Ugaritic Idea of the Divine Anger
Abstract
The idea of God's wrath – and in the Ugaritic religious tradition, the anger of the deities – is fairly widely attested and illustrated in ancient narrative texts. From the perspective of the ideological space, one can point to two different spheres in which it was situated: the theosphere, or the world of deities, and an anthroposphere, a set of ideas expressing the world of people. In this study, selected texts from the Baal Cycle and from the poems Kirta and Aqhat have been presented and analyzed, their division and order of presentation based on the distinction between the divine and human spheres. In scenes where the theme of divine anger appears, elements of this anger are examined as to its causes, through the stages of its implementation, to the consequences. An attempt was made to situate these motifs within the theological or mythological context proper to each. In the theosphere, the anger adopts connotations, above all the theomachia ones with a certain reference to cosmogonic aspects. Meanwhile, in the world of people, anger situates itself in a theophany-like context in the case of Anat, and a ritual context in the case of Athirat. The wrath of the deities expresses one aspect of the relationship between them but is also a special attribute of particular deities.
Keywords:
Ugarith, wrath, Baal Cycle, Kirta, Aqhat, theosphere, anthroposphereReferences
Caquot A. – Sznycer M., Ugaritic Religion (Leiden: Brill 1980).
Corpus des tablettes en cunéiformes alphabétiques découvertes à Ras Shamra-Ugarit de 1929 à 1939 (red. A. Herdner) (Paris: Imprimerie nationale Geuthner 1963).
Del Olmo Lete G. – Sanmartin J., A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the alphabetic Tradition (tłum. W.G.E. Watson) (Leiden – Boston, MA: Brill 2003) (=DUAT).
Donner H. – Röllig W., Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1962-1964) I-III.
Greenstein E.L., „Kirta”, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry (red. S.B. Parker) (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press 1997) 9-48.
Liverani M., Antico Oriente. Storia, società, economia (Bari: Editori Laterza 1988).
Miggelbrink R., Gniew Boży. Znaczenie pewnej wstydliwej tradycji biblijnej” (tłum. A. Wałęcki) (Myśl Teologiczna 49; Kraków: WAM 2005).
Moran W.L., „The Hebrew Language in Its Northwest Semitic Background”, The Bible and the Ancient Near East (red. G.E. Wright) (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company 1961) 54-72.
Mrozek A., „Dramaturgia i dramatyzm w «przedbiblijnej» literaturze ugaryckiej”, Ars et scienza 2 (2016) 29-36.
Mrozek A., „Między Ugaritem a Starym Testamentem”, Przegląd Powszechny 7-8 (2006) 73-85.
Mrozek A., „Ciało zmarłego ‘otoczone’ żałobą w tekstach z Ugarit”, The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture 5/2 (2013) 231-249.
Mrozek A., „Kosmogonie starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu”, Bóg Stwórca (red. Antoni Paciorek) (Scripturae Lumen 6; Tarnów: Biblos 2014) 481-499.
Mrozek A., „Kultura religijna Ugaritu”, Religie w świecie śródziemnomorskim (red. K. Kochańczyk-Bonińska – L. Misiarczyk) (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo UKSW 2014) 13-28.
Mrozek A., „Religia Ugaritu w kontekście kultury Kanaanu i Starego Testamentu”, Religie świata śródziemnomorskiego (red. Danuta Quirini-Popławska) (Portolana, Studia Mediterranea 2; Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 2006) 15-24.
Novaco, R.W., „Anger as a Clinical and Social Problem”, Advances in the Study of Aggression (red. R.J. Blanchard – D. C. Blanchard) (Orlando, FL – London: Academic Press 1986) II, 1-67.
Parker S.B., Ugaritic Narrative Poetry (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press 1997).
Smith M.S., „The Baal Cycle”, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry (red. S.B. Parker) (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press 1997) 81-180.
Toboła Ł., Cykl Baala z Ugarit (Kraków-Mogilany: EnigmaPress 2008).
Tronina A., „Eposy ugaryckie o Kerecie i Aqhacie”, Ewangelia o Królestwie (red. A. Paciorek) (Scripturae Lumen 1; Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL 2009) 571-594.
Tronina, A. Podstawy gramatyki języka ugaryckiego (Studia Biblica 13; Kielce: Verbum 2006).
Wyatt N, „Religion in ancient Ugarit”, A Handbook of Ancient Religions (red. J.R. Hinnells) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007) 105-160.
Wyatt N., Religious Texts from Ugarit. The Words of Ilimilku and his Colleagues (The Biblical Seminar 53; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press 1998).
Uniwersytet Jagielloński http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3177-4530
License
The author(s) grant (s) to the Licensee a non-exclusive and royalty-free license in accordance with the provisions of the Appendix: LICENSE TO USE THE WORK
