Terracotta Figurines and Social Identities in Hellenistic Babylonia

Terracotta figurines are proposed as a particularly useful object corpus through which to access social identities in Hellenistic Babylonia. Cross-cultural interaction between Greeks and Babylonians has traditionally been the primary interest of scholars researching this society, and figurines were often recruited as evidence for the opposition of ethnic identities. In this work, a new approach to the figurines is proposed, which deemphasizes the categorical rigidity of typology and substitutes a flexible methodology of accessing multiple inter-object entanglements. A particular case study of “nude heroic” figurines (which are often considered evidence for display of cultural difference) is explored in detail, utilizing the entanglement approach. This research reveals that the hybrid qualities of objects were often selected with a sensitivity to both Greek and Babylonian cultural traditions, and with the aim of mutual acceptability. The evidence presented indicates that ethnicity-based concerns were not always the paramount interests in Hellenistic Babylonian identity formation, nor the primary way in which that society was divided

Figuring Out the Figurines of the Ancient Near East

We are pleased to announce the publication of Figuring Out the Figurines of the Ancient Near East, edited by Stephanie Langin-Hooper. This is the first volume in the series Occasional Papers in Coroplastic Studies that is designed to provide a forum for the publication of peer-reviewed papers dedicated to coroplastic research. This series is published by ACoSt. This present volume of 80 pages comprises 4 papers that were delivered at one of the three sessions of the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) either in 2009, 2010, or 2011 that were entitled “Figuring Out the Figurines of the Ancient Near East”. These were organized by Stephanie Langin-Hooper

Performance and Monumentality in the Altar of Tukulti-Ninurta

The Ancient Near Eastern monument known as the “Altar of Tukulti-Ninurta” is traditionally analyzed as a divine symbol-socle used in the cult cella of the Ištar Temple at Aššur. This chapter – which refers to the “Altar” by its ancient term, “nemedu” – presents a re-evaluation of the monument’s archaeological context, as well as a consideration of comparative art historical evidence. Both data sets suggest that the nemedu in question was actually intended for use outside the temple doorway. Based on this understanding of the nemedu’s functional context, a more public viewership must be reconstructed for the monument, necessitating, in turn, new approaches to the supposedly self-referential relief on the monument’s face, as well as new interpretations of the viewer-object relationship(s) in which the monument participated. The chapter proposes that the combination of the monument’s public viewership, its intimate relief depiction of the king’s body, and the performances generated by the monument’s material properties, created a community of shared ritual action that bridged the usual social and physical divisions between the king and his nonroyal subjects. This unprecedented effect made the nemedu a powerful monument, but also a problematic one, perhaps necessitating the nemedu’s eventual decommissioning and storage

Social Networks and Cross-Cultural Interaction: A New Interpretation of the Female Terracotta Figurines of Hellenistic Babylon

In the study of the Hellenistic period in Babylon, cross-cultural interactions between Greeks and native Babylonians have been primarily interpreted using colonialist theories of Hellenisation, domination, and cultural isolation. This paper finds, however, that such theories cannot adequately explain the types of cross-cultural combinations seen in the archaeological record of female Hellenistic Babylonian terracotta figurines. The forms and functions of these terracotta figurines were substantially altered and combined throughout the Hellenistic period, resulting in Greek- Babylonian multicultural figurines as well as figurines that exhibited new features used exclusively in Hellenistic Babylonia. In order to facilitate a greater understanding of the full complexity of these Greek–Babylonian interactions, a new interpretation of cross–cultural interaction in Hellenistic Babylon is developed in this paper. This Social Networks model provides an alternative framework for approaching both how a hybrid material culture of terracotta figurines was developed and how Hellenistic Babylon became a multicultural society

New Book on Babylonian Figurines. Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia: Miniaturization and Cultural Hybridity

In this volume, Stephanie M. Langin-Hooper investigates the impact of Greek art on the miniature figure sculptures produced in Babylonia after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia were used as agents of social change, by visually expressing and negotiating cultural differences. The scaled-down quality of figurines encouraged both visual and tactile engagement, enabling them to effectively work as non-threatening instruments of cultural blending. Reconstruct..

Mammonymy, Maternal-Line Names, and Cultural Identification: Clues from the Onomasticon of Hellenistic Uruk

The onomasticon of Hellenistic Uruk demonstrates that, in some cases, individuals with Greek names were included in otherwise Babylonian families. Often, such Greek names have been interpreted by scholars as evidence for Hellenization. This article suggests an alternate explanation, based on evidence throughout the family trees for a series of naming practices that focus on the perpetuation of names of female relatives and transmission of preferred family names through maternal lines. Particularly important to this discussion are the practices of mammonymy, a term coined here to refer to papponymy’s gendered parallel, i.e., the naming of a girl after her grandmother or other female ancestor, and the practice, previously unexamined in the Assyriological literature, of “maternal-line papponymy,” the tradition of naming a son for his maternal grandfather or other male ancestor from a maternal line. Maternal-line papponymy can be observed in family trees in which the members bear only Babylonian names, as well as in family trees that include individuals with Babylonian names and individuals with Greek names. The Greek names used for boys are often those of fathers or grandfathers of women with Greek names who married into these Babylonian families. This article argues that the incorporation of Greek names into the elite Babylonian families of Hellenistic Uruk cannot be assumed to be straightforward evidence of impulses toward “Hellenization.” Rather, this evidence indicates that Greek names were given to sons in such families within the context of traditional Babylonian maternal-line naming practices. This finding has important implications for scholarship’s understanding of acculturation and the display of cultural identity in Hellenistic Babylonia

Figuring Out the Figurines of the Ancient Near East

We are pleased to announce the publication of Figuring Out the Figurines of the Ancient Near East, edited by Stephanie Langin-Hooper. This is the first volume in the series Occasional Papers in Coroplastic Studies that is designed to provide a forum for the publication of peer-reviewed papers dedicated to coroplastic research. This series is published by ACoSt. This present volume of 80 pages comprises 4 papers that were delivered at one of the three sessions of the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) either in 2009, 2010, or 2011 that were entitled “Figuring Out the Figurines of the Ancient Near East”. These were organized by Stephanie Langin-Hooper

Zeugma as the provenance of 12 mosaic fragments at Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in Ohio is the current owner of 12 sections of floor mosaic dating to the 2nd-3rd c. A.D. Purchased by the university in 1965, these mosaic fragments were believed to be from the site of Antioch. In 2010-11, the mosaics were conserved and installed in BGSU’s Wolfe Center. In the following year the first-named author, organizing a symposium to celebrate the new display of the mosaics, invited R. Molholt to be the keynote speaker. During the course of preparing their respective papers for the symposium, she and Molholt uncovered evidence that an Antioch provenance for the mosaics was most unlikely, and Molholt determined that the mosaic fragments were almost certainly from the site of Zeugma. We offer here a preliminary publication of the fragments, along with evidence to support our proposed provenance