Description
Book SynopsisJack Murad Sasson, distinguished scholar of the ancient Near East, has enjoyed a long career studying the cultures, languages, and literatures of that consequential region. His many books and articles span a seemingly endless array of topics and materials. Foremost are his in-depth analyses of the Syrian city of Mari and its remarkable heritage. Of comparable importance are his definitive studies of the Hebrew Bible, in particular his commentaries on the books of Judges, Ruth, and Jonah. In addition, the encyclopedic four-volume set he initiated and edited, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, stands out as an exceptional contribution to peers, students, and the general public.
To honor him and his scholarly achievements, thirty-five of his longtime colleagues and friends have collaborated to produce this volume of essays on such diverse cultures as Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, the Amorites, Egypt, Ebla, the Hurrians, the Hittites, Ugarit, the Arameans, Canaan, and Israel. The studies in this volume display the richness of these cultures—their literary legacies, languages, political and social histories, material remains, religions and rituals, and history of ideas—as well as their reception in modern times. The volume is both a contribution to the evolving study of the ancient Near East and also a fitting tribute to Jack Sasson, whose friendship and scholarship we have long cherished and esteemed.
Trade Review“From Mari to Jerusalem and Back is a consistently rich collection of important essays that treat both Assyriological and Biblical Studies. As such, it is a fitting tribute to the honoree, whose work has been characterized by these same qualities, and its contributions, like those of its honoree, will no doubt benefit many other scholars.”
—Adam E. Miglio Journal of the American Oriental Society
Table of ContentsPreface
Contributors
Abbreviations
Publications of Jack M. Sasson
Part I. Assyriological Studies
Kamiš at Ebla
Alfonso Archi
“Not Tonight, Josephine!”: Women at War in Third Millennium BCE Syria?
Maria Giovanna Biga
L’élection du P. Scheil au Collège de France en 1905
Dominique Charpin
Royal Hunt among the Semites, West and East: Fertility and Kingship in Myth and Ritual
Gregorio del Olmo Lete
Heurs et malheurs de la vie conjugale en Mésopotamie: La séparation de
corps dans quelques sources cunéiformes
Sophie Démare-Lafont
“Si ce n’est toi, c’est donc ton frère … ”
Jean-Marie Durand
Albrecht Goetze: Three Mid-Century Reflections on Cuneiform Studies
and Linguistics
Benjamin R. Foster
A New Manuscript of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld
Alhena Gadotti and Alexandra Kleinerman
Prière à Itûr-Mêr pour le salut de Zimrî-Lîm
Michaël Guichard
Royal Women Sages in Aramaic Literature: The Unnamed Queen in
Daniel 5 and Saritrah in the “Revolt of Babylon”
Tawny L. Holm
The Beginning of the Sumerian Epic “Gilgameš and the Bull of Heaven”
and Its Possible Historical-Political Background
Jacob Klein and Yitschak Sefati
À propos d’une défaite de Mari et d’une négociation diplomatique
Bertrand Lafont
Paul Haupt: Between Two Worlds
Peter Machinist
Sumerian Literature at the Crossroads
Piotr Michalowski
Contributions to the Dossier of Princess Simat-Ištaran
David I. Owen
The Sitting Moon and the Goats of Gilead: A Rare Akkadian Astronomical Term and a Hapax in Song of Songs
Gonzalo Rubio
Old Babylonian Bread Offerings
Marten Stol
Ilumma-ila Unveiled
Karel Van Lerberghe and Gabriella Voet
“Talking to Doors”: Paraklausithyron in Akkadian Literature
Nathan Wasserman
Die Klausel á mu-ú/u8 -a-šè in altbabylonischen Miet- und Feldpachtverträgen aus Nippur, Isin und unbekannter Herkunft: Politische Motive für die Stilisierung von Rechtsurkunden?
Claus Wilcke
Hurritische Beschwörungen mit Bezugnahme auf Ursprungsmythen
Gernot Wilhelm
Un enfant à Alep
Nele Ziegler
Part II. Biblical Studies
Translating Biblical Dialogue
Robert Alter
Job and Not
Giorgio Buccellati
The Earliest Israel: Territorial History in the Highlands of Canaan
Israel Finkelstein
The Name Yhwȝ as a People: Reconsidering the Amorite Evidence
Daniel E. Fleming
Joshua and Anomie: Retrojection, Projection, and Recovery
Douglas A. Knight
The Plague of Darkness and the Creation of Light: A Reading of Psalm 105:26–36 from the Notion of Calamities in Chinese Perspective
Archie C. C. Lee
The Oracular Insertion in Zechariah 4: Another Look at the Evidence of Akkadian Royal Building Inscriptions
Eric M. Meyers and Carol Meyers
Myth, Poetry, and Cosmic Construction in Job 38:4–18
Choon-Leong Seow
A Mosaic for Miriam
Phyllis Trible
