A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature - enenuru

Ancient Ugarit 17
the secular and religious institutions, particularly the high
priesthood. The Kirtu epic associates the king with the clan of t{
and also glorifies the clan of dtn. The chariot-warriors
(maryanuäma) listed in KTU 4.69 include a group of priests called
bn t{y (vi, 22) and bn dtn (vi, 29), who were among the well-paid
members of the army. A large and wealthy home (200 square
meters) of one of these chariot-warriors (apparently known as
Urtenu) was excavated in the southwest part of the city. 11 These
individuals received ten shekels each and their family members, also
listed on the military payroll, got four shekels each (vi, 23–24).
Military manpower was derived from draft quotas taken from
communities and guilds (compare Solomon’s corvee, 1 Kgs
9:15–21). There were two branches of military service: the army
(including charioteers and infantry) and the navy. The professional
military was paid in silver. Land grants, including grants of
livestock, may have been made to professional soldiers. Based on
the Code of Hammurabi (§§27–29, 31–32, 35–37, 41), we may
assume that special legal protection over land and property was
probably extended to these soldiers. 12
The realm was divided into administrative districts, each
consisting of a focal town and its villages (gímrm). KTU 4.63, for
example, is an administrative text recording the shipment of bows
and slings to Ugarit from each of the towns. Each town is followed
by a list of the villages. The totals are inclusive of the towns and
the following villages, indicating that together they formed an
administrative unit.
Family life was patriarchal. Men could have more than one wife.
Wives were not all of equal status. The “first” wife bore the title
11
See Y. Calvet, “The House of Urtenu,” Near Eastern Archaeologist 63
(2000), 210–11.
12
Such land grants are known from the Code of Hammurabi (§§27–29, 31–32,
35–37, 41). See A. F. Rainey, “Administration in Ugarit and the Samaria
Ostraca,” Israel Exploration Journal 12 (1962), 62–63; and, Rainey, “The
Kingdom of Ugarit,” Biblical Archaeologist 28, 4 (1965), 102–125; W.
Horwitz, “The Ugaritic Scribe,” UF 11 (1979), 389–94; M. Heltzer, The
Internal Organization of the Kingdom of Ugarit (Wiesbaden, 1982).