Overview

This book offers fresh readings of the Aramaic book of Ahiqar, an oft underappreciated ancient wisdom text. In undertaking a comprehensive literary analysis, incorporating both the drama and the sayings together, Bledsoe shows that Ahiqar’s didactic impulse is founded on a sense of uncertainty about life, offering advice for those in times of distress, much like the titular character himself. While Ahiqar shares many features with instructional literature like Proverbs, the ambiguous cosmic and social order imagined in the text resonate more strongly with the likes of Qoheleth or Job. Bledsoe also takes seriously the Elephantine context, suggesting that the social and political ethic evinced by the work would have resonated strongly with the Judean community in Achaemenid Egypt.

Full Product Details

Author:   Seth Bledsoe
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   199
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.10cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.896kg
ISBN:  

9789004473119

ISBN 10:   9004473114
Pages:   467
Publication Date:   08 December 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction  1 Identifying the Gaps in Ahiqar Scholarship  2 Responding to the Gaps in Ahiqar Scholarship  3 Outline of This Study 1 Locating Ahiqar  Materiality, Language and Intertextuality  1.1 Ahiqar In Situ: Material Aspects  1.2 Ahiqar In Lingua: Linguistic and Scribal Aspects  1.3 Ahiqar In Litteris: Legacy, Literary Milieu, and Intertextuality  1.4 Conclusion: The Elephantine Instruction of Ahiqar 2 Unraveling Ahiqar  Narratology and Discourse in the Story of Ahiqar  2.1 Plot Tensions & Resolutions: Unraveling the Structural Threads of the Story  2.2 Actants, Voices, and the Narrator/Audience Complexity: A Narratological Reading of Ahiqar  2.3 Summary of Literary Analysis of Narrative  2.4 Finishing the Story: The Missing End and the Later Witnesses 3 Delineating Ahiqar  Structure and Style in the Sayings of Ahiqar  3.1 Sayings-Types, Structures, and Stylistic Devices  3.2 Coherence, Context, and Compositional Units: A Theory of Reading and Meaning  3.3 Summary of Sayings 4 Cultivating an Ethic of Caution  Practical Instruction and the Dangers of Speech  4.1 The Synchrony of Proper Speech  4.2 Cultivating a Cautious Attitude  4.3 The Pragmatic Value of Contentment and Humility  4.4 Conclusion 5 Wisdom from Below  Financial Instruction and Social Status  5.1 Loans and Other Financial Matters  5.2 Poverty and Wealth  5.3 Labor and Servitude  5.4 Wisdom from Below: Synthesis, Story, and Rhetorical Effect 6 Constructing and Contesting Social Domains  The Familial Discourse of Loyalty and Reciprocity  6.1 The Double-Sided Domains of Family and Friendship  6.2 The Estranged Brother and the Familial Foreigner  6.3 Authority & Hierarchy: A Competition for Favor  6.4 Conclusion: Constructing and Contesting “Ahiqar” at Elephantine 7 Many Are the Stars  Humanity, the Gods and Speculative Wisdom  7.1 Humanity  7.2 The Gods  7.3 At the Intersection of Humanity and the Gods: The King in Ahiqar  7.4 Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Index

Reviews

""Seth Bledsoe has given us an important study of a major writing that has been neglected in recent scholarship."" Lester L. grabbe, SOTS Review

"""Seth Bledsoe has given us an important study of a major writing that has been neglected in recent scholarship."" Lester L. grabbe, SOTS Review"

Seth Bledsoe has given us an important study of a major writing that has been neglected in recent scholarship. Lester L. grabbe, SOTS Review

Author Information

Seth A. Bledsoe, Ph.D. (2015), Florida State University, is Assistant Professor in Textual, Historical, and Systematic Studies at Radboud University. He has published several articles on Ahiqar and ancient wisdom literature in peer-reviewed journals (including JBL) and collected volumes.

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