| Description |
1 online resource (213 pages) : illustrations. |
| Physical Medium |
monochrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Series |
Harvard Semitic monographs ; no. 63
|
|
Harvard Semitic monographs ; no. 63.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-197) and indexes. |
| Contents |
Chaoskampf in modern scholarship -- Leviathan and Behemoth in Second Temple Judaism -- Leviathan and Behemoth in rabbinic Judaism -- Roots of the Leviathan and Behemoth traditions. |
| Access |
Use copy Restrictions unspecified MiAaHDL |
| Reproduction |
Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010. MiAaHDL |
| System Details |
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL |
| Processing Action |
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve MiAaHDL |
| Summary |
The ancient myth of a battle between a Divine Warrior and a primordial monster undergoes significant development in postbiblical and rabbinic literatures. This development is the focus of the present study. In particular, it examines the monsters Leviathan and Behemoth, showing that the postbiblical and rabbinic traditions about them are derived from ancient sources that are not all preserved in the biblical texts. In the Apocalypse of Abraham and the Ladder of Jacob, the monster Leviathan is placed at the juncture of heaven and the underworld. This cosmological focus appears in rabbinic literature in traditions concerning Behemoth, Leviathan, and the world rivers, and concerning Leviathan as the foundation of the axis mundi. These originate in the Divine Warrior's enthronement upon the vanquished chaos dragon. A second role in which Leviathan and Behemoth appear in postbiblical literature is as food for the eschatological banquet. Whitney studies this in a variety of sources, among them 4 Ezra 6:47-52, 2 Apocalypse of Baruch 29:4, and 1 Enoch 60:7-9, 24, and a number of rabbinic texts. In one tradition, the battle between God and monster becomes an angelic hunt, described by the Greek word kynegesia. This sometimes referred to battles between beasts in the arena, and in a variant tradition Leviathan battles Behemoth in a fight to the death before the banquet. The \'food for the righteous\' motif possibly stems from the introduction of hunting imagery into the combat myth: the prevalence of hunting banquets gave rise to the expectation that these monsters, the prey in a divine hunt, would feed the righteous at the end of time. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Leviathan.
|
|
Leviathan. |
|
Behemoth.
|
|
Behemoth. |
|
Theomachy in the Bible.
|
|
Theomachy in the Bible. |
|
Apocryphal books (Old Testament) -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
|
Apocryphal books (Old Testament) |
|
Apocalyptic literature -- History and criticism.
|
|
Apocalyptic literature. |
|
Rabbinical literature -- History and criticism.
|
|
Rabbinical literature. |
|
Judaism -- History -- Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D.
|
|
Judaism -- Post-exilic period (Judaism) |
|
Rabbijnse literatuur. |
|
Apocalyptiek. |
|
Monsters. |
| Chronological Term |
586 B.C.-210 A.D |
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
|
History.
|
| Other Form: |
Print version: Whitney, K. William, Jr. Two strange beasts. Winona Lake, Ind. : Eisenbrauns, 2006 (DLC) 2006000308 (OCoLC)63164840 |
| ISBN |
9004369937 (electronic book) |
|
9789004369931 (electronic book) |
|
1575069148 (alkaline paper) |
|
9781575069142 (alkaline paper) |
|
