BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum
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The motive of Hieros Gamos in Jesus’s Baptism in the Jordan River and in Jewish Kabballah
Full text linkThis paper suggests an alternative interpretation of Christ’ baptism, and more precisely, of the dove\u27s role in it. One of the main rituals in the Ancient East was the \u27sacred marriage\u27 (Hieros Gamos), the purpose of which was to assure abundance, prosperity, and cosmic fertility, and to validate the status of the king. In many cases, the actual crowning, which followed the main ritual, was performed by a dove, one of the symbols of the feminine partner in the sacred marriage – the great goddess.Through the centuries, this ancient ritual underwent extensive transformations and reforms, but even though the goddess seemed to have vanished, her disappearance was only an illusion. There is abundant evidence to show that the ritual reform did not suppress the old traditions and beliefs but merely hid them beneath the surface. This evidence suggests that the goddess reappeared, sometimes centuries later, manifesting herself in numerous guises, as, for example, in the Kabbalah and in Middle Eastern folk tradition. Furthermore, both textual and archeological findings indicate the continuous presence of the motive of the dove as a symbol of the goddess, who elects and coronates the king. The projection of this motive onto the familiar Christian scenario of Jesus’ baptism can shed new light on the survival of the ancient, forgotten, symbolic meaning of the dove as a female divine entity who chooses and crowns Christ.
The never-ending Quest for the Elites:New Approaches to the Study of Cemeteries and Social Organization
Full text linkThe Early Bronze Age (EBA) in Anatolia (3100/3000-2000 BCE.)[1] is considered a period of great transition when urban societies developed and when extramural cemeteries started to emerge. Western Anatolian sites like Troy and Külloba have yielded monumental walls, or architecturally distinct quarters. However none of these sites have yielded extramural cemeteries. Extramural cemeteries of the EBA are only associated with small-scale sites such as Karataş (southwest Anatolia) and Demircihöyük (northwest Anatolia) which have been referred to as “chiefdoms”. Labeling these non-urban sites as chiefdoms inevitably led to the quest of finding the chief in these cemeteries. As a result, certain burial types, and burials with grave goods of higher quantity and better quality have been used as evidence for wealth and status, hence the presence of ruling elites. In this paper I suggest different ways of making use of the archaeological data from cemeteries to understand the social organization without falling into the same social evolutionary pitfalls.[1] In this presentation when I refer to Anatolia, I will be referring to the central and western parts of the peninsula, not to eastern Anatolia which in the Early Bronze Age is culturally and economically closer to Northern Mesopotamia
Terminology for Children in Sumerian Administrative Records
No full textRegion: Southern Mesopotamia = Sumer.Period: Ca. 3200-2000 BC, i.e. Early Bronze Age.Sources: Administrative cuneiform texts from temple and palace archives.Subject: Children of low-rank social status in temple and palace households. Aims: 1) Systematize the terminology for children and offer an overview of its development.2) Identify what biological social characteristics of children are hiding behind these terms.3) Recognize the characteristic features in the terminology for children. Methods: Philological, historical, sociological (sex-age groups/classes). Key facts: 1) Children as dependents in central households appear in cuneiform records as early as the Uruk IV Period (ca. 3350-3250 BC).2) The documents enable to reconstruct several sets of terms to describe human resources in temple and palace households. A substantial part of these terms describe two main biological characteristics of children: their sex and age group.3) Originally, during the earliest periods, the terminology for humans and children in particular bore a strong resemblance with the terms for animals, which implies that the former is an offshoot of the latter.Main point: Other age groups, adults and elderly, received specific terms that were reserved exclusively to designate these age groups. The striking fact conclusion about the child terminology is that it obstinately remained dependent on the terminology for animal youth.The comparison of the bureaucratic terms for children with the lexical evidence (“ancient dictionaries”) demonstrates that the rich selection of terms within the field “children/childhood” that existed in the Sumerian society did not find reception in the administrative practice.
Political Metaphors in Hittite Diplomatic and Historiographic Texts
Full text linkResearch topic: In the Hittite historiographic and diplomatic texts some concepts are formulated metaphorically. In particular, we can find metaphors based on expressions of motion; involving body parts; recalling the comparison between a person and an animal; describing the concepts of life and death; concerning the lexicon of the family and relatives. Theoretical approach: These metaphors are to be considered as expressions of a system of thinking, i.e. as conceptual metaphors (Lakoff – Johnson 1980). Research questions: Which metaphors are attested? How are they structured? How do they dependent on context, language, and/or genre? Which metaphors are of Hittite origin? Which functions do they have? Research goals: Identification, classification and description of the metaphors; analysis of their functions; description of the changes in their use in relation to the genre and through time. Method: the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) of the Praggelejaz Group
«All Aram» and «Upper and Lower Aram»: what the Sefire Inscription suggests us about the Aramaean ethnicity
Full text linkThe Aramaeans are always presented as an “undifferentiated group present from the Lower Khabur to the Mount Lebanon” (Sader 1992), without any ethnic affiliation. The construction of their identity may be given by two opposite viewpoints: their own perspective (internal view) and that perceived by other populations (external view). We will show this through the notion of “all Aram” in the Sefire inscription, and by looking at some passages from Assyrian records and the Bible. The first document is the longest Aramaic inscription (about 200 lines) found 25 km from Aleppo in 1930 and dated to the 8th century. It is a treaty stipulated between the unknown king of KTK, Bargaʼ yah and the king of Arpad Matiʻel. The other inscriptions concern, in particular, the records of Shalmaneser III and Tiglath-pileser III who occupied the Aramaean territories in the 9th-8th centuries, and some letters from Nippur
Importing the law? Possible elements of the Mesopotamian legal tradition in New Kingdom Egypt (1549-1064BCE)
Full text link Features of New Kingdom (1549-1064BCE[1]) justice not attested earlierOracle courts, as attested at Deir el-Medina[2] and elsewhere[3]Increase in severe corporal punishment: for example, mutilation of nose and ears becomes a standard element in oath formulae[4]Detailed protasis-apodosis legal decrees, such as the Karnak Decree of Horemheb[5] (1328-1298BCE) or the Nauri Decree of Seti I[6] (1296-1279). Why might this be connected to Mesopotamia/Semitic law?“Hyksos” period (1650-1549BCE) immediately prior to New KingdomAmarna letters/greater exposure to Akkadian in Egypt during New KingdomLegal associations: Akkadian and Egyptian copies of Ramesses II – Hattusili III treaty[7] (1258BCE), where corporal punishment is a prominent topicMesopotamian law, and broader scholarship, often associated with protasis-apodosis[8]Mesopotamian law often associated with severe corporal punishment: for instance, see Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750BCE)[9], Middle Assyrian Laws[10] (c.1400-1100BCE) etc.Why might this NOT be connected to Mesopotamia/Semitic law?Were earlier periods truly different, or is this down to chance preservation of sources?Protasis-apodosis has precedents in the Middle Kingdom (2066-1650BCE): for instance, see 2nd Semna stela of Senusret III (1865BCE)[11] or Illahun Medical papyri (c.1800BCE)[12]. [1] All Egyptian dates are calculated according to the chronology set forth in Dodson & Hilton 2004: 287-294, while Mesopotamian dates follow the chronology in van de Mieroop 2007: 302-317.[2] McDowell 1990: 143-186.[3] Kákosy 1975: 600-606; Černy 1962: 35-48.[4] Lorton 1977: 33-38, 50-51; Tyldesley 2000: 81.[5] Kruchten 1981.[6] Kitchen 1975-1990: 53-55 (text 24); Davies 1997: 277-308.[7] Langdon & Gardiner 1920.[8] Bottéro 1992: 125-137, 156-184; Roth 1997.[9] Roth 1997: 71-142; Richardson 2000.[10] Driver & Miles 1935; Roth 1997: 153-194.[11] Sethe 1924: 83-84.[12] Quirke 2002; Collier & Quirke 2004: 53-64
Provincial Administration in Babylonia: A Case of Kassite Nippur
Full text linkThe talk gives an overview of the system of provincial administration in Babylonia during the rule of the Kassite dynasty (ca. 1531-1155 BC). Since about 90% of all written sources from this period (almost 12000 cuneiform tablets) come from a single location – the city of Nippur, the religious center of the country – this study is based for the most part on the economic and administrative documents from that place. The available texts cover about 150 years – from the beginning of the reign of Burna-Buriaš II (ca. 1359 B.C.) till the end of the reign of Kaštiliashu IV (1225 B.C.).The documents reflect the vibrant economic life of the region and give some ideas about how the social organization of Nippur and settlements of the homonymous adjacent province was shaped and how the city administrative system functioned. They mention administrators and officials of different levels responsible for the city household transactions (record keeping of economic accounts, maintaining agricultural and irrigational activities, distributing the harvest and goods, supervising the workforce). Among them one official clearly stands out – the chief governor of Nippur (šandabakku in Akkadian, gú.en.na/gá.dub.ba.(a) in Sumerian). He probably reported directly to the king of Babylonia and was endowed with significant political and administrative power, controlling economic transactions in the region and performing legal procedures. Several persons holding šandabakku office also bear a title nešakku (nu.èš den.líl in Sumerian) – one of the important priest offices of the god Enlil’s temple – Ekur. That indicates that the governor of Nippur was closely linked to the largest city temple and was involved in the governance and administration of its household as well
The visible dead: dolmens and the landscape in Early Bronze Age Jordan
No full textOverview:Dolmens are usually described as part of a regional megalithic phenomenon that spanned the 5th-2nd millennia BC. However, this presentation assumes that most ‘dolmens’ are mis-identified. When strictly defined, dolmens better reflect a local funerary tradition of the 4th millennium BC.Definitions:The term dolmen includes a variety of features whose only similarity is their use of large stone slabs. This presentation defines a dolmen as a freestanding,rectangular chamber formed by two upright orthostats along each long side, and a single roof slab over the top. Dolmens have often been conflated with cairns. This presentation defines a cairn as a large pile of small stones. Such features may have contained a low, cist burial chamber; others may simply be piles of field clearance.Distribution:Dolmens, as defined above, concentrate within a limited area of the east rift escarpment of the Jordan Valley, consistent with a local funerary tradition.Chronology: Recent dolmen excavations have yielded assemblages that date exclusively to the EB I (c.3700-3000 BC). This talk examines the close spatial relationship between dolmens and EB I settlement sites in a discrete geographical zone
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