Ex Oriente Lux 2019

Ex Oriente Lux 98 СЕКЦИЯ V РЕЛИГИИ СТРАН АЗИИ И АФРИКИ RELIGIONS OF ASIA AND AFRICA Chusova Lora Tartu University, School of Theology and Religious Studies Comparative analysis of the prophetic texts in Mari and Nineveh Study on the Old Babylonian prophetic evidence derived from upper Mesopotamian city-state of Mari shows its similarity with ancient Israelite prophecy known from the Bible. Nevertheless distinct chronological gap between two corpora makes conclusion on their possible genetic ties impossible to prove. It was for long being observed that uniqueness of the prophetical phenomenon flourished in the Old Babylonian city-state of Mari was once repeated in the Neo-Assyrian period, as it known from texts excavated in the capital of Assyrian Empire, Nineveh. Neo- Assyrian prophecy which appears to be simultaneous with early Judean and North Kingdom prophetic speech might appropriately fulfill white spots in the history of development of the Ancient Near Eastern prophecy. The aim of the present study is the comparison between prophecy from both Old Babylonian Mari and Neo-Assyrian Nineveh, which might shed light on this religious institute known only through rare mentions in scarce textual sources. What is called under the label of ‘prophecy’ is a quoted divine speech transmitted by the messenger (prophet) usually in the form of a letter to the king. Comparative analysis would be provided on each of the successive levels which constitute the text: from lexical evidence through grammatical features to the poetical techniques and images. What