scholarly journals The Characterization of Animals in Sumerian Fables

1970 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Marcum
Keyword(s):  
Written Language ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Classical Education ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Successful Communication ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
Third Millennium Bce ◽  
Animal Images

Although classical education is waning and general historical knowledge is at its nadir, many ancient fables are still widely known and commonly cited in spoken language. For example, Aesop’s fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf has resulted in the phrase “crying wolf,” which—even today—is a cultural shorthand for expressing the idea of raising a false alarm. The successful communication of this idea, however, rests on culture: the shared understanding of the wolf as dangerous. If we thought of wolves as we do pet dogs, the reference would be lost.Fables constitute a subgenre of ancient Near Eastern ‘wisdom literature;’ they are short narratives utilizing anthropomorphized animals to impart conventional wisdom. Like proverbs, fables “belong to the speech of everyday life” (Alster 1997). Perhaps for this reason, they were among the first compositions that young scribes learned to write in ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerian fables are attested as early as the mid-third millennium BCE. Much like written language itself, fables traffic in tradition and “habitual connection” (Peirce 1885) in order to convey their meaning. This meaning is so strong that it can be carried even via elliptical (truncated) renderings, as in the example of “crying wolf.” This shorthand is possible, in part, because animals are not just things themselves, they are loaded with symbolic meanings that are imparted in fables via their role, their actions, and the words they speak. In fables, animals are characters, and these characterizations can reveal the context and values of the culture that created them.As Falkowitz (1980) notes, consistently and extensively employed animal images can become culturally ingrained as rhetorical topoi: the fox is cunning, the bee is busy. The meaning in these images” is derived from their characteristics, which fables can uniquely elucidate for us. Through the understanding that fables provide, we can more successfully “read” both the elliptical references to animals in proverbs and in images. Moreover, understanding animals in this way can provide us a method to access the contexts and values of ancient Mesopotamians without privileging our contemporary, Western symbolic or ethical norms.I will provide an overview of the small corpus of available Sumerian fables and analysis of the roles of the animals characterized within them. These will be linked to Sumerian proverbs and compared to ancient Greek fables to form a starting point for conceptualizing fauna in the ancient world.

After Auerbach: Ancient Greek Literature as a Test Case of European Literary Historiography

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-128
Author(s):  
Irene J.F. de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
European Literature ◽  
Literary Historiography ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Greek Literature

In the first chapter of his celebratedMimesis(1946) Auerbach discussed a specimen of Ancient Greek literature (Homer) both as the starting point of a European literary history of realism and as a comparandum to biblical storytelling. Both lines of approach have recently been given new impetuses. On the one hand there is Martin West'sThe East Face of Helicon,1which does not merely compare early Greek literature and Near Eastern literature but describes the former as largely a product of the latter. On the other hand there is the series Studies in ancient Greek narrative, edited by Irene J.F. de Jong, which describes the early development of – what will become quintessential – European storytelling devices in Ancient Greek literature. Both scholarly projects, independently, have put the same urgent question on the agenda: how exactly are we to evaluate resemblances between ancient Greek literature and contemporary Near Eastern literature and later European literature. Can we speak of some form of historical connection, i.e. one literature taking over devices and motifs from another literature, or should we rather think in terms of typological resemblances, i.e. of the same narrative universals being employed at different places and at different times? Or is there some middle way to be found in the recent cognitive turn of comparative literature? Despite the methodological problems involved, investigating the history of European literature is an extremely rewarding task. The project of Europe as an economical and political unity has at the moment reached a critical phase. Literary scholars can contribute to this issue by showing the cultural unity of Europe, a mission that is just as urgent as it was in 1946, when Auerbach published hisMimesis.

A view from the Greek side

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
Gunnel Ekroth
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Animal Bone ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Integrated Study ◽  
Written Sources

This paper addresses the animal bone material from ancient Qumran, from the comparative perspective of zooarchaeological evidence recovered in ancient Greek cult contexts. The article offers an overview of the paramount importance of animal bones for the understanding of ancient Greek religion and sacrificial practices in particular, followed by a review of the Qumran material, taking as its starting point the zooarchaeological evidence and the archaeological find contexts. The methodological complications of letting the written sources guide the interpretation of the archaeological material are explored, and it is suggested that the Qumran bones are to be interpreted as remains of ritual meals following animal sacrifices, as proposed by Jodi Magness. The presence of calcined bones additionally supports the proposal that there was once an altar in area L130, and it is argued that the absence of preserved altar installations in many ancient sanctuaries cannot be used as an argument against their ever having been present. Finally, the similarities between Israelite and Greek sacrificial practices are touched upon, arguing for the advantages of a continued and integrated study of these two sacrificial systems based on the zooarchaeological evidence.

Sacred Trees in the Garden of Eden and Their Ancient Near Eastern Precursors

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-301
Author(s):  
Michaela Bauks
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Garden Of Eden ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
1 Enoch

Interpretations of the trees in the Garden of Eden misunderstand their significance by focusing on sin or a theological “fall.” A tradition-historical approach to the motif of trees in ancient Near Eastern literature and imagery reveals their multivalent quality. Trees are connected with fertility and goddess devotion but also with the power and divine sanction given to kings and dynasties, and with the potency of sacred space, on which humans and the divine come together and meet. As cross-temporal motifs, trees are regularly associated with life-giving and blessing (a plant of rejuvenation; a tree of life); a connection of trees to knowledge and meaning appears as well, in wisdom literature, and in the book of 1 Enoch. Language of a world tree or cosmic tree, though useful conceptually, is a modern imposition on the ancient evidence. More evident from the ancient setting is the image of felling trees, which indicates the downfall of human leaders, especially kings, because of their hubris. Ultimately, sacred trees have an ambivalent value, as a source of both contestation and progress.

Θεωρία in Ancient Greek Exegetical Literature

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Борис Тимофеев
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Near East ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The World ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Book Of Genesis

Современная научная богословская мысль склонна к унификации терминов и явлений в сфере своих компетенций. Эта тенденция в современных исследованиях в некоторых случаях распространяется и на древние христианские памятники. Так, например, слово θεωρία многие учёные определяют как мистический метод духовного толкования Священного Писания. Это определение нередко применяется в качестве универсального технического определения при анализе экзегетических произведений древних авторов. При этом игнорируется узус самих экзегетов, которые употребляют это слово в иных значениях. В рамках данной статьи предпринимается попытка выявить и показать основные значения слова θεωρία в древней греческой экзегетической литературе. 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 fi 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.

Stasis Anxiety

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew van der Vlies
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Black Writers ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Individual Subject ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Contemporary Writing

Two recent debut novels, Songeziwe Mahlangu’s Penumbra (2013) and Masande Ntshanga’s The Reactive (2014), reflect the experience of impasse, stasis, and arrested development experienced by many in South Africa. This chapter uses these novels as the starting point for a discussion of writing by young black writers in general, and as representative examples of the treatment of ‘waithood’ in contemporary writing. It considers (spatial and temporal) theorisations of anxiety, discerns recursive investments in past experiences of hope (invoking Jennifer Wenzel’s work to consider the afterlives of anti-colonial prophecy), assesses the usefulness of Giorgio Agamben’s elaboration of the ancient Greek understanding of stasis as civil war, and asks how these works’ elaboration of stasis might be understood in relation to Wendy Brown’s discussion of the eclipsing of the individual subject of political rights by the neoliberal subject whose very life is framed by its potential to be understood as capital.

Quel corpus pour l’étude du dialecte niçois ?

2021 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-361
Author(s):  
Philippe Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Descriptive Grammar ◽  
Written Production ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Social Use ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Made In ◽  
Do So

Abstract A new project has just been launched to write a synchronic, descriptive grammar of Niçois, the Occitan dialect of Nice. In this article, I define the corpus of the research. To do so, I first review written production from the Middle Ages to the present. I then analyze the linguistic features of Niçois over time, in order to determine the precise starting point of the current language state. But because of reinforced normativism and the decreasing social use of Niçois among the educated population, written language after WWII became artificial and does not really correspond to recordings made in the field. The corpus will thus be composed of writings from the 1820’s to WWII and recordings from the last few decades.

scholarly journals LANGUAGE VARIATIONS IN DEPOK: A STUDY OF LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE AND DIALECTOLOGY

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Munawarah ◽  
Frans Asisi Datang
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Public Landscapes

Written languages are present in various media in public landscapes, such as notice boards, banners, or bumper stickers. Studying these simple signs is the starting point in observing how a language variety exists and interacts with other languages. It is interesting to study how the instances of written texts found in public landscapes can be an indicator of what language variety is actually used by the inhabitants of Depok. Based on its history and its geography, a hypothesis states that many speakers of Betawi language and Sundanese reside in Depok. The study is aimed at demonstrating the written language varieties found in Depok public landscapes based on written evidence which are compared with language varieties based on the regional variation (dialectology). This qualitative study used the sociogeolinguistic approach combining sociolinguistics, linguistic landscape, and dialectology (geolinguistics). The results show there are two language use distributions in Depok, the Sundanese and the Betawi language. From the landscapes, Betawi language is used in billboards, restaurant signboards, and local government banners. The study is useful for the local government in their efforts to confirm the identity of Depok people.

scholarly journals Beyond Oracular Ambiguity

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-61
Author(s):  
Olaf Almqvist
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Successful Communication

In studies of ancient Greek divination, oracles are often claimed to pronounce ambiguous but true statements within an intricately ordered cosmos. There exist, however, several problematic exceptions. In Book 2 of the Iliad, Zeus deliberately deceives Agamemnon through a prophetic dream; Hesiod’s Muses speak truths or lies depending on their mood; and Apollo’s utterances can harm as easily as help. The possibility of divine deceit forces us to reconsider the ontological assumptions within which early Greek divination was understood to operate. Adopting Philippe Descola’s concept of ‘analogism’, I argue that rather than a means of reading the cosmos, early Greek divination resembles more an act of diplomacy, an attempt to establish successful communication with supernatural beings within an always potentially fragmented world.

Persian ‘Snap’: Iranian Dancers in Gandhāra

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-86
Author(s):  
Ciro Lo Muzio
Keyword(s):  
Musical Instruments ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
North Pakistan

A series of reliefs from ancient Gandhāra (Peshawar Valley and neighbouring areas, North Pakistan) show dancers in Iranian (sometimes Hellenistic) attire accompanied by musical instruments of western (Near Eastern, Iranian, Greek) origins. A distinctive trait of these figures is the fact that each of them joins his/her hands to produce a snap (the ‘Persian snap’), meant to mark the time. The Gandharan reliefs are the starting point of an overview of the iconographic evidence of similar dance scenes in diverse artistic traditions (first and foremost, in Classical vase painting and Hellenistic terracottas), in which Iranian-garbed dancers, captured in postures closely comparable to those witnessed in Gandhāra, perform the ‘Persian snap’ which, however, had never been recognised as such in previous studies.

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