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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:40 and Ezekiel 29:3

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Ezekiel 29 shares the Baal Cycle's image of a dragon defeated by Anat, making God's punishment of Pharaoh a rejection of the king's claim to own and create the Nile.

Passages

KTU 1.3 III:40

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
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.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Ezekiel 29:3

Hebrew Bible
3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the midst of its waterways, who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” 4 I will put hooks in your jaws and stick the fish of your waterways to your scales. I will haul you up from the midst of your waterways, and all the fish of your waterways will stick to your scales. 5 I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your waterways; you will fall in the open field and will not be gathered up or collected. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

“... Rather, these passages fit within the conflict topos. Representation of the king of Egypt as the dragon (and of Egypt as Rahab) of combat traditions was compatible with and possibly attracted by the identi­ fication of Egypt with a prominent body of water and the king of Egypt with the crocodile. Several specific narrative details of Ezek 29:2–6 and 32:2–16 are similar to earlier and later articulations of the conflict topos: the enemy is portrayed as arrogant (KTU 1.5 I 1–8; Job 41:26; Dan 7:8; 2 Macc 5:21, 9:8; Rev 13:3–8; 2 Thess 2:1–12); the enemy is portrayed as a sea-dragon (KTU 1.3 III 38–42; KTU 1.83; Ps 74:13–14; Isa 27:1; Rev 12, 13, 16, and 20); the deity uses hooks or nets to secure the enemy (EE IV; Job 40:25–26); the corpse of the slain enemy is left exposed (EE IV 129–140, V 53–63; KTU 1.2 IV 21–27; KTU 1.6 II 30–37; Ps 74:14); and defeat of the enemy indicates the victorious dei­ ty’s incomparability (EE V 133–136; Ps 89:6–15; Job 41:2–3). ...”
Debra Scoggins Ballentine, The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 102.

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:40 and Ezekiel 29:3

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