The Triumph of the Symbol: Pictorial Representation of Deities in Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban

2005·9.5 MB·English

by  Tallay Ornan

Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 213
Tal lay Ornan
TheTriumph
of the Symbol
Pictorial Representation of Deities
in Mesopotamia
and the Biblical Image Ban
1n cooperation with the Israel Exploration Society
Academic Press Fribourg
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen
Digitalisat erstellt durch Flurin Baumgartner,
Religionswissenschaftliches Seminar, Universität Zürich
To Shimon

V
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements X
Selected List of Kings xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Lesser Gods and Goddesses: Anthropomorphic 18
Representations of Deities in Second-Millennium
Mesopotamia
1.1. Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle Babylonian 18
Monuments
1.2. Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle Babylonian 26
Cylinder Seals
1.3. Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle Assyrian 30
Monuments and Stone Vessels
1.4. Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle Assyrian 33
Cylinder Seals
Chapter 2 Out of Babylonia: Non-Anthropomorphic 41
Representations of Deities in Second-Millennium
Mesopotamia
2.1. Some Precursors: Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in 41
Old Babylonian, Anatolian, Syrian and Mitannian
Glyptic Art
2.2. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle 45
Babylonian Monuments
2.3. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle 50
Babylonian Cylinder Seals
2.4. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle Assyrian 52
Monuments
2.5. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in Middle Assyrian 57
Cylinder Seals
Chapter 3 A Small Yield: Anthropomorphic
60
Representations of Deities in First-Millennium
Babylonia
3.1. Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 60
Babylonian Monuments
3.2. Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 66
Babylonian Glyptics
Vl
Chapter 4 Removed from Official Art: Anthropomorphic 73
Representations of Deities in First-Millennium
Assyria
4.1. Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 73
Assyrian Monuments
4.1.1. Syrian Inspiration 75
4.1.2. Anthropomorphic Deities under Sennacherib 80
4.1.3. Anthropomorphic Deities on Wall Reliefs 87
4.2. Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 98
Assyrian Glyptics
Chapter 5 Outside the Temple: Non-Anthropomorphic 109
Representations of Deities in First-Millennium
Babylonia
5.1. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 109
Babylonian Monuments
5.2. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 115
Babylonian Glyptics
5.2.1. Selected Divine Symbols in Babylonian Glyptics 119
5.2.1.1. Spade, Stylus and mus!Jus.SU 120
5.2.1.2. The Dog 121
5.2.1.3. TheLamp 121
5.2.1.4. Scorpion Hybrids 123
5.2.1.5. The Goat-Fish, the Ram-headed Sceptre and the 125
Merman Fish Hybrid
5.2.1.6. The Lion-Dragon 127
5.2.1.7. The Fish-apkallu 128
5.2.1.8. Crossed Beasts 129
5.2.2. Divine Symbols in kudurrus and in Glyptic Art 130
Chapter 6 God and King Vying for the Eye of the 133
Beholder: Non-Anthropomorphic
Representations of Deities in First-Millennium
Assyria
6.1. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 133
Assyrian Monuments
6.1.1. Royal Stelae and Rock Reliefs 133
6.1.2. Non-Royal Stelae 137
6.1.3. Development of Symbols on Assyrian Monuments 139
Vll
6.2. Non-Anthropomorphic Deities in First-Millennium 147
Assyrian Glyptics
6.2.l. Selected Divine Symbols in Assyrian Glyptics 149
6.2.1. l. The Spade and the Stylus 149
6.2.1.2. The Star and the Rosette 151
6.2.1.3. The Winged Disc 152
6.2.1.4. The Tree 153
6.2.1.5. The Tree-and-Ibexes 155
6.2.1.6. The Scorpion 159
6.2.1.7. The Suckling Cow 160
6.2.1.8. The Crescent-on-a-Pole 163
Chapter7 Conclusions: The A voidance of 168
Anthropomorphic Portrayal of Deities in
Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban
Abbreviations
183
Bibliography
184
Index
221
Illustrations (Figures 1-220)
227

ix
Acknowledgements
The publication of this book was made possible through the support of
the Faculty of Humanities, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and
the Jeanmaire and Willie Weinstein Fund of the Israel Museum. I am
grateful to Silvia Rozenberg, former Chief Curator of Archaeology at
the Israel Museum, for enabling me to benefit from this fund. Special
thanks are due to Aliza and Shlomo Moussaieff for their generous
support.
I am most grateful to Benjamin Sass from Tel Aviv University for
his scholarly and wise advice, his constant help and encouragement
and, in particular, for the stimulating discussions we have enjoyed
over the years. Thanks are also extended to Amnon Ben-Tor of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem for his continuous support. I am
indebted to Irit Ziffer of the Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, for
reading the first draft of the manuscript and for her knowledgeable
and helpful remarks. Miriam Tadmor, former Curator of the
Chalcolithic and Bronze Age at the Israel Museum, and Victor A.
Hurowitz of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev kindly went over
selected parts of the manuscript and provided me with their insightful
observations. Thanks are due to Pnina Arad for her drawings.
I am grateful to Tsipi Kuper-Blau for the English editing, and to
Joseph A viram, Director of the Israel Exploration Society, for making
the publication of this book possible. The idea to publish the
manuscript in the Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis was first suggested to
me by Othmar Keel, the editor of the series, to whom I owe a debt of
gratitude.
Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my
mother Shoshana Ornan, for always being there with encouragement
and support, and to my father, U zzi Ornan, who taught me, at a very
early age, not to believe in books.
Jerusalem, 2005