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In The Politics of Ritual Change: The zukru Festival in the Political History of Late Bronze Age Emar, John Thames explores the intersection of ritual and politics in ancient Syria. The cuneiform texts describing an elaborate festival called zukru invite the reader to consider the development of the ritual as a result of political influence. This book suggests a new understanding of the relationship between the Hittite Empire and the city of Emar that is best observed through religious texts. The Harvard Semitic Monographs series publishes volumes from the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East. Other series offered by Brill that publish volumes from the Museum include Harvard Semitic Studies and Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant, https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications.

Rites and ceremonies --- Emar (Extinct city) --- Religion.

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Excavations (Archaeology) --- Emar (Extinct city) --- Syria --- Antiquities. --- History. --- Civilization. --- History

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Emar (Extinct city) --- -Emar (Extinct city) --- Emar (Ancient city) --- Maskanah Site (Syria) --- Meskéné Site (Syria) --- Excavations (Archaeology) --- Syria --- Antiquities. --- Antiquities --- Excavations (Archaeology) - Syria

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Cuneiform inscriptions --- Inscriptions cunéiformes --- Emar (Extinct city) --- Emar (Ville ancienne) --- Inscriptions cunéiformes --- Akkadian language --- Sumerian language --- Akkadien (Langue) --- Sumérien (Langue) --- Texts --- Textes

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The recent large-scale watershed projects in northern Syria, where the ancient city of Emar was located, have brought this area to light, thanks to salvage operation excavations before the area was submerged. Excavations at Meskeneh-Qadimeh on the great bend of the Euphrates River revealed this large town, which had been built in the late 14th century and then destroyed violently at the beginning of the 12th, at the end of the Bronze Age. In the town of Emar, ritual tablets were discovered in a temple that are demonstrated to have been recorded by the supervisor of the local cult, who was called the “diviner.” This religious leader also operated a significant writing center, which focused on both administering local ritual and fostering competence in Mesopotamian lore. An archaic local calendar can be distinguished from other calendars in use at Emar, both foreign and local. A second, overlapping calendar emanated from the palace and represented a rising political force in some tension with rooted local institutions. The archaic local calendar can be partially reconstructed from one ritual text that outlines the rites performed during a period of six months.The main public rite of Emar’s religious calendar was the zukru festival. This event was celebrated in a simplified annual ritual and in a more elaborate version of the ritual for seven days during every seventh year, probably serving as a pledge of loyalty to the chief god, Dagan. The Emar ritual calendar was native, in spite of various levels of outside influence, and thus offers important evidence for ancient Syrian culture. These texts are thus important for ancient Near Eastern cultic and ritual studies. Fleming’s comprehensive study lays the basic groundwork for all future study of the ritual and makes a major contribution to the study of ancient Syria.

Rites and ceremonies --- Religious calendars --- Calendar, Religious --- Calendars, Religious --- Church calendar --- Ritual calendars --- Calendar --- Ceremonies --- Cult --- Cultus --- Ecclesiastical rites and ceremonies --- Religious ceremonies --- Religious rites --- Rites of passage --- Traditions --- Ritualism --- Manners and customs --- Mysteries, Religious --- Ritual --- Emar (Extinct city) --- Emar (Ancient city) --- Maskanah Site (Syria) --- Meskéné Site (Syria) --- Syria --- Religion. --- Antiquities --- HISTORY / Ancient / General. --- Emar (Extinct city).