Tuesday, May 23, 2023

El as "bull" in the Ugaritic texts

In the Ugaritic texts, El is called a “bull”:

 

tr I’l ‘abh I’l mlk dyknnh (“Bull El his father, El the king who establishes him”)

 

For examples of this, see KTU 1.3:v.35-36; 1:4:i.4-6; iv.47-48.


On the importance of this, see the relevant slides here, showing that the Golden Calf in Exodus, and later, the Golden Calves of Jeroboam's temple, were not pedestals, but animal representations of deity.

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