Pub Date : 2019-12-10DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341304
W. Meinhold
Office holders in Babylonian temples were provided with an income, a prebend, by the temples in return for their services. In the Old Babylonian period these prebendaries do not occur in ritual texts but are well attested in legal documents. The extensive evidence from Old Babylonian Nippur gives a rough impression of the tasks of these prebendaries and of their remuneration. Moreover, it sheds light on prebend-related economic transactions including inheritance, exchange, and purchase. The development of prebend prices, their suitability for financial investments, their appearance in inheritance divisions and the possession of prebends by women are also addressed.
{"title":"Prebends and Prebendaries in Old Babylonian Nippur","authors":"W. Meinhold","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341304","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Office holders in Babylonian temples were provided with an income, a prebend, by the temples in return for their services. In the Old Babylonian period these prebendaries do not occur in ritual texts but are well attested in legal documents. The extensive evidence from Old Babylonian Nippur gives a rough impression of the tasks of these prebendaries and of their remuneration. Moreover, it sheds light on prebend-related economic transactions including inheritance, exchange, and purchase. The development of prebend prices, their suitability for financial investments, their appearance in inheritance divisions and the possession of prebends by women are also addressed.","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":"19 1","pages":"55-70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341304","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46798159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-12-10DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341300
M. Jursa, S. Gordin
{"title":"Editors’ Introduction","authors":"M. Jursa, S. Gordin","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341300","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341300","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341300","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46586317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-12-10DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341301
Paul Beaulieu
This article surveys the Babylonian evidence from inter-city migration of priests and their families. The phenomenon is already attested during the Old Babylonian period and there are some indications that it continued under Kassite rule. However, most of the evidence comes from temple archives of the first millennium and is heavily concentrated during the long sixth century (ca. 626–484 BC). Although many studies have identified specific cases of priestly migrations, the phenomenon has not yet been assessed in its entirety. The article concludes that such migrations were far more common than previously thought. They were motivated primarily by political reasons such as imposing the cult of official deities in local sanctuaries, or the need to maintain a memory landscape of venerable cult centers.
{"title":"Temple Towns and Nation Building: Migrations of Babylonian Priestly Families in the Late Periods","authors":"Paul Beaulieu","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341301","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341301","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article surveys the Babylonian evidence from inter-city migration of priests and their families. The phenomenon is already attested during the Old Babylonian period and there are some indications that it continued under Kassite rule. However, most of the evidence comes from temple archives of the first millennium and is heavily concentrated during the long sixth century (ca. 626–484 BC). Although many studies have identified specific cases of priestly migrations, the phenomenon has not yet been assessed in its entirety. The article concludes that such migrations were far more common than previously thought. They were motivated primarily by political reasons such as imposing the cult of official deities in local sanctuaries, or the need to maintain a memory landscape of venerable cult centers.","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":"19 1","pages":"3-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341301","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49227846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-12-10DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341303
M. Jursa, S. Gordin
The paper is constructed around a short micro-historical portrait of a priestly family active in Uruk in the sixth century BCE. This introduces two interrelated issues that the paper will subsequently discuss with a view towards a contextualization of the family in question: the interaction between the Neo-Babylonian state and priests outside the capital city, and the drive towards inter-temple interaction and standardization of procedures based on the model of Esangila, the Marduk temple in the capital.
{"title":"Urukean Priests and the Neo-Babylonian State","authors":"M. Jursa, S. Gordin","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341303","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The paper is constructed around a short micro-historical portrait of a priestly family active in Uruk in the sixth century BCE. This introduces two interrelated issues that the paper will subsequently discuss with a view towards a contextualization of the family in question: the interaction between the Neo-Babylonian state and priests outside the capital city, and the drive towards inter-temple interaction and standardization of procedures based on the model of Esangila, the Marduk temple in the capital.","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":"19 1","pages":"35-54"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341303","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45985924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-12-10DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341302
D. Charpin
Thirty-two years after the publication of Le Clergé d’Ur au siècle d’Hammurabi (1986), a reappraisal of the situation is made possible by collations of already known texts, and by new tablets provided by the resumption of excavations on the site of Tell Muqayyer. The question of the estate properties within the city of Ur will first be examined: generally, the members of the clergy owned the houses they inhabited, which were not the property of the temple of the Moon-god Nanna. Then the evidence about the specific situation of the purification priests devoted to the god Enki-of-Eridu will be studied: the older data are supplemented by new ones discovered in 2017 in a house occupied by a Babylonian general. Finally, the level of literacy of the clergy and the role they played in education will be examined; here again, the 2017 season provides new evidence thanks to the discovery of a house inhabited by an intendant of the temple of the goddess Ningal.
{"title":"Priests of Ur in the Old Babylonian Period: a Reappraisal in Light of the 2017 Discoveries at Ur/Tell Muqayyar","authors":"D. Charpin","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341302","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Thirty-two years after the publication of Le Clergé d’Ur au siècle d’Hammurabi (1986), a reappraisal of the situation is made possible by collations of already known texts, and by new tablets provided by the resumption of excavations on the site of Tell Muqayyer. The question of the estate properties within the city of Ur will first be examined: generally, the members of the clergy owned the houses they inhabited, which were not the property of the temple of the Moon-god Nanna. Then the evidence about the specific situation of the purification priests devoted to the god Enki-of-Eridu will be studied: the older data are supplemented by new ones discovered in 2017 in a house occupied by a Babylonian general. Finally, the level of literacy of the clergy and the role they played in education will be examined; here again, the 2017 season provides new evidence thanks to the discovery of a house inhabited by an intendant of the temple of the goddess Ningal.","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341302","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48238452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-12-10DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341305
L. Quillien
Through a study of Babylonian priestly clothing, one can see the social role and attitudes of priests in Babylonian cities, not only when they worship deities, but also in their daily lives. Information on priests’ clothing is rare in cuneiform texts. A Hellenistic ritual from Uruk gives interesting insights that one can compare with the data from the daily records from the Neo-Babylonian period. It appears that outside the temple, the priests wore “civil” clothes. Religious garments were kept in particular rooms of the temples, and their terminology is archaic and similar to the garments of the gods. During worship, each category of priest had its own specific dress identifying its status and its role in the rituals. These garments were sometimes adorned with motifs representing celestial symbols or protective deities.
{"title":"Identity Through Appearance: Babylonian Priestly Clothing During the 1st Millennium BC","authors":"L. Quillien","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341305","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Through a study of Babylonian priestly clothing, one can see the social role and attitudes of priests in Babylonian cities, not only when they worship deities, but also in their daily lives. Information on priests’ clothing is rare in cuneiform texts. A Hellenistic ritual from Uruk gives interesting insights that one can compare with the data from the daily records from the Neo-Babylonian period. It appears that outside the temple, the priests wore “civil” clothes. Religious garments were kept in particular rooms of the temples, and their terminology is archaic and similar to the garments of the gods. During worship, each category of priest had its own specific dress identifying its status and its role in the rituals. These garments were sometimes adorned with motifs representing celestial symbols or protective deities.","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":"19 1","pages":"71-89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341305","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49530546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-26DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341296
Collin Cornell
In spite of renewed scholarly interest in the religion of Judeans living on the island of Elephantine during the Persian period, only one recent study has addressed the religious significance of the fired clay female figurines discovered there. The present article seeks to place these objects back on the research agenda. After summarizing the history of research, it also makes a new appraisal of the role of these objects in the religious life of Elephantine Judeans. Two factors prompt this reevaluation: first, newly found examples of the same figurine types; and second, Bob Becking’s recent research on Elephantine Aramaic texts attesting the phenomenon of “lending deities.”
{"title":"The Forgotten Female Figurines of Elephantine","authors":"Collin Cornell","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341296","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341296","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In spite of renewed scholarly interest in the religion of Judeans living on the island of Elephantine during the Persian period, only one recent study has addressed the religious significance of the fired clay female figurines discovered there. The present article seeks to place these objects back on the research agenda. After summarizing the history of research, it also makes a new appraisal of the role of these objects in the religious life of Elephantine Judeans. Two factors prompt this reevaluation: first, newly found examples of the same figurine types; and second, Bob Becking’s recent research on Elephantine Aramaic texts attesting the phenomenon of “lending deities.”","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2018-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341296","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46628235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-26DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341299
M. V. Almansa-Villatoro
This article sets out to address questions concerning local religious traditions in ancient Nubia. Data concerning Egyptian gods in the Sudan are introduced, then the existence of unattested local pre-Meroitic gods is reconstructed using mainly external literary sources and an analysis of divine names. A review of other archaeological evidence from an iconographic point of view is also attempted, concluding with the presentation of Meroitic gods and their relation with earlier traditions. This study proposes that Egyptian religious beliefs were well integrated in both official and popular cults in Nubia. The Egyptian and the Sudanese cultures were constantly in contact in the border area and this nexus eased the transmission of traditions and iconographical elements in a bidirectional way. The Meroitic gods are directly reminiscent of the reconstructed indigenous Kushite pantheon in many aspects, and this fact attests to an attempt by the Meroitic rulers to recover their Nubian cultural identity.
{"title":"Reconstructing the Pre-Meroitic Indigenous Pantheon of Kush","authors":"M. V. Almansa-Villatoro","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341299","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article sets out to address questions concerning local religious traditions in ancient Nubia. Data concerning Egyptian gods in the Sudan are introduced, then the existence of unattested local pre-Meroitic gods is reconstructed using mainly external literary sources and an analysis of divine names. A review of other archaeological evidence from an iconographic point of view is also attempted, concluding with the presentation of Meroitic gods and their relation with earlier traditions. This study proposes that Egyptian religious beliefs were well integrated in both official and popular cults in Nubia. The Egyptian and the Sudanese cultures were constantly in contact in the border area and this nexus eased the transmission of traditions and iconographical elements in a bidirectional way. The Meroitic gods are directly reminiscent of the reconstructed indigenous Kushite pantheon in many aspects, and this fact attests to an attempt by the Meroitic rulers to recover their Nubian cultural identity.","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2018-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341299","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48427768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-26DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341298
Jacques van der Vliet
A reedition and analysis of a late (ca. 10th–11th cent.) Coptic magical charm found at Saqqara. The commentary links the charm to pre-Christian models and discusses the possible modes of transmission of traditional ritual knowledge in Christian Egypt.
{"title":"Charming a Clogged Nose: A Late Coptic Magical Spell from Saqqara","authors":"Jacques van der Vliet","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341298","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341298","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A reedition and analysis of a late (ca. 10th–11th cent.) Coptic magical charm found at Saqqara. The commentary links the charm to pre-Christian models and discusses the possible modes of transmission of traditional ritual knowledge in Christian Egypt.</p>","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":"126 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2018-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138505297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-26DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341297
N. Na’aman
The article discusses the date and cultural background of the Elisha and Naaman story (2 Kings 5). It first analyses the story and emphasizes the difference in its presentation of the prophet and the way he operates vis-à-vis all other stories in the Elisha story-cycle. It then analyses Naaman’s request to carry soil from the Land of Israel in order to erect an altar for Yhwh in Damascus (5:17) and brings evidence that the transportation of earth from one sacred place to another was known in Mesopotamia from the late second millennium BCE onward. In light of all the available evidence, it suggests that the story is not part of Elisha’s original story-cycle; rather, it illuminates the shift of ideas about the prophet, his prophecy, and the land of Israel in the transition from the monarchical to the early post-exilic period.
{"title":"An Altar for Yhwh in the Land of Aram (2 Kings 5:17)","authors":"N. Na’aman","doi":"10.1163/15692124-12341297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15692124-12341297","url":null,"abstract":"The article discusses the date and cultural background of the Elisha and Naaman story (2 Kings 5). It first analyses the story and emphasizes the difference in its presentation of the prophet and the way he operates vis-à-vis all other stories in the Elisha story-cycle. It then analyses Naaman’s request to carry soil from the Land of Israel in order to erect an altar for Yhwh in Damascus (5:17) and brings evidence that the transportation of earth from one sacred place to another was known in Mesopotamia from the late second millennium BCE onward. In light of all the available evidence, it suggests that the story is not part of Elisha’s original story-cycle; rather, it illuminates the shift of ideas about the prophet, his prophecy, and the land of Israel in the transition from the monarchical to the early post-exilic period.","PeriodicalId":42129,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2018-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15692124-12341297","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42449056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}