Kinnaru
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| Kinnaru | |
|---|---|
Deified string instrument | |
| Major cult center | Ugarit |
Kinnaru (Ugaritic: 𐎋𐎐𐎗, knr[1]) was an Ugaritic god who functioned as the deification of a string instrument, most likely the lyre. He is sparsely attested in the Ugaritic texts, appearing only in a handful of god lists and offering lists. He is entirely absent from known myths. It is sometimes assumed that a mythical king of Cyprus mentioned in the Iliad, Cinyras, was derived from him.
The Ugaritic word knr, as of 1999 attested six times in known Ugaritic texts,[2] functioned both as an ordinary noun referring to a string instrument and as the name of the god Kinnaru, its deification.[1] It is likely that the sound of the instrument was imagined to be the voice of the corresponding god.[2] It is sometimes considered uncertain if kinnaru was a harp or a lyre,[2] but Dennis Pardee considers the latter option to be correct,[1] as does Gabriele Theuer.[3] Cognates of its name are also attested in other Semitic languages, for example in Eblaite (kinnārum)[4] and Hebrew (kinnor).[2]
In a single case, the name of Kinnaru is rendered in standard syllabic cuneiform as d.giški-na-rum.[2] The first of the two determinatives, dingir, indicates it was the name of a deity, while the second, giš, designated wooden objects, among them string instruments.[5] It is possible that rendering the name phonetically, rather than using the Sumerian term balaĝ attested as the equivalent of the word kinnaru elsewhere, was meant to highlight the god's strictly local character.[6] No instruments other than the kinnaru were deified in Ugaritic religion.[7] However, multiple deities representing various musical instruments are known from elsewhere in the Ancient Near East,[8] one well attested example being the Mesopotamian goddess Ninigizibara.[9]
The proposal that the toponym Kinneret might be an indication that a female deification of the kinnar was worshiped outside Ugarit is not considered plausible due to lack of evidence in textual sources.[2]
In the Ugaritic texts
In one of the lists of deities, Kinnaru appears near the end, after Yam (the god of the sea) and Uṯḫatu (the deification of a ritual censer).[10] He also appears alongside the latter in another list, written in the syllabic cuneiform script.[11] Another text attests that he received a ram as offering after Uṯḫatu.[12] Their juxtaposition might reflect the fact that both of them were divine representations of tools frequently employed during religious ceremonies.[13]
Kinnaru is absent from known Ugaritic myths,[14] though the ordinary noun knr does occur in them.[15] John Franklin additionally argues that it is not impossible a nameless god who in the Baal Cycle signs the praise for Baal might be Kinnaru, arguing that no other members of the Ugaritic pantheon appear to be associated with music.[16] However, said deity plays the cymbals, not a string instrument.[16]
Kinnaru and Kothar
Kinnaru and Kothar-wa-Khasis were seen as two distinct gods at Ugarit, but some of their functions overlapped. Yet outside of Ugarit, they could have been seen as the same god, by analogy with Philo’s Phoenician god Khousor. This is argued by Franklin, who sees Kinnaru as "a musical brother" of Kothar. Franklin also points out that, at Ugarit, "the Rāp’iu text suggests a ‘familiar’ relationship between Kothar and kinnāru/Kinnaru, the former apparently enjoying the more prominent position."[17]