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Danel (,
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
: 𐎄𐎐𐎛𐎍 DNỈL, " El is judge"), father of Aqhat, was a
culture hero A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group (Culture, cultural, Ethnic group, ethnic, Religion, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or Discovery (observation), discovery. Although many culture heroes help with ...
who appears in an incomplete Ugaritic text of the fourteenth century BCE at
Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
(now Ras Shamra),
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
.


Tale of Aqhat

The text in ''Corpus Tablettes Alphabétiques'' '' TA' 17–19 is often referred to as the '' Tale of Aqhat''. Danel was depicted as "judging the cause of the widow, adjudicating the case of the fatherless" in the city gate. He passed through trials: his son Aqhat was destroyed but apparently in the missing conclusion was revived or replaced by Danel's patron god, Rpʼu, who sits and judges with
Hadad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...
and
Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
and was likely considered to be the equivalent of El. The text was published and translated in 1936 by Charles Virolleaud and has been extensively analysed since then.


The Rephaim

The text of ''The
Rephaim In the Hebrew Bible, as well as non-Jews, Jewish ancient texts from the region, the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic term Rephaite or Repha'im (cf. the plural word in ; , ) refers either to a people of greater-than-average height and ...
'', a title given to the text by Mark S. Smith, also mentions Danel, who appears there and in the Tale of Aqhat as "a model figure in family matters of life and death". In these texts Danel is mentioned as one who invites the Rephaim, divine beings of the
underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...
, to a feast during the late summer fuit harvest, reminiscent of the biblical festival of booths. Danel's title in the text of Rephaim is "the man of Rapau", while Rapau is identified in another Ugaritic text as a god and king of Ashtaroth and Edrei, both cities related to Og the king of
Bashan Bashan (; ; or ''Basanitis'') is the ancient, biblical name used for the northernmost region of Transjordan during the Iron Age. It is situated in modern-day Jordan and Syria. Its western part, nowadays known as the Golan Heights, was occupied b ...
in the biblical account.


Danel and the Book of Ezekiel

Three verses in the
Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Nevi'im#Latter Prophets, Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and one of the Major Prophets, major prophetic books in the Christian Bible, where it follows Book of Isaiah, Isaiah and ...
( Ezekiel 14:14 and 20 and 28:3) refer to which, according to the
Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...
, should be read as "Daniel". This notwithstanding, parallels and contrasts with ''Danel'' (without an ''i'') of Ezekiel, placed between
Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...
and
Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...
and invoked as the very example of righteous judgement, first pointed out by René Dussaud in 1931, have led readers commonly to accept or occasionally to reject a degree of identification with Ugaritic Danel of the Tale of Aqhat, amounting virtually to the same figure. The three figures referred to in  — "Even if Noah, Danel and Job were in it" — links the name with two non-Israelites of great antiquity. In , Danel is one noted for his wisdom in the prophecy addressed to the king of Tyre: "you are indeed wiser than Danel, no secret is hidden from you". The name "Danel" had a long tradition in Hebrew culture: he is supplied as the father-in-law of
Enoch Enoch ( ; ''Henṓkh'') is a biblical figure and Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared (biblical figure), Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible. The text of t ...
in the ''
Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees is an ancient Jewish apocryphal text of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as by Haymanot Judaism, a denomination observed by members of Ethiopian Jewish ...
''. Texts in
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
, a language closely related to the
Canaanite languages The Canaanite languages, sometimes referred to as Canaanite dialects, are one of four subgroups of the Northwest Semitic languages. The others are Aramaic and the now-extinct Ugaritic and Amorite language. These closely related languages origin ...
, may provide an important clue. The language was discovered by French
archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
in 1928 and known only from texts found in the lost city of Ugarit, Syria.Edward L. Greenstein, "Texts from Ugarit Solve Biblical Puzzles," '' BAR'' 36:06, Nov/Dec 2010, pp. 48-53, 70. Found a
Biblical Archaeology Review website
, accessed October 29, 2010.
Ugaritic has been used by scholars of the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
culture finds parallels in the neighboring cultures. Ugaritic was "the greatest literary discovery from antiquity since the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform." Literary texts discovered at Ugarit include the "Tale of Aqhat" (or Legend of Danel), revealing a
Canaanite religion Canaanite religion or Syro-Canaanite religions refers to the myths, cults and ritual practices of people in the Levant during roughly the first three millennia BC. Canaanite religions were polytheistic and in some cases monolatristic. They we ...
. According to Edward L. Greenstein, a distinguished professor at
Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...
, Ugaritic texts solved the
biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
puzzle of the
anachronism An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...
of
Ezekiel Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him. The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...
mentioning Daniel at ; it is because in both Ugaritic and the Ancient Hebrew texts, it is correctly ''Danel''—the '' yod'' is missing in the originals. Danel would fit the pattern of being an ancient non-Israelite like Job and Noah. Ezekiel's literary arrangement may also support this position. Yahweh has compared Judah with foreign nations before (), and the context appears to contain a similar comparison in . The hypothetical rebellious country, while a cipher for Israel, is not explicitly named and could represent any ancient Near Eastern country. Ezekiel's audience is enamored with non-Israelite myths (cf. Tammuz in ), and so they could easily be aware of King Danel's legendary virtues. Thus, if they were three ancient, righteous, non-Israelite men, Ezekiel's triad would fit the pattern of Yahweh judging Israel to some degree by the nations around them. The connection is more plausible when one considers that Ezekiel alludes to Danel in an oracle against Tyre (Ezekiel 28). Danel also had a son and, like Job, was unable to deliver him from divine harm (cf. ).Walther Eichrodt, Ezekiel: A Commentary, trans. Cosslett Quinn, Old Testament Library (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1970), p. 189


Recent uses

The name ''Danel'' has been given to one of the craters on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter.


See also

*
Virtuous pagan Virtuous pagan is a concept in Christian theology that addressed the fate of the unlearned—the issue of nonbelievers who were never evangelized and consequently during their lifetime had no opportunity to recognize Christ, but nevertheless ...
* Pugat


Notes

{{Reflist, 30em


References

* Coogan, M.D. ''Stories from Ancient Canaan'' (Philadelphia) 1978:27–47 * Day, John. "The Daniel of Ugarit and Ezekiel and the Hero of the Book of Daniel", ''
Vetus Testamentum ''Vetus Testamentum'' is a quarterly academic journal covering various aspects of the Old Testament. It is published by Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and ...
'' 30.2 (April 1980:174–184) * Gibson, J.C.L. ''Canaanite Myths and Legends'' (Edinburgh) 1978. * Herdner, Andrée. ''Corpus des tablettes cunéiformes alphabétiques découvertes à Ras Shamra-Ugarit, en 1929 à 1939'' (Paris 1963) (CTA 17–19). * Margalit, Baruch. ''The Ugaritic poem of AQHT: Text, Translation, Commentary'' (Berlin: de Gruyter) 1989. A highly idiosyncratic commentary and interpretation. * Walton, John H. ''Ancient Israelite Literature in Its Cultural Context: A Survey of Parallels'', "Personal Archives and Epics": Canaanite .2 (Zondervan) 1994:49.


External links


The Ugaritic poems of Keret and Aqhat: a bibliography
As of 1998. Levantine mythology Characters in epic poems Ugaritic language and literature Clay tablets Ugaritic texts Heroes in mythology and legend Book of Ezekiel Book of Jubilees Hebrew Bible people