Summary
The temple ritual texts as evidence for Hellenistic cult practice: the extent to which textual evidence from the Hellenistic period gives an accurate picture of the religious life of contemporary Babylonia.
Text
An analysis of temple ritual texts alongside other evidence, such as building inscriptions, legal documents and chronicles, reflects an active religious life for the inhabitants of cities such as Uruk and Babylon. The importance of public cults in particular is revealed through a range of daily, monthly and annual ceremonies and festivals, as well as ruler cults, offerings, libations and purification rituals. Whilst holding on to many traditional elements of their belief systems, these rituals continued to be performed under Macedonian rule.
Sources (list of abbreviations)
RAcc 127-154
BM 32485
BRM 4
BRM 6-7
KAR 50
KAR 60
KAR 132
TU 38-46
BahM Beih. 2, 5
BahM Beih. 2, 10
Bibliography
| van Dijk 1980 | van Dijk, Jan. Texte aus dem Rēš-Heiligtum in Uruk-Warka. Baghdader Mitteilungen, Beiheft 2. Berlin: Mann 1980. |
| Falkenstein 1941 | Falkenstein Adam. Topographie von Uruk. Vol. 1: Uruk zur Seleukidenzeit. Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka 3. Leipzig: Harrassowitz 1941. |
| Kuhrt 1987 | Kuhrt, Amélie. “Berossus' Babyloniaka and Seleucid Rule in Babylonia.” In: Amélie Kuhrt and Susan Sherwin-White (eds.). Hellenism in the East. The interaction of Greek and non-Greek civilizations from Syria to Central Asia after Alexander. Berkely: University of California Press 1987, 32-56. |
| MacEwan 1981 | MacEwan, Gilbert J. P. Priest and Temple in Hellenistic Babylonia. Freiburger Altorientalische Studien 4. Wiesbaden: Steiner 1981. |
| Oelsner 1986 | Oelsner, Joachim. Materialien zur babylonischen Gesellschaft und Kultur in hellenistischer Zeit. Assyriologia 7. Budapest: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem 1986. |
| Sachs and Hunger 1988-2001 | Sachs, Abraham J., and Hunger, Hermann. Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia. 4 Vols. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse 195, 210, 247, 292. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1988-2001. |
| Sherwin-White and Kuhrt 1993 | Sherwin-White, Susan, and Kuhrt, Amélie. From Samarkhand to Sardis. A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire. London: Duckworth 1993. |
| van der Spek 1985 | van der Spek, R. J. “The Babylonian Temple during the Macedonian and Parthian Domination.” Bibliotheca Orientalis 42 (1985) 541-562. |
| van der Spek 1986 | van der Spek, R. J. Grondbezit in het Seleucidische Rijk. Amsterdam: VU Uitgeverij 1986. |
| van der Spek 1987 | van der Spek, R. J. “The Babylonian City.” In: Amélie Kuhrt and Susan Sherwin-White (eds.). Hellenism in the East. The interaction of Greek and non-Greek civilizations from Syria to Central Asia after Alexander. Berkely: University of California Press 1987, 57-74. |
| van der Spek 1993 | van der Spek, R. J. “The Astronomical Diaries as a Source for Achaemenid and Seleucid History.” Bibliotheca Orientalis 50 (1993) 91-101. |
| van der Spek 1995 | van der Spek, R. J. “Land Ownership in Babylonian Cuneiform Documents.” In: Markham J. Geller, Herwig Maehler and A. D. E. Lewis (eds.). Legal Documents of the Hellenistic World. London: Warburg Institute, University of London 1995, 173-245. |
| Thureau-Dangin 1921 | Thureau-Dangin, F. Rituels Accadiens. Paris: Leroux 1921. |
| Thureau-Dangin 1922 | Thureau-Dangin, F. Tablettes d'Uruk à l'Usage des Prêtres du Temple d'Anu au temps des Séleucides. Textes Cunéiformes, Musée du Louvre 6. Paris: Geuthner 1922. |
M.J.H. Linssen
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