scholarly journals Kings of Chaldea and Sons of Nobodies: Assyrian Engagement with Chaldea and the Emergence of Chaldean Power in Babylonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-121
Author(s):  
John Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Indirect Control ◽  
Counter Narratives

From the ninth century until the last quarter of the seventh century BCE, the Assyrian Empire first extended its power over Babylonia and then engaged in a prolonged effort to retain control. The patchwork nature of Babylonian society—divided as it was between the traditional urban centers, territories controlled by five distinct Chaldean tribes, and regions inhabited by Aramaean tribes—presented opportunities and challenges for Assyria as it sought to assert its dominance. Assyrian interactions with the Chaldean tribes of Babylonia redefined the Chaldeans’ place within power relationships in southern Mesopotamia. Starting in 878, Assyria first perceived Chaldean territory as distinct from what they defined as Karduniaš, the land ruled by the king of Babylon. Shalmaneser III exploited and accentuated this division by recognizing the Chaldean leaders as kings and accepting their tribute even as he concluded a treaty with the Babylonian king, Marduk-zakir-shumi I. By decentralizing power in Babylonia, Assyria was able to assert indirect control over Babylonia. However, periods of Assyrian weakness created opportunities for several Chaldeans—drawing upon the economic and military power they could muster—to claim the title of king of Babylon with all the accompanying ideological power. These new developments prompted Assyria under the Sargonids to create counter-narratives that questioned the legitimacy of Chaldeans as kings of Babylon by presenting them as strange and inimical to the Assyrian order even as Assyrian interactions with the Chaldeans improved Assyrian familiarity with them. 

Military Power and the Scottish Burghs, 1625-1651

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 59-82
Author(s):  
Laura A. M. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Civic Leaders ◽  
Military Capability ◽  
Charles I ◽  
The Social ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Military Units

AbstractHistorians are generally agreed that Scotland’s limited military capability was transformed after 1639, when expatriate mercenaries, with experience of Continental European conflicts, returned home to take part in the wars against Charles I. There has been less interest in how the creation of centrally-coordinated standing forces affected Scottish society. This article focuses on the experiences of Scotland’s burghs, where traditional military practices remained a feature of civic life, at least in the larger urban centers, during the early decades of the seventeenth century. These practices informed the way in which burghs responded to the call to arms from 1639. Despite tensions with landed neighbors, burghs were not wholly subsumed into the shires and they retained a measure of their distinctiveness as military units. Burghal autonomy was severely tested from the mid-sixteen-forties, not only by the demands of central government but also by the physical presence of soldiers in the midst of the urban community. This essay will explore the strategies employed by civic leaders to protect the community from violence and exploitation, while also maintaining their own authority and status. It will be tentatively suggested here that the social and political structures of civic life proved surprisingly resilient under the unprecedented pressures placed upon them during the sixteen-forties.

The Oxford University/British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Survey of Medieval Castles of Anatolia (1992) Mastaura Kalesi: a Preliminary Report

1993 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 117-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Barnes ◽  
Mark Whittow
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
River Systems ◽  
Western Turkey ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Different Types ◽  
British Institute ◽  
Geographical Context

1992 was the first season of the Oxford University/British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Survey of Medieval Castles of Anatolia. Over the next five years it is planned to survey and record in as much detail as practicable five Byzantine castles in the area of the Büyük and Küçük Menderes river systems in western Turkey. The five castles will eventually be published in a single monograph where they can be discussed as a group and placed in their historical and geographical context. An annual preliminary report will appear in Anatolian Studies, which we hope will serve as a forum to test ideas, raise problems, and encourage other historians and archaeologists to suggest further ways of obtaining the most from these sites.The five sites—indicated on Fig. 1—are Mastaura kalesi (near Bozyurt, in Aydın ili, Nazilli ilçesi, merkez bucağı); Yılanlı kalesi (on the side of the Boz dağ near Kemer in İzmir ili, Ödemiş. ilçesi, Birgi bucağı); Çardak kalesi (near Çardak in Denizli ili, Çardak ilçesi, merkez bucağı); Yöre kalesi (near Yöre köy in Aydın ili, Kuyucak ilçesi, Pamukören bucağı); and Ulubey kalesi (on the Kazancı deresi near Ulubey in Uşak ili, Ulubey ilçesi). None has received more than brief notice before; none has been planned or studied in any detail. They have been chosen to cover the whole period of Byzantine rule in the area from the seventh century to the early fourteenth, and a variety of the different types and functions of Byzantine castles. Yılanlı is possibly a late seventh-century fortress, built in the context of the Arab attempts to take Constantinople and the consequent struggle to control the western coastlands of Asia Minor. Çardak appears to have been built between the seventh and the ninth century principally to act as a look-out point in the Byzantine defensive system against Arab raids.

King Wamba’s Campaign against dux Paulus (673)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Steinbach
Keyword(s):  
Seventh Century ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Royal Power ◽  
Isidore Of Seville ◽  
History Of ◽  
Military Campaign

Following the death of Isidore of Seville (636), Julian of Toledo’s Historia Wambae regis is the only contemporary narrative source for the history of the late Visigothic kingdom. It mainly focuses on the rebellion of the dux Paulus within the province of the Narbonensis. Apart from that, it is the only detailed description of the election and unction of a Visigothic king, as well as that of an extensive military campaign during the seventh century. This chapter analyses the narration of military power and the implementation of warlike undertakings in this barbaric reign. It reveals the interconnection between the divine legitimation of royal power and military success in Julian’s Historia, and examines the archaeological evidence of the equipment and arming of Visigothic warriors, as well as reference to a Visigothic fleet.

scholarly journals Contemplative Practice, Doxographies, and the Construction of Tibetan Buddhism: Nupchen Sangyé Yeshé and The Lamp for the Eye in Meditation

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 360
Author(s):  
Manuel Lopez
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Original System ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Buddhist Practice ◽  
Intellectual Context

In this article, I would like to reframe our understanding of the role played by doxographies or classification of views (Skt. siddhānta, Ch. panjiao 判教, Tib. grub mtha’) in the Buddhist tradition as it pertained to Tibetan attempts at defining and organizing the diversity of Buddhist contemplative practices that made their way into Tibet since the introduction of Buddhism to the Tibetan plateau in the seventh century, all the way up to the collapse of the Tibetan Empire in the ninth century. In order to do that, this article focuses on one such doxography, the Lamp for the Eye in Meditation (bsam gtan mig sgron), composed in the 10th century by the Tibetan scholar Nupchen Sangyé Yeshé. The first part of the article will place Nupchen’s text in the larger historical and intellectual context of the literary genre of doxographies in India, China, and Tibet. The second part of the article will argue that Nupchen used the doxographical genre not only as a vehicle for organizing and articulating doctrinal and contemplative diversity, but also as a tool for the construction of a new and original system of Tibetan Buddhist practice known as ‘the Great Perfection’ (rdzogs chen). Finally, and as a small homage to the recent passing of the great religious studies scholar Jonathan Z. Smith, I would also like to reflect on the importance that the issues of definition, comparison, and classification—central concerns of Nupchen’s as well as of Smith’s works—have in creating and articulating religious difference.

The Origins of the Urartians in the light of the Van/Karagündüz excavations

1999 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 159-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veli Sevin
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Eastern Anatolia ◽  
State Structure ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Major Power ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Power Role

The Urartian Kingdom, as is well known, played a major power role on the stage of history in eastern Anatolia in the second half of the ninth century BC and remained powerful until the second half of the seventh century BC. With their highly advanced architectural traditions and organised state structure, the Urartians take their place among the most exciting civilisations of the first half of the first millennium BC in the Near East.Extensive detailed research and publication has been carried out on Urartian civilisation for over a hundred years, but the origin and dynamics of the development of this civilisation are still obscure. The Assyrian annals, which start from the 13th century BC, are at present the only source for understanding the early periods. These records were intended as propaganda and their accuracy is in many instances thus questionable.

scholarly journals The Clay Paw Burial Rite of the Åland Islands and Central Russia: A Symbol in Action

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-46
Author(s):  
Johan Callmer
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Population Group ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Central Russia ◽  
Burial Customs ◽  
Middle Volga ◽  
Burial Rite

The clay paw burial rite is a special feature of the Åland Islands. It is introduced already in the seventh century shortly after a marked settlement expansion and considerable cultural changes. The rite may be connected with groups involved in beaver hunting since the clay paws in many cases can be zoologically classified as paws of beavers. On the Åland Islands only minor parts of the population belong to this group. Other groups specialized in contacts with the Finnish mainland. The clay paw group became involved in hunting expeditions further and further east and in the ninth century some of the members established themselves in three or four settlements on the middle Volga. There is a later expansion into the area between the Volga and the Kljaz'ma. The clay paw burial rite gives us an unique possibility to identify a specific Scandinavian population group in European Russia in the ninth and tenth centuries. With the introduction of Christian and semi-Christian burial customs ca. A.D. 1000 we cannot archaeologically distinguish this group any more but some historical sources could indicate its existence throughout the eleventh cetury in Russia. The clay paw burial rite brings to the fore questions about local variations and special elements in the Pre-Christian Scandinavian religion. Possibly elements of Finno-ugric religious beliefs had a connection with the development of this rite.

An Ornamentalist View of Metaphor in Arabic Literary Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Khaled M. Shuqair
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Classical Theory ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Verbal Expression ◽  
The Third ◽  
Arabic Rhetoric

The aim of the present paper is to examine the kind of thinking and the chain of assumptions that lie behind the reduction of metaphor to a mere ornament in Arabic literary theory.   For this purpose, Arabic ornamentalist thinking is traced from the third century A.H. (the ninth century A.D.) to the seventh century A.H. (the thirteenth century A.D.).  This is not to say, however, that the seventh century marks the end of such thinking in Arabic literary theory, but that at that time the Arabic literary theory, and the theory of metaphor, was developed into fixtures with an increasing emphasis given to form over content and the art of verbal expression in general.  Inordinate attention was given to ornate style, and rhetoric became an arena for displaying verbal acrobatics.  The axioms, "closeness of resemblance" and "congruity of metaphorical elements," represent metaphor's highest degree of formalization and stereotyping.  That is why some of the images in classical theory are mainly based on complete parallelism between the objects compared, particularly with regard to form, size and color.  From that time onwards, the fixtures of the classical theory have been kept intact.   Metaphor, and rhetoric in general, is nowadays reduced to textbooks to be studied in abstract and rigid terms developed by the classical theory.  Arabic rhetoric is a dead discipline: it is merely an ornamental repertoire of figures that could only be used as a sweet adorner for the language.

Islamic theology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelwahab El-Affendi
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Islamic Thought

‘Ilm al-kalam (literally ‘the science of debate’) denotes a discipline of Islamic thought generally referred to as ‘theology’ or (even less accurately) as ‘scholastic theology’. The discipline, which evolved from the political and religious controversies that engulfed the Muslim community in its formative years, deals with interpretations of religious doctrine and the defence of these interpretations by means of discursive arguments. The rise of kalam came to be closely associated with the Mu‘tazila, a rationalist school that emerged at the beginning of the second century AH (seventh century ad) and rose to prominence in the following century. The failure of the Mu‘tazila to follow up their initial intellectual and political ascendancy by imposing their views as official state doctrine seriously discredited rationalism, leading to a resurgence of traditionalism and later to the emergence of the Ash‘ariyya school, which attempted to present itself as a compromise between the two opposing extremes. The Ash‘arite school gained acceptability within mainstream (Sunni) Islam. However, kalam continued to be condemned, even in this ‘orthodox’ garb, by the dominant traditionally-inclined schools. In its later stages, kalam attempted to assimilate philosophical themes and questions, but the subtle shift in this direction was not completely successful. The decline of kalam appeared to be irreversible, shunned as it was by traditionalists and rationalists alike. Although kalam texts continued to be discussed and even taught in some form, kalam ceased to be a living science as early as the ninth century AH (fifteenth century ad). Attempts by reformers to revive it, beginning in the nineteenth century, have yet to bear fruit.

Pre-diaspora Arabic

Diachronica ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Owens
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Classical Arabic

Arabic dialects, the native spoken Arabic of about 250 million people, are spread over an immense, contiguous geographical area from Iran to Lake Chad, from Morocco to Yemen. Corresponding to this geographical spread is considerable linguistic diversity. An explanation for this diversity has proved elusive. The existence of variants found either in the modern dialects or in the Classical literature (or both), which are not self-evidently derivable from a normalized Classical Arabic (largely standardized by the ninth century), argues for a more diverse set of inputs into the Arabic which spread outwards from the Arabian Peninsula beginning in the seventh century. I elucidate this problem by comparing four varieties of Arabic located in widely separated areas and settled at different times. To account for the internal diversity of the areas compared, a dataset is established with 49 phonological and morphological features, which, using simple statistical procedures, permits a normalized comparison of the varieties. From this set of variables, two specific linguistic features are discussed in detail and reconstructions proposed, which place their origins in a pre-diaspora variety. I conclude that the Arabic which preceded the Arabic diaspora of the seventh century was considerably more diverse than interpretations of the history of Arabic traditionally allow for. Additional information and data: http://german.lss.wisc.edu/Diachronica/Owens/pdfs.htm

The way of the peasant

1984 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brett
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Court Records ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Source Materials

The book under review here is to be compared with the volume published over ten years ago under the editorship of Michael Cook, Studies in the economic history of the Middle East (London, 1970). It covers essentially the same subject over the same period of time in the same fashion, by a series of papers contributed to a major international conference. It differs first of all in the length of time it has taken to produce the work, seven years from the original conference at Princeton in 1974, compared with three from the conference at S.O.A.S. in 1967 to the publication of the earlier collection. It is in fact much longer, with more space and time allowed to the contributors to rewrite their papers and annotate them, in great and often discursive detail. The editor is to be complimented on the very high standard of the production of the mammoth tome which results. The weight is heavily on the countryside and the agricultural economy; neither trade, nor industry, nor urban life make much of an appearance except as their adjuncts. Only historical demography (4 articles) stands in any way as a separate subject. More usual is the emphasis upon Egypt, which once again receives the greatest attention, in ten or eleven out of the total twenty-four contributions. Atypical as the Nile valley may seem, its source materials continue to influence the pattern of research in the much wider field of the book's title. Elsewhere it is something of a shock to find, in the papers of Morony on seventh-century Iraq, Talbi on ninth-century Ifrīqiya, Burns on fourteenth-century Valencia, and Rafeq on eighteenth-century Syria, the wealth of detail that comes from a legal literature, an archive or court records, and to realize how few and far between such studies are outside Egypt.

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