Ancient Near Eastern History: the Case of Cyrus the Great of Persia

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMÉLIE KUHRT
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Standard Picture

This chapter examines how an historian of the ancient Near East sets about reconstructing a picture of the past using material of great diversity in terms of type and historical value. It demonstrates this approach by considering the figure of the Achaemenid king, Cyrus II ‘the Great’ of Persia. The discussion begins by creating a conventional image of the king and consolidating it. It then analyses the evidence that has been used to strengthen the picture and presents some historical realities. The basis for the standard picture of Cyrus the Great is provided by material in classical writers and the Old Testament. Cyrus introduced a new policy of religious toleration together with active support for local cults, exemplified by the permission he granted to the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple, with generous funding from central government. The chapter also considers the date for Cyrus' defeat of the Median king Astyages (550), as well as his conquest of Babylon itself.

scholarly journals Symbolic Inversion in Death: Some Examples from the Old Testament and the Ancient Near Eastern world

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 398-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Symbolic Inversion

Symbolic inversion is a widespread cultural phenomenon, the earliest examples of which can be traced back to the cultures of the ancient Near East. Symbolic inversion (mundus inversus) relates to those forms of expressive behaviour which invert commonly accepted social codes. One such area in the ancient Near Eastern and Old Testament world where this phenomenon manifested itself prominently is in the conception of life after death: life after death is often conceived as the direct inverse of what is customary in ordinary life. 

Judges 1–12

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Sasson
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
The Past ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
Over Time

Profound changes have occurred in the study of early Israel over the past four decades. In recent years, the pendulum of scholarship has swung toward literary and theological readings that are not significantly informed by the literature of the ancient Near East. Jack M. Sasson’s commentary to the first twelve chapters of the book of Judges is a refreshing corrective to that trend. It aims to expand comprehension of the Hebrew text by explaining its meaning, exploring its contexts, and charting its effect over time. Addressed are issues about the techniques that advance the text’s objectives, the impulses behind its composition, the motivations behind its preservation, the diversity of interpretations during its transmission in several ancient languages, and the learned attention it has gathered over time in faith traditions, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. In its pages also is a fair sampling from ancient Near Eastern documents to illumine specific biblical passages or to bolster the interpretation of contexts. The result is a Judges that more carefully reflects the culture that produced it. In presenting this fresh translation of the Masoretic text of Judges as received in our days, Sasson does not shy away from citing variant or divergent readings in the few Judges fragments and readily calls on testimonies from diverse Greek, Aramaic, and Latin renderings. The opinions of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sages are reviewed, as are those of eminent scholars of recent times. With his Introductory Remarks, Notes, and Comments, Sasson addresses specific issues of religious, social, cultural, and historical significance and turns to ancient Near Eastern lore to illustrate how specific actions and events unfolded elsewhere under comparable circumstances. This impressive new appreciation of Judges will be of immense interest to bible specialists, theologians, cultural historians, and students of the ancient world.

Biblical Prophecy—A Scribal Enterprise. The Old Testament Prophecy of Unconditional Judgement considered as a Literary Phenomenon

2011 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthijs J. de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Total Destruction ◽  
The Common ◽  
Literary Phenomenon

AbstractAt the heart of the biblical prophetic books is scribal reinterpretation of earlier prophetic legacies. These legacies testify to prophetic activity in Israel and Judah—kinds of prophecy which in essence resembled prophetic and other divinatory activity found elsewhere in the ancient Near East. It was however the scribal reception, revision, and elaboration of these earlier legacies that gave rise to “biblical prophecy” and prompted the development of the prophetic books. In this process of reinterpretation the ‘prophets’ were removed from the realm of divination. They became to be portrayed as isolated figures, contra society, commissioned by Yahweh to declare his message of unconditional and total destruction. Through their ‘message’ the disastrous events that had befallen the states of Israel and Judah were explained (ex eventu) as being due to divine anger. This was in fact the common explanation for calamities, used throughout the ancient Near Eastern world.

Matthiae, Paolo / Pinnock, Frances / Nigro, Lorenzo / Marchetti, Nicolò (with the collaboration of Licia Romano): Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. 5 May–10 May 2009, “Sapienza”, Università di Roma. Volume 1. Near Eastern Archaeology in the Past, Present and Future. Heritage and Identity Ethnoarchaeological and Interdisciplinary Approach, Results and Perspectives. Visual Expression and Craft Production in the Definition of Social Relations and Status; Matthiae, Paolo / Pinnock, Frances / Nigro, Lorenzo / Marchetti, Nicolò (with the collaboration of Licia Romano): Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. 5 May–10 May 2009, “Sapienza”, Università di Roma. Volume 2. Excavations, Surveys and Restorations: Reports on Recent Field Archaeology in the Near East; Matthiae, Paolo / Pinnock, Frances / Nigro, Lorenzo / Marchetti, Nicolò (with the collaboration of Licia Romano): Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. 5 May–10 May 2009, “Sapienza”, Università di Roma. Volume 3. Islamic Session. Posters Session

2016 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Waalke Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Near East ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Craft Production ◽  
International Congress ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Visual Expression ◽  
Definition Of

scholarly journals WEATHER, AGRICULTURE, AND RELIGION IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Perichoresis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-124
Author(s):  
Aurelian Botica
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Religious Thought ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Concept Of God

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine those areas of agricultural and religious life that intersected with each and influenced the way people thought of God (or the gods). We will start with the premise that in the Ancient Near East religion was intrinsically connected to agriculture and fertility, though not entirely defined by them. It is also plausible that people shared a concept of God (gods) that at times was shaped by their interaction with natural phenomena like rain, drought, storms, flooding, and animal and crop plagues. In this sense, scholars have noted the connection between “fertility” and religious life, even though some remain caution of pushing this connection too far. To evaluate the strength of this idea we will examine a number of cultic texts that appear to have presumed the link between weather, agriculture and religion. In particular, we will focus on references to weather/ storm/ fertility gods. In the later part of our study, we will ask to what extent Biblical men and women were influenced by Ancient Near Eastern religious thought. We will also explore the concept of the link between agriculture, weather and religion in Greek religious texts.

Order from Chaos: Comparing Approaches to Violence in Anthropology, Assyriology, and the Study of the Hebrew Bible

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-175
Author(s):  
T. M. Lemos
Keyword(s):  
Structural Violence ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Approaches To Studying ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Scholarship ◽  
Near Eastern Studies

This article compares the history of scholarship on violence in anthropology in the past one hundred years to major approaches to studying violence in the ancient Near East and ancient Near Eastern sources, including ancient Israel and Israelite literature. The article demonstrates that anthropology and ancient Near Eastern studies have diverged widely in their approaches to violence. In the past two to three decades, the concept of structural violence and new materialist approaches have dominated the study of violence in anthropology, while in Assyriology and the study of ancient Israel/Israelite literature, studies of violence have repeatedly turned to an order and chaos framework. The article ends by suggesting that scholars of ancient West Asia incorporate new materialist approaches more concertedly in studies of violence and either rethink or jettison the simplistic order/chaos dyad.

Prologue to Genesis (1, 1-11, 26): Prophetic Revelation, History, Myth or Metahistory?

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-46
Author(s):  
Михаил Анатольевич Скобелев
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Near East ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The World ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Book Of Genesis

В статье рассматриваются богословие, композиция и литературная форма сюжетов, входящих в состав Пролога книги Бытия (1, 1-11, 26). Во второй половине XIX - начале XX вв. в результате появления Документальной гипотезы и сопоставления Священного Писания с литературными памятниками Древнего Ближнего Востока большая часть сюжетов, составляющих Пролог, была объявлена мифами и древнееврейским фольклором (Ю. Велльгаузен, Г. Гунекель, Дж. Фрезер). Кроме выявленных ближневосточных параллелей, новому отношению к повествованиям Пролога книги Бытия способствовали: отсутствие в нём ясно выраженной исторической задачи и символичность изложения. Защищая традиционный взгляд на Пролог как на священную историю и пророческое откровение, епископ Кассиан (Безобразов) предложил рассматривать все библейские сюжеты, содержащие теофанию, как метаисторию. Протоиерей Сергий Булгаков, А. Ф. Лосев, Б. П. Вышеславцев, занимавшиеся феноменом мифотворчества, назвали библейское повествование о начале мироздания мифом, но в ином смысле, чем это делали Г. Гункель и Дж. Фрезер. Они обосновали новый положительный взгляд, согласно которому миф не есть выдумка или фантазия, а реальность, основанная на мистическом опыте. В статье анализируется каждый из перечисленных терминов: «история», «миф», «метаистория» применительно к Прологу, а также рассматривается возможность их согласования с традиционным церковным взглядом на эту часть книги Бытия. 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 fiction 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.

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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