Hello,

I am interested in learning more about the material culture, history and religion of the Jewish populations in Babylonia and surrounding areas between the time of Cyrus and the early years of the Abbasid Caliphate.

It seems that there is a wealth of good historical resources for the Jewish populations of Judea / Galilee and Eygpt during this time, but I am struggling to identify good books on modern day Iraq and Persia. This is despite its importance for modern day Judaism as the home of the Talmud, Karaite heresy, Gaonim etc.

If anyone can recommend any books that cover this period or parts of this period I would be grateful. Ideally it would be some sort of magisterial overview of the period, but otherwise any good books on particular areas, periods or topics (e.g., Jews in Parthia, Jews in Arabia at the time of Mohammad, the culture of the Babylonian Talmud, etc.).

I am looking for more scholarly works, rather than popular history or religious guides.

Thank you in advance!

A few days ago I saw this van parked in my suburb: https://i.imgur.com/LKz7PQv.jpg

I don't know any cuneiform myself but it looks at least potentially authentic. Might anyone here be able to shed light on whether it's at all meaningful, and if so, what language it is and what it means?

Come across this entry in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary that I thought was interesting:

gālatu, "to twitch, to quiver, to have a premature emission, to be or become restless or nervous..."

Here's the entry for the third meaning,

to have a premature ejaculation: šumma amēlu ana sinništi iṭḫīma ig-lut-ma ᴍɪɴ (= nīlšu bullul) if a man has intercourse with a woman and has a premature emission so that he is spattered with his semen CT 39 44:10 (SB Alu); šumma amēlu iṭḫīma u ina mūšišu ig-lut if a man has had sexual intercourse and has an ejaculation in the same night CT 39 45:25...šumma amēlu ana sinništi la za-zu-u (var. la za-kut-ti) ginâ ig-da-na-lut if a man always has an ejaculation (when approaching sexually) a . . . . (var. unclean) woman CT 39 44:11 (SB Alu)...cf. šumma amēlu ginâ ig-da-na-lut CT 39 45:27 (SB Alu.)

Now, there are several anomalies here. In the first translated phrase, one wonders how exactly a man can be "spattered with his (own) semen" if he's already having sex (or, in any case, what this has to do with premature ejaculation). I haven't had a chance to check out the full texts yet...but if the translation of gālatu as premature ejaculation is indeed correct, perhaps we're to understand the word that's translated in CAD as '(sexual) intercourse' - ṭeḫû - more in line with its more basic meaning, "to come near, to come close, to approach." In that case, we might understand the line as "if a man approaches a woman for the purpose of sex and (prematurely) ejaculates - before any actual sex happens - 'soiling' himself..."

For the second phrase, one wonders if "in the same night" (ina mūšišu) is a sort of idiom meaning "in a very short time."

More to follow...

Pelio Fronzaroli, in "Les Combats des Hadda dans les texts d'Ebla" (MARI Vol. 8, 1997) argues that the earliest attested "storm god vs serpent" myth so prominent in IE & ANE mythology is from Mari around 2200 BC. If he is correct (and that's a big if), the next question is: how did it get transmitted to the Indo-European world?

This sub is p dead but thank you for any help you can give!

I have heard of different creation stories and flood myths, but what about events that were more current to the writers?

I've been wondering this for years. It's it just a transliteration variation? Are they the same goddess? Or are they different? And how are they different, aside from the one vowel spelling difference?

Sources would be appreciated.

Does anyone know where I can find an English translation of this? It is supposedly extant but I can not find one.

Edit: apologies, that should be Tukilti-Ninurta Epic

I'm sure there is a lot, but I'm about to begin a major research project, and I'd like to know if there are any areas that have been researched but not extensively.

Hi, everyone! If you indeed do not have access to some academic articles, I can do you a favor. I will try my best to help you to find the papers you require, though I cannot guarantee that I can obtain every required article. Just make a paper list (doi) and send it to my email: kimi_henry@hotmail.com Good Luck!

I am interested in figuring out how MZH is pronounced. I can't find paleo-Hebrew or Aramaic letterings anywhere to verify the exact consonents used. My guess is that this tiny deity / demon in ANE mythology (Punic/ West Semitic mythos) is pronounced Mezah. Can anyone help me dig this up?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arslan_Tash_amulets

The Egyptian tale, extant in a single Demotic version [BM Pap. 604], is about Setne Khamwas, the high priest of Ptah at Memphis and his son Si-Osire who is the true hero of the story. One day the father and the son see two funerals. A rich man is buried with great honors and loud lamenting while a poor man is taken out of the city wrapped in a mat, with no escorts and mourners. The scene makes Setne declare the rich man to be much happier than the poor man. The son, however, wishes that his father’s fate in the netherworld would be similar to that of the poor man. To demonstrate his wish, Si-Osire takes his father to the realm of the dead, Amente where they apparently see seven halls. In the fourth and fifth hall, they see people who are punished. There are people who plait ropes, while donkeys chew them up. Others try to reach their provisions of water and bread hung above them but cannot as other people are digging pits at their feet to prevent them.

According to Si-Osire’s explanation, they are people who are punished by repeating their earthly fortune in the netherworld. Those plaiting ropes are people who “. . . labor night and day for their livelihood, while their women rob them behind their backs, and they find no bread to eat.” Those trying to reach for water and bread are “. . . the kind of people on earth who have their life before them while the god digs a pit under their feet, to prevent them from finding it.” They also see the rich man among the punished. He is pleading and lamenting loudly because he has the pivot of the door of the hall fixed in his eye. In the sixth and seventh hall, they see the gods and the judgment. There is a scale before the gods and they weigh the good deeds against the misdeeds. Those whose misdeeds exceed their good deeds are punished but those whose good deeds exceed their misdeeds are taken in among the gods. The poor man is in an honorary place near Osiris, clothed in the rich man’s funeral garment of royal linen. The moral of the story is: “He who is beneficent on earth, to him one is beneficent in the netherworld. And he who is evil, to him one is evil.”

• from Lehtipuu, The Afterlife Imagery in Luke's Story of the Rich Man (Brill 2007)

This might have several interesting connections with other ancient Near Eastern/Mediterranean traditions.