2018
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“The giparu of Ur as a paradigm for gender-related temple types in the ancient Near East,”
in J. Aviram, A. Ben-Tor, J. Magness, E. Stern, Lawrence E. Stager Volume,
Eretz-Israel 33.
Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, pp. 9*-24*.
Webpage
In this contribution, Manfred Bietak presents a case of comparative architectural study, within a ERC project aimed to the investigation of the origin of the Hyksos in Egypt, on the base of the analysis of a sacred building excavated at Avaris/Tell Dabca, the Middle Age II capital of the Hyksos. The building here investigated is a “sacred precinct in which a Broad-Room temple with a cult niche stands side-by-side with a Bent-Axis temple” (p. 9*).
According to Bietak's explanation “it seems clear that both shrines were of Near-Eastern type and originate from a population of foreigners of the Near East, settled in Egypt in the time of the late Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate period. Each temple seems to have been dedicated to a different divinity” (pp. 9*-11*). The peculiarity of Bietak's analysis is the suggestion of a possible gender type identification of these temples, comparing them to other Mesopotamian buildings, namely the temple complex of the moon god Nanna Sin at Ur/Tell Muqaiyir (second half of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC), where “it seems [...] that Broad-Room temples were built for gods and Bent-Axis temples for goddesses” (p. 11*), being the latter, probably the residence of the entu-priestess, involved in the ceremonies of the sacred marriage.
A further parallel is then envisaged in other similar structures in Nippur (one of them clearly dedicated to the goddess Inanna) and in Ebla, where “Priest-Barracks” (similar to the Bent-Axis temple at Tell Dabca) have been identified beside the Long-House temple attributed to Ištar Eblaitu. In conclusion, the paper is indeed noteworthy because of its peculiar methodological approach, analyzing the gender type of a building according to its archaeological structure.
[A reference to Urkesh is given by the author at p. 19*, note 10 (referring to p. 11*: “There were other temples on terraces where the ramp meets the platform asymmetrically at one side of the façade. In such a case, in all likelihood, a Bent-Axis temple can be reconstructed”); “for example, the temple at Tutub/Khafadja of the Early Dynastic I period onwards [...]. Another example with a still preserved example of a Bent-Axis temple on top of a stepped terrace, comparable to a Ziqqurat, is the shrine at Tell Mozan/Urkeš (Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati 1998)”].
[M. De Pietri – January 2019]
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