The Politics of Ritual Change The zukru Festival in the Political History of Late Bronze Age Emar (Harvard Semitic Monographs)

In The Politics of Ritual Change, John Thames explores the intersection of ritual and politics in the zukru festival texts from Emar and suggests a new understanding of the Hittite Empires relationship to northern Syria in the 13th century BCE. Contents 5 Preface and Acknowledgements 9 Abbreviations 12 Abbreviations for Texts from Emar and Its Vicinity 15 Tables 16 Part 1 The City of Emar and Its zukru Rituals 17 Chapter 1 Introduction to the City of Emar 19 1 Archaeological Excavations at Tell Meskeneh 21 2 The Archives of Emar 24 3 Emar’s Scribal Distinctions 29 Chapter 2 The zukru Ritual: The City’s Offering to Dagan 32 1 Texts and Translations: Emar 375+ 397 + 401 + 428 + 448* + 449* 32 1.1 Text A: Textual and Philological Notes 46 1.2 Text B: Textual and Philological Notes 62 1.3 Text C: Textual and Philological Notes 63 1.4 Text D: Textual and Philological Notes 63 2 The zukru Ritual of the City of Emar 64 3 Gods and Humans in the zukru Ritual 66 4 The Performance of the zukru Ritual 70 4.1 Dagan on Parade: The Processional Rites 70 4.2 “They Will Smash Their Clods” 74 4.3 Between the sikkānu-stones: The zukru’s Sacred Space 77 4.4 Anointing the Stones with Blood and Oil 83 4.5 Performing the Glorification Ceremonies 87 4.6 Donations to the Gods 92 4.7 Politics and Food: Feasting in the zukru Ritual 93 4.8 Emar 375+: Two Interconnected Rituals? 94 4.9 The Interval Between Shorter zukru Performances 97 4.10 Copying Rituals 99 Chapter 3 The zukru Festival: Expansion of Local Traditions 100 1 Texts and Translations: Emar 373 + 374 + 376 + 424 + 425 + DercksenKaskal No. 3 100 1.1 Textual and Philological Notes 122 2 The zukru Ritual in Its Festival Version 148 3 zukru Festival Divinity 149 3.1 The Deities of the Palace 177 3.2 The Completeness of zukru Divinity 180 4 The Ritual Transaction: Donations to the Gods 191 5 The Sponsors of the zukru Festival 195 5.1 The nupuḫannū-men 205 5.2 The zirāti-men 207 6 The Provisioning of the zukru Festival 209 6.1 Animal Offerings: Prestige in Quantity and Quality 210 6.2 Offerings of Foodstuff: Underlying Indications of Hittite Involvement 214 7 The Performance of the zukru in Its Festival Form 220 7.1 All the Gods on Parade: The Processional Rites 220 7.2 Feasting and the New zukru Sponsorship 226 7.3 Veiling the Face of Dagan 227 7.4 Anointing the Stones with Blood and Oil 231 7.5 Sacred Space and Dagan’s Perambulation at the sikkānu Gate 234 7.6 Days of Consecration 236 Chapter 4 Part 1 Conclusion: The zukru Traditions 239 1 The Meaning of the Word “zukru” 239 2 The zukru Rituals: A Synthetic View 241 Part 2 Politics and Rituals 245 Chapter 5 Emar in the Late Bronze Age: History, Politics, and Chronology 247 1 The Question of Emar’s Relationship to Mittani 247 2 Local Politics of Emar: The Conventional Format Documentation 255 3 The Hittite Conquest of North Syria 267 4 The Role of Hittite Karkamiš in Emar Politics: Evidence of the Free Format Documentation 270 5 The Relationship between Local and Foreign Authorities: Chronological Considerations and Political Change 281 Chapter 6 Politics, Power, and the zukru Festival 296 1 The King and the zukru Festival 296 2 zukru Practice under Hittite Aegis 299 3 Hittite Involvement in Emar’s Cults 305 4 Cults of Anatolian Deities at Emar 315 5 The Hittite Interest in Emar’s Cults 319 6 Historical Context and the Dating of the zukru Texts 322 Chapter 7 Part 2 Conclusion: Power, Politics, and Change in the zukru Rituals 330 Bibliography 337 Index of Ancient Texts 355 "In The Politics of Ritual Change: The zukru Festival in the Political History of Late Bronze Age Emar, John Thames explores the intersection of ritual and politics in ancient Syria. The cuneiform texts describing an elaborate festival called zukru invite the reader to consider the development of the ritual as a result of political influence. This book suggests a new understanding of the relationship between the Hittite Empire and the city of Emar that is best observed through religious texts. The Harvard Semitic Monographs series publishes volumes from the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East. Other series offered by Brill that publish volumes from the Museum include Harvard Semitic Studies and Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant, https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications and https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications"-- Provided by publisher