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Artifact 11 Entity 323 Page 3 Period 5 Person 171 Site 68 Study 100 Ancient text 19
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Illustration
Deity
Yahweh
The divine proper name written YHWH in the Hebrew Bible.
The four Hebrew letters יהוה (YHWH) in a modern typographic illustration. A presentation of the written name, not a depiction of the deity or a reproduction of a particular ancient inscription
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Original photograph
Concept
High god
A deity with a senior position among other gods; this does not itself mean monotheism.
Tablet of a hymn to Marduk, The Met 86.11.313; first millennium BCE, in Sumerian with Akkadian translation. A textual example of a deity’s exaltation, not proof of monotheism or a universal model of the high god
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Illustration
Concept
Divine council
A representation of divine beings acting as an assembly with authority and differentiated roles.
Modern conceptual diagram of assembly and interaction among council members. It reconstructs neither a historical council nor the number or appearance of its deities; divine councils must be read from their texts
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Original photograph
Concept
Pantheon
The set of deities associated with a religious tradition, including their roles and relationships.
Meli-Shipak’s kudurru, Louvre SB 23, bears the symbols of Ishtar, Shamash, and Sin above a presentation scene. A Babylonian example of multiple divine symbols, not a depiction of Ugarit’s divine council
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Original photograph
City
Ugarit
Ancient city and kingdom at Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast, flourishing between the fourteenth and early twelfth centuries BCE and preserving multilingual archives.
Entrance to Ugarit at Ras Shamra, near Latakia; photographed in August 1989. A modern photograph of the archaeological site, reused unchanged
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Original photograph
City
Mari
An ancient city and kingdom on the Euphrates, at Tell Hariri in eastern Syria.
Ruins of the palace associated with Zimri-Lim at Mari, Tell Hariri. A photograph of the setting of the royal archives, not a reconstruction of its ancient appearance
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Original photograph
People
Amorites
Groups associated with West Semitic speech in the Levant and Mesopotamia, whose dynasties were particularly prominent in the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries BCE (ca. 1900–1700 BCE).
Top of Hammurabi’s stele, showing the Babylonian king before Shamash; eighteenth century BCE; Louvre, SB 8. An example from the world of Amorite-period kingdoms, not a collective portrayal of Amorites or their beliefs
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Original photograph
City
Ebla
An ancient city at Tell Mardikh in Syria, known for its third-millennium BCE tablet archive.
Remains of Palace G at Ebla, Tell Mardikh: a photograph of the archaeological site. It provides the archive’s setting and does not independently date every visible building phase
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Original photograph
Concept
Cuneiform
Writing with wedge-shaped signs, developed from Mesopotamian recording traditions and used for several languages from the third millennium BCE.
Fragment of an incomplete Ugaritic alphabet tablet, c. 1400–1200 BCE; Louvre, AO 19992 / RS 10.087. Evidence of Ugaritic writing
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Original photograph
Concept
Akkadian ilu
The Akkadian word for “god”; its occurrence does not automatically identify the deity El.
Cylinder seal and its modern impression, owned by Ilum-bani, ca. 2028–2004 BCE; The Met, 1988.380.2. An example of a personal name with a divine element, not a verified depiction of El
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Original photograph
Language
Akkadian
An ancient East Semitic language written in cuneiform in Mesopotamia.
Letter from Abi-milku, ruler of Tyre, to the Egyptian king, written in Akkadian cuneiform; ca. 1347–1330 BCE. The Met, 24.2.12. An example of the language in international correspondence
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Illustration
Concept
Proper name
A name identifying a particular individual, place or other entity.
Modern linguistic diagram highlighting a proper name referring to a particular entity. ʾEl is an illustrative written example, not a portrait of a deity or an archaeological witness
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Illustration
Concept
Common noun
A word naming a class of things, such as “god”, rather than one particular individual.
Modern linguistic diagram: ilu illustrates a common noun meaning ‘god’. The boxes explain the naming of a category; they do not depict a historical pantheon
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Illustration
Concept
Linguistic reconstruction
A comparative method for inferring forms in an older language from related languages.
Modern educational diagram of systematic correspondences across comparative rows. The symbols a, b, and c are schematic teaching examples, not data transcribed from an ancient language
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Illustration
Concept
Proto-Semitic
The reconstructed common ancestor of the historically known Semitic languages.
The form *ʾil- in a modern linguistic illustration. The asterisk marks a reconstruction, not an inscribed word or evidence dating a particular cult
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Illustration
Concept
Semitic languages
A language family including Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic.
Modern simplified diagram of examples in the Semitic family: Akkadian (akk), Hebrew (heb), Aramaic (arc), and Arabic (ara). It does not provide the full classification or dates of divergence
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Original photograph
Deity
El at Ugarit
A deity prominent in West Semitic traditions, especially as head of the divine family in Ugaritic texts.
Ugaritic tablet from the Baal Cycle, ca. 1400–1200 BCE; Louvre, AO 16640. It provides the mythological textual context in which El is studied, rather than a portrait of him or verification of his name on this face
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Original photograph
Page
Who is El?
A name that crossed millennia: a journey through languages, names, and texts, from the earliest Semitic evidence to conceptions of God whose influence remains present today.
Seated deity from Ugarit, possibly El. Bronze and gold foil, c. 1400–1300 BCE; National Museum of Damascus, S 3573 / RS 23.394
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Original photograph
Page
About the Archive
An independent research project tracing the history of religions and ideas of divinity through evidence readers can follow for themselves.
Fragment of an incomplete Ugaritic alphabet tablet, c. 1400–1200 BCE; Louvre, AO 19992 / RS 10.087. Evidence of Ugaritic writing
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Illustration
Page
Our method
How to read evidence in IL Archive: certainty, kinds of knowledge, and the evidence trail.
Modern explanatory diagram of three reading layers: evidence, scholarly interpretation, and the archive’s inference. The symbols illustrate the method; they are not ancient artifacts
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