DOCSLIB.ORG

A PRELIMINARY STUDY of the SUMERIAN CURRICULAR and LAMENTATIONAL TEXTS from the OLD BABYLONIAN CITY of KISH by Joshua A. Bowen A

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A PRELIMINARY STUDY of the SUMERIAN CURRICULAR and LAMENTATIONAL TEXTS from the OLD BABYLONIAN CITY of KISH by Joshua A. Bowen A A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE SUMERIAN CURRICULAR AND LAMENTATIONAL TEXTS FROM THE OLD BABYLONIAN CITY OF KISH by Joshua A. Bowen A dissertation submitted to the Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland February, 2017 © 2017 Joshua A. Bowen All Rights Reserved Abstract The collections of Sumerian and Akkadian tablets that have been excavated at various Old Babylonian sites have been surveyed and subjected to corpus-based analysis, including the tablets from prominent cities such as Nippur, Ur, Sippar, Isin, and Uruk. However, until very recently, attention has not focused on the important northern city of Kiš. Although many of the literary and liturgical duplicates from Kiš have been translated and discussed, neither the curricular nor the lamentational corpora have been treated as a whole. The goal of my dissertation, therefore, is to survey and analyze the entirety of the Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1600 BCE) curricular and lamentational textual material from Kiš in order to identify local features or traditions that were unique to these genres. The survey of the curricular textual material will seek to accomplish two goals. First, it will identify the curricular compositions that were used in scribal education at Kiš during the OB period. Second, it will determine the ways in which the Kiš scribal curriculum deviated from the curricula that are known from other OB cites, such as Nippur, Ur, and Sippar. The latter investigation will reveal two patterns at Kiš. First, it will demonstrate that, although several curricular duplicates varied from manuscripts found at the major scribal center, Nippur, there is evidence to suggest that there were lines of textual transmission that connected the OB Kiš lexical tradition to those that were found in the MB and the first millennium. This evidence suggests that, although many of the Kiš curricular texts duplicate manuscripts that were found at Nippur, those that do not sometimes correspond with duplicates found in later periods, which appear to follow a more northern lexical tradition. ii Secondly, relative to the number of similar exercises found at the other OB cities, the Kiš curriculum included significantly higher numbers of Akkadian exercises (approximately two to four times as many), and appear in the elementary, intermediate, and advanced stages of the curriculum. It appears that students were required to copy Akkadian texts throughout their scribal training, beginning in the early stages of the curriculum. This relative abundance and broad application of Akkadian exercises in the whole of the curriculum speaks to the practical importance that Akkadian had in the day- to-day life of the scribes. The survey of the lamentational liturgies will seek to identify local features or traditions that were made to the Kiš laments in order to make them more appropriate for use in ritual performance. Many of these local features included city-specific modifications, such as deletions, additions, and replacements of proper nouns. Further investigation will reveal other local features, such as variant litanies, complete with unique incipits, unduplicated Kirugus, and modified refrains. Thematically, both the duplicated and unduplicated Kiš laments concerned themselves most often with the lamenting goddess. In short, I will conclude that the gala-priests were able to modify their liturgies to fit local consumption, and these traditions, in part, were incorporated into the standardized corpus of lamentational liturgies of the first millennium. Finally, the dissertation will investigate one final local feature that, while not unique to Kiš, was disproportionately used at the city: phonetic writings. The goals will be to identify the patterns or rules that were used to compose a text phonetically and to determine the most likely purpose for composing in this phonetic style in both lamentational and literary texts. iii The results of this dissertation will show that, although the OB Kiš corpus is poorly preserved and has lacked corpus-based investigation, both the curricular and lamentational texts are able to fill significant gaps in the study of scribal education and lamentational performance. The volume of curricular duplicates, though fragmentary and under published, reveals an active scribal educational system, complete with local characteristics and practical emphases. And although the evidence for lamentational performance in the OB period is scant compared to the myriad of texts composed in the first millennium, by revealing the content of many of the unduplicated liturgies at Kiš, and demonstrating local variants that appear in the laments, it will illuminate further aspects of OB lamentational performance. In the end, we see that the curricular and lamentational texts speak to the day-to-day activities that took place at OB Kiš, both in the curriculum, and in the cult. It will be seen that these Kiš traditions informed and influenced the standardized lexical and liturgical traditions of the first millennium, traditions that affected and shaped, to varying degrees, educational and theological concepts throughout Mesopotamian society. Advisor: Paul Delnero Second Reader: Jacob Lauinger Committee Chair: Colin Wilson Readers: Theodore Lewis and Tobie Meyer-Fong iv For Megan, Paige, and Piper v Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of faculty members, colleagues, and friends. First and foremost, I want to thank my advisor, Prof. Paul Delnero, who guided me through this long and difficult process. Without his suggestions, critical insights, and constant encouragement, I would not be where I am today. I would like to thank Professor Konrad Volk, who graciously allowed me to study with him at the IANES, and spent countless hours reviewing and reshaping my edition of PRAK B 471. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee, who graciously donated their time and energy to read and improve my thesis. I wish to thank the faculty and staff of the Department of Near Eastern Studies of The Johns Hopkins University, from whom I received rigorous linguistic, cultural, and archaeological training. Prof. Jacob Lauinger provided one-on-one guidance in order to help me develop my research and writing abilities, which ultimately shaped the final form of my dissertation. Although I had no prior archaeological experience, Prof. Glenn Schwartz patiently trained me from his extensive knowledge and expertise, and allowed me to gain priceless field experience at Umm el-Marra, Syria. Finally, Prof. Ted Lewis sharpened my abilities in Hebrew, providing me with a different and critical perspective into the biblical texts. My time in coursework would have been far more difficult had it not been for the help and friendship provided by my colleagues. In particular, my time spent with Caleb Howard was invaluable, as he provided companionship, patience, counsel, insight, and moral support. I would also like to thank William Reed and Anna Glenn, whose friendships have also meant a great deal to me over the years. vi Finally, I wish to thank my family for their love, support, and patience throughout this long and arduous process. My father, Karl Bowen, not only encouraged me to persevere through the latter stages of the program, but also provided the financial means to do so. My daughters, Paige and Piper, patiently endured my time away from home, and were always excited to see me when I returned. Finally, I could not have completed this dissertation without the love and support of my wife, Megan Lewis, who stood by my side during my time in Germany, and lovingly pushed me to meet and overcome the challenges of this dissertation. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... xi LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... xii I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 Previous Assyriological Treatments of the Kiš Curricular and Liturgical Texts ............................................... 1 Introduction to the Kiš Corpus ...................................................................... 3 The Kiš Curricular Texts and Scribal Education ........................................... 6 Kiš Laments and their OB Context ................................................................ 7 Overview and Methodology of the Dissertation ............................................ 8 Appendices .................................................................................................... 11 Limits of the Study ........................................................................................ 12 II. ARCHAEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE OLD BABYLONIAN CITY OF KIŠ ............................................. 14 Excavation History of Kiš ............................................................................. 14 The Date of the Tablets from Kiš .................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 Inanna Research Script
    INANNA RESEARCH SCRIPT (to be cut and shaped for performance) By Peggy Firestone Based on Translations of Clay Tablets from Sumer By Samuel Noah Kramer 1 [email protected] (773) 384-5802 © 2008 CAST OF CHARACTERS In order of appearance Narrators ………………………………… Storytellers & Timekeepers Inanna …………………………………… Queen of Heaven and Earth, Goddess, Immortal Enki ……………………………………… Creator & Organizer of Earth’s Living Things, Manager of the Gods & Goddesses, Trickster God, Inanna’s Grandfather An ………………………………………. The Sky God Ki ………………………………………. The Earth Goddess (also known as Ninhursag) Enlil …………………………………….. The Air God, inventor of all things useful in the Universe Nanna-Sin ………………………………. The Moon God, Immortal, Father of Inanna Ningal …………………………………... The Moon Goddess, Immortal, Mother of Inanna Lilith ……………………………………. Demon of Desolation, Protector of Freedom Anzu Bird ………………………………. An Unholy (Holy) Trinity … Demon bird, Protector of Cattle Snake that has no Grace ………………. Tyrant Protector Snake Gilgamesh ……………………………….. Hero, Mortal, Inanna’s first cousin, Demi-God of Uruk Isimud ………………………………….. Enki’s Janus-faced messenger Ninshubur ……………………………… Inanna’s lieutenant, Goddess of the Rising Sun, Queen of the East Lahamma Enkums ………………………………… Monster Guardians of Enki’s Shrine House Giants of Eridu Utu ……………………………………… Sun God, Inanna’s Brother Dumuzi …………………………………. Shepherd King of Uruk, Inanna’s husband, Enki’s son by Situr, the Sheep Goddess Neti ……………………………………… Gatekeeper to the Nether World Ereshkigal ……………………………. Queen of the
    [Show full text]
  • Republic of Iraq
    Republic of Iraq Babylon Nomination Dossier for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List January 2018 stnel oC fobalbaT Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................... 1 State Party .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Province ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Name of property ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Geographical coordinates to the nearest second ................................................................................................. 1 Center ................................................................................................................................................................ 1 N 32° 32’ 31.09”, E 44° 25’ 15.00” ..................................................................................................................... 1 Textural description of the boundary .................................................................................................................. 1 Criteria under which the property is nominated .................................................................................................. 4 Draft statement
    [Show full text]
  • SUMERIAN LITERATURE and SUMERIAN IDENTITY My Title Puts
    CNI Publicati ons 43 SUMERIAN LITERATURE AND SUMERIAN IDENTITY JERROLD S. COOPER PROBLEMS OF C..\NONlCl'TY AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN A NCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA There is evidence of a regional identity in early Babylonia, but it does not seem to be of the Sumerian ethno-lingusitic sort. Sumerian Edited by identity as such appears only as an artifact of the scribal literary KIM RYHOLT curriculum once the Sumerian language had to be acquired through GOJKO B AR .I AMOVIC educati on rather than as a mother tongue. By the late second millennium, it appears there was no notion that a separate Sumerian ethno-lingui stic population had ever existed. My title puts Sumerian literature before Sumerian identity, and in so doing anticipates my conclusion, which will be that there was little or no Sumerian identity as such - in the sense of "We are all Sumerians!" ­ outside of Sumerian literature and the scribal milieu that composed and transmitted it. By "Sumerian literature," I mean the corpus of compositions in Sumerian known from manuscripts that date primarily 1 to the first half of the 18 h century BC. With a few notable exceptions, the compositions themselves originated in the preceding three centuries, that is, in what Assyriologists call the Ur III and Isin-Larsa (or Early Old Babylonian) periods. I purposely eschew the too fraught and contested term "canon," preferring the very neutral "corpus" instead, while recognizing that because nearly all of our manuscripts were produced by students, the term "curriculum" is apt as well. 1 The geographic designation "Babylonia" is used here for the region to the south of present day Baghdad, the territory the ancients would have called "Sumer and Akkad." I will argue that there is indeed evidence for a 3rd millennium pan-Babylonian regional identity, but little or no evidence that it was bound to a Sumerian mother-tongue community.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lost Book of Enki.Pdf
    L0ST BOOK °f6NK1 ZECHARIA SITCHIN author of The 12th Planet • . FICTION/MYTHOLOGY $24.00 TH6 LOST BOOK OF 6NK! Will the past become our future? Is humankind destined to repeat the events that occurred on another planet, far away from Earth? Zecharia Sitchin’s bestselling series, The Earth Chronicles, provided humanity’s side of the story—as recorded on ancient clay tablets and other Sumerian artifacts—concerning our origins at the hands of the Anunnaki, “those who from heaven to earth came.” In The Lost Book of Enki, we can view this saga from a dif- ferent perspective through this richly con- ceived autobiographical account of Lord Enki, an Anunnaki god, who tells the story of these extraterrestrials’ arrival on Earth from the 12th planet, Nibiru. The object of their colonization: gold to replenish the dying atmosphere of their home planet. Finding this precious metal results in the Anunnaki creation of homo sapiens—the human race—to mine this important resource. In his previous works, Sitchin com- piled the complete story of the Anunnaki ’s impact on human civilization in peacetime and in war from the frag- ments scattered throughout Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew sources- —the “myths” of all ancient peoples in the old world as well as the new. Missing from these accounts, however, was the perspective of the Anunnaki themselves What was life like on their own planet? What motives propelled them to settle on Earth—and what drove them from their new home? Convinced of the existence of a now lost book that formed the basis of THE lost book of ENKI MFMOHCS XND PKjOPHeCieS OF XN eXTfCXUfCWJTWXL COD 2.6CHXPJA SITCHIN Bear & Company Rochester, Vermont — Bear & Company One Park Street Rochester, Vermont 05767 www.InnerTraditions.com Copyright © 2002 by Zecharia Sitchin All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • 3 a Typology of Sumerian Copular Clauses36
    3 A Typology of Sumerian Copular Clauses36 3.1 Introduction CCs may be classified according to a number of characteristics. Jagersma (2010, pp. 687-705) gives a detailed description of Sumerian CCs arranged according to the types of constituents that may function as S or PC. Jagersma’s description is the most detailed one ever written about CCs in Sumerian, and particularly, the parts on clauses with a non-finite verbal form as the PC are extremely insightful. Linguistic studies on CCs, however, discuss the kind of constituents in CCs only in connection with another kind of classification which appears to be more relevant to the description of CCs. This classification is based on the semantic properties of CCs, which in turn have a profound influence on their grammatical and pragmatic properties. In this chapter I will give a description of CCs based mainly on the work of Renaat Declerck (1988) (which itself owes much to Higgins [1979]), and Mikkelsen (2005). My description will also take into account the information structure of CCs. Information structure is understood as “a phenomenon of information packaging that responds to the immediate communicative needs of interlocutors” (Krifka, 2007, p. 13). CCs appear to be ideal for studying the role information packaging plays in Sumerian grammar. Their morphology and structure are much simpler than the morphology and structure of clauses with a non-copular finite verb, and there is a more transparent connection between their pragmatic characteristics and their structure. 3.2 The Classification of Copular Clauses in Linguistics CCs can be divided into three main types on the basis of their meaning: predicational, specificational, and equative.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Babylon: from Gradual Demise to Archaeological Rediscovery
    Dr. J. Paul Tanner Daniel: Introduction Archaeol. Rediscovery of Babylon Appendix P Ancient Babylon: From Gradual Demise To Archaeological Rediscovery by Dr. J. Paul Tanner INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Neo-Babylonian Empire was founded under the rule of Nabopolassar (Nabu-apla-usur), who reigned from 626-605 BC . For several hundred years prior to his rule, the Babylonians had been a vassal state under the rule of the Assyrians to the north. In fact Babylon had suffered destruction upon the order of the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 689 BC .1 Following the death of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in 627 BC , however, the Assyrian Empire rapidly decreased in power until finally in 612 BC the great city of Nineveh was defeated by the combined forces of the Babylonians, Medes and Scythians. A relief from the palace of Ashurbanipal (669-627 BC ) at Kuyunjik (i.e., Nineveh). The king pours a libation over four dead lions before an offering table and incense stand. 1 Klengel-Brandt points out that the earliest mention of the tower (or ziggurat) in a historical inscription comes from the records of Sennacherib, in which he claims to have destroyed Esagila and the temple tower (Eric M. Meyers, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), s.v. "Babylon," by Evelyn Klengel-Brandt, 1:251. Sennacherib's son, Esarhaddon (r. 680-669 BC ), rescinded his father's policy and undertook the rebuilding of Babylon (though retaining the image of Marduk in Assyria that Sennacherib had removed). May 14, 2002 App.
    [Show full text]
  • Redescoperirea Asiriei În Secolul Al Xix-Lea
    REDESCOPERIREA ASIRIEI ÎN SECOLUL AL XIX-LEA. SAPATURILE ARHEOLOGICE INTREPRINSE DE VICTOR PLACE LA KHORSABAD REDESCOPERIREA ASIRIEI ÎN SECOLUL AL XIX-LEA. SĂPĂTURILE ARHEOLOGICE INTREPRINSE DE VICTOR PLACE LA KHORSABAD THE REDISCOVERY OF ASSYRIA IN THE 19TH CENTURY. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS OF VICTOR PLACE AT KHORSABAD Alexandra Mărăşoiu∗ Abstract The purpose of this article is to present the archaeological activity of French diplomat Victor Place. During 1851-1855, when he was consul in Mosul, Victor Place had also an archaeological mission, having been charged by the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres in Paris with undertaking excavations at Khorsabad, the site of the ancient city of Durr-Sharukkin, built by Assyrian king Sargon II in the 8th century B.C. Place managed to uncover the palace of Sargon II and collected various Assyrian antiquities which were intended to be exhibited at the Louvre. But unfortunately most of his findings were lost in a shipwreck that took place in April 1855. After his post in Mosul, Victor Place was named consul in Moldova (1855-1863) where he met his wife, Louise Emmeline Ballif, and where he settled after his retirement in 1873. Thanks to his connections with Romania, the National Museum of Romanian History is today owner of an Assyrian cylinder-barrel, with an inscription recounting the reign of Sargon II, that was acquired from a descendant of Victor Place’s. Keywords: archaeology, Victor Place, Khorsabad, Assyrian antiquities, 19th century. Victor Place, care în calitate de consul al Franţei în Moldova între 1855- 1863 a sprijinit crearea Principatelor Unite ale Ţării Româneşti şi Moldovei şi dubla alegere a lui Alexandru Ioan Cuza, a fost nu numai un bun diplomat, ci şi-a câştigat şi un loc de seamă în istoria arheologiei universale, datorită săpăturilor întreprinse la Khorsabad între 1851-1855, în urma cărora a dezvelit ruinele ∗ Documentarist, Secţia Istorie.
    [Show full text]
  • Robson-Leick-2007.Pdf
    To appear in The Babylonian World, ed. Gwendolyn Leick (London: Routledge, 2007) Mathematics, metrology, and professional numeracy Eleanor Robson • <[email protected]> Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge and All Souls College, Oxford Introduction Since the great decipherments of the 1930s and 40s (Neugebauer 1935–37; Thureau-Dangin 1938; Neugebauer and Sachs 1945) Babylonia has had a well-deserved reputation as the home of the world’s first ‘true’ mathematics, in which abstract ideas and techniques were explored and developed with no immediate practical end in mind. It is commonly understood that the base 60 systems of time measurement and angular degrees have their ultimate origins in Babylonia, and that ‘Pythagoras’ theorem’ was known there a millennium before Pythagoras himself was supposed to have lived. Most accounts of Babylonian mathematics describe the internal workings of the mathematics in great detail (e.g., Friberg 1990; Høyrup and Damerow 2001) but tell little of the reasons for its development, or anything about the people who wrote or thought about it and their reasons for doing so. However, internal textual and physical evidence from the tablets themselves, as well as museological and archaeological data, are increasingly enabling Babylonian mathematics to be understood as both a social and an intellectual activity, in relation to other scholarly pursuits and to professional scribal activity. It is important to distinguish between mathematics as an intellectual, supra-utilitarian an end in itself, and professional numeracy as the routine application of mathematical skills by working scribes. This chapter is a brief attempt at a social history of Babylonian mathematics and numeracy (see Robson forthcoming).
    [Show full text]
  • Two Old Babylonian Texts from MARAD ( Wana Wa AL Sodum ) Dr
    2012م/1433هـ (ADAB AL-RAFIDAYN, VOL.(63 Two old Babylonian Texts from MARAD ( Wana wa AL_Sodum ) Dr. Saad.S. Fahad * & Dr Abbas.A. AL-hussainy تأريخ التقديم: 32/5/3122 تأريخ القبول: 3122/6/8 Preface:- The site of Marad(Sumerian MARDA, modern Tell wana wa al-sodum) was an ancient Sumerian city situated on the west bank of the western branch of the Euphrates river, west of Nippur and roughly 50 km southeast of kish, on the Aratu river, it was established ca.2700 B.C during the Sumerian Early Dynastic II period. The site of Marad covered on area of less than 124 hectares(50 acres),it was excavated by a team from Al- Qadisiya university in 1990 led by Dr. Nael Hannon, and in 2005 and 2007 led by Dr. Abbas,A., al-hussainy, publication of the last two seasons is in progress(1). During the Archaeological excavation on second season 2005 a number of cuneiform texts were found in different points in the site. After a primary study for these cuneiform texts it was cleared that many of them belong to the old Babylonian period, while there were few number of them belong to a more modern period(new Babylon period). the subjects of these texts, were various according to the variety of the daily life at that time, but one can say that the general Dep.of Archaeology/ College of Arts 38 Two old Babylonian Texts from MARAD (Wana wa AL_Sodum) Dr. Saad.S. Fahad& Dr.Abbas.A. AL-hussainy pattern of these texts were like the contract type of texts(contracts of buying lands).These texts contain date formula and the names of local kings who ruled at that place,
    [Show full text]
  • Marten Stol WOMEN in the ANCIENT NEAR EAST
    Marten Stol WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Marten Stol Women in the Ancient Near East Marten Stol Women in the Ancient Near East Translated by Helen and Mervyn Richardson ISBN 978-1-61451-323-0 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-1-61451-263-9 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-1-5015-0021-3 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. Original edition: Vrouwen van Babylon. Prinsessen, priesteressen, prostituees in de bakermat van de cultuur. Uitgeverij Kok, Utrecht (2012). Translated by Helen and Mervyn Richardson © 2016 Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin Cover Image: Marten Stol Typesetting: Dörlemann Satz GmbH & Co. KG, Lemförde Printing and binding: cpi books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Table of Contents Introduction 1 Map 5 1 Her outward appearance 7 1.1 Phases of life 7 1.2 The girl 10 1.3 The virgin 13 1.4 Women’s clothing 17 1.5 Cosmetics and beauty 47 1.6 The language of women 56 1.7 Women’s names 58 2 Marriage 60 2.1 Preparations 62 2.2 Age for marrying 66 2.3 Regulations 67 2.4 The betrothal 72 2.5 The wedding 93 2.6
    [Show full text]
  • Women in the Ancient Near East: a Sourcebook
    WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Women in the Ancient Near East provides a collection of primary sources that further our understanding of women from Mesopotamian and Near Eastern civiliza- tions, from the earliest historical and literary texts in the third millennium BC to the end of Mesopotamian political autonomy in the sixth century BC. This book is a valuable resource for historians of the Near East and for those studying women in the ancient world. It moves beyond simply identifying women in the Near East to attempting to place them in historical and literary context, follow- ing the latest research. A number of literary genres are represented, including myths and epics, proverbs, medical texts, law collections, letters and treaties, as well as building, dedicatory, and funerary inscriptions. Mark W. Chavalas is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he has taught since 1989. Among his publications are the edited Emar: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Syrian Town in the Late Bronze Age (1996), Mesopotamia and the Bible (2002), and The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation (2006), and he has had research fellowships at Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Cal-Berkeley, and a number of other universities. He has nine seasons of exca- vation at various Bronze Age sites in Syria, including Tell Ashara/Terqa and Tell Mozan/Urkesh. ROUTLEDGE SOURCEBOOKS FOR THE ANCIENT WORLD HISTORIANS OF ANCIENT ROME, THIRD EDITION Ronald Mellor TRIALS FROM CLASSICAL ATHENS, SECOND EDITION Christopher Carey ANCIENT GREECE, THIRD EDITION Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland READINGS IN LATE ANTIQUITY, SECOND EDITION Michael Maas GREEK AND ROMAN EDUCATION Mark Joyal, J.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Asher-Greve / Westenholz Goddesses in Context ORBIS BIBLICUS ET ORIENTALIS
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2013 Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources Asher-Greve, Julia M ; Westenholz, Joan Goodnick Abstract: Goddesses in Context examines from different perspectives some of the most challenging themes in Mesopotamian religion such as gender switch of deities and changes of the status, roles and functions of goddesses. The authors incorporate recent scholarship from various disciplines into their analysis of textual and visual sources, representations in diverse media, theological strategies, typologies, and the place of image in religion and cult over a span of three millennia. Different types of syncretism (fusion, fission, mutation) resulted in transformation and homogenization of goddesses’ roles and functions. The processes of syncretism (a useful heuristic tool for studying the evolution of religions and the attendant political and social changes) and gender switch were facilitated by the fluidity of personality due to multiple or similar divine roles and functions. Few goddesses kept their identity throughout the millennia. Individuality is rare in the iconography of goddesses while visual emphasis is on repetition of generic divine figures (hieros typos) in order to retain recognizability of divinity, where femininity is of secondary significance. The book demonstrates that goddesses were never marginalized or extrinsic and thattheir continuous presence in texts, cult images, rituals, and worship throughout Mesopotamian history is testimony to their powerful numinous impact. This richly illustrated book is the first in-depth analysis of goddesses and the changes they underwent from the earliest visual and textual evidence around 3000 BCE to the end of ancient Mesopotamian civilization in the Seleucid period.
    [Show full text]