A Babylon Calendar Treatise: Scholars and Invaders in the Late First Millennium BC - Edited with Introduction, Commentary, and Cuneiform Texts (Hardcover)

This volume publishes in full for the first time all known cuneiform manuscripts of an Akkadian calendar treatise that is unified by the theme of Babylonia's invasion. It was composed in the milieu of Marduk's Esagil temple in Babylon, probably in the Hellenistic period before c. 170 BC. Esagil rituals are presented as essential to protect Babylonia, and specifically Marduk's principal cult statue, from foreign attack. The treatise builds the case by drawing on traditional and late Babylonian cuneiform scholarship, including astronomy-astrology, accounts of warfare with Elam and Assyria, battle myths of Marduk and Ninurta, and wordplay. Calendrical sections contain an amalgam of apotropaic ritual against invasion, astrological omens of invasion as ritual triggers, past conflicts as historical precedent, divine combatants representing human foes, and sophisticated exegesis. The work is partially preserved on damaged clay tablets in the British Museum's Babylonian collection and the volume presents hand-drawn cuneiform copies, a composite edition, and a manuscript score. A comprehensive contextualizing introduction provides readers in a range of fields - including Assyriology, classics and ancient history, ancient Iranian studies, Biblical studies, and ancient astronomy and astrology - with a key overview of topics in Mesopotamian scholarship, the manuscripts themselves, and their language and orthography. A detailed commentary explores how the treatise aims to demonstrate the critical importance of the traditional Esagil temple in Babylon for the security of Babylonia and its later imperial rulers.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	November 2019
Authors:	Frances Reynolds (Shillito Fellow in Assyriology in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, and Fellow and Tutor in Oriental Studies)
Dimensions:	251 x 195 x 35mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	496
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-953994-9
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Language & linguistics > Historical & comparative linguistics > General Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > Classical, early & medieval Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Essays, journals, letters & other prose works > Classical, early & medieval Books > Humanities > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Pre-Christian European & Mediterranean religions > General Books > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Pre-Christian European & Mediterranean religions > General Promotions
LSN:	0-19-953994-4
Barcode:	9780199539949

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!