Yigal Bloch
Independent Scholar, Curatorial, Department Member
- History of the Ancient Near East, History of the Hebrew Language, Social History, Economic History, Ancient Near East, Ancient Religion, Assyriology, and 29 moreArchives, Ancient Near Eastern History, Assyrian Empire, Achaemenid History, Historical Demography, Neo Babylonian Empire, Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylonia, Confrontation Greek and Mesopotamian Civilizations, Xerxes, Mesopotamian Economic History, Quantitative History, Achaemenid Empire, Ancient Near Eastern Economy, Assyria, Neo-Assyrian studies, Babylonian revolts, History, Cultural History, Ancient History, Neo-Babylonian period, Middle Assyrian period, Achaemenid Persia, Ancient Near Eastern Languages, Akkadian, Cuneiform, Chronology, Mesopotamia History, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, and Sumerian & Akkadian literatureedit
- Yigal Bloch is a curator at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalemedit
- Jonathan Ben-Dovedit
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In this paper we point at strong literary affinities between a passage in the Epic of Zimrī-līm – Ašmaṭ's speech describing the land of Subartu – and the biblical story of the spies describing the land of Canaan before conquering it.... more
In this paper we point at strong literary affinities between a passage in the Epic of Zimrī-līm – Ašmaṭ's speech describing the land of Subartu – and the biblical story of the spies describing the land of Canaan before conquering it. Further thematic parallels are adduced from Islamic literature.
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Following the recent reconstruction of the order of eponyms in the Dūr-Katlimmu archive by Nahm, this study considers the eponyms of the period in which Tukultī-Ninurta I waged war for domination of Babylonia, from his 13th regnal year... more
Following the recent reconstruction of the order of eponyms in the Dūr-Katlimmu archive by Nahm, this study considers the eponyms of the period in which Tukultī-Ninurta I waged war for domination of Babylonia,
from his 13th regnal year onward. It is argued that recently published evidence supports the identification of the eponymy of Etel-pī-Aššur as the year in which Kaštiliaš IV of Babylonia was captured, and that the eponymy of Ellil-nādin-apli is to be placed three years later. The campaign to the lands between the Tigris and the Zagros, undertaken by Tukultī-Ninurta I in the eponymy of Ellil-nādin-apli, was probably directed against the power base of Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, including the city of Lubdu which then passed under Assyrian control. Following the dethronement of Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, Tukultī-Ninurta I maintained closer control over Babylonia, which did not prevent the king of Elam from putting an end to the reign of the Assyrian vassal Adad-šuma-iddina in the 22nd regnal year of Tukultī-Ninurta I.
from his 13th regnal year onward. It is argued that recently published evidence supports the identification of the eponymy of Etel-pī-Aššur as the year in which Kaštiliaš IV of Babylonia was captured, and that the eponymy of Ellil-nādin-apli is to be placed three years later. The campaign to the lands between the Tigris and the Zagros, undertaken by Tukultī-Ninurta I in the eponymy of Ellil-nādin-apli, was probably directed against the power base of Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, including the city of Lubdu which then passed under Assyrian control. Following the dethronement of Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, Tukultī-Ninurta I maintained closer control over Babylonia, which did not prevent the king of Elam from putting an end to the reign of the Assyrian vassal Adad-šuma-iddina in the 22nd regnal year of Tukultī-Ninurta I.
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Historical chronology is made of names and numbers. In ancient Assyria, throughout its historical development from a city-state to a major regional empire, the time-reckoning system was based on naming each year after a specific official... more
Historical chronology is made of names and numbers. In ancient Assyria, throughout its historical development from a city-state to a major regional empire, the time-reckoning system was based on naming each year after a specific official selected for that purpose, called līmu (or limmu) and commonly rendered in modern usage as “eponym.” The use of this system means that for the purpose of establishing the temporal order of events recorded in Assyrian documents, one must know the sequence of eponyms for the years in which those documents were written. But what if eponym names mentioned in some Assyrian sources do not appear in other sources, where they should be present judging by the chronological context? This question forms the focus of the present study, with regard to Assyrian chronographic sources dealing with the reign of Šamšī-Adad I. Basically, Assyrian chronographic sources can be divided in two categories: eponym lists and chronicles, on the one hand, and the Assyrian King List (AKL), on the other hand.1 The reason for the exis-
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The present study discusses the attestations of persons of Judean origin in Neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablets (of the period between 550 and 490 BCE) as possible evidence of some aspects of the social history of the community of Judeans... more
The present study discusses the attestations of persons of Judean
origin in Neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablets (of the period between 550 and
490 BCE) as possible evidence of some aspects of the social history of the
community of Judeans exiled to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar II. Although
the number of such attestations is very small, it is nonetheless possible to single
out two groups which display different patterns of personal name giving across
generations. In one instance, a group of merchants in the city of Sippar (belonging
mostly to a single family) uses, in part, distinctly Judean personal names in
the first generation of the exile, but abandons them completely in favor of
Babylonian theophoric names in the next generation. In another instance, a
group of individuals active mostly in Susa and probably belonging to the
families of royal officials (as suggested by names and patronymics of the type
of Beamtennamen – names expressing a pious wish for the well-being of the
king) displays the use of Yahwistic personal names even though the fathers of
those individuals bore Babylonian theophoric names. It is suggested that the
persistence of Yahwistic – hence distinctly Judean – names among royal officials
or their direct offspring, even after the previous generation bore Babylonian
names, reflects a considerable measure of tolerance toward ethnically foreign
elements in the royal administration (the relevant examples date from the period
after the establishment of the Achaemenid empire). In contrast, the progressing
adoption of Babylonian names among the Judean merchants in Sippar in the
first half of the sixth century BCE seems likely to reflect assimilation into the
native Babylonian society, fostered by the necessity to pursue commercial dealings
with the Ebabbar temple of Šamaš and the social circles centered around
the temple, which consisted of conservatively minded upper strata of the native
Babylonian society. Editions of the cuneiform tablets discussed in the present
study are provided in the Appendix.
origin in Neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablets (of the period between 550 and
490 BCE) as possible evidence of some aspects of the social history of the
community of Judeans exiled to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar II. Although
the number of such attestations is very small, it is nonetheless possible to single
out two groups which display different patterns of personal name giving across
generations. In one instance, a group of merchants in the city of Sippar (belonging
mostly to a single family) uses, in part, distinctly Judean personal names in
the first generation of the exile, but abandons them completely in favor of
Babylonian theophoric names in the next generation. In another instance, a
group of individuals active mostly in Susa and probably belonging to the
families of royal officials (as suggested by names and patronymics of the type
of Beamtennamen – names expressing a pious wish for the well-being of the
king) displays the use of Yahwistic personal names even though the fathers of
those individuals bore Babylonian theophoric names. It is suggested that the
persistence of Yahwistic – hence distinctly Judean – names among royal officials
or their direct offspring, even after the previous generation bore Babylonian
names, reflects a considerable measure of tolerance toward ethnically foreign
elements in the royal administration (the relevant examples date from the period
after the establishment of the Achaemenid empire). In contrast, the progressing
adoption of Babylonian names among the Judean merchants in Sippar in the
first half of the sixth century BCE seems likely to reflect assimilation into the
native Babylonian society, fostered by the necessity to pursue commercial dealings
with the Ebabbar temple of Šamaš and the social circles centered around
the temple, which consisted of conservatively minded upper strata of the native
Babylonian society. Editions of the cuneiform tablets discussed in the present
study are provided in the Appendix.
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In this article, we discuss a question bearing on the fundamental principles of criminal law in the Hebrew Bible: are they self-standing postulates on which the biblical laws are based (as suggested by Moshe Greenberg), or late... more
In this article, we discuss a question bearing on the fundamental principles of criminal law in the Hebrew Bible: are they self-standing postulates on which the biblical laws are based (as suggested by Moshe Greenberg), or late generalizations made from specific legal norms and statements which predate them? We address this question by considering Mesopotamian documents about a millennium older than biblical legal corpora – two 18th-century BCE letters found in Mari on the Middle Euphrates, and a 19th-century BCE treaty between two towns in the Diyala basin. Despite the spatial and temporal distance between these sources and the biblical legal corpora, the social and cultural similarities between the Amorite populations of northern Mesopotamia and Ancient Israel as reflected in the Hebrew Bible justify a comparison between the legal norms and practices in these two societies. Our discussion shows that at least one of the postulates of biblical law formulated by Greenberg – the absolute value of human life, which rules out monetary compensation in capital cases – finds expression in the legal practices of the Amorite tribes. Accordingly, we conclude that those legal practices, as well as the norm of blood revenge which is clearly connected to them, were inherited by Ancient Israel from its Northwest Semitic background, and their crystallization into a fundamental legal principle was a result of a later historical process.
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The present note relates to a study by Oded Tammuz on concluding transactions on a Sabbath in Elephantine, Āl-Yāḫūdu and Bīt-Našar. The note points out that ignoring the Egyptian dates of the Elephantine papyri impairs Tammuz’s... more
The present note relates to a study by Oded Tammuz on concluding transactions on a Sabbath in Elephantine, Āl-Yāḫūdu and Bīt-Našar. The note points out that ignoring the Egyptian dates of the Elephantine papyri impairs Tammuz’s discussion, and calls into question his distinction between the alleged Judean-majority population of Āl-Yāḫūdu and Judean-minority population of Bīt-Našar. Also, the Julian dates of some tablets were miscalculated by Tammuz; the correct date of one Āl-Yāḫūdu tablet from Nabonidus’ reign falls on a Sabbath.
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This article takes issue with two proposals made in recent scholarship concerning the development of the Proto-Semitic phoneme // in Iron Age Canaanite dialects: 1) retention of this phoneme in the dia-lects of Transjordan, and 2) its... more
This article takes issue with two proposals made in recent scholarship concerning the development of the Proto-Semitic phoneme // in Iron Age Canaanite dialects: 1) retention of this phoneme in the dia-lects of Transjordan, and 2) its merger with the phoneme /t/ in the Hebrew of ...
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The present note relates to a study by Oded Tammuz on concluding transactions on a Sabbath in Elephantine, Āl-Yāḫūdu and Bīt-Našar. The note points out that ignoring the Egyptian dates of the Elephantine papyri impairs Tammuz’s... more
The present note relates to a study by Oded Tammuz on concluding transactions on a Sabbath in Elephantine, Āl-Yāḫūdu and Bīt-Našar. The note points out that ignoring the Egyptian dates of the Elephantine papyri impairs Tammuz’s discussion, and calls into question his
distinction between the alleged Judean-majority population of Āl-Yāḫūdu and Judean-minority population of Bīt-Našar. Also, the Julian dates of some tablets were miscalculated by Tammuz; the correct date of one Āl-Yāḫūdu tablet from Nabonidus’ reign falls on a Sabbath.
distinction between the alleged Judean-majority population of Āl-Yāḫūdu and Judean-minority population of Bīt-Našar. Also, the Julian dates of some tablets were miscalculated by Tammuz; the correct date of one Āl-Yāḫūdu tablet from Nabonidus’ reign falls on a Sabbath.
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The present study offers a new edition of Serekh ha-'Edah, the Rule of the Congregation from Cave 1 of Qumran (1QSa). Although this text has been the subject of several editions and studies since its original publication in 1955, a new... more
The present study offers a new edition of Serekh ha-'Edah, the Rule of the Congregation from Cave 1 of Qumran (1QSa). Although this text has been the subject of several editions and studies since its original publication in 1955, a new edition is required in light of recent findings. Those include the identification and reconstruction of a copy of the Rule of the Congregation in Cryptic script from Cave 4, as well as new methods for working with the available images. The reconstruction of lacu-nas in this edition has been carried out using digital tools, on the basis of actual letters preserved in the same scroll. We survey previous scholarship on 1QSa and provide a new edition (transliteration, translation and commentary), including several new readings, some changes in the placement of small fragments, as well as several new textual reconstructions. RÉSUMÉ La présente étude offre une nouvelle édition du Serekh ha-'Edah, la Règle de la Congrégation de la grotte 1 de Qumrân (1QSa). Bien que ce texte ait fait l'objet de plusieurs éditions et études depuis sa publication originale en 1955, une nouvelle édition est nécessaire à la lumière des découvertes récentes. Cela comprend l'iden-tification et la reconstruction d'une copie de la Règle de la Congrégation en écriture cryptique de la grotte 4, ainsi que des nouvelles méthodes de travail avec les images disponibles. La reconstruction des lacunes dans cette édition a été réalisée à l'aide d'outils numériques, sur la base de lettres conservées dans ce même rouleau. Nous examinons les études antérieures de 1QSa et fournissons une nouvelle édition (trans-littération, traduction et commentaire), incluant plusieurs nouvelles lectures, quelques changements dans le placement de petits fragments, ainsi que plusieurs nouvelles reconstructions textuelles.
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In: S. Z. Aster and A. Faust (eds.), The Southern Levant under Assyrian Domination (Philadelphia: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018), 216-235
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In: A. Baruchi-Unna et al. (eds.), “Now It Happened in Those Days”: Studies in Biblical, Assyrian, and Other Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Mordechai Cogan on His 75th Birthday (Winona Lake, In.: Eisenbrauns, 2017), pp.... more
In: A. Baruchi-Unna et al. (eds.), “Now It Happened in Those Days”: Studies in Biblical, Assyrian, and Other Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Mordechai Cogan on His 75th Birthday (Winona Lake, In.: Eisenbrauns, 2017), pp. 493-523
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Research Interests: Assyriology, Mesopotamian Archaeology, Mesopotamia History, Ancient Near East, Assyria, and 9 moreHebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Assyrian archaeology, Cuneiform, Assyrian art, Middle Assyrian period, Mesopotamian art and visual culture, Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Advances in Biblical Hebrew Linguistics: Data, Methods, and Analyses (ed. A. Moshavi and T. Notarius), Winona Lake, In.: Eisenbrauns, 2017, pp. 83-112
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This article offers an attempt at reconstructing the original meaning of the Hebrew noun sĕgullâ, often used in Modern Hebrew in the collocation ˁam sĕgullâ, as a characteristic of the Jewish people. The article tackles the original... more
This article offers an attempt at reconstructing the original meaning of the Hebrew noun sĕgullâ, often used in Modern Hebrew in the collocation ˁam sĕgullâ, as a characteristic of the Jewish people. The article tackles the original meaning of the term sĕgullâ and the collocation ˁam sĕgullâ, in their appearances in the Hebrew Bible, by correlating them with the attestations of the noun sĕgullâ in the early Rabbinic literature and with cognate nouns in other Semitic languages – Akkadian sikiltu and Ugaritic sglt. After reviewing the interpretations of the semantics of sĕgullâ and the cognate nouns, suggested by different scholars, the article turns to two recently published administrative documents from the reign of Tukultī-Ninurta I of Assyria: MARV IV 40 and 123. The article argues that the use of the term sikiltu in these documents supports Moshe Weinfeld’s interpretation of sikiltu and sĕgullâ as referring originally to “property set aside,” be it inanimate property or groups of humans. Finally, the article shows that on the one hand, the original meaning of sĕgullâ was preserved in the Second Temple period book of Malachi and in the midrash Pesikta Rabbati, but on the other hand, the perception of the Jewish people’s status as sĕgullâ of God in Pesikta Rabbati departs from the perception manifest in the Bible, insofar as the midrashic interpretation renders the Jewish people’s status as sĕgullâ independent of the people’s actual religious conduct. Transliteration, translation and discussion of the documents MARV IV 40 and 123 is presented in the appendix to the article.
Research Interests: Assyriology, Mesopotamian Archaeology, Mesopotamia History, Ancient Near East, Assyria, and 9 moreHebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Assyrian archaeology, Cuneiform, Assyrian art, Middle Assyrian period, Mesopotamian art and visual culture, Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
This book discusses the alphabetic scribes (sēpiru) mentioned in Mesopotamian documents of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods – specifically, of the 6th-5th centuries BCE. The period in question saw a wide diffusion of writing in... more
This book discusses the alphabetic scribes (sēpiru) mentioned in Mesopotamian documents of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods – specifically, of the 6th-5th centuries BCE. The period in question saw a wide diffusion of writing in the Northwest Semitic alphabetic script – mostly in Aramaic – in Mesopotamia; yet, alphabetic texts were normally written in ink on perishable materials and did not survive to be discovered by modern archaeologists. In contrast, cuneiform tablets written on clay have been found in large numbers, and they document different aspects of the alphabetic scribes’ activities. This book presents evidence for understanding the Akkadian term sēpiru as a designation for an alphabetic scribe and discusses the functions of these professionals in different administrative and economic spheres. It further considers the question of the ethnic origins of the alphabetic scribes in Mesopotamia, with special attention to the participation of Judeans in Babylonia in this profession. Bloch also provides translations of over 100 cuneiform documents of economic, legal and administrative content.
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This study of the political history of Mesopotamia-today's Iraq and Syria-in the Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1600 bce) is the first comprehensive historical synthesis of this kind published in English after many decades. Based on... more
This study of the political history of Mesopotamia-today's Iraq and Syria-in the Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1600 bce) is the first comprehensive historical synthesis of this kind published in English after many decades. Based on numerous written sources in Sumerian and Akkadian-royal inscriptions, letters, law collections, economic records, etc.-and on up-to-date research, it presents the region's political history in a meticulous geographic and chronological manner. This allows the interested academic and non-academic reader an in-depth view into the scene of ancient Mesopotamia ruled by competing dynasties of West Semitic (Amorite) origin, with a complex web of political and tribal connections between them.
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In the beginning of the second millennium BCE, Mesopotamia (the territory of modern Iraq and Syria) saw the rise of several royal dynasties which vied for rule over the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates. A trait common to those... more
In the beginning of the second millennium BCE, Mesopotamia (the territory of modern Iraq and Syria) saw the rise of several royal dynasties which vied for rule over the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates. A trait common to those dynasties was their Amorite origin.
The historical study offered in this book is based on numerous cuneiform sources (royal inscriptions, letters, law collections, economic documents, and more), and on the up-to-date scholarship on the topic. It offers, for the first time in Hebrew, a comprehensive and thorough overview of a pivotal era in the history of the Ancient Near East (ca. 2000-1600 BCE), known as the Old Babylonian period. The history of Mesopotamian city states (such as Babylon under the rule of Hammurapi, Mari in the days of its last king Zimri-Lim, and Ekallatum and Assur in the reign of Samsi-Addu) is surveyed here in detail, in light of the geographical background of the region and of the complex tribal connections between the different Amorite dynasties of the period.
The historical study offered in this book is based on numerous cuneiform sources (royal inscriptions, letters, law collections, economic documents, and more), and on the up-to-date scholarship on the topic. It offers, for the first time in Hebrew, a comprehensive and thorough overview of a pivotal era in the history of the Ancient Near East (ca. 2000-1600 BCE), known as the Old Babylonian period. The history of Mesopotamian city states (such as Babylon under the rule of Hammurapi, Mari in the days of its last king Zimri-Lim, and Ekallatum and Assur in the reign of Samsi-Addu) is surveyed here in detail, in light of the geographical background of the region and of the complex tribal connections between the different Amorite dynasties of the period.
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Assurlular: Dicle’den Toroslar’a Tanrı Assur’un Krallığı/The Assyrians: Kingdom of the God Aššur from Tigris to Taurus, K. Köroğlu, S.F. Adalı (ed.), Tüpraş Anadolu Uygarlıkları Serisi No.7/Tüpraş Anatolian Civilizations Series No. 7, (Series Ed. N. Tekdemir), İstanbul 2018, Yapı Kredi Yayınları.more