Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The article explores whether key features of Babylonian textual standardisation may have may have influenced basic patterns of text and commentary in the Babylonian Talmud. The paper takes the view that canonicity is a complex process involving different levels of standardising texts. On the whole, canonicity preserved major texts (like Gilgamesh, the Bible, the Hippocratic Corpus), but others considered as non-canonical (or ‘outside’) could still be used for explanatory purposes. The structure of the Babylonian Talmud (Mishnah, Gemara, Tosephta-based Beraitôt) serves as a useful model for comparison with earlier cuneiform compendia.
Author: Markham J. Geller
Institutions: University College London, Freie Universität Berlin
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: H2020 European Research Council
Award: G5113771337
OpenAlex ID: W3097657661