Building on Stone? Deuteronomy and Esarhaddon's Loyalty Oaths (Part 2): Some Additional Observations

Abstract

Abstract Many elements found in the so-called Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon (VTE) and in the postulated "Ur-Deuteronomium" as well as in other parts of the book of Deuteronomy are attested in other documents of the ancient Near East, especially in Hittite vassal treaties and loyalty oaths from the 14th and 13th centuries B.C. and in Aramaic treaties from the 9th and 8th centuries B.C. In addition, it is probable that further textual witnesses containing similar elements once existed but were lost because of the perishable material that was frequently used. These observations, together with the dissimilarities between "Ur-Deuteronomium" and VTE both in content and in historical background pointed out in part 1 of this study, caution against overly optimistic claims of a dependence of "Ur-Deuteronomium" on VTE. This article will also argue that, with respect to some parallels in the curse sections, a direction of dependence that is inverted compared to the one commonly held cannot be ruled out.