Language:
English
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
Aramaic Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
20,2 (2022) 111-133
Keywords:
Ritual History
;
Magic, Ancient
;
Inscriptions, Aramaic
;
Safirah (Syria) Antiquities
Abstract:
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).
DOI:
10.1163/17455227-bja10038
URL:
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