Leadership, Social Memory and Judean Discourse in the Fifth - Second Centuries BCE - Diana V. Edelman

Leadership, Social Memory and Judean Discourse in the Fifth - Second Centuries BCE - Diana V. Edelman

Remembering Samson in a Hellenized Jewish Context (Judges 13–16)

Leadership, Social Memory and Judean Discourse in the Fifth - Second Centuries BCE - Diana V. Edelman

Diana V. Edelman [+-]
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).

Description

Whatever the originating context and desired impact of the Samson story in Judges 13–16, for Jews versed in Hellenistic culture, literature, and worldview, it is likely that the story called to mind in varying degrees the Greek hero Herakles and King Alexander, who was depicted widely on Greek coinage in the guise of Herakles, wearing the skin of the Nemean lion. These associations likely would have represented a value assigned by a subsection of the larger religious community only, but shared social memories can bear different meanings and messages within a society. Samson's negative evaluation in the biblical text could have been understood by Hellenized Jews to have been a rejection of the idea of the Greek semi-divine hero and of tyranny, exemplified by Alexander, as a form of leadership.

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Citation

Edelman, Diana. Remembering Samson in a Hellenized Jewish Context (Judges 13–16). Leadership, Social Memory and Judean Discourse in the Fifth - Second Centuries BCE. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 231-247 Dec 2016. ISBN 9781781792698. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=26817. Date accessed: 21 Nov 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.26817. Dec 2016

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