Man-God Communication in the Ancient Near East

2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 12610398
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: CHUO UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: NAKATA Ichiro Chuo Univ., Faculty of Literature, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (50119541)
• Project Period (FY): 2000 – 2002
• Keywords: Mesopotamia / divination / Babylonia / prophety / dream

Research Abstract

The purposes of my research project were (1) to collect pertinent data on various communication channels between man and god in the second millennium B.C. which is relatively better documented, (2) to compare various communication channels between man and god, (3) to find out whether the ancient Mesopotamians were truly at the mercy of willful gods, and (4) to try to understand the mentality of the ancient Mesopotamian man.
In the first year I spent much time on collecting data for my research project. However, I could present a partial result of my research orally at a Conference of Sumerologists in Japan under the title, "The Diviner's Protocol' from Mari.". See my Report of the Research Project, 2002 (hereafter Report), pp. 43-57 for details.
In the second year I spent more time analyzing the data. A part of the results of my research was presented orally at a Conference of Sumerologists under the title, "Northern Syria and Diyala Region with a special emphasis on Goddess Kititum's oracles." See my Report., 2002, pp. 25-42.
In the third year I wrote articles on "Extispicy," "Omen," "Dream Divination," "Dreams," "Prophecy," "Prophet," "Protective Deity," "the Book of Job," etc. as partial results of my research , which will be published in the Dictionary of the Ancient Near East, Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 2004. In addition I made an extensive study on the prophecy at Mari. A partial result of this study is published in my Report , pp. 1-24.