Did the Ugaritic tablets include the oldest solar eclipse recorded in history? Study of KTU 1.78
The image is expressive because it is not possible to access the image of Al-Raqim
The Ugaritic inscriptions are not at the same level of clarity, and I do not mean here that they are difficult to read for reasons such as the tablet being shattered, burned, or parts of it being lost, but rather for reasons due to the writing style, which is not devoid of riddles, signs, and words whose occurrence may seem inconsistent with the context of the text, and which may carry Multiple meanings with no connection between them. The tablet (KTU 1.78) is one of the most prominent examples of this type of text. Although it is an intact tablet - almost - and consists of only eleven words, specialists have been confused about its translation and interpretation, and have gone to various schools of thought in defining it and understanding its nature and purpose.
Broadcast. Yum. A
good event. Arabet
Shavash. He
sipped
like Adam. Tabqarn
Sakan
Possible translations of the text (each sentence separately)
First sentence:
On the sixth day of the month of Khayar
At the sixth [hour] of the first day of Khayyar
Misery on the first day of cucumber
Second sentence:
The sun set, and Mars [appeared] at its door
The sun set [and] Mars stood guard
The sun has set and its guardian is Mars
The sun entered the gate of Mars
The third sentence :
O children of Adam, beware of danger!
O children of Adam, seek housing (refuge)!
O children of Adam, consult the ruler!
We checked the livers, [her answer]: Danger! (This translation is based on reading the first word in the penultimate line as “kadam” and not “kaadam”).
As a result of different points of view in translating and interpreting each word of the text, researchers did not agree on the nature of this tablet. Some of them considered it an astronomical prophecy for the future and a warning of imminent danger and misery. It was also interpreted as a “coded history” of the death of the Egyptian king Akhenaten (the Sun) that included a warning against The spread of evil and misery, and others considered it an astronomical text that dated a historic solar eclipse that coincided with the appearance of the planet Mars over the coastal kingdom, and included a warning about the dangers that this strange phenomenon might cause.
My translation of the text:
In the sixth [hour] of the first day of the month of Khayyar,
the sun set [in the daytime] and its guardian Mars appeared.
O children of Adam, look out for danger!
Interpreting the text according to its data and our astronomical information:
The Ugaritic god Reshef is considered the Canaanite counterpart of the Greek god of war, Mars. Both of them personify the planet Mars, and their appearance portends woe and ruin. Therefore, his appearance in the sky coinciding with the absence of the sun in broad daylight had a warning character about an imminent danger surrounding the kingdom.
Based on the fact that the text records for us a solar eclipse that Ugarit witnessed “at the sixth hour of the first day of the month of Khyar,” astronomers were able to determine the exact date of this eclipse. The Ugaritic people used the Egyptian method of dividing the hours of the day, making the day 10 hours from sunrise to sunset, and therefore the sixth hour of the day (after sunrise in the spring) would be around one o’clock in the afternoon. So we are looking for a solar eclipse (perhaps a complete one) that occurred on a spring afternoon over the shores of the Mediterranean. From here, astronomers determined the date of March 5, 1223 BC. As a date for this astronomical event recorded by the Ugaritic tablet, this afternoon, “at 01:20 PM,” witnessed a complete solar eclipse over the Mediterranean region, and Mars was actually visible during the day of that day near the position of the sun. Thus, the Ugaritic tablets have preserved for us the oldest recording of a solar eclipse in human history, about 3,245 years ago.
For more information on how the date of this eclipse was determined, click here See an extensive article in Forbes magazine.
Source : websites