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This article presents material, palaeographic, and epistolographic arguments in support of the hypothesis that two epistolary fragments recovered at the site of Raʾs Šamra in 1954—RS 18.286[A] and RS 18.[400]—originally belonged to a single tablet. Similar data suggest that the fragment RS 18.286[B], long thought to belong to the same tablet as RS 18.286[A], cannot in fact be accepted to have originated from this tablet. The reconfiguration of these fragments results in new interpretive possibilities and leads us to believe that the tablet of which RS 18.286[A] and RS 18.[400] comprise two parts originally bore a message from the queen to her son—the only such letter in our possession and hence a potentially important addition to our knowledge of Ugaritic epistolary protocol within the royal family.

Plusieurs termes de la formule poetique prononcee a l’intention de la deesse ʿAnatu, selon deux principaux passages du Cycle de Baʿlu en langue ougaritique, ont ete l’objet de debats animes depuis la publication du premier de ces textes en 1931. Cette nouvelle etude reprend l’histoire de l’interpretation de la formule et l’auteur arrive a l’interpretation qui lui parait la plus plausible de chaque terme et de la formule entiere. L’examen des donnees lexicales est suivie d’une analyse de la forme poetique du passage, puis de l’apport de cette analyse du texte.

This article explores how knowledge was created, acquired, organized, and transmitted in writing by scholars and intellectuals in the kingdom of Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, best documented for the thirteenth century BC, with special attention to the social, cultural and political backgrounds against which such literary activities were pursued.

Resume – Le texte RS 94.2406 tient une place importante dans le corpus des textes epistolaires d’Ougarit, en raison de son bon etat de preservation et de son sujet. Alors qu’elle est partie d’Ougarit en bateau pour rejoindre l’Anatolie, une reine d’Ougarit dont on ne connait pas le nom envoie une lettre a l’un de ses serviteurs, Ourtenou, reste a Ougarit. C’est dans la demeure de ce dernier que la lettre contenant les instructions a tenir pour la conduite des affaires de la reine dans la capitale fut decouverte. Un certain Ilimilku a ajoute un bref message a cette missive afin d’insister sur la gravite de la situation. La presente etude porte sur un aspect de l’interpretation de ce document qui n’a recu pour le moment que peu d’attention, a savoir le trajet maritime et peut-etre fluvial de la reine jusqu’a Adana, ainsi que les deux etapes supplementaires mentionnees dans la lettre et dont la localisation est aujourd’hui inconnue.

At the risk of slighting other contributions, I would distinguish four principal stages in the scientific elucidation of Hebrew yp(y)h "witness". Cutting through the equivocations of previous commentators, in 1909 Mayer Lambert stated thatyp(y)h in Proverbs (vi 19, xii 17, xiv 5, 25, xix 5, 9) and in Habakkuk (ii 3) must for syntactic reasons be interpreted as a substantive and not as a verb 1). S. E. Loewenstamm provided in 1962 the first full-scale treatment of Hebrewyph in the light of Ugariticypj "witness" 2). In 1965 Mitchell Dahood pointed out that the different consonants in Ugaritic yph "witness" vs. mpbm "bellows" precludes a derivation of the former from the Ugaritic root meaning 'to blow' (nph/ph, attested only in the noun mphm) 3). William McKane's 1970 commentary on Proverbs provided the first consistent attempt in such a commentary to interpret Hebrewyp(y)h under the impact of Ugariticyph "witness" 4). The occurrence of Ugaritic yph in two recently published texts (Ugaritic texts 1971 and 1976 cited below) not included in R. E. Whitaker's Concordance of the Ugaritic Literature (Cambridge, Mass., 1972) provides us with the opportunity to review the entire question and provide a summary discussion. It will be ordered as follows

The purpose of this study is to investigate the history of interpretation of the Ugaritic term tḥm, used in literary texts to designate an oral message, in letters to designate a message set down on a clay tablet for purposes of transmission by a messenger. The process leading to the interpretation ‘word, message’ for tḥm is described first, then the attempts at etymological explanation of the term. A consensus was rapidly reached in the first area, but none exists in the latter.

Bordreuil Pierre, Hawley Robert, Pardee Dennis. Données nouvelles sur le déchiffrement de l’alphabet et sur les scribes d’Ougarit. In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 154e année, N. 4, 2010. pp. 1623-1635.

Following up on two studies of Ugaritic texts signed by a scribe named Ṯabʾilu, the proposal is offered here that the well-known poetic work chanting the marriage between the gods Yariḫu and Nikkalu is by the same scribe. The first part is devoted to the epigraphic argument while the second deals with the principal philological and literary matters. In an appendix, four fragments found in the same area of the mound of Ras Shamra are (re-)edited.

A new inscription from Zincirli dating in all likelihood to the third quarter of the eighth century B.C.E. adds significant new data, linguistic, religious, and historical, to our knowledge of the kingdom of Sam'al in the period that immediately preceded Barrakib's submission to Assyrian hegemony (KAI 216). The excellent state of preservation of the inscribed stele makes the superficial decipherment relatively straightforward. The interpretation, on the other hand, presents challenges at various levels. 1 .

Pardee Dennis. Une nouvelle inscription araméenne de Zincirli (note d'information). In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 153e année, N. 2, 2009. pp. 799-806.

Il est propose dans cette etude d’identifier une tablette decouverte en 1955 dans le palais royal de Ras Shamra – Ougarit (RS 19.039) et une autre decouverte en 1998 a quelques kilometres dans le palais nord de Ras Ibn Hani (RIH 98/02) comme etant de la main d’un seul et meme scribe. En attendant de donner la publication definitive du nouveau texte de Ras Ibn Hani, il apparait opportun qu’une reedition du texte de Ras Shamra soit presentee ici.

L’etude de la structure de la liste d’achats RS 18.028 provenant du palais royal d’Ougarit amene a la conclusion que le mot ḥṯbn s’emploie en ougaritique pour designer un compte dresse par le vendeur au nom de l’acheteur. Jusqu’ici, aucun bordereau d’achat dresse par l’acheteur ne comporte ce terme.

fgjdf, In this study, the three Ugaritic documents containing the word htbn, « account (text) », are re-edited. The goals are to settle several questions regarding the reading of the three tablets, to elucidate the structure of the texts, and, thereby, to improve our understanding of the prices indicated for the various items of merchandise exchanged. Along with the traditional philological arguments, these prices contribute in several cases to a plausible definition of the goods., Cette étude entreprend la réédition des trois documents ougaritiques où se trouve le mot ḥṯbn, « compte ». Elle a pour buts de régler quelques questions concernant la bonne lecture des trois tablettes, d'élucider la structure des textes et, par conséquent, de mieux apprécier les prix des marchandises nommées. En plus des arguments d'ordre philologique traditionnels, ces prix contribuent, dans plusieurs cas, à une définition plausible des termes désignant les marchandises., Pardee Dennis. Trois comptes ougaritiques RS 15.062, RS 18.024, RIH 78/02. In: Syria. Tome 77, 2000. pp. 23-67.

It is the purpose of this study to reopen the debate concerning the authenticity of the Phoenician inscriptions from Arslan Tash. It is here proposed that the interpretations of data from the objects themselves (physical, palaeographic, orthographic, grammatical, and iconographie) as indicating an origin in modern times are not compelling and that certain aspects of the problem have been misperceived or over-emphasized. It is not implausible to see these objects as authentic relics of their time and place (7th cent., upper-Euphrates region of eastern Syria). Proofs either different in nature or argued in a more convincing fashion than has been done heretofore must be adduced if the relegation to the status of modern forgeries is to be accepted without question., Pardee D. Les documents d'Arslan Tash : authentiques ou faux ?. In: Syria. Tome 75, 1998. pp. 15-54.