Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 04/08/2005 16:53, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

> On 8/4/05, Peter Kirk wrote:
>  
>
> > On the issue of "the widely attested month of the Xiaru festival,
> > ("donkey festival")", do you know of any evidence for which month,
> > relative to the solar year, this was celebrated? I am interested in this
> > for another purpose.
> >    
>
> The following is from the discussion of the month at Alalakh at the
> aforementioned book:
>  

Thank you, Yitzhak

> ... [quoting "Cultic Calendars of the ANE" by Mark Cohen]
> The xijaru festival was observed in Ugarit on the 18th of the second month,
> Xiyaru.  ...
>
> Apparently this festival is also discussed in other places in the book, but 
> I don't have those pages on hand.  Note that Iyyar is the second month 
> of the Babylonian calendar, the same month as it was celebrated in Ugarit.  
> However, it is likely that Ugarit's calendar began in the autumn, since their 
> new year is related to wine. ...

My interest in this is related to the festival at Ugarit. I understand 
that according to recent work e.g. by de Jong and van Soldt the month 
Xiyaru at Ugarit was not the second month, which had only been assumed 
from the parallel with the Babylonian calendar, but was probably some 
time between January and March. I think this was calculated by observing 
how many months it fell after the new wine festival, which must be in 
late summer or autumn. Well, that would fit with the evidence that the 
festival was celebrated at different times in different places.

But, I wonder, do you or Cohen have any evidence other than the 
Babylonian parallel for when Xiyaru was at Ugarit?

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/