I. Name
The kôṯarātu, apparently ‘the (female) skillful ones’, appear in Ugaritic mythological texts in passages dealing with human conception and in the ‘pantheon’ texts as the equivalent of Mesopotamian mother-goddesses. A biblical reference to these goddesses has been proposed in Ps. 68.7 (e.g. W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan [London 1968] 119).
II. Identity
The plural form kṯrt appears in the Aqhat legend (KTU 1.17) and in the Marriage of Nikkal text (KTU 1.24) in contexts associated…