Notes to Chapter 23. The Ruin of the Sacred

23.1 Mesopotamia
23.2 The Biblical Perspective
23.3 The Sacred and the Holy

ERRORS in databases:

• "Boson1918Assiriologia.d": duplicate bibliography "Boson1918Assiriologia" for site "Akk-lg".
• "Bottero1992Reasoning.d": duplicate bibliography "Bottero1992Reasoning" for site "Mes-rel".
• "Buccellati1972Teodicea.d": duplicate bibliography "Buccellati1972Teodicea" for site "Mes-lit".
• "Cauvin2000Birth.d": duplicate bibliography "Cauvin2000Birth" for site "Mes-rel".
• "DMB.d": duplicate bibliography "DMB" for site "Mes-rel".
• "Edzard2003Sumerian.d": duplicate bibliography "Edzard2003Sumerian" for site "Mes-rel".
• "Oshima2014Sufferers.d": duplicate bibliography "Oshima2014Sufferers" for site "Mes-rel".
• "Trinkaus1983Shanidar.d": duplicate bibliography "Trinkaus1983Shanidar" for site "Mes-rel".

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23.1 Mesopotamia

1. A historical event considered as the ‘ending’ of Mesopotamian indigenous culture is the conquest of Babylon by the Persian Achaemenids in 539 BC, by Cyrus the Great. On this topic, see e.g. Liverani 2014 History, pp. 562-658.

   On the present situation of Mesopotamian antiquities, destroyed by fundamentalist in recent years, see e.g. the website Mesopotamia Oggi, by the University of Pavia (Italy), describing with a photographic apparatus the state of preservation of many Mesopotamian monuments and artifacts kept in different Museums in both Mesopotamia and Syria.

   – [ Marco De Pietri, November 2020]

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23.2 The Biblical Perspective

1. On Biblical ‘Lamentations’, see supra 12.4.

   – [ Marco De Pietri, November 2020]

2. See Freedman 1995 Hidden on the disappearance of God from public manifestations in the Bible.

   – [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]

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23.3 The Sacred and the Holy

1. For the Roman conquest of Palestine and the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 69 AD, see e.g. the report of this events in Dion Cassius, quoting also other literary sources (such as Flavius Joseph) in the Jewish Encyclopedia.

   For a picture of Titus’ arch, displaying the plundering of Jerusalem, see here.

   – [ Marco De Pietri, November 2020]

2. For the ‘sacrifice’ of Isaac by Abraham, see supra 6.9.

   – [ Marco De Pietri, November 2020]

3. For the meaning of ‘sacred’ and ‘sacralization’ in ancient religions (particularly in Mesopotamia), see Brelich 1976 Prolegomeni; cf. Brelich 1976/Excerpt, passim.

   – [ Marco De Pietri, May 2021]