Ugarit and the Background of the Bible

What is an Ugarit? Biblical scholars and archaeologists talk about Ugarit quite a bit. But why is it so relevant for understanding the Bible and what do we know about it? Join us today where we start to scratch the surface of Ugarit and why it’s so important for our understanding of the Bronze Age world and the Biblical world.
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If you are interested in learning more about this topic we suggest you start here:
Claude F.A. Schaeffer, The Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra-Ugarit. London, Pub. for the British Academy, by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1939.
Ugaritica I-VI
Yon, Marguerite. The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006.
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Images:
Ugarit Room
Credit: Haubi Gerhard Haubold
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Site of Ugarit
Credit: Haubi Gerhard Haubold
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Ugaritic Tablet of Ba’al Cycle
Credit: Rama
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Ugaritic Road
Credit: Feldstein
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Ugaritic Ruins Panorama
Credit: Alen Ištoković
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Anat Statue
License: Public Domain
Map of Lower City and Temples
From The Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra-Ugarit by Claude Schaeffer
License: Public Domain
Plan of Palace Complex
From The Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra-Ugarit by Claude Schaeffer
License: Public Domain
Map of Theoretical Reconstruction of Site
From The Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra-Ugarit by Claude Schaeffer
License: Public Domain
Aerial view of Ugarit
From The Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra-Ugarit by Claude Schaeffer
License: Public Domain
Ugaritic Letter Chart
License: Public Domain by AnonMoos
Baal with Thunderbolt
Credit: Jastrow
License: Public Domain (creativecommons.org/publicdom...)
Stele of El
James Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Pictures Relating to the Old Testament 1969
From Syrian National Museum Aleppo
At Beneath the Bible all the images we use are for educational purposes and are used as Fair Use.
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All other map elements created by Beneath the Bible.
Music: www.bensound.com

[@thousendbell6404]

I am Syrian from Lattakia, where my village Ugarit/ Ras Shamra located and where we lived for centuries 😊😊😊. We used as habitats if this area when we pass through the site to salue our ancestors and wonder what happened to them and to thise wonderful monuments they left such as the royal palace 💔. Thank you so much for this deep and informative video and hope that you make one about the fortresses in the coastal side of Syria, specially Qal'at Al Hoson, it's so beautiful and well preserved even during the war that is taking place sunce 2011. Be blessed fir ever and thank you from all the Syrian over the world.❤❤❤❤ Dr. Rose

[@Marilynschannel]

cool! I love the length of it too! I am just beginning to learn about the Ugarits!

[@unitarianapologetics4669]

Excellent video guys. Can't wait to check out the links

[@Raszcall]

Awsome channel! Thank you for diving into the "uncomfortable similarities" of the surrounding cultures of the Hebrews

[@BeneaththeBible]

Thanks! Our aim is to help people understand the Bible in its ancient context, even when that raises more questions than answers. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@NotChinmayi]

It's not uncomfortable

[@mrh3894]

I'm very comfortable

[@mrsock3598]

Not uncomfortable when you do your research and realize that most of them are taking record of the same events. Creator God floods etc

[@BigJFindAWay]

What’s uncomfortable about that?

[@jlupus8804]

The Sea People invasion is less expected than the Spanish Inquisition

[@gavinadams4572]

Very well done videos,you got my sub.

[@CadaverSplatter]

Amorite is difficult to pin down, so it is not an easy thing to call Ugaritic Ammorite, since near all evidence we have of Ammorite is from proper names spanning a rather long period of time.

[@BigJFindAWay]

Amorites were a pastoral culture. They were nomads with flocks though they did often settle in cities taking them over. Their main god Amurru is basically a shepherd and sort of part beast. Ugaritics appear to have been much more sea focused.

[@philipsadly6347]

YES SIR ' I' UNDERSTAND & VERY WELL THAT UGARITS ARE THE IGOROTS LIVING NOW SOMEWHERE IN THE NORTHERN PARTS OF THE PHILIPPINES AND I' THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPORTS.

[@narrowistheway77]

When people think Hebrew was a language rooted in Canaanite I just do this 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@FlyingAlfredoSaucer]

I mean they might be related since the Israelites lived in the Land of Canaan and then when they conquered the land the Canaanites mixed into their culture.

[@jeremiahcaballero3686]

@@FlyingAlfredoSaucer cannaites are decendants of Hamites and hebrews are decendants of shemites and the Hebrews were instructed by God to not inherit the traditions of the neighboring pagan nations. And they didn't so, just cause their a possibility doesn't mean it's a fact

[@FlyingAlfredoSaucer]

@@jeremiahcaballero3686 yeah they are descended from different groups but they still intermixed some after Israel conquered Canaan

[@jeremiahcaballero3686]

@@FlyingAlfredoSaucer I agree, but just like how English is derive from Latin and Phoenician, the mixture of the cannanite and Hebrew language created a new language but that doesn't mean Hebrew derived from the cannites you get me? The same way that Latin didn't derive from the mixed language of English but existed before it

[@FlyingAlfredoSaucer]

@@jeremiahcaballero3686 yeah I see what you mean

[@formalminds1461]

Great content but you guys should really focus on practicing pronouncing things.

[@NorceCodine]

Yes, the pronunciation is awful.

[@sicdavid6292]

Odd how they leave out the part that the texts prove Yahweh was just one of a couple of dozen gods with Greek mythology Style storylines. Yahweh had a brother, sister, mother, father and Friends. The texts prove how the language went from Canaanite overtime to become Proto Hebrew. The texts prove the Canaanites became Jewish while they were occupied by Egypt. This is why so much of the Old Testament mirrors The Book of the Dead

[@fhoofe3245]

any good videos on this? Christians never cover it, even though it's so obvious

[@russell311000]

I'm reading about this. I'm learning so much.

[@FlyingAlfredoSaucer]

@@fhoofe3245 YHWH wasn't in the Ugaritic texts so far as I remember, but He was in other Canaanite texts. However what this comment neglects to mention is we don't know much about how Israelite and Canaanite polytheists felt about YHWH. Anyways I'd recommend ReligionForBreakfast. He has a few videos on what role polytheism played in Israelite, Judahite, and Canaanite society. He also has a bunch of other videos on various different religions and mythologies. You could also check out Dan McClellan.

[@c.s3369]

​@Jason-lf3om C G dahlin has a lot of good videos explaining different religion includ8ng canaan

[@davidmathews9633]

You can't find anything because it is not written

[@Splendiferous-qh6rr]

World History by a Jew - The Channel, has numerous informative presentations about the "Sea Peoples".

[@AutistCat]

I wish Syria had not been destroyed by terrorist groups aided by the United States and Saudi Arabia who wanted to grain control of that country. Hopefully Syria will prevail.

[@FlyingAlfredoSaucer]

You're thinking about 3000 years ahead of this video.

[@franmorrison1080]

@@FlyingAlfredoSaucer Isaiah 17 predicts complete destruction of Damascus which hasn't hapenned.

[@FlyingAlfredoSaucer]

@@franmorrison1080 Damascus has been destroyed several times. But also I don't know what that has to do with my comment? I was saying that the commenter is talking about the future while the video was talking about events occurring 3000 years ago.

[@organic6620]

Why are u hesitant to call ugarit a part of the Canaanites?

[@jlupus8804]

Different Languages and people groups- and they lived originally in Phoenicia, not just within Canaan

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

@@jlupus8804 you made a mess Phoenicia is later The foinix were greeks

[@williambeckett6336]

Ugarit and Canaan were FAR more similar than they were different. Sharing a pantheon is a foundational similarity between cultures of that period. This video strikes me as just not having the "guts" to admit that yes, the Ugaritic religion directly informed the Canaanite world because it paints Yahweh in a minor light, in no way a primary god and the brother of the hated Baal. Because they had the same father god El or El Elyon so yeah, brothers by default.

[@ready1fire1aim1]

Yam, who becomes Yaw (YHW) during the Baal Cycle, was adopted into the Bronze Age pantheon of El and Asherah from the broader Levantine polytheism. I'm pretty sure before Ugarit YHW was the Hindu god of death and judgment of Sin called Yama.

[@ObjectiveEthics]

​@@ready1fire1aim1 This makes perfect sense given that the Egyptian (old Egyptian empire) would have certainly been involved with traders from Asia and thus been exposed to Hinduism.

[@ObjectiveEthics]

I respect your wisdom. May I ask, do you think the Deity God "El" was the same God "I am"? Please refer me to any sources.

[@c.s3369]

​@@ObjectiveEthicsel is probably the equivalent to the Greek chronos/saturn

[@ObjectiveEthics]

@@c.s3369 Are you making this connection because of similarities in the roles of these respective Deity myths or due to a linguistic interpolation? The historical fact that much of the Hebrew Tanoch was written after the Greek influences were starting to spread into the Mesopotamia region would lean towards your assertion but the book of Genesis was likely written in a pre Helenistic period. Would you be able to refer me to any papers or books written on this topic? I appreciate your insight my friend.

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

They took the alphabet The today jews

[@sicdavid6292]

Ugarit is just North of modern day Israel. The ancient peoples of Ugarit belongsd to the Canaanite region. This region was occupied by Egypt. During that 600 years span the Canaanites evolve into Proto Hebrew. The story of Moses took place during this 600 years span. The legend itself was written down in Hebrew hundreds of years later. So Moses supposedly left Egypt ended up in Canaan which was occupied by Egyptians? So you need to know the Hebrew Legend was fabricated as was the destruction of Canaan and the Canaanites and so many other legends that were used to create the myth that Israelites were ancient people.

[@ready1fire1aim1]

Sucks the Ugaritic Texts were lost a century or two before the Exodus and not rediscovered until 1928. Seems like the authors of the OT, NT and Quran could really have used that info haha 😂. Like with YHW being the bad guy and all. Oh well 🤷‍♂️

[@BigJFindAWay]

Have you considered just why it was that after killing the sadistic Egyptian soldier Moses fled not to Canaan as other individuals did? But instead he fled to live among the tent dwellers of Midian in the desert? It would have made no sense to flee to Canaan. Clearly the Egyptians were in charge there and they’d have caught him.

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

They copied Didnt even know the language They wrote it in 400bc the bible

[@davidmcdonald9180]

Aramaic being descended from Aryan is not a Semitic language. Darius the Great was quite clear by establishing Achaemenid Aria, he was trying to restore the language of Airyanem Vaejah and establish ties into India.

[@davidmcdonald9180]

Just to be clear, your histories don't contain Yamnaya R1b haplogroup yet?

[@davidmcdonald9180]

@Run You're taking to small groups at acting like they where the original nexus point. As for Mitanni average citizen was more Semitic with a nobility of Proto-Indo-Europeans.

[@davidmcdonald9180]

@Run Armenia was a Persian Satrapy, excluding when Claudius installed someone but Claudius was wicked bad like that.

[@davidmcdonald9180]

@Run from Bing: As is also the case for all other Old Iranian language usage, the arya of the inscription does not signify anything but " Iranian ". Philologist J.P. Mallory argues that "As an ethnic designation, the word [Aryan] is most properly limited to the Indo-Iranians, and most justly to the latter where it still gives its name to the country Iran.

[@jeremiahcaballero3686]

God destroyed the ugaite

[@faiyzkhuneseh658]

no relation between Syrian ugarite civilization and bible,

[@Ottmar555]

why?

[@WhatYourPastorDidntTellYou]

Well this is very obviously wrong. 😳