Symbiosis, Symbolism, and the Power of the Past: Canaan, Ancient Israel, and Their Neighbors from the Late Bronze Age Through Roman Palaestina. Proceedings of the Centennial Symposium, W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and American School

616 Pages·2003·37.36 MB·English

by  William G. Dever

Symbiosis, Symbolism, and the Power of the Past
Participants in the Albright/ASOR Centennial Symposium,
held May 29–31, 2000, at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem
From left
Front row: Osnat Misch-Brandl, Aren M. Maeir, Shalom Paul, Trude Dothan, William G.
Dever, Lydie Shufro, Seymour Gitin, Sarah P. Morris, Susan Sherratt, Ziony Zevit.
2nd row: Peter Machinist, Baruch Halpern, Carol Meyers, Eilat Mazar, Vassos Kara-
georghis, David Stronach, H. G. M. Williamson, Avraham Faust.
3rd row: Edouard Lipinski, David Ussishkin, Manfred Bietak, Joseph Aviram, Susan Ack-
erman, Charles U. Harris, Sidnie White Crawford, Holly Pittman, Karel van der Toorn,
Annie Caubet.
4th row: Mordechai Cogan, Joe Seger, Eliezer Oren, Simo Parpola, Anson F. Rainey.
Back row: Eric M. Meyers, J. Edward Wright, Amihai Mazar, Kenneth A. Kitchen, Dan
Masters, Israel Finkelstein, James D. Muhly, John J. Collins, Mark S. Smith.
Absent: Michal Artzy, Dan Bahat, Amnon Ben-Tor, Avraham Biran, Shlomo Bunimovitz,
Moshe Kochavi, Amy-Jill Levine, Baruch A. Levine, Jodi Magness, Abraham Malamat,
Doron Mendels, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Sari Nusseibeh, James Snyder, Lawrence
E. Stager, Ephraim Stern, Daniel Wolk. [Photo courtesy of the Israel Museum]
Symbiosis, Symbolism,
and the
Power of the Past
Canaan, Ancient Israel, and Their Neighbors
from the Late Bronze Age through Roman Palaestina
Proceedings of the Centennial Symposium
W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and
American Schools of Oriental Research
Jerusalem, May 29–31, 2000
edited by
William G. Dever and Seymour Gitin
Winona Lake, Indiana
Eisenbrauns
2003
ç Copyright 2003 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Centennial Symposium, W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and
American Schools of Oriental Research (2000 : Jerusalem)
Symbiosis, symbolism, and the power of the past : Canaan, ancient Israel, and their
neighbors from the Late Bronze Age through Roman Palaestina : proceedings of
the Centennial Symposium, W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
and American Schools of Oriental Research, Jerusalem, May 29/31, 2000 / edited
by William G. Dever and Seymour Gitin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57506-081-7 (hc)
1. Mediterranean Region—Civilization—Congresses. 2. Iron age—
Mediterranean Region—Congresses. 3. Palestine—Civilization—Congresses.
4. Iron age—Palestine—Congresses. 5. Mediterranean Region—Politics and
government—History—Congresses. 6. Palestine—Religious life and customs—
History—Congresses. 7. Social structure—Palestine—History—Congresses.
8. Family—Palestine—History—Congresses. 9. Mediterranean Region—
Antiquities. I. Dever, William G. II. Gitin, Seymour. III. W. F. Albright
Institute of Archaeological Research. IV. American Schools of Oriental
Research. V. Title.
DE59.C46 2000
930.1—dc22
2003021117
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Mate-
rials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. †‘
This volume is dedicated to the memory of
Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson
who for many years served as Chair of the Board of Trustees
of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research.
Her love of archaeology and her commitment to uncovering
the history of ancient Israel have had a profound effect on
the Albright’s role in advancing the goals of archaeological
research.
The American Schools of Oriental Research
celebrate with
The W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
the Centennial of
their presence in Jerusalem (1900–2000)
Larry G. Herr
, Chair
ASOR Committee on Publications
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Opening Remarks: Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Part I
Historical and Political Landscape:
The Levant and Beyond
Palace Economies in the Late Bronze Age and
The Dark Age That Never Was (Iron Age I)
Islands in the Sea: Aegean Polities as Levantine Neighbors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sarah P. Morris
The Case of Ugarit and Carchemish: A Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Annie Caubet
Greece and Anatolia in the Early Iron Age:
The Archaeological Evidence and the Literary Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
James D. Muhly
The Mediterranean Economy:
“Globalization” at the End of the Second Millennium b.c.e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Susan Sherratt
The Dynamics of Statehood (Iron Age II)
The Patrimonial Kingdom of Solomon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Lawrence E. Stager
City-States to States: Polity Dynamics in the 10th–9th Centuries b.c.e. . . . . . . . . . . 75
Israel Finkelstein
Remarks on Biblical Traditions and Archaeological Evidence
concerning Early Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Amihai Mazar
Assyria’s Expansion in the 8th and 7th Centuries and
Its Long-Term Repercussions in the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Simo Parpola
Egyptian Interventions in the Levant in Iron Age II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Kenneth A. Kitchen
Imperial Interventions
(The Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods)
Early Achaemenid Iran: New Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
David Stronach
Palestine among the Empires from the 4th to the 1st Century b.c.e.:
Impact and Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Doron Mendels
vii
viii Contents
Part II
Religion and Distinction
Shadow-Boxing the Canaanites (The Late Bronze Age)
Temple or “Bêt Marzea˙”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Manfred Bietak
Amarna and Later: Aspects of Social History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Anson F. Rainey
Emerging Forms and Practices (Iron Age I)
The Aegean and the Orient: Cultic Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Trude Dothan
The Cult of Astarte in Cyprus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Vassos Karageorghis
False Dichotomies in Descriptions of Israelite Religion:
A Problem, Its Origin, and a Proposed Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Ziony Zevit
The Formative Period of State Religion (Iron Age II)
Mesopotamian Imperialism and Israelite Religion:
A Case Study from the Second Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Peter Machinist
When the Heavens Darkened: Yahweh, El, and the Divine Astral Family
in Iron Age II Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Mark S. Smith
Israelite and Philistine Cult and the Archaeological Record in Iron Age II:
The “Smoking Gun” Phenomenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Seymour Gitin
Cult—Coast and Interior (The Persian Period)
Phoenician Cult Expressions in the Persian Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Edouard Lipin!ski
The Phoenician Source of Palestinian Cults at the End of the Iron Age . . . . . . . . . . 309
Ephraim Stern
Late Israelite Astronomies and the Early Greeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Baruch Halpern
Romans, Jews, and Christians
The Jewish World and the Coming of Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
John J. Collins
Helios and the Zodiac Cycle in Ancient Palestinian Synagogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Jodi Magness
Contents ix
Part III
The History of the Family: Continuity and Change
Units and Cultural Unities (Iron Age I)
Nine Months among the Peasants in the Palestinian Highlands:
An Anthropological Perspective on Local Religion in the Early Iron Age . . . . . . 393
Karel van der Toorn
Building Identity:
The Four-Room House and the Israelite Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Shlomo Bunimovitz and Avraham Faust
Household Economy (Iron Age II)
Material Remains and Social Relations:
Women’s Culture in Agrarian Households of the Iron Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Carol Meyers
The Clan-Based Economy of Biblical Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Baruch A. Levine
At Home with the Goddess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Susan Ackerman
Families, Houses, and Homes
(The Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods)
The Family in Persian Period Judah: Some Textual Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
H. G. M. Williamson
Roman-Period Houses from the Galilee:
Domestic Architecture and Gendered Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
Eric M. Meyers
Apocryphal Women: From Fiction to (Arti)fact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Amy-Jill Levine
Part IV
Closing Remarks
Syro-Palestinian and Biblical Archaeology: Into the Next Millennium . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
William G. Dever
Special Public Lecture
Jerusalem as a Royal and Cultic Center in the 10th–8th Centuries b.c.e. . . . . . . . . . . 529
David Ussishkin
Discussions
Part I. Historical and Political Landscape: The Levant and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
Palace Economies in the Late Bronze Age and
The Dark Age That Never Was (Iron Age I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
The Dynamics of Statehood (Iron Age II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540