BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum
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The Tell \u27Uqair temple (4th mill.BC) : colours and iconography
Full text linkDate: ca. 3400-3100 BC, late Uruk period, first urbanization of south Mesopotamia.Location: Tell ‘Uqair, Babylonia, Iraq.Abstract: This contribution presents the “painted temple” of Tell ‘Uqair, which has provided evidences for bright paintings on the interior. Based on the archaeological report, as well as on in-depth comparisons with other urukean building, we focus on a colorful reconstruction of one of the characters, offering new interpretation of its symbolic meaning
Some new Linear Elamite inscriptions
No full textThe Linear Elamite writing system was used in the late 3rd millennium in ancient Iran.The underlying language is supposed to be Elamite – an isolate language otherwise known from cuneiform sources. 40 to 60% of the Elamite words and morphemes are decoded.In early 2016, about ten new inscriptions and fragments were presented at the University of Hamedan, Iran. They are now in the Mahboubian Gallery. Some of these new texts are the longest ones ever found, depicting up to 200 signs.In the past months, the Deciphering Crew at the Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Bern, has made drawings of the so far unpublished inscriptions and compiled a sign catalogue.Preliminary results show that fragments from Gonur and Altyn Depe formerly tagged as “Linear Elamite” do not belong to the Linear Elamite text corpus.The Deciphering Project is hoping to collaborate with scholars of different fields. The web page http://elamicon.org is an open source project
Orient as an Inspiration. Archaeology of Ancient Near East in “Academic” Paintings
Full text linkKey definitions
Academic art (academism) – style in painting, sculpture, graphic and other visual arts connected with activities of European academies of fine arts in 19 th century. The main centres were Paris, London. Rome, Madrid, Munich, Vienna and Petersburg. Classical themes and techniques, apparently conservative, but opening way to the modern artistic style.
Orientalism in visual arts - style in European painting, sculpture, graphic and architecture inspired by oriental cultures, visible from the end of Eighteenth and all Nineteenth centuries.
Persons (painters)
Lawrence Alma Tadema (1836-1912)
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)
Edwin Long (1829-1891)
Henryk Siemiradzki (1843-1902)
Paul / Paweł Merwart (1855-1902)
Ludwik Wiesiołowski (1854-1892)
Focus on:
Oriental artefact as detail
Oriental story as personalit
Silk and Horses: Trade and Tribute between the Qing Dynasty and the Kazakh Khanate
Full text linkThis paper seeks to analyze the ways in which the exchange of silk for horses impacted trade regulations along the Silk Road, thus leading to a rupture in Chinese economic policy. Exchanges between the Qing Dynasty and the Kazakh Khanate were carried between 1759 and 1796, having begun after the Qianlong Emperor vanquished the Dzungar Khanate, which determined the khan of the Kazakhs to swear allegiance to the Emperor. As the Qing Dynasty had up until that point been both politically and economically isolationist, this marked a radical change in its foreign policy.The relation established between emperor and khan is known as chao gong mao yi（朝贡贸易）and is usually translated as vassalage, owing to the similarities with the European concepts, but it also involves the offering of tributes. Traditionally, when discussing the Qianlong Emperor’s decision to consolidate trade with its new vasal, scholars have tended to favor one of three narratives: the first sees this exchange in the same light as the economic relations between the imperial capital and any of China’s provinces, and therefore focuses on the inclusions character of the policy. The second considers the exchange of horses for silk as representing the immediate, dire needs of the two political leaders; while the Khan and his court required fine materials for their own prestige, the Emperor’s armies had an urgent need for horses in the fight against the rebellious Uighurs in Altishahr. The third postulates that engaging in trade would have allowed the isolated Qing to secure their borders.Rather than fully accepting or discarding any of these narratives, a more nuanced position can be gained. We can do this by understanding the implications of vassalage and tribute in close connection with the way in which the whole regional economic policy was modeled around it. I will look at the ways in which chao gong mao yi and its economical meaning were defined in Chinese archives. This will allow us to better understand their interconnected evolution. The Chinese archives that I will look at are formed of two types of documents: the first of these, the jun ji chu lu fu zou zhe (军机处录副奏折), are extensive reports on the affairs of the army, including their military actions and tactics, the power struggles between officers, and the rations needed to feed and supply the troops, to name only a few; the second, the Qianlong chao shi lu (乾隆朝实录), are concise reports that describe in minute detail the affairs of the imperial court. When taken together, these materials paint a vivid picture of the social, economic, and political life of late eighteenth-century China. From these sources we can see that the Qing opted for a sort of tribute trade which made a compromise on the tariff. This shows that while the Qing were clearly making some profit, the need of supplying the armies with horses in Alishahr wasmore important, and they were therefore forced to maintain their conservative economic policy.These materials offer new information which scholars that have tried to defend one of the three narratives in particular have so far neglected. Most important amongst these are two interconnected aspects: on one hand, by investigating how the Silk Road was rebuilt, we see that two different projects were used for the north and for the south. This led to the displacement of the economy towards the north, as it connected several important cities and trade hubs, such as Suzhou、Suzhou . By ignoring the regional impact, historians have tended to downgrade or neglect the changes that this disruption brought to the course of trade. On the other hand, this very separation is the thing that destabilized the region. It caused local unrest, uprisings and separatist tendencies. These episodes of local unrest forced a rethinking of the entire imperial economic policy.The Qianlong Emperor’s policy was never expansionist, neither in territorial nor in economic terms. While they were clearly aware of the importance of forging a strong relationship with their northern Kazakh neighbors, they never had any ambitions to expand towards inner Asia. We can observe this in the way in which the economic policy that they initiated with the Khanate later form the basis for the trade routes with Russia through Qiaketu. These routes would economically drain the Kazahks in the long term. That China was not expansionist at this point can easily be observed from the fact that it hesitated to break out of its traditional approach even when the Kazakhs were weakened, so it was the Russian who eventually absorbed them.To conclude, it can be said that a new understanding of China’s attitudes as a regional actor during the period of Qing Dynasty can be gained by looking at smaller units and understanding how different types of regional or local economic policies evolved together. Quite often, these impacted not only interconnected regions but the empire as a whole. As we have seen, the exchange of silk for horses along the Silk Road is just one such example. Given the rich material that is available in the Chinese archives, many other aspects could be studied
Garments and Shrouds of Egyptian and Nubian Pilgrims from Qasr el-Yahud, Ninth Century CE
Full text linkQasr el-Yahud, situated on the west bank of the Jordan River nearby Jericho, features the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, believed to be the traditional site of the Baptism of Jesus1 and has a centuries-long tradition of ‘washing of the lepers’. Byzantine and Medieval authors attributed the waters of the Jordan river a special power to heal lepers who bathed in them, especially at the spot where Jesus was baptized.After the site became sacred, traditions developed that were associated with the holy features of the water and its curative properties. When the emperor Constantius became ill, he asked to bath in the Jordan. In 1983 a rescue excavation at the site revealed thirty-four skeletons, probably representing a hospital population with cases of tuberculosis, leprosy and facial disfigurement. Such individuals travelled enormous distances, attracted to the site in the hope of washing away their illness. Anthropological evidence indicates that the individuals were probably Egyptian in origin, while structural analysis of the skulls proved that some were Nubian. They were buried in a Christian manner, lying on their backs, facing the rising sun. Some of the burial customs at this site, such as placing seeds from the Egyptian Balsam tree (Balanites Aegyptiaca) in the hands of the deceased, conform to Egyptian traditions.The arid climate of the Judean Desert helped to preserve 250 textiles, among them many examples comprising two different textiles or more sewn together or patched one on another. Radiocarbon dating of the textiles placed the date in the eighth to ninth centuries (787–877 CE). The textiles are made of linen and cotton, sometimes decorated with wool tapestry, brocade and selfbands. They include many cut-to-shape tunics except one which is woven-to-shape, head coverings, bandages and shrouds. This research combines historic sources, anthropological and botanic evidence, burial practices with the textiles. The material is of great importance because it gives us idea about the burial costumes used by Christians at the late Islamic period. In addition, those are the only textiles from this period found in Israel
Loom weights as a research tool
Full text link The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The loom weight is often the only preserved remnant of a loom used in antiquity. Because of their ubiquity, loom weights are the main key to the study of textile production in the Iron Age in the Levant.During excavations loom weights are easy to recognize if they are made of metal, stone or ceramics. Within burnt layers, unfired clay loom weights can be accidentally fired and thus well preserved. But it is difficult to recognize and securely excavate unfired raw clay loom weights. The two main problems are:1. Unfired loom weights disintegrate when they get wet.2. When excavating a mudbrick site, the clay of the loom weights resembles the matrix they were found in.Clay loom weights were sometimes fired, resulting in durable terracotta weights, but the majority were made of unfired clay. Unlike Staermose Nielsen (Staermose Nielsen, K.-H. In: Pritchard, F. and J.F. Wild (ed.). Northern Archaeological Textiles NESAT VII. Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2005:130), who states: “Groups of unbaked clay weights are the more numerous of all, but as clay loom weights reveal themselves on excavations only as disintegrated lumps, their usefulness in a classification is minimal.” For many excavations Staermose Nielsen is right. But that is because of the way the weights are excavated rather than preserved in the ground. I will demonstrate that clay loom weights, when properly excavated and preserved, can be classified and studied in a meaningful way, enabling us to reconstruct textile production. The practical part.I would like to share a registration form for loom weights to be used in excavations and research projects (see abstract link below). Your comments and ideas on my conceptual form are very welcome!
Mesopotamian cylinder seal from Lori Berd (Armenia): An object in an unusual location?
Full text linkArchaeological Site: Lori Berd (Northern Armenia); cemetery, dating from Middle Bronze Age till Achaemenid period.Tomb No. 106: stone chamber. Ceramic and part of the finds date to Achaemenid period. Also a pinkish chalcedony cylinder seal with gold caps on gold pin. Iconography: standing figure, seizing two upstanding caprids surrounded by symbolic fillings.Dating: a Neo-Babylonian cylinder seal of late 8th till 7th century BC.Similar example: usage of Neo-Assyrian/Babylonian cylinder seal by Irtashduna (wife of Darius I) around 500 BC.Interpretation: suitable for reciprocity of gifts in prestige-goods system of Achaemenid period. Perhaps a gift from satrap to local chief
Dressing and Feeding the Family, or Cakes and Garments for the Gods?
Full text linkIn the built environment of a past society it is often difficult to distinguish between sacred and profane objects and places. We struggle with the difficult tasks of recovering and understanding the behaviours that took place in domestic and public units. Baking, spinning and weaving can be traced very well in the archaeological record from artifacts such as ovens, spindle whorls, loom weights and other remnants representing a loom. Traces of weaving and baking are often found in domestic context. Weaving and backing for a temple and especially weaving clothes and backing bread for a deity are well-known phenomena in the ancient Near East. But in the archaeology of the Southern Levant weaving and baking in association with a temple or a shrine seems to be overlooked.Khirbet al Mudayna, Tell Deir Alla and Tell es-Saidiyeh, situated in Transjordan, with their huge and concentrated numbers of Iron Age loom weights and distinctive architecture, indicate production for others than the direct inhabitants, suggesting specialization and trade. But who were these others. By comparing the features of the three sites an answer to the above question can be indicated
The Characterization of Animals in Sumerian Fables
Full text linkAlthough classical education is waning and general historical knowledge is at its nadir, many ancient fables are still widely known and commonly cited in spoken language. For example, Aesop’s fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf has resulted in the phrase “crying wolf,” which—even today—is a cultural shorthand for expressing the idea of raising a false alarm. The successful communication of this idea, however, rests on culture: the shared understanding of the wolf as dangerous. If we thought of wolves as we do pet dogs, the reference would be lost.Fables constitute a subgenre of ancient Near Eastern ‘wisdom literature;’ they are short narratives utilizing anthropomorphized animals to impart conventional wisdom. Like proverbs, fables “belong to the speech of everyday life” (Alster 1997). Perhaps for this reason, they were among the first compositions that young scribes learned to write in ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerian fables are attested as early as the mid-third millennium BCE. Much like written language itself, fables traffic in tradition and “habitual connection” (Peirce 1885) in order to convey their meaning. This meaning is so strong that it can be carried even via elliptical (truncated) renderings, as in the example of “crying wolf.” This shorthand is possible, in part, because animals are not just things themselves, they are loaded with symbolic meanings that are imparted in fables via their role, their actions, and the words they speak. In fables, animals are characters, and these characterizations can reveal the context and values of the culture that created them.As Falkowitz (1980) notes, consistently and extensively employed animal images can become culturally ingrained as rhetorical topoi: the fox is cunning, the bee is busy. The meaning in these images” is derived from their characteristics, which fables can uniquely elucidate for us. Through the understanding that fables provide, we can more successfully “read” both the elliptical references to animals in proverbs and in images. Moreover, understanding animals in this way can provide us a method to access the contexts and values of ancient Mesopotamians without privileging our contemporary, Western symbolic or ethical norms.I will provide an overview of the small corpus of available Sumerian fables and analysis of the roles of the animals characterized within them. These will be linked to Sumerian proverbs and compared to ancient Greek fables to form a starting point for conceptualizing fauna in the ancient world
Ideology and Administration in Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon
Full text linkKleber, K. 2008. Tempel und Palast: Die Beziehungen zwischen dem König und dem Eanna-Tempel imspätbabylonischen Uruk. AOAT 358. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Eanna Archive Chronology (pp.135–73) Regnal years 1 – 20 ++; Building projects: Etemenanki Ziqqurat; Location: BabylonRegnal years 2; Building projects: Esagil BabylonRegnal years 14 – 32; Building projects: miscellaneous; Location: Opis and SipparRegnal years 14/35 – 42; Building projects: - ; Location: Tyros/ṢuruRegnal years 15 – at least 20; Building projects: - ; Location: JādaquRegnal years 19 – 29; Building projects: North Palace; Location: BabylonRegnal years 23 – (project completed in the reign of Cyrus); Building projects: - ; Location: Raqqat-ŠamašRegnal years 27; Building projects: Nebuchadnezzar Canal (Nār-Šarri); Location: North of SipparRegnal years 31; Building projects: A dam; Location: Sealand regionRegnal years 33; Building projects: Euriminanki Ziqqurrat; Location: BorsippaRegnal years 35; Building projects: City wall; Location: Babylon ---Da Riva, R. 2008. The Neo-Babylonian Royal Inscriptions: An Introduction. Guides to the MesopotamianTextual Record (GMTR) 4. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.“In his Ehulhul cylinder…, king Nabonidus claims to have restored the Ebabbar in Sippar forty-five years after the reconstruction undertaken by Nebuchadnezzar. Since Nabonidus’ works date to 553-2 BC, the alleged reconstruction must date to 597-96 BC (pp.74).”*597-96 BC = 7 th - 8 th regnal years---Da Riva, R. 2012. The Twin Inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar at Brisa (Wadi Esh-Sharbin, Lebanon): a historical and philological studies . Archiv für Orientforschung (AO) 32. Wien: Selbstverlag des Instituts für Orientalistik der Universität Wien. “The construction of Nār-šarri is well-documented in the administrative texts, and all evidence confirms that it was a lengthy project. The first references to the canal are from the second decade of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, but the construction documents are dated to the 27 th regnal year onwards (pp.20).”---Da Riva, R. 2013. Nebuchadnezzar II’s Prism (EŞ 7834): A New Edition. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie (ZA), 103 (2). 196–229.“Also known as the Old Palace, this building had been constructed by Nabopolassar (626–605 BC) and later expanded by Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC) in or before his seventh year, according to the date mentioned in the Prism, before he decided to build a new one (the Hauptburg or Nordburg) outside the inner wall system (pp.196).”(pp.210-1)Column III25’ in se-bu-tim ša-at-ti-ia 1 lim 1 lim še - im26’
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