Funerary monument reveals Iron Age belief that the soul lived in... (interest to linguists as well as biblica...)

Funerary monument reveals Iron Age belief that the soul lived in the stone

Date:11/17/2008

interest to linguists as well as biblical scholars and religious historians because it comes from a kingdom contemporary with ancient Israel that shared a similar language and cultural features.

The finding sheds a striking new light on Iron Age beliefs about the afterlife. In this case, it was the belief that the enduring identity or "soul" of the deceased inhabited the monument on which his image was carved and on which his final words were recorded.

The stele was set against a stone wall in the corner of the small room, with its protruding tenon or "tab" still inserted into a slot in a flagstone platform. A handsome, bearded figure, Kuttamuwa wore a tasseled cap and fringed cloak and raised a cup of wine in his right hand. He was seated on a chair in front of a table laden with food, symbolizing the pleasant afterlife he expected to enjoy. Beside him is his inscription, elegantly carved in raised relief, enjoining upon his descendants the regular duty of bringing food for his soul. Indeed, in front of the stele were remains of food offerings and fragments of polished stone bowls of the type depicted on Kuttamuwa's table.

According to Schloen, the stele vividly demonstrates that Iron Age Sam'al, located in the border zone between Anatolia and Syria, inherited both Semitic and Indo-European cultural traditions. Kuttamuwa and his king, Panamuwa, had non-Semitic names, reflecting the migration of Indo-European speakers into the region centuries earlier under the Hittite Empire based in central Anatolia (modern Turkey), which had conquered the region.

But by the eighth century B.C., they were speaking the local West Semitic dialect and were fully integrated into local culture. Kuttumuwa's inscription shows a fascinating mixture of non-Semitic and Semitic cultural elements, including a belief in the enduring human soulwhich did not inhabit the bones of the deceased, as in traditional Semitic thought, but inhabited his stone monumen
'/>"/>

Contact: William Harms
w-harms@uchicago.edu
773-702-8356
University of Chicago
Source:Eurekalert

3

GOOD

Page: 1 2 3 4
Related medicine news :

1. Novel imaging technique reveals brain abnormalities that may play key role in ADHD
2. UCLA study reveals smokings effect on nurses health, death rates
3. Kevin P. Miller's Film "Generation RX" Reveals Widespread Ethical Conflicts, Risks of Psychiatric Drugs to Children
4. New Study Reveals What Women Want When Considering Cosmetic Procedures
5. Media Spotlight Shines on Dr. Siegals Cookie Diet While Major Study Reveals Doubling of U.S. Type II Diabetes Cases During Past Ten Years
6. Survey Reveals Consumer Interest in New Media Formats for Health Information From Hospitals
7. National Breast Cancer Coalition Survey Reveals That Lack of Commitment and Funding Impede the Fight Against Breast Cancer
8. Large-Scale Survey Reveals Low Sexual Desire Most Common Distressing Female Sexual Problem, Affecting Up to One in 10 Women
9. Survey Reveals Heartburn Sufferers Experience More Heartburn During the Holidays
10. Research Reveals Why Tamoxifen Doesnt Always Work
11. New Poll Reveals New Jersey Voter Anxiety Over Healthcare and the Economy

Post Your Comments:

Funerary monument reveals Iron Age belief that the soul lived in...(interest to linguists as well as biblica...),Health