Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities in the Ancient Near East

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-73315-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 144, 260 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Culture and History of the Ancient Near East

This book analyzes examples of objects, qualities, and attributes treated as deities in ancient Near Eastern texts spanning the second and first millennia BCE. Specifically, this cross-cultural study examines attestations of this phenomenon in texts from Mesopotamia, Ebla, Alalakh, Emar, and Ugarit, as well as first millennium inscriptions, Aramaic texts from Egypt, and the Hebrew Bible. Through the application of recent research in cognitive science of religion and prototype theory, the book concludes that these types of deities are natural products of the human mind.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Elizabeth Singletary, Jennifer

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Sonstige Religionen: Kult, Riten, Feiertage, Zeremonien, Gebete
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Materielle Kultur, Wirtschaftsethnologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Archäologie spezieller Regionen und Zeitalter

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

1 Gods, Deities, and the Superhuman 1 Gods, Deities, Divinity, and the Superhuman 2 Form, Mind, Agency, and Counterintuitiveness 3 Indicators of Divinity in Ancient Texts and Artistic Representations 4 Objects, Qualities, and Attributes 5 The Evidence 6 Chapter Outline

2 Reconsidering the Evidence from Mesopotamia 1 Sources from Mesopotamia 2 Diachronic Studies 3 Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities from the Third Millennium to the Late Babylonian Period 4 Key Issues: A Summary

3 The Evidence from Ebla 1 Sources from Ebla 2 Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities at Ebla 3 Observations on the Evidence from Ebla

4 The Evidence from Alalakh 1 Sources from Alalakh 2 A Weapon as a Deity at Alalakh 3 Observations on the Evidence from Alalakh

5 The Evidence from Emar 1 Sources from Emar 2 Objects as Deities at Emar 3 Observations on the Evidence from Emar

6 The Evidence from Ugarit 1 Sources from Late Bronze Age Ugarit 2 Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities in Ritual Texts from Ugarit 3 Observations on the Evidence from Ugarit

7 First Millennium Inscriptions 1 The Evidence from Kuntillet ?Ajrud 2 Inscriptions from Tayma? 3 Theophoric Personal Names 4 Esarhaddon’s Treaty with Ba?al of Tyre 5 Observations on First Millennium Texts

8 Aramaic Documents from Egypt and the Hebrew Bible 1 The Judean Archives from Elephantine 2 Deities in the Documents from Elephantine 3 Theophoric Personal Names from Elephantine 4 Papyrus Amherst 63 5 Objects of Trust in the Hebrew Bible 6 Observations on the Aramaic Documents from Egypt and the Hebrew Bible

9 Understanding Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities 1 Deity as a Fuzzy Category 2 Understanding Anthroform and Nonanthroform Concepts of Deity 3 Why Deify These Objects, Qualities, and Attributes? 4 Directions for Future Research

Bibliography

Subject Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jennifer Singletary, Ph.D., is Assistant Research Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. She is the co-editor of Uses and Misuses of Ancient Mediterranean Sources: Erudition, Authority, Manipulation (Mohr Siebeck, 2022).