The Routledge handbook of the senses in the ancient Near East / / edited by Kiersten Neumann and Allison Thomason.

• Superior document: Routledge handbooks
• TeilnehmendeR: Neumann, Kiersten,; Thomason, Allison,
• Place / Publishing House: London ;, New York, New York : : Routledge,, [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Routledge handbooks.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (771 pages)

Table of Contents

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Editors' Note -- Introduction -- What Is Sensory Studies? The New "Sensory Turn" -- How Does the Field of Sensory Studies Intersect With the Study of the Ancient Near East? -- How Is this a New Compilation? -- The Sections and Chapters in this Volume -- Note -- Bibliography -- Part I Practice, Production, and Taskscapes -- 1 The Sense of Practice: A Case Study of Tablet Sealing at Nippur in the Ur III Period (C. 2112-2004 BCE) -- Introduction -- Learning and Practice -- Sealing Practices and the Ur III Period -- The Case of Nippur -- The Sense of Sealing -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 2 Senses and Textiles in the Eastern Mediterranean: Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (1550-1100 BCE) -- Introduction -- The Sensory Experience of Textile Production -- Spinning and Weaving -- Dyes and Dyeing -- Sensory Experience of Clothing and Textiles -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 3 New Sensory Experiences Through Technological Innovation: The Use and Production of Transparent Drinking Bowls in the ... -- Introduction -- Methodological Background -- Glass and Its Transparency -- Archaeological Contexts of Transparent Hemispherical Glass Bowls -- Use -- Production -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 4 To Touch Upon: A Tactile Exploration of the Apadana Reliefs at Persepolis -- Introduction -- The Apadana of Persepolis -- Touch of the Craftsmen -- Touch Carved in Stone -- Curating and Producing Interactions With Art -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 5 Soundscapes and Taskscapes in the Ancient Near East: Interactions and Perceptions -- Introduction -- Work and Taskscapes -- Music and Soundscapes -- Approaching and Delimiting Work Songs -- Sensing the Past: an Overview.

Ancient Near Eastern Work Songs as Indicators of Multisensoriality -- The Song of the Millstone -- The Song of the Plowing Oxen -- Two Songs to Soothe a Child's Crying -- Conclusion: Singing at Work in the Ancient Near East -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Part II Dress and the Body -- 6 Adornment Practices in the Ancient Near East and the Question of Embodied Boundary Maintenance -- Introduction -- The Data -- The Grave Goods -- The Iconography -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 7 Dress, Sensory Assemblages, and Identity in the Early First Millennium BCE at Hasanlu, Iran -- Introduction -- Hasanlu in Period IVb (1050-800 BCE) -- Assemblages and Phenomena -- Sensorial Assemblages and Intersubjectivity -- Senses and Power Dynamics -- Accumulated Magnificence -- Pins -- Finger- and Toe-Rings -- Head, Neck, and Body Beads -- Armour Scale Pectorals -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 8 Beyond the Flesh: Sensing Identity Through the Body and Skin in Mesopotamian Glyptic Contexts -- Introduction -- Things, Cognition, and the Haptic Sense -- The Mesopotamian Body: a Sense of the Body, the Divine, and Stone -- The Mantic Body and Clay -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 9 A Sense of Scale: Proprioception, Embodied Subjectivities, and the Space of Kingship at Persepolis -- Introduction: Touch, Sight, and Productive Entanglements -- Performative Inclusion: Mirroring, Reduplication, and Mimetic Slippage -- Persuasive Stairways: Proprioception and Bodily Interrogation -- Immanent Encounters: Scale, Mediation, and the Body of the King -- Conclusions: the Space of Kingship -- Bibliography -- Part III Ritualised Practice and Ceremonial Spaces -- 10 Temple Ritual as Gesamtkunstwerk: Stimulation of the Senses and Aesthetic Experience in a Religious Context -- Introduction -- Sight -- Sound -- Taste -- Smell and Touch -- Kinetics.

Gesamtkunstwerk -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 11 Pure Stale Water: Experiencing Jewish Purification Rituals in Early Roman Palestine -- Introduction -- Modern Mikva'ot and Western Modernity -- The Archaeology of Ancient Jewish Ritual Baths -- Sensing Stepped Pools -- Getting Wet! Towards a Sensorial Experience of Stepped Pools -- Changing Settings, Changing Sensorial Experiences -- Ritual Bath AA209 in the Hasmonean Buried Palace, Jericho -- The Southern Mikveh, Masada -- Stepped Pool "Mkv1," Magdala -- Ritual Bath L1060, Gamla -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 12 Megaliths and Miniatures: Scale and the Senses in the Early Neolithic -- Introduction -- Context: the Early Neolithic Period -- Megaliths -- Miniatures -- A Sensory Perspective -- Bibliography -- 13 Sensing Salience in the Landscapes of Egyptian Royal Living-Rock Stelae -- Introduction -- Sensing the Stelae -- Egyptian Geologics-and Geoaesthetics -- Stelae at Konosso Island, Gateway to Egypt -- Shouting From the Hilltops: the Nauri Decree Stela -- The Medium Is the Message -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 14 In the Light and in the Dark: Exhibiting Power, Exploiting Spaces in Early and Old Syrian Ebla-an Analysis of the Five ... -- Introduction -- In the Light: Exhibiting Power in Early Syrian Ebla -- In the Dark: Exploiting Spaces in Old Syrian Ebla -- Who Was There? -- Conclusion -- Note -- Bibliography -- 15 The Ishtar Gate: A Sensescape of Divine Agency -- Introduction -- The Affect of Architecture and the Protective Powers of City Gates -- City Walls and City Gates in Mesopotamia -- Craftsmanship and the Affect of Monuments -- Decorating the Walls and Infusing Them With Agency -- Colour and Affect at Babylon -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 16 The Jerusalem Temple: A Sensory Encounter With the Sacred -- Introduction -- Journey to the Temple -- Musical Performance.

Ritual of Sacrifice -- Aromas of Worship -- Feasting in Yahweh's Presence -- Sacred Space and the Dimming of the Senses -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 17 The Ancient Synagogue at Nabratein: The Acoustic Dynamics of Architectural Change -- Introduction -- The Ritual of Scripture Reading and Translation -- The Two Architectural Arrangements of Nabratein Synagogue 1 -- The Acoustics of a Scripture Reader's Or a Scripture Translator's Voice -- The Acoustics of Synagogue 1a -- Direct Sound -- Location 1: the Impact of First Reflections On the Listener in Front of the Scripture Reader -- Side Reflections, Step 1 -- Side Reflections, Step 2 -- Side Reflections, Step 3 -- Ceiling Reflection: Steps 1 Through 3 -- Location 2: the Impact of First Reflections On the Listener Behind the Scripture Reader -- Location 3: the Impact of First Reflections On the Listeners to Each Side of the Scripture Reader -- The Acoustic Zones of the Open-Centre Synagogue, Nabratein Synagogue 1a -- The Acoustics of Nabratein Synagogue 1b -- Listener at Four Metres -- Listener at Seven Metres -- The Acoustic Character of Nabratein's Pre-Basilical Synagogue, Synagogue 1b -- Conclusion: From the Open-Centre Synagogue to the Basilica Synagogue -- Afterword -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Part IV Death and Burial -- 18 Sensing the Ancestors: The Importance of Senses in Constructing Ancestorship in the Ancient Near East -- Introduction -- Senses and the Cult of the Ancestors in the Ancient Near East -- The Power of Touch: Fragmentation, Manipulation, and Decoration of the Human Body as a Proxy for Ancestral Veneration -- Don't Open That Door! Residential Graves as Locales for Creating a Visual Reference for the Cult of the Ancestors -- Do You Remember That Smell? Human Decay and the Use of Perfumes for a Sensorial Experience of the Dead Ancestors.

Feasting With the Spirits of the Ancestors: Offerings and Lamentations During Postmortem Rituals -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 19 Sensing the Dead in Household Burials of the Second Millennium BCE -- Introduction -- Research Questions, Data, and Methodology -- From Flesh to Bone: the Funerary Sequence Approach -- Case Study: the Funerary Sequence of Qatna's Royal Hypogeum -- Pre-interment Phase: Navigating the Burial Chamber -- Interment Phase: Inhumation and Disturbance -- Scents and Sensibility -- Post-interment Phase: Body Curation and Representations -- Discussion: Corporealities and Sensing the Dead at Qatna -- Sensing the Dead in Tomb 100 at Megiddo -- Materializing Mourning: Burial Assemblages -- Sight and Light -- Altered Minds -- Discussion and Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 20 The Smells of Eternity: Aromatic Oils and Resins in the Phoenician Mortuary Record -- Introduction -- Death and the Sense of Smell -- The Phoenician Evidence -- Smelling in Phoenician? -- Buried in Myrrh and Bdellium -- Aromatics in Phoenician Mortuary Contexts -- Myrrh (Commiphora Myrrha): Phoenician Mr -- Akkadian Murru -- Hebrew Môr -- Greek Σμύρνα -- Bdellium Or Bdelium (Commiphora Mukul): Phoenician Bdlh -- Akkadian guḫlu/ budulḫu -- Hebrew Bedolaḥ -- Greek Βδέλλιον -- Cedar (Cedrus Libani): Phoenician ʿṣ (?), Akkadian Erēnu, Hebrew ʿeren/ ʿerez, Greek Κέδρος -- Other Aromatic Woods -- Other Oleo-Resins and Scented Oils -- Smells of Life, Smells of Death -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 21 The Sixth Sense: Multisensory Encounters With the Dead in Roman Egypt -- Introduction -- Seeing the Dead: Shrouds and Portraits -- Sensing the Dead: the Mummified Body -- Engaging With the Dead: Ritual Interactions -- Experiencing the Dead: Tombs and Catacombs -- Death in a New Light: Portraits and Torches -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography.

Part V Science, Medicine, and Aesthetics.