| Kothar-wa-Khasis | |
|---|---|
Divine craftsman | |
| Major cult center | Ugarit[1] |
| Abodes | Memphis andCaphtor[2] |
| Equivalents | |
| Mesopotamian | Ea[3] |
| Hurrian | Eyan[3] |
| Egyptian | Keserty,[4] possiblyPtah[5] |
| Greek | Demiurge |
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Kothar-wa-Khasis (Ugaritic:𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎆𐎃𐎒𐎒,romanized: Kôṯaru-wa-Ḫasisu), also known asKothar[1] orHayyānu,[6] was anUgaritic god regarded as a divineartisan. He could variously play the roles of anarchitect, smith,musician ormagician. Some scholars believe that this name represents two gods, Kothar and Khasis, combined into one.[7]
He is well attested in ritual texts, and a number oftheophoric names invoking him have been identified. He was believed to reside inMemphis andCaphtor, which might reflect the routes through which crafts and resources traveled in the lateBronze Age. He appears in variousUgaritic myths as well. In theBaal Cycle, he uses his skills on behalf of other deities. In the beginning,El enlists his help with building a temple forYam. Later he helpsBaal in his conflict with the sea god, providing him with weapons with which he ultimately triumphs. The weather god subsequently asks him for help with preparing gifts forAthirat, whose support he needs, and later with the construction of a palace of his own. He is also mentioned in the hymn toShapash which closes this cycle of myths. In theEpic of Aqhat, he makes the bow belonging to the eponymous hero. There is some evidence that he was also introduced to Egypt, but his popularity there was limited. He was associated with the construction of temples. The name Keserty might have either referred to a god regarded as his counterpart or outright represent an Egyptian variant of his name. A connection between him andPtah has also been suggested in past scholarship.
It is presumed that a figure known from the writings ofPhilo of Byblos,Chousor, represents a later,Phoenician form of Kothar-wa-Khasis.[8] While described as a mortal by this author due to hiseuhemeristic views, he was presumably originally also a craftsman deity. InPhoenician History, he is credited with inventing various arts and crafts. A reference to Chousor is also present in the cosmogony ofMochos, known from a citation in citation inDamascius’De principiis.
Uncertain attestations of Kothar-wa-Khasis include the reference to a possibly related deity named Baal-Malagê in aNeo-Assyrian treaty withTyre, and a number of verses in theHebrew Bible whose emending to include his name did not find universal support.
Kothar-wa-Khasis[9] (Kôṯaru-wa-Ḫasisu) is the vocalization of thetheonym written in theUgaritic alphabetic script askṯr w ḫss.[10] The basic translation of the name is "skilled and wise", though it might also be ahendiadys, "wise craftsman".[9] Similar names are common in theUgaritic texts, and can be understood either as a combination of the primary name and epithet of a deity and epithet, as in the case of Kothar-wa-Khasis orNikkal-wa-Ib, or as two closely related deities, for exampleGupan and Ugar orShahar andShalim.[11] In addition to the binomial name, the short form Kothar is also attested,[1] but the second element never occurs alone.[12] According to Alfonso Archi, thebinomial form is restricted to Ugaritic myths,[13] though an example has also been identified in a prayer.[14] In standard syllabiccuneiform, Kothar's name could be represented by thelogogramdÉ.A, similarly to how other Mesopotamian theonyms could be used to designate local deities of similar character.[3]
The name Kothar is derived from theroot*kšr, "to be skilled" or "to achieve", attested in bothWest Semitic languages andAkkadian.[15] It has been argued that an early form of this theonym,dKa-ša-lu, is already attested in texts fromEbla, which would indicate he was already worshiped in ancientSyria in the late third millennium BCE.[16] However, according to Alfonso Archi Kothar is absent fromEblaite texts, and the similarly named deity mentioned in them is more likely to correspond todGa-ša-ru known from later sources fromEmar.[17]
The name of theKotharat, a group of midwifery goddesses known from Emar,Mari and Ugarit, is a cognate of Kothar's.[15]
InUgaritic a related term,mkṯr, referred to skilled work, and due to etymological parallels has been compared to later Greek descriptions of works of art as "daedalic".[18] The Akkadian cognate is the verbkašāru, "to repair, to achieve".[13] A connection between the name and QuranicAl-Kawthar (Surah 108) has also been proposed.[19] It has been proposed that the second element of the full name, Khasis, might have been a reflection of an Akkadian epithet of Ea,ḫasīs ("wise") which might have reached Ugarit throughHurrian mediation and after being applied to an analogous local deity came to refer primarily to manual dexterity.[13] A further attested name of Kothar is Hayyānu (hyn),[6] which is interpreted either as a derivative of the Hurrian form of the theonym Ea, or as a cognate ofArabichayyinun, "easy", possibly to be translated as "skillful" in this context.[20]
The Ugaritic god Illish (Ilish)[21] was a carpenter deity. In the past he was sometimes interpreted as an alternate name or attendant of Kothar-wa-Khasis, as originally argued byJean Nougayrol.[22] Today some scholars regard this translation as incorrect, and assume he was a distinct figure who functioned as a divineherald.[23] Both words were written asngr in the Ugaritic script.[24]
However, other scholars still regard Ilish as a carpenter deity, being independent although similar to Kothar. Ilish also has wives who are also carpenter deities. In this, there are parallels with Kothar who seems to havekotharat as female attendants.[25]
Carolina López-Ruiz connectsKythereia, the epithet for Aphrodite which was used since the earliest Greek epics, with Kothar (Kothar-wa-Hasis in Ugaritic). According to her, in the first millennium, Kothar was connected with the love goddess in the Cypro-Phoenician context. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite's nameKythereia traditionally linked her to the island ofKythera.[26]
As far back as 1965,de:John Pairman Brown proposed a connection between Kothar and Kinyras (Cinyras) of Cyprus.[27]
Kothar-wa-Khasis was a major deity inUgaritic religion, and he is well attested in ritual texts andtheophoric names.[1] He was the main deity of craftsmanship in theUgaritic pantheon.[28] In the Ugaritic texts, is portrayed as a divine architect responsible for the construction of the temples of other gods.[29] He also plays various other roles, including those of an artisan, musician and diviner.[1] He was additionally associated with magic.[15]
In the standard Ugaritic list of deities Kothar occupies the sixteenth position, afterMount Saphon and beforePidray.[30] In another similar text, he instead precedes Attar.[31] Both of these lists are presumed to document order of sacrifices in rituals.[32] RS 1.001, a text describing a ritual taking place over the course of a full day and the following night,[33] lists Kothar as the recipient of a sacrificial cow.[34] The text RS 24.249, which describes offerings which should be made over the course of two months following the winter equinox,[35] mentions the offering of two rams to him.[36] RS 24.271, a short prayer meant to secure the well-being of the petitioner,[37] uses the binomial form of the name.[14] Thetrilingual edition of theWeidner god list from Ugarit equates Kothar with other gods of similar character: Eyan, a Hurrian derivative of Ea, and Mesopotamian Ea (Enki) himself, though the latter’s presence in the corresponding line was the result of reinterpretation of the name ofAya (dA-a; here read asdE4-a), the wife of the sun godUtu, presumably meant to avoid implying that the Ugaritic sun goddessShapash also had a wife.[3]
Fifteen individuals bearing theophoric names invoking Kothar have been identified in Ugaritic texts.[38] One of them,kṯrmlk, “Kothar is king”, was asilversmith.[39] Wilfred H. van Soldt notes that Ea, who could be identified with Kothar, appears in a large number of names, but rules out the possibility that his name serves a stand-in for Kothar-wa-Khasis in this context.[40]
Two separate places are described as Kothar’s dwelling in the Ugaritic texts.[2] The first isMemphis, referred to asḥqkpt orḥkpt, from Egyptianḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ (Hut-ka-Ptah, “house of theka of Ptah”).[41] In theBaal Cycle it is characterized as “the land of his family estate” and “all divine”.[42] As Memphis was the cult center of the craftsman godPtah, it was presumably seen as appropriate dwelling for a deity of similar character.[16] However, it is not certain if the name is used to refer to the real city in the context of Ugaritic mythology, as they describe it as a land instead.[43]
The second toponym,Kaphtor (kptr; analogous toAkkadianKaptāru andBiblical HebrewKaptōr), is presumed to correspond toCrete.[16] As neither toponym refers to an area in the immediate proximity of Ugarit, it has been suggested that placing Kothar’s dwelling in such locations is meant to designate him as a foreigner among the gods.[44] It is also possible that the location of his two homes reflected the routes of trade in metal and crafts.[16][1] It has also been argued that he might have been believed to possess a workshop located in the underworld.[45][46] Nicolas Wyatt speculates that perhaps this idea was tied to his residence on Caphtor, and that it might indicate familiarity with the volcanic character of nearbySantorini.[47]
These clear overseas connections are significant, indicating trade and cultural contacts. John Curtis Franklin also brings together a considerable amount of other evidence to show that Kothar had a maritime dimension. This connects him to the sea, and makes him appear as a protector of sailors. Aspects of this are invoked in a poem of the Baal Cycle, for example.[48]
In theBaal Cycle, Kothar is portrayed using his skills as a divine craftsman on behalf of other deities.[49] In the beginning he is visited by messengers ofEl.[50] They inform him that said god wishes to meet with him.[51] He travels to the dwelling of El, where he greets him and prostrates himself.[52] The senior god apparently orders him to build a palace, though the passage is fragmentary.[51] It is presumed that it was meant forYam.[53]
Later on, Kothar is described forging weapons[54] and subsequently naming them.[55] The first receives the name Yagarrish,[56] “may it drive”,[57] while the second is Ayyamarri,[58] a combination of‘ay, “any”, and mry, “expel”.[59] They are meant to be used byBaal in his battle with Yam.[56] While the first weapon is not enough to defeat the sea god, striking him with the second of them lets Baal emerge victorious.[60]
In the next section of the story, Kothar-wa-Khasis is approached by Baal’s messengers,Gupan and Ugar, who tell him that the weather god wants him to prepare gifts forAthirat[61] in order to secure her help with gaining El’s permission to have a palace built for himself.[62] Kothar immediately starts preparing them[63] at his bellows.[64] The gifts he makes include adais, a throne with a footstool, apalanquin or couch, a table and a bowl or platter.[65] A later passage indicates that Athirat is pleased with their quality.[66]
After securing El’s permission to have a palace built for himself, Baal once again enlists the help of Kothar-wa-Khasis.[67] He invites him to a feast.[68] He seemingly holds him in high esteem, and it is presumed the passage is meant to highlight the friendship between the two.[69] After the feast, Baal outlines his request for a palace.[70] Kothar suggests putting a window in it, to which Baal initially objects:
“Hear, O Mightiest Baal,
Understand, O Cloud-Rider:
Shall I not install a window in the house,
An aperture inside the palace?”
And Mightiest Baal answered:
“Do not install a window in the house,
An aperture inside the palace.”[71]
The restoration of the passage addressing Baal’s motivation issue is considered difficult or outright impossible, though it was possible to determine it contains mentions ofPidray,Tallay and Yam.[72] It is therefore possible that the weather god is motivated by concerns for the safety of his daughters.[73] Kothar states that he will eventually reconsider this decision.[74] Baal eventually reverses his decision, and asks for a window to be installed.[75] In one of the following lines, Kothar’s name is followed by the phrasesbn ym // bnm ‘dt, whose interpretation is uncertain, though it is often assumed they might be either otherwise unattested epithets, “son of the sea” and “son of confluence”, or a phrase meaning “this day, this very hour”, but the context is unclear[76] The next passage indicates he reacts to Baal’s declaration with joy:
Kothar wa-Hasis laughed,
He raised his voice and declared:
“I truly told you, O Mightiest Baal:
‘You will reconsider my word,
O Baal.’”[77]
It is presumed that his response is meant to highlight his character as a good-natured figure.[78] Baal proceeds to send his thunder, presumably accompanied by rains, through the window.[79] It is possible the window reflected a belief that Baal communicates with the world by sending atmospheric phenomena through breaks in the clouds.[80] Mark S. Smith and Wayne T. Pitard additionally note that from a narrative standpoint, Baal’s uncertainty regarding Kothar’s proposal might have simply been intended to add an element of suspense to the story, similarly to the reluctance of Athirat and El to let him have a palace built in the preceding sections.[81]
Kothar-wa-Khasis is also mentioned in a hymn toShapash which closes theBaal Cycle.[82] The translation of the terms defining his connection to the sun goddess is disputed, with a majority of authors assuming he is designated as a friend or acquaintance, while a minority opinion is to interpret it as a title recognizing him as an expert in magic.[83][84] His task in this passage is to “expel” and “drive” out Yam and various sea monsters, but the reasons behind his inclusion in this passage, the presentation of Yam as a threat despite his earlier defeat, or even the use of a passage focused on him and Shapash as the ending of the composition are not known.[82]
In theEpic of Aqhat, Kothar-wa-Khasis visits kingDanel shortly after the latter learns he will have a son, and presents a bow to him as a gift.[85] This object eventually becomes an object ofAnat’s jealousy, and she tries to convince the son in mention, Aqhat, to give it to her.[86] He tells her to approach the craftsman god herself and ask him to make her one of her own, angering her.[85] This eventually leads to the death of the eponymous protagonist[87] and the destruction of the bow.[85]
In theEpic of Kirta, Kothar-wa-Khasis is mentioned alongsideBaal,Yarikh,Resheph and Rahmay as one of the deities invited to a reception organized byKirta to celebrate the arrival of his wife Huraya.[88]
InHoron and the Mare, a mythological text provided by Dennis Pardee with the subtitle “Ridding the Land of Serpents” due to its subject matter,[89] Kothar-wa-Khasis is listed among the deitiesShapash should summon to deal with snake venom.[90]
Some evidence that Kothar-wa-Khasis was known inancient Egypt exists,[16] though he is not equally well attested asResheph,Anat,Ashtart orBaal and was not a popular deity.[91] Inancient Egyptian religion he was associated with construction of temples,[92] as attested in the so-calledBudapest Kothar Papyrus.[93] This text cannot be dated precisely, though it is assumed it is no older than theEighteenth Dynasty.[94] It has the form of an incantation in which Kothar is invoked to partake in the construction of a shrine.[95] A possible reference to him has also been identified in a late magical papyrus, though the spelling of the name is ambiguous in this case.[16]
According to Izak Cornelius, theEgyptian god Keserty corresponded to Kothar, though his iconography instead resembles Resheph’s, including a similar crown decorated with a gazelle’s head.[4] László Kákosy assumes Keserty was an alternate Egyptian spelling of Kothar’s name, though he notes this theonym differs from the form used in theBudapest Kothar Papyrus.[91] Keserty is known from a stele of unknown provenance from the collection of theCairo Museum, which depicts a man identified as “the engraver, Woše-seti” praying to this god, who is seated on a throne.[96] Due to the overlapping iconography, identification of Keserty as a distinct deity was only possible due to his name being directly mentioned in the inscription.[97] FollowingWilliam F. Albright’s early studies, it is sometimes assumed that Kothar might also have been regarded as analogous toPtah.[5]
Chousor, attested inPhoenician History ofPhilo of Byblos, is assumed to represent aPhoenician reflection of Kothar-wa-Khasis.[1] Due to hiseuhemeristic views, Philo presents Chousor as a human, rather than a god, though it is assumed more traditionalist adherents ofPhoenician religion saw him as a deity, much like how the Ugaritic Kothar was perceived in corresponding cultural milieu.[98]Ptolemy mentions a river named Chousor, presumably named after this deity.[99] The case of Chousor was the first instance in scholarship in which a figure formerly known only fromPhoenician History could be properly identified.[100]
Philo describes Chousor as a distant descendant of Hypsouranios,[101] who according to his account was the founder ofTyre.[102] He uses the names Chousor andHephaestus interchangeably, similarly to how he refers toKronos asEl in some passages.[103] Alongside his nameless brother, Chousor is credited with the discovery ofiron working.[101] Due to theBronze Age origin of theUgaritic texts, this skill is never assigned to Kothar-wa-Khasis in them, and he only works with gold and silver, which is in turn not mentioned inPhoenician History among the skills of Chousor.[104] Acting on his own, Chousor also invented fishing implements (hook, bait, fishing line and raft), which according to Philo lead to the use of the name ofZeus Meilichius to refer to him.[101] The reason behind this connection is uncertain, though it might rely on both deities being viewed as benevolent givers of wealth.[105] Chousor according to him was also the first to prepare magical formulas, incantations and prophecies.[101] In a further passage his brothers, who are left nameless, are credited with inventingbrickwork, which might be a reflection of Kothar-wa-Khasis' role as a divine architect.[104] Albert I. Baumgarten suggests that the assignment of individual inventions to multiple members of Chousor’s family might have been either the result of Philo misunderstanding the use of multiple names to refer to Kothar-wa-Khasis as a reference to a network of related deities, similarly as early researchers of Ugaritic texts erroneously did, or a sign of Greek influence, as inAthenian tradition Hephaestus had multiple sons, who might have inspired the other craftsmen inPhoenician History.[106]
Kothar shows multiple mythological parallels with Hephaestus. Just like Hephaestus, Kothar has excellent architectural and metallurgical skills. In this, he “overlaps in function and techniques with Hephaistos and his relationship to Homeric gods”.[107] Kothar also occupies a similar role in the pantheon of Ugaritic gods as Hephaistos does among the Homeric gods.
There are also some parallels in this area with the famous biblical craftsmenBezalel and Oholiab (Exodus 31:2).
Chousor also plays an active role in the cosmogony ofMochos,[108] known from a citation inDamascius'De principiis.[16] It involves aworld egg,[109] which Chousor opens.[110] It is assumed that his actions in this text were patterned on deeds commonly attributed to EgyptianPtah.[5]William F. Albright went as far as suggesting that his actions were a pun on Ptah's name, though his proposal relied on presuming the existence of a hypotheticalWest Semiticroot*ptḥ, "to open".[16]
Punic andNeo-Punic names with the elementk(y)šr are considered an indication that Kothar was also worshiped inPunic religion.[1]
A connection betweenPhilo’sZeus Meilichius/Chousor and the Phoenician deity Baal-Malagê has been proposed, but is considered unlikely.[111] The latter is attested in a treaty between kingBaal of Tyre and theNeo-Assyrian emperorEsarhaddon from the first millennium BCE.[112] Richard J. Clifford nonetheless proposes the identification of Baal-Malagê as a title of the craftsman god.[113] However, he admits this deity is “elusive”.[114] Aaron J. Brody instead views him as an aspect of the weather godBaal associated withseafaring.[115] and rules out a connection with any version of Kothar-wa-Khasis.[116] In a recent study Reettakaisa Sofia Salo concludes that the character of Baal-Malagê remains unknown as he is not attested outside of a single source and the possible marine associations rely largely on uncertain etymological speculation, though she does accept that he was likely ahypostasis of Baal.[117]
It has been suggested that a figure known from Philo’s writings,Taautos, might have been the result of identification betweenThoth and Kothar-wa-Khasis, but according to Albert I. Baumgarten this theory is implausible, and it can be assumed he was derived directly from the Egyptian god.[118]
It has been proposed that three passages from theHebrew Bible,Ezekiel 3:32,Proverbs 31:19 andJudges 3:8.10, might contain allusions to Kothar-wa-Khasis.[1] However, according to Dennis Pardee none of these proposals are plausible, as the conventional translations of the former two passages are “satisfactory” and emending any words is not necessary, while the interpretation ofCushan-rishathaim as containing a variant of the theonym Kothar as a theophoric element is unlikely.[19] It has also been proposed thatBezalel, a craftsman mentioned inExodus 30:3, was patterned on descriptions of Kothar-wa-Khasis.[119] Both the account of palace building in theBaal Cycle and the construction of thetabernacle inExodus 35-36, in which he was involved, might rely on a shared literary tradition in which a specific formula was used for construction narratives.[120]
In the Islamic tradition,Khidr is a righteous servant of God who possesses great wisdom and mystic knowledge, and he had been linked with Kothar.[121] Khidr is described as an angel, a prophet, orwali who guards the sea, teaches secret knowledge and aids those in distress.[122]
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