The Myth of Cosmic Rebellion: A Study of its Reflexes in Ugaritic and Biblical Literature.

• Author: Lete, G. del Olmo
• Position: Review

By HUGH ROWLAND PAGE, JR. Vetus Testamentum, Supplement, vol. 65. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1996. Pp. xiii + 232. HFl 130.50; $82.50.

The present study is a revised version of a doctoral dissertation carried out under the direction of F. M. Cross. It highlights possible traces, or "reflexes," of a proto-Canaanite myth of the (failed) Cosmic Revolt (CR) against the Supreme deity of the Semitic pantheon, to be found both in the Ugaritic and biblical texts.

At the very beginning (pp. 2-3) the author identifies the characters on which he will focus: Athtar in the Ugaritic texts and hyll bn shr (Isa. 14:12) in the biblical, as well as their possible identification, according to the interpretative notions of W. F. Albright and F. M. Cross. The Ugaritic texts are taken (p. 3) from the first edition of M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartin, Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit: Einschliesslich der keilalphabetischen Texte ausserhalb Ugarits, pt. 1: Transcription, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, vol. 24.1 (Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn: Verlag Butzon & Bercker and Neukirchener Verlag, 1976). In the bibliography, however, he cites the later edition: The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani, and Other Places (KTU), 2d ed. (Munster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995). The use of both editions leads to some confusion (cf. pp. 17; n. 70; n. 75; n. 107; n. 150). As for the vocalization of Ugaritic and Hebrew texts, common among American scholars, the author acknowledges the risks, but asserts nonetheless that it is necessary in this kind of study (p. 6). Some inconsistencies and even errors arise as a result: beginning, for instance, with the fluctuating vocalization of the D-prefix conjugation.

The section on the status quaestionis (pp. 9ff.) emphasizes the thesis of S. Morgenstern and of Albright and Cross referred to above. No mention is made of the theme of "the Combat against the Dragon" as the clearest example of a "cosmic and celestial" (KTU 1.5 1 1ss), even "astral," revolt in the Ugaritic literature. Although evidently this Combat theme is not the "prototype" of the myth that the author is seeking, it is clearly reflected in the Bible (in the form of Leviatan), and it plays an important role in the eschatological combat; it cannot therefore be ignored in a study of the "celestial rebellion," such as this one.

The author's interest, as stated. is however focused on the character of Athtar as the antihero of this myth (pp. 3, 34, 50, etc.) and...