Articles

Stol, M. — 75 years Bibliotheca Orientalis

At the 75^th anniversary of NINO’s reviewing and bibliographical journal BiOr, we recall a few anecdotes and reflect upon continuity and changes.

Natan-Yulzary, S. — Suspense in the Epic of Aqhat: A Reexamination of Two Passages of CAT 1.19

The edge of the third tablet of the Epic of Aqhat (CAT 1.19) shows the following inscription: “And here one returns to the story”. This note was probably meant to guide the person performing or reciting the epic, and furnishes proof that the written text was the basis of an oral performance before an audience. ) This evidence, which concerns the oral aspect of the Ugaritic epic, stands alongside studies that rely on the use of formulaic verses in order to argue that this or that ancient work were composed or performed orally. But an oral tradition may be the source of a written text, and conversely – a written text may be the source of oral poetry; moreover, the two traditions may influence each other. Therefore the formulaic style of the Aqhat Epic, and of the Ugaritic epics generally cannot by themselves serve as proof that a specific work was composed orally, or that it was intended to be performed orally. One can hypothesize that the consolidation of the work’s written form was influenced by an existing oral tradition, and that the scribe initially intended the work to be recited orally. The claim that Aqhat was performed orally, and was initially meant to be thus performed, is strongly affirmed by a literary examination of the epic’s third tablet.

Jacobsen, L. — “He who torments his father and drives away his mother is a son who causes shame and brings disgrace” (Prov 19:26). Violation of the Widowed Mother’s Rights – Social and Legal Aspects

In the Book of Proverbs the son is warned against harming parents living together and the validity of the warning is understood also when one of them is no longer alive. However, one verse “He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who causes shame and brings reproach” (Prov 19:26),” deals with a son who acts violently toward his parents during their lifetime and after the father’s death harms his mother even more intensely because of her new status as a widow. In this article I suggest reading this verse as “He who does violence to his father and chases away his [widowed] mother is a son who causes shame and brings reproach”. Such a reading sharpens the author’s rebuke of the son by expressing his lack of conscience and greedy behavior towards his parents; The son exploits his father’s weakness, takes over his assets and acts to expand his control after the father’s death, also over his widowed mother’s property to which she is entitled. In order to achieve this goal, he makes her life miserable and causes her long and endless anguish that leaves her no choice but to flee in destitute.

Wild, S. — Manfred Ullmann: Ein Leben für die arabischen Sprache

Manfred Ullmann, geboren am 2.11.1931 in Brandenburg (Havel), ist seit 1970 Professor der Arabistik an der Universität Tübingen, seit 1986 Träger der Lidzbarski-Medaille und seit 1996 Emeritus. Er hat immer wieder darauf hingewiesen, dass sich „unser geringes Wissen über das Klassische Arabisch“ darin zeigt, dass es bis jetzt weder eine Grammatik noch ein Wörterbuch gibt, die dem Nicht-Araber beides vermitteln könnten. Ullmanns Ziel war und ist es, „den normativen unhistorischen Ansatz der einheimischen Sprachwissenschaft durch eine Darstellung abzulösen, in der die historische Entwicklung des Wortschatzes deutlich wird“ (Lām II, 2 VIII). Für Grammatik wie Lexikon des Arabischen hat er als unermüdlicher Einzelkämpfer systematisch mehr Belege gesucht und gefunden, als die meisten Arabisten von sich sagen können.

Book reviews and announcements

Faraonisch Egypte, Grieks-Romeins Egypte, Christelijk Egypte, Nubië, Assyriologie, Achemenidisch Perzië, Noordwestsemitisch, Hebreeuws, Aramees, Ethiopisch, Oude Testament, Archeologie, Midden-Oosten, Arabica, Iranica, Turcica/Centraal-Azië, Varia

General information on BiOr

For authors, reviewers, and publishers

The publication schedule, guidelines for reviews and articles, and more, is found on our BiOr guidelines page. Publishers of books to be reviewed will also find useful information there.

Indexes on BiOr

Looking for a review of a specific book? All book reviews, articles, and In Memoriams published in BiOr from start to present are listed in the digitised indexes. Download BiOr indexes 1943-2022 (pdf, ca. 30 MB) and use the search function in your pdf viewer.