Kotharat

Kotharat (𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎚, kṯrt) were a group of seven goddesses associated with conception, pregnancy, birth and marriage, worshiped chiefly in northern part of modern Syria in the Bronze Age. They are attested in texts from Mari, Ugarit and Emar. There is no agreement among translators over whether they had individual names in Ugaritic tradition. They were considered analogous to the Mesopotamian Šassūrātu, a collective term referring to assistants of the goddess Ninmah, and to Hurrian Hutena and Hutellura. It has been suggested that the latter were at least in part patterned after the Kotharat. The name Kotharat (Kôṯarātu) is a conventional vocalization of Ugaritic kṯrt. Spellings such as Kathiratu and Katiratu is also used in modern literature. Other forms of the name of the Kotharat are attested in texts from Mari: the older Kawašurātum (dkà-ma-šu-ra-tum) and more recent Kûšarātum (dku-ša-ra-tum). In Emar, they were known as "Ilū kašarāti" (DINGIRMEŠ ka-ša-ra-ti). All of these names are most likely derived from the Semitic root kšr, "to be skilled" or "to achieve," which is attested in West Semitic languages and in Akkadian. Its other derivatives include the name of the god Kothar, the Ugaritic word kṯr, "wise" or "cunning," and Hebrew kôšārāh, "luck" or "prosperity." Possible cognates, ku-ša-ri and ku-šar, have also been identified among theophoric elements known from Akkadian personal names. Ugaritic texts indicate that the word Kotharat is plural, and it is conventionally assumed that it refers to a group of seven goddesses. However, occasionally smaller number, either four or six, is postulated as an alternative. Individual names of the Kotharat might be attested in the Ugaritic myth Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh. Gabriele Theuer restores them as follows: ṯlḫh, mlgh, yṯtqt, bq’t, tq’t, prbḫṯ, dmqt. Wilfred G. E. Watson gives a similar list, but excludes yṯtqt. However, not all experts agree that these words are given names.