The Babylonian horoscopes, edited by Rochberg in 1998, contain sets of astronomical and astrological data on dates of, or close to, individuals’ births. Each element of these short and concise texts reflects the astral divinatory practices and astronomical observation developed over the first millennium BC, as well as the latest innovations, including the zodiac as coordinate system and the occurrence of new astrological schemes partly based on it, which had previously remained obscure. In this paper, I present a new interpretation of the astrological terminology and the schemes that underly some of the data in the Babylonian horoscopes.
{"title":"The Astrological Schemes Behind bīt niṣirtu and KI in the Babylonian Horoscopes","authors":"Alessia Pilloni","doi":"10.1515/janeh-2023-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2023-0014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The Babylonian horoscopes, edited by Rochberg in 1998, contain sets of astronomical and astrological data on dates of, or close to, individuals’ births. Each element of these short and concise texts reflects the astral divinatory practices and astronomical observation developed over the first millennium BC, as well as the latest innovations, including the zodiac as coordinate system and the occurrence of new astrological schemes partly based on it, which had previously remained obscure. In this paper, I present a new interpretation of the astrological terminology and the schemes that underly some of the data in the Babylonian horoscopes.","PeriodicalId":508435,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140970575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper argues, in contrast to some previous scholarship, that debt bondage was not practiced in Egypt’s Late Period (c. 8th–5th centuries BC). The phenomena of self-sales into slavery and the inclusion of children in lists of security in loan contracts have been offered as evidence of debt bondage in past studies: in the former, arguing that self-sales were a means to satisfy debts; in the latter, that seizure of children into bondage was precipitated by default on a debt. But there is no evidence for these manifestations of debt bondage in practice. In an examination of all relevant self-sales and loan contracts of the period, it can be shown that in no case was a person seized for security or in distraint, and that self-sales did not occur specifically as a result of debtor default. In practice, creditors likely pursued punitive measures such as fine or high interest rather than the potentially expensive and troublesome seizure of debtors. The conditional clauses regarding seizure or distraint reflected in loan documents must thus be regarded as notional rather than actionable, more representative of the social rather than financial capital at stake when one defaulted on a debt. Excluding debt bondage from the Egyptian socio-economic landscape of the period opens the discussion to the implications for social practice, family life, and credit systems.
{"title":"Debt Bondage in Late Period Egypt (8th – 5th Century BC)","authors":"E.A. Karev","doi":"10.1515/janeh-2022-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2022-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper argues, in contrast to some previous scholarship, that debt bondage was not practiced in Egypt’s Late Period (c. 8th–5th centuries BC). The phenomena of self-sales into slavery and the inclusion of children in lists of security in loan contracts have been offered as evidence of debt bondage in past studies: in the former, arguing that self-sales were a means to satisfy debts; in the latter, that seizure of children into bondage was precipitated by default on a debt. But there is no evidence for these manifestations of debt bondage in practice. In an examination of all relevant self-sales and loan contracts of the period, it can be shown that in no case was a person seized for security or in distraint, and that self-sales did not occur specifically as a result of debtor default. In practice, creditors likely pursued punitive measures such as fine or high interest rather than the potentially expensive and troublesome seizure of debtors. The conditional clauses regarding seizure or distraint reflected in loan documents must thus be regarded as notional rather than actionable, more representative of the social rather than financial capital at stake when one defaulted on a debt. Excluding debt bondage from the Egyptian socio-economic landscape of the period opens the discussion to the implications for social practice, family life, and credit systems.","PeriodicalId":508435,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139380034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article explores the emerging role of wooden wax-covered writing boards in Kassite administration, as indicated by their mentions in three letters and one cattle account from Kassite period Nippur. Even though the number of textual references is scarce, the use of wooden wax-covered writing boards is supported by the depictions on late Kassite kudurru monuments. By incorporating perspectives from Middle Assyrian texts and Neo-Assyrian sealings, this study interprets references to writing board usage in Kassite letters, revealing their role in documenting conscripted workers and their rations. This interpretation finds support in evidence from the Ur III period, contemporary Emar, and the Neo-Babylonian period, collectively suggesting that writing boards were regarded as durable and highly reliable sources. The appearance of seal rings in Babylonia in 13th century BC allows for the hypothesis that wooden wax-covered writing boards could have been sealed in a similar fashion as is assumed for Neo-Assyrian writing boards containing lists of ERIN2.MEŠ troops of the king. Notably, the Kassite period letters indicate that writing boards were archived for minimum of 50 years and were checked to verify claims.
{"title":"Knocking on Wood: Writing Boards in the Kassite Administration","authors":"Lynn-Salammbô Zimmermann","doi":"10.1515/janeh-2023-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2023-0010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article explores the emerging role of wooden wax-covered writing boards in Kassite administration, as indicated by their mentions in three letters and one cattle account from Kassite period Nippur. Even though the number of textual references is scarce, the use of wooden wax-covered writing boards is supported by the depictions on late Kassite kudurru monuments. By incorporating perspectives from Middle Assyrian texts and Neo-Assyrian sealings, this study interprets references to writing board usage in Kassite letters, revealing their role in documenting conscripted workers and their rations. This interpretation finds support in evidence from the Ur III period, contemporary Emar, and the Neo-Babylonian period, collectively suggesting that writing boards were regarded as durable and highly reliable sources. The appearance of seal rings in Babylonia in 13th century BC allows for the hypothesis that wooden wax-covered writing boards could have been sealed in a similar fashion as is assumed for Neo-Assyrian writing boards containing lists of ERIN2.MEŠ troops of the king. Notably, the Kassite period letters indicate that writing boards were archived for minimum of 50 years and were checked to verify claims.","PeriodicalId":508435,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139380075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract When studying ancient societies, it is inevitable that eventually the theme of social collapse will arise. Archaeology has long been concerned with the theme of resilience, collapse, and resistance, triggered by either external factors such as conquest and natural disasters, or from internal factors such as environmental mismanagement, political or economic calamity, or sociocultural revolutions. Most approaches to the themes of resilience, collapse, and resistance have primarily relied on socioecological models that results in binarized explications of the archaeological record, framing evidence in competing terms of collapse and resilience: either societies endured collapse through a series of choices that resulted in either failure or success on the one hand or that societies overcame problems and exhibited resilience by adapting to new pressures or moving to new environments on the other hand. This paper seeks to explore concepts of resilience, collapse, and resistance through an anthropocentric rather than ecocentric perspective, touching on the theories used to construct the ideas of collapse, resilience, and resistance, with a particular focus on sociocultural aspects. Finally, this paper suggests a model which centers on the notion of sociocultural transformation, enculturation and hybridity placed into direct dialogue with resilience, collapse, and resistance.
{"title":"Towards a Model for Sociocultural Transformation: Anthropocentric Approaches to Resilience, Collapse, and Resistance","authors":"Matthew A. Winter","doi":"10.1515/janeh-2022-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2022-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract When studying ancient societies, it is inevitable that eventually the theme of social collapse will arise. Archaeology has long been concerned with the theme of resilience, collapse, and resistance, triggered by either external factors such as conquest and natural disasters, or from internal factors such as environmental mismanagement, political or economic calamity, or sociocultural revolutions. Most approaches to the themes of resilience, collapse, and resistance have primarily relied on socioecological models that results in binarized explications of the archaeological record, framing evidence in competing terms of collapse and resilience: either societies endured collapse through a series of choices that resulted in either failure or success on the one hand or that societies overcame problems and exhibited resilience by adapting to new pressures or moving to new environments on the other hand. This paper seeks to explore concepts of resilience, collapse, and resistance through an anthropocentric rather than ecocentric perspective, touching on the theories used to construct the ideas of collapse, resilience, and resistance, with a particular focus on sociocultural aspects. Finally, this paper suggests a model which centers on the notion of sociocultural transformation, enculturation and hybridity placed into direct dialogue with resilience, collapse, and resistance.","PeriodicalId":508435,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139157033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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