Temple Towns and Nation Building: Migrations of Babylonian Priestly Families in the Late Periods
This article surveys the Babylonian evidence from inter-city migration of priests and their families. The phenomenon is already attested during the Old Babylonian period and there are some indications that it continued under Kassite rule. However, most of the evidence comes from temple archives of t...
| Published in: | Journal of ancient Near Eastern religions |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2019]
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| In: |
Journal of ancient Near Eastern religions
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Babylonia
/ Sippar
/ Nippur
/ Larsa
/ Religion
/ Priest
/ Migration
/ State religion
/ Spread of
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AF Geography of religion AG Religious life; material religion BC Ancient Orient; religion |
| Further subjects: | B
Urban renewal
B official pantheon B Memory B Larsa B Sippar B Uruk B Nippur |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article surveys the Babylonian evidence from inter-city migration of priests and their families. The phenomenon is already attested during the Old Babylonian period and there are some indications that it continued under Kassite rule. However, most of the evidence comes from temple archives of the first millennium and is heavily concentrated during the long sixth century (ca. 626-484 BC). Although many studies have identified specific cases of priestly migrations, the phenomenon has not yet been assessed in its entirety. The article concludes that such migrations were far more common than previously thought. They were motivated primarily by political reasons such as imposing the cult of official deities in local sanctuaries, or the need to maintain a memory landscape of venerable cult centers. |
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| ISSN: | 1569-2124 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of ancient Near Eastern religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341301 |