DOCSLIB.ORG

Morris Jastrow, Jr

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Morris Jastrow, Jr Egypt and Palestine, 1400 B.C. Author(s): Morris Jastrow, Jr. Source: Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 11, No. 1 (1892), pp. 95-124 Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3259082 Accessed: 29/10/2010 06:13 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sbl. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Society of Biblical Literature is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Biblical Literature. http://www.jstor.org JASTROW: EGYPT AND PALESTINE, 1400 B.C. 95 Egypt and Palestine, 1400 B.C.' PROF. MORRIS JASTROW, JR. UR knowledge of the early history of Palestine is still compara- O tively scanty, and this, despite the remarkable discoveries and researches of the past decades, which have so greatly extended our vista of antiquity. While we possess documents which enable us to follow the course of events in southern Mesopotamia from a period as remote at least as 2700 B.C., and the monuments of Egypt take us back, it is claimed, to a still earlier period, we know but little from native sources of the internal affairs of Palestine outside of the con- federacy of the Beni Israel previous to the tenth century B.c.; and even in the case of this confederacy the sources become exceedingly vague, and finally uncertain, as we approach the border-line in its history marked by what is commonly known as the " Exodus." For the period previous to the Exodus, the pages of Genesis, though abounding in historical reminiscences of the greatest interest and value, are yet, even in the case of such chapters as xiv., xxxiv., and xxxvi., so obscured by legendary admixture and uncertain tradition that, without further light thrown upon the narrative from extraneous sources, it is hardly possible to do more than reconstruct general pictures of life in Palestine at this time. Fortunately, extraneous sources for this early period do not entirely fail us; and they have recently been enriched by a most important discovery in a quarter entirely unlooked for. The Assyrian sources, indeed, for the history of Palestine, flowing so copiously for the ninth, eighth, and seventh centuries, cease ere we reach the Exodus. Before the ninth century we have a refer- ence in Assyrian inscriptions to Palestine from the days of Tiglath- Pileser I. (ca. I10oo B.C.), who bounds his dominions on the west by the " great sea of the land of Akarri," - a term which, no doubt, was intended to include Palestine in the proper sense, as well as Syria 1 In view of the general importance to Old Testament students of the El- Amarna tablets which form the basis of this paper, it has been thought desirable to include in it some account of the bearings of the tablets on the history of prov- inces adjacent to Palestine proper. 96 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. and the Phoenician coast.2 It is probable, also, that the grandfather of this king, Salmaneser I., who, as we know, made extensive con- quests in the East and West, already maintained a supremacy over Palestine.3 For the events related in the 14th chapter of Genesis, which certainly point to early political relations between southern Mesopotamia and eastern Palestine prior to the Assyrian supremacy, nothing has as yet been gleaned from Babylonian sources beyond some proposed, but still doubtful, identifications of names. Among these that of Amraphel with Hammurabi, first suggested by Schradex and Halevy,4 may be regarded as the most significant, because, if correct, it would approximately fix the date of the great conflict there described. Egypt, however, has come to our aid in filling up a part of the gap between the days of Amraphel and the establishment of the Israelitish kingdom. During the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties, cov- ering, in a rough estimate, the four centuries from 1600 to 1200 B.C., Palestine was brought into close relations with Egypt. Shortly after the re-establishment of a native dynasty in Egypt, consequent upon the expulsion of the still mysterious " Hyksos " kings, the Egyptian monarchs began their famous series of Eastern campaigns. Under Thotmes I. Egyptian armies marched victoriously through Palestine and Syria, and passed within the confines of Mesopotamia. The work of conquest was continued with greater efficiency by Thotmes III., who, as a result of a large number of campaigns, suc- ceeded in bringing under Egyptian control the cities lying along the Phcenician coast, as well as those in the interior; and, penetrating beyond the stronghold of the Hittites at Carchemish, claimed pos- session also of the northwestern districts of Mesopotamia, known to the Egyptians as Nahrafn (or Nahrina) and Mitanni. Whether this king also reached the country of Ashur proper remains an open ques- tion, though it is certain that the Assyrian ruler paid tribute to the Egyptian, and it would also appear that Babylonia at this time or shortly thereafter acknowledged the supremacy of Egypt.' Still, 2 Inscription at Sebeneh-Su; III. Rawl. 4, No. 6, 1. 8; Schrader, Die Keilin- sckriften am Eingange der Quellgrotte des Sebenek-Su, p. 7 sqq. ; Schrader, K.-B., I. p. 48. in the of 8 See an article by the writer on " Palestine and Assyria Days Joshua," in Zeitsckrift fiir Assyriologie, VII. I. Schrader, Die keilsczr. Babyl. Kb'nigsliste, pp. 25, 26; Halevy, Revue des At. uives, XV. 168 sqq.; Zimmern, Die Assyriologie als Hiilfswissenschaft fiir das Studium des A. T. p. IO, accepts the identification. 5 Wilkinson, History of Ancient Egypt, II. 242; Brugsch, History of Egypt, I. 374. JASTROW: EGYPT AND PALESTINE, 1400 B.C. 97 whatever may be the facts with regard to Assyria and Babylonia, they were not permanently affected by these Eastern campaigns of the Egyptians; and even northern Syria, between the river Chabur and the Mediterranean, only remained for a comparatively short time in a condition of real subjection to Egypt. On the other hand, along the Phoenician coast and in Palestine proper, the Egyptian control was more complete; and it may be said that here Egypt usurped the posi- tion for some time held by Assyria, appointing governors who were under her jurisdiction, and receiving tribute. But the successors of the great Thotmes experienced no little difficulty in maintaining this position. Egyptian garrisons appear to have been kept stationed at various points along the coast and in the interior, and expeditions had frequently to be undertaken for the purpose of quelling upris- ings. Under the immediate successors of Thotmes, Amenophis II. and Thotmes IV., Egypt still managed to hold her own; but there are distinct evidences of a weakening of her grasp over these lands during the reign of Amenophis III., a decline which becomes more obvious when Amenophis IV. comes to the throne. It may be that the religious changes which began to make themselves felt in Egypt in the days of Amenophis III., and which, through the policy pur- sued by Amenophis IV., led to what has with some propriety been called a religious revolution,6 was in some measure responsible for this decline in political power,- the religious movement drawing to itself some of the vitality of the nation that might otherwise have been expended in the maintenance and increase of foreign possessions. But whatever the causes may have been, tribute from Nahrina ceases after the reign of Amenophis III.; the Eastern campaigns of the latter are few in number and indecisive in character, while Ameno- phis IV. does not appear to have conducted any expedition in per- son, and only a single reference to the tribute of Rutennu (as the Egyptians called the district that included Phcenicia, Palestine, and Syria) is found on the monuments of his reign. It was not until the XIXth dynasty had firmly established itself that the vigorous policy of Thotmes III. was again taken up, and in consequence of the decisive victory gained by Rameses II. at Kadesh, over the Hittites and their allies, the old r6gime in a measure restored; though it is significant for the altered political conditions that in the offensive and defensive alliance which Egypt made with the Hittites - then " 6 See the account of the famous " heresy in Wilkinson, II. 279-286; Brugsch, I. 492 sqy. 98 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. rapidly growing in power - she recognized the rights and claims of this people in a manner that led in the course of another century to a practical abandonment of her position.! Naturally the Egyptian records, prepared by Egyptian kings, indi- cate only in a general way the decline of her control over her Eastern provinces that marks the period intervening between Ameno- phis III.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Case System of West-Semitized Amarna Akkadian
    THE CASE SYSTEM OF WEST-SEMITIZED AMARNA AKKADIAN MAARTEN KOSSMANN (LEIDEN) In describing Amarna Akkadian1), most authors have laid emphasis on the analysis of the verbal System. This is not at all surprising because the system is totally different from the one we find m Standard Akkadian and clearly reflects the West-Semitic system. As short final vowels are preserved in Amarna Akkadian, and so the original tense-aspect distinctions, the language is of vital importance m the reconstruction of Proto-West-Semitic. It is remarkable that hardly any work has been done on the case system. Apart from a few brief observations by Böhl and Dhorme2) and a few loose remarks in articles pnmarily dealing with other subjects, philological or linguistic3) or describing the entire grammar of one subcorpus4), no endeavour has, as far as I am aware, been made to analyse the case system. This is regrettable because from what we know of the verbal system we may assume that in Amarna Akkadian the case system too reflects West-Semitic usage to some extent. In Proto-West-Semitic, case was expressed mainly by short final vowels. Together with Ugaritic, Amarna Akkadian seems to show the most ancient West-Semitic case system attested. The Amarna Akkadian evidence is far more vaned and philologically far less complicated than the Ugaritic evidence, where we must inevitably confme ourselves to IH'-nouns. ') I am mdebted to Dr W H van Soldt and to Professor Dr F H H Kortlandt for readme H commentmg on an earher version of this article and to Dr G L van Dnem for correctmg
    [Show full text]
  • Rib-Hadda, Le Roi De Byblos Qui Ne Ment Pas
    RIB-HADDA, LE ROI DE BYBLOS QUI NE MENT PAS PAR J. ELAYI Chercheur honoraire, UMR 7192, CNRS, Paris « Avec ma bouche, je dis au Roi des paroles qui ne sont que la vérité (pu-iaa-wa-teMEŠ aq-bua-našar-ri ki-ta-ma) », écrit Rib-Hadda, roi de Byblos, au pharaon1. Sur les 382 textes du Bronze récent qui subsistent du corpus d’El-Amarna (Akhetaton) en Égypte, près de 70 lettres ont été envoyées par le roi de Byblos pendant une douzaine d’années, autour de 1350 avant notre ère2. Ses premières lettres sont adressées au pharaon Amenhotep III, puis au pharaon Amenhotep IV / Akhenaton (1353-1336)3, ou à des fonctionnaires égyptiens4. Sa correspondance se divise en gros en trois parties : la première est contemporaine de ‘Abdi-Aširta d’Amurru (EA 68-95), la deuxième correspond à la première partie du règne d’Aziru d’Amurru (EA 101-134 et 362) et la troisième date de l’exil de Rib-Hadda 1 EA 107, 10-11. Ki-ta-ma est un accusatif adverbial selon A.F. Rainey, Canaanitein theAmarnaTablets.ALinguisticAnalysisoftheMixedDialectusedbytheScribesfrom Canaan. Vol. I, Leiden etal., 1996, p. 169 (« truthfully »). Rib-Hadda, « compensation de Haddu », est orthographié de plusieurs manières dans cette correspondance : Rib-Hadda, Rib-Addi, Rib-Addu, Rib-Eddi ; voir R.S. Hess, AmarnaPersonalNames, Winona Lake, 1993, p. 132-134, n° 140, ri-ib-ad-di. 2 J.A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna-Tafeln, Leipzig, 1907-1915 (réimprimé : Aalen, 1964) ; R.F. Youngblood, TheAmarnaCorrespondenceofRib-Haddi,PrinceofByblos (EA68-96), Dropsie College, 1961 ; A.S. Rainey, ElAmarnaTablets359-379.Supplement toJ.A.Knudtzon,DieEl-Amarna-Tafeln, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 19782 ; W.L.
    [Show full text]
  • Eva Von Dassow, 'Canaanite in Cuneiform'
    Canaanite in Cuneiform Author(s): Eva von Dassow Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 124, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 2004), pp. 641- 674 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4132111 Accessed: 28/01/2010 05:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society. http://www.jstor.org Canaanite in Cuneiform EVA VON DASSOW UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA It has become a truism that Akkadian, the principal Semitic language of ancient Mesopo- tamia, was the lingua franca of the Near East during the second millennium B.C.E.
    [Show full text]
  • Baseandmodifiedcuneiformsigns.Pdf
    12000 CUNEIFORM SIGN A 12001 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES A 12002 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES BAD 12003 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES GAN2 TENU 12004 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES HA 12005 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES IGI 12006 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES LAGAR GUNU 12007 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES MUSH 12008 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES SAG 12009 CUNEIFORM SIGN A2 1200A CUNEIFORM SIGN AB 1200B CUNEIFORM SIGN AB GUNU 1200C CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES ASH2 1200D CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES GIN2 1200E CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES GAL 1200F CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES GAN2 TENU 12010 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES HA 12011 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES IMIN 12012 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES LAGAB 12013 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES SHESH 12014 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES SIG7 12015 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES U PLUS U PLUS U 12016 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 12017 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES ASHGAB 12018 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES BALAG 12019 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES BI 1201A CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES DUG 1201B CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES GAN2 TENU 1201C CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES GUD 1201D CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES KAD3 1201E CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES LA 1201F CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES ME PLUS EN 12020 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES NE 12021 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES SHA3 12022 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES SIG7 12023 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES SILA3 12024 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES TAK4 12025 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES U2 12026 CUNEIFORM SIGN AD 12027 CUNEIFORM SIGN AK 12028 CUNEIFORM SIGN AK TIMES ERIN2 12029 CUNEIFORM SIGN AK TIMES SAL PLUS GISH 1202A CUNEIFORM SIGN AK TIMES SHITA PLUS GISH 1202B CUNEIFORM SIGN AL 1202C CUNEIFORM SIGN
    [Show full text]
  • The Tell El-Amarna Tablets in the British Museum with Autotype
    ; THE TELL EL-AMMM TABLETS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM WITH .f^XJTOTYFB E-^OSHyniLES PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES SOLD AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND BY LONGMANS & Co., 39, Patbenobtbr Row; B. QUARITCH, 15, Piccadilly; ASHBR & Co., 13, Bedford Stebbt, Covbnt Garden; KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER, & Co., Patbrnostbr House, Charing Cross Road; AND OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Amen Corner, London. 1892 HAKRISOlSr AND SONS, Pbintees in Obdinakx to Hee Majesty, St. Mabtin's Lane, London. This edition of the Tell el-Amarna Cuneiform Tablets in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities of the British Museum is the work of Dr. C. Bezold. The Introduction and Summary have been written jointly by Dr. Bezold and Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, Acting Assistant-Keeper of the Department. E. MAUNDE THOMPSON, Principal Librarian and Secretary. British Museum, 16th February, 1892. CONTENTS, — INTRODUCTION The collection oF Cuneiform Tablets recently found at Tell ^i^di^g °f t^e Tell el-Amarna . • 1 P , 1 el-Araarna in Upper Egypt, consisted of about three hundred tablets. and twenty documents, or portions of documents. The British Museum possesses eighty-two, which were purchased for the Trustees by Mr. E. A. Wallis Budge in 1888 ; the Berlin Museum has one hundred and sixty, a large number being fragments ; the Glzeh Museum has sixty ; and a few are in the hands of private persons. The discovery is said to have been accidentally made by a peasant woman when searching for antiquities in the loose sand and broken stones at the foot of the mountains behind the village, in which there are several interesting rock hewn tombs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh
    Semantikon.com presents An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic On the Basis of Recently Discovered Texts By Morris Jastrow Jr., Ph.D., LL.D. Professor of Semitic Languages, University of Pennsylvania And Albert T. Clay, Ph.D., LL.D., Litt.D. Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature, Yale University In Memory of William Max Müller (1863-1919) Whose life was devoted to Egyptological research which he greatly enriched by many contributions PREFATORY NOTE The Introduction, the Commentary to the two tablets, and the Appendix, are by Professor Jastrow, and for these he assumes the sole responsibility. The text of the Yale tablet is by Professor Clay. The transliteration and the translation of the two tablets represent the joint work of the two authors. In the transliteration of the two tablets, C. E. Keiser's "System of Accentuation for Sumero-Akkadian signs" (Yale Oriental Researches--VOL. IX, Appendix, New Haven, 1919) has been followed. INTRODUCTION. I. The Gilgamesh Epic is the most notable literary product of Babylonia as yet discovered in the mounds of Mesopotamia. It recounts the exploits and adventures of a favorite hero, and in its final form covers twelve tablets, each tablet consisting of six columns (three on the obverse and three on the reverse) of about 50 lines for each column, or a total of about 3600 lines. Of this total, however, barely more than one-half has been found among the remains of the great collection of cuneiform tablets gathered by King Ashurbanapal (668-626 B.C.) in his palace at Nineveh, and discovered by Layard in 1854 [1] in the course of his excavations of the mound Kouyunjik (opposite Mosul).
    [Show full text]
  • KARUS on the FRONTIERS of the NEO-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE I Shigeo
    KARUS ON THE FRONTIERS OF THE NEO-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE I Shigeo YAMADA * The paper discusses the evidence for the harbors, trading posts, and/or administrative centers called karu in Neo-Assyrian documentary sources, especially those constructed on the frontiers of the Assyrian empire during the ninth to seventh centuries Be. New Assyrian cities on the frontiers were often given names that stress the glory and strength of Assyrian kings and gods. Kar-X, i.e., "Quay of X" (X = a royal/divine name), is one of the main types. Names of this sort, given to cities of administrative significance, were probably chosen to show that the Assyrians were ready to enhance the local economy. An exhaustive examination of the evidence relating to cities named Kar-X and those called karu or bit-kar; on the western frontiers illustrates the advance of Assyrian colonization and trade control, which eventually spread over the entire region of the eastern Mediterranean. The Assyrian kiirus on the frontiers served to secure local trading activities according to agreements between the Assyrian king and local rulers and traders, while representing first and foremost the interest of the former party. The official in charge of the kiiru(s), the rab-kari, appears to have worked as a royal deputy, directly responsible for the revenue of the royal house from two main sources: (1) taxes imposed on merchandise and merchants passing through the trade center(s) under his control, and (2) tribute exacted from countries of vassal status. He thus played a significant role in Assyrian exploitation of economic resources from areas beyond the jurisdiction of the Assyrian provincial government.
    [Show full text]
  • An Overview of the Hittite Language
    the Changes from PIE to Anatolian and from An OverviewAnatolian of the to Hittite Hittite, Language, and a Brief History of the Hittite People A.J. Gregoritsch IV The Hittite Language ●Hittite, probably originally called nešili after the city of Neša (sometimes also called Aniša and originally named Kaneš), is an extinct Indo- European language of the Anatolian branch. ●It was spoken by an Indo-European people who at one time controlled much of what is now turkey and Syria. Notable Features of the Language ●Word order is typically SOV. ●It has split ergative alignment. ●Hittite, like PIE, had postpositions. ●Modifiers, including subordinate clauses, typically precede what they modify. ●Sentences and clauses usually begin with a chain of fixed-order clitics. From PIE to Common Anatolian ●Stops: ● Voiced aspirated stops lost their aspiration and merged with the plain voiced stops. – *bh, *b > *b – *dh, *d > *d – *gh, *g > *g – *ǵh, *ǵ > *ǵ – *gwh, *gw > *gw ● This would seem to be a change from the original PIE distinction between voiceless, voiced and voiced aspirated to a new From PIE to Common Anatolian ●Laryngeals: ● Scholars generally agree that *h2 was preserved as a consonant, and it is probable that *h3 was also preserved, though this is disputed. The two also seem to have merged into a single consonant, though there is some small evidence of a possible conditional split w of *h2 into *H and *H . – *h2, *h3 > *H w – also possibly: *h2w, *h2u > *H ● The outcome of *h1 appears to be the same as in the other branches. From PIE to Common
    [Show full text]
  • Who Are the Habiru of the Amarna Letters?
    Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 12/1 (2001): 31Ð42. Article copyright © 2001 by S. Douglas Waterhouse. Who are the HÓabiru of the Amarna Letters? S. Douglas Waterhouse Andrews University Despite numerous studies devoted to the question of who the ÒHabiruÓ were, a lively controversy still continues. The heart of the controversy pertains to that portion of the people referred to as ÒHabiruÓ who were attempting to take over the land of Canaan. In urgent dispatches sent to the Egyptian Court of Pharaohs Amenhotep III and his son, Akhenaten, the chieftains of the land of Canaan speak of the Habiru as a perilous threat to their city-states. It was the discovery in 1887 of over 350 cuneiform letters at Tell el-Amarna in Middle Egypt, the site of Pharaoh AkhenatenÕs capital, which opened up to the modern world new vistas on what had been occurring at a crucial time when Egypt was losing her grip upon her Asiatic Empire. These clay tablets, which were part of the Egyptian royal archives, the so-called ÒAmarna Letters,Ó con- tinue to raise a good deal of interest. And it is within this Amarna archival cor- respondence that the Habiru appear as powerful foes of Egyptian authority; a major force that had important effects upon events within the region of Pales- tine-Syria.1 The present interest in the Habiru is primarily caused by three factors: (1) the resemblance between the names Habiru and Hebrew, (2) the chronological relationship between the Amarna Habiru and the Israelites, and (3) the proximity of their location within the land of Canaan to that of the Hebrews in JoshuaÕs time.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gilgameš Epic at Ugarit
    The Gilgameš epic at Ugarit Andrew R. George − London [Fourteen years ago came the announcement that several twelfth-century pieces of the Babylonian poem of Gilgameš had been excavated at Ugarit, now Ras Shamra on the Mediterranean coast. This article is written in response to their editio princeps as texts nos. 42–5 in M. Daniel Arnaud’s brand-new collection of Babylonian library tablets from Ugarit (Arnaud 2007). It takes a second look at the Ugarit fragments, and considers especially their relationship to the other Gilgameš material.] The history of the Babylonian Gilgameš epic falls into two halves that roughly correspond to the second and first millennia BC respectively. 1 In the first millennium we find multiple witnesses to its text that come exclusively from Babylonia and Assyria. They allow the reconstruction of a poem in which the sequence of lines, passages and episodes is more or less fixed and the text more or less stable, and present essentially the same, standardized version of the poem. With the exception of a few Assyrian tablets that are relics of an older version (or versions), all first-millennium tablets can be fitted into this Standard Babylonian poem, known in antiquity as ša naqba īmuru “He who saw the Deep”. The second millennium presents a very different picture. For one thing, pieces come from Syria, Palestine and Anatolia as well as Babylonia and Assyria. These fragments show that many different versions of the poem were extant at one time or another during the Old and Middle Babylonian periods. In addition, Hittite and Hurrian paraphrases existed alongside the Akkadian texts.
    [Show full text]
  • ROYAL HITTITE INSTRUCTIONS and RELATED ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS Writings from the Ancient World
    ROYAL HITTITE INSTRUCTIONS AND RELATED ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS Writings from the Ancient World Theodore J. Lewis, General Editor Associate Editors Billie Jean Collins Daniel Fleming Martti Nissinen William Schniedewind Mark S. Smith Emily Teeter Terry Wilfong Number 31 Royal Hittite Instructions and Related Administrative Texts ROYAL HITTITE INSTRUCTIONS AND RELATED ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS by Jared L. Miller Edited by Mauro Giorgieri Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta ROYAL HITTITE INSTRUCTIONS AND RELATED ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS Copyright 2013 by the Society of Biblical Literature All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permit- ted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Royal Hittite instructions and related administrative texts / edited by Jared L. Miller. pages cm. — (Writings from the ancient world / Society of Biblical Literature ; Number 33) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58983-769-0 (hardcover binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-58983-656-3 (paper binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-58983-657-0 (electronic format) 1. Hittites—Rites and ceremonies—Sources. 2. Hittites—Kings and rulers—Sources. 3. Oaths—Middle East. 4. Hittite language—Texts. 5. Inscriptions, Hittite. I. Miller, Jared L., author, editor. DS66.R69 2013 939'.3—dc23 2013004122 Printed on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence.
    [Show full text]
  • The Marduk Star Nēbiru
    Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin 2015:3 <http://cdli.ucla.edu/pubs/cdlb/2015/cdlb2015_003.html> © Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative ISSN 1540-8760 Version: 8 November 2015 Th e Marduk Star Nēbiru Immanuel Freedman (Harleysville, Pennsylvania) ul §1. Introduction xi [ ]gal ul d §1.1. Th e Marduk star Nēbiru has long been a source of xii [ ]ku6 e2-a confusion in scholarly and popular opinion. Th is article d Let us note that both texts associate Jupiter with ne2-bi- demonstrates cuneiform support for the hypothesis that ru in month vii. the name Nēbiru may be assigned to any visible astro- nomical object that marks an equinox. In a footnote to §2. A New Look at Nēbiru his translation of Enûma eliš (in the following Ee) tab- §2.1. SAA 8, 147 (RMA 94, K 120a) obv. 7-rev. 1 states let v, Langdon (1923: 156) states that “It is on the whole d d clear that Nibiru (the crossing) refers to the intersection ¿mul• marduk ina igi-la2-šu2 šul-pa-e3 d of the celestial equator and the ecliptic and that the name 1 danna i-šaq-qa-ma sag-me-gar ina murub an-e gub-ma dne -bi-ru was applied to Jupiter as representative of the planets 4 2 which cross from the southern to the northern part of the with my translation Way of Anu and vice versa.” If the star of Marduk is in the presence of Šulpa’e that has been rising for 1 double-hour, then Jupiter §1.2. Weidner (1915), Schott (1936: 140) and Deimel will stand in the middle of the sky as Nēbiru.
    [Show full text]