A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture and Literature

William M. Schniedewind · Joel H. Hunt

Jul 2007 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

A Primer on Ugaritic is an introduction to the language of the ancient city of Ugarit, a city that flourished in the second millennium BCE on the Lebanese coast, placed in the context of the culture, literature, and religion of this ancient Semitic culture. The Ugaritic language and literature was a precursor to Canaanite and serves as one of our most important resources for understanding the Old Testament and the Hebrew language. Special emphasis is placed on contextualization of the Ugaritic language and comparison to ancient Hebrew as well as Akkadian. The book begins with a general introduction to ancient Ugarit, and the introduction to the various genres of Ugaritic literature is placed in the context of this introduction. The language is introduced by genre, beginning with prose and letters, proceeding to administrative, and finally introducing the classic examples of Ugaritic epic. A summary of the grammar, a glossary, and a bibliography round out the volume.

About the author

Professor William M. Schniedewind chairs the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and is a Professor of Biblical Studies at UCLA. He is most recently the author of How the Bible Became a Book, published in 2005.

Joel H. Hunt is currently conducting research at the Department of the Ancient Near East at the British Museum, London. He is a former professor at Azusa Pacific University and has published articles in a variety of journals.