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  • 3 - BOOKS IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

  • from II - BOOKS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
  • Edited by P. R. Ackroyd, C. F. Evans
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of the Bible
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    01 April 1970, pp 30-48

  • Summary

    The discovery of more than half a million documents spanning the period of the Old Testament enables a comparison to be made between the various contemporary literary forms in use within the ancient Near East. The Assyrian and Babylonian scribes of the first millennium employed scrolls of papyrus or leather for Aramaic inscriptions. The varied and numerous documents and writing materials presuppose persons skilled in writing. From 3100 BC in Mesopotamia, and thereafter in Egypt, Anatolia and Elam, scribes were at work in the principal cities and centres of government. In Mesopotamia and Israel the overriding cultural factor was the concept of law and authority which ensured the vitality, stability and continuity of a highly developed civilisation. The Hebrew Proverbs are closest to the precepts or instructions which range from the Old Kingdom writings of the Egyptian sages to the New Kingdom collections and are scattered throughout the literature.