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Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.

1163/15692124-12341244
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
Journal of
Ancient Near
Eastern
Religions
brill.com/jane
A Study of the Serpent Incantation KTU
2
1.82: 17
and its Contributions to Ugaritic Mythology
and Religion
Adam E. Miglio
Assistant Professor of Archaeology, Wheaton College
adam.miglio@wheaton.edu
Abstract
Tis article treats KTU
2
1.82: 17, an Ugaritic incantation. It deals, frst, with matters of epigra-
phy, philology, morpho-syntax and lexicography. Tereafter, it discusses the contributions of this
incantation to understanding Ugaritic mythology and religion. In particular, it assesses the rela-
tionship of KTU
2
1.82: 17 to the Ugaritic Ba

lu Cycle.
Keywords
KTU
2
1.82, serpent incantation, Ba

lu Cycle
Ancient Near Eastern incantation texts are well known from the world of
Syro-Mesopotamia, having been preserved as artifacts of the cuneiform cul-
ture that characterized this region for more than three millennia. Tese incan-
tations were texts that, when spoken, were believed to bring about a desired
religio-magical efect. From the Late Bronze Age city of Ugarit, in particular,
incantations are attested in two general types. Te frst may be classifed as
historiolae. Historiolae were comprised of formal mythological texts typically
narrated in the indicative mood and accompanied by a ritual prescription.
1

Te second form of incantation at Ugarit was simply a formula or spell with-
out an accompanying mythological narrative that had a performative efect
when uttered.
2

1
See Seth Sanders, A Historiography of Demons: Preterit-Tema, Para-Myth, and Histo-
riola in the Morphology of Genres, in Historiography in the Cuneiform World, eds
T. Abusch, et al. (Bethesda, MD: CDL Press) 2001: 42940.
2
Tis twofold distinction is made by Dennis Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit. Writings in
the Ancient World 10. [Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002]).
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 31
Tis article addresses one particular Ugaritic incantation found in the frst
seven lines of KTU
2
1.82 that was intended to cure a snakebite. At least three
other Ugaritic serpent incantations are known. Two of these can be classifed
as historiolae (KTU
2
1.100 [RS 24.244] and KTU
2
1.107 [RS 24.251]),
3

whereas the third belongs to the simpler type of incantation (RS 92.2014).
KTU
2
1.82:17 adds another example of the latter type in which a formula or
spell was believed to conjure religio-magical power. At the same time, KTU
2
1.82: 17 is distinctive in that while it is not an historiola, it still shows strong
connections with the mythological literature of Ugarit through its allusion to
one of the great myths, the Ba

lu Cycle.
Concerning KTU
2
1.82, in general, Andr Caquot observed that,
[l]a tablette KTU 1.82 dfe depuis longtemps la sagacit des dchifreurs.
4

As a result of its difculty, this tablet has elicited relatively few lengthy studies
since Charles Virolleaud frst published the editio princeps in 1957.
5
Focusing
on the frst seven lines of KTU
2
1.82, then, the present essay begins with mat-
ters of epigraphy, philology, morpho-syntax, and lexicography and thereafter
discusses three ways in which KTU
2
1.82: 17 contributes to our understand-
ing of Ugaritic mythology and religion. First, KTU
2
1.82: 17 can be shown
to be a distinctive incantation in the Ugaritic corpus in that it shows an aware-
ness of one of the great myths. Tis awareness in KTU
2
1.82: 17 suggests
that the incantation tradition and mythological literature at Ugarit were
closely related, a conclusion that is buttressed by the parallel phenomenon in
the Mesopotamian tradition, where incantations are also known to have
alluded to mythological texts. Additionally, the structure of KTU
2
1.82: 17
provides insight into the organization of the Ba

lu Cycle, as it has been recon-


structed by modern scholars. Tat is, allusions to the Ba

lu Cycle in KTU
2
3
It may also be that KTU 1.124 (=RS 24.272) is a historiola concerning a snakebite, see
Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 171.
4
Andr Caquot, Un Recueil Ougaritique de Formules Magiques: KTU 1.82, Studi Epi-
grafci e Linguistici 5 (1988): 331.
5
Te most recent is that of G. del Olmo Lete, KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous
Incantation, AuOr (2011): 24565 and another is Charles Virolleaud, Le palais royal dUgarit
II (Paris: 1957), 37. Te principle investigations over the past half-century are: 1) P.J. van Zijls
discussion, which he published over a span of three years in Te Journal of Northwest Semitic
Languages (Translation and Discussion of Text 1001:12 (R 15.134: 12), JNWSL 2 [1972]:
7485; Translation and Discussion of Text 1001:35a, JNWSL 3 [1974]: 8593; Transla-
tion and Discussion of Text 1001:5(b)7, JNWSL 4 [1975]: 7386.); 2) Johannes C. de Moor
and Klaas Spronk, More on Demons in Ugarit, Ugarit-Forschungen 16 (1984): 237250, who
provide a collation, normalized hand copy, and commentary; 3) Andr Caquots article Un
Recueil Ougaritique de Formules Magiques: KTU 1.82, Studi Epigrafci e Linguistici. 5 (1988):
33143; 4) and most recently G. del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Religion according to the Liturgical
Texts of Ugarit [Bethesda: CDL Press, 1999], 37378.).
32 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
1.82: 17 are consistent with the order of events as they have been recon-
structed in tablets KTU
2
1.31.6. And lastly, KTU
2
1.82: 17 constrains the
interpretation of the Ba

lu Cycle. In particular, KTU


2
1.82: 17 limits the
number of the serpentine foes that Ba

lu confronted in his battle with Yammu


in KTU
2
1.3 iii: 3845.
1. KTU
2
1.82: 17 and the History of its Interpretation
KTU
2
1.82 is a fragmentary tablet on which the opening seven lines of the
obverse are best preserved. Tat these frst seven lines contain a discrete unit is
strongly suggested by a stroke impressed by the scribe just after line seven,
which sets of these initial lines from those that follow. In fact, several such
strokes, or score marks, seem to divide the tablet into diferent sections that
may have contained various incantations.
6
As concerns KTU
2
1.82:17, inter-
preters have ofered two divergent hypotheses about the intent of this religio-
magical text. De Moor and Spronk, on the one hand, have suggested that this
incantation concerns a womans unhealthy menstruation. On the other, Del
Olmo Lete has ofered the provisional interpretation of these lines as an incan-
tation concerning snakebites.
7

De Moor and Spronks interpretation is heavily predicated on their restora-
tion in the frst half of line one, [lb]ty, which they take to be the lemma bittu,
daughter. In fact, their restoration provides an interpretive matrix for the
whole incantation. If correct, KTU
2
1.82 would be the only incantation deal-
ing with this topic from Ugarit. Tus Del Olmo Letes solution that KTU
2

1.82: 17 is a serpent incantation is preferable. First, Del Olmo Letes analysis
better takes into account the petition to the god Ba

lu to seize serpents
(bat nma, line six). Second, Del Olmo Letes interpretation recognizes that
the genre of serpent incantations is already well known from Ugarit (e.g.
KTU
2
1.100 [RS 24.244] and RS 1992.2014). Moreover, as will be shown in
greater detail below, Del Olmo Letes hypothesis helps to explain numerous
other epigraphic, philological, morpho-syntactic and lexical complexities in
KTU
2
1.82: 17.
6
Tis conclusion is confdently afrmed by Del Olmo Lete, who has noted that . . . [i]t is
fairly clear that this [tablet] is a collection of incantations . . ., Del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Reli-
gion, 373. It is beyond the scope of this study, however, to address whether all of the incantations
on the tablet are thematically related (del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Religion, 373) or not (De Moor
and Spronk, More on Demons in Ugarit; Caquot, Un Recueil Ougaritique de Formules
Magiques).
7
Most recently in KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous Incantation.
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 33
2. Vocalization and Translation
8

1 [yi]mhas . Ba

lu [xx] t
9
y . Tunnana
10
. wa yaggul . wa yanassik .

A[tika]
2 [xx]y . l

arsi [

i]dya .

alata . l

ahu .

idya .

alatu .

nu layya
3 [si]bit . Ba

lu. hizza . Rapi . bin . kma . yri . kilyatahu .wa libbahu


4 [tin?] . pku . bi gurri . t in . pka . bi halbi . k tagawwilni . innatku
5 [wa k .] wa apatku . l taaiy. himma. tagarrimu . l Mti . baraqaku
6 [yiss]ahipu .

an .

arninu . qla . api . haww . bat nma .

uhud . ba

lima
7 [

a] ttumu . prtl . l ra

ihu . hmt . tmt .


1 May Ba

lu strike [xx] Tunnanu, may he appear and thrust

A[tika?]
2 [xx] to the earth. [Ten], I will not feel the curse; then, I will no longer be under
the curse.
3 [Se]ize, O Ba

lu, the arrow of Rapu. Know that he shoots at his kidney and his
heart.
4 [Lift] your voice among the mountains. Echo your cry in the clifs, your teeth
chattering
5 [and] your lips being unable to stop.

(For) if you cast

your bolts against Mtu,
6 [he wi]ll be overwhelmed. I will raise (my) voice! O apu, give life! / Seize the
snakes, O Ba

lu!
7 I will put prtl (?) on his head, hmt . tmt
3. Commentary
Lines 12: 1) [yi]mhas . Ba

lu [xx]ty . Tunnana . wa yaggul . wa yanassik .

A[tika] 2) [xx]y . l

arsi
Te initial difculty in the text is epigraphic and is the result of a chip in the
tablets upper edge and on its face that obscures several signs in the frst line.
8
I have provided a vocalization of the frst seven lines of KTU
2
1.82 as a heuristic practice
in order to make explicit my understanding of the morphology and syntax. Te particulars of my
interpretation will be addressed in the commentary below.
9
From the photos it appears that the t is clear; part of a horizontal wedge is visible (see del
Olmo Lete, KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous Incantation; Virolleaud, Le palais royal dUgarit
II ). Other possibilities that cannot be excluded are

a or n. In terms of restorations, an important


contribution of De Moor and Spronk is that they have drawn attention to the physical property
of this artifact. Tey have noted that this tablet has not sufered extensive damage. Tis serves as
a correction to Virolleauds assumption about the state of preservation when he initially pub-
lished the tablet. De Moor and Spronk summarize accordingly: the parallelism in the widest
part of the obverse of the tablet indicates the absence of a very small number of signs (De Moor
and Spronk, More on Demons in Ugarit, 237). As a result the probable space for reconstruc-
tion is certainly much more restricted than it had been considered prior to De Moor and
Spronks collation.
10
See John Huehnergard, Ugaritic Vocabulary in Syllabic Transcription. Harvard Semitic
Studies 32 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987), 18586.
34 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
In this initial lacuna, De Moor and Spronk read the signs as [l b]t and trans-
lated [for] my [daughter]. Van Zijl suggested the restoration [

ly], which,
while sensible, is epigraphically impossible: the photo in PRU II clearly indi-
cates the remnants of either an

a, t or n.
11
A certain restoration here is not
presently possible; at the same time, that a benefciary of this incantation is to
be found in the lacuna in the middle of line one and again at the beginning of
line two, as intuited by De Moor and Spronk, seems plausible.
12

What is beyond doubt is that Tunnanu is the object of the verb [y]mhs and
that this collocation facilitates an allusion to the mythological battle of Ba

lu
against Yammu found in KTU
2
1.3 iii 3646. Tis observation is important,
for it aids the analysis of the end of line one. At the end of this line, Virolleaud
indicated that after the

ayin the tablet was efaced and broken. In this break


De Moor and Spronk have restored

[dt] (menstruation), based on an Arabic


cognate that is otherwise unattested in Ugaritic. Tis solution must be judged
unlikely, in part because it is difcult to connect with the reference to Tun-
nanu and the other mythological overtones from the Ba

lu Cycle in this incan-


tation. My proposed restoration at the end of this line, therefore, is

A[tika].
13

Tis suggestion is based upon three observations. First, the restoration fts in
the remaining space on the tablet given the fact that several of the lines are
written onto the edge (e.g. ll. 24, 6). Second, this restoration preserves
the parallelism of this bi-cola. Tird, the restoration

Atika is congruent with


the mention of Tunnanu in the previous colon, especially given the mention
of both Tunnanu and

Atika in KTU
2
1.3 iii 3646 (esp. ll. 40, 44) as foes of
Ba

lu and

Anat.
14

If correct, the restoration of

Atika in line one would serve as the direct


object of the verb nsk. It might be objected that

Atika is not a suitable object


for the verb nsk, yet in Ugaritic this verb has a semantic range that allows for
objects that are not liquids, as in Akkadian (nasku).
15
In fact, the coupling of

Atika with the verb nsk might conjure a familiar image in Northwest Semitic
11
See Planche, IV; also see del Olmo Lete, KTU.182: Another Miscellaneous Incantation.
12
Del Olmo Lete has also proposed that this lacuna contains the location from which the
Tunnanu is driven, that is from the house [bb]t (KTU 1.82: Another Incantation, 246).
13
After the acceptance of this article for publication, I encountered the same proposal ofered
by del Olmo Lete, KTU 1.82: Another Incantation, 249.
14
On the designation of

Atiku as

gl

il, see, Mark S. Smith, Terms of Endearment: Dog


(klbt) and Calf (gl ) in KTU 1.3 III 4445, in Und Mose schrieb dieses Lieb auf . . ., Studien
zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient: Festschrift fr Oswald Loretz zur Vollendung seines 70.
Lebenjahres mit Beitrgen von Freuden, Schlern und Kollegen, eds. M. Dietrich and I. Kottsieper
(Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1998), 71316.
15
Cf. de Moor and Spronk, 238; See CAD N/II nasku A p.16 mng 1c. Tough this is
unlike the cognate verb in Hebrew (Cf. Virolleaud, Le palais royal dUgarit II, 3, where he trans-
lates: versa une libation sur. . . .).
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 35
mythology: a watery foe being cast onto the dry land.
16
Tis motif appears in
KTU
2
1.83, where a similar fate is recounted for Yammu: toward the desert
shall you be scattered, Oh Yammu!
17
And likewise, Psalm 74.14 describes
YHWHs defeat of the sea creature Leviathan, saying: You, yourself, crushed
the heads of Leviathan, and gave him as food to the people of the desert
( ).
18

Line 2: [

i]dya
19
.

alata . l

ahu .

idya .

alatu .

nu layya
Te linch-pins for interpreting line two are the noun

alt and its accompany-


ing verb

ah. De Moor and Spronk, van Zijl, and del Olmo Lete have under-
stood the noun

alt to be cognate with Hebrew (oath, curse) and the


related lexeme known from the Arslan Tash Inscription, whereas Caquot
compared this word with Hebrew (support, pillar), explaining the -t as
the feminine morpheme. Against Caquots proposal, it should be noted that
one would expect Hebrew to be spelled

il in Ugaritic (

lu), not with

a.
20

Tus the correlation of this lemma with Hebrew (curse) by De Moor
and Spronk, van Zijl, and del Olmo Lete is to be preferred.
Te thorny issue of the verb

ah cannot be disentangled from the identif-


cation of the noun

alt. Caquot and De Moor and Spronk have taken the verb
from a hollow root meaning to hasten, cognate with Hebrew , while del
16
Tat

Atika is a watery foe is deduced from its attestation with

Ariu and Tunnanu in


KTU
2
1.3 iii 4344, who dwelt in the sea (bym

ar wtnn [KTU
2
1.6 iv 51]). Tus in KTU
2
1.82

Atika would be another serpentine water-creature portrayed as having been hurled to the dry
land (i.e.

arsu l.2) when defeated.


17
Line 11: pl . tbt n . yymm (in Pitard, Te Binding of Yamm: A New Edition of the Ugaritic
Text KTU 1.83, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 57 (1998): 26180.
18
Also Ezekiel 32.25: You (i.e. Pharaoh) are like Tannim in the sea. . . . I will spread my net
over you in the company of the many peoples, and they will pull you up in my net. I will cast
you onto the land, onto the open feld I will hurl you. I will make all the birds of the sky alight
upon you, and with you I will sate all the beasts of the earth. I will cast your fesh on the moun-
tains, and fll the valleys with your carcass. A later Egyptian source, the Metternich Stela visu-
ally depicts Horus power over serpents, as well as other potentially harmful creatures, showing
him clutching them in his hands. Te text of the stela also incants: fow out, poison. Come
forth. Go forth on to the ground. Horus will exorcise you. He will punish you. He will spit you
out. . . . (apud J. F. Nunn, Ancient Egyptian Medicine. [University of Oklahoma Press, 1996],
105).
19
Te conjunction [

id] is restored in the lacuna at the beginning of line two with an enclitic
yd. Te conjunction with this enclitic morpheme is found only in KTU
2
1.82, to my knowl-
edge, and twice in this line.
20
Cf. KTU
2
1.6 vi: 27, which is the only other possible example of the word with the mean-
ing pillar, support; Cf. G. del Olmo Lete and J. Sanmartn, Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language
in the Alphabetic Tradition. HdO 67 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 62.
36 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
Olmo Lete has cited a separate hollow root with the meaning to feel, cognate
with Hebrew . Te resulting translations are as follows:
Caquot: Alors, moi, je ne sens pas dappui, je nai pas dappui.
21
De Moor and Spronk: Did I not hasten to fulfll the sworn obligation? I have no
sworn obligation to fulfll.
22
Del Olmo Lete: Already I do not feel the curse, already the curse does not afect
me!
23
Tere are no morphological clues in the form

ah that indicate which of the


two options should be preferred. At the same time, if one accepts the identif-
cation of the noun

alt with the Hebrew root (curse), then the verbal


form

ah most likely is related to the Hebrew root . Tat is, De Moor and
Spronks translation represents an unusual coupling of the verb hw
(to hasten) with the noun

alt; this verb is not typically construed with the


noun

alt or a similar object associated with illness or execration. By compari-


son, Del Olmo Lete has picked-up on a promising possibility for an Aramaic
and Arabic collocation using the verb h (to feel, experience) with words
denoting pain.
24

Line 3: [si]bit . Ba

li . hizza . Rapi . bin . kma . yri . kilyatahu .wa libbahu


Te meaning of this line is relatively certain: either Caquots restoration of a
verbal form of sbt or del Olmo Letes suggestions of a form of bt are amenable
with the context. Somewhat more difcult is the matter of the subject of the
imperatives in line three. It seems best to understand the deity Ba

lu as
the subject, though the issue is whether the deity is renamed in line three or if
he is to be inferred from line one. Te frst option, namely to understand the
word b

l in line three as a vocative that restates the subject of the verb eases the
transition from third-person verbal forms in line one to second-person forms
in line three. At the same time, the alternative proposal has been ofered by
Cyrus Gordon, who analyzed b

l hz as an object phrase (the lord of arrows)


and b

l from line one as the subject of the verb in line three.


25
I have vocalized
21
Caquot Un Recueil Ougaritique de Formules Magiques, 63.
22
De Moor and Spronk, More on Demons at Ugarit, 263.
23
Del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Religion, 374.
24
Te Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, Vol. III -. (Shefeld: Shefeld Academic Press, 1996),
179. Cf. Job 20.2.
25
Cyrus H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook. Analecta Orientalia 38 (Rome:1965), 854. It is
noteworthy that Rapu is elsewhere recurrently associated with arrows, both at Ugarit and else-
where. For example, see KTU
2
1.90: 56; also, the discussion by Pardee to RS 19.013
(D. Pardee, Les textes ritueles. [Paris: 2001], 486) where the god is ofered an arrow. Te Phoeni-
cian inscription KAI 32: 34, too, identifes the god as rp hs. At the same time, this must be
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 37
and translated above in keeping with the frst option, but neither solution can
be conclusively proven.
As for the god Rapu, he is portrayed in KTU
2
1.82: 17 as a foe of the god
Ba

lu. Tis is not surprising given the formers role alongside the god Yammu
in the death of king Kirtas brothers and wives (KTU
2
1.14: 1820). At the
same time, Rapu is poorly known at Ugarit and his malevolent behavior in
the mythical texts seems to stand in contradistinction with the more agreeable
presentation to be inferred from the deitys widespread appearance in the
Ugaritic onomastics.
Te fnal matter in this line that requires comment is the third-person suf-
fxes (kilyatahu .wa libbahu). Tese sufxes, whether masculine or feminine,
have no clear antecedent within the text. Te best solution, therefore, seems to
be that no antecedent is present in the text; rather these sufxes would have a
trans-textual referent, namely the person who benefts from this magical
incantation.
26

Lines 45: 4) [tin?] . pku . bi g

urri . t in . pka . bi halbi . k tagawwilni .


innatku 5) [wa k .] wa apatku . l taaiy.
Te beginning of line four is broken and I have chosen to restore an impera-
tive of ytn, which is found elsewhere parallel with t ny (e.g. KTU
2
1.4 vii
2930). Other possible restorations include the verb rgm or the repetition of
t ny. Te subject of these verbs is, again, Ba

lu, whereas the direct object of the


frst two verbs in line four is the noun p (voice), which is used metonymi-
cally for thunder that echoes among the mountains (g

urri)
27
and clifs (halbi).
Te image here is akin to that in KTU
2
1.4 vii 2729: Ba

lu opens a rift in
the clouds. Ba

lu gives his holy voice (qlh).


28
And similar imagery may also be
observed in the battle between the god at Enunna, Tipak, and a dragon:
balanced by the observation of I. Cornelius that in the iconographic data Rapus is not primar-
ily depicted with the bow or arrow, but rather with a lance (I. Cornelius, Te Iconography of the
Canaanite Gods Reshep and Ba

al. [Fribourg: Gttingen, 1994], 5455; 2503). Cf. E. Lipiski,


Resheph: A Syro-Canaanite Deity. OLA 181 (Peeters: Leuven, 2010), 1078.
26
It is impossible to know for certain if this was a man or a woman since the sufx {-h} is
ambiguous. See also line seven, below.
27
Epigraphically, del Olmo Lete indicates that the g

may be better read as a q, transcribing


the latter with a question mark (KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous Incantation, 247). At the
same time, he recognizes the unlikely nature of his epigraphic assessment in his translation of the
lemma as mountain and in his commentary (249).
28
Cf. KTU
2
1.4 vii: 2537.
38 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
He tore open the clouds [and raised?] a violent storm. . . . He shot and [slew]
the raging dragon.
29

An interpretive crux for understanding the subsequent clauses in lines four
and fve is the identifcation of the words nt and pt. Going back to the editio
princeps, one fnds the interpretation of nt and pt in accordance with the
Hebrew and .
30
De Moor and Spronk, too, translate: When [they]
make your teeth (nt) cry out, and they do not allow your lips (pt) to forget.
31

Caquot, too, observed that the proximit de ptk. . . . et de ntk a conduit les
interprtes traduir ce dernier mot par << tes dents >> . . . .
32
At the same
time, Caquot ofered an alternative translation that while not impossible,
seems contextually out of place: Quand tes annes accomplissent leur circuit,
ne laisse pas oublier ta voix.
33
Caquot made no attempt to provide a satisfac-
tory way to integrate his interpretation of this line with the preceding context,
making it a creative, but unsatisfying solution. By comparison, del Olmo Lete
has correlated lines four and fve of this text with the references to the voice
of Ba

lu and his activity in the storm, the terrifying afects of which


are described in myth.
34
Tus the allusion to KTU
2
1.4 vii 3032 continues
into the end of line 4 and the beginning of line 5 of KTU
2
1.82: Ba

lu repeats
the utterance of his lips (pth). His holy voice (qlh) causes the earth [to shud-
der], the mountains ( g

rm) shake at the utterance of his lips (pth).


35
In addition to the lexical and literary issues in lines four and fve, the syntax
of the bicolon ktgwln . ntk [xx .] wptk . l ty deserves brief comment as well.
Following Caquot, I understand the frst sign k to be a temporal subordinat-
ing conjunction.
36
At the same time, in contrast to Caquot, who thought that
lapodose est au commencement de la ligne 5,
37
I have interpreted the initial
29
Reverse: 5) ---hi-it ur-pa mi-ha-a [id-ke?]. . . . 6) is-su-km-ma lab-bi [i-du-uk] (restora-
tion in line 6 following Teodore Lewis, CT 13.3334 and Ezekiel 32: Lion-Dragon Myths.
Journal of the American Oriental Society 116:1 (1996): 32. On the image of lighting in this text
see Lewis remarks on p 32 n. 33.
30
Virolleaud, Le palais royal dUgarit II, 3, 6.
31
De Moor and Spronk, More on Demons at Ugarit, 239.
32
Caquot. Un Recueil Ougaritique de Formules Magiques, 54 n. 172.
33
Ibid., 35; De Moor and Spronk, More on Demons at Ugarit, interpret these verbal forms
as plural understanding hm as the 3rd person independent pronoun (see comments below to
line 5).
34
Del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Religion, 374 n. 139 (alluding to KTU
2
1.3: iii 22f.).
35
In addition to the imagery of the storm found in this incantation, which alludes to similar
images in the Ba

lu Cycle, the parallelism between g

urru and halbu in KTU


2
1.82: 17 is not
something to be overlooked. In KTU
2
1.82: 17, this is signifcant because this word pair antic-
ipates the mention of Ba

lus attack against Mtu in line fve. I owe this observation to Matthew
Suriano.
36
Caquot, Un Recueil Ougaritique de Formules Magiques, 34.
37
Ibid.
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 39
clause in line fve as a second clause subordinate to t n . pk . b hlb, resulting in
en jambment. Tat is, the conjunction k subordinates the colon k tgwln . ntk
and the following clause [k .] w ptk . l ty, although in the latter case the
conjunction has been restored.
Line 56: 5) himma. tag

arrimu . l Mti . baraqaku 6) [yiss]ahipu


An issue in the second half of line fve is the word hm. On the one hand, De
Moor and Spronk understand it to be the third-person independent pronoun.
Te difculty with this interpretation, however, is that the text has no clear
plural subjects with which to correlate the independent pronoun.
38
Caquot,
on the other hand, posited the straightforward explanation that hm is the
conditional particle. Tis solution is preferable because it retains Ba

lu as the
subject of the verb tg

rm, as has been consistently the case to this point.


39

As for the noun br[q/t]k,
40
Virolleaud indicated in his copy that the third
letter of this word was illegible.
41
De Moor and Spronk have suggested that it
is t and that the lexeme is to be correlated with the Hebrew . Del Olmo
Lete, too, has recently suggested that a t is the preferred reading of this sign.
42

However, the latter ofers no commentary regarding the state of the sign on
the tablet and his hand copy depicts it as uncertain and efaced. Moreover, a
lemma related to the Hebrew is not yet attested in Ugaritic. By contrast,
Caquot, following van Zijl, restores q.
43
If van Zijl is correct, the image is the
familiar one of the lightning as a divine weapon. Tis image is well-known in
the Hebrew Bible from Ps 18.15 ( He sent
forth his arrows and overwhelmed them.
44
He shot lightning and confounded
38
De Moor and Spronk, More on Demons at Ugarit, identify it with the unmentioned
demons being magically restrained.
39
Del Olmo Lete tentatively read these signs as tq
?
rm (KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous
Incantation, 247). Del Olmo Lete also preferred to transcribe a q instead of a g

in line four (q
?
r),
though he translates the latter as if it were the lemma g

r (mountain). I have preferred to retain


the reading tg

rm in line fve. Virolleaud did not indicate that these signs were difcult to read
nor did de Moor and Spronk, which suggest the possibility that del Olmo Letes tentative inter-
pretation of these signs is due to the fact that the tablet has sufered additional deterioration since
these previous editions were prepared.
40
Epigraphically these two letters are similar, difering only by a winkelhocken.
41
Contrary to de Moor and Spronk who suggest that Virolleaud intimated that the letter t
was legible. (De Moor and Spronk, More on Demons at Ugarit, 240), his copy simply indi-
cates one wedge that is efaced and transcribes br[-]k (Viroleaud, Le palais royal dUgarit II,
4,5).
42
Del Olmo Lete, KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous Incantation, 247, 249.
43
Epigraphically, it should be noted that no trace of the second wedge of the q is visible.
44
See E.L. Greenstein, YHWHs Lightning in Psalm 29:7. Maarav 9 (1993): 4957.
40 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
them.) and is consistent with Ba

lus character both in the Ba

lu Cycle and in
the context of KTU
2
1.82.
No restoration has been accepted by all interpreters at the beginning of line
six. De Moor and Spronk supplied the preposition l before what they inter-
pret as an infnitive hp.
45
Caquot suggested the reading [

ar]hp, which he
translated . . . je vollterai. Te metaphorical meaning of to be afutter, joy-
ful, however, is unattested for this root; rather, in Ugaritic, as with the cog-
nate form in Hebrew, rhp seems to be a verb of motion strictly associated with
fying (birds).
46
An alternative to the above proposals is to restore the verb shp,
which is congruent with the mythological overtones found throughout KTU
2

1.82.
47
Tis restoration is consistent with the fate that Mtu meets in KTU
2

1.6 ii:1119.
48
A point of comparison for this image in KTU
2
1.82 is found in
the Hebrew Bible, in Proverbs 28.3, which uses this verbal root to describe
the oppression of the poor as an overwhelming rain leaving no food
( ). In this biblical example, then, the verbal root is used to
carry the image of the powerful force of a rain-storm, which is precisely the
context in which it is restored in KTU
2
1.82.
49
Line 6: .

an .

arninu . qla . api . haww . bat nma .

uhud . ba

lima
Te remainder of line six concludes the mythological allusion to the Ba

lu
Cycle with two short appeals to the deities apu and Ba

lu. Here the ofciant


incants: I will raise (my) voice. Te incantor then follows this statement
with two parallel exclamations that function as performative statements
that were intended to appropriate mythological power for the rituals efcacy.
50

45
De Moor and Spronk, More on Demons at Ugarit, 240.
46
E.g. KTU
2
1.108:8; 1.18 iv: 21; 1.19 i:32; Dt. 32.11 (cf. Gen 1.3).
47
It might also be noted that this verb is also attested in the East-Semitic world in the genre
of incantations. E.g. an Akkadian text from the Kassite period invokes the sun deity (ama) to
destroy (sahpu) demons: Te text reads (3) gap
?
-u gal-l-e kit-mu-ru ri-di-i 4) i-na q-bit
d
UTU
DINGIR-ia (5) [. . .] lim-ni sa-NI.NI l-qal-lil (6) l-is-sa-pi-ih gal-l-e. (Henri Limet, Les lgendes
des sceaux cassites. [Bruxelles: Palais des acadmies, 1971], 11112.). Numerous are the demons,
oppressive are the ones who pursue me! By the command of ama, my god, . . . my evil . . . let it
be lightened, let it be dispersed! Let the demons who pursue me be captured!
48
In KTU
2
1.6 ii:1119

Anatu is said to have defeated Mtu. In KTU


2
1.6 v:11, Mtu
bemoans how this fate befell him because of Ba

lu.
49
Tis biblical passage not only illustrates the verbal roots association with the might of a
rain storm, but also shares the ironic use of agricultural imagery found in the Ba

lu Myths
description of Mtus defeat. KTU
2
1.6 ii:3035 : 30) t

ihd 31) bn .

ilm . mt . b hrb 32) tbq

nn
. b ht r . tdry 33) nn . b it . trpnn 34) b rhm . tthnn . b d 35) tdr

n. She apprehends the son of

Ilu, Mtu. With a knife she splits him; with a winnowing fork she winnows him; with fre she
burns him; with a hand mill she grinds him, in the feld she sows him.
50
Te text uses qla, voice, rather than p, which is found above to describe Ba

lus
power in the storm (cf. KTU
2
1.4 vii: 29, 31). Te frst colon {p . hw} raises an epigraphic
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 41
Te frst statement appeals to Ba

lu and is literarily intuitive, since he is the


protagonist throughout the six-tablet myth as well as the frst six lines of KTU
2
1.82. Ba

lus foes in KTU


2
1.82, then, are not altogether surprising either
(i.e. bat nma),
51
given the serpentine imagery found in the account of Ba

lus
confict with Yammu (i.e. KTU
2
1.3 iii: 3845). Te second exclamation
invoking apu (Oh apu, give life!)
52
is less apparent, but is still consistent
with apus role as an ally of Ba

lu in the Myth where he reassures

Ilu that
Ba

lu will return and will restore life to the earth.


53
Additionally, the identif-
cation of KTU
2
1.82:17 as an incantation against serpents (bat nma) makes
apus presence all the more natural, since she is well-known in other serpent
incantations from Ugarit (e.g. KTU
2
1.100, KTU
2
1.107).
54

Te reading bat nma .

uhud . ba

lima requires some justifcation. Most


interpreters have read the signs of the penultimate word in this line as

uhd.
Del Olmo Letes has ofered a new reading: dgd. I have retained the earlier
reading of these signs for several reasons. First, del Olmo Lete acknowledges
that his collation yields an unintelligible reading, which forced him to emend
his new reading to b
!
gd (with coriander). Furthermore, while del Olmo Lete
states that the

u is not his preferred epigraphic interpretation, his commen-


tary does not indicate why this is the case. Moreover, his photograph does not
preclude the reading

u and his hand copy even represents this sign as

u. As
for the h, all previous collations had recognized this sign without problem,
leaving one to wonder if del Olmo Letes new reading is simply the result of
question Caquot prefers the reading {hr} following Virolleaud. By contrast, del Olmo Lete takes
his cue from the collation of de Moor and Spronk who read {hw}. I have opted for the latter
reading.
51
Te form, itself, is very likely a plural since there are no putative uses of enclitic m used on
this tablet.
52
Del Olmo Letes attempt to interpret rnn as taking a double accusative seems unlikely in
light of the Hebrew usage, which does not function this way.
53
Richard C. Steiner has suggested that the Semitic phrase

m hwy (mother of a serpent) lay


behind the Pyramid Texts

imhy (Early Northwest Semitic Serpent Spells in the Pyramid Texts.


[Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011]). If correct, this would provide the earliest attestation of
the lemma hwy, meaning serpent in North West Semitic, albeit mediated through Egyptian.
Te identifcation of hw in KTU
2
1.82 with this lemma seems to be precluded on the basis
of the syntax and the similar phraseology in another fragmentary serpent incantation(?) found
on this same tablet (KTU
2
1.82:19) where the verb is conjugated (

ahw). At the same time, it is


not outside the realm of possibility that KTU
2
1.82 is punning on a word for serpents (presum-
ably spelled hwy). Tere is no evidence to-date for an Ugaritic lemma hwy meaning serpent, yet
the fact that the lemma r

i in line 7 might also be viewed as a pun on a potential Ugaritic cog-


nate to the Hebrew r(

)-II (snake venom), makes puns in these lines an attractive proposal, if


speculative.
54
See Levine and Tarragon, << Shapshu Cries Out in Heaven >>: Dealing with Snake-Bites
at Ugarit (KTU 1.000, 1.107). Revue Biblique (1998): 481518.
42 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
subsequent efacement of the tablet that has made the h appear more like a g.
55

Tus because, del Olmo Lete ofers no commentary on the sign and his hand
copy shows efacement of the sign not previously indicated by other collators
of the tablet, I have elected to retain the reading

uhd.
Line 7: [

a]t t umu . prt l . l ra

ihu . hmt . t mt .
Line 7 is the only portion of this incantation that does not seem to be literarily
dependent on the Ba

lu Myth. Tis line, rather, appears to contain a religio-


medical prescription for the victim of a snakebite. Tat said, while there is a
high degree of epigraphic certainty regarding line 7,
56
this line undoubtedly is
the most difcult line in terms of its vocabulary. Te disparate interpreta -
tions of the words in this line illustrate the many remaining lexicographic
uncertainties.
What is more or less agreed upon is that the object of the verb nt m is prt l.
Virolleaud understood prt l to be a variant of the word for iron.
57
Tis solu-
tion seems unlikely, however, and has been rejected by most interpreters since
the spelling of the word for iron in Ugaritic is known to have been brdl
(KTU
2
4.91: 6).
58
Tus being aware of the many medical prescriptions that
contain herbal remedies within the incantations in ancient Mesopotamia,
59

55
On the difculties of collations from photograph, see Pardee, Te Use of Photographs in
Epigraphic Research. Semitica (2008): 215220; Pardee, G. del Olmo Letes Views on Ugaritic
Epigraphy and Religion. Ugarit Forschungen 37 (2005): 767815.
56
All recent interpreters have restored

a in the break at the beginning of the line. Tis resto-


ration is secured by the reading in line 19 below, where the context suggests the meaning to
place. See De Moor and Spronk More on Demons at Ugarit, 240. Tey relate this verb to the
Arabic nazama (to arrange, organize).
57
Virolleaud, Le palais royal dUgarit II, 6.
58
Te Anatolian origins for the Semitic words related to iron have been persuasively
advanced by M. Valrio and I. Yakubovich (Semitic Word for Iron as Anatolian Loan Word,
in : . .
, ed. T.M. Nikolaeva [Moscow: Languages of Slavonic Culture, 2010], 10816).
Valrio and Yakubovich specifcally treat the earliest Semitic attestation of the word iron, Akka-
dian parzillum, in the Old Assyrian corpus. As it concerns the Ugaritic word for iron (brdl ),
which is attested centuries later, it may simply be noted that the conclusion of Joseph Tropper
is consistent with the thesis of Valrio and Yakubovich. Tropper has aggregated examples of
loanwords at Ugarit and includes brdl among these noting that, . . . /d/ zur Wiedergabe von
nicht-afrizierten Sibilanten, die als stimmhaft empfunden wurden, und ist in dieser Funktion
vor allem in Wrtern hurr[itisch] Ursprungsim alph[abetische] ug[aritisch] Textkorpus hu-
fg belegt. . . . (Ugaritische Grammatik. AOAT 273. Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2000, p. 117).
59
In the Mesopotamian tradition, see, for example, M.J. Gellers synthetic discussion
Incantations within Akkadian Medical Texts. 38999; Ancient Babylonian Medicine: Teory
and Practice. Wiley-Blackwell. 2010.
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 43
De Moor and Spronk have associated prt l with the Akkadian piridulu-herb.
60

Te interpretation of prt l as an herb by De Moor and Spronk makes contex-
tual sense, although the origins of the word and the interpretation of its mean-
ing remain far from certain.
One of the few clear words in this line is ra

u, head. Tat this word is not


to be correlated with the Hebrew r(

)-II, which designates snakes venom


61

is clear from the fact that the sufxed pronoun would have no clear reference
if taken in this sense.
62
Tus the preposition, which is construed with the verb

atm, must indicate the location, namely on the head,


63
for placing the prtl
(herb?).
Te penultimate word in this line, hmt may also designate a body-part, the
belly or abdomen, which was then involved in the treatment for the snake-
bite in some way.
64
As a point of comparison, a diagnostic tool for the severity
of snakebites, especially of vipers, included nausea and vomiting according to
the Brooklyn Papyrus, a fourth century B.C. Egyptian medical text.
65
At the
same time, if this solution for the lemma hmt is correct, it still remains
uncertain precisely how the abdomen was involved in the cure for the snake-
bite. All that can be noted is that it seems to be the case that hmt is syntacti-
cally related to the fnal word in this incantation, hmt . Tis fact, unfortunately,
does not clarify the suggested remedy for snakebites, since the meaning of hmt
is entirely unclear.
66
What exactly is prescribed in line seven, then, remains
obscure.
60
De Moor and Spronk identify it with hellebore (More on Demons at Ugarit, 240);
CAD P p.395 piridulu (though, it should be added that the CAD indicates the Akkadian
piridulu is of uncertain, but non-Akkadian origins). Te importance of herbal remedies in Mes-
opotamian medicine is illustrated by the Akkadian word ammum, which meant both plant and
medicine (CAD /I p. 315f ammu mngs 1c and 3).
61
See Dt. 32.33 and Lam. 3.9.
62
Bat nma is best understood as a plural. See comment above on line six.
63
One might compare victims of snakebites in the ancient Near East who were treated on
their necks as indicated in an Akkadian pharmacological tablet: Hounds-tongue: a drug for
snake or dog bite. You place it on his neck (RA 15 76:11).
64
See, for example, the translation by del Olmo Lete, KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous
Incantation, 247.
65
If he vomits, he will die. . . . If he does not vomit he will live . . . (Sauneron, Un trait
gyptien dophiologie. [Cairo: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 1989], 1721). Tese
symptoms have been documented in modern medicine, too, M. Schneemann, R. Cathomas,
S.T. Laidlaw, A.M. El Nahas, R.D.G. Teakston and D.A. Warrell, Life-threatening envenom-
ing by the Saharan horned viper (Cerastes cerastes). QJM: An International Journal of Medicine
97:11 (2004): 7234.
66
Te only serious attempt to explain this fnal word has come from de Moor and Spronk,
More on Demons at Ugarit. Tey suggest that it should mean bleed based on a comparison
with the Arabic t amat a, to bleed. It seems unlikely, however, that the practice alluded to is an
44 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
4. KTU
2
1.82:17 and Ugaritic Mythology
Te above commentary on the epigraphy, philology, morpho-syntax and lexi-
cography provide the basis for considering the contributions of KTU
2
1.82:17
to Ugaritic mythology and religion. At least three conclusions may be drawn.
First, KTU
2
1.82:17 is unique, being the only Ugaritic incantation that deals
with snakebites and simultaneously shows an awareness of one of the great
myths recovered from Ras hamra, namely the Ba

lu. Cycle. Te rationale


for the integration of well-known mythological elements from the
Ba

lu Cycles theomachy
67
into an incantation with a religio-magical prescrip-
tion for a snakebite is intuitive: the theomachy motif frequently involved the
defeat of a serpentine adversary, often by taming, or binding, the mouth of
this adversary. For example, a theomachy, like that presented in the Ba

lu
Cycle, is alluded to in an Akkadian serpent incantation that invokes the Mes-
opotamian myth of Tipaks confict with a dragon.
68
In this Akkadian incan-
tation, a theomachy involving Tipaks defeat of a serpentine foe was used to
conjure the power to disarm a venomous serpents bite. Furthermore, it should
be added that a gods taming or controlling the mouth of a foe in mythologi-
cal texts could convey the victors complete subjugation of his opponent. Tat
is, the mouth in the ancient Near East was considered a source of life and
power and consequently one of the most difcult bodily organs to restrain.
69

Tus in the Mesopotamian myth Enma Eli, when Marduk confronts Tia-
mat she is uttering incantations and spells. Ten, once Tiamat has opened her
mouth to swallow Marduk, she is defeated by a blast that tears open her jaws.
Te fatal blow is directed at the gaping jaws of Tiamat to signal Marduks
incision at the locale of the bite, or bloodletting, as known from Te Brooklyn Papyrus. Te
practice of bloodletting is not known in the Near East prior to the Greek period (see, Sauneron,
Un trait gyptien dophiologie 278; 110112; on bloodletting, see M.J. Geller, Bloodletting in
Babylonia, in Magic and Rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Medicine, eds.
H.F.J. Horstmanschof, M. Stol, C. Tilburg [Leiden: Brill, 2004], 30524.). Caquot has dis-
missed this interpretation, explaining that de Moor and Spronks solution may rest too heavily
on their understanding of the tablet as a treatment for unhealthy menstruation: . . . ces rap-
prochements sont trop incertains . . . pour quon restitue la ligne 1 [lbt]y en faveur de ma flle
et

[dth], ses rgles. (Caquot, Un Recueil Ougaritique de Formules Magiques, 36). Caquot,
himself, left this portion of the line untranslated.
67
For an excellent discussion of theomachy, see J.H. Walton, Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology.
Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns (2011): 6874.
68
Te incantation is VAT 8383 (edited in J. van Dijk, Vert comme Tipak. OrNS 38
[1969] 540). For the theomachy motif in this mythological tradition, see also F.A.M. Wigger-
mann, Tipak, His Seal, and the Dragon muhuu, in To the Euphrates and Beyond: Archaeo-
logical Studies in Honour of Maurits N. van Loon, eds. O. Haex et al. (Rotterdam: Balkema,
1989), 11733; Lewis, CT 13.3334 and Ezekiel 32, 2847.
69
See I. Marcus, In His Lips He Held a Spell, Notes in the History of Arts 13/4
(1994): 911.
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 45
unqualifed victory in this theomachy. Similarly, the biblical depiction of
Leviathan in Job 40.2526 calls attention to the might of a dragon by focus-
ing on its mouth: Can you pull leviathan with a hook or with a rope restrain
his tongue? Can you put a ring through his nose or with a hook pierce his
jaw?
70
And in the Ba

lu Myth, too, the victory over Tunnanu accentuates the


decisive defeat by stating that its jaws were muzzled (

itbm [KTU
2
1.3 iii:
40]).
71
Tus while to-date KTU
2
1.82: 17 is unique at Ugarit, it nevertheless
fts within the larger Syro-Mesopotamian milieu that this incantation invokes
Ba

lus mythical powers associated with the defeated Tunnanu and Mtu for
the magical purpose of curing a snakes venomous bites.
Second, it should be noted that KTU
2
1.82:17 does not haphazardly
appeal to the well-known Ba

lu Cycle as a model for curing snakebites; rather


it seems to follow the general narrative arc of at least four of the six tablets
that comprise the Ba

lu Mythfrom the battle with Yammu (KTU


2
1.3 iii:
3845) to the confict with Mtu (KTU
2
1.5) to apus intervention on
Ba

lus behalf (KTU


2
1.6 v). As Mark Smith has noted in the frst volume of
his commentary on the Ba

lu Myth, Te question of the degree to which


KTU 1.11.6 represents a continuous narrative or a collection of texts lacking
narrative continuity remains a controversial issue.
72
And while Smith eru-
ditely rejoins many of the objections to the discontinuities, especially between
KTU
2
1.31.6,
73
KTU
2
1.82: 17 adds signifcantly to these arguments. Tat
is, KTU
2
1.82:17 mirrors the plot of these tablets as they have been recon-
structed by most contemporary scholars
74
and should be adduced in favor of
the traditional reconstruction of at least the fnal four tablets of the Ba

lu
Cycle.
Tird, KTU
2
1.82:17 nuances our understanding of the theomachy in
KTU
2
1.3 iii: 3845 of the Ba

lu Cycle. Specifcally, KTU


2
1.82:17 suggests
that more than one mythological adversary is described in Ba

lus battle with


70
It is not surprising, then, that the literary theme of domination over the mouth, which was
found in combat myths, was incorporated into serpent incantations. Tus an Akkadian incanta-
tion against a snakebite exclaims: I seize the mouth of all snakes. It then goes on to describe
the power of the serpents mouth: . . . six are the mouths of the serpent, seven his tongues . . . his
very venom can split stone! (IM. 51292: 1) as-ba-at p-s-ri ka-li-i-ma. . . . 9) a ba-a-mi-im
i-i-it p-u si-b[i. . . . .] . . . . 13) e-li-ta-u i-pa-s-id ab-na-am. [A full edition may be found in I.L.
Finkel, On Some Dog, Snake and Scorpion Incantations, in Mesopotamian Magic: Textual,
Historical, and Interpretative Perspectives, eds. T. Abusch and K. van der Toorn [Groningen:
Styx, 1999], 226f.).
71
See Dennis Pardee, Will the Dragon Ever Be Muzzled, UF 15 (1984): 25155.
72
Smith, Te Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 4.
73
KTU
2
1.11.2 are more challenging to connect with the larger cycle, but Smith makes a
compelling case for doing so (Te Ugaritic Baal Cycle, 38).
74
While KTU
2
1.82: 17 does not allude to KTU
2
1.4, its ordering is largely secured by its
agreed upon connections with KTU
2
1.3 (see Smith, Te Ugaritic Baal Cycle, 78).
46 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
Yammu. KTU
2
1.3 iii: 3845 has evoked comments from many interpreters
regarding the list of nine epithets and whether these epithets designate one
foe or more than one foe. KTU
2
1.3 iii: 3845 reads:
38) . . . la mahatu

madda
39)

ili yamma la killtu nahara


ila rabbama
40) la

itabim tunnana

itam[id ]
ahu
41) mahatu bat na

aqallatna
42) alyata d ab

ati ra

ama
43) mahatu madda

ilima

ria
44) s immattu

igla

ili

tika
45) mahatu kalbata

ilima

ita
46) killtu bitta

ili dabba
38) I have certainly struck the
beloved of
39)

Ilu, Yammu, completely


fnished of Naharu, the great god.
40) I have certainly bound (the jaws) of
Tunnanu, in order to destroy it,
41) I have struck the twisting serpent,
42) the coiled one with seven heads.
43) I have struck the beloved of

Ilu,

Ariu
44) I have defeated the calf of

Ilu,

Atiku
45) I have struck the bitch of

Ilu,

Itu
46) I have fnished of the daughter
of

Ilu, D abbi.

In this text, scholars have debated whether the epithets were simply applied
to the god Yammu or if they refer to independent creatures under Yammus
authority.
75
Wayne Pitard has re-taken this issue most recently and argued
that Yammu is to be equated with several of the serpentine creatures delin-
eated in the Ba

lu Myth, including Tunnanu.


76
Pitard draws this conclusion
based upon his treatment of KTU
2
1.83, which he believes strongly suggest[s]
that Yamm/Nahar in lines 47 and 1112 is the same being as Tunnan in
lines 810 and that he is indeed envisioned in the text as a dragon-like
monster.
77

While Pitards treatment of KTU
2
1.83 is exemplary, his conclusion about
the relationship between Yammu and Tunnanu is not necessitated by the
75
See the review of literature in W. Pitard, Just How Many Monsters Did Anat Fight (KTU
1.3 III 3847)? in Ugarit at Seventy-Five, ed. Lawson K. Younger (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns,
2007), 7588. For a summary of the problem of who killed Yammu, Ba

lu or

Anatu, see N.
Wyatt, Who Killed the Dragon?, Aula Orientalis 5 (1987): 18598; M. Smith and W. Pitard,
Te Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume 2. (Leiden: Brill, 2009): 2538.
76
Tis interpretation was originally advanced by F. Lkkegaard, A Plea for El, the Bull, and
Other Ugaritic Miscellanies, in Sudia Orientalia Ionnni Pedersen: Septuagenario, ed. F.F.
Hvidberg (Copenhagen: Hauniae, 1953), 21935. More recently, see W. Pitard, Te Binding
of Yamm, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 57/4 (1998): 276; Pitard, Just How Many Monsters
Did Anat Fight.
77
Pitard, Te Binding of Yamm, 279.
A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048 47
tablet; it is an inference predicated on the close proximity of the two terms on
that tablet. Te fragmentary state of KTU
2
1.83 may equally be interpreted as
containing two distinct entitiesYammu and the dragon, Tunnanu. In fact,
the uncertainty surrounding this text is underscored by the fact that its precise
genre still remains unknown.
78
Moreover, in contrast to the position that
Yammu bore the epithet Tunnanu in KTU
2
1.3 iii: 3845, I would suggest
that KTU
2
1.82: 17 more clearly presents Tunnanuas well as

Atika whom
I have partially restored at the end of line 1as creatures distinct from
Yammu. As has been noted by numerous interpreters, this conclusion is con-
sistent with the best-known theomachy in Mesopotamia, that in Enma Eli
IV, where Timat is distinguished from the many serpentine creatures that she
has created and who are defeated alongside her in the battle with Marduk.
79

Furthermore, that Tunnanu as well as

Atika are to be distinguished as sepa-


rate creatures from Yammu may be deduced from the way in which KTU
2

1.82: 17 foregrounds the serpentine creatures Tunnanu and

Atika, whereas
a reference to Yammu is nowhere to be found. Should Yammu have been
portrayed as serpentine in KTU
2
1.3 iii: 3845, then one might expect that
Yammu would have been invoked by name in KTU
2
1.82: 17 in the efort to
conjure Ba

lus power for curing a snakebite. Tat is, to understand Tunnanu


and

Atika in KTU
2
1.82: 17 as mere epithets for Yammu would be to inter-
pret Tunnanu and

Atika as oddly oblique allusions to the Ba

lus theomoachy
in a text that is otherwise straightforward in its references to the Ba

lu Cycle.
By contrast, the prominence of Tunnanu and

Atika along with the absence of


Yammu in KTU
2
1.82: 17, then, strongly suggests that Tunnanu and

Atika
were creatures distinct from the god Yammu, not being mentioned in KTU
2

1.82 precisely because of his lack of serpentine associations.
78
It seems to be either a short mythological text or an incantation (Pitard, Te Binding of
Yamm, 261).
79
While the observation by M. Smith and W. Pitard (Te Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume 2.
[Leiden: Brill, 2009]: 2556) that Enma Eli literarily portrays Timat in several diferent
forms is provocative, it sublimates the obvious structural parallels between the Mesopotamian
theomachy and that of the Ba

lu Cycle. Most importantly, it is clear from Enma Eli that


Timat created hoards of creatures, including serpentine ones (I:13244), and that these crea-
tures were defeated alongside Timat in the battle with Marduk. Tus the literary depiction of
Timat being multi-formal does not change the fact that Enma Eli presents Timat as distinct
from the serpentine creatures, both being defeated in a single battle with Marduk. Moreover, the
serpentine characteristics of Timat in Enma Eli are not all that clear (cf. Te Ugaritic Baal
Cycle, Volume 2. [Leiden: Brill, 2009]: 2556). Te passages from Enma Eli cited in support
of Timats serpentine qualities, in fact, simply describe her as having a mouth (pm; Enma Eli
IV:97) and tail (zibbatum; Enma Eli V:59). And the latter word, zibbatum, can be used to
describe the end of a canal, which is congruent with the context of Enma Eli V: 4866.
48 A. E. Miglio / Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 13 (2013) 3048
Conclusion
An appraisal of the epigraphy, philology, morpho-syntax, and lexicography of
KTU
2
1.82: 17 has highlighted the contributions that this short text makes
to the understanding of Ugaritic mythology and religion. It has been noted
how KTU
2
1.82: 17, while unique as a serpent incantation from Ugarit, is
paralleled by Mesopotamian incantations that draw upon mythological motifs,
in particular theomachies, for the purposes of magical healing. Additionally,
the above discussion of KTU
2
1.82: 17 reinforces the conclusions of contem-
porary scholarship regarding the order of at least four of the six tablets that
comprise the Ba

lu Cycle. And lastly, this short Ugaritic incantation sharpens


our understanding of the great Ba

lu Cycle by evincing a distinction between


Yammu and Tunnanu, hence inclining one against the interpretive possibility
that Yammu is the only combatant confronted by Ba

lu in KTU
2
1.3 iii:
3845.

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