Predicting the Past in the Ancient Near East: Mantic Historiography in Ancient Mesopotamia, Judah, and the Mediterranean World

317 Pages·2012·2.28 MB·English

by  Matthew Neujahr

PREDICTING THE
PAST IN THE
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Mantic Historiography in Ancient
Mesopotamia, Judah, and the
Mediterranean World
Matthew Neujahr
Brown Judaic Studies 354
PREDICTING THE PAST
IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Program in Judaic Studies
Brown University
Box 1826
Providence, RI 02912
BROWN JUDAIC STUDIES
Edited by
David C. Jacobson
Ross S. Kraemer
Maud Mandel
Saul M. Olyan
Michael L. Satlow
Adam Teller
Number 354
PREDICTING THE PAST IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Mantic Historiography in Ancient Mesopotamia,
Judah, and the Mediterranean World
by
Matthew Neujahr
PREDICTING THE PAST
IN THE
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
MANTIC HISTORIOGRAPHY IN
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA, JUDAH,
AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
Matt hew Neujahr
Brown Judaic Studies
Providence, Rhode Island
© 2012 Brown University. All rights reserved.
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Offi ce, Program in Judaic Studies, Brown University, Box 1826, Providence, RI
02912, USA.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neujahr, Matt hew.
  Predicting the past in the ancient Near East : mantic
 historiography in ancient Mesopotamia, Judah, and the Mediterranean world /
 by Matt hew Neujahr.
   pages cm. — (Brown Judaic studies ; number 354)
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978-1-930675-80-3 (cloth binding : alk. paper)
  1. Prophecy in literature. 2. Assyro-Babylonian literature—Relation to the
 Old Testament. 3. Assyro-Babylonian literature—History and criticism.
 4. Bible. O.T.—History of contemporary events. 5. Middle East—Civilization—
 To 622. I. Title.
 BS1184.N48 2012
 939.4’02072—dc23
2012039617
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1 • Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Of Prophecies and Prophets, Predictions and Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Akkadian Ex Eventu Texts: Their Recovery and
History of Scholarship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Akkadian Ex Eventu Texts within
Mesopotamian Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Ex Eventu Predictions in Late Second Temple Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 •  The Akkadian Ex Eventu Compositions: Texts, Notes,
and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Ex Eventu (Prophecy) Text A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Transliteration and Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Textual Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Marduk Prophecy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Transliteration and Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  Textual Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The Shulgi Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Transliteration and Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Textual Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
  Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The Uruk Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
  Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
  Transliteration and Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
vi  Contents
  Textual Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
  Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Dynastic Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
  Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
  Transliteration and Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
  Textual Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
  Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Notes on the Ideology of the Akkadian Ex Eventu Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
  Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
  Kingship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
  Scribal Discourses Combined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3 •  The Genre Problem: Ancient Contexts
and Modern Categories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Genre and the Categorization of Texts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
  Genre and the Study of Ancient Near Eastern Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
  Approaching Genre in the Study
  of the Akkadian Ex Eventu Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The Akkadian Ex Eventu Texts in the Context
of Mesopotamian Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
  1. Mesopotamian Omen Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
  2. So-called Historical Omens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
  3. Prophecy Text B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
  4. The Fürstenspiegel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
  5. The Historiographic Tradition: Chronicles, King Lists, etc.. . . . . 98
  6. Prophecies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
  7. First-Person Narrative Compositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The Genre(s) of the Akkadian Ex Eventu Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
  Suggested Genres. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
  Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Akkadian Ex Eventu Texts in Their
Greater Near Eastern Context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4 •  Daniel and 1 Enoch: Ex Eventu Prediction
in the Early Historical Apocalypses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The Book of Daniel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
  Background and Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
  Daniel 8: Symbolic Vision, Angelic Interpretation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
  Daniel 9: The Explicit Re-use of Native Mantic Texts . . . . . . . . . . 125
  Daniel 2 and 7: Ex eventu Prediction in Schematic Form. . . . . . . 128
  Daniel 10–12: The Kings of North and South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
  Preliminary Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Contents  vii
The Book of 1 Enoch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
  Background and Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
  The Animal Apocalypse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
  The Apocalypse of Weeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5 • Ex Eventu Prediction in the Dead Sea Scrolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
A. Non-Sectarian Texts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
  Pseudo-Daniel and Related Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
  The 4Q Jeremiah and Ezekiel Pseudepigrapha (4Q383–391) . . . . . 163
B. Sectarian Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
  The Damascus Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
  The Pesharim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
  11QMelchizedek (11Q13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6 •  Ex Eventu Prediction in Greek Dress:
The Case of the Sibylline Oracles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Sibylline Prophecy in the Ancient World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
  The Sibyl between mantis and chrēsmologos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Oracula Sibyllina Book 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
  The Unfolding of History in the Third Sibyl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
  The “Jewishness” of Book 3, Its Provenance and Composition. . . . 208
  Ex Eventu Prediction and the Eschatological King of Book 3 . . . . 218
Excursus: Ex Eventu Prediction and
Late Egyptian Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Oracula Sibyllina Books 1–2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Oracula Sibyllina Book 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

7 •  Literary Tropes and Analytical Categories:
Mantic Historiography in the Ancient Near East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Ideological Divergence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Functional Confluence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Future Prospects: Analytical Taxa and
Framing Scholarly Discourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Index of Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Index of Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Acknowledgments
The present work is a slightly revised version of my doctoral dissertation,
written under the direction of John Collins at Yale University; it has been
a long time in coming to completion. I wish to extend my thanks to the
Journal of Near Eastern Studies and the University of Chicago press for per-
mission to re-use material from my previously published article, “When
Darius Defeated Alexander,” in the discussion of the Dynastic Prophecy
in Chapter 2. It is with great pleasure that I recognize and offer my thanks
to the many individuals who aided me along the way.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents. My mother and
father instilled in me a love of learning and a respect for education with-
out which I never would have pursued the studies I did. Even when they
learned that I sought something as profoundly obscure and financially
unpromising as a doctorate in Hebrew Bible, they met my decision with
love and encouragement. My parents were my first teachers, and they
taught me well: they taught me that learning, heaven help us, never, ever
ends.
I owe a profound debt to all my teachers. A number of individuals
deserve special thanks. At Brown University, Stanley K. Stowers and Saul
Olyan first introduced me to the study of ancient texts; Wendell Dietrich,
perhaps more than any other teacher, encouraged me, quite simply, to
think better; and Susan Ashbrook Harvey and Sumner Twiss likewise gave
generously of their time, knowledge, and support. Saul Olyan deserves
double thanks, not just for introducing me to the field I have made my
life’s work, but for encouraging me to submit my manuscript for publica-
tion in the BJS series, and subsequently serving as editor of the work.
During my time at Harvard, JoAnn Hackett, Paul Hanson, and Dan-
iel Harrington, S.J., proved particularly gifted teachers, advocates, and
sources of support; I wish to offer each my profound gratitude.
At Yale, Benjamin Foster, William Hallo, W. Randall Garr, David
Marcus, and Kevin Van Bladel instructed me not only in the rudiments
of various ancient Near Eastern languages but also taught me a great deal
on how to read ancient texts. Steven Fraade proved an understanding,
patient, and immensely learned teacher in matters of early rabbinic lit-
erature. Dale Martin has given generously of his time and advice. Eckart
Frahm, upon joining the NELC faculty at Yale, kindly took on a mentoring
role and has been unstinting in his help in all matters Assyriological; his
ix