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.

        I am interpreting the verb in this line and those which follow in lines 21, 22 (restored), and 24-26 as perfects, functioning performatively, though they could simply be indicating a simple past.

        Line 21: Here and in line 24, the {y} could be either a 3ms or a 1cs pronominal suffix¹⁶. I chose to interpret them in both places as 1cs, because of the first person perspective in the first part of the text, lines 5-12.

        Line 22: The reading of the first three signs is uncertain to impossible, according to Pardee¹⁷, and the hand copy reflects this, at least for the first two. The third sign looks like a fairly clear ’aleph, however ¹⁸. If that is the case, a III-’aleph perfect verb would fit here syntactically, and this could be YS9), B’, NS0), QR’, or T9N), just to name a few that are attested frequently in Phoenician¹⁹. Bracketing out the epigraphic problem, it seems that the verb YS9) would make the best sense here, with the subject gapped. In line 26 this verb is repeated and the subject is expressed. This structure — a repeated verb with the subject gapped in the first instance and expressed in the second — is similar to how I have interpreted the structure in lines 8-10 above concerning As\s\ur and the treaty²⁰. The sense here therefore is that S0ams\, the sun-deity, is poised to emerge from his underworld circuit (i.e., at sunrise) to shine light on the door of SSM son of PDRS0. As with the identification of the two figures on the recto (see comment on line 20), I am identifying the sun-deity in the text with the figure on the verso upon which it is written²¹. Though the treaty is initiated by As\s\ur, this is not sufficient reason to say that As\s\ur is the deity depicted in the figure, or that he has the primary role in protecting this house against unwanted intruders. We know from the Ugaritic text RS 24.251 (see section 2 below) that the sun-deity S0aps\u could be a "destroyer" if called upon, rather than just a mere messenger, and in that text she has a more prominent role than does H9o=ra4nu or any of the other "stars" of the pantheon. In Mesopotamian culture the sun-deity was a god of justice and protection ²², and the great kings of Mesopotamia, Hatti and Egypt were often given the title of "Sun"²³.

        Line 27: Though the readings at the end of the inscription are very difficult, the possibility that this word means "horse" may provide a brave restorer something to work with, since we know that S0aps\u in the Ugaritic text RS 24.251 was the mother of a mare (see section 2 below), and the passage in 2 Kgs 23,11 which indicates some religious connection between