BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum
BAF-Online known as BAF-O is the publication platform of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum (BAF). It makes available to the public within the shortest possible delays vidcasts of the talks that have been held at the BAF.
Universität Bern, Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften (IAW), Abt. VAA
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Hemp cultivation and hempen cloth is the main theme of this paper. Iron Age textile fragments from the Southern Levant indicate that most textiles were made of some kind of plant fiber. Traditionally this region was regarded as linen territory, and indeed most textile finds were registered as such. The difference between linen and hemp is difficult to tell even with a regular microscope. But when using a scanning electron microscope, the difference becomes visible. This technique sheds new light on the use of bast fibers in the region. A piece of fabric from Tell Deir Alla in the Jordan Valley was the first item that could be registered as hempen cloth from the Southern Levant. The textile fragment was found amidst the loom weights of the loom on which it was woven, which raises new questions. Was the textile made of local hemp grown in the Jordan Valley? To answer this question, the cultivation of hemp will be discussed in relation to soil and climatic conditions of the central Jordan Valley. To investigate if growing hemp would fit into the farmers year course a ‘Deir Alla Agricultural Calendar’ was designed, based on the Gezer Calendar, a Hebrew inscription on limestone dated to ca. 925 BCE. Finally stalks of fiber hemp and examples of hempen thread and fabric will reveal how the material looks and… feels.
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The stele from Vezirhan (Istanbul Archaeological Museum, inv. 6219+71.27) is best known for its Old Phrygian and Greek inscriptions (B-05). However, its reliefs also pose an interesting challenge. They include a boar hunt, a ritual banquet scene, and a human figure, commonly identified as a goddess, with lions, birds, and a palmette-like motif “sprouting” from her head. The stele is dated to the late 5th–early 4th century BC. The hunt and banquet scenes clearly belong to this time (and find many parallels on votive and funerary reliefs and seals of Hellespontine Phrygia). The image of the goddess, however, continues a different tradition, one that possibly stems from an earlier period. The Vezirhan goddess doesn’t have a singular prototype, but displays connections to a wide variety of iconographical schemes and details. Most are found in the 7th–6th centuries BC arts of Anatolia and the Aegean. By examining this corpus, with special focus on the Potnia theron iconographic type, we understand that the Vezirhan goddess is related to other deities attested in Anatolia (in fact, her name might have been a variation of Artemis, according to line 3 of the Phrygian inscription). Yet, she cannot be identified with any of them directly. For all matches, there are also differences. A certain creative effort was made to distinguish the goddess from her peers, possibly to reflect her local cult. In my talk, I would like to unfold this synthetic image, examine its components, and try to put them back together – and hopefully gain some insight into how the Vezirhan goddess’ iconographic scheme came to be.
Copyright (c) 2019 BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum
Ionians and Carians in an Aramaic Letter from Saqqâra: Notes for a Tentative Interpretation of NSaqPap 26
This paper aims to present preliminary textual and historical observations towards a more comprehensive interpretation of a late 5th-4th cent. BC fragmentary letter of a Persian official from the corpus of Aramaic papyri of Saqqâra (NSaqPap 26). The understanding of this document, which deals with some situation of turbulence arisen between the Persian administration at Memphis/Saqqâra and the Ionians and Carians who lived and worked on the spot, is rendered complicated by the poor conditions of preservation of the papyrus, whose top and right portions are lost. Apart from the editio princeps by J.B. Segal (Aramaic Texts from North Saqqâra, London 1983, no. 26) and few additional notes in the reviews of it by J. Teixidor (JAOS1985) and S. Shaked (Orientalia1987), specific contributions on the piece are lacking. More in particular, despite its relevance to the study of the long-established communities of Greeks and Carians in Egypt, the letter has not received yet an adequate treatment from the historical point of view. Following a lexical and syntactical revision, I provide a new tentative translation of the text, with the aim to reach as thorough and coherent an interpretation of the document as possible, and to shed further light on the living conditions of the communities of Ionians and Carians in Egypt under the Persian rule. By further contextualizing the events described in the letter with the aid of external sources, I argue for a mercenary revolt that affected the storehouses at the port of Memphis as the situation that prompted the response of the local Persian administration.
The Hittite Notion of Border. A practical view
The Hittite cuneiform texts (16th-12th cent. BCE) contain a number of detailed descriptions of borders of various countries and territories. Such fragments, mainly found in the international treaties as well as the annals of the kings, clearly reflect the particular formal interest on the part of the Hittite rulers in specific delimitation of political territories. Although the Hittite listings of the topographical points, which make up a frontier can extend over many lines of texts, one never finds any use of cardinal directions which would indicate the position of these points. Instead, the Hittite scribes applied a peculiar internal reference system that combines the position of the speaker and another point of reference in order to locate a specific part of the border. The talk will briefly review the corpus of the Hittite border descriptions and discuss how such fragments were conceptualized. It will also tackle the question, whether they reflect a ‘bird’s eye’, cartographic view of the land, or rather a ground-level, hodological perspective.
Onomastic interferences in Lycia: Greek reinterpretation of Lycian personal names
As is well known, Lycia, located on the south-western coast of Asia Minor, was a multicultural and polyglossian area, especially during the second half of the Ist millennium B.C. From the 4th century B.C. onwards — that is before Alexander’s conquests — Greek writing and language became more and more predominant in that region, as a language of prestige, to the detriment of Lycian, which is an Anatolian language related to Luwian and Hittite. Although most of the indigenous personal names persisted in Lycia until the first centuries A.D., as evidenced by their large number found in Greek inscriptions from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, some of them underwent a little transformation in order to look like Greek names. This process, which is common in a context of language contact, consists in adopting a homophonic or phonetically similar name or element of the name, called “cover name” or, in French, “nom d’assonance” (see Dondin-Payre and Raepsaet-Charlier 2001; Coşkun and Zeidler 2005). One famous example of this type of onomastic adaptation from one language to another is the name of the Mede general who invaded Asia Minor, known in the Greek sources as Ἅρπαγος (Harpagos): the underlying Iranian name is derived from the adjective arba- “small, young” (cf. Sanskrit arbha-) with the hypocoristic suffix -ka-, but it has been slightly modified in its Greek adaptation in order to get it closer to the Greek substantive ἁρπαγή (harpagē) “pillaging”, so the enemy conqueror is reduced to a simple plunderer. I intend to present and discuss some Lycian names adapted as cover names in Greek, like Purihimeti ⁓ Πυριβάτης, with a second element -βάτης (-batēs), cf. verb βαίνω (bainō) “to walk”, and well attested in typical Greek personal names (Bechtel 1917: 92). The other names that will be interpreted are Kuprlle/i- ⁓ Κοπριλις (Koprilis), cf. Κοπρύλος (Koprulos), but also Κύβερνις (Kubernis), Mizu- ⁓ Μεσος (Mesos), cf. μέσος (mesos) “middle”, and Xddazada- ⁓ Κτασασας (Ktasadas), cf. Κτᾱσι- / Κτησι- (Ktāsi- / Ktēsi-).
Silk and Horses: Trade and Tribute between the Qing Dynasty and the Kazakh Khanate
This 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 was more 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.
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Dressing and Feeding the Family, or Cakes and Garments for the Gods?
In 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.
Orient as an Inspiration. Archaeology of Ancient Near East in “Academic” Paintings
Key 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 personality
Key Facts: Syria: Under the Ottoman Domination (1516-1918); Arab Government (1918-1920); French Mandate (1920-1946). Hussein-McMahon Correspondence in 1915 and 1916 to recognize the independent of Arabs in Asian part by Great Britain in aim that Hussein, Sharif Mecca declares revolt against Ottomans. Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 to divide the Middle East between France and Britain. The Syrian National Day is “Evacuation Day”, the evacuation of the last French soldier in 17 April 1946. Mohammad Kurd Ali, the first director of the Arab Academy in 1919. The National Museum of Damascus founded in 1919 by the Arab Academy. The National Museum of Aleppo founded in 1926.
The Characterization of Animals in Sumerian Fables
Although 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
Kleber, K. 2008. Tempel und Palast: Die Beziehungen zwischen dem König und dem Eanna-Tempel im spätbabylonischen Uruk. AOAT 358. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. Eanna Archive Chronology (pp.135–73) Regnal years 1 – 20 ++; Building projects: Etemenanki Ziqqurat; Location: Babylon Regnal years 2; Building projects: Esagil Babylon Regnal years 14 – 32; Building projects: miscellaneous; Location: Opis and Sippar Regnal years 14/35 – 42; Building projects: - ; Location: Tyros/Ṣuru Regnal years 15 – at least 20; Building projects: - ; Location: Jādaqu Regnal years 19 – 29; Building projects: North Palace; Location: Babylon Regnal years 23 – (project completed in the reign of Cyrus); Building projects: - ; Location: Raqqat-Šamaš Regnal years 27; Building projects: Nebuchadnezzar Canal (Nār-Šarri); Location: North of Sippar Regnal years 31; Building projects: A dam; Location: Sealand region Regnal years 33; Building projects: Euriminanki Ziqqurrat; Location: Borsippa Regnal years 35; Building projects: City wall; Location: Babylon --- Da Riva, R. 2008. The Neo-Babylonian Royal Inscriptions: An Introduction. Guides to the Mesopotamian Textual 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 III 25’ in se-bu-tim ša-at-ti-ia 1 lim 1 lim še - im 26’ 1
Space and Narrativity in Menna's Tomb Chapel (Theban Tomb 69)
Tackling the issue of „Space and narrativity in two-dimensional images of the Egyptian New Kingdom“, the tomb of Menna (Theban Tomb 69) will serve as an example. The tomb of Menna , who held offices in the administration of temple land and royal land, is situated in the non-royal necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna on the Theban West Bank. Based on architectural and stylistical criteria as well as prosopographical data, it has been dated to the reign of Amenhotep III. (ca. 1390–1353 B.C.). The decorated tomb chapel is the part of the monument that was open to visitors and where the rituals for the deceased were performed as opposed to the burial chambers which were not intended to be re-opened after the burial except for the burial of the spouse or children of the deceased. In most cases they are undecorated.
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!
Panel 1: Reconstructing missing evidence
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The Bay of Kiladha Project (Argolid, Greece): Bridging East and West
The project, a joint research program between the University of Geneva, under the aegis of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece, and the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, aims at finding traces of prehistoric human activity in a small bay of the southern Argolid, near the Franchthi Cave, a major prehistoric site used from 40,000 years ago to 5,000 years ago. For most of these 35,000 years, because of global sea-level change in prehistory, the Bay of Kiladha was in fact a small coastal plain, where the sedentary farmers of the Neolithic period had probably their village. Research currently focuses on two parts of the bay: the Franchthi sector, close to the Cave (submerged Neolithic village) and the Lambayanna sector, just a few hundred meters to the north of Franchthi Cave (HA II fortified settlement).
Linking a rural sanctuary with ancient metallurgy at Kataliondas Kourvellos (Cyprus)
Kataliondas Kourvellos is located at the base of an unusual rock knob, in the lower Troodos foothills, about 20 kilometers south of Nicosia. Recent excavations by the University of Geneva revealed that the site was occupied both in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, at the end of the 8th millennium BCE, and in the Cypro-Classical period, in the 4th century BCE. During the Cypro-Classical period, the site seems to have functioned as a rural sanctuary, but the purpose of its location there is not clear: among other explanations, one could be its link with the mining, smelting, and/or trade of metal resources (the lower Troodos foothills have been exploited since the Bronze Age for their copper and other mineralogical resources).
Easy-Going: The Treatment of Written Records in the Ancient Syropalestine
Who invented the Proto-Sinaitic writing? Sophisticated scribes, or unlettered workers? Orly Goldwasser, the chief advocate of the second possibility, borrowed from economic sciences the term ‘disruptive innovation’ that “describes a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves ‘up market,’ eventually displacing established competitors.”[1] During the years spent with translations of Levantine texts for a Czech kind of „Context of Scripture“, I had an impression – however daring – that it is possible to generalize this finding for the Syropalestinian literature as a whole. Be it cuneiform or linear, narrative or Listenwissenschaft,[2] it shares the same basic tendency for simplicity and unambiguousness. Definitions Disruptive innovation: process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors Center and Periphery: The centre–periphery model is a spatial metaphor which describes and attempts to explain the structural relationship between the advanced or metropolitan ‘centre’ and a less developed ‘periphery’ [1] www.claytonchristensen.com/disruptive_innovation.html [2] KTU 1.103 is a very special example from many points of view (and on the background of Y. Cohen, Akkadian Omens from Hattuša and Emar. The šumma immeru and šumma ālu Omens, in: Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, 97, 2007, str. 233‑251).
The motive of Hieros Gamos in Jesus’s Baptism in the Jordan River and in Jewish Kabballah
This paper suggests an alternative interpretation of Christ’ baptism, and more precisely, of the dove's role in it. One of the main rituals in the Ancient East was the 'sacred marriage' (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.
Polymorphic iconography common influences or individual features in the Near Eastern perspective
Topic: polymorphic iconography in Egyptian religious iconography - special and separate types of mixed, theriomorphic and combined images / icons / forms, always with animal heads, double pairs of wings, phallus, and other magical symbols. Archaeological evidence: images appear on small size flat amulets, papyri fragments (also serving as amulets), bronze statuettes and magical healing statues. Textual evidence: lack of distinctive proper names Place: Egypt, without special area of provenance Date: Late Period (7th – 4th centuries BC), Ptolemaic and Roman Periods (from 4th century BC) Important terms: Pantheistic as an idea of all-embracing god (Pantheos) ba as an emanation / form / manifestation of a god, significantly associated with the image of the god. The animals were ba of gods. bau - strength, power, good and bad at the same time, affecting the whole world, and humans in particular. With the help of magic bau can be manipulated, to ensure people health and success. Deites Bes – Egyptian god – demon, present in magical context, protector of maternity, life, music, safety, with strong solar interpretation, often depicted as a dwarf Tutu (Tithoes) – popular especially as Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt deity; main role was to repel negative powers and to protect people in danger; depicted as sphinx with mixed animal and magical attributes Lamashtu – female Mesopotamian goddess / demon, who preys on mothers and children, depicted in magical context with animal elements Pazuzu – male Babylonian and Assyrian demonic god with rather beneficent, magical role, depicted with animal elements Nine–Shaped (Enneamorfos) – figure present in written Greek Magical Papyri, defined as composed of nine forms, especially of animal origin with magic function and Egyptian genesis Key problem: distribution of polymorphic iconography in other cultures, parallels, influences on the visual level (codification of symbols) and also on the ideological level (magical activity hidden / symbolised in a representation) Question of the talk: to define potential influences in the Near Eastern perspective - is the polymorphic idea specific to one culture or common to all ancient religious thinking about deities?
The visible dead: dolmens and the landscape in Early Bronze Age Jordan
Overview: 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.
Panel 3: Localising influence and identity
«All Aram» and «Upper and Lower Aram»: what the Sefire Inscription suggests us about the Aramaean ethnicity
The 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.
Thoughts on the possible Iranian origins of the Jemdet Nasr painting style
Dates: ca. 3150-2900 B.C.E. Places: Western Iran and Central Mesopotamia Main argument: It is admitted that Iran had an influence on the southern Mesopotamian region during the Jemdet Nasr period, but the mechanisms of this influence are not clear. This talk would like to suggest some Iranian influence arrived in Central Mesopotamia during the collapse of the so-called "Uruk system", which coincides with the reappearance of painting on ware.
Importing the law? Possible elements of the Mesopotamian legal tradition in New Kingdom Egypt (1549-1064BCE)
Features of New Kingdom (1549-1064BCE[1]) justice not attested earlier Oracle 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 Kingdom Amarna letters/greater exposure to Akkadian in Egypt during New Kingdom Legal associations: Akkadian and Egyptian copies of Ramesses II – Hattusili III treaty[7] (1258BCE), where corporal punishment is a prominent topic Mesopotamian 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.
It is quite clear that after the Old Hittite Kingdom had been established, the Hittites focused their attention on gaining control of Syria. At the same time, they also tried to expand to western Anatolia but soon learned that too great an involvement in the west left them vulnerable to attacks. From that time on, the kings of Hatti sought to keep their military involvement in western Anatolia to a minimum, while thwarting the emergence of any hostile coalitions there. I find this subject fascinating—namely, how an empire that was founded on an ideology of expansion came to realize its natural boundaries and adjusted its ideology and practical strategy to extricate itself from a problematic region that could not be annexed or conquered. This specific case has been discussed only in part by Bryce (1986), so I decided to research it again in my dissertation.
Provincial Administration in Babylonia: A Case of Kassite Nippur
The 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.
Terminology for Children in Sumerian Administrative Records
Region: 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
Research 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.
Evidence for early sedentism at Körtik Tepe, southeastern Turkey, during the Younger Dryas
Location: Körtik Tepe, Province Diyarbakır, Southeastern Turkey, at the confluence of the River Tigris and the Batman Creek. Period: Younger Dryas to Early Holocene (10400-9200 BCE) Focus: Archaeological evidence for permanent occupation of the site; conditions favouring early sedentism at the intersection of two ecological regimes: the riverine environments and the steppe/tree-steppe mountain ranges of the hinterland; ecological and socio-economic impact of sedentism and of climatic changes from the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene; interpretation of burial customs comparing evidence of daily practices and emerging differentiation in burial rituals. Methods: Archaeobotany, stable isotope analyses, modelling of radiocarbon sequences; holistic approach
The never-ending Quest for the Elites:New Approaches to the Study of Cemeteries and Social Organization
The 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.
Following the Collapse: Regeneration or Transformation of the Urban Societies?
In the field of Syrian and Mesopotamian studies we must deal with many changes affecting the urban complexity and the socio-political and economic systems. In Syria, two major regional changes have been identified: one is the collapse of the Uruk system and the beginning of the second urban revolution, the other is the end of the Early Bronze Age and the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age cultures during the late third/early second millennium B.C. The terms “transition” and “collapse” are largely used in the definition of those two historical events. Many reasons could cause the collapse of any civilization: to explain the nature of any collapse we must look at the characteristics of the period that followed it. This paper will deal with the archaeological evidence from the late third and early second millennium B.C. in northern inner Syria to illustrate, on the one hand, the reason of that collapse and, on the other hand, to show how such a collapse affected the developmental trajectories of the urban systems.
The Iron Age I in the Northern Levant: New perspectives from Lebanon
The beginning of the Iron Age in the Levant has been for the past three decades the focus of intense studies and debates. The main reason that had triggered this interest is the turmoil characterizing the end of the Late Bronze Age coupled with the migration of newcomers dubbed the “Sea People” to the coastal Levant. This phenomenon has been studied to a length in the southern Levant where evidence of destructions followed by a new culture is attested on many coastal sites. However, in neighboring Lebanon, few studies focused on this period mainly due to the paucity of archaeological sites dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age/beginning of the Iron Age. In recent years, remains uncovered at major sites such as Tell Arqa (Irqata of the Amarna Tablets), Sarepta, Tyre, or Kamid el-Loz (Kumidi of the Amarna Tablets) gave no evidence for destructions at the end of the Late Bronze Age in this country. On the contrary, the architectural and material culture found at sites such as Tell Arqa and Sarepta points to a smooth transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age. While the exposed architecture is usually flimsy and is characterized by a widespread use of pits and silos (a phenomenon equally observed on other neighboring sites such as Tell Afis in Syria or Tell Tayinat in Turkey), the pottery still retains old characteristics; yet integrated into a few new shapes and fabrics. The patterns of archaism observed in the material cultural in Lebanon challenges the established understanding of the Iron Age I in the southern Levant where it is characterized as a period of turmoil and transformation. This presentation analyses the architectural and material characteristics of the end of the Late Bronze Age I/beginning of the Iron Age I in Lebanon with the aim at isolating both local characteristics and regional influences.