Fertility cult in ancient Ugarit

Abstract

The sacred marriage was the main manifestation of the fertility cult in Ugarit, as well as in the other regions of the ancient Near East. The authors assuming that this rite was performed by the King at the close of the New Year festivities, base themselves on the mythological and ritual text KTU 1. 23, allegedly a libretto of a cultic play in which the roles of Head of the Pantheon, El, and of his wife, Alirat, were played by the King and the Queen of Ugarit. A series of preparatory rites took place before the sacred marriage, which constituted the peak of the ceremony. The offspring born from this union were called the "gracious gods". The aim of this contribution is to comment upon the above mentioned composition, of which different interpretations have been given, and to determine to what extent it can be considered a reliable basis for the study of the fertility cult in Ugarit. The sacred marriage reported by a hieros logos or even performed in a sacred play, the allusions to hydrophory, which aims at providing dew and rainfalls, and the mention of wine, that played an important part in the New Year festivities, constitute indeed various aspects of a fertility ritual enacted in autumn.