Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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This thesis is an analysis of the aromatics industries in the Ancient Near East in the 3rd millennium BCE with a particular focus on the records from the archive of the e2-mi2 ("House of the Woman"...Show moreThis thesis is an analysis of the aromatics industries in the Ancient Near East in the 3rd millennium BCE with a particular focus on the records from the archive of the e2-mi2 ("House of the Woman") in Girsu (modern Tello). The topic of aromatics production, the people involved in it, and the materials used has been studied extensively through the records of later periods (Ur III onwards), but earlier sources have largely been unused, citing their relative scarcity as a reason. In this sense, this thesis collects the earlier sources and makes them available for discussion. The main research questions are: who were the people involved in the aromatics production in Girsu? What were their tasks other than making scented substances? To what extent are the sources of Girsu representative in a broader context? The methods used are those of social history. A corpus of sources is presented and analyzed, with particular emphasis on the people's social status, activities, and the way in which the documentary practices of Ancient Mesopotamia shape our knowledge about this period. The result is a description of diverse practices, with locally specific characteristics, nonetheless all being a part of a wider, shared tradition of production and use of aromatics.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
This thesis textually re-analyses the 'Poor Man of Nippur' to argue that it can be read as a 'Mock-Heroic Pastiche' via the literary theory of Gérard Genette. Having situated the poem in its...Show moreThis thesis textually re-analyses the 'Poor Man of Nippur' to argue that it can be read as a 'Mock-Heroic Pastiche' via the literary theory of Gérard Genette. Having situated the poem in its historical context, We examine the text via intertextuality, orthography, and theme and motif. Through such a reading, our conclusions pertain to the dating, purpose, and generic definition of the PMN.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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This paper explores the evolution of the profession ṭupšar Enūma Anu Enlil and the connection to the decline in the presence of the profession of the ‘haruspex’ or bārû. The focus of the discussion...Show moreThis paper explores the evolution of the profession ṭupšar Enūma Anu Enlil and the connection to the decline in the presence of the profession of the ‘haruspex’ or bārû. The focus of the discussion lies during the late Neo-Assyrian period to the Arsacid period and the end of cuneiform documentation (674 BCE -75 AD). The extant cuneiform record of the bārû and ṭupšar Enūma Anu Enlil were used to exemplify scribal development and the melding of divinatory traditions. Social network analysis was employed to show how Neo-Assyrian divinatory scholars in the court of Nineveh interacted with each other. Furthermore, social network establishes how they interacted at court and what they advised on and to whom. Secondly, the evidence of Neo-Babylonian and Late-Babylonian scholars using the titles of bārû and ṭupšar Enūma Anu Enlil and their text corpus were compared. This was assessed to determine the change and shift of the evolution of the divinatory disciplines. It was determined that the different facets of divination were combined by scholars during the first millennium and celestial divination, replacing extispicy as the preferred method of divination. The aim was to show how transmission analysis can facilitate the perception of the decline and emergence of scholarly titles. The intent was to uncover community interaction and the criteria for the evolution of the divinatory profession. By the end of cuneiform documentation many of the practices of the bārû were combined into the practice of the ṭupšar Enūma Anu Enlil, however this varied between different cities in both the title and the mode of scholarly interpretation.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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The inclusion of ‘Eduba’ literature which decrees rules or ideals for scribes in the Old Babylonian scribal curriculum is clear evidence that compositions served more than a pedagogical purpose....Show moreThe inclusion of ‘Eduba’ literature which decrees rules or ideals for scribes in the Old Babylonian scribal curriculum is clear evidence that compositions served more than a pedagogical purpose. This thesis investigates the possibility that a moral agenda was involved in the construction of the Old Babylonian scribal curriculum by analysing the most commonly attested literary texts at school sites to see if any common themes regarding proper behaviour emerge.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
Exclusionary and self-serving, the purpose of gender constructs are fundamentally more concerned with the longevity and social-standing of the hegemonic participants – for they perpetuate the...Show moreExclusionary and self-serving, the purpose of gender constructs are fundamentally more concerned with the longevity and social-standing of the hegemonic participants – for they perpetuate the construct itself – than those who fall short of its criteria. Because constructs of masculinity are inherently hierarchal, we would expect the aged to become a “subclass” against which younger participants validate their own masculinity and increase their standing. Thus, in the introduction of her ground-breaking book Being a Man: Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity, published in 2017, I would have to agree with I. Zsolany’s statement: “to enact a version of masculinity considered less than a societal ideal cannot only be undesirable, but humiliating.” However, against my own presumptions, Mesopotamian art and literature reveals a gerontocratic society which favoured the aged over the young, one where the dominant social construct was monopolised by a group who were unable to adhere to its values and norms, and thus struggled meet its expectations. In this thesis we will investigate this paradox, using the Standard Babylonian (abbreviated as “SB” throughout the essay) Gilgamesh epic to explore the ways in which older men navigated the obstacles of ageing whilst paying particular attention to how they validated their own masculinity based on that of younger men.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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The death of the Hittite king was an event of cosmogonic proportions for Hittite society. The political, religious and social vacuum created by this event signaled the beginning of a an elaborate...Show moreThe death of the Hittite king was an event of cosmogonic proportions for Hittite society. The political, religious and social vacuum created by this event signaled the beginning of a an elaborate fourteen-day-long funerary ritual known among scholars as the “Šalliš Wastaiš ritual”. Its main purpose was the orderly transition of the king’s soul to the underworld. At the same time, the usage of various ritual objects aimed, among others, at presenting the deceased as an otherworldly hunter. Of these objects, the bow, the arrow, the quiver, the spear and the hunting bag were closely connected with Hittite royal hunting, something which is also visible in the textual and iconographic sources of the wider ancient Near East. The construction of a post-mortem image of the deceased king as a hunter was based on the apparent close relation of hunting with religion, warfare and Hittite royal ideology. Considering that Hittite textual and iconographic evidence show that success in the hunt was directly proportional to the offerings toward the gods, the presentation of the ruler as an accomplished hunter propagated his privileged relationship with the divine, and indicated that hunting was treated as a ritual act of great importance. At the same time, given the importance of warfare for the Hittite state, and the equation of the hunt with war, the inclusion of hunting objects in the royal funeral demonstrated that according to Hittite royal ideology the successful hunter was also a mighty and undefeated warrior. Moreover, the hunt acquired a political dimension too, because it sustained the royal propaganda. The killing of big game by the king was indicative of strength and courage, and symbolized his superhuman abilities. Hunting had important cosmological implications as well, since its mastery by the king illustrated his physical and spiritual dominion over the wild beasts which represented one of the aggressive aspects of nature. By showing his command of the animal world, the king emerged, in life and in death, as the defender of civilization against the menace of nature.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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The role of the wilderness and its constituent elements, such as forests, in mythology and religion and the impact thereof on daily life – ancient and modern – has retained scholarly interest since...Show moreThe role of the wilderness and its constituent elements, such as forests, in mythology and religion and the impact thereof on daily life – ancient and modern – has retained scholarly interest since the dawn of Assyriology. This thesis will try to further our knowledge in that regard as I will examine what role forests played in Mesopotamian myths, folk tales and other narratives. Furthermore I will compare the findings from the flat treeless land between the Euphrates and the Tigris with their counterparts from the more forested realms of Anatolia and the Levant, in order to establish if the proximity of forests influenced the role they played in the aforementioned narratives. If successful, we can assume that this endeavour gives us a broader insight in ancient Mesopotamian thought, concerning the wilderness in general and forests in particular.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
Palace and temple have always been subject to scholarly interest. The first represents the political power of any given land or country, while the latter serves as an entry point into the marvelous...Show morePalace and temple have always been subject to scholarly interest. The first represents the political power of any given land or country, while the latter serves as an entry point into the marvelous world of the religious organization of any given culture. Though studying these separate institutions on their own is of great importance, it is even more in teresting to study the area in which the interests of both institutions meet. Such studies can show how both parties have to deal with each other's interest and have to adapt their own to guarantee a fruitful cooperation. This thesis consists of such a study, researching the relationship between the Babylonian palace and temple in the context of the daily offerings while focusing on the specific role of the king and his priests. With this study I hope to fill in the blanks that are present in this field of study, since this relation has been examined, but not in the context with which this thesis is concerned.Show less
