3 RELIGIOUS TEXTS FROM UGARIT RELIGIOUS TEXTS FROM UGARIT 2nd Edition N. Wyatt 1st edition published 1998 2nd revised edition Copyright ® 2002 Sheffield Academic Pré» Λ continuum imprint Continuum Internationa] Publishing Group The rower Building, 11 York Road, London SEI 7NX 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 1003# Reprinted 2006 www.5hcffickiAcade niicPress.com www.contmuumb<:>ok*.c< mi All rights reserved. No pan of this publication may be reproduced or transmit led in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording orany information suiragc or retrieval system, without |>enni\sioii in writing from the publishers. British Library CialaJogumg-in-Publican on Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British library’ Typeset bv Sheffield Academic Press Primed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Digital Solutions, Bodmin, Cornwall ISBN 0-8264-6048-8 CONTENTS Preface 9 Introduction 11 Abbreviations 25 Part I KTU 1.1-1.6 THE BAAL CYCLE OF MYTHS 34 KTU 1.1-1.2 Baal and Yam 39 KTU 1.3-1.4 Baal's Palace 70 KTU 1.5-1.6 Baal and Mot 115 Part II KTU 1.7-1.13 FRAGMENTS AND SHORTER MYTHS CONCERNING BAAL ANDANAT 148 KTU 1.7 Excerpts from KTU 1.3 concerning Anat 148 KTU 1.8 Excerpts from KTU 1.4 152 KTU 1.9 A Fragment of a Myth concerning Baal or his Son 153 KTU 1.10 Baal, the Heifer, and Anat 155 KTU 1.11 A Fragment concerning Baal and Anat 161 KTU 1.12 The Devourers 162 KTU 1.13 A Hymn to Anat 169 Part III KTU 1.14-1.16 THE STORY OF KING KERET 176 6 Religious Texts from Ugarit Part IV KTU 1.17-1.19 THE STORY OF AQHAT 246 Part V SELECTIONS FROM TEXTS KTU 1.20-1.169 MISCELLANEOUS TEXTS 314 KTU 1.20-1.22 The RPUM Texts 314 KTU 1.23 The Gracious Gods: A Sacred Marriage Liturgy 324 KTU 1.24 The Wedding of Nikkal and Ib 336 KTU 1.40 A Liturgy for a Rite of Atonement for the People of Ugarit 342 KTU 1.41 Instructions for the Ritual Calendar of the Month of Vintage 348 KTU 1.87 Duplicate of KTU 1.41: The Variant Ending 356 KTU 1.43 Sacrifices and Votive Gifts in Palace Rituals 357 KTU 1.47, 1.118 and RS 20.24 Pantheon Lists 360 KTU 1.65 A Prayer for the Security of Ugarit 363 KTU 1.78 An Astronomical Text 366 KTU 1.83 A Goddess Confronts a Dragon 368 KTU 1.92 The Myth of Athtart the Huntress 370 KTU 1.96 A Spell against the Evil Eye 375 KTU 1.100 The Myth of Shapsh and the Mare: A Spell against Snakebite 378 KTU 1.101 A Hymn to Baal Enthroned 388 KTU 1.107 A Cautionary Tale: Sirugazuz Learns the Risks of Snake-Charming 391 KTU 1.108 An Intercessory Prayer to Rapiu and other Deities 395 KTU 1.1 I3 A Royal Liturgy, and the Ugaritic King-List 399 KTU 1.114 The Myth of El's Banquet: A Medical Text 404 KTU 1.117 The Plea for a House for Baal 414 Contellts 7 KTU 1.119 The Ritual Calendar for the Month of Ibaalat and Another Month and a Prayer for Ugarit Under Siege 416 KTU 1.124 A Medical Text based on an Oracle Tradition 423 KTU 1.133 A Mythological Fragment concerning Mot 426 KTU 1.148 A Compendium of Ritual Lists 427 KTU 1.161 A Royal Funeral Liturgy 430 KTU 1.169 An Incantation for the Exorcism of a Possessed Adolescent 442 Bibliography 450 Index of References 486 Index of Authors 496 PREFACE The present work offers translations with commentary of fifty tablets I from Ugarit. I had hoped that before it was complete I would have access to the new texts currently (1997) in press, in particular wishing to include the new I1imilku text (RS 1992.2016) and other recent dis coveries. Unfortunately, though Pierre Bordreuil kindly arranged for me to see the proofs of the publication they have not arrived in time to be included here. I hope that I shall be able to offer a second volume at a later date. A work of this kind is essentially a cooperative venture. Any transla tor of ancient texts apart from the first will rely heavily on his col leagues, and build on their earlier efforts. I hope that my voluminous footnotes leave no conscious debts unacknowledged. My brief from Sheffield Academic Press was to justify my translations where they dif fer from others, and to present a short commentary, in the notes accom panying the text. At times it seems as though these have run away with the enterprise, when they exceed the amount of translated text on the page. The need for brevity has however controlled the enterprise from the beginning. Thus the reader will not find exhaustive treatment of every issue, but representative examples of the main points of dis agreement among scholars, both philological and text-critical on the one hand, and hermeneutical and exegetical on the other. I hope that on the scale from dull pedantry to readability, both in translation and anno tation, I have approximated to the latter end of the range, and that this has not been too much at the expense of accuracy and faithfulness to the original. Ugaritologists will lament the appearance of yet a further edition of the Ugaritic texts, in parallel with the continued comparative neglect of the Akkadian and Hurrian texts from Ras Shamra, which are equally deserving of a wider dissemination than the specialist periodicals. My I. KTU 1.2 iii is treated separately, and one Akkadian text (RS 20.24) is included among the pantheon lists.