Category موضوعي
Texts and their transmission
Inscriptions, manuscripts, editions, translations and the transmission of texts.
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Illustration
Entity
Urtenu and his house
Ugaritic figure close to court and commerce, associated with a south-central archive; family and personal texts helped identify its owner.
Modern grouping of evidence types from Urtenu’s house in the selected 1995 pages; not a room plan or complete archive census
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Illustration
Entity
Ilimilku
Ugaritic scribe associated with the Baal Cycle, Kirta and Aqhat; handwriting and colophons aid attribution. His work alone does not date the traditions’ origins.
Modern distinction between Ilimilku’s scribal work and the origin of recorded traditions; no portrait or claim that he invented the myths
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Original photograph
Concept
Ugaritic alphabet
Long cuneiform alphabet of 30 signs, chiefly consonantal. Its wedge shapes do not imply Akkadian syllabic principles or priority as the first alphabet.
Incomplete Ugaritic abecedary, Louvre AO 19992 / RS 10.087, museum date about 1400–1200 BCE; found 1938, 7 letters missing. Not the complete RS 12.033 found 1948
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Illustration
Entity
Kothar-wa-Hasis
Craftsman god in the Baal Cycle, supplying weapons and building the palace.
Modern explanation of the craftsman’s battle and building roles; no reconstruction of the weapons or palace
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Illustration
Entity
Athtar
God who tries Baal’s throne on Saphon during his absence, then descends; it is not El’s throne.
Modern diagram of KTU1.6I; Athtar is not presented as a fallen angel or denied all kingship beyond Saphon
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Illustration
Entity
Shapshu
Ugaritic sun goddess; involved in Baal’s crisis and intervening verbally in the Mot conflict.
Modern explanation of Shapshu’s roles in the passages consulted; her warning does not mean El actually deposed Mot in the scene
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Illustration
Entity
Mot
God of death in the Baal Cycle; an adversary who returns even after a violent attack.
Modern diagram of three points in Mot’s story; no proof of an annual agricultural rite or a complete revival mechanism
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Illustration
Entity
Yam / Nahar
Sea god and Baal’s opponent for kingship, also associated with Nahar, River.
Modern narrative diagram of Baal and Yam; no likeness of the Sea god or reconstruction of the cycle’s lost opening
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Illustration
Concept
Marziḥu
A banqueting institution or association in Ugaritic documents, with religious functions not reducible to one ritual.
Modern diagram of evidence relevant to the marziḥu; no reconstruction of El’s feast, guest count or ritual
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Illustration
Concept
KTU: Ugaritic Text References
Abbreviation for a modern scholarly corpus of alphabetic cuneiform texts; its numbers are references, not dates.
Modern reference guide: KTU1.114 corresponds to RS24.258 in Spronk’s chapter. No ancient writing or tablet surface reproduced
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Illustration
Concept
Ancient of Days
Designation of the divine figure with white hair, throne and court in Daniel7.
Modern textual comparison, depicting neither El nor the Ancient of Days and proving no direct transmission route
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Illustration
Concept
Aniconism
Avoidance of divine images in a particular practice or tradition; not inferred solely from an unidentified artifact.
Modern diagram of different explanations for an unidentified image; not evidence that any one occurred at Ugarit
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Original photograph
Concept
Iconography
Study of images, their attributes and contexts; resemblance alone does not prove identity.
Seated god, possibly El; Ugarit, 1400–1300 BCE according to the catalogue; gold-covered bronze, RS 23.394 / S3573. Catalogue information names Damascus Museum in 2011; current whereabouts not verified here. Attribution to El remains tentative
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Illustration
Deity
Marduk
Babylon’s god, elevated with the city’s history. Enuma Elish celebrates his rise and cosmic ordering; sources associate him with Nibiru and Jupiter. Earliest origins and functions remain uncertain.
Modern guide to Marduk: Babylon, cosmic ordering, a creation plan executed by Ea, and connections to Nibiru and Jupiter. No claim to depict the god’s appearance
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Illustration
Concept
šar₂: The Numerical Value 3,600
Sumerian numerical term valued at 3,600, or 60×60. Alone it specifies neither years nor a planet’s orbit; distinct from Akkadian šar, king.
Modern numerical diagram: šar₂ = 3,600 = 60×60. The number alone specifies neither years nor Nibiru’s orbit; Akkadian šar, king, is a different word
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Illustration
Book
Enuma Elish
Babylonian Akkadian composition celebrating Marduk’s elevation and cosmic/divine ordering. Human creation is in VI, Nibiru in VII; a Tablet I reference cannot document those passages.
Modern passage map: human creation and divine distribution in VI, Nibiru in VII. Not a tablet image; a link to Tablet I does not document these passages
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Illustration
Concept
Nibiru: Crossing and Astral Name
Akkadian crossing-related word and astral designation, including Jupiter in some contexts and Marduk’s Nibiru. Cited sources establish no inhabited planet returning every 3,600 years.
Modern map of Nibiru’s uses: crossing, Jupiter in some contexts, and Marduk’s name. The equinox-marker reading is Freedman’s hypothesis. Not an image of a discovered planet
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Illustration
Book
Epic of Gilgamesh
Mesopotamian literary tradition with multiple versions, concerning Uruk’s king, Enkidu and mortality. Standard Tablet XI preserves Utnapishtim’s flood; manuscript date does not date the tradition’s origin.
Modern distinction between narrative setting, tradition and manuscript date. Seventh-century K.3375 does not date the origin of Gilgamesh’s flood; Sumerian Ziusudra does not establish strict priority over Atrahasis. Not a tablet photograph
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Illustration
Entity
Utnapishtim
Gilgamesh’s flood hero narrates survival to a king seeking immortality. Ea warns him; life is preserved; hero and wife receive exceptional life. Literary character, not an archaeologically established person.
Modern guide to Utnapishtim: the flood answers a question within Gilgamesh’s immortality quest. Hero and wife receive exceptional life, not immortality for humanity. Not a documented portrait or ship reconstruction
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Original photograph
Book
Atrahasis: Epic and Hero
Akkadian epic: humans created for divine labor, multiplication, noise and flood. Atrahasis, “exceedingly wise,” survives through Enki’s warning; human reproduction is regulated afterward.
Cuneiform fragment of the Atrahasis tradition, Mesopotamia, c. seventh–sixth centuries BCE; Met 86.11.378a. A later copy, not the Old Babylonian manuscript or Gilgamesh K.3375. Original preserved; resized without cropping
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Illustration
Entity
Ziusudra
King and priest in the fragmentary Sumerian Flood Story, preserved in an Old Babylonian copy. Survives, sacrifices and receives divine life in Dilmun; historicity is unproven.
Modern guide to the surviving Sumerian text: decision and warning, lost preparations, seven days and nights, sacrifice and divine life in Dilmun. Cause and warning speaker are not clearly preserved. Not a tablet image or hero portrait
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Illustration
Entity
Philo of Alexandria
First-century CE Alexandrian Jewish author. In Life of Moses he presents Greek translation as inspired; the passage does not explicitly assign a separate room to each translator.
Modern comparison: Aristeas describes collaboration; Philo emphasizes inspired agreement without explicit separate rooms; Irenaeus explicitly separates translators and broadens scope. Witness order does not prove every detail’s transmission
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Illustration
Book
Letter of Aristeas
Hellenistic Jewish account, commonly dated to the second century BCE, of 72 elders translating Hebrew law in Egypt. Not contemporary minutes or a Torah-composition account.
Modern guide to Aristeas: Hebrew law from Jerusalem, 72 elders, collaborative translation on Pharos, community approval. These are claims of the later narrative, not independently proved events or a story of new composition
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Original photograph
Entity
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, sole reign c.282–246 BCE. Aristeas associates him with Greek Torah translation; royal sponsorship details lack independent confirmation.
Gold coin obverse, reign of Ptolemy II, Alexandria, c. 261–246 BCE. The portrait is Arsinoe II, not the king. Met 30.115.23. Context for Ptolemaic Egypt, not evidence of Torah translation. Original preserved; resized without cropping
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Illustration
Book
Samaritan Pentateuch
Samaritan Hebrew five-book tradition sharing an older textual history, with linguistic and theological variants, including readings involving Mount Gerizim.
Modern map of textual plurality, not a settled genealogy. Affinities with Masoretic, Greek or pre-Samaritan witnesses do not divide all copies into three closed families. The Samaritan Pentateuch shares earlier history and includes Gerizim readings
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Illustration
Manuscript
Dead Sea Scrolls
Judaean Desert manuscripts, especially Qumran cave finds. Biblical copies and other works reveal textual diversity; a copy’s age is not the work’s initial date.
Modern diagram of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran manuscripts from the third century BCE to the first CE, with multiple languages and works. Not all are biblical; a copy’s age alone does not date a work’s initial composition. Not an artifact photograph
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Illustration
Concept
Documentary hypothesis
Model explaining the Torah through combined sources such as J, E, D and P. Boundaries, dating and editing are debated alongside supplementary models.
Modern diagram: editors combine sources, or texts grow through supplements. J/E/D/P is a scholarly model with disputed boundaries and dates. Literary materials can cross the current book divisions
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Illustration
Book
Torah / Pentateuch
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy: Mosaic corpus with a compositional history. Torah can also mean teaching or law beyond these five books.
Modern overview of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Topic order describes the present literary structure, not the order of composition. Torah has a broader meaning in some ancient usages
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Illustration
Entity
Uriel
Name joining El to an element interpreted as light or fire; human in Chronicles, heavenly figure in Enoch. No Ugaritic divine origin established.
Modern diagram of Uriel: lexical alternatives involving light or fire, human attestation in Chronicles and heavenly attestation in Enoch. Not an artifact image or proof of identical bearers or independent divine origin
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Illustration
Entity
Raphael / Rephael
Theophoric name from healing and El; human Rephael in Chronicles and angel Raphael in Tobit. Distinct from Israfil, whose etymology is a separate question.
Modern diagram of Raphael: healing root with El, a human name in Chronicles and an angel in Tobit. Distinguishing him from Israfil does not settle Israfil’s disputed etymology
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Illustration
Entity
Gabriel / Jibrīl
Name joining El with an element involving man or strength; interpreter in Daniel, messenger in Luke, named Jibrīl in the Qurʾan.
Modern diagram of Gabriel: analyses involving man or strength and literary roles in Daniel, Luke and the Qurʾan. Not a portrait or proof of one unchanging role across texts
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Illustration
Entity
Michael / Mīkāl
Theophoric name asking who is like God; borne by humans and a heavenly figure in Daniel. It establishes no former Canaanite deity.
Modern diagram of Michael: “Who is like God?”, with a human attestation in Numbers and a heavenly attestation in Daniel. Not an angel’s portrait or proof of a former Ugaritic deity
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Illustration
Concept
Ha-satan in Job
The adversary or accuser in Job, with the Hebrew definite article; among the sons of God, acting within permission and limits rather than carrying every later Satanic trait.
Modern comparison of the sons of God and ha-satan in Job, the host’s deliberations in 1 Kings, and prophetic hearing in Jeremiah. Different literary functions, not a reconstructed historical chamber or an identification of their members
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Illustration
Concept
Angel / Divine Messenger
Hebrew malʾakh means messenger, human or celestial according to context; the word alone proves neither wings nor origin from a particular Canaanite god.
Modern diagram explaining malʾakh as a messenger defined by context: divine or human envoy. Genesis 32 uses Hebrew verse numbering. The word proves neither wings nor that every later angel was formerly a Canaanite god
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Illustration
Concept
Heavenly Host
A heavenly group whose meaning varies: celestial bodies in some texts, attendants around the throne deliberating in 1 Kings 22.
Modern comparison of the sons of God and ha-satan in Job, the host’s deliberations in 1 Kings, and prophetic hearing in Jeremiah. Different literary functions, not a reconstructed historical chamber or an identification of their members
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Illustration
Concept
Sons of God
A Hebrew expression for heavenly beings in texts such as Job; context determines its meaning, rather than biological descent or a fixed angelic roster.
Modern diagram of heavenly-group vocabulary. Sons of God resemble sons of El structurally, but the terms establish no fixed membership or transfer of every Ugaritic figure into Hebrew texts
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Illustration
Concept
Septuagint
Traditional designation for ancient Greek translations of Jewish scriptures, whose readings sometimes differ from the Hebrew Masoretic Text.
Modern diagram of Deuteronomy 32:8: sons of Israel in the Masoretic text, sons of God in 4QDeutj, and angels of God in a common Greek reading. The variant alone does not establish that the Most High and Yahweh are distinct. Not a manuscript photograph
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Illustration
Concept
Masoretic Text
A Hebrew textual transmission and reading tradition, compared in textual criticism with ancient manuscripts and translations.
Modern diagram of Deuteronomy 32:8: sons of Israel in the Masoretic text, sons of God in 4QDeutj, and angels of God in a common Greek reading. The variant alone does not establish that the Most High and Yahweh are distinct. Not a manuscript photograph
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Illustration
Concept
El Elyon
A name or title meaning “God Most High,” joined to Yahweh in Hebrew Genesis 14. Elyon does not always designate an independent deity.
Modern diagram distinguishing words from divine identity. El titles are applied to Yahweh in the texts; the original identities and their convergence require historical reconstruction
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Illustration
Concept
El Shaddai
A compound El name or title associated with ancestral narratives and identified with Yahweh in Exodus 6; Shaddai’s meaning and etymology remain uncertain.
Modern diagram distinguishing words from divine identity. El titles are applied to Yahweh in the texts; the original identities and their convergence require historical reconstruction
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