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KTU 1.23/Photo by Bruce Zuckerman, West Semitic Research/Courtesy Musée du Louvre

Got their goat. The cuneiform inscription on this 13th-century B.C.E. tablet from Ugarit, in modern Syria, was initially seen as evidence that the Israelites banned the mixing of milk and meat in order to distinguish themselves from their pagan Canaanite neighbors. Early 20th-century translators suggested the list of cult practices on the tablet included the slaughtering of a kid in milk. More recently, however, scholars have suggested that the relevant line (circled) is better translated, “Over the fire, seven times the sweet-voiced youths chant, ‘Coriander in milk, mint in butter.’” The tablet makes no mention of a goat or other animal being cooked.