ABSTRACT
The Ugaritic texts which deal with the sacred marriage, KTU 1.12 i and 1.23, indicate that underlying the various manifestations of royal ideology in West Semitic literature, including those to be found in the Old Testament, the mythology is Semitic in nature. It consists of a marriage between El, a lunar god in origin, and the sun-goddess, geminated into the morning and evening sun (probably to be identified with Athirat [= Asherah] and Shapsh respectively), who become the mothers of the twin forms of Venus, the morning star Shahar and the evening star Shalem. Echoes of this mythology are found in many parts of the Old Testament, and Genesis 16 and 19 in particular appear to echo the Ugaritic motif most closely.1 This is to be expected. Although traces of Hurrian and even Indo-European influence may be discerned,2 the prehistory of the peoples making up Israel and Judah would naturally be predisposed to acceptance of prevailing West Semitic patterns of culture.
