Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to illustrate the various ways stones were perceived by the peoples of Ancient Mesopotamia. It will be argued that Mesopotamian peoples, who were not yet influenced by the achievements of modern natural sciences, regarded this material like any other part of the phenomenal world from a perspective that can be labelled as symbolic thinking. In order to elucidate this way of thinking, the first section will deal with its otherness vis-à-vis modern understanding, for which Eliade’s monograph is of great help. In the second section two notions that are the results of symbolic thinking will be discussed. First, it will be shown that stones were regarded in Mesopotamia as living entities, and second, using the example of hematite, the belief that stones had particular immanent powers will be presented. The Sumerian epic called Lugale stands in the centre of the discussion, while other informative passages regarding the symbolic roles of stones are taken into consideration.
Danksagung
Ich bedanke mich herzlich bei Professor G.J. Selz für seine zum Nachdenken anregenden Bemerkungen zu dem Beitrag (für den Inhalt meines Aufsatzes bleibe ich aber allein verantwortlich).
Literaturverzeichnis
André-Salvini, B. (1999): L’idéologie des pierres en Mésopotamie. In: A. Caubet (Hrsg.), Cornaline et pierres précieuses: la Méditerranée, de l’Antiquité à l’Islam. Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le Service culturel les 24 et 25 novembre 1995, Paris, 375–400.Search in Google Scholar
Arnaud, D. et al. (1979): Ilšu-ibnišu, orfèvre de l’E.babbar de Larsa: la jarre L.76.77 et son contenu, Syria 56, 1–64.Search in Google Scholar
Aruz, J. et al. (2008): Beyond Babylon. Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millenium B.C., New Haven.Search in Google Scholar
Black, J. et al. (2004): The Literature of Ancient Sumer, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Borger, R. (1956): Die Inschriften Asarhaddons Königs von Assyrien (AfO Beih. 9), Graz.Search in Google Scholar
Borger, R. / O. Kaiser (1982): Rechts- und Wirtschaftsurkunden – Historisch-chronologische Texte: Rechtsbücher (TUAT I/1), Gütersloh.Search in Google Scholar
Caley, E.R. / J.F. Richards (1956): Theophrastus on Stones. Introduction, Greek Text, English Translation, and Commentary, Columbus, Ohio.Search in Google Scholar
Călian, G.-F. (2010): Alkimia Operativa and Alkimia Speculativa. Some Modern Controversies on the Historiography of Alchemy. In: K. Szende / J.A. Rasson (Hrg.), Annual of Medieval Studies at Central European University 16, Budapest, 166–190.Search in Google Scholar
Cavigneaux, A. (1987): Aux sources du Midrash: l’herméneutique babylonienne, AulaOr. 5, 243–255.Search in Google Scholar
Civil, M. (1974): Medical Commentaires from Nippur, JNES 33, 329–338.10.1086/372364Search in Google Scholar
Cohen, M. (1976): Literary Texts from the Andrews University Archaeological Museum, RA 70, 129–144.Search in Google Scholar
Dalley, S. (1998): The Legacy of Mesopotamia, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Dudley, G. III (1977): Religion on Trial: Mircea Eliade & His Critics, Philadelphia.Search in Google Scholar
Eliade, M. (1962): The Forge and the Crucible, New York.Search in Google Scholar
Eliade, M. (1968): The Forge and the Crucible: A Postscript, History of Religions 8, 74–88.10.1086/462576Search in Google Scholar
Falkenstein, A. (1959): Sumerische Götterlieder I, Heidelberg.Search in Google Scholar
Farber, G. (1984): Another Old Babylonian Childbirth Incantation, JNES 43, 311–316.10.1086/373092Search in Google Scholar
Fink, Ch. (2012): Gewichte oder bloße Kiesel? Untersuchungen zu Eisenoxidgesteinen aus Tell Bazi, Syrien. In: H. Baker et al. (Hrg.), Stories of Long Ago. Festschrift für Michael D. Roaf (AOAT 397), Münster, 141–160.Search in Google Scholar
Finkel, I.L. (1995): In Black and White: Remarks on the Assur Psephomancy Ritual, ZA 85, 271–277.10.1515/zava.1995.85.2.271Search in Google Scholar
Frankfort, H. et al. (1977): Before Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. An Essay on Speculative Thought in the Near East, Chicago – London.10.7208/chicago/9780226112565.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Geller, M. (1985): Notes on Lugale, BSOAS 48, 215–223.10.1017/S0041977X00033310Search in Google Scholar
George, A.R. (1979): Cuneiform Texts in the Birmingham City Museum, Iraq 41, 121–140.10.2307/4200108Search in Google Scholar
George, A.R. (2003): The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Gwinnett, A.J. / L. Gorelick (1987): The Change from Stone Drills to Copper Drills in Mesopotamia: An Experimental Perspective, Expedition 29, 15–24.Search in Google Scholar
Hafford, W.B. (2005a): Hanging in the Balance: Precision Weighing in Antiquity, Expedition 47/2, 35–37.Search in Google Scholar
Hafford, W.B. (2005b): Mesopotamian Mensuration Balance Pan Weights from Nippur, JESHO 48, 345–387.10.1163/156852005774342894Search in Google Scholar
Hafford, W.B. (2012): Weighing in Mesopotamia: The Balance Pan Weights from Ur, Akkadica 133, 21–65.Search in Google Scholar
Heimpel, W. et al. (1988): Philological and Archaeological Evidence for the Use of Emery in the Bronze Age Near East, JCS 40, 195–210.10.2307/1359662Search in Google Scholar
Horowitz, W. (1992): Two Abnu šikinšu Fragments and Related Matters, ZA 82, 112–122.10.1515/zava.1992.82.1.112Search in Google Scholar
Horowitz, W. / V.A. Hurowitz (1992): Urim and Thummim in Light of a Psephomancy Ritual from Assur (LKA 137), JANES 21, 95–115.Search in Google Scholar
Jacobsen, T. (1987): The Harps that Once... Sumerian Poetry in Translation, New Haven – London.Search in Google Scholar
Jacobsen, T. (1988): The Asakku in Lugal-e. In: E. Leichty et al. (Hrsg.), A Scientific Humanist. Studies in Memory of Abraham Sachs, Philadelphia, 225–232.Search in Google Scholar
Joseph, B.K. (2006): Modalities of the Transcendent and Modes of Human Response: A Study of Contemporary Phenomenology of Religion from the Perspective of Merleau-Ponty, New Delhi.Search in Google Scholar
Landsberger, B. (1967): Über Farben im Sumerisch-Akkadischen, JCS 21, 139–173.10.2307/1359368Search in Google Scholar
Leichty, E. (2011): The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC) (RINAP 4), Winona Lake, Indiana.10.1515/9781575066462Search in Google Scholar
Martelli, M. / M. Rumor (2014): Near Eastern Origins of Graeco-Egyptian Alchemy. In: K. Geus / M. Geller (Hrsg.), Esoteric Knowledge in Antiquity (TOPOI – Dahlem Seminar for the History of Ancient Sciences II), Berlin, 37–63.Search in Google Scholar
Moorey, P.R.S. (1994): Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Mullo-Weir, C.J. (1929): Fragment of an Expiation-Ritual against Sickness, JRAS 2, 281–284.10.1017/S0035869X00082162Search in Google Scholar
Postgate, N. (1997): Mesopotamian Petrology: Stages in the Classification of the Material World, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 7, 205–224.10.1017/S0959774300001943Search in Google Scholar
Powell, M.A. (1979): Ancient Mesopotamian Weight Metrology: Methods, Problems and Perspectives. In: M.A. Powell / R.H. Sack (Hrsg.), Studies in Honor of Tom B. Jones (AOAT 203), Kevelaer – Neukirchen-Vluyn, 71–110.Search in Google Scholar
Reiner, E. (1995): Astral Magic in Babylonia (TAPS 85), Philadelphia.10.2307/1006642Search in Google Scholar
Römer, W.P. (1965): Sumerische ‚Königshymnen‘ der Isin-Zeit (DMOA 13), Leiden.Search in Google Scholar
Rubio, G. (1999): Sumerian Literary Texts from the Time of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Baltimore, Maryland (unveröffentlichte Doktorarbeit, The John Hopkins University).Search in Google Scholar
Sallaberger, W. (1996): Der babylonische Töpfer und seine Gefäße nach Urkunden altsumerischer bis altbabylonischer Zeit sowie lexikalischen und literarischen Zeugnissen (MHE 3), Gent.Search in Google Scholar
Sanati-Müller, S. (1990): Texte aus dem Sīnkāšid-Palast. Dritter Teil, Metalltexte, BagM 21, 131–213.Search in Google Scholar
Schuster, A. (2003): Tupfen und Streifen: Erkenntnisse zur Identifikation von Steinnamen aus der Serie abnu šikinšu ‚Der Stein, dessen Gestaltung...‘, AoF 30, 256–268.Search in Google Scholar
Schuster-Brandis, A. (2008): Steine als Schutz- und Heilmittel: Untersuchung zu ihrer Verwendung in der Beschwörungskunst Mesopotamiens im 1. Jt. v. Chr. (AOAT 46), Münster.Search in Google Scholar
Scurlock, J.A. (1991): Baby-Snatching Demons, Restless Souls and the Dangers of Childbirth: Medico-Magical Means of Dealing with Some of the Perils of Motherhood in Ancient Mesopotamia, Incognita 2, 137–185.Search in Google Scholar
Selz, G.J. (2013): Texts, Textual Bilingualism and the Evolution of Mesopotamian Hermeneutics. In: M. Bauks et al. (Hrsg.), Between Text and Text: The Hermeneutics of Intertextuality in Ancient Cultures and Their Afterlife in Medieval and Modern Times (Journal of Ancient Judaism, Suppl.), Göttingen, 47–65.10.13109/9783666550256.47Search in Google Scholar
Seminara, S. (2001): La versione accadica del Lugal-e: La tecnica babilonese della traduzione dal sumerico e le sue regole (MVSum. 8), Rom.Search in Google Scholar
Simkó, K. (2013): Bemerkungen zu Lipiteštar A Z. 87, NABU 2013, 115–118.Search in Google Scholar
Stol, M. (2000): Birth in Babylonia and the Bible: Its Mediterranean Setting (CunMon. 14), Groningen.10.1163/9789004494619Search in Google Scholar
van Dijk, J. (1975): Incantations accompagnant la naissance de l’homme, OrNS 44, 52–79.10.3406/antiq.1975.1765Search in Google Scholar
van Dijk, J. (1983): LUGAL UD ME-LÁM-bi NIR-ĞÁL: le récit épique et didactique des Travaux de Ninurta, du Déluge et de la Nouvelle Création, Leiden.Search in Google Scholar
Veenhof, K.R. (1991): Ad BagdMitt 21 (1990) 131ff., NABU 1991, 23–24.Search in Google Scholar
Veldhuis, N. (1989): A New Assyrian Compendium for a Woman in Childbirth, ASJ 11, 239–260.Search in Google Scholar
Voss, K. (1986): Mircea Eliade and the History of Religion, Aries Old Series 4, 51–66.10.1086/jr.66.3.1203508Search in Google Scholar
Wilcke, C. (1973): Sumerische literarische Texte in Manchester und Liverpool, AfO 24, 1–17.Search in Google Scholar
Winter, I.J. (1999): The Aesthetic Value of Lapis Lazuli in Mesopotamia. In: A. Caubet (Hrsg.), Cornaline et pierres précieuses: la Méditerranée, de l’Antiquité à l’Islam. Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le Service culturel les 24 et 25 novembre 1995, Paris, 45–58.Search in Google Scholar
Winter, I.J. (2010): On Art in the Ancient Near East, Vol. 2: From the Third Millenium B.C.E. (CHANE 34), Leiden.10.1163/ej.9789004174993.i-542Search in Google Scholar
Hinweis
Die Abkürzungen folgen dem Verzeichnis des Reallexikons der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie; die sich nicht in jenem Verzeichnis befindenden Abkürzungen sind wie folgt: DL = Theophrastos, De Lapidibus; NH = Plinius, Naturalis historia.
© 2014 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/München/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Vorbemerkungen der Herausgeber
- Artikel
- An Ur III Tablet Concerning Garden Plots and its ‘Sketch’: MVN 22, 31
- Eine Fāra-zeitliche Urkunde aus dem Völkerkundemuseum in Werl
- Three Nuzi Texts from the British Museum and a Middle Assyrian Letter from the Aftermath of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Arrapḫe
- Anmerkungen zu mittelassyrischen Texten.9
- Globalisierung im 3. Jahrtausend v. und n. Chr. – Interpretationen archäologisch sichtbarer Kontakte von der Ägäis bis zum Indus von der nordwestlichen Peripherie aus betrachtet
- A New Late Hittite Stone Workshop and Artifacts at Kuşçu-Boyacı
- Clause Internal and Clause Leftmost Verbs in Hittite
- Überlegungen zu den symbolischen Rollen der Steine in Mesopotamien
- Tabal und die Tibarener
- Neue Überlegungen zur Datierung der westlichen Befestigungsanlagen Aššurs
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Vorbemerkungen der Herausgeber
- Artikel
- An Ur III Tablet Concerning Garden Plots and its ‘Sketch’: MVN 22, 31
- Eine Fāra-zeitliche Urkunde aus dem Völkerkundemuseum in Werl
- Three Nuzi Texts from the British Museum and a Middle Assyrian Letter from the Aftermath of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Arrapḫe
- Anmerkungen zu mittelassyrischen Texten.9
- Globalisierung im 3. Jahrtausend v. und n. Chr. – Interpretationen archäologisch sichtbarer Kontakte von der Ägäis bis zum Indus von der nordwestlichen Peripherie aus betrachtet
- A New Late Hittite Stone Workshop and Artifacts at Kuşçu-Boyacı
- Clause Internal and Clause Leftmost Verbs in Hittite
- Überlegungen zu den symbolischen Rollen der Steine in Mesopotamien
- Tabal und die Tibarener
- Neue Überlegungen zur Datierung der westlichen Befestigungsanlagen Aššurs