From Lists to Literature

2019 ◽  
pp. 70-94
Author(s):  
William M. Schniedewind
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Primary Consumers ◽  
Biblical Texts

Spelling and vocabulary were taught though lexical lists. Fragments of at least two, perhaps three, of these lists are present at Kuntillet ʿAjrud. The standardization of spelling reflects the growth and centralization in government and bureaucracy, which were the primary consumers of writing. Fragments of cuneiform lists found in Israel dating to the Late Bronze Age give direct evidence of a vector of transmission for the cuneiform lexical tradition into early Israel. In fact, they provide a key for interpreting the Gezer Calendar as well as biblical texts. Lexical lists taught standardized spelling, but they also classified knowledge. In everyday commerce, lists were critical to administration and bureaucracy. In biblical literature, lists were adapted in a number of ways and incorporated into biblical literature.

Epilogue

2019 ◽  
pp. 165-170
Author(s):  
William M. Schniedewind
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Nile River ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
New Kingdom ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Educational Curriculum ◽  
Left Behind

First, this book has sketched out some of the historical context from which the early Israelite scribal curriculum emerged. As the New Kingdom receded, emerging kingdoms borrowed and adapted some of the Egyptian bureaucracy that was left behind as Egypt retreated to its confines along the Nile River Valley. In addition, there is tangible influence of the cuneiform school tradition from the Late Bronze Age in the development of an early alphabetic curriculum. There are a number of striking examples of how the cuneiform scribal curriculum can be seen in early Hebrew inscriptions beginning with the Gezer Calendar, which looks like an adaptation of a Mesopotamian lexical tradition. The Hebrew Bible itself was influenced by this scribal curriculum. And the scribal creativity that generated biblical literature had its foundation in the building blocks of the educational curriculum.

Evidence for the Sea Peoples from Biblical and Later Jewish Writing from Late Antiquity

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-272
Author(s):  
Adam Peiper
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Sea Peoples ◽  
Modern Term

The French Egyptologist Emmanuel de Rougé termed the sea-borne foreign invaders who invaded Egypt during the late Bronze Age on the basis of the Great Karnak inscription, “peuples de la mer” or Sea Peoples. Recently however, specialists, in the absence of more direct evidence of the use of this term in antiquity, have called into question its historical provenance and have even declared it a “modern term”. Ancient Jewish writings, by contrast, refer to several Peoples of the Sea which notably include the Philistines. Moreover, close examination of the orthography of biblical ethnonyms in the context of migratory sea passages in both the Masoretic text and the Septuagint demonstrates the existence of a previously undescribed productive genitive sea-borne indicator within the very fabric of the biblical text.

The Concept of Palestine: The Conception Of Palestine from the Late Bronze Age to the Modern Period

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Political Geography ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Collective Consciousness ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
The Bible ◽  
School History

The Concept of Palestine is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the indigenous people of Palestine and the multicultural ancient past. The name Palestine is the most commonly used from the Late Bronze Age (from 1300 BCE) onwards. The name Palestine is evident in countless histories, inscriptions, maps and coins from antiquity, medieval and modern Palestine. From the Late Bronze Age onwards the names used for the region, such as Djahi, Retenu and Cana'an, all gave way to the name Palestine. Throughout Classical Antiquity the name Palestine remained the most common and during the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods the concept and political geography of Palestine acquired official administrative status. This article sets out to explain the historical origins of the concept of Palestine and the evolving political geography of the country. It will seek to demonstrate how the name ‘Palestine’ (rather than the term ‘Cana'an’) was most commonly and formally used in ancient history. It argues that the legend of the ‘Israelites’ conquest of Cana'an’ and other master narratives of the Bible evolved across many centuries; they are myth-narratives, not evidence-based accurate history. It further argues that academic and school history curricula should be based on historical facts/empirical evidence/archaeological discoveries – not on master narratives or Old Testament sacred-history and religio-ideological constructs.

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