239 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXI N° 1-2, januari-april 2004 240

ental and Greek myths, rituals, etc., considered to be loans. In a number of articles he continued his investigations. These articles have now been collected as a separate part of his Kleine Schriften. The year 2003 also saw the publication of a book summarizing his insights, written for the general pub- lic. Both books are reviewed here. Among Orientalists, the reactions to Burkert’s work have always been minimal. We first give a summary of his articles as reprinted in Kleine Schriften II. In the first chapter he studies the myth “The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld” and the AtraÌa- sis myth. Both follow a pattern of traditional tales discovered by Propp. The myth has its own first meaning (“konnotativ”) but in later periods it is applied to new situations, for exam- ple in a ritual (“denotativ”). He identifies as the heroes in this myth the assinnu (and similar people). To Burkert they are shamans, although shamans were no more known in Mesopotamia (6). This view is new. AtraÌasis is like the trickster, compare , and we see the pattern of the three deeds to be performed by the hero (8 f.). The Baby- lonian Creation and Flood stories conflate several traditional elements, like the need of a sacrifice in creation (9 f.). This view is new. We observe here “das Ineinander von Erzäh- lung, Spekulation und Ritual; eben dies ist Mythos” (12). The second chapter is a quick survey of the migration of gods in the Mediterranean, from the earliest periods to the latest. The Nude Goddess and the Smiting God (this is the image of a particular divinity expressing aggressive power) are found in the Near East and among the Greeks (23, 46); in Egypt introduced as Qudshu and Resheph (23). is from the East, the cult was influenced by Osiris and the views on afterlife in Egypt (21-26). The age of Homer is Orientalizing but the Mother Goddess and Adonis are not found in Homer (24 f.). We observe a migration from East to West. as god of oracles was adopted from the Greeks by Etruscans and Romans. “At any rate, the multi- cultural, multilingual cult of the Hittites seems to recur in Republican Rome” (27). Hellenistic syncretism is clear from the Nimrud Dagh monuments (28), Mithras en Isis migrated. This paper concludes with an evaluation of religious toler- ance (29 f.). A paper written in Italian begins with a description of “sensational” new discoveries in the Bronze Age (38 f.). In the Iron Age, many Oriental traces are found in Greece, most important was the alphabet, following the route Al Mina — Euboea — Ischia, and Burkert suggests a cultural koine of Syrians, Hittites and Greeks (40). An example is the persis- tence of Mt. Casius as the mountain of the weather god (40, VARIA cf. 59 f.). The method in comparison should be that of Herodotus (41). Etymology of words and names helps. As to religion: (1) Myth: a combat with a dragon is a known motif; BURKERT, Walter — Griechen und der Orient. Von Homer in the Greek world the hero is . Influences of Enuma bis zu den Magiern. Verlag C.H. Beck, München, 2003. Elish are visible in Homer, e.g., the assembly of the gods (20,5 cm, 176). ISBN 3-406-50247-4. / 19,90. (44). (2) Ritual: this is less easy; there are differences in the eating of sacrifices by priests, the building of temples (or BURKERT, Walter — Kleine Schriften II: Orientalia. = not), the statues. Herodotus mentions syncretism (Egypt) and Hypomnemata, Suppl.-Reihe Band 2, II. Vandenhoeck travelling “missionaries” intermediated (46 f.). & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2003. (24 cm, VIII, 298). ISBN Chapter 4, “Oriental and : The Meet- 3-525-25271-4; ISSN 1610-9147. / 49,90. ing of Parallels”, explains why myths can migrate although Walter Burkert wrote in 1984 the book Die oriental- they are linked to specific localities (49). We have to dis- isierende Epoche in der griechischen Religion und Literatur tinguish between their connotative (a) and denotative (b) (hereafter: Or. Ep.) which had such an impact that later on meanings: (a) a myth as a tale, following “motifs” like a it was translated into English, as The Orientalizing Revolu- “quest” or “combat”; (b) myth in an application; it tion (1992). There, he pointed out similarities between Ori- migrates, transforming the tale into a myth, depending on 241 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — VARIA 242 particular situations (50). Our knowledge of Oriental myths sopravvivenza di motivi sciamanici in questi casi” (83 f.). is fragmentary (51). There were two periods of cultural con- What distinguishes Gilgamesh and Heracles from a shaman tacts: the 13-14th century (Bronze Age), and the 8-7th cen- is that they use physical force (85). The conclusion of these tury (Iron Age). Burkert now compares the Babylonian god comparisons is: “Temi così simili, di fatto varianti della Ninurta (Ningirsu) with Heracles, in tales of the “quest” and stessa tematica carratteristica che si spiegano mutualmente” “combat” type. They have the (twelve) labours in common (85). To me, this looks like circular reasoning. (53) but the conquered monsters, etc., are quite different (54). Chapter 6 follows the motif of the impregnation of a rock Ninurta can be compared with the Hittite weather god, , by male seed resulting in a strong hero, attested in the planet Kronos / Saturn, Melqart, Santas, Nergal, and the Minor: in the Ullikumi myth, via an old myth about Agdis- problem is “a surplus of interrelations”. Both are culture tis told by Arnobius, to a tale in the Caucasus (87-95). heroes (56). The seven-headed serpent (hydra) must be Ori- Well written is “Götterspiel und Götterburlesque in alto- ental (56 f.). The second comparison made in this chapter is rientalischen und griechischen Mythen”, a vivid picture of between Oriental (notably Hurrian, but also Babylonian Greek gods at play. At the time of creation, Marduk played Enuma Elish) cosmogonic myths and Hesiod. The Hurrian and Yahweh played with Leviathan (99). Burlesque in the myth “Kingship in Heaven”, relating the castration and swal- Orient: the insulted Ishtar in the Gilgamesh Epic has her par- lowing of parts, was taken over by the Greeks, but when? allel in the mistreated Aphrodite in the Iliad (V), and the sur- (58). There is a “family of related texts”: in “The Song of vey of unlucky lovers of Ishtar parallels a list of women loved Ullikummi” the dethroned Kumarbi takes revenge and the by Zeus (111). Is all this burlesque? Burkert even comes up story corresponds to the fight between Zeus and who with a passage from the Edda talking of “scorn” (112). The assemble at Mt. Casius. In “The myth of Illuyankas”, AtraÌasis myth is discussed because laughter once overcomes Illuyankas is pictured as a snake, like Typhon (59). Another the god Enki: he is the “trickster” (113). Here, Burkert’s motif in Phoenician and Greek myths are the four kings in starting point is wrong: in the difficult passage “laughter ate heaven preceding Uranos (Hesiod); Burkert compares the him”, H. Hirsch translates “das lächerliche Hin und Her Phoenician Elioun with the Anatolian Alala (60). For the machte ihn fertig”; in his article “Über das Lachen der Göt- “structural resemblance of Hesiod’s Theogony to the Baby- ter”, Studies F.R. Kraus (1982) 115. Note that there is no lonian epic of creation” he refers to an unpublished disserta- humour in the (115). tion by G Steiner (60). Here, “we begin to hear a many- The next chapter compares Greek and Oriental symposia. voiced interplay of (…) texts, all of which seem to have some The Oriental marzeah, translated thiasos in the Greek Septu- connection with Hesiod” (61). The newly found Derveni aginta, was a symposium (121-3). A survey of symposia of papyrus (Orphic theogony) also speaks of castration / swal- gods and drinking bouts of humans is given (123-126); the lowing, and four kings (61 f.). As to ritual: antitheses were story of Esther at the Persian court and Samson is given spe- enacted at the New Year festivals; in healing rituals cos- cial attention; the riddle given by Samson at his marriage mogonies were confirmed by reciting incantations (63). “Itin- symposium looks like the Greek contest, , and fits the erant magicians or charismatics” brought the myths to the Philistines, a western Sea People (128). Remark: the Baby- West (64). The third comparison is in iconography: the three- lonian contest between the Date Palm and the Tamarisk also persons combat on seals, etc. They may reflect the combat takes place during a meal (naptanu, line 10). It is suggested myth (Gilgamesh) but in the case of Perseus and Gorgo it is that kinaidoi were present at symposia; Akkadian sinnisanu; rather an initiation myth. The Gorgo head is apotropaic, like a new interpretation (125). That men “bind together” when the Lamashtu and Pazuzu amulets. A Cyprian seal shows the drinking, both in the Hammurabi Code and in Plato’s heroes fighting with the monster turning their heads away. Timaeus, is to me no serious parallel (126). Greeks were Perseus liberating Andromeda reflects a Canaanite myth (67). reclining at banquets, as Assurbanipal did, and Amos 6:7 Another chapter in Italian studies Heracles. In daily life, speaks about these couches (130). Hebrew liskah, a drinking he is seen as helper (74), in mythology he is a real culture hall in the temple, sounds like Greek lesche, a similar room. hero (76). He brought civilisation everywhere on earth and Its origin may lie in a ritual where one reclined outdoors on Greek colonisation followed (76). He reorganised the land- twigs and grass (stibades); later, one did this in the temple scape (77), domesticated animals. He mediates between our (131). And exactly “Lescha-Liskah. Sakrale Gastlichkeit world and the Netherworld, as a shaman (78). , zwischen Palästina und Griechenland” is the title of the fol- Mithras and Gilgamesh played similar roles (79 ff.). When lowing chapter 9. Here, the Hebrew and Greek concepts are Gilgamesh killed the Bull of Heaven, sacrifice was intro- investigated (136-141), the discussion widens to places where duced (79 f.). His rejecting Ishtar’s proposal reflects the sex- to spend the night by travellers (142 f., 146 f.), or the Roman ual abstinence of the hunter (80). These interpretations are lectisternium (144 f.). new. See for the Jäger-Tabu already Burkert, Or. Ep. 95. Chapter 10 studies the god Kronos and his festival. In Gilgamesh and Enkidu are culture heroes (their conquest of the “succession myths” he belongs to the older, slain gods, the Cedar Forest provides mankind with good timber) and and he is in the Netherworld with the . On the other Enkidu has to die, like Prometheus (81). In the myth Lugale, hand, he is remembered as the king of the (155 the 19 stones in the wild mountains (kur) are conquered by f.). He has cults (157), the month Kronion is named after Ninurta and turned into practical use, domesticated (81). him (160 f.), and his festival Kronia is later known as Sat- Among the trophies of Ninurta are copper (the origin of met- urnalia (154-158). The Oriental background of this festi- alwork) and gypsum (used in magic?) (82 f.). Lugale val characterised by “freedom” (for slaves) is sought in the explains the origin of Bronze Age technology. Heracles con- Hittite festival “Freilassung” (Hurrian kirenzi) (162): the quers animals in the Netherworld; this refers to shamanism god Teshub visits the Netherworld where Kumarbi, the and the motif must go back to the Palaeolithicum; there are Hurrian Kronos, must be (writes Burkert, but he is not men- more examples, like hunting rituals. “Oserei parlare di una tioned in the myth) and the usual distinction between 243 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXI N° 1-2, januari-april 2004 244

Above and Below disappears (163 f.). Freedom is here the Interdisciplinaires (= MARI) 7 (1993) 41-70 (the passage remittal of debts or release from indenture. This leads to a is found on p. 45, rev. 2-4). discussion of the Babylonian and Hebrew institution of the It was commonly assumed that in the beginning there was Jubilee (165-8). Remark: the freedom here is that of pris- Water (234). Separation followed according to violent myths oners of war, not of debt-slaves; G. Wilhelm, TUAT (castration, 235). It is a succession myth: combat, creation Ergänzungslieferung (2001) 84; possible historical context: by killing, the appearance of Man (241). Cosmogonic myth M.C. Astour, Eblaitica 4 (2002) 123, 141 ff. has a ritual context and function. In the further development Chapter 11 studies personalised and divinised abstract con- we see two models: biomorphic and technomorphic (236). cepts, as Justice, Greek , Babylonian Misharu, Phoeni- The biomorphic model leads to a natural development with- cian Misor; “abstract gods’. Other examples are Night, Dark- out a Creator and there is a logos in it elaborated by Greek ness, Fear. philosophy (244). “Iranisches bei Anaximandros” (Ch. 12) is an “epoche- A short chapter on the Royal Cubit of Alcaeus (known to machender Artikel” (p. viii). It opens with the observation Herodotus) situates this ancient standard measure in the that the Persians did not know anthropomorphic gods, an atti- Babylonian and Persian empires, not the Greek polis. The last tude which was appreciated by Herodotus and the early Greek chapter is an evaluation of a book by S. Mazzarino, Fra Ori- philosophers (193). Thales was the first in singling out Water ente e Occidente (1947). Oriental civilization reached the in the Oriental cosmogonic myth as the basic element (195). Greeks along two roads: first by sea, the expansion of the Anaximander distinguished elementary forces in his (geo- Phoenicians (8th century), and later over land, in Asia Minor, metrical) model of the world and at his time some major via Lydia and Phrygia, the Persian “King’s Road” (254), results of Babylonian astronomy became known (196). How- beginning with Phrygia (after 700 B.C.) and Gyges (665 ever, his thesis about the sequence and distances of heavenly B.C.). Over Phrygia the goddess Kubaba arrived, and behind bodies has another origin: the Avestan sequence earth — the Phrygians we have to discover the Hittites; possibly in stars — moon — sun in the road that the Soul has to follow the “Niobe” of Sipylus (258). Much more is now known of goes back to an early Persian tradition which can have been the first inroad, the “via del mare”. Cyprus played here a cen- known to the early Greek philosophers. The Persian concept tral role (259 f.). Between 800 and 700 there were mutual “lights without beginning” for the Paradise reminds us of exchanges: the Greeks reached Al Mina in 800 B.C. and the Greek ápeiron, according to Anaximander the divine origin Assyrians mention in 738 B.C. the “Ionians”, or Ia(w)ones; (207). This is quite different from Babylonian and Greek who are they? Euboeans? (262 f.) (already Burkert, Or. Ep. ideas about the original state of the world (210). The Persians 17 f.). In this century, (military) techniques and the alphabet as conquerors made a great impression on the Greeks but still were taken over. “L’epoca orientalizzante è l’epoca di older were the Medes. Their magoi appear early in Greek dis- Omero” (264). Horse equipment with an Aramaic royal cussions. Early Greek philosophy has a dualism that reminds inscription found in Samos and Eretria must be Greek booty us of Persian religion (214). Burkert explicitly resists the (263). The west- and northbound colonizing movements of temptation to look for more parallels as “Gedankenspiel” Levantines and Greeks were a reaction to the Assyrian (nevertheless, he gives more possible connections, 215 f.). aggressive wars (261, 265). The Greeks no more believed in the human gods of Homer, they embraced Oriental myth, where the gods were the con- In his new book Griechen und der Orient we recognize sev- flicting Forces of Nature, and they found in Persian religion eral themes studied in depth in Kleine Schriften II. But much the principle of a cosmic order (217 f.). They developed a is new. Chapter II, “Homer als Dichter der orientalisierende Naturreligion based on order and Anaximander gave the first Epoche”, first points out parallels between Oriental and Home- incentives for natural philosophy (221). He is the hero of this ric motifs (like epic style, the assembly of the gods) and Burk- chapter and he lived exactly in that formative period, ca. 546 ert remarks that these examples may be “Kling-Klang-Ety- B.C. (212 f.). mologien; sie verblüffen und können doch nichts eigentlich The chapter on Oriental and Greek “Weltmodelle” begins beweisen” (35). We fully agree. However, an old Oriental cos- with the Assyrian theory that there are three superimposed mogonic myth can be discovered in Iliad XIV (“The Deceiv- heavens (224-226). This fits the Greek attempts at reconcil- ing of Zeus”, Dios ): the pair Okeanos and is ing nature and religion in the same period: Anaximander, Apsu and Tiamat (Tawtu) (36-38; already Or. Ep. 87-90). The Pherekydes, Anaximenes. name “Titans” is derived from Akkadian tit “clay” (actually: “The logic of cosmogony” (Ch. 14) studies the structure †iddu): figurines of clay of slain gods were used in magic (39; of ancient cosmogonies, “the beginning”, leading to the already Or. Ep. 90 f.). Greek tradition identifies titanos with philosophical concept “principle” (arche). “The paradigm gypsum (in Akkadian gaÒÒu). The argumentation is compli- of oriental cosmogony is represented by the Babylonian cated and the theory is questionable; in Or. Ep. 91 Burkert text Enuma elish” (232). Remark: the central theme of this wisely concluded: “Diese Hypothese zu verifizieren, fehlt es myth, the combat against the Sea (Tiamat), is a motif taken jedoch an spezifischem Material”. over from the West and it indeed has its environmental con- The AtraÌasis myth tells us that three gods divided the text on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, as Th. world among them by casting lots (I 12). Exactly the same Jacobsen showed; “The Battle between Marduk and Tia- is done in “The Deceiving of Zeus”, by the “brothers” Zeus, mat”, JAOS 88 (1968) 104-108. This has been confirmed and (Iliad XV 187-193). Casting lots is so by a quotation in a letter from Mari; the god Hadad of unusual in Greek myth that Burkert sees here a loan from the Aleppo says to the king: “I will give you the weapons with Babylonian myth (41 f.; Or. Ep. 87). Not a direct “Überset- which I struggled with the Sea (temtum)”, see “Le combat zung” but something very similar, an “Umsetzung”. du dieu de l’orage avec la Mer”, by J.-M. Durand, P. Remark: casting lots (isqu) among brothers at the partition Bordreuil and D. Pardee in Mari. Annales de recherches of an inheritance was usual in large parts of Mesopotamia; 245 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — VARIA 246 it is also known from ancient Greece (klèros) and Egypt (2003): “Die reichen Funde aus den Königsgräbern von (Demotic Ìwj Èrr), cf. Hebrew goral. This institution may be Salamis, die den Ausgräbern besonders ‘homerisch’ one more example of the Mediterranean cultural koine erschienen, stammen aus eben dieser Epoche der assyrischen assumed by Burkert (67, 72; Kl. Schr. II 39 f.). The myth Oberhoheit” (17). A lost epic in Homeric style was the describes what the gods do when dividing the estate that they Cypria. Why? It was known on Cyprus in 650. ”Dann aber had inherited. I see no direct loan. This motif about the ori- führt dies in jene Epoche Cyperns, als seine Könige formell gin of our world may be part of the Mediterranean cultural unter assyrischer Oberhoheit standen und doch in koine. erstaunlicher Weise Macht und Pracht entfalten konnten, The insulted goddesses Ishtar / Aphrodite / are wobei ‘orientalischer’ Luxus und ‘homerischer’ Lebensstil sulking and run to their father for help: Burkert thinks that sich in wunderlicher Weise mischen. (…) Die ‘Kyprischen Homer borrowed here from Gilgamesh (47 f.; already Or. Verse’, die Kypria, [sind] just in der Zeit entstanden, als die Ep. 92 f.). I prefer his first suggestion: “Gewiss mag man Keilschriftstelen assyrischer Könige in Cyperns Städten darin auch eine Allerwelts-Situation aus dem Kinderbereich standen” (46). “Klar und unübersehbar aber waren die erkennen”. On the following pages, the lovers of Ishtar are Beziehungen zu Syrien und Mesopotamien, standen doch die compared with those of Zeus (48 f.). Gedenkstelen der assyrischen Könige in Cyperns Städte” (Or. This chapter has a number of most unlikely suggestions. Ep. 98). A sobering remark: only one Assyrian stele is (1) It is suggested that a Greek mercenary, a bard, witnessed known, that of Sargon II, found in Larnaca (Or. Ep. 18 an Assyrian battle vividly described in Sennacherib’s annals: note19). King Esarhaddon mentions Cypriote kings bringing did he compose this passage in the style of the Iliad? (34). him homage and his successor Assurbanipal gives the same (2) The killing of the Bull of Heaven in Gilg. VI was known list. They never were on Cyprus. The Assyrian control of to Homer who made changes (49; “Umsetzung”, Or. Ep. 94). Cyprus must have been short-lived and their cultural impact (3) The organisation of the Iliad in 24 books (scrolls) coincides on the island must have been nil. with the founding of the library of Assurbanipal (already Or. The chapter “ und Ägypten” confirms the vision Ep. 110). “Wiederum blosser Zufall?” (53). Certainly. of Herodotus on the similarity of the Osiris and Dionysus (4) The Greeks learned Oriental literature in school when cults. The new discoveries of Orphic materials are presented learning the (Aramaic?) alphabet and for this reason they with enthousiasm; notably the Derveni papyrus (82 ff.). The always remembered the first lines or sections of famous chapter “Persien und die Magier” sees as main influences on works like Atrahasis or Enuma Elish (53 f.; Or. Ep. 91 f.). Greek thought the idea of the Soul and Heaven (118-123), To me, once you have your own Greek alphabet, you do not and dualism (124-126). Tangible Persians were the Persian need its original context anymore. Megabyxos in Sardis and the magi (113-118). The third chapter studies Oriental myths and wisdom lit- erature: the Greeks knew them and here their philosophy was We have to come to a conclusion. Burkert’s work is inspir- born. Their new ideas are “Weiterentwicklungen”, “Fulgu- ing and has he made school. His new ideas make us reconsider rationen”, logos (66 f., writing on Heraclitus). In the Levant, the evidence, he comes up with new or little known facts and this spiritual development was stiffled through the Assyrian it is an adventure to follow his lines of thought. Clearly, he and Babylonian “Eroberung und Plünderung”, Burkert writes loves “Gedankenspiel” (see above, on Kl. Schr. II 215 f.) and (63). A remark on Thales: “Die dem Thales zugeschriebene here he remarks “Vieles bleibt unsicher — auch hier ein Spiel” Lehre vom Wasser hat besonders in dem Detail, dass die Erde and then he quotes K. Reinhart, “Dass jedoch zu spielen uner- wie ein Schiff aufs Wasser gebaut sei, ihr Gegenstück (…) lässlich ist, um es soweit wie möglich einzuengen” (217). This in einem akkadischen Text und auch in der Bibel” (73). What reviewer prefers to remain silent when he has to find his way Akkadian myth? Possibly “The Babylonian Genesis”; see out in a labyrinth of uncertainties where he does not know what R. Labat, Les religions du Proche-Orient (1970) 74-76. turn to take: “einzuengen” is no option here. He does not like There is a direct connection between an Assyrian theory of labyrinths, others love them. The difference between pessimists three superimposed heavens, Ezekiel’s vision of the wheeled and optimists? This reviewer also has a prejudice: he cannot chariot (merkabah, Ez. 1:15 ff.), and the wheels in Anaxi- believe that Greeks, even in the Orient, were able to read mander’s world view (75 f.). Really? We are here in a dark cuneiform texts. And he thinks that the myth Enuma Elish was room, see three lights glowing, and tend to connect them by a a learned theological work, little known to outsiders. direct line. In a very recent article, B. Halpern connects Anax- imander with Genesis and Ezekiel; “The Assyrian astronomy Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam M. STOL of Genesis 1 and the birth of Milesian philosophy”, Eretz- August 2003 Israel 27 (2003) 74-83. He is not aware of Burkert’s theory. Here, Burkert points out that we have only two examples of contacts between Mesopotamia and Greece: Gyges and KORTE AANKONDIGINGEN Assurbanipal, and the brother of Alcaeus in the Babylonian army (76). Thanks to Gyges, the King’s Road was opened BOLGER, Diana, Nancy SERWINT (eds.) — Engendering and made direct contacts possible (15 f., 19; Or. Ep. Kl. Schr. Aphrodite. Women and Society in Ancient Cyprus. II 250 f.). American Schools of Oriental Research, Boston 2002. Elsewhere he attaches much value to the short stay of Sar- (28 cm, XVI, 457). = CAARI Monographs 3, ASOR gon II on Cyprus (46). Burkert’s opinion on Cyprus is pecu- Archaeological Reports, 7. ISBN 0-89757-059-6. Price liar. He identifies its Assyrian occupation with an “Homeric” £ 70.00; $ 99.95. era on Cyprus. We quote. “Dass auf Cypern die assyrische zugleich eine ‘homerische’ Epoche ist, bleibt festzuhalten” The theme of this book is gender in Cypriot archaeology. (Or. Ep. 19, on top). In his Die Griechen und der Orient Its first section studies gender and social organisation in the 247 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXI N° 1-2, januari-april 2004 248

Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age: Neolithic Khitokitia, households and architecture, gender tensions in Kissonerga, Chalcolithic mortuary rituals and the household at Marki- Alonia. The next section studies Cyprus in the Late Bronze and Iron Age (with one article on the Middle Ages): drink- ing in funerary rituals, women in sculpture, a family in a tomb in the village Mari (Archaic I) and childbirth. The sec- tion on identity and ethnicity explains the sexual ambiguity in plank-shaped idols and the groups of pre-pubescent chil- dren on ceramic vases. It continues with the stamp of women on Cyprus and in Ashdod, the Aegean immigration of the 12th century and the black female in Cypriot art. The section on technology studies women’s knives in the Neolithic, theoret- ical constructs and ceramics in the Neolithic, women potters and women and textile production (a long article, p. 281-312). The section Gender and Goddess has four articles on (the sometimes bisexual) Aphrodite, “the Cyprian Goddess” and related goddesses in the Near East. The last section has arti- cles on women in Syllabic inscriptions and colonialist views of the Cyprian Goddess. A panel discussion on equity issues in archaeology concludes the book.

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WITTE, Markus, Stefan ALKIER (eds.) — Die Griechen und der Vordere Orient. Beiträge zum Kultur- und Reli- gionskontakt zwischen Griechenland und dem Vorderen Orient im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. = Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, 191. Universitätsverlag Freiburg Schweiz / Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen, 2003. (23 cm, X, 134). ISBN 3-7278-1426-8 / ISBN 3-525-53048-X. ISSN 1015-1850. sFr 48,—. This volume offers the papers read at a symposium in Frankfurt in April 2002. P. Högemann, “Das ionische Griechentum und seine ana- tolische Umwelt im Spiegel Homers”. The Iliad of Homer has its origin in Asia Minor and here was the craddle of Greek culture: not in Athens but in Miletos. Oriental tradi- tions were conveyed by Hittites, Luwians and Lydians. We find in Homer, Iliad III 245-313, the text of a treaty in Hit- tite form (4 f.). V. Rosenberger, “Reisen zum Orakel. Griechen, Lyder und Perser als Klienten hellenischer Orakelstätten”. There was a tradition that Asian kings consulted the Delphi oracle. T.S. Scheer, “Die geraubte Artemis. Griechen, Perser und die Kultbilder der Götter”. Pausanias says that Xerxes took with him two statues: is this story true? No, but is says much about Greek prejudice: Persian kings were impious and iconoclastic. O. Kaiser, “Athen und Jerusalem. Die Begegnung des spätbiblischen Judentums mit dem griechischen Geist, ihre Voraussetzungen und ihre Folgen”, offers a detailed and well documented survey of the contacts between Jews and Greeks, starting with the Greek mercenaries under Jojakim and end- ing in 135 A.D. The social situation, the impact of Hellenis- tic culture on Jewish writers (the problem of the theodicy, 109 f.); Alexandria; Greek philosophy: notably Stoic pneu- matics (119).

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