CHAPTER SIX
THE UGARITIC LITERARY TEXTS
1T M T
J C.L. G
1.1 The Baal cycle 1.1.1 The tablets The Baal mythological cycle is the largest text from ancient Ugarit, taking up six tablets (KTU 1.1–6: 1.1 = RS 3.361, 1.2 iii = RS 3.346, 1.2 i–iv = RS 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 sur- viving 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. KTU 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. KTU 1.4 has a note on the edge, ‘The scribe is Ilimilku, the master, Niqmad being king of Ugarit’, while KTU 1.6 has at the close a full colophon, giving the infor- mation that Ilimilku was not only the scribe but a student or assis- tant of a high religious officer of King Niqmad, probably the second of that name. So the composition was officially approved. At a ban- quet scene in KTU 1.3 i there is talk of chanting and singing and of a minstrel (n'm). This suggests a possible Sitz im Leben 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, 1998c, 33–146.
1.1.2 The contents The 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, each consisting roughly of two tablets. 194
1.1.2.1 Baal and Yam-Nahar (KTU 1.1–2) The first part leads up to Baal’s defeat of his rival Prince Yam (sea), also called Judge Nahar (river), with the help of two maces con- structed for him by the divine craftsman, Kothar-and-Hasis, a story told in the last column of 1.2 (iv). The 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 rit- ual 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 abandon 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 Kothar- and-Hasis is summoned to El’s distant abode, perhaps as an ally of Baal, to be given a similar warning; for clearly Yam-Nahar is at this point being favoured by El, since in 1.1 iv he accords him royal sta- tus in a kind of ceremony of coronation. By 1.2 i, however, Yam-Nahar 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 Yam-Nahar, and the claims of a minor rival, Athtar, are dismissed. When, after a sizeable gap, the text resumes, the battle between Baal and Yam-Nahar is joined, Baal with the encouragement of Kothar- and-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 The Palace of Baal (KTU 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