#ancient near eastern

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Man and woman in loving embrace.

Place of origin: Iraq, Nippur

Period: Achaemenid Period

Date: 450 B.C.

Culture: Near Eastern

Medium: Terracotta

[arthistoryanimalia]

#MetalMonday:

Silver Ram’s Head Rhyton, c. 700-600 BCE, from Ziwiye (Iran)

On display at Penn Museum

Read more about this piece here:

[eesirachs]

Could you go more into what you meant when you said God hates sacrifices?

those aren't my words, they're god's (is 1:11; amos 5:23; hosea 6:6; etc etc)

[queenlucythevaliant]

We see him come and know him ours

Russia: "Carol of the Russian Children," traditional // Kenya: The Nativity, Elima Njau // France: "Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella," Nicolas Saboly // Haiti: Madonna and Child, Ismael Saincilus // Australia: "The Three Drovers," William James // China: Tryptic by Lu Hongnian // Canadian/Algonquian: "Huron Carol," Jean de Brébeuf

[lionofchaeronea]

Gold coin of Shapur (Šābuhr) II "the Great," king of Sassanid Persia from 309 to 379 CE. On the obverse, the bust of Shapur, wearing a mural crown topped with the jewel-studded globe known as a korymbos; on the reverse, a fire altar, reflecting Shapur's aggressive promotion of Zoroastrianism within his realm. Artist unknown; minted ca. 320 CE and found in the present-day nation of Georgia. Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

[marianomoreno]

cant believe i have to do shit tomorrow life's so unfair

[nii-hieromythic]

Not me thinking I was going to have like 4 people sign up for my intense reading grad seminar and instead it's like 15.....

[aboutanancientenquiry]

Looking at your interesting — and always high quality — posts on the “Copenhagen school”. It seems we share similar concerns about later datings of the final redaction of the Torah and other Hebrew texts, to the 3rd and even second century BC by Gmirkin and others. How much do you think this reduces ancient Near Eastern literature to just variations on the classical Greek literature templates?

Thank you for your ask and for your kind words on the quality of my posts.

Concerning the substance of your ask, I am not a Biblical scholar, so I cannot speak with some authority on such topics. I posted about the "Copenhagen school" because I found its positions very interesting and thought provoking. But I think that most (non fundamentalist or "Biblical maximalist"...) Biblical scholars today place the composition of the bulk of the final version of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament for Christians) in the 5th century BCE, prior to any serious contact of the Jews with the Greeks, with the exception of the Book of Daniel, of some other pseudepigrapha and perhaps of the Book of Judith, of the Book of Esther and of Qohelet, which are placed in the Hellenistic period.

Now, even if the "Copenhagen school" and Gmirkin are right about the datings of composition of the final version of the Bible, so that we could accept the possibility of a Greek influence on it (other than the influence of Greek philosophy and culture on choices of translation from Hebrew to Greek and on the interpretation of the Bible, about which there is not much doubt), I think that it would be totally wrong to say that the Hebrew Bible, let alone ancient Near Eastern literature in its entirety, could be reduced to just variations on the classical Greek literature templates. In fact ancient Near East had a very important literary tradition which predates for many centuries even archaic ancient Greek literature, although of course the truth remains that the Greeks developed (mostly independently) and perfectioned pre-existing literary genres like epic and didactic and lyric poetry and revolutionized literature by creating new genres, like drama, historiography, rhetoric and philosophical dialogue and treatise. Personally I tend to see the Hebrew Bible as part of a broader Near Eastern religious and literary tradition, although there is for sure also much originality and new beginnings of crucial importance in content and form in the Bible.

On the other hand, even if the "Copenhagen school" is wrong in its main position, I think that their approach has the important merit that it drew attention to the analogies and similarities existing between ancient Greek literature and especially Herodotus' Histories and the Hebrew Bible, a field of research that I find very interesting.

But again this should not make us forget the essential differences that exist between these works. To focus only on the relationship between the Bible and Herodotus, which preoccupies the most scholars of the "Copenhagen school" and others who could be affiliated with it, even those of the books of the Bible which do not just expose various "myths of origins and of founders", but relate the history of a non mythological past and contain often (although for sure not always) accurate information, especially on the history of the two Hebrew kingdoms, are in fact above all hierohistory. I say this because these books are seen by their community as divinely inspired and the historical events are interpreted (and in not few cases even distorted or invented) in them exclusively on the basis of the relationship of the God of Israel with his people and of the respect or transgression by the latter and its leaders of the "pact' dictated by the former.

On the contrary, Herodotus presents himself as an investigator of the past who takes individual responsibility for what he says and adopts some explicitely stated methodological principles in his research. Moreover, although he believes in the (mostly indirect) intervention of the divine in the course of events and adopts a "tragic" conception of history, according to which the powerful and arrogant are eventually punished for their hybris, he pays mostly attention to and investigates the natural and above all the human causes of events (geography and environment, chains of interactions between actors, the conflict between the desire for domination over others and the aspiration to freedom, the necessary limits of imperial expansion, the tension between the common human nature and the vast diversity of cultures among human groups, institutions and their influence on collective and individual characters, military techniques and equipment, good or bad decisions of the historical actors in given circumstances) and tries to discern some patterns which underlie history.

[phoenix-joy]

Author: Kevin Mills

Description from Bloomsbury:

An introduction to ancient myths and the critical discussions that surround them, this book dives into the stories of pre-modern culture, taking a comparative look at how they have shaped the West and modern storytelling as we have come to understand it today.

It makes texts and scholarship from near Eastern, Classical and Celtic disciplines engaging and accessible, and traces narrative meaning through stories from ancient Mesopotamia to the BritishMedieval Period, offering compelling pathways into such writings as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis and Job, The Odyssey, The Mabinogi, TheLife of St Cadoc and Sir Orfeo. Looking at each in detail, Myths and Ancient Stories also explores myth through a modern lens, probing at how, in this scientific age, it continues to inspire contemporary film, games and literary works such as those by, Margaret Atwood, Colm Tóibín, Madeleine Miller and Pat Barker.

Impressive in breadth and bringing together a wide range of foundational texts from diverse traditions for the first time, this work is the ideal orientation to the ancient works central to English literary culture, shedding light on the mythological roots of storytelling and narrative.

[cruelsister-moved2]

the feminist retelling industrial complex is taking years off my life atp

im going to start nailing ursula k. le guin's essay "what women know" to these people's doors honestly

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Mountain goat.

Place of origin: Near Eastern, Iranian

Period: Elamite, Proto-Elamite

Date: 3500–2700 B.C.

Medium: Silver and sheet gold.

[arthistoryanimalia]

Arachnid appreciation post:

Marble cylinder seals from ancient Mesopotamia, Late Uruk / Jamdat Nasr Period, c. 3500-2900 BCE: (7) Three #Spiders (8) #Scorpion with a Plant on display at The Morgan Library & Museum

[eesirachs]

in 2 chronicles 7:14 it talks about how god will hear the people if they humble themselves then god will hear them and act. so does god not hear us if we are not humble? i’m a bit confused on what this verse is trying to say

here, god promises to hear (אֶשְׁמַ֣ע) the needs of his people. the alternative to this isn't that god will not hear. it's worse: it's that god will hear and will not act. ancient israel quickly gained a conditional covenant with their god. this is that conditionality. you are either good to me, and i hear you, says this god. or you are not good to me, and then you will wish that i had not heard you

[er-cryptid]

The pyramidion of the tomb of the “Priest of the Apis” Ptah-mose. The dead couple are praying to the sun gods Khepri, Re-Harakhte, and Atum.

Limestone.

New Kingdom, 1340-1290 BCE

National Museum of Denmark, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Antiquities

[aroacepotato]

I would be a Paleontologist (thank you David Attenborough)

@jeena-says-hi @all54321 @erdariel @technicallydangerousphantom @george-the-pumpkin

if we lived in a world where u had to do the career u were first interested in as a child what would u be doing, id be a firefighter

[mindfulldsliving]

Creation and Controversy: Responding to Paul Gee on Genesis 1:1-5 and Abraham 4:1-5

Paul Gee’s critique of Genesis 1:1-5 compared to Abraham 4:1-5 has sparked strong reactions, especially regarding the concept of “God” versus “the Gods.” Mormons who believe the Book of Abraham are denying what is written in Genesis. They are accepting a belief in a plurality of Gods instead of a one true God which the Bible teaches. As for Joseph Smith, who wrote this false Book of Abraham,…