#shulmu

[bi-numi-aliyani]

Proclaiming the Year of Aliyan-Ba'al

KTU 1.78 is quite a peculiar piece of ancient literature. It's an astrological report from Ugarit written in the City's own language and alphabet.¹ Despite being only six lines long, it has been the subject of extended discussion among scholars due to an ominous description of an astronomical event.² This event was identified early on by researchers with a solar eclipse dated to 1375 BCE, but a 1989 reexamination by astronomer Teije De Jong and Assyriologist W.H. van Soldt pointed to another solar eclipse, of 1223 BCE, as a more likely candidate.¹,³,⁴

This challenged the prevailing view of the timeframe of the Ugaritic texts.⁵ An even fuller picture thereof has emerged from research upon texts including those discovered in the house of a Diviner named Agaptharri.⁶ Three of these are particularly intriguing in relation to the Ba'al cycle, one of them even providing insight into the ritual aspect of the myth. It's classified as RS 24.293 and it involves 𒀭Mot, the God of Death who swallows up 𒀭Ba'al before being destroyed by 𒀭Maiden Anat to restore Her Brother to life.⁷

The Fourth Tablet of Ba'al itself, written by the scribe Ilimilku of Shuban under 𒀭King Niqmaddu IV of Ugarit around the same time as the apparent eclipse, also contains a portion of broken text which bridges 𒀭Ba'al the Conqueror's Great Theophany and His instructions to the Lads 𒀭Gapn and 𒀭Ugar to deliver His message to 𒀭Mot. Restoration of the text shows it appears to refer to the Sun, personified as 𒀭Shapshu the Luminary of the Gods, being cloaked in gloom as a grim omen.⁸,⁹ I think it's easy to see the connection I'm making here; I believe these two eclipses can be taken together as a sort of symbolic epoch.

The date was recorded as the Month of Khiyyaru during the New Moon which was the first Day of the Month in the Ugaritic calendar.¹ This lunar calendar has twelve months beginning just before the Autumnal Equinox in September. There was a modern version on Tess Dawson's Natib Qadish website but it's no longer present and I'm interested in repurposing it if I can figure out the math involved (especially with intercalation).

In any case, under the De Jong and van Soldt dating we are now in Year 3248 of Aliyan-Ba'al starting in late Summer of 2024 and ending in late Summer of 2025. This is of course the first actual use of such a dating system, so it's only appropriate for it to take place on the civic New Year's Day. Shulmu 𒁲�� and Happy New Year to all!

References

Wyatt, Nicolas. Religious Texts from Ugarit, 2nd ed, 366–67. The Biblical Seminar 53. London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002.

Pardee, Dennis. Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 131–32. Edited by Theodore J. Lewis. Writings from the Ancient World 10. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002.

De Jong, Teije, and Wilfred H. van Soldt. “Redating an Early Solar Eclipse Record (KTU 1.78): Implications for the Ugaritic Calendar and the Secular Accelerations of the Earth and Moon.” Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux 30 (January 1989): 65–77. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274720180_Redating_an_Early_Solar_Eclipse_Record_KTU_178_Implications_for_the_Ugaritic_Calendar_and_the_Secular_Accelerations_of_the_Earth_and_Moon.

De Jong, Teije, and Wilfred H. van Soldt. “The Earliest Known Solar Eclipse Record Redated.” Nature 338 (March 16, 1989): 238–40. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232779160_The_earliest_known_solar_eclipse_record_redated.

Pardee, 242.

Olmo Lete, Gregorio del, ed. “(Bn) Ảgpṯr / (Binu) Agapṯarri’s House:  The Functional Analysis of an Ugaritian ‘Archive’ (PH Room 10).” In The Private Archives of Ugarit: A Functional Analysis, 27–54. Barcino Monographica Orientalia 11. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2018. https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/129766/1/9788491682394%20(Creative%20Commons).pdf.

Pardee, 211–14 (for the other two texts noted: Wyatt, 388–90 & 414–15).

Gibson, John C.L. Canaanite Myths and Legends, 66. Edited by G.R. Driver. London: T&T Clark International, 2004.

Wyatt, 111–12.