Patronage in the Ancient Near East

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Westbrook
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Universal Feature

AbstractPatronage is generally assumed by scholars to have been a universal feature of ancient Near Eastern societies, but has been neglected as a topic of serious investigation. The purpose of this study is to offer, without prior assumptions, textual evidence that establishes the existence of the concept of patronage. The approach is to present case studies from various parts of the region which are best explained by the presence of patronage. For these purposes patronage is narrowly de fined on the basis of ancient Roman and contemporary anthropological models. Les historiens du Proche-Orient ancien supposent que le patronage était un phénomène universel dans la région, sans que ce sujet n'ait fait l'objet d'une étude approfondie. Dans cet article je propose de présenter sans présomptions préalables des preuves textuelles que le concept de patronage existait. L'approche est de présenter des cas concrets provenants de plusieurs parties de la région qui s'expliquent au mieux par la présence du patronage. À ces fins, j'adopte une définition étroite du patronage, à la base de modèles romains anciens et antropologiques modernes.

Foreign Relations in the Ancient Near East: Oaths, Curses, Kingship and Prophecy

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas G Freire
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
The Political ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Royal Power ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Religious Background ◽  
Political Role

Oaths and curses, embedded in a covenantal context, were paramount normative mechanisms in the foreign relations between ancient Near Eastern kings. This article provides an account of the political role of covenants and oaths and their religious background, presenting textual evidence denoting the notion that breaking a covenant in foreign relations was a serious offense punishable by divine curses. The article further explores how curses operated, by looking at other texts portraying kings as representatives of their people, and prophets as representatives of the deities, not only to reinforce royal power, but occasionally also to challenge it, particularly in the prediction of divine curses as a reaction to covenant-breaking.

Prologue to Genesis (1, 1-11, 26): Prophetic Revelation, History, Myth or Metahistory?

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-46
Author(s):  
Михаил Анатольевич Скобелев
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Near East ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The World ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Book Of Genesis

В статье рассматриваются богословие, композиция и литературная форма сюжетов, входящих в состав Пролога книги Бытия (1, 1-11, 26). Во второй половине XIX - начале XX вв. в результате появления Документальной гипотезы и сопоставления Священного Писания с литературными памятниками Древнего Ближнего Востока большая часть сюжетов, составляющих Пролог, была объявлена мифами и древнееврейским фольклором (Ю. Велльгаузен, Г. Гунекель, Дж. Фрезер). Кроме выявленных ближневосточных параллелей, новому отношению к повествованиям Пролога книги Бытия способствовали: отсутствие в нём ясно выраженной исторической задачи и символичность изложения. Защищая традиционный взгляд на Пролог как на священную историю и пророческое откровение, епископ Кассиан (Безобразов) предложил рассматривать все библейские сюжеты, содержащие теофанию, как метаисторию. Протоиерей Сергий Булгаков, А. Ф. Лосев, Б. П. Вышеславцев, занимавшиеся феноменом мифотворчества, назвали библейское повествование о начале мироздания мифом, но в ином смысле, чем это делали Г. Гункель и Дж. Фрезер. Они обосновали новый положительный взгляд, согласно которому миф не есть выдумка или фантазия, а реальность, основанная на мистическом опыте. В статье анализируется каждый из перечисленных терминов: «история», «миф», «метаистория» применительно к Прологу, а также рассматривается возможность их согласования с традиционным церковным взглядом на эту часть книги Бытия. The article deals with the theology, composition and literary form of the narrations which constitute the prologue part of the book of Genesis (1, 1-11, 26). During the second half of the 19th and at the turn of the 20th cent., following the emergence of the Documentary hypothesis as well as the comparison of the Holy Scripture with the newly-discovered literary monuments of Ancient Near East, the greater part of the narrations that constitute the Prologue were labeled myths and ancient Hebrew folklore (J. Wellhausen, H. Gunkel, J. Frazer). In addition to the then detected Near Eastern parallels, this new attitude towards the narrations of the Prologue was fostered by its lack of a clearly expressed historical dedication and the symbolic form of their exposition. Defending the traditional view of the Prologue as sacred history and prophetic revelation, bishop Kassian (Bezobrazov) proposed to consider all the biblical narrations that contain theophanies as metahistorical. Archpriest Sergey Bulgakov, A. F. Losev and B. P. Vysheslavtsev, who analyzed the phenomenon of myth-making, called the Biblical narration of the origins of the world a myth, but in a sense different from that proposed by Gunkel and Frazer. They have founded a new and positive conception according to which a myth is not fiction but rather a kind of reality based upon mystical experience. The author of the article analyzes each of the terms enumerated - «history», «myth», «metahistory» - in their use relating them to the Prologue; he also examines the possibility of their harmonizing with the traditional ecclesiastical view of this part of the book of Genesis.

scholarly journals Praise by animals in the Hebrew Bible

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 500-513
Author(s):  
Peter Joshua Atkins
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Biblical Texts

Among ancient Near Eastern societies was a widespread and particularly intriguing belief that animals were able to worship and praise deities. This study shows the Hebrew Bible evidences the idea that animals were capable of praising God too and proceeds to observe and document the presence of numerous examples of this in specific biblical texts. Through understanding the place of animals in the Hebrew Bible, and their perceived activity in the ancient Near East, this study suggests animals are distinct agents of praise in their own right in the biblical texts.

Temporality and Periodization in Ancient Near Eastern History

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva von Dassow
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Comprehensive Coverage

In this article I consider the issues of temporality and periodization in the ancient Near East under three rubrics: how modern scholars have periodized ancient Near Eastern history, how societies of the ancient Near East periodized their own history, and, more broadly, how they conceptualized the temporal dimensions of their world and mapped themselves onto time. In each case I illustrate the issue with a selection of examples, which in no way represent comprehensive coverage. Under the last rubric, I focus on Sumer and Akkad.

Archaic lists, writing and mind

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-504
Author(s):  
Rita Watson
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern

Theories of writing and mind have proposed that the uses of literacy give rise to a distinct repertoire of cognitive skills, attitudes, and concepts. This paper reconsiders the earliest lexical lists of the Ancient Near East as one type of evidence on writing and mind. Past and present conceptions of the lists are briefly reviewed. Early views cast the lists as reflecting a Sumerian mentality or a uniquely literate mode of thought, while recent accounts suggest they may simply be routine scribal exercises. A view from the philosophy of science, on which lists are considered a sub-type of ordering system, suggests a way of aligning a scribal practice account with aspects of earlier views by articulating the nature of list entries and the intentions of the list makers. On this account, the Ancient Near Eastern lists can be seen both as uniquely literate and as uniquely informative on the role of writing in mind.

Antiquarianism in the Near East

2020 ◽  
pp. 132-162
Author(s):  
Thomas Roebuck
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Bodleian Library ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
International Scholarship ◽  
Western European

This chapter provides an account of Thomas Smith’s pioneering account of the archaeology of the ancient Near Eastern church, his Survey of the Seven Churches of Asia, first published in Latin in 1672. The book remained a huge influence on travellers to Asia Minor well into the nineteenth century, as clergymen and amateur archaeologists retraced Smith’s steps, with his book as guide. Drawing upon the vast archive of Smith’s letters and manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, the chapter places the book firmly in its original context, unpicking the complex interweaving of patronage, religion, and international scholarship which shaped the work. In the end, Smith’s book looks backwards and forwards: back to the traditions of seventeenth-century English confessionalized scholarship and orientalism, and forwards to later eighteenth- and nineteenth-century archaeological traditions. As such, this study sheds light on a pivotal moment in Western European approaches to the ancient Near East.

Museums as Vehicles for Defining Artistic Canons

2020 ◽  
pp. 232-252
Author(s):  
Paul Collins
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
Disciplinary Knowledge ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Museum Exhibitions

The modern Western encounter with the ancient Near Eastern canon has been mediated largely by museums. Indeed, for the vast majority of specialists and nonspecialists alike the material remains of the ancient Near East are accessible firsthand only through museums. This point is significant because it is now recognized that museum exhibitions and displays have an important role in the formation of disciplinary knowledge. This chapter considers the ways in which the British Museum in London has historically presented and thereby potentially shaped and reiterated canons of ancient Near Eastern art and archaeology, and how it was received and shaped in turn by the nonspecialist visitor. The British Museum has been selected because of its significant collections but also for its long institutional history that reflects changing approaches to display and interpretation.

Artisans to Producers

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-148
Author(s):  
Fanny Bessard
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Near East ◽  
Physical Change ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Islam

This chapter considers the physical change of the workspace chronologically, geographically, and by industry. From the case studies of pottery, glass, and textile making, as well as food processing, it discusses the standardization of the Roman practice, as seen at Timgad in North Africa, of zoning and conglomerating crafts in early Islam across the Near East and Central Asia. While acknowledging this continuity with the past, it examines the novelty and significance of manufacturing after 800, when ‘post-Roman’ ceased to be a meaningful description of Near Eastern economy, and questions whether urban crafts experienced differentiated or similar forms of development.

Regime Change in the Ancient Near East and Egypt

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Islamic

The manner in which government practices and personnel survive the violent disruption of regime change is an issue of current relevance, yet it is a subject that has largely been ignored by modern scholarship. These chapters, covering more than 4,000 years of history, discuss the continuity of administration and royal iconography in successful changes of regime in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Iran. Recurring patterns are identified in ten case studies, ranging from late third millennium Mesopotamia to early Islamic Egypt. A summary of the recent history of Iraq suggests that these regularities have lessons for modern geopolitics.

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