2024/2025

Mediterranean Semitic Civilizations: Ugarit, Phoenicia, Carthage

Type: Optional course (faculty)

Delivered by: Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies

When: 4 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Alexey Lyavdansky

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 36

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Mediterranean Semitic civilizations: Ugarit, Phoenicia, Carthage Alexey Lyavdansky, IOCS HSE (Moscow) The port city Ugarit in Syria (acme XV – XII cc. BCE), the chain of ancient Phoenician cities on the coast of Lebanon and the net of Carthaginian colonies throughout the Western Mediterranean – these maritime urban centers have a lot in common; their seaside position, ethnic and linguistic affinity, contributed to the continuity of religious beliefs, cult practices, scribal habits, patterns of social life, technological and economic activities throughout the Canaanite-Punic realm. All this enables one to see these Semitic civilizations in Mediterranean as a cultural and historical entity which constitutes a significant part of the heritage of ancient Mediterranean in general. In the focus of this course are the core texts of these cultures: mythological and ritual texts from Ugarit, Phoenician royal and ritual inscriptions, Punic inscribed ritual steles from the tophets. The texts will be read in English translation with philological and historical commentary. Controversial passages will be discussed looking into the relevant linguistic details of Ugaritic and Phoenician original texts. This discussion will be supplemented by a short introduction into the relevant Semitic languages: Ugaritic and Phoenician with its local and diachronic varieties. The seaside position of the main urban centers of these civilizations (Tyre, Sidon, Ugarit, Carthage) made a deep imprint on their life and culture. It is legitimated to talk not only about their maritime trade, maritime warfare or maritime technology, but it concerns also some common traits of their maritime religion (patron deities of sailors, sacred spaces on ships, seaside temples and shrines, maritime burial rituals), discussed in a number of scholarly publications (Brody 1998, Christian 2013). Naturally, the religion of these seaside polities is not restricted to only sea-related practices and beliefs. To name but a few, there are the following phenomena which are especially revealing, because they demonstrate continuity in the cultic sphere: the opening formulas of votive inscriptions common to Ugarit and Phoenician-Punic world; the institution of marzeaḥ, a cult banquet; the cult-related mythological notion rapa’ūma/rephaim ‘shade ancestors’. The last two notions are of special significance because they are shared by the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. A product of Canaanite-Phoenician maritime technology, the Tyrian purple, had immense cultural significance in the Mediterranean region and adjacent countries for centuries including Middle Ages and later times; its biological, technical and cultural aspects will be discussed. The active maritime trade of Ugarit and Phoenician-Punic cities inevitably brought their citizens into contact with other actors within Mediterranean realm: Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and other peoples. It has found its manifestation in linguistic borrowings, common iconographic features, narrative motifs, religious practices and beliefs. Special attention is paid to the discussion of the Punic ritual steles housed by the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg, which were only recently revealed to public; these artifacts are rich in epigraphic and iconographic evidence of the cultic life in the ancient Carthage. Latest developments in the field of Ugaritic and Phoenician studies will be brought into the discussion: the works of D. Pardee, M. Smith, J. Zamora, L. Kogan (HSE) and many others; not to forget about the contributions of earlier studies, including those created in Russia by M. Heltzer, I. Shifman and Y. Tsirkin. The results of the work of the HSE Research Study Group “Semitic Epigraphy in the Digital Age” (2024 - 2025), focused on Phoenician and Aramaic epigraphy, will be used in this course as well. References Amadasi Guzzo, M. G., Zamora J.-Á. The Phoenician marzeaḥ: New Evidence from Cyprus in the 4th Century BC // Studia Eblaitica, 4 (2018), pp. 187–214. Berezkin Y., Duvakin E., Kharitonova A., Kogan L. Plots, Motifs and Concepts of Ugaritic Literature: Towards a Comparative-Historical Analysis (forthcoming). Brody, A. J. " Each man cried out to his God": the specialized religion of Canaanite and Phoenician seafarers. Atlanta, 1998. Christian, Mark A. Phoenician Maritime Religion: Sailors, Goddess Worship, and the Grotta Regina // Die Welt des Orients 43.2 (2013): 179-205. Heltzer, M. The economy of Ugarit // Watson, W., Wyatt, N. (eds.). Handbook of Ugaritic studies. Brill, 1999. P. 423-454. López-Ruiz, Carolina. Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean. Cambridge MA, 2021. Pardee D. Ritual and Cult at Ugarit. Atlanta, 2002. Veropoulidou, R. (2012) The Tyrian Purple, a “royal” dye. In P. Adam-Veleni and E. Stefani (eds.),Greeks and Phoenicians at the Mediterranean Crossroads. Exhibition Catalogue (20/12/2011-20/09/2012). Thessaloniki: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (publ. no. 15), 103-105