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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.3 II

[…]
Henna enough for seven girls,
scent of coriander and murex. Anat did close the gates of the mansion,
and she met the pages at the foot of the rock.
And behold! Anat fought in the vale,⁠
battled between the two cities,
struck the people,
silenced the men of the sun-rise.⁠
Heads were like balls beneath her,
palms above her like locusts,
palms of warriors like avenging grasshoppers.
She did stick the heads on her waist,
did bind the palms to her sash. She plunged her knees in the blood of the guards,
her skirts in the gore of the warriors.
With her shafts she drove forth the old men,
with her bowstring the townspeople.
Then behold! Anat proceeded to her house,
the goddess started for her palace;
but she was not sated with her fighting in the vale,
her battling between the two cities. She arranged chairs for the warriors,⁠
she did arrange tables for the soldiers,
stools for the heroes.
Anat fought hard and looked,⁠
she battled and surveyed the scene;
her liver swelled with laughter,⁠
her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph,
as she plunged her knees in the blood of the guards,⁠
her skirts in the gore of the warriors,
until she was sated with fighting in the house,
with battling between the tables. The blood of the guards was wiped from the house
and oil of a peace-offering was poured from a bowl.
The virgin Anat washed her hands,
the sister-in-law of peoples her fingers;
she washed her hands of the blood of the guards,
her fingers of the gore of the warriors.
She did put back chairs with chairs, tables with tables,
she put back stools with stools.
She scooped up water and washed herself,
dew of heaven and oil of earth, showers of the rider on the clouds,
dew that the heavens poured upon her,
showers that the stars did pour upon her.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.3 II:27 and Jeremiah 46:10

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Jeremiah 46 shares the Baal Cycle's image of Anat wading knee-deep in blood until she has had her fill of fighting, making Egypt's defeat a feast of vengeance for God.

Passages

KTU 1.3 II:27

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
With her shafts she drove forth the old men, with her bowstring the townspeople. Then behold! Anat proceeded to her house, the goddess started for her palace; but she was not sated with her fighting in the vale, her battling between the two cities. She arranged chairs for the warriors, she did arrange tables for the soldiers, stools for the heroes. Anat fought hard and looked, she battled and surveyed the scene; her liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph, as she plunged her knees in the blood of the guards, her skirts in the gore of the warriors, until she was sated with fighting in the house, with battling between the tables. The blood of the guards was wiped from the house and oil of a peace-offering was poured from a bowl.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Jeremiah 46:10

Hebrew Bible
9 Go ahead and charge into battle, you horsemen! Drive furiously, you charioteers! Let the soldiers march out into battle, those from Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields, and those from Lydia who are armed with the bow. 10 But that day belongs to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies. It is a day of reckoning when he will pay back his adversaries. His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied. It will drink its fill from their blood! Indeed it will be a sacrifice for the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies in the land of the north by the Euphrates River. 11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, you dear poor people of Egypt. But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; there will be no healing for you.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jeremiah

References

“... While many commentators have noted the parallel of KTU 1.3 II4-30 to 1.13,68 the religious significance has not been appreciated equally. Like KTU 1.13, Anat's battle in 1.3 II may constitute another example of herem-warfaie. Moreover, KTU 1.3 II provides a fuller picture of this warfare. ...” “... of bloodshed and divine vengeance (Jer. 46:10, Isa. 34:5, 7) is striking. ...” “... One's fill of corpses underlies the royal warfare expressed in the phrase male' gewiyyot, in Ps. 110.6. The motif of divine blood-satiety occurs also in KTU 1.3 II. The first half ends by expressing the point that Anat 'was not sated with fighting in the valley' (wl sb't tmthsh b'mq) in line 19, and the second ends by mentioning that she waded in blood knee- deep 'until she was sated with fighting in the house' ('d tsb' tmths bbt) in line 29. ...”
Mark S. Smith, “Anat's Warfare Cannibalism and the West Semitic Ban,” in Anat's Warfare Cannibalism and the West Semitic Ban, in The Pitcher Is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gösta W. Ahlström, ed. Steven W. Holloway and Lowell K. Handy (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1995), 382.

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 1.3 II:27 and Jeremiah 46:10

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