ancient israel exam 2 identification

Mari

a major Bronze Age city-state in Syria known especially from the 18th-century BCE archives. Its texts provide essential evidence for ancient Near Eastern war, diplomacy, and kinship structures—such as the Assassin letters used in class to frame how war worked in the Ancient Near East

Akkadian

the Semitic language used in Mesopotamia and the language of many legal, diplomatic, and literary texts. It is important because marriage contracts (like the Nanaya-kanat text) are written in Akkadian, shaping our understanding of marriage and property in Persian-period Judah

Achaemenid Persia

the Persian imperial power that controlled the former Babylonian lands, including Judah, from 539/538 BCE onward. It provides the political background for documents from Al-Yahudu, showing how Judean family, marriage, and identity were reshaped under imperial rule

Nanaya-kanat

a woman featured in a Yahudu-region marriage contract from the Persian period. Her text is central to class discussion about whether ancient marriage made women “property,” revealing the complexity of status, security, and kinship in Persian-period Judah

Ruth

the Moabite woman who becomes part of an Israelite family through her loyalty to Naomi in the biblical Book of Ruth. Her story is a rare woman-centered narrative that explores kinship, survival, and whether intermarriage can produce stability and blessing rather than danger

Naomi

Ruth’s Israelite mother-in-law who loses her husband and sons and seeks security through Ruth’s remarriage. She represents the social vulnerability of widows and frames the Book of Ruth as a story about women’s strategies for survival and restoring family lineage

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq

a 10th-century CE Baghdadi author of an early cookbook describing food preparation. His work was used in class to contrast ancient and later food cultures, helping us understand how tools (like cauldrons) shape cooking practices and everyday life

Boaz

the wealthy Bethlehem landowner who acts as a “redeemer” for Naomi’s family by marrying Ruth. He embodies the ideals of male generosity and family restoration in the Book of Ruth and raises questions about gender, status, and who counts as an insider or outsider in Israel

Aegean tripod cauldron

a metal cooking vessel used in antiquity, often for boiling meat. It illustrates Jodie Magness’s argument that food preparation technologies shape social practice and access to food, which we connected to ancient Israelite daily life

Song of Songs

a biblical book of erotic love poetry celebrating desire between lovers. In class it demonstrated that biblical discourse on sex includes positive intimacy, counterbalancing texts about sexual violence or sex as social contract

Rachel

Jacob’s beloved wife whose struggle with infertility and eventual death in childbirth highlight the risks of ancient womanhood. Her story is central to discussions about divine favor, sibling rivalry with Leah, and the life-threatening nature of childbirth in ancient Israel

Leah

Jacob’s other wife, whose fertility grants her status, sons, and divine approval despite being less loved than Rachel. She demonstrates how women’s lives, value, and competition were structured around childbearing in ancient Israelite society

Sodom

the city destroyed in Genesis 19, often associated with extreme social and sexual violence. The class used it to show how biblical narratives use sexual violence to mark moral corruption and express the severity of wrongdoing

Allegory

a symbolic narrative in which one story stands for another underlying meaning. Ezekiel’s use of marital infidelity as an allegory for Israel’s disloyalty to YHWH shows how sexual language conveys theological ideas in the Bible

Ezekiel

a prophetic book that uses extreme and graphic marital allegory to portray Israel’s relationship with God. It matters because it demonstrates how sex and marriage metaphors become theological tools to express covenant loyalty and betrayal

Kuntillet ‘Ajrud

an archaeological site in the Sinai containing inscriptions linking YHWH with “his Asherah.” It provides major evidence for Israelite religious diversity and the possibility that YHWH was worshiped with a divine consort in some contexts

Pithos

a large storage jar often used for grain or liquids. At Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, inscriptions and drawings on a pithos supply key evidence for Asherah and early Israelite religious imagination

Teman

a southern region, often linked with Edom. It is relevant because the “Midianite hypothesis” proposes that YHWH originated from southern areas like Teman or Seir before becoming Israel’s national god

Elohim

a Hebrew word meaning “god(s)” that can refer either to the God of Israel or generic deities. Studying Elohim helps explain how Israel’s monotheism emerged from earlier polytheistic language and concepts

YHWH

the personal name of Israel’s God, represented in English Bibles as “the LORD.” Lecture discussions showed that YHWH may have originated in southern regions and gradually merged with the older high god El, forming biblical monotheism

Samaria

the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. It is relevant because inscriptions at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud likely reflect northern traditions, helping reconstruct regional variations in early Israelite religion

Polytheism

the belief in or worship of multiple gods. It matters because the course frames biblical monotheism as emerging out of polytheism, with Israel’s religion developing gradually rather than starting strictly monotheistic

Oxymoron

a phrase that seems self-contradictory but reveals deeper meaning. In class, it described the idea that “monotheism is a species of polytheism,” capturing how biblical monotheism depends on earlier polytheistic categories

Midianite Hypothesis

suggests that Israel originally adopted YHWH from southern Midian/Edom regions, possibly through Moses’ Midianite connections. It helps explain archaeological evidence (like Shasu references) and the merging of El and YHWH into one deity in biblical religion

Soleb

an Egyptian site where inscriptions mention “the Shasu of Yhw,” an early external reference to the name of Israel’s god. It is crucial evidence that YHWH was known outside Israel and likely connected to southern nomadic groups

Jethro

Moses’ Midianite father-in-law. His presence supports the idea that Moses learned about YHWH through Midianite religious traditions, contributing to the Midianite Hypothesis

Song of Deborah

an early Hebrew poem in Judges 5 celebrating Israel’s victory under Deborah and Barak. It contains geographical clues (like references to Seir) that help reconstruct early Israelite religion and YHWH’s southern origins

Seir

a southern mountainous region associated with Edom. It is important because poems like the Song of Deborah depict YHWH coming from Seir, supporting the theory of a southern origin of Israel’s God

Shasu

nomadic peoples mentioned in Egyptian texts, some labeled “Shasu of Yhw.” They are central to discussions of how YHWH worship may have begun among southern pastoral groups before becoming Israel’s national religion

‘Amarah West

an Egyptian site with inscriptions referencing the Shasu and possibly YHWH. It provides a second data point (after Soleb) confirming that the name YHWH was used in Egyptian records associated with southern peoples

Bes

an Egyptian protective household deity depicted as a dwarf with exaggerated features. He appears in iconography found in Israelite contexts and helps scholars understand how everyday religion involved multiple divine figures, even in Yahwistic households

Asherah

a Canaanite goddess who appears in Israelite inscriptions as a possible consort to YHWH. She is vital evidence that early Israelite religion included divine couples and was not originally strictly monotheistic, as shown by Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions and Ugaritic parallels

Ain Dara

an Iron Age temple site in northern Syria famous for its monumental carved footprints leading into the sanctuary. It is important because it illustrates ancient Near Eastern ideas of divine embodiment—showing that gods were imagined as physically present and anthropomorphic, which shaped later Israelite temple concepts and class discussions of theomorphic/anthropomorphic imagery