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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Funerary Ritual for a King

KTU 1.161

Order of service for the sacrifice(s) of the divine Winged Disc:
You are invoked, O saviours of the underworld, you are summoned, O assembly of Didan.⁠
Invoked is Ulkan the saviour;
invoked is Taruman the saviour.
Invoked is Sidan-and-Radan;
invoked is the eternal one, Thar.
They have been invoked, the ancient saviours.
You are invoked, O saviours of the underworld, you are summoned, assembly of Didan.
Invoked is Ammithtamru the king
and invoked as well is Niqmad the king.
O throne of Niqmad, may you be mourned!⁠
And lamented be his footstool.
Let the table of the king be mourned in his presence.
But let their tears be swallowed, and their dreadful lamentations.
Go down, Shapshu, yes, go down, Great Luminary!
May Shapshu shine upon him,
After your lords, from the throne,
After your lords into the underworld go down:
into the underworld go down and fall into the dust,
down to Sidanu-and-Radanu, down to the eternal one, Thar,
down to the ancient saviours,
down to Ammithtamru the king
lower edge: and also down to Niqmad the king.
One—and make an offering, two—and make an offering,
three—and make an offering, four—and make an offering,
five—and make an offering, six—and make an offering,
seven—and make an offering. You shall present a bird.
Peace! Peace on Ammurapi, and peace on his sons;
peace on his kinsmen, peace on his house;
peace on Ugarit, peace on her gates!

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.161:2 and Isaiah 14:9

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Ugaritic text KTU summons dead kings called saviors from the underworld to attend a royal funeral. Isaiah 14 echoes this tradition, describing the spirits of dead kings rising from their thrones in the underworld to greet a fallen ruler.

Passages

KTU 1.161:2

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Order of service for the sacrifice(s) of the divine Winged Disc: You are invoked, O saviours of the underworld, you are summoned, O assembly of Didan. Invoked is Ulkan the saviour; invoked is Taruman the saviour. Invoked is Sidan-and-Radan; invoked is the eternal one, Thar. They have been invoked, the ancient saviours. You are invoked, O saviours of the underworld, you are summoned, assembly of Didan. Invoked is Ammithtamru the king and invoked as well is Niqmad the king.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Isaiah 14:9

Hebrew Bible
8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, ‘Since you fell asleep, no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 9 Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. 10 All of them respond to you, saying: ‘You too have become weak like us! You have become just like us! 11 Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you.’
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

References

“… Given the divine nature of the latter, we may now make much more sense of the problem that Og evidently posed for the biblical historiographers. They were dealing, not merely with some defunct kingship with possible sentimental echoes, but with a continuing theological reality. Og was one of the ancient gods of the land, who must somehow be neutralized. This is already clear from the significance of such passages as Isaiah 14:9, which is also attempting to devalue the Rephaim in its parodial treatment of the enemy king’s descent into the underworld. (The formal and cosmological links between Isaiah 14 and KTU 1.161 should also not be underestimated.) …”
N. Wyatt, The Archaeology of Myth: Papers on Old Testament Tradition, BibleWorld (London: Equinox, 2010), 50.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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KTU 1.161:2 and Isaiah 14:9

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