The Ancient Near East: History, Texts, etc.

Abstract

The Ancient Near East:History, Texts, etc. Christopher T. Begg, William J. Urbrock, and Michael W. Duggan 1670. [Rendering of Accounts Theme] Georgia Barker, "Classification of a Funerary Model: The Rendering of Accounts Theme," JARCE 55 (2019) 5-13. The three-dimensional funerary models that were housed in burial chambers from the late Old Kingdom down to the end of the Middle Kingdom periods display a number of similarities with the so-called "scenes of daily life" found on ancient Egyptian tomb-chapel walls. A comparison of the two media might thus help classify otherwise unidentifiable artworks. One such funerary model currently housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon evidences many parallels with scenes depicting the rendering of accounts theme. This article examines the similarities in question in order to determine if the Lyon model can appropriately be understood as a representation of the above theme. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1671. [Babylonian Priestly Families] Paul-Alain Beaulieu, "Temple Towns and Nation Building: Migrations of Babylonian Priestly Families in the Late Periods," JANER 19 (2019) 3-17 [see #1682]. This article surveys the Babylonian evidence regarding inter-city migrations of priests and their families. The phenomenon in question is already attested during the Old Babylonian period, and there are some indications that it continued under Kassite rule. However, most of the relevant evidence comes from temple archives of the 1st millennium, with a heavy concentration during the long sixth cent. (ca. 626–484 b.c.). Although numerous [End Page 609] studies have called attention to specific cases of priestly migrations, the phenomenon has not yet been assessed in its entirety. B. concludes that such migrations were far more common than previously thought. These migrations were motivated primarily by political considerations, e.g., the establishing of the cult of official deities at local sanctuaries or a need to maintain a memory landscape for venerable cult centers. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1672. [P. Cairo Zen. 1 59004] Andrea M. Berlin, "Zenon's Flour: Grains of Truth from Tel Kedesh," BARev 45 (6, 2019) 34-40. B. discusses the contents and significance of a papyrus document (P. Cairo Zen. 1 59004) that dates to 259 b.c.e. and records a list of eleven towns, including Kudissos (= Tel Kedesh on the Lebanese border in northern Israel), where the Egyptian bureaucrat Zenon acquired quantities of flour. Analyses of residue from ancient storage jars at the site indicate that the flour obtained there was probably made from bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), perhaps to be equated with the previously unidentified "Syrian wheat." Photo-illustrated.—W.J.U. 1673. [Shallow Bowls; Early Dynastic Mortuary Meals] Martin Bommas and Eman Khalifa, "Shallow Bowls for Mortuary Meals from Tarkhan. Archaeology of the Path towards the Intellectual Formation of the State in Early Dynastic Egypt," MDAIK 74, 21-32 [see #2434]. During the so-called Early Intermediate Period (EIP, 3300–3150 b.c.) of ancient Egypt's history, the process of state formation generated diversity rather than simplification of material data, as had been thought earlier. An example of this phenomenon is the stratification of social groups whose access to resources defined their rank in society. Thus, e.g., while shallow bowls made of stone were utilized for exclusive mortuary meals celebrated with divinized ancestor gods in the hidden chambers of mastaba tombs in the Memphis area during the above period, shallow bowls made of clay were used by those strata of society that lacked access to the resources, infrastructure, and methods of production available to the elite. On the basis of both archaeological and textual evidence, our article argues that the emergence of social stratification in EIP Egypt was the result of an intellectual process. In this connection, the Pyramid Texts provide valuable, retrospective insight into the development of funerary rituals long prior to the Verschriftlichung of those rituals. As evidence from Tarkhan situated in the northern Nile valley shows, newly developed funerary rituals catered both to socialization with elite deities associated with shallow bowls as well to the living's offering of dishes in the context of funerary festivals...