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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Aqhat

KTU 1.17 V

[…]
[…] I will bring a bow […]
[…] arrows. And lo, on the seventh
day, then Danel, the man
of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm,
rises and sits at the entrance of the gate, beneath⁠
the nobles who are on the threshing floor. He judges
the case of the widow, he decides the cause of the orphan.⁠
When he lifts his eyes, he sees: at a thousand
fields, ten thousand acres, the coming of Kothar;
he looks, and he sees the striding of Hasis.
He brings a bow; look, […]
[…] arrows. Then Danel,
the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee
of Hrnm, calls aloud to his wife:
“Listen, lady Danatay, prepare⁠
a lamb from the flock for the appetite of Kothar-
wa-Hasis, for the hunger of Hayyin, skilled
of hand. Feed, give drink to
the gods; serve and honor them, the lord
of Hikpat, the god of all of it.” She hears,
lady Danatay; she prepares a lamb
from the flock for the appetite of Kothar-wa-Hasis,
for the hunger of Hayyin, skilled
of hand. Afterward Kothar-
wa-Hasis arrives; into Danel's hand he gives
the bow, on his knees he places
the arrows. Then lady Danatay
feeds, gives drink to the gods,
serves and honors them, the lord of
Hikpat, the god of all of it. Kothar departs
to his tent, Hayyin departs to his
dwelling. Then Danel, the man
of healing, then the hero, the devotee
of Hrnm, […] the bow […]
[…] over Aqhat […]
“The choicest of your hunt, my son, […]
the choicest of your hunt, look, the [choicest]
of game in his palace […]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.17 V:6 and 2 Samuel 15:2

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In 2 Samuel 15, Absalom's campaign uses the gate's role as a place of justice also found in Danel's story, showing how promises of fair judgment could win political support.

Passages

KTU 1.17 V:6

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
[…] […] I will bring a bow […] […] arrows. And lo, on the seventh day, then Danel, the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm, rises and sits at the entrance of the gate, beneath the nobles who are on the threshing floor. He judges the case of the widow, he decides the cause of the orphan. When he lifts his eyes, he sees: at a thousand fields, ten thousand acres, the coming of Kothar; he looks, and he sees the striding of Hasis. He brings a bow; look, […] […] arrows. Then Danel, the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm, calls aloud to his wife: “Listen, lady Danatay, prepare a lamb from the flock for the appetite of Kothar- wa-Hasis, for the hunger of Hayyin, skilled of hand. Feed, give drink to
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

2 Samuel 15:2

Hebrew Bible
2 Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, am from one of the tribes of Israel.” 3 Absalom would then say to him, “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you.” 4 Absalom would then say, “If only they would make me a judge in the land! Then everyone who had a judicial complaint could come to me and I would make sure he receives a just settlement.” 5 When someone approached to bow before him, Absalom would extend his hand and embrace him and kiss him.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Samuel

References

“... Gates also served a judicial function in the literature preserved from Ugarit, a city-state on the Mediterranean coast that thrived in the Late Bronze Age. According to the Ugaritic tale of Aqhat, the hero Danel “arose and sat at the entrance to the (city-)gate, among the leaders (sit­ ting) at the threshing floor, he judged the widow’s case, made decisions regarding the orphan” (KTU 1.17 v 6–8). The text bears witness to the gate as a space of judgment. [...] Here, the narrative evidently assumes the judicial function of the city gate. The plaintiff would arrive early in the morning, hoping to obtain justice from the king, and would seek justice in the city gate, a location where judges were known to be. But the king, although evoked by the narrator and by Absalom, was conspicuously absent from the gate. [...] The narra­ tive logic of v. 2, in which Absalom routinely stations himself at the gate in order to encounter plaintiffs, depends on the assumption that city gates were a well-known location of judicial activity. ...”
Stephen C. Russell, The King and the Land: A Geography of Royal Power in the Biblical World (Oxford University Press, 2017), 74, 81.

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 1.17 V:6 and 2 Samuel 15:2

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