Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language and so the only known Amorite dialect preserved in writing. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologist ...

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

Amorite The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied la ...

Ugarit ) , image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg , image_size=300 , alt = , caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit , map_type = Near East#Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 300 , relief=yes , location = Latakia Governorate, Syria , region = ...

Ebla Ebla ( Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', ar, إبلا, modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center t ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

Eshnunna Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Although situated in th ...

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

Ugaritic pantheon The Ugaritic pantheon included deities of local origin, many of whom are also known from Eblaite sources from the third millennium BCE or Amorite ones from the early second millennium BCE, as well as Hurrian and Mesopotamian ones. The Ugaritic pa ...

Bronze Age collapse The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC, between c. 1200 and 1150. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near ...

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...

Ammon Ammon ( Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in ...

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' lunar god, but also to the moon as a celestial body. A further meaning attested for it is " month." Earlier forms of the name, (Y)arakh and (Y)erakh, are attested as elements of

Amorite The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied la ...

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

s. The name is

grammatically In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domains ...

masculine, which is the norm for lunar deities across the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

, in contrast with Greece, where the moon corresponded to a female deity,

Selene In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Selene (; grc-gre, Σελήνη , meaning "Moon"''A Greek–English Lexicon's.v. σελήνη) is the goddess and the personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene, she is traditionally the daughter of ...

. Cognates of Yarikh's name are present in many

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

. As a name for the celestial body and the ordinary word "month" they are attested in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: , Phoenician: ,

Old Aramaic Old Aramaic refers to the earliest stage of the Aramaic language, known from the Aramaic inscriptions discovered since the 19th century. Emerging as the language of the city-states of the Arameans in the Levant in the Early Iron Age, Old Aramaic ...

: (however, the name of the Aramaic moon god, Śahr, is not a cognate); Palmyrene Aramaic: ; and

Nabataean Aramaic Nabataean Aramaic is the Aramaic variety used in inscriptions by the Nabataeans of the East Bank of the Jordan River, the Negev, and the Sinai Peninsula. Compared to other varieties of Aramaic, it is notable for the occurrence of a number of loa ...

: ). The Akkadian word ''warḫum'', "month" or rarely "moon," is a cognate as well, as are

Old South Arabian Old South Arabian (or Ṣayhadic or Yemenite) is a group of four closely related extinct languages spoken in the far southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. They were written in the Ancient South Arabian script. There were a number of othe ...

''wrḫ'', "month," and the word ''warḫ'', "moon" or "month," present in Ethiopian Semitic languages.

In early Amorite tradition

It is presumed that the moon god was one of the major deities of the early Amorite pantheon. Daniel Schwemer outright states that next to Hadad he was the main deity of the entire area inhabited by the Amorites. He was commonly worshiped as a family deity. His presumed main cult center, attested in the

Ugaritic texts The Ugaritic texts are a corpus of ancient cuneiform texts discovered since 1928 in Ugarit (Ras Shamra) and Ras Ibn Hani in Syria, and written in Ugaritic, an otherwise unknown Northwest Semitic language. Approximately 1,500 texts and fragments h ...

, but located further inland in central Syria, presumably in the proximity of Ebla, was Larugadu (''lrgt''), identified with Arugadu from the earlier

Eblaite Eblaite (, also known as Eblan ISO 639-3), or Palaeo-Syrian, is an extinct East Semitic language used during the 3rd millennium BC by the populations of Northern Syria. It was named after the ancient city of Ebla, in modern western Syria. Varian ...

sources. No references to this location from outside the Ugarit and Ebla corpora of texts are known. Since Yarikh himself is not attested in the sources from the latter city, it is presumed that he was only introduced to northern Syria by the Amorites. The Eblaites instead referred to their moon god as Suinu, similar as their contemporaries in

Kish Kish may refer to: Geography * Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish * Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish * Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf * Kish, Iran, ...

, and in addition to phonetic writing ''Zu-i-nu'' adopted the Mesopotamian convention of using ^dEN.ZU to represent the name of the moon deity in cuneiform. While Suinu's name is a cognate of Akkadian

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

, it is presumed that his cult developed locally and was not introduced from Mesopotamia. His cult center was apparently NI-''ra-ar^ki'', a city located close to Ebla. A second possible lunar deity worshiped in Ebla was Šanugaru. Due to Yarikh's association with Larugardu, it has additionally been argued that the god Hadabal (^dNI.DA.KUL), who was worshiped there in the third millennium BCE, had lunar character, but this conclusion is not universally accepted. Alfonso Archi assumes that the diffusion of Hadabal's cult, whose territorial extent is well documented in Eblaite texts, does not appear to match his presumed astral character. Yarikh (Erakh) is well attested in Amorite

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

s. In

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Camb ...

Mari, he appears in thirty nine individual types of names. Examples include Abdu-Erakh, "servant of Yarikh," Uri-Erakh, "light of Yarikh," Yantin-Erakh, "Yarikh has given" and Zimri-Erakh, "protection of Yarikh." Individuals bearing them came from various areas in the kingdom and near it, including the city of Mari itself,

Terqa Terqa is the name of an ancient city discovered at the site of Tell Ashara on the banks of the middle Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, approximately from the modern border with Iraq and north of the ancient site of Mari, Syria. ...

, Saggartum, the Khabur Triangle (where particularly many are attested), the area around the Balikh, Suhum and Zalmaqum. A certain Yantin-Erakh served as a troop commander under

Zimri-Lim __NOTOC__ Zimri-Lim (Akkadian: ''Zi-im-ri Li-im'') was king of Mari c. 1775–1761 BCE. Zimri-Lim was the son or grandson of Iakhdunlim, but was forced to flee to Yamhad when his father was assassinated by his own servants during a coup. He ha ...

. Similar theophoric names are also known from

Eshnunna Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Although situated in th ...

. A document excavated there indicates that at one point in the Old Babylonian period a certain Abdi-Erakh was a king of an unspecified city in Mesopotamia. After its initial discovery,

Thorkild Jacobsen Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen (; 7 June 1904 – 2 May 1993) was a renowned Danish historian specializing in Assyriology and Sumerian literature. He was one of the foremost scholars on the ancient Near East. Biography Thorkild Peter Rudolph Ja ...

proposed that he ruled Eshnunna itself, but this view has since been disproved. Another Abdi-Erakh, a contemporary of Ipiq-Adad of Eshnunna, apparently ruled over Ilip and Kish. It is sometimes argued that in Mesopotamia Erakh/Yarikh and Sin might have been understood as, respectively, Amorite and Akkadian names of the same deity, rather than two separate moon gods. However, Ichiro Nakata lists them separately from each other in his overview of deities attested in Mari, unlike the various variants of the names of the weather or solar gods. The deity Sin-Amurrum, attested in the

incantation An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremo ...

series ''

Maqlû The Maqlû, “burning,” series is an Akkadian incantation text which concerns the performance of a rather lengthy anti-witchcraft, or ''kišpū'', ritual. In its mature form, probably composed in the early first millennium BC, it comprises eight ...

'' (tablet VI, verse 4) according to

Karel van der Toorn Karel van der Toorn (born 8 March 1956 in The Hague) is a Dutch scholar of ancient religions. From 2006 to 2011 he was chairman of the Board at the University of Amsterdam, where he was a professor since 1998 and until he became the chairman of th ...

might be the Mesopotamian name of the Amorite moon god.

In Ugarit

Yarikh was regarded as one of the primary deities of the

Ugaritic pantheon The Ugaritic pantheon included deities of local origin, many of whom are also known from Eblaite sources from the third millennium BCE or Amorite ones from the early second millennium BCE, as well as Hurrian and Mesopotamian ones. The Ugaritic pa ...

. His role as a lunar deity was qualified by the epithet ''nyr šmm'', "luminary of the heavens" or "lamp of the heavens," which has been compared to a similar Akkadian title of the Mesopotamian moon god Sin, ''munawwir šamê u ersetim'', "illuminator of the heavens and earth." He could also be referred to as a "prince" (''zbl''), which is also attested in the case of multiple other deities, including the weather god

Baal Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...

and the underworld god Resheph, and is meant to signify high status. Furthermore, a single passage refers to him as "the most pleasant of the gods" (''n’mn ‘ilm''), which was apparently meant to highlight his physical attractiveness. According to Dennis Pardee, it is possible he was believed to spend the day in the underworld. It has also been suggested that he could function as its gatekeeper, a role which is otherwise well attested for the god Resheph. These two gods are paired in an incantation against snakebite. In the standard Ugaritic deity lists, Yarikh follows the

Kotharat Kotharat ( uga, 𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎚, ''kṯrt'') were a group of seven goddesses associated with conception, pregnancy, birth and marriage, worshiped chiefly in northern part of modern Syria in the Bronze Age. They are attested in texts from Mari, U ...

and precedes Mount Saphon. In another similar text, he follows the sea god Yam and Baal, whose names are written in a single line, and precedes the craftsman god Kothar. He is also attested in ritual texts. During celebrations which took place during the

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...

in an unknown month, two bulls had to be sacrificed for him. Subsequently in an offering list included in the same prescriptive text it is stated he also receives a ram after Baal of Ugarit and Baal of Aleppo, and before a ram and a bull were offered to

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; uga, 𐎓𐎐𐎚 ''ʿnt''; he, עֲנָת ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; el, Αναθ, translit=Anath; Egyptian: '' ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic text ...

of Saphon. Another offering list places him between the Kotharat and Attar as a recipient of a ram. He could also receive offerings alongside Nikkal. Additionally, the terms Gaṯarāma and Gatarūma, designations of a group of god which are etymologically, respectively, dual and

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

forms of the name

Gaṯaru Gaṯaru ( Ugaritic: ''gṯr'') or Gašru (Akkadian: '' dgaš-ru'', ''dga-aš-ru'') was a god worshiped in Ugarit, Emar and Mari in modern Syria, and in Opis in historical Babylonia in Iraq. While he is relatively sparsely attested, it is kn ...

, might in some cases refer to Yarikh, grouped with Gaṯaru, the sun goddess

Shapash Shapash (Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌 ''špš'', "sun"), alternatively written as Shapshu or Shapsh, was a Canaanite sun goddess. She also served as the royal messenger of the high god El, her probable father. Her most common epithets in the Ugaritic ...

or both of these deities. Thirty individuals bearing

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

s invoking Yarikh have been identified with certainty in the Ugaritic texts. A particularly commonly occurring name, Abdi-Yarikh, written as ''‘bdyrḫ'' in the Ugaritic alphabetic script meant "servant of Yarikh." Additionally, a single name known from a text written in the standard

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

script uses the logogram ^d30 as the theophoric element, but it is not certain if it refers to Yarikh or another lunar deity.

Kušuḫ Kušuḫ, also known under the name Umbu, was the List of Hurrian deities, Hurrian god of the moon. He is attested in cuneiform texts from many sites, from Hattusa in modern Turkey, through Ugarit, Alalakh, Mari, Syria, Mari and other locations in ...

is also attested in Ugaritic names, appearing in a total of six, one of them belonging to a person from outside the city, while the Mesopotamian Sin - in a single one, belonging to a Babylonian rather than a local resident. While the total number of the names invoking Yarikh and adjacent deities is smaller than that of these invoking Baal, Resheph or Shapash, he is nonetheless better attested in this capacity than multiple deities who appear frequently in myths, such as Athirat, Attar, Yam or

Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart (Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name ...

. In addition to his presence in theophoric names, the Hurrian moon god Kušuḫ is also well attested in other documents from Ugarit. It has been argued that he was identified with Yarikh due to his analogous role. However, in one ritual text, KTU³ 1.111, Kušuḫ and Yarikh, accompanied by Nikkal, who is placed between them, receive offerings together as separate deities. Since accompanying instructions are a combination of Ugaritic (when referring to Yarikh) and

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

(when referring to Kušuḫ and Nikkal), it is possible that the scribe responsible for the preparation of the tablet was bilingual. Both this text and other sources from Ugarit indicate that Ugaritic and Hurrian deities could be worshiped side by side. Further lunar deities known from Ugarit include

Saggar A saggar (also misspelled as sagger or segger) is a type of kiln furniture. It is a ceramic boxlike container used in the firing of pottery to enclose or protect ware being fired inside a kiln. Traditionally, saggars were made primarily from ...

, a god presumed to be analogous to Eblaite Šanugaru, who was worshiped in association with

Ishara Ishara (Išḫara) was the tutelary goddess of the ancient Syrian city of Ebla. The origin of her name is unknown. Both Hurrian and West Semitic etymologies have been proposed, but they found no broad support and today it is often assumed that ...

, ''hll'' (reading uncertain, sometimes assumed to be analogous to the god Hulelu from

Emar ) , image = View_from_the_Byzantine_Tower_at_Meskene,_ancient_Barbalissos.jpg , alt = , caption = View from the Byzantine Tower at Meskene, ancient Barbalissos , map_type = Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 200 ...

), the father of the Kotharat, whose name might be a cognate of the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

word ''hilālun'', which lead to the proposal that he was the god of the lunar

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

, and Kas’a, only attested in association of Yarikh and based on presumed cognates in other Semitic languages, for example Habrew, presumed to represent a presently unidentified lunar phase. Dennis Pardee additionally suggests that ''yrḫ kṯy'', a hypostasis of Yarikh, might be a lunar deity of

Kassite The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology). They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...

origin. The presence of the "Kassite Yarikh" in Ugaritic texts is also accepted by Mark Smith. He is attested in a prayer for well-being and in an offering list. Yarikh appears in a number of Ugaritic myths, but his role in them does not necessarily reflect his nature as a lunar deity.

''Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh''

''Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh'' ( KTU 1.24) is the Ugaritic narrative composition which is focused on the moon god to the greatest degree. It is agreed that it describes the circumstances which lead to the marriage of the eponymous deities, though its genre continues to be a topic of ongoing scholarly debate. Steve A. Wiggins suggests that it is possible individual sections of the text do not necessarily belong to the same genre, making it possible to classify both as a myth and as a

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

. After a proemium, which mentions some of the deities involved in the plot, and a number of verses dealing with the

Kotharat Kotharat ( uga, 𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎚, ''kṯrt'') were a group of seven goddesses associated with conception, pregnancy, birth and marriage, worshiped chiefly in northern part of modern Syria in the Bronze Age. They are attested in texts from Mari, U ...

, Yarikh is introduced bargaining with the god Ḫiriḫibi (who is not attested in any other sources) to be granted the permission to marry Nikkal. This most likely indicates that the latter is either her father or at least mediates on behalf of her family. Yarikh offers to pay a high

bride price Bride price, bride-dowry ( Mahr in Islam), bride-wealth, or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride dow ...

, including large amounts of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

,

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

and lapis lazuli, and additionally states that he will "make her ikkal'sfields orchards," which is most likely an

euphemistic A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

way to refer to his ability to sire an heir. Ḫiriḫibi is reluctant at first, and suggests alternate brides to him: Pidray and ''ybrdmy''. The former is known to be a daughter of

Baal Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...

, while the latter is variously interpreted as a daughter of Attar, his sister, another daughter of Baal or an epithet of Pidray. Ḫiriḫibi in his speech refers to Yarikh as "

son-in-law Son-in-Law (22 April 1911 – 15 May 1941) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and an influential sire, especially for sport horses. The National Horseracing Museum says Son-in-Law is "probably the best and most distinguished stayer this co ...

of Baal" (''ḫtnm b’l''), which might either refer to his prospective future after choosing Pidray, indicate that he was already married to another of the weather god's daughters, or simply serve as a courtesy title. Yarikh ultimately rejects both proposals, and states that he is only interested in Nikkal. He finally succeeds, and subsequently marries her. It is sometimes assumed that in addition to the scenes described above, Yarikh also appears in the heavily damaged section of the myth occupying lines 5-15 of the tablet, which according to this theory describe a sexual encounter between him and Nikkal, but this is far from certain. Steve A. Wiggins points out that even if it is accepted that sex is described, neither deity is mentioned by name, which makes it difficult to evaluate this proposal. The background of the entire myth is most likely

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

. It might be either a direct Ugaritic translation of a Hurrian original, or a less direct adaptation only relying on motifs from Hurrian mythology. It is agreed that Ḫiriḫibi is a god of Hurrian origin. Nikkal, presented as Yarikh's spouse in this context, but absent from other Ugaritic narratives, was a derivative of the Mesopotamian goddess

Ningal Ningal ( Sumerian: "Great Queen"), also known as Nikkal in Akkadian, was a Mesopotamian goddess of Sumerian origin regarded as the wife of the moon god, Nanna/Sin. She was particularly closely associated with his main cult centers, Ur and Harran ...

, who was the wife of Sin/Nanna, the Mesopotamian moon god, and was also worshiped by Hurrians as the wife of

Kušuḫ Kušuḫ, also known under the name Umbu, was the List of Hurrian deities, Hurrian god of the moon. He is attested in cuneiform texts from many sites, from Hattusa in modern Turkey, through Ugarit, Alalakh, Mari, Syria, Mari and other locations in ...

. Most likely the marital relationship between the corresponding Mesopotamian deities is also the reason behind portraying her as Yarikh's wife. It is not certain if Nikkal entered the Ugaritic pantheon directly from one of the

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...

n cities or through a Hurrian cultural intermediary. The fact that most Ugaritic attestations of her are entries in Hurrian offering lists most likely supports the latter theory. She is otherwise almost entirely absent from western Syrian sources from the second and first millennia BCE.

Other Ugaritic narrative texts

In addition to ''Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh'', the moon god also appears in the text KTU 1.114. While relatively well preserved, it is considered difficult to translate, and many details remain unclear. Apparently during a banquet organized by El, Yarikh for unknown reasons acts as a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

and crawls under the tables. Deities stated to be familiar with him, including

Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart (Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name ...

and

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; uga, 𐎓𐎐𐎚 ''ʿnt''; he, עֲנָת ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; el, Αναθ, translit=Anath; Egyptian: '' ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic text ...

, offer him choice cuts of meat, while those who do not know him poke him with a stick. The actions of the two goddesses are rebuked by a nameless "porter of the house of El," who complains that they are giving a dog food. The rest of the composition focuses on El getting drunk and subsequently struggling with the effects of alcohol, and Yarikh is not referenced again. However, the final lines apparently relay how to prepare a remedy for

hangover A hangover is the experience of various unpleasant physiological and psychological effects usually following the consumption of alcohol, such as wine, beer, and liquor. Hangovers can last for several hours or for more than 24 hours. Typical sympto ...

using dog hair, which might be a reference to his role. It is not certain why Yarikh acts in a dog-like manner in this text. His behavior might simply be tied to the theme of

alcohol consumption An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...

. While Yarikh himself makes no appearance in KTU² 1.12, a minor goddess appearing in this text, Talish (''tlš'') is described as his handmaiden (''‘amt''). The origin of her name is not known, though it has been proposed it was derived from a

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

meaning "tardy" or "delay," or from the verb "to knead." Alternatively, it might be related to the ordinary name ''Tu-li-ša'' attested both in Ugarit and in

Nuzi Nuzi (or Nuzu; Akkadian Gasur; modern Yorghan Tepe, Iraq) was an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of the city of Arrapha (modern Kirkuk), located near the Tigris river. The site consists of one medium-sized multiperiod tell and two small s ...

. Talish occurs in parallel with Dimgay, another minor goddess, the handmaiden of Athirat, which is sometimes used to argue in favor of them being a single deity with a binomial name, Dimgay-wa-Talish (''dmg w tlš''). In the surviving passage, both of them suffer from labor pain. Since a well known Mesopotamian composition casts

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

in the role of a god helping in such situations, Yarikh's absence from the surviving sections of the text, coupled with Talish being explicitly associated with him, is considered difficult to explain by researchers. The myth KTU 1.92 mentions Yarikh in passing as one of the gods who receive game from Ashtart after her return from a hunt.

In Emar

In

Emar ) , image = View_from_the_Byzantine_Tower_at_Meskene,_ancient_Barbalissos.jpg , alt = , caption = View from the Byzantine Tower at Meskene, ancient Barbalissos , map_type = Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 200 ...

, the name of the moon god was represented by the

logogram In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced '' hanzi'' in Mandarin, ''kanji'' in Japanese, ''hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, ...

^d30. It is not certain if he can be identified as Yarikh. According to Brian B. Schmidt the moon god worshiped in Emar was Sin. However, it is not impossible that more than one deity of such character was present in the local pantheon, and Gary Beckman lists the West Semitic reading as one of the four possibilities, next to Mesopotamian, Hurrian and Anatolian ( Arma). It has also been proven that in at least some cases the logogram refers to

Saggar A saggar (also misspelled as sagger or segger) is a type of kiln furniture. It is a ceramic boxlike container used in the firing of pottery to enclose or protect ware being fired inside a kiln. Traditionally, saggars were made primarily from ...

, already worshiped in the proximity of Emar, in ''Ma''-NE^ki, in the third millennium BCE. Other writings of his name are also attested, including multiple syllabic and a second logographic one, ^dḪAR. Priests of the deity designated by ^d30 are attested in documents from Emar, but there is no indication that one of the few temples identified during excavations belonged to him.

In the first millennium BCE

While Ugarit ceased to exist during the Late Bronze Age collapse, possibly due to the activity of the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...

, the worship of Yarikh continued elsewhere in the first millennium BCE.

Phoenician and Punic sources

No explicit references to Yarikh occur in any Phoenician sources, such as inscriptions from

Byblos Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 8 ...

, Tyre and

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

. The research of

Phoenician religion The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries AD. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cases ...

is considered difficult due to the scarcity of written materials and the small number of direct references to deities other than the principal patron of each city, such as Baalat Gebal in Byblos,

Eshmun Eshmun (or Eshmoun, less accurately Esmun or Esmoun; phn, 𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍 '; akk, 𒅀𒋢𒈬𒉡 ''Yasumunu'') was a Phoenician god of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon. History This god was known at least from the Iron Age period at ...

in Sidon or Melqart in Tyre. The role of astral deities such as Yarikh was small, possibly due to their lack of a connection to maritime trade, shared by many of the major deities of this culture. The Phoenician version of the Karatepe bilingual mentions the sun and the moon in a context which might indicate that deities corresponding to them are meant, but they are not singled out in such a way as the weather god Baal is in the same document. In known

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...

sources, Yarikh is similarly absent from inscriptions, though he does appear in

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

s. One attested example is ''‘bdyrḥ'', "servant of Yarikh." Similar evidence exists for another moon god, Saggar, who might have functioned as a personification of the new moon in Punic religion. Lunar symbols are present on Punic stelae, though since the accompanying inscriptions usually only mention the heads of the pantheon, Baal Hammon and

Tanit Tanit ( Punic: 𐤕𐤍𐤕 ''Tīnīt'') was a Punic goddess. She was the chief deity of Carthage alongside her consort Baal-Hamon. Tanit is also called Tinnit. The name appears to have originated in Carthage (modern day Tunisia), though it doe ...

, it has been argued that they represent the former of these two deities, rather than Yarikh. However, no textual sources support the theory that Baal Hammon was a lunar deity, and the fact that in

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...

he was treated as entirely separate from the local lunar god Aglibol might be evidence on the contrary. Additionally, it is possible that said symbols, as well as other similar astral ones, do not represent any specific god, but are meant to illustrate the celestial nature of the main deities.

Ammonite and Moabite sources

As of 2000, only a single certain attestation of Yarkih from the kingdoms of the ancient Transjordan has been identified. One of the Ammonite kings bore the name ''yrḥ'zr'' (Jeraheazar), "Yarikh is my helper," as attested in an inscription on the plinth of a royal statue dated to around 700 BCE. Ammonite

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

s depicting the crescent moon are known from the seventh century BCE, but they might be related to the worship of

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

of

Harran Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border cr ...

, who was known in many areas to the west and south of his cult center in the Neo-Assyrian period. The evidence from the Moabite kingdom, which developed in parallel with the Ammon in the early first millennium BCE, is limited to artistic depictions of the lunar crescent. It has been argued that they might indicate the

national god A national god is a guardian divinity whose special concern is the safety and well-being of an ethnic group (''nation''), and of that group's leaders. This is contrasted with other guardian figures such as family gods responsible for the well-be ...

of the Moabites, Chemosh, at some point developed lunar characteristics. Known textual sources from Moab mention neither Yarikh nor Sin.

Israelite and Judahite sources

The worship of the moon was most likely practiced in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah both before the Babylonian captivity and afterwards. Evidence includes toponyms and, according to Gabriele Theuer, theophoric names invoking Yarikh, though according to Brian B. Schmidt certain examples of the latter are presently lacking. Best known presumed examples of the former include Jericho and Beth Yerach. It is also probable that the moon god of Harran, Sin, was also worshiped by the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. It has been suggested that the numerous references to the moon being a celestial body subordinate to

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he poss ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Book of Job 31:26-68. Second Book of Kings 23:5 states that king Josiah of Judah banished priests making offerings to the moon alongside those devoted to other astral bodies and

Baal Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...

. It is difficult how many of these references can be considered sources of information about Yarikh, as it possible that they do not necessarily reflect a struggle against the preexisting cult of a local lunar deity, but rather the Mesopotamian traditions centered in Harran, which in the period of captivity and later might have been perceived as a competing creed. Placing the polemics in the distant past might therefore have been only a rhetorical device.

Palmyrene sources

In sources from

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...

, whose pantheon known from between the late first millennium BCE and early first millennium CE included both strictly local deities and Phoenician, Mesopotamian and Arabian ones, names with the element ''yrḥ'' refer to the local god Yarhibol, rather than Yarikh. He was regarded as a solar deity. However, it is possible that he was originally a moon god, and only developed his solar traits attested in historical sources secondarily. Alternatively, his name might have instead been derived from

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

''yarḫu'', " spring," which is argued to fit his association with the Palmyrene spring Efca.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Lunar gods Ugaritic deities Phoenician mythology Ancient Jericho Deities in the Hebrew Bible Mesopotamian gods