JERICHO AND SHECHEM : A RELIGIO-LITERARY ASPECT OF CITY DESTRUCTION1 BY STANLEY GEVIRTZ Chicago In the historical narratives of the Old Testament, as in ancient historical sources generally, the destruction of cities is a matter of frequent report. Two of these accounts in the Hebrew Bible, however, are exceptional: Joshua's reported conquest of Jericho, and Abi- melech's reduction of Shechem. The former is singular by virtue of the curse pronounced by Joshua; the latter by virtue of Abimelech having sown the site with salt. Because each of these remains unparalleled in biblical literature, and the context of the latter particularly obscure, we present the following observations in the hope of setting these events against a background of related activity in the ancient world in order that the significance of each may acquire a greater measure of clarity. As related in the sixth chapter of the book that bears his name, Joshua, commanded by God to take Jericho, invests the city, con- secrates it to YHWH, burns it with fire, and lays a curse upon its future rebuilder. The initial activities of (a) divine direction, (b) conquest and destruction of the city, and (c) consecration of it to deity, are familiar from, for example, Judges i 1, 17, and the ninth century inscription of Meša" king of Moab, 11. 14-18 2), And KMŠsaid to me, "Go! Take Neboh from Israel!" And I went by night, and I fought against it... and I took it, and I slew all... I consecrated it (HHRMTH)to <ŠTR-KMŠ.... What sets the Jericho narrative apart, marking it unique in biblical literature, is, as we have indicated above, the curse pronounced by 1) I wish to thank Professor Hans Gustav GÜTERBOCKfor calling to my attention several Hittite texts, and for reviewing the translations of those employed in this paper. 2) Text: Rene DUSSAUD,Les monumentspalestiniens et judaïques (Paris, 1912), Pl. No. 2, and p. 5. Latest translation: W. F. ALBRIGHTin ANET2, pp. 320 f. 53 Joshua following his destruction of the city. The text reads: 1) Cursed be the man...who shall arise and (re)build this city, Jericho! At the cost of his first-born shall he found it, and at the cost of his youngest shall he erect its doors! Unique though it undoubtedly is in the Old Testament, the practice of pronouncing a curse upon the future rebuilder or settler of a city destroyed in war is known elsewhere in the ancient world. STRABO (XIII i 42), for example, notes that, "... in accordance with an ancient custom, a curse had been laid upon it [Troy] by Agamemnon, just as Croesus, after he destroyed Sidene ... put a curse any persons who should re-fortify the site.... "2) That STRABO should characterize Agamemnon's pronouncing of a curse in this context as being "in accordance with custom", and the custom as being ancient (in Agamemnon's day as well?) is noteworthy and interesting but tantalizing, for the origin of the custom, whether Trojan (that is, Anatolian) or Greek, or common to both, is left undetermined 3). That the "custom" was old in Anatolia is indicated by an inscription of Anitta, son of Pithana, king of Kussara. The text, written in Hittite, dates from about 1300 B.C., though Anitta, himself, is known to have been a contemporary of the Assyrian merchant colonists (ca. 20th-l9th centuries B.C.). Concerned with reporting his father's and his own continuing struggle for power, Anitta tells of his victories over several cities. The description of his conquest of Hattusa follows : 4) (45) ... And h[unger(?) opp]ressed the city Hattusa, and I let it continue (in this way). When at last it (46) became terribly afflicted with hunger, then Šiušmi surrendered it [to(?)] the deity, Halmas[uitta], and in the night (48) I took it by storm. On its site I so[wed] cress. (49) Whoever shall become king after me (50) and shall settle Hattusa again, [may] the Storm-god of heaven strike him! 5) Another Hittite text, in which, unfortunately, the names of neither the city nor the city's conqueror have been preserved (and which 1) Joshua vi 26. 2) The translation is that of Horace Leonard JONES,The Geographyof 3'trabo, VI ("Loeb Classical Library"; London and New York, 1929), p. 83. 3) It may also be of interest to the reader to recall that, according to their traditional dates, Agamemnon and Joshua were roughly contemporary. 4) BoTU, I, No. 7, plus the duplicate, No. 30; another copy by H. OTTENis available in KUB, XXXVI, 98-98c. Our translation follows that of OFTEN in MDOG, LXXXIII (1951), 40-42. 5) From the fragmentary lines, 23-26, of this same text. it would appear that he accorded another city, Harkiuna, a like fate. .