scholarly journals Averting Curses in the Law of War (Deuteronomy 20)

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-223
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sitz Im Leben ◽  
The Law ◽  
Ancient Warfare ◽  
The Military

AbstractThis essay explores the military exemption of Deut 20:5–7 in light of the futility curse in Deut 28:30. By uncovering the social and ritual contexts of the futility curse, I argue that Deut 20:5–7 can be productively understood as a warfare ritual against the curse. I explore the ritual dimensions of Deut 20:5–7 in light of rituals for avoiding curses and maledictions from the ancient Near East, arguing that the original Sitz im Leben of these verses can be found in a pre-war ritual responding to the hegemonic aims of enemies as this crystallized in the inscriptional and ritual contexts of ancient warfare.

Warfare and Environment in the Ancient World

2013 ◽  
pp. 127-140
Author(s):  
J. Donald Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Natural Environment ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Near East ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Environmental Properties ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Ancient Warfare ◽  
The Military

This chapter deals with ancient warfare and the environment. Hunting was often been considered as a form of warfare, and art frequently portrayed humans in battle with animals. Armed conflict had its direct influences on the environment. Along with damage to settled agriculture, warfare had affected other lands such as pastures, brush lands, and forests. It is noted that birds, pigs, bears, rodents, snakes, bees, wasps, scorpions, beetles, assassin bugs, and jellyfish have been employed as weaponized animals in ancient warfare, which, in the Mediterranean area and Near East, had vital environmental properties. The direct effects of battle have been shown by ancient historians, but just as important were the influences of the military-oriented organization of societies on the natural environment and resources.

scholarly journals ‘And God gave Solomon wisdom’: Proficiency in ornithomancy

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham O. Shemesh
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Governmental Power ◽  
The Military

The biblical text accords a great deal of attention to King Solomon’s personal abilities and governmental power. Solomon was described as a judge, poet, constructor and the wisest of all people in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. The current study discusses the interpretation of the midrashim that show how Solomon’s wisdom was manifested in his considerable knowledge of ornithomancy, that is, divination using birds, a practice that was considered as an important wisdom in the ancient world because of its practical applications, particularly in the military sphere. It seems that Solomon’s portrayal as a magician is intended and aimed at emphasising his abilities and his impressive character. Moreover, it may have had the purpose of disproving the conception of Solomon as inferior to his surroundings in this respect and the idea that he or his kingdom could be controlled by nations that command this type of wisdom.

Jurisdiction of Military Commissions and the Ambiguous War on Terrorism

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Terrorism ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Law ◽  
Military Commissions ◽  
The Military ◽  
Civil Courts

The Military Order issued on November 13,2001,1 by President George W. Bush does not offer a clear rationale for subjecting international terrorists, and persons suspected of links to them, to trial by military commissions. Military commissions can be designed for several purposes: (1) to prosecute violations of the law of war, as an alternative to courts-martial; (2) to fill a legal vacuum where armed conflict disables the civil courts; and (3) to impose swift and certain punishment against civilians suspected of specific crimes. While the first two purposes are legitimate and reflected in past United States practice, the third is questionable and a sharp departure from democratic traditions. The ambiguous nature of the “war” against international terrorism and the sweeping text of the November 13 Military Order obscure which objective(s) the order is intended to accomplish.

The Law of War and Military Necessity

1953 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Gerald Downey
Keyword(s):  
Brute Force ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
Military Necessity ◽  
Army Officers ◽  
Legal Restriction ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Military

To many international lawyers and army officers the terms “law of war” and “military necessity” are mutually incompatible. Many army officers consider the law of war as no more than a collection of pious platitudes, valueless, so they think, because it has no force and effect. Some international lawyers regard military necessity as the bête noire of international jurisprudence, destroying all legal restriction and allowinguncontrolled brute force to rage rampant over the battlefield or wherever the military have control.

scholarly journals Ancient Iconic Texts and Scholarly Expertise

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 331-344
Author(s):  
James W. Watts
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Cultural Authority ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Constant Attention ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Social Prestige ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject

This essay probes the origins of iconic textuality in the ancient Near East, informed by post-colonial perspectives on iconic texts. The surviving art and texts from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia exhibit at least four forms of iconic textuality: monumental inscriptions, portraits of scribes, displays and manipulations of ritual texts, and beliefs in heavenly texts. The spread of literacy did not displace the social prestige of scribal expertise that was established in antiquity. The every-growing number and complexity of texts accounts for the continuing cultural authority of scholarly expertise. The tension between expert and non-specialist uses of texts, however, explains scholarship’s avoidance of the subject of iconic books and texts while drawing constant attention to their semantic interpretation instead.

The Tiny and the Fragmented

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Partial Form ◽  
Partial State ◽  
Neolithic Europe ◽  
Made In

Miniature and fragmentary objects are both remarkably fascinating and easily dismissed. Tiny scale entices users with visions of Lilliputian worlds. The ambiguity of fragments intrigues us, offering vivid reminders of the transitory nature of reality. Yet, the standard scholarly approach to such objects has been to see them as secondary, incomplete things, designed primarily to refer to a complete and often life-sized whole. This volume offers a series of fresh perspectives on the familiar concepts of the tiny and the fragmented, in chapters ranging in focus from Neolithic Europe to Pre-Columbian Honduras to the Classical Mediterranean and Ancient Near East. Diverse in scope, the volume is united in considering the little and broken things of the past as objects in their own right. When a life-sized or whole thing is made in a scaled-down or partial form, deliberately broken as part of its use, or considered successful by ancient users only if it shows some signs of wear, it challenges our expectations of representation and wholeness. Overall, this volume demands a reconsideration of the social and contextual nature of miniaturization, fragmentation, and incompleteness. These were more than just ancient strategies for saving space, time, and resources. Rather, they offered new possibilities of representation, use, and engagement—possibilities unavailable with things that were life size or more conventionally “complete.” It was because of, rather than in spite of, their small or partial state that these objects were valued parts of the personal and social worlds they inhabited.

scholarly journals ‘Die pen is magtiger as die swaard’: Oor skrifgeletterdheid, skrifgeleerdes en Israel se Tweede Tempeltydperk

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerda De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
General Part ◽  
The Law

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’: Literacy and scribes in Israel during the Second Temple period. This article is divided in two parts. Part one examines scribal education and scribes in the ancient Near East and Israel. Although no real evidence exists for scribal schools and education in Israel, it is argued that some form of institutionalised training must have taken place in order to produce literary texts of such a high quality as are found in the Hebrew Bible. Comparative material from Mesopotamia serves to trace the education of scribes in general. Part two focuses on the Second Temple period in ancient Israel. Ezra the scribe emerges as a typical scribe from that era. Post-exilic Israel was grappling with its identity, and sought guidance from ַ [as was written in the Torah]. However, it appears that there were different interpretations of the written Law during this period. Scribes of the Ezra circle advocated a radical policy of exclusivity on the basis of what was written in the Law; others who wrote the texts of Trito-Isaiah and Ruth pleaded for a more inclusive attitude towards foreigners. The conclusion is that the battle was fought not with the sword, but with the pen, therefore: ‘The pen is mightier than the sword.’

Dancing and the Beginning of Art Scenes in the Early Village Communities of the Near East and Southeast Europe

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosef Garfinkel
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Near East ◽  
Geographical Range ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Social ◽  
Village Communities

Dancing is depicted in the earliest art of the ancient Near East. It appears in many variations from the ninth to the sixth millennium BP over a vast geographical range. This article discusses the dancing performance, the social context of the dance and cognitive aspects of the dancing scenes. Ethnographic observations are used in order to gain a wider view of dancing and dancing scenes in pre-state societies. A correlation can be observed between art, symbolism, religion and social organization.

scholarly journals When Justice Fails: Jurisdiction and Imprecation in Ancient Egypt and the near East

1992 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Assmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Near East ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
The Other ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

In this comparative study of ancient belief and practice, the Egyptian evidence is analysed first, then placed in the wider context of the Near East. It is argued that, while laws and curses are both ways of preventing damage by threatening potential evildoers with punishment, the difference lies in the fact that in the one case punishment is to be enforced by social institutions, in the other by divine agents. Curses take over where laws are bound to fail, as when crimes remain undetected and when the law itself is broken or abandoned. The law addresses the potential transgressor, the curse the potential law-changer who may distort or neglect the law. The law protects the social order, the curse protects the law. These points are illustrated by extensive quotation from Egyptian and Near Eastern texts.

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