Ugarit · c. 1250 BCE

Before
the rain.

This is a virtual, non-graphic sacrifice. Just the way Baal would like it.

02 / Choose your offering

Choose your offering.

KTU abbreviates Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit (The alphabetic cuneiform texts from Ugarit), a scholarly catalogue. References such as KTU 1.119 identify a text in that catalogue, not a date; line numbers identify passages within it.

Choose your offering Stylized ram illustration

A ram for BaalKTU 1.39 · Attested ritual prescription Stylized bull illustration

A bull for protectionKTU 1.119 · A threatened city’s vow Two live doves, an artistic illustration of the bird offering

Birds for BaalKTU 1.119 · Burnt-offering list A liver portion on a plain terracotta dish

A liver portionKTU 1.119 · An offering portionChoose your own sacrificeA modern personal dedication

Modern artistic illustrations. Birds are pictured as doves; their species and number here are artistic choices.

A ritual list assigns a ram to Baal among offerings to several deities. It gives a prescription, not a complete account of a ceremony.

Back to intentions

03 / Choose your dedication

Brief or full?

Dedication lengthBrief dedicationA short English prayer followed by the offering ceremony.

A full invocation is available for the complete set of offerings named in its text. Choose that set in the previous step to use it.

04 / The ceremony

A ram, dedicated.

The offering is presented. For a moment, the sanctuary falls quiet.

Modern composition inspired by ancient themes. Not a translation of a surviving prayer.

05 / Your keepsake

A moment
remembered.

The virtual dedication is complete.

A record of your visit

Historical Sources Return to introduction

Beforethe rain.

Choose your offering.

Brief or full?

A ram, dedicated.

A momentremembered.

Before
the rain.

A moment
remembered.