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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.3 III

She decorated herself with purple cloth, which takes a thousand fields
to harvest from the sea.
[…]
[You will see her] holding her lyre in her hands,
placing her lute to her breast: a song of the love of Exalted Baal,
of the passion of Pidray, daughter of Lightning,
of the affection of Tallay, daughter of Rain, of the love of Arsay, daughter of Netherworld.
Next, enter like a pair of acolytes,
and bow to the ground before Anat’s feet.
Prostrate yourselves; show her respect.
Then say to Maiden Anat —
repeat to the Kinswoman of the People:
“A message from Exalted Baal; words from the Exalted Warrior.
Come find battle in the land;
leave love in the dust.
Pour peace into the chasms of the land,
harmony into the chasms of the fields.
Hasten, hustle, hurry up!
“Let your feet run to me, let your legs race to me,
for I have thoughts to tell you,
and I have words to share:
a thought of trees and a murmur of stone,
a whisper between heaven and earth,
between the deep and the stars.
“I understand the lightning beyond the heavens’ ken,
the thoughts beyond human knowledge, that which the throngs below cannot understand.
Come, and I will show it:
deep inside my mountain, holy Sapan,
in the sacred space on my native peak,⁠
in the paradise upon the hill of victory.”⁠
Watch! Anat sees the gods. Below, her feet start shaking.
All around, her limbs are shivering.
Up above, her face sweats. Shudders wrack the bones of every limb;
the bones within her spine turn weak. She spoke up and cried out,
“Why have Gupan and Ugar come here?
What enemy rises up against Baal?⁠
What rival faces the Cloud-Rider?⁠ Didn’t I crush El’s beloved, Yamm (Ocean)?⁠
Didn’t I annihilate Nahar (River), the great god?⁠
Didn’t I leash Dragon and bind him in a saddle?⁠
I crushed the Sinuous Serpent, Encircler,⁠
the seven-headed monster.
I crushed the gods’ beloved, Arsha.
I ravaged El’s young bull, Ataka.
I crushed the gods’ she-wolf, Fire.
I annihilated El’s daughter, Zabiba. I’ve reaped silver from my fighting;
I’ve taken possession of gold of those who drove Baal from the heights of Sapan”

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.3 III:37 and Psalm 74:12

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 74 uses imagery from the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, where the goddess Anat describes defeating the Sea, River, and a seven-headed serpent. In both, these chaotic figures are subdued by a divine warrior after combat.

Passages

KTU 1.3 III:37

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Watch! Anat sees the gods. Below, her feet start shaking. All around, her limbs are shivering. Up above, her face sweats. Shudders wrack the bones of every limb; the bones within her spine turn weak. She spoke up and cried out, “Why have Gupan and Ugar come here? What enemy rises up against Baal? What rival faces the Cloud-Rider? Didn’t I crush El’s beloved, Yamm (Ocean)? Didn’t I annihilate Nahar (River), the great god? Didn’t I leash Dragon and bind him in a saddle? I crushed the Sinuous Serpent, Encircler, the seven-headed monster. I crushed the gods’ beloved, Arsha. I ravaged El’s young bull, Ataka. I crushed the gods’ she-wolf, Fire. I annihilated El’s daughter, Zabiba. I’ve reaped silver from my fighting; I’ve taken possession of gold of those who drove Baal from the heights of Sapan”
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Psalm 74:12

Hebrew Bible
10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults? Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever? 11 Why do you remain inactive? Intervene and destroy him. 12 But God has been my king from ancient times, performing acts of deliverance on the earth. 13 You destroyed the sea by your strength; you shattered the heads of the sea monster in the water. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the people who live along the coast. 15 You broke open the spring and the stream; you dried up perpetually flowing rivers. 16 You established the cycle of day and night; you put the moon and sun in place.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... The term “Northwest Semitic combat myth” refers to a set of genetically related myths that describe a confrontation between a warrior god and some combination of the Sea god, his serpentine allies, and Death. As the name suggests, reflexes of this myth appear primarily in Northwest Semitic languages – the language family that includes Hebrew, Ugaritic, Aramaic, and Phoenician – or in literatures that were heavily influenced by Northwest Semitic traditions, such as Revelation. Examples of the Northwest Semitic combat myth include the Ba‘al Cycle, Ps. 74:12-17, and Revelation 12. In the Ba‘al Cycle, the storm god Ba‘al battles the Sea god (ym) and then Death (mt) for kingship of the gods (KTU 1.2.4.1-31; 1.6.6.16-35). Allusions within this text also refer to a battle between Ba‘al and Lītan, a serpentine figure (KTU 1.5.1.1-2). Psalm 74:12-14, on the other hand, describes how Yhwh divided Sea and crushed the heads of the dragons, and Leviathan during the primeval era, while Revelation 12 depicts a battle between the angel Michael and a seven-headed dragon ..."
Jonathan Kaplan, How Song of Songs Became a Divine Love Song (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 334–351.

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 III:37 and Psalm 74:12

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