The tablets of poetic mythological texts unearthed during the
excavation of Ugarit are here edited and translated to shed new
light on the religion and literature of the ancient world. The
tablets are of great importance for the study of literature and
religion in an area of the ancient world which, chiefly through
the avenue of the Hebrew Bible, exercised a deep influence on
the rise of European civilization. They are enabling scholarship
for the first time to arrive at a positive appraisal of the
higher levels of Canaanite culture, which is so remorselessly
attacked in the Bible but which can now be seen to have
contributed more to its composition (and thus indirectly to the
thought and poetic imagery of the West) than was previously
supposed. - Title: Canaanite Myths and Legends - Author: John C.
Gibson - Publisher: T&T Clark - Publication Date: 2004 - Pages:
208 About John C. Gibson John C. Gibson was Reader in Hebrew and
Semitic Languages, New College, Oxford.