VIRGIL'S CALLIMACHEAN PINDAR: KINGSHIP AND THE BABY IAMUS IN ECLOGUE 4.23–5

This article argues for an allusion in Virgil's Eclogue 4 to one of Pindar's victory odes (Olympian 6). It will be suggested that this Pindaric pretext is viewed by the Latin poet through a Callimachean perspective which adds to it further layers of significance. Consequently, the evidence will be discussed for reading the allusion in terms of royal ideology which places Virgil's poem in the tradition of Hellenistic ruler-encomia.

Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer: Bronze Age Cities in Iron Age Context

The historical King Solomon has been discussed and debated by many scholars over the years. It is interesting, however, to see that the historicity of the city list of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer has been accepted by traditional and more radical scholars alike, who have suggested historical contexts in the 10th, 9th, or 8th century BCE for it. In this article we examine the list from a primarily literary point of view, placing it in the broader context of royal ideology in the ancient Near East and arguing that it may preserve memories of great cities from the Canaanite era.

Ich und mein König: Ps 45 als Ausdruck israelitischer Herrschaftsideologie und schreiberlichen Selbstbewusstseins

This article investigates the different stages in the formation of Ps 45 and will point out their purposes by analyzing the acting characters, their positions, and their relationships. The study will suggest a new understanding of שגל and emphasize the importance of the frame with the opening verses and closing remarks, thus gaining a new approach to understanding Ps 45 as both an expression of royal ideology and of scribal self-confidence.

Postcolonial Readings of Isaiah

Postcolonial interpretations of Isaiah consider the complex interactions between imperial imposition, emulation, and resistance, attending particularly to expressions of cultural hybridity. The focus falls not just on anti-imperial impulses, such as the assertion of a national Judean identity, or proclamations of judgment against the empires of Assyria and Babylon, but also on the intercultural dynamics that reflect the tides of empire. Several of Isaiah’s texts mimic imperial administration in order to claim jurisdiction for Yhwh’s torah—not only within a limited national territory but also across the many nations of the empire. Isaiah’s vision of peaceable rule interacts with some distinctive features of Iranian royal ideology, including the symbolism of royal parklands. Isaiah’s Eden theology shows awareness of the Persian paradises and draws on this motif in proclaiming the rule of God in a this-worldly eschatology. Identifying King Cyrus as a messiah might well have sacrificed messianic hopes, but this is only an apparent concession to the ruling powers. While the gōlāh-oriented vision of Ezra laid claim to Persian authority, Isa 49–55 opposes this vision and envisages a reconciliation of Returnees and Remainees within Yhwh’s own empire.

Introduction: Seleucid literature on the Hellenistic stage

The Introduction set the scene with Cavafy’s Fame of the Ptolemies, in which a boastful Ptolemaic king singles out his Seleucid neighbour as his biggest rival. This rivalry is at the heart of this book: Beyond Alexandria sets out to show how much the literary production of these two empires influenced each other. In order to achieve, the key point that this book puts forward is that a connected body of Seleucid literature existed and that this term is a meaningful, interpretative concept. After setting out the main goals of this book, the Introduction briefly discusses the scholarship that has provided the foundation for the arguments set out in the chapters. In addition, it outlines the chronological framework underlying the texts and authors discussed in this book. In the second part of the Introduction, two key concepts used in this book are discussed in more depth: the concept of royal ideology and the definition of literature in general.

Sacred Kingship and Political Power in Ancient Rwanda

This article revisits the sacred kingship in ancient Rwanda. The existing literature presented it as either obvious or doubtful. Using local sources and exploring theories related to sacred kingship, we argue that the kingship in Rwanda was sacred. We also identify the role that this sacred kingship played in the processes of unification the territory of Rwanda, creation of material culture, origins and consolidation of the kingship and the kingdom. The most important role of the sacred kingship appears to have been mainly the legitimization of the King’s power. We use documentary research and the historical method to present and discuss the following narratives related to the Rwandan kingdom: the tale of origins or the myth of Kigwa, the royal ideology during the reign of Mibambwe III Sentabyo, Gihanga seen as the Incarnation of the Sacred Kingship, the sacrality of Power as source of legitimacy of King Ruganzu II Ndori, and the role of the sacred kingdom through the rituals of the royal court known as Ubwiru. Key words: Rwandan sacred kingship, power rituals, Rwandan history

The Moabites

The Moabites play one of the most nuanced roles of any of Israel’s close neighbors: The heroine of the book of Ruth has all of its action centered upon the person and identity of a woman, Ruth, who happens to be identified as “Moabite.” Much of the scholarly attention on the Moabites not filtered through the Bible focuses on the “Mesha Stele,” a long inscription commissioned by a Moabite king in the middle of the ninth century BCE. Since it is the longest text of its type from this time period originating from one of the smaller polities in the Levant, the Mesha Stele offers an invaluable opportunity to look at a native text and the views of the king, Mesha, who produced it. The stele gives us native insight into Moabite religious and royal ideology, and at the same time provides a large percentage of what we know of the Moabite language and dialect.