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Panbabylonism (also known as Panbabylonianism) was the school of thought that considered the cultures and religions of the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and civilization in general to be ultimately derived from Babylonian myths which in turn they viewed as being based on
Babylonian astronomy
Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia.
Babylonian astronomy seemed to have focused on a select group of stars and constellations known as Ziqpu stars. These constellations m ...
, often in hidden ways.
Overview
A related school of thought is the Bible-Babel school, which regarded the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
and
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
to be directly derived from
Mesopotamian (Babylonian) mythology; both are forms of
hyperdiffusionism in archaeology.
Both theories were popular in Germany, and Panbabylonism remained popular from the late 19th century to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Prominent advocates included
Friedrich Delitzsch
Friedrich Delitzsch (; 3 September 1850 – 19 December 1922) was a German Assyriologist. He was the son of Lutheran theologian Franz Delitzsch (1813–1890).
Born in Erlangen, he studied in Leipzig and Berlin, gaining his habilitation in 1874 as ...
,
Peter Jensen,
Alfred Jeremias Alfred Karl Gabriel Jeremias (24 February 1864 in Chemnitz, Kingdom of Saxony – 11 January 1935) was a German pastor, Assyriology, Assyriologist and an expert on the religions of the ancient Near East.
Life
In 1891 he published the first Ger ...
and
Hugo Winckler
Hugo Winckler (4 July 1863 – 19 April 1913) was a German archaeologist and historian who uncovered the capital of the Hittite Empire (Hattusa) at Boğazkale, Turkey.
A student of the languages of the ancient Middle East, he wrote extens ...
.
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
Franz Xaver Kugler (27 November 1862 – 25 January 1929) was a German chemist, mathematician, Assyriologist, and Jesuit priest..
Kugler was born in Königsbach, Palatinate, then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. He earned a Ph.D. in chemist ...
(a Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
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. ]
See also
*Astrotheology
Astrotheology, astral mysticism, astral religion, astral or stellar theology (also referred to as astral or star worship) is the worship of the stars (individually or together as the night sky), the planets, and other heavenly bodies as deities, ...
*Ancient Semitic religion
Ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic peoples from the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa. Since the term ''Semitic'' itself represents a rough category when referring to cultures, as opposed to lan ...
* Christianity and Paganism
*Comparative mythology
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.Littleton, p. 32 Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used ...
*Comparative religion
Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...
*Mesopotamian religion
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syriac Ch ...
* Sumerian King Alulim as biblical Adam
*''The Two Babylons
''The Two Babylons'', subtitled ''Romanism and its Origins,'' is a book that started out as a religious pamphlet published in 1853 by the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland theologian Alexander Hislop (1807–65).
Its central theme is the ar ...
''
References
{{Reflist
Further reading
*Anonymous. (1912)
''Some Recent Books on Panbabylonism''
''Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review'' 1 (3): 563–578.
*G. H. Richardson. (1916)
''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
Panbabylonism
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003.
by Gary D. Thompson.
Assyriology
Babylonia
Biblical criticism
Comparative mythology
Judaism and other religions
Mesopotamian mythology
Fringe theories
Obsolete scientific theories
Hyperdiffusionism