Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "Temple of Ishtar (Mari)"

Nineveh, like modern Mosul of which it is now a suburb, lay at the heart of a prosperous agricultural region with many interregional connections, and the temple of Ishtar of Nineveh dominated the vast mound of Kuyunjik (Fig. 1). Trenches dug on behalf of the British Museum, mainly by Christian Rassam in 1851–2, Hormuzd Rassam in 1852–4 and 1878–80, George Smith in 1873–4, and Leonard King and Reginald Campbell Thompson in 1903–5, impinged on the site. The main temple was almost completely cleared, together with an area to the north-west, by Thompson and colleagues in four seasons between 1927 and 1932 (Figs. 2–3). Many original King and Thompson records are kept in the Department of the Ancient Near East at the British Museum; some photographic negatives are at the Royal Asiatic Society in London. The numerous objects from Thompson's excavations are now divided between the Iraq Museum, the British Museum (where they are registered in the 1929-10-12, 1930-5-8, 1932-12-10 and 1932-12-12 collections, mostly corresponding to the four successive seasons), the Birmingham City Museum, the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge; some were given to other institutions, and to individuals who had contributed to the excavation costs.

During the excavations in Nineveh carried out by R. Campbell Thompson on behalf of the British Museum in the years 1929 to 1932, many glazed Assyrian bricks were recovered and partly published in the excavation reports. Bricks were found in the years 1927–8 and 1929–30, respectively, when the Temple of Nabu and the so-called Palace of Assurnasirpal II were being excavated. Bricks were said to have come from the South-East area of the Temple of Nabu, where the excavators thought they had found the palace of King Assurnasirpal II. Actually, as recognised then by Thompson himself, the area between the temples of Nabu and Ishtar, where the palace of Assurnasirpal was thought to be, is characterised by later installations that reused Assyrian materials and structures (Fig. 1a–b). Confusion is due to the frequent presence of the wordé.gal(“palace”) at the beginning of the inscription that was stamped onto the bricks. However, the wordé.galprobably does not refer to a palace proper, but was used as a production mark: the brick was produced by and/or within the administrative structure (“palace”) of the Assyrian king, whose name usually follows the wordé.gal(“palace” of + Assyrian king's name), independently from its final location or use either for a palace or a temple.Thus, as reconstructed by Julian Reade, the Temple of Ishtar should be considered the likely source for the Assyrian materials found when excavating the South-East quadrant in the years 1927–8 and 1929–30, although the Temple of Nabu itself cannota prioribe totally excluded.

To speak about Nineveh from the perspective of the archives of Mari may seem rash: the Middle Euphrates is a long way from the banks of the Tigris. Yet the importance of Nineveh and its shrine was such that several texts found at Mari mention it as what must then have been a religious metropolis.During the period when Mari was under the dominion of Samsî-Addu, his son, Yasmah-Addu, sat on its throne. He was primarily responsible for affairs in the west, but personally participated in the military campaign marked by the fall of Nineveh and received numerous letters informing him of military events related to this event. Even after the conquest of Mari, when Yasmah-Addu had left the area, news of Nineveh and its surroundings went on arriving at the capital of the Middle Euphrates and continued to do so more sporadically in the era of Zimrî-Lîm.I would like first to present the data relevant to the geography and toponymy of the kingdom of Nurrugûm, to which Nineveh belonged at that time, and then to reconstruct the campaign that led to the fall of Nineveh and the complete annexation of the kingdom. I will end with some remarks on the famous commemorative inscription placed by Samsî-Addu in the temple Emenue at Nineveh.

During the twenty-fourth century BC, Aleppo, centre of cult of the weather god Hadda, was administered by an overseer under the control of Ebla, whose major god was Kura. Although Hadda had a temple in Mari, the region of the Middle Euphrates was dominated by the cult of Dagan, while ʾAdabal was the god of the Orontes valley. The king and his family played a regular role in the rites of Hadda at Aleppo. Twice a year, a renewal rite required the replacement of his mace and pair of bull's horns. Besides the mace, a chariot and two bulls with human faces were attributed to this god, an iconography which lasted into subsequent centuries.

A montage in Syrian filmmaker and activist Omar Amiralay’s Film Essay on the Euphrates Dam (1970) juxtaposes the dam’s industrial machinery with an eighteenth-century bce limestone statue of the goddess Ishtar, excavated from the Syrian site of Mari on the Euphrates River and known as the déesse au vase jaillissant (goddess with a flowing vase). This article analyses Amiralay’s visual and semiotic conflation of the dam’s architectural infrastructure and the déesse, raising questions regarding the politics of preservation under the Syrian Assad family regime (1971–present). Amiralay’s film valorises industrial labour while presenting a view of the rural lifeways that surround the Euphrates through the lens of salvage ethnography, suggesting that the advent of the dam will render these rural ways obsolete. The documentary records the months before over 60,000 people evacuated the region that would soon become the dam’s reservoir, Lake Assad. I argue that, read alongside film and literature that recentres the dam’s displaced (al-maghmurin; the drowned), Film Essay offers a counter-narrative to the ‘climate thesis’ of the Syrian Civil War (2011–present) and ties the conflict to longer histories of false promises and political subjugation embodied by the Tabqa Dam project.

The article deals with new archaeological materials concerning one of the objects of the Tsaryovokokshaysk temple complex – the Cathedral of the Resurrection built in 1759. A brief overview of the temple construction at Tsaryovokokshaysk since the founding of the town is presented. On the basis of archival sources and scientific works on the Tsarevokokshaysk temple complex, basic information on the history of the Cathedral of the Resurrection is given, in particular, about the previous wooden temples on the place of the future cathedral, about its construction and further reconstructions, architectural features and parishioners of the church. The second part of the article presents the results of archaeological studies of the foundation of the southern chapel of the cathedral dedicated to the Hieromartyr Feodor, that was carried out in 2021 by Y.A.Zeleneyev. The features of the church architecture that have been traced archaeologically are highlighted, such as the stages of construction and reconstruction of the building, the structure features of the foundation, the dimension of the brick and the order of masonry. Special attention is paid to the heating system of the cathedral revealed during the excavations. Brief information is given on other archaeological sites and artefacts identified during the research of the church. In the course of the study the data of archival sources were confirmed, which, when compared with the results of archaeological studies, give an idea of this object of stone temple architecture of the Mari Krai in the middle of the XVIII century.

Since the detailed study by Edith Porada of the cylinder seals and small objects from the celebrated treasure found in the temple of Mont at Tôd in Upper Egypt, questions concerning its origin and date still remain unanswered. Porada suggested that in addition to seals from Eastern Iran and possibly Afghanistan, a North Syrian origin for two of the cylinders seems a distinct possibility. Two other cylinder seals were carved in Mesopotamian style, one of them being datable to the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur. She also showed conclusively that there are no cylinders which can be dated later than 1800 B.C. (Middle Chronology) and that the latest cylinders belonged to the Isin-Larsa period. Her conclusions concerning the origin of the treasure and the importance of parallels for the amulets and other small objects with material from Mari and Ebla are entirely convincing. A recent study by Christine Lilyquist stresses the evidence for a date within the reign of Amenemhet II for the deposition of the treasure which was found in four metal boxes inscribed with the king's name. While in studies concerning the 153 silver vessels Cretan and Mycenaean prototypes have been cited, Anatolia has not received so much attention. Here it will be suggested that there is considerable recently published evidence from Anatolia and Syria which is relevant to the Tôd silver cups, and that a consideration of recently published textual material from Mari, Ebla, Rimah and Brak may also be useful.

The step-topped, free-standing square monument called in modern literature the Broken Obelisk was found by Hormuzd Rassam at Nineveh, near the Ishtar temple on the mound of Kuyunjik. It is the earliest monument of this kind, and it differs in its pictorial rendering from the later, so-called Assyrian obelisks. Whereas the succeeding examples display reliefs on their four sides, creating consecutive narratives, the Broken Obelisk exhibits a single, motionless relief on its front, the subject of the present paper (Börker-Klähn 1982, Nos. 132, 138–45, 152; Bär 1996, 57-68, 88–99, 101–5, 148–65).My aim here is to shed light on the motif of the king holding prisoners of war by means of lead ropes and to examine the bearing of this motif on the status of the royal image in pictorial renderings. According to different interpretations of the scene, the king holds a ring and rod (Börker-Klähn 1982, 178, No. 131 with earlier bibliography), or a ceremonial mace (Russell 2003, 4) as well as lead rope(s) with which he binds prisoners of war standing in front of him (e.g. Pritchard 1969, 300, No. 440; Strommenger 1964, 437, PI. 188, bottom; Börker-Klähn 1982, 178; Collon 1995, 117; Russell 2003, 4). My initial interest in the iconography of the Broken Obelisk was aroused by the fact that on it the so-called ring and rod symbols of kingship granted by the gods, are held by the king, whereas usually they are held by a deity in compositions conveying the very act of the divine giving (Hallo 2005, 150–1, 161; Suter 2000, 6–7; Ornan 2005, 12).

Октябрьская революция 1917 г. полностью изменила правовой статус Русской Православной Церкви, первые же декреты советской власти были направлены не просто на ликвидацию её привилегий, но на полное устранение её из политической и общественной жизни страны. Стремясь к своей цели, государство использовало широкий спектр мероприятий, в том числе отнимало у верующих храмы, уничтожая или используя их для небогослужебных целей. Для быстрой и эффективной реализации религиозной политики в короткие сроки были разработаны правовые нормы, позволяющие передать их в руки общественных организаций или местных органов власти. В рамках данного исследования рассмотрен процесс формирования советского законодательства, регулирующего закрытие храмов, и реализация правовых норм на местах, а именно на территории Марийской Автономной Области (МАО). В ходе работы установлено, что в течение 1918–1929 гг. была сформирована законодательная база, на основе которой закрывались храмы как в 1920-е гг., так и в последующее десятилетие. Анализ имеющихся данных позволяет предположить, что с его помощью местным властям в короткие сроки удалось уменьшить количество действующих церквей. При принятии решений они позволяли себе поверхностно подходить к данному вопросу, практически полностью игнорируя интересы верующих. Подобная политика встречала, как правило, поддержку в вышестоящих органах власти, что наглядно свидетельствует о целенаправленной деятельности государства, ориентированной на повсеместное закрытие храмов. Таким образом, целью нормативных актов, регулирующих этот процесс, было достижение одной из установок идеологической политики: полная ликвидация религиозных организаций на территории государства. The October Revolution of 1917 completely changed the legal status of the Russian Orthodox Church, the first decrees of the Soviet government were aimed not just at eliminating its privileges, but at completely eliminating it from the political and public life of the country. Striving for its goal, the state used a wide range of measures, including taking away churches from believers, destroying or using them for non-liturgical purposes. For the rapid and effective implementation of religious policy in a short time, legal norms have been developed that allow them to be transferred into the hands of public organizations or local authorities. As part of our research, we will try not only to trace the process of formation of Soviet legislation regulating the closure of churches, but also to consider how legal norms were implemented locally, namely on the territory of the Mari Autonomous Region (MAR). In the course of the study, we came to the conclusion that during 1918–1929 a legislative framework was formed on the basis of which churches were closed both in the 1920s and in the following decade. Analysis of the available data suggests that with its help, local authorities managed to reduce the number of operating churches in a short time. When making decisions, they allowed themselves to approach this issue superficially, almost completely ignoring the interests of believers. Such a policy was, as a rule, supported by higher authorities, which in our opinion clearly demonstrates the purposeful activity of the state aimed at the widespread closure of churches. Thus, the purpose of the normative acts regulating this process was to achieve one of the goals of ideological policy: the complete elimination of religious organizations on the territory of the state.

The purpose of the present note is to alert scholars to the fact that following a cleaning programme undertaken in the late 1960s certain iconographic details apparently visible on the decorated face of the monument known as the Broken Obelisk should be treated with caution.As recounted by C. J. Gadd, the Broken Obelisk was found by Hormuzd Rassam in August 1853 at Nineveh, about halfway between Sennacherib's Palace and Ashurbanipal's Palace (Gadd 1936: 123; Rassam 1897: 9). It was probably in or near the Ishtar Temple (ibid.; Reade 2005: 373). The Obelisk was drawn on site (Fig. 1), either by Charles Hodder (Gadd 1936: 123) or by William Boucher, who arrived at Nineveh in March 1854 in order to help Rassam record some of the important sculptures he had found at Kouyunyik (Barnett 1975: 22; Rassam 1897: 37). Gadd describes how the obelisk was shipped with other sculptures from Basra to Bombay in the steam-frigate Acbar in March 1854, and from Bombay to London in the ship Merchantman, arriving in February 1855 (Gadd 1936: 123). It now has the British Museum number 118898 (56-9-9, 59).It is known as the Broken Obelisk because it is the upper part only of an obelisk with a stepped top. At the bottom it measures 65 × 41 cm, and it has an overall surviving height of 63 cm. There is a lengthy cuneiform inscription on three of the four sides (the short left side is blank) and on one of the long sides there is, in addition to the cuneiform inscription, a panel of carved decoration showing a king holding a rod and ring or (more likely) a mace and a coil of rope. In front of the king are two pairs of prisoners roped together. In the field above the prisoners, and in front of the king, are five divine symbols, comprising a horned cap, a crescent, a winged disc from which emerge two hands, one of them holding a bow, a bolt of lightning, and a rosette. The text (Grayson 1991: 99–105) recounts the achievements of a king who is thought to be Ashur-bel-kala (1073–1056 BC). It is usually inferred from the text that the obelisk was originally set up at Ashur.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d’étudier la « figure du roi » au travers de documents iconographiques du Bronze Moyen provenant de Syrie et plus particulièrement de la zone du Moyen-Euphrate entre 2000 et 1600 avant J.-C. Notre approche méthodologique qui porte prioritairement sur la partie sigillaire a consisté à établir un corpus des plus exhaustifs possibles des sceaux publiés et inédits. Après l’établissement de celui-ci, nous opérons des comparaisons pour dégager les caractéristiques de la représentation royale. Dans un premier temps, le cadre spatio-temporel retenu pour cette étude est défini. Par la suite, nous effectuons une mise au point sur l’histoire de la question de la représentation royale dans la glyptique syrienne du Bronze Moyen. Le développement qui suit constitue la cible de cette thèse. Les objets qui servent de base à cette étude viennent de vingt cinq sites archéologiques différents. Les sites de Moyen-Euphrate syrien, divisés en deux ensembles : partie nord et partie sud couvrant la zone-clefs de cette thèse, ont été soigneusement étudiés. En suite et afin de mieux définir la « figure du roi » dans l’iconographie, des moyens d’identification ont été décrits. La suite comporte une analyse de toutes les représentations de la figure royale, que nous tentons de définir par type. Le paragraphe présentant chaque modèle est suivi d’un tableau montrant l’aire de diffusion au sein de l’aire géographique concernée. Suit un inventaire des multiples aspects de cette iconographie royale, au sein duquel on distingue des : 1. Modèles dominants: le roi à la masse d’arme, le roi vainqueur, le roi-orant et le roi de type « syrien » que nous tentons de définir.2. Modèles dérivés: le roi-porteur d’offrande, représentation royale avec une divinité féminine, le roi-pharaon de type «égyptien », les cas de la duplication de la figure royale.Par ailleurs, une étude des « personnages incertaines » que nous expliquons est également menée. La présence de multiples divinités aux côtés des rois nous a conduits à en effectuer l’inventaire et à en préciser dans la mesure du possible l’iconographie, le cas échéant à préciser la nature des cultes qui leur étaient rendus. Cependant, des questions importantes, comme la compréhension de certaines réalités telles que la question complexe de la« divinisation ou non du personnage royal », ou les « Dieux politiques » ont été posées. De plus, des problèmes tels que le rite de « kispûm » ou la question de « Dieu de roi » ont été abordés. Parmi nos conclusions les plus importants on souligne : l’aspect régional de l’image du roi en Syrie, le rapport particulier entre l’archéologie et la glyptique ainsi que le fond sacré de l’idéologie royale de l’époque amorrite. Au niveau de l’organisation de cette thèse, notre premier volume est accompagné d’un second volume représentant le catalogne des matériels étudiés (env. quatre cent objets). L’ensemble est complété par deux index et de références bibliographiques
This doctorate (Ph.D.) research studies the representation of Syrian kingship during the Amorite period (ca. 2000-1600 B.C), essentially through glyptic evidence, supplemented by sculpture, wall paintings, and written sources from the same period.The methodology is anchored in defining a precise iconographic corpus. This step allows revising past conclusions and establishing new identifications for the king’s role in artistic as well as written expressions. A major accomplishment is the identification of objects that derive from clear, stratified archaeological and cultural contexts.After defining the spatial and chronological frame, this study offers a brief review of the twenty-five sites from which the material is assembled. They are located in the Middle-Euphrates valley and divide between those in the northern and southern segments. Characteristics for a “royal figure” are identified and then defended. Iconography permits to distinguish diverse models of the “royal for each of the Syrian regions.The models divide into:1. Main models: the warrior-king, the king-priest, the king of “Syrian” type2. Secondary models: royal officials or the “duplication” of the royal figureIn addition, “miscellaneous figures” are also classified.On the epigraphic level, in this study there is liberal use of information from the archive of Mari as well as of Terqa, discriminating between materials derived from epistolary, religious, political, and administrative documents, as the ruler acts as a priest, dispenser of justice, warrior, or family man. A special chapter is devoted the interrelationship among kings, personal, and state gods. There is also consideration of funerary rituals (kispum) as well as the issue of the deified king.The study takes into consideration the following issues: the royal image of Syrian kings as shown in regional perspective, the connection between glyptic arts and their archeology, and the religious basis of royal ideology during the Amorite period.The dissertation includes a second part in which is catalogued over four hundred iconographic objects or images. Bibliographic references and indexes complete the study

This chapter collects evidence of temples as venues of the prophetic performance, prophets among the temple personnel and as advocates (sometimes even critics) of temple worship at Mari and in Assyria, in Greek sanctuaries, and in Jerusalem. The chapter discusses prophets and temples (institutions of religious worship)—the function and significance of temples and cult places varied according to their size, location, wealth, and status; their legitimacy and symbolic significance provided an identity for the community they served and the maintenance of their symbolic universe. The most important sanctuaries featuring in the sources are the temple of Dagan at Terqa (Mari) and that of Ištar in Arbela (Assyria); the temples of Apollo at Delphi, Didyma, and Claros, and that of Zeus at Dodona; and the temple of Jerusalem.

This chapter constitutes a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the available sources of the prophetic phenomenon in the ancient Near East. The texts are presented according to textual genres, which yield different kinds of information on prophets, their activities, prophetic oracles, and their interpretation. Lexical lists and omen texts associate prophets with temple personnel and people with liminal roles. Legal and administrative texts as well as ritual texts document the presence of prophets in temple communities, whereas letters report their performances to kings of Mari and Assyria. Written oracles provide examples of early transcripts of spoken oracles, whereas texts containing literary prophecy document their use and interpretation. Most of the texts are written in Akkadian, but even some West Semitic, Luwian (Tell Ahmar stele) and Egyptian texts (Report of Wenamun) are available.

Les deux grands fleuves que sont l’Euphrate et le Tigre, ainsi que les multiples canaux qui les rejoignent constituaient dès le troisième millénaire av. J.-C. des voies privilégiées pour le transport des biens et des gens ainsi que les échanges culturels et économiques. Les archives retrouvées dans la ville de Mari et dans divers sites de la Mésopotamie du Sud nous fournissent ainsi un grand nombre d’informations sur la navigation, même si elles sont le plus souvent parcellaires. Les fleuves constituaient des espaces orientés (de l’amont vers l’aval) et dynamiques (avec des courants plus ou moins violents selon les saisons) qui traversaient des territoires ou servaient de frontières. Bien que les autorités aient toujours cherché à maîtriser les fleuves pour l’agriculture, ils étaient le lieu de multiples activités (pêche, chasse, transport de denrées précieuses ou de personnages prestigieux, mouvement de troupes ennemies…) qui échappaient bien souvent à tout contrôle et généraient de l’insécurité. Cet article se propose d’étudier la façon dont les particuliers ou bien les dirigeants des grands organismes (palais ou temple) de l’époque amorrite se représentaient cette insécurité, et les moyens qu’ils cherchaient à mettre en œuvre pour y répondre, révélant ainsi un rapport complexe mais étroit entre les voies fluviales et les hommes.