Final Exam Flashcards
Agency
Actions that accomplish things; affect reality
Aluzinnu
Apodosis
Aspective
Atrahasis Epic
Canopic
Damnatio Memoriae
Ritual destruction of name and image
(Egyptian)
Death of King Urnamma
Dead rejoice and feast
Shamash circuits underworld
Slightly different imaginings?
Most cold, dark existence
Not a place of punishment/reward
Descent of Ishtar
Land of no return
Dark, cold continued existence
Eat mud and drink muddy water
Gesture
The movement of the body and its parts to convey meaning and agency
Gilgamesh Epic
Harpers’ Song
End is not a pleasant life with Osiris
No one returns, cannot take things with you
Complain about experts who disseminate misconceptions of the afterwords
Found in tombs along with traditional hymns and prayers
Hieros Gamos
Ritual enactment of the marriage of two deities or a human and a deity
Historiola
A “myth” that provides a paradigm or precedent for ritual action
Incipit
Instructions of Shuruppak
Kherem
Warfare ritual in Israel; translates to “holy war”
It was also practiced by the Moabites
Maxims
Mirgissa deposit
Miss en abyme
Namburbi
Performed by Ashipu
Divert evil after bad omens
Accompanied rituals
Shamash (justice) and Ea (magic)
Identifies “evil of X (bad omen)” and requests resolution
Legalese
Parallelism
Paronomasia
Polysemy
Performance
Combination of gesture with agency as an act of staging and display that accomplishes a task/function; often directs the gaze of participants (actors and audiences)
Protasis
Retainer graves
Sacred emptiness
Emptiness that shows a god is there. The spot is empty but the god is there so that emptiness becomes sacred.
Shimtu
Summodeism
“Syncretistic” Hyms
Washabti
Three kinds of divine marriage
- Cosmogamy: divine elements (heaven and earth); only mythological texts
- Hierogamy: union btwn a goddess and king
- Theogamy: occurs btwn a god and goddess
Ritual Gestures: Mesopotamia
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Ritual Gestures: Egypt
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Ritual Gestures: Levant
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5 General Observations on “Lived Religion” in Israel
- Underscore importance of respecting divinity and king
- Monatristic view eventually becomes more monotheistic (after the exile)—increasing frictions btwn state and cult and local variations and foreign influence
- Emphasize harmony within confederation of tribes, greater social good of community—increasing tribal frictions and preoccupation with exogamy
- Maintain justice, happiness, and connectedness in personal and professional life through piety
- Evidence from texts primarily reflects elite cultic values and concerns
4 General Observations on “Lived Religion” in Mesopotamia
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6 General Observations on “Lived Religion” in Egypt
- Emphasize harmony with others, greater social good of community
- Climbing social ladder should not be done at the expense of others
- Value silence, reservedness, and lack of aggression
- Underscore importance of respecting king and divinity
- Maintain justice, happiness, and connectedness in personal and professional life
- Evidence from texts primarily reflects elite values and concerns
Hieros Gamos — Issues
- no ritual text
- only hymns and love songs
- sex act or literary metaphor to show special familial relationships with the gods?
- sacred prostitution = fertility rites?
4 features of Kherem
- Commanded by Yahweh via oracle
- Complete annihilation of every living thing
- No spoils of war for military: valuables consecrated to Yahweh
- Considered a burnt offering
Justification for the Kherem
Cultural and cultic practices were an abomination before Yahweh
Cosmology behind the Kherem
Yahweh crushes Leviathan, the primordial serpent of chaos showing that order through violence informs the kherem
Story of Joshua at Jericho
-read as ritual reenactment
- troops circumambulate the city once a day for 6 days
- 7 officiant blowing ram’s horns ahead of the Ark of the Covenant
- on 7th day, circle the city 7 times
- blowing horns, with a final long blast
The ritual aspects of the story of Jericho
- divine instructions
- cultic officiants lead battle
- blowing of horns
- specific timing for blowing
- repetition of sevens
- circumambulation
- shouting
- offering to Yahweh
Ritual Destruction of Texts: Hammurapi’s curses
Divine punishments against those who effaced the inscription
Kilamuwa curses those who smash the stela
Laws and Curses
Laws: prescriptive
Curses: performative
Tel Dan Aramaic Inscription
Earliest references to House of David
Destroyed by Iraelites for commemorating Aramaean victories
Ritual Destruction of Texts: Jeremiah’s scroll
- Jeremiah sends prophecy on scroll to king Jehoiakim
- predicts fall of the king for ritual transgression
- king cuts up scroll and burns it
- ritual destruction activates curses
- Jerusalem burned like the scroll
Ritual Destruction of Texts: Moses on Mtz. Sinai
Receives tablets of law inscribed by Yahweh
Descends to find people worshiping a golden calf
Ritual violation, so Moses smashes tablets
Similar to Damnatio memorise and execration
Execration
Generalities of Sacred Words and Beliefs
- Most complete info comes from texts
- No authoritative canon of texts
- No authoritative collective statement about the pantheon
Generalities of Hymns and Prayers in the Ancient Near East
- Hymns > praise // Prayers > petition
- Set to music and/or sung
- Poetic form: parallelism
- Many prayers and hymns recited alongside ritual acts
- Involved ritual gestures
- Attempts to re-establish reciprocal relationship (deity could accept/refuse)
- Prayers not recited in a Congregational setting, but were a d individual act done by experts
7 Genres of Ritual Utterance in Mesopotamia
- Shuilla “Raising of the hands”
- Namburbi
- Dingirshadibba-prayers “wording for appeasing an angry god”
- Ikribu-prayers
- Letter-prayers
- Royal prayers
- Hyms
Syncretistic Hymns
Laud one god while equating other gods with aspects of the one being praised
Summodeism
Deities as manifestations of one/chief deith
Egyptian Tekh-festival
(Drunkenness Festival)
Temple of Mut, Karnak
In homes, desert shrines, etc
Huge gatherings
Links to the myth of Sekhmet’s bloodlust and humans saved by gods putting red beer into the Nile and she passes out
Death of Divine Images in Babylonia and Assyria
Royal Rituals in Assyria: “Substitute King”
Mesopotamian Temple Rituals: divine images (Mîs Pî)
Mesopotamian Temple Rituals: Maintenance of Divine Images
Curtains cover every interaction: mirrors royal apotropaic practice
2-3 meals a day along with water bowl
Meals contained many different foods, cuts of meat, and fruit
Musicians play, fella is fumigated
Table is cleared, water bowl for washing
Food then sent to the king for consumption
Food was blessed by contact with the divine
Levantine Temple Rituals: Divine Images
Egyptian Temple Rituals: Divine Images
Opening of the Mouth and Eyes
Egyptian Temple Rituals:
Overthrowing of Apep
Royal Rituals in Egypt
Egyptian Temple Rituals: Maintenance of Divine Images
Rituals Outside the Temple and Royal House: Egypt
Rituals Outside the Temple and Royal House: Levant—Ugarit
Rituals Outside the Temple and Royal House: Mesopotamia
Evidence for Contrary Belief Systems: Mesopotamia
Atheists and those more loyal to personal, tribal gods
Orthodoxy doesn’t exist in the modern sense
Grave robbers in antiquity
Some attended festivals for less cultic reasons
Evidence for Contrary Belief Systems: Egypt
Evidence for Contrary Belief Systems: Israel
Sacred Rituals
Cultic actions performed according to a prescribed order
