Prof. Scott B. NoegelChair, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and CivilizationUniversity of Washington

"AJanus Parallelism in the Baal and 'Anat Story."

First Published in:Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 21/1 (1995),91-94.

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JOl/mal of Norll",'p.~1 Spnri/ic 1-nllgllOgps 21/1 (/995). pp. 9/-94

Scoff R Noegel (Comell Ullil'el:fiM

A .JANUS PARALLELISM IN TilE BAAL AND ANATSTORY'

ABSTRAcr

Jail/IS parallelislII is a lilerary del'ice ill II'lticlr a lIIiddle .fficlt '!f 11IIelry

parallel.f i/1 a pO~I'.fellloll.f"WII/ler hlllir lite li/1e Iltal precede.f i/ ami lire li/1eIlral fnllml's it. 77lOlIgII 11IIlIIerml.f e.mlllple.f Irm'e heel! di.fcOl'ered i/1 lirelIehrell' Hihle, Iti/lterlo, O/1~VO/1e exalllple IJa.f bee/1 p/"/lpo.fed ill Ugari/ic.

77t01lglt Iltere is rea.wlII 10 rejecl IIIe 1"'el'ioll.f~I' IJIYJptJ.fedexal1lple, Iltere is.n!{ficielll el'ide/1ce for lite del'ice elsell'ltere ill Ugari/ic.

I. TIIr: DISCOr'r:Rr OFJ.fNlIS l'AUAU.r:USAf

One of the most sophisticated of all ancient Semilic lilerary devices is Ihal of"Jamls Parallelism". The tenn descrihes a literary device in which a middle stichof poelry parallels in a polysemous manncr hoth Ihe line that precedes it and theline Ihal follows il. Since the discovery of Janlls parallelism in the Ilehrew Bihlehy C. II. Gordon (I 97R:59-(i(i),sevcral scholars liave continued Ihc search andhave found additional examplcs or the device (e.g., Relldshurg 19110:2<)(-93;Zurro IQII1:546-47: and PauIIQ92:147-163).2 More recently,lhe present \vriterhas discovered Ihe presence or Janus parallelism in Akkadian literature as well(NoegeI19QI:4IQ-21: 1994:306-3011). .

::. APRr:r.,OCfSLr""07ED E.\'..I,\//'I.EOF.JANlfS I'AUAI.I.ELlSAf INUGARIHC

III 19114W G E Watson (IQII4:159) 1.101edIhe prescnce ofwhal he helieved 10he a Janlls parallelism in the Ugarilic lext KTI r 1.311:23-26.

23. IIIid IIIII!',I'IIII'(/l

She roughI hard alllilooked

24. I!II,\'" II'/~I"Y '/11

Anal haUledand gazed

. -.--.--------...

1would like to thank Prof Gar)' Rend~hurgfor his helpfillconnnenl~on thi~ note.lIowever. I do not accellt all of Paul'~examples.

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92 SCOIT B NOEGEL

25. txdd khdh h,fIJqymlu

Her bell~ swelled with laughter

26. Ihh h.fml,t...

Iler heart filled with happiness

2.1 Why Watson's example is not q Janus parallelism

Watson saw the verb ~/{Iyin line 24 as meaning both "gaze" and "rejoice". Asthe fonner, Watson maintained, ~Iclyparallels 'n "see" in line 23 and as thelaller, it parallels ,f~lq"laughter" in line 25. However, Watson's example does

. not stand up to closer sCnltiny, for he has confused two roots in Ugaritic. The"". root IJdymeans only "gaze" and the root for "rejoice" is lldw (G'ordon 1965:394,

400). The roots are never interchanged in Ugaritic, and indeed they have onlyone root letter in common, the middle radical d. Thus, Watson's proposed Janusparallelism should be rejected, though the passage may be an example ofparonomasia.

1. ANOT/IER PROPOSED EXAMPLE OF JANUS PARALLELISM INUGARITIC

Nevertheless, Ihough Watson's example cannot be included among the growinglist of polysemous parallels, Ihe texts from Ugarit do contain at least oneexample of the device, and that in the Baal and Anat cycle, KTU 1.4 III:14-18,where we read:

14. y.f/llulrt "m" ',.

lie sets Asherah 011the back of an ass

15. lysmsmlll/l'I!,~11

16.

On the beautiful back of a donkey

qcl.f YlIl/dm :fh'r

Qadish seizes, he .fh'r

17. unliT UMh 1!,lIm

EvenAmrar like astarbeforehim

18. ulr hIlI 'III

III

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II

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A JANUS PARALLELISM IN THE BAAL AND ANAT STORY 93

Marches the virgin Anat

3.1 SlIpportfor Ihe newly proposed Janus parallelism

Of significance here is .rh'r at the end of line 16.Gordon(1965:375) suggestedthat the root h'r may "have a double meaning of 'leading (a caravan)' and'shining(likea star)'".]Both meaningsare attested.As "lead"we findthe rootb'r in KTU 1.14 IV:27 and KTU 2.31:54; and as "shine" in KTU 1.16 II:18 andKTU 1.3 IV:26. KTU 1.4 III:16 allows for both readings as it provides acontext for each. As "lead (a caravan)" .fh'r parallels the caravan preparationswhich Qadish-and-Amrar makes in lines 14-15.(This usage is supported also bycognates from Modem South Arabian. See Rendsburg [1987:625].) Thisconnection is strengthened by a paronomasia between .fh'r and 'r "donkey" inline 14.4As "shines" the polyseme anticipates amrr kkbkb Ipnm "even Amrarlikeastarbeforehim"in line I7.~

III

III

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II

3.2 Howsome Iranslators have treated the passage

The inherent ambiguity of .rh'r can be seen by the differences in the varioustranslations.Though aware of the possibilityof multiplereadings,Gordon(1977:93) opts to translate "Qadish begins to light the way". De Moor(1987:52), on the other hand, translates "Qidshu took the lead".6 Ginsberg(1958:133) likewise translates: "Qadesh proceeds to lead". Dietrich and Loretz(1990:4 I-54) similarly render the lexeme with "wegzufuhren". Van Zijl(1972:95), allo\ving for both possibilities, reads it "Qcl.fbegan to lead (shine)".

4. CONCLUSION

Thus, though there is reason to reject Watson's example of Janus parallelism inKTt) 1.3 11:23-26there is one clearinstanceof thedevicein the Baal and Anatstory in KTU 1.4111:16.

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TIle root also can mean "pillage; turn down; disappoint".

Note also the'paronomasia between atrl "Asherah" in line ~and atr "marches" inline18. .TIlere may be all additional play on .rh'r as "pillage" as it immediately follows yul,dm"he seizes" in line 16.

Note his note 231 on the same page: "Others: 'look a lorch' or 'kindled a torch"'. -

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94 SCOTT I} NOEGEL

BIBLIOGRAPHY

De Moor, J C 1987. All allthology of religiolls texts from Ugarit (Nisaba 16). Leiden: E Jn~ .

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Dietrich M, & Loret7~0 1990. Ugaritischb 'r I'anziindell' und b'r " 'verlassen'. UF 22, 41-54.

Ginsberg, II L 1955. Ugaritic myths, epics, and legends, in: Pritchard, J B (ed.) 1955,Allciellt Near Eastem texts. Relatillg to the Old Testament, 129-155. Princeton, N. 1.:Princeton University Press.

Gordon, C II 1965. Ugaritic textbook (Analecta Orientalia 38). Rome: Pontifical BiblicalInstitute.

Gordon, C II 1977. Poetic legends and myths from Ugarit. Berytlls 25, 5-133.

Gordoll, C II 1978. New directions. Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 15,59-66.

Noegel, S B 1991. A Janus Parallelism in the Gilgamesh flood story. Acta Slimerologica 13,419-421.

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Noegel, S 0 1994. All asymmetrical Janus Parallelism in the Gilgamesh flood story. ActaSlIlIIerologica 16, 306-308.

Paul, S M 1992. Polysellsuous Jlolyvalellcy ill Poetic Parallelism, in: Fishbane, M & Tov, E(eds.) 1992, "Sha'arei Tarmoll".'Studies ill the Bible, Qllmrall, alld the allciellt NearEa.rtpresemed to Shemaryal/lf Talmoll. 147-163. Winona Lake, in: Eisenbrauns.

Rendsburg, G 1980. Janus Parallelism ill Gen 49:26. JBL 99, 291-293.

Rendsburg. G 1987. Modem South Arabian as a source for Ugaritic etymologies. JAOS 107,623-628.

Vall Zijl. I) J 1972. Baa/: A sfltdy of texts ill cOllllectioll with Baal ill the Ugaritic epics(AOAT 10). Neukirchell-Vluyn: Verlag Butzoll & Bercker Kevelaer.

Watson, W G E 1984. Classica/ Hebrew poetry: A guide to its techlliques (JSOTS 26).Sheffield: JSO1' Press.

Zurro. E 1981. Disel11iade h"~1y paralelismo birrollte ell Job 9,25. Biblica 62,546-547.

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