Week 11: Canonicity Flashcards
In Mesopotamia, what texts are considered canon?
- Scientific info
- Religious stories
- Anything written by the Scribal Academy
- The very act of writing was considered sacred, so anything written was sacred
What are the Pirstu and Nisirtu?
Secret Texts in Mesopotamia
What does the Epic Atrahasis story contain?
- The creation of humans and the order of the world
- Lower gods and higher gods fight eachother
In Mesopotamian myth, who is the first human?
Adapa
What did Adapa do to anger the gods?
- He broke the wing of the south wind, after his boat had been capsized
What was the Sumerian King List?
- Displayed the list of all kings and where their ruling city was
What is the original name of the “Book of the Dead” in Ancient Egypt?
The Book of Going Forth by Day
True or False: There is no ONE canonical book of the dead
TRUE
What were the 3 types of writing styles in Egypt?
- Hieroglyphics
- Cursive Hieroglyphics
- Hieratic
What writing style could only priests know in Egypt??
Hieratic
Define: Ushabti
- Wax figures put in tombs are thought to reincarnate as servants in the afterlife in Egypt
The earliest version of the Ten Commandments is the All Souls Decalogue, dating back to the ________
7th century BC
What are the 2 main sacred texts of Ancient Egypt?
- Pyramid Texts
- Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead only began to maintain a 4 section organization in the ____________ period
Saite Period (600 BC +)
What is the most complete version of the Torah?
The Aleppo Codex
Who stressed the importance of a universal Torah?
Maimonides
When is the earliest known rabbinic book from?
200 AD
What was the Mishnah?
- One of the earliest known rabbinic books
- Basically a rabbi’s commentaries to more clearly understand the Torah
What does Rabbi mean?
Teacher
True or False: The Misnah claims religious authority.
FALSE
It does not.
Define: Talmud
- Hebrew for “study”
- Essentialy, commentaries and reactions on the Misnah
- Tertiary to the Torah
- Claimed that God gave Moses 2 Torahs; 1 written, 1 orally spoken,
Define: Pistis
Greek for “confidence”
Shows that religion is about confidence in the gods promises to your deal, NOT about faith
What was the Derveni Papyrus?
- 330 BC Macedonia
- Philosophical commentaries on Hesiod’s Theogony
- Says that these pretty stories about the Gods are not literal, but rather, allegorical
What do the Orphic Golden Tablets say?
- Says that our souls are godlike, but our physical existence is not
Explain the story of the Sybilline Books:
- An old woman came to Tarquin one day with 9 oracular books with and offered to sell them to him
- Tarquin asked how much, and upon hearing of the huge price, laughed in scorn
- So, the lady burned three of the books, and asked again for the same price, but for less
- The same thing then happened, so she burned another three
- Upon seeing the persistence, Tarquin, worried bought the 3 remaining books, for the same price that they would have been for all 9
Who were Frumentius and Aedesius?
- Two Christian brothers, captured as slaves and brought to Ethiopia in 4th c. AD
- They became tutors to their captive prince, Ezana, and taught him Christianity
- This started the Christian movement in Ethiopia
- Aedesius translated the New Testament into Ge’ez
What council tried to root out Arius?
Ecumenical Council of Nicea 325 AD
True or False: Constantine’s own mother even became Arian.
TRUE
To his great shame and embarrassment
Why were all Germans rendered Arians?
- Because Ulfilas, an Arian, translated the Arian Bible into Gothic
What was the core belief of Arianism?
- In the Holy Trinity, the Father was the most powerfull
What is the difference between homoousios and homoiousios?
- Homoousios = Christ and the Father are of the same essence
- Homoiousios = Christ and the Father are similar, but not the same
How did Arius die?
- Defecating his own intestines and other internal organs
Who is the first to formalize the New Testament canon as we know today?
Athanasius of Alexandria
When did Athanasius first formalize the New Testament?
367 AD
The Bible wasn’t translated from Hebrew into Greek until the _________
3rd Century BC
What are the Septuagint manuscripts?
- Thousands of fragments found of Greek translations to the Torah’s Old Testament
Who revealed the Qu’uran to Muhhamed?
Archangel Gabriel
What was the Uthmanic recension?
- When Caliph Uthman burns all alternate versions of the Qu’uran in 650 AD
Why didn’t the Muslims create several versions of the Qu’uran?
- They believed that since it was given to Muhammed directly by Archangel Gabriel, it is the purest voice of the heavens, and thus, should not go tainted by human meddling
Define: Hadith
- A collection of sifting of parallel and antithetical hadiths to determine proper Muslim responses to an issue
- The Hadith is a form of Islamic oral tradition containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the prophet Muhammad.
True or False: Hadiths started out as an oral tradition
TRUE
In the _______ Kingdom Period, visual representations of deities were restricted to Royal Monuments.
Early Kingdom
In Middle Kingdom Egypt, why were so many animals and beasts depicted mutilated?
To show that they would do no harm
Deities can only be represented in non-royal monuments in the ____________ Period
New Kingdom Period
Who was Lamashtu?
- Only Mesopotamian female demon
- She preyed on pregnant women
- She would eat babies
Iconographical representations of YHWH were forbidden in Judaism. How did they represent him instead?
- Bull statues
- Menorahs
- Incenses
- etc.
When did Aniconism begin in Judaism?
After the Babylonian Conquest
Which statue did Phaedo claim no Atheist could remain so after visiting?
Pheida’s statue of Olympian Zeus
One of the Seven Wonders
What was the first representation of mortals alongside gods in Greek art?
The Parthenon Frieze
Why did Christians like to portray Herakles on their tombs?
- Because Heracles went through labours, and was raised up to heaven in the afterlife
- This was a metaphor for the Christian life everlasting
What Greek god did Christians like to portray on their tombs?
Herakles
True or False: To respect the strict Jewish aniconism, even Roman governors of Judea didn’t even put the emperor’s profile on coins.
TRUE
Who opposed icons in early Christianity?
Euseubius
Who advocated for the use of icons in early Christianity?
John of Damascus
Define: Iconoclasm
The need to destroy icons for their heretical value
What did the Second Council of Nicaea say about icons in 787 AD?
- Said that iconography should be set in the churches of God
- They explain this saying that the honour paid to the image, passes on to God or the saint portrayed
Who ended Iconoclasm? When?
Empress Theodora (The Armenian) , in 843 AD
