Description

By (author) Debourse, Céline

Short /annotation:
Editing and examining source-critically for the first time the Late Babylonian ritual texts dealing with the New Year Festival, this book proposes an incisive re-interpretation of the most frequently discussed of all Mesopotamian rituals.

:
Editing and examining source-critically for the first time the Late Babylonian ritual texts dealing with the New Year Festival, this book proposes an incisive re-interpretation of the most frequently discussed of all Mesopotamian rituals. The festival’s twelve-day paradigm is dissolved in favor of a more historically dynamic model, with the ritual texts being firmly anchored in the Hellenistic period. As part of a larger group of texts constituting what can be called Late Babylonian Priestly Literature, they reflect the Babylonian priesthoods’ fears and aspirations of that time much more than an actual ritual reality.

Table of contents:
AcknowledgmentsList of Figures and TablesAbbreviations1 Introduction 1.1 Definitions and Conventions 1.2 Contents of the Book2 Status Quaestionis 2.1 History of Scholarship 2.2 History of the Babylonian New Year Festival 2.3 The Reconstructed Twelve Days 2.4 Function and Meaning 2.5 If There Are Altars, There Must Be Gods: Problems and Questions3 Textual Sources for the Babylonian New Year Festival During the First Millennium BCE 3.1 The Neo-Assyrian Period 3.2 The Neo-Babylonian and Early Persian Period 3.3 Hellenistic Babylon 3.4 Summary and Outlook4 The New Year Festival Texts 4.1 NYF1: DT 15 4.2 NYF2: DT 114 4.3 NYF3: BM 32485+DT 109 4.4 NYF4: MNB 1848 4.5 NYF5: BM 41577 4.6 NYF6: BM 32655//BM 323745 Analyses 5.1 Philological Analysis 5.2 Analysis of the Paratextual Notes and Material Aspects 5.3 Analysis of the Ritual Instructions 5.4 Analysis of the Prayers 5.5 Conclusion6 The Historical and Textual Framework of the NYF Texts 6.1 A Concise History of the Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Periods (484 BCE–80 CE) 6.2 Temple Ritual Texts 6.3 Astronomical Diaries 6.4 Chronicles 6.5 Historical-Literary Texts 6.6 Summary7 ConclusionAppendix 1: Correlation NYF2–3//NYF4Appendix 2: Glossary of Akkadian Words in the NYF TextsBibliographyReferenced SourcesGeneral IndexGeographical LocationsTemples and Temple FeaturesDeities and Divine BeingsStars, Planets and ConstellationsPersonsAkkadian and Sumerian Terms

Review quote:
“D.’s investigation provides a basis for biblical scholars to evaluate the place of the NYF in the ANE.”
– Lester L. Grabbe

Biographical note:
Dr.
Céline Debourse is a Mandel-Scholion postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has published articles on the NYF and LB Priestly Literature (together with M. Jursa). Her research focus lies on history, religion, and cult in Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon.