Personified Mountains in Ancient Canonical Narratives

Eric J. P. Wagner

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-163806-0

Eric J. P. Wagner

Personified Mountains in Ancient Canonical Narratives

Spatial and Mythic Studies of Mesopotamian, Greek, and Hebrew Bible Landscapes

2025. 347 pages.

Orientalische Religionen in der Antike (ORA) 62

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-163806-0

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Summary

Eric J. P. Wagner identifies and analyzes personified mountains in the Epic of Gilgameš, the Iliad and Odyssey, and Genesis-2 Kings. These »embodied landscapes« represent mythic thinking, inviting a re-reading that traces their meaning(s) and function(s) across each corpus.

Ancient canonical narratives from Mesopotamia, Greece, and the Hebrew Bible fused landscapes (topographic space) and human bodies (corporeal space) when personifying mountains. Built environments (architectonic space) also correlated with these anthropomorphic landscapes. As blends of fundamental spatial categories, such mountains exemplified mythic space and minimally counter-intuitive concepts characteristic of religious cognition. In so far as these personified mountains expressed such »mythic thinking,« they invite a re-reading informed by spatial and mythological analysis. Taking up this invitation, Eric J. P. Wagner focuses on the Epic of Gilgameš, Homeric epic (the Iliad and Odyssey), and Genesis-2 Kings to identify and analyze personified mountains in each corpus. Ultimately, he traces the meaning(s) and function(s) of these »living landscapes« across each ancient narrative.

Table of contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction
1. Approaching Personified Mountains in Ancient Canonical Narratives - 2. Project Goals, Findings, and Outline

Chapter 2: The Argument's Nature, Shape, and Objects
1. The Nature of the Argument: Abductive - 2. The Approach: Comparative - 3. The Method: Mythic Spatial and Myth-Critical - 4. The Objects of Study - 5. Summation

Chapter 3: Personified Mountains in the Epic of Gilgameš
1. Introduction - 2. The Epic of Gilgameš as Canonical Narrative - 3. Lexical Analysis of »Mountain« Terms in the Epic of Gilgameš - 4. Mythic Analysis of Personified Mountains in the Epic of Gilgameš - 5. Summation

Chapter 4: Personified Mountains in the Iliad and Odyssey
1. Introduction - 2. The Iliad and Odyssey as Canonical Narratives - 3. Lexical Analysis of »Mountain« Terms in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey - 4. Mythic Analysis of Personified Mountains in the Iliad and Odyssey - 5. Summation

Chapter 5: Personified Mountains in Genesis-2 Kings
1. Introduction - 2. Genesis-2 Kings as Canonical Narrative - 3. Lexical Analysis of »Mountain« Terms in Genesis-2 Kings - 4. Mythic Analysis of Personified Mountains in Genesis-2 Kings - 5. Summation

Chapter 6: Conclusion
1. Summation of Findings - 2. Key Contributions and Avenues for Future Research