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This research evaluates the textual and archaeological evidence for pilgrimage in the Iron I central hill country of the southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age-Iron I transition period (ca. 1300-1000 BCE). The central hill country comprises the Judean and Samarian hills that are located west of the Jordan River and rise near Hebron to the south and end in the north near Dothan. This location and time period reflect the nascent stages of Israelite identity. Pilgrimage provides new perspectives through which to evaluate a specific aspect of early Israelite religion and culture. This research demonstrates that pilgrimage to ceremonial sites, where processions and ritual performances were held, provided avenues for families and clans to come together for a collective purpose and to fulfill collective needs. Pilgrimage has many facets that transect social, economic, and political agendas. By looking at the entire network of sites availed in the archaeological and textual record that apply to the Iron I central hills, from household shrines to shrines of regional and cross-clan appeal, this research suggests that there were several scales of pilgrimage evident in the central highlands. Each scale of pilgrimage had different sociological implications, but primarily pilgrimage provided avenues for people to exchange goods and services without losing honor, negotiate status, and bond over a collective awareness of kinship and community that provided avenues for disparate tribes to coalesce into a coherent political body.

The question of cultural continuity or the appearance of a new culture in the Levant in the period from the Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age has been strongly debated in Near Eastern studies. Proponents of cultural change argue that a new type of building, the four-room house is a strong indicator of a new population moving in, despite compelling evidence that this type of house had precedents in earlier periods.<p> A more productive approach to the issue of cultural change or continuity lies in the examination of not only the physical structures, but also the use of space within them, since the organization of domestic activity is at a basic level culturally determined. This study proposes a method for such examination, through the creation of a typology of rooms and the analysis of the distribution of artefacts and installations within different types of space to determine probable activities within a sample of houses from the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. By comparing and contrasting uses of space in Late Bronze and Early Iron Age domestic structures, one should be able to add to the lines of evidence for determining whether or not there was cultural continuity in the transitional period from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. The outcomes of this study pointed to cultural continuity.

<p>The subject matter of this dissertation is a study of the earliest Israelite religion; it is based on a careful examination of the Song of the Sea, which is one of the oldest extant sources for this period in the Old Testament. The evidence was valuable in showing the monolithic character of the concept of god, the nature of the people of go god, and the concept of the activity of god in the sphere of history at this early stage in Israelite religion. The view that early Israelite religion was at a gorminal stage of development in the early period was shown to be insufficient; the Song gives evidence of a highly creative period in Israelite religious thought.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Isa 10:5–34 has long been understood as an oracle, like many others in the Book of First Isaiah, that expresses anti-Assyrian theology. The text inverts several policies and ideologies of Neo-Assyrian imperialism and projects them back on Assyria, portraying the Assyrian king, in particular, as the primary object of Yahweh’s derision. However, Isa 10:5–34 appears to be doing more than simply offering a polemic of Neo-Assyrian ideology; the text provides a detailed, systematic attack of key policies and ideology that define the Neo-Assyrian colonial mission, all of which is done to comfort a Judean population suffering and afraid under Assyrian rule. Thus, anti-Assyrian theology, on its own, might not be a useful term for defining the function of the text. When read in light of modern scholarship discussing the phenomenon of terrorism, however, Isa 10:5–34 takes on a different character. This Isaianic oracle might not be merely an expression of anti-Assyrian theology but, instead, an ancient rhetoric of counter-terrorism. / 2021-07-23T00:00:00Z

The thesis begins with an overview of views concerning the dating of Isa 24–27 and its place within the genres of apocalyptic and eschatology, before stating its aim as showing how Canaanite myths were used by the author to give future hope rooted in cultic ideals. The second chapter looks at the image of the divine warrior, with particular emphasis on the chaos enemy as the dragon/serpent/sea, and the remarkable similarities between Isa 27:1 and the Ugaritic KTU 1.5.i.1–5. A possible cultic setting of the combat myth is examined, together with the question of why the myth appears here in an eschatological manner. The following chapter discusses the Israelite and Canaanite traditions concerning the holy mountain and divine banquet. Zion motifs are compared with those of Mt. Zaphon, and the nature of cultic feasts considered in Israelite and Canaanite literature, as well as later traditions. Chapter Four argues that the verses concerning death and resurrection represented exile/oppression and restoration, at a time when ideas of resurrection and judgment after death were emerging. The Israelite imagery of Mot/Death and Sheol are examined in relation to the nature of Ugaritic Mot, showing how Canaanite traditions were used to demonstrate Yahweh’s might and the possibility of individual and universal restoration. The following chapter places Israelite religion within the context of Canaanite fertility cults and popular practices. That myth and cult are connected is the basis for the view that the themes in Isa 24–27 were passed down to the post-exilic era via cultic activities and the reuse of myths to promote Yahweh, whether the author was aware that he was using ancient, mythological ideas or not. The sixth chapter gives a short overview of hope in the Hebrew Bible, before demonstrating how the universalism of Isa 24–27 combines with the ancient mythic themes to provide an eschatological hope in an all-encompassing deity. The paper concludes that the author of these chapters deliberately used Canaanite mythology to show how the final victory, rule, and celebration of Yahweh would bring about a personal and moral victory for all nations.

Scholarship on the onomastics of the ancient Near East typically evaluates a single text corpus or collection of names from a specific region, with a focus on names of a variety of linguistic origins from either alphabetic or cuneiform source material. This dissertation serves as a compilation of Aramaic names from both alphabetic and cuneiform sources geographically delimited to Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Levant (excluding Egypt and Anatolia) during the first half of the first millennium BCE. The product of a methodic evaluation of ancient Near Eastern texts and inscriptions, utilizing both linguistic and conceptual criteria in its selection, this compilation of names is analyzed according to the established taxonomic systems that have been developed in the study of Hebrew, Akkadian, and other Semitic names throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. Additional analyses in this volume include a comparative anthroponomy, a study of theophoric elements, an overview of names based on their morphological features, and various explorations of the elements found within them. Ultimately, this study serves to catalog the individuals with Aramaic names leading up to the time when Aramaic was the lingua franca of the greater ancient Near East, / 2021-09-07T00:00:00Z

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