Formation, Organization and Development of Iron Age Societies: A Comparative View. Proceedings from ICAANE, Vienna, Austria April 25-29, 2016, 2020
The study of southern Levantine Iron Age inscriptions is predominantly tied to questions about th... more The study of southern Levantine Iron Age inscriptions is predominantly tied to questions about the rise and evolution of West Semitic speaking states, in particular, the genesis of the monarchies of Israel and Judah. Scholarly debates about how to define literacy and describe the process of script evolution and standardisation inform the analysis of the inscriptional record and understanding about these ancient societies. More recent work in the study of literacy shies away from rigid definitions of literacy (e.g., literate or non-literate) and the tendency to limit the audience of texts to a reading audience. Rather, the production and meaning of texts are understood to be bound to the broader communities in which texts operate as well as their social practices. Such approaches have the advantage of highlighting the diverse functions of Iron Age inscriptions and their inherent multimodality. The following paper offers a summary of the extant scholarship on the development of the West Semitic linear script (also known as the Canaanite alphabet), and how it informs the study of southern Levantine Iron Age inscriptions. I then argue for the value of increased engagement with social-semiotic approaches to the study of writing. Such scholarship offers insights into old ‘problems’, such as the complex history of linear alphabetic writing and the gaps in the epigraphic record; such approaches also resolve some of the methodological challenges inherent in using inscriptions to study ancient literacy practices or to gauge socio-political complexity.The study of inscriptions in the Iron Age Levant is tied to questions about the evolution of the early Iron Age states. Scholarly ideologies about literacy and the process of script evolution and standardization inform the analysis of the inscriptional record and understandings about ancient societies. Recent work in the study of literacy shies away from the binary models (e.g., literate or non-literate) or assumptions about the correlation between the role of writing and a given group’s social complexity. Yet, these views are still pervasive in the study of the ancient Levant. The following offers a summary of the extant scholarship and the methodologies underlying them, and proposes engagement with new methodologies that will pave a way forward in the study of Iron Age inscriptions.
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Papers by Alice Mandell
tried to speak clearly to their scribal peers in Egypt through the medium of their scribal craft. (For the whole article, please contact me).
in the Ancient Levant and in the Hebrew Bible
culture in the study of Early Alphabetic inscriptions. I engage with recent writings in
sociolinguistics, new literacy studies, and multimodality theory to address the ways
in which the design, choice in script, and socio-cultural settings of ancient inscriptions
informed their meaning. I address the use of the early alphabetic script on the
Lachish Ewer and Kefar Veradim Bowl as a means of marking group membership.
Keywords: Early Alphabetic Inscriptions, Multimodality, Lachish Ewer, Kefar Veradim
Bowl
to writing might be applied in a meaningful way to the study of NWS
monumental inscriptions. We offer a summary of recent scholarship in
the studies of sociolinguistics and visual design that form heuristic tools
for analyzing such inscriptions, with a focus upon inscriptions embedded
into architectonic structures.
tried to speak clearly to their scribal peers in Egypt through the medium of their scribal craft. (For the whole article, please contact me).
in the Ancient Levant and in the Hebrew Bible
culture in the study of Early Alphabetic inscriptions. I engage with recent writings in
sociolinguistics, new literacy studies, and multimodality theory to address the ways
in which the design, choice in script, and socio-cultural settings of ancient inscriptions
informed their meaning. I address the use of the early alphabetic script on the
Lachish Ewer and Kefar Veradim Bowl as a means of marking group membership.
Keywords: Early Alphabetic Inscriptions, Multimodality, Lachish Ewer, Kefar Veradim
Bowl
to writing might be applied in a meaningful way to the study of NWS
monumental inscriptions. We offer a summary of recent scholarship in
the studies of sociolinguistics and visual design that form heuristic tools
for analyzing such inscriptions, with a focus upon inscriptions embedded
into architectonic structures.
The Canaanite scribes writing for the rulers of Tyre, Byblos, Jerusalem, and Shechem employed West Semitic expressions, metaphors, and proverbial sayings to enrich their letters. Past scholarship has proposed that such formulaic phrases were based upon expressions drawn from oral culture, which were then used in scribal training. This model has also been used to explain the origins of Israelite scribal training in the subsequent Iron Age. According to this view, scribes collected and preserved proverbial sayings and parables. In turn, proverbs and other “wisdom” literatures became a cornerstone of scribal training, drawing upon parallels in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Accordingly, texts such as the Gezer Calendar, the biblical acrostics, Proverbs, as well as the reference to the collection of proverbs in Prov. 25:1, are understood as evidence for the scribal origins of Israelite “wisdom” literature, or at the very least, its centrality to scribal education. The corpus of West Semitic texts from the Late Bronze Age offers insight into the use of proverbs in scribal practice, such as in the composition of letters and in the crafting of political arguments. I will offer a reassessment of the use of proverbs in scribal training in the Canaanite Amarna Letters and neighboring corpora. I will also discuss the use of proverbs outside of the book of Proverbs (e.g., in texts such as Habakkuk 2) to craft a political or religious argument. A comparison of these corpora elucidates the ways in which scribes harnessed such oral expressions to create compelling arguments that drew upon a shared cultural understanding. The use of proverbial language appealed to the authoritative nature of oral culture. In particular, the Canaanite Amarna letters elucidate how this facet of oral culture was harnessed and textualized by West Semitic scribes, and establishes a degree of continuity with scribal culture in the subsequent period.
The adoption formula in biblical literature has been discussed primarily in relation to the dynastic promise to David and its echoes in the Covenant Formula whereby YHWH, too, adopts Israel. This formula is typically understood as a technical legal formula that found its way into Israelite literature from ancient Near Eastern legal traditions and treaties—the assumption being that this was a textual borrowing. However, the adoption formula was a well-known performative utterance that was repurposed by Israelite prophets, political, and religious leaders in oral and written contexts. The language of adoption in biblical literature evolved from oral statements associated with the making and breaking of kinship ties and obligations, which became a means of expressing political alliances between elites in the ancient Near East. The diverse reconfigurations of the language of adoption (in P, the Deuteronomistic history, Psalms, and the prophets) did not draw upon one particular written genre, text, or stream of tradition per se, but had a wide range of cultural associations. It is argued here that the performance and ritual inherent to kinship making and renunciation were also central to the adoption of the adoption formula into biblical literature. That is, the oral and performative nature of adoption in the ancient Near East is at the heart of why the language of adoption and renunciation was so appealing as a metaphor for YHWH’s relationship with the monarchy and Israel.
The adoption formula in biblical texts has been discussed primarily in relation to the dynastic promise to David, whereby members of the Davidic line derived legitimacy as the adopted sons of YHWH. The claim to divine paternity is a well-established phenomenon in ANE literature that is well attested in royal propaganda and commemorative texts from all periods. The adoption formula is typically approached as a textual tradition that finds its way into biblical literature from Mesopotamian legal traditions—the assumption being that this was a textual borrowing. However, as will be demonstrated, the adoption formula was essentially an oral formulation that was incorporated into a plurality of genres that include legal, narrative, liturgical, and prophetic texts. I first examine the use of this oral formula in Mesopotamian texts and then discuss its various reformulations in the Hebrew Bible. I argue that use of the adoption formula in biblical literature did not draw upon one particular written law or text, but rather upon the general knowledge of this formula in Israelite culture. The adoption formula was widely known as an oral formulation that was associated with family law, and the familial obligations, feuds, and inheritance protocols that were a part of daily life in Israel and Judah. This formula was then re-contextualized in biblical literature as a metaphor for YHWH’s adoption and consequent rejection of the monarchy and Israel as a whole.