Bronze Age World

Reading ancient testimony

Ask who produced the document, for whom, and for what purpose. Distinguish its ancient creation from its modern edition or translation. Survival and excavation shape what can be read today.

Use the linked edition and reliability notes for the author, audience, transmission and limits of this particular source. Missing information is not an assurance of neutrality.

Document and modern access

Type: edited scholarly volume
Publication: Brill

Open DOI or stable record (opens in a new tab)

Records informed by this source

entity Deir Alla Balaam plaster texts
Evidence confidence: high
informs · critiques interpretation · re-evaluated readings and language discussion
Provides competing reconstructions.
entity Biblical Balaam traditions
Evidence confidence: moderate
informs · critiques interpretation · comparative studies
Documents alternative relationships.
date assertion Biblical Balaam traditions — date assertion
informs · critiques interpretation · comparative studies
Documents alternative relationships.
event Production and destruction context of the Deir Alla Balaam plaster texts
Evidence confidence: high
informs · critiques interpretation · re-evaluated readings
Provides alternatives.
myth interpretation Balaam as a shared Northwest Semitic seer tradition
Evidence confidence: moderate
informs · critiques interpretation · alternative readings and relationships
Preserves uncertainty.
date assertion Production and destruction context of the Deir Alla Balaam plaster texts — date assertion
Evidence confidence: high
informs · critiques interpretation · re-evaluated readings
Provides alternatives.
date assertion Deir Alla Balaam plaster texts — date assertion
Evidence confidence: moderate
informs · critiques interpretation · re-evaluation
Provides alternatives.
claim The Deir Alla and biblical Balaam traditions share a named seer and motifs, but direct textual dependence in either direction is not demonstrated.
Evidence confidence: high
informs · critiques interpretation · re-evaluated text and comparisons
Preserves alternatives.
relationship Research record — associated with
Evidence confidence: moderate
supports · critiques interpretation · alternative readings and relationships
Preserves uncertainty.