First, a quick introduction to the main gods in this story. The first names are the Ugaritic names and the second are the Hebrew names for these gods. Ilu/ El: The head of the pantheon, father to many of the gods and mankind, patron of mortal kings, consort of the goddess Asherah. Common epithets include "Father", "Bull El", "El the Compassionate". Generally a benevolent guy who likes to help his kids out. Athirat/ Asherah: Mother to many of the gods, consort of El, usually associated with things like fertility, the sea, and childbirth. Common epithets include "Mother of the Gods", "Lady of the Sea", and in this particular myth "Asherah of Tyre" (a major city). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kirta is a great king with a serious problem. His wife and children have all died, leaving him with no heir to the throne. Grief-striken at the prospect of having no progeny to inherit his kingship, Kirta cries himself to sleep and the god El comes to him in a dream. "What ails Kirta, that he cries? That he weeps, the Pleasant, Lad of El?" El asks Kirta whether he desires to be like the gods and offers him property and material riches. The king replies that he is not interested in material possessions; he needs an heir. El commands Kirta to stop weeping and presents the mournful king with a solution. In the dream, Kirta is instructed to make a sacrifice to enlist more divine help from the pantheon. Then he is to gather together a huge army and march for seven days until they reach the city of Udum. There, they will attack the outlying villages and fields. For seven more days the army will camp outside of the city walls. By the end of the week Udum's ruler, King Pabuli, will be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. King Pabuli will offer Kirta property and riches in exchange for peace. "Take, O Kirta, offerings- offerings of peace! But fly, O king, from my palace, O Kirta, far from my court! Do not harass Udum the great, Do not harrass Udum majestic." Kirta will reply that he doesn't want King Pabuli's possessions. He desires a wife. Specifically, Pabuli's beautiful and kind-hearted daughter, Lady Huraya. El promises Kirta that if he succeeds in marrying this lovely princess, he'll concieve a royal heir. Kirta then awakes from his dream and follows the divine orders given to him. Things go according to plan; the sacrifice was made, the army was created, they marched, harassed Udum, and Kirta gets the girl. But, there was one small change in the plans. Kirta stopped at a shrine to the goddess Asherah of Tyre on his way to Udum and promised her offerings in return for success on his quest. The king returns home victorious with his new bride and holds a feast, inviting many of the gods to join him. At the big bash, El blesses Kirta and promises that he and Huraya will have eight children. Years go by and eight children are born, just as the divine patriarch prophesied. But what about Asherah? Angry with Kirta for forgetting his vow of offerings in exchange for her support, the goddess punishes the king by inflicting him with a serious illness. Kirta's health worsens over several months and he realizes that he is dying. He has his wife prepare several feasts and invites various officials and elites to the palace to inform them of his immanent death. There is discussion of Kirta's eldest son taking the throne. His children are bewildered and grief-striken that the king, who is considered to be the son of El, could succumb to a mortal death.* "How can you, father, die like a mortal?... But Kirta's a scion of El- Son of the Gentle and Holy One! Gods, after all- do they die? The Gentle One's son- won't he live?" Kirta's illness causes drought and famine in the land because of the sympathetic relationship a monarch was believed to have had with his environment. El examines the extent of the damage and someone pleads with him to intervene- he agrees to find a way to cure Kirta's powerful sickness. Gathering all of the gods together, El asks if any of them can get rid of the disease. Silence greets his query, so he asks several more times and again, nobody offers to help. Apparently irritated with the lack of volunteers, El decides that if he wants this job done, he'll have to do it himself. He will make a golem out of clay to cure the sick king. "Stay seated, my sons, on your seats, On your elevated thrones. As for me, I'll use skills and create! I'll create a Remover of Illness, A Dispeller of Disease!" El creates a female golem and names her Shataqat. He orders her to fly to the king's palace and use magic to remove the disease from him, then wash the sweat from his fever away and bring his appetite back. The golem does all of this and Kirta is cured. Kirta begins to eat and within a day or two is completely healthy again. His oldest son, Yassib, is not aware of this and elsewhere in the palace he plots a way to force his sickly father from the throne. Yassib confronts his father and accuses Kirta of neglecting his royal duties because of the illness. The brazen prince demands that Kirta step down from the throne so that he may be king instead. Kirta, upon hearing this, angrily curses the youth. The story stops here and scholars aren't sure whether this is the actual ending or not. It does seem fit that it ends here though. All that Kirta originally wanted was an heir and in the end, ironically, he winds up cursing his impudent offspring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * The concept of Canaanite kings being the offspring of a god in one sense, yet still mortal is addressed in this story. A quote from Coogan's commentary sums up the concept nicely, I think: "Despite his status as El's adopted son, Kirta was still a mortal; he had to die, and he should not yearn [to become a god or have a god's powers]. For the Canaanites, unlike the Egyptians with whom they had commercial contacts and by whom they were influenced, did not believe that the king was a god; to be a son of god was to remain human." (Coogan, 56-57) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ References Coogan, M. D. (1978). Stories from ancient Canaan. Louisville, KY: The Westminster Press Parker, S. B. (1997). Ugaritic narrative poetry. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature. |
| Mathbatu The Cyber Dwelling of a Canaanite Pagan |
| The Myth of Kirta |
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