Visiting lecture by Mark S. Smith: “The Three Bodies of God”

In recent years scholars and non-scholars alike have become interested in biblical references to the body of God. Smith sketches out a typology of three types of divine bodies based on different scales, locations, and settings in the religion of ancient Israel: (1) a natural “human” body; (2) a super-sized “liturgical” body; and (3) a “cosmic” or “mystical” body.

Mark S. Smith is the Helena Professor of Old Testament Language and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary. He specializes in Israelite religion and the Hebrew Bible, as well as the literature and religion of Late Bronze Age Ugarit. He has obtained master’s degrees from Catholic University of America, Harvard University, and Yale University, and PhD at Yale. He has also served as the Skirball Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University, and also taught at Yale and Saint Joseph’s University. A Roman Catholic layman, Smith also served as a visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

The event will be on Wednesday 21.3 at 18:00 in the House of Science and Letters, hall 104 (Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki).

The lecture will be held in English and is organized by the Finnish Institute in the Middle East. Welcome!

Link to the Facebook event

CSTT Annual Meeting 2018 on “Authority and Change” at Lammi

The CSTT 2018 Annual Meeting took place 8.-11. February at the Lammi Biological Station. The special theme Authority and Change was approached from different angles by the keynote speakers Joanna Töyräänvuori, Shana Zaia, Christoph Levin, and George Brooke. We also heard two interesting panels dealing with the definition of authority and the usage of edited texts in reconstructing history.

Most of the hands-on work took place in smaller workshops, bringing the CSTT teams together in different combinations. This way of working produced exciting new ideas and opportunities for collaboration between scholars dealing with different kinds of source materials.

The following pictures hopefully illuminate some of the exciting and fruitful moments in the snowy Lammi.

CSTT group photo with the beautiful Finnish winter milieu (photo by Lauri Laine).

The presentation by Tuukka Kauhanen, dealing with different levels of history that can be gleaned through edited texts (photo by Lauri Laine).
Participants at the CSTT Annual Meeting 2018 (photo by Lauri Laine).
One of the smaller workshops: teams 2 and 3 discussing text-critical cases (photo by Ville Mäkipelto).
The happy panel “What is Authority” with Jutta Jokiranta, Anneli Aejmelaeus, Martti Nissinen, Francis Borchardt, and Jason Silverman (photo by Ville Mäkipelto).
The concluding panel with the CSTT scientific advisory board members Kristin De Troyer and George Brooke, as well as Christoph Levin and our leader Martti Nissinen (photo by Lauri Laine).
Last moments (photo by Lauri Laine).

Wikipedia edit-a-thon: “Women and the Ancient Near East”

The Centres of Excellence ANEE and CSTT will organise a Wikipedia edit-a-thon, open to all researchers at the Faculties of Theology and Arts (University of Helsinki), on the theme of “Women and the Ancient Near East,” in honor of International Women’s Day (March 8). The event will be held Thursday, March 8 in the Faculty of Theology, 5th floor faculty hall (Vuorikatu 3), 2pm – 6pm. We will provide training for everyone to edit Wikipedia at the event with help of Wikimedia Finland volunteers.

The new volume “Women’s Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia“, co-edited by the ANEE leader Saana Svärd, may inspire wonderful new Wikipedia articles.

This is the second time the event has been organized in Finland, and a similar event was also held at the AAR & SBL annual meeting in Boston 2017. Research has shown that ca. 90 percent of Wikipedia editors are male. This has a profound impact upon what content is being created and updated on this influential encyclopedia. As Wikipedia is the most used encyclopedia and is often the first place that high school pupils, university students, and laypeople look for information, addressing this gender imbalance is of high importance.

Together, on March 8, we plan to improve both the Wikipedia pages on female scholars of the ancient Near East and on women in the ancient sources (Hebrew Bible included), in a social and casual atmosphere. The CSTT and ANEE will provide an assortment of snacks and celebratory drinks.

You are very welcome to join us! Please register (for free) here, so we can keep an accurate headcount: https://goo.gl/forms/NkSAicCuJGrj17qc2

Conference “Conceptualizing the Divine in the Levant” (Helsinki, 21-23 March)

Deities in Aram, Israel, and Phoenicia: an Iron Age perspective on conceptualizing the divine in the Levant

(21–23 March 2018 in Helsinki)

The shift from Late Bronze Age to Iron Age in the Levant is usually characterized by the collapse of ‘empires’ and the rise of (so-called) ‘national states’ or ‘territorial kingdoms’. These political changes had their repercussions on how identities were negotiated and how ‘the divine’ (realm) was conceptualized and deities understood. The Iron Age Levantine kingdoms comprise ‘Aram’, ‘Phoenicia’ (or broader: Sea Peoples), and as a third ‘Israel’ (and Judah) is singled out here (among the kingdoms around the Jordan). These territorial kingdoms had their own ‘national deities’ – partly in continuity with the Bronze Age city states. For instance as heirs to Bronze Age Syrian religion Phoenicians and Aramaeans carried on prophecy, the ancestor cult for the king, and the prime position of the weather god (cf. M. Hutter, Religionen in der Umwelt des Alten Testaments I: Babylonier, Syrer, Perser, 1996: 177–178). Next to different forms of reception (incl. reinterpretation), the new historical context also demonstrates change. Contemporary cultural contacts, fostered by economics (trade) and politics (treaties and war), raised questions of cultural ‘translatability’ of deities (cf. M.S. Smith, God in Translation,
2010) and also resulted in ‘ligatures’ (a merger of deities, sometimes marked by hyphenated names, such as ‘Baal-Seth’) and ‘transnational’ veneration (e.g., Melqart). These conceptualizations of the divine found expression in names, religious practice (cult, ritual), texts (e.g., myths, prophecies) and material artefacts (both in monumental and miniature art). Continue reading Conference “Conceptualizing the Divine in the Levant” (Helsinki, 21-23 March)

Kenen pääkaupunki Jerusalem on? Huippuyksikön tutkijat avaavat kaupungin historiaa

Kirjoittanut Paavo Huotari

Jerusalem on jälleen ajankohtaisen keskustelun keskipisteessä. Yhdysvaltain presidentin Donald Trumpin lausunto Jerusalem on Israelin pääkaupunki, tämä ei ole enempää eikä vähempää kuin tosiasian tunnustamista (6.12.2017) on herättänyt närää kansainvälisessä yhteisössä. Päivänpolttavan politiikan lisäksi keskustelu sivuaa Israelin muinaishistoriaa ja erityisesti Jerusalemin historiallista perustamista. Useissa kannanotoissa esitetään, että Jerusalem olisi ollut Israelin pääkaupunki jo 3000 vuotta. Kuningas Daavid mainitaan säännöllisesti Jerusalemin perustajana. Keskustelin näistä Suomen Akatemian huippuyksikön ”Pyhät tekstit ja traditiot muutoksessa” jäsenten Juha Pakkalan ja Kirsi Valkaman kanssa.

Arkeologisten löytöjen ja Vanhan testamentin tekstien ristivetoa

Helsingin yliopiston eksegetiikan ja Raamatun heprean yliopistonlehtori Juha Pakkala on perehtynyt Israelin ja Juudan kuningasajan historiaan sekä Israel-Palestiinan arkeologiaan. Kysyin Pakkalalta mitä hän ajattelee väitteestä, että Jerusalem on ollut juutalaisten pääkaupunki jo 3000 vuotta. ”Jerusalem on ollut modernin Israelin pääkaupunki vuodesta 1948. Sitä ennen Jerusalem oli Juudan kuningaskunnan pääkaupunki kuningasajalla, ehkä 900-luvulta vuoteen 587 eaa. Eikä ole syytä unohtaa makkabealaisaikaa vuodesta 140 vuoteen 37 eaa., jolloin Jerusalem oli Makkabealaisvaltion pääkaupunki. Näillä kolmella ei ole poliittista yhteyttä keskenään, vaikkakin sellainen yhteys usein pyritään löytämään”, Pakkala vastaa.

Entä voiko uskonnolla olla omaa pääkaupunkia? Pakkalan mukaan Jerusalemia voidaan pitää juutalaisten pääkaupunkina samoin kuin Roomaa katolilaisten pääkaupunkina, jos uskonnoilla ylipäänsä on pääkaupunkeja. Vanha testamentti yhdistää uskonnon Jerusalemiin ja myöhempi juutalainen traditio on pyrkinyt pitämään yhteyttä yllä. Tosin juutalaisuus on syntynyt aikaisintaan 500-luvulla eaa. eli Juudan kuningaskunnan tuhon jälkeen. Siksi pitäisi ennemmin puhua juutalaisten pääkaupungista 2500 vuoden ajalta.

Jerusalemia voidaan pitää juutalaisuuden pääkaupunkina, jos uskonnoilla ylipäänsä ajatellaan olevan pääkaupunkeja.

Miten tulisi suhtautua väitteeseen, että kuningas Daavid on Jerusalemin perustaja? ”Vanhan testamentin mukaan Daavid valloitti Jerusalemin siellä aikaisemmin asuneilta jebusilaisilta. Kaupungin nimikin oli ollut Jebus. Tosin Jerusalem tunnettiin nimellä Urusalim jo myöhäispronssikaudella, noin 350 vuotta ennen Daavidin oletettua elinaikaa. Mikäli Vanhan testamentin tekstiä pidetään näiltä osin luotettavana, Daavidia voisi luonnehtia pikemminkin Jerusalemin valloittajaksi”, Pakkala pohtii.

Paljon vaikeampi kysymys on Daavidiin liitettyjen tarinoiden historiallisuus. Pakkalan mukaan Daavid-niminen henkilö on varmaan elänyt joskus varhaisella kuningasajalla. Pelkällä nimellä ei kuitenkaan tee paljoa. ”Pidän epätodennäköisenä, että Daavid olisi valloittanut suuren osan Israel-Palestiinaa ja jopa lähialueita. On kuitenkin mahdollista, että varhaisella kuningasajalla oli Daavid-niminen sotapäällikkö, joka syöksi kuningas Saulin vallasta, nousi itse valtaan ja sai valtaansa Jerusalemin sekä ympäröivän Juudan vuoristoalueen”, hän sanoo. Ei ole kuitenkaan helppoa erottaa varhaisia tarinoita myöhäisistä legendoista. Pakkala ajattelee, että osa Samuelin kirjoissa olevista tarinoista voi jopa pohjautua tälle ajalle. Osa tarinoista on voinut alun perin liittyä toiseen henkilöön. ”Ei ole harvinaista, että erilaisia muiden tekemiä sankaritekoja liitetään tärkeäksi nousseelle henkilölle”, Pakkala miettii.

”Jerusalemin arkeologisia löytöjä on liian usein tulkittu Vanhan testamentin valossa”

Keskustelun ytimessä on usein arkeologiset kaivaukset ja löytöjen tulkinta. Vanhan testamentin tekstien ja arkeologisten löytöjen kytkeminen toisiinsa on kuitenkin vahingollista. Pakkala korostaa molempien riippumattomuutta: ”On tärkeä tarkastella jokaista kysymystä erikseen ilman ennalta annettua mallia. Vanhan testamentin tekstiä ei tulisi käyttää linssinä tulkita muuta evidenssiä.” Ongelma on ilmeinen, kun tarkastellaan Israelin kuningaskunnan varhaisvaiheita, eli Daavidin ja Salomon aikaa: ”Jerusalemin arkeologisia löytöjä on liian usein tulkittu Vanhan testamentin valossa. Ideaalitapauksessa tulisi ensin muodostaa kuva Jerusalemista vain arkeologian avulla ja myöhemmin katsoa, miten se korreloi Vanhan testamentin antaman kuvan kanssa”, hän selventää.

Pakkalan mukaan Vanhan testamentin tekstiä ei silti tule väheksyä historiallisena lähteenä. Vaikka tekstit sisältävät voimakkaan teologisia tulkintoja, taustalla on paljon yksityiskohtaista tietoa muinaisesta Jerusalemista, Israelista ja juutalaisuuden synnystä.

Miten tulisi suhtautua Vanhan testamentin antamaan kuvaan, että Jerusalem oli suuren valtakunnan pääkaupunki? ”Tämän suhteen tulisi olla kriittinen, koska se sopii huonosti, mitä ajan historiasta muuten tunnetaan”, Pakkala päättää. Jerusalem oli pienen Juudan kuningaskunnan pääkaupunki, joka kasvoi huomattavasti, kun assyrialaiset tuhosivat Israelin kuningaskunnan 700-luvun lopulla eaa. 600-luvulta lähtien Jerusalem oli selkeä alueellinen keskus, jossa asui 10–20 prosenttia Juudan asukkaista.

Jerusalemin temppelin tuhoutuminen on muovannut juutalaista uskontoa

Helsingin yliopiston Vanhan testamentin eksegetiikan yliopistonlehtori Kirsi Valkama on tutkinut Jerusalemin tuhoutumista ja sen jälkeistä Juudan pakkosiirtolaisuutta 500-luvulla eaa. Valkama tiivistää Jerusalemin merkityksen juutalaisuudelle: ”Jerusalemilla on ennen kaikkea valtava symbolinen merkitys juutalaisuudessa. Se on pyhä kaupunki, johon liittyvää uskonnollista kaipausta kuvataan niin Vanhassa testamentissa kuin myöhemmissä teksteissä. Välillä se näyttää kohdistuvan kaupunkiin välillä erityisesti siellä olleeseen temppeliin”. Mikä merkitys Jerusalemin temppelillä on ollut? ”Jerusalemin temppeli oli, ja symbolisesti on, juutalaisen uskonnon pyhin paikka. Vaikka Jerusalemin temppeliä ei ole ollut kahteen tuhanteen vuoteen, on sen sijainti säilyttänyt pyhyytensä ja konkreettisesti toisen temppelin aikaisen tukimuurin jäänteet, eli Länsimuurin. Länsimuuri on ollut juutalaisten rukouspaikka jo vuosisatojen ajan”, hän valaisee. ”Kaikki temppelialueeseen jotenkin kytkeytyvät arkeologiset löydöt herättävät valtavasti kiinnostusta.”

Valkaman mukaan Jerusalemia on tuhottu lukuisia kertoja, mutta kahdella tuhoutumisella on ollut merkittävä vaikutus juutalaisen uskonnon muovautumiseen. Babylonialaiset tuhosivat Jerusalemin kaupungin vuonna 587 eaa. ”Tämä oli Juudan kuningaskunnan loppu. Tapahtumaa pidetään myös rajana, jonka jälkeen muinaisisraelilainen uskonto alkoi muodostua siksi mitä kutsutaan juutalaisuudeksi. Jerusalemin tuhon sekä kuninkaan ja kuningaskunnan menettämisen syitä on käsitelty monissa Vanhan testamentin kirjoissa”, Valkama katsoo.

Länsimuuri on ollut juutalaisten rukouspaikka jo vuosisatojen ajan.

Toisen kerran Jerusalem tuhoutui osittain vuonna 70 jaa., kun roomalaiset Tituksen (tuleva keisari) johdolla polttivat Jerusalemin temppelin. Valkaman mukaan molemmille valtauksille on yhteistä se, että temppeli tuhottiin, kaupunki hävitettiin poikkeuksellisen aggressiivisesti, ja suurin osa Jerusalemin väestöstä kuoli tai vietiin pakkosiirtolaisuuteen ja vankeuteen. ”Vuosittain vietettävänä Tisha beav (yhdeksäs av-kuuta) paastopäivänä muistetaan yhä Jerusalemin ensimmäisen ja toisen temppelin tuhoa”, Valkama kertoo.

”Temppeli on monenlaisen uskonnollisen kaipauksen kohde”

Mutta miten muinainen Jerusalemin temppeli ja ennen kaikkea sen tuhoutuminen voivat vaikuttaa vielä nykyään? ”Temppeli on monenlaisen uskonnollisen kaipauksen kohde ja eräät uskonnolliset ääriryhmät suunnittelevat kolmannen temppelin rakentamista temppelivuorelle, jolla Kalliomoskeija ja Al-Aqsan moskeija nyt sijaitsevat”, Valkama selventää. Hänen mukaan temppelin muistaminen Jumalan asuinsijana pitää yllä sidosta konkreettiseen maantieteelliseen sijaintiin, joka koetaan merkittäväksi ja omaksi. Muiden myöhempien temppelien tai nykyisten moskeijoiden läsnäolo ei vähennä sen uskonnollista merkitystä juutalaisuuden piirissä.” ”Ensi vuonna Jerusalemissa” toistetaan joka vuosi pääsiäisen Seder-aterian loppupuolella sekä suuren sovintopäivän, Jom Kippurin lopetusjumalanpalveluksen loppuosassa”, hän kertoo. Kaupunkia ei voi unohtaa.

Valkaman mukaan Jerusalemin toisen temppelin jälkeinen historia sivuutetaan turhan helposti, vaikka kyse on lähes kahdentuhannen vuoden ajanjaksosta. Sen aikana kaupunki on ollut erityisen tärkeä myös kristityille ja muslimeille.

Sarjan toinen osa ”Jerusalem, Islam ja varhaiskristillisyys” ilmestyy helmi-maaliskuussa 2018.

Jeesuksen syntymäkirkko.

Scribal Transpositions in the Biblical Text May Indicate Changes in Theology

By Ville Mäkipelto, Timo Tekoniemi, and Miika Tucker

Many texts in the Bible have been preserved in manuscripts that hold different sequences for the same texts. These differences are due to the ancient scribal practice of transposing textual units during the copying of texts. Our collaborative article concludes that these transpositions were often motivated by changes in the ideology and theology of the scribes and their communities. 

Our article presents a text-critical study of three documented cases of large-scale transpositions in the textual witnesses to the Hebrew Bible. The method used by scribes to transpose textual units was either by swapping two adjacent units with each other or by relocating a single unit into an entirely different location in the text. Transpositions would often create textual discrepancies at the seams of the intrusion. Sometimes these were left to be, but sometimes they occasioned a series of compensatory revisions to smoothen out the rough edges left in the text. The transpositions vary in their length and nature, but all are in some way related to theological reasons.  

The book of Joshua preserves a tradition which claims that, after the conquest of the city of Ai, Joshua built an altar at Mt. Ebal and undertook a ritual reading of the law with the Israelites (Josh 8:30–35). The position of this tradition after the destruction of Ai is due to secondary swapping of the text with the following verses (Josh 9:1–2). It can be shown from textual details that, in the last centuries BCE, theologically motivated rewriting took place behind the Hebrew textual tradition that is now usually held as the authoritative Hebrew Bible (Masoretic text = MT). The swapping was likely related to this rewriting motivated by the growing importance attributed to Gilgal as the central camp of Joshua and the wish to present the capture of Ai as a more divinely led campaign. The earlier sequence is preserved by the Septuagint (LXX). Moreover, in one Qumran scroll parts of the text are transposed earlier in the narrative of Joshua in order to fulfill commandments found in the book of Deuteronomy. 

In 1 Kings, the relocating transposition of the regnal narrative of Judah’s pious king Jehoshaphat (22:41-51 MT/16:28a-h LXX) has incited debate for over a century. While many have noted that the transposition is linked to chronological changes between the two versions, less attention has been given to the theological changes this relocation reflects. In 2 Kgs 3:14 there is a remarkable difference between the LXX and MT editions concerning the name of the Judahite king, whom the prophet Elisha is said to “hold in high regard.” In MT this king of Judah is the unproblematic Jehoshaphat, but in the original LXX this king is the evil Ahazyah, grandson of Ahab (2 Kgs 8:18). It is likely that this theologically awkward LXX reading was noticed by a reviser behind MT, who saw it as inapproppriate for a revered prophet and pupil of Elijah, the greatest prophet of all time, to respect an evil king. However, since in the more original LXX chronology Jehoshaphat dies already before the story told in 2 Kgs 3, the later reviser was forced to also move Jehoshaphat’s reign closer to this story.  

The relocating transposition of the oracles against the nations (OAN) in Jeremiah from the middle of the book (LXX) to the end (MT) reflects a shift in the text towards a more favorable outlook for the exiled community of Judean refugees in Babylon. The sequence of texts in the LXX ends dismally for the Judean refugees: Jerusalem is destroyed and its people exiled; The remaining refugees flee to Egypt against the will of YHWH, who subsequently condemns them; And finally the book ends with another retelling of the destruction of Jerusalem. By transposing the OAN to the end of the book, the MT shifts the focus away from the condemnation of the Judeans towards the condemnation of the other nations. The oracle against Babylon assumes a climactic role in the text that hightens expectations for the salvation of Israel and the demise of its conqueror. The relocation of the oracles from the middle of the book to its end has brought about a series of compensatory revisions. The most obvious of these is Jer 25:14 in the MT, which stands as a “patch” in the place where the OAN used to be located. Other such revisions are found both in Jer 25 and within the OAN themselves. 

“Transposition was one of the key editorial techniques in the repertoire of the creative ancient Jewish scribes.”

As shown by the article, scribal interventions have left their traces in the variant manuscript traditions witnessing to the many books of the Hebrew Bible. By studying these traces carefully, we can gain a better understanding of changes that took place in the history of the Bible. Transposition was one of the key editorial techniques in the repertoire of the creative ancient Jewish scribes. When one analyzes the traces of transpositions, together with other scribal changes, it is possible to formulate plausible hypotheses on the early history and changes in Jewish and Christian thought and traditions. 

The articleLarge-Scale Transposition as an Editorial Technique in the Textual History of the Hebrew Biblewas published in the newest volume of the peer-reviewed journal TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism. The article is open access and can be read here: http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/v22/TC-2017-M%C3%A4kipelto-Tekoniemi-Tucker.pdf. 

CFP “The Persian Empire, the Social Sciences, and Ancient Historiography” (Helsinki, Jan. 2019)

[Update] Deadline for abstracts extended to 3 June 2018.

The workshop “The Persian Empire, the Social Sciences, and Ancient Historiography” takes place at the University of Helsinki 9–11 January 2019. It is co-sponsored by the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions and the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires.

Studying the first Persian Empire (550 – 330 BCE) is both frustratingly immense and too restrictive, with extant evidence often not directly answering the questions we wish to ask of it. For social and cultural dynamics, very careful methodology is necessary to tease out more sophisticated understandings. However, it is no longer sufficient merely to mine existing theory that appears to be adaptable; rather, ancient historians need better integration in the broader social scientific discourse. Therefore, the purpose of this workshop is twofold: 1) for ancient historians to engage with cutting edge social scientific work and find new, potentially fruitful angles; 2) to contribute to the development of social scientific theory through the ancient evidence.

The workshop intends to bring together historians and social scientists, to discuss how theory and historical data can be better brought into dialogue—and to explore ideas for potentially fruitful new angles and collaborations

The keynote speakers will be Prof. Charis Bouteri (Sociology, Paris), Prof. Eve Caroli (Economics, Paris), and Prof. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (Political Science, NYU).

Call for papers open

There is now a call for paper proposals for the workshop under the headings of sociology, economics, and political science, each day focuses on two general themes. For the sociology session we invite papers exploring social networks and social authority; for the economics session we invite papers on taxation and forced labor and forced migration; for the political science session we invite papers exploring imperial administration and elite identity.

Each day of the workshop will begin with a keynote lecture with discussion, followed by workshop of pre-circulated papers on the day’s themes, followed by a response and wider thematic discussion. It is our sincere hope that this format will enable as much evidence-based discussion of the theoretical issues as possible, as well as lay some groundwork for future collaboration between historians and social scientists.

Abstracts for 20-30 minute summarized papers should be submitted by 3 June 2018. Please indicate in the abstract the field heading (sociology, economics, or political science) and theme or themes. Abstracts should be submitted in pdf to jason.silverman@helsinki.fi. Accepted proposals will need to submit a draft paper for circulation to workshop participants before 15 December 2018. Abstracts from PhD candidates as well as senior scholars, and both historians and social scientists are warmly welcomed. Since the purpose of the workshop is exploratory and methodological, it is not envisioned that this event will result in an edited volume.

 

Date Beer: Brew It like the Ancient Babylonians

By Tero Alstola.

Barley beer and grape wine have a history of thousands of years in the ancient Near East. However, neither of these was the favourite alcoholic drink of the ancient Babylonians in the first millennium BCE. Instead, a beverage fermented from the fruit of the date palm was widely consumed, and ancient records from Babylonia constantly refer to its production and resale in pubs or taverns. This blog post introduces this ancient drink and describes an attempt to produce it using a 2,000-year-old recipe.

Although the research literature tends to call it “beer”, the beverage is actually closer to cider. It is produced from fruit and water and fermented using natural yeast in the dates. However, as the term “date beer” is widely used in Assyriology, it is employed in this blog post as well.

The ancient Babylonians themselves have not provided us with an actual recipe for brewing date beer. However, we do know that in addition to water and dates, a plant called kasû – perhaps dodder – was sometimes added to the beer. Despite the lack of recipes written in Babylonian, we have a date beer recipe from antiquity, recorded by the pharmacologist Dioscorides in the first century CE. According to Dioscorides, date beer was brewed using dates and water which were put into a cask and let ferment for ten days. On the eleventh day, the beverage was ready to be consumed.

Only unpasteurised dates and water was used for brewing the ancient drink.. Picture by Tero Alstola.

In order to taste the daily life of the Babylonians, we utilised Dioscorides’s recipe to produce date beer using ancient methods. We used only two ingredients, dates and tap water. Because fresh dates were not available, we decided to use dried ones instead. This may have been the case in Babylonia as well, because the date harvest took place in autumn but date beer was apparently consumed all year round. Because the fermentation process is caused by the natural yeasts in the date fruit, we used unpasteurised dates without preservatives.

Five decilitres of dried, seedless dates were mashed and put into a small plastic bucket. One litre of water was added, but the ingredients were not stirred. The bucket was covered with a tight lid and placed on the bathroom floor with underfloor heating. It is important to pay attention to the cleanness of the kitchen utensils used, as harmful microbes can ruin the beer.

Mashed dates and a liter of water. Picture by Tero Alstola.

 

The bucket was left intact for eleven days. Picture by Tero Alstola.

The bucket was left intact until the eleventh day. Then the lid was opened and the liquid was filtered in order to remove the date mash from the beer. We experienced some difficulties in the filtering process, which were caused by the thickness of the substance. We therefore recommend first removing the date mash from the bucket and letting the liquid settle so that solids sank to the bottom. Thereafter one can pour the uppermost, clear layer of date beer through a filter. This should result in an easy filtering process and more beautiful beverage.

The mash after fermentation. Picture by Tero Alstola.

We tasted the date beer immediately after filtering because it does not keep well. The beverage had a yellow, cloudy colour and fruity, acidic taste. The sweetness of the dates was gone, and the beverage tasted more like dry cider. Surprisingly, the brownish-greyish mixture of dried dates and water had turned into a beautiful, tasty drink.

Finally, a word of caution is in order: several ancient records refer to terrible headaches caused by date beer. The reader is advised to brew and drink responsibly.

The beautiful final product. Picture by Tero Alstola.

 

Further reading:

Magen Broshi, “Date Beer and Date Wine in Antiquity”, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 139 (2007), pp. 55–59.

Seth C. Rasmussen, The Quest for Aqua Vitae: The History and Chemistry of Alcohol from Antiquity to the Middle Ages (Cham: Springer, 2014).

Marten Stol, “Beer in Neo-Babylonian Times” in Lucio Milano (ed.), Drinking in Ancient Societies (Padova: Sargon, 1994), pp. 155–183.

Global and local cul­ture in­ter­mingled in the Middle East in An­tiquity

The research project Globalization, Urbanization and Urban Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Roman and Early Islamic Periods studies the urbanisation, urban culture and the interactions between cities and their surrounding rural areas in the Eastern Mediterranean during antiquity.
The project, which recently was awarded funding from the Nordic research funding body NOS-HS, combines the research interests of classical historians, scholars of Islam, archaeologists and theologians. Dr. Raimo Hakola, a Senior Researcher in the CSTT, will co-direct this project together with colleagues from the Universities of Aarhus (Prof. Rubina Raja) and Bergen (Profs. Simon Malmberg and Eivind Seland).
The Nordic funding will be used to arrange three interconnected multidisciplinary workshops in the period 2018-2020. The first one will be held in Helsinki during the autumn of 2018.
For further information, read the full article here.

Muinaisen Lähi-idän tutkimus laajasti esillä Yliopisto-lehdessä

Uusimmassa Yliopisto-lehdessä julkaistiin laaja juttu, jossa käydään läpi Lähi-idän historiaa, perintöä ja nykytilaa. Juttua varten on haastateltu “Pyhät tekstit ja traditiot muutoksessa” -huippuyksikön johtajaa Martti Nissistä sekä tiimi 1:sen jäsentä Saana Svärdiä. Artikkelissa on esillä myös Svärdin johtama uusi huippuyksikkö Muinaisen Lähi-idän imperiumit. Lisäksi Helsingin yliopiston seemiläisten kielten ja kulttuurien professori Hannu Juusola on jutussa mukana.

Yliopisto-lehden artikkelin “Lähi-idän menneisyys on loistava – miksi sieltä tulee nykyään niin huonoja uutisia?” voi lukea avoimesti verkosta.

The Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence, Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki