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Copyright by Ryan Conrad Davis 2016 Copyright By Ryan Conrad Davis 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Ryan Conrad Davis certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Relating with Gods: Investigating Human-Divine Relationships in the Prayers of Israel and Mesopotamia Using a Performance Approach to Ritual Committee: ____________________________________ John Huehnergard, Supervisor ____________________________________ Jo Ann Hackett ____________________________________ Jonathan Kaplan ____________________________________ Christopher Frechette ____________________________________ Alan Lenzi Relating with Gods: Investigating Human-Divine Relationships in the Prayers of Israel and Mesopotamia Using a Performance Approach to Ritual by Ryan Conrad Davis, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2016 To Mary, Maggie, and Camille ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is a culminating effort to my formal education that has extended far longer and been far more enriching than I had anticipated. I wish to acknowledge the influence of each of the faculty members of the Hebrew Bible / Ancient Near East program at The University of Texas at Austin. Jo Ann, John, Na'ama, and Jonathan have all spent enormous amounts of time and energy to help me put my research endeavors on firmer footing. I am very grateful to John for taking time to meet with me over Skype while I worked on my dissertation hundreds of miles away. His patience on a subject that was not his specialty was greatly appreciated. I also owe much to my outside reviewers, Alan Lenzi and Christopher Frechette; both of these scholars were asked to sign a awkward document explaining to them that they would not be reimbursed for their efforts. Despite Texas’s stingy way of doing business, they have been very generous with their time and suggestions, and without them this dissertation would never have gotten off the ground. No dissertation is written in a vacuum, and I grateful to my family and friends who gave me the opportunity to hide away in my office and do my research. Most importantly, my greatest thanks goes to Mary who has had to endure more repeated and sustained musings about my dissertation, life, and the universe than anyone. We graduated with our bachelor’s degrees together, entered graduate school together, and worked on doctorates together. Mary is my best friend and greatest ally and has been with me every step of the way. v ABSTRACT Relating with Gods: Investigating Human-Divine Relationships in the Prayers of Israel and Mesopotamia Using a Performance Approach to Ritual by Ryan Conrad Davis, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2016 SUPERVISOR: John Huehnergard The prayers of ancient Israel and Mesopotamia are rare windows into how ancient peoples interacted with their gods. Much work has already been done to describe how social conventions are important driving factors behind these interactions with deities. In order to utilize these observations and further understand the relationships between humans and gods, it is important to understand the ritual environment in which these relationships are created. A performance approach to ritual allows us to properly contextualize the human-divine relationships that are attested in prayers within their ritual environments. In both Israel and Mesopotamia, actions within rituals take place in framed domains; because all social action occurs in framed domains as well, rituals can be profitably compared to other domains, such as theatre or sports. This dissertation uses a performance approach to analyze four different groups of prayers from the first-millennium BCE. Two groups of prayers are from Mesopotamia and are clustered around two rituals: the Akkadian šuilla and the dingiršadabba. The other two groups of prayers come from the Book of Psalms: the individual and communal vi laments. A performance approach allows us to talk about the rituals that utilize these prayers in two complimentary ways that are similar to how we talk about theatre in Western cultures. We can talk about a theatrical production without discussing what happens on-stage, and we can talk about what happens on-stage while ignoring off-stage elements. Because these ancient Near Eastern rituals are framed domains of action, we can talk about the domains themselves without entering inside of them, and likewise, we can talk about the world inside these domains while ignoring the world outside. This approach helps us better understand the bounded nature of the relationships that take place within ritual domains, and it helps us better understand how the domains themselves influence the relationships within them. This dissertation offers not only new ways to explore human-divine relationships but also new ways for understanding ritual efficacy in the both Israel and Mesopotamia. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... xiii INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: A PERFORMANCE APPROACH TO RITUAL ....................................... 9 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Preliminary Questions ..................................................................................... 10 1.3 Ritual as Performance ..................................................................................... 11 1.4 Interaction as Ritual ........................................................................................ 15 1.5 Ritual as Performative..................................................................................... 16 1.6 Ritual as a Social Domain ............................................................................... 17 1.6.1 Ritual Commitment and Agency ..................................................... 17 1.6.2 Ritual as Framed Performance ......................................................... 20 1.7 Summary and Conclusion ............................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2: HUMAN-DIVINE RELATIONSHIPS IN AKKADIAN ŠUILLA PRAYERS......................................................................................................................... 23 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 23 2.2 Classifying šuilla Rituals ................................................................................ 24 2.2.1 Meaning of the šuilla Rubric ........................................................... 24 2.2.2 Three Types of šuillas ...................................................................... 26 2.2.3 Akkadian šuillas and Incantation-prayers ........................................ 27 2.2.4 Šuilla: A Category of Rituals ........................................................... 33 2.2.5 Šuilla Dataset ................................................................................... 38 2.3 Description of Textual Evidence .................................................................... 39 viii 2.4 Topical Description of šuilla Ritual ................................................................ 43 2.4.1 Ritual Space ..................................................................................... 45 2.4.2 Ritual Time ...................................................................................... 48 2.4.3 Ritual Objects / Ritual Action .......................................................... 48 2.4.4 Ritual Sound / Language .................................................................. 51 2.4.5 Ritual Identity / Agency ................................................................... 55 2.5. Description of Ritual World within šuilla Rituals ......................................... 62 2.5.1. Audience Scene ............................................................................... 62 2.5.2 Steps 1–2 - Announcement / Stepping Forward of Petitioner ......... 66 2.5.3 Steps 3–5 - Greeting Gift/Gestures/Words of Petitioner ................. 66 2.5.4 Step 7 - Speech of Petitioner ............................................................ 79 2.5.5 Step 9 – Thanks of Petitioner ........................................................... 89 2.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 95 CHAPTER 3: THE HUMAN-DIVINE RELATIONSHIP IN DINGIRŠADABBA PRAYERS TO PERSONAL GODS ............................................................................... 100 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 100 3.2 The Category of dingiršadabba .................................................................... 101 3.3 The Audience Scene in dingiršadabba Rituals ............................................. 105 3.3.1 Ritual Action / Objects in dingiršadabba ...................................... 106 3.3.2 Ritual Speech in dingiršadabba ..................................................... 108 3.3.3 Examples of Dangerous Audience Scenes ..................................... 121
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