Promise-Giving and Treaty-Making: Homer and the Near East

240 Pages·1991·4.488 MB·English

by  Peter Karavites

PROMISE-GIVING AND TREATY-MAKING
MNEMOSYNE
BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BAT AV A
COLLEGERUNT
A.O. LEEMAN· H.W. PLEKET · C.J. RUIJGH
BIBLIOTHECAE FASCICULOS EDENDOS CURAVIT
C.J. RUIJGH, KLASSIEK SEMINARIUM, OUDE TURFMARKT 129, AMSTERDAM
SUPPLEMENTUM CENTESIMUM DECIMUM NONUM
PETER (PANAYIOTIS) KARAVITES
PROMISE-GIVING AND TREATY-MAKING
PROMISE-GIVING
AND TREATY-MAKING
HOMER AND THE NEAR EAST
BY
PETER (PANAYIOTIS) KARAVITES
WITH THE COLLABORATION OF
THOMAS WREN
EJ. BRILL
LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KOLN
1992
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
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ISSN 0 169-8958
ISBN 90 04 09567 5
© Copyright 1992 by E.]. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
TO THE MEMORY OF MY PARENTS
THEMISTOCLES AND KALLIOPE

CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations ....................................................................... vii
Preface .......................................................................................... .ix
Introduction ..................................................................................... 1
The Focus ..............................................................................2
1. The Structural Composition of the Homeric Agreements ......3
2. The Near Eastern Treaties .............................................. .4
3. Later Greek Treaty-Making .............................................7
4. The Mycenaean Gap ......................................................8
The Logic ............................................................................ 10
The Design .......................................................................... 13
PART ONE.
THE HOMERIC AGREEMENTS: THEIR CORPUS,
TERMINOLOGY,ANDSTRUCTURE
I. The Corpus of Homeric Agreements ................................................ 17
The Homeric Texts ................................................................ 18
Agreements Nos. 1-23
The Agreements Compared and Contrasted ................................ .41
The Oral Character of the Homeric Agreements .......................... .45
II. The Linguistic Evidence ............................................................... 48
The Significance of Philotes ................................................... .48
The Interrelation of Horkia, Horkos, and Omnyein ....................... 58
Conclusion .......................................................................... 81
III. The Structure of Homeric Agreements ............................................ 82
The Preamble ....................................................................... 83
The Recounting of Antecedent History ...................................... 87
Stipulations ......................................................................... 89
The Invocation of Gods as Witnesses ........................................ 98
Curses and Blessings ............................................................ 104
Conclusion ........................................................................ 107
IV. Other Features of Homeric Agreements ........................................ 108
Other Maledictions .............................................................. 109
1. The destruction and transformation of cities .................... 110
2. Ravenous wild animals .............................................. 110
3. The ravishing of wives ............................................... 111
4. The destruction of weapons ......................................... 111
vi CONI'ENI'S
5. Warriors becoming women ......................................... 112
6. Refusal of burial ....................................................... 112
7. Devastating flood ...................................................... 113
Ritual ............................................................................... 116
Suzerainty Treaties .............................................................. 119
PART TWO.
SOME COMMON CONTENTS AND OTHER FEATURES SHARED
BY NEAR EAS1ERN AND HOMERIC TREATIES
V. The People .............................................................................. 127
The Role of the People. ........................................................ 127
Stipulations Concerning the Fate of Fugitives .......................... 148
VI. War Conventions ..................................................................... 157
The Talcing and Sharing of Booty ........................................... 157
The Use of Surrogates .......................................................... 170
Firing the First Shot. ........................................................... 175
VII. Conventions Associated with Treaty-Making ............................... 179
Meals ................................................................................ 179
Deposition and Recitation ..................................................... 187
The Duration of the Agreement. ............................................. 194
VIII. Conclusion: Continuity or Discontinuity?.. ................................ 201
Bibliography ................................................................................ 207
Index of Proper Names and Titles ..................................................... 217
Index of Transliterated Terms. .......................................................... 223
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AC Antiquite C/assique
APO Archiv fur Orientforschung
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament,
ed. by J.B. Pritchard et al., 2nd ed., Princeton, 1955
ANNAL! Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di
Lettere e Filosofia
AO Der Alte Orient
A.R.M.T Archives Royales de Mari
ATL Athenian Tribute Lists, by B. D. Meritt, H. T. Gery, and
M. F. McGregor, Princeton, 1939-53
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Bengtson Die Staatsvertriige des A/tertums, by H. Bengtson and H. H.
Schmitt, 2 vols., Munich, 1969-75
BoST Boghazkoi Studien
BWANT Beitriige zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament
CAH Cambridge Ancient History
Cauer F. C. Ameis and C. Hentze, Homer's Iliad, ed. by Paul
Cauer, 7th ed., Amsterdam, 1965
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
Erbse Scholia Graeca in Homerilliadem (scholia vetera), ed. by
H. Erbse, Berlin, 1969
Eust. Eustathii Archiepiscopi Thessa/onicensis, Commentarii ad
Homeri Iliadem Pertinentes, ed. by Valk van Marchinus, 4
vols., Leiden, 1971-87
-, Commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, Leipzig, 1825-26
FGrHist Fragmente der griechische Historiker, ed. by F. Jacoby
GdA Geschichte des Altertums, by E. Meyer, 5 vols., Darmstadt,
1965- .
HCT A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, by A. Gomme et
al., 1945-81
HThR Harvard Theological Review
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
HW Hethitisches W6rterbuch, by Johannes Friedrich,
Heidelberg, 1952
IG3 Inscriptiones Graecae, vol. 13, ed. by D. M. Lewis
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
JNES Journal ofN ear Eastern Studies
KB Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek
KBo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazk6i
KF(KIF) Kleinasiatische Fo rschungen
viii UST OF ABBREVIATIONS
KilI Kleinasien zur Hethiterzeit
KUB Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazkoi
LCM Liverpool Classical Monthly
MDOG Mitteilungen des Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, Berlin
MVAG Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-Aegyptischen Gesellschaft
OCT Oxford Classical Texts
OGI Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae
OLZ Orientalische Literaturzeitung
PCA Proceedings of the Classical Association
RA Revue d' Assyrialo gie
RE Real Encyclopiidie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
RHR Revue de l'Histoire des Religions
RIDA Revue Internationale des Droits de l'Antiquite
SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
SF Sefire or Sefire Stelae
SylI.3 Sy/loge Inscriptionum Graecarum
VAB Vorderasiatische Bibliothek
VT Vetus Testamentum
WO Die Welt des Orients, Wissenschaftliche Beitriige zur Kunde
des Morgen/and.es
ZA 'Zeitschriftfur Assyriologie
ZAW 'Zeitschriftfur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZPE 'Zeitschriftfur Papyrologie und Epigraphik