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Mesopotamian Religion

3. Notes

Notes to Chapter 20. The Temple

Giorgio Buccellati, “When on High…”

August 2023

20.1 Toward a Theory of the Temple
20.2 The Concept of Dwelling in Mesopotamia
20.3 The Interlocutors of the Mesopotamian Temple
20.4 The Concept of Dwelling in the Bible
20.5 The Interlocutors of the Biblical Temple as an Assembly
20.6 The Semiotic Evolution of the Biblical Temple


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20.1 Toward a Theory of the Temple

  1. For the description and analysis (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple) of temple BA at Urkesh, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2009 Temple.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  2. For the description and analysis (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple) of temple BA at Urkesh, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2007 Heaven.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  3. For the description and analysis (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple) of temple BA at Urkesh, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2009 Temple.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  4. For the Sumerian term dur.an.ki, see the three entries dur, an, and ki on the ePSD2.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  5. For an introduction on the ‘temple’ in Mesopotamia, see the RlA.

    For the organization of templar institutions in Mesopotamia, se e.g. Sterba 1976 Management.

    For a general discussion on the nature and features of Mesopotamian temple, see the dated but always interesting paper Oppenheim 1944 Temple.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  6. For the temple of Solomon and the later temple of Herod, see the Jewish Encyclopedia, respectively at this link and this link.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  7. For a complete and reasoned list of temple names see George 1993 Temples.

    – [ Stefania Ermidoro, November 2020]

  8. For alternative views on the conceptions of sacred space within a specific Mesopotamian context, with overviews of the interpretations of Eliade and Smith, see Kang 2012 Eliade Duranki.

    – [ Iman Nagy, December 2020]

  9. See Sterba 1976 Management on the institutions around the Mesopotamian temple.

    – [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]

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20.2 The Concept of Dwelling in Mesopotamia

  1. For the description and analysis (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple) of temple BA at Urkesh, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2009 Temple.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  2. For the description and analysis (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple) of temple BA at Urkesh, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2007 Heaven.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  3. For the description and analysis (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple) of temple BA at Urkesh, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2009 Temple.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  4. For the Sumerian term é.dingir, ‘house of the god’, see the ePSD2, under lemma diŋir.

    For the equivalent Akkadian expression bīt ilim see CAD 2 = B, pp. 282-296, under lemma bīt.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  5. For an example of Sumerian Hymns to temples, see e.g. texts 4.80.1-2 (The temple hymns, The Keš temple hymn) and 4.80.4 (A hymn to the E-kur) on ETCSL.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  6. On ziggurat see supra 5.1.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  7. See Hundley 2013 Temples: the author investigates the idea of temples in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hittite and Syro-Palestinian cultures. For an interesting analysis of ziggurats, both in ideological and archaeological terms with a discussion of their impact on the urban landscape: Mc Mahon 2016 Ziggurat.

    – [ Stefania Ermidoro, November 2020]

  8. See: Hart 2019 Temple Tent Buttressing Buccellati’s assertion that the role of the temple first appears “not at all different between Mesopotamia and the Bible”, Hart provides an analysis of what she calls “from real to virtual” with regard to the evolution (and its religious implications) of the transition from use and function of temples in early Israel as they continue to be culturally renegotiated.

    – [ Iman Nagy, December 2020]

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20.3 The Interlocutors of the Mesopotamian Temple

  1. For the function of temple BA at Urkesh (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple), and its accessibility to people, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2009 Temple.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  2. For the function of temple BA at Urkesh (as an example of Syro-Mesopotamian temple), and its accessibility to people, see Buccellati Kelly Buccellati 2009 Temple.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]

  3. «But we also have evidence of offerings that come from popular piety, as in the case of a text that records “the delivery of an ox and five sheep by the wife of the Amorrean Shulgi-ili” and the delivery of the same amount by another woman, “on the day they gave birth to a child” (G. Buccellati, Chapter 20, Section 3). For reference to these texts, see ….

    For the king Shulgi, see the RlA.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  4. For an example of inscription regarding construction and dedication of temples, see e.g. “The building of Ninĝirsu’s temple (Gudea, cylinders A and B)”, on ETCSL, no. 2.1.7: transliteration and translation. Cf. supra 14.2.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  5. For an anthology of inscriptions associated with the construction of temples in Biblical and Mesopotamian cultures, see Hurowitz 1992 Exalted.

    – [ Stefania Ermidoro, November 2020]

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20.4 The Concept of Dwelling in the Bible

  1. For the biblical passages mentioned by G. Buccellati in Chapter 20, Section 4, see infra:

    1 Kings 6-9;

    2 Sam 7, 5;

    2 Sam 7, 12-13;

    1 Kings 5, 17;

    Ex 23, 33-34;

    2 Ch 3, 8.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  2. For the biblical expressions בַּיִת לִשְׁמִי, bayit liše and בַּיִת לְשֵׁם, bayit lešēm, see respectively DCH 2, pp. 151-164, under lemma בַּיִת, bayit, ‘house’ and DCH 8, pp. 422-431, under lemma שֵׁם, šēm, ‘name’.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  3. For the biblical term קֹדֶשׁ, qodeš, ‘holyness/holy’, see DCH 7, pp. 196-204, reporting also the expression קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים, qodeš haqqādāšîm, ‘the holy of holies’, a typical Hebrew construct (base adjective + direct plural genitive of the same adjective) to express the absolute superlative, thus ‘the holiest’.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  4. For an overview of the relationship between Prayer and the Temple cults, see Knohl 1996 Prayer Temple

    – [ Iman Nagy, December 2020]

  5. See Nihan 2015 Exces on divine wrath.

    – [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]

  6. A 3D reconstruction of the Temple of Salomon is available on 3D Temple of Salomon; see link: Temple Salomon.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, January 2021]

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20.5 The Interlocutors of the Biblical Temple as an Assembly

  1. For the biblical passages mentioned by G. Buccellati in Chapter 20, Section 5, see infra:

    Mic 1, 5;

    Mic 3, 12;

    Jer 26, 18;

    Jer 7, 1-4;

    Is 66, 1-2;

    2 Ch 3, 9-10.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  2. For the biblical term בָמֹות, bāmôt, ‘hills > (pagan) sanctuaries’, see DCH 2, pp. 184-185, under lemma בָּמָה, bāmā(h), ‘high place’.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  3. For the biblical term הֵיכָָל, hêkāl, ‘palace, temple’, see DCH 2, pp. 541-542. The term derives from the Akkadian ekallu(m), which is a calque from the Sumerian É.GAL, literally ‘big house’.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

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20.6 The Semiotic Evolution of the Biblical Temple

  1. For the biblical concept of שכינה, shekinah, ‘dwelling > (divine) presence’, see the Jewish Encyclopedia, with reference to biblical passages and later Targumic interpretation.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]

  2. For the biblical passages mentioned by G. Buccellati in Chapter 20, Section 6, see infra:

    Jn 2, 19-21;

    Mt 26, 61;

    Mt 12, 6.

    – [ Marco De Pietri, October 2020]