Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom Literature (Didactic)

Abstract

AbstractWisdom Literature is found in several major cultures of the ancient Near East: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Israel, and in peripheral areas. Texts of this type are extant from some two millennia, as early as 2600 B.C.E. to the first century C.E. Works from these areas are demonstrably related in style and content and connected at several points, early and late. Wisdom Literature shows us the ancient Near East functioning as a single world, with distinctive but interconnected cultures.This article looks at didactic Wisdom Literature, books that seek to educate young men in the skills of leading a good and virtuous life. These texts seek to shape a man who has the character‐qualities—skills of comportment, practical talents, ethics, and religious bearing—that will make him well suited to the position and who can transmit the ideas and attitudes to future generations. Most of these books present themselves as teachings of a father to his son or sons.The article surveys Wisdom books in Egypt, Mesopotamia and its periphery, and Israel. The latter discusses the dating, composition, contents, and main messages of Proverbs, Qohelet, Ben Sira, the Qumran Wisdom texts, and the Wisdom of Solomon.