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Madadh Richey

Brandeis University, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Faculty Member

Princeton University, Religion, Faculty Member

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Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible, Brandeis University
Ph.D. University of Chicago (NELC)
she/her; first name is "MAD-a"
Contact: richey@brandeis.edu

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Koert van Bekkum

Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven

Benjamin Suchard

KU Leuven

Matthieu Richelle

UCLouvain (University of Louvain)

University of California, Berkeley

Idan Dershowitz

Monash University

James D . Tabor

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Matthew Hamilton

Tel Aviv University

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Papers by Madadh Richey

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. 2022. An Aramaic Ritual for Burning Straw in Sefire IA:36-37. Aramaic Studies 20.2: 111–133

by Jessie DeGrado and Madadh Richey

The Old Aramaic inscription Sefire i (KAI 222) includes, in a series of mimetic curses, a debated... more The Old Aramaic inscription Sefire i (KAI 222) includes, in a series of mimetic curses, a debated clause that has been read by most previous scholars to involve a mysterious {gnbʾ} gannābaʾ(?) 'thief' , which (or who?) is symbolically burned (Sefire IA:36-37). The present article argues that there are lexicographic (cognates in later Aramaic dialects) and phonological (geminate prenasalization) grounds for understanding {gnbʾ} to encode instead ganbaʾ (< *gabbaʾ) 'straw'. The burning of this straw to symbolize consequences should a treaty partner renege has clear parallels in Mesopotamian and Syro-Anatolian magical and ritual language, including treaty curses, and produces a more typical image in a list of mimetic curses involving materials (wax), objects (a bow and arrow), and animals (a calf).

Richey, Madadh. 2022. The Child’s Sickbed in the Elijah and Elisha Narratives: Safeguarding Ritual Space in 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 4. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 84.3: 385-403.

In the healing narratives of 1 Kgs 17:17-24 and 2 Kgs 4:18-37, the men of god Elijah and Elisha c... more In the healing narratives of 1 Kgs 17:17-24 and 2 Kgs 4:18-37, the men of god Elijah and Elisha cure nearly or already dead children by positioning them in the prophets’ own beds and enacting ritual praxes. Attention to neglected dimensions of ritual space in these narratives reveals two significations of the foregrounded sickbeds. Images of these beds as both ominous portents and a protected loci stand in tension throughout the texts. Epigraphic and visual artistic artifacts from Mesopotamia and the northern Levant illustrate the widespread nature of sickbed discourse in the ancient Middle East, and comparison of the Elijah and Elisha narratives to such material illuminates the aims of the present texts in linking ritual space and privileged ritual practitioner.

Vanderhooft, David S.; Richey, Madadh; and Shukron, Eli. 2022. A Bulla of 'Adoniyahu, the One Who Is Over the House, from beneath Robinson's Arch in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv 49.1: 54-66.

by Madadh Richey and David S Vanderhooft

The present paper publishes a new, nearly complete bulla excavated in 2013 beneath Robinson’s Arc... more The present paper publishes a new, nearly complete bulla excavated in 2013 beneath Robinson’s Arch in Jerusalem. It was first identified in 2019 during sifting of soil excavated from a Roman-era drainage channel. The bulla belonged to a Judahite government official, ‘the One Who Is Over the House’. The excavation of this bulla validates the authenticity of several other bullae bearing the same legend and clarifies both epigraphic and biblical attestations of the title ‘the One Who Is Over the House’.

* Full text of this article may not yet be posted, by publisher agreement. Feel free to contact me by email if you would like to access this article. Information on the journal issue is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ytav20/49/1?nav=tocList

Richey, Madadh. 2021. The ʿAzorbaʿl Bronze Fragment from Byblos: Reading Economy and Society in Early Phoenician. Semitica et classica 14: 201-22.

The present article offers a thorough re-edition of the tenth- or ninth-century B.C.E. ʿAzorbaʿl ... more The present article offers a thorough re-edition of the tenth- or ninth-century B.C.E. ʿAzorbaʿl bronze spatula inscription from Byblos (KAI 3), with attention to its epigraphic and palaeographic features, ancient use contexts, and metallic materiality. The text is interpreted as the record of a debt paid in smelted silver to ʿAzorbaʿl; this payment resolves previous economic relations between ʿAzorbaʿl and the individual on whose behalf the text was written. A newly secure epigraphic analysis is enabled by recent photographs, and the lexical analysis is supported by newly considered cognates for this inscription’s lexemes {nšbt} “smelted” and {mgšt( )} “tax(es)” in Egyptian Aramaic and biblical Hebrew, respectively.

* Full text of this article may not yet be posted, by publisher agreement. Feel free to contact me by email if you would like to access this article. Information on the journal volume is available here: http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503592411-1

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. 2021. Discovering Early Syrian Magic: New Aramaic Sources for a Long-Lost Art. Near Eastern Archaeology 84.4: 282–292.

by Jessie DeGrado and Madadh Richey

Near Eastern Archaeology, 2021

Few magical texts have been recovered from the Levant dating to the first millennium BCE. Three r... more Few magical texts have been recovered from the Levant dating to the first millennium BCE. Three recently published early Aramaic inscriptions help fill this lacuna: an inscribed cosmetic container from Zincirli, a Lamaštu amulet from the same site, and an Aramaic-inscribed Pazuzu statuette. These texts, dated paleographically to the ninth and eighth centuries BCE, afford a window onto local traditions in the Levant and their interactions with Mesopotamian magic. They also provide an impetus for a reanalysis of the infamous Arslan Tash amulets, offering further context for their texts and iconography.

Richey, Madadh. 2021. Goliath among the Giants: Monster Decapitation and Capital Display in 1 Samuel 17 and Beyond. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 45.3: 336-356.

A single verse near the conclusion of 1 Samuel 17 mentions that after defeating Goliath, David to... more A single verse near the conclusion of 1 Samuel 17 mentions that after defeating Goliath, David took the giant's severed head to Jerusalem (1 Sam. 17.54). The present paper argues that this text's communicating of David's preeminence through his act of decapitation draws on the widespread understanding of heads as uniquely powerful and vulnerable, while triumph over a giant or monstrous body casts the future Israelite king as uniquely dominant over monstrous enemies at the physical extreme. Narratives of monster-combat that center an adversary's head and its subsequent display are widespread; the present paper discusses the Gilgamesh/Ḫumbaba and Perseus/Medusa narratives, with their corresponding visual art manifestations, to show how the biblical allusion to monstrous capital display functions socially and literarily to constitute David's power.

Richey, Madadh. 2021. The Mesopotamian Demon Lamaštu and the Monstrosity of Gender Transgression. Pp. 145-56 in Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous, ed. Joseph Laycock and Natasha Mikles. Lanham: Lexington.

The abundant textual and visual artistic material relating to the Mesopotamian demon Lamaštu reve... more The abundant textual and visual artistic material relating to the Mesopotamian demon Lamaštu reveals that her monstrosity is regularly constituted with reference to gender, and specifically to Lamaštu's transgression of gendered norms. These include her perverse inability to fulfill societal functions coded as "female," as well as her idiosyncratic grooming habits. These gender failures are represented as catalysts that propel Lamaštu against human exemplars of typical femininity, and rituals to counter her often involve interpellating her as normatively feminine via accoutrements of domesticity. This paper examines these discursive moves and their literary and social implications with reference to contemporary queer and trans theory.

* For the volume, see: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793640253/Religion-Culture-and-the-Monstrous-Of-Gods-and-Monsters

Richey, Madadh. 2021. The Media and Materiality of Southern Levantine Inscriptions: Production and Reception Contexts. Pp. 29-39 in Scribes and Scribalism, ed. Mark Leuchter. The Hebrew Bible in Social Perspective 1. London: T&T Clark.

Inscriptions from the Iron Age southern Levant were written with and on a range of media. This ch... more Inscriptions from the Iron Age southern Levant were written with and on a range of media. This chapter explores several areas in which inscriptional media have important implications for biblical studies: (1) the manufacture of southern Levantine inscribed stone monuments; (2) the remains and implications of Iron Age Hebrew papyrus texts; and (3) the surprising variety of media on which texts similar to those of the Hebrew Bible are preserved.

* Full text of this chapter may not be posted, by publisher agreement. Feel free to contact me by email if you would like to access this chapter. For the volume, see: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/scribes-and-scribalism-9780567659743/

Richey, Madadh. 2020. The Image of the Dragon in RS 16.266 (= KTU1-3 1.83): Ugaritic √ṯrp and Its Syriac, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, and Mandaic Cognates. Journal of the American Oriental Society 140.2: 381-394

The fragmentary Ugaritic text RS 16.266 (= KTU 1-3 1.83) contains a number of lexical and other p... more The fragmentary Ugaritic text RS 16.266 (= KTU 1-3 1.83) contains a number of lexical and other problems exacerbated by the state of the tablet and difficulties in defining the plot and characters involved in the text. One of these lexical issues involves the analysis of two verbs that appear to be from the root √θrp. The Ugaritic word has a thus far unrecognized set of cognates in later Aramaic dialects, i.e., Syriac, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, and Mandaic. The verbs in this cognate set have the semantics 'to strike (esp. of a snake)', and thus clarify both the activity and morphology of the fearsome dragon described in RS 16.266.

Richey, Madadh. 2020. A Figurine with a Possible Early Aramaic Inscription. Tel Aviv 47.2: 237-245.

In 1883, the British Museum acquired an animal-shaped amulet claimed to be from Tartus. This arti... more In 1883, the British Museum acquired an animal-shaped amulet claimed to be from Tartus. This article interprets the five graphemes of the inscription, trztn, to be, if genuine, written in early Aramaic script, dated to the 9th or 8th centuries BCE. Most plausibly the inscription would consist of a flora-derived personal name, Tirzatan, likely that of the onetime owner of the amulet. Strengths and weaknesses of other interpretative options are also considered.

* See also an earlier publication that came to my attention in May 2021, courtesy of Andrew Burlingame: Charles Clermont-Ganneau, Les fraudes archéologiques en Palestine (Bibliothèque Orientale Elzévirienne 40; Paris: Leroux, 1885), 343-46.

Richey, Madadh. 2020. The Verb *√L(-)Đ ‘To Remove’ in Early Aramaic Curses and the Evolution of Aramaic Interdental Orthography and Phonology. Journal of Semitic Studies 65.1: 11-34.

Several verbal morphologies including the core orthography {ld} are attested in ninth-and eighth-... more Several verbal morphologies including the core orthography {ld} are attested in ninth-and eighth-century BCE Aramaic texts from Sefire and Tell Fekheriyeh. From their similar contexts, all can be demonstrated to have the semantics 'to remove', but scholars are divided as to the root source and precise phonology of these verbs. The present paper demonstrates that these {ld} verbs belong to a cognate set descendant from proto-Semitic *√l(-)ð. The representation of the reflex of the interdental *ð by {d} is a precocious development only attested broadly in later Aramaic, but its surfacing here can be rationalized by appeal to diachronic phonology, phonotactics and linguistic typology. The consistent employment of developed orthography for this root is perhaps related to the existence of a broad and consistent early Aramaic curse tradition.

Pardee, Dennis and Richey, Madadh. 2020. The Personal Name in Ugaritic Script pǵm˹w˺ (RS 10.052 iv 1) = Luwian piḫamuwa. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 72: 157-63.

The proposal is here offered to read the Ugaritic administrative text RS 10.052 iv 1 as containin... more

Richey, Madadh. 2019. The Thunder of the Prophets: Elijah and Elisha's גה''ר. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 131.2: 235-43.

In the prophetic narratives of 1 and 2 Kings, both Elijah and Elisha are said to have performed a... more In the prophetic narratives of 1 and 2 Kings, both Elijah and Elisha are said to have performed an action designated by the verbal root גה״ר , the former to call a storm (1 Kgs 18:42) and the latter to revive a child (2 Kgs 4:34–35). Building on recent work that has established this root to denote sound production, the present article introduces a Mandaic cognate verb that establishes the root to have had the more precise semantics »thunder.« The multiple potential implications of this sense are then explored in literary and historical context.

Richey, Madadh. 2019. Ch. 17 - The Alphabet and Its Legacy. Pp. 241-55 in The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, ed. Carolina López-Ruiz and Brian R. Doak. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of an already long tradition of alphab... more The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of an already long tradition of alphabetic writing and was itself adapted for use throughout the Mediterranean basin by numerous populations speaking many languages. The present contribution traces the origins of the alphabet in Sinai and the Levant before discussing different alphabetic standardizations in Ugarit and Phoenician Tyre. The complex adaptation of the latter for representation of the Greek language is described in detail, following which some brief attention is given to likely—e.g., Etruscan and other Italic alphabets—and possible—Iberian and Berber—descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. Finally, it is stressed that current research does not view the Phoenician and other alphabets as inherently simpler, more easily learned, or more democratic than other writing systems. The Phoenician alphabet remains, nevertheless, an impressive technological development worthy, especially by virtue of its generative power, of detailed study ranging from palaeographic and orthographic specifications to social and political contextualization.

** Full text of this article may not be posted, by publisher agreement. For the volume, see: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-phoenician-and-punic-mediterranean-9780190499341?cc=us&lang=en&#

Richey, Madadh. 2019. Ch. 16 - [Phoenician and Punic] Inscriptions. Pp. 223-40 in The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, ed. Carolina López-Ruiz and Brian R. Doak. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The corpus of Phoenician and Punic inscriptions encompasses approximately ten thousand texts dist... more The corpus of Phoenician and Punic inscriptions encompasses approximately ten thousand texts distributed primarily throughout the Mediterranean during the period between the tenth century BCE and the first century CE. The vast majority are incised or inked on durable metal and stone supports. These inscriptions are generally either formulaic and have dedicatory or funerary content or they are very short, for example, a personal name sufficing to mark ownership of an object. A few inscriptions, however, stand out for their religious, economic, or even magical content. In the present contribution, special emphasis is placed on such uniquely illuminating inscriptions, as well as on recent discoveries.

* Full text of this article may not be posted, by publisher agreement. For the volume, see: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-phoenician-and-punic-mediterranean-9780190499341?cc=us&lang=en&#

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. 2019. The Aramaic inscription of the Ashmolean Museum Pazuzu statuette and ancient Middle Eastern Magic. Semitica et classica 12: 17–64

by Jessie DeGrado and Madadh Richey

Semitica et classica, 2019

A bronze Pazuzu statuette (AN 1892.43), gifted to the Ashmolean Museum by Greville John Chester i... more A bronze Pazuzu statuette (AN 1892.43), gifted to the Ashmolean Museum by Greville John Chester in 1892 and allegedly from Tanis, bears on its legs a four-line Aramaic inscription that has never been satisfactorily read. Based on autopsy and RTI (reflectance transformation imaging) photography undertaken at the Ashmolean in October 2016, the authors present a decipherment and multifaceted paleographic, linguistic, and contextual discussion of this unique early Aramaic inscription dating to ca. 725–700 BCE. The inscription gives brief instructions for the placement of a protective figure called “Sassām” at the pillows and bed of an unnamed individual and enjoins that figure to guard and perhaps drive away evil from these locations. This figurine and its inscription witness several similarities to Mesopotamian magical texts and visual art describing protection of a sickbed from harmful forces. This shows that Aramaic-writers of the early first millennium creatively adapted broader ancient Middle Eastern magical discourse.

Une statuette en bronze de Pazuzu (AN 1892.43), offerte au musée Ashmolean par Greville John Chester en 1892 et prétendument de Tanis, porte sur ses jambes une inscription araméenne de quatre lignes qui n’a jamais été lue de façon satisfaisante. Sur la base d’une autopsie et de la photographie RTI (reflectance transformation imaging, imagerie par transformation de la réflectance) entreprise à l’Ashmolean en octobre 2016, les auteurs présentent un déchiffrement et une discussion à la fois paléographique, linguistique et contextuelle de cette inscription exceptionnelle en araméen ancien, datant d’environ 725-700 avant notre ère. L’inscription donne de brèves instructions pour le placement d’une figurine protectrice appelée « Sassām » près des oreillers et du lit d’un individu qui n’est pas nommé et enjoint à cette figurine de protéger ces lieux et peut-être aussi d’en chasser le mal. Cette figurine et son inscription attestent plusieurs similitudes avec les textes magiques mésopotamiens et les arts visuels décrivant la protection d’un lit de malade contre les forces nuisibles. Cela montre que les scribes araméens du début du premier millénaire ont adapté de manière créative le discours magique du Proche-Orient ancien.

Pardee, Dennis and Richey, Madadh. 2019.* Le texte ougaritique RS 16.266 : vue d'ensemble. Ugarit-Forschungen 50: 313-57 [*published November 2020]

This study presents a full edition of the Ugaritic literary text RS 16.266 (KTU 1.83), the so-cal... more This study presents a full edition of the Ugaritic literary text RS 16.266 (KTU 1.83), the so-called "Binding of Yamm" text discovered at Ras Shamra in 1952 and previously edited by Virolleaud (1957 PRU II no. 3) and Pitard (1998 [JNES 57]), among others. The edition includes a hand copy (p. 357), transliteration (p. 317), translation (pp. 320-21), and commentary. The text is reconstructed as narrating an address of 'Ilu to Yammu (with his ally Tunnanu and by his alternative name Naharu). The text may represent a parallel to a lost narrative sequence from the first tablet of the Baal Cycle (RS 3.361 iii = CTA 1 IV).

Richey, Madadh; Vanderhooft, David S.; and Lipschits, Oded. 2019. Two Private Babylonian Period Stamp Impressions from Ramat Rahel. Maarav 23.2: 289-306.

by Madadh Richey, David S Vanderhooft, and Oded Lipschits

The present paper makes available two Babylonian-period private stamp impressions that originate ... more The present paper makes available two Babylonian-period private stamp impressions that originate from the large Babylonian-Persian Pit at Ramat Raḥel. They illuminate the survival of and modifications to the Iron Age private seal impression phenomenon in Judah. These inscriptions also contribute to our understanding of the development of the Aramaic script in the sixth century b.c.e., which has been enhanced by the recent publication of two substantial corpora of monumental inscriptions.1 The script may be contextualized with reference to general developments throughout the Imperial Period, that is, ca. 700–200 b.c.e., the period in which the Aramaic language and script were adopted by eastern imperial powers: Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. The stamps from Ramat Raḥel not only illuminate this tendency but also represent the last vestiges of a disappearing Iron Age order and the first hints of a reoriented system.

A New Type of Yehud Stamp Impression: yhwd / gdlyh

by David S Vanderhooft, Madadh Richey, and Oded Lipschits

Israel Exploration Journal, 2019

This article presents a single stamp impression on a jar handle recovered in 2011 from the so-cal... more This article presents a single stamp impression on a jar handle
recovered in 2011 from the so-called ‘Babylonian-Persian pit’ at Ramat Raḥel.The seal was incised in the positive and the impression reads, in reverse, yhwd /gdlyh, ‘Yĕhûd Gĕdalyāh’, showing that it clearly belongs in the Yehud stamp impression corpus. It displays similarities to type 11 stamp impressions, which were also incised in the positive, and reads, in two lines, gdlyh. Without making a definitive identification of the individual named in the two different seal types, we recognize several similarities with the type 11 stamp impressions (now labeled ‘type 11a’) and label the new seal ‘type 11b’. Palaeographical, archaeological and typological characteristics suggest that the new stamp impression type is among the last of the so-called early types and should probably be dated to the latter half of the fifth century BCE.

Richey, Madadh. 2018.* Ugaritic monsters I: The ˁatūku “Bound One” and its Sumerian parallels. Ugarit-Forschungen 49: 333-65. [*published February 2020]

The Ugaritic epic poem Baˁlu includes in its third tablet a scene in which the goddess ˁAnatu lis... more The Ugaritic epic poem Baˁlu includes in its third tablet a scene in which the goddess ˁAnatu lists for Baˁlu’s envoys her various conquests (RS 2.[014+ iii 38' 46' [= KTU1–3 1.3]). Among these are several entities of unclear identification, including an {ˁgl . ỉl . ˁtk} ˁiglu ˀIli ˁTK, “the calf of ˀIlu, ˁTK.” The name of this {ˁtk} has only rarely been discussed, and most scholars prefer to transliterate this and the other mysterious monster epithets in this passage. The present contribution compares the appellation {ˁtk} to other occurrences of the Ugaritic root √ˁtk “bind” and to images of enemies in Sumerian literature as “bound bulls” to arrive at the suggestion that {ˁgl . ỉl . ˁtk} should be analyzed as ˁiglu ˀIli ˁatūku (G passive participle), “the calf of ˀIlu, the Bound One” The productivity of comparison across linguistic and geographical borders complicates those models of combat myth transmission that have assumed distinct “Levantine” and “Mesopotamian” mythological spheres. It is argued that the present comparison is further evidence that patterns of influence and intersection are more complex than is generally admitted and that text-derived models for the reconstruction of mythological traditions have not adequately accounted for the variety of processes involved in composition, communication, and reception

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. 2022. An Aramaic Ritual for Burning Straw in Sefire IA:36-37. Aramaic Studies 20.2: 111–133

by Jessie DeGrado and Madadh Richey

The Old Aramaic inscription Sefire i (KAI 222) includes, in a series of mimetic curses, a debated... more The Old Aramaic inscription Sefire i (KAI 222) includes, in a series of mimetic curses, a debated clause that has been read by most previous scholars to involve a mysterious {gnbʾ} gannābaʾ(?) 'thief' , which (or who?) is symbolically burned (Sefire IA:36-37). The present article argues that there are lexicographic (cognates in later Aramaic dialects) and phonological (geminate prenasalization) grounds for understanding {gnbʾ} to encode instead ganbaʾ (< *gabbaʾ) 'straw'. The burning of this straw to symbolize consequences should a treaty partner renege has clear parallels in Mesopotamian and Syro-Anatolian magical and ritual language, including treaty curses, and produces a more typical image in a list of mimetic curses involving materials (wax), objects (a bow and arrow), and animals (a calf).

Richey, Madadh. 2022. The Child’s Sickbed in the Elijah and Elisha Narratives: Safeguarding Ritual Space in 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 4. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 84.3: 385-403.

In the healing narratives of 1 Kgs 17:17-24 and 2 Kgs 4:18-37, the men of god Elijah and Elisha c... more In the healing narratives of 1 Kgs 17:17-24 and 2 Kgs 4:18-37, the men of god Elijah and Elisha cure nearly or already dead children by positioning them in the prophets’ own beds and enacting ritual praxes. Attention to neglected dimensions of ritual space in these narratives reveals two significations of the foregrounded sickbeds. Images of these beds as both ominous portents and a protected loci stand in tension throughout the texts. Epigraphic and visual artistic artifacts from Mesopotamia and the northern Levant illustrate the widespread nature of sickbed discourse in the ancient Middle East, and comparison of the Elijah and Elisha narratives to such material illuminates the aims of the present texts in linking ritual space and privileged ritual practitioner.

Vanderhooft, David S.; Richey, Madadh; and Shukron, Eli. 2022. A Bulla of 'Adoniyahu, the One Who Is Over the House, from beneath Robinson's Arch in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv 49.1: 54-66.

by Madadh Richey and David S Vanderhooft

The present paper publishes a new, nearly complete bulla excavated in 2013 beneath Robinson’s Arc... more The present paper publishes a new, nearly complete bulla excavated in 2013 beneath Robinson’s Arch in Jerusalem. It was first identified in 2019 during sifting of soil excavated from a Roman-era drainage channel. The bulla belonged to a Judahite government official, ‘the One Who Is Over the House’. The excavation of this bulla validates the authenticity of several other bullae bearing the same legend and clarifies both epigraphic and biblical attestations of the title ‘the One Who Is Over the House’.

* Full text of this article may not yet be posted, by publisher agreement. Feel free to contact me by email if you would like to access this article. Information on the journal issue is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ytav20/49/1?nav=tocList

Richey, Madadh. 2021. The ʿAzorbaʿl Bronze Fragment from Byblos: Reading Economy and Society in Early Phoenician. Semitica et classica 14: 201-22.

The present article offers a thorough re-edition of the tenth- or ninth-century B.C.E. ʿAzorbaʿl ... more The present article offers a thorough re-edition of the tenth- or ninth-century B.C.E. ʿAzorbaʿl bronze spatula inscription from Byblos (KAI 3), with attention to its epigraphic and palaeographic features, ancient use contexts, and metallic materiality. The text is interpreted as the record of a debt paid in smelted silver to ʿAzorbaʿl; this payment resolves previous economic relations between ʿAzorbaʿl and the individual on whose behalf the text was written. A newly secure epigraphic analysis is enabled by recent photographs, and the lexical analysis is supported by newly considered cognates for this inscription’s lexemes {nšbt} “smelted” and {mgšt( )} “tax(es)” in Egyptian Aramaic and biblical Hebrew, respectively.

* Full text of this article may not yet be posted, by publisher agreement. Feel free to contact me by email if you would like to access this article. Information on the journal volume is available here: http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503592411-1

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. 2021. Discovering Early Syrian Magic: New Aramaic Sources for a Long-Lost Art. Near Eastern Archaeology 84.4: 282–292.

by Jessie DeGrado and Madadh Richey

Near Eastern Archaeology, 2021

Few magical texts have been recovered from the Levant dating to the first millennium BCE. Three r... more Few magical texts have been recovered from the Levant dating to the first millennium BCE. Three recently published early Aramaic inscriptions help fill this lacuna: an inscribed cosmetic container from Zincirli, a Lamaštu amulet from the same site, and an Aramaic-inscribed Pazuzu statuette. These texts, dated paleographically to the ninth and eighth centuries BCE, afford a window onto local traditions in the Levant and their interactions with Mesopotamian magic. They also provide an impetus for a reanalysis of the infamous Arslan Tash amulets, offering further context for their texts and iconography.

Richey, Madadh. 2021. Goliath among the Giants: Monster Decapitation and Capital Display in 1 Samuel 17 and Beyond. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 45.3: 336-356.

A single verse near the conclusion of 1 Samuel 17 mentions that after defeating Goliath, David to... more A single verse near the conclusion of 1 Samuel 17 mentions that after defeating Goliath, David took the giant's severed head to Jerusalem (1 Sam. 17.54). The present paper argues that this text's communicating of David's preeminence through his act of decapitation draws on the widespread understanding of heads as uniquely powerful and vulnerable, while triumph over a giant or monstrous body casts the future Israelite king as uniquely dominant over monstrous enemies at the physical extreme. Narratives of monster-combat that center an adversary's head and its subsequent display are widespread; the present paper discusses the Gilgamesh/Ḫumbaba and Perseus/Medusa narratives, with their corresponding visual art manifestations, to show how the biblical allusion to monstrous capital display functions socially and literarily to constitute David's power.

Richey, Madadh. 2021. The Mesopotamian Demon Lamaštu and the Monstrosity of Gender Transgression. Pp. 145-56 in Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous, ed. Joseph Laycock and Natasha Mikles. Lanham: Lexington.

The abundant textual and visual artistic material relating to the Mesopotamian demon Lamaštu reve... more The abundant textual and visual artistic material relating to the Mesopotamian demon Lamaštu reveals that her monstrosity is regularly constituted with reference to gender, and specifically to Lamaštu's transgression of gendered norms. These include her perverse inability to fulfill societal functions coded as "female," as well as her idiosyncratic grooming habits. These gender failures are represented as catalysts that propel Lamaštu against human exemplars of typical femininity, and rituals to counter her often involve interpellating her as normatively feminine via accoutrements of domesticity. This paper examines these discursive moves and their literary and social implications with reference to contemporary queer and trans theory.

* For the volume, see: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793640253/Religion-Culture-and-the-Monstrous-Of-Gods-and-Monsters

Richey, Madadh. 2021. The Media and Materiality of Southern Levantine Inscriptions: Production and Reception Contexts. Pp. 29-39 in Scribes and Scribalism, ed. Mark Leuchter. The Hebrew Bible in Social Perspective 1. London: T&T Clark.

Inscriptions from the Iron Age southern Levant were written with and on a range of media. This ch... more Inscriptions from the Iron Age southern Levant were written with and on a range of media. This chapter explores several areas in which inscriptional media have important implications for biblical studies: (1) the manufacture of southern Levantine inscribed stone monuments; (2) the remains and implications of Iron Age Hebrew papyrus texts; and (3) the surprising variety of media on which texts similar to those of the Hebrew Bible are preserved.

* Full text of this chapter may not be posted, by publisher agreement. Feel free to contact me by email if you would like to access this chapter. For the volume, see: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/scribes-and-scribalism-9780567659743/

Richey, Madadh. 2020. The Image of the Dragon in RS 16.266 (= KTU1-3 1.83): Ugaritic √ṯrp and Its Syriac, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, and Mandaic Cognates. Journal of the American Oriental Society 140.2: 381-394

The fragmentary Ugaritic text RS 16.266 (= KTU 1-3 1.83) contains a number of lexical and other p... more The fragmentary Ugaritic text RS 16.266 (= KTU 1-3 1.83) contains a number of lexical and other problems exacerbated by the state of the tablet and difficulties in defining the plot and characters involved in the text. One of these lexical issues involves the analysis of two verbs that appear to be from the root √θrp. The Ugaritic word has a thus far unrecognized set of cognates in later Aramaic dialects, i.e., Syriac, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, and Mandaic. The verbs in this cognate set have the semantics 'to strike (esp. of a snake)', and thus clarify both the activity and morphology of the fearsome dragon described in RS 16.266.

Richey, Madadh. 2020. A Figurine with a Possible Early Aramaic Inscription. Tel Aviv 47.2: 237-245.

In 1883, the British Museum acquired an animal-shaped amulet claimed to be from Tartus. This arti... more In 1883, the British Museum acquired an animal-shaped amulet claimed to be from Tartus. This article interprets the five graphemes of the inscription, trztn, to be, if genuine, written in early Aramaic script, dated to the 9th or 8th centuries BCE. Most plausibly the inscription would consist of a flora-derived personal name, Tirzatan, likely that of the onetime owner of the amulet. Strengths and weaknesses of other interpretative options are also considered.

* See also an earlier publication that came to my attention in May 2021, courtesy of Andrew Burlingame: Charles Clermont-Ganneau, Les fraudes archéologiques en Palestine (Bibliothèque Orientale Elzévirienne 40; Paris: Leroux, 1885), 343-46.

Richey, Madadh. 2020. The Verb *√L(-)Đ ‘To Remove’ in Early Aramaic Curses and the Evolution of Aramaic Interdental Orthography and Phonology. Journal of Semitic Studies 65.1: 11-34.

Several verbal morphologies including the core orthography {ld} are attested in ninth-and eighth-... more Several verbal morphologies including the core orthography {ld} are attested in ninth-and eighth-century BCE Aramaic texts from Sefire and Tell Fekheriyeh. From their similar contexts, all can be demonstrated to have the semantics 'to remove', but scholars are divided as to the root source and precise phonology of these verbs. The present paper demonstrates that these {ld} verbs belong to a cognate set descendant from proto-Semitic *√l(-)ð. The representation of the reflex of the interdental *ð by {d} is a precocious development only attested broadly in later Aramaic, but its surfacing here can be rationalized by appeal to diachronic phonology, phonotactics and linguistic typology. The consistent employment of developed orthography for this root is perhaps related to the existence of a broad and consistent early Aramaic curse tradition.

Pardee, Dennis and Richey, Madadh. 2020. The Personal Name in Ugaritic Script pǵm˹w˺ (RS 10.052 iv 1) = Luwian piḫamuwa. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 72: 157-63.

The proposal is here offered to read the Ugaritic administrative text RS 10.052 iv 1 as containin... more

Richey, Madadh. 2019. The Thunder of the Prophets: Elijah and Elisha's גה''ר. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 131.2: 235-43.

In the prophetic narratives of 1 and 2 Kings, both Elijah and Elisha are said to have performed a... more In the prophetic narratives of 1 and 2 Kings, both Elijah and Elisha are said to have performed an action designated by the verbal root גה״ר , the former to call a storm (1 Kgs 18:42) and the latter to revive a child (2 Kgs 4:34–35). Building on recent work that has established this root to denote sound production, the present article introduces a Mandaic cognate verb that establishes the root to have had the more precise semantics »thunder.« The multiple potential implications of this sense are then explored in literary and historical context.

Richey, Madadh. 2019. Ch. 17 - The Alphabet and Its Legacy. Pp. 241-55 in The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, ed. Carolina López-Ruiz and Brian R. Doak. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of an already long tradition of alphab... more The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of an already long tradition of alphabetic writing and was itself adapted for use throughout the Mediterranean basin by numerous populations speaking many languages. The present contribution traces the origins of the alphabet in Sinai and the Levant before discussing different alphabetic standardizations in Ugarit and Phoenician Tyre. The complex adaptation of the latter for representation of the Greek language is described in detail, following which some brief attention is given to likely—e.g., Etruscan and other Italic alphabets—and possible—Iberian and Berber—descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. Finally, it is stressed that current research does not view the Phoenician and other alphabets as inherently simpler, more easily learned, or more democratic than other writing systems. The Phoenician alphabet remains, nevertheless, an impressive technological development worthy, especially by virtue of its generative power, of detailed study ranging from palaeographic and orthographic specifications to social and political contextualization.

** Full text of this article may not be posted, by publisher agreement. For the volume, see: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-phoenician-and-punic-mediterranean-9780190499341?cc=us&lang=en&#

Richey, Madadh. 2019. Ch. 16 - [Phoenician and Punic] Inscriptions. Pp. 223-40 in The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, ed. Carolina López-Ruiz and Brian R. Doak. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The corpus of Phoenician and Punic inscriptions encompasses approximately ten thousand texts dist... more The corpus of Phoenician and Punic inscriptions encompasses approximately ten thousand texts distributed primarily throughout the Mediterranean during the period between the tenth century BCE and the first century CE. The vast majority are incised or inked on durable metal and stone supports. These inscriptions are generally either formulaic and have dedicatory or funerary content or they are very short, for example, a personal name sufficing to mark ownership of an object. A few inscriptions, however, stand out for their religious, economic, or even magical content. In the present contribution, special emphasis is placed on such uniquely illuminating inscriptions, as well as on recent discoveries.

* Full text of this article may not be posted, by publisher agreement. For the volume, see: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-phoenician-and-punic-mediterranean-9780190499341?cc=us&lang=en&#

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. 2019. The Aramaic inscription of the Ashmolean Museum Pazuzu statuette and ancient Middle Eastern Magic. Semitica et classica 12: 17–64

by Jessie DeGrado and Madadh Richey

Semitica et classica, 2019

A bronze Pazuzu statuette (AN 1892.43), gifted to the Ashmolean Museum by Greville John Chester i... more A bronze Pazuzu statuette (AN 1892.43), gifted to the Ashmolean Museum by Greville John Chester in 1892 and allegedly from Tanis, bears on its legs a four-line Aramaic inscription that has never been satisfactorily read. Based on autopsy and RTI (reflectance transformation imaging) photography undertaken at the Ashmolean in October 2016, the authors present a decipherment and multifaceted paleographic, linguistic, and contextual discussion of this unique early Aramaic inscription dating to ca. 725–700 BCE. The inscription gives brief instructions for the placement of a protective figure called “Sassām” at the pillows and bed of an unnamed individual and enjoins that figure to guard and perhaps drive away evil from these locations. This figurine and its inscription witness several similarities to Mesopotamian magical texts and visual art describing protection of a sickbed from harmful forces. This shows that Aramaic-writers of the early first millennium creatively adapted broader ancient Middle Eastern magical discourse.

Une statuette en bronze de Pazuzu (AN 1892.43), offerte au musée Ashmolean par Greville John Chester en 1892 et prétendument de Tanis, porte sur ses jambes une inscription araméenne de quatre lignes qui n’a jamais été lue de façon satisfaisante. Sur la base d’une autopsie et de la photographie RTI (reflectance transformation imaging, imagerie par transformation de la réflectance) entreprise à l’Ashmolean en octobre 2016, les auteurs présentent un déchiffrement et une discussion à la fois paléographique, linguistique et contextuelle de cette inscription exceptionnelle en araméen ancien, datant d’environ 725-700 avant notre ère. L’inscription donne de brèves instructions pour le placement d’une figurine protectrice appelée « Sassām » près des oreillers et du lit d’un individu qui n’est pas nommé et enjoint à cette figurine de protéger ces lieux et peut-être aussi d’en chasser le mal. Cette figurine et son inscription attestent plusieurs similitudes avec les textes magiques mésopotamiens et les arts visuels décrivant la protection d’un lit de malade contre les forces nuisibles. Cela montre que les scribes araméens du début du premier millénaire ont adapté de manière créative le discours magique du Proche-Orient ancien.

Pardee, Dennis and Richey, Madadh. 2019.* Le texte ougaritique RS 16.266 : vue d'ensemble. Ugarit-Forschungen 50: 313-57 [*published November 2020]

This study presents a full edition of the Ugaritic literary text RS 16.266 (KTU 1.83), the so-cal... more This study presents a full edition of the Ugaritic literary text RS 16.266 (KTU 1.83), the so-called "Binding of Yamm" text discovered at Ras Shamra in 1952 and previously edited by Virolleaud (1957 PRU II no. 3) and Pitard (1998 [JNES 57]), among others. The edition includes a hand copy (p. 357), transliteration (p. 317), translation (pp. 320-21), and commentary. The text is reconstructed as narrating an address of 'Ilu to Yammu (with his ally Tunnanu and by his alternative name Naharu). The text may represent a parallel to a lost narrative sequence from the first tablet of the Baal Cycle (RS 3.361 iii = CTA 1 IV).

Richey, Madadh; Vanderhooft, David S.; and Lipschits, Oded. 2019. Two Private Babylonian Period Stamp Impressions from Ramat Rahel. Maarav 23.2: 289-306.

by Madadh Richey, David S Vanderhooft, and Oded Lipschits

The present paper makes available two Babylonian-period private stamp impressions that originate ... more The present paper makes available two Babylonian-period private stamp impressions that originate from the large Babylonian-Persian Pit at Ramat Raḥel. They illuminate the survival of and modifications to the Iron Age private seal impression phenomenon in Judah. These inscriptions also contribute to our understanding of the development of the Aramaic script in the sixth century b.c.e., which has been enhanced by the recent publication of two substantial corpora of monumental inscriptions.1 The script may be contextualized with reference to general developments throughout the Imperial Period, that is, ca. 700–200 b.c.e., the period in which the Aramaic language and script were adopted by eastern imperial powers: Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. The stamps from Ramat Raḥel not only illuminate this tendency but also represent the last vestiges of a disappearing Iron Age order and the first hints of a reoriented system.

A New Type of Yehud Stamp Impression: yhwd / gdlyh

by David S Vanderhooft, Madadh Richey, and Oded Lipschits

Israel Exploration Journal, 2019

This article presents a single stamp impression on a jar handle recovered in 2011 from the so-cal... more This article presents a single stamp impression on a jar handle
recovered in 2011 from the so-called ‘Babylonian-Persian pit’ at Ramat Raḥel.The seal was incised in the positive and the impression reads, in reverse, yhwd /gdlyh, ‘Yĕhûd Gĕdalyāh’, showing that it clearly belongs in the Yehud stamp impression corpus. It displays similarities to type 11 stamp impressions, which were also incised in the positive, and reads, in two lines, gdlyh. Without making a definitive identification of the individual named in the two different seal types, we recognize several similarities with the type 11 stamp impressions (now labeled ‘type 11a’) and label the new seal ‘type 11b’. Palaeographical, archaeological and typological characteristics suggest that the new stamp impression type is among the last of the so-called early types and should probably be dated to the latter half of the fifth century BCE.

Richey, Madadh. 2018.* Ugaritic monsters I: The ˁatūku “Bound One” and its Sumerian parallels. Ugarit-Forschungen 49: 333-65. [*published February 2020]

The Ugaritic epic poem Baˁlu includes in its third tablet a scene in which the goddess ˁAnatu lis... more The Ugaritic epic poem Baˁlu includes in its third tablet a scene in which the goddess ˁAnatu lists for Baˁlu’s envoys her various conquests (RS 2.[014+ iii 38' 46' [= KTU1–3 1.3]). Among these are several entities of unclear identification, including an {ˁgl . ỉl . ˁtk} ˁiglu ˀIli ˁTK, “the calf of ˀIlu, ˁTK.” The name of this {ˁtk} has only rarely been discussed, and most scholars prefer to transliterate this and the other mysterious monster epithets in this passage. The present contribution compares the appellation {ˁtk} to other occurrences of the Ugaritic root √ˁtk “bind” and to images of enemies in Sumerian literature as “bound bulls” to arrive at the suggestion that {ˁgl . ỉl . ˁtk} should be analyzed as ˁiglu ˀIli ˁatūku (G passive participle), “the calf of ˀIlu, the Bound One” The productivity of comparison across linguistic and geographical borders complicates those models of combat myth transmission that have assumed distinct “Levantine” and “Mesopotamian” mythological spheres. It is argued that the present comparison is further evidence that patterns of influence and intersection are more complex than is generally admitted and that text-derived models for the reconstruction of mythological traditions have not adequately accounted for the variety of processes involved in composition, communication, and reception

Richey, Madadh. 2022. Review of Idan Dershowitz, _The Valediction of Moses_ (FAT I 145; Mohr Siebeck, 2021). AJS Review 46: 405-407.

Reviewed volume: https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/the-valediction-of-moses-9783161606441/

Richey, Madadh. 2020. Review of Basil Glynn, _The Mummy on Screen_ (Bloomsbury, 2020). Journal of Gods and Monsters 1: 57-59.

Reviewed volume: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mummy-on-screen-9781350194830/.