Arslan Tash I and other vestiges of a particular Syrian incantatory thread

Biblica

Volumn 84, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 89-101

  Conklin, Blane W ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

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EID: 61249660211     PISSN: 00060887     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. R. DU MESNIL DU BUISSON, "Une tablette magique de la région du moyen Euphrate", Mélanges syriens offerts à Monsieur René Dussaud (ed. F. CUMONT ET AL.) (BAH 30; Paris 1939) I, 421-434.
2. See the hand copy provided at the end of the article. It was made by D. PARDEE, and taken from his "Les documents d'Arslan Tash: Authentique ou Faux?", Syria 75 (1998) 43.
3. See the discussion of these possible Aramaisms in PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 39-40.
4. The readings are based on the most recent autopsy of the artifact, that of Pardee, "Arslan Tash", which includes a full epigraphic study and commentary. Only one other collation of the original artifact has been done since the editio princeps, that of J. Teixidor ("Les tablettes d'Arslan Tash au Musée d'Alep", AuOr 1 [1983] 105-108), whose comments on readings are cursory and do not extend beyond line 17, where the text is most difficult.
5. Teixidor's study, as well as P. Amiet's examination of the iconography of the plaque ("Observations sur les 'Tablettes magiques' d'Arslan Tash", AuOr 1 [1983] 109), led many scholars to doubt the authenticity of the tablet in the 1980's. Teixidor and Amiet believed the tablet to be a forgery.
6. For an overview of the history of publications on this inscription since the editio princeps, and a defense of its authenticity, see J. VAN DIJK, "The Authenticity of the Arslan Tash Amulets", Iraq 54 (1992) 65-68.
7. P.K. MCCARTER, "An Amulet from Arslan Tash", The Context of Scripture (ed. W.W. HALLO - K.L. YOUNGER, JR.) (Leiden 2000) II, 222-223.
8. T.H. GASTER, "The Magical Inscription from Arslan Tash", JNES 6 (1947) 188;
9. PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 35.
10. For the Phoenician, see CIS 95: 3;
11. for the Punic see CIS 3771: 5. See also the comment below on line 27.
12. H. ÇAMBEL, Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions (Berlin - New York 1999) II, 1-2;
13. the texts are presented by W. Röllig in Appendix 1 of this volume, 50-81.
14. PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 36.
15. T.H. GASTER, "A Canaanite Magical Text", Or 11 (1942) 42, n. 5.
16. H. TORCZYNER, "A Hebrew Incantation Against Night-Demons from Biblical Times", JNES 6 (1947) 19.
17. GASTER, "Magical Text", 62-63.
18. W.F. ALBRIGHT, "An Aramaean Magical Text in Hebrew from the Seventh Century B.C.", BASOR 76 (1939) 7-8;
19. F.M. CROSS, JR. - R.J. SALEY, "Phoenician Incantations on a Plaque of the Seventh Century B.C. from Arslan Tash in Upper Syria", BASOR 197 (1970) 47;
20. and GASTER, "Magical Text", 71.
21. TORCZYNER, "Hebrew Incantation", 24-25.
22. VAN DIJK, "Authenticity", 67.
23. J. FRIEDRICH - W. RÖLLIG - M.G. AMADASI GUZZO - W.R. MAYER, Phönizisch-punisch Grammatik (AnOr 55; Rome 31999) §112.
24. PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 27.
25. CROSS - SALEY, "Phoenician Incantations", 46, n. 29
26. and confirmed by PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 27.
27. FRIEDRICH - RÖLLIG - AMADASI GUZZO - MAYER, Phönizisch-punisch, §170.
28. This is how S.D. SPERLING, "An Arslan Tash Incantation: Interpretations and Implications", HUCA 53 (1982) 6, organizes lines 8-10 as well.
29. I am here following the suggestion of PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 37, 41, n. 89.
30. A.L. OPPENHEIM, Ancient Mesopotamia. Portrait of a Dead Civilization (Chicago 1977) 195-196;
31. G. ROUX, Ancient Iraq (London 31992) 88.
32. CAD S0, Vol. 17/I, pp. 336-337; and in letters preserved in Ugaritic, e.g., RS 18.038, RS 34.356.
33. PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 37;
34. see also J.G. TAYLOR, Yahweh and the Sun. Biblical and Archeological Evidence for Sun Worship in Ancient Israel (JSOT. S 111; Sheffield 1993) 58-66, where he describes horse figurines with sun disks attached to them, found in Palestine under the direction of K. Kenyon and studied by T. A. Holland in an unpublished Oxford Ph.D. dissertation from 1975.
35. Most recently represented by MCCARTER, "Arslan Tash", 223, again, without the benefit of Pardee's epigraphic study of the original.
36. D. PARDEE, Les textes para-mythologiques (RSO IV; Paris 1988)
37. and Ritual and Cult at Ugarit (SBLWAW; Atlanta 2002).
38. As she does generally, see S. WIGGINS, "Shapsh, Lamp of the Gods", Ugarit, Religion, and Culture (ed. N. WYATT - W.G.E. WATSON - J.B. LLOYD) (UBL 12; Münster 1996) 327-350.
39. Described in parallel lines as his bt, "house", and h9z9r, "court", two terms which are also parallel in AT1, lines 5-7.
40. PARDEE, Les textes, 248-251;
41. Ritual and Cult, text 54.
42. The relationship between these two deities is evident as well in Egypt (section 3 below), and it is of interest to note that two cities in ancient Israel named after these gods, Beth-Shemesh and Beth-Horon, lay about 15 miles apart, southwest of Jerusalem, and roughly midway between them is Aijalon, the valley (and a city) where Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still while Israel defeated the five Amorite kings in battle (Josh 10,12-14; thanks to Dan Belnap for pointing this out to me).
43. A. CAQUOT, "Observations sur la première tablette magique d'Arslan Tash", JANES 5 (1973) 49, n. 13;
44. SPERLING, "Interpretations", 9.
45. A. CATAGNOTI - M. BONECHI, "Magic and Divination at IIIrd Millennium Ebla, 1. Textual Typologies and Preliminary Lexical Approach", SEL 15 (1998) 17-39.
46. C. TRAUNECKER, The Gods of Egypt (Ithaca 2001) 106-108;
47. D. REDFORD, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton 1992) 231-233;
48. A. KUHRT, The Ancient Near East (London - New York 1995) 213;
49. J. VAN DIJK, "The Canaanite God H9auron and his Cult in Egypt", GM 107 (1989) 59-68;
50. W.F. ALBRIGHT, "The Canaanite God H9auro=n (H9o=ro=n)", AJSL 53/I (1936) 10.
51. VAN DIJK, "H9auron", 65.
52. The Nineteenth Dynasty basically spans the entirety of the 13th century, plus a few years on either or both ends, depending on the authority. This corresponds roughly to the last century of the Kingdom of Ugarit.
53. ALBRIGHT, "Canaanite God", 4.
54. CROSS - SALEY, "Phoenician Incantations", 48-49.
55. W. PROPP, Exodus 1-18. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AncB 2; New York 1999) 437, 441.
56. PROPP, Exodus 1-18, 441.
57. MCCARTER, "Arslan Tash", 223.
58. On p. 440, Propp (Exodus 1-18) asks "Three Questions" about the mechanics of Passover: Why in the evening, why a doorpost, and why in the springtime? He employs AT1 to help answer the second question, but based on Pardee's new reading of AT1 line 20 the first question can be answered with the help of AT1 as well (see the following discussion).
59. It so happens, though it may not be significant enough to call a parallel, that in each case, the threatening entity is the subject of the verb 'br. In AT1 it refers to the exit of the "flyer" from a dark room, just in case it managed to get in (19-20), and in Exod 12,12.23 it refers to Yahweh himself, who "passes through" the land to destroy all the firstborn of Egypt. Another OT passage that shares these parallels is Isa 26,20-21a: Kd(b Ktld rgsw Kyrdxb )b ym( Kl : M(z-rb(y-d( (gr-+(mk ybx wyl( Cr)h-b#$y Nw( dqpl wmwqmm )cy hwhy hnh-yk Go, my people, enter your rooms, and shut your doors behind you; hide for a little while, until the accursed thing passes by. For Yahweh is going out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their guilt (lit: to visit the guilt of the inhabitant of the earth upon him). Commentators have variously identified the imagery here with Noah's ark or the Passover (PROPP, Exodus 1-18, 427, favors the latter identification). Like the AT1 and Passover texts, the doorway is secured to prevent the entry of a hostile entity (again, the subject of the verb rb(), and it is not too imaginative to see here the element of a morning rescue by Yahweh (subject of the verb )cy, as in AT1 line 26; see comment on line 22 and note 48 below). Compare also the mare's actions after the snake venom is weakened in the Ugaritic text summarized above in section 2, RS 24.244:70-1: b'dh . bhtm . mnt . b'dh . bhtm . sgrt b'dh . 'dbt . t{lt{ .; "Behind her the house of incantation, behind her the house she has shut, behind her she has set the bronze (bolt)" (translation by PARDEE, Ritual and Cult, 178-179).
60. Du MESNIL DU BUISSON, " Une tablette magique", 424.
61. PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 26.
62. PARDEE, "Arslan Tash", 25.
63. R. ALBERTZ, A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period (OTL; Louisville 1994) 35.
64. Might this help explain the timing when Yahweh destroyed the Egyptian army (Exod 14,27), rqb twnpl, "break of day"? All the previous night the Egyptians were kept at bay through the apotropaic function of the pillar of cloud (14,20), and in the morning the Israelites were saved. Ps 46,5-6, possibly recalling this great victory, uses the same phrase, rqb twnpl, to describe when God will come to the assistance of his holy city.
65. SPERLING, "Interpretations", 9-10;
66. Z. ZEVIT, "A Phoenician Inscription and Biblical Covenant Theology", IEJ 27 (1977) 116-118.
67. See discussion in SPERLING, "Interpretations", 9
68. as well as J. DAY, "Canaan, Religion of", ABD I, 831-837.
69. It is purely hypothetical, of course, but if Ramses II is still considered by many to be the "Exodus Pharaoh", it is tantalizing to consider that the Passover could have been an ironic twist on his relationship with Horon as documented above in section 3. The god who keeps harmful entities out of the house at night was unable to keep Yahweh from entering Pharaoh's house and killing his firstborn son, while the Hebrews were protected by their new-found savior.