Dinner at Dan: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan and Their Significance, by Jonathan S. Greer. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, Volume 66. Leiden: Brill, 2013. xxii + 191 pp., 44 figures, 11 tables. Cloth. $127.00.

2014 ◽  
Vol 372 ◽  
pp. 236-238
Author(s):  
Gloria London
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
History Of

The History of Bronze and Iron Age Israel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor H. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
History Of

This volume provides a basic introduction to the historical, archaeological, and contextual aspects of ancient Israel during its formative period in the Bronze and Iron Age. It integrates extrabiblical sources from regions throughout the ancient Near East with the data found in the biblical narratives in order to explore the development of ancient Israelite identity, cultural traditions, and their interaction with the other major cultures of the ancient Near East. Given the nature of available information on this early culture, it is necessary to take into account the methods designed to examine the transmission of cultural memories and foundation stories in shaping a people’s concept of themselves. Because we do have more data available from neighboring regions, attention is expanded beyond the biblical narratives to include what we know about the physical realities of geopolitics and super-power politics, the international and interregional movement of peoples, and the evolutionary process from inchoate to complex states. In addition, attention is also given to what archaeological excavations can contribute to the reconstruction of the history of ancient Israel and its cultures. In particular, aspects of everyday life both in the village culture and in urban settings are examined as a key to the development of social, legal, and religious traditions and practices.

The History of the Judahite Bench Tomb

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Suriano
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Insight Into

The history of the Judahite bench tomb provides important insight into the meaning of mortuary practices, and by extension, death in the Hebrew Bible. The bench tomb appeared in Judah during Iron Age II. Although it included certain burial features that appear earlier in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, such as burial benches, and the use of caves for extramural burials, the Judahite bench tomb uniquely incorporated these features into a specific plan that emulated domestic structures and facilitated multigenerational burials. During the seventh century, and continuing into the sixth, the bench tombs become popular in Jerusalem. The history of this type of burial shows a gradual development of cultural practices that were meant to control death and contain the dead. It is possible to observe within these cultural practices the tomb as a means of constructing identity for both the dead and the living.

Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte R. Potts
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Detailed History ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Religious Architecture ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of

Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC presents the first comprehensive treatment of cult buildings in western central Italy from the Iron Age to the Archaic Period. By analysing the archaeological evidence for the form of early religious buildings and their role in ancient communities, it reconstructs a detailed history of early Latial and Etruscan religious architecture that brings together the buildings and the people who used them. The first part of the study examines the processes by which religious buildings changed from huts and shrines to monumental temples, and explores apparent differences between these processes in Latium and Etruria. The second part analyses the broader architectural, religious, and topographical contexts of the first Etrusco-Italic temples alongside possible rationales for their introduction. The result is a new and extensive account of when, where, and why monumental cult buildings became features of early central Italic society.

Of Fields and Forced Labor

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-152
Author(s):  
Carolyn J. Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
Economic Control ◽  
History Of

Biblical narratives about ostensibly “local” barter (Abraham’s purchase of the cave at Machpelah), protection of battle spoils (Achan’s theft and subsequent execution), and commodification of labor and bodies (Ruth gleaning for hours and offering herself to Boaz) reveal much about ideologies of economic control operative in ancient Israel. The materialist analysis of Roland Boer provides a richly detailed study of Israelite agrarian and tributary practices, offering a salutary corrective to naïve views of Israelite economic relations. Highlighting labor as the most ruthlessly exploited resource in the ancient Near East, Boer examines the class-specific benefits and sustained violence of economic formations from kinship-household relations to militarized extraction. Boer’s erudite study will compel readers to look afresh at the subjugation of the poor and plundering of the powerless as constitutive features of diverse economic practices throughout the history of ancient Israel.

scholarly journals Breach of Treaties in the Ancient Near East

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-56
Author(s):  
Gábor Sulyok
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThe history of the breach of treaties can be traced back to the ancient Near East. The relative abundance and diversity of contemporary sources attest that the breaking of treaty obligations must have been a rather persistent problem, and that such occurrences were regarded as events of utmost importance throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. The present study strives to demonstrate how peoples of old may have perceived and reacted to the breach of treaties on the basis of selected writings—the Legend of Etana, the Indictment of Madduwatta, the Indictment of Mita, the plague prayers of Mursili and the Old Testament—that provide, beyond the exposition of actual or alleged facts, a deeper insight into the psychological and procedural aspects of the subject.

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