 8 . 0 7 9 : 1 0 ; PRU 3 , 2 0 6
= R S 1 5 . 1 3 5 ; (Ribichini - X e l l a 1 9 8 5 , 6 1 ) .
54
K T U 4.4 = R S 2. [032] :4 (RIBICHINI - XELLA 1985, 41).
55
K T U 4.4 = RS 2.[032]:2; PRU 3, 206 = R S 15.135:13 (RIBICHINI - XELLA
1985, 41).
56
K T U 4.4 = RS 2.[032]:3 (RIBICHINI - XELLA 1985, 41). K T U 4.4:4; K T U
4.148 = RS 15.038:19; K T U 4.152 = R S 15.045:5; K T U 4.156 = RS 15.053:5;
K T U 4.166 = RS 15.078:2; K T U 4.182 = RS 15.115:35; K T U 4.190 = R S 15.171
a:4; K T U 4.270 = RS 17.111:7; K T U 4.363 = R S 18.055:3; K T U 4.765 = RS
34.180,10:4; K T U 5.11 = R S 17.117:16 (Ribichini - XELLA 1985, 39).

kind of cover, 57 hlpn, possibly a kind of tunic, 58 nps, more probably


a set of clothing, as the text concerns textiles, 59 lb/p 'garment', 6 0
mrdt 'carpet', 6 1 kdwt (?),62 ktnt 'tunic.' (Akk. kitu), rt, possibly a 'linen
garment', 6 3 kst some kind of cover, 64 mlb,65 possibly a variant of 1p
'garment', 6 6 sk 'garment', 6 7 and hpn, m a d e of linen, used as a blanket both for humans and horses. 68 Textiles and garments are also
mentioned in other types of text which mostly concern stores, though
many of the terms remain obscure. 69
T h e r e are also texts concerning chariots, one of which ( K T U 4.145
= R S 15.034) mentions their components, 'wheels' (apnt), 'arrows'
'quivers' (utpt) and so on, whereas other involve complete chariots. 70
T h e r e are also data about furniture a n d wooden architectural
items, 71 unusual containers used for perfumes and other items. 72 Likewise, there are various spices such as mastic ()3 and aromatic oils

57

K T U

15.045;
RS
=

4.4

K T U

1 8 . 0 5 5 ; PRU
RS

58

2.[032]:4;
=

6,

RS

128

K T U

16.004:7;
RS

4.117 = R S

4.721

19.104:3;

RS

12.060; K T U

23.028:1,

K T U 4.166 = RS 15.078:1;

60

K T U

23.028;

4.166

RIBICHINI -

K T U

4.270

RS

XELLA

4.205 = R S

RS

15.078:3;
1985,

RS

PRU

15.035:7;

6,

RS

127

K T U

17.115:8;
RS

4.152

K T U

19.57:3;

RS

4.363

PRU

6,

=
129

4.192 = R S

RIBICHINI K T U

15.176; K T U

4.630 =

XELLA

1985,

XELLA

1985, 54.

4.205

RS

RS

19.062;

38).

16.004;

K T U

4.721

RS

44-6.

cf. also mrbd

1 6 . 0 0 4 : 6 ; RIBICHINI - X E L L A 1 9 8 5 , 5 0 - 1 ;

K T U

17.111:11.

62

K T U

4.205

RS

16.004:19;

6:I

K T U

4.203

RS

16.001:8;

64

K T U

4.206

18.055:1; K T U
1985,

4.270

e t c . (RIBICHINI -

59

61

4.146
K T U

19.133A:5.

K T U

K T U

RS

4.205

RS

4.402 =

16.005:1;
RS

RIBICHINI K T U

4.206

K T U

XELLA
=

4.337

18.142; K T U

RS
=

RS

4.721 =

1985,

40-1.

16.005.
18.024;

K T U

4.363

R S 2 3 . 0 2 8 : 1 ; RIBICHINI -

RS

XELLA

43-4.

65

K T U 4.206 = RS 16.005:5; R I B I C H I N I - X E L L A 1985, 42.


66
K T U 4.257 = RS 17.[473] [b]:5; Cf. K T U 4.182 = RS 15.115:63 and Akk.
malbau from Ugarit; R I B I C H I N I
XF.I.LA 1985, 49.
67
K T U 4.270 = R S 17.111:6; (cf. K T U 4.525 = R S 18.[445]:1); R I B I C H I N I XELLA
68

1985,

K T U

RS

55.

4.270

34.180,10:4,

RS

17.111:7;

etc. Cf.

K T U

RIBICHINI -

4.363

XELLA

RS
1985,

18.066:3-4,

6-7;

K T U

4.765

39.

69

So far, the best example of the organization of the textile industry remains the
large tablet on distribution of raw material to weavers: T H U R E A U - D A N G I N 1 9 3 4 .
70

K T U

18.[402];
71

72

K T U

4.167
K T U
4.195

RS

4.602
=

RS

15.079;
RS

K T U

4.447

RS

18.[325]+;

K T U

4.500

RS

18.[551].

15.184.

sp(m) 'cup(s)' (KTU 4.34 = RS 6.216) spl 'cup' (KTU 4.385 = RS 18.110:3;
K T U 4.123 = RS 13.014:17); K T U 4.123 = RS 13.0141 also lists irpm 'vases' (20)
trqm (meaning unknown) (20) and mqhm 'pincers' (possibly for perfume) or 'tongs' (21).
73
K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643:22 kL ; K T U 4.402 = RS 18.142:10-11 'r kat
(read ktt) 'ten flasks of balsam'.

such as 'myrrh oil' (mn mr),u 'spiced oil' (smn rqh)75 and even 'lamp
oil' (mn nr),16 possibly a kind of olive oil treated in a special way. 77
T h e r e are also texts listing various metal implements, though it is
not completely clear whether they were used for agriculture, for shipbuilding or for military purposes.
1.2.13

Descendants

In a large n u m b e r of tablets, especially those in alphabetic cuneiform,


the names of persons, villagers or professional royal dependents are
listed, followed by wnhlh, 'and his descendant(s)', sometimes with the
addition of wnhlhm, 'and their descendants'. 78 T h e 'descendants' receive
deliveries and fields in conditional holding together with the royal
dependents (bnl mlk).
1.2.14

Labels

T h e r e is also a relatively large n u m b e r of bullae or labels which


were sometimes added to various delivered goods and described their
contents. 79

1.3

Conclusion

This brief description of the administrative and economic texts in


the alphabetic Ugaritic script and in syllabic Akkadian from the kingd o m of Ugarit provides an insight into the social and economic history of this kingdom at least during the 13th and u p to the early
12th century bce. 80 Naturally, it is impossible in this brief summary
74

RS
75

KTU

4.14 = R S

11.797:14; K T U

1 . 0 1 2 : 2 , 7 , 1 5 ( h o w e v e r , c f . SANMARTIN 1 9 9 0 ) ; K T U
4.786 =

RS

[Varia

4.91

22]:14.

K T U 5.10 = RS 17.063:7-8; K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643:21.


K T U 4.786 = RS [Varia 22]:8 kd smn nr 'a jar of lamp oil'.
77
K T U 4.670 = RS 19.174B; PRU 6, 142 = RS 19.135.
78
It is impossible to list such texts here as there are scores of them; cf. K T U
4.35 = R S 8.134 i 20, 22, 26, ii 5 - 6 , 20; K T U 4.631 = RS 19.072:2, 3, 7, 8, 10,
12, 15, 18-19, etc.
79
K T U 6.11 = RS 5.262 kd []yn I prt 'one jar of wine to Prt'; K T U 6.12 =
RS 5.269; K T U 6.20 = RS 15.097 1 nsk *[sp] 2'rt 3w ns[p] 'To the jewellers (lit.
"silver-casters") ten and a half'; cf. also K T U 6.21 = RS 15.192A; K T U 6.22 =
RS 15.226; K T U 6.24 = RS 17.072; K T U 6.26 = RS 17.318B; K T U 6.27 = RS
17.361B, etc. See, in general, VAN S O L D T 1989b.
80
It seems that these short and concise documents were often unbaked and not
kept for very long, in contrast to the royal archives containing legal and political
texts.
76

to give a full description of the texts, study of which can yield so


much information. A m o n g the texts cited but not included in this
short account may be noted many small fragments of texts. Clearly
they provide meagre information. However, sometimes new finds
and the publication of tablets, if there are parallel or similar texts,
make it possible to reconstruct some texts which has been done to
some extent in the existing publications. M a n y tablets remain unpublished 81 and we must hope that this situation will change. We must
also bear in mind that the classification of the texts in various categories, as given above, is somewhat artificial, but may be the basis
for further studies.

2.1

C o m m e r c e

Ugarit as a trade centre

Ugarit was an important centre of international trade in the latter


half of the second millennium bce, and possibly there was also internal trade on a smaller scale. O u r knowledge of Ugaritian commerce
comes from archaeological documentation, especially from the excavations in the port of Ugarit, m o d e r n Minet-el-Beida.
By the 18th century bce, Ugarit was already an important commercial centre, with connections in one direction with Mesopotamia
(Mari) and in the other with Crete and the Aegean area. T h e information about the visit of the king of Mari, Zimri-Lim, to Ugarit,
and his commercial activities provides good evidence for this claim. 82
T h e flourishing period of this international centre, however, was
from the 14th to the beginning of the 12th centuries bce. We find
here something similar to a royal monopoly of foreign trade: mutual
regulation by political agreements between neighbouring countries
and states concerning their trade. We learn much about prices, payments and transportation conditions of total overland and maritime
trade as well as about mutual coordination a m o n g various 'national'
metrological units, a necessary precondition for international trade.

01
K T U category 9, unpublished texts (CA 569-603) listing 529 tablets and fragments of tablets. Note that only alphabetic texts are mentioned.
K
T h e text ARA IT 23 No. 556, edited with comments by V I L L A R D 1986. On the
general problems of Mari trade with the Aegean via Ugarit, see H E L T Z E R 1989a.

2.2

The tamkari

In practice, trade was in the hands of the tamkrs (Ug. mkrm, Akk.
tamkruMh&, Sum. d a m . g a r ) , who were the royal commercial agents
of Ugarit and its neighbouring countries, although they sometimes
managed their own commercial operations, too.
T h e tamkrs (mkrm), like the other professional groups of royal
dependents (bns mlk), received land allotments as conditional holdings for their tamkrtu-service.83 T h e tamkrs (mkrm) as a professional
group are known from a n u m b e r of Ugaritic (alphabetic) and syllabic Akkadian texts. 84 Together with members of other professional
groups the tamkrs also had to participate in guard service as archers
and, together with these other professional groups, received deliveries in kind. 85

2.3

International treaties

T h e most i m p o r t a n t trade relations g u a r a n t e e d by international


treaties, as well as by orders of the Hittite king, were established
between Ugarit and the Hittite Empire and with the latter's vassalkingdoms, Carchemish, E m a r and others (cf. A b o u d 1 9 9 4 , 9 1 - 1 0 3 ) .
T h e r e are international texts concerning trade based on reciprocal agreements. T h u s we know of the declaration of Initeub, the
king of Carchemish, 8 6 that in cases when the tamkr sa mandatti87 of
the king of Ugarit, who maintain their commercial activities in
Carchemish, or the tamkrs of the king of Carchemish, with their
activities in Ugarit, are killed and robbed, the culprits shall be found
and punished. Restitution of property has to be made. If the murderers are not found, the people of the territory where the m u r d e r

83

PRU 5, 130 = R S 18.285 ( K T U 2.59 = RS 18. [500]) in which a certain


Abdihagab receives land allotments and for this ''pit-k[a]-u "'/ LMES tamkru-ut-ti
U
-ub-bal 'the service of tamkrship he shall perform.'
84
K T U 4.36 = R S 8.208; K T U 4.38 = R S 8.272; K T U 4.68 = R S 11.716;
K T U 4.126 = RS 14.084; K T U 4.137 = RS 15.015+; K T U 4.163 = RS 15.073;
K T U 4.173 = R S 15.094; K T U 4.174 = R S 15.095; K T U 4.179 = RS 15.103;
K T U 4.214 = R S 16.128; K T U 4.217 = RS 16.176; K T U 4.263 = RS 17.049;
K T U 4.369 = R S 18.078; K T U 4.430 = R S 18.301 []; K T U 4.745 = R S 25.417;
K T U 6.17 = RS 14.023; PRU 3, 20 = R S 15.063; PRU 3, 199 = RS 16. 126B +
16.257 + 16.258 ii 1-36; PRU 6, 93 = R S 17.131:3, etc.
8f
' K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716 and K T U 4.36 = RS 8.208; K T U 4.38 = R S 8.272.
8,i
PRU 4, 154 = R S 17.146; H E L T Z E R 1978a, 126-7; also Y A R O N 1969, 70-9.
87
T h e tamkrs are the trade-agents of the king or those who pay him taxes.

was committed had to pay 3 minas of silver as compensation. 8 8 We


also know that such cases occurred and that compensation for the
life of the tamkr was paid. 89 Some of these texts are also written as
agreements between the peoples of Carchemish and Ugarit.
Another important text is a dccrce (or dclaration) of the Hittite
king Hattusilis III made to Niqmepa, king of Ugarit. 90 T h e former
reacts to the complaint of the king of Ugarit that the stay of the
tamkrs of U r a (the seaport of the Hittite Empire) in Ugarit for a
full year is a heavy burden. T h e Hittite king declares that the tamkrs
of Ura have to leave Ugarit in wintertime. T h e tamkrs even had
the right to take all the moveable property of their debtors, as well
as their families and even the debtors themselves, but the lands of
the debtors had to remain in the hands of the king of Ugarit. 91
From another text we learn that objects in an olive grove belonging to the tamkrs of Ura were stolen, and then returned. 9 2 And in
yet another text the tamkrs of U r a are required to leave Ugarit in
wintertime (i-na ku-us-si), and not stay there and the same applies to
the 'sons of the city of Kutupa'. 9 3
It is clear from these texts as well as from others that commercial relations, especially in foreign trade, were bound by international law.
Again, U r a appears in the texts on international commercial relations at the end of the Hittite Empire, as does Ugarit about 1200
bce. According to Ug 5, 33 = R S 20.213, the Hittite king orders
the king of Ugarit to transport 200 kur (ca 500 tons) of grain on his
ships to the Hittite country via the port of Ura. 9 4
2.3.1

Trading partners

T h e commercial texts may be classified into several categories depending with which country or countries Ugarit was trading.

88

See also PRU 5, 76 = RS 18.045 and PRU 4, 160 = RS 18.019.


PRU 4, 106 = RS 17.229 and PRU 4, 153 = RS 17.230.
90
PRU 4 , 103 = RS 17.130; also H E L T Z E R 1978a, 127-8; Y A R O N 1969, 71-2.
91
Duplicates PRU 4, 154 = RS 17.461 and RS 18.003 (mentioned PRU 4, 103).
92
PRU 4, 182 = RS 17.319; possibly a similar text is the fragment PRU 4, 190 =
RS 17.316.
93
T h e location of this city is unknown. Text: R S O 7, No. 1 = RS 34.179.
94
See also the fragment Ug 5, 145 = RS 26.158; H E L T Z E R 1978a, 153 5.
89

2.3.1.1

T r a d e with C a n a a n

Certain texts pertain to the relations between Ugarit and the cities
of the Canaanite coast which concerned maritime trade. Thus, according to PRU 6, 126 = RS 19.029, a n u m b e r of pieces, 95 25 in all,
are handed over to a certain Abihili 'to Byblos' (a-na gu-ub-li). Another
text ( K T U 4.338 = R S 18.025) mentions a sum of "540 "shekels
of silver; this is the silver of the ships l2 that was pledged a m o n g the
ships l3 for the king of Byblos, l 4 and 15the king of Byblos took 50
(shekels) of silver l6 as the property (cargo) of his ship'. 96
Possibly, too, there were maritime commercial relations with Sidon. 97
Information is available about maritime connections with Tyre (sr).98
It also seems that in addition maritime relations were maintained
with Ashdod and Ashkelon on the south coast of Canaan. 9 9
2.3.1.2

T r a d e with Egypt

Naturally, the commercial texts have a great deal to say about Egypt.
A letter concerning a ship b o u n d for Egypt has been mentioned
above. PRU 6, 14 = RS 19.050 is devoted to commercial trips to
Egypt and Hatti.
An interesting text from many aspects is Ug 5, 42 = R S 20.21.
T h e king of neighbouring Unatu, connected with Ugarit, writes to
the king of Ugarit that he had a treaty with him. H e relates that
he sent a certain Ba'aliya with other persons and property. Also,
that this person, possibly Ba'aliya, 'gave over this person, his companion, to the sons of Egypt, and left him there', 100 but took his
property. This is not the only such text.
Another text is R S O 7, No. 16 = RS 34.158. Again, the king of
Unatu writes to Uzzinu, who was the skinu (of the land of Ugarit).
H e says that one of his servants, (i.e. a Ugaritian) 'handed over the

95

subti^
elipptiMfcS ma-as-fra-tu-ma '7 garments of ships' (possibly sai1s(?)).
hm m't arb'm 11 kbd ksp anyt nd 'rb.banyt l3/ mlk gbl Hw. bmm ksp i5lqh mlk gbl
16
lbs anytk. See also H E L T Z E R 1978a, 143; M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1993a.
97
Cf. PRU 6, 81 = RS 19.182. Byblos is also mentioned in this text.
98
K T U 2.38 = RS 18.031 and K T U 2.40 = RS 18.040. In a letter, the Tyrian
king reports that a ship bound for Egypt is still in Tyre. Akko is also mentioned
there.
99
K T U 4.635 = RS 19.096; PRU 6, 79 = RS 19.042:4. Arwad is also mentioned in this text; PRU 6, 96 = RS 19.91:4; PRU 6, 156 = RS 19.020.
100 15
e-nu-ma amla a-a-i 16LU tap-pi-u "ip-u-ru-un-mi ,Ha-na mr N " S mi-is-r[i-i]
9
iz-za-ab-u.
96 W

slave (or servant) to the sons of the land of Egypt'. 101 Later in the
text, he makes the accusation that the culprit is Ba'aliya, who was
mentioned in the previous text. T h u s we even learn about criminal
activities in commercial relations with Egypt.
T h e r e are also other texts about more regular trade relations with
Egypt, including the fact that some tamkrs were combining their
efforts. T h e tablet K T U 3.8 = R S 19.066 is an account of this.
According to this tablet, a few persons combined their capital and
efforts and go together on a tamkr-trip to Egypt. 102 R S O 7, 71-2
No. 33 = RS 34.173 possibly shows us other existing commercial
relations with Egypt.
2.3.1.3

T r a d e with Cyprus

A n u m b e r of texts also tells us about maritime trade with Cyprus


(Akk. alasiya, Ug. ally). According to RS 34.153:31-5, 1 0 3 the king of
A1aia has to receive two horses from the king of Ugarit. Text K T U
4.352 = R S 18.042 mentions 660 jars of oil. 104 Ug 5, 21 = R S
20.163, also mentions a Cypriot tamkr. T h e text K T U 2.42 = R S
18.1 13a provides evidence of trade relations with Egypt, Cyprus and
Ugarit.
2.3.1.4

T r a d e with Anatolia

We also have information about maritime trade relations with other


countries of the Hittite zone of influence in Anatolia. For example,
in the text of a litigation before Initeub, king of Carchemish, between
the tamkr Ariimiga, servant of the king of Tarhudai, and the 'sons
of Ugarit'. 105 Commercial transactions between Ugarit and Tarhudai
are also noted at the time of the last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi. 1 0 6
2.3.1.5

T r a d e with Crete and Carchemish

W e cannot end this section without considering the trade relations


between Ugarit and Crete (Kapturi). O n e of the chief tamkrs of
101

H-pa-a-ar IR 8 [] 1 [x]-le-'1 U a a-na mreMtS Kmmi-is-r.


H E L T Z E R 1978a, 139 4 2 . For a different opinion, see LIVERANI 1969.
103
R S O 7, No. 35, 75-6.
104
The kd 'jar' of Ugarit had a capacity of ca 22.5 litres ( H E L T Z E R 1989a).
105
PRU 4, 169 = RS 17.158; Cf. also PRU 4, 171 = RS 17.042, where the matter of compensation for the life of a lamkr who has been killed is debated.
,0<i
R S O 7, No. 14, RS 34.139.
102

Ugarit, Sinarnu, son of Siginu, was freed to pay to the 'palace',


(i.e. to the authorities) any tax payments and exemptions from performing service obligations. 107 Taking into account his land transactions, he was one of the richest persons in Ugarit. 108
Naturally, trade relations with Carchemish were overland. T h e
same is to be said about Qadesh (Kinza). It seems that responsibility for the regularity of relations and the payment of all duties by
tamkrs was in the hands of the skinu109 (the 'vizier' of the country),
the mkisu ('customs official')," 0 and the [ lJkil kari ('overseer of the
quay'). 111 W e learn from the texts that there was also a bureaucratic
apparatus overseeing trade activities in this kingdom.
Overland transportation to Carchemish and its vicinity, the vassal states and Emar, was undertaken by donkey caravans. W e learn
this from an interesting text (PRU 4, 176 = R S 17.346), in which
the king of Ugarit is accused before the king of Carchemish 'that
the king of Ugarit has stolen the caravans of the tamkrs'.n2 According
to PRU 4, 150 = R S 17.059, the king of Ugarit had to transport
the payment of his tribute to the Hittite king 'on 10 caravans'." 3
W e also have information about other caravans going to the country of the Hittites and Egypt. 114 Ug 5, 57 = R S 20.227 mentions a
caravan route to E m a r in the southernmost part of the land of the
Euphrates." 5 Commercial relations with E m a r are also known from
a n u m b e r of letters." 6

107

PRU 3, 107 = RS 16.238. Crete occurs in line 10. O n the commercial activities and buying of lands by Sinarnu, Son of Siginu, the tamkr ^tamkru)
PRU
3, 106 = RS 16.206 see H E L T Z E R 1988a.
108
H E L T Z E R 1978a, 132-3.
109
PRU 4, 215 = RS 17.288; PRU 4, 196 = RS 17.078; PRU 6, 7 = RS 17.148,
etc.
110
PRU 3, 15 = RS 15.033; PRU 4, 196 = RS 17.078; PRU 4, 235 = RS 17.135
+ 17.360B + 1 7.360[d]; PRU 4, 202 = RS 17.371 + 18.020; PRU 4, 239 = RS
17.232, etc.
111
PRU
182 = RS 17.424; Ug 5, 13 = RS 17.469.
112 5
. . . ma-a ar KllRU-ga-ri-it f}annm* sa LL M tamkreME& [il]-ta-na-ri-iq-mi.
113 12
i-tu 10 (fa-ar-ra-ni.
114
PRU 6, 14 = RS 10.050.
115
Possibly, commercial caravans are mentioned in Ug 5, 38 = RS 20.016; Ug
5, 53 = RS 20.15; PRU 6, 137 = RS 19.27; PRU 4, 138 = RS 19.46.
116
R S O 7, No. 30 = RS [Varia 26]; No. 31 = RS 34.134; No. 32 = RS 34.141;
No. 33 = RS 34.173, etc.

2.3.2

Exchanging gifts

From primitive times, a certain kind of commerce or commercial


exchange involved the exchange of gifts. This feature is also widely
known from the ancient Near East from the 15th to the beginning
of the 12th cent. bce. We know that it took place between rulers
of equal rank, between queens and between high officials of various
ranks. Also 'gifts' from abroad from persons of lower rank or from
vassals to the ruler, queen, or official of higher rank were sent to
Ugarit, and vice versa}17 T h e r e is a large international correspondence
in this field. T h e objects are mostly called by the term 'gift' (nmurtu
and ulmnu).US (Here we do not consider the official 'tribute', mandattu, which appears in a number of texts). As for the 'gifts', these
include silver, even gold, precious stones, metal vessels and utensils,
horses, donkeys, various textiles and garments, and many other items.
There are many texts in which various goods are mentioned which,
without any doubt, were used for trade, for foreign trade of the first
rank. We cannot define them as commercial goods when their prices
are not given or at least when it is not written that they were a
'gift' (Ug. mnh) or when they concern the trading of cattle, food
products, and artifacts, where the equivalent of the exchange is given.
2.3.2.1

Slaves

We can begin with the slave trade. T h e amounts involved were not
large, even if we consider the price of redeeming a slave. From some
of the texts" 9 it is clear that the price of a slave (male or female)
was between 14.3 and 120 shekels of silver,120 and the average price
of a slave was about 33 shekels (see 11.1.6.6).
117

The exhaustive work on this question is ZACCAGNINI 1 9 7 3 .


PRU 3, 14 = RS 12.33; PRU 4, 191 = RS 17.247; PRU 3, 194 = RS 17.385;
PRU 4, 214 = RS 17.152; PRU 4, 221 = RS 17.383; PRU 4, 223 = RS 17.422;
PRU 6, 6 = RS 17.144; PRU 6, 7A and = RS 17.148; PRU 6, 8 = RS 17.239;
PRU 6, 13 = RS 18.057; PRU 6, 14 = RS 19.050; PRU 6, 16 = RS 22.006; PRU
6, 149 = RS 17.354; Ug 5, 21 = RS 20.168; Ug 5, 38 = RS 20.016; Ug 5, 39 =
RS 20.172; Ug 5, 46 = RS 26.130; Ug 5, 48 = RS 20.19; Ug 5, 50 = RS 20.151;
Ug 5, 53 = RS 20.015; Ug 5, 56 = RS 20.150; Ug 5, 57 = RS 20.227; Ug 5, 62
= RS 20.194; Ug 5, 67 = RS 20.182D, etc.
119
K T U 4.36 = RS 8.208 (THUREAU-DANGIN 1937); PRU 4, 238 = RS 17.231;
PRU 4, 236 = RS 17.251; PRU 4, 109 = RS 17.028; PRU 4, 109 = RS 17.108;
PRU 4, 201 = RS 18.002; K T U 3.4 = RS 16.382; K T U 4.659 = RS 19.166; Ug
5, 10 = RS 17.067.
120
On the Ugaritic shekel of 9.4 gr. cf. PARISH 1981.
118

2.3.2.2

Food a n d agricultural products

' W h e a t ' (ht), sold according to the pansu measure (ca 90 litres), cost
1 shekel for 1 pansu, a n d 1 pansu bought 0.2 jars of (olive) oil = 4.5
litres. 121 'Barley' (/V) was measured by the ^/-measure, as was ' e m m e r '
(ks/sm or kfrm)m a n d 'oil' (zt [mn]). In Ugarit, olive oil was sold at
a price of 1.5 shekels per j a r (22.5 litres). 123 M a n y texts mention the
sale of oil, but the state of the texts does not permit exact calculations. 124 T h e price of 'wine' (jyn) cannot be calculated. 1 2 5 ' H o n e y '
(nbt), 'dried figs' (dblt), a n d 'raisins' (smqrri) were also commercial goods,
as were 'cheese' (ga m e S ), 'black c u m i n ' (sbbyr) a n d other products. 1 2 6
As for catde, we know that the price of an ox was between 10
a n d 17 shekels. 127 Sheep were priced at of 1 - 1 . 5 shekels each 128 and
horses were sold for 2 0 - 3 0 0 shekels each. 129 Donkeys and mules were
also objects of commercial transactions. 1 3 0
2.3.2.3

Textiles a n d dyes

Textiles a n d garments played an important role in the c o m m e r c e of


Ugarit. Besides 'flax' ( p t t ) n 1 the texts also mention 'wool' (Crt), the
price of which was f r o m 1 - 7 shekels of silver p e r talent (ca 30
kilos).132 T h e r e are also texts mentioning 'blue (violet) purple wool'

121

The 'jar' (kd) was a standard measure of ca 22.5 litres. ( H E L T Z E R 1989b); the
texts are KTU 4.710 = RS 22.003:11-12; K T U 4.60 = RS 11.[913] and KTU
4.402 = RS 18.142:7-8.
122
KTU 4.710 = RS 22.003:11 (although KTU2 read kst).
123
K T U 4.31 = RS 5.197+:11.
124
PRU 3, 197 = RS 16.181; PRU 6, 155 = RS 19.07; K T U 4.91 = RS
11.795:2-3; K T U 4.150 = RS 15.040; K T U 4.123 = RS 13.014; K T U 4.158 =
RS 15.062:3; K T U 4.341 = RS 18.028:20-21; K T U 4.402 = RS 18.142:9.
125
K T U 4.123 = RS 13.014:22-23.
126
Not all the words denoting the products can be translated exactly ( H E L T Z E R
1978a, 19-21).
127
PRU 4, 38 = RS 17.356:6; K T U 4.337 = RS 18.024:21; cf. also K T U 4.402
= RS 18.142:5: '5 pairs of oxen'.
128
KTU 4.337 = RS 18.024:22; K T U 4.709 = RS [Varia 13]: 5; also K T U
4.34 = RS 6.216:4, 9.
129
K T U 4.158 = RS 15.062:6; PRU 3, 41 = RS 16.180; PRU 6, 7 = RS 17.148;
Cf. also Ug 5, 28 = RS 20.184; PRU 6, 6 = RS 17.148 and RSO 7, No. 21 =
RS 34.155 where the price of the purchase is not given.
130
PRU A, 176 = RS 17.346; PRU 6, 6 = RS 17.144; PRU 6, 8 = RS 17.239;
PRU 6, 14 = RS 19.030; Ug 5, 36 = RS 20.016; Ug 5, 53 = RS 20.015.
131
KTU 4.182 = RS 15.115:8; K T U 4.168 = RS 15.082:11; K T U 4.206 = RS
16.005:4.
132
KTU 4.158 = RS 15.062:17-8; KTU 4.341 = RS 18.028:4-5, 14-15; KTU

(Akk. uqnutakiltu) and 'red purple wool' (Akk. pat uqnu husmnu,
Ug. phm). Large quanddes of these types of wool are mentioned but
no prices are given.' 33 A large n u m b e r of tablets concern dyes, perfumes, and vessels for them. 134 A great variety of garments and other
textile artifacts existed. 135
2.3.2.4

Metals, minerals and wood

T h e precious metals, gold and silver, are important, although gold


was relatively cheap in Ugarit. According to the texts, its ratio to
silver was 1:3-4. 136 We can also calculate the prices of other metals: 'tin' (Akk. a-na-ku [ a n . n a ] ; Ug. brr),[37 with a tin-silver price ratio
of 200:1, which seems to be realistic,13" and 'copper' (Akk. en2, 'bronze'
Akk. sipanu, Ug. tit)this could possibly mean that their ratio to silver must have been 200-235:1. 1 3 9
O t h e r commercial itemsartifactsare often mentioned: golden
and silver cups (ks hrs, ks ksp),H0 and artifacts of copper (bronze),
which have an important place in trade. T h e exact price of these
items is unknown. 141 Various stones and minerals appear as trade
objects in the commercial texts. Sometimes they consist of beads,
alum, possibly even as rare an item as glass (? me-e-ku PRU 6, 6 =
R S 17.144:40) also 'carnelian' [m), 'lapis-lazuli' (iqnu), etc. 142 T i m b e r

4.337 = R S 18.024:9-10; K T U 4.707 = RS 21.1 84A: 15-8; K T U 4.721 = R S


23.028:9, 14; and a large number of other texts.
133
Cf. H E L T Z E R 1978a, 23-7.
134
H E L T Z E R 1978a, 27-8.
135
Cf. R I B I C H I N I - X E L L A 1 9 8 5 , in which an exhaustive analysis of all textiles
known from Ugarit, is given.
136
H E L T Z E R 1978a, 28-9; K T U 4.341 = R S 18.028:1-2, 5 - 6 , 10, 16-7, K T U
4.337 = RS 18.024:20. But the scarcity of data makes this rate questionable. See
V A R G Y A S 1980, esp. 106-7, and S T I E G L I T Z 1979.
137
Ug 5, 12 = RS 17.150+; 38 = R S 20.16; PRU 6, 155 = R S 19.07; K T U
4.337 = R S 18.024:4-5.
138
H E L T Z E R 1978a, 2 9 - 3 0 , V A R G Y A S 1980a, 110.
139
H E L T Z E R 1978a, 3 0 - 1 , V A R G Y A S 1980a, 108.
140
No account is taken here the artifacts that were paid as tribute to the Hittite
king: K T U 3.1 = R S 11.772+; PRU 3, 181 = R S 11.732[B]; PRU 4, 40 = R S
17.227; note also PRU 3, 12 = R S 11.730, PRU 3, 33 = RS 16.114:5; PRU 6,
158 = RS 19.024; Ug 5, 12 = R S 17.150+ (copper cups).
141
K T U 4.123 = RS 15.115:17, 21; K T U 4.385 = R S 18.110:3, 5; PRU 6, 7 =
RS 17.148; PRU 6, 6 = RS 17.144; PRU 6, 14 = RS 19.50; PRU 6, 158 = RS
19.24; PRU 6, 163 = RS 19.64; Ug 5, 38 = RS 20.16.
142
K T U 4.182 = RS 15.115:10, 12, 16, 17, 27; K T U 4.158 = RS 15.062:14-15;
K T U 4.206 = RS 16.005:6; K T U 4.337 = R S 18.024:25; PRU 3,20 = RS 15.063;
PRU 3, 39 = R S 16.359; PRU 3, 187 = RS 15.043; PRU 6, 6 = RS 17.144:40;

from various trees and reeds were objects of commerce, 1 4 3 as were


wooden artifacts. 144 Naturally, the list of all such objects of trade
could be extended, but space does not allow this.
2.3.2.5

Weights and measures

O n e very important feature also needs to be taken into account in


the commercial life of Ugarit: its metrological system and its adaptation to the conditions of international trade. As mentioned above,
the Ugaritic mina consisted of 50 shekels of 9.4 grams, almost equalling the Egyptian kit of 9.2-9.3 grams. As Parise has pointed out, 145
for trade with Mesopotamia, the Ugaritic mina was divided into 60
shekels, and then the shekel was weighed according to the Mesopotamian standard of ca 8 grams. For transactions with the Hittites, the
mina was divided into 40 shekels according to the Hittite system,
and a shekel weighed 11.75 grams. Naturally, this 'exchange rate'
eased commercial relations. T h e r e is one other important matter.
From the texts of Ugarit, we also know of another metrological unit,
the f t (,fdt), a-i-tu in Ugaritian Akkadian. 146 W e have reached the
conclusion that in Ugarit it was 2 of the kd 'jar' of 22.5 litres, and
that this unit of measure comes from Egypt, where it was ^ of the
Egyptian deben of 9 2 - 9 4 grams, and known as 't, \t), sniw. This
adaptation of metrological units facilitated trade relations with Egypt. 147

C r a f t s

and

Industries

Ugarit was an important centre of developed crafts in the second


millennium bce, especially from the 14th to the beginning of the

PRU
Ug

6,
5,

143

RS

RS

K T U

4.247
5,

133 =

12 =

1 8 . 0 5 7 : 3 ; PRU

17.150

4.91

RS

11.795:7,

RS

16.399:29,

12 =

RS

17.150+:8-32.

144

K T U

4.123 =

4.385

RS

6,

19.64;
145

PARISE
K T U

RIH
RS

PRU

1981,
4.778 =

78/2:5-8;

K T U

RS

15.062:7; K T U

8;

4.402

RS
=

HELTZER

RS

K T U
=

RS

19.36:5;

19.020:3;

Ug 5 , 4 8 =

RS

20.019:11;

etc.
4.158

RS

4.127

Ug

RS

15.062:12,

1 8 . 1 4 2 : 3 ; PRU

1 8 . 1 1 0 : 1 0 ; PRU

6,

5, 2 8

RS

158 =
=

RS

6,

158 =

14.129:2; K T U
RS

20-22;
RS

K T U

19.24;

4.158

1 9 . 2 4 : 9 ; PRU

3,

=
163

Ug
RS
=

20.187:10.

156.
RIH

K T U

83/12:5; K T U

4.150

RS

20.425:10.
147

156 =

13.014:21; K T U

162

6,

17.034:5-50,

1 9 9 4 ; CASTLE

1992.

4.782 =

15.040:5;

RIH

84/8:7-8 and K T U

only once in Akkadian, Ug

4.771

5, 9 5

12th centuries. Archaeological material found there can sometimes


add to our knowledge when we can establish a connection with professions or artefacts mentioned in the written sources. 148

3.1

Royal service

T h e craftsmen of all branches of production belonged to the 'royal


(service) m e n ' (bn mlk - Akk. bunu milki). From royal stores in various parts of the kingdom they received rations and where necessary, raw materials for processing. T h e y also received land prebends
(sd. ubdy) as conditional holdings. T h e group known as bns mlk performed their professional duties as their 'corve obligation' (pilku)
(see 10.2.3). This type of centralised system for the whole economy, including crafts, is also known in other countries of the ancient
near East. However, the organization most like it is documented in
the Linear tablets of Mycenaean Greece.

3.2

Crafts and industries

Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about the existence of private artisans, or of private crafts which must have been practised
within families. This includes weaving textiles at home, home-made
pottery and other activities. Crafts and industries can be classified
as follows:
3.2.1

Collective work

By collective work is meant shipbuilding, chariot construction, the


construction of houses and other buildings. This type of work often
required various components m a d e by craftsmen of different kinds
such as 'house builders' (Ug. hr bhtm, Akk. itinnu), who are documented in many texts' 49 and 'shipwrights' (Ug. hr anyt; K T U 4.125 =
RS 14.002:1). 150 Naturally, the shipyards were in the coastal villages.
148

O n archaeology cf. S C H A E F F E R 1939a, 1949, 1956. Also the archaeological


reports by Schaeffer in Syria from 1929 onwards. Cf. also C O U R T O I S 1979.
149
K T U 4.35 = RS 8.183+ i 16; K T U 4.38 = RS 8.272:6; K T U 4.47 = RS
10.043:10; K T U 4.183 = RS 15.116; K T U 4.376 = RS 18.085; K T U 4.609 =
RS 19.016:18; K T U 4.630 = RS 19.062:8-9; PRU 6, 93 = RS 17.131:11; PRU 6,
131 = RS 1 9.035A: 1; Ug 5, 99 = RS 10.15:12. Cf. H E L T Z E R 1982, 80ff, esp. 86-7;
S A N M A R T I N 1995a, esp. 178.
150
H E L T Z E R 1982, 85-6; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 177-8.

Some tablets also mention components of ships, including masts (trn)


( V i t a 1995a, 137-76). Mention is also made o f ' c h a r i o t - m a k e r s ' (hrs
mrkbt) and 'cartwrights' (hr Vi/).151 Using information from these texts
it has been possible, to some extent, to reconstruct the technology
of chariot making ( C a l d e r s 1977). In addition, chariots were repaired
in the workshops for which the workers received materials of various kinds, including hrs, 'gold' ( K T U 4.167 = R S 15.079:1-2).
3.2.2

Agriculture

Olive oil was a very important product and is listed in deliveries of


rations. T h e peasant farmers, it seems, had to supply olives for the
production of oil to the gCs which comprised the basic units of the
royal economy. Olive oil was produced in large quantities ( H e l t z e r
1996) but as yet no installations from the Late Bronze Age for the
production of olive oil have come to light. However, the industry
was so developed that, according to PRU 3, 99 = R S 16.257+, 220
persons in royal service received at least 502 'jars' (Ug. kd, Akk.
karpatu) of oil, i.e. about 11,030 litres. 152 Delivery on this scale seems
to have been yearly. Refined oils are also attested, including smn mr,
'myrrh oil', smn nr, 'lamp oil' and smn rqh, 'aromatic oil' (on these
see 10.1.2.13). O n rqh see below.
Wine also played an important role and there were, of course, wine
makers. Information on wine is derived chiefly from the lists of the
royal stores and from deliveries m a d e to individuals, to the court
and for cultic purposes ( H e l t z e r 1990). Here, mention may be made
of the professions within the bn mlk connected with the processing
of cereals. These are 'millers' (Ug. alhnm, Akk. alahhinu) attested a
few times. 153 T h e existence of a bt alhnm 'house of the quartermaster (lit. "miller")' ( K T U 4.392 = R S 18.130:4) shows that we are
dealing with an organization. It is possible that the ksdm154 were also

151
H E L T Z E R 1982, 87-8; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 178; K T U 4.46 = R S 10.035:13-4;
K T U 4.47 = R S 10.043:8; K T U 4.98 = R S 11.844:6, 8; K T U 4.141 = RS 15.022+
iii 20; K T U 4.145 = RS 15.034; K T U 4.183 = RS 15.116 ii 12; K T U 4.243 =
RS 16.395:2; K T U 4.339 = RS 18.026:16; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016; K T U 4.743 =
R S 25.140; PRU 6, 93 = R S 17.131:13. Cf. V I T A 1995a, 35-72.
152
O n e kd/karpatu = 2 0 - 2 5 litres.
153
K T U 4.102 = R S 11.857:25; K T U 4.337 = R S 18.024:11; PRU 6, 70 = R S
17.050:11, although these are P N N ; cf. H E L T Z E R 1982, 80; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 175-6.
154
K T U 4.99 = R S 11.845:16; K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001:8; K T U 4.126 = R S
14.084:16; K T U 4.186 = R S 15.156:1, 9; K T U 4.332 = RS 18.010+: 18.

'millers' ( H e l t z e r 1 9 8 2 , 9 0 ; DLU, 2 2 6 ) . T h e 'bakers' or 'cooks' (Ug.


apy, Akk. 11 nuhatimmu\ Ug. kkrdn, Akk. 11 kakardinnuf" also belonged
to the bn mlk and received rations and allotments of land.
3.2.3

Metal-working

T h e role of metal-working, in both copper and tin, was very important. T o begin with there are the nskm, '(metal-)casters' 1 5 6 (Akk.
nsikma).]37 We do not know why there is no term for their specialization in these texts (but see next paragraph). O n e reason is supplied, perhaps, by K T U 4.261 = R S 17.023, which has the heading:
spr argmn nskm 'list of the tribute of (metal) casters', where every person mentioned in the text had to deliver 2 0 0 - 5 0 0 (shekels?) as tribute (argmn) which the king of Ugarit had to pay the Hittite king, his
overlord. Here belongs the large group of nsk tit 'copper (or bronze)
casters" 5 8 (Akk. nsiku u r u d u ; PRU 3, 195 = R S 15.009 : 1 and
l(ME)SIMUG

U R U D U )

PRU

3, 2 0 4 = R S

1 5 . 1 7 2 a : 1 0 ; PRU

6, 9 3 =

RS

17.133:23). A sample passage is Hit. d. ysa bd. mmn ^largmn Hnskm


tmn. kkrm balp. kbd '[m]itm. kbd ' C o p p e r (or: bronze) which was delivered by u m a m n u to the casters for tribute, eight talents, one thousand two hundred (shekels)' ( K T U 4.43 = R S 9.011). From this text
we see that u m a m n u distributed about 250 kilos of copper (or
bronze), for processing or for making the final product, which had
to be paid to the Hittite king. u m a m n u seems to be the 'elder'
(rb) of the casters.
D

T h e r e were also different types of metal-worker, for example, nsk


him/hdm,159 'arrowsmiths' ( K T U 4.630 = R S 19.062:14). Arrow production was the work of several specialists (see below). O n e profession involved in metal-working was the hr qtn who were makers of

155

156

RS

S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 176,180; K T U 4.126 =


The root is nsk, 'to pour, found, cast' (KTU

11.844:17; K T U

= RS

4.133 =

RS

15.005:3; K T U

RS
4.43

14.084:27.
= RS 9 . 0 1 1 : 4 ; K T U

4.261 =

RS

17.023:1; K T U

4.98

4.310

K T U 4 . 3 9 6 = RS 1 8 . 1 3 5 : 2 0 ) . We do not accept the opinion of


that the verb means 'to forge'.
157
PRU 6, 136 = R S 17.240:15; cf. S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 1 8 1 2 .
158
H E L T Z E R 1982, 93-4; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 182; texts: K T U 4.35 = R S 8.183+
ii 8; K T U 4.43 = RS 9.011:4; K T U 4.126 = RS 14.084:18; K T U 4.183 = RS
15.116 ii 27; K T U 4.222 = RS 16.193:8-11; K T U 4.181 = RS 15.106; K T U
4.272 = RS 17.118; K T U 4.310 = RS 17.392.
159
In K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016:25 him is the Hurrian spelling of hZm.
17.392:2, 5;

DOHMEN (1983)

sickle-bladed swords. 160 T h e r e is a problem in connection with copper artifacts and the production of bronze at Ugarit since there were
no local sources of metal ( Z a c c a g n i n i 1970). It seems that metalworking had a long tradition in Ugarit since we know that when
Zimrilim, king of Mari, visited Ugarit, all along his route he distributed large quantities of tin to rulers and in particular to Cretans
living in Ugarit ( V i l l a r d 1986).
3.2.4

The textile industry

Raw materials in the form of 'flax' (ptt) and 'wool' (scrt) were available
locally in sufficient quantities, for treatment. It is possible that spinning was a home industry, but at least four 'spinners' (gzlm) are listed
a m o n g the bn mlk.161 'Weavers' (Ug. mhs, Akk. mhisu and usparuf62
are also mentioned in many texts. 163 Although there were many terms
for textiles and garments, it is not always possible to determine what
they mean ( R i b i c h i n i - X e l l a 1 9 8 5 ) In one text purple-dyed wool
is distributed to weavers for f u r t h e r treatment ( T h u r e a u - D a n g i n
1934). A wide spectrum of minerals and herbal dyes was used which
involved complex treatment ( v a n S o l d t 1990a). A m o n g those who
treated textiles were the 'fullers' or 'dyers' (kbsm/kbsm).

160
H E L T Z E R 1997; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 182; K T U 4.47 = R S 10.043; K T U 4.98
= R S 11.844:9; K T U 4.183 = R S 15.116 iii 16; K T U 4.609 = R S 19.016:23;
K T U 4.630 = R S 19.062:12; K T U 4.370 = RS 18.079:35; K T U 4.742 = RS
25.139:12; K T U 4.745 = R S 25.417:18. Note that the yshm ( K T U 4.47 = R S
10.043:7; K T U 4.68 = R S 11.716:67; K T U 4.99 = R S 11.845:19; K T U 4.105 =
R S 13.014[iw]:2; K T U 4.126 = R S 14.084:10; K T U 4.147 = R S 15.036:5; K T U
4.151 = R S 15.044 ii 1; K T U 4.207 = R S 16.006:5; K T U 4.609 = R S 19.016:9;
K T U 4.626 = RS 19.056:1; K T U 4.692 = R S 20.145:1, 8) were 'workers in bronze'
( S A N M A R T I N 1987; 1995a, 185).
161
H E L T Z E R 1982, 9 6 - 8 and 123-4, where the mf}sm were mistakenly considered
to be military personnel; cf. S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 1 8 1 : R I B I C H I N I - X E L L A 1985, 2 0 - 1 .
Texts: K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845; K T U 4.102 = RS 11.115; K T U 4.107 = R S
12.002; K T U 4.123 = RS 13.014; K T U 4.124 = R S 13.020; K T U 4.128 = RS
14.176; K T U 4.158 = R S 15.062; K T U 4.182 = RS 15.115; K T U 4.183 = RS
15.116; K T U 4.266 = R S 17.074; K T U 4.332 = R S 18.010+; K T U 4.338 = R S
18.026; K T U 6.48 = R S 20.401 AB; PRU 3, 204 = R S 15.172; PRU 6, 10 = R S
17.390; Ug 5, 99 = RS 20.425.
162
AHw, 581; CAD M / l , 102; AHw, 397; CAD I/J, 255-6. Texts: PRU 3, 205 =
R S 15.172 A:7; PRU 6, 93 = RS 17.131:23; Ug 5, 99 = R S 20.425:5.
163
K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845:15; K T U 4.103 = R S 11.858:57; K T U 4.121 = RS
13.009:1; K T U 4.125 = R S 14.001:9; K T U 4.128 = R S 14.176:5; K T U 4.182 =
R S 15.115:56; K T U 4.187 = R S 15.157+:1; K T U 4.269 = R S 17.106:8; K T U
4.332 = RS 18.010+-: 14 7; K T U 4.635 = RS 19.096:7; PRU 6, 166 = R S 19.099;
cf. S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 181.

T h e b'l tgptm was the ' m a k e r of h o r s e - c l o t h s ' or ' m a k e r of


caparisons' 164 and there were other textiles which could be used in
chariot making, shipbuilding, the manufacture of weapons, etc. (see
next paragraph). T h e only term for 'leather-worker' known is Akk.
akpu] he made objects for both military and civilian use. Even the
relatively scarce material provided here is indicative of the important role textile production had in Ugarit, partly for the purposes of
foreign trade.
3.2.5

Weapon production

T h e manufacture of military equipment and weapons was important


to the economy which was fully controlled by the palace authorities
and run by the bn mlk system, although individual work was possible. T h e b'l tdtt were 'makers of breastplates'. 165 T h e production of
arrows was complex. Besides the 'arrow casters' (nsk h^m) there were
also 'modellers of arrows' (psl hzyn, also termed hdglm)m who apparently p r o d u c e d / m a d e the non-metallic part of the arrow and placed
it on the arrowhead. 167 T h e evidence for this comes from K T U 4.609
= RS 19.016 which a m o n g other professions lists by name three
hdglm (line 16) and eight nsk hdm (line 25; cf. . 159). Similarly, those
involved in the construction of bows were called hr qt 'bow-maker'
and psl qt 'bow-modeller', which would point to composite bows
since they had to have an aesthetically pleasing form. Craftsmen
from other professions such as htbm 'woodcutters' or even possibly
'carpenters, furniture makers'. Although the term firs was usually
specified further, as we have seen (hr bhtm, hr qt and hr qtri), sometimes hrm occurs on its own in the texts and it is impossible to
determine its precise m e a n i n g ( S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 177). See also
11.4.7.

164
H E L T Z E R 1982, 82-3; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 176-7; texts: PRU 3, 15 = R S 15.033;
PRU 3, 77 = RS 16.142; PRU 6, 93 = RS 17.131:14, PRU 6, 109A = RS 19.131:5;
PRU 6, 131 = RS 19.035A:8; Ug 5, 83 = RS 20.146:20.
165
Akk. tudittu, 'pectoral'; H E L T Z E R 1982, 8 3 - 4 ; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 177; K T U
4.608 = RS 19.016:35-39.
IG6
H E L T Z E R 1982, 92; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 179.; K T U 4.609 = R S
19.016:25;
K T U 4.630 = RS 19.062:14.
L(J
167
H E L T Z E R 1982, 84; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 183, possibly Akk.
sa-si-nu ( K T U
4.141 = RS 15.022+ iii 19; K T U 4.134 = RS 15.006:2; K T U 4.150 = RS 15.040;
K T U 4.188 = RS 15.169+; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016:16).

3.3

Other crafts

Pottery, or the art of ceramics, was also an important craft. T h e


Ugaritic word for 'potter' isjyjr (Akk. wya-si-ru-ma, LVpahhru).m T h e
expression for jeweller in Ugaritic is nsk ksp, lit. 'silver caster' (kutimmu
in Ugaritic Akkadian). 169 Also documented are the pslm, i.e. 'sculptors,
carvers, engravers', 170 who most probably worked in stone. T h e only
occurrence of Akk. parkullu 'seal cutter', is in PRU 6, 93 = R S
17.131:24 (as l u b a r . g u l ) . 1 7 1 In addition there was the profession of
'pharmacist' (Ug. rqh) who also mixed ointment or prepared perfume. 172
Naturally, we do not have a complete picture of all the arts and
crafts in Ugarit, but only the sample given here, which is sufficiently
representative.

168
H E L T Z E R 1982, 89-90; S A N M A R T I N 1995a, 185. Texts: K T U 4.46 = R S
10.035:11-2; K T U 4.87 = RS 11.789:3; K T U 4.93 = RS 11.776+:11; K T U
4.126 = RS 14.084:28; K T U 4.367 = RS 18.076:18; K T U 4.339 = RS 18.026:2-4;
K T U 4.338 = RS 18.025:10; PRU 3, 204 = RS 15.172; PRU 6, 136 = RS 17.240:11.
169
H E L T Z E R 1982, 92-3; SANMARTIN 1995a, 183; Texts: K T U 4.47 = R S 10.043:5;
K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716:74; K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845:18; K T U 4.183 = RS 15.116
ii 22; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016:32; K T U 4.745 = RS 25.417:7; K T U 5.20 = RS
24.281:1; PRU 6, 70 = RS 17.050:4; PRU 6, 131 = RS 19.035a:29.
170
H E L T Z E R 1982, 96; S A N M A R T I N 1988, 183; texts: K T U 4.68 = R S 11.716:63;
K T U 4.99 = RS 11.845:18; K T U 4.103 = RS 11.858:36; K T U 4.126 = RS
14.084:8; K T U 4.207 = RS 16.006:7; K T U 4.370 = RS 18.079:45; K T U 4.412
11
= R S 18.251 iii 9; a possible Akk. parallel is
iadimmu\ cf. S A N M A R T I N 1995b, 455,
n. 2.
171
On seal cutting see S A N M A R T I N 1995b.
172
S A N M A R T I N 1988, 183-4; texts: K T U 1.41 = R S 1.003+:21; K T U 1.87 = R S
18.056:22; K T U 1.148 = RS 24.643:21; K T U 4.31 = RS 5.197+:2, etc.

C H A P T E R ELEVEN

THE SOCIETY OF UGARIT


Juan-Pablo

Peoples,

1.1

Cultures

and

Vita

Social

Movements

The size and demography of the kingdom

1.1.1 T h e kingdom of Ugarit covered a territory of considerable


size.1 It covered about 5,425 km 2 when its expansion was greatest
and 2,200 km 2 without the additional territories granted by Suppiluliuma I of Hatti ( A s t o u r 1995, 55). According to several studies
( G a r r 1987; H e l t z e r 1976, 103-12; L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1319-20), the
population of the kingdom was between 31,000 and 33,000 people,
approximately, with 6,000-8,000 in the capital and about 25,000 in
the rest of the territory. However, the archaeological evidence available at present counsels the greatest prudence in calculations of this
kind ( Y o n 1992; C a l l o t 1994, 199).
1.1.2 T h e Ugaritic 'atonement' ritual K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002 (and
parallels; d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a, 9 9 - 1 0 9 = 1999, 146-60) is addressed
to all the people of Ugarit, to w h o m the words 'sons/daughters of
Ugarit' refer. It is the same as the term used for Ugaritians in international juridical texts. 2 As will be seen in the following paragraphs,
this people came from a range of different cultures.

' The final version of this chapter was prepared while staying at the Altorientalisches
Seminar of the Freie Universitt, Berlin, thanks to a research grant provided by
the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. I would like to thank Prof. Dr J . Renger
for the friendly welcome he extended to me and for the facilities he made available for my research at the above institute.
2
For example, PRU 4, 107-8 = RS 17.238; PRU 4, 161 = RS 17.341.

1.2

The Semitic component

1.2.1 T h e basic c o m p o n e n t of Ugaritian culture is Semitic, as


attested by the local language (Ugaritic), its alphabet, a high proportion of the personal names, or by the religion reflected in the
indigenous myths, legends and rituals. T h e alphabet normally used
in Ugarit, with its ag#-sequence, shows the fusion of various Semitic
traditions ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1988a). In terms of form, a considerable n u m b e r of the signs in the Ugaritic alphabet can be linked
to Semitic alphabets of the western type; a second group, with a
smaller n u m b e r of signs, can be connected with southern alphabets;
finally, a third group corresponds to both traditions. T h e mixed origin of the signs could be an indication of the southern origin of
part, at least, of the historical Ugaritian population, where it might
have taken on elements from both traditions (western and southern)
for the formation of its own alphabet.
1.2.2 This last hypothesis is strengthened by the recent discovery
in Ugarit of a cuneiform alphabet which follows the hlh sequence,
i.e. the one peculiar to the South Arabic alphabet ( B o r d r e u i l
P a r d e e 1995a). T h e cuneiform alphabet in the South Arabic sequence
found at Beth Shemesh ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1988a, 277~96; P u e c h
1991; S ass 1991) would comprise the geographic link between the
South Arabic alphabet of the south and the South Arabic alphabet
of Ugarit. 3

1.3

The Human component

1.3.1 As attested by the onomasticon and a significant n u m b e r of


texts in Hurrian found in Ugarit, Hurrian is the second ethnic, linguistic and cultural component basic to the kingdom. O n the one
hand there are documents which belong to the world of the scribes
(for example, polyglot vocabularies); on the other, documents which
are religious in nature, including texts with musical notation ( L a r o c h e
1 9 7 9 ; S a l v i n i 1 9 9 5 ) . T h e y were written using both the syllabic system and the local alphabet.

3
O n the relationships among the various alphabets of the South Arabic type
and the alphabetic sequence attested in Egypt see T R O P P E R 1 9 9 6 . See 4.2.

1.3.2 It should be stressed that the only successful adaptation of


the Ugaritic alphabet to another language, in a significant way, was
to Hurrian.' T h e Hurrian documents written in this way are cultic in
character ( D i e t r i c h - M a y e r 1994; 1995). Sometimes, Hurrian and
Ugaritic alternate within the same document, which shows that some
scribes may have been bilingual ( P a r d e e 1996b). Hurro-Semitic syncretism is also reflected in the mix of divine names from both traditions found in some of the rituals, a genre which shows to what
extent the Hurrian pantheon was known in Ugarit ( d e l O l m o L e t e
1992a, 6 2 - 5 = 1999, 8 2 - 6 ; D i e t r i c h - M a y e r 1997b).
1.3.3 Everything, therefore, points to a high level of integration of
the Hurrian element, as a living culture, within Ugaritic society. 3
T h e supposition of a limited use of Hurrian as a spoken language
in Ugaritian society ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 519; D i e t r i c h - M a y e r
1995, 38-40) has to be revised in view of texts such as RS 23.031,
an (unpublished) letter in which Akkadian and Hurrian alternate in
a sort of mixed language, used perhaps in commercial transactions
(Malbran-Labat
1995c, 37).6 At all events, the ritual K T U 1.40 =
RS 1.002 ( 11.1.1.2) seems to suggest that at least in the period
of King Niqmaddu the Hurrians had not yet been integrated fully
7
( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1321; P a r d e e 1996b, 76).

1.4

Foreigners in Ugarit

1.4.1 T h e ritual K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002 ( 11.1.1.2; cf. 13.6.2)


mentions other groups of foreigners in Ugarit, such as Hittites and
Cypriots and refers, in general, to the 'guests of the walls of Ugarit'.
T h u s it is a reflection of Ugarit in its known role as a meeting-place
where languages and cultures interchange."
4

With the exception of the few examples of texts in Akkadian written using the
alphabetic system (SEGERT 1 9 8 8 ) .
5
In this context, note the coexistence of Semitic and Hurrian personal names
within the Ugaritic royal family (LIVERANI 1979a, 1322).
6
Elements of Hurrian influence are also evident in the Akkadian of Ugarit
(HUEHNERGARD 1989, 281 2; VAN SOLDT 1991a, 521-2). As for Ugaritic, it contains
a significant contribution of words with a Hurrian origin (WATSON 1995c, 533-41;
1996a, 701-4).
7
A king mentioned in K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002:28; K T U 1.84 = RS 17.100 [A]+:40;
K T U 1.121 = RS 24.270A:9; the Hurrians are mentioned in K T U 1.40:29, 37 (restored in lines 12 and 20); K T U 1.84:4 (restored in lines 15 and 20). O n the historical
moment in which the text can be set see DEL OLMO LETE 1992a, 108 = 1999, 157.
8
An interchange which, at the lexical level, is expressed in the presence of a

1.4.2 T h e historical relationship between Ugarit and Hatti is well


documented. 9 It is not surprising, therefore, that the Ugaritian administrative texts mention Hittites in connection with food rations from
the palace. 10 T h e most famous episode, however, concerns the presence of Hittite traders in Ugarit. At the request of N i q m e p a of
Ugarit, Hattusili of Hatd stipulated, by decree," that the Hittite merchants from the Cilician locations of Ura 1 2 and Kutupa 1 3 operating
on Ugaritian soil were to carry out their activities only in summer,
and were required to leave Ugarit during the winter. Perhaps it was
a political decision by the king of Ugarit, in an attempt to limit the
massive buying up and export of Ugaritic grain and thus to maintain
economic stability and social peace ( V a r g y a s 1 9 9 5 ) . In turn, the
intense political relations between Ugarit and the Hittite kingdom of
Carchemish led to the signing of agreements about financial compensation should the citizens of one country be assassinated in the other
country ( 11.1.4.6). 14 T h e person called Takhulinu was at a different level, if it is accepted that besides being mud of the queen of
Ugarit, 15 he was kartappu of the king of Carchemish (so N o u g a y r o l
16
1 9 5 5 , 111;
but see S i n g e r 1 9 8 3 ; cf. 1 1 . 1 . 5 . 1 ) . By means of a series
of documents, King Ammittamru II allows him to buy lands and villages in Ugarit; however, these properties seem to be conditional on
the loyalty of Takhulinu and his descendants to the Ugaritic crown. 17
1.4.3 Political relations between Ugarit and Cyprus are attested
since the conquest of the island by Hatti and its later inclusion in

considerable number of foreign contributions to the indigenous language ( W A T S O N


1995c; 1996a). For a possible reference to Assyrians in the texts from Ugarit see
K T U 4.230 = R S 16.341:3 (alr[y\m\ cf. the personal name atry, C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A
1995a, no. 534) and Ug 5, no. 56 = RS 20.150:7. There is a discussion of the term
ubru, probably a foreigner of some sort attested in Ugarit, in V A R G Y A S 1995.
9
See, most recently, LEBRUN 1995; N E U 1995b. See also 15 below.
10
K T U 4.149 = RS 15.039:4; K T U 4.216 = RS 16.165:9.
11
PRU 4, 103-5 = RS 17.130 and its version R S O 7, No. 1 = RS 34.179. T h e
second text mentions the people of Kutupa.
12
On Ura and its possible location see LEMAIRF. 1 9 9 3 . Merchants of the Hittite
king native to Ura also appear, as witnesses, in international juridical texts found
in Ugarit; cf. PRU 4, 1 9 0 = RS 1 7 . 3 1 6 ; PRU 4, 2 0 2 = RS 1 8 . 2 0 + .
13
A place mentioned in R S O 7 , No. 1 = R S 3 4 . 1 7 9 ; see MALBRAN-I^ABAT 1 9 9 1 ,
1 5 , n. 4 .
14
PRU 4, 153 = RS 17.230.
15
PRU 3, 113 = RS 16.353.
I(i
PRU 3, 44 = RS 16.273.
17
PRU 3, 113 = RS 16.353.

a common defence system ( 11.5.4.3). T h e abundance of Cypriot


pottery, 173 the Cypro-Minoan texts found in Ugarit ( L i v e r a n i 1979a,
1322-3) as well as letters 18 and administrative texts, 19 are also witness to relationhips between the two communities at both the cultural and the commercial levels. Some Cypriots (ally, altyy, DLU, 33)
receive from the Ugaritian administration food and clothing, 20 others
belong to the guild of craftsmen. 21 O n the other hand, from its structure the administrative text K T U 4.102 = RS 11.857 seems to be
a list of prisoners of war, or of persons detained for some reason,
who come from Cyprus ( V i t a 1995a, 108). An unpublished letter
found in Ras Shamra in 1994, which reports the dispatch of an
emissary of the king of Cyprus to Ugarit to deal with the freeing of
Cypriots detained on Ugaritic soil,22 could support this hypothesis.
1.4.4 T h e correspondence which has been preserved shows that
political relations between Ugarit and the coastal centres of southern Syria and Palestine were, in general, smooth and cordial. 2 ' Within
a common cultural area ( X e l l a 1995b) commercial relations and the
exchange of persons took place at the same level as political relations. 24 T h e presence in Ugaritic administrative texts of persons from
Tyre, Byblos, 25 Sidon, Beirut, 26 Acre, Arwad, Ashkelon or Ashdod 27
17A
IB

YON 1984b, 430.


K T U

RS

2.42 =

RS

1 8 . 1 1 3 A (KNAPP

1983);

Ug 5 , 2 1

RS

20.168;

RSO

7,

35

34.153.

19
K T U 4.390 = RS 18.119:1 (restored). See also K T U 1.141 = RS 24.312, an
inscribed model of a liver, concerning someone buying a person from a Cypriot
(DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 232 = 1999, 347).
20
K T U 4.149 = R S 15.039 (on the possible cultic nature of the text see SANMARTIN
1989, 341; K T U 4.352 = RS 18.042; K T U 4.705 = RS 21.056.
21
K T U 4.155 = RS 15.051; cf. also K T U 4.343 = RS 18.029.
22
Personal communication of F . M A L B R A N - L A B A T .
23
List of sources in A R N A U D 1992, 192-4, completed by X E L L A 1995, 257-60.
Add the letters CK 7 (ARNAUD 1991a, 219) from Beirut, and PRU 4, 219 = RS
17.424c+ from Tyre (cf. A R N A U D 1996, 63 . 94).
24
See, for example, PRU 6, 126 = RS 19.28; PRU 6, 156 = RS 19.20; K T U
4.338 = RS 18.025 ( M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1993a). On the content of documents which
are still unpublished see M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995a, 445; 1995b, 104.
25
On Ugaritic kblbn (KTU 4.149 = RS 15.039:6) as possibly meaning 'Byblian',

s e e SANMARTIN
2I

1989,

341.

' On the possibility that in the Ugaritic texts the toponym 'Beirut' denotes the
present locality of Ras Ibn Hani, see A R N A U D 1 9 8 4 , but also VAN S O L D T 1 9 9 4 , 3 6 8
with n. 20 (Ras Ibn Hani = Ra'su).
27
PRU 6, 79 = RS 19.042 (Tyre, Acre, Arwad, Ashkelon); PRU 6, 81 = RS
19.182 (Bvblos, Sidon, Acre); K T U 4.96 = RS 11.840 (Ashdod, gent. aiddy)\ K T U
4.352 = RS 18.042 (Ashdod, gent. adddy)\ KTU 4.635 = RS 19.096 (Ashdod, gent.
adddy)\ K T U 4.778 = RIH 83/12 (Tyre, gent. siy)\ K T U 4 7 8 2 = RIH 84/08

is not suprising, therefore. O n some occasions their presence is due


to circumstance, 28 but at other times there seems to be a greater
degree of integration into the Ugaritian administrative structure, with
people who work in palace farms (gt; cf. 11.4.1,2) 29 or are referred
to as 'apprentice' (gamaru).30
1.4.5 In broad outline, Ugarit moved from the sphere of Egyptian
influence to become, by treaty, part of the political system of the
Hittite empire. However, as the correspondence shows ( K T U 2.36 =
R S 17.435+; K T U 2.38 = R S
18.031; C u n c h i l l o s 1989b), commercial relations between both countries remained the same and at
its final stage, Ugarit seems to have resumed relations with Egypt
at the highest level ( F r e u 1988; L a c k e n b a c h e r 1995b). T h e historical ties linking both these states 31 are reflected in the significant presence of Egyptians in Ugaritian society in which they seem to be very
much integrated. Together with Ugandans and foreigners of all kinds,
persons described as 'Egyptians' or 'from Egypt' work on palace
farms, 32 and receive food and clothing from the administration. 3 3
Also, as the juridical text K T U 3.7 = R S 18.118 shows ( H o f t i j z e r
- v a n S o l d t 1991 a, 206; M a r q u e z R o w e 1993b), they can be found
in various villages of the kingdom, perform military functions such
as that of mdrgl ( 11.5.3.4) and fulfil obligations of the unuu (unt)
type. O t h e r Egyptians enjoyed a social position which was no doubt
more influential, even receiving various properties from the king of
Ugarit without any compensation at all.34 However, the ambiguity
in respect of the possible Egyptian origin of certain persons said to
be Egyptian in Ugaritic administrative documents even affects persons of the social standing of Sipti-Ba'alu ( V i t a - G a l n 1997; cf.
11.2.6.1).

(Tyre, gent, sry), K T U 4.321 = RS 18.005 (Byblos, gent, gblji); KTU 3.4 = RS
16.191+ (Beirut, gent. pi. birtym).
28
For example, the reference to shipowners from Sidon and Acre in ships from
Carchemish anchored in Ugarit (RSO 7, 5 = RS 34.147). Both references could
also be understood as personal names (cf. also the case of adddy in K T U 4.352 =
RS 18.042:9).
29
K T U 4.96 = RS 11.840:3.
30
PRU 6, 79 = RS 19.42:9.
31
On relations between Egypt and Ugarit see, recendy, H E L C K 1 9 9 5 .
32
K T U 4.96 = RS 11.840:6 (gent. msiy).
33
K T U 4.352 = RS 18.042:2 (msrm 'Egypt').
34
See the case given in PRU 3, 142 = RS 16.136.

1.4.6 Life in Ugarit was not exempt from dangers for foreigners.
Several international juridical documents deal with the murder of
traders. 35 T h e y are bilateral agreements (with Carchemish) on monetary compensation for the m u r d e r of traders on each other's soil
as well as resolutions concerning the robbery and murder of foreign
merchants in the kingdom of Ugarit ( K l e n g e l 1 9 8 0 ) . T h e defence
of crown interests and the protection of international trade were
sought in equal measure. Actual cases were resolved between the
king of Ugarit and the community to which the murderer belonged
( 1 1 . 3 . 8 ) . T h e resolution of the conflict was brought a b o u t by
payment of a customary a m o u n t of money and not by the death of
the guilty party. 36 T h e non-application of the death penalty is observed also in cases of serious crime in which actual persons (not
communities) are implicated, 37 although some instances of execution
are also known. 5K
1.4.7 T h e kingdom of Ugarit also accommodated groups of people who were basically not sedentary and were identified by their
own names. O n e of these groups was the hapir,39 also attested in
Mesopotamia and Palestine. Broadly speaking, the term denotes individuals of foreign extraction, ethnically and socially displaced, who
frequently formed roving and dangerous bands, but who could end
up being integrated to some extent within society ( B o t t r o 1 9 7 2 - 7 5 ) .
T h e latter is the situation that seems to apply to Ugarit. T h e references to various categories of personnel under the c o m m a n d of
the 'chief of the hapir' (rb cprm)w and to a hapiru in connection with
35

The unsafe nature of routes and roads could affect those of the highest rank,
as shown by the abduction of a Hittite princess on Ugaritian soil (Ug 5, 108 = RS
20.216). Other cases of murder in Ugarit in PRU 4, 173= RS 17.234 and Ug 5,
94 = RS 20.022. See 10.
36
As is clearly shown by lines 14-23 of the letter KBo I 10+ ( K L E N G E L 1980;
H A G E N B U C H N E R 1989, 285, 291-2) from the Hittite king Hattusili to KadamanEnlil II of Babylonia, which deal with the death of Babylonian merchants in Ugarit
and Amurru.
37
Cf. PRU 3 , 9 6 = RS 1 6 . 2 4 9 : counterfeiting the royal seal and documents; the
penalty imposed is not death (envisaged in line 22) but exile. See also the episode
of intrigue led by two Ugaritic princes, dealt with in PRU 4 , 1 2 1 - 4 = RS 1 7 . 3 5 2 ,
1 7 . 0 3 5 + , 1 7 . 3 6 2 and 1 7 . 3 6 7 , which also seems to be settled by the exile of those
guilty ( N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 6 , 1 2 0 ) .
3
" Cf. PRU 3, 68 = RS 16.269; cf. 11.3.2.2.
39
Mentioned in Ugaritic and Akkadian texts; Ug. 'prm (plural; C U N C H I L L O S
V I T A 1995a, no. 4506); Akk. fra-pi-ri (PRU 6, No. 112 = RS 17.99:5); Sum. SAG.GAZ
(and variants; B O T T R O 1972-75, 20); DIU 85.
40
Cf. K T U 4.752 = RS 29.097:1.

oil rations 41 show that there was some degree of organization within
the group alongside its integration within the administration of the
kingdom, without losing its identity. 42 T h e mention of a place called
'Hill of the hapirm in administrative d o c u m e n t s seems to indicate
that, as in n e a r b y Hatti, 4 4 the g r o u p h a d a geographical location. At
times the hapir were the direct cause of friction with foreign countries either over legal matters 4 5 or d u e to b o r d e r conflicts. 46
1.4.8 Besides the hapir, the Ugaritian sources m e n d o n other groups.
A label with the inscription 'for the chief of the ktkymH1 a n d an
administrative text with personal n a m e s belonging to this category 4 8
suggest the (controversial) possibility t h a t t h e r e was a g r o u p of
Kaskaeans in Ugarit, a n o r t h Anatolian people d o c u m e n t e d chiefly
in Hittite sources (.DLU, 231). T h e p r o b a b l e presence in Ugaritic
society of groups belonging to the so-called 'Sea Peoples', in particular the erdan, is also controversial ( L o r e t z 1 9 9 5 ) . T h e various
kings of Ugarit also h a d to deal with n o m a d i c peoples such as the
ummn-manda, in conflicts which in the last resort h a d to be resolved
by diplomacy. 4 9 T h e inclusion of the various groups m e n t i o n e d as
mercenaries in the a r m y of Ugarit cannot be discounted.
1.4.9 In wartime, the contribution of foreigners to Ugarit could be
d u e to the taking of prisoners or the arrival of fugitives. Both circumstances were foreseen at an international level. T h e treaties signed
by Ugarit with Hatti 5 0 or Carchemish 5 1 usually envisaged the possi-

41
42
43
LUMES

44

PRU 6, No. 112 = RS 17.099.5.


See also PRU 3, 102 = RS 15.109+.54-5; cf. also PRU 3, 233.
Ug. H lb 'prm ( C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, No. 4506), Sum.-Akk.
SAG.GAz/'apunma), DLU,

85,

ffalbi

191.

PRU 4, 107 = RS 17.238.


PRU 3, 3 = RS 16.003, a letter from the king of Carchemish to king Ammittamru
concerning the case of f)apir. PRU 4, 107 = RS 17.238, an edict of Hattusili III
on fugitives from Ugarit in the territory of the ffapir of H a t t i ( 11 -4.2.2).
46
PRU 4, 161 = RS 17.341, on border problems between Ugarit and the southern kingdom of Siyannu. Note also the reference, in a negative context, to the term
'bapiru' in a scribal exercise (PRU 3, 213 = RS 16.364).
47
K T U 6.3 = RS [Varia 5] (l rb ktkym).
48
K T U 4.319 = RS 17.443.
49
PRU 4 , 180 = R S 17.286; V I T A 1995a, 18-9.
50
PRU 4 , 5 2 = R S 1 7 . 3 6 9 A , a fragment which according to N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 6 ,
5 2 , must form part of the agreement PRU 4 , 4 8 = R S 1 7 . 3 4 0 . In connection with
this agreement see the letter PRU 4 , 3 5 = R S 1 7 . 1 3 2 . Cf. also the treaty PRU 4 ,
17.341.
9 6 = R S 1 7 . 0 7 9 + and the international verdict PRU 4 , 1 6 1 = R S
51
PRU 4, 54 = RS 17.334.
45

bility of acquiring prisoners from third-party countries in the event


of war as well as keeping in their territory fugitives from these same
countries. 52 As bilateral agreements, the obligation of the signatories
to repatriate fugitives from both countries who had settled in the
neighbouring country could be stipulated. 53

1.5

Ugandans abroad

1.5.1 T h e presence of foreigners in Ugarit corresponded to the


departure of Ugaritians beyond its frontiers. Sometimes they are
Ugaritians who travel abroad while carrying out their duties or profession. T h e international relations of the Ugaritic court, for example, required the constant exchange of ambassadors and messengers.
Takuhlinu, the best known ambassador of Ugarit, carried out his
duties in Carchemish ( S i n g e r 1 9 8 3 ; cf. 1 1 . 1 . 4 . 2 ) . 5 4 T h e king and
queen of Ugarit tried to foster the work of their envoys by means
of personal contacts in the court in question. 55 In turn, the envoys
had to give an account of their mission by means of written reports. 56
1.5.2 Because of their profession, Ugaritian traders also went abroad
often. Running the same risks as their colleagues in other countries
( 11.1.4.6), their business ranged from E m a r to Egypt, passing
t h r o u g h C y p r u s , U n a t u a n d the ports of the Levantine coast
( 11.2.6.1). T h e scribes also had some degree of mobility, by profession ( 11.2.7). O n e of them, from Cyprus, requests his lord, the
king of Ugarit, to send five chairs and a table ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t
1995a, 445; 1995b, 104). However, as shown by the episode of the
'great sin' 57 which occurred in Sidon ( A r n a u d 1992, 185, 189-91;
X t l l a
1995, 259), the residence of Ugaritians beyond its frontiers
was not always free of conflict. A group of Ugaritians desecrated the

52
The military history of Ugarit ( V I T A 1995a, 1 1 3 1 ) suggests that there was no
lack of occasions on which the clauses concerning prisoners and fugitives could be
put into practice.
53
Cf. PRU 4, 107 = RS 17.238. In this respect see also, for example, the treaties
A T 2 ( D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1997) and A T 3 signed by Alalah.
54
In connection with Hatti see the Ugaritic letter K T U 2.16 = RS 15.008
(CUNCHILLOS 1989b, 297-302).
55
PRU 4, 294 = RS 19.070, Ug 5, No. 28 = RS 20.184, both in connection
with Carchemish. See also R S O 7, No. 38 = RS 34.149, in connection with Sidon.
56
Ug 5, No. 44 = RS 20.219; R S O 7, No. 10 = RS 34.150.
57

FT-TA GAL; c f . A R N A U D

1992,

190, .

54.

temple of the Sidonian storm-god. As a result, the culprits, the people


and the king of Sidon had to perform a meticulous and expensive
reparation ritual to all the deities of Sidon over a period of four days.
Some of the culprits agreed to pay the cost of the ritual and those
who refused ran the risk of being executed. 18
1.5.3 O n other occasions it was not professional reasons but war
or economical circumstances which forced some Ugaritians to leave
the country ( 11.1.6.7).

1.6

Social mobility

1.6.1 As the legal and administrative documents from Ugarit show,


the inhabitants of the kingdom could belong to different social classes.
It was a very structured society with a pattern quite different from
the one reflected in the texts from nearby Alalah ( S e r a n g e l i 1978;
G a l 1988), but comprised permeable strata. Different circumstances
could bring about a change in a person's class, such as a royal decision, marriage or one's own economic situation. T h e differences
between Ugaritians in general and those within the same class in
particular ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1334; V a r g y a s 1988, 117), were also
economic in character. 5 9 T h e variations in the social and economic
position of the Ugaritians are also reflected in the archaeological
remains of tombs ( S a l l e s 1995) and houses ( C a l l o t 1994, 1 9 9 - 2 0 1 )
found in the city of Ugarit, which also show clearly the social disparity between the capital and the rest of kingdom. O n the lowest
rungs of the social ladder there were a certain number of servants,
slaves and fugitives ( 11.1.6.6-7).
1.6.2 Certain social classes, such as the maiyann and the mud, had
their own structure and were directly connected with the crown. In
Ugarit, the term maryannu,m which is well known in ancient Near
Eastern sources of the second half of the 2nd millennium b c e
(Wilhelm
1 9 8 7 - 9 0 ) , did not denote a type of soldier of the war5

" See also A R N A U D 1982b on a business dispute in Tyre.


Note also the existence of properties which were free of obligations (for example, PRU 3, 90 = RS 16.147) as compared with others, the acquisition of which
entailed various economic and social obligations (for example, PRU 3, 62 = RS
16.167).
60
Ug. mryn, pi. miynm ( C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 3726 and 3727).
59

chariot in the strict sense but a social group, a status or class ( R e v i v


1 9 7 2 ; V i t a 1 9 9 5 , 9 3 1 0 9 ) . Its members formed a well-defined group
within society, 61 occupying a distinct social position but without comprising the controlling elite of the kingdom ( V a r g y a s 1 9 8 8 , 1 2 1 ) .
Distributed in various places, 62 they were connected economically
with agriculture. 63 Some of their members were military personnel
connected with chariots, 64 but they are neither the only members of
Ugaritic society intended for the chariot squad, nor did all the
maryann have to carry out that duty. 63
As for the term mud,66 it denoted the scribe of the village
( 1 1 . 2 . 7 . 2 ) but was also the name for a kind of courtier, the 'expert',
either of the king or the queen ( S a n m a r t i n 1 9 8 9 , 3 3 7 - 4 1 ) . T h e
maryann were also connected with the crown. O n the one hand, as
in Alalah, 67 the king had the power to grant an individual the status of maryannu,68 which was surely hereditary. 69 O n the other hand,
again as in Alalah ( N a ' a m a n 1 9 8 0 , 1 1 2 ) , they comprised various
categories, one among them being that of 'maryannu of the king'. 70
T h e same person could function in both categories, maryannu and
mud at the same time. 71 Nevertheless, the category of maryannu must
have been superior, j u d g i n g f r o m the economic benefits it entailed and because it was a more restricted class ( R e v i v 1 9 7 2 , 2 2 1 ) .
Accordingly, maryannu and mud could have been the highest social
classes.
1.6.3

61

See, for example, the lists of maryannu, K T U 4.322 = RS 18.007A and K T U


4.561 = RS 18.[489]; also perhaps K T U 4.623 = RS 19.049[B].
62
Cf. PRU "i, 192 = RS 12.034+; K T U 4.244 = RS 16.396:16; K T U 4.772 =
RIH 78/06:5.
63
K T U 4.416 = RS 18.252:1; K T U 4.244 = RS 16.396:16.
04
Cf. PRU 3, 192 = RS 12.034+ and the dependence of the maryannu on the
'overseer of (the) chariot(s)' ( L U U G U L A G I S G I G I R ; PRU 3, 79 = RS 16.239:31-3).
65
As shown, again, by PRU 3, 192 = R S 12.34+. Thus, the theory of RF.VIV
1972, 228, according to which the maryannu gradually lost their connection with
chariots during the second half of the 2nd millennium, is very probable. They were
being integrated into spheres which were more civil than military and their place
in the army was gradually taken by members of the lower classes.
66
Ug. md, pi. mdm ( C U N C H I L L O S
V I T A 1995a, Nos. 3 3 6 1 and 3 3 8 2 ) .
61
A T 15; A T 91 ( N A ' A M A N 1980, 111-2; D I E T R I C H - M A Y E R 1996b, 184-7).
68
PRU 3, 140 = R S 16.132; H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 173. At Emar, instead, this
power could belong to an individual, cf. R E 66 (BECKMAN 1996b, 85).
69
Cf. K T U 4.561 = RS 18. [489],
7(1
maryannu LUGAL (PRU 3, 79 = RS 16.239:17). Also attested are the n't mrynm 'lads/
cadets of the maryannumd and bn mrynm 'sons of the maryannma ( V I T A 1995a, 105-9).
71
Cf. PRU 3, 79 = RS 16.239!

1.6.4 C h a n g e s in status by royal decree could involve other classes,


such as the qd, mur'u a n d airu. Traditionally understood to m e a n
'commanders', 'officials', the mur' were in turn subdivided into 'mur'u
of the king', 'mur'u of the crown prince' a n d 'mur'u of the prefect'. 7 2
By a decision of A m m i t t a m r u II, a m a n a n d his sons moved f r o m
belonging to the mur' of the crown prince (Ibiranu) to form part
of the mud of the queen, a change which entailed a series of financial
privileges. 73 In the case of a n o t h e r person, the same king decrees his
transfer f r o m irun to 'mud of the king', a position which entailed
the p a y m e n t of a sum of m o n e y but also exemption from certain
obligations. 7 ' It can be supposed, therefore, that both cases involved
a rise in social standing.
1.6.5 C h a n g e s were also possible horizontally, as the juridical document PRU 3, 78 = R S 15.Y seems to suggest. 76 In the case of women,
the changes of status attested are related to marriages ( 11.1.6.6).
1.6.6 As in other societies of the period, 7 7 people in Ugarit could
be bought and sold. 78 As a result, in Ugaritic society there was also
a servant class, 79 which one joined chiefly through financial debts 80
(cf. 11.1.6.7). Servants f o r m e d part of a property on the same level
Ug. mru mlk/Akk. mur'u LUGAL, Ug. mru ibm/Akk. mur'u Ibirana, mur'u unyni
and Ug. mru skn/Akk. mur'u I L MASKIM respectively. Bibliography and discussion ('fatteners', 'quartermasters') in V I T A 1995, 145-7; C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995b.
73
PRU 3 , 1 6 2 = R S 1 6 . 3 4 8 . According to N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 6 8 , 1 3 6 n. 4 , it is very
likely that the person in question was the recipient of the queen's letter Ug 5, 136 =
RS

20.013.

74

A category of uncertain meaning, cf. DLU, 92 (Ug. 'r).


PRU 3, 134 = RS 15.137.
76
The document provides two examples of a change: by decision of king Niqmepa,
a person moves from being a 'tanner' (akpu) to being a 'lancer' ( LL ZAG.LU; cf.
H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 67; 11.5.2.3) and the other, instead, moves from a 'lancer'
to a 'tanner'.
77
On Emar see A R N A U D 1 9 8 1 and the references in D I E T R I C H 1 9 9 0 .
78
Cf. PRU 4, 161 = RS 17.341; PRU 4, 238 = RS 17.231; Ug 5, No. 10 = RS
17.067; Ug 5, No. 85 = RS 20.236; K T U 3.4 = RS 16.191+. The Egyptians seem
to have played an active role in this enterprise, cf. KTU 3.8 = RS 19.066; PRU
3, 19 = RS 15.011; Ug 5, No. 42 = RS 20.021; RSO 7, No. 16 = RS 34.158.
79
Masc., Ug. 'bd (CUNCHILLOS - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 4289, 4296, 4306, 4310; DLU,
68, which distinguishes between 'bd I 'slave' and 'bd II 'servant'), Sum. R, Akk. ardu
(cf. polyglot vocabulary Ug 5, No. 137 = RS 20.123 iii 4; H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b,
96, 158). Fem., Sum. GEM, Ug. amt (CUNCHILLOS - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 270, 287,
289; DLU, 36). For references to prisoners (Ug. asr, Akk. asru) in the texts from
Ugarit cf. DLU, 55.
75

80

Cf.

103-5

K T U
RS

3.8

17.130.

RS

19.066

(HOFTIJZER -

VAN S O L D T

1991,

191-2);

PRU

4,

On the appropriateness of speaking of'servitude' rather than

as lands, houses, animals and d o m e s d c furniture, 8 1 and thus could


be transferred a n d exchanged for other servants. 82 For the state they
carried out agricultural tasks on the royal farms (Ug. gt, Akk. dimtu;
11.4.1.2). 83 Being a servant was not necessarily for life, as shown
by the cases of w o m e n w h o d r o p their status as servants as a first
step before marriage ( 11.3.1.4), 84 or by the possiblity of personal
freedom, with a servant left in one's stead. 83
1.6.7 Finally, Ugarit had to deal with the problem of fugitives. As
is known, the pursuit and extradition of fugitives was an important
matter in the international relations of the ancient N e a r East. Ugarit,
like other states in the period, confronted this situation by m e a n s of
bilateral treaties and internal legal mechanisms ( H o f t i j z e r - v a n
S o l d t 1991). Since the nayyalu or r u n a w a y could not fulfil the economic obligations towards the administration ('/^-obligations, pilku),86
he was pursued and lost his lands in favour of third parties ( H e l t z e r
1976, 5 2 - 7 ; L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1343; S a n m a r t i n 1995c, 135-6). 87 It
was another possible way of becoming a servant ( 11.1.6.6).

The

Royal

Family,

2.1

Administration

and

Commerce

Dynasty and succession

According to the textual evidence, only one dynasty ruled in Ugarit.


T h e royal titularies of the juridical texts show that succession was

'slavery' in Ugaritic society, see B O Y E R 1 9 5 5 , 2 9 9 ; N O U G A Y R O L


opposite view cf. LIVERANI 1 9 8 2 , 2 5 7 .
81
For example, PRU 3 , 5 6 = R S 1 5 . 1 2 0 ; Ug 5 , No. 8 1 =
No.

49

RS

17.378A;

RS

8.145

(THUREAU-DANGIN

1937,

1955, 3 1 - 2 ;
RS

21.230;

for the
PRU

6,

249).

82
Ug 5, No. 56 = RS 20.150; PRU 6, No. 45 = RS 18.021; R S O 7, No. 56 =
RS 34.170.
8:1
K T U 4.636 = RS 19.097; Ug 5, No. 96 = RS 20.012. Cf. also H E L T Z E R 1982,

64-5;
84

LIVERANI
PRU

DANGIN

3,
1937,

1982,

85

253;

RS

257.
16.250;

PRU

partially in PRU

3,
3,

110
110)

RS

16.267;

RS

8.208

(THUREAU-

where the husband pays a certain

amount of money.
85
R S O 7, No. 23 = RS 34.170.
86
See p. 485 n. 194. Cf. also abyn 'bankrupt' in K T U 4.70 = RS 11.720:6
(.DLU, 7; KTU1, 237; tflq 'missing' [DLU, 192]).
87
The generic term for 'fugitive', also attested in Ugarit, is munnabtu. The label
PRU 6, No. 76 = RS 17.361A, which deals with fugitives, was probably attached
to the agreement between Suppiluliuma and Niqmaddu, PRU 4, 52 = RS 17.369A,

from father to son. T h e only exception was N i q m e p a ' , son of Niqm a d d u II, who succeeded his brother Arhalba. 8 8 T h e king was free
to choose the crown prince, although the king of Hatti reserved for
himself the right to intervene in the royal succession. 89 In the event
of the m o n a r c h being a minor, the queen-mother ( L i v e r a n i 1974,
336; L a c k e n b a c h e r 1995a, 75) or the prefect could act as regents.

2.2

The king

T h e king, as head of state, was at the pinnacle of the political,


administrative and religious system of the kingdom. T h e royal palace,
in the capital of the kingdom ( M a r g u e r o n 1995), was a clear expression of his sovereign position. H e was constantly present in external
politics, as shown by the treaties, juridical documents and copious
international correspondence. O n the other hand, he was the supreme
c o m m a n d e r of the army, a function which he exercised to effect
( 11.5.1.2). In religion, the king occupied a central position. A large
n u m b e r of the rituals preserved ( d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a = 1999) are
royal in character: they are carried out in the palace, are directed
towards the tutelary gods of the dynasty, focus on the king's person
or show him to be the principal officiant. Some rituals where the king
officiates show the m o n a r c h as protector of the kingdom and some
stelae represent him functioning as a priest, as beneficiary of divine
protection and as its intermediary between god and kingdom (Yon
1991, 292-7). O n c e deceased, the kings then became divine beings
and continued to watch over the dynasty and the kingdom. Ugaritic
royalty, therefore, is very m u c h in line with royalty elsewhere in the
ancient N e a r East at the time and differs sharply from the types of
royalty of contemporary Syrian centres such as E m a r ( F l e m i n g 1992a).

2.3

The prefect

T h e administration of Ugarit was not monolithic but a partitioned


system. T h e superior position of the m o n a r c h was tempered by the
which also regulated the problem of foreign fugitives who reached Ugarit (VAN
SOLDT 1989b, 384).
88
Also a son of Niqmaddu. This atypical succession was due to the direct intervention of the Hittite king Muri1i II following the Syrian revolt led by Nuhai
and Qadesh (cf. PRU 4, 85 = RS 17.338; LIVERANI 1979a, 1306).
89
Cf. PRU 4, 126 = RS 17.159. See also PRU 4, 124 = RS 17.367 and PRU
4, 128 = RS 17.348; YARON 1963, 29-30; PINTORE 1978, 131.

existence of administrative nuclei or nuclei of power headed by the


prefect, the queen and the court nobles (cf. also 11.2.5).90 T h e
'prefect' (s/nu), at the head of a 'House of the prefect', 91 complemented
the king in every aspect of government, whether internal or external,
political, commercial or juridical ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1337; M a l b r a n L a b a t 1995b, 109). H e was also the king's deputy when he was outside the kingdom 9 2 and acted as regent if the king was a minor. 9 3

2.4

The queen

2.4.1 T h e queen ( v a n S o l d t 1985-6; A b o u d 1994) occupied a separate administrative and political position. In the context of the role
played by princesses in the international politics of the period (Pint o r e 1978; S i n g e r 1991b, 335), the foreign origin of some queens
of Ugarit 94 pardy explains this position. Another cause was her secure
financial position. Queens brought a substantial dowry to a marriage, 95 control of which they retained in the event of divorce. T h e y
could increase their possessions by direct intervention of the king, 96
by the acquisition of new properties 97 and by the activities of her
own merchants. 9 8 T h e y managed her patrimony with complete freedom, 9 9 and its business activities are reflected in various genres. 100
90

The king's relatives also had considerable influence. T h e documents show


them as increasing their personal patrimony thanks to the direct intervention of the
king, as in the case of Niqmaddu's family, i.e. his brother Nuriyani (PRU 3, 45 =
RS 16.140) his sister Dalaptum (PRU 3, 52 = RS 15.085), his daughter Apap
(PRU 3, 69 = RS 16.276).
91
bt skn, for example in K T U 4.361 = RS 18.051 (cf. C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a,
No. 4174).
92
R S O 7, No. 37 = RS 34.137.
93
R S O 7, No. 12 = RS 34.129.
94
From Amurru: Ahatmilku (VAN S O L D T 1985 6, 70; S I N G E R 1991a, 159) and the
princess called 'daughter of the Great Lady'. From Hatti: on the divorce of Ammurapi and his Hittite wife see 11.3.2.3. From Egypt: on the 'marriage vase' of Niqmaddu II and the problem of identifying the woman depicted see VAN S O L D T 1985-6,
69-70.
95
As shown by the list of the effects of Ahatmilku, Niqmepa"s wife (PRU 3,
182 = RS 16.146+).
96
PRU 3, 53 = RS 15.089.
97
Ug 5, 262-4 = RS 17.86+, RS 17.102, RS 17.325. Thus they disposed of
properties of the gt/dimtu type (cf. 11.4.1.2), cf. the letter K T U 2.21 = RS 15.174
( C U N C H I L L O S 1981b), the administrative text K T U 4.143 = R S 15.031 and the
juridical text Ug 5, 264 = RS 17.325.
98
PRU 4, 189-90 = RS 17.314, RS 17.449.
99
PRU 3, 50-1 = RS 16.277, RS 15.086; PRU 3, 53 = RS 15.89.
100
Letters: PRU 3, 14 = R S 12.033 (VAN S O L D T 1985-6, 71) and K T U 2.34 =
R S 17.139 ( C U N C H I L L O S 1989b, 345-7). Administrative texts: oil ( K T U 4.143 = R S

Financial independence went h a n d in h a n d with her own administrative structure which was called ' T h e House of the Queen'. 1 0 1 In
matters of religion, rituals and administrative texts reflect the queen's
cultic activity. 102
2.4.2 O n the basis of the economic and administrative infrastructure described, the queen extended her activity to every sphere of
the realm, retaining up to her death both her title and most of her
influence. Like other queens and princesses of the period, 103 the queen
of Ugarit took an active part in the foreign policy of the kingdom.
By means of her scribes and messengers, 104 she maintained direct
connections with the principal courts of the period. 105 T h e letter R S O
7, No. 9 = RS 34.145 shows the range of aspects covered by the
queen's activity abroad. An indication of the position she held in
the diplomacy of the kingdom is the letter PRU 4, 294 = R S 19.070,
the presentation of a Ugaritian ambassador to a personage from the
Hittite court, signed jointly by the king and queen. T h e king, in
turn, kept the queen informed of his activity during his journeys outside the court. 106

15.031), vineyards and wine ( K T U 4.219 = RS 16.179:12; K T U 4.244 = RS


16.396:9; K T U 4.246 = RS 16.398:2-3; perhaps K T U 4.230 = RS 16.341:4.5),
wheat (PRU 3, 188 = RS 16.151; perhaps Ug 5, 198 = RS 20.220), barley for the
queen's animals ( M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995a, 446). T h e juridical texts PRU 3, 119 =
RS 16.204 and PRU 3, 143 = RS 16.138 mention the 'service (pilku) of the
queen's sons'.
101
bt arrati, an administration comprising 'the queen's men' (bn mlkt, K T U
4 . 2 2 = R S 1 . 0 4 1 : 3 - 4 ) in the election of whom she could intervene directly, cf. for
example, PRU 4 , 2 3 8 = R S 1 7 . 2 3 1 ( N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 6 8 , 1 3 6 n. 5 ) . The skinu is the
most important official connected with the queen, cf. PRU 3 , 1 1 0 = R S 8 . 2 0 8 ,
PRU
102

3, 5 3

RS

15.089,

Ug 5 , 2 6 4

RS

17.325,

K T U

2.21

RS

15.174.

Ritual K T U 1.170 = "RIH 78/11 ( C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1993a, 225: 1.174);


administrative texts: K T U 4.149 = RS 15.039:14-15; K T U 4.219 = RS 16.179:12;
K T U 4.230 = RS 16.341:4.5; K T U 4.246 = RS 16.398:3 (XELLA 1981, 345).
103
See, for example, the letter EA 26, from Turatta to Teye of Egypt, or the
character of the Hittite queen, Puduhepa ( C U N C H I L L O S 1989b, 363-421).
104
Cf. RS 6.198 ( T H U R E A U - D A N G I N 1935), R S O 7, No. 9 = RS 34.145:21; K T U
2.34 = RS 17.139:5 ( C U N C H I L L O S 1989b, 343).
105
Egypt: EA 48 ( M O R A N 1992, 120 n. 1); Assyria: R S 6.198 ( T H U R E A U - D A N G I N
1935; LIPINSKI 1981, 87-8); Amurru: PRU 3, 13 = R S 16.111 ( S I N G E R 1991a, 160);
Hatti: R S O 7, No. 18 = RS 34.154; Carchemish: R S O 7, No. 9 = RS 34.145.
O n the queen's contacts with the Hittite world see also B O R D R E U I L 1995b, 449. It
is probable that the letter K T U 2.68 = RS 20.199 records direct contact between
the queen of Ugarit and the dethroned Hittite king Mursiii III (Urhiteub; CUNCHILLOS 1989b, 360 . 3).
IOfi
K T U 2.13 = RS 11.872; K T U 2.33 = RS 16.379; K T U 2.34 = RS 17.139.

2.5

Administrative centres

A series of residences outside the palace with archives which can be


dated to the second half of the 13th cent, bce show that, at least
in the final stage of the kingdom, affairs of state were administered
in various centres. These are what are known as the 'houses' of
Raapabu ( N o u g a y r o l 1968, 1), R a p ' a n u ( N o u g a y r o l 1968, 42)
Yabninu ( C o u r t o i s 1990) and Urtenu ( B o r d r e u i l 1995; M a l b r a n L a b a t 1995a; 1995b; Y o n 1995), the names of nobles of the kingdom.
T h e archives of the so-called 'House of Urtenu', for example, date
to the end of the 13th cent, and the beginning of the 12th cent, bce
(the last two reigns of Ugarit); as a whole, they are more recent than
the palace archives. Political, diplomatic and military affairs are the
equal concern of both archives, which also share the same more
important recipients, i.e. king, queen and prefect. Despite this, in
the correspondence of the 'House of Urtenu', commerce is the principal topic, and it displays a wider geographical horizon than the
palace, ranging from Cyprus and the Hittite world to as far away
as Egypt and the ports of the Palestine coast. Nevertheless, the exact
purpose of these residences within Ugaritic administration has yet to
be determined. A comparative examination of the international correspondence kept in the royal palace and in the houses of Rap'anu
and Urtenu ( L a c k e n b a c h e r 1995a) does not reveal the criteria which
governed the classification of a document in a particular archive and
so determine the specific nature of this archive.

2.6

Power and economy

2.6.1 T h e various administrative centres show the close relationship that existed between power and economy. T h e Ugaritic royal
family played an active part in the economics of the kingdom. T h e
kings obtained important financial benefits from their relations with
traders. 107 O n e of these, ipti-BaCalu ( A r n a u d 1982b; 1991b, 6 5 - 6 ;
Vita - Galn
1997), the director of an international network of
traders who operated from Emar to Egypt, passing through Cyprus
and the Levantine ports, belonged to the royal family as the king's
son-in-law 108 and supervised the running of the queen's estates. A
107

For example, Sinaranu and Amtarunu (PRU 3, 101-8 = RS 15.138+, 15.109+,


16.206, 16.238+, 16.251; PRU 3, 124-6 = RS 15.163+, 15.147, 16.162).
108
R S O 7, No. 30 = RS [Varia 26],

considerable number of juridical documents show the king's intervention in the exchange and the buying and selling of lands, either
intervening directly in the operation 1 0 9 or sanctioning operations
between individuals. 110 T h e politics of collecting taxes on the merchandise which circulated in the kingdom also depended in the final
instance on the king ( A r n a u d 1 9 9 6 , 6 1 - 2 ) .
2.6.2 The same relationship between power and economy can be seen
in the residences outside the palace ( 11.2.5). Yabninu, for example, who was at the head of a vast administration in the period of
Ammittamru II, also organized commercial trips to Egypt ( C o u r t o i s
1990). Various business networks gravitated around the 'house of
Urtenu' ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995a, 446; 1995b, 105), the best known
of which was directed by Sipti-Ba'alu ( 11.2.6.1).
2.6.3 T h u s the palace administration, understood in its widest sense,
controlled a large p a r t of the commercial activity of the kingdom, as is also shown by the frequent reference to traders in the
administrative documents'" and the existence of a ' m e r c h a n t / t r a d e r obligation'. 112 T h e palace supplied the merchants with a quantity of
merchandise 1 1 3 or money to carry out their operations, and once
concluded, it then proceeded to calculate the balance of the results
gained ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1330; 1979b)." 4

2.7

The scbes

2.7.1 T h e scribes were a central element in the


administration. Various genres are witness to the
which the Ugaritic scribes received. They were
were generally bilingual or, at least, biscriptal

109

functioning of the
type of formation
professionals who
(in Ugaritic and

See, for example, the case of the family of Abdu (PRU 3, 78-86 = RS [Varia 7],
16.239, 16.254D, 16.143, 16.157, 16.250).'
110
For example, PRU 3, 54 = RS 15.090, PRU 3, 87 = RS 15.119, PRU 3,
71 = RS 16.356.
111
For the alphabetic texts cf. C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 3 4 8 2 - 3 4 8 3 .
112
PRU 6, No. 30 = RS 18. [500].
113
PRU 6, No. 156 = RS 19.020; cf. also, for example, PRU 4, 154 = RS
17.146:6-7.
114
On the dangers incurred by traders in the exercise of their profession see
11.1.4.6. O n traders in general and their various classes, see also H E L T Z E R 1978a;
ARNAUD

1996,

62-3.

Akkadian; v a n S o l d t 1995; M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1996; D a l i x 1996).


Expressions of the type 'servant of Nabu and Nisaba', which they
claim in some colophons," 3 show that the Ugaritic scribes were aware
of belonging to a guild with its roots in Mesopotamia. T h e documents they used in their formation show, in fact, a deep familiarity
with Mesopotamian culture as well as a certain degree of independence and originality in respect of their models ( N o u g a y r o l 1968,
199-200; A r n a u d 1979, 1357).
2.7.2 T h e profession of scribe was usually passed down from father
to son, and at least two scribal dynasties are known. T h e existence
of a hierarchy within the corps can be deduced from the references
in colophons to literary and lexical texts, to titles such as 'apprentice' (,Imd) and others the precise meaning of which has yet to be
determined ( v a n S o l d t 1995). Besides the scribes of the palace organisation it is likely that there were street scribes who offered their
services in fields such as magic, divination or simple mathematics
( S a n m a r t i n 1989, 337-41).

2.8

Administration and territory

2.8.1 T h e work carricd out by the scribes helps us to know, in


broad outline, other components of the administrative structure of
Ugarit. At the head of each section of administration ( H e l t z e r 1982)
there was an official called the rab.m His actual functions are
unknown on most occasions, but titles such as 'chief of the palace'
(rab ekallim),n~' 'chief accountant' (rb nky),U8 'chief of the craftsmen'
(rb hrsrri),"9 'chief of the chariots' (rab narkabti),m 'chief of the field'
(rb dm/rab eqlt),m or (always with reference to people) 'chief of
ten' (rb csrt),m 'chief of a hundred' (rb mit),m 'chief of a thousand'

115
116
117
118

See, for example, Ug 5, 252, 283.


On the reading rab of the ideogram UGULA, cf. ARNAUD 1996, 61 . 85.
PRU 3, 165 = RS 16.386.
K T U 6.69 = R S 7.25:3-4 (BORDREUIL 1986, 294; CUNCHILLOS - VITA 1995b,

390).
119
120
121
122
123
124

KTU
PRU
KTU
PRU
KTU
KTU

4.145 = RS 15.034:9.
3, 79 = RS 16.239; PRU 3, 83 = RS 16.157.
4.160 = RS 15.065:12.
3, 134 = RS 15.137.
4.609 = RS 19.016:2, 5, 7, 8; K T U 4.714 = RS 22.231:1.
2.42 = RS 18.1 13A:3.

(rab lim),125 as well as the existence o f ' j u d g e s ' (dayynu),126 give a good
idea of the ramifications and complexity of Ugaritic administration.
2.8.2 T h e lists of toponyms show that, for administrative purposes,
Ugaritic places formed units which correspond approximately to the
natural geographical divisions of the kingdom ( A s t o u r 1995, 62-3).
Acting in coordination with the principal prefect were the provincial prefects, 127 and several places had a 'mayor' (hazannw, 11.3.8.2)
or local representative of the central administration ( H e l t z e r 1976,
8 0 - 1 ; L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1337, 1342).' 28 T h e functionaries entrusted
with control over the commerical frontiers of the kingdom, on land
and at sea, were the 'tax collector' (mkisu)129 and the 'harbourmaster' (rab kr)m ( A r n a u d 1996, 61-2). T h e central administration also
managed directly part of the financial resources of the kingdom by
means of a system of farms ( 11.4.1.2).

2.9

The priests

Although they had their own financial resources ( L i p i n s k i 1 9 8 8 ) , the


priests belonged to the administrative ambit of the palace ( H e l t z e r
1 9 8 2 , 1 3 2 - 3 ) . It is not known what the functions of the khnm (Sum.
S a n g a ) and qdm (Sum. n u . g i g ) were, frequently associated in the
administrative texts, 131 but perhaps they may have been '(clerical)
administrators' and 'priests, consecrators' respectively ( A r n a u d 1 9 9 6 ,
5 4 - 8 ; see f u r t h e r d e l O l m o L e t e - S a n m a r t i n
1998,
177-81).
Evidence of the priestly organization and hierarchy are the existence
of a 'college of khnm' (dr khnm)132 and the reference, in documents of

125

PRU 6, 52 = RS 19.078.
PRU 3, 61 = RS 16.156:20; see also PRU 3, 141 = RS 16.132:26. On Ug.
trtn as possibly meaning 'supreme judge' cf. SANMARTIN 1989, 345-8.
127
N O U G A Y R O L 1968, 139 n. 4; Ug 5, No. 51 = RS 20.158; K T U 4.160 = RS
15.065:6; K T U 4.288 = RS 17.293:2-5; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016:10-11.
128
PRU 3, 134 = R S 15.137; Ug 5, No. 26 = R S 20.003; R S 25.134 ( L A C K E N BACHER 1991b).
129
PRU 3, 15 = RS 15.033; PRU 4, 235 = RS 17.135+; PRU 4, 237 = RS
17.066; PRU 4, 239 = RS 17.232.
130
PRU 4, 219 = RS 17.424c+; Ug 5, No. 13 = RS 17.465; A R N A U D 1982b,
126

1 0 2 . C f . NOUGAYROL
131

CUNCHILLOS

1968, 2 0 .
VITA

2.

1995a, Nos. 2927 and 5071; PRU 6, No. 93 = RS

17.131:26-7.
132
K T U 4.357 = RS 18.047:24.

various genres, to a 'chief of the khnrr (rb khnm),133 a person of high


social and financial position ( L i p i n s k i 1 9 8 8 , 1 2 6 - 3 1 ) . 1 3 4

The

Family

3.1

and

the

Collective

Marriage

3.1.1 As in other societies of the ancient Near East, marriage in


Ugarit was considered to be a contract ( B o y e r 1955; M a r r a s s i n i
1984). T h e mechanics of matrimony in Ugarit are very like those
of contemporary Syrian societies such as E m a r ( B e c k m a n 1996a,
69) and Alalah, to a large extent already documented in Babylonia
( W e s t b r o o k 1988).
3.1.2 T h e woman brought to the marriage a sum of money known
as the terhatu, which came from the patrimony of her own family. 13 '
T h e terhatu and the goods given her by her father as a dowry comprised the material contribution of the woman to the marriage. 136
It is possible that the term terhatu on its own denotes the dowry
137
( Z a c c a g n i n i 1 9 7 3 , 2 5 n. 60),
but perhaps, as in Alalah I V , terhatu
and dowry were two separate items. In Alalah, before the wedding,
the groom presents the woman's father with an amount of money
called terhatu. From the sequence of events it can be deduced that
133
C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, No. 2927; PRU 3 , 168 = R S 16.168; PRU 6,
No. 9 = RS 17.428.
134
O n the personnel connected with the cult see also, in general, DE T A R R A G O N
1980, 131-44.
135

PRU

3, 5 4 =

RS

1 5 . 0 9 2 ; PRU

3, 6 0 =

RS

1 6 . 1 4 1 ; PRU

3, 6 2 =

RS

16.158

could show that the ter/jatu also consists of landed property (BOYER 1 9 5 5 , 3 0 1 ) , but
the passage dealing with the matter is uncertain (MARRASSINI 1 9 8 4 , 6 7 ) .
136 p u i j 3 t [32 = RS 16.146+ shows how rich a queen's dowry could be
(Ahatmilku; N O U G A Y R O L 1955, 178; B O Y E R 1955, 301). Similarly, Ugaritic epic
('Keret') and myth ('The Wedding of Yarhu and Nikkal') have preserved the verb
trfy 'to marry, pay the bride-price' (DEL O L M O L E T E 1981, 639; cf. MARRASSINI
1984, 68), as well as the noun mtrf(t 'spouse, wife' (DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 586);
see C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 6139 and 3803 respectively.
137
T h e meaning 'dowry' of Ug. mtg (mtghy, K T U 1.24 = RS 5.194:47) is uncertain, cf. DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 578; see similarly mhr 'dowry, bride-price' in the
'The Wedding of Yarhu and Nikkal' (DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 639; cf. MARRASSINI
1984, 72). See also W Y A T T 1998C, 338 n. 15, 341 n. 30.
138

AT

AT

9 2 (WESTBROOK

1 7 (SPEISER

1954, 23)

1 9 9 4 , 2 7 9 ; b u t s e e ZACCAGNINI

only nidnu 'gift' is mentioned.

1985, 598-9); A T

93.

In

the bride's father presented the new couple with the terhatu together
with his daughter's dowry. T h u s returned, the terhatu became the
indirect contribution of the husband to the marriage. Since relations
between both societies are so well documented, a procedure much
as in Alalah can be presupposed in Ugarit.
3.1.3 W h e n the groom (or his family) presented the terhatu to the
bride's family, she was not yet fully a wife (Ug. att, Akk. aatu) but
instead had gained the status of kallatum (Ug. kit) and as such starts
to become part of the political family. 140 In the event of the engagement being broken off 141 or of widowhood and the need to leave
the conjugal hearth, 142 the woman retained control of this money.
T h e letter K T U 2 . 7 2 = RS 3 4 . 1 2 4 ' 4 3 and the juridical document R S 8 . 2 0 8 1 4 4 mention the anointing of a woman with oil. It
is a ritual gesture attested in the context of marriage, especially in
the El-Amarna letters ( M a l u l 1 9 8 8 , 1 6 1 - 7 9 ) . T h e first case seems
to be a marriage between the king of Ugarit and a princess from
Amurru. In the second, a high official of the queen anoints a female
slave as a preliminary step to her emancipation and the later marriage of both ( 11.1.6.6).
3.1.4

3.2

Divorce

3.2.1 T h e juridical documents provide us with some aspects of


divorce in Ugarit, both within the royal family and outside it.145 In
one case, a man declares that his wife has taken her share of the
goods and has left the hearth. 146 T h e reasons for the divorce are not
given, but the fact that the couple had at least one son excludes the

139

PRU 3, 60 = RS 16.141.
As the administrative text in Ugaritic, K T U 4.80 = RS 11.778 shows. On a
similar situation in Emar, cf. RE 6 (BECKMAN 1996b, 9).
141
PRU 3, 60 = RS 16.141.
142
PRU 3, 54 = RS 15.092.
143
R S O 7, No. 88.
144
THUREAU-DANGIN 1 9 3 7 , 2 5 3 (partially in PRU 3 , 1 1 0 ) .
145
The formula for divorce used in Ugarit must have been the same as in Emar,
'you are not my wife/husband'; cf. ARNAUD 1 9 8 6 , No. 1 2 4 . It is the same formula
as used in the Old Babylonian laws, perhaps pronounced in front of witnesses
(WESTBROOK 1 9 8 8 , 6 9 ) , as was the case in Nuzi (BRENEMAN 1 9 7 1 , 2 4 5 ) .
146
PRU 3, 81 = RS 16.143.
140

woman's infertility as a cause. 147 In fact, the husband does not resort
to polygamy as is foreseen in cases of barrenness ( 11.3.3.2) and
another document shows him as having a new wife.148 Generally
speaking, the woman reclaimed her dowry in the event of the marriage being dissolved. 149
3.2.2 Within the royal family, the best documented case of divorce
is that of king Ammittamru II from a daughter of Benteina, king of
Amurru ( S i n g e r 1991a, 174-5; A r n a u d - S a l v i n i 1991-92).' 50 T h e
woman appears to be the guilty party and so the husband takes the
initiative in the lawsuit. At first the reason for the divorce is said to
be that the woman was trying to prejudice the king in some way.151
T h e woman leaves the hearth and takes away her belongings,' 32 but
only what she brought as a dowry, since she is obliged to forego
the goods acquired during the period of marriage in her husband's
favour. 153 Although the lawsuit is international in character, the result
reflects the characteristics of a private divorce ( N o u g a y r o l 1956,
125 n. 1). Later on, the woman is accused of having committed a
'great sin' (htu rabtu), a vague term which included various types of
offence, 154 and finally she is executed.
3.2.3 In the separation of goods which follows the divorce of the
king Ammurapi from a Hittite princess, which is not so well documented ( A s t o u r 1980), 1 5 5 the king takes back a property which he

147

T h e fact that the woman could take away the money of the terhatu and the
rest of the goods could indicate, judging from A T 92, that the husband caused the
separation for no justifiable reason. In the case envisaged in PRU 3, 60 = RS
16.141, the woman certainly reclaims the terhatu because the matrimonial contract
was not completed.
148
PRU 3, 85 = RS 16.250.
149

PRU

3, 81 = R S

1 6 . 1 4 3 ; PRU

4, 126 = R S

1 7 . 1 5 9 ; PRU

4, 2 0 9 = R S

17.355;

cf. also the case of PRU 3 , 6 2 = R S 1 6 . 1 5 8 and ZACCAGNINI 1 9 8 5 , 5 9 9 .


150
The princess is a daughter of the so-called 'Great (Lady)', possibly Gau1iyawiya,
Great Princess f Hatti (SINGER 1991b, 3 3 4 - 5 ) .
151
PRU 4, 126 = RS 17.159.
152

153

PRU

4,

126 =

RS

17.159.

PRU 4, 127 = RS 17.396.


154
Counterfeiting a royal seal and tablets (PRU 3, 96 = RS 16.249), sacrilege
(ARNAUD 1992, 189-90). T h e ambiguity of the expression is also evident in M E 21
which comes from the region of Emar (ARNAUD 1991a, 40).
155
PRU 4, 208 = RS 17.226; PRU 4, 209 = RS 17.355; PRU 4, 227 = RS
17.429 and, perhaps, Ug 5, No. 35 = RS 20.216.

had given his wife and the princess retains the goods she brought
with her at the time of marriage. 156

3.3

The family unit

3.3.1 T h e union of a man and a woman manifested by a matrimonial contract allowed legitimate children to be born. In general,
the documents seem to show a very low birth rate ( L i v e r a n i 1979a,
1321), rarely more than three children to a single couple. 157 It is
possible, even so, that the administrative texts only record persons
able to work in some way, and exclude, for example, old people
and small children ( H e l t z e r 1976, 88) and that the juridical documents only mention legitimate children with inheritance rights.
3.3.2 Although the data are not conclusive, polygamy must have
been well established in Ugaritian society ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1320),
especially in the upper classes ( B o r d r e u i l 1995, 4 4 8 ) . 1 5 8 T h e situation cannot have been different from the one known in Alalah IV 159
and Emar, 160 where polygamy was accepted, especially when the wife
was barren. 161
3.3.3 O n the other hand, the Ugaritian concept of family seems not
to have been restricted to parents and children but could include
other relatives. 162 T h e average number of members per family, there-

156

On this episode see also

BROOK

1994,

N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 6 , 2 0 6 - 7 ; PINTORE 1 9 7 8 , 7 5 - 8 ; W E S T -

279.

157

Cf. K T U 4.80 = RS 1 1.778; K T U 4.295 = RS 17.312; K T U 4.417 = RS


18.258, described as 'census by household' (KTU'1, 651). Other administrative texts
corroborate this low percentage, for example K T U 4.339 = R S 18.026 (LIVERANI
1979a, 1321), K T U 4.360 = R S 18.050 ( H E L T Z E R 1976, 89-90), PRU 4, No. 115 =
RS 17.037.
158
Cf. also tnglyt in K T U 4.339 = RS 18.026:10 ('second wife' in this context?;
on the term see also W I L H E L M 1970, 278). On the other hand, the existence of
levirate marriage in Ugarit, on the basis of a single possible witness (PRU 3, 76 =
R S 16.144) is a debated matter, cf. SKAIST 1980-83, 607-8; W E S T B R O O K 1991, 89.
159
A T 91 ( N A ' A M A N 1980, 112; D I E T R I C H - M A Y E R 1996b, 184-7), A T 92
(MENDELSOHN 1959, 356-7), A T 93, A T 94.
160

ARNAUD

161

As in Babylonia

2 9 0 ; NEGRI
162

1986, Nos.

1984,

31,

216.

(WESTBROOK

1988,

107-9)

and Nuzi

(BRENEMAN 1 9 7 1 ,

23-4,

60).

Cf. K T U 4.80 = RS 11.778, which mention future daughters-in-law (kaltatu/


kit) among the members of three families (cf. 11.3.1.3) as well as the father's
brother in another family and a son-in-law (t}tn) in another.

fore, could have been between five and six persons ( G a r r 1987, 34),
a number which in some cases could be higher due to the presence
of servants ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1319). Archaeological studies on houses
and residential areas of Ras Shamra support the possibility of polygamy or a high number of dwellers in certain houses, but they also
counsel prudence when figures on this topic are proposed ( 11.1.1.1).

3.4

Changes to the family unit

Several juridical texts deal with adoption ( B o y e r 1 9 5 5 , 3 0 2 - 5 ;


M i l l e r 1 9 8 0 ) . In broad outline, such a document mentions the persons involved in the adoption and stipulates the financial conditions
of both joining and possible separation. Those adopted are adopted
as sons' 63 or brothers 164 and, unlike at Emar, 1 6 5 they are always
adults. 166 T h e act of adoption is carried out in the presence of the
king,167 who could also sanction the act retrospectively 168 or else in
front of other authorities 169 or witnesses whose names are not mentioned in the documents. 170
3.4.1

3.4.2 T h e adoption was preeminently financial in nature, with a


variety of motives such as a widow looking for financial security,'''
the keeping of patrimony within the same family,' 72 or both at once.' 73
In cases of looking for financial security, the obligation of the adoptee
seems to be restricted to the financial support of his new family by
contributing money and goods. In return he received important
benefits in the event of separation, either in the form of property' 7 4
163
PRU 3, 54 = RS 15.092, PRU 3, 64 = RS 16.200, PRU 3, 70 = RS 16.295,
PRU 6, No. 37 = RS 17.088, Ug 5, No. 2 = RS 17.021; Ug 5, No. 82 = RS
20.226.
164
PRU 3, 75 = RS 16.344, Ug 5, No. 8 1 = RS 21.230 ( W E S T B R O O K 1 9 9 1 ,
130-2), RS 25.134 (LACKENBACHER 1 9 9 1 ) .
165
For example, A R N A U D 1986, No. 256; BECKMAN 1996a, 62.
166
Other types of adoption are attested in Late Bronze Age Syria; see BECKMAN
1996a, 63-8, 76; M I L L E R 1980, 2 2 7 - 8 .
167
PRU 3, 54 = RS 15.092; PRU 3, 70 = RS 16.295; PRU 3, 75 = RS 16.344.
168
PRU 3, 64 = RS 16.200.
169
The hazannu in RS 25.134 (LACKENBACHER 1991).
170
PRU 6, No. 37 = RS 17.088; Ug 5, No. 82 = RS 20.226; Ug 5, No. 2 =
RS 17.021; Ug 5, No. 81 = RS 21.230.
171
PRU 3, 64 = RS 16.200.
172
PRU 3, 70 = RS 16.295.
173
Ug 5, Nos. 2 and 3 = RS 17.021 and 17.033 ( N O U G A Y R O L 1968, 3).
174
PRU 3, 64 = RS 16.200.

or money. 171 Adoptions into brotherhood, perhaps by their very nature,


could result in more equitable conditions between the two parties.

3.5

Private property and inheritance

3.5.1

Private property is well documented in Ugaritian society


( H e l t z e r 1 9 8 4 ; S a n m a r t i n 1995c, 1 3 3 - 4 ) . It was acquired in various
way, chiefly by royal grants, buying, business, legacies, goods brought
to a marriage or on adoption. In general, as the juridical documents
show, a person disposed freely of his property, even in legacies.
3.5.2 In the case of inheritance in respect of sons, Ugaritian tradition distinguished between the firstborn (rabi2)176 and all the other
sons. 17 ' Following a practice customary in the ancient Near East
(Davies
1993),178 the firstborn is usually the son to be favoured in
the distribution of goods. 179 T h e type of family, therefore, is patrilinear. Despite this, as RS 8.145 180 shows, the father could set the conditions of inheritance as he chose. In this document the father names
his wife as heiress to the goods and grants her the faculty of freely

175
PRU 3 , 7 5 = RS 1 6 . 3 4 4 (adoption as a brother); PRU 3 , 5 4 = RS 1 5 . 0 9 2
(adoption of a son), where, in addition, on the death of the father it was the adoptive son, not the widow, who disposed of the family property; the woman does not
seem have become an adoptive mother and the transaction, as in PRU 3, 64 = RS
16.200 seems to have been more a type of property transaction in favour of the
adoptee (BOYER 1 9 5 5 , 3 0 3 ) .
,7(
' The Ugaritic term used for 'firstborn' in the literary texts is bkr, cf. CUNCHILLOS - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 1 1 4 0 - 1 ; DLU, 107.
177
R S 14.016:6 ( V I R O L L E A U D 1951, 174); R S 8.145:15 ( T H U R E A U - D A N G I N 1937,
249); PRU 6, No. 85 = RS 19.079: obv. 15'; Ug 5, No. 7 = RS 17.036:4-5;
Ug 5, No. 8 = RS 17.038:6'. T h e meaning of Ugaritic nhl, usually translated
'heir', must be different (LIVERANI 1979a, 1339). Attested only in administrative texts
(CUNCHILLOS - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 3918-9) it must be a technical term in administration, with the result that a single person could have various 'heirs' all at once
(cf. W A T S O N 1992C, 238; 11.4.3).
178
On the nature of the firstborn at Emar see also VAN DER T O O R N 1994, 42-52.
179
As shown particularly by Ug 5, No. 7 = RS 17.036. Furthermore, in a more
broken context, Ug 5, No. 8 = RS 17.038. PRU 3, 56 = RS 15.120 also seems to
include a division of property among sons, but due to the condition of the text,
the details concerning the primogeniture are unknown. In Ug 5, No. 81 = RS
21.230, a contract of adoption into brotherhood (cf. 11.3.4.1), the parties expressly
stipulate that 'there is no firstborn or youngest among them' (a similar expression
in Emar, cf. A R N A U D 1996, No. 93:8), confirming the situation as unusual. O n the
youngest son as the firstborn in the 'Epic of Keret' ( K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii
7-16) see DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 260; DAVIES 1993, 188-9.
180

THUREAU-DANGIN

1937,

249.

appointing either of her two sons as heir ( K l i m a 1957a, 658).181 T h e


explicit conditions for the sons to gain the inheritance were not to
file proceedings against their mother and to honour her. These are
some of the principles which had to guide the behaviour of a good
son, its literary reflex being given in the 'Epic of Aqhat'.' 8 2 However,
a son could also receive part of his inheritance while the father was
still alive, and immediately after could leave the family group. 183
3.5.3 From RS 8.145 it follows, therefore, that the woman could
inherit the family goods within marriage ( 11.3.5.2). In other cases,
instead, an adopted person could become an heir to the goods of the
adopter to the detriment of the widow. T h e position of the woman
as heiress of the paternal goods is not so clear, although it can be
supposed that, as in other ancient Near Eastern societies and under
certain conditions,' 84 she could be named as heiress by her father.

3.6

The status of women

3.6.1 As has been seen, the queen of Ugarit held an eminent social,
political and administrative position ( 11.2.4). Her financial position
was sound. She approached marriage supported by a substantial
dowry, the control of which she kept in the event of divorce, and
she disposed of various means to increase her possessions. She had
her own administrative organization and played an active part in the
foreign policy of the kingdom. T h e queen's position can be understood as an extended form of a woman's status in Ugaritian society.
3.6.2 In a patriarchal and patrilinear society such as in Ugarit, the
woman moved from the guardianship of her family, with the father
181

For Emar see, for example A R N A U D 1 9 9 6 No. 9 3 . The opposite case could
also be provided for, with the husband as heir to the wife's goods in the event of
her death, cf. PRU 3 , 1 1 0 = RS 1 6 . 2 6 7 .
182
KTU 1.17 = RS 2. [004] i 26-33 and parallels (DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 334 5;
B O D A 1993; O T T O 1996, 269-71). Cf. 6.3.
183
PRU 3 , 3 2 = R S 1 6 . 1 2 9 ( B O Y E R 1 9 5 5 , 3 0 5 ; M I L L E R 1 9 8 0 2 7 5 ; contra D A V I E S
1993,
86

1 8 8 ) ; PRU

RS

184

Cf.

6, N o . 4 3 =

RS

1 7 . 0 7 7 ; PRU

6, N o . 5 3 =

RS

27.053;

Ug 5 ,

No.

20.176.

1980; 1988; W E S T B R O O K 1991, 157-64; M O R R I S S E T T E 1993;


1994; BECKMAN 1996a, 72. Ug 5, No. 6 = R S 17.149, in spite of being
interpreted by B E N - B A R A K 1980, 24-5 as an example of a woman inheriting, should
be understood only as a purchase of lands; see the same author's moderated view
in 1988, 88.
BEN-BARAK

KMMERER

at the head, to the guardianship of the groom's family ( 11.3.1.3)


to move, finally, to the guardianship of the husband. Within this
framework there were a series of mechanisms, financial and familial, for the social protection of a woman. From the financial aspect,
in the event of divorce or widowhood, the woman regained control
of the goods she had brought to the marriage ( 11.3.2.1), goods
which had become part of the conjugal patrimony without losing
their identity as the wife's possessions. T o these goods could be added
those she could inherit from her husband in the event of widowhood ( 11.3.5.2). In terms of the family, the woman could rely on
the possibility of returning to her father's family. 185 T h e husband
could also provide for the widowhood of his wife by stipulating in
his will the sons' obligation to support their mother, an indispensable condition for their being in turn appointed as heirs of the paternal possessions ( 11.3.5.2). There was also the possibility of resorting
to the procedure of adoption in the search for the necessary financial
support ( 11.3.4.2). T h e various mechanisms could be combined in
a variety of ways, none excluding the others.
3.6.3 T h e woman could also depend on some degree of action and
social initiative. In the matter of property she could own, buy and
sell properties, either alone or as a co-owner ( H e l t z e r 1 9 8 4 , 1 7 5 ) .
In a lawsuit with a man over a matter of properties she could obtain
a royal verdict in her favour. 186 Within the family, she could not
only be named as heiress but she also had the facility to appoint an
heir among her sons.187 Likewise, she could take the initiative in the
matter of adoption and divorce, if it is accepted that the formula
used in Ugarit for the latter eventuality was not substantially different
from what is documented in Emar ( 1 1 . 3 . 2 . 1 n. 1 4 5 ) . 1 8 8
3.7

Family piety

Personal piety in daily life and popular beliefs, is known in broad


outline ( C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 1 9 5 - 2 3 4 ; d e l O l m o L e t e 1992a, 217-62 =
1999, 324-88). This does not apply, however, to the religion of the

185

PRU

3, 5 4

RS

15.092.

18,1

PRU

3, 9 4

RS

16.245.

187

RS

188

On the status of women in Ugarit see also

8.145

(THUREAU-DANGIN

1937,

249).
KLMA

1957b.

family. Archaeological and textual data are of uncertain interpretation and refer only to the urban population of the city of Ugarit
( S a l l e s 1 9 9 5 ) . T h e approach to the question, therefore, has to be
indirect. T h e construction of tombs underneath a great number of
the houses ( C a l l o t 1 9 9 4 , 1 6 8 - 7 6 ) could be an indication of a cult
focusing on family ancestors. 189 Epic and some of the rituals could
have preserved reflexes of this type of cult in which the dead person is conceived as belonging to the divine world and as receiving
cult regularly. From the same genres it can be deduced that alongside the ancestor cult there was a cult of family deities (van d e r
T o o r n 1 9 9 6 , 1 5 3 - 7 5 ) . Family piety in Ugarit, therefore, would be
similar to what is documented in Emar ( v a n d e r T o o r n 1 9 9 4 ) .

3.8

The community

3.8.1 A group of families formed a village or community. According


to the theory of a bipartite society ( 11.4.2.2), the communities comprised the 'free' sector of the population as against the palace dependents or 'men of the king' (bn mlk). They worked on the land and
with livestock, owned lands in common, the means of production
and the produce from their labour kept both them and the palace
dependents. Fiscally and juridically they comprised a single body
( H e l t z e r 1976, 63-74; L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1333-4, 1342; 1989, 127-8).
3.8.2 T h e legal representative of the community was a college of
'elders' (ibt) or 'fathers' (abb) ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1342; H e l t z e r
1976, 79), an institution which existed in other ancient Near Eastern
societies. Despite this, the prominent position of the king in Ugaritic
society ( 1 1.2.2) restricted the prominent role of the 'elders' in Syrian
societies of the time, such as Emar ( B u n n e n s 1989, 29-31; A r n a u d
1991a, 15; F l e m i n g 1992b, 103-4) or Ekalte ( M a y e r 1990, 58-60;
1992). In Ugarit, the 'elders', who could be controlled by a single
family, 190 represented their communities particularly in cases of collective responsibility for crimes committed in their respective territories by someone unknown ( K l e n g e l 1980, 193). As an institution,

189

For VAN DER T O O R N 1996, 194, the ancestor cult would not be domestic but
celebrated in the sanctuary.
190
Cf. Ug 5, No. 52 = RS 20.239.

they co-existed with the fyazannu or 'mayor', who depended on the


central power ( 11.2.8.2).

4.1

Crafts

and

Professions

Economic geography and the professions

4.1.1 There was a wide range of different geographical locations


in the kingdom of Ugarit ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1316-7; A s t o u r 1995,
58-62). A considerable strip of the Mediterranean coast limited the
kingdom to the west, and enabled fishing, activities such as the purple industry and the development of maritime trade. T o the north,
mountainous regions and wooded hills provided the wood required
for the construction of houses, ships and for export. Further south,
rivers, fertile plains and uneven terrain favoured the cultivation of
cereal crops, vineyards, olive groves, fig-trees and fruit trees. T h e
geographical location of the kingdom made it suitable not only for
trade by sea but also for overland trade ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1329),
with the resultant exchange of raw materials and finished products.
4.1.2 T h e range of terrain, products and raw materials gave rise
to a variety of financial activities and capitalization of resources. At
the same time, various kinds of labour activities were being developed and organized in rural as well as urban areas. T h e distinction
between both economies, rural and urban, is not always sharp, as is
shown by the sectors of farming and animal husbandry. T h e hamlets and villages of the kingdom cultivated some of these activities
(Liverani
1979a, 1317; cf. 11.3.8.1); others, instead, were controlled directly by the palace by means of farms called gt or dimtu,
which used manual labour, specialized into various grades ( L i v e r a n i
1979a, 1317-8; 1982; 1989; H e l t z e r 1982, 49-79). However, agriculture and animal husbandry are also fully part of life in the most
urbanized centre of the kingdom, the capital Ugarit, as is evident
from the finds made by archaeologists within the city, of silos for
cereal, sickles and installations for making oil and keeping animals
( C a l l o t 1994, 190-6, 201-2).
4.1.3 As for the palace, as court and administrative and religious
centre, it favoured the emergence of new functions and occupations.

As a good reflection of the society which produced them, the texts


of Ugarit mention a large number of professions and crafts, some
of which are discussed in what follows.191

4.2

The profesmns and the administration

4.2.1 T h e administrative documents correspond to the genre which


best reflects the world of the professions and other labour activities.192 They show the existence of groups or 'guilds' of professions
organized and controlled by the central administration, from which
they received, for example, food, 193 and with which they negotiated
matters concerning money and taxes, 194 lands' 95 or the army. 196 T h e
administration also controlled specific individuals, either by drawing
up lists of persons according to group, 197 documents which enable,
for example, readjustments to be made in them, 198 or else by registering the presence of professionals in various economic dependencies of the palace and villages in the kingdom. 199 T h e professionals
also maintained connections with the administration outside the profession, as is shown by various types of lists in which occasionally
an individual's activity is indicated. 200
4.2.2 T h e various professions, together with other categories mentioned in the texts, were given the common title 'men of the king'
(bns mlk). In a bipartite model of Ugaritian society, and in contrast

191

On traders and scribes see 11.1.4.6, 11.6.6 and 11.2.7.


A compendium of Ugaritic sources on the professions is given in SANMARTIN
1995c, 152. Texts which mention work tools also provide, indirectly, information
on the activity of workmen; cf. SANMARTIN 1987b; PRU 6, No. 157 = R S 19.023;
PRU 6, No. 163 = RS 19.064; PRU 6, No. 168 = RS 21.199. Cf. also 10.3.
193
For example, K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001; K T U 4.609 = RS 19.016; Ug 5,
No. 99 = RS 20.425.
194
For example, K T U 4.71 = RS 11.721, PRU 6, No. 136 = RS 17.240. On
the taxes called itku, pitku and unuu see H E L T Z E R 1982, 19; SANMARTIN 1995C,
133-5; cf. M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1993b, 1995.
195
For example, K T U 4.103 = RS 11.858; K T U 4.416 = RS 18.252.
196
K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716; PRU 6, No. 131 = RS 19.035A.
197
For example, K T U 4.124 = RS 13.020; K T U 4.187 = RS 15.157+; K T U
4.412 = RS 18.251.
198
Cf. 11.1.6.5 and the juridical document PRU 3, 77 = RS 16.142.
199
For example, K T U 4.141 = RS 15.022+; K T U 4.332 = RS 18.010+; K T U
4.358 = RS 18.048.
200
For example, K T U 4.46 = RS 10.035; K T U 4.98 = RS 11.844; K T U 4.382 =
RS 18.106+.
192

with the 'free' sector of the population organized into village communities, the 'men of the king' would shape the social sector of persons
dependent on the palace. They would carry out tasks which demanded
a certain level of specialization and specific formation, receiving from
the palace both the means of production and subsistence. This model
of Ugaritian society, based on documentation within the kingdom,
would seem to have outside confirmation thanks to the so-called
'Edict of Hattusili III' concerning the bapr (PRU 4, 107-8 = RS
17.238; L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1333; H e l t z e r 1982). However, the theory of a bipartite society as well as the interpretation of RS 17.238
should not be considered as proven facts since other kinds of interpretation are possible ( V a r g y a s 1988; Z a m o r a 1997).

4.3

Internal organization

It is possible to determine, in broad outline, the type of internal


organization of the 'guilds' or professional groups. T h e reference to
a 'chief of the craftsmen' {rb hrsmf0i allows the supposition that similar officers existed in the other professions, as well as 'assistant chiefs'
for each of the separate activities ( 11.2.8.1). O n the other hand,
the existence of 'apprentices' (Imdm,202 talmd,203 gam(a)rma)20* within
each professional group ensured the continuance of the various occupations. 205 It is also probable that the various offices were largely
passed on from father to son, 206 and that this is how the term nhl
'heir' is to be understood in the administrative texts ( L i v e r a n i 1979a,
1339-40; H e l t z e r 1982, 100).

4.4

The textile industry

T h e basic elements of the Ugaritian textile industry are known. T h e


administrative documents mention certain raw materials, the names
of certain professions and a large number of textiles and manufactured
products ( R i b i c h i n i - X e l l a 1 9 8 5 ; v a n S o l d t 1 9 9 0 ) . T h e products

201
202

203
204

205
206

K T U 4.145 = RS 15.034:9.
V I T A 1995a, Nos. 3265-9.
R S O 7, No. 25 = RS 34.167+:20.
H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 165.
Cf., for example, K T U 4.125 = RS 14.001:8-9.
As was the case with scribes, cf. 11.2.7.2.
CUNCHILLOS -

m a d e out of wool were initially produced by 'shearers' (gzzm); their


function was seasonal and they received rations from the palace during their period of work. 207 Specialists such as 'spinners' (gzlm),20B
'weavers' (u/iparu, mhs/mhisu),m
'fullers' (kbsm/kbsm210 /kbisu)211 and
'makers of tgpt-covers' [b'l tgpt)m were involved in successive stages
of transforming the raw material. T h e dyeing process is documented
by references to 'bronzesmiths' (yshm; S a n m a r t i n 1987a) and wools
in various colours ( T h u r e a u - D a n g i n 1934; v a n S o l d t 1990, 335-41).
It is also possible to deduce the existence of personnel devoted to
the tailoring and the confection of clothes ( R i b i c h i n i - X e l l a 1985,
21-2). T h e textile industry is one of the few crafts which have provided material evidence of their activity, both in Ugarit and in Minet
el-Beida ( C a l l o t 1994, 190).

4.5

Hard materials, precious stones and metals

4.5.1 Various terms denote the professions connected with the cutting of stone or hard materials. T h e administrative documents mentioning them provide no additional information about the circumstances
of their activity, although the objects which are the result of that
activity have come down to us. T h e y are the professions of 'seal cutter' (parkullu; S a n m a r t i n 1995b) 2 ' 3 and 'sculptor', 'carver' (psl, zadimmu)
214
( S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 183).
This last category, which is generic, can
be subdivided into more specialized activities such as 'carver of arrowheads (from stone)' (psl hzm) and the 'notcher of bows' ( psl qt/sannu;
cf. 11.4.7.2).
4.5.2 O t h e r professions refer to the carving of precious and semiprecious stones. These were for use within the kingdom of Ugarit

207

K T U 4.213 = RS 16.127:30; K T U 4.269 = RS 17.106:4, 26.

208 K T U
209

4 358 = R S

13 048:9.

PRU 3, 204 = RS 15.152:7; PRU 6, No. 93 = RS 17.131:23; PRU 6, No.


1 6 6 = RS 19.099 (mhisu); Ug 5, No. 99 = RS 20.425:5. Ugaritic references in
C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 3444 and 3446.
210
C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 2887-90.
211
PRU 6, No. 136 = RS 17.240:8.
212
H E L T Z E R 1982, 83; R I B I C H I N I - X E L L A 1985, 68; SANMARTIN 1995a, 176.
213
On the possible existence of workshops for the making of seals in the city of
Ugarit, see C A L L O T 1 9 9 4 , 1 8 8 .
214
See the remarks by C A L L O T 1 9 9 4 , 1 8 8 - 9 on the lack of the 'workshop of the
sculptor of stelae' in the city of Ugarit.

but were also sent to Hatti, as described in several letters 215 and lists
of tribute. 216 T h e fourth section of the letter K T U 2.36+ = RS
17.435+, from Queen Puduhepa of Hatti to King Niqmaddu III of
Ugarit, mentions three types of specialists: the 'engraver' or 'polisher'
(mly), the 'borer' (shl) and the 'worker in lapis lazuli' (qnuym). Archaeology illustrates some facets of their activities: in Ras Ibn Hani a
workshop has been found with a large quantity of corundum used
as an abrasive in the polishing of precious stones and what may be
another workshop where chalcedony was worked to make perforated
beads ( C u n c h i l l o s 1989b, 417-20).
4.5.3 T h e texts from Ugarit mention a considerable number of
metals, such as gold, silver, copper, bronze, tin or iron. T h e handling
and transmutation of metals was the competence of the 'smith' or
'metal caster' (nsk/nsiku; S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 1 8 2 - 3 ) . Depending on
the metal involved, the 'smiths' were subdivided into categories such
as 'caster of precious metals' (nsk ksp, kutimmu) and 'copper-smith',
'boilermaker' (nsk tlt/nsiku er\ napph. ere). Depending on the final
product, there were a 'caster of (metal) arrow-heads' (nsk him/hdm)
and a 'jewe11er(?)' (risk qtn).2U

4.6

The construction of houses, ships and chariots

4.6.1 T h e generic term for 'craftsman' is harru (Ar/).218 In practice, it denotes a person who constructs objects by assembling various
components ( S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 177). Although the archaeological
evidence is weak ( C a l l o t 1994, 189-90) the documents show a wide
range of craftsmen, whether mentioned in the plural as a generic
name (hrm 'craftsmen') or distinguished according to the specific
product made. It can be noted that wood, cut by 'woodcutters'
(ihtbm),219 was a basic raw material for this type of worker.

215
K T U 2.36+ = RS 17.435+ ( C U N C H I L L O S 1989b), PRU 4, 221 = RS 17.383,
PRU 4, 223 = RS 17.422, Ug 5, No. 30 = RS 20.255A.
216
K T U 3.1 = RS 1 1.772+ and its Akkadian versions ( K N O P P E R S 1993).
217
O n the possible metal-working in the capital of the kingdom and its surrounding see C A L L O T 1 9 9 4 , 1 8 6 - 8 . O n qtn see also n. 222a.
218
C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 1950-1.
219
C U N C H I L L O S - V I T A 1995a, Nos. 1844-5.

4.6.2 Both the characteristic techniques which distinguish the royal


palace of Ugarit ( M a r g u e r o n 1 9 9 5 ) and study of the construction
systems used in the residential areas of the capital of the kingdom
( C a l l o t 1 9 9 4 ) show the skill which marked the work of those called
'builders of houses' (hr b(h)tm, tinnu) and their co-workers. 220 In general the buildings were well suited to the activities and lifestyle of
city dwellers.
4.6.3 As a coastal country and open to the sea, the texts from
Ugarit mention several villages located on the coast ( A s t o u r 1995)
a n d show the existence of quite a variety of boats ( V i t a 1995a,
164-7). T h e craftsmen entrusted with boat-building were the 'shipwrights' (hr anyt). T h e administrative document K T U 4.689 = R S
20.008 lists various elements m a d e by this class of worker: oars, a
top, a mast, mooring ropes, a gangway ( X e l l a 1982). Another administrative text mentions some tools specifically used for this kind of
work, such as 'sickles for boats' and 'large h a m m e r s (or axes) for
boats'. 2 2 '
4.6.4 Carts were absolutely necessary for transport and commerce.
T h e Ugaritic texts d o c u m e n t the existence of wagons, with four
wheels (crq) and lighter carts, with two wheels (mrkbt), suitable for military purposes ( 1 1.5 . 3).222 T h e craftsmen who built them were the
'makers of chariots' (hr crq, hr mrkbt/naggr narkabt). At times the
process was complex. T h e construction of a war chariot, for example, required a combination of various materials and objects produced by other craftsmen ( V i t a 1995a, 41-72). It can be supposed,
therefore, that the 'builders of (war) chariots' came at the end of a
process of craftsmanship and of administration which did not differ
considerably from that known in Mycenae ( L e j e u n e 1968).
4.6.5 O t h e r craftsmen devoted themselves to the creation of small
pieces of jewellery (hr qtn, S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 179)222a or, as is seen
in the next section, the making of weapons.

220

Cf. agr in Ug 5, No. 99 = RS 20.425:111 (Ug 5, p. 102 n. 1).


PRU 6, No. 141 = RS 19.112.
222
On the distinction between these terms see HELTZER 1982, 87 n. 23.
222a
Unless they were 'producers of swords (sickle-swords)' (HELTZER 1997).
221

4.7

Weapon production

4.7.1 Some types of workers dedicated to the making of weapons


have already been mentioned ( 11.4.5.1, 11.4.5.3). They are usually
given Semitic names which sometimes have a H u m a n i z e d synonym.
4.7.2 T h e bow was a characteristic weapon of the infantryman and
of the crew of the war chariot ( 11.5.2.2). It is very probable that
the composite bow was also used in Ugarit ( V i t a 1995a, 60-2).
Various craftsmen were involved in the making of this weapon. T h e
'carver of bows' (psl qt/sasinnu) dealt with the non-metallic components. T h e task of the 'bow assembler' (hr q) may have been to
finish off the job, assembling the metallic and non-metallic (chiefly
wooden) components. T h e place-name kttglm represents the Hurrian
version of hr qt ( S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 1 8 0 , 1 8 3 ) . 2 2 3
4.7.3 T h e arrowheads could be of stonethe work of the psl him
( 11.4.5.1)or of metala product of the nsk h^m ( 11.4.5.3). T h e
name for the second profession also occurs under Hurrian influence
in the form nsk hdm ( H e l t z e r 1982, 92; cf. 10.3.2.3). Archaeology
has supplied quantities of bronze arrowheads from Ras S h a m r a
( S c h a e f f e r 1951, 11-2), perhaps the material mentioned in the
administrative text PRU 6, No. 133 = RS 19.152 in connection with
arrows. T o finish the product was the j o b of the 'arrow assemblers'
(jhdglm, also a term of Hurrian formation; S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 179),
taking into account that the body of the arrows was usually made
of wood or cane.
4.7.4 O t h e r weapons used in the army of Ugarit were 'lances'
(imrhm) and 'javelins' (srdnnm\ cf. 11.5.2.3, 11.5.3.2) for combat
on foot or in the chariot. Among the bronze objects found in Ras
Shamra are what may be javelin tips ( C h a v a n e 1987, 357). T h e texts
mention at least one type of craftsman in connection with this kind of
weapon, the 'maker of bronze lances' (shrdn\ S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 184).224

223

Note also the existence in Ugarit of the toponym ffrbglm 'sword-makers'

(SANMARTIN 1995a, 180).


224
The one called 'assembler of the arkd' (hrs arkd) also belonged to this type of
craftsman, perhaps (SANMARTIN 1995a, 178).

4.7.5 T h e 'tanners' (akp) performed their task not only with textiles but also in connection with weapons. Leather was a material
needed for the manufacture of cuirasses for horses and quivers for
soldiers and chariots. It was also used for other components of the
war chariot such as the parapet, the base of the body and straps for
lashing the steering-pole to the parapet and the yoke to the steeringpole ( V i t a 1995a, 7 8 ) .

4.8

Pottery

Several administrative documents mention, individually or as a group,


the profession of 'potter', either using the local n a m e ysiru22:1 (Ug.
jyjr)226 or the Akkadian term pahhru.227 For the m o m e n t archaeology has not located workshops dedicated to this activity ( C a l l o t
1994, 189), although there are large amounts of pottery.

4.9

Food

4.9.1 T h e texts from Ugarit contain information about types of


grain, fruit, animals and other foodstuffs. Products made from grain
surely formed the basic foodstuff. After being harvested, the grain
was stored in silos, attested archaeologically in Ugarit ( 1 1.4.1,2). 227a
Later, the grain was treated by 'millers' (ksdm/kdm, H e l t z e r 1982,
90). It is probable that the term alhn, which also means 'miller',
really denotes a high administrative official with various responsibilities connected with supplying foodstuffs ( S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 175;
Vita

1996,

698).

4.9.2 In connection with hunting, the texts mention 'fowlers' or


bird-catchers (yqm/yqima\ H e l t z e r 1 9 8 2 , 1 7 3 ) . M e a t from game
or domestic animals was then treated by the butchers, and the reference to a 'cattle knife' in an administrative document may be a
vestige of their activities. 228 Fishing is represented only by the epithet

PRU 3, 195 = RS 15.009B i 12; PRU 6, No. 136 = RS 17.240:11.


V I T A 1995a, Nos. 2681 and 2683.
227 PRU 3, 204 = R S 15.172:9; R S 22.233:19 (unpublished; cf. SANMARTIN 1995a,
185). On Ugaritic pfir 'potter' in literary texts, cf. DE M O O R 1979, 647-8.
227a
According to B O R D R E U I L 1984a, 427, the grain remained under the control
of the official called kkrdn, but see 11.4.9.2
228 mamsar bli (PRU 6, 110 = RS 19.112:2).
225
226

CUNCHILLOS -

'fisherman' (dgy) in the myth of ' T h e Palace of Baal' 229 ( d e l O l m o


1981a, 535). T h e 'cook' (apy/piyu, nu/jatimmu) and the 'pastryL e t e
cook' (kkrdn) ( S a n m a r t i n 1995a, 176, 1 8 0 ) then prepared the food
for consumption.
4.9.3 Most of the foodstuffs mentioned in the texts from Ugarit
was intended for feeding those living in the palace and persons dependent on its administration. However, no doubt part was consigned as sacrificial offerings for the various rituals which took place
throughout the year both in the palace and in the temples which
were dependent on the palace administration. 2 3 0 For performing the
rituals a large quantity of foodstuffs was needed, the transport of
which is accurately reflected in the administrative documents (Sanm a r t i n 1990). It is an aspect of palace economy which is also clearly
illustrated in the rituals from E m a r ( F l e m i n g 1992b).

5.1

T h e

A r m y

Ugarit and the army

5.1.1 Ugarit, a thriving Syrian state both economically and commercially, was a kingdom involved in the politics of Syria of its time.
Politically, it had to adapt its behaviour to the circumstances which
in Syria favoured the great powers of the period, Egypt, Mittanni
and Hatti, throughout the second half of the second millennium bce.
However, as a rich kingdom, of m e d i u m size and on which lesser
kingdoms depended, the political weight of Ugarit at regional level
was considerable, especially after Hittite intervention in the area.
Although acting as an important element for the stability of the
Hittite political and military system in Syria, it did not forego acting on behalf of its own interests within the margins it was permitted
as a vassal of a great power. Various historical events show that
Ugarit had available an efficient army of considerable military impor-

V I T A 1995a, No. 1 4 9 8 .
Besides the priests ( 1 1 . 4 . 2 . 9 ) , other personnel connected with the cult were
undoubtedly singers (r, nru\ PRU 6 , No. 9 3 = R S 1 7 . 1 3 1 : 2 4 ) and cymbalists (mslm,
masillu; K T U 4 . 1 2 6 = R S 1 4 . 0 8 4 : 3 0 ; PRU 6 , No. 9 3 = R S 1 7 . 1 3 1 : 2 5 ) ; cf. DEL
229

CUNCHILLOS -

2,0

OLMO

LETE -

SANMARTIN

1998,

176-84.

tance. T h e army was one of the instruments which enabled Ugarit


to carry out its own politics and assure the survival of the kingdom
as an independent state until its disappearance at the beginning of
the 12th century b c e ( V i t a 1995a, 11-31).
5.1.2 T h e army of Ugarit, whose supreme commander was the king
( 11.2.2), comprised infantry soldiers and chariot units. It is possible that, like other armies of the time, it also used mercenaries. It
is difficult to make an approximate calculation of the number of
men making up the Ugaritic army, either in time of war or of peace.
Initially H e l t z e r (1969) proposed that Ugarit was able to mobilize
between 7,000 and 9,000 men. Later on, in another publication
( H e l t z e r 1971, 130) he lowered the number to about 5,000 men
on the basis of calculations concerning the number of villages in the
kingdom and the inhabitants per village, a number which Liverani
(1979a, 1341) reduced still further to 4,000 men. It is still a matter
to be resolved, strictly related to studies on the demography of the
kingdom of Ugarit ( 11.1.1). In his latest discussion of the topic,
Heltzer (1982, 127) is more cautious in his estimates, leaving the
question open for future research.
5.2

Recruiting and infantry

5.2.1 Troops formed by means of conscription or recruiting were


given the name hrd'm (Akk. hurdu\ H e l t z e r 1982, 106-7). The administrative texts show that this h u m a n contingent was formed from
forces supplied by the various villages of the kingdom and that the
administrative control of the process was carried out by district. 232
Military service was temporary; 233 after a period, the length of which
is unknown to us, the recruits returned to their villages and normal
occupations (cf. 11.4). A similar situation of armies composed of
conscripts and regular troops is found in other states contemporary
with Ugarit ( V i t a 1995a, 1 4 3 - 4 ) .

1995a, Nos. 2155 7.


19.256; K T U 4.777 = RIH 8 3 / 0 7 + ( B O R D R E U I L 1984b);
K T U 4.63 = RS 10.052; K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716; K T U 4.624 = RS 19.049[A][c];
PRU 6, No. 131 = RS 19.035A.
231

232

CUNCHILLOS 4583 =

VITA
R S

233
As is shown by the use of the verb la'ika 'to commission' in K T U 4.777 =
RIH 8 3 / 0 7 + (on the exact meaning of the verb see C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 177 85).

5.2.2 Several administrative texts refer directly or indirectly


archers. The war chariots deployed this type of soldier but it is probable that not all the archers mentioned in the texts acted as soldiers
in chariots. Thus, as in other armies of the period, at least part of
the Ugaritian infantry deployed archers. These, who were normally
in ail kinds of professions, were recruited from various villages of
the kingdom234 and received a average of ten arrows per person.235
This relatively small number of arrows and other weapons mentioned in the texts in connection with bows, especially shields,236
seems to indicate that the archers were prepared to use hand-tohand fighting, once the barbs had been used up, thus forming a sort
of light infantry.
5.2.3 The soldiers supplied with bows could also be given one or
more 'lances' (mrhm),237 a weapon carried by warriors represented on
several cylinder-seals from Ugarit ( A M I E T 1 9 9 2 , 1 2 5 and 1 4 1 ) .
Furthermore, the lance was the main weapon of the 'lancers'
( L M E S Z A G . L U - ) . 2 3 8 The kit could also be completed by the 'sickle'
or curved sword (j}rmtt), m attested in Ugarit both archaeologically
( S C H A E F F E R 1 9 3 6 , 1 4 5 and plate X V ) and on cylinder-seals ( A M I E T
On the other hand, the reference to cuirasses241
1 9 9 2 , 1 2 7 and 1 4 1 ) .
242
and helmets
for soldiers in some administrative documents indicates the possibility that there was also heavy infantry.243
240

234

K T U 4.68 = RS 11.716; PRU 6, No. 131 = RS 19.035A.


PRU 6, No. 133 = RS 19.152; R S O 7, No. 79 = RS 34.180:9. Elsewhere,
the average seems to have been higher, cf. V I T A 1995a, 151 n. 2.
236
Cf. K T U 4.63 = RS 10.052; K T U 4.624 = RS 19.049[A][CJ; PRU 6, No.
131 = RS i 9.035a.
237
K T U 4.624 = RS 19.049 [A][c].
235

238

PRU
3 , 7 8 = R S 1 5 . ; HUEHNERC-ARD 1 9 8 9 , 6 7 .
K T U 4.670 = R S 19.174B; the term is well documented,

cf. CUNCHILLOS 1995a, No. 2166; PRU , No. 141 = RS 19.112:3.


240
Although in general it is not stated that all the soldiers bore all these weapons,
K T U 4.624 = RS 19.049 [A] [c] does show that the 'shepherds' (nqdm) with which
the document deals had a very full kit, comprising bows, quivers, shields and spears.
241
K T U 4.i69 = RS 15.053:6 (rm). On finds of scales from cuirasses iii Ras
Shamra-Ugarit see, for example, SCHAEFFER 1938, 316; 1951, 13.
242
The grbz (gurbizu)-helmet is attested ir. Ugarit in connection with human beings,
cf. K T U 4.363 = RS 18.055:2; PRU 6, No. 132 = RS 19.085:5 (HUEHNERGARD
1989, 348), PRU 6, No. 140 = RS 19.092:1 (HUEHNERGARD 1987b, 117) not horses,
although it was common to both.
243
See also the apparel of the warriors on the Ugaritic seal RS 8 . 2 5 9 (AMIET
239

VTA

1992,

125).

5.2.4 It is quite probable that besides the conscript troops ( 11.5.2.1),


part of the Ugaritian army was formed from regular soldiers. Among
this type of soldier are included war charioteers ( 11.5.3.4) and those
who were connected with the protection of the king, the court, the
palace and its possessions. T h e Ugaritic texts mention at least two
classes of personnel, surely military, directly connected with the sovereign: the 'subordinates of the king' or 'royal guard' (mrrt mlk)244
and the 'king's lancers' (mrhy mlk).243 T h e 'guard' in a wide sense,
called massartu (Sum. un) could also act as police. 246 Some terms
which are difficult to understand or are of doubtful meaning could
denote officers of the army. 247
5.2.5 T h e possibility has to be discussed whether the Ugaritic army
used cavalry of some kind. T h e r e is no agreement on the existence
of military cavalry in the second millennium bce; nevertheless, the
existence of horse riders before the first millennium is proved by
written documents form places such as Ur, Mari, Nuzi, Hatti or Tell
Leilan ( B e a l 1 9 9 2 , 1 9 0 - 8 ; E i d e m 1 9 9 1 , 1 3 1 - 4 ) . In Ugarit, a fragment of a Mycenaean krater was found, undoubtedly produced locally, with a frieze of horse riders, one of them armed with a sword
( S c h a e f f e r 1 9 4 9 , 1 5 9 ) ; it could be an indication of the use of horses
for military purposes apart from the war chariot. T h e reference to
two thousand horses in the letter K T U 2 . 3 3 = R S 1 6 . 4 0 2 ( C u n 1989b, 3 2 5 - 4 0 ) would be a further indication of the existchillos
ence in Ugarit of light military cavalry, or perhaps rather mounted
infantry ( V i t a 1995a, 7 5 - 6 ) .

2+4

K T U 2.72 = RS 34.124:7.11 (XELLA 1980, 452; BORDREUE. - PARDEE 1991, 144).


K T U 1.103+ = RS 24.247+:7.47; K T U 1.40 = RS 1.002:10 (restored); discussion in V I T A 1995a, 154 6 (but see TROPPER 1994c, 459). Cf. the 'men of the
golden lance' and 'men of the heavy lance' of the royal guard in Hatti (BEAL 1992,
212-31) and 'the king's brothers who bear the bronze lance before the king' in
Emar (Msk 7356:4-5, ARNAUD 1986, No. 17).
246
Cf. PRU 3, 97 = R S 16.249; RAINEY 1965a, 24; HELTZER 1982, 119-21; V I T A
1995a, 156.
247
Cf. Hn in K T U 2.16 = RS 15.008:3 (CUNCHILLOS 1989b, 301, n. 20), rb mil
'chief of a hundred' (if this restoration of rb mi[. . .] is accepted in K T U 2.42 =
RS 18.1 13A:3; cf. HOFTIJZER 1995-6, 73-4), kil lim 'chief of a thousand' in PRU
6, No. 52 = RS 19.078:4, 9 and Ug 5, No. 52 = RS 20.239:27, mru (Akk. mur'u)
'commander', 'officer', but perhaps also 'fattener' and in some contexts 'quartermaster'. See, in general, VITA 1995a, 144 -7.
245

5.3

The war chariot

5.3.1 Chariot units of the Ugaritic army, under the c o m m a n d of


officials such as the 'overseer of chariots' (kil narkabti)248 or the 'chief
of the chariot drivers' (rb kzym),u9 were quartered in various villages
of the kingdom, an arrangement which implies that the soldiers whose
function was to fight from the chariot were dispersed geographically.
As in Alalakh, Nuzi and Hatti, 249a the chariot units defended strategic
points of the kingdom, such as for example, access routes to the interior.
5.3.2 T h e Ugaritic texts mention the large structural components
which technically comprised a chariot: 250 body (mrkbt),231 wheels (apnt)
and steering-pole (tr)P2 T h e textual information is complemented
iconographically by the so-called 'hunting plate' ( S c h a e f f e r 1949,
1-23; A m a d a s i 1965, 51-3; cf. 14) and the representations of chariots on cylinder-seals ( A m i e t 1992). T h e references to material for
chariots 253 is restricted to 'gold' (fors) and a type of leather, 254 information partially supplemented by finds of pieces of a yoke, alabaster
pommels and ferrules worked in alabaster and ivory ( C a u b e t 1990).255
T h e chariot was completed by the following defensive and offensive
weapons wielded by the crew ( V i t a 1995a, 60-72): 'shield' (qlc), bow
(qt),256 'arrow' (hz),2hl 'barb' (ntq) and 'javelin' (srdnr), 'sword' (mdrn)
'lance' (mrh) and 'knife' or 'axe' (msfot). T h e equipment was completed by the 'quiver' (utpt)258 for missiles. Archaeological finds and
representations on cylinder-seals illustrate this variety of weaponry.
248
PRU 3, 79 = RS 16.239:31; PRU 3, 83 = RS 16.157:22; PRU 3, 85 = RS
16.250:17.
249
K T U 4.222 = R S 16.193:3.
2493
V I T A 1995a, 87.
250
Information on the Ugaritian war chariot from a material point of view is provided by the administrative texts K T U 4.145 = RS 15.034; K T U 4.167 = RS 15.079;
K T U 4.169 = R S 15.083 and K T U 4.180 = R S 15.105 ( V I T A 1995a, 41-53). O n
the chariot in the ancient Near East in general see LITTAUER - C R O U W E L 1979.
251
It is very likely that mrkbt, the normal Ugaritic term for 'chariot', refers in some
cases to its body or coachwork (DEL O L M O L E T E 1978, 49); the interpretation would
fit K T U 4.167 = R S 15.079:1 and K T U 4.180 = R S 15.105:3 ( V I T A 1995a, 54).
252
It is likely that some of the chariots, before they were used, were kept stored
with their wheels off. See, in general, V I T A 1995a, 53-8, 83-7.
253
In the administrative text K T U 4.167 = RS 15.079.
254

255

msg

d tbk,

c f . SANMARTIN

1989,

342.

There is no reference in the texts to wood, the most important material in


the construction of a chariot (cf. LITTAUER - C R O U W E L 1979, 81, 346).
256
Vocalized qatu in RS 20.189A+B:9 ( H U E H N E R G A R D 1987b, 25).
257
In Sumerian KAK.KUM.TAG.GA (PRU 6, No. 133 = RS 19.152).
258
Vocalized is'patu in PRU 6, No. 162 = RS 19.036:5. In Sumerian .AMAR.RU

5.3.3 Some scholars, on the basis of a passage from the 'Epic of


Keret' 259 and in the letter RS 4.449, 260 have suggested that in Ugarit
the war chariot was drawn by three horses ( S u k e n i k 1948; R a i n e y
1965, 22). However, the administrative texts 261 shows that it was
usual for Ugaritic chariots to have pairs of horses ( d e l O l m o L e t e
1978, 49). O n the other hand, it is the more usual proportion in
war chariots of the period ( V i t a 1995a, 74-5).
5.3.4 At least at one moment in their history, the chariots of the
Ugaritian army seem to have had a three-man crew. Some passages
in the 'Epic of Keret' could point in this direction. 262 It is the proportion of men carried by the chariots of Hatti in the battle of
Qadesh ( B e a l 1992, 148-9). A passage in the Egyptian 'poem' on
the battle expressly mentions the Ugaritic chariots as carrying three
men, a proportion which can be confirmed in the documents of that
kingdom. Its members come from three different groups, the maryann
( 11.1.6.2-3), the kzym (probably as chariot-drivers) and the mdrglm26:i
( V i t a 1995a, 93-125).

5.4

Ships and war

5.4.1 It is certain that the kingdom of Ugarit never had a real war
navy, but documents from Ugarit and Hatti show that at least some
of the Ugaritic boats could have had a military function. It is probable that the boats were used for commerce and, when occasion
arose, for the transportation of troops and for armed engagements
on the high seas.264 Evidence of military use of Ugaritic boats comes
from the final period of the kingdom and show the boats of Ugarit
operating under the control of Hatti. However, the documents supply
{PRU 6, No. 131 = RS 19.035A). K T U 4.204 = RS 16.002 mentions two types,
'arrow quiver' (utpt him) and probably, 'javelin quiver' (utpt srdnnm).
259 K T U 1 1 4 - R s 2. [003]+ ii 2 - 3 and parallels.
260

O n this document see A R N A U D 1 9 9 6 , 4 7 - 5 4 .


Ug 5, No. 105 = RS 20.211+; K T U 4.169 = RS 15.083 (in contrast to a
single cuirass for a man, the text allocates pairs of cuirasses to horses, no doubt
pullers of chariots). Perhaps K T U 4.582 = RS 18. [522], which is very broken,
points in the same direction.
262
K T U 1 . 1 4 = R S 2.[003]+ ii 2 - 3 and parallels (DEL O I . M O L E T E 1984a, 2 0 9 - 1 1 )
W Y A T T 1998c, 190 n. 62.
263
However, see a different interpretation of mdrglm in H E L T Z E R 1982, 115-21.
264
Generally, the crews of Ugaritic boats were recruited not only from villages
close to the sea (so H E L T Z E R 1976, 21) but in villages close to where the boats
operated, either the sea or important rivers like the Orontes (VITA 1995a, 168-72).
261

no information about the organization of a Ugaritian war fleet or


about the type of boats used.
5.4.2

T h e first column of the Hittite historical text KBo XII 38


1 9 6 7 ) recounts the conquest of A1aia (Cyprus) by
Tudhaliya IV; the third column relates a later naval victory by
Suppiluliuma II over assailants from Alasia. T h e text gives no details
about the composition of the Hittite troops, but it can be assumed
that in both actions at least a part of the fleet under Hatti comm a n d comprised boats from Ugarit. T h e control of the island was
an important factor in the security of the Hittite and Syrian coasts
against armed incursions by foreign peoples.
(Gterbock

5.4.3 After its conquest by Hatti, Cyprus then became part of a


defence system shared jointly by Hatti and Ugarit, as is clear from
the correspondence exchanged between the courts of Ugarit and
Alasia. T h e letter Ug 5, No. 24 = RS 20.238, 265 from the king of
Ugarit 266 to the king of Cyprus, is the most explicit witness available
of the fleet from Ugarit in a war engagement. It also proves that
the Canaanite kingdom, in the closing moments of its existence,
made a last military effort in collaboration with Hatti in an attempt
to repel the attacks which threatened both states. In connection with
this episode, the letter Ug 5, No. 22 = RS 20.018, from Alasia,
seems to communicate a naval defeat of the Ugaritian fleet in Asia
Minor.

265

The letter Ug 5, No. 23 = RS L. 1 has usually been set in close relation to


RS 20.238. However the finding of tablets from Cyprus in Ras Shamra during the
1994 campaign shows that, from epigraphy and content, RS L. 1 cannot come
from that island (personal communication of F. Malbran-Labat).
266
Almost certainly Ammurapi, the last king of Ugarit; cf. L I V E R A N I 1979a, 1 3 1 2 .

C H AFTER T W E L V E
T H E

O N O M A S T I C S

O F

Richard

Hess

Personal

Names

S.

and

U G A R I T

Prosopography

T h e study of personal names from Ugarit includes three general


areas: (1) the publication of the texts and the identification of the
personal names found in them; (2) the linguistic analysis of the personal names; and (3) prosopographical matters related to the name
bearers. 1 Although some studies combine two or three aspects of this
research, it is important to separate these categories because they
represent distinct fields of study. T h e first, that of the publication
and identification of personal names, is the logical antecedent to all
further onomastic research. T h e linguistic analysis of the names and
the prosopography of the name bearers are independent of one
another. Analysis of the name focuses on the name itself as a linguistic datum both among other names of a similar linguistic group
and within the literary context of the texts in which such names
occur. T h e prosopography asks questions about the name bearer in
the society of Ugarit or elsewhere.

1.1

The identification and publication of personal names from Ugarit

Personal names are part of the textual dimension of Ugarit. They


occur in many genres of texts. Even the mythological, which may
be thought limited to divine names, can include personal names in
colophons that designate the scribe or copyist. For example, the
names of ilmlk the scribe and of Niqmaddu III the king of Ugarit,
occur at the end of several mythological tablets. 2

1
I thank Dr. Josef Tropper and Dr. W.G.E. Watson for reading and commenting
on this section of the chapter.
2
K T U 1.4 = RS 2.[008] + 3.341 + 3.347; K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009] + 5.155,
K T U 1.16 = RS 3.325 + 3.342 + 3.408, K T U 1.17 = RS 2.[004].

Texts from the cosmopolitan centre of Ugarit are written in a variety of scripts and languages, including Sumerian, the syllabic cuneiform of Akkadian, Hurrian and Hittite, the alphabetic cuneiform
of Ugaritic and Hurrian, the hieroglyphic writing of Egyptian and
Hittite and the distinctive Cypro-Minoan script. With the exception
of Sumerian, texts from each of these languages include personal
names.
With so many potential sources for personal names at Ugarit it
is perhaps surprising that no comprehensive list of all personal names
found in the published texts from Ugarit has ever been produced.
Although highly desirable for purposes of onomastic research, the
absence of such a publication forms a significant gap in the study
of Ugaritian personal names. Collections of personal names and
related studies have focused on the texts written in the alphabetic
and syllabic scripts, above all on the Ugaritic and Akkadian texts
which constitute the majority of published texts from Ugarit.
T h e identification of personal names in Akkadian and other syllabic cuneiform texts is assisted by specific markers, the familiar dis
sign preceding masculine names and the M sign preceding feminine
names. In addition, the d u m u logogram, meaning, 'son of', can indicate that a personal name will follow. This logogram itself can sometimes form the first part of a personal name. However, it can also
precede a place name or gentilic and indicate the origin of the person so designated. In such cases and others where there is no textual marker to signify a personal name, it must be identified by its
context. In letters, personal names often appear at the beginning and
identify the sender and the recipient. In contracts, those making the
agreement are identified. T h e list of witnesses at the end of the document also contains personal names, each one often preceded by
the igi logogram, which is the Akkadian bu 'witness'. In order to
specify the witnesses they often are given their patronyms, indicated
by d u m u . Personal names also appear in census and inventory lists
of all types. T h e simplest are those that merely list the persons.
Others indicate places of origin, food rations or other items associated with each person. Some lists introduce or conclude by designating all those named as members of a particular social group or
as citizens of a single town.
Personal names are identified in similar ways in the alphabetic
Ugaritic texts. However, these normally contain no markers similar

to the d i s and m signs. 3 T h e Ugaritic bn 'son' replaces the d u m u


logogram. Witnesses to contracts and other economic texts are indicated by the personal names organised in a list at the end of the
Ugaritic tablet. However, they possess nothing similar to an introductory igi logogram.
O t h e r names can be identified according to the title or profession
of the person so named. Both syllabic and alphabetic cuneiform texts
may also indicate the scribe responsible for the document. In contracts the scribe's name often follows the list of witnesses at the end
of the document. In lists, mythological and ritual texts, it also occurs
at the end of the text. In the syllabic cuneiform texts it is normally
identified by the logograms, d u b . s a r (Akkadian tupam), which follow the personal name. In the alphabetic cuneiform texts the Ugaritic spr can appear before or after the scribe's name. Royal figures,
including kings, queens and members of the royal household, priests,
administrators and members of special warrior and other social groups
are identified by the name of their rank or group following their
personal names.
Although the publication of cuneiform texts from Ugarit is considered elsewhere, it is appropriate to summarise their relevance for
the study of personal names. Those texts first published individually or in small groups often have individual names noted. Where
of interest to the editor, the names are discussed in the commentary
that accompanies the initial publication. T h e larger text collections
can be divided into two groups, those that provide a separate and
comprehensive list of all spellings and occurrences of personal names
and those that do not. PRU 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 each include indices
that list the personal names found in the texts published in the
respective volume. T h e same is true of Ug 5, R S O 7 and Analecta
Orientalia 48 (the Claremont texts). Where collections include both
alphabetic and syllabic cuneiform texts, the two types of texts each
have their own list of names. No indices of personal names are found
in the collections of CTA, KTU, CAT ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z - S a n m a r t i n
1995), Ug 7 or the Ras Ibn Hani texts. Text editions of Driver,

A possible exception to this rule may sometimes occur. See, for example, the
vertical stroke preceding the high priest's name in the alphabetic axehead inscription, K T U 6 . 1 0 = RS "l. [ 0 5 2 ] . S e e G I N S B E R G 1 9 5 0 , 1 6 0 .

Gibson (CML) and G o r d o n 1965 contain personal names as part of


their glossary but not in the form of a separate list.
Important lists of personal names are found in the Ugaritic dictionaries of both A i s t l e i t n e r 1 9 6 3 and G o r d o n 1 9 6 5 . Both list personal names as separate lexical items organised alphabetically along
with the other lexemes in the dictionary. G o r d o n ( 1 9 6 5 , 5 0 8 - 1 3 )
adds a separate list of all the Ugaritic personal names at the end of
his glossary. A reverse index accompanies it as well (513-19). This
is useful for restoring partially preserved names. Although Gordon
includes comparisons with related syllabically spelled names from
Ugarit, neither dictionary systematically lists or studies the personal
names from syllabic texts. S i v a n ' s 1 9 8 4 grammar and glossary includes
many of these syllabic names. However, it does not treat names from
Ugarit separately nor does it consider the alphabetic names.
As is clear from the recently published concordances ( B o r d r e u i l CAT),
P a r d e e 1989; C u n c h i l l o s 1990; v a n S o l d t 1991a, 525-671;
neither the text collections nor the dictionaries survey all the published cuneiform texts from Ugarit. This is true for both the earlier
and the later excavations. Therefore, it is necessary to examine additional publications in order to obtain a list of all the personal names.
This has not been done. T h e result is that all studies of personal
names from Ugarit suffer from the limitation of partial evidence. As
more and more texts are published this weakness will become increasingly significant.
V a n S o l d t ' s (1991a) study has come as close as any to counting
all the published names. Although he has not listed them, he has
observed the frequency of their occurrence in the texts ( v a n S o l d t
1991a, 39-40). 1,737 different masculine names occur only once,
373 occur twice and 165 occur three times. This number diminishes
as the number of occurrences grows, e.g., only nine masculine names
occur thirteen times. Fewer feminine names occur: 105 appear once,
eleven occur twice and only one occurs three times. This datum
attests to the masculine domination of the roles and responsibilities
that are recorded in the texts. It also provides a hint at how large
a population existed at Ugarit whose names have not been recorded.

1.2

The linguistic analysis of personal names from Ugarit

T h e personal names from Ugarit can be divided into two groups:


those found in the epic and mythological texts and those found in

other texts. T h e divine, semi-divine and heroic figures of the mythological texts have not been systematically classified and studied, neither as a group of names on their own nor as part of the larger
onomastic corpus from Ugarit. T h e personal names found outside
of this literature, which is largely distinct from it, have received the
focus of attention.
Although most publications of individual texts or groups of texts,
include the grammatical analysis of personal names at the point in
the commentary that corresponds to where they occur in the text,
the systematic study of larger groups of personal names has been limited to a few publications. T h e first one was U y e c h i ' s 1961 Brandeis
University Ph.D. dissertation, Study of Ugaridc Alphabetic Personal
Names'. This work is available only in dissertation form. It appeared
at a time when only PRU 2 and the 1955 edition of Gordon's Ugaritic Manual provided substantial collections of non-mythological alphabetic texts. Nevertheless, in his 1967 dissertation, Study of the
Personal Names in the Akkadian Texts from Ugarit', Kinlaw saw
his work as a supplement to the earlier study of Uyechi. In fact,
both works were written at Brandeis University under the supervision of Cyrus Gordon. Kinlaw's work took into consideration the
published texts of PRU 3, 4 and 5 as well as those from Ug 5. In
addition, published texts not contained in these collections were
included. 4
O f course, the same personal names were rendered into both
alphabetic and syllabic cuneiform by scribes at Ugarit. A study of
both could combine the advantages of each system of orthography,
allowing vocalization with the syllabary and greater phonemic precision with the alphabetic script. This was realised with the 1967
a p p e a r a n c e of G r o n d a h l . ' s Die Personennamen der Texte aus Ugarit.
Written under the supervision of J o h a n n e s Friedrich and Einar von
Schler, this remains the most complete study of the personal names
from Ugarit. Its listing of names incorporated PRU 2, 3, 4 and 5 as
well as Ug 5. This provided the most complete listing available.
However, even Grondahl's work did not include all the published
names. In part, this was no doubt due to the absence of a listing
of the names occurring in the texts published in CTA. Personal names
appearing in a few of the published alphabetic cuneiform texts were

They are listed in

KINLAW

1967, 380. This includes the Latakia text.

not recorded. 5 In addition, Grondahl's list of syllabic names did not


include all those that had been published. T h e names from some of
these texts do appear in K i n l a w 1967, however. 6 T h u s Kinlaw's list
remains an essential supplement to that of Grondahl.
For her linguistic analysis, G r o n d a h l 1967 classified more than
two thousand occurrences of names according to the language families which their etymologies reflected: Semitic, Hurrian, Anatolian,
Indo-Aryan, Egyptian and names with no apparent etymology. There
was also a category for gentilics and other place names that function as personal names. T h e largest category of names, the Semitic
names, received the most complete grammatical analysis with notes
on orthography, phonology, single-word, construct and sentence
names, hypocoristic names, feminine names, theophoric names and
verb and noun formations in the names. Every category included a
glossary listing all name elements. In addition to Uyechi, whom she
criticises for lack of rigour ( G r o n d a h l 1967, 2-3), Grondahl used a
variety of published linguistic, onomastic and religious studies to assist
in her analysis. Above all, H u f f m o n ' s 1965 study of the Amorite
names from Mari and G e l b et al.'s 1943 work on the Nuzi names
served as models for her study on the great majority of names from
Ugarit, the Semitic and Hurrian names. Studies by L a n d s b e r g e r
1954, L a r o c h e 1966 and M a y r h o f e r 1960; 1965 dominate the sections on Anatolian and Indo-Aryan names.
1967 study generated numerous reviews. 7 As may be
expected for a work of such detail, there were many items that faced
criticism. T h e following represent some of the salient criticisms by
reviewers dealing with matters of structure and analysis: (1) difficulties
in identifying the same name in both the alphabetic and syllabic
cuneiform indices ( N o u g a y r o l 1966); ( 2 ) difficulties in dealing with
multiple alphabetic and syllabic principles of organization in the glossaries and indices ( S c h u l t 1969); ( 3 ) the need to compare this collection of names with those from a nearby archive such as Alalakh
( A r o 1971, d e M o o r
1969b); ( 4 ) the concern that the feminine
Grondahl's

For example, K T U 6.15 = RS 6.223 and K T U 4.72 = RS 11.722+, where


names not recorded in G R O N D A H L appear.
6
For example, those found in RS 6.345 and the Latakia text.
7
A R O 1971; B E R G E R 1969-70; D O N N E R 1968-9; H I L L E R S 1970; L I V E R A N I 1968;
DE M O O R 1969b; N O U G A Y R O L 1968b; R I C H T E R 1970; S C H U L T 1969. See also C A Q U O T
1969, 254-62.

Semitic names should not be separated from their masculine counterparts and analysed separately ( D o n n e r 1 9 6 8 / 9 ) ; (5) the combination of Hurrian and Semitic suffix elements and the presence of
'double suffixes' on some names ( R i c h t e r 1 9 7 0 ) ; ( 6 ) the need to distinguish Akkadian from West Semitic in the study of the Semitic
names ( R i c h t e r 1 9 7 0 ) and the subsequent problem of using this
combined data to describe the Ugaritic language ( H i l l e r s 1 9 7 0 ) ; (7)
the failure of the glossaries to distinguish probable lexical derivations
from those that are hypothetical ( H i l l e r s 1 9 7 0 ) ; ( 8 ) the absence of
relevant comparative information from the Ugarit lexical texts (de
M o o r 1 9 6 9 ) ; ( 9 ) some of the theophoric elements should be otherwise identified ( C a q u o t 1 9 6 9 ) , and ( 1 0 ) the absence of many names
from published texts as well as the tendency to list separately the
same n a m e spelled when spelled slightly differently (e.g., different
values of the same phonetic sign or the use of logograms in place
of syllabic spelling; B e r g e r 1 9 6 9 - 7 0 ) .
Later publicadons have emphasized the lexical and semantic aspects
in their linguistic analysis of the personal names from Ugarit. Special
note should be m a d e of J i r k u ' s 1969 study which introduced new
names of animals and occupations that occur in personal names from
Ugarit but not in other textual sources from the city. 8 In the same
year D i e t r i c h and L o r e t z 1969 published a study of a Hurrian element, fant/fent- and its occurrence in personal names. However, the
most important studies of collected personal names from Ugarit, after
Grondahl, are those of S i v a n 1984, P a r d e e 1987, 1988, 1 9 8 9 / 9 0
and W a t s o n 1990c, 1990d, 1993b, 1995b, 1996c.
S i v a n 1984 included analysis of the personal names from Ugarit
in his study of Late Bronze Age West Semitic as revealed by the syllabic cunciform texts. By incorporating proper nouns from Alalakh,
T a a n a c h and A m a r n a , as well as Ugarit, Sivan was able to provide
a more complete comparative analysis of the names than had been
previously available. In addition, his use of c o m m o n nouns as well
as verbs, prepositions, adverbs and other particles provided a thorough study of Late Bronze Age West Semitic. T h e same was true
of the glossary which brought together and systematically studied

A. J IRK 1969 adds examples of new uses of verbal and noun forms in personal names. P . D . M I L L E R , J R . 1 9 7 0 , 1 7 1 8 6 adds examples of animal names used
in titles and the names of social groups.

and compared a mass of evidence previously available only in diverse


publications.
As important and useful as S i v a n ' s 1984 work is, three observations should be made regarding the limitations of its method. First,
the grammatical and lexical constructions of proper names are not
necessarily identical to the language of the texts in which those names
occur. Sivan carefully distinguishes between proper names and all
the other forms throughout his study. However, the distinctive grammatical and lexical aspects of proper names tend to be ignored in
such a methodology. For example, the use of case endings in personal names is summarized but one has no clear sense of which texts
and names, if any, use case endings. 9
A second comment concerns the work's focus on the West Semitic
evidence. This is valuable and necessary given the vast amount of
material surveyed in the study. However, it means that not all of
the names from the syllabic texts from Ugarit are studied. Thus
Sivan's study does not supersede the works of K i n l a w 1 9 6 7 and
G r o n d a h l 1 9 6 7 . Furthermore, because Sivan focuses on West Semitic,
some names that might be better analysed as Hurrian or otherwise
are assumed to be West Semitic. For example, ha-an-ya is probably
Egyptian, R-ir-ap and -ir-ap-pa are probably Hurrian, ki-li-ia is
probably Hurrian and tu-tu may be Egyptian ( H e s s 1 9 9 3 , 7 2 ~ 3 , 9 1 ,
98-9,

163).

Sivan's selection of materials from Ugarit provokes a third area


of comment. Because he chooses to study only syllabic cuneiform
sources, there is no systematic comparison or use made of the alphabetic cuneiform sources, including the proper names. In addition,
the difficulties of reading the Ugaritian syllabary are not eased by
full interaction with the polyglot vocabularies from Ugarit. This point
is emphasised by H u e h n e r g a r d 1987a in his review of S i v a n 1984.
H u e h n e r g a r d ' s 1987b; 1989 studies of the vocabularies and of the
Akkadian texts from Ugarit address this matter. Of special interest
is H u e h n e r g a r d ' s 1989, 3 5 1 - 4 1 5 sign list which discusses the readings of many syllabic personal names.
Among the many studies in subjects related to Ugaritian personal
names, L a y t o n ' s 1 9 9 0 work deserves special mention. 10 It is an at9

See the further discussion by L A Y T O N 1990, below.


For other studies of onomastics related to, but not necessarily from, Ugarit,
see the bibliography of H E S S 1 9 9 3 , 2 4 9 - 9 2 .
10

tempt to identify several archaic features in Semitic personal names


f r o m the H e b r e w Bible. In the course of his discussion, Layton makes
frequent reference to the evidence from the Ugaritian names. H e
demonstrates the existence of the enclitic -m a n d the feminine suffix
-at, in names f r o m Ugarit. H e does not find evidence of mimation
or of the hireq compaginis. Layton also considers the evidence for case
endings in personal names. G r o n d a h i . ' s 1 9 6 7 , 5 1 assertion that, when
they decline, most Semitic n a m e s do so with diptotic forms, is challenged in the review of S c h u l t 1 9 6 9 , 1 9 9 . However, he presents no
evidence. L i v e r a n i 1 9 6 3 identifies diptotic declensions in the Akkadian
names. L a y t o n 1 9 9 0 , 4 3 - 4 4 furthers the discussion with an example from the letter, R S 15.89 (PRU 3, p. 53), where a feminine n a m e
appears once in the nominative as a-foa-tum-lugal,
a n d twice in the
oblique/genitive as a-ha-ti-ixsGAL. If this is a personal name, this evidence should be added to that of the A m a r n a correspondence ( H e s s
1 9 9 1 ) . Some names f r o m sites south of T y r e and A m u r r u do operate with case vowels. However, with the exception of Byblos, there
is no clear evidence to the north of this region that case vowels were
used with personal names. If the names also decline at Ugarit, it
m a y be that the absence of evidence for case vowel declension is
just that, a n d not evidence that case vowels did not decline.
Pardee's recent contributions to the onomastic research of Ugarit
include a study of the theophoric elements in the personal names
a n d their relationship to what is designated as the canonical pantheon list f r o m Ugarit ( P a r d e e 1 9 8 8 ) . O f the twenty-eight different
names in this list, fourteen are attested as elements in personal names
from Ugarit. T h e distribution of divine names in personal names
a n d in various genres of texts is not predictable nor are their occurrences in genres related to their appearances in personal names. T h e
divine names in personal names f r o m Ugarit m a y suggest deities w h o
are the objects of clan or family veneration. T h e o p h o r i c elements in
the Ugaritic personal n a m e s are u p d a t e d in a list published by
Ribichini

Xella

1991.

A second onomastic study by Pardee is part of a larger bibliography


of words a n d n a m e s f r o m Ugaritian texts that he has published
( P a r d e e 1 9 8 9 - 9 0 ; see also P a r d e e 1 9 8 7 c ) . This includes forty pages
of bibliography devoted to publications that discuss n a m e s f r o m
Ugarit and appeared as late as 1990. T h e bibliography is divided
into alphabetic a n d syllabic sections a n d organized according to
personal names. U n d e r each n a m e listed there are bibliographical

references relevant to it. T h e s e regularly contain a brief s u m m a r y


of the analysis of the n a m e m a d e by the author of the study. Although
Pardee does not evaluate the merit of these summaries, the data provided allow the interested reader to follow u p on the discussion.
Listed at the beginning of both the alphabetic and syllabic sections
are i m p o r t a n t studies of collections of names, including personal
n a m e studies f r o m other archives a n d significant reviews of those
studies. It is not always clear how m u c h of this material is incorporated into the individual entries in the bibliography. For example,
the list of general references at the beginning of the section on
syllabic personal names includes both Kinlaw's dissertation on the
syllabic names from Ugarit as well as one of Watson's studies (see
below). However, in the individual entries for each of the syllabic
n a m e s , K i n l a w is never m e n t i o n e d while W a t s o n often appears.
Nevertheless, this bibliography is the most important s u m m a r y of
i n f o r m a t i o n on onomastics f r o m Ugarit since the publication of
G r a n d a h l ' s work.
If Pardee's bibliography brings together m a n y of the relevant published studies on Ugarit names, Wilfred Watson's work provides an
e x a m p l e of those studies ( W a t s o n 1990c, 1990d, 1993b, 1995b,
1996c)." Unlike other onomastic studies, which tend to focus on a
single n a m e , the names in a single text or a single element that features in names, Watson has applied recent linguistic research from
a variety of sources to the linguistic analysis of m o r e than 360 personal names. Only alphabetic names are listed and studied, although
relevant syllabic spellings are brought into the discussion. In addition, Watson discusses subjects such as bird names, the unpredictable
nature of word dividers within personal names, alternative p h o n e m e s
and spellings of the same n a m e , the use of bt 'daughter o f ' and ah
'brother o f ' before names, the optional occurrence of the suffix -n
on the same name, the interchangeability of qtl a n d yqtl forms in
the same n a m e , the use of /-prefixed verbs in n a m e s a n d possible
H u r r i a n elements in names. H e also incorporates recent studies that
relate personal n a m e s to Ugaritic grammatical features ( T r o p p e r
1994b; 1995c) and to n a m e s found in Eblaite, M y c e n a e a n , Egyptian
and biblical H e b r e w sources ( S a n m a r t i n 1991; W e s t 1995; H o c h
1994; H e s s 1996a; 1996b).
1
' These studies have grown out of Watson's involvement in the Ugaritic dictionary project at the University of Barcelona.

1.3

The prosopography of personal names from Ugarit

Each of the indices of personal names in the PRU volumes as well


as Ug 5 contain prosopographical information including family relationship to other known name bearers, occupation, citizenship of
towns or villages, and sometimes a brief description of the role of
the name bearer in the contract or other document. T h e indices
of RSO 7 and A n O r 48 do not provide this information although it
can be gathered from the commentary on the texts where the names
appear. T h e lists of names in both K i n l a w 1967 and G r o n d a h l
1967 also provide this information, dividing each name into as many
different name bearers as may be described by the prosopographical information.
T h e reviews of Grondahl's work included two elements of criticism that relate to prosopography: (1) in the lists of the names there
is no distinction between the names in texts from foreign sources
and those of local origin ( C a q u o t 1 9 6 9 ) , and (2) the lack of statistical analysis of social groupings according to the linguistic etymology of the name, e.g., do Hurrian-named individuals predominate
in certain professions or classes and not others? ( N o u g a y r o l 1 9 6 8 ) .
In fact, some of this information is easy to obtain from Grondahl's
work. Although B e r g e r ' s 1 9 6 9 - 7 0 severe criticisms of the analysis
cannot be overlooked, Grondahl's analysis remains the most comprehensive and detailed opportunity to examine linguistic origins.
Given these concerns and Grondahl's expressed uncertainty about
double or even triple possibilities for some etymologies, an approximate quantification can still be performed with the following results:

Linguistic O r i g i n

Syllabic PNs

Alphabetic PNs

All Names

Semitic
Hurrian

43%
26%

Anatolian
Indo-Aryan

16%
1/2%
1/5%
2%
12%
1000

55%
21%
7%

50%
23%
10%
1/3%
1/6%
2%
15%
2400

Egyptian
Place Names
Uncertain
T o t a l (Approx.)

1/5%
1/10%
2%
16%
1400

A few observations are in order. First, half of the identifiable names


are Semitic. These represent the major onomastic group at Ugarit.

Since n o distinction has b e e n m a d e b e t w e e n West Semitic a n d


Akkadian names, it is not possible to further divide this group. Second,
H u r r i a n and Anatolian names together comprise 3 3 % of the total
n u m b e r of identifiable names. This is a significant percentage, though
somewhat lower than Semitic names. H u r r i a n and Anatolian n a m e s
together represent northern names. 1 2 T h e y are in a minority at Ugarit.
T h i r d , the difference between syllabic a n d alphabetic names is most
significant when c o m p a r i n g the ratios of Semitic n a m e s to northern
names. A m o n g the syllabic n a m e s , nearly as m a n y are n o r t h e r n
(42%) as are Semitic (43%). However, the alphabetic n a m e s indicate
a two to one ratio of Semitic n a m e s to northern names (55% to
28%). T h e p r e p o n d e r a n c e of Semitic names a m o n g the alphabetic
names suggests that the documents written in this native Ugaritic
script and language tended to be used a n d applied m o r e to Semitic
people than to people w h o possessed northern names. T h a t distinction does not pertain to users of syllabic Akkadian texts.
N a m e lists are the most important source for the study of prosopography at Ugarit. In addition to lists preserving only personal names,
Dietrich - L o r e t z - Sanmartin
1 9 9 5 , 6 5 5 - 8 have identified 1 1 0
types of lists in the alphabetic cuneiform texts. T h e s e lists are divided
according to the information associated with the persons a n d their
names. P a r d e e 1 9 9 2 has divided this variety of information into
three general areas: family terms of relationship, geographical terms
of place of origin or citizenship, a n d occupadonal a n d social grouping terms. T h e s e classifications can be extended to include letters,
contracts a n d other genres of texts.
V a n S o l d t 1991a, 4 0 finds that 1,386 persons, or 23.2 per cent
of those n a m e d , have some sort of family relationship indicated. As
noted above the most c o m m o n terms of relationship are 'son o f ' (bn)
and, less frequently, 'daughter o f ' (bt). Also associated with personal
n a m e s are terms describing a 'brother o f ' s e s (ofy), a n d a 'relative
o f ' (hatni). n T h e designation 'son of,' where a female n a m e follows
can also occur. T h e s e can describe adoption as well as blood relationships. This raises the issue of inheritance. References to 'his heir'
(nhiH) or 'their heirs' (nhlhm) can occur in documents referring to the

12

This could also include Indo-Aryan names although at Ugarit the number of
these is insignificant.
13

3, P.

RS

1 6 . 2 5 0 (PRU

3, p . 85) 4 - 5 , K T U

1 4 2 ) 5 . S e e RAINEY

4.103 = R S

1 9 6 5 C , 2 2 ; PARDEE 1 9 9 2 ,

713.

11.858.5, R S

16.136

(PRU

rights a n d obligations of persons n a m e d . T h e more general family


term, 'household o f ' (bt) also occurs. Families were listed according
to the father's n a m e , suggesting a patriarchy. In K T U 4.153 = R S
15.046 some m e n are designated as ' o w n e r / h u s b a n d of a wife (or
wives)' (b'l att) or 'owner of a concubine(s)' (b'l lmt). W o m e n could
be designated as 'wife' (att) or 'noble wife' (att.adrt), while 'girls' (n'rt)
could be 'lasses' (pgt) a n d 'boys' (n'rrri) could be 'warriors' (gzrm),
terms also occurring in military contexts ( R a i n e y 1965c, 11). Pardee
esdmates that the documentation from Ugarit covers seven or eight
generadons and an onomastic 'population' of 150,000-300,000 names.
Unlike other archives, there is n o systematic study of all family relationships at Ugarit (cf. F r i e d m a n n 1987 for Nuzi). v a n S o l d t 1991a,
4 0 - 1 records fourteen names for w h o m he is able to trace sons and
grandsons, in addition to the royal line. H e observes that p a p p o n y m y
was not followed, except in one possible case where ' A d d u n u occurs
as the n a m e of both the grandfather a n d grandson.
M a n y personal names and lists of personal names identify their
figures according to place or people group. An individual m a y be
identified as f r o m a particular town, or a list may be introduced by
a heading indicating that the names that follow originate from a
particular place. For the latter, the gentilic suffix, -y, is often added
to the place n a m e ( P a r d e e 1992, 714). Some 938 persons, or 15.7
per cent of those n a m e d , come from outside of Ugarit ( v a n S o l d t
1991a, 40).
In addition to family relationship a n d places of origins, a third
area of prosopographical study considers the social groups a n d professions. This is the most difficult area to understand because the
precise m e a n i n g of and relationship between the social a n d professional terms is not clear. For example, lists of guards and other professions a p p e a r to use H u r r i a n terms that are imperfectly understood
but related to similar Hurrian social and professional groups at nearby
Alalakh ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1 9 6 4 - 6 6 ) . 1 4 T h e s e groups are important as some of t h e m provide lists of personal names that recur in
n u m e r o u s texts. 15

14
On pp. 1 9 7 - 2 0 1 , D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z discuss Ugaritic professions which they
classify together according to their suffix element: hdgl, kttgl, mdrgl, tdgl.
15
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 33, list eight such texts where the same names of mdrglm
occur (KTU 4.33 = RS 5.248, K T U 4.50-53 = RS 10.087-090, K T U 4.54 = RS
10.103, K T U 4.55 = RS 10.109, K T U 4.69 = RS 11.715+).

Study of professions a n d social groupings considers the countryside of Ugarit's kingdom as well as the palace ( L i v e r a n i 1988, 938).
H e l t z e r 1976 devoted a special study to the economic structure of
the rural regions. D u e to the limited nature of the evidence, however, definite conclusions are difficult to achieve. 16 T h e villages of
Ugarit were taxed both in silver and commodities and in labour and
military service ( H e l t z e r 1987). Lists that b e a r witness to labour
indicate the villages and the a m o u n t of service d u e for the people
n a m e d ( K T U 4.40 = R S 8.279). People e n g a g e d in the corve
received food rations ( K T U 4.41 = R S 8.280).
At the top of the social structure was the royal family. T h e palace
archives preserve c o n t e m p o r a r y records of seven kings, six queens
and other m e m b e r s of the royal family ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 2-19).
As leaders of Ugarit these figures initiate and are n a m e d in legal
and contractual documents as well as in local a n d international correspondence. A famous case, consisting of m o r e than a dozen documents, records the divorce of A m m i t t a m r u II and the daughter of
Benteshina, king of A m u r r u ( A r n a u d - S a l v i n i 1991-2). Within the
royal family sons and daughters of the king were n a m e d . A brother
of N i q m a d d u II, Nuriyanu, is attested in several texts as exercising
unusual influence in the royal court. Special royal associates are
n a m e d a n d designated as md ani (RS 16.239). Four of the five
people n a m e d as belonging to the latter group, 'friends of the king,'
were f r o m a single family ( R a i n e y 1962, 82~8). G r o u p s of personnel could be assigned to the service of a m e m b e r of the royal family or one of the palace officials. 17
Key figures in the royal court, as well as m u c h of society, were
the scribes (tuparru, spr). In the midst of a sophisticated society, these
scholars read a n d wrote the texts that were essential to its function
( R a i n e y 1969). Forty-eight n a m e s of different scribes have been preserved, including fathers a n d sons w h o were scribes as well as teachers a n d their pupils ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 19-32). S o m e scribes are
known for specialist areas of work: Ili-milku for mythological texts
a n d Y a n h a m u for lexical texts. A n o t h e r scribe, Y a t a r m u , was executed for his part in a rebellion against N i q m a d d u ( R a i n e y 1969,
145-6; L i p i n s k i 1986b).

16

In addition to

17

PARDEE

own observations, see, for example, V A R G Y A S 1980a.


notes the example of K T U 4 . 6 3 5 = R S 1 9 . 0 9 6 , where personnel (bnm) are assigned to the king, the queen and other officials.
HELTZER'S

1992, 714

T h e administration of Ugarit, both at the palace and elsewhere


in the kingdom, was handled by 'personnel of the king' (bn mlk) or
royal dependents. T h e higher officers were awlu a arr or awl
rabtu ( R a i n e y 1962, 8-89). T h e many other titles attested as part
of the structure of Ugarit society are discussed elsewhere, as are the
names of social groupings ( R a i n e y 1962; 1975; H e l t z e r 1969a; 1976;
1982; 1988b; V a r g y a s 1988). Yabninu is an example of the extent
of power and influence that could be achieved in the higher offices
of administration. As chief administrator of the South Palace, the
archive records how he controlled peoples and trade throughout the
kingdom of Ugarit and all along the Levantine coast ( C o u r t o i s 1990).
Royal dependents worked in the palace's agricultural holdings, called
gt, as well as in various professions relevant to the palace economy.
They often possessed their own organisation and received payment
as well as food for their services ( H e l t z e r 1987, 240-4).
In the larger society, the other citizens of Ugarit could also be
identified by their professions. Lists of personal names from Ugarit
include (a) those where each person is identified by a different profession, (b) those where names are grouped together according to
the same profession of the n a m e bearers and (c) those who are
grouped both according to their profession and according to some
other item, such as their place of assignment or their ethnic origin. 18
Examples of areas of society for which lists of persons occur and
in which individuals could attain significant positions include religious, military and trade. Where it can be determined the religious
organization appears under the control of the palace ( H e l t z e r 1 9 8 2 ,
1 3 1 - 9 ) . T h e highest ranking official was the high priest or 'chief of
priests' (rb khnm). Of those who are named, Lipifiski has studied hrsn
and atn.prln ( L i p i n s k i 1 9 8 8 ) . T h e name of hrsn appears on an axehead that forms part of the foundation deposit of the high priest's
house between the two main temples on Ugarit's acropolis. 19 If this
is the same Hursnu as that mentioned on two property transactions
from Ugarit, then the high priest held houses and lands elsewhere
in the city and kingdom. 20 T h e library found in the house contained
18

PARDEE 1992, 714-5 notes examples of (a) K T U 9.458 = RIH 83/02, (b)
K T U 4.134 = RS 15.006, K T U 4.129 = RS 15.001, K T U 4.374 = RS 18.082,
and (c) K T U 4.367 = RS 18.076 and K T U 4.355 = RS 18.045 for place of assignment and K T U 4.635 = RS 19.096 for ethnic origin.
19
K T U 6.10 = RS 1.[052]. See now BORDREUIL. 1998.
20
RS 15.109 + 16.296 and RS 15.155.

numerous Hurrian texts, lexical texts and many of the most famous
mythological texts. Atn.prln is designated both as the high priest and
as the 'chief of shepherds' (rb.nqdm). This may reflect both the business interests of the priestly class and also a source for the animal
sacrifices in the temples. V a n Soldt notes that the names of a dozen
priests (Akkadian l u . m e s sanga, Ugaritic khnm) recur in one syllabic
text and as many as three alphabetic cuneiform texts. 21
T h e military structure of Ugarit included named leaders (mru) as
well as special classes of warriors ( R a i n e y 1962, 130-46). A special
and well-known class of chariot warriors were called maiyannu, an
Indo-Aryan term. 'First-class, experienced fighting men' (rrm) appear
( R a i n e y 1962, 138). Classes of warriors such as the sanannu also occur
at Alalakh. T h e mdrglm have already been mentioned. Although trade
took place inland with other cities, Ugarit's speciality was maritime
trade as attested by its port of M a ' h a d u and the numerous texts
describing royal, private and foreign trade. 22 Ships with their owners and crews are named in several texts. 23

1.4

Future prospects

It is clear from this survey that, despite the publication of much


important work related to personal names from Ugarit, a great deal
remains to be done in each of the areas discussed. Some of these
matters may be listed here.
It may be unrealistic to call for the listing and publication of all
personal names identified in inscriptional material from Ugarit.
However, it is a desirable goal because it provides the essential component for as complete an analysis of these names as possible. Such
a list would lend itself to electronic storage and access. This list,
along with others from archives and individual texts of the Late
Bronze Age West Semitic world, would provide a useful source for
analysis of grammatical and lexical features in the language groups
represented by the names. T h e inclusion of prospographical infor-

21
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 34, texts R S 16.126B+ i: 37-8, R S 11.715+ ( K T U 4.69),
RS 19.86a ( K T U 4.633), RS 34.123 ( K T U 4.761).
22
In addition to the general studies of H E L T Z E R and R A I N E Y (already mentioned),
see L I N D E R 1970; 1981; A S T O U R 1970a; 1972b.
23
For example, RS 8.279 ( K T U 4.40) and RS 11.779 ( K T U 4.81).

mation would also allow for more accurate investigation into the
society of the n a m e bearers. A step in this direction has been m a d e
by D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1996b, which now provides a list of all personal a n d place names occurring in CAT.'H
A m o n g important questions of linguistic analysis that remain to
be answered, the following might be included: (1) a closer analysis
of the non-Semitic, n o n - H u r r i a n a n d non-Egyptian names with a
view to their origins, (2) when do case vowels operate and on what
sorts of names, (3) what divine names are present, a n d (4) what sort
of patterns do the variations in the spellings of identical names suggest about the phonology.
A m o n g unsolved questions regarding prosopography, the following issues should be noted: (1) is there any relationship between the
linguistic affiliation of the personal n a m e s and the social status or
other social groupings a m o n g the n a m e bearers in Ugarit's population, a n d (2) how do the names, their language affiliations and their
divine elements c o m p a r e with the onomastica of nearby archives
such as Alalakh and E m a r ?
These a n d other questions await further investigation of the personal names from Ugarit.

Ugaritic

Place

Names

T h e identification of place names in the texts from Ugarit is helped


in the case of the Akkadian (and other syllabic cuneiform texts) by
the presence of determinatives, such as k u r , ki and u r u , which signify that what follows (or in the case of , sometimes what precedes) is a land, place and town, respectively. Otherwise, context
must be used to identify place names. For the alphabetic texts, n o
such determinative normally exists. H e r e context plays an important
role. Place names must be distinguished from gentilics, which often
a p p e a r in the same contexts. Gentilics often have a final -y, although
this letter can also occur at the end of bona fide place names. Distinctions can be m a d e by comparisons with other spellings of the same
place n a m e / g e n d l i c ( R i c h a r d s o n 1 9 7 8 ) .

24

See also

CUNCHILLOS

VITA

1995a.

As in neighbouring kingdoms, at Ugarit administrative texts tend


to list some place names in the same recurring sequences. This may
suggest geographical proximity of the places appearing side by side.
In any case, it provides assistance in the reconstruction of partially
preserved names ( R i b i c h i n i 1982, X e l l a 1982d).

2.1

Site identification

T h e study of place names at Ugarit has focused on site identification


and linguistic analysis of the names themselves. T h e study of place
names and their locations has been carried forward in numerous
articles published by several scholars, especially A s t o u r . 2 5 T h e result
has included the identification of places named from outside the
kingdom of Ugarit as well as those from within. Those named within
the kingdom of Ugarit are often difficult to locate as they occur in
administrative lists with little additional information about them. 2 6
T h e major means of identifying such sites is through the use of modern Arab names in the regions. T h e work of W . H . v a n S o l d t ( 1 9 9 4 )
has identified repeated patterns in which some place names are listed.
This recurrence of certain groups of place names has also been
identified in the recently published Alalakh text A T 457 ( W i s e m a n
and H e s s 1994, 503-504). This phenomenon can be related to border towns as listed in the treaties between Ugarit and Muki to the
north and between Ugarit and Siyannu-Usnatu to the south ( H e s s
1994b). T h u s it is possible to associate some of the town groupings
with border areas and thereby to project that groupings of other
place names should be located in other identifiable regions throughout the kingdom ( v a n S o l d t 1994, 366-8).

2.2
2.2.1

Linguistic analysis

Sources from syllabic texts

T h e linguistic analysis of the place names from Ugarit has been studied by S i v a n 1984. His work examines the West Semitic elements
found in those names. This study will use Sivan's analysis as a start25

In addition to

1966 a n d
2(

ASTOUR

VAN S O L D T

1994,

in the general bibliography, see


1996,'

BORDREUIL

1988,

LEWIS

1998.

' Note the comment of P A R D E E - B O R D R E U I L


toponymy is, however, still in its infancy.'

1992,

715:

'The study of Ugaritic

ing point to consider the question of the relationship of the place


names in the kingdom of Ugarit with other place names, specifically
those found in the neighbouring kingdom of Muki or Alalakh to
the north. T h e question to be examined is the degree to which the
place names in different regions of the West Semitic world use the
same elements and thus duplicate themselves and the degree to which
they are distinctive. In addition, consideration will be given to the
cultural ramifications of this study, with special reference to the cultures of Alalakh and Ugarit. Alalakh as a neigbour to the north with
a Late Bronze Age archive, provides a useful foil for purposes of
comparing the linguistic makeup of the place names at Ugarit.
In order to examine this question it is necessary to take a sampling of names from each region and to compare and contrast them.
T h e criteria chosen here are those names that possess West Semitic
elements. Using this sample it will be possible to observe where there
are similarities between the different groups of names and where the
names diverge from one another in terms of their etymologies. This
may suggest information about place naming practices and also imply
something about the degree of similarity of place names that one
may expect between regions.
T h e following list represents the Alalakh and Ugarit place names
listed by vocable. Slight variations in the spelling of what is otherwise the same place name are not distinguished. T h e note, 'etc.,'
indicates that one or more additional attestations occur at the archive: 2 '

Vocables

Ugarit Place Names

Alalakh Place Names


u r u a-bi (290,16)
a-bi-na (287,1 etc/

'abu

uru

'adnu

uru

i g i - a - ^ [ a ] -na-a
(PRU 6, 80,7)

'admu
'adddu
'aggnu

-da-di (PRU 6, 156,3)


uru a-ga-na

'ag[i)mu

uru a-gi-mu

uru ad-mu (341,11)


uru

(PRU
(PRU

6, 102,10 etc.)
3, 11.841,13' etc.)

21
All Alalakh texts are identified according to their catalogue number as located
in W I S E M A N 1953. For 60 see D I E T R I C H
LORF.TZ 1970. RS numbers given
after PRU 3 and 4.

Vocables

Ugarit Place Names

'ahnpu

URU af}-nap-p
{PRU 3, 15.122, 18 etc.)
uru a-ha-tu
(PR 6, 105,6' etc.)
kr a-mur-
{PRU A, 17.82,9 etc.)
uru ap-s-na
{Ug 5, 12,20 etc.)
uru a-ra-ni-ya
{PRU 3, 10.044,3' etc.)
uru ar-d-at
(Ug 5, 20 v.5')
uru ar-mi-li (PRU 6, 78,16)
u r u -ri (Ug 5, 99,3 etc.)
uru a-ru-tu (PRU 6, 95,3 etc.)
uru a-ru-a-di-ya
(PRU 6, 79,7,8)
uru ar-zi-ga-na
(Ug 5, 27 etc.)

'ahtu
'amurru
'apsu
'arnu
'ardat(u/a)
'armlu
'ru
'arwdu
'arzu

Alalakh Place Names

uru ap-s-na (181,21)

uru a-ra-(e) (68,8)

uru ar-zaya (298,16)


'atqlna
'ayyalu
'emar

uru -qu-lu-nu
(PRU 6, 79,9 etc.)
HUR.SAG.ME -a-l
(PRU 4, 17.62+,20')
k r . u r u e-mar
(PRU 4, 17.143,13 etc.)

'bz
'ilu

uru

e-mar

( 1 6 1 , 1 4

etc.)

uru u-hi-zi (298,45)


uru i-li-mi-il-ki
(ZA 60 191,14)
uru ma-ra-il$
(.PRU 3, 11.830,10)
[ a ] . . [ m e ] e-la-ya
(PRU 6, 29,5)

'
'ubur'u
'ubsu
'ugartu
'uhryu
J

ummu

a-ru-ri-e (85,4 etc.)


uru u-bur-a
(PRU 6, 118,6' etc.)
uru u-bu-s
(PRU 3, 11.830,11 etc.)
uru u-ga-r-it
(PRU 6, 24,v.8' etc.)
a . . m e la uh-ra-a-ya
(PRU?,, 15.85,18)

uru -ga-ri-it (4, 11 etc.)

uru um-mu
(179,13 etc.)

Vocables

usnu

Ugarit Place Names

u r u u-na-ti
(PRU

akk
'ammu

Alalakh Place Names

4, 17.382,16 etc.)

u r u a-ki-ya (PRU 6, 79,18)


u r u am-mi-ia (166,19 etc.
u r u am-mi--bU
(PRU

uru

6, 78,15)

[i]a-ku-na-mi

(PRU

4, 17.62,13' etc.)

amqu

u r u am(?)-q

'anu

u r u ha-[n]i (Ug 5, 95,11)

{PRU 4, 17.424,2)

u r u ha-zu-ta (191,2)

'azztu
C

u r u he-en-s-ri-ya

nu

'nuqap' at(u)
'imqu/'amqu
c
c

ny

(PRU
17.62,13')
u r u igi-qp-at
(PRU 3, 10.044,6' etc.)

u r u am(?)-qi (PRU 4, 17.424,2)


u r u ya-aHi) (PRU 6, 102,7)
u r u ia-a'-ni-ya
(PRU

uru

4, 17.62+, 19' etc.)

mu--

(PRU

3, 11.790,32' etc.)

baq'at(u)

u r u ba-aq-at

basru
btu

u r u ba-si-ri (PRU 3, 11.790,29')


u r u b-ta-hu-li
(PRU 4, 77,6 etc.)
u r u bi-i-n (PRU 3, 16.244,7)
k u r bi-ru--ti

(PRU

bi'ru

(PRU

3, 11.790,12' etc.)

4, 17.341,14' etc.)

d-lu-ya (408,4)

dallu
dmatu

u r u du-ma-tu

damru

u r u du-ma-tTqi-[id-i]
(PRU 6, 78,6 etc.)
u r u za-mi-ir-ti

(PRU

(PRU

dimmru

uru

6, 105,5' etc.)

4, 17.340,7' etc.)

zi-ini-ma-

(PRU

4, 17.366,13' etc.)

gabru

k u r gab(?)--n[i(?)]

galbu

u r u gal-ba

(PRU
(PRU

6, 96,2')
3, 16.170,10' etc.)

Vocables

Ugarit Place Names

gallu

uru ga-li-li-tu-ki-ia
(.PRU 6, 78,9)
[uru] ga-mil-ti
(.PRU 6, 53,v.9')
uru ga-ni-a
{PRU 6, 70,17 etc.)
uru ar-zi-ga-na
(Ug 5, 27 etc.)
uru gi^-b&la
(PRU 4, 17.335+, 19)
uru gu-ub-li (PRU 6, 126,10)
uru gul-ba-ta
(PRU 4, 17.340,v.6' etc.)
uru ul-la-mi
(PRU 3, 16.665,5 etc.)
uru ul-mu-ya
(PRU 4, 17.62+, 12')
uru ha-la-n[i] (PRU 6, 96,3')
uru bar-k-na-a
(PRU 6, 77,5)
uru ha-ar-ma-na
(PRU 3, 16.170,4' etc.)

gamiltu
gan(n)i(a)'u
gannu
gib a'lu
gubla
gulbatu
him

ha lu
harku
harmnu
haslu
himullu
haball
halbu

uru ha-si-lu-uh-e
(161,14 etc.)
uru hi-mu-li
(PRU 4, 17.340 rev.7' etc.)
ur[u] ha(?)-ba-a[l(?)-l]a(?)
(Ug 5, 45,1')
uru hal-bi
(PRU 6, 118,4' etc.)
uru hal-bi-ni
(RS 1929.1,13 etc.)

htamu
huldu
hurru

kappu
kibru

Alalakh Place Names

uru hal-ba (161,9 etc.)

uru hu-tam-me-(na)
(152,1 etc.)
uru Ifu-ul-da
(PRU 3, 15.132,7 etc.)
uru hu-ur-su-<bu>-i
(Ug 5,102,14')
uru hu-n-ka
(PRU 3, 11.790,25' etc.)
[uru] kap-pa (133,35)
HUR.SAG ki-bu-
(PRU 4, 17.62+,8' etc.)

Vocables

Ugarit Place Names

KUR ki-in-a-ni (A 60 188,F

kitia'nu

kumru
lab(a)nu
liblnu
ma'hadu
ma'qabu
ma'rabu
magdalu
martu
marru
massibat(u)

makanu
matqab(u)
mirru
mitru
mr[a)tu
mulukk

KUR ki-na-hi (Ug 5,


36,,6' etc.)
URU ku-mu-n-'a
(PRU 6, 164,4)
URU la-ba-na (PRU 6, 36,11)
HUR.SAG li-ib-la-ni
(Ug 5, 20,19) r
ma-a-ha-di (PRU 3, 15.09
A,6 etc.)
URU ma-a'-qa-bu
(PRU 3, 11.841,15' etc.)
URU ma-ra-b
(PRU 3, 16.247,6 etc.)
URU ma-ag-da-la
(PRU 4, 17.62+,6' etc.)
URU ma--- (PRU 6, 102,3)
URU ma-ra-ilb
(PRU 3, 11.830,10 etc.)
URU ma-SI-bat
(PRU 3, 11.830,8)
URU ma-sa-bu
(PRU 3, 11.841,24')
URU ma[(?)]-k(?)-na
(PRU 6, 110,2)
URU ma-at-qab
(PRU 3, 11.830,9)
URU mi-ra-ar
(PRU 4, 17.62+, 12' etc.)
HUR.SAG ma-at-ra-ni
(PRU 4, 17.62+,10')
URU mu-ur-a-a
(PRU 6, 78,7)
URU mu-lu-uk-ku
(PRU 6, 131,6 etc.)

na'mu
nah(a)ru

URU la-ba-ni (17,1 etc.

URU mu-tu-e

mutu
mwk

Alalakh Place Names

URU ICI-ma-ka

(PRU 3, 11.800,9' etc.)


URU \i\a-ku-na-mi
(PRU 4, 17.62+, 13' etc.)
D na-ha-[r]a
(PRU 3, 16.135,4 etc.)

60 185,13)

(table cont.)
Vocables

Ugarit Place Names

Alalakh Place Names

napku
napu

uru na-p-ki (Ug 5, 12,35)


uru na-ap-a-ti
(PRU A, 17.62+, 17')
nidbu
uru ni-da-bi (PRU 4, 17.62+, 14')
uru na-qa-bi
nqb
(PRU 3, 11.790,19')
pagalu
uru pa-ga-lu\?] (PRU 6, 80,9)
pa-ni--ta-a (Ug 5,
panma
26,16 etc.)
paartu
uru pa-a-ra-ti7 (PRU 6, 102,1)
pi'du or pi'tu uru p-[d]i (Ug 5,
95,18 etc.)
puglu
uru pu-gul-e
(PRU 4, 17.62+, 18' etc.)
qadmu
qamnuzu
uru qa-ma-nu-zu
(PRU 6, 105,7 etc.)
uru qa-ra-tu
qartu
(PRU 6, 95,1 etc.)
qatnu
qidu (see dumatu)
uru qi-im-si (PRU 6, 78,11)
qimsu
rakbu
uru ra-ak-ba
(PRU 3, 11.800,22 etc.)
riqdu
URU rq-di (PRU 6, 55,22' etc.)
uru ra-a-a-sa-ir (PRU 6, 10,8')
ru
uru ta-n-bu (PRU 3, 11.800,32')
ryb
uru s-al-ha (PRU 6, 20,8')
salhu
s'r see ru
u r u [.]-il-ha-na
siu
(PRU 3, 15.138,23 etc.)
siyan(n)u
uru si-ia-an-ni
(PRU 6, 45,8 etc.)
sld
uru s-la-di
(PRU 6, 118,2 etc.)
su'ru or suhru
uru sa-a'-qu
sa'qu
(PRU 3, 11.790,11' etc.)
u r u sa-'i (PRU 6, 78,13 etc.)
s'u
sibbru
sidna
[ku]r si-du-[na]
(PRU 3, 11.723,2 etc.)
sinnru
uru si-na-n (PRU 6, 93,19 etc.)
uru sa--nu (Ug 5, 102,12')
sn

uru qa-du-mi (145,2 etc.)

uru qa-t-na (259,16)

uru su--ri (223,4)

uru si-bi-ra (343,22)

Vocables

Ugarit Place N a m e s

Alalakh Place N a m e s

subu'u see hurru


surru see Cnu URU su-H-ya (PRU 6, 79,6)
a-al-ma (PRU 4, 17.62+,23' etc.)
al(i)mu
[U]RU m-na
amnu
(PRU 4, 17.368,v.3' etc.)
URU a-ha-qi
hq
{PRU 6, 118,5' etc)
URU i-gi-bi-ti7 (185,13)
igibtu
URU DINGIR-i-tam-i
mC
(PRU 6, 131, . etc.)
URU u-ya-a (PRU 6, 111,13)

URU u-qa-lu
uqalu
(PRU 3, 11.800,29' etc.)
URU u-ra-u
URU su-ra-se
ur(a)u
(PRU 3, 11.830,5 etc.)
(ZA 60 185,2 etc.
tku see gallu
URU tu-na-a-na
tunnnu
(Ug 5, 95,20)
URU t-ba-ya (342,3)
tbu
tallu
URU t-lu-ya (408,4)
URU ti-ba-qu
tibqu
(PRU 3, 11.800,12' etc.)
URU
t-hi-ya (Ug 5, 102,11')
thya
URU
-am-ra-a
tamryu
(PRU 6, 77,7 etc.)
tf see panma
URU am-m--bi\
twb
(PRU 6, 78,15)
URU

ya ru
yaldu
yammu
yarqnu
ynu
yld
ypr
ytr

/-^a-'-DINGIR

(PRU 6, 78,12)
URU ia-ar-t
(PRU 3, 11.841,12' etc.)
URU ia-al-da
(PRU 4, 17.62+, 11')
URU

DINGIR^(2-mz'

(PRU 6, 144,7 etc.)


URU ia-ar-qa-ni
(PRU 4, 17.366,15' etc.)
uRujtf-ra (PRU 6, 119,2)
URU ia(?)-la-di
(PRU 3, 15.20,3 etc.)
URU ia-pa-ru
(PRU 3, 11.800,23 etc.)
URU e-tar-dam-[. . .] (165,3)

T h e following statistics pertain. There have been 148 vocables identified


as contained in place names. 134 different place names from Ugarit
possess one or more of these vocables. However, in some cases alternative readings require caution to be used in assuming the identification proposed. Huehnergard's review of Sivan's study includes the
following four proposals ( H u e h n e r g a r d 1987a, 723-5): u r u gi^-b-la
may not contain the vocable giba'lu but may instead reflect u r u kib-la. u r u ha-ar-ma-na, associated with harmnu, should perhaps be
read as u r u ' ar^-ma-na and be normalized as 3armnu, related to
Hebrew 'armon 'plane tree.' id na-ha-[r]a may be associated with
the alphabetic form, nhr(y), rather than with nah[a)ru. Finally, u r u
sa-ri-nu may be better associated with im than with srr. However
none of these suggestions changes the essential identification of the
134 different place names from Ugarit with vocables from the West
Semitic world.
31 different place names from Alalakh possess one or more of the
West Semitic and related vocables. T h e smaller number from Alalakh
certainly reflects the fewer texts that have been discovered and published from that site. Of the 31 different place names from Alalakh,
23 do not occur at Ugarit. 17 vocables are used for forming place
names at Alalakh but not at Ugarit. Seven place names from Ugarit
and Alalakh are similar; eight if one counts the name of ' C a n a a n ' ,
that is spelled in slightly different ways at the two sites. This means
from 23% to 26% of this sample of names from Alalakh have duplicates at Ugarit. However, closer inspection reveals that, in addition
to C a n a a n , Ugarit and E m a r can be included among those place
names that are found in both archives. T h u s the number of attested
parallel names from within the borders of Ugarit and Alalakh shrinks
to five: ap-s-na, - (Alalakh a-r-), hal-bi, la-ba-na and u-ra-u (Alalakh
u-ra-).

2.2.2

Sources from alphabetic texts

1996b provide a comprehensive list of place


names occurring in the published alphabetic Ugaritic texts. T h e Ugaritic alphabetic texts contain the following place names that may
have syllabic parallels at Alalakh. Only those places not already identified and not obviously located outside of the two kingdoms are listed:28
Dietrich

28

Loretz

The Ugaritic list derives from a survey of the glossary of

GORDON

1965.

Ugaritic Place Name

Alalakh Place Name

an (KTU 1.10 iii 30 etc.)


ull (KTU 4.68:19 etc.)
mid (KTU 4.346:5)
W (KTU 4.355:36)

a-ru-n-e (85:4 etc.)


ul-la (308a: 8)
ma-al-la-ti (121:4)
ar-ma-(at)-te (146:22 etc.)

T h e first site in Ugaritic, , may occur in a mythological text,


though it is also known as a site in the southern district of Ugarit
( P a r d e e - B o r d r e u i l 1992, 716). However, the remaining sites occur
in administrative documents. T h e y can be identified with places in
the region of Ugarit ( A s t o u r 1981a, 6, 9).
2.2.3

Place names along the border

In addition to well known international sites such as C a n a a n , E m a r


and Ugarit itself, the name of the same site can occur in both texts
when the two archives preserve names of places along or near the
border between the two kingdoms. A s t o u r 1981a, 7 - 8 identifies several place names along or near the border between Alalakh/Mukis
and Ugarit that are found in both texts. These include:

Ugarit Place Name

Alalakh Place Name

midh
ayly
kmkty
sallurba
sulhana
salhe
arutu

ma'adhi
baq'at-ala, aa-ma'ad
kamkatiya
anurhe
sulhana!
salhe
arutui

Since none of these overlaps with the already identified place name
parallels, it suggests that the parallels already noted are authentic
citations of different places within the two kingdoms rather than citations of the same place along or near the border.
An examination of all place names found on the border descriptions
of the two kingdom also reveals little in the way of overlap. Indeed,
only one additional name, halpi/halbi/halba, is found in both archives.
However, even if the Alalakh texts refer to the site on the border
of the two kingdoms, not all of the occurrences in the texts from
Ugarit refer to this border site. T h e r e are four halba's that occur

and some of them are found in the southern parts of the kingdom. 29
A further source may be found in A T 457, a text from Alalakh
Level IV that did not appear in Wiseman's catalogue and could not
be considered by Sivan. This is because, unlike some of the texts
originally published by Wiseman and later by Dietrich and Loretz,
it was published only recently ( W i s e m a n - H e s s 1 9 9 4 ) . A T 4 5 7 is a
lengthy text of at least 68 lines of which 54 are legible. It is a census list of personal names followed by their place of origin. Four
place names occur and are new to Level IV at Alalakh.
O f four place names attested for the first time from Alalakh Level
IV, only one, i\s-i-QT-k(i-\ni~\, corresponds to a place name from texts
at Ugarit. It occurs on line 48. At Ugarit documents that define the
border between Ugarit and Alalakh list u r u i-ia-ar-qa-ni as lying on
that border. 3 0 In this case it is probably the same place, lying at the
border of the two kingdoms. T h u s no new place names found at
Alalakh are also attested at Ugarit for a separate site within that
kingdom.

2.3

Conclusions

Having examined these texts a few observations may be made. First,


the actual n u m b e r of duplicate names is small. T h e r e are at most
nine names that occur both at Ugarit and Alalakh and that may
designate separate towns within the borders of both kingdoms. T h u s
the relation of the two kingdoms in terms of place names appears
to be limited. This is surprising as the two kingdoms border one
another and might be expected to exhibit similar cultures with similar naming practices. In fact, they do not and the place names are
only one sign of this distinction. Various pieces of evidence that
betray West Semitic naming practices are found at Ugarit but not
at Alalakh. For example, the texts from Ugarit include place names
compounded with alphabetic gt or syllabic gi-ti/gin-ti. These are common in place names from the Palestine and Syria of the Amarna
texts and from the biblical texts ( A s t o u r 1974, 274-7; S i v a n 1984,

P A R D E E - B O R D R E U I L 1 9 9 2 , 7 1 6 list three place names from Ugarit where


homonymy occurs. In addition to the four different fjatba's, there are at least two
places named 'ar(y) and two named ayah. In both of these examples, one is in the
north of the kingdom of Ugarit and the other is located in the south.
30
PRU 4, 66 and 70 = RS 17.62+, 66 and RS 17.366, 15'.
29

220.). N o example of a place n a m e containing this c o m m o n West


Semitic vocable occurs at Alalakh. T h e same is true for place names
beginning with cn. All these occur at Ugarit and in biblical sources
but are absent in the place names f r o m the kingdom of Alalakh
(Astour

1974, 309; Sivan

1984, 206,

210).

T h i s is not to assert that West Semitic influence is absent at


Alalakh. It is, of course, present in personal names and specific vocabulary as well as larger literary influences. For example, as m a n y as
eight out of the 39 personal names in the administrative list A T 457
f r o m Ugarit m a y contain West Semitic elements ( W i s e m a n - H e s s
1994). T h e style of the Idrimi inscription and the presence of social
groups c o m m o n in the West Semitic world, such as hupu and hapiru
betray the influence of this culture ( H e s s 1994a). However, it is clear
that this is not so strong as at Ugarit and the place names attest to
this fact.
T h e most obvious reason for this m a y a p p e a r to be the geographical location of Alalakh. It is located as one of the most northerly of all the West Semitic archives of the Late Bronze Age. T h u s
it lay on the fringe of that influence. However, there is a n o t h e r factor closely related to its geographical position that may explain the
lack of West Semitic influence at Alalakh in comparison to Ugarit.
It has long been noted that the Late Bronze Age was an international period and that the West Semitic world of the Levant lay in
the midst of this interchange, at least from the perspective of the
documented evidence. This area itself was multi-cultural and reflected
the mixtures of a variety of people groups.
This is nowhere better attested than in the A m a r n a correspondence. T h e leaders of city-states throughout the C a n a a n of the fourteenth century bc possessed personal names reflecting a variety of
cultural origins ( H e s s 1993). M a n y of these were West Semitic. Some
w e r e E g y p t i a n , reflecting the d o m i n a t i o n of the Egyptian N e w
K i n g d o m and the presence of its bureaucracy. Still others, however,
were northern in origin, and included personal names that could be
analysed as Anatolian, Indo-Aryan and especially Hurrian. T h e plotting of these names and the towns and cities that they ruled on a
m a p has revealed certain geographical patterns. For example, almost
every city along the coast of Palestine and Syria in the A m a r n a Age
had a ruler w h o possessed a West Semitic name. T h e only exception is Acco. Yet this itself is instructive because Acco lay at the
western end of the most influential set of routes that cut east-west

through the hills and mountains, most notably exemplified by the


J e z r e e l / M e g i d d o Plain. O n this plain, within the hill country itself
and throughout the Syro-Jordan Valley, the evidence is consistent
that there is a mixture of names with northern names predominating among many rulers of population centres. T h e conclusion is that
away from the coast the leadership and the dominant cultural influence
of West Semitic diminished and was instead affected by northern
influences. This is found both in the personal names of the rulers
and also in various aspects of the material culture (Hess 1989).
T h e same phenomenon appears in the north. Ugarit, a city near
the coast and with an important port of its own, exhibited a truly
international culture. Like coastal cities to the south, it preserved a
strong West Semitic influence. Alalakh, however, was removed from
the coast. Its livelihood was sustained by the fruitful Hatay plain
which it dominated. Like the inland cities to the south, this city was
also more limited in terms of the West Semitic influence that it experienced. T h u s the linguistic constitution of the place names of Ugarit,
when set in their immediate geographical context, suggests a strong
West Semitic influence in the midst of Hurrian and other northern
cultural influences.

CHAPTER

T H E

R E L I G I O N

O F

U G A R I T :

Nicolas

THIRTEEN

A N

O V E R V I E W

W y a t t

Introduction

While this is intended to be a general survey of the main features


of Ugaritian 1 religion, in the following discussion I shall avoid reiterating the points made by other contributors to this volume, except
where I present an alternative point of view. I should also state at
the outset that this study is treated in a phenomenological manner,
undertaken on the basis of the integrity and authenticity of the experiences, systematizations and practices we shall be noting. It may
seem odd to many readers that such an initial position-statement
should be necessary, but it is a fact that the interest some scholars
have shown in Ugarit, and in particular in its religious life, appears
to have been for purposes of comparison of an invidious kind with
biblical religion, 2 where a theological agenda appears to have predetermined the outcome. This does not appear to me to be a legitimate starting point for serious research in this discipline. It certainly
renders questionable any conclusions that are drawn.
We should perhaps define our terms and the scope of this study.
T h e city of Ugarit has yielded texts in a number of languages. It is
probable that people speaking Akkadian, Cypro-Minoan, Egyptian,
Hittite, Hurrian, Ugaritic and possibly other languages (such as
Amorite and various 'Canaanite' forms) were resident in the city and
its environs. T h e degree to which they intermarried, and to which

' The term 'Canaanite' is best avoided here, despite common usage. For recent
treatment of the issue on the cultural and linguistic levels, with references to earlier discussion, see RAINEY 1965b, GRABBF. 1994, TROPPER 1994a and see references
in DE MOOR 1997, 42 n. 5 (Aw!). See also 15.5.9 below.
2
This is a largely artificial construct, having only a tenuous link with the historical religion of Palestine, as a compendium of late critiques and revisionism, subsequently further removed from its historical roots by its interpretation at the hands
of theologians and interpreters of the present common era.

the city culture formed a mlange of these different traditions, is


impossible to quantify with precision. W h e n referring to the witness
of texts in Ugaritic, I propose to refer to 'Ugaritic' religion, by which
I mean the broad synthesis which is apparent from the Ugaritic texts
themselves, leaving aside for the present the Hurrian texts, 3 which
appear to reflect the interests and distinctive religious patterns of a
fairly small minority, and the Akkadian texts, 4 which represent broad
international cultural influences, but do not appear to reflect any
wholly independent 'Akkadian' tradition of any social sub-group.
Where we may suppose that some degree of synthesis has probably
taken place, or I wish to speak more generally of the population of
the city or kingdom of Ugarit without isolating any one languagegroup or social sub-group, it is better to use the term 'Ugaritian',
as denoting the broader amalgam of all the sub-groups, though the
extent of this is of its nature very hard to evaluate. But we would
expect the royal cultus, for example, performed in the name of the
kingdom and all its citizens, that is, the kingdom's 'political theology', to fall into the latter category, though almost all the relevant
texts are in Ugaritic as the local dominant vernacular.
Since it is inappropriate to approach the significance of one religious tradition by reference to another (as is commonly done with
Ugaritian religion, which seems almost inevitably to be evaluated in
comparison with 'Israelite' religion), 5 the following observations are
offered from the broad anthropological perspective that all religions
are symbolic systems designed to give meaning, coherence and purpose to a community, to deal with its inherent alienation from and
tension in the face of the experienced world. From this perspective,
all religions are 'true' in that they are authentic, and offer both a
legitimization and a critique of the community's sense of identity. It
is in this framework of understanding that I shall deal with the following issues: cosmology, theology (including the nature of the pantheon), mythology, royal ideology, ritual, other religious manifestadons

See L A R O C H E 1 9 6 8 , M A Y E R 1 9 9 6 and 3 . 3 above.


Published mostly in PRU 2, 3, 4 and 6, and Ugaritica 5. See also VAN S O L D T
1991a, D I E T R I C H 1996 and above 3.1.
5
O L D E N B U R G 1 9 6 9 , C R A I G I E 1 9 8 3 , DE M O O R 1 9 9 0 . To a lesser extent a similar
treatment of other ancient cultures through biblical eyes (or more correctly modern eyes claiming a biblical foundation for their prejudice) has beset many branches
of near eastern study. This is perhaps a sub-branch of 'orientalism' in Edward Said's
meaning of the term.
4

(oracular systems, vows, blessings etc.), the place of religion in the


experience of disease and death, and various non-textual dimensions.

2.1

C o s m o l o g y

The intellectual construction of the world

T h e r e is no systematic exposition of the Ugaritian world view in any


of the texts. They take for granted, however, a certain number of
presuppositions to which incidental allusion is made from time to
time, particularly in the mythological texts, so that a provisional
reconstruction is possible. 6 A distinction should of course be made
between two modes of spatial thinking. T h e r e is evidence of a lively
awareness of a real geography, amply attested in many of the nonreligious documents, such as toponymie lists, as well as the extensive
diplomatic and commercial correspondance, and even impinging on
the religious consciousness in geographical allusions in mythological
and other narrative texts. O n the other hand we should recognize
their use of a symbolic geography, used for the framing of specifically
theological constructions in terms of a broad Weltanschauung and the
place of the divine and h u m a n realms within it. T h e latter may even
be said to be the idiom of the interface between these realms. It is
an 'affective' construction, even a subjective one in the strictest sense
(on which see further below), used for the articulation and authentication of the real world in terms of the ideal world of mythology
and cult. It is with the symbolic geography of this ideal world that
we are here concerned.
T h e binomial form of the name of the sea-god (zbl ym || tpt nhr),
for example, suggests that as elsewhere in the ancient world, the cosmic sea was seen both as a sea stretching away from land, but at
the same time as a river encircling the land, and forming its cosmic
boundary. While theologically and mythologically this sea-cum-river
was conceptualized as a god, probably in h u m a n form, since he had

See W Y A T T 1 9 8 7 , 1996a and 1996b. The studies O T R O M P 1969 and S T ADELMANN


1970, while devoted to the cosmology of the Bible, also contain much useful information. W E N S I N C K 1916, 1918 give comprehensive accounts of our knowledge of
west Semitic cosmology before the discovery of Ras Shamra, which the Ugaritic
material now supplements.

a body described in anthropomorphic fashion which Baal could injure


with his weapons (K TU 1.2 = R S 3.367 iv), at other times it was
identified by the m o r e neutral term thm (f.), though here a n o t h e r
aspect of its form was expressed in its dual expression thmtm. This
suggests that something akin to other ancient N e a r Eastern structures of the world was envisaged, in which as well as having a 'horizontal aspect' (surrounding the earth) the sea had a 'vertical aspect'
(with waters above and below the earth). 7 T h e sea-god was also
identified as Un (cf. H e b . Leviathan), though this view has been disputed, 8 a n d was thus imagined in draconian or serpentine form.
T h e cosmic waters served as b o u n d a r y for the habitable world.
T h e term for this, ars, is ambiguous in Ugaritic, denoting both the
surface a n d the underworld below (cf. the ambiguity of H e b . 'eres,
though this term is often contrasted with tbl, not thus far attested
in Ugaritic). At Ugarit, as everywhere else in the ancient world, the
symbolic structure of the world was maintained in religious practice
a n d experience, which defined the realities of myth and cult. W e
may even legitimately extrapolate features in such a view that are
not explicit. T h u s while the idea of the omphalos is not explicidy
attested, it undoubtedly lies behind the conception of the cosmic
m o u n t a i n , S a p h o n (spn, vocalized sapunuf which ontologically speaking is the reference point of all reality in Ugaritian religious consciousness. H e r e dwelt all the gods, probably not just Baal, but the
entire p a n t h e o n , as stated in the title to K T U 1.47 = R S 1.017 (il
spn). El's throne stood at the centre, a n d he remained immobile, 1 0

In Mesopotamian tradition we have the apsu (AB.ZU) above and the ti'amat (temtum, tmtii) below. The former becomes in Greek. In Gen 1:6~9 the waters
above are separated from those below the firmament as dry land appears from the
lower waters. In Egypt the goddess Nut (nwt. 'waters'), an allomorph of the primordial Nu(n) (nw[n]), forms both the sky and a subterranean current, sometimes
shown engraved or painted in both the lid and the base of sarcophagi. This body
of water is amorphous. Land, in the form of the in-stone (symbolized in all temple constructions) emerges from the latter, in an analogue of the biblical account.
On the other hand, Ra crosses a river by day (above) and by night (below) in his
solar bark. This similarity of mental structuring of the world between ancient cultures should not allow local differences such as those mentioned to be glossed over,
but should also not be underestimated. For further discussions see WENSINCK 1918,
K A I S E R 1959, N E I M A N 1977, W Y A T T 1996a, 1996b.
B
Contrast D A Y 1985, 14-5 with W Y A T T 1985a. A Greek reflex of this figure is
found in Ladon, the serpent who guards the golden apples of the Hesperides ( G R A V E S
1960, ii 145-52 133: various classical sources cited; cf. FONTENROSE 1959, 236, 370).
9
See W Y A T T 1 9 9 5 for discussion and references. See also K O C H 1 9 9 3 .
10
W Y A T T 1996a, 36-43, 1996b.

in the idiom of the Baal cycle of myths, while the divine conflicts
whose outworkings form the narrative of the myth took place all
about, with constant reference back to him for purposes of validating the successive achievements of the plot. T h e kingship of each of
the successive gods was achieved by enthronement on El's throne,
a cipher also of the role of the throne in royal ideology. El's dwelling
at the heart of reality is expressed in the allusion to his 'sevenfold
palace' ( K T U 1.3 = RS 2. [014]+ 10-2, 26-7):
El replied from within the seven chambers,
through the eight faades of the closed rooms.
This idiom of seven concentric boundaries surrounding a god's shrine
appears to establish its central location; it corresponds to the notion
of seven barriers in the underworld of both Egyptian" and Mesopotamian tradition, 12 though this idiom is not independently attested
at Ugarit. It may also be compared with the seven boundaries represented architecturally in Egyptian temples, most clearly at Edfu.
T h e image of the god here resided in the innermost chamber (the
shrine-box) of the building. A similar symbolism, though perhaps not
so explicitly developed, probably lies behind the construction of the
temples at Ugarit.
Another recurrent description of El's dwelling, where his tent is
pitched, reads as follows ( K T U 1.2 = RS 3.346 iii 4, 1.3 = RS
2.[014]+ 6 - 7 , 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ iv 21-2, 1.6 = RS 2.[009]+ i
33, 1.17 = R S 2. [004] vi 47-8): 13 deities travel
towards El at the source of the rivers,
amidst the springs of the two deeps.
This has been interpreted 1 4 as an underworld location, evidence of
El's deposition by the younger, more vigorous storm-god Baal. But
this interpretation depends for its cogency on the restoration of K T U
1.2 = RS 3.346 iii 3, as read by KTU2, which is gratuitous. 15 It also
11

See the gates (seven 'iytw) in the scenes and texts of the Book of the Dead.
See the myths of the descent of Inanna (ANET 5 0 - 7 ) and Ishtar {ANET 1 0 6 - 9 ,
CS i 3 8 1 - 4 ) . The image of the centre of a sevenfold structure is perpetuated in the
seven moradas of Teresa of Avila.
13
Cf. K T U 1.100 = RS 24.244.2-4.
12

14

See

10

The restored text reads [mtpdm.thl.'nt.ars.tlt.mth.gyrm]:


[two layers beneath the springs of the earth,
three expanses of the depths.]

POPE

1955,

1987,

KAISER

1959 and

OLDENBURG

1969.

sits uneasily with the god's undoubted authority in the narrative


poems, and his evidently crucial role in the management of kingship, 16 since the king is portrayed mythically as his son. A better
understanding is to see El as the supreme deity, representing the
highest of a number of levels of divine authority. 17 T h e spatial image
of the passage is that of the centre of the world, from which flow
four rivers (corresponding to the cardinal points) to water the earth,
the whole surrounded by the cosmic sea, the two aspects of which
paradoxically meet at the centre. This corresponds both to the Garden
of Eden imagery of the Bible, and the ritual significance of the
Jerusalem temple, where the Gihon spring supplied the water, while
at the same time the river of the same name flowed round Cush
(Ethiopia = Abyssinia, 'land of the abyss'). 18 We have evidence in
our text of the same cosmological imagery at Ugarit. T h e scene just
described is widely attested in cylinder seal iconography, and may
be tentatively reconstructed for Ugaritic thought from the passages
just cited.
A tension existed between the centre, represented by Mount Saphon
and its local allomorphs the city temples, and the boundary at the
end of the world. T h e important ideological myth-and-ritual complex K T U 1.23 = RS 2.002 plays on the paradox, mythic events
on the sea-shore being apparently celebrated at the cosmic centre
of the temple. 19 T h e position of Saphon as a symbolic centre in the

This text occurs at K T U 1.1 = RS 3.361 iii 20 (partially restored) and at 1.3 =
RS 2. [014]+ iv 35. In the former passage it clearly denotes the subterranean workshop of Kothar (his western analogues forge their artefacts in volcanoes: was Kothar's
'Cretan' connection the volcanic island of Santorini?), while in the latter it appears
to denote Anat's own dwelling underneath Mount Saphon. In neither instance does
it have any bearing on the location of El's abode.
16

See

17

Three, according to

PARKER

1977.
PETERSEN

WOODWARD

1977;

four according to

HANDY

1994.
18
I am concerned not to evaluate one tradition in terms of another. But the
cautious use of analogies and comparisons between neighbouring cultures (and particularly between evidently cognate ones such as the Ugaritian and Palestinian) in the
area of tentative reconstruction of fragmented cosmologies is surely a valid procedure. I am happy to work in principle within the constraints outlined by M. S M I T H
(1952) 135-6, though he considerably overstates the lack of connections between
Ugaritic and Hebrew literature. Many of the more cautious studies of recent years
have established extensive continuities between the two cultures.
I!)
See W Y A T F 1987 for Ugaritic and biblical passages illustrating this feature. The
shrine in question cannot be identified with precision, but may plausibly be identified
with a royal chapel at Ugarit, or some such installation at Ras ibn Hani (where
the palace extends to within a few metres of the seashore).

Ugaritian mind (though displaced to the north in real terms, and on


the psychological principles outlined in my extended treatment of
orientation, 20 on which see further below for a summary, belonging
to the 'left side', it was nevertheless architecturally replicated in the
acropolitan temples) will be shown below to be also presented in
another literary idiom in the pantheon list K T U 1.47 = RS 1.017
and parallels.
We should not attempt a harmonization of the details of these
various cosmological models. They are evidently of diverse origins,
and probably go far back into prehistory and into the diverse earlier worlds of the various ethnic groups of Ugarit, and appear not
to have caused any hermeneutical problems to the theologians of
LBA Ugarit. Such ideas were also undoubtedly held concurrently
with perfectly empirical perceptions of the real world in terms of its
geography and practical application of agricultural and industrial
technologies.

2.2

The experience of the world: orientation

Relating to cosmological issues is the matter of orientation. All ancient


religions, like modern ones, evidence a concern for exactitude in
positioning of the worshipping community (an extrapolation from
individual experience), as a symbol of the community's authentic
location in the real world. Temple alignments are always significant,
for instance, even if we can no longer identify the particular reasons for a given example, and the two acropolitan temples at Ugarit,
usually attributed to Baal and Dagan respectively, were orientated
north-south. Provisionally, we may note that storm-deity temples at
other sites also have a north-south orientation, as at Ebla and Hazor,
so that a common tradition may have obtained. T h e temple aux rhytons in the city-centre, perhaps associated with El (cf. K TU 1.114 =
RS 24.258), who was perhaps a lunar deity in origin, was orientated
east-west. This may be compared with later Palestinian shrines associated with Yahweh, as at Jerusalem, Arad and Lachish (temple 106).
O n the broader issue of personal orientation, from which these
principles are developed, and the vocabulary used to express it, I
have made a comparison of the Ugaritic and Hebrew vocabulary,

20 YVYATT

1996C.

with interesting results. 21 Summing up that discussion, it is worth


noting the following 'canonical' or religious vocabulary, which appears
to be relatively constant:

DIRECTION

LANGUAGE

TERM

MEANINGS

East

Ugaritic
Hebrew
Akkadian
Arabic

qdm
qedem
qudmu
qadam qidm qidam

'face', 'in front', 'past';


'face', 'in front', 'past';
'front', 'past';
'precede', 'past', 'antiquity'.

West

Ugaritic
Hebrew
Akkadian
Arabic

ahr
'ahar
ahru
dabr

'behind', 'after', 'later';


'behind', 'after', 'later';
'future';
'west wind' (V 'turn one's back').

North

Ugaritic
Hebrew
Akkadian
Arabic

mal
seml
umlu
aml, mal

'left';
'left'; (spn = 'north');
'left';
'north (wind)', 'left'.

South

Ugaritic
Hebrew
Akkadian
Arabic

ymn
ymn
aplitum
yaman, yamin

'right';
'right', 'south';
'lower';
'south', 'right hand'.

T h e same pattern also obtains in other languages such as Sanskrit,


and is probably widely attested. Facing into the past, since 'east',
'past' and 'face' all employ the same terminology, indicates the enormous power of memory in the construction of consciousness, and it
is perhaps no accident that we can speak of 'canonical orientation',
for it is above all in religious belief and practice, with its hallowing
of tradition (the experienced and reconstructed or invented past),
and repetition in ritual of established, normative patterns of behaviour, that we discern the formal impact of accumulated cultural experience on a society. T h e significance of the psychology to which this
evidence witnesses is as follows: it is clear that memory of the past
is a vital part in the life of a community. It is the past and the perpetuation of its paradigms and values which legitimizes the present. 22

21

22

WYATT

1996C.

It is no accident that the etymological meaning of the Greek term for 'truth'
() means 'not-forgetting'. Tradition is 'true', and theology is 'true' because
it is traditional.

Theology, mythology and ritual are the means whereby this memory is reinforced by constant repetition, and the unknown future can
therefore be engaged with confidence.
While orientation is an ultimately subjective experience, its psychological foundations are universal, and consequently, through a shared
vocabulary, a measure of objectivity is obtained. Language being
experienced as a given, even as 'god-given' in ancient psychology,
the very articulation of the experience in traditional forms serves to
reify it as theological 'fact'.

3.1

T h e o l o g y

The nature of the pantheon1''

A useful place to start this section is with a brief treatment of the


pantheon. This term has two distinct senses. Firstly it may be used
to denote the complete number of deities worshipped in Ugarit, a
number which can be quantified only approximately, given the uncertainty of meaning of many words in the texts, the incompleteness of
the record, and other variables of this kind. It is probably fair to
say that no citizen of the kingdom could have given a complete list.
T h e modern scholar certainly cannot. Secondly we have texts which
give series of divine names, and are evidently deliberate compositions, attempting to construct some kind of systematic theology. Three
tabletsKTU 1.47 = RS 1.017, K T U 1.118 = RS 24.264+, and
RS 20.24 (in Akkadian) 24 preserve the same list, and constitute as
it were a canonical group of gods, classified in K T U 1.47.1 as il
spn, 'the gods of Saphon'. T h e y are of course a tiny selection of all
the deides who appear in the Ugaritic texts, and the complete list
may be supplemented with Hurrian 2:> and Akkadian divine names,
while a number of Egyptian, Hittite and Sumerian names appear,
and others are still probably unrecognized.

23

See also 7.2 above.


The fact that we have an Akkadian version of the 'canonical pantheon' is
significant: it indicates that it is only with great caution that we can assume there
to be fundamental differences between the Ugaritic and Akkadian linguistic worlds
in terms of their theological implications.
25
See K T U 1 . 1 3 5 = RS 2 4 . 2 9 5 , which L A R O C H E 1 9 6 8 , 5 0 8 - 9 (and further,
1
5 1 8 - 2 7 ) classifies as a 'list of deities', while KTU
identifies it as a 'list (sacrifices)'.
24

Developing del O l m o Lete's perceptive analysis,2f> I have suggested


in a recent study 27 that the presence of a deity spn at a central position in the pantheon lists is a literary representation of the cosmic
centrality of the mountain, whose divine status, belonging to a widespread practice of divinizing sacred localities, reinforces the same
point. It lies in the middle position of three sets of seven deities,
which may indeed have constituted a Vorlage (containing twenty-one
names) to the present pantheon list. While as fourteenth overall it
is not in the mid-most position in the entire list of thirty-three, there
is a broadly chiastic structure to the full list, which further enhances
this impression that the divine mountain is at the heart of all reality. This cosmological image is to be perpetuated in the later imagery
concerning M o u n t Zion, 28 and has analogues in Egyptian temple
traditions, and in the architectural form of ziggurats. A pantheon
list is obviously not intended to be a complete account of the divine
realm, yet represents such a totality, much as the various enneads
of Egyptian theology identified key deities in the great centres in a
sacred number, nine being as it were 'plurality pluralized', and therefore a figure for totality. T h e thirty-three deities of the Ugaritic lists
were probably based on a similar numbers game (ten times three
plus three) 29 also intended to encompass all gods and goddesses. Such
a grouping of deities, while acknowledging the diversity of symbols
and perceived realities of the deities, is also perhaps intuiting an
underlying unity, also implicit in the central symbol of Saphon, where
they all dwell. 30

1986, 1992a, 5 4 - 8 = 1999, 71-8. See also above 7.2.2.1.2.


1998b.
28
See W Y A T T 1996a, 31-3 with reference to Ps 48:2-3.
29
The same number is found in the Vedic text Brhadranyaka Upanisad 3.9.1-2.
As the context of the dialogue shows, this text too is clearly exploring the question
of the implications of a pluralistic symbolism in theology, and concludes that the
multiplicity of deities (beginning with three thousand, three hundred and six) really
points to one. T h e Muslim rosary traditionally has thirty-three beads on it: three
rounds allow the recital of the ninety-nine names of God (SCHIMMEL 1993, 241).
DEL O L M O L E T E (1992a, 91) notes that K T U 1.148 = R S 24.643, which is based
on K T U 1.47 and parallels, actually mentions only twenty-eight or twenty-nine of
the gods, to accommodate the constraints of the calendar. Perhaps there is also a
menological basis to the number?
3(1
I am not suggesting an incipient monotheism, but rather the coherence of all
the deities, their conflicts notwithstanding, in a representation of the life of the community. While a pantheon is to some extent an ad hoc conglomeration of deities
who come together through the hazards of history, the growth, mergence and disintegration of states, ethnic changes, migrations, and so forth, the theologians of
26

DEL O L M O L E T E

27

WYATT

An alternative term for the comprehensive nature of the pantheon


is the designation of the gods as 'the seventy sons (probably rather
"children") of Athirat' (sb'm bn atrt): K T U 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ vi 46.
N o attempt should be made to argue for inconsistency in view of
the discrepancy between thirty-three and seventy. Each figure is an
independent numerological metaphor for totality. Similarly, the subsets in the pantheon, consisting of heptads, tetrads and triads, and
a final dyad, themselves represent seven totalities on a smaller scale.
Each subset stands for all the deities in a certain category, and the
seven categories signify the plenitude of divine power.

3.2
3.2.1

Individual deities

The scope of individual theologies in a polytheistic context

In addition to comprehensive theologies of the kind suggested above,


the full range of which it is impossible to determine, there are individual theologies centring on each of the main deities. This is not
the place to give an account of all of them. A number of useful
studies are available on individual ones,31 and some general publications

every generation will practise some degree of rationalization, however unconsciously, intuiting meaning, imposing structure and so on. The organization of various
pantheon-list traditions represents such processes. They are never static, of course,
and every text revealing a structure speaks only to its own generation, constituting
a historical document of conditions at such and such a time.
31
See for instance the following short selection of studies (which at times give
contrary assessments, and often include discussion of biblical avatars):
on Anat see K A P E I . R U D 1 9 6 9 , P . L . D A Y 1 9 9 1 , 1 9 9 2 , 1 9 9 5 , W A L L S 1 9 9 2 , L L O Y D
1994, C O R N E L I U S forthcoming;
on Athirat see M A I E R 1986, L Y A N 1988, W I G G I N S 1993, W Y A T T 1995a, B I N G E R
1997, C O R N E L I U S forthcoming;
on Athtar see M A R G A L I T 1996, X E L L A 1996a;
on Athtart see W Y A T T 1995b, C O R N E L I U S forthcoming;
on Baal see K A P E I . R U D 1952, V A N E L 1965, VAN Z I J L 1972, W Y A T T 1992a, H E R R M A N N
1995a, N I E H R 1995;
on Dagan see W Y A T T 1980, H E A L E Y 1977, 1995a;
on El, see P O P E 1955, 1987, H E R R M A N N 1995b;
on Horon see C A R J O T 1982, R T E R S W R D E N 1995;
on Kothar see S M I T H 1985, P A R D E E 1995;
on Rapiu and the Rpum (Rephaim) see C A Q U O T 1 9 6 0 , P A R K E R 1 9 7 0 , 1 9 7 2 , DE M O O R
1976, P O P E 1977, C O O P E R 1987, R O U I L L A R D 1995, P I T ARD 6.4 above;
on Reshef see A S T O U R 1967, 310-4, F U L C O 1976, X E L L A 1995a;
on

Yam

s e e FANTAR

1 9 7 7 , AL N O O R I

1994,

STOLZ

1995.

This list, the disparity in the coverage of some deities over against others, and omissions from it, indicate fruitful areas of research still to be undertaken.

are also of use. 32 I shall instead restrict discussion to general theological principles as exemplified in a number of representative deities.
Perhaps the best place to start is with the problem of theological
scope. Ugaritian religion is commonly described as a 'fertility cult'.
This perception is far too narrowI am not even entirely clear as
to what it meansand is perhaps at least on occasion unconsciously
designed as a reductionistic put-down for ideological purposes. We
should see in Ugaritian religion neither bad faith, nor moral obloquy, 33 nor 'crisis of polytheism'. 34 These are essentially contradictions
in terms in a theological context. O n the contrary, we have a vigorous series of interlocking theologies, an active cult, a powerful royal
ideology and a network of ritual forms which link living and dead,
sick and well, good and evil, rich and poor in a homogeneous community. It is in short a typical religious system of its day, not recognizably different in kind, in my view, from Iron Age religion in
Palestine. 35 Deities are essentially symbolic figures, who will accrete
in their personae the accumulated experience of the worshipping
community.
Individual deities are frequently readily identifiable with various
natural p h e n o m e n a or existential realities (e.g. Shapsh the sun, Yarih
the moon, Yam the sea, Baal the storm, Kothar the apotheosis of
technology, or Kinnar of the lyre, and so on). It is however a mistake to conclude a one-for-one funcdonal relationship between deity
and phenomenon. This is to reduce theology at best to allegory, at
worst to triviality. T h e identification, often based on the name, 3 6 is
merely the cipher by which an entire range of symbolic potential is
tapped. T h e richer the personality of the deity in myth, the richer,
we may infer, is the symbolic base. And because personality, with

32

See in particular the relevant articles in ABD ( F R E E D M A N ed.) and DDD (VAN
et al. [eds.]). Some are listed in the previous note. Note also W A T S O N
1993.
33
Thus O L D E N B U R G 1969, xi.
34
Thus DE M O O R 1986b, 1990, 69-100 = 1997, 71-102.
35
That is, a religion (or religions) as reconstructed through archaeological research
and a critical and historical reading of textual evidence, biblical and non-biblical.
The Hebrew Bible itself is of course a critique on earlier forms of religion, its own
roots included. Cf. . 2 above.
3t
The enormous difficulty sometimes faced in trying to identify the 'original'
meaning of a divine name (cf. the range of proposals for Anat and Athirat) should
give us pause about immediate settlement for what seem like all the easier instances.
DER T O O R N

all its individual quirks and contradictions, is the means of expressing the theological content of the individual deity, the dramatic
conflicts between deities are often represented in the most confrontational terms. It is a serious mistake to take this at face value,
seeing in this apparent theological confusion evidence of either primitiveness, or worse still, theological poverty or incoherence.
T h e richness and versatility of polytheism lies in its capacity for
resolution of tensions in dramatic terms, in which deities compete
in a mythic narrative as a means of expressing the anomies and
antinomies of experience. People die of disease: the powerful god
Reshef, the personification of pestilence, the very source of the disorder, is the one to whom the religious person turns in distress. W a r
comes to Ugarit: Anat is the very embodiment of all its horrors, but
because of her ubiquity, is at the same time represented as a nubile
maiden, for whom warriors will perhaps give their all. Her ambiguity, at once attractive and repellant, is a measure of the ambiguity of the warrior's calling. She symbolizes the utter devotion, the
single-mindedness required of the king's soldiers (and not perhaps
without an erotic frisson). As goddess of the hunt (itself an important symbol of royal power) she also embodies the paradox of the
love of animals with their wanton destruction. At the other end of
the spectrum, there are deities of conception and childbirth, invoked
for fruitful marriages and safe parturitions. These are the real 'fertility deities'.
This may be folk-religion, 37 but it is vital and powerful, effective
in the life of a people. As is characteristic of a pantheon, it appears
in its broadest sense to have embodied in divine personae every
significant reality of community and personal life, from the very substance of the world (earth, air, sky, mountains and rivers)3" to the

37

The distinguishing of different types of religion along class lines may have its
uses for analytical purposes, but in my view threatens to introduce artificial boundaries where none would have been perceived. The emphasis may have been different,
as also the elaboration of ritual, between the cult of the great temples and people's
(or groups') private devotions which have left no trace. The broad nature of the
religious experience, and the theological presuppositions, would have been part of
a continuum, however, and not disparate units. It remains extremely difficult to
estimate the nature of the experience. Texts like K T U 1.119 = RS 24.266 perhaps
provide our best clue.
38
These constitute the iUrgtter\ the primordial powers who personify the substance of the universe. They are invoked in the messages of the gods (KTU 1.1 iii
13-4 etc.). Are they perhaps also to be identified with the dr il (KTU 1.41 = RS

practical items of everyday use (pots a n d pans, chairs, sheep and


oxen) 39 which constitute the real world of ordinary people. Musical
instruments were deified, because they represented a most important
point of contact with an ideal world of the inner life. 40
I have selected four deities here for f u r t h e r c o m m e n t .
3.2.2

El

A few observations on El (il, ilu) are in place here. His supreme status in the p a n t h e o n is not in dispute, in spite of some teething problems in his analysis, 41 a n d he is the patron of kings (see further below)
a n d ultimate ruler of the cosmos, whose constituent parts appear to
have been divided between various of his sons (Baal, Y a m and M o t
correspond broadly in their n a t u r e a n d roles to Zeus, Poseidon and
H a d e s in the Olympian pantheon). But they evidentiy defer to him
for permission to act, a n d are d e p e n d e n t on him for the conferment
of their power. T h e only deity w h o appears to defy his will is Anat,
whose special case we shall consider below.
M a n y scholars have remarked on the a p p a r e n t absence of any
cosmogony in Ugaritian religion. F i s h e r (1965) thought he discerned
two types of creation at Ugarit, divided between El and Baal. T h e
cosmogonie status of Baal's conflict with Y a m is in dispute, and any
cosmogonie overtones it bears are implicit. But El is called bny bnwt,
which is c o m m o n l y translated as ' C r e a t o r of creatures', and is certainly the father of the divine beings b o r n in K T U 1.12 and 1.23
= R S 2. [012], 2.002. T h e s e however are theogonies rather than cosmogonies, though p e r h a p s this neat category-distinction would not
have seemed so obvious to the ancients as it is to us.
M o r e promising p e r h a p s for a tentative resolution of the issue is
the significance of El's a n d r o g y n o u s n a t u r e . In K T U 1.23 he is
addressed by his wives as mt, 'husband', ab, 'father' and urn, 'mother'. 4 2
1 . 0 0 3 + . 16, [1.87 =
t h e dr bn it ( K T U

RS

18.056.17],

1.40 =

RS

1.176 =

1.002+.7,

RIH

78/26.16)

17, 2 5 , 3 3 , [ 4 2 ] ,

or (the distinct group?)

1.65 =

RS

4.474.2,

1.122

on the analogy of the iln s'a drtim (cf. C R O S S 1 9 7 6 , 3 2 9 ) ?


3n
K T U 1.4 = RS 2.[008]+ vi 45-54. Cf. the world of abstractions personified
as so many divine realities in the 'genealogy' of H E S I O D ' S Theogony.
40
K T U 1.47= R S 1.017.32 and'parallels. Cf. W Y A T T 1995d.
41
Cf. references above nn. 14-15.
42
Wilfred Watson suggests to me that this may be simply an instance of parallelism. But even if we concede this for the sake of argument, the fact remains that
a form of words may itself both reflect unconscious dispositions and patterns in the
mind, and also generate new possibilities, which then lead the mind into further
=

RS

24.270[B].[3])

From these incidental references we m a y infer that El is the androgynous parent of the goddesses. This invites speculationand it must
remain no more than this, on present evidencethat there lies behind
the usage a myth of the kind we find in Egypt with A t u m a n d
Amun, 4 3 a n d in a different form with Ptah, in Greece with Zeus and
in India with P r a j p a d . These androgynous deities beget-and-bear
daughters, w h o then (except in Zeus' case) serve as wives for further divine reproduction. N o w the point of these traditions is that
they are clearly cosmogonie, in spite of the apparently thogonie elem e n t (that is, the distinction breaks down in practice). Atum's children, for instance, are the 'Urgottef, the primaeval gods who actually
e m b o d y the substance of the land of Egypt. In fact we err in distinguishing too sharply between the two aspects of creation (cosmogony and theogony), as suggested above, because such differentiation
belongs to later ages of greater abstracdon in metaphysics. T h e wholly
sexual imagery of the ancient forms is as m u c h an account of how
the world began as it is of h u m a n origins. 44 It is just that the metaphor
has frozen half-developed into abstraction.
3.2.3

Athirat

A well-attested iconogram which p e r h a p s represented Athirat (atrt,


El's daughter-wife) is the h a n d , appearing on cylinder seals, 45 and
later an important symbol of the Punic goddess Tanit. 4 6 Is this perhaps a pointer to an analogue of the Egyptian titles of the chief
queen as 'the god's h a n d ' , which m a y have had ritual significance,
symbolizing the daily sexual re-creation of the world? It appears that
Asherah in J u d a h at least had such a symbolic dimension, whatever
is to be m a d e of it, since she is both the deity's daughter, and his
wife, a n d is described as 'the work of his h a n d . . . fingers' (Ps. 19),
w h e r e b o t h p h r a s e s h a v e u n d o u b t e d phallic o v e r t o n e s . T h i s is

avenues. The whole cognitive content attributed to theological language is in my


view largely if not wholly of this kind: the very existence of the word reifies the
idea. Thus unicorns and dragons (and gods!) exist in the imagination, because we
have imagined them.
43
Particularly in his aspect as Amen-Apet, the self-generating god of Djeme
(Medinat Habu), who appears as the ithyphallic deity of the Theban cult.
44
Such mythological forms are precisely the outworking of the subjectivity we noted
above, in discussing orientation, which must be the starting point of all experience
45

See

46

HVIDBERG

SCHROER

1983.
HANSEN

1979.

admittedly all circumstantial, but enables us to build up a tentative


picture of a powerful creator god whose prehistory is confidently to
be linked to Ugaritic El.47 His making of the world is essentially
expressed through the metaphor of his paternity of the divine principles of its constituent parts, the enveloping chaos included.
T h e goddess Athirat has attracted considerable interest a m o n g
scholars, in particular because of her presence (in the form Asherah)
in the Hebrew Bible. H e r evident role as Yahweh's consort has
recently been broadly accepted. T h e pair Yahweh-Asherah seem to
point back to the Ugaritian pair El-Athirat. In the latter context her
role has been much debated. In K T U 1.23 = RS 2.002we appear
to have a triad of goddesses, Athirat, R a h m a y and Shapsh, and I
have argued that the former two are geminated forms of the third
(see further below). This would imply that Athirat is a sun-goddess,
as also argued for instance by Binger.
But Athirat's particular significance in both K T U 1.23 (with her
associates) and in K T U 1.4-6 = R S 2.[008]+, 2.[022]+, 2.[009] +
(independently) is in the context of royal ideology. It is here that the
significance of her title rbt (Akk. rabtu), 'Great Lady', is significant,
used also of R a h m a y in K T U 1.23.54. 48 This title denotes the dowager queen, who appears to have had an important ritual and ideological function, corresponding to that of the Gebr in the Palestinian
kingdoms. T h e goddess is the divine embodiment of the principle
perhaps mythic rather than real by the LBAthat the incumbency
of the throne is transmitted through the female line, a king being
legitimized by his maternity and then by marriage to an incarnation of this same divinity.
3.2.4

Baal Hadd

Another important deity who deserves mention is the storm-god. H e


is most frequently referred to by the tide Baal (b'l, 'the Lord', or
'the Master'), but is the great Amorite storm-god H a d d (hd, hdd, 'the
Thunderer'), 4 9 worshipped widely throughout the Fertile Crescent. It
47

48

See

M.S.

SMITH

1990,

7-12.

It also refers to the dowager queen, presumably with the same ideological role,
in the neighbouring kingdom of Amurru. See the divorce correspondence, PRU 4,
125-48. On the considerable role played by queens, enthroned and dowager, in
Ugaritian politics, domestic and foreign, see below, 15.6.1.2, 15.6.6.2.
49
The Ugaritic form is hd, var. hdd\ in Aramaic he is Hadad, and in Akkadian
Adad, where the initial [A] is unrepresented in the syllabic script. In Egypt he is

has been customary to describe him above all as a fertility god, and
indeed he is master of the rains, thunder and lightning. But this
should not be construed as exhausting his character. T h e sheer range
of his titles50 indicates the richness of his conception. 51 H e is 'Lord
of Saphon' (b'l spn), a position of monarchical power, but one to be
construed within an economy ultimately controlled by El. I have
argued that Baal's throne on the mountain is his by right of conquest from Yam, but had been given to the latter by El himself. It
is thus a delegated monarchy, which indeed not only derives from
El, but is in turn transmitted, through the myth of Athtar's enthronement, to the earthly kings of Ugarit. It is thus appropriate that the
storm-god is also 'Lord of Ugarit' (b'l ugrt), the patron and protector of the city, as eloquently evoked in K T U 1.119 = RS 24.266.
As champion in the Chaoskampf, Baal is the type of the king as military hero. 52 Furthermore, the language of the storm is the conventional idiom for describing theophanies (as for instance in Ps. 29),
and thus a sign of his grace to his devotees. This motif, of divine
compassion, is also evident in the episode of his intervention on
Danel's behalf ( K T U 1.17 = RS 2. [004] i 15-33). We almost discern, in the localized form of such apparently pluralistic language,
the polytheistic idiom for the examination within one divine reality
of the tensions experienced in the processing of the real world. T h a t
is, Baal, and any other deity active in such a narrative context, is
essentially a cipher for the tensions inherent in El himself in the worldprocess. This is therefore a kind of process theology.
3.2.5

Mot

A god somewhat neglected in discussion is Mot (mt)P H e is conspicuous by his absence from the ritual texts, and it is apparent that

identified with Seth. Thus the Mami stela from Ugarit (RS 1. [089] + 2. [033] +
5.183) invokes 'Seth of Saphon'. See YON 1991, 328 fig. 8a.
50
See W Y A T T 1 9 9 2 , where some twenty-one titles and a further five possible ones
are discussed.
51
The judgment of O L D E N B U R G 1 9 6 9 , 1, that 'no strange god, however, is depicted
more (sic) wicked, immoral, and abominable than the storm god Ba'al Hadad . . .'
is not very helpful, except as an example of the kind of attitude deplored in my
opening paragraph. He might be defended on the ground that he is merely voicing the biblical prejudice to demonstrate the clash of ideologies, but the rest of his
study indicates that he shares it.
52
See W Y A T T 1998a.
53
For a useful survey see H E A L E Y 1995b.

no cult was offered to him. H e is not mentioned in any pantheon


list, and yet features significantly in the Baal cycle of myths. This
makes him the more interesting as a deity not so much of the practical life of Ugaritian religion as of its broader metaphysics. O n one
hand it is not at all surprising that death should be deified, as this
is entirely in keeping with the observations of G u t h r i e (1993) in his
sophisticated development of the animistic principle. T o give a perceived external reality (and especially an external threat) a h u m a n
face is an effective technique of management: know your enemy (and
his name) and you have some defence against him. O n the other
hand, cult is precisely the response of a practical theology to this
need: feed you enemy and you have him in your hand! So why was
Mot not worshipped? In a sense he is quite different from that considerable class of chthonian deities and demons who were explicidy
managed by cultic procedures in order to control the threats they
posed. But Death, itself comparatively rarely personified in the ancient
Near East, stands apart. T h e analogue-figure of Hades, noted above,
is not in fact a strict parallel in conception, for he is rather the location and condition of the dead who is collectivized. With Mot the
very concept of death is personified.
T h e chief mythological context in which the character Mot appears
is in K T U 1.4-6 = RS 2.[008]+, 2.[022]+, 2. [009]+. His role in
the narrative has been characterized by P e t e r s e n - W o o d w a r d
(1977) as essentially a doublet 54 of the BaalYam conflict. It is certainly striking that in view of the wide incidence of the Chaoskampf
throughout Eurasia (Amorite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, Hittite
and Israelite [biblical] versions are attested, apart from a whole nexus
of Indian and Iranian versions), the myth of Baal's conflict with Mot
is unparalleled. Is it too bold to suggest that the very deification of
Death as an antagonist of Baal, the god who brings life, is the literary invention of Ilimilku, for his own purpose of sandwiching the
myth of Baal's palace-construction between acosmic threats to it from
before and after? 53

54
The suspicion that this is the case is strengthened by the fact that similar royal
titles are applied to both: Yam is mdd il, Mot is ydd ilm. On the sense of this see
W Y A T T 1985b. Note also that Mot himself compares his appetite with maritime
creatures. See in particular my suggestion at K T U 1.5 i 14-6: W Y A T T 1998c, 116
n. 11.
55
See W Y A T T 1998a for the rationale of this observation.

This is not to attempt any reduction of Mot's importance to one


literary composition. Rather does it highlight the role of the theologian
(Ilimilku was high priest, chief of the temple herdsmen and the king's
sacrificer: K T U 1.6 = RS 2. [009]+ vi 55-6) 5 6 in the very initial conceptualization of new metaphysical experience. M a n y deities presumably had specific historical origins, however hard it may be to identify
them. Be this as it may, for it remains conjectural, the divine existence
of Mot, yet apparent cultic non-existence, suggests a deity in transition, in process of development. In at least a loose way, he may be
linked with the Hebrew constellation of Sheol, itself an inchoate personification of the experience of death, and such biblical figures as
R C b, Belial and Mwet, the last-named his precise counterpart.
T h e agricultural significance often attributed to Mot, as a fertility
deity, is naturally to be entirely discounted on my interpretation. 57
3.2.6

The problem of an adequate assessment of ancient deities

T h e characters of the gods in the mythological texts have frequently


been treated with less than sympathy in modern studies. Thus H a n d y
(1994, 125-6) calls Baal a 'strong, virile dolt' and Anat 'a spoilt
child', 58 while El is construed as a coward in the face of Anat's
tantrums. 5 9 These estimates, little better than the old allegorical
identifications which were once fashionable, 60 are theologically quite
inadequate however, and simply a misconstruction of what mythology and theology within a polytheistic world-view strive to achieve.
T o begin with, the trickster figure, or the deity who is the butt of
h u m o u r and figure of fun has an honoured place in religious history.

56

On Ilimilku's substantial role see 1 3 . 4 . 2 below.


See discussion of K T U 1.6 = RS ~2.[009]+ ii 30-5, 11-6 in W Y A T T 1998C,
135-36, 141 nn. 83, 108.
58
Cf. M A R G A L I T 1989a, 477: he claims that ruthless mysogynist (sic\) and a
creature of passion, Anat is a goddess who never "grew up". She personifies for the
poet all that is corrupt and contemptible in Raphaite culture and society'. On pp.
478-9 he writes of 'the complacent. . . Raphaites, in their passionate devotion and
voluntary bondage to a bloodthirsty goddess, are in fact on a path to self-destruction . . .' Such judgments entirely fail to recognize the logical place of negative principles in a pantheon. T o interpret the goddess as a cipher for a corrupt society is
absurd: she is entirely the opposite, a sign of the vitality of its moral theology.
59
P A R D E E 1997a, 254 n. 105.
cn
Cf. Gaster's identification of most of the deities in the Baal cycle of myths
with various forms of water, or the vegetation theories of Virolleaud, Dussaud,
et at. For references and critique, cf. W Y A T T 1996a, 1 4 4 5 0 .
57

Such characters reflect the h u m a n experience of the incongruous.


T h e contradictions present in the deities of the pantheon are, moreover, faithful reflections in the mythic idiom of contradictions in the
real world. Their dramatic interaction in the myths (such as the
fights between Baal and Yam, or Baal and Mot, or Anat's confrontations with El) do indeed reflect a degree of 'theological relativity', but this is a strength, not a weakness, in polytheistic thought.
For all the anomies of h u m a n experience can be worked out 'intrapantheonically' through the medium of the mythic narrative, and
the broad principle of divine power is not compromised. Anat's
encounter with Aqhat, seen from a theological perspective, warns of
the dangers of trifling with the unpredictable and autonomous divine.
It may be compared with the story of 2 Sam. 6:1-8, where the modern reader's sympathy goes out to Uzzah, but in so doing misreads
the narrative. Furthermore, this kind of theology, explored almost
exclusively in mythological, narrative idiom, or in hymnody which
reflects courtly and diplomatic language, is the only medium open
to the ancient cultures, before the development of elaborate abstractions of thought. 61 T h e considerable strains that theodicy places upon
monotheistic conceptions of the deity, over which the modern systematic theologian agonizes so inconclusively, do not arise. 62 T h e dissonance between ideal and reality is swallowed up in a pragmatism
towards and acceptance of the real world. It is futile to criticize this
outlook for failing to achieve insights only realized a millennium or
more later. Whatever else it may have become as a result of the
ever-widening scope of symbolic activity and the expansion of h u m a n
consciousness, the religions of the early urban civilizations of the
near east were very largely a complex system of social, economic
and environmental management. Their very longevity is evidence of
their efficacy. T h e besetting sin of too much contemporary scholarship is to look no further than the surface-character of ancient deities,

61

Only Greece appears to develop such language systematically, and even here
the narrative mode is the normal discourse of theology. Homeric and Hesiodic
thought is expressed in this way. But to sensitive readers, all these ancient thoughtsystems are straining at the limitations of language, and relentlessly pushing forward the boundaries of experience and articulacy.
62
The problem arises out of our academic desire to read systematic theology
into the ancient traditions. We then read inconsistencies into the apparent dissonance between different poetic metaphors. This is a measure only of modern, not
of ancient incapacities.

and to fail to recognizc the depth of the symbolic dimension. And


the gods of Ugarit have suffered from this more than most. 63

3.3 Demonolog)!
It is in such a perspective that we should mention briefly the presence of demons. I have dealt with these ( W y a t t 1998b) as essentially transient figures, frozen in the snapshot of a particular context
reconstructed through the chance discovery of texts, but more realistically gods in the making or the unmaking, so that a longer perspective would tend to see them either disappearing or achieving
divine status. Deifies such as Reshef and Horon, of disdncdy 'demonic'
form, being reified horrors, have probably been given pantheonic
status as a means of controlling them on the principle outlined above.
Some, of course, would hover anonymously on the fringes of religious experience for considerable periods of time, to terrify successive generations of the victims of their attentions, eventually to be
tamed by either the powers of exorcism or advances in medicine.

4.1

Mythology

General considerations

My object here is not a detailed analysis of the individual mythic


narratives from Ugarit. This has been amply covered elsewhere. 64
Instead a few remarks may be helpful on mythological matters generally, in order to help us appreciate the Ugaritian mentality.
It is a feature of all cultures that they express their sense of community identity in the form of narratives. All early historiography,
accounting for a people's present as the product of their past, is in
narrative form. Frequently, as is well known, it is clear that myth,
legend and 'real' history are mingled quite indiscriminately in such
compositions. This is certainly the case with any historiographical
63

Any treatment of Yahweh that stopped at the surface would be rightly


as superficial and inadequate. Scholars (= theologians!) are careful to probe
Yahweh's bad temper, his petulance and changes of mind to the symbolic
of this literary imagery. The Ugaritic deities deserve no less.
64
See also section 6.1 above. For representative bibliographies on all the
logical texts from Ugarit see the heading to each text in W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C .

judged
behind
power
mytho-

texts surviving from the ancient near east, including the historiography of the Hebrew Bible. N o historiography as such survives from
Ugarit, though I have argued 6 5 that the king list in K T U 1.113 =
RS 24.257+, now probably in the context of a series of names for
invocadon in the accompanying litany, reflects a mentality quite capable of drawing up a formal list of this kind, and in so far as it is
in all probability a selective list, of making discriminatory judgments
about the historical worth of individual people and events. So this
is a matter of arguing not for any kind of archaic mentality, on the
basis claimed by Lvy-Bruhl 66 or Frankfort, 67 but rather as proposed
by Donald, 6 8 who argues for increasingly complex forms of memory
and memorizing with early h u m a n development; Ugaritian thought,
like all other ancient ones in principle from the earlier literate period, 69
had not yet developed techniques of analysis and abstraction. Narrative,
therefore, is the recognized mode of dealing with a variety of issues,
not least the problems arising in the moral and political life, questions of identity, origins, of authority and ideology (see above) and
even of everyday matters like birth, puberty, marriage and death.
Myth is the classic medium for representing and resolving such matters and their inherent problems. T h r o u g h contemporary religious
discourse (particularly credal, liturgical, hymnic and the reading of
'Scriptures'ancient religious texts) exactly the same pattern of mental processing is carried on today. Indeed the same strategies are
pursued today in forensic and commercial contexts, and not merely
religious ones, where precise forms of words not only convey precise nuances of meaning, but carry a peculiar authority (legal, con-

1998a, 1998c, 402-3 n. 13.


1922. Note Margalit's welcome comment

65

WYATT

66

LVY-BRUHL

(MARGALIT

1989a, 10

n. 7).
1949. For critiques of the views of the Frankforts see R O G E R S O N
1996a, 388-98.
68
D O N A L D 1 9 9 1 , 1 5 2 . He postulates the following stages in the capacity to memorize: procedural, episodic and semantic. Consciousness is rudimentary in the second
of these stages, while the third is dependent on human language and consciousness.
69
The development of writing itself no doubt lent a powerful consciousness to
the acts of writing and reading the written word. At a stroke, as it were, the memories of past generations could be preserved, and worlds opened up far vaster than
the restricted scope of oral tradition, itself already a powerful tool. The recording
of the Ugaritic myths hints at an authoritative text: the very words of the gods
were now available independently of the inspiration of the individual poet. There
is no clear evidence for the ritual use of writing in Ugarit, though legal texts witness to its inherent binding power.
67

FRANKFORT

1974 and

WYATT

tractual, religious) and are deemed to 'bind' people into a system of


mutual interdependence. This is the 'linguistic world' in which we
live. In principle little has changed over the millennia.
We may have only a small fraction of the Ugaritian (or even the
Ugaritic) myths, and this is due to the good fortune that priestly and
royal archives recorded them. M a n y others would have been transmitted orally, with consequent loss, or the unlikelihood of being able
to recover them from later records which have distorted them too
much. Where a cognate relationship can be established, as between
texts K T U 1.23 and 1.24 = RS 2.002, 5.194, their second millennium congeners 70 and later derivatives, 71 there has usually been substantial modification. T h e same is true of the Chaoskampf tradition,
which now has a continuous pedigree running from third-millennium
Eshnunna through to mediaeval Europe. 72 This material is in my
view directed primarily at the support of the institution of kingship,
though of course it is entirely probable that more generalized mythology was also extant, as indicated by texts such as K T U 1.92 = RS
19.039+, and by such applied myths (generally in relation to medical matters) as are mentioned below.

4.2

The role of Ilimilku

This is perhaps an appropriate juncture at which to comment on


the importance of the role of Ilimilku, to which I have already drawn
attention above and in previous discussions. 73 Its significance here is
not so much historical or literary-critical as religious. For here we are
able to pinpoint the contribution of a historical individual, whose
identity would ordinarily have been entirely lost to us, to specific
developments in the religion of an ancient culture. T h e naming of
an author in documents of this period (apart from royal proclamations, and diplomatic, legal and epistolary texts) is quite exceptional,
and the accident of the survival of his n a m e in the colopha of
different mythical texts affords us an unrivalled opportunity to enquire
into his mind and motivations. It is entirely reasonable to take account

70

1967, 154-60.
1996a, 219-68, where it is argued that they constitute the Vorlage of
Pss 2, 8, 19, 110, Gen. 16, 19:30-8, Hos. 2, Ezek. 16 and 23.
72
W Y A T T 1998a.
73
W Y A T T 1997, 1998a.
71

ASTOUR
WYATT

of Ilimilku's priestly and administrative roles, and to conclude that


he had a substantially authorial role in the construction of the narratives of the Baal myths, and the Keret and Aqhat stories. 74 It is
this that is so unusual.
We can examine his motivations, for example, in the elaborate
building up of the already ancient Chaoskampf motif, now first evidenced a millennium before his time in texts from Eshnunna, and
already with widely dispersed congeners in the second millennium
(Hatti, Mari, Babylon, India). A case may be made for Ilimilku himself being the author, in the strict sense of inventor and originator,
of the conflict between Baal and Mot ( K T U 1.5-6 = R S 2.[022]+,
2.[009]+) 75 which constitutes the echo of the struggle between Baal
and Yam ( K T U 1.1-2 = RS 3.361, 3.346, 3.367). This narrative
has no parallels elsewhere, and appears to be a construction designed
to present a chiastic framework round the central episode of the
'Baal cycle', the story in K T U 1.3-4 = R S 2.[014]+, 2.[008]+; that
is, its whole raison-d'tre is explained by the central narrative. This
construcdon points to the episode of Baal's 'palace' (sc. temple) as
the primary element in the mythic story. But further elements in the
story, and some of the features it has in parallel with Keret and Aqhat,
suggest that the authorial intention is not so much to celebrate the
construction of Baal's temple (though an aetiology certainly exists
here, and indeed the liturgical elements to be discerned in this narrative point to some such celebration in the cultus) as to see it as a
legitimization of royal claims. Royal ideology as much as theology
in the more conventional sense is therefore Ilimilku's main concern.
T h e cult of Baal would benefit mutually, in that he appears as the
patron of the dynasty.
Similar intentions appear to lie behind the Keret narrative. It is in
all probability a traditional tale, as many have noted. Some of the
constructions put upon it are however not entirely plausible. Thus
it has been seen on the one hand as the aetiology for the descent
of the dynasty of Ugarit from 'Octavia', 7 6 the youngest daughter of

74

The same point is made by M. Korpel in her useful treatment of Ilimilku

(KORPEL
75

1998,

87-8).

The double nature of the construction is discerned by W A K E M A N 1 9 7 3 and


P E T E R S E N - W O O D W A R D 1 9 7 7 . None of these writers actually attributes the composition of the Baal-Mot conflict to Ilimilku himself, however.
7b
For my alternative interpretation of the term ttmnt, see W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C , 2 1 1 - 1 2
n. 1 5 5 .

Keret by Hurriya. O n the other it has been argued that it is intended


to cut the royal ideology down to size by denying its extravagant
claims of divine kingship. 77 Neither view is in my estimate correct:
rather is a curse visited upon the youngest daughter because of her
sib-solidarity with the accursed Yasib, while the comparison of Keret
with gods who die (sc. Baal) is precisely a way of showing that both
national deity and national ruler share a theological trait. In the final
analysis the cursing of Keret's line may be the prelude to the assumption of the throne by another line. I shall take up this point below.
O u r present concern is the theological significance of Ilimilku's role.
As propagandist for the king, he actually creates theology for his age,
thus influencing and modifying the thoughts of his contemporaries
and of subsequent generations, just as an influential systematic theologian such as Luther or Calvin can have a significant impact on
his culture, or as H o m e r or Hesiod had on early Greek theology.
As for the historical context of Ilimilku, this is in process of a
revaluation, thanks to the discovery of the Urtenu archive in the
southern zone of the city. T h u s far we have had no more than hints
of the need for reassessment of the evidence, and await the publication of these new texts to lend substance to it. Traditionally the
poet-scribe has been dated to the reign of Niqmaddu II, and my attempts to give an estimate of him ( W y a t t 1997, 1998a, 1998c, 3 5 - 6 ,
contrast 21 n. 6) have been on this basis. For a preliminary attempt
at interpreting the new material, see S i n g e r below, 15.6.1.1 and
nn. 284, 289, 15.7 and n. 340. His displacement, as appears likely,
to the time of Niqmaddu III, will require some adjustments (though
not radical ones) to my assessment, since both accessions appear to
have followed from some kind of internal political crisis, and these
will appear in UF.

4.3
4.3.1

KTU 1.23 = RS

Two myths from Ugarit


2.002

T w o further important mythological texts may be discussed here


briefly, since they are only touched on elsewhere in this volume. 7 "
T h e first, of the greatest historical importance, is K T U 1.23 = RS

77

PARKER

78

By G I B S O N , a b o v e 6.1.

1977.

It was found in the 'high priest's house' on the acropolis in


the second season, in 1930. T h e edition princeps was published by
V i r o l l e a u d 1 9 3 3 . T h e particular importance of the text was immediately recognized, and a n u m b e r of studies has been devoted to it.' 9
T h e tablet was found in two parts, and the smaller piece, which
constitutes the first five lines of the recto, was broken in half vertically,
with the right hand portion missing. T h e result is that the latter half
of 11. 1 - 5 is missing, as is the latter half of 11. 7 2 - 5 on the verso.
Part of 1. 71 is also missing. O n the recto a plaque has also broken
away from the lower part of the right side, destroying the ends of
11. 16-25 and the corresponding line-ends on the verso, while also
on the verso there is some surface damage just below the centre.
Several lines have been scored across the tablet, following 11. 7,
11, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22, 27 and 29 (all on the recto), thus dividing
the text into ten sections, of which the last is equal in length to the
nine previous ones combined. While a number of purposes appear
to have lain behind such lines in various contexts, in the present
instance they appear to mark off separate parts of the text which in
the earlier part (11. 1-29) consists of different rubrics, short narrative
passages of ritual significance, lines of hymns to be sung (perhaps
just the opening lines to prompt cantors), and ritual instructions.
From 1. 30 to the end (the bottom edge and the verso of the tablet)
the text consists of one narrative poem, though here too a ritual
instruction appears in the narrative at 1. 54.
T h e contents are as follows:
2.002.

23.1-7

Hymnic introduction invoking the gracious gods (cf. VIII);


]; summons to feast (sc. sacrifice); greetings to assembled personnel (including king and queen); description of
opening scene, with figure of Mt-w-Sr seated disconsolate and sterile, rod 80 in hand.

The following translations and studies have also been published, among others:
1933, G I N S B E R G 1935, G A S T E R 1946, 1950, 225-56, 1961/418-35,
G O R D O N 1949, 57-62, 1977, 59-64, L A R G E M E N T 1949, J I R K U 1962, 80-4, AISTLEITNER
1964, 58-62, DE M O O R 1972 ii 17-24, 1987, 117-28, T S U M U R A 1973, 1978, X E L L A
1973, C A Q U O T - S Z N Y C E R - H E R D N E R 1974, 353-79, T S E V A T 1974, W Y A T T 1977a,
1987, 1992b, 1996a, 224-9, 1998c, 324-35, DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 427-48, C U T L E R
- M A C D O N A L D 1982, LIPINSKI 1986a, S E G E R T 1986, F O L E Y 1987, H E T T E M A 1989-90,
S C H L O E N 1993, A B O U D 1994, 189-92, W A T S O N 1994a, P A R D E E 1997a, 274-83,
VIROLLEAUD

DIJKSTRA
80

1998.

O r perhaps 'rod', since the term is undoubtedly ambiguous.

III

23.8-11
23.12

IV

23.13-5

23.16-8

VI

23.19-20

VII

23.21-2

VIII

23.23-7

IX

23.28-9

23.30-76

II

'viticultural' ritual involving Mt-w-Sr.


Instruction for sevenfold recital of the mythic narrative (sc. 11. 8-11), and c o m m a n d to the priests to
respond.
Allusion to the 'vast steppe' of Athirat and Rahm a < y > (cf. IX), and sevenfold performance of a
culinary ritual and of censing.
Narrative of Athirat and R a h m a y setting out [ ];
invocation of their names.
Reference is m a d e to the eightfold, sevenfold [
of the gods' dwellings.
Mention of the precious stones and garments of
the choristers.
Hymnic introduction (cf. I above), invoking the gracious gods, their suckling and rituals (of purification
after birth?).
Further allusion to the 'vast steppe' of Athirat and
R a h m a y (cf. IV) [ ].
Main mythic narrative: El goes to the seashore,
meeting two figures (sc. goddesses?), apparently sitting on a cauldron, who address him as 'father'
and 'mother'; he has an erection, removes them
and takes them to his house. El's penis appears to
be identified with (or at any rate to evoke) the rod
mentioned earlier (I); after banter about his potency,
El makes love to the two goddesses. He sits and
counts the months until they give birth to Shahar
and Shalem, and rites of purification are performed.
T h e same narrative of the conception, counting
and birth is repeated. This time the offspring are
called 'the gracious gods'. Gluttonous from birth,
the two young gods wander off with gargantuan
appetites, devouring everything in sight, for seven
years. C o m i n g in from the desert, they call on the
guardian of the sown land, who makes an entry
for them, and responding to their request, offers
them food and drink.

Readers familiar with the text will appreciate that even in giving a
synopsis a n u m b e r of interpretative choices have been made. Most

of these have been hotly debated over the years, and they are not
all by any means settled. In this author's view, the 'gracious gods'
are in fact Shahar and Shalem, the twin sons of the sun-goddess
Shapsh, who is geminated for narrative effect and cosmological reasons into the goddesses Athirat and Rahmay. 8 1 T h u s only two gods,
twins, are to be understood as born to the goddesses, rather than a
series of births, which would understand this to be a general theogony.
Note is also taken here of T s u m u r a ' s reinterpretation of 11. 49-58, 8 2
which restores the tricolon of 11. 5 6 - 7 to a position following hmhmt
in 1. 51, and interprets it as a counting of months of pregnancy,
rather than a fivefold repetition of the impregnation (which with the
two described, was formerly understood to give seven overall on the
previous interpretation of the the text). 83
This is an interesting instance of a text which explicidy combines
myth and ritual. 84 It therefore seems to envisage a specific application of the myth to a specific ritual context (though that is not
identified in the text). In view of the congeners, however, it is probably safe to conclude that any specific application is secondary, and
applies to the given context in which it appears a symbolic force to
be discerned in the theoretical prototype. While a n u m b e r of similar myths are told in the ancient near east, of which several are evidently cognate, we cannot hope to recover the original myth, which
being absolutely archetypal, must go way back into prehistory. It is
even fair to say that if myths are traced back to their origins, only
two basic types require to be posited, dealing with conflict (and all
resolution of tensions) and reproduction (and by extension other 'origins'). Here is the primal tale about how the first children were
begotten. O t h e r birth-myths, such as K T U 1.12 i = R S 2. [012] and
K T U 1.24 = 5.194 (below), are essentially versions of the same
theme, adapted to different specific secondary contexts. I have dis-

81
See W Y A T T 1998C, 333 n. 49, and also my more extensive treatment in W Y A T T
1996a, 219-82, in which I examine the text in the larger context of its ancient
near eastern congeners and biblical derivatives. T h e latter range indicates the ideological importance of the tradition. See also A S T O U R 1967, 154-7.
82
T S U M U R A 1978. See also W A T S O N 1994a, and W Y A T T 1998c, 332 n. 45.
83
Cf. C A Q U O T - S Z N Y C E R - H E R D N E R 1974, 376, DEL O L M O L E T E 1981a, 446.
D I J K S T R A , above 5.1.1, retains the older understanding.
84
Contrary to the assessment voiced by DE M O O R 1 9 7 1 , 3 0 , I do not feel compelled to accept that all myths are inseparable from rituals. T h e situation is infinitely
more complex. For a recent collection of views see S E G A L 1 9 9 8 .

cussed a n u m b e r of biblical derivatives, 83 and here the c o m m o n element is the same, but with a marked bias towards a royal significance.
This is to be expected, since the king, as sacral figure, would tend
to have concentrated in his person all the symbolic values of his
community. P a r d e e ' s (1997a, 274) assessment that it deals with 'a
pair of relatively minor deities' is a fair reflection of current opinion on the text, but in my view underestimates their considerable
ideological importance as 'royal gods', who reflect in their mythology certain important constants.
Assessments of the text range f r o m that offered by C u t l e r M a c d o n a l d (1982) as a famine-relief liturgy, by L a r g e m e n t
1949,
L i p i n s k i 1986a and S e g e r t 1986 as a 'fertility cult' myth, to that of
P a r d e e (1997a) as a possible analogue or component of an autumnal vintage and new year festival (cf. K T U 1.41 = RS 1.003+). This
divergence of views is natural, given that features of all these types
may be discerned; nor are they incompatible with my royal assessment.
Further analysis is undoubtedly required. D e M o o r (1987, p. 117)
has defined the text as a sacred marriage text. This too is reasonable in so far as it actually deals with a marriage, but we need to
be clear what 'sacred marriage' (hieros gamos) means, and the use of
the term sometimes implies that the same kind of significance is to
be applied in all cases, as though it is just a tantric use of sex in
the cult. It is here that I think the royal dimension is important, and
enables us to clarify matters. A mythic paradigm is established here
which is used to convey basic notions about the concern of the chief
deity for the created order, a n d the implicit identification of his
offspring with kings becomes the means whereby royal duties are
represented as actualizing the theological programme. 8 6
4.3.2

KTU 1.24 = RS

5.194

T h e second text I wish to treat briefly here is K T U 1.24 = R S


5.194, the so-called Nikkal poem, treating the marriage of Nikkal
and the moon. 8 7 While complete, the surface of this tablet is eroded

85

1996a, 232-68.
W Y A T T 1998c, 3 2 5 . The myth may not unreasonably be compared with the
patriarchal narratives of Genesis, which though written in an entirely different idiom
deal with precisely the same theme, that of national survival.
87
The following translations and studies have appeared, among others: V I R O L L E A U D
1936b, G O R D O N 1937, 1977, 65-67, A I S T L E I T N E R 1939, 1964, 63-4, G I N S B E R G 1939,
86

WYATT

to such an extent that many readings remain uncertain. T h e text


falls into two parts. T h e first consists of a mythic narrative in which
the goddess Nikkal (the Hurrian form of Sumerian n i n . g a l ) is seduced
by the moon-god, appearing as Yarih, but in all probability the Hurrian moon-god Kusuh. H e then seeks her h a n d in marriage, and
after a n u m b e r of attempts have been m a d e to fob him off with
alternative brides, the wedding is performed, with the requisite payment of bride-price and dowry, both costs borne by the bridegroom
himself. T h e second part is a hymn to the Kotharat, the goddesses
of weddings and childbirth.
understood the myth to be Hurrian, while d e l O l m o
88
L e t e 1 9 9 1 has maintained its Sumerian origin.
Both views may be
right of course, since Hurrian religion adopted many features of the
cults of the fertile crescent. It is ' h u m a n i z e d ' , and no doubt with
particular adaptation to the Ugaritian milieu. But I shall suggest an
alternative source just below. A Babylonian version 89 appears to be
part of a childbirth ritual, to ease a difficult parturition. T h e presence
of the hymn to the Kotharat on the same tablet suggests that in the
present instance too this may have been the purpose of the myth,
though this too is undoubtedly a secondary application of the narrative. I have long wondered whether the myth itself may be related
to the narrative of G e n 34 (the story of Dinah and Shechem), for
which I have proposed an Indo-European origin, since it is remarkably close to some Vedic material. T h e possibility that marital circumcision may have been practised in Ugarit (though not referred
to specifically in the present text) would support this suggestion. 90
Goetze

1941

1941, H E R D N E R 1949a, T S E V A T 1953, D R I V E R 1956, 125-7, J I R K U 1962,


77-9, H E R R M A N N 1968, C A Q U O T - S Z N Y C E R - H E R D N E R 1974, 381-97, W Y A T T
1977b, G I B S O N 1978, 128-9, DEL O I . M O L E T E 1981a, 449-56, 1991, DE M O O R 1987,
141-5.
8B
See too the interesting discussion of other versions of this myth by A S T O U R
1967, 80-92, though he did not include K T U 1.24 in his coverage.

GOETZE

8!

' ASTOUR

9,1

1967,

85,

BHL

1936.

On Gen 34 see W Y A T T 1990a; on circumcision at Ugarit see W Y A T T 1992b.


On the possibility that the present text does in fact deal with circumcision, see
A L L A N forthcoming, where it is argued that mlk qz (11. 2, 17, 24) denotes the 'counsellor for circumcision'.

The

Royal

5.1

Ideology

of

Ugarit

General considerations

W e have already noted a n u m b e r of allusions to kingship and its


mythic representation in the narrative texts. It is in the nature of
an urban archive, where much of the record was generated specifically by the palace and temple bureaucracies, that there should be
such an apparent bias towards royal interests, most obvious in cultic matters. O n one hand this should warn us of a largely untapped
reservoir of 'popular' religion, such as must have been practised by
ordinary citizens of the several classes and guilds attested in administrative documents, at which the marzihu texts hint, for example; and
also the cult of minor shrines both in the city and outiying villages,
where quite independent cults may have been observed. Such historical realities tend by their nature to go undocumented. 9 1 O n the
other hand, the royal nature of the bulk of the religious texts, where
the ritual ones are devoted largely to procedures in which the king
played a leading role, 92 and the mythological ones are largely, though
not exclusively, related to ideological questions, is a fair reflection of
the specific importance of Ugarit as a royal city within the kingdom.
Just as the biblical texts generated by the Jerusalem cultus, or the
inscriptions from royal cities such as Thebes or Nineveh, naturally
reflect the national significance of such sites, so we should expect
the same from Ugarit. W h a t is striking about the evidence from
Ugarit is the considerable degree of continuity between its royal ideology and that of Jerusalem from the Iron Age. 93 This suggests that
while local variations undoubtedly occurred, which must not be
underestimated, a common West Semitic nexus of ideas about monarchy, in which the same or similar myths of divine parentage, the
important ritual functions of the rabitu gebr, and similar ritual conceptions and pracdces obtained. This also must not be underestimated.

91

The poor documentation is noted by VAN DER T O O R N 1 9 9 6 , 1 5 3 . For a brief


treatment see below.
92
See in particular D E L O L M O L E T E 1992a = 1999, and above, 7 . 1 . 2 .
93
See W Y A T T 1996a.

5.2

The divinity of the king

T h e king is represented in the narrative poetry as bn il. This expression may be interpreted as ' m e m b e r of the genus "god"', which is
its sense when applied to deities. It thus appears to include the king
in this category. More narrowly, it appears to have the mythological sense 'son of (that is, of El as chief god), a nuance supported
by the corollary, that El is explicitly 'father' to the king ( K T U 1.14
= R S 2. [003]+ ii 2 3 - 4 : dbh Ur abk il: 'Sacrifice to Bull your father,
El', addressed to Keret). El is further identified as ab adm, which in
my view has the narrower sense of 'father of M a n (even "Adam")'
rather than the broader sense of 'father of mankind'. T h e latter
expression is remarkable enough as a powerful metaphor of kinship
relating deity and his people; with the narrower sense it reinforces
the specific and peculiar relationship between deity and (divine) king
already noted. A further image of the king's divine status is the broken text at K T U 1.15 = R S 3.343+ ii 26-8, which proclaims the
status of Yasib (Keret's heir) in these terms:
He will drink the milk of Athirat
he will drain the breast of Virgin [Rahmay];
the suckling of [goddesses].94
This text has caused some disputation: 'Anat' is commonly restored
in the lacuna in the second colon, though in my view without
justification other than a pavlovian response to the term btlt, while
the surviving word in the third is often read with a final t (as mnq[t\),
and translated as 'wetnurses'. We have here not a sociological observation, however, but a mythological allusion, to royal sons who drink
their divinity from the breasts of divine mothers, which is only to
be expected if the goddess (there is actually only one, for Athirat
and R a h m a y are hypostases of Shapsh, as is evident from K T U 1.23
= R S 2.002) is consort to El and therefore the king's ideological
mother. This passage is important not only in establishing Yasib's
ideological status, but also in countering Parker's claim that the Keret
narrative is intended to discredit royal claims to divinity.
T h e overall interpretation of material of this kind suffers in part,
I believe, from a tendency for the modern interpreter to attribute
to the ancients the same mental attitudes we share. This is not only
94
For justification of this reading and translation see W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C , 2 0 9 n.
All translations from Ugaritic in the present chapter are from this volume.

149.

fashionable since the deserved eclipse of Lvy-Bruhl's more romantic views, but almost de rigueur in today's intellectual climate. Carried
to extremes, it is absurd. Even people in the seventeenth century
had a world-view radically different from our own. It requires a
supreme effort on our part even to grasp what Late Bronze Ugaritians
thought of the world. T h e cosmological framework outlined above
should warn us against importing too much rationality in our sense
of the term. Perhaps the most difficult thing to appreciate is the sliding scale between the h u m a n and divine realms. T h e Ugaritians, like
everyone else in the Mediterranean world at least down to early
Christian times, inhabited a world populated with spiritual powers
in every corner. These could be acknowledged as the vast range of
gods worshipped by compatriots and foreigners alike, organized into
panthea, though this usually happened only to one's own gods, worshipped either in organized fashion, as in the royal cultus, which
actually invoked a small selection from the pantheon, or worshipped
in ad hoc fashion according to personal devotion by private citizens,
feared or exorcized as demons, or revered as ancestors.
N o r were the ancients averse to seeing such powers embodied in
actual people, particularly in kings. T h e royal ancestors were explicitly called gods ( K T U 1.113 = RS 24.257) and invoked at funerals
( K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126) while some of their n u m b e r ' 5 were given
the more exalted status of rpum, 'saviours', a term which may have
corresponded roughly to the 'heroes' of Greek cult. T h e king was a
living representative of the royal gods of the past, into whose company he was welcomed at death, and the one person who could
most effectively communicate with the divine realm on behalf of
ordinary mortals. T h e language of divine birth and genealogy was
of course symbolicwhen is language not symbolic?but all the
more real for so being. 96

95

T h e rpum named in the Ugaritic texts do not feature in the king-list. Their
precise relationship with the historical kings of Ugarit remains obscure. They are
evidently invoked as 'ideological ancestors'. The r'p'm of biblical tradition are associated above all with the Hauran, and in this respect perhaps make connection
with the Ugaritic rpum. Cf. K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252.2-3, which links Rpiu, eponymous deity of the rpum, with Ashtarat and Edrei, cities linked with Og, last of the
Rephaim, in Deut. 1:4. On Rpiu and the rpum see n. 31 above. See also references in n. 130. For Pitard's cautious estimate of the nature and role of the rpum
see above 6.4, 259-69.
96
A similar concern to downplay the divinity of the Pharaoh is evident in some
egyptological studies. It goes against the whole weight of the ideological tradition,

suggested that the rhetorical questioning of K T U


1 . 1 6 = R S 3 . 3 2 5 + i 9 - 1 1 , 2 0 - 3 ('Is Keret then the son of E l . . .?')
pointed to a negative answer. Gods do not die, but Keret does, and
is therefore no god. This overlooks the fact that Baal does die. I
have proposed 9 7 as an alternative that the language of this passage
specifically compares Keret with Baal, expressing in this way the
hope that Keret too, like Baal, will be restored to life. T h u s the ideological status of the king is not in question. If anything, it is considerably e n h a n c e d by the comparison. This aspect of Ugaritian
thought may be the medium through which dead kings achieved a
form of deification after death ( K T U 1 . 1 1 3 = RS 2 4 . 2 5 7 ) , by a formal apotheosis indicated by the determinative il, and also by aspiring to the status of rpum. This might be enhanced by the comparison
in Keret, in addition to any language used of the reigning monarch.
P a r k e r

(1977)

6.1

R i t u a l

9 8

General considerations

T h e information noted above may be supplemented by reference to


the ritual texts from Ugarit. M a n y of these were discovered within the
confines of the palaces, and provide a convenient and eloquent insight
into the complex ritual life in which the king played a central role.
While the narrative texts appear to accept a principle of 'divine kingship' for the monarchy, however precisely this be defined, there is
no indication in the ritual texts of the king's peculiar status. His
'sacral' role as a pontifex, a mediator between the divine and h u m a n
realms, is unquestionable. But he acts merely as a cipher, performing his appointed role in the d r a m a of the cult. N o theoretical position on this is even hinted at.
T h e surviving ritual texts from Ugarit are unlikely to record more
than a small proportion of the cultic life of the city, and in any case
at least in some instances record events taking place in the palace
and royal chapels. O u r already partial record is thus primarily of
and against a basic appreciation of ancient Egyptian psychology. We must attempt
to understand the ancients in their terms at least as much as ours.
97

WYATT

98

See also Sections

1997.

XELLA 1981, CAQUOT -

1999.

7.1-2

above. On the ritual texts see


1989, DEL

DE T A R R A G O N - C U N C H I L L O S

1980,
1992a =

DE T A R R A G O N
OLMO LETE

the royal cultus. General proceedings in the other main city temples
on the acropolis and the city centre are simply unknown. W h a t can
be stated with certainty is that the mythological texts offer no record
of any ritual calendar or theology, as argued by those espousing the
seasonal interpetation. T h e most they offer is occasional snatches of
liturgical material embedded in the narrative, and descriptions of
divine feasting which are as it were a gods'-eye-view of sacrificial
rites. T h e observances of the characters in the Keret and Aqhat stories no doubt reflect typical ritual practices, but these are entirely
incidental to the narratives. T h e ritual texts, on the other hand, evidently work within a tightiy structured cultic calendar, although in
view of the fragmentary nature of the record, we are not in a position to reconstruct this adequately, which might allow an appreciation of the overall pattern.
T h e texts devoted to ritual matters are discussed elsewhere in this
volume ( 7). Here perhaps some remarks on the broad nature of
ancient ritual, as attested in Ugarit, are appropriate. An interesting
pattern emerges from scrutiny of the ancient religions of the N e a r
East. This is the complex relationship with all aspects of h u m a n life,
and particularly the economic dimension. Whatever the origins of
sacrificial practice, it is evident that it was the centre of the temple
cultus in all the urban cultures of the ancient Near East. O n every
occasion where the deities were invoked, offerings of meat, cereals,
wine, oil or other material commodities (cloth, metals, votive gifts,
incense etc.) were made. In a sense it can be argued that a significant
a m o u n t of the city-state's economic production was geared to the
demands of the temples. T h e overall scale of sacrificial d e m a n d is
not clear from Ugarit, but livestock production would have been in
part controlled by its d e m a n d s , " with perhaps special diets, selection for special markings, and animals of a certain age and gender
selected for ritual use. It is even possible that all meat-production
was channelled through the temples. Im Egyptian temples were frequendy

99

Note that one of Ilimilku's offices, no doubt in his capacity as a priest, appears
to have been management of temple herds (rb khnm rb nqdm: K T U 1.6 vi 55-6).
The influence of the temple-economy on the broader economy should not be underestimated. If the gods demanded richer offerings, agricultural practice had to adapt
to the demand, while greater food-production would result in greater surpluses, and
therefore enhanced trade, enhanced wealth, and no doubt concomitent population
growth. T h e temples were at the apex of this economic spiral.
100
T h e 'secular' slaughter envisaged in Deut. 12:15-6, 2 0 - 5 has the appearance
of a departure from an older norm in which all animals were killed not only ritually

equipped with extensive store-rooms for the storage of the produce


of farm-lands controlled by them. 10 ' W e should expect similar organization at Ugarit, if on a smaller scale, though presumably any warehouses would have been outside the city-walls, perhaps in satellite
settlements.
In view of the emphasis on 'the fertility cult' which appears to
sell student handbooks, 1 0 2 which conjures up an image of orgiastic
rites which I once heard described as 'a sea of heaving buttocks', it
is worth noting that there is no evidence from Ugarit for practices
of this kind. W e certainly have mythological begettings, a n d some
deities have voracious sexual appetites, while we have noted a ritual dimension to K T U 1.23 = R S 2.002. T h e context of this interesting text is however the conception of princes, and it m a y well be
no m o r e than a mimetic counterpart to the actual (highly ritualized)
consummation of a royal marriage in Ugarit. An iconographie counterpart may be seen in the ivory panels f r o m the royal bed. W e also
noted a probable ritual context to K T U 1.24 = RS. 5.194, a n d shall
mention further such material below ( 13.9).

6.2

A rite of atonement: KTU

1.40 = RS

1.002+

I shall limit my discussion of individual ritual texts to one example.


This is the liturgy for the great day of a t o n e m e n t at Ugarit, preserved partially in two tablets, K T U 1.40, 1.84 = R S 1.002 + 1002a,
17.100[a] + 100[b]. 103 T h e liturgy appears on the surviving evidence
to have been composed of six parts, addressed alternately to m e n
([i], iii, v) a n d w o m e n ([ii], iv, vi). O n l y the final three sections are
in a condition to allow continuous translation. T h r e e pairs of victims were offered, two oxen ([i, ii]), two rams (iii, iv) and two donkeys (v, vi). Each animal is offered as a t o n e m e n t ( n p y ) m on behalf
of the m e n (or women) of Ugarit and its surrounding districts (?).

in the most general sense, but in the presence of a deity, and formally as an offering.
One reason for this would have been the accumulation of power in the hands of
organized priesthoods.
101
They are most graphically evident at the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple
of Rameses II. See K E M P 1989, 191-7.
102
See the title of H A R R E L S O N 1969, From fertility cult to worship.
103
See W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C , 342 for bibliography, to which add DE T A R R A G O N 1 9 9 8 .
104
On the meaning of this key term see W Y A T T 1998c, 3 4 2 n. 2 , where I review
the different proposals. I have followed P A R D E E 1 9 9 1 , 1 1 9 1 .

T h e accusation of sins made by various ethnic and social groups are


addressed, and the victim is offered u p to El and the p a n t h e o n
through the mediation of the messenger-gods T h u k a m u n and Shanim.
O n e section (11. 3 5 - 4 3 , 6), typical in structure to each, may be
cited by way of illustration:
N o w repeat the liturgy for puri [fication],
for purification of the w o < m e > n of Ugarit,
and atonement for the foreigner within the walls of Ugarit,
and [atone]ment for his wife.
Whenever your state of grace be changed,
whether by the accusation of the Qa[tians,
or by the accusation of the Dadm]ians,
or by the [accusation of the the Hu]rrians,
or by the accusation of the Hittites,
or by the accusation of the Cypriots,
or by the accusation of the gbr,
or by the accusation of your op [pressed] ones,
or by the accusaon of your p[oo]r,
or by the accusation of qrzbl',
whenever your state of grace be changed,
either through [your] anger,
[or through your impat]ience,
or through some evil you have done;
whenever [your state) of grace be changed
[concerning the sacrifices] and the offering,
our sacrifice we offer:
this is the offering we [make],
[this is the victim we] immolate.
M a y it be borne aloft to the father of the gods,
may it be borne aloft to the pan[theon of the gods],
[to] the assembly of the gods,
to T h u k a m u n [and Shanim]:
here is the donkey.

While it is difficult to extract a detailed moral theology from this


material, it certainly exhibits a moral dimension of some significance,
and a powerful sense of the necessary cohesion of society, while recognizing the centrifugal pressures and tensions arising from the relations between sub-groups. What is interesting is that it is the perception
by a sub-group ('by the accusation [ulp] of the Hittites' etc.) of wrongdoing by the community at large that is significant, not any proven
fault. This suggests a highly developed sense of the importance of
people's feelings, though the term ulp (construed as u + I + p: 'whether
from the mouth of') may also have had a specifically forensic nuance,

suggesting the infraction of a code of practice. T h e personal involvem e n t of groups in society, rather than any impersonal system of pollution, such as obtains in Leviticus, points to a moral rather than a
purely ritual basis for sin. W i t h o u t d o u b t the mechanical dimension
also existed, but being uncodified has left n o evidence. T h e likelih o o d that we should discern a moral dimension here is p e r h a p s supported by the moral error into which K e r e t is perceived as falling
in going aside f r o m his j o u r n e y to visit the shrine of Athirat. In pursuing this undoubtedly worthy religious goal, he violates the principle of absolute a n d undeviating obedience to El's c o m m a n d s , which
takes priority over any secondary matter. W e thus catch glimpses of
a highly developed ethical universe, in no way c o m p r o m i s e d by the
polytheistic theology whose workings we sketched above.
W h a t the king's duties m a y have been in the i m p o r t a n t c e r e m o n y
of K T U 1.40 unfortunately remain u n k n o w n . W e should expect him
to play a significant role, on the analogy of Babylonian material such
as the Aktu, but we are ignorant of the occasion or even the frequency of this rite. It m a y be worth remarking that K T U 1.12 =
R S 2. [012], which begins with a thogonie scene, a n d m a y thus have
royal overtones, appears in its f r a g m e n t a r y conclusion to treat Baal's
d e a t h as a n a t o n e m e n t of some kind. D o e s this p o i n t , h o w e v e r
obscurely, to the king's ritual involvement? Any answer remains speculative. T h e gist of the K e r e t story is also highly conscious of the
delicacy of a king's moral position: any individual d e p a r t u r e f r o m
p r o p e r behaviour threatens not merely a private m a n , but an entire
kingdom.
W h e t h e r linked to a periodic rite of a t o n e m e n t of this sort, as the
Israelite ritual for Y o m K i p p u r appears to have been (Lev. 16), or
in its obviously m o r e primitive f o r m still linked to a m o r e informal
ad hoc solution to a c o m m u n a l sense of guilt at a serious transgression, K T U 1.127 = R S 24.277.30-2 provides an intriguing antecedent
to the biblical account. It prescribes the expulsion of a goat, which
will apparently carry away the sins of the community. 1 0 5

105

See D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1990a 32-8, and the remarks by M E Y E R (ibid.,


recently discovered text from Ebla also contains a scapegoat ritual: see
1996b, Z A T E L L I 1998.

270-1).
XELLA

F a m i l y

L i f e

a n d

its

R e l i g i o u s

E x p r e s s i o n

While composed in epic style, and themselves with ideological reference, the Keret and Aqhat stories reveal a n u m b e r of features of
everyday practice which deserve note in giving a rounded picture of
Ugaritian religious life. T h e y probably represent fairly conventional
attitudes and observances.
A powerful sense of clan solidarity appears to have been normal.
It is this rather than a developed sense of individual identity (though
not entirely discounting this) which underlies Keret's response to the
offer of wealth and power ( K T U 1.14 = R S RS 2. [003]+ i 5 2 ii 5 and parallels):
Why should I want silver
or yellow gold . . .?
It is sons I would beget,
descendants I would multiply!
This is almost an example of the 'biology of religion', 106 in which
religious language articulates the norm for patterns of behaviour governing social and reproductive life. T h e present passage allows Keret
to voice a man's primary duty, to beget sons. It is in these that the
true wealth of a m a n is measured. W e almost sense in this response
a healthy scorn for the false idols of silver, gold and rich possessions: the acquisitive society was perhaps then only in its infancy.
Another well-known and much-cited passage 107 is the following
( K T U 1.17 = RS 2. [004] i 2 3 - 3 3 and parallels), which occurs four
times. T h e repetitious nature of such a large block of material suggests that it reflects a popular summation of the duties of the pious
son, and the essence of family piety, and is in addition to be considered a central theme of the story. T o have a son like this is to
be blessed indeed. T o lose a son like this (as is Danel in the sequel)
is to be cursed indeed.
you must surely bless him, Bull El my father,
you must (surely) give a blessing to him, Creator-of-creatures,
so that he may beget a son in his house,
a scion in the midst of his palace.
106

Cf. the title of the first edition of

107

See

EISSFELDT

1966,

KOCH,

1967,

REYNOLDS
HEALEY

TANNER
1979

and

1983.

VAN D E R T O O R N

1996,

am not sure of the categorization of this by van der Toorn under the
rubric 'the cult of the ancestors'. Cf. H U S S E R 1 9 9 5 .
154-65.

He shall set up the stela of his ancestral god,


in the sanctuary the cippus of his kinsman;
into the earth sending forth his dying breath,
into the dust protecting his progress;108
he shall shut the mouths of his slanderers,
he shall drive away those who are ill-disposed towards him.
Taking his hand when he is drunk,
supporting him when sated with wine;
he shall serve up his share in the house of Baal,
and his portion in the house of El;
he shall plaster his roof on a muddy day,
he shall wash his clothes on a filthy day.
This classic formulation of filial piety, to be introduced by the blessing El is exhorted to confer, falls into seven bicola, the first dealing
with the begetting of the son (the classic duty of the father), and the
other six treating the son's duties (the filial response). T h e prosodie
structure of the section is complex, and skilfully weaves domestic and
ritual tasks. 109 We are apt to see in all this expressions of affection.
T h e reality is probably more detached. T h e performance of these
duties is essential for the preservation of the paterfamilias, in whom
all the family's interests are invested. H e bears the family name, and
this must not be extinguished. Furthermore, his ritual activities benefit
the entire family, so that the son performs these when necessary to
ensure their regular implementation.

OTHER

RELIGIOUS

8.1

MANIFESTATIONS110

Vows

Keret's vow in K T U 1.14 = R S 2. [003]+ iv 3 4 - 4 3 is the only


instance of a vow in Ugaritic literature, but provides a classic example of the form:
they ca[me] to the sanctuary of Athirat of Tyre
and to the goddess of Sidon.
toe p o r
s e n s e 'INTO' rather than 'from', as most interpreters take it, see X E L L A
1982a, 194 and H U S S E R 1995, esp. 124.
109
See discussion and references in W Y A T T 1 9 9 8 C , 2 5 5 - 5 9 nn. 2 3 - 4 1 . The sevenfold pattern (n. 23) represents completeness, and so perhaps implies all the other
social duties incumbent on a son.
110
See also Sections 6.5, 7.3 above.

There Keret the votary vowed a gift:


Athirat of Tyre,
and goddess of Sidon,
if I take Hurriy to my house,
and bring the sacred bride into my court,
twice her weight in silver shall I give,
and three times her weight in gold!'
As important as this formulation is the logical sequel, after it transpires that Keret has omitted to fulfil this vow ( K T U 1.15 = RS
3.343+ iii 25-30):
And Athirat recalled his vow,
and the goddess [his promise].
And she lifted up her voice and [cried]:
'Look, I pray: has Ke[ret broken],
or [the king] altered his vow?
[So] shall I break [my promise!]'
While the first part conforms to the standard formulaic construction
of vows, with the address (the deity concerned) followed by a prodosis (the condition) and then an apodosis (the votive gift promised),
the second gives an unusual insight into the putative reaction of a
deity to a vow neglected." 1 It deconstructs the vow, to reveal the
consequence of neglect in so important a sphere. A deity is not to
be casually invoked with impunity. A vow entered into cannot simply be ignored. T h e language has a legally binding force. Everything
in the tradition points to the enormous power and authority invested
in the spoken word.

8.2

Blessings

Just as vows have their rationale in the potency of the spoken word,
so blessings are believed to be efficacious by the mere fact of utterance. T h e Keret story also provides the classic blessing formula ( K T U
1.15 = R S 3.343+ ii 16-28):
[El] took a cup [in] (his) hand,
a goblet in (his) [right] hand;

111

In narrative terms this is intriguing in that it also frustrates El's intention to


bless Keret. In theological terms this shows a considerable finesse, all the more
interesting because of the undoubtedly unconscious processes which explore the
strategic consequences.

He did indeed bless [his servant],


he blessed Keret [the votary],
[he gave a bless]ing to the gracious [one], heir of El:
'Take a wife, Keret,
take a wife to your house,
bring a sacred bride into your dwelling:
she will bear you seven sons,
and multiply them eightfold for you.
She will bear Yasib the heir:
he will drink the milk of Athirat;
he will drain the breast of Virgin [Rahmay] ;
the suckling of [goddesses].
T h e blessing may continue for several lines, for it is to be understood to include the opening lines of K T U 1.15 iii, concluding, after
a list of Keret's daughters, with the final four cola (13-6):
Be gready exalted, [Keret],
among the Saviours of the netherwo[r1d],
in the convocation of the assembly of Dita[n].
Their last one I shall treat as the firstborn.
This blessing is not simply synonymous with that which is implicit
in El's discursive instructions to Keret ( K T U 1.14 = R S 2. [003] +
ii 7iii 49), which also ends in a divine promise of an heir. It is
rather a formal cultic occasion in which the relationship of the king
to the city gods (and to El in particular) is affirmed, and has important iconographical and indeed ideological overtones." 2 But it also
reinforces the king's crucial role as mediator before the gods on
behalf of the whole of society.
T h e blessing formula involving the cup has also been restored in
the Aqhat story, at K T U 1.17 = R S 2. [004] i 34-6, 1 1 3 and is important evidence in favour of a royal interpretation of Danel's position.
It is to be noted that while Keret demands only one thing, children,
three things are actually promised: children, membership of the select
group the rpum, and such wealth as will enable the youngest to be
treated as the first-born."4 T h e vow is a c o m m o n feature of indi112

Discussed with references in W Y A T T 1 9 9 7 .


See J A C K S O N - D R E S S L E R 1975; also W Y A T T 1998c, 2 6 0 n. 4 2 .
114
This is to be understood not in the sense that she will be the first-born, but
that there will no need to apportion wealth, so much will be available. Attempts
(e.g. G R A Y 1 9 6 4 , 6 0 ) to see in this the tracing of a line from Keret through his
youngest daughter to the Ugaritian dynastic line are misplaced. There is of course
a sting in the tail: an equal share in a blessing implies an equal share in a curse.
113

vidual religious devodon in the ancient world, reflecting an essentially pragmatic approach to religion. It was the source of material
benefits in a world without the relative stability in health or economic matters the modern urban dweller takes for granted.
A less formal blessing (perhaps more of a spontaneous outburst
than a liturgical norm, though we should not discount the latter possibility) occurs in Danel's words to the withered plants he encounters. Here is one example ( K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ ii 22-5):
Oh!
May this ear of corn rise from the parched land,
may the ear of corn rise up [among the wit]hered stalks!
Plant,
may the hand of Aqhat harvest you,
may it put you into the midst of the granary!
While part of a finely polished literary work, this scene gives a marvellous insight into the real world of the distressed, who will clutch at
any straw (as Danel is doing!) in time of deep emotional crisis. Danel
does not yet know the cause for this terrible drought, but his heart
is full of foreboding as he tries to use the intrinsic power of a blessingformula to redress the balance of nature. T h e fact that he invokes
Aqhat's n a m e simply adds further irony and pathos to the scene.

8.3

Curses

T h e counter to the blessing is the curse, again based on the power


of speech. T h r e e sets of curses survive in Ugaritic literature. T h e
first example occurs twice in quite different contexts, and probably
reflects a standard usage. W h e n Keret perceives Yasib's incipient
treachery (which conceivably was inspired by the best of motives) he
addresses him thus ( K T U 1.16 = R S 3.325+ vi 54-8):
May Horon smash, my son,
may Horon smash your head,
Athtart-the-name-of-Baal your crown!
May you fall down in the prime of life,
empty-handed, and humiliated!
T h e irony in this scene is overwhelming: Keret, who had sought a
blessing too many at the hands of Athirat, when he had already
received El's assurance, now undoes even his (El's) good work by
cursing his family back into the condition from which he began. T h e

equal blessing promised the youngest daughter now comes to haunt


her too, as she is implicitly included in this terrible curse.
T h e same formula is used by Baal against Yam in K T U 1.2 =
R S 3.367 i 7 - 9 . In view of what Baal himself does to Yam we may
ask whether the curse formula does not belong to a royal headsmashing ritual (as exemplified in Anat's ritual treatment of prisoners)" 5 or, as I have suggested, in executions, being a disclaimer by
the executioner." 6 T h e idea of invoking the gods to perform a dreadful act, thus exculpating the actual perpetrator, is deeply imbedded
in h u m a n psychology, ancient and modern. This percept also applies
in the case where someone cannot actually wreak vengeance himself, and leaves it to the gods.
This is not dissimilar from the curse Danel utters against the falcons ( K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ iii 1-3):
The win[gs of the falcons] may Baal sma<sh>,
may Baal smash [their pinions]!
Let them fall a<t> my feet!
In both cases gods are invoked to do violence to a guilty party in
the absence of any realistic chance of the victim himself, or his father,
wreaking vengeance.
T h e second curse-form is used by Danel in his as yet unfocussed
distress in perceiving that something dreadful is wrong ( K T U 1.19
= R S 3.322+ i 42-6): 117
For seven years Baal shall fail,
for eight, the Charioteer of the clouds!
No dew,
no rain,
no welling up of the deeps,
no goodness of Baal's voice!
This is an invocation of drought, for the sources of water, dew, rain
and springs, are all to cease. T h e threefold sources of life-giving
water are turned into a tetracolon, and a quaternity, by the theophany-sign of their coming, the voice of the storm-god. T h e natural
world, implicitly all its cardinal points, will thus participate in the
mourning for Aqhat, whose life-sustaining blood has been shed, even

115

See

116

WYATT

117

T o the first three cola of the tetracolon cf. 2 Sam 1:21.

LLOYD

1996.

1998C,

241

n.

297.

though Danel is not yet fully aware of the import of his words. This
is in effect a reification of the emotional desiccation felt by someone who mourns the dead, a feeling all the more powerful if it is a
parent mourning a child.
T h e final instance is Danel's cursing of the cities neighbouring the
place where Aqhat was murdered. This again is evidently part of a
conventional legal process, in which liability is sought in the case of
the discovery of a murder victim in open country. This is the last
of three towns thus cursed ( K T U 1.19 = RS 3.322+ iv 3-7):
'Woe to you, town of Abilim,
because near you was smitten Aqhat the hero!
May Baal make your wells dry,
henceforth and forever,
now and for all generations!'
Afterwards he took his staff in his hand.
In the absence of the possibility of identifying the perpetrator of a
homicide, the neighbouring settlements are made legally liable. Their
territory is in any event polluted by unavenged blood, so they must
resort to purification rites. T h e same principle is enunciated in Deut.
21:1-9. T h e reference to Danel's staff (mt)the term may also be
translated as 'sceptre'no doubt alludes to a formal ritual, where
some gesture with the staff implements the legal effect of his curse.

8.4

Oracles and omens

Anxiety concerning the future is a natural h u m a n trait, the price of


consciousness. As a means of addressing this an important aspect of
ancient religion was its predictive role. Various techniques were probably used," 8 though many of those known are not specifically attested
at Ugarit. 119 With sacrificial animals being regularly butchered, the
priests were familiar with the nature of entrails and other internal
organs, and there was an ancient tradition of 'reading' these, noting anomalous forms, and making links with historical or climatic
events. T h e gods were believed to reveal these contingencies to the
priests. Schools passed on the tradition, and model organs were made
with notes drawing attention to certain features. K T U 1.141 = RS

118
Uil

For a useful survey see L O E W E


BLACKER 1 9 8 1 .
The Ugaritic material is examined in D I E T R I C H

LORETZ

1990.

24.312, 1.142 = R S 24.323, 1.143 = R S 24.326, 1.144 = R S 24.327,


1.155 = R S 24.654, are inscribed clay livers, while K T U 1.127 =
RS 24.277 is a lung. 120 T h e birth of deformed animals ( K T U 1.103
+ 1.145 = RS 24.247+) 121 or h u m a n infants ( K T U 1.140 = RS
24.302) were the subject of detailed observations, while celestial events
were also read as portents ( K T U 1.78 = R S 12.061). This last text
is surprisingly the only clear reference we have in Ugaritic to the
importance of celestial p h e n o m e n a . However, the description of
Danel's daughter Pughat as 'one who knows the courses of the stars'
(yd\t\ hlk kbkbm: K T U 1.19 = R S 3.322+ ii 3-4) 122 suggests a body
of lore on the subject. Bearing in mind that the gods are called
'stars' in K T U 1.10 = RS 3.362+ i 4, we should expect a complex
theology of the heavenly bodies, complementing the obvious deification
of sun, moon and Venus. This is still awaiting discovery.

8.5

Personal piety

Perhaps under the present rubric should also be mentioned briefly


various other aspects of personal religion. T h e correspondance (see
also 8, also dealt with extensively in 15) gives a n u m b e r of examples of pious wishes for the welfare of the recipients of letters, illustrating the almost unconscious (certainly unself-conscious) way in
which various deities were invoked matter-of-facdy. Personal names
(see also 12.1) are a further source of information about individual and clan piety, for although fashions in names may have obtained,
it is a reasonable guess that in most cases the deities incorporated
into theophoric names (which tend to be transparent, though we
should not discount an element of opacity with archaic forms) would
focus the fears, aspirations and joys of parents of newly-born children. N o personal prayers in the context of everyday life have survived from Ugarit among the tablets published thus far, but K T U
1.119 = R S 24.266, noted above, gives an unusual example of a
litany evidentiy dealing with times of trouble, and therefore an instance
of 'urgent faith', while the personal prayers embodied as literary
forms in Keret and Aqhat are, while themselves honed through poetic
usage, no doubt modelled on practical piety. T h e particular impor-

120

See

121

DIETRICH -

LORETZ

122

See

1998C, 2 9 7

DIETRICH WYATT

LORETZ

1990, 5 - 3 8 ; MEYER

1990; above, 7.3.


n.

209.

1990;

above,

7.3.

tance of Baal in such contexts deserves further study, and shows a


lively belief in the efficacy of this god above all in answering the
needs of the people from national to individual level.

9.1

Sickness

Sickness as a religious matter

Diseases and ailments of various sorts, now the province of medicine,


were in antiquity an important aspect of ritual life, as they continue
to be in traditional societies. Disorders of the body, the microcosm,
were perceived as disorders of the macrocosm. Medicine was essentially holistic. A number of examples are found in Ugaritic literature.
T h u s we have Keret lying sick in his palace, with El himself interceding to save his servant from death. In the king's case, the realm
is particularly vulnerable, because on his health depends the adequate
fulfilment of his royal and social duties, as shrewdly assessed by Yasib
( K T U 1.16 = RS 3.325+ vi 25-38, 39-54). When a king lies at
death's door, the very world mourns in anticipation (K l'U 1.16 i
6 - 9 , ii 44-7), and the fertile earth is parched ( K T U 1.16 iii 5-11).

9.2

Snakebite

Snakebite is the occasion of two interesting incantation texts, K TU


1.100 and 1.107 = RS 24.244, 24.251+. 1 2 3 T h e former 124 is 'a spell
against the bite of a snake' ( K T U 1.100.4 etc.) couched in the form
of a mythic narrative, in which a mare-deity invokes twelve deities (or
pairs) in turn for assistance, addressing only at the end the potent god
Horon who can achieve the cure. 125 K T U 1.107 126 appears to be concerned with curing a young medical practitioner who has been bitten.
123

See also RS 92.2014: E T in P A R D E E 1997a, 327 8.


1968, 564-74, A S T O U R 1968, 13-28, C A U O T 1969, 241-254, DE
L O R E T Z 1980a, D I E T R I C H
T A R R A G O N 1989, 79-94, LIPINSKI 1974, D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z - SANMARTIN 1975b, G A S T E R 1975, Y O U N G 1977, 1979, P A R D E E 1978, 1988b,
193-226, 1997a, 295-8, T S E V A T 1979, B O W M A N - C O O T E 1980, X E L L A 1981,
224-240, K O T T S I E P E R 1984, L E V I N E
DE T A R R A G O N 1988, DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a,
241-9 = 1999, 359-73, W Y A T T 1998c, 378-87.
125
El's fruitless invocation of the gods to cure Keret, followed by his manufacture
of Shatiqat ('Remover') in KTU 1.16 10 vi 14 is analogous. In neither case would
it be legitimate to infer any theological bankruptcy: the episodes are constructed
124

VIROLLEAUD

9.3

Possession and exorcism

Some form of possession appears to be the subject matter of the


incantation K T U 1.169 = R I H 78/20, 1 2 7 though it has also been
interpreted as a cure for impotence. Baal, Horon and Athirat appear
to cooperate in the expulsion of the demonic forces. In K T U 1.124
= R S 24.272, an indeterminate sickness is cured by means of an
oracle attributed to Ditanu the eponym of the rpum. Another important composition, which however defies clear analysis, is K T U 1.82
= RS 15.134. 128 It appears to be an anthology of incantation texts.
T h e interesting text K T U 1.114 = RS 24.258, 129 reflecting incidentally the phenomenon of the Marzihu, a kind of socio-religious men's
club (cf. K T U 3.9 = RS [Varia 14] for a legal document concerned
with such an institution), is an incantation in the form of a myth
intended to cure a hangover, though at the same time it reflects on
the acceptance of wine-consumption as having religious significance,
perhaps as an aspect of spirituality.

10

10.1

Death

and

its

Rites

Texts ritualizing death

We have cited above the duties of the pious son outlined in K T U


1.17 = RS 2.[004] i 23-33. Some of these duties involved the son's
for dramatic effect. In the case of Horon, a dangerous power is approached only
in extremis. In the case of Shatiqat, El's making of her highlights his peculiar role
in matters of kingship.
126
V I R O L L E A U D 1968, 574-80, A S T O U R 1968, D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z - SANMARTIN
1975b, X E L L A 1981, 241-50, L E V I N E - DE T A R R A G O N 1988, P A R D E E 1988b, 227-57,
DE T A R R A G O N 1989, 95-100, DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 249-51 = 1999, 371-3, W Y A T T
1998c, 391-4.
127
X E L L A 1978a, C A Q U O T 1978-9, 1984, 1989, 53-60, BORDREUIL - C A Q U O T 1980,
346-50, AVISHUR 1981a, DE M O O R 1980a, 1981-2, 114-5, 1986a, 255-7, 1987,
183-6, L O R E T Z - X E L L A 1981, S A R A C I N O 1982, 1984, FLEMING 1991, 1997, DEL
O L M O L E T E 1992a, 2 5 9 - 6 0 = 1999, 384-6, W A T S O N 1992b, P A R D E E 1993a, 211-3.
128

See

DE M O O R -

SPRONK

1 9 8 4 , DE M O O R

1987,

175-81,

CAQUOT

1988,

DEL

1992a, 251-5 = 1999, 373-9.


129
V I R O L L E A U D 1968, 545-51, LOEWENSTAMM 1969a, DE M O O R 1969a, 167-75,
1970c, 1984, 1987, 134-7, M A R G U L I S ( = M A R G A L I T ) 1970b, 1979-80, 1982, FENSHAM
1971, p. 22, 1972, P O P E 1972, J A C K S O N 1974, R A I N E Y 1974, 184-7, D I E T R I C H L O R E T Z - SANMARTIN 1975a, X E L L A 1977, L ' H E U R E U X 1979, 159-69, C A T H C A R T W A T S O N 1980, D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1981, 88-98, 1993, S P R O N K 1986, 196-202,
P A R D E E 1988b, 13-74, 1997a, 3 0 2 - 5 , C A Q U O T 1989, 7 1 - 8 , W A T S O N
1990a,
M C L A U G H L I N 1991, 270-4, C A T H C A R T 1996, W Y A T T 1998C, 404-13.
O L M O LETE

duties after his father's death. It is above all the duty of the eldest
son to perform the obsequies of his father. This is one reason for
the peculiar tragedy of a father losing his first son.' 30
T w o important royal texts deal with the rituals of death. T h e
immediate context of K T U 1.113 = RS 24.257 is far from certain,
but it involves a liturgy performed, in all probability, as a series of
episodes invoking all the dead and now divinized kings appearing in
the following king-list. This is conceivably a kispum-rite, as frequently
proposed for the following text.
K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126 131 is perhaps one of the most intriguing ritual texts from Ugarit. It appears to be a combination of order
of service for the funeral of the last King Niqmaddu (III?), father
of 'Ammurapi, and at the same time a Kispum-rite, invoking dead
kings, who are invited to participate in the obsequies and to welcome Niqmaddu into the underworld. Degrees of royal divinity appear
to be envisaged, with the ancient rpum being regarded as having
more prestige than intermediate kings between their remote and legendary past and the present. The text also illustrates the importance
of Shapsh as psychopomp. 132

10.2

Tomb construction

So far as practicalities go, the evidence of the tombs is of interest. 1 i !


Constructed in the foundations of private houses and palaces alike,
they were used for multiple burials as family vaults, and grave-goods,
possessions and food, accompanied the dead to their rest. T h e precise conception of the post-mortem destiny of ordinary people is unclear, though S p r o n k ' s (1986) fulsome account is p r o b a b l y too

130
We may conjecture, since the death of a son is a theme common to both
stories, that one of the motives behind Ilimilku's compositions (or editions) of the
Keret and Aqhat stories may have been the death of an heir to the throne. In
such a context we should recognize an elegiac quality to the poems.
131
C A Q U O T 1975, 1989, 103-10, DE M O O R 1976,'l981-2, 116-7, 1987 165-8,
P O P E 1977, 177-81, P I T A R D 1978, 1987, L ' H E U R E U X 1979, 187-93, X E L L A 1981,
279-87, B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1982, 1991, 1 5 1 - 6 3 , D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1983b,
1991b, LEVINE - DE T A R R A G O N 1984, LEVINE - DE T A R R A G O N - ROBERTSON 1997b,
T A Y L O R 1988, SPRONK 1986, 189-93, L E W I S 1989, 5-46, T R O P P E R 1989a, 144-50,
1993a, DEL O L M O L E T E 1992a, 130-4 = 1999, 193-8, P A R D E E 1993a, 208-10,
1996a, 1997a, 357-8, A B O U D 1994, 157-65, S C H M I D T 1994, 100-20, W Y A T T 1998c,
430-41.
132

S e e HUSSER

133

See

1997.

SCHAEFFER

1939a, 53-106,

MARGUERON

1983.

optimistic. Aqhat's brisk reponse to Anat ( K T U 1.17 = RS 2. [004]


vi 34-9) at least reflects a healthy scepticism in some circles, though
here too it is premature to assert that he denies any survival of
death. P i t a r d (1994) has recendy shown the untenability of Schaeffer's
old idea that tubes allowed the continued passage of food and drink
to the dead.

10.3

Mourning rites

Mourning is referred to in both the Keret and Aqhat stories, and


the incidental allusions probably reflect common attitudes and practice, albeit handled in epic style. W e have already noted the cosmic
mourning for Keret in anticipation of his death. K T U 1.16 = RS
3.325+ i 15-9 alludes to weeping at the tomb entrance by mourning women, and their professional status (on the analogy of the groups
in Egyptian tomb paintings) is to be understood from K T U 1.19 =
R S 3.322+ iv 9 - 2 7 , where they bewail Aqhat for seven years, before
Danel concludes the proceedings with a sacrifice. Keret's daughter
is to go out into the steppe to weep for her dead father ( K T U 1.16
i 28-35; cf. also ii 26-36).
T w o further passages ( K T U 1.5 = R S 2.[022]+ vi 11-25, 1.6 =
RS 2. [009]+ i 2-8) deal in an interesting way with mourning rites.
They describe the reaction of El and Anat respectively to the news
of Baal's death. T h e former reads as follows:
Then the Compassionate, the god of mercy,
went down from his throne:
he sat on his footstool.
And from his footstool
he sat on the ground.
He poured the ashes of affliction on his head,
the dust of grovelling on his skull.
For clothing he put on a loin-cloth.
His skin with a stone he scored,
his side-locks with a razor,
he gashed cheeks and chin.
He ploughed his collar-bones,
he turned over like a garden his chest,
like a valley he ploughed his breast,
He lifted up his voice and cried:
'Baal is dead!
What has become of the Powerful One?
The Son of Dagan!

What has become of Tempest?


After Baal I shall go down into the underworld.'
This text perhaps encapsulates most powerfully the ritual expression
of utter despair in the presence of death, but at the same time the
acceptance as significant for the mourner of the fate of the dead.
T h e initial pentacolon describes El's progressive self-abasement, till
he effecdvely shares, emotionally at least, in the annihilation of death.
A self-burial rite follows, a mourning garment put on, with selflaceration and the cutting of the hair. 134 Only after these mute rites
does the mourner give vent to feelings in words. Interestingly, Baal's
death appears to constitute a paradigm of El's death; when Anat
utters these same words, she alters the ard ( shall go down') into
nrd ('we shall go down'), and this very probably reflects or even cites
verbatim an actual funerary litany, showing that Baal's death had religious meaning for h u m a n beings as they contemplated their own
mortality. Alternatively, this last passage should be corrected to
*a rd. . ., in which case it is El's words that Anat repeats verbatim.

11

Non-Literary

11.1

Dimensions

in

Ugaritian

Religion

Looking beyond the text

T h e r e is perhaps an inevitable, yet too great an emphasis among


Ugaridc scholars on the textual aspect of religion. Most of us specialize in the analysis of texts. It should be remembered however
that much of the population was probably illiterate, and that although
liturgy and mythology played a part in all religious life, it was essentially the behavioural (ritual), aural (musical) and visual (iconographie)
images and impressions which were most indelibly stamped on their
minds. T h e ritual aspects we have dealt with briefly above. Here
too our evidence is sadly exclusively textual, and we can do little
more than evoke from the texts scenes of the banqueting of the gods,

134

These procedures are forbidden in Lev 19:27 8 and Deut 14:1, a sure indication that they were part of ancient Palestinian ritual too. Needless to say, to interpret El's and Anat's actions as somehow linked to a seasonal fertility cult is to
misread the evidence. Cf. also the distraught behaviour of Keret's daughter in K T U
1.16 = RS 3.325+ ii 26-50.

perhaps to be seen as reflexes of sacrificial rites, and their stupendous


journeys to one another's abodes ('over a thousand miles, ten thousand leagues'), to be interpreted as allusions to cultic processions.

11.2

Music

We have a n u m b e r of references to the playing of lyres and the


singing of songs in the texts 133 which may reasonably be interpreted
as relating to hymnody in the cult. A remarkable reconstruction of
a Hurrian hymn from Ugarit (RS 15.30 + 15.49 + 17.387) has been
attempted by Anne Kilmer, 1 3 6 while Annie Caubet 1 3 7 has drawn
together and analysed the evidence for musical instruments in use
in Ugarit.

11.3 Iconography
O n the iconographie front a small n u m b e r of stelae and statuettes
have been discovered, which give us a glimpse into the portrayal of
some deities, and this allows some supplementation of their literary
presentation. 138 In some cases a certain amount of comparative data
may legitimately be brought to bear. A prolific source of iconographie information, but one that is hard to quantify in terms of
purely local influence, is cylinder seals. We shall deal with this material in turn.
Some of the images remain anonymous. T h e following are those
than can be identified with a measure of confidence. Stela RS 8.295 139
represents an enthroned god, wearing the Atef-crown with bull's
horns, in the presence of a votary, perhaps to be identified with the
king, beneath a winged disc. While the precise interpretation of the
scene is not beyond doubt, it perhaps represents a divine blessing,
such as is discussed above. It has been compared with the scene on

135
136

1973,

See K T U 1.3 i 18-22.


See K I L M E R - C R O C K E R
KILMER

1974 and

BROWN

WULSTAN

1976.

See also

GTERBOCK

1970,

LAROCHE

1974.

137
C A U B E T 1 9 9 6 . Cf. also D U C H E S N E - G U I L L E M I N 1 9 8 1 for comparative Mesopotamian and Egyptian evidence.
138
The main publication where most of this material may been seen together is
YON (ed.) 1991. See also 14 below (Cornelius).
139
Y O N 1 9 9 1 (ed.), 336. Cf. W Y A T T 1983a.
140

JACKSON -

DRESSLER

1975, WYATT

1997,

787-9.

the royal seal.140 T h e stela may also be compared with the gilded
bronze cult-statuette of a god wearing the Atef-crown (RS 23.394)
and with the recently discovered stone statuette (RS 88.70) found
immediately north of the temple aux rhytons.w
T h e former of these has the right hand raised in blessing (corresponding to the left hand on the stela, where internal design has
forced a shift) while the latter has an empty socket into which a
detachable arm could presumably be inserted. T h e left hand of the
bronze is shaped to be able to hold a detachable object (such as a
small gold cup?), while the stone statuette has another empty socket.
These artefacts have been understood to represent El. He is shown
to be a bearded, patriarchal figure, evidently concerned with the
welfare of the king, and through him of society. This is entirely in
conformity with the textual evidence outlined above.
Baal is without doubt portrayed in the so-called Baal au foudre stela
(RS 4.427) found in the Baal temple. 142 This shows the god, wearing a horned and pointed cap (a variation on the White Crown?)
in the 'smiting posture'. But instead of grasping a victim he holds a
spear which becomes a tree. Below the dagger at his belt stands a
votary, dressed apparently in the ritual garment of the king. F e n t o n
(1996) has offered a new explanation for the rippling lines beneath
the god's feet. T h e upper set he interprets as a serpentine Yam.
Stelae whose subjects are indeterminate are RS 17.138 and 23.218,
both of a god in the 'smiting posture', in the latter instance holding a spear, and RS 23.216 and 23.217, both of a god with a drawn
bow. It is tempting to think of Reshef, though his familiar fillet, suspended behind the cap, is missing. 143 In the case of the M a m i stela,
however, this fillet is present, and yet the god is explicidy identified
as 'Seth of Saphon', 1 4 4 indicating the confusing fluidity in the portraiture of the two gods. A stela fragment (RS 24.434) shows a god

141
Both illustrated YON 1991 (ed.), 337. She identifies the latter as El on this
page, but as 'a man' on p. 3 5 1 . See also Y O N - G A C H E T 1 9 8 9 . The stone statuette
lacks evidence of an Atef-crown, but may have had detachable horns and feathers.
See also 14, fig. 1.
142
S C H A E F F E R 1 9 3 4 , Y O N 1 9 9 1 (ed.), 3 3 1 fig. IIa. She compares the stela with
numerous small bronzes in 'the smiting posture'. C O R N E L I U S ( 1 9 9 4 ) prefers to designate this iconographie type 'the menacing god'. See also 14, fig. 2.
143
On the comparative iconography of Baal and Reshef see C O R N E L I U S 1 9 9 4 .
144
YON 1991 (ed.), 328, fig. 8, obligingly shows the Seth of the 'stela of the year
400' for comparison. It is here the Egyptian iconographie convention which is being
observed.

in smiting posture, with raised mace, shield in the other hand, and
a quiver behind him. T w o further anonymous stelae show an armed
god with a tall plume and horns (RS 2.[037]) and a goddess draped
in a long gown shaped like a falcon's wing and armed with a spear
(RS 2.[038]). T h e latter invites comparison with Anat, though the
known iconography of this goddess, like that of Athtart, shows her
wearing the Atef-crown. 145
Cylinder seals have been found in substantial quantities at Ugarit,
and have been published mainly by Schaeffer and Amiet. 146 T h e r e
is no need to attempt any detailed study here. Used as amulets and
personal identity-markers, cylinder seals were commonly decorated
with religious scenes of a fairly stereotyped form. Variations on individual themes are found from Sumer to Egypt, and they are by and
large not very specific to a local tradition, though of course local
styles were developed, which no doubt to some extent reflected local
theologies. Mythic themes, vodve and blessing scenes (cf. the dynastic seal mentioned above), representations of gods dispersing largesse
and so forth are standard motifs. O n e theme worth noting briefly is
that of 'the god on two mountains', 147 which shows the great prestige of Baal of Saphon throughout the east Mediterranean region.
A n u m b e r of ivories have been discovered, of which the most
important group constitute the royal bed panels. These have been
briefly discussed by S c h a e f f e r (1954, 5 1 - 9 and figs. 3 - 4 , pll. vii-x), 148
d u
M e s n i l
(1973), C a q u o t - S z n y c e r (1980) and myself ( W y a t t
1995a, 580-3). These illustrate typical royal scenes, of hunting, warfare, and the despatch of prisoners, as well as showing a royal marriage and a goddess (Shapsh) suckling twin sons. They are in short
a digest of the main themes of royal ideology.
This rich collection of iconographie material is still in need of a
comprehensive assessment from a theological point of view. All too

145

For this see L E C L A N T 1 9 6 0 (Athtart) and W Y A T T 1 9 8 4 (Anat). The stela I discussed is of course not from Ras Shamra, being of unknown provenance in the
Michaelides collection, Cairo, and now apparently lost. It may be compared with
the Anat represented on BM stela 6 4 6 / 1 9 1 . See also C O R N E L I U S 1 9 9 3 and 1 4
below.
I4<I

SCHAEFFER

147

See

148

- FORRER

DIJKSTRA

1 9 8 3 ; AMIET

1992.

1991.

The panels were found in many pieces. The initial publication lacks any RS
numbers (actually R S 1 6 . 5 6 ) . In addition to references given see W A R D 1 9 6 9 , 2 3 6 - 7
and figs. 3 , 4 and C A Q U O T - S Z N Y C E R 1 9 8 0 pll. XXVIIIa, XXIXa.

often such material is given a catalogue-treatment which goes little


further than the descriptive. C o r n e l i u s ( 1 9 9 4 , and 1 4 below) may
be cited as a model of the way analysis should be conducted.

11.4

Votive gifts: the anchors

A final note may be offered on the anchors which have been found,
mainly scattered around in the precincts of the Baal temple, but also
in houses and tombs and even incorporated into building construction. These appear to be votive gifts, and testify perhaps to the piety
and gratitude of mariners who, returning to port safely after long
and perhaps hazardous voyages, felt the need to make offering to
the temple which had guided them safely to land. In some instances
a more general symbolism may have obtained, owing something to
the economic dependence of Ugarit on the sea. T h e anchors were
probably not carried or dragged from ships, being often unused and
presumably made especially for cultic use.' 49

11.5

The assessment of material remains

W e have insufficient evidence to reach firm conclusions on the use


and significance of this visible and tangible material. O n the analogy of better known cultures (particularly Egypt) and reading between
the lines of later Hebrew iconoclastic rhetoric, we may suppose a
degree of 'idolatry'. It is possible to use this term in a non-pejorative
sense, and it is in such a way that I use it here. T o begin with, the
stelae and other glyptic representations certainly did not constitute
'idols' in the technical sense. T h e statues are a different matter. T h e
small ones found in profusion in tombs may well have been images
used in private devotions, while the gilded bronze of El may have
been used in cultic processions, representing the very presence of the
god a m o n g his devotees. Language such as 'when Athtart-of-theWindow enters the pit of the royal palace' ( K T U 1 . 4 3 = RS 1 . 0 0 5 . 1 - 2 )
is to be construed as meaning that the image of the goddess is carried thither in procession. Similarly in 11. 9 - 1 0 'the two Gathru-gods
come into the royal chapel', and 1. 18 appears to allude to two images

F R O S T 1991, 357. Some, found at Minet el Beida, may have been left at the
port-brothel (id., 358)! Seafarers then, as now, left nothing to chance.
149

of Anat. This symbolic use of an icon, ubiquitous in the ancient


world and still normal in m a n y contemporary cultures, as the focus
of attention in the cultus, as the face to which prayer and offering
is addressed, was the focus of the reification in divine personae of
all h u m a n needs and aspirations, and should not be separated (as it
has largely been for polemical reasons) from all other elements such
as song and dance, vestments, incense and sacrifice in the sacralization of life and the construction of a universe of meaning. In this
respect Ugaritian religion was heir to a hallowed tradition.

12

Conclusion

I have endeavoured in this survey to do more than offer a cursory


glance at the material most commonly treated as 'religious', but
rather to discern religious sensitivity in a far broader range of h u m a n
concerns, as I think is necessary for an adequate assessment of the
holistic view of life and role of religion in an ancient society. Even
today the religious person is wont to say that 'my faith is more than
a religion; it is a way of life'. It is fair to say that while religion has
been in retreat in the m o d e r n world, not just sociologically, but in
terms of the greater fragmentation of life into different special areas
(social, moral, political, medical, environmental, and so forth), in the
ancient world any such compartmentalizadon is not only short-sighted
in the scholar, but fundamentally misconceived. T h e gods were as
much a part of the ancient citizen's experience as breathing and
thinking. T h e y were invoked at every turn, and were believed to be
present, and concerned, in every corner of life.
W e owe it to any h u m a n society under investigation to grant it
autonomy and integrity in its structures and values. Any theological
basis for wholesale judgments of the kind that have at times been
fashionable are entirely misplaced, and while useful comparisons and
even connections may be drawn, I remain uneasy that this area of
Ugaritic studies should so often be pursued as an adjunct (even a
mere prelude!) to biblical studies, even though, given the economic
conditions u n d e r which our universities currently operate, this is
probably inevitable. Let us at least acknowledge on anthropological
grounds the utility of dispassionate enquiry: Ugarit has much to teach
us in its own terms about the roots of our own cultural heritage. So

it is to be hoped that future research into the religion of Ugarit will


tend to be phenomenological in nature, which with due caution,
rigour and empathy, can be true both to the tradition under examination and to its adequate setting within the broader frame of human
experience.

T H E

I C O N O G R A P H Y

Izak

O F

U G A R I T

Cornelius

Introduction

Whenever the name Ugarit is mentioned, people tend immediately


to think of the cuneiform texts discovered there. O t h e r important discoveries which were also made at Ugarit and the art treasures found
therestelae, statues, ivory pieces, seals and metalworkare of no
less importance. This chapter deals with the art and iconography.
Iconography is here taken to refer to the theme or subject matter of a work of art. Only the motifs and not the technical manufacture or archaeology of the objects will be scrutinized. Architecture
is excluded, but included is the specialized subject of the iconography of the deities. 1 In order to make it easier for the general reader
to find the relevant images, the excavation (RS) number, the present location and museum number and the source of a photograph
of good quality are givenas far as possible from ANEP or else from
C a q u o t - S z n y c e r ( 1 9 8 0 ) or W e i s s ( 1 9 8 5 ) . T h e Ugantica volumes
edited by S c h a e f f e r ( 1 9 3 9 - 1 9 7 8 ) are quoted only if no new source
is available and in cases where these contain detailed analysis.
A recent overview of the excavations and discoveries at Ugarit can
be found in Yon (1992a and 1997).2 Very handy in this regard is also
Yon (1991a, 275-8, 322, 324-5) for find-spots of the stone stelae.
In monographic form there are the earlier overviews of S c h a e f f e r
1939

and

Saad

1978.

All major histories of ancient Near Eastern art have sections dealing with objects from Ugarit (e.g. A m i e t 1995, F r a n k f o r t 1979,
O r t h m a n n 1975). More specific treatments of Syrian and 'Canaanite'

' C A U B E T 1996b, 530 speaks of the 'profoundly religious character of their iconography . . .'.
2
A new book by YON (1998a, b) was announced when this chapter had already
been completed.

or 'Phoenician' 3 art appear in the older books of Contenau, Dussaud


and Matthiae, with a chapter in G r a y (1964b, Ch. V I I ) . Recent
treatments are the catalogue of W e i s s (1985, 279ff.) 4 and the chapter by C a u b e t (1995). T h e r e is no monograph on Ugaritic art or
iconography in general, but individual studies dealing with different
artistic media (e.g. the glyptic) have been appearing. These are cited
below.

Stone

Sculpture

T h e stone sculptures from Ugarit were studied by


353), who dealt with both the stelae and statues.

2.1

Yon

(1991a,

273

Statues

Earlier excavations revealed Egyptian statuary f r o m the Middle


Kingdom ( S c h a e f f e r 1 9 4 9 , 2 1 2 - 2 5 , Figs. 1 9 - 2 5 ) , which reflects the
influence of Egypt in Ugarit: a sphinx of A m e n e m h a t III (RS 4 . 4 1 6 ) ,
a damaged statue of the wife of Senusret II (RS 3 . 3 3 6 ) and of an
Egyptian official Senusret-ankh (RS 4 . 4 6 6 + 5 . 1 4 4 + 5 . 1 4 4 a ) . O t h e r
examples are monumental statues and some statuettes (Yon 1991,
3 5 0 - 2 , Figs. 1 - 3 ) .
In 1 9 8 8 a statue of calcite ( 2 5 cm) (RS 8 8 . 7 0 = Fig. 1 0 ) was
found near the temple of the rhytons ( C a u b e t 1 9 9 5 , 2 6 7 - 9 ; Y o n
1 9 9 0 , 1991a, 3 4 7 - 8 , Fig. 2a). It shows an older bearded figure seated
on a high-backed throne, wearing a high crown and a long garment
with rolled borders. Most interpreters identified the figure with El,
the father of the gods and the creator of mankind. T h e high crown
is comparable to that of the figure on the (now lost) 'Job stela'
( C o r n e l i u s 1 9 9 4 , 1 4 5 , Fig. 3 4 ) containing the inscription 1 creator
of Saphon'. T h e figure is also comparable to the relief and bronze
depicting the older seated 'father type' deity discussed below (AJVEP
4 9 3 and 8 2 6 ) . 5 Recently N i e h r ( 1 9 9 8 , 2 8 , 6 5 ) has proposed that
the statue represents a deified king.

But note that recently C A U B E T ( 1 9 9 5 ) still used 'Canaan'.


G e r m a n and French editions of the catalogue were edited by Strommenger and
Kohlmeyer, and Amiet.
5
Cf. also the headdress on the fragmentary stela in YON 1991a, 327 Fig. 7: No. 19.
4

2.2

Stelae

In her detailed study of the stone stelae, Y o n (1991a, 2 7 3 - 3 4 4 ) gave


a detailed catalogue of 19 stelae with regard to the find-spot, the
material, iconography and function. Here only a few examples have
been selected which reflect the most important iconographie characteristics present in Ugarit.
T h e most prized of all the stelae is still the 1.42 m limestone Baal
au foudre stela found 20 m SW of the temple of Baal on the acropolis (RS 4.427 = Louvre A O 15.775 = ANEP 490, C o r n e l i u s 1994,
135ff, Pl. 32 [BRI], Yon 1991a, 2 9 4 - 9 , Figs. 6:5 and 11a [No. 5]
= Fig. 11). This stela reflects a mixture of Hittite, Egyptian and local
traditions. Because of the uncertainty regarding the stratigraphy, the
date varies from between the MBA and the LBA (i.e. 1900-1200
bce). It depicts a young bearded god dressed in a kilt with a dagger wearing a horned helmet and two large curled locks, brandishing a mace above his head and holding in front a spear with the
top spreading into a plant (no thunderbolt or lightning!).
Another stela (25 cm) which is clearly identified as representing
Baal by the accompanying inscription is the stela dedicated by an
Egyptian official M a m i (RS 1.[089] + 2. [033] + 5.183 = Louvre
A O 13.176 = ANEP 485, C o r n e l i u s 1994, 151-3, PI. 39 [BRI 1],
Y o n 1991a, 2 8 4 - 8 , Figs. 6:1, 8a [No. 1]) found in five parts in the
temple of Baal. T h e iconography is similar to that of the Egyptianized
Baal (Seth) with a was sceptre but no horns ( C o r n e l i u s 1994, Pll.
35-38, 40).
O t h e r stelae with a prominent iconography that need to be mentioned are the so-called 'treaty stelae' RS 7.116 (Aleppo 4418 =
ANEP 608, Yon 1991a, 303-5, Figs. 7:9, 15a [No. 9]) and the
stela with a seated older god with a king in attendance in front of
him R S 8.295 (Aleppo 4622 = ANEP 493, Yon 1991a, 305-7,
Figs. 7:10, 16a [No. 10]), usually identified as depicting the chief
god El.
As far as the iconography of the deities of Ugarit ( C a q u o t
S z n y c e r 1980; and C o r n e l i u s 1994 and forthcoming) is conccrned,
there are three other stelae as well, R S 2.[033], 2.[038], 4.429 +
5.044 + 5.202 (Louvre A O 13.174, Aleppo 4625, Aleppo 4624 =
ANEP 491-2, 489, Yon 1991a, 288-93, 2 9 9 - 3 0 1 , Figs. 6:2-3, 7:6,
9a, 9c, 13a [Nos. 2 - 3 , 6]): (i) a male with a spear and a crook and
upturned shoes, and a feathered headdress; (ii) a female wrapped in
wings; and (iii) another male with a sword and a sceptre or spear.

It is unclear whether the males are really gods, but the female may
be a goddess because of the resemblance with the Egyptian goddesses Nut and Mut. In addition one could mention stelae depicting menacing gods and a god with a bow and shield (Yon 1991b,
Fig. 7: Nos. 11-15, 17). Because of the bow Nos. 13-14 may be the
god Reshep and No. 17 perhaps Reshep, due to the quiver and
shield ( C o r n e l i u s 1994, 252-3). 6 An aniconic stela (RS 3.487 =
Louvre 14.919 = C a ^ u o t - S z n y c e r 1980, Pl. X X V I ; Y o n 1991a,
2 9 3 - 4 , Figs. 6:4, 10a [No. 4]) shows a four-pointed star on its top,
presumably to be connected with El because of the resemblance with
the star on the El relief (ANEP
493).

Metal-work

3.1

Statuettes

Small bronze statuettes from the Syro-Palestinian region depicting


deities ( N e g b i 1 9 7 6 ) are of three types:
(i) 'warrior', 'standing a r m e d ' or 'smiting or menacing' figurines;
(ii) the seated peaceful ones and
(iii) standing 'peace figurines'.
In the past the bronzes depicting the menacing or smiting god (e.g.
C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1980, Pis. V I I I b - I X ) were too easily identified
with a specific deity without taking into account any specific criteria ( C o r n e l i u s 1994, 125ff.). Both the gods Baal and Reshep are
depicted in this way and the only difference lies in the weapons
in the case of Baal the plant-spear and with Reshep the bow. Because
of the prominent horns of the bronze R S 7.160 (Louvre A O 18.511 =
C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1980, PI. IXc) similar to the horns of Fig. 11,
it may be Baal (Fig. 12). A bronze from Ugarit depicting Reshep
could thus far not be identified.
T h e seated peaceful type of bronze (13,5 cm) with gold covering
can be identified with El (RS 2 3 . 3 9 4 = Damascus S 3 5 7 3 =
ANEP
7
8 2 6 , in colour in W e i s s 1 9 8 5 , 3 1 5 ) comparable to the stone statuette

In this regard the figure with the bow (YON 1991a, 327 Fig. 7: Nos. 13-4) has
to be added to the material collected in C O R N E L I U S 1994 (esp. 2 5 3 ) .
7
But it is catalogue No. 134 and not 133!

Fig. 12

Menacing god

(Fig. 10) and the relief mentioned above. T h e seated female Louvre
A O 19.397 (ANEP 480) may be the creatress Athirat, the 'mother
of the gods'. She is also shown standing with her hand in a gesture
of blessing (RS 23.395 = Damascus S 3574 = C a q u o t - S z n y c e r
1980, PI. XlVa) as is the case with with her consort El (relief and
bronze statuette = ANEP 493 and 826).
A 10 cm bull figurine of bronze (RS 23.391) which functioned as
a cultic image hails from Ugarit (ANEP 828), like the one from
Hazor (ANEP 832) and another famous example from Ashkelon.
A Horus falcon in bronze (inlaid with gold) with uraeus between its
legs comes from the royal necropolis (Aleppo 4532 = W e i s s 1985,
No. 137). Weights of bronze and lead in the form of a bull and a
lion 9 and 7.6 cm in length respectively (Aleppo 4516, 4520 = W e i s s
1985, No. 128) as well as a portrait-like h u m a n head ( S c h a e f f e r
1939, Pl. X X I ) were also found.

3.2

Weapons and bowls

A sword with the name of pharaoh Merenptah was found at Ugarit,


but more important as far as iconography is concernedand quite
impressive from a technical point of viewis an axe (19.7 cm) with
a meteoritic iron blade with bronze socket damascened in gold, decorated in the form of two heads, of a lion and a boar, on the back
(Aleppo 4 5 2 0 = S c h a e f f e r 1 9 3 9 , 1 0 7 f f . , in colour in W e i s s 1 9 8 5 ,
317

[No.

157]).

From an artistic point of view the two famous golden objects found
near the Baal temple merit mentioning: a patera (with a flat base
and vertical sides) and a bowl ( S c h a e f f e r 1 9 4 9 , 1 - 4 8 ) . T h e repouss
decoration is exceptionally beautifully d o n e o n the outside and the
inside. Both examples show definite Egyptian influence, but also
reflect Aegean motifs.
In the first case (Louvre A O 17.208 = ANEP 183) the bearded
king with bow and quiver on his backaccompanied by his dog
is hunting wild cattle (two bulls and a cow with her calf) and an
ibex from his four-spoked-wheel chariot. T h e inside pattern has four
striding goats (looking like unicorns!). T h e circular movement of the
charioteer and galloping animals is well executed, and one gets a
sense of the whirling movement (Fig. 13).
T h e second example (diam. 1 7 cm Aleppo 4 5 7 2 = colour W e i s s

1985, 318 [No. 158]) is even more elaborately decorated and has
three concentric friezes. O n the bottom is a rosette and a guilloche
pattern above the second and third frieze. In the first frieze are five
galloping ibexes next to plants; in the second one there are two bulls
and two lions with stylized plants between them and pomegranates above
them. T h e outer frieze depicts scenes of batdes (from the left) between
two h u m a n heroes and a lion protecting a reclining stag, a lion killing an ibex, a lion attacking a squatting griffin, in between a winged
sphinx and horned winged lion facing a plant, ibexes, and lions
attacking bulls. T h e r e are branches between all the animals, and
birds (vultures?) above the lions attacking the bulls and the ibexes.

3.3

Pendants

Pendants and plaques are decorated with stars or the head of a goddess with H a t h o r coiffure, navel and pubic triangle, but quite a few
examples of the 'Qedeshet'-type have been published which show a
naked female facing the front and holding plants and animals (e.g.
B
C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1980, Pis. X V I I - X I X ) . T h e best example comes
from the harbour of Ugarit (Louvre A O 14.714 = C a q u o t - S z n y c e r
1980, PI. X l X b ) and shows a naked w o m a n standing on a lion holding horned animals (antelopes?) by their feet. Behind her waist are
stars and interwoven serpents (Fig. 5). O t h e r pendants show a seated
women holding plants ( N e g b i 1976, Nos. 1703-4).

Ivories

Excavations at Ugarit have revealed the largest collection of ivories


from Late Bronze Age Syria, with motifs reflecting local traditions but
also Egyptian, Hittite and Aegean influences. T h e ivories ( G a c h e t
1 9 8 7 , 1 9 9 2 and C a u b e t 1 9 9 5 , 2 6 8 7 - 8 ) correspond well with what is
found in a Ugaritic text mentioning beds, chairs and cosmetic boxes.
T h e most famous item is the bed panel presently in Damascus
( R S 16.56 = C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1980, Pis. X X V I I I - X X I X ; linedrawing in C a u b e t - P o p l i n 1987, 285, Fig. 17; cf. ANEP 817-8,
829) called by S c h a e f f e r (1954b) the largest single-piece ivory carving from the Near East (2,4 m x 1,2 m). T h e r e are 16 narrative
friezes on various vertical panels: borders with sacred trees, fighting
animals, winged lions flanking trees. O n the main panels from the
upper left are depicted: (i) a naked w o m a n with an ankh symbol and
a flower; (ii) an Egyptian king slaying a lion; (iii) a king smiting an
Asiatic; (iv) soldiers; (v) a figure carrying a lion; (vi) a male in a gesture of adoration; (vii) a m a n carrying an ibex; (viii) a hunter with
deer; (ix) a lady (queen?) with a vase and a flower; (x) the famous
winged horned goddess (identified either as representing Anat or
Asherah) giving suck to two lads; (xi) a caressing pair; and (xii)
another warrior (Fig. 6). T h e Egyptian style and motifs are prominent, reminiscent of the free style of Amarna.

These will be published in extenso by the author in a study of the iconography


of the Late Bronze Age Syro-Palestinian goddesses ( C O R N E L I U S forthcoming).

Fig. 14

'Qedeshet'-type gold pendant

Fig. 15

Ivory bed panel: royal couple caressing

Secondly, mention should be m a d e of the box cover from Minet


el-Beida (137 mm) now in the Louvre (AO 11.601 = ANEP 464;
C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1980, Pis. I V - V ) depicting a seated 'lady of the
beasts' (.Potniatheron). Scholars have shown the Aegean influences at
work in this piece. Another pyxis with decoration was found in the
temple of the rhytons ( C a u b e t - P o p l i n 1987, 268, P I . 3). A lesser
known ivory tray (more than 1 metre in diam. R S 17.418 = Damascus
4507 = L a g a r c e 1983, Pl. X C V I I L l , line-drawing in C a u b e t P o p l i n 1987, 288, Fig. 20) depicts motifs reminiscent of the golden
bowl discussed earlier.
Figurines are represented by a small head of a queen with a high
headdress and stylized curls (some consider it to be male) (ANEP
8 1 6 ) now in Damascus. Very interesting is a trumpet cut out of
a whole elephant's tusk depicting a naked w o m a n between sphinxes
(Damascus R S 16.404 = C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1980, P I . XVIIIa, linedrawing C a u b e t - P o p l i n 1987, 287, Fig. 19; cf. C a u b e t 1996a, 30
Fig. 9). Small ivory ointment containers are in the form of a swimming duck and a female d r u m m e r (Aleppo 4535 and Damascus
S 3602 [RS 24.400] = W e i s s 1985, Nos. 153-154).

Glyptic

Different types of seals were found at Ugarit: cylinders, scarabs in


the Hyksos tradition ( S c h a e f f e r 1 9 3 9 , Pl. V), seal rings and Hittite
seals and impressions ( S c h a e f f e r 1 9 5 6 , Iff.). T h e detailed studies of
A m i e t ( 1 9 9 2 ) and S c h a e f f e r - F o r r e r ( 1 9 8 3 ) deal with the types
and motifs of the cylinder seals. T h e iconography is of a religious
type (deities, worshipping and mythological scenes), decorative (plants
and animals) and there are royal seals as well.
Only one example has been selected, a haematite cylinder from
Minet el-Beida ( R S 3 . 0 4 1 = Louvre A O 1 4 . 8 1 1 = A m i e t 1 9 9 2 , 5 3 ,
5 8 , No. 4 7 , S c h a e f f e r - F o r r e r 1 9 8 3 , 1 2 - 1 3 = Fig. 1 6 ) reflecting
an Egyptianized style but also Asiatic traditions. A seated pharaoh
is shooting at animals: a bird, a lion and an ibex. Behind him is a
figure with one h a n d raised and an object in the other.

Fig. 16

Cylinder-seal impression (Minet el-Beidah)


6

Ceramics

and

Faience

S c h a e f f e r (1949, 1 3 0 - 3 0 0 ) and C o u r t o i s (1978) presented the corpus


of pottery from Ugarit. Pottery was mostly manufactured locally, but
there are many examples of imports from the eastern Mediterranean,
which indicate international contexts (Minoan types of pottery go
back to the 4th millennium bce). T h e decoration is in some cases
of Mycenaean origin ( W e i s s 1985, Nos. 141-142). In the temple of
the rhytons were found 17 rhytons, local Syrian ones and Cretan
and Mycenaean imports (Yon 1996, 415; cf. Figs. 4 e - f ) (Fig. 17).

A decorated pottery m u g from the house of a priest (RS 24.440 =


Damascus 6886 = C o r n e l i u s 1994, 225, PI. 51 [BP1], Fig. 55) may
depict the standing Baal serving the seated El. T h e fragments of an
alabaster container is decorated with a queen in Egyptian style serving a seated male, presumably king Niqmad (hieroglyphs!) and his
queen ( S c h a e f f e r 1956, 164ff.; W e i s s 1985, No. 156).
Objects in terracotta have animals but also naked women (goddesses?) and Mycenaean 'idols' ( M o n l o u p 1987). A terracotta 'stand'
(75 cm) from the temple of the rhytons (RS 78.41 + 81.3659 = Yon
1996, Fig. 4d), now restored, shows a figure dressed as a priest (or
a king at prayer), with an Egyptianized winged sun-disk above and

' '

J
w

Fig. 17

V?

Decorated Rhyton

m m

a floral pattern. O n a terracotta libation tube (78 x 35 cm) are depictions of a menacing god holding a bird, a bull, a bird and a deer,
an ibex and a bull ( R S 2 4 . 6 2 7 = C o u r t o i s 1 9 6 9 , 9 8 - 9 9 , Figs. 5 A - D ;
cf. C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1 9 8 0 , PI. XlVb). Zoomorphic containers
include terracottas in the form of a bull ( R S 6 1 . 2 4 . 4 3 5 ) and the
head of a lion ( R S 5 2 . 1 6 . 5 2 ) (Damascus S 6 8 8 3 and 4 2 1 7 = W e i s s
1 9 8 5 , Nos. 1 3 9 [colour on p. 3 1 4 ] - 1 4 0 ) .
Faience containers also reflect local and foreign styles (Damascus
S 6 8 8 1 , Aleppo 6 2 0 3 = W e i s s 1 9 8 5 , Nos. 1 4 3 - 4 , colour on p. 3 1 6 ) .
O t h e r examples reflect Egyptian styles, e.g. a plate with fish and
lotus buds (RS 6 3 . 2 6 . 2 5 6 = Damascus S 7 1 7 9 = W e i s s 1 9 8 5 , No.
1 4 7 [colour p. 3 1 7 ] ) . T h e r e is a spoon-shaped bowl with a handle
ending in a duck's head (Aleppo 4 5 5 7 = W e i s s 1 9 8 5 , No. 1 4 5 , colour
on p. 3 1 6 ) , a double-faced cup ( W e i s s 1 9 8 5 , No. 1 4 6 ) , and a vase
in the shape of the head of a female (Louvre A O 1 5 . 7 2 5 = C a q u o t
S z n y c e r 1980, PI. XVb). According to C a u b e t (1995, 2685) the
last item was manufactured locally. Such examples were found as
far afield as U r and Rhodes. A frit model is in the form of a chariot with two riders (Louvre A O 18.522 = C a q u o t - S z n y c e r 1980,
PI. XXVIIb).
Finally, mention should be made of a limestone lotion container
from a child's tomb showing a Nubian boy ( R S 2 2 . 3 6 2 = Damascus
S

3575

Weiss

1985,

No.

155).

Conclusions

T h e items discussed have shown to what extent the art of Ugarit


was influenced by iconographie motifs from Egypt (ivory duck and
bronze falcon) and the Aegean (decorated pottery, ivories and femalefaced cup). T h e golden bowls reflect both Egyptian and Aegean styles
and die 'Baal stela' Syrian, Anatolian and Egyptian elements. Therefore,
it has to be asked whether Ugaritic art and iconography are really
unique or only a mere imitation as G r a y (1964b, 161, 1 8 1 ) seems
to argue.
In the art and iconography of Ugarit we find a combination of
local Syrian art and Egyptian a n d Aegean influences, which is
due to the contacts in this cosmopolitan centre, where many ideas
from all over the Eastern Mediterranean world commingled. Ugaritic art is 'peripheral' ( F r a n k f o r t 1979, 207, 244, 254ff.), but perhaps

its uniqueness lies in the success achieved in taking from the best
available and creating a new artistic tradition (cf. also K h n e 1980,
92).9 Ugarit produced no surviving large reliefs or paintings on the
scale of Egypt and Mesopotamia, but her artists still produced works
of art which stand out in the region of Syro-Palestine (Yon 1992a, 705).
This art had its influence in later periods as well ( L a g a r c e 1983).

9
A so-called peripheral culture draws in a creative and innovative way from the
ideas of the great culturescf. G N U S E 1 9 9 7 , 2 1 Iff.

C H A P T E R FIFTEEN
A

POLITICAL

H I S T O R Y

Itamar

U G A R I T

Singer

Preliminary

1.1

O F

Remarks

History of research

With seventy years of nearly continuous excavation, Ras ShamraUgarit qualifies as the most intensively explored city in Syria. In the
last two centuries before her downfall it is also the best documented
city in the Levant, due to a rare combination of a sizeable excavated area which remained mostly uninhabited in later periods, and
the discovery of the largest and most diverse archives between Hattua
and A m a r n a . T h e importance of Ugarit's history exceeds by far the
local and the regional level, and for the complex questions concerning the transition between the Bronze and the Iron Age, it is a
main landmark, providing a unique combination of archaeological
and textual sources.
T h e first steps towards the reconstruction of Ugarit's history were
made by the illustrious epigrapher J . Nougayrol, who classified the
texts and provided concise commentaries in the Akkadian text volumes [PRU 3, 4, 6 and Ug 5). Similar, though shorter, comments
were appended by C. Virolleaud in the volumes of Ugaritic texts
(PRU 2, 5). These early efforts have been continued by the present
epigraphic teams of the expedition in their publications of the new
texts ( R S O 7).
T h e first comprehensive histories of Ugarit were published in the
sixties: Liverani's Italian monograph ( L i v e r a n i 1962) and the more
general surveys of R a i n e y (1965b) and D r o w e r (1975) are limited
to the age of Ugarit's archives in the 14th and 13th centuries.
Klengel's chapter on Ugarit ( K l e n g e l 1969) includes the earlier evidence as well. T h e publication of numerous new texts, especially
relating to the final phases of Ugarit's history, has prompted a new
compendium by Liverani ( L i v e r a n i 1979a), which remains till now

the only full-scale history of Ugarit. It covers not only political history, but also various demographic, socio-economic, and cultural topics. Klengel has also updated his chapter on Ugarit in his latest
handbook on Syria ( K l e n g e l 1992). M a n y historical studies have
since been written, mostly restricted to a specific period or topic.' It
seems, however, that Ugarit's political history received in recent years
less attention than its society, economy and administration, 2 not to
mention its religion and literature.
T h e present attempt (which has already surpassed the space limitations set by the editors of this Handbook) deals primarily with the
political history of Ugarit throughout the second millennium bce.
Socio-economic and cultural issues are only occasionally mentioned,
although the chapter dealing wath Ugarit's foreign relations is mostly
concerned with international trade.

1.2

Sources

T h e main source for the history of Ugarit are its own archives.
Several thousand cuneiform tablets written in Akkadian and Ugaritic
were found in the palace archives and in several 'private' archives
throughout the city, as well as at Ras Ibn Hani on the coast, perhaps a summer residence of the kings of Ugarit. 3 T h e most valuable
texts for the reconstruction of the political history of Ugarit are the
international letters, the treaties concluded with Hatti and Amurru,
and the various decrees and legal verdicts issued by the Hittite authorities. T h e r e is also, of course, a wealth of historical information
to be extracted from legal, administrative, and even literary texts.
Most of the relevant texts are written in syllabic Akkadian, but
some, especially letters, are written in alphabetic Ugaritic which is
' Various articles on the history of Ugarit are included in the proceedings of
conferences dedicated to Ugarit and to the end of the Bronze Age: G . D . Y O U N G
1981; WARD

1 9 9 2 ; B R O O K E " / al.

1 9 9 4 ; DIETRICH -

LORETZ

1 9 9 5 ; Y O N et al.

1995.

See also D U P O N T 1 9 8 7 on the late history of Ugarit, and I Z R E ' E L - S I N G E R 1 9 9 0


on the 'General's Letter'.
2
See, e.g., Heltzer's monographs on the rural community ( H E L T Z E R 1976), on
trade ( H E L T Z E R 1978a), and on the internal organization ( H E L T Z E R 1982). See further G . I . M I L L E R 1980 and L I B O L T 1985 on the juridical texts, A M I C O 1989 on the
status of women, A B O U D 1994 on the royal family, and V I T A 1995a on the army.
3
For the archives and scribal activity in Ugarit, see R A I N E Y 1969; VAN S O L D T
1986; 1991a, 47-231; L I V E R A N I 1988b; L A C K E N B A C H E R 1995a. The texts and other
inscribed objects found up to 1988 are conveniently listed in the catalogue of
BORDREUIL -

PARDEE

1989.

far less well understood. 4 Due to inherent difficulties in the correct


rendering of non-formulaic phrases, a difficult passage may sometimes produce diametrically opposed interpretations and historical
reconstructions, which are then perpetuated in general textbooks. 0
As a rule, it seems advisable to adopt far-reaching interpretations
based on difficult Ugaritic texts only if they are supported by more
reliable Akkadian evidence.
It is not surprising to find a cosmopolitan city that has been
described as 'probably the first great international port in history'
( C u l i c a n 1966, 46) mentioned in several foreign archives, including
(in chronological order) Eb1a(?), Mari, Alalah, A m a r n a , Hattusa,
Emar, Aphek, as well as various inscriptions from Egypt. T h e CyproMinoan documents from Cyprus and from Ras Shamra must also
contain evidence reflecting on Ugarit, but they have so far resisted
decipherment.
Although most of this study is obviously based on written sources,
some use is also made of the rich archaeological evidence, especially
with regard to Ugarit's urban development and its destruction by
h u m a n and natural forces. Of particular importance are the archaeological data pertaining to the city's final destruction at the beginning
of the 12th century, and the Iron Age resettlement of the port-town
of Ras Ibn Hani. T h e combination of textual and archaeological
data will no doubt become increasingly important in the coming
years thanks to the meticulous and reliable investigations conducted
by the new excavation teams of Ras Shamra and its vicinity. 6 Finally,
a word of caution should be added on the limitations of this study
with regard to its sources. T h o u g h it is often the fate of the historian that his reconstructions are invalidated by fresh discoveries, in
this case the new relevant documents have already been unearthed
and await publication. I refer mainly to the 134 letters (about twenty
in Ugaritic) found in 1994 in the 'House of Urtenu'. T h e preliminary reports ( B o r d r e u i l - M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1 9 9 5 ; M a l b r a n - L a b a t
4

There are also some Hurrian texts, mostly of religious character (n. 58), a few
Hittite texts (p. 650), half a dozen undeciphered Cypro-Minoan inscriptions (n. 234),
and several Egyptian inscriptions on stone (p. 711). The contribution of these texts
to Ugarit's history is marginal at present.
5
As an example may serve Astour's widely-quoted article on the end of Ugarit
( A S T O U R 1965), which includes some far-reaching historical reconstructions based on
poorly understood Ugaritic letters (e.g., K T U 2.40 = RS 18.040 = PRU 5, 63).
6
For an up-to-date general survey on the site of Ras Shamra (with ample refs.
to specific literature), see YON 1997, 1998ab.

1995b; L a c k e n b a c h e r 1995a) provide an appedzing glance into the


richness of this treasure trove, and obviously the history of the last
decades of Ugarit will have to be rewritten once these texts (and
those of subsequent seasons) are fully published.

1.3

Spelling of names

A note is due on the reading of PNs in syllabic and alphabetic texts.


M a n y of the names occurring in Akkadian texts are spelled logographically and their reading is open to speculation. It was customary in
the past to normalize these names as m u c h as possible, by deciding,
sometimes quite arbitrarily, in which language to read them: Akkadian,
West Semitic, Hurrian, Hittite. As a rule, Nougayrol's readings were
uncritically accepted a n d perpetuated in Ugaritic studies. Although
in most cases these readings are probably correct, some of them are
certainly not, and they can lead to mistaken prosopographies a n d
historical interpretations. T o give one example: a certain g u r - d i n g i r lim is the author of a letter sent to the king of Ugarit dealing with
some border incidents (RS 17.394 + 427 = PRU 4, 220; see n. 192).
Nougayrol rendered the ideogram G U R , 'return', with its Akkadian
value Itur (see also G r o n d a h l 1967, 328). A king Itur-lim is not otherwise attested at Ugarit, and thus he remained in splendid isolation
with a dossier of his own (IX A 4). However, if we apply a West
Semitic value (see n. 190), we obtain the reading Sb-ilim, which is
borne by a king of Siyannu-Unatu (Sa-bi-OiNGiR-lim] R S 17.341 =
PRU 4, 161 ff.), probably identical with the author of PRU 4, 220.
T h e document may now be evaluated for its historical information
(see p. 664). As a rule, I have abstained from unproven normalizations a n d have adhered to the logographic spelling, indicating the
suggested reading in parentheses. T h e same applies to Ugaritic names
whose vocalization is not certain. Here also, I have given the original spelling, indicating in parentheses the possible vocalization: e.g.,
Iwrkl (Ewri-kili?), Trgds (Tarfiundisa?), etc.

1.4

Chrono logy

T h e relative chronology of the last two centuries of the history of


Ugarit is by now well established. 7 T h e line of eight kings from
' For the evidence for the chronological framework of the archives of Ugarit, see
1991a, Part I.

VAN S O L D T

Ammittamru I in the first half of the 14th century to A m m u r a p i at


the turn of the 13th is safely set, 8 but we lack direct information on
the length of each individual reign. For the long centuries preceding the A m a r n a Age we have practically no chronological data, and
the few early kings of Ugarit who are known to us from the Ugaritic
King List and from other isolated sources 9 cannot be set into a controlled chronological framework. T h e absolute chronology of Ugarit
in the LBA is dependent on synchronisms with the great powers of
the era. As the hub of a lucrative international trade, Ugarit's contacts reached out to most of the ancient N e a r East, and there are
indeed good synchronisms with Egypt, Assyria, and of course Hatti
and its Syrian dependencies. Ugarit still has much to contribute in
linking together the absolute chronological systems of the ancient
Near East, and important data keep streaming out from the new
Urtenu archive.
T h e absolute chronologies followed in this study are laid down
below, but obviously a justification for their acceptance cannot be
presented here. 10 For New Kingdom Egypt there is a growing preference for the low chronology, based on 1479 for the accession of
T u t h m o s i s III a n d 1279 for the accession of Ramesses I I . " In
Mesopotamia the Old Babylonian middle chronology, with H a m m u rapi's accession in 1792, is followed, although there is not much reference to this period in the history of Ugarit. More relevant are the
still debated dates of the Middle Assyrian kings, where I follow the
lower chronology, with 1233 for the accession of Tukulti-Ninurta,
suggested by B o e s e - W i l h e l m 1 9 7 9 . 1 2 Like the Levant, Anatolia
does not have an independent chronological system, and the dates
of the Hittite kings depend on synchronisms with Mesopotamia and
Egypt. T h e major recent development in Hittite chronology is the

For the elimination of the alleged 'Niqmaddu IIa' (inserted between Niqmepa
and Ammittamru II), see p. 694.
9
Ibira<nu> in RS 4.449 (. 54), and possibly Puruqqu in A T *358 (p. 619).
10
T h e dates given in the table of synchronisms for the kings of Egypt and Aur
are quoted from K I T C H E N 1 9 8 7 : 5 2 , and B O E S E
W I L H E L M 1 9 7 9 , 3 8 , respectively.
T h e approximate dates for the kings of Ugarit are mine.
11

WENTE

VAN

SICLEN

1976;

KRAUSS

1978;

HORNUNG

1987;

KITCHEN

1987;

1994a, 1994b. Cf. also H E L C K 1987 and 1995 for the Ramesses
II date. For a different view, see A S T O U R 1989, 4 - 5 .
12
See further K H N E 1982: 224, 229-30; W I L H E L M 1991; F R E Y D A N K 1991a: 11,
. 3, 32; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 44. These dates are about ten years lower than those
suggested by B R I N K M A N (1977) in combination with Middle Babylonian chronology.
See also B R I N K M A N apud H O U W I N K T E N C A T E 1996, 40.

VON B E C K E R A T H

drastic lowering and reduction of Suppiluliuma I's reign from about


forty to about twenty years ( 1 3 4 3 - 1 3 2 2 / 1 8 ) suggested by W i l h e l m Boese (1987; W i l h e l m
1 9 9 1 ) . It seems that this low chronology,
which tallies with the low chronologies of Egypt and Mesopotamia,
has won increasing support in recent Hittitological studies, 13 though
some scholars would add a few more years at the beginning of uppiluliuma's reign. 14 T h e approximate dates assigned to the kings of
Ugarit have taken into account the recendy suggested synchronisms
with Aur (Ibiranu) a n d with Egypt (Ammurapi). It must be remembered, however, that exact dates cannot be assigned, and even these
relative approximations may change with the publication of new data
from the Urtenu archive. It seems to me, however, that the recent
accumulation of prosopographic data from the archives of Hattua,
Ugarit and Emar, will lead, before too long, to a more accurate
chronological framework for the last century of the Hittite Empire. 1 5

Ugarit

in t h e

2.1

Early

and

the

Middle

Bronze

Ages

Ugarit in the third millennium BCE

T h e excavations of Ugarit have revealed a continuous stratigraphy


of the site from the 8th through to the 2nd millennium bce (Yon
1997b, 19, 25, 34).16 T h e Early Bronze Age city (Level III A) on
the acropolis was of considerable size. Its last phase witnessed a rapid
development in bronze metallurgy. T h e site was deserted around
2200 b c e and remained abandoned for a period of a hundred years
or more (Yon 1997a, 258; 1997b, 26).
In third millennium written documents Ugarit has not yet been
identified with certainty. Both proposed identifications of Ugarit in
the texts from Ebla ( A r c h i 1987)U 9 -ga-ra-at in a list of geographical names and U-gu/g-ra-at/ turn in economic textshave been con-

13
E.g., B R Y C E 1 9 8 9 , 3 0 ; G U R N E Y 1 9 9 0 , 1 8 1 . K L E N G E L 1 9 9 2 , 1 3 2 , . 2 4 4 , does
not take a stand on the new chronology. For a total refutation, see A S T O U R 1 9 8 9 ,

5FF.,
14

15

77.
E.g.,

FREU

1992,

3 9 ; KLINGER

1995,

2 4 7 ; NA'AMAN

1996,

257.

For prosopographical studies on 13th century Hittite nobles and officials, many
of whom are attested in the archives of Ugarit, see VAN DEN H O U T 1995 (with further refs. quoted on p. 1, n. 2 ; see also S I N G E R 1997).
16
For the prehistory of Ugarit, see D E C O N T E N S O N 1 9 9 2 .

tested on both phonetieal and contextual grounds ( B o n e c h i 1993,


309; A s t o u r 1995, 57, n. 11). Unlike Byblos, Ugarit is not mentioned
in the U r III texts, which conforms to the archaeological record.
T h e r e is no certainty that the new settlement of the second millennium bore the same name as the Early Bronze Age city.

2.2

Ugarit in the Amorte Age and the Ugaritic King List

At the beginning of the second millennium bce, Ras S h a m r a was


resetded by tribal groups designated by Schaeffer as the 'necklace
wearers' (porteurs de torques) after the rich metal ornaments discovered
in their tombs ( C o u r t o i s 1979, cols. 115Iff). N o architecture is
known as yet from this first phase of the M B A settlement (Yon
1997b: 26). T h e new urban civilization of Ugarit developed in spectacular fashion from the 19th century onwards (Level II). T h e city
covered almost the entire surface of the m o u n d and was fortified
with a massive rampart covered with a glacis. Schaeffer dated to
this period the two temples on the acropolis and the so-called ' H u m a n
temple' in the palatial quarter ( C o u r t o i s 1979 cols. 1195-6). However,
more recent studies tend to lower their date to the very end of the
MBA, or even to the beginning of the LBA. 17 Sporadic traces of the
MBA city were also found in other areas of the city ( M a l l e t 1990;
1997; C a l l o t 1994, 2 0 3 - 4 ; Y o n 1998a, 127ff). O n the other hand,
a trial pit made in the so-called North Palace in 1994 has shown
that this edifice was first erected in the early part of the LBA ( C a l l o t
1986; 1994, 204; Yon 1997, 258; 1998a, 26, 72), and not in the MBA
as suggested by Schaeffer ( S c h a e f f e r 1970, 209-13; 1972). T h e exact
nature of the transition from the Middle to the LBA at Ugarit has
yet to be determined ( Y o n 1998a, 28; cf. also A r n a u d 1997, 155),
but the marked continuity in material culture and the preservation
of ancient ancestral traditions seem to speak against drastic changes
in the city's population throughout the second millennium bce.
T h e r e are no independent sources from Ugarit on its history in
the first half of the second millennium. T h e documents of the Amorite
Age have not been discovered as yet, 18 and there are no references

17
Y O N 1998a, 2 6 . Note in particular
203 and n. 1) with regard to an early
Temple of Ba'al was partly built over
18
Ugarit plays a prominent role in

the reservations expressed by C A L L O T (1994,


dating, calling attention to the fact that the
a cemetery of the MBA.
the Mari correspondence (see below) and it

to Ugarit's early history in the LBA archives. A notable exception


is the text known as the King List of Ugarit, a most important
Ugaritic text which was found in 1961, but was fully published and
discussed first in the late seventies. 19 T h e very poorly preserved
obverse seems to deal primarily with music, and its relationship with
the king list on the reverse is not clear. 20 T h e reverse is written in
two columns, 21 the left one almost entirely lost. T h e names of the
kings listed in the right-hand column are all preceded by the divine
lexeme il, the significance of which is debated. L i v e r a n i ( 1 9 7 4 , 3 4 0 - 1 ;
see also S c h m i d t 1 9 9 6 ) considered it to be a generic ilu referring to
the (unnamed) personal god of each of the listed kings, or to a single dynastic deity repeated in each entry, i.e. 'the god (of) PN'. Most
commentators, however, maintain that the lexeme ilu deifies the
deceased kings of Ugarit who are ritually invoked ( P a r d e e 1988b,
173, n. 25, with further refs.). This interpretation is supported by
similar lists of deified kings in the ancient Near East, for example
the King List from Ebla, which has the names of ten kings preceded
by the divine marker d i n g i r (ARET V I I 1 5 0 ; A r c h i 1 9 8 6 ; 1 9 8 8 ;
1 9 9 6 , 1 4 - 5 ) . A further parallel with the Eblaite list is the retrograde
order of the royal names, the last n a m e on the right-hand column
being that of the founder of the dynasty, Tqr (Yaqarum). Since the
tablet is damaged both at the top and at the bottom it is impossible
to reconstruct the exact n u m b e r of the listed kings. Earlier estimates,

is inconceivable that no written documents of this period remained at the site. Note,
for example, that Mari Age tablets have been discovered at Hazor, at the southern end of the commercial network operating along the Levant ( H O R O W I T Z 1996,
with refs.). For the possible location of the pre-Amarna Age archives, see n. 87.
19
K T U 1.113 = R S 24.257; P A R D E E 1988b, 165-78. T h e obverse was already
published by Virolleaud in Ug 5, 561-2, but the reverse had to await the 1976 edition of KTU'. A full re-edition, with photographs, was provided in Pardee's study
on the 'para-mythological' texts ( P A R D E E 1988b, ch. 5). From the vast secondary
literature on the text, see in particular those studies which have attempted to reconstruct the list of kings ( K I T C H E N 1977, P A R D E E 1988b; D I J K S T R A 1989; S C H M I D T
1996). Other treatments concentrate mainly on its religious aspects, especially on
the cult of deceased kings; see refs. listed in S C H M I D T 1996, 289, n. 1, and Y O U N G E R
1997, 356-7; W Y A T T 1998C, 3 9 9 - 4 0 3 .
20
S C H A E F F E R ( 1 9 6 3 , 2 1 5 ) noted that the two sides of the tablet exhibit two distinct scripts, with the king list on the reverse written in a smaller, less careful handwriting. P A R D E E (1988b, 1 6 5 ) , however, thinks that the same hand wrote both sides,
the smaller script on the reverse being dictated by limitations of space.
21
T h e dividing line between the two columns is only partially preserved, and
S C H M I D T ( 1 9 9 6 , 2 9 8 - 9 ) maintains that most of the lines span the entire width of
the tablet in one, not two, columns. This would, of course, considerably reduce the
number of listed kings.

however, which reckoned with about thirty names altogether ( K i t c h e n


1977; see also A b o u d 1994, 7 ; S c h m i d t 1996), are probably too
small. Pardee's ( P a r d e e 1988b, 173) thorough reexamination of the
tablet resulted in at least 26 names in each column, i.e. a total of
more than fifty kings. Most of the fifteen well-preserved names recur
in the LBA royal line of Ugarit (Ammittamru, Niqmaddu, Niqmepa,
Ibiranu, A m m u < r a > p i ) , the only names without parallels being Y'drd
(Yaduraddu?) and Yqr (Yaqarum).22 This conservatism in royal namegiving 23 may indicate that ancient dynastic traditions were strictly
preserved by the rulers of Ugarit for many centuries. However, it
should immediately be added that we have no way of examining
the credibility of this list, and one cannot entirely rule out the possibility that it was artificially extended to enhance the respectability
of the ruling dynasty of the LBA ( P a r d e e 1988b, 175, with n. 37).
Obviously, any attempt to calculate the total time-span of the
Ugaritic king list is highly speculative and remains unwarranted unless
corroborated by other independent evidence. 24 Using an average
reign of some twenty years 25 for each of thirty kings, Kitchen arrived
at ca 1800 b c e for the date of Y a q a r u m ( K i t c h e n 1977, 136). T h e
same average with the 52 kings assumed by Pardee would push us
back deep into the third millennium. A more restricted average reignspan of some 15 years 26 would place Y a q a r u m at the very beginning of the second millennium, which would agree better with the
date of his dynastic seal. T h e dynastic cylinder seal was used by the
kings of Ugarit in the 14th-13th centuries, sometimes together with
their own personal seals.27 It had in fact two copies: an original finely
22
As in most studies on the history of Ugarit, the numbering of the kings of the
LBA will not take into consideration these earlier homonymous kings of Ugarit.
Cf., however, A B O U D 1994.
23
As pointed out by L I V E R A N I (1978, 152), the names of the LBA kings of Ugarit
are linguistically archaic, and do not recur in the regular onomasticon of the period.
24
T h e restoration of the name [Pr\q in the last line of the left column, and its
association with 'Puruqqa, the man of Ugarit' in a I^evel VII text from Alalah (AT
*358.6-7; see p. 619), is, as stressed by P A R D E E (1988b, 175-6), tempting but extremely fragile.
25
Eight kings ruled in Ugarit during the ca 160 years extending between the
Amarna Age and the fall of Ugarit, i.e. an average of twenty years for each reign.
26
See, e.g. the cases cited by D I J K S T R A 1 9 8 9 , 1 4 8 , n. 5 1 .
27
N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 5 , xli-xliii; S C H A E F F E R 1 9 5 6 , 6 6 7 7 . There is a rare report on
the falsification (or the unauthorized use) of the 'great seal of the king', i.e., the
dynastic seal ( R S 1 6 . 2 4 9 = PRU 3, 9 7 ; id. p. xxv). A similar case of stealing the
royal seal, apparendy by a citizen of Ura, is reported in a Hittite court protocol

(OTTEN

1967,

59-60).

cut cylinder dated to the MBA, and a much inferior duplicate which
was probably manufactured at a later stage. 28 T h e Akkadian inscription identifies the original seal owner as 'Yaqarum, son of Niqmaddu,
king of Ugarit', who must be identical with Tqr of the Ugaritic King
List. 29 T h e typical presentation scene portrays a seated deity (perhaps the deified king) who is worshipped by a a standing male figure
followed by a supplicant goddess. O n the basis of iconography and
ductus Nougayrol dated the dynastic seal to the early second millennium ( N o u g a y r o l 1955, p. xli).30 T h e prolonged use of dynastic
seals for enhancing the political legitimacy of the ruling royal families is well-known in the Amorite realm of northern Syria. 31 Some
difficulty with this early dating for the founder of the dynasty is
posed by a legal document which quotes a decree issued by Yaqarum,
king of Ugarit, in favour of a certain Ilu-qarradu 3 2 son of Talmiyanu
(RS 16.145 = PRU 3, 169). T h e sealed document is presented to
the court by (the same) Ilu-qarradu in a later lawsuit, which would
apparently indicate that Yaqaru reigned shortly before. 33 Confronted
with the apparent discrepancy between this lawsuit and his dating
of the dynastic seal, Nougayrol suggested that Y a q a r u m became a
sort of dynastic title borne by the kings of Ugarit, like T a b a r n a in
Hatti and Caesar in R o m e ( N o u g a y r o l 1963, 111, n. 10; ibid., 1955,
xxxviii, xliii, n. 3). Another explanation could be that the name of

28
S C H A E F F E R 1 9 5 6 , 7 3 , fig. 9 6 ; N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 5 , pll. XVI XVII. The two cylinders were impressed (for the sake of comparison?) on an anepigraphic tablet found
in the palace archive ( R S 1 6 . 3 9 3 A = Ug 3 , 7 6 , fig. 9 9 ; PRU 3 , pl. XVII, fig. 2 5 ) .
29
Yaqarum's father in the seal and his successor in the King List are both named
Niqmaddu, which indicates that papponymy was already practised at the outset of
the dynasty. Since Yaqarum's father does not appear in the King List, apparently
he was not considered to be a king in the historical tradition of Ugarit.
30
A R N A U D (1997, 158ff.) has recently questioned Nougayrol's dating and suggested a mid-15th century date instead, in conformity with his new dating of
Yaqarum on the basis of unpublished material (see n. 33). He compares the iconography of the seal with the yet unpublished cylinder seal of Uri-Teub, and claims
that the cuneiform sign forms are archaizing.
31
T o the inscribed dynastic cylinder seals from Ugarit, Alalah and Emar listed
by A U E R B A C H (1991) one may add the anepigraphic cylinder seal of Aziru, which
is also fashioned in a typical Amorite style (Ug 3, figs. 44-45).
32
This reading of the name is proposed by A R N A U D 1996, 48, . 6, replacing
Nougayrol's d Qarradu.
33
A R N A U D (1996, 48, . 6; 1997, 155, . 28) has noted in passing that according to unpublished documents Yaqarum was a contemporary of Idrimi of Alalah
who ruled at the turn of the 15th century. Until the evidence for this drastic change
in Yaqarum's dating is presented we follow the traditional view based on Tqr's relative place in the Ugaritic King List.

Y a q a r u m was simply copied from the dynastic seal and quoted as


a source of authority ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 14, n. 130). This possibility is supported by a very fragmentary legal text in which the dynastic seal is designated as both 'the seal of Y a q a r u m ' and as '[the seal
(of Niqmepa, son) of Niqmad]du, king of Ugarit' (RS 17.053 = PRU
6, 27, no. 25).
Despite the deplorable scarcity of data on the earliest phases of
Ugarit's history, the combined evidence of the dynastic seal and the
Ugaritic King List seems to indicate that the kings of 14th-13th century Ugarit traced back the origins of their royal house to the outset of the second millennium bce. 34 Unless both documents reflect
an ingenious late attempt at an artificial extension of the dynasty's
history, 35 the foundations of the kingdom of Ugarit seem to be firmly
set within the context of the Amorite expansion in Mesopotamia and
Syria at the turn of the second millennium bce. This conclusion is
also supported by various cultural elements, such as Ugaritic language, 3 6 religion and mythology. 3 7 An intriguing reference to the
ancestors of the dynasty is found in a late 13th century liturgical
text lamenting the death of N i q m a d d u III and hailing the new king
A m m u r a p i ( K T U 1.161 = R S 34.126 = R S O 7, no. 90). T h e spirits invoked include the 'Council of the Ddr (qbs ddn), who also occur
in the Krt epic {qbs dtn\ K T U 1.15 = RS 3.343+ iii 4, 15). Ugaritic
Dtn/Ddn has convincingly been identified with D i d n u m / D i t n u m /
T i d n u m , an Amorite tribal group inhabiting northeastern Syria from
the late 3rd millennium b c e onwards (for refs. see L e v i n e - d e T a r r a g o n
1984, 654-5). They are also encountered as ancient eponyms
in the Assyrian King List, a further indication for the common ancestry of the various Amorite tribes.
M a n y attempts have been made to locate the original homeland
of the Ugaritians more exactly on the basis of various cultural and

34

T o be sure, this does not necessarily mean that an unbroken dynastic line
remained in power for eight centuries or so, a possibility which was already questioned by N O U G A Y R O L , 1 9 5 5 , xli-ii. See also D I J K S T R A 1 9 8 9 , 1 4 8 .
35
For the function of genealogies and the problem of their historicity, see the
references quoted in P A R D E E 1988b, 175, n. 37.
36
For the place of Ugaritic among the Semitic languages, see P A R D E E 1 9 9 7 C ,
with refs. to the vast literature on the subject. He concludes (p. 131) with the statement that 'Ugaritic shows archaic features characteristic of old Canaanite and it
may be a remnant of a Western "Amorite" dialect.'
37
For the Amorite sources of Ugaritic mythology, see, e.g., D U R A N D 1993;
B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1993, VVYATT 1998a.

linguistic traits. A survey of these laborious quests, extending from


the Euphrates to the plains of the Bashan, is beyond the scope of
this historical overview. 38 However, mention should be made in passing of the latest current of theories hinging upon the recent discovery at Ugarit of a cuneiform abecedary arranged in the order of the
South Semitic alphabet ( B o r d r e u i l - P a r d e e 1995a; H a y a j n e h T r o p p e r 1997). This prompted a re-examination of the relationship
between the Ugaritic and (proto-) Arabic languages leading to the
suggestion that southern ethnic elements migrated to Ugarit towards
the middle of the second millennium b c e ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z 1989,
111-2; D i e t r i c h - M a y e r
1995, 39). O t h e r explanations for the
appearance of two different orders of the alphabet at Ugarit may
also be suggested (see e.g. R l l i g 1998), and the whole issue needs
to be further investigated. At any rate, it is well to note that there
seems to be nothing in the archaeological record of Ugarit that would
point to a sudden change in its material culture during the second
millennium bce. O n the contrary, the marked continuity of Ugarit's
culture seems to speak against any major changes in the composition of the city's population.

2.3

The Levant and the Egyptian Middle Kingdom

T h e question of the nature of Egyptian involvement in Asia during


the 12th and the 13th dynasties is one of the recurring problems
arousing arduous debates. 39 T h e early view, as stated for example
by A l b r i g h t (1935, 221), was that 'the Pharaohs of the 12th Dynasty
claimed, and often held, the suzerainty over Palestine and Phoenicia,
extending their influence as far as Ugarit and Q a t n a ' . It has also
been argued that the Egyptian officials took their sculptures to their
outposts for eventual burial in the Levant ( G i v e o n 1981, 57). A
closer scrutiny of the archaeological evidence has shown that the
Middle Kingdom statues of Egyptian kings and nobility excavated
in the Levant, including Ugarit, were deposited in their findspots
decades or centuries after their manufacture, and therefore could not
provide evidence for Egyptian occupation ( W e i n s t e i n 1975, 1-16).

38

For the location of places mentioned in Ugaritic myths and rituals, see, e.g.,
1981a; VAN S O L D T 1994, 369 (with extensive refs.).
39
For an updated state-of-the-art survey, with extensive references to primary
and secondary sources, see R E D F O R D 1992, ch. 4.
MARGALIT

Moreover, the inscriptions on these statues clearly indicate that they


were originally erected in temples and graves in Egypt itself and
have no connection whatsoever to their secondary findspots ( H e l c k
1 9 9 5 , 8 8 - 9 ) . T h e alternative explanation is that the Middle Kingdom
statues found throughout the Levant, and even as far as southern
Anatolia and Crete, owe their provenance to a vast pillage of royal
and private tombs by Hyksos rulers, who then traded their prestigious
loot at foreign courts ( H e l c k 1 9 7 6 , 1 0 1 - 1 4 ; 1 9 9 5 , 8 7 - 9 0 ; see also
C o u r t o i s 1 9 7 9 : cols. 1 1 5 5 - 6 ) . O t h e r scholars have fully rejected this
alternative theory (e.g., G i v e o n 1 9 8 1 , 5 7 ) , or have taken a 'middle
road' by suggesting a distinction between royal and private statues,
the former being indeed sent as diplomatic presents by Middle Kingdom Pharaohs ( W a r d 1 9 7 9 , 7 9 9 ; S c a n d o n e - M a t t h i a e 1 9 8 9 , 135ffi).
T h e controversy over this early Egyptian presence in the Levant
received an additional boost with the publication in 1980 of an
inscription of Amenemhet II describing the dispatch of a sea-borne
military force to Khenty-she, i.e. the Phoenician coast. 40 T h e main
problem is the identification of two fortified towns, Iw3y and I3sy,
which were destroyed by the Egyptian task force, capturing 1554
Asiatics and a very large a m o u n t of booty, including weapons, copper ingots, and luxury vessels of gold and lapis lazuli. T h e second
name is identified by some with A1aia/Cyprus, but the evidence is
questionable. 41 For the first name H e l c k (1989, 28) suggested an
identification with U r a on the Cilician coast, which is most unlikely.
From the presently available evidence it would seem that the 12th
dynasty kings carried out occasional military operations in the inland of Palestine and maintained a more permanent presence along
the Lebanese coast, especially at Byblos. T h e r e is no evidence, however, for an Egyptian presence as far north as Ugarit, neither of a
diplomatic, nor of a military character. This also tallies with the geographical horizon of the Egyptian Execration Texts, where the northernmost localities are Ullaza a n d A r q a t a in the area of Tripoli
( R e d f o r d 1992, 87ff.). As for the Middle Kingdom statuary, both
the archaeological and the inscriptional evidence lend strong support
to Helck's suggestion that we have to do with one of the earliest
40

See R E D F O R D 1 9 9 2 , 7 8 - 9 (with earlier literature). The inscription was published by ALTENMLLER - M O U S S A 1 9 9 1 ; M A L E K - Q U I R K E 1 9 9 2 .


41
Helck first argued for a location of Asiya in southwest Anatolia ( H E L C K 1983),
but later (1989, 109; 1995, 90) identified I3sy in the Amenemhet II inscription with
A1aia/Cyprus.

examples of the 'antiquities trade', distantly recalling the R o m a n pillage of Greek statuary.
W h a t does Ugarit contribute to this vexed issue? First, it yielded
one of the largest collections of Middle Kingdom statues and objects
in Asia: two sphinxes of Amenemhet III, a statue of the vizier SesotrisAnkh with his mother and sister, a statuette of the princess Khenemetnefer-khedjet, the wife of Sesotris II, and a bust of an unidentified
12th Dynasty queen (for refs. see G i v e o n 1981, 56f.; 1986, 839). In
addition, there are inscribed seals, pearls and beads, and a large
quantity of uninscribed objects. T h e second significant point is that
the statues were found beheaded, and they were probably deliberately mutilated ( S c h a e f f e r 1939b, 13; C o u r t o i s 1979, cols. 1155-6;
Yon 1997b, 28). It is hard to tell, however, whether this was simply a consequence of their being stolen and carried over long distances, or whether it was due to a violent action performed in Ugarit
itself. Schaeffer even blamed this 'clumsy barbarian' act on 'a rising
of the natives, amongst w h o m were Hurrites . . . who were now in
power at Ugarit' ( S c h a e f f e r 1939b, 13). Lasdy, it is highly significant
that many of these objects were found in the area of the temples of
Ba'al and Dagan (Yon 1991a, 2 7 5 - 6 , 278ff.), and may very well
have been ex-votos presented to the gods of Ugarit by whoever
brought them there.

2.4 Man and Ugart


In the Amorite Age the kingdom of Y a m h a d , with its capital at
Halab (Aleppo), replaced Ebla as the dominant power in northern
Syria. It is usually asserted that Ugarit belonged to the sphere of
influence of the kings of Y a m h a d (e.g., K l e n g e l 1 9 9 7 , 3 6 5 ) , but
direct evidence about the exact nature of this bond is lacking. O u r
information on Ugarit in the Amorite Age comes primarily from the
archives of Mari, first a close ally, later an enemy of Yamhad.
T h e most prominent event relating to Ugarit is the well-documented j o u r n e y of Zimri-Lim to Ugarit ( V i l l a r d 1986; see also
B e i t z e l 1997, 135-6). In the ninth year of his reign (1765), probably in the winter months ( S a s s o n 1984, 248), Zimri-Lim set out from
Mari, accompanied by a grand entourage of courtiers, merchants
and artisans. Some eighty preserved documents, written en route,
describe in unusual detail the course of this journey, which advanced
along the Lower H a b u r and the Lower Balih and then traversed the

Euphrates towards Halab. Here Zimri-Lim was probably joined by


his father-in-law, Yarim-Lim, and the two continued together to
Ugarit, via M u z u n n u m , Layaum, Hazazar, and Mahrasa (see m a p
in V i l l a r d 1 9 8 6 , 3 9 5 ) . This grand tour of the West served both
ideological and practical purposes. Although it was certainly nonmilitary in character ( V i l l a r d 1 9 8 6 , 3 9 3 , n. 4 6 ; contra S a s s o n 1 9 8 4 ,
251), the voyage fitted well into the long Mesopotamian tradition of
reaching the edge of the Great Sea, a ritual act symbolizing the victory of the Storm-god over the Sea ( D u r a n d 1 9 9 3 ; M a l a m a t 1 9 9 8 ,
with previous refs.). O n a more ' m u n d a n e ' level, the journey enabled
Zimri-Lim to strengthen his western alliances, just before a projected
military campaign in the east against Larsa ( V i l l a r d 1 9 8 6 , 4 0 8 - 9 ) .
Last but not least, during his stay in the various Syrian localities,
Zimri-Lim a n d his m e n were e n g a g e d in lucrative c o m m e r c i a l
exchanges, both with the local authorities, and, through messengers,
with distant rulers. T h e Mariote expedition received numerous golden
and silver vessels, but also less valuable presents, such as wine and
honey. In return, they distributed precious textiles, jewellery studded
with lapis-lazuli, and, most significantly, large quantities of tin which
was brought by Elamite merchants from the east ( V i l l a r d , 4 0 4 - 5 ) .
Consignments of tin were sent out from Ugarit as far as Q a t n a and
Hazor, and were also sold to Cretan merchants. 4 2 T h e information
on Ugarit, where the expedition spent at least one month (for the
dates, see V i l l a r d 1 9 8 6 , 3 9 0 - 1 ) , is disappointingly meagre. Not even
the name of its ruler is indicated, unlike that of many other localits
mentioned in this prolific documentation. More than twenty texts
were written in Ugarit itself, documenting the exchange of presents
with Crete and various Syro-Palestinian destinations. It seems that
Mari had a special depot in Ugarit from which this voluminous flow
of goods was controlled. It is less clear what was traded with Ugarit
itself. O n e document records the purchase of gold in Ugarit for the
manufacture of a golden seal mounted in lapis-lazuli, presented to
the queen of H a l a b ( A R M T 2 5 . 3 4 0 : 1 6 - 7 ; V i l l a r d 1 9 8 6 , 4 0 6 ) .

42
A S T O U R 1973, 21 (with refs.); I A M B R O U - P H I L L I P S O N 1990, 122. Note also the
year-name 'when the Cretans (KapitanyuK]) built a ship' ( V I I . I A R D 1986, 402, n. 106),
which is explained by Villard as a visit of Cretans to Mari. For the Middle Minoan
pottery found in Ras Shamra, see S C H A E F F E R 1948, 66; A S T O U R 1973, 19; L A M B R O U P H I L L I P S O N 1990, 69-70; Y O N 1994b, 430-1; C A U B E T - M A T O I A N 1995, 103-4.
Chemical analysis of the Canaanite jars found at Kommos in Crete may indicate
that some of them were made in Ugarit ( L A M B R O U - P H I L I . I P S O N 1990, 69).

Another ring that was sold in Ugarit was made of iron and gold,
with a lapis-lazuli seal ( A R M T 2 5 . 4 8 + : rev. 3 ' ~ 5 ' ; V i l l a r d , 1 9 8 6 ,
406). Perhaps artisans of Ugarit assisted their Mariote colleagues in
manufacturing some of these exquisite objets d'art.
A glimpse into the nomadic countryside of Ugarit is provided by
the letter exchange between two tribal leaders from the region extending between H a l a b a n d Ugarit (A 2 0 9 4 ; V i l l a r d , 1 9 8 6 4 1 1 - 2 ,
Annexe no. 2). T h e chief of the Uprapi is accused by the chief
of the Ben-Sim'l of pillaging his territory and of jeopardizing 'the
ha-a-n-ni of Ugarit [leading to(?) the tempi] e(?) of the Storm-god of
Halab'. 4 3 Villard thought that the obscure vocable must designate
some ritual related to a peace agreement concluded between the two
groups before Addu of Halab. I wonder whether it could rather
stand for the Hurrian word for 'the road' (with article). 44 If so, the
angered chief was simply expressing his concern that the unruly
Uprapeans might block the roads between Ugarit and Halab.
Shortly after his journey to Ugarit, Zimri-Lim's father-in-law and
ally Yarim-Lim died and was succeeded on the throne of Halab by
H a m m u r a p i . T h e latter showed far less cordiality towards ZimriLim, and eventually collaborated with his famous namesake in Babylon
in bringing about the downfall of the last king of Mari. But before
this happened, H a m m u r a p i of Halab transmitted a short message
to Zimri-Lim, in which an u n n a m e d king of Ugarit (lit. 'the M a n of
Ugarit') expressed his wish to visit the palace of Mari. 4 5 Is there anything in the archaeological record of Ugarit that relates to the lengthy
stay of Zimri-Lim and his entourage in the city? T h e r e are certainly
objects of eastern origin at Ugarit, 46 but it would be hard to establish a connection specifically to Mari. T h e r e is, however, an intriguing fragment of a cuneiform inscription incised on a polished green
stone which was found in 1932 at the entrance of the Temple of

43
11. 9f.: [u\m-ma ba-a-ri-m sa -ga-ri-timK [i-n]a(?) (?) d IM [ j ] e Ha-la-ab (followed by a large gap).
44
For ban - ni, see L A R O C H E 1976-7, 94, and esp. the obscure ba~a-n-e-ni in
KBo 15.72 i 6.
45
Literally, 'the house of Zimri-Lim'; V I L L A R D 1 9 8 6 , 4 1 0 , nn. 1 6 0 - 1 6 2 (with
previous refs.). It seems that Dossin's original interpretation that the visit was intended
to reach the palace of Mari itself is preferable to other suggestions, such as a visit
to a Mariote domain in the west.
46
For the M B A cylinder seals from Ras Shamra, see C O U R T O I S 1 9 7 9 , cols. 1 1 9 4 - 5 ;

AMIET

1992,

nos.

19-44;

1995,

239-40;

ARNAUD

1997.

Ba c al. 47 All that remains are a few signs written between neatly prepared division lines (three lines are uninscribed). In view of its archaeological context, 48 the fragment could perhaps belong to an object
offered by the Mariote expedition to the local god, or vice versa, something prepared in Ugarit in anticipation of the forthcoming visit to
Mari. O n e can only wish that more pieces of this intriguing inscription would turn up in the future. For the next two centuries or so
there is only a single mention of Ugarit in an Alalah tablet of Level
VII (AT *358; W i s e m a n 1954, 27). Puruqqu, 4 9 'the m a n of Ugarit',
who made a delivery of wool to the palace of Alalah, does not have
to be a ruler of Ugarit, although this possibility cannot be entirely
ruled out. T h e r e is nothing in the Hittite record to indicate that the
campaigns of Hattui1i I and Muri1i I to northern Syria had any
direct effect on Ugarit, but, in the long run, the drastic changes in
the geo-political structure of the region had also been felt in the
Levantine kingdom.

2.5

Ugarit and the Mittannian confederacy

T h e geo-political void left by the Hittite destruction of the old Amorite


centres of Syria, in particular Y a m h a d / H a l a b , was gradually filled
in during the 16th century by the growing power of Mittanni. For
the next two centuries or so most of Syria and southern Anatolia
formed part of a loose confederacy controlled from Waukkanni.
For a short while the Mittannian domination was threatened by the
campaigns of the Egyptian kings of the early 18th dynasty, but already
by the mid-15th century 30 the two empires agreed on a division of
Syria, with Qadesh on the Orontes marking the borderline. Ugarit

4.458; Thureau-Dangin apud S C H A E F F E R 1933, 120, n. 1; see photograph


5 / 1 , 35 (a).
48
According to V I R O L L E A U D (1936a, 21) the inscription was found next to the
sphinx of Amenemhet III and it is engraved on the same kind of green stone as
the Egyptian statue. T h e same area produced more Middle Kingdom statuary, as
well as other Egyptian small finds, such as beads, figurines and scarabs, which were
all given as ex-votos to the temple (ib., 15). This rare cuneiform inscription may
have had a similar dating and function ( A R N A U D 1996, 47-8, . 6; 1997, 15If.).
49
Arnaud reads the name as Burruqu, a name attested in the texts from Alalah
and Ugarit ( A R N A U D 1997, pp. 153f., with refs. in n. 18). For the suggestion to
restore this name in the King List of Ugarit, see n. 24.
50
For Mittannian overtures for peace already in the seventh year of Amenophis
I I , see SPALINGER 1983, 94; S I N G E R 1988a.
47

in

RS

RSO

was never directly integrated into the Mittannian confederacy, 31 but


it maintained close neighbourly relations with one of Mittanni's vassals, Alalah/Muki. A small fragment from Alalakh IV contains a
stipulation concerning the j u d g m e n t and extradition of runaways
crossing from one kingdom to the other (AT 4; W i s e m a n 1953, 32).52
It could belong to an accord between the two lands comparable to
the treaties concluded between Alalah and its other neighbours, Tunip
(AT 2) and Kizzuwatna (AT 3).53 An actual case of theft (of three
horses) and the extradition of the thief is dealt with in a letter found
in the courtyard of the T e m p l e of Ba c al in Ugarit. 34 It was sent by
Niqmepa, most probably the successor of Idrimi on the throne of
Alalah, to I b i r a < n u > , an otherwise unknown 15th century king of
Ugarit. 35 T h e limited Mittannian influence on the northern Levantine
coast is reflected in the toponymy 3 6 and the onomasticon of Ugarit
( A s t o u r
1978, 13; S a l v i n i 1995, 92-3). Whereas in neighbouring
Alalah more than half of the population bore Hurrian names according to the Level IV texts ( K i l m e r 1959), only a few of Ugarit's
p e r m a n e n t residents had names that can positively be analyzed as
Hurrian. This is all the more prominent in the royal line of Ugarit
which only includes one possibly LIurrian name. 5 7 In that respect
Ugarit differs sharply from its southern neighbour, where 'Hittite-

ASTOUR 1981a, 10. Other scholars have pleaded for a stronger political influence
of Mittanni on Ugarit ( D R O W E R 1975, 133; LIVERANI 1979a, 298).
52
Another fragment from Level IV contains little more than the otherwise unknown
name 'Tanuwati of Ugarit' (AT 442e; W I S E M A N 1954, 3).
53
Cf., however, the different interpretation of A R N A U D (1996, 54, . 37; 1997,
157), who suggests that A T 4 is a letter sent to the king of Alalah by the king of
Mittanni or one of his 'officers'.
54
RS 4.449 (Virolleaud 1936a, 2Iff.) is the only tablet found in the area of
Temple I ( A R N A U D 1996, 47, . 1), which has also yielded Middle Egyptian inscriptions and statuary, as well as a small fragment of a cuneiform inscription incised
on green stone (RS 4.458; see p. 618). RS 4.449 has often been discussed in later
studies, some of which have improved over the readings of Virolleaud's editio ceps. See L E T T I N G A 1948, 112-3; VAN S O L D T 1991, 215ff.; H O F T I J Z E R - VAN S O L D T
1991, 197; A R N A U D 1996, 47-54; M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1997, 192.
55
But cf. A R N A U D 1996, 48, . 6, who mentions unpublished sources according
to which Ibiranu succeeded Yaqarum, the founder of the dynasty of Ugarit (see
n. 33 above).
56
According to A S T O U R (1978, 13) the Hurrian toponyms attested in the Ras
Shamra texts are mostly located in the territories beyond the Orontes, which were
annexed to Ugarit by the Hittites.
57
For Ar-halba, see p. 6 3 7 . LIVERANI ( 1 9 7 8 , 1 5 2 - 3 ) noted that members of the
royal family of Ugarit who did not become kings often bore Hurrian names. However,
most of the quoted examples are the sons of Amurrite princesses who married kings
of Ugarit: Himi-arruma and R-arruma were the sons of AJjat-Milku (p. 642),
51

H u r r i a n ' names became the rule after A m u r r u ' s defection from Egypt
to Hatti ( L i v e r a n i 1978, 150-1; S i n g e r 1991a, 182ff.).
O n the other h a n d , H u r r i a n impact was m o r e extensive in cultural domains, such as religion and literature. 5 8 Lexicographical texts
often have a H u r r i a n column in addition to the Sumerian, Akkadian
and Ugaritic ones. Ugarit has also produced a fair n u m b e r of Hurrian
religious texts, both syllabic a n d alphabetical, some of which consist
of divine lists. An Akkadian-Hurrian bilingual text belongs to the
genre of wisdom literature. Finally, the H u r r i a n texts with musical
notation, the oldest in western civilization, have raised special interest.
An intriguing H u r r i a n letter found in the royal palace seems to
contain valuable historical information, but its understanding is further hindered by the fragmentary state of preservation (RS 1 1 . 8 5 3 =
PRU 3, 327; R S O 5 / 1 : 61). Both Ugarit and Carchemish are m e n tioned, a n d the address 'my lord' (rev. 13) discloses the hierarchical
relationship between the correspondents. Salvini's tentative translation
( S a l v i n i 1 9 9 5 , 9 6 ) of several phrases may hint at a military context:
'you will smite Carchemish' (1. 7), 'entering Carchemish' (1. 8). However,
the repeated occurrence of pass- 'to send' (11. 3, 9, 14) and paithe
'messenger' (1. 4) m a y also indicate a commercial or diplomatic context. 59 L a r o c h e ( 1 9 5 5 . 3 2 9 ) assumed that the letter was sent to Ugarit
by a high official of Carchemish, but this fails to explain its language. A better alternative would be that the letter was sent from
M i t t a n n i or f r o m the successor state of H a n i g a l b a t , but the full
significance of this rare H u r r i a n episte remains to be revealed.

Ugarit

3.1

under

Egyptian

Influence

The early 18th dynasty of Egypt

T h e Egyptian campaigns of the early 18th dynasty kings reached


as far as the Euphrates and the H a l a b area. Along the coast the

and Utri-arruma was the son of the bittu rabti (p. 681). Therefore, these cases
may have been influenced by name-giving practices current in Amurru, rather than
in Ugarit. Of more weight would be the case of Talmiyanu, if this is indeed the
name of Niqmaddu III before his coronation (see p. 700).
58
For some recent discussions (with refs. to the texts), see S A L V I N I 1995b, 93ff.;
D I E T R I C H - M A Y E R 1995; 1997; M A Y E R 1996; P A R D E E 1996b.
59
Gemot Wilhelm, personal communication.

northernmost strongholds fortified by Tuthmosis III were Ullasa and


S u m u r on both sides of the Eleutheros River ( S i n g e r 1991a, 139),
whereas inland, he attempted to consolidate a defensive line centered on T u n i p and Qadesh on the Orontes. T h e r e is no evidence
whatsoever for Egyptian involvement further north on the Syrian
coast. A vase with the cartouche of Tuthmosis III allegedly found
in the palace of Ugarit (PRU 4, 28) has never been published, and
its existence is doubtful ( A s t o u r 1981a, 13 n. 53; G i v e o n 1986, 839).
T h e annals and the geographical lists of Tuthmosis III contain numerous Syrian localities, none of which is located west of the Alawite
range. An alleged identification of Ugarit in Amenophis II's Year 7
campaign has been convincingly refuted on both phonetic and geographical grounds ( D r o w e r 1975, 133; A s t o u r 1981a, 13-4, with
previous refs.).
Ugarit first enters firmly into the orbit of Egyptian interests under
Amenophis III. Its n a m e appears in Egyptian geographical lists (Karnak and Soleb in Nubia; G i v e o n 1 9 8 6 , 8 3 9 ) , and the correspondence
between the two lands is partly preserved in the A m a r n a tablets.

3.2

Ammittamru I (?-ca.

1350)

T h e earliest document emanating from Ugarit is EA 45 sent by


[Amrr]ittam[ru] to Egypt, either in the late reign of Amenophis III, 61
or in the first years of Akhenaten. 6 2 T h e very damaged letter opens
and ends with emphatic promises of allegiance to Egypt. T h e occasion for this declaration of loyalty seems to be the repeated threat
to Ugarit by the king of a land whose n a m e is unfortunately broken off. Ever since Knudtzon, the standard restoration of the name
has been Hatti, and the threat has been associated with an early
foray of Suppiluliuma I . Another candidate, suggested by L i v e r a n i
(1962: 24), could be Abdi-Airta of Amurru, whose hostile actions
against Ugarit are mentioned in the treaty between Aziru and Niqm a d d u (RS 19.068.8; PRU 4: 284-6). But then, as pointed out by
60

The name of the sender was first correcdy restored by

61

K I T C H E N 1 9 6 2 , 3 4 f . ; K L E N G E L 1 9 6 9 , 3 4 0 ; D R O W E R 1 9 7 5 , 1 3 3 ; ASTOUR 1 9 8 1 : 1 7 f f .

62

ALBRIGHT

1944.

NA'AMAN (1996) has recently put forward a daring restoration and interpretation of EA 45. He suggests that the letter refers to an incident in which Ammittamru
detained messengers sent from Amurru to Hatti and intended to extradite them to
Egypt. When the news reached the king of Hatti he repeatedly threatened Ammittamru, and the anxious king of Ugarit turned to Akhenaten for assistance. See further n. 77 below.

(1981, 17), it is unlikely that the renegade Abdi-Asirta would


be designated as a 'king', especially in a letter written to Egypt. h:i
Mittanni was on friendly terms with Egypt in this period and Ammittamru would hardly have reason to complain about this overture.
It thus seems best to follow Knudtzon's intuition, but if one accepts
the revised chronology of Suppiluliuma's reign (see p. 608), then the
Hittite king in question could only be one of his predecessors, possibly his father Tudhaliya. 6 4 Indeed, a fragment in the Deeds of
uppi1u1iuma (Frg. 8; G t e r b o c k 1956, 62) describes a military campaign led by his father to M o u n t Nanni (probably the Anti-Casius) 63
on the northern border of Ugarit: K l e n g e l 1970, 35; A s t o u r 1981a,
18-9). H i s . adversaries in this operation appear to be Sutu-troops
( e r n . m e S-te-e), i.e. tribal groups in the highlands of Ugarit who
were often employed as mercenaries. 6 6 T w o further very fragmentary letters, EA 46-47, 6 7 also claim Ugarit's ongoing loyalty to Egypt,
and may belong to the same correspondents. 6 8 T h e Ugaritian king's
statement that 'my ancestors did service [for] your [ancestors
(EA 47: 8 - 9 ; M o r a n 1992, 119) is occasionally quoted as a proof
for Ugarit's submission to Egyptian overlordship in the early 15th
century. However, such hyperbolic expressions do not necessarily
reflect real historical circumstances (see below).

A s t o u r

63
For Abdi-Asirta's quest for recognition see, recently, S I N G E R 1991a, 141fT. (with
further refs.).
64
For the now unequivocal identification of Suppiluliuma's father, see O T T E N
1995, 8.
65
For the identification of the twin mountains Hazzi and Nanni, attested in
Hittite texts, with Mt. Casius (Sapunu) and Mt. Anti-Casius, respectively, see K L E N G E L
1969, 354, 410, . 29; 1970, 34ff.; B O R D R E U I L 1989b; VAN S O L D T 1994, 367. For
the proposed vocalization Sapunu see W Y A T T 1995a. For other identifications of Mt.
Nanni, see D I J K S T R A 199lj 133ff., 137; P O P K O 1998: 124.
66
The two persons mentioned in the fragment, Zittara and Halpamuwa, are
otherwise unknown. (Halpa-A.A in the tribute list KUB 42.29 ii 15' belongs to the
13th century; S I E G E L O V A 1986, 14Iff.).
67
A third fragmentary letter, EA 48, was sent by a certain [. . ,-H]eba to her
lady (with a present of balsam). T h e two are usually identified as a queen of Ugarit
and a queen of Egypt respectively ( A L B R I G H T 1944, 33; D R O W E R 1975, 134; M O R A N
1992, 120). In fact, the only reason for Knudtzon's attribution of this letter to the
correspondence of Ugarit was the similarities of its clay and script to those of the
other letters ( A L B R I G H T 1944: 30-1). For two Ugaritic letters traditionally dated to
the Amarna age, K T U 2.23 = RS 16.078+ and K T U 2.42 + 43 = RS 18.1 13A, [B],
a late 13th century dating is claimed in this study. See pp. 713 and 677, respectively.
68
T h e mention of the Egyptian envoy Hanya in EA 4 7 : 2 3 , also known from
other Amarna letters, does not provide an accurate chronological clue, since he
probably kept his office during the reigns of both Amenophis III and Akhenaten

(CAMPBELL

1964,

127).

An intriguing reference to Ugarit in the A m a r n a Age is found in


EA 1, sent by Kadasman-Enlil I to Amenophis III (see L i v e r a n i
1990, 274, with further refs. in n. 1). In his long letter dealing with
royal marriages, the Babylonian king, quoting from an earlier letter,
expresses his doubts about the identity of the girl who was shown
to one of his messengers in Egypt. Was she really his sister, or rather
'the daughter of some poor m a n (muknu), or of some Ga<s>gean(?),
or the daughter of some Hanigalbatean, or perhaps someone from
Ugarit?' (11. 37ff.; M o r a n 1992, 1). I wonder whether this is merely
an arbitrary list of possibilities, 69 or rather the Babylonian king had
in his mind actual cases of foreign princesses sent to Egypt. T h e first
name is corrupt, 7 0 but Mittannian princesses were indeed present in
Amenophis Ill's harem (for refs. see, R l l i g 1974, 19; P i n t o r e 1978,
15ff.). Admittedly, we have no direct evidence for royal marriages
between Egypt and Ugarit in the A m a r n a Age, but perhaps the
Egyptian alabaster vase on which N i q m a d d u is portrayed with an
Egyptian lady (see below) may show that the bond between the two
lands was indeed cemented by an 'exchange' of noble brides. In this
respect, it is interesting to observe that Ugarit is the only site outside C a n a a n that has yielded a large scarab issued to commemorate
the marriage of Amenophis III with Tiy in the second year of his
reign (Ug 3, 223: fig. 204). Amenophis Ill's cartouche also appears
on at least five alabaster vessels, 71 on one of t h e m (RS 17.058)
together with Q u e e n Tiy.

3.3

Niqmaddu II (ca.

1350-1315)

T h e exact date of N i q m a d d u ' s accession to the throne is not known,


but he must have been a contemporary of both Akhenaten and
T u t a n k h a m u n . Ugarit's cordial relations with Egypt continued for a

6!l

That 'the daughter of some poor man' (muknu) precedes the princesses from
three lands does not necessarily imply, as usually assumed, that these lands are
viewed upon in a derogatory way. I think that the writer simply wanted to distinguish between two categoriesa girl of inferior birth, or a princess from a country other than Babylon.
70
If indeed K U R Ga-ga-ia refers to the Kaka (VON S C H L E R 1 9 6 5 , 8 0 ) , perhaps
the author confused it with another Anatolian land which sent a princess to Amenophis
III, namely Arzawa (EA 31-32).
71
RS 11.329; RS 1-11.[116]; RS 16.340; RS 17.058; RS 17.[476], See refs. in
RSO 5/1.

while, at least until its submission to Suppiluliuma I around 1340


bce (see p. 632). In EA 49 N i q m a d d u requests an Egyptian physician and two palace attendants from Cush ( M o r a n 1992, 120). T h e
Egyptian envoy to Ugarit, [Ha]ramassa, is also known to have represented his country at the court of Turatta of Mittanni (EA 20).
T h e flow of prestigious presents from Egypt went on as before,
as shown by the hundreds of pieces of alabaster vessels, many of
them inscribed, found throughout the city and in the port of Minetel-Beida ( C a u b e t 1991a, 2 0 9 - 1 4 ; Y o n 1994b, 427). O n e of them
carries the cartouches of Akhenaten and Nefertiti (RS 15.202 +
15.203; Ug 3, 167, fig. 120).
Another inscribed fragment depicts ' N i q m a d d u the Great O n e
of the Land of Ugarit' (wr h3st ik3nyty nyk3irdy) in the presence of
a lady dressed in Egyptian style (RS 15.239; Ug 3, 165, fig. 118;
Desroches-Noblecourt
1956). Although the artist exhibits a high
degree of familiarity with Egyptian conventions, minute details in
the iconography and the Egyptian script disclose that the vase was
probably of local manufacture, probably imitating Egyptian prototypes ( D e s r o c h e s - N o b l e c o u r t 1956, 218-9). Unfortunately, the name
of the lady portrayed in a bridal posture, if it was ever indicated, is
not preserved. This opens a whole range of possibilities with regard
to her identity, from a daughter of Akhenaten to a Syrian princess
depicted la gyptienne. T h e truth may lie in between. As clearly
stated in EA 4: 9ff., Egyptian kings were not in the habit of marrying their own daughters to foreign rulers. T h e y could, however,
send other ladies of noble rank to fulfil this important diplomatic
task. This is exactly what the Babylonian king asks for: 'Send me a
beautiful woman as if she were [you]r daughter' ( M o r a n 1992, 9).
In view of Kadasman-Enlil's incidental mention of Ugarit in EA 1 :
37ff. (see p. 624), I would opt for the possibility that there was indeed
an exchange of royal brides between the courts of Egypt and Ugarit.
If the Egyptian lady depicted on the vase was indeed Niqmaddu's
bride, 73 one is faced with the difficult question of her relationship

12

For the former possibility, see D E S R O C H E S - N O B L E C O U R T 1956, 204fT., and esp.


p. 219, n. 2; see also G I V E O N 1986, 839. There is a general agreement that the
Niqmaddu depicted on the vase is identical with the 14th century king, but P I N T O R E
(1978, 78-9) preferred to identify him with Niqmaddu III, for reasons which are
no longer tenable (VAN S O L D T 1991a, 13, n. 115).
73
It is not clear to me on what evidence R L L I G ( 1 9 7 4 , 1 9 ) categorically states
that the wedding took place in Amenophis Ill's 36th year. The vase is usually dated

with Q u e e n Pisidqi, who is usually identified as Niqmaddu's spouse. 74


O n e possibility would be to equate the two ladies (cf. v a n S o l d t 1991a,
13, n. 115), assuming that the Egyptian bride was given a Semitic
n a m e when she came to Ugarit. 7 5 In that case, she must have been
very young when she married an already aging Niqmaddu. Pisidqi
still appears as the queen of Ugarit in a legal text dated to Ammittamru II (RS 15.086 = PRU 3, 54f.), who succeded N i q m e p a after
his half century long reign. Perhaps it is better to separate the two
spouses of N i q m a d d u II ( A b o u d 1994, 27-8), although it would not
be easy to explain how a prestigious Egyptian bride could deteriorate
to a humiliating secondary rank in the court. Could this be connected
to Ugarit's political shift from the Egyptian to the Hittite camp?
In concluding this chapter of close Egyptian-Ugaritian contacts in
the A m a r n a Age, we may attempt to define the political nature of
this relationship more closely. O n the basis of the same sources, most
scholars have maintained that Ugarit was a vassal of Egypt, 76 whereas
others have argued for her full independence ( A l t m a n n 1976). T h e r e
are of course m a n y definitions that fall between the two extremes,
simply describing Ugarit as belonging to the Egyptian sphere of
influence without a more definite geo-political definition (e.g., D r o w e r
1975, 133). Nougayrol even spoke of a Hurrian-Egyptian condominium in Ugarit ( N o u g a y r o l 1956, 57).
Having refuted the flimsy evidence for an Egyptian takeover of
Ugarit in the early 18th dynasty, the decision really rests on the
evaluation of the A m a r n a correspondence and the Egyptian finds
from Ugarit. Considered without bias, nothing in these two bodies
of evidence argues for a state of vassalage. T h e expressions of subordination and loyalty in the episdes of the kings of Ugarit are hardly
more than polite hyperbole anticipated from a state of inferior political status in its dealings with a great power ( A l t m a n 1976; cf. also

to the reign of Akhenaten (or even later) on both stylistic and historical considerations ( L I V E R A N I 1 9 6 2 , 3 1 ) .
74
In the legal text RS 16.277 (= PRU 3, 50-1) ratified by Niqmaddu, 'Pisidqi
the Queen' exchanges real estate with Nuriyanu, Niqmaddu's brother. See VAN
SOLDT
75

1991,

GORDON

7.

(1956, 129) analyzed the name as Bi-Sidqi < Bit-Sidqi, 'Daughter of

Justice'.
76

1962, 24-5; ibid., 1988a, 566; ibid., 1990, 142; K I T C H E N 1962, 35;
1964, 121; A S T O U R 1981b, 15ff.; Z A C C A G N I N I 1990, 68.

LIVERANI

CAMPBELL

. 2 5 0 ) . Actually, various elements of style and


content clearly distinguish these letters from those of real Egyptian
vassals in Canaan, who regularly paid taxes and fulfilled corve duties.
T o give one example, N i q m a d d u ' s d e m a n d for an Egyptian physician and Cushite attendants (EA 59) would be considered as a brazen
breach of etiquette on the part of a simple vassal state. T h e same
applies to Niqmaddu's 'Wedding Vase', which shows, if anything,
that Ugarit enjoyed a privileged status. 'Independence' is perhaps
too modern a political concept to describe the status of a relatively
small ancient N e a r Eastern state, but an autonomous status with
strong Egyptian influence could be the best way to describe Ugarit's
position before its submission to Suppiluliuma I. Egypt had free
access to the ports of Ugarit, and thence to the rest of the northeastern Mediterranean. This lucrative maritime trade was probably
valued too highly to e n d a n g e r it by excessive interference. T h e
Hittites, who were to become far more demanding overlords, nevertheless adopted a similar policy towards Ugarit.
Klengel

1992,

133,

4.1

U g a r i t

Under

Hittite

Rule

The Levantine alliance of Ugarit and Amurru

T h e bond with Egypt, although economically lucrative and culturally influential, could hardly secure Ugarit's borders and its autonomous
political status. Probably the first to exert considerable pressure on
Ugarit in the changing political conditions towards the mid-14th century was its southern neighbour A m u r r u . This newly established
kingdom on the northern confines of the Egyptian Empire promptly
accumulated considerable military strength under the able leaderships of Abdi-Airta and his son Aziru (see recently, S i n g e r 1991a,
14Iff, with further refs.). In their recurring complaints to the Pharaoh,
the rulers of Byblos, Rib-Haddi and Yapah-Addu, claim that the
entire coast from Byblos to Ugarit banded together with the resented
Amurrites, against Egyptian interests (EA 98; cf. EA 126: 6).
Ugarit's siding with Amurru against Egyptian interests could hardly
have been voluntary. According to the accord between Aziru and
Niqmaddu, the animosity between the two kingdoms went back to
the days of Ammittamru I (RS 19.068.8), although its background

is not specified. 77 Aziru, having thrown in his lot with the Hittites
quite early in his reign ( S i n g e r 1991a, 155ff.), could not risk confronting hostile neighbours on both his southern and northern flanks
and must have exerted considerable pressure on Ugarit to come to
terms with him. His accord with N i q m a d d u is unique in the context of ancient N e a r Eastern treaties (RS 19.068 = PRU 4, 284ff;
K h n e 1971). Formally, it has the appearance of a treaty between
equal states, but the actual stipulations bring it closer to a vassal
treaty between a stronger and a weaker party. Ugarit consented to
pay the considerable sum of 5,000 silver shekels for her military protection 7 " and for Amurru's renunciation of all future claims on Ugarit's
client states of Siyannu and Zinzaru. T h e relative dating of this
accord is open to speculation ( L i v e r a n i 1962, 36-7; K l e n g e l 1969,
2 8 4 - 5 ; S i n g e r 1991a, 156-7). It most probably predates Niqmaddu's
treaty with Suppiluliuma, and could be more or less contemporary
with Suppiluliuma's treaty with Aziru. 79
Against the b a c k g r o u n d of the new alliance between the two
Levantine kingdoms and the stormy developments on the political
scene of the Near East, one should be able to find a suitable historical context for one of the most intriguing documents discovered
in Ugarit, the so-called 'General's Letter' (RS 20.033 = Ug 5, no.
20). T h e long Akkadian letter, about a third of which is missing,
was sent by the military c o m m a n d e r Sumi[] to the King, his lord.
H e asks for urgent reinforcements to complete his mission, guarding a strategic pass between the sea and M o u n t Lebanon in the
Land of Amurru, in anticipation of an impending Egyptian attack.
T h e dramatic situation described in this rare document of military
intelligence may fit into several historical contexts, and indeed, different
datings have been suggested, ranging from the mid-14th to the early

77

Recently N A ' A M A N (1996) suggested that the claims of Ba'aluya (Aziru's son)
against Niqmaddu mentioned in the accord refer to a political entanglement between
the Levantine states, in which the king of Ugarit detained messengers of Amurru
who were sent to Hatti and intended to extradite them to Egypt (see also n. 62
above). According to Na'aman, the 5,000 shekels were paid to Amurru as a compensation for the damages caused by Ugarit and Siyannu to members of Aziru's family.
78
This sum is more than half of what Ugarit paid to the Hittites for her exemption from military duties: 50 golden minas, equalling some 8,000 silver shekels (see
p. 683).
79
For an entirely different chronological reconstruction of the events relating to
Amurru's and Ugarit's contacts with the Hittites, see F R E U 1992 (with table on
p. 96).

12th centuries (for refs. see I z r e ' e l - S i n g e r 1990, 14ff.). Almost


half a century after its discovery the 'General's Letter' still defies an
unequivocal interpretation, but the possibilities are gradually being
reduced, especially through linguistic criteria. Schaeffer's far-fetched
setting of the events ( S c h a e f f e r 1968, 638-91) within the context
of the invasions of the 'Sea Peoples' in the early 12th century (partly
based on the findspot of the tablet in the R a p ' a n u archive) has generally been refuted. 8 0 M a n y have found an appropriate historical setting in the era before or after the Battle of Qadesh. 8 1 But after all,
Nougayrol's initial conviction ( N o u g a y r o l 1968, 69-79) that, despite
its archaeological context, the letter's script and language place it
within the A m a r n a Age, has recently received strong support through
linguistic and historical rvaluations. 82 T h e resulting historical reconstructions agree on the occasion for the General's mission: Amurru's
defection to the Hittite c a m p and an anticipated Egyptian retaliation. However, the identity of the correspondents is still open to
speculation. T w o of the suggested possibilities are: a pro-Hittite Syrian
prince (possibly Sumit[tara]) posted in Amurru, whose letter to the
Hittite king or viceroy travelled through Ugarit 8 3 (Singer in I z r e ' e l
S i n g e r 1990); or, an 'Apiru c o m m a n d e r writing to the ruler of
A m u r r u who was visiting the king of Ugarit ( M a r q u e z R o w e 1996).
Whether the prospected Egyptian campaign to Amurru ever took
place is questionable. After the sudden death of Akhenaten the
Egyptian retaliation was postponed until the Ramesside era.

4.2

Fire in the palace of Ugarit

In its heyday the palace of Ugarit, covering an area of nearly 7,000


m 2 (Yon 1997b, 46), was no doubt one of the most spectacular

80
Cf., however DE M O O R 1996b, 2 3 2 ~ 3 , who relates the letter to an alleged flight
of Queen Tausert and Beya to Syria in 1190.
81
E.g., L I V E R A N I 1962, 76ff.; CAZELLF.S 1970; RAINF.Y 1971a; 1973; S T I E G L I T Z

1992;

KLENGEL

1992,

137.

1988; I Z R E ' E L - S I N G E R 1990. See also L I V E R A N I 1992; D E L C O R 1992;


R L I .IG 1993; L A C K E N B A C H E R 1995a: 70; M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1996b. Cf., however,
S T I E G L I T Z 1992, who suggests that the letter was sent to the king of Ugarit by
Sumiyanu, father of Rap'anu, in the early 13th century.
83
That the correspondence between Amurru and Carchemish occasionally passed
through Ugarit is also shown by a courtesy letter sent by Benteina to the King,
his lord (RS 19.006 = PRU 6, 2). This address can only refer to the 'King' par
82

IZRE'EL

edifices in the Levant. 8 4 W h e n R i b - H a d d a of Byblos w a n t e d to


describe the wealth of the king of Tyre he compared his residence
to that of Ugarit (EA 89: 51). N o wonder that when the palace of
Ugarit was (partly) destroyed by a fire the r u m o u r spread swiftly
throughout the Levant and the event was promptly reported to Egypt
by Abi-Milku of Tyre (EA 151: 55): 'Fire destroyed the palace of
Ugarit; (rather), it destroyed half of it and so h a l < f > of it has disappeared. T h e r e are no Hittite troops about' ( M o r a n 1992, 238).
T h e passage raises several problems of interpretation ( L i v e r a n i
1962, 27ff.). First, the repetition of the information about Ugarit is
odd and most interpreters have corrected it to mean that one half
of the palace was burnt whereas the other half was not. O f more
weight is the question whether the subsequent mention of the Hittite
troops is related to the fire in Ugarit, and if so, how. 85 T h e passage
goes on to report on other news from C a n a a n (clashes between
Etakkama and Aziru), and most commentators tend to disconnect
the various pieces of information reported by Abi-Milku (e.g., L i v e r a n i
1962, 30). However, it is difficult to fathom the sense of the phrase
concerning the Hittite army unless the sender sought to emphasize
its relevance to the calamity in Ugarit. T h e letter is dated to the
last years of Akhenaten ( C a m p b e l l 1964, 127), and it coincides with
Suppiluliuma's 'one year campaign' (or 'First Syrian War') to Syria
around 1340 b c e ( F r e u 1985, 41; B r y c e 1989, 30; Singer in I z r e ' e l S i n g e r 1990, 155ff.). From the later record we know that Ugarit
was never militarily attacked by the Hittites and it is unlikely that
they were responsible for this fire. T h e r e is, however, a much better
candidate for causing this calamity in Ugarit. T h e SuppiluliumaN i q m a d d u treaty reports a joint attack of the anti-Hittite confederacy of Muki, Nuhhai and Niya on Ugaritian territory, which may
very well have culminated in a destructive raid on the capital itself.
Abi-Milku's report may refer exactly to the fact that 'there are no
Hittite troops about' who could rescue Ugarit from its enemies. Only

excellence, i.e. the king of Carchemish (KLENGEL 1969, 214, 375; SINGER 1983b,
13, n. 16; 1990, 173) and not to the king of Ugarit (NOUGAYROL 1970, 2).
84
For the palace of Ugarit, see COURTOIS 1979, 1217ff.; MARGUERON 1995; Y O N
1997b, 45ff. The new palace apparently replaced the Northern Palace which was
built in the 16th century and went out of use around 1400 BCE (YON 1997b, 70ff).
85
CAD, I-J: 230b implausibly places the Hittite troops near the fire: 'Fire has
consumed Ugarit, that is, it consumed half of it but did not consume the other
half nor the Hittite troops'. Moran's translation (above) is no doubt preferable.

later, when N i q m a d d u gave in to the growing pressures on him and


asked for Hittite intervention did the army of Suppiluliuma come to
the rescue and expel the Syrian enemies from its territory.
Conclusive archaeological evidence for this conflagration has not
yet been identified, but there are certain indications in the palace
area which may perhaps be related to it. Schaeffer noted an early
destruction level which separated two building phases ( S c h a e f f e r
1937, 137ff.; 1938, 194-5; 1948, 9). H e attributed this destruction
to an earthquake followed by a raging fire dated to ca 1365 bce,
but both his archaeological data and his historical conclusions have
been questioned (see, e.g. v a n S o l d t 1991a, 220). Recent investigations, however, seem to bear out his distinction between two conflagrations, the later one certainly marking the final destruction of
Ugarit ( M a r g u e r o n 1995a, 191-2). As for the earlier destruction,
which is discerned only in the western part of the palace, two possible datings have been considered in recent studies: either the Amarna
Age fire reported by Abi-Milku (EA 151), or a mid-13th century
earthquake whose effects can also be discerned in other parts of the
city ( C a l l o t 1986, 748; 1994, 204-5). 8 6 W h e n the palace was rebuilt
the ruined parts were probably covered and levelled, which may perhaps explain the fact that no documents earlier than N i q m a d d u II 87
were discovered in the palace area. 88 Another possibility could be
that the conflagration mentioned in EA 151 refers to the Northern
Palace ( L i v e r a n i 1988b, 128), which was abandoned in the 14th
century (Yon 1998a, 72).

8(>

Arnaud (apud C A L L O T 1 9 9 4 , 2 0 5 ) refers to an alleged mention of (this) earthquake in a verdict of Ini-Teub ( R S 2 7 . 0 5 2 . 6 = PRU 6 , no. 3 6 ) , but the evidence
is doubtful.
87
For the lowering of the dates of K T U 2.23 = RS 16.078+ and K T U 2.42 +
43 = RS 18.113A[B], the only allegedly pre-Niqmaddu II tablets from the palace
archives, see n. 67. For RS 4.449, the only tablet discovered in the temple area
on the acropolis, see n. 54; it was sent by a king of Alalah to a 15th century king
of Ugarit, which may indicate that the pre-Niqmaddu II archives may still be discovered somewhere outside the palace area (cf. N O U G A Y R O L 1956, 57).
88
For the refutation of Schaeffer's reconstruction of a two-level archive (before
and after the fire mentioned in EA 151), see L I V E R A N I 1988b. T h e two levels may
perhaps correspond to two stories of the building, but joins made between tablet
fragments found in both levels seem to disprove this explanation as well (VAN S O L D T
1991a, 72; L A C K E N B A C H E R 1995a, 73).

4.3

Ugarit joins the Hittite camp

An early contact between Ugarit and the Hittites may be referred


to in the opening lines of Suppiluliuma's letter to Niqmaddu: 'As
previously your forefathers were at peace with H a t t i . . .' (RS 17.132.
7 - 9 = PRU 3, 35). This may mean nothing more than the fact that
there was no enmity between the two parties in the past ( K l e n g e l
1969, 350), but it could also refer to more concrete circumstances.
T h e era of the Old Hittite kings' campaigns to Syria ( A s t o u r 1981a,
11) must probably be excluded. O n the other hand, a campaign of
Suppiluliuma's father near the northern border of Ugarit, at Mt.
Nanni, is actually recorded in a Hittite text (see p. 623). Perhaps it
was this early show of arms that led Ammittamru I to conclude a
peace agreement with the Hittites. T h e r e is, however, no direct evidence for this alleged early submission of Ugarit to the Hittites.
T h e first clear record of Ugarit's passage from the Egyptian sphere
of influence to the Hittite fold is connected to Suppiluliuma I's 'one
year campaign' in Syria, around 1340 bce. T o understand fully the
rich Hittite documentation on the circumstances of Ugarit's submission it is necessary to explain briefly the Hittite sense of historical
justice in their dealings with other states. T h e Hittites had a longstanding claim on northern Syria, going back as early as the late
17th century. In the early 14th century Tudhaliya I reconquered much
of northern Syria, but this was a short-term success and Hatti fell
back into one of its perennial setbacks. T h e opportunity to regain
Syria arose a few decades later when the Hurrians attacked a Hittite
vassal on the U p p e r Euphrates front. This time they were confronted
with a brilliant strategist who swiftly brought Mittanni to its knees
and took over all its possessions west of the Euphrates. For the
Hittites this was a clear case of self-defence which justified their military occupation of the central Syrian kingdoms. Amurru and Ugarit,
however, did not qualify for this manifestation of historical justice,
for they were never Mittannian vassals. 89 Therefore, other explanations were necessary to justify their joining the Hittite fold. Amurru
was an acknowledged Egyptian vassal, 90 and therefore the treaties

89

For this reason Ugarit and Amurru are not mentioned in the treaty between
Suppiluliuma and attiwaza (CTH 5 1 ; BECKMAN 1 9 9 6 C , no. 6 ) , since the historical
introduction of this document only covers lands that formerly belonged to Mittanni.
90
Contrary to an often quoted view (see, recently, R E D F O R D 1 9 9 2 , 1 7 7 ) , the
Hittites never claimed that Amurru once belonged to Mittanni. O n the contrary,

concluded with her repeatedly stress the fact that Aziru appealed for
Hittite vassalship out of his own initiative, and his country was never
taken by force ( S i n g e r 1990, 144ff.). As for Ugarit, whose ties with
Egypt were less binding, a ready legitimization for Hittite intervention was supplied by Niqmaddu's request for protection from his
aggressive neighbours. T h e recurrence of the 'deliverance motif' in
many Hittite treaties ( A l t m a n 1984) calls for caution in reconstructing
the actual course of events. O n the other hand, it should not automatically deny the historicity of these accounts. Even if, as stated by
one authority '. . . the Hittite chancery had no difficulty at all in
"reconstructing" the past in such a way as to arrange a suitable basis
for an optimal organization of the present and the future' ( Z a c c a g n i n i
1990, 71), the basic elements of the 'narrative' can usually be demonstrated to rest on real facts, even when these are compromising to
Hittite interests.
T h e first Hittite overture is recorded in Suppiluliuma's letter to
N i q m a d d u II (RS 17.132 = PRU 4, 35-7; B e c k m a n 1996c, 119-20).
T h e Hittite monarch, recalling the good relations between Hatti and
Ugarit in the past, offers military assistance in case of an attack on
Ugarit from Muki and Nuhhai. T h e anti-Hittite Syrian coalition 91
must have countered with an offer of its own, or indeed, with an
open threat on Ugarit. Between ' h a m m e r and anvil', Niqmaddu's
decision was anything but easy. His energetic southern neighbour,
Aziru, had already cast in his lot with the Hittites, and he exerted
pressure on Ugarit to follow his example. 92 N i q m a d d u could not
hope for much assistance from his weakening Egyptian ally, and with
Hittite forces on both his northern and southern borders he could
not for much longer sit on the fence. T h e final push towards the
Hittite camp was probably given by the joint attack of Muki, Nuhhai
and Niya on Ugaritian territory, which is reported in the historical

in the treaties with Amurru it is repeatedly stated that Aziru defected from the
camp of Egypt. For the seemingly aberrant statement in the augamuwa Treaty,
see S I N G E R 1991c. Cf. also Z A C C A G N I N I 1988.
91
Note the absence of Niya, which is mentioned later in Niqmaddu's treaty as
the third member of the anti-Hittite confederacy. In the time interval separating
the two documents the pro-Hittite ruler of Niya, Takuwa, was replaced by his
brother Aki-Teub who, as reported in the attiwaza treaty, conspired with the
kings of Muki and Nuhhae (BECKMAN 1996C, 39, obv. 30ff.).
92
O n the early dating of Aziru's submission to the Hittites, probably in the wake
of Suppiluliuma's 'one-year-campaign' to Syria, see Singer in S I N G E R
IZRE'EL 1 9 9 0 ,
155FF;

1991,

153FF.

p r e a m b l e to the N i q m a d d u treaty ( R S 1 7 . 3 4 0 . I f f . = B e c k m a n 1 9 9 6 c :
1-2). It has been suggested above that the fire which partially
destroyed the palace of Ugarit (EA 151) was caused by this sudden
raid. uppi1u1iuma responded immediately to the call for help a n d
sent his generals to drive out the e n e m y f r o m the territory of Ugarit,
leaving the rich booty to N i q m a d d u as a prize for his loyalty. N o w
it was time to conclude the promised treaty, which was symbolically
signed at Alalah, the capital of the defeated enemy. 9 3

4.4

The first vassal treaty of Ugarit

T h e treaty between uppi1u1iuma a n d N i q m a d d u has been preserved


in several Akkadian duplicates a n d an Ugaritic version (PRU 4, 37-52;
94
B e c k m a n 1996c, 3 0 f f , 15Iff.).
Besides the regular treaty sdpulations,
it included a detailed list of Ugarit's tribute, a n d a list of towns delineating Ugarit's northern b o r d e r with Mukis. This rich documentation
shows that all copies of i m p o r t a n t political d o c u m e n t s were meticulously collected a n d kept for future generations. 9 5 W h e n a tablet was
broken new copies were immediately p r e p a r e d , as shown by arreK u s u h ' s letter to N i q m a d d u which was ratified a n d sealed by IniT e u b ( R S 1 7 . 3 3 4 . 2 0 - 2 3 = PRU 4, 5 4 f f ; B e c k m a n 1996c, 120-1).

93

Probably Suppiluliuma had already turned Mukis from a kingdom ruled by a


local dynasty into an administrative unit ruled by a Hittite governor who stood
under the direct jurisdiction of the viceroy of Carchemish ( N O U G A Y R O L 1968, 92-3,
n. 3; K L E N G E L 1965, 252-3; LIVERANI 1979a, 1306). When the 'people of Mukis'
appealed to Mursili to restore their lost territories (see p. 639), their land was no
longer a separate kingdom. T h e Hittite prince ukur-Teub, probably the appointed
governor of Mukis, sent his letter of introduction to Ammittamru II (RS 20.003 =
Ug 5, no. 26).
94
All the Akkadian duplicates (RS 1 1 . 7 3 2 , 1 7 . 2 2 7 + , 1 7 . 3 4 0 , 1 7 . 3 6 9 = PRU 4 ,
40FF) were found in the so-called 'Hittite archive' in the Southern Palace, Rooms
6 8 and 6 9 near Court V . T h e Ugaritic version ( K T U 3 . 1 = RS 1 1 . 7 7 2 + ) was
found in the Western Palace Archive. It is noteworthy that not even a single fragment of an Ugarit treaty has turned up as yet in the Bogazky archives, whereas
we have copies of four successive Amurru treaties. This may have something to do
with the observation recently made by N E U ( 1 9 9 5 , 1 2 5 - 6 ) , that the ductus of RS
1 7 . 3 4 0 ( = PRU 4 , 4 8 ) differs from the one employed in Hattua in this period, and
it rather points to Syria, probably Carchemish, as the chancellery where the treaty
was written down. This again conforms perfecdy with Otten's observation ( O T T E N
1995, 24, 27) on the place of manufacture of the seals of the Hittite kings that
were used in Ugarit (see n. 109).
95
Relevant documents were deposited in the 'Hittite archive' at least as late as
the mid-13th century as shown by RS 17.334 with the seal of Ini-Teub (. 99).

T h e stipulations of the treaty itself are unusually scanty and deal


only with Ugarit's right to retain fugitives from neighbouring lands.
T h e standard d e m a n d for the prompt dispatch of auxiliary troops is
missing. Probably the Hittites were content with the huge amount
of yearly tribute comprising gold and dyed wool and garments (RS
17.227+ = PRU 4, 40ff.). 96 In addition to the main tribute consisting of 500 shekels of 'heavy' gold (compared with only 300 imposed
on Aziru), Ugarit sent gold and silver cups to the king, the queen
and six other Hittite high officials (PRU 4, 38). Combined with the
5,000 silver shekels paid to Aziru for future military assistance, it is
quite obvious that the treaties with her neighbours weighed heavily
on Ugarit. N o doubt, N i q m a d d u would have preferred to keep his
loose, far less demanding, alliance with Egypt had the political circumstances allowed him to do so.
T h e economic burden exerted by the bonds concluded with Suppiluliuma and with Aziru was somewhat compensated by the territorial
gains granted to N i q m a d d u as a reward for his loyalty. T h e list of
towns given to Ugarit by uppi1u1iuma I (RS 17.340 = PRU 4, 48)
was later re-confirmed by Muri1i II in his treaty with Niqmepa (RS
17.237 = PRU 4, 63ff.), despite the protests of the citizens of Muki
(see p. 639). T h e 42 toponyms are located in the northernmost part
of the kingdom, bordering on Muki, a n d they stretch from the
Orontes to the Mediterranean ( N o u g a y r o l , PRU 4, 14). Astour has
attempted to show that some of these places are situated east of the
Orontes, even as far as the region south of Halab ( A s t o u r 1969,
404; 1981a, 21; 1981b; 1995, 57-8). This would vasdy increase the
size of the kingdom of Ugarit at the expense of the rebel kingdoms
of Muki, Nuhhai and Niya. 9 ' More realistic estimates, however, tend
to limit the territory of the kingdom within the bend of the Orontes,
with a territory of about 2,000-2,200 km 2 , comprising the area between Jebel al-Aqra ( S a p a / u n u / M t . Casius) in the north, the Alawite
range (Jebel Ansariyah or Mt Bargylus) in the east, and N a h r es-Sinn
in the south, which preserves the name of the ancient kingdom of

96
For the yearly tribute sent by Ugarit to Hatti, see EISSFF.LDT 1950; K O R O S E C
1960, 65ff.; D I E T R I C H
L O R E T Z 1966a; Z A C C A G N I N I 1973, 155 6; P A R D E E 1984b,
245; L I V E R A N I 1990, 269-70.
97
According to his 1969 study the size of Ugarit almost quadrupled. In later
studies A S T O U R (1981b, 21; 1981a, 11; 1995, 55) reduced his estimate to about
5,425 km 2 , still a territorial state of considerable size.

Siyannu. It corresponds largely to the area of the modern province


of Lattakiyeh. 98

4.5

The loyalty of Ugarit tested

T h e loyalty of the Levantine allies of Hatti was put to the test a


generation later when the inner-Syrian states, led by Tette of Nuhhai
and Aitakama of Kinza, repeatedly revolted against the Hittites (del
M o n t e
1983; B r y c e 1988). T h e aging Aziru sent out his son d u T e s u b to help the Hittites ( C T H 62 II obv. 13ff.), and N i q m a d d u
was also summoned to attack Tette in a letter sent to him by Piyai1i/
arre-Kuuh, king of Carchemish (RS 17.334 = PRU 4, 5 4 - 5 ; B e c k man 1996c, 120-1). 99 As in the earlier documents of Suppiluliuma,
N i q m a d d u was promised as a reward that he could keep for himself all the captives that he would take from the enemy's army.
Whether N i q m a d d u fulfilled his military duty is not known, but the
secession of the kingdom Siyannu-Unatu from his jurisdiction in the
reign of N i q m e p a is often seen as a punishment for his half-hearted
stance when called to duty (e.g., L i v e r a n i 1988a, 567; K l e n g e l
1992, 134). T h e anti-Hittite insurrections were no doubt instigated
by the Egyptians, whose interventions in Syria are reported in the
7th and 9th years (ca. 1316-1314) of Mursili II's annals ( G o e t z e
1933, 80ff.; K l e n g e l 1969, 169). T h e Syrian rebellions were suppressed in Mursili's 9th year, but the resurgent Egyptian activities
against Hittite interests in Syria, initiated by Horemheb,' 0 0 gradually
gained m o m e n t u m and finally culminated in the Battle of Qadesh
fourty years later.
N i q m a d d u II 10 ' witnessed the most important political development in the LBA history of Ugarit: the shift from the loose hegemony of Egypt to full integration into the Hittite Empire. N i q m a d d u
1989b, 269-70; LIVERANI 1990, 84, n. 16; SAAD 1979, 33; PARDEE 1992, 715-6; VAN S O L D T 1994, 366, n. 13; Y O N 1997b, 19.
99
RS 17.334, found with the rest of the Hittite political documents in the
Southern Palace Archive, is actually a copy made by Ini-Teub, after the original
tablet signed by his grandfather had broken (lines 20-23).
100 P O R T H E revival of Egyptian militarism in Asia under Horemheb, see R E D F O R D
1992, 179, and the literature cited by him in n. 258. Ugarit appears with other
Syrian localities in a topographical list from Karnak dated to Horemheb (SIMONS
1937, 47, 50ff.). For the alabaster vase with the name of Horemheb allegedly found
in Ugarit, see p. 637.
101
For the redating of the seal ring of a Niqmaddu to Niqmaddu III in the late
13th century, see p. 693.
98

BORDREUIL

BORDREUIL

played his cards carefully, most of which were kept in his opulent
treasuries rather than on the battle front. With the exception of a
brisk raid by his neighbours which probably destroyed part of Ugarit,
N i q m a d d u wisely managed to keep his kingdom far from the stormy
events that brought havoc upon his neighbours in the east and north.
T h e new tripartite political axis linking Hatti, Ugarit and Amurru
held out until the very end of the Hittite Empire.

4.6

Ar-halba (ca.

1315-1313)

T w o of N i q m a d d u II's sons succeeded him on the throne, one after


the other. Very little is known about the short reign of Ar-halba
who is attested in only six juridical texts (RS 16.344, 15.91, 16.144,
16.160, 16.278, 16.142 = PRU 3, 75-7). T h e most telling of these
is his 'last will' in which he warns his brothers not to marry his wife
K u b a b a after his death, contrary to the levirate custom. 102 This
intriguing document has given place to plenty of speculation on the
circumstances of Ar-halba's end (see L i v e r a n i 1962, 64; 1979a, 1306,
with refs.). T h e mystery is further enhanced by his non-Semitic name,
which stands out in the otherwise uniform picture of Ugaritic royal
names. It has even been suggested that this name indicates that the
legitimate heir to the throne was not Ar-halba, but rather his brother
Niqmepa who bore a normal Amorite name ( L i v e r a n i 1978, 152).
T h e standard historical scenario incriminates Ar-halba with collaboration with the pro-Egyptian insurrection o f T e t t e of Nuhhai. 103
Support for this is ostensibly provided by an unpublished alabaster
vase with the cartouches of H o r e m h e b , mentioned in preliminary
reports, but never seen since. 104 After the suppression of the mutiny
the Hittites supposedly forced Ar-halba to abdicate his throne in
favour of his brother Niqmepa ( N o u g a y r o l 1956, 57; A s t o u r 1981a,
24). A forced change on the throne of Ugarit is purportedly hinted

102

RS 16.144 (= PRU 3, 76). I follow van Soldt's translation of lines 4 - 9 (VAN


1985-6, 70, n. 13), which is entirely opposed to previous interpretations of
the passage: 'If in the future I will die, then the one from among my brothers who
marries Kubaba daughter of Tak'nu, my wife, may Ba'lu wash him away . . .'.
103
N O U G A Y R O L 1956, xxxvii-xxxviii; 1956, 57; L I V E R A N I 1962, 58ff.; 1979a, 1306;
SOLDT

KLENGEL

1965,

254;

RS

17.[477];

1969,

360;

DROWER

1975,

139;

DIJKSTRA

1989,

150.

1954a, 41; N O U G A Y R O L 1956, 57. According to


B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1989, 152 the inscription is mentioned in a letter of J . Vandier.
Cf. also G I V E O N 1986, 841, n. 14.
104

SCHAEFFER

at in the fragmentary opening lines of the Mursili-Niqmepa treaty: 103


'[I have joined you] N i q m e p a with your brothers, and I, the King,
have placed you upon the throne of your father and returned the
land of your father to you'. Comparison with the Suppiluliuma-Aziru
treaty (which also supplies the restoration) shows that the reference
is not to Niqmepa's blood brothers but rather to his peers in Syria,
i.e., all the vassal kings who have been granted treaties with Hatti
( K l e n g e l 1969, 275; K h n e 1975, 240; Singer in I z r e ' e l Singer
1990, 148). T h e rest of the sentence is also standard in the terminology of Hittite treaties (for parallels see K h n e 1975, 241-2, . 8;
d e l M o n t e 1986, 46ff). T h e only unusual thing is the lack of the
customary historical introduction summarizing the past relations
between the contracting parties. Whether this is a tactful omission
intended to cover up recent grievances in the relations between Hatti
and Ugarit ( L i v e r a n i 1962, 69; K h n e 1975, 241, . 7) is also questionable (cf. also d e l M o n t e 1986, 7 - 8 and n. 3, 46ff.). As a rule,
the Hittites did not hesitate to denounce disloyal elements in vassal
countries and eagerly stressed their own intervention in support of
loyal partners. 1 0 6 In short, although the standard reconstruction of
the political circumstances which led to the quick changes on the
throne of Ugarit may make good sense, the evidence for it is entirely
circumstantial. Ar-halba's prompt disappearance could simply have
been caused by non-political circumstances, such as sudden illness
and death. T h e only solid conclusion concerns the brevity of his
reign, probably not more than a couple of years extending between
Mursili's 7th and 9th years ( K l e n g e l 1969, 3 5 9 - 6 0 ; v a n S o l d t
1991, 4-5).

4.7

Niqmepa (ca

1313-1260)

W e return to more solid historical ground with the coronation of


Niqmaddu's second son, Niqmepa. His half-century-long reign stretches
from Mursiii II's 9th year into the reign of Hattusili 'III'. 107 Most

105
R S 1 7.349B+ = PRU A, 85ff; KESTEMONT 1974b; KHNE 1975b; DEL MONTE
1986; BECKMAN 1996C, 5 9 - 6 4 .
106
See, e.g., the historical introduction to Mursili's treaty with Kupanta-Kurunta
of Mira-Kuwaliya (BECKMAN 1996C, 69).
107
VAN SOLDT 1991a, 5FF. See p. 660 for the decree issued by Hattusili 'III' to
Niqmepa concerning the men of Ura (RS 17.130 = PRU 4, 103-5).

historical reconstructions tend to find some connection between


Niqmepa's accession to the throne and the suppression of the proEgyptian insurrection in Syria. According to this scenario Niqmepa
was not involved in his brother's rebellious policy and may even
have been forced to flee temporarily from Ugarit. After the suppression of the mutiny, Niqmepa was ostensibly rewarded by the
Hittites with the throne of Ugarit, after the elimination of his treacherous brother. As already stated above, nothing in this scenario is
based on solid evidence and the circumstances of Niqmepa's coronation remain unknown.
4.7.1

Territorial issues

T h e numerous fragments of the treaty with Niqmepa, 1 0 8 ratified with


the seals of Muri1i II,' 09 have been reconstructed as belonging to at
least three Akkadian copies of the text. T h e structure closely resembles
that of Suppiluliuma's treaties with Aziru of Amurru and with Tette
of Nuhhai, which may point to an early date for its composition,
immediately after Niqmepa's accession to the throne ( d e l M o n t e
1986, 5ff.). Its structure already follows the 'classical' type of Hittite
treaties, which includes stipulations of loyalty to the Great King and
his descendants, offensive and defensive alliances, and detailed instructions on the extradition of fugitives. T h e treaty is concluded with a
full list of divine witnesses (compared to the brief list in the Niqmaddu
treaty), and with the standard curse and blessing formulae.
Like the N i q m a d d u treaty, the Niqmepa treaty also has supplements dealing with Ugarit's tribute and with the delineation of its
northern border. ' T h e sons of Muki' sued Ugarit at law to return

108

PRU 3, 84-101, 287-9; PRU 6, 127-9; K O R O S E C 1960; K E S T E M O N T 1974b;


1975; D E L M O N T E 1986, 4 - 5 ; B E C K M A N 1996c, 59-64. DEL M O N T E (1986,
8, n. 2) observed that copy was written in Ugarit, whereas copy A exhibits unmistakable (ortho)graphic features of a Hittite scribal school.
109
The treaties are ratified with two royal seals of Muri1i II, which, as recently
demonstrated by O T T E N (1995, 26 7), are not identical with the seal impressions
from Bogazky. Since the same applies to the seals of Suppiluliuma I, Otten suggests that the Hittite royal seals employed in Syria were locally manufactured, probably by the court of Carchemish (ibid., 24, 27; cf. . 94 on the ductus of the
Niqmaddu treaty). This important observation throws new light also on the unique
stone seal of Muri1i II discovered in 1950 (RS 14.202; Ug 3, 87-93; 161-3), which
some consider to be an ancient forgery (NEU 1995b, 124 5, with previous refs.; cf.
M O R A 1987, 2 1 1 2 ) . For the interpretation of this seal, see also SALVINI 1990, 423-6;
1995b, 96-7.
KHNE

to t h e m the territories a n n e x e d by Suppiluliuma to Ugarit, but after


carefully weighing the case, Mursili decided to reconfirm the borders established by his f a t h e r a n d r e p e a t e d the list of n o r t h e r n
toponyms belonging to Ugarit ( R S 17.237.3-16 = PRU 4, 6 3 - 7 0 ;
A s t o u r
1969, 3 9 8 - 4 0 5 ; 1981a; B e c k m a n 1996c, 1 5 9 - 6 0 ; v a n S o l d t
1997)." N i q m e p a fared less favourably on his southern border. H e r e
Mursili accepted the petition of the client state of Siyannu-Unatu
to be separated from Ugarit, a n d he placed its king Abdi-Anati u n d e r
the direct jurisdiction of the Hittite viceroy of C a r c h e m i s h ( R S
17.335+, 17.457, 17.344, 17.368, 16.170, 17.382+ = PRU 4, 7 1 - 8 3 ;
A s t o u r
1979; B e c k m a n 1996c, 160-2). T h e loss of a b o u t one third
of its territory was a serious blow to the e c o n o m y of Ugarit, but at
least the Hittites agreed to reduce her yearly tribute accordingly ( R S
17.382+ = PRU 4, 7 9 - 8 3 ; K l e n g e l 1969, 368). T h e d e m a r c a t i o n
of the new b o r d e r between Ugarit a n d Siyannu-Unatu (somewhere
south of G i b a l a / Jebleh) was a complicated m a t t e r a n d was to keep
the Hittite foreign office occupied in the next generations. 1 " It is
usually assumed that Mursili's decision to the detriment of Ugarit
was in retaliation for her behaviour at the time of the Syrian insurrection ( L i v e r a n i 1962, 60; 1988a, 567; D r o w e r 1975, 139). T h e
real reason m a y have h a d m o r e to d o with divide et impera politics
than with the punitive m o o d of the Hittite m o n a r c h . It was in his
best interest to keep the Syrian provinces as partitioned as possible,
without drastically breaking the traditional geo-political division lines." 2

110
LIVERANI (1979a, 1306; 1990, 83-4) assesses the evidence differently, claiming that Mursili displaced the border again, this time at the advantage of Mukis.
111
For the various stages of the border demarcation, which continued at least as
late as the reign of Tudhaliya 'IV', see A S T O U R 1979; VAN S O L D T 1998. A further
document has recently been added to this dossier through the cleaning of a tablet
which was previously illegible, except for the seal impression at its centre (RS 17.403
=
Ug 3,137-9). Eleven lines of the obverse were almost fully recuperated, and they
contain a donation deed of a border area (NI'G.BA a qanni) to Ugarit ( M A L B R A N L A B A T 1995c, 37-8). Mention is made of Mursili (with the unusual spelling Mu-urzi-i-li) and a division of fields between the king of Ugarit and the king of another
country whose name is unfortunately not preserved. As suggested by M A L B R A N L A B A T (ibid., 38), all these indications point towards a late ratification of the decree
of Mursili II dividing the border territories between Ugarit and Siyannu. Two Hittite
officials are mentioned in the tablet: Hini DUMU.LUGAL K U R u r i Ka[rgami] (SINGER
1997, 420) and Tagi-arruma GAL L [ M DUB.SAR], a restoration which corresponds
with the title on his seal impressed on the tablet.
112
A similar political step was taken by Mursili in western Anatolia. In order to
prevent the re-emergence of a strong Arzawa he divided it into several kingdoms
which were in constant competition with each other ( H E I N H O L D - K R A H M E R 1 9 7 7 , 121ff.)

T h e annexation of Siyannu-Unatu to Ugarit was an outcome of the


Aziru-Niqmaddu treaty, and the Hittites were in no way obliged to
sanction a political accord which did not best serve their interests.
T h e creation of a buffer kingdom tucked in between A m u r r u and
Ugarit was a wise pre-emptive step intended to prevent the develo p m e n t of an excessively large geo-political union controlling the
Levantine coast all the way from Muki to the Egyptian border. T h e
constantly strengthening political b o n d between the royal houses of
A m u r r u and Ugarit shows that in the long r u n this was not an
u n g r o u n d e d political whim.
4.7.2

Strengthening the bond with Amurru

T h e political b o n d established between A m u r r u and Ugarit in the


A m a r n a Age was continuously cultivated in the following generations. T w o royal marriages in succession, in both cases an Ugaritic
king wedding an A m u r r i t e princess, established intimate contacts
between the two royal houses, as well as close commercial and cultural contacts between their lands.
T h e first marriage was N i q m e p a ' s with Ahat-Milku, one of the
best known queens of Ugarit. H e r exceedingly wealthy dowry list
carries the anepigraphic dynastic seal of A m u r r u , identified in the
text as 'the seal of king DU-Teub' ( R S 16.146 + 161 = PRU 3,
182-6). T h e only plausible way to account for this signature is that
the wedding occurred in the reign of DU-Teub, most probably her
f a t h e r . " 3 This dates the event towards the end of Mursiii II's first
decade, i.e., at about 1314 ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 14; S i n g e r 1991a,
159; A b o u d 1994, 30). According to standard N e a r Eastern custom,
girls were given in marriage at a very early age, sometimes even
before they reached puberty ( L i p i n s k i 1981, 81, n. 8). Ahat-Milku

113

In order to solve the chronological problems raised by the apparently excessively long period of Ahat-Milku's activity, VAN SOLDT (1985-6, 70; 1991a, 14 5)
suggested that her marriage took place during the reign of Duppi-Teub or even
Benteina, i.e., at an advanced stage of Niqmepa's reign. Firstly, this would differ
from other kings of Ugarit who married early, even before their accession to the
throne (ABOUD 1994, 30). More importantly, this would squarely contradict the
whole sense of the statement that the document was signed by the seal of DUTeub. The case of RS 17.360+ (= PRU 4, 139ff.) is quite different because it carries both the dynastic seal (identified in the text as the seal of Aziru) and the
personal seal of augamuwa. Whether DU-Teub was Ahat-Milku's father or not
does not affect the chronological calculations.

must have been in her early teens when she arrived at Ugarit and
began her long and eventful career. She gave birth to several sons,
including the next king of Ugarit, Ammittamru II. T h e latest documents mentioning Ahat-Milku deal with the deportation of her sons
H i m i - a r r u m a a n d A b d i - a r r u m a to A1aia (RS 17.352, 17.35,
17.362, 17.367 = PRU 4, 121-4). These verdicts are ratified by IniT e u b and by Tudhaliya 'IV', the latter providing a terminus post quern
after 1239 ( E d e l 1976, 29). Thus, Ahat-Milku must have been at
least 90 years old when her sons were transferred from Ugarit to
A1aia. Some scholars raised doubts whether the 'early' and the 'late'
Ahat-Milku could be one and the same person." 4 But there are many
examples of similar longevity in antiquity (e.g. Puduhepa) and as
long as there is no positive evidence for the existence of two queens
n a m e d Ahat-Milku, it is better to reconstruct one long queenship,
which extended into the reign of Ammittamru II.
A m u r r u ' s highly-paid protection services were no d o u b t fully
employed by Ugarit, but we learn details of such interventions only
in rare cases. In a letter sent to Ammittamru II (RS 17.286 = PRU
4, 180), the king of Amurru, probably augamuwa," 5 refers to a
previous incident in which Benteina was asked to mediate between
Ugarit and the hostile M a n d a troops. A generation later the same
situation recurred and the troops were again sent from Amurru to
U g a r i t to settle their p r o b l e m s . " 6 T h e Umman Manda ( e r n . m e
Man-del*^) are better known from first millennium contexts, where
the term usually refers to northern warriors of Indo-European origins,
such as Scythians, Cimmerians, and Medes ( L i v e r a n i 1962, 121-4;
1988d). In the second millennium they appear as military men from

1,4

Whereas N O U G A Y R O L (1956, 10, 295) still hesitated, L I V E R A N I (1979a, 1 3 0 8 )


distinguished between the early Ahat-Milku, spouse of Ar-halba or even Niqmaddu
in his old age, and the late Ahat-Milku, spouse of Niqmepa and mother of Ammittamru II.
115
The sender could theoretically also be Sabili, who was placed on the throne
by Muwatalli after the Battle of Qadesh. Note that he does not refer to Benteina
as his father, whereas he refers to the father of his correspondent without mentioning his name.
116
It is quite possible that this letter was given by the king of Amurru to the
chiefs of the Umman Manda who presented it to the king of Ugarit. Perhaps the
mysterious single sign IGI at the end of the letter (following a division line) conveys some sort of (secret?) message from one king to the other (related to the verb
'see'?). For lack of a better solution Nougayrol suggested (n. 2) that the scribe who
was used to write juridical texts automatically inserted 'witness' (IGI) when he
finished writing the letter, but I find this explanation difficult to accept.

the Old Babylonian period onwards, including Old Hittite sources


( B e a l 1992, 72-3). Whether already at this stage the U m m a n M a n d a
consisted of Indo-European tribesmen 117 is impossible to prove. In
LBA Ugarit the term must probably refer to tribal groups from the
highlands, who were sometimes recruited as mercenaries, like the
Sutu or the habiru.
T h e relation of protector a n d protected between A m u r r u and
Ugarit finds its appropriate expression in the courtesy terminology
used in their letter exchange. T h e Amurrite senders address their
Ugaritian correspondents as 'son' and 'daughter'. In some cases this
may indeed reflect real familial relations," 8 but in others this terminology can only be explained as status ranking between the two
kingdoms." 9 Although Ugarit as the 'rich relative' was begged for
luxury goods (p. 666), there is a constant reminder of who was the
stronger partner in the union of 'Amurru and Ugarit who are but
one (country)'. 120
4.7.3

The Battle of Qadesh

With the seizure of power by military men after the failed bid of
T u t a n k h a m u n ' s widow to uppi1u1iuma, Egypt renewed its aggressive
policy in western Asia, preparing to revenge her humiliating defeat
by the Hittites and the loss of A m u r r u and Qadesh. First attempts
to instigate disorder in Hittite Syria are attributed to H o r e m h e b (see
n. 100), but the decisive move was left to the Pharaohs of the 19th
Dynasty. Sety I, after quelling disorders in Palestine, advanced up the
Phoenician coast to Amurru, and then crossed over to Qadesh and
captured the strategic city in ca. 1290 ( K R I I, 24; S p a l i n g e r 1979,
34; M u r n a n e 1985, 80ff.; R e d f o r d 1992, 181). Benteina of Amurru
had little choice but to surrender to the approaching Egyptians, and

117

1 9 6 9 , 4 1 4 , . 8 5 ; 1 9 9 2 , 1 3 7 , . 2 7 8 (with further literature).


E.g., Ulmi in RS 16.111 (= PRU 3, 13) could very well be the mother of
Ahat-Milku (SINGER 1991a, 160).
119
As in the letter of the governor of Amurru sent to his 'son', the governor of
Ugarit (FALES 1984). Another letter ( R S 1 5 . 0 2 4 + 1 5 . 0 5 0 = PRU 3, 18) is sent by
a certain Abuga to his 'brother', the governor [of Ugarit); it contains a mere declaration of mutual assistance between the two lands, without any specific request.
A somewhat similar declaration is found in the Ugaritic letter RS 18.075 (= PRU
5 , no. 6 5 ) , but there is no evidence that it was sent from Amurru (SINGER 1991a,
1 6 2 , n. 38).
120
R S 2 0 . 1 6 2 . 1 8 - 9 ( = Ug 5 , 1 1 5 ) ; for parallel expressions of unity, see MALBRANKLENGEL

1,8

LABAT in BORDREUIL ( e d . ) 1 9 9 1 ,

48.

returned his land to his previous overlord after half a century of Hittite
rule ( S i n g e r 1991a, 165-6). 121 Distant Ugarit had less to fear from
an Egyptian military operation and N i q m e p a probably remained
loyal to the Hittites. H e even sent his contingents to the Battle of
Qadesh (1275) in accordance to his treaty with Mursili I E 1 2 2 After
Muwatalli's decisive victory, Benteina was deposed and deported to
Hatti, but not for long. After a short period of 're-education' at the
court of Hattusili 'III' in the Northern Land, he was reinstated on
the throne of A m u r r u and remained a loyal and highly-appreciated
agent of Hittite interests for the rest of his reign ( S i n g e r 1991a,
167ff.). Amicable relations with Ugarit were also resumed and fostered, but sometimes the good intentions led to deplorable results,
as in the case of the ill-fated princess from Amurru, the bittu rabti
(p. 680f.).
Another converted ally of the Hittites was N i q m a d d u of K i n z a /
Qadesh. After the assassination of his father Aitakama he was captured by Mursili II, but was reinstalled on the throne and became
a faithful defender of Hittite interests in Syria. H e also kept good
relations with Ugarit. 123
4.7.4

Urhi-Teub in Syria

W h e n Hattusili 'III' captured his nephew Urhi-Tesub in amuha,


he deported him to Nuhhai and gave him fortified cities there
(Apology 11 = iv 7 - 4 0 ; v a n d e n H o u t 1997, 203). However, when
the famous exile sought to recruit Babylon to support his cause he
was transferred to a place 'alongside the sea' (iv 36). Various locations have been suggested for this u n n a m e d place on the seashore,
the most plausible being Ugarit. 124 Perhaps an even better possibil-

121

The 'General's Letter' (RS 20.033) which was usually considered to reflect
conditions on the eve (or immediately after) the battle of Qadesh has been redated
to the Amarna Age (see p. 628).
122
G A R D I N E R 1 9 6 0 , 5 8 ; 'Ikrl is listed (in the longest enumeration of allies in 43ff.)
after Krkm and before Qd and Mugs (Nuhfoai). For the battle of Qadesh, see the
refs. cited in R E D F O R D 1 9 9 2 , 1 8 4 , n. 2 8 4 . For the identification of Qd, see n. 4 2 8 .
123
Niqmaddu (NIO.MA- D IM) is the addressee of two letters discovered at Tell Nebi
Mend/Qadesh, one of which was sent by a king of Halab ( M I L L A R D 1979-80, 202).
He is probably the author of a letter sent to Niqmepa of Ugarit (RS 17.315; see
n. 202).
124
LIVERANI 1962, 79; C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 361, n. 3. Other suggestions that have
been put forward for locating this 'seacoast' (A.AB.BA tapua) were A1aia and Mira
in western Anatolia (for refs. see H O U W I N K T E N C A T E 1974, 139).

ity would be to locate U r h i - T e s u b ' s last place of exile in Syria in


Amurru, 1 2 5 which would explain Bentesina's a p p e a r a n c e in R S 17.406
(see below). 126 Benteina was a protg of Hattusili 'III' ( C T H 92
4 - 5 ; B e c k m a n 1996c, 96) and he would have been trusted to
keep a vigilant eye on the royal exile. In any case, both in Ugarit
a n d in A m u r r u it would have been easy to catch a boat or a caravan descending to Egypt, a n d indeed U r h i - T e u b is last h e a r d of
in the correspondence between Ramesses II a n d the Hittite royal
couple before the royal marriage in 1245 ( H e l c k 1963; E d e l 1994,
ch. ii D).
U r h i - T e s u b ' s period of exile in Syria in the sixties of the 13th
century raises the possibility of attributing to him some of the occurrences of the n a m e U r h i - T e u b in d o c u m e n t s f r o m Ugarit. However,
it is now clear that at least one f u r t h e r person bore the same n a m e ,
namely a Hittite official operating f r o m C a r c h e m i s h at the very end
of the 13th century. In a letter f o u n d in the U r t e n u archive this
U r h i - T e u b (without any title) addresses the great ones a n d the elders
of Ugarit, including U r t e n u a n d Yabinina, promising the dispatch
of rescue forces f r o m C a r c h e m i s h ( R S 88.2009; M a l b r a n - L a b a t
1995c, 3 9 - 4 0 ; see p. 729). Perhaps this same official is the a u t h o r
of a courtesy letter in Ugaritic addressed 'to the queen, m y lady'
( K T U 2.68 = R S 20.199; P a r d e e 1984a, 2 1 3 - 5 ; C u n c h i l l o s 1989a,
359ff.). A f u r t h e r Ugaritic occurrence of an Urg-Tsb, in a f r a g m e n tary list of rations ( K T U 4.410 = R S 18.250.30 = PRU 5, no. 162),
c a n n o t be readily attributed to one of the two candidates, a n d m a y
p e r h a p s belong to a third namesake.
W e are left with two legal d o c u m e n t s which m a y reasonably be
attributed to the deposed Hittite king. R S 17.346 (= PRU 4, 175-7)
is a verdict delivered by Ini-Teub in a financial dispute between
Ugarit, represented by its governor, and the m e r c h a n t M a a n d a w h o

125
Of particular interest in this connection is a letter of Ramesses with the report
that the people of Amurru and two other lands asked the Egyptians for a safe passage for Urhi-Teub and his party (EDEL 1994, i 64 -5; II: 102). The implications
of this intriguing document deserve a separate study.
126
It is perhaps of interest to note in this connection that at Tell Kazel, possibly the royal residence of Amurru (SINGER 1991a, 158), a Hittite seal impression
was found. Unfortunately, the legend is unreadable in the published photograph,
but the three concentric rings around the central field indicate that the owner was
a very important person, probably of royal descent. The same building has also
produced two Hittite button seals (for refs. see SINGER 1991a, 185).

accused the king of Ugarit of appropriating from his caravan 400


donkeys worth 4 , 0 0 0 silver shekels. Reference is made to an earlier
verdict given by Urhi-Tesub in favour of Maanda, in which he
made the king of Ugarit pay a fine of 1 ' talent of silver. If this
Urhi-Tesub is indeed the ill-fated successor of Muwatalli II, we must
conclude that during his exile in Syria he was given some authorative powers as an arbitrator in local disputes ( N o u g a y r o l 1 9 5 6 , 1 7 5 ;
L i v e r a n i 1 9 6 2 , 7 8 - 9 ; K l e n g e l 1 9 6 9 , 4 1 6 , . 1 2 3 ) . Alternatively, the
verdict could have been given during his short reign in Hatti ( H o u w i n k
ten

Cate

1974,

138).

T h e second alternative is perhaps supported by another, very fragmentary, legal text mentioning Maanda (RS 17.406 = PRU 4, 181).127
This is a rare n a m e ( G r o n d a h l 1967, 342: L a r o c h e 1966, 115) and
the high probability that the same person is referred to in both texts
is further supported by the few remaining data in the fragment,
which mentions Ugarit, Bentesina, and most significantly, the phrase
'(I) the Great King have written a tablet [ . . . ] ' (frgm. A, 10'). Could
this be the very verdict of Urhi-Tesub mentioned in RS 17.346.10-1 ?128
If so, the title 'Great King' would date this document to his short
reign in Hatti, since Urhi-Tesub would hardly have dared to use it
during his exile in Syria. It is also possible that the complicated
financial lawsuit of Maanda, probably a wealthy Hittite merchant,
lingered on into the following reign of Hattusili 'III', who would
then be the author of R S 17.406.

Ugarit

in t h e

Age

of

'PAX

HF.TUTIO(

Sixteen years after the Battle of Qadesh Ramesses II and Hattusili 'III' decided, each for his own reasons, to bring to an end the
century-long enmity between their countries. T h e peace treaty concluded in 1258 after lengthy negotiations inaugurated a period of
unprecedentedly close connections between the two empires. T h e

127

Ma-a(?)-an-d (fragm. A, 11. 5', 8'; fragm. B, 1. 5'). There is some doubt with
regard to the second sign (sa or la), but the reading of the name is practically certain. Both RS 17.346 and 17.406 were found in the so-called 'Hittite Archive' in
the rooms located south of Court V.
128
Maanda testifies that he had broken the sealed tablet with Urhi-Tesub's
verdict (RS 17.346.12-3). If so, RS 17.406 must be the copy kept by the governor of Ugarit.

new age of cooperation was particularly bnficiai for Ugarit, who


resumed her role as the hub of eastern Mediterranean trade. Except
for the troubled years before and immediately after the Battle of
Qadesh, Ugarit never really severed her traditional tics with Egypt.
Now, however, the cosmopolitan city became the main stage for
trade between Hatti and Egypt, a role which brought her unsurpassed prosperity.
T h e exact dating of the growing n u m b e r of late 13th century documents is notoriously difficult. Kings, queens and governors 129 were
not usually addressed by name in their letters, and other absolute
criteria are also conspicuously missing ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 1). T h e
evaluation of these late sources will follow two separate tracks. T h e
individual reigns of the last kings of Ugarit will be discussed individually wherever possible, especially with regard to succession, marriages and foreign relations. But before that, subjects of less transient
character, such as international trade, will be surveyed as a whole
for the entire age of 'Pax Hethitica\ Cross-references will be generously provided.
Better to understand the mechanism of Hittite rule in Syria in
general, and their special relations with Ugarit in particular, a brief
description of the political climate in the Hittite Empire after the
victory at Qadesh is necessary. As often happens in history, what
appears to be the apex of success turns out in reality to be the beginning of the end. T h e economic burden of the 'Great W a r ' with
Egypt, and even more so the civil war which broke out shortly afterwards between the factions of Urhi-Teub and Hattusili mark a decisive turning point in Hittite history. Although in many respects the
age of Hattusili and Puduhepa is characterized by successful measures at home and a conciliatory policy abroad, 1 3 0 the moral consequences of Hattusili's usurpation weighed heavily on the Hittite state
and eventually contributed to its ruination. T o atone for his sin
before gods and men Hattusili appointed his other nephew K u r u n t a
as king of Tarhuntaa, the capital founded by Muwatalli in southern Anatolia (see p. 660). N u m e r o u s concessions were made to the

129

The logogram MAKIM, 'governor' ('prfet' in the French translations) must be


read at Ugarit as skinu, rather than rbisu. See HUEHNERGARD 1989, 67, 360, 378
(with refs.); I^ACKENBACHER 1995a, 69, n. 17.
130 P O R ^
f o r c j g n POLICY of Hattusili and Puduhepa, see recently HOIJWINK TEN
C A T E 1 9 9 6 (esp. pp. 7 3 5 ) , with extensive refs. to previous literature.

benefit of the sister state, first by Hattusili and then by Tudhaliya,


but nothing could appease the rival king's legitimate yearning for
superiority. It is not yet clear whether the political rivalry led to outright warfare between the competing 'Great Kings', 131 but, in any
case, the problem dominated the political agenda of Hatti in the last
decades of its existence. In religious and political documents issued
from Hattua there is a growing preoccupation with problems of
dynastic legitimation and loyalty, which eventually develop into an
obsessive fear of treason and betrayal even from the king's closest
allies and associates ( O t t e n 1 9 6 3 ) . External circumstances, with serious military threats from east and west and an increasing food
shortage, only aggravated the burdened atmosphere of concern and
pessimism. In this state of mind it was only natural that the last
kings of Hattua sought to keep their only quiet border in the south
as peaceful and cooperative as possible. T h e Syrian tribute was also
the biggest source of income for the impoverished treasuries of Hatti.
Ugarit was the 'Jewel in the C r o w n ' of Hittite Syria and the point
of entry for the desperately needed grain bought in Egypt. As long
as Ugarit complied with her vassal obligations most of her wishes
were willingly granted. In her complaint against the abuses of the
merchants of U r a (see p. 660), and in other lawsuits (e.g., in the bittu
rabti affair; see p. 680f.), the court of Hatti repeatedly took the side
of Ugarit against her adversaries, including Hittite officials and merchants. A special decree issued by Hattusili provided the extradition
of Ugaritian fugitives from Hittite frontierlands, contrary to normal
vassal treaty provisions (see p. 682). Clearly, in the first stage of Pax
Hethitica Hatti was eager to gratify her wealthy vassal as much as
she could. T o be sure, this positive disposition towards Ugarit was
not insensitive towards consecutive developments in the political arena,
not to mention individual moods of the respective monarchs. T h e r e
even came a time when Ugarit became so assertive towards her overlord that harsh reprimands became necessary, though quite ineffective.
In sharp contrast to its Anatolian relatives, the dynasty of Carchemish kept a remarkable stability which continued unshaken from
the foundation of the empire to well after its collapse ( H a w k i n s 1 9 8 8 ;
G t e r b o c k 1 9 9 2 ) . Already at the time of Syria's conquest Carchemish
on the Euphrates was chosen to become the hub of Hittite rule in
131
For the various views on the results of the rivalry between the royal houses
of Hatti and of Tarhuntaa, see S I N G E R 1996b.

Syria. Halab's military and administrative role gradually faded, though


she remained a revered religious centre. T h e more Hatti was preoccupied with internal problems, the more authority was assumed
by Carchemish, an inverse ratio clearly reflected in the documents
from Ugarit ( L i v e r a n i 1960). Already in the 14th century some of
the most important state documents relating to Ugarit were prepared
in Carchemish, including the royal seals ratifying them (Neu 1995b,
129; O t t e n 1995, 27; see n. 109). This tendency probably culminated in the able reign of Ini-Teub, probably the Hittite monarch
most frequently mentioned in Ugarit. By the early 13th century Carchemish developed a centralized government in most of Hittite Syria,
either in the form of fully integrated territories ruled by Hittite
governors (such as Mukis), or as s u b o r d i n a t e kingdoms directly
controlled from Carchemish (such as Astata/Emar). T h e only vassal states which kept a more-or-less autonomous status were Ugarit,
Amurru, and K i n z a / Q a d e s h , i.e. the kingdoms which in the age of
the 'Great G a m e ' for the control of Syria had promptly joined the
Hittite camp. But even the borders of these usually loyal kingdoms
were not guaranteed. W h e n opportunity arose Carchemish carved
away from Ugarit the sub-kingdom of S i y a n n u / U n a t u , thus creating a buffer state between the strong kingdom of Amurru and the
wealthy kingdom of Ugarit (see p. 640).
T h e special type of political condominium in Syria shared by Hattua and Carchemish, compared by Nougayrol to the double-headed
Hittite eagle ( N o u g a y r o l 1956, 149), needs to be more closely defined,
especially with the recent increase in late 13th century documents.
T h e general impression one gets is that, although the appearance of
Hattusa's superiority was scrupulously maintained, for example in
the clear distinction between the titles of the 'Great King' or the
'Sun' ( d u t u - 5 / ) of Hatti and the 'King' of Carchemish, in practice
the everyday government of Syria, including its military defence, was
organized by the Viceroy of Carchemish and a host of royal princes
who travelled between the vassal courts solving local disputes and
securing the interests of the central government. It seems that in
their dealings with Syria the rulers of Hatti concentrated mainly on
the enforcement of imperial etiquette (e.g., regular visits of the vassal rulers to His Majesty), the tightening of dynastic bonds through
royal marriages (first with A m u r r u and later with Ugarit), and, most
importantly, with securing the constant flow of high quality tribute
and presents to Hatti (see p. 693ff.). According to the vassal treaties

set down in the 14th century, the yearly tribute of Ugarit went
directiy to Hatti where it was distributed between the king, the queen
and their leading officials (see p. 635). T h e r e is nothing in the prolific
13th century correspondence to indicate any change in this policy.
O n the contrary, when the kings of Carchemish reprimand the kings
of Ugarit for not sending sufficient presents, the destination of the
dispatches, whenever clearly stated, is to Hatti, never to Carchemish
(e.g., R S 34.136 = R S O 7, no. 7; p. 694). It is possible, of course,
that the king of Hatti shared some of his Syrian income with the
Viceroy of Carchemish, but there is nothing to suggest a direct flow
of tribute f r o m Ugarit to C a r c h e m i s h . Strange as it may seem,
Carchemish and the adjacent areas dependent on her, such as Emar,
traded with Ugarit on a regular basis of give and take (see p. 653ff.).
Finally, a brief remark should be added on the cultural impact of
Hittite rule in Ugarit (Neu 1995). A century and a half of close political and economic ties have yielded surprisingly little evidence for
Hittite influence upon the cultural life of the people of Ugarit. Only
a handful of Hittite texts have been found: a legal text probably
originating from Hattua, 1 3 2 a few literary fragments found in 1992
(Neu 1995, 127), and a trilingual fragment of a well-known literary
text ('Message of Ludingirra to his mother') which was also brought
to Ugarit from Hattua (Ug 5, 3 1 9 f f , 773ff.). In other words, probably nothing was written in Hittite in Ugarit itself, a conclusion also
supported by the quadrilingual vocabularies (Sumerian-AkkadianHurrian-Ugaritic) which did not bother to add a Hittite column.
Even the Hittite hieroglyphic seals which became very fashionable
a m o n g the upper classes of Hittite Syria (Amurru, Emar), were not
adopted at the court of Ugarit ( S i n g e r 1977, 184). T h e explanations
for this apparent lack of interest in Hittite culture must be discussed
in a broader context, but one of the reasons could be the fact, that,
in sharp contrast to A m u r r u ( S i n g e r 1991a, 177; 1992), the royal
house of Ugarit did not marry into Hittite royalty until the very end
of the the 13th century, and even then with very limited success. 133

132

RS 17.109 = Ug 5, 769. For a drawing and a photograph of this tablet, see


1995a.
133 T o < e v e n o u t ' th e record, one may observe the surprisingly few mentions of
Ugarit in the Bogazky texts: in two inventory texts (see n. 325), in a small historical fragment (KBo 16.39, 4'), in Hattusili's letter to Kadaman-E11i1 (KBo 1, 10
rev. 14; see p. 652), in another small fragment of a letter (KBo 28.91, 9'; H G E N SALVINI

5.1

Security problems

Prosperity often brings with it chronic problems of security, and the


late documentation in Ugarit is abounding with references to theft,
robbery, and caravan hijacking. T h e identity of the marauders was
not always known, but in any case, compensation for the loss of life
and property was demanded from the ruler in whose jurisdiction the
casualty occurred. T h e matter was settled in a legal procedure in
which all parties involved appeared before a royal arbitrator, usually
the king himself or an official appointed by him for this occasion.
A typical lawsuit is RS 17.229 = PRU 4, 106, ratified by the seal
of Hattusili and Puduhepa. T h e merchant Talimmu sued the inhabitants of Apsuna, a town in the northern part of the kingdom of
Ugarit (see n. 403), for killing his associates. T h e citizens of Apsuna
were required to compensate T a l i m m u with one talent of silver."'
T h e town must have been notorious for its insecurity, for we find
another fragmentary lawsuit where Apsuna is associated with a case
of murder.' 3 5
T h e king of Carchemish, Ini-Teub, was very active in setting up
a supportive legal framework for trade in Syria, guaranteeing proper
compensation for the families a n d the business associates of the
ill-fated merchants who were killed in his jurisdiction. An accord
between Carchemish and Ugarit, witnessed by the main deities of
the two kingdoms, sets a compensation of 3 mina of silver each for
merchants killed in each other's territory (RS 17.230, 17.146, 18.115,
18.019 = PRU 4, 152-60). This very law was applied by Ini-Teub
in his verdict against the citizens of Ugarit who were responsible for
the murder of a merchant of the king of Tarhudai (RS 17.158,
17.042 = PRU 4, 169-72); they were condemned to pay a compensation of 180 silver shekels to Ari-imiga, a 'brother' of the murdered
merchant. In another verdict of Ini-Teub, the citizens of Ugarit were
sentenced to pay 1,200 shekels to a certain Aballa whose domicile

1989, 353), and in the evocation texts with the mappa mundi (KUB 15, 34
i 53; K U B 15, 35 + KBo 2, 9 i 27; K U B 26, 66 iv 5).
134 P r o b a c y the same Talimmu is mentioned in passing in a lawsuit (arbitrated
by Ini-Teub) in which the king of Ugarit claims that the tablet dealing with
Talimmu's compensation was allegedly broken by a certain Maanda (RS 17.346.1421 = PRU
176-7). For the Maanda affair, see p. 646.
135
RS 17.369B + 17.069 = PRU 4, 2 3 9 - 4 0 . T h e two texts could perhaps refer
to the same incident, but here the claimants are apparently listed by their names
BUCHNER

(11. 12'ff).

is not known (RS 17.145 = PRU 4, 172-3). T h e perils of travel


within the kingdom of Ugarit must have cost its treasury a fortune. 136
A case of highway robbery with international implications is reported
in the long letter of Hattusili to Kadasman-Enlil II (KBo 1.10+;
B e c k m a n 1996c, 132-7). T h e king of Babylon complained that his
merchants were killed in Amurru, in Ugarit, and in a third land
whose n a m e is not preserved ( 10; rev. 14-25). In his reply the
Hittite king exonerates himself from all blame by giving a lengthy
discourse on the interdiction of homicide in Hatti ( K l e n g e l 1980;
L i v e r a n i 1990, 99-100). Finally, he puts the blame on some Subarians
who do not fall within his jurisdiction. Nevertheless, he proposes that
his correspondent send the relatives of the dead merchants to Hatti
in order to investigate their lawsuit. Security problems on the roads
leading from Babylon to Hatti, crossing through the land of Suhi,
are also discussed in a letter sent by Ini-Tesub to agarakt[i-uria]
found in 1994 in the Urtenu archive ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995b, 111 ;
Bordreuil

Malbran-Labat

1995,

445,

448).

As in the Mari period (see p. 618), most of the problems on the


roads were caused by tribal groups such as the Sutu, the habiru, and
the Manda. 1 3 7 In a letter to Ammittamru the king of Carchemish
(Ini-Tesub) announces that he is about to send (to Ugarit) a certain
Arwai to decide the case of the habiru ( s a . g a z ) who are not in
Carchemish (RS 16.003 = PRU 3, 4).138 According to another letter the Suteans have taken a hostage who was later ransomed for
50 silver shekels (RS 8.333 = PRU 3, 7-8; cf. A l b r i g h t 1941, 44-6).
A servant of the king of Ugarit reassures his lord that he will inform
him about anything he finds out about the Suteans (RS 34.151 =
R S O 7, no. 13). T h e instability caused by tribal groups became in
due time one of the main factors that brought about the collapse of
the traditional LBA states, in particular in the inland areas of Syria. 139

136

For other verdicts of Ini-Teub, see the refs. listed in K L E N G E L 1992, 143,
. 311. For RS 17.346 (referring to a verdict of Urhi-Teub), see p. 645f.
137
For Amurru's mediation between Ugarit and the Manda troops (RS 17.286),
see p. 642.
138
Cf. Hattusili 'IIF's edict pertaining to fugitives from Ugarit seeking refuge in
the habiru territory of His Majesty (RS 17.238; see p. 682).
139
See, most recently, F R E U forthcoming, with refs. to the new evidence supplied
by the texts from Meskene/Emar, Tell eih Hamad and Tell Huera.

5.2

The international trade of Ugant in the 13th century

Despite the perils of highway robbery and similar problems, the Age
of Pax Hethitica was an incomparably lucrative era for the entire
Levantine Crescent, and especially for Ugarit, the hub of international trade. In the following entries the evidence for Ugarit's foreign relations will be classified according to her main trading partners.
As already mentioned, it is very difficult to establish a chronological order for this type of economic documents. An entry on Hatti
is not included because no trade in the regular sense of the word
is involved, but rather payment of taxes to an overlord (described
in the respective chapters). O n the other hand, with Carchemish
(and Emar) Ugarit maintained normal trade exchanges based on reciprocal interests. T o o little is known about Ugarit's trade contacts
with Aur and Babylon, although they surely must have existed, at
least in peaceful times. 140
5.2.1

Carchemish and Emar

Ugarit's commercial relations with Carchemish should presumably


have been different from her relations with other foreign lands with
w h o m the exchange was based on unadulterated reciprocal interests.
However, a closer look at the relevant documents reveals that, beyond
the obvious protocol between suzerain and vassal, when the correspondence gets down to actual business it follows the same principles of supply and demand as with other lands. As pointed out above,
all Ugarit's yearly tribute went to the court of Hatti and none to
Carchemish. In the documents dealing with commercial transactions,
the representatives of Ugarit usually state what they expect to receive
in return for the goods they are sending to Carchemish, and, as far
as one can tell, the exchanged goods are more or less equivalent.
Although citizens of Carchemish were probably exempted from the
high custom tolls d e m a n d e d by Ugarit from merchants of other
lands, 141 even this prerogative occasionally required perseverance on
the part of Hittite officials. In his letter to the king of Ugarit, Piha-ziti142

140

On trade with Assyria, see n. 291.


See, e.g., the strong protest aired by a king of Tyre(?) concerning the high
customs his agents were required to pay by the harbourmaster of Ugarit (RS
17.424c+ = PRU 4, 219; see p. 672).
142
Perhaps identical with Piha-ziti, an official of the king of Carchemish, who
141

protests that some workers 143 of the king were required to pay taxes
and threatens to bring u p the m a t t e r at the court (RS 25.461;
L a c k e n b a c h e r
1989, 317-8).
T h e trade with Ugarit was mostly held in the hands of the royal
family of Carchemish. Hemi-Teub (RS 20.184 = Ug 5, no. 28)
was Ini-Tesub's brother, 1 4 4 U p p a r a m u w a , Misramuwa (RS 17.423 =
PRU 4, 193), A1iheni (RS 15.077 = PRU 3, 6) and Ti1i-arruma 145
were his sons, and Piha- d im was his grandson. 1 4 6 O t h e r Hittite dignitaries active at the court of Carchemish, such as Zulanna (RS
17.144 = PRU 6, no. 6), Heni, 147 Taki-arruma and Tu1pi-arruma
(RS 17.251 = PRU 4, 236), were also members of the royal family.148 Some of these Hittite nobles are also known from the archives
of M e s k e n e / E m a r , where they fulfil top administrative functions
(Beckman
1995). T h u s some of their letters may have actually been
sent to Ugarit from their 'offices' in E m a r or from other centres in
the vicinity of Carchemish. 1 4 9
Ugarit maintained a regular mission in Carchemish, a sort of diplomatic corps representing the interests of the vassal kingdom at the
court of the overlord. Obviously, the diplomats sent out to Carchemish
were most competent and influential persons. Takuhlinu, for example,
after the completion of his mission in Carchemish, climbed to the

demanded compensation from Ugarit for the losses of Maana-ura, probably a


Hittite official active in Ugarit (RS 17.248 = PRU 4, 236). Note the clay bulla with
the impression of the governor Maana-ura ( G R E A T . G O D , CITY.LORD) which was
found in Court V (RS' 18.070 = Ug 3, 62, fig. 87; 156-7). This Piha-ziti should
probably be distinguished from the merchant of Ura in R S 17.319.22, 32 (= PRU 4,
182-4).
143
For the L.ME sariputi, see H O U W I N K TEN C A T E 1 9 8 3 - 4 , 5 0 : 'presumably workers of a relatively low social standing'.
144
A R N A U D 1974; K L E N G E L 1 9 7 5 / 6 0 - 1 ; S I N G E R 1983b, 8; H A G E N B U C H N E R 1989,
18ff.
145
RS 18.114, 17.028 (= PRU 4, 108-10); K L E N G E L 1969, 363, 365. Prince Tiliarruma appears in a legal transaction from the Emar region ( H C C T - E 5; TSUKIMOTO
1984). Probably the same Te1i-arruma is also attested in a tablet from H u r b e / T e l l
C h u r a dated to the second half of Tukulti-Ninurta's reign ( K H N E 1995, 211,
217-8); he is a Hittite diplomat bringing tablets and presents to the king of Aur.
,4
RS 17.148 (= PRU 6, no 7). O n Piha- d IM, see IMPARATI 1987, 192ff., and
n. 158 below.
147
R S 1 7 . 4 0 3 ; M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1 9 9 5 C , 3 7 - 8 ; S I N G E R 1 9 9 7 , 1 2 0 . For Prince Heni
see also H O U W I N K TEN C A T E 1 9 9 6 , 6Iff. (with further refs.).
148
For the debate over the meaning of 'king's son' (DUMU.LUGAL), see, most
recently, S I N G E R 1 9 9 7 , 4 1 8 - 9 (with previous refs.).
140
For an attempt to date the letters sent from Carchemish on the basis of their
epistolary formulae, see YAMADA 1992.

topmost posts in the administration of Ugarit ( S i n g e r 1983b, 6-18).


In his letters to his lord (RS 17.383; 17.422 = PRU 4, 221-5), no
d o u b t A m m i t t a m r u II, Takuhli(nu) reports that the king of C a r chemish (Ini-Tesub) was infuriated when he was presented with some
simple stones (kamma) instead of the requested lapis-lazuli (uqnu). H e
implores his king to find the genuine stones wherever he can and
send them urgently lest people become hostile towards him in the
Hatti land. 150 In these letters there is no indication what goods were
sent by Carchemish in return, but from a n o t h e r letter we know that
Takuhli was active in transporting horses from Carchemish to Ugarit
( R S 20.184; see below). Besides genuine lapis lazuli, Takuhli asks his
king to send him also dyed wool for his own needs, namely, the
presentation of an offering to the deity Apukka of I r h a n d a who
saved him from a serious illness.151
Takuhlinu was probably replaced by Amutaru 1 3 2 as the ambassador of Ugarit in Carchemish. A m m i t t a m r u turned to Hemi-Teub
to intercede on behalf of A m u t a r u at the court of his brother IniT e s u b (RS 20.184 = Ug 5, 9 7 f f , no. 28). T h e king of Ugarit desired
two exquisite horses and one quality bow from Hanigalbat and sent
to Hemi-Teub in return one large linen garment of high quality
and one ordinary linen garment.
Another envoy to Carchemish was pu-Sarruma,' 3 3 the a u t h o r of
a letter addressed to the king of Ugarit, his lord, found in the Urtenu
archive (RS 34.140 = R S O 7, no. 1l).' 34 T h e fragmentary text seems

150

Contrary to Nougayrol's assumption, the letters were probably sent from


Carchemish, and the remark on the hostility of the land of Hatti must refer to the
Hittite realm in general (SINGER 1983b, 8). T h e r e are other similar indications that
the region of Carchemish was already considered to be (part o f ) the Hatti Land
before the fall of the Hittite Empire (see n. 170).
151
A city Irhanda appears in Hittite sources (DEL M O N T E - T I S C H L E R 1 9 7 8 , 1 4 3 ) ,
but its location cannot be established.
152
This Amutaru is probably identical with the merchant Amutarunu who was
richly endowed by Ammittamru II ( S I N G E R 1983b, 8, n. 10).
153
T h e reading Hemi for PU that was suggested by Gterbock and Laroche
(Ug 3, 117ff) is no longer tenable (SINGER 1985,' 113-4; VAN DEN H o u r 1995, 128ff.).
For another possible reading (Taki-), see VAN DEN H O U T 1995, 136. T h e material
from Ugarit could allow for several other identifications of PU-arruma as well: e.g.,
Anani-Sarruma, a messenger employed in the commercial firm of Sipti-Ba'al and
Urtenu ( R S O 7, nos. 32, 34), or Irr-trm who asks for horses in K T U 2.33 = RS
16.402 (see p. 724). None of these readings, however, can be substantiated at the
moment.
154
According to the opening address this PU-arruma must have been a servant
of the king of Ugarit. Representatives from Carchemish, who were usually of royal

to deal with the payment for horses that had been delivered by PU a r r u m a to his lord: 100 silver (shekels), 4 talents of copper, and
one muttiru stove. 155
T h e importation of equids to Ugarit is also dealt with in two letters sent to the governor of Ugarit by Hittite nobles who were active
in Emar. 1 5 6 In the past Zulanna had supplied an iron blade and a
garment to his correspondent (RS 17.144 = PRU 6, no. 6). N o w he
was asked to send a horseman (lit.: 'chief'), a mule and a horse, but
he can only comply with a mare and an excellent boy who can be
trained in horsemanship. H e does not have mules to hand, but he
promises to send a good one as soon as he can get it. In return
Zulanna asks for gold, raw g1ass(?),157 and a bronze alallu.
A double letter to the governor of Ugarit was sent by Lady Yabinene and Piha- d im (RS 17.148 = PRU 6, no. 7).158 T h e former sends
a scarf, an embroidered belt, two mafjuranna and 100 (shekels) of
red purple-dyed wool; she asks for much silver. T h e latter sends a
mare for which he expects to obtain 30 silver shekels and a bronze
alallu. H e offers to send more quality horses in the future. Another
prince who demands to be reimbursed for a horse he had delivered
last year is T a p a ' e (RS 34.155 = R S O 7, no. 21). H e leaves it to
his correspondent ( E a - d g a l ) to determine the proper price.
Evidently, quality horses were one of the most expensive items
traded by nobles and merchants from Carchemish and E m a r in
return for their voluminous imports from the west. 159 T h a t this horse
blood, address the kings of Ugarit as their subordinates (e.g., Hemi-Teub in RS
20.184 and Kila'e in R S 19.070).
155
This is a simple commercial transaction and not a demand for troops, as indicated in the title of R S O 7, no. 11.
156
For the Hittite administration of Emar, see YAMADA 1 9 9 3 ; BECKMAN 1 9 9 5 ;
S I N G E R forthcoming b.
157
meku: efjhpakku. For mekku, 'a type of (raw) glass', see CAD, M / 2 , 7. For the
Hurrian gloss ef}lipakku, see L A R O C H E 1 9 7 6 - 7 , 7 6 (who compares N A , T I 'stone of
life').
158
T h e fact that Yabinene and Piha-DIM share a tablet in their letters to the
governor of Ugarit could indicate that they are mother and son; the husband/father
is U p p a r a m u w a (see p. 654). Their addressing the governor of Ugarit as 'my son'
and 'my brother', respectively, should not be taken in a literal sense (as assumed
by N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 6 , 1 0 , n. 1), but rather as an indication of their relative hierarchy ( S I N G E R 1 9 9 7 , 4 2 1 ) .
159
T o the examples already cited add R S 16.180 (= PRU 3, 41), where Pillaza,
the equerry (ffuburtanuru) of the king of Carchemish, sells a horse for 200 silver
(shekels). Cf. also RS 34.152 (= R S O 7, no. 39), where Mut-ra'i offers to send
IM.s.MU (Adad-ndin-umi?) 200 sheep as an advance payment for requested horses
and mules.

trade extended beyond the frontiers of the Hittite Empire is shown


by the Egyptian correspondence (p. 674), as well as by a rare letter from a man of Mari found in the Urtenu archive (RS 34.142
= R S O 7, no. 47).160 Whether the horses were locally bred in the
kingdom of Carchemish, or whether they were brought from more
northerly areas, is not stated in these documents. It remains the task
of experts to reconstruct the parameters of horse breeding and horse
trade in this period of long-distance mercantile connections. 161
Less is known about other items travelling" from Carchemish and
E m a r to the west. Mention is occasionally made of rare objects 162
and plants, 163 whose exact nature often escapes us.164 Another source
of income for the Hittite nobility was the sale of slaves to wealthy
Ugaritians. Princes Taki-arruma and Tu1pi-arruma sell to Uzzinu,
the governor of Ugarit, a m a n (Tarazida) for forty shekels of silver
(RS 17.251 = PRU 4, 236-7). Seventy shekels are paid by the queen
of Ugarit to redeem 'her compatriot' ( d u m u k u r - a ) , U r i - d i m , 1 6 5 from
the hands of the palace official T a b r a m m i (RS 17.231 = PRU 4,
238). 166
Ugarit exported to the east dyed wool, linen garments, oil, alunstone, lead, copper and bronze objects. 167 Some of these products
160

T h e details of this intriguing but difficult letter, which mentions among other
things an 'enemy' who has pillaged the sender's house (11. 36ff.), need further investigation. It seems that the letter refers not to conditions in Ugarit, but rather to
those in the Euphrates region.
161
For the breeding and training of quality horses in Hatti, see now S T A R K E
1995, with previous literature on the subject. For the hippiatric texts from Ugarit,
SIVAN 1983; P A R D E E 1985; C O H E N 1996. See also C A U B E T 1990 and
see C O H E N
YON 1995, 440ff. for archaeological evidence on horses and chariots in Ugarit.
162
E.g. the exquisite bow mentioned in R S O 7, no. 30: 31, 34. A special piece
of linen fabric for a garment was sent by the author of RS 20.227 (Ug 5, no. 57)
to the queen of Ugarit (left edge 3 4).
163
NU.Luy,fciA (nufjurtu) in RS 34.133.40 (= R S O 7, no. 36) is probably asa foetida,
a bad-smelling resin used as an antispasmodic. It also appears among the presents
sent from Qadesh to Ugarit (n. 205).
164
pnu in R S O 7, no. 30: 37 and uban in RS 34.133.41 (= R S O 7, no. 36) are
unidentified.
165
Perhaps identical with Ur-Teub, a business associate of Ehli-Tesub and AhiMilku (E-LUGAL) and Urtenu ( B O R D R E U I L - M A I . B R A N - I . A B A T 1995, 446; M A L B R A N L A B A T 1995b, 105; see p. 671).
166
For this influential Hittite official, see H A W K I N S 1993. In RS 17.337 (= PRU 4,
168-9), a lawsuit decided before Ini-Teub, he claims from the king of Ugarit the
households of three of his servants.
167
Occasionally the merchandise was bought in Ugarit itself, e.g., 'Sunailu, son
of Hayamuli, the kartappu of His Majesty, who has bought bronze objects in the
land" of Ugarit' (RS 17.244.5-8 = PRU 4, 231-2). T h e domicile of Lady Aru-Heba

were no doubt imported to Ugarit from other lands, such as Cyprus


and Egypt. T h e valuable merchandise coming from the west was
used for local consumption in the land of Carchemish, but surpluses
were further traded with the Assyrians. T h e r e is growing evidence
both in Hittite and Assyrian sources that the bellicose encounters
between Hatti and Aur in the early reign of Tukulti-Ninurta gave
way in the latter part of his reign to a political detente accompanied by extensive trade contacts (see n. 291). T h e Assyrians were
eager to buy from Carchemish large quantities of linen ( C a n c i k Kirschbaum
1 9 9 6 , 1 1 7 f f ) , which may originally have come from
Ugarit and from other western lands. T h e r e is also an interesting
reference to a convoy from Carchemish trading east of the Euphrates
in oil and in bronze utensils (ibid., no. 6).
A special dossier from the archive of Urtenu covers the correspondence of a large business enterprise operating between Ugarit
and E m a r ( A r n a u d , R S O 7, nos. 30-36). 1 6 8 T h e firm was headed
by ipti-BaCa1, the son-in-law and commercial agent of Q u e e n are11i
(p. 697), who was also active in the trade with Egypt and the porttowns of Phoenicia (p. 671). T h e everyday m a n a g e m e n t of the caravan procedures, including the prolific correspondence revolving
around it, was carried out by Urtenu and his business associates
Dagan-belu and T u n a . The caravans themselves were accompanied
by their sons and subordinatesAnani-arruma, Uri-Te, Uzziltu, Biu,
Ba c al and Purru. Business was not restricted to Emar; some of the
caravans continued their voyage along the Euphrates to Carchemish
and further north. For example, T u n a announces to his correspondent Uzziltu 169 that he is about to descend to 'the land of the King'
(RS 34.133.30-1 = R S O 7, no. 36). Thereafter he lists the products that are needed 'in the Land of Hatti' (1. 32), which appears
to be a mere synonym for the previous geo-political term. 170

who asks the governor of Ugarit (who used to be a good friend of her deceased
husband) to send bronze in exchange for a maiyannu-garment (CAD M / l : 398b;
CHD 3 / 2 : 205f.) is unknown (RS 25.131 = L A C K E N B A C H E R 1989, 318).
168
T w o more texts from earlier excavations must be added to the Emar dossier:
RS 20.227 (- Ug 5, no. 57) addressed to Sipti-Ba'al, and the very fragmentary letter R S 12.005 (= PRU 3, 16-7). Another letter sent from the Euphrates region to
Ugarit is RS 92.2007, discussed by A R N A U D 1996, 58ff. (see p. 708). Unfortunately,
the extant tablets from M e s k e n e / E m a r do not contain any letters sent from Ugarit.
169
Uzziltu may well be identical with Urtenu's son 'zlt who writes in R S 92.2005
to 'my master and my mother' ( B O R D R E U I L 1995a, 2).
170
It would seem that the term 'Hatti Land' already comprised within it the

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between 'native' Ugaritians


a n d Emariotes in this correspondence, although most of the persons
m e n t i o n e d were probably citizens of Ugarit, at least originally. An
e x c e p d o n could be Zu-Atarti of R S 34.153 (= R S O 7, no. 35), a
very p o p u l a r n a m e in E m a r (see, e.g., B e c k m a n 1996c, 138) but not
in Ugarit. In his letter to U r t e n u , Zu-Atarti recounts his mishaps
on a trip that brought him to Sidon a n d U s n a t u (see further p. 665).
T o conclude this survey of trade between Ugarit and C a r c h e m i s h
mention should be m a d e of a particular topic which m a y be classified
u n d e r both 'commercial' a n d 'military' contacts. I refer to the shared
control by the two states over the fleet m o o r e d in the ports of U g a rit. Most c o m m e n t a t o r s agree u p o n the fact that Ugarit did not possess a separate military fleet ( V i t a 1995a, 159ff., with refs. in n. 2).
R a t h e r , some of the commercial ships were used in times of w a r for
the transportation of troops a n d for fighting the enemy. Because of
the vital strategic i m p o r t a n c e of this fleet, both in times of peace
a n d in war, the Hittites insisted u p o n keeping a careful eye u p o n
the m o v e m e n t s of Ugarit's ships.
In his response to the q u e e n of Ugarit, the king (of Carchemish)
sets a limit on the distance to which some ships are allowed to s a i l as far as Byblos a n d Sidon but n o f u r t h e r away ( R S 3 4 . 1 4 5 . 9 - 1 4
= R S O 7, no. 9). T h e letter f r o m the U r t e n u archive must be dated
to the troubled times of Ugarit's last period. 1 7 1 A n o t h e r d o c u m e n t
f r o m the U r t e n u archive lists the ships of the king of C a r c h e m i s h
that are no longer in a condition to sail anywhere ( R S 34.147 =
R S O 7, no. 5). T h e fourteen ships are identified by their owners or
captains, including a Sidonian a n d a m a n of Akko. T h e d o c u m e n t
is ratified with the seal of K u m m a - w a l w i son of Upini, probably the
representative of the king of Carchemish. 1 7 2
Ships of other lands were also m o o r e d in the ports of Ugarit on
a long-term basis. A m u r r u agrees to p u t some of her ships at the
disposal of Ugarit in anticipation of an e n e m y attack ( R S 20.162 =
domains of Carchemish in the late imperial period, anticipating the full shift of the
term to northern Syria in the Iron Age (n. 150).
171
Zuzuli in 1. 7 must be the kartappu of the king of Carchemish who presides
in a lawsuit between Niqmaddu III and a merchant from Ura (RS 18.020 + 17.371
= PRU 4 , 202-3; see p. 692). Y A M A D A (1992: 4 4 4 ) tentatively dates the letter to
the reign of Ibiranu according to its epistolary style.
172
It seems that Ugarit also possessed at least one ship in Carchemish, but the
evidence is not entirely clear (KTU 4 . 7 7 9 = RIH 8 3 / 2 2 . 8 - 1 3 ; B O R D R E U I L et al.
1984,

433).

Ug 5, no. 37; see p. 721). O t h e r ships are leased from Byblos ( K T U


4.338 = RS 18.025; see p. 669). T h e evidence for the role of Ugarit's
fleet in the transportation of grain from Egypt to Anatolia will be
discussed separately (p. 715ff).
5.2.2

Tarhuntaa

W h e n the Hittite king Muwatalli II, the illustrious victor of the battle of Qadesh, transferred his capital from Hattusa to Tarhuntaa,
he laid the foundations of a n a p p a n a g e Hittite kingdom which
stretchcd along the M e d i t e r r a n e a n coast f r o m Cilicia Aspera to
Antalya and as far north as the Konya Plain. This kingdom, which
competed with Hattusa over dynastic legitimacy, maintained close
commercial ties with Ugarit until the very end of the Hittite Empire
(see n. 177).
T h e evidence from Ugarit refers mainly to the port of U r a in
western Cilicia, 173 which was the main terminal for the ships sailing
from Ugarit to Anatolia. T h e rich Hittite merchants of Ura, who
were the main entrepreneurs in the voluminous trade flowing from
and into Hittite Anatolia, started to invest in real estate and posed
a growing threat to the delicate social fabric of Ugarit ( R a i n e y 1963;
H e l t z e r 1978: 153ff.; V a r g y a s 1985). Responding to a complaint
of Niqmepa, Hattusili 'III' issued a decree forbidding the men of
U r a to acquire real estate in Ugarit and ordering them to return to
their homes in the winter season. 174 A quasi-duplicate found in the
house of Urtenu adds to U r a another Anatolian town, Kutupa. 1 7 5 If

173
For an up-to-date survey on Ura and its localization at Silifke, see L E M A I R E
1993. The Hittite merchants are variously designated as 'merchants of Ura' (RS
17.319 = PRU 4, 182-3), 'merchants of His Majesty (RS 17.316 = PRU 4, 190),
and 'merchant(s) of the king of Tarhutaa (RS 17.158; 17.042 = PRU 4, 169-71).
174
PRU 4, 103-5. Three duplicates of this text were found in close proximity in
the palace archives (room 68), and a fourth quasi-duplicate in the Urtenu archive
(RSO 7, no. 1). The main text, RS 17.130, carries the seal impression of Hattui1i
and Puduhepa; the large duplicate RS 18.003 carries the seal of Hattusili alone;
RS 17.461 is a small fragment. It is noteworthy that both impressions were applied
on the edge of the tablet (Ug 3, 16, fig. 21), rather than in the centre of the obverse
as is customary in other Hittite political documents. The fragmentary tablet from
the Urtenu archive (RS 34.179 = R S O 7, no. 1) does not carry a seal impression,
but this could have been applied on the missing edge of the tablet.
175
RS 3 4 . 1 7 9 (= R S O 7 , no. 1). Kutupa can hardly be identical with Katapa
or with Kutpa (as suggested by M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1 9 9 1 , 1 5 , n. 4 ) , both of which
must be situated in northern Hatti. It should rather be another Anatolian port trading with the Levantine coast.

an Ugaritian is unable to pay back his debt, the king of Ugarit must
turn over that m a n together with his family to the merchant of Ura,
but his property cannot be claimed. T h e fact that the text is preserved in (at least) four copies (in two versions) testifies to the importance of the decree, which probably had to be ratified periodically.
Legal disputes between citizens of Tarhuntaa and Ugarit were
judged fairly by the king of Carchemish and his representatives. IniTeub imposed a compensation on the citizens of Ugarit who were
found responsible for the m u r d e r of a m e r c h a n t of the king of
Tarhudai (RS 1 7 . 1 5 8 , 1 7 . 0 4 2 = PRU 4 , 1 6 9 - 7 2 ; see p. 6 5 1 ) . O n
the other hand, the lawsuit between N i q m a d d u III and Kumiya-ziti,
probably a rich merchant from Ura, was decided by Zuzuli in favour
of Ugarit (RS 1 8 . 0 2 0 + 1 7 . 3 7 1 = PRU 4 , 2 0 2 - 3 ; see p. 6 9 2 ) . Prince
Arma-ziti was also condemned to a large compensation to Ugarit in
a lawsuit witnessed by four citizens of U r a (RS 1 7 . 3 1 6 = PRU 4 ,
190; see p. 685). Perhaps we should add to this group of legal cases
the letter of His Majesty to Ammittamru (signed with the seal of
Puduhepa), in which the damage caused by a certain Sukku to the
ship and cargo of an u n n a m e d citizen of Ugarit was acknowledged
and reimbursed (RS 1 7 . 1 3 3 = PRU 4 , 1 1 8 - 9 ; B e c k m a n 1 9 9 6 c , 1 6 4 ) . 1 7 6
T o the last period of Ugarit belong the documents which refer to
the shipment of large quantities of grain to Ura. In an Akkadian
document the king of Ugarit is asked to supply a ship and its crew
for the transportation of 500 (measures) of grain from Muki to U r a
(Ug 5, no. 33; see p. 716). In a Hittite draft the sender expresses
his anger over the fact that a grain-laden ship was held up and urges
his correspondent to dispatch the ship immediately either to U r a or
to Lati[- ( K l e n g e l 1 9 6 9 , 3 2 4 - 5 ; see p. 7 1 8 ) .
T h e r e is no information on other merchandise that was traded
between Ugarit and Tarhuntaa. T h e only exception is the fragmentary letter of an u n n a m e d king of Tarhu(n)taa to A m m u r a p i in
which he requests small ropes or belts. 177
Finally, it should be noted that there is nothing in the texts from
Ugarit to reflect animosity between the competing kingdoms of Hatti
176
Cf. also n. 27, on a Hittite text mentioning a citizen of Ura involved in the
theft of the royal seal.
177
RS 34.139.19 (= R S O 7, no. 14): i-bi-ffi tur.me. Could these objects be somehow connected to ship building or navigation? In this case they would have been
essential for the shipping connection with Ugarit, and would not be as 'carefree'
as they seemed to NEU (1995b, 124).

and Tarhuntaa. A smooth importation and distribution of the vital


shipments of grain was obviously in the best interest of both kingdoms. At the same time, it is only fair to admit that the evidence
from Ugarit is too meagre to play any serious role in the reconstruction of the relations between the two Hittite kingdoms in Anatolia
at the end of the 13th century. 178
5.2.3

SiyannuUnatu

T h e double kingdom of SiyannuUnatu 1 7 9 was probably the state


most closely related to Ugarit, and yet, as often happens, the two
lands were in constant dispute with each other. At the time of the
Hittite takeover of Syria, Siyannu was an a p p a n a g e kingdom of
Ugarit and it remained so throughout the reign of Suppiluliuma I
(p. 628). For the political reasons explained above (p. 640), Mursili
II supported Siyannu's aspirations to secede and transferred the kingdom to the direct supervision of Carchemish. T h e territorial division between the two kingdoms proved to be a complicated matter
which periodically had to be re-examined and ratified by the imperial administration. 180 T h e border between Ugarit and Siyannu twisted
around in a rich agricultural region of the coastal plain, and quite
often minor border incidents between farmers flared up into serious
conflicts which could only be settled through the arbitration of the
Hittite overlords. Special delegations were sent from Carchemish to
delineate the border and set up border stones (RS 17.368 = PRU
4, 76-7; see p. 685). Special attention was also paid to a fair division of economically important resources. For example, the salt fields
of Atalig were divided by Mursili II, who gave one and two-thirds
of iku to Ugarit and one and a third iku to Siyannu (RS 17.335 +
. 5 7 - 6 3 = PRU 4, 74). An accord signed by Padiya king of Siyannu 181

178
For the later history of Tarhuntaa and its relations with Hatti, see S I N G E R
1996b (with further refs.).
179
The names Siyannu and Unatu are used intermittently, but they are never
juxtaposed to each other ( A S T O U R 1979, 13). For similar ancient Near Eastern 'personal unions', see BUCCELLATI 1967, ch. III.
180
One of the latest ratifications of this decree must be the one preserved in the
recently recovered tablet RS 17.403 {- Ug 3, 137-9) sealed by the Chief Scribe
Tagi-arruma (see n. 111).
181
The cylinder seal impressed on the tablet belongs to a certain Sassi who must
have been the founder of the dynasty.

divided the sacred vineyard of d Itar hurri 182 between the marzicum
of Siyannu and the marzi'u of Ari, a coastal town which belonged
to Ugarit (RS 18.001 = PRU 4, 230; A s t o u r 1979, 22; 1995, 63-4). 184
Despite these careful precautions the borders were often violated
by both sides. Besides verdicts and letters from the Hittite authorities, most of the relevant documents can be defined as formal complaints sent from Siyannu to Ugarit, or, more rarely, vice versa. Often,
but not always, Ugarit appears as the superior side in the introductory formulae of these letters ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 7 8 , n. 210). T h e
n a m e of the sender from Siyannu is usually indicated, but that of
the addressee, either the king or the governor of Ugarit, is not. This
complicates the construction of a chronological order of the dossier,
one of the largest in the foreign correspondence of Ugarit. T h e recurring subjects provide a typical cross-section of problems occuring
along a hostile borderline within an ancient Near Eastern imperial
system: violent razzias and annexation of territories, stealing or destruction of agricultural produce, and even abduction of people and selling them into slavery.
A verdict of Ini-Teub' 8 5 imposes upon the people of Siyannu a
threefold compensation in case they are found guilty of the following grave offences: 186 the demolition of a (watch-)tower, 187 the pruning 188 of vineyards belonging to Ugarit, and the selling of the (stolen)
wine to merchants from Beirut. 189 Also, the King made provisions

182

For the various interpretations of' fjum in this context, see PUECH 1993 (with refs.).
Probably identical with marzihu/mrz)i, for which see, most recently, PARDEE 1996a.
184
Hebat of Ari figures prominently in texts of Ugarit as a divine witness (e.g.,
PRU 4, 137ff., 239). Was she perhaps assimilated with C'ITAR f}uiri to whom the
vineyard of Ari was dedicated?
185
RS 17.341 (= PRU 4, 161ff.). RS 20.174A (= Ug 5, no. 25), with a warning
to the king of Ugarit about the consequences of his violation of the borders of
Unatu and the capture of one town, may also be ascribed to Ini-Teub (YAMADA
1992, 444-5). As suggested by Yamada, the town in question may well be uksi,
an enclave of Siyannu within the territory of Ugarit.
186
Note the pejorative use of the designation habiru for the criminals who have
commited the crimes. For the same usage in the Amarna correspondence, see the
refs. cited by LIVERANI 1990, 103, n. 28 and by R A I N E Y 1995.
187
For dimtu ( AN.ZA.GR), 'tower, castle', see N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 5 , 2 1 7 - 8 .
188
Lit. 'cutting', which could also mean the destruction of the vineyards (so
N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 6 8 , 1 2 6 , n. 2). However, since in the next paragraph the Siyannites
are accused of selling the wine to Beirut, it is more logical to think that they were
stealing from the vineyards rather than destroying them.
189
T h e so-called 'wine war' ( N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 6 8 , 1 2 6 , n. 2) is probably also referred
to in RS 21.183 (= Ug 5, no. 41), a letter sent by the king [of Siyannu] to the
183

for an exchange of citizens resident in each other's lands and made


the two parties swear not to sell these foreigners to a third party.
T h e king of Ugarit is not n a m e d in this verdict; the king of Siyannu
is bi1im.' 90
Probably the same king of U[natu] 1 9 1 is the author of a complaint sent to the king of Ugarit. 192 bi1im protests against the trespassing of some Ugaritian farmers into his territory, probably under
the protection of maryannu troops. T h e y had already started to sow
grain in the occupied fields, but bi1im threatens to harvest it himself unless the king of Ugarit removes his men. Besides the crops of
the field and of the vineyards, cattle was perhaps also stolen by
infiltrators. 193
T h e grimmest aspect of the 'economic war' between Ugarit and
Siyannu was the abduction of people, probably wealthy merchants,
and their subsequent sale into slavery. T w o documents prove that
the provisions made by Ini-Tesub in this respect were not merely
theoretical. 194 As already observed by N o u g a y r o l ( 1 9 6 8 , 1 2 7 , n. 3 ) ,
it is not without interest to note that the h u m a n 'merchandise' was
purchased by Egyptians, as in Genesis 37.
Apart from the reciprocal 'repatriation' of citizens as decreed by
Ini-Tesub, there was apparently no agreement for the extradition of

king of Ugarit. T h e last fragmentary passage mentions the men of Beirut who take
namzaktu ('beverages'?) from Ugarit. See further H E L T Z E R 1990.
190
The name a-p-ilim (DINGIR) is usually read as Sapilim and is analysed as an
Akkadian formation meaning 'according to the pronouncement of the G o d / E l ' (e.g.,
G R O N D A H L 1967, 47). However, a West Semitic analysis of the name, i.e., Sb-ilim
(cf. Ug. Tbil), 'God has returned (to) me,' as suggested by Gordon and endorsed
by R A I N E Y (971b, 164), is also supported by the new reading of the name GURDINGIR-FTM as b-ilim suggested below, n. 192.
191
The traces of the first sign in the name of the land could belong to an us.
192
RS 17.394 + 427 (= PRU 4, 220). Nougayrol read the name GUR-DINGIR-/Z'M
as Itur-lim, deriving it from the Akkadian reading of GUR, 'to return' (tru). However,
a West-Semitic reading, b-ilim (see n. 190), is preferable in this case since this
name is found both in Siyannu-Unatu and in Amurru ( S I N G E R 1991a, 183 with
n. 73).
193
Two 'unclassified' documents dealing with stolen cattle share the characteristics of the dossier of the 'economic war' between Ugarit and Siyannu. In RS 20.239
(= Ug 3, no. 52) Mada'e categorically demands that the governor of Ugarit look
into the matter of the cattle stolen from him by the men of Rakba. The author of
the fragmentary letter RS 15.018 (= PRU 3, 1 1 2 ) threatens to turn to the King
(of Carchemish) if he is not given proper compensation for his stolen catde.
194
RS 20.021 (= Ug 5, no! 42) and 34.158 (RSO 7, no. 16). Probably both documents refer to the same case of the sale of Ba'aliya by his business partner, probably a resident of Ugarit.

outlaws. Rather, each state was expected to judge its own criminals
according to the testimony of witnesses who were sent to appear at
the trial. In his letter to Ugarit, a certain uKUR-du195 announces that
he personally went to Siyannu to punish the person(s) who had transgressed against his correspondent's authority (RS 20.219 = Ug 5, no.
44).196 A similar message is conveyed by a certain Eppiqu to the
governor of Ugarit, his lord (RS 17.393 = PRU 4, 226-7). In his
letter to the king of Ugarit ('my father'), the king of Unatu volunteers to serve as the arbitrator in a financial dispute between subjects of the two lands (RS 17.083 = PRU 4, 216); alternatively, he
suggests sending the opponents to appear before the king of Ugarit.
W h e n it came to citizens of a third country, the authorities of
Ugarit and of Siyannu made a point of referring the case to the
appropriate court. T w o documents may be combined to reconstruct
the ventures of a citizen of Emar. In his letter to Urtenu, Zu-Atarti
(see p. 659) recounts that from Sidon 197 he arrived to Unatu where
he was detained (RS 34.153 = R S O 7, no. 35); he probably expected
his correspondent to intervene on his behalf. Finally, he asks Urtenu
to inquire whether the king had already handed over the horses to
the messenger from Alalia. From a letter of s u M - d i m , 1 9 8 king of Unatu,
to the king of Ugarit we learn that the king of Carchemish himself
had intervened to ensure a proper trial in the lawsuit between a
man of Emar (the above-mentioned Zu-Atarti?) and a man of Siyannu
(RS 17.143 = PRU 4, 16). T h e king of Unatu, however, declares

195
This seems to me a better reading of the name than Si-ni- as read by
Nougayrol. Cf. u-kr-IM in RS 20.003 (= Ug 5, no. 26).
196
T h e nature of their offence is not quite clear. I wonder whether the alleged
'turning of the sceptre (?)' in 1. 16 (KAR ( , I S PA-) could actually be read as a misconstrued Kar-ka-mi?
197
Zu-Atarti was moored somewhere in the sea (1. 14f., ina A.AB.BA abaku) when
he was taken by a a-a-ru to Sidon (1. 15f.). A R N A U D ( R S O 7, 76; 1992, 182, n. 11)
compared this ru with Ugaritic sr and biblical sar, 'prince', suggesting that this
might be an early reference to a Philistine ruler (cf. 1 Sam. 18:30). Cf. however
H U E H N E R G A R D (1997), who in his review of R S O 7 translates the respective sentence as following: was sitting (immobile) in the sea; when the wind (finally) took
me, I reached Sidon'.
198
T h e name SUM-'' is traditionally rendered with Hurrian values, Ar(i)-Teub.
However, since the kings of Ugarit bear Semitic names (with the possible exception of Ar-halba), more caution is advised in reading the ideographic spellings of
the names of the kings of Siyannu (see also G O E T Z E 1957, 25). s u M - d i M could also
have a Semitic reading, such as -ytn, dm-mateni, or the like (see G R O N D A H L 1967,
147), and until some compelling evidence for the correct reading turns up it is better to keep to the ideographic spelling of this name.

himself incompetent in the case, because, as it turns out, the adversary is not a resident of Siyannu but rather of Ari, a coastal town
which belonged to Ugarit.
5.2.4

Amurru and Kinza/ Qadesh

A m o n g the Hittite d o m i n a t e d lands of Syria, only A m u r r u a n d


K i n z a / Q a d e s h m a i n t a i n e d an i n d e p e n d e n t c o r r e s p o n d e n c e with
Ugarit on a state level, i.e., between kings and governors.' 9 9 These
two kingdoms were the first to join the Hittite c a m p in the A m a r n a
Age, and had consequently preserved, together with Ugarit, a semiautonomous status. T h e r e is also an exchange of letters with E m a r
(see p. 658), and perhaps with other cities along the Euphrates, 2 0 0
but this is between individual merchants and not the respective royal
courts.
T h e close relations between Ugarit and A m u r r u find their expression mainly in the military accords (see p. 627) and in the royal
marriages (see p. 641) between the two courts. M u c h less is known
about their economic ties, and the extant letters refer mostly to
Amurrite requests for (semi-)precious stones. In two companion letters the king of A m u r r u and his governor express their wish to buy
parrishi/parruha at any price. 201 In a letter found in the Urtenu archive
a certain GAL-gina attempts, on behalf of the king of Amurru, to
urge the transport by ship of a building stone (algamiu) needed for
the repair of his king's residence (RS 34.135 = R S O 7, 46ff.). Less
specific are the requests of Ulmi, probably the queen of Amurru,
from her 'daughter', the queen of Ugarit (RS 16.111 = PRU 3,
13-4). T h e same applies to the letter of Abugama (of Amurru) to
the governor (of Ugarit) in which he proposes mutual assistance
between their respective lands (RS 15.024 + 50 = PRU 3, 18). T h e
dating of all these documents is difficult to establish ( L i v e r a n i 1962,
146; S i n g e r 1991a, 160ff.). In any case, the cooperation between
the two Levantine kingdoms seems to have continued to their very

199

Syria
3,

There is also a single letter from the king of Barga, a small kingdom in inner
( K L E N G E L 1 9 9 2 , 1 5 2 ) , but only a few lines are preserved (RS 1 5 . 0 1 9 = PRU

13).

200 p o r

possible Mari provenance of R S O 7, nos. 40, 47, see pp. 657, 728.
17.152 (= PRU 4, 214) and FALES 1984. For the possible identification of
the stone, see refs. in S I N G E R 1991a, 161, n. 36.
201

RS

end, and A m u r r u sent ships to assist the fleet of Ugarit ( R S 20.162


= Ug 5, no. 37; p. 721).
Q a d e s h lost some of its strategic importance after the peaceful
setdement of the long-standing struggle between Egypt and Hatti.
Still, as an important stage on the inland route to the north, its participation in the defensive system of Syria was highly treasured by
the Hittites. T w o letters from the U r t e n u archive relate the efforts
of Carchemish to mobilize the armies of Q a d e s h and Ugarit for a
large m a n o e u v r e perhaps directed to fend off an Assyrian offensive
(p. 687).
Some half dozen letters may be attributed to the correspondence
between Ugarit a n d K i n z a / Q a d e s h . T h e earliest is the letter of
Niqmaddu, probably the king of Qadesh, 2 0 2 to his 'brother' 2 0 3 Niqmepa
(of Ugarit), dealing with the extradition of a runaway. T h r e e letters
are addressed to Uzzinu, one of the last governors of Ugarit (see
p. 700). T w o of t h e m are related to each other and deal with the
settling of a complicated financial dispute. 2 0 4 T h e third is almost
entirely broken (RS 20.200B = Ug 5, no. 40). A letter sent by the
king of Q a d e s h to the king of Ugarit, his 'brother', should probably be dated to the same period; in this he announces the dispatch
of his governor Betilum with offerings to (the temples of?) Ugarit:
30 he-goats, 3 donkeys, and asa foetida.'m

202

RS 17.315 (= PRU 4, 111). Since no land is mentioned in the letter, the identity of the correspondents is open to speculation. Because of the provenance of the
tablet, it is usually assumed that Niqmepa was the king of Ugarit. Various identities have been suggested for Niqmaddu: the predecessor of Niqmepa on the throne
of Ugarit ( G O R D O N 1966, 6, n. 28); a blood brother of Niqmepa (LIPINSKI 1981,
81); the king of a neighbouring land, either Muki ( N O U G A Y R O L 1956, 111, n. 1;
VAN S O L D T 1991a, 216-7), or, more probably, Qadesh ( K I T C H E N 1962, 37; M I L L A R D
1979-80, 202). An entirely different interpretation has recently been put forward
by A R N A U D (1996, 48, . 6), who suggests that the tablet is a copy that was kept
in Ugarit, in which case Niqmaddu would be the king of Ugarit (the successor of
Ibiranu of RS 4.449) and Niqmepa would be the king of Alalah.
203
This 'brotherhood' indicates that the correspondents were of equal political
status. I do not understand Millard's statement ( M I L L A R D 1979 80, 202) that the
address reflects the relationship between an inferior and a superior king.
204
Both letters were sent to Ugarit's governor Uzzinu, one by the king of Kinza
(RS 34.146 = R S O 7, no. 15) and the other by its governor Betilum (RS 20.158 =
Ug 5, no. 51); strangely, they were found in different archives, Urtenu's and Rap'anu's,
respectively (LACKENBACHER 1995a, 73). Betilum, the governor (MASKIM) of Kinza, is
also mentioned in RS 20.172.23 (see below).
205
RS 20.172 (= Ug 5, no. 39). Perhaps N | U . L U . H [ U (1. 22), a variety of
asa foetida, see n. 1 6 3 ( N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 6 8 , 121, n. 4 , with refs.). The same plant is

T h e most substantial information on commerce between the two


kingdoms is found in the letter of Padiya, the governor of Qadesh,
to the king of Ugarit (RS 20.016 Ug 5, no. 38). In an exceedingly flattering m a n n e r , going as far as describing his correspondent
as a 'great king', 206 the governor politely but firmly exposes the
reduced weights of the large metal consignment that he had received
from Ugarit: the ostensible 20 talents of bronze are short by one
talent and a thousand and [X-] hundred (shekels); the 8 talents of
tin (annaku) are actually only 700 (shekels?); and a bronze basin (agannu)
that should weigh one talent is 100 (shekels) short. According to his
calculation, the king of Ugarit still owes him 10 talents of bronze
for 5 donkeys. Ugarit's role as an intermediary in the trading of tin
and bronze goes back at least to the Mari period (p. 617). 20 ' Padiya
also mentions the prices for sheep, head coverings, eag1es(?), and asa
foetida, which were probably sent to Ugarit.
5.2.5

The 'Phoenician' port-towns

T h e borrowing of this first millennium geo-political term serves merely


as a convenient framework for the characterization of Ugarit's ties
with the Levantine coast south of A m u r r u ( A r n a u d 1992; X e l l a
1995b). Ugarit's commercial ties were naturally stronger with the
Lebanese coast, i.e., the kingdoms of Byblos, Beirut, Sidon and Tyre,
and weakened considerably further south along the coast of Palestine.
Still, there is ample evidence that seamen and merchants from Akko,
Ashdod and Ashkelon maintained commercial ties with Ugarit (for
refs. see A r n a u d 1992, 192). This geographical orbit is also reflected
in a late letter of the King (of Carchemish) to the queen of Ugarit
in which he authorizes her to send her ships only as far as Byblos
and Sidon but not to more distant destinations (RS 34.145.914 =
R S O 7, no. 9). T h e r e are very few chronological indications in the

mentioned in another letter from Qadesh (RS 20.016.34), and in a letter belonging to the correspondence between Emar and Ugarit (RS 34.133.40; see n. 163).
206
I agree with Nougayrol that in this context 'Great King' refers (in an exaggerated manner) to the king of Ugarit, and not to the Hittite king, as suggested by
LIVERANI
207

1962,

150.

For the Ugaritic terminology for 'copper/bronze' (Lit) and 'tin' (bn) and their
prices in Ugarit, see Z A C C A G N I N I 1970, 317ff. A new text from the Urtenu archive,
which specifies the quantity of brr needed for the manufacture of forty frames (krkb;
B O R D R E U I L - M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995, 447, 451), may perhaps throw some doubts
on the identification of bn as 'tin'.

correspondence with the 'Phoenician' port-towns, but most of the


material must probably be dated to the last period of Ugarit ( A r n a u d
1992, 179-80). T h e majority of the epistles contain little more than
the customary greeting formulae between 'brothers'. Only occasionally is a business transaction or some other concrete event more
specifically discussed.
Byblos (Gubla) received from Ugarit 25 textile and clothing items,
including 'seven removable ship-covers(?)' ( A r n a u d 1992, 159), through
the intermediation of a certain Abihilu. 208 A case of the 'leasing' of
Byblian ships by Ugarit is apparently recorded in an economic text
which has received extensive attention. 209 From the fact that it was
found in the so-called 'baking oven' in Court V, some have concluded
that it reflects the acute political situation characterizing the last years
of Ugarit (e.g., H o f t i j z e r 1979, 383). However, this find-place can
no longer be used as a dating tool (see n. 705), and the 'leasing'
may actually reflect normal mercantile procedures ( D i e t r i c h - L o r e t z
1990d, 96).
Beirut 210 sent four letters to Ugarit: one from king to king (RS
86.2212; A r n a u d 1992, 192); two from the king of Beirut to the
governor of Ugarit (RS 11.730 = PRU 3, 12-3; R S 34.137 = R S O
7, no. 37); and one from Ewri-kili to the king of Ugarit ( A r n a u d
1992, 192). In RS 34.137 the king of Beirut wishes all the best to
his brother (the king of Ugarit) who is on a voyage outside Ugarit.
Could this trip refer to N i q m a d d u Ill's visit to Hatti implied from
other documents (see p. 700)? Beirut was also involved in the 'economic war' between Ugarit and Siyannu revolving around the trade
in wine (RS 17.341.14', 17' = PRU 4, 161; see p. 663). In addition
to these Akkadian documents there is also an Ugaritic legal text
recording the redemption of seven men from Ugarit from the hands
of the men of Beirut for one hundred silver shekels ( K T U 3.4 =
RS 16.191 + 16.272 = PRU 2, no. 6; K i e n a s t 1979, 449-50); it is

208
RS 19.028 = PRU 6, no. 126. The same agent, Abihilu/Abgl, may be attested
in other economic texts, in connection with oil and with animal hides (see refs. in
L O R E T Z 1994, 118). The assumption that he originated from Ashdod rests on a
dubious restoration.
M K T U 4 3 3 8 _ R S 1 8 0 2 5 = P R U 5 > N O
see L O R E T Z 1 9 9 4 , 118FF., with
1 0 6 ;
further refs. The Ugaritic translation of a letter sent by the king of Byblos, found
near K T U 4 . 3 3 8 = R S 1 8 . 0 2 5 , is too fragmentary to provide any information

(KTU

2.44

RS

18.134

PRU

5, no.

159; LORETZ

1994,

124).

(1984; 1992, 182, . 9) attempted to distinguish between two Beiruts;


the other he identified with Ras Ibn Hani.
210

ARNAUD

ratified with the seal of N i q m a d d u (III?; see p. 693). T h e benefactor is a certain Iwr-kl, possibly identical with Ewri-kili (CK 7; A r n a u d
1992, 192).
Sidon seems to be the foremost amongst the 'Phoenician' kingdoms
(Arnaud
1992, 184-5). 211 T h e letters from Ugarit and some seals
provide the names of some of its rulers, but as yet these do not fit
into a clear chronological framework. 2 1 2 A dossier of documents is
consecrated to the 'great sin', a highly interesting source for the religious practices of the period. 213 It seems that some citizens of Ugarit
have commited a great offence against the Storm-god of Sidon, probably by entering the holy of holies of his temple without authorization. T h e enraged citizens of the city d e m a n d that the offenders
(designated as 'dogs') be stoned and impaled ( A r n a u d 1992, 190-1;
B o r d r e u i l 1995a, 3), whereas the king of Sidon would be content
with expiatory offerings (including fine oil brought from Egypt) to
all the gods of the kingdom and a large monetary compensation.
T h e episdes from Tyre (Sum) are perhaps the most variegated in
the 'Phoenician' dossier, but their interpretation is often very difficult
214
( A r n a u d 1992, 194; X e l l a 1995, 260).
A tablet from the Museum of
Lattaquieh contains a letter sent by the king of Tyre to the king of
Ugarit dealing with an 'unpaid bill' ( A r n a u d 1982b). T w o Ugaritians,
Ea-rabi a n d the 'harbourmaster' (rab kr) ipti-BaCa1, have taken
'large doors' 215 from the house of D a d a m i but failed to pay their
price. This is the second appeal of the king of Tyre on this matter;

211
T h e importance of Sidon in the 13th century is also demonstrated by a tablet
from Tell Chura (dated to the second half of Tukulti-Ninurta's reign) according
to which a Sidonian diplomat (Milku-ramu) forwarded some letters from Egypt to
Assyria ( O R T H M A N N 1 9 9 5 , 216).
212
A R N A U D 1992, 193; X E L L A 1995b, 2 5 9 - 6 0 ; M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 104. Imtu
(RS 1 1.723), Yapa-DIM (RS 25.430A) and DIM-Ime (RS 34.149) appear in letters;
Addumu and his son Anni-WA appear on seals.
213
RS 18.054; 86.2208; 86.2221+; 86.2234; A R N A U D 1992, 189ff. A R N A U D (ib.:
189, . 48) tentatively proposes to include in this dossier also RS 20.182A (+) B, a
letter to Ramesses II dealing with a lawsuit between 'the sons of Canaan' and 'the
sons of Ugarit' (see p. 674).
214
T h e 'revised edition' (1997) of H . J . K A T Z E N S T E I N ' S History of Tyre (1973) has
not been updated with the new material from Ugarit published since the early seventies. (The 'as yet unpublished' document mentioned on p. 58 is RS 19.042 =
PRU 6, no. 79, published in 1970!).
215
T h e first sign in IG.GAI MI' is somewhat obliterated in the copy. If this reading is valid, I wonder whether it could refer here not to ordinary doors, but rather
to writing-boards (which are also designated daltu) like the one found in the shipwreck from Uluburun.

after his first appeal the king of Ugarit responded that the respective persons were presently not in Ugarit. Sipti-Ba c al must be the
well-known son-in-law of Q u e e n are11i and her business agent in a
wide range of trading activities extending from Emar to Egypt ( A r n a u d
1982b, 105-7).
Sipti-Ba'al ( T p t - b ' l ) himself is the a u t h o r of an Ugaritic letter
addressed to his lord ( K T U 2.40 = R S 18.040 = PRU 5, 63). After
the courtesy formula the author announces that: cbdk b Iwsnd w b sr
c
m mlk, 'your servant (is) in Iwsnd and in sr with the king' (11. 9-12).
In his editio prnceps Virolleaud identified the second location as referring to the city of Tyre. A s t o u r (1965, 257) emended this reading
into [y\bsr, 'he fortified', and identified the first locative with the
eastern Cilician town of Lawazantiya, identified with Lusanda in a
Neo-Assyrian document. From this identification he developed a farfetched historical scenario (cf. L i v e r a n i 1979a, 134) according to
which ipti-Ba c al was 'the Ugaritic commander on the northern front'
who fortified himself together with the Hittite king in Lusanda 'after
all of Anatolia had already been lost almost up to the Amanus'.
Taking into consideration the a b u n d a n t new data on ipt i-Ba c al, and
especially the above-mentioned Lattaquieh letter, it may be safer to
return to Virolleaud's original rendering and conclude that the letter
was probably sent by Sipti-Ba'al from the court of the king of Tyre.
An unusually large tablet (RS 34.167 = R S O 7, no. 25), probably dispatched from Tyre, contains the letter of Ur-Teub to his
'brother' Ahi-Milku/Malki (e-lugal) 2 1 6 recounting the lethal disease
(perhaps a plague) of his son who was sent away from Tyre to a
relative residing in the C a p e of Tyre ( u r l s a g . d u Sum). In the second part of his long letter the sender requests his correspondent to
send to him 50 jars ( d u g m e s g a l ) of [oil?], 30 silver (shekels) and
one talent of copper. In return he proposes to send several items,
including purple-dyed wool and a talent of (dried) fish, both typical
products of Tyre. Ur-Tesub was the head of a large Ugaritian firm
trading especially in the export of oil to Hatti and to Egypt ( B o r d r e u i l
1995, 446, 449). Four letters addressed to him
Malbran-Labat
were found in the Urtenu archive in 1994, two from Ahi-Milku/Malki
and two from Ehli-Tesub, a scribe who was active under N i q m a d d u
III ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995b, 105; see p. 691).
216

and

F o r t h e r e a d i n g s of t h e s e n a m e s , see B O R D R E U I L - M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1 9 9 5 , 4 4 6
MALBRAN-LABAT

1995B,

105.

O n e should probably add to the correspondence of Tyre a letter


whose author was thought to be a king of Amqi. 217 d i m . d i . k u d 2 1 8 complains before the governor of Ugarit, d u . Z A . d u g u d , 2 1 9 about the outrageous custom tolls that his agents were required to pay to the
'harbourmaster' 2 2 0 Abdu son of Ayyahi: 100 [silver shekels] for 14
jars of oil.221
Finally, we have the much-discussed Ugaritic translation of the
letter sent by the king of Tyre to the king of Ugarit concerning the
salvation of his fleet returning from Egypt. 222 Various interpretations
have been accorded to this letter (for refs. see C u n c h i l l o s 1989a,
349-50). Those who (following Gordon) have connected the vocables mtt and rb tmtt with the verb 'to die' have envisaged a more
'tragic' course of events. It seems preferable, however, to follow a
m o r e ' m u n d a n e ' interpretation (e.g., C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 349ff.),
according to which the fleet was caught up in torrential rain but
found refuge in Tyre and in Akko. T h e rb tmttm had emptied the
grain 224 from the ships and the king of Tyre made sure to send the

217
RS 17.424c + 397B (= PRU 4, 219). Instead of Nougavrol's URl!Am{?)-qi one
should probably read with A R N A U D (1996, 63, . 94) U R L V K l (either in status absolutus, or with the omission of the final -). A m q i / a in the Lebanon Valley was not
a unified geo-political unit ruled by a single king ( A H A R O N I 1953; S I N G E R 1988a, 3).
218
Nougayrol reads the name Addu-dayyanu. This king of Tyre is also attested
in a new document from the Urtenu archive ( M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 104; A R N A U D
1996, 63, . 94). An Amarna Age king of Tyre probably bears the same name (EA
295.3: ] - D I . K U D ; M O R A N 1992, 337), which may be a dynastic name.
219
N O U G A Y R O L ( 1 9 5 6 , 2 1 9 ) reads the name as U-zakaptu.
220
UGULA kri, to be read either as akil kri, or, more probably, rab kri (ARNAUD
1996, 61). T h e Ugaritic equivalent could be either rb m'ifyd (for which see VIROLLEAUD
1965, 14-5; A S T O U R 1970; LIVERANI 1979b: 499), or rb tmtt ( A R N A U D 1996: 63,
. 95). T h e 'harbourmaster' was responsible for collecting the custom taxes in port
towns, whereas the 'tax collector' (mkisu) did the same along the land borders of
Hittite Syria ( A R N A U D 1996, 61). T h e collection of various taxes and tolls (manaJftu,
miksu) figures prominently in the new texts from the Urtenu archive ( M A L B R A N L A B A T 1995b, 106).
221
For a new translation and interpretation of this text, see A R N A U D 1996, 63.
He tentatively suggests (n. 96) that the 'oil' coming from Tyre could actually be
scented oil, i.e. some perfume (perhaps of Egyptian origin), which would explain
the high custom taxes paid for it.
222
K T U 2.38 = RS 18.031 = PRU 5, no. 59. A R N A U D 1992, 194 mentions a
further letter sent from a king of Tyre to the king of Ugarit (RS Varia 25).
223
For the various interpretations of the office of the rb tmtt, see C U N C H I L L O S
1989a, 354-5, n. 17 ('head of team'), and add A R N A U D (1996, 63, . 95), who proposes that it is the Ugaritic equivalent of rab kri, 'harbourmaster' (see n. 220).
224
For the different meanings of dr'/dr', see C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 3 5 5 n. 19 (with
refs.).

cargo and the crew safely to Ugarit. This interpretation would fit
perfectly within the context of the grain exports from Egypt to Hatti
at the end of the 13th century (see pp. 715-9).
5.2.6

Egypt and Canaan

T h e 'Egyptian alternative' never really vanished from Ugarit's perspective. With a strong mercantile and maritime orientation, Ugarit's
natural major partner was Egypt, rather than the continental Hittites.
T h e vigorous Syrian policy of the kings of the early Hittite Empire
forced Ugarit to curtail for a while her traditional ties with Egypt,
especially on the eve of the battle of Qadesh. However, with the advent of the Silver Treaty signed between Hattusili 'III' and Ramesses
II in 1258, Ugarit was a m o n g the first to exploit the huge commercial benefits of the Pax Hethitica.
T h e resumption of full-scale contacts with Egypt and her Canaanite
provinces is documented both in the written and in the archaeological record of Ugarit. About half a dozen stone and alabaster
vases carry the cartouches of Ramesses II, matching more-or-less the
quantity of such finds from the A m a r n a Age. 223
Egyptian merchants were active in the economic life of Ugarit,
trading not only in commodities 2 2 6 and real estate, 227 but also in
slaves. Hehea, the Egyptian, released an undefined n u m b e r of persons for 400 shekels (RS 15.011 = PRU 3, 19). In a letter exchange
between the kings of Ugarit a n d Unatu it is reported that the
Egyptians have released a person who was sold to them by his companion, though they kept his belongings (RS 20.021 - Ug 5, 126ff;
see n. 194).
Canaanites were well distinguished from Egyptians in the documentation from Ugarit ( A s t o u r 1981a, 25). A fragmentary letter

225
RS 11.261; 11.848; 11.869; 1-11.[115]; 15.201; 34.030 (see C A U B E T 1991a,
214, and refs. cited in R S O 5.1). Large quantities of alabaster vessels were found
in the so-called 'House of the alabaster vessels' east of the royal palace (YON 1997b,
76). O n Ugarit's preference for Egyptian artistic styles, see YON 1994b, 4 2 7 - 8 (with
further refs.).
226
In K T U 4.352 = RS 18.042.4 = PRU 5, no. 95 Egyptians receive a large
quantity of oil. In RS 16.341 = PRU 2: no. 113 Egyptians receive rations of wine
from the royal palace.
227
According to RS 16.136 = PRU 3, 142 the Egyptian Pa'ahi received a large
domain from king Ammittamru II.

deals with the settling of a large monetary dispute (one talent and
500 shekels of silver) between the 'sons of the Land of Ugarit' and the
'sons of the Land of C a n a a n ' (RS 2 0 . 1 8 2 + 2 0 . 1 8 1 = Ug 5 , no. 3 6 ;
augmented and collated by L a c k e n b a c h e r 1 9 9 4 ) . In the fragmentary
opening lines the king of Ugarit addresses Pharaoh (Ramesses II)
with the flattering epithets, 'powerful king' (sarri qarrad) and 'lord of
all the lands'. Burhanuwa (1. 10') is no doubt the well-known Egyptian
messenger Parihnawa who travelled between the courts of Egypt and
Hatti at the time of the Silver Treaty in 1258 and the royal marriage between Ramesses II and a Hittite princess in 1 2 4 5 ( Y o y o t t e
apud N o u g a y r o l 1 9 6 8 , 1 1 2 , n. 3 ; E d e l 1 9 7 6 , 7 9 ) .
T h e regulation of the caravan routes linking Egypt and Hatti and
their passage through the territory of Ugarit is the subject of several documents. A decree of Tudhaliya empowers Ammittamru II
to prevent the transfer of horses from Hatti to Egypt and vice versa
from passing through his territory (RSL 2 = PRU 6, no. 1 79).228
T h e full significance of this prohibition is not known, but it may
have to do with the lucrative trade in quality horses frequently alluded
to in the letters from Ugarit (cf. N o u g a y r o l 1970, 129, n. 3; S i n g e r
1983b, 27, n. 3).
T h e itinerary of the trading routes between Hatti and Egypt is
also discussed in the Ugaritic translation of Puduhepa's letter to
N i q m a d d u III ( K T U 2.36 = R S 17.435+; see p. 693). T h e meaning
of the fragmentary passage is not entirely clear, but it seems that the
king of Ugarit complained that caravans were by-passing his kingdom, probably using an alternative inland artery along the Orontes
valley. 229 T h e reason for Ugarit's concern is obvious: the merchants
passing through the territory of Ugarit not only traded imported
merchandise for local produce, but also paid high custom tolls which
enriched the treasuries of the city. 230
In the private correspondence of the great merchants operating
the caravan routes along the Levant there is often mention of trips
Cf. also the small fragment Ug 5, no. 47 which seems to deal with commerce
with M]u-us-ri-i (probably Egypt, despite the unusual spelling).
229
The fragmentary passage mentions Ngt/Nuhhai (1. 17), Qd/Kinza (1. 27'),
and possibly N[iya] in the 'Valley' (1. 18: 'mq\ or perhaps the land of Amqi?).
230
See, e.g., p. 672 on the custom tolls paid to the harbourmaster of Ugarit by
some merchants from Tyre (PRU 4, 219). Contrary to the above interpretation of
the passage from Puduhepa's letter, D I J K S T R A ( 1 9 8 9 , 1 4 5 ) assumes that the king of
Ugarit sought to divert the caravans away from his kingdom because of some damage caused by them.
228

to Egypt. Urhae, whose regular business was with Hatti, eagerly proposes to join his colleague Yabninu on his next trip to Egypt (RS
19.050 = PRU 6, no. 14). According to another letter he sends him
a horse, perhaps as an incentive for further cooperation (RS 22.006
= PRU 6, no. 16). Another entrepreneur who was active along the
'Phoenician' coast and in Egypt was Sipti-Ba'al, the well-known agent
of the queen of Ugarit (p. 697). In RS 34.173 ( R S O 7, no. 33)
Dagan-belu informs Urtenu that his master (no doubt Sipti-Ba'al)
will write to him soon about his Egyptian affairs.
Luxury goods were traded with Egypt throughout the period under
consideration, but the last decades of the Hittite Empire added a
new dimension to these close commercial ties. T h e importation of
grain from Egypt to Hatti and Ugarit's vital role in this trade will
be described in the entries dealing with the last period of the city
(p. 715ff).
5.2.7

Cyprus and the Aegean

T h e first commercial contacts between Ugarit and the eastern Mediterranean islands go back to the early part of the second millennium
bce (see n. 42). After a considerable decrease in these ties around
the mid-second millennium (LH I and LH II), there is again an
upsurge of demand for western products in the 14th13th centuries. 231
However, the early theory of the existence of a Mycenaean colony
in Ugarit has categorically been refuted ( A s t o u r 1973b, 25, with
refs.; C o u r t o i s 1987, 216-7). In the vast written documentation from
Ugarit there is not a single record of an Aegean merchant trading
in the city, and none of the hundreds of names can be shown to
be of a clear Aegean type ( A s t o u r 1981b, 29). Juxtaposed with the
evidence for the presence of countless other foreigners in Ugarit
Egyptians, Canaanites, 'Mesopotamians', A1aiotes, not to mention
Hittitesthis absence can hardly be accidental and must indicate
that most 232 of Ugarit's lucrative trade with the Aegean was in the
hands of Syrian merchants and Cypriot intermediaries. A rare textual

231

ASTOUR

1973a, 24ff.;

COURTOIS

1979, 1204ff.; 1987;

CAUBET -

1995,

104ff.
232

That some ships from the Aegean must have reached the Levantine coast is
shown by the clause in Tudljaliya's treaty with augamuwa of Amurru which
imposed a blockade on the trade between Assyria and ships of [A^iyauia ( K H N E
1 9 7 1 , 1 6 - 7 ) . For the refutation of S T E I N E R ' S ( 1 9 8 9 ) alternative restoration of

attestation of direct sailing from Ugarit to Crete is found in a legal


document in which Ammittamru II exempted the merchant Sinaranu
from taxes, including those on his ship returning from a voyage to
Kapturi. 2 3 3
Contrary to the circuitous contacts with Crete and the Aegean,
relations with Cyprus, just over 100 km from the ports of Ugarit,
were intense and manifold, especially in the last phases of the LBA.
About half a dozen objects inscribed with Cypro-Minoan characters
were found at Ugarit. 234 Except for her pivotal role in the maritime
trade between east and west, A1aia also served as a place for the
banishment of high-ranking political deportees from Hatti and from
Ugarit. 235
T h e main export item of Cyprus was of course copper, both as
raw material or in the form of manufactured objects. 236 Evidently
Ugarit also had a bronze industry of its own, as shown, for example,
by the stone mould for casting ox-hide-shaped ingots found in the
Northern Palace of Ras Ibn Hani ( B o u n n i et al. 1987, 11, fig. 8;
L a g a r c e 1987, 284). An Ugaritic text mentions a ship from A1a[ia]
moored in the town of Atalig with a cargo of 15 talents of co[pper?]
and other metal implements ( K T U 4.390 = RS 18.119 = PRU 5,
no. 56). Cyprus also exported to the east large quantities of ceramics, both of local manufacture and brought from the Aegean. 237
Ugarit exported to Cyprus not only her own goods, but many
other items brought to her markets from all over the Near East.

the fragmentary name as '[ba]tt1e ships', see SINGER 1991a, 171, n. 5 6 ; LEHMANN
1991, 111, n. 11.
233
RS 16.238 (= PRU 3, 107-8). As recognized by Nougayrol, the ideographic
pun KUR DUGUD-R (1. 10) must be read as Kaptu-ri (see also ASTOUR 1973a, 25-6).
It is not entirely clear whether the Ugaritic occurrences of krty refer to Crete or
rather to a PN ( W A T S O N 1994c, 498). For a renewed attempt to identify Yman in
K T U 1.4 = R S 2. [008]+ i 43 with Ionia, see DIETRICH - LORETZ 1998 (with refs.
to previous bibliography). Cf. however, ASTOUR 1995, 60ff., who locates Yman in
the eastern part of the kingdom of Ugarit.
234
R S O 5 / 1 : 418, to which add a new bulla from the house of Urtenu (YON
1 9 9 5 , 4 4 1 , fig. 7).
235 p o r
deportation of the princes Himi-arruma and R-arruma, sons of
Ahat-Milku, see p. 642 (RS 17.352). The" brothers Amar-DIM and Yadu-DIM who
fled from A1aia were passed on from Hattusili 'III' to the king of Carchemish, who
in his turn gave them to his son Ti1i-arruma (RS 18.114 = PRU 4, 82).
236
M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 105. A Cypriot bronze tripod was found in the socalled 'Temple of rhytons' (RS 80.5102; YON 1994b, 430-1).
237
For the Cypriot and Helladic pottery and figurines from Ugarit, see COURTOIS
1 9 7 8 , 2 8 2 - 3 6 3 ; C A U B E T - M A T O I A N 1 9 9 5 (with further refs.).

Horses bred in the east were given by the king of Ugarit to a messenger of A1aia ( R S 34.153 = R S O 7, no. 35; see also M a l b r a n L a b a t 1995b, 105). A large quantity of oil (660 measures) was alloted
to an A1aiote according to an Ugaritic inventory list ( K T U 4.352
= R S 18.042 = PRU 5, no. 95). 238 T h e shipment of oil is discussed
in a letter of N i q m a d d u (III) to his 'father', the king of A1aia ( R S
20.168 = Ug 5, no. 21; see p. 720). T h e r e is n o evidence as yet for
the participation of A1aia in the vital trade in grains. 239 In a new
letter f r o m the U r t e n u archive an Ugaritian scribe residing in A1aia
asks his king to send him a table a n d five chairs ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t
B o r d r e u i l 1995, 445). T h e maritime trade with C y p r u s was mostly
held in the hands of a few wealthy m e r c h a n t s w h o possessed the
necessary capital for large-scale a n d risky investments. O n e of these
must have been Y a b n i n u , p r o b a b l y the last resident of the large
S o u t h e r n Palace which also yielded, in addition to sixty Akkadian
a n d five Ugaritic texts, two C y p r o - M i n o a n d o c u m e n t s ( C o u r t o i s
1990; Y o n 1998a, 6Iff.).
In concluding this brief overview of trade contacts with A1aia,
mention should be m a d e of a much-discussed Ugaritic letter dealing
with the purchase of ships ( K T U 2.42 + 2.43 = R S 18.113A (+)
= PRU 5, no. 8; P a r d e e 1987c, 204ff.). It contains the intriguing
expression nmry mlk clm, 'Nmry, king of the world/eternity' (1. 9), which
has caused m u c h confusion with regard to the destination of the letter and its dating. Virolleaud took nmry as an alphabetic spelling of
N i m m u r i a (Nb-m3 c t-r e ), the p r e n o m e n of A m e n o p h i s III, an identification which has been accepted by most commentators. 2 4 0 If so,
this would be the only letter in the palace archives which predates
the conflagration mentioned in EA 151 (see p. 630), and, as observed
by L i v e r a n i (1962, 28, n. 6), this fact in itself raises serious doubts

238

Persons from A1aia appear in many Ugaritic lists, such as rations distributed
from the palace of Ugarit ( K N A P P 1983, 43; W A L L S 1996). T h e fragmentary Akkadian
colophon of an Ugaritic census of thirty households (including women and children)
reads A1aia ( K T U 4.102 = RS 11.857). This solicited various interpretations (LIVERANI 1962, 9 2 f f , with previous refs.; M A C D O N A L D 1978), the most plausible of which
is that the list refers to citizens of Ugarit who lived in A1aia (LIVERANI 1962, 94).
239
T h e letter of Pgn ( K T U 2.46 = RS 18.147) which was thought to originate
from A1aia has plausibly been associated with the Hittite official Pukana on a seal
from Tarsus (see p. 718).
240
E.g. LIPINSKI 1977; PARDEE 1987C, 207; K L E N G E L 1992, 149, . 356. Cf. however, the doubts raised by LIVERANI 1962, 28, n. 6 (but cf. 1979a, 1303), RAINEY
1974, 188, and VAN S O L D T 1991a, 88.

about its early dating. H e also called attention to the fact that the
tablet was found in close proximity to a group of Ugaritic texts dealing with maritime trade, which can hardly be dated as early as the
A m a r n a Age ( L i v e r a n i 1979b, 499).
'Nmiy, king of the world/eternity' follows after a list of deities
invoked by the sender: Ba'al^Saphon 1 ( L i v e r a n i 1979a, 1303; Pardee
1987, 206-7), 'the Eternal Sun' (p clm), Astarte, Anat, and all the
gods of A1aia. It is usually assumed that he is the addressee of the
letter and the beneficiary of the blessings ( L i p i n s k i 1977; P a r d e e
1987c, 207), but K n a p p (1983, 40, 42) has raised the possibility that
the Egyptian king is invoked here as a deity. I would go a step further and reject the whole Egyptian connection, adopting a brief
remark of R a i n e y (1974, 188) who derived nmry from Ugaritic *mrr,
'to bless, strengthen'. Thus, the last deity in the invocation may perhaps be rendered as 'the blessed/strong one, king of the world/eternity', which could be an appellative for the supreme god of A1aia.241
With the alleged Egyptian connection removed, the letter easily
finds its Sitz im Leben in the rich 13th century documentation on
maritime trade in the eastern Mediterranean ( K n a p p 1983, 42-3).
T h e anonymous sender of the letter is probably a 'harbourmaster' 2 4 2
who serves as an arbiter between merchants from A1aia and Ugarit,
seeking to obtain the approval of the king of Ugarit for the transaction. It is only natural that in blessing his lord he should invoke
the gods of both countries.

5.3

Ammittamru II (ca.

1260-1235)

Niqmepa was succeeded on the throne by his son Ammittamru II,


who has direct synchronisms with Puduhepa (RS 17.133), Tudhaliya
'IV' (RS 17.035; 17.159), Ini-Tesub (RS 17.352), and augamuwa

241
Although I cannot suggest an identification of this deity, it is well to remember that we know very little on the theonyms of second millennium Cyprus. For
the epithet 'king of eternity,' which seems to imply a chthonian character of the
deity, see Pardee 1988b, 89~91 ( K T U 1.108 = RS 24.252.1; with ample refs. to
Egyptian, Phoenician and biblical parallels).
242
The fragmentary title rb m'i[. . .] has variously been restored as rb m'i[hd],
'harbourmaster' ( V I R O L L E A U D 1965, 14-5; A S T O U R 1970; L I V E R A N I 1979b, 499), rb
m'i[smn], 'chief of the seal' (LIPINSKI 1977, 214), or rb m'i[t\, 'chief of the hundred'
( D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1976, 21-2; K N A P P 1983, 39; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 88). The first
restoration seems best to fit the contents of the letter, which deals with the sale of
ships.

( R S 16.270). 243 His m o t h e r Ahat-Milku survived her h u s b a n d a n d


continued to be active as Q p e e n M o t h e r till a respectable old age
(see p. 642). A legal text dated to A m m i t t a m r u ( R S 16.197 = PRU
3, 150-1) is sealed with her cylinder seal, 244 which indicates that she
acted as regent for her son during his youth ( L i v e r a n i 1962, 9 9 - 1 0 0 ;
1979a, 1308). Actually, Ugarit shared the custom of Hatti where the
reigning queen (tawannannd) retained her position until her death a n d
participated in various state functions. 2 4 3 This often caused tension
between the dowager queen a n d the wife of the ruling king, a n d it
stands to reason that Ugarit did not avoid the bitter fruits of this
competition. 2 4 6
A m m i t t a m r u h a d two (older?) b r o t h e r s w h o were exiled f r o m
Ugarit to A1aia u n d e r mysterious circumstances (PRU 4, 121-4).
T h e verdicts of Ini-Teub ( R S 17.352) a n d of T u d h a l i y a ( R S 17.035
with dupls.) only state that the sons of Ahat-Milku, (H)imi-arruma 2 4 7
a n d R-arruma, have c o m m i t t e d an offence against A m m i t t a m r u
(and against their mother). 2 4 8 In consequence, their mother gave them
their share of inheritence 2 4 9 a n d deported t h e m to A1aia. T h e y were

2+3

It is needless to postulate an ephemeral 'Niqmaddu Ha' between the reigns


of Niqmepa and Ammittamru II on the basis of K T U 2.36+ = RS 17.434.36-7;
the letter was most probably sent by Hattusili's widow Puduhepa to Niqmaddu III
(see p. 693).
2+4
Her seal impression is almost entirely effaced (Ug 3, 83). Ammittamru's own
Ugaritic seal (Ug 3, 81, 83; figs. 103-5) is impressed above the (original) dynastic
seal of Ugarit on his agreement with augamuwa concerning the bittu rabti affair
(RS 16.270 = PRU 3, 41).
245
This can be demonstrated for several queens of Ugarit (VAN S O L D T 1985-86,
72). The queen mother probably had the same status in Amurru ( S I N G E R 1991b,
335, n. 22), and perhaps also in ancient Israel ( K H N E 1973, 180 1).
246
Though we are not directly informed, as in Hatti, about rivalries between
queen mothers and their daughters-in-law, one can still speculate about the real
causes for some of the more unfortunate episodes in Ugarit's history, such as the
persecution of the ill-fated bittu rabti (p. 680), or the Ehli-Nikkalu affair (p. 701).
247
Ini-Tesub's text spells Hi-i-mi-, whereas Tudhaliya's has I-mi- (x 2); is this
merely a scribal error or perhaps a phonetic difference in the pronunciation of the
initial sound?
24(1
Note that according to Tudhaliya's verdict (11. 7-8) the offenders have sinned
both against Ahat-Milku and Ammittamru, whereas in Ini-Teub's verdict (1. 6) only
against Ammittamru. Perhaps Tudhaliya wanted to add more weight to the undefined
offence in order to better justify the deportation of the brothers. Note also the
difference between the two verdicts in the list of property given to the brothers sent
to exile (see following note).
249
In Ini-Tesub's verdict their inheritance consists of 'silver, gold, their utensils,
and all their possessions' (11. 8-9); Tudhaliya's verdict is more specific: 'their silver,
their gold, their bronze, [their] beds, their chairs, [their tables?], their donkeys, their

made to swear before Itar of the Field that in future they would
never challenge this arrangement. Behind these laconic sentences
may hide a grievous drama. T h e nature of the brothers' offence is
nowhere stated, but it probably had to do with the struggle for the
throne of Ugarit. T h e aged mother had to give her consent to the
banishment of two of her sons in order to safeguard the throne for
her third (and youngest?) son. Is it too sentimental to imagine that
it was their mother's intervention that saved them from an even
harsher destiny and secured for them at least a comfortable exile in
Cyprus?
5.3.1

Marital problems

O n c e his throne was secured, Ammittamru set out to find a suitable


bride, and following his father's example he married a princess from
Amurru. His marriage, however, did not meet with a similar success,
but turned into one of the most notorious scandals of antiquity ( S i n g e r
1991a, 1 7 4 - 5 with previous literature; A r n a u d - S a l v i n i 1993).
After the reinstatement of Benteina, A m u r r u became the most
favoured Hittite vassal in Syria. T h r e e royal intermarriages between
the courts of Hatti and Amurru followed in close succession: Benteina
married Gau1iyawiya, the daughter of Hattusili 'III'; the latter's son
Nerikkaili married an (unnamed) daughter of Benteina; and T u d haliya gave his sister (another daughter of Hattusili) to augamuwa.
T h e court of A m u r r u became virtually Hittite, in blood and soul
( S i n g e r 1991a, 177; 1992). From the first marriage the daughter
who became the spouse of Ammittamru was born. She is never mentioned by name, reference being made only to her noble descent:
'daughter of Benteina', 'sister of augamuwa' and 'daughter of the
Great Lady' (bittu rabti), referring no doubt to the official title of
Gau1iyawiya, a Great Princess ( d u m u . s a l g a l ) of Hatti. 230 Obvi-

sheep, and all [their possessions]' (11. 12-16). One gets the impression that Tudhaliya's
more elaborate text is the original verdict and Ini-Teub's is a summary of it.
250
T h e equation between 'the daughter of Benteina' and 'the daughter of the
Great Lady,' first suggested by Schaeffer in the fifties ( S C H A E F F E R 1956, 32), is by
now practically certain (see S I N G E R 1991a, 174-5; 1991b, 334-5, with refs.), although
it is still considered with some hesitation by some leading authorities ( L I V E R A N I
1979a, 1309; LIPINSKI 1981, 91; K L E N G E L 1992, 142; N E U 1995b, 120-1; BECKMAN
1996c, 166). The problem of the exact definition of the title DUMU.SAL GAL in Hittite
sources cannot be discussed here. See S I N G E R 1991b; N E U 1995b, 121; K L I N G E R
1996, 215-6; H O U W I N K TEN C A T E 1996 (with further refs.).

ously, the troublesome divorce of a princess of such distinguished birth


was a most embarrassing matter which occupied the various courts
of the Hittite Empire for many years; practically everyone involved
in the lawsuit was a close or a distant relative of the divorcees.
T h e various stages of the case, which fills out a dossier of at least
fifteen different documents, 251 may briefly be summarized as follows.
After several years of marriage which produced at least one son
(Utri-arruma), the daughter of Benteina and Gau1iyawiya 'sought
trouble for Ammittamru'. As in the case of Ammittamru's brothers,
her sin is never specified. Some have envisaged adultery, but political intrigue seems more likely ( K h n e 1973, 183ffi; K l e n g e l 1992,
141; A r n a u d - S a l v i n i 1991-2, 20). T h e marriage was dissolved
and the estranged wife was sent back to A m u r r u with her share of
property. After a while, however, Ammittamru categorically demanded
her extradition and was even ready to resort to force if necessary.
His d e m a n d was eventually granted, not without the intervention of
the highest imperial authorities. Neither her (half-)brother 252 augamuwa, who meanwhile became king, nor her uncle Tudhaliya, who
enforced the final verdict, flinched from this sacrifice in order to
restore peace and unity in the Hittite commonwealth. T h e blood
money paid by Ammittamru to augamuwa for the right to do with
the bittu rabti as he pleased was proportionate to her high standing:
1,400 golden shekels!253
At one point along the ordeal, Utri-arruma, 2 3 4 the legitimate
crown-prince, was given the choice, to stay with his father in Ugarit
and succeed him on the throne, or to side with his mother and lose
all his dynastic rights. His decision is not stated, but another son of
Ammittamru, Ibiranu, became the next king of Ugarit.

251

See refs. to the Akkadian texts in A R N A U D - SALVINI 1 9 9 3 , 8 - 9 . T h e Ugaritic


letter K T U 2 . 7 2 = R S 3 4 . 1 2 4 (= R S O 7 , no. 8 8 ) , probably sent by Ammittamru
to his mother, also deals with one of the stages of the ill-fated marriage ( P A R D E E
1 9 7 7 ; b u t c f . BORDREUIL 252

PARDEE

For Sausgamuwa's mother, see

1991,

150).

K L E N G E L 1 9 9 1 , 2 3 4 ; H O U W I N K TEN C A T E

1996,

53-4.
253

As pointed out by N O U G A Y R O L ( 1 9 5 6 , 1 3 0 ) , this high sum probably took into


account the property that was confiscated from her in Ugarit.
254
It is interesting to note that the princes born from Amurrite mothers were
given names with the theophoric element arruma: (H)imi-arruma and R-arruma,
the sons of Ahat-Milku, and Utri-arruma, the son of the bittu rabti. Crown princes
must have adopted standard Ugaritic (i.e. West Semitic) names at coronation.

5.3.2

Concessions from the overlords

W h e r e a s we possess a full series of A m u r r u treaties f r o m uppiluliu m a I to T u d h a l i y a 'IV', no comprehensive treaty with Ugarit is
known after MurSili's treaty with N i q m e p a . T h i s m a y be d u e to the
fortunes of excavation, but there is also a possibility that the standard comprehensive type of treaty was partially replaced by a series
of m o r e specialized decrees. For example, Hattusili 'III' issued an
edict pertaining to fugitives f r o m Ugarit which echoes similar provisions in standard treaties ( R S 17.238 = PRU 4, 107-8): 255 'If some
subject of the king of Ugarit, or a citizen of Ugarit, or a servant of
a subject of the king of Ugarit departs a n d enters the territory of
the Ijabiru of M y Majesty, I, G r e a t King, will not accept him but
will return him to the king of Ugarit' ( B e c k m a n 1996c, 163). T h e
habiru territory m a y refer to scarcely-inhabited highland areas n o r t h
of Ugarit, but the decree deliberately does not cover the possibility
of a citizen of Ugarit seeking refuge in the heartland of Hatti. Even
so, this edict, which m a y reflect the basic division of Ugaritic society ( H e l t z e r 1976, 4 - 5 ) , is exceptionally favourable towards Ugarit.
As a rule, the Hittite king d e m a n d s the i m m e d i a t e extradition of
people w h o fled f r o m Hatti, but he reserves to himself the right to
keep back fugitives of vassal states w h o f o u n d refuge in his land
256
( K o r o s e c 1960, 70).
This includes Mursili's treaty with N i q m e p a ;
the king of Ugarit m a y ask for the extradition of his r u n a w a y citizens, but the king of Hatti is in no way obliged to fulfil his request
( B e c k m a n 1996c, 62, 9, 12). T h e significant c h a n g e in policy to
the benefit of Ugarit m a y in fact be one of the reasons why the
Hittite king did not w a n t to lay d o w n such a preferential precedent
in a standard type of treaty.
Even m o r e exceptional is the edict issued by Ini-Teub in which
he releases the king of Ugarit 2 5 7 f r o m his vassal duty to send chariots a n d infantry to participate in the i m m i n e n t w a r against Assyria

255

Note also RS 17.361A (= PRU 6, no. 76), a label written in Akkadian: 'This
tablet concerns fugitives' (see VAN SOLDT 1989b, 380, 384, no. 27).
256
See e.g. in the treaties with Aziru of Amurru (BECKMAN 1996c, 35, 10), with
Tette of Nuhhai (ib.: 52, 9), and in all the Arzawa treaties (HEINHOLD-KRAHMER
1977, 103ff.). In the late treaties with Amurru (Benteina and augamuwa) the
respective paragraphs are not preserved.
257
His name is broken away (1. 4), but Nougayrol's restoration Ammittamru seems
to have been universally accepted. Theoretically, Ibiranu, in whose reign the war
with Assyria flared up (p. 686), cannot be excluded.

(RS 17.059 = PRU A, 150-1; B E C K M A N 1996c, 167-8). 258 T h e price


paid for this exemption, 50 mina of gold, was obviously not too high
for a king who paid more than half of it (1400 gold shekels) for the
right to execute his estranged wife. T h e amount was delivered in
ten shipments 259 from the sealed storehouse of Ugarit. Soon enough
after this payment, however, when the Assyrian danger became more
acute, the Hittites went back on their agreement and d e m a n d e d the
mobilization of the army of Ugarit (see p. 686).

T H E WEAKENING G R I P OF THE

6.1

Ibiranu (ca

HITTITES

1235-1225/1220)

fbiranu was probably appointed as crown-prince (uannu)260 already


in the reign of his father Ammittamru, 2 6 ' perhaps after his (elder)
brother Utri-arruma had chosen to follow his mother back to her
homeland (see p. 681). It is not known who was Ibiranu's mother,
the ill-fated princess of Amurru, or, more probably, another spouse
of Ammittamru about whom we have no evidence. His reign must
have began before 1233, if one accepts the attribution of RS 34.165
(= R S O 7, no. 46) to Tukulti-Ninurta (see p. 689). 262 Ibiranu is mentioned by name only in relatively few documents (KLENGEL 1992, 144,
. 319, with refs.), but more texts can perhaps be ascribed to him
on circumstantial evidence.
T h e conciliatory rapports between Hattusili a n d A m m i t t a m r u
manifestly changed in the reigns of their successors. With growing
difficulties on the eastern front and complicated dynastic problems
258
This restricted edict cannot be considered to be a veritable treaty between
Tudhaliya and Ammittamru, as suggested by LEBRUN 1 9 9 5 , 8 7 .
259
For barrnu (1. 18) in the meaning of 'caravan', see N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 6 , 1 5 1 ;

KLENGEL

1992,

1 4 0 , . 2 9 3 ; ARNAUD

1996, 60, .

75.

260 p o r [^g equation between mur' uriyanni and mur' of Ibiranu, a group of
liaison-men or officers of the king, see N O U G A Y R O L 1956, 186; LIVERANI 1962, 125;
H E L T Z E R 1982, 154ff; VAN S O L D T 1991a, 11-2; SANMARTIN 1995b, 460ff.
261

A Hurrian text found in the so-called 'House of the Hurrian priest' may perhaps contain the liturgy of a ritual commemorating the death of Ammittamru II
( K T U 1.125 = R S 24.274; D I E T R I C H
M A Y E R 1997a).
262
Clearly, even if one rejects the purported synchronism with Tukulti-Ninurta,
Ibiranu's reign could not have started as late as 1213 (VAN S O L D T 1991a, 10). Raising
the dates of his reign also conforms to the new information concerning the length
of the reigns of Niqmaddu III and Ammurapi.

at home, T u d h a l i y a and his representatives grew ever more impatient


with Ugarit's assertiveness and lack of cooperation ( L i v e r a n i 1979a,
1311-2).
Several small fragments may arguably form part of a decree issued
for Ibiranu by his overlord, but very little can be said about their
contents. 263 O f more value is the letter sent to him by Prince Pihawalwi
( R S 17.247 = PRU 4, 191).264 Ibiranu, w h o conspicuously is not designated as king of Ugarit, is scolded for not appearing before the
Great K i n g since he ascended the throne of Ugarit. H e did not even
send his messengers with the obligatory presents, which caused m u c h
anger at the court of His Majesty. In a similar letter, a representative of His Majesty invites [the king of Ugarit], either A m m i t t a m r u
265
( K l e n g e l 1992, 144, . 318) or Ibiranu,
to come on board his ships
to his overlord, not forgetting to bring with him the obligatory presents, including gold and [silver] as well as alkabau a n d kabdum stones
( R S 20.255A = Ug 5, no. 30).
Contacts with Carchemish seem m o r e relaxed and routine. In R S
17.385 (= PRU 4, 194) the viceroy asks Ibiranu to send him two
j u n i p e r logs according to the required measurements. 2 6 6 In a typical
presentation letter, the king (Ini-Teub) anounces that his son Misram u w a , brother of U p p a r a m u w a , will take u p residence in Ugarit as
a guest of PAP-arruma (RS 17.423 = PRU 4, 193). Perhaps Ibiranu
was not too pleased with this visit, if he is indeed the a u t h o r of the
fragmentary letter R S 20.243 (= Ug 5, no. 32), which a p p a r e n d y
raises a formal complaint to His Majesty (1. 6') about the conduct of
M u s r a m u w a (sic).
T h r e e letters announce the forthcoming visit of two officials, Ebina'e
a n d Kurkalli, 267 who are charged with marking Ugarit's borders in
accordance with Arma-ziti's instructions. T h e letter sent by the K i n g
263
NOUGAYROL 1956, 289; LIVERANI 1962, 126. RS 19.122.5'ff. (= PRU 4, 289)
has the appearance of a stipulation instructing the vassal not to heed slander directed
against His Majesty; for similar paragraphs in Hittite treaties, cf., e.g., BECKMAN
1996c, 85 ( 13), 101 ( 10). In RS 18.273 (= PRU 4, 196) only Ibiranu and His
Ma[jesty] are preserved, whereas in RS 17.018 ( PRU 4, 195) only [Ibi]ranu and
his soldiers and chariots.
264
Pihawalwi is probably identical with Piha-UR.MAIJ whose objects were stolen
by Mau according to a lawsuit decided by Ini-Teub (RS 17.108 = PRU 4, 165-6).
He may also be identified with the scribe Piha-UR.MAH attested in Hittite texts and
on seals (LAROCHE 1966, 141).
265
I fail to see on what evidence LEBRUN (1995, 86) dates this letter to Ammurapi.

266
267

F o r

GISdaprnu, s e e LIVERANI

1962,

126, n.

12.

A Gur-ga-li-e is connected to the palace of Carchemish in a fragmentary Hittite


ritual text, K U B 48.113, 5' (KLENGEL 1965, 66).

(RS 17.292 = PRU 4, 188) and the one sent by Prince Alihesni 268
(RS 15.077 = PRU 3, 6-7) are addressed to Ibiranu; Ebina'e himself addresses the governor of Ugarit (RS 17.078 = PRU 4, 196-7).
None of these letters refers to the border in question, but the choice
is practically reduced to Muki or Siyannu, more probably the latter
(see p. 640). Prince Arma-ziti is well-known from Hittite texts dating to Hattusili ' I I I ' and Tudhaliya 'IV' ( I m p a r a t i 1987, 197ff; 1988).
H e was a scribe who fulfilled important functions in the religious
administration. Although his official tide is not stated, 269 he is often
involved in bird oracles which are usually performed by the uriyanni.'m
According to one of the texts dealing with the border dispute between
Ugarit and Siyannu, it was the unyannu who divided the territory
and set up the boundary stones between the two kingdoms. 2 ' 1 It is
quite possible that this complicated matter was taken up again in
the reign of Ibiranu: Arma-ziti fixed the borders (through bird oracles?), and two officials, Ebina'e 2 7 2 and Kurkalli, were sent out to
mark them.
Arma-ziti appears in two other texts from Ugarit. In RS 17.314
(= PRU 4, 189) he officiates as judge in a lawsuit between Pusku,
the merchant of the queen of Ugarit, and the custom-official (mkisu) Aball. In R S 17.316 (= PRU 4, 190) Arma-ziti himself is being
accused and sentenced to pay 300 silver shekels to the king of Ugarit
and to the sons of Musrana. T h e four witnesses are all citizens of
Ura, merchants of His Majesty. Each of the two documents carries
a different hieroglyphic Hittite seal of Arma-ziti (Ug 3, 37-8, figs.
48-51; S i n g e r 1983b, 5, n. 4).

268

For Aliljesni in the Hittite sources, see IMPARATI 1975, 115-6; 1987, 196-7.
An Arma-ziti ( d siN-L) 'chief of the tapri- men' appears in fragmentary context in a text dated to Suppiluliuma II (KUB 21.7 iii 3', 5'). Could he be identical with Arma-ziti who was already active in the reign of Hattui1i ' I I I ' ?
270
L I V E R A N I 1962, 73; P E C C H I O L I D A D D I 1982, 266ff. For the various attempts
to equate the uryanni/u with other cuneiform titles, see ALP 1991, 323-4 (with previous refs.). See also R S T E R 1993, 68-9.
271
RS 17.368 (= PRU 4, 76-7) is usually dated to Mursili II, but in fact it could
be a later ratification of Mursili's decree quoted in extenso in the first part of the
text. Note also the label carrying the inscription 'Document concerning the borders
which the unyannu established for the king of Ugarit' (KTU 6.29 = RS 17.364 =
PRU 2, no. 171 VAN S O L D T 1989a, 380, no. 30), which could have been attached
to RS 17.368 (found in the same room).
272
The fragmentary hieroglyphic seal impression on RS 1 7.368 is not reproduced
in the publication, but, according to L A R O C H E (PRU 4, 76), the first and the only
preserved sign in the name is I / E (L 209), which could perhaps belong to Ebina'e
mentioned in RS 17.078 (= PRU 4, 196).
269

O t h e r documents within the corpus of the anonymous correspondence between Ugarit and Carchemish may also belong to Ibiranu's
reign, including letters written in Ugaritic, probably by messengers
of the king of Ugarit residing in Carchemish. 2 7 3
6.1.1

Ugarit and the Assyrian war

A group of letters deals with the projected inspection of the troops


and the chariots of Ugarit by Hittite representatives. Unfortunately,
only one of these letters addresses the king of Ugarit by name as
Ibiranu (RS 17.289 = PRU 4, 192). T h e king of Carchemish announces
that the kartappu of His Majesty, g a l - d i m , 2 7 4 will soon be sent to
Ugarit to determine whether the n u m b e r of its soldiers and chariots complies with the demands of the Great King. H e concludes his
letter with the dramatic exclamation: '(It is a matter of) death (or)
life!'275
Several other documents may be related to the same event on circumstantial evidence. 276 RS 20.237 (= Ug 5, 102-4) is the reply of
the king of Carchemish to an inquiry of the king of Ugarit as to
the n u m b e r of chariots and troops he is supposed to supply. Most
of the viceroy's answer is unfortunately broken, but he concludes
with the order ' G o to His M[ajesty]!' In R S 15.014 (= PRU 3, 5)
I[biranu?] reports to the viceroy that he had sent the requested batch
of 1600 arrows with his messenger Ahaltena. 277 Finally, a tiny fragment
mentions [Ibi]ranu and 300 [soldiers?] (RS 17.018 = PRU 4, 195).278

273

E.g. K T U 2.75 = RS 34.148 (= R S O 7, no. 91); K T U 2.20 = RS 15.158


(= PRU 2, no. 11).
274
This could be read either as Ura-Tarhunta or as Talmi-Tesub ( L A R O C H E 1966,
198). Opting for the latter possibility, LIPINSKI (1981, 89, n. 53) suggested that this
kartappu may be identical with the future king of Carchemish, Talmi-Tesub son of
Ini-Teub. Although chronologically this might be possible, the two persons should
be kept apart (IMPARATI 1987, 201). A crown-prince of Carchemish would have
been presented quite differently to the king of a vassal state. Compare, e.g., the
letter of introduction of Misramuwa to Ibiranu (RS 17.423 = PRU 4, 193; see
p. 684).
275
T h e same exclamation recurs in RS 20.121 (= Ug 5, no. 33), in which His
Majesty orders the king of Ugarit to send him grain-laden ships urgently (see p. 716).
27,i
A dating of RS 20.237 and 34.138 to the reign of Ibiranu was also deduced
by Y A M A D A (1992, 444) on the basis of stylistic considerations.
277
But cf. the doubts raised by L I V E R A N I (1962: 127, n. 13) concerning the sender
of the letter. RS 11.834 (= PRU 3, 17) is a small fragment mentioning 'troops' and
the 'king of Car[chemish]'.
278
Two further letters from the Urtenu archive deal with military matters, but

T h e dispatch of another kartappu of His Majesty (H-r[u-?) is announced in a letter of the king of Carchemish (RS 34.138 = R S O 7,
no. 8). He is supposed to carry with him a tablet of His Majesty
and only upon its presentation should the king of Ugarit meet his
request. T e r m s related to the army do not occur, but nearly half of
the tablet is mutilated.
T h e forthcoming visit of one of these kartappu to Ugarit may well
be the subject of another letter from the Urtenu archive, R S 34.150
(= R S O 7, no. 10). e n - c i i m (Ewri-Teub?) announces to his king that
a messenger of the king of Carchemish was sent out to inspect the
troops of Qadesh, and will subsequently continue to Ugarit. T h e
well-informed servant advises his king not to show any of his chariots and troops to the messenger of Carchemish, who intends to put
them on march with provisions for five [days?] ,279
Perhaps these documents dealing with a projected muster of armies 280
in central Syria may be related to a letter found on the surface in
1971 in the area which later turned out to be Urtenu's residence
(RS 32.204 = R S O 7, no. 19; B o r d r e u i l 1981, 43). It is a double
letter sent by Kila'e to the queen and the king of Ugarit, announcing the departure of the King (of Carchemish) towards Nirabi (Neirab,
near Halab) the following day. 281 Kila'e politely proposes that both
the king of Ugarit and a certain Bin-Kabkamma (perhaps a representative of the queen of Ugarit) should come to Nirabi to meet the
viceroy in person. In his preliminary notes (quoted in R S O 7, 51)
Nougayrol assigned to this letter a legal context, i.e. a lawsuit between

they seem to be dated later; RS 34.150 (= R S O 7, 35-6) and 34.143 (= R S O 7,


27-9) will be dealt with under Niqmaddu III and Ammurapi, respectively.
279
Five days could be the time needed to cover at a fast pace the distance of
ca 150 km from Ugarit to Halab. Of course it took Zimri-Lim and his large entourage
much longer to cover the same distance, with stopovers of undefined length in four
towns ( V I L L A R D 1 9 8 6 , 3 9 5 ) . See p. 6 1 7 above.
280
A simultaneous mobilization of the armies of Qadesh and of Ugarit is also
dealt with in a letter found in 1994 in the Urtenu archive, in which the uriyannu
urges Niqmaddu to join forces with the armies of Qadesh and to meet the king of
Carchemish at Halab ( M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 106). If indeed the addressee is
Niqmaddu III this letter can hardly be related to the dossier dealing with the military manoeuvre dated to Ibiranu, unless one assumes a prolonged period of activity which coincided with the shift on the throne of Ugarit.
281
Neirab is a common toponym in Syria. N O U G A Y R O L (cited in R S O 7 , 5 1 ,
n. 48) opted for the one located near Ma'aret en-No'mn, but the site located 6 km
southeast of Aleppo seems to me a better choice. For the exploration of this site
in the twenties, see refs. in K L E N G E L 1 9 7 0 , 8 5 .

Kila'e a n d B i n - K a b k a m m a ; but I doubt w h e t h e r this alone would


have sufficed to s u m m o n the kings of C a r c h e m i s h a n d Ugarit to this
exceptional m e e t i n g far f r o m their respective residencies. R a t h e r ,
there must have been a m o r e urgent agenda, probably related to the
general military m a n o e u v r e whose purpose remains to be elucidated.
T h e a u t h o r of the above letter, Kila'e, appears to have been a
very high-ranking Hittite official w h o was also involved in judicial
affairs in Ugarit. 2 8 2 H e presided over a lawsuit between two citizens
of Ugarit, Iluwa a n d A m a r - d u , the son of M u t - d u the erdanu ( R S
17.112 = PRU 4, 234). H e is described as 'the m a n of Hiiiba' 283
a n d his office is that of 'the kartappu w h o is at the h e a d of the (sa)
rei \arri]\ apparently the topmost functionary in the Hittite 'foreign office' ( P e c c h i o l i D a d d i 1977, 174; S i n g e r 1983b, 10). H e is
most politely addressed as ' o u r father' in a letter of introduction sent
by the king a n d the q u e e n of Ugarit a n n o u n c i n g the dispatch of
their messenger Ili-Milku ( R S 19.070 = PRU 4, 294). 284
As for the military context of all these documents, the only m a j o r
reason I can think of for the urgent Hittite d e m a n d s for a general
mobilization of the armies of their Syrian vassals could be the deterioration in the relations with Assyria a n d the ensuing outburst of
hostilities. 283 For quite some time Hatti h a d p r e p a r e d herself a n d her
allies for the unavoidable clash with the emerging military power in
the east. A trade blockade against Assyria was imposed on augamuwa, including Assyria's maritime trade with [Ahh]iyawa (see n. 232),
a n d he was also o r d e r e d to mobilize A m u r r u ' s a r m y ( K U B 23.1 iv
1 9 - 2 3 ; B e c k m a n 1996c, 101, 12-13). With the ascent of TukultiN i n u r t a to the throne of Assyria, there was a brief attempt to cool
the tense relations by a diplomatic exchange of letters with T u d h a l i y a
W ( S i n g e r 1985, 102-3, with refs.; B e c k m a n 1996c, 141-2). However,
282

His prominent status is also demonstrated by his fragmentary hieroglyphic seal


impression in the centre of tablet RS 17.112, which probably reads K-l-[ (L 446L 445). For a photograph of the tablet, see Ug 4, 62, fig. 46, lower right.
283
Could this name be a variant of the northern Anatolian town of Hia(b)apa
(DEL M O N T E
284

TISCHLER

1978,

111-2)?

Ili-Milku is the addressee of a letter sent by a certain Belubur asking for a


favourable presentation of his case before the Queen (RS 6.198; see n. 289). Both
could be identical with the well-known scribe Ili-Milku who was active in the last
decades of Ugarit, and not in the 14th century as previously thought ( B O R D R E U I L M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b: 447-8).
285
K L E N G E L ( 1 9 9 6 , 5 5 9 ) tends to connect this event with the situation on the
Euphrates frontier, but I doubt that insurrections of tribal groups in this remote
region would have led to a full mobilization of Hittite Syria.

Tukulti-Ninurta soon revealed his real plans when he opened a vigorous offensive on the northern front of Nihriya. As frankly admitted
in a Hittite text, 286 Tudhaliya was deserted by his ally (probably
Iuwa) and was utterly defeated by the Assyrians, who lost no time
in spreading the news in Syria. An Assyrian letter (from the Urtenu
archive) sent to [Ibira]na king of U[garit] 287 describes in detail the
circumstances which led to the decisive battle (RS 3 4 . 1 6 5 = R S O
7 , no. 4 6 ; L a c k e n b a c h e r
1982; S i n g e r
1 9 8 5 ) . Unfortunately, from
the name of the sender only the second element in Shalmaneser's
n a m e is preserved (sag), which must belong to Tukulti-Ninurta's
filiation.288 If so, this letter provides an important synchronism between
Ugarit, Hatti, and Aur. T h e battle probably took place in TukultiNinurta's first year ( 1 2 3 3 ) , which may provide a terminus ante quern
for Ibiranu's ascent to the throne.
T h e Assyrian king's very act of reporting his victory to an acknowledged Hittite vassal was no doubt more than a simple act of courtesy. It was an overture for cooperation with Ugarit, practically 'over
the head' of Carchemish, in a renewed attempt to gain access to
the Mediterranean. Ugarit's reaction to this political bid is not known,
but probably she was not entirely uninterested. 289 T h e same applies

280

T h e redating of KBo 4 . 1 4 ( C T H 1 2 3 ) to Tudhaliya ' I V ' suggested by S I N G E R


109FF.) has been accepted by VAN DEN H O U T 1 9 8 9 , 273FF.; H A W K I N S 1 9 9 5 , 5 8 ;
K L E N G E L 1 9 9 1 , 2 3 8 . 9 1 ; CHD, L - N : 3 7 2 ; F R E U forthcoming. (LEHMANN 1 9 9 1 , 1 2 3 ,
. 28 accepts the re-dating, but erroneously attributes it to Otten, who in all the
articles cited tended towards a Suppiluliuma II dating.)
287
K L E N G E L ( 1 9 9 2 , 1 4 0 , . 2 9 0 ) maintains that 'it is uncertain which king of
Ugarit ruled at this time, but Ammittamru II cannot be excluded'.
288
I have also considered the possibility that SAG could belong to the epithet
UR.SAG, 'hero', but, as far as I can see, this epithet is not attested in the titulary of
the Middle Assyrian kings ( S E U X 1 9 6 7 ) . T h e attribution of the text to TukultiNinurta I on the basis of its correlation with C T H 1 2 3 (SINGER 1 9 8 5 ) has been
criticized by H A R R A K ( 1 9 8 7 , 1 4 2 , 2 6 1 ) , LIVERANI ( 1 9 9 0 , 1 6 9 ) and Z A C C A G N I N I ( 1 9 9 0 ,
41-2) who prefer dating the letter to Shalmaneser I.
289
RS 6.198 is a letter sent by a certain Be-lu-bu-ur to DINGER.LUGAL (Ili-Milku?).
Thureau-Dangin, who published the text ( T H U R E A U - D A N G I N 1935; see also LIPINSKI
1981, 87-8, n. 44), identified this Belubur with the Assyrian official B1u-1ibr who
was active under Adadnirari I, Shalmaneser I and Tukulti-Ninurta I. This identification
has been refuted on phonetic grounds (see VAN S O L D T 1991a, 28, with previous
refs.), but is still uncritically cited (e.g., by M A Y E R 1995b, 208, 211). If DINGIR.LUGAL
is indeed identical with the well-known scribe and entrepreneur Ili-Milku, who is
now safely dated to the late 13th century ( B O R D R E U I L 1995b, 448; P A R D E E 1997a,
241, n. 3), then the identification of Belubur with B1u-1ibr is practically impossible. The identity and domicile of B1u-br, who asks Ili-Milku to transmit his letters favourably to the queen (Sarelli?), remain unknown. An unnamed Assyrian
servant is perhaps mentioned in RS 20.150 (= Ug 5, 149-50).
(1985,

to Amurru, who exchanged messages and presents with the Assyrian


king according to a new document from Tell C h u r a / H u r b e . 2 9 0
T h e letters with military content exchanged between the courts of
Carchemish and Ugarit may be conceived either as hasty preparations before the battle of Nihriya, or, more probably, as a defence
organized after it, for the eventuality that the Assyrians would want
to capitalize on their victory and attack on the Syrian front as well.
Fortunately for the Hittites, Tukulti-Ninurta soon turned his aggression towards Babylon ( M a y e r 1995b, 213ff.), and he even resumed
normal diplomatic relations with Hatti, which seem to have lasted
to the very end of the Hittite Empire. 291
6.1.2

Queen arelli

Q u e e n Sarelli (Ugaritic Try I) is prominently documented in texts


dated from Ammittamru I I to A m m u r a p i ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 15ff.).
At first, when reliable chronological information on her queenship
was still missing, some scholars proposed regarding Sarelli as a H u r rian equivalent of Semitic Ahat-Milku, which was understood to be
the 'sister of the king' ( N o u g a y r o l 1968, 262; L i v e r a n i 1978, 153;
L i p i n s k i 1981). Various chronological clues gradually started to indicate that Sarelli was active during the last decades of Ugarit and
could therefore not be identical with Ahat-Milku, who was Niqmepa's
spouse. Clinging to the p u r p o r t e d m e a n i n g 'sister of the king',
Nougayrol put forward an alternative explanation according to which
Sarelli was not a PN but rather a (Hurrian) title or cognomen which
could be assumed by every queen of Ugarit. 292 However, the alleged
Hurrian meaning of the n a m e has also been questioned on linguis290
K H N E 1995, 219 (92.G.212: 9-10); the diplomatic journey of Yabna-ilu of
Amurru to Assyria took place in the eponym year of Ninu'yu, in the second half
of Tukulti-Ninurta's reign (ib.: 206; FREYDANK 1991a, 156).
291
F R E Y D A N K 1991b, 31; F R E U forthcoming. This late dtente in the relations
between Hittites and Assyrians is now amply documented by the Middle Assyrian
tablets from Tell C h u r a / H u r b e and from Tell Seih Hamad/Dur-Katlimmu. In
the former, mention is made of the Hittite diplomat Teli-Sarruma, who, at the
head of a large retinue, brought messages and presents to the Assyrian king ( K H N E
1995, 211, 217-8; see n. 145). In the latter, the merchants of the king of Carchemish
and of his governor Tagi-arruma travel in Assyrian-held territory, selling oil and
copper vessels ( C A N C I K - K I R S C H B A U M 1996, 117ff, no. 6; see p. 658). Both texts are
dated to the latter half of Tukulti-Ninurta's reign, the one from Tell eih Hamad
to the eponym year of Ina-Aur-umi-asbat.
292
N O U G A Y R O L 1968, 261-2; B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1982, 128 (but cf. their revised
view in R S O 7, 162).

tic and cultural grounds, 293 and it seems that the whole theory has
meanwhile been abandoned.
As for Sarelli's exact dating, she was considered to be Ammurapi's
spouse because she appears next to him in the liturgical text commemorating his coronation. 2 9 4 However, she is already attested as
queen in texts preceding Ammurapi's reign and was therefore provisionally 'matched' with N i q m a d d u III (e.g., B o r d r e u i l 1983, 77).
This again had to be revised in view of a text from the Urtenu
archive which proves that N i q m a d d u III married a Hittite princess
(RS 34.136; see p. 695). Simply by a process of elimination one is
left with Ibiranu, as tentatively suggested by v a n S o l d t (1991, 18;
cf. also A b o u d 1994, 34). At any rate, Sarelli apparently outlived
both her husband and her son and was actively involved as dowager queen in various state affairs. This exceptional status may explain
why she was hailed at the coronation of her grandson A m m u r a p i
by which time she must have reached a respectable old age. T h e
new documents from the Urtenu archive reveal her deep involvement in the foreign trade of Ugarit, regulated by her son-in-law and
commercial agent Sipti-Ba'al ( B o r d r e u i l - M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995,
444). Since most of her dated texts fall into the reign of N i q m a d d u
III, Sarelli's manifold activities will be dealt with in the next entry.

6.2

Niqmaddu III (ca.

1225/1220-1215)

Until recently Niqmaddu III was the least documented king of Ugarit
( L i v e r a n i 1962, 129; K l e n g e l 1992, 147). This situation has changed
drastically with the discovery of the Urtenu archive in which Niqmaddu
III appears to be the best documented king ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995b,
106, 111).
T h e r e are four legal documents from the palace archives in which
N i q m a d d u ' s filiation to Ibiranu is explicidy mentioned. T h e only
fully preserved text was written by the sukkallu and scribe EhliTeub, 2 9 5 and was sealed with the (original) dynastic seal declared to

293
L A R O C H E 1976-7, 218; D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1983C, 303; VAN S O L D T 1985-6;
1991a, 16, nn. 142-3 (with further refs.).
294
[T]ryl in K T U 1 . 1 6 1 = R S 3 4 . 1 2 6 . 3 2 ( = R S O 7 , no. 9 0 ) ; B O R D R E U I L -

PARDEE
295

1982,

1 2 8 ; LEVINE

DE T A R R A G O N

ROBERTSON

1997B,

357

8.

In the new documents from the Urtenu archive Ehli-Tesub appears as a business associate of Ur-Teub and of Ahi-Milku/Malki (E-LUGAL), the three of them
heading a wealthy firm trading in particular with Tyre and Sidon ( B O R D R E U I L -

be the seal of N i q m a d d u (RS 1 8 . 0 2 1 = PRU 6 , no. 4 5 ) . T h r e e other


documents are very fragmentary, but the restoration of the king's
n a m e and his patrimony is practically certain (RS 1 7 . 3 5 0 b = PRU
6 , no. 4 6 ; 1 6 . 1 9 8 b and 1 5 . 1 1 3 = PRU 3 , 1 6 8 - 9 ) , thus refuting the
attempts to identify Ibiranu and N i q m a d d u as brothers ( H e a l e y
1978;

Levine

de

T a r r a g o n

1984,

654).

Several texts belong to a N i q m a d d u without a mention of his patrimony (PRU 4, 199ff.), but their attribution to N i q m a d d u III is quite
plausible, and there is no need to add an alleged 'Niqmaddu IIa'
to the royal line (see p. 694). RS 18.020 + 17.371 (= PRU 4, 202-3)
is a lawsuit between N i q m a d d u and Kumiya-ziti, probably a rich
merchant from Ura. T h e verdict in favour of N i q m a d d u was given
by Zuzuli, the kartappu of the king of Carchemish. 2 9 6 T h e witnesses
are from U r a and from Ugarit, and the tablet was written by SIG 5 d
N.ERin.GAL (Nu C me-Raap?) son of Abaya, a well-known scribe who
was active from the days of Ammittamru II onwards ( v a n S o l d t
1991a, 10, 22). A further legal text, the case of Kiliya the priest of
Itar of Zinzaru, is witnessed by the same scribe and two further
witnesses who are also present in the previous document (RS 18.002
= PRU 4, 201). An Ugaritic legal text dealing with the liberation of
a slave (Stq-lm) is signed with N i q m a d d u ' s seal ( K T U 2.19 = RS
15.125 = PRU 2, no. 5). N i q m a d d u is also the author of a fragmentary letter to A1aia dealing with an oil transaction (RS 20.168
= Ug 5, no. 21). T h e subordinate position of the king of Ugarit with
respect to his correspondent is reminiscent of the A1aia letters dated
to the last years of Ugarit (p. 720).
Evidently, there were at least half a dozen documents plausibly
dated to N i q m a d d u III even before the discovery of the Urtenu
archive, which has now added some twenty new letters addressed to
this king ( L a c k e n b a c h e r 1995a, 70, n. 2 2 ; M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995b,
106).297 Thus, his reign was not as brief and negligible as had pre-

MALBRAN-LABAT 1995, 446; MALBRAN-LABAT 1995b, 105; see p. 671). Ehli-Tesub

and Ili-Milku, two scribes active under Niqmaddu III, are addressed by their 'brother'
in the second part of a fragmentary letter found in the Urtenu archive (RS 34.171
= R S O 7, 52-3, no. 20); the first part of the letter mentions the royal messenger
Anantenu.
296
T h e tablet is sealed with the Hittite seal of Zuzuli, 'CHARIOTEER' ( L 289), the
hieroglyphic tide corresponding to cuneiform kartappu. Probably the same person
appears on a seal impression found at Samsat Hyk, north of Carchemish (DINOL
1992).
297
For the letter supposedly addressed to Niqmaddu by the uHyannu urging him

viously been assumed, and may have lasted as much as a decade.


T w o legal documents carry the impression of a fine seal ring with
the Akkadian inscription 'Seal of N i q m a d d u , king of Ugarit' and an
illustration showing a person (the king?) in kneeling position attacking a lion with a long spear (Ug 3, 78-9, figs. 100-2). T h e seal is
usually ascribed to N i q m a d d u II who reigned in the 14th century ,
but a better case can probably be made for an ascription to Niqm a d d u III. R S 17.147 (= PRU 6, no. 29) is a fragmentary land donadon deed of Ammittamru, son of Niqmepa, to a certain [Amut]arunu(?).
If the seal belongs to N i q m a d d u II we have to assume that Ammittamru II used in this document the seal of his grandfather instead
of using the dynastic seal, which would be the normal procedure. A
better alternative seems to be that an original deed of Ammittamru II
was later ratified by N i q m a d d u III. An even better case for a
N i q m a d d u III ascription can be made in the case of the Ugaritic
text K T U 3.4 = R S 16.191 + 16.272, which records the redemption of seven Ugaritians from Beirut (see p. 669). A lawsuit between
Ugarit and Beirut, ratified with the seal of the king of Ugarit, would
suit the context of the late 13th century better. Finally, a glyptic
consideration in favour of N i q m a d d u III is the fact that all the personal seals from Ugarit, both royal (Ahat-Milku, Ammittamru II)
and non-royal (passim), are much later than N i q m a d d u II. Perhaps
a decisive argument will appear in the new documents of N i q m a d d u
III found in the Urtenu archive.
6.2.1

Reprimands from the overlords

T h e Ugaritic letter of Q u e e n P u d u h e p a (Pdgb) to N i q m a d d u has


stirred up many debates about the identity of the correspondents. 2 9 8
Despite its fragmentary state and the usual difficulties with Ugaritic
lexicography, the contents of the long letter can more or less be
fathomed. After the customary opening formulae, Puduhepa reprimands N i q m a d d u for his reluctance to send sufficient tribute and to
pay the obligatory visit to his overlord. These are recurrent themes
in Haiti's correspondence with the last kings of Ugarit, but here they

to join forces with the armies of Kinza/Qadesh and to come to meet the king of
Carchemish at Halab ( M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 106), see n. 280 above.
298 K T U 2 . 3 6 + = R S 17.435 + 17.436 + 17.437; C A Q U O T 1978b; P A R D E E 1983-4;
S I N G E R 1987, 414-5; C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 363ff.; DIJKSTRA 1989, 141-145; VAN S O L D T
1991a, 8ff.; K L E N G E L 1992, 139, . 289.

seem to be aimed specifically at Niqmaddu's relations with the Great


Q u e e n of Hatti. T h e r e may even be some reference to a visit paid
by N i q m a d d u to the king's palace, in which he failed to appear
before Puduhepa as well.299 In the next paragraph Puduhepa responds
to a complaint of N i q m a d d u regarding the itinerary of the caravans
travelling to Egypt by-passing his kingdom through inner Syria (see
15.5.8 above). T h e last part of the letter seems to deal again with
the unsatisfactory tribute. 300 As shown elsewhere ( S i n g e r 1987, 4 1 4 - 5 ;
C u n c h i l l o s
1989a, 38Iff.), the alleged chronological difficulties in
identifying the correspondents as the famous Hittite queen and the
penultimate king of Ugarit can easily be dismissed, 301 without the
need to add an alleged ' N i q m a d d u IIa' to the well-documented LBA
royal line of Ugarit. 302
A new document from the Urtenu archive considerably augments
our information on the last kings of Ugarit and their relations with
the royal court of Hatti. 303 It is a letter sent by the King (of Carchemish)
to the king of Ugarit containing the usual complaints about the inadequacy of the gifts sent to Hittite officials. M o r e specifically, he reprimands his correspondent for sending insufficient presents to the
'Chief Scribe' (tuppalanuri), in defiance of his categorical instructions.
T o demonstrate what the consequences of this assertive conduct could

299
See the interpretation of Cunchillos for lines 8-12, but cf. Pardee's translation. If these clues about Niqmaddu's visit to Hatti are valid, they could well correspond to the information provided by the Ugaritic letters of Talmiyanu, which
could well be Niqmaddu's name before his coronation (see p. 700).
300
Lines 29'ff. ( P A R D E E 1983-4, 329). For argmn, 'tribute', in this text, rather than
'purple-dyed cloth' (as suggested by DIJKSTRA 1989, 144), see VAN S O L D T 1990a,
344, n. 164, DLU i 48-9. The tribute, which consists of qnum, 'blue-dyed cloth' and
phm, 'red-dyed cloth,' is comparable to the tribute imposed on Ugarit in Suppiluliuma's treaty with Niqmaddu. For the interpretation of qnum as 'blue stone, lapislazuli' (Akkadian iqnu/uqnu), see the extensive discussion in C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 41 Iff.
See also p. 697 on RS 12.033 (= PRU 3, 14-5), which also has the appearance of
a tribute list.
301
Puduhepa married Hattui1i, no doubt at a young age ( H O U W I N K TEN C A T E
1996, 55, n. 35), immediately after the Battle of Qadesh in 1275. With a probable
synchronism between Ibiranu and the beginning of Tukulti-Ninurta's reign (1233;
see p. 689), she would have been in her seventies when she wrote to Niqmaddu III.
302
The case of this ephemeral 'Niqmaddu IIA' was recendy taken up again by
DIJKSTRA 1989, who seeks support in unwarranted chronological postulates and questionable restorations of the Ugaritic King List. For the refutation of his arguments,
see VAN S O L D T 1990a, 3 4 4 - 5 , n. 164; 1991a, 8ff.
303
R S 34.136 (= R S O 7 , no. 7). V A N S O L D T (1989b, 390) had already discussed
the important implications of this letter before its publication in R S O 7, using the
photograph published in Ug 7, pi. 18.

be, the king of Carchemish recalls an embarrassing incident from


the recent past when the messengers of Ugarit were humiliated in
Hatti for bringing unworthy presents: 'At the time of your father,
the in-law 304 of His Majesty, how was he treated on account of the
gifts in Hakapia and in Kizuwatna? Did they not bind his servants?
Now, perhaps because of me they did not do anything against your
servants, (but) never again act like this!' (11. 25-38). V a n Soldt has
already concluded that the letter was probably written to Ammurapi, 3 0 5
without however providing any binding arguments. 306 Some support
for this dating may perhaps be supplied by the prominent status of
the Chief Scribe which is also reflected in other very late texts from
the Urtenu archive (see below p. 708).
T h e important implications of R S 34.136 for the problem of the
Hittite princess(es) married in Ugarit will be discussed below (p. 701).
At this point it will suffice to observe the growing dissatisfaction of
the Hittite authorities with the tribute sent by Ugarit to Hatti and
the resulting tensions. This tendency, which was first noted in the
reign of Ibiranu, must have reached a new peak when the messengers of N i q m a d d u III were put in prison (11. 31-2). T h e formulation
of the letter clearly implies that the king of Ugarit was himself present at this humiliating incident. It has also been noted that in the
Ugaritic correspondence of the king (and of Tlmyr) with his mother
there are indeed indications for a visit to Hatti (p. 700). Obviously,
N i q m a d d u prefers not to mention in his letters to his mother (are11i)
the hardships of the trip, and comforts her by saying that the face
of the 'Sun' shone upon him. Eventually, N i q m a d d u must have managed to appease the angry Hittite king, for a Hittite princess was
given to him in marriage (see p. 701). Marital connections with the
imperial family were usually considered as a great privilege for a
vassal king, but surely, they were no less in the interest of his suzerain.
T h e Hittite king and his resourceful mother may have thought that

304
V A N S O L D T 1 9 8 9 C , 3 9 0 and M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1 9 9 1 , 3 0 - 1 , translate 'son-inlaw', 'gendre', but (iatnu is any relative by marriage ((1AD, H, 148) and could thus
refer also to a brother-in-law of His Majesty, like the case of Saugamuwa, brotherin-law of Tudhaliya ' I V ' ( K U B 2 3 , 1 + i 9 and passim; K H N E - O T T E N 1 9 7 1 ,

23-4;
305

BECKMAN

1996C,

98FF.).

Followed by D I J K S T R A 1 9 9 0 , 9 9 . In her edition of the text M A L B R A N - L A B A T


(1991, 31) suggested that the son-in-law of His Majesty could be either Ibiranu or
Niqmaddu III.
306
T h e only reason given for this dating is that 'Ibiranu is possibly attested in
one letter, but most prominent is the last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi . . .'.

a suitable match would provide a good possibility of keeping an eye


on this assertive vassal.
An intriguing detail in the letter of the king of Carchemish is the
destination of the Ugaritian delegation to Hatti: not the imperial
capital H a t t u a , as one would expect, but r a t h e r Hakapia and
Kizzuwatna (1. 28f.). Hak(a)m/pi(a) was the seat of Hattusili's subkingdom in the U p p e r Land before his usurpation of the Hittite
throne. He later appointed his son and successor Tudhaliya as highpriest in Hakpia and Nerik ( H a a s 1970, 13-4). T h e later history
of the town is not known. Kizzuwatna is in this period a synonym
for the famous cult-centre K u m m a n n i in eastern Cilicia (Comana
Cataoniae). Was the king of Hatti at the time of Niqmaddu's visit
celebrating in one of these holy cities?307 O r did perhaps the king
of Ugarit meet his future bride Ehli-Nikkalu in one of them? 308 These
questions remain open for the present, but they may hold the key
to a more exact dating of this eventful visit.
6.2.2

The correspondence of the Queen of Ugarit

T h e important role of the queen of Ugarit in this period finds its


best expression in her prolific correspondence, both in Akkadian and
in Ugaritic. If Ahat-Milku was the dominant queenly figure of Ugarit
through most of the 13th century, Sarelli replaced her in this role
in the last decades of the city. It is easy to understand why the two
queens were considered for a long while to be one and the same
person (see p. 690). Although are11i must have started her illustrious career as the queen of Ibiranu (see p. 691), most of her activity falls within the reigns of her son Niqmaddu III and her grandson(?)
Ammurapi. Probably, it was she who received most, if not all, the
late letters addressed to an u n n a m e d queen, but this premise cannot be conclusively proved. T h e following discussion will first cover
the documents in which Sarelli is mentioned by name, and thereafter the letters which are addressed to an u n n a m e d queen.
T h e clearest prosopographical evidence for Sarelli is provided by
three legal documents dealing with land transactions found together

307
The religious activities of a Hittite king (probably Tudhaliya TV') in Kummanni
and in Nerik are mentioned in several oracle texts discussed by H O U W I N K T E N C A T E
1996, 65ff.
308
See p. 70Iff. below, and note that Ehli-Nikkalu apparently returned to Hapie,
which, as suggested by A S T O U R (1980a, 1 0 6 - 8 ) , may be a variant spelling of Hakapia.
Cf. however K L E N G E L 1992, 1 4 8 , . 3 4 8 .

in R o o m 66 of the Central Archive (Ug 5, 26Iff.). O n one of them


'ar-el-li the queen' is explicitly attested (RS 17.086 = Ug 5, 262-3),
and on another her n a m e may plausibly be restored (RS 17.325 =
Ug 5, 264). All three documents carry the impression of a seal ring
inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs (Ug 3, 8 5 - 6 , figs. 106f.). It was
logically assumed that the seal should belong to queen Sarelli, but
it was impossible to read her name in the hieroglyphs (Ug 3, 81,
n. 3). It was later realized that the legend actually reads 'the seal of
the herald Spd-BT (Ug 5, 261), and it belonged to the first witness,
Sipti-Ba'al, who sealed the document on behalf of the queen. 309 This
Sipti-Ba'al emerges from the new documents from the Urtenu archive
as a very important personage in late 13th century Ugarit, who was
both the son-in-law and the main business manager of the queen.
His intensive contacts with Egypt and with the 'Phoenician coast'
(see p. 670) may explain his preference for an Egyptian seal (cf.
V i t a - G a l n 1997).
T h e special prestige enjoyed by Sarelli is best exemplified by her
international correspondence, which covers Hatti, Carchemish, some
of their Syrian vassals, and perhaps even lands beyond the confines
of the Hittite Empire. O n e is constantly reminded of the outstanding political role played by her contemporary, Great Queen Puduhepa
of Hatti.
In the so-called 'Assyrian letter' ( R S 6.198; T h u r e a u - D a n g i n 1935),
a certain Belubur 310 asks his correspondent Ili-Milku 3 " to transmit
his letters in good spirit to the Q u e e n . A similar request is aired in
the Ugaritic letter K T U 2.14 in which Iwrdn (Ewr-enni?) demands
his correspondent Iwrpzn (Ewri-pizuni?) to ask Sarelli to recommend
his name to the king ( B o r d r e u i l 1982, 5 f f ; 1983; C u n c h i l l o s 1989a,
29 Iff).
A most interesting letter to Sarelli is R S 12.033 (= PRU 3, 14-5).
T h e name of the 'Lady of the land of Ugarit' (1. 2) was read by
Nougayrol as Ne-e-e(?)-ti(?), which was then related to Ntt in a ritual
text ( K T U 1.40 = R S 1.002+ .36). Both readings have meanwhile

309

Besides the seal of Sipti-Ba'al, RS 17.325 (= Ug 5, 264) also carries the impression of an anepigraphic cylinder seal (Ug 3, 86, fig. 107), which must belong to
another person mentioned in the document, either one of the witnesses, or the original owner of the property, Yamuna son of Bazute.
310
See n. 289 for the distinction between this Belubur, whose identity remains
unknown, and the Assyrian official B1u-1ibr.
311
Probably identical with the well-known scribe Ili-Milku who was active under
Niqmaddu III (see nn. 284, 289, 340).

been corrected and the alleged Neeti has had to be erased from
the list of Ugarit's queens: the alphabetic word should probably
be read att, 'wife', whereas the syllabic one is simply Sar-e-li (van
S o l d t 1991a, 13). T h e letter was written by an important person,
who was at least on equal standing with the Lady of Ugarit. " 2 First
he specifies the m a n n e r in which a consignment of grain had been
transported to her, and, after a large gap, he informs the queen
about the arrival of a present from Urdanu 3 1 3 and the consequent
dispatch of his own present to her, which consists of one golden
cup, one linen garment, 100 shekels of red (f}amnu) 3H and 100
shekels of blue (takiltu) purple-dyed wool (11. 5'ff.). Now this list corresponds exactly with the yearly tribute sent by Ugarit to the queen
of Hatti according to the provisions of the treaty between Suppiluliu m a I and N i q m a d d u II ( R S 17.227.25-6 = PRU 4, 42; B e c k m a n
1996c, 152, 3). W h o could be the high-ranking person who sent
these luxury items to the queen of Ugarit, who would then forward
them to the queen of Hatti? A clue may be provided by Abimanu,
the messenger who transported the valuable objects. T h e n a m e is
quite frequent in Ugarit ( G r o n d a h l 1967, 315, 360), but two candidates readily present themselves: Abimanu mentioned by suM- d im,
king of Unatu, in his letter to the king of Ugarit (RS 17.083 =
PRU 4, 216), and Abimanu the owner or the captain of a damaged
ship of Carchemish (RS 34.147 = R S O 7, no. 5; see p. 659). T h e
two may, in fact, be one and the same person, a seaman operating
between Ugarit and Siyannu-Unatu. If so, the author of R S 12.033
could be a king of Siyannu-Unatu (perhaps suM- d im) who exchanged
valuable presents with Queen Sarelli. Alternatively, he could be someone writing from a more distant place, and the grain transport would
obviously direct us towards Egypt or Canaan. 3 1 5

312
His name or title in the opening line of the letter is obliterated. Nougayrol
suggested to restoring LUGAL, but that would imply that the sender was either the
King of Carchemish or the King of Ugarit. In view of the letter's contents (transportation of grain and presents) neither of the two options seems plausible. T h e
author could be a king of Siyannu-Unatu (see below).
313
This must be a variant spelling of Urtenu, the well-known business manager
associated with Sipt i-Ba'al and with the queen of Ugarit.
314
For this spelling see HUEHNERGARD 1 9 8 9 , 3 5 4 , n. 4 . For the colour of ffumnu,
see the references cited in Ug 5, 136, nn. 1-2.
315
Cf. e.g. the grain consignment sent from Canaan to Ugarit by Adduya, an
intermediary from Akko mentioned in the Ugarit letter found at Tel Aphek (11.
3 2 - 3 ; see p. 7 1 6 ) .

In the correspondence of Carchemish with Ugarit there are letters addressed solely to the queen, and a double letter from Kila'e
in which the queen is addressed before the king (her son?), a clear
indication of her relative status (RS 32.204 = R S O 7, no. 19; see
p. 687). In R S 34.145 (= R S O 7, no. 9) the king (of Carchemish)
responds to several inquiries of the queen of Ugarit: 1) With regard
to the compensation for (the m u r d e r of) Ananae 3 "' the King had
instructed (the kartappu) Zuzuli (see p. 692) to take care of the matter; 2) As for the ships (of Ugarit), they may sail as far as Byblos
and Sidon but not to more distant places; 3) T h e requested seals
will be sent back to their destination; 4) Concerning the taxes of
[. . .]/MTO317 the Q u e e n should consult her messenger Urtenu; 5) T h e
last intriguing passage apparently deals with some damage inflicted
by locusts ( b u r u 5 . m e ) .
As one would expect, several letters are addressed to the queen
of Ugarit by noble ladies from other courts. Foremost of these is the
u n n a m e d Hittite princess who addresses the queen of Uga<ri>t 3 1 H
as her 'sister' and offers her an exchange of presents (RS 34.154 =
R S O 7, no. 18). Could she be the future bride of Ugarit's king, EhliNikkalu (see p. 701)? T h r e e other ladies who exchange presents with
the queen, their lady, are Hebat-azali, 3 ' 9 Alluwa, 320 and -]wanna[.m
T h e r e is also an Ugaritic letter to the queen written by her (unnamed)
'sister' ( K T U 2.21 = R S 15.174 = PRU 2, 32). T h e letter mentions
a certain J ibrkd 322 who spoke with the 'steward of the vineyard of
the queen of Ugarit'. 323
Sarelli or the queen is addressed in three Ugaritic letters sent by
a certain 77myn, her son ( K T U 2.11, 2.12, 2.16 = RS 8.315, 9.479a,

316
A messenger called 'Ann'a is mentioned in a fragmentary Ugaritian letter sent
by a servant to his king (RS 34.148 = R S O 7, 163-4).
317
Perhaps [A}l-lu-wa (?) as in RS 25.138 (. 320 below)?
318
The -n- is twice omitted in the letter (11. 2, 8); is this omission merely accidental or does it perhaps reflect a weak r typical for Hittite phonology ( F R I E D R I C H
1960, 33, 30b)?
319
RS 20.019 = Ug 5, 135-6. For the Hurrian element azalli, see L A R O C H E
1976-7, 66.
320
RS 25.138 = L A C K E N B A C H E R 1989, 318-9. Cf. . 317 above.
321
RS 20.151 (= Ug 5, 138-9). Since -\wanna\- addresses the queen of Ugarit as
'my lady', her name cannot be restored as [Td[wanna[na], a title reserved to queens
of Hatti.
322
Perhaps Ewri-Kuu<h>? See G R O N D A H I . 1967, 237; C U N C H I L L O S 1981b, 46.
323
skn gt mlkt ugrt (11. 8-9). D I J K S T R A (1987a, 40, n. 14) suggests emending gt into
bt, 'house'.

15.008; L i p i n s k i 1981, 9Iff.). T h r e e more were sent to the queen by


her (unnamed) son, the king ( K T U 2.13, 2.30, 2.34 = R S 11.872,
16.379, 17.139). Finally, one letter from Ras Ibn H a n i was sent to
the queen by her son ( K T U 2.82 = R I H 7 8 / 1 2 ; P a r d e e 1984a,
2 2 1 - 2 with further refs.). All these letters exhibit a very similar formulation and it is tempting to regard this Talmiyanu as the n a m e
of N i q m a d d u III before his coronation, still used by him in his letters to his mother. 3 2 4 Most of these letters contain little more than
the standard greeting formulae, but some of them seem to be reporting the author's visit in Hatti and his successful audience with His
Majesty ( K T U 2.30 = R S 16.379.12-4) and with the queen ( K T U
2.13 = R S 11.872.14-5). These reports may well have been sent to
Ugarit on the same trip as the one reported in Puduhepa's letter
( K T U 2.36+ = RS 17.435+; see p. 695). Perhaps Niqmaddu brought
to Hatti in person the tribute of the Hittite queen which is mentioned in R S 12.033 (= PRU 3, 14-5; see p. 697). 325 It could have
been on this very occasion that his marriage with the Hittite princess
Ehli-Nikkalu was arranged (see below). This would indeed be a fitting
finale for the ageing Puduhepa, crowning her long and successful
career of royal matchmaking.
T o conclude this survey on Sarelli's long political career in Ugarit
mention should be m a d e of her fragmentary stele with a dedication
to Dagan found in the court of the temple (of Dagan?) on the acropolis of Ugarit ( R S O 6, 3 0 2 - 3 ; figs. 7, 14b; Y o n 1997b, 144, no. 19).
Next to it was found a similar fully preserved stela with a dedication to Dagan by czn, probably identical with Uzinnu, one of the
last governors of Ugarit (see p. 667).

324
The proposal of LIPINSKI (1981, 91-2; cf. also K L E N G E L 1992 140) to identify Talmiyanu with Ammittamru II is refuted by the new data on Sarelli's dating.
Talmiyanu could also be a brother of Niqmaddu (VAN S O L D T 1991a, 18, n. 161;
A B O U D 1994, 39), but in that case the letters sent to the queen by 'your son, the
king' must be dissociated from those sent by Talmiyanu.
325
The 'tribute of Ugarit' is mentioned in a fragmentary Hittite inventory text
(KUB 26, 66 iv 5-8; K O S A K 1982: 67; S I E G E L O V 1986, 108). Unfortunately, from
the list itself only 'one stone (of) 10 shekels' is preserved. The previous entry has ']x
mina and 30 shekels of iron', but the origin of this consignment is unknown. Another
inventory text mentions some sort of exchange between Hattua and Ugarit involving Hurrian shirts and two boys (KUB 42.84 rev. 23-27; S I E G E L O V 1986, 128-9).

6.2.3

The Hittite princess

Ugarit joined relatively late the circle of privileged vassal states whose
kings were granted the right to m a r r y a Hittite princess. A m u r r u
h a d already exchanged royal brides with Hatti after the Battle of
Q a d e s h a n d consequently her kings were counted a m o n g the foremost m e m b e r s of Hittite nobility. 326 Ugarit already h a d recourse to
the institution of political m a r r i a g e s in the 14th c e n t u r y , w h e n
N i q m a d d u II married an Egyptian lady (see p. 625). It is difficult
to tell w h e t h e r the Ugaritian court refrained of its own will f r o m
m a r r y i n g into the Hittite nobility, a n d if so, why this policy was
c h a n g e d towards the end of the 13th century. At any rate, this late
family connection between the courts of Hatti a n d Ugarit did not
meet with the same success as in A m u r r u .
At first, only one Hittite princess w h o married a king of Ugarit
was taken into consideration: Ehli-Nikkalu, w h o allegedly divorced
A m m u r a p i a n d returned to her h o m e l a n d (PRU 4, 205ff.; A s t o u r
1980a). T h e m a t t e r b e c a m e m o r e complicated when a reference to
a n o t h e r royal bride of Hatti was discovered in a letter f r o m the
U r t e n u archive ( v a n S o l d t 1989c). In the above-quoted passage f r o m
R S 34.136 (= R S O 7, no. 7; see p. 695) the king of C a r c h e m i s h
refers to his correspondent, most probably A m m u r a p i , as the son
of the 'in-law' of His Majesty, which inevitably m e a n s that Niqm a d d u III, if he was indeed A m m u r a p i ' s father, also m a r r i e d a
Hittite princess. T h e search b e g a n for this other princess in the
sources f r o m Ugarit, and two candidates have readily been suggested:
Tbsr ( v a n S o l d t 1989c) a n d A n a n i - d n i n . g a l ( D i j k s t r a 1990). A reexamination of the evidence m a y in fact show that there was no
other Hittite princess in Ugarit, a n d R S 34.136 refers to the same
Ehli-Nikkalu w h o was N i q m a d d u Ill's widow, rather than A m m u rapi's spouse.
It is best to start this quest for Hittite princesses in Ugarit by
briefly recalling the evidence on Ehli-Nikkalu. H e r n a m e is first
encountered when her marriage was no longer extant. Two edicts
of T a l m i - T e s u b of C a r c h e m i s h divide the property between her a n d
the state of U g a r i t : the m a n o r of the princess was r e t u r n e d to

326
Both Benteina and augamuwa were invited to attend the ceremony at the
conclusion of the treaty between Tudhaliya of Hatti and Kurunta of Tarhuntaa
(Bronze Tablet iv 3 0 - 4 3 ; B E C K M A N 1996C, 117,~ 27).

A m m u r a p i ( R S 17.226 = PRU 4, 208), whereas she was allowed to


keep all her movable property, including servants, gold, silver, copper utensils, oxen and asses ( R S 17.355 = PRU 4, 209-10). A third,
related document 3 2 7 is a letter sent by the king of Carchemish to the
king of Ugarit (both unnamed) concerning the latter's unworthy treatm e n t of 'the daughter of the S u n ' ( R S 20.216 = Ug 5, no. 35). H e
quotes a fascinating Hittite fable whose sarcastic allusion to the affair
of the princess is difficult to fathom. 3 2 8
T h e general assumption has been that A m m u r a p i was the king
w h o divorced Ehli-Nikkalu, because the d o c u m e n t s recording the
division of the property were issued by Carchemish in his name.
However, this is by no m e a n s the only logical possibility. N o t h i n g
in Talmi-Tesub's decrees necessarily implies that A m m u r a p i was EhliNikkalu's husband. 3 2 9 She could have been married to A m m u r a p i ' s
father, N i q m a d d u III, in which case she would have maintained her
position and property in Ugarit after her husband's death. This would
be the n o r m a l procedure, as no doubt h a p p e n e d in other cases in
which Hittite princesses marrying a b r o a d survived their husbands. 3 3 0
However, in this case the royal widow must have chosen (or was
urged to choose) to give u p her residence in Ugarit, perhaps for the
prospect of re-marriage elsewhere. Naturally, she had to renounce
all her real estate in Ugarit, which was given back to the new king,
Ammurapi. 3 3 1 T o my mind, this is at least as logical a scenario as
the one that envisages a troublesome divorce between the last king
of Ugarit a n d the daughter of the Great K i n g of Hatti. It is well to

327
There is also a letter sent to Ehli-Nikkalu among the tablets found in 1994
in the Urtenu archive ( M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 109).
328
' O n e man was detained in prison for five years, and when they told him:
"Tomorrow morning you will be set free", he strangled himself. Now you have
acted in the same way.' (11. 5 - 1 3 ; A S T O U R 1980a, 104; cf. BECKMAN 1996C, 170).
T h e rest of the letter is in a deplorable state of preservation which does not allow
a clear picture of the reprimands of the king of Carchemish.
329
D I J K S T R A ( 1 9 9 0 , 9 8 - 9 ) has already considered this possibility, but then rejected
it. After going half-way in proving that Ebli-Nikkalu need not be Ammurapi's
divorcee, he categorically states, without explaining, that 'Ehli-Nikkalu cannot have
been this Hittite wife of Ammurapi's father'. He then develops his theory on AnaniNIN.GAL, for which see below.
330
A similar situation would have occurred, for example, if Gau1iyawiya, the
Great Lady (rabti) of Amurru, survived her husband Benteina ( S I N G E R 1991 b, 335,
n. 22).
331
See n. 347 for a possible reason for Ehli-Nikkalu's departure from Ugarit.

note that nothing in the available texts suggests that the alleged
'divorce' was the outcome of any grave marital problems, as was
the case with the ill-fated bittu rabti from A m u r r u (p. 680f.). H e r
alleged abduction and mistreatment are based on a damaged passage, 332 and it is better to refrain from reconstructing far-fetched historical dramas based on it (see e.g. L e b r u n 1995, 86). T h e same
applies to her later destiny. T h e otherwise unknown Tanhuwataa,
king of Hapie (RS 17.355.6~8), who is usually assumed to be her
next husband, could just as well be her brother or some other relative with whom she stayed after she had left Ugarit.
If our assumption that Ehli-Nikkalu was N i q m a d d u Ill's spouse is
valid, we may speculate further about her royal parentage. Suppiluliu m a II could hardly have had a daughter old enough to be married to N i q m a d d u III. His brother A r n u w a n d a III died after a short
reign and left no offspring. 333 T h e choice is practically reduced to a
daughter of Tudhaliya 'IV', i.e., a sister of the last two kings of
Hatti. 334 H e r mother may also be referred to in a very fragmentary
letter apparendy dealing with the journey of a 'daughter of the Sun',
who could be Ehli-Nikkalu, either as a bride travelling to Ugarit,
or, more probably, as a widow leaving the city. 31 ' If indeed the 'Sun'
in this text refers to Tudhaliya 'IV', the Great Q u e e n would be his
Babylonian spouse. 336
T h e existence of other Hittite princesses married in Ugarit is quite
doubtful. T h e label K T U 6.24 = R S 17.072 (= PRU 2, no. 175)
with the inscription 'Document tbsr (of) the bride, the daughter of
the Sun' (spr tbsr kit bt sp) could very well refer to the dowry of
Ehli-Nikkalu returned to her in Talmi-Tesub's edict. 337 Van Soldt

332
RS 20.216.13-5': '. . . whoe[ver] exiled the daughter of the Sun, hers[e1f],
from her land' may simply refer to her passage from her homeland to Ugarit.
333
KUB 2 6 , 3 3 ii - 9 ' ; O T T E N 1 9 6 3 , 3 . The text says that he had no 'seed'
(NUMUN), but this could arguably refer to male offspring only.
334
Theoretically, a daughter of Hattui1i would also be possible, but she
would probably be too old to marry the penultimate king of Ugarit.
335
RS 1 7 . 4 2 9 ( = PRU 4 , 2 2 7 - 8 ; ASTOUR 1 9 8 0 , 1 0 5 , n. 19). The fragment mentions
(1. 5 ' ) '[the m]en of the Great Queen' ( L ] M I S SAL.LUGAI. GAI.) and (1. 7 ' ) 'the daughter of the Sun, her daughter' (DUMU.SAL d i r r u - 5 / DUMU.SAL-.TC).
336
For the Babylonian princess who married Tudhaliya 'IV', see H O U W I N K TEN
C A T E 1996, 64ff, and the refs. quoted by him on p. 43, n. 5 .
337
The label was found in Court V in the Southern Palace, not far from the
edicts concerning the property of Ehli-Nikallu (Room 68). It could, in fact, have
been attached to them or to some other inventory of Ehli-Nikkalu's dowry, comparable to Ahat-Milku's trousseau (DIJKSTRA 1 9 9 0 , 9 9 ) .

attempted to make a case for Tbsr being the PN of the bride, but
as he himself admits ( v a n S o l d t 1 9 8 9 , 3 9 1 ) his Hurrian reconstruction of the n a m e (*Tubbi-'airi) is quite problematic and as yet unattested. It is preferable to take tbsr as a Semitic verbal noun with the
m e a n i n g 'cutting off, separation, division' ( D i j k s t r a 1 9 9 0 , 9 7 - 8 ) ,
which would be a most fitting designation for Ehli-Nikkalu's returned
property.
Dijkstra suggested identifying the elusive Hittite bride of Niqm a d d u III with a certain Annpdgl in a fragmentary liturgical text
( K T U 1 . 8 4 = R S 1 7 . 1 0 0 . 3 ) which also mentions a Nqmd.338 If the
two are queen and king (presumably N i q m a d d u III), this *AnaniPeddigalli would be tentatively equated with Anani-nin.gal, the author
of a fragmentary letter sent to her lady [. . . r[uwiya (RS 1 9 . 0 8 0 =
PRU 6, no. 2). This letter is a touching testament of an ailing lady
who seeks to secure the future of her daughter (Ammaya) and her
other descendants. H e r correspondent (hardly the queen) is asked to
intercede with the Chief Scribe to grant asylum to her descendants
in the event that their situadon in Ugarit worsens (see p. 708). Ananin i n . g a l may indeed have been a foreigner in Ugarit, or a local citizen threatened by some opponents, but her identification as the
Hittite princess married to the king of Ugarit rests on a chain of
unwarranted assumptions.
In conclusion, the information presendy available unequivocally
identifies only one Hittite princess married in Ugarit, Ehli-Nikkalu,
who probably left the city after the death of her h u s b a n d Niqm a d d u III.

The

Last

Years

of

Ugarit

Documents belonging to the last period of Ugarit have been found


in all the archives of Ugarit and Ras Ibn Hani. In fact, it is becoming increasingly clear in recent years that most of the tablets found
at Ugarit belong to the last fifty years of its history ( L a c k e n b a c h e r
1995a, 70). T h e most significant new evidence is supplied by the
archive discovered in the southern part of the city, in the building

338

Not 'together' as stated by Dijkstra, but rather 37 lines later, in a totally


destroyed passage.

known as the House of Urtenu. 3 3 9 T h e texts unearthed in 1973 and


published in 1991 ( R S O 7) have already opened new vistas into the
study of Ugarit's late history, and the preliminary information on
the finds from the 1994 season, which yielded 134 letters (twenty in
Ugaritic), promises exciting new insights. 340
Important results have also been achieved through meticulous reexamination of the archaeological data from the earlier excavations.
For example, the long-held view about 'the last tablets of Ugarit'
which were placed in a 'baking oven' ( f o u r aux tablettes) in Court V
of the royal palace shortly before Ugarit was destroyed ( S c h a e f f e r
1962, 31-7) has been conclusively refuted. It is now evident that the
oven was installed by squatters after the destruction of the palace
and it has nothing to do with the tablets which probably fell down
from an upper floor where they were originally stored. 341 Thus, none
of the more than 150 tablets and fragments found there may automatically be dated to the last years of Ugarit simply on the evidence
of their findspot. Information for their dating must be sought painstakingly in the contents of these documents, and the same holds true
for the other archives of Ugarit. 342 For example, the tablets found
in the palace archives span the entire last century and a half of
Ugarit's history and it is impossible to date any of these tablets simply on the basis of their archaeological context ( L i v e r a n i 1988b,
126ff.). T h e r e are some promising beginnings, though, in the development of dating tools based on script, orthography and grammatical features. 343

339

For the circumstances of the discovery and the archaeological evidence, see
1995; L O M B A R D 1995. For the identification of the residence of Urtenu, see
B O R D R E U I L - P A R D E E 1995b; B O R D R E U I L - M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 444.
340
B O R D R E U I L - M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995; M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b; L A C K E N B A C H E R
1995a. One of the important discoveries in the new archive is a mythological fragment whose colophon identifies the scribe as Ili-Milku (Ilmlk), probably the same
scribe who wrote most of the Ugaritic mythological texts (see, most recently, W Y A T T
1997, 1998a). Ili-Milku is known to have acted under king Niqmaddu, and it is now
evident that this must be the late 13th century king, and not his mid-14th century
name-sake, as previously assumed ( B O R D R E U I L - M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995, 447 8).
341
C A L V E T 1990, 40, n. 2; L O M B A R D 1995, 228-9; M I L L A R D 1995, 119; Y O N
1997b, 54. This is demonstrated, among other things, by fragments found several
metres away from the 'oven' that joined with one of the tablets allegedly found
within it ( L O M B A R D 1995, 229).
342
For a recent survey on the distribution of tablets in the various archives of
Ugarit, see L A C K E N B A C H E R 1995a (with refs. to earlier studies).
343
H U E H N E R G A R D 1989, 341 2; VAN S O L D T 1991a; 1995c. See e.g. VAN S O L D T
1995c, 208, for a differentiation between the spelling of documents from the reigns
YON

7.1

Ammurapi (ca

1215-1190/85)

T h e coronation of the last king of Ugarit, A m m u r a p i , was celebrated


in a fascinating ritual, the text of which was discovered in 1973 in
the area which turned out to be the residence of Urtenu. 3 4 4 T h e
liturgy proclaimed at the funerary ritual of N i q m a d d u III was intended
to assure the legitimacy of the new king by invoking the deified
ancestors of the dynasty: the spirits (rpum) of the netherworld, the
council of the Didanites (see p. 613), four individually n a m e d rpum,345
a n d two departed kings, A m m i t t a m r u and N i q m a d d u . T h e latter
must be the dead king N i q m a d d u III, w h o is m o u r n e d in the following lines. As for A m m i t t a m r u , it is usually assumed that the 13th
century king is referred to, but then, it is not clear why Ibiranu,
N i q m a d d u Ill's father (see p. 691), should have been omitted. Perhaps
the ritual invoked a more illustrious forefather of the new king, either
his grandfather, or perhaps even a m o r e remote ancestor.
T h e last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, 3 4 6 was a c o n t e m p o r a r y of
T a l m i - T e s u b of Carchemish ( R S 17.226 = PRU 4, 208) and, by
extension, of Suppiluliuma II, the last king of Hatti. T h e length of
his reign was once considered to be very short (e.g., L e h m a n n 1983,
8 9 - 9 0 ; K l e n g e l 1992, 148), but the new documentation, in particular some valuable Egyptian synchronisms, have extended it to over
twenty years, spanning the turn of the 12th century (see p. 715).
A m m u r a p i ' s filiation used to be considered problematic, and it
was even suggested that, though related to the royal family, he might
have usurped the throne of Ugarit ( L i v e r a n i 1962, 131; 1979a, 1312;
K l e n g e l
1992, 148). T h e only possible m e n t i o n of A m m u r a p i ' s
filiation is in the very fragmentary land grant R S 17.322.2' (= PRU
6, no. 47), [A(m)-mu-ra-a]p-i(?) d u m u ! Mq-ma-dm,
but this restoration
is far f r o m certain ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 3, n. 29). However, the legitimacy of his royal descent is now rendered more probable by a let-

of the first kings of Ugarit (Niqmaddu II, Arhalba, Niqmepa) and the last ones
(Ammittamru II, Ibiranu, Niqmaddu III, Ammurapi).
344
K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126 (= R S O 7, no. 90). T h e first reliable publication
based on a collation of the original tablet was provided by BORDREUIL - P A R D E E 1982.
For the extensive bibliography on this text, see the updated list in R S O 7, 152, to
which add L E V I N E
DE T A R R A G O N - R O B E R T S O N 1997 and W Y A T T 1998c, 430.
345
These four rpum (ulkn, trmn, sdn-w-rdn, tr-'llmn) are otherwise unknown.
346
A seal ring bearing the name of Ammurapi written in cuneiform Akkadian
has turned up on the antiquity market, but its provenance from Ras Shamra cannot be ascertained ( S C H A E F F E R 1 9 5 4 , 3 4 , n. 2 ; N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 5 6 , 2 0 5 , n. 1).

ter from the Urtenu archive in which the king (of Carchemish) recalls an embarassing incident which took place 'at the time of your
father, the in-law (hatanu) of His Majesty' (RS 34.136 = R S O 7,
no. 7). If the letter was addressed to Ammurapi, which seems highly
probable (see p. 695), his father must have been the king of Ugarit
who married a Hittite princess (see p. 702).
T h r e e of the documents dated to A m m u r a p i deal with the property division between him and the Hittite princess Ehli-Nikkalu, but,
as suggested above, she was not Ammurapi's divorcee but rather
N i q m a d d u Ill's widow. 347 Nor was Sarelli, who was hailed at the
coronation of A m m u r a p i ( K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126.33, [t\iyl), his
spouse, but rather his grandmother who lived to a respectable old
age (see p. 691). T h e only candidate for Ammurapi's queen remains
a certain lady Adad who appears in a yet unpublished legal document sealed with 'the seal of the queen' (RS 22.002; v a n S o l d t
1991a, 18). T h e tablet was found in a 'private archive' dating to the
end of Ugarit (ib.: 19), and if she was indeed a queen she may well
be 'matched' with Ammurapi, the only 'single' king of Ugarit.
T h e reign of A m m u r a p i is marked by two drastic developments
which accelerated the collapse of the Hittite Empire: the food shortage which had already been felt by the mid-13th century and had
now reached devastating proportions, and the destructive movements
of the seaborne enemies known as the 'Sea Peoples' who were probably driven by the same famine. These topics will be dealt in separate entries after the description of Ugarit's foreign relations.
7.1.1

More reprimands from the overlords

T h e last king of Ugarit received his share of reprimands for disobeying his Hittite overlords, perhaps even more than his predecessors. In an Ugaritic translation of a letter sent to him by the 'Sun'
( K T U 2.39 = R S 18.038 = PRU 5, 60) he is categorically reminded
of his position and his duties: 'You belong to the Sun your master;
a servant indeed, his possession are you. . . . T o me, the Sun, your
master, why have you not come for one year, two years?' ( P a r d e e
1981, 152). After this harsh scolding Ammurapi is further reprimanded

347

It is inconceivable that Ehli-Nikkalu was Ammurapi's mother. If he was indeed


the son of Niqmaddu III, he must have been the son of another wife of his father.
This may have played some role in Ehli-Nikkalu's departure from Ugarit.

for being late in sending the m u c h - n e e d e d food consignments to


Hatti (see below p. 717). A similar letter of r e p r i m a n d was sent to
A m m u r a p i by the King (of Carchemish), but only its opening lines
are preserved ( R S 13.007b = PRU 3, 6).
T h e U r t e n u archive a d d e d in 1994 some half a dozen letters to
the correspondence of Ammurapi. 3 4 8 A long letter was sent to him
by the 'Chief Scribe (and) Chief Equerry (tuppanura huburtinura),349 the
Great, noble of Hatti' to his 'good b r o t h e r ' A m m u r a p i ; it deals with
various diplomatic and political matters a n d a quasi-duplicate was
sent by the G r e a t K i n g ( M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995b, 106, n. 6). Another
letter mentions the Chief Scribe as the chief authority in matters of
custom tolls paid by merchants upon their entrance into Hittite Syria
( R S 92.2007; A r n a u d 1996, 58ff). T h e leading role played by the
Chief Scribe in this period is best exemplified by the letter already
discussed in which the king of Carchemish (probably Talmi-Tesub)
reprimands the king of Ugarit (probably Ammurapi) for sending inadequate presents to the Hittite dignitaries, especially to the tuppalanu350
( R S 34.136 = R S O 7, no. 7; see p. 694). T o these letters from the
Urtenu archive we may add a n o t h e r f r o m the Southwest archive, in
which a certain Anani-Nikkal beseeches her lady [. . . n]uwiya to intercede for her with the tuppanuri w h o is in the position to save her
descendants f r o m misery in Ugarit ( R S 19.080 = PRU 6, no. 2).351
Perhaps all these late texts refer to the same influential dignitary
who at the end of the Hittite Empire accumulated considerable political and economic power.
7.1.2

The rising 'Sun' of Egypt

A fascinating letter f r o m the U r t e n u archive unveils a yet unsuspected facet of Ugarit's foreign policy in the last decades of its exist-

348
L A C K E N B A C H E R 1995a, 70, n. 22; M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 106, who mentions
that one of the topics dealt with in the letters sent from the Great King of Hatti
is the performance of some rituals.
349
T h e two terms are juxtaposed and probably refer to the same dignitary
( M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 106, n. 6). A [f}ubu)rtanuri (?) is probably also addressed in
a letter sent by Ammittamru (RS 20.200 c = Ug 5, no. 29; following the collation

b y ARNAUD
350

1996, 60, .

76).

The term appears in Ugarit both as tuppanura (> tuppan+ura) and as tuppalanura (> tuppalan+ura). For the Luwian etymology, see L A R O C H E 1956, 27ff.; see also
A R N A U D 1996, 59f. It seems that the form tup-pa-at-nu- in R S 92.2007 ( A R N A U D ,
ib.) is merely a spelling variant of tup-pa-la-nu-r\ for the confusion of the signs la
and at in Hittite texts, see S I N G E R 1996a, 136-7, n. 307.
351
For a tentative interpretation of this letter, see A R N A U D 1996, 60-1.

ence ( R S 88.2158; L a c k e n b a c h e r 1995b). It is the response of


P h a r a o h Merneptah 3 3 2 to a previous missive f r o m Ugarit extensively
q u o t e d in the long letter. T h e letter-head with the n a m e of the
addressee is unfortunately missing, but the possibilities may be reduced
to either N i q m a d d u III or A m m u r a p i , probably the latter (see below
p. 713). T h e elaborate greeting formula, partly lost, contains Pharaoh's
approval that '[. . . your] ancestors (were) indeed the servants of the
king, [the excellent son of R a ] ; you too (are) the servant of the king,
the excellent son of R a ( d uru-a), like t h e m ' . W e shall return to this
significant statement, but first to the n o less remarkable contents of
the letter. T h e king of Ugarit h a d requested that an Egyptian sculptor be sent to Ugarit to m a k e an image of M e r n e p t a h in front of
the statue of Ba'al in his renovated temple in Ugarit (11. 10'-16';
L a c k e n b a c h e r 1997). M e r n e p t a h responds evasively: ' T h e sculptors
w h o work here in Egypt are engaged in fulfilling their duty for the
great gods of Egypt. Behold, since the king has taken his seat on
the throne of R a , these have worked for the great gods of Egypt.
But as soon as they finish, the king will send to you the carpenters
that you have asked for in o r d e r that they m a y p e r f o r m all the tasks
that you will c o m m a n d t h e m (by saying): " D o them!"' 3 5 3 Unless this
is a totally groundless excuse, M e r n e p t a h ' s answer must refer to his
own coronation in 1213. Assuming that the letter of the king of
Ugarit was sent on the occasion of the change of rulers in Egypt,
R S 88.2158 must be dated not too long after this date, a valuable
chronological a n c h o r which m a y p e r h a p s be related to events in
Ugarit itself. Recent archaeological investigations have shown that
large parts of the city, including the temple of Ba'al, had to be rebuilt in the second half of the 13th century bce, possibly as a result
of a seismic event ( C a l l o t 1994, 197ff.; L a c k e n b a c h e r 1995b, 78-9).
T h e polite refusal to meet Ugarit's exceptional request is counterbalanced by a strikingly rich consignment of luxury goods that is

352

LI. 12'13': Mar-ni-ip-t[a-al}] (fa-at-pa-mu-a. T h e second word is the cuneiform


rendering of an Egyptian epithet (htp m3't) meaning 'he who is content with justice'
( Y O Y O T T E apud L A C K E N B A C H E R 1995b: 78). As identified by Lackenbacher (1994),
the same epithet appears in a Bogazky text which mentions the 'son of Marniptah'
(KUB 3.38 obv. 5'f.).
353
Lines 17'25'. It is noteworthy that Merneptah opens by saying that the sculptors (1 bur.gu1.me, lit. 'stone-cutters') are busy, and concludes by promising to send
carpenters (1 nagar.me). Lackenbacher (1995b, 80) assumes that the reference is to
another request from Ugarit, but this sudden switch in subject may simply be a
polite way to inform the king of Ugarit that he should content himself with whatever artisans he will get from Egypt.

about to be loaded onto a ship returning to Ugarit. It contains various textile and clothing articles totalling 102 items; 50 large baulks
of ebony; 1,000 plaques of red, white and blue stones; altogether 12
large packages sealed with the royal seal. After these rather conventional luxury goods, which find good parallels in the A m a r n a letters
and in the Hittite-Egyptian correspondence, the list of presents continues with more exceptional prestige items: 800(!) whips or flails
(istufyf}uM s g m e S ) , 4 . . . -fish (lippatu ku (l .me), 2 large girg-cords ( L a c 354
k e n b a c h e r 1 9 9 6 ) , 8 large ropes with a total length of 1 , 2 0 0 cubits.
T h e letter concludes with the announcement that the messenger
of Ugarit will soon be sent back to his country in the company of
the royal messenger of Egypt, Ammaia, 'Chief of the ships of the
treasury'. 355 T h e same messenger (bearing the same tide) appears in
another Akkadian letter of M e r n e p t a h ( R S 9 4 . 2 0 0 2 + 2 0 0 3 rev. 3 ) ,
and probably also in an Ugaritic draft of a letter of A m m u r a p i (RS
3 4 . 3 5 6 . 3 ; see below p. 7 1 2 ) . This could indicate that the addressee
of Merneptah's letters was the last king of Ugarit, a valuable synchronism indeed.
T h e list of Egyptian presents in R S 8 8 . 2 1 5 8 provides an excellent
example of the continuing d e m a n d for fashionable prestige items at
the royal courts of the Near East until the very end of the Bronze
Age. T h e valuable construction materials may have served for the
adornment of the new temple of Ba'al, but some of them could have
been used for other purposes in Ugarit itself or forwarded to other
destinations. 356 Nothing is said in the letter about the price paid by
Ugarit to match such a bountiful Egyptian present in size and quality.357 O n e may perhaps recall in this context the well-known sword
inscribed with a cartouche of Merneptah that was found in the residential quarter east of the palace ( S c h a e f f e r 1 9 5 6 ; cf. H e l c k 1 9 9 5 ,
93). It may have been a present sent by Merneptah on some other
occasion, or perhaps vice versa, a luxury item manufactured in Ugarit

354
Cf. the list of presents sent from Egypt to the ruler of Byblos according to
the Report of Wenamon, which includes thirty baskets of fish and five hundred
ropes (SIMPSON 1 9 7 3 , 151).
!
" Lines 31'f.: 1 gal gi.m.me a [-de-]e. For this messenger and his title
(with textual refs.), see the extensive commentary of LACKENBACHER, forthcoming.
356
Note, e.g., the small ropes (ibif}i tur.me) requested by a king of Tarftuntassa
from Ammurapi (RS 34.139 = R S O 7, no. 14; see n. 177).
357
Note, however, the 2,000 (shekels?) of silver mentioned in the fragmentary
letter K T U 2.81 = RIH 7 8 / 3 + 30.12'f., which also belongs to the Egyptian correspondence (see p. 712).

which for some reason never reached its destination in Egypt (Yon
1997b, 81, 178).
Whether a statue of Merneptah was ever erected in the temple
of Ba'al is hard to say, but it is quite tempting to recall in this context an Egyptian pedestal found in the Southern Palace in 1955 (RS
19.186 = Ug 4, 124, fig. 101; R S O 5 / 1 , 226). It carries an offering
formula invoking Ba c al, 358 but unfortunately the donor's name is broken off. As noted by V a n d i e r (Ug 4, 133, 135), the base has a hole
into which a statuette, probably of an Egyptian person, was fastened.
T h e piece is dated to the 19th dynasty, and in view of the mention
of a Seth-like deity, Vandier suggested the reign of Sety I, but obviously, a dating to Merneptah is just as possible. Another relevant
object is the votive stele found in 1929 in the temple of Ba c al, which
carries an inscription of the royal scribe and overseer of the palace
treasuries M3my, dedicated to Ba'al Saphon (RS l.[089]+ = A O
13176; R S O 5 / 1 , 39, fig. b; G a s s e apud Y o n (ed.) 1991, 286-8; also
ib. 328 fig. 8a).
All in all, this exchange of letters can point to nothing less than
a forthright overture to restore the traditional political ties between
Egypt and Ugarit, notwithstanding the latter's obligations towards
her Hittite overlord. Such an official correspondence could hardly
have escaped the notice of the Hittite foreign office which operated
scores of diplomats and messengers both in Ugarit and in Egypt.
Despite the tolerance with which the Hittites traditionally viewed
Ugarit's foreign relations, this explicit overture towards Egypt must
have been regarded as crossing the red line of double allegiance, 359
especially in a period of growing dissatisfaction with Ugarit's performance as a vassal state. I wonder whether Merneptah's polite
refusal to set up his statue in Ugarit may be interpreted as a cautious abstention from provoking his Hittite allies with whom he maintained a lucrative trade. At any rate, such a bold political move by
Ugarit could hardly have been made a few generations earlier, and
it is yet another indication for the waning reverence for Hittite
authority in Syria.
T h e letter of Merneptah, RS 88.2158, is an invaluable addition
to a small group of documents belonging to the correspondence

358 T h e iconography of the relevant hieroglyph identifies the god as Ba'al, rather
than Seth. Cf. G I V E O N 1 9 8 6 , 8 4 0 ; C O R N E L I U S 1 9 9 4 , 134FF. I wish to thank Dr
Deborah Sweeney for her remarks on this inscription.
359
Cf. L A C K E N B A C H E R ' S (1995b, 83) similar interpretation of the evidence.

between Egypt and Ugarit in the late 13th century. It has recently
been announced that a further letter of Merneptah (RS 94.2002 +
2003) was discovered in the house of Urtenu in 1994 ( L a c k e n b a c h e r ,
forthcoming), and it mentions consignments of grain sent from Egypt
to relieve the famine in Ugarit.
T h e remaining documents in the Egyptian dossier, three in Ugaritic
and one in Akkadian, are very fragmentary and add little to our
information on the exact nature of these contacts.
T h r e e Ugaritic drafts for letters sent by the king of Ugarit to the
'Sun' of Egypt, his lord, were discovered in the seventies. T h e name
of the sender, A m m u r a p i (11. 2, 11: cmrpi), is preserved only in K T U
2.76 = RS 34.356 ( B o r d r e u i l 1982, 10-2), which was found on
the surface of the m o u n d in the area of the Urtenu archive. T h e
small fragment seems to contain two separate opening formulae (Iff.
and 9ff.), which perhaps served as standard models for addressing
the Pharaoh. It also contains the n a m e of the messenger (mlak) Nmy
or Amy (1. 3). If the latter reading is valid, Amy could be the Ugaritic
equivalent of cuneiform Ammaia, the head of the Egyptian expedition in the letters of M e r n e p t a h (RS 88.2158.31'; R S 94.2002 +
2003 rev. 3 - 4 ; L a c k e n b a c h e r , forthcoming; see p. 710).
A very similar elaborate address is better preserved in a fragment
from Ras Ibn Hani: ' [ T o the Sun], the great king, the king of Egypt,
[the graciou]s [king], the just king, [the king of ki]ngs, the lord of
all the land [of Egyp]t'. 360 T h e identity of the sender is almost entirely
lost, 361 but the close parallel with R S 34.356 suggests Ammurapi.
T h e fragmentary reverse of the text mentions 362 some monetary transaction amounting to 2,000 (shekels?) of silver (1. 12'f.), some cargo, 363
the sea, and the people of Ugarit. 364

360

K T U

2.81

RIH

78/3

3 0 ; BORDREUIL -

CAQUOT

1980, 3 5 6 - 7 ;

PARDEE

For the epithets, see M I L A N O 1 9 8 3 .


361
'Your servant' in 1. 5 is preceeded by either ]r, which could be the last letter
of Ammittamru, or by ~\k which could be restored as mlk 'the king' ( B O R D R E U I L C A Q U O T 1 9 8 0 , 3 5 7 ) . Although the former possibility cannot be entirely excluded,
an attribution of the letter to Ammurapi is far more likely.
362
T h e isolated ully in 1. 2' was identified by B O R D R E U I L - C A Q U O T (1980, 357)
as the PN Uliliya, but the context is too fragmentary.
363
Ugaritic dr' (11. 3', 5') is usually rendered as 'shipment, cargo', but, as suggested
by B O R D R E U I L - C A Q U O T (1980, 357), it could also be a variant spelling of dr', 'seed
(of grain)'. Cf. also D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1966b, 129; H O F T I J Z E R 1979, 387-8, DLU
141.
364
L. 15' Ugrtym is rendered as either the ethnicon 'Ugaritians', or as Ugrt-ym,
BORDREUIL

1992,

711.

T h e third Ugaritic letter to a Pharaoh, K T U 2.23 = R S 16.078 +


16.109 + 16.117 (PRU 2, 18), has traditionally been dated to the
A m a r n a Age. Since the sender solemnly intercedes with Ba'al Saphon,
Amon, and the gods of Egypt to assure a long life for his lord, the
letter has been dated either before Akhenaten's reform ( V i r o l l e a u d
1957, 35; H e l c k 1971, 194, n. 52; G i v e o n 1986, 839), or after it
( L i v e r a n i 1962, 32; C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 311, n. 13). T h e possibility
that the letter should rather be attributed to the late 13th century
was first raised by K l e n g e l (1969, 347), who noted that the tablet
was found in the same context as K T U 2.33 = R S 16.402, a late
letter in Ugaritic dealing with the enemy in Muki (see p. 724). This
ingenious suggestion gained much in probability after the discovery
of the other Ugaritic drafts of letters sent to Egypt. T h e elaborate
opening formulae are missing in this letter, which starts ex abrupto
with a quotation from a previous letter of Pharaoh (11. 1~2). T h e
very fragmentary central part of the letter apparently deals with an
exchange of messengers (1. 6), and the well-preserved end contains
the above-mentioned blessings for the life of Pharaoh. Nothing in
this letter provides a reliable dating, but it generally recalls the two
smaller fragments mentioned above, one of which is safely dated to
Ammurapi. In fact, I wonder whether these fragments could be drafts
for the official letter, 365 translated into Akkadian, which was sent to
Merneptah and was extensively quoted in his response. T h e intercession of the king of Ugarit with his lord Ba'al-Saphon to grant
long years to Pharaoh (RS 16.117+) curiously recalls his request to
erect a statue of Merneptah in front of the statue of Ba'al of Ugarit
(RS 88.2158). Needless to emphasize, this tentative suggestion to
identify the corresponding monarchs of Egypt and Ugarit as Merneptah and A m m u r a p i respectively, may add a valuable synchronism which at present cannot be conclusively proved.
T h e last document in the correspondence with Egypt is the muchdiscussed letter of Beya found in 1986 in the Urtenu archive (RS
86.2230). 366 Unfortunately, only the opening lines are preserved in

'Ugarit-on-Sea', (like sdn-ym, 'Sidon-on-Sea' in Phoenician inscriptions), which could


refer to Ras Ibn Hani where the tablet was found (BORDREUIL - C A Q U O T 1 9 8 0 , 3 5 7 ) .
365
Note that RS 34.356 seems to consist of models for a letter-head, whereas
RS 16.1 17 skips over the opening. However, the large distance between the findspots
of the two tablets precludes the possibility that they once belonged to the same letter draft.
366
ARNAUD apud BORDREUIL 1987, 297; ARNAUD 1992, 181, . 6. Photographs of

the Akkadian letter addressed to A m m u r a p i by Beya, 'Chief of the


troops of the Great King, King of the land of Egypt'. 367 T h e greetings open with blessings to Amon, R a and Seth, the gods of Egypt:
'May they p r o t e c [ t . . 368
It was immediately recognized that Beya is most probably identical with B3y, a renowned figure in late 19th dynasty Egypt ( A r n a u d
1986-7, 188; F r e u 1988). 369 O f n o r t h e r n origin, he adopted an
Egyptian n a m e (Rc-mssw-h' m-ntrw) but continued to use his Asiatic
n a m e in his inscriptions and correspondence. H e is first heard of
under Sety II when he bears the tide 'royal scribe and royal butler'. After the death of Sety II Beya played a dominant role in placing Siptah, the young son of a concubine, on the throne of Egypt.
In concert with Queen Tausert, Sety II's widow, he acted as guardian
to the young king, and in fact took over the government of Egypt,
bearing the exceptional title 'Great chancellor of the entire land'.
H e even built himself a tomb in the Valley of the Kings next to
that of Tausert, a privilege granted only to members of the royal
family. After the premature death of Siptah, Tausert crowned herself as Pharaoh and B3y probably kept his office until her throne
was usurped by Sethnakht, the founder of a new dynasty ( K i t c h e n
1995, 87). B3y's enemies later denigrated his memory and depicted
the 'empty years' of his rule as a period of confusion and anarchy
(see refs. in d e M o o r 1996b, 2 2 4 , n. 1 7 ) .
T h e identification of Beya with B3y, which has meanwhile been
broadly accepted, 370 has been sharply criticized by K i t c h e n ( 1 9 9 5 ,
86), partly on misconstrued evidence. 371 H e claims that the Akkadian
title of Beya cannot be reconciled with the Egyptian titles of B3y,

the fragment were published in A R N A U D 1993, 248-9, no. 222; Y O N 1997b, 137,
no. 4.
367
Lines 2~3: L.GAL RIN.MES fju-ra-de^"'^ sa LUGAL.GAL LUGAL KUR Mi-is-ri-m[a]
( A R N A U D 1992, 181, n. 6; missed by L E H M A N N 1996, 32, . 48, who, following
H E L C K 1995, 93-4, erroneously assumes that the cuneiform tide of Beya is GAL
meedi). tiurdu/)jrd in Ugarit designates groups of soldiers or civilians who perform
civil service for the king ( M A R Q U E Z R O W E 1995, 263-4; VAN S O L D T 1995b).
368
Lines 7-9: a-na-ku a-qa-ab-bi a-na dA-ma-ni a-na DUTTJ D IKUR DINGIR.MES sa KUR
Mi-is- ma-a li-is-su-r[u . . . ( A R N A U D , ib.).
369
For the Egyptological literature on B3y, see refs. in F R E U 1988; DE M O O R
1996b, 217ff.; H E L C K 1995, 93-4; K I T C H E N 1995, 86-7.
370
V A N S O L D T 1991a, 45-6; Y O N 1992c, 119; H O F F N E R 1992, 49; D R E W S 1993, 6;
H E L C K 1995, 93-4; DE M O O R 1996b, 217ff.; LEHMANN 1996, 32; BALDACCI 1996, 215.
371
Incorrectly referring to Freu, he implies that the cuneiform title of Beya
includes 'Vizier'. For the correct title, see n. 367 above.

and 'so, it is better to identify the Ras S h a m r a Beya with some Chief
of the bodyguard a n d / o r (northern) Vizier *Piay, otherwise unknown
to uswhich robs this tablet of any chronological value' ( K i t c h e n
1995, 86-7). T h e independent correspondence of an Egyptian official,
other than the Pharaoh himself, with the last king of Ugarit is hardly
imaginable, unless he was the most prominent figure in Egypt. Transmitting official titles from one language to the other is always difficult,
and particularly so in the case of Egyptian titles.372 It is most unfortunate that the letter apparently does not contain any additional
information which might help us to reach a conclusive identification.
Even so, there is a very high probability that Beya and B3y are one
and the same person, 373 and this provides a most valuable terminus
post quern for the fall of Ugarit within the reign of Siptah or Tausert,
i.e. between 1194 and 1186 (see n. 10). Another result of the new
Egyptian letters is a considerable extension of Ammurapi's reign,
which was once considered to be very short. Assuming that Ammurapi
is the addressee of RS 88.2158, his rule must have begun in the
first years of Merneptah, and it extended into the period when Beya,
the Great Chancellor of Siptah and Tausert, still held office.
7.1.3

Grain shipments from Egypt

First signs of a grain shortage in Hatti already appear towards the


mid-13th century. In a letter to Ramesses II the Hittite queen Puduhepa urges him to take over as soon as possible the horses, cattle
and sheep given to the Hittite princess as her dowry, because, as
she says, have no grain in my lands' (KUB 21.38 obv. 17f.; E d e l
1994, i 216-7). Soon after the signing of the peace treaty in 1258
a high-ranking Hittite expedition went down to Egypt to procure
barley and wheat and to organize its prompt shipment to Hatti. 374
This vital import of food to Hatti must have reached sizable proportions towards the end of the century, when Merneptah boasted
that he 'caused grain to be taken in ships, to keep alive this land
of Hatti' (KRI IV 5,3).

372

EDEL
373

For the cuneiform equivalents of Egyptian titles, see, e.g.,


1994,

ii

SINGER

1983b,

20

1;

277FF

According to B O R D R E U I L - M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995, 445 the new documents


from the Urtenu archive mention Ramesses, Merneptah and Sety. If the latter is
Sety II, this would provide further support for the Beya = B3y equation.
374
K U B 3. 34 rev. 15ff.; E D E L 1994, i 184-5, ii 281-2; cf. also K L E N G E L 1974, 167.

T h e port of Ugarit' 7 5 and its commercial fleet played a pivotal


role in this trade, as shown by various Akkadian and Ugaritic documents. 376 An Akkadian tablet discovered at Tel Aphek (some 10
km. east of Tel-Aviv) contains a letter sent (around 1230) from Takuhlinu, the governor of Ugarit, to Haya, the Egyptian governor of
C a n a a n ( O w e n 1981; S i n g e r 1983b). It deals with a transaction of
250 parisu (about 15 tons) of grain, mediated by a certain Adduya
of Akko. T h e grain is paid for with silver, but the governor of Ugarit
sends an extra present of 100 (shekels) of blue and 10 of red purple-dyed wool. T h e efforts invested in procuring such a relatively
small a m o u n t of grain only emphasize the severity of the situation.
T h e cereals bought in Egypt and in C a n a a n were shipped along
the Levantine coast to Ugarit and Muki and thence to the ports of
southern Anatolia, in particular to Ura. A letter sent from Tyre
recounts the adventures of some grain-laden ships returning from
Egypt that were caught in a storm near the coast of Tyre (RS 18.031;
see p. 672).
An Akkadian letter sent by the 'Sun' of Hatti to the king of Ugarit
reprimands him for disobeying the orders of the King (of Carchemish)
in the matter of a vital grain shipment (RS 20.212 Ug 5, no. 33).
H e reminds his vassal of the obligations he took upon himself in
return for his exemption from corve duties (ilku). H e is supposed
to provide one great ship with its crew for the transportation of
2,000 (kor?) of grain from Muki to U r a in one or two shipments.
T w o Hittite messengers, Ali-ziti rei arr ( s a g . l u g a l ) 3 7 7 and Kunni, 3 7 8
are sent to supervise the transaction. T h e letter concludes with the
dramatic exclamation: '(It is a matter) of death (or) life!'379

375
T h e main port of Ugarit was at Minet el-Beida, ancient Ma'fradu, for which
see A S T O U R 1970; Y O N 1994a; S A A D 1995. Ras Ibn Hani, some 5 km further south
on the coast, was probably a secondary residence of the royal family of Ugarit (see
p. 435).
376
O n the maritime trade of Ugarit, see the extensive bibliography cited in
C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 351-2, n. 9, and V I T A 1995, 160, n. 2; add Y O N 1994b (esp.
pp. 43Iff.) and S A A D 1995, 222ff.
377
Ali-ziti may well be identical with the 'chief palace-attendant' (GAL D U M U M E S
.GAL) in the U1mi-Teub treaty dated to the end of Hattusili 'III"s reign (KBo
4.10 rev. 31; VAN DEN H O U T 1995, 216; Singer 1983c, 33).
378
Kunni could perhaps be a short form of the name Kuniya-piya (SUM) borne
by a person who appears in Hittite court protocols ( W E R N E R 1 9 6 7 , 2 I f f ) , once in
connection with 'a year of f a m i n e ' (ib.: 3 2 - 3 , KUB 40. 86 rev. 11; cf. K U B

40.91
379

rev. 5', ib. 3 0 ; KLENGEL

1974,

167).

T h e same expression recurs in a letter of Ini-Tesub to Ibiranu concerned with

T h e exact dating of the above text is not known, but it may perhaps be inferred from an Ugaritic translation of a similar letter sent
by the 'Sun' to A m m u r a p i ( K T U 2.39 = R S 18.038 = PRU 5, no.
60; see above p. 708).380 T h e king of Ugarit is quoted stating that
there is no food in his land, which sounds more like an excuse than
an actual shortage in Ugarit itself.381 T h e rest of the letter is quite
fragmentary and has been subjected to various interpretations. 382
A state of emergency is reflected in other documents which cannot be dated with any confidence. As pointed out by K l e n g e l (1974),
similar conditions of food shortage must have occured quite frequendy on the Anatolian plateau, but the accumulation of documents
from the late 13th century leaves no doubt about the unprecedented
proportions of this famine. Nor was Anatolia the only region struck
by it. T h e r e is growing textual and archaeological evidence showing
that climatological cataclysms affected the entire eastern Mediterranean
region towards the end of the second millennium b c e . 3 8 3
A fragment of a Hittite letter from Bogazky deals with the urgent
transportation of a grain shipment to Cilicia (Bo 2810; O t t e n 1967,
59; K l e n g e l 1974, 170ff.). An important Hittite official, perhaps the
king himself, urges his 'son' 384 to hold on to the (rebellious?) lands
and let none of them defect (ii 1 '-5'). In the second, better-preserved
paragraph the sender quotes the message of his correspondent in

the inspection of military troops (RS 17.289 = PRU 4, 192; N O U G A Y R O L 1968, 106,
n. 2; see p. 686).
380
A small fragment of an Ugaritic letter found in Ras Ibn Hani is probably
also sent from the '[Sun], the great [king]' to A[mmurapi] (KTU 2.78 = RIH
7 7 / 2 1A; B O R D R E U I L
C A Q U O T 1 9 7 9 : 3 0 7 ) . Almost nothing is left from the contents
of this translation of a letter sent either by the Hittite or the Egyptian 'Sun', probably the former.
381
The small fragment RS 2 0 . 1 4 1 B ( = Ug 5 , no. 3 4 ) which mentions 3 0 ships
and their crew may be part of an answer sent from Ugarit ( N O U G A Y R O L 1 9 6 8 , 1 0 7 ,
n. 4), or a quotation thereof in another letter sent from Hatti. See also the fragmentary letter RS 2 6 . 1 5 8 ( = Ug 5 , no. 1 7 1 ) which also deals with the transportation of grain to Ura.
382
DIJKSTRA 1 9 7 6 ; P A R D E E 1 9 8 1 B . It is not clear whether an 'enemy' is mentioned
in the last paragraph of the letter, or rather a month name (see P A R D E E 1 9 8 1 , 1 5 5 ) .
383
See the extensive refs. cited in D R E W S 1 9 9 3 , chapter 6 . T o be sure, there
may be other, related or unrelated, causes for the general food shortage in this
period. Note e.g. the rare reference to locusts, BURU 5 .ME(S), in RS 3 4 . 1 4 5 . 2 7
(= R S O 7 , no. 9 ; for the reading of the final ME as MES, see H U E H N E R G A R D 1 9 8 9 ,
4 0 5 ; 1 9 9 7 p. 216).
384
If the letter was addressed to Ugarit (but cf. . 386), its king could be the
son-in-law of the Hittite king, as we now know from RS 34.136 = R S O 7, no. 7
(p. 694f.).

which he announced the arrival of a grain-laden ship. 385 T h e sender


angrily protests that the ship was kept back for even so much as a
day by the addressee and orders its immediate dispatch either to
U r a or to Lati[- (an otherwise unknown port-town): 'My son, do
you not know that there was a famine in the midst of my lands?'
(ii 1 l'f.; CHD 3, 106a). T h e addressee's domicile was obviously located
in a port-town along the sea-way from Egypt to Hatti, either in Ugarit386 or perhaps in Mukis ( O t t e n 1967, 59; K l e n g e l 1969, 3 2 4 - 5 ,
. 3; 1974, 173).
A situation similar to the one described above recurs in the Ugaritic
translation of a letter addressed by a certain Pgn to the king of Ugarit,
his 'son' ( K T U 2.46 = R S 18.147 = PRU 5, no. 61).387 After the
salutations and the divine blessings the sender refers to provisions of
food 388 and to ships, but the context is not clear. Because of the
'fatherson' address formula, which also occurs in the A1aia letters
(p. 720), it has been suggested that Pgn was the n a m e of a Cypriot
king ( A s t o u r 1965, 255). K l e n g e l (1974, 169; 1992, 149), however,
has compared this n a m e to that of Pukana, probably a Hittite official
who appears on a Hittite seal-impression from Tarsus.
Another Ugaritic letter was sent to the king (of Ugarit) by a certain Tdn, probably a military commander, 3 8 9 who urged him to equip
385

Bo 2810 ii 7'. I doubt that the sign preceding giSMA uwanza really represents
ME, 'one hundred' (so K L E N G E L 1 9 7 4 , 1 7 3 ; O T T E N 1 9 6 7 , 5 9 , with a question mark).
I cannot suggest a better alternative (perhaps LAL?), but note that the participle
uwanza is in the singular. On the other hand, large numbers of ships are also
attested in other texts from Ugarit: a fleet of 1 5 0 ships in RS 1 8 . 1 4 8 ( = PRU 5,
6 2 ; see p. 7 1 9 ) ; 3 0 ships in RS 2 0 . 1 4 1 B ( = Ug 5 , 1 0 8 , no. 3 4 ) ; and a list of damaged ships of Carchemish in RS 3 4 . 1 4 7 (RSO 7 , no. 5 ; see p. 6 5 9 ) .
386
In that case, this would be the only known letter (or draft) from Bogazky
destined to Ugarit. Cf. also the very fragmentary Akkadian letter KBo 2 8 . 9 1 , 9 ' :
KR -g[a'- ( H A G E N B U C H N E R 1 9 8 9 , 3 5 3 ) ; it mentions the killing of an enemy (1. 3 ' )
and the accession to the throne of the addressee (1. 8'), and could perhaps belong
to the Assyrian correspondence.
387
The same(?) Pgn is perhaps also mentioned in the letter of Tdn (KTU 2.47 =
RS 18.148.21 = PRU 5, no. 62), but the context is too fragmentary.
388
For Iht 'akl, 'tablet of food', see A S T O U R 1965, 255, n. 21; H O F T I J Z E R 1979,
383-4.
389
According to reverse 1. 4, Tdn was placed over the king's f}rd, i.e. the mobilized soldiers or civilians ( H E L T Z E R 1982, 105ff.; V I T A 1995a, 136ff.; M A R Q U E Z R O W E
1995, 2 6 3 - 4 ; VAN S O L D T 1995b; cf. also n. 367). Regarding his identity, V I R O L L E A U D
(1965, 89) has noted that the opening address does not include the customary prostration formula. I wonder whether he was really a subject of the king of Ugarit,
as generally assumed on account of b'lh, 'his lord', in 1. 2. This word, however, is
separated by a paragraph divider from 'the king' in the previous line. Could 1. 2
perhaps be interpreted as a blessing formula in which B'lh is simply the name of

a remarkable fleet of 150 ships ( K T U 2.47 = R S 18.148 = PRU 5,


8 8 - 9 , no. 62). It is not clear whether the required ships were needed
for commercial or military purposes or both, but if their n u m b e r is
correct, they would represent one of the largest navies of the ancient
Near East. 390
Finally, a letter from the Urtenu archive provides a vivid record
of the desperate pleas for food that must have circulated within the
confines of the kingdom in the last years of Ugarit (RS 34.152.9-14
= R S O 7, no. 40): ' T h e gates of the house are sealed. Since there
is famine in your house, we shall starve to death. If you do not hasten to come we shall starve to death. A living soul of your country
you will no longer see.' T h e sender seems to be located in a provincial centre with no access to the sealed house where the desperately
needed food is stored. H e implores his lord, who is probably in
Ugarit, to rush back and rescue the remaining population. 391
7.1.4

Seaborne attacks on Ugarit

T h e destructive operations of the 'Sea Peoples' are attested in the


archaeological record and in a few documents from Ugarit and from
Hatti, most of them revolving around the island of A1aia/Cyprus,
the h u b of seaborne activity in the northeastern Mediterranean. T h e
text of the 'Batde of A1aia' dated to Suppiluliuma II ( O t t e n 1 9 6 3 ;
1 9 7 6 , 2 7 - 8 ; G t e r b o c k 1 9 6 7 ) and the A1aia correspondence dated
to Niqmaddu III and Ammurapi provide the chronological framework
for the dramatic events, but the details remain to be worked out.
Until recently the 'A1aia dossier' in Ugarit consisted of only four
letters from the R a p ' a n u archive (Ug 5, nos. 21-24; B e r g e r 1969;
B e c k m a n 1996d). T h e Urtenu archive has added five more letters
sent from the island, two from its king (Kumeua), one from each
of two 'senior governors' ( m a s k i m . g a l ) , and one from an Ugaritian

the deity: 'Let B'lh be the guardian of your land!'? If so, Ydn could be a Hittite
commander, which would put him in a better position to mobilize the fleet of
Ugarit.
390
A S T O U R 1965, 256; V I T A 1995a, 157ff. Cf., however, the justifiable doubts
raised by L A M B R O U - P H I L L I P S O N 1993 about the historical significance of this document and about the so-called 'Ugaritic thalassocracy' in general, as characterized,
for example, by SASSON 1966 and L I N D E R 1981.
391
For the rest of this intriguing letter, see p. 727. Another fragmentary letter
from the Urtenu archive containing a request for grain is R S 8 8 . 2 0 1 1 ( M A L B R A N L A B A T 1995c, 39).

scribe residing in A1aia ( B o r d r e u i l - M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995, 445).


It is not reported whether the new letters contain any references to
the enemy, or whether they are restricted to ordinary commercial
matters (for which see p. 676ff.).
T h e first, very fragmentary A1aia letter in the R a p ' a n u archive
deals with trade in oil (RS 20.168 = Ug 5, no. 21; see p. 677). It
was sent by N i q m a d d u (III) to the king of A1aia, his 'father'. This
address also occurs in a letter of A m m u r a p i to A1aia (RS 20.238)
and should therefore reflect an acknowledged hierarchy between the
two royal courts, based not only on the relative age of the correspondents. 392 T h e new A1aia letters may perhaps contribute to the
elucidation of this remarkable situation, a clear testimony for the
importance of the island.
Probably the most explicit document describing military difficulties
is R S 20.238 (= Ug 5, no. 24) sent by an u n n a m e d king of Ugarit
to the king of Alasia, his 'father'. T h e dramatic description of the
ravages inflicted by the enemy must date the letter to the very end
of Ugarit: 'Now the ships of the enemy have come. T h e y have been
setting fire to my cities and have done harm to the land . . . Now
the seven ships of the enemy which have come have done h a r m to
us' ( B e c k m a n 1996d, 27). T h e relatively small number of enemy ships
has often been noted, and it has even been suggested that it should
be regarded as a typological n u m b e r ( K l e n g e l 1992, 150). But of
course the point is that without a well-prepared defence even seven
ships may cause havoc and destruction, and this incident was probably one of a series of repeated attacks along the coasdine of Ugarit. 393
T h e king of Ugarit continues his letter with the well-known statement that his army is in Hatti and his navy is in Lukka, whereas
his own land remains undefended (11. 19-25). 394 T h e new evidence

392
D I E T R I C H - M A Y E R (1997a, 84-5) suggest that the courts of Ugarit and Alasia
were linked by a royal marriage, which would also explain the invocation of the
gods of A1aia, together with the gods of Ugarit and of Amurru, in a Hurrian ritual text (KTU 1.125 = RS 24.274.6). There is, however, no supporting evidence
for the alleged marriage of Ammittamru III with a princess of A1aia.
393
C I F O L A 1994, 1 1. There is, however, no information in the Alasia letters that
Ugarit itself was partly destroyed and looted, as stated by Cifola.
394
Most scholars have followed N O U G A Y R O L ' S assumption (1968, 86, n. 1) that
this letter is the response to RSL 1 (- Ug 5, no. 23) sent by the King to Ammurapi
(see refs. in Y A M A D A 1992, 431, n. 6). However, Alasia is not mentioned in it and
the 'King' par excellence throughout the documentation from Ugarit is always the
Viceroy of Carchemish. Moreover, in all the (published) letters from Alasia the

from the Urtenu archive may indicate that this information should
be taken with a grain of salt (see p. 725). Even if the king of Ugarit
reluctantly fulfilled some of his military obligations, the constant reprimands from Carchemish and from Hatti leave little doubt that he
kept the best part of his army within the borders of his kingdom,
as indeed any sensible ruler would do in a similar situation.
T h e letter of Euwara, senior governor ( m a s k i m . g a l ) of A1aia, may
indeed be a response to Ugarit's quest for military intelligence (RS
20.018 = Ug 5, no. 22). T h e sender rejects any responsibility for the
calamities caused by the enemy ships on Ugaritian territory. In other
words, the king of Ugarit should himself take responsibility for the
defence of his land, and should not rely excessively on the alarm
sounded from A1aia. Thereafter Euwara shares the little he knows
about the n u m b e r and the whereabouts of the enemy ships. 393
Whereas Ugarit was struggling to get reliable information from
A1aia, she herself was requested to pass on the news to Amurru. In
an Akkadian letter found in the R a p ' a n u archive (RS 20.162 = Ug 5,
no. 37) a certain Parsu solicits the king of Ugarit to forward information on the enemy to the king of Amurru, as previously agreed
between the two lands. Finally, he adds that an undefined n u m b e r
of ships will be put at the disposal of Ugarit. 396
T h e letters from A1aia obviously came to Ugarit at a point when
the island (or most of it) was still ruled by the traditional leadership,
a king and governors. 397 Activities of the seaborne enemy are sporadically reported, but there is no sense of an impending catastrophe. H o w does this correspondence relate chronologically to the
Hittite evidence about A1aia? In the description of the unique naval
battle fought by the Hittites in the Mediterranean (KBo 12.38 iii
2'-14') Suppiluliuma II is confronted by an 'enemy of A1aia', which

sender clearly states his name or his tide. It is therefore preferable to classify RSL 1
with the Carchemish dossier ( S I N G E R 1983a, 217; YAMADA 1992, 438ff; see p. 728).
395
T h e twenty ships were apparently expected to land 'in the mountains' but
have suddenly taken off towards an unknown destination. L E H M A N N (1996, 27,
. 40) tentatively suggests that the reference could be to the rocky shores of Lycia
or Cilicia.
396
That this document should belong to the age of Suppiluliuma I, as tentatively
suggested by C I F O L A ( 1 9 9 4 , 1 2 ) , is most unlikely. Another fragmentary Ugaritic letter, K T U 2 . 4 1 = R S 1 8 . 0 7 5 ( = PRU 5 , no. 6 5 ) , has been identified by A S T O U R
( 1 9 6 5 , 2 5 6 ) as a hasty proposal for mutual assistance between Ugarit and Amurru.
397
For the equation MASKIM.GAL = piduri, see O T T E N 1963, 15; S I N G E R 1988b,
247.

must already refer to the 'Sea Peoples' who took over Cyprus or
parts of it. An absolute dating of this battle, which would provide
a terminus ante quern for the Alasia correspondence, has not yet been
achieved, despite the considerable progress made in recent years in
the reconstruction of the last years of Hatti ( H a w k i n s 1995, 57ff.;
S i n g e r 1996b).
As a rule, the 'enemy' is not identified by name in the documents
from Ugarit and Hatti, which only enhances the importance of the
unique reference to the Sikila-people in a letter from the Urtenu
archive found in 1973 (RS 34.129 = R S O 7, no. 12; D i e t r i c h
L o r e t z 1978c; L e h m a n n 1979). T h e Hittite king, no doubt uppi1uliuma II, addresses the governor of Ugarit because 'the king, your
lord, is young and does not know anything' (11. 5-7). This rather
pejorative remark must refer to young A m m u r a p i , who failed to
comply with a previous request of the Great King to extradite a
certain 'Ibnaduu who was captured by the Sikila people ( l m e s k u r
VKV
ikalaiu) who live on ships (11. 10-14)'. 398 T h e Hittite king wishes
to interrogate this person, who was probably ransomed by the authorities of Ugarit from his captivity, in order to find out more about
the elusive enemy. 3 9 9 For this purpose he sends a special envoy,
Nirgaili, to escort Ibnadusu to the Hittite court. This kartappu could
be identical with the well-known Hittite prince Nerikkaili, son of
Hattusili 'III', who was often entrusted with important diplomatic
missions. 400 T h e Sikila 'who live on ships' are identified with one of
the 'Sea Peoples' mentioned in the Egyptian documents, thus providing the first conclusive proof that the same seaborne enemy threatened both the Hittite and the Egyptian empires ( L e h m a n n 1979).
T h e cuneiform name could reflect Egyptian Skis or, more probably,
the Ski/ Sikila who later settled in Dor and the Sharon Plain ( R a i n e y
1982, 134; E d e l 1983, 8; S i n g e r 1988b, 246). T h e settlement of

398
This description strongly recalls the comment on the tribe of Dan in the Song
of Deborah (Judges 5:17): 'And Dan, why does he live on ships?' ( S I N G E R 1988b,
246).
399
A somewhat similar request for the extradition of two persons (inhabitants of
the towns Aru and Ukani, respectively) was sent by the King (of Carchemish) to
Ammurapi ( R S 88.2013; M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995c, 39).
400
S I N G E R 1983b, 10, n. 14; VAN DEN H O U T 1995, 100; LEBRUN 1995, 87 (missing my rf.); H O U W I N K TEN C A T E 1996, 46. Nerikkaili, who married a daughter of
Benteina after the Silver Treaty of 1258, must have been in his seventies at the
very beginning of the 12th century. For his prosopography, see VAN DEN H O U T
1995, 96ff.; L E B R U N 1995, 87; H O U W I N K TEN C A T E 1996, 45ff.

'Sea Peoples' along the coasts of Ugarit will be touched upon in the
last entry of this study.
7.1.5

An enemy bridgehead in Mukis?

T w o documents refer to military operations in Mukis on the northern border of Ugarit: the Ugaritic letter R S 16.402 (= PRU 2, 12)
found in the palace archives and the Akkadian letter RS 34.143
found in the Urtenu archive. 401
In R S 34.143 (= R S O 7, no. 6) the King (of Carchemish) reprimands an u n n a m e d king of Ugarit on several counts. Although most
of the letter is well-preserved its interpretation is not always easy,
especially in demarcating the words of the king of Carchemish and
the quotations from his correspondent's previous letter. 402 First, the
king of Ugarit is accused of misleading his master by claiming that
his army is camped in Mukis; according to the King's sources Ugarit's
army is in fact located in the town of Apsuna in the northern part
of the kingdom of Ugarit. 403 Second, the king of Ugarit is quoted as
claiming that his chariotry is in poor shape and his horses are famished as a pretext for not sending his chariotry as demanded. 4 0 4
Finally, the king of Ugarit is accused of keeping to himself the best
mariyannu-troops while he sends to the viceroy only worthless soldiers. 405 His way of thinking is mimicked by the Viceroy as follows:
'You must say to yourself: "Is the Sun involved? T h e Sun is not
(involved), and therefore it is all right for me to keep them back".' 406
W h a t is the sense of this hypothetical statement? Does it mean that
the king of Ugarit is purportedly willing to take orders only from

401

Movements of troops in the Alalah region are also reported in the new documents from the Urtenu archive ( M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 107).
402
Compare the translation of M A L B R A N - L A B A T in R S O 7 to that of Z E E B 1992.
403
A S T O U R (1995, 58, 68) identifies Apsuna with Tell Afis east of the Orontes,
but the town should rather be sought on the northern frontier of Ugarit bordering
on Mukis.
404
Following Z E E B ( 1 9 9 2 , 4 8 2 ) , the statement about the poor quality of the chariotry seems to be a quotation from the letter of the king of Ugarit. If so, the only
army that was really sent from Ugarit to Carchemish was an incapable unit of
infantry-men.
405
All except a certain Milku-siG 5 (Na'im); Z E E B ( 1 9 9 2 , 4 9 3 ) assumes that the king
of Carchemish ironically singles out Mil-ku-sic^, who must have been a notorious
flop. A certain Mlk-n'm is mentioned in an Ugaritic list of individuals (KTU 4 . 3 4 4
=

RS
406

18.130.15).

For the interpretation of these lines (27ff) as a rhetorical question and answer,

see ZEEB

1992,

482-3.

the Great King of Hatti? T h e conclusion of the letter, with a demand


that both sides should appear and testify before the 'Sun' may support this interpretation. Alternatively, the king of Ugarit may think
that since the 'Sun' himself is not in Muki he has no way of knowing whether or not Ugarit sent out her forces. Possibly both thoughts
may be combined in the statement.
Ugarit's reluctance to fulfil her military duties is a recrring theme
in her correspondence with Carchemish, 4 0 7 but here her evasiveness
reaches a new record. T h e king of Ugarit artfully refuses to risk the
best part of his army in the confrontation, and all that the viceroy
of Carchemish is able to threaten with is a trial before the Great
King of Hatti. Although there may have been more than one instance
of such a deterioration in the authority of the Hittite overlord, the
best historical context for this and the following document seems to
be in the final period of Ugarit. 408
With the new information supplied by R S 34.143 it becomes easier
to understand the situation in the fragmentary and difficult Ugaritic
letter K T U 2.33 = RS 16.402 (= PRU 2, no. 12) sent by /?r-arruma 409
to his lady (probably Q u e e n Sarelli). 410 In the first part of his report
(11. 5 - 2 1 ) the general apparently describes his position on M o u n t
Amanus, 4 " with the enemy approaching from Muki. 412 In the second,
better-preserved, part of the letter (11. 22-39) he beseeches the queen
to intercede with the king to send 2,000 horses to his rescue. 413 He

407
Thematically very similar is RS 34.150 = R S O 7, no. 10, which I attempted
to relate to the great military manoeuvre orchestrated by the king of Carchemish
during the reign of Ibiranu (see above, p. 687).
408
For an Ammurapi dating of R S 3 4 . 1 4 3 , based on stylistic criteria and its comparison with R S 1 6 . 4 0 2 , see also Y A M A D A 1 9 9 2 , 4 4 4 - 5 .
409
'Irr-trm was emended by some into 'Iwr-trm = Ewri-arruma (see refs. in
C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 3 2 7 , n. 3 ) , but the emendation cannot be substantiated.
410
T h e standard interpretation associates the events described in RS 16.402
with the pressures exerted on Niqmaddu II by uppi1u1iuma I on the one side, and
by the kings of Muki, Nuhhae and Niya on the other ( S C H A E F F E R 1957, xvm;
L I V E R A N I 1979a, 1304; D I J K S T R A 1987, 46; C I F O L A 1994, 10). An alleged anti-Hittite
revolt in Muki in the early reign of Ammittamru II was proposed by LIPINSKI
(1981, 87ff.) as the historical background of RS 16.402.
411
L. 16, gr Amn. For the various interpretations of this line, see C U N C H I L L O S
1989a, 331, n. 19. A rather similar military situation is described in the so-called
'General's Letter', when, a century and a half earlier, he fortified his position between
Mount Lebanon and the seashore (RS 20.033 - Ug 5, no. 20; see above, p. 628).
412
For the identification of Mgsf} with Muki (with the Hurrian formative ~hhe),
see L I V E R A N I 1962, 39, n. 5 0 ; C U N C H I L L O S 1989a, 329, n. 13.
413
Lines 24, 32, 38: alpm shvm. T h e enormous number of horses may perhaps
be simply a typological number. In any case, it is difficult to accept A S T O U R ' S inter-

adds bitterly that he cannot confront the enemy with only his wife
and children (11. 28-9). T h e situation strongly recalls the accusation
of the king of Carchemish in R S 34.143 that the king of Ugarit
refuses to send his army to the battlefront in Mukis. T h e horses
required by /rr-arruma may in fact be the same 'famished horses'
kept back by the king of Ugarit under different pretexts.
T h e combined evidence of the two documents relating to Mukis
may perhaps provide the following tentative reconstruction of the
situation. An u n n a m e d enemy had established a bridgehead in Mukis
whence he threatened the kingdom of Ugarit. This enemy column
may have advanced southwards along the foothills of the Amanus,
or it may have landed from ships at the mouth of the Orontes, or
both. A combined seaborne and landborne encroachment on Ugarit's
territory strongly recalls the military tactics of the 'Sea Peoples' in
the war they waged against Ramesses III a few years later. T h e
Hittite authorities d e m a n d e d auxiliary forces to confront the enemy
in Mukis, but the king of Ugarit was obviously more concerned with
the defence of his own land, which might already have suffered from
seaborne razzias. T h e immediate danger of this elusive enemy seemed
more critical than the hypothetical risk of a Hittite punitive action.
Therefore he used every possible pretext to avoid sending his best
forces to Mukis, and fortified his positions on the northern frontier
of his own kingdom. In a much-quoted letter of A m m u r a p i to the
King (of Carchemish) he claims that his troops and chariots are in
Hatti (RS 20.238 = Ug 5, no. 24; see p. 720), but I wonder how
much credence should still be given to this declaration in view of
the new data from the Urtenu archive. It would seem that a scenario of 'each for himself' better fits the scattered evidence on the
last years of Ugarit and her futile attempt to withhold the impending invasion of the 'Sea Peoples'.
7.1.6

Lost battles and the fall of Ugant

T h e final hours of
by the protagonists
dispatched as long
destination and be

a collapsing state are seldom recorded in writing


of the drama. Desperate letters for help are only
as there is some hope that they will reach their
answered positively. From a certain point on the

pretation (1965, 257) that the author of the letter simply wanted to get rid of the
horses that were entrusted to him.

threatened victims realize the futility of their pleas and contemporary written information disappears almost entirely. 414 Ugarit is the
only site in the entire eastern Mediterranean which supplies written
testimony almost to the very fall of the Bronze Age city, including
direct references to the enemy who is about to cause its ruin. 415
T h e elite of Ugarit seem to have continued conducting their routine business almost until the very end ( A r n a u d 1991b, 65; M a l b r a n 1995b, 107), but they could not have been unaware of the
L a b a t
rapidly deteriorating conditions in their kingdom. A recurring lesson
of history is that victims of an impending catastrophe seldom recognize the gravity of their situation and prefer to consider it as a
passing cloud.
Reference has already been made to the A1aia letters reporting
on seaborne attacks on Ugarit and to the documents referring to a
frontline in Mukis. W h a t remain to be surveyed are a few difficult
'private' letters with dramatic reports on the hopeless military and
economical situation. It is not easy to pinpoint the reported events
to definite places and occasions, but they all seem to share the same
desperate tone of a last-ditch stand.
T h e Ugaritic letter of Drdn416 to his lord is perhaps the most dramatic amongst the last letters from Ugarit ( K T U 2.61 = R S 19.011
= PRU 5, no. 114): ' W h e n your messenger arrived, the army was
humiliated and the city was sacked. O u r food in the threshing floors
was burnt and the vineyards were also destroyed. O u r city is sacked.
May you know it! May you know it!'417
Another Ugaritic letter that has fomented a voluminous bibliography for its theological connotations is the one sent by Iwrdr (.Euniani) to Plsy ( K T U 2.10 = R S 4.475; C u n c h i l l o s 1989a, 275ff):
'Let there be peace to you! I have heard from Trgds (Tarfoundia?)
and from Klby (Kalbiya?) that we were beaten. But if we were not

414

A notable exception are personal diaries which dramatically continue to report


until the bitter end, but none of this genre is known to me from the ancient Near
East.
415
T h e last documents from Hattusa must be the victory reports carved on
Nishantepe and Sdburg ( H A W K I N S 1995; S I N G E R forthcoming a). In Emar writing
continues until the very end of the city ( A R N A U D 1975), but it hardly reflects on
the historical circumstances of its fall.
416
I wonder whether this could be a rare Ugaritic spelling for trdn/erdanni, which
is also attested as a PN ( L O R E T Z 1995, 131).
4,7
The translation of the first part of the letter is controversial. See C U N C H I L L O S V I T A 1993b; V I T A 1995a, 137.

completely beaten send me a messenger. T h e arm of the gods will


be greater than the force of the warriors if we resist. Put your reply
and whatever you hear there in a letter (addressed) to me'. Unfortunately, the location of the ill-fated battle is not reported, but it is
noteworthy that the first informant bears a good Anatolian name
(Laroche

1966,

177,

no.

1272).

In contrast to these laconic Ugaritic letters the long Akkadian letter of Banniya (or Eniya) to his lord has more to say about the
actual mishaps, but unfortunately it is very difficult to fathom (RS
34.152 = R S O 4, no. 40). T h e dramatic description of the famine
(11. 9 - 1 5 ) has already been quoted above (p. 719). In the first part
of the letter (11. 3-16) the sender quotes from his previous missive
to his lord, in which he advised him not to let (his agent?) Haddi1ibbau either trade in 'cash money' (silver and gold), or to barter
his chariot (and sakrumas), but rather to offer his provisions and his
donkeys. Although the exact meaning of this transaction remains to
be elucidated, a regression of the economy to bartering is typical in
times of distress. In the second part of the letter (11. 19ff) Banniya
urges his lord to pick his choice men and to hasten to Addaya, who
has written to the King (of Carchemish?). T h e sender himself intended
to send his men (and some strangers) to Hatti, but these have apparently refused to go. T h e king of Hatti(?) will write to the king of
Carchemish instructing him to send his messengers with provisions.
Banniya apparently anticipates that the instruction will be passed on
to his lord and therefore urges him to flee with his men to Addaya,
in accordance with the orders of s u d A s k u r (Ri-Adad?). T h e rest
of the letter is fragmentary, except for the last line where the addressee
is advised to bring a horse to Addaya.
As is evident from the editio pnnceps, this intriguing letter is very
hard to interpret, both on the level of simple translation as well as
in understanding its overall meaning. I would tentatively venture an
interpretation according to which the writer proposes to his lord a
p r o m p t escape from his residence to a previously agreed refuge.
Several names in the letter have an 'eastern' appearance, 4 1 8 and the
same applies to some of the Akkadian forms. Perhaps L a c k e n b a c h e r
(1991b, 86, n. 9) is right in tentatively suggesting that the letter was

418
Haddi-1ibbau, Sin-umati-uabi ^30.MU.ME.TUKU), Ri-Adad (SUD-CIIM), EribaMarduk (su-A-DAMAR.UTU), Marduk (MAR.TUK).

sent from Mari. 419 Another provenance could be Emar, which maintained close commercial contacts with Ugarit. A flight f r o m the
endangered coastal zone to inland Syria would have seemed a sensible option, even though reports were circulating about unstable
conditions along the Euphrates valley as well. 420
T h e Hittite sources have little to add on the fall of Ugarit. T h e
last written documents from Hattusa must be the boasting reports
of Suppiluliuma II's Pyrrhic victories in A1aia and along the Mediterranean coast ( H a w k i n s 1995; S i n g e r forthcoming a).421 In his last
letters to Ugarit the 'Sun' demands food shipments and information
on the iki1a enemy. If there were any later exchanges between the
two courts, including reports on the desperate situation, they have
not as yet been found. But I doubt that the Hittites (or any declining overlord for that matter) would have informed their Syrian allies
about their own failures on the battle front.
Carchemish was probably not directly affected by the operations
of the 'Sea Peoples', and its dynasty continued to rule well into the
early Iron Age ( H a w k i n s 1988; 1995; Gterbock 1992). H o w distant the Viceroy of Carchemish was (or pretended to be) from the
dramatic events transpiring along the coastal areas is well reflected
in a letter to A m m u r a p i ( R S L 1 = Ug 5, no. 23) which is usually
attributed to the king of Alasia, but must belong to the 'King' par
excellence (see n. 394). In his reply to Ammurapi's worried message
about the enemy ships that had been sighted at sea, the King advises
his vassal how to overcome the approaching enemy: 'Surround your
cities with walls. Bring (your) infantry and chariotry into (them). Be
on the lookout for the enemy and make yourself very strong!' T h e
covenant between suzerain and vassal had gone a long way since
Suppiluliuma I's gallant offer of military support to Ugarit. While
Ugarit was constandy required to commit her army to the Hittites,
all that the overlord in Carchemish could offer in these agonizing
times was hollow 'moral support'.

419
Another letter probably sent from Mari is RS 34.142 (= R S O 7, no. 47), for
which see p. 657.
420
M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995b, 107. In a letter sent by Ini-Tesub to agarakt[i-uria]
of Babylon concern is expressed about the activities of nomadic shepherds in the
Land of Suhi ( B O R D R E U I L - M A L B R A N - L A B A T 1995, 445, 448).
421
L E B R U N ' S suggestion ( 1 9 9 5 , 8 6 ) that the Hittite royal couple fled to Ura on
the southern coast is based on unwarranted evidence.

A new letter from the Urtenu archive may perhaps indicate that
Carchemish at least promised to send reinforcements to her beleaguered
vassal (RS 88.2009; M a l b r a n - L a b a t 1995b, 39-40). A certain UrhiT e s u b (without any title) informs Urtenu, Yabinina, d i m . d i . k u d , 4 2 2
D a n a n a , the Great Ones ( n i . m e s g a l ) and the City Ellders ( l . m e
ibti sa u r u . k i ) of Ugarit that the King of Carchemish had already
left the Land of Hatti (itu k u r Hatti ittara)m and that they should
defend their city until the arrival of the rescue troops. T h e first two
addressees provide a dating in the last decades of Ugarit, 424 which
renders most unlikely the identification of Urhi-Tesub with the illustrious royal exile ( K l e n g e l 1996, 561), whose throne was usurped
by Hattusili around 1265 (see p. 644ff.). Rather, the author
must have been an important official at the court of Carchemish
reporting about the military moves of his king. 425 Why this late UrhiTesub addresses his letter most unusually to the nobility and the
elders of Ugarit remains a riddle. 426 W h e t h e r the promised rescue
troops ever arrived at Ugarit we shall probably never know, but in
any case, the city was sacked shortly thereafter.
T h e exact date of Ugarit's fall remains to be established. 427 T h e
letter sent to A m m u r a p i by the Egyptian B e y a / B 3 y provides a terminus post quern between 1194 and 1186 (see p. 715). In 1175 bce
422

Several kings of Tyre bore the same name, ''IM.DI.KUD (see n. 218).
In this period the 'Land of Hatti' was a loose geo-political term which included
Carchemish. This is also indicated by other occurrences in the late correspondence
from Ugarit (see nn. 150, 170).
424
For Urtenu's dating, see p. 6 5 8 ; for Yab(i)ninu's, see COURTOIS 1990.
425
As suggested above (p. 645), he may be identical with the author of an Ugaritic
courtesy letter addressed by Urg-Ttb 'to the queen, my lady' (KTU 2.68 = RS
20.199; PARDEE 1984a, 213-5; CUNCHILLOS 1989a, 359ff.). CUNCHILLOS (1989a, 361,
n. 3) tentatively suggests that the letter to the queen of Ugarit was sent from Egypt
by the exiled king Urhi-Tesub.
426
In the 'Sikila letter', also from the Urtenu archive, the Great King addresses
the governor of Ugarit because 'the king, your lord, is young and does not know
anything' (RS 34.129.5-7 = R S O 7, no. 12; see p. 722). However, if Urhi-Tesub
addresses the dignitaries of Ugarit because of the young age of the king, this letter could hardly be dated to the last years of Ugarit. There may be some other
reason for this very unusual type of address.
427
The fall of Ugarit is variously dated in current literature between 1200 and
1175 BCE (for some of the refs., see NEU 1995b, 122, n. 25). None of the exact dates
can presently be proven, and they merely reflect the general 'feeling' of the respective authors. My own guess is closer to the terminus post quern supplied by the letter
of Beya/B3y than to the terminus ante quern of Ramesses Ill's eighth year, i.e., around
1190/1185 (a few years later than I suggested in 1987, 418). The fall of Emar in
ca. 1187 (ARNAUD 1975) does not have to be synchronized with the fall of Ugarit,
though obviously both are part of the same overall collapse of LBA centres.
423

Ramesses III already encountered the 'Sea Peoples' near Amurru,


after they had run down the coastal areas of the Hittite Empire. 428
Sometime in the decade or so separating these two chronological
anchors Ugarit was sacked by the enemy, but there is no way as
yet to establish the interval between the arrival of Beya's letter and
the fall of Ugarit. 429
T h a t the immediate cause for Ugarit's destruction was an enemy
attack is no longer seriously debated ( L i v e r a n i 1995b, 115; Y o n
1997b, 32). Schaeffer's earthquake theory, which is still occasionally
resurrected, 430 was based on questionable evidence already when it
was first put forward, and it has been entirely refuted by the results
of the new excavations conducted at Ras S h a m r a and at Ras Ibn
Hani. T h e r e are probably signs of an earthquake that caused considerable damage to the city sometime in the second half of the 13th
century and necessitated extensive restoration operations ( C a l l o t
1994, 203ff; C a l l o t - Y o n 1995, 167; see p. 631). However, the
final destruction of the city was due to a huge conflagration caused
by an enemy attack, which left a massive destruction level reaching
two metres in height in places (Yon 1992, 117; 1997a, 258; Callot
1994, 212-3). 431 T h e presence of numerous arrow-heads throughout
the ruins may indicate that fierce fighting preceded the city's surrender (Yon 1992, 117). N o corpses were reported lying around in

428
Ramesses Ill's famous statement about the destruction of Fiatti, Qd, Carchemish,
Arzawa and A1aia by the 'Sea Peoples' (KRI V 39.14-40.1) does not refer to
Ugarit direcdy, but, as pointed out by L I V E R A N I (1995a, 49), this list reflects political entities and not just geographical regions. Carchemish represents the whole of
Hittite Syria, even though its eastern parts, including Carchemish itself, were not
directly afflicted by the 'Sea Peoples'. T h e mysterious land of Qd (variously rendered as Qpde, Qadi, etc.) may well refer here to the kingdom of Tarhuntaa, as
suggested by L I V E R A N I (ib.).
42
'' A few Myc. III C sherds found in the latest habitation level show that the
fall of Ugarit occurred after the first appearance of this type of pottery ( C O U R T O I S
1973; 1987, 21 Off.; M O N C H A M B E R T 1996).
430
L E H M A N N ( 1 9 9 1 , 1 1 7 ; 1 9 9 6 , 1 9 ) weighs the possibility for an earthquake catastrophe which might have led to ('auslsenden Faktor') the military defeat of Ugarit,
quoting as a parallel the archaeological evidence from the Argolid (Tiryns, Midea,
Mycenae). Even more convinced about the plausibility of a final earthquake is
D U P O N T 1 9 8 7 , who attempts to play down the philological evidence for an enemy
attack on Ugarit, without however adducing any arguments for Schaeffer's theory.
Cf. also K L E N G E L 1 9 9 2 , 1 5 1 .
431
T h e presence of a yellowish powder that permeated the destruction level was
explained by S C H A E F F E R (1968, 760ff.) as a period of extreme drought towards the
end of Ugarit's existence. It is now conventionally seen as a result of the burning
of brick structures.

the city ( C a l l o t 1 9 9 4 , 2 1 2 ) , which may indicate that most of the


inhabitants managed to flee the city beforehand, some of them burying their valuables in hiding places in the vain hope of recovering
them when the storm was over.
O n e such hiding place stacked with gold and bronze figurines was
discovered in the Southern City ( S c h a e f f e r 1966). Similar circumstances led perhaps to the stashing of the small cache of bronze
objects, including Merneptah's sword, in a house located east of the
palace ( S c h a e f f e r 1956, 169-78), and also of the large hoard of 74
bronze objects found in 1929 in the building known as the House
of the High Priest situated between the temples on the acropolis
( S c h a e f f e r 1956, 251-75). T h e latter was carefully stacked underneath the threshold of the main entrance and included various weapons, tools and a fine tripod with hanging pomegranates (ib.: 274,
fig. 238). Four axes carry the Ugaritic inscription rb khnm, 'Chief of
the Priests', and a fifth one adds the PN Hrsn (ib.: 266, fig. 231).432
T h e name Hrsn/Hursnu appears in 13th century texts from Ugarit
and Ras Ibn Hani and prosopographical evidence indicates that the
Great Priest Hrsn was active in the mid-13th century ( B o r d r e u i l
1998). T h e latest objects in the hoard, such as the tripod which has
good Cypriot parallels, are dated to the turn of the 12th century
( C a t l i n g 1964, 202-3). This seems to contradict the standard interpretation of this rich hoard as a foundation deposit ( S c h a e f f e r 1956,
253; C o u r t o i s 1979, 1156-7), and indicates rather that, like other
hoards in the town, it was hidden just before the final destruction
of the city ( v a n S o l d t 1991a, 220). 433 Indeed, the plunderers of
Ugarit missed the valuable objects, but neither did the original owners ever return to recover them.

7.2

Ugarit and its region in the Iron Age

T h e r e are a few traces of an ephemeral reoccupation of Ugarit immediately after its fall at the beginning of the 12th century (Yon 1992,

432

The standard interpretation considered t}rsn to be the name of the object carrying the inscription (cf. Hebrew haris in 2 Sam. 1 2 : 3 1 ; I Chr. 2 0 : 3 ) , but both the
Personenkeil preceeding the name and the existence of an Ugaritic PN Hrsn/Hurasanu
(for refs. see BORDREUIL 1998) conclusively disprove this interpretation.
433 N[ o t e (hat besides the manufactured objects the hoard also included two pieces
of cast metal (Ug 3, 260, fig. 224, 19; 262, fig. 226, bottom), which would hardly
tally with the contents of a foundation deposit. It may indicate that the hoard was

118-9). These include some dome-shaped ovens, like the one which
was found in Courtyard V of the royal palace and was thought to
have been used for the baking of clay tablets. It is hard to say who
these squatters were, the plunderers of the city or its refugees. At
any rate, this meagre epilogue was short-lived and the site remained
in ruins for nearly a thousand years. 434
More substantial evidence for reoccupation was found at Ras Ibn
Hani, 4 3 5 a secondary residence of the royal family of Ugarit, and at
Ras Bassit, a northern outpost of the kingdom. 436 T h e LBA palaces
at Ras Ibn H a n i yielded Akkadian and Ugaritic tablets dating from
the mid-13th century onwards ( L a g a r c e 1995, 149ff.). T h e site was
apparendy evacuated in an orderly fashion before the final catastrophe,
and the inhabitants probably sought refuge within the walls of Ugarit
(Yon 1992c, 118). Ras Bassit probably shared the same fate.
T h e new settlers at Ras Ibn Hani and Ras Bassit produced Myc.
Ill C:1 ware ( B a d r e 1983; L a g a r c e 1988) of the same type that
appears in Cyprus and along the Levant, from Cilicia to Philistia,
and is traditionally associated with the new setdement of 'Sea Peoples'
along these coastal areas. 437 It is worth noting that at Ras Ibn Hani,
as in Philistia, there is a gradual evolution from m o n o c h r o m e to
bichrome pottery ( L a g a r c e 1988, 153), and such similarities should
be further explored in the areas of the 'Sea Peoples' diaspora. Besides
the Myc. Ill C:1 ware, the Iron Age settlement at Ras Ibn H a n i
has also produced types of pottery which continue local ceramic traditions ( L a g a r c e 1988, 154-5; C a u b e t 1992, 127). This shows that,
as in C a n a a n , the reoccupation of the coastal sites was carried out
by mixed populations of newcomers and remnant groups of the local
inhabitants.

hidden by a smith or perhaps the supervisor of a treasury, rather than the High
Priest who was the (original) owner of the inscribed axes.
434
T h e site was partially reoccupied only in the late Persian and the Hellenistic
periods ( C O U R T O I S 1979, 280ff.; STUCKY 1982; A S T O U R 1995, 68-9, n. 97; Y O N
1997b: 112-3). A few 9th~8th century Cypriot sherds were probably left by tombrobbers in the fill of tomb 1069 ( C A U B E T 1992, 123-4).
435
BOUNNI et al. 1987; L A G A R C E 1988; 1995; C A U B E T 1992, 124ff. (with refs.).
T h e site has been variously identified as Appu ( B O R D R E U I L 1984), as Biruti ( A R N A U D
1992, 82, . 9), or as Ru (ASTOUR 1995, 68).
436
C A U B E T 1 9 9 2 , 1 2 7 (with refs.). A S T O U R 1 9 9 5 , 5 8 suggests an identification with
ancient Sinaru.
437
See, however, C A U B E T 1 9 9 2 , 1 3 0 , who questions this interpretation of the new
pottery and considers it to be a local ceramic development.

EGYPT
Amenophis III
1390-1352

AMURRU

SIYANNU-UNATU

Ammittamru I
? c. 1350

Abdi-Airta
Niqmepa
Ba'aluya
Akhenaton.
1352-1336

Aziru

UGARIT

Abdi-Hebat

N i q m a d d u II Pi;
c.1350-1315
c. 1340-Fire in Uga:

Tutankhamun
1336-1327
Ay
1327-1323
Horemheb
1323-1295
Abdi-Anati
(= Abdi-NINURTA ?)
Du-Teub

A r - H a l b a Kubat
c. 1315-1313
N i q m e p a Ahat-i
c. 1313-1260

Duppi-Teub
Ramesses I
Sety I
1294-1279
Ramesses II
1279-1213

Benteina
abi1i
Benteina
A m m i t t a m r u II
c.1260-1235
augamuwa

SUM- d IM
abi1im
Padiya

(order unknown)J

Merneptah (1213-1203)-

I b i r a n u Sarelli
c.1235-1225/20
N i q m a d d u III
c. 1225/20-1215
A m m u r a p i Aldi
c.1215-1190/85

Amenmesse (1203-1200)
Sety 11(1200-1194)
Siptah (1194-1188)
Beya
Tausert (1188-1186)
Setnakht (1186-1184)
Ramesses 111(1184-1153)

c. 1190/85 Fall of Ugarit

Synchronisms of Ugarit in the 14t1

HATTI

KARKAMI

Tudhaliya "II"

AUR
Eriba-Adad I
1380-1354

Arnuwanda I
Aur-Uba1it
1353-1318

Tudhaliya "III"
uppiluliuma I

Arnuwanda II

arre-Kuuh
(Piyai1i)

Muri1i II
Enlil-nirari I
1317-1308
ahurunuwa
Arik-den-i1i
1307-1296
Adad-nirari
1295-1264

Muwatalli II

Urhi-Teub
Hattusili "III" Puduhepa
Ini-Te.ub

a1manassar I
1263 1234

tu rabiti
Tudhaliya " I V " + Puduhepa
Tuku1ti-Ninurta
1233-1197
Nikkalu
(?)

Arnuwanda III

Ta1mi-Teub

uppiluliuma II

Aur-nadin-ap1i (1196-1194)
Aur-nirari III (1193-1188)
Enlil-Kudur-uur (1187-1183)
Ninurta-apil-Ekur (1182-1180/70)
Asur-dan I (1179/69-1134)

2th centuries bce

Little is known about the demographic situation in the countryside of Ugarit after the fall of the metropolis. As pointed out by
L i v e r a n i (1995a, 52), inland villages may have suffered much less
from the ravages of the sea-borne enemy, and the remarkable survival of ancient names in the present toponymy of the region ( A s t o u r
1979; B o r d r e u i l 1989a) may indicate that some of the smaller settlements of the kingdom survived the cataclysm that put an end to
the capital city. This seems to be all the more true in the territory
of the former kingdom of Siyannu-Unatu, where some of the main
sites (Tell Sukas, Tell Daruk) continue well into the Iron Age. 438
These scattered maritime and inland Iron Age settlements cannot
obscure the outstanding p h e n o m e n o n of the total disappearence of
the region's major city from the geo-political scene of the Levant
for nearly a thousand years. Only Hellenistic Laodicea (present-day
Lattaquieh) brought back this once prosperous coastal region to a
similar grandeur. T h e fact that Ugarit never rose from its ashes, as
did other LBA cities of the Levant which suffered a similar fate,
must have more substantial grounds than the destruction inflicted
upon the city by the 'Sea Peoples'. Those who still envisage a serious earthquake in the sequence of events that led to the fall of Ugarit
suggest some drastic change in the tectonic structure of the region,
especially in the area of the harbour, which would have deprived
the city of its main source of livelihood ( K l e n g e l 1 9 9 2 , 1 5 1 ) . Probably
some of the climatic cataclysms that have been proposed to explain
the overall collapse of the palatial systems throughout the Aegean
and the eastern Mediterranean 4 3 1 ' took their toll of Ugarit as well,
especially the devastating famine which could have been caused by
an intense drought. But in the final analysis, the main reason for
Ugarit's disappearance from the political scene may simply have been
the sudden collapse of the traditional structures of international trade,
which were the lifeblood of Ugarit's booming economy in the Bronze
Age. Gradually, Phoenician harbours such as Tyre, Sidon, Byblos
and Arwad replaced Ugarit as the main ports of Levantine trade
during the first millennium bce.

438 P O R r e f e r e n c e S j s e e C A U B E T 1992, 128; L I V E R A N I 1995a: 51. One awaits eagerly


the results of the new Syrian excavations at Tell Siano, which probably preserves
the ancient name of Siyannu.
439
For a recent survey of the various theories, see D R E W S 1993 (with extensive
refs.).

T H E TABLETS AND T H E C O M P U T E R

T h e

C u r r e n t

S t a t e

and

T h e o d o r e J.

Ugaritic

Studies

T e c h n o l o g y '

Lewis

1.1

of

Steve

A.

Wiggins

Introduction

Unique difficulties beset describing a field where a six-month period


of obsolecence is not unusual. T h e rapidly developing field of computer imaging is opening new possibilities for the publication of
archives known previously only through transcriptions and poor photographs. W h a t is presented below is a description of the current
state of electronic imaging as applied to the Ugaritic tablets; the
future of this field will continue to improve the clarity of available
images. At the time of this writing digital cameras are now removing one step from the photographic process (the film!) for better and
worse. 2
T h e application of electronic imaging to the study of ancient texts
is an emerging field of research. In Ugaritic studies it began out of
the necessity for clearer photographs of the Ugaritic tablets than
those previously available and the need to make them widely accessible to scholars. These needs, combined with the growth of computerized graphic capabilities, have motivated scholars to produce
electronic editions of the texts.

1.2

Background

Ugaritologists are indebted in m a n y ways to the Mission Archologique


Franais de Ras Shamra-Ougant. If one may speak from an epigraphist's
1

We would like to thank W.T. Pitard for commenting on an earlier draft of


this paper and contributing the excursus.
2
On the importance of film types even in a digital age, see ZUCKERMAN

ugaritic

studies

and

technology

735

perspective, the speed with which they have made the texts available is especially commendable. This publishing traditiondating
back to 1929 when C. Virolleaud made drawings of the first alphabetic
tablets available within a year of their discovery and continuing up
to the present with the contributions of P. Bordreuil and D. Pardee
appearing in the R S O serieshas allowed Ugaritologists worldwide
to keep abreast of the latest discoveries.
It is helpful to situate the publishing of the early photographs of
the tablets in an historical context. W h e n the first Ugaritic tablets
were discovered, there already existed a long-established convention
(inherited from Assyriology) for publishing cuneiform texts. This
entailed publishing a facsimile drawing, a transcription, and sometimes a translation. Photographs, when published, were largely used
for archival purposes, but were considered less essential to the philological interpretation of the text. Unless one had access to the originals in Damascus, Aleppo, and Paris, one relied on the eye of others;
no independent evaluations could be made based on epigraphically
useful photographs.
W h e n the Ugaritic texts were first unearthed in the late 1920s,
the use of a photographic record to secure readings was not an issue.
T h e tablets were photographed in black and white, mostly in what
could be referred to as 'reference shots'one photo per side of a
tablet, sometimes including photographs of the edges. T h e purpose
of these photographs was not to establish difficult readings, but to
give an overall impression of the size, shape, and state of preservation of the tablets. T h e i r publication was accompanied by transcriptions in H e r d n e r ' s CTA. Facsimiles drawn with rather stylized
versions of the Ugaridc characters became the basic source for understanding the epigraphic evidence on the tablets.
It must be stressed that the photographs, not very helpful for reading the tablets, were produced according to the conventions at the
time for publishing ancient Semitic texts. T h e y were produced for
documentation, not for the scrutiny of an epigraphist. Some shades
or marbling of the clay made photographs too dark a n d / o r patchy
to be read in black and white 3 and their convexity made photographs

1 9 9 7 , 336 -7. O n the benefits and drawbacks of direct-image capture,


see pages 345-6.
3
Plate IX of C T A 4, Rev. demonstrates this. T h e rather marbled appearance
of the upper right-hand corner of the tablet causes considerable difficulty.

ZUCKERMAN

lit only from the top difficult to read in places. 4 D a m a g e d sections


of a tablet require close-up photography with different lighting angles
to be accurately assessed. 5 All of these factors, outside the scope of
the original publishers, made renewed efforts at photographing the
tablets desirable.
T h u s until recently, the photographs which have accompanied the
publication of the Ugaritic texts have been limited in the information they provide to epigraphers. T h e lack of legible photographs
meant that scholars had to rely almost exclusively on the editions
for their readings. This was complicated, however, by the fact that
the editions often disagreed significantly on the readings of the texts.
Without legible photographs interpreters were left with no way to
evaluate independently which readings might conform better to the
traces on the tablets.

1.3

Text editions and the current state of Ugaritic epigraphic analysis

T h e field of Ugaritic studies has fortunately had for m a n y years two


comprehensive collections of texts: CTA and KTU, the latter published in a new, enlarged edition (CAT - KTU1) in 1995. These editions are major scholarly achievements that have become essential
to the study of Ugaritic literature. T h e epigraphic projects discussed
below, the Ugaritic Tablets Digital Edition (UTDE), the Edinburgh
Ras S h a m r a Project (ERSP), and the Spanish project Banco de Datos
Filolgicos Semiticos Noroccidentalesy el Sistema Integrado de Anlisis Morfolgico
de Textos Ugarticos (BDFSN"SIAMTU), are complements to the worthy efforts of these fine editors and the superb contributions of the
archaeologists and epigraphists of the Mission Archologique Franaise de
Ras Shamra-Ougarit (MRS).
Despite the wealth of material available to Ugaritic scholars from
the standard editions, questions concerning the text still remain. Over
the past decade, scholars have realized that the state of Ugaritology,

For an example, see Plate VI of C T A 3, Rev. Note that the reverse is illegible
in the lower right-hand corner where the fuzziness of the tablet outline makes it
clear that it is out of focus due to the curvature of the tablet.
5
Once again C T A 3, Rev. (Plate VI) serves as an example. T h e damaged section of columns 4 and 5 radiate out from a break in the tablet. The break is not
clean throughout, leaving a dimpled surface for parts of those two columns. Closeup photographs of the difficult sections reveal that some readings may be substantiated: see below.

if it is to remain healthy, needs to wrestle with fundamental epigraphic questions. Healey succinctly states the problem: 'there are
so many uncertainties in readings, despite KTU, that Ugaritic studies is in danger of getting bogged down in alternative readings and
mistaken readings'. 6 Parker concurs: 'An adequate, publicly available
edition based on the best current photographic technology (i.e. high
resolution macro-photography using various light sources and angles)
remains the great desideratum of Ugaritic studies'. 7 Such sentiments
are shared by most scholars who do not relish the thought of having their painstaking interpretations overturned in the future due to
having relied on a faulty reading.
Since no published edition makes a claim of certainty on all readings, most scholars of the Ugaritic texts have wished to see the original tablets to clarify particular readings, especially where KTU and
CTA differ. Pitard, one of the two senior editors of the U T D E (see
below), has summarized the dilemma this way:
This situation has created a considerable amount of confusion in the
way that the texts are handled in Ugaritic studies. Scholars by and
large have been forced simply to choose one edition to follow, without being able to deal personally with the epigraphically disputed portions of the tablet.8
Clearer photographs have begun to appear recently, 9 with the goal
of stabilizing the text, particularly where difficulties of the tablet allow
for multiple readings. T h e goal of such photographic records is ultimately to stabilize the entire text, as it currently exists. 10 In response,
U T D E and the E R S P are seeking ways to make a comprehensive
digital photographic archive of the Ugaritic tablets widely available.
M a n y factors make such archives desirable, the primary one being
historical preservation. W h e n the sole remaining autographs deteriorate, there is no way to replace the missing data. An historical
archive documenting the current state of the texts is essential. Restoration based on earlier photographs and epigraphers' records also
plays a vital role in the preservation of the texts, but as a hedge
6

HEALEY

1986,

30.

PARKER

1989,

4.

Private communication, December 8, 1995.


1 9 8 7 , 7 5 - 8 6 , 1 1 1 5 5 (drawings by B . Z U C K E R M A N ) and P I T A R D 1 9 9 2 ,
3 3 - 7 7 ; M . S . S M I T H 1 9 9 4 , plates 1 4 7 .
10
L L O Y D - W Y A T T 1996, 423 graphically demonstrate that the tablets are no
longer in pristine condition.
9

PITARD

against further wear, a clear, detailed photographic archive is absolutely


essential.
In order for this goal to be pragmatic, access to the photographic
archive must be m a d e available as widely as possible. These tablets
are the preserve of scholars around the world, and attempts to keep
the information recondite are to be eschewed.
O n e obstacle to these goals is more prosaic but equally pragmaticthe financial aspect. Photographs produced in book format
are often prohibitively expensive. In the case of the Ugaritic Texts,
the cost would be augmented by the large n u m b e r of photographs
required to display adequately the damaged and difficult sections of
the tablets.
With these goals and problems in sight, various projects have
responded by producing photographic archives of the Ugaritic tablets.
In the three major projects outlined below, the incentive to apply
new computer technology to the process has been recognized and
embraced.

1.4

The Ugaritic Tablets Digital Edition Project (UTDE)

Photographic methodology for ancient manuscripts has only recently


received the attention it deserves. It is very encouraging to see a
major treatment on the topic including digital imaging incorporated
into a new archaeological reference work." T h e pioneer in the field
has been B. Zuckerman who founded the West Semitic Research
Project which aims at developing photographic and other imaging
techniques that produce clear and detailed documentation of ancient
inscriptions. T h e Project also trains Semitic philologists and epigraphists
in the art of inscriptional photography. In 1983 several Ugaritic
tablets in the Louvre collections were successfully documented showing epigraphists that considerable evidence concerning difficult readings could be gleaned through the use of macro-photography and
employing 'key and fill' side lighting techniques in order to prevent
the usual 'wash out' effect typical of traditional cuneiform photography. A sophisticated understanding of film characteristics and developing procedures is also crucial for best results. T h e U T D E project
uses a ToyoView large-format camera with 4-by-5 inch sheet film

11

ZUCKERMAN

ZUCKERMAN

1997,

336-47.

for optimal resolution together with four types of film: color transparencies (Ektachrome 100 Plus); high-resolution color negatives
(Pro 100); black-and-white, good contrast, high-resolution negatives
(T-Max); and black-and-white, high contrast, very-high-resolution
negatives (Technical Pan).
Pitard became associated with the project after 1985, when he
carried out the first of four photographic expeditions to Syria and
Paris (the other trips taking place in 1989, 1994 (with A. Vaughn)
and 1995 (with Lewis). T h e U T D E project now has a nearly complete series of high-resolution photographs of the major narrative
texts from Ugarit ( K T U 1.1-24), along with a sampling of other
religious texts (including K T U 1.43 = RS 1.005, 1.83 = RS 16.266,
1.91 = RS 19.015, 1.96 = R S 22.225, 1.100 = RS 24.244, 1.108
= RS 24.252, 1.109 = RS 24.253, 1.112 = RS 24.256, 1.113 = R S
24.257, 1.114 = RS 24.258, 1.117 = R S 24.263, 1.124 = RS 24.272,
1.133 = RS 24.293, and 1.161 = RS 34.126). In the summer of
1997, Pitard and Schmidt were able to re-photograph the bulk of
the early negatives housed in the Collge de France. This will allow
further analysis of the degree to which the tablets may have deteriorated through the passing of time.
A few years ago, the editors of U T D E began to think about
attempting to produce a photographically-based edition of the Ugaritic
tablets. In order to lay a proper foundation, Pitard published articles on K T U 1.161 = RS 34.126 and 1.20-22 = R S 3.348, 2.[019],
2.[024] that were intended to serve as prototypes for a larger project. 12 Also appearing were several articles discussing the illumination of crucial and controversial readings using macro-photographic
techniques including studies of K T U 1.23 = RS 2.002, 13 1.19 = RS
3.322+, 1 4 and 1.96 = R S 22.225, 15 not to mention a detailed examination of the way the letter cayin was produced in the Ugaritic
script. 16 In addition, 47 macro-photographs were published in Smith's
new commentary on the Baal Epic. 17 T h e recently published Ugaritic

Narrative Poetry18 has made use of the entire collection.

1987 and 1992b, respectively.

12

PITARD

13

RATNER

14

1994b, 31-8.
T . J . L E W I S 1996a, 115-21.
P I T A R D 1992a, 261 79.
M . S . S M I T H 1994, plates 1 47.

15
16

17
18

ZUCKERMAN

PITARD

PARKER (ed.)

1997.

1986,

15

60.

Recently the impact of c o m p u t e r technology for the study of


photographic images has begun to make itself felt. With the availability of high-resolution p h o t o g r a p h i c scanners, increased C P U
speeds (Pentium and Power P C chip technology), and such highperformance software applications as Adobe Photoshop, Live Picture,
and Painter X2, it is now possible to digitize and analyze images of
the Ugaritic tablets in a way that was u n d r e a m e d of just a few years
ago. With this in mind, the U T D E Ugaritic archive has been scanned
with a Scanmate 3000 P M T D r u m scanner (resolution up to 3000
dpi uninterpolated) 1 9 with the help of Ellison and Lundberg.
After considerable thought about how best to publish a photographically-based edition of the Ugaritic texts, considering high conventional production costs, the editors decided to produce a digital
edition to be available on C D - R O M or other storage medium (e.g.
D V D - R O M ) . Such a format would allow for the publication of large
numbers of color photographs at a fairly low cost. Moreover, the
texts could be presented in an ideal format for teaching and introductory study, as well as for serious research.
T h e U T D E is intended to provide an interactive, multimedia presentation of the material, designed to be used by Ugaritologists, as
well as students learning the Ugaritic language and script. At the
1996 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in New
Orleans, Pitard demonstrated a prototype edition of the U T D E (see
excursus below) which he first developed in the summer of 1995
with the help of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and
Technology at the University of Illinois.
T h e initial plan of the U T D E is to produce a multi-CD edition
of K T U 1.1-24, since these are the most widely-known and discussed texts. Pitard and Zuckerman will be serving as senior editors
with collaborating editors consisting of Hackett, Lewis, Wiggins, and
Dobbs-Allsopp. Although the U T D E does not yet have its own worldwide web site, information on the project may be obtained from the
W S R P page: h t t p : / / w w w . u s c . e d u / d e p t / L A S / w s r p / .

19

On the types of scanners and the importance of drum scanners and uninterpolated scans, see Z U C K E R M A N - Z U C K E R M A N 1 9 9 7 , 3 4 6 .

1.5

Excursus: The format of the Ugaritic


Tablets Digital Edition Prototype20

T w o basic concepts guide the format of the U T D E : (1) T h e editors


will present their edition of the texts in an interactive form intended
for both scholars and students, using the photographs as the foundation. (2) T h e edition will also provide high resolution images of
the photographs that can be downloaded into the user's own applications for additional research and analysis.
Part 1: T h e edition of the texts. O u r goal for the first stage of
the U T D E project is to establish and publish the text of the major
literary corpus from Ugarit. T h e format of the edition has been
worked out in our prototype. Following a title screen, the edition
allows the user to go to a list of the available tablets, to choose the
text he or she wishes to study. From there the user may examine a
general photograph of the tablet, then look more closely at an individual column or section thereof. For detailed work, the text is then
subdivided into individual lines.
At each level, various types of information are provided. T h u s
from the h o m e screen for each tablet, the user can access an introduction to the tablet, which will provide information on its size, condition, current location, museum number, scribal hand, length of
line, etc. T h e r e will also be a ground plan of the find-spot available
that will show where the tablet was discovered and will indicate the
other tablets found in the same context. At a later stage in the development of the edition, we hope the user will also be able to go from
the home page to a translation of the tablet, as well as a concordance and a lexicon.
From the home screen of the tablet, the user may call up a particular column for more detailed study. Here an image of the colu m n appears, with buttons that allow one to see a transliteration of
the text, epigraphic notes that discuss the problematic passages in
the column, and a colour-coded facsimile drawing which can be
superimposed over the photo or displayed side by side. T h e facsimile
is provided to indicate to the user what the editors see on the tablet.
T h e superimposed drawing can be clicked on and off to allow the
user to compare the drawing to the traces on the image.

20

Supplied by W.T. Pitard, Private communication.

Menus on this screen allow one to move to further screens showing each individual line, designed for detailed epigraphic study. Each
screen includes a closeup colour image of the line, its transliteration,
a superimposable facsimile, a facsimile which appears in a window
directly below the photograph, and epigraphic notes for the line. For
each significandy damaged letter, buttons will allow the user to see
additional macro photos that show the traces in different light patterns.
Evidence from the original photos taken in the 1930s will appear
here in cases where the tablet subsequently has been damaged.
Part 2: T h e high-resolution images. This important feature will
allow scholars to study the photos with their own computer imaging programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Live Picture. T h e photos have been digitized usually at 1000 dpi to allow for significant
enlargement on the computer screen. T h e file size of such images
is in the 50 M B range. For the U T D E , however, these images will
be compressed so that some 150 can be placed on a single disc.
W h e n uncompressed these images retain their full definition. Since
there are m a n y scholars who have older computers that do not run
well with 50 M B files, we will also provide lower resolution versions
of the images on the C D .

1.6

The Edinburgh Ras Shamra Project (ERSP)

In 1990, unaware that the U T D E project was under way, Lloyd,


while a postgraduate student at New College, Edinburgh University,
began considering the possibilities of applying computer technology
to photographs of the Ugaritic texts. With formal training in computer science, Lloyd was able to envision electronically stored reproductions of the tablets, especially if they were done in a laser-scanned
format. H e then began to discuss the idea with Wiggins and Wyatt.
O n his own initiative, Wyatt had for some years been photographing
the Ugaritic tablets in 35 m m color transparency format. Using
macro lenses he had photographed difficult sections of the tablets
and made these photographs available to students at the university.
Wyatt's initial photographic expeditions, in 1991 and 1992, to Paris
and Aleppo, involved photographing the tablets with a Pentax L X
fitted with a 50 m m lens and close-up extentions. Another visit to
Syria in 1994 included rephotographing the tablets with a 100 m m
lens. T h e photographs were taken either in natural light (not direct
sunlight) or with the aid of a small spodight. Complete sets of these

slides exist at Edinburgh and Mnster (where they were used in


preparation of the new edition of CAT - TZ/ 2 ). 2 '
T o get the images into computerized format, some experimentation was necessary. Wyatt and Lloyd tried using digital cameras, but
the drawbacks for detailed, close-up photography were too limiting,
and the technology was not then sufficiently advanced. Although in
photography every transfer to a new medium reduces clarity, they
decided that the slide photographs, scanned into digital format, would
produce the clearest images. T h e slides were scanned at a resolution of 1828 dpi, using 24 bit color. Their attention then turned to
how to make large files (up to 12 megabytes) available to remote
computer users. 22
T h e concern of the E R S P was to make their digitized photographs
available to scholars around the world. Initially it was conceived that
scholars could obtain files through FTP. Soon after this set-up began,
web-based technology emerged. With its ease of programming, and
its accessibility, the www became the ideal location for posting such
photographs. T h e technical difficulty was to get the files down to a
manageable size. 23
This concern, based on the time it takes to download images via
the internet, was addressed by using compressed J P E G images. J P E G
compression reduces redundant computer information which is not
visible to the h u m a n eye, so that image quality does not suffer, but
file sizes may be drastically reduced. These images were then placed
on a www site to be viewed by scholars with access to the internet. 24 T h e site amounts to a virtual flight to Damascus, a virtual
museum with artifacts, and a library of texts. 23
T h e encouraging work accomplished by this project is available
on the web, and was made possible partially by funding from the
University of Edinburgh. 2 6 T h e world-wide web address for the E R S P
is: h t t p : / / w w w . e d . a c . u k / ~ u g a r i t / h o m e . h t m .

21

LLOYD -

WYATT

1996,

425.

22

LLOYD -

WYATT

1996,

426-7

23

LLOYD -

WYATT

1996,

426-7

24

LLOYD -

WYATT

1996,

428.

LLOYD
LLOYD

1995,
1995,

597.
597.

25

WYATT 26 W Y A T T -

1.7

Banco de Datos Filologicos Semiticos Noroccidentales y


el Sistema Integrado de Anlisis Morfolgico de
Textos Ugarticos
(BDFSN-SIAMTUf1

T h e 'Laboratorio de Hermeneumatica', 2 8 a research group based in


Madrid, Spain, is part of the Philology Institute of the Consejo Superior
de Investigaciones Cientificas. T h e photography work done by this group
has a different goal than the two projects outlined above: reference
shots of the tablets are included along with philological data. T h e
purpose of this research is the development of computer aids for text
analysis. T h e team director and head researcher of the Banco de Datos
Filologicos Semiticos Noroccidentales II: Ugartico, Fenicio y Pnico (BDFSN
= Northwest Semitic Philological Data Bank II: Ugaritic, Phoenician
and Punic) project is Cunchillos. T h e project works in association
with the Intelligent Systems Research G r o u p (ISYS) which is part
of the Artificial Intelligence D e p a r t m e n t of the Universidad Politecnica
de Madrid. T h e directors of this group are C u e n a and Garcia Serrano.
T h e first step of the project was to introduce the Ugaritic texts
into a data base. This initial outcome was published as a hard copy. 29
T h e second step involved integrating the functions required to obtain
a concordance into the data base. This too appeared in a published
paper version in three volumes. 30 T h e first two volumes collate all
existing 6,521 Ugaritic words as they appear in the texts, provide
their literary context (the three surrounding lines) and a listing of
occurrences. T h e third volume
contains 1.428 incomplete Graphematic Chains with their possible
restorations (CGR), followed by 380 Graphematic Restorable Uniliteral
Chains (CGRU), 173 Graphematic Chains Without Restoration (CGSR)
and indexes.31

27

We thank Jesus-Luis Cunchillos for providing an extensive outline of these projects (private communication 9 J u n e 1997). T h e essence of these remarks may be
found in the world wide web site on the subject: 'Sapnu: Publicaciones en Internet,'
Madrid: CSIC, Laboratorio de Hermeneumtica, 1997 (address: http://www.labherm.filol.csic.es).
28
'Hermeneumatic' is a compound word coined from the words 'hermeneutics'
and 'automatic'. It refers to a computerized interpretation, in this case of matters
Ugaritic.
29

CUNCHILLOS -

30

CUNCHILLOS -

31

VITA

1993.

1995a (CPU).
Quotation from 'Sapnu' web site.
VITA

T h e Textos Ugarticos and Concordancia de Palabras Ugariticas are now


available on C D - R O M 3 2 and include additions and corrections to
the published paper versions.
T h e third step of the research project is the developing of a function for the morphological analysis of words. G r a m m a r rules for
Ugaritic and a lexicon had previously been entered into the application, and these are the basis for this morphological analysis. A
concordance of roots is scheduled for future publication. 33 Further
features of the project include bibliographical references to accompany the lexicon entries and each of the alphabetic tablets; scanned
photographs for each tablet; and tools for syntactic and semantic
analysis. T h e web site notes, 'For these more complex enterprises,
an expert system [has] been developed on a U N I X platform (SunOS)
and using tools created by ISYS. T h e application is meant to be
flexible enough to enable its use in other languages.' 34 T h e second
aspect of this project, S I A M T U , is an Integrated System for Morphological Analysis of Ugaritic Texts. T h e application is developed
on 4th Dimension, a relational Data Base M a n a g e m e n t System.
Cunchillos notes that this data bank is now accessible via the internet. It is available to both Macintosh and PC users. It is located at
the project's web site (http://www.labherm.filol.csic.es), under the
section entitled 'Banco de Datos, GSRC-Internet'. 3 5

1.8

Conclusion

T h e r e are inherent problems with photographic editions, no matter


what their final form. An unassailable principle of photography is
that every time an image is transferred from one medium to another,
a loss of clarity results. W h e n multi-media changes take place, they
are always at the expense of clarity. Future developments, some of
which are already under exploration, may eventually lead to new
ways of thinking about the photographic process itself.
All of the projects described here have approached this 'brave new
world' of technological development with the ancient Ugaritic texts.

32

33
34
35

C U N C H I L L O S et al.

1996.

Concordancia de Raices Ugariticas (CRU).


'Sapnu' web site.
J.-L. Cunchillos, private communication, 9 J u n e 1997.

T h e call of scholars requesting a stabilized text has been heard.


While these projects may not be able to eliminate all uncertainties
concerning the texts, they will sharply reduce them. T h e 'great
desideratum of Ugaritic studies' 36 is beginning to be realized.

36

PARKER

1989,

4.

S t o r a g e

and

Analysis

Jess-Luis

2.1

of

the

Texts

Cunchillos

Introduction

C o m p u t i n g and telecommunications provide unprecedented possibilities for the study of the languages and cultures of the ancient Near
East. 1
Already in 1 9 6 9 - 1 9 7 1 Whitaker computerized the texts from Ugarit
( Y V h i t a k e r 1 9 7 2 , VI). H e developed programs, but not much more
information is available about the method he followed. In 1974 the
University of Mnster set out the Ugaridc texts from a word processor (KTU). O t h e r computerization of the texts has resulted in the
Ugaritischer Wortformenindex by Z e m a n e k of the Prague Institute of
Ancient Near Eastern Studies ( Z e m a n e k 1 9 9 5 ) . T h e Edinburgh Ras
S h a m r a Project of the University of Edinburgh is devoted more
specifically to the analysis of images of the tablets (see L l o y d
W y a t t 1 9 9 6 ) . These projects, in terms of computerization, have not
gone beyond the first steps in computerized processing of the texts.
T h e work that remains to be done is difficult but is worth while.

2.2

The modules

Work begins with the creation of a data bank. We are speaking of data
as the object of study, not reference data such as bibliographies. In
the case of philology, the data comprise words, sentences and texts.
This means graphemic chains, words with their morphological display, roots, syntagms, sentences, etc.
A data bank requires a m a n a g e m e n t system, i.e. a relational database ( C u n c h i l l o s 1992a, 547-59). For the moment it seems to be
the indispensable management tool, although progress in computer
science may soon provide us with other more complex information
m a n a g e m e n t systems. 2
T h e Manager of the data bank has to be carried out using applications
1

For details cf. GIPPERT 1 9 6 6 , 4 8 - 9 .


We refer to systems based on knowledge such as the Knowledge System
Management of Prof. J . Cuena in the Universidad Politcnica de Madrid. See
http://vendaval.dia.fi.upm.es.
2

peculiar to the discipline. T h e applications can be grouped according to the phases of computerization and the needs of the philologist.
T h e Laboratory of Hermeneumatics of the Institute de Filologa in the
C S I C (Madrid, Spain) envisages 8 modules in order to computerize
everything, i.e. the whole procedure from text to critical interpretation ( C u n c h i l l o s 1996a, 52-5). So far, four modules have been or
are in the course of being completed:
The first module contains the applications which enable data to be
identified and fed in and modified, and a search system. T h e identification of the storage unit assumes a single n u m b e r i n g system
for the minimal unit of text storage, i.e. the siglum. For data to be fed
in, a system has to be worked out for connotation, transliteration and
transcription, the most accurate possible. For scientific work it is necessary to have a font with all the graphemes and signs which will
enable the text to be transcribed with all its diacritics ( C u n c h i l l o s G a l a n 1996, 161-70).
Problems due to the variety of computer platforms (Macintosh,
Windows, Unix) are unavoidable if the data bank is to be made
available to scholars over the Internet. T h e data are transmitted from
platform to platform from the user to the server and from the server
to the user, but no-one can specify the n u m b e r and type of platform through which the information may pass. Each type of platform has its own requirements. T h e transmission of scripts using
graphemes which differ from those of m o d e r n Western languages
incurs problems. Fonts have to be created, such as Ilulnternet, 3 the
graphemes of which are located between 32 and 127 in the ASCII
numbering system, so far the only numbers respected by all platforms.
T h e text, input with the inclusion of all epigraphic indications,
first has to be stored and then stripped of the epigraphic indications
so that the computer is able to deal with it.
Furthermore, a system has to be provided for the arrangement of
the graphemes and words in the desired alphabetical sequence, which
in the case of Semitic is not the same as in the modern western
alphabet.
T h e final result of the computer applications of this first module,
besides identification, input, modification and searches, will be the
3
The reader can find them and load them into his computer in Sapanu, GSRCInternet which has the address: http://www.labherm.filol.csic.es.

storage of Non-segmented G r a p h e m a t i c Chains. T h e n a m e refers


to the stage of the G r a p h e m a t i c Chains before applying the segmentation procedures described in the next module.
With this first module the data bank can be completed with all
the data to be fed in.
The second module allows us to move from the Non-segmented Graphematic Chains to the Words with their Morphological Display (Palabras
en Morfologia Desplegada or PMD).
It requires the creation of a series of applications for the Segmentation of Graphematic Chains according to the rules for the writing
and the scribes of that language and similarly applications for systematic search of Split Chains (interrupted words, written over two
consecutive lines ( C u n c h i l l o s 1998a).
O n e part of the existing data will be the Incomplete Graphematic
Chains. These comprise the Reconstructible data. In order to deal
with them, special applications have to be created taking as a basis,
for example, the existing vocabulary, although other more theoretical
or comparative criteria may be used. In this way the applications of
the Rcconstructible Chains and their possible Reconstructors arise.
Finally, this second module enables Concordances of Words with
their Morphological Display in context to be compiled ( C u n c h i l l o s 1995a).
Vita
T h e result of the aforementioned applications is the Generator of Segmentations, Restorations and Concordances ( G S R C ; C u n c h i l l o s - C e r v i g n
Vita

G a l n

Zamora

1996).

The third module enables the shift from PMD to Stems and Roots.
T h e shift takes place due to the Ugaritic Morphological Analyser (Analizador
Morfolgico Ugaritico or AMU). T o function the AMU requires:
a) A List or file of attested Words with their Morphological Display which
has been derived previously by a computer process, extracting from
the text first the attested Graphematic Chains and then selecting from
them the PMD.
b) A lexicon of Roots and Stems known and accepted as such by
specialists. T o compile it, uniform rules have to be applied for the input
and lexicographical treatment of Roots and Stems. Some headings
or fields are strictly necessary (Stem/Root, Homograph, Comparative
Linguistics, Grammatical Class, Meaning), others are useful (Bibliography, Semantic Field, Notes and Commentary).
c) Table of morphological modifiers.
d) Table of morphological analysis, where the results are written and stored.

T h e process applies the Rules which explain the formation and morphological development of the words. This means that they describe
the behaviour of each one of the grammatical classes. AMU, faced
with a PMD, applies the rules. W h e n it is seen that the rules of a
grammatical class are followed in the PMD, AMU assigns the appropriate grammatical class to it and, by analysis of the PMD, it will
explain its morphology.
AMU proposes several levels of analysis, running from a simple
one, if the PMD matches one of the entries in the Lexicon, to the
formation of possible nouns, gentilics or names of professions, through
detailed analysis of nominal and verbal forms.
T h e specialist has to make multiple tests before accepting the
analyser. Moreover, the analyser should be tested by other specialists, who will be asked to try to find morphological rules which have
not been taken into account.
T h e analyses made by the analyser, after preliminary refinement,
will enable the possible relationships between analysis and text to be
established. In other words, the specialist has to be able to assign
an analysis of each word in all the texts or at least select a limited
n u m b e r of them as possible.
From then on, when the user asks for a text he will have access
to the analysis of each word making up that text, and by means of
that analysis, to each of their components: a file of prefixes, suffixes,
etc., and the lexicon where the Roots and Stems are stored. T h e
most important result of the third module will be the Concordance of
Ugantic Roots (Concordancia de Rakes Ugarticas or CRU).
The fourth module, 'from word to sentence', will deal with syntax.
It has begun with a file in which simple syntagms are compiled, i.e.
groups of two or more words which have a special meaning, as
accepted by colleagues. Each element of such a syntagm is connected
with the corresponding roots and stems of the lexicon ( C u n c h i l l o s
1996b). L a t e r on, the p a t t e r n s of Semitic syntax p r o p o s e d by
B r o c k e l m a n n (1967) and other authors will be used.

Conclusions

In fact, it is a matter of following the process of recognition of a


text by a specialist ( C u n c h i l l o s 1996a) and making as automatic as
possible. Information already published is also being included. T h e

goal is the construction of a computer environment which will serve


as a tool or set of tools for the specialist ( C u n c h i l l o s 1 9 9 7 ) .
T h e Integrated System of Morphological Analysis of Ugaritic Texts (Sistema
Integrado de Anlisis Morfolgicu de Textos Ugariticos or SIAMTU)
will
contain:
a) A complete Ugaritic lexicon, kept up to date and linked to each
text where the root occurs; b) the Morphological Analyser; c) all
the previous works ( C u n c h i l l o s 1998a, 1998b, 1998c; C u n c h i l l o s
-

Cervign

1998; C u n c h i l l o s

G a l n

1997; C u n c h i l l o s

Siabra

1998; C u n c h i l l o s - V i t a 1993a, 1999).


T h e Data bank may be put at the disposal of colleagues both by
means of C D - R O M and on the Internet, thus improving the methods and efficiency of the specialist.
(Translation:

W.G.E.

Watson)

CO
<U
3

REFERENCES

ABD
AEL
AHw
ANEP
ANET
A
ARET
BDB
BHS
CAD

CAH

CARTU
CAT
CHD

CIS
CML
CPU

CS
CTA

CTH
DBS

ABBREVIATIONS:

REFERENCE

WORKS

D.N. F R E E D M A N (ed.) The Anchor Bible dictionary 6 volumes (New York:


Doubleday 1992).
E.W. L A N E An Arabic-English Lexicon (London, Edinburgh: Williams &
Norgate 1863-93) (repr. ' Cambridge 1984).
W. V O N S O D E N Akkadisches Handwrterbuch 3 volumes (Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz 1965-81).
J.B. P R I T C H A R D The ancient Near East in pictures relating to the Old Testament
(Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 1969'2).
J.B. P R I T C H A R D (ed.) Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament
(Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 19693).
A . C O W L E Y Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Centuiy BC (Oxford: Clarendon
1923).
Archivi reali di Ebla, Testi.
F . B R O W N - S . R . D R I V E R - C.A. B R I G G S (eds) A Hebrew and English
Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon 1906).
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.
I J . G E L B et al. (eds) The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the
Univemty of Chicago (Chicago IL: Chicago Oriental Institute; Glckstadt:
J. and J . Augustin Verlag, 1956).
I . E . S . E D W A R D S - C . J . G A D D - N . G . L . H A M M O N D (eds) The Cambridge
ancient history (3rd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
1970-).
J . C . DE M O O R - K . S P R O N K A Cuneiform anthology of religious texts from
Ugarit. Autographed texts and glossaries ( S S S 6 , Leiden: Brill 1 9 8 7 ) .
see KTU'.
H . G . G T E R B O C K - H . A . H O F F N E R (eds) The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago (Chicago IL: Chicago Oriental Institute,
1980).
Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum (Paris: Klincksieck 1881).
Canaanite Myths and Legends ( D R I V E R 1 9 5 6 , G I B S O N 1 9 7 8 ) .
J.-L. C U N C H I L I.OS J.-P. V I T A Concordancia de palabras ugarticas en morfologa desplegada. Banco de datas filolgicos semiticos noroccidentales (BDFSN).
Datas ugariticos (3 vols., Madrid, Zaragoza: CSIC, Institucin Fernando
el Catlico 1995).
W.W. H A L L O (with K.L. Y O U N G E R Jr) The context of scripture. Vol. 1
Canonical compositions from the biblical world (Leiden: Brill 1997).
A . H E R D N E R Corpus des tablettes en cuniformes alphabtiques dcouvertes Ras
Shamra-Ugarit de 1929 1939 2 volumes (BAH 79, M R S 10, Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale, Geuthner 1963).
C T A (Roman) used for text references.
. L A R O C H E Catalogue des textes hittites (Etudes et commentaires 7 5 , Paris:
Klincksieck 1971).'
Supplment au Dictionnaire de la Bible.
(Supplement 9, Paris: Letouzey and An 1979. Cols. 1124-1466 on
Ras Shamra (Ugarit), E. J A C O B
H . C A Z E L I . E S (eds); articles by J . - C .
C O U R T O I S et

al.

DDI)
DLU
DNIVSI
GAG
HALOT

KRI
KTU

LA
MSL

NERT

PRU

RIA
RPOA

. VAN DER T O O R N - . BECKING - P . W . VAN DER H O R S T (eds) Dictionary


of deities and demons in the Bible (Leiden: Brill 1995). 2nd edition 1999.
G . DEL O L M O L E T E - J . SANMARTN (eds) Diccionario de la lengua ugaritica
(AuOrS 7 vol. 1, Barcelona: AUSA 1996).
J . H O F T I J Z E R - K. J O N G E L I N G Dictionary of the Northwest Semitic Inscriptions
2 volumes ( H d O I 21, Leiden: Brill 1995).
W . VON SODEN Grundri der akkadischm Grammatik (AnOr 3 , Rome: Pontifical
Biblical Institute 19953.
L. K O E H L E R - W. BAUMGARTNER Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old
Testament (rev. W . BAUMGARTNER - J . J . STAMM, ET M . E J . R I C H A R D S O N
Leiden: Brill 19944 vols.).
H . D O N N E R - W . R L L I G Kanaanische und Aramische Inschriften 3 volumes (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1962-4).
KAI (Roman) used for references.
K.A. K I T C H E N Ramesside Inscriptions: historical and biographical 7 volumes
(Oxford: Blackwell 1968-90).
KTU1 = M . D I E T R I C H - O . L O R E T Z - J . SANMARTN Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit (AOAT 24/1, Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener
Verlag; Kevelaer: Verlag Butzon and Bercker 1976).
KTU2 = M . D I E T R I C H - O . L O R E T Z J . SANMARTN The Cuneiform alphabetic texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and other places ( A L A S P 8, Mnster:
Ugarit-Verlag 1995). (also cited as CAT)
K T U (Roman) used for text references.
W. HF.LCK - E. O T T O (eds) Lexikon der gyptologie 6 volumes (Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz).
Materials for the Sumerian lexicon: a reconstruction of Sumerian and Akkadian lexical lists:
MSL 3. R. H A L L O C K et al. Das Syllabar ADas Vokabular S" Das
Vokabular SbBerichtigungen und Nachtrge zu MSL II -Indices zu
MSL II (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute 1 9 5 5 ) .
MSL 10. . L A N D S B E R G E R - . R E I N E R (with the collaboration of
M . C I V I L ) The series 'HAR-ra = hubullu', tablets XVI, XVII, XIX
and related texts (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute 1 9 7 0 ) .
W. BEYERLIN et al. (eds) Near eastern religious texts relating to the Old Testament
(London: SCM, 1 9 7 8 ) . E T of Religionsgeschichtliches Textbuch zum Alten
Testament (Grundrisse zum Alten Testament, A T D Ergnzungsreihe 1,
Gttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht 1 9 7 5 ) .
Palais royal d'Ugarit:
PRU 2 . C . V I R O L L E A U D Textes en cuniformes alphabtiques des archives est,
ouest et du petit palais (MRS 7, Paris: Imprimerie Nationale,
Klincksieck 1 9 6 5 ) .
PRU 3 . J . N O U G A Y R O L Textes accadiens et hourrites des archives est, ouest et
centrales (MRS 6 , Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, Klincksieck 1 9 5 5 ) .
PRU 4 . J . N O U G A Y R O L Textes accadiens des archives sud (MRS 9 , Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale, Klincksieck 1 9 5 6 ) .
PRU 5 . C . V I R O L L E A U D Textes en cuniformes alphabtiques des archives sud,
sud-ouest et centrales (MRS 11, Paris: Imprimerie Nationale,
Klincksieck 1 9 6 5 ) .
PRU 6 . J . N O U G A Y R O L Textes en cuniformes babyloniennes des archives du
grand palais et du palais sud d'Ugarit (MRS 12, Paris: Imprimerie
Nationale, Klincksieck 1 9 7 0 ) .
E D Z A R D , D . O . et al. (eds) Reallexikon der Assyriologie (Berlin, New York:
de Gruyter 1 9 3 2 - ) .
R. IVLBAT et al. Les religions du Proche-Orient asiatique: textes babyloniens, ougaritiques, hittites (Paris: Cerf, 1970).

RSO

Ras-Shamra

Ougarit:
Une maison Ougarit, tudes d'architecture domestique
(Paris: E R C 1983).
R S O 2. D. P A R D E E Les textes hippiatriques (Paris: E R C 1986).
R S O 3. M. YON et al. Le centre de la ville, 38-44' campagnes (1978-1984)
(Paris: E R C 1987).
R S O 4. D. P A R D E E IJS textes para-mythologiques de la 24' campagne (1961)
(Paris: E R C 1 9 8 8 ) .
R S O 5 / 1 . P . B O R D R E U I L - D . P A R D E E La trouvaille pigraphique de l'Ougarit.
1 Concordance (Paris: E R C 1 9 8 9 ) .
R S O 5 / 2 . J.-L. C U N C H I L L O S La trouvaille pigraphique de l'Ougarit. 2 Bibliographie (Paris: E R C 1 9 9 0 ) .
1991).
RSO
6 . M . Y O N (ed.) Arts et industries de la pierre (Paris: E R C
RSO
7 . B O R D R E U I L , P. et al. Une bibliothque au sud de la ville. Les textes
de la 34' campagne (1973) (Paris: ERC 1991).
RSO
8 . H . D E C O N T E N S O N Prhistoire de Ras Shamra, les sondages stratigraphiques de 1955 1976 2 volumes (Paris: E R C 1 9 9 2 ) .
R S O
9 . P. A M I E T Corpus des cylindres de Ras ShamraOugarit II. Sceauxcylindres en hmatite et pierres diverses (Paris: ERC 1992).
R S O 1 0 . O . C A L L O T La tranche 'ville sud'. Etudes d'architecture domestique
(Paris: ERC 1994).
R S O 11. M . Y O N
M . SZNYCER
P. B O R D R E U I L (eds) Le pays d'Ougarit
autour de 1200 av. J.-C. Actes du Colloque International de Paris,
28 juin-1er juillet 1993 (Paris: E R C 1995).
R S O 12. D. P A R D E E Les textes rituels (Paris: E R C in press).
L . R . F I S H E R et al. (eds) Ras Shamra Parallels (vol. 3 S . R U M M E L ed.)
(3 volumes: AnOr 49-51, Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute 1972-81).
= RSO 5/1.
Textes ougariliques
TO 1. A . C A Q U O T - M . S Z N Y C E R - A . H E R D N E R Textes Ougariliques v
Mythes et lgendes (LAPO 7, Paris: Cerf 1974).
TO 2 . A. C A Q U O T
J . - M . DE T A R R A G O N - J.-L. C U N C H I L L O S Textes
Ougaritiques ii: Textes religieux et rituels; Correspondance (LAPO 14,
Paris: Cerf 1989).
R . B O R G E R et al. (eds) Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testament (Gtersloh:
Mohn 1982-).
Ugaritica:
Ugaritica. C . F . - A . S C H A E F F E R Etudes relatives aux dcouvertes de Ras Shamra
( B A H 3 1 , M R S 3 , Paris: Geuthner 1 9 3 9 ) .
Ugaritica 2 . C . F . - A . S C H A E F F E R .Nouvelles tudes relatives aux dcouvertes de
Ras Shamra (BAH 47, M R S 5, Paris: Geuthner 1949).
Ugaritica 3. C.F.-A. S C H A E F F E R Sceaux et cylindres hittites, pe grave du cartouche de Mineptah, tablettes chypro-minoennes et autres dcouvertes
nouvelles de Ras Shamra (BAH 64, M R S 8, Paris: Geuthner
1956).
Ugaritica 4. C.F.-A. S C H A E F F E R Dcouvertes des XVIII' et XIX' campagnes
1954 1955. Fondements prhistoriques d'Ugarit et nouveaux sondages.
Etudes anthropologiques (BAH 74, MRS 15, Paris: Geuthner
1962).
Ugaritica 5 . J . N O U G A Y R O L - E . L A R O C H E - C . V I R O L L E A U D - C . F . - A .
S C H A E F F E R Nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des
archives et bibliothques prives d'Ugarit. Commentaire des textes
(premire partie) (BAH 80, M R S 16, Paris: Geuthner 1968).
Ugaritica 6. C . F . - A . S C H A E F F E R (ed.) ( B A H 81, M R S 17, Paris: Geuthner
1969).
RSO

RSP
TEO
TO

TUAT
Ug

1.

O.

CALLOT

UT

WUS

Ugaritica 7. C.F.-A. S C H A E F F E R (ed.) (BAH 99, M R S 18, Paris: Geuthner


1978).
C . H . G O R D O N Ugaritic Textbook (AnOr 3 8 , Rome: Pontifical Biblical
Institute 1969).
U T (Roman) used for text references.
J. AISTLF.ITNER Wrterbuch der ugaritischen Sprache edited by . E I S S F E L D T
(BVSAWL Phil.-Hist. Klasse 106 Heft 3, Berlin: Akademie Verlag 1963',
19652, 19673, 19744).

II

AAA S
AASOR
AB
ABAW
Abr-Nah
ACF
AEPHE
AF
AoF
AJO
AGI
A ION
AIONS
AJA
ALASP
ALBO
ANLR
AnOr
AnSt
AntSem
AOAT
AOS
ARM(T)
Ar Or
AS'
ATD
ATSAT
AuOr
AuOrS
BA
BAH
BASOR
BASORSS
BBVO
BCSMS
BieOr
BiOr
BLE
BM

ABBREVIATIONS:

SERIES

AND

PERIODICALS

Annales Archologiques Arabes Syriennes


Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Anchor Bible
Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
philosophisch-historische klasse
Abr-Nahrain
Annuaire du Collge de France
Annuaire de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Section des sciences
religieuses)
Anuari de Filologia
Altorientalische Forschungen
ArchivfiirOrientforschung
Archivio glottologico italiano
Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli
AION Supplements
American Journal of Archaeology
Abhandlungen zur Literatur AltSyrienPalstinas und Mesopotamiens
Analecta Lovaniensia Biblica et Orientalia
Accademia Nazionale dei Lined. Rendiconti. Classe di Scienze morali, storiche
e lologiche
Analecta Orientalia
Anatolian Studies
Antiquits smitiques
Alter Orient und Altes Testament
American Oriental Society Series
Archives Royales de Mari (Textes)
Archiv 0rientln
Acta Sumerologica
Das Alte Testament Deutsch
Arbeiten zu Text und Sprache im Alten Testament
Aula Orientalis
AuOr Supplementa
Biblical Archaeologist
Bibliothque Archologique et Historique
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BASOR Supplementary Series
Berliner Beitrge zum Vorderen Orient
Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies
Bibbia e Oriente
Biblica et Orientalia
Bulletin de Littrature Ecclsiastique
Bibliotheca Mesopotamica

BMECJ
BN
BO
BRA
BSA
BSOAS
BVSAWL
BZAW
CIS
CRAIBL
CRB
CSF
DdA
El
ELRA
EPROER
FARG
FAT
FCT
FuF
GLECS
GM
HANES
HdO
HEO
HKA
HOS
HSM
HSS
HTR
HUCA
HZ
IEJ
IF
IV
1LR
IOS
JA
JAMES
JA OS
JBL
JCS
JEOL
JESHO
JHC
JNES
JNSL
JPOS
JOR
JQRS
JRAS
JSOTS
JSS
JSSEi

Bulletin of the Middle Eastern Culture Center of Japan


Biblische Notizen
Bibliotheca Orientalis
Beitrge zum Religionsgeschichte des Altertums
Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
Berichte ber die Verhandlungen der Schsischen Akademie der
Wissenschaft zu Leipzig
Beihefte zur ^ / H F
Copenhagen International Seminar
Comptes Rendus de l'Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres
Cahiers de la RB
Collezione di Studi Fenici
Dialoghi di Archeologia
Eretz Israel
European Languages Resources Association
Etudes prliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain
Forschungen zur Anthropologie und Religionsgeschichte
Forschungen zum Alten Testament
Fronteras de la Ciencia y la Tecnologa
Forschungen und Fortschritte
Groupe linguistique d'tudes Chamito-Smitiques
Gttinger Miszellen
History of the ancient Near East series
Handbuch der Orientalistik
Hautes tudes orientales
Handbuch der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft
Handbook of Oriental Studies
Harvard Semitic Monographs
Harvard Semitic Studies
Harvard Theological Review
Hebrew Union College Annual
Historische Zntscbrijl
Israel Exploration Journal
Indogermanische Forschungen
Indo-Iranian Journal
Israel Law Review
Israel Oriental Studies
Journal Asiatique
Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society
Journal of the American Oriental Society
Journal of Biblical Literature
Journal of Cundform Studies
Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux
Journal of the Social and Economic History of the Orient
Journal of Higher Criticism
Journal of Near Eastern Studies
Journal of Northwest Semitic languages
Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society
Jewish Quarterly Review
Jewish Quarterly Review Supplement
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JSOT Supplements
Journal of Semitic Studies
Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities

JSSM
JTS
KBo
LAPO
MARI
MCAAS
MDOG
MI
MRS
MUSJ
MVAeG
NABU
NUS
OA
OAC
OAM
OBO
OE
OLA
OLP
OLZ
Or
OrSuec
OTS
PEQ
PMS H
PIBA
POS
PRU
QP
RA
RB
RdE
RGTC
RHA
RUR
RRANL
RSF
RSO
RSO
SAK
SBLDS
SBLWAWS
SBS
SCCNH
SCHANE
SCO
SE
SEL
SGKAO
SIMA
SM
SMEA
SMSR
SP

JSS Monographs
Journal of Theological Studies
Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazki
Littratures anciennes du Proche-Orient
Mari: Annales des Recherches Interdisciplinaires
Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences
Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellscha
Materiali Lescali ed Epigrafia
Mission de Ras Shamra
Mmoires de l'Universit St Joseph (Beirut)
Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-Aegyptischen Gessellschaft
Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brves et Utilitaires
Newsletter for Ugaritic Studies
Oriens Antiquus
Orientis Antiqui Collectio
Orientis Antiqui Miscellanea
Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis
Orient-Express
Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica
Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
Orientalia
Orientalia Suecana
Oudtestamentische Studien
Palestine Exploration Quarterly
Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association
Pretoria Oriental Series
Palais Royal d'Ugarit
Quaderni di Semitistica
Revue d'Assyriologie
Revue Biblique
Revue d'Egyptologie
Rpertoire Gographique des Textes Cuniformes
Revue hittite et asianique
Revue de l'Histoire des Religions
Rendiconti dlia Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Linen
Rivista di studi fenici
Ras ShamraOugarit
Rivista degli Studi Orientait
Studien zur Altgyptischen Kultur
Society of Biblical Literature dissertation series
Society of Biblical Literature writings from the ancient world series
Stuttgarter Bibel-Studien
Studies in the culture and civilization of Nuzi and the Hurrians
Studies in the history and culture of the ancient Near East
Studi Classici e Orientait
Sussidi Eruditi
Studi epigrafici e linguistici sut Vicino Oriente antico
Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Vorderen Orients
Studies in Mediterranean archaeology
Studia mediterranea
Studi micenei ed egeo anatolici
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni
Studia Pohl

SP1B
SS
SSR
SSS
ST
StBoT
StPh
SVT
TA
TCS
TSO
TWA
UBL
UCOP
UF
VDI

Scripta Pontifici Instituti Biblici


Studi Semitici
Studi Storico-Religiosi
Semitic Studies Series
Studia Theologica
Studien zu den Bogazky-Texten
Studia Phoenicia
Supplements to VT
Tel Aviv
Texts from cuneiform sources
Texte und Studien der Orientalistik
Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
Ugaritisch-biblische Literatur
University of Cambridge Oriental Publications
Ugarit-Forschungen

VO

Vicino Oriente
Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmler der kniglichen Museen zu Berlin
Vetus Testamentum
World Archaeology
Die Welt des Orients
Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Ernst Moritz Arndt-Universitt Greifswald
(Gesellschafts- und Sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe)
Wiener Zuschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes
Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie
Zeitschrift fr gyptische Sprache
Zeitschrift fr die Alltestamentliche Wissenschaft
Zeitschrift der Deutsche Morgenlndischen Gesellschaft
Zeitschrift des deutschen Palstinvereins
Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamenlliche Wissenschaft

VSKMB
VT
WA
WO

WZG
WZKM
ZA
ZS
ZA W
ZDMG
ZDPV
ZNV

Vestnik Drevney Istorii

III

AO
AT
BCE

CK
DAPT
DN
EA
ET
GN
Hitt.
IAA
KL
LBA
LH
MBA
ME
Msk
NS
PAM
PN
RIH

ABBREVIATIONS:

GENERAL

Louvre catalogue prefix: 'Antiquits Orientales'


Alalakh Text
before the common era
unpublished text in a private collection
Deir Alia Plaster Texts
divine name
El Amarna
English translation
geographical name
Hittite
Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
Kamid el-Lz/Kumidi, Muse Nationale de Beyrouth
Late Bronze Age
Late Helladic
Middle Bronze Age
Meskene-Emar
Meskene
new series
Palestine Archaeological Museum, Jerusalem
personal name
Ras ibn Hani

RAI
RN
RS
RSL
TN
TT
TU
Ur

Recontre Assyriologique Internationale


royal name
Ras Shamra
Ras Shamra Louvre (museum number)
toponym
Tell Taanak, Concordia Seminary, St Louis Mo.
Texto(s) ugartico(s)
Urartian

IV
AARTUN,

BIBLIOGRAPHY

OF W O R K S

CITED

1968
1974

Beitrge zum ugaritischen Lexikon, WO 4:278-99.


Die Partikeln des Ugaritischen 1. Teil (AOAT 21/1, Kevelaer: Butzon
and Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener-Verlag).
Die Partikeln des Ugaritischen 2. Teil (AOAT 21/2, Kevelaer: Butzon
and Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener-Verlag).
Neue Beitrge zum ugaritischen Lexikon I, UF 16:1-52.
Neue Beitrge zum ugaritischen Lexikon II, UF 17:1-47.
Studien zur ugaritischen Lexikographie. Teil I: Bume, Tiere, Gerche, Gtterepitheta,
Gtternamen, Verbalbegriffe (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz).

1978
1984
1985
1991
ABOUD, J .

Die Rolle des Knigs und seiner Familie, nach den Texten von Ugarit (FARG
27, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag).

1994
AHARONI,
AHL,

Y.

The Land of 'Amqi, IEJ 3:153-61.

1953
S.W.
1973

Epistolary texts from Ugarit: structural and lexical correspondences in epistles in


Akkadian and Ugaritic (Brandeis University PhD Diss., Ann Arbor MI:
UMI).

AISTLEITNER, J .

Die Nikkal-Hymne aus Ras-Schamra, Z D M G 93:52-9.


Die mythologischen und kultischen Texte aus Ras Schamra 2nd edition (Budapest:
Akadmiai Kiad).
WUS.

1939
1964
1974
AITKEN,

K.T.

1987

Formulaic patterns for the passing of time in Ugaritic narrative, UF


19:1-10.
Oral formulaic composition and theme in the Aqhat narrative, UF

1989a

21:1-16.

1989b
1990
ALBRIGHT,

Word pairs and tradition in an Ugaritic tale, UF 21:17-38.


The Aqhat narrative. A study in the narrative structure and composition of an
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Une nouvelle interpretation de K T U 1.19 i 1-19, SEL 2:93-114.

1987

Notes philologiques sur la lgende ougaritique de Danel et d'Aqhat.


I, Semitica 37:6-16.
Un recueil ougaritique de formules magiques, SEL 5:31-43.
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Une contribution ougaritique la prhistoire du titre divin Shadday,
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1988
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Ugaritic religion (Iconography of religions, XV, 8, Leiden: Brill).

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La leggenda fenicia di Danel e Aqhat, RRANL (Scienze morali) VI


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The Seven Wives of King Keret, BASOR 119:18-20.
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Ilu, Yarihu and the One with two horns and a tail,

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1996b
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Review of Ug 5, VT 19:499-505.
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1987
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1976
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T h e Ugaritic hippiatric texts. Revised composite text, translation and


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1983
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M.E.

1993

The cultic calendars of the ancient Near East (Bethesda MD: C D L Press).

DE C O N T E N S O N ,

1992
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R S O 8.
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1978

Stories from ancient Canaan (Philadelphia PA: Westminster).

COOGAN, M . D .

1994
COOPER,

EXUM, J . C . -

STAGER, L . E .

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Scripture and other artifacts. Essays on Archaeology and the Bible in honor of
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A.

1987

M L K < L M : 'Eternal King' or 'King of Eternity'?, 1-7 in M A R K S ,


J . H . - G O O D , R.M. (eds) Love and death in the ancient Near East Essays
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1988
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Les parallles du Psautier avec les textes de Ras Shamra, Le Muson


59:1 13-42.
I.

1993
1994

Anat and Qudshu as 'Mistress of Animals'. Aspects of the iconography of the Canaanite goddesses, SEL 10:21 45.
The iconography of the Canaanite gods Reshef and Ba'al. Late Bronze and Iron
Age periods (c. 1500 1000 BC) ( O B O 140, Fribourg: Universittsverlag;
Gttingen: Vandenhoek and Ruprecht).

Forthcoming
The iconography of the Syro-Palestinian goddesses Asherah, Anat, Astarte and
Qedeshet in the I site Bronze- Iron Age I periods (OBO, Fribourg: Universittsverlag; Gttingen: Vandenhoek and Ruprecht).
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Anatomy of a decipherment, TYVA 55:11 20.

COURTOIS, J . - C .

1969

La maison du prtre aux modles de poumon et de foies d'Ugarit, Ug


6:91-119.
Sur divers groupes de vases mycniens en Mditerrane orientale (12501150 av. J.-C.), 137-65 in V. K A R A G E O R G H I S (ed.) Acts of the International
Archaeological Symposium: 'The Mycenaeans in the Eastern Mediterranean'
(Nicosia: Cyprus Department of Antiquities).
Corpus cramique de Ras Shamra-Ugarit. Niveaux historiques d'Ugarit.
Bronze Moyen et Bronze Rcent. Deuxime partie, Ug 7:191 370.
Various entries, DBS 9:1124-1295, 1439-42.
Enkomi und Ras Shamra, zwei Aussenposten der Mykenischen Kultur,
182-217 in H.G. B U C H H O L Z (ed.) Agische Bronzezeit (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buch-gesellschaft).
Yabninu et le palais sud d'Ougarit, Syria 67:103-42.

1973

1978
1979
1987

1990
CRAIGIE,

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1983
CROSS,

Ugarit and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans).

F.M.

1974
1976

Prose and poetry in the mythic and epic texts from Ugarit, HTR 67:1-15.
The 'olden gods' in ancient near eastern creation myths, 329-38 in
F . M . C R O S S - W . E . L E M K E - P.D. M I L L E R (eds) Magnolia Dei- the mighty
acts of God. Essays on the Bible and archaeology in memory of G. Ernest Wright
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CUDDON, J . A .

1992
CULICAN,

The Penguin dictionary of literary terms and literary theory (Harmondsworth:


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1966

The first merchant venturers: the ancient Levant in history and commerce (London:
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CUNCHILLOS, J . - L .

1981a

1981b
1982
1983a
1983b
1984
1986
1989a
1989b
1990
1991

1992a
1992b
1996a

Etude philologique de ml'k. Perspectives sur le ml'k de la divinit


dans la bible hbraque, 30-51 in SVT 23 (Congress volume, Vienna
1980, Leiden: Brill).
K T U 2.21. Lettre adresse la Reine. Ibrkd a transmis le message de
la Reine, UF 13:45-8.
La'ika, ml'k et m'i'k en smitique nord-occidental, RSF 10:153-60.
Une formule indite de salutation en ougaritique, AuOr 1:61-6.
Le pronom dmonstratif hn en ougaritique. Son existence, son histoire,
ses rapports avec les autres dmonstratifs et avec l'article, AuOr 1:155-65.
La religiosit quotidienne dans la correspondance d'Ugarit, RHR
201:229-34.
'Que tout aille bien auprs de ma mre!' Un qatala optatif en ougaritique?, 2 5 9 - 6 6 in M U N O Z 1 9 8 6 .
Correspondance, 239-421 in TO 2.
Estudias de epislologrcfta ugaritica (Valencia: Institucin San Jernimo).
R S O 5/2.
'El encargado o comisionado'. Recorrido por los senderos de la exegsis. De la filologia a las instituciones. De lo profano a lo religioso. De
la historia de las religiones a la teologia, 83-94 in III Simposio biblico
espafiol (I Luso-Espanhol) (Valencia, Lisbon: Fundacin biblica espanola).
Realizaciones informticas del Sistema integrado de anlisis morfolgico
de textos ugariticos (SIAMTU), Biblica 73:547-59.
Manual de estudios ugariticos (Textos Universitarios 12, Madrid: CSIC).
La Hermeneumtica: de la tablilla a la inteligencia artificial, FCT
12:52-5.

Le traitement informatique des syntagmes simples. XLIII Rencontre


Assyriologique Internationale, Prague 1 5 juillet. 223 34 in Studia
Mesopotamia, Anatolica et Iranica, SIMA 3.
Des outils pour le dveloppement de l'hermmeumatique smitique
1997
nord-occidentale, 9 7 - 1 2 4 in J . A . E M E R T O N (ed.) Congress Volume (Cambridge
1995) (SVT 66, Leiden: Brill).
1998a Cadenas Quebradas, 1 5 1 - 7 4 in D I E T R I C H
KOTTSIEPER 1 9 9 8 .
1998b Organizacin, resultados y expectativas del 'Banco de datos filologicos
semiticos noroccidentales'. Actas del Congreso Espanol de Antiguo Oriente Proximo. Sapnu. Publicaciones en Internet, / / ( 1 9 9 8 ) . labherm. filo.csic.es
1998c Un banco de datos filologicos (BDFSN). JADT 1998. 4" Journes internationales d'analyse statistique de donnes textuelles (Nice: Universit Nice
Sophie Aniplois, CNRS, INaLF).
Forthcoming a
Tratamiento informtico de las lenguas Siro-palestinas del II y I milenio a. C. Desarrollo actual y estrategia de futuro, en I International symposium. A decade in ancient near eastern studies (1986-1996). Universidad
Autnoma de Madrid 24 December 1996 (Madrid: CSIC) in press.
Forthcoming b
El generador de segmentaciones, restituciones y concordancias, GSRC.
Un conjunto de herramientas para la investigacin filolgica en CDRom y Internet. 44e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Venise, 7-11
Juillet 1997 in press.
Forthcoming c
Organisation et spcifications de la Banque de Donnes 'Banco de
Datos Filologicos Semiticos Noroccidentales', Fifth international conference
on Bible and computers (AIBI 5). Bible and informatics: translation and transmission. Universit de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, 1-4 September 1997 (Madrid:
UAM) in press.
CUNCHILLOS, J . - L . -

1998

CUNCHILLOS, J . - E .

1996

R.

CERVIGN,

R. -

VITA, J . - P .

GALN, J . M .

ZAMORA, J . - A .

Generador de Segmentaciones, Restituciones y Concordancias (Banco de datos


filologicos semiticos noroccidentales (BDFSN). Datos ugariticos, III). C D - R O M ,
53Mb, I S B N : 8 4 - 9 2 2 1 8 9 - 0 - 8 . Madrid.

CUNCHILLOS, J . - L . -

1996
1997

CERVIGN,

Analizador morfolgico de palabras ugarticas (AMU), ii 839-46 in


A. R U B I O - N . G A I . L A R D O
R . CASTRO
A. T E J A D A (eds) First international conference on language resources and evaluation. Granada, Spain, 28-30
May 1998 (Granada: ELRA).

GALN, J . - M .

Filologia e informtica. Epigrafia ugaritica, Sefarad 56:161 170.


T h e Northwest Semitic philological databank: setting out and realizations, (SIMA 3, Gteborg: Enigma Corporation).

CUNCHILLOS, J . - L . -

SIABRA, J .

Forthcoming
Herramientas para el tratamiento critico de textos semtico-noroccidentales: mdulos primero y segundo para el fenicio, ii 1009-13 in
A . RUBIO - N . GALLARDO - R . CASTRO
A . T E J A D A (eds) First international conference on language resources and evaluation. Granada, Spain, 28~30
May 1998 (Granada: E L R A ) .
CUNCHILLOS, J . - L . -

1993a
1993b

VITA, J . - P .

Banco de Datos Filologicos Semiticos Noroccidentales (BDFSN): /. Textos Ugariticos


(TU) (Madrid: CSIC, Institucin Fernando el Catolico).
Crnica de la destruccin de una ciudad del reino de Ugarit (TU 0 0 2.61), Sefarad 53:243-47.

1995a

Concordancia de palabras ugarlicas en morfologa desplegada. (CPU) Banco de


datosfilolgicossemticos noroccidentales (BDFSN). Datos ugariticos, II (3 vols.,
Madrid: CSIC, Institucin Fernando el Catlico).
El selb de I1rp. Nota filobgica sobre TU 00-6.69 (RS 17.25), Sefarad
55:389-92.
Die Informatisierung der ugaritischen Sprache, Nordostafrikanisch/ Westasiatische Studien (Frankfurt am Main: Universitt Frankfurt) in press.

1995b
1999

CUNCHILLOS, J . - L . -

1995
CURTIS,

ZAMORA, J . - A .

Gramtica ugaritica elemental (Madrid: Ediciones C1sicas).

A.H.N.

1985

Ugarit (Ras Shamra) (Cities of the Biblical World, Cambridge: Lutterworth).

CUTLER, B. -

MACDONALD, J .

1982

On the origin of the Ugaric text K T U 1.23, UF 14:33-50.

DAHOOD,

M.J.

1970
1972
1975
1981
DALIX,

Psalms III 101-150 (AB 17a, Garden City NY: Doubleday).


Ugaritic-Hebrew parallel pairs, RSP I, 71-382.
Ugaritic-Hebrew parallel pairs, RSP II, 1-39.
Ugaritic-Hebrew parallel pairs, RSP III, 1-206.

A.-S.

1996
DAVIES,

Exemples de bilinguisme Ougarit. Iloumilkou: la double identit d'un


scribe, 81-90 in B R I H J E L - C H A T O N N E T 1996.

E.W.

1993

The inheritance of the first-born in Israel and the ancient Near East,
JSS 38:175-91.

DAY, J .

1985

God's Battle with the Dragon and the Sea. Echoes of a Canaanite myth in the
Old Testament ( U C O P 35, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

DAY, P.L.

Why is Anat a warrior and a hunter? 1 4 1 - 6 in W. J O B L I N G et al. (eds)


The Bible and the politics of exegesis: essays in honor of Norman K. Gottwald
on his sixty-fifth birthday (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press).
Anat: Ugarit's 'mistress of animals', JNES 51:181-90.
Anat, cols. 62-77 in DDD.

1991

1992
1995
DEEM,

A.

1978
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The Goddess Anath and some biblical Hebrew sources, JSS 23:25-30.
M.

1992

Review of

DESROCHES-NOBLECOURT,

1956

DHORME,

1990
1996

1990, BLE 12.

E.

DIAKONOV,
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SINGER

C.

Interpretation et datation d'une scne grave sur deux fragments de


rcipient en albtre provenant des fouilles du palais d'Ugarit, Ug
3:179-220.

1930a
1930b
1931
1939

1981

IZRE'EL -

Un nouvel alphabet smitique, RB 39:571-77.


Le dchiffrement des tablettes de Ras Shamra, JPOS 11:1-6.
Premire traduction des textes phniciens de Ras Shamra, RB 40:32-56.
Lettre du roi de Kargamish au roi d'Ugarit, i 203-7 in Mlanges syriens
offerts Monsieur Ren Dussaud (BAH 30, Paris: Geuthner).
I.M.

Evidence on the ethnie division of the Hurrians, SCCNH 1:77-89.


M.

Die akkadischen Texte der Archive und Bibliotheken von Emar, UF


22:25-48.
Aspects of the Babylonian impact on Ugaritic literature and religion,
33-47

in WYATT -

WATSON -

LLOYD

1996.

1997

DIETRICH, M .

1998

DIETRICH, M .

1964-6
1966a
1966b
1967
1969
1970

1973a

1973b
1973c
1976
1978a
1978b
1978c
1980a
1980b
1981
1982
1983a
1983b
1983c
1985
1988a
1988b

Die Texte aus Ugarit im Spannungsfeld zwischen Knigshaus und


Bevlkerung, 75-93 in R. A L B E R T Z (ed.) Religion und Gesellscha. Studien
zu ihrer Wechselbeziehung in den Kulturen des antiken Vorderen Orients. Verffentlichungen des Arbeitskreises zur Erforschung der Religions- und Kulturgeschichte
des antiken Vorderen Orients (AOAT 248, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag).
-

KOTTSIEPER,

I.

(eds)

'Und Mose schrieb dieses Lied auf. . .'. Studien zum Alten Testament und zum
Alten Orient. Fesischri fur . Loretz zur Vollendung seines 70. l^ebensjahres
mit Beitrgen von Freunden, Schlern und Kollegen (AOAT 250, Mnster:
Ugarit-Verlag).
-

LORETZ,

O.

Die soziale Struktur von Alalah und Ugarit. I. Die Berufsbezeichnungen mit der hurritischen Endung -Ifuli, WO 3:188 205.
Der Vertrag zwischen Suppiluliuma und Niqmaddu. Eine philologische und kulturhistorische Studie, WO 3:206-45.
Zur ugaritischen Lexikographie (I), BiOr 23:127-33.
Untersuchungen zur Schrift- und Lautlehre des Ugaritischen (I), WO
4:300-15.
Hurritisch *fa/ent- in ugaritischen Personennamen, UF 1:211-3.
Die soziale Struktur von Alalah und Ugarit (IV). Die = fo/u-Listen
aus Alalah IV als Quelle fr die Erforschung der gesellschaftlichen
Schichtung von Alalah im 15. J h . v. Chr., ZA 60:88-123.
Der Prolog des Krt-Epos (CTA 14 I 3-5), 31-6 in H. G E S E - H.P.
R G E R eds, Wort und Geschichte. Festschrift fr Karl Elliger zum 70. Geburtstag
(AOAT 18, Kevelaer: Butzon and Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener-Verlag).
Der Prolog des" Krt-Epos. Eine Ergnzung, UF 5:283.
Untersuchungen zur Schrift- und Lautlehre des Ugaritischen (I): Lesehilfen in der ugaritischen Orthographie, UF 5:71-7.
Die Elfenbeininschrifien und S-Texte aus Ugarit (AOAT 13, Kevelaer:
Butzon and Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener-Verlag).
Die sieben Kunstwerke des Schmiedegottes in K T U 1.4 I 23-43,
UF 10:57-63.
Ug. kld 'Bogen' und arkd 'Wurfholz, Lanze (?)' in K T U 4.277,
UF 10:429.
Der 'Seefahrende Volk' von sikila (RS 34.129), UF 10:53-6.
Die Bannung von Schlangengift (KTU 1.100 und K T U 1.107:7b13a.19b-20), UF 12:153-70.
Schriftliche und mndliche berlieferung eines 'Sonnenhymnus' nach
K T U 1.6 VI 42-53, UF 12:399-400. '
Neue Studien zu den Ritualtexten aus Ugarit (i). Ein Forschungsbericht,
UF 13:63-100.
Das Portrt einer Knigin in K T U 1.14 I 12-15. Zur ugaritischen
Lexikographie (XVIII), UF 14:199-204.
Rechts- und Wirtschaftsurkunden historisch-chronologische Texte, in
TUAT 1/2.
Neue Studien zu den Ritualtexten aus Ugarit (II) Nr. 6 - Epigraphische
und inhaltliche Probleme in K T U 1.161, UF 15:17-24.
Kennt das Ugaritische einen Titel Ahat-Milki = Sar-elli = Iryl 'Schwester
des Knigs'?, UF 15:303.
Briefe aus Ugarit, 5 0 5 1 0 in TUAT Mb.
Die Keilalphabete. Die phnizisch-kanaanischen und altarabischen Alphabete in
Ugarit (ALASP 1, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag).
Ugaritische Rituale und Beschwrungen, 299-357 in TUAT II/3.

1989
1990a

The Cuneiform alphabets of Ugarit, UF 21:101-12.


Mantik in Ugarit Keilalphabetische Texte der OpferschauOmensammlungen
Nekromantie (AI.ASP 3, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag).
Hurritisch-ugaritisch-hebrisch tbl 'Schmied', UF 22:87-8.
The syntax of omens in Ugaritic, Maarav 5-6:89-109.
Schifishandel und Schiffsmiete zwischen Byblos und Ugarit ( K T U
4.338:10-8), UF 22:89-96.
Zur Debatte ber 'Funerary rituals and beatific afterlife in Ugaritic
texts and in the Bible', UF 23:85-90.
Grabbeigaben fir den verstorbenen Knig. Bermerkungen zur Neuausgabe von RS 34.126 = K T U 1.161, UF 23:103-6.
Ugaritisch dr\ dry und hebrisch zrh II, UF 23:79-82.
Ugaritisch 'r, irma und thiopisch 'aara, 309-27 in K A Y E (ed.) 1 9 9 1 .
'Jahwe und seine Aschera. ' Anthropomorphes Kultbild in Mesopotamien, Ugarit
und Israel (UBL 9, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag).
K T U 1.114, ein 'Palimpsest', UF 25:133-6.
Ugaritisch ii, tyndr und hebrisch 's'h, sy, UF 26:63-72.
Neue Tafelfunde des Grabungskampagne 1994 in Ugarit, UF 26:21-2.
(eds) Ugarit: ein ostmediterranes Kulturzentrum. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven
der Forschung. I. Ugarit und seine altorientalische Umwelt (ALASP 7, Mnster:
Ugarit-Verlag).
Analytic Ugaritic Bibliography (1972-1988) (AOAT 20/6, NeukirchenVluyn: Neukirchener Verlag; Kevelaer: Butzon and Bercker).
Word list of the cuneiform alphabetic tablets from Ugarit (ALASP 12;
Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag).
Der Vertrag zwischen Ir-Addu von Tunip und Niqmepa von Muki,
211-42 in M.W. C H A V A L A S - R.E. A V E R B E C K (eds) Crossing Boundaries
and Unking Horizons. Studies in Honor of Michael C. Astour (Bethesda
MD: C D L Press).
Amurru, Yaman und die gischen Inseln nach den ugaritischen
Texten, IOS 18:335-63.

1990b
1990c
1990d
1991a
1991 b
1991c
1991 d
1992
1993
1994a
1994b
1995

1996a
1996b
1997

1998
DIETRICH,

M.

1967-86

DIETRICH, M .

1974a
1974b
1975a
1975b
1975c
1975d
1975e
1975f
1975g
1975h
1975i
1975j

LORETZ, O .

et

al.

Ugarit-Bibliographie 1928-1950 (AOAT 20/1), 1950-1959 (AOAT


20/2), 1959-1966 (AOAT 20/3), Indizes (AOAT 20/4), 1967-1971
(AOAT 20/5) Kevelaer: Butzon and Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn:
Neukirchener Verlag); cf. D I E T R I C H - L O R E T Z 1996a.
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LORETZ, O .

SANMARTN, J .

Der Satzbau in PRU 2.12, UF 6:456-457.


Sonnenfinsternis in Ugarit. PRU 2, 162 (= RS 12.61), das lteste
Dokument ber eine Totaleklipse, UF 6:464-5.
Der stichometrische Aufbau von RS 24.258 = Ug 5, S. 545-51
Nr. 1, UF 7:109-14.
Bemerkungen zur Schlangenbeschwrung RS 24.244, /F 7:121-5.
Einzelbemerkungen zu RS 24.251, UF 7:127-31.
Die keilalphabetische UMMA IZBU-Text RS 24.247 + 265 + 268 +
328: UF 7:133-40.
Die Texteinheiten in RS 1.2 (nc!) = C T A 32 (sic\) und RS 17.100
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Zur ugaritischen Lexikographie XIII, /F 7:157-69.
Das Ritual RS 1.5 = C T A 33, UF 7:525-8.
Die Gtterliste RS 24.246 = Ug 5, S. 594 Nr. 14, UF 7:545-6.
Notizen zum Opfertext RS 24.260 = Ug 5, S. 586 Nr. 11, UF 7:
543-4.
Zu s'lm kll im Opfertext von Marseille (CIS I 165), UF 7:561-2.

1976a
1976b
1976c

KTU
Ug. kgmn oder k gmn (CTA 6 I 19-29), UF 8:432.
Die ugaritischen Totengeister RPU(M) und die biblischen Rephaim,
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KTU2 (also cited as CAT).

1995
DIETRICH, M .

1991
1992
1993
1994

M A Y E R , VV.

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Die Konjunktive im Mitanni-Hurritischen, UF 24:39 -58.
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1984
1985
1986
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1988
1989
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1991
1993
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Some reflections on the legend of Aqhat, UF 11:199-210.
The ritual K T U 1.46 (= RS 1.9) and its duplicates, UF 16:69-76.
Once again the closing lines of the Ba'al Cycle (KTU 1.6.VI.42ff.),
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An Ugaritic fable (KTU 1.93), UF 18:125-8.
Marginalia to the Ugaritic letters I, UF 19:37 48.
Epigraphical evidence for the determination of the column-order in
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The legend of Danel and the Rephaim, UF 20:35-52.
Marginalia to the Ugaritic letters II, UF 21:141-52.
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T h e weather-god on two mountains, UF 23:127-40.
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1995
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Un testo ugaritico recente (RS 24.266, Verso, 9-19) e il 'sacrificio
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Note di lessicografia ugaritica, I, OA 17:123-9.
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Le dieu Rashap Ugarit, AAAS 29-30:145-62.
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Gli antenati di Dio (Verona: Essedue).
Die Ausrstung eines kanaanischen Schiffes ( K T U 4.689), WO
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1982c
1982d
1983

QDS. Semantica del 'sacro' a Ugarit, MLE 1:9-17.


Restituzioni di toponimi nei testi economici (KTU 4), MLE 1:53-5.
Sulla pi antica storia di alcune divinit fenicie, 401-7, in BARTOLINI,
P. - BONDI, S.F. (eds) Atti del I Congresso Intemazionale di Studi Fenici e
Punici, Roma, 5-10 Novembre 1979 vol. 2 (Rome: Consiglio Nazionale
delle Ricerche).
1984a K T U 1.48 e la tariffa punica di Marsiglia, RSF 12:165-8.
1984b 'Tu sei mio fratello ed io sono tua sorella!' ( K T U 1.18 i 24), AuOr
2:151-3.
1984c Le formule rituali ugaritiche relative al sole, UF 16:339-49.
1988
figli del re e le figlie del re'. Culto dinastico e tradizioni amoree nei
rituali di Ugarit, SEL 5:219-25.
1989
Remarques sur le vocabulaire sacrificiel d'Ougarit, GLECS 24~28
(1979-84):467-87.
1990
'Arsnic et vieilles dentelles'encore sur la terminologie des textiles
Ugarit, UF 22:467-74.
1991
Baal Hammon. Recherches sur l'identit et l'histoire d'un dieu phnico-punique
(CSF 32, Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche).
1995a Resheph, cols. 1324-30, in DDD.
1995b Ugarit et les Phniciens. Identit culturelle et rapports historiques,
239-66 in M . DIETRICH - LORETZ 1995.
1995c Gunu(m)(KI) dans les textes d'Ebla, NABU 89 (1995/4):80 1.
1996a Les pouvoirs du dieu 'Attar, 381-404 in W Y A T T - WATSON
LLOYD
(1996).
1996b II 'capro espiatorio' a Ebla. Sulle origini storiche di un antico rito
mediterraneo, SMSR (FS. D. Sabbatucci), 62:677-84. (Published 1998).
Forthcoming Die ugaritische Religion: methodologische und kulturhistorische Betrachtungen, in M. K R O P P - A . W A G N E R (eds) "Schnittpunkt" Ugarit
(Nordostafrikanisch-westasiasche Studien 2, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin,
Bern, New York, Paris, Vienna: Lang).
- CAPOMACCHIA,

XELLA, P .

1979
YAMADA,

M.

1992
1993
YARON,

Reconsidering the
correspondance of
Division of a field
istration at Emar,

letters from the 'King' in the Ugarit texts: royal


Carchemish?, UF 24:431-46.
and Ninurta's seal: an aspect of the Hittite adminUF 25:453-60.

R.

1963
1969
YON,

A.M.G.

Tre testi ugaritici relativi a presagi di nascite, OA 18:41-58.

A royal divorce at Ugarit, Or 32:21-31.


Foreign merchants in Ugarit, ILR 4:70-9.

M.

1984
1985
1990
1991a
1991b
1992a
1992b
1992c
1994a

Sanctuaires d'Ougarit, 37-50 in G. Roux (ed.) Temples et sanctuaires


(Paris: Maison de l'Orient).
Baal et le roi, 177-90 in J . - M. YON - Y . CALVET (eds) De
l'Indus aux Balcans (Fs J. Deshayes) (Paris: ERC).
El, le pre des dieux (Monuments et Mmoires publis par AIBL 71,
Vendme: PUF).
Stles de pierre, 273-344 in YON (ed.) 1991.
Note sur la sculpture de pierre, 345-52 in YON (ed.) 1991.
Ugarit. History and archaeology, ABD vi 695-706.
Ugarit. The urban habitat. The present state of the archaeological picture, BASOR 286:19-34.
The end of the kingdom of Ugarit, 1 1 1 - 2 2 in W A R D JOUKOWSKY 1 9 9 2 .
Minet el-Beida, RIA 8 . 3 / 4 : 2 1 3 - 5 .

1994b

Ougarit et ses relations avec les rgions maritimes voisines (d'aprs les
travaux rcents), 421-39 in BROOKE et al. 1994.
La Maison d'Ourtenu dans le quartier sud d'Ougarit (fouilles 1994),
CRAIBL 427-43.
The Temple of the Rhytons at Ugarit, 405-22 in W Y A T T - WATSON -

1995
1996

LLOYD

1996.

1997
1998a

YON,

Ugarit, iv 255-62 in MEYERS, E . M . 1997.


La cit d'Ougarit sur le tell de Ras Shamra (Guides Archologiques de
l'Institut Franyais d'Archologie du Proche-Orient 2, Paris: ERC).
1998b The royal city of Ugarit on the tell of Ras Shamra (Winona Lake IN:
Eisenbrauns).
M . (ed.)
1987
R S O 3.
1991
R S O 6.

YON, M . -

GACHET, J .

1989

Une statuette du dieu El Ougarit, Syria 66:349.

YON, M . -

SZNYCER, M . -

1995
YOUNG,

D.W.

1977

With snakes and dates: a sacred marriage drama at Ugarit, UF 9:291314.


T h e Ugaritic myth of the god Horon, UF 11:839-48.

1979
YOUNG,

BORDREUIL, P . ( e d s )

R S O 11.

G.D.

1948
1949
1950
1960

The structure of the poetry of Ugarit (Dropsie College PhD Diss.).


Semitic metrics and Ugaritic evidence, JBL 68:xii.
Ugaritic prosody, JNES 9:124-33.
Ugaritic poetic style and the Old Testament, JBL 69:viii.

YOUNG, G . D .

(ed.)

1981
YOUNGER,

Ugarit in retrospect. Fifty years of Ugarit and Ugaritic (Winona Lake IN:
Eisenbrauns).
K.L.

Ugaritic king list,

1997
ZACCAGNINI,

1970
1973
1985
1988

1990

356-7

in

HALLO

1997.

C.

Note sulla terminologia metallurgica di Ugarit, OrAnt:315-24.


Lo scambio dei doni nei Vicino Oriente durante i secoli XV-XII I (OAC 11,
Rome: Centro per le Antichit e la Storia dell'Arte del Vicino Oriente).
O n Late Bronze Age marriages, 593-605 in S.F. BONDI et al. (eds)
Studi in onore di Edda Bresciani (Pisa: Giardini).
A note on Hittite International relations at the time of Tudhaliya IV,
295-9 in F. IMPARATI (ed.) Studi di storia e di filologia Anatolica dedicati a
Giovanni Pugliese (Florence: Carratelli, Elite).
T h e forms of alliance and subjugation in the Near East of the Late
Bronze Age, 3 7 - 7 9 in L . CANFORA - M . LIVERANI - C . ZACCAGNINI
(eds.) I tratatti nei Mondo Antico: forma, ideologia, funzione (Saggi di Storia
Antica 2, Rome: Bretschneider).

ZAMORA, J . A .

1997

Sobre el modo de produccin asitico (Madrid-Zaragoza: CSIC, Institucin


Fernando el Catlico).

ZATELLI, .

1998

The origin of the biblical scapegoat ritual: the evidence of two Eblaite
texts, VT 48:254-63.

ZEEB, F .

1992

'Die Truppen sind unfhig': berlegungen zu RS 34.143, UF 24:481-98.

ZEMANEK,

P.

1995
ZEVIT,

Ugaritischer Wortformenindex (Lexicographia orientalis 4, Hamburg: Buske).

1983
VAN Z l J L ,

Nondistinctive stress, syllabic constraints, and Wortmetrik in Ugaritic


poetry, UF 15:291-8.
P.J.

1972a
1972b
1974
1975

Baal. A study of texts in connexion with Baal in the Ugaritic epics (AOAT 10,
Kevelaer: Butzen and Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag).
Translation and discussion of Text 1001:1-2, JNSL 2:74-85.
Translation and discussion of Text 1001:3~5a, JNSL 3:85-93.
Translation and discussion of Text 1001:5b~7, JNSL 4:73-84.

ZUCKERMAN, B . -

1997
ZURRO,

ZUCKERMAN,

K.

Photography of manuscripts, iv 336-47 in

MEYERS, E . M .

1997.

E.

1987

Procedimientos iteratives en la poesia ugaritica y hebrea (BiOr 43, Rome: Biblical Institute Press; Fuentes de la ciencia biblica 4; Valencia: Institution San Jeronimo).

LIST O F C O N T R I B U T O R S

Prof. K E V I N J . C A T H C A R T
Department of Near Eastern Languages
Faculty of Arts
University College Dublin
Dublin 4 (Ireland)
Prof. IZAK CORNELIUS
Department of Ancient Studies
University of Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch
Private Bag XI
Matieland ZA-7602 (RSA)
Prof. Dr JESUS-LUIS CUNCHILLOS
Laboratorio de Hermeneumtica
CSIC-Instituto de Filologia
c / D u q u e de Medinaceli, 6 - 8
E-28014 Madrid (Spain)
D r ADRIAN CURTIS

Dept. of Religions and Theology


University of Manchester
Manchester M13 9PL (GB)
Prof. Dr M A N F R I E D L . G . D I E T R I C H
Institut fur Altorientalische Philologie
und Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde
Ugarit-Forschungsstelle
Schlaunstrae 2
D-48143 Mnster (Germany)
Prof. M E I N D E R T DIJKSTRA
Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid
Postbus 80.105
NL 3508 T C Utrecht (Netherlands)
Prof. J O H N C.L. GIBSON
Emeritus Professor, University of
Edinburgh
10 South Morton St
Edinburgh EH 15 2NB (Scotland)
Prof. M I C H A E L HELTZER
University of Haifa
Haifa 31999 (Israel)

Prof. R I C H A R D S. HESS
Denver Baptist Seminary
Denver, Colorado (USA)
Prof. J O H N HUEHNERGARD
Harvard University
6 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge MA 02138 (USA)
Prof. Dr O S W A L D L O R E T Z
Institut fur Altorientalische Philologie
und Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde
Ugarit-Forschungsstelle
Schlaunstrae 2
D-48143 Mnster (Germany)
Prof. T H E O D O R E J . LEWIS
Department of Religion
Peabody Hall
University of Georgia
Athens GA 30602-1625 (USA)
Prof. BARUCH M A R G A L I T
Department of Biblical Studies
University of Haifa
31905 Haifa (Israel)
Prof. IGNACIO M A R Q U E Z R O W E
Universidade da Coruna
Facultad de Humanidades
Campus de Esteiro
E-15403 Ferrol (Spain)
D r PAOLO

MERLO

via Val Cristallina 9


1-00141 Roma (Italy)
Prof. G R E G O R I O DEL O L M O
Universidad de Barcelona
Dept. de Filologia Semitica
Gran Via 585
E-08007 Barcelona (Spain)

LETE

Prof. W A Y N E T . PITARD
Program for the Study of Religion

LIST

OF

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences


University of Illinois
3014 Foreign Languages Building
707 South Mathews Ave.
Urbana ILL 61801 (USA)
Prof. ITAMAR SINGER
Dept. of Archaeology and
Ancient Near Eastern Cultures
Tel-Aviv University
Ramat-Aviv 69978 Tel-Aviv
(Israel)
Prof. W I L F R E D H . VAN S O L D T
Assyriology
Leiden University
POB 9515
NL 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands)
Dr

K L A A S SPRONK

Beethovelaan 7
NL 4102 BM Culemborg
(Netherlands)
PD

D r JOSEF

TROPPER

Stindestrae 20
D-12167 Berlin (Germany)

825

CONTRIBUTORS

D r JUAN-PABI.O

VITA

CSIC-Instituto de Filologia
Departamento de Filologia Biblica y de
Oriente Antiguo
Laboratorio de Hermeneumtica
c/Duque de Medinaceli, 6~8
E-28014 Madrid (Spain)
D r WILFRED G . E .

WATSON

Department of Religious Studies


The University
Newcastle upon Tyne NEI 7RU (GB)
Prof. STEVEN W I G G I N S
POB 246
Delafield W I 53018 (USA)
Dr

NICOLAS

WYATT

New College
Mound Place
Edinburgh EH 1 2LX (Scotland)
Prof. Dr P A O L O X E L L A
Consigilio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Istituto per la Civilt fenicia e punica
via Salaria Km. 29,500 C.P. 10
1-00016 Monterotondo Stazione (Italy)

INDEX OF TOPICS

-word
181-2
abecedary 51, 614
absolute case, Ugaritic 102
absolute infinitive 153-4
account record 329
acropolis 35
address 361, 375
administrative archives 305
administrative record(s) 393
administrative text(s) 38, 57, 140,
327, 425
administrators 4 3 4 - 5
adoption 479-80, 482
adverbs, Ugaritic 1 18
Aegean motifs 593
afterlife 252, 268
agenda 328
agricultural products 446
agriculture 4 5 0 - 1
Akkadian siptu-prayers in Ugaritic
alphabetic script 145
Akkadian 76, 393, 529
Akkadian legal texts 394- 411
Akkadian tablets 49
Akkadian texts 52, 530
Akkadian-Hurrian wisdom text 58
alabaster 624, 636 n. 100, 637
alabaster container 599
aleph-sign(s) 78, 80, 93 4
alliance 378
alliteration 184, 224
alphabet 76, 79, 456, 457
alphabet, cuneiform 47, 77
alphabet, h-l-h-m 85
alphabet, Old Arabic 85
alphabet, Phoenician 82
alphabet, South Semitic 88
a/un-stone 657
ambassador(s) 463
Amorite 529, 608, 612 n. 31, 613,
613 nn. 36, 47, 637
Amorite Age 616
Amorite settlement 226
Amurritic religion 220
anaphoric use of -n 155
Anatolian names 510

ancestors 295
anchors 21, 583
androgynous deity 542 3
anepigraphic cylinder seals 400
animal names 505
animal offerings/victims 296, 336,
338
anthropology of death 251
'Apiru 629
Aqhat 234-58, 263
Aqhat's birth 248
Aqhat's bow 251
Aqhat's encounter with Anat 248
Arabic 614
archaeology 586
archer 494
archetypal theme 197
archive(s) 17, 29, 48, 471,
604
archive of Hurrian priest 34
aristocracy 264
army 492~8
aromatic oils 4 3 7 - 8
arrowsmith
129, 451
art 586, 587, 601, 602
article and demonstrative hn 153
asa foetida 657, 667, 668
ascents 345
Ashurbanipal's library 354
aspect and tense, Ugaritic 109
assembly of gods 274, 310
asseverative particles, Ugaritic 120
assigned offerings 330
assimilation, Ugaritic 97
Assyrian 697
Assyrian influence 43, 45
Assyrian scribe 33
astrological omens 355 6
astrology 356
astronomical omens, collection of
163
astronomical omens 146, 163
A T 457, 516
Atef-crown 582
atonement 564 6
authorship by Ilimilku 238

Baal(-Anat) Cycle see Baal and Anat


Baal and Mot 196-9
Baal and Anat 53, 193-9, 246, 552
Baal au foudre stela 7, 581, 589, 590
Baal is king 194
Babylonian 703
baking overn 705
ballast variant 172-3
baronial council 216-7, 225
barren(ness) 477, 478
Battle of Qadesh 629, 636, 642
n. 115, 643-4, 644 . 121, 646,
660, 694 . 301, 701
BDFSN 744
bed panel 595
Ben-Sim'l 618
benediction 275
biblical texts 526
bilingual 473
bilingual version 40
bill(s) 391, 399
bill of personal security 417
binding-text 405
biology of religion 567
birds 285
bird names 508
bird oracles 685
Birth of the Pleasant Gods 53
birth omens 146, 163-4
biscriptal 393
bl in compounds 154
blessing(s) 145, 569-71
blessing formula 570
blood " 282, 295
blood-redemption 214
bloodless ritual actions 294
body of letter 365
bow(s) 238, 244, 247, 496
bowls 593
box cover 598
bronze 276 n. 236, 447, 656, 657,
657 n. 167, 658, 668, 676
bronze production 452
bull figurine 593
burlesque 221-2
burnt sacifice 348
business letters, Ugaritic 142
cadastral texts 431
calendar 301
canonical pantheon, Akkadian version
537 n. 24
canonical god list 308
cantor 349

caprice of gods 254


caravan licence 145-6
cardinal numbers, Ugaritic 103
carnelian 447
cartwright 428
case, Ugaritic 101-2
case vowels 507
casus pendens 160
cataclysms 717
catalogue of gods 317
cavalry 495
Cella of Tablets 51
census lists 146
Central Archive 30, 697
Centre Ville 36
ceramic(s) 454, 599
cereals 450
ceremonial 337
ceremonial procession 336
chains of adverbial clauses 151
chains of comparisons 151, 152
chain of epithets 152
Chaoskampf 197, 255, 545, 551
character of Ugaritic poetry 191-2
chariot(s) 429^ 437, 657 n. 161, 682
charioteer 495
charismatic leadership 226
chiasmus, Hurrian 67
chief of shepherds 514
chief priest 428
child's tomb 601
children 478
chronology 392-3, 606-8
City Elders 729
city-gate 250
classification of cultic texts 290-1
classification of Ugaritic 91
classification of Ugaritic prose texts
142-6
clay tablets 81
clergy 433-4
closing formula (of letters) 367
clothing, offering of 329, 332, 336
cognate languages 125-6
collective work 449-50
colophon(s) 140, 193
comedy 221
common standard pantheon 313
communion sacrifice 318, 334
community 483
comparative philology 125
comparative studies 133
composite bow 236
composite epithet 310

composite work 212


compound, Hurrian 67
concentric structure 346
Concordance of Ugaritic Roots 750
conditional hm 159-60
conditionally phrased style 159
conjunction p[m)- 15
conjunctions, Ugaritic
119-20
conscription 493, 495
consecrated ones 301
consonantal inventory of Hurrian 63
consonantal phoneme
138
construct nouns, Ugaritic 147
contest for kingship 193
contraction
180-1
contracts 161
copper 447
correspondence 56, 359-389
correspondence, diplomatic 30 n. 17
corve 512
cosmic waters 532
cosmogony 231
cosmology, Ugaritian 531-37
couplet 173, 175
crafts 483-92
crafts and industries 448-54
craftsmen 428
Cretan 617, 617 n. 42
crying 221
cult of dead and deified kings 340
cult of the dead 282
cult personnel 296
cult places 302
cult, dynastic 297
culdc calendar 330
culdc installations 338, 341
culdc lists of gods 317-23
cultic myths 352
cultic texts 55-56, 305, 318
cultic texts, Ugaritic 287-358
cuneiform law 393
curse-prayer 323
curses 5 7 1 - 3
custom licence 145
cylinder seal, dynastic 61 1
cylinder seals 580, 582, 598
Cypro-Minoan 500, 529, 605, 605
n. 4, 676, 677
daily sacrifices 143
Danel as king 239
Danel, social status of
data bank 747
date formulae 161

249-51

dating tools 705


dative I 161
day of the new moon 333
dead 297
dead and deified kings 299
death 5 7 6 - 9
death ritual 60, 71-2, 577
debt-note 417, 418
decipherment 76-80, 82
dedication
145
deed of conveyance 397, 402
deed of security 418-9
deeds 401
deeds of sale 398
definite article, Hebrew
149
definite article hn- 149
deformed births 574
deictic use of -n 155
demonology 549
demons 276
demonstrative pronouns, Ugaritic
98-9
demonstratives (hnd-hnk/hndt-hnkt/hnhmt)
149, 153
derived stems, Ugaritic 1 1 1
desacralization 331, 343
desacralization/purification 349,
350
descendants 438
descriptive style 147
descriptive-prescriptive ritual 306
deserters 432
determination, Ugaritic 103
determinative pronoun, Ugaritic 99
dialectic of Life and Death 233
dictionary, Ugaritic 122, 123
Didanites 706
diphthongs, Ugaritic 97
diplomatic letters, Ugaritic 142
disappearing god 239
discourse types 141
discourse of persuasion
155-6
disease 279
divination 351, 353, 354
divine assembly 230
divine blessing 376
divine couple 346
divine figures 289
divine kingship 206, 229, 5 6 0 - 2
divine pairs 321
divine peoples 328
divinization of kings 314 n. 15,
560-2
divinized beings 314

divinizing sacred localities 538


divorce 407, 410, 469, 476-8, 482,
512, 681, 702
domestic (legal) texts 412, 416,
393, 394-5
domestic texts 412
double deities 323
double entry 335
double invocation 316
dowry 469, 475, 477
doxology 274
drafts 156
dreambook 163
drinking blood 224
drought 228
drunkenness 285
duplicate(s) 263, 339, 404
dyed cloth 694 n. 300
dyed wool 635, 655, 656, 657, 671,
698, 716
dyes 446-7
dynastic principle 225
dynasty 467
EA texts 222, 526
earthquake 631, 730, 733
Eastern Archive 30, 413
Eblaite 508
ebony 710
eclipse of sun 356
economic texts 136, 140
economy of Ugarit 423-54
edict 391
Edinburgh Ras Shamra Project 736,
737, 742-3, 747
Egyptian 529, 605 n. 4, 620 n. 54
Egyptian Execration Texts 615
Egyptian hieroglyphs 607
Egyptian Middle Kingdom 614 6
Egyptian statuary 587
Egyptian tale of Doomed Prince 244
Egyptian words 130
Egyptians 636
eight-line sequence 177
El's Banquet 202
Elamite 617
elder 429
electronic imaging 734
elephant's tusk 598
ellipsis 172-3
eloquence 158
emphasis with hn, ht, ap 160
emphatic use of interrogative particles
155

emphatic use of separate personal


pronouns 155
enclitic -y as a marker of indirect
speech 153
enclitic -m 507
enclitic particles, Ugaritic 121
energic, Ugaritic 108-9
Enma Anu Enlil 356
envelopes 391
epic 241, 502
Epic of Aqhat 5 3 , 4 8 1
Epic of Keret 53, 480 n. 179
epigraphic analysis 736
epithet 321
etymology 133
evening prayer 164
evil eye 282
excavation 586
excerpt 41
existential particles, Ugaritic 120
exorcism 576
expansion
180-1
expiation 340
expiation (atonement) ritual(s) 140,
144, 163, 5 6 4 - 6
expiatory ritual see expiation ritual
expression for existence (ii) 148
extispicy 353, 357
fable 150-1
faience 599, 601
family ancestors 483
family life 567-8
famine 717
famine-relief liturgy 557
farm 484
feast 261
feast days 344
female condition 231
female exorcist 230
feminine names 502
feminine suffix -at 507
feminist bias 231
fertility 279, 283, 284
fertility cult 540
feudalistic body 225
figurative language 185-7, 190
figurines 598
file for future reference 40
filial piety 568
final clause 396
find-spot 391, 395-6
fire 629, 634
firstborn
480

fixed sequences 317


fleet 498, 659, 718 see navy
flour 341
folk-literature 246
folk-religion 541-2
food 446
footstool 250
foreign scribes 45
formal epistles, Ugaritic 142
formula 183, 256, 409, 414, 572
formulaic patterns 183-4
four aux tablettes 705
four-line strophe 175
French School 207
frit 601
fugitive(s) 462, 467
full moon 297, 301
full moon ritual 335
funerary communion offering 341
funerary offering 347
furniture 437
garden 304, 349
garments 436
General's Letter 628, 644 . 121,
724 . 411
gentilic 511
ghost words 132~3
ghosts 264
gift 397
gift exchange 378, 445
gift of real estate 398
gifts for Athirat 195
Glossenkeil 137
glossmark 137
glyptic 598
goat (scapegoat) 566
god lists 144, 307ff.
god lists in non-sacrificial texts 322 3
goddess 342
gods of Hyr 311
grain 661, 672, 675, 677, 712,
715-9, 719 n. 391
grammar 3
grammar, Ugaritic 91-121
grammar of Akkadian letters 378-81
graphematic chains 744, 752-3
Great Lady 680
greeting(s) 363
guilds 1 485, 486
gutturals 139
habiru 643, 652, 652 n. 138, 663
n. 186, 682

Hades 546
haematite cylinder 598
half-line parallelism 172
harvest 273
heading 'of Baal' 193
Hebrew 508
Helladic 676 n. 237
hendiadys 172 n. 21
heptacolon 177
hermeneumatic 744 n. 28
heroes of Greek cult 252
hexacolon 176
hiatus, Hurrian 66
hippiatric texts 57, 146, 286
hireq compaginis 507
Hittite 58, 505 . 4, 529
Hittite Archive 634 nn. 93, 95, 646
. 127
Hittite Hieroglyphs 409
Hittite legal text 420-2
Hittite scribes 419
Hittite tablets 421
Hittite text(s) 62, 393, 650
Hittite words 130
hoard 731
holocaust 348
homographs 125
homonyms 125, 131-2
horse(s) 495, 497, 655, 655 n. 153,
656, 657, 665, 674, 675, 677, 715,
724, 724 n. 413, 727
Horus falcon 593
House of Alabasters 11
House of literary texts 49
House of Rap'nu 33, 48, 61, 399
House of Rashapabu 48, 399
House of Urtenu 47 n. 4, 56, 49,
375, 472, 605, 676 n. 234, 705,
706
House of the High Priest 10, 15, 48,
51, 234, 259, 328
House of the Hurrian Priest 48-49,
683 n. 261
House of the Lettr 33
House of the Scholar 10, 48, 51
household of (bt) 511
f)upu-mercenaries
357
Hurrian 12, 42, 51, 58, 134, 273,
456, 457, 529, 605 n. 4, 620,

621
Hurrian
Hurrian
Hurrian
Hurrian

Appu story 244


cult 74
domination 63
influence 41, 42, 45

Hurrian myth 558


Hurrian names 510
Hurrian pantheon 324-5
Hurrian priest 74
Hurrian ritual texts 143, 144
Hurrian temple 609
Hurrian Text(s) 52, 58, 530, 683 n. 261
Hurrian words 129-30
Hurrites 616
Hurro-Akkadian 378
hymn(s) 272-3
Hymn of Anat 200, 284
iconography 580-3, 586-602
iconography of deities 586-602
idolatry 583-4
image of deity 295
imagery 187
imperative, Ugaritic 104-5
imperfect, Ugaric 162
imperfective, Ugaritic 109
implements 438
incantation(s) 145, 323, 575
incantations, Ugaritic 150
incense incantation 60
incised inscriptions 9
incubation theory 247-8
indefinite pronouns, Ugaritic 99
individual theologies 539-42
Indo-Aryan words 130-1
Indo-European 130-1, 558
infantry 493, 494
inheritance 480, 510
inscribed clay liver 574
interjections, Ugaritic 120
international arbitrations 406
international conferences 1
international law 441
international legal text(s) 37, 402-3,
419
international letter 37
international trade 653
international treaties 440-1
interrogative pronouns, Ugaritic 99
interrogative pronouns (mn(m)-mnk(m);
mh-mhkm) 149
introductory formulae 376
inversion of subject 151
investiture-enthronement
195
invitation 260
iron 593, 618, 656
irony 214, 571
isoglosses 126
ivory, ivories 19, 21, 582, 595-8

jester 220
joins 392
journey to a banquet 261
jussive/cohortative mood, Ugaritic
105
jussive imperfect, Ugaritic 163
jussive mood, Ugaritic 105
juxtaposition of name and sacrifice
161

Keret see Legend of Keret


kind of ritual 194
king(s) 283, 296, 297, 493
king, prayer of 273
kinglist 550
kingship 533
kingship, dynastic 209, 226
Kinneret hypothesis 243
kispum-rite 225, 292, 357, 577
Kulturwrter 131
labels 438
Lamatu archive 34, 49
language 393
lapis-lazuli 447, 617, 618, 655, 694
n. 300
largest text 193
LBA classic 205
LBA Ugarit 208 n. 9
legal document 390
legal texts 56, 136
Legend of Keret 53, 203-33,
480 n. 179, 552
Legend of Aqhat 5 3 , 4 8 1
legends 254
lengthened stems, Ugaritic 117
letter-formula 404-5
letter-verdict 404
letters 50
letters, Akkadian 375-89
letters, Ugaritic 142, 359-73
levirate marriage 478 n. 150
lexical tablets 128
lexical texts 39, 136
lexicography, Ugaritic 122-39
lexicon 750
lexicon, Hurrian 68-69
libation tube 601
Library of Lamashtu Texts 34, 49,
51
Library of the High Priest 35, 59
Library of the Hurrian priest 60-1
linear shapes (of letters) 8 4 - 5
linen 655, 657, 657 n. 162, 658, 698

lingua franca 393


linguistic origins 509
liquids, Hurrian 65
list 305
List Anu 307-8
list for accounts 306
lists of assigned offerings 330
list of divine names 318
list of gods 61, 161
list of gods, canonical 161
lists of gods in sacrificial texts 317
lists of Hurrian gods 323-6
lists of names of divine kings 313-7
lists of offerings 71, 326-52
lists of sacrifices 143 4
lists of villages 424 5
lists without offerings 326-30
litanies of gods' names 316-7
litany 323, 574
literary and religious texts 39
literary approach 243
literary aspects of letters 366-7
literary forms 289
literary inclusio 342
literary texts 52, 53~5, 136
literary texts, Ugaritic 193-286
liver models 146
local epithets 321
locative case, Ugaritic 101-2
locusts 699, 717 . 383
Lord of Saphon 545
lunar calendar 336
magic 270, 285, 323
main works of Ugaritic literature 205
Maison aux tablettes 661
Manda 642, 642 . 116, 643, 652,
652 . 137
marriage 280, 469, 475, 476
Marriage of Nikkal and Yarih 53,
201, 557-8
masculine names 502
matres lectionis, Hurrian 65
mayor 474
medical texts 161
medical practitioner 575
medicine 575
memoranda 399, 417
menacing figurine 591
menology 39
mercenaries 493
merchant 461, 472
Merchant of Venice 233
Mesopotamian pantheon 308

messenger 284, 375, 470


meta-economic texts 306
metal 447, 488
metal offerings 296, 336, 338
metal-work(ing) 18, 19, 21, 451-2,
591
metaphor
186-7
metre
168-9
Middle Babylonian 378
Middle Babylonian Koine 58, 63
military alliance 404
minerals 447
Mischsprache 59
Mittanni Letter 63
Mittannian 619, 624
mobilization 434
mock epic 222
mock-heroic 231
model of liver 357
model of lung 357, 574
model organs 357, 573-4
monocolon 173, 174
month 301-2
month of new wine 339
monthly liturgy 339
monthly rituals 143
moods, Ugaritic 110
morning prayer 164
morphology of nouns, Hurrian 66
mof(s) 256, 586
mourning rites 578-9
mule 656
multilingual lexical lists 61
multiple authorship 212, 216
multiple offerings 329
Mursili-Niqmepa treaty 638
music 20, 301, 580
Myc. Ill C ware 730 n. 429, 732
Myceneaean 508, 675
myth and ritual 290
Myth and Ritual School 205, 206
mythological pantheon 323
mythological rituals 352
mythological texts 502
mythology 289
mythology, Ugaritian 549~58
myths 254
name-giving 611, 620 n. 57
narrative friezes 595
narrative waw, Hebrew 149
narrative discourse 141
naval battle 721
navy 432

negation in Ugaritic noun clauses 148


negatives, Ugaritic 120
new moon 301, 335, 343
New Year liturgy/festival 197, 344
Nikkal poem 53, 201, 557-8
nine-colon set 177
nobility of Bt Hbr 2 1 0 , 2 2 4
nominative absolute 160
non-literary dimension 579-84
non-royal legal texts 399-402, 416-9
non-sacrificial rites 351
non-Semitic words 128
non-Semitic words in Hurrian 69
North(ern) Palace 609, 630 n. 84,
631
noun, Ugaritic 100
numerals, Ugaritic 103-4
oath 155
object marker, Hebrew 149
offering and deity lists 55
offering lists 305ff.
offering-rite 337
offerings 345
officiant 351
oil 657, 658, 669 n. 208, 670, 671,
672, 672 n. 221, 677, 692, 720
oil, offering of 329
ointment container 598
omen(s) 161, 323, 573-4
omen interpretation and ritual 164
omen literature 146
omen texts 55-6, 163
omphalos 532
oneiric theophany 220
onomasticon 75
optative particles, Ugaritic 120
oracle 297, 344, 573-4
oracular response 299, 349
oral message 359
orientation 535-7
orthography 705
orthography, Ugaritic 93
oven' 32, 732
palace archives 392, 705
palace cult 321
palace of Ugarit 629
palace for Baal 194
palace offering 61
palace pantheon 70
palace personnel 435-6
palace sanctuary 336, 343
palatine texts 333

/anfow-assembly 225 n. 28
pantheon 341, 532, 537-9
pantheon of cultic texts 6 9 - 7 3
parallelism 149, 169-72, 189
parallelism, alternating 171
parallelism, antithetic 170-1
parallelism, chiastic 172
parallelism, distant 172
parallelism, grammatical 171-2
parallelism, Hurrian 67
parallelism, numerical 170
parallelism, semantic 170
parallelism, synonymous 170
parallelism, syntactical 171-2
parody 206, 221
participle N-stem 154
participles, Ugaritic 110-1, 147-8
particles, Ugaritic 118
patera 593
patriarchal narrative 219
patriarchal society 481
patriarchs of the Bible 220
patriarchy 511
patrilinear family 480
patrilinear society 481
pax hethitica 646-52
payment rolls 146
peace figurine 591
peace offering 344
pendant 595
penis-envy 228 n. 31
pentacolon 176
perfect N-stem 154
perfect/imperfect in poetry 141
perfective forms, Ugaritic 162
perfective, Ugaritic 109
performative discourse 141
performative imperative, Ugaritic 163
performative perfect, Ugaritic 163
performative Ugaritic prose 161-4
peripheral Akkadian 378
personal names 127-8
personal piety 574-5
personal prayers 574
personal pronoun, Ugaritic 98
persuasive (prose) style 150, 151,
155, 158
pgr- sacrifice 348
phallic symbol 251, 280
Phoenician 615
Phoenician ports 668-73
phoneme / d./ 95
phonology, Ugaritic 95
piety 482

piety, family 482~3


plaques 595
/)/CTI-writing 153
poetic language 289
poetic language, Ugaritic 169
poetry 275
poetry, Ugaritic 165 91, 287
poetry as play 233 n. 36
poetry or prose 140
plel, Ugaritic 117
polygamy 477, 478, 479
polyglot vocabularies 307
polytheism 541
popular cult 328
population of Ugarit 75
port area 21
portrait-like human head 593
possession 576
potter 454
pottery mug 599
prayer(s) 145, 272-3, 286, 316
precative discourse 141
precative perfect, Ugaritic 163
prefect 468-9, 474
prefix conjugation, Ugaritic 105
prepositions, Ugaritic
118-9
prescriptive discourse 141
prescriptive imperfect, Ugaritic 162
prescriptive narrative, Ugaritic 162
prescriptive Ugaritic prose
161-4
president 224
Prtre Hounite 74
priest(s) 277, 300, 474
priests' libraries 59
principal god list 308
principal liturgy 332
prisoner(s) 462
private archives 392, 401
private deeds 399
private letters 38
private property 480
procession 294, 337, 344
procession rituals 144
proclamation 340
professions 484-92, 513
promissory oath 397
pronominal suffixes, Ugaritic 98
pronoun, Ugaritic 98
propagandist 553
prose, Ugaritic 140
prose of Ugaritic letters 153-61
prose style, Ugaritic 141
proskynesis 361, 362
protasis-apodosis structure 164

protocol of necromancy 146


pseudonymic riddle 219
purification 297
purification of king 333
pyxis 598
quadrilingual 40, 134
quaternity 572-3
quatrain
175, 176
queen 30, 469-70, 481
rbisu 647 . 129
raising of 139
Rap'anu archive 50, 629, 720, 721
Rashapabu collection 50
raw glass 656
real estate 411
receipt(s) 146, 391
recitation
140
recruiting 493, 494
redistribution of fields 430
reference shots 735
regent 468
relative clauses, Ugaritic prose 147
relative marker '"er 149
relative noun clauses, Ugaritic
147-8
religion 3
religion, Ugaritian 529
religion of Ugarit 529-85
religious practices 288
religious texts 50
religious vocabulary 536
repetition 178 80, 190, 257
repetition of lines 1 79
repetition of passages 179-80
repetition of words 1 78-9
repetitive style 15
Rephaim texts 259-69, 283
report marker 156
reports 156
restoration of Baal 196
reversal of word pair
182-3
rhetorical questions 155
rhetorical style 159
rhyton(s) 599
Rhyton Temple 11, 15, 16, 587, 598
ritual(s) 161, 273
ritual, descriptive 162
ritual, prescriptive 161
ritual, Ugaritic 562-6
ritual action involving blood 293
ritual colophon 337
ritual formulae 297
ritual of huts 344

ritual of purification 344


ritual prescriptions 162
ritual purity 297
ritual texts 3, 55
ritual typology 347
robed king 250
roof 273
royal document 396, 415
royal domestic legal texts 392
royal family 321, 512
royal ideology 314, 559-62
royal legal texts 395, 413
royal marriage 564
R O yal Palace 8, 10, 13, 16, 17, 297
royal pantheon 346
royal propaganda 207-8
royal seals 598
royal service 449
royal servicemen 427-31
royal stores 436-8
rpum as deities 265-7
rpum as living persons 267-9
Rpum texts 259-69
S a Voc. 134
sacred marriage 298, 557
sacrifice(s) 322
sacrifice of burning 341
sacrifice of general communion 340
sacrificial agenda 348
sacrificial banquet 346
sacrificial festivals 144
sacrificial material 296
sacrificial place 343
sacrificial rites 563
sacrificial syntax 346
sacrificial texts 319, 321
sacrificial vocabulary, Ugaritic 123,
291, 292
sagas 254
skinu 37, 38, 434, 647 . 129
sale 397-8
salutation 376
Sammelurkunde 396
Sanskrit 536
satire 229
scarabs 598
scholar 277
school 39, 82
school texts 40
scorpion 281, 285
scribal education 40
scribal error 132, 167
scribal exercise 274

scribe(s) 375, 397, 463, 465, 470,


472, 486 n. 206, 512
script 393
script, Ugaritic 819
sculptor 454
sea-god 531, 532
seal 408, 598
seal, dynastic 399, 415
seal identification formula 397
seal impression 397, 404, 409
sealing 390
Sea Peoples 26, 33, 462, 719, 722,
725, 730, 732, 733
search for Baal 196
search for the secret of lightning 195
security 651
seismic event 709
self-burial rite 579
semantic rectangle 257
semantics, Ugaritic 123
Semitic names 510
Semitic words in Hurrian 68
sequence, h-l-h-m 88
sequences of perfect 151
series of deities, dynastic 320
series of offerings 340
serpents 279, 280
servant 466, 479
seven 337
seven concentric boundaries 533
seven deities 310
shape of tablet 414
Shapsh and the Mare 202
Sheol 547
shepherd 428
serdanni 429, 462, 726 n. 416
erdanu see serdanni
Sikila 722, 728, 729 n. 426
ships 450, 497-8, 514
shipwreck 404
shipyards 449
shorter alphabetic script 414
j/mm-sacrifice 293, 318
ir/>-sacrifice 293
SIAMTU 744-5, 751
sibilants, Hurrian 64
sickness 575
signing 390
Silver Treaty 674, 722 n. 400
simile 185-6
sin 293
singers 301
Sitz im Leben 193
Skl/ Sikila 722

slaves 445
smiting figurine 591
smiting posture 581
smoke 277
snake 278, 281
snakebite 575
snake poison 230
social classes 464
social rank 376
soldier(s) 429
soothsayer 277
sorcerer 276
sound changes, consonantal 97
sound patterns 184-5, 190
South Semitic 614
Southern Archive 31
Southern Palace 32, 634 n. 94, 636
n. 99, 677, 703 n. 337, 711
Southwestern Archive 31, 708
sphinx 587
spices 437
spirits of the dead 264-5, 282
spiritual powers 561
split couplet 192
staircase parallelism 192
standard god list 312
standing armed figurine 591
stanza 177-8, 190
state, Ugaritic 102
statuary 619 n. 48, 620 n. 54
statue(s) 2 9 4 , 3 3 7 , 5 8 7 - 8 , 6 1 4 , 7 1 1
statuette 587
statuette, bronze 591
stela 580-1, 586, 589-91
stichometry 166, 189
stock apodoses 355
Stoic tradition 232
stone sculpture 587-91
stones 488
storm-god 464, 533, 670
story of Hannah and Samuel 244
Story of Aqhat 234-58
stray finds 392
strophe 177-8, 190
style 256
style, Hurrian 67
Subarians 652
substitute 196
suffix conjugation, Ugaritic 107ff.
suffix -n 508
sum totals 148
Sumerian myth 558
Sumerian words 130
summoning ritual 351

supreme deity 197, 534


Sutean mercenary 214
Sutu 623, 643, 652
Syllabary A Vocabulary 134
syllabic Akkadian 28-45
syllabic Akkadian incantation 270
symbiosis between Hurrians and
Ugaritians 61
symbol 584
syncope 139
syntactic analysis 127
syntactic pattern 338, 342, 351
syntactic structure 331
syntax 287, 325
syntax, Hurrian 67
syntax of letters 365-6
syntax of Ugaritic poetry 169
Syro-Anatolian 378
table of Semitic consonants 96
Tawannana 699 n. 321
teacher 41, 277
temple(s) 302, 563
temple of Baal 10, 14, 589, 609
n. 17, 616, 619, 620, 709, 710, 711
temple of Dagan 10, 14, 15, 303,
616, 700
temple of Ilatu 343
temple of rhytons 11, 15, 16,
302 n. 70, 587, 598
temple of the astral gods 338
temple archive 327
temple crier 229
temporal k(y)160
teratological omens 353-5
terminative case, Ugaritic 101
terrace 303
terracotta(s) 599, 601
tetracolon 175
text editions 736
textile industry 452-3, 487
textiles 436, 446-7
texts from Hatti 403-4
texts, Ugaritic 124
texts from private libraries 61
The Devourers 199-200
The Gracious gods 200-1
thematic vowel of Ugaritic verb 106
theme(s) 256
thogonie scene 566
theology, Ugaritian 537-49
throne 587
tin 452, 617, 668, 668 n. 207
tomb 6, 17

tomb construction 577-8


topics of letters 378
topographical points 29
toponyms 3
town cult 321
trade centre 439
trader(s) 463
trade with Anatolia 443
trade with Canaan 442
trade with Carchemish 443-4
trade with Crete 443-4
trade with Cyprus 443
trade with Egypt 442
trading partners 41
tragi-comical 223, 231
translation 156, 367
translations of Akkadian texts into
Ugaritic 30 n. 12
treaty 36, 391, 410
treaty stela 589
tree of death 280
triad 308
tribal tradition of charismatic
leadership 225
tribute 429, 451, 635, 635 n. 96
tribute items 420
tribute-offering 341
trickster 547
tricolon
174-5
trilingual version 40
triphthongs, Ugaritic 97
tutelary gods 345
Ugaritian theology 246
Ugaritic, colloquial 153
Ugaritic alphabet 12
Ugaritic influence 44, 45
Ugaritic king list 609
Ugaritic legal texts 411-20
Ugaritic lexicography, principles
125
Ugaritic lexicography, problems
124-5
Ugaritic literary texts 35
Ugaritic Morphological Analyser
749
Ugaritic Tablets Digital Edition
736, 737, 738-42
underworld 533
unilingual version 40
unmarked speech 192
unpredictability 191
upper floor 396-7, 403
Uprapi 618

Ur III 608
Urtenu archive 400, 553, 655,
657, 659, 660 n. 174, 667, 686
n. 278, 687, 689, 691, 692, 694,
699, 707, 708, 712, 713, 719, 719
n. 391, 721, 723 n. 402, 722, 729,
729 n. 426
Ubara Incantation 73
vassal treaty 403, 405, 6 3 4 - 6
vegetable products 332
vegetable offerings 296, 336
velars, Hurrian 65
vengeance 257
verb form iparrVs 107
verb, Ugaritic
104-18
verbal stems, Ugaritic 111-3
verdict 408
verse paragraphs 173-7
verse-line 169-70, 177
victims 340
villages 512
vineyard(s) 663, 663 n. 188
vocabulary 166
vocabulary of fabrics and dyes,
Ugaritic 123
vocabulary of letters 368-74
vocabulary of sociology,
Ugaritic 123
vocalization 139, 167
vocative, Ugaritic 102
voicing-devoicing, Ugaritic
97
votive gifts 583
vowel assimilation 139
vowel harmony, Ugaritic 97
vowel syncope, Ugaritic 97,
139
vowelless consonants 84
vows 568-9
Wanderwrter 131
war-chariot 489, 494, 497
warrior figurine 591
water carriers of the sanctuary
weak verbs, Ugaritic 1 13-7
weapon(s) 453, 593
wedding 286
weights 448, 593
weights and measures 448
Western Archive 29
Western Palace 634 n. 94
widow 479
widowhood 482

301

window(s) 195
wine 327, 340, 341, 450
wine, offering of 329
wine harvest 297, 302
winged sun-disk 599
wisdom text 59
wisdom text, Ugaritic 152
wishes 363-4
witnesses 400, 401, 416
woman 475, 476, 481, 482 n. 188,
511

women as superior 228


wood 447
word dividers 508
word pairs 181-3, 190, 256
wordplay 185
Words with their morphological
display 749
Yasib episode

216, 217

zoomorphic containers

601

INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES


Aballa, Aba11 651, 685
Abaya 692
Abdi-Anati 640
Abdi-Airta 622, 627
Abdi-arruma 642
Abdu 671
Abi-Milku 630, 631
Abihilu 669 n. 208
Abimanu 698
Abuga(ma) 643 . 119, 666
Actaeon 240
Adapa 241
Addaya 727
Addu of Halab 618
Addu-dayyanu 672 n. 217
Addumu 670 n. 212
Adduya 698 n. 315, 716
Adonis 239
Ahalhaltena 686
Ahasuerus 222
Ahat-Milku 24, 620 n. 57, 641,
641 n. 113, 642, 643 . 118,
676 n. 235, 679, 681 n. 254,
679 n. 248, 690, 693, 696, 703
n. 337
Aljhiyawa 675 . 232, 688
Ahi-Milku/Malki 657 . 165, 671,
691 . 295
Aitakama 636, 644
Akhenaten 622, 623 . 68, 624,
625, 625 . 73, 629, 630, 713
Ali-ziti 716, 716 . 377
A1iheni 654, 685
A11uwa 699, 699 nn. 317, 320
Amar- D IM

6 7 6 . 2 3 5

Amar- d u 688
Amenemhet III 616, 619 n. 48
Amenemhet II 615, 622

Amenophis III 622, 623 n. 68, 624,


625 n. 73, 677
Ammaya 704, 710, 712
Ammitamru 706, 708 n. 349
Ammittamru I 622-4, 627, 632
Ammittamru II 24, 466, 472, 626,
634 n. 93, 642, 652, 655, 661,
674, 676, 678-80, 683, 683
n. 261, 684, 689 n. 287, 690, 692,
693, 700 n. 324, 720 n. 392, 724
n. 410
Ammurapi 315, 477, 498 n. 266,
661, 686 n. 278, 690, 691, 695, 695
n. 306, 696, 701, 702, 706-31, 719,
720, 728, 729
Amutaru 655
Amutarunu 655 n. 152, 693
Anan-Nikkal 708
Ananae 699
Anani- D NIN.GAL

701, 7 0 2 n. 3 2 9 ,

704
Anani-Peddigalli 704
Anani-arruma 655 . 153, 658
Anantenu 691 . 295
Ann'a 699 . 316
Anni-WA 670 . 212
Annpdgl 704
Ar(i)-Teub 665 . 198
Ar-halba 620 . 57, 637-8, 665
. 198
Ari 666
Ari-imiga 651
Arma-ziti 661, 685
Arnuqanda II 703
Aru-Heba 657 . 167
Arwai 652
Athtar 539 . 31
Augustine 233

Ayyahi 672
Aziru" 612 n. 31, 622, 627, 630,
632 n. 90, 633, 635, 636, 639,
641 n. 113, 682 n. 256
Aziru-Niqmaddu 641
Ba'aliya 664 n. 194
Balaam of the D A P T 221
Banniya 727
Bazute 697 n. 309
B'l-ytn 665 n. 198
B1u-1ibr 689 . 289
Belubur 688 . 284, 689 . 289,
697
Benteina 477, 629 . 83, 641
. 113, 642, 643, 645, 646, 680,
681, 701 . 326, 702 . 330, 722
. 40
Betilum 667, 667 . 204
Beya 713, 714, 715, 729, 729 . 427
Bin-Kabkamma 687, 688
Biu 658
Burhahanuwa 674
Buruqqu 619 . 49
Cadmus

240

30.MU.ME.tuku

727 .

iM.Di.KUD

729

iM-Ime

672,

418

6 7 0 . 212

iM-mateni 665 . 198

''IM.S.MU

6 5 6 .

M.ZA.DUGUD

UTU-a

159

671

709

Dadami 670
Dagan-b1u 658, 675
Dan 722 . 398
Danana 729
Danel 234, 235, 242, 247, 262, 545
Ddn 613
D i d n u m / D i t n u m 613
DU-Teub 636, 641, 641 . 113
DUMU.LUGAL
DUMU.SAL GAL

Duppi-Teub
Ea-dGAL

6 5 4 .

148

680

641 . 113

656

Ea-rabi 670
Ebina'e 684, 685, 685 . 272
Ehli-Nikkalu 679 . 247, 696, 700,
701, 702, 702 . 327, 331, 707
. 347
Eh1i-Teub 657 . 165, 671, 691, 691
. 295

En- d IM 687
Eniya 727 (see Enniya)
Eppiqu 665
Eriba-Marduk 727 n. 418
Euwara 721
Etakkama 630
Etana 241
Ewri-kili 670
Ewri-Kuuh 699 . 322
Ewri-arri 726
Ewri-arruma 724 . 409
Ewri-Teub 687
Falstaff
GAL- d IM

208 . 9
686

GAL-gina
666
Gau1iyawiya 477 n. 150, 680, 681,
702 n. 330
Gi1gamesh 241, 244
GUR-DiNGiR-ftm

606, 6 6 4 n.

192

Haddi-1ibbau 727
Ha1pamuwa 623 n. 66
Hamlet 233
Hammurapi 618
hanya 506, 623 n. 68
Hanya see ffanya
Hargab 257
Hattusili I 619
Hattusili III 441, 461 . 36, 486,
638, 644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 676
. 235, 651, 652, 652 . 138,
660, 660 . 174, 679 . 243, 680,
682, 683, 685, 694 . 301, 696,
703 . 334, 716 . 377, 722, 729
Haya 716
Hayamuli 657 . 167
Hebat of Ari 663 . 184
Hebat-azali 699
Hemi-Teub 654, 655, 655 . 154
Heni 654, 654 . 147
Himi-Sarruma 620 . 57, 642, 676
" . 235, 679, 681 . 254
Hini 640 . 111
Horemheb 636, 636 . 99, 637, 643
Hrsn 731
Uursnu 513, 731
Ibiranu 466, 620, 659 . 171, 667
. 202, 681, 682 . 357, 683-6,
689, 691, 694 . 301, 695,
695 . 305-6, 706, 716 . 379,
724 . 407

Ibnaduu 722
ibrkd 699
Idrimi 226, 612 . 33, 620
Ili-malku 35
Ili-Milku see Ilimilku
Ilimilku 54-5, 214-5, 260, 256,
499, 547, 551-3, 688, 688 n. 284,
689 n. 289, 691 n. 295, 697,
705 n. 340
ilm Ik see Ilimilku
Ilhu 227
Ilu-qarradu 612
Iluwa 688
Imtu 670 n. 212
Ini-Tesub 634, 634 n. 95, 636 n. 99,
642, 645, 649, 651, 651 n. 134,
652, 652 n. 136, 655, 657 n. 166,
661, 662, 663, 663 n. 185, 664,
678, 679, 679 nn. 247-9, 682, 684,
684 n. 264, 716 n. 379, 728 n. 420
R-arruma 620 . 57, 676 . 235,
679, 681 . 254
R-irappa 506
Irhanda 655, 655 . 151
-arruma 724, 725
1n-trm 655 . 153, 724 . 409
Iuwa 689
Itur-lim 606, 664 . 192
Iwr-kl 670
Iwr-trm 724 . 409
1xvrdn (Ewri-enni) 697
Iwrdr 726
Iwrpzn (Ewri-pizuni) 697
Jae1 244
Jesus 281
Judith 244
Kadaman-En1i1 I 624, 625
Kadaman-En1i1 II 461 n. 36,
652
Ka1biya 726
Kila'e 655 . 154, 687, 688, 699
kilia 506
Kiliya 692
Kizzuwatna 620, 695, 696
Klby 726
krty 'Cretan' 676 . 233
Kubaba 637, 637 . 102
Kumiya-ziti 661, 692
Kumma-walwi 659
Kuniya-piya 716 n. 378
Kunni 716, 716 n. 378
Kurka11i 684, 685
Kurunta 647, 701 n. 326

M3my 711
Mada'e 664 . 193
M A R . T U K (Marduk) 727 n. 418
Mashanda 645, 646, 646 n. 128,
651 n. 134
Mashana-ura 653 n. 142
Mashu 684 n. 264
Merneptah
709,710,711,713,715,
715 . 373, 731
Michal 228 . 30
Milku-ramu 670 . 211
Milku-siG 5 (Na'im) 723 . 405
Miramuwa 654, 684, 686 . 274
Murana 685
Mursili I 619, 644, 682
Muri1i II 468 . 88, 635, 636, 639,
639 . 109, 640, 640 nn. 111-2,
641, 662, 682
Mut- cl U 688
Mut-ra'i 656 . 159
Muwatalli II 642 . 115, 644, 646,
647, 660
Nahi-a1mu 32
Nefertiti 625
Nerikkaili 680, 722
Nimmuria 677
Niqmaddu 9, 457, 467 . 87,
469 . 90, 622, 627, 628, 630,
631, 634, 635, 638, 639, 644, 644
. 123, 667 . 202, 668
Niqmaddu II 468, 488, 499,
624-7, 631, 633, 693, 698, 701,
724 . 410
Niqmaddu IIa 679 . 243, 694
Niqmaddu III 620 . 57, 636 . 101,
659 . 171, 661, 669, 670, 673
. 243, 674, 686 . 278, 691-704,
701, 706, 707 . 347, 709, 719,
720
Niqmepa 466 . 76, 468, 620, 626,
635, 636, 637, 638-46, 641, 644,
644 . 123, 667, 667 . 202, 678,
679 . 243, 682, 693
Nu'me-Rasap 692
Nuriyanu 512, 626 . 74
Octavia

217, 227, 228

Padiya 410, 662, 668


PAP-Sarruma 684
Parihnawa 674
Pars 721
Pdg'b 693

Pgn

677 . 239, 718

Piha- d iM
654, 656
Piha-UR.MAH 6 8 4 n. 2 6 4

Piha-ziti 653
Pihawalwi 684
Pisidqi 626, 626 n. 74
Piilaza 656 n. 159
Plato 233
Plsy 726
pu-arruma 655, 655 . 154,
656
Pudubepa 367, 488, 642, 647,
651, 660 . 174, 661, 674,
674 . 230, 678, 679 . 243,
693, 694, 697, 700
Pughat 237, 257
Pukana 677 . 239, 718
Purru 658
Puruqqu/a 611 . 24, 619
Puku 685
Ramesses II 607, 645, 645
. 125, 646, 670 . 213, 674,
715 . 373
Ramesses III 715 . 373, 725,
729 . 427, 730, 730 . 428
Rap'anu 471, 629 . 82, 667
. 204, 719
Rashapabu 471
Rib-Hadda 630
Rib-Haddi 627
Ri-Adad 727, 727 . 418
Sassi 410
Sesostris II 616
Sethnakt 714
Sety I 643, 711
Sety II 714, 715 n. 373
SIG 5 . d ERI,].GAL

692

Sin-umti-uabi 727 n. 418


Sinaranu 676
Sinaru 732 n. 436
Siptah 714, 715
Sisera 244
su-ia- d AMAR.UTU

suD-diKUR
suM-DIM

7 2 7 n. 4 1 8

727

6 6 5 , 6 6 5 n. 198, 6 9 8 ,

727 n. 418
Sumu1 241, 257
Stq-lm 692
bi1i(m) 606, 642 n. 115, 664,
664 n. 190
agarakti-uria 652, 728 n. 420
Shalmaneser I 689, 689 n. 288

are11i 658, 671, 689 n. 289, 690-1,


695, 696, 724
arre-Kuut) 634
arruma 681 n. 254
attiwaza 632 n. 89
augamuwa 632 n. 90, 641 n. 113,
642, 675 n. 232, 679 n. 244, 680,
681, 681 n. 252, 682 n. 256, 688,
701 n. 326
i-ni-du 665 n. 195
ipti-Ba!a1 31, 471, 472, 655 n. 153,
658, 658 n. 168, 670, 671, 675,
691, 697, 698 n. 313
kl 722
ukku 661
u-KR-DIM

6 6 5 n.

195

LrKUR-du 665
umittara 629
umiyanu 629 n. 82
unai1u 657 n. 167
uppi1u1iuma I 455, 467 n. 87,
608, 622, 625, 627, 628, 630, 632,
633, 634, 635, 636, 638, 639, 639
n. 109, 640, 682, 698, 721 n. 396,
724 n. 410
uppi1u1iuma II 689 n. 286, 703,
706, 719, 721, 722, 728
Shy1ock 222
Tagi-arruma 640 n. 111, 654, 657,
662 n. 180, 690 n. 291
Taki-arruma see Tagi-arruma
Takuh1inu 463, 654, 716
Talimmu 651, 651 . 134
Ta1mi-Teub 686 . 274, 701, 702,
703, 706, 708
Talmiyanu 612, 620 . 57, 700
Tanuwataa 703
Tanhuwati 620 . 52
Tapa'e 656
Tarazida 657
Tarhudai 385, 651
Tarhuntaa 647, 660-62, 662
. 178, 701 . 326, 726, 730
. 428
Taryelli 30, 31, 658
Tausert 714, 715
Tbsr 704
Te1i-arruma 690 . 291
Tette 636, 637, 639, 682
. 256
Ti1i-arruma 654, 654 . 145,
676 . 235
Tlmyn 695

Lrdn 726 . 416


Trgds 726
Tubbi-arri 704
Tudhaliya 623, 648, 674, 675
. 232, 679 nn. 247-9, 680, 681,
683 . 259, 684
Tudhaliya I 632
Tudhaliya 'IV' 678, 679, 696
Tudhaliya IV 498, 640 n. 11, 642,
682, 683 n. 258, 685, 688, 689
n. 286, 696 n. 307, 703
Tukulti-Ninurta 607, 654 n. 145,
658, 670 n. 211, 683, 683 n. 262,
688, 690, 690 n. 291, 694 n. 301
Tu1pi-arruma 654, 657
T u n a 658
Turatta 625
Tutankhamun 624, 643
Tuthmosis III 622
tutu 506
U-zakaptu 672 n. 219
Ulliya 712 n. 362
Ulmi 643 n. 118, 666
Ulmi-Tesub 716 n. 377
Upini 659
Upparamuwa 654, 655 n. 158,
684
Ur-Teub 657 . 165, 671, 691
. 295
Ura-Tarhunta 686 . 274
Urhae 675
Urdanu 698 see Urtenu
Urg-Ttb 729 . 425
Urhii-Teub 644, 647, 729
Uri- D IM

657

INDEX

Uri-Te 658
Uri-Teub 612 n. 30
Urtenu 35, 375, 471, 645, 655
. 153, 657 . 165, 658, 659, 665,
667 . 204, 675, 699
Utri-arruma 620 . 57, 681, 681
. 254, 683
Uzziltu 658, 658 . 169, 700
Uzzinu 657, 667, 667 . 203
Wenamon

710 . 354

'did 611
Yabi-nene 656
Yabinina 729
Yabna-ilu 690 . 290
Yabni-apu 32, 39
Yabninu 32, 39, 471, 472, 645, 675,
677
Yadu- [I IM

6 7 6 . 2 3 5

Yamuna 697 . 309


Yapa-Addu 627
Yapah- D IM

6 7 0 . 2 1 2

Yaqaru(m) 3 1 5 , 6 1 0 , 6 1 1 , 6 1 2 ,
613
Yarim-Lim 617
Yatipan 236, 257
Tdn 718
Tqr 6 1 0 , 6 1 1 , 6 1 2
Zimri-Lim 439, 616,
Zittara 623 n. 66
Zu-Astarti 659, 665, 665 . 197
Zulanna 654, 656
Zuzuli/u 659 n. 171, 661, 692, 692
n. 296, 699

OF DIVINE

NAMES

(names in the god lists 3.4 and 7.2.2 are not included)

Amon 714
Anat 196, 251, 278, 539 n. 31,
541, 678
Apollo 232, 233
Apukka 655
Ashera(h) 276, 278, 543-4,
593
Astarte 678
Athirat 539 n. 31,
543-4
Athtart 303, 338

Baal 5, 7, 13, 14, 15, 272, 275, 276,


284, 309, 533, 539 n. 31, 581, 589,
658, 709, 711 n. 358
Baal Hadd 544-5
Baal of Ugarit 713
Baal Saphon 6 7 8 , 7 1 1 , 7 1 3
B'lh 718 n. 389
Beelzebul 281
d

IItar hurri 663


Dagan" 15, 303, 309, 539 n. 31, 700

Death 546
dioscuroi 317
dml 303

Orion
Osiris

239, 240
239

Qedeshet
El

13, 16, 220, 221, 230, 285,


289, 302-3, 539 n. 31, 542-3, 581,
587, 589, 591, 593

Horon 276, 278, 279, 280, 539


n. 31, 549, 575
Hat 303
Itar of the Field 680
Itar of Zinzaru 692

595

Ra 709, 714
Rahmay 544
Rapiu 539 n. 31
Raap-gn 303
Resheph 278, 539 n. 31, 549,
581, 591
rpu b'l 262
Semele 241
Seth 714
S'tqt 230, 231
Shapsh 272, 278, 280, 283
lh 'a1hu' 133

Kathirat 285
Kothar 539 n. 31
Marduk 727 n. 418
Moira 214, 232, 233
Mot 278, 545-7

Tammuz

Nabu 473
Nikkal 285
Nisaba 473
Nmiy king of the world/eternity

239

Yahweh 13
Yahweh-Asherah
Yam 539 n. 31
Yarikh 285

544

678

INDEX OF TOPONYMS
('Ugarit' is not included)

Aegean 675-8
Akko 659, 668, 672, 698 n. 315,
716
Alalakh 375, 381, 464, 475, 478,
498, 505, 517, 525, 526, 634,
605, 611 n. 24, 612 n. 32, 619,
631 n. 87, 634, 667 n. 202, 723
n. 401
Alalakh/Mukis 620
Alasia 375, 381, 615, 644 n. 124,
665, 676, 677, 678, 679, 692, 718,
726, 728
A1aia/Cyprus 443, 719, 720,
721
ally 'Alasia, Cyprus' 443
Amanus 725
Amarna 505, 605, 626, 641, 644
n. 121, 668, 672 n. 217, 678,
710
A m q i / a 672, 672 n. 217
Amqu 375, 381

Amurru 375, 382, 391, 392,


409-10, 461, 621, 622, 627, 629
n. 83, 632, 632 n. 90, 634 n. 94,
637, 639, 641, 642, 643, 643
n. 119, 644, 645, 645 n. 126, 649,
650, 652, 666-8, 675 n. 232, 679,
680, 681, 683, 688, 690 n. 290,
701, 703, 720 n. 392, 721 n. 396,
730
Aphek 605
Appu 732 n. 435
Apsuna 651, 723, 723 n. 403
Arad 535
Arqata 615
Aru 722 n. 399
Arwad 733
Arzawa 624 n. 70, 640 n. 112, 682
n. 256
Ashdod 668, 669 n. 208
Adad 707
Ashkelon 593, 668

Aur 653
Assyria 375,
675 . 232,
Atata/Emar
Ata1(1)ig 662,

gr amn 'Mt Amanus'


382, 670 . 211,
682, 718 . 386
375, 382, 649
676

Babylon 625, 644, 653, 690, 728


. 420
Babylonia 475, 478 . 161, 624
Barga, kingdom of 666 . 199
Bashanite kingdom of Udum(u)
220
Beirut 375, 382, 663, 663
nn. 188-9, 668, 669, 693, 733
Bt-Hbr 219, 223
Beth Shemesh 47, 85, 456
Bi'rut 382
Biruti 732 n. 435
Bogazky 634 . 94, 650 . 133,
709 . 352, 717, 718 . 386
Byblos 223, 627, 630, 659, 660,
668, 669, 710 . 354

Hakapia 695, 696


Hala Sultan Teke 89
Halab 616, 618, 621, 635, 644
n. 123, 649, 687 nn. 279-80,
692 n. 297
Hanigalbat 621. 624, 655
Hapie 696 . 308, 703
Hatti 375, 378, 383-4, 391, 392,
462, 495, 497, 622, 658 . 170
Hattua 605, 648, 650, 696, 726
. 415
Hazor 535, 593, 617
Hias(h)apa 688 . 283
Hiiiba 688
D naf)ara 524
Inbb 222
Ionia 676 n. 233
Israel 679 . 245
Jerusalem

Canaan 524, 670 . 213, 716,


732
Carchemish 375, 378, 379, 382,
391, 392, 405-6, 461, 462, 463,
621, 629 nn. 83-94, 636, 639
. 109, 640, 645, 653, 662,
664 . 193, 667, 668, 684, 684
. 267, 686, 687, 687 . 280, 688,
689, 690, 692, 692 . 297, 694,
695, 697, 698, 698 . 312, 699,
701, 702, 706, 708, 716, 720
. 394, 721, 722 . 399, 723,
724, 725, 727, 728, 729, 729
. 422, 730 . 428
Crete 615, 676
Cush 625, 627
Cyprus 463, 658, 675-8, 680
Dor

722

Ebla 5, 298, 535, 605, 608, 610


Edfu 533
Egypt 375, 383, 460, 463, 471,
' 4 9 2 - 6 , 587, 621, 624, 625, 626,
671, 672, 694, 708
Ekalte 483
Emar 5, 63, 75, 375, 383, 466 n. 77,
471, 475, 476 n. 145, 478, 479, 480
n. 179, 483, 524, 605, 650, 653,
665, 671, 726 n. 415, 728, 729
n. 427

724 n. 411

535

Kalbiya 726
Kamid el-Loz 47
Kapturi 676
Kaka 624 n. 70
Kinza/Qadesh 644, 649, 666-8,
692 n. 297
Kinza 636, 674 n. 229
Klby 726
Kummanni 696, 696 nn. 307-8
Kutupa 660
Lachish 535
land of Ga<shu'>ru 222
Land Hatti 729, 729 . 422
Laodicea 733
Lati[-] 718
Lawazantiya 671
Lukka 720
Lusanda 671
Iwsnd see Lusanda
Ma'hadu 375, 384, 514, 716
n. 375
Ma'haz 375, 384, 514, 716
n. 375
Mari 375, 384, 495, 604, 616,
618, 652, 657, 666 . 200, 728
Meskene/Emar 652 . 139, 654
Mesopotamia 473
Mgs' 'Muki' 724 . 41*2

Minet el-Beida 6, 21, 47, 625,


716 . 375
Mira 644 . 124
Mittanni 623, 625, 632
Mount Amanus 724
Mount Hazzi 623 . 65
Mount Lebanon 628,
724 . 411
Mount Nanni 623, 632
Mount Saphon see Sapunu (TN)
Mount Tabor 47
msrm 'Egypt' 460 n. 33
Muki 375, 384, 516, 517, 525,
630, 633, 634 . 93, 635, 639,
667 . 202, 716, 718, 723, 724
. 410,
Mycenae 730 . 430
Neirab 687
Nerik 696, 696 . 307
Nirabi 687
Nihriya 689
Niya 630, 633, 633 n. 91, 635,
674 n. 229
Nu1jhai 468 . 88, 630, 633,
635, 636, 637, 639, 644, 644
. 122, 674 . 229, 682
. 256
Nuzi 476 . 145, 478 . 161,
495
Palestine 471
Philistia 732
Phoenicia 658
Qadesh 384, 468 . 88, 497,
622, 643, 687, 687 . 280
Qatna 614, 617
Qd 730 . 428
Qode 730 . 428
Rakba 664 . 193
Ras Ibn Hani 22, 36, 47, 418,
488, 604, 605, 660 . 210,
676, 700, 704, 712, 712 . 364,
716 . 375, 717 . 380, 731,
732
Ras Bassit 732
Ru 732 . 435
Samsat Hyk 692 . 296
Sidon 379, 384, 463, 659, 665,
668, 670, 691 . 295, 699,
733

Siyannu 385, 391, 392, 410,


628, 636, 640 . I l l , 733 . 438
Siyannu-Unatu 385, 516, 606,
640, 641, 649, 662-6, 698,
698 . 312, 733
Suhi 652, 728 . 420
Sapunu (TN) 532, 534, 623 . 65,
635, (DN) 331, 334, 342, 346
sdn-ym 'Sidon-on-Sea' 712 n. 364
spn see Sapunu
Sumur 622
uksi 663 . 185
Taanach 505
Tarsus 718
Teil Afis 722 n. 403
Teil Aphek 716
Teil Daruk 733
Teil el-Amarna 9
Teil H u r a / H u r b e 652 . 139,
654" . 145", 670 . 211, 690,
690 . 291
Tell Kazel 645 . 126
Tell Leilan 495
Tell Nebi Mend/Qadesh 47, 644
n. 125
Tell Siano 733 n. 438
Tell Sukas 47, 733
Tell Seih Hamad/Dur-Katlimmu
652 n. 139, 690 n. 291
Tell Taanak 47
Tunip 620, 622
Tyre 385, 653 n. 140, 668,
670, 691 n. 295, 729 n. 422,
733
Udumu 222
Ugrtym 'Ugarit-on-Sea' 712 n. 364
Ullasa 622
Ullaza 615
Uluburun 670 n. 215
Ur 495, 601
Ura 441-4, 611 n. 27, 615, 648,
653 n. 142, 659 n. 171, 660,
661, 685, 692, 716, 717 n. 381,
718, 728 n. 421
Ukani 722 . 399
Unatu 659
Yamhad 616
Yman 676 . 233
Zinzaru

628

INDEX OF U(
(the index is selective and does

abyn 'bankrupt' 467 n. 86


agn 'cauldron' 130
ad 'father' 130
adr 'door(?)' 131
aiddy 'Ashdodite' 460 n. 28
ab 'brother' 510
'behind', 'after' 'later' 536
albn 'steward' 129, 450, 491
all 'garment' 129
alpm wm '2,000 horses' 724 n. 413
ans 'small of back' 130
apy 'cook' 451, 492
apn 'wheel' 437, 496
aps 'edge' 189
argmn 'tribute', 'purple-dyed cloth'
'427 n. 15, 694 n. 300
alt 'wife' 476
ilg (a mineral) 130
ilm 'gods' 260, 265
ilnym 'godly ones' 260, 265
iqnu 'blue stone', 'lapis-lazuli'
694 n. 300
irp 'vase'
131, 437 n. 72
itnn 'gift' 129, 185
ubdit 'service field' 430
ubdy see ubdit
ugrtym 'Ugaritians' 712 n. 364
udn 'to give ear' 125
uni (type of obligation) 460
updt see ubdit
uiyn (an official) 130
urn 'gift' 221
ulpt 'quiver' 437, 496
ulpt hzm 'arrow quiver' 496 n. 258
ulpt srdnnm 'javelin quiver'
496 n. 258
uliyn 'crown prince' 131
bdl 'substitute', 'reservist', 'subject'
432-3
bdl gt 'belonging to the gt' 426
bz 'teat' 127
bky 'to weep' 126
bkr 'firstborn' 480 n. 176
bl bn 'nobody' 156
bl ym 'never' 156
blmt 'immortality' 156

ITIC WORDS
include words listed in 8.1.5)

bn 'son' 510
bn gt 'man of the gt' 426
bn mlk 'royal servicemen', 'men of
the king' 426, 427-31, 436, 453,
483, 485
b'l tdtt 'makers of pectorals' 453
b'l tgptm 'maker of horse-cloths' 453,
487
b'r 'to abandon', 'to burn' 132
bn 'tin' 668 n. 207
bt 'house' 79, 131
bt 'daughter' 7 9 , 1 3 1 , 5 1 0
bt skn 'house of the prefect' 469,
469 n. 91
gb 'sacrificial pit, etc.' 304
gg 'roof' 298, 303
ghr 'to sound forth(?)' 125
gZZ 'shearer' 426, 487
gl 'shout of joy', 'cup', '(type of)
field' 132 '
gmn 'funeral oflering'(?) 133
gn 'garden' 298, 304
gpnym 'vine-dressers' 426
grbz 'helmet' 129, 494 n. 242
gt 'oil or wine press' 425 n. 6
gt 'estate', 'royal farm' 425-7,
460, 467, 469 n. 97, 484, 526
dbh '(to) sacrifice' 291-3, 357
dbh 'offering for festal banquet'
341 n. 48
dblt 'dried figs' 446
dgy 'fisher' 492
dhl 'to be afraid' 154
dgl 'incense' 130
dr khnm 'college of priests' 474
drdn 726
dr'/dr' 'cargo', 'grain', 'arm' etc.
672 n. 224, 712 n. 363
hb 'to knock down' 156
hdm 'footstool' 129
hndt 'this' (f.) 140
zb 'to foam(?)' 125
Zt 'olive (oil)', 'olive grove'
430 n. 26, 446

ht 'wheat' 446
htb 'woodcutter' 453, 488
hz 'arrow' 437, 496
hnn 'merciful' 68
hpr 'ration' 427 n. 15
firs' 'craftsman' 428, 488
hrs" anyt 'shipwright' 427, 432,
489
hr b(h)tm 'house-builders' 427,
453, 489
hr mrkbt 'chariot-maker' 450, 489
hrs'rq 'wagonwright' 450, 489
hr qtn 'jewe11er(?)' 453
hrt 'ploughman' 426
'hit
'silver'
i}brl 'container' 129
Idgl 'arrowsmith' 129, 453
f}lq 'missing' 467 n. 86, 486
bmn 'palace chapel' 298, 303
ffndlt 'coloured wool' 130
l}sn 'domestic' 130
bpn (blanket) 436, 437
ptr 'pot, cauldron' 129
}}rd 'warrior', 'soldier', 'troops'
714 n. 367, 493
i\rmtl 'sickle' 494
brs 'gold' 450, 496
frrsn 'adze' 78
f}tn 'son-in-law' 478 n. 162
zrw 'mastic', 'balsam'

129,

437, 437 n. 73

ym\}n 'right' 536


yn 'wine' 446
yshm 'bronzesmiths(P)' 137, 430 . 26,
480
ysr 'potter'
137,454,491
yq's 'fowler'
137,436,491
kbsm/kbbn 'fuller', 'dyer' 452, 487
kd 'jar' 448, 450
khn 'priest' 136, 433, 434
kzy 'chariot driver' 497
kht 'throne' 129, 131
kkrdn 'chef', 'pastrycook' 129, 451,
492
klat 'both' 124
klb 'dog' 124
kid' bow' 130
kit 'bride', 'daughter-in-law' 476, 478
n. 162
km 'mound' 132
krnn (surface measure) 129

kndw 'net' 436


ksd 'miller' 450-1
ksu 'seat, throne' 130
krkb 'frame' 668 n. 207
krs/su 'fodder' 130
ktnt 'tunic' 437
klkym 'Kaskaeans'

462, 462 n. 47

I 'to' 79
la'ika 'to commission' 493 n. 233
Iht akl 'tablet of food' 718 . 388
III} (part of harness) 129
Imd 'apprentice' 431 n. 27, 473
130
mgdl 'tower'
304
md 'village scribe, expert' 465 n. 66
mdjn 'sword' 496
mirglm 'watchman' 430 n. 26, 433,
460, 497
mhr 'dowry, bride-price' 475 n. 137
mhr b'l 'the warrior of Baal' 262
mhr 'nt 'the warrior of Anat' 262
mzy (type of offering) 329 n. 33
mhsm (members of a certain guild)
137
mfrs 'weaver' 452, 487
mkr 'tamkr-merchant' 440
ml(y) 'opposite me' 154
mlb 'garment' 437
mlg 'dowry' 475 n. 137
mly 'polisher' 488
mlk 'to rule, be king' 190
mnh 'gift' 445
m'lt 'staircase' 304
mslm 'cymbalists' 492 n. 230
msry 'Egyptian' 460 n. 32
mqhm 'pincers', 'tongs' 437 n. 72
mru 'liaison man, commander,
officer, fattener, quartermaster'
430 n. 26, 435, 466 n. 72, 495
n. 247
mrdt 'carpet' 437
mrh 'lance' 490, 494, 496
mrhy mlk 'king's lancers' 495
mryn 'warrior', 'charioteer' 130,
131, 429, 464, 465
mrkbt 'body of chariot', 'light cart'
489, 496, 496 n. 251
mrr 'to bless, strengthen' 678
msf}t 'knife, axe' 496
msm't mlk 'royal guard' 495
mtrt 'spouse, wife' 475 n. 136
mtyn (garment) 130
mit 'oar' 131 n. 45

nbt 'honey' 446


nhl 'descendant', 'heir-apprentice'
' 438, 480 n. 177, 486
nmrt 'splendour' 131
nsk 'to pour, found, cast', 'to forge'
451 n. 157
nsk 'metal caster' 427, 451, 488
nsk hzm/hdm 'arrowsmith' 451,
453, 487
nsk ksp 'silversmith' 137, 454, 488
nsk qn 'jeweller', 'sword-maker'
451, 488, 489, 489 n. 222a
nsk lit 'coppersmith' 488
ngr 'overseer' 428
npy 'atonement' 564
nsr 'to weep' 126
nqd 'shepherd' 426, 428, 494
n. 240
ntq 'barb' 496
sbbyn 'black cumin' 446
sbl 'borer' 488
sk 'garment' 437
ski 'vizier' 132
skn 'governor' 434-5
sp 'cup' 437 n. 72
spl 'cup' 437 n. 72
ssw/w 'horse' 130
spsg 'glaze, etc.' 130, 252
spr 'clay tablet', 'scribe' 391, 512
srdnn 'javelin' 490, 496
sm 'king' 130

pgt 'girl' 431


prs 'ration(?)' 127
pit 'linen', '(make-up) case'
452
sbr 'communal (field)'
sit 'prayer' 275
smqm 'raisins' 446

132,

430

qdm 'face', 'in front', 'past' 536


qdm 'consecrated ones', 'diviners'
301, 433
qz 'circumcision' 558 n. 90
qlh 'pot' 68
ql' 'sling', 'shield' 425, 496
qnuy 'worker in lapis-lazuli' 488
qnn 'to stand up(?)
125
qnum 'blue stone', 'blue-dyed cloth'
694 n. 300
qs't 'arrows' 238
qrytm 'townsmen' 433
qs't 'b w' 238, 496

gzl 'spinner' 124, 452


gzr 'youth' 431
glp 'murex(?)' 127
gr 'total' 129

rb 'chief', 'elder' 428, 429


rb hrm 'chief of the craftsmen'
428, 473, 486
rb khnm 'high priest' 9, 79, 428,
434, 475, 513, 731
rb kzym 'chief of chariot drivers'
496
rb lim 'chief of a thousand' 473-4
rb mif}d 'harbourmaster' 672
rb mit 'chief of a hundred' 473,
495 n. 247
rb nksy 'chief accountant' 473
rb 'rt 'chief of ten' 473
rb s'd 'chief of the field' 473
rb tmtt 'harbourmaster', 'head of
team' 672, 672 nn. 220, 223
rbt 'Great Lady' 544
r'y 'shepherd' 431 n. 27
rp' 'to heal' 259 n. 2
rpum 'spirits' 249, 299, 561, 706
rt 'dirt' 124

phi 'stallion' 124


phm 'red-dyed cloth'
pld (cover) 436
plk 'spindle' 130
psl 'sculptor', 'carver'
psl hzm 'arrowsmith'
psl qt 'bow modeller',
453, 487
pg(n)dr 'type of fabric'

s'r 'barley' 446


s'rt 'wool' 452
blt dg 'fish stew' 349
lh 'parapet', (disease), 'lightning',
'war', 'weapon' 133
mal 'left' 536
smn 'oil' 438, 450
mrgt 'emerald' 130-1
sps'lm 'the Eternal Sun' 678

'bd 'servant, servant', 'gardener'


250 n. 44, 431, 466 n. 79
'prm 461 n. 39
'rq 'wagon' 489
'r 'overseer of ten(?)' 430 . 26,
433, 466 . 74

694 n. 300

136, 487
453, 487
'bow-notcher'
129, 436

r 'singer' 301, 430 . 26, 492


. 230
rp 'holocaust' 334, 440

tr 'steering-pole', 'mast' 450, 496


trfi 'to marry, pay bride-price'
475 n. 136
trr (a profession) 430 n. 26

tbl 'smith' 129


tbsr kit bt p 703
tgmr 'total' 147, 148
tzg (type of sacrifice) 294
thm 'message' 124
tgpt Tc1t(?)' 129
tpnr 'chief scribe' 130

I N D E X

tkt 'chariot' 129


tnglyt 'second wife(?)' 478 . 158
tun 'archer' 130
tgrm 'gatekeeper' 430 n. 26, 436
tryn 'cuirass' 494 n. 241
tjtn 'supreme judge' 474 n. 126

O F

SYLLABIC

abb 'fathers' 483


agannu 'basin' 668
kil kar 'harbourmaster' 444,
672 nn. 220, 223
alafiinnu 'miller' 450
alallu (bronze object) 656
algamiu (type of stone) 666
aluzinnu 'jester' 436
annaku 'tin' 447, 668
piyu 'cook' 492
ardu 'servant' 432
iru (uncertain meaning) 433, 435,
466
aatu 'wife' 476
br 'diviners' 433
bidalu ma 'substitute', 'reservist',
'subject' 432-3
bittu rabti 'Great Lady' 644, 680-1,
648, 679 nn. 244, 246, 681,
681 n. 254, 703
uS

daprnu 'juniper' 684 n. 266


dayynu 'judge' 474
dimtu 'royal farm' 467, 469 n. 97,
484
gallbu 'barber' 436
gi-ti/gin-ti 'estate' 526
girg (type of cord) 710
gamaru 'apprentice' 460, 486
hapir (displaced foreigners) 461,
462, 486
frarrnu 'caravan' 683 n. 259
/famnu 'red wool' 698
hatnu 'in-law' 510, 695 n. 304,
707

A K K A D I A N

1}azannu 'mayor' 474, 479 n. 169


ffitu rabtu 'great sin' 477
huburtanuru 'equerry' 656 n. 159
l}uppu 'acrobat' 436
/}urdu 'watchman', 'conscript' 429,
493, 714 n. 367
i-bi-ffi (meaning unknown) 661 n. 177
ilku (type of tax) 467, 485 n. 194
iparu 'weaver' 487
ilpatu 'quiver' 496 n. 258
isluhhum* SGmeS 'whips or flails' 710
itinnu 'house-builder' 449, 489
kbisu 'fuller' 487
kakkardinnu 'cook' 451
kallatu 'bride', 'daughter-in-law' 476,
478 n. 162
kamma (ordinary stone) 655
kartappu 'groom' 657 n. 167, 659
n. 171, 686, 686 n. 274, 687, 688,
692, 692 n. 296, 699, 722
kaspu sa maqqadi 'silver for pasturing'
431
kutimmu 'gold- or silversmith' 454,
488
lippatu kui,.mes (type offish)

710

massartu 'guard' 495


masillu 'cymbalist' 436, 492 n. 230
mf}isu 'weaver' 452, 487,
487 n. 209
mkisu 'tax collector, customs official'
444, 474, 672 n. 220, 685
manahtu (a tax) 672 n. 220
maryannu (troops) 429, 433, 435, 464,
465, 497, 664, 723

marzi'u (a religious association) 663


marzihu (a religious association) 225,
411, 419, 559
ma}uranna (meaning unknown)
656
meku: ehhpakku (glass?) 447, 656
n. 157
miksu (a tax) 672 n. 220
mintu 'incantation' 270
mud 'village scribe, expert' 435,
464, 465, 466
munnabtu 'fugitive' 467 n. 87
mur'u 'commander, officer, fattener,
quartermaster' 435, 466, 495
n. 247
mur'u uriannu (officer of the prince)
435, 683 n. 260
muttiru (type of stove) 656
naggr narkabti 'chariot maker' 489
namzaktu 'beverages'? 663 n. 189
nappt} ere 'copper-smith, boiler-maker'
488
nru 'singer' 436, 492 n. 230
nsiku 'metal caster' 488
nsiku ere 'copper-smith, boiler-maker'
488
nayylu 'runaway' 432, 467
nutfatimmu 'cook' 436, 451, 492
paf}f}ru 'potter' 454, 491
parkullu 'seal-cutter' 436, 454,
487
parnf)i/parruha (type of stone) 666
piduri 'governor' 721 n. 397
pilku 'corve obligation', (a tax) 430,
449, 467, 485 n. 104
qatu 'bow'

496 n. 256

rab ekallim 'chief of the palace' 473


rab eqlti 'chief of the fields' 473
rab kri 'harbourmaster' 474, 670

rab narkabti 'chief of the chariots' 474


rabti 'Great Lady' 702 n. 330
rab 'chief' 473; 'firstborn' 480
skinu 'prefect' 435, 442, 444,
469
sasinnu 'bow-notcher' 487
Lt m & a r ip u ti (workers of low social
standing) 654 n. 143
a rei ani (a high functionary) 688
angu 'priest' 433
arru qanadu 'powerful king' 674
ru 'wind' 665 n. 197
bu 'witness' 500
ibt 'elders' 483
siptu 'incantation' 270
takiltu 'purple wool' 447, 698
talmd 'apprentice' 486
tamkr 'merchants' 433, 440, 441
terhatu (gift connected with wedding)
475-6, 477 n. 147
tuppalanun 'Chief Scribe' 694, 708
tuppanura ffuburtinura 'Chief Scribe (and)
Chief Equerry' 708
tuppanuri see tuppalanun
tuparru 'scribe'

512

umman manda (nomads) 462


unuu (type of tax) 460, 485
n. 194
uqnu 'violet wool', 'blue stone,
lapis-lazuli' 446-7, 655, 694
n. 300
uriyanni/u (title) 685, 685 nn. 271-2,
692 n. 297
uparu 'weaver' 452, 487
uriannu 'crown prince' 683
zadimmu 'sculptor, carver'
n. 171, 487

454

INDEX OF VARIOUS LANGUAGES


(Hittite and Hurrian words in 3.3.2-3.3.3 are not included)

Hebrew
'addr 'mighty' 139
midd 'measurement'

'am-h-'res 'people of the land'


219 n. 22, 225
139

GA MES

Hittite

' c heese'

446
'arrow'

''KAK.KUM.TAG.GA

tawannanna (reigning queen)

679

Hurrian

altfl (type of sacrifice) 293


fant/fent- 'just, correct, fair' 505
paf}andari (cloth) 436 n. 53
Sumerian (and logograms)
11

BUR.GULmeS 'sculptors'

709 n. 353
.AMAR.RU ' q u i v e r '

496 n. 257
'governor'

MAKIM

4 9 6 n.

258

647 n. 129

NAGARmeS 'carpenters'

nuhurtu 'asa foetida1


657 n. 163
SAG.GAZ = f}apir (displaced
foreigners) 461 n. 39
LC
TUG.LA 'tailor'
436
UN 'guard' 495
LM
" Z A G . L U - / I 'lancers'
494
NU.LUH.HA =

INDEX OF KTU TEXTS


1 - 1.24 p740
1 - 1.6 p166, 193, 211, 234, 253
1-2 194, 552
1 193
1
194
1 i 194
1 i 13-4 p541n38
1 i 20 p233n15
1
194
1
13 p183
1
20 198
2p739
2 3 p270n3
2 7 - 9 p572
2 7 - 8 p279
2 13 p97
2 16 p i l l
2 20-1 p173n28
2 22 p187
2 23 p97, 129
2 24 p97
2 27 p114
2 29 p110n39
2 32 p i l l
2 38 100
2 40 p94
2 i 193, 194
2 i 4 p533
193, 194, 532
2
6 p173n28
2
7 p109n37
2
2 8 - 9 173
2
13-7 187
14 p98
2
17 185
2
22-3 p181
2

709

n. 353

1.2 iv 22 p118n83
1.2 iv 25 p118n83
1.2 26-7 p533
1.3- 1.4 194-5, 552
1.3 38 174
1.3 p193, 213n15
1.3
194-5
1.3 2-25 165
1.3 3 - 4 198
1.3 18-22 p580n135
1.3 22 p153
1.3
p195
1.3
9-11 186
1.3
19 p113n55
1.3
20 p113n55
1.3
22 129
1.3
29 p113n55
30 p113n55
1.3
1.3 i 195
1.3 i 3-8a 176
1.3 i 10 p98
1.3 i 14-7 166
1.3 i 16-7 182
1.3 i 16 pi 14
1.3 i 22-3 172
1.3 i 29 p329n34
1.3 i 32ff. 176
1.3 i 33 pi17n80
1.3 i 35 130
1.3 i 37 p99
1.3 i 40 p278
1.3 p195
1.3 4 p99
1.3 5 p173n28
1.3 38 129, 174
1.3 39-40 p173n28

1.3 IV 48 -53 176


1.3 195, 244
1.3 6-7 p533
1.3 10-2 p533
1.3 17 p U 8 n 8 5
1.3 3 9 - 4 4 176
1.3 vi 15 130
1.3 vi 20 p98
1.4- 1.6 p544, 546
1.4 140, 193, 213 15, 302, 499n2
1.4 iv 195
1.4 12-8 pi 76
1.4 32 p131n43
1.4 i 3 130
1.4 i 4 130
1.4 i 8 129
1.4 i 9 129
1.4 i 16-20 pi 76
1.4 i 23 pi 16
1.4 i 32 pi 14
1.4 ii 10-22 p225
1.4 ii 12-4 pi 75
1.4 ii 25-6 170
1.4 p223
1.4 16 p94
1.4 21-2 p533
1.4 29 p118n84
1.4 32 pi 16
1.4 50-7 176-7
1.4 195
1.4 7 129
1.4 8 186
1.4 15-6 181
1.4 17 p105n28
1.4 27ff. 195
1.4 31-3 172, 181
1.4 38-40 181
1.4 38 p105n28
1.4 40 p105n28
1.4 42-3 140
1.4 5 9 - 6 0 180
1.4 61-2 182
1.4 61 97
1.4 64-5 182
1.4 vi 195
1.4 4 180
1.4 5 - 6 182
1.4 VI 8 - 9 182
1.4 13 p97n13
1.4 VI 25-7 182
1.4 34-5 172
1.4 45-54 p542n39
1.4 VI 46 p539
1.4 51 129

1.4
55 174
1.4
9 104
1.4
17-9 182
1.4
30 p i l l
1.4
32 p i l l
1.4
195
1.4
I.e. p234
1.4
5 pi 14
1.4
12-4 187
1.4
14 pi 14
1.4
17-21 pi 70
1.4
2 3 - 4 198
1.4
29-35 180
1. 196-9, 552
196
.5
1.5
p279
1.5
4 - 2 2 177
1.5
4 - 6 p546n54
1.5
196
1.5
5 - 7 p229
1.5
15-6 p187
1.5
21 p303
1.5 23 p99
1.5 p193, 196, 278
1.5 13 105
1.5 18-9 182
1.5
196
1.5
6 100
1.5
10 198
1.5
11-15 578-9
1.5
28 100
1.6 54, 193, 265, 499n2
1.6
196
1.6 2 8 p578
1.6 10 185
1.6 18-31 p226
1.6 19ff. 166
1.6 20 130
1.6 33 p533
1.6 3 9 - 4 3 175
1.6 43-65 187-91
1.6 59-61 p110n38
1.6
196
1.6
6 - 9 186
1.6
16-7 182
1.6
19-20 182
1.6
21 153
1.6
24 p118n85
1.6
26-7 184
1.6
30-5 p547n57
1.6
3 Iff. p197
1.6
31-5 pi 77
1.6
6-7 186
1.6
8 - 9 173

1.6 iii 9 198


1.6 iv 196
1.6 iv 29 198
1.6 1 p94
1.6 5 - 1 0 184
1.6 11-9 177
1.6 11-6 p547n57
1.6 vi p196
1.6 vi 27-9 p i 7 4
1.6 vi 45-53 p272
1.6 vi 45-9 p265, 265n16, 266
1.6 vi 46 p264n13
1.6 vi 49-50 p277
1.6 vi 5 4 - 8 140, 234
1.6 vi 54-5 p234
1.6 vi 55-7 p300n64
1.6 vi 5 5 - 6 p547, 563n99
1.6 vi 56 p428n19
1.6 vi 57 p277
1.6 vi 58 p315n17
1.7 199
1.8 p166n5, 199
1.9 145
1.10 p54, 92, 145, 150, 166, 199,
253
1.10 i 4 p574
1.10 ii 4 - 5 184
1.10 ii 28 p i l l
1.10 ii 29 p i l l
1.10 iii 30 p525
1.10 iii 35 p97
1.12 p54, 64, 95, 96, 145, 150,
199-200, 542, 566
1.12 i p556
1.12 ii 58-61 p i 7 7
1.12 ii 3 4 - 6 p246n33
1.12 ii 46-7 186
1.12 ii 47 129
1.13 p200, 271 284
1.13.21-2 p284
1.13.23-9 p284
1.13.33 p118n84
1.14 166, 199, 203, 204, 209, 210,
211, 215-6, 217, 218, 219, 231,
232, 234, 253
1.14 i l l
p118n83
1.14 i 19 p278
1.14 i 20-21 133
1.14 i 23 p118n83
1.14 i 24 p328n28
1.14 i 29 p101
1.14 i 38 p99
1.14 i 52ii 5 p567
1.14 ii 2 - 3 p497nn259,262

1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.14
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.15
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16

16-9 p345n51
22 105
22-3 p273
2 3 - 4 p560
37-8 154
5 Off. p290
48 p97n13
1 130
31-5 p184
36-43 176
42-3 p173n28
14-23 p213n16
2 4 - 9 p213n16
28-vi 14 p211
32-3 180
vi 12-4 p221
p205, 213n16, 217
p230
16-28 p569-70
16-20 p249
26-8 p560
p227
1-23 166
2 - 4 p249, 267
3 p264n13
4 p613
7-16 p480n179
13-6 p570
13-5 p249, 267
14 p264n13
15 p613
16 p174
25-30 p569
- p210
10-3 p231
vi p210, 217
p210, 226, 499n2
p210
6 - 9 p575
7 p187
7 - 8 132
9 - 1 1 p315n17
12 p181
15-9 p578
2 0 - 3 p315n17, 562
26 p187
28-35 p578
52-3 p210
19 p99
20 p99
24-34 p211
26-50 p579
26-36 p578
44-7 p575

1.16 ii 50ff. p217


1.16 iii 5-11 p575
1.16 iii 7 - 8 182
1.16 iii 8 - 9 p211
1.16 iv p229
1.16 48 p117n78
1.16 vi p204, 214, 215, 216, 217
1.16 vi 3 102
1.16 vi 4 - 5 126
1.16 vi 6 pl 17n77
1.16 vi 7 p117n77
1.16 vi 10-28 p276
1.16 vi 11-2 p173n28
1.16 vi 15-21 p217, 218
1.16 vi 16-7 p l 7 4
1.16 vi 21-4 183, 184
1.16 vi 2 2 - 4 p218
1.16 vi 25-28 p575
1.16 vi 33-4 p250
1.16 vi 37 189
1.16 vi 39-54 p575
1.16 vi 45-50 p250
1.16 vi 53 189
1.16 vi 5 4 - 8 p211, 571-2
1.16 vi 56-7 p279
1.16 vi 57-8 187
1.16 vi 59 I.e. p234
1.16 I.e. 140
1.17-19 166, 199, 234, 253
1.17 p235, 318, 499n2
1.17 iii p225
1.17 i p235, 247
1.17 i 2ff. p250
1.17 i 10-1 p250
1.17 i 15-33 p545
1.17 i 23-33 p567-8, 576-7
1.17 i 25-33 p263n10
1.17 i 25-6 p173
1.17 i 26-33 p256-7, 481n182
1.17 i 26 p250
1.17 i 27-28 p127
1.17 i 31-2 p303
1.17 i 31 p302
1.17 i 3 4 - 6 p249, 570
1.17 i 36-7 p173
1.17 i 36 p249-50
1.17 i 40 p118n84
1.17 i 41 p118n84
1.17 i 42-7 p257, 263n10
1.17 i 42-3 p173
1.17 i 43 p250
1.17 ii p236, 248
1.17 ii 1-9 p263n10
1.17 ii 1 - 8 p257

17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19

ii 14-23 p263n10
ii 16-23 p257
ii 25 p250
ii 26 p248n40
ii 30-40 183
ii 42 100
iii p236
iv p236
v p236
4 - 8 p250
10-1 192
19-20 171
20 97, 98
22-5 174
29-30 171n21
30 98
4 - 8 p250
22-5 174
vi p236
vi 24 p97
vi 26-8 p l 7 5
vi 27 154
vi 32-3 184
vi 34-9 p578
vi 34-5 172
vi 36-8 p251, 252
vi 36-7 130, 187
vi 37 p252
vi 41-2 pl71
vi 43-5 177
vi 47-8 p533
vi I.e. 140, 234
p235, 237
i p236
i 24 p248
ii p26
iii p236
iv p236
iv 17-8 p l 7 3
iv 22 153
p235, 237, 739
i p228n31, 235, 236
i 11 p270n4
i 19-25 p250
i 38-46 p273
i 39 p275
i 4 2 - 6 p572-3
ii p235, 236
ii 1 - 3 p356
ii 2 - 3 p240n16
ii 3 - 4 p574
ii 9 p98
ii 12-5 p l 7 5
ii 15-25 p273

1.19
22-5 p571
1.19
44ff. 176
1.19 i p235, 236
1.19 i 1-40 p257
1.19 i 1 - 3 p572
1.19 i 9 p98
1.19 i 14 p117n78
1.19 i 28-39 p244
1.19 i 28 p117n78
1.19 i 44 p98
1.19 i 46 p249, 250
1.19 i 47 132-3
1.19 i 5 3 - 4 187
1.19 p235, 236-7
1.19 3-7 p573
1.19 9 - 2 7 p578
1.19 23 130
1.19
28 180
1.19
46-50 p171n19
1.19
62 p98
1.19 I.e. 140
1.20-22 166, 199, 237, 271n10,
283, 739
1.20 p54, 234, 234n3, 259-69
1.20 i 1-2 p265n16
1.20 ii 1-2 p265n16
1.20 ii 8 - 9 p265n16
1.21 p54, 237, 259-69, 363n7
1.21 i p263
1.21 i 3 - 4 p265n16
1.21 i 5 - 6 p268n20
1.21 i 11-2 p265n16
1.21 ii 8 p260
1.22 p54, 237, 259-69
1.22 i 4 - 1 0 p261
1.22 i 2 1 - 4 p173n28
1.22 i 17 183
1.22 i 10-4 186
1.22 i 10-25 p261
1.22 i 17 183
1.22 i 18 130
1.22 i 2 1 - 6 184
1.22 i 2 1 - 4 p173n28
1.22 ii 4 - 1 0 p267
1.22 ii 5 - 6 p265n16
1.22 ii 5 - 7 p268n20
1.22 ii 17 p94
1.23 p53, 140, 166, 168n10, 200-1,
284-5 285, 290, 352, 356, 534,
542, 544, 553-7, 551, 564, 560, 739
1.23.6 p99
1.23.8-11 p285
1.23.10 p285
1.23.12 140

1.23.14-5 140
1.23.15 130
1.23.18-22 140
1.23.31 130
1.23.32 130
1.23.36 130
1.23.54 p544
1.23.56 140
1.23.61-2 171
1.23.66 p118n84
1.23.70-2 171
1.24 53, 95, 145, 150, 166, 201,
285-6, 310n6, 352, 551, 557-8,
564
1.24.33-7 175
1.24.44 99
1.24.45 99
1.24.46-7 p270
1.24.47 p475n 137
1.25 145
1.26 p60, 70, 72-3, 144, 323
1.26.2 p72
1.26.3 p72
1.26.4 p72
1.26.5 p72
1.26.6 p72
1.27 p333n40
1.28 p333n40
1.30 p60, 144, 323
1.31 p333n40
1.32 p59, 144, 323
1.33 p59, 144, 323
1.33 iii 37 p99
1.34 p59, 144, 323
1.35+ p59, 144, 323
1.36 p59, 323
1.37 p59
1.39 p81, 143, 317, 318-9, 340,
347-8
1.39.2-4 p340
1.39.4-8 p340
1.39.8-10 p341
1.39.14 p241n19
1.39.20-2 p342
1.39.32-6 p318
1.40 p26-34, 144, 153, 163, 274,
293, 295, 310n7, 316-7, 322, 455,
457, 541n38, 564-6, 605n5
1.40.10 p495n245
1.40.24 p329n33
1.40.28 p457n7
1.40.29 p457n7
1.40.32 p277
1.40.35 140

1.40.36 p697
1.40.37 p457n7
1.41 143, 144, 273, 294, 301, 302,
318 -9, 329, 330, 339-44, 557
1.41.1-49 p298n51
1.41.3 162
1.41.5 p161
1.41.10 162
1.41.11-7 p347
1.41.15-6 p161
1.41.16 p541n38
1.41.17-9 p347
1.41.20-1 p292
1.41.21 p454n172
1.41.22 p130
1.41.24 p303
1.41.37 p303
1.41.41 p303
1.41.44-9 143
1.41.47-8 164
1.41.47 102
1.41.50-5 p162, 273, 298, 298n51,
344
1.41.50 p303
1.41.51-5 p339
1.41.53-5 p295
1.41.53-4 164
1.41.53 102, 274
1.42 p59, 71, 72-3, 144, 323, 326
1.42.22 p66
1.42.38 p65, 68
1.42.60 p73
1.43 144, 294-5, 318, 319, 320,
330, 336, 344, 346, 583-4, 739
1.43.1-2 p304
1.43.9ff. p295
1.43.22-7 162
1.43.23-5 p297
1.43.24-6 p294-5
1.44 p59, 73, 144, 273, 323
1.44.3 p64, 69
1.44.4-5 p64, 67
1.44.4 p65, 68
1.44.5 p64, 65, 68
1.44.6 p69
1.44.7 p69
1.44.8 p64, 69
1.44.10 p64, 69
1.44.11-2 p64
1.44.11 p65, 68
1.45 145
1.45.5 132
1.46 143, 301, 318, 319, 330,
333n40, 335

1.46.1 10 p335
1.46.9-10 164
1.46.10-32 143
1.46.10-7 p335
1.46.11-7 p336
1.46.11-21 143
1.46.12-5 p319
1.46.16 7 p319
1.46.44 164
1.47 p70, 144, 161, 308-9, 532,
538n29, 535, 537
1.47.1 p537
1.47.32 p542n40
1.48 143, 318, 319, 326-7, 328
1.48.13 p97
1.49 143, 318, 319
1.50 143, 318, 319
1.51 + 1.52 144
1.51 p59, 273, 323
1.52 p59, 323
1.53 p59, 143
1.54 p59, 73, 144, 273, 323
1.54.2 p66
1.54.3 p65, 69
1.54.10 p69
1.54.11 p66, 69
1.54.12 p69
1.54.13 p64, 66, 68
1.54.14 p64, 69
1.56 p333n40
1.57 143
1.58 143
1.59 p59, 144, 323
1.59.1 p66
1.59.5 p66
1.60 p60, 70, 72-3, 144, 323
1.60.2 p66
1.60.3-16 p72
1.64 144, 323
1.64.26 p60, 66
1.65 145, 151, 175, 271n10, 274,
309n4, 310n7, 316-7, 322
1.65.2 p541n38
1.65.9ff. 152
1.65.9 153
1.65.9-15 p151
1.66 p60, 144, 323
1.67 p52n12, 145
1.68 p60, 144, 323
1.68.27 p66
1.69 p52n12
1.70 p52n12, 145
1.71 146
1.71.7 130

1.72 p146
1.73 p52n12, 145
1.74 144
1.76 143
1.77 p84, 145
1.78 p52n11, 146, 164, 322, 356,
574
1.79 p52n11
1.80 p52n11
1.80.04 127
1.81 p52n11, 143, 161, 318, 319
1.82 p52n11, 145, 150, 166, 271,
272, 278, 322, 576
1.82.1-7 150
1.82.1 p278, 282
1.82.5 p282
1.82.6 p105, 278, 279
1.82.10 p279
1.82.11 p278
1.82.12 p279
1.82.13 p279
1.82.18 p279
1.82.20 p270, 279, 285
1.82.23 p279
1.82.26 p279
1.82.27 p279, 282
1.82.28 p279
1.82.32 p264n13
1.82.35 p278, 279
1.82.38 p279, 282
1.82.39 p278
1.82.40 p279
1.82.41 p279
1.83 p52n11, 54, 145, 150, 152,
166n5, 271, 278, 739
1.83.8 p278
1.83.11 154
1.84 p52n11, 144, 564
1.84.3 p704
1.84.4 p457n7
1.85 p50, 57, 146, 163,
1.86 p52n11, 146, 163, 271n10,
286
1.87 p52n11, 143, 203, 273,
298n51, 318-9, 326-7, 330,
339-44
1.87.17 p541n38
1.87.22 p454n172
1.87.42 p303
1.87.54-7 339, 344
1.87.56-7 164
1.87.58-61 p329, 344
1.88 p52n11, 145
1.89 p52n11

1.90 p52n11, 144, 319, 322, 330


1.90.20-2 p331
1.91 p52n11, 142, 143, 144, 145,
148, 295, 326-7, 337-8, 339, 739
1.91.1-4 p327
1.91.1-2 148
1.91.3 144
1.91.6 144
1.91.8 p336
1.91.10-1 p336
1.91.10 p295, 332
1.91.14-5 p320
1.91.21-2 p327
1.91.29 p128
1.92 p52n11, 145, 150, 151,
166n5, 551
1.93 p52n11, 145, 150-1,
166n5, 271, 286
1.94 p52n11
1.95 p52n11
1.96 p51, 145, 166, 270, 271n10,
272, 281-2, 322, 739
1.96. Iff. p151
1.96.1 133
1.96.4-5 154, 282
1.96.5-13 p282
1.97 146
1.100 p54, 145, 166, 177, 202, 270,
271, 272, 281, 285, 300, 322, 575,
739
1.100.1-7 p177
1.100.1 p152
1.100.2-4 p533n13
1.100.67-8 149
1.100.74 129
1.100.75-6 185
1.102 144
1.102.1-14 p347, 348
1.102.1-2 p346
1.102.15-28 p315n16
1.103+(1.145) p56, 146, 163-4, 322,
353, 354, 574
1.103+.7 p495n245
1.103+.17 p94
1.103+.47 p495n245
1.104 p143, 322
1.104.1 p97
1.104.13 p302, 303n72
1.104 iv 3 4 - 4 3 p568~9
1.105 143, 295n42, 302, 318, 320,
330, 332-3
1.105.19 p302
1.106 143, 295, 318, 320, 333, 344,
348-50

1.106.12-3 p349
1.106.15-7 p297
1.106.15 p300
1.106.22-3 p304
1.106.23-4 164
1.106.26-8 p295
1.106.27-8 p297
1.106.33 164
1.107 145, 150, 166, 271, 271n10,
272, 279, 280-1, 285, 322-3, 575
1.107.1-14 150
1.107.10 p280
1.107.11 p97
1.107.13-9 p177
1.107.18 p300
1.107.20 p280
1.107.33 105
1.107.46 p294
1.108 p54, 151, 161, 271, 273, 284,
299, 323, 352, 739
1.108. Iff. 152
1.108.1-2

162

1.108.1 p299, 678n241


1.108.2-3 p561n95
1.108.3-5 176
1.108.4-5 152
1.108.6

162

1.108.8 p117n79
1.108.21-3 p151-2
1.108.21-2 p299
1.108.21 p131n46
1.108.23-4 p264n13
1.108.24 p131n46
1.109 p143, 301, 318, 319, 320, 330,
333-6
1.109.1-14 p335
1.109.3-18 p336
1.109.5-10 p319
1.109.11-4 p319
1.109.11 p302
1.109.16-8 p319
1.109.19ff. p335
1.109.26 p335
1.110 p60, 70, 71, 72-3, 143, 144,
323
1.110.1 p67, 72
1.110.2-10 p72
1.110.4 p67
1.111 p60, 70, 71, 72-3 143, 144
1.111.3 p67
1.111.7 p67
1.111.8 p67
1.112 p60, 143, 300, 302, 318, 320,
333, 338, 344, 347, 349, 739

112.6-9 p295
112.6-8 p338
112.6-7 160
112.9 164
112.10-5 p297
112.13 p338
112.14-5 164
112.18 p338
112.21 p300
112.22-7 p344
112.26-7 349
113 144, 208, 299, 314-5, 550,
561, 561, 577, 610n19, 739
113.1-11 165
113.12ff. 165
113.13-26 p252
114 p54, 62, 62n24, 150, 151, 160,
202, 271, 285, 535, 576, 739
114.5 p U 8 n 8 4
114.12 154
114.13 p181
114.19-20 p285
114.28 p153
114.29-32 146
114.29-31 p150, 272
115 144, 318, 320, 344, 346
115.8 162
115.9-10 p293
115.10 162
115.18-9 p317
116 p60, 62, 62n24, 69, 70, 72-3,
144, 323
116.3 p66
116.4 p64n30, 68, 69, 72
116.5 p67, 69, 72
116.6 p64n30, 72
116.7 p72
116.8 p72
116.9 p66
116.11 p72
116.12 p72
116.13 p66, 72
116.14 p64n30, 72
116.15-26 p72
116.27 p69
116.28 p72
116.29 p72
116.31 p68, 72
116.33 p73
116.34 p72
116.35 p72
117 p739
118 p70, 144, 161, 308-10, 537
119 p143, 275, 302, 318, 319,

350-2, 541n37, 545, 574


1.119.1-17 p302
1.119.4-6 p297
1.119.4 164
1.119.12 p303
1.119.13-4 p297, 303
1.119.23-4 164
1.119.23 p300
1.119.25 p294
1.119.26-36 145
1.119.27 p163
1.119.28-36 165, 166
1.120 p60, 144, 323
1.120.3 p66
1.121+ 144
1.121.9 p457n7
1.122. [3] p541n38
1.123 145, 151, 271n10, 275, 309,
310n7, 316-7, 322, 323
1.123.14ff. p275
1.123.22 p99
1.124 p54, 146, 149, 271, 284,
322-3, 353, 576, 739
1.124.13-5 p272
1.124.14 p155
1.125 p60, 70, 71, 72-3, 144, 323,
683n261
1.125.1 p68, 72
1.125.3 p69
1.125.4 p69
1.125.6 p720n392
1.125.8-10 p72
1.125.11 p68, 72
1.125.12 p69, 73
1.125.13 p73
1.125.14 p69, 73
1.125.15 p69, 73
1.125.16 p72
1.125.17 p69
1.125.18 p69, 72
1.126 p143, 318
1.126.6 p66
1.126.23 164
1.127 p56n16, 144, 146, 321, 322,
357-8, 574
1.127.29-32 p358
1.127.30-2 164, 566
1.128 p60, 73, 144, 273, 323
1.128.1 p69
1.128.2 p66
1.128.3 p66
1.128.4 p64, 65, 66, 67, 68
1.128.5 p66, 67
1.128.6 p64, 66

.128.7 p64
.128.8 p64, 69
.128.9 p64
.128.10 p68, 69
.128.11 p68
.128.12 p64, 65, 68
.128.13 p64n30
.128.16 p64, 66, 69
.128.17-8 p65, 68
.128.17 p64, 69
.128.19 p67
.128.20-1 p64
.128.20 p65, 68
.130 143, 318, 330, 333n40, 335,
336
.130.10-5 p319
.131 p60, 62, 73, 144, 273, 323
.131.1-4 p67
.131.1-3 p67
.131.1 p64
.131.2 p65, 68
.131.3-4 p67
.131.3 p65, 69
.131.4 p69
.131.5 p65, 68, 69
.131.10 p69
.131.11 p64, 69
.131.12 p64, 67
.131.13-5 p67
.131.13 p67, 69
.131.14 p66, 69
.131.15 p64, 69
.132 p55n15, 60, 70, 71, 143, 144,
298
.132.1-3 163
.132.2-3 p73
.132.3 p71n36
.132.4 p71, 72
.132.5 p72
.132.6 p73
.132.7 p72
.132.8 p72
.132.9 p68, 73
.132.10 p72
.132.11 p69, 72
.132.12 p72
.132.14 p72
.132 18 p71, 72
.132.19 p72
.132.20 p72
.132.22 p71, 72
.132.23 p72
.132.25-6 163
.132.27-8 164

1.133 199, 739


1.134 143, 333n40
1.135 p60, 70, 72-3, 144, 323,
537n25
1.135.2 p66
1.135.3-14 p72
1.135.16 p72
1.136+ 143
1.138 143, 302
1.139 144, 318
1.140 p56, 144, 146, 164, 322, 353,
354, 574
1.141-1.144 p56n16, 146
1.141 p322, 357, 459n19, 573-4
1.142 p292, 322, 357, 574
1.142.17-21 p73
1.143 p322, 357, 574
1.144 p322, 357, 574
1.144.4-5 p67
1.145 p353, 354, 574
1.148 p55n15, 144, 292~3, 307,
311 2, 318, 330, 331, 538n29
1.148.1-12 144
1.148.1-9 p308-10, 310n8, 332, 341
1.148.10-2 p308, 332
1.148.11 p295
1.148.18-22 144, 295, 329, 332,
336
1.148.21 p438n75, 454n172
1.148.22 p437n73
1.148.26-45 p332
1.149 p60, 323
1.149.10 p66
1.149.11 p66
1.151 145
1.155 p56n16, 146, 322, 357, 574
1.156 143
1.159+ 143
1.160 p333n40
1.161 p54, 144, 151, 153, 162-3,
165, 166, 219n22, 264, 264n13,
265, 266, 271, 283, 299, 318,
561, 577, 691n294, 706n344. 707,
739
1.161.22-26 152
1.161.31-34 152
1.162 143, 144, 320, 330, 331,
352
1.163-1.176 p52n11
1.163 p56, 146, 163, 318, 355-6
1.164 144, 297, 318, 330, 331
1.165 143, 318, 320
1.168 144, 318, 320, 330
1.169 145, 151, 270, 271, 272,

276, 278, 279, 281, 322, 576


1.169.1 p276
1.169.3-4 151, 186
1.169.5-6 p281
1.169.7-8 151
1.169.7 154
1.169.9 p276, 279, 322
1.170 143, 300, 318, 320,
470102
1.171 143, 318, 320
1.173 143, 318, 320
1.175 146
1.176.16 p541n38
2.1-2.83 142
2.1-2.16 p359
2.1 142, 363n7, 365 15
2.1.1-2 p364n12
2.1.3 p365n17
2.2 142, 145, 152
2.2.4 154
2.3 142
2.3.20 160
2.3.19 154
2.4 142, 362n6, 363n7,
366n21
2.4.4-5 p364n12
2.4.19 154
2.5 142, 145, 152
2.6 142, 3637
2.6.5-6 p364n12
2.7 142
2.8-2.9 142
2.10-2.13 p362n6
2.10 142, 363n7, 366n23, 726
2.10.5-15 155-6
2.10.8-9 160
2.10.9-10 160
2.10.11-5 160
2.10.12 154
2.10.14 154
2.11-2.17 142
2.11 158-9, 365 15, 699
2.11.1 p361
2.11.4 p362
2.11.5-7 p363
2.11.7-9 p364n12
2.11.10 p365n16
2.11.13 160
2.12 p699
2.12.2 p361
2.12.5 p362
2.12.6-11 363
2.12.14 p367

2.13 p363n7, 365n15, 470n106


2.13.2 p361
2.13.4 p362
2.13.5-6 p362
2.13.7-8 p364n12
2.13.9 p365n17
2.13.14-5 p700
2.14 p366n21, 697
2.14.3 p361-2
2.14.4-5 p364n12
2.14.9 p99
2.14.12 154
2.15.7 154
2.15.8 153
2.16 156, 362n6, 363n7, 366,
699
2.16.2 p361
2.16.3 p495n247
2.16.4-6 p101n23
2.16.5-6 p101n23
2.16.10

160

2.16.12 154
2.16.19 p367
2.17-2.18 p360
2.17 156
2.17.6 154
2.17.15 154
2.18 142
2.19 142, 145, 161, 413, 414, 415,
692
2.19.6ff. p414
2.19.9-10 p415
2.19.12 p99
2.19.13 p413
2.20-2.36+ p360, 686n273
2.20 142
2.21 p362n6, 365n15, 469n97,
470n101, 699
2.21.3 p362
2.21.5-6 p364n12
2.21.7 p365n17
2.21.10 p99
2.22 142
2.23 142, 157, 623n67, 631n87,
713
2.23.15-24 157-8
2.23.17ff. 160
2.23.17 154
2.24 142, 362n6, 365n15
2.24.2 p361, 362
2.24.4 p362
2.24.5-7 p363
2.24.8 p365n17
2.25 142

2.26 p142, 362n6


2.26.4-5 p94
2.26.6 p303
2.26.7 154
2.27 142
2.30-2.31 142
2.30 156, 362n6, 363nn7-8,
365n15, 366n23
2.30.1 p361
2.30.4-5 p362
2.30.6-7 p364n12
2.30.8 p365n17
2.30.12-4 p700
2.30:22 p99
2.30.33 p362
2.31 142
2.31.16ff. 160
2.31.21 154
2.32.7 154
2.32.10 154
2.33 142, 156, 158, 362n6,
363nn7-8, 366n23, 470n106, 495,
655n153, 713, 724
2.33.1 p153, 361
2.33.2 p362
2.33.3-4 p363
2.33.4ff. 156
2.33.15-6 160
2.33.15 160
2.33.20 160
2.33.22-39 p158
2.33.22-24 p160
2.33.23 p99
2.33.27 p160
2.33.28 154
2.33.30-1 160
2.34 p362n6, 363n7, 365n15,
469n100, 470n106, 700
2.34.2 p361
2.34.3-4 p364n12
2.34.5 p470n104
2.34.13 154
2.34.32-3 160
2.35 142, 156
2.36+ p51n8, 142, 159, 365n15,
367, 460, 488, 488n215, 674,
679n243, 693n298, 700
2.36+.2 p365n17
2.36+.5-13 156-7
2.36+.6 154
2.36+.13 154
2.36+. 16ff. 158
2.37.10 155
2.38-2.72 p360

2.38 p51n8, 142, 155, 156, 363n7,


365n15, 368, 442n98, 460, 672n222
2.38.2 p362
2.38.3 p362
2.38.4-5 p364n12
2.38.6 p365n16
2.38.10-27 156
2.38:12 p98
2.38.15 p154
2.38.26 p99
2.39 p32, 51n8, 142, 362n6, 707,
717
2.39.5-16 p157
2.39.5ff. 160
2.39.11-6 159
2.39.1 Iff. 160
2.39.15-6 160
2.39.17ff. 160
2.39.21 155
2.39.35 p154
2.40 142, 156, 362n6, 442n98,
671
2.40.1 p361
2.40.4 p362
2.40.5-8 p363
2.41 158, 363n7, 721n396
2.41.1-2 p364n12
2.41.13 p99
2.41.19 160
2.42(+2.43) 142, 158, 362n6,
443, 459n18, 623n67,
631n87, 677
2.42.1 p361
2.42.3 p362, 473n124, 495n247
2.42.4-9 p158
2.42.4-5 p363, 364n12
2.42.6 155
2.42.10 155
2.42.11 154
2.42.19 p154
2.42.23 154
2.42.25 154
2.42.26 155
2.44 p362n6, 363n7, 669n209
2.44.2 p362
2.44.4-5 p364n12
2.45 143, 158
2.45.7 p98
2.45.11-2 p363
2.45.19 154
2.45.23 154
2.45.25 p99, 154
2.46 p362n6, 363n7, 365n15,
677n239, 718

2.46.4-5 p364n12
2.46.6 p365n16
2.47 p366n26, 719
2.47.2 p361
2.47.4 p365n17
2.47.16 p154
2.48-2.59 142
2.48.5 154
2.49 p362n6
2.50.12 154
2.50.16 154
2.51.2-3 p363
2.52 p363n7
2.56 p365n15
2.56.1 p361
2.56.4 p365n16
2.59 p440n83
2.60 142
2.61 p362n6, 726
2.61.2 p361
2.61.5-7 154
2.61.5 154
2.62 142
2.63-2.64 142
2.63 p363nn6-7
2.63.1 p361
2.63.5-6 p364n12
2.64 p362n6
2.64.2 p361
2.64.5 p362
2.64.6-7 p362
2.64.10 p361
2.64.12 p362
2.64.13-16 p363
2.65-2.67 142
2.65 p365n15
2.65.1 p365n16
2.67 p363n7, 365n15
2.68 p38n72, 142, 363n8, 365n15,
368, 470n105, 729n425
2.68.1 p361
2.68.3 p362
2.68.4-7 p363
2.68.9-10 p364n12
2.69 142
2.70 158, 363n10, 365n15
2.70.1 p361
2.70.6-7 p364n12
2.70.8-10 p363
2.70.11-29 159
2.70.11 p365n17
2.70.12 154
2.70.15-6 p153
2.70.23-8 160

2.70.27 154
2.71 142, 156, 362n6, 363n7,
365n15
2.71.4-5 p364n12
2.71.5 p365n16
2.71.10 p98, 154
2.71.11 154
2.71.14 p99
2.72 p143, 363nn8,10, 365n15,
681n251
2.72.4 p365n16
2.72.7 p495n244
2.72.9 p153
2.72.10-33 159
2.72.10 p153
2.72.11 154, 495n244
2.72.17 p153
2.72.22 p99, 154
2.72.27 154
2.72.42 154
2.73.14 154
2.75-2.83 360
2.75 156, 686n273
2.75.4 p362
2.75.6 p364n12
2.75.11 154
2.76 p51n8, 362n6, 365n15, 712
2.76.1-2 p157
2.76.4 p365n17
2.76.9-10 p157
2.78 p362n6
2.79 p363n9
2.79.3 154
2.79.4 154
2.79.5-6 p362
2.81 p51n8, 157, 363n7, 712n360
2.81.5 p362
2.81.12-3' p710n357
2.82 p24, 700
2.82.1 p361
2.82.2 p361
2.82.4 154
2.82.11 154
2.83 142, 365n15
2.83.2 p365n17
3.1 p 3 0 n n l l - 2 , 141, 419-20,
447n140, 488n216, 634n94
3.1.30 p131
3.1.32 130
3.1.38 132
3.2 p161, 413, 414, 415
3.2.12 p99
3.2.13 p99

3.3 p30n14, 416


3.3.8 p99
3.4 p119, 459n27, 466n78, 669,
693
3.5 p161, 413, 414, 451-6
3.6 p416
3.7 146, 416, 428n24, 460
3.8 p412, 416, 417, 418, 443,
466nn78,80
3.9 p416, 417, 418, 418n35, 576
3.9.6 153
3.10 142, 146, 416, 417
4.4.2 p436n55
4.4.3 p436n56
4.4.4 p436nn53,54,56, 437n57
4.7 p430n26
4.14.2 p438n74
4.14.7 p438n74
4.14.15 p438n74
4.15 p309n5
4.17 p485n194
4.22.3-4 p470n101
4.22.3 p496n249
4.29 p147, 427n15, 434n35
4.31 p84
4.31.2 p454n172
4.31.11 p446n123
4.33 p429n24, 511 15
4.34 p437n72
4.34.4 p446n127
4.34.9 p446n127
4.35 147, 426n13, 427n16
4.35 i 16 p449n 149
4.35 i 20 p438n78
4.35 i 22 p438n78
4.35 i 26 p438n78
4.35 ii 5 - 6 p438n78
4.35 ii 8 p451n158
4.35 ii 11 130
4.35 ii 20 p438n78
4.36 p427nnl,15, 435n43,
440nn84-5, 445n119
4.36.1 p434n35
4.38 147, 427nn14-5, 434n35,
440n84
4.38.6 p449n 149
4.40 p432n30, 512, 514n23
4.41 p425
4.41.6 p434n35
4.43 p451, 427n16
4.43.4 p45 Inn 156,158
4.44 p427n16
4.44.28 p94, 130

4.46 p485n200
4 . 4 6 . 1 1 2 p454n168
4.46.13-4 p450n151
4.47 p147, 427n15, 435nn43,45,
452n160
4.47.5 p454n 169
4.47.7 p452n 160
4.47.8 p450n 151
4.47.10 p449n 149
4.48 148, 435n43
4.50-53 p511n15
4.53 148, 429n24
4.54 p429n24, 435n45, 511n15
4.55 p511n15
4.58 p429n24
4.60 p446n 121
4.63 147, 148, 425n4, 435n41,
436n46, 493n232, 494n236
4.65 146, 426nn12-3
4.66 146, 427n16
4.67 148
4.68 147, 148, 425n4, 430, 435n42,
440nn84,85, 485n196, 493n232,
494n234
4.68.19 p525
4.68.63 p454n170
4.68.67 p452n160
4.68.72 p434n35
4.68.74 p454n169
4.69 p147, 148, 427n16, 429n24,
435n43, 511n15, 514n21
4.69 ii 6 - 1 0 p433n32
4.69 vi 22-37 p434n35
4.70.6 p467n86
4.71 147, 148, 426n13
4.72 p504n5
4.73 p425n5
4.75 p431n27
4.80 p431n29, 476n140,
478nn157,162
4.81 130, 432n30, 514n23
4.81.2-3 130
4.85 p433, 433n34
4.86 p433n34
4.87 p426n 13
4.87.3 p454n168
4.89 p425n7, 426n10, 435n44
4.90 148, 427n16
4.91 142
4.91.2-3 p446n124
4.91.7-8 p448n 143
4.91.14 p438n74
4.92 p427n16, 435n43
4.93 148, 425n5

4.93.2-4 p454n168
4.94 p424n3
4.95 148, 425n5
4.96 p425n7, 426n13, 433n34,
459n27
4.96.3 p460n29
4.96.6 p460n32
4.97 p425n7
4.98 p427n16, 485n200
4.98.6 p450n 151
4.98.8 p450n 151
4.98.9 p452n160
4.98.17 p451n156
4.99 136, 147, 426n13, 427n15,
429n24, 426n13, 435nn42,45,
436n47, 452n161
4.99.9 p434n35
4.99.15 p452n 163
4.99.16 p450n 154
4.99.18 p454n 169-70
4.99.19 p452n 160
4.100 148
4.102 148, 429n24, 434n39,
452n161, 459
4.102.25 129, 450n153
4.103 147, 425n7, 429n24, 430n26,
435nn42,43,45, 436n46, 485n195
4.103.5 p510n13
4.103.22 p454n170
4.103.57 p452n163
4.105 p427n15, 435n43
4.105.2 p452n 160
4.106 p426n13
4.107 p452n161
4.108 p425n5
4.110 p425n7, 426n8, 428n18
4.110.1 2 p430n26
4.113 p425n5
4.114 p427n16, 436n47
4.116.20 p433n34
4.117 p437n58
4.121.1 p452n163
4.122 146, 425n7, 426n13
4.123 p446n 124, 448n144, 452n161
4.123.17 p437n72, 447n141
4.123.20 I p437n72
4.123.20 p131
4.123.21 p447n141
4.123.22-3 p446n 125
4.124 p452n161, 485n197
4.125 p425n7, 426n13, 427n15,
431n27, 435n42, 485n193
4.125.1 p449
4.125.8-9 p486n205

4.125.8 p450n154
4.125.9 p452n163
4.126 p426n13, 427n15,
429n24, 435n43,
436nn46-7, 440n84
4.126.6 p434n35
4.126.8 p454n170
4.126.10 p452n160
4.126.16 p450n154
4.126.18 p451n158
4.126.27 129, 451n155
4.126.28 p454n168
4.127.2 p448n 144
4.128 p426n10, 427nn 14,16,17,
436n46, 452nn161,163
4.129 p426n13, 431n27, 513n18
4.131 p427n14
4.132 p434n38
4.132.4 148
4.133.3 p451n156
4.134 p427n16, 433n34, 513n18
4.134.2 p453n167
4.136 147
4.137 148, 429n24, 434n38,
435n43, 440n84
4.137.1 130
4.137.4 p433n32
4.137.10 130
4.138.2 129
4.139 p425n7, 427n15
4.141 148, 425n7, 426n13, 428n18,
436n46, 485n199
4.141 iii 16 p428n22
4.141 iii 19 p453n167
4.141 iii 20 p450n151
4.142 p425n7
4.143 p426n11, 469nn97.100
4.144 p427n14, 428n18
4.145 147, 428n20, 429n23, 437,
496n250
4.145.8-9 127
4.145.9 p428n20, 473n119,
486n201
4.145.16 p450n151
4.146.3 p430n26
4.146.5 130
4.146.7 p437n57
4.147.5 p452n160
4.148.19 p436n56
4.149 p329, 427n14, 429n24,
459n20
4.149.4 p458n10
4.149.6 p459n25
4.149.14-6 145, 300

4.149.14-5 p470n102
4.150 p446n 124, 453n167
4.150.5 p448n146
4.151 148
4.151 ii 1 p452n160
4.152 p429n24, 437n57
4.152.5 p436n56
4.153 p426n13, 427n14,
431n27
4.155 p427n16
4.156 148
4.156.5 p436n56
4.158 p452n161
4.158.3 p446n 124
4.158.6 p446n 128
4.158.7 p448n 144
4.158.12 p448n 143
4.158.14-5 p447n142
4.158.17-8 p446n132
4.158.20-2 p448n143
4.160.12 p473n121
4.162 p429n24
4.163 149, 429n24, 440n84,
433n32, 434n38, 435n43
4.164 149
4.165 148
4.166 148, 437n59
4.166.2 p436n56
4.166.3 p437n60
4.167 p437n70, 496nn250,253
4.167.1-7 148
4.167.1-2 p450
4.167.1 p496n251
4.168 145, 329
4.168.5-9 p161
4.168.11 p446n 131
4.169 p496n250, 497n261
4.169.6 p494n241
4.170 p429n24
4.172 145
4.173 149, 429n24, 433n32,
434n38, 435n43, 440n84
4.174 149, 429n24, 434n38,
435n43, 440n84
4.175 p425n7 426nn10,13,
427n14, 431n27
4.177 p427n16
4.179 148, 429n24, 434n38, 440n84,
433n32, 435n43
4.179.14 104
4.180 148, 427n16, 451n158,
496n250,
4.181.2 104
4.182 p329, 447n142, 452n161

4.182.8 p446nn129,131
4.182.17 130
4.182.35 p436n56
4.182.56 p452n163
4.182.63 p437n66
4.183 147, 426n13, 429n24, 430n26,
449n149, 452n161
4.183 ii 10 129
4.183 ii 12 p450n 151
4.183 ii 22 p454n169
4.183 ii 27 p451n158
4.183 iii 16 p452n160
4.186.1 p450n154
4.186.9 p450n154
4.187 p427n16, 485n197
4.187.1 p452n163
4.188 p427n16, 435n45, 453n167
4.190.4 p436n56
4.192 p437n58
4.195 p436n46, 437n71
4.195.5 p131
4.200 p425n7
4.201 p427n16
4.203.8 p437n63
4.204 p596n258
4.205 p437n60
4.205.6 p437n61
4.205.7 p437n57
4.205.19 p437n62
4.206 p437n63
4.206.1 p437n64
4.206.4 p446n131
4.206.5 p437n65
4.206.6 p447n124
4.207 p435n43
4.207.5 p452n160
4.207.7 p454n 170
4.212 p435n43
4.213 148, 329, 425n7, 426nn 11,1
427n14, 429n24
4.213.24 145, 154
4.213.30 p487n207
4.214 148, 433n34, 440n84
4.215 p147, 427n16
4.216 p427nn14-5, 429n24
4.216.2 p303
4.216.3 p303
4.216.9 p458n10
4.217 p427nn15-6, 440n84
4.219.12 p469n100, 470n102
4.219 148
4.219.1-3 p329
4.219.2-3 145
4.222 p430n26

4.222.8- 11 p451n158
4.223 p428n18
4.224 p436n46
4.225.16 130
4.230 148, 427nn14,16,
429n24
4.230.3 p457n7
4.230.4-5 p470n102
4.230.15 154
4.232 147, 148, 425n5
4.235 148
4.243 p425n7, 426nn 11,13, 427n 14,
431n27
4.243.2 p450n151
4.244 p426n8, 429n24, 430n26
4.244.9 p469n100
4.244.16 p465nn62-3
4.245 p435n45
4.246.3 p470n102
4.246.2-3 p469n100
4.247.22 132
4.247.29 p448n 143
4.255 p459n21
4.257.5 p437n66
4.258 p417
4.261 p427n16, 451
4.261.1 p451n156
4.263 p427n14, 440n84
4.264 p428n18
4.266 145, 452n161
4.267 p425n5
4.269 148, 426nn11,13,
427nn14,16
4.269.4 p487n207
4.269.8 p452n163
4.269.26 p487n207
4.270.7 p436n56, 437nn67,68
4.270.8 p437n57
4.270.11 p437n61
4.271 p425n7, 426n11
4.272 p427n16, 451n158
4.272.7 154
4.275 p426n10
4.277.1 130
4.279 p329
4.280.6 154
4.280.13-4 p329
4.282 p430n26
4.282.5 p434n35
4.283 p416n26
4.284.5-6 p329
4.286 p427n16
4.288 p435n41
4.290 148

4.295 p431n29, 478n157


4.296 p425n7, 426nn10,13
4.297 p425n7
4.299 148
4.303 p424n3
4.307 p425n7, 426n13
4.308 148, 425n5
4.310 416n26, 427n16, 45 ! 158
4.310.2 p451n156
4.310.5 p451n156
4.312 p427n15
4.313 p425n7
4.320 p425n7, 426n13
4.321 p427n16, 459n27
4.322 p427n16, 429n24, 465n61
4.325 p459n27
4.328 148, 154
4.332 p426n13, 435n43, 452n161,
485n199
4.332.14-7 p452n163
4.332.18 p450n154
4.337 p437n64
4.337.9-10 p446n132
4.337.11 129, 450n153
4.337.20 p447n136
4.337.21 p446n127
4.337.25 p447n124
4.338 146, 442, 452n161, 459n24,
660, 669n209
4.338.1-3 147
4.338.10 p454n 168
4.339 p478n157
4.339.2-4 p454n 168
4.339.10 p478n158
4.339.16 p450n 151
4.340 148, 430n26
4.341 p447n136
4.341.4-5 p446n 132
4.341.14-5 p446n132
4.341.20-1 p446n 124
4.342 p434n38
4.343 p459n21
4.344 149, 430n26
4.344.15 p723n405
4.345 p425n7, 426n11
4.346.5 p525
4.347 146
4.348 148
4.352 p443, 459n20, 673n226, 677
4.352.2 p460n33
4.352.9 p460n28
4.355 p426n13, 427nn14,16, 513n18
4.355.36 p525
4.356 p430n26

4.357 p430n26
4.357.24 p300, 434n35, 474n132
4.358 p425n7, 426nn10,13, 485n199
4.358.9 p487n208
4.360 p431n29, 478n157
4.361 p434n38, 469n91
4.362.1-2 148
4.363 p437n57
4.363.1 p437n64
4.363.2 129
4.363.3-4 p437n68
4.363.3 p436n56
4.363.5 129
4.363.6-7 p437n68
4.365 p424n3, 425n7
4.366 130, 145, 432n30
4.367 p426n10, 427n16, 428n18,
513n18
4.367.18 p454n168
4.369 p440n84
4.370 p427n16
4.370.10 p436n53
4.370.35 p452n160
4.370.45 p454n 170
4.371 p432n30
4.374 p426n13, 427n16, 431n27,

513n18
4.376 p449n 149
4.377 p427n14
4.378 p426n13, 427nn14, 16, 431n27
4.379 148, 427n16, 428n18, 429n24
4.380 p425n7
4.382 p425n7, 426n13, 485n200
4.385.3 p437n72, 447n141
4.385.5 p447n141
4.385.10 p448n 144
4.386 146, 417, 425n7
4.387 p427n14, 429n24, 435n45
4.389 p430n26
4.390 p459n19, 676
4.390.8 130
4.391 p431n27
4.392 p127, 435n42
4.392.2 p127n32
4.392.4 129, 450
4.396.20 p451n156
4.397 p425n7, 426n11
4.399 p430n26
4.400 p425n7, 426n11
4.402 p437n64
4.402.3 p448n143
4.402.9 p446n124
4.402.7-8 p446n 121
4.402.10-1 p437n73

4.405 p425n7
4.409 p137, 425n7
4.410 p435n43
4.412 142, 147, 435n42, 485n197
4.412 ii 1-5 p434n35
4.412 iii 9 p454n170
4.414 p424n3
4.415 p435n42
4.416 p427n15, 429n24, 430n26,
435n43, 485n195
4.416.1 p465n63
4.417 p431n29, 478n157
4.419 p431n29
4.421 p432n30
4.422 148, 427n16
4.423 p430n26
4.424 p425n7, 430n26
4.425 p430n26
4.427 14,149
4.430 p440n84
4.432 p431n29
4.435 148
4.440 p426n13, 427n16, 431n27
4.447 p437n70
4.471 p427n16
4.480.1 p496n251
4.485 p427nn15,16, 429n24
4.491 p426n13
4.493 p426n13, 431n27
4.495 p427n14
4.500 p437n70
4.519 p431n29
4.525.1 p437n67
4.528 p429n24
4.545 p427n16
4.553 p425n5
4.561 p427n16, 429n24, 465n61
4.582 p497n261
4.602 p437n70
4.608 p426n13
4.608.35-9 p453n165
4.609 147, 425n5, 426n13,
427nn14-5, 428nn18,22, 435n45,
436n46, 450n151, 453, 473n123,
485n193
4.609.9 p452n160
4.609.11 p435n41
4.609.12' p428n22
4.609.16 p453n167
4.609.18 p449n149
4.609.23 p452n160
4.609.25 p451n159, 453n166
4.609.32 p454n169
4.610 p36n62, 147, 148, 425, 427n15

4.611 p425n5
4.617 148, 427n16
4.618 p425n7, 426nn10,13,
431n27
4.618.6 p428n22
4.619.7 p127-8
4.621 p424n3
4.622 p424n3
4.623 146, 429n24, 465n61
4.624 p427n16, 493n232,
494nn236,237
4.625 p425n7, 426n9
4.626.1 p452n160
4.629 p424n3
4.630 p426n13, 427n14, 437n58
4.630.8-9 449n149
4.630.12 p452n160
4.630.14 p451, 453n166
4.631 p430n26, 438n78
4.632 p417, 426n9
4.633 p147, 427n16, 514n21
4.633.4-14 p434n35
4.635 p428n18, 429n24, 442n99,
459n27, 512n17, 513n18
4.635.7 p452n163
4.636 p425n7, 426nn10,11,13,
427n14, 467n83
4.638 p425n7
4.643 p426n8
4.644 p431n29
4.655 p427n16
4.659 142, 145, 445n119
4.659.1 154
4.659.6 p99
4.661 p424n3
4.669+7.130 p58n3, 142, 144
4.670 p438n77, 494n239
4.676 p424n3
4.681 146, 427n16
4.683 p425n4, 493n232
4.684 p424n3
4.685 p424n3
4.686 p424n3
4.689 p489
4.690 p427n16
4.691.6 130
4.692 p430n26
4.692.1 p452n 160
4.692.8 p452n160
4.693 p424n3
4.704 148
4.705 p427n14, 459n20
4.707.15-8 p446n132
4.709.6 100

4.710 p84
4.710.11-2 p446n121
4.710.11 p446n 122
4.714 p427n16, 428n18, 435n42
4.714.1 p473n123
4.721 p437nn58,60
4.721.1 p437n64
4.721.9 p446n132
4.721.14 p446n132
4.729 p426n13, 431n27
4.740 p426n13, 431n27
4.742.12 p452n160
4.743 p450n151
4.745 148, 427n15, 435n43,
440n84
4.745.5 p434n35
4.745.7 454n169
4.745.18 p452n160
4.750 p425n7
4.751 146, 429n24
4.751.11 130
4.752 148
4.754 148
4.755 148
4.761 146, 427n16, 434n35,
514n21
4.764 148
4.765.4 p436n56
4.765.5 p437n68
4.766 p12
4.767 p12
4.770 p424n3
4.771.5-8 p448n146
4.772 p427n16
4.772.5 p465n62
4.777 148, 493nn232-3
4.778 p417, 459n27
4.778.5 p448n146
4.779.8-13 p659n172
4.781.1-2 p329
4.781.2 p303
4.782 p417, 459n27
4.782.7-8 p448n146
4.784 148
4.786.14 p438n74
4.790.15 129
4.791 p147, 416n26
5.6 p82
5.9-5.11 p360
5.9 i 2 p99
5.10 p33n35, 363n10
5.10.1 p362

5.10.3 p361
5.10.7-8 p438n75
5.11 p33n35, 373n36
5.11.16 p436n56
5.14 p32n26
5.20.1 p454n 169
5.24 p12
6.1
6.2
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10

p12
p12
p9, 428n21, 434n36
p9, 428n21, 434n36
p428n21, 434n36
p428n21, 434n36
p9, 428n21, 501n3,

513n19
6.11 p438n79
6.12 p438n79
6.13 p15, 303
6.14 p15, 303
6.15 p504n5
6.17 p440n84
6.20 p438n79
6.21 p438n79
6.22 p438n79
6.24 p438n79, 703
6.26 p438n79
6.27 p438n79
6.29 p685n271
6.29.3 130
6.48 p452n161
6.67 p12
6.68 p12
6.69.3-4 p473n118
6.70 p12
6.71 p12
7.40
7.43
7.46
7.50
7.52
7.55
7.63
7.63.1
7.65
7.177
8.1
9.432
9.458
9.477

p59
p59
143
145
145
145
p30n18, 413, 415
p414
140
143

p12
p234n4, 253
p513n18
p417

INDEX OF RIH TEXTS


77/01 142, 360
77/02B+ p52n11, 144, 297, 318,
330, 331
77/02B+.1 p330
7 7 / 0 4 + p52n11, 144, 318, 320
7 7 / 0 1 + 7 7 / 1 1 144
77/08A+ p52n11
77/10A p52n11
77/ 10B+ p52n11, 144, 318, 320,
330
77/17 p386
7 7 / 1 8 p52n11, 146
77/21 142, 360, 362n6,
365n15, 717n380
7 7 / 2 1A.4 p365n17
7 7 / 2 5 142, 360
77/25.3 154
77/25.4 154
77/27 p424n3
7 8 / 0 1 + p52n11
78/02.5-8 p448n 146
7 8 / 0 3 + 7 8 / 3 0 p51n8, 157, 143,
360, 712n360
7 8 / 0 3 + 7 8 / 3 0 . 5 - 6 p362
7 8 / 0 3 + 7 8 / 3 0 . 5 p362,
363nn7-8
78/03+78/30.12' p710n357
78/04 p52n11, 318, 320
78/06 p426n16
78/06.5 p465n62
7 8 / 0 9 + p52n11
78/11 p52n11, 144, 293, 300,
318, 320, 470n102
78/12 p24, 360, 700

78/12.1 p361
7 8 / 1 2 . 2 - 3 p362
78/12.2 p361
78/12.4 154
78/12.11 154
7 8 / 1 4 p52n11, 56, 146, 163,
318, 355
78/16 p52n11, 143, 144, 318,
320
78/20 p52n11, 145, 151, 270,
271, 276, 278, 322, 576
7 8 / 2 0 . 3 - 4 186
78/20.7 154
78/21 142, 360
78/25 142, 360, 365 15
78/25.2 p365n17
78/26 p52n11
78/26.16 p541n38
8 1 / 0 4 p382
8 3 / 0 2 p513n18
8 3 / 0 7 + 8 3 / 1 4 p147, 148,
493nn232-3
8 3 / 1 2 p417, 459n27
83/12.5 p448n 146
8 3 / 2 2 . 8 - 1 3 p659n 172
83/28+83/31+83/84.15+26.2
p303
8 3 / 2 8 + . 1-2 p329
8 3 / 3 9 + 8 3 / 5 5 p417
8 4 / 0 4 147, 416n26
8 4 / 0 8 p417, 459n27
8 4 / 0 8 . 7 - 8 p448n 146
8 4 / 3 3 142, 146, 416

INDEX OF RS TEXTS
1.001 p313n11, 81, 340-4,
344-6
1.001.13-9 p312-3
1.001.14 p241n19
1.001A.2-10 143
1.002 p144, 153, 293, 295, 317,
322, 455, 457, 541n38, 5 6 4 - 6
1.002.10 p495n245
1.002.24 p329n33
1.002.25 p310n7
1.002.32 p277
1.002.35 140

1.002.48 p457n7
1.003+ 143, 273, 274, 301, 302,
318, 319, 329, 330, 339-44,
557
1.003+.3 p162
1.003+. 11-9 p143
1.003+.12 p294
1.003+. 15-6 161
1.003+.16 p541n38
1.003+.20-1 p292
1.003+.21 p454n172
1.003+.22 130

1.003+.24 p303
1.003+.41 p303
1.003+.47-8 164
1.003+.47 102
1.003+.50-5 144, 162
1.003+.50-1 p298
1.003+.50 p303
1.003+.53-5 p295
1.003+.53-4 p164
1.003+.53 102
1.004 p59, 144, 323, 326
1.005 144, 294-5, 318, 319, 320,
330, 336-8, 739
1.005.1-5 p332n38
1.005.1-2 p304, 583
1.005.9ff. p295
1.005.22-7 162
1.005.23-5 p297
1.006 p271, 333, 118n83, 199,
200, 284
1.007 p59, 144, 273, 323
1.008+ 145
1.008+.5 132
1.009 143, 301, 318, 320, 330,
333n40, 353
1.009+.1-10 p335
1.009.9-10 164
1.011.[046] p60, 144, 323
1.012 p438n74
1.013+1.043 p142, 359
1.013+.19 154
1.013+.20 p160
1.017 144, 532, 535, 537
1.017.32 p542n40
1.018 p142, 359, 362n6, 363n7,
366n21
1.018.4-6 p364
1.018.4-5 p364n12
1.018.19 154
1.019 p318, 319, 326, 327-8
1.019.13 p97
1.020 142, 145, 152, 359
1.021 142, 359, 363n7
1.021.5-6 p364n12
1.022 p143, 318, 319
1.024 p53, 95, 145, 150, 166,
201, 285-6, 310n6, 352 551,
557-8, 564
1.024.33-7 p175
1.024.44 p99
1.024.45 p99
1.024.46-7 p270
1.024.47 p475n137
1.025 145

1.026+2.[025] 142, 359


1.027+1.028+ p59, 273, 323,
144
1.028+( 1.035) p59, 323
1.[031] p59
1.032 142, 359
1.033 143
1.034+( 1.045) p59, 144, 273, 323
1.041.3-4 p470n101
1.042 144
1.044 p333n40
1.046 143
1.047 143
1.[049A] p59, 144, 323
1.[051] p9, 428n21, 434n36
1. [052] p9, 428n21, 501n3,

513n18
1 .[053] p9, 428n21, 434n36
1. [054] p9, 428n21, 434n36
1 .[055] p9, 428n21, 434n36
1.056 p386
1.[057] p387
1. [064] p333n40
1. [066] p59, 144, 323
1. [067] p59, 144, 323
1. [069] p59, 144, 323
1 .[070] p59, 144, 323
1 .[071] p59, 144
1 .[074] p59
1. [076] p59, 144, 323
1.[089]+2.[033]+5.183 p14, 544n49,
589
1.017 p308-10
1.019 143
1.110 p317, 319
1.766+ 148
2.002 p53, 166, 178, 284-5, 200-1,
271, 290, 352, 534, 544, 551,
553-7, 560, 564, 739
2.002.6 p99
2.002.15 130
2.002.31 130
2.002.32 130
2.002.36 130
2.002.56 140
2.002.61-2 171
2.002.66 p118n23
2.002.69-70 178
2.002.70-2 171
2. [003]+ 166, 199, 203, 209, 204,
210, 211, 213, 215, 217, 218, 219,
231, 232, 234
2. [003]+ i 7 p328n28

2. [003] + i l l
pl 18n82
2. [003]+ i 19 p278
2. [003]+ i 20-1 133
2.[003] + i 23 p118n82
2. [003]+ i 29 p101
2.[003]+ i 38 p99
2. [003]+ ii 2 - 3 p497n259, 262
2.[003]+ ii 7-iii 49 p570
2. [003]+ ii 16-9 p345n51
2.[003]+ ii 22-3 p273
2. [003]+ ii 22 p105
2.[003]+ ii 23-4 p560
2. [003]+ ii 37-8 p154
2. [003]+ ii 5Off. p290
2.[003]+ iii 22-5 p l 7 9
2. [003]+ iii 48 p97n13
2. [003]+ iv 1 p130
2.[003]+ iv 34-43 p568 9
2.[003]+ iv 42-3 p173n28
2. [003]+ v 14-23 p213n16
2. [003]+ v 28-vi 14 p211
2.[003]+ 32-3 180
2. [003]+ vi 12-4 p221
2. [004] 166, 199, 211, 234-58,
499n2
2.[004] i 23-33 p567, 576
2. [004] i 25-33 179, 263 10
2. [004] i 25-6 173
2. [004] i 26-33 179, 256,
481 181
2. [004] i 27-8 127
2. [004]+ i 31-2 p303
2.[004] i 31 p302
2. [004] i 3 4 - 6 p570
2.[004] i 40 p118n83
2.[004] i 41 p118n83
2. [004] i 42-7 p263n10
2.[004] i 42-3 173
2.[004] i-ii p225
2.[004] ii p248
2. [004] ii 1-9 p263n10
2. [004] ii 14-23 p263n10
2.[004] ii 30-40 183
2. [004] ii 42 100
2.[004] 10-] 192
2. [004] 19-20 171
2. [004] 20 98
2.[004] 29-30 p171n21
2. [004] 40 98
2. [004] vi 24 p97
2.[004] vi 26-8 175
2. [004] vi 27 154
2. [004] vi 32-3 184
2.[004] vi 34-9 p578

2. [004] vi 34-5 172


2.[004] vi 36-7 187
2.[004] vi 41-2 pl71
2.[004] vi 43-5 177
2.[004] vi 47-8 p533
2.[004] le.e. 140
2. [006] p60, 144, 323
2. [008]+ 166, 193, 211, 234, 302,
499n2, 544, 546, 552
2. [008]+ i 12-8 176
2. [008]+ i 20 130
2. [008]+ i 32 p131n43
2. [008]+ i 43 p676n233
2. [008]+ ii 9 129
2. [008j + ii 16-20 176
2.[008]+ ii 23 pl 16
2.[008]+ ii 32 pl 14
2.[008]+ iii 12-4 pl 75
2.[008]+ iii 10 22 p225
2.[008]+ iii 25-6 170
2. [008]+ iv p223
2. [008]+ iv 2 - 4 p223n26
2. [008]+ iv 5 124
2. [008]+ iv 9 124
2. [008]+ iv 15 124
2. [008]+ iv 16 p94
2.[008]+ iv 21-2 p533
2.[008]+ iv 29 p118n83
2.[008]+ iv 32 pl 16
2. [008]+ iv 50-7 176-7
2. [008]+ 7 129

2. [008]+ 8 186
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2.[008]+
2.(008]+
2.[008]+
2.[008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2.(008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+
2. [008]+2.[008]+
2.[008]+
2. [008]+
2.[008]+
2. [008]+

15-6 p181
17 p105n28
31-3 172
38 p105n28
40 p105n28
61-2 182
61 97
64-5 182
vi 4 180
vi 5 - 6 182
vi 8 - 9 182
vi 9 104
vi 13 p97n13
vi 18-21 179
vi 45-54 p542n39
vi 46 p539
vi 55 174
vii 30 p i l l
vii 32 p i l l
viii 1 - 4 178
viii 5 pl 14
viii 12-4 187

2. [008]+ le.e. 140


2.[009]+ p54, 166, 193, 211, 265,
499n2, 544, 546, 552
2.[009]+ i 2 - 8 p578
2.[009]+ i 9ff. 166
2. [009] + i 10 185
2. [009]+ i 18-31 p226
2.[009]+ i 33 p533
2. [009]+ i 3 9 - 4 3 175
2. [009]+ i 43-65 187-8
2. [009] + i 59-61 p110n38
2.[009]+ ii 6 - 9 186
2. [009]+ ii 16-7 182
2. [009]+ ii 19-20 182
2.[009]+ ii 21 p153
2.[009]+ ii 24 p118n84
2.[009]+ ii 30-5 p547n57
2. [009]+ iii 6-7 186
2. [009]+ 1 p94
2. [009]+ 2 130
2.[009]+ 11-9 17 7
2. [009]+ 11-6 p547n57
2. [009]+ 19-20 187
2. [009]+ vi 45-9 p265, 265 16, 266
2. [009]+ vi 46 p264n13
2.[009]+ vi 49-50 p277
2. [009]+ vi 5 4 - 8 140
2.[009]+ vi 54-5 p234
2. [009]+ vi 55-7 p300n64
2. [009]+ vi 5 5 - 6 p547
2. [009]+ vi 56 p426n19
2. [009]+ vi 58 p315n17
2. [012]+ p54, 96, 145, 150, 199-200,
566
2.[012] ii 7 186
2.[012] ii 47 129
2.[Ol2] ii 54 p113n57
2.[012] ii 58-61 p177
2.[014]+ p166, 193, 211, 234, 552
2. [014]+ i 2-25 165
2.[014]+ i 22 153
2. [014]+ ii 9-11 186
2.[014]+ ii 19 p113n55
2. [014]+ ii 22 129
2.[014]+ ii 29 p113n55
2. [014]+ iii 3-8a 176
2.[014]+ iii 14-7 166, 179
2. [014]+ iii 16-7 182
2.[014]+ iii 16 pi 14
2.[014]+ iii 20 p98
2. [014]+ iii 22-3 172
2. [014]+ iii 29 p329n34
2. [014]+ iii 32ff. 176
2.[014]+ iii 33 p117n79

2. [014]+ iii 35 130


2.[014]+ iii 37 p99
2.[014]+ iii 40 p278
2. [014]+ iv 15 p173n28
2. [014]+ iv 35 p533n15
2.[014]+ iv 38 129
2. [014]+ iv 39-40 p173n28
2.[014]+ p244, 533
2.[014]+ 2 113
2.[014]+ 17 p118n84
2. [014]+ vi 10-1 p223n26
2. [014]+ vi 20 p98
2.[014]+ viii 29-35 180
2. [018] p95
2. [019] p271n10, 237, 54, 166, 193,
199, 211, 234, 259-68, 278, 283,
544, 546, 552, 739
2.[019] i p23
2.[019] i 3 - 4 p265n16
2.[019] i 5 - 6 p268
2.[019] i 11-2 p265n16
2.[019] ii 8 p260
2. [022]+ p166, 193, 211, 234
2. [022]+ i 1 p279
2. [022]+ i 14-22 p177
2. [022]+ ii 5 - 7 p229
2. [022]+ ii 15-6 187
2.]022]+ iv 21 p303
2.[022]+ iv 23 p99
2. [022]+ 13 105
2. [022]+ 18-9 182
2. [022]+ vi 6 100
2.[022]+ vi 11-25 p178-9
2. [022]+ vi 28 100
2. [024] p54, 166, 199, 237, 259-68,
271 10, 283, 356, 739
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [024]
2. [026]
2. [032]
2. [033]
2. [037]
2. [038]

4 - 1 0 p261
10-25 p261
17 183
18 130
21-6 184
2 1 - 4 p173n28
p263
4 - 1 0 p267
5 - 7 p268
5 - 6 p265n16
10-4 186
11* p94
2-4
p359
p436nn53-6, 437n57
p589
p582
p582, 589

3.041
3.319
3.320
3.322+
739
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.322+
3.325+
226,
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+
3.325+

p598
199
p147, 426 15, 434n35
166, 199, 211, 234-58,
i 36 p113n57
i 39 p275
i 4 2 - 6 p572
i 46 p113n57
i p228n31
ii 1 - 3 p356
ii 2 - 3 p240n16
ii 3 - 4 p574
ii 12-5 p175
ii 22-5 p571
iii 1 - 3 p572-3
iii 9 p98
iii 14 p117n77
iii 28 p117n77
iii 46 p249
iii 47 133
iii 5 3 - 4 187
iii p257
iv 1 - 3 p573
iv 9-27 p578
iv 23 130
iv 28 180
iv 46-50 p171n19
iv 62 p98
vi 1e.e. 140
p166, 199, 210, 211, 214,
234, 499n2
i 7 - 8 132
i 7 p187
i 9-11 p562
i 12 p181
i 15-9 p578
i 9-11 p315n17
i 2 0 - 3 p315n17, 562
i 24 p351n59
i 26 187
ii 19 p99
ii 20 p99
ii 24-34 p211
ii 26-50 p579n134
iii 8 - 9 p211
iv p229
29 124
48 p117n77
vi p204, 215, 216, 217,

218

3.325+ vi 3 102
3.325+ vi 4 - 5 126
3.325+ vi 10-28 p278

3.325+
11-2 p173n28
3.325+ 15-21 p217
3.325+
16-7 p l 7 4
3.325+
2 1 - 4 183
3.325+
25-38 p575
3.325+
37 189
3.325+
39-54 p575
3.325+
53 p189
3.325+
54-8 p211,571-2
3.325+
56-7 p279
3.325+
57-8 p187
3.325+ 1e.e. 140
3.334 142, 145, 152, 359
3.334.4 154
3.340 166, 199, 211, 234-58
3.340 iv 22 153
3.343+ p166, 199, 205, 211, 212,
213 16, 217, 230, 234
16-20 p249
3.343+
16-28 p569-70
3.343+
26-8 p560
3.343+
p227
3.343+
3.343+
1-23 166
3.343+
2 - 4 p249, 267
3.343+
2-3 p219n22
3.343+
3 p264n13
3.343+
4 p613
3.343+
7-16 p480n179
3.343+
7-12 179
3.343+
13-5 p219n22, 249,
267
3.343+
14 p264n13
3.343+
15 p613
3.343+
25-30 p569
3.343+ v-vi p210
3.343+ 10-3 p231
3.343+ 36-43 176
3.343+ v-vi p210, 217
3.343+ 18-21 p217n21
3.346 166, 193, 211, 234, 552
3.346 iii 3 p533
3.346 iii 4 p533
3.348 p54, 166, 199, 234, 234n3,
237, 259-68, 283, 739
3.348 i 1-2 p265n16
3.348 ii 1-2 p265n16
3.348 ii 8 - 9 p265n16
3.361 p166, 193, 211, 234, 552
3.361 iii 20 p533n15
3.361 iv 10 124
3.361 iv 13 183
3.362+ p54, 145, 150, 166, 192,
199
3.362+ i 4 p574

3.362+ ii 4 - 5 p184n24,
244nn75-6, 185
3.362+ iii 27-31 132
3.362+ iii 35 p97
3.364 p166n5, 199
3.367 166, 193, 211, 234, 552
3.367 7-9 p572
3.367 13 p97
3.367
16 p i l l
3.367 20-1 p173n28
3.367 22 187
3.367 23 p97, 129
3.367 24 p97
3.367 27 p114
3.367 29 p110n39
3.367 32 p i l l
3.367 38 100
3.367 40 p94
3.367 6 p173n28
3.367 8 - 9 p173
3.367 13-7 p187
3.367 14 p98
3.367 17 185
3.367 22-3 p181
3.367 22 p118n82
3.367 25 p118n82
3.372 p60, 144, 323
3.427 142, 359, 363n7,
365n15
3.427.1 - 2 p364n12
3.427.3 p365n17
3.487 p591
4.427 p7, 14, 581, 589
4.429+5.044+5.202 p589
4.449 p381, 384, 497, 607n9,
620n54
4.458 p619n47, 620n54
4.466+5.144+5. 144A p587
4.474 145, 151, 271, 271n10,
274, 317, 322, 323
4.474.2-3 p310n7
4.474.2 p541n38
4.474.9 p153, 309n4
4.475 142, 134, 359, 362n6,
363n7, 366n23, 726
4.475.5-15 155-6
4.475.9-10 160
4.475.11-5 160
4.475.12 p154
4.475.14 p154
5.123 p52n12
5.156+ p52n12, 145

5.157 145
5.180+ 199
5.180+ ii 26-7 184
5.182 p60, 144
5.194 p53, 95, 145, 150, 166,
168n10, 201-2, 352, 285, 551,
556, 557-8, 564
5.194.33-7 175
5.194.44 p99
5.194.45 p99
5.194.46-7 p270
5.194.47-50 p310n6
5.194.47 p475n137
5.196 145
5.197+.2 p454n172
5.197+. 11 p446n123
5.199 p52n12
5.199+5.213 p145
5.200 p60, 144, 323
5.218 145
5.229 145
5.248 p511n15, 429n24
5.259 145
5.262 p438n79
5.269 p438n79
5.285+ 146
5.300 146
5.300.7 130
5.303 bis p52n12, 145
6.021 15, 303
6.028 15, 303
6.138 144
6.198 p382, 470nn 104-5, 688n284
689n289, 697
6.215 143
6.216 p437n72, 446n128
6.223 p504n5
6.345 p504n6
6.411 145
7.001 p353
7.025.3-4 p473n118
7.116 p589
7.160 p591
8.134 p438n78
8.145 p401, 412, 467n81, 480,
481
8.145.15 p480n177
8.183+ pI47, 425n13, 426n16
8.183+ i 16 p449n 149
8.183+ ii 8 p451n158
8.183+ ii 11 130

8.208 p426nn14-5, 435n43,


440nn84-5, 445n119, 467n84,
470n101
8.208.1 p434n35
8.259 p494n243
8.272 147, 426nn14-5, 434n35,
435n45, 440nn84-5
8.272.6 p449n 149
8.279 p432n30, 512, 514n23
8.279 bis p401
8.280 p425
8.295 p580, 589
8.315 142, 158-9, 362n6,
365n15, 699
8.315.1 p361
8.315.4 p359, 362
8.315.5-7 p363
8.315.7-9 p364n12
8.315.10 p365n16
8.333 p382, 652
9.011 p426n16, 451
9.011.4 p45 Inn 156,158
9.253 p59
9.453 p426n16
9.453.28 p94, 130
9.469 p309n5
9.479 142, 359, 362n6, 699
9.479A.2 p361
9.479A.5 p362
9.479.6-1 1 p363
9.479A.14 p367
9.483A p59
10.015.12 p449n149
10.035 p485n200
10.035.11-2 p454n168
10.035.13-4 p450n151
10.039 p52n11
10.043 p147, 426n15, 435nn43,45,
452n160
10.043.5 p454n 169
10.043.7 p452n 160
10.043.8 p450n151
10.043.10 p449n149
10.044.3' p518
10.044.6' p519
10.045 147, 148, 435n43
10.046 p384
10.050 p444n114
10.052 p147, 148, 425n4,
435n41, 436n46, 493n232
10.087-090 p511n15
10.090 147, 148, 429n24

10.103 p429n24, 435n45,


511n15
10.109 p511n15
11.258 p436n46
11.261 p673n225
11.270.6 p467n86
11.329 p624n71
11.389 p426n16
11.602 146, 426n13
11.602.1 p426n12
11.656 146, 426n16
11.714 147, 148
11.715+ 147, 148, 426n16, 429n24,
435n43, 511 15
11.715+ ii 6-10 p433n32
11.715+ vi 22-37 p434n35
11.716 p147, 148, 425n4,
435n42, 440n84-5, 485n196,
493n232, 494n234
11.716.23 p454n170
11.716.60ff. 147
11.716.67 p452n160
11.716.72 p434n35
11.716.74 p454n169
11.721 p147, 148, 426n13,
485n194
11.722+ 124, 141, 147, 148,
488n216, 504n5
11.722+.32 130
11.722+.38 132
11.723 p384, 670n21
11.723.2 p522
11.724+ p425n5
11.730 p382, 447n140, 669
11.732 p30n11, 124, 634n94
1 1.732[B] p419, 447n140
11.735+ p431n27
1 1.772+ p30nn11-2, 419, 420,
447n140
11.772+.30 p131
1 1.776+ 147, 425n5
1 1.776+.1 1 p454n168
11.778 p431n29, 476n140,
478n157, 162
11.779 130, 432n30, 514n23
11.779.2-3 130
11.786 p433, 433n34
11.788 p433n34
11.789 p426n13
11.789.3 p454n 168
11.790.1 p522
11.790.12' p519
11.790.19' p522

11.790.25' p520
11.790.29' p519
11.790.32' p519
11.794 p387
11.795 142
11.795.2-3 p446n 124
11.795.7-8 p448n143
11.796 p425n7, 426n10,
435n44
11.797 p147, 148, 426n16
11.797.14 p438n74
11.799 p426n16, 432n30,
435n43
11.800.9' p521
11.800.12' p523
11.800.22 p522
11.800.23 p523
11.800.29' p523
11.800.32' p522
11.830 p425n5
11.830.8 p521
11.830.9 p521
11.830.10 p518, 521
11.830.11 p518
1 1.832 p424n3
11.834 p387
11.836+ p147, 148, 425n5
11.839 p435n43
11.840 p425n7, 426n13,
433n34, 459n27
11.840.3 p460n28
11.840.6 p460n32
11.841 p425nn4,7
11.841.12' p523
11.841.13' p517
11.841.15' p521
11.841.24' p521
11.841 [A] p425n5, 434n37
11.844 p426n16, 485n200
11.844.6 p450n151
11.844.7 p451n156
11.844.9 p452n160
11.845 136-7, 147, 426nn 13,15,
429n24, 435nn42-3,45, 436n47,
452n161
11.845.9 p434n35
11.845.15 p452n163
11.845.16 p450n154
11.845.18 p454nn 169-70
11.845.19 p452n160
11.848 p673n225
11.850 p147, 148
11.850.5 p523
11.853 p38n73, 58, 621

11.856 p400, 401, 418n35


11.857 p147, 148, 429n24, 459, 677
11.857.16 p434n40
11.857.25 129, 450n153
11.858 147, 429n24, 430n26,
435nn42-3,45, 452n161,
485n195
11.858.5 p510n13
11.858.36 p454n170
11.858.45 p425n7
11.858.57 p452n163
11.869 p673n225
11.872 142, 359, 362n6, 363n7,
365n15, 470n106, 700
11.872.2 p361
11.872.4 p362
11.872.5-6 p362
11.872.7-8 p364n12
11.872.9 p365n17
11.872.14-5 p700
11. [902] p429n24
11.[913] p446n 121
1-11.[115] p673n225
1-11.[116] p624n71
12.001 p426n13
12.002 p452n161
12.003+ p425n5
12.005 p387, 658n168
12.006 p425n7, 426n8
12.006.1-2 p430n26
12.018 p425n5
12.027 p426n16, 436n47
12.033 p387, 445n 118, 469n 100,
694n300, 697, 698, 700
12.034+ p429n24, 465n62,64
12.048.20 p433n34
12.060 p437n58
12.061 p 5 2 n U , 146, 164, 322, 356,
574
12.068 p82
13.006 p52n11
13.007B p383, 384, 708
13.009.1 p452n163
13.012 146, 425n7, 426n13
13.014 p446n124, 452n161
13.014.17 p437n72
13.014.20 p131
13.014.21 p448n144
13.014.22-3 p446n 125
13.014[ta] p426n15, 435n43
13.014[te].2 p452n 160
13.020 p452n 161, 485n197

14.001 p425n7, 426n15-6, 426n13,


431n27, 435n42, 437n72, 485n193
14.001.8-9 p486n205
14.001.8 p450n154
14.001.9 p452n163
14.002.1 p449
14.015 p58, 59
14.016.6 p480n177
14.018 p58, 59
14.023 p440n84
14.084 p426nn13,15, 429n24,
435n43, 436nn46-7, 440n84
14.084.6 p434n35
14.084.8 p454n170
14.084.10 p452n160
14.084.16 p450n154
14.084.18 p451n158
14.084.27 129, 4 5 I n 155
14.084.28 p454n168
14.084.30 p492n230
14.129.2 p448n144
14.176 p426nn 10,14,16, 436n46,
452n161
14.176.5 p452n163
14.191 [A] p360
14.202 p639n 109
15.Y p466, 494n238
15.001 p426n13, 431n27, 513n18
15.003 p426n14
15.004.4 p147, 148
15.004.5 p434n39
15.005.3 p451n156
15.006 p426n16, 433n34,

513n18
15.006.2 p453n167
15.007 142, 359
15.007.7 154
15.007.8 p153
15.008 142, 156, 359, 362n6,
363n7, 366, 463n54
15.008.2 p361
15.008.3 p495n247
15.008.4-6 p101n23, 364
15.008.10 160
15.008.19 p367
15.009 p426n16
15.009A.6 p521
15.009B i 12 p491n225
15.009B. 1 p451
15.010 p58, 59
15.011 p385, 466n78, 673
15.013 p147
15.014 p385, 686

15.015+ 147, 148, 429n24,


434n38, 435n43, 440n84
15.015+.1 130
15.015+.4 p433n32
15.015+.10 130
15.016.2 129
15.017 p425n7, 426n15
15.018 p387, 664n193
15.019 p384, 666n199
15.020 p425n5
15.020.3' p523
15.022+ 149, 425n7, 426nn13,18,
485n199
15.022+ iii 16 p426n22
15.022+ iii 19 p453n 167
15.022+ iii 20 p450n 151
15.023 p425n7
15.024+ p643n119, 382, 666
15.030+ p20, 58, 59, 580
15.031 p426n11, 469nn97.100
15.032 p426nn14,18
15.033 p383, 444n 110, 453n 164,
474n129
15.034 147, 429n23, 437,
450n151, 496n250
15.034.8-9 p127
15.034.9 p473n119, 428n20,
486n201
15.035.5 130
15.035.7 p437n57
15.036.5 p452n160
15.037 p30n14, 401
15.038.19 p436n56
15.039 p329, 426n14, 429n24,
459n20
15.039.4 p458n10
15.039.6 p459n25
15.039.14-6 145, 300
15.039.14-5 p470n102
15.040 p446n124, 453n167
15.041 p399
15.042+ i 1 139
15.043 p447n142
15.044 147, 148
15.044 ii 1 p452n 160
15.045 p429n24, 437n57
15.045.5 p436n56
15.046 p426nn 13-4, 431n27,
511
15.051 p426n16, 459n21
15.053 p147n148
15.053.5 p436n56
15.053.6 p494n241
15.062 p448n143, 452n161

15.062.3 p446n 124


15.062.6 p446n 129
15.062.7 p448n 144
15.062.14-5 p447n142
15.062.17-8 p446n132
15.063 p385, 440n84, 447n142
15.065.6 p474n127
15.065.12 p473n121
15.067+ p429n24
15.072 p52n11
15.072.4 p127
15.073 p429n24, 434n38,
435n43, 440n84
15.073.3 p433n32
15.073.8 p433n32
15.073.15ff. 149
15.075 149
15.075.3 p430n26
15.076 p147, 148
15.077 p382, 654, 685
15.078 p147, 148, 437nn59-60
15.078.2 p436n56
15.079 p437n70, 496n250, 253
15.079.1-7 p147, 148
15.079.1-2 p450
15.079.1 p496n251
15.081 p30n14, 199
15.082 145, 329
15.082.5-9 160-1
15.082.11 p446n 131
15.083 p496n250, 497n261
15.084 p429n24
15.085 p469n90
15.085.18 p518
15.086 p626
15.086.15-6 138
15.088 p397
15.089 p469nn96,99, 470n101, 507
15.090 p398, 472n110
15.091 p637
15.092 p398, 475n135, 476n142,
479nn163,167, 480n175, 482n185
15.092.25 138
15.093 146
15.094 149, 429n24, 434n38,
435n43, 440n84
15.094.5 p433n32, 434n38
15.096 p425nn7,10, 426nn10,13-4,
429n24, 431n27
15.097 p438n79
15.098 142, 156, 360
15.098.6 p154
15.098.15 154
15.101 p426n16

15.103 148, 429n24, 433n32,


434n38, 435n43, 440n84
15.103.14 104
15.105 147, 148, 496n250
15.105.3 p496n251
15.106 p426n16, 451n158
15.106.2 104
15.107 142, 360
15.108 p387
15.109+ p471n107, 513n18
15.109+.54-5 p462n42
15.111 161, 413, 414
15.111.12 p99
15.111.13 p99
15.113 p30n15, 692
15.114 p30nn15,18, 398
15.115 145, 329, 447n141,
452n161
15.115.8 p446n 131
15.115.17 130
15.115.35 p436n56
15.115.56 p452n163
15.115.63 p437n66
15.116 147, 426n13, 429n24,
430n26, 449n149, 452n161
15.116 ii 10 129
15.116 ii 12 p450n151
15.116 ii 22 p454n169
15.116 ii 27 p451n158
15.116 iii 16 p452n160
15.117 p30n18, 33n35, 413, 415
15.119 p398, 472n110
15.120 p161, 398, 467n81,
480n179
15.122.18 p518
15.123+ p398, 429n24
15.123+.5 p137
15.124 p387
15.125 142, 145, 161, 413, 415,
692
15.125.12 p99
15.126 p398
15.128 p30n14, 416
15.128.8 p99
15.130 p52n11, 143, 318, 319,
339-44
15.131 p30nn15,18
15.132.7 p520
15.134 p52n11, 145, 150, 166, 271,
276, 278-9, 322
15.134.6 105
15.134.20 p270
15.134.32 p264n13
15.135 p436n53

15.135.13 p436n55
15.136 p397
15.137 p435n42, 466n75, 473n122,
474n128
15.138+ p471n107
15.138+.23 p522
15.139 p37n68
15.145 p397
15.145.8 138
15.145.12 138
15.147 p398, 471n107
15.152.7 p487n209
15.155 p429n24, 513n18
15.156 p450n154
15.157+ p427n16, 485n197
15.157+.1 p452n163
15.158 p142, 360, 686n273
15.163+ p471n107
15.169+ p427n16, 435n45,
453n167
15.171A.4 p436n56
15.172 p452n161, 454n168
15.172.9 p491n227
15.172A.7 p452n162
15.172A. 10 p451
15.173 p30n14
15.174 p360, 363n7, 362n6,
365n15, 469n97, 470n101, 699
15.174.3 p362
15.174.5-6 p364n12
15.174.7 p365n17
15.174.10 p99
15.176 p437n58
15.178 p387
15.179 p425n5
15.180 p30n14
15.182 p30n14, 400, 401
15.183 p425n5
15.184 p436n46, 437n71
15.184.5 p131
15.189 p425n7
15.191 [] 142
15.192 p438n79
15.192[D] p426n16
15.201 p673n225
15.202+ p625
15.226 p438n79
15.239 p625
15.250.17 p428n22
15.341 p282
15.354 p426n16
16.002
16.003

p496n258
p383, 462n45, 652

16.004 p437nn57.60 2
16.005 p437nn61,63
16.005.1 p437n64
16.005.4 p446n 131
16.005.5 p437n65
16.005.6 p447n142
16.006 p435n43
16.006.5 p452n 160
16.006.7 p454n 170
16.008.12 154
16.017.24 p329
16.042 p363n8
16.078+ 143, 157, 360, 623n67,
631n87, 713
16.078+. 15-24 157-8
16.078+. 17ff. 160
16.078+.17 pl 54
16.107 p435n43
16.111 p382, 470n105,
643n118, 666
16.112 p385
16.114.5 p447n140
16.116 p382
16.117+ p713, 713n365
16.126B+ p429n24, 433,
434n35, 435nn42-3, 440n84
16. 126B+ i:37-8 p514n21
16.127 p147, 425nn7,11,
426nn 11,13-4, 429n24
16.127.24 145, 154
16.127.30 p487n207
16.128 p147, 148, 433n34,
440n84
16.129 p401, 481 183
16.130 p147, 426n16
16.132 p465n68
16.132.26 p474n126
16.135 p398
16.135.4 p521
16.136 p429n24, 460n34,
673n227
16.136.5 p510n13
16.137 p398, 430n26
16.137(to']+ 142, 360, 362n6,
365n15
16.137[bis]+.2 p361
16.137[w]+.4 p362
16.137 [bis]+.5-7 p363
16.137[i]+.8 p365n17
16.138 p469n100
16.141 p475n135, 476nn139,141,
477n147
16.142 p397, 453n164, 485n198
16.143 p476n146, 477n149

16.144 p478n158, 637, 637n102


16.145 p612
16.146+ 161, 469n95, 475n136
16.147 p464n59
16.147.13 p137
16.150 p397
16.150.16 139
16.151 p469n 100
16.153 p398
16.153.10-1 p137
16.153.11 138
16.155 p431n27
16.156 p398
16.156.20 p474n126
16.157 p428n22, 472n109,
473n120
16.157.22 p496n248
16.158 p398, 475n135, 477n149
16.160 p637
16.162 p471n107
16.165 p426nn14-5, 429n24
16.165.2 p303
16.165.9 p458n10
16.167 p398
16.168 p475n133
16.170 p408, 640
16.170.4' p520
16.170.10' p519
16.174 p398
16.176 p426nn15-6, 440n84
16.179 p147, 148
16.179.1-3 p329
16.179.2-3 145
16.179.12 p469n100, 470n102
16.180 p446n129, 656n159
16.181 p446n124
16.186.13' p428n22, 434n35
16.191+ p141, 161, 413, 415,
459n27, 466n78, 669, 693
16.193 p430n26
16.193.3 p496n249
16.193.8-11 p451n158
16.194 p426n18
16.195 p436n46
16.196 142, 360
16.197 p679
16.198 [A]+.16 130
16.198B p692
16.200 p398, 479n163, 168-9, 171,
174, 480n175
16.204 p469n 100
16.206 p444n107, 471n107
16.238+ p398, 471n107,
676n233

16.239 p428n22, 429n24,


465n71, 472n109, 473n120,
512
16.239.17 p465n70
16.239.31-3 p465n64
16.239.31 p496n248
16.244 p398
16.244.7 p137, 519
16.245 p482n186
16.246 p398
16.247.6 p521
16.246.7 154
16.249 p429n24, 461n37, 477n154,
495n246, 611n27
16.249.5 138
16.250 p467n84, 472n109,
477n148
16.250.4-5 p510n13
16.251 p471n107
16.254c p398
16.254D p472n109
16.257+ p450
16.257+ iv 21 p131
16.263.5 139
16.264 142, 360, 362n6
16.264.4-5 p94
16.264.6 p303
16.265 p99, 360
16.265.2-6 p364
16.266 p52n11, 54, 145, 150,
166n5, 271, 278, 739
16.266.11 154
16.267 p398, 467n84, 481 181
16.269 p461nn37-8
16.270 p408, 679, 679n244
16.273 p458n16
16.275 p398-9
16.276 p469n90
16.277 p469n99, 626
16.278 p637
16.284 p398
16.287 p399, 417
16.290 p431n27
16.295 p479n163, 167, 172
16.328 p444n107
16.340 p624n71
16.341 147, 148, 426nn14,16,
429n24, 673n226
16.341.3 p457n7
16.341.4-5 p469n100, 470n102
16.341.15 154
16.344 p398, 479nn164,167,
480n175, 637
16.348 p398, 435n43, 466n73

16.353 p458nnl5,l 7
16.354 p399, 417
16.355 147, 148, 425n5
16.356 p398, 472n110
16.359 p447n142
16.364 p462n46
16.369 148
16.378 142, 360
16.378B p360
16.378c p360
16.379 156, 360, 362n6,
363nn7-8, 365n15, 366n23,
470n106, 700
16.379.1 p361
16.379.3 p362
16.379.4-5 p362
16.379.6-7 p364n12
16.379.8 p365n17
16.379.22 p99
16.382 161, 413, 414, 415-6,
445n119
16.386 p473n 117
16.393A p612n28
16.394 p142, 143, 360
16.394.16ff. 160
16.394.21 154
16.395 p425nn7,11, 426nn11,13-4,
431n27
16.395.2 p450n151
16.396 p425n8, 426n8, 429n24,
430n26
16.396.9 p469n 100
16.396.16 p465nn62-3
16.397 p435n45
16.398.2-3 p469n100
16.398.3 p470n102
16.399.22 p132
16.399.29 p448n 143
16.401 p360
16.401.7 154
16.401.10 154
16.402 143, 158, 362n6, 363n7,
360, 366n23, 495, 655n153, 713,
724, 724nn408-9
16.402.1 153, 361
16.402.2 p362
16.402.3-4 p363
16.402.4ff. 156
16.402.15-6 160
16.402.23 p99
16.402.27 160
16.402.28 154
16.402.30-1 160
16.402 [] p141

16.639 p147
16.665.5 p520
16.739 142
17.001 p434n35
17.007+ p417
17.018 p684n263, 686
17.021 p401, 479nn 163,170,173
17.022+ p401
17.022+.9 p139
17.023 p426n16, 451
17.023.1 p451n156
17.028 p445n119, 654n145
17.031 p425n7, 426n13
17.033 p479n173
17.035+ p405, 461n37, 642, 678,
679
17.036 p480n 179
17.036.4-5 p480n 177
17.037 p431n27, 478n157
17.038 p401, 480n179
17.038.6' p480n177
17.042 p443n105, 651, 660n173,
661
17.049 p426n14, 440n84
17.050.4 p454n169
17.050.11 p450n153
17.052 p426n18
17.053 p613
17.058 p624, 624n71
17.059 p407, 444, 683
17.061 p401
17.062+ p405
17.062+.6' p521
17.062+.8' p520
17.062+.10' p521
17.062+. 11' p523
17.062+.12' p520, 521
17.062+.13' p519, 521
17.062+. 14' p522
17.062+. 17' p522
17.062+. 18' p522
17.062+.19' p519
17.062+.20' p518
17.062+.23' p523
17.062+.66 p526n30
17.063 p33n35, 360, 363n9
17.063.1 p362
17.063.3 p361
17.063.7-8 p438n75
17.064 p431n28, 435nn42-3
17.066 p474n129
17.067 p445n119, 466n78
17.072 p438n79, 703

7.074 146, 452 161


7.077 p481n183
7.078 p383, 444nn109-10, 685,
685n272
7.079+ p404, 462n50
7.082.9 p518
7.083 p385, 665, 698
7.086+ p400, 469n97, 697
7.088 p479nn 163,170
7.097 p426n16
7.099.5 p461n39, 462n44
7.100.3 p704
7. 100[A]+ p52n11, 144
7. 100[A] + .40 p457n7
7.102 p400, 469n97
7.103 p425n5
7.106 p147, 148, 425n11,
426nn 11,13-4,16
7.106.4 p487n207
7.106.8 p452n163
7.106.26 p487n207
7.108 p445n119, 684n264
7.109, 62 p420-2, 650n132
7.111.7 p437n68
7.111.10 129
7.111.11 p437n61
7.112 p688, 688n282
7.115 p425n7, 426n11
7.115.8 p437n57
7.116 p382
7.116.6 p437n67
7.117 p373n36, 360
7.117.2 p364
7.117.16 p436n56
7.118 p426n16, 451 158
7.118.7 154
7.120 p50, 146
7.123 p410, 411
7.125 p426n10
7.128 p407
7.130 p383, 404, 441n90, 458n11,
466n80, 638n107, 660n174
7.131 p429n24, 434n35,
435nn42-3,45, 436nn46,48-51
7.131.3 p440n84
7.131.11 p449n 149
7.131.13 p450n151
7.131.14 p453n164
7.131.23 p452n162, 487n209
7.131.24 p454, 492n230
7.131.25 p492n230
7.131.26-7 p474n131
7.132 p383, 404, 406, 462n50, 633
7.132.7-9 p632

17.133 p383, 404, 661


17.133.23 p451
17.135+ p444n110, 474n129
17.136 p431n27
17.138 p581
17.139 p360, 362n6, 363n7,
365n15, 469n100, 470n106
17.139.2 p361
17.139.3-4 p364n12
17.139.5 p470n104
17.139.13 154
17.139.32-3 p160
17.140 p426n10
17.141.1 130
17.142 p387
17.143 p385, 665
17.143.13 p518
17.144 p383, 445n118, 446n130,
447n141, 654, 656
17.144.40 p447, 447n142
17.145 p407, 652
17.146 p407, 406, 440n86, 651
17.146.6-7 p472n113
17.147 p693
17.148 p387, 444n109, 445n118,
446n129, 447n141, 654n146,
656
17.149 p481n184
17.150+ p447n137, 140, 142
17.150+.8-32 p448n 143
17.152 p382, 445n 118, 666n201
17.155 136
17.156 p329
17.158 p407, 443n105, 651,
660n173, 661
17.159 p405, 468n89,
477nn149,151-2, 678
17.210 p57
17.226 p477n155, 702, 706
17.227 124, 405, 419, 447n140,
634n94, 635
17.227.25-6 p698
17.228 p37n64, 409, 410
17.229 p441n89, 651
17.230 p406, 407, 441n89, 458n14,
651
17.231 p445n119, 466n78, 470n101,
657
17.232 p444n110, 474n129
17.234 p407, 461n35
17.235+ p405
17.236.6 154
17.236.13-4 p329
17.237 156, 635

17.237.3-16 p640
17.238 p405, 424, 455n2, 462n45,
463n53, 486, 652n138, 682
17.239 p386, 445n118, 446n130
17.240 136-7, 429n24, 434n35,
435n43, 436n47, 485n194
17.240.10 p436n52
17.240.11 p454n168, 491n225
17.240.15 p451n157
17.244 p37n63
17.244.5-8 p657n167
17.246 p430n26
17.246.5 p434n35
17.247 p383, 445n118, 684
17.248 p30n14, 653n141
17.251 p408, 412, 445n119, 654,
657
17.285.5-6 p329
17.286 p382, 462n49, 642
17.288 p385, 444n109
17.289 p383, 686, 716n379
17.290 p426n16
17.292 p383, 685
17.293 p435n41
17.293.2-5 p474n127
17.297 147, 148
17.312 p431n29, 478n157
17.314 p37n63, 407, 469n98,
685
17.315 p387, 644n123, 667n202
17.316 p441n92, 458n12, 660n173,
661, 685
17.318+ p409, 410
17.318B p438n79
17.319 p441n92, 660n173
17.319.22 p653n141
17.319.32 p653n141
17.322.2' p706
17.325 p400. 697, 469n97, 470n101,
697n309
17.326 p425n7
17.327 142, 360
17.334 p38n70, 406, 462n50,
634n95, 636, 636n99
17.334.20-3 p634
17.335+ p640
17.335+. 19 p520
17.335+.57-63 p662
17.337 p657n166
17.338 p468n88
17.340 p405, 462n50, 634n94
17.340.Iff. p634, 635
17.340 6' p520
17.340.7' p519

17.340 r7' p520


17.340 p462n50
17.341 p455n2, 462nn46,50,
466n78, 606, 663n185, 669
17.341.14' p519
17.344 p640
17.345 p147, 148
17.346 p407, 444, 446n130, 645,
646nn127-8
17.346.10-1 p646
17.346.14-21 p651n134
17.348 p468n89
17.349B+ p638n105
17.350B p692
17.352 p407, 461n37, 642, 676n235,
678
17.354 p445n118
17.355 p477nn149,155, 702
17.355.6-8 p703
17.356.6 p446n127
17.360+ p641n113
1 7.360A+ p409, 410
17.361 p432
17.361A p467n87, 682n255
17.361 p438n79
17.362 p461n37, 642
17.364 p685n271
17.364.3 130
17.365+ p405
17.366.13' p519
17.366.15' p523, 526n30
17.367 p461n37, 468n89, 642
17.368 p640, 662, 685nn271-2
17.368.3' p523
17.369 p405, 634n94
17.369A p462n50, 467n87
1 7.369B+069 p651n135
1 7.370[B] p424n3
17.371+ p407, 408, 444n110
17.378A p467n81
17.380+ p405, 420
17.382 124, 640
17.382.16 p519
17.383 p30n18, 377, 384, 386,
445n118, 488n215, 655
17.384 p425n7, 426n13
17.385 p383, 445n118, 684
17.386 p147, 148, 425n5
17.387A p401
17.388 p30n14
17.390 p387, 452n161
17.391 p387
17.392 p426n16, 451n158
17.392.2 p451n156

17.393 p387, 665


17.394+ p387, 606, 664n192
17.396 p407, 477n153
17.397[A] p426n15
17.398 p387
17.399 p425n7
17.403 p640n111, 654n147,

662n180
17.406 p645, 646, 646nn 127-8
17.418 p598
17.422 p384, 386, 445n118,
488n215, 655
17.423 p380, 383, 654, 684,
686n274
17.424 p444n 111
17.424.2 p519
17.424C+ p381, 459n23, 474n130,
653n141, 672n217
17.425 p385
17.426 p30n14
17.428 p387, 475n133
17.429 p383, 477n155, 703
17.432.5' 138
17.434 143
17.434.14 154
17.434.36-7 p679n243
1 7.434BA 143
17.435+ p51n8, 143, 159, 360,
365n15, 367, 460, 488, 488n215,
674, 693n298, 700
17.435.2 p365n17
17.435+.5-13 156-7
17.435+.6 154
17.435+.16ff. 158
17.438 143
17.438.10 p155
17.443 p462n48
17.444 p425n7, 426n13
17.449 p469n98
17.451 p387
17.452 p387
17.455 p386
17.456 p387
17.457 p640
17.461 p441n91, 660n174
17.465 p474n130
17.[468] p416
17.469 p444n 111
17. [473] [B].5 p437n66
17. [476] p624n71
17.[477] p637n104
18.001
18.002

p410, 663
p408, 411, 445n119, 692

18.003 p384, 441n91, 660n174


18.005 p426n16, 459n27
18.007A p426n16, 429n24,
465n61
18.008 154
18.008.1 p147, 148
18.010+ p426n13, 435n43, 452n161,
485n199
18.010+14-7 p452n163
18.010+. 18 p450n154
18.019 p406, 407, 441n88, 651
18.020+ p458n12, 659n171, 661,
692
18.021 p467n81, 692
18.022 p430n26
18.023 146
18.024 p437n64, 446n132
18.024.4-5 p447n137
18.024.11 129, 450n153
18.024.20 p447n136
18.024.21 p446n127
18.024.22 p446n128
18.024.25 p447n 142
18.025 146, 442, 459n24, 660,
669n209
18.025.1-3 p147
18.025.10 p454n168
18.026 p452n161, 478n157
18.026.2-4 p454n168
18.026.10 p478n158
18.026.16 p450n151
18.027 148, 430n26
18.028 p446n132, 447n136
18.028.20-1 p446n 124
18.028[A] p434n39
18.029 p459n21
18.030 149, 430n26
18.031 p51n8, 143, 155, 156, 360,
363n7, 365n15, 368, 442n98, 460,
672n222, 716
18.031.2 p362
18.031.3 p362
18.031.4-5 p364n12
18.031.6 p365n16
18.031.12 p98
18.031.15 154
18.031.23 154
18.031.26 p99
18.033 p425n7, 426n11
18.035+ 146
18.036 147, 148
18.038 p51n8, 32, 143, 360,
362n6, 707, 717
18.038.5-16 p157

18.038.11 6 159
18.038.15-6 160
18.038.21 155
18.038.35 154
18.040 142, 156, 360, 362n6,
442n98, 605n5, 671
18.040.1 p361
18.040.4 p362
18.040.5-8 p363
18.041 p52n11, 146, 163, 271n10,
286
18.042 p443, 459nn20,27, 677
18.042.2 p460n33
18.042.4 p673n226
18.042.9 p460n28
18.045 p426nn13-4,16, 441n88,

513n18
18.046 p430n26
18.046.24 p300
18.047 p430n26
18.047.24 p434n35, 474n132
18.048 p425n7, 426nn10,13
18.048.9 124, 487n208
18.050 p431n29, 478n157
18.051 p434n39, 469n90
18.052.1-2 148
18.052.1-2 p147
18.054 p670n243
18.054A p382, 385
18.055 p437n57
18.055.1 p437n64
18.055.2 129, 494n242
18.055.3 p U 1 n 7 , 436n5, 617,
436n56
18.055.5 129
18.056 p 5 2 n U , 143, 273, 298n51,
302, 318, 319, 326-7, 330
18.056.17 p541n38
18.056.22 p454n 172
18.056.42 p303
18.056.56-7 164
18.056.58-61 p329
18.057 p387, 445n118
18.057.3 p447n142
18.066 p437n68
18.070 p653n141
18.073 p424n3, 425n7
18.074 130, 432n30
18.075 p363n7, 643n119, 721n396
18.075.1-2 p364n12
18.075A p360
18.075.19 160
18.076 p426nn 10,16,18, 513n18
18.076.18 p454n 168

18.078 p440n84
18.079 p426n16
18.079.10 p436n53
18.079.35 p452n160
18.079.45 p454n 170
18.080A p432n30
18.082 p426nn13,16, 431n27,

513n18
18.084 p430n26
18.085 p449n149
18.086 p426n14
18.087 p426nn13-4,16, 431n27
18.089 p387
18.098 147, 148, 426nn16,18,
429n24
18.099 p425n7
18.101 A p432n30
18.106+ p425n7, 426n13,
485n200
18.107 146
18.107 p52n11, 447nn141-2
18.110.3 p437n72
18.110.10 p448n 144
18.111 p417, 425n7
18.112 p426n14, 429n24,
435n45
18.113 146
18.1 13 143, 158, 360, 362n6,
443, 459n18
18.1 13A.1 p361
18.1 13A.3 p362, 473n124,
495n247
18.113A.4-5 p363
18.U3a.6 155
18.I13A.10 155
18.113A.11 154
18.1 13a.19 154
18.1 13a.23 154
18.1 13a.25 154
18.1 13A.26 155
18.1 13, [B] p623n67, 631n87,
677
18.1 13[B] p360
18.114 p654n145, 676n235
18.115 p407, 651
18.116 p426n13, 431n27
18.117 p430n26
18.118 146, 416, 429n24,
460
18.119 p676
18.119.1 p459n19
18.119.8 130
18.129 p431n27
18.130 127, 435n42

18.130.4 129, 450


18.130.15 p723n405
18.134 p360, 362n6, 363n7,
669n209
18.134.2 p362
18.134.4-5 p364n12
18.135.20 p451n156
18.136 p425n7, 426n11
18.138 p430n26
18.139 p425n7, 426n11
18.140 p143, 158, 360
18.140.7 p98
18.140.11-2 p363
18.140.19 154
18.140.23 154
18.140.25 p99, 154
18.142 p437n64
18.142.3 p448n143
18.142.5 p446n127
18.142.7-8 p446n121
18.142.9 p446n 124
18.142.10-1 p437n73
18.143[c] p425n7
18.146 bis p425n7
18.147 p360, 362n6, 363n7,
365n15, 677, 718
18.147.4-5 p364n12
18.147.6 p365n16
18.147.13 p99
18.148 p360, 366n26, 718n305,
719
18.148.2 p361
18.148.16 154
18.148.21 p718n387
18.232 p58
18.250.30 p645
18.250BA p435n43
18.251 142, 147, 485n197
18.251 iii 9 p454n 170
18.251 [A] ii 1 - 5 p434n35
18.251 [B] p435n42
18.251[c] p424n3
18.252 p426n15, 429n24, 430n26,
435n43, 485n195
18.252.1 p465n63
18.252.6 p434n35
18.258 p431n29, 478n157
18.268 p387
18.273 p684n263
18.279 p424n3
18.281 p387
18.283 p32n28
18.285 p440n83
18.285[] 142, 360

18.285 [a] .5 154


18.286+ p360, 362n6
18.286[AB] 142
18.287 142, 360
18.287.12 154
18.287.16 154
18.289 p431n29
18.291 p432n30
18.293 147, 148, 426n16
18.295 p430n26
18.296 p425n7, 430n26
18.297 p430n26
18.299 149
18.301 [] p440n84
18. [303] p431n29
18. [306] 147, 148
18. [312] 142, 360
18. [312],2-3 p363
18. [317] p426nn13,16, 431n27
18. [325]+ p437n70
18. [363] p426n16
18. [364] 142, 360, 363n7
18. [380] 142, 360
18. [381] p426nn15-6,
429n24
18. [386] 142, 360
18.[387] 142, 360
18. [389] p426n13
18. [391] p426n13, 431n27
18. [394] p426n14
18. [400] 142, 360, 365n15
18.[400]. 1 p361
18. [400] .4 p365n16
18. [402] p437n70
18. [436] p431n29
18. [443] 142, 360
18.[445].1 p437n67
18. [448] p429n24
18. [471] p426n16
18. [479] p425n5
18. [482] 142, 360
18. [489] p429n24,
465nn61,69
18. [500] 142, 360, 440n83,
472n112
18. [508] p52n11
18. [522] p497n261
18. [528] 142, 360
18. [549] p426n16
18. [551] p437n70
19.006
19.007
19.011

p382, 629n83
p446n 124, 447n137
p156, 360, 362n6, 726

19.011.2 p361
19.011.5-7 154
19.011.5 154
19.013 p52n11, 144, 319, 322,
330
19.013.20-2 p331
19.014 p426n 13
19.015 p52n11, 142, 143, 144, 145,
147, 148, 295, 326-7, 331, 337-8,
739
19.015.1-2 p147, 148
19.015.2 p341n48
19.015.3 p332
19.015.6 144
19.015.8 p336
19.015.10-1 p336
19.015.10 p332
19.015.14-5 p320
19.015.29 128
19.016 p137, 147, 425n5,
426nn13-5,18, 435n42, 450n151,
453, 473n123, 485n193
19.016.7 p436n46
19.016.9 p452n160
19.016.10-1 p474n127
19.016.11 p435n41
19.016.12' p428n22
19.016.16 p453n 167
19.016.18 p449n 149
19.016.23 p452n160
19.016.25 p451n159, 453n166
19.016.32 p454n 169
19.016.35-9 p453n165
19.016.63 p436n46
19.017 p36n62, 147, 148, 425,
426n15
19.018 p425n5
19.020 p442n99, 459n24,
472n113
19.020.3 p447n142
19.022 142, 360
19.023 p485n192
19.024 p447nn140-1, 448n143
19.024.9 p448n 144
19.025 p425n9
19.026 p425n5
19.026.8 9 p449n 149
19.027 p425n5, 444n115
19.028 p459n24, 669n208
19.028.1 138
19.029 142, 360, 362n6,
363n7, 442
19.029.1 p361
19.029.5-6 p364n12

19.030 p446n 130


19.032 p432n31
19.032.1 137
19.035 p425n4, 429n24, 434n37,
435n43, 485n196, 493n232,
494n236, 496n258
19.035. 1 p449n149
19.035A.3 p435n42
19.035A.8 p453n 164
19.035A.29 p454n169
19.035b+e.3' 138
19.035b+e.4' 138
19.036.5 p448n144, 496n258
19.039+ 145, 150, 166n5, 551
19.042 p459n27, 670n244
19.042.4 p442n99
19.042.9 p460n28
19.042.11 138
19.043 p425n5
19.044 147, 148, 426n16
19.045 p425n7, 426nn10,13, 431n27
19.045.6 p428n22
19.046 p432n30, 444n115
19.047.7 p127
19.048[A] p424n3
19.048 [B] p424n3
19.049[A][C] p426n16, 493n232,
494nn237,240
19.049[B] 146, 429n24,
465n61
19.050 p387, 442, 445n118,
447n141, 675
19.052 p425n7, 426n9
19.053 p32n32, 387
19.054 p52n11, 145, 150,
166n5
19.056.1 p452n160
19.057.3 p437n57
19.059 p52n11
19.061 p424n3
19.062 p426nn13-4, 437n58
19.062.12 p452n160
19.062.14 p451, 453n166
19.063 p407
19.064 p447n141, 485n192
19.064. r4' 138
19.065 p435n42
19.066 p416, 412, 443,
466nn78,80
19.068 p409, 410, 628
19.068.8 p622, 627
19.069 p431n27
19.070 p386, 463n55, 470,
655n154, 688

19.071 p136
19.072 p430n26, 438n78
19.073 p417, 426n9
19.074 p425n4
19.078 p474n125, 495n247
19.079.15' p480n 155
19.080 p386, 425n5, 704,
708
19.084 p58
19.085.5 p494n242
19.086 147, 426n16, 514n21
19.086A.4-14 p434n35
19.090 p432n30
19.091.4 p442n99
19.092.1 p494n242
19.096 p426n18, 429n24, 442n99,
459n27, 512n17, 513n18
19.096.7 p452n163
19.097 p425n7, 426nn 10,11,13-4,
467n83
19.098 p32n28, 429n24
19.099 p452n163, 487n209
19.100B p425n7
19.102 142, 360, 362n6
19.102.2 p361
19.102.5 p362
19.102.6-7 p362
19.102.10 p361
19.102.13-6 p363
19.104.3 p437n57
19.105 p426n8
19.106 p430n29, 431n29
19.107A
p432n30
19.109.12 p362
19.112 p426n9, 432n30
19.112.2 p491n228
19.112.3 p494n239
19.112.4 p137
19.114 p429n24
19.115 p387
19.116 p431n27
19.117 p425n5
19.118 p424n3
19.119 p425n5
19.122.5'ff. p684n263
19.127 p426n16
19.129 p425n5
19.131.5 p453n164
19.133A.5 p437n57
19.135 p438n77
19.135.2 138
19.135.4 139
19.141 p431n27
19.142-19.151 p58

19.152 p496n257
19.153- 19.155 p58
19.158A p426n16
19.158b 142, 360, 365n15
19.158B.1 p365n16
19.159 p32n26
19.164 p58
19.166 142, 145, 445n119
19.166.1 p114n63, 154
19.166.6I p99
19.167A p424n3
19.174A 145
19. 174A+19.174C p58n3
19.174b p494n239
19.174c p438n77
19.174AB 142
19.174-i p424n3
19.179 p52n11
19.180 146, 426n16
19.181 p360
19.181b p360, 363n7, 365n15
19.181B.4 p365n17
19.181ab 142
19.182 p442n97, 459n27
19.186 p711
19.256 p425n4, 493n232
19.257 p424n3
19.258 p424n3
19.259 p424n3
20.003 p474n128
20.012 p467n83
20.013 p466n73
20.018 p498
20.021 p466n78
20.022 p461n35
20.150 p467n82
20.158 p474n127
20.168 p459n18
20.176 p481n183
20.184 p463n55
20.189A+B.9 p496n256
20.199 p470n105
20.211 + p497n261
20.216 p477n155
20.219 p463n56
20.220 p469n100
20.226 p479n163, 170
20.236 p466n78
20.238 p498
20.239 p483n190
20.239.27 p495n247
20.255A p488n215
20.425 p485n193

20.425.5 p487n209
20.1957. 1 p407
21.056 p459n20
21.199 p485n192
21.230 p467n81, 479n164, 170,
480179
22.231.1 p473n123
22.233.19 p491n227
22.362 p601
23.216
23.217
23.218
23.391
23.394

p581
p581
p581
p593
p581, 591

24.244.2 - 4 p533n13
24.244 p575
24.247+ p495n245, 550, 574
24.251 + p575
24.252.2 - 3 p561n95
24.257 p561, 562, 577
24.258 p535, 576
24.264+ p537
24.266 p541n37, 545, 574
24.266.23 p300
24.270[B].[3] p541n38
24.272 p576
24.277 p574
24.277.30-2 p566
24.295 p537n25
24.312 p459n19, 574
24.323 p574
24.326 p574
24.327 p574
24.400 p598
24.434 p581
24.440 p599
24.627 p601
24.643 p538n29
24.654 p574
25.134

p474n128, 479n164

27.053

p481n183

29.097.1
34.123
34.124
34.126
34.129

p461n40
p514n21
p476, 495n244
p561, 577
p469n93

34.137 p469n92
34.145 p470, 470n105
34.145.21 p470n104
34.147 p460n28
34.150 p463n56
34.153 p459n18
34.154 p470n 105
34.158 p466n78
34.167 + .20 p486n203
34.170 p467n85
34.179 p458nn 11,13
52.16.52

p601

61.24.435

p601

63.26.256

p601

78.041+81.3659

p599

80.5102

p676n236

86.0221+
86.2208
86.2212
86.2230
86.2234

p670n243
p670n243
p669
p713
p670n243

88.070 p581, 587


88.2009 p645
88.2011 p719n391
88.2013 p722n399
88.2158 p709, 711, 713, 715
88.2158.3 p712
92.2005
92.2007

p658n168
p658n168, 708, 708n350

94.2002+2003 p712
94.2002+2003.R.3-4 p712
1929.1.13
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia

p520

[04J 142, 359, 366n21


[04].3 p361 2
[04].4-5 p364n12
[04j.9 p99
[04], 12 154
[05] p462n47
[07] p472n109
[10] p386
[13].5 p446n128
[13] .6 100
[14] p416, 576

Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia

[14] .6 153
[16] p381, 383
[18]. 1 p430n26
[20] 144, 318, 320, 330, 331
[22].8 p438n76
[22]. 14 p438n74

Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia
Varia

[25] p385
[26] p383, 444n116, 47In 108
[27] p382
[34] p389
[38] 147
[38] .2 148

HANDBUCH DER ORIENTALISTIK


Abt. I: D E R N A H E U N D M I T T L E R E O S T E N
ISSN 0169-9423

Band 1. gyptologie
1. gyptische Schrift und Sprache. Mit Beitrgen von H. Brunner, H. Kees, S. Morenz, E.
Otto, S. Schott. Mit Zustzen von H. Brunner. Nachdruck der Erstausgabe (1959).
1973. ISBN 90 04 03777 2
2. Literatur. Mit Beitrgen von H. Altenmller, H. Brunner, G. Fecht, H. Grapow, H. Kees,
S. Morenz, E. Otto, S. Schott, J. Spiegel, W. Westendorf. 2. verbesserte und erweiterte
Auflage. 1970. ISBN 90 04 00849 7
3. Helck, W. Geschichte des alten gypten. Nachdruck mit Berichtigungen und Ergnzungen. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06497 4
Band 2. Keilschriftforschung und alte Geschichte Vorderasiens
1-2/2. Altkleinasiatische Sprachen [und ElamitischJ. Mit Beitrgen von J . Friedrich, E. Reiner,
A. Kammenhuber, G. Neumann, A. Heubeck. 1969. ISBN 90 04 00852 7
3. Schmkel, H. Geschichte des alten Vorderasien. Reprint. 1979. ISBN 90 04 00853 5
4/2. Orientalische Geschichte von Kyros bis Mohammed. Mit Beitrgen von A. Dietrich, G.
Widengren, F. M. Heichelheim. 1966. ISBN 90 04 00854 3
Band 3. Semitistik
Semitistik. Mit Beitrgen von A. Baumstark, C. Brockelmann, E. L. Dietrich, J . Fck, M.
Hfner, E. Littmann, A. Rcker, B. Spuler. Nachdruck der Erstausgabe (1953-1954).
1964. ISBN 90 04 00855 1
Band 4. Iranistik
1. Linguistik. Mit Beitrgen von K. Hoffmann, W. B. Henning, H. W. Bailey, G. Morgenstierne, W. Lentz. Nachdruck der Erstausgabe (1958). 1967. ISBN 90 04 03017 4
2/1. Literatur. Mit Beitrgen von 1. Gershevitch, M. Boyce, O. Hansen, B. Spuler, M. J.
Dresden. 1968. ISBN 90 04 00857 8
2/2. History of Persian Literature from the Beginning of the Islamic Period to the Present Day. With
Contributions by G. Morrison,,]. Baldick and Sh. Kadkan. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06481 8
3. Krause, W. Tocharisch. Nachdruck der Erstausgabe (1955) mit Zustzen und Berichtigungen. 1971. ISBN 90 04 03194 4
Band 5. Altaistik
1. Turkologie. Mit Beitrgen von A. von Gabain, O. Pritsak, J. Benzing, K. H. Menges, A.
Temir, TL. V. Togan, F. Taeschner, O. Spies, A. Caferoglu, . Battal-Tamays. Reprint
with additions of the 1st (1963) ed. 1982. ISBN 90 04 06555 5
2. Mongolistik. Mit Beitrgen von N. Poppe, U. Posch, G. Doerfer, P. Aalto, D. Schrder,
O. Pritsak, W. Heissig. 1964. ISBN 90 04 00859 4
3. Tungusologie. Mit Beitrgen von W. Fuchs, I. A. Lopatin, . H. Menges, D. Sinor. 1968.
ISBN 90 04 00860 8
Band 6. Geschichte der i s l a m i s c h e n Lnder
5/1. Regierung und Verwaltung des Vorderen Orients in islamischer Zeit. Mit Beitrgen von H. R.
Idris und K. Rhrborn. 1979. ISBN 90 04 05915 6
5/2. Regierung und Verwaltung des Vorderen Orients in islamischer Zeit. 2. Mit Beitrgen von D.
Sourdel u n d j . Bosch Vi1. 1988. ISBN 90 04 08550 5
6 / 1. Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Vorderen Orients in islamischer Zeit. Mit Beitrgen von B. Lewis, M.
Rodinson, G. Baer, H. Mller, A. S. Ehrenkreutz, E. Ashtor, B. Spuler, A. K. S. Lambton, R. C. Cooper, . Rosenberger, R. Ari, L. Bolens, T. Fahd. 1977.
ISBN 90 04 04802 2
Band 7
Armenisch und Kaukasische Sprachen. Mit Beitrgen von G. Deeters, G. R. Solta, V. Inglisian.
1963. ISBN 90 04 00862 4
Band 8. Religion
1/1. Religionsgeschichte des alten Orients. Mit Beitrgen von E. Otto, O. Eissfeldt, H. Otten, J .
Hempel. 1964. ISBN 90 04 00863 2
1 / 2 / 2 / 1 . Boyce, M. A History of 'oroastrianism. The Early Period. Rev. ed. 1989.
ISBN 90 04 08847 4

1 / 2 / 2 / 2 . Boyce, M. A History of ^oroastrianism. Under the Achaemenians. 1982.


ISBN 90 04 06506 7
1 / 2 / 2 / 3 . Boyce, M. and Grenet, F. A History of <'oroastrianism. oroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. With a Contribution by R. Beck. 1991. ISBN 90 04 09271 4
2. Religionsgeschichte des Orients in der ^eil der Weltreligionen. Mit Beitrgen von A. Adam, A. J .
Arberry, . L. Dietrich, J . VV. Fiick, A. von Gabain, J . Leipoldt, B. Spuler, R. Strothman, G. Widengren. 1961. ISBN 90 04 00864 0
Ergnzungsband 1
1. Hinz, W. Islamische Mae und Gewichte umgerechnet ins metrische System. Nachdruck der
Erstausgabe (1955) mit Zustzen und Berichtigungen. 1970. ISBN 90 04 00865 9
Ergnzungsband 2
1. Grohmann, A. Arabische Chronologie und Arabische Papyruskunde. Mit Beitrgen v o n j . Mayr
und W. C. Till. 1966. ISBN 90 04 00866 7
2. Khoury, R. G. Chrestomathie de papyrologie arabe. Documents relatifs la vie prive, sociale et administrative dans les premiers sicles islamiques. 1992. ISBN 90 04 09551 9
Ergnzungsband 3
Orientalisches Recht. Mit Beitrgen von E. Seidl, V. Koroc, E. Pritsch, . Spies, . Tyan, J .
Baz, Ch. Chehata, Ch. Samaran, J . Roussier, J . Lapanne-Joinville, S. . Ansay. 1964.
ISBN 90 04 00867 5
Ergnzungsband 5
1 /1. Borger, R. Einleitung in die asyrischen Knigsinschriften. 1. Das zweite Jahrtausend vor
Chr. Mit Verbesserungen und Zustzen. Nachdruck der Erstausgabe (1961). 1964.
ISBN 90 04 00869 1
1/2. Schramm, W. Einleitung in die assyrischen Knigsinschriften. 2. 934-722 v. Chr. 1973.
ISBN 90 04 03783 7
Ergnzungsband 6
1. Ullmann, M. Die Medizin im Islam. 1970. ISBN 90 04 00870 5
2. Ullmann, M. Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam. 1972. ISBN 90 04 03423 4
Ergnzungsband 7
Gomaa, I. A Historical Chart of the Muslim World. 1972. ISBN 90 04 03333 5
Ergnzungsband 8
Kornrumpf, H.-J. Osmanische Bibliographie mit besonderer Bercksichtigung der Trkei in Europa.
Unter Mitarbeit von J. Kornrumpf. 1973. ISBN 90 04 03549 4
Ergnzungsband 9
Firro, K. M. A History of the Druzes. 1992. ISBN 90 04 09437 7
Band 10
Strijp, R. Cultural Anthropology of the Middle East. A Bibliography. Vol. 1: 1965-1987. 1992.
ISBN 90 04 09604 3
Band 11
Endress, G. & Gutas, D. (eds.). A Greek and Arabic Lexicon. (GALex). Materials for a Dictionary of the Mediaeval Translations from Greek into Arabic.
Fascicle 1. Introduction - S o u r c e s ' - '-kh-r. Compiled by G. Endress & D. Gutas, with
the assistance of K. Alshut, R. Arnzen, Chr. Hein, St. Pohl, M. Schmeink. 1992.
ISBN 90 04 09494 6
Fascicle 2. '-kh-r - '-s-1. Compiled by G. Endress & D. Gutas, with the assistance of K. Alshut, R. Arnzen, Chr. Hein, St. Ph1, M. Schmeink. 1993. ISBN 90 04 09893 3
Fascicle 3. '-s-l - M-y. Compiled by G. Endress, D. Gutas & R. Arnzen, with the assistance of Chr. Hein, St. Pohl. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10216 7
Fascicle 4. I1 - inna. Compiled by R. Arnzen, G. Endress & D. Gutas, with the assistance of Chr. Hein & J . Thielmann. 1997. ISBN 90 04 10489 5.
Band 12
Jayyusi, S. . (ed.). The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Chief consultant to the editor, M. Marin.
2nd ed. 1994. ISBN 90 04 09599 3
Band 13
Hunwick, J . O. and O'Fahey, R. S. (eds.). Arabic Literature of Africa. Editorial Consultant:
Albrecht Hofheinz.
Volume I. The Writings of Eastern Sudanic Africa to c. 1900. Compiled by R. S. O'Fahey, with
the assistance of M. I. Abu Salim, A. Hofheinz, Y. M. Ibrahim, B. Radtke and K. S.
Viker. 1994. ISBN 90 04 09450 4
Volume II. The Writings of Central Sudanic Africa. Compiled by John O. Hunwick, with the
assistance of Razaq Abubakre, Hamidu Bobboyi, Roman Loimeier, Stefan Reichmuth
and Muhammad Sani Umar. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10494 1

Band 14
Decker, VV. und Herb, M. Bildatlas zum Sport im alten gypten. Corpus der bildlichen Quellen zu
Leibesbungen, Spiel, Jagd, Tanz und verwandten Themen. Bd.l: Text. Bd. 2: Ab-bildungen.
1994. ISBN 90 04 09974 3 (Set)
Band 15
Haas, V. Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. 1994. ISBN 90 04 09799 6
Band 16
Neusner,J. (ed.). Judaism in Late Antiquity. Part One: The Literary and Archaeological Sources. 1994. ISBN 90 04 10129 2
Band 17
Neusner, J. (ed.). Judaism in Late Antiquity. Part Two: Historical Syntheses. 1994.
ISBN 90 04 09799 6
Band 18
Orel, V. E. and Stolbova, . V. (eds.). Hamito-Semitic Etymological Dictionary. Materials for
a Reconstruction. 1994. ISBN 90 04 10051 2
Band 19
al-Zwaini, L. and Peters, R. A Bibliography of Islamic Law, 1980-1993. 1994.
ISBN 90 04 10009 1
Band 20
Klings, V. (d.). La civilisation phnicienne et punique. Manuel de recherche. 1995.
ISBN 90 04 10068 7
Band 21
Hoftijzer,J. and Jongeling, K. Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions. With appendices by R.C. Steiner, A. Mosak Moshavi and B. Porten. 1995. 2 Parts.
ISBN Set (2 Parts) 90 04 09821 6
Part One: 1 - L. ISBN 90 04 09817 8
Part Two:
M - T. ISBN 90 04 9820 8.
Band 22
Lagarde, M. Index du Grand Commentaire de Fahr al-Dn al-Rz- 1996.
ISBN 90 04 10362 7
Band 23
Kinberg, . A Lexicon of al-Farr"s Terminology in his Qur'hn Commentary. With Full Definitions, English Summaries and Extensive Citations. 1996. ISBN 90 04 10421 6
Band 24
Fhnrich, H. und Sardshweladse, S. Etymologisches Wrterbuch der Kartwel-Sprachen. 1995.
ISBN 90 04 10444 5
Band 25
Rainey, A.F. Canaanite in the Amarna Tablets. A Linguistic Analysis of the Mixed Dialect used
by Scribes from Canaan. 1996. ISBN Set (4 Volumes) 90 04 10503 4
Volume I. Orthography, Phonology. Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Pronouns, Nouns,
Numerals. ISBN 90 04 10521 2
Volume II. Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Verbal
System. ISBN 90 04 10522 0
Volume III. Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Particles
and Adverbs. ISBN 90 04 10523 9 Volume IV. References and Index of Texts Cited.
ISBN 90 04 10524 7
Band 26
Halm, H. The Empire of the Mahdi. The Rise of the Fatimids. Translated from the German
by M. Bonner. 1996. ISBN 90 04 10056 3
Band 27
Strijp, R. Cultural Anthropology of the Middle East. A Bibliography. Vol. 2: 1988-1992. 1997.
ISBN 90 04 010745 2
Band 28
Sivan, D. A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language. 1997. ISBN 90 04 10614 6
Band 29
Corriente, F. A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic. 1997. ISBN 90 04 09846 1
Band 30
Sharon, M. Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae (CIAP). Vol. 1: A. 1997.
ISBN 90 04 010745 2
Vol. 1 : B. 1999. ISBN 90 04 110836
Band 31
Trk, L. The Kingdom of Kush. Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization. 1997.
ISBN 90 04 010448 8
B a n d 32
Muraoka, T. and Porten, . A Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic. 1998. ISBN 90 04 10499 2

Band 33
Gessel, B.H.L. van. Onomasticon of the Hittite Pantheon. 1998.
ISBN Set (2 parts) 90 04 10809 2
Band 34
Klengel, H. Geschichte des hethitischen Reiches 1998. ISBN 90 04 10201 9
Band 35
Hachlili, R. Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Diaspora 1998. ISBN 90 04 10878 5
Band 36
Westendorf, W. Handbuch der altgyptischen Medizin. 1999.
ISBN Set (2 Bnde) 90 04 10319 8
Band 37
Civil, M. Mesopotamian Lexicography. 1999. ISBN 90 04 11007 0
Band 38
Siege1ov, J. and Soucek, V. Systematische Bibliographie der Hethitologie. 1999.
ISBN Set (3 Bnde) 90 04 11205 7
Band 39
Watson, W.G.E. and Wyatt, N. Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. 1999.
ISBN 90 04 10988 9
Band 40
Neusner, J . Judaism in Ute Antiquity, 111,1. 1999. ISBN 90 04 11186 7
Band 41
Neusner, J. Judaism in Late Antiquity, 111,2. 1999. ISBN 90 04 11282 0
Band 42
Drijvers, H.J.W, and Healey, J.F. The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene. 1999.
ISBN 90 04 11284 7
Band 43
Daiber, H. Bibliography of Philosophical Thought in Islam. 2 Volumes.
ISBN Set (2 Volumes) 90 04 11347 9
Volume I. Alphabetical List of Publications 1999. ISBN 90 04 09648 5
Volume II. Index of Names, Terms and Topics. 1999. ISBN 90 04 11348 7

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