Blane W. Conklin, «Arslan Tash I and other Vestiges of a Particular Syrian Incantatory Thread», Vol. 84 (2003) 89-101

The first part of this article is a new translation and interpretation of the first incantational plaque from Arslan Tash in northern Syria. Each of the three succeeding sections identifies and discusses elements of this incantation that find resonance in texts from Ugarit, Egypt, and the Hebrew Bible, respectively. At Ugarit we find texts predating Arslan Tash which describe incantational activity involving Horon and the Sun-deity, both of whom are present in the Arslan Tash text, and who have similar roles in the two traditions. Horon is also present in Egypt during the last centuries of the city of Ugarit, and is there also associated with the Sun-deity and performs similar functions as at Arslan Tash. In the Passover account of Exod 12 there are several elements in common with Arslan Tash, albeit in the distinctive form that might be expected in the theological and literary tradition of the Hebrew Bible.

Comments

        Line 1: The name ‘PT’ is restored to match the spelling on the upper figure on the recto (line 19).

        Lines 2-3: The first four lines of this text have remained some of the most difficult to interpret. An alternative to that presented here is represented most recently by P.K. McCarter⁵. In the alternative interpretation, lines 1-4 list three deities or groups of deities against whom the incantation is addressed. The {s\)} at the beginning of line 3 is considered the end of the second part of the divine name in line 2, SSM bn PDRS0S0). This name is then thought to be followed by an appositive, "the god", with the {w} at the end of line 3 an error, a dittography of the {w} at the beginning of line 4. The impetus for seeing a divine name PDRS0S0) here came from a misreading of a Ugaritic ritual text, RS 1.023: 5, {pdr . tt}, where the {tt}, following a word-divider, is actually the number "six"⁶. Though SSM is attested as a divine name, it is also found in both Phoenician and Punic as a personal name⁷. The interpretation presented here sees SSM bn PDRS0 as the name of the person who is to benefit from the incantation, followed by an imperative at the beginning of line 3 which is parallel to the imperative in lines 4-5 (’mr), and this first imperative is followed by a prepositional phrase, therefore no dittography need be posited at the end of line 3.

        Line 12: Recall the expression wkl dr bn ’lm in Karatepe A/III 19, a slight variation of several elements here in lines 11-12; and since the Karatepe