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Iconoclasm and Text Destruction in the Ancient Near East and Beyond Oi.Uchicago.Edu Ii Oi.Uchicago.Edu oi.uchicago.edu i ICONOCLASM AND TEXT DESTRUCTION IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND BEYOND oi.uchicago.edu ii oi.uchicago.edu iii ICONOCLASM AND TEXT DESTRUCTION IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND BEYOND edited by NATALIE NAOMI MAY with contributions by Angelika Berlejung, Betsy M. Bryan, Robin Cormack, Petra Goedegebuure, Eleanor Guralnick†, Victor A. Hurowitz, Silke Knippschild, Nathaniel B. Levtow, Natalie N. May, W. J. T. Mitchell, Seth Richardson, Robert K. Ritner, Hanspeter Schaudig, JoAnn Scurlock, Claudia E. Suter, Lee Palmer Wandel, Joan G. Westenholz, and Christopher Woods The Oriental Institute Dedicates this Volume to the Memory of Eleanor Guralnick 1929–2012 THE ORIental INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHIcagO oriental institute seminars • number 8 CHIcagO, ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu iv Library of Congress Control Number: 2012943256 isbn-13: 978-1-885923-90-5 isbn-10: 1-885923-90-2 ISSN: 1559-2944 © 2012 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 2012. Printed in the United States of America. The Oriental Institute, Chicago THE UNIVERSITY OF CHIcagO oriental institute seminars • number 8 Series Editors Leslie Schramer and Thomas G. Urban with Zuhal Kuru Publication of this volume was made possible through generous funding from the Arthur and Lee Herbst Research and Education Fund Front Cover Illustration: Mutilated head of colossal seated statue (originally 10–12 feet tall). Baslat. Amuq Valley. tell tayinat. iron age ii (900–738 b.c.e.). oim a27861 (photo by anna ressman) back Cover illustrations: Details from Coffin of ibui (ritner, this volume, figs. 13.8 [left] and 13.7a [right] ) Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Saline, Michigan The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Services — Permanence of Paper for Printed library materials, ansi Z39.48-1984. ∞ oi.uchicago.edu To my daughter Nica for her patience He took the calf that they had made, And burned it in fire, and ground it to powder, And strewed it upon the water, and made the Israelites drink. Exodus 32:20 oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIatIONS . ix PREFACE ......................................................................... xv 1. Iconoclasm and Text Destruction in the Ancient Near East ...................... 1 Natalie N . May, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago SECTION ONE: “ICONOCLASM BEGINS at SUMER” AND AKKAD 2. Mutilation of Image and Text in Early Sumerian Sources ........................ 33 Christopher Woods, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 3. Gudea of Lagash: Iconoclasm or Tooth of Time? ................................ 57 Claudia E . Suter, University of Basel, Switzerland 4. Damnatio Memoriae: The Old Akkadian Evidence for Destruction of Name and Destruction of Person .................................................. 89 Joan G . Westenholz, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University SECTION TWO: ICONOCLASM AS AN INSTRUMENT OF POLITICS 5. Death of Statues and Rebirth of Gods ......................................... 123 Hanspeter Schaudig, University of Heidelberg 6. Shared Fates: Gaza and Ekron as Examples for the Assyrian Religious ............. 151 Policy in the West. Angelika Berlejung, University of Leipzig and University of Stellenbosch 7. Getting Smashed at the Victory Celebration, or What Happened to Esarhaddon’s so-called Vassal Treaties and Why ............................. 175 JoAnn Scurlock, Elmhurst College SECTION THREE: HOW THE Images DIE AND WHY? 8. mAli-talīmu — What Can Be Learned from the Destruction of Figurative Complexes? ..................................................... 187 Natalie N . May, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 9. The Hypercoherent Icon: Knowledge, Rationalization, and Disenchantment at Nineveh................................................. 231 Seth Richardson, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago SECTION FOUR: ICONOCLASM AND THE BIBLE 10. What Can Go Wrong with an Idol? ........................................... 259 Victor A . Hurowitz, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 11. Text Destruction and Iconoclasm in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East ......................................................... 311 Nathaniel B . Levtow, The University of Montana SECTION FIVE: BEYOND MESOPOtamIA 12. Episodes of Iconoclasm in the Egyptian New Kingdom .......................... 363 Betsy M . Bryan, Johns Hopkins University vii oi.uchicago.edu viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 13. Killing the Image, Killing the Essence: The Destruction of Text and Figures in Ancient Egyptian Thought, Ritual, and “Ritualized History” ............ 395 Robert K . Ritner, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 14. Hittite Iconoclasm: Disconnecting the Icon, Disempowering the Referent . 407 Petra M . Goedegebuure, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago SECTION SIX: CLASSIcal ANTIQUITY AND BYZANTIUM 15. Performing the Frontier: The Abduction and Destruction of Religious and Political Signifiers in Graeco-Persian Conflicts ............................. 453 Silke Knippschild, University of Bristol 16. Looking for Iconophobia and Iconoclasm in Late Antiquity and Byzantium................................................................ 471 Robin Cormack, University of Cambridge and Dumbarton Oaks SECTION SEVEN: REFOrmatION AND MODERNITY 17. Idolatry and Iconoclasm: Alien Religions and Reformation....................... 485 Lee Palmer Wandel, University of Wisconsin-Madison 18. Idolatry: nietzsche, blake, Poussin ........................................... 501 W . J . T . Mitchell, The University of Chicago SUPPLEMENT 19. A Partially Re-cut Relief from Khorsabad...................................... 517 Eleanor Guralnick†, Chicago, Illinois oi.uchicago.edu ix ABBREVIATIONS general b.c.e. before the common era collection signatures ca. circa, approximately ABL Assyrian and Babylonian Letters c.e. common era AO Department of Near Eastern Antiq- cf. confer, compare uities, Musée du Louvre, Paris cm centimeter(s) BE Field numbers, Koldewey’s excava- col(s). column(s) tions at Babylon DN deity name BM British Museum, London e.g. exempli gratia, for example bo Inventory numbers of boğazköy esp. especially tablets excavated 1906–1912 et al. et alii, and others CBS Catalogue of the Babyonian Sec- tion, University Museum, Philadel- etc. et cetera, and so forth phia ex(x). example(s) EAH E. A. Hoffman Collection f(f). and following eŞ Eski Şark eserleri müzesi, istanbul fig(s). figure(s) IM Iraq Museum, Baghdad ibid. ibidem, in the same place Ist. Istanbul Archaeology Museum i.e. id est, that is JdE Journal d’Entrée, Cairo Museum lit. literally OIM Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago m meter(s) Sb Musée du Louvre, objects excavated mng. meaning at Susa n(n). note(s) VA Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin no(s). number(s) YBC Babylonian Collection, Yale Univer- obv. obverse sity Library p(p). page(s) pers. comm. personal communication hittite language and scripts pl(s). plate(s) PN personal name MH Middle Hittite rev. reverse MS Middle Hittite script RN royal name NH New Hittite s.v(v). sub verbo, under the word(s) NS New Hittite script trans. translation OH Old Hittite v(v). verse(s) OS Old Hittite script ix oi.uchicago.edu x ABBREVIATIONS sources ABC A. Kirk Grayson. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Texts from Cuneiform Sources 5. Locust Valley: J. J. Augustin, 1975. AHw . Wolfram von Soden. Das akkadische Handwörterbuch. Second edition. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1959–1981. ARM 2 Charles-F. Jean. Lettres diverses: transcrites et traduites. Archives royales de Mari 2. Paris: Imprimerie national, 1950. ARM 26 Jean-Marie Durand. Archives épistolaires de Mari, Volume 1, Part 1. Archives royales de mari 26. Paris: editions recherche sur les Civilisations, 1988. BBSt Leonard W. King. Babylonian Boundary-Stones and Memorial-Tablets in the British Mu- seum. 2 volumes. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1912. BE 1 Hermann V. Hilprecht. Old Babylonian Inscriptions Chiefly from Nippur. The Baby- lonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, Series A: Cuneiform Texts, Volume 1, Parts 1 and 2. Philadelphia: n.p., 1896. BIWA Rykle Borger. Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996. CAD A. Leo Oppenheim et al., eds. The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1956–2010. CHD The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Edited by Hans G. Güterbock, Harry a. Hoffner, and theo P. J. van den Hout. Chicago: the oriental institute, 1980–. CTH Emmanuel Laroche. Catalogue des textes hittites. Paris: Klincksieck, 1971. DNP Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, editors. Der Neue Pauly. 18 volumes. stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1996–2003. ETCSL The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Jeremy B. Black, G. Cunning- ham, J. ebeling, e. Flückiger-Hawker, e. robson, J. taylor, and G. Zólyomi. oxford, 1998–2006. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ FgrH Felix Jacoby. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. Berlin: Weidmann, 1930. HALOT Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament . 2 volumes. Translated and edited under the supervision of Mervin E. J. Richardson. Leiden: Brill, 2001. HED Jaan Puhvel. Hittite Etymological Dictionary. mouton: berlin, 1984–. HSS Mary Inda Hussey. Sumerian Tablets in the Harvard Semitic Museum, Part 2: From the Time of the Dynasty of Ur. Harvard Semitic
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