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 ...

moon god A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be foun ...

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...

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 ...

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 ...

Ebla Ebla (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', , modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a Tell (archaeology), tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

Bronze Age collapse The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aege ...

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

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

Israelites 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 ...

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' lunar god, but also to the moon as a

celestial body An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists within the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are of ...

. A further meaning attested for it is "

month A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, that is approximately as long as a natural phase cycle of the Moon; the words ''month'' and ''Moon'' are cognates. The traditional concept of months arose with the cycle of Moon phases; such lunar mo ...

." Earlier forms of the name, (Y)arakh and (Y)erakh, are attested as elements of

Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...

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

s. The name is grammatically masculine, which is the norm for lunar deities across the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

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

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

.

Cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

s of Yarikh's name are present in many

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

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

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: , 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 Fertile Crescent in the Early Iron Age, ...

: (however, the name of the Aramaic moon god, Śahr, is not a cognate); Palmyrene Aramaic: ; and Nabataean Aramaic: ). The Akkadian word ''warḫum'', "month" or rarely "moon," is a cognate as well, as are Old South Arabian ''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, but located further inland in central Syria, presumably in the proximity of Ebla, was Larugadu (''lrgt''), identified with Arugadu from the earlier Eblaite 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: Businesses and organisations * KISH, a radio station in Guam * Kish Air, an Iranian airline * Korean International School in Hanoi, Vietnam People * Kish (surname), including a list of people with the name * Kish, a former ...

, 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 religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. 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 ...

, 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 a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...

s. In Old Babylonian 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, 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 was in the Middle Bronze Age the king of Mari, Syria, Mari (c. 1767–1752 BCE; low chronology). Background Family Zimri-Lim (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''Zi-im-ri Li-im'') was the son or grandson of king Yahdun-Lim of Ma ...

. Similar theophoric names are also known from Eshnunna. 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 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, spell, charm, enchantment, or 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 ceremonial ri ...

series '' Maqlû'' (tablet VI, verse 4) according to Karel van der Toorn 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. 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 A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

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 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 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 Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, and before a ram and a bull were offered to

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:ꜥntjt, ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume tha ...

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 In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

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

Shapash Shapshu (Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌 ''špš'', "sun") or Shapsh, and also Shamshu, 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 corpus are ''nrt ...

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 a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...

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 alphabet The Ugaritic alphabet is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) with syllabic elements written using the same tools as cuneiform (i.e. pressing a wedge-shaped stylus into a clay tablet), which emerged or 1300 BCE to write Ugaritic, an extinct Nor ...

ic script meant "servant of Yarikh." Additionally, a single name known from a text written in the standard

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

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

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n 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 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 ...

. 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 (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

(when referring to Kušuḫ and Nikkal), it is possible that the

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

responsible for the preparation of the tablet was

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

. 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 god presumed to be analogous to Eblaite Šanugaru, who was worshiped in association with Išḫara, ''hll'' (reading uncertain, sometimes assumed to be analogous to the god Hulelu from Emar), the father of the Kotharat, whose name might be a cognate of the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

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 (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

, 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 A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth. Because the Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, the same hemisphere is always facing the Earth. In common usage, the four maj ...

. Dennis Pardee additionally suggests that ''yrḫ kṯy'', a hypostasis of Yarikh, might be a lunar deity of Kassite 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 Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

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 ''hymn'' d ...

. After a proemium, which mentions some of the deities involved in the plot, and a number of verses dealing with the Kotharat, 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, bride-wealth, bride service 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 dowry ...

, including large amounts of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

,

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

and

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is ...

, and additionally states that he will "make her ikkal'sfields orchards," which is most likely an euphemistic 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 Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

, 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 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 (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

. 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, who was the wife of Sin/Nanna, the Mesopotamian moon god, and was also worshiped by Hurrians as the wife of Kušuḫ. 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 constitutes the Upland and lowland, 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 regio ...

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

Ashtart 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

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:ꜥntjt, ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume tha ...

, 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 (beverage), alcohol, such as wine, beer, and liquor. Hangovers can last for several hours or for more than ...

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 Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...

. 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 plant organ, 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 bel ...

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. 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 religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. 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 ...

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 A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

from Ashtart after her return from a hunt.

In Emar

In Emar, the name of the moon god was represented by the

logogram In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek 'word', and 'that which is drawn or written'), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chine ...

^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, 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 The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aegea ...

, possibly due to the activity of the Sea Peoples, 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 ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...

, Tyre and

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

. The research of

Phoenician 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 ...

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 in Sidon or

Melqart Melqart () was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and a major deity in the Phoenician and Punic pantheons. He may have been central to the founding-myths of various Phoenician colonies throughout the Mediterranean, as well ...

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 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 a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...

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 or Tinnit (Punic language, Punic: 𐤕𐤍𐤕 ''Tīnnīt'' (JStor)) was a chief deity of Ancient Carthage; she derives from a local Berber deity and the consort of Baal Hammon. As Ammon is a local Libyan deity, so is Tannit, who represents ...

, 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 dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

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

Sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. 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 ...

of

Harran Harran is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 904 km2, and its population is 96,072 (2022). It is approximately southeast of Urfa and from the Syrian border crossing at Akçakale. ...

, who was known in many areas to the west and south of his cult center in the

Neo-Assyrian period The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of South Caucasus, Nort ...

. The evidence from the

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

ite 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 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 The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...

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 Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

and Beth Yerach. It is also probable that the moon god of Harran, Sin, was also worshiped by the

Israelites 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 ...

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

Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

31:26–68. Second Book of Kings 23:5 states that king

Josiah Josiah () or Yoshiyahu was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE). According to the Hebrew Bible, he instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Until the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah’s ...

of Judah banished priests making offerings to the moon alongside those devoted to other astral bodies and

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

. 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 In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, ...

.

Palmyrene sources

In sources from

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

, whose pantheon known from between the late first millennium BCE and early first millennium CE included both strictly local deities and Phoenician,

Mesopotamian Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary o ...

and

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

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 Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

''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

In early Amorite tradition

In Ugarit

''Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh''

Other Ugaritic narrative texts

In Emar

In the first millennium BCE

Phoenician and Punic sources

Ammonite and Moabite sources

Israelite and Judahite sources

Palmyrene sources

See also

References

Bibliography