Structures in Other Domains The methodology of structural analysis discussed in this article has been applied beyond the narrow realm of natural language syntax that we have discussed in this article. Within the study of language, similar methods of analysis have been pervasively applied to the study of sounds (phonology), words (morphology), and meanings (semantics), yielding a range of of abstract structural representations whose properties bear considerable explanatory burden. There are a wealth of cases in each of these domains analogous to those discussed here, though space prevents us from going in these (see Akmajian, Demers, Farmer and Harnish 1995 for a traditional overview, and Jackendo 1994 for one more focused on connections with cognitive science). Additionally, these representations have shed substantial light on the processes of language acquisition and language change. It has been found that variation in the types of sentences that are used, whether during the course of children's acquisition of their native languages or in the centuries-long periods of linguistic change, are best characterized not as super cial and haphazard alterations, but rather in terms of parametric modi cations to the fundamental underlying grammatical rules and constraints. Moving outside the domain of language, one application of these same methods has been in the study of music cognition. Just as the representations of linguistic theory arise out of an attempt to model speakers' intuitions about well-formedness and possible meanings of the sentences of their

Structural analysis

\"This splendid work of scholarship . . . sums up with economy and power all that the written record so far deciphered has to tell about the ancient and complementary civilizations of Babylon and Assyria.\" Edward B. Garside, \"New York Times Book Review\" Ancient Mesopotamia the area now called Iraq has received less attention than ancient Egypt and other long-extinct and more spectacular civilizations. But numerous small clay tablets buried in the desert soil for thousands of years make it possible for us to know more about the people of ancient Mesopotamia than any other land in the early Near East. Professor Oppenheim, who studied these tablets for more than thirty years, used his intimate knowledge of long-dead languages to put together a distinctively personal picture of the Mesopotamians of some three thousand years ago. Following Oppenheim's death, Erica Reiner used the author's outline to complete the revisions he had begun. \"To any serious student of Mesopotamian civilization, this is one of the most valuable books ever written.\" Leonard Cottrell, \"Book Week\" \"Leo Oppenheim has made a bold, brave, pioneering attempt to present a synthesis of the vast mass of philological and archaeological data that have accumulated over the past hundred years in the field of Assyriological research.\" Samuel Noah Kramer, \"Archaeology\" A. Leo Oppenheim, one of the most distinguished Assyriologists of our time, was editor in charge of the \"Assyrian Dictionary\" of the Oriental Institute and John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago.\

Ancient Mesopotamia, Portrait of a Dead Civilization

Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the Old Testament

This book provides a groundbreaking reassessment of the prehistory of Homeric epic. It argues that in the Early Iron Age bilingual poets transmitted to the Greeks a set of narrative traditions closely related to the one found at Bronze-Age Hattusa, the Hittite capital. Key drivers for Near Eastern influence on the developing Homeric tradition were the shared practices of supralocal festivals and venerating divinized ancestors, and a shared interest in creating narratives about a legendary past using a few specific storylines: theogonies, genealogies connecting local polities, long-distance travel, destruction of a famous city because it refuses to release captives, and trying to overcome death when confronted with the loss of a dear companion. Professor Bachvarova concludes by providing a fresh explanation of the origins and significance of the Greco-Anatolian legend of Troy, thereby offering a new solution to the long-debated question of the historicity of the Trojan War.

From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic

Introduction 1. Exploring uncertainty 2. A lapse into unreason 3. Individuals and oracles 4. The dwelling of the spirit 5. A catalogue and summary of published questions by individuals and responses from the Dodona oracle 6. Oracles and daily life 7. Curses! 8. Urban drama 9. The best defence 10. Business as usual? 11. Love and curses 12. Curses and risk Conclusion

Oracles, Curses, and Risk Among the Ancient Greeks: (revised paperback)

The concept of sign, a portent observed in the physical world, which indicates future events, is found in all ancient cultures, but was first developed in ancient Mesopotamian texts. This branch of Babylonian scientific knowledge extensively influenced other parts of the world, and similar texts written in Aramaic, Sanscrit, Sogdian, and other languages. The seminar will investigate how much do we know about the Babylonian theory and hermeneutics of omens, and the scope of their possible influences on other cultures and regions.

/pdf/divination-and-interpretation-of-signs-in-the-ancient-world-53m78lvnh8.pdf

Divination and interpretation of signs in the ancient world

In the article, it is argued that the origin of Watchers derives from the Mesopotamian mythology of the antediluvian sages (apkallus). More precisely, it is proposed that the mythology of Watchers and their sons the giants derived from inverted versions of various Mesopotamian myths and beliefs about apkallus. On some layers of Mesopotamian mythology and ritual practices, the sages were already regarded as dangerous and potentially malicious creatures, upon which the Jewish authors could build their parody. Among other associations, the apkallus had strong ties to Mesopotamian demonology, and they were occasionally counted as evil beings, capable of witchcraft. This shows that the wickedness of antediluvian teachers of humankind in Jewish sources was not wholly an inversion of the Mesopotamian traditions by Jewish scholars, but was partly taken from already existing trends in Mesopotamian demonology.

http://godawa.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Annus-Origin_of_Watchers.pdf

Amar Annus

Papers

Divination and interpretation of signs in the ancient world

On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions:

The God Ninurta in the Mythology and Royal Ideology of Ancient Mesopotamia

Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi: The Standard Babylonian Poem of the Righteous Sufferer

The Survivals of the Ancient Syrian and Mesopotamian Intellectual Traditions in the Writings of Ephrem Syrus