Go to Related Reading
About this book

KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

About this book

Baal Cycle

KTU 1.4 VI

And Kothar-wa-Hasis responds:
You will revert, Baal, to my suggestion.
Kothar-wa-Hasis inquires again:
Please hear, Mightiest Baal:
Shall I not fit a window in the house
A vent in the midst of the palace?
And Mightiest Baal retorts:
You shall not install a window in the house⁠
A vent in the midst of the palace.
So that Pidray, Daughter of Light
Tallay, Daughter of Showers
The Beloved of El, Yamm, do not ... And spat ...
[…] insulted me and spat
And Kothar-wa-Hasis replies:
You will return, Baal, to my suggestion.
Swiftly, he builds his house
Quickly, he raises his palace.
He sends to Lebanon for its timber
To Siryon for its prime cedar.
Indeed to Lebanon for its timber
To Siryon for its choice cedar.
A fire is kindled in the house
A flame within the palace.
Behold! For one day, then two Fire blazes in the house
A flame within the palace.
For a third day, then a fourth
Fire burns in the house
A flame within the palace.
For a fifth day, then a sixth Fire blazes in the house
A flame within the palace.
Then, on the seventh day⁠
The fire departs the house
The flame, the palace.
The silver has transformed into plates
The gold into bricks. Mightiest Baal exults:
I have built my house of silver
My palace of gold.
Baal organizes for his dwelling
Haddu arranges for his palace.⁠
He slaughters large livestock and small:
He slaughters bulls and fatling rams
Year-old calves
Sheep in droves, and kids.
He invites his siblings into his house
His kin within his palace;
He invites the seventy sons of Athirat.⁠
He offers the gods rams
Offers the goddesses ewes.
He offers the gods bulls
Offers the goddesses cows.
He offers the gods thrones
Offers the goddesses seats.
He offers the gods jars of wine
Offers the goddesses cruets of wine.
As the gods dine, drink
A suckling of the breast is offered
With a salted knife, a cut of fatling.
They drink wine from goblets
From gold cups, the blood of trees.
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.4 VI:46 and Genesis 10:5

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

The Ugaritic Baal Cycle speaks of “the 70 sons of Athirat,” while Genesis lists 70 nations from Noah and his descendants. Both reflect the ancient Near Eastern use of 70 to symbolize a complete set, following a similar pattern of divine order.

Passages

KTU 1.4 VI:46

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Baal organizes for his dwelling Haddu arranges for his palace. He slaughters large livestock and small: He slaughters bulls and fatling rams Year-old calves Sheep in droves, and kids. He invites his siblings into his house His kin within his palace; He invites the seventy sons of Athirat. He offers the gods rams Offers the goddesses ewes. He offers the gods bulls Offers the goddesses cows. He offers the gods thrones Offers the goddesses seats.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Genesis 10:5

Hebrew Bible
1 This is the account of Noah’s sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Dodanim. 5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

"... It is in connection with the Canaanite god El and his pantheon of gods, known as 'the sons of El', that a direct relationship with the Old Testament is to be found. That this is certain can be established from the fact that both were seventy in number. At Ugarit we read in the Baal myth of 'the seventy sons of Asherah (Athirat)' (KTU 1.4). Since Asherah was El's consort, this therefore implies that El's sons were seventy in number ... Interestingly, it is known that the Jews believed there to be seventy nations on earth, so that the sons of God were accordingly also seventy in number. This emerges from the table of the nations in Genesis 10, where there are seventy nations ..."
John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, JSOTSup 265 (London: Sheffield Academic, 2002), 23–24.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Tags

Your feedback

KTU 1.4 VI:46 and Genesis 10:5

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library