This study explores the issue of Anat's violence in the Ugaritic story of Aqhat through the conventions of characterization and the multiple points of view implicit in the text. Past scholarship tended to treat the ethics of violence in the story of Aqhat one-dimensionally, either by seeing Anat's act of violence as a form of divine retribution or by seeing it as an evil act of murder. This study examines the conflicting points of view of the divine characters El, Baal, Anat, Yatpan, and the unifying points of view of the human characters, Aqhat, Dan'il and Pughat, as a means to bring out the multi-dimensional aspect of Anat's violence. These interlocking perspectives not only provide insight into the worldview of the ancient Near East on the issues of divine and human acts of violence, but also shed light onto the ethics of violence in our present world. The author verifies her conclusions by adopting the perspective of the hypothetical actual audience. The outcome of the study is a more nuanced understanding of the ethics of violence in the story than any previous research on the subject.

Chloe Sun is the Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Logos Evangelical Seminary. She received her Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Her research interests include narrative identity and cultural issues in the Old Testament.