From Adapa to Enoch (eBook)

Cover 1
Preface 6
Acknowledgements 9
Contents 12
Introduction 16
I. Two Approaches to Ancient Near Eastern Scribal Cultures and their Heroes 18
1. Studies of Scribal Cultures and Techniques 18
2. Heavenly Sages and the History-of-Traditions Approach 25
3. Heavenly Sages in the Twenty-First Century: Towards Scribal Cultures in Historical Context 35
II. Ideologies of Continuity and Reinvention 36
1. Overview of the Book’s Arguments 39
Chapter 1: Heavenly Sages and the Mesopotamian Scribal Ideology of Continuity 42
I. The Ascents of Kings 43
1. The Figure of Etana 43
2. The Ascent of the King in the Ur III and Isin Periods (c. twenty-first century bce) 50
II. The Ascent of the God Dumuzi 52
III. The Ascent of the Sage 53
1. The Figure of Adapa 53
2. The Earliest Rituals and Myths about Adapa (Old Babylonian Period c. 1800–1600 bce) 54
3. The Myth of Adapa and the South Wind 56
4. The Use of Adapa by First-Millennium Kings 59
5. Adapa in Catalogues and Letters 65
6. Adapa in Incantations 66
7. Adapa in Scholarly Lists: Scribal Accounts of History, Geography, and the Divine Realm 72
8. Adapa in Myth 76
IV. A History of Adapa and the Apkall? 81
V. Conclusion 83
Chapter 2: “I Am Adapa!” The Divine Personae of Mesopotamian Scribes 86
I. Identification with Adapa and the Apkall? in Written Ritual 87
II. Our Problem with Presence 90
III. An Ancient Mesopotamian Ontology 93
IV. Persona: The Authenticity of the Exorcist’s Ritual Mask 98
V. How the Diviner Meets the Gods 104
1. The King as Diviner, the Diviner as King 109
2. The Location and Accessibility of the Divine Assembly 110
VI. Shared Cosmic Roles and Locations in Mesopotamian Ritual 112
VII. Conclusion 113
Chapter 3: Ezekiel’s Hand of the Lord : Judahite Scribal Reinventions of Heavenly Vision 118
I. Prophetic Vision as Language 119
II. Throne Visions and Problems of Knowledge 122
III. Ezekiel’s Word of the Lord: Writing as the Reader’s Loss of Prophetic Experience 126
IV. The Hand of the Lord: A Scribal Pragmatics of Divine Action 132
V. The Word of the Lord is Not Enough: From Experience to Measurement 137
VI. Conclusion 141
Chapter 4: Enoch’s Knowledge and the Rise of Apocalyptic Science 144
I. “Apocalyptic Science”? The Novelty of Ancient Judean Exact Knowledge 145
II. The Roots of Early Jewish Science in Priestly Categories and Language 153
III. How Enoch Knew: The Creation of New Scientific Genres in Second Temple Judaism 157
IV. Conclusion: Gaining Enoch’s Knowledge 164
Chapter Five: Aramaic Scholarship and Cultural Transmission : From Public Power to Secret Knowledge 168
I. Mesopotamian and Jewish Literatures Versus Babylonian and Aramaic Scribal Cultures 168
II. What Was Aramaic and Who Were Aramaic Scribes? 169
III. The Initial Pattern: Empirical Evidence for the West Semitic Adaptation of Mesopotamian Texts in Judah 171
1. From Public Power to Secret Knowledge 173
2. The Attitudes of Aramaic Scribes toward Their Material and Structural Parallels with the Attitudes of Mesopotamian Scribes 174
3. An Example of an Uncertain Case of Aramaic Scribes’ Transformation of Inherited Material 176
IV. The Broader Picture : Known Transformations of Mesopotamian Genres into West Semitic 177
1. Method 178
a. The Late Bronze Age: Direct Contact and Influence in an Ugaritic Vassal Tribute Agreement Modeled on Akkadian 181
b. The Ninth Century bce: Direct Contact and Mutual Influence in an Akkadian-Aramaic Bilingual from Anatolia 182
c. Tenth–Eighth Centuries bce: A Shared Discourse Between Luwian, Akkadian, and Phoenician Monuments for Aramean Kings in Anatolia 184
d. Eight–Seventh Centuries bce: Direct Contact and Restricted Aramaic Influence in Oath Rituals in Assyria, Syria, Anatolia and Judah 186
e. Cuneiform Legal Discourse in Biblical Law: The Covenant Code 194
f. The Assur Ostracon and the Aramaic Legal Tablets: Akkadian Influence and One-to-One Translation Techniques During the Neo- Assyrian Period 196
g. Persian Period: The Fifth-Century bce Copy of the Behistun Inscription at Elephantine 198
h. Persian Period: The Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine and Wadi ed-Daliyeh 201
i. Aramaic Scholarship in Apocalyptic Literature: Astronomical Enoch and Aramaic Levi in the Hellenistic Period 203
V. The Means of Transmission 203
VI. Conclusion: The Nature of Aramaic Scribal Culture 210
Chapter 6: “Who is Like Me Among the Angels?” Judean Reinventions of the Scribal Persona 212
Introduction: Was Religious Experience an Ancient Judean Problem? 212
I. Discourse Versus Presence: A Modern Scholarly Dichotomy 215
II. Created and Commanded: An Ancient Judean Ontology 220
III. A Mask of Light 222
1. “We are Turned into the Image We Reflect :” The Reflexive Role of Enlightened One 227
IV. Lucifer’s Ascent to Heaven 229
V. Being Reckoned Divine 233
VI. Bodies of Light: A Hellenistic Jewish Scribal Worldview 236
VII. Conclusion 239
Conclusion 242
I. From Adapa to Enoch 243
II. The Relationship Between Babylonian and Judean Scribal Cultures 244
1. From Instruments of Rule to Rules of the Universe 244
2. The Parchment Period 246
III. Scribal Metaphysics and the Creation of Revealed Literature 248
1. From Religious Experience to Apocalyptic Science 248
2. Writing and Revelation Before the Supernatural 250
Bibliography 252
General Index 286