Not Barren is the Blood of Lambs: Homeric Oath-Sacrifice as Metaphorical Transformation
2003; Issue: 16 Linguagem: Inglês
10.4000/kernos.808
ISSN2034-7871
Autores Tópico(s)Ancient Near East History
ResumoNot Barren is the Blood of Lambs: Homedc Oath-Sacdfice as Metaphorical TransformationNot ban'en is the oath, the blood of lambs, the unmixed libations and the right hands in which we trusted.For indeed, if the Olympian does not fulfill it at once, he certainly will fulfill it later, and with might he will avenge it, with their lives and their wives and also their children (Iliad III, 158-162).Agamemnon's invocation of the punishing power of Zeus for the failed oathsacrifice of Iliad III illustrates a trilogy of themes in the ancient rhetoric of religious violence: gods, vengeance, and sacrifice.Consider, for instance, Tiglath Pileser's daims of bringing Assur's wicked enemies to defeat in battle,l of slaughtering them like lambs, flooding the valleys with their blood, establishing the tale of their destruction, and decreeing their city not be inhabited again 2 ; or consider Isaiah's vision of an avenging "sword of the Lord... steeped in blood... gorged with fat, ... for he has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in Edom" CIsaiah 34:5-8).The aetiology for such destruction is commonly the violation of a divine covenant.50 Assurbanipal explains:EvelY curse, written down in the oath which they took, was instantly visited upon them by Assur, Sin, Shamash, Adad, Bel, Nabu, Ishtar of Nineveh, the queen of Kidmuri, Ishtar of Arbela, Urta, Nergal (and Nusku).The young of camels, asses, cattle and sheep, sucked at seven udders and could not satisfy their bellies with the mille The people of Arabia asked questions, the one of the other, saying: "Why is it that such evil has befallen Arabia?" .. , saying "Because we did not keep the solemn oaths sworn to Assur.,,3Equally solemn is the curse sealing the oath between Hittite king Mursilis and Haggana:Behold to you these words under oath l put: If you ... do not protect them, these sacred oaths of yours, your lives, together with your wives, your children, your brothers, your sisters, your families, your houses, your fields, your cities, your vineyards, your threshing floors, together with your possessions, let them be
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