From Mari to Jerusalem and Back

Jack Murad Sasson, distinguished scholar of the ancient Near East, has enjoyed a long career studying the cultures, languages, and literatures of that consequential region. His many books and articles span a seemingly endless array of topics and materials. Foremost are his in-depth analyses of the Syrian city of Mari and its remarkable heritage. Of comparable importance are his definitive studies of the Hebrew Bible, in particular his commentaries on the books of Judges, Ruth, and Jonah. In addition, the encyclopedic four-volume set he initiated and edited, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, stands out as an exceptional contribution to peers, students, and the general public.

To honor him and his scholarly achievements, thirty-five of his longtime colleagues and friends have collaborated to produce this volume of essays on such diverse cultures as Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, the Amorites, Egypt, Ebla, the Hurrians, the Hittites, Ugarit, the Arameans, Canaan, and Israel. The studies in this volume display the richness of these cultures—their literary legacies, languages, political and social histories, material remains, religions and rituals, and history of ideas—as well as their reception in modern times. The volume is both a contribution to the evolving study of the ancient Near East and also a fitting tribute to Jack Sasson, whose friendship and scholarship we have long cherished and esteemed.

“From Mari to Jerusalem and Back is a consistently rich collection of important essays that treat both Assyriological and Biblical Studies. As such, it is a fitting tribute to the honoree, whose work has been characterized by these same qualities, and its contributions, like those of its honoree, will no doubt benefit many other scholars.”—Adam E. Miglio, Journal of the American Oriental Society

Annalisa Azzoni is Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt University.

Alexandra Kleinerman is a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University.

Douglas A. Knight is Drucilla Moore Buffington Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt University.

David I. Owen is Bernard and Jane Schapiro Professor Emeritus of Ancient Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Cornell University.

Preface

Contributors

Abbreviations

Publications of Jack M. Sasson

Part I. Assyriological Studies

Kamiš at Ebla

Alfonso Archi

“Not Tonight, Josephine!”: Women at War in Third Millennium BCE Syria?

Maria Giovanna Biga

L’élection du P. Scheil au Collège de France en 1905

Dominique Charpin

Royal Hunt among the Semites, West and East: Fertility and Kingship in Myth and Ritual

Gregorio del Olmo Lete

Heurs et malheurs de la vie conjugale en Mésopotamie: La séparation de

corps dans quelques sources cunéiformes

Sophie Démare-Lafont

“Si ce n’est toi, c’est donc ton frère … ”

Jean-Marie Durand

Albrecht Goetze: Three Mid-Century Reflections on Cuneiform Studies

and Linguistics

Benjamin R. Foster

A New Manuscript of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld

Alhena Gadotti and Alexandra Kleinerman

Prière à Itûr-Mêr pour le salut de Zimrî-Lîm

Michaël Guichard

Royal Women Sages in Aramaic Literature: The Unnamed Queen in

Daniel 5 and Saritrah in the “Revolt of Babylon”

Tawny L. Holm

The Beginning of the Sumerian Epic “Gilgameš and the Bull of Heaven”

and Its Possible Historical-Political Background

Jacob Klein and Yitschak Sefati

À propos d’une défaite de Mari et d’une négociation diplomatique

Bertrand Lafont

Paul Haupt: Between Two Worlds

Peter Machinist

Sumerian Literature at the Crossroads

Piotr Michalowski

Contributions to the Dossier of Princess Simat-Ištaran

David I. Owen

The Sitting Moon and the Goats of Gilead: A Rare Akkadian Astronomical Term and a Hapax in Song of Songs

Gonzalo Rubio

Old Babylonian Bread Offerings

Marten Stol

Ilumma-ila Unveiled

Karel Van Lerberghe and Gabriella Voet

“Talking to Doors”: Paraklausithyron in Akkadian Literature

Nathan Wasserman

Die Klausel á mu-ú/u8 -a-šè in altbabylonischen Miet- und Feldpachtverträgen aus Nippur, Isin und unbekannter Herkunft: Politische Motive für die Stilisierung von Rechtsurkunden?

Claus Wilcke

Hurritische Beschwörungen mit Bezugnahme auf Ursprungsmythen

Gernot Wilhelm

Un enfant à Alep

Nele Ziegler

Part II. Biblical Studies

Translating Biblical Dialogue

Robert Alter

Job and Not

Giorgio Buccellati

The Earliest Israel: Territorial History in the Highlands of Canaan

Israel Finkelstein

The Name Yhwȝ as a People: Reconsidering the Amorite Evidence

Daniel E. Fleming

Joshua and Anomie: Retrojection, Projection, and Recovery

Douglas A. Knight

The Plague of Darkness and the Creation of Light: A Reading of Psalm 105:26–36 from the Notion of Calamities in Chinese Perspective

Archie C. C. Lee

The Oracular Insertion in Zechariah 4: Another Look at the Evidence of Akkadian Royal Building Inscriptions

Eric M. Meyers and Carol Meyers

Myth, Poetry, and Cosmic Construction in Job 38:4–18

Choon-Leong Seow

A Mosaic for Miriam

Phyllis Trible