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Ugarit (Biblical Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2. Ugarit (also spelled “Ougarit,” especially in French publications) was the name of an ancient city (as well as the surrounding kingdom of which it served as capital) located on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. Its ruins are found on the tell of Ras Shamra, located some ten kilometers north of the modern port city of Latakia. The French (and subsequently Syro-French) archaeological excavations conducted on the site since 1929 (and which continue to this day) provide evidence for an essentially continuous occupation of the site from the Neolithic (8th millennium BCE) through the end of the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BCE). The city was destroyed, and apparently never subsequently reoccupied on a comparably large scale, in the early 12th century BCE. It is above all this final period of the city’s history that is best known: the Late Bronze Age levels (especially 14th–12th centuries BCE) have furnished an abundant documentation, not only architectural and archaeological but also epigraphic (nearly five thousand inscribed objects, mostly in some form of cuneiform writing, have been discovered). Such an epigraphic corpus (in a variety of scripts and languages, but especially in the local vernacular and in Akkadian) is relatively modest in comparison with that of other ancient sites such as Hattuša and Ebla, but it is nevertheless of considerable importance, because it provides one of the most direct witnesses to the indigenous scribal and intellectual traditions of the Levantine coast in the 2nd millennium BCE. Indeed, the particular fame of Ugarit owes to the discovery there of texts written in a previously unknown local script and language that have come to be known as “Ugaritic” (named after the kingdom where it served as the local vernacular). The texts in Ugaritic provide the oldest significant corpus discovered to date of texts in a local West Semitic language of the Levantine area. It was the linguistic and literary similarities with Biblical Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible that assured the fame of Ugarit in the beginning of the 20th century, but the study of Ugaritic has today moved beyond the frame of reference of biblical studies. Because the author of this bibliography is a philologist (and not an archaeologist or an art historian), the primary focus here will be on the texts, and because the author’s work is primarily on the texts in the Ugaritic language, it is the bibliography on those texts that will be covered most thoroughly.
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  4. General Overviews
  5. Though various individual scholars have published general studies of Ugarit, the most useful overviews for research purposes remain Courtois, et al. 1979 and Watson and Wyatt 1999. The first, though rapidly becoming outdated, is more detailed than the second and still retains its usefulness in many areas. As with most such collections, the quality varies from author to author, with the orientation of each chapter or subchapter depending on the interests of that particular author. Saadé’s firsthand knowledge of the region makes his overviews (Saadé 1979, Saadé 2011) especially valuable. Yon, et al. 1992 and van Soldt 1995 are briefer, but still useful, general overviews.
  6.  
  7. Courtois, Jacques-Claude, Mario Liverani, Daniel Arnaud,et al. “Ras Shamra (Ugarit ou Ougarit).” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 9. Edited by Henri Cazelles and André Feuillet, cols. 1123–1466. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1979.
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  10.  
  11. Very detailed coverage of the archaeology and history of Ras Shamra, of the Ugaritic textual materials, and of connections with the Hebrew Bible. Perhaps most influential of these contributions has been Mario Liverani’s reconstruction of Ugaritic socioeconomic history, based on a “two-sector” model (see Socioeconomic History).
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  15.  
  16. Saadé, Gabriel. Ougarit: Métropole cananéenne. Beirut, Lebanon: Imprimerie Catholique, 1979.
  17.  
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  19.  
  20. An account by a local specialist of the discovery of Ugarit at Ras Shamra and the excavations, and an overview of the archaeological and epigraphic discoveries. Contains the most detailed data available on the personnel involved in each of the first thirty-seven campaigns (1929–1976), the specific dates of each campaign, and the areas excavated; there is a separate charting of all the soundings.
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  24.  
  25. Saadé, Gabriel. Ougarit et son royaume: Des origines à sa destruction. Edited by Marguerite Yon. Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 193. Beirut, Lebanon: Presses de l’Institut Français du Proche-Orient, 2011.
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  28.  
  29. Posthumous synthesis of the Latakia scholar’s research on ancient Ugarit, supplementing and updating Saadé 1979. Especially important is the final section, devoted to the kingdom’s countryside and its archaeological remains.
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  33.  
  34. van Soldt, Wilfred. “Ugarit: A Second Millennium Kingdom on the Mediterranean Coast.” In Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Vol. 2. Edited by Jack M. Sasson, 1255–1266. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1995.
  35.  
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  37.  
  38. Another brief but informed introduction to the kingdom and its history and literature.
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  42.  
  43. Watson, Wilfred G. E., and Nicolas Wyatt, eds. Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  44.  
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  46.  
  47. After an overview of the written sources and of the Ugaritic language, the various literary genres are covered, some attested primarily in Ugaritic, others more linguistically varied. Also includes a series of thematic chapters, dealing with such broad categories as economy, society, religion, and political history.
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  51.  
  52. Yon, Marguerite, Dennis Pardee, and Pierre Bordreuil. “Ugarit.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 6. Edited by David Noel Freedman, 695–721. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
  53.  
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  55.  
  56. A brief but well-informed presentation of the kingdom of Ugarit, by the excavator (from 1978–1999) and two members of the epigraphic team.
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  60.  
  61. Major Publication Series
  62. Over its more than eighty-year history, the Mission de Ras Shamra has sponsored four series for the official publication of the artifacts and texts discovered at the site: Mission de Ras Shamra (MRS), Ugaritica (Ug), Palais Royal d’Ugarit (PRU), and Ras Shamra-Ougarit (RSO or RSOu); the first three series were launched by the first excavator, Claude François-Armand Schaeffer(-Forrer), who directed the first thirty-one campaigns from 1929 until 1969, and the last series was launched by Marguerite Yon, director from 1978 to 1999. The most important periodical devoted to Ugarit is Ugarit-Forschungen (cited under Bibliographical Orientation), published annually since 1969.
  63.  
  64. Mission de Ras Shamra
  65. The publication series Mission de Ras Shamra was launched by Claude Schaeffer in the 1930s, intended for “definitive publications.” This series title was not used in an exclusive way, however: seven of the Mission de Ras Shamra volumes also bear a number in the Ugaritica series (see Ugaritica), and five others in the Palais Royal d’Ugarit series (see Palais Royal d’Ugarit). Finally, the remaining four volumes (all of which pertain specifically to publication of the texts in alphabetic cuneiform script [see Writing System] discovered prior to World War II) also bear numbers in the series Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique (BAH), sponsored by the French archaeological authority in Beirut. Of these, Virolleaud’s three volumes (Virolleaud 1936a, Virolleaud 1936b, Virolleaud 1938) contain the first publications of several tablets from the Major Ugaritic Myths and Legends; Herdner 1963 remains immensely useful, especially for epigraphic purposes.
  66.  
  67. Herdner, Andrée. Corpus des tablettes en cunéiformes alphabétiques découvertes à Ras Shamra-Ugarit de 1929 à 1939. Mission de Ras Shamra 10, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 79. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1963.
  68.  
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  70.  
  71. For Ugaritic epigraphy, this is the most important publication and remains the standard reference for those alphabetic texts recovered prior to World War II. Published in two volumes (text and copies/photographs). See Epigraphy.
  72.  
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  75.  
  76. Virolleaud, Charles. La légende phénicienne de Danel, texte cunéiforme alphabétique. Mission de Ras Shamra 1, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 21. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1936a.
  77.  
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  79.  
  80. The editio princeps of what turned out to be the third and the first tablets of the ʾAqhatu cycle (see Major Ugaritic Myths and Legends).
  81.  
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  84.  
  85. Virolleaud, Charles. La légende de Kéret, roi des Sidoniens. Mission de Ras Shamra 2, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 22. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1936b.
  86.  
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  88.  
  89. The editio princeps of the first tablet of the Kirta cycle (see Major Ugaritic Myths and Legends).
  90.  
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  92.  
  93.  
  94. Virolleaud, Charles. La déesse ʿAnat: Poème de Ras Shamra. Mission de Ras Shamra 4, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 28. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1938.
  95.  
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  97.  
  98. The editio princeps of what most scholars today identify as the third tablet of the Baʿlu cycle (see Ugaritic Texts).
  99.  
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  101.  
  102.  
  103. Ugaritica
  104. The Ugaritica series, published in seven volumes under the direction of Claude Schaeffer from 1939 to 1978, contains both archaeological and epigraphic publications and studies. Schaeffer 1939, Schaeffer 1949, and Schaeffer 1962, for example, are primarily devoted to archaeological matters, while Schaeffer 1956, Courtois 1968, Courtois 1969, and Schaeffer de Chalon and Schaeffer-Boehling 1978 contain important epigraphic publications. Most of the Ugaritica volumes were collectively authored, but Schaeffer’s own writings are prominently featured throughout.
  105.  
  106. Courtois, Jacques-Claude, ed. Ugaritica V: Nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des archives et bibliothèques privées d’Ugarit, Commentaires des textes historiques, première partie. Mission de Ras Shamra 16, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 80. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1968.
  107.  
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  109.  
  110. Collectively authored volume containing the editio princeps of several important text groups, including the Akkadian texts from the residential quarter by Jean Nougayrol (see Akkadian Texts from Ugarit), Hurrian and Hittite texts by Emmanuel Laroche (see Hurrian and Hittite), and an important group of Ugaritic literary texts by Charles Virolleaud (see Other Ugaritic Mythological Texts).
  111.  
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  113.  
  114.  
  115. Courtois, Jacques-Claude, ed. Ugaritica VI: Publié à l’occasion de la XXXe campagne de fouilles à Ras Shamra (1968) sous la direction de Claude F. A. Schaeffer. Mission de Ras Shamra 17, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 81. Paris: Geuthner, 1969.
  116.  
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  118.  
  119. Collectively authored volume containing a wide variety of archaeological and epigraphic studies. Notable are the publication of liver models (some bearing Ugaritic inscriptions) along with the archaeological context in which they were found, and important studies of Akkadian incantations and Cypro-Minoan inscriptions from Ras Shamra.
  120.  
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  122.  
  123.  
  124. Schaeffer, Claude François-Armand. Ugaritica I: Études relatives aux découvertes de Ras Shamra. Mission de Ras Shamra 3, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 31. Paris: Geuthner, 1939.
  125.  
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  127.  
  128. Schaeffer here presents several of his own studies, deriving from the first ten years of excavations at Ras Shamra, devoted to the history of Ugarit, contacts between Ugarit and the Aegean world, and local Ugaritic material culture and iconography.
  129.  
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  131.  
  132.  
  133. Schaeffer, Claude François-Armand. Ugaritica II: Nouvelles études relatives aux découvertes de Ras Shamra. Mission de Ras Shamra 5, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 47. Paris: Geuthner, 1949.
  134.  
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  136.  
  137. Studies from the first twenty years of excavations at Ras Shamra, devoted to various aspects of Ugaritic material culture and iconography, with special attention given to ceramic finds, objects in gold and other metals, and the celebrated “Baal au foudre” stele.
  138.  
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  140.  
  141.  
  142. Schaeffer, Claude François-Armand, ed. Ugaritica III: Sceaux et cylindres hittites, épée gravée du cartouche de Mineptah, tablettes chypro-minoennes et autres découvertes nouvelles de Ras Shamra. Mission de Ras Shamra 8, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 64. Paris: Geuthner, 1956.
  143.  
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  145.  
  146. Collectively authored volume containing archaeological as well as epigraphic studies from the first generation of excavations at Ras Shamra. Topics addressed here include studies of the seals and seal impressions from Ras Shamra, of certain luxury items of Egyptian origin and bronze weapons, and of inscriptions in Egyptian hieroglyphs, “hieroglyphic Hittite” (i.e., Luwian), and the still-undeciphered Cypro-Minoan script.
  147.  
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  149.  
  150.  
  151. Schaeffer, Claude François-Armand, ed. Ugaritica IV: Découvertes des XVIIIe et XIXe campagnes 1954–1955, Fondements préhistoriques d’Ugarit et nouveaux sondages, Études anthropologiques, Poteries grecques et monnaies islamiques de Ras Shamra et environs. Mission de Ras Shamra 15, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 74. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1962.
  152.  
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  154.  
  155. Collectively authored volume containing various archaeological studies. These include reports on the excavation of the royal palace; presentations of the material deriving from periods earlier than and during the Late Bronze Age, based on various soundings (including prehistoric phases); and studies of physical anthropological evidence.
  156.  
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  158.  
  159.  
  160. Schaeffer de Chalon, Irène, and Antoinette Schaeffer-Boehling, eds. Ugaritica VII. Mission de Ras Shamra 18, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 99. Paris: Geuthner, 1978.
  161.  
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  163.  
  164. The final volume in the Ugaritica series, containing a wide variety of archaeological and epigraphic studies, including the publication (editio princeps) of several Ugaritic texts by Andrée Herdner, Manfried Dietrich and Oswald Loretz, André Caquot, and Josef Milik.
  165.  
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  167.  
  168.  
  169. Palais Royal d’Ugarit
  170. Like the Ugaritica series (see Ugaritica), the Palais Royal d’Ugarit series was initially intended to include both archaeological and epigraphic publication and analysis. The planned first and seventh volumes, however, devoted to the archaeology of the main palace and the ivories discovered there, never appeared. Thus, the two volumes explicitly earmarked by the excavator for the final publication of a discrete archaeological sector never saw the light of day (an eighth volume that was to contain the editor’s commentaries on the texts discovered in the main palace was also announced but never appeared). Each of the five volumes that were published was written by a single author (in contrast to the Ugaritic series); all are devoted to the publication (editio princeps) of texts, both Akkadian (see Nougayrol 1955, Nougayrol 1956, and Nougayrol 1970) and local Ugaritic (see Virolleaud 1957 and Virolleaud 1965). Texts published in this series are often cited in the scholarly literature with the abbreviation “PRU” (e.g., “PRU V 1” refers to the first text published in PRU Vol. 5), though there are some exceptions (in which, e.g., either the “MRS” number is used, as in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, or the excavation number is used). Text citation is further complicated by the fact that the PRU Volumes 3 and 4 do not contain a sequential numbering of the texts published therein; consequently, those texts are generally cited by page number (e.g., “PRU IV, p. 201”).
  171.  
  172. Nougayrol, Jean. Palais Royal d’Ugarit. Vol. 3, Textes accadiens et hourrites des archives est, ouest et centrales. Mission de Ras Shamra 6. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1955.
  173.  
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  175.  
  176. Publication (editio princeps) in two volumes (text and facsimiles) of the Akkadian and Hurrian texts from three discrete archives of the royal palace. The Akkadian texts consist essentially of juridical contracts but also include several administrative texts and a few school exercises.
  177.  
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  179.  
  180.  
  181. Nougayrol, Jean. Palais Royal d’Ugarit. Vol. 4, Textes accadiens des archives sud (Archives internationales). Mission de Ras Shamra 9. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1956.
  182.  
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  184.  
  185. Publication (editio princeps) in two volumes (text and facsimiles) of the Akkadian texts from the southern archives of the royal palace, devoted essentially to juridical and epistolary documents concerning international diplomatic matters.
  186.  
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  188.  
  189.  
  190. Nougayrol, Jean. Palais Royal d’Ugarit. Vol. 6, Textes en cunéiformes babyloniens des archives du grand palais et du palais sud d’Ugarit. Mission de Ras Shamra 12. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1970.
  191.  
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  193.  
  194. Publication (editio princeps) of Akkadian texts, mostly from the “Southern Palace” (now often referred to as the House of Yabninu), containing mainly administrative, juridical, and epistolary documents.
  195.  
  196. Find this resource:
  197.  
  198.  
  199. Virolleaud, Charles. Palais Royal d’Ugarit. Vol. 2, Textes en cunéiformes alphabétiques des archives est, ouest et centrales. Mission de Ras Shamra 7. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1957.
  200.  
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  202.  
  203. The publication (editio princeps) of the Ugaritic texts from three discrete archives recovered from the royal palace, containing essentially administrative texts but also school exercises, letters, contracts, and a few mythological fragments.
  204.  
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  206.  
  207.  
  208. Virolleaud, Charles. Palais Royal d’Ugarit. Vol. 5, Textes en cunéiformes alphabétiques des archives sud, sud-ouest et du petit palais. Mission de Ras Shamra 11. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1965.
  209.  
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  211.  
  212. Publication (editio princeps) of the Ugaritic texts from three more discrete archives of the royal palace, containing a wide variety of administrative and epistolary texts, along with a few mythological and juridical texts; contains the so-called tablettes du four.
  213.  
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  215.  
  216.  
  217. Ras Shamra-Ougarit
  218. Ras Shamra-Ougarit (RSO, or sometimes RSOu) is the most recent publication series of the mission, launched by Marguerite Yon (director from 1978 to 1999) and continued by both of her successors, Yves Calvet (director of the French mission from 1999 to 2009) and Valérie Matoïan in 2009. Thus far, the published volumes have included collectively authored as well as single-author volumes. The contents vary considerably: Volumes 1 and 10 (by Olivier Callot) are devoted to the domestic architecture of Ugarit (see Architectural Sources and Urban Planning); Volumes 2, 4, and 12 (by Dennis Pardee) contain the full reedition of certain specific genres of Ugaritic texts (see Epigraphy); Volume 3 (Yon 1987) contains the excavation report of an important area; Volume 5 (Bordreuil and Pardee 1989, Cunchillos 1990) contains essential tools for Ugaritic scholarship; Volumes 6, 13, 15, and 16 are devoted to various aspects of material culture of ancient Ugarit (see Material Sources); Volumes 7 and 14 (Bordreuil 1991, Yon and Arnaud 2001) contain important text publications (editio princeps); Volume 8 (Contenson 1992) surveys the site’s prehistory; Volume 9 contains the publication of a large number of cylinder seals (see Iconographic Sources); and Volumes 11 and 14 (Yon, et al. 1995; Matoïan 2008) contain conference proceedings.
  219.  
  220. Bordreuil, Pierre, ed. Une bibliothèque au sud de la ville: Les textes de la 34e campagne (1973). Ras Shamra-Ougarit 7. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1991.
  221.  
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  223.  
  224. Publication (editio princeps) of syllabically and alphabetically written texts discovered during a salvage operation (1973) in the area that came to be known as the “House of Urtenu.” The texts in Mesopotamian (logosyllabic) cuneiform were published by Daniel Arnaud, Béatrice André-Salvini, Sylvie Lackenbacher, and Florence Malbran-Labat; those in alphabetic Ugaritic, by Pierre Bordreuil and Dennis Pardee.
  225.  
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  227.  
  228.  
  229. Bordreuil, Pierre, and Dennis Pardee. La trouvaille épigraphique de l’Ougarit. Vol. 1, Concordance. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 5/1, Mémoire 86. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1989.
  230.  
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  232.  
  233. Generally referred to as “TEO,” a comprehensive listing, arranged by excavation number, of all inscribed objects discovered at Ras Shamra from 1929 through 1988, presented in the order of the campaigns (from the first to the forty-eighth), and at the site of Ras Ibn Hani from 1977 through 1987. The archaeologists of the Mission de Ras Shamra provided a plan of the area(s) excavated during each season.
  234.  
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  236.  
  237.  
  238. Contenson, Henri de. Préhistoire de Ras Shamra: Les sondages stratigraphiques de 1955 à 1976. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 8. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1992.
  239.  
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  241.  
  242. Final archaeological report on the deep soundings that established the prehistoric sequences on the tell.
  243.  
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  245.  
  246.  
  247. Cunchillos, Jesús-Luis. La trouvaille épigraphique de l’Ougarit. Vol. 2, Bibliographie. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 5/2, Mémoire 87. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1990.
  248.  
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  250.  
  251. Summary bibliography on textual finds (1929–1986).
  252.  
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  254.  
  255.  
  256. Matoïan, Valérie, ed. Le mobilier du palais royal d’Ougarit. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 17. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2008.
  257.  
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  259.  
  260. Collective volume containing the published proceedings of an international conference devoted to various archaeological and epigraphic studies involving the objects recovered from the royal palace. Of special interest are the discussions of the date of the tablets found in the so-called tablet oven and elsewhere in the main palace.
  261.  
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  263.  
  264.  
  265. Yon, Marguerite, ed. Le centre de la ville, 38e–44e campagnes (1978–1984). Ras Shamra-Ougarit 3, Mémoire 72. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1987.
  266.  
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  268.  
  269. Detailed report on the first area dug by the French team under Marguerite Yon’s direction (see Archaeological Research).
  270.  
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  272.  
  273.  
  274. Yon, Marguerite, and Daniel Arnaud, eds. Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  275.  
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  277.  
  278. Various archaeological and textual studies. The latter include a (re)edition of the Ugaritic inscriptions on ivories, the edition of the single Phoenician inscription found to date at Ras Shamra, and the edition of the syllabically and alphabetically inscribed texts excavated in the House of Urtenu from 1986 through 1992.
  279.  
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  281.  
  282.  
  283. Yon, Marguerite, Maurice Sznycer, and Pierre Bordreuil, eds. Le pays d’Ougarit autour de 1200 av. J.-C, histoire et archeology: Actes du colloque international (Paris, 28 juin–1er juillet 1993). Ras Shamra-Ougarit 11. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1995.
  284.  
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  286.  
  287. Collective volume containing the published proceedings of an international conference, devoted to various archaeological and epigraphic studies.
  288.  
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  290.  
  291.  
  292. Bibliographical Orientation
  293. Several convenient bibliographical aids exist for Ugaritic studies. These include the annual periodical Ugarit-Forschungen (cited under Specialized Periodicals, devoted mainly (though not exclusively) to Ugaritic studies; a useful history of the discipline by Mark Smith (Smith 2001, cited under History of Ugaritology); and various comprehensive bibliographies.
  294.  
  295. Specialized Periodicals
  296. While many periodicals concerned with ancient Near Eastern studies, as broadly conceived, contain occasional and punctual articles on Ugarit, one in particular, Ugarit-Forschungen (generally abbreviated UF), is concerned mainly with Ugaritic and Ugaritological studies. The full list of editors of UF has varied over the years, but the well-known Ugaritologists Manfried Dietrich and Oswald Loretz have been the constants since its inception in 1969. For bibliographical purposes, the indexes at the end of each volume are useful.
  297.  
  298. Ugarit-Forschungen: Internationales Jahrbuch für die Altertumskunde Syrien-Palästinas.
  299.  
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  301.  
  302. Appears annually. Volumes 1–27 (1969–1995) were published by Butzon & Bercker (Kevelaer, Germany) and Neukirchener Verlag (Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany); Volumes 28–41 (1996–2009), by the Ugarit-Verlag (Münster, Germany). As the full title indicates, this journal is open to studies of all aspects of the ancient Levant, and the proportion of articles devoted purely to Ugaritic matters varies from volume to volume.
  303.  
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  305.  
  306.  
  307. History of Ugaritology
  308. One may catch glimpses or even isolated chapters about the history of Ugaritology in various publications, but the most useful and comprehensively structured published history of the discipline is Smith 2001.
  309.  
  310. Smith, Mark S. Untold Stories: The Bible and Ugaritic Studies in the Twentieth Century. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2001.
  311.  
  312. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  313.  
  314. Contains many details on the professional and private lives of past Ugaritologists and their students. The prominent position of “Bible” in the subtitle is due to the origin and development of Ugaritic studies, of which the biblical connection is only a part, albeit an important one, particularly during the first half-century, and perhaps also in view of the book’s sales.
  315.  
  316. Find this resource:
  317.  
  318.  
  319. Comprehensive Bibliographies
  320. The bibliographical compendia assembled and published by Manfried Dietrich, Oswald Loretz, and various colleagues of theirs now number six volumes (Dietrich, et al. 1973; Dietrich, et al. 1986; and Dietrich and Loretz 1996), with entries covering the first six decades of Ugaritological research, from 1928 through 1988.
  321.  
  322. Dietrich, Manfried, and Oswald Loretz. Analytic Ugaritic Bibliography. Vol. 6, 1972–1988. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 20/6. Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany: Neukirchener Verlag, 1996.
  323.  
  324. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  325.  
  326. The sixth volume covers the period from 1972 through 1988; it also contains a much more complex set of indexes, covering subjects, languages, words, authors, and other categories. This last volume is thus by far the most useful as a research tool.
  327.  
  328. Find this resource:
  329.  
  330.  
  331. Dietrich, Manfried, Oswald Loretz, Paul-Richard Berger, and Joaquín Sanmartín. Ugarit-Bibliographie. Vols. 1–4. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 20/1–4. Kevelaer, Germany: Butzon & Bercker, 1973.
  332.  
  333. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  334.  
  335. The first three volumes consist entirely of entries arranged alphabetically by author for each year (Vol. 1: 1928–1950, Vol. 2: 1950–1959, and Vol. 3: 1959–1966). The fourth volume contains alphabetically arranged indexes of author names, titles of works, and bibliographical sources for the three preceding volumes. There are no subject or word indexes.
  336.  
  337. Find this resource:
  338.  
  339.  
  340. Dietrich, Manfried, Oswald Loretz, and W. C. Delsman. Ugarit-Bibliographie. Vol. 5, 1967–1971: Titel, Nachträge, Register. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 20/5. Kevelaer, Germany: Butzon & Bercker, 1986.
  341.  
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343.  
  344. This fifth volume covers the period from 1967 through 1971; it contains the same arrangement of entries with the same types of indexes as arranged for the previous four volumes (see Dietrich, et al. 1973), and no subject or word indexes.
  345.  
  346. Find this resource:
  347.  
  348.  
  349. Material Sources
  350. Except for a decade-long interruption caused by World War II and for occasional study years, the site of Ras Shamra has been continuously excavated from 1929 to the present, first by the French Mission de Ras Shamra, and since 2000 by a joint Syro-French mission. Early excavations at the port site of Minet el-Beida were pursued only through the seventh campaign in 1935, and that site has since become a military port with highly restricted access. The nearby site of Ras Ibn Hani has been excavated by a Syro-French team since the 1970s. From a purely archaeological perspective, Ras Shamra has proven to be one of the richest sources for the study of the material culture of the ancient Near East. Its eight-millennium history and the generally good state of preservation of its remains, particularly those of the Late Bronze II period, have provided a large and diverse body of source material. That being said, however, the concentration of archaeological work has been on the Late Bronze period, which is practical because the site was virtually abandoned during the Early Iron Age, with the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman villages occupying only small areas of the mound. Data for the Middle Bronze Age come primarily from the early years of excavation, when the deeper levels were penetrated during the exploration of the acropolis, and from more-recent probes and deep soundings. All preceding eras are known from deep soundings, particularly one (which was pushed down to bedrock) that was carried out by Henri de Contenson on the western side of the acropolis. A comprehensive publication of the archaeological data has never been attempted; indeed, such a publication is no longer possible because most of the records of the early seasons of excavation have disappeared. Nevertheless, preliminary reports for most seasons have been published (for the most part in the journal Syria), as have various more-comprehensive studies (see Mission de Ras Shamra).
  351.  
  352. Archaeological Research
  353. The best available general survey of the archaeological work conducted at Ras Shamra is Yon 2006. Punctual preliminary reports (usually published on a season-by-season basis) may be found in the journal Syria (the most recent such report being al-Maqdissi, et al. 2010). A preliminary synthesis of the nearly two decades of archaeological research conducted at the nearby site of Ras Ibn Hani may be found in Bounni, et al. 1998.
  354.  
  355. al-Maqdissi, Michel, Yves Calvet, Valérie Matoïan, et al. “Rapport préliminaire sur les activités de la mission syro-française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit en 2007 et 2008 (67e et 68e campagnes).” Syria 87 (2010): 21–51.
  356.  
  357. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  358.  
  359. A preliminary report on the excavations at Ras Shamra in 2007 and 2008.
  360.  
  361. Find this resource:
  362.  
  363.  
  364. Bounni, Adnan, Élisabeth Lagarce, and Jacques Lagarce. Ras Ibn Hani, I: Le Palais nord du Bronze recent, Fouilles 1979–1995, synthèse préliminaire. Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 151. Beirut, Lebanon: Institut Français d’Archéologie du Proche-Orient, 1998.
  365.  
  366. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367.  
  368. At the site of Ras Ibn Hani, located some five kilometers southwest of Ras Shamra, a palace constructed by the Ugaritic royal family in the Late Bronze Age has been excavated. More than 180 inscribed objects were found there, among them 154 Ugaritic texts and 17 Akkadian texts. This preliminary report contains the most complete presentation of the archaeological context of these discoveries.
  369.  
  370. Find this resource:
  371.  
  372.  
  373. Yon, Marguerite. The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006.
  374.  
  375. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  376.  
  377. Based on a French original (La cité d’Ougarit sur le tell de Ras Shamra, Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les civilisations, 1997) and updated through 2005, an excellent presentation of the archaeological site of Ras Shamra by the director of excavations from 1978 through 1999. History of excavations, detailed presentations of the various excavated areas, and representative sample of artifacts, illustrated by a site plan, detailed plans for each area, and abundant photographs.
  378.  
  379. Find this resource:
  380.  
  381.  
  382. Architectural Sources and Urban Planning
  383. The architect Olivier Callot has spent a good part of his career excavating, studying, and publishing the domestic and monumental architectural remains from ancient Ugarit. Two of his studies of domestic architecture (published in the Ras Shamra-Ougarit series) may serve as examples; see Callot 1983 and Callot 1994. Marchegay 2008 provides a treatment of the tombs of Ugarit. For research on the urban planning of Ugarit, a general presentation and further bibliography may be found in Yon 2008.
  384.  
  385. Callot, Olivier. Une maison à Ougarit: Étude d’architecture domestique. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 1, Mémoire 28. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1983.
  386.  
  387. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  388.  
  389. Detailed architectural description and reconstruction of a typical Ugaritic house. Based on the careful analysis of a previously excavated house. Such analyses are possible because stone was used extensively as a building material at Ugarit, particularly ashlar masonry for the lower courses of the house itself.
  390.  
  391. Find this resource:
  392.  
  393.  
  394. Callot, Olivier. La tranchée “Ville-Sud”: Études d’architecture domestique. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 10. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1994.
  395.  
  396. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  397.  
  398. An architectural study similar to Callot 1983, but this time taking on a previously excavated slice of the tell, which permitted Callot to isolate almost an entire insula of houses.
  399.  
  400. Find this resource:
  401.  
  402.  
  403. Marchegay, Sophie. “Les pratiques funéraires à Ougarit au IIe millénaire: Bilan et perspectives des recherches.” In Ougarit au Bronze moyen et au Bronze récent: Actes du Colloque international tenu à Lyon en novembre 2001, “Ougarit au IIe millénaire av. J.-C., état de recherches.” Edited by Yves Calvet and Marguerite Yon, 97–118. Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée 47. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2008.
  404.  
  405. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  406.  
  407. The author presents an overview of the funerary architecture of Ugarit, based on her 1999 Université de Lyon dissertation.
  408.  
  409. Find this resource:
  410.  
  411.  
  412. Yon, Marguerite. “Topographie régionale et topographie urbaine.” In Ougarit au Bronze moyen et au Bronze récent: Actes du Colloque international tenu à Lyon en novembre 2001, “Ougarit au IIe millénaire av. J.-C., état de recherches.” Edited by Yves Calvet and Marguerite Yon, 37–47. Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée 47. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2008.
  413.  
  414. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415.  
  416. Recent summary presentation of the topographical organization of the city of Ugarit in the Late Bronze Age, with special attention paid to the various axes of circulation that may be inferred from the overall urban plan as presently known.
  417.  
  418. Find this resource:
  419.  
  420.  
  421. Artifactual Sources
  422. The rich inventory of material finds recovered over the course of more than eighty years of excavations at the site includes luxury items as well as mundane objects from daily life, both imported and locally produced goods. The most common categories include artifacts in stone (Yon 1991), metal (Dardaillon’s study in Calvet and Yon 2008), bone and ivory (Gachet-Bizollon 2007), ceramics (Yon, et al. 2000; Monchambert 2004; Monchambert’s study in Calvet and Yon 2008), and vitreous material (Matoïan and Bouquillon 2006), as well as floral (Asensi Amorós 2008) and faunal remains (Vila’s study in Calvet and Yon 2008). For the material from the royal palace in particular, see Matoïan 2008 (cited in Ras Shamra-Ougarit). For informed and well-illustrated presentations of a representative sample of the material artifacts from Ras Shamra, see Yon 2006 (cited in Archaeological Research), as well as Calvet and Galliano 2004. The studies listed in this section contain further bibliographies.
  423.  
  424. Asensi Amorós, Victoria. “Identification d’essences de bois retrouvés dans le Palais royal d’Ougarit.” In L’Orient des palais: Le palais royal d’Ougarit au Bronze récent. Edited by Michel al-Maqdissi and Valérie Matoïan, 73–77. Documents d’Archéologie Syrienne 15. Damascus, Syria: Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées, 2008.
  425.  
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427.  
  428. Representative archaeobotanical study of the (charred) plant remains recovered during the excavations of the royal palace of Ugarit.
  429.  
  430. Find this resource:
  431.  
  432.  
  433. Calvet, Yves, and Geneviève Galliano, eds. Aux origines de l’alphabet: Le royaume d’Ougarit, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, 21 octobre 2004–17 janvier 2005. Lyon, France: Musée des Beaux-Arts, 2004.
  434.  
  435. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  436.  
  437. Catalogue of an exhibition on Ugarit, with emphasis on the forms and uses of writing. Numerous high-quality photographs and informed brief presentations of a selection both of inscribed and uninscribed objects.
  438.  
  439. Find this resource:
  440.  
  441.  
  442. Calvet, Yves, and Marguerite Yon, eds. Ougarit au Bronze moyen et au Bronze récent: Actes du Colloque international tenu à Lyon en novembre 2001, “Ougarit au IIe millénaire av. J.-C., état de recherches.” Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée 47. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2008.
  443.  
  444. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  445.  
  446. Collectively authored volume presenting the “state of the art” (as of 2001) of various archaeological, art-historical, and epigraphic studies. Of particular interest under this particular rubric are the studies of ceramics (Monchambert), objects in metal (Dardaillon), and faunal remains (Vila).
  447.  
  448. Find this resource:
  449.  
  450.  
  451. Gachet-Bizollon, Jacqueline. Les ivoires d’Ougarit et l’art des ivoiriers du Levant au Bronze Récent. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 16. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2007.
  452.  
  453. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  454.  
  455. Comprehensive study of the corpus of ivories discovered at Ugarit, including the famous decorations of the king’s bedstead. Contains copies of the ivories inscribed with Ugaritic texts.
  456.  
  457. Find this resource:
  458.  
  459.  
  460. Matoïan, Valérie, and Anne Bouquillon. Les matières bleues de l’antique cité d’Ougarit. Documents d’Achéologie Syrienne 9. Damascus, Syria: Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées, 2006.
  461.  
  462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463.  
  464. Presentation of the corpus of vitreous material from Ras Shamra and its modern study.
  465.  
  466. Find this resource:
  467.  
  468.  
  469. Monchambert, Jean-Yves. La céramique d’Ougarit: Campagnes de fouilles 1975 et 1976. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 15: Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2004.
  470.  
  471. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  472.  
  473. Detailed typological study of the ceramic finds (both imported and locally manufactured) recovered during Jean Margueron’s excavations of an elite residence at Ras Shamra, by one of the excavators.
  474.  
  475. Find this resource:
  476.  
  477.  
  478. Yon, Marguerite, ed. Arts et industries de la pierre. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 6. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1991.
  479.  
  480. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  481.  
  482. Collectively authored volume containing archaeological, art-historical, and petrological analyses of stone artifacts from the Ras Shamra excavations, including inscribed objects.
  483.  
  484. Find this resource:
  485.  
  486.  
  487. Yon, Marguerite, Vassos Karageorghis, and Nicolle Hirschfeld. Céramiques mycéniennes d’Ougarit. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 13. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2000.
  488.  
  489. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  490.  
  491. Collectively authored volume treating the important corpus of imported Mycenaean pottery found at the site.
  492.  
  493. Find this resource:
  494.  
  495.  
  496. Iconographic Sources
  497. Much information can be gleaned from the systematic study of ancient images and figural representations to be found on various types of material media and supports. Among the most-common and best-studied groups in this category is the field of “glyptics” (the study of ancient seals and seal impressions), for which the main data were published in Schaeffer-Forrer 1983 and in Amiet 1992. For treatments of the iconographic elements found on other types of artifacts (metal, ivory, ceramic, etc.), see the references listed in the section Artifactual Sources and the general overview in Cornelius 1999.
  498.  
  499. Amiet, Pierre. Sceaux-cylindres en hématite et pierres diverses. Corpus des cylindres de Ras Shamra-Ougarit 2, Ras Shamra-Ougarit 9. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1992.
  500.  
  501. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  502.  
  503. Part 2 of the study of this corpus (see Schaeffer-Forrer 1983), prepared by Amiet.
  504.  
  505. Find this resource:
  506.  
  507.  
  508. Cornelius, Izak. “The Iconography of Ugarit.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 586–602. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  509.  
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511.  
  512. A useful overview of the various iconographic data and their analysis.
  513.  
  514. Find this resource:
  515.  
  516.  
  517. Schaeffer-Forrer, Claude F.-A. Corpus des cylindres-sceaux de Ras Shara-Ugarit et d’Enkomi-Alasia. Synthèse 13. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1983.
  518.  
  519. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  520.  
  521. Part 1 of the corpus of cylinder seals from Ugarit (see Amiet 1992), prepared by Schaeffer.
  522.  
  523. Find this resource:
  524.  
  525.  
  526. Archives and the Archaeological Contexts of Textual Finds
  527. With regard to textual finds, the most important groups of texts (or “archives”) were recovered from the acropolis, the main palace, and the House of Urtenu (the most recent of the major discoveries), though many such objects have been found at various other spots across the tell (for a complete listing through 1988 of inscribed objects in their archaeological context, see Bordreuil and Pardee 1989, cited under Ras Shamra-Ougarit—to the extent possible, the archaeological find spot is indicated for each object in the catalogue). Van Soldt 1991, Lackenbacher 2001, and Lackenbacher 2008 are the standard studies of the contents and general morphology of the various archives from the royal palace as well as from domestic contexts. For overviews of the textual finds from the House of Urtenu in particular, see Bordreuil and Pardee 1999–2000 and Malbran-Labat 2008, and for the archaeological context of the texts from this residence, see, provisionally, Lombard 1995.
  528.  
  529. Bordreuil, Pierre, and Dennis Pardee. “Catalogue raisonné des textes ougaritiques de la Maison d’Ourtenou.” Aula Orientalis 17–18 (1999–2000): 23–38.
  530.  
  531. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  532.  
  533. Catalogue of the Ugaritic texts discovered in the House of Urtenu through the 1996 season of excavations.
  534.  
  535. Find this resource:
  536.  
  537.  
  538. Lackenbacher, Sylvie. “Les archives palatiales d’Ugarit.” Ktema 26 (2001): 79–86.
  539.  
  540. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  541.  
  542. Detailed study of the morphology of the palatial archives in particular.
  543.  
  544. Find this resource:
  545.  
  546.  
  547. Lackenbacher, Sylvie. “Quelques remarques à propos des archives du palais royal d’Ougarit.” In Le mobilier du palais royal d’Ougarit. Edited by Valérie Matoïan, 281–290. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 17. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2008.
  548.  
  549. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  550.  
  551. A further study of the palatial archives, with special attention to their respective functions.
  552.  
  553. Find this resource:
  554.  
  555.  
  556. Lombard, Pierre. “Contexte archéologique et données épigraphiques: Quelques réflexions sur l’interprétation du gisement de 1973–1992.” In Le pays d’Ougarit autour de 1200 av. J.-C, histoire et archeology, Actes du colloque international (Paris, 28 juin-1er juillet 1993). Edited by Marguerite Yon, Maurice Sznycer, and Pierre Bordreuil, 227–237. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 11. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1995.
  557.  
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559.  
  560. Though now dated, still the most detailed presentation of the archaeological context of the texts from the House of Urtenu.
  561.  
  562. Find this resource:
  563.  
  564.  
  565. Malbran-Labat, Florence. “Catalogue raisonné des textes akkadiens de la Maison d’Urtēnu.” In D’Ougarit à Jérusalem: Recueil d’études épigraphiques et archéologiques offerts à Pierre Bordreuil. Edited by Carole Roche, 21–38. Orient et Méditerranée 2. Paris: De Boccard, 2008.
  566.  
  567. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  568.  
  569. Complete catalogue of the Akkadian texts discovered in the House of Urtenu through the 2002 season of excavations.
  570.  
  571. Find this resource:
  572.  
  573.  
  574. van Soldt, Wilfred Hugo. “The Archaeological Context of the Tablets.” In Studies in the Akkadian of Ugarit: Dating and Grammar. By Wilfred Hugo van Soldt, 47–231. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 40. Kevelaer, Germany: Butzon & Bercker, 1991.
  575.  
  576. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  577.  
  578. As is clear from the title of the book in which this study appears, this is not primarily an archaeological work. It is, however, the most thorough study of the findspots of inscribed objects from Ras Shamra, based on the inventories of the Mission de Ras Shamra and published excavation reports.
  579.  
  580. Find this resource:
  581.  
  582.  
  583. Textual Sources
  584. The fame of Ugarit among the broader scholarly public is due largely to the importance of the texts found there, in particular those written in the local cuneiform language and script (see Writing System), and, of these, especially the myths (see Major Ugaritic Myths and Legends). Yet, the preponderance of attention paid in the literature specifically to the Ugaritic corpus is often disproportional to that given to the other epigraphic traditions recovered from the site. Indeed, the epigraphic yield from ancient Ugarit is remarkably diverse (see Graphic Diversity and Linguistic Diversity) and, indeed, complex. In addition to the works already listed under General Overviews, several other publications exist that are specifically intended to be broad presentations of the various epigraphic sources from Ras Shamra. Of these, the most important by far for research purposes is the La trouvaille épigraphique de l’Ougarit or “TEO” (Bordreuil and Pardee 1989, cited under Ras Shamra-Ougarit), containing a complete inventory of all epigraphic finds from Ras Shamra and Ras Ibn Hani from 1929 up to and including the 1986 season of excavations. Other, more condensed overviews of the epigraphic corpus that may be consulted with profit include Pardee 1997 and various notices in Calvet and Galliano 2004 (cited in Artifactual Sources).
  585.  
  586. Pardee, Dennis. “Ugarit—Inscriptions.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Vol. 5. Edited by Eric M. Meyers, 264–266. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
  587.  
  588. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  589.  
  590. Overview of the scripts and languages in use at Ugarit and of their distribution according to functional and literary categories.
  591.  
  592. Find this resource:
  593.  
  594.  
  595. Chronological Distribution
  596. In chronological terms, the vast majority—indeed, virtually all—of the epigraphic remains recovered from Ras Shamra date to the Late Bronze Age, and in particular to a period of 160 years from the second half of the 14th century through the first decades of the 12th century BCE. In general, very few of the texts are anterior or posterior to this period (see also the summary presentations of sources in the studies cited under Political History). Such “exceptions” include, on the one hand, a small number of inscriptions in Mesopotamian cuneiform (Arnaud 1997) and hieroglyphic Egyptian (see Lagarce 2008, cited in Hieroglyphic Egyptian) from the preceding Middle Bronze period, and, on the other, a short Sumerian incantation (Arnaud 1999–2000) and a single Phoenician inscription in linear alphabetic script (Segert 2001) to be dated to the 1st millennium BCE.
  597.  
  598. Arnaud, Daniel. “Prolégomènes à la rédaction d’une histoire d’Ougarit I: Ougarit avant Suppiluliuma Ier.” Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 39 (1997): 151–161.
  599.  
  600. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  601.  
  602. Review, with philological and historical commentary, of the documents and inscriptions in Mesopotamian cuneiform script from Ras Shamra that date prior to the 14th century BCE.
  603.  
  604. Find this resource:
  605.  
  606.  
  607. Arnaud, Daniel. “Religion assyro-babylonienne.” Annuaire de l’École Pratique des Hautes Études, Section des sciences religieuses 108 (1999–2000): 171–174.
  608.  
  609. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  610.  
  611. Comments on a Sumerian incantation found at Ras Shamra that probably dates to the mid- to late 1st millennium BCE.
  612.  
  613. Find this resource:
  614.  
  615.  
  616. Segert, Stanislav. “Une inscription phénicienne trouvée à Ras Shamra (fouille 1963).” In Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Edited by Marguerite Yon and Daniel Arnaud, 231–234. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  617.  
  618. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619.  
  620. Publication of a Phoenician inscription on a jar from the 5th century BCE, found at Ras Shamra.
  621.  
  622. Find this resource:
  623.  
  624.  
  625. Graphic Diversity
  626. From the Late Bronze Age levels alone, inscriptions in no fewer than five different writing systems have been found at Ras Shamra (syllabic cuneiform, alphabetic cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphic, Luwian hieroglyphic, and Cypro-Minoan). For an overview of the various writing systems in use in the Ancient Near East, see Daniels 1997. These systems, in turn, are used at Ugarit to note as many as eight different languages (Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Hurrian, Luwian, Ugaritic, Egyptian, and the as-yet-unidentified language written with Cypro-Minoan characters; see also Linguistic Diversity). Such rich diversity no doubt reflects the cosmopolitan nature of the city, where peoples from various cultural areas of the surrounding Mediterranean (Egypt, the Aegean, Anatolia) and Mesopotamian regions were long in contact. It is important, however, to make a distinction, on purely graphic criteria, between those textual sources that are written with cuneiform signs (of one form or another) and those that are not. The former (the cuneiform corpora) are far more numerous and historically important and therefore are treated in greater detail in the following sections. The latter, however, are more limited in number and importance, and are less representative of the written traditions of Ugarit itself. These three noncuneiform corpora include texts and inscriptions in Hieroglyphic Egyptian, Hieroglyphic Luwian, and Cypro-Minoan.
  627.  
  628. Daniels, Peter T. “Writing and Writing Systems.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Vol. 5. Edited by Eric M. Meyers, 352–358. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
  629.  
  630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  631.  
  632. A useful and well-documented overview of the graphic diversity in the Ancient Near East, placed in the broader context of the history of writing.
  633.  
  634. Find this resource:
  635.  
  636.  
  637. Hieroglyphic Egyptian
  638. About one hundred texts and inscriptions in hieroglyphic Egyptian script have been discovered at Ugarit over the years; the date of the artifacts varies, ranging from the Middle Bronze Age through the end of the Late Bronze Age. Some of these texts have been published (see the script index in Bordreuil and Pardee 1989, cited under Ras Shamra-Ougarit, and then the corresponding catalogue entries), but a comprehensive corpus has never been put together. Bérénice Lagarce is currently working toward this; see Lagarce 2008 for the beginnings of the research. More recent investigators agree that these texts reveal various types of political outreach on the part of the Egyptians, as opposed to direct conquest or administrative control, and that the Egyptian motifs present on a vast number of uninscribed objects produced at Ugarit and elsewhere in the Levant reflect an “international style” rather than direct imitation by Ugaritic artists of Egyptian originals.
  639.  
  640. Lagarce, Bérénice. “Réexamen des monuments du Palais royal d’Ougarit inscrits en hiéroglyphes égyptiens conservés au Musée national de Damas.” In Le mobilier du palais royal d’Ougarit. Edited by Valérie Matoïan, 261–280. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 17. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2008.
  641.  
  642. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  643.  
  644. First fruits of research intended to produce a corpus of the Egyptian inscriptions from Ras Shamra. Those found in the main palace represent for the most part politically motivated gifts sent out to enhance Egyptian prestige.
  645.  
  646. Find this resource:
  647.  
  648.  
  649. Hieroglyphic Luwian
  650. Luwian is an Indo-European language of the Anatolian family, closely related to Hittite. Texts in Luwian are generally written in a locally developed Syro-Anatolian hieroglyphic writing system that used to be called “hieroglyphic Hittite” and is now generally called “hieroglyphic Luwian.” According to the TEO indexes (Bordreuil and Pardee 1989, cited under Ras Shamra-Ougarit), at least seven seals discovered at Ugarit bear legends in hieroglyphic Luwian, but by far the most important corpus from the site consists of the numerous inscriptions on seal impressions to be found on the tablets from Ugarit (described and illustrated in Schaeffer 1956 and edited in Laroche 1956). An actual seal matrix of one of the Hittite emperors was also found in the royal palace of Ugarit (see Güterbock 1956). Several of these artifacts are nicely illustrated in Calvet and Galliano 2004 (cited in Artifactual Sources). Considerable progress has been made in recent decades in the comprehension of this writing system (a landmark in the history of the discipline is Hawkins 2000; Melchert 2004 provides a useful overview).
  651.  
  652. Güterbock, Hans G. “L’inscription hiéroglyphique hittite sur la matrice du sceau de Mursili II provenant de Ras Shamra.” In Ugaritica III: Sceaux et cylindres hittites, épée gravée du cartouche de Mineptah, tablettes chypro-minoennes et autres découvertes nouvelles de Ras Shamra. Edited by Claude F.-A. Schaeffer, 161–163. Mission de Ras Shamra 8, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 64. Paris: Geuthner, 1956.
  653.  
  654. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  655.  
  656. Philological and historical commentary on the important Hittite imperial seal matrix (with inscriptions in hieroglyphic Luwian and in Mesopotamian cuneiform) found at Ras Shamra.
  657.  
  658. Find this resource:
  659.  
  660.  
  661. Hawkins, John David, comp. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. 3 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2000.
  662.  
  663. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  664.  
  665. The standard corpus for Luwian inscriptions.
  666.  
  667. Find this resource:
  668.  
  669.  
  670. Laroche, Emmanuel. “Documents hiéroglyphiques hittites provenant du palais d’Ugarit.” In Ugaritica III: Sceaux et cylindres hittites, épée gravée du cartouche de Mineptah, tablettes chypro-minoennes et autres découvertes nouvelles de Ras Shamra. Edited by Claude F.-A. Schaeffer, 97–160. Mission de Ras Shamra 8, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 64. Paris: Geuthner, 1956.
  671.  
  672. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  673.  
  674. Publication and philological analysis of the corpus of inscriptions in hieroglyphic Luwian, deriving from the seal impressions found on the tablets from Ras Shamra.
  675.  
  676. Find this resource:
  677.  
  678.  
  679. Melchert, H. Craig. “Luvian.” In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Edited by Roger D. Woodard, 576–584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  680.  
  681. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  682.  
  683. A convenient overview of the Luwian language.
  684.  
  685. Find this resource:
  686.  
  687.  
  688. Schaeffer, Claude F.-A. “Recueil des sceaux et cylindres hittites imprimés sur les tablettes des Archives Sud du Palais de Ras Shamra.” In Ugaritica III: Sceaux et cylindres hittites, épée gravée du cartouche de Mineptah, tablettes chypro-minoennes et autres découvertes nouvelles de Ras Shamra. Edited by Claude F.-A. Schaeffer, 1–86. Mission de Ras Shamra 8, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 64. Paris: Geuthner, 1956.
  689.  
  690. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  691.  
  692. Illustrated presentation and description of the seal impressions bearing inscriptions in hieroglyphic Luwian, found on the tablets recovered from the royal palace.
  693.  
  694. Find this resource:
  695.  
  696.  
  697. Cypro-Minoan
  698. The linear syllabic writing system of Aegean origin known as “Cypro-Minoan” (the standard reference for this corpus is Olivier 2007) is not only attested by a few hundred documents from sites in Cyprus but also by a handful of inscribed objects found at Ras Shamra. Most of these were published by Olivier Masson (Masson 1956; see also the illustrations in Schaeffer 1956). Despite several valiant attempts (among which Masson 1974 and Hiller 1985 have been particularly influential), however, there is a fairly general consensus among specialists that the writing system itself is still largely undeciphered; the underlying language therefore remains unknown. Woodard 2004 provides a brief recent overview. See also the bibliography in Yon 2008.
  699.  
  700. Hiller, Stefan. “Die kyprominoischen Schriftsysteme.” In Forschungsbericht. Edited by H. Hirsch, 61–102. Archiv für Orientforschung 20. Horn, Austria: Verlag Ferdinand Berger, 1985.
  701.  
  702. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  703.  
  704. Another important attempt at decipherment.
  705.  
  706. Find this resource:
  707.  
  708.  
  709. Masson, Emilia. Cyprominoica: Répertoires, Documents de Ras Shamra, Essais d’interprétation. Studies in the Cypro-Minoan Scripts 2. Gothenburg, Sweden: Paul Åströms Förlag, 1974.
  710.  
  711. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  712.  
  713. An influential attempt at deciphering one of the longer Cypro-Minoan texts from Ugarit, seeing it as Semitic.
  714.  
  715. Find this resource:
  716.  
  717.  
  718. Masson, Olivier. “Documents chypro-minoens de Ras Shamra.” In Ugaritica III: Sceaux et cylindres hittites, épée gravée du cartouche de Mineptah, tablettes chypro-minoennes et autres découvertes nouvelles de Ras Shamra. Edited by Claude F.-A. Schaeffer, 233–250. Mission de Ras Shamra 8, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 64. Paris: Geuthner, 1956.
  719.  
  720. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  721.  
  722. Publication and epigraphic analysis of several Cypro-Minoan inscriptions found in excavations at Ras Shamra in the 1950s.
  723.  
  724. Find this resource:
  725.  
  726.  
  727. Olivier, Jean-Pierre. Édition holistique des textes chypro-minoens. Biblioteca di Pasiphae 6. Pisa, Italy: Edizioni F. Serra, 2007.
  728.  
  729. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  730.  
  731. The standard comprehensive collection of Cypro-Minoan texts.
  732.  
  733. Find this resource:
  734.  
  735.  
  736. Schaeffer, Claude F.-A. “Une écriture chypriote particulière à Ugarit?” In Ugaritica III: Sceaux et cylindres hittites, épée gravée du cartouche de Mineptah, tablettes chypro-minoennes et autres découvertes nouvelles de Ras Shamra. Edited by Claude F.-A. Schaeffer, 227–232. Mission de Ras Shamra 8, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 64. Paris: Geuthner, 1956.
  737.  
  738. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  739.  
  740. Description and presentation (with photographic illustrations), by the excavator, of the Cypro-Minoan inscriptions edited by O. Masson in the same volume (Masson 1956).
  741.  
  742. Find this resource:
  743.  
  744.  
  745. Woodard, Roger D. “Introduction.” In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Edited by Roger D. Woodard, 5–6. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  746.  
  747. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  748.  
  749. A short presentation of the corpus, in the context of other undeciphered ancient languages.
  750.  
  751. Find this resource:
  752.  
  753.  
  754. Yon, Marguerite. “‘Au roi d’Alasia, mon père. . . . ’” In Hommage à Annie Caubet: Actes du colloque international “Chypre et la côte du Levant aux IIe et Ier millénaires,” Paris, 14–16 juin 2007. Edited by Centre d’Études Chypriotes, 15–39. Cahier du Centre d’Études Chypriotes 37. Paris: Centre d’Études Chypriotes, 2008.
  755.  
  756. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  757.  
  758. Overview of the economic and social relationships between Ugarit and Cyprus, of which the best-known export was copper. By an archaeologist whose expertise in the archaeology of Ugarit is equaled by her knowledge of matters Cypriot.
  759.  
  760. Find this resource:
  761.  
  762.  
  763. Linguistic Diversity
  764. Language and writing system are often, but not always, linked: languages and the writing systems they use often (but not always) share a common geographical origin. Such a tendency is naturally visible in the textual sources from Ugarit (various aspects of this are explored in Malbran-Labat 1999 and Malbran-Labat 2002). One may cite as examples the sources described in Graphic Diversity: the Egyptian language is noted with a hieroglyphic writing system of Egyptian origin (Hieroglyphic Egyptian); the Luwian language, with a glyphic writing system of Anatolian origin (Hieroglyphic Luwian). While the language noted by the Cypro-Minoan writing system is not yet certainly deciphered, both are almost certainly of eastern Mediterranean origin. Further, similar examples of such associations are also found, of course, in the more numerous cuneiform documentation from Ras Shamra: Sumerian and Akkadian Texts Written in Alphabetic “Ugaritic” Cuneiform are recorded with a writing system of southern Mesopotamian origin, and texts written in the local vernacular are written with an alphabetic system that was also very likely developed and adapted locally (see Writing System under Ugaritic Texts). A different situation is represented for Hittite texts, which employ the cuneiform writing system imported from Mesopotamia; still another case is represented by the Hurrian texts, which were recorded both in Mesopotamian cuneiform and the local alphabetic cuneiform script. Finally, a few exceptional situations have been given a separate treatment (West Semitic Texts Written in Mesopotamian Cuneiform, Akkadian Texts Written in Alphabetic “Ugaritic” Cuneiform, Other Cuneiform Writing Systems).
  765.  
  766. Malbran-Labat, Florence. “Langues et écritures à Ougarit.” Semitica 49 (1999): 65–101.
  767.  
  768. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  769.  
  770. Survey of the problems pertaining to languages and writing systems at Ugarit.
  771.  
  772. Find this resource:
  773.  
  774.  
  775. Malbran-Labat, Florence. “Textes religieux et multilinguisme à Ougarit.” Hethitica 15 (2002): 173–181.
  776.  
  777. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  778.  
  779. Special attention paid to the particular role of religious texts in explaining the linguistic diversity in the sources from Ugarit.
  780.  
  781. Find this resource:
  782.  
  783.  
  784. Statistically “Minor” Cuneiform Corpora
  785. If the existence of three noncuneiform corpora (see Graphic Diversity) among the textual sources of Ras Shamra reflects the extensive contacts the Ugaritians maintained with the Mediterranean cultures around them, the fact that the vast majority of the epigraphic documentation from the site is in cuneiform script reflects essentially local practice: how the Ugaritians themselves used two different forms of cuneiform writing in managing their affairs. The index of the TEO (Bordreuil and Pardee 1989) lists more than four thousand such inscribed objects in one or the other form of cuneiform script (not counting the several hundred texts recovered since 1988). Furthermore, as described in Linguistic Diversity, these two systems of cuneiform are used at Ugarit for recording texts in no fewer than five different languages: Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Hurrian, and Ugaritic. The statistical distribution of the texts by language, however, is very uneven: the vast majority is represented by Akkadian Texts Written in Alphabetic “Ugaritic” Cuneiform in Mesopotamian syllabic script and Ugaritic Texts in the local alphabetic cuneiform script. The remaining text groups (Sumerian, Hittite, and Hurrian), though statistically less important, are nevertheless of considerable interest for the history of writing at Ugarit, as are the small corpora of texts that illustrate the local scribes’ “experimentations” with various languages and writing systems (see Hurrian, West Semitic Texts Written in Mesopotamian Cuneiform, and Akkadian Texts Written in Alphabetic “Ugaritic” Cuneiform).
  786.  
  787. Bordreuil, Pierre, and Dennis Pardee. “Index des écritures.” In La trouvaille épigraphique de l’Ougarit. Vol. 1, Concordance. Edited by Pierre Bordreuil and Dennis Pardee, 414–422. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 5/1, Mémoire 86. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1989.
  788.  
  789. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  790.  
  791. Listing of inscribed objects from Ras Shamra (up to and including those from the 1988 excavations), organized by written system.
  792.  
  793. Find this resource:
  794.  
  795.  
  796. Sumerian
  797. By the 13th century BCE, the Sumerian language had already been dead as a spoken vernacular for hundreds of years (Michalowski 2000), and Ugarit itself is, of course, situated far from the historical Sumerian-speaking areas of southern Mesopotamia. For these reasons, Sumerian was exclusively a school language at Ugarit, present only because the Sumerian writing system was historically the basis of Mesopotamian written culture, which was studied by the local student scribes of Ugarit in the form of lexical lists and traditional literary texts (Traditional Texts). These Mesopotamian literary texts were often bilingual (Sumerian and Akkadian); most were published in Courtois 1968 (cited under Ugaritica) and Arnaud 2007. For the far more-numerous lexical texts, such as “Ḫar-ra = ḫubullu” and the “Syllabary A” that exist at Ugarit in monolingual, bilingual (Sumerian and Akkadian), trilingual (Sumerian, Akkadian, and Hurrian), and even quadrilingual (with a fourth column for Ugaritic) versions, no comprehensive corpus has yet been put together, though important editions have been published by Courtois (Courtois 1968, cited under Ugaritica) and André-Salvini (see André-Salvini 1991, André-Salvini 2001, and André-Salvini 2004). Often these local Ras Shamra recensions of Mesopotamian lexical traditions are cited in extenso in the various volumes of the series Materialien zum sumerischen Lexikon series (MSL).
  798.  
  799. André-Salvini, Béatrice. “Les textes lexicographiques (no 48–77).” In Une bibliothèque au sud de la ville: Les textes de la 34e campagne (1973). Edited by Pierre Bordreuil, 105–126. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 7. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1991.
  800.  
  801. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  802.  
  803. Publication of the lexical texts recovered from the House of Urtenu in 1973.
  804.  
  805. Find this resource:
  806.  
  807.  
  808. André-Salvini, Béatrice. “Textes lexicographiques.” In Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Edited by Marguerite Yon and Daniel Arnaud, 237–238. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  809.  
  810. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  811.  
  812. Brief survey of the lexical texts recovered from the House of Urtenu (1986–1992).
  813.  
  814. Find this resource:
  815.  
  816.  
  817. André-Salvini, Béatrice. “Textes lexicographiques de Ras Shamra-Ugarit (campagnes 1986–1992).” Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 46 (2004): 147–154.
  818.  
  819. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  820.  
  821. Hand copies of the lexical texts recovered from the House of Urtenu (1986–1992).
  822.  
  823. Find this resource:
  824.  
  825.  
  826. Arnaud, Daniel. Corpus des textes de bibliothèque de Ras Shamra-Ougarit (1936–2000) en sumérien, babylonien et assyrien. Aula Orientalis Supplementa 23. Sabadell, Spain: Editorial AUSA, 2007.
  827.  
  828. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  829.  
  830. Gathered here are the literary texts in syllabic script found at Ras Shamra, all of Mesopotamian tradition or inspiration.
  831.  
  832. Find this resource:
  833.  
  834.  
  835. Materialien zum sumerischen Lexikon series. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1937–2004.
  836.  
  837. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  838.  
  839. Abbreviated “MSL.” From Volume 10 on: titled Materials for the Sumerian Lexicon. Ras Shamra recensions cited in various volumes; these include thematic vocabularies (Vol. 5:7, 49, 90, 123, 131–132, 149; Vol. 6:3; Vol. 8/1: 100–102; Vol. 8/2: 95–157; Vol. 11:42–53, 68, 74–75, 169), professions lists (Vol. 12:77–78), acrographic lists (Vol. 13:126–131), lists of simple signs (Vol. 14:143–144), lists of complex signs (Vol. 15:67–83), and grammatical paradigms (Vol. 1, 2d ser.: 75–89).
  840.  
  841. Find this resource:
  842.  
  843.  
  844. Michalowski, Piotr. “The Life and Death of the Sumerian Language in Comparative Perspective.” Acta Sumerologica 22 (2000): 177–202.
  845.  
  846. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  847.  
  848. Survey of the complex question of the “death” of the Sumerian language.
  849.  
  850. Find this resource:
  851.  
  852.  
  853. Hurrian
  854. Though the Mitannian Empire, which controlled much of the upper Fertile Crescent from roughly 1500 to 1350 BCE, was predominantly ethnically Hurrian, the Hurrian language itself, of a non-Semitic type, was until relatively recently so poorly attested that the level of scholarly understanding of the few known texts was very low. Finds at Ras Shamra (Laroche 1979) actually provided most of the extant corpus until Hurrian texts, including bilinguals, began coming to light in excavations in Turkey since the last quarter of the 20th century. These new finds have permitted rapid advances in the basic comprehension of the language (Wilhelm 2004). Peculiar to Ras Shamra is the fact that texts in the Hurrian language have been discovered both in the syllabic and alphabetic scripts (overview in Dietrich and Mayer 1999). As luck would have it, the better preserved corpus is in the alphabetic script (Herdner 1963, cited under Mission de Ras Shamra). Also peculiar to Ras Shamra is the presence of vocabulary lists based on the model of Mesopotamian lexical texts, with the addition of columns for the translation of the word in Hurrian (and in some texts also in Ugaritic) corresponding to the Sumerian logograms (see Courtois 1968, cited under Ugaritica, and, more recently, André-Salvini and Salvini 1998). Such ancient “dictionaries” provide explicit data for the meaning of Hurrian words and some data on morphology. Some of the very first texts discovered at the site of Ras Shamra were in Hurrian (e.g., RS 1.004), but no significant discovery of texts in that language has been made since 1961. Laroche 1968, the editio princeps of the corpus, remains fundamental. Most of the texts are religious in nature, either ritual (e.g., Dietrich and Mayer 1994 and Dietrich and Mayer 1997) or hymnic, and some of the alphabetically written ritual texts are bilingual in the sense that words or passages in Hurrian and Ugaritic occur in the same text (Lam 2006). A significant Hurrian presence is also attested in the onomasticon: a high percentage of attested names (perhaps as many as a quarter) are linguistically Hurrian (Gröndahl 1967, cited under Lexicon). One of the unknowns of Ugaritic history is the precise form of contact that led to such a high incidence of Hurrian name giving and to the importance of the Hurrian language in the cult; on the linguistic status of Hurrian at Ugarit, see Vita 2009.
  855.  
  856. André-Salvini, Béatrice, and Mirjo Salvini. “Un nouveau vocabulaire trilingue sumérien-akkadien-hourrite de Ras Shamra.” In General Studies and Excavations at Nuzi 10/2. Edited by David I. Owen and Gernot Wilhelm, 3–40. Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians 9. Bethesda, MD: CDL, 1998.
  857.  
  858. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  859.  
  860. Publication (editio princeps) of a relatively well-preserved trilingual vocabulary of the “Syllabary A” type, with the third column containing glosses in Hurrian, from the House of Urtenu.
  861.  
  862. Find this resource:
  863.  
  864.  
  865. Dietrich, Manfried, and Walter Mayer. “Hurritische Weihrauch-Beschwörungen in ugaritischer Alphabetschrift.” Ugarit-Forschungen 26 (1994): 73–112.
  866.  
  867. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  868.  
  869. Philological study of the several Hurrian incantations in alphabetic script.
  870.  
  871. Find this resource:
  872.  
  873.  
  874. Dietrich, Manfried, and Walter Mayer. “Die hurritische Pantheon von Ugarit.” Ugarit-Forschungen 29 (1997): 161–181.
  875.  
  876. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  877.  
  878. Philological study of the Hurrian offering lists in alphabetic script.
  879.  
  880. Find this resource:
  881.  
  882.  
  883. Dietrich, Manfried, and Walter Mayer. “The Hurrian and Hittite Texts.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 58–75. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  884.  
  885. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  886.  
  887. Convenient and accessible overview by two scholars who have devoted much energy to the elucidation of the Hurrian texts from Ras Shamra.
  888.  
  889. Find this resource:
  890.  
  891.  
  892. Lam, Joseph. “The Hurrian Section of the Ugaritic Ritual Text RS 24.643 (KTU 1.148).” Ugarit-Forschungen 38 (2006): 399–414.
  893.  
  894. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  895.  
  896. Philological study of a Hurrian passage embedded within Ugaritic ritual text.
  897.  
  898. Find this resource:
  899.  
  900.  
  901. Laroche, Emmanuel. “Documents en langue hourrite provenant de Ras Shamra.” In Ugaritica V: Nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des archives et bibliothèques privées d’Ugarit, Commentaires des textes historiques, première partie. Edited by Jacques-Claude Courtois, 447–554. Mission de Ras Shamra 16, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 80. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1968.
  902.  
  903. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  904.  
  905. The only corpus to date of the Hurrian texts from Ras Shamra, both those in syllabic script and those in alphabetic script, including copies, transliterations, and commentaries of previously unpublished texts, a brief outline of Hurrian grammar, and several indices and lexica, including a lexicon of the alphabetically attested words and another of words written syllabically.
  906.  
  907. Find this resource:
  908.  
  909.  
  910. Laroche, Emmanuel. “Le milieu hurrite.” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 9. Edited by Henri Cazelles and André Feuillet, cols. 1359–1361. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1979.
  911.  
  912. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  913.  
  914. Somewhat dated but still-useful survey of the Hurrian corpus from Ras Shamra. Within the chapter “Ras Shamra (Ugarit ou Ougarit).”
  915.  
  916. Find this resource:
  917.  
  918.  
  919. Vita, Juan-Pablo. “Hurrian as a Living Language in Ugaritic Society.” In Reconstruyendo el pasado remoto: Estudios sobre el Próximo Oriente Antiguo en homenaje a Jorge R. Silva Castillo. Edited by Diego A. Barreyra Fracaroli and Gregorio del Olmo Lete, 219–231. Aula Orientalis Supplementa 25. Sabadell, Spain: Editorial AUSA, 2009.
  920.  
  921. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  922.  
  923. An attempt to describe the linguistic position of Hurrian at Ugarit, based on the textual remains.
  924.  
  925. Find this resource:
  926.  
  927.  
  928. Wilhelm, Gernot. “Hurrian.” In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Edited by Roger D. Woodard, 95–118. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  929.  
  930. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  931.  
  932. A convenient overview of the Hurrian language.
  933.  
  934. Find this resource:
  935.  
  936.  
  937. Hittite
  938. Given that the Kingdom of Ugarit was under Hittite political hegemony for the last century and a half of her existence (c. 1340–1190 BCE), there have been surprisingly few finds of texts in the Hittite language (for an overview, see Dietrich and Mayer 1999, p. 62, cited in Hurrian). These amount to one legal text and various literary texts (Hittite translations of Mesopotamian literature) from the royal palace (Laroche 1968) and two ritual fragments from the House of Urtenu (Salvini 2001). In actual practice, legal and epistolary texts reflecting the Hittite administration are mostly in Akkadian, though a few are in Ugaritic (the translation having been done either from Akkadian at Ugarit or from Hittite at the point of origin by a bilingual scribe in residence there).
  939.  
  940. Laroche, Emmanuel. “Textes de Ras Shamra en langue hittite.” In Ugaritica V: Nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des archives et bibliothèques privées d’Ugarit, Commentaires des textes historiques, première partie. Edited by J. C. Courtois, 769–784. Mission de Ras Shamra 16, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 80. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1968.
  941.  
  942. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  943.  
  944. Publication and philological study of the Hittite corpus from the royal palace.
  945.  
  946. Find this resource:
  947.  
  948.  
  949. Salvini, Mirjo. “Textes hittites.” In Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Edited by Marguerite Yon and Daniel Arnaud, 339–340. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  950.  
  951. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  952.  
  953. Publication of the Hittite fragments RS 92.2011 and RS 92.6278 from the House of Urtenu.
  954.  
  955. Find this resource:
  956.  
  957.  
  958. West Semitic Texts Written in Mesopotamian Cuneiform
  959. The precise identification of the language of two texts from Ras Shamra (RS 20.163 and RS 94.2615) remains uncertain, but both are probably West Semitic, possibly even specifically Ugaritic, despite the fact that they were written in Mesopotamian syllabic cuneiform. For RS 20.163, see Nougayrol 1970 (cited under Palais Royal d’Ugarit), p. 257, and for RS 94.2615, see Arnaud 2006. No other continuous Ugaritic texts are known in the syllabic corpus, but a rather large number of Sumero-Akkadian lexical lists, as well as local documentary texts, do contain Ugaritic words here and there (these have been collected and studied in Huehnergard 2008).
  960.  
  961. Arnaud, Daniel. “Un fragment de lettre en canaanéen: RS 94.2615, provenant sans doute de Tyr.” Aula Orientalis 24 (2006): 7–15.
  962.  
  963. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  964.  
  965. Since, according to the editor, the ductus of this document most closely resembles that of Tyre, one must hesitate to call its language “Ugaritic” (the extent to which the other vernacular languages of the Levantine coast differed from that of Ugarit is unknown).
  966.  
  967. Find this resource:
  968.  
  969.  
  970. Huehnergard, John. Ugaritic Vocabulary in Syllabic Transcription. Rev. ed. Harvard Semitic Studies 32. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2008.
  971.  
  972. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  973.  
  974. The standard scholarly treatment of the various Ugaritic data to be gleaned from the syllabic texts from Ras Shamra.
  975.  
  976. Find this resource:
  977.  
  978.  
  979. Akkadian Texts Written in Alphabetic “Ugaritic” Cuneiform
  980. The majority of documents inscribed in the local alphabetic “Ugaritic” cuneiform script bear texts in the Ugaritic language (see Ugaritic Texts); a much smaller number are in Hurrian. There remain, however, at least four alphabetic texts (published in Virolleaud 1939) that are almost certainly in the Akkadian language (the first work to demonstrate this was Dhorme 1940; on their orthography, which is particular in several respects, see Segert 1988 and van Soldt 1991). Their content—several relatively well-known Akkadian incantation formulas may be recognized (Dhorme 1940, Prechel 2003)—suggests a ritual or magical usage (Clemens 2001).
  981.  
  982. Clemens, David M. “Akkadian Texts Written in Alphabetic Script.” In Sources for Ugaritic Ritual and Sacrifice. By David M. Clemens, 605–624. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 284. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2001.
  983.  
  984. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  985.  
  986. A well-documented overview and history of the study of these texts, in the context of a broader treatment of ritual at Ugarit.
  987.  
  988. Find this resource:
  989.  
  990.  
  991. Dhorme, Édouard. “Textes accadiens transcrits en écriture alphabétique de Ras Shamra.” Revue d’Assyriologie 37 (1940): 83–96.
  992.  
  993. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  994.  
  995. Still a standard treatment for this small and difficult corpus.
  996.  
  997. Find this resource:
  998.  
  999.  
  1000. Prechel, Doris. “Von Ugarit nach Uruk.” In Literatur, Politik und Recht in Mesopotamien: Festschrift für Claus Wilcke. Edited by Walther Sallaberger, Konrad Volk and Annette Zgoll, 225–228. Orientalia Biblica et Christiana 14. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2003.
  1001.  
  1002. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1003.  
  1004. Parallels for certain passages are identified among the late Babylonian texts from Uruk.
  1005.  
  1006. Find this resource:
  1007.  
  1008.  
  1009. Segert, Stanislaw. “Die Orthographie der alphabetischen Keilschrifttafeln in akkadischer Sprache aus Ugarit.” Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici sul Vicino Oriente Antico 5 (1988): 189–205.
  1010.  
  1011. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1012.  
  1013. Concentrates on the ways in which the alphabetic script was used to represent Akkadian phonemes.
  1014.  
  1015. Find this resource:
  1016.  
  1017.  
  1018. van Soldt, Wilfred Hugo. “The Orthography of the Alphabetically Written Akkadian Texts.” In Studies in the Akkadian of Ugarit: Dating and Grammar. By Wilfred Hugo van Soldt, 296–301. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 40. Kevelaer, Germany: Butzon & Bercker, 1991.
  1019.  
  1020. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1021.  
  1022. A clear presentation of the corpus, in the context of a more general treatment of the Akkadian texts from Ugarit.
  1023.  
  1024. Find this resource:
  1025.  
  1026.  
  1027. Virolleaud, Charles. “Fragments alphabétiques divers de Ras-Shamra.” Syria 20 (1939): 114–133.
  1028.  
  1029. DOI: 10.3406/syria.1939.8672Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1030.  
  1031. First publication of this group of texts: RS 5.156+ (CTA 162, KTU 1.70); RS 5.199 (CTA 164, KTU 1.67); RS 5.213 (CTA 163, KTU 1.69); and RS 5.303bis (CTA 165, KTU 1.73).
  1032.  
  1033. Find this resource:
  1034.  
  1035.  
  1036. Other Cuneiform Writing Systems
  1037. An abecedary discovered in 1988 (Bordreuil and Pardee 2001) contains an inventory of alphabetic signs considerably different from the standard Ugaritic signs. The abecedary contains a list of twenty-seven signs in all (compared to thirty signs in the standard Ugaritic inventory). Of these, seventeen closely resemble their counterparts in Ugaritic (both in form and orientation), and four resemble their Ugaritic counterparts in form but are rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise. The identification of the remaining signs (including a single ʾalif sign, instead of three as in the Ugaritic inventory, and a ḍ sign, which has no correspondent in Ugaritic) was accomplished in large part thanks to Lundin’s decipherment of a parallel text from Beth Shemesh (Loundine 1987), and it was then immediately clear that this unique Ras Shamra document contained an abecedary of the hlḥm . . . order (rather than a standard ʾabg . . . order), an order that was to show up centuries later in South Arabia (Robin 2008) and Ethiopia (Hallo 1958). It should be noted, however, that apart from this particular inventory, there is no evidence that this alphabet was productively used at Ugarit, and there is no direct evidence that might allow the identification of the particular West Semitic language for which it was invented and/or adapted.
  1038.  
  1039. Bordreuil, Pierre, and Dennis Pardee. “Abécédaire (no 32).” In Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Edited by Marguerite Yon and Daniel Arnaud, 341–348. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  1040.  
  1041. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1042.  
  1043. Publication (editio princeps) of the Ras Shamra hlḥm abecedary.
  1044.  
  1045. Find this resource:
  1046.  
  1047.  
  1048. Hallo, William W. “Isaiah 28:9–13 and the Ugaritic Abecedaries.” Journal of Biblical Literature 77 (1958): 324–338.
  1049.  
  1050. DOI: 10.2307/3264672Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1051.  
  1052. Written prior to the discovery and decipherment of the Ras Shamra and Beth Shemesh hlḥm abecedaries, but it contains a study of the Ethiopian “alphabetic” order hlḥm in the context of other abecedary traditions.
  1053.  
  1054. Find this resource:
  1055.  
  1056.  
  1057. Loundine, A. G. “L’abécédaire de Beth Shemesh.” Muséon 100 (1987): 243–250.
  1058.  
  1059. DOI: 10.2143/MUS.100.1.2011448Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1060.  
  1061. The first to identify correctly the Beth Shemesh tablet as an abecedary of the hlḥm order.
  1062.  
  1063. Find this resource:
  1064.  
  1065.  
  1066. Robin, Christian Julien. “La lecture et l’interprétation de l’abécédaire Raʾs Shamra 88.2215: La preuve par l’Arabie?” In D’Ougarit à Jérusalem: Recueil d’études épigraphiques et archéologiques offerts à Pierre Bordreuil. Edited by Carole Roche, 233–244. Orient et Méditerranée 2. Paris: De Boccard, 2008.
  1067.  
  1068. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1069.  
  1070. Reexamination of the Ras Shamra hlḥm abecedary in the light of the South Arabian data.
  1071.  
  1072. Find this resource:
  1073.  
  1074.  
  1075. Akkadian Texts from Ugarit
  1076. The position of Akkadian in the Late Bronze Age was similar to that of Latin in Europe during the Middle Ages. Thus, international and business correspondence at Ugarit was conducted mostly in Akkadian, as were most juridical documents; mundane economic/administrative lists and accounts, on the other hand, were set down mostly in the local language, Ugaritic (see Ephemeral and Documentary Texts). Numerically better attested than the Ugaritic texts (about 2,500 versus 2,000), the Akkadian texts from Ras Shamra have nevertheless received less attention, partly because they are either of a documentary nature or else are representative of the Mesopotamian school and literary traditions (the literary texts among them are rather poorly transmitted and understood), but also partly because of a strong biblical bias in the early days of Ugaritology (i.e., the Akkadian texts were perceived as being less directly relevant than the Ugaritic texts in the comparative study of the Hebrew Bible; see Ugarit and the Bible). Useful general introductions to the corpus as a whole include Arnaud 1979 and van Soldt 1999. Other pertinent bibliography is presented in the sections Publications of Ras Shamra Akkadian Texts and Studies of Ras Shamra Akkadian Texts.
  1077.  
  1078. Arnaud, Daniel. “La culture suméro-akkadienne.” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 9. Edited by Henri Cazelles and André Feuillet, cols. 1348–1359. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1979.
  1079.  
  1080. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1081.  
  1082. Though now somewhat dated, still an excellent brief introduction to the corpus. Within the article “Ras Shamra (Ugarit ou Ougarit).”
  1083.  
  1084. Find this resource:
  1085.  
  1086.  
  1087. van Soldt, Wilfred. “The Syllabic Akkadian Texts.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 28–45. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  1088.  
  1089. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1090.  
  1091. Brief but useful overview of the corpus of Akkadian texts found at Ugarit.
  1092.  
  1093. Find this resource:
  1094.  
  1095.  
  1096. Publications of Ras Shamra Akkadian Texts
  1097. Most of the texts from the first twenty-seven campaigns were published in Nougayrol 1955, Nougayrol 1956, and Nougayrol 1970, which were cited under Palais Royal d’Ugarit, and in Courtois 1968, cited under Ugaritica. The quality of these editions was such that reeditions have generally been felt unnecessary—a very different situation from that prevailing for the Ugaritic Texts. The texts from the House of Urtenu excavated between 1973 and 1992 have been edited in Ras Shamra-Ougarit: Volumes 7 and 14 by the collective efforts of D. Arnaud, B. André-Salvini, F. Malbran-Labat, and S. Lackenbacher (André-Salvini, et al. 1991 and André-Salvini, et al. 2001). The literary texts were conveniently reedited by Arnaud in his monumental 2007 publication of that corpus (Arnaud 2007, cited in Sumerian).
  1098.  
  1099. André-Salvini, Béatrice, Daniel Arnaud, Sylvie Lackenbacher, and Florence Malbran-Labat. “Première partie: Les textes accadiens.” In Une bibliothèque au sud de la ville: Les textes de la 34e campagne (1973). Edited by Pierre Bordreuil, 11–138. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 7. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1991.
  1100.  
  1101. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1102.  
  1103. Publication (editio princeps) of the syllabic texts discovered during a salvage operation in 1973 of the area that came to be known as the “House of Urtenu.”
  1104.  
  1105. Find this resource:
  1106.  
  1107.  
  1108. André-Salvini, Béatrice, Daniel Arnaud, Sylvie Lackenbacher, Florence Malbran-Labat, and Mirjo Salvini. “Textes syllabiques en sumérien, babylonien, assyrien et hittite.” In Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Edited by Marguerite Yon and Daniel Arnaud, 235–339. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  1109.  
  1110. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1111.  
  1112. Publication (editio princeps) of the syllabic texts discovered during the 1986–1992 seasons of excavations of the “House of Urtenu.”
  1113.  
  1114. Find this resource:
  1115.  
  1116.  
  1117. Studies of Ras Shamra Akkadian Texts
  1118. The standard treatments of the grammar of the Akkadian dialect of these texts are Huehnergard 1989 and van Soldt 1991. Lackenbacher’s annotated translation (see Lackenbacher 2002) of the better-preserved nonliterary texts from the first twenty-five campaigns, for the most part legal or epistolary, provides an excellent means of accessing the corpus as a whole.
  1119.  
  1120. Huehnergard, John. The Akkadian of Ugarit. Harvard Semitic Studies 34. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989.
  1121.  
  1122. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1123.  
  1124. The standard comprehensive treatment of the orthographic and grammatical features of the Akkadian language as used at Ugarit may be used alongside van Soldt’s more broadly conceived work (van Soldt 1991).
  1125.  
  1126. Find this resource:
  1127.  
  1128.  
  1129. Lackenbacher, Sylvie. Textes akkadiens d’Ugarit: Textes provenant des vingt-cinq premières campagnes. Littératures Anciennes du Proche-Orient 20. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2002.
  1130.  
  1131. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1132.  
  1133. Though in form this book is an annotated translation of the better-preserved Akkadian texts discovered during the first twenty-five seasons of excavation at Ras Shamra, the author is a historian at heart, and she regularly provides her expert views on the historical interpretation of each text treated, as well as the place of each text within larger groups defined thematically and chronologically.
  1134.  
  1135. Find this resource:
  1136.  
  1137.  
  1138. van Soldt, Wilfred Hugo. Studies in the Akkadian of Ugarit: Dating and Grammar. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 40. Kevelaer, Germany: Butzon & Bercker, 1991.
  1139.  
  1140. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1141.  
  1142. A careful archaeological, literary, and grammatical placement of the Akkadian texts within the larger corpus of inscribed material from Ras Shamra.
  1143.  
  1144. Find this resource:
  1145.  
  1146.  
  1147. Ugaritic Texts
  1148. At least in relative terms, the Ugaritic texts are characterized by their wealth, both in number (over two thousand if one includes all fragments) and in variety of literary types (see Textual Studies). Pitard 1999 provides a brief but useful overview. The Ugaritic corpus is less rich than the principal syllabic cuneiform sources from various sites of the Near East, but it is, from a West Semitic perspective, without parallel in the second millennium and more varied than what one finds in the Canaanite and Aramaic sources of the first millennium BCE (it is much richer, e.g., in documentary sources than what has been discovered to date in Hebrew and much richer in literary compositions than what is known in Phoenician/Punic or Aramaic). Ugaritic texts have been discovered in most of the nearly seventy campaigns at Ras Shamra and at Ras Ibn Hani, and most have been published: exceptions are a number of tiny fragments that the original editors judged, in most cases rightly, to be of little interest; the texts from the House of Urtenu discovered in the 1994–2002 campaigns at Ras Shamra; and many of the texts from Ras Ibn Hani. It is these Ugaritic texts that have guaranteed the fame of Ugarit. However, because Ugaritic lacks a long history of scientific enquiry of the sort one finds, for example, in the study of Hebrew and Aramaic literatures of the Judeo-Christian traditions, or even for Phoenician, the introduction of the Ugaritic language and literature into the curriculum of Near Eastern studies has been a process of decipherment and definition carried out according to modern principles of linguistic and literary research and classification. Because of its pertinence and inherent interest, as well as the abundance of bibliography, this section is further broken down into seven subsections: Decipherment, Writing System, Linguistic Classification, Grammar, Lexicon, Epigraphy, and Textual Referencing Systems.
  1149.  
  1150. Pitard, Wayne. “The Alphabetic Ugaritic Tablets.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 46–57. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  1151.  
  1152. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1153.  
  1154. Brief but useful overview of the corpus of Ugaritic texts.
  1155.  
  1156. Find this resource:
  1157.  
  1158.  
  1159. Decipherment
  1160. When discovered, the Ugaritic texts represented two unknowns: both the script and the language were previously unattested. The documents were entrusted to Charles Virolleaud, who published copies immediately (see Virolleaud 1929). This rapid dissemination of the basic data permitted a cooperative effort, and within a year roughly half the signs had been identified, and within two years the script was essentially deciphered and the language securely identified as West Semitic. So rapid a decipherment was greatly facilitated by the presence of a word divider in the Ugaritic system, because it allowed for the immediate isolation of individual words and led to the working hypothesis of a language of the West Semitic type characterized by several one-consonant particles and by the representation of most substantival and verbal forms by three to five signs. The principal participants were Virolleaud himself, his French colleague Paul (Édouard) Dhorme, and Hans Bauer of Halle (see Day 2002 and Bordreuil 2009). The contribution of Marcel Cohen to Virolleaud’s progress has only recently come to light (see Fauveaud-Brassaud 2008).
  1161.  
  1162. Bordreuil, Pierre. “L’alphabet ougaritique.” In Histoires de déchiffrements: Les écritures du Proche-Orient à l’Égée. Edited by Brigitte Lion and Cécile Michel, 129–138. Paris: Errance, 2009.
  1163.  
  1164. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1165.  
  1166. A recent account of the decipherment, by a professional epigrapher and Ugaritologist.
  1167.  
  1168. Find this resource:
  1169.  
  1170.  
  1171. Day, Peggy L. “Dies diem docet: The Decipherment of Ugaritic.” Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici 19 (2002): 37–57.
  1172.  
  1173. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1174.  
  1175. Detailed description of the steps in the decipherment, as deducible from published sources.
  1176.  
  1177. Find this resource:
  1178.  
  1179.  
  1180. Fauveaud-Brassaud, Catherine. “Lettres d’un ‘simple épigraphiste,’ Charles Virolleaud à Marcel Cohen.” In D’Ougarit à Jérusalem: Recueil d’études épigraphiques et archéologiques offerts à Pierre Bordreuil. Edited by Carole Roche, 265–271. Orient et Méditerranée 2. Paris: De Boccard, 2008.
  1181.  
  1182. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1183.  
  1184. Documentation of Marcel Cohen’s involvement in the decipherment of Ugaritic.
  1185.  
  1186. Find this resource:
  1187.  
  1188.  
  1189. Virolleaud, Charles. “Les inscriptions cunéiformes de Ras Shamra.” Syria 10 (1929): 304–310.
  1190.  
  1191. DOI: 10.3406/syria.1929.3411Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1192.  
  1193. The plates contain the first copies of the Ugaritic inscriptions made available to the scholarly world, done before the writing system had been deciphered.
  1194.  
  1195. Find this resource:
  1196.  
  1197.  
  1198. Writing System
  1199. As noted in Decipherment, the Ugaritic writing system was previously unattested when discovered, and thus required decipherment. It turned out to be a cuneiform adaptation of the West Semitic linear alphabet that had been invented some centuries before and is attested by the so-called proto-Sinaitic and proto-Canaanite inscriptions (on which, see Sass 1988 and Sass 2004–2005). Because the new system was, as far as we know, in extensive usage only at Ugarit (for the inscriptions in the cuneiform alphabet from other sites—relatively few in number—see Puech 1986 and Dietrich and Loretz 1988, to which an example from Greece published in Maran 2008 should now be added), it must be accepted, at least until another candidate is discovered, that it was invented for use there. It was at first thought that this writing system had been invented no later than the middle of the 14th century BCE, but the more recent hypothesis moves that forward by as much as a century. The writing system represents twenty-seven basic consonantal phonemes, but its inventors added three other signs for purposes that are not altogether clear: two extra ʾalif signs and a sibilant that functions much like the standard {s} sign (corresponding etymologically to samekh in Hebrew). Because the graphic inventory does not correspond on a simple one-to-one basis to the phonemic inventory, the cuneiform alphabet must represent either a late adaptation of a linear version in use at Ugarit already for some time (although no inscription has yet been discovered in that writing system) or the borrowing of a neighboring people’s graphic inventory for the purpose of converting it into cuneiform as a tool for expressing the Ugaritic language (on all of these issues, see Pardee 2007). Alongside the roughly two thousand texts inscribed in the “standard” Ugaritic alphabetic writing system (left to right, consisting of thirty signs), there is a very small number of texts (fewer than ten) discovered at Ugarit and at several other sites in Lebanon and Palestine that show a system in which mergers of several graphemes have occurred (e.g., {ḥ} and {ḫ} are represented by {ḫ}). On these, see Dietrich and Loretz 1988 and Bordreuil 1981.
  1200.  
  1201. Bordreuil, Pierre. “Cunéiformes alphabétiques non canoniques: (1) La tablette alphabétique senestroverse RS 22.03.” Syria 58 (1981): 301–311.
  1202.  
  1203. DOI: 10.3406/syria.1981.6738Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1204.  
  1205. Bordreuil offers a careful epigraphic treatment of the best preserved of the right-to-left texts written in the short alphabet from Ugarit.
  1206.  
  1207. Find this resource:
  1208.  
  1209.  
  1210. Dietrich, Manfried, and Oswald Loretz. Die Keilalphabete: Die phönizisch-kanaanäischen und altarabischen Alphabete in Ugarit. Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas 1. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1988.
  1211.  
  1212. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1213.  
  1214. The most thorough available study of the full corpus of texts in the short alphabet, though marred by controversial assumptions (e.g., that the short alphabet would have preceded the long form, and that the forms of some Ugaritic signs would have been in imitation of South Arabian forms, revelatory of an important demographic movement from south to north).
  1215.  
  1216. Find this resource:
  1217.  
  1218.  
  1219. Maran, Joseph. “Forschungen in der Unterburg von Tiryns 2000–2003.” Archäologischer Anzeiger 1 (2008): 35–111.
  1220.  
  1221. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1222.  
  1223. Preliminary presentation (on p. 52) of an inscription in Ugaritic cuneiform script discovered at ancient Tiryns, in Greece. The inscription in the published photo is mostly legible and can be plausibly interpreted as West Semitic tišʾal[u. . .], “you shall consult[. . .],” the /š/ phoneme being represented by the {ṯ} grapheme, as is typical for right-to-left inscriptions in the short alphabet.
  1224.  
  1225. Find this resource:
  1226.  
  1227.  
  1228. Pardee, Dennis, “The Ugaritic Alphabetic Cuneiform Writing System in the Context of Other Alphabetic Systems.” In Studies in Semitic and Afroasiatic Linguistics Presented to Gene B. Gragg. Edited by Cynthia L. Miller, 181–200. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 60. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2007.
  1229.  
  1230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1231.  
  1232. Illustrated overview of the Ugaritic writing system, its origins, and its peculiar features. Discusses the date of invention of the cuneiform alphabet.
  1233.  
  1234. Find this resource:
  1235.  
  1236.  
  1237. Puech, Émile. “Origine de l’alphabet: Documents en alphabet linéaire et cunéiforme du IIe millénaire.” Revue Biblique 93 (1986): 161–213.
  1238.  
  1239. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1240.  
  1241. Though dated, still a convenient summary presentation of the inscriptions in alphabetic cuneiform script discovered outside of ancient Ugarit.
  1242.  
  1243. Find this resource:
  1244.  
  1245.  
  1246. Sass, Benjamin. The Genesis of the Alphabet and Its Development in the Second Millennium B.C. Ägypten und Altes Testament 13. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 1988.
  1247.  
  1248. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1249.  
  1250. Now dated, but still the best overall presentation of the linear alphabetic writing systems of the Bronze Age.
  1251.  
  1252. Find this resource:
  1253.  
  1254.  
  1255. Sass, Benjamin. “The Genesis of the Alphabet and Its Development in the Second Millennium B.C.: Twenty Years Later.” De Kêmi à Birīt Nāri 2 (2004–2005): 147–166.
  1256.  
  1257. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1258.  
  1259. An updated presentation of the topic of Sass 1988, including a reasoned defense of how and why his views have changed on certain points (especially dating) in light of new evidence.
  1260.  
  1261. Find this resource:
  1262.  
  1263.  
  1264. Linguistic Classification
  1265. The precise linguistic classification of Ugaritic has not to this day been decided to everyone’s satisfaction (see Tropper 1994). Several factors have created this situation: the relatively small number of texts, the paucity of evidence for the vocalized form of the language (the writing system is primarily consonantal), and, last but not least, the tendency to favor one criterion over others in reaching a decision. Indeed, a linguistic classification may be founded only on linguistic criteria, with literary and historical considerations coming thereafter. There is general agreement that Ugaritic belongs to the Northwest Semitic group and represents an archaic stage, both in phonology and morphology, showing features that were shared by proto-Canaanite and proto-Aramaic (on the ambiguities inherent in using the word “Canaanite,” see Pardee 2001). The many linguistic features also shared with Arabic are commonly taken as shared archaisms.
  1266.  
  1267. Pardee, Dennis. “Canaan.” In The Blackwell Companion to the Hebrew Bible. Edited by Leo G. Perdue, 151–168. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
  1268.  
  1269. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1270.  
  1271. Overview of “Canaanite” literature, preceded by a brief introduction to the question of distinguishing Amorites from Canaanites. A crucial outstanding question is that of the origin of the Canaanites and whether they may be identified as a very early branch of the Amorites, the latter known from Mesopotamian sources as early as the mid-3rd millennium.
  1272.  
  1273. Find this resource:
  1274.  
  1275.  
  1276. Tropper, Josef. “Is Ugaritic a Canaanite Language?” In Ugarit and the Bible: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Ugarit and the Bible, Manchester, September 1992. Edited by George J. Brooke, Adrian H. W. Curtis, and John F. Healey, 343–353. Ugaritisch-Biblische Literatur 11. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1994.
  1277.  
  1278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1279.  
  1280. A brief history of discussion followed by a list of isoglosses with Canaanite, leading to the classification of Ugaritic as “North Canaanite.” The most important contribution to the topic in recent years leaves little doubt as to the affinity of Ugaritic with the Canaanite languages (primarily those known from the “Amarna glosses” of the 14th century BCE: Hebrew, Phoenician, and Moabite).
  1281.  
  1282. Find this resource:
  1283.  
  1284.  
  1285. Grammar
  1286. The first grammar of Ugaritic was written within a decade of the discovery and publication of the first texts (Gordon 1940), but a fully documented and linguistically sophisticated reference grammar then did not appear for another six decades (Tropper 2000). For pedagogical and epigraphic purposes, Bordreuil and Pardee 2009 is useful. Many questions regarding Ugaritic grammar remain unresolved for the same reasons given for the lack of consensus on the Linguistic Classification of the language; that is, the small number of texts, the paucity of data for vocalization, and differing views on criteria for grammatical definitions.
  1287.  
  1288. Bordreuil, Pierre, and Dennis Pardee. A Manual of Ugaritic. Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic 3. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2009.
  1289.  
  1290. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1291.  
  1292. A learning tool for informed beginners—the assumption is that the ideal user will already know another Semitic language or/and work under a tutor. Translated and adapted from a French original (2004). Historical introduction, grammar, and selection of texts, including new hand copies and photographs (on an accompanying DVD) of each text in the selection, with glossary.
  1293.  
  1294. Find this resource:
  1295.  
  1296.  
  1297. Gordon, Cyrus H. Ugaritic Grammar: The Present Status of the Linguistic Study of the Semitic Alphabetic Texts from Ras Shamra. Analecta Orientalia 20. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1940.
  1298.  
  1299. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1300.  
  1301. This pioneering effort was continued through three subsequent transformations, each bearing its own name (Ugaritic Handbook, 1947; Ugaritic Manual, 1955; Ugaritic Textbook, 1965). Because each subsequent edition contained all known texts in transliteration and a glossary, this constantly evolving resource was for more than half a century the primary tool for the study of the Ugaritic language and literature.
  1302.  
  1303. Find this resource:
  1304.  
  1305.  
  1306. Tropper, Josef. Ugaritische Grammatik. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 273. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2000.
  1307.  
  1308. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1309.  
  1310. A detailed and sophisticated reference grammar. Virtually any question that one might have regarding the grammar of Ugaritic text is discussed here.
  1311.  
  1312. Find this resource:
  1313.  
  1314.  
  1315. Lexicon
  1316. The lexical inventory of Ugaritic shows affinities with other Semitic languages similar to those noted for more narrowly grammatical features. As is noted under Grammar, each of Gordon’s grammatical publications included a glossary that served as the principal English-language dictionary for decades. Aistleitner’s dictionary (Aistleitner 1963) became the primary reference dictionary when it was published; that role has now been taken over by the dictionaries prepared by Olmo Lete and Sanmartín (see Olmo Lete and Sanmartín 2004). Though more limited in scope, Tropper 2008 is useful and reliable. In spite of now being severely outdated, Gröndahl 1967 remains the basic work on personal names, while van Soldt 2005, a study of place names, is more recent and is thus highly useful. Cunchillos, et al. 2003 is the most comprehensive concordance available. The problem of organizing any work dealing with Ugaritic vocabulary is the alphabetic order chosen. Some use the Ugaritic order (known from several abecedaries), others use the Hebrew order with the extra signs inserted at logical points, and yet others use an order based on modern criteria, either phonological or practical (i.e., the Roman order).
  1317.  
  1318. Aistleitner, Joseph. Wörterbuch der ugaritischen Sprache. Edited by Otto Eissfeldt. Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig Philologisch-historische Klasse 106.3. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1963.
  1319.  
  1320. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1321.  
  1322. Still a useful lexicographic work for the texts that were known when it was published.
  1323.  
  1324. Find this resource:
  1325.  
  1326.  
  1327. Cunchillos, J.-L., J.-P. Vita, and J.-Á. Zamora. A Concordance of Ugaritic Words. Translated by A. Lacadena and A. Castro. 5 vols. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2003.
  1328.  
  1329. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1330.  
  1331. An exhaustive concordance of Ugaritic words (in transcription, alphabetized on the Hebrew pattern). Organized strictly by written form, not by any other lexical category (such as basic nominal form, verbal form, or root). The English translation of the Spanish original (Gramática ugarítica elemental [Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas, 1995]) includes words from a few new texts, more critical notes, and a larger-format presentation.
  1332.  
  1333. Find this resource:
  1334.  
  1335.  
  1336. Gröndahl, Frauke. Die Personennamen der Texte aus Ugarit. Studia Pohl 1. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1967.
  1337.  
  1338. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1339.  
  1340. Personal names are classified as Semitic, Akkadian, Hurrian, or Anatolian. Indices both of alphabetic and syllabic spellings. An introduction to each section describes the principles of name formation. Despite its age, still the basic tool for the study of Ugaritic onomastics.
  1341.  
  1342. Find this resource:
  1343.  
  1344.  
  1345. Olmo Lete, Gregorio del, and Joaquín Sanmartín. A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition. 2d ed. 2 vols. Translated by W. G. E. Watson. Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section One: The Near and Middle East 67. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2004.
  1346.  
  1347. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1348.  
  1349. The Spanish version of this dictionary (two fascicles, 1996 and 2000) rapidly established itself as the principal lexical tool for Ugaritic studies, and the translation into English (now in its second edition) has made it even more accessible. Includes proper nouns. Alphabetized on the Roman pattern, with non-Roman letters inserted after the basic form, for example, {ḥ} and {ḫ} after {h}.
  1350.  
  1351. Find this resource:
  1352.  
  1353.  
  1354. Tropper, Josef. Kleines Wörterbuch des Ugaritischen. Elementa Linguarum Orientis 4. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2008.
  1355.  
  1356. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1357.  
  1358. Less comprehensive than Olmo Lete and Sanmartín 2004, but occasionally more reliable (in etymologies, e.g.).
  1359.  
  1360. Find this resource:
  1361.  
  1362.  
  1363. van Soldt, Wilfred H. The Topography of the City-State of Ugarit. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 324. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2005.
  1364.  
  1365. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1366.  
  1367. The standard work on the subject, originally published as a series of articles in Ugarit-Forschungen between 1996 and 1999, and here worked into a single presentation with additional chapters on the etymology and grammar of place names. The author attempts to localize place names within districts but only rarely accepts specific identifications with modern sites.
  1368.  
  1369. Find this resource:
  1370.  
  1371.  
  1372. Epigraphy
  1373. By far the most conveniently accessible collection of Ugaritic texts in transcription is Dietrich, et al. 1995, although details regarding the readings provided there have been occasionally questioned. For texts found prior to World War II, Herdner 1963 (cited in Mission de Ras Shamra) remains essential, and for texts found since 1986, the ongoing work of the epigraphic team of the Mission de Ras Shamra must be consulted (see, e.g., Yon and Arnaud 2001, cited in Ras Shamra-Ougarit). Various epigraphic improvements to the readings of Ugaritic texts, both old and new, have been published in the series Ras Shamra-Ougarit, the ultimate goal of this particular epigraphic project being the full reedition, based on new and systematic collations, of all the Ugaritic texts by literary genre (for a presentation of the project, see Bordreuil and Pardee 2008; volumes published thus far include Pardee 1985, Pardee 1988, and Pardee 2000). A more nuanced presentation of the various genres of Ugaritic texts is presented in Textual Studies.
  1374.  
  1375. Bordreuil, Pierre, and Dennis Pardee. “Découvertes épigraphiques anciennes et récentes en cunéiforme alphabétique.” In Ougarit au Bronze moyen et au Bronze récent: Actes du colloque international tenu à Lyon en novembre 2001, “Ougarit au IIe millénaire av. J.-C., état de recherches.” Edited by Yves Calvet and Marguerite Yon, 183–194. Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée 47. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Mediterranée, 2008.
  1376.  
  1377. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1378.  
  1379. Review (on pp. 183–186) of the need for and history of the Mission de Ras Shamra’s project to republish the Ugaritic corpus, based on renewed systematic collations and grouped by literary genre.
  1380.  
  1381. Find this resource:
  1382.  
  1383.  
  1384. Dietrich, Manfried, Oswald Loretz, and Joaquín Sanmartín. The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places. 2d ed. Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas und Mesopotamiens 8. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995.
  1385.  
  1386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1387.  
  1388. Enlarged and revised edition of the 1976 original. All known texts in alphabetic cuneiform script up to and including those from the 1973 season (see Bordreuil 1991 under Ras Shamra-Ougarit) are presented here in transcription. A third edition, containing more recently discovered texts, is planned.
  1389.  
  1390. Find this resource:
  1391.  
  1392.  
  1393. Pardee, Dennis. Les textes hippiatriques. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 2, Mémoire 53. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1985.
  1394.  
  1395. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1396.  
  1397. (Re)edition with new copies and photographs of four texts, including duplicates with variants, dealing with equine medicine.
  1398.  
  1399. Find this resource:
  1400.  
  1401.  
  1402. Pardee, Dennis. Les textes para-mythologiques de la 24e campagne (1961). Ras Shamra-Ougarit 4, Mémoire 77. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1988.
  1403.  
  1404. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1405.  
  1406. Reedition of nine literary texts published by Virolleaud (Courtois 1968, cited in Ugaritica) includes new copies, photographs, and a fuller commentary.
  1407.  
  1408. Find this resource:
  1409.  
  1410.  
  1411. Pardee, Dennis. Les textes rituels. 2 vols. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 12. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2000.
  1412.  
  1413. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1414.  
  1415. (Re)edition of eighty-two texts pertaining to ritual practice at Ugarit includes new copies, photographs, commentary, and charts of various ritual phenomena as they appear in these texts (deities, events, offerings, times, and places).
  1416.  
  1417. Find this resource:
  1418.  
  1419.  
  1420. Textual Referencing Systems
  1421. Scholarly access to the Ugaritic texts has been complicated by the fact that those entrusted by the Mission de Ras Shamra with the publication of the texts did not immediately establish a system of reference into which all discoveries could be fit. Thus, various systems have been devised over the years, some purely arbitrary. Because the versions of Gordon’s grammar since 1947 (see Gordon 1940 at Grammar) included transcriptions of all published texts and numbered them sequentially, those text numbers were extensively used for decades. Herdner’s Corpus (Herdner 1963, cited in Mission de Ras Shamra) provided a definitive edition with sequential numbering of Ugaritic tablets discovered before World War II (“CTA” numbers), but it was already out of date when it appeared, because new discoveries began appearing as soon as excavations were renewed after the war. The only truly comprehensive collections are Dietrich, et al. 1976 (“KTU” numbers), brought up to date in 1995 (see Dietrich, et al. 1995, cited under Epigraphy, “KTU2” numbers, also occasionally “CAT” numbers); and Cunchillos and Vita 1993 (“TU” numbers), brought up to date in Cunchillos, et al. 2003 (“UDB” numbers). In Bordreuil and Pardee 1989, a catalogue of inscribed objects (cited under Ras Shamra-Ougarit), the organizing principle could only be the sequential inventory numbers by which all excavated objects are identified (“RS” or “RIH” numbers, e.g., RS 1.001 = the first item inventoried from the first campaign), because its purpose was to cover all texts discovered at Ras Shamra, whatever the script and language. This last system must be said to be the least arbitrary and the most adaptable to future discoveries.
  1422.  
  1423. Cunchillos, Jesús-Luis, and Juan-Pablo Vita. Banco de datos filológicos semíticos noroccidentales: Part 1, Datos ugaríticos. Vol. 1, Textos ugaríticos. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1993.
  1424.  
  1425. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1426.  
  1427. Abbreviated “TU.” Based on the readings of Dietrich, et al. 1976 (“KTU”), but differing from the latter by including variant readings and critical notes.
  1428.  
  1429. Find this resource:
  1430.  
  1431.  
  1432. Cunchillos, J.-L., J.-P. Vita, and J.-Á. Zamora. The Texts of the Ugaritic Data Bank. Translated by A. Lacadena and A. Castro. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2003.
  1433.  
  1434. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1435.  
  1436. Abbreviated “UDB,” revised edition of Cunchillos and Vita 1993 (“TU”) and translated into English. Based on the readings of Dietrich, et al. 1995 (“KTU2,” cited at Epigraphy), but differing from the latter and from the earlier Spanish edition by including more variant readings and critical notes.
  1437.  
  1438. Find this resource:
  1439.  
  1440.  
  1441. Dietrich, M., O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartín. Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit einschließlich der keilalphabetischen Texte außerhalb Ugarits. Vol. 1, Transkription. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 24/1. Kevelaer, Germany: Butzon & Bercker, 1976.
  1442.  
  1443. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1444.  
  1445. Abbreviated “KTU.” Transcription of all Ugaritic texts known at the time, organized in generic sections (religious texts, letters, legal texts, administrative texts, school texts, etc.). Based on collation, many new readings offered. Some controversy surrounded the quality of the new readings, but nevertheless a great step forward.
  1446.  
  1447. Find this resource:
  1448.  
  1449.  
  1450. Textual Studies
  1451. In order to better illustrate the full richness, variety, and particularities of the Ras Shamra epigraphic corpus as a whole, this section is organized according to literary and textual genre. Furthermore, the particular way in which the various textual genres are presented here (the Ras Shamra textual corpus is here presented under two rubrics: Traditional Texts, reflecting scribal education, scholarly literature, and poetry, and Ephemeral and Documentary Texts, consisting of prose documents reflecting everyday concerns) is based directly on A. Leo Oppenheim’s classic dichotomy, developed for the interpretation of the cuneiform texts of Mesopotamia. From a methodological point of view, it can be argued that a corpus such as the Ras Sharma (and particularly the Ugaritic) epigraphic corpus, numbering only a few thousand texts, does not provide a wide or deep enough sampling to allow for the elaboration of a sophisticated and well-founded methodological approach derived from internal data. In such cases, one cannot avoid the use of analogical methodological approaches drawn from neighboring areas, especially those that had a considerable influence. As Simon Parker recognized some decades ago, disciplines such as Ugaritology that derive from a very “limited corpus of texts, using languages and literary genres very different from those with which we are familiar, and originating in a society very different from our own” should depend for their methodology on “those (related disciplines) which are richest in materials, where methods can be well tested and further refined” (Parker 1979–1980, p. 9). This is the basis for the explicit use of an Assyriological model here. The fact that in the 13th century BCE the scribes of Ugarit were schooled both in the traditional Mesopotamian and the local Ugaritic writing systems reinforces the validity of such an approach.
  1452.  
  1453. Parker, Simon B. “Some Methodological Principles in Ugaritic Philology.” Maarav 2 (1979–1980): 7–41.
  1454.  
  1455. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1456.  
  1457. Methodological overview, stressing the importance of paying particular attention to literary genre.
  1458.  
  1459. Find this resource:
  1460.  
  1461.  
  1462. Traditional Texts
  1463. For Oppenheim 1977, the “stream” of traditional texts consisted of what the student scribes copied during their years of training; this was not limited to the elementary exercises that drilled sign forms and the proper writing of words, or the model texts that drilled the correct structuring of various genres, but included belletristics, that body of literary and esoteric knowledge considered as the necessary province of any fully qualified scribe. Wilfred van Soldt has pointed out the appropriateness of applying this “educational” setting of traditional texts to the Ugaritic religious and literary texts (van Soldt 1995). Whatever the other functions of the Ugaritic literary texts and “scientific” manuals might have been, it is compelling to consider them both first and foremost as elements of a scribal curriculum. Scribal education at Ras Shamra more or less followed the traditional Mesopotamian model: the standard study is van Soldt 1995; for the Ugaritic corpus, see Hawley 2008.
  1464.  
  1465. Hawley, Robert. “On the Alphabetic Scribal Curriculum at Ugarit.” In Proceedings of the 51st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Held at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago July 18–22, 2005. Edited by Robert D. Biggs, Jennie Myers, and Martha T. Roth, 57–67. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 62. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2008.
  1466.  
  1467. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1468.  
  1469. A synthetic study of how alphabetic scribal training at Ugarit was conceived and organized, in terms of structure and content. Conclusions: the structure of the Ugaritic scribal curriculum was based on the model of the Mesopotamian scribal arts as cultivated at Ugarit itself, but the content of the alphabetic curriculum was genuinely local.
  1470.  
  1471. Find this resource:
  1472.  
  1473.  
  1474. Oppenheim, A. Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Rev. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.
  1475.  
  1476. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1477.  
  1478. For the dichotomy between texts that reflect the “stream of tradition” and ephemeral texts that reflect everyday life, see pp. 13–14.
  1479.  
  1480. Find this resource:
  1481.  
  1482.  
  1483. van Soldt, Wilfred. “Babylonian Lexical, Religious and Literary Texts and Scribal Education at Ugarit and Its Implications for the Alphabetic Literary Texts.” In Ugarit: Ein ostmediterranes Kulturzentrum im Alten Orient: Ergebnisse und Perspektiven der Forschung. Vol. 1, Ugarit und seinem altorientalische Umwelt. Edited by Manfried Dietrich and Oswald Loretz, 171–212. Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas 7. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995.
  1484.  
  1485. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1486.  
  1487. The standard study of the “traditional texts” of Ugarit.
  1488.  
  1489. Find this resource:
  1490.  
  1491.  
  1492. School Texts
  1493. The Ras Shamra Sumero-Akkadian texts that derive from the context of scribal education are much more numerous than their counterparts in Ugaritic. This can be explained not only by the fact that the sign inventory for Mesopotamian cuneiform (several hundred signs) was much more complex than that for alphabetic Ugaritic (thirty signs) but also by the fact that the scribes of Ugarit were obliged to learn Sumerian and Akkadian as foreign languages, while the Ugaritic language was their own vernacular. For global surveys of the corpus of school texts in Mesopotamian cuneiform, see Krecher 1969 and especially van Soldt 1995 (cited in Traditional Texts). For those in alphabetic cuneiform, see Dietrich and Loretz 1988; the best known of these are the abecedaries (Hawley 2008).
  1494.  
  1495. Dietrich, Manfried, and Oswald Loretz. “Die Schultexte mit dem langen Standardalphabet und mit Elementen aus dem Kurzalphabet.” In Die Keilalphabete: Die phönizisch-kanaanäischen und altarabischen Alphabete in Ugarit. By Manfried Dietrich and Oswald Loretz, 179–199. Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas 1. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1988.
  1496.  
  1497. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1498.  
  1499. Convenient survey of the Ugarit school texts.
  1500.  
  1501. Find this resource:
  1502.  
  1503.  
  1504. Hawley, Robert. “Apprendre à écrire à Ougarit: Une typologie des abécédaires.” In D’Ougarit au Jérusalem: Recueil d’études épigraphiques et archéologiques offerts à Pierre Bordreuil. Edited by Carole Roche, 215–232. Orient et Méditerranée 2. Paris: De Boccard, 2008.
  1505.  
  1506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1507.  
  1508. A typology of the extant corpus of Ugaritic abecedaries, in terms of tablet format, mise-en-page, and pedagogical function.
  1509.  
  1510. Find this resource:
  1511.  
  1512.  
  1513. Krecher, Joachim. “Schreiberschulung in Ugarit: Die Tradition von Listen und sumerischen Texten.” Ugarit-Forschungen 1 (1969): 131–158.
  1514.  
  1515. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1516.  
  1517. Dated, but still a useful list of the Mesopotamian school texts.
  1518.  
  1519. Find this resource:
  1520.  
  1521.  
  1522. Learned Compendia
  1523. In the Bronze Age Levant as well as in Mesopotamia and Anatolia in that period, there existed a scholarly tradition that bears witness to what might be considered the “science” of that period (Rochberg 1999). The characteristic contents of such texts include the observation of natural phenomena, conclusions about the future (predictions or prescriptions) deduced from these observations according to a particular “logic,” and finally the thematic organization and presentation of these observation-deduction units (usually in protasis-apodosis form: “If . . . then . . .”) in the form of scholarly compendia. Examples of such technical manuals are found at Ras Shamra in both cuneiform writing systems. The Akkadian omen compendia were published by Arnaud (in Arnaud 2007, cited under Sumerian); for the Ugaritic omen compendia, see Dietrich and Loretz 1990; for the hippiatric texts, Pardee 1985 (cited in Epigraphy); and for the inscribed liver models (on clay and ivory), Dietrich and Loretz 1990 and Gachet and Pardee 2001. For the Ugaritic “scientific” tradition as a whole, see Pardee 2001.
  1524.  
  1525. Dietrich, Manfried, and Oswald Loretz. Mantik in Ugarit: Keilalphabetische Texte der Opferschau, Omensammlungen, Nekromantie. Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas 3. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1990.
  1526.  
  1527. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1528.  
  1529. Useful survey of the Ugaritic divinatory texts, stressing their status as translations from Akkadian.
  1530.  
  1531. Find this resource:
  1532.  
  1533.  
  1534. Gachet, Jacqueline, and Dennis Pardee. “Les ivoires inscrits du palais royal (fouille 1955).” In Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Edited by Marguerite Yon and Daniel Arnaud, 191–230. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  1535.  
  1536. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1537.  
  1538. Identification and republication of the inscribed ivory liver models from the royal palace.
  1539.  
  1540. Find this resource:
  1541.  
  1542.  
  1543. Pardee, Dennis. “Ugaritic Science.” In The World of the Aramaeans. Vol. 3, Studies in Language and Literature in Honor of Paul-Eugène Dion. Edited by P. M. Michèle Daviau, John W. Wevers, and Michael Weigl, 223–254. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplemental Series 326. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001.
  1544.  
  1545. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1546.  
  1547. Brief but thorough treatment of the Ugaritic “scientific” corpus. The explanation of these texts as (direct) translations from Akkadian is explored critically.
  1548.  
  1549. Find this resource:
  1550.  
  1551.  
  1552. Rochberg, Francesca. “Empiricism in Babylonian Omen Texts and the Classification of Mesopotamian Divination as Science.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 119 (1999): 559–569.
  1553.  
  1554. DOI: 10.2307/604834Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1555.  
  1556. Reconsiders the “scientific” status of Mesopotamian divination.
  1557.  
  1558. Find this resource:
  1559.  
  1560.  
  1561. Literature and Poetry
  1562. Literary and poetic compositions—though comparatively few in number—are attested in both cuneiform scripts. The few dozen literary texts in Mesopotamian cuneiform derive from the private archives of scribes; some of these works were imported, others were copied locally, but all have parallels elsewhere in the broader Mesopotamian “stream of tradition” as cultivated throughout the Ancient Near East in the 2nd millennium BCE (see above all, Courtois 1968 at Ugaritica, Arnaud 2007 at Sumerian, and van Soldt 1995 at Traditional Texts). Although much of the fame of Ugarit is due to them, the preserved poetic compositions in Ugaritic are also few in number (several dozen). For a presentation of Ugaritic poetry, see Caquot 1979 and Watson 1999. Because of the large amount of scholarship devoted to these Ugaritic poetic texts, and especially the myths, a more detailed treatment is provided in the following sections (at Major Ugaritic Myths and Legends, Other Ugaritic Mythological Texts, and Translations of the Ugaritic Myths). For a comparative study of the two poetic corpora from Ugarit, see Dietrich 1996.
  1563.  
  1564. Caquot, André. “La littérature ugaritique.” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 9. Edited by Henri Cazelles and André Feuillet, cols. 1361–1417. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1979.
  1565.  
  1566. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1567.  
  1568. Slightly dated, but still an extremely useful and thorough overview of Ugaritic literature in the broad sense.
  1569.  
  1570. Find this resource:
  1571.  
  1572.  
  1573. Dietrich, Manfried. “Aspects of the Babylonian Impact on Ugaritic Literature and Religion.” In Ugarit, Religion and Culture: Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Ugarit, Religion and Culture, Edinburgh, July 1994, Essays Presented in Honour of Professor John C. L. Gibson. Edited by N. Wyatt, W. G. E. Watson, and J. B. Lloyd, 33–47. Ugaritisch-Biblische Literatur 12. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1996.
  1574.  
  1575. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1576.  
  1577. Comparative study of the Ugaritic and Sumero-Akkadian literary texts from Ras Shamra. For Dietrich, the reason for the minimal Babylonian influence on Ugaritic literature is that the latter developed in relative isolation and the former came quite late.
  1578.  
  1579. Find this resource:
  1580.  
  1581.  
  1582. Watson, Wilfred G. E. “Ugaritic Poetry.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 165–192. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  1583.  
  1584. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1585.  
  1586. Survey of the structural characteristics of Ugaritic poetry.
  1587.  
  1588. Find this resource:
  1589.  
  1590.  
  1591. Major Ugaritic Myths and Legends
  1592. By far the best-attested (and best-known) type of Ugaritic literature is that which consists of narrative poetry recounting the acts of the gods or the interaction between gods and humans (for a detailed survey, see Caquot 1979 at Literature and Poetry). The bibliography here is immense (see Comprehensive Bibliographies; the works cited in Translations of the Ugaritic Myths all contain further bibliographies), and the references that follow naturally represent only a fraction of the scholarly production, meant to point out some of the more influential studies. The most famous of the Ugaritic literary texts are the three “cycles” of tablets copied (or composed) by the scribe ʾIlimilku. Six of these are devoted to the myth of Baʿlu (see Smith 1994, Smith and Pitard 2009), three are devoted to the epic of Kirta (Ginsberg 1946, Gray 1964, Parker 1989), and three are devoted to the legend of Aqhat (Margalit 1989, Parker 1989, Wright 2001); all twelve tablets were discovered on the acropolis during the first five seasons of excavations. Caquot and Dalix 2001 contains the publication of the only tablet of ʾIlimilku not found on the acropolis.
  1593.  
  1594. Caquot, André, and Anne-Sophie Dalix. “Un texte mythico-magique.” In Études ougaritiques. Vol. 1, Travaux 1985–1995. Edited by Marguerite Yon and Daniel Arnaud, 393–405. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 14. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2001.
  1595.  
  1596. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1597.  
  1598. Editio princeps of a fragmentary text found in the House of Urtenu that bears a fragmentary colophon of ʾIlimilku, the scribe of the three major mythological cycles.
  1599.  
  1600. Find this resource:
  1601.  
  1602.  
  1603. Ginsberg, Harold Louis. The Legend of King Keret: A Canaanite Epic of the Bronze Age. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research Supplementary Studies 2–3. New Haven, CT: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1946.
  1604.  
  1605. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1606.  
  1607. Though Ginsberg was one of the most influential of the early Ugaritologists, most of his contributions were in the form of articles. This monograph is very succinct, yet for its time a masterful treatment (introduction, text, translation, commentary) of all three tablets of the Kirta epic.
  1608.  
  1609. Find this resource:
  1610.  
  1611.  
  1612. Gray, John. The Krt Text in the Literature of Ras Shamra: A Social Myth of Ancient Canaan. 2d ed. Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui 5. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1964.
  1613.  
  1614. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1615.  
  1616. Expanded version of the 1955 first edition, taking into account more recent discoveries and interpretations. Gray was more adventuresome in etymological explanations, particularly from the Arabic, than was Ginsberg.
  1617.  
  1618. Find this resource:
  1619.  
  1620.  
  1621. Margalit, Baruch. The Ugaritic Poem of Aqht: Text, Translation, Commentary. Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 182. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1989.
  1622.  
  1623. DOI: 10.1515/9783110863482Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1624.  
  1625. Full-scale treatment of the ʾAqhatu cycle as a literary work of art. The attempt at reconstruction of damaged words and passages must be considered of dubious value.
  1626.  
  1627. Find this resource:
  1628.  
  1629.  
  1630. Parker, Simon B. The Pre-Biblical Narrative Tradition: Essays on the Ugaritic Poems Keret and Aqhat. Society of Biblical Literature Resources for Biblical Study 24. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989.
  1631.  
  1632. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1633.  
  1634. Poetic and literary interpretations of the two mythological cycles, including some source-critical hypotheses of a biblical type.
  1635.  
  1636. Find this resource:
  1637.  
  1638.  
  1639. Smith, Mark S. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle. Vol. 1, Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU 1.1–1.2. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 55. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1994.
  1640.  
  1641. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1642.  
  1643. A full-scale commentary on the first two tablets of the Baʿlu cycle, with comprehensive anterior bibliography.
  1644.  
  1645. Find this resource:
  1646.  
  1647.  
  1648. Smith, Mark S., and Wayne T. Pitard. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle. Vol. 2, Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU/CAT 1.3–1.4. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 114. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2009.
  1649.  
  1650. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1651.  
  1652. Full commentary on the third and fourth tablets of the Baʿlu cycle; includes readings based on collation and new photographs (on an accompanying DVD).
  1653.  
  1654. Find this resource:
  1655.  
  1656.  
  1657. Wright, David P. Ritual in Narrative: The Dynamics of Feasting, Mourning, and Retaliation Rites in the Ugaritic Tale of Aqhat. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2001.
  1658.  
  1659. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1660.  
  1661. Literary and anthropological study of the various passages in the ʾAqhatu cycle, with special attention paid to episodes that might be understood as “ritual” scenes and their potential significance in contemporary Ugaritian society.
  1662.  
  1663. Find this resource:
  1664.  
  1665.  
  1666. Other Ugaritic Mythological Texts
  1667. While the better-known oeuvre of ʾIlimilku was set down on large multicolumn tablets and in multitablet series, the other known Ugaritic mythological texts are generally preserved on single tablets (with single-column mise-en-page). The best known of these were also discovered during the early years: the myth of the birth of “Dawn and Dusk” (Xella 1973, Smith 2006) and the lyric presentation of the marriage of Yariḫu and Nikkalu (Herrmann 1968, Pardee 2010). A more sizeable and arguably more important collection of myths came to light in 1961 (Virolleaud 1968; see also Pardee 1988 at Epigraphy). It has recently become clear that several, though probably not all, of these “minor” myths were copied (or composed) by the scribe Ṯabʾilu (Pardee 2008).
  1668.  
  1669. Herrmann, Wolfram. Yariḫ und Nikkal und der Preis der Kuṯarāt-Göttinnen: Ein kultisch-magischer Text aus Ras Schamra. Beihefte sur Zeitschrift der Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 106. Berlin: Töpelmann, 1968.
  1670.  
  1671. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1672.  
  1673. Interprets the text (RS 5.194 = CTA 24), a lyric text with mythological motifs set down on a single tablet, as magical in function.
  1674.  
  1675. Find this resource:
  1676.  
  1677.  
  1678. Pardee, Dennis. “Deux tablettes ougaritiques de la main d’un même scribe, trouvées sur deux sites distincts: RS 19.039 et RIH 98/02.” Semitica et Classica 1 (2008): 9–38.
  1679.  
  1680. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1681.  
  1682. The first of a series of important studies devoted to the oeuvre of the scribe Ṯabʾilu.
  1683.  
  1684. Find this resource:
  1685.  
  1686.  
  1687. Pardee, Dennis. “Un chant nuptial ougaritique (RS 5.194 [CTA 24]): Nouvelle étude épigraphique suivie de remarques philologiques et littéraires.” Semitica et Classica 3 (2010): 13–46.
  1688.  
  1689. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1690.  
  1691. Reedition of the song in honor of the marriage of Yariḫu and Nikkalu, placing it in the context of the oeuvre of the scribe Ṯabʾilu.
  1692.  
  1693. Find this resource:
  1694.  
  1695.  
  1696. Smith, Mark S. The Rituals and Myths of the Feast of the Goodly Gods of KTU/CAT 1.23: Royal Constructions of Opposition, Intersection, Integration, and Domination. Society of Biblical Literature Resources for Biblical Study 51. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006.
  1697.  
  1698. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1699.  
  1700. An updating of Xella 1973 for the 21st century.
  1701.  
  1702. Find this resource:
  1703.  
  1704.  
  1705. Virolleaud, Charles. “Les nouveaux textes mythologiques et liturgiques de Ras Shamra (XXIVe Campagne, 1961).” In Ugaritica V: Nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des archives et bibliothèques privées d’Ugarit; Commentaires des textes historiques, première partie. Edited by J. C. Courtois, 545–595. Mission de Ras Shamra 16, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 80. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1968.
  1706.  
  1707. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1708.  
  1709. The editio princeps of nine mythological texts and four ritual texts (for Pardee’s reedition of the mythological texts, see Pardee 1988, cited under Epigraphy).
  1710.  
  1711. Find this resource:
  1712.  
  1713.  
  1714. Xella, Paolo. Il mito di Šḥr e Šlm: Saggio sulla mitologia ugaritica. Studi Semitici 44. Rome: Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente, 1973.
  1715.  
  1716. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1717.  
  1718. Text, translation, and commentary, the latter from a history-of-religions perspective, of one of the most important of the mythological texts set down on a single tablet.
  1719.  
  1720. Find this resource:
  1721.  
  1722.  
  1723. Translations of the Ugaritic Myths
  1724. Translations of the Ugaritic texts have tended to be concentrated on the mythological texts, for which versions exist in a large number of modern languages. The nonliterary texts, considered to be of less interest for nonspecialists, have not been so widely disseminated in translation. Full-scale commentaries, on the model of those produced for biblical or classical works, are even rarer. English-language translations of the myths are the most numerous (Gordon 1949 and Ginsberg 1950 are the “classics”; more recent works include Parker 1997, Pardee 1997, and Wyatt 1998), but well-researched and influential translations also exist in French (Caquot, et al. 1974; Caquot, et al. 1989), German (Dietrich and Loretz 1997), Spanish (Olmo Lete 1981), and Italian (Xella 1982), among other languages.
  1725.  
  1726. Caquot, André, Maurice Sznycer, and Andrée Herdner. Textes ougaritiques: Introduction, traduction, commentaire. Vol. 1, Mythes et légendes. Littératures Anciennes du Proche-Orient 7. Paris: Le Cerf, 1974.
  1727.  
  1728. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1729.  
  1730. The classic French-language translation of the major mythological texts.
  1731.  
  1732. Find this resource:
  1733.  
  1734.  
  1735. Caquot, André, Jean-Michel de Tarragon, and Jesús-Luis Cunchillos. Textes ougaritiques: Introduction, traduction, commentaire. Vol. 2, Textes religieux, rituels, correspondance. Littératures Anciennes du Proche-Orient 14. Paris: Le Cerf, 1989.
  1736.  
  1737. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1738.  
  1739. The second volume, along with Caquot, et al. 1974, of French-language translations, including the minor mythological texts and fragments as well as the rituals and the letters.
  1740.  
  1741. Find this resource:
  1742.  
  1743.  
  1744. Dietrich, Manfried, and Oswald Loretz. “Mythen und Epen in ugaritischer Sprache.” In Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Vol. 3, Weisheitstexte, Mythen und Epen, pt. 6, Mythen und Epen IV. Edited by Otto Kaiser, 1090–1369. Gütersloh, Germany: Mohn, 1997.
  1745.  
  1746. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1747.  
  1748. Mythological texts only; translated with notes by the editors of Ugarit-Forschungen.
  1749.  
  1750. Find this resource:
  1751.  
  1752.  
  1753. Ginsberg, H. L. “Ugaritic Myths, Epics, and Legends.” In Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Edited by James B. Pritchard, 129–155. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950.
  1754.  
  1755. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1756.  
  1757. For decades the standard English-language translation of the principal mythological texts. Still authoritative.
  1758.  
  1759. Find this resource:
  1760.  
  1761.  
  1762. Gordon, Cyrus H. Ugaritic Literature: A Comprehensive Translation of the Poetic and Prose Texts. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1949.
  1763.  
  1764. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1765.  
  1766. The first attempt by a major scholar of the Ugaritic texts to produce a comprehensive translation.
  1767.  
  1768. Find this resource:
  1769.  
  1770.  
  1771. Olmo Lete, Gregorio del. Mitos y leyendas de Canaan según la tradición de Ugarit: Textos, version y estudio. Madrid: Ediciones Cristiandad, 1981.
  1772.  
  1773. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1774.  
  1775. The standard Spanish-language translation of the mythological texts; extensive introductions; brief notes to the translations.
  1776.  
  1777. Find this resource:
  1778.  
  1779.  
  1780. Pardee, Dennis. “Ugaritic Myths.” In The Context of Scripture. Vol. 1, Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World. Edited by William W. Hallo, 241–283. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1997.
  1781.  
  1782. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1783.  
  1784. Pardee’s thoroughly annotated translations of the major Ugaritic myths and epics. See also “Epic” in the same volume (pp. 333–356).
  1785.  
  1786. Find this resource:
  1787.  
  1788.  
  1789. Parker, Simon B., ed. Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Writings from the Ancient World 9. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1997.
  1790.  
  1791. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1792.  
  1793. Mythological texts only; annotated translations by several scholars of high repute.
  1794.  
  1795. Find this resource:
  1796.  
  1797.  
  1798. Xella, Paolo. Gli antenati di Dio: Divinità e miti della tradizione di Canaan. Verona, Italy: Essedue, 1982.
  1799.  
  1800. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1801.  
  1802. The standard Italian-language translation of the mythological texts; brief introductions; no notes to the translations.
  1803.  
  1804. Find this resource:
  1805.  
  1806.  
  1807. Wyatt, N. Religious Texts from Ugarit: The Words of Ilimilku and His Colleagues. Biblical Seminar 53. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.
  1808.  
  1809. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1810.  
  1811. Annotated translations of the mythological texts.
  1812.  
  1813. Find this resource:
  1814.  
  1815.  
  1816. Ephemeral and Documentary Texts
  1817. If the various literary types discussed under Traditional Texts play an important role in scribal education, the four types of Ugaritic prose texts discussed here provide insight into the mundane day-to-day activities of the scribes of Ugarit, generally performed in the service of the royal palace. As might be expected, the prose texts recovered from Ras Shamra—both in Ugaritic and Akkadian (which generally reflect the royal management and administration of the kingdom, its people, and its natural resources)—are far more numerous than the scholarly, literary, and poetic texts (which derive from the far more restricted world of scribal education and belletristics). The textual genres concerned here include legal contracts and other juridical documents (several hundred, the vast majority in Akkadian); letters (several hundred, a large percentage in Akkadian); administrative lists and accounts (over a thousand, mostly in Ugaritic); and cultic memoranda (about a hundred, mostly in Ugaritic). Important studies of the various types of Ugaritic prose include Parker 1970, which is the author’s Johns Hopkins dissertation, and Dijkstra’s more recent article (Dijkstra 1999). The best study and collection of Akkadian prose texts from Ras Shamra is Lackenbacher 2002 (cited under Studies of Ras Shamra Akkadian Texts).
  1818.  
  1819. Dijkstra, Meindert. “Ugaritic Prose.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 140–164. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  1820.  
  1821. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1822.  
  1823. Relatively recent survey of the Ugaritic prose texts.
  1824.  
  1825. Find this resource:
  1826.  
  1827.  
  1828. Parker, Simon B. “Studies in the Grammar of Ugaritic Prose Texts.” PhD diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1970.
  1829.  
  1830. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1831.  
  1832. Long the standard reference for the corpus of Ugaritic prose texts and their grammatical characteristics; now dated but still useful.
  1833.  
  1834. Find this resource:
  1835.  
  1836.  
  1837. Legal Texts
  1838. Like most of their neighbors, the Ugaritians considered social justice—often expressed metaphorically as the task of protecting “the widow and the orphan” (the most vulnerable elements in ancient society)—to be one of the central obligations of the ruling monarch. Indeed, in roughly contemporary Babylonia and Assyria and in the Hittite Empire, this is aptly illustrated by the promulgation of written law collections. No such Ugaritic “law code” has yet been discovered at Ras Shamra; however, hundreds of legal contracts and other juridical documents have been found that bear witness—albeit indirectly—to the local legal traditions of the kingdom (Márquez Rowe 2006). In general, while official law collections represent an idealized vision of legal norms (such texts are, after all, vehicles of royal propaganda), legal contracts on the other hand often represent attempts to exploit or even avoid such constraints. Westbrook 2003 expresses this well: “A contract is not direct evidence of legal norms but of the reactions of the parties to those norms. A contract seeks to exploit laws, it may even try to evade laws, but (except perhaps for international treaties) it cannot make or alter laws by itself” (p. 11). Thus, the preserved corpus of legal texts from Ras Shamra does not so much reflect established legal norms (even idealized ones) but rather the application (or nonapplication, as the case may be) of those legal norms, which themelves remain “a shadowy presence behind the terms of the individual transaction” (ibid.). The redaction of legal contracts in the kingdom of Ugarit was done almost exclusively in Akkadian, the long-established and internationally “official” vehicle for such texts in the ancient Near East (Lackenbacher 2000, van Soldt 2010). Sometime in the 13th century BCE, however, an attempt was made, probably with royal sponsorship and probably concurrent with the broader attempt to create a genuinely local Ugaritic written tradition, to put legal documents in the local Ugaritic language and script (Kienast 1979, Pardee and Hawley 2010). It would appear, however, that this “nationalist” effort was ultimately unsuccessful; the proportions of the preserved legal corpus speak for themselves: about three hundred legal texts in Akkadian versus a few dozen in Ugaritic. As might be expected, the structure of the juridical documents from Ugarit is highly formulaic; one must note, however, that the use of Akkadian by the local scribes was often colored by the local vernacular.
  1839.  
  1840. Kienast, Burkhart. “Rechtsurkunden in ugaritischer Sprache.” Ugarit-Forschungen 11 (1979): 431–452.
  1841.  
  1842. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1843.  
  1844. Long the standard study of Ugaritic legal texts; dated but still useful.
  1845.  
  1846. Find this resource:
  1847.  
  1848.  
  1849. Lackenbacher, Sylvie. “Les textes judiciaires d’Ugarit.” In Rendre la justice en Mésopotamie: Archives judiciaires du Proche-Orient ancien (IIIe–Ier millénaires avant J.-C.). Edited by Francis Joannès, 163–169. Saint-Denis, France: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, 2000.
  1850.  
  1851. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1852.  
  1853. A brief but careful presentation of the Akkadian juridical texts from Ugarit, by one of the epigraphers of the Mission de Ras Shamra.
  1854.  
  1855. Find this resource:
  1856.  
  1857.  
  1858. Márquez Rowe, Ignacio. The Royal Deeds of Ugarit: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Diplomatics. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 335. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2006.
  1859.  
  1860. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1861.  
  1862. A detailed and careful study of the documents effecting or sanctioning by royal authority the legal transfer of ownership.
  1863.  
  1864. Find this resource:
  1865.  
  1866.  
  1867. Pardee, Dennis, and Robert Hawley. “Les textes juridiques en langue ougaritique.” In Trois millénaires de formulaires juridiques. Edited by Sophie Démare-Lafont and André Lemaire, 125–140. École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sciences Historiques et Philologiques 2, Hautes Études Orientales, Moyen et Proche-Orient 4/48. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 2010.
  1868.  
  1869. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1870.  
  1871. A more recent attempt to define the corpus of legal texts in Ugaritic, including administrative texts that make explicit allusion to a contract.
  1872.  
  1873. Find this resource:
  1874.  
  1875.  
  1876. van Soldt, Wilfred H. “The Akkadian Legal Texts from Ugarit.” In Trois millénaires de formulaires juridiques. Edited by Sophie Démare-Lafont and André Lemaire, 85–124. École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sciences Historiques et Philologiques 2, Hautes Études Orientales, Moyen et Proche-Orient 4/48. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 2010.
  1877.  
  1878. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1879.  
  1880. A thorough description in formal and thematic terms of the corpus of legal texts in Akkadian.
  1881.  
  1882. Find this resource:
  1883.  
  1884.  
  1885. Westbrook, Raymond. “The Character of Ancient Near Eastern Law.” In A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law. Vol. 1. Edited by Raymond Westbrook, 1–90. Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 1, The Near and Middle East 72. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2003.
  1886.  
  1887. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1888.  
  1889. A well-informed and useful general presentation of ancient Near Eastern legal texts.
  1890.  
  1891. Find this resource:
  1892.  
  1893.  
  1894. Letters
  1895. With Akkadian being the international language of diplomacy in the 2nd millennium BCE, the linguistic distribution of the epistolary corpus from Ugarit comes as no surprise: over three hundred preserved letters in Akkadian (Huehnergard 1999) versus about one hundred in Ugaritic (Cunchillos 1989, Pardee 2002). The factors that conditioned the Ugaritian scribes’ choice of Akkadian or Ugaritic as the language of redaction seem straightforward enough: Akkadian was generally used for international correspondence and Ugaritic for domestic. Yet, while the preceding statement is largely accurate, it is also occasionally simplistically caricatured. Exceptions include several examples of Akkadian used for business correspondence between Ugaritians, and even for correspondence between family members. Conversely, of the roughly forty more or less complete Ugaritic letters (many more are fragmentary), more than 25 percent involve some form of international correspondence (with, for example, Tyre, Egypt, Ḫatti, and Alašiya). True, some of these may be drafts (prior to translation into Akkadian) of outgoing letters, or even archival copies of letters received (translated from Akkadian), but these scenarios are also problematic in many respects, and it is clear that the actual situation is somewhat more complex. Another similarity with the juridical corpus (see Legal Texts) is the highly stereotyped and formulaic structure of the epistolary corpus (Hawley 2008). Many different themes are evoked in the letters (Ahl 1973); foremost among them is the establishment and maintenance of good relations, another reflection of the fundamentally diplomatic nature and function of this textual genre.
  1896.  
  1897. Ahl, Sally. “Epistolary Texts from Ugarit: Structural and Lexical Correspondences in Epistles in Akkadian and Ugaritic.” PhD diss., Brandeis University, 1973.
  1898.  
  1899. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1900.  
  1901. In many ways a pioneering holistic study of the epistolary texts from Ugarit.
  1902.  
  1903. Find this resource:
  1904.  
  1905.  
  1906. Cunchillos, Jesús-Luis. “Correspondance.” In Textes ougaritiques: Introduction, traduction, commentaire. Vol. 2, Textes religieux, rituels, correspondance. Edited by André Caquot, Jean-Michel de Tarragon, and Jesús-Luis Cunchillos, 239–421. Littératures Anciennes du Proche-Orient 14. Paris: Le Cerf, 1989.
  1907.  
  1908. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1909.  
  1910. Annotated translations of the better-preserved letters in the Ugaritic language up through the seventeenth campaign (1953). Continues on pp. 446–478.
  1911.  
  1912. Find this resource:
  1913.  
  1914.  
  1915. Hawley, Robert. “Textes épistolaires ougaritiques: Préliminaires à une nouvelle étude.” In Ougarit au Bronze moyen et au Bronze récent. Edited by Yves Calvet and Marguerite Yon, 195–225. Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée 47. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2008.
  1916.  
  1917. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1918.  
  1919. Updated presentation of the corpus of Ugaritic letters, including remarks on the epistolary formulae and comparisons with messenger formulae in the mythological texts.
  1920.  
  1921. Find this resource:
  1922.  
  1923.  
  1924. Huehnergard, John. “The Akkadian Letters.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 375–389. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  1925.  
  1926. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1927.  
  1928. Relatively recent survey of the Akkadian letters from Ras Shamra.
  1929.  
  1930. Find this resource:
  1931.  
  1932.  
  1933. Pardee, Dennis. “Ugaritic Letters.” In The Context of Scripture. Vol. 3, Archival Documents from the Biblical World. Edited by William W. Hallo, 87–116. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2002.
  1934.  
  1935. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1936.  
  1937. Annotated translations of the better-attested letters in the Ugaritic language, forty-two in all, discovered through the 1996 campaign; the original texts are not provided, but the translations reflect collations of the originals.
  1938.  
  1939. Find this resource:
  1940.  
  1941.  
  1942. Administrative Lists and Accounts
  1943. Although texts of an economic, administrative nature constitute the majority of the Ras Shamra epigraphic corpus (about one tablet in two is administrative), these texts have nevertheless (until relatively recently) long been treated as the neglected stepchildren of Ugaritic studies: poorly edited, seldom studied or translated (the work of Michael Heltzer being one notable exception; for a later example, see Heltzer 1999), and inadequately represented in the grammars (this latter situation has been remedied to the extent possible in Tropper 2000, cited under Grammar, even though full representation of the data requires that the text editions be reliable, which is still a desideratum). Since the subject matter treated in these lists and laconic accounts is of a domestic nature, it is unsurprising that the vast majority of the administrative corpus is in the Ugaritic script and language (over one thousand tablets and fragments). A smaller percentage, though still a significant number (over one hundred), are written in Mesopotamian syllabic cuneiform and thus apparently in the Akkadian language, though the exact status of these texts as being written (and read) “in Akkadian” may be legitimately questioned (Roche 2008, Roche 2010). Presented here as a single text type, the administrative corpus is in fact quite heterogeneous, including lists of several different sorts but also tables and various types of accounts (Sznycer 1979, Sanmartín 1995, McGeough 2007). As a whole, this corpus provides the most direct evidence of how the palace administration managed the internal affairs of the kingdom, and especially the natural and human resources (Heltzer 1982), and, as such, these banal administrative texts are of obvious importance for any attempt at reconstructing the economy and society of ancient Ugarit (see Socioeconomic History).
  1944.  
  1945. Heltzer, Michael. The Internal Organization of the Kingdom of Ugarit: Royal Service-System, Taxes, Royal Economy, Army and Administration. Wiesbaden, Germany: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1982.
  1946.  
  1947. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1948.  
  1949. Heltzer was working on the Ugaritic administrative texts when few others were interested. This volume is one of several studies published by Heltzer since 1980 on the administration of Ugarit, always conceived according to the “two sector model” (see Socioeconomic History). Heltzer’s work has been influential but is often marred by material error.
  1950.  
  1951. Find this resource:
  1952.  
  1953.  
  1954. Heltzer, Michael. “The Economy of Ugarit.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 423–454. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  1955.  
  1956. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1957.  
  1958. A relatively recent reconstruction of the economy of Ugarit, by a scholar who spent much of his life studying it.
  1959.  
  1960. Find this resource:
  1961.  
  1962.  
  1963. McGeough, Kevin M. Exchange Relationships at Ugarit. Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Supplement 26. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2007.
  1964.  
  1965. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1966.  
  1967. Another descriptive classification of the administrative/economic corpus. The volume’s introduction contains a handy overview of terminology and of explicitly theoretical proposals. The author’s own thesis is that the Ugaritic socioeconomic system is best explained on a networking model (see Socioeconomic History).
  1968.  
  1969. Find this resource:
  1970.  
  1971.  
  1972. Roche, Carole. “Classification de l’utilisation du cunéiforme mésopotamien dans les textes ougaritiques.” In Proceedings of the 51st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Held at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago July 18–22, 2005. Edited by Robert D. Biggs, Jennie Myers, and Martha T. Roth, 155–170. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 62. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2008.
  1973.  
  1974. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1975.  
  1976. A detailed study of the “epigraphs” in Mesopotamian cuneiform on Ugaritic administrative texts. Conclusions: internal and comparative data suggest that in most cases these epigraphs were “read” not in Akkadian but in Ugaritic (i.e., “Sumerograms” and “Akkadograms” were read in Ugaritic).
  1977.  
  1978. Find this resource:
  1979.  
  1980.  
  1981. Roche, Carole. “Language and Script in the ‘Akkadian’ Economic Texts from Ras Shamra.” In Society and Administration in Ancient Ugarit: Papers Read at a Symposium in Leiden, 13–14 December 2007. Edited by W. H. van Soldt, 107–122. Publications de l’Institut Historique-Archéologique Néerlandais de Stamboul 114. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2010.
  1982.  
  1983. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1984.  
  1985. A more developed study of the problems tackled in Roche 2008, but applied specifically to the relatively small corpus of administrative texts in Mesopotamian cuneiform from Ugarit. Conclusions: as with the “epigraphs,” the data suggest that in most cases these administrative texts were “read” not in Akkadian but in Ugaritic (i.e., “Sumerograms” and “Akkadograms” were read in Ugaritic).
  1986.  
  1987. Find this resource:
  1988.  
  1989.  
  1990. Sanmartín, Joaquín. “Wirtschaft und Handel in Ugarit: Kulturgrammatische Aspekte.” In Ugarit: Ein ostmediterranes Kulturzentrum im Alten Orient; Ergebnisse und Perspektiven der Forschung. Vol. 1, Ugarit und seine altorientalische Umwelt. Edited by Oswald Loretz and Manfried Dietrich, 131–158. Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas 7. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995.
  1991.  
  1992. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1993.  
  1994. A descriptive-functional classification of the known texts in the administrative/economic corpus, with a useful introduction to their interpretation.
  1995.  
  1996. Find this resource:
  1997.  
  1998.  
  1999. Sznycer, Maurice. “Textes administratifs.” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 9. Edited by Henri Cazelles and André Feuillet, cols. 1417–1425. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1979.
  2000.  
  2001. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2002.  
  2003. The first attempt at a synthetic description of the corpus of administrative/economic texts from Ugarit. Within the article “Ras Shamra (Ugarit ou Ougarit).”
  2004.  
  2005. Find this resource:
  2006.  
  2007.  
  2008. Cultic Memoranda
  2009. More than one hundred of the texts recovered from Ras Shamra concern, in one way or another, the cultic and religious relationships that existed between the Ugaritian people and their gods (see Olmo Lete 1999a, Merlo and Xella 1999). The majority of these are in the Ugaritic script and language (Xella 1981, Tarragon 1989, Pardee 2000 at Epigraphy), though a much smaller number of such texts also exist in Mesopotamian script (mostly god lists, on which see Olmo Lete 1999b; in general, see Clemens 2001), and a few diverse ritual texts cited in Hurrian (especially hymns and incantations) and Hittite have also been preserved. For the most part, these texts consist of highly laconic lists and prescriptive sequences concerning the day-to-day (or month-to-month, as the case may be) administration of the sacrificial cult (Merlo and Xella 1999), of which the best-documented aspect is the ritual putting to death of sacrificial animals, usually cattle or sheep. As was the case with the Administrative Lists and Accounts, however, even though the cultic memoranda (or, as they are more commonly known, the “rituals”) are here presented as a single coherent textual genre, in fact the corpus itself is heterogeneous and somewhat difficult to classify, in terms both of form and content (for one attempt, see Pardee 2002). Clearly, a difference must be drawn between quasi-administrative cultic memoranda in laconic prose and liturgical texts or magical incantations intended to be recited aloud. Indeed, both of these latter subtypes are attested and are poetic in form, thus blurring the boundaries established here between Literature and Poetry and Ephemeral and Documentary Texts.
  2010.  
  2011. Clemens, David M. Sources for Ugaritic Ritual and Sacrifice. Vol. 1, Ugaritic and Ugarit Akkadian Texts. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 284/1. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2001.
  2012.  
  2013. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2014.  
  2015. A thorough study of the data on Ugaritic ritual to be found in the nonritual texts.
  2016.  
  2017. Find this resource:
  2018.  
  2019.  
  2020. Merlo, Paolo, and Paolo Xella. “The Rituals.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 287–304. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  2021.  
  2022. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2023.  
  2024. A general overview of the ritual texts.
  2025.  
  2026. Find this resource:
  2027.  
  2028.  
  2029. Olmo Lete, Gregorio del. Canaanite Religion According to the Liturgical Texts of Ugarit. Translation by Wilfred G. E. Watson. Bethesda, MD: CDL, 1999a.
  2030.  
  2031. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2032.  
  2033. Text, translation, and commentary of the ritual texts, organized according to the author’s view of the nature of the Ugaritic cult (the Spanish original dates to 1992). Compare and contrast with Pardee’s reedition of a similar collection of texts (Pardee 2000, cited under Epigraphy), and with Pardee 2002.
  2034.  
  2035. Find this resource:
  2036.  
  2037.  
  2038. Olmo Lete, Gregorio del. “The Offering Lists and the God Lists.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 305–352. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999b.
  2039.  
  2040. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2041.  
  2042. Overview by a scholar who has worked extensively on the material.
  2043.  
  2044. Find this resource:
  2045.  
  2046.  
  2047. Pardee, Dennis. Ritual and Cult at Ugarit. Writings from the Ancient World 10. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002.
  2048.  
  2049. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2050.  
  2051. Annotated English translation of the major Ugaritic ritual texts; updated from Pardee 2000 (cited under Epigraphy), rearranged according to textual genre (with useful introductions added for each).
  2052.  
  2053. Find this resource:
  2054.  
  2055.  
  2056. Tarragon, Jean-Michel de. “Les rituels.” In Textes ougaritiques: Introduction, traduction, commentaire. Vol. 2, Textes religieux, rituels, correspondance. Edited by André Caquot, Jean-Michel de Tarragon, and Jesús-Luis Cunchillos, 125–238. Littératures Anciennes du Proche-Orient 14. Paris: Le Cerf, 1989.
  2057.  
  2058. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2059.  
  2060. Annotated French translation, based on his 1980 book (Le culte à Ugarit) of the major Ugaritic ritual texts.
  2061.  
  2062. Find this resource:
  2063.  
  2064.  
  2065. Xella, Paolo. I testi rituali di Ugarit. Vol. 1, Testi. Studi Semitici 54. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 1981.
  2066.  
  2067. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2068.  
  2069. Well-researched and influential Italian edition of the Ugaritic ritual texts, published at a time when few scholars were interested in them.
  2070.  
  2071. Find this resource:
  2072.  
  2073.  
  2074. Thematic Summaries and Syntheses
  2075. The previous sections have concentrated on presenting bibliography on the sources—both material and textual—available for the study of ancient Ugarit, with especially extensive coverage being accorded to the textual sources and their study. By necessity, researchers often feel obliged—by training or inclination—to highlight one or another category of evidence in their work, but genuinely integrated treatments of certain problems (incorporating both textual and material data) also exist; for an example, see Zamora 2000. Indeed, many types of broad thematic syntheses have been published. This section provides a selective bibliographical orientation to the following topics: The Religion of Ugarit, Gods and Goddesses of Ugarit, Ugarit and the Bible, Political History, Socioeconomic History, and The History of Writing and Scribal Culture.
  2076.  
  2077. Zamora, José-Angel. La vid y el vino en Ugarit. Banco de Datos Filológicos Semíticos Noroccidentales, Monografías 6. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2000.
  2078.  
  2079. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2080.  
  2081. An excellent example of what can be done with the textual and archaeological resources from Ras Shamra in defining one aspect of Ugaritic society: the economic and ideological place of wine. Because of the importance of wine in Ugaritic society, this well-carried-out study illustrates what we can learn from these sources and what is left unrecorded there.
  2082.  
  2083. Find this resource:
  2084.  
  2085.  
  2086. The Religion of Ugarit
  2087. The richness of the discoveries—architectural, material, and textual—made at Ras Shamra has allowed for several synthetic studies of the religion of Ugarit, usually concentrating on textual or iconographic data: Olmo Lete 2008, a synthetic treatment; Wyatt 1999, a summary article; and Smith 1986, a methodological study, provide good examples of the former; Cornelius 1994 and Cornelius 2004 are good examples of the latter. Of the more abundant text-driven syntheses, two subcategories can be distinguished: on the one hand, owing in large part to the history of the discipline, a great many studies have concentrated on Ugaritic texts and vocabulary in explicit comparison with the Hebrew Bible. Because of the abundance of that particular bibliography, a specific section has been allotted to Ugarit and the Bible (note, however, that the Hebrew Bible is not the only meaningful comparative corpus for the study of the Ugaritic texts; see, for example, Louden 2006, López-Ruiz 2010, and for approaches other than the comparative one, see Roche 2005). On the other hand, though in a related vein, many publications have been devoted to the various divinities mentioned in the texts from Ugarit (see Gods and Goddesses of Ugarit). One of the major problems that confront such studies is the very definition of the “pantheon” (or “pantheons”?) at Ugarit (Pardee 1988).
  2088.  
  2089. Cornelius, Izak. The Iconography of the Canaanite Gods Reshef and Baʿal: Late Bronze and Iron Age I periods (c 1500–1000 BCE). Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 140. Fribourg, Switzerland: University Press, 1994.
  2090.  
  2091. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2092.  
  2093. Many of the iconographic data considered here are from Ras Shamra. Shows how difficult it is to distinguish iconographically between these two important deities in the Ugaritic pantheon.
  2094.  
  2095. Find this resource:
  2096.  
  2097.  
  2098. Cornelius, Izak. The Many Faces of the Goddess: The Iconography of the Syro-Palestinian Goddesses Anat, Astarte, Qedeshet, and Asherah c. 1500–1000 BCE. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 204. Fribourg, Switzerland: Academic Press, 2004.
  2099.  
  2100. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2101.  
  2102. The attempt to distinguish iconographically the goddesses named in the title is frustrated by the absence of ancient labels identifying these goddesses and by the similarities of the figures as represented.
  2103.  
  2104. Find this resource:
  2105.  
  2106.  
  2107. López-Ruiz, Carolina. When the Gods Were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.
  2108.  
  2109. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2110.  
  2111. Though primarily a work in the field of classics, the comparisons with the Ugaritic (and Phoenician) data are extensive and carefully handled.
  2112.  
  2113. Find this resource:
  2114.  
  2115.  
  2116. Louden, Bruce. The Iliad: Structure, Myth, and Meaning. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
  2117.  
  2118. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2119.  
  2120. Another work in the field of classics (along with López-Ruiz 2010), in which many aspects of Homer’s Iliad are studied in the comparative light of the Ugaritic poetic texts.
  2121.  
  2122. Find this resource:
  2123.  
  2124.  
  2125. Olmo Lete, Gregorio del. “Mythologie et religion de la Syrie au IIe millénaire av. J. C. (1500–1200).” In Mythologie et religion des Sémites occidentaux. Vol. 2, Émar, Ougarit, Israël, Phénicie, Aram, Arabie. Edited by Gregorio del Olmo Lete, 23–162. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 162. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2008.
  2126.  
  2127. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2128.  
  2129. A presentation of Ugaritic religion in the context of other religious manifestations of the Late Bronze Age.
  2130.  
  2131. Find this resource:
  2132.  
  2133.  
  2134. Pardee, Dennis. “An Evaluation of the Proper Names from Ebla from a West Semitic Perspective: Pantheon Distribution According to Genre.” In Eblaite Personal Names and Semitic Name-Giving: Papers of a Symposium held in Rome, July 15–17, 1985. Edited by Alfonso Archi, 119–151. Archivi Reali di Ebla Studi 1. Rome: Missione Archeologica Italiana in Siria, 1988.
  2135.  
  2136. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2137.  
  2138. Now somewhat dated but still useful and influential treatment of the three different “pantheons” of Ugaritic religion, according to the genre of the textual sources (the inventories of gods found in personal names, as characters in the myths, and as recipients of sacrificial offerings are not exactly the same).
  2139.  
  2140. Find this resource:
  2141.  
  2142.  
  2143. Roche, Carole. “Les prêtres-kāhinūma dans le royaume d’Ugarit au XIIIe siècle avant J-C: Un exemple de recherches prosopographiques.” In Prosopographie et histoire religieuse: Actes du colloque tenu en l’Université Paris XII—Val de Marne les 27 & 28 octobre 2000. Edited by Marie-François Baslez and Françoise Prévot, 121–133. Paris: De Boccard, 2005.
  2144.  
  2145. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2146.  
  2147. An example of how the textual resources offered by the Ras Shamra finds, rather than reliance on comparative data, may be used to define the function of one category of religious personnel in ancient Ugarit.
  2148.  
  2149. Find this resource:
  2150.  
  2151.  
  2152. Smith, Mark S. “Interpreting the Baal Cycle.” Ugarit-Forschungen 18 (1986): 313–339.
  2153.  
  2154. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2155.  
  2156. Thorough overview of the various interpretative models that have been applied to the longest of the Ugaritic mythological texts; as much an exercise in hermeneutics as in the interpretation of a given text.
  2157.  
  2158. Find this resource:
  2159.  
  2160.  
  2161. Wyatt, Nicolas. “The Religion of Ugarit: An Overview.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 529–585. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  2162.  
  2163. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2164.  
  2165. An overview providing coverage of various religious manifestations, with emphasis on royal prerogatives and ideology.
  2166.  
  2167. Find this resource:
  2168.  
  2169.  
  2170. Gods and Goddesses of Ugarit
  2171. For those monographs and studies devoted to the major Ugaritic deities, two persistent major methodological problems have been in determining the origins of the various divinities and defining the role played by each divinity within a particular “pantheon.” In particular, the most effort has been expended in characterizing the relationship among ʾIlu (El), Baʿlu (Baal), and Dagan (Kapelrud 1952, Pope 1955); other studies have concentrated on the particular characteristics of the goddesses (Kapelrud 1969, Walls 1992). In this respect, the poverty of the sources is a major part of the problem, because more complete sources, both in chronological and typological terms, would, for example, provide an explanation of Dagan’s virtual absence from the mythological texts (he is mentioned there only as Baʿlu’s father), even though he was a frequent beneficiary of offerings according to the ritual texts. At another level, certain deities are well attested as components of personal names but virtually unattested both in myth and ritual (e.g., Milku, as in the personal name ʾIlîmilku, “my god is Milku”); on these issues, see Pardee 1988 (at The Religion of Ugarit). Other, generally more recent studies falling under this rubric are the various monographic treatments of individual deities as known from a broad array of Near Eastern sources (see Merlo 1998, Schwemer 2001, Feliu 2003, and Kutter 2008).
  2172.  
  2173. Feliu, Lluís. The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria. Translated by Wilfred G. E. Watson. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 19. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2003.
  2174.  
  2175. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2176.  
  2177. Translation of an unpublished dissertation in Catalan (University of Barcelona, 2000). Includes a section on Dagan at Ugarit, commonly mentioned in the ritual texts but in the literary texts found only in the epithet of Baʿlu as “son of Dagan.”
  2178.  
  2179. Find this resource:
  2180.  
  2181.  
  2182. Kapelrud, Arvid S. Baal in the Ras Shamra Texts. Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad, 1952.
  2183.  
  2184. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2185.  
  2186. An early and relatively conservative presentation of the hypothesis of conflict between Baʿlu and ʾIlu, leading to the deposition of the latter by the former.
  2187.  
  2188. Find this resource:
  2189.  
  2190.  
  2191. Kapelrud, Arvid S. The Violent Goddess: Anat in the Ras Shamra Texts. Oslo, Norway: Universitetsforleget, 1969.
  2192.  
  2193. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2194.  
  2195. Though Walls 1992 is more socially sensitive, Kapelrud’s classic study of the bloodthirsty side of the goddess is still of interest.
  2196.  
  2197. Find this resource:
  2198.  
  2199.  
  2200. Kutter, Juliane. Nūr ilī: Die Sonnengottheiten in den nordwestsemitischen Religionen von der Spätbronzezeit bis zur vorrömischen Zeit. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 346. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2008.
  2201.  
  2202. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2203.  
  2204. Includes a long section on the Ugaritic feminine solar deity Šapšu.
  2205.  
  2206. Find this resource:
  2207.  
  2208.  
  2209. Merlo, Paolo. La dea Ašratum—Aṯiratu—Ašera: Un contributo alla storia della religione semitica del Nord. Rome: Pontificia Università Lateranense, 1998.
  2210.  
  2211. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2212.  
  2213. A very careful study of the chief wife of ʾIlu (El) according to Ugaritic mythology, carried out from the history-of-religions perspective (rather than a narrowly philological one). Covers the Mesopotamian/North Syrian sources (Ašratum), Ugaritic (ʾAṯiratu), and the first-millennium sources, primarily the Hebrew Bible (ʾAšera).
  2214.  
  2215. Find this resource:
  2216.  
  2217.  
  2218. Pope, Marvin H. El in the Ugaritic Texts. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 2. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1955.
  2219.  
  2220. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2221.  
  2222. Followed Kapelrud’s lead (see Kapelrud 1952) and went even further by proposing ʾIlu’s emasculation by Baʿlu.
  2223.  
  2224. Find this resource:
  2225.  
  2226.  
  2227. Schwemer, Daniel. Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2001.
  2228.  
  2229. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2230.  
  2231. A monumental study (1024 pp.) of the weather god in various cultures of Mesopotamia and Syria. Includes a section on the Ugaritic weather deity whose principal name was Baʿlu (biblical Baal), also referred to by the ancient name of Haddu (the local form of Hadad), the ancient Semitic weather deity of north-central Syria.
  2232.  
  2233. Find this resource:
  2234.  
  2235.  
  2236. Walls, Neal H. The Goddess Anat in Ugaritic Myth. Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 135. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992.
  2237.  
  2238. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2239.  
  2240. Presents the goddess as an adolescent tomboy who refuses the expected female roles of wife and mother, preferring the life of a huntress and a warrior.
  2241.  
  2242. Find this resource:
  2243.  
  2244.  
  2245. Ugarit and the Bible
  2246. As noted in the Introduction and elsewhere, Ugaritic studies functioned for decades largely as a handmaiden to the study of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) (see especially Smith 2001 at History of Ugaritology). In certain respects, such a comparative approach may be perfectly legitimate, since the Hebrew Bible and the Ugaritic poetic texts provide the only important bodies of West Semitic literary texts predating the Roman period (to which most of the Dead Sea Scrolls date). Furthermore, it is clear that significant similarities existed between Ugarit and the other Levantine cultures despite the poorer textual resources available for the latter. Indeed, because of the extensive linguistic and cultural resemblances, the Ugaritic texts have filled in many a gap in modern knowledge of the cultural “background to the Bible” (of which the final redaction was relatively late, 5th–2nd centuries BCE). Studies that illustrate these points include Langhe 1945, Craigie 1983, and Loretz 1990. Working in the opposite direction, when seeking to explain a previously unattested word, phrase, or practice, the Ugaritologist must seek enlightenment elsewhere, and pertinent comparative data are often to be found in the Hebrew Bible; for examples, see Fisher 1972–1981; van der Toorn, et al. 1999; and Wyatt 1996. Nevertheless, because of the breadth, depth, and comparatively early date of the Ugaritic sources, they provide a unique source of data that allows for the reconstruction of a Late Bronze Age kingdom in its own terms and according to categories used by the members of that culture (for a similar argument for Babylonian culture, see Landsberger 1926). As such, the Ugaritic texts, studied in conjunction with the texts in other languages from the site and with the archaeological data, have come, particularly since the late 20th century, to function as objects of investigation in their own right, with the primary goal of defining their place in their own culture and with comparative matters treated only secondarily.
  2247.  
  2248. Craigie, Peter C. Ugarit and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983.
  2249.  
  2250. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2251.  
  2252. One of the better English-language contributions to the genre, by someone who has been qualified as a “cautious conservative” in biblical studies.
  2253.  
  2254. Find this resource:
  2255.  
  2256.  
  2257. Fisher, Loren R., ed. Ras Shamra Parallels: The Texts from Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible. 3 vols. Analecta Orientalia 49–51. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1972–1981.
  2258.  
  2259. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2260.  
  2261. Thematic articles by well-known Biblicists and Ugaritologists, for the most part arranged according to the alphabetical order of Ugaritic terms (e.g., personal names, place names, poetic parallelisms, etc.). Each article contains references to the Ugaritic data and bibliography on proposals for biblical correspondences.
  2262.  
  2263. Find this resource:
  2264.  
  2265.  
  2266. Landsberger, Benno. “Die Eigenbegrifflichkeit der babylonischen Welt.” Islamica 2 (1926): 355–372.
  2267.  
  2268. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2269.  
  2270. Influential methodological statement regarding the “conceptual autonomy” of the Babylonian world; the view that an ancient Near Eastern culture must be studied in its own terms, and not as a derivative or according to the categories of biblical culture, for example.
  2271.  
  2272. Find this resource:
  2273.  
  2274.  
  2275. Langhe, Robert de. Les textes de Ras Shamra-Ugarit et leurs rapports avec le milieu biblique de l’Ancien Testament. Universitas Catholica Lovaniensis, Dissertationes ad Gradum Magistri in Facultate Theologica vel in Facultate Iuris Canonici Consequendum Conscriptae, 2d ser., 35. 2 vols. Gembloux, Belgium: Duculot, 1945.
  2276.  
  2277. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2278.  
  2279. A monumental work, providing assessments of the texts and other discoveries at Ras Shamra on their own terms and in the context of biblical studies. Still valuable as a resource for the history of interpretation.
  2280.  
  2281. Find this resource:
  2282.  
  2283.  
  2284. Loretz, Oswald. Ugarit und die Bibel: Kanaanäische Götter und Religion im Alten Testament. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1990.
  2285.  
  2286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2287.  
  2288. A well-organized overview by a professional Ugaritologist and biblicist.
  2289.  
  2290. Find this resource:
  2291.  
  2292.  
  2293. van der Toorn, Karel, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst, eds. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. 2d ed. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  2294.  
  2295. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2296.  
  2297. The approach is comparativist and inclusive, so an article will be devoted to any Ugaritic deity who has at some time been posited to have been mentioned in the Bible. First edition published by Brill in 1995.
  2298.  
  2299. Find this resource:
  2300.  
  2301.  
  2302. Wyatt, N. Myths of Power: A Study of Royal Myth and Ideology in Ugaritic and Biblical Tradition. Ugaritisch-Biblische Literatur 13. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1996.
  2303.  
  2304. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2305.  
  2306. An interpretation of the Ugaritic mythological texts and of a good many biblical texts as royal propaganda; attempts to link some of the Ugaritic texts with specific events, such as a royal marriage.
  2307.  
  2308. Find this resource:
  2309.  
  2310.  
  2311. Political History
  2312. Ugarit was the name both of the city today known as Ras Shamra and the kingdometers, ruled from that city. The kingdom covered approximately 2,500 square kilometers, from the coastal plain south of modern Latakia up through hill country as far north as the mountain known to the Ugaritians as Ṣapunu, the modern Jebel el-ʿAqra, with a natural boundary to the east provided by the Ansariya mountain chain. Very little is known about the history of this kingdom prior to the 14th century BCE (for exceptional sources of information regarding the early periods, see Arnaud 1997 at Chronological Distribution; also see Villard 1986 and Arnaud 1999). During the last century and a half of the Late Bronze Age, however, the period covered by the epigraphic discoveries at Ras Shamra, Ugarit was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire (for synthetic presentations, see Liverani 1979, Singer 1999, Freu 2006). By that time, the relations between Egypt and Ugarit varied at least in part according to the state of affairs between the Hittite Empire and Egypt but were certainly open after formal peace between the two major powers was established by a treaty agreed upon by Rameses II and Hattushili III in the second quarter of the 13th century BCE. The kingdom of Ugarit came to an end, as did the Hittite Empire, during the upheavals commonly linked with the intrusions of the “Sea Peoples.” Ugarit is commonly characterized as uninterested in going to war for its imperial masters and as preferring tribute to active participation—and the characterization is based on the ancient sources (note, however, Vita 1995). The publication of the Ugaritic documentation, most of it in the Akkadian language, complements the sources for Hittite history available from excavations at various sites in Turkey and northern Syria. Ugarit was also in active contact with Egypt and with neighboring Syrian kingdoms; most of the textual data for these contacts comes from Ras Shamra itself, since no Egyptian archive corresponding to the el-Amarna finds has yet been discovered for the following two centuries, and no other Levantine site has yet yielded documentary evidence for local and international history as rich as that discovered at Ugarit.
  2313.  
  2314. Arnaud, Daniel. “Prolégomènes à la rédaction d’une histoire d’Ougarit II: Les bordereaux de rois divinisés.” Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolica 41 (1999): 153–173.
  2315.  
  2316. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2317.  
  2318. Preliminary edition of one of several copies of a list of the kings of Ugarit, which extends back several centuries.
  2319.  
  2320. Find this resource:
  2321.  
  2322.  
  2323. Freu, Jacques. Histoire politique du royaume d’Ugarit. Collection Kubaba, Série Antiquité 11. Paris: Harmattan, 2006.
  2324.  
  2325. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2326.  
  2327. Another take on the reconstruction of the political history of Ugarit, also based on the documentary sources, some of them recently published texts from Ugarit.
  2328.  
  2329. Find this resource:
  2330.  
  2331.  
  2332. Liverani, Mario. “Histoire.” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 9. Edited by Henri Cazelles and André Feuillet, cols. 1295–1348. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1979.
  2333.  
  2334. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2335.  
  2336. An informed, sophisticated, and highly influential synthesis of the history of the kingdom, emphasizing socioeconomic issues, and explicitly formulated according to the “two-sector” model (see Socioeconomic History). Within the article “Ras Shamra (Ugarit ou Ougarit).”
  2337.  
  2338. Find this resource:
  2339.  
  2340.  
  2341. Singer, Itamar. “A Political History of Ugarit.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 603–733. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  2342.  
  2343. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2344.  
  2345. Overview of the political history of Ugarit, by a specialist in Hittite history; based on careful use of the documentary sources.
  2346.  
  2347. Find this resource:
  2348.  
  2349.  
  2350. Villard, Pierre. “Un roi de Mari à Ugarit.” Ugarit-Forschungen 18 (1986): 387–412.
  2351.  
  2352. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2353.  
  2354. A rare view into Ugaritic history in a period predating the Ras Shamra archives. In the early 18th century, the reputation of Ugarit was so great that Zimri-Lim, king of Mari, personally made the trip from the mid-Euphrates region to Ugarit, passing through Yamḫad (Aleppo) on the way. The data from the Mari texts discussed by Villard derive primarily from letters and economic texts.
  2355.  
  2356. Find this resource:
  2357.  
  2358.  
  2359. Vita, Juan-Pablo. El ejército de Ugarit. Banco de Datos Filológicos Semíticos Noroccidentales, Monografías 1. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1995.
  2360.  
  2361. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2362.  
  2363. Though the kings of Ugarit avoided whenever possible becoming involved in the great power struggles of their time, the kingdom had a military establishment.
  2364.  
  2365. Find this resource:
  2366.  
  2367.  
  2368. Socioeconomic History
  2369. The nature of the society of Ugarit (Vita 1999) is one of the most debated topics in Ugaritic studies, with fundamental and profound differences existing among the formulations of major scholars, and very different reconstructions of Ugaritic society proposed by informed theoreticians working from competing models. One of the theoretical models used (often implicitly) in the early days of Ugaritology was a form of feudal model (Gray 1952, Boyer 1955), but the Marxist “two-sector” model (Liverani 1979 at Political History, Heltzer 1999 at Administrative Lists and Accounts, Vidal 2005) rapidly became (and, to a certain extent, remains) the most influential. J. David Schloen has recently challenged the “two-sector” model (Schloen 2001) in rigorously defending an explicitly Weberian “patrimonial household model” (PHM). Still other theoretical models have also been proposed in recent decades (McGeough 2007 at Administrative Lists and Accounts, Prosser 2010), but Schloen’s PHM remains remarkably influential. The reason for the proliferation of apparently viable theoretical approaches is to be found in the texts themselves: to a certain extent their laconicity allows one to find what one is looking for and thereby find apparently supporting evidence of this or that model. Whatever the internal socioeconomic structure may have been, however, there is general agreement that Ugarit was economically cosmopolitan and served as a hub for commercial items coming in by sea and moving inland, as well as for overland trade up and down the coast and along the inland routes (Monroe 2009). Recent excavations have also provided evidence for far-flung commercial enterprises run by important personages at the Ugaritic court, in which the king himself may have been involved (Malbran-Labat 2010, Malbran-Labat and Roche 2008).
  2370.  
  2371. Boyer, Georges. “La place des textes d’Ugarit dans l’histoire de l’ancien droit oriental.” In Palais Royal d’Ugarit. Vol. 3, Textes accadiens et hourrites des archives est, ouest et centrales. Mission de Ras Shamra 6. Edited by Jean Nougayrol, 281–308. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1955.
  2372.  
  2373. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2374.  
  2375. Influential treatment of Ugaritian society, according to a feudal model by a legal historian. Boyer’s study was based essentially on the Akkadian juridical texts from the royal palace, many of which concern land tenure.
  2376.  
  2377. Find this resource:
  2378.  
  2379.  
  2380. Gray, John. “Feudalism in Ugarit and Early Israel.” Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 64 (1952): 49–55.
  2381.  
  2382. DOI: 10.1515/zatw.1952.64.1.49Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2383.  
  2384. An early, explicit application of a feudal model to ancient Ugarit.
  2385.  
  2386. Find this resource:
  2387.  
  2388.  
  2389. Malbran-Labat, Florence. “Pratiques marchandes dans le commerce ougaritain.” In Society and Administration in Ancient Ugarit: Papers Read at a Symposium in Leiden, 13–14 December 2007. Edited by W. H. van Soldt, 84–93. Publications de l’Institut Historique-Archéologique Néerlandais de Stamboul 114. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2010.
  2390.  
  2391. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2392.  
  2393. A study of merchant practice at Ugarit, with references to the author’s previously published studies of the commercial activities of various Ugaritic entrepreneurs.
  2394.  
  2395. Find this resource:
  2396.  
  2397.  
  2398. Malbran-Labat, Florence, and Carole Roche. “Bordereaux de la ‘Maison d’Ourtenou (Urtēnu)’: À propos de la gestion des équidés et de la place de cette maison dans l’économie palatiale.” In Ougarit au Bronze moyen et au Bronze récent: Actes du colloque international tenu à Lyon en novembre 2001, “Ougarit au IIe millénaire av. J.-C., état de recherches.” Edited by Yves Calvet and Marguerite Yon, 243–275. Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée 47. Lyon, France: Maison de l’Orient et de la Mediterranée, 2008.
  2399.  
  2400. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2401.  
  2402. Many of the details of the economy of horses and donkeys at Ugarit, as revealed primarily by finds in the House of Urtenu.
  2403.  
  2404. Find this resource:
  2405.  
  2406.  
  2407. Monroe, Christopher Mountfort. Scales of Fate: Trade, Tradition, and Transformation in the Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 1350–1175 BCE. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 357. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2009.
  2408.  
  2409. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2410.  
  2411. A study of long-distance trade, based on the published sources. Relies significantly on the data from Ras Shamra. Covers technology, finance, relations between traders and rulers, and other political, social, and economic aspects of trade by sea and over land.
  2412.  
  2413. Find this resource:
  2414.  
  2415.  
  2416. Prosser, Miller Craig. “Bunušu in Ugaritian Society.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2010.
  2417.  
  2418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2419.  
  2420. Thorough study of the nature, significance, and interpretation of the “bunušu” class in Ugaritian society, from the theoretical perspective of “patronage.”
  2421.  
  2422. Find this resource:
  2423.  
  2424.  
  2425. Schloen, J. David. The House of the Father as Fact and Symbol: Patrimonialism in Ugarit and the Ancient Near East. Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant 2. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2001.
  2426.  
  2427. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2428.  
  2429. The theoretically most sophisticated treatment of the socioeconomic question in recent years, concluding that the most powerful model is a Weberian one, according to which the patrimonial household would have functioned both as the basic socioeconomic unit and as a metaphorical expression for other social structures.
  2430.  
  2431. Find this resource:
  2432.  
  2433.  
  2434. Vidal, Jordi. Las aldeas de Ugarit según los archivos del Bronce Reciente (siglos XIV–XII a.n.e.). Aula Orientalis Supplementa 21. Sabadell, Spain: Editorial AUSA, 2005.
  2435.  
  2436. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2437.  
  2438. An attempt to reinstate the neo-Marxist “two-sector” interpretation that was popular before Schloen 2001.
  2439.  
  2440. Find this resource:
  2441.  
  2442.  
  2443. Vita, Juan-Pablo. “The Society of Ugarit.” In Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by Wilfred G. E. Watson and Nicolas Wyatt, 455–498. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 39. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
  2444.  
  2445. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2446.  
  2447. Relatively recent overview presentation of Ugaritic society, based more on the textual sources than on a particular theoretical model.
  2448.  
  2449. Find this resource:
  2450.  
  2451.  
  2452. The History of Writing and Scribal Culture
  2453. The cultural confrontation between tradition (Mesopotamian cuneiform) and innovation (the adoption and institutionalized use of the alphabet) is aptly illustrated by the scribes of Ugarit and their works. The “bigraphic” training and status (i.e., the concurrent use both of Mesopotamian and local alphabetic cuneiform) of several scribes of Ugarit is well known (see van Soldt 1995, pp. 183–186, cited under Traditional Texts; Dalix 1996), and the renewed study of scribal practices at Ugarit, especially in light of the numerous new texts discovered since 1973, has only reinforced this aspect (Malbran-Labat and Roche 2007, Roche 2008). Indeed, the significance of Ugarit has also been brought to the fore outside of Ugaritology, in broader synthetic studies of literacy and scribal culture in the ancient world (an older example is Goody 1977; a more recent one, Carr 2005) and of the history of the alphabet (Sass 2004–2005, cited under Writing System, whose down-dating of the invention of the alphabet lends greater significance to Ugaritic experiments with alphabetic technology). In fact, though caution is needed in adequately formulating and assessing such questions, Ugarit has also been cited as an early example of the creation of a “nationalist” vernacular literature, placed as it is at a critical period in the history of writing (Sanders 2004, Millard 2007). Judging from recent work on the Ugaritic scribe Ṯabʾilu (see, e.g., Pardee 2008 and Pardee 2010 at Other Ugaritic Mythological Texts), it would appear that further developments in our understanding of these issues are yet to come.
  2454.  
  2455. Carr, David M. Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
  2456.  
  2457. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2458.  
  2459. Detailed and nuanced study of ancient scribal practices and culture, and of orality and literacy, in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean.
  2460.  
  2461. Find this resource:
  2462.  
  2463.  
  2464. Dalix, Anne-Sophie. “Exemples de bilinguisme à Ougarit: Iloumilkou; la double identité d’un scribe.” In Mosaïque de langues, mosaïque culturelle: Le bilinguisme dans le Proche-orient ancien. Edited by Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, 81–90. Antiquités Sémitiques 1. Paris: Maisonneuve, 1996.
  2465.  
  2466. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2467.  
  2468. Dalix completed a PhD dissertation on the Ugaritic scribe ʾIlimilku in 1997; here is a brief, early presentation of her views on that scribe’s “bigraphic” training and status.
  2469.  
  2470. Find this resource:
  2471.  
  2472.  
  2473. Goody, Jack. The Domestication of the Savage Mind. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
  2474.  
  2475. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2476.  
  2477. Classic (and, at the time, somewhat controversial) study in ancient literacy and cognition, by an anthropologist. Among other things, explores the implications of graphic format (mise-en-page) in cognition.
  2478.  
  2479. Find this resource:
  2480.  
  2481.  
  2482. Malbran-Labat, Florence, and Carole Roche. “Urtēnu Ur-Tešub.” In Le royaume d’Ougarit de la Crète à l’Euphrate: Nouveaux axes de recherche; Actes du Congrès International de Sherbrooke, 2005. Edited by Jean-Marc Michaud, 63–104. Proche-Orient et Littérature Ougaritique 2. Sherbrooke, Canada: GGC, 2007.
  2483.  
  2484. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2485.  
  2486. A study of two important officials involved in the administration of Ugarit, one managing royal exports and the other a “bigraphic” scribe from an important family of Ugaritian intellectuals.
  2487.  
  2488. Find this resource:
  2489.  
  2490.  
  2491. Millard, Alan. “Alphabetic Writing, Cuneiform and Linear, Reconsidered.” Maarav 14.2 (2007): 83–93.
  2492.  
  2493. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2494.  
  2495. A reaction to Sanders 2004 by a scholar who has contributed significantly to the study of the history of alphabetic writing and literacy.
  2496.  
  2497. Find this resource:
  2498.  
  2499.  
  2500. Roche, Carole. “Jeux de mots, jeux de signes en Ougarit, ou de l’influence des textes lexicaux sur les scribes de périphérie.” In D’Ougarit au Jérusalem: Recueil d’études épigraphiques et archéologiques offerts à Pierre Bordreuil. Edited by Carole Roche, 205–214. Orient et Méditerranée 2. Paris: De Boccard, 2008.
  2501.  
  2502. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2503.  
  2504. A study of the influence of formal “theoretical” scribal training in the composition of ephemeral documents of everyday life: scribes often attempted to show off their erudition through the use of learned writings and especially puns.
  2505.  
  2506. Find this resource:
  2507.  
  2508.  
  2509. Sanders, Seth. “What Was the Alphabet For? The Rise of Written Vernaculars and the Making of Israelite National Literature.” Maarav 11.1 (2004): 25–56.
  2510.  
  2511. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2512.  
  2513. Emphasizes the importance of Ugaritic scribal practices in “the rise of written vernaculars.”
  2514.  
  2515. Find this resource:
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