The Tell Dan Aramaic Inscription: The Problems of a New Minimized Reading
Originally a doctoral thesis, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Interpretation by George Athas aims to be a definitive study of the Old Aramaic inscription from Tell Dan. Its author has adopted the methods of the deconstructionists (= Minimizers). The Hebrew Bible is said to be ‘an un...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2005
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| In: |
Journal of Semitic studies
Year: 2005, Volume: 50, Issue: 1, Pages: 23-34 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Originally a doctoral thesis, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Interpretation by George Athas aims to be a definitive study of the Old Aramaic inscription from Tell Dan. Its author has adopted the methods of the deconstructionists (= Minimizers). The Hebrew Bible is said to be ‘an unknown quantity at best and a pure fabrication at worst’; the term bytdwd in the inscription is not in reference to the House of David (= Judah) but to Jerusalem as ‘a small principality’ or ‘a small feudal estate’. According to the author the waw consecutive does not exist here, nor elsewhere in Aramaic. The reviewer argues that both the Hebrew Bible and the Tell Dan text are thereby downsized and devalued. Despite a detailed, minute palaeographical and epigraphical analysis which occupies 156 pages, as a published book aimed at professional epigraphers and established biblical scholars, it is generally disappointing, neither definitive, nor authoritative. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-8556 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Semitic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jss/fgi002 |