Hazor rulership and ritual manipulation

ABSTRACT

Hazor was unquestionably the largest Bronze Age Canaanite site, standing as an anomaly in the southern Levant in terms of its size, elaborate public architecture, special geopolitical stature and far-reaching international networks. While the site has been well established as an urban center with many temples, the use of each of Hazor’s temples and how they relate to one another remains unclear. In this study, we analyze the rituals and other activities that were conducted within Hazor’s numerous temples. The methodology we employ stresses, fundamentally, the necessity to contextualize objects within entire assemblages – through spatial analysis – to most accurately assess how Hazor’s cultic spaces were actually used. We apply the same methodology to other MB and LB Canaanite temples to establish a generalized ideal-type temple assemblage for Canaanite temples. This study successfully demonstrates that Hazor’s temples substantially diverge from the ideal temple assemblage, indicating cult at Hazor was practiced differently than elsewhere in the region. This includes the atypical distribution of certain cultic vessels (e.g. miniature vessels), the appearance of special vessels in ritual contexts (e.g. cups), and a fundamentally different use of indoor and outdoor spaces when compared to other Canaanite temples. It turns out that Hazor’s elites were major factors controlling the anomalies of cultic practice at the site. Hazor’s rulers impacted cultic architectural forms and locations and played instrumental roles in dictating and manipulating the types of rituals and associated cultic paraphernalia that were allowed to be performed and used throughout the entire settlement landscape.     

The Empire of the Hittites

Abstract

The paper deals with six recent studies which relate to the on-going debate over the chronology of the eleventh to the ninth century B.C.E. strata in the Levant and thus to the history of the region in the Iron Age. The paper takes issue with methodological problems relating to the questions of ethnographic comparison in archaeology, interpretation of biblical sources by archaeologists, pottery typology and dating. It offers a different interpretation of the finds at Hazor, Beth-shemesh, Tel Batash, Horbat Rosh Zait, and Bethsaida.     

'.. Slaying oxen and Killing Sheep,Eating Flesh and Drinking Wine ..': Feasting in Late Bronze Age Hazor

Abstract

Communal feasts, events of ritual activity that involve shared food and drink consumption and display in religious and secular elite contexts, received considerable attention in anthropological and archaeological literature in recent years. In those studies, the focus was on the identification of feasting in the material record of ancient societies, and an attempt was made to decipher the complex social and political meanings inherent in such contexts. In this study, the aim is to identify and interpret traces of feasting activities in the context of Canaanite society of the 14th–13th century BCE. The site of Hazor, the largest Canaanite kingdom, serves as a case study for this discussion. Archaeological correlates of commensal feasts, uncovered in the extensive excavations of the site, are presented and discussed within the general picture of the Canaanite palatial system.     

ABUSE,REUSE, RECYCLE: THE USES OF BASALT ORTHOSTATS AT HAZOR IN THE BRONZE AND IRON AGES

This paper investigates the use of basalt orthostats in Syro‐Anatolia throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, focusing on the changes in their consumption at Hazor. Used to reflect the wealth and power of city rulers in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, this practice continued in the Iron Age in Syro‐Anatolia, while at Hazor it stopped entirely. By applying the modern concepts of counter‐monumentality and spolia, it is suggested that, at Hazor, the orthostats were used by the Iron Age inhabitants of the city to glorify the destruction of the Late Bronze Age city and to humiliate the previous royalty of Hazor, thus exhibiting their victory over its Canaanite rulers.     

The Epilogue in the Book of Qohelet

Abstract

Various objective reasons have led to the development of a vast and elaborate literature on the Epilogue in the Book of Qohelet. This study presents a Sitz im Leben based approach to the Epilogue, which capitalizes on the known historical reality during the Hellenistic period in which Qohelet lived. It views the Epilogue as an expression of Qohelet’s deep apprehensions of the challenges that faced his people. From this perspective it is natural to consider Qohelet as being the author of the Epilogue. The Epilogue is not about what he says in the book but what he has to say to his people. As a wise man concerned with the welfare of his people he urges them: keep records, though it is wearisome; be aware that secrets would be leaked; fear God; and, obey His commandments. These are his essentials for survival.     

Hydrogeological insights in antiquity as indicated by Canaanite and Israelite water systems

Hazor, one of the largest fortified city during the Israelite (Iron-Age) period, encompasses a gigantic underground water system within its perimeter, supplying water to thousands of its inhabitants. It is considered as the ultimate example that Iron-Age engineers had mastered the concept of regional groundwater table. However, evaluating the hydrogeological conditions and the degree of success in finding water in Hazor and other contemporary cities, and thereby assess to what extent this concept was known at that time has seldom been done. Resurveying the water system of Hazor indicates that its water chamber was dug along a major strand of the Dead Sea Fault, a boundary between the Arabian and African (Sinai) plates. Hydrological simulations have shown that water ascends into the water chamber, utilizing this strand. Hazor's engineers initially planned to connect the city with the springs at the foot of the mound (tell) through a shaft and tunnel as has been done at other biblical cities, but adjusted their plan when groundwater was encountered within the mound perimeter. This accidental success as well as the failure to reach the aquifer in deep water wells dug in the contemporary cities of Lachish and Beer Sheba, imply limited hydrogeological understanding at the beginning of the first millennium B.C.E.     

THE LION ORTHOSTATS FROM HAZOR: AN ADDENDUM TO THE PAPER OF SHLOMIT BECHAR

In a paper recently published in this journal, Shlomit Bechar (2021) analyzed the appearance and use of basalt orthostats in Canaanite and Israelite Hazor. The present paper is an addendum to Bechar's paper, elaborating the subject of the basalt lion orthostats found at Hazor. These lion orthostats formed an inseparable component of the ‘orthostats architecture’ characteristic of several monumental buildings in the Canaanite city. The paper discusses their original position, date, style, function, and fate following the destruction of the city.     

Saul’s Journey to Zuph

Abstract

In this study I have discussed two distinct, though intimately connected, topics. To begin with, the status and role of the major polity in the MB II southern Levant was scrutinized. It is apparent that one must deal with this site on a completely different scale from other contemporary southern Levantine sites. As suggested, in fact it should be placed within the context of the Syro-Mesopotamian cultural sphere. As such, its dominant role in the political and economic framework of the Southern Levant is seen, and the far-reaching effect that it had on inter- and intra-regional trade is evidenced.

With this as a background, an analysis of the trade patterns of the MB II southern Levant reveals intricate patterns that fit in nicely with the suggested reconstructions of the political and social structure of this period. When these suggested patterns are implemented on a local, regional scale (in regard to the Central Jordan Valley), as sort of a case study of the larger picture, the entire picture fits together nicely. Evidence for international trade is seen predominantly at a limited number of large central sites (e.g. Hazor, Kabri). These centres seem to incline towards different international cultural connections. Within the southern Levant itself, the picture is different. Evidence for intense contacts between the different regions is apparent. Likewise, within the regions themselves (exemplified in this case by the Central Jordan valley) an extensive and intensive web of trade contacts is evidenced. These trade patterns appear to mirror the underlying political and social structures, that of the MB II Canaanite culture.     

Metalworking at Hazor: A Long‐Term Perspective

The temporal and spatial distribution of metal production remains from Hazor was used in this study to sketch the development of metalworking (bronze, iron and silver) at this important site. The remains attest to a long sequence of metalworking at Hazor, from the Middle Bronze Age through to the Iron Age, and significantly highlight the transition from bronze to iron production and the mode of bronze production after the transition had been completed.     

Faith,Pluralism, and Public Engagement

Abstract

This essay is Miroslav Volf’s reply to the respondents to his book A Public Faith (2011). In the process of engaging his his respondents, the author articulates the main thesis and thrust of the book as well as the motivation behind writing it.     

Introduction

Summary

The Introduction sets the contributions to this special issue in the context of existing scholarship on Dugald Stewart. The main points are the great advance in our understanding of Stewart's intellectual development, his complicated relationship to his predecessors and contemporaries in Scottish philosophy, and his important role in the European republic of letters.     

‘I beg you to tear up my letters …’ Nikos Skalkottas's last years in Berlin (1928–33)

Abstract

Nikos Skalkottas (1904–49), the Greek pupil of Schoenberg, was one of the greatest and most prolific atonal and twelve-note composers of the twentieth century, though unrecognised in Athens during his lifetime. The fifty-six letters that he wrote to his patron Manolis Benakis illuminate Skalkottas's life and his music, the financial and emotional difficulties leading to his enforced departure from Berlin, his aesthetic viewpoint, his opinions on Greece and its musical life, and his reasons for composing the popular ‘36 Greek Dances’. This is the first published account of this important documentary source.     

Andrew Shanks's Civil Theology

Abstract

This article aims to initiate discussion of the work of Andrew Shanks by expositing his unique form of civil theology and its relation to his Hegelian Christology. A comparison with Zizek and Milbank serves to highlight what is at stake in Shanks's own Hegelian Christianity.     

“A beacon-light to the oppressed of every land”: James Connolly and the work of the working-class intellectual

Abstract

This article seeks to defend James Connolly from attacks on both the Left and Right, particularly the charge that his legacy is nationalist delusion and fanaticism. The article argues that Connolly’s politics and his engagement with Irish cultural politics demonstrate his commitment to human equality as both a right, but also a principle of human intelligence. The article addresses Connolly’s status as a working-class intellectual with reference to how he challenges conventional hierarchies between the philosophers of Marxism and the proletarians who are the object of those deliberations. The article argues that from Connolly’s thought and activism an anti-colonial Marxism emerges which might help explain the neo-imperialist world we find ourselves in today and provide a critique lacking in the collapsed teleological versions of orthodox Marxism. The relations between his Marxism and nationalism are explored, as are his play Under Which Flag? his poetry and songs.     

Legislating the Melanesian Way: Bernard Narokobi and the Law Reform Commission of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

A common criticism of Bernard Narokobi is that his vision of the ‘Melanesian Way’ was vague and imprecise. This article argues against this claim by describing the activities Narokobi undertook as the head of the Law Reform Commission of Papua New Guinea (1975–8). Using the example of his suggested revision of adultery laws, this article shows that Narokobi realized his abstract vision of the Melanesian Way in the most concrete and specific way possible: by attempting to reform the law. Much of Narokobi's legal reform work was unsuccessful, but a full understanding of his philosophy can only be achieved by reading his legal work alongside his published writings like The Melanesian Way.     

The disappearance of the ≪Västersjøfinner≫ from ringvassøy

The present article focuses on the epistemology of one of the leading lappologists of this country, the late J. Qvigstad (1853–1957). It is not surprising to find a preoccupation with the presence or absence of ?cultural traits? in his studies of the Sami of his time. A closer look at the micro demography of his informants does however suggest a misinterpretation on the part of Qvigstad, of the situation of the Sami and their local communities.     

Tradition and the individual talent: remarks on the poetry of Michalis Ganas

Abstract

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead. (T.S. Eliot)     

The Preacher’s Agenda: A Dominican versus the Italian Renaissance

Abstract

This article reviews the cultural agenda of the celebrated Dominican preacher Giovanni Dominici (1356–1419) in fifteenth-century Florence. Central issues discussed include Dominici’s educational programme, his cultural propaganda, his interest in the visual arts and his opposition to the study of the classics, as expressed in his public popular preaching. The close examination of his cultural agenda discloses Dominici as the most extreme opponent of humanist studies.     

Leo Strauss in 1962

Abstract

A refutation of the view recently advanced by his defenders that Leo Strauss moderated his youthful atheism and anti-liberalism after emigrating to the United States.