Representation and Idealisation of Power
Panel hosts: Petra Schmidtkunz, Robert Kade
This panel takes place within the framework of the ERC project “DEMBIB” at the Humboldt University of Berlin, which compares scribal activity in Late Period Egypt and Persian/Hellenistic Judah: https://www.theologie.hu-berlin.de/en/dembib. As an extension of our work in sub-project 2 (“Discovering the Future: Scribal Prophecy and Wisdom Instruction in Demotic and Biblical Literature”), we want to initiate a conversation about how different texts across genres and geographical locations conceptualise ideas and ideals of power. Speakers are invited to present case studies which can foster dialogue among scholars researching different biblical and extra-biblical sources from Egypt and the Ancient Near East. The focus will be on how scribes engaged with foreign domination and amalgamated different conceptualisations of power. Papers may also investigate interrelationships between administrative and literary texts. Questions for discussion could be: How is power depicted and justified in a specific text? How is authority reflected, perhaps differently, in texts of different genres? What do these texts tell us about the status and aspirations of the writers? Which models did the writers emulate? What is the purpose and pragmatics of a certain way of representing power?