Die Bankettszene: Entwicklung eines "überzeitlischen" Bildmotivs in Mesopotamien von derfrüdynastischen bis zur Akkad-Zeit, Teil I-II by Gudrun SelzReview by: Diana L. SteinJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 107, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1987), pp. 797-799Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/603337 .

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Reviews of Books 797

East more alert during the sorting of rather amorphous animal bones.

The Post-Pleistocene adaptation in the Hamrin basin (Middle Diyala) based on data derived from excavations at Tell Rihan is studied by Sebastino Tusa (pp. 315-33). Tusa discusses the position of Tell Rihan III in the frame of historical development from food gathering to food produc- tion. The presence of quadrangular mud rooms together with hypogeal round huts in this settlement leaves no doubt that this level represents a transitional phase in the Diyala region. In the western Zagros the differences in architectural features are best illustrated by the round huts of M'leefat and the quadrangular buildings of pre-pottery Jarmo. In addition to architectural features reflecting regional traditions, Tell Rihan's (III) lithic industry, which includes side blow blades and obsidian scrapers, places this settlement in a chrono- logical niche which is closer to the beginnings of the Jarmo culture.

The 1965 excavation campaign at Bouqras is presented by Henri de Contenson (pp. 335-72). This important neolithic settlement is located on the right bank of the Euphrates, not far from its confluence with the Khabur. According to the concise report provided in this volume, the excavation campaign was undertaken to obtain a complete stratigraphy of the mound and thus study the cultural evolution in this particular region. Contenson distinguishes two main archi- tectural phases at Bouqras. A third phase is represented by layers containing pottery and Phase II type architecture.

At this site Level I is represented by house walls built of pise (tauf). In this rather primitive technique, lumps of beaten earth formed the main component of the house walls. These walls were found rather well preserved. The second architectural level at Bouqras is represented by structures built of quadrangular cast mud-bricks measuring 25 x 35 cm. and having a thickness of 7 cm. These house units with white plastered floors are different than the earlier domestic houses. This level is subdivided by Contenson into 6 architectural layers.

In 1976 the southeastern section, which was exposed in 1965, was enlarged and the additional stratigraphic exposure convinced Contenson that the mound has 10 architectural layers. These layers represent 3 occupational levels dated from the mid-seventh millennium B.C. to the beginning of the sixth millennium B.C. Tell Bouqras revealed rich assemblages of bone, flint, obsidian and polished stone tools. The pottery found in the final level is a relatively well-fired thick plain ware in dark shades. The sherds contain mineral inclusions and apparently the vessels were burnished. The profiles are reminiscent of stone vessels found at this site. Unlike the pottery of Abu Hureyra, the Tell Bouqras Neolithic pottery can hardly be compared with the Dark-Faced Burnished Ware group of Syria or Cilicia, nor with the ceramic assem- blage of Jarmo.

It seems that the white plaster used to coat the floors was also used by the potters of the final occupational level to manufacture a white ware limited to a few large shallow vessels. A few examples of this white ware type are also known from El Kowm, Abu Hureyra and Umm Dagabiyah (349, n. 36).

According to Contenson the sedentary community at Bouqras maintained a mixed farming economy. The material culture assemblages and their characteristics leave no doubt that Bouqras and other contemporary farming villages in this region maintained trade and other forms of contact with other Syrian settlements beyond the Euphrates. Contenson suspects that contact with east Anatolian settlements were maintained through the Khabur valley.

The last article in this volume contributed by the Ettos group of researchers describes the experiments with per- cussion techniques applied on bone (pp. 373-81).

The purpose of these experiments is to record the end- results of percussion and pressuring in manufacturing and retouching bone implements. The group intends to continue with these experiments and eventually try to produce bone tools similar to those usually found in prehistoric assem- blages. Future experiments will try to determine the best ways of producing them. To this end animal bones will be retouched in raw, boiled and burned states.

REFERENCES

Braidwood, R. J. 1986 "Further Thoughts Concerning the Appearance of Village-Farming Communities East of the Euphrates," Turk Tarih Kongresi IX, pp. 23-28.

JAK YAKAR

TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY

Die Bankettszene: Entwicklung eines "uberzeitlischen" Bild- motivs in Mesopotamien von der fridynastischen bis zur Akkad-Zeit, Teil I-II. By GUDRUN SELZ. Freiburger alt- orientalische Studien Band 11. Vol. I: Pp. 584 + 41 pages of bibliography; Vol. II: 18 fig. + 4 charts + 26 (unnum- bered) pages of indices + 77 pages of catalogue + xlvi pls. Weisbaden: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG. 1983. DM 96,00 (paper).

This two volume study presents the author's unabridged doctoral dissertation which undertakes a comprehensive survey of the Mesopotamian banquet scene from its origins in the 5th and 4th millennia B.C. to its derivatives in the late third millennium B.C. The aim is to define chronological and regional variations in type, trends, composition, style and significance. Beginning with a brief look at possible Halaf

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798 Journal of the American Oriental Society 107.4 (1987)

and Jemdet Nasr Period prototypes of the classic banquet scene, the investigation proceeds systematically through six subdivisions of the Early Dynastic Period (EDI, EDI/II, ED II, ED II/Illa, EDIIla. ED1IIb) and two subdivisions of the Akkadian Period (Akkad I, Akkad 11/ Ill-Post Akkad), following the same pattern of inquiry for each: 1. Artefact type 2. Problems of dating associated with findspots 3. Typological classification of banquet scenes 4. Trends in the material culture ("Antiquaria") of banquet scenes (clothing, hairstyle and headgear, furniture and receptacles) 5. Evidence for locating the banquet scene 6. Subsidiary scenes 7. Com- position of banquet scenes 8. Stylistic observations 9. In- scriptions and legends. Volume I of text is supplemented by volume II containing 18 figures, 4 charts, a map of the principal sites, 3 indices (by catalogue number and site, by site and catalogue number, by catalogue number and page number), a catalogue with diagrammatic drawings and plates with photographs and illustrations of just over half the corpus (note missing numbers 44 on PI. III, 86 on P1. VIII, 290 on PI. XXIV).

The corpus comprises 615 entries of which more than a third are unprovenanced and a sizable portion stems from much disputed contexts of prewar excavations, mainly in Mesopotamia but including Egypt and Syria to the west and Elam (Susa) to the east. The bulk consists of seals and sealings (530), followed by votive plaques (38) and sculptures (30), with a smattering of fragmentary inlays, a stela, an example of Scarlet Ware and part of a woodcarving.

The analysis is inevitably interwoven. An enumeration of artefacts in each chronological subdivision (section 1) requires an explanation for the restoration/identification of frag- mentary scenes and the (re)dating of controversial pieces, which draws on sections 2, 3 and 4. The discussion of dating (section 2) is organized by artefact type, then by site and context, so that datable trends in material culture (section 4) and style (section 8) can be applied to relate like artefacts both without context and without provenance. Later argu- ments of trend and style are invoked in section 2, however, to revise the dating of material considered earlier than its archaeological context (e.g., pp. 90, 150, 152, 156, 491) as well as to date different kinds of artefacts (e.g., pp. 157, 242, 244) from different sites-even regions (e.g., pp. 150f., 152, 156-7, 243, 244, 253-4). Section 3 reorganizes the material by three standard types of banquet scene:

a) Two seated figures drinking through tubes from a common vessel.

b) Two seated figures holding (drinking from) cups or bowls.

c) Two seated figures flanking (eating from) a central table.

In describing their characteristic format, features, reductions, and variables, which include subsidiary scenes, this section anticipates 4, 6, 7, and 8.

The reader is aided by extensive cross-referencing, but a subject index would have helped to locate useful reappraisals and original observations such as:

The distinction between and implications of historical vs. "Gotter" reliefs on pp. 225-6, 359f.

The official vs. personal significance of seals on pp. 241, 513f.

The relation of banquet scenes to gender and rank in both royal and private graves at Ur on pp. 244f., 31 If., 460f.

Relation of seal designs to function of seals on pp. 240f., 459f.

Function of votive plaques and statuettes reviewed on pp. 81f., 457.

Large size of receptacles in banquet scenes vs. small size of actual examples from graves discussed on p. 293f. Multiple "tubes" identified as tubes and stirring rods on pp. 298, 399 and attributed to "horror vacuii" on p. 341f.

Cymbals in representations and from excavations on p. 120f.

Difference between representations of tables and temple facades discussed on pp. 290f., 400f.

Literary and archaeological evidence for beer brewing and drinking reviewed on p. 447f.

Animal herd interpreted as sacrificial animals on pp. 44f., 319.

Boat scene conceived as actual event on pp. 133, 469f. Identification of the seven-headed hydra above a "sacred

marriage" on a Tell Asmar votive plaque-pp. 207-8. The tablecloth shown in plan above a table shown in

profile on p. 394. To a large extent, the differentiation between local and

regional schools depends on the author's stylistic analysis and the consequent chronological scheme. There is no firm archaeological or historical control on the scheme presented here by Selz. The material is ever open to interpretation, as illustrated by the overlap between this diachronic study of the banquet scene and another recent treatment of the same theme against the background of the ED I-II Period (Norbert Karg, Untersuchungen zur diteren frihdynastischen Glyptik Babyloniens. Baghdader Forschungen Bd.8. 1984. pp. 31-32, 62-67). Selz assigns an EDI date to most of the banquet scenes from Ur SIS 4-5 and Fara, which she maintains represent a southern (Ur) and a middle (Fara, Nippur and Susa) Mesopotamian school (pp. 23-24, 50, 139). Karg proposes an ED II dating for these same sealings, partly on comparison with other contemporary motifs, whose variety, he claims, defy stylistic categorization (pp. 32, 63, 77, 82). Such differences suggest that the evidence does not stand up to meticulous, formal analysis. In any case, more and better quality photographs or drawings executed by one hand are essential for the reader to evaluate Selz's arguments of trends and styles to (re)date and locate designs based on temporal and regional distinctions.

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Reviews of Books 799

Selz's main contribution lies in her general conclusions which rest on a vast data base assembled for the first time. The banquet as a genre is shown to be connected with the cult of the living, not of the dead, as once supposed (pp. 472, 574). Her three types of banquet scene do vary in regional emphasis (p. 436):

Type "a" is characteristic of northern Mesopotamia. Type "b" is encountered primarily in southern Mesopo-

tamia. Type "c", the least common, is best attested in ED1IIb

contexts in Syria and the Jazira. Her survey charts a gradual change in the conception of

banquet scenes, first as a specific ritual ceremony among humans, then as a mythological ritual involving the divine, and finally as a confrontation between the human and the divine, which develops into adoration/presentation scenes, marking the end of one genre and the beginning of the next (pp. 26, 63, 81f., 456f., 514, 523f., 578f.).

For these and other clarifications, it is hoped that the author will pursue the subject through to the Neo-Assyrian Period, as she originally intended (p. 11).

DIANA L. STEIN

HAMBURG

Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East: Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Apocalypticism in Uppsala, August 12-17, 1979. Edited by D. HALLHOLM. pp. xi + 878 + 1 photo. Tubingen: J. C. B. MOHR (Paul Siebeck). 1983. DM 285,00.

This hefty volume contains the papers presented at the International Colloquium on Apocalypticism held in Uppsala in 1979. The stated purpose of that event was "to give a survey of the present situation in apocalyptic research, to point out new thoughts and methods, and to stimulate further research in this field." Both the planning committee and the participants are to be congratulated for undertaking such an ambitious project. Geographically, the coverage is impressive, with extensive studies being devoted to Egyptian, Iranian, Greek and Roman materials, thereby offering a much needed comparative context for the essays focusing on writings from Jewish and Christian settings. Though the decision to limit discussion to the Mediterranean World and the Near East in the pre-Islamic period is understandable, it is regrettable that within this framework only one essay (though an excellent one) was dedicated to the relevant Akkadian materials, and none to the phenomenon that grew out of and developed further so many of the traditions discussed by the contributors, namely, Manicheanism.

The structure of the volume roughly follows that of the

parent Colloquium, with essays arranged under three major headings: I. The Phenomenon of Apocalypticism; II. The Literary Genre of Apocalypses; and III. Sociology of Apoca- lypticism and the "Sitz im Leben" of Apocalypses (including questions of function). Finally, a concluding chapter written by Kurt Rudolph offers an evaluation of the essays in relation to the original objectives of the Colloquium.

The overall impression given by this well-edited volume is that apocalypticism remains a very illusive phenomenon. So far are the participants from agreement over even a rudi- mentary definition of what apocalypticism is that in the judgment of some, the majority of the writings discussed by their fellow contributors remains outside of the domain rightfully designated as apocalyptic!

For example, Hartmut Stegemann insists on a strictly literary definition of apocalyptic, and arrives at the conclusion that the Enochian "astronomical book" is the first Jewish apocalypse, a work whose essence revolved around calendri- cal speculation stemming from priestly cultic concerns. This conclusion then becomes the basis for emphatically denying either prophecy or eschatology any significant place in the origins of Jewish apocalyptic. Once these results have been established "scientifically" and "mit aller Deutlichkeit," Stege- mann moves with utter consistency of argument to deny that apocalyptic concerns occupy anything like a central position in the community at Qumran, and to remove the Book of Daniel from a position of prominence in the discussion concerning the origins of Jewish apocalyptic. Perhaps such theses are the stuff of which scholarly revolutions are made. In the case of apocalyptic research, however, I find that the efforts in this volume put forth by Klaus Koch, John and Adela Collins, and others that build upon previous scholar- ship and seek to contribute to working definitions and even scholarly consensus, hold out far more promise than most attempts to supplant all previous results with a rigidly con- strued novel proposition. The phenomenon of apocalyptic is far too complex to be amenable to such narrow models of research.

The end result is that, unlike the analogous Messina Conference on Gnosticism, the Uppsala Colloquium accom- plished little in the area of clarifying definitions or even setting the parameters for addressing the phenomenon of apocalypticism. What one takes in hand in purchasing the Hellholm volume, then, is a mixed collection of studies based on widely divergent definitions and presuppositions and inevitably coming to very diverse conclusions. The most regrettable result of this state of affairs is that participants who were poised both to contribute to genuine advances in the field in general and to instruct one another from their specific fields of specialization failed to maximize the rare opportunity at hand. This sad fact comes out clearly in Rudolph's concluding chapter, leaving one with the impres-

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