BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Textual transmission and hypertextuality in ancient Mesopotamia: t
 he example of the divinatory series šumma ālu and šumma izbu (second to
  first millennia BC) - Marie-Françoise Besnier (Department of History and
  Philosophy of Science)
DTSTART:20120426T153000Z
DTEND:20120426T170000Z
UID:TALK37591@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Karin Ekholm
DESCRIPTION:In the middle of the second millennium\, an Akkadian literatur
 e began to develop around the observation of omens. Omens were grouped int
 o collections according to their topics. Each omen was structured as a con
 ditional sentence: the first clause\, the protasis\, describes an ominous 
 occurrence\; the second clause\, the apodosis\, its significance. The omen
  series known by its first line\, _šumma ālu ina mēlê šakin_ (if a ci
 ty is located on a height)\, is a compendium of terrestrial omens ('black 
 cat' type omens)\, which covered all aspects of urban and domestic life. F
 or instance: 'If a pig is carrying a reed bundle and roams around in the s
 treet: there will be trade.' The series _šumma izbu_ (if an anomaly) is t
 he Mesopotamian teratomancy\, and is concerned with live-births\, still-bi
 rths\, and miscarriages\, both for human beings and animals. Both series w
 ere often intermingled and\, like most Mesopotamian literature\, have been
  copied down by generations of scribes\, throughout second and first mille
 nnia BC.\n\nIn Ancient Near Eastern studies\, it has long been assumed tha
 t textual transmission was limited to a simple process of 'canonisation' o
 r 'standardisation'. Yet\, a thorough study of the so-called 'canonised' M
 esopotamian manuscripts indicates that such a view is too reductive. Many 
 sources\, especially the ones dealing with knowledge and meaning\, such as
  the divinatory series\, proved to be intractable to such a process. They 
 thus form a corpus of 'literature in the second degree'\, closely related 
 to each other through a relationship of hypertextuality (according to G. G
 enette's definition of the term). In this way\, the textual traditions are
  indeed the cultural memory of the society\, but also conform to the new c
 ultural realities. I shall concentrate here on the history of the series _
 šumma ālu_ and _šumma izbu_\, and determine their transtextual relation
 ships and their transformation through\, amongst other methods\, the study
  of linguistic _repertoires_.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR