Biblical Archa on theAncientWorldfromMesopotamia to the Mediterranean Perspectives
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March1994
Biblical Archaeolo to theMediterranean on theAncientWorldfromMesopotamia Perspectives A Publication oftheAmericanSchoolsof OrientalResearch
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Volume57 Number1 March1994
PhoenicianInscriptions
Donald R. Vance
20
civilizationwould hardlybe the samewithoutthe monMediterranean of the Phoenicians. contributions umental Amongtheirlegacyarethouin ceramics,inscribedon in of scratched sands inscriptions--carved stone, detailthe culture with These and ink. records and metal penned ivory, and historyof theirrenownedLevantinecities--Byblos,Sidon,Tyre,and art,religion, others--fromwhichPhcenicianinfluenceon Mediterranean and commercespread. The "Libation Installations" of the Tombs at Ugarit Wayne T Pitard
Did the ancientSyrianinhabitantsof Ugarit"feed"theirdead afterinterment?Oversix decadesafterClaudeSchaefferbeganhis grandexcavaof its tionsof thisLateBronzeAge metropolisandport,his interpretations and otherfuneraryaccoutombscontinueto offer"libationinstallations" datano longersupport trementsto the unwary.Butthe archaeological Schaeffer's suppositionsregardingan activecultof thedead.It'stimeto lay the funeraryinstallationsat Ugaritto rest.
page 2
38
A Medieval Church in Mesopotamia Michael and Neathery Fuller
of a SyrianChristianchurchsurprisedthe Theunmistakablearchitecture a siteof manyruinsin northeastern excavatorsof Tuneinir, Syria.Finds floor and on the a bread mold church's stains produced plaster including by drippingchandeliersre-animatethelifeof thismedievalplaceof worship.Paintedplasterlintelsrecapturethecolorandbeautyof thisuncommon mud-brickchurch.
page 20
46
The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple RobertR. Stieglitz
Tyrianpurplewas the mostexpensivedye in the ancientworld.Manuof speciesof theMediterranean facturedfromthesecretions molluskMurex, of "royalpurple"arecommonlycreditedto thediscoveryanddistribution and epigraphicdatafromthe Aegean the Phoenicians. Yetarchaeological the that suggest "royalpurple"industryfirstdevelopedon Crete.Before Minoanson CreteandsomeMinoanizedislanders,suchas those 1750BCE, anindustry on Kythera,werealreadymanufacturing sea-purple, generating thatthencaughton andprosperedthroughoutthe easternMediterranean. News, Notes, and Reviews 55 Papyrus Scrollsfrom Petra:A StupendousDiscovery. A cache of scrolls-
page 38
flattenedand carbonized,but readable-has emergedfromthe Byzantine Churchat Petra.ACORis spearheadinga monumentaleffortto preserve thispricelesspapyruslegacy.
On the cover: The bust of late tenth century PharaohOsorkon I shoulders a Phoencianinscriptionof Elibaal,king of Byblos (@ Photo R.M.N.).In the background are drawings of the carved letters of the Phoencianalphabet from the fifth century sarcophagus of Sidon's king Eshmunazar.
FromtheEditor pigraphic finds-from ostraca to monumental even inscriptions-exhilarate E the richest of archaeological projects. BA takes great delight in offering a first glimpse at the stupendous discovery at Petra of a cache of damaged but readable papyrus scrolls. This find caps the remarkable excavation of a Byzantine basilica and its breathtakingmosaics. Legible scroll fragments have already suggested ties to known history. When finally unwrapped, the mass of documents will doubtless permit a glimpse into Petra's heretofore hidden Byzantine social and economic history, and the sandstone city will be heralded for yet more than its spectacular cinnamon facades. The cursive Greek of the Petra papyri owes its existence to the alphabetic tradition preserved in the simplified linear writing of Phcenician inscriptions. Scattered by the spread of the Phcenician cities' seafaring cultures across a millennium and from one shore of the Mediterranean to the other, these inscriptions offer a primary historical record. Donald Vance explores this record in the first half of his discerning inventory of Phcenician inscriptions. This issue's offering focuses on contemporary work on inscriptions found in Phoenicia proper. The second half of Vance's presentation of this inscriptional legacy will embrace finds from the remainder of the vast Mediterranean basin. Vance's survey adds an installment to BA'songoing interest in the Literary Sources for the History of Palestine and Syria. Under the general editorship of University of Chicago Assyriologist Dennis Pardee, this decade-long series has ranged from the Ebla Tablets to Old Aramaic Inscriptions. Besides their role in the origin of the Greek and, thus, the modern western alphabet, the Phoenicians are customarily credited with discovering the purple dye for which their region was justly famous throughout the first millennium. But did they? Robert Stieglitz assembles archaeological and epigraphic data that challenge this item on the Phcenician resum6. Though the acclaim for the Phcenicians dates back to the Roman era, it is the Minoans who deserve recognition as the originators of 'royal purple'. Another challenge to a long-tenured archaeological interpretation focuses attention north of the Phceniciancoastal cites to the town and port of Ras Shamra (Ugarit) and into the enigmatic world of funerary ritual. Reconstruction of the burial practicesof Ugarit has long included the component of post-burial"feeding of the dead," based upon the initial archaeological interpretations of the site's excavator, Claude Schaeffer. Under the scrutiny of Wayne Pitard's re-analysis, the libation installations, altars, and ceiling holes for offerings of Schaeffer's imagination tuhnout to be latrines,gutters, and products of the intrusion of grave robbers. Overturning this evidence for post-funeral care of the deceased has crucial consequences for the interpretation of other excavated tombs as well as both Ugaritic and biblical literary data on beliefs about the dead. Distant from the Mediterranean site of Ugarit near the eastern edge of Syria, TellTuneiniroffers a beautifully preserved mudbrick church of medieval Syriacspeaking Christianity. Unexpectedly unearthed by Michael and Neathery Fuller, the site's architectureand small finds-painted plaster,a bread mold, an inscribed brick--wonderfully re-animate the life of this simple holy place. The excavators of Tell Tuneinir discovered a sanctuary where they had every reason to suspect fortifications. Their surprise joins the other revelations, fresh readings, and new proposals in this issue to remind one how quickly and unpredictably even the ancient world changes.
Biblical
Archaeologist
on theAncientWorldfrom Perspectives Mesopotamia to theMediterranean
Editor David C. Hopkins Art Director Robert D. Mench, Top Design Book Review Editor James C. Moyer Editorial Assistant Timothy L. Adamson Editorial Committee Gloria London Jeffery A. Blakely Ernest S. Frerichs Jodi Magness Gerald L. Mattingly Ronald S. Hendel Richard S. Hess Gaetano Palumbo Kenneth G. Hoglund Paul Zimansky Subscriptions Annual subscription rates are 535 for individuals and $45 for institutions. There is a special annual rate of $28 for those over 65, physically challenged, or unemployed. is also available as part of Biblical Archacolo•gist the benefits of some ASOR membership categories. Postage for Canadian and other international addresses is an additional $5. I'avments should be sent to ASOR Membership/ Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 15399, Atlanta, GA 30333-0399 (ph: 404-727-2345; Bitnet: SCHOLARS@EMORYUI).VISA/Mastercard orders can be phoned in. Back issues Back issues can be obtained by calling SP Customer Services at 800-437-6692 or writing SP Customer Services, P.O. Box 6996, Alpharetta, GA 30239-6996. Postmaster Send address changes to Biblical Archaeologist,ASOR Membership/Subscriber Services, P.O.Box 15399,Atlanta, GA 30333-0399. Second-class postage paid at Atlanta, GA and additional offices. Copyright ? 1994 by the American Schools of Oriental Research. Correspondence All editorial correspondence should be addressed to BiblicalArclhaeologist, 4500 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016-5690 (ph: 202-885-8699; fax: 202-8858605). Books for review should be sent to Dr. James C. Moyer, Department of Religious Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, 901 South National, Box 167, Springfield, MO 65804-0095. Advertising Correspondence should be addressed to Sarah Foster, Scholars Press, P0. Box 15399, Atlanta, GA 30333-0399 (ph: 404727-2325; fax: 404-727-2348). Ads for the sale of antiquities will not be accepted. is published Bibrlical Archalriogist(ISSN()h006-0)895) quarterly(March,lune, September,December) by Scholars I'rets,819 Houston Mill Road NE, Atlanta,GA 30329, for the AmericanSchools of Oriental lesearch (ASOR),3301 North Charles Street,Bnaltimore,MD 21218. l'rinted by Cadmus Journal Services, Balti more MD.
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Now
Hiram,kingofTyre,sent
messengers to David, as well as cedar logs, carpenters,and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David." (2 Sam 5:11) "Departingfrom there, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyreand Sidon." (Matt 15:21) These two verses from the Biblebear witness to a relationshipbetween Phoenicia and Israel that spanned at least a millennium. Phoeniciancities interacted with nations other than Israel,of course. The twelfth-dynasty Egyptian story of Sinuhetells how this attendantfled Egypt on the death of his king, Amenemhet I and made his way to (1991-1962 BCE), Byblos (ANET:18-22).1The Amamrna have profuse letters (14th century BCE) referencesto the Phoeniciancities of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos;indeed, seventy-three of the letterswere written eitherfrom or to Byblos (Gubla in the texts) alone. It is recorded in an inventory tabletfound at the Mesopotamian city of Mari, that Zimri-Lim(1810-1796BCE), king of Mari, received a gold vase from Yantinhamu, king of Byblos (Albright 1945). During the period of the Persian Empire, Darius I and Xerxes used the ships of Tyre and Sidon against the Greeks. Persian control of these cities later gave way to that of Greece with the conquest by Alexander in 333 BCE. Greciancontact with Phoeniciancities is attested as
2
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
early as Homer (11.23.744-745and see Muhly 1970).The Phoenicianemporia extended across North Africa and up into Spain.2One of these emporia,Carthage, was the majorpower in the Mediterraneanuntil its defeat by Rome in 146 BCE. The most importantcontributionof the Phoeniciansto the history of the Ancient Near East was the alphabet. The r6le that the Phoeniciansplayed in the developmentof the alphabetis complex.3 According to Herodotus:
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The Phoenicians...introducedinto Greece, after their settlement in the country,a number of accomplishments, of which the most important was the alphabet, which till then, I think, had been unknown to the Greeks [Hist. V:58].4
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The Greeks used some of the signs which stood for consonants found in Phoenicianbut not in Greek to represent the vowels, signs for which were absent from the Phoenicianalphabet (Naveh 1982:vii).ThisGreekalphabetwas in turn
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Theancient site of Byblostoday. Archaeology in much of Lebanonis hinderedby the richnessof the Greco-Roman remainswhich deserve,certainly,to be preserved,but which lie on top of the earliermaterial.Photographby of Darel-Machreq Publishers. permission
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Plan of Tomb L fromSchaeffer1938:314,fig.42. The planon the left and coupe AB both show the "window"in the northeastside of the chamber. The planon the rightshows the hole formed by the fact that one of the four capstonesis missing.CoupeCDshows that the hole createdby the missing capstone is not overthe funerarypit at all.
most reasonably interpretedby suggesting that the stones were pulled up by those who dug down into the soil searching for tombs to rob. In several cases there is no question thatthe holes were the resultof plunderers. These include: Ras Shamra Tomb VIII,where broken pieces of the capstones were still in situ (Schaeffer1937: 136, fig. 4; and 138, fig. 5); Tomb XXXI, where most of the capstones were removed (Schaeffer1939b:93,fig. 87); Tomb1065,where during excavation,the pillagers' pit down to the tomb could actually be followed by the excavators through the overlying soil (Salles 1987: 163);and the Royal Tombs, in which most of the top of the eastern chamber was pulled away (Schaeffer1951:17, fig. 8). Assuming that the photograph in Schaeffer1935:pl.XXXII,3 shows it as it was found, the conditionof RasShamra Tomb VI suggests that the plunderers of the tomb dug down to the top of 32
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
the chamber,pulled up a capstone, found they were near the entranceto the tomb, and then moved over, dug up the dromos,pulled up the cover stones and enteredthe tomb. A similarsituation appears to be the case with the tomb found in the Grand Batiment (Margueron 1983:6-7;23, fig. 1;25, fig. 3), where again, a capstone near the dromoswas removed, allowing the plunderers to see how dose to the entryway they were. The stones covering the dromoswere then dug up and pulled out of the way. TombL has been the most commonused ly example of a Ugaritictomb with a libation hole in the roof (Ribar1973: 47-49;Lewis 1989:98).Ribar(1973:48) described the hole as follows: "TombL exemplifies this type of structure.The hole in the apex of the vault was covered by a well-worked stone, the nub of which was seated in the aperture.There was a pit in
the floor of the burialchamberdirectly below the hole in the capstone." This interpretationapparently is based on a misreading of the tomb plan (Schaeffer1938:314,fig. 42-there is virtually no discussion of this tomb in the report).First,Ribarseems to identify the stone shown in Coupe [Section]AB as the cover stone for the hole, the "wellworked stone." In fact, the stone that covered the hole was missing, and the stone in Coupe AB is one of the other capstonesin section.Ribaralso apparently failed to notice that Coupe CD dearly shows that the hole in the ceiling is not directly over the funerary pit at all, but to the side. Thus, there is no evidence that the hole was an intentional part of the constructionof the tomb. In fact, it, like the others,is almost certainly the work of plunderers.Examinationof the plan shows clearly that the hole is caused merely by a missing capstone. In
this case, the pillagers dug down onto effer and later excavators have noted the far end of the tomb and removed the floor levels in the rooms over the tomb chambers,13the floors are reguthe capstone to gain access. In this way Tomb L stands in a class with both Ras larly 30 to 60 cm. above the top of the ShamraTomb I (Schaeffer1933:115; tomb capstones.14There is good reason to put a fairly thick layer of soil above a 1939b:87fig. 80) and the unnumbered tomb found along the city wall (Schaeffer tomb chamber,since it makes good insulation from the odors that would 1951:5,fig. 1). In the lattercases, also, the hole is at the far end of the tomb chamotherwise emanate from the tomb after ber.But in both of these tombs, the hand a burial. No published cases offer any of the plunderersis quite dear, since the indication of some type of pipe leading that show the robbers to redown from the floor level and fitting had plans move not only a top stone, but also one into one of these holes. Thereis simply of the second-tierroof slabs to gain access no evidence that there was a connection between the floor of any room and the to the chamber.12Thereis no indication of a designed libationhole in any of the roof of any tomb chamber. published examples. Storejars There are, in fact, other reasons to doubt that holes in the ceilingwere used Anothertype of proposed libationdevice for pouring libationsand food offerings described by Schaefferin the reports, but not discussedin Schaeffer1939a,was into the tomb. In the places where Scha-
the presence of large storejarsburied beside the dromosof the tomb. Only two examples of this have been published, Ras Shamra Tombs IV and LIV.But in neither case is the cultic nature of the jars obvious. The three jars near the entrance of Tomb LIV (Schaeffer1938: pl. XXI,1) are enormous and seem much too big to act as libationreceptaclesfor the tomb. If they belong to the same phase as the tomb, it seems much more likely that they were used for ordinary storage and were placed in this location, as a convenience, during the construction of the tomb, since a large hole had already been dug here for the latter purpose. The function of the jarbeside Tomb IV (Schaeffer1934:121,7; pl. XII,1) is more ambiguous and could be cultic. However, one should notice that its mouth was situatedwell below the level
Theirlargesize is indicatedby the personshown in the upperrightcomer.Itseems The three large storejars buriednearthe entranceto TombLIV. unlikelythat threesuch substantialjarswould have been used to receiveregularlibationsfor the dead. Theyare more likelydomesticstorejars,set in placewhen the tomb was being built.FromSchaeffer1938:pl. XXI,1.
of the dromos,and thus well below the floor.This suggests that it may have been a foundation deposit. In addition, one should note that if it did function as a jar for funerary libations, it is the only exampleso farpublishedfromUgaritand thus is not representativeof ordinary practice.
LibationTables A final type of installationmentioned in the excavation reports is the "libation table"or "tableof offerings,"a large flat stone usually with a groove around its sides which leads to a spout. These tables were sometimes found in the room over the burial chamber,but often in other rooms. Schaefferinterpreted these stones as another style of libation installation,used sometimes in the funerary cult and sometimes in a more general fertility ritual (1929:287; pl. LI,4; 1933:107;pl. XIII,3; 1935:147; pl. XXIX,3). Recently,however, these stones have been studied by O. Callot (1987),in relation to one found in a house during excavations in 1980-81. He has convincingly shown that they are actually elements of oil presses, in fact, the tables upon which the olives were pressed, and have no relation to funerary cult at all (see esp. 206-209). Summary All of the remains identified by Schaeffer as funerary installationsdesigned to allow the living to provide water and/ or food for the dead from outside the tomb are better and more reasonably interpretedas mundane items, unrelated to the cult of the dead. There simply is no published archaeologicalevidence that a regular ritual of feeding the dead was performedaround any of the tombs at Ugarit.The "libationpits"and "drains" prove to be ordinary sumps, latrines, guttersfrom the roof,and other ordinary installationsfor the use and disposal of water in the houses, misinterpretedby Schaefferbefore he realized that the tomnbswere located under the floors of dwellings. The "windows"in the tombs, for the most part apparently just niches whose back sealing stone is missing, show no connectionsbetween the house above and the tomb below. Although 34
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
Entrance to Ras Shamra Tomb IV.Tothe left is a jarwhose mouth is considerablybelow the levelof the top of the stones that coveredthe dromos.Inthis positionit is not likelyto have been used in libationceremonies.FromSchaeffer1934:121,fig. 7
two or three tombs have "windows" that clearly have a ritual function, none of them appear to have been accessible from the floor above the tomb, but were only useable from inside. The attested holes in the ceilings of some of the tombs are best understood as the loci of entry made by tomb plunderers.None of the holes gives any indication of having been designed for the tomb, nor is there evidence that there was access from the floor of the room down to the level of the chamber roof, where the holes were found. Storejarsset near a tomb provide no clear evidence for regular funerary offerings. The published examples are either much too large and numerous to have functionedin this way and are probably for generalstorage,or they appear at levels too low to have been used from the floor of the house and are more likely foundation deposits. The "libation tables" and "tablesof offerings"have been convincingly identified as olive presses. The rooms under which the tombs were located appear to have been used for ordinary,domestic purposes. This is emphasized in the study of the small finds in the rooms of House A (fromthe excavations in the Center of the City, 1980-81)under which Tomb 1068 was discovered (Yon,Lombard,and Renisio
1987:72-83).Nothing found in either the room overlying the chamber or the one in which the entrance to the tomb was located (or in the two small rooms adjoiningthe latter)suggested anything relatedto funeraryrites.All the evidence suggests that the rooms were used for ordinary day-to-day purposes (74).
Implications What are some of the implications of these findings for the study of the Canaanite and Israelitecult of the dead? First, the tombs of Ugarit should no longer be used as archaeologicalillustrations of a Canaanitepractice of making post-funeral offerings to the dead. This is significant because of the discernable influence the traditionalinterpretation of the tombs has had on the reconstructionof funerary practices at Ugarit. The assumption that there was strong archaeologicalevidence of an active cult of the dead has colored the interpretationof several passages of the Ugaritic texts, including, in particular, the funerary text KTU 1.161,certain parts of the Aqhat Epic (KTU1.17.1:2634 and parallels;1.19.3:40-45);the texts related to the institutioncalled the marzeah(KTU1.114;1.21, etc.), and the Dagan Stelae(KTU6.13 and 6.14).In fact, none of these literary sources provide
unambiguous evidence for the practice of giving regular water/food offerings to the dead at Ugarit. Although this cannot be taken as a sure indicator that such offeringswere not regularlymade, it is now clearthat one must be very cautious about discussing such activities at Ugarit. There is simply less evidence about Ugaritic funerary practices and beliefs concerning afterlifethan has been generally supposed. This new understanding of the Ugaritictombs also has implicationsfor the use of Ugaritic materials in drawing parallelsto nearbycultures,including the culture of Late Bronze Age Canaan in Palestine and the culture of Iron Age Israel.Scholars must not only examine the parallels between Ugaritic culture and that of PalestinianCanaanand later Israel,but also the differencesbetween them. Evidence suggests that funerary practice and beliefs concerning afterlife may be an areain which therewere significant contrastsbetween Ugarit and the rest of Canaan, and the archaeological evidence should be an important element in the discussion of this possibility. For example, Ugaritic funerary practice is characterizedby burial within the city and burial in vault-chamber tombs under houses. Both of these characteristicsare strikingly different from those of LateBronzeAge Palestinianand Iron Age Israeliteburial practice.Intramural burial did occur in Middle and Late Bronze Age Canaan, but the practice declined significantly early in the Late BronzeAge and disappeared completely well before the end of the period In addition,LBintra(Gonen1992:20-21). mural burials are exclusively pit burials ratherthan burialsin constructedtombs. In fact, only five second-millennium vaulted tombs, vaguely similar to those at Ugarit,have been found in Palestine-three at Megiddo, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, and one each at Dan and Tel Aphek, dating to the Late Bronze. While the three MB tombs at Megiddo were found within the city,neitherof the LBtombs was inside a settlement(Gonen 1992:139-41).The three tombs from Megiddo are not in any way representative of typical burial customs at that site or of customs anywhere else in Palestine,
and they are listed by Gonen (1992:2122) as evidence of a small foreign population at Megiddo during this period. By far the most common forms of burial in LB Palestine were burial caves for multiple interments and individual pit burials,both types located in cemeteries outside the settlements(Gonen1992:9-20). As far as I am aware, the Ugaritic practice has been found elsewhere only at Ugarit's dependencies, Minet el-Beida and Ras ibn-Hani,and is not characteristic of any other excavated sites in Syria or Palestine(SeeGonen 1992:20-21; 27-28; evidence a similar LB for possible practice has been found at TellHadidi, Syria [Dornemann 1979:117-118;147-49]). Furthermore,such practices are not attested at all in IronAge Israel(BlochSmith 1992:25-62). It can hardly be doubted that this style of intermentsays something significant about the Ugaritic understanding of death, something distinctive from those cultures that placed their burials outside their settlements;but this fact rarely,if ever, has been noted in discussions of Canaanite and Israelitefunerary customs. These kinds of contrasts must be taken into consideration when making use of Ugaritic evidence to illuminate Canaanite and Israelitebeliefs and customs. Re-assessment of Schaeffer'spostulated funerarycult at Ugarit should also lead to a reevaluation of the evidence adduced for post-funeralofferingsto the dead in ancientIsrael.The assumed presence of libation installations at Ugarit made it easy to propose that such practices also occurredin Israel,even if there was very little evidence to substantiate the idea. Ribar's study (1973) of the archaeologicalevidence for externalcult of the dead in Iron Age Israel is a case in point. In spite of the exceedingly small evidence for post-funeralofferings in or around LateBronzeand IronAge tombs, Ribarmaintained no doubts that such offeringsregularlytook place (1973:54-55; 63). With the loss of the only site that appeared to show large numbers of tombs with libation devices, it seems appropriate to cast a more skeptical eye on the very few tombs in Israelthat have been interpretedsimilarly.
Finally,this study should remind us that archaeologicalinterpretationsof previous generations need periodic review so that older misconceptions may not continue to distort current studies. Such reviews do not diminish the achievements of those pioneering scholars, on whose shoulders we all stand, but serve to remind us of the continuing imperfection of our understanding of the cultures of the ancient Near East.
Acknowledgement I thankDr.MargueriteYon,Directorof the Mission Arch&ologique Franqaisede Ras-Shamra-
to reproduce Ougarit,forgrantingpermission the photos and plans in this article.She and
theexcavation archivist, T.Monloup,provided me with new printsof the photos when the originalnegativeswere still extant.I express my gratitudeto them both.
Notes 1Installationswithin the tomb and accessible only fromwithin, such as the pits or jarsset withinthe floorand the niches,arenot discussed here,exceptas theybearon the issueof an exterior,post-funeralritualforthe dead. Thereis no doubtthatfood and drinkofferingswereplaced
in thetombat thetimeof eachburial.Thepits
within the tombsand the nicheswere probably used in the ritualsinvolved in the funeral, and the jarsand pots left in the tomb presumably containedfood and liquid for the newly deceased.The questionwe deal with hereis whetherthereis evidence for post-funeral offeringsin the tombs. 2 Although
many tombswere found in the
excavations followingWorldWarII,Schaeffer rarelydiscussed them in his reports.This is the caseeven with the royaltombsfound in the palace,which have yet to be publishedin any detail.A new study of the royaltombs is currentlyunderway (Yon1990:443-46). also fig. 3, p. 112;fig.4,p. 3 TombII (1934:115; also fig. 5, p. 117and fig. 6, 115),IV (1934:116; p. 119),(1938:317; fig. 42, p. 314;for a clearer
ideaof whathe is referring to,seetheplanin Courtois1979:130), andLVI(1938:228; alsofig. 29, p. 234) 4 See, for example,Schaeffer1931:2-4,where a
well-builthouseis interpreted as a funerary buildingbecauseit is relatedto a tomb.Note the plan, p. 3, fig. 1. In Schaeffer1932:4-6,the
authordescribeswhatis dearlya storehouse
and interpretsit as a huge cultbuilding.By the thirdcampaign,Schaeffer(1932:11)was convinced thathe was excavatingthe royalnecropolis of Ugarit,and thatthe buildingsaround
thetombsweresanctuaries forthedivinized kingsof thecity.Anothergroupof housesare
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
35
were the familytombs.The necropolisis gone. 6Schaeffer'sfailureto explicitlydropthe notion of a necropolisat Minetel-Beidahas led to a long termmisunderstandingaboutthe nature of thatsite in the literature.Fromrecentyears, such books as van der Woude,ed. 1986:273 and Curtis1985:19-22still referto the necropolis at Minetel-Beida.Note also the uncertain referenceto the "royalcemetery"in Spronk 1986:144,n.2.
Wayne Pitard is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Many of his publications have dealt with ancient Syrian culture and have included historical studies of Damascus and the Aramaeans, as well as epigraphic editions of Ugaritic tablets. He is currently writing a book on Canaanite and Israelite concepts of death and afterlife.
identifiedas collectionsof roomsfor fertility ritualin Schaeffer1933:106-108. 5 In the reporton the sixth seasonof excavations,Schaefferfirstmentionshis new understandingof Minetel-Beida(1935:168).He has not yet droppedthe idea of a necropolisat the site,but he was awarethat therewas a city theretoo. Forthe firsttime, he begins to identify buildingsas houses and storagebuildings (169-70).Schaefferdoesn'texplicitlydescribe the relationshiphe saw between the necropolis and the city,but it is clearthathe assumed the vaulted-chambertombswere the primary elementof the cemetery.In this report(16970),he arguesthatTombsI, IIand VII,which were locatedwithin buildingsthathe now identifiesas houses,were only constructedafter thehouseswereabandoned.Althoughhe does not say it, it seems thathe believedthat the "necropolis"succeededthe domesticoccupation of that partof the site. In the reportof the seventh season,however,even this appearsto havebeendropped,as he cameto see thatmost houses at Ugarithad an associatedmasonry tomb (Schaeffer1936:148).Now he describes Minet el-Beidaas a town just like contemporaryUgarit,with straightstreetswhich cross one anotherperpendicularly, with storehouses, shops, and houses under the floorof which
36
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
7 The "votivecascade"seems to be closely related to this kind of drain.It appearsto represent two phases of a drainagesystem which seems to go througha wall (stillpreservedon the rightof the photo),likedrain1107.Theforeground of the photo is presumablythe street. 8 The most widely publishedphoto of a vertical tube is the one in Schaeffer1933:pl.IX,4, which he identifiedas a conduitfor fertility libations( pp. 106-8).It is now clearthat the buildingthe pipe was in was a substantialindustrialcomplex,at leastpartiallyused for the productionof olive oil. This may be seen in the photographsin Schaeffer1933:pl.XIII,1 and 3. Two olive oil presstablesarevisiblein photo3, and photo1 shows a standardweight used in the olivecrushingprocess.In the photo showingthe pipe,it is dearlysituatedabovethe floorlevel and is standingnext to a melange of potteryscatteredon the floor,next to a stairway. It is likely thatit served some utilitarian purposewithin this industrialcomplex,rather thana ritualone. 9 See,forexample,thediscussionof threephases within the house of the High Priestin Salles 1987:186.Therethe tomb (T.103,originally, TombXI),belongsto the earliestphase andwas long out of use by the time the finalhouse was builtover it. A similarsituationis found with TombLm (Schaeffer1938:205-208, also pl. XX, 1), anotherMB IItomb,with an earthenpit nearbyHerethe pit is situateddirectlyin front of the doorwayleadingintothe room.Thisunlikelyspot suggeststhatthe currenthouse foundationsdo not belong to the same period. 10It is unlikelythatpost-funeralofferingrituals were held within the tombs themselves. Withthe exceptionof a few 13thcenturytombs, the Ugaritictombs were very difficultand uncomfortableto enter,with a small entryway and tiny door.Thiswould make opening and enteringthe tomb for regularofferingsvery In addiinconvenient(cf.Salles1987:167-168). tion,the plansof undisturbedtombsin which the positionof the finalbody placedin the tomb couldbe determinedshow thatthe dead were usually placedpartiallyin frontof the door into the burialchamber.In orderto enterthe tomb and carryout regularritualsinside the chamber,one would always have to scramble over the body of the most recentlydeceased occupant.See the plansin Schaeffer1938:207, fig. 8; 221,fig. 18;and 230, fig. 25. 11 Tombswith holes in theirceilingsinclude Minetel-BeidaII(Schaeffer1929:292,also 291,
fig.4), RasShamraTombsI (Schaeffer1933:115; 1939b:pl.XVII,1;also p. 87, fig. 80), VI (Schaeffer 1935:156-157; also pi. xxxii, 1 and 3), VIII also 136,fig.4 and 138, (Schaeffer1937:134-135; fig. 5), L (Schaeffer1938:314,fig. 42), a tomb in a chamberof the city wall nearthe palace (Schaeffer1951:7;also p. 5, fig. 1);the eastern chamberof the RoyalTombsin Room 28 of the palace(Schaeffer1951:17,fig. 8);the tomb in theGrandBatiment(Margueron1977:175-179; pl. VIII,2, 3; see esp. p. 176,fig. 13;Margueron 1983);and Tomb1068(Salles1987:164-65) 12Oneshouldnote,however,that,unlikeTombL, the plunderersof RasShamraTombI apparently also uncoveredand opened the dromosto remove the valuablesfrom the tomb (Schaeffer Thisis, of course,similarto the situa1933:115). tion discussedin the precedingparagraph. 13TheseincludeTombVIII(Schaeffer1937:135); TombXXXVI(Schaeffer1937:149, fig. 14;1938: 199-200,fig. 3, coupe CD);TombXXXVII(Schaeffer1937:139,fig. 6);TombL (Schaeffer1938: TombLMII (Schaeffer1938:206); pl. XXXIII,2); apparentlythe royaltombsin the palace(Schaeffer1951:17,fig. 8, coupe AB);Tomb1068 (Salles1987:159;see the discussionon this issue in Salles 1987:159) 14Sometimesthe recordedfloorlevels areeven higherthanthat (e.g.TombLIV,Schaeffer1938: 213-2.85m. below the floorlevel),but theseare probablyothertombs thatbelong to an earlier phase than the houses thatnow cover them. 15It is impossiblein thisarticleto dealwith the literaryevidenceforfunerarypracticesat Ugarit. Thiswill be dealt with in otherpublications. However,I would arguethatnone of the texts usuallycitedas evidencefor post-funeralfeeding of the dead actuallyreferto that practice. Significantly,Lewis (1989:esp.53-97),Schmidt and van der Toorn(1991),while (1991:83-199) disagreeingon the interpretationof severalof the Ugaritictexts,all have emphasizedthe fact thatmanyof the textsregularlyviewedas related to cult of the dead do not, in fact,have much to do with funeraryaspects of life at all. 16Offeringscould, of course,have been made in a differentlocation,perhapsat a temple.This seems somewhatunlikelyat Ugarit,however, since an advantageof having the family tomb withinthe houseshouldbe thatone couldmake theregularofferingsat home and not have to go to an outside spot to do so. When tombs are locatedin cemeteriesoutsidea city,a convenient spot within the town makes sense, but it is difficultto propose(withoutany evidence)that offeringswould be made in localesdistantfrom the tombwhen the latterwas locatedwithin the family'sresidence.Whateverthecase,the issues dealt with in this paper arenot dependenton solving the problemof whetherpost-funeral offeringsto the dead were made at Ugarit. 17The interpretationof holes in the ceilingsof a few tombs in LBCanaanand IronAge Israel as conduitsforpost-funeralofferingsis as prob-
lematicas that at Ugarit.I plan to deal with this issue in anotherpaper.
Bibliography Bloch-Smith,E. BurialPracticesandBeliefs 1992 Judahite abouttheDead.Journalfor the Study of the Old TestamentSupplement Series123.Sheffield:JSOT. Callot,O. 1983 Une maisona'Ougarit:Ltuded'architecturedomestique. Ras Shamra-Ougarit 1. Paris:EditionsRecherchesur les Civilisations. 1987 Les huileriesdu Bronzerecent'a Ougarit.Pp. 197-212in Lecentrede la (1978ville:38&me44nme campagnes 1984).Ras Shamra-Ougarit3. Paris: 6ditionsRecherchesur les Civilisations. Calvet,Y. 1981 Installationshydrauliquesd'Ugarit. et l'eauen Pp. 33-48in L'homme e et au Proche-Orient. Mdditerran Ed. J.Metraland P.Sanlaville.Lyon: Maison de l'Orient. Calvet,Y.and Geyer,B. 1987 Ueau dans l'habitat.Pp. 129-56in Lecentrede la ville:38&me-44nme campagnes(1978-1984).RasShamraOugarit3. Ed. M. Yon.Paris:Editions Recherchesur les Civilisations. Courtois,J.-C. 1979 Uarchitecturedomestiquea Ugaritau Bronzerecent.Ugarit-Forschungen 11:105-34. Curtis,A. 1985 UgaritRasShamra.GrandRapids: Eerdmans. Domemann,R. H. 1979 TellHadidi:A Millenniumof Bronze Age City Occupation.Pp. 113-51in Archaeological Reports fromtheTabqa DamProject-Euphrates Valley,Syria. Editedby D. N. Freedman.Annual of the AmericanSchoolsof Oriental Research44. Cambridge:American Schoolsof OrientalResearch. Gonen,R. 1992 BurialPatternsandCulturalDiversity in LateBronzeAge Canaan. AmericanSchoolsof Oriental ResearchDissertationSeries7. WinonaLake:Eisenbrauns.
Lewis,T.J.
1989 Cultsof theDeadin AncientIsrael and Ugarit.HarvardSemiticMonographs39. Atlanta:ScholarsPress. Margueron,J. 1977 RasShamra1975et 1976:rapport prdliminairesur les campagnes d'automne.Syria54:151-88. 1983 Quelquesrdflexionssur certainespratiques fundrairesd'Ugarit.Akkadica 32:5-31.
de Moor,J.C. 1976 Rapi'uma-Rephaim. Zeitschift fiir die 88:323-45. alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Pitard,W.T. 1978 The UgariticFuneraryTextRS34.126. Bulletinof theAmericanSchoolsof OrientalResearch 232:65-75. Ribar,J.W. 1973 DeathCultPracticesin AncientPalestine.Ph.D.Diss.Universityof Michigan. Salles,J.-F 1987 Deuxnouvellestombesde RasShamra. Pp. 157-95in Lecentredela ville: (1978-1984). campagnes 38&me-44?me Ras Shamra-Ougarit3. Ed. M. Yon. Paris:EditionsRecherchesur les Civilisations. Schaeffer,C. E-A. 1929 Les fouillesde Minet-el-Beidaet de RasShamra(Campagnedu rintemps 1929):Rapportsommaire.Syria 10:285-303. 1931 Les fouillesde Minet-el-Beidaet de RasShamra:Deuxiime campagne (Printemps1930):Rapportsommaire. Syria12:1-14. 1932 Les fouillesde Minet-el-Beidaet de Ras-Shamra:Troisiemecampagne (Printemps1931):Rapportsommaire. Syria13:1-27. 1933 Les fouillesde Minet-el-Beidaet de Ras-Shamra: Quatriime campagne (Printemps1932):Rapportsommaire. Syria14:93-127. 1934 Les fouillesde Ras-Shamra:Cinquiime campagne(Printemps1933): Rapportsommaire.Syria15:105-31. 1935 Les fouilles de RasShamra-Ugarit: Sixiime campagne(Printemps1934): Rapportsommaire.Syria16:141-76. 1936 Les fouilles de Ras Shamra-Ugarit: Septiamecampagne(Printemps1935): Rapportsommaire.Syria17:105-48. 1937 Les fouilles de RasShamra-Ugarit: Huitiime campagne(Printemps1936): Rapportsommaire.Syria18:125-54. 1938 Les fouillesde RasShamra-Ugarit: Neuviime campagne(Printemps1937): Rapportsommaire.Syria19:193-255, 313-34. Textsof RasShamra1939a TheCuneiform Lectures1936.LonSchweich Ugarit. don: OxfordUniversity. 1939b UgariticaI. Missionde RasShamra3. Paris:PaulGeuthner. 1951 Reprisedes recherchesarchdologiques ARasShamra-Ugarit:sondages de 1948et 1949et campagnede 1950. Syria28:1-21. Schmidt,B. B. Dead:TheOrigin 1991 Israel'sBeneficent andCharacter ofIsraeliteAncestorCults andNecromancy. Ph.D.Diss. Oxford University. Sj6berg,A. K. 1965 Beitriigezum sumerischenW6rterbuch. Pp. 63-70in Studiesin Honorof
BennoLandsberger on his 75thBirthday, April21,1965. Editedby H. Giuterbock and T.Jacobsen.Assyriological Studies 16. Chicago:Universityof Chicago. Spronk,K. 1986 BeatificAfterlifein AncientIsraelandin theAncientNearEast.AlterOrient und Altes Testament219. Kevelaer: Butzon& Bercker. van der Toorn,K. 1991 FuneraryRitualsand BeatificAfterlife in UgariticTextsand in the Bible. Bibliotheca Orientalis 48:40-66. Wiichter,L. 1967 Der Todim AltenTestament. Stuttgart:Calwer. van der Woude,A. S., ed. 1986 TheWorldof theBible.Trans.fromthe Dutchby SierdWoudstra.Grand Rapids:Eerdmans. Yon,M. 1990 RasShamra-Ougarit1988-89(48e-49e campagne).Syria67:442-49. Yon,M., Lombard,P.and Renisio,M. 1987 Uorganisationde l'habitat:les maisons A, B et E. Pp. 11-128in Lecentrede la ville:386me-44&me (1978campagnes 1984).Editedby M. Yon.RasShamraOugarit3. Paris:EditionsRecherche sur les Civilisations.
CONFERENCELUD
TheArchaeology of Israel
thePast, Constructing thePresent Interpreting 22-24,1994 May
Topics: archaeology in contemporary Israeli society and culture; archaeological discoveries and ethnic identity; archaeology, biblical texts, and historical interpretation; and highlights from excavations at Tel Miqne, Hazor, Dor, and Bet Shean.
WilliamDever, Speakers:AmnonBen-Tor,
Trude Dothan, Amos Elon, Israel Finkelstein, Baruch Halpern, Brian Hesse, Lee Levine, Burke Long, Peter Machinist, Amihai Mazar, Michael Notis, Miriam Peskowitz, YaacovShavit, Neil Silberman, David Small, Ephraim Stern, Paula Wapnish,and BenjaminWright. For information: Contact the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies, Lehigh University, 9 W. Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015 (phone 610-758-3352, fax 610-758-4858, e-mail
[email protected]).
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
37
A
Medieval Church
in
Mesopotamia
By Michael and Neathery Fuller
Al Hasake* "Tell
A Aleppo
hen MedievalIslamicgeographer Yaqutal-Hamawi described Tuneinir,he reported a settlement in a forested valley, populated by farmers and herdsmen from the Bani Salamahand Bani Ghadirantribe.Al-Hamawi's brief description hardly does justice to a site that served a mixed population of farmers,merchants, and nomads for over 5000 years. We journeyed to northeasternSyriaduring 1986to survey the 60 ft. high mound. TellTuneinirwas an importantIslamictown. Today,it is an unoccupied mound situated 25 miles east of the Iraqiborder and 19 miles southeast of the modem town of Hasake, Syria. The surface of Tuneiniris littered with thousands of pottery sherds ranging in age from first
38
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
0
%0
Syria
* Damascus
r
millennium BCEuntil approximately 1400 CE.Soil stratanear the base of the greatmound, probed during 1990-1993, extend A pottery sherd recovback until the third millennium BCE. ered during 1990 raises the likelihood that the deepest layer will trace the site's origin to the Neolithic Period. We were looking for a complex, stratifiedsociety thathad thrivedfor severalcenturies;TellTuneinir was ideal. The site of Tuneinirconsists of a large mound, a lower town, and a group of low mounds situated on the site's easternmargin. The total areaof the site is 112.7acres. We planned our firstmajorseason of excavation for the summer of 1987and focused on the large mound. One well preserved, low mound was designatedas AreaMi and scheduled for testing during the summer of 1988. One colleague made the plausible suggestion that the low mound was built over graves. An alternative hypothesis, that the low mound was part of the town's defenses, was based upon the historicalreferences
to Byzantine fortificationsagainst Saracen attacks from east of the KhaburRiver.Our goal in excavatingthe low mound was to determineif either hypothesis was preferable.
* " w, . ,
..
PAW,
low-,
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
39
andMichaelFullerwork Neathery
at the draftingtableat TellTuneinir. MichaelFullerreceivedhis Ph.D.
fromWashington Universityin St.
Louisin 1987and is currentlyAssociate Professorof Anthropologyat St. LouisCommunityCollege-Florissant Valley.In additionto his workin Syria, Mike has participatedas a surveyor/ architecton excavationsin Greece, Jordan,Egypt, and the USA. He currently serves on the Boardof the St. LouisSocietyof the AIA,and is a pastpresidentof thatSociety.Neathery FullerreceivedherMA fromWashington Universityin St. Louisin 1985and is an adjunctfacultymemberat St. Louis CommunityCollege.She specializesin the applicationof computer graphicsand database analysisto archaeologicaldata.Neatheryhas participatedas an archaeobotanist and glass experton excavationsin Greece,Jordan,and the USA. Photoby DarrenWaddell. All otherphotosandillustrationsweresuppliedby theauthors.
Neither skeletonsnor militaryequipment came to light as we excavated so we needed to formulate a new hypothesis for the low mound's function.Our best due came at the end of the 1988season, when we detected the faint trace of an inscription on a brick. Only one word, written in Syriac (the language derived from Aramaic and still used by Christian communities in the Middle East),can be dearly translated. The word translatesas "hope."Associated with the inscription is the symbol of the cross.The inscription,general absence of domestic debris, and east-west orientationof the building in Area 1I provided the basis for a new hypothesis: the low mound was a ruined church. It took only one day of excavation during 1989 to yield a conclusive answer. Below a foot of topsoil were mudbricks that defined the eastern extremity of the building. The pattern formed by the mudbricks was a curved wall or "apse."We clearedthe soil from the interiorof the apse and uncovered two distinctoutlines (one superimposed on top of the other)for the base of an altar.The discovery of the apse and altar footings caused great excitement among our students and workmen because now the function of the building was unmistakable. 57:1 (1994) BiblicalArchaeologist
41
? s!?
, si•l?
:4. :'
ss?
••
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BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
?•?•:i:=:!i!
A set of three stepsconnectedthe aspe to the churchnave whichmeasured28 x 34 feet.Severalday oil lampsand four bronzecoinscalleddirhemwerefoundon the floorof the nave.Thecoinsweremintedin the cityof Sinjaraduringthe reignof 'Imadal-DinZangiand bearthe imageof a double-headedeagle.Coinsand lampsdate the building's collapseand abandonmentto the beginningof the 13thcentury. Thearchitectural featuresof the churchat TellTuneinir to correspondclosely thetraitsattributedto the SyrianOrthodox churchesin theTurAbdinregionof Turkeyandin Mosul,Iraq.A smallroom immediatelysouthof
Phase4
Phase 2
--
-
Phase 1
Phase3
the apse is used as a sacristy forstorageof sacredutensilsand an identical situation occursin the churchat Tell vestments; Tuneinir. Excavation 1992 beneaththe 12thcentury during floorof the sacristyexposedan ovenanda deteriorated woodenbreadmoldusedin the manufactureof eucharistic bread. Thenave of the latest(phase4) churchat TellTuneiniris neatlydividedinto two distinctbaysby a set of pilastersthat probablysupportedthe roofand createdseparatesectionsfor men and women.TheSyrianOrthodoxchurchesin Mosul divide the nave into two sectionswith the west (rear)halfreservedforwomenandtheeasthalf(nearthe altar)reservedfor use by the men;the sameis trueof churchesin the Tur'Abdin regionof Turkeyand theCopticchurchof Abu Sargahin Old Cairo.Thedivisionof thenaveforthemen andwomenis also practicedby the Assyrianchurchesin Mosul. Largediscoloredportionsof the plasterfloorin the nave indicatedthattwo chandelierslit the west bay while only one chandelierhungin the eastbay.Theoutlineof the largeststain was six-lobedand was formedby the drippingof a six lamp Weinterpreted thesmallstainsalongthe northand chandelier. southwalls as the resultof spillsfromthe glazedlampsthat were commonlyused duringthe 12thand 13thcentury. Tracesof mudbrickwallsalongthe west edge of thebuilding belongedto a narthexwherethe unbaptizedindividuals and personscensuredby the churchcould listento themass and receiveinstruction.Threeroomson the southside of the sanctuarywereprobablypartof an open airchapeland chambersfor a priest. BiblicalArchaeologist57:1 (1994)
43
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12thCenturystucco lintel(reconstructed)
We uncoveredseveralvery specialartifactswhen we removed the balks of unexcavated soil in the interiorof the church. The balk due west of the apse contained fragments of an elaboratelymolded and painted stucco lintel; the fragments had been reused in the three steps that lead from the nave into the room which contained the altar.The rectangular-shapedsacred room that contains the altar is called the haikal(Aramaicfor 'temple")by
SyriacspeakingChristian communities in Syria,Turkey, and Iraq.The design of the lintelfragments,which we estimate to be 900 years old, is the enshrined cross flanked by rosettes and pin-wheel/whirl designs.
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Our most exciting discovery came during the 1990 when we excavatedbeneath the plasterfloor of the haikal.We quickly identified two buried floor surfaces that belonged to earlier phases of the churchand recoveredcharcoalsamples that yield calibratedradiocarbondates of 651-686 CEand 654-690 CE. Three fragments of a painted lintel were discovered beneath the 12 century plaster floor.The pieces fit together and form a 7th century lintel that is 5 feet in length. The lintel is decorated with a large, paint-ed cross flanked by two smaller painted crosses. Faint outlines of incised spirals and birds are visible on the surface of the lintel. The mudbrick church at Tell Tuneiniris dwarfed by the stone churches at sites in Syria such as Resafa-Sergiupolis, Qalb Loza, and Qalaat Semaan. The few published references to mudbrick churches include the 3rd century house church found at the site of Dura-Europosand a mudbrick church that
44
57:1 (1994) BiblicalArchaeologist
aC~jli? -IY II
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was in use during 1876 by a small Syrian Orthodox community of Ain Karamin Iran. The 1990, we uncovered a 12-13th century mosque that was contemporaneouswith the mudbrickchurch.The mosque, a bath, a market, and a khan (an inn and warehouse for merchants) were excavated along the southern mar-gin of Tell Tuneinirduring the 1990, 1992, and 1993.A group of Americans assisted by a representativeof the DirectionG6ndrale des Antiquit6s et des Musees will return to Tell Tuneinirto continue exploration of the site's history.
Furtherreading An overviewof thehistory,architecture, andritualof theEastern Churchcanbe foundin: AzizS.Atiya
1968 A Historyof Christianity. London:Methuen& Co. Ltd. A new re-examinationof the ancientchurchesand monasterieslocated in the regionof TurAbdin,Turkeyis containedin: Andrew Palmer 1990 MonkandMasonon theTigrisFrontier. London:CambridgeUniversityPress.
Syrian Christianity Christianityappeared in the firstcentury as an offshoot of the many Jewish commturitiesin the Roman province of Syrian Syria. Until the second century,the province extended from the Tau-rusmountains to Arabiaand Egypt, and east to the TigrisEuphratesrivers. Its culture was influenced by PersianMesopotamia. The first churchesappearedin Damascus, Antioch, Sidon, and Tyre;Adiabene and Edessa had Christiancommunities by the second century.SyrianChristiansgenerally spoke Greek near the coast (Antioch, Beirut)and some form of Syriac(a late Aramaic dialect) inland. Syriac-speakingChristianityflourishedmost from the fourth through the seventh centuries,when authors like Aphrahat, Ephrem,Philoxenos,Jacobof Sarug, and Narsal helped createa language and culturefor the churchesthere,employing the nowregnant Edessan dialect. Imperialand private donations helped establish large churches,schools, and monasteries,including the massive and still-standingshrinesof Simon the Stylite,nearAleppo, and Sergius of Resafa.In the fifth century,ecclesiasticalleaders began translatingGreekpatristictheology to combat the followers of Marcion,Mani, and various Gnostics, and to clarifydoctrine regarding the person of Christ. Controversiesover Christology led to the division of Syrian Christianityinto three majorbranches:East-Syrian,centeredin Seleucia-Ctesiphone,which followed the theology of the Anti-
ochenes, including Nestorius; West-Syrianin Edessa and later southwestern Anatolia, which rejectedthe Chalcedonian for a CyrillianChristology;and "Melkite,"or imperial, which was in union with the patriarchateof Constantinople in accepting the firstseven ecumenicalcouncils. Later,under Muslim rule, all three were tolerated,and early Muslim society was greatly influenced by the SyrianChristianswho filled its learnedbureaucracy.By the eighth century,East-Syrianshad established missions eastward on the silk route as far as China. Beginning in the tenth century, Syriacliteraturedeclined under pressurefrom Arabic,despite a twelfth and thirteenthcentury renewal. The Syrian churches endured in Ottoman lands until the twentieth century when, due to political strife following World WarI, SyrianChristiansbegan to emigrate. They now live in diaspora mainly in Sweden, Germany,the U.S., and Australia. However, Syriac-speakingChristiansstill are settled in Syria, TurkishKurdistan(the Tur'Abdin),and Israel,which countries also have Arabic-speakingSyrianChristians.In addition, Syrian Christiansflourish in South India, where Syrian Clhristianity apparentlyestablished a mission in the fourth century RobinDarlingYoung The Catholic University of America
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
45
The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple By Robert R. Stieglltz
Tyrianpurple,alsoknownas'royalpurple,'wasthemost expensivedye in the ancientworld qensen1963).Indirectevidenceaboutits valueis providedby Ugaritic in whichvarioustypesof dyed textsof the 14thcenturyBCE, woolensarelistedwith theirprices.Someof thesetextiles wereevidentlydyed withTyrianpurple,as theirhigherprices Homerusedthespecialterm wouldsuggest(Stieglitz1979:19). to refer to thisdye (Odyssey6.53: haliporphyros,'sea-purple', in order to 306),perhaps distinguishit frompurple-dyeimiwe know that tations.By the timeof Diocletian,in 301BCE, wool dyed with Tyrianpurplewas literallyworthits weight in gold, as is statedin his EdictonMaximum Prices24. was a liquid, Thebasicrawmaterialforthedye production obtaineddirectlyfromthe hypobranchial glandsof Mediterraneanmollusks.Theshellfishutilizedin thisdye manufacL.(=Hexaplex) andMurex turewereprimarilyMurextrunculus haemastoma L. brandaris L.(=Bolinus). A thirdvariety,Purpura Each shellfish was used (=Thais), producedonly occasionally. a few dropsof the precioussecretion,which was thenboiled in saltwaterto createthe dye. In orderto produceTyrian purplein commercialquantities,manythousands of shellfishwere required.Pliny,writing in the firstcenturyBCE, The three types of purple shells, providesthe only from left to right:Murextrunculus, actualrecipeforthe Murexbrandaris,Purpurahaemastoma. of thedye preparation Thesespecimenswere excavatedby solution.He reports the authorat CaesareaMaritima.Israel. (Natural Histony Scaleis in centimeters.Photographs by thatin order 9.62.135) theauthorunlessnoted. to dye 1,000poundsof wool, it was necessaryto use some200lbs. of Purpuraflesh as well as 111lbs.of (histermfor thisshellfishwas bucinum), fromthe larger In this the was extracted process, gland murex. small were crushed,shelland shellfish specimensonly.The Such a was also observed earlierby Aristotle all. procedure the fleshmass (it was cookedfor nine days!),producedthe Animalium The entire (Historia 5.15.22-25). mass,withwater, was thenplacedin leadenvatsandsimmered.Theexposureof notoriousstenchforwhichthisindustrywas notedin antiqthe liquidto light,coupledwith theprolongedsimmeringof uity.Pliny(Natural History9.60.127)also statesthatin his day 46
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1(1994)
the best Tyrianpurple in Europe was produced in Laconica and the best in Africaat Meninx. In Asia, the best dye was manufactured at Tyre.
The bay of Palaikastro, with the headland in background.
BiblicalArchaeologist57:1 (1994)
47
According to current theories, the production of Tyrian purple was originated and monopolized by the coastal Canaanites-those people called Phoenicians by the Greeks.
Since these shellfish had to be caught by ratherlaborious fishing and/or diving in shallow water, the price of the dye, as noted above, was enormous. Therefore,a great variety of dye substituteswas in use during Greco-Romantimes, as we know from an ancient papyrus that lists recipes for producing purple dye substitutes (Lagercrantz 1913).These imitations were produced from plant as well as mineral sources. Still, none were as color-fast as the true "royalpurple," hence the continued demand in antiquity for textiles colored by this highly prized dye.
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shades, depending upon the mixture of the different shellfish utilized. Variationscould also be made by chemical means, such as light conditions and reducing agents. The resultingcolors included red, blue, and dark purple, the latterbeing considered the most noble of the tints. All shades were utilized primarily to color ceremonial garments. Two of the best known ; ". * "3. examples are the purple stripes on the Roman toga purpureaand the blue stripes on the Jewish tallit 'prayershawl'. The Hebrew name for this blue dye was tekelet(Exodus 26:11;see Ziderman 1987), and we may note here that according to Rabbinicrulings, only the true tekelet dye (made from mollusks) should be used for coloring the prayer shawl (ToseptaMenachot9,16). These religious rules were probably a response to the use of substitute dyes.
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This development presumably occurred sometime in the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE). Indeed, the earliest archaeevidence for Canaanite ological purple dye production-the heaps of discarded shells and their fragments-are those unearthed at Minet el-Beida (the harborof Ugarit), dated to the 15th-14th century BCE; Sareptaand Tel Akko (13th cen-
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Karmon and and at Tel Keisan (11thcentury BCE; tury BCE); Spanier 1988:184).There are, however, archaeologicaland epigraphic indications from the Aegean, which suggest that the 'royal purple' industry was first developed there,by the Minoans on Crete,before 1750 BCE. The current scholarly theories attributingto the Phoenicians the origin of the Tyrianpurple industry can actually be traced back to the Roman era. The Greek rhetoricianJulius relates a charming tale Pollux, in the second century BCE, (Onomasticon1.45-48) of how the hound of Herakles bit into a murexfish on the shore at Tyreand thus discovered its dye. Herakles then divulged this delightfuldiscovery to Phoenix, the king of Tyre.This took place, accordingto Pollux, some seven generationsbeforethe war at Troy. Now in the Roman era it was quite fashionable to discuss and theorize on the origins of all sorts of inventions. The purple industry-which was still quite an active art in that era-was not exempt from these speculations. Indeed, the Romans had themselves developed techniques for the artificial breeding of murexand other shell-fish, in rock-cutpools called piscinae.A fascinating description of how to construct such fish-ponds, adjoining a sea-side villa, is provided by Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (De Re Rustica 8.16.7), about 60 BCE.The origins of the Tyrianpurple industry were, therefore,of some interest to the Romans. However, evidence
OIL..
The hill of Kastri at the Minoansite of Palaikastro, EastCrete,from the south. Thetown is locatedsouth of the hill.Thesite offereda largesurface depositof Murexshells.
unearthed in the Aegean at the turn of the twentieth century suggested that the purple dye industry originated on Crete. The first archaeologicalevidence of purple shells, constituting the debris of purple dye production, was already reportedby HeinrichSchliemann(1880:115)at Troy.In 1903, the BritisharchaeologistR C. Bosanquetfound numerous murexfragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island of Kouphonisi,off the southeast coast of Crete (Bosanquet 1904:321).However,he describedthe details of his finds only within the text of an unrelated article,which he published 37 years later (Bosanquet 1939-40).In 1904, Bosanquet also found purple shell remains at the large Minoan site of Palaikastroin EasternCrete.He thereforeproposed that the Minoan purple dye industry,dated to the Middle Minoan era (2000-1600BCE), preceded the Phoenician industry,but few accepted his opinion. We should note here that the murexshellfish are edible, and when they are found in small numbers, such as at the Early Minoan site of Myrtos (Warren1972:263),they are presumably associated with the diet and not with the dye. But it is also likely that these Early Minoan fishermen also discovBiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
49
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ered the dye, in the same way that the hound of Herakles did many centuries later. In 1981, I set out to investigate sea-purple origins by analysis of pertinent archaeologicaland epigraphic data, startingwith a coastal survey on Crete.At Palaikastro,which is identified with ClassicalHeleia, I found a large surface deposit of murexremains on the southern slopes of the Kastri. Most of these were fragmentary,but some were small whole shellfish. These are, presumably,from the same deposit noted by Bosanquet in 1904.In addition, numerous murexare located within the remains of a well-built stone structurelocated on a headland in the bay southeastof the Kastri. On the islandof Kouphonisi,which is identified with Classical Leuke,I succeededin locatingthe Minoan site visited by Bosanquetin 1903.It is situatedon the slope of a hill overlooking the northshoreof the island.Besides the murexremains, pottery fragments, and foundationsof a large stone structure, it should be noted thattherearequitea few obsidian chips on the surfaceof the site. The water source for the modern fisherman is now located on the shore directly below the Minoan site. It was presumably also utilized in antiquity,for near it are remains of substantialindustrialfacilities.I believe that these are the remains of an actualpurple dye factory,probablydated to the Hellenistic era. At that time, the island of Leuke was a center
50
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
On the north shore of Kouphonisi. The MiddleMinoansite is midway between the chapelon the hilland the beach.
Murexfragments from the south slope of the Kastriat Palaikastro.
Murexfragments fromthe headland in the bayof Palaikastro.
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Remains of stone basins and well, nearthe shore on Kouphonisi.
of Tyrianpurple manufacture,as is known from Cretan (Guarducci1940:104). inscriptionsof the second centuryBCE These manufacturingremainsnear the water source include stone and clay vats, as well as basinsand channelsfor the handlingof liquids.The locationof the site on the shore near a water source is ideal, since both sea-waterand fresh-
water are requiredin the dye production. Some excavations of the Greco-Romantown of Leuke, located on the shore west of this area, have been undertaken (Papadakis 1983), but as far as I know, the industrial site itself has not been excavated, and its date is thereforestill speculative. In addition to Palaikastroand Kouphonisi, murex
The modem water source at Kouphonisi: a stone chamberwas builtoverthe spring.
remains have also been found at other Aegean Bronze Age sites. These include the Middle Minoan levels of three major sites: Kastrion the island of Kythera (Coldstreamet al. 1973: 36, 282), Knossos itself (Hutchinson 1962:239)-presumably from a near-by factory on the shore-and at the palace of Mallia (Vogler1984).In the Late Helladic era, we find murex remains both in and outside of Greece:at TroyVI, dated to about 1425 BCE(Blegen 1937),and at Hala Sultan Tekkeon
as. -it
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Remains of a large stone-cut vat, about 2 m. in diameter(below). Viewin frontof the brokenspout (above).
Cyprus, dated to the Late CyprioteIIIperiod (Reese 1987:205). Akrotiri,on Thera,has now yielded remainssuggesting "probable local production"of purple dye (Aloupi et al. 1990),dated to Late Minoan IA, ca. 1550 BCE. To this archaeologicalevidence from the Aegean, we should also add a significant epigraphic find. The Mycenaean Greek termpo-pu-re-ia 'purple'is found in severaladministrativeLinear B tabletsfrom Knossos, which deal with textile allocations. One of these tablets (KN X976) actually contains the expression wa-na-ka-te-ro po-pu-re-[I 'royal purple'. This is the first written attestationof a term which in later ages became synonymous with 'Tyrianpurple'. It is significant that this term is first attested in a Mycenaean Greek text from Knossos. The ClassicalGreekroot porphyr-is used to designate both the mollusk and its dye, but it is not an Indo-Europeanword. Astour (1965)proposed, unconvincingly to my mind, to derive this term from a Canaaniteroot *parpar meaning 'to churn, to boil'. However, the Canaaniteword for the purple mollusks was evidently hillazbn-a word of unknown origin attested only in TalmudicHebrew.The actual Phoenician terms for the shellfish and its dye are still not attested. As for the Mycenaean term porphyr-,I would suggest that this was originally a Minoan word, borrowed by the Mycenaeans when they learnedfrom the Minoansto produce the dye. It may well be that Minoan art has preserved depictions of garmentsdyed with 'royalpurple'.Probablythe best known
Minoan sarcophagus, dated to about 1450 BCE,is the one found at Hagia Triadathat illustrates elegantly dressed men and women. Theirgarments are decoratedwith purple stripes of various shades. A famous Minoan priestess figurine, 1600 also has what appearto be purple decorationson her attire, BCE, as do the dresses of the noble ladies depicted on the frescoes of Thera,about 1550 BCE. After Minoan power on Crete was supplanted by thatof the Greeks,Trojans,and the MycenaeanGreeks,about 1450BCE, the peoples of Anatolia continued to produce the purple dye. We should recall here the Homeric reference(Iliad4.141) to purple coloredivory (!)used by Maionianand Carianwomen. The Troadtradition of Tyrianpurple manufacturewas also noted by Aristotle(HistoriaAnimalium5.15.547),who mentions the waters off Sigeion, Lekton, and Caria as being rich in purple shells. The Canaanite dye industry in the Levant was certainly not a monopoly. Indeed, the Greeks, Phoenicians, and others continued to manufactureTyrianpurple throughout antiquity. By the Romanera,it was alreadyunknown who had first invented the 'royalpurple' dye, and it was only then attributed to a mythical Phoenician source and dated to the era before the Trojanwar. The archaeologicalevidencenow availablefromthe Aegean suggests that this industry was not of Mycenaean, nor of a Canaanite origin. It indicates that the Minoans on Crete and some Minoanized islanders, such as those on Kythera,were already manufacturingsea-purple in the Middle Minoan period, ca. 1750 BCE.It also seems certainthat this dye was being produced by the people of Thera at the end of the Middle Minoan era. The Mycenaeans,Trojans,Cypriotes,and Canaanitesthen continued to develop this industry in the LateHelladic period. The Bronze Age Canaanitesand their Iron Age Phoenician descendants were not the actual originatorsof this dye. It was most likely a Minoan contribution,developed before 1750BCE, which was then adopted by others, including the CanaanitePhoenicians.
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Priestess from Akrotiri fresco, Thera,ca. 1550 BCE. She boasts red and purplestripeson herdress.
Acknowledgements '.
.
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.
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'
DI
This is a revisedversion of a paperfirstreadat Citieson the Sea-Past and Present:1stInternationalSymposiumon Harbors,PortCities and CoastalTopography, Haifa,September22-29,1986;and at the 1989Annual Meetingof the AmericanSchoolsof OrientalResearch(Anaheim,CA), November21, 1989.My conclusionswerefirstreportedby TheStar-Ledger, Newark,NJ,on February8, 1982,p. 14.The fieldworkon Cretefor this paperwas made possiblewith the aid of a grantfromthe RutgersUniversityOfficeof Researchand SponsoredPrograms,to whom I should like to expressmy sinceregratitide.
.
h1r ,
Bibliography .
Aloupi, E.,et al.
foundatAkrotiri. 1990 Analysisof a PurpleMaterial Pp.488-490in TheraandtheAegeanWorldIII,Vol. 1:Archaeology.Proceedings of the ThirdInternationalCongress,Santorini,Greece
1989),editedby D.A.Hardy,et al.London:Thera (September Foundation.
Hagia Triada sarcophagus, ca. 1450 BCE, depictingfuneraryrituals. Thegarmentsof the mournersbearcoloredstripes.
BiblicalArchaeologist57:1 (1994)
53
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11
Robert R. Stieglitz received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1971. He has excavated in the U. S., Greece, and Israel and has surveyed throughout the Mediterranean world. Dr. Stieglitz is the recipient of numerous academic honors and awards and the author of some one hundred articles on the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. Formerly curator of the National Maritime Museum, Haifa, he is now excavating on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Stieglitz has taught at universities and institutes in Greece, Israel, and the United States. Currently, he is Associate Professor of Hebraic Studies at Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey.
Astour,M.C. 1965 The Originof the Terms"Canaan,""Phoenician,"and "Purple."Journalof NearEasternStudies24:346-350. Blegen,C.W. 1937 Excavationsat Troy,1937.American JournalofArchaeology 41:553-597. Bosanquet,R.C. 1904 Some 'LateMinoan'Vasesfound in Greece.JournalofHellenic Studies24:317-329. 1939-40Dikte and the Templesof DictaeanZeus. Annualof theBritish SchoolofArchaeology at Athens40:60-77. Coldstream,J.N.,et al. 1973 Kythera: Excavations andStudies.ParkRidge,NJ:Noyes. Guarducci,M. 1940 Contributialla Topografiadella CretaOrientale.Rivistadi Filologia18:99-107. Hutchinson,R.W. 1962 Prehistoric Crete.Baltimore:Penguin. Jensen,L.B. 1963 RoyalPurpleof Tyre.Journalof NearEasternStudies22:104-118. Karmon,N. and Spanier,E. 1988 Remainsof a PurpleDye IndustryFoundat TelShiqmona. IsraelExploration Journal38:184-186. Lagercrantz,O. 1913 PapyrusGraecus Holmiensis. Recepte fuerSilber,Steineund Uppsala-Leipzig. Purptur.
54
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
Note elaborately Minoan snake-goddess from Knossos,ca. 1600 BCE. decorateddresswith its faded stripes,originallyof darkblue. Papadakis,N.P. 1983 KoufonisiIsland:Delos of the LibyanSea.Archaiologia 6:58-65 (Greek,with Englishsummary). Reese,D.S. 1987 PalaikastroShells and BronzeAge Purple-DyeProduction in the Mediterranean Basin.AnnualoftheBritishSchoolof at Athens82:201-206. Archaeology Schliemann,H. 1880 Ilios:TheCityandCountryof theTrojans. London: Stieglitz,R.R. 1979 CommodityPricesat Ugarit.Journalof theAmerican OrientalSociety99:15-23. Vogler,H. 1984 Die SpurenfriiherFierbereiim Minoerreichauf Kreta. Deutscher Fierber-Kalender 88:193206. Warren,P. in Crete.TheBritish 1972 Myrtos:An EarlyBronzeAgeSettlement Schoolof Archaeologyat AthensSupplementaryVolume7. Thamesand Hudson. Ziderman,I. 1987 FirstIdentification of AuthenticTek6let. Bulletinof theAmerican Schoolsof OrientalResearch 265:25-33.
fifty may eventually be separated. Despite their state of preservation,the script remains remarkablylegible. In addition to the scrolls,carbonized basketry,textiles, copper hinges (or clasps), glass fragments, small bronze chains, and burned wooden discs were recovered from the charcoalmatrix. Biblical ArchaeThese finds indicate that the papyrus (ACORNewusletter 4:1,5:1,
Catherine Valentour,formerly of the Smithsonian Institution,and Dr. Zbigniew Fiema, chief archaeologist of the Petra Project,with the assistance of staff archaeologist Deborah Kooring. The scrolls were removed from the floor of the room adjoining the church during some three days under the threatof rain. A second lot of carbonized text rolls was removed a week later. The scrolls were examined in early January 1994 by Dr. Ludwig Koenen, the H.C. YoutieProfessorof Papyrology at the University of Michigan, and former president of the American Philological Association. His inspection revealed that they are of a type characteristic of the Byzantine period, and unroll vertically(fromtop to bottom) rather than horizontally (transversacharta). The texts are in a single column on the
[March/April]). The currentexcavation is being conducted in areas flanking the basilica in advance of the construction of a protectiveshelter over the site. The ACOR Petra Projectincludes archaeological excavation, the conservation of the recoveredmosaics,and the construction of the shelter which is currently being designed. The texts are in the form of papyrus scrolls which, when rolled, measured some 30 cm long and perhaps some 5-8 cm in diameter.Unrolledthey may have been several meters in length. The state of preservationof these firstpapyri from Petra does not compare with that of the famous Qumran scrolls. While the latter were well-preserved,the Petrascrolls were carbonizedin a firewhich destroyed the superstructureof the adjacentchurch and affected the area of the building complex where they were kept. The scrolls were found beneath nearly four meters of stone from the superstructure of the building, crushed under and between the charcoalremains of the shelving on which they had apparently been stacked. This building, like the church,collapsed in an earthquake, perhaps that which affected Petra in 551 CE.Because of their flattened and carbonized condition, the actual number of scrolls has yet to be determined. A conservative estimate suggests that
inside of the rolls,predominantlyacross the fiberof the papyrus. In two instances, scripthas been noted on both sides of the papyrus. The arrangementof the texts on the scrollsindicatesthat they aremore
News,
Notes,
Discovery
of
Papyri
and in
Reviews
Petra
ACOR Assistant Director By Glen L. Peternnman, number of papyrus texts of major significance were found at Petra in December 1993 following two months of excavationin areasimmediately adjacent to the ByzantineChurch.The church excavation of 1992 and 1993 produced spectacularmosaics in the aisles of the churchwhich have been widely reported
A
47:2 ologyReview20:1;andArchaeology
p,
,J
Excavationof the papyriin room adjacentto the basilica. Pictured (leftto right:Suleiman Mohammed,NayefZaben,Dr.ZbigniewFiema,MohammedNuweijeh,CatherineValentour; (upperright)DeborahKooring.
rolls were stored in textile "sleeves" and/or wooden "tubes"or boxes, possibly with inlaid glass decoration. The excavation of this sensational find was conducted by conservator
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
55
likelypersonalwritingssuch as sermons, letters,or contracts.Dr.Koenenhas noted in his initial investigation that "the use of this format precludes that the Petra rollsareliterarybook rolls,"such as plays or biblicalbooks. Moreover,when the churchat Petrawas in use, "liturgicalas well as literarybooks would have been written in codex form." The scripts have been identified as a cursive Greek "documentarystyle" typical of the 5th-6th century. It is now dear, througha close examinationof the handwriting, that more than one person was involved in writing them. Because the writingsareon the inside of the scrolls (they have yet to be unwrapped) the textis readableonly on isolatedpapyrus fragments. Some translatedwords seem to referto a spiritualor tangibleheritage; an agreement or contract(which confirms the documentary characterof the writings);and one word has been translatedalternativelyas "by fire"or "relatedto wheat." Another fragment
refers to a "king."Stillother fragments have yielded tracesof what may be numeric abbreviationsor documentary symbols. This suggests that some rolls may contain informationwhich could reveal the economy of the region. A non-Greek script found on some fragmentshas yet to be confidentlyidentified. It may be some form of Aramaic script or a very late form of Nabatean. The most significant fragment is translatableas "FlavianusPatriarchus." This apparently refersto Flavianus, a patriarchof Antioch. After the Synod of Siden in 512 CE,he was banished to Petraby the Byzantinemonophysite emperorAnastasiusfor alleged heresy and lived therefor the last six years of his life. The precise nature of the text in which the heretic'sname is mentioned is unknown. The documentarynatureof the script may indicate that it is a letter to or from Flavianus. This enigmatic yet significant reference from the Petra scroll collection
Ad-Deir
Petra 1. 2. 3. 4.
0.
5. 6. 7. 8.
7 .-
strengthens the suggestion that the recently excavatedbasilicamay be the seat of the bishop of PalaestinaTertia-which is known from historictexts to be located in Petra-and that the adjacentstructure in which the scrollswere found was perhaps a monastery. ACORis requestingthe financialsupport of the academic community and the privatesectorto see that these papyri receiveimmediateattention.Althoughit has been determined that the inner portions of the scrolls should be largely salvageable by modem conservation and restorationtechniques,the papyrus rolls are extremely fragile and in need of immediateconservation measures. ACOR is now assembling a committee of internationalexperts to undertake the delicatetask of conservationand is in the process of immediately raising $250,000for its estimated initial cost. We urgently request that ASOR corporate members, supporters and friends consider "adopting a scroll"through a
--S,.
ByzantineChurch Qasral-Bint GreatTemple Templeof the Winged Lions PavedStreet/ Gate PalaceTombs CityWalls TheTreasury
sCros
e
0
2
The Siq O
.5
KM
56
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
o
.
*****
4
p
ab "4k.
,L
1'
-
i
$5,000donation for emergency conservation. It is criticalthat this extraordinary glimpse into the history of the early church be preserved for scholarly researchand for future generations. Excavationsat Petra arebeing conducted by the American Center of Oriental Research(ACOR)in cooperation with the Departmentof Antiquitieswith the purpose of enhancingand broadening the touristicattractionof Petra.ACOR is supportedin the endeavorby the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Jordan. ACOR's Petra Projectis financed under a grant by the United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) in Amman. ACOR Director Dr. PierreM. Bikaibecame overall director of the PetraProjectin May 1992when its director,Dr. KennethW. Russell,died tragicallyjust as the excavationwas to begin. Dr. Russell had previously conducted archaeologicalexcavations at Petra and discovered and recorded the site in 1990. Fieldwork is being led by Dr. Zbigniew Fiema, chief archaeologist in charge of excavations, with the assistance of Mr. Suleiman Farajatof the Department of Antiquities. ACOR gratefully acknowledges the assistance of H.R.H. Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid, Chief Chamberlainof the Royal Court,former Ministersof Tourismand Antiquities, Abdul Karim Kabaritiand Yanal Hikmat, of the present minister Mohammed Affash al-Adwan, of the former Secretary-Generalof the Ministry of Tourism, Nasri Atallah, of the Director-Generalof the Department of Antiquities Dr. Safwan Tell,Dr. Ludwig Koenen of the University of Michigan, and Dr.FriedrichZink,conservatorof the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at YarmoukUniversity
Scrollfragments being removed (topphotograph) Nuweijeh, by(leftto right)Mohammed SuleimanMusa(bottomphotograph) CatherineValentour,and SuleimanMusa.'"Technical-man" with in situ carbonizedscrolls.
57:1 (1994) BiblicalArchaeologist
57
A
Tribute
to
Siegfried
H.
Horn
28,1993 17,1908-November Mawch
In Memoriam member of the AmeriAncaninvolved Schools of Oriental Research, a contributorto its Newsletter,Bulletin, and BiblicalArchaeologist,a former trustee of ACOR in Amman and its director during 1970-1971,and a former director of a CAP-approvedarchaeologicalfield projectin Jordan,SiegfriedHerbertHorn, was laid to rest in the St. Helena Cemetery on December3,1993. Dr.Horn was buried near his retirementhome in California'sNapa Valley,afterhis unexpected death five days before of complications from massive lymphoma, a condition no one knew he had. In fact, at the same time that his physicians were trying to figure out what was wrong with him, he was planning to be at the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of OrientalResearchthen taking place in Washington, DC. Eighty-fiveyearsbefore,Siegfriedhad been born to Albin and KlaraHorn in Wuerzen, Germany.Albin was one of the world's first aviators, a pilot trained by Bleriot.Klarawas a devout Seventhday Adventist Bible worker.From his parents,Siegfried inheritedboth a sense of adventure and a commitment to his church.He received his undergraduate educationat FriedensauSeminaryin Germany from 1926 to 1928, and Stanborough ParkCollege in Englandfrom 1929 to 1930. Horn's active professional life was divided into two unequal parts by six and a half years of internmentas a prisoner of war duringWorldWarII,from 1940to 1946.He was interredfirstbythe Dutch in Indonesiaand then by the English in India.From 1930 to 1940, Horn served as a minister in the Netherlands and a missionaryteacher/ administrator in the Dutch East Indies. During his internment,and indeed his whole life, it can be said of him as it was of Edward Robinson, the noted explorerof Bible 58
Biblical 57:1(1994) Archaeologist
lands, that "he used freely whatever lay open to be freely used. But he took the learning of others, whether dead or living, not for a Jacob'spillow to sleep on, but for a Jacob's ladder to climb by" (quoted in F.J. Bliss, Developmentof Palestine Exploration, p. 203). Upon gaining his freedom, Horn immigrated to the United Siegfried H. Hom (March17, 1908-November28, 1993) at States and quickly workas objectsregistrarat the dig he initiatedat TellHesban completed his formal (1973). Photocourtesyof the SiegfriedH. HornArchaeological education at the follow- Museum. ing institutions:Walla WallaCollege in WashingtonState,(B.A. probablybe best rememberedfor his role in 1947);SDA TheologicalSeminarythen as a Biblicalarchaeologist. In particular, in Washington,DC, (M.A. in 1948 with he is remembered for the influential dig he initiated and directed at Tell Hesban, a thesis,'"he TopographicalHistoryof biblical Heshbon, in Jordanduring the Palestine According to the Egyptian summers of 1968, 1971, and 1973, and AsiaticLists and OtherSources");andwhere he continued on as senior advisor after a brief stint with W. E Albright at and objectregistrarin 1974 and 1976. Johns Hopkins University-the OrienBefore this he was a core staff member tal Institute of the University of Chicin in 1951 with of the TellBalatah,biblicalShechem, dig (Ph.D. ago Egyptology in 1960,1962, and 1964,and continued, a thesis, "TheRelation Between Egypt with those he had trained,on the Madaba and Asia During the Egyptian Middle Plains Projectin Jordanright up to the Kingdom"). 1951 to Horn at the time he died. 1976, From taught In Philip J. King's history of ASOR, SDA TheologicalSeminary,firstin Washand then at Andrews American Uniington, DC, Archaeologyin theMideast in he started an archaehe (1983), remarked that versity MI. There museum named for (later him), ological was foundingeditorof AndrewsUniversity 'The archaeologyof Jordanowes an initiated the debtof gratitudeto the extraordinary SeminaryStudies, Seminary's doctoral programs,led renowned study Hesbanexpedition,especiallyforits tours to the Middle East, and authored pioneeringeffortsin manyareasof some 800 books and articles--mostly in research.... Hesban archaeological denominational periodicals. He retired was thefirsttrulyinterdisciplinary in 1976 as Seminary Dean and Profesundertakingin Jordanon a large sor Emeritusof Archaeology and Hisscale.... TheHesbanarchaeologists of deserve specialrecognitionforhaving tory Antiquity. Outside his denominationHorn will publisheda full preliminaryreport
eachseasonbeforereturningto the fieldforthe nextseason.Throughits fieldschoolHesbanhastouchedalmost everydig in Jordanby servingas the traininggroundforscoresof graduate students,severalof whom [ca.201 now directtheirown projects.... In alltheseachievements theHesbanprohas fulfilled the objecject admirably tivesof ASORas set down in ASOR's originalstatementof purposeand its laterrevision"(pp. 193,194). Horn would be the firstto recognize thatit took teamworkto accomplishthese things, but those who worked with him recognize that he deserves a great deal of the credit. It may be of interest to provide a partiallist of participantsassociatedwith the projectat TellHesbanwho areknown in the scholarly world as archaeologists or Biblicalscholars:SabriAbbadi,Abdel Samia Abu Dayya, James Battenfield, Dewey Beegle,PhyllisBird,Gazi Bisheh, Michael Blaine, Roger Boraas,Robin Brown, Reuben Bullard,Douglas Clark, Vincent Clark,RobertCoughenour, PatriciaCrawford,John Davis, Bert DeVries, Carney Gavin, Lawrence Geraty, JenniferGroot, GerhardHasel, Larry Herr,Robert Ibach,Zeidan Kafafi,Muhammad Khadija,Lutfi Khalil,Nabil Khairy,0ystein LaBianca,John Lawlor, Harold Mare, David Merling, Larry Mitchel, Eugenia Nitowski, Mogahed Mohaisin, Thomas Parker,Ghassan elRamahi,Mahmoud Rusan,JamesSauer, WilliamShea, BjomerStorfjell,Abraham Terian,Henry Thompson, Michael Toplyn, WilliamUrbrock,Lloyd Willis,BastiaanVanElderen,KennethVine,Donald Wimmer,Udo Worschech,Nathaniel Yen, Randall Younker,and Fawzi Zayyadine. When one reviews such a list, one recognizesthe wide influenceof one man who will be sorely missed in the world of Syro-Palestinianarchaeology. Colleagues have twice tried to acknowledge theirdebt to him by publishing Festschriftenin his honor. The first was TheArchaeologyof Jordanand Other Studies,edited by L. T. Geraty and L. G. Herr (BerrienSprings,MI:Andrews UniversityPress,1986).The second is in press: TellHesbanAfter25 Years:Continuityand
PlainsofJordan, Changeon theMadaba only when it has ended in death. Death editedby L.T.GeratyandDavidMerling not merely ends life, it also bestows (BerrienSprings, MI:Andrews University Press, 1994). It seems appropriateto recall the words of Hannah Arendt: "Human life, because it is marked by a beginning and an end, becomes whole, an entirety in itself that can be subjectedto judgment
upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are subject."That being so, Siegfried Horn's life is now whole and complete. Those of us who knew him are the richer for it.
Lawrence T.Geraty
NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAE OLOGI ST Editor ROGERW. MOELLER
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BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
59
Some and
In
Ivories on the Samaria Remarks other Iconographic Resources whichappeared winged sphinxes decorate a box on the a stimulating article
in a recent issue of this journal,Eleanor FerrisBeach used the Samaria ivories as iconographic resources for initself and for exterpretingthe marzead plainingbiblicalpassagesthatmight have been influencedby it. The remarksmade below respond to art-historicalmatters touched upon in the article. Beach singled out several motifs found on the Samariaivories: woman at the window, human-headed sphinx, cow and calf, winged figure holding a flower. In the art of ancient Egypt, the wingless sphinx representsthe Pharaoh (Pritchard1969:nos. 386, 393). Glyptic and sculptural evidence suggest that, in the second millennium BCE,the adaptation of the Egyptian sphinx with the addition of wings may have originated in Anatolia, ratherthan Syria (Canby 1975:234).During that period, both male and female sphinxes occurred. In Beach'sdescriptionof the banquet scene on the wall relief from Ashurbanipal's North Palace at Nineveh (1993:96), she states that "the woman at the window and lions adorn the couch, and
table between king and lady."Photographs of those carved decorations on the assyrianstone relief,takenby the present writerand reproducedin this article, disclose that the above-quoted description requiresmodification. The woman at the window motif does not occuron the squarepanelsattachedto the king's couch. Rather,each panel shows a pair of personages en face;a column stands between them.The human figures(attendants?) are posed with their right arms lowered and their left arms held across the waist. Below each figural grouping is a row of threecolumns. The small box (pyxis) set upon the table is decorated not with sphinxes, but with two winged human-headed bulls arranged back-toback. Iconographically,the bovine creature was a prerogativeof the Assyrian king and had symbolic significance (Albenda 1986:101-102).It should also be mentionedthatthe smalllions which embellish the royal couch may allude to the efficacy of the Assyrian king, since those animalswere the objectof the royal hunt (Barnett1976:pls. VII-XIII,L-LIII).
Thus the carved images which decorate the couch and box belong appropriately to the male sphere, in particularthat portion reserved for Assyrian kingship. To the corpus of furniturewith ivory decoration discovered at Assyrian sites, listed in Beach'sarticle,the assemblage discovered at FortShalmanesermust be added. These ivory panels were found conjoinedin theiroriginalsettingas component partsof stackedfurniture,all of which may have been chairs(Mallowan and Herrmann1974:3-9).One group of ivories shows females engaged in banquets at tables with food and drink; several ladies hold discs, and in one instance a lady is shown spinning. On four of the panels, a sphinx appears beneath the chair;however,Mallowan and Herrmann argue that these animals are male (1974:91-93).The authors examine the theme of the banquet in great detail and note several iconographictraditionsand interpretations(1974:11-16).Mallowan and Hermann conclude that, possibly, the assemblage of ivory panels were executed for the adornment of the queens' thrones that were intended for use in their apartments.
Bibliography
Albenda,P. 1986 ThePalaceof Sargon,KingofAssyria.
Series:Synthbses No. 22.Paris:EdisurlesCivilisations. tionsRecherches
Barnett,W. 1976 Sculptures fromtheNorthPalaceof at Nineveh(668-627BC). Ashurbanipal London:BritishMuseum Publications.
BeachE.E 1993 The SamariaIvories,Marzeakand BiblicalTexts.BiblicalArchaeologist 56:94-104.
Canby,J.V. 1975 TheWalters GalleryCappadocian TabletandtheSphinxin Anatoliain theSecondMillennium BC.Journal of NearEasternStudies34:225-48.
G. Mallowan, M.,andHerrmnann, 1974 Furniture fromSW.7FortShalmaneser.
Series:IvoriesfromNimrud(19491963).FasciculeIll. London:British
The royal banquet scene on a wall relief of Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE)was discovered fallenfrom an upperchamberinto room S of that Assyrianking'sNorthPalaceat Nineveh.The stone reliefis presentlyexhibitedin the BritishMuseum(124920). Twodetailsare shown: (left), squarepaneldecoratedwith motifs in two registers,attachedto a leg of the king'scouch;(right), the smallbox carvedwith two winged human-headedbullsstandingback-to-back.Theobject is set upon a table located in front of the banquetingking.
60
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
in Iraq. Schoolof Archaeology Pritchard, J.B. RelatNearEastinPictures 1969 TheAncient SecondEdiing to theOldTestament. tion with supplement.Princeton: PrincetonUniversityPress.
PaulineAlbenda Brooklyn, New York
benefitted beginners. These include a glossary of key terms, a ScriptureIndex, and more and bettermaps. Actuallythere are only two maps, and they do not depict the topographical features of either Israelor Jordan.The firstprintingomitted page 80 and had several typographical errors.Fortunately,the second printing Handbook has alreadycorrectedthese problems. Though this book does not focus Walter 221 E. By pp. Philadelphia: Rast, directlyon the Bible,everyone interested Press in the Bible and archaeology will bene$15.95 1992; Trinity International, fit from it. In fact, Rast wisely includes (paper). both prebiblicaland postbiblicalperiods to increasethe usefulness of the volume. alterRastis well qualifiedto write Overall, the coverage is balanced, accuthis introduction. He is a field rate, and up-to-date. Therefore,it is a editor of The Bulletin archaeologist,past of pleasure to recommend this handy volTheAmerican Oriental Schools Research, ume as the best popular introductionto of The of Palestinean archaeology currently author/editor Expedition of the Dead Sea Plain Series, and teacher of available. In this he book covers undergraduates. Palestinian archaeology in 14 chapters. JamesC.Moyer The firstthreechaptersintroducearchae- Southwest Missouri State University ology, the land of Palestine (both Israel and Jordan),and the dating processes used by archaeologists. Chapters 4 through 14 cover the history and archaeThe World Social of ology of Palestine from the Stone Age to Islamic the (Chapter4) period (ChapModels for Luke-Acts: ter 14).A brief Epilogue, select Bibliogand the raphy, generalIndex conclude volume. This book can be highly recommendEdited by JeromeNeyrey, xviii + 436 ed as a textbook for beginning students pp. Peabody,MA:Hendrickson or an introductionfor nonspecialistsbePublishers, 1991; $19.95. cause most of it is written in an interesting fashion without technicaljargon. Chaptersaverageabout 15pages and are divided into brief units for easier readhis book contains a remarkableseries of essays prepared by a group ing. Rast employs a helpful pedagogical device, i.e., an occasionalparagraph, of scholars who named themselves The set off from the rest of the text, that sumContext Group. Their objective was to marizes essential information or lists develop a new rubric for studying the socialcontextof the Mediterraneanworld relevant chronological periods. For as reflected by biblical writers. Little example, the first of these paragraphs on page 2 explains three archaeological effortwas made to reconstructthis world terms: stratigraphy,typology, and balk. through the use of archaeological,epiThe bibliography includes many less graphic, artistic,papyrological, numismatic, or literaryevidence. Rather,an technicaljournalarticles(including sevendeavor was made to produce a handeral from BiblicalArchaeologist) and book containing basic social scientific annotates the most general books. A limited number of drawings, black and perspectives needed for "a historicalsocial reading of a first century Mediterwhite photos, and maps are also helpranean, biblical document" (p. xi). The ful for beginners. Still, there are several work itself is both insightful and conadditional features that would have
The Through in Palestinian Ages Archaeology: An Introductory
lA
Interpretation.
troversial. Although the articles in this book deal with Luke-Acts,the authors maintain that the same principlesmay be applied to other biblical materials as well. Luke-Actswas selected because, as John Elliott writes, '"Moredetail on the persons, groups, institutions, places, dates, and events surrounding Jesus and the early Christianmovement is contained here than in any other writing of the New Testament"(p. 210). Essentially,the essays examine the social and cultural patterns and processes of primary concern to the original audience.The approachis broadlysociological ratherthan historical.The authors pose a new set of questionsand thereby provide us with innovative insights into the Lucan material. Rather than identifying the author or his community, VernonK. Robbinsasks, "Whatcan we know about the social location of the thought of the implied author?"(p. 331). His answer is well worth reading. Other patterns studied are the countryside in Luke-Acts (by Douglas E. Oakman); sickness and healing (by John J. Pilch);honor and shame, first century personality, labelling and deviance theory(thesethreeby BruceJ.Malina and JeromeH. Neyrey);patron-client relations and the new community (Halvor Moxnes);the symbolic universe (Jerome Neyrey); rituals of status transformation (MarkMcVann);and meals and table fellowship (Neyrey). At points the titles of the chapters seem misleading. Forinstance,'"ThePreindustrialCity in Luke-Acts:UrbanSocial Relations" (by RichardRohrbaugh), proposes a model of an ancient urban system and applies it to the parable of the Great Feast in Luke 14:15-24.Rohrbaugh rightly deplores the anachronistic practiceof ascribing to ancient city life certain features of modern urban existence. Yet his paradigm fails to take into account much of the archaeological and epigraphic evidence for the complexity of cities and the ancient literary descriptions of city life in the first century CE(those of Dio Chyrsostom, Apuleius, Philostratus,and Josephus, to name a few). The essay does not in fact deal with Luke's view of the intel-
BiblicalArchaeologist57:1 (1994)
61
lectual life of Athens (Acts 17:17-21),nor of the passionate loyalties of the artisan members in a guild of Ephesus (Acts 19: 23-40),nor of the civic power of women in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:50),nor yet of the complexities of the religious establishment and the common people in Jerusalem.On the other hand, the authorincludes valuable materialabout social conventionsin firstcenturyPalestinian towns, including the significance of extending a second invitation. The models, though arrestingand stimulating,aresometimesoverly streamlined. Importantconsiderationsare omitted in a way which may impair our overall grasp of the subjectmatter.For instance, a most interesting polarity is developed between temple and household; and it is indeed a helpful framework from which to view the drama played out in Luke-Acts. Little is said, however, of the influence of the synagogues and of the piety which developed around them, though these houses of worship appearno less than thirty-three times in LukeActs. The Pharisees are viewed in theirattachmentto the temple ratherthan in theirfarbroaderrealm in the synagogues. Much is made of the privatesphere of women as over against the public sphere of men. "Honor"for a man consists in aggrandizing his public reputation, while for a woman it consists of "shame,"involving "sexual exclusiveness, discretion, shyness, restraint,and timidity"(p. 42).Yetin Luke-Actswomen are praised for theirpiety,faith,generosity, devotion, and positive response to the Gospel, ratherthan for their compliance with accepted social norms. Although Malina and Neyrey identify five examples in which women appear as 'properly'placed in the home, thereare many more instances of their appearance in public. The reader is invited to speculate as to the "shame"of Lydia, the seller of purple, "who is not identified as the wife of so-and-so"(p. 62).Yet historical and literaryevidence demonstratesthat some respectablewomen in certainsegments of the population functioned quite independentlyof men, managed their own businesses, and had considerable liberty to move about in 62
BiblicalArchaeologist57:1 (1994)
the outside world. The authors provide a fine analysis of Jesus' applause for certain women who invade the public sphere. Particularlyfascinating is the suggestion that the women described as e6otiovoc (of high standing)in Acts 13:50;17:2,14 "mightbe suggesting that Christianitywas attractiveto shameconsciouswomen, thatis, women whose reputations were spotless" (p. 64). If the paradigms at times seem too doctrinaireand too confining as tools for interpretingearly Christiandocuments, they are at the same time stimulating and productive in plowing new fields of New Testamentstudy.
Catherine C.Kroeger Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Dead Sea Scrolls The First Uncovered: Translation Complete and Interpretation of 50 Key Documents for over 35 Withheld Years The
By RobertEisenman and Michael Wise, 286 pp. Rockport,Mass:Element, 1992; $24.95.
Since
theirdiscoveryin 1948the Dead
Sea Scrolls have been the subjectof heated controversies.In the first forty years the controversiesrevolved around their identification.Thereis hardlya candidate, possible or impossible, or even the most preposterous, which has not been suggested as the authorand owner of the Scrolls.Indeed, the man who was the first to identify these manuscripts, E. L. Sukenik, proposed, barely two months after they came into his possession, to ascribethem to the Essenes, and within a shorttime thisascriptionbecame a consensus. Yet there are still scholars
who disagree and suggest candidates of their own. In recentyearsa new controversyhas erupted:what is the right policy of publishing the Scrolls?Shouldthe remainder of the documents be entrustedto certain scholars or should the whole lot be open to everyone? In September 1991,this polemic was resolved. The Huntington Libraryannounced thatwhoever wanted to could get printsof unpublishedScrolls. In Washington, D.C., two volumes of facsimileswere published,and soon the Israel Antiquities Authority followed suit and agreedto supply printsto everyone. Those that thought the controversies were behind us were proven wrong. The book under review raises questions of scholarlystandards-in decipherment, reading, and interpretation.Reading its title, the naive reader may think that only now are the Scrolls starting to be published, but this is not the case. Thus far 80%of the Scrollshave already been published (both by word count and by square inches), and only 20%are still awaiting publication.But the charge of disingenuityis even worse-abouthalf of the texts in this book have been fully published and another quarterwere publishedin a preliminarymanner.Thus the new material in this book does not exceed one quarter.Furthermore,in a letter signed by 19 of the world's leading Dead Sea scholars (from England, France,Holland,Hungary,and the USA), it was claimed that the authors of this book helped themselvesto the published material without acknowledging their sources. The only credit given is the inadequateexpression"formerdiscussion." No mention is made of reading, interpretation, and translation (often with a thoroughintroduction)exceptthe anemic and misleading "formerdiscussion." The interpretionof the material is also problematic.Professor Eisenman has made a name for himself as the propagator of the theory that the Scrolls are of Christianorigin, i.e., the Teacherof Righteousness is none other than James the brotherof the Lord,etc. One can cite innumerable reasons why Eisenman's theory should not be taken seriously, but one will suffice. Radiocarbontests taken recently proved that the bulk of
the Scrolls were not only composed, but copied before the Christianera. It is a small wonder that Eisenman was not able to convince even his coauthor of this theory as they both admit (page 7). Wise ascribes the libraryof Qumran to the Zealots.What they agree about is that the Scrolls have to do with a messianic movement. This is a meaningless distinction-at that time practically all Jews believed in the coming of the Messiah. Moreover, the number of Scrolls dealing with messianic themes is proportionately small-only about two dozen from a total of six hundred non-biblicalmanuscripts. One quarterof the texts in our book were deciphered and interpretedby the authors.Let us bring as an example one of these, a text Eisenmanand Wise chose to call "He Loved His Bodily Emission." According to them, it deals with a certain man by the name of Hananiah Nitos (in fact it is Nothos, a nickname that means "bastard"in Greek).Among his other misdemeanors,this Hananiah had scatologicaltendencies. These were so registeredin the recordsof the Mebakker (the Scrollsterm for overseeer)or bishop (here one sees Eisenman's predilection for Christianterminology).All this salacious interpretationis based on the readingof two words shefekhbesaro,an expression that has no more meaning in Hebrew than the English, 'shedding of his flesh.' Indeed, the text reads sher besaro, i.e.,this man was in love with his relative!And this is the end of disturbed Hananiah. It would be interesting to know what a Qumranite would think of this review. This is a difficult thing to imagine-not only due to the time differential,but also because a member of this community (an Essene according to our view) would have nothing to do with outsiders. But if it could happen he would have probably smiled and said, "How odd, the battle of the Children of Light against the Children of Darkness is still going on!" Magen Broshi The Israel Museum
mise under Neo-Babylonian rule. General readers should appreciate Bierling'sinclusion of pertinent ideas Due: and principal objects.He mentions that water resources,high ground, and close on the proximity to well-traveled thoroughfares appealed to settlers in antiquity Philistines (pages 36-38). The Phaistos Disk from an anthropoidcoffinlid fromBethCrete, Grand Rapids By Neal Bierling, 281 pp. and an Ashdoda figurine from Shean, MIEBaker Book House, 1992; $14.95 Palestine are among the photos. Line (paper). drawings of reliefs or reconstructions are also incorporated.Bierlingrefers to Egyptiantexts connectingthe Philistines Scholastic scrutinyhas been rigorously to invading Sea Peoples, as depicted in reliefsfromthe Ramessideeraat Medinetapplied to the Philistinesover the last decade. Affinities between them and Habu, and cites parallels between Homer's Iliadand I Samuel.The 7th cenor Anatolian continue peoples Aegean to come to light through the analysis of tury Assyrian exploitationof TelMiqneEkmn'solive oil industryis noted. He remainsfrom artifactualand architectural reviews pottery style development from excavations in Palestine, Anatolia, and island sites of the Mediterranean.The key Philistine sites. With three photos he shows imported CypriotMycenaean Philistines are considered to be one element of a general wave of people who IIIBware and its successors:Mycenaean the Late IIIB:IC Wareand Philistine bichrome to the Levant migrated during ware (pages 39-41). Through photos Bronze/early Iron Age transition,i.e., and text he highlights various sites, inNeal the 13th and 12thcenturiesBCE. much of this has summarized cluding Gezer, Arad, Lachish, Ziklag, Bierling researchin the present work. In a book Troy,and Tel Miqne-Ekronas they help designed for the "armchairarchaeologist" tell the Philistine story.He also provides he delivers the more salient and pubcommentary on items ranging from bovine scapula(page 88) to pim weights lished ideas pertinent to Philistine origination and territorialexpansion. He (page 143). The book condenses many recent utilizes scholars' commentary,excavastudies of the Philistines into a report tion results, the biblical text, and extraformat. In six of eight chapters Bierling biblical material to achieve this. This illuminates the Philistines through bibbook sheds its "new archaeological lical references.This is supplemented light on the Philistines"by focusing the with extra-biblicalsources and archaeowork of various scholars together into a concentratedbeam illuminating the logical data. However, too often he leans towardshis own predilections(page 130). Philistine question. He uses archaeologyto buttressthe idea The Old Testamentprovides the of the Bible's veracity (page 244), and basis for the brief overview in chapter he anachronisticallyrefers to Philistine 1. Chapter 2 features assessments and "city-states"centuries before the Greek glimpses of the work completed at Tel Miqne-Ekron.Thischapterincludesmaps, model (page 24). Severaladditionalphotos of the scattered ceramic finds would an isometric of the tell, photos, drawhave shown more clearly the style and ings, and personal comments from the motif similaritiesbetween Philistine biauthor's experience at the site. His perchrome ware and its antecedents. sonal experiences make this the freshest chapter in the book. Chapter 3 on Considering the mass of data BierPhilistineorigins provides a synopsis of ling reviews, this reader expected more of a conclusionthan "we also now underliteraryarchaeologicalmaterial relative stand that God used these 'pagans' not to the Philistines. Chapters 4-8 use the Old Testamentfor sequencing the Philisonly to test but also to preservehis peotines from the time of Joshuato their deple at various times throughout the Iron
Giving
His Goliath New Archae-
ologicalLight
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
63
I and Iron II periods" (page 249). The readershould gain from the author'senthusiasm, but his efforts would carry greaterweight and authorityif he himself were listed among the contributorsin the bibliography.
PaulSchreiber Flagstaff,Arizona
and
Religon in
Ancient
Culture Israel
ByJ. Andrew Dearman,xv + 281 pp. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992; $19.95.
andCulturein AncientIsrael
ReligionAndrew Dearman combines a
by J. history of Israel (1-124)with an introduction to the Old Testament(125-263). Both provide good basic coverage of the materialnecessaryfor an introductory course.The historyprofilespremonarchic Israel(11-50),the monarchy (51-99),and postexilic Israel (100-124).The introduction analyzes Deuteronomy (125-52); Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel (153-198);Proverbs,Job,and Ecclesiastes(199-227);and Daniel (22864). Its language is readable and inclusive. Its documentationis thoroughwith concise summaries of standard works, generous referencesto German sources, and an index for modem authorsand for texts (269-81).Unfortunately,the bibliography (265-8)is selective,thereis no subjectindex, and the lack of art work impairsDearman'sconsistentlysolid use of archaeology.The historydemonstrates Dearman'sabilityto breakthrough standard interpretations,and, at the same time, the need for all of us to addressthe ramificationsof these ways of talking about the text and its times. ForDearian, religionand cultureare inseparable (3-8), yet his title and text often imply they are distinct.He emphasizes that the land had a formative influence on Israel'sdevelopment and that Genesis is its unique claim to that land
64
BiblicalArchaeologist 57:1 (1994)
(Wilson1977),yet he stilluses Buccellati's theory (1967)of Israelas a nation-state named for a people, and not a land. His archaeology clearly shows that the Hebrews' materialremains are indistinguishable from Canaanite remains (33), and that the Hebrews were not nomads or new inhabitants,but insiders in MB Syria-Palestinefrom which they emigrated in the wake of the turmoil which destroyed it (34). Yethe does not well explain why they described themselves as outsiders who crossed over (Hebrew: 'br).And finally,for Dearman,Israelwas not monotheistic,yet he does not dearly explain the distinctionsbetween Israel's denial of the existence of all gods except one (36), on the one hand, and, on the other, its worship of God of the Fathers (Alt 1968) as the El of particularsanctuariesin the land, and as the Yahwehwho promised to be (Hebrew:haya)Israel's divine patron (Hos 1:8-9;Exod 6:2-8). Dearman's six-part survey of Israel as a monarchy includes some provocative interpretationsof tell and text. For example, if the Kuntillet 'Ajrudinscriptions do not interpretthe drawings alongside them, then "Yahwehand the asherah"can be read like "Yahwehand the Temple"or "Yahwehand the ark of the covenant" (80-3).Asherah is architecture or artwork, not the godmother. And, although he does not pursue how it might influence readings of Ajalon (osh 10:12),Elijah(1 Kgs 17-21),Samson (Judg 13-15),and Ezekiel (Ezek 8:16), Dearmanrightlylaments that astronomy is a sorely understudiedaspect of Israel's culture (96). By combining the exilic and post-exilicperiods,Dearmanmakes the noteworthy assumption that neither the fall of Babylon to Cyrus in 537 BCE, nor the fall of Syria-Palestineto Alexander in 333 BCEhad as significant an impact on the religion and cultureof Israel as many histories of Israelpropose. But he unnecessarily limits his treatmentof the exile to three paragraphs (100) and is overly dependent on Hengel (1986)to describeIsrael'sHellenisticperiod (114). Religionand Culturein AncientIsrael provides many basicchanges to the standard classroom interpretationsof Israel and the Bible given today by archaeologists, anthropologists, and narrative
critics.The outcome is refreshing.This is not simply an update of the textbooks thathave servedus well. It is a new genre and a fine text for today'suniversityand seminary classrooms.
Bibliography
Alt,A.
1968 The God of the Fathers.Pp. 3-86in Essayson OldTestament Historyand Religion.GardenCity:Doubleday.
G. Buccellati,
1967 CitiesandNationsofAncientSyria. Studi Semitic26;Rome:University of Rome.
Hengel,M.
1974 JudaismandHellenism:Studiesin Their Encounterin PalestineduringtheEarly HellenisticPeriod.Philadelphia:
Fortress Press.
Wilson,R.R. andHistoryin theBiblical 1977 Genealogy World.New Haven:YaleUniversity.
DonC.Benjamin Rice University
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