Abstract
In a discussion of sacred space, we ought not to overlook bodies of water such as rivers (with their river ordeals), wells and springs (note the theophanies at such localities), lakes and seas. Moreover, when such a discussion focuses on the Levant — and more specifically Syria-Palestine — then the Mediterranean Sea is of immediate concern. We shall thus deal mainly with this sea, over a time span from approximately 1800 B.C.E. to the Byzantine period. Such a longue durée of some 2,500 years should enable us to expose elements of the divine nature of the Mediterranean, to the extent that they are to be found — a matter that has scarcely received its due scholarly consideration.1
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Notes
This study, prepared with the assistance of a grant from the Basic Research Foundation administered by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, is based on an extensive revision and expansion of material appearing in my chapter “Kingly Deeds and Divine Exploits,” in A. Malamat, Mari and the Early Israelite Experience (Schweich Lectures, 1984), Oxford 1989. On the mythological nature of the sea, see the comprehensive work by O. Kaiser, Die mythische Bedeutung des Meeres in Ägypten, Ugarit und Israel (BZAW, 78), Berlin 1962. Kaiser’s horizon is limited to the three places mentioned in the book’s title, thus excluding Mari and the talmudic and Greek sources.
The document was published by G. Dossin, “L’inscription de fondation de Iahdun-Lim, roi de Mari,” Syria, XXXII (1955), pp. 1–28;
and see D. Frayne’s newer study, “Iahdun-Lim, Text 2,” in The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, IV: Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 B.C.), Toronto—London 1990, pp. 604–608.
For an early interpretation of the passage given below, see A. Malamat, “Campaigns to the Mediterranean by Iahdun-Lim and Other Early Mesopotamian Rulers,” in H. Güterbock & T. Jacobsen (eds.), Studies in Honor of B. Landsberger (AS 16), Chicago 1965, pp. 367ff.
Cf. G.M.A. Hanfmann, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford 1949 (reprinted 1953), p. 616, s.v. Oceanus (mythological);
F. Lasserre, in Der kleine Pauly, IV, Munich 1979, pp. 267f., s.v. Okeanos, I: Mythologie; M. Eliade (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion, New York 1987, XI, pp. 53–54, s.v. Oceans.
See Amarna letters nos. 74, 105, 114 (Byblos); 151 (Tyre); 288 (Jerusalem). For a translation (and most recent edition) of the documents, see W.L. Moran, Les Lettres d’El-Amarna, Paris 1987.
See now P. Artzi, “A Further Royal Campaign to the Mediterranean Sea?” in Festschrift A. Malamat (EI 24), 1993, pp. 23–30 (in Hebrew), and see there for the other references in EA.
For this term see the dictionaries: CAD A/1, p. 221, s.v. ajabba; AHw p. 23, s.v. a(j)jabba and above, note 7; and see the important remark by A. Goetze in JCS, IX (1955), p. 16, note 58.
Published by B. Alster & U. Yeyes, ASJ, XIV (1990), p. 8; and see the comments concerning a.ab.ba by D. Charpin (NABU 1990, no. 122, p. 101), who rejects the reading a-ia-a-ma, as well as A.R. George (ibid. 1991, no. 19, p. 16).
D. Charpin & J.M. Durand, “‘Fils de Sim’al’: Les origins tribales des rois de Mari,” RA, LXXX (1986), p. 174.
See J.M. Durand, “La mytholegème du combat entre le dieu de l’orage et la mer en Mésopotamie,” MARI VII (1993), pp. 41 ff. In the text, which bears the number A.1968, the sea is represented by the word temtum. On this document see my paper “A New Prophetic Message from Aleppo and Its Biblical Counterparts,” in A.G. Auld (ed.), Understanding Poets and Prophets: Essays in Honour of G.W. Anderson, Sheffield 1993, pp. 236–241. For the depictions of the storm-god fighting the sea-god in glyptics,
see P. Matthiae, “Some Notes on the Old Syrian Iconography of the God Jam,” in D.J.W. Meijer (ed.), Natural Phenomena, Amsterdam 1992, pp. 169–192.
Cf. now P. Bordreuil, “Recherches Ougaritiques,” Semitica, XL (1991), pp. 17–27, and the more recent article by P. Bordreuil & D. Pardee in MARI VII (1993), pp. 63–70.
See Kaiser, Die mythische Bedeutung (above, note 1), pp. 40 ff.; S. Loewenstamm, Comparative Studies in Biblical and Ancient Oriental Literatures (AOAT 204), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1980, pp. 346–361;
S.L. Gibson, Canaanite Myths and Legends, Edinburgh 1978, pp. 37–45.
Cf. Kaiser, Die mythische Bedeutung (above, note 1), p. 58; and M. Dietrich et al., Die keilschriftalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1976, I, 39:19, 46:6.
See Nougayrol, Le palais royal d’Ugarit, IV, Paris 1955/6, pp. 45 (1. 29) and 58. The deity Yamm yielded a theophoric element in the onomasticon of Ugarit, but more surprisingly also at Mari and, later, in biblical Hebrew.
Oliva (above, note 20). But for an association of Ashtarte with a river god (dID) already in Old Akkadian or even in the late Early Dynastic period, and in connection with Mari, see W.G. Lambert, “The Pantheon of Mari,” MARI 4 (1985), pp. 535–537. It should be borne in mind that the deity Yamm at Ugarit bears the epithet “Judge/Ruler of the River” (see above).
Cf., e.g., M. Popko, “Hethische Rituale,” AOF 14 (1987), p. 262; G. Wilhelm, “Meer: bei den Hethitern” (3: Meer in der Religion), RIA, VIII:1, pp. 4–5.
Cf. A. Erman & H. Grapow, Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, I, Berlin 1926, p. 78; R. Giveon, LÄ, III, Wiesbaden 1980, cols. 242–243, s.v. Jam (Meer).
R.O. Faulkner, in A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford 1962, s.v. w3ḏ-wr, p. 56, cites one form that should be read w3ḏ-wr-’im(!), that is, the unusual idiom “Great Green Yam.”
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, II, Berkeley, Calif., 1976, pp. 203ff.
Cf. Kaiser, Die mythische Bedeutung (above, note 1), pp. 81 ff.; R. Stadelmann, Syrisch-Paläistinensische Gottheiten in Ägypten, Leiden 1967, pp. 125 ff.;
and E. Brunner-Traut, Altägyptische Märchen, Munich 1989, pp. 107–110 and 301–302.
See U. Cassuto, Biblical and Oriental Studies, II, Jerusalem 1975, pp. 70 ff.
On yam in the Bible see also R. Ringren, Ø, ThWAT, III, Stuttgart 1982, cols. 649 ff.;
as well as O. Eissfeldt, “Gott und das Meer in der Bibel,” KS, III (1966), pp. 256–264.
On the dragon monster see M.K. Wakeman, God’s Battle with the Monster, Leiden 1973.
And see most recently T. Ringer, “Fighting the Dragon,” SJOT, VI (1992), pp. 139 ff.;
and J. Day, “Dragon and Sea,” Anchor Bible Dictionary, II, New York 1992, pp. 228–231.
For the Bible in general see F.M. Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, Cambridge, Mass., 1973, pp. 121 ff.
On Psalm 74:13 see J.C. Greenfield, in S.E. Balentine & J. Barton (eds.), Language, Theology and the Bible (Essays in Honour of James Barr), Oxford 1994, pp. 113–119.
See T. Jacobsen, “The Battle between Marduk and Tiamat,” JAOS, LXXXVIII (1968), pp. 104–108.
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Malamat, A. (1998). The Sacred Sea. In: Kedar, B.Z., Werblowsky, R.J.Z. (eds) Sacred Space. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14084-8_4
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