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Bulls, Swords, and the Acrobatic Body in the Ancient Near East

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Bulls, Swords, and the Acrobatic Body in the Ancient Near East ABSTRACT WEBBERMAN, RACHEL JOHANNA. Performing Danger: Bulls, Swords, and the Acrobatic Body in the Ancient Near East. (Under the direction of Dr. Tate Paulette). The body functions as both the primary medium for human experience and a powerful semiotic instrument. These two dimensions of the human body intersect with particular clarity in the realm of acrobatic performance. In this thesis, I argue that acrobatic performance, which is explicitly devoted to exploring the limits of human physical ability in the presence of an audience, offers a distinctive vantage point from which to observe the role of the body in the ancient world. I argue that acrobatic performance provided a unique arena in which the kinesthetic experience and the semiotic potential of the body were particularly and inextricably intertwined. As a case study, I draw together a range of artistic and written evidence for two types of acrobatic performance, bull-leaping and sword-tumbling, in the Bronze Age Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. In Chapter 1 I articulate both a theoretical lens and a methodology for analyzing acrobatic performance in the ancient world. Grounded in both archaeological theory and modern circus studies, my theoretical approach seeks to integrate the experiential (e.g., kinetic and kinesthetic) and the semiotic dimensions of acrobatic performance. My analytical methodology highlights four key variables that are essential to characterizing any particular example of acrobatic performance: extreme movement, setting, audience, and performer. Chapter 2 introduces my Bronze Age case study and provides some key background context. Chapter 3 explores the evidence for bull-leaping in Crete, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia and demonstrates a radically different understanding and experience of bull-leaping across the three regions. Chapter 4 considers the less-known evidence for sword-tumbling in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Here I argue that the evidence indicates a similar practice in Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Chapter 5 then highlights the main conclusions from my case study and considers the broader implications of my argument, emphasizing again that acrobatic performance offers a unique perspective on ancient attitudes towards the body. © Copyright 2021 by Rachel Webberman All Rights Reserved Performing Danger: Bulls, Swords, and the Acrobatic Body in the Ancient Near East by Rachel Johanna Webberman A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Public History Raleigh, North Carolina 2021 APPROVED BY: _______________________________ _______________________________ Tate Paulette Kathryn Grossman Committee Chair _______________________________ Frederico Freitas BIOGRAPHY Rachel Webberman was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in religion and classics. Following her undergraduate degree, she moved to Chicago, Illinois where she worked teaching and performing aerial acrobatics. She enrolled in North Carolina State’s master’s program in public history in fall 2019. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to the many individuals who made this thesis, and the completion of this degree, possible. I would particularly like to thank Dr. Frederico Freitas, whose help as I began to navigate the world of digital history was invaluable. I am also incredibly grateful to Dr. Kathryn Grossman who I have learned so much from, and whose advice and encouragement as I completed this thesis and graduate school applications has given me confidence. I also owe an immense debt of gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Tate Paulette, whose guidance on this project and throughout this program has made me a better writer and a better thinker. I am so thankful for his unending patience, many insightful comments, and all of our conversations. If I ever have my own students to advise, I will be better at it for having had his example. Lastly, to my parents, Amy and Jerry Webberman, and to my brother Avi, you all got me here, and I can never thank you enough. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................... v Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter I: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches......................................................... 5 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5 1. Modern context: acrobatic performance as site of inquiry .................................... 8 2. Definition and variables of acrobatic performance .............................................. 11 3. Introduction to theoretical perspectives and analytical method ........................... 15 4. Kinesthetic phenomenology of embodied experience ......................................... 18 5. Semiotic approaches ............................................................................................ 24 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter II: Background and Context ...................................................................................... 29 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 29 Crete ................................................................................................................................. 29 Mesopotamia .................................................................................................................... 31 Anatolia ............................................................................................................................ 34 Chapter III: Bull-Leaping ......................................................................................................... 38 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 38 Crete: Evidence ................................................................................................................ 39 Crete: Interpretations ....................................................................................................... 43 Mesopotamia: Evidence ................................................................................................... 50 Mesopotamia: Interpretations .......................................................................................... 52 Anatolia: Evidence ........................................................................................................... 56 Anatolia: Interpretations .................................................................................................. 58 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter IV: Sword-Tumbling .................................................................................................. 64 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 64 ḪÚB/ḫuppû: Acrobats in textual and visual sources ....................................................... 64 Analysis of performance .................................................................................................. 76 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 83 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 85 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 88 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 97 iv ABBREVIATIONS ARM Archives Royales de Mari CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. CHD The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago FM Florilegium Marianum KBo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi, Leipzig, Berlin KUB Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazköi, Berlin PM The Palace of Minos, Arthur Evans (vol. 1-4, 1921-1936) v Introduction Enter any art museum and you will find acrobats. You will find them on walls and in sculptures; they will appear as wire walkers, tumblers, and aerialists, often with the audience softly rendered in the background and the outline of a circus tent overhead.1 But they will also appear abstractly –– a lone, contorted figure that can only clearly be identified as an acrobat by their title.2 These figures are symbolic. They encourage us to project our ideas about acrobats onto the artists’ abstract creations. Acrobats are a flexible category for us in this way. They are both an actual class of specialist, and a metaphor for a certain type of unusual figure. They hover between the real and the ideal, or else the real and the bizarre.3 Both as subjects of visual art and within the performances themselves, acrobats produce a particular tension — a pull between delight and anxiety.4 These contradictions and tensions are part of
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