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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Aqhat

KTU 1.18 IV

[…]
[…] he breaks […]
[…]
[Virgin] Anat, to all […]
Virgin Anat departed. [Then indeed she set her face]
towards Yatpan, the warrior of the Lady. [She lifted up her voice]
and cried: “[…] Yatpan […]
the city of Abilum, Abilum, [the city of Prince Yarih]!
Will Yarih not be renewed in [his left] horn,
in his right horn? […]
his skull.” And Yatpan, the [warrior of the Lady], replied:
“Listen, pray, O Virgin Anat! You, because of [his bow],
will strike him, because of his arrows; him you will not let [live]. […]
The gracious hero has set out a meal, and […]
he has stayed behind in the camp, and […]
And Virgin Anat replied: “Return, Yatpan, and […]
I will place you like an eagle in my belt,
like a hawk in my quiver. Aqhat, [as he sits]
to eat, the son of Danel to dine, [over him]
eagles will soar, will watch, a [flock of]
hawks. Among the eagles I myself will soar; over⁠
Aqhat I will place you. Strike him twice on the head,
three times above the ear. Pour out, like a slaughterer,
his blood, as one slaughtering, onto his knees. Let go out, like
a wind, his breath, like spittle, his spirit, like
smoke from his nostrils. […] I
will not let live.” She took Yatpan, the warrior of the Lady;
she placed him like an eagle in her belt, like a hawk
in her quiver. Aqhat, as he sat down to e[at],
the son of Danel to dine, over him eagles
soared, a flock of haw[ks] watched. [Among]
the eagles Anat soared. Over [Aqhat]
she placed him. He struck him twice [on the head],
three times above the ear. He poured out, [like]
a slaughterer, his blood, as one slaugh[tering, onto his knees].
Out went, like a wind, [his] breath, [like spittle]⁠
his spirit, like smoke from [his nostrils]. […]
Anat, at the destruction of her warrior, […]
Aqhat, and she wept. “[Child of Danel], […]
[…] I, and because of [your bow I struck you], because of
your arrows. You […]
And the birds perished […]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.18 IV:36 and Genesis 35:18

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Genesis 35, Rachel's death uses the same departing-breath image as Aqhat's murder, showing how death could be pictured as something leaving the body.

Passages

KTU 1.18 IV:36

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Aqhat I will place you. Strike him twice on the head, three times above the ear. Pour out, like a slaughterer, his blood, as one slaughtering, onto his knees. Let go out, like a wind, his breath, like spittle, his spirit, like smoke from his nostrils. […] I will not let live.” She took Yatpan, the warrior of the Lady; she placed him like an eagle in her belt, like a hawk in her quiver. Aqhat, as he sat down to e[at], the son of Danel to dine, over him eagles soared, a flock of haw[ks] watched. [Among] the eagles Anat soared. Over [Aqhat] she placed him. He struck him twice [on the head], three times above the ear. He poured out, [like] a slaughterer, his blood, as one slaugh[tering, onto his knees]. Out went, like a wind, [his] breath, [like spittle] his spirit, like smoke from [his nostrils]. […]
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Genesis 35:18

Hebrew Bible
13 Then God went up from the place where he spoke with him. 14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. 15 Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel. 16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, Rachel went into labor—and her labor was hard. 17 When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” 18 With her dying breath, she named him Ben Oni. But his father called him Benjamin instead. 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Jacob set up a marker over her grave; it is the Marker of Rachel’s Grave to this day.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

“... in Gen 35:18 has both prebiblical and post- biblical parallels. In the Ugaritic account of the murder of Aqhat, we find the expression yṣat/tṣi . . . npšh (CAT/KTU 1.18 IV), and it is worth noting that the Ugaritic dictionaries seem completely at ease with the meaning “soul” for npš.16 They render tṣi km rḥ npšh ...” “... as “may his soul go out like a breath” and yṣat km rḥ npš[h] as “es entwich seine Seele wie ein Wind” quite unselfconsciously. The ...”
Richard C. Steiner, Disembodied Souls: The Nefesh in Israel and Kindred Spirits in the Ancient Near East, with an Appendix on the Katumuwa Inscription, ANEM 11 (Atlanta: SBL, 2015), 71–72.

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 1.18 IV:36 and Genesis 35:18

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