Foreigners and Egyptians in the late Egyptian stories : linguistic, literary and historical perspectives /
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In Foreigners and Egyptians in the Late Egyptian Stories Camilla Di Biase-Dyson applies systemic functional linguistics, literary theory and New Historicist approaches to four of the Late Egyptian Stories and shows how language was exploited to establish the narrative roles of literary protagonists. The analysis reveals the shifting power dynamics between the Doomed Prince and his foreign wife and the parody in the depiction of the Hyksos ruler Apophis and his Theban counterpart Seqenenre. It also sheds light on the weight of history in the sketch of the Rebel of Joppa and the general Djehuty and explains the interplay of social expectations in the encounters between the envoy Wenamun and the Levantine princes with whom he seeks to trade. \'Overall, Di Biase-Dyson's monograph is an original interdisciplinary examination of an exciting corpus of ancient literary texts.\' Nikolaos Lazaridis, Journal of Near Eastern Studies
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Originally published as the author's doctoral thesis, 2009. :
1 online resource (488 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004251304 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A cultural history of Aramaic : from the beginnings to the advent of Islam /
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Aramaic is a constant thread running through the various civilizations of the Near East, ancient and modern, from 1000 BCE to the present, and has been the language of small principalities, world empires, and a fair share of the Jewish-Christian tradition. Holger Gzella describes its cultural and linguistic history as a continuous evolution from its beginnings to the advent of Islam. For the first time the individual phases of the language, their socio-historical underpinnings, and the textual sources are discussed comprehensively in light of the latest linguistic and historical research and with ample attention to scribal traditions, multilingualism, and language as a marker of cultural self-awareness. Many new observations on Aramaic are thereby integrated into a coherent historical framework.
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1 online resource (466 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004285101 :
0169-9423 ;
0169-9423 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The buried foundation of the Gilgamesh epic : the Akkadian Huwawa narrative /
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The Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic, perhaps the most famous of Mesopotamian literature, has been considered the artistry of one author inspired by Sumerian tales. Specialists have assumed that all the earliest evidence (ca. 1800-1700 BCE) reflects this creative unity. Deep contrasts in characterization and narrative logic, however, distinguish the central adventure to defeat the monster Huwawa from what precedes and follows it. The Huwawa narrative stands on its own, so that the epic must have been composed from this prior Akkadian composition. Recognition of the tale embedded in the epic allows each block of material to be understood on its own terms. Such literary-historical investigation from contemporary texts is new to Assyriology and may produce important results when applied to other Mesopotamian writing. \'The book is well written and tightly argued...This makes it a first point of reference for anyone interested in the OB evidence for the Gilgamesh Epic.\' Scott C. Jones, Covenant College
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047440833 :
0929-0052 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ve-eileh divrei David : essays in semitics, Hebrew Bible and history of biblical scholarship /
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Ve-Eileh Divrei David: Essays in Semitics, Hebrew Bible and History of Biblical Scholarship , covers the career of S. David Sperling, a well-known and respected Biblical scholar. It is divided into three sections representing the three foci of the author's work namely, Semitic philology, Bible, and the history of biblical scholarship. The chapters represent a remarkable 40 years of scholarship and convey deep knowledge of a range of topics that is rarely paralleled in today's scholarship.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004340879 :
1566-2055 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Homer and the Bible in the eyes of ancient interpreters /
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Thus far intepretations of Homer and the Bible have largely been studied in isolation even though both texts became foundational for Western civilisation and were often commented upon in the same cultural context. The present collection of articles redresses this imbalance by bringing together scholars from different fields and offering prioneering essays, which cross traditional boundaries and interpret Biblical and Homeric interpreters in light of each other. The picture which emerges from these studies in highly complex: Greek, Jewish and Christian readers were concerned with similar literary and religious questions, often defining their own position in dialogue with others. Special attention is given to three central corpora: the Alexandrian scholia, Philo, Platonic writers of the Imperial Age, rabbinic exegesis.
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1 online resource (x, 372 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004226111 :
1570-078X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Historical and archaeological aspects of Egyptian funerary culture : religious ideas and ritual practice in Middle Kingdom elite cemeteries /
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Historical and Archaeological Aspects of Egyptian Funerary Culture , a thoroughly reworked translation of Les textes des sarcophages et la démocratie published in 2008, challenges the widespread idea that the "royal" Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom after a process of "democratisation" became, in the Middle Kingdom, accessible even to the average Egyptian in the form of the Coffin Texts. Rather they remained an element of elite funerary culture, and particularly so in the Upper Egyptian nomes. The author traces the emergence here of the so-called "nomarchs" and their survival in the Middle Kingdom. The site of Dayr al-Barshā, currently under excavation, shows how nomarch cemeteries could even develop into large-scale processional landscapes intended for the cult of the local ruler. This book also provides an updated list of the hundreds of (mostly unpublished) Middle Kingdom coffins and proposes a new reference system for these.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004274990 :
1566-2055 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish Aramaic curse texts from late-antique Mesopotamia : "may these curses go out and flee" /
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The corpus of Aramaic incantation bowls from Sasanian Mesopotamia is perhaps the most important source we have for studying the everyday beliefs and practices of the Jewish, Christian, Mandaean, Manichaean, Zoroastrian and Pagan communities on the eve of the Islamic conquests. In Jewish Aramaic Curse Texts from Late-Antique Mesopotamia , Dan Levene collects and analyses a selection of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls. While such texts are usually apotropaic or healing in purpose, those collected here are distinctive in that their purpose was to curse or return curses against human adversaries. This book presents new editions of thirty texts, of which fourteen are edited here for the first time, with an introduction, commentary, analysis and glossaries, as well as photographs. "In this valuable addition to the literature on the role of bowls with aggressive texts in magic practices in this period, Levene (Jewish history and culture, U. of Southampton, UK) presents a summary of newly edited and already published bowls with Aramaic transcription; English translation; its type (e.g., invocation of demons to attack a named person, counter-charm); publication source; formulaic parallels in other texts; and notes.\' Reference andamp; Research Book News, 2013.
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1 online resource (xiv, 164 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004257269 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Early Biblical Hebrew, late Biblical Hebrew, and linguistic variability : a sociolinguistic evaluation of the linguistic dating of Biblical texts /
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In Early Biblical Hebrew, Late Biblical Hebrew, and Linguistic Variability , Dong-Hyuk Kim attempts to adjudicate between the two seemingly irreconcilable views over the linguistic dating of biblical texts. Whereas the traditional opinion, represented by Avi Hurvitz, believes that Late Biblical Hebrew was distinct from Early Biblical Hebrew and thus one can date biblical texts on linguistic grounds, the more recent view argues that Early and Late Biblical Hebrew were merely stylistic choices through the entire biblical period. Using the variationist approach of (historical) sociolinguistics and on the basis of the sociolinguistic concepts of linguistic variation and different types of language change, Kim convincingly argues that there is a third way of looking at the issue.
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1 online resource (xvii, 184 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-173) and indexes. :
9789004235618 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Strategies of Persuasion in Herodotus' Histories and Genesis-Kings : Evoking Reality in Ancient Narratives of a Past /
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In Strategies of Persuasion in Herodotus' Histories and Genesis-Kings , Eva Tyrell comparatively analyzes narrative means in two monumental ancient texts about the past. Combining a narratological approach with insights of modern historical theory and biblical scholarship, she investigates patterns of narrative persuasion as a trans-cultural phenomenon and their connection with ancient concepts of reality and truth. The study contrasts differences in fundamental narrative structures of both narratives, such as mediacy and discursive versus diegetic text portions. It explores the role of material remains mentioned in the accounts to evoke or even create the reality of a past.
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1 online resource. :
9789004427976
9789004427969
The letter of Mara bar Sarapion in context : proceedings of the symposium held at Utrecht University, 10-12 December 2009 /
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The Letter of Mara bar Sarapion to his son - preserved in a single Syriac manuscript (7th. century CE) - still speaks to its readers, evocatively depicting the dramatic situation of a nobleman imprisoned after the Roman capture of Samosata, capital of Commagene. The letter is best known today for a passage on the "wise king of the Jews," which may be one of the earliest pagan testimonies concerning Jesus Christ. Ongoing controversy over the letter's date, nature, and purpose has, however, led to the widespread neglect of this intriguing document. In the present volume, Merz and Tieleman have brought together cutting-edge research from an interdisciplinary team of leading experts that significantly advances our appreciation of the letter and its historical context.
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1 online resource (xiv, 245 pages) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004233010 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Dostoevsky's legal and moral philosophy : the trial of Dmitri Karamazov /
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This work closely examines the trial of Dmitri Karamazov as the springboard to explaining and critically assessing Dostoevsky's legal and moral philosophy. The author connects Dostoevsky's objections to Russia's acceptance of western juridical notions such as the rule of law and an adversary system of adjudication with his views on fundamental human nature, the principle of universal responsibility, and his invocation of unconditional love. Central to Dostoevsky's vision is his understanding of the relationship between the dual human yearnings for individualism and community. In the process, the author related Dostoevsky's conclusions to the thought of Plato, Augustine, Anselm, Dante, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Sartre. Throughout the work, the author compares, contrasts, and evaluates Dostoevsky's analyses with contemporary discussions of the rule of law, the adversary system, and the relationship between individualism and communitarianism.
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1 online resource (xvi, 226 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-223) and index. :
9789004325425 :
0929-8436 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Orality and textuality in the Iranian world : patterns of interaction across the centuries /
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The volume demonstrates the cultural centrality of the oral tradition for Iranian studies. It contains contributions from scholars from various areas of Iranian and comparative studies, among which are the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian tradition with its wide network of influences in late antique Mesopotamia, notably among the Jewish milieu; classical Persian literature in its manifold genres; medieval Persian history; oral history; folklore and more. The essays in this collection embrace both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, both verbal and visual media, as well as various language communities (Middle Persian, Persian, Tajik, Dari) and geographical spaces (Greater Iran in pre-Islamic and Islamic medieval periods; Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan of modern times). Taken as a whole, the essays reveal the unique blending of oral and literate poetics in the texts or visual artefacts each author focuses upon, conceptualizing their interrelationship and function.
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1 online resource (xx, 456 pages) : illustrations (some color) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004291973 :
1570-078X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Devotion and Promotion of Stigmatics in Europe, c. 1800-1950 : Between Saints and Celebrities /
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In the nineteenth century a new type of mystic emerged in Catholic Europe. While cases of stigmatisation had been reported since the thirteenth century, this era witnessed the development of the 'stigmatic': young women who attracted widespread interest thanks to the appearance of physical stigmata. To understand the popularity of these stigmatics we need to regard them as the 'saints' and religious 'celebrities' of their time. With their 'miraculous' bodies, they fit contemporary popular ideas (if not necessarily those of the Church) of what sanctity was. As knowledge about them spread via modern media and their fame became marketable, they developed into religious 'celebrities'.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004439351
9789004439191
Study on the Synchronistic King List from Ashur /
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In Study on the Synchronistic King List from Ashur, CHEN Fei conducts a full investigation into that king list, which records all the kings of Assyria and Babylonia in contemporary pairs from the 18th to the 7th century BC. The texts of all the exemplars of the Synchronistic King List are reconstructed anew by the existing studies and the author's personal collations on their sources, and part of the text of the main exemplar is thus revised. The author also looks into the format of the Synchronistic King List and draws the conclusion that the Synchronistic King List was composed by Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, to support his Babylonian policy.
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1 online resource. :
9789004430921
9789004430914
Arabic and its alternatives : religious minorities and their languages in the emerging nation states of the Middle East (1920-1950) /
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"Arabic and its Alternatives discusses the complicated relationships between language, religion and communal identities in the Middle East in the period following the First World War. This volume takes its starting point in the non-Arabic and non-Muslim communities, tracing their linguistic and literary practices as part of a number of interlinked processes, including that of religious modernization, of new types of communal identity politics and of socio-political engagement with the emerging nation states and their accompanying nationalisms. These twentieth-century developments are firmly rooted in literary and linguistic practices of the Ottoman period, but take new turns under influence of colonization and decolonization, showing the versatility and resilience as much as the vulnerability of these linguistic and religious minorities in the region. Contributors are Tijmen C. Baarda, Leyla Dakhli, Sasha R. Goldstein-Sabbah, Liora R. Halperin, Robert Isaf, Michiel Leezenberg, Merav Mack, Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Konstantinos Papastathis, Franck Salameh, Cyrus Schayegh, Emmanuel Szurek, Peter Wien".
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Includes index. :
1 online resource. :
9789004423220
Inventory of the 'lettere e scritture Turchesche' of the Venetian State Archives /
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As well as the well-known inventory written by Maria Pia Pedani Fabris in 1994, I \'Documenti Turchi\' dell'Archivio di Stato di Venezia , this book is based on the work by Alessio Bombaci from the 1940s. Pedani's work is an academic inventory of the documents in the archives Lettere e Scritture Turchesche kept in the Venetian State Archives. It describes in detail 822 documents from the first half of the 16th century until the first half of the 17th century. Part of the documents are Ottoman originals, part are Italian translations. They deal above all with commercial affairs. There are name-i hümayun s, but also letters of beylerbeyi s and sancakbeyi s of the Balkan regions and of other lower Ottoman officials.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [202]-208) and indexes. :
9789047441533 :
1877-9964 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Turcologica Upsaliensia : An Illustrated Collection of Essays /
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The richly illustrated essays in Turcologica Upsaliensia tell the stories of scholars, travellers, diplomats and collectors who made discoveries in the Turkic-speaking world while affiliated with Sweden's oldest university, at Uppsala. The study of Oriental languages, including Turkic, has a long tradition at Uppsala. The first part of the volume tells of famous Uppsala professors who were experts not only in Ottoman and Chaghatay, but also in smaller Turkic languages, and of their high esteem for Turkic culture. It also tells how collectors benefited from the Swedish court's cordial relations with the Ottomans. The second part describes selected manuscripts, art objects and maps, calling readers' attention to the cultural heritage preserved at the University Library, which is also accessible online.
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1 online resource :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004435858
9789004435704
Labyrinths, intellectuals and the revolution : the Arabic-language Moroccan novel, 1957-72 /
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Labyrinths, Intellectuals and the Revolution traces the development of the postcolonial Arabic-language Moroccan novel from its roots in travel narratives and autobiography into its more mature period of stylistic and thematic diversity in the early 1970s. This study first undertakes an exploration of the political, social and artistic conditions under which the genre developed, then moves to close readings of each of the formative texts, grouped by theme. The analysis of these texts centers around their spatial practices: there is a tension between the labyrinthine space of the street, which deflects legibility, and the sacred interior within the blank walls, wherein a certain equality of gaze and power can be perceived.
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1 online resource (v, 246 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004247697 :
1877-9808 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Postcolonial Arabic Novel : Debating Ambivalence /
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This is the first study of its kind to tackle the postcolonial in Arabic fiction. In ten chapters, a lengthy preface and an extensive bibliography, the author discusses and questions a large number of novels that demonstrate cultural diversity and richness in the Arab World. Using current methodologies and discourse analysis, the author highlights engagements with postcolonial issues that relate to identity formation, the modern nation-state, individualism, nationalism, gender and class demarcations, and micro-politics. With this intention, the book locates Arabic narrative in the mainstream of world literature, and establishes the modern Arabic novel in the contemporary literary critical world of postcolonial studies. The author's lucid style and thorough knowledge of the field should recommend the book to students and scholars alike, as it comes in time to meet the needs of the academy for solid writing on Islam and the Arabs.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047401544
9789004125865