Page 137 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1914 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

general populace, whose affairs were governed by famil- in the larger Mediterranean world as well as in Anatolia,
ial norms and local customs enforced at the community Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.
level by councils of elders. The Ugaritic social hierarchy
Hugh R. Page, Jr.
was extraordinarily complex and contained an array of
military, scribal, and administrative classes. Intensive
agriculture and international trade via land and sea Further Reading
fueled the city’s economy. Cereals, grapes, and olives were Dietrich, M., Loretz, O., & Sanmartín, J. (Eds.). (1995). The cuneiform
grown. Stone was quarried, timber was harvested, and alphabetic texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and other places (KTU)
(2nd ed., Abhadnlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas und
both cattle and sheep were raised. Given its proximity to
Mesopotamiens, Band 8). Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag.
the coast, fishing may well have been one of its main- Mazar, A. (1992). Archaeology of the land of the Bible: 10,000–586 BCE.
stays. Industrial activities within the city and at its port New York: Doubleday.
Pardee, D., & Bordreuil, P. (1992). Ugarit: Texts and literature. In D. N.
included the manufacture of purple dye, textiles, pottery, Freedman (Ed.), Anchor Bible dictionary (Vol. 6, pp. 706–721). New
household utensils, luxury items (metal and precious York: Doubleday.
Van Soldt,W. H. (2000). Ugarit: A second-millennium kingdom on the
stones), and weapons. Slavery was also permissible.
Mediterranean coast. In J. Sasson (Ed.), Civilizations of the ancient
Extended family units consisting of parents, children, and Near East (Vol. 2, pp. 1255–1266). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
other relatives appear to have been normative. Further- Watson,W. G. E., & Wayatt, N. (Eds.). (1999). Handbook of Ugaritic stud-
ies. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
more, one’s family consisted of members both living and Wyatt, N. (Ed.) (1998). Religious texts from Ugarit:The Words of Ilimilku
deceased. Thus, proper exercise of familial obligations and his colleagues. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press.
Yon, M. (1992). Ugarit: History and archaeology. In D. N. Freedman
included veneration of one’s ancestors. Along with the
(Ed.), Anchor Bible dictionary (Vol. 6, pp. 695–706). New York:
worship of familial deities, ancestor veneration appears to Doubleday.
have been an essential feature of Ugaritic religious life.
Ugaritic theology was polytheistic. In excess of a hundred
gods are mentioned in various pantheon lists and other
sources. Chief among these are El and Asherah (the
divine regent and his spouse), Baal (the storm god and ‘Umar ibn
coregent), Anat (warrior, member of the divine royal
household, and sister of Baal),Yamm (the deified ocean al-Khattab
and major rival of Baal for cosmic coregency), and Mot (c. 586–644 ce)
(the god that embodies the forces of death and dissolu- Second Muslim caliph
tion in all of their cosmic and earthly manifestations).
Two large temples and a rich assortment of ritual texts ne of the Companions of the Prophet—and the
have been excavated that provide evidence of a complex OProphet’s father-in-law—‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
religious hierarchy with several levels of functionaries ruled from 634 CE to 644 CE as the second of the four
including administrators, priests, and other officials. Rashidun (Arabic: “rightly guided”), or universally
Ugaritic expressive culture was also highly developed. acknowledged, caliphs. After Muhammad, he is one of
The achievements of the city’s artists in the areas of the principle personalities of Islam, having presided over
music, architecture, sculpture, and folklore are noteworthy. a crucial era in Islam’s political and doctrinal formation,
In sum, data from Ugarit tell us a great deal about life playing a role analogous in many ways to that of Saint
in ancient Syria. Its material artifacts, texts, and history Paul in Christianity.
are also of particular interest to philologists, anthropol- An early convert to Islam,‘Umar took part in the Hejira
ogists, and other scholars of antiquity because of the light of 622 CE that marked the establishment of the first
that its language, lore, and culture shed on developments Muslim community at Medina. Becoming caliph following