Papers by Jessie DeGrado
News from the Lands of the Hittites , 2022
The Karatepe bilingual inscription (KAI 26) is remarkable among Neo-Assyrian era Cilician inscrip... more The Karatepe bilingual inscription (KAI 26) is remarkable among Neo-Assyrian era Cilician inscriptions for what it does not mention: Assyria. This is even more striking given the distinctly Syro-Anatolian art and architecture of the fortress at Karatepe-Aslantaş, whose construction provided the impetus for the inscription. Combined with our incomplete picture of Iron Age rulers of Que, the absence of direct reference to Assyria has spurred debate about the date of the fortress’ construction. I argue that Azatiwada’s inscription in fact borrows extensively from the phraseology of Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions, deploying idioms previously unattested in the corpus of Syro-Anatolian texts. In addition to its implications for the dating of the inscription and reconstruction of rulers at Que, this recognition affords us a window onto how Azatiwada’s building project at Karatepe combined local architectural and artistic traditions with a vision of imperial power drawn from Assyria.
The Old Aramaic inscription Sefire i (KAI 222) includes, in a series of mimetic curses, a debated... more The Old Aramaic inscription Sefire i (KAI 222) includes, in a series of mimetic curses, a debated clause that has been read by most previous scholars to involve a mysterious {gnbʾ} gannābaʾ(?) 'thief' , which (or who?) is symbolically burned (Sefire IA:36-37). The present article argues that there are lexicographic (cognates in later Aramaic dialects) and phonological (geminate prenasalization) grounds for understanding {gnbʾ} to encode instead ganbaʾ (< *gabbaʾ) 'straw'. The burning of this straw to symbolize consequences should a treaty partner renege has clear parallels in Mesopotamian and Syro-Anatolian magical and ritual language, including treaty curses, and produces a more typical image in a list of mimetic curses involving materials (wax), objects (a bow and arrow), and animals (a calf).
“A Community of Peoples:” Studies on Society and Politics in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Daniel E. Fleming. , 2022
Journal of the American Near Eastern Society, 2021
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2021
Few magical texts have been recovered from the Levant dating to the first millennium BCE. Three r... more Few magical texts have been recovered from the Levant dating to the first millennium BCE. Three recently published early Aramaic inscriptions help fill this lacuna: an inscribed cosmetic container from Zincirli, a Lamaštu amulet from the same site, and an Aramaic-inscribed Pazuzu statuette. These texts, dated paleographically to the ninth and eighth centuries BCE, afford a window onto local traditions in the Levant and their interactions with Mesopotamian magic. They also provide an impetus for a reanalysis of the infamous Arslan Tash amulets, offering further context for their texts and iconography.
American Journal of Archaeology, 2021
This is a preview of the first page of the paper. For the full paper, please visit https://www.js... more This is a preview of the first page of the paper. For the full paper, please visit https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.125.4.0479 if you have JSTOR access or email [email protected]/
The residents of Syro-Anatolia appear in heterogeneous costumes in ninth-century BCE Assyrian representations. People from the same city may don different accoutrements that include caps, hairbands, sandals, and shoes with upturned toes. A similar diversity characterizes contemporaneous self-representation of elites at Zincirli in the Outer Citadel Gate and comes to proliferate in eighth-century monuments from sites including Karatepe and Marash. I argue that Assyrian artists recognized heterogeneous costume as a culturally salient feature of Syro-Anatolian art and adapted it in their own representations of the region. This observation has implications for our understanding of Ashurnasirpal II's well-known procession on the courtyard facade of his throne room. When the entire scene is viewed, the combination of accoutrements evokes Syro-Anatolia. However, because Assyrian representations of Syro-Anatolian fashion combine disparate elements that are otherwise characteristic of other regions, the figures can also be viewed individually as representatives from any number of kingdoms. The artists were thus able to harness the diversity of one area to create figures comprehensible to visitors from across the empire. This representational strategy encouraged individuals from different kingdoms to see themselves reflected on the palace walls, forever frozen in a posture of reverent submission.
Vetus Testamentum, 2020
New: Accounts for each plus through the end of MT 1 Sam 18. Results: (1) Recovers a complete and ... more New: Accounts for each plus through the end of MT 1 Sam 18. Results: (1) Recovers a complete and independent second story of "David, Saul, and the Philistine" that concludes with David marrying Saul's daughter as the reward promised. (2) Identifies and explains all harmonizing additions. (3) Categorizes an unusual set of unnecessary interpolations made to enrich the story. General implications: (1) parallel stories did exist and circulate in written form outside "biblical" scrolls, (2) scribes did meticulously splice written sources to incorporate perceived parallels, and (3) scribes did insert material to enrich plot-lines, apart from solving narrative problems.
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2020
Previous studies of the marzeaḥ in Amos 6.1-7 have tended to put forth one of two opposing views.... more Previous studies of the marzeaḥ in Amos 6.1-7 have tended to put forth one of two opposing views. Scholars who focus on the religious or ritual aspects of the banquet have claimed that the marzeaḥ was lewd, ‘pagan’, and ‘syncretistic’. Calling into question the assumptions of Israelite exceptionalism underlying this approach, a second group argues that the prophetic critique is economic rather than religious in nature. Both approaches are potentially reductive. This paper analyzes the marzeaḥ of Amos 6 in the context of ancient Middle Eastern banquets, with a focus on commensality as a means for human-divine communication. I conclude that the marzeaḥ functioned as an offertory event, in which participants focalized divine presence through ritualized consumption in honor of a patron deity. Banqueters could hope to accrue divine favor through their own feasting. Amos 6.1–7 condemns the affluent for believing that they can give Yahweh their cake and eat it too.
Semitica et classica, 2019
A bronze Pazuzu statuette (AN 1892.43), gifted to the Ashmolean Museum by Greville John Chester i... more A bronze Pazuzu statuette (AN 1892.43), gifted to the Ashmolean Museum by Greville John Chester in 1892 and allegedly from Tanis, bears on its legs a four-line Aramaic inscription that has never been satisfactorily read. Based on autopsy and RTI (reflectance transformation imaging) photography undertaken at the Ashmolean in October 2016, the authors present a decipherment and multifaceted paleographic, linguistic, and contextual discussion of this unique early Aramaic inscription dating to ca. 725–700 BCE. The inscription gives brief instructions for the placement of a protective figure called “Sassām” at the pillows and bed of an unnamed individual and enjoins that figure to guard and perhaps drive away evil from these locations. This figurine and its inscription witness several similarities to Mesopotamian magical texts and visual art describing protection of a sickbed from harmful forces. This shows that Aramaic-writers of the early first millennium creatively adapted broader ancient Middle Eastern magical discourse.
Une statuette en bronze de Pazuzu (AN 1892.43), offerte au musée Ashmolean par Greville John Chester en 1892 et prétendument de Tanis, porte sur ses jambes une inscription araméenne de quatre lignes qui n’a jamais été lue de façon satisfaisante. Sur la base d’une autopsie et de la photographie RTI (reflectance transformation imaging, imagerie par transformation de la réflectance) entreprise à l’Ashmolean en octobre 2016, les auteurs présentent un déchiffrement et une discussion à la fois paléographique, linguistique et contextuelle de cette inscription exceptionnelle en araméen ancien, datant d’environ 725-700 avant notre ère. L’inscription donne de brèves instructions pour le placement d’une figurine protectrice appelée « Sassām » près des oreillers et du lit d’un individu qui n’est pas nommé et enjoint à cette figurine de protéger ces lieux et peut-être aussi d’en chasser le mal. Cette figurine et son inscription attestent plusieurs similitudes avec les textes magiques mésopotamiens et les arts visuels décrivant la protection d’un lit de malade contre les forces nuisibles. Cela montre que les scribes araméens du début du premier millénaire ont adapté de manière créative le discours magique du Proche-Orient ancien.
Iraq, 2019
Recent studies of cultural interaction in the Assyrian empire have focused on the process of assi... more Recent studies of cultural interaction in the Assyrian empire have focused on the process of assimilation and the production of alterity. In this article, I argue that Assyrian royal rhetoric goes beyond emphasizing simple difference, instead using depictions of cultural diversity to demonstrate the truly universal nature of the empire. I elucidate this rhetoric by comparison the world fairs of the 19th and early 20th-centuries. These fairs advanced European imperialism by allowing visitors to explore the vast extent of empire. I argue that the enumeration of exotic tribute in Assyrian texts and the iconographic depiction of foreigners on reliefs similarly served to concretize Assyrian power. Unlike modern European empires, however, Assyrians did not consider ethnicity to be constitutive of citizenship. Thus, while the Assyrian approach to diversity was certainly instrumentalizing, it was also inclusive of cultural difference. In this respect, the Assyrian understanding of human diversity shares much in common with the way the empire treated other types of difference, ranging from topographic variation to biodiversity. From the imperial vantage point, each of these elements had the potential to be tamed in a way that highlighted the control of the king over the four quarters of the world.
ركزت الدراسات الأخيرة المتعلقة بالتفاعل الحضاري داخل الإمبراطورية الآشورية على عملية الاستيعاب وإنتاج التغير. أقوم في هذه المقالة بمناقشة أن الخطاب الملكي الآشوري يتجاوز التأكيد على الاختلاف البسيط بين أقوام المملكة بل يستخدم بدلا عن ذلك تصوير التنوع الثقافي لإثبات الطبيعة الشمولية للإمبراطورية، وأشرح طبيعة هذا الخطاب بواسطة مقارنة المعارض العالمية في القرن التاسع عشر وأوائل القرن العشرين. تمكنت الإمبراطوريات الأوربية من توسيع رقعتهم بواسطة هذه المعارض وذلك بالسماح للزوار باستكشاف سعة الإمبراطورية. كما أناقش بأن التبجيلات والتحيات الأجنبية العديدة في النصوص الآشورية والتصوير الأيقوني للأجانب في النقوشات يساهم في تجسيم وترسيخ القوة الآشورية المتظافرة. خلافا لما هو الحال في الإمبراطوريات الأوربية، لم يعتبر الآشوريون الأثنية عنصر اساسي للمواطنة أو الجنسية. لذلك فرغم أن النظرة الآشورية للتنوع الأثني هي عنصر فاعل فهي تشمل كذلك التنوع الحضاري. في هذا الصدد فإن فهم الآشوريين للتنوع البشري يشابه كثيرا طريقة الإمبراطورية في معاملة الأنواع الأخرى من الإختلافات التي تمتد من الإختلافات الطبوغرافية الى التنوع البيولوجي. فمن وجهة نظر الإمبراطورية فإن هناك امكانية لترويض كل عنصر من هذه العناصر لصالح الإمبراطورية بطريقة ترفع من سيطرة الملك على أركان
الإمبراطورية الأربعة.
Vetus Testamentum, 2018
Despite a lack of evidence for the practice of sacred prostitution in the ancient Middle East, sc... more Despite a lack of evidence for the practice of sacred prostitution in the ancient Middle East, scholars have continued to understand the word qdešɔ in Hosea 4:14 to denote a female officiant who performed sexual acts in a cultic setting. This article argues that the understanding of the qdešɔ as a cultic prostitute has appealed to interpreters for over two millennia because the Hebrew word has a semantic range that includes both female cultic functionaries and prostitutes. The lexeme denotes a class of women who are employed outside of the patrimonial estate, including priestesses or prostitutes (but never both at the same time). When the prophet indicts the Israelites for sacrificing with qdešot, he deploys a pun that strengthens his metaphor of Israel as a wayward woman.
In the final volume of excavation reports from the Felix von Luschan expedition to Zincirli, Turk... more In the final volume of excavation reports from the Felix von Luschan expedition to Zincirli, Turkey, the editor, Walter Andrae, provided a brief iconographic description and an imperfect photograph of an Aramaic-inscribed Lamaštu amulet from the site. The Old Aramaic inscription was, however, largely invisible in the photograph, and the epigraph went untranscribed and untranslated in this and all subsequent mentions. The present article represents a full edition and discussion of the amulet and its inscription on the basis of our examination of the object at the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. This artifact represents the only known instance of a local Aramaic script’s use on an amulet dominated by Mesopotamian iconographic motifs, notably including Lamaštu. It is an important witness to cultural contact and combination in an Aramaic/Neo-Hittite city-state of the 9th–8th centuries b.c.e. Due to the general paucity of Old Aramaic inscriptions, the epigraph also represents a significant addition to the broader extant corpus and contributes important data for understanding Old Aramaic palaeography, orthography, and onomastics.
Book Reviews by Jessie DeGrado
The Catholic Biblical Quarterly , 2023
The Journal of Religion 104.4, 2022
Book Review
Orientalia, 2021
Review article of Phyllis A. Bird, Harlot or Holy Woman? A Study of Hebrew Qedeša, University Par... more Review article of Phyllis A. Bird, Harlot or Holy Woman? A Study of Hebrew Qedeša, University Park: Eisenbrauns, 2019.
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Papers by Jessie DeGrado
The residents of Syro-Anatolia appear in heterogeneous costumes in ninth-century BCE Assyrian representations. People from the same city may don different accoutrements that include caps, hairbands, sandals, and shoes with upturned toes. A similar diversity characterizes contemporaneous self-representation of elites at Zincirli in the Outer Citadel Gate and comes to proliferate in eighth-century monuments from sites including Karatepe and Marash. I argue that Assyrian artists recognized heterogeneous costume as a culturally salient feature of Syro-Anatolian art and adapted it in their own representations of the region. This observation has implications for our understanding of Ashurnasirpal II's well-known procession on the courtyard facade of his throne room. When the entire scene is viewed, the combination of accoutrements evokes Syro-Anatolia. However, because Assyrian representations of Syro-Anatolian fashion combine disparate elements that are otherwise characteristic of other regions, the figures can also be viewed individually as representatives from any number of kingdoms. The artists were thus able to harness the diversity of one area to create figures comprehensible to visitors from across the empire. This representational strategy encouraged individuals from different kingdoms to see themselves reflected on the palace walls, forever frozen in a posture of reverent submission.
Une statuette en bronze de Pazuzu (AN 1892.43), offerte au musée Ashmolean par Greville John Chester en 1892 et prétendument de Tanis, porte sur ses jambes une inscription araméenne de quatre lignes qui n’a jamais été lue de façon satisfaisante. Sur la base d’une autopsie et de la photographie RTI (reflectance transformation imaging, imagerie par transformation de la réflectance) entreprise à l’Ashmolean en octobre 2016, les auteurs présentent un déchiffrement et une discussion à la fois paléographique, linguistique et contextuelle de cette inscription exceptionnelle en araméen ancien, datant d’environ 725-700 avant notre ère. L’inscription donne de brèves instructions pour le placement d’une figurine protectrice appelée « Sassām » près des oreillers et du lit d’un individu qui n’est pas nommé et enjoint à cette figurine de protéger ces lieux et peut-être aussi d’en chasser le mal. Cette figurine et son inscription attestent plusieurs similitudes avec les textes magiques mésopotamiens et les arts visuels décrivant la protection d’un lit de malade contre les forces nuisibles. Cela montre que les scribes araméens du début du premier millénaire ont adapté de manière créative le discours magique du Proche-Orient ancien.
ركزت الدراسات الأخيرة المتعلقة بالتفاعل الحضاري داخل الإمبراطورية الآشورية على عملية الاستيعاب وإنتاج التغير. أقوم في هذه المقالة بمناقشة أن الخطاب الملكي الآشوري يتجاوز التأكيد على الاختلاف البسيط بين أقوام المملكة بل يستخدم بدلا عن ذلك تصوير التنوع الثقافي لإثبات الطبيعة الشمولية للإمبراطورية، وأشرح طبيعة هذا الخطاب بواسطة مقارنة المعارض العالمية في القرن التاسع عشر وأوائل القرن العشرين. تمكنت الإمبراطوريات الأوربية من توسيع رقعتهم بواسطة هذه المعارض وذلك بالسماح للزوار باستكشاف سعة الإمبراطورية. كما أناقش بأن التبجيلات والتحيات الأجنبية العديدة في النصوص الآشورية والتصوير الأيقوني للأجانب في النقوشات يساهم في تجسيم وترسيخ القوة الآشورية المتظافرة. خلافا لما هو الحال في الإمبراطوريات الأوربية، لم يعتبر الآشوريون الأثنية عنصر اساسي للمواطنة أو الجنسية. لذلك فرغم أن النظرة الآشورية للتنوع الأثني هي عنصر فاعل فهي تشمل كذلك التنوع الحضاري. في هذا الصدد فإن فهم الآشوريين للتنوع البشري يشابه كثيرا طريقة الإمبراطورية في معاملة الأنواع الأخرى من الإختلافات التي تمتد من الإختلافات الطبوغرافية الى التنوع البيولوجي. فمن وجهة نظر الإمبراطورية فإن هناك امكانية لترويض كل عنصر من هذه العناصر لصالح الإمبراطورية بطريقة ترفع من سيطرة الملك على أركان
الإمبراطورية الأربعة.
Book Reviews by Jessie DeGrado
The residents of Syro-Anatolia appear in heterogeneous costumes in ninth-century BCE Assyrian representations. People from the same city may don different accoutrements that include caps, hairbands, sandals, and shoes with upturned toes. A similar diversity characterizes contemporaneous self-representation of elites at Zincirli in the Outer Citadel Gate and comes to proliferate in eighth-century monuments from sites including Karatepe and Marash. I argue that Assyrian artists recognized heterogeneous costume as a culturally salient feature of Syro-Anatolian art and adapted it in their own representations of the region. This observation has implications for our understanding of Ashurnasirpal II's well-known procession on the courtyard facade of his throne room. When the entire scene is viewed, the combination of accoutrements evokes Syro-Anatolia. However, because Assyrian representations of Syro-Anatolian fashion combine disparate elements that are otherwise characteristic of other regions, the figures can also be viewed individually as representatives from any number of kingdoms. The artists were thus able to harness the diversity of one area to create figures comprehensible to visitors from across the empire. This representational strategy encouraged individuals from different kingdoms to see themselves reflected on the palace walls, forever frozen in a posture of reverent submission.
Une statuette en bronze de Pazuzu (AN 1892.43), offerte au musée Ashmolean par Greville John Chester en 1892 et prétendument de Tanis, porte sur ses jambes une inscription araméenne de quatre lignes qui n’a jamais été lue de façon satisfaisante. Sur la base d’une autopsie et de la photographie RTI (reflectance transformation imaging, imagerie par transformation de la réflectance) entreprise à l’Ashmolean en octobre 2016, les auteurs présentent un déchiffrement et une discussion à la fois paléographique, linguistique et contextuelle de cette inscription exceptionnelle en araméen ancien, datant d’environ 725-700 avant notre ère. L’inscription donne de brèves instructions pour le placement d’une figurine protectrice appelée « Sassām » près des oreillers et du lit d’un individu qui n’est pas nommé et enjoint à cette figurine de protéger ces lieux et peut-être aussi d’en chasser le mal. Cette figurine et son inscription attestent plusieurs similitudes avec les textes magiques mésopotamiens et les arts visuels décrivant la protection d’un lit de malade contre les forces nuisibles. Cela montre que les scribes araméens du début du premier millénaire ont adapté de manière créative le discours magique du Proche-Orient ancien.
ركزت الدراسات الأخيرة المتعلقة بالتفاعل الحضاري داخل الإمبراطورية الآشورية على عملية الاستيعاب وإنتاج التغير. أقوم في هذه المقالة بمناقشة أن الخطاب الملكي الآشوري يتجاوز التأكيد على الاختلاف البسيط بين أقوام المملكة بل يستخدم بدلا عن ذلك تصوير التنوع الثقافي لإثبات الطبيعة الشمولية للإمبراطورية، وأشرح طبيعة هذا الخطاب بواسطة مقارنة المعارض العالمية في القرن التاسع عشر وأوائل القرن العشرين. تمكنت الإمبراطوريات الأوربية من توسيع رقعتهم بواسطة هذه المعارض وذلك بالسماح للزوار باستكشاف سعة الإمبراطورية. كما أناقش بأن التبجيلات والتحيات الأجنبية العديدة في النصوص الآشورية والتصوير الأيقوني للأجانب في النقوشات يساهم في تجسيم وترسيخ القوة الآشورية المتظافرة. خلافا لما هو الحال في الإمبراطوريات الأوربية، لم يعتبر الآشوريون الأثنية عنصر اساسي للمواطنة أو الجنسية. لذلك فرغم أن النظرة الآشورية للتنوع الأثني هي عنصر فاعل فهي تشمل كذلك التنوع الحضاري. في هذا الصدد فإن فهم الآشوريين للتنوع البشري يشابه كثيرا طريقة الإمبراطورية في معاملة الأنواع الأخرى من الإختلافات التي تمتد من الإختلافات الطبوغرافية الى التنوع البيولوجي. فمن وجهة نظر الإمبراطورية فإن هناك امكانية لترويض كل عنصر من هذه العناصر لصالح الإمبراطورية بطريقة ترفع من سيطرة الملك على أركان
الإمبراطورية الأربعة.