Panbabylonism
{{short description|Archaeological school of thought}}
Panbabylonism (also known as Panbabylonianism) was the school of thought that considered the cultures and religions of the Middle East and civilization in general to be ultimately derived from Babylonian myths which in turn they viewed as being based on Babylonian astronomy, often in hidden ways.{{cite journal|last=Toy|first=Crawford H.|authorlink=Crawford H. Toy|date=1910|jstor=3142227|title=Panbabylonianism|journal=Harvard Theological Review|volume=3|issue=1|pages=47–84|doi=10.1017/S0017816000005782|s2cid=248820620 }}
Overview
A related school of thought is the Bible-Babel school, which regarded the Hebrew Bible and Judaism to be directly derived from Mesopotamian (Babylonian) mythology{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}; both are forms of hyperdiffusionism in archaeology.{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Peter Lancaster|title=Megaliths, Myths, and Men: An Introduction to Astro-Archaeology|date=2000|publisher=Dover Publications|location=Mineola, NY|isbn=9780486411453|edition=Dover|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHMV2-ZoUd8C&pg=PA267|page=267}}
Both theories were popular in Germany, and Panbabylonism remained popular from the late 19th century to World War I. Prominent advocates included Friedrich Delitzsch, Peter Jensen, Alfred Jeremias and Hugo Winckler.Gold, Daniel. (2003). Aesthetics and Analysis in Writing on Religion: Modern Fascinations. University of California Press. pp. 149-158. {{ISBN|978-0520236141}}Scherer, Frank F. (2015). The Freudian Orient: Early Psychoanalysis, Anti-Semitic Challenge, and the Vicissitudes of Orientalist Discourse. Kanarc Books. p. 18. {{ISBN|978-1-78220-296-7}}
Panbabylonist thought largely disappeared from legitimate scholarship after the death of one of its greatest proponents, Hugo Winckler. The claims of the school were largely discredited by astronomical and chronological arguments of Franz Xaver Kugler (a Jesuit priest).Jong, Teije de. Babylonian Astronomy 1880-1950: The Players and the Field. In Alexander Jones, Christine Proust, John M. Steele. (2016). A Mathematician's Journeys: Otto Neugebauer and Modern Transformations of Ancient Science. Springer. pp. 285-286. {{ISBN|978-3-319-25863-8}}
File:Bm-epic-g.jpg on a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum]]
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Anonymous. (1912). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30083984 Some Recent Books on Panbabylonism]. Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 1 (3): 563–578.
- G. H. Richardson. (1916). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3142227 The Abuse of Biblical Archaeology]. The Biblical World 47 (2): 94–99.
- Bill T. Arnold and David B. Weisberg. (2002). "A Centennial Review of Friedrich Delitzsch's "Babel und Bibel" Lectures." Journal of Biblical Literature 121/3: 441–57.
External links
- [http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/panbabylonism Panbabylonism]. New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100501141458/http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page9e.html The Development, Heyday, and Demise of Panbabylonism] by Gary D. Thompson.
Category:Comparative mythology
Category:Judaism and other religions
Category:Mesopotamian mythology
Category:Obsolete scientific theories