Writing and Ancient Near East Society: Essays in Honor of Alan Millard (JSOT Supplement Series)

320 Pages·2005·15.61 MB·English

by  Piotr Bienkowski

LIBRARY OF HEBREW BIBLE/
OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES
426
Formerly Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
Editors
Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University
Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Cambridge
founding Editors
David J. A. Clines, Philip R. Davies and David M. Gunn
Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, John Goldingay,
Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, John Jarick,
Andrew D. H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller
Alan R. Millard
Writing and Ancient Near Eastern Society
Papers in Honour of Alan R. Millard
Edited by
Piotr Bienkowski (University of Manchester),
Christopher Mee (University of Liverpool) and
Elizabeth Slater (University of Liverpool)
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Copyright © 2005 by T&T Clark International
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
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mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
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T&T Clark International, The Tower Building, 11 York Road,
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T&T Clark International is a Continuum imprint.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Writing and ancient Near Eastern society: papers in honour of Alan R.
Millard / edited by Piotr Bienkowski, Christopher Mee, and Elizabeth Slater,
p. cm. - (Journal for the study of the Old Testament. Supplement series ; 426)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-567-02691-4 (hardcover)
1. Writing-History. 2. Middle East-Civilization-To 622. I. Millard, A. R.
(Alan Ralph) II. Bienkowski, Piotr. III. Mee, C. (Christopher) IV.
Slater, Elizabeth. V. Series.
P211.W7162005
411'.09-dc22
2005014969
Printed in the United States of America
05 06 07 08 09 10 10987654321
CONTE.NTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 9
List of Contributors 13
PIERRE BORDREUIL
Migraines d'Epigraphiste 15
ALASDAIR LIVINGSTONE
Taima' and Nabonidus: It's a Small World 29
DENNIS PARDEE
Dresser le boeuf a Ougarit 41
M.C.A. MACDONALD
Literacy in an Oral Environment 49
WOLFGANG ROLLIG
Keilschrift versus Alphabetschrift: Uberlegungen zu den epigraphs
aufKeilschrifttafeln+ 119
JOHN F. HEALEY
The Writing on the Wall: Law in Aramaic Epigraphy 127
DAVID T. TSUMURA
'Misspellings' in Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit:
Some Cases of Loss or Addition of Signs 143
GRAHAM DAVIES
Some Uses of Writing in Ancient Israel in the Light of Recently
Published Inscriptions 155
K.A. KITCHEN
Now You See It, Now You Don't! The Monumental Use and
Non-use of Writing in the Ancient Near East 175
6 Writing and Ancient Near Eastern Society
DANIEL I. BLOCK
What has Delphi to do with Samaria? Ambiguity and Delusion
in Israelite Prophecy 189
CHRISTOPHER TUPLIN
Darius' Accession in (the) Media 217
K. LAWSON YOUNGER
'Hazael, Son of a Nobody': Some Reflections in Light of
Recent Study 245
GEORGE J. BROOKE
4Q341: An Exercise for Spelling and for Spells? 271
JOHN DAVIES
The Origins of the Inscribed Greek Stela 283
ALAN MILLARD
Only Fragments from the Past: The Role of Accident in our
Knowledge of the Ancient Near East 301
PREFACE
Alan Ralph Millard epitomises the rounded, 'holistic' scholar, bringing
together expertise in Semitic languages, archaeology and biblical studies, and
never allowing himself to become a narrow specialist. His boyhood
fascination with British archaeology and ancient coins led him to biblical
archaeology—through his father's friendship with the Assyriologist Donald
Wiseman and his own strong Christian faith—and eventually to Oxford
where he studied Semitic languages under Professor G.R. Driver. After
Oxford he travelled around the Middle East for a year on a travelling
scholarship, spending time in Iraq and Petra among other places. Then he
worked in the Western Asiatic Department of the British Museum, and for
seven years was Librarian at Tyndale House, the library for biblical research
in Cambridge. In 1970 he came to the University of Liverpool to succeed
William Martin as Rankin Lecturer in Hebrew and Ancient Semitic
Languages, eventually being awarded a personal chair. During that time he
participated in archaeological excavations in Iraq and Syria, most recently as
epigrapher to Peter Parr's excavations at Tell Nebi Mend, ancient Qadesh on
the Orontes. He retired in 2003.
This volume of papers in Alan's honour is a slightly unusual approach to
a Festschrift,+in that it includes a paper by Alan himself. Two of the main
threads that have run through his career have been an interest in the uses of
writing in the ancient Near East and in relation to the Bible, and a deep desire
to communicate the fruits of his research to as broad a public as possible: he
regularly organised extremely popular day schools and wrote many readable
and authoritative books on aspects of biblical archaeology. The stimulus for
this volume was an attempt to combine these interests of Alan's, with a public
colloquium in his honour held in Liverpool in April 2003, consisting of
papers on various aspects of writing and ancient Near Eastern and
Mediterranean society given by colleagues from Liverpool and elsewhere.
We felt it would be interesting and appropriate for Alan too to give a paper,
an opportunity, as it were, to provide an overview of particularly important
aspects of a topic he has spent his whole life researching. This paper is
included here, fittingly closing the volume.
Understandably, not all the contributors to the colloquium felt it
appropriate to submit their papers for publication—David Hawkins' and
Irving Finkel's papers are not included here. However, the publication of the
8 Writing and Ancient Near Eastern Society
volume provided an opportunity for other colleagues across the world, who
had been unable to attend the colloquium, to submit papers in Alan's honour.
The resulting volume of essays on the broad topic of writing and ancient
Near Eastern (and Mediterranean) society is, we hope, a fitting way to
express our appreciation to Alan for what he has achieved, for his subject and
for us all. As a scholar, teacher, colleague and friend he has always been
careful, considered, objective, wide-ranging, generous—and an inspiration.
ABBREVIATIONS
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
AB Anchor Bible
Act.Sum. Acta Sumerologica
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
AfO Archiv fur Orientforschung
AHB Ancient History Bulletin
AION Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AK Antike Kunst
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
AoF Altorientalische Forschungen
AMI Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Iran
ANES Ancient Near Eastern Studies
ANET Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts
AntClass Antiquite classique
Arch.Anz. Archaologischer Anzeiger
ARM Archives royales de Mari
ARV2 J.D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase Painters (second ed.: Oxford 1963)
ASAtene Annuario della Scuola Archeologia di Atene
AS Anatolian Studies
ATD Acta Theologica Danica
ATSAT Arbeiten zu Text und Sprache im Alten Testament
AV Archaologische Veroffentlichungen
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BagM Baghdader Mitteilungen
BAI Bulletin of the Asia Institute
BAR British Archaeological Reports
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BN Biblische Notizen
BMECCJ Bulletin of the Middle East Culture Center in Japan
BO Bibliotheca Orientalis
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamantliche Wissenschaft
CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago (Chicago: Oriental Institute 1956-); N2 refers to the second
volume of two devoted to the letter 'N', published in 1980
CRAIBL Comptes rendus de 1'Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly