The Current State of Ugaritic Studies

By Gregorio del Olmo Lete

No other language and culture of Northwest Semitic – the family of languages and cultures used in the Levant including Hebrew, Phoenician, and Aramaic – prior to the appearance of the Hebrew Bible has offered a similar corpus of linguistic and mythological material as Ugaritic. In 1929 the discovery of a tomb at Minet el Beda on the north Syrian coast led to excavations at nearby Ras Shamra, ancient Ugarit. Excavations there quickly turned up cuneiform tablets similar to those long familiar from Mesopotamia but written with a much smaller number of signs.

By the early 1930s the tablets had been deciphered and revealed to be an alphabet of 30 signs. The texts themselves include a rich corpus of literary works whose language and imagery is similar to that of the Hebrew Bible. Today, Ugaritic studies continue to be at the forefront of Northwest Semitic philology due to their unique linguistic and literary contributions to our knowledge of the second millennium BCE. New discoveries indicate a permanent revision of earlier reconstructions. First, the publication of the new texts recovered in the excavations from 1994 to 2002 from the thirteenth century BCE structure known as Urtenu’s House have completed the publication of this “library.” These include diplomatic correspondence from the king of Alasia to the high administrator Urtenu about horses, scribes, prisoners, and the principal export of Cyprus, copper. Linked to the publication of new texts is the new edition of the series Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit or KTU, the standard reference source for Ugaritic consonantal material. This series has also undergone a new revision of older readings and a reorganization of the text categories. Secondly, the discovery of new epigraphic material has prompted also the updating of the linguistic tools of reference, including new analyses of grammar and a dictionary. New tools for teaching grammar and vocabulary have also been offered.

In the third place, the study of the different genres of texts has progressed steadily. Juridical and diplomatic texts and the diverse corpus of economic and administrative texts have been tackled. Many diplomatic tablets record the relations between Ugarit and the Hittite empire to which it was subject, and with other Syrian kingdoms. Administrative matters include the organization of the Ugaritic city-state, transfers of property, and management of prisoners of war. The corpus of letters is the only section of Ugarit texts that is waiting for a fresh revision. The mythological and epic material, already the best studied in the past, has been visited anew in books on the Baal Cycle, which discuss the tablets where Baal receives permission to build his palace from El, the myth of the “Gracious Gods” (birthed by El and his wives), and the Refaim, a term apparently referring to dead kings. But above all it is the genre of the cultic texts that has received the most attention. Aside from those overall text studies, different religious and ideological topics have been dealt with in monographs giving witness to the almost inexhaustible material Ugaritic offers to scholars. Studies on the Ugaritic Pantheon and the divine epithets are examples. Other topics are hippology (equine knowledge), economy, society, literary impact, topography, and material culture in general. Most of these monographs also take into account comparative biblical material. In fact, comparison between Ugarit and the Bible is going on in an uninterrupted way, Special mention should be made of the new Ugaritic material offered by the new series of Ägypten und Altes Testaments for its use of comparative Ugaritic-biblical studies. In fact no serious commentary of the Hebrew Bible can nowadays be carried out without casting an eye on the Ugaritic materials.  Other topics also very significant in this regard are the origin and history of the alphabet and the collapsing geo-political situation of the Levant at the end of the second millennium.

Some authors have also offered miscellanies of “selected papers”, gathering the work of many years of dedication to Ugaritic studies, while proceedings of congresses or miscellany volumes present contributions by different authors.  The significance of this research has been seen in publication series in which the Ugaritic topics occupy an important place. In this regard the joint French-Syrian Mission d’Ougarit has kept steady editorial activity from its seat at La Maison de l’Orient in Lyon from which a flood of publications has come dealing with archaeological and literary topics as well. Specialized and general journals devoted to Northwest Semitic and ancient Near Eastern studies have continued offering papers on Ugaritic topics. One has the impression that even if fundamental Ugaritic subjects have already been dealt with in an almost exhaustive way, there are many facets that still deserve study. It is a pity that present situation in Syria has stopped field research; we do not know to what extent future archaeological works could open the way to new materials. This situation will seriously condition the future of research.

Gregorio del Olmo Lete is Emeritus Professor at the University of Barcelona – Instituto del Próximo Oriente Antiguo.

Selected Bibliography of Recent Scholarship in Ugaritic Studies

Y. Avishur, Comparative Studies in Biblical and Ugaritic Languages and Literatures, Tel Aviv/Jaffa 2007.

P. Bordreuil, ed., Une bibliotèque au sud de la ville (RSOu VII), Paris 1991.

P. Bordreuil, “Écriture dextroverse/senestroverse: quelques reflexions sur l`’histoire de l’alphabet cunéiform d’Ougarit”, in E. Devecchi, ed., International Symposium: Palaeography and Scribal Practices in Syro-Palestine and Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age (PIHANS XCIX), Leiden 2012, pp. 1-18.

P. Bordreuil, D. Pardee, Manuel d’Ougaritique, Vol. I-II, Paris 2004 (Eng. Edition Winona lake IN 2009).

P. Bordreuil, D. Pardee, R. Hawley, Une bibliotèque au sud de la ville***. Textes 1994-2002 en cuneiforme alphabétique de la Maison d’Ourtenou (RSOu XVIII), Lyon 2011.

O. Caillot, Les sanctuaries de l’acropole d’Ougarit, les temples de Baal et de Dagan (RSOu XIX), Paris 2011.

S.Y. Cho,  Lesser Deities in the Ugaritic Texts and the Hebrew Bible. A Comparative Study of Their Nature and Roles (Deities and Angels of Ancient World, 2), Piscataway NJ 2007.

D.M. Clemens, Sources for Ugaritic Ritual and Sacrifice. Vol. I. Ugaritic and Ugaritic Akkadian Texts (AOAT 284/1), Münster 2001.

G. del Olmo Lete, Incantations and Anti-Witchcraft Texts from Ugarit (SANER 4), Boston/Berlin 2014.

G. del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Religion According to the Liturgical Texts of Ugarit (AOAT 408), Münster 2014.

G. del Olmo Lete, J. Sanmartín, A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition. Part 1-2 (HdO I/67 1-2), Leiden/Boston 20143.

M. Dietrich, Hrgb, Orbis Ugariticus. Ausgewählte Beiträge von Mafried Dietrich und Oswald Loretz zu Fest- und Gedenkschriften. Anlässlich des 80. Geburgstages von Oswald Loretz (AOAT 343), Münster 2007.

M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, J. Sanmartin,   Die keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani und anderen Orten  (AOAT 360/1), Münster 2013.

J. Gachet-Bizollon, Les ivoires d’Ougarit (RSOu XVI), Paris 2007.

G. Garbini, Il Poema di Baal di Ilumilku, Brescia 2014.

I.K.H. Halayqa, A Comparative Lexicon of Ugaritic and Canaanite (AOAT 340), Münster 2008.

J. Huehnergard, An Inroduction to Ugaritic, Peabody MSS 2012.

B. Janowski, G. Wilhelm, eds, Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testament. Neue Folge, Gütersloh 2004.

M. Liverani,  International relations in the Ancient Near East, 1600-1100 BC. , New York 2001.

O. Loretz, Hippologia Ugaritica. Das Pferd in Kultur, Witschaft, Kriegführung und Hippiatrie Ugarits … (AOAT 386), Münster 2011. K.M. McGeough, Exchange Relationships at Ugarit (ANEStudies. Suplement 26), Leuven 2007.

K.M. McGeough, M.S. Smith, Ugaritic Economic Tablets. Text, Translation and Notes (ANES Supp. 32), Leuven/Paris/Walpole MA 2011.

Ig. Márquez Rowe, The Royal Deeds of Ugarit. A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Diplomatics (AOAT 335), Münster 2006.

J.-M. Michaud, ed., La Bible et l’héritage d’Ougarit (POLO), Sherbrooke (Québec) 2005.

J.-M. Michaud, ed., Le Royaume d’Ougarit de la Crète à l’Euphrate. Nouveaux axes de recherche. Actes du Congrèd International de Sherbrooke 2005 … (Proche-Orient te Literature Ougaritique), Sherbrooke (Québec) 2007.

V. Matoïan, ed., Le  mobilier du Palais  royal d’Ougarit (RSOu XVII), Paris 2008.

V. Matoïan, M. Al-Maqdisi, Y. Calvet, eds, Études ougaritiques II (RSOu XX), Lyon 2012.

J.-Y. Monchambert, La céramique d’Ougarit. Campagnes de fouilles 1975 et 1976(RSOu XV),  Paris 2004.

D. Pardee, Les Textes rituels (RSOu XII), Paris 2000.

D. Pardee, “Nouvelle etude épigraphique et littétaire des texts fragmentaires en langue ougaritique dits ‘Les rephaïm’ (CTA 20-22)”, Orientalia 80, 2011, 1-65.

D. Pardee, The Ugaritic Texts and the Origins of West-Semitic Literary Composition, Oxford 2012.

An. Piquer Otero, Estudios de sintaxis verbal en textos ugaríticos. El Ciclo de Baal y la “poesía bíblica arcaica”. Estella (Navarra) 2007.

Ai. Rahmouni, Divine Epithets in the Ugaritic Alphabetic Texts (HdO I/93), Leiden/Boston 2008.

J.D. Schloen, The House of the Father as fact and Symbol. Patrimonialism in Ugarit and the Ancient Near East (Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant, 2), Winona Lake IN 2001.

W.M. Schniedewind, J.H. Hunt, A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

M.S. Smith, The Rituals and Myths of the Feast of the Goodly Gods of KTU/CAT 1.23. Royal Constructions of Oppostition, Interswection, Integration, and Dominion (SBL, Resources for Biblical Biblical Study, 51), Atlanta GE 2006.

M.S. Smith, W.T. Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle. Vol. II (SVT 114), Leiden/Boston 2009.

Chl. Sun, The Ethics of Violence in the Story of Aqhat (Gorgias Dissertation, Near Eastern Studies / Ugaritic Studies, 8), Piscataway NJ 2008/2013.

A. Tronina, Bodstawy grammatyki jezyka ugarvekiego wyboru tekstow i słownikiem (Basic Ugaritic grammar with texts and glossary), Kielce 2006

J. Tropper, Ugaritisch. Kurzgefasste Grammatik mit Übungstexten und Glossar (ELO 1), Münster 2002.

J. Tropper, Kleines Wörterbuch des Ugaritischen (ELO 4), Wiesbaden 2008. J. Tropper, Ugaritische Grammatik (AOAT 273), Münster 2012.

W.H. Van Soldt, The Topography of the City-State of Ugarit (AOAT 324), Münster 2005. W.H. van Soldt, ed., Society and Administration in Ancient Ugarit(PINHAS CXIV), Leiden 2010.

W.G.E. Watson, Linguistic Studies in Ugaritic (Aula Orientalis Supplementa, 19), Sabadell (Barcelona) 2007

W.G.E. Watson, N. Wyatt, eds, Handbook of Ugaritic Studies (HdO I/39), Leiden/Boston/Köln 1999.

M. Williams, Basics of Ancient Ugaritic. A Concise Grammar, Workbook and Lexicon, Grand Rapids, MI 2012.

N. Wyatt, ‘There’s such Divinity doth Hedge a King’. Selected essays of Nicolas Wyatt on Royal Ideology in Ugaritic and Old Testament(Society for Old Testament Studies Monographs), Hants (England) 2005.

N. Wyatt, The Mythic Mind. Essays on Cosmology and Religion in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature, London/Oakville CT 2005.

N. Wyatt, Word of Tree and Whisper of Stone, And Other Papers on Ugaritic Thought (Gorgias Ugaritic Studies 1), Piscataway NJ 2007.

M. Yon, D. Arnaud, eds, Études ougaritiques, I: Travaux 1985-1995 (RSOu XIV), Paris 2001.

M. Yon, V. Karageorghis, N. Hirschfeld, Céamiques mycéniennes (RSOu XIII), Paris 2000.

K.L. Younger, ed., Ugarit at Seventy-Five, Winona Lake IN 2007.

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