| Site Map | Contacts | Links | Newsletter | |
Old Testament:
Ugaritic
The next important step is understanding the Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) texts and culture that relates to the Bible. Ugaritic is the closest language to Hebrew. A number of Ugaritic words are the same as Hebrew. It can help us understand words that are unclear in Hebrew.
In the spring of 1928 an Syrian farmer was plowing his field when he uncovered a stone over a grave. Archaeologists were called in which led to the discovery of the near by ancient city of Ugarit, modern day Ras Shamra (Curtis 1985, 18; Craigie 1983, 7). Many clay tablets were uncovered which were written in cuneiform (Latin for "wedge shaped", letters) in a language called "Ugaritic." There are a number of texts grouped together called the Baal Cycle. It gives us much information about the Canaanite religion.