Showing papers in "Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions in 2019"

Babylonian Priesthood during the Third Millennium BCE: Between Sacred and Profane

Abstract: This article offers an overview of the early Babylonian priesthood, as it was organized and operated during the third millennium BCE. It is emphasized that the priests and priestesses proper, i.e., individuals who were specifically concerned with cultic matters, represented a relatively small segment of the employees of temple households. Much more numerous within these institutions (which might more appropriately be termed “temple communities”) were the individuals whose roles were of either administrative or economic character. Focusing on the administrators of temple households, and identifying them as “Managerial Class,” the article argues that, during Pre-Sargonic times, this social group wielded great economic and political power, which at times even exceeded that of the emerging secular leaders (such as ensiks and lugals). To demonstrate this point, an interaction between these two competing centers of powers (particularly in the city-state of Lagaš) is studied in detail. In memory of Itamar Singer

Kings, Priests, and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Period

Abstract: Despite a relative dearth of information in the surviving corpus about Assyrian priests’ more routine concerns, the Assyrian state correspondence contains some details that can improve our knowledge of priests’ daily lives, rights, and responsibilities. Using four case studies, this paper analyzes situations in which priests are accused of misconduct or crimes to better understand the powers and expectations of individual priestly offices as well as the realities of everyday life that might have rendered these boundaries more flexible or surmountable. These cases of irregularities reveal that cultic personnel had distinct economic, legal, and judicial roles and were sometimes able to extend their powers when necessary to manage issues such as crime and shortages in resources, only requesting royal intervention as a last resort.

Urukean Priests and the Neo-Babylonian State

Abstract: The paper is constructed around a short micro-historical portrait of a priestly family active in Uruk in the sixth century BCE. This introduces two interrelated issues that the paper will subsequently discuss with a view towards a contextualization of the family in question: the interaction between the Neo-Babylonian state and priests outside the capital city, and the drive towards inter-temple interaction and standardization of procedures based on the model of Esangila, the Marduk temple in the capital.

Identity Through Appearance: Babylonian Priestly Clothing During the 1st Millennium BC

Abstract: Through a study of Babylonian priestly clothing, one can see the social role and attitudes of priests in Babylonian cities, not only when they worship deities, but also in their daily lives. Information on priests’ clothing is rare in cuneiform texts. A Hellenistic ritual from Uruk gives interesting insights that one can compare with the data from the daily records from the Neo-Babylonian period. It appears that outside the temple, the priests wore “civil” clothes. Religious garments were kept in particular rooms of the temples, and their terminology is archaic and similar to the garments of the gods. During worship, each category of priest had its own specific dress identifying its status and its role in the rituals. These garments were sometimes adorned with motifs representing celestial symbols or protective deities.

Prebends and Prebendaries in Old Babylonian Nippur

Abstract: Office holders in Babylonian temples were provided with an income, a prebend, by the temples in return for their services. In the Old Babylonian period these prebendaries do not occur in ritual texts but are well attested in legal documents. The extensive evidence from Old Babylonian Nippur gives a rough impression of the tasks of these prebendaries and of their remuneration. Moreover, it sheds light on prebend-related economic transactions including inheritance, exchange, and purchase. The development of prebend prices, their suitability for financial investments, their appearance in inheritance divisions and the possession of prebends by women are also addressed.

Priests of Ur in the Old Babylonian Period: a Reappraisal in Light of the 2017 Discoveries at Ur/Tell Muqayyar

Abstract: Thirty-two years after the publication of Le Clergé d'Ur au siècle d'Hammurabi (1986), a reappraisal of the situation is made possible by collations of already known texts, and by new tablets provided by the resumption of excavations on the site of Tell Muqayyer. The question of the estate properties within the city of Ur will first be examined: generally, the members of the clergy owned the houses they inhabited, which were not the property of the temple of the Moon-god Nanna. Then the evidence about the specific situation of the purification priests devoted to the god Enki-of-Eridu will be studied: the older data are supplemented by new ones discovered in 2017 in a house occupied by a Babylonian general. Finally, the level of literacy of the clergy and the role he played in education will be examined; here again, the 2017 season provides new evidence thanks to the discovery of a house inhabited by an intendant of the temple of the goddess Ningal.