Word: ugarit
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...little-known discoveries that have been made at Ras Shamra (meaning "hill of fennel") in northern Syria. There, since 1929, archaeologists led by Dr. Claude F. A. Schaeffer of the College de France have been painstakingly digging up the remains of the ancient Canaanite city-state of Ugarit, which was destroyed in the 12th century B.C. A neighbor of ancient Israel, Ugarit had a language closely allied to Hebrew, and an elaborate, sophisticated pagan religion to which references are found in many passages of the Old Testament...
...Keret. Discovery of Ugaritic epics has cast new light on the poetic forms that were used by authors of the Biblical books-and made it clear that they were well aware of Canaanite mythology. The trials of Job, for example, are similar to those found in an epic about the legendary King Keret of Ugarit. While scholars are still arguing about the precise relationship of the two stories, they do agree that the still unfinished exploration of Ras Shamra is of immeasurable help in clarifying the message of the Old Testament...