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[German version] I. The Ancient Orient The ancient Mesopotamian calendar was based on the phases of the lunar cycle and was observed in the cult on a monthly basis (1st, 7th, 15th day). Annual feasts were frequently associated with the agrarian cycle (sowing, harvest), whereby regional differences must be drawn into consideration (e.g., irrigation vs. rainfed agriculture). Non-cyclical feasts were generally related to the ruler (crowning, temple and palace construction, war, death). In the family sphe…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In Mesopotamia and its neighbouring regions, weights were made of stone (primarily haematite [Haematite], or else limestone and others) or metal (bronze, copper), often in the form of a barleycorn or a loaf, or figuratively as a duck (3rd to 1st millennia), and in Assyria from the 1st millennium also as a lion. Weights could be inscribed with a numerical value with or without indicating the unit, as well as with an inscription of a ruler, an institution, or an offic…

[German version] I. Definition The term 'creation of the world' ('CW') (κτίσις/ ktísis, Lat. creatio) in the narrower sense should be distinguished from two similar concepts. Unlike 'cosmogony', 'CW' refers to a personal act. Secondly, unlike 'fashioning of the world' in the sense of the craft of a demiourgos [3] (cf. [1]), 'CW' does not mean the mere modelling of existing material in analogy to the creative intervention of an artist, but the absolute bringing-into-being of everything (the universe, i.e. 'the whole', τὰ πάντα/ tà pánta) out of the void. The concept of a creation…

[German version] I. Egypt and the ancient Orient The central Egyptian sources of information regarding banquets are the depictions of the funerary banquet in the tombs of Theban officials dating from the 18th dynasty (15th -14th cents. BC). The early pictures show the tomb's occupant with his spouse as the host in front of a table loaded with dishes of food and faced by their guests in several rows. Servants adorn them with flowers and bring wine and food, pleasant-smelling ointments and utensils for ha…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East Various concepts of square measures (SM) are found (even simultaneously) in Mesopotamia. The oldest, attested from the late 4th millennium BC, was based on the length measurements of squares or rectangles, and was thus suited to the needs of surveying fields: 1 rod × 1 rod (with 1 rod = 6 m) = 1 rod square ('bed') (36 m2). The fundamental unit for fields was 1 'field' or 'dyke' (0.36 ha). In the 1st millennium, the Babylonian system (for smaller areas) was based on a rectangle with one  fixed side of 1 'reed' (= 7 cubits) and a…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Measures of volume were used to measure liquids and especially grain and other bulk solids (dates, etc.). Therefore, they were employed in the administration of grain, including the issuing of rations. According to cuneiform sources, ordinary measuring vessels (especially the sea) were made of wood. Special measures for liquids can only be identified locally with a standard ‘vessel’ usually containing 20 or 30 litres. Despite all temporal and local differences, a relatively constant absolute size of the small unit (Sumerian sìla, Akkadian qû = c. 0.8-1.0 litres) may be assumed in Mesopotamia. Beginning with the earliest sources (about 3000 BC), the relationship between measures in Babylonia is generally based on the factors of 5 or 10 but also 6, which allow easy division. The ratio of 6 ban/…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Especially in the south of Mesopotamia with its river courses, canals and swamps, fish greatly supplemented the diet; in addition there was fish breeding in ponds for fresh fish. Fishing was mainly done with fish traps and nets and more rarely with spears.…

I. Ancient Orient …

[German version] A. Introduction The cleansing of defilement or impurity (Greek kátharsis, katharmós) can be understood as a strategy for overcoming calamity [5. 149-155]. Purification in this sense was introduced to Greek civilization through contact with the Ancient Orient [6. 55-64]. Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) B. Religious [German version] 1. Ancient Orient and Egypt Although the ancient oriental civilizations had certain widespread features in comm…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt The relatively few ancient Oriental testimonials that can be regarded as OM provide important pointers to the self-image of a culture, but have not yet been discussed from this perspective. Aetiologies primarily with respe…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Although the different basic measurement systems (length, measures of volume and weights) were created and defined independently of each other, at least in Mesopotamia relationships between them were established. In the Ancient Orient as elsewhere, the terms for measures of length were based on body parts (cubit, palm and finger widths), however, the foot was not used as a basic measure of length. Regional and temporal differences must be considered. The Babylonian ‘cubit’ (Sumerian kùš, Akkadian ammatu, normally c. 50 cm; in the 1st millennium BC also the ‘large cubit’ of 75 cm) is subdivided into 30 ‘fingers’, in the 1st millennium also into 24 fingers (of 2.083 cm each) known from the system of length measures found in the Old Testament (= 2 spans = 6 palms). ‘Spans’ and ‘palms’ are only rarely encountered in Mesopotamian texts. Similarly, the basic Egyptian unit, the ‘cubit’ ( mḥ) of c. 52.5 cm, which is attested since the 3rd dynasty (2635-2570 BC), consists of 7 palms of 4 fingers each (1.87 cm each). Larger Egyptian measures of length were derived from the cubit (100- and 1,000-fold). The largest measure, the jt…

[English version] I. Alter Orient Der altmesopot. Kalender beruht auf dem Mondlauf mit seinen Phasen, die dementsp…

[English version] I. Alter Orient Mit H. wurde…

I. Alter Orient [English version] A. Allgemein I. im engeren Sinne sind aufgrund ihrer Funktion für die Dauer bestimmte Texte meist monumentalen Charakters, bzw. Texte, die auf einem anderen als den üblichen Schriftträgern - Tontafe…

[English version] I. Alter Orient Bes. im Süden Mesopotamiens mit seine…

[English version] I. Alter Orient In Mesopot. und seinen Nachbargebieten bestehen G. aus Stein (meist Hämatit [Haimatites], sonst Kalkstein u.a.) oder Metall (Bronze, Kupfer), häufig in Korn- o…

[English version] A. Einleitung Reinigung von Befleckung/Unreinheit (griech. kátharsis, katharmós) läßt sich als Strategie zur Bewältigung von Unheil verstehen [5. 149-155]. Im griech. Kulturbereich entwickelt sich solche K. aus dem Kontakt mit dem Alten Orient [6. 55-64]. Heinze, Theodor (Genf) B. Religiös …

[English version] I. Alter Orient In Mesopot. begegnen (auch gleichzeitig) bei F. unterschiedliche Konzepte. Das älteste, seit dem späten 4. Jt. v.Chr. bezeugte, beruht auf den Längenmaßeinheiten von Quadraten oder Rechtecken und ist so den Bedürfnissen der Feldvermessung angepaßt: 1 × 1 Rute (6 m) = 1 Quadratrute (“Beet”) (36 m2); Grundeinheit für Feldflächen ist 1 “Feld”, “Deich” (0,36 ha). Im 1. Jt. fußt das babylon. System (für kleinere Flächen) auf einem Rechteck mit fester Seite zu 1 “Rohr” (= 7 Ellen) und variabler Seitenlänge, deren Länge d…

[English version] I. Alter Orient und Ägypten Die recht wenigen altoriental. Zeugnisse, die als K. aufgefaßt werden können, bieten wichtige Hinweise zur Selbstsicht einer Kultur, sind aber noch nicht unter diesem Aspekt behandelt worden. Aitiologien v.a. zu Festen und Kultorten finden sich in der äg. [7], seltener der mesopot. [4. 551f., 559f.] und der hethit. Trad. [4. 571], im AT besonders häufig in Gn (z.B. Gn 28: Bethel). Götter können die ihnen unterstellten Kulturbereiche begründet haben: In Äg. wird dem Gott Thot die Erfindung von Schreiben und Rechnen …

[English version] I. Alter Orient Auch wenn die einzelnen grundlegenden M.-Systeme, Längen-, Hohl-Maße und Gewichte, unabhängig voneinander entstanden und definiert sind, so wurden doch zumindest in Mesopot. wechselseitige Relationen etabliert. Die Bezeichnungen für Längen-M. beruhen im Alten Orient wie anderswo auf Körperteilen (Elle, Hand- und Fingerbreite), während der Fuß hier nicht begegnet. Zudem sind regionale und zeitliche Differenzen zu berücksichtigen. Die babylon. “Elle” (sumer. kùš, akkad. ammatu, üblicherweise ca. 50 cm; im 1. Jt.…