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Priests and Officials

in the Ancient Near East


Papers of the Second Colloquium
on the Ancient Near East - The City and its Life
held at the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan (Mitaka, Tokyo)
March 22-24, 1996
Edited by

KAZUKO WATANABE
THE MIDDLE EASTERN CULTURE CENTER IN JAPAN

SONDERDRUCK

UNIVERSITATSVERLAG C. WINTER
HEIDELBERG 1999

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit


DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA
Japan Bible Seminary, Tokyo

Introduction
In recent years Ugaritic ritual texts have been given much attention and two major
works on the collection of such texts appeared: i.e. P. Xella's Italian study and 1.-M.
de Tarragon's French one.! The latter includes the following texts as "Rituels": i.e.
KTU 1.39, 1.40 (+84), 1.41 (+87), 1.43, 1.46, 1.48, 1.49, 1.50, 1.90, 1.91, 1.104, 1.105,
1.106, 1.109, 1.110, 1.111, 1.112, 1.115, 1.116, 1.119, 1.127, 1.130, 1.132, 1.134, 1.138, 1.148,
1.164 [= RIH 77/2B (=26)], 1.168 [=RIH 77/10B], 1.173 [= RIH 78/4], 1.170 [= RIH
78/11] and 1.171 [= RIH 78/16].2 However, KTU 1.161, which is probably the text for
the funerary cult, is classified differently, i.e. as "Vestiges du Rituel et du Mythe des
Manes'? together with 1.108 and 1.124. On the other hand, the former treats all of the
above mentioned texts except 1.108 in the same volume. However, neither of them
include the text 1.23, which deals with the fertility cult; its study appeared already in
the earlier French volume, i.e. Textes Ougaritiques, Tome I (1974).4 Since most of these
texts, including 1.161 and 1.23, refer to kings in the ritual contexts, it is necessary to
deal with them together in order to elucidate the king's roles in the religious rituals.
In a most recent book (1994)5, 1. Aboud discusses "Konig und Konigsfamilie im
Kult". There he deals with the ancestor worship, based on KTU 1.20-22, 1.108 and
1.161, and the other cultic performances of the king, based on 1.41, 1.105, 1.112, 1.109,
1.65 and 1.23. However, his treatment is not comprehensive and does not cover the

3
4

P. Xella, I Testi Rituali di Ugarit - I: Testi (Studi Semitici, 54). Roma: Consiglio Nazionale delle
Ricerche, 1981; A. Caquot, J.-M. de Tarragon, J.-L. Cunchillos, Textes Ougaritiques, Tome II:
Textes Religieux, Rituels, Correspondance (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1989), 125-238.
For the numbers beyond 1.161, see the second, enlarged edition of KTU: M. Dietrich O. Loretz - J. Sanmartin, The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other
Places (ALASP 8). MUnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995.
Caquot, de Tarragon, Cunchillos, Textes Ougaritiques, Tome II, 101-23.
A. Caquot, M. Sznycer, A. Herdner, Textes Ougaritiques, Tome I: Mythes et Legendes (Paris:
Editions du Cerf, 1974),353-79.
J. Aboud, Die Rolle des Konigs und seiner Familie nach den Texten von Ugarit (MUnster: UgaritVerlag, 1994), 123-92.

216

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

entire corpus of Ugaritic ritual texts and the discussions of the individual texts are
very brief.
There are some forty texts concerned with religious rituals in Ugarit; nearly three
quarters of them refer to the king and his involvement. These rituals can be classified into three groups: i.e. (A) the monthly dynastic rituals, (B) the royal funerary ritual, and (C) the national fertility cult.
1. King in the Monthly Dynastic Rituals

One of the best preserved ritual texts from ancient Ugarit is KTU 1.41 and its duplicate 1.87. It is a "prescriptive" ritual text for the month of "First-of-the-Wine" (ris yn),
which is probably the autumnal new year.
A. A Ritual for the Month ris yn: 1.41(+87)6

The text mentions the key divine names such as Lady-of-the-House (B'lt bhtm)
(5,26,37); family gods (ins Um) (5-6); the divine ancestor (it ib) (35), beside the major
deities such as EI, Baal, Anat, and Athtart. It also refers to the royal house (bt mlk)
(20).
The text mentions the following days of the month in this order: New Moon, 13th
day, 14th day, '1m (= the second)?, 5th day, 6th day, 7th day, and New Moon.
On the 13th day, the king washes himself clean, preparing himself to be the officiant of the cultic actions.
On the 14th day, the king is said to "sit clean" (6-7), and "invoke the day" (7-8).
On '1m the second (day), i.e. the day following the 14th day, the king enters a certain holy place and prepares and offers offerings to deities.
Later in the text, he is said to perform verbal actions such as "responding" (45, 46)
and "speaking" (53). At the sunset of the seventh day he becomes "off duty" (47, 53).
After he "sacrifices" (50), he is free to return to the house (54-55) where he lifts his
hands to heaven (55).
1) Interpretation: "New Year" Festival or a Monthly Ritual?
Before we deal with the king's role in this ritual it is important to clarify the nature of
this text. According to de Moor, this text describes the New Year festival which was
celebrated in this month when the first new wine was "ceremonially offered to Ba'lu,
the god whose victory over Death (Motu) was celebrated".8
6

J.C. de Moor, An Anthology 0/ Religious Texts from Ugarit (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1987), 157-65;
Caquot, de Tarragon, Cunchillos, Textes Ougaritiques, Tome II, 152-60; Aboud, Die Rolle des
Konigs und seiner Familie nach den Texten von Ugarit, 4.2.1.

On this term, see below.


De Moor, An Anthology o/Religious Textsfrom Ugarit, 157.

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

217

However, there is no evidence for any connection of this ritual with known mythology. Baal is not given any eminent position in this ritual, though he is mentioned
several times (lines 15, 33, 35, 41, 42) as a recipient of offerings. In two of these he
is referred to as "Baal of Ugarit", which is not his mythological title but a ritual
designation. There is no hint in this ritual text of a celebration of Baal's victory over
Mot as in the mythology.
Besides, the text 1.41 has nothing special describing the ritual as a "New Year" festival; other texts such as 1.112 (for the month of byr) and 1.119 (for the month of ib'Zt)
also exhibit similar "prescriptive" monthly rituals. It follows the same format as other
monthly ritual texts (e.g. 1.46, 1.87, 1.91, 1.104, 1.105 [month of byr], 1.112 [month of
byr]9) which mention the New Moon and other dates in a month. lO
2) Time Schedule of the Ritual
The order of dates mentioned in the text 1.41(+87), New Moon - 13 - 14 - 2nd - 5
- 6 - 7 - New Moon, however, poses a certain problem. lI Why do we have the smaller numbers following 13 - 14? Is there any system in the order of the days in this
ritual? Or, is it unnecessary to trace an exact temporal order for such a "prescriptive"
ritual text whose nature is entirely different from "descriptive" ones?
One way to explain this reverse order of the dates in the text is that it follows what
Levine calls "the custom of recapitulation" .12 According to him, a ritual text such as
KTU 1.132 "opens with a reference to the nineteenth of the month and then reverts
to rites performed on the third day of the month"; Levine says, "such recapitulation
was a fairly common practice among the scribes at Ugarit." In these texts, Levine
thinks, ''the reversion to earlier days of the month had something to do with a shift
to another category of sacrificial offerings". 13 However, such "reversion" appears only
in a few texts (e.g. 1.41, 1.119, 1.132) and it seems to follow a certain principle.

On byr = Ajjaru, see A. Livingstone, "The Case of the Hemerologies: Official Cult, Learned
Formulation and Popular Practices," in Official Cult and Popular Religion in the Ancient Near East,
ed. by E. Matsushima (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1993), 110.
10 For a detail discussion of the cultural calendar in Ugarit, see J.-M. de Tarragon, Le Culte Ii Ugarit
(Paris: Gabalda, 1980), 17-30.
11 The time schedules of most of the similar "prescriptive" rituals are "normal":1.87:54-55, 1.105,
1.112, 1.46/1.109, 1.91, 1.104.
12 B.A. Levine, ''The Descriptive Ritual Texts from Ugarit: Some Formal and Functional Features
of the Genre," in The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman
in Celebration of His Sixtieth Birthday, eds. C.L. Meyers & M. O'Connor (Winona Lake:
Eisenbrauns, 1983), 472.
13 Levine, ''The Descriptive Ritual Texts from Ugarit," 472.

218

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

De Moor holds that the text 1.41 describes a day to day ritual for the New Year
festival. He translates '1m (1. 8) as "On the following day", which he interprets to be
"the 15th, the first day of the festival".14 In this text de Moor recognizes some sort of
"an adjustment of the calendar" to subtract "the difference between the solar and the
lunar year". 15 However, de Moor's view is based on speculation about an "ideal" New
Year day and, moreover, the term '1m is better translated as "on the second (day)"16
like 'I ym (KTU 4.279: 2) "on the 2nd day" (UT, 19.1852).
In 1.41 we have the sequence: 14 - "2nd" - 5 - 6 - 7. The term '1m appears also
with the same meaning in 1.132, where we have the sequence: 19 - "2nd" - 3. 17
In both of these it seems that "the second day" ('1m) refers to "the second day of the
festival". This would mean that in 1.41 the festival started on the 14th and in 1.132 on
the 19th.
The view that the 14th is probably the first day of the festival in 1.41 is also supported by the fact that the king washes himself clean on the "eve" of the festival day
(i.e. on the 13th).1 8
1.41 ~ 13 - 14 - 2nd - 5 - 6 - 7
Similarly in 1.119 19,
1.119 ~ 720 - 17 - 18 - 4 - 5 - 7
the king washes himself clean on the 17th, which is presumably the eve of the festival which lasts for seven days from the 18th of the month.
Now in the monthly rituals 21 in Ugarit the king usually washes himself "clean" yrt/:l$
mlk brr on the first of two successive days. For examples, he washes himself clean on
the first of the following sequences of dates:
1.41
~
13 - 14
1.46
~
14 - Full moon
1.87
~ 14 - [
1.105 ~ 18 - [
1.106 ~ 25 - [

De Moor, An Anthology 0/ Religious Texts from Ugarit, 160, n. 18.


De Moor, An Anthology o/Religious Textsfrom Ugarit, 157-58.
16 cf. "furthermore" (Gordon, UTS, 554).
17 The term also appears in 1.109:32, 1.111:14 & 1.164:10.
18 If the 15th is the first day of the festival, why does the king have to purify himself on the 13th
day?
19 For the most recent treatment of this text, see D. Pardee, "Poetry in Ugaritic Ritual Texts," in
Verse in Ancient Near Eastern Prose (AOAT 42; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1993), 213-18.
20 Rather than "on the New Moon"(see Textes Ougaritiques, Tome II, 206; Pardee, "Poetry in
Ugaritic Ritual Texts," 214).
21 Cf. a regularized lunar festival in Mesopotamia: es-es = essessu (CAD, E [1958], 371-73).
14
15

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

219

1.109 ~ 14 - Full moon


1.112 ~ 7 - 8, 13 - 14
1.119 ~ 17 - 18
This purification certainly prepares him for the sacred ritual performed on the following day, for the rituals 1.41 and 1.119, "14th" and "18th" respectively.22
3) When is the Full Moon?
Now it is interesting to note the fact that the king purifies himself on the 13th day
when the text mentions also the 14th day, i.e.
1.41(+87):3 ~ 13 - 14
1.112:16-17 ~ 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17
or on the 14th day when it mentions also the "Full Moon", i.e.
1.46:10 ~ 14 - Full Moon (ym mlat)
1.109:2 ~ 14 - Full Moon (ym mlat).
In the latter case, it seems reasonable to hold that the king washes himself clean in
preparation for the Full Moon festival. But, in the former case, why does he wash
himself clean on the 13th? One may surmise that in those particular months the 14th
day was the Full Moon; so the "15th" day was not the Full Moon, hence not phrased
as ym mlat in 1.112.23
4) Two Days for the New Moon Festival
The reason for such a variation may be due to the fact that the New Moon in those
months was celebrated for two days as in the case of 1 Sam 20:27 which mentions
"the second day of the New Moon festival".24
Why was it celebrated for two days? The reason for this heavily depends on the
system of the lunar calendar. In 1 Sam 20:5 David told Jonathan that "tomorrow"
was the New Moon, since the waning moon was presumably noticed in the eastern
sky just before sunrise of the day ("today"). Then the next observable moon would
have been a new moon in the western sky after the sunset of "the day after tomorrow", i.e. the third day, in that month, since "tomorrow" began in a few hours,

221 Sam 20:26 mentions that the ritual purity ';iT~ was required of those who participated in
the New Moon feast presided over by Saul.
23 If this hypothesis is correct, the 14th day which is mentioned without 13th or 15th in the Ugaritic
ritual text 1.105:17 could be also Full Moon. On the other hand, in 1.87:54-55, the king washes
himself clean on the 14th of the month of sm 'I, since the 15th is probably the Full Moon in that
month, though the text lacks information after that day.
24 In 1.104:17-18 is mentioned "And on the second (?) day of the New Moon (?): twice". This
situation may be reflected in the following, if the reading of the first "New Moon" is correct:
1.104 => [unknown months] 9 - 10 - New Moon(?) - New Moon.

220

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

i.e. after sunset. 25 This is the reason why the New Moon festival was celebrated for
two nights.
This may be explained by the following time schedule.
sunrise - - - - sunset

sunrise - - - - sunset

sunrise - - - -

daytime
I
daytime
I
daytime
<-----~-TODAY--------> ~---:-TOMORROW -----> ~----~-third day------->
David & ~onathan NOW
morning
:
:
till the: third evening (v. 5)
:
:
spend:three days (v. 19)
Day tl).e moon disappear
Nw Moon festival
secon~ day of festival (v. 34)
NOM 0 0 N
.. af(er sunset
before sunrise ...
:midnight
:midnight
:rnidnight
1st - - - - - - - - 2nd -- - -- -modern: ~- - -- - - - - -eve- - - - -I

--7>:'*---- ---- --

-7>:'*---- -

This system may be illustrated by the following example for the traditional Japanese
calendar in 1989. (The date in brackets are for the old calendar.)
89/117 [11130]
89/118 [12/1]
SUN (rise - - set) 6:51 - - - - 16:43
6:51 - - - - 16:44
MOON (rise - set) 6:28 - - - - 15:50
7:20 - - - - - 17:01
(waning moon) < - - NO MOON - - > (new moon)
IS VISIBLE

8911/9 [1212]
6:51 - - - 8:04 - - - -

If the New Moon feast in that month lasted for two days with a ceremonial meal
each day, the Full Moon would be observed in the eastern sky shortly before the
sunset on the 14th day in that month
89/118 [12/1]
89/1121 [12/14]
89/1122 [12/15]
SUN (rise - - set)
6:51 - - - - - 16:44
6:48 - - - - - 16:57
MOON (rise - set)
7:20 - - - - - 17:01
16: 11 - - - - - 6:24
(fuJI moon)
< - - NO MOON IS VISIBLE - - > (new moon)

Therefore, one may conclude that in 1.41 the 14th day was the Full Moon and "on
the second (day)" (,1m) refers to the second day of the Full Moon festival rather than
the first day. If this is correct, the text 1.41 may be analyzed as follows:
New Moon day
(1-2)
(3)
13th day - the ritual purification of the king
(4-8)
14th day (Full Moon: the first day of the festival)
the second day (of the festival)
(8-29)
(29-33) (the 3rd day of the festival)

25

On the exegetical discussion of 1 Sam 20:19, see my "'New Moon' and 'Sabbath' in Samuel,"
Exegetica 6 (1995), 77-99 [Japanese, with an English summary; see OTA].

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

221

(33-38)
(38-45)
(45-46)
(47-48)

(the 4th day of the festival)


the 5th day (of the festival)
the 6th day (of the festival)
the 7th day (of the festival)
- - at the sunset the king becomes "off duty"
(48-49) New Moon day (of the next month)
In this time schedule, the king stays ritually "clean" during the seven day festival of
the Full Moon. 26 The text, therefore, is that for the Full Moon of the first month.
B. Dynastic ("House") Cult27
One of the most frequent expressions appearing in these ritual texts is B'lt bhtm
(1.41:5,26,37, 1.48:4 (B'lt btm), 1.87:5-6,28-29,40, 1.91:14, 1.105:8-9, 16, 1.109:31,
1.112:4-5). The most natural translation is certainly "Lady of the House(s)".28 The
phrase can be interpreted as referring either to a human woman or to a goddess.
1) A Human Woman
Like AIde belet biti which is a designation of the first lady at court, normally the wife
of the king (CAD, B, 190), B'lt bhtm may possibly refer to such a human lady.
However, if this is the case, why was she not purified like the king? Hence, it has been
suggested that the phrase refers to a "hierodule",29 since the priestesses are supposed
to be already clean and so there is no need of consecration by "washing" like the king.
But, if so, why is she called "mistress"?
2) The Goddess "Lady of the House"
In 1.39:21-22, however, B'lt bhtm appears in parallel with ins Urn, which has been
explained as a "personnel du culte" by Tarragon.3o But the latter is now to be better
understood as "eine Bezeichnung der Toten der k6niglichen Familie", following
Loretz,31 since it appears with other gods such as Rsp and II bt in 1.123:31, and it
In ancient Israel the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" began on the fIfteenth day of the fIrst month
and lasted for seven days; see Lev. 23:5f. Also "On the fIfteenth day of the seventh month the
LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days." (23:34) On Akkadian sapattu
"fIfteenth day of the month," "fIfteen days, half a month", see CAD, S/1 (1989), 449-50.
27 In the monthly rituals, the divine statues are transfered to the royal palace. See Tarragon, Le
Culle Ii Ugaril, 98-112.
28 Gordon, Ur, 19.463; UTS, p. 550.
29 Cf. Tarragon, Le Culle Ii Ugaril, 163.
30 Tarragon, Le Culle Ii Ugarit, 131-33.
31 Loretz, O. "Die Teraphim als 'Ahnen-G6tter-Figur(in)en' im Lichte der Texte aus Nuzi, Emar
und Ugarit: Anmerkungen zu i1iimVilh, i1hrnllhyrn und DINGIR.ERIN.MES/inS Urn," UF 24
(1992), 166.
26

222

DAVID TOSHIo TSUMURA

should be translated as something like "God-of-the-Clan". Hence, it is likely that B'll


bhtm is also a kind of a divine being, which receives a sacrificial offering with inS ilm
in 1.39:21-22.
Whom does B'II bhlm refer to? De Moor interprets it as referring to the goddess
Anat, since she "closes the doors of her mansion to go to battle in Baal I (KTU 1.3):ii,
a column reflecting a sham combat during the New Year festival."32 However, Anat's
having a mansion does not support this identification, for other deities also own houses. In fact, in the text 1.39 where B'II bhtm and inS Um appear in lines 21-22, the divine name 'nl appears side by side with the divine name rsp in line 7. This makes it
unreasonable to identify B'll bhlm with Anat.
B'II bhlm may possibly interpreted in "the same category" as II bl "God of the
House" (1.115:3, 7, 9, 1.123:29), who is listed at the top of a list of gods (1.102:1)33; the
latter is probably "the god of the farnily"34like Rakib-EI, "the patron god of the royal
dynasty" at Sam'ai, who is referred to as "the Lord of the House" (Phoenician b'l bl,
b'l byt).35 If the above is correct, B'lt bhlm is to be identified with the goddess of the
royal dynasty.
C. Ancestor Cult
Ilib, listed at the top of the "official" pantheon list (1.118), is another of the most frequently mentioned deities in the ritual texts from U garit, though it never appears in
literary and mythological texts except in the context which refers to an ideal son as
one who would "set up the stela of his ilib in the shrine" (1.17 :1:44). This deity, along
with other deities, receives various offerings in such texts as 1.41:35, 1.46:17, 1.87:38,
1.91 :5, 1.109:12, 15, 19, 35, 1.138:2, 1.148:1, 10, 23, 1.164:3, 6. In the last text, the king
himself is said to sacrifice (ydbJ:z mlk) to ilib. In Hurrian liturgical texts, the deity
appears as in atn (= il ib) in 1.110:2, 1.116:12 and 1.111 :3; in the last text is mentioned
the phrase:
2-3 "Three days, nights: the king enters"
3 "albblm-sacrifice: to the ancestor-god (in aln)" = if ib
As for the meaning of the phrase ilib, the present author in the last "Colloquium"
explained it as "the divine ancestor" rather than "the god of the father"36 and

De Moor, An Anthology ofReligious Texts from Ugarit, 159, n. 11.


For the discussion of this name, see M. Dietrich & O. Loretz, "Neue Studien zu den Ritualtexten
aus Ugarit (I)," UF13 (1981),85-86; K. van der Toorn, "Gods and Ancestors in Emar and Nuzi,"
ZA 84 (1994), 49.
34 J. Gray, "Canaanite Religion and Old Testament Study in the Light of New Alphabetic Texts
from Ras Shamra," Ugaritica VII (1978), 100.
35 K. van der Toorn, "IJib and the 'God of the Father'," UF25 (1993),387.
36 D.T. Tsumura, "The Interpretation of the Ugaritic Funerary Text KTU 1.161," in Official Cult and
Popular Religion in the Ancient Near East, ed. by E. Matsushima (Heidelberg: c. Winter, 1993),40.
32
33

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

223

suggested a possible connection between this deity and the funerary cult in ancient
Ugarit.37 However, recently Schmidt prop sed the translation "the gods of the
(lhis/my) fathers"38, rejecting any connection of this term with the ancestor cult. But,
K. van der Toorn in his thorough study of this term rejects again any association
between ilib and the Mesopotamian family god as "fallacious" and holds that the term
refers to "the deified father" or more precisely "the father turned ancestor".39 The fact
that this deity appears often as the recipient of offerings side by side with other
specific deities such as EI, Baal and Anat supports the view which takes ilib as "the
divine ancestor", rather than "the gods" of the ancestor.
Thus, sacrifices for dead ancestors are a quite common practice in ancient Canaan,
while in OT the "sacrifices for the dead" (zibbe met1m) are an abomination for the
Israelite to eat, since it is to identify themselves with the Canaanite god Baal-peor
(Ps 106:28).
D. King as the Officiant of Rituals
The fact that the king acted as the officiant in rituals is well illustrated by "Keret's
ritual preparation, including ablutions, prayer, and sacrifice"4o in the Ugaritic Keret
epic (1.14:III:50-IV:8). As noted above in the ritual texts, the king washes himself
clean (yrt/:l$ mlk brr)41 on the day before the festival when he gets actively involved
in its sacrificial rituals. And he stays "clean" (brr : cf. 1.41 :6-7) during the festival,
which sometimes lasts for seven days, until he "is clear (of further cultic obligations)"
{/:II mlk)42, or "Ie roi est desacralise"43.
The sacral role of the king is illustrated by several expressions such as "he sacrifices" (ydb/:l mlk) in 1.41{+87):50, 1.115:1, 1.119:8, 13-14, 1.164:1 & 3, "he opens his
hands" (pt/:l yd mlk) in 1.106:17, etc. Thus, his role during the rituals involves both
sacrifice and prayer, i.e. both bodily and verbal actions. Fulfilling a king's priestly or
sacral44 role was part of being a faithful heir {i.e. an ideal son 45 like Aqhat in

Tsumura, "The Interpretation of the Ugaritic Funerary Text KTU 1.161," 48.
B.B. Schmidt, Israel's Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion
and Tradition (TUbingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1994), 53-59, esp. 56.
39 Van der Toorn, "IIib and the 'God of the Father'," 380.
40 P.D. Miller, Jr., "Aspects of the Religion of Ugarit," in Ancient Israelite Religion: Essays in Honor
ofFrank Moore Cross, eds. P.D. Miller, Jr., P.D. Hanson & S.D. McBride (Philadelphia: Fortress,
1987), 61.
41 On the purification of a king, see Tarragon, Le Culte a Ugarit, 79-86.
42 Pardee, "Poetry in Ugaritic Ritual Texts," 214.
43 1.41 :48, 53, 1.46:9-10, 1.87:57, 1.106:23-24, 33, 1.112:9, 14-15, 1.119:4, 24, 1.132:28. See
Tarragon, Le Culte a Ugarit, 83ff.
44 On "sacral kingship", see Tarragon, Le Culte a Ugarit, 120-26; on sacrifice by a king, see
Tarragon, Le Culte a Ugarit, 86-91.
45 See MJ. Boda, "Ideal Sonship in Ugarit," UF25 (1993),9-24.
37
38

224

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

1.17:1:27-34, 45-49, 11:1-8, 16-23) in the royal dynastic cult which is performed
monthly. Thus, the monthly rituals at the royal palace seem to be primarily a family
affair, like one at Saul's house in 1 Sam 20.

II. King in the Royal Funerary Ritual


While the above ritual texts deal with the monthly dynastic cult of the royal family,
text 1.161 is concerned with the death of the king Niqmaddu and the succession of the
new king Ammurapi.
The text is as follows:
(1)

spr. db/:!. #m

The document of the feast for +almu:

(2)
(3)

qritm . rpi . a[r$ ]


qbitm . qb$ . d[dn]

You are invoked, 0 rpu ar$,


You are summonded, 0 assembly of Didanu!

(4)
(5)

qra . ulkn . rp[u]


qra . trmn . rp[u]

Ulkn, the rpu is invoked,


Trmn, the rpu is invoked,

(6)
(7)
(8)

qra . sdn . w . rd[n ]


qra . Jr. '1Imn[ ]
qru . rpim . qdmym[ ]

Sdn-w-Rdn is invoked,
Ir-'llmn is invoked,
The ancient rpum are invoked.

(9)
(to)

qritm . rpi . ar$


qbitm . qb$ . ddn

You are invoked, 0 rpu ar$,


You are summonded, 0 assembly of Didanu!

(11)
(12)

qra. 'mJtmr. m[ljk


qra . u nqmd {.] mlk

Ammittamru, the king, is invoked,


Niqmaddu, the king, is also invoked.

(13)

o throne of Niqmaddu, be wept for,

(14)

ksi . nqmd {.] ibky


w . ydm' . hdm . p'nh

May his footstool be shed tears for;

(15)
(16)

I pnh . ybky . tl/:!n . mlk


w . ybl' . udm'th

May the king's table be wept for before it,


May its tears be swallowed!

(17)

'dmt . w. 'dmt. 'dmt

Misery! Misery of miseries!

(18)

iibn. sps.
w . isbn (19)nyr . rbt .
'In . sps . t$/:!

Burn, 0 Sapsu!
Burn, 0 Great Light!
May Sapsu cry from above:

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

(20)

atr . [bJ'lk . I . ksh .

"To the place of your lord,


before the/his throne,
aIr (21)b'lk . ar$ . rd.
To the place of your lord,
descend to the underworld,
ar$ (22)rd . w. spl. 'pr. Descend to the underworld,
and be low in the dust!
t/:lt (23)sdn . w. rdn.
t/:lt . Ir (24) 'limn.
t/:lt . rpim . qdmym

Go down, 0 Sdn-w-Rdn,
Go down, 0 Ir-'llmn,
Go down, 0 ancient rpum!

(25)
(26)

t/:lt. 'mItmr. mlk


t/:lm. u. nq[mdJ. mlk

Go down, 0 Ammi!tamru, the king,


Go down, you too, 0 Niqmaddu, the king!"

(27)

'Sty . w . tfy .
In.) w J'[yJ

One and make an offering,


two and make an offering,

(28)

111 . w .1Y [.}


a[rbj' . w . J'[yJ

Three and make an offering,


four and make an offering,

(29)

oms. w lY.
11. [w.} lY

Five and make an offering,


six and make an offering,

(30)

sb'. w .1Y.
tqdm '$r (31) slm.

Seven and make an offering.


Offer a bird as a slm-offering.

slm . 'mr[pi]
w. sim. bnh.
slm. f1jryi
sim. bth.
sim. u[g}rt
sim .1grh

Peace to Arnmurapi,
and peace to his sons!
Peace to Iariyelli;
Peace to his house!
Peace to Ugarit;
Peace to its gates!

(32)

(33)
(34)

225

A. Nature & Purpose

Ugaritic scholars generally take the text as describing some sort of religious cult relating to the dead king, thus designating it as "a cult of the dead", "a necromancy", "an
ancestor cult" or "a funerary ritual". The nature of the ritual was discussed in my
paper,46 read at the first colloquium, 1992. Since that time, a new study has appeared,
46

"The Interpretation of the Ugaritic Funerary Text KTU 1.161," in Official Cult and Popular
Religion in the Ancient Near East, ed. by Eiko Matsushima (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1993),40-55.

226

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

B. B. Schmidt, Israel's Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient


Israelite Religion and Tradition (1994)47.
According to him, 1.161 preserves "a coronation ritual that incorporates mourning
rites on behalf of Niqmaddu, Ammurapi's father and former king of Ugarit and the
public recitation of Niqmaddu's name on that cultic occasion points to a commemorative rite in his honor." And he concludes: "A royal ancestor cult rite is nowhere in
view. The weakened dead below are merely alerted to receive and then to deliver
Niqmaddu's throne to its netherly abode and perhaps to escort him there upon his
arrival below."48
His view is basically characterized by his non-"spiritual" interpretation of religious
phenomena in general and depends heavily on his interpretation of rpi . ar~ (lines 2 &
9) and qb~ ddn (lines 3 & 10) in particular. According to him, the phrases refer to the
living warrior elite.49 He then interprets the verb qr' as having two different meanings
in the first few lines: (1) "to call for", i.e. to invite somebody to the ceremony and (2)
"to summon", i.e. to command or order somebody to do something. Thus, he
interprets lines 2-5 as "Call for the assembly of the living warrior-nobility" and lines
6-8 as "Summons of the deceased warrior heroes of old [to prepare to receive the
soon-to-descend throne of Niqmaddu]".
However, such a solution which posits two different meanings for the verb qr' in
the successive lines, lines 2 & 4-9, is philologically not well-founded. As his own
translation of lines 4-7:
4) He called Ulkn, the Rapha,
5) He called Trmn, the Rapha;
6) He called Sdn-w-Rdn,
7) He called Ir 'lImn,
shows, no distinction should be made between lines 4-5 and 6-7, though he interprets
the "calling" in the former to mean "inviting" and the "calling" in the latter to mean
"commanding". However, the meaning "to command" for qr'is very unusual for the
ritual texts, especially in the initial section where we often find an invocation (qr) without the preposition 150 - of deities as in 1.23:1.51

(Tiibingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1994).


Schmidt, Israel's Beneficent Dead, 120.
49 For a detail discussion of rpu ar$, see J.N. Ford, "The 'Living Rephaim' of Ugarit: Quick or
Defunct?" UF24 (1992), 73-101.
50 Schmidt too heavily depends on the fact of whether the verb qr'is followed by the preposition
or not; see Schmidt, Israel's Beneficent Dead, 114f.
51 The iqra +DN formula describes a traditional form of invocation rather than that of cuItic calling or summoning of an assemble, i.e. convocation. It is clear from the context of 1.23: 1-7 that
the invitation to cultic personnel and greetings to the dignitaries and dramatis personae are
expressed only after the invocation of the main deities, the Good Gods. See below for a full text
and its interpretation.
47

48

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

227

Moreover, as for lines 22-26, where he interprets that the throne is commanded to
go down "to" Sdn-w-Rdn, Ir 'lImn, the Ancient Rephaim and Amishtamru, his view
on qr' and rpum dominates the interpretation, though it is unnatural to take the
personal names as the goal of the movement "to go down". Those names after the
imperatives are certainly most naturally to be taken as vocatives.
As for the interpretation of ?lm, he simply follows S. Dalley's position and holds
that "the term ?1m in 1.161:1 should be read as $almu, the iconographic emblem of
the solar deity"52, even though the phonological explanation simply does not work,
as I showed in my paper, p. 54, n. 77. 53 Furthermore, his attempt to explain #mt as
"shadow of death" is anachronistic since it is influenced by MT vocalization of
n~~ (Ps 23 :4). Lastly, the interchange between ? and $ in the text 1.12 is simply a
dialectical phenomenon.

A fUnerary ritual
Text 1.161 is the text which deals with a funerary ritual of a newly dead king and,
though secondarily, with the affirmation of a newly enthroned king as the legitimate
successor of the former king. It is primarily a funerary service and one of the
royal family rituals to send off the newly dead king to join the community of the
ancestors. 54 As for the newly enthroned king, it is his duty to officiate at the funerary
service so that his succession of the throne may be recognized publicly as legitimate
and established. The new king was probably enthroned as soon as the old king was
sent to the netherly place of the ancestor. 55 In this sense, the funerary ritual is not
unrelated to the succession of the throne, though the ritual itself is to be distinguished
from the coronation ceremony, which one would assume to be a happy and blessed
occasion.
B. King's Role in the Funerary Ritual
According to de Moor, who takes the text as "the royal ancestor cult",56 the priests
(II. 2-3, 9-10: "you invoked") and the king (II. 4- 7, 11-12: "he invoked") take turns
Schmidt, Israel's Beneficent Dead, 112.
My view, based on the etymological *~Im, would rather support his view.
54 In the OT the burial is referred to by such phrases as "to enter the grave of your fathers" (1 Ki
13:22) and "to be buried in the tombs of his fathers" (2 Ch 35:24). Note that death is expressed
idiomatically as "to sleep with one's fathers" (1 Ki 1:21, etc.), "to go down to SheoI" (Gen 37:35,
etc.) and "to be gathered to my people" (Gen 49:29) or "to be gathered to your grave" (2 Ki
22:20). In the OT it is Yahweh who "gathers one to his fathers" and he is the one who "brings
down to Sheol and raises up" (1 Sam 2:6). This role is assumed by the solar goddess Sapsu who
is the psychopompe in ancient Ugarit; see Tsumura, "The Interpretation of the Ugaritic Funerary
Text KTU 1.161," 54-55.
55 It should be noted that the "empty" throne in line 13 shows that the ritual is still concerned with
the funerary aspect rather than the coronation ceremony itself.
52
53

228

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

invoking the spirits. But, it is not clear what the subject of the verb "(they) invoked"
(l. 8) is. Hence it has been suggested that all these verbs should be taken as passives:
i.e. qritm "you are invoked"; qra "he is invoked"; qru "they are invoked" (lit. "they
invoke57 (them)").58 If this is correct, there would be no support to the idea that the
king invokes in the ritual, though he may have been an officiant. In fact, at the end of
the text (lines 31-34) he and his family receive a benediction like in 1.23. Since he
is mentioned together with his sons, his wife and his house as well as the city Ugarit
itself, in this rite Ammurapi, the newly enthroned king, is primarily the recipient of
divine protection rather than a sacral figure.
III. King in the National Fertility Cult
What is the role of the king in the fertility cult in ancient Canaan? The one related
text is KTU 1.23. According to de Moor and others, in the ritual the king represented the god EI in the sacred marriage (hieros gamos),59 while, on the other hand,
scholars like Miller reject any proof of an actual hieros gam os in that text. Before
dealing with the king's role, it is imperative to analyze the text itself.
A. KTU 1.23 (=UT52): The Fertility Cult

The text is the unique mythico-ritual text among the hitherto attested documents from
ancient Canaan. It comprises two distinct sections, i.e. the ritual section (lines 1-29)
and the mythological section (30- 76). The latter presents a complete myth of EI and
his sons, Sal;1r and Salim as well as the Good Gods. (jIm n'mm) of fertility.
The entire text is as follows: 6o
(1) I will invoke the Gods Go[od (ilm n'mm) ........ ]
(2) and Fair,
the singer[s ................ ]
(3) the devotees of the city on high [
(4) in the Wilderness of S-p-m .. [ .......] .
(5) to their head and .. [ ................] .
De Moor, An Anthology of Religious Texts from Ugarit, 165f.
i.e. "impersonal" 3 m pI.
58 P. Bordreuil & D. Pardee, "Les textes Ougaritiques" in Pierre Bordreuil (ed.), Une bibliotheque
au sud de la ville: les textes de la 34 e campagne (1973) (RSO 7; Paris: Editions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1991), 156-57; also Theodore J. Lewis, Cults ofthe Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit
(HSM 39; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), 12-14; Tsumura, "The Interpretation of the Ugaritic
Funerary Text KTU 1.161," 42.
59 De Moor, An Anthology ofReligious Texts from Ugarit, 117f.
60 See D. T. Tsumura, The Ugaritic Drama of the Good Gods: A Philological Study (Ann Arbor:
University Microfilms, 1973), 8-18.
56
57

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

(6)
(7)

229

Eat of n0 61 bread (Ibm)!


And drink of no liquor of wine (yn)!
Peace, 0 king!
Peace, 0 queen!
Choristers and soldiers!

(8)

Death-and-Evil sits:
In his hand (is) the staff of privation,
in his hand (9) the staff of bereavement.
They prune him with the prunings of the vine.
(10) They switch him with the switches of the vine.
They ruin his field(s) (11) like a vine.
(12) Seven times (sb'd) it is recited according to custom
and the choristers respond:
(13) As for the field, (it is) the field of the gods,
the field of Atirat-and-Ral;lm!
(14) Over the fire, seven times (sb'd)
the lads ... [ ] ... in milk, an a-n-n-b in butter.
(15) Yea, over the flame, twice seven times (sb'dm) the offer[ing ...] .
(16) Ral;lmay goes and treads [ ...............]
(17) She ungirds a goodly hero [ . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
(18) And the choristers .. [ ............... ]
(19) Eight dwellings of EI . [ ............... ]
(20) seven times (pamt sb'):
(21) Purple (and) red(-garments) [ .......... ]
(22) the singers.
(23) Let me invoke the Good Gods (ilm n'mm),
[the Likenesses of the Sea, sons of] the sea,
(24) who suck at the nipples of the breast(s) of Mirat [ ....... ]
(25) The sun illumines their door(s)
[ ...................] (26) and grapes.
Peace, 0 choristers (and) soldi[ers]
(27) who bring a goodly sacrifice!

61

For the vetitive particle ay. see D. T. Tsumura, "The Vetitive Particle .,~ and the Poetic Structure
of Proverb 31 :4," Annual of the Japanese Biblical Institute 4 (1978), 23-31.

230

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

(28) The field of the gods (is) the field of A!irat-and-Ral).may!


(29) [ .......... ] sits.
(30) [ ............ ] the shore of the Sea,
and roams the shore of the Deep.
(31) [EI takes] two effigies,
two effigies to the top of the fire.
(32) Lo! from below, lo! they rise,
lo! they shout
"My father, My father!"
(33) And lo! they shout
"My mother, My mother!"
"Let El's hand be long like the sea,
(34)
yea, El's hand like the flood!"
El's hand became long like the sea,
(35) yea, EI's hand like the flood.
EI takes two effigies,
(36) two effigies from the top of the fire.
He takes (and) puts (them) in his house.
(37) Ellowers his rod,
EI lets down the staff of his hand.
He lifts (his hands) (38) (and) shoots heavenward.
He shoots in the heavens a bird.
He streaks (and) sets (it) (39) on the coal(s).

(40)

(41)
(42)

(44)

EI indeed tests the two women (altm).


If the women (altm) shout:
"Oh! My husband, My husband!
thy rod goes down,
the staff of thy hand is lowered!" - lo! the bird roasts on the fire,
broils on the coals the two women (altm) (are) wives of EI,
wives of EI and his forever.
But if (43) the two women (altm) shout:
"Oh! My father, My father!
thy rod goes down,
the staff of thy hand is lowered!"
- lo! the bird roasts on the fire,
(45) even broils on the coals -

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

231

the two girls (are) daughters of El,


daughters of El (46) and his forever.
And behold! the two women (altm) shout:
"Oh! My husband, My husband!
(47)
thy rod goes down,
the staff of thy hand is lowered!"
As soon as the bird (48) roasts on the fire,
even broils on the coals,
the two women (altm) (become) wi[ves of El],
(49) wives of El and his forever.
He bends (and) their lips he kisses.
(50) Behold! their lips are sweet,

sweet as pomegranates!
(51) By kissing, there is conception,
by embracing, impregnation.
They go into labor (52) (and) bear SaI,r and Salim.
Word is brought to El:
"[My two wi]ves, (53) 0 El, have b[or]ne!"
"What have they borne?
My two children, SaI,r and Sali[m]!
(54)
Lift up (and) prepare for Lady Saps
and for the stars ... [ ]!"
(55) He bends (and) their lips he kisses.

Behold! their lips are sweet!


(56) By kissing there is conception,
by embracing there is impregnation.
He sits (57) (and) counts to five for grow[th
to t]en for total completion. 62

62

For the interpretation of these lines, see D. T. Tsumura, "A Problem of Myth and Ritual
Relationship: CTA 23 (UT 52): 56-57 Reconsidered," UF 10 (1978), 387-395.

232

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

(58) They go into labor and bear,


they bear the Good [Gods] (ilm n'mm),
the Likenesses of the Sea, (59) sons of the sea,
who suck at the nipples of the <Lady's> breast(s).63
Word is brought to EI:
"My two wives, 0 EI, have borne I"
"What have they borne?
The Good Gods (ilm n'mm),
(61)
the Likenesses of the Sea, sons of the sea,
who suck at the nipples of the Lady's breast{s)I"

(60)

A lip (62) to earth, a lip to heaven.


But there did not enter their mouth(s)
birds of heaven (63) and fish from the sea.
And there departed [
] set(s)
both right (64) and left in their mouth{s).
"A heptad (sb'ny) has been borne, 0 wives I have wedl"
(65)
"Ohl Sons I have begottenl
Lift up (and) make preparations 64

in the midst of the wilderness of Qudsl


(66)

There you shall sojourn among stones


and among trees, for seven full (67) years (sb'snt tmt),
even eight cycles of the feast."

The Good Gods (Um n'mm) walk (68) the field,


tread the corners of the wilderness.
And they met the Guardian (69) of the Sown
and they shouted to the Guardian of the Sown:
"Ohl Guardian, (70) Guardian, Open I"
And he opened an aperture for them
(71) and they entered.
"If [there is
] bread (Ibm),
then give (72) that we may eatl

Note that the epithet, "the Likenesses of the Sea, sons of the sea, who suck at the nipples of the
<Lady's> breast(s)" (lines 58-59 & 61; also lines 23-24), appears only with "the Good Gods",
not with the celestial deities Sal;1r and Salim.
64 While in line 54 the preparations are for the sake of the solar goddess and the stars, as the newly
born deities (Sal;1r and Salim) are celestial, here, the preparations are to be made "in the midst
of the wilderness of Quds", for the newly born deities, "Good Gods", are terrestrial.
63

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

233

If there is [wine (yn),

then] give that we may drink!"


(73) And the Guardian of the Sown answered them.
"[There is bread ..... ]
(74)
There is wine which enter .."
. [ ............... ]
(75) He came to them.
A log of his wine [ . . . . . . . . . . ]
(76) And his jar is full of wine. [ ............... ]
1) Outline

The outline of the text is as follows:


Section 1 0-7) - Invocation to the Good Gods (Um n'mm); invitation to cultic
personnel and greetings to the king and the queen and dramatis personae. Abstinence
from eating and drinking (cf. 71-74).
Section 2 (8-11) - Destruction of the god Death-and-Evil as prerequisite for bringing
the abundance of food and drink.
Section 3 (2) - A stage direction.
Section 4 03-15) - Statement of the locale of this ritual in poetic form, followed by
a sevenfold sacrificial ritual.
Section 5 06-18) - A physical (or sexual) encounter of Ra1:tmay with a "goodly" hero.
Section 6 09-20) - A stage direction and a sevenfold action.
Section 7 (21-22) - A description of ritual garments and of the singers.
Section 8 (23-27) - Invocation to the Good Gods (Um n'mm) by their
full title and description, which also appear in the mythological portion (58, 60, 67),
designating them as "divine royal ones" who "suck the breasts of Atirat." The bringing in of the preparatory sacrifice, in keeping with the "good" theme.
Section 9 (28-29) - Re-statement of the scene (locale) of the ritual.
Section 10 (30-76) - Mythological portion. The god EI impregnates two women to
beget first the twin gods, SaQr and Salim, and then the Good Gods (ilm n'mm) of
fertility. The latter deities sojourn in the wilderness for seven years until they meet the
Guardian of Sown who gives them food and drink.
2) Relationship between Ritual and Myth

About the relationship between the ritual portion and the mythological portion,
several features are noteworthy.
(1) Of all the gods, only the Good Gods (ilm n'mm; 1, 23, 58, 60, 67) and their
epithet, "the Likenesses of the Sea, sons of the sea, who suck at the nipples of the
breast(s) of Atirat (or Lady)" agzrym bnymynqm zd(or gd) aIrt(or st) appear in both
portions (23-24, 58-59, 61), while the other deities of the text are mentioned only
either in the ritual portion or in the mythological portion.

234

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

(2) Moreover, most of the key-words of the ritual portion never appear in the mythological portion, e.g. "Let me invoke" iqra (1, 23), "singers" bn srm (2, 22), etc.
(3) On the other hand, some very significant key words are recognized in both
portions, in keeping with the main theme of the text as a whole: "the Wilderness
of S-p-m" mdbr spm (4) vs. "the wilderness of Quds" mdbr qdS (65), "bread - wine"
l/:tm-yn (6 and 71-74), "breast(s)" zd (24) II 4d (59, 61) and the "seven" motif in sb'd
(12, 14), sb'dm (1.15), pamt sb' (1.20) as well as in the "sevenfold" gods (sb'ny) in line
64 and the sabbatical cycle (sb' snt tmt "seven full years") in lines 66f.
In the light of the above it seems that the mythological portion (30-76) had existed
originally in a separate form without any liturgical setting. 65 If the myth had originated in a seasonal ritual, a closer relationship would be expected to hold among the
deities appearing in the different portions. Nevertheless, the text as a whole shows a
properly "designed" balance and harmony, thus giving a clear purpose and setting for
the drama in which myth and ritual are substantially related. That is probably the reason why only the Good Gods (Um n'mm) and some very significant key words such
as mdbr, l/:tm-yn and sb' appear in both portions.
B. King's Role in the Religious Drama
Now, we come to the problem of the king's role. What is his role in this ritual? Does
he actually participate and represent the god EI in the dramatic enactment of the
mythology? Or, is he simply an officiant of a certain ritual and basically a spectator
of the drama?
1) De Moor's Hypothesis: hieros gamos
According to de Moor, the text KTU 1.23 describes "some of the ceremonies of the
New Year festival, including the sacred marriage rite." He holds that in this ritual the
king represented the god EI and the queen represented El's wife Asherah, as in the
Sumerian hieros gamos, whereas "a priestess, possibly a princess, played the role of
the goddess of love 'Anatu."66 In his recent study Aboud follows de Moor's view
to identify it as a hieros gamos held during the New Year festival in which the king
represents EI, and the queen Asherah. 67
However, other scholars like Miller interpret the text as describing "a ritual drama
having to do with procreation and acknowledging the presence of the king and queen
at the affair." And they are careful in interpreting the king's role in this religious

See "A Problem of Myth and Ritual Relationship," 387-395.


De Moor, An Anthology of Religious Texts from Ugarit, 117f.
67 Aboud, Die Rolle des Kanigs und seiner Familie nach den Texten von Ugarit, 4.2.7.

65

66

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

235

drama. Miller simply says, "there is no proof of an actual hieros gamos, and what
actually went on in the ritual is quite unclear."68
2) Meaning of hieros gam os
What we need to clarify first is the meaning of hieros gamos and the purpose of the
present ritual.
"Sacred Marriage"
In March 1992, a year and four months after the Japanese Daijosai enthronement
ceremony, J. Cooper, one of the guest speakers for the last "Colloquium", presented
a significant paper, on "sacred marriage" (hieros gamos). According to him, "In
Assyriology today, sacred marriage' refers to the ritual enactment of the marriage of
two deities or a human and a deity."69 In Ur III-Isin, two texts "clearly portray an
act of physical intercourse between the king, representing Dumuzi, and a woman,
whoever she may be, representing the goddess Inana."7o Cooper then goes on to the
question of the purpose of the sacred marriage. According to him, the hieros gamos is
"one way for the king to secure legitimacy and divine blessings"; it is "a way for the
king, and through him the people, to establish personal and social ties to the gods, a
practice to be compared with the appointment of royal princesses as high clergy",71
Thus, in Cooper's opinion, the "fertility" aspect of the hieros gamos was secondary.
EI and "Two" Women
On the other hand, in the Ugaritic "myth and ritual" text 1.23 "two" women attm
(dual form of att) are involved in the "marriage" with the god El. Some scholars hence
interpret these two "women" as referring to the two goddesses Asherah and Anat.
However, the term att is never used for a goddess in Ugaritic and no hint is given
in the context that these two women are divine. So it is reasonable to take this as a
"marriage" between the god and two "human" women.72 This makes it more unlikely that the queen participated in the hieros gam os, because she could hardly represent
the two women. Since the entire text, both the ritual portion (lines 1-29) and the

P.D. Miller, Jr., "Aspects of the Religion of Ugarit," 60-61.


J.S. Cooper, "Sacred Marriage and Popular Cult in Early Mesopotamia," in Official Cult and
Popular Religion in the Ancient Near East. ed. by E. Matsushima (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1993),
82.
70 Cooper, "Sacred Marriage and Popular Cult in Early Mesopotamia," 88.
71 Cooper, "Sacred Marriage and Popular Cult in Early Mesopotamia," 91.
72 These human women, who are mentioned as "wives of El" (line 42), could be compared with
DAM.DINGIR priestesses (see Steinkeller's article in this volume).
68

69

236

DAVID TOSHIO TSUMURA

mythological portion (lines 30-76), is concerned with the Good Gods (ilm n'mm), the
purpose of the ritual is certainly the goodness, i.e. "fertility", of the country.73 The
sexual union between EI and the two women is mentioned euphemistically, and the
result of that "union", i.e. the "birth" of the Good Gods (ilm n'mm), is emphasized
more than the "union" itself.
3) Role of the King in 1.23

In the light of the above, what then is the role of the king, who is mentioned in the
ritual section (line 7):
"Peace, a king!
Peace, a queen!
Choristers and soldiers!"?
The choristers and soldiers are mentioned again in lines 26-27:
(26)
Peace, 0 choristers (and) soldi[ers]
(27) who brings a goodly sacrifice!
It should be noted that the choristers seem to have nothing to do with the drama
section, though they have participated in the ritual as the worshippers. Both the king
and the queen may have also participated in the ritual as worshippers like the choristers and the soldiers. But, in the major part of the ritual, i.e. in the drama, he and his
wife seem to remain as spectators rather than as participants.
81m-formula
Moreover, the 81m-formula, which appears in the funerary ritual text 1.161 :31-34,
"Peace to Ammurapi,
and peace to his sons!
Peace to Tariyelli;
Peace to his house!
Peace to Ugarit;
Peace to its gates!"
is also present in the fertility ritual text 1.23:7 & 26, as noted above. In both rituals an
officiating priest or the congregation prays for the welfare of the king and his family
as well as of his subjects. This slm- formula is also used for various deities in 1.123.
73

Cf. Tsumura, The Ugaritic Drama a/the Good Gods. 222f.: "The main theme and purpose of the
cult depicted in UT 52 is the fertility of the land through the birth of the Good Gods of
fertility which assures food and drink for the community of Ugarit. Hence, its goal is the inauguration of a new seven year cycle of plenty in the land by means of banishing the destructive
power by sympathetic magic, giving assurance of enough bread and wine to the new-born Gods
of fertility, a "Heptad", in the act of drama and introducing into the ritual the heptad-theme in
terms of the "traditional" sevenfold performances of liturgy and the motif of "good"-ness in
keeping with the atmosphere of entire rite. This cult was probably reenacted at the end or toward
the end of the seven year cycle of famine."

Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit

237

Conclusions
The nature of the king's role in the religious cults in ancient Canaan is yet to be clarified, despite the recent investigation of the theme. For one thing, the available ritual texts from Ugarit are mainly "prescriptive" and present only indirect information
on the king's role in the actual liturgy.
The king plays sacral roles in the royal dynastic rituals which are monthly observed
in his royal court. He purifies himself on the day before the festivals and officiates
some part of the liturgy, often a part of the Full Moon or New Moon festivals, which
sometimes last for two to seven days. As the official representative of the
royal family, the king sacrifices to "the divine ancestor" (ilib), "Lady of the House(s)"
(B'lt bhtm), and other major deities such as Baal and Anat, with some verbal actions,
i.e. prayers, thus fulfilling his fIlial duty to the dynastic ancestor spirits, so that he and
his family together with the city and the people may receive the blessings and protection from the ancestors.
The king, though not participating in the ritual by "invoking" the spirits of the dead,
officiates at the funerary service of the former king, who is to be sent off to the netherworld, probably to the presence of "the divine ancestor" (ilib), to join the community
of the ancestors. This is the way the people and the neighboring countries recognize
his status as the legitimate successor.
In the fertility ritual, reflected in 1.23, the king remains a spectator; there is no
evidence that he represents the god EI and participates in the hieros gamos with the
goddesses, though some sort of ritual actions may be enacted by a priest and priestesses to bring forth the birth of the fertility gods. The king and the queen are referred
to simply as the recipiants of the divine blessings, which are the sign of the sociopolitical prosperity (flm) of the city.

Selected Bibliography
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Bordreuil, P. & D. Pardee, "Les textes Ougaritiques" in Pierre Bordreuil (ed.), Une bibliotheque au
sud de la ville: les textes de la 34e campagne (1973) (RSO 7; Paris: Editions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1991), 151-63.
Caquot, A., J.-M. de Tarragon, J.-L. Cunchillos, Textes Ougaritiques, Tome II: Textes Re/igieux,
Rituels, Correspondance (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1989).
Caquot, A., M. Sznycer, A. Herdner, Textes Ougaritiques, Tome I: Mythes et Legendes (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1974).
Cooper, J.S., "Sacred Marriage and Popular Cult in Early Mesopotamia," in Official Cult and
Popular Religion in the Ancient Near East, ed. by E. Matsushima (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1993),
81-96.

238

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Dietrich, M. & o. Loretz, "Neue Studien zu den Ritualtexten aus Ugarit (I)," UF13 (1981),63-100.
Dietrich, M., O. Loretz & J. Sanmartin, The Cuneiform Alphabetic Textsfrom Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani
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(1992), 133-78.
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1987), 53-66.
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Pardee, D., "Poetry in Ugaritic Ritual Texts," in Verse in Ancient Near Eastern Prose (AOAT 42;
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Tsumura, D.T., The Ugaritic Drama of the Good Gods: A Philological Study (Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1973).
"A Problem of Myth and Ritual Relationship: CTA 23 (UT 52): 56-57 Reconsidered," UFlO
(1978), 387-395.
"The Interpretation of the Ugaritic Funerary Text KTU 1.161," in Official Cult and Popular
Religion in the Ancient Near East, ed. by E. Matsushima (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1993),40-55.
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summary].

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