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The Goddess Anath: Canaanite Epics on the Patriarchal Age
CASSUTO (1883-1951), one of the greatest Bible scholars and Jewish historians of his generation, was also a pioneer in the field of Ugaritic-scholarship. His book The Goddess Anath is a classic of its kind. It was first published in Hebrew by the Bilalik Institute in 1951, reprinted in 1953, 1958, and 1965, and appears now in the English translation of Prof. ABRAHAMS (reprint 2009). The book contains three parts a) An introduction to Ugaritic literature that is based on the texts discovered (up to 1951) at the Ras-Shamra, in general, and on the epic of Baal in particular. b) Some Ugaritic tablets containing episodes from the epic of Baal, in which the Goddess Anath plays an important role. These texts appear in three parallel the first gives a transcription of the Ugaritic text in Latin characters, the second contains Cassuto s Hebrew translation, and the third comprises the English rendering. c) A commentary on these texts. This work also sheds invaluable light on important and hitherto unexplained linguistic usages in the Bible, while the author s brilliant methodology will serve as an enduring beacon of light to many generations of researchers.
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First published September 24, 2012
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January 5, 2013
"The Goddess Anath" is a translation by Umberto Cassuto of several Ugaritic tablets into pointed Hebrew, which has in turn been translated into English by Israel Abraham. The tablets themselves are of moderate interest, detailing stories of the god Ba'al and Anath, and the righteous hero Danel. This mortal (so the author argues) is the one mentioned by Ezekiel in his fourteenth chapter. (It is highly unlikely that he would mention the younger, contemporaneous prophet to those not in Babylonia IN THE MIDDLE of Noah and Job. It is highly likely that Ezekiel is listing famous, righteous FOREIGNERS to jar Judahite religious leaders sense of entitlement.)
The more fascinating part of this book is the three chapters before the tablets translation. Chapter 1 is a rather dated discussion of the Ugaritic writing. Like Akkadian/Sumerian, Ugaritic was written with a wedge-shaped (Latin: cuneo) stylus pressed into clay. Unlike Akkadian, the Ugaritic cuneiform writings are not descended from logographic or hieroglyphic writing (entailing hundreds of graphemes) but an abjad (consonantal alphabet) of a mere 30 characters. This enabled their (relatively) easy decipherment after their discovery in the 1928. The language was quickly seen to be a Semitic relative to Hebrew, in fact a very close cousin.
Chapter two is the big pay-off for scholars of the Bible. Ugaritic sheds much light on the Hebrew Bible. As Cassuto says in his conclusion, when we find two passages of the Bible that are similar, rather than assuming one is dependent upon the other and attempting to discern which came first, we now have a tertium quid: that both passages follow Canaanite/Semitic literary conventions as demonstrable by Ugaritic epic poetry.
The first subsection lists several conceptual metaphors that have been found in common between the Bible and Ugaritic (e.g. dissolving couches with tears, mourning down into Sheol, Sheol being a "house of freedom", etc.). The second subsection lists several explicit similes into common (e.g. biting like a serpent, goring like a wild ox, harts longing for streams, etc.). The third subsection details many, many cognates that have been deployed in both languages in synthetic parallel with each other (e.g. earth/dust, eternity/generation-to-generation, mouth/lips, etc.). The fourth and fifth subsections list several literary devices the two languages shared. These sections are especially rich or those who have read Silva's Biblical Words and Their Meaning: An Introduction to Lexical Semantics because many choices of diction are not explicit in the authors' mind but literary conventions (cp. today when an author writing in "Christianese" about the "quick and the dead", an archaic use of 'quick' only alive to those who still recite the "Authorized Version" of the Apostles' Creed).
In the last subsection of chapter two, the author details several obscure and difficult Hebrew words that can be resolved thanks to Ugaritic cognates. 2 Kings 4:42; 2 Kings 15:5; Isaiah 27:1 all contain such disputed words. Most fascinating is an explanation behind the Biblical injunction against "cooking a kid in its mother's milk". Over and over again, Cassuto shows that Ugaritic proves to Critical scholars that the Biblical text does not need emendation, but follows convention 'as is'.
Chapter three details the necessary background of 'El, Ba'al, Mot, Yam, Anath, and Asherah needed to understand the Ugaritic epics. I was repeatedly struck by the lack of originality in Greek, Latin, Egyptian, and Ugaritic mythology: they are all derived from Akkadian legends. Ba'al is Zeus, 'El is Chronos, Mot is Hades, Yam is Poseidon, etc. This chapter usefully explains many features of the Elijah vs. the priests of Ba'al at Mt. Carmel episode
The more fascinating part of this book is the three chapters before the tablets translation. Chapter 1 is a rather dated discussion of the Ugaritic writing. Like Akkadian/Sumerian, Ugaritic was written with a wedge-shaped (Latin: cuneo) stylus pressed into clay. Unlike Akkadian, the Ugaritic cuneiform writings are not descended from logographic or hieroglyphic writing (entailing hundreds of graphemes) but an abjad (consonantal alphabet) of a mere 30 characters. This enabled their (relatively) easy decipherment after their discovery in the 1928. The language was quickly seen to be a Semitic relative to Hebrew, in fact a very close cousin.
Chapter two is the big pay-off for scholars of the Bible. Ugaritic sheds much light on the Hebrew Bible. As Cassuto says in his conclusion, when we find two passages of the Bible that are similar, rather than assuming one is dependent upon the other and attempting to discern which came first, we now have a tertium quid: that both passages follow Canaanite/Semitic literary conventions as demonstrable by Ugaritic epic poetry.
The first subsection lists several conceptual metaphors that have been found in common between the Bible and Ugaritic (e.g. dissolving couches with tears, mourning down into Sheol, Sheol being a "house of freedom", etc.). The second subsection lists several explicit similes into common (e.g. biting like a serpent, goring like a wild ox, harts longing for streams, etc.). The third subsection details many, many cognates that have been deployed in both languages in synthetic parallel with each other (e.g. earth/dust, eternity/generation-to-generation, mouth/lips, etc.). The fourth and fifth subsections list several literary devices the two languages shared. These sections are especially rich or those who have read Silva's Biblical Words and Their Meaning: An Introduction to Lexical Semantics because many choices of diction are not explicit in the authors' mind but literary conventions (cp. today when an author writing in "Christianese" about the "quick and the dead", an archaic use of 'quick' only alive to those who still recite the "Authorized Version" of the Apostles' Creed).
In the last subsection of chapter two, the author details several obscure and difficult Hebrew words that can be resolved thanks to Ugaritic cognates. 2 Kings 4:42; 2 Kings 15:5; Isaiah 27:1 all contain such disputed words. Most fascinating is an explanation behind the Biblical injunction against "cooking a kid in its mother's milk". Over and over again, Cassuto shows that Ugaritic proves to Critical scholars that the Biblical text does not need emendation, but follows convention 'as is'.
Chapter three details the necessary background of 'El, Ba'al, Mot, Yam, Anath, and Asherah needed to understand the Ugaritic epics. I was repeatedly struck by the lack of originality in Greek, Latin, Egyptian, and Ugaritic mythology: they are all derived from Akkadian legends. Ba'al is Zeus, 'El is Chronos, Mot is Hades, Yam is Poseidon, etc. This chapter usefully explains many features of the Elijah vs. the priests of Ba'al at Mt. Carmel episode
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July 28, 2011Ugarit is a lost Canaanite City located in Syria just north of Lebanon. The city is called Raas Shamra today. Ugarit was located in a tell, or small mountain. Among the many finds were tablets that told of the Baal cycle. The book title can bee misleading as the book itself is more about Canaanite literature than it is about the Goddess Anath. Many of the fragments that have been found are damaged and incomplete.. Many lines are missing and it can be a challenge to fill in the blanks.
The book describes the many similarities between biblical text and Canaanite text. There is the same usage of literary motifs, metaphors and similarities. Hebrew writers whje when they wrote the bible had a developed form of poetry. Ugaritic literature and Canaanite Literature predated the time of the Patriarchs so scholars have agreed that Israelites were using references and poetic styles borrowed from Canaanite literature. In fact it is now believed that the Israelites branched off from the Canaanites.
The book analyzes two stories that have been salvaged from Ugarite. The first one pertains to the war between Baal, Anaths brother and Yam the God of the Sea. El and Ashera were the first two deities to rule the world. As they got older they were pushed aside by the three brother Gods , Yam, Baal who is the god of vegetation and rain, and Mot, the God of death. Since these three gods have control over the Earth there is some question or fight as to who will rule what. So there is fighting. Anath allies with her brother Baal.
The first text indicates that Baal is dining with guests when he is challenged by emissaries of the Sea God. The Sea God wants him handed over. Meanwhile Anath's castle is attacked by human supporters of Yam. She defeats them and wears their heads like a belt and their hands like bandoleers. War then continues with Anath defeating the allies of Yam most of note is the 7 headed dragon whom she muzzles and the judge of the Rivers.
Anath is called the Eternal virgin and Baal is called the rider of the clouds. God in the bible also is called the rider of the clouds and he also defeats the sea and forces it to keep it's boundaries. God also defeats the Leviathan and lockes it in the deeps. Lots of familiar parallels.
The Second text is about Baal's battle with death. Baal loses the battle and dies and then Anath comes comes in and slays death. Eventually Baal is returned to the surface world and the rains return so the crops can grow. Also discussed is how Anath negotiates with El to have a castle built for Baal. Anath does not ask nicely but demands, throws and temper tantrum and scares the day lights out of El. She also get's permission from Ashera. Katir wHassis is summoned from Egypt to do the job.
Interesting of note is that in Baals castle the windows are shut as death may seep through and kill his family. In the Bible similar sentiment are expressed about death coming through the window.
Over all good book a bit scholarly and too much attention is devoted to diagramming words that it could bore one half to death. The book is also dated and I am sure new information has been released. I was expecting to learn more about Anath.
The book describes the many similarities between biblical text and Canaanite text. There is the same usage of literary motifs, metaphors and similarities. Hebrew writers whje when they wrote the bible had a developed form of poetry. Ugaritic literature and Canaanite Literature predated the time of the Patriarchs so scholars have agreed that Israelites were using references and poetic styles borrowed from Canaanite literature. In fact it is now believed that the Israelites branched off from the Canaanites.
The book analyzes two stories that have been salvaged from Ugarite. The first one pertains to the war between Baal, Anaths brother and Yam the God of the Sea. El and Ashera were the first two deities to rule the world. As they got older they were pushed aside by the three brother Gods , Yam, Baal who is the god of vegetation and rain, and Mot, the God of death. Since these three gods have control over the Earth there is some question or fight as to who will rule what. So there is fighting. Anath allies with her brother Baal.
The first text indicates that Baal is dining with guests when he is challenged by emissaries of the Sea God. The Sea God wants him handed over. Meanwhile Anath's castle is attacked by human supporters of Yam. She defeats them and wears their heads like a belt and their hands like bandoleers. War then continues with Anath defeating the allies of Yam most of note is the 7 headed dragon whom she muzzles and the judge of the Rivers.
Anath is called the Eternal virgin and Baal is called the rider of the clouds. God in the bible also is called the rider of the clouds and he also defeats the sea and forces it to keep it's boundaries. God also defeats the Leviathan and lockes it in the deeps. Lots of familiar parallels.
The Second text is about Baal's battle with death. Baal loses the battle and dies and then Anath comes comes in and slays death. Eventually Baal is returned to the surface world and the rains return so the crops can grow. Also discussed is how Anath negotiates with El to have a castle built for Baal. Anath does not ask nicely but demands, throws and temper tantrum and scares the day lights out of El. She also get's permission from Ashera. Katir wHassis is summoned from Egypt to do the job.
Interesting of note is that in Baals castle the windows are shut as death may seep through and kill his family. In the Bible similar sentiment are expressed about death coming through the window.
Over all good book a bit scholarly and too much attention is devoted to diagramming words that it could bore one half to death. The book is also dated and I am sure new information has been released. I was expecting to learn more about Anath.
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