115695188 Burkert Walter 1992 the Orientalizing Revolution Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in Archaic

WALTER BURKERT

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Revealing Antiquity •

5

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C . W Bowersock, Cmeral Editor

THE ORIENTALIZING REVOLUTION Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age

Walter Burkert TRANSLATED BY

Margaret E. Pinder and Walter Burkert

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England

Copyright © 1992 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America

First Harvard University Press paperback edition, I995

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burkert, Walter, 1931The orientalizing revolution: Near Eastern influence on Greek culture in the early archaic age / Walter Burkert; translated by Margaret E. Pinder and Walter Burkert. p. em. - (Revealing antiquity; 5) Translation of: Die orientalisierende Epoehe in der griechischen Religion und Literatur. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-674-64363-1 (cloth) ISBN 0-674-64364-X (pbk.) I. Greece-CivIlization-to 146 B.C. 2. Greece-Civilization-Middle Eastern influences. I. Title. II. Series. D F78.B85 1992 92-8923 938-de20 CIP

CONTENTS

ix

Preface

Introduction I.

"Who Are Public Workers": The Migrant Craftsmen Historical Background 9 Oriental Products in Greece }4 Writing and Literature ill the Eic~hth CfIllury 25 The Problem of Loall- Words 33 2. "A Seer or a Healer": Magic and Medicine 41 "Craflsmen of the Sarrcd": Mobility and ramily Stfllcture 41 Hepatoscopy 46 FOllndation Deposits 53 Plirifi(atill n 55 Spirits of the Dead and Bla(k l\Jagic 65 Substitute Sacrifice 7J Asdepius and kwelatas 75 Ecstatic DivinatiDn 79 Lamashtu, Lamia, and Gorgo 82

3. "Or Also a Godly Singer": Akkadian and Early Greek Literature 88 From Atrahasis to the "De(eptioll of Zeus)) 88 Complaint in Heaven: Ishtar and Aphrodite 96 The Ovelpopulati'd Earth 100 Seven against Thebes 106 . v

.

9

CONTENTS

Common Style and Stance in Oriental and Greek Epi( Fables 120 Magic and Cosmogony 124

Conclusion

128

Abbreviations 131 Bibliography 135 Notes 153 Index of Greek Words General Index 221

VI

219

114

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Mediterranean and the Near East in the early archaic period

10

Figure 1. Bronze tympanon from the Idaean cave, Crete; Heraklion Museum; drawing by Hildi Keel-Leu

17

Map

Figure 2. North Syrian bronze plaque from horse harness, inscribed; courtesy of the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Aufnahme DAI Athen, Neg. Nr. 88/T022

18

Figure 3. Liver models from Mesopotamia and from Piacenza, Italy: British Museum, London, and Museo Archeologico, Florence; from C. O. Thulin, Die etruskische Disziplin, vol. I (G6teborg, I905), plate II

47

Figure 4. Babylonian bronze figurine found in the Hera sanctuary at Samos; Samos Museum; courtesy of the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Aufnahme DAI Athen, Neg. Nr. 78/600

76

Figure 5. Lamashtu plate from Carchemish; drawing by Hildi Keel-Leu

84

Vll

ILLUSTRATIONS

F(~ure

86

Figure 7. Cypriote silver bowl from the Bernardini tomb, Praeneste; courtesy of the Museo di Villa Giulia, Rome

105

F(,O£ for Cyprus (see note 8, above), which sounds archaic and may refer to the use of leather scrolls. . 17 2

.

NOTES

TO

PAGES

32-33

28. See D. van Berchem, MH 48 (1991) I29-145, esp. 140 f.; for Guzana, see]. Friedrich, G. R. Meyer, A. Ungnad, and E. Weidner, Die Inschriften vom Tell Halaf(I940) 47 (nos. IOl-I06) and 70-78 (nos. 1-5); on Tarsos see Chapter 2, "Hepatoscopy," note 7 and "Purification," note 6; O. R. Gurney, ]. J Finkelstein, and P. Hulin, The Su/t 13 (1946) 163-172; Burkert (I987a) 19, 24· 19. Arist. Rhet. 1418a24-26 = Epimenides, FGrHist 457 F f. 20. J. Trumpf, "Huchtafel und Rachepuppe," MDAI (Athens) 73 (195 8) 94- I02 ; cf. BurkC'rt (1985) 75; Faraone (1991) and CIAnt IO (1991) 164-2°3; f~araone and Obbink (J991) index S.V. lIOOdoo dolls. Maqlu 4.27-47; cf. I.I; Ebeling (1918/19) n 3826 = Castellillo (1977) 675.27; Farber (J977) 211-213, text A HI 10; Ebeling (1931) 133 no. 30 A suhscriptio. 21. MaqlCt 1. 13 1 fF. = Castellino (1977) 6r8, Biggs (1967) 28. 22. Theocr. 2.53. 23. Biggs (1967), esp. 28.22-24: figurines made of wax, fat, bitumen, gypsum; cf. Ebeling (1925). 24. Theocr. 2.162. 25. Plat. Leg. 933b. 26. Ebeling (1931) 71 no. 17.2. 27. The second tale in A. Erman, "Papyrus Westcar," in Die Litl'ratuy dey Af.?ypter (1923) 66; E. Brunner-Traut, Alt-Agyptische /\,fijrchen (19652) I2 f. Cf. the magical destruction of Apopi in G. Roeder, Dcr Al/sk/ang dey iigyptiscilen Religion mit R~f01'mation, Zauherei lind Jenseitsglauben (196r) l'iO f.; P. Derchain, Le papyrus Salt 825 (I 96 5) 161 f.; E. Hornung, Altagyptische HollenlloystelluI1J!en, .

I