The Ancient Near East: History, Texts, etc.

Abstract

The Ancient Near East: History, Texts, etc. Christopher T. Begg, Isaac M. Alderman, Victor H. Matthews, and William J. Urbrock 856. [Maqlû Incantations] TZvi Abusch, "Alternative Models for the Development of Some Incantations," Sources of Evil, 223-34 [see #1546]. In this essay, I examine several Maqlû incantations that seem to be made up of discrete sections. In particular, I consider Maqlû VII 1-21, III 136-153; and II 77-103. My purpose here is to present several different, perhaps competing modes of diachronic analysis of these materials. I begin this analysis on the presumption that the mechanism by which the above incantations were formed was the joining together of blocks of material in a linear fashion. Occasionally, this may well have been the case, but the reality seems to have been more complex, and this leads me to an exploration of some of these potential complexities and their implications. Thus, while I begin my analysis of the individual incantations by dividing them into sections that might have been joined together like beads on a string, I quickly modify this approach by arguing that the inner section of the given text might actually have been an insertion. Finally, I reverse the direction of analysis and consider whether what I previously viewed as an insertion might actually be the primary kernel of the incantation. I realize that some of the analyses in this paper are mutually [End Page 293] exclusive and that only some of them can be correct. [Adapted from author's introduction, p. 223] 857. [Šuilla Gula Prayers] Tzvi Abusch, "Two Versions of a šuilla to Gula," WdO 49 (2019) 6-13. This essay examines two variant versions of a Šuilla-prayer to the goddess Gula. Based on internal textual analysis, A. concludes that the Gula 1a version of the prayer is a later and more developed form. Both versions contain sections in which Gula is asked to reconcile the petitioner with his angry personal gods. In line with her recent work on this theme in the šuillas, A. argues that these sections in the Gula prayers are secondary, perhaps deriving from a larger revision of a group of šuillas. [Adapted from published abstract] 858. Jakob Anderssøn, "Do Not Study Assyrian! A survey of Swedish Assyriological and Ancient Near Eastern Researchers ca. 1760–2000," The Rod and Measuring Rope, 1-19 [see #1556]. In Sweden, research on ANE cuneiform cultures has mostly been limited to the study of Assyriology, which is itself currently taught only at Uppsala University. Moreover, it was only in 2000 with the appointment of Olof Pedersén [the honoree of the above volume] as Professor of Assyriology that the discipline found a stable home at Uppsala. In his contribution, A. provides "mini-biographies" of Swedish Assyriological and ANE scholars in the two-and-a-half-century period cited in his title. [Adapted from published abstract] 859. [Hattuša Oil Omens] Netanel Anor And Yoram Cohen, "The Oil Omens from Hattuša: An Investigation of the History and Transmission of a Babylonian Divination Compendium," JNES 77 (2018) 195-206. A and C. put together two Babylonian divination fragments that were previously treated separately. In the text, oil shapes are connected to various heavenly bodies. The text is similar to other Old Babylonian oil omen compendia and shows that there had been little development in this type of material from the Old Babylonian period. 860. [Mesopotamian Medical Knowledge] Troels Pank Arboll, "Tracing Mesopotamian Medical Knowledge: A Study of maškadu and Related Illnesses," Sources of Evil, 261-84 [see #1546]. Some of the illnesses that might be treated with the incantations that were part of the Muššu͗u collection were šimmatu ("paralysis"), maškadu, and sagallu. The focus of A.'s study is maškadu, an illness affecting "especially the lower body and causing pains that were not crippling, but strong enough to be worrying." He analyzes the various contexts in which the illness is cited in the textual record, and the origins of the motifs that were part of the maškadu tradition(s). In the Neo-Assyrian period, ma...