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Poetic Astronomy in the Ancient Near East : The Reflexes of Celestial Science in Ancient Mesopotamian, Ugaritic, and Israelite Narrative
Author
Title
Poetic Astronomy in the Ancient Near East : The Reflexes of Celestial Science in Ancient Mesopotamian, Ugaritic, and Israelite Narrative / Jeffrey L. Cooley.
ISBN
9781575066936
Publication
University Park, PA : Penn State University Press, [2021]
Manufacture
Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2022
Copyright Notice Date
©[2021]
Physical Description
1 online resource (408 pages).
Local Notes
Access is available to the Yale community.
Notes
In English.
Description based on print version record.
Access and use
Access restricted by licensing agreement.
Summary
Modern science historians have typically treated the sciences of the ancient Near East as separate from historical and cultural considerations. At the same time, biblical scholars, dominated by theological concerns, have historically understood the Israelite god as separate from the natural world. Cooley's study, bringing to bear contemporary models of science history on the one hand and biblical studies on the other hand, seeks to bridge a gap created by 20th-century scholarship in our understanding of ancient Near Eastern cultures by investigating the ways in which ancient authors incorporated their cultures' celestial speculation in narrative.In the literature of ancient Iraq, celestial divination is displayed quite prominently in important works such as Enuma Eliš and Erra and Išum. In ancient Ugarit as well, the sky was observed for devotional reasons, and astral deities play important roles in stories such as the Baal Cycle and Shahar and Shalim. Even though the veneration of astral deities was rejected by biblical authors, in the literature of ancient Israel the Sun, Moon, and stars are often depicted as active, conscious agents. In texts such as Genesis 1, Joshua 10, Judges 5, and Job 38, these celestial characters, these "sons of God," are living, dynamic members of Yahweh's royal entourage, willfully performing courtly, martial, and calendrical roles for their sovereign.The synthesis offered by this book, the first of its kind since the demise of the pan-Babylonianist school more than a century ago, is about ancient science in ancient Near Eastern literature.
Variant and related titles
Project Muse books annual backfile collection 2022.
Format
Books / Online
Language
English
Added to Catalog
July 17, 2023
Series
History, Archaeology, and Culture of the Levant ; 5
Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 The Study of Ancient Near Eastern Celestial Science and Literature
Chapter 2 Celestial Science in Mesopotamia
Chapter 3 Celestial Science in Mesopotamian Literature
Chapter 4 Celestial Science at Ugarit and in Ugaritic Literature
Chapter 5 Celestial Science in Ancient Israel
Chapter 6 Celestial Science in Ancient Israelite Literature
Chapter 7 Conclusion
Bibliography
Indexes
Subjects
Genre/Form
History.
Also listed under
Project Muse. distributor
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