Essays on Babylonian and biblical literature and religion / / by I. Tzvi Abusch.

• VerfasserIn: Abusch, I. Tzvi,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : BRILL,, [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Harvard Semitic Studies ; 65.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xxiii, 379 pages) :; illustrations

In this volume, Tzvi Abusch presents studies written over a span of forty years that were completed prior to his retirement from Brandeis University in 2019. They reflect several themes that he has pursued in addition to his work on witchcraft literature and the Epic of Gilgamesh. The volume begins with general articles on Mesopotamian magic, religion, and mythology; these are followed by a set of articles on Akkadian prayers, especially šuillas , focusing, first of all, on exegetical and linguistic (synchronic) studies and, then, on diachronic analyses; part two contains a series of literary studies of Mesopotamian and biblical classics; part three is devoted to comparative studies of terms and phenomena; finally, the fourth part takes up texts that are of legal interest. The Harvard Semitic Studies series publishes volumes from the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East. Other series offered by Brill that publish volumes from the Museum include Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant and Harvard Semitic Monographs , https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications .

Table of Contents

Preface -- Sources -- Abbreviations -- part 1: Magic and Religion -- part 2: Overviews and Surveys -- 1 Mesopotamian Religion -- 1 The Basis of Mesopotamian Religiosity -- 2 The Mesopotamian Pantheon -- 3 Magical Cult (Cult of the Individual) -- 4 The Epic of Gilgamesh -- 2 Magic in Mesopotamia -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Earlier Approaches to Mesopotamian Magic -- 3 Conceptions of the Universe and of Its Powers -- 4 Magical Texts -- 5 Ceremonies -- 6 Evil -- Bibliographical Essay -- 3 Sacrifice in Mesopotamia -- 1 Mesopotamian Sacrifice: a Description -- 2 Blood in Mesopotamia and West Asia: a Hypothesis -- part 3: Ghosts and Gods -- 4 Ghost and God: Some Observations on a Babylonian Understanding of Human Nature -- 1 Part I: Mythological Formulation -- 2 Part II: The Significance of Flesh as the Source of the Ghost -- 3 Part III: God, ṭēmu, and Personal God -- 5 Etemmu אטים -- 1 Name and Etymology -- 2 Character and History of Deity -- 3 DN inside the Bible -- 6 Ištar -- 1 Name and Etymology -- 2 Character and History of Deity -- 3 DN inside the Bible -- 7 Marduk -- 1 Name and Etymology -- 2 Character and History of Deity -- 3 DN inside the Bible -- part 4: Talking to the Gods in Mesopotamia -- 8 Prayers, Hymns, and Incantations: Mesopotamia -- 1 Prayers -- 2 Incantations -- 9 The Promise to Praise the God in šuilla Prayers -- Address: Activation -- Thanksgiving: Devotion and Public Acclaim -- 10 The Form and Meaning of a Babylonian Prayer to Marduk -- 1 The Hymnic Introduction -- 2 The Marduk šuilla: a New Form -- 3 A Prayer for Success and the Conclusion of the šuilla -- 11 The Form and History of a Babylonian Prayer to Nabû -- 12 A Paean and Petition to a God of Death: Some Comments on a šuilla to Nergal -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Hymnic Introduction -- 3 Petitioner’s Justification and Description of His Approach to the God -- 4 Description of the Petitioner’s Difficulties -- 5 Petitioner’s Supplication -- 6 Conclusions -- 13 The Reconciliation of Angry Personal Gods: a Revision of the šuillas -- Appendices -- 14 Two Versions of a šuilla to Gula -- Literary Studies -- 15 Fortune and Misfortune of the Individual: Some Observations on the Sufferer’s Plaint in Ludlul bēl nēmeqi II 12–32 -- 16 Kingship in Ancient Mesopotamia: the Case of Enūma eliš -- 1 Divine Origin and Physical Features -- 2 Kingship over His Own Family -- 3 The Battle -- 4 Creation -- 5 Kingship over the Universe -- 17 Some Observations on the Babylon Section of Enūma eliš -- 18 Biblical Accounts of Prehistory: Their Meaning and Formation -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Mesopotamian Sources -- 3 Biblical Sources -- 4 Summary and Conclusions -- 19 Two Passages in the Biblical Account of Prehistory -- 1 The Creation of Man and Woman -- 2 The Tower of Babel -- 20 Jonah and God: Plants, Beasts, and Humans in the Book of Jonah (an Essay in Interpretation) -- Comparative Studies -- 21 Alaktu and Halakhah: Oracular Decision, Divine Revelation -- 1 Alaktu: Mesopotamian Sources -- 2 Halakhah: Jewish Sources and Mesopotamian Influence -- 22 Blood in Israel and Mesopotamia -- 23 Cultures in Contact: Ancient Near Eastern and Jewish Magic -- Ancient Near Eastern Legal Practices and Thought -- 24 A Shepherd’s Bulla and an Owner’s Receipt: a Pair of Matching Texts in the Harvard Semitic Museum -- Observation 1 -- Observation 2 -- 25 “He Should Continue to Bear the Penalty of That Case”: Some Observations on Codex Ḫammurabi §§3–4 and §13 -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Analysis and Translation -- 3 Meaning and Significance -- 4 Confirmation: Variant Readings and §13 -- 5 Conclusion -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index of Citations.‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪