27 Facts About Yarikh

Yarikh, or Yarahum, was a moon god worshiped in the Ancient Near East.

Yarikh is best attested in sources from the Amorite city of Ugarit in the north of modern Syria, where he was one of the principal deities.

Yarikh is attested in other areas inhabited by Amorites, for example in Mari, but in Mesopotamia as far east as Eshnunna.

Yarikh is the main character in The Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh, a myth possibly based on an earlier Hurrian composition.

Ugarit ceased to exist during the Bronze Age collapse, and while Yarikh continued to be worshiped in the Levant and Transjordan, attestations from the first millennium BCE are relatively rare.

Yarikh played a small role in Phoenician, Punic, Ammonite and Moabite religions, and appears only in a small number of theophoric names from these areas.

The name Yarikh is an ordinary Ugaritic word which can refer not only to the lunar god, but to the moon as a celestial body.

Cognates of Yarikh's name are present in many Semitic languages.

Yarikh's presumed main cult center, attested in the Ugaritic texts, but located further inland in central Syria, presumably in the proximity of Ebla, was Larugadu, identified with Arugadu from the earlier Eblaite sources.

Since Yarikh himself is not attested in the sources from the latter city, it is presumed that he was only introduced to northern Syria by the Amorites.

Yarikh was regarded as one of the primary deities of the Ugaritic pantheon.

Additionally, the terms Gatarama and Gataruma, designations of a group of god which are etymologically, respectively, dual and plural forms of the name Gataru, might in some cases refer to Yarikh, grouped with Gataru, the sun goddess Shapash or both of these deities.

Thirty individuals bearing theophoric names invoking Yarikh have been identified with certainty in the Ugaritic texts.

However, in one ritual text, KTU 1.111, Kusuh and Yarikh, accompanied by Nikkal, who is placed between them, receive offerings together as separate deities.

Dennis Pardee additionally suggests that yrh kty, a hypostasis of Yarikh, might be a lunar deity of Kassite origin.

Yarikh is attested in a prayer for well-being and in an offering list.

Yarikh appears in a number of Ugaritic myths, but his role in them does not necessarily reflect his nature as a lunar deity.

Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh is the Ugaritic narrative composition which is focused on the moon god to the greatest degree.

Yarikh offers to pay a high bride price, including large amounts of gold, silver and lapis lazuli, and additionally states that he will "make her [Nikkal's] fields orchards," which is most likely an euphemistic way to refer to his ability to sire an heir.

Yarikh ultimately rejects both proposals, and states that he is only interested in Nikkal.

Yarikh is otherwise almost entirely absent from western Syrian sources from the second and first millennia BCE.

The rest of the composition focuses on El getting drunk and subsequently struggling with the effects of alcohol, and Yarikh is not referenced again.

The myth KTU 1.92 mentions Yarikh in passing as one of the gods who receive game from Ashtart after her return from a hunt.

The role of astral deities such as Yarikh was small, possibly due to their lack of a connection to maritime trade, shared by many of the major deities of this culture.

In known Punic sources, Yarikh is similarly absent from inscriptions, though he does appear in theophoric names.

One of the Ammonite kings bore the name yrh'zr, "Yarikh is my helper," as attested in an inscription on the plinth of a royal statue dated to around 700 BCE.

Evidence includes toponyms and, according to Gabriele Theuer, theophoric names invoking Yarikh, though according to Brian B Schmidt certain examples of the latter are presently lacking.