What's in a Name?
"Anat arrives." I figure that will get your attention, Rodgers. Yes, I have translated the second tablet and yes it is rife with information, answers, and yet... more questions. I worked late into the night last night because I had to go over so much of what I translated repeatedly to make certain I was translating correctly. So forgive me if my tone in this email is less excitable than my previous ones. After all, I haven't slept yet. I wanted to at least draft this email while the thoughts were still fresh in my head and the notes were still understandable to me.
The goddess Anat has arrived in this new place, again referred to in the second line (thanks to an intact secondary fragment) as the "place beyond the spheres." While I have no clear answer for this phrase, I do have a hypothesis forming in my head, though I wish not to share it because of how outlandish it may seem. Though considering the contents of this tablet, perhaps it wouldn't be as outlandish as I'd think.
Immediately, Anat is attacked in this place, and before I go over just how off the rails this whole tablet is... allow me to remind you of Anat's character. The goddess Anat, or Hanat in earlier Old Babylonian attestations, was a goddess of fertility, warfare, and hunting. She's depicted as youthful, powerful, and brash. Chicago's own Dennis Pardee describes her succinctly as the "tomboy goddess" and I feel that is more than accurate. She takes on roles commonly held by men in ancient times, while never losing her femininity.
She has a number of epithets but the most popular of them all is "Maiden", the Ugaritic tablets' most attested divine title, second only to her brother Baal's title of "the Mighty". I bring this all up because an interesting thing happens in this tablet... Well, it technically happened in the last tablet, but I thought nothing of it until I was halfway through translation last night and paused for some tea with my employer.
Throughout the previous tablet, Anat is referred to by her most popular epithet. She is the Maiden Anat, with secondary lines often referring to her as "Mistress of the Peoples" or "Mistress of the Nations" however you wish to translate that phrase. Either way, these both present her in both a regal sort of way as well as highlighting and stressing that she is young and nubile. But when she encounters Mot, he greets her with the title "violent goddess".
Now, this alone is not unique. Anat's savagery and proclivity for violence are well attested in the scant texts we have. In Baal, she fought an army, El's children, and even Death himself! In Aqhat, she orchestrates the murder of Danel's son for his bow. Her violence even bleeds into the Bible where Shamgar, the judge who reportedly killed an impressive 600 Philistine warriors, is given the title "son of Anat".
Nevertheless, this is the first place I've seen "violent goddess" as her epithet that I can recall. Please correct me if I am wrong. But here is why this is remarkable: that interaction marks a shift. After that interaction, the second tablet continually refers to her only as the violent goddess. It's as if stripping her bare and expelling her to this place outside of the underworld was a sort of rebirth or opportunity for the goddess to redefine herself. Though her violent actions are known, her primary title has always been of, or relating to, her youthfulness and her sexual potential. But now her true defining quality has usurped that title and she is reborn defined by her actions more than ever.
As for the second roadblock that I've run into... here it is:
Anat arrives <...>
The violent goddess in the place [beyond the spheres].
She is set upon by warriors on the edge of (Kurnugi)
She is swarmed by locusts outside the (Helyo?)
Yes, your eyes don't deceive you, Rodgers. Loanwords from other civilizations appear in the text. And these aren't just any loanwords, these are the names for the underworld in ancient Sumerian text and early proto-Germanic text respectively. I am telling you, Rodgers, I translated and re-translated the lines multiple times but the result was always the same. And this isn't the only spot, either. The text continues with Anat throwing herself into battle, as would be expected from the violent goddess. The sections here even seem to parallel texts in Baal. As before, I will be attaching my full translation to this email, so I will skip a few lines of the fighting and hop directly to the more interesting bit:
Behold, Anat battles in the forever-cave,
She fights between two armies,
Even between two cities:
She fells giants from the north.
She cuts up winged (galla) from the east.
Yet it is not enough
Yes, Rodgers, galla are fighting Anat. Galla, the demons from ancient Sumerian texts, are fighting the Canaanite goddess in this place described in most literal terms as an eternal cave outside the underworld. I just... I have no words. It almost feels like one of those crossover superhero movies that have been all the rage the last few years. Like the writer took stories from other cultures and mashed them together in a... pre-cinematic universe of sorts. I've never read anything like this before!
Of course, the format of the fight reads like a snippet from Baal, namely her fight against armies in Tablet III, but if the age of this tablet is to be believed, at best this story was recorded contemporary with the tablets of the Baal Cycle, and at worst... they pre-date the Cycle. There is not much more I can say on this as I must keep going, though I will add that I've updated my sigla table. Loanwords will be in italics surrounded by parentheses going forward.
Anat continues to fight in this forever-cave for a long time and the writer seems to belabour that she gets no rest from fighting. There is a curious feeling that she is battling not to a victory, but that she is battling until something is satisfied, some sort of unknown goal or checkpoint. The description of the fight is gruesome but also reveals that this is some sort of unending battle:
She harvests knee-deep in soldiers' blood,
She wades up to her thighs in warrior's gore.
Yet it is not enough
{As} the war is eternal.
One hundred times one hundred days pass
Where evening and morning are not known.
See how Anat's strikes begin to slow!
One hundred times one hundred days pass
Where Shahar and Shalim have no power.
See how the violent goddess' feet begin to lag!
She is fighting some sort of eternal war as if it were a purgatory for her. Curiously, in Baal we see that she fights until the battle is over but her longing for fighting is not satisfied and she seeks out more fighting. Here, it is made abundantly clear that she is well and truly satisfied with fighting, she is weary of it. It also seems she is not nearly as effective battling here as she is on Earth or even in the underworld! Perhaps it is because she was stripped of all her belongings including her armour, though she does still have the two swords crafted by Kothar-wa-Hasis.
Time passes in days by the hundreds and then thousands. Eventually, she seems to slow and then what happens next isn't exactly clear. She either collapses from exhaustion or she completely enters a berserker-type frenzy. Either way, she's described as consumed by the battle and for a three-day period, she is lost to the fighting.
On the third day, salvation comes for her. It's quite a common theme, Rodgers, and I recall you explaining it to me a year ago during the symposium on Easter traditions at Cambridge, so I won't bore you with comparisons you're already well familiar with.
On this third day, a third army, described as smaller than the first two, approaches. Anat is said to "rise to meet them" presumably to fight them. Again, she is the violent goddess. However, she is slow because of the extent of her fighting and the two armies she's been fighting actually beat her to the third. In these lines, I get the clearest look at this new place's name:
The three armies meet and the ground shakes,
The three armies clash and <...>(Kol?) shudders.
It isn't the full name, but it is a sort of suffix, perhaps. Kol, if I recall my studies correctly, is one of the earliest attestations of an underworld in written language. It is postulated as one of the two proto-Indo-European roots for what we now consider "hell", a proto-word meaning "cover". Wild, Rodgers, just wild! I was tempted to distinguish it as a loanword considering all this, but without the full word, I don't even know if "kol" is itself an independent word or just the end of another word that would render my gushing about the PIE people and language moot.
What is more interesting, is what happens next. A new character is introduced. Another rather colourful individual. I will let the text describe this being:
Among the warriors fights one whose coverings are as onyx,
Whose skin is as polished white-stone
Whose countenance is as the sun.
. . .
See how her hammer swishes from her hand and limbs are mangled!
The locusts cry out as she makes their bones as twigs!
She crushes.
See how her hammer swoops from her hands and sinew is shorn!
The warriors lament as she peels their muscles like scabs!
She flays.
A challenger approaches and seems to give Anat a run for her money. This being is described as wearing black armour over seemingly pale white skin with a glowing face, or at least glowing eyes. The description of her skin isn't too clear and it feels as though the author was more describing a statue. My mind goes back to our trek through Abydos and the statuette of ivory found there. Perhaps the author wants to convey a being with polished stone for skin?
I did skip a few lines to get to this character's initial fight. The format of the combat is the same as earlier, but where Anat's strikes are slashes and gashes with a sword, this one uses a war hammer with perhaps a pointed reverse side to "crush" bones and "flay" skin. It's also worth noting, Rodgers, that she is presented as more effective than Anat. Where Anat only "splits flesh", this character "flays muscle". Where Anat only "removes limbs", this character "mangles limbs". As is common in poetic epics, the description of the fighting is similar to Anat's own fight, but where Anat is overcome by the swarm, this new character has one more section that shows she endures this battle:
She fills the air with red mist.
She consumes the scattered with an ending flame.
It is enough
And the battle ends.
Yet the war is eternal.
This new section has an air of finality to it. She "fills the air with red mist", likely blood, and she "consumes" all with "an ending flame". Call me crazy, but this sounds quite similar to the fires of hell spoken of in the Revelation of John and to a lesser extent, the consuming fire described in 1 Kings 18:38. Seeing it here in Canaanite terms – arguably early Canaanite terms – I can't help but wonder if this aspect of total fire is yet another thing that was adopted into Israelite theology. But I digress.
The battle comes to a close and the armies retreat, yet the story is clear that the war is not over, and again the concept of an eternal state of conflict is emphasised. The first two armies retreat to wherever they came from while the third remains with the onyx warrior speaking with Anat and things get crazier:
The burning one before Maiden Anat.
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"Take this one to (Sheol)
The violent goddess down to (Beth-[Ayin])."
So is Anat taken to (Sheol),
The violent [goddess] down to (Beth-Ayin).
Rodgers, I swear on my grave that these are all direct and proper translations to the utmost best of my ability. First, let me get the least interesting tidbit out of the way (and that is saying something). On the first line, we get our first title for this onyx-clad warrior: the burning one. It seems she is firstly defined by her capacity to burn and this makes sense. Her eyes were described as like the sun and the battle did not end until she "consumed" the opposing warriors with "ending flame". Secondly, the writer notes that though she does not have a mouth, she can talk. I'm not too certain what to make of this, so I hope the next tablet will shed light on this strange description.
Finally, the most curious thing of all: the reappearance of loanwords. Both Sheol and Beth-Ayin are loanwords from Israelite culture. However, Israelites would not appear on the scene for a few hundred years as best as we can tell from the archaeological record. Yet somehow these words exist? I'm aware that ancient Hebrew is not your place of expertise, so allow me to fill in the gaps.
Sheol is the Old Testament word for the underworld or the grave. It is attested many times throughout the Old Testament. It is a common misconception that the idea of heaven and hell that the Christanized world has today was always a part of Jewish theology. It was not. The ancient Israelites believed that everyone who died, regardless of their status or their relationship with their god, went down to Sheol. It wasn't some sort of place of punishment or endless torment, but rather a quiet place separate from the divine presence of Yahweh.
As for Beth-Ayin, the Hebrew translates to "House of Nothingness" but as to what it may have meant to the Canaanites, I don't fully know. Similar to Sheol, this loanword has never shown up this early before, as we don't even have contemporary Israelite writings!
Rodgers, I'm at a loss. I finished my translation text, again shared below, and left a note for my employer questioning the authenticity of these tablets. As intriguing as they are, they are too strange and I fear I am wasting my time translating what very well could be quite convincing forgeries.
Anat taken down to Beth-Ayin in Sheol... A Canaanite goddess taken down to the unknown house of nothingness in the Hebrew underworld... Nonsense. And yet, I can't help but be hooked. Rodgers, between you and I, I do hope these are proven authentic. Because heaven knows what further could be learned.
Your clueless friend,
Woodrow Collins
Sigla
<...> : Indicates damage to the tablet
Italics : Indicates a most literal translation for a phrase for apparent nonce words
[word or phrase] : Indicates short gaps or missing words in the parent text due to damage. The text inside is restored by either the more fragmentary parallel version or by context clues.
(word?) : Indicates damaged text that is still mostly readable but I am not 100% certain in the reading.
{words} : Indicates words inserted to give a better rendering in English or explanatory insertions
(italics) : Indicates apparent loanwords from other cultures
Tablet II
Anat arrives <...>
The violent goddess in the place [beyond the spheres].
She is set upon by warriors on the edge of (Kurnugi)
She is swarmed by locusts outside the (Helyo?)
See how Anat's sword swishes from her hands and flesh is split!
The warriors lament as she divides their skin like meat!
She gashes.
See how Anat's sword swoops from her hands and limbs are removed!
The locusts cry out as she splits their bodies in two!
She slashes.
Behold, Anat battles in the forever-cave,
She fights between two armies,
Even between two cities:
She fells giants from the north.
She cuts up winged (galla) from the east.
Yet it is not enough
And the soldiers continue to swarm.
She makes heads to roll as balls at her feet,
She makes arms to fly as birds in the air.
Yet it is not enough
And the armies continue to thrive.
She harvests knee-deep in soldiers' blood,
She wades up to her thighs in warrior's gore.
Yet it is not enough
{As} the war is eternal.
One hundred times one hundred days pass where evening and morning are not known.
See how Anat's strikes begin to slow!
One hundred times one hundred days pass where Shahar and Shalim have no power.
See how the violent goddess' feet begin to lag!
She is satisfied with her battling in the forever-valley,
With her fighting in this place of no return.
One thousand times one thousand pass in that place beyond [the spheres]
See how Anat is consumed by that battle,
The violent goddess swallowed up by an unending war.
One day passes:
Anat's fury spurs her on.
Her eyes do not rise.
Two days pass:
The violent goddess continues to slay.
Her eyes do not rise.
Three days pass:
There is a reprise in the swarms.
Her eyes rise and she looks:
Anat saw a third army smaller than the first
Even smaller than the second.
She rises to meet them
But the first [army is] quicker,
Even the second army is faster.
The three armies meet and the ground shakes,
The three armies clash and <...>(Kol?) shudders.
Among the warriors fights one whose coverings are as onyx,
Whose skin is as polished white-stone
Whose countenance is as the sun.
She is set upon by warriors on the edge of (Kurnugi).
She is swarmed by locusts outside the [(Heylo?)].
See how her hammer swishes from her hands and limbs are mangled!
The locusts cry out as she makes their bones as twigs!
She crushes.
See how her hammer swoops from her hands and sinew is shorn!
The warriors lament as she peels their muscles like scabs!
She flays.
Behold, she battles in the forever-cave,
She fights against two armies,
Even between two cities:
She kills giants from the north.
She annihilates winged galla from the east.
Yet it is not enough
And the soldiers continue to swarm.
She makes heads to roll as balls at her feet.
She makes arms to fly as birds in the air.
Yet it is not enough
And the armies continue to thrive.
She harvests knee-deep in soldiers' blood.
She wades up to her thighs in warrior's gore.
Yet it is not enough
{As} the war is eternal.
She fills the air with red mist.
She consumes the scattered with an ending flame.
It is enough
And the battle ends.
Yet the war is eternal.
The first army retreats to its city,
Even the second army to its citadel.
Yet the third remains around the violent goddess,
The burning one before Maiden Anat.
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"Take this one to (Sheol)
The violent goddess down to (Beth-[Ayin])."
So is Anat taken to (Sheol),
The violent [goddess] down to (Beth-Ayin).