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204-613: Attestations of Dagan from coastal areas are much less frequent and come mostly from the northern city of Ugarit , where Dagan's cult had a limited scope. According to the Hebrew Bible , Dagan was also the national god of the Philistines , with temples at Ashdod and Gaza , but there is no extrabiblical evidence confirming this. The extrasolar object designated Fomalhaut b is named after Dagon. Multiple origins have been proposed for Dagan's name. According to Philo of Byblos ,

408-442: A "father of gods," only became the father of the weather god under Hurrian influence. While Wilfred G. Lambert proposed in 1980 that Ishara was sometimes regarded as the wife of Dagan, and this theory is repeated as fact in older reference works such as Jeremy Black 's and Anthony Green's Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia , it is no longer considered the consensus. Lluís Feliu in his study of Dagan concludes that

612-656: A Hurrian plural suffix. It is possible to translate it simply as "divinized kings." Mary R. Bachvarova describes the šarrēna as "heroes from far away and long ago." Like the names of gods, the names of šarrēna and the term itself were preceded by the dingir sign, so-called " divine determinative ," which was used to designate divine names in cuneiform . The word designating the deified kings differed from that used to refer to then-contemporary earthly rulers, ewri . Examples of šarrēna include well known legendary Mesopotamian rulers ( Gilgamesh ), historical Mesopotamian kings ( Sargon , Naram-Sin ) and mythical antagonists from

816-550: A Hurrian temple follow the bent axis model. While typically temples were dedicated to major members of the Hurrian pantheon, such as Teššub , Allani or Išḫara , they often also housed multiple minor deities at the same time. The notion that specific gods could favor, and reside in, specific cities was present in Hurrian religion, and by extension is attested in Hittite rituals dedicated to Hurrian deities. For example, Teššub

1020-462: A Syrian deity incorporated into the western Hurrian pantheon, was considered a major goddess in areas which accepted the theology of Halab . The concept of sukkal , or divine vizier , well known from Mesopotamian theology, was also incorporated into Hurrian religion. The word itself was loaned into Hurrian and was spelled šukkalli . Much like in Mesopotamia, sukkals were the attendants of

1224-424: A battle in which the participants are Teššub and his sister Šauška on one side and the eponymous god on the other. The identity of the god designed by the logogram LAMMA is uncertain, though Volkert Haas and Alfonso Archi assume that he might be Karḫuḫi , a god from Carchemish , due to his association with Kubaba mentioned in this myth. The Song of Kumarbi does not mention the birth of Šauška, even though she

1428-594: A brother of their children in the sense known from Bronze Age diplomatic texts. He argues that much as allied kings referred to each other as "brothers", so did the gods in Ugaritic myths. The Phoenician inscription on the sarcophagus of King Eshmunʿazar of Sidon (5th century BC) relates: "Furthermore, the Lord of Kings gave us Dor and Joppa , the mighty lands of Dagon, which are in the Plain of Sharon , in accordance with

1632-553: A city wall with one known fortified gate, though four gates are believed to have existed. Since the Late Bronze Age about 50 meters have been eroded from the north end of the site by the Nahr Chbayyeb river. The southern slope of the tell is covered by orange groves, preventing excavation. A brief investigation of a looted tomb at the necropolis of Minet el-Beida was conducted by Léon Albanèse in 1928, who then examined

1836-463: A club aloft, portrayed in a typical Near Eastern and Egyptian artistic style as well as a stela bearing a dedication to Baal of Sapan. Numerous statues, stelai—some offered by Egyptians—and sixteen stone anchors were found as votive offerings in this vicinity. Both temples are composed of a pronaos (porch) and a naos (sanctuary proper), aligned from north-northeast to south-southwest. The Temple of Dagan has 4–5-meter-thick foundation walls. Remnants of

2040-497: A column in the local vernacular language. It is assumed that the list from Emar was a variant of the so-called Weidner god list , which was a part of the standard curriculum of scribal schools in Mesopotamia. Since the entries in the Hurrian column in both lists largely correspond to each other, it is assumed that the Ugaritic scribes added a third column to a work compiled elsewhere in Syria at an earlier point in time, represented by

2244-404: A dedicated hoe, hints at its potential role as the residence of the city's chief priest. Among a cache of seventy-four bronze items uncovered beneath a doorway threshold inside the house, was an elegant tripod adorned with pomegranate-shaped pendants. Two nearby areas, Ras Ibn Hani and Minet el Beida, parts of the city of Ugarit, have also been excavated. Ras Ibn Hani, on a promontory overlooking

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2448-401: A defensive fortress. A "royal palace", elite housing, and tombs were found. About 169 cuneiform tablets, most in the Ugaritic language, were also found. One of the two ports of ancient Ugarit (the other, Ra’šu, is unlocated but suggested to be Ras Ibn Hani) was located 1.5 kilometers west of the main city, at the natural harbor of Minet el Beida (Arabic for "White Harbor"). The 28 hectare site

2652-776: A document describing the expansion of the god's temple in Terqa. Elsewhere he referred to himself as "beloved of Dagan." An inscription of his son Yasmah-Adad , however, refers to "Mullil [Enlil] (...) who dwells in Tuttul." A šubtu (a type of shrine) of Dagan was located near Ka-ude-babbar, one of the gates of the Esagil temple complex in Babylon . Itti-Marduk-balatu , a king from the Second Dynasty of Isin ( middle Babylonian period ), called himself Dagan's regent. The stele of

2856-471: A dozen of them are listed at a time, though one of the treaties of the Hittite king Muwatalli II only mentions nine, and in ritual texts they may at times appear in smaller or, rarely, bigger groups, with one listing fifteen of them. The standard twelve members of the group were Nara, Napšara, Minki, Tuḫuši, Ammunki, Ammizzadu, Alalu , Anu , Antu , Apantu, Enlil and Ninlil . The origin of those deities

3060-467: A field. At that time the region was part of the Alawite State , not in Syria. The discovered area was the necropolis of Ugarit located in the nearby seaport of Minet el-Beida . Excavations have since revealed a city with a prehistory reaching back to c. 6000 BC. The site covers an area of about 28 hectares with a maximum height of 20 meters at the top of the acropolis. The site is surrounded by

3264-404: A large area from these cities, even though its principal centers were not a major political power in their own right, a situation which according to Alfonso Archi can be compared to that of Hadabal (a 3rd millennium BCE god of the upper Orontes valley) and Hadad of Halab . In addition to Tuttul and Terqa, settlements in which Dagan possessed a temple or shrine include Mari , Subatūm (located in

3468-602: A large number of myths about the struggle between Teššub and Kumarbi existed, and while interconnected, they could all function on their own as well. Anna Maria Polvani proposes that more than one "cycle" of myths focused on Kumarbi existed. The myths usually understood as forming the Kumarbi Cycle are the Song of Kumarbi , Song of LAMMA , Song of Silver , Song of Ḫedammu and Song of Ullikummi . Examples from outside this conventional grouping include Song of Ea and

3672-519: A major supplier and transporter of food supplies. A letter from Egyptian pharaoh Merenptah referred to a missive sent by the ruler of Ugarit: So you had written to me: “Could I not have demanded my needs [from] the Great King, the king of Egypt, my lord? I demand this request: [In] the land of Ugarit there is a severe hunger (bi-ru-ú dan-niš): May my lord save [the land of Ugarit], and may the king give grain (ZÍZ.AN.MEŠ) to save my life … and to save

3876-475: A medieval invention. Modern researchers not only do not accept it, but even question if Dagan/Dagon was worshiped in coastal areas in any significant capacity at all. In the Classical period the central temple of Gaza was dedicated to a god named Marnas (from Aramaic marnā, "lord"). Itamar Singer considered it a possibility that this name was a title of the hypothetical Philistine Dagon, though he notes he

4080-456: A missing passage most likely dealing with Teššub's fate, Tašmišu arrives in Kumme and informs Ḫepat that her husband will be gone for a prolonged time. Afterwards he meets with Teššub and suggests that they need to meet with Ea. They travel to "Apzuwa" ( Apsu ), present their case to Ea, and beg him for help. Ea subsequently meets with Enlil to inform him about the monstrous size of Ullikummi and

4284-407: A month whose name is not preserved), Ḫuru , Mitirunni ( mitirunnu was a festival involving a parade of divine statues) and Ḫutalši . Only the names of a few of the etymologically non-Hurrian months are preserved: Ḫiaru (second; the name refers to a festival also known from northern and western Mesopotamia), Ḫinzuru (third), Tamūzu (fourth), Ulūlu (sixth), Sabūtu (seventh, as indicated by

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4488-515: A phonetic spelling can be found in personal names. References to him as Bel Terqa – "Lord of Terqa" – are known from Eblaite sources too. Shalash was already regarded as his wife in this period. Representatives of the city of Nagar swore allegiance to the king of Ebla in the temple of Dagan in Tuttul, which was viewed as a neutral third party. While certain other gods known from the Eblaite texts, such as Hadabal and Kura , disappear from records after

4692-1917: A poetic narrative, letters, legal documents such as land transfers, a few international treaties, and a number of administrative lists. Fragments of several poetic works have been identified: the " Legend of Keret ", the "Legend of Danel ", the Ba'al tales that detail Baal - Hadad 's conflicts with Yam and Mot , among other fragments. ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

4896-481: A pre-Semitic language spoken in inland Syria. This theory is supported by Alfonso Archi as well. Multiple other ancient Syrian deities are regarded as originating in such a substratum , including Aštabi , Ishara and Kubaba . The association with a Hebrew word for "fish" (as in Hebrew : דג , Tib. /dɔːg/ ) in medieval exegesis has led to an incorrect interpretation of Dagan as a fish god. No known text deals with

5100-559: A request from the Egyptian king to send a physician to Ugarit. From the late 13th century into the early 12th century BC, the entire region, based on contemporary texts, including Hititte areas, the Levant, and the eastern Mediterranean, faced severe and widespread food shortages, potentially from plant diseases . Ugarit received a number of desperate pleas for food from other realms. The food shortage eventually reached Ugarit, previously

5304-435: A ritual involving multiple sukkals at once, namely Ḫupuštukar, Izzumi, Undurumma, Tenu, Lipparuma and Mukišanu. It has been proposed that the general structure of the Hurrian pantheon was modeled either on its Mesopotamian or Syrian counterpart, with the former view being favored by Emmanuel Laroche and Wilfred G. Lambert , and the latter by Lluís Feliu and Piotr Taracha. The structure of individual local variant pantheons

5508-513: A ritual text mentions her "female attributes" and "male attributes" side by side. Further deities commonly described as "pan-Hurrian" include Kumarbi , who was the "father of gods," the sun god Šimige , the moon god Kušuḫ , the Mesopotamian god Nergal, Nupatik , whose character and relation to other deities are poorly understood and Nabarbi. [[]], Allani, Ea and Nikkal are also considered major deities in scholarship. Ḫepat ,

5712-552: A sign of the displeasure of the corresponding deities. The head of the Hurrian pantheon was Teššub , who was a weather god . While it is assumed that he was not necessarily regarded as the head of the pantheon from the very beginning, he likely already acquired this role in the late third millennium BCE. Daniel Schwemer instead argues that was imagined as the king of gods from the beginning. All Hurrians also worshiped Šauška, whose primary spheres of influence were love and war. She could be depicted in both male and female form, and

5916-442: A similar lifestyle, such as Hurrians and Mesopotamians, who both were settled urban societies at the time of their first contacts. Religious vocabulary of the Hurrian language was heavily influenced by Akkadian. For example, priests were known as šankunni , a loan from Akkadian šangû . Another term borrowed from this language was entanni , referring to a class of priestesses, derived from entu , itself an Akkadian feminine form of

6120-496: A similar role in Mari. There is also some evidence that he could be invoked as a divine witness of oaths. According to texts from Ebla, Dagan's attributes were a chariot and a mace. Dagan's primary cult centers were Tuttul , where his clergy was likely involved in the traditional form of governance, and Terqa (near Mari), where his temple E-kisiga ("the house, the silent place") was located. The worship of Dagan evidently spread over

6324-405: A specific deity with extispicy , the examination of an animal's entrails. Hepatoscopy, or examination of the liver , is mentioned particularly often. A similar practice is known from Mesopotamia, where the examination of a sheep's liver was commonly understood as a way to gain answers to questions directed as the gods Shamash and Adad . A method of divination involving a specific type of bird,

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6528-432: A terracotta depiction of Hathor , bronze tools and weaponry, cylinder seals, stone weights, remnants of banded dye-murex shells used in the production of purple dye , and inscribed tablets. The site is thought to have been largely evacuated before it was burned (resulting in a thick ash layer) and destroyed as few valuables were found in the residences or in the southern palace. About 130 cuneiform tablets were found in

6732-503: A throne or standing while holding a lightning bolt. Other images show him in a form similar to Apollo , holding a bow and standing on a pedestal in front of a female deity. Regardless of the variety of depictions, the abundance of them on coins indicates that the inhabitants of Gaza held him in high esteem and associated this god with their city. Textual sources portray him as a "sky god who also performed oracles." An indirect reference to Marnas occurs in an inscription from Roman Portus from

6936-399: A type of mausoleum meant to honor a deceased relative. A single text from Ugarit alludes to the dead being led to their destination by Nupatik, seemingly acting as a psychopomp in this case. Ritual texts are commonly accompanied by instructions pertaining to music which was supposed to be performed during celebrations, both choral and instrumental. While some contain what is most likely

7140-432: A variant form of Šauška), Eḫli-Addu ("save, Addu !") from Alalakh, Šauška-muwa ("the one who has the courage of Šauška") from Amurru , and Gimil(li)-Teššub (possibly "favor of Teššub," but the first element might also be an unknown Hurrian word) and Teššub-nīrārī ("Teššub is my helper") from Nuzi. The myth Song of Ullikummi is one of the few Hurrian texts offering a view of this culture's cosmology . It mentions that

7344-580: A weapon was sent from Hadad's temple in Aleppo to Dagan's in Terqa , likely to legitimize his rule. It is possible that this ritual object represented the mace wielded by the weather god in his battle with the sea (analogous to the battle between Baal and Yam in the Ugaritic Baal cycle ). Despite the close connection between the clergy of Dagan from Terqa and Zimri-Lim, he was viewed unfavorably by

7548-432: A year, allowing a tight synchronism. The latest datable text was from the reign of Kassite ruler Meli-Shipak II (c. 1186–1172 BC) about the time of the destruction of Ugarit. An example of the archive involving one ton of copper: Thus Kušmešuša, king of Alašiya, say to Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit, my son. All is well with me, my households, my countries, my wives, my sons, my troops, my horses and my chariots.… In exchange of

7752-413: Is verb–subject–object , subject-object-verb (VSO)&(SOV); possessed–possessor (NG) (first element dependent on the function and second always in genitive case); and noun – adjective (NA) (both in the same case (i.e. congruent)). Apart from royal correspondence with neighboring Bronze Age monarchs, Ugaritic literature from tablets found in the city's libraries include mythological texts written in

7956-453: Is Hurrian. It has been argued that references to these figures might indicate that an independent Hurrian tradition of historiography existed. The centers of Hurrian religious life were temples, known as purli or purulle . No separate exclusively Hurrian style of temple construction has been identified. Of the few which have been excavated, these in the east, for example in Nuzi , follow

8160-600: Is Kumarbi, and that he can find him in Urkesh . However, when he arrives there, it turns out that Kumarbi has temporarily left his dwelling. It is uncertain what happens next, but most likely Silver temporarily became the king of the gods and subsequently he "dragged the Sun and the Moon down from heaven." Teššub and Tašmišu apparently discuss his violent acts, but the former doubts that they can defeat him because apparently even Kumarbi

8364-502: Is also known from Hattusa. Kizzuwatna was most likely the source of many incantations and other similar formulas. Two examples are the itkalzi ("mouth-washing" ) and itkahi series of purification rituals. It has been argued that the former most likely reflect a Mitanni tradition. The use of theophoric names by the Hurrians is well documented, and they are considered a valuable source of information about their religious life. At

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8568-568: Is also no indication that the religious practice of various Hurrian communities was entirely homogeneous. The oldest evidence of Hurrian religious life comes from Urkesh and dates to the third millennium BCE, specifically to the Ur III period . Both of the oldest available sources are royal inscriptions. It is possible that Hurrians were present in the Ancient Near East for much longer, as evidenced by personal names in documents from

8772-402: Is applied to many of the adversaries who challenge Teššub's rule directly on Kumarbi's behalf. In most compositions, Kumarbi's plans are successfulat first, but in the end Teššub and his allies overcome each new adversary. Among the weather god's allies are his siblings Šauška and Tašmišu , his wife Ḫepat , the sun god Šimige , the moon god Kušuḫ and Aštabi . It has been pointed out that

8976-477: Is deaf and blind. While the myths regarded as belonging to the Kumarbi Cycle today were necessarily arranged into a coherent whole, based on this fragment it is agreed that the compilers of the Song of Ullikummi were familiar with the Song of Ḫedammu . A sea wave informs Šauška about the futility of her actions and urges her to tell Teššub he needs to battle Ullikummi as soon as possible. The initial confrontation between Teššub and Ullikummi apparently fails, and

9180-442: Is frequently referred to as his "son" or "lineage." In the poem Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh he is referred to as "Dagan of Tuttul," possibly indicating that he was viewed as a foreign god by Ugaritic scribes. It has been argued by Joseph Fontenrose in an article from 1957 that, whatever their deep origins, at Ugarit, Dagan was sometimes identified with El , explaining why Dagan, who possibly had an important temple at Ugarit

9384-438: Is less likely. It was most likely located near the border between modern Turkey and Iraq , possibly somewhere in the proximity of Zakho , though this remains uncertain and relies on unproven assumptions about the location of other landmarks mentioned in the same texts. Beytüşşebap has been proposed as another possibility. Oldest sources attesting that it was Teššub's cult center include Hurrian incantations from Mari from

9588-554: Is not necessarily contradictory that two separate gods were regarded as Baal's fathers, though she assumes both in Ugarit and in Phoenician beliefs Dagan/Dagon was merely an element introduced from the culture of inland Syria and played no significant role himself. Aaron Tugendhaft considers Baal an outsider who is not a member of the family of El and Athirat in the beginning of the narrative and thus not their son by birth, but merely

9792-468: Is not widely accepted. The vocabulary of Hurrian is poorly understood, there are also no clear rules about the transcription of Hurrian words and spelling might vary in scholarly literature due to individual authors making different decisions regarding the presence of voiced consonants . The available evidence of the culture of the Hurrians is similarly fragmentary, and does not offer information about all areas inhabited by them in all time periods. There

9996-448: Is now extinct and has no known relatives other than Urartian , known from inscriptions from between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE. It is agreed today that while related, it was not the same language as Hurrian, and separated from it as early as in the third millennium BCE. A distant connection between hypothetical Proto-Hurro-Uratrian and an archaic Northeastern Caucasian language has been proposed based on reconstructions, but it

10200-399: Is now the king, he should not concern himself with such matters. The wind brings his words to Ea, who meets with Kumarbi, and tells him they need to dethrone LAMMA because his actions resulted in people no longer making offerings to the gods. He informs LAMMA that since he does not fulfill his duty and never summons the god for an assembly, his reign needs to end, and additionally tells one of

10404-427: Is one and the same as Haburitum , goddess of the river Habur , who also appears in Mesopotamian texts in association with Dagan. Both Feliu and Alfonso Archi point out that Haburitum and Ishara could appear side by side in the same documents, and therefore cannot be two names of the same deity. Archi considers it more likely that Haburitum was analogous to Belet Nagar . Like Feliu, he considers it implausible that Dagan

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10608-463: Is paired with Horon . Dagan appears in six theophoric names known from Ugarit, and possibly in a seventh under the logographic spelling KUR; for comparison Baal appears in 201, with further 36 using the form Haddu. For comparison, in known documents from Mari Hadad appears in 159 names, while Dagan in 138. However, only 17% of known names from Ugarit are theophoric, which makes it difficult to tell how representative are they when it comes to estimating

10812-500: Is referred to as the sister of both Teššub and Tašmišu in other texts. It is possible some clues about this situation were present in sections which are not preserved. After defeating Teššub and his sister, LAMMA is most likely appointed to the position of the king of the gods by Ea. Kubaba urges him to meet with the Former God and other high-ranking deities and bow down to them, but LAMMA ignores her advice, arguing that since he

11016-530: Is so neglected in the Ras Shamra mythological texts, where he is merely the father of Baal, but Anat , El's daughter, is Baal's sister, and why no temple of El has appeared at Ugarit. More recent research shows that evidence for identification of Dagan with El is at best indirect. In god lists El was equated with Hurrian Kumarbi and Mesopotamian Enlil rather than directly with Dagan. Alfonso Archi notes in some texts both appear separately, but also that Dagan

11220-623: Is sometimes regarded as equal in rank to the great city gods of Sumer and Akkad . One text uses the formula " Ishtar in Eanna , Enlil in Nippur , Dagan in Tuttul, Ninhursag in Kesh, Ea in Eridu ." In the Ur III period , marriages between rulers of Syrian and Mesopotamian politites likely contributed to the spread of the worship of Dagan, as well other western deities like Ishara and Haburitum, in

11424-454: Is the first to discover his rampage and informs Teššub about it. Apparently a confrontation between gods occurs, but Ea breaks it up and reminds both sides of the conflict - the allies of Teššub and of Kumarbi - that the destruction caused by their battles negatively impacts their worshipers, and that they risk having to labor themselves to survive. Kumarbi is apparently displeased about being admonished, which according to Harry Hoffner might be

11628-456: Is the war god Aštabi rather than a weather god. In Hurrian tradition, Dagan was equated with Kumarbi , though only because of shared senior position in the respective pantheons. Kumarbi was nonetheless called "the Dagan of the Hurrians," and Shalash was viewed as his spouse due to this syncretic process . However, she is absent from Hurrian myths about Kumarbi. Due to the similarity between

11832-523: The Amarna letters found in Akhenaten's capital of Egypt from the mid-14th century BCE were written in Ugarit. Most of the letters were broken and their reading proved difficult, but some information was recovered. The population of Ugarit in this period is estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,000 individuals. The kingdom of Ugarit controlled about 2,000 km on average. In the mid-14th century BC, Ugarit

12036-808: The Fertile Crescent . Their presence is attested from Cilicia ( Kizzuwatna ) in modern Turkey in the west, through the Amik Valley ( Mukish ), Aleppo (Halab) and the Euphrates valley in Syria , to the modern Kirkuk area ( Arrapha ) in Iraq in the east. The contemporary term "Hurrian" is derived from words attested in various languages of the Ancient Near East, such as Ḫurri ( Hurrian ), ḫurvoge (Hurrian), ḫurili ( Hittite ) and ḫurla (Hittite), which referred respectively to areas inhabited by

12240-490: The Hittite Empire Samuha served as one of the main centers of the worship of Hurrian deities. Another major sanctuary was located in a rocky area near Hattusa, known today as Yazılıkaya ( Turkish : "inscribed rock"), though it is uncertain if it can be considered a temple in the strict sense of this term. The walls are decorated with reliefs of two processions of deities. The goddesses follow Ḫepat, while

12444-463: The Nasatya twins, who all only appear in a single treaty between Šattiwaza and the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I , where they act as tutelary deities of the former. The Hurrianised spellings of their names are Mitra-ššil, Aruna-ššil (or Waruna-ššil), Indra and Našattiyana. It is likely that they were only worshiped by the aristocracy of this kingdom, or just by the ruling dynasty and its circle. At

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12648-585: The Sargonic period and the existence of the Hurrian loanword tibira ("metalworker") in Sumerian . The Hittite archives of Hattusa are considered to be one of the richest sources of information about Hurrian religion. They consist of both texts written in Hurrian and Hurrian works translated into the Hittite language . Some of them were copies of religious texts from Alalakh , Halab or Kizzuwatna. Several Hurrian ritual texts have also been found during

12852-471: The Song of Release . Hurrian influences on Ugaritic and Mesopotamian religion also have been noted, though they are less extensive. Furthermore, it has been argued that the Hurrian myths about a succession struggle between various primordial kings of the gods influenced Hesiod 's poem Theogony . Hurrians were among the inhabitants of parts of the Ancient Near East , especially the north of

13056-627: The Tur Abdin area located in the southeast of modern Turkey. Tilla is very common in theophoric names from Nuzi, where his popularity was comparable to Teššub's. In addition to names of gods, Hurrian theophoric names could also invoke apellatives related to them, natural features (such as the Tigris, known to Hurrians as Aranzaḫ , or the Khabur river ) and settlements ( Ebla , Nineveh , Arrapha , Nawar , Halab ) treated as numina , and occasionally

13260-594: The Ur III period . Based on archeological data the city already existed in the Sargonic period , but it is a matter of scholarly debate if it was already inhabited by Hurrians at this time. The last source confirming that Nineveh was associated with this goddess is a text from the reign of Sargon II . Another temple dedicated to her existed in Arrapha. Additionally, a double temple excavated in Nuzi most likely belonged jointly to her and Teššub. Kuzina, associated with

13464-657: The earth goddess ) mentions Dagan, similarly most likely fully equated in this context with Enlil. A legendary king of Purushanda who serves as an opponent of Sargon of Akkad in the epic King of Battle bears the name Nūr-Dagan. Evidence from the coastal city of Ugarit is inconclusive. Whether a temple initially often identified as Dagan's was dedicated to him rather than El is a matter of scholarly debate. In lists of gods and offerings from Ugarit, Dagan sometimes follows El but precedes Baal. Two such examples are known, but in six Dagan follows El and Baal. An incantation against snakebite mentions Dagan alongside Baal, while El

13668-473: The hišuwa festival from Kizzuwatna , possibly originally celebrated in Syria. It was meant to guarantee good fortune for the royal couple. Deities who received offering during it included "Teššub Manuzi ," Lelluri , Allani , Išḫara , two manifestations of Nupatik ( pibithi - "of Pibid(a)" and zalmathi - "of Zalman(a)/Zalmat") and the Anatolian goddess Maliya . Another Kizzuwatnean festival, which

13872-514: The mušen hurri (Akkadian: "the cave bird" or perhaps "the Hurrian bird," possibly a shelduck or rock partridge ) is also known, but it remains uncertain what this procedure entailed. Hurrian incantations are also well known, though they are often difficult to interpret, and many known examples are unprovenanced. They were imported into Mari and Babylonia as early as in the Old Babylonian period . A well-preserved corpus of such texts

14076-478: The "Upper Land" and the cities of Ebla, Mari and Yarmuti in particular, as well as over areas as distant as the "cedar forest and silver mountains." To gain Dagan's favor, Sargon prayed to him in Tuttul . An inscription from the reign of Naram-Sin describes inhabitants of the western frontier of his empire "as far as (the city of) Ulišum" as "people whom the god Dagan had given to him." In Mesopotamian sources, Dagan

14280-409: The 13th century, David Kimhi interpreted the odd sentence in 1 Samuel 5.2–7 that "only Dagon was left to him" to mean "only the form of a fish was left", adding: "It is said that Dagon, from his navel down, had the form of a fish (whence his name, Dagon), and from his navel up, the form of a man, as it is said, his two hands were cut off." The Septuagint text of 1 Samuel 5.2–7 says that both

14484-496: The 9th century BC Assyrian emperor Ashurnasirpal II refers to Ashurnasirpal as the favorite of Anu and of Dagan. This phrase might, however, be simply a literary relic. In the Mesopotamian god list An = Anum , Dagan was placed in the circle of Enlil, similar to another western deity, Ishara. The same document equates him with Enlil and his wife Shalash with Ninlil . There is some evidence that in Mesopotamia Dagan

14688-509: The Beast , a myth dealing with the primordial deity Eltara, and myths about struggle with the personified sea. Beings inhabiting the sea and the underworld are generally described as allied with Kumarbi and aid him in schemes meant to dethrone Teššub. His allies include his father, the primordial god Alalu , the sea god Kiaše , his daughter Šertapšuruḫi, the sea monster Ḫedammu, and the stone giant Ullikummi. The term tarpanalli , "substitute,"

14892-653: The Covenant was captured by the Philistines and taken to Dagon's temple in Ashdod. The following morning the Ashdodites found the image of Dagon lying prostrate before the ark. They set the image upright, but again on the morning of the following day they found it prostrate before the ark, but this time with head and hands severed, lying on the miptān translated as "threshold" or "podium". The account continues with

15096-543: The Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear at what time these monuments were brought to Ugarit. The city reached its golden age between 1500 BC and 1200 BC, when it ruled a trade-based coastal kingdom, trading with Egypt, Cyprus, the Aegean (primarily Crete), Syria, the Hittites, cities of the Levant (including Ashkelon ), and much of the eastern Mediterranean. Five of

15300-734: The Elder Siamun Psusennes II Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt Tefnakht Bakenranef ( Sargonid dynasty ) Tiglath-Pileser Shalmaneser Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon Sennacherib Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II Hurrian religion The Hurrian religion

15504-461: The Former Gods to bring him the tool which was used to separate heaven and earth. A second confrontation occurs, and Ullikummi apparently taunts Teššub, telling him to "behave like a man" because Ea is now on his side. The rest of the final tablet is broken off, but it is assumed the ancient tool was used to defeat Ullikummi. In the Song of Ea and the Beast , the eponymous god learns about

15708-458: The Former Gods, Nara, to gather various animals for an unknown purpose. The rest of the narrative is poorly preserved, but in the end, LAMMA is defeated, and acknowledges the rule of Teššub. The Song of Silver focuses on a son of Kumarbi and a mortal woman, the eponymous Silver, whose name is not written with the divine determinative. Due to growing up without a father, he is derided by his peers. His mother eventually tells him that his father

15912-482: The Hurrian cycle of Kumarbi ("Silver", Ḫedammu ; the latter's name was erroneously treated as belonging to Hita of Awan in the past ). Some šarrēna mentioned in related ritual texts are not known from any other sources, namely kings Autalumma of Elam , Immašku of Lullue and Kiklip-atal of Tukriš . All three of these geographic terms referred to areas located in Iran or central Asia . However, Kiklip-atal's name

16116-521: The Hurrian pantheon as early as in the third millennium BCE. For example, it has been argued that Nergal was already commonly worshiped by Hurrians in this period. Additionally, logograms of Mesopotamian origin were commonly used to represent the names of Hurrian deities, coexisting in writing with syllabic spellings of their names. Hurrian divine names are often simple and epithet-like, for example Allani means "the lady," Šauška - "the great," and Nabarbi - "she of Nawar." The word referring to gods

16320-643: The Hurrians and the various cultures with which they coexisted. As a result, the Hurrian pantheon included both natively Hurrian deities and those of foreign origin, adopted from Mesopotamian , Syrian (chiefly Eblaite and Ugaritic ), Anatolian and Elamite beliefs. The culture of the Hurrians was not entirely homogeneous, and different local religious traditions are documented in sources from Hurrian kingdoms such as Arrapha , Kizzuwatna and Mitanni , as well as from cities with sizeable Hurrian populations, such as Ugarit and Alalakh . Hurrian religion forms one of

16524-405: The Hurrians, the language they spoke, and to the people themselves. It is assumed that these terms were all derived from a Hurrian endonym whose meaning remains unknown. The Mesopotamians often referred to Hurrians as "Subarians", and this name was also applied to them in scholarly literature in the early twentieth century. This term was derived from the geographic name Subartu (Subir), which

16728-565: The Kumarbi cycle, and that in the Hellenized Phoenician tradition recorded by Philo of Byblos Demarous (Baal) has both a biological father (" Ouranos ") and a step-father (Dagon) - both of them distinct from Elos (El; in this Phoenician myth a brother of Dagon). She also notes that due to the circumstances of his birth, Teshub had two fathers: one opposing him and one who supported his rise to power. She suggests that therefore it

16932-427: The Kumarbi cycle, though this remains uncertain. A number of possible fragments are known, but the plot remains a mystery, though it has been established that both the sea and Kumarbi are involved. Ian Rutherford speculates that this myth was either an account of a battle between Teššub and the sea, or, less likely, a flood myth or a tale about the origin of the sea. A further fragmentary Hurrian text which might be

17136-583: The Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka ? ... Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us. Eshuwara, the senior governor of Cyprus, responded: As for the matter concerning those enemies: (it was) the people from your country (and) your own ships (who) did this! And (it was) the people from your country (who) committed these transgression(s) ... I am writing to inform you and protect you. Be aware! At

17340-796: The Late Bronze levels, so little is known about earlier occupation. Ugarit was associated with the Great Kingdom of Yamhad (Halab, Aleppo) in Northern Syria. Ugarit is also mentioned in the Mari Archive . In the Middle Bronze, evidence indicate that Ugarit had contacts with the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. A carnelian bead can be inscribed with the name of Senusret I . A stela and a statuette from

17544-538: The Mediterranean 5 kilometers south of the city, was discovered during commercial construction in 1977. Salvage excavation occurred in 1977 followed by regular excavation which has continued to the present by a Syrian-French team led by A. Bounni and J. Lagarce. Occupation began in the mid-13th century BC. Abandoned along with Ugarit, it was re-occupied in the Hellenistic period, including the construction of

17748-502: The Mesopotamian names were simply written phonetically in the Hurrian column, instead of providing a Hurrian equivalent. Examples include Irḫan and Kanisurra . It has been called into question whether some of such entries represent deities which were actually worshiped by the Hurrians. Two entries which are agreed to be purely ancient scholarly constructs are Ašte Anive and Ašte Kumurbineve, whose names mean "the wife of Anu" and "the wife of Kumarbi." They are neologisms meant to mimic

17952-901: The Phoenician and Ugaritic systems were not wholly independent inventions. A Unicode block for Ugaritic has been defined. The existence of the Ugaritic language is attested to in texts from the 14th through the 12th century BC. Ugaritic is usually classified as a Northwest Semitic language and therefore related to Hebrew , Aramaic , and Phoenician , among others. Its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian . It possesses two genders (masculine and feminine), three cases for nouns and adjectives ( nominative , accusative , and genitive ); three numbers: ( singular , dual , and plural ); and verb aspects similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order in Ugaritic

18156-680: The Phoenician author Sanchuniathon explained Dagon as a word for "grain" ( siton ). Historian Manfred Hutter considers it possible that the god's name derives from the root * dgn (to be cloudy), which he interprets as a sign that he was originally a weather god. However, the notion of Dagan being a weather god is rejected by most researchers of this deity (see the Dagan and weather gods section below). Lluís Feliu in his monograph The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria rejects both of these theories and concludes that Dagan's name originated in

18360-606: The Sumerian loanword en , "lord." Gernot Wilhelm highlights that "undue importance has long been attached to the historical significance" of the presence of speakers of an early Indo-European language in the predominantly Hurrian Mitanni empire. Members of its ruling dynasty had names which are linguistically Indo-European and adhered to a number of traditions of such origin, but the historical circumstances of this development are not known. The attested Mitanni deities of Indo-European origin include Indra , Mitra , Varuna and

18564-516: The Temple of Baal encompass sections of an enclosing wall, a likely courtyard altar, monumental steps leading to the elevated pronaos and naos, and another presumed altar within the naos. The temple was destroyed, possibly by an earthquake, in the mid 13th century and not rebuilt. The Temple of Dagan was also destroyed at that time but was rebuilt. Another significant structure within the Acropolis

18768-467: The association between these two deities was limited to sharing temples in Mesopotamia, and was most likely based on their origin in the western region and shared status as foreign deities in the eyes of Mesopotamian theologians. He also points out that there is no indication that they were closely connected outside of Babylonia , especially in parts of Syria where they were most commonly worshiped. He additionally remarks that Lambert mistakenly assumed Ishara

18972-465: The best attested influences upon Hittite religion . The Hurrian pantheon is depicted in the rock reliefs from the Hittite sanctuary at Yazılıkaya , which dates to the thirteenth century BCE. Hittite scribes also translated many Hurrian myths into their own language, possibly relying on oral versions passed down by Hurrian singers. Among the best known of these compositions are the cycle of myths describing conflicts between Kumarbi and his son Teššub and

19176-404: The best-known belletristic work discovered in the Hittite archives." As noted by Gary Beckman , while the myths about Kumarbi are chiefly known from Hittite translations, their themes, such as conflict over kingship in heaven, reflect Hurrian, rather than Hittite, theology. They are conventionally referred to as "cycle," but Alfonso Archi points out that this term might be inadequate, as evidently

19380-471: The citizens of the land of Ugarit. The last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi (circa 1215 to 1180 BC), was a contemporary of the last known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II . The exact dates of his reign are unknown. However, a letter by the king is preserved, in which Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Near Eastern states due to attacks. At this time Ugarit possessed a large army and navy and both joined with Hittite forces to try and stem

19584-522: The city's primary temples dedicated to Baal and his father, Dagan. Though the existing remnants date to the Late Bronze Age, these temples might have their origins in the Middle Bronze Age. Stelai discovered in this area portray or name these gods, affirming their identification for the respective cults. Within the Temple of Baal, discoveries include the Baal with Thunderbolt depicting Baal holding

19788-448: The city's ruins, archaeologists have studied various attributes of Ugaritic civilization just before their destruction and compared artifacts with those of nearby cultures to help establish dates. Ugarit contained many caches of cuneiform tablets inside of libraries that contained a wealth of valuable information. The destruction levels of the ruin contained Late Helladic IIIB pottery ware, but no LH IIIC (see Mycenaean period ). Therefore,

19992-422: The city, they started to use one of their own, which in some cases could be combined with the old calendar, as evidenced by a document combining month names from both into a sequence. The Hurrian month names in Nuzi were Impurtanni , Arkuzzi , Kurilli , Šeḫali ša IM (the logogram stands for the name of the god Teššub, while šeḫali might mean "festival"), Šeḫali ša Nergal , Attanašwe , Šeḫlu (followed by

20196-587: The concept of a divine Earth and Heaven was eše hawurni . According to Piotr Taracha, the Earth-Heaven pair should be considered "pan-Hurrian," similar to Teššub , Šauška , Kumarbi , Šimige and Kušuḫ , and as such can be found in religious texts from all areas inhabited by Hurrians, from Kizzuwatna in modern Turkey to the Zagros Mountains . However, they were not regarded as personified deities. In offering lists, they typically appear at

20400-516: The connection between it and Bronze Age Hurrians is almost exclusively linguistic and does not extend to religious practice or pantheon. For instance, the head of the Urartian pantheon, Ḫaldi , appears to be absent from Hurrian sources. Hurrians worshiped many deities of varied backgrounds, some of them natively Hurrian, while others adopted from other pantheons or formed through the process of syncretism . Some had "pan-Hurrian" character, while

20604-439: The copy from Emar. Due to the size of the Mesopotamian pantheon documented in god lists in multiple cases the same Hurrian deity is presented as the equivalent of more than one Mesopotamian one, for example Šimige corresponds to both Utu and Lugalbanda . In some cases the logic behind such decisions is not certain, for example the deity Ayakun is listed as the Hurrian counterpart of both Alammuš and Ninsun . In some cases,

20808-440: The danger he poses to the world. Later he seeks Upelluri out in order to find out how to defeat Ullikummi, and asks him if he is aware of the identity of the monster growing on his back. As it turns out, Upelluri did not notice the new burden at first, but eventually he starts to feel discomfort, something that according to this text he did not experience even during the separation of heaven and earth. After talking to him, Ea tells

21012-505: The date of the destruction of Ugarit is crucial for the dating of the LH IIIC phase in mainland Greece . Since an Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah was found in the destruction levels, 1190 BC was taken as the date for the beginning of the LH IIIC. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed sometime after the death of Merneptah (1203 BC). It is generally agreed that Ugarit had already been destroyed by

21216-482: The destiny of Teššub from a mysterious animal. The myth of Eltara describes a period of rule of the eponymous god, and additionally alludes to a conflict involving the mountains. Eltara is described in similar terms as Alalu and Anu in the Song of Kumarbi . It is assumed that his name is a combination of the name of the Ugaritic god El and the suffix - tara . Song of the Sea might have been another myth belonging to

21420-619: The destruction date of Ugarit. It is important to remember that the chronology of the ancient Near East and that of the ancient Egypt are not yet perfectly synchronized. A large number of arrowheads were recovered from the destruction level in 2021. Their typology has not been published as yet. Early in the excavations a partial text of the Ugarit King List, in Ugaritic, was found. Later, complete renditions in Akkadian were discovered. They list twenty six rulers, all deified. Only

21624-421: The difference should not be exaggerated. Due to long periods of interchange between Hurrians and other Mesopotamian , Syrian and Anatolian societies it is often impossible to tell which features of Hurrian religion were exclusively Hurrian in origin and which developed through contact with other cultures. As noted by Beate Pongratz-Leisten, transfer of deities likely easily occurred between people who shared

21828-415: The early 12th century BC. A tablet from the 14th century BC found in the Amarna archives , EA 89, Rib-Hadda of Byblos likening the palace at Tyre to the grandeur found in the palace within Ugarit's walls. The palace was well constructed, predominantly crafted from stone, with preserved ashlar blocks reaching heights of up to 4 meters. Wooden crossbeams were also incorporated, inserted into slots within

22032-551: The eighteenth-century BCE. Similar evidence is also present in documents pertaining to the reign of Zimri-Lim , one of the kings of the same city, who at one point dedicated a vase to the god of Kumme. It retained its position as an internationally renowned cult center as late as during the Neo-Assyrian period . However, no texts dated to the reign of Sennacherib or later mention it, and its final fate remains unknown. A further center of Teššub's cult mentioned in many sources

22236-440: The eighth year of Ramesses III (1178 BC). Recent radiocarbon work, combined with other historical dates and the eclipse of January 21, 1192, indicates a destruction date between 1192 and 1190 BC. Bay , an official of the Egyptian queen Twosret , in a tablet (RS 86.2230) found at Ras Shamra, was in communication with Ammurapi , the last ruler of Ugarit. Bay was in office from approximately 1194–1190 BC. This sets an upper limit on

22440-465: The end Ammurapi begs for forces from the Hittite viceroy at Carchemish, the enemy having captured Ugarit's other port, Ra’šu , and was advancing on the city. To the king, my lord say, thus Ammurapi, your servant.… I wrote you twice, thrice, [new]s regarding the enemy! … May my lord know that now the enemy forces are stationed at Ra’šu, and their avant-guard forces were sent to Ugarit. Now may my lord send me forces and chariots, and may my lord save me from

22644-600: The establishment of the Kingdom of Ugarit . The city had close connections to the Hittite Empire , in later times as a vassal, sent tribute to Egypt at times, and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus (then called Alashiya ), documented in the archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery found there. The polity was at its height from c.  1450 BC until its destruction in c. 1185 BC; this destruction

22848-481: The excavations of Ugarit . There are also references to Hurrian deities in some Akkadian texts from that city. The Amarna letters from king Tushratta of Mitanni and the treaty documents provide evidence about the Hurrian religion as practiced in the Mitanni state. The archives of individual Syrian cities, like Mari , Emar and Alalakh, also contain Hurrian texts. These from the first of these cities date to

23052-462: The factions seem to reflect the opposition between heaven and the underworld. The Song of Kumarbi begins with the narrator inviting various deities to listen to the tale, among them Enlil and Ninlil . Subsequently the reigns of the three oldest "Kings in Heaven" are described: Alalu, Anu and finally Kumarbi. Their origin is not explained, but there is direct evidence in other texts that Alalu

23256-438: The fall of the city, Dagan's cult continued and retained its prestige. In Mari, Dagan and Addu (Hadad) were protectors of the king and played a role in enthronement ceremony . Multiple kings of Mari regarded Dagan as the source of their authority. During the reign of Zimri-Lim , Dagan was one of the gods who received the most offerings during festivals, with other deities comparably celebrated in official offering lists including

23460-419: The forces of this enemy! The ruler of Carchemish sent troops to assist Ugarit, but Ugarit had been sacked. A letter sent after Ugarit had been destroyed said: When your messenger arrived, the army was humiliated and the city was sacked. Our food in the threshing floors was burnt and the vineyards were also destroyed. Our city is sacked. May you know it! May you know it! By excavating the highest levels of

23664-416: The form of a cultic journey of a statue, similar to celebrations of deities such as Lagamal or Belet Nagar attested in the same region. He was also celebrated during the zukru festival. Another festival dedicated to him known from documents from Emar was kissu , which most likely took place in Šatappi, a city possibly located further south. The precise meaning of the term kissu remains uncertain, making

23868-419: The form of statues, often made of precious metals and stones. Such figures typically held symbols which served as the attributes of the given deity. They had to be clothed and anointed, as evidenced by lists of oil offerings. It was believed that if a deity's representation is not treated properly, it might enrage them and result in various repercussions. Lunar and solar eclipses in particular were viewed as

24072-417: The gathered gods urge Aštabi to try to confront him. However, he is also unsuccessful, and falls into the sea alongside his seventy followers. Ullikummi continues to grow, and finally blocks the entrance to the temple of Ḫepat in Kumme. Ḫepat, worried about the fate of her husband, tasks her servant Takitu with finding out what happened to him. Takitu quickly returns, but her words are not preserved. After

24276-459: The gift which you had sent me, I sent to you thirty-three (ingots of) copper; their weight is thirty talents and six-thousand and five-hundred shekels. One small tablet written in Cypro-Minoan was found on the surface of the tell. While it traditionally has been assumed that syllabic texts are in the Akkadian language and alphabetic texts are in Ugaritic it has been suggested that much of

24480-629: The goddess Ninegal belonged to the circle of Teššub. The Hurrian form of her name is Pentikalli. The kaluti of Ḫepat included her children Šarruma, Allanzu and Kunzišalli, as well as the following deities: Takitu , Hutena and Hutellura , Allani , Išḫara , Šalaš , Damkina , (Umbu-) Nikkal , Ayu-Ikalti (the Mesopotamian dawn goddess Aya), Šauška with her servants Ninatta and Kulitta , Nabarbi , Šuwala , Adamma , Kubaba , Hašuntarhi, Uršui-Iškalli and Tiyabenti. Kaluti of other deities are also known, for example Nikkal and Šauška. A distinctive Hurrian practice, most likely of Syrian origin,

24684-583: The gods - Teššub, and the order of individual deities overlaps with the known kaluti lists. The central relief depicts these two deities standing face to face. At least some deities received daily offerings of bread or flour, as attested in Hattusa and Nuzi . One well known type of Hurrian offerings was keldi , translated as "peace offering" or "goodwill offering." It is also assumed that many monthly or seasonal festivals were observed by Hurrians, but very few of them are well documented, one exception being

24888-443: The hands and the head of the image of Dagon were broken off. The first to cast doubt on the "fish" etymology was Hartmut Schmökel  [ de ] in his 1928 study of Dagan, though he initially nonetheless suggested that while Dagon was not in origin a "fish god", the association with dâg "fish" among the maritime Canaanites (Phoenicians) would have affected the god's iconography. However, later he correctly identified it as

25092-594: The important deeds which I did." However, said king built no temples dedicated to Dagon in his city, and this god appears only in an insignificant role in the treaty between Esarhaddon and king Baal I of Tyre . It is therefore doubtful if he was prominent in Phoenician religion . According to Philo of Byblos , Sanchuniathon reportedly made Dagon the brother of Cronus , both sons of the Sky ( Uranus ) and Earth ( Gaia ), but not Hadad's biological father. Hadad (Demarus)

25296-418: The king of the gods even though he apparently dethroned Kumarbi. He curses Ea because of this, but one of his bulls rebukes him for it because of the potential negative consequences, though it is not clear whether he considers him a particularly dangerous ally of Kumarbi or a neutral party who should not be antagonized. The beginning of the Song of LAMMA is lost, but the first preserved fragment describes

25500-463: The lack of mythical narratives or hymns about him and comparatively small number of other documents, though researchers were nonetheless able to determine some of his functions. Sources from Emar, Aleppo and Mari attest that Dagan was an archetypal "father of gods" and a creator figure. This aspect of his character was likely exemplified by the epithet "lord of the offspring" connected to the zukru festival from Emar. His connection to funerary offerings

25704-424: The largest being that of the household of Urtēnu, a merchant with trading ties as far afield as Emar . This area of the tell was under military control at the time and about 100 tablets were found in the rubble from military construction. Later excavation found several hundred tablets in the actual home. One tablet mentions the enthronement of Kassite ruler Kadashman-Harbe II (c. 1223 BC) whose rule lasted less than

25908-407: The late 15th century. This port town, featuring an urban layout akin to the city of Ugarit, displays irregular street formations. Dwellings were structured around courtyards with adjacent rooms, including provisions like wells, ovens, and occasionally subterranean tombs. Besides residential spaces and shrines, warehouses were present for storing diverse goods earmarked for import or export. One of them

26112-452: The later rulers are supported by texts or known synchronisms. Given that Ugarit was abandoned between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages it is thought that the earliest names on the list were more on the order of tribal chiefs than kings. After its destruction in the early 12th century BC, Ugarit's location was forgotten until 1928 when a peasant accidentally opened an old tomb while plowing

26316-470: The letters bear no relation to Mesopotamian cuneiform signs; instead, they appear to be somehow related to the Egyptian -derived Phoenician alphabet . While the letters show little or no formal similarity to the Phoenician, the standard letter order (seen in the Phoenician alphabet as ʔ, B, G, D, H, W, Z, Ḥ, Ṭ, Y, K, L, M, N, S, ʕ, P, Ṣ, Q, R, Š, T) shows strong similarities between the two, suggesting that

26520-443: The local dynasty's tutelary deity Itūr-Mēr , Annunitum , Nergal , Shamash , Ea , Ninhursag , Addu ( Hadad ) and Belet Ekalli ( Ninegal ). In a letter Zimri-Lim's wife Šibtu enumerated Dagan, Shamash, Itūr-Mēr, Belet Ekalli and Addu as "the allies for me" and the deities who "go by my lord's side." The Terqa temple was closely associated with Zimri-Lim. A source from the period of his reign attests that to celebrate his coronation,

26724-600: The locations possibly named after Dagon were in reality named after the Canaanite word for grain. In the Hebrew Bible , Dagon is referenced three times as the head god of the Philistines ; however, there are no references to Dagon as a Canaanite god. According to the Bible, his temples were located at Beth-dagon in the territory of the tribe of Asher ( Joshua 19.27), and in Gaza (see Judges 16.23, which tells soon after how

26928-810: The main mound of Ras Shamra. Beginning in 1929 excavations of Ugarit were conducted by a French team called the Mission de Ras Shamra led by archaeologist Claude Schaeffer from the Musée archéologique in Strasbourg . Work continued until 1939 when it was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. The French excavation, now the Mission Archeologique Française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit, resumed in 1950, led again by Claude Schaeffer until 1970. At that point, directorship passed to Jean Margueron. After 44 excavation seasons all of

27132-436: The major gods. Known examples include Tašmišu and Tenu, sukkals of Teššub, Undurumma, the sukkal of Šauška, Izzummi, the sukkal of Ea (a Hurrian adaptation of Mesopotamian Isimud ), Lipparuma, the sukkal of Šimige, Mukišānu, the sukkal of Kumarbi, and Tiyabenti and Takitu , sukkals of Ḫepat. The war god Ḫešui also had a sukkal, Ḫupuštukar, as did the personified sea , whose sukkal was Impaluri. A single text describes

27336-463: The moon god, was most likely the Hurrian name of Harran . This city was among the locations where the custom of giving temples ceremonial Sumerian names was observed, even though it was not located within the traditional sphere of influence of Mesopotamian states. The oldest known records of the temple of the moon god located there do not provide it with one, but sources from the reign of Shalmaneser III , Ashurbanipal and Nabonidus confirm that it

27540-489: The name), Kinūnu (ninth; the name refers to a festival focused on a ritual brazier ), Ḫegalla , Qarrāti and Ḫamannu (position in the calendar unknown). Some Hurrian month names, including a possible cognate of Attanašwe , Atanatim , are also known from Alalakh . It is possible that Attanašwe , "month of the fathers," was connected to the cult of deceased ancestors, which is well documented in Nuzi. Families apparently owned figurines representing their spirits. In

27744-554: The names in the column listing Mesopotamian deities. Additionally, the equation between Teššub, the Ugaritic weather god Baal and the goddess Imzuanna is assumed to be an example of scribal word play , rather than theological speculation. The first cuneiform sign in Imzuanna's name, IM, could be used as a logographic representation of the names of weather gods. In the western Hurrian centers, gods were also arranged in lists known as kaluti . It has been proposed that this term

27948-569: The names of Dagan's wife Shalash and Shala, wife of Adad in Mesopotamia, some researches conclude that the two goddesses were the same and that Dagan was possibly a weather god himself. However, there is no clear proof that Dagan fulfilled such a function or that he was conflated with any weather gods. In some documents from Syrian cities, for example Halab and Ugarit, the logogram NISABA designates Dagan. As noted by Alphonso Archi, in Western Semitic languages such as Ugaritic Dagan's name

28152-706: The names of months. Generally, the names of goddesses were invoked in feminine personal names and gods in masculine ones, but Šauška is an exception from this rule. Examples of Hurrian theophoric names include Ḫutip-Ukur (" Ugur elevated"), Kirip-Tilla ("Tilla set free"), Unap-Teššup ("Teššub came"), Kušuḫ-ewri ("Kušuḫ is a lord"), Nikkal-mati (" Nikkal is wisdom"), Arip-Allani ("Allani gave [a child]"), Arip-Kumarwe ("Kumarbi gave [a child]") and Ḫazip-Išḫara (" Išḫara heard"). Names combining Hurrian elements with Sumerian, Akkadian or Anatolian ones are uncommon, but some examples are known, among them Lu-Šauša and Ur-Šauša from Girsu in Mesopotamia (both meaning "man of Šauša,"

28356-432: The nature of these celebrations, and roles of specific deities in them, difficult to ascertain. It has been proposed that the presence of underworld deities – Shuwala and Ugur – indicates that it represented the periodic death and return to life of a deity , possibly Dagan's spouse, but this remains speculative. Ḫammu-rāpi, who around 1400 BCE ruled the area comprising the former independent Kingdom of Khana , used

28560-400: The northern palace. After the destruction the site was occupied by simple residences, termed a village by the excavators. Aegean style pottery and loom weights were found in this Iron Age I level. Scribes in Ugarit appear to have originated the " Ugaritic alphabet " around 1400 BC: 30 letters, corresponding to sounds, were inscribed on clay tablets. Although they are cuneiform in appearance,

28764-483: The numerous finds and their findspots were collated. In 2005 the excavation became a joint French and Syrian effort led by Valérie Matoïan and Khozama Al-Bahloul. These continued until being ended due to the Syrian Civil War. Archaeologists have defined a number of occupation strata at the site based on the excavations: A number of areas lay within the fortifications of Ugarit. In the northwest section

28968-495: The oldest instance of written musical notation, its decipherment is difficult. One well known example of such a Hurrian hymn comes from Ugarit and is dedicated to Nikkal . A genre of Hurrian songs whose name, zinzabuššiya , is derived from that of an unidentified bird, was associated with the worship of Šauška according to Hittite documents. Divination is well attested as an element of Hurrian religious practice. Its most commonly employed method combined an inquiry aimed at

29172-471: The oncoming enemy, eventually having to fall back from Anatolia to the Syrian border. Ammurapi's response to an appeal for assistance from the king of Alashiya highlights the desperate situation that Ugarit and other cities faced: My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in

29376-455: The other antagonists. In the Song of Ullikummi , Kumarbi creates a new adversary for Teššub yet again. The monster is a diorite giant bearing the name Ullikummi, meant to signal his purpose as the destroyer of Teššub's city, Kumme. To shield him from the eyes of Teššub's allies, Kumarbi tells his allies, the Irširra (perhaps to be identified as goddesses of nursing and midwifery ) to hide him in

29580-420: The parentage or creation of Dagan. His wife was Shalash ; while well attested in Tuttul and elsewhere, she is seemingly absent in sources pertaining to Dagan's cult in Terqa. Their children were Hadad (analogous to Ugaritic Baal ) and possibly Hebat , who is attested alongside Dagan and Shalash in a mourning ritual from ancient Aleppo . Daniel Schwemer considers it possible that Dagan, while always viewed as

29784-413: The popularity of some deities. Additionally, many gods prominent in texts from Ugarit, including Anat, are uncommon in personal names, while the Mesopotamian god Ea (under a phonetic spelling of the name, which makes it impossible he was a logographic stand-in for local god Kothar-wa-Khasis ) appeared frequently in them. Dagan plays no active role in Ugaritic myths (such as the Baal cycle ), though Baal

29988-411: The population of Tuttul and the presence of his officials was in at least one case regarded as a disturbance of Dagan's rites. In Emar , Dagan was the most senior god in offering lists, preceding the weather god (Baal/Hadad) and the city god, whose name was written logographically as NIN.URTA. An important celebration dedicated to him in this location was so-called erēb Dagan , "entry of Dagan." It took

30192-528: The proximity of the aforementioned city), Urah (on the left bank of the Euphrates), Hakkulân, Šaggarātum, Zarri-amnān, Dašrah, Ida-Maras (in the Habur triangle), Admatum (a village in the kingdom of Ašlakkā), as well as Emar and various difficult to locate villages in its proximity. In Ebla, Dagan was usually referred to with titles such as "lord of Tuttul" (BAD Du-du-lu) or "lord of the country" (BAD KALAM), but

30396-492: The puzzling words raq dāgōn nišʾar ʿālāyw , which means literally "only Dagon was left to him." (The Septuagint , Peshitta , and Targums render "Dagon" here as "trunk of Dagon" or "body of Dagon", presumably referring to the lower part of his image. Dagon is also mentioned in the First Book of Ethiopian Maccabees (12:12), which was composed sometime in the 4th century AD. The "fish" etymology, while late and incorrect,

30600-411: The reason why in the Song of Ullikummi they are no longer allies. Šauška subsequently forms a plan to defeat Ḫedammu on her own and enlists the help of her handmaidens Ninatta and Kulitta . She seduces the monster with the help of a love potion, and apparently manages to bring him to the dry land. The ending of the narrative is not preserved, but it is agreed that in the end Ḫedammu was defeated, like

30804-425: The reign of Gordian III (238-244 CE), which relays that the city of Gaza honored this ruler "at the prompting of its ancestral god." Ugarit Ugarit ( / j uː ˈ ɡ ɑː r ɪ t , uː -/ ; Ugaritic : 𐎜𐎂𐎗𐎚 , ʾUgarītu ) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia . At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate . It

31008-458: The reign of Zimri-Lim . The evidence from eastern Hurrian centers is comparatively rare, and pantheons of cities such as Nuzi and Arrapha have to be reconstructed only based on administrative texts. Documents from Nuzi allude to distinct customs such as ancestor worship and maintaining sacred groves. While especially in older scholarship the western and eastern Hurrian pantheons were often treated as separate, Marie-Claude Trémouille notes that

31212-414: The river Tigris , known to the Hurrians as Aranzaḫ (written with the determinative ID, "river," rather than with a dingir , the sign preceding names of deities). Kumarbi apparently spits out the baby Tašmišu, but he cannot get rid of the other two divine children. In the next scene, Teššub apparently discusses the optimal way to leave Kumarbi's body with Kumarbi himself, Anu and Ea , and suggests that

31416-400: The same time, Mitanni princesses bore theophoric names invoking Ḫepat , king Tushratta referred to Šauška as the "mistress of my land," and as in the other Hurrian areas, the state pantheon was headed by Teššub . The official correspondence of the Mitanni rulers was written in Akkadian or Hurrian. Evidence from Urartu in most cases cannot be used in the study of Hurrian religion, as

31620-407: The same time, the earliest Hurrian names, known from records from the Sargonic period , from the time of Naram-Sin 's northern campaigns onward, are predominantly non-theophoric. In later periods Teššub was the god most commonly invoked in them. Šimige and Kušuḫ also occur in names from both western and eastern Hurrian cities. Names invoking Kumarbi are uncommon. Allani names are well attested in

31824-463: The separation of heaven and earth occurred in the distant past, at the beginning of time. The tool used to accomplish this was a copper sickle , referred to as the "former sickle." It was believed that they were subsequently placed on the back of the giant Upelluri , who was already alive during their separation. Volkert Haas assumed that Upelluri stood in the sea, but according to Harry Hoffner he lived underground. The Hurrian term referring to

32028-438: The skull needs to be split to let him get out. The procedure is apparently performed by the god Ea, and subsequently the fate goddesses arrive to repair Kumarbi's skull. The birth of Aranzaḫ is not described in detail. Kumarbi apparently wants to instantly destroy Teššub, but he is tricked into eating a basalt stone instead and the weather god survives. The rest of the narrative is poorly preserved, but Teššub does not yet become

32232-485: The so-called "bent axis" model well documented in Mesopotamia from the third millennium BCE onward, while the western ones in Syria often adhere to a local plan with an axially arranged forecourt , a cella with a niche for a statue, and an antecella. However, exceptions from the latter rule are known, as a temple from Alalakh , the temple of the weather god of Halab and a building from Ugarit often described as

32436-464: The south of Mesopotamia. In Nippur , Dagan shared a temple with Ishara, first attested during the reign of Amar-Suen . Both deities were likely introduced from Mari and were linked only by their northwestern origin. Ishbi-Erra of Isin , assumed to be of Amorite origin and described by Ibbi-Sin of Ur as "man of Mari" and "traveling rubbish salesman of non- Sumerian origin" frequently mentioned Dagan in documents. Several of Ishbi-Erra's successors on

32640-429: The south-central archives of the palace—and examples of practice writing by young scribes. Below ground, beneath two northern rooms, lay family tombs—three large chambers constructed with corbelled vaults—found devoid of any contents. The vanished upper floor likely accommodated the private quarters of the royal family, accessed via twelve staircases. The Acropolis, positioned in the Ugarit's northeastern section, housed

32844-455: The stone masonry. A thick layer of plain plaster covered the walls. To the west of the palace was a set aside 10,000 square meter Royal Zone. Archaeological findings within the ruins have included a variety of artifacts including ivory carvings, stone stele, figurines, and numerous tablets. These tablets were discovered in archives located across the palace; their contents encompass reports on outlying regions, judicial records—particularly from

33048-405: The syllabic writing, especially in administrative documents, is actually in "a jargon where an Akkadian dialect is hard to detect given the great amount of Ugaritic elements it contained". The Royal Palace was constructed over several major phases between the 15th and 13th centuries BC. It comprised rooms arranged around courtyards, encompassing 6,500 square meters before the city's destruction in

33252-555: The tell. Numerous cuneiform tablets have been found. By the Late Bronze age Ugarit had a thriving dual-scribal system. Primarily it used the East Semitic Akkadian language which acted as the lingua franca throughout the region for diplomacy, business, and administrative purposes. In parallel, there was scribal activity in the local Northwest Semitic Ugaritic language. A few scribes are known to have worked in both writing systems. A number of archives were found,

33456-560: The temple is destroyed by Samson as his last act). Another temple, located in Ashdod , was mentioned in 1 Samuel 5:2–7 and again as late as 1 Maccabees 10.83 and 11.4. King Saul's head was displayed in a temple of Dagon after his death ( 1 Chronicles 10:8–10 ). There was also a second place known as Beth-Dagon in Judah (Joshua 15.41). The account in 1 Samuel 5.2–7 relates how the Ark of

33660-403: The third millennium BCE. According to Gary Beckman, based on linguistic evidence it is improbable that she was received directly from Elam. Two manifestations of the same deity could be worshiped as a dyad too, for example two forms of Nupatik or Tiyabenti. A special class of figures venerated by the Hurrians were so-called šarrēna . This term is a combination of the Akkadian word šarri and

33864-516: The throne had theophoric names invoking Dagan, among them Iddin-Dagan and Ishme-Dagan . They were also involved in restoring his temples in Isin and in Ur. Some aspects of the syncretism between Dagan and Enlil seemingly can be attributed to this dynasty. A few of the early Amorite kings of Assyria mention Dagan in their inscriptions, for example Shamshi-Adad I called himself "worshipper of Dagan" in

34068-590: The title "governor of Ilaba and Dagan." Due to the scarcity of sources, the later history of Dagan's cult remains unclear, though it is evident that he was no longer the head god of the upper Euphrates area in later times. The head of the Aramean pantheon known from sources from the first millennium BCE was Hadad. Mesopotamian rulers saw Dagan as the lord of the western lands (e.g., ancient Syria) and thanked him for enabling their conquests in that area. Inscriptions credit Dagan with granting Sargon of Akkad rule over

34272-402: The underworld, where he can grow in hiding on the shoulders of Upelluri . He eventually grows to such an enormous size that his head reaches the sky. The first god to notice him is Šimige, who instantly tells Teššub. The weather god and his siblings then go to Mount Hazzi to observe the monster. Šauška attempts to defeat the new adversary the same way as Ḫedammu, but fails, because Ullikummi

34476-415: The underworld. Birds were traditionally regarded as an appropriate offering for them. In rituals, the underworld could be reached with the use of āpi (offering pits), which had to be dug as part of preparation of a given ritual. They could be used either to send the sources of impurity to the underworld, or to contact its divine inhabitants. The name of one of the eastern Hurrian settlements, Apenašwe,

34680-456: The very end, alongside mountains, rivers, springs, the sea ( Kiaše ), winds and clouds. They are also present in incantations. It has been argued that figures number 28 and 29 from the Yazılıkaya reliefs, a pair of bull-men , are holding a symbol of Heaven and standing on a symbol of Earth. Hurrians also believed in the underworld, which they referred to as the "Dark Earth" ( timri eže ). It

34884-425: The west, references to "gods of the fathers," enna attanewena , can be found, but it is not clear if they refer to similar customs, and it is possible this term instead referred to nebulously defined ancestors of deities. Funerary rites and other burial practices are poorly represented in known sources. It possible that the term karašk- , known from one of Tushratta 's letters to the Egyptian pharaoh referred to

35088-446: The worship of others was limited to specific locations. A number of deities worshiped by Hurrians in Syria and Kizzuwatna most likely had their origin in a linguistic and religious substrate absorbed first by Eblaites and then, after the fall of Ebla in the third millennium BCE, by Hurrians, who started to arrive in predominantly Amorite Syria in the same time period. Others were Mesopotamian and might have been integrated into

35292-406: Was eni , plural enna. As in other cultures of the Ancient Near East , Hurrian gods were imagined as anthropomorphic. They had to be provided with nourishment, which they received in the form of offerings. The myth of Ḫedammu attests that while in theory gods would be capable of laboring themselves to acquire food, it would jeopardize their position in the universe. Gods were represented in

35496-563: Was Azuhinnu located east of the Tigris . Kumme, the main cult center of Teššub was also known as Kummum in Akkadian , Kummiya in Hittite , and later as Qumenu in Urartian . The name of the city has a plausible Hurrian etymology: the verbal root kum refers to building activities, and the suffix -me was used to nominalise verbs. A connection with the Akkadian word kummu , "sanctuary,"

35700-523: Was Dagan who received Enlil's epithets, and in Emar the logographic writing KUR, a shortened version of Enlil's epithet Kur-gal (Great Mountain), stood for Dagan's name in the late Bronze Age. It is unclear if this equation was responsible for the logographic writing of the name of Emar's city god as NIN.URTA, as the god of Emar is unlikely to be Dagan's primary son Hadad (whose name was written logographically as IŠKUR), and in Hurrian sources from Syria NIN.URTA

35904-528: Was a designation for northern areas in Mesopotamian records. The label "Subarian" is now considered obsolete in scholarship. The term "Hurrian" as used today refers to the cultural and linguistic unity of various groups, and does not designate a single state. The Hurrian language was spoken over a wide area in the Middle and Late Bronze Age , but started to decline in the twelfth century BCE, with only small pockets surviving north of Assyria for some five hundred years after it ceased to be spoken elsewhere. It

36108-402: Was accepted in 19th and early 20th century scholarship. It led to an erroneous association between Dagan and Odakon, a half-fish being mentioned by Berossus , and with "fishman" motifs in Mesopotamian art, in reality depictions of Kulullû , an apotropaic creature associated with the god Ea . The association with dāg / dâg 'fish' was made by 11th-century Jewish Bible commentator Rashi . In

36312-520: Was an acropolis with the temples of Dagon and Baal . In the west was the Royal Zone, including the Royal Palace . A fortress protecting the latter area was excavated, with the earliest elements dating back to the Middle Bronze Age. To the west of that lies the modern village of Ras Shamra. There were densely populated residential areas to the east of the Royal Zone and on the southern slope of

36516-473: Was associated with Kumme , Šauška with Nineveh , Kušuḫ with Kuzina , Nikkal with Ugarit, Nabarbi with Taite, and Išḫara with Ebla. While Kumarbi 's connection with Urkesh is well documented, in the earliest sources the city was seemingly associated with Nergal . It has also been proposed that his name in this case served as a logographic representation of Kumarbi or perhaps Aštabi , but this remains uncertain. A secondary cult center of Kumarbi

36720-416: Was begotten by "Sky" on a concubine before Sky was castrated by his son Ēl, whereupon the pregnant concubine was given to Dagon. Accordingly, Dagon in this version is Hadad's half-brother and stepfather. The Byzantine Etymologicon Magnum lists Dagon as the "Phoenician Cronus." The first-century Jewish historian Josephus mentions a place named Dagon above Jericho . It has however been argued that some of

36924-427: Was connected with the poorly known tradition about conflict between the gods and Enmesharra , for example a passage stating that "with Dagan's authority [gods] have been guarding Enmešarra from time immemorial" is known; Dagan might however be a synonym of Enlil rather than a distinct deity in this context according to Wilfred G. Lambert . The fragmentary myth Uraš and Marduk (here the male god from Dilbat , not

37128-454: Was dedicated to Išḫara, took place in autumn. A Hurrian ritual calendar is attested in documents from Nuzi. In the earliest sources from the third millennium BCE, when the city was known as Gasur, the local calendar was similar to these from Ebla , Mari , Abu Salabikh and Eshnunna , and the month names used at the time originate in Semitic languages . However, after Hurrians settled in

37332-624: Was derived from Akkadian kalû , "all" or "totality," though the literal translation of the Hurrian term is "circle" or "round of offerings." Examples are known from Hattusa and Ugarit, and in both cases, most likely follow the order established in Halab. Typically, deities were divided by gender in them. The kaluti of Teššub include deities such as Tašmišu , Anu, Kumarbi, Ea , Kušuḫ , Šimige , Hatni- Pišaišapḫi , Aštabi , Nupatik , Šauška , Pinikir , Hešui , Iršappa , Tenu, Šarruma , Ugur (identified as "Ugur of Teššub"), and more. Furthermore,

37536-466: Was derived from the same word and likely means "place of the pits." Hurrian myths are known mostly from Hittite translations and from poorly preserved fragments in their native language. Colophons often refer to these compositions using the Sumerian logogram SÌR, "song." It is possible that the myths were transferred to Hittite cities orally by Hurrian singers, who dictated them to scribes. The Kumarbi Cycle has been described as "unquestionably

37740-557: Was discovered by accident in 1928 with the Ugaritic texts . Its ruins are often called Ras Shamra (also Ras Shamrah) after the headland where they lie. Ugarit saw its beginnings in the Neolithic period, the site was occupied from the end of the 8th millennium BC and continued as a settlement through the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages . It was during the late bronze age that Ugarit experienced significant growth, culminating in

37944-481: Was discovered still housing eighty shipping jars that remain remarkably intact. Artifacts discovered in the port indicate the predominance of native Ugaritians within the local populace, accompanied by a significant presence of various foreign communities such as Egyptians , Cypriots , Hittites , Hurrians , and Aegean peoples. Among the discoveries were Cypriot pottery (both imported and locally crafted), Mycenaean pottery , ivory cosmetic containers from Egypt,

38148-424: Was equated not with a Levantine or Syrian deity but with Cretan Zeus, Zeus Krētagenēs . However, Gerard Mussies considers Marnas and Dagan to be two separate deities. According to Taco Terpstra, Marnas' origins are "nebulous," and while his name can be plausibly assumed to be Aramaic, his iconography follows Hellenistic conventions. At times he is shown naked, similar to a naked and bearded Zeus, either seated on

38352-433: Was ever regarded as Ishara's husband. He points out that the latter's character was similar to Ishtar 's. In Mesopotamia , Dagan was equated with Enlil due to their shared role as "fathers of gods." This equation was eventually codified by the god list An = Anum , which additionally equated their spouses with each other. However, which of the two parts of this equation was viewed as the primary god varied. In Mari , it

38556-403: Was excavated between 1929 and 1935 by Claude Schaeffer. The site is currently a military port and unavailable for excavation. Its name in the Late Bronze Age is believed to have been Maʾḫadu. Archaeological excavations carried out on the southern side of the bay, now reduced in size due to alluvial fill, unveiled remnants of a settlement established in the 14th century BC, and perhaps earlier, in

38760-495: Was extraneous to the theology of Ugarit. Other recent studies provide various other approaches to the problem of Baal's parentage in mythical texts. Daniel Schwemer proposes that the epithet "Son of Dagan" applied to Baal in Ugaritic texts was influenced by Syrian and Hurrian tradition. Noga Ayali-Darshan states that the portrayal of the relationship between El and Baal in the Baal cycle is similar to that between Kumarbi and Teshub in

38964-952: Was his temple in Arrapha , which was called the "City of the Gods" in Hurrian sources. He also had multiple temples in the territories of the Mitanni empire, for example in Kaḫat , Waššukkanni , Uḫušmāni and Irride. The first of these cities has been identified with modern Tell Barri. Through syncretism with the weather god of Halab, he also came to be associated with this city, as attested in sources not only from nearby Syrian and Anatolian cities but also from as far east as Nuzi. Two further temples, only known from Middle Assyrian sources but presumed to be Hurrian in character, were located in Isana and Šura. Šauška's association with Nineveh goes back at least to

39168-460: Was homophonous with the word for grain ( dgn in alphabetic Ugaritic texts), and the logographic writing of his name as NISABA was likely a form of wordplay popular among scribes, relying on the fact that the name of Nisaba, the Mesopotamian goddess of writing, could simply be understood as "grain" too. Dagan's character is difficult to study in comparison to that of gods who held a comparable position in Mesopotamia (such as Enlil or Marduk ) due to

39372-456: Was known as Ehulhul, "house which gives joy." A double temple dedicated to Kušuḫ and Teššub existed in Šuriniwe in the kingdom of Arrapha. The religious center of the kingdom of Kizzuwatna was the city of Kummanni . Despite the similarity of names, it was not the same city as Kumme. A Kizzuwatnean temple of Išḫara was located on a mountain bearing her name. Furthermore, at least two temples dedicated to Nupatik existed in this area. In

39576-417: Was most likely an extension of his role as a divine ancestor, and modern theories regarding him as an underworld god are most likely erroneous. One of Dagan's best documented functions was guaranteeing abundant harvests of grain. However, he was not an agricultural god but rather the source of prosperity in general. In 3rd millennium BCE Tuttul Dagan was the god believed to bestow kingship upon rulers. He had

39780-399: Was not homogeneous: some were Mesopotamian in origin (for example Anu, Enlil and their spouses), while others have names which do not show an affinity with any known language. The primordial gods appear to be absent from known Mittani documents. They were regarded as ritually impure, and as such could be invoked in purification rituals to help with banishing the earthly causes of impurity to

39984-430: Was not necessarily identical, for example in the east and in Hurrian texts from Ugarit Šauška was the highest ranked goddess, but in western locations that position could belong to Ḫepat instead. Two lists of Hurrian deities following Mesopotamian models are known, one from Ugarit and the other with Emar . The former is trilingual, with a Sumerian , Hurrian and Ugaritic column, while the latter - bilingual, without

40188-486: Was possibly caused by the purported Sea Peoples , or an internal struggle. The kingdom would be one of the many that fell during the Bronze Age Collapse . Gibala ( Tell Tweini ), the coastal city at the southern edge of the Ugarit kingdom was also destroyed at this time. Based on archaeological soundings, the site was occupied beginning in the eighth millennium BC. Essentially all archaeology has focused on

40392-413: Was regarded Kumarbi's father. Alalu is dethroned by Anu, originally his cupbearer , after nine years, and flees to the underworld. After nine years, Anu meets the same fate at the hands of his own cupbearer, Kumarbi. He tries to flee to heaven, but Kumarbi manages to attack him and bites off his genitals. As a result, he becomes pregnant with three gods: the weather god Teššub, his brother Tašmišu, and

40596-686: Was ruled by king Ammittamru I . A letter (EA45) sent by him, probably to Amenhotep III (1388–1351 BC) expresses warm diplomatic relations between the two. During the reign of his son Niqmaddu II (c. 1350–1315 BC) Ugarit became a vassal of the Hittite Empire , mainly through the Hittite ruler's viceroy in Karkemiš and then, with the Hititte collapse, directly under Karkemiš. Diplomatic relations with Egypt continued, as evidenced by two letters send by Niqmaddu II (EA49) and his wife Ḫeba (EA48), probably sent to Akhenaten (1351–1334 BC). The former includes

40800-482: Was ruled by the goddess Allani , whose name means "queen" or "lady" in Hurrian. She resided in a palace located at the gates of the land of the dead. The determination of each person's fate by Hutena and Hutellura took place in the underworld as well. The underworld was also inhabited by a special class of deities, Ammatina Enna (Hittite: Karuileš Šiuneš , logographically: A.NUN.NA.KE ), whose name can be translated as "Former Gods" or "Primordial Gods." Usually,

41004-549: Was the House of the High Priest, situated west of the Temple of Dagan. This large, two-story residence, largely well-constructed, contained tablets containing mythological poems. Some tablets demonstrated writing exercises and included syllabic and bilingual lexicons, implying the building's use as a center for scribe training. Its proximity to the primary temples and the discovery of bronze tools, particularly four small adzes and

41208-526: Was the polytheistic religion of the Hurrians , a Bronze Age people of the Near East who chiefly inhabited the north of the Fertile Crescent . While the oldest evidence goes back to the third millennium BCE , it is best attested in cuneiform sources from the second millennium BCE written not only in the Hurrian language , but also Akkadian , Hittite and Ugaritic . It was shaped by contacts between

41412-595: Was the worship of pairs of deities as if they were a unity. Examples include the pairs Ninatta and Kulitta, Išḫara and Allani, Hutena and Hutellura, or Adamma and Kubaba. Another possible dyad was the Kizzuwatnean " Goddess of the Night " and Pinikir, a deity of Elamite origin originally worshiped in Susa who most likely was incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon via a Mesopotamian intermediary, possibly as early as in

41616-399: Was unable to do it. The ending of the narrative is not preserved, but it is assumed that in every myth, the opponent of Teššub was eventually defeated. The Song of Ḫedammu begins with the betrothal of Kumarbi and Šertapšuruḫi, the daughter of his ally, the sea god Kiaše. They subsequently have a son together, the sea monster Ḫedammu. He is described as destructive and voracious. Šauška

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