| Kotharat | |
|---|---|
Tutelary goddesses of marriage, conception, pregnancy and birth | |
| Major cult center | Mari,Ugarit |
| Parents | hll (Hulelu?)[1] |
| Equivalents | |
| Mesopotamian | Šassūrātu |
| Hurrian | Hutena and Hutellura |
Kotharat (Ugaritic:𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎚,kṯrt[2]) were a group of seven goddesses associated with conception, pregnancy, birth and marriage, worshiped chiefly in the northern part of modernSyria in theBronze Age. They are attested in texts fromMari,Ugarit andEmar. There is no agreement among translators over whether they had individual names in Ugaritic tradition. They were considered analogous to theMesopotamianŠassūrātu, a collective term referring to assistants of the goddessNinmah, and toHurrianHutena and Hutellura. It has been suggested that the latter were at least in part patterned after the Kotharat.
The name Kotharat (Kôṯarātu[2]) is a conventional vocalization ofUgaritickṯrt.[3] Spellings such as Kathiratu[4] and Katiratu is also used in modern literature.[5] Other forms of the name of the Kotharat are attested in texts fromMari: the older Kawašurātum (dkà-ma-šu-ra-tum) and more recent Kûšarātum (dku-ša-ra-tum).[6] InEmar, they were known as "Ilū kašarāti" (DINGIRMEŠka-ša-ra-ti).[7] All of these names are most likely derived from theSemiticrootkšr, "to be skilled" or "to achieve," which is attested inWest Semitic languages and inAkkadian.[6] Its other derivatives include the name of the godKothar, the Ugaritic wordkṯr, "wise" or "cunning,"[6] andHebrewkôšārāh, "luck" or "prosperity."[8] Possiblecognates,ku-ša-ri andku-šar, have also been identified amongtheophoric elements known from Akkadian personal names.[9]
Ugaritic texts indicate that the word Kotharat is plural,[10] and it is conventionally assumed that it refers to a group of seven goddesses.[6] However, occasionally smaller number, either four or six, is postulated as an alternative.[11]
Individual names of the Kotharat might be attested in the Ugaritic mythMarriage ofNikkal andYarikh.[12] Gabriele Theuer restores them as follows:ṯlḫh,mlgh,yṯtqt,bq’t,tq’t,prbḫṯ,dmqt.[11] Wilfred G. E. Watson gives a similar list,[5] but excludesyṯtqt.[11] However, not all experts agree that these words are given names.[5] Theuer, who accepts that each of these words is the name of a single goddess, considersṯlḫh either a cognate of Hebrewšillûḥîm, which might refer todowry, or alternatively of Akkadianšalāḫu, "to tear out," which she assumes might indirectly refer to removing the infant from mother's womb.[13] She points out the similarity betweenmlgh and Akkadianmulugu, a term referring to the property a bride brought from her father's house.[14] The wordyṯtqt might be derived from the rootṯtq, possibly "to split off," "to separate," and as such designate the goddess as a responsible for cutting theumbilical cord.[14] Similarly, the rootbq’, from whichbq’t might be derived, refers to splitting, and possibly refers specifically to splitting the womb in this context.[14] The termtq’t is most likely derived fromtq’, "to hit with a hand," presumably referring to enthusiastically clapping hands to celebrate the birth of a child or possibly indirectly alluding to determination of a favorable fate.[15] The compoundprbḫṯ according to Theuer is presently impossible to translate and might be aHurrianloanword in Ugaritic.[16] Finallydmqt, seemingly designated as the youngest of the Kotharat, might mean "the good" or "the kind" and liketq’t refer to the ability to determine a positive fate for the infant.[16] Aicha Rahmouni assumes thatdmqt might instead refer to the whole group, not necessarily to a single goddess, and translates it as either "fairest ones" or "fairest one."[17]
Another translator, David Marcus, does not assume that the passage refers to individual goddesses:
Let her partings gift and dowry
Be weighed out (?) for her
Bursts (?) of handclapping forprbḫṯ,
The fairest and youngest of the Kotharat.[18]
He argues thatprbḫṯ is the name of a mortal woman, presumably a bride, poetically compared to one of the Kotharat.[18] This interpretation is also supported by John Gibson, who presumes the Kotharat are invoked to bless her in her marriage.[19] He considers it possible that the text was recited during wedding ceremonies in Ugarit and the nameprbht is simply a placeholder.[19]
The Kotharat were chiefly associated with conception, pregnancy and birth.[6] They were believed to be responsible for forming human children during pregnancy.[20] Additionally, literary texts indicate that they blessed marriages.[21] They are also sometimes characterized as divinemidwives in modern literature.[19][9] However, Dennis Pardee objects to this description, arguing that in known myths the Kotharat appear to only intervene before pregnancy.[10]
One of the Ugaritic texts describes them with the termsnnt.[22] Especially in older literature, it is often assumed to be a cognate of Akkadiansinuntu, "swallow."[22] However, many researchers, for example Dennis Pardee and Aicha Rahmouni, favor the explanation "shining" or "brilliant," based on similarity toArabicsanā, "to shine," "to gleam" or "to be exalted" (used to refer to stars), as well as itsAramaic cognate referring to refining metal or glittering.[22] The proponents of the latter theory point out that there is no precedent forAncient Near Eastern deities being referred to as "swallows," while various epithets highlighting luminosity are attested in Mesopotamian andEblaite texts, as well as in theHebrew Bible.[22]
According to Ugaritic texts, the godhll was the father of the Kotharat.[23][22] The vocalization of his name is uncertain, though a god named Hulelu, whose origin is presently unknown,[24] was worshiped in Emar and might be related to Ugaritichll.[25] The meaning of the name is not known, though a similarity with the Arabic wordhilālun, "crescent moon", has been pointed out.[25] Based on this possible relation he is often considered an astral deity, possibly a lunar god specifically associated with the crescent phase.[25] Another proposed translation of his name is "star."[6] Dennis Pardee instead suggests the name might mean "purity,"[25] while Wilfred G. E. Watson favors "brightness."[5] Yet another theory connectshll with the senior Mesopotamian godEnlil.[25]
Lists of deities from Ugarit and Mari indicate that the Kotharat were understood as analogous to theLower MesopotamianŠassūrātu.[26][6] The sources from the former site additionally attest an equivalence between them and HurrianHutena and Hutellura.[6] The termŠassūrātu refers to goddesses regarded as helpers ofNinmah.[6] Both they and the Kotharat appear in offering lists from Mari.[6] Their name is derived from the Akkadian wordšassūru, a direct loan fromSumerian meaning "womb"[27] or "midwife."[12] They appear in the mythEnki and Ninmah, where the members of this group areNinimma,Shuzianna,Ninmada,Ninšar,Ninmug and Ninnigina.[28] They are collectively characterized as "wise and knowing."[29] The latter names refer to a group of Hurrian deities believed to be responsible for determining the fate of humans,[30] also associated with birth and midwifery.[20] Alfonso Archi considers it possible that the Hurrians living in Syria patterned them on the Kotharat and their Mesopotamian counterparts.[6] He assumes that they were a heptad of deities, much like the Kotharat, which is a position also supported byVolkert Haas.[31] However, Piotr Taracha remarks that while both "Hutena" and "Hutellura" are grammatically plural, on theYazılıkaya reliefs only two figures are identified by them.[32] He also points out that in some cases Hutellura was seemingly treated as a singular goddess analogous to Ninmah.[32]
Wilfred G. E. Watson argues that in the mythMarriage ofNikkal andYarikh (KTU 1.24), the Kotharat function as handmaidens of the eponymous goddess.[5]
Despite their names being cognates, there is no direct indication in any known sources that the Kotharat were ever associated with the godKothar.[21]
The Kotharat originated in inlandSyria.[7] They were worshiped byAmorites in various cities located in the north of this region.[27] According to Alfonso Archi, they spread through the MiddleEuphrates area in the early second millennium BCE.[6] They are attested in offering lists fromMari.[6] They were also worshiped inEmar, though there is no indication that they had a temple there and they are absent from knowntheophoric names.[33] Marten Stol also tentatively suggests that a relief fromTell Chuera depicting seven goddesses might be an indication that the Kotharat or a similar group of birth goddesses were worshiped in this location.[9]
TheUgaritic texts also mention the Kotharat. Wilfred G. E. Watson counts them among the principal goddesses of this city of local origin alongsideAnat,Ashtart,Athirat andShapash.[34] In two similar lists of deities (one fragmented),[35] they appear between the pair Arṣu-wa-Šamuma ("Earth and Heaven") and the moon god Yarikh.[36][6] A single possible theophoric name invoking the Kotharat,bn kṯrt, has been identified as well.[37]
Dennis Pardee argues that the genealogy of deities presented byPhilo of Byblos might reflect one of the Ugaritic deity list, in which the Kotharat appear afterIlib, Arṣu-wa-Šamuma ("Earth and Heaven") andEl, beforeDagan.[38] The latePhoenician author mentions seven daughters of Elos/Kronos alongside Elyon, the pairGe andOuranos, and Dagon.[38] He additionally argues that the Ugaritic list might reflect a tradition in which their father was El.[39] However, Lluís Feliu concludes that the presence of Kotharat in this document might be the result of a scribal mistake:kṯrt in place ofaṯrt (Athirat), the wife of El.[26] He points out that in an analogous list written in the syllabiccuneiform script, the deity occurring between El and Dagan is designated by thelogogramdNIN.MAH, which according to him never designated groups of deities such as Kotharat orŠassūrātu, and as such might refer to a singular deity, the wife of El, instead.[40]
Two purported attestations of the Kotharat postulated byWilliam F. Albright, on a tablet fromBeth Shemesh and in verse 7 ofPsalm 68, are no longer accepted in modern scholarship.[21]
The Kotharat are among the deities appearing in the Ugaritic mythMarriage of Nikkal and Yarikh, sometimes referred to with the titleNikkal and the Kotharat instead.[19] They apparently oversee the birth of a son of Nikkal and Yarikh, and might also be invoked to bless a mortal woman,prbḫṯ due to her own upcoming wedding,[19] though it has also been proposed that the passage enumerates the individual names of the Kotharat.[11]
They also appear in theEpic of Aqhat.[6] They visit the house ofDanilu afterBaal intercedes on his behalf with El, and grants him a descendant, the hero of the narrative, Aqhat.[4] Danilu holds a six day long feast in their honor.[4] On the seventh day they leave.[4] It is possible they later return to act as midwives during the birth of Aqhat,[4] though this assumption is speculative as a section of the story presumed to describe these events is missing.[41]