Head of All Years

by Ben-Dov, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9789004170889
• ISBN10: 900417088X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-30
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

Summary

"Rather than being an isolated, primitive body of knowledge the Jewish calendar tradition of 364 days constituted an integral part of the astronomical science of the ancient world. This tradition - attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Pseudepigrapha - stands out as a coherent, novel synthesis, representing the Jewish authors' apocalyptic worldview. The calendar is studied here both 'from within' - analyzing its textual manifestations - and 'from without' - via a comparison with ancient Mesopotamian astronomy. This analysis reveals that the calendrical realm constituted a significant case of inter-cultural borrowing, pertinent to similar such cases in ancient literature. Special attention is given to there 'Book of Astronomy' (1 Enoch 72-82) and a variety of calendrical liturgical texts from Qumran."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Jonathan Ben-Dov is a Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Second Temple Literature at the University of Haifa.

Table of Contents

Unifying elements of the 364-day calendar tradition	p. 21
Lunar theory and the composition of AB	p. 69
The triennial cycle	p. 119
The astronomical book and Babylonian astronomy : Mul.Apin and EAE	p. 153
Lunar phases in the Mismarot scrolls and late Babylonian astronomy	p. 197
Between Babylonia and Jerusalem : the nature and date of the contact	p. 245
Summary and conclusions	p. 279
Bibliography	p. 289
Index of ancient sources	p. 309
Index of modern authors	p. 319
Index of subjects	p. 325
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