A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. Группа авторов. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

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clear, combined Greek and Mesopotamian cultural traditions in sophisticated and often unpredictable ways. In this chapter, I ask what his main work, the Babyloniaca, set out to achieve, and how it addressed the concerns of a Seleucid audience.

      A Babylonian Writes Greek

      These doubts were dispelled with the discovery and decipherment of cuneiform documents in the nineteenth century: Berossos, it now became clear, did draw on genuine cuneiform sources. Indeed, Book 1 closely paraphrases the Babylonian Epic of Creation or Enūma eliš, while Book 2 relies extensively on Mesopotamian king lists and the Mesopotamian flood story. In Book 3, Berossos uses Babylonian chronicles and the royal inscriptions of major Babylonian kings, especially Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus. Once this much was understood, the terms of the debate shifted, and scholars started asking just where on the scale between “genuinely” Babylonian culture and Greek literature Berossos positioned himself (Ruffing 2013: 301–304).

      A Greek and Babylonian History

      Berossos’s negotiations between Babylonian and Greek traditions need careful tracing. A passage from Book 3 of the Babyloniaca illustrates some of the difficulties. Berossos describes how Nebuchadnezzar builds a new palace in Babylon (BNJ 680 F 8a (140)):

      καὶ τειχίσας ἀξιολόγως τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τοὺς πυλῶνας κοσμήσας ἱεροπρεπῶς, προσκατεσκεύασεν τοῖς πατρικοῖς βασιλείοις ἕτερα βασίλεια ἐχόμενα ἐκείνων, ὧν τὸ μὲν ἀνάστημα καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν πολυτέλειαν μακρὸν ἴσως ἔσται, ἐάν τις ἐξηγῆται, πλὴν ὄντα γε ὑπερβολὴν ὡς μεγάλα καὶ ὑπερήφανα συνετελέσθη ἡμέραις δεκαπέντε.

      And having fortified the city in a noteworthy fashion, and equipped the gates in such a way as befitted their sanctity, he built another palace next to that of his father. It would perhaps lead too far to describe its height and general opulence here, except to say that, despite its enormous size and grandeur, it was completed in just fifteen days.

      i-na ri-e-ši-šú ku-um-mu ra-ba-a a-na šú-ba-at ša-ar-ru-ti-ia i-na ku-up-ri ù a-gur-ri šá-ḳi-iš e-pú-uš-ma it-ti è-gal abi ú-ra-ad-di-ma in araḫ šá-al-mu i-na û-um magir i-šid-sa i-na i-ra-at ki-gal-lu ú-šá-ar-ši-id-ma ri-e-ši-šá ú-za-aḳ-ḳi-ir ḫu-ùr-sa-ni-iš i-na 15 û-um ši-bi-ir-šá ú-šá-ak-li-il-ma ú-šá-pa-a šú-bat be-lu-ti

      On top I built with baked bricks and bitumen a great hall to be the lofty seat of my kingship, and I joined it to the palace of my father. In a favorable month, on a suitable day, I laid its foundations on the base of the underworld and raised its top high up like a mountain range. I completed the work on the fifteenth day and perfected the seat of my rule.

      There are unmistakable echoes between this account and that of Berossos: both emphasize the height and general opulence of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, point out that it adjoins that of Nebuchadnezzar’s father, and claim that the building work was completed in precisely 15 days. Berossos evidently knew Nebuchadnezzar’s inscription and followed it faithfully. He did, however, introduce some new elements. Here is how his text continues (BNJ 680 F 8a (141)):

      ἐν δὲ τοῖς βασιλείοις τούτοις ἀναλήμματα λίθινα ὑψηλὰ ἀνοικοδομήσας, καὶ τὴν ὄψιν ἀποδοὺς ὁμοιοτάτην τοῖς ὄρεσι, καταφυτεύσας δένδρεσι παντοδαποῖς, ἐξειργάσατο καὶ κατεσκεύασε τὸν καλούμενον κρεμαστὸν παράδεισον διὰ τὸ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ ἐπιθυμεῖν τῆς ὀρείας διαθέσεως, <ὡς> τεθραμμένην ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Μηδίαν τόποις.

      In this palace, Nebuchadnezzar built high stone terraces and made them look very similar in appearance to mountain ranges. And planting them with various different kinds of trees he built and equipped the so-called Hanging Garden because his wife had grown up in Media and was longing for a mountainous scenery.

      This section of Berossos’s account departs from his Babylonian source text in spectacular fashion. True, Nebuchadnezzar himself reported that he used stone to build his palace, and he also claimed to have erected a building “like a mountain” (Nebukadnezar Nr. 15 col. IX.22–28, with discussion