Measure for Measure in the Aqhat Epic: Retribution as a Poetic and Narrative Principle

This study explores the poetic formulation of justice and retribution in the Aqhat Epic. ˀIlu, the supreme god of Ugarit, designates the goddess ˁAnatu “impious in heart,” yet he neither prevents her murder of ˀAqhatu nor punishes her overtly. The narrative contains no judicial scene and no central governing deity who assumes the role of explicit divine adjudicator. Nevertheless, one may ask whether the story is shaped by a guiding mechanism of justice, comparable to certain biblical models of retribution, and what conception of retribution emerges from it, illuminating the relationship between gods and humans. The article highlights multiple instances showing that the narrative weaves a complex web linking transgression and consequence, in which acts of violence, desire, and rebellion give rise to corresponding consequences. These consequences manifest not only as visible punishments—such as the loss of the bow, the breaking of wings, and the curses upon implicated agents—but also in subtle reversals and ironic patterns accessible primarily to the audience. The moral order is neither absent nor declarative; rather, it is mediated through poetic formulations. Retribution unfolds on two interrelated levels: through overt narrative events and through a covert rhetorical structure that forges connections by means of repetition, key words, wordplay, and thematic symmetry. The study employs contextual close reading, supplemented by comments on the character roles. The conclusion reached is that the mechanism of measure-for-measure functions in the Aqhat Epic as a structuring narrative device, and that a sense of justice emerges through the convergence of human and divine agency.