Arsay
| Arsay | |
|---|---|
Daughter of Baal | |
| Major cult center | Allatu |
Arsay (
Character
Arsay's name was derived from the Ugaritic word ‘arṣ,[3] which can be translated as "earth" or "underworld."[4] The final sign, y, is a common suffix of feminine names.[5] The name is typically translated as "Earthy."[6][3]
Her epithet bt y y’bdr is usually translated as "daughter of y’bdr," but Aicha Rahmouni proposes that the translation "disperser of y’bdr" might also be a plausible option.[5] It occurs twelve times in known Ugaritic texts.[3] The meaning of the term y’bdr is unknown.[5] It has been suggested that it might be the name of an otherwise unknown deity, or possibly a particular attribute of Arsay.[5] Past proposals include a euphemism for the underworld, "wide earth" (based on Arabic wa’iba, "was spacious"), "ample flowing" (based on Arabic wa’ībun, "ample," and Akkadian nadarruru, "to run its course freely"), and "rainshower" (based on Arabic ‘abba, "pour down," and Akkadian darāru, a verb referring to freely flowing water).[5] All of these proposals found a degree of support in the field of Ugaritic studies, but Rahmouni remarks that the context does not give any clues about the meaning of y’bdr, and that many of the translations of it are most likely dubious.[5]
It is often presumed that Arsay was a goddess associated with water.[7] For example, Nicolas Wyatt places her in the category of deities "governing meteorological phenomena and fertility" alongside Baal (under various names), Pidray and Tallay.[8] However, no direct references to Arsay being associated with any weather phenomena are presently known from Ugaritic texts.[9] It has also proposed that she was associated with groundwater, though this assumption remains unproven.[7]
On the basis of an indirect equation between Arsay and
Associations with other deities
Arsay was most likely a daughter of the weather god
In a list of deities written in the
In Ugaritic texts
In the Baal Cycle, Arsay appears as one of the three goddesses presumed to be daughters of Baal, the other two being Pidray and Tallay.[20] They are mentioned when Baal laments that he and his daughters have no place to live.[11] While in other passages Pidray and Tallay continue to be referenced together, she makes no further appearances in this composition.[21] It is possible that their grouping in this single fragment relies on their shared status as Baal's unmarried daughters (who according to Ugaritic custom would be expected to live in their father's house[11]), rather than on their similar character, which might indicate that contrary to a common assumption in scholarship they did not form a triad and might have had independent roles in Ugaritic religion.[22] Furthermore, while the grouping of Arsay, Pidray and Tallay is treated as conventional, if all Ugaritic texts are taken into consideration Baal apparently was believed to have more than three daughters,[20] with some researchers accepting the existence of as many as six deities designated as such.[1] Two of the daughters absent from the Baal cycle, uzr‘t and bt ‘lh, in one case seemingly appear alongside Tallay.[1]
Arsay is also attested in offering lists.[3] In one such text, she receives a ram after Shapash and before Ashtart.[23] In another, she is the recipient of two ewes and a cow.[24] Gregorio del Olmo Lete argues that this text deals with offerings to deities of the underworld.[25]
References
- ^ a b c Schwemer 2001, p. 545.
- ^ Rahmouni 2008, p. 126.
- ^ a b c d Rahmouni 2008, p. 127.
- ^ a b c Krebernik 2013, p. 205.
- ^ a b c d e f Rahmouni 2008, p. 128.
- ^ a b Pardee 2002, p. 15.
- ^ a b Wiggins 2003, p. 96.
- ^ Wyatt 2007, p. 70.
- ^ Wiggins 2003, p. 89.
- ^ a b Wiggins 2003, p. 97.
- ^ a b c d Wiggins 2003, p. 87.
- ^ Wiggins 2003, p. 86.
- ^ a b Wiggins 2003, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 546.
- ^ Schwemer 2008, p. 14.
- ^ Schwemer 2008, p. 13.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 14.
- ^ Sharlach 2002, p. 99.
- ^ Rahmouni 2008, pp. 127–128.
- ^ a b Wiggins 2003, p. 83.
- ^ Wiggins 2003, p. 88.
- ^ Wiggins 2003, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 48.
- ^ Pardee 2002, p. 56.
- ^ del Olmo Lete 1999, p. 349.
Bibliography
- del Olmo Lete, Gregorio (1999). "The Offering Lists and the God Lists". In Watson, Wilfred G. E.; Wyatt, Nicolas (eds.). Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10988-9. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
- Krebernik, Manfred (2013). "Jenseitsvorstellungen in Ugarit". In Bukovec, Predrag; Kolkmann-Klamt, Barbara (eds.). Jenseitsvorstellungen im Orient (in German). Verlag Dr. Kovač. OCLC 854347204.
- Pardee, Dennis (2002). Ritual and cult at Ugarit. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. OCLC 558437302.
- Rahmouni, Aicha (2008). Divine epithets in the Ugaritic alphabetic texts. Leiden Boston: Brill. OCLC 304341764.
- Schwemer, Daniel (2001). Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. OCLC 48145544.
- Schwemer, Daniel (2008). "The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies: Part II". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. 8 (1). Brill: 1–44. ISSN 1569-2116.
- Sharlach, Tonia (2002). "Foreign Influences on the Religion of the Ur III Court". General studies and excavations at Nuzi 10/3. Bethesda, Md: CDL Press. OCLC 48399212.
- Wiggins, Steve A. (2003). "Pidray, Tallay and Arsay in the Baal Cycle". Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages. 29 (2).
- Wyatt, Nicolas (2007). Word of tree and whisper of stone and other papers on Ugaritian thought. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. OCLC 171554196.