The Casuistic Priestly Law in Ancient Mediterranean Context: The History of the Genre and itsSitz im Leben

2018 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-40
Author(s):  
Guy Darshan

AbstractWhile numerous scholars have compared the Priestly regulations in the Pentateuch to ancient Near Eastern “ritual texts,” the Priestly legal material more generally corresponds in form and style to ancient Near Eastern casuistic law collections than to descriptive or prescriptive “ritual texts.” At the same time, ancient Near Eastern law collections do not contain any ritual or religious ordinances, relating instead primarily to civil and financial affairs or social law and order. This paper examines the formal, substantive, and generic affinities between the Priestly laws and the casuistic Greek “Sacred Laws” inscribed on stone and other materials throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin from the sixth century BCE onwards. Analysis of related Northwest-Semitic and Punic texts, as well as potential precedents from the Hittite world, further contributes to our understanding of theSitz im Lebenof the casuistic Priestly law.

2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-274
Author(s):  
Fabrice Cordey ◽  
Frédéric Quillévéré

AbstractWhile the Neogene history of the Eastern Mediterranean region is now fairly well understood, our knowledge of older regional palaeogeographies is less accurate, especially the positions of blocks and nappes constituting the Aegean Islands prior to the Cenozoic. Our study focuses on the ophiolite exposed on the island of Karpathos (Dodecanese), which is located in the Aegean fore-arc at a pivotal position between the ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ ophiolites of the Mediterranean region and where conflicting Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous ages have led to diverging tectonic and palaeogeographic interpretations. To test these ages, we targeted the radiolarian cherts that depositionally overlie the ophiolite and extracted diagnostic radiolarian assemblages of Aptian (∼125−113 Ma), early–middle Albian (∼113−105 Ma) and Turonian (∼93.9−89.8 Ma) ages. These results suggest that previous Late Cretaceous K–Ar isotopic ages (from 95.3 ± 4.2 Ma to 81.2 ± 1.6 Ma) may have been reset by Late Cretaceous metamorphism or affected by argon loss. Overall, the new Early Cretaceous ages show that the Karpathos ophiolite should not be correlated with the Pindos Nappes of Greece or the ophiolites of Cyprus or Syria but rather with the Lycian Nappes of Turkey and their root located in the Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan Suture Zone. Therefore, the Karpathos ophiolite represents a remnant of the Northern Neotethys, not the Pindos Ocean or the proto-Eastern Mediterranean Basin.


2010 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Bracchini ◽  
Antonio Tognazzi ◽  
Arduino Massimo Dattilo ◽  
Franco Decembrini ◽  
Claudio Rossi ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Nellie Munin

This article revisits Israel's trade and political alliance with the European Union – its major trade partner. The article examines the position calling to water down Israel-EU trade relations, considering EU's insistence on linking economic benefits with political advancement in the region, insights gained by the COVID-19 pandemic and substantial recent regional developments: Israel's trade diversification policy, the conclusion of Abraham Accords and the discovery of gas in the Eastern Mediterranean basin. Concluding that such a strategy may not serve the parties' interests best, the article explores ways to leverage these developments to further enhance EU-Israel partnership.


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