The “Spirit of Yhwh” and Samson’s Martial Rage: A Leitmotif of the Biblical Warrior Tradition

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Dylan Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Biblical Poetry

Abstract In Judg 14–15, the source of Samson’s strength is not his uncut hair, but the רוח־יהוה. A Leitmotif of the biblical warrior tradition, the רוח־יהוה is a corporealized metaphor of fiery anger that envelops Samson and grants him great power. This motif was adapted from early biblical poetry, in which Yhwh’s wrath erupted as a fiery breath (רוח) against his cosmic foes. This study explores how the historical context of Judg 14–15 informs the use of this motif, comparing the רוח־יהוה with similar concepts of martial anger in Near Eastern and Greek warrior traditions. Like Mesopotamian melammu and Greek μηνις, the רוח־יהוה was part of a corporeal code that enabled ancient minds to think about the relations between mortals and divine beings in the context of battle.

A Fractured Position in a Stable Partnership: Ebba Hult, Gerard De Geer, and Early Twentieth Century Swedish Geology

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Staffan Bergwik
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
Structural Nature ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
Geological Research

ArgumentThis article explores the scientific partnership between geology professor Gerard De Geer and his wife Ebba Hult following their marriage in 1908. De Geer was an influential participant in Swedish academia and international geology. Hult worked as his assistant until his death in 1943. The partnership was beneficial for both spouses, in particular through the semi-private Geochronological Institute, which they controlled. The article argues that marriage was a culturally acknowledged form of collaboration in the academic community, and as such it offered Hult access to geological research. However, the paper also argues that the gendered scientific institutions produced a fractured position. Partly, Hult managed to create her own role as researcher in geochronology. As a woman and a wife, however, she never moved out of her husband's shadow. Gender is understood as a relational category: Hult was an outsider who participated partially in standardized structures which gave great power to her husband and other men. The fact that she shared this status with other women in Swedish science at the time indicates the structural nature of their position. Nevertheless, they all had individual trajectories through academia. Indeed, the study of collaborative couples illustrates the multifaceted links between individual actions and the historical context of science.

The Reversal of Fortune Theme in Esther: Israelite Historiography in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Winitzer
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Reversal Of Fortune

Abstract This paper examines the idea of reversal in Esther, arguably the most basic thematic constituent of that work, in an attempt to understand its background and meaning. It posits for it a historical context based on a reaction to contemporary ancient Near Eastern intellectual currents. Specifically this centers on Babylonian divination, astrology in particular, whose recognition as a serious branch of scientific reasoning in the ancient world was undeniable—or so it seems. The Book of Esther, which, as this paper demonstrates, manifests an unmistakable familiarity with this divinatory lore, itself partakes in the broader conversation. But, in accordance with its overring theme, it comes down on the matter with a reverse verdict.

Epic Poetry

2009 ◽  
pp. 441-453
Author(s):  
Johannes Haubold
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Narrative Poetry ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Greek Epic ◽  
Ancient Greek Literature

The term ‘epic’, when applied to ancient Greek literature, refers to a set of texts that may be loosely defined as narrative poetry about the deeds of gods and heroes. To a very large extent, this is a reflection of Homer's authority as the most famous epic poet. This article argues that recent comparisons between early Greek epic and modern oral traditions, as well as the discovery and investigation of ancient Hittite and Near Eastern texts, place Greek epic in a much wider literary and historical context.

Ancient Mesopotamian views on human skin and body: a cultural–historical analysis of dermatological data from cuneiform sources

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-130
Author(s):  
Francesca Minen
Keyword(s):  
Medical Information ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Medical Specialty ◽  
The Body ◽  
Medical Systems ◽  
Medical Texts ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Eastern Cultures ◽  
Methodological Problems

Most recent advances in the study of ancient Mesopotamian medical texts have disclosed information pertaining to the fields of diagnosis, prognosis and therapy and are now available for a comparative study with other ancient medical systems. However, in the framework of Assyriological studies there are still methodological problems that need to be addressed. Disregarding a retrospective diagnostic approach, this paper aims at highlighting the cultural–historical relevance of the medical information reported in cuneiform texts, assuming data related to skin imperfections and ailments as a case study. After a brief overview of the sources from ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures that may be referred to the modern medical specialty of dermatology, the specificities of Mesopotamian medicine and dermatology will be presented. Two examples, dedicated to the reconstruction of the ancient Mesopotamian view on the skin and the body, will demonstrate how relevant sources may be fruitfully analysed in a cultural–historical context.

Italian archaeologists in colonial Tripolitania

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 81-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Munzi
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
North African ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Negative Judgment ◽  
Colonial Expansion ◽  
Colonial Archaeology ◽  
Restoration Work ◽  
The Subject

AbstractThis is a contribution to a reassessment of colonial archaeology in Libya, based on the academic and political/ ideological portraits of the archaeologists serving in the Tripolitanian and (from 1936) Libyan Soprintendenza. Italian colonial archaeologists were, often deliberately, instruments of political strategy. They searched for traces of Rome in the nationalistic context of the Libyan War, and sought to reconstruct an idealised vision of the Roman cities during the Fascist Ventennio. The essential continuity between nationalist archaeology of the Liberal period (1910–1922), characterised by the central idea of the civilising force of Rome as a tool of colonial expansion, and the Fascist archaeology of 1922–1943, in which the integration of archaeology with political aims touched on the extreme, sometimes with grotesque results, will be stressed and a chronological overview presented. Negative judgment should be nuanced by placing the colonial archaeology in its historical context, analysing its structure, remembering that its methodological backwardness was shared by metropolitan archaeology, noting the high quality of the restoration work and finally by comparing Italian fieldwork with that of other European excavations in North African or Near Eastern protectorates and colonies. It is not a case of presenting a revisionist interpretation, but of approaching the subject without prejudice.

Law, Mercy, and Reconciliation in the Achaemenid Empire

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-151
Author(s):  
Daniel Beckman
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationship ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Achaemenid Empire ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Royal Inscriptions ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Justice And Mercy

AbstractThe kings of the Achaemenid Empire are known for employing a number of particularly gruesome punishments for those who were deemed guilty of rebellion. While it is certainly true that the Achaemenids punished rebels with utmost severity, it is also true that they were, at times, willing to forgive rebels, and even to rehabilitate them. In this paper, I investigate the mechanisms by which the Achaemenid kings were able to show mercy to rebels. By examining a number of relevant cases from a period of a century and a half, I argue that the decision to be merciful was based on the king’s familial or social relationship with the rebel, the rebel’s relative strength vis-à-vis the king, the geography of the revolt, and the presence of other external factors which might also restrict the king’s powers. By a comparison with royal inscriptions and texts found throughout the empire, I demonstrate the ways in which these reconciliations stood apart from, and even in contradiction to, administrative and ideological norms concerning law and justice within the Achaemenid Empire. Finally, by reviewing the traditions and attitudes towards justice and mercy among the Achaemenids' Near Eastern predecessors, I put this policy in historical context and show that it is a unique response to a problem faced by other ancient empires.

Psychology as a Profession and a Science

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ype H. Poortinga ◽  
Ingrid Lunt
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Professional Psychologists

The European Association of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) was created in 1981 as the European Association of Professional Psychologists’ Associations (EFPPA). We show that Shakespeare’s dictum “What’s in a name?” does not apply here and that the loss of the “first P” (the adjectival “professional”) was resisted for almost two decades and experienced by many as a serious loss. We recount some of the deliberations preceding the change and place these in a broader historical context by drawing parallels with similar developments elsewhere. Much of the argument will refer to an underlying controversy between psychology as a science and the practice of psychology, a controversy that is stronger than in most other sciences, but nevertheless needs to be resolved.

Historical Context for Psychology, Moral Context for Historians

1997 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 990-991
Author(s):  
Isaac Prilleltensky
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Moral Context
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document