Scribal Secrets
Scribal Secrets

Author: James S. Diamond

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2019-04-09

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1532647999

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The text of the Torah includes not only its words, but also various atypical scribal features. Prime among these are the dots over certain letters, various letters written either large or small, and the exceedingly odd placement of two inverted Hebrew letters surrounding one passage. What are these features doing there? How old are they? Do they carry meaning? How have they been interpreted over the years? James Diamond brings the reader on the journey through the Torah text in search of a response to these questions.

Beholders of Divine Secrets
Beholders of Divine Secrets

Author: Vita Daphna Arbel

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0791486850

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Beholders of Divine Secrets provides a fascinating exploration of the enigmatic Hekhalot and Merkavah literature, the Jewish mystical writings of late antiquity. Vita Daphna Arbel delves into the unique nature of the mystical teachings, experiences, revelations, and spiritual exegesis presented in this literature. While previous scholarship has demonstrated the connection between Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism and parallel traditions in Rabbinical writings, the Dead Sea Scrolls, apocalyptic, early Christian, and Gnostic sources, this work points out additional mythological traditions that resonate in this literature. Arbel suggests that mythological patterns of expression, as well as themes and models rooted in Near Eastern mythological traditions are employed, in a spiritualized fashion, to communicate mystical content. The possible cultural and social context of the Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism and its composers is discussed.

Antiguo Oriente - Volume 11 (2013)
Antiguo Oriente - Volume 11 (2013)

Author: Juan Manuel Tebes

Publisher: CEHAO

Published: 2024-12-31

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13:

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Antiguo Oriente (abbreviated as AntOr) is the annual, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal published by the Center of Studies of Ancient Near Eastern History (CEHAO), Catholic University of Argentina.

Religion and Ideology in Assyria
Religion and Ideology in Assyria

Author: Beate Pongratz-Leisten

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2015-09-25

Total Pages: 572

ISBN-13: 1614514267

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Addressing the relationship between religion and ideology, and drawing on a range of literary, ritual, and visual sources, this book reconstructs the cultural discourse of Assyria from the third through the first millennium BCE. Ideology is delineated here as a subdiscourse of religion rather than as an independent category, anchoring it firmly within the religious world view. Tracing Assur's cultural interaction with the south on the one hand, and with the Syro-Anatolian horizon on the other, this volume articulates a "northern" cultural discourse that, even while interacting with southern Mesopotamian tradition, managed to maintain its own identity. It also follows the development of tropes and iconic images from the first city state of Uruk and their mouvance between myth, image, and royal inscription, historiography and myth, and myth and ritual, suggesting that, with the help of scholars, key royal figures were responsible for introducing new directions for the ideological discourse and for promoting new forms of historiography.

Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel
Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel

Author: Richard J. Clifford

Publisher: Society of Biblical Lit

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 1589832191

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The last fifty years have seen a dramatic increase of interest in the wisdom literature of the Bible, as scholars have come to appreciate the subtlety and originality of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes as well as of Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon. Interest has likewise grown in the wisdom literatures of the neighboring cultures of Canaan, Egypt, and especially Mesopotamia. To help readers understand the place of biblical wisdom within this broader context, including its originality and distinctiveness, this volume offers a collection of essays by Assyriologists and biblicists on the social, intellectual, and literary setting of Mesopotamian wisdom; on specific wisdom texts; and on key themes common to both Mesopotamian and biblical culture. --From publisher's description.

The Splintered Divine
The Splintered Divine

Author: Spencer L. Allen

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2015-03-05

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 1614512361

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This book investigates the issue of the singularity versus the multiplicity of ancient Near Eastern deities who are known by a common first name but differentiated by their last names, or geographic epithets. It focuses primarily on the Ištar divine names in Mesopotamia, Baal names in the Levant, and Yahweh names in Israel, and it is structured around four key questions: How did the ancients define what it meant to be a god - or more pragmatically, what kind of treatment did a personality or object need to receive in order to be considered a god by the ancients? Upon what bases and according to which texts do modern scholars determine when a personality or object is a god in an ancient culture? In what ways are deities with both first and last names treated the same and differently from deities with only first names? Under what circumstances are deities with common first names and different last names recognizable as distinct independent deities, and under what circumstances are they merely local manifestations of an overarching deity? The conclusions drawn about the singularity of local manifestations versus the multiplicity of independent deities are specific to each individual first name examined in accordance with the data and texts available for each divine first name.

Problems of Canonicity and Identity Formation in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
Problems of Canonicity and Identity Formation in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

Author: Gojko Barjamovic

Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press

Published: 2016-04-24

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 8763543729

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The term ‘canonicity’ implies the recognition that the domain of literature and of the library is also a cultural and political one, related to various forms of identity formation, maintenance, and change. Scribes and benefactors ‘create’ canon in as much as they teach, analyze, preserve, prom¬ulgate and change ‘canonical’ texts according to prevailing norms. From early on, texts from the written traditions of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt were accumulated, codified, and to some extent canonized, as various collections developed mainly in the environment of the temple and the palace. These written traditions represent sets of formal and informal cultures that all speak in their own ways of canonicity, normativity, and other forms of cultural expertise. Some forms of literature were used not only in scholarly contexts, but also in political ones, and they served purposes of identity formation. This volume addresses the interrelations between various forms of ‘canon’ and identity formation in different time periods, genres, regions, and contexts, as well as the application of contemporary conceptions of ‘canon’ to ancient texts.

An Elegant Hand
An Elegant Hand

Author: William E. Henning

Publisher: Oak Knoll Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 9781584560678

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This work chronicles a period in American history when the ability to "write a good hand" was a key to prosperity. Henning reveals the lives and careers of some of the most important American penmen in history. With over 400 illustrations, An Elegant Hand offers an exciting and detailed view of the many styles of penmanship and calligraphy: Spencerian Script; Ornamental Penmanship; flourished designs of birds; Copperplate; business writing (many variations); broad-pen calligraphy, especially German Text and Old English; and many other styles. This work also features a glossary of terms.

Secret Groups in Ancient Judaism
Secret Groups in Ancient Judaism

Author: Michael E. Stone

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0190842385

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Secret societies in ancient Judaism -- "Esoteric", mysteries, and secrecy -- Esoteric as a social category -- The social organization of secrecy -- Initiation and graded revelation -- Other secret Jewish groups and traditions -- The social setting of esoteric tradition

From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism
From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism

Author: Andrei A. Orlov

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 9004154396

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This volume represents the first attempt to study Slavonic pseudepigrapha collectively as a unique group of texts that share common theophanic and mediatorial imagery crucial for the development of early Jewish mysticism.