From: ane-digest-owner@oi.uchicago.edu To: ane-digest@oi.uchicago.edu Subject: Ancient Near East Digest V1 #10 Reply-To: ane@oi.uchicago.edu Errors-To: ane-digest-owner@oi.uchicago.edu Precedence: bulk Ancient Near East Digest Monday, 20 September 1993 Volume 01 : Number 010 In this issue: A question about death None ANE/Boghazkoy A question about death Practice of reburial in the ANE A question fo death A question fo death Lebanese Zgharta/ Tripoli ProCite; bibliography Re: ProCite; bibliography reburial rivalry reburial in the ANE reburial reburial practices Modern and ancient neologisms in Syriac Re: reburial Reburial Re: Reburial reburial ANE/Job Announcement/Syro.-Pal. RE: Prof. Wardini's Request epispasms Re: Prof. Wardini's Request Re- Epispasm See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the ANE or ANE-Digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no (Elie Wardini) Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1993 10:21:32 +0200 Subject: A question about death >The following written comments are provided by Dr. Kamal Salibi (American >University of Beirut; this semester at Smith College), who asked me >to offer them in response to Dr. Elie Wardini's posting of 11 September. > - Bruce Dahlberg Thanks a lot Bruce! Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages Post Box 1030 Blindern 0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 home: +47 - 22 19 03 49 Fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 ------------------------------ From: "Janet Johnson" Date: 15 Sep 1993 13:56:29 U Subject: None Subject: Time:1:50 PM OFFICE MEMO None Date:9/15/93 1 person's overview of the 5th International Congress of Demotists Pisa, September 4-9, 1993 About 50 people participated in the well-organized, very informative and very convivial meetings beautifully organized by Edda Bresciani, Marilina Betro, Paolo Gallo and others in Pisa. Participants included not only demotists but Greek papyrologists and Egyptologists interested in later Egyptian history, reflecting the interplay of demotic material with earlier Egyptian and with contemporary Greek material. About 40 papers were presented in sessions on "archives" (e.g., Vandorpe on reconstructing the Pathyris archives, Devauchelle on publication of the Serapeum stele in the Louvre, Nur el-Din on excavated ostraca from Ain Labakha at Kharga Oasis), unpublished texts (e.g., Andrews on British Museum papyri, el-Aguizy on ostraca in the Cairo Museum, ), "linguistics and lexicography" (e.g., Ray on "What is Demotic?", Quack on the demotic and Coptic temporal, Betro on incense), and less easily classified communications (e.g., La'da and Clarysse both touching on ethnicity and/or occupation or tax-status, Donker Van Heel on a scribe affected by the switch from abnormal hieratic to demotic, Farid on the demotic of the bilingual stele of the Strategos Callimachos), and a round table on "judges and tribunals" (a new legal "manual" discussed by Zauzich, a court record presented by Thissen, reconsideration of P. Dodgson by Martin, a general overview by Menu, and Allam on contracts after judgement). Several people reported on new projects (e.g., Volpi and Sanseverino on a computer database of the Pisa ostraca, including a scan of every text; Vleeming on a demotic "Berichtigungsliste"). Zauzich presented a proposal for a demotic "summer school" in Wurzburg at which participants would assist one another with difficult passages in texts being prepared for publication. It was also proposed that a list of demotic "dissertations in progress" be published regularly, perhaps in "Enchoria." Nur el-Din's invitation to hold the 6th International Congress of Demotists in Cairo in 1996 was approved enthusiastically. Janet H. Johnson, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago j-johnson@uchicago.edu ------------------------------ From: "Billie Jean Collins" Date: 15 Sep 1993 14:19:24 U Subject: ANE/Boghazkoy Subject: Time:2:19 PM OFFICE MEMO ANE/Boghazkoy Date:9/15/93 I have heard that the excavators at Boghazkoy uncovered a new city gate on Buyukkaya that leads directly toward the rock sanctuary, Yazilikaya. Does anyone have more information? ------------------------------ From: "by way of\ umw8f@maxwell.acc.virginia.edu" Date: Wed, 15 Sep 93 17:41:37 EDT Subject: A question about death Did anyone get the "following written comments?" They weren't enclosed, and I'd love to see them Constanze Witt >The following written comments are provided by Dr. Kamal Salibi (American >University of Beirut; this semester at Smith College), who asked me >to offer them in response to Dr. Elie Wardini's posting of 11 September. > - Bruce Dahlberg Thanks a lot Bruce! Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages Post Box 1030 Blindern 0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 home: +47 - 22 19 03 49 Fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 ------------------------------ From: JOHN WHITE Date: 15 Sep 1993 16:58:01 -0500 (EST) Subject: Practice of reburial in the ANE I am currently teaching a course in Modern Greek Language and Culture, a course designed for students who will be studying in Athens in the Spring Term. One topic which has come up in an interactive conversation we have going using DePauw's VAX mainframe concerns the roots of the modern tradition in Greece of reburial. This practice was brought home to me last summer when my family was visiting a cemetery on the island of Lesbos, and we saw an old man carefully cleaning the remaining flesh from bones of a loved one in preparation for placing them in the family ossuary. How widely practiced was reburial in the Near East? Eric Myers analyzed the practice in Judaism just prior to the beginning of the Common Era. How deep are the roots in Mesopotamia? I am assuming that the practice in Orthodoxy comes through the practice of the early church. Can this be documented? If anyone has light to shed on this issue, I will happily forward your messages to the students and to the interactive conversation we have going. Thanks a lot. John B. White Department of Philosophy & Religion DePauw University Greencastle, IN 46135 JOHNWHITE@DEPAUW.edu ------------------------------ From: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no (Elie Wardini) Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1993 09:49:28 +0200 Subject: A question fo death posted on the news group: social.culture.lebanon: In article <277lpbINNlkj@life.ai.mit.edu> steel@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Nick Steel) writes: In article <277184INNkcf@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> Darwish writes: > >I read the comments posted on behalf of Kamal Salibi. The descriptions >are interesting indeed but they lack specificity. By this I mean that >they do not apply to all the so-called tribal areas (unless we specify >what tribal is). certainly where I grew up, I saw nothing of the sort. I >grew up in Zgharta in North Lebanon, which seems to me to be tribal or at This kind of brought a story to my memory. I recall during the 2nd year of civil war, a young man was killed from Zgharta in a village called Alma by a Tripoli organization named "24 Tishreen" led by Farouq Al Mqaddim during a heavy battle there. The man was called "Al Timsah" or the Elegator. I recall he was from the Dwaihy family of Zgharta, and I recall a tribal fight or tention took place between the Franjiyyeh and Dwaihy family at his burrial because they took the young man to battle at 3am while he was drunk. Do you recall such a story (probably 1976)? - -- / .. / . /_______/_/__________/_/_/ _< /____/ /___ / .. /____/ - -- I sure do recall the incident you are referring to. I think it took place in 1976 and there was some complication about getting the corpse back in order to have buried, etc. The burial rituals in Zgharta are quite interesting from an anthropological point of view, especially if the person was killed in the feudal fighting between, let us say, Franjiehs and Douaihy's. The basic ceremony consists in having an old man, generally blind, who is like the oral historian of the family, who comes and sings around the corpse. The songs mostly describe those who died in prior incidents and relates to the men who are relatives of the women present around the body. Then, just before taking the corpse to church, the men come to pay their last visit, and the women start howling and shouting hysterically, asking the dead to communicate with their dead relatives. It sounds a bit funny from a distance, but it is quite powerful when one is present at such an event. One other important aspect of dealing with the dead, is what i would call the funerary meal, that is the first meal that the family of the deceased has after the burial. Normally, at least in Zgharta, it is imperative that the family not be left alone, and that as many relatives and friends be there so that the collective meal becomes the symbolic recognition of the death of the dead and the survival of the living. It is as if food becomes a substitute for language. In the same manner that the dead is buried into the stomach of the earth, the living share a meal in memory of the deceased, etc. Miladus Edenessi Barbelo|Derdeka|Sakla Abrasax|Sablo|Gamaliel|Micheu|Michar|Mnesinous zaina=silah=panoplia=armatura Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages Post Box 1030 Blindern 0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 home: +47 - 22 19 03 49 Fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 ------------------------------ From: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no (Elie Wardini) Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1993 09:51:22 +0200 Subject: A question fo death posted on the news group: social.culture.lebanon: I forgot to mention in my previous post some of the formalities of mourning. 1. The female relatives of the deceased wear black for al least a year if not two if the deceased was young. 2. Men do not shave for 2 or 3 months. 3. The family of the deceased does not watch TV, go to the movies, or socialize for 3 months. The degree of these vary. For instance I recall that there used to be a hierarchy concerning the balck clour of stockings that the women wore. The dark black is worn by the immediate family, the 'fume' black by those who are more distant, etc. 4. Dancing around the corpse, at least to my knowledge, and in Zgharta, only happens when the deceased is a male who was killed in fighting. And sometimes the family is not allowed to mourn publicly until the deceased has been avenged. - -- Miladus Edenessi Barbelo|Derdeka|Sakla Abrasax|Sablo|Gamaliel|Micheu|Michar|Mnesinous zaina=silah=panoplia=armatura Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages Post Box 1030 Blindern 0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 home: +47 - 22 19 03 49 Fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 ------------------------------ From: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no (Elie Wardini) Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1993 10:03:18 +0200 Subject: Lebanese Zgharta/ Tripoli Due to last posts that I sendt, I feel I need to give some explanations: Tripoli would be known to most of you. It is a port city in North Lebanon. It is the second most important city in Lebanon (after Beirut). THe majority of the inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. There is a sizable Christian population, but most of these are originally from the mountains above Tripoli which are nearly comletely Christian. One of these "Christian bastions" is Zgharta (among Ehden, Hasrun, Bsharre, Arz etc.). It lies in the area which is considered the heartland the Maronites. Nevertheless, the north of Lebanon has a character of its own (It could compare with Sicilia?). The question of tribal comes up. Yet it is not as in "bedouin tribes". A more correct term (I believe) would be "Clans". In the area there are several large families and their "allies" (Frangieh, Douwaihi, Karam, etc.). These are nearly always in feuds with each other. It is said that the women of these areas "never remove their black clothes". Vengeance and vendatta are current, even in our present days. It is so that when these clans are threatened by exterior forces (usually the Muslims of Tripoli) they join forces. The current proverb is: Me against my brother Me and my brother against my cousin Me, my brother and my cousin against the foreigner Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages Post Box 1030 Blindern 0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 home: +47 - 22 19 03 49 Fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 ------------------------------ From: wanes@ics.ch (wanes) Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 10:05:25 +0100 Subject: ProCite; bibliography Does anybody know where I can get information or buy ProCite in Europe? I need the complete bibliographic reference of Ankun, J. et al. (eds.) Symbolae Iuridicae et Historicae Martino David Dedicatae Vol.2 Leiden 1968 This reference is supposedly not complete enough (so Basel University library), I have to know the Journal or series in which it was published. Can anybody supply that information? Julia M.Asher-Greve ------------------------------ From: "Niek Veldhuis" Date: 17 Sep 93 13:06:09 +0200 Subject: Re: ProCite; bibliography There are two volumes: Symbolae juridicae et historicae Martino David dedicatae / ed. J.A. Ankum, R. Feenstra, W.F. Leemans. - Leiden : Brill, 1968. - XVI, 279 p. ; 25 cm T. 1: Jus romanum. - Lijst van werken van Martin David: p. ix-xvi. Symbolae juridicae et historicae Martino David dedicatae / ed. J.A. Ankum, R. Feenstra, W.F. Leemans. - Leiden : Brill, 1968. - XVI, 143 p. ; 25 cm T. 2: Jura orientis antiqui. - Met bibliogr. Niek Veldhuis nveldhus@let.rug.nl ------------------------------ From: dcb Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 08:50:06 CDT Subject: reburial In the ancient Near East reburial was practiced during the Chalcolithic Age (4000-3000 BCE), as is attested by some fascinating anthromorphic and zoomorphic ossuaries which have been recovered. There is no evidence for the practice in this part of the world until the Roman period about 60 BCE. Then once again there areossuaries, although not in human or animal shapes, but in practical, and mass produced styles. My assumption for both periods has been that the culture distinguished physical death from the departure of the dead from the human plane to the after life. Although physically dead, the departed remained with the human commnity until all the flesh had left the bones, which in the Chalcolithic and Roman periods were reverently reburied. During the Bronze age when a subsequent burial took place in a family tomb, the bones of the previous burial were sometimes carefully sorted into piles of large and small, and sometimes just swept aside, which may indicate that when the flesh wash gone, the dead had departed and the bones meant nothing, or at least very little to the survivors. Don C. Benjamin, Rice University. ------------------------------ From: "Don C. Benjamin" Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 09:04:29 CDT Subject: rivalry E. Wardini's proverb: Me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousin, me, my brother and my cousin against the foreigner describing the Maronite villages in Lebanon is comparable in many ways to the traditions of the household of Hagar in ancient Israel as they describe Ishmael in Gen 16: He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin. Don C. Benjamin, Rice University ------------------------------ From: KCHANSON@rocky.claremont.edu Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 12:20 -0700 (PDT) Subject: reburial in the ANE O c ------------------------------ From: KCHANSON@rocky.claremont.edu Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 13:04 -0700 (PDT) Subject: reburial In reference to John White's query and Don Benjamin's reply on reburial in the ANE, the following bibliography may be of help: Ben-Tor, Amnon, editor. _The Archaeology of Ancient Israel_. Trans. R. Greenberg. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1991. _Treasures of the Holy Land: Ancient Art from the Israel Museum_. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. Mazar, Amihayi. _Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000-586 B.C.E._ Anchor Bible Reference Library. New Yok: Doubleday, 1990. Personally, I have seen no references to ossuaries/second burials in Mesopotamia. In the Ben-Tor vol. cited above, Ben-Tor in his article on the Early Bronze Age cites some examples (from Bab edh-Dhra) of secondary burial. In the art. by Ram Gophna on the Intermediate Bronze Age, the evidence from Jericho is cited that 80% of the burials were secondary. But from what I can tell, neither EB nor IB sec. burials used ossuaries. During the Late Bronze Age, according to Rivka Gonen's art., the cave burials continued the MB practice of pushing bones aside for the most recent occupant. But in the LB period on the coastal plain, the inhabitants went to solitary burial in rectangular pits. K. C. Hanson School of Theology at Claremont KCHANSON@ROCKY.CLAREMONT.EDU ------------------------------ From: BDAHLBERG@SMITH.BITNET Date: 17 Sep 1993 15:54:03 -0400 (EDT) Subject: reburial practices Replying to John B. White's 9/15 inquiry regarding ancient examples of reburial: A spectacular example is the shaft tombs and charnel houses of the Early Bronze Age I-II-III-IV cemetery at Bab edh-Dhra` in Jordan (above the Dead Sea Lisan plain), the modern excavation of which was initiated in 1965 by the late Paul W. Lapp. See now R. Thomas Schaub and Walter E. Rast, _Bab edh-Dhra`: Excavations in the Cemetery Directed by Paul W. Lapp (1965-1967)_ (Reports of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain, Vol. I). Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1989. Evidence cited there shows that secondary burials (reburials) of persons brought from elsewhere, having died earlier, were typical of the EB IA tombs, primary burials becoming typical as more permanent settlement of the site (as against relatively short visits by pastoral types bringing their dead with them to be buried there) developed in later EB times, though the practice of reburial did not cease (as it would not necessarily, one might suppose, in any cemetery anywhere). See also: Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas Schaub, editors, _The Southeastern Dead Sea Plain Expedi- tion: An Interim Report of the 1977 Season_ (Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Volume 46). Cambridge, Massachusetts: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1981. Another example are the Dhahr Mirzbaneh tombs near `Ain es-Samiyeh on the West Bank (20 km or so NE of Ramallah) -- see Paul W. Lapp, _The Dhahr Mirzbaneh Tombs: Three Intermediate Bronze Age Cemeteries in Jordan_. New Haven: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1966. Of this particular site Lapp commented, "The evidence points clearly to the fact that the burials were not merely disarticulate [characteristic of reburial but not by itself proof of reburial -btd] but `decarnate.' The corpse was not merely dismembered and some of the members buried, but the flesh had been removed from the bones before burial...." (op. cit., p. 40). A classic literary attestation to the practice is, of course, the tradition that the bones of Joseph were brought from Egypt, where his body had been embalmed, for reburial (or more exactly, reentombment) at Shechem in Canaan (Joshua 24:32; cf. Genesis 50:25-26). ------------------------------ From: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no (Elie Wardini) Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1993 12:44:53 +0200 Subject: Modern and ancient neologisms in Syriac I am working neologisms in Modern Literary Syriac. I have come across a reference to a letter from Jacob of Edessa (ca. 640-708) sent to a certain George Bishop og Serugh discussing new words in Syriac. The only place I have found this text presented is in this ancient book: 1. Author: Jacob, of Edessa, ca. 640-708. Title: A letter by Mar Jacob, bishop of Edessa, on Syriac orthography; also a tract by the same author, and a discourse by Gregory Bar Hebraus on Syriac accents. Now edited, in the original Syriac, from mss. in the British museum, with an English translation and notes, by George Phillips. To which are added appendices. London, Edinburgh, Williams and Norgate, 1869. Description: viii, 96 p.; 47 p. 23 cm. Notes: Texts paged in Syriac characters. The selection from Bar Hebraus is the fourth discourse, sixth chapter, On the great points, five sections, from his larger grammar, "The book of rays." The appendix includes text and translation of a fragment of an anonymous letter on accents, probably of the sixth century. Subjects: Syriac language -- Orthography and spelling. Syriac language -- Accents and accentuation. Other entries: Bar Hebraeus, 1226-1286. Kethabha dhe-semhe. Phillips, George, 1804-1872, ed. and tr. Unfortunately, this book is not in the possession of our University library. I wonder if any of you know of any other place where this letter is published? I need to get this text. Do you know of any way to get hold of it without it costing an arm and leg? It is the letter of Jacob of Edessa to George of Serugh that interests me. (No it is not in: Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. (to my dismay!)) Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages Post Box 1030 Blindern 0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 home: +47 - 22 19 03 49 Fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 ------------------------------ From: Date: Sun, 19 Sep 93 00:43 EDT Subject: Re: reburial A quick note regarding reburial. Isn't there rather a material difference between secondary burial in an ossuary and sweeping of bones into a common repository or off onto the sides in a tomb? Iron Age texts from Israel, B Halpern data on burials is fairly good, suggest that one becomes an ancestor rather quickly, and does not have to wait until the flesh decays. Terminology includes "to lie down with the fathers" and "to be gathered to the kin". This occurs on or is equivalent with death (and precedes burial). While secondary burial does depend on disarticulation, to a degree, there is also evidence of Israelite rewrapping of corpses in the Iron Age, and the suggestion is that we have ongoing socialization with the dead until dis- articulation. At that point the difference between clearing to the side of a cave or into a repository containing "everyone's" bones and preservation in an ossuary is significant, and probably discontinuous culturally (reflecting different expectations about the afterworld). I don't see, however, that our texts permit us to identify reburial with entry into the pantheon of underworld gods, or that we can equate removal from burial benches with real secondary burial --b B Halpern Penn State ------------------------------ From: (Ellis Richard S) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 11:26:01 EST Subject: Reburial Reburial of disarticulated bones, often wthout the skull, was apparently practiced at Neolithic Catal Hoyuk in Turkey. It has been customary to relate this to the famous mural showing vultures attacking headless human figures. I don't remember if disarticulated bodies have been found at other Neolithic Anatolian sites. - -------------------------------------------------------- Richard S. Ellis Office: (215) 526-5342 Department of Classical and Fax: (215) 526-7475 Near Eastern Archaeology Internet: rellis@cc.brynmawr.edu Bryn Mawr College 101 N. Merion Avenue Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 - -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ From: Date: Sun, 19 Sep 93 22:34 EDT Subject: Re: Reburial Were the secondary interments at Catal Hoyuk found outside the Skull Building? Or are they confined to that structure? --b B. Halpern Penn State ------------------------------ From: Fred Winter Date: Mon, 20 Sep 93 09:58:35 EDT Subject: reburial There was evidence for reburial in one tumulus from Hellenistic Gordion. Tumulus "JL" contained one articulated adult skeleton and five or six additional skeletons in a pit in one corner of the stone-built burial chamber. The tumulus had been robbed, but a fragmentary unguentarium from the excavations indicates a terminus post quem of late forth cent. B.C.E. The tumulus received brief mention in an excavation report published by G.R.E. Edwards in an issue of EXPEDITION in the late 1950's or early 1960's. ------------------------------ From: cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones) Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 10:28:12 +0400 Subject: ANE/Job Announcement/Syro.-Pal. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE 1155 E. 58th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 FACULTY POSITION Archaeology: The Oriental Institute and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago seek a full-time, Assistant Professor (tenure- track) in Syro-Palestinian archaeology. Position involves active, long-term field research and publication as well as teaching on a university level. Candidate must demonstrate ability to plan and conduct successful field operations in Israel, Jordan, or Syria. Position open in Fall, l994. Salary negotiable. Application deadline, Nov. 31, l993. Applicants should send a letter, CV, and three letters of recommendation to: William M. Sumner, Director, Oriental Institute, 1155 E. 58th St., Chgo., IL. 60637. Equal Opportunity Employer. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - -Charles E. Jones- Research Archivist - Bibliographer The Oriental Institute - Chicago ce-jones@uchicago.edu Phone (312) 702-9537 Fax (312) 702-9853 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ From: cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones) Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 12:27:26 +0400 Subject: RE: Prof. Wardini's Request Forwarded from Levon Avdoyan RE: Prof. Wardini's Request Duval, La litterature syriaque, p. 289 n. 1 lists another edition of the letter: "P. Martin, d'apres le ms. du Vatican, le ms. Berberini et le ms. de Paris, Jacobi Edesseni epistola ad Georgium episcopum Sarugensem de orthographia syriaca, Paris, 1869; Philipps, s'apres les ms. de Londres, Add., 12178 et 7183," and then the citation you have, which is in the Library of Congress' collection. I have not been able to locate the two other editions in LC. Levon Avdoyan Library of Congress Internet: Avdoyan@mail.loc.gov ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - -Charles E. Jones- Research Archivist - Bibliographer The Oriental Institute - Chicago ce-jones@uchicago.edu Phone (312) 702-9537 Fax (312) 702-9853 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ From: DWILDISH@oise.on.ca Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 14:47:03 -0500 (EST) Subject: epispasms I am trying to aquire some specific, clinical information on the I am trying to aquire some specific, clinical information on the I am trying to aquire some specific, clinical information on the epispasm procedure referred to in 1 Maccabees 1:15. Obviously, this was some sort of surgical procedure but I need to know precisely how it was done. I've asked several physicians about it and have had no luck. Does anyone have anything they can tell me? Bruce Wildish Toronto ------------------------------ From: igt Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 20:29:08 +0100 Subject: Re: Prof. Wardini's Request > Duval, La litterature syriaque, p. 289 n. 1 lists another edition > of the letter: "P. Martin, d'apres le ms. du Vatican, le ms. > Berberini et le ms. de Paris, Jacobi Edesseni epistola ad > Georgium episcopum Sarugensem de orthographia syriaca, Paris, > 1869; Philipps, s'apres les ms. de Londres, Add., 12178 et 7183," > and then the citation you have, which is in the Library of > Congress' collection. I have not been able to locate the two > other editions in LC. The second of these is the same as the one that Dr.Wardini cited in his previous posting. *Londres, Add.* are B.Mus.Add. manuscripts, as catalogued by W.Wright. Its remarkable that both Martin and Philips should have edited the same text in the same year: I wonder if they knew of the other's existence. Regarding Dr.Wardini's request on where to get a copy: I don't know what the Inter-library Loans facilities are like in Norway, but if they are willing to try, then they could ask for it from a U.K. library. The Philips edition is bound to be in the British Library. Failing that, you could always get a photocopy from the B.Mus. of the relevant section of Add. 12178 or 7183. ------------------------------ From: "Terry Wilfong" Date: 20 Sep 1993 14:39:48 U Subject: Re- Epispasm Re: Epispasm For a good general discussion of epispasm see: Robert G. Hall, "Epispasm: Circumcision in Reverse" _Bible Review_ 8:4 (August 1992): 52-57, with some additional bibliography on p. 57. What follows is a summary from this. Briefly, epispasm is the creation of a new foreskin on someone who was circumcised. This operation was sometimes practised on Jewish men in the hellenistic age who wanted to blend in with uncricumcised gentiles in the various Graeco-Roman institutions that involved nudity like the gymnasium and baths. Not to get into too much surgical detail, but the operation (described in Celsus) involves the cutting of skin around the penis; this skin is then pulled forward over the glans and carefully bandaged so that it would heal to form a "new" foreskin. (Bear in mind that this is being done without anesthesia) The procedure is fairly well-attested. Terry Wilfong The Research Archives of the Oriental Institute t-wilfong@uchicago.edu ------------------------------ End of Ancient Near East Digest V1 #10 ************************************** To subscribe to ANE-Digest, send the command: subscribe ANE-digest in the body of a message to "Majordomo@oi.uchicago.edu". 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