From Adapa to Enoch - Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylon

Cover

Preface

Acknowledgements

Contents

Introduction

I. Two Approaches to Ancient Near Eastern Scribal Cultures and their Heroes

1. Studies of Scribal Cultures and Techniques

2. Heavenly Sages and the History-of-Traditions Approach

3. Heavenly Sages in the Twenty-First Century: Towards Scribal Cultures in Historical Context

II. Ideologies of Continuity and Reinvention

1. Overview of the Book’s Arguments

Chapter 1: Heavenly Sages and the Mesopotamian Scribal Ideology of Continuity

I. The Ascents of Kings

1. The Figure of Etana

2. The Ascent of the King in the Ur III and Isin Periods (c. twenty-first century bce)

II. The Ascent of the God Dumuzi

III. The Ascent of the Sage

1. The Figure of Adapa

2. The Earliest Rituals and Myths about Adapa (Old Babylonian Period c. 1800–1600 bce)

3. The Myth of Adapa and the South Wind

4. The Use of Adapa by First-Millennium Kings

5. Adapa in Catalogues and Letters

6. Adapa in Incantations

7. Adapa in Scholarly Lists: Scribal Accounts of History, Geography, and the Divine Realm

8. Adapa in Myth

IV. A History of Adapa and the Apkall?

V. Conclusion

Chapter 2: “I Am Adapa!” The Divine Personae of Mesopotamian Scribes

I. Identification with Adapa and the Apkall? in Written Ritual

II. Our Problem with Presence

III. An Ancient Mesopotamian Ontology

IV. Persona: The Authenticity of the Exorcist’s Ritual Mask

V. How the Diviner Meets the Gods

1. The King as Diviner, the Diviner as King

2. The Location and Accessibility of the Divine Assembly

VI. Shared Cosmic Roles and Locations in Mesopotamian Ritual

VII. Conclusion

Chapter 3: Ezekiel’s Hand of the Lord : Judahite Scribal Reinventions of Heavenly Vision

I. Prophetic Vision as Language

II. Throne Visions and Problems of Knowledge

III. Ezekiel’s Word of the Lord: Writing as the Reader’s Loss of Prophetic Experience

IV. The Hand of the Lord: A Scribal Pragmatics of Divine Action

V. The Word of the Lord is Not Enough: From Experience to Measurement

VI. Conclusion

Chapter 4: Enoch’s Knowledge and the Rise of Apocalyptic Science

I. “Apocalyptic Science”? The Novelty of Ancient Judean Exact Knowledge

II. The Roots of Early Jewish Science in Priestly Categories and Language

III. How Enoch Knew: The Creation of New Scientific Genres in Second Temple Judaism

IV. Conclusion: Gaining Enoch’s Knowledge

Chapter Five: Aramaic Scholarship and Cultural Transmission : From Public Power to Secret Knowledge

I. Mesopotamian and Jewish Literatures Versus Babylonian and Aramaic Scribal Cultures

II. What Was Aramaic and Who Were Aramaic Scribes?

III. The Initial Pattern: Empirical Evidence for the West Semitic Adaptation of Mesopotamian Texts in Judah

1. From Public Power to Secret Knowledge

2. The Attitudes of Aramaic Scribes toward Their Material and Structural Parallels with the Attitudes of Mesopotamian Scribes

3. An Example of an Uncertain Case of Aramaic Scribes’ Transformation of Inherited Material

IV. The Broader Picture : Known Transformations of Mesopotamian Genres into West Semitic

1. Method

a. The Late Bronze Age: Direct Contact and Influence in an Ugaritic Vassal Tribute Agreement Modeled on Akkadian

b. The Ninth Century bce: Direct Contact and Mutual Influence in an Akkadian-Aramaic Bilingual from Anatolia

c. Tenth–Eighth Centuries bce: A Shared Discourse Between Luwian, Akkadian, and Phoenician Monuments for Aramean Kings in Anatolia

d. Eight–Seventh Centuries bce: Direct Contact and Restricted Aramaic Influence in Oath Rituals in Assyria, Syria, Anatolia and Judah

e. Cuneiform Legal Discourse in Biblical Law: The Covenant Code

f. The Assur Ostracon and the Aramaic Legal Tablets: Akkadian Influence and One-to-One Translation Techniques During the Neo- Assyrian Period

g. Persian Period: The Fifth-Century bce Copy of the Behistun Inscription at Elephantine

h. Persian Period: The Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine and Wadi ed-Daliyeh

i. Aramaic Scholarship in Apocalyptic Literature: Astronomical Enoch and Aramaic Levi in the Hellenistic Period

V. The Means of Transmission

VI. Conclusion: The Nature of Aramaic Scribal Culture

Chapter 6: “Who is Like Me Among the Angels?” Judean Reinventions of the Scribal Persona

Introduction: Was Religious Experience an Ancient Judean Problem?

I. Discourse Versus Presence: A Modern Scholarly Dichotomy

II. Created and Commanded: An Ancient Judean Ontology

III. A Mask of Light

1. “We are Turned into the Image We Reflect :” The Reflexive Role of Enlightened One

IV. Lucifer’s Ascent to Heaven

V. Being Reckoned Divine

VI. Bodies of Light: A Hellenistic Jewish Scribal Worldview

VII. Conclusion

Conclusion

I. From Adapa to Enoch

II. The Relationship Between Babylonian and Judean Scribal Cultures

1. From Instruments of Rule to Rules of the Universe

2. The Parchment Period

III. Scribal Metaphysics and the Creation of Revealed Literature

1. From Religious Experience to Apocalyptic Science

2. Writing and Revelation Before the Supernatural

Bibliography

General Index