The City on a Hill: A Tradition-Historical Study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition Public

Abstract

Scholars doing tradition-historical work tend to view texts as the primary repositories of tradition. The unfortunate consequence of this modus operandi is that art-historical sources are typically overlooked in tradition-historical studies. Given the historical divide in academia between scholars of literature and scholars of art, the limiting of tradition to verbal media by biblical scholars is unsurprising. Recent efforts to integrate these two disparate fields, however, have cleared a methodological space in which one can reevaluate whether "tradition" is better understood as something other than just a verbal phenomenon. I suggest that tradition is more fruitfully understood as a multi-medial category. Texts, in other words, are not the sole proprietors of tradition. In order to demonstrate the viability of this approach to tradition history, this dissertation undertakes a tradition historical study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition (WNT). The WNT is a trinodal constellation in which (1) foreign nations bring their (2) wealth to a (3) royal figure as an act of homage, honor, and submission. This tradition occurs in the following texts: 1 Kgs 10:1-10, 13, 15//2 Chr 9:1-9, 12, 14; 1 Kgs 10:23-25//2 Chr 9:22-24; Pss 68:19, 30-32; 72:10-11; 76:12; 96:7-8//1 Chr 16:28-29; Isa 18:7; 45:14; 60:4-17; 61:5-6; 66:12; Zeph 3:10; 2 Chr 32:23. Each text is studied from the perspective of its compositional history, contents, genre, and social setting. These data are then silhouetted against visual and literary exemplars of the tradition from the broader ancient Near East. In the final chapter, a synthetic "biography" of the biblical WNT is sketched, focusing in particular on the tradition's development over time.

Table of Contents

The City on a Hill: A Tradition-Historical Study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition

Contents

Part I: Introduction, Method, and Scope

1. Tradition History and Art History: Toward a Synthesis

1.1. Creatio ex Traditio

1.2. Tradition and Society

1.3. Tradition History (Traditionsgeschichte) and Transmission History (Überlieferungsgeschichte)

1.4. Iconography and the Tradition History

1.5. Putting Theory Into Practice: The Wealth of Nations Tradition

Part II: The Wealth of Nations Tradition in the HB and the Ancient Near East

2. The Wealth of Nations Tradition in the Hebrew Bible

2.1. Defining the Body of Textual Evidence

2.2. Poetry, Colometry, and Compositional History

2.2.1. Lyric Poetry and Compositional History

2.2.2. Colometry and Poetic Analysis

2.3. A Linguistic, Generic, and Diachronic Profile of the Biblical Texts

2.3.1. 1 Kgs 10:1-10, 13//2 Chr 9:1-9, 12

2.3.1.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.1.2. Compositional History

2.3.2. 1 Kgs 10:15//2 Chr 9:14

2.3.2.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.2.2. Compositional History

2.3.3. 1 Kgs 10:23-25//2 Chr 9:22-24

2.3.3.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.3.2. Compositional History

2.3.4. 2 Chr 32:23

2.3.4.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.4.2. Compositional History

2.3.5. Isa 18:7

2.3.5.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.5.2. Compositional History

2.3.6. Isa 45:14

2.3.6.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.6.2. Compositional History

2.3.7. Isa 60:4-17; 61:5-6

2.3.7.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.7.2. Compositional History

2.3.8. Isa 66:12

2.3.8.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.8.2. Compositional History

2.3.9. Zeph 3:10

2.3.9.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.9.2. Compositional History

2.3.10. Ps 68:19a, 29-32

2.3.10.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.10.2. Compositional History

2.3.11. Ps 72:10-11

2.3.11.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.11.2. Compositional History

2.3.12. Ps 76:12

2.3.12.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.12.2. Compositional History

2.3.13. Ps 96:7-8//1 Chr 16:28-29

2.3.13.1. Contents and Genre

2.3.13.2. Compositional History

2.3.14.

2.4. A Tabular Presentation of all Linguistic, Generic, and Diachronic Evidence from Chapters 3-4

2.4.1. Wealth Bearers

2.4.2. The Terminology of Foreign Wealth

2.4.3. The Terminology of Wealth-Bearing

2.4.4. The Recipients of Foreign Wealth

2.4.5. Genre Distribution

2.4.6. Chronology of Texts

2.5. Conclusions

3. The Wealth of Nations Tradition in the Ancient Near East: Textual and Visual Evidence

3.1. Introducing the Materials

3.2. Iconographic Evidence

3.2.1. Mesopotamia

3.2.1.1. Tribute Reliefs from Room D of the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.E.) at Kalhu/Nimrud

3.2.1.1.1. Pre-Iconographic Description and Genre/Category Analysis

3.2.1.1.2. Iconographic Analysis

3.2.1.1.3. Functional Analysis

3.2.1.1.4. Iconographic Interpretation

3.2.1.2. The Mamu Temple Gates of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.E.) from Balawat (Imgur-Enlil)

3.2.1.2.1. Pre-Iconographic Description and Genre/Category Analysis

3.2.1.2.2. Iconographic Analysis

3.2.1.2.3. Functional Analysis

3.2.1.2.4. Iconographic Interpretation

3.2.1.3. The Black Obelisk of Shalmanessar III (858-824 B.C.E.)

3.2.1.3.1. Pre-Iconographic Description and Genre/Category Analysis

3.2.1.3.2. Iconographic Analysis

3.2.1.3.3. Functional Analysis

3.2.1.3.4. Iconographic Interpretation

3.2.1.4. Ivories from the Nabû Tempel at Kalhu/Nimrud

3.2.1.4.1. Pre-Iconographic Description and Genre/Category Analysis

3.2.1.4.2. Iconographic Analysis

3.2.1.4.3. Functional Analysis

3.2.1.4.4. Iconographic Interpretation

3.2.2. Persia

3.2.2.1. The Apadana Reliefs at Persepolis

3.2.2.1.1. Pre-Iconographic Description and Genre/Category Analysis

3.2.2.1.2. Iconographic Analysis

3.2.2.1.3. Functional Analysis

3.2.2.1.4. Iconographic Interpretation

3.2.2.2. Excursus: Seal Impressions from Dascylium and a Presentation Scene on the Inner Surface of a Shield

3.2.3. Levant

3.2.4. Egypt: The Third Intermediate Period (1069-702 B.C.E.), the Late Period (747- 525 B.C.E.), and the Persian Period (525-332 B.C.E.)

3.2.4.1.1. Pre-Iconographic Description and Genre/Category Analysis

3.2.4.1.2. Iconographic Analysis

3.2.4.1.3. Functional Analysis

3.2.4.1.4. Iconographic Interpretation

3.2.5. Summary of the Iconographic Evidence

3.3. Literary Evidence

3.3.1. Mesopotamia

3.3.1.1. Assyrian Texts

3.3.1.1.1. With References to Specific Nations

3.3.1.1.2. "Totalizing" Texts

3.3.1.2. Babylonian Texts

3.3.2. Persia

3.3.3. Levant

3.3.4. Egypt: The Third Intermediate Period (1069-702 B.C.E.), the Late Period (747-525 B.C.E.), and the Persian Period (525-332 B.C.E.)

3.3.5. Summary of the Literary Evidence

3.4. Conclusions

Part III Conclusions

4. A Tradition-Historical Biography of the Wealth of Nations Tradition: Conclusions

4.1. Sketching a Tradition-Historical Biography of the WNT

4.1.1. The Tradition Maintained

4.1.2. The Tradition in Transformation

4.2. The Visual and the Verbal

4.3. Creatio ex Traditio

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Religion
Subfield / Discipline	Hebrew Bible
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Religion, Biblical Studies Art History
Mot-clé	iconography tribute art history method wealth of nations tradition history
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Strawn, Brent, Emory University
Committee Members	Wright, Jacob L, Emory University LeMon, Joel, Emory University Nissinen, Martti, University of Helsinki

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