How were ancient textual sources used and manipulated? And how can this help us understand the dissemination of religious and mythological knowledge in different historical contexts? This interdisciplinary collection of essays concerning ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, Greece, and Rome uses multiple approaches and perspectives to analyze the reuse of texts from different historical and geographical contexts across the ancient Mediterranean.
This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the use and manipulation of ancient textual sources from different settings across the ancient Mediterranean as a key to understanding the dissemination of religious and mythological knowledge in different historical contexts. In a series of case studies focusing on texts and artifacts from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, Greece, and Rome, and their ancient as well as modern reuse, this volume displays multiple approaches to and perspectives on strategies of incorporation of derivative materials in antiquity and beyond.
Contributors:
Ilaria Andolfi, Heike Behlmer, Francesca Boldrer, Laura Carlson Hasler, Michael Chen, Silvia Gabrieli, Szilvia Jáka-Sövegjártó, Gina Konstantopoulos, Chiara Meccariello, Tonio Mitto, So Miyagawa, Dustin Nash, Przemysław Piwowarczyk, Jennifer Singletary, Georgios Vassiliades, Nereida Villagra, Mathias Winkler, David P. Wright, Marie Young, Carlos Gracia ZamaconaSurvey of contents
Chiara Meccariello/Jennifer Singletary: Introduction
Section A. Preserving, Archiving, and Detecting Sources Tonio Mitto/Marie Young: In Search of Former Kings: Copying Sîn-kāšid's and Sîn-iddinam's Inscriptions in the Neo- and Late Babylonian Periods –
Laura Carlson Hasler: Citation, Collection, and the Protection of Memory in 2 Maccabees –
Georgios Vassiliades: Livy and the Legends of Rome's Foundation: A »Double Standard« Approach –
Nereida Villagra: Source Citations in the Scholia to the Odyssey: References, Subscriptions, and the Mythographus Homericus –
So Miyagawa/Heike Behlmer: Quotative Index Phrases in Shenoute's Canon 6: A Case Study of Quotations from the Psalms
Section B. Authority, Divinity, and Power Carlos Gracia Zamacona: Divine Words in the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts (c. 2000–1500 BCE) –
Gina Konstantopoulos: »These Are of the Mouth of Ea«: The Divine Origin of Incantations and the Legitimation of the Exorcist's Craft –
Szilvia Jáka-Sövegjártó: Source Texts as Authority Constructions: A Conceptual Approach to the Old Babylonian Literary Discourse –
Ilaria Andolfi: A Writing Hard to Wash Out: A Reassessment of the Story about Acusilaus and his Bronze Tablets –
Francesca Boldrer: Sacra... canam: Propertius's Aetiological-Religious Poetry and His Use of Sources
Section C. Manipulating and Adapting Sources: Ancient to Modern Michael Chen: Adapting Ancient Egyptian Healing Spells onto Late Period Statuary –
David P. Wright: The Covenant Code Narrative: Neo-Assyrian Influences and Context –
Mathias Winkler: The Book of Proverbs: Sources Become Invisible –
Przemysław Piwowarczyk: Using the Scriptures in Documentary Letters from Western Thebes –
Silvia Gabrieli: Enuma Elish: A Glorious Past and a Curious Present –
Dustin Nash: Assyriology and the Allosaurus: Sources, Symbols, and Memory at the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter
