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The ceremonial centers of the Syro-Hittite city-states (1200-700 BC) were lavishly decorated with large-scale, open-air figurative reliefs - an original and greatly influential artistic tradition. But why exactly did the production of such an array of monumental images ever start? This volume explores how Syro-Hittite monumental art was used as a powerful backdrop to important ritual events, and opens up a new perspective by situating monumental art in the context of public performances and civic spectacles of great emotional impact, such as processions, royal triumphs, and dynastic funerals.
In order to present the Aramean history during some six hundred years, down to the seventh century B.C., it was necessary to analyze a wide range of sources, mainly cuneiform, epigraphic, and biblical. Chapter I deals with Aramean pre-history and proto-history, while chapter II examines the question of the alleged relationship between the Hebrew forefathers and the ancient Arameans. Chapters III to XIV give a relatively accurate description of the territory of each historically attested Aramean group or state and present a detailed narrative of political events. Chapter XIV, the most extensive, considers the situation of the Arameans in Babylonia, also in relation to the Chaldeans and to the North-Arabian tribes. Chapters XV to XVIII deal with Aramean institutions, economy, legal practices, and religion. Special attention is paid to linguistic features of the available evidence, when they can help resolving historical questions. The book concludes with an extensive general index and with an index of biblical sources.
This work focuses on the analysis of the architecture in the Syro-Hittite centres that developed in northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey from the early Iron Age until the Assyrian conquest of the area. A circumwalled lower town and an upper fortified acropolis constituted the usual layout of these centres. These sites were excavated and most of the reports were published between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The scope of this study is to analyse the architecture of this period in relationship to all archaeological finds (decoration, inscriptions, objects and installations) as part of an organised space, with the purpose of understanding the spatial organisation of the towns and identify general patterns that may support the existence of a cultural 'koiíç'.
The fall of Samaria is narrated in 2 Kings 17. The cuneiform inscriptions dealing with this event are prima facie contradictory: the conquest is ascribed to both Shalmaneser V and Sargon II. The surmise of H. Tadmor that Samaria was conquered twice is investigated. At the same time the events are interpreted in their socio-historical framework. Tadmor's assumption cannot be falsified, although his theory should be modified as regards the date of the first conquest: 723 B.C.E. The fall of Samaria can be interpreted as an inevitable result of the expansion of the Assyrian Empire in combination with internal struggles in Israel. Evidence of deportation reveals that deportees were treated as normal citizens. Thorough discussion of the sources and their interpretation is a feature of this book.
This volume is the most recent collective contribution of a group of biblical scholars and archaeologists who are engaged in an ongoing debate about the nature of family and household religion in ancient Israel and its environment. It is intended to complement the volume Household and Family Religion in Antiquity, edited by John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan, which grew out of a conference held at Brown University in 2005 on household and family religion in the ancient Mediterranean world, with an emphasis on cross-cultural comparison. Several meetings after the Brown conference carried the theme forward, and a fourth meeting at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in April 2009 emphasized...
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