Beschreibung
In Hebrew. 62 pages. 170 x 113 mm. Front paper wrapper lacking. The Story of Akhiqar, also known as the Words of Akhiqar, appears in Aramaic on fifth century BCE papyri from the Jewish military colony on the island of Elephantine, Egypt. The tale circulated widely in the Middle and Near East and is one of the earliest international books of world literature. A Late Babylonian cuneiform tablet from Uruk (Warka) mentions an Aramaic name Akhau'aqar. His name is written as Akhiqar, Arabic Khayqar, Greek Achiacharos, Slavonic Akyrios, Ottoman Turkish Khikar. In the story, the principal character, Ahikar, is a sage who served as chancellor to the Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. Having no child of his own, he adopted his nephew Nadab/Nadin, and raises him to be his successor. Nadab/Nadin ungratefully plots to have his elderly uncle murdered, persuading Esarhaddon that Ahikar has committed treason. Esarhaddon orders Ahikar's executtion, Ahikar is arrested, imprisoned to await death. But when he meets the executioner Akhidar reminds the executioner the he, Akhikar, had saved the executioner from a similar fate under Sennacherib, and so the executioner kills another prisoner instead, and claims the body is Ahikar's. The remainder of the early texts do not survive beyond this point, but the original ending, now lost, probably had Nadab/Nadin being executed while Ahikar is rehabilitated. Later texts portray Ahikar coming out of hiding to counsel the Egyptian king on behalf of Esarhaddon, and then returning in triumph to Esarhaddon. In the later texts, after Ahikar's return, he meets Nadab/Nadin, is very angry with him, and Nadab/Nadin then dies. At Uruk (Warka), a Late Babylonian cuneiform text from the second century BCE was found that mentions the Aramaic name A-khu-u'-qa-a-ri of an ummanu "sage" Aba-enlil-dari under Esarhaddon seventh century BCE. This literary text of the sage Akhiqar might have been composed in Aramaic in Mesopotamia, probably around the late seventh or early sixth century BCE. The narrative of the initial part of the story is expanded greatly by the presence of a large number of wise sayings and proverbs that Ahikar is portrayed as speaking to his nephew. Most scholars believe that these sayings and proverbs were originally a separate document, as they do not mention Ahikar. Some of the sayings are similar to parts of the Biblical Book of Proverbs, others to the deuterocanonical Wisdom of Sirach, and others still to Babylonian and Persian proverbs. The collection of sayings is a selection from those common in the Middle East at the time. In the Greek Book of Tobit (second or third century BCE), Tobit has a nephew named Achiacharos in royal service at Nineveh. Ahikar and the Achiacharus of Tobit are identical. Avinoam Yellin (1900 Jerusalem, Eretz Israel - 1937 Jerusalem, Eretz Israel), was an educator and Orientalist. He translated The Book of Ahikar the Wise from the Syriac and Aramaic into Hebrew and published modern textbooks for the study of Hebrew and classical Arabic (the latter together with Levi Billig), as well as numerous studies and articles. A member of the Hebrew Language committee (Va'ad ha-Lashon), he became supervisor of Jewish schools in the British Mandatory administration. He was murdered in Jerusalem by Arab rioters. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 016618
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