Libraries of Ugarit

Photo: Tablet listing the gods of Ugarit, New World Encyclopedia

In 1928 in Syria, a peasant ploughing a field accidentally uncovered the Necropolis of ancient Ugarit. The cosmopolitan coastal city of Ugarit dates back to at least 6000 BCE. French archeological excavations began in 1929. Among the finds were several bronze age libraries, consisting of clay tablets inscribed with various ancient languages. Ugaritic literature is varied and impressive.

One important piece recovered sheds light on the Canaanite worship of the god Baal (possibly related to the Turkish word for bull.) Ugaritic is a unique kind of cuneiform which was deciphered in 1930. Other tablets are in Hurrian, a language that pre-dates the Hittites.

Like the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ugaritic literature refers to a great flood, which likely happened, according to Dr. Haluk Berkmen, in Central Asia. Berkmen also provides this translation of a poetic fragment:

The heart of Anat overwhelmed her,
as the love of an antelope for her fawn,
as the love of a ewe for her lamb
so was the heart of Anat for Boglu (Baal).