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The Grand Vizier, the Prophet, and the Satirist

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The Grand Vizier, the Prophet, and the Satirist THE GRAND VIZIER, THE PROPHET, AND THE SATIRIST. TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE ORIENTAL AHIQAR ROMANCE IN ANCIENT PROSE FICTION 0DUNR 0DULQþLþ The supplement to some printed editions of the Arabian Nights con- tains a story of ‘Ahiqar,’ wise counsellor to the kings of Assyria Sen- nacherib (704-681 BC) and Esarhaddon (681-669 BC), who was be- trayed by his adopted son Nadan, narrowly escaped execution, tri- umphed over the Pharaoh in a riddle-contest, and rebuked Nadan by a series of parables. The Arabic Ahiqar romance is part of a long me- dieval tradition which includes preserved versions in Syriac, Arme- nian, Old Turkish, Old Church Slavonic, fragments in Ethiopic, and many later translations. Except for the Slavonic version, which is adapted from a lost Greek Ahiqar, this tradition is conventionally re- ferred to as the ‘Oriental’ Ahiqar romance: it is best represented by the (superficially Christianised) Syriac and Armenian versions which may be traced back to the first century AD.1 Even before an extensive fragment of a 5th century BC Aramaic Ahiqar romance was discovered among the ruins of the Jewish col- ony on the Nile island Elephantine in 1907,2 the ‘first international best-seller’ could assert its antiquity on grounds that it was known in some form to the Greeks of the classical era.3 Recent work on the subject has established that Ahiqar was used as a model for a number of works of prose fiction stemming from different cultural environ- ments but written or preserved in Greek. These include: the 2nd (?) 1 Principal editions: Nau (1909); Conybeare, Rendel Harris, Smith Lewis (1913); Charles (1913). For a more recent discussion see Küchler (1979) 348-52, 358-63, and Lindenberger (1985). The English translation used here is from Charles (1913). 2 The English edition referred to here is by Lindenberger (1985). Since the Ele- phantine discovery, it seems probable that an ‘Ahiqar romance’ containing both the narrative and the wise sayings was fixed in writing before the mid-sixth century, probably in Aramaic; cf. Lindenberger (1985) 481-2. 3 See now Luzzatto (1992). 54 0$5.2 0$5,1ý,ý century BC Tobit,4 1st/3rd century Life of Aesop,5 the fragmentary Tinuphis,6 and Ps.-Callisthenes’ Alexander romance.7 Compared to the picturesque Oriental versions, the Aramaic text is disappointingly short and lapidary. In spite of its venerable age, it is certainly not the kind of fairy-tale to protract Scheherazade’s life. Here is the story: Having no son to succeed him, Ahiqar adopts his nephew Nadin (variant form of the same name as that in the Oriental version) and teaches him his wisdom; but Nadin betrays his uncle’s confidence and intrigues against him. Ahiqar is accused of high trea- son and sentenced to death but spared by the swordsman whose own life he had once spared. Here the text breaks off; loosely appended to the narrative part is a collection of wise sayings addressed to Nadin. The Oriental version is more specific in attributing the misfortunes of Ahiqar, including the disloyalty of his adopted son Nadan, to his being unfaithful to God (who replaces the ‘gods’ of the pagan origi- nal).8 The ‘Teaching of Ahiqar’ is incorporated into the narrative, and there is much vivid detail in the description of the events following Nadan’s intrigue. After having been spared by the swordsman, Ahiqar has to hide for a long time in a dark pit under his house, sur- viving on the food and water secretly delivered to him by the swordsman. At some point he repents of his faithlessness and bursts into a fervent prayer. Soon afterwards, King Sennacherib, to whom the Pharaoh of Egypt had sent a series of nonsensical questions and demands, regrets the death of his counsellor, and Ahiqar is able to emerge victoriously from his hiding place, with unkempt locks and overgrown nails. He travels to Egypt, solves the riddles of the Phar- aoh, and, on his return, he imprisons, beats and starves Nadan, telling him parables until he dies. The supposition that the Syriac text (the best or earliest represen- tative of the Oriental version) with its graphic realism and drama is nothing but an ‘Oriental’ elaboration of the Aramaic original seemed confirmed when an Ahukar emerged on a list of distinguished schol- 4 For a fuller treatment of Tobit see Wills (1995) 68-92. 5 See Beschorner, Holzberg (1992) 177-8. 6 Editions: Haslam (1981); Stramaglia (1992a); Stephens, Winkler (1995) 400-8; López Martínez (1998) 254-65; on Tinuphis and Ahiqar see Anderson (1984) 158, and Kussl (1992). 7 Stoneman (1992) 107-10. 8 Cf. Ach. arm. 1.4; Lindenberger (1985) 486..
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