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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture An interesting passage. Apparently written in Aramaic by someone whose first or better language was Hebrew, but who also knew Neo-Babylonian (Akkadian). The mene, mene, tekel, parsin words appear to many observers as Neo-Babylonian, but Aramaic is so close, it could be debated. The text explaining the words are in Aramaic, except that the word for 'balances' is borrowed from Hebrew, and apparently not a common Aramaic term. But, yes, the balance image is clearly here, and serves as a symbol of judgment. V. K. Inman Quoting DANIEL KLINE <[log in to unmask]>: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > This is way out of my area of expertise, but isn't there also Daniel's > interpretation of the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast in > Daniel 5 (mene, mene, tekel, parsin)--you've been weighed in the > balance and found wanting. The scales as an image of judgment? > > Best from Anchorage, > > Dan > > _________________________________________ > Daniel T. Kline > Associate Professor of English > U of Alaska Anchorage > Anchorage, Alaska 99508 > 907-786-4364 | [log in to unmask] > hosting.uaa.alaska.edu/afdtk/ect_main.htm > > "Fortunately, I keep my feathers > numbered for just such an emergency." > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ms Brenda M. Cook" <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Sunday, January 30, 2005 5:45 am > Subject: Re: Christianization of Eastern motifs > > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and > > culture > > > One of the clearest eastern motifs that was actually Christianized, > > however, was the > > > weighing of souls in Last Judgement images. Even though one of > > the four > > riders in > > > Revelations holds a pair of scales, the weighing imagery itself > > can be > > traced quite > > > precisely back to New Kingdom Egypt, where books of the dead > > contained> illustrations of Osiris (or Thoth?) weighing souls. > > According to Louis > > Reau, it was > > > Coptic Christians who first adapted this motif to a Christian > > context. > > > > Is it not the Archangel St Michael who holds the scales (=Balance) > > in which > > to weigh souls ? And doesn't Chaucer have a reference somewhere > > to "St > > Michael's weigh"? > > > > Brenda M.C. > > > > > > > > -- > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.4 - Release Date: 25/01/05 > > > > > ********************************************************************** > > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > > to: [log in to unmask] > > To send a message to the list, address it to: > > [log in to unmask] > > To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion > > to: [log in to unmask] > > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write > to: > > [log in to unmask] > > For further information, visit our web site: > > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > > > > > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html