Sneak Preview

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Sneak Preview BRAMLETT | DEAL AN INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT ISRAEL & THE HEBREW BIBLE A DIACHRONIC APPROACH pairs An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible: A Diachronic Approach ANCIENT ISRAEL AND THE HEBREW BIBLE TO AN INTRODUCTION biblical material with primary source texts from the Middle Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period. It places emphasis on archaeological and historical data that help AN INTRODUCTION TO to illuminate the Hebrew Bible in its ancient Near Eastern context. The opening chapter focuses on the Middle Bronze Age, including information on ANCIENT ISRAEL & societal development, innovations, material culture, Abraham and the Amorite Migration, Joseph in Egypt, Genesis, and more. Characteristics of the Late Bronze Age, the Exodus Narrative, Leviticus, and Numbers are addressed in Chapter 2. The THE HEBREW BIBLE Iron Age is covered in Chapters 3 and 4, speaking to the emergence of Israel, Deuteronomy, the archaeology of the period, Samuel and Kings, Excursus, and latter Prophets. The final chapter addresses the end of the kingdom of Judah, the rise of the A DIACHRONIC APPROACH Medes and Persians, Psalms, the Book of Ruth, Proverbs, Job, wisdom literature, and more. EDITION An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible is an ideal text for introductory courses in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Kent V. Bramlett, Ph.D. is an associate professor of archaeology and the history of antiquity curator and associate director for the Center for New Eastern Archaeology at La Sierra University. He holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in Near Eastern archaeology, as well as a master’s degree in biblical and cognate language from Andrews University. Brooke L. Deal, Ph.D. is a professor of religious studies, the TW Philips Chair of Religious Studies, co-director of interdisciplinary studies, and co-chair of the Department of Humanities at Bethany College. She holds a Ph.D. in biblical interpretation and M.T.S. from Brite Divinity School. www.cognella.com WRITTEN AND EDITED BY KENT V. BRAMLETT, PH.D. & BROOKE L. DEAL, PH.D. SKU 81149-1C An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible A Diachronic Approach First Edition Written and Edited by Kent V. Bramlett, Ph.D. and Brooke L. Deal, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher David Miano, Senior Specialist Acquisitions Editor Michelle Piehl, Senior Project Editor Celeste Paed, Associate Production Editor Emely Villavicencio, Senior Graphic Designer Greg Isales, Licensing Associate Natalie Piccotti, Director of Marketing Kassie Graves, Vice President of Editorial Jamie Giganti, Director of Academic Publishing Copyright © 2021 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information retrieval system without the written permission of Cognella, Inc. For inquiries regarding permissions, translations, foreign rights, audio rights, and any other forms of reproduction, please contact the Cognella Licensing Department at [email protected]. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intentto infringe. Cover image copyright © 2012 iStockphoto LP/CrossEyedPhotography. Printed in the United States of America. 3970 Sorrento Valley Blvd., Ste. 500, San Diego, CA 92121 Contents Introduction to Ancient Israel: A Diachronic Approach ix Timeline for an Introduction to the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel xi 1 The Middle Bronze Age 1 Prolegomena—The Rise of Cities 1 Defining the “Middle Bronze Age” 3 Periodization of the MBA 4 MBA Historical and Societal Developments 4 Innovations and Material Culture 6 Important Sites and Finds from the MBA 8 Hyksos in Egypt 8 Abraham and the Amorite Migration 9 Joseph in Egypt 10 Mari Texts 11 Genesis 12 “In the beginning …” 12 In the Garden … 14 Origins of Civilizations and Trades 18 The Downfall of Humankind 18 Noah the Vintner 20 The Tower of Babel 22 The Ancestral Narratives: Matriarchs and Patriarchs of Ancient Israel 24 Wife as Sister Motif: Abram and Sarai as Tricksters 25 Covenant and Lineage 27 Hagar and Ishmael 28 The Host and Stranger 29 Isaac and Rebekah 32 Jacob and Esau 34 Jacob and the Daughters of Laban 36 Leaving Laban 37 The Rape of Dinah 38 Judah and Tamar 39 The Joseph Story 40 2 The Late Bronze Age 43 The Age of Heroes 43 Characteristics of the Late Bronze Age 44 Egypt and the Exodus 47 v vi An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible The Exodus Narrative 48 The Rise of Moses 49 Revelation of the Divine Name 50 A Close Encounter 51 Plagues 52 The First Passover 52 Song of Miriam 53 The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue 54 The Book of the Covenant 57 Leviticus 58 Leviticus 1–9: the Sacrificial System and Priesthood 59 Kashrut 61 “Impurity” Related to Menstruation and Childbirth 62 Day of Atonement: Yom Kippur 64 Leviticus 18 and Sexual Regulations for the Community 65 Numbers 67 The First Census 67 The Sotah 68 Rebellion against Moses 69 Waters of Meribah and the Deaths of Miriam and Aaron 69 Balaam 70 Incident at Baal Peor 71 Daughters of Zelophehad 71 Bibliography 72 3 The Iron Age I 73 Frontier Opportunity 73 The Emergence of Israel 75 Conquest 75 Peaceful Infiltration 77 Peasant Revolt 77 Recent Models and Syntheses 78 Archaeology of the Highland Settlements 79 Philistines and Other Sea Peoples 80 Egyptian Execration Texts: A Geography of its Enemies 81 Deuteronomy 83 Introduction to the Deuteronomistic History/Former Prophets 88 Spies in Jericho 89 Deborah and Barak 91 The Levite’s Wife and the Tribe of Benjamin—Judges 19–21 92 4 The Iron Age II 97 Introduction and Overview of the History and Archaeology of the Iron Age II 97 Iron IIA: The United Monarchy 98 Archaeology of the “Palace of David” 99 Solomon 100 Detailed Contents vii Dating Controversies of the Tenth–Ninth Centuries 101 The Modified Conventional Chronology 102 Campaign of Shishak in Palestine 102 Iron IIB: Divided Kingdoms, Maturing States 102 Iron IIC: Judah Between Assyria and Babylonia 106 Siloam Tunnel Inscription 110 Historical Context: 110 Translation: 110 Samuel and Kings 111 David and Bathsheba 112 Death of David, Rise of Solomon 114 Ahab and Jezebel 115 Athaliah 119 Excursus 121 Archaeology and the Cult of YHWH/Asherah 121 Latter Prophets 127 Amos 128 Oracles Against the Nations 129 Amos’s Visions 130 Hosea 131 First Isaiah 134 Micah 137 5 The Exilic and Postexilic Period 139 The End of the Kingdom of Judah 139 Life in Exile and Life in the Land 140 Babylon 141 Rise of the Medes and Persians 143 Cyrus’s Policy and the Cyrus Cylinder 143 Return (Reality and Conflict) 144 Exilic and Postexilic Literature 145 Jeremiah 145 The Psalms 148 Superscriptions and Selah 149 Hymns of Praise 150 Individual Laments 151 Communal Laments 151 Thanksgiving 152 Enthronement Psalms 152 Royal Psalms 152 Wisdom Psalms 153 Mixed Genre 153 Ruth 154 Jonah 157 Wisdom Literature in the Hebrew Bible 160 Woman Wisdom 160 Proverbs 162 viii An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible Job 164 Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 167 Esther and Daniel 168 Esther 168 Daniel 171 Tales from the Court—Daniel 1–6 172 The Visions: Daniel 7–8 175 Resurrection of the Dead: Daniel 12 177 The Song of Songs 178 Glossary 185 ACTIVE LEARNING This book has interactive activities available to complement your reading. Your instructor may have customized the selection of activities available for your unique course. Please check with your professor to verify whether your class will access this content through the Cognella Active Learning portal (http://active. cognella.com) or through your home learning management system. Introduction to Ancient Israel: A Diachronic Approach his text represents the collaborative efforts of a biblical exegete and an archaeologist, T working on opposite sides of the country for five years. Through selected biblical texts and images, An Introduction to Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible features relevant archaeological data that allows a more in-depth, scholarly way to study biblical texts within the classroom. The book begins with an historical timeline and is then organized by archaeological eras, moving from the Middle Bronze Age through the exilic period. Within each archaeological period, a number of biblical texts are critically analyzed with an eye to historical context through a variety of hermeneutical lenses. The book does not make the claim that the biblical material itself moves in a chronological fashion but places most of the selected texts within the archae- ological period in which they are purportedly set. Biblical texts are analyzed by highlighting canonical position, inherent structure, themes, linguistic features, and other exegetical insights. The authors who created this text did so with a didactic purpose in mind—both are college professors, teaching primarily undergraduates in institutions that are traditionally affiliated with Christian denominations. Between the two of them, the authors have almost 30 years of teaching experience and have tailored the book to the needs of their students and, hopefully, other instructors who will find the text useful inthe classroom. xi Timeline for an Introduction to the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel c. 3500 BCE: Invention of the wheel in Mesopotamia. Early Bronze Age 3300–2000 BCE 3300–3200 BCE: Cuneiform is invented. 3100 BCE: Hieroglyphics are invented; Narmer unifies Upper andLower Egypt. c. 2500 BCE: Egyptian pyramids are built (1st–3rd Dynasties). c. 2300 BCE: Sargon I founds the Akkadian Dynasty in southern Mesopotamia. 2100 BCE: Ur ziggurat is built. Middle Bronze Age 2000–1550 BCE 1850–1700 BCE: The supposed period of the biblical matriarchs and patriarchs in the Levant.
Recommended publications
  • The Royal Palace at Urkesh and the Daughter of Naram-Sin
    THE ROYAL PALACE AT URKESH AND THE DAUGHTER OF NARAM-SIN Giorgio BUCCELLATI & Marilyn KELLY-BUCCELLATI UCLA, USA Abstract A gauge of how significant were the results of the 121h season of excavations at Tell Mozan may easily be found inta comparison between what can now be said about Urkesh and what could be said before our excavations. It was common opinion that Urkesh was a petty, peripheral kingdom that emerged following the fall of the dynasty of Akkad. This common opinion must now be radically revised: Urkesh was a major political center at least by the time ofNaram-Sin, so much so that his daughter waspresent in Urkesh, most likely as its queen. She also postdates the royal building of king Tupkish and queen Uqnitum, which we know now to have been a full-fledged palace, one of the largest and best preserved in ancient Syro- Mesopotamia. It appears then that Urkesh was a leading player in the geo-political scene of third millennium Syria, perhaps allied through a dynastic marriage with the vely king who boasts to have destroyed Ebla; and that even before that time the local endan had suficient political and economic power to build a palace of major proportions. The seal of Tar'am-Agade, the daughter of serve as priestesses have other scenes. This is a Naram-Sin, was impressed on a number of door strong element in support of the conclusion that sealings that had been discarded and were found Tar'am-Agade was not in Urkesh as a priestess, but together with other door sealings, a total of about as a political figure, hence most likely as queen 200.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Motifs and Iconographic Identifications
    Gilgamesh at Urkesh? Literary motifs and iconographic identifications Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati Identificationof the subjects of Syro-Mesopotamian art is often difficult due to the general lack of the appropriate iconographic specificity needed to be certain of the connection between scenes and texts.1 A great deal has been written on this topic especially as it relates to the identification of mythological figures in texts for which we have only later sources.2 While some scholars feel strongly that it is impos¬ sible to make this type of connection, others, with a great deal of caution, think that it may be potentially useful insome instances to attempt a connection between literary figures or even entire scenes with visual evidence.3 An alternative line of approach centers on the correlation of iconography and historical events - as for example, with the recent critical study of a stone mold interpreted to refer to the campaigns of Naram-Sin in the eastern mountain regions.4 In this article Iam attempting to establish an association between the iconography of a plaque from the Urkesh excavations dating to the second half of the third millennium with themes known from the epic of Gilgamesh because Iconsider that there is sufficient nar¬ rative and visual clarity to link the two. My methodological premise is that we should not be looking for literal illustrations of specific episodes, as if the artist had been commissioned to accompany words with pictures. Rather, Ithink we can assume broad thematic correlations, whereby the artist would be, yes, inspired by a story, but would simply re-elaborate its motifs according to his own visual vocabulary.
    [Show full text]
  • The First Gilgamesh Conjectures About the Earliest Epic
    see Front matter at the end see bookmarks The First Gilgamesh Conjectures About the Earliest Epic Giorgio Buccellati University of California, Los Angeles/International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies Abstract: Out of the elements of the Sumerian cycle about Gilgamesh, a complex new epic was fashioned at the high point of the Akkadian period. The paper argues in favor of such a high date for the first composition of the epic as a literary whole, and situates it in the context of the Akkadian imperial experiment. Keywords: Gilgamesh, Bilgamesh, epic literature, Old Akkadian, Hurrians, Urkesh, Ebla The argument The Urkesh plaque: the reconfiguring of Enkidu Gilgamesh is the best known character of Mesopotamian The Urkesh plaque A7.36 (Figure 1) has been convincingly literature, and the eleven tablet composition that narrates its interpreted as representing the encounter of Gilgamesh adventures is universally recognized as a masterpiece of world and Enkidu.3 Two aspects of the analysis offered by Kelly- literature. This is the Gilgamesh of the late version, which was Buccellati are particularly relevant for our present concern: most likely redacted at the end of the second millennium BC, the date and the iconography. and is available primarily through the scribal version of the library of Assurbanipal, several centuries later. An earlier The date. The fragment was found in a private house from version, in tablets dating to the early second millennium, has to the end of the third millennium, which offers a significant been known for a long time: not preserved in a single scribal terminus ante quem – significant because it is in any case context, it presents segments of a story that is close enough earlier than Old Babylonian.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mortal Kings of Ur: a Short Century of Divine
    3 THE MORTAL KINGS OF UR: A SHORT CENTURY OF DIVINE RULE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA PIOTR MICHALOWSKI, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Assyriologists are at a disadvantage whenever the subject of divine kingship comes up. The issue is not an old one, but it has its lingering ghosts, James Frazer and Edward Evans­ Prichard, and it has its favorite haunting ground, the continent of Africa and the island of Mad­ agascar. Ever since Frazer delineated the problem in 1890, the focus of investigation has been on Africa, and the definition has encompassed three central components: duality, regicide, and the mediating role of the king. Of the three, regicide has been the most contentious issue, but it is one that is hardly important outside of the Africanist debates. Moreover, as Kasja Ekholm Friedman (1985: 250) has written, some have viewed divine kingship as "an autonomous sym­ bolic structure that can only be understood in terms of its own internal symbolic structure." Writing about the Lower Congo (Friedman 1985: 251), she undertook to demonstrate that "it is a historical product which has undergone transformations connected to the general structural change that has turned Africa into an underdeveloped periphery of the West." Here, I follow her example and attempt to locate the eruptions of early Mesopotamian divine kingship as historically defined phenomena, rather than as moments in a developmental trajectory of an autonomous symbolic structure. Most studies of the early history of Mesopotamian kingship concentrate on the develop­ ment of a specific figure in text and art; the underlying notions are social evolutionary, and the methodology is philological, often relying on etymology and the study of the occurrence and history of lexical labels, as summarized well in a recent article by Nicole Brisch (forth­ coming).
    [Show full text]
  • The Mythological Background of Three Seal Impressions Found in Urkesh
    XXII/2014/1/Studie The Mythological Background of Three Seal Impressions Found in Urkesh TIBOR SEDLÁčEK* Archeological work on the Syrian Tell Mozan site began in the year 1984 under the lead of Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati. The site was convincingly identified with the ancient northern Mesopotamian city of Urkesh. A significant part of the archeological evi- dence found at this site has Hurrian characteristics1 and can therefore be used to complement the image of early Hurrian history and culture.2 As * This text was completed in the framework of the project “Epistemological problems in research in the study of religions” (project No. MUNI/A/0780/2013). I would like to thank my Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Dalibor Papoušek, for his important remarks. My special thanks go to Dr. David Zbíral for his thoughtful corrections and suggestions. I also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. All remaining mis- takes are my own. 1 See especially Giorgio Buccellati, “Urkesh and the Question of Early Hurrian Urbanism”, in: Michaël Hudson – Baruch A. Levine (eds.), Urbanization and Land Ownership in the Ancient Near East: A Colloquium Held at New York University, November 1996, and the Oriental Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 1997, (Peabody Museum Bulletin 7), Cambridge: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University 1999, 229-250; id., “The Semiotics of Ethnicity: The Case of Hurrian Urkesh”, in: Jeanette C. Fincke (ed.), Festschrift für Gernot Wilhelm anläßlich seines 65. Geburtstages am 28. Januar 2010, Dresden: Islet Verlag 2010, 79-90; id., “When Were the Hurrians Hurrian? The Persistence of Ethnicity in Urkesh”, in: Joan Aruz – Sarah B.
    [Show full text]
  • By Its Chosen Role, Syria Is Host to the World — the Pulsing Modern World and the Full Gamut of Ancient History
    By its chosen role, Syria is host to the world — the pulsing modern world and the full gamut of ancient history. The city and kingdom of Urkesh is one of the glories of ancient Syria, jealously guarded for the treasures it hides, generously offered for the world’s enrichment. Urkesh dates back to the beginning of civilization, a fabled city where the gods were said to dwell, a powerful kingdom, rival of Mari and Ebla, the Syrian home of the ancient Hurrians. As the archaeologists bend to the ground to retrieve a splendor long since protected by the Syrian soil, they rely on the support of other friends of the Syrian past, eager to share in the promise of its future. Syria Shell’s support of the recovery of ancient Urkesh blends these goals into one: a leader in discovery, Syria Shell is also a partner in scholarship. These plates tell the story of this proud partnership. The resources of the Syrian soil The many tells of Syria encase the mysteries of the worlds earliest cities like ancient Urkesh, hidden under the towering profile of Tell Mozan in the Khabur plains. Syria Shell treasures the soil the geological soil with its yield of mineral resources and the archaeological soil that unfolds the richness of the Syrian past. An ancient Syrian royal family The focal point of social life, the king and his family project an image of security and harmony. As we free a civilization from the grip of the soil, we recover values, passions and ambitions. Through the toil of scholarship, their names resound on our lips once more their faces are profiled for us anew.
    [Show full text]
  • Syria in the Bronze Age
    126 SYRIA: Syria in the Bronze Age This shift in population coincided with the development in the Balikh valley in North Syria. Provides important new infor­ of the new craft of potting. The new technology provided mation on the later Neolithic and the transition to the Chaleolithic in that region. containers for carrying water, storing foodstuffs, and cook­ Cauvin, Jacques, and Paul Sanlaville, eds. Prihisloire du LevalZi: Chron­ ing. It brought about a revolution in cuisine because it en­ oLogie el organisation de L'espace depuis Les origines jusqu'au VIe miLLin­ abled people to cook a much wider range of dishes than aire. Paris, 1981. Series ofessays, from a conference on the prehistory before. Pastoralism developed as a distinct way oflife during of the Levant, written in English and French. The best source of these final centuries of the Neolithic. Henceforth, people information for the Paleolithic in Syria. Clark, j. D. "The Midclle Acheulian Occupation Site at Latamne, could raise flocks of sheep and goats on the drIer steppe; orthern Syria (First Paper)." Qualernaria 9 (1967): 1-68. Main lands that were otherwise unsuitable for more intensive account of the archaeological investigations at'Latamne, with an as­ farming. [See Pastoral Nomadism.] sessment of the site's significance. Emergence of Town Life. The transition to the Chal­ Contenson, Henri de. "Early Agriculture in Western Asia." In The Hilly Flanks and Beyond: b'ssays on lhe PrehislOry ofSoulhweSlern Asia, ed­ colithic (c. 7000 BP) was followed by an expansion ofsettle­ ited by 1'. Cuyler Young, Jr., et aI., pp. 57-74.
    [Show full text]
  • Urkesh First Capital
    . ... .., .. .. ,. By Giorgio BUCCektti and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati A view of the Tur Abdin (the southern edge of the Taurus range) from Tell Mozan (the surface of the tell is visible in the foreground). N EARLY HURRIANMYTH, PRESERVED IN A HITITE VERSION, The large saddle in the mountain range marks the location of the tells the story of a young god, Silver, who lives modern city of Mardin, where a strategic pass leads to rich copper with his mother somewhere in the countryside mines (Ergani) to the North. (A// ihstrations courtesy of the A away from the cities. He has a quarrel with his International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies.) friends, who taunt him because he has no father. Prompted, his mother tells him that his father lives in the big city: is thefather of Silver);accepting the urban rule of law (Kumarbi administers justice); and paying allegiance in return for Oh Silver! The city you inquire about, I will describe to defense (Kumarbi is in control of enemies, both human you. Your father is Kumarbi, the Father of the city Urkesh. and animal). He resides in Urkesh, where he rightfully resolves the lawsuits of all the lands. Your brother is Teshup: he is Urkesh king in heaven and is king in the land. Your sister is Sauska, All told, this myth would seem to provide a rather trans- and she is queen in Nineveh. You must not fear any of parent idealization of the relationship between mineral them. Only one deity you must fear, Kumarbi, who resources and their commercial exploitation!At any rate, se stirs up the enemy land and the wild animals (adapted non 2 vero, 2 ben inventato: this scenario may not be true, but from Hoffner 1990:46-47).
    [Show full text]
  • The Adaptation of the Cuneiform Script to Foreign Languages
    THE ADAPTATION OF THE CUNEIFORM SCRIPT TO FOREIGN LANGUAGES Wilfred H. van Soldt The Case of Hurrian Hurrians are attested in Mesopotamian sources since the reign of king Naram-Sin of Akkad, ca. 2200 bc (Wilhelm 1996: 175, Steinkeller 1998: 88f). This king conquered a number of places with Hurrian names, probably located in the Habur region in the northeast of modern Syria. Two hundred years earlier there are no Hurrian names to be found in the written sources and the population in the north seems to have been largely Semitic (ibid.). However, by 2200 bc Hurrians appear to have established themselves throughout northern Mesopotamia and their immigration must have started at least one generation earlier than the reign of Naram-Sin. In this early period, we already find a few Hurrian names of kings who ruled over city-states. King Atal-shen (ca. 2100) ruled over a small state in the Habur region that encompassed his capital Urkesh (modern Tell Mozan) and the city of Nawar/Nagar (modern Tell Brak; Salvini 1998: 106f). We know this from an inscription of his written in Akkadian (Wilhelm 1988). His successors, Tupkish and Tish-atal, probably only ruled over Urkesh; a large number of seal impressions of Tupkish and his consort were found in Tell Mozan (Buccellati & Kelly-Buccellati 1995–1996). King Tish-atal left us the first inscription in Hurrian (Wilhelm 1998). Attestations for the Hurrian population in northern Mesopotamia are scarce during the Old Babylonian period (2000–1600 bc),1 a period that saw a strong Amorite immigration from the west (Steinkeller 1998, 97f).
    [Show full text]
  • Paper Abstracts
    PAPER ABSTRACTS Plenary Address Eric H. Cline (The George Washington University), “Dirt, Digging, Dreams, and Drama: Why Presenting Proper Archaeology to the Public is Crucial for the Future of Our Field” We seem to have forgotten that previous generations of Near Eastern archaeologists knew full well the need to bring their work before the eyes of the general public; think especially of V. Gordon Childe, Sir Leonard Woolley, Gertrude Bell, James Henry Breasted, Yigael Yadin, Dame Kathleen Kenyon, and a whole host of others who lectured widely and wrote prolifically. Breasted even created a movie on the exploits of the Oriental Institute, which debuted at Carnegie Hall and then played around the country in the 1930s. The public was hungry for accurate information back then and is still hungry for it today. And yet, with a few exceptions, we have lost sight of this, sacrificed to the goal of achieving tenure and other perceived institutional norms, and have left it to others to tell our stories for us, not always to our satisfaction. I believe that it is time for us all— not just a few, but as many as possible—to once again begin telling our own stories about our findings and presenting our archaeological work in ways that make it relevant, interesting, and engaging to a broader audience. We need to deliver our findings and our thoughts about the ancient world in a way that will not only attract but excite our audiences. Our livelihoods, and the future of the field, depend upon it, for this is true not only for our lectures and writings for the general public but also in our classrooms.
    [Show full text]
  • "The 'Second Ebla'. a View on the Eb Ivb City"
    "THE 'SECOND EBLA'. A VIEW ON THE EB IVB CITY" Rita Dolce Universitg di Palemo In a recent study of the topographical features and the urban layout of the city of Ebla following its destruction by the Akkadians' we have drawn on the archaeological documentation and the very little data that exists to attempt to sketch out a preliminary image of the city in that crucial phase of the historical and cultural development of northern Syria, EB IVB, which, until only a few years ago, had not been shown, or even assumed to be so crucial2. Some of the many questions raised by the ongoing investigations, to which it is difficult to offer any definitive answers at the present time, have at least been clarified by the findings of the excavations conducted over the past ten years in the Lower Town of this large Syrian centre (fig. I), to which I shall be referring here as the starting-point from which to draw a number of further considerations: the Late Early Syrian Ebla was radically destroyed by the Akkadians which held up the development of the town and for a time, and certainly led to a considerable reduction in its size, but it was never completely abandoned. The partial reorganization of some of the public structures on the Acropolis and the probable building of the official residence of the sovereign3 in the EBIVBIMardikh IIB period suggest that the city recovered and a system of institutionalized royal power was established. The extension of the EB IVB settlement in the Lower own^, particularly on the northern and western sides5, grew up around the monumental Royal Palace (the Archaic Palace) (fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Assyrian Collective Identity in the Second Millennium BCE: a Social Categories Approach
    Assyrian Collective Identity in the Second Millennium BCE: A Social Categories Approach By Jonathan Valk A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute for the Study of the Ancient World New York University May, 2018 ___________________________ Professor Beate Pongratz-Leisten © Jonathan Valk All Rights Reserved, 2018 Dedication To the two most important women in my life: my mother Tamara, and my wife Avichag. In thinking of either of them I can do no less than echo the praise of the goddess Nanaya: ela šâša, mannu mīna eppuš? Without her, who can do anything? - SAA III, 4: r ii 9' iii Acknowledgements This project represents not the culmination of a long journey, but an important waystation on the road. The path has been muddy and riddled with potholes. It has, on occasion, been lost altogether, only to reappear in an unexpected place, meandering in an here I am! – with my offering in hand. I first set out – הנני ,unanticipated direction. Nevertheless on this journey many rotations around the sun ago. When I left the safety of the maternal nest, I had only just begun to realize that I do not know much. Now, I am acutely aware of it. All to the better. My awareness of my own ignorance has been helped along by many people whom I have been fortunate to know and to learn from. Before moving to New York and deciding to pursue research in the ancient world, I had the opportunity to work closely with Martin Goodman and Bernard Wasserstein at the universities of Oxford and Chicago respectively.
    [Show full text]