Resistence to Greco-Roman Culture in the Ancient Middle East

Abstract

The present article is essentially a defense of Aviva Butt’s forthcoming book, The Tradition of the First Temple: with a new translation of the Book of Daniel, the Book of Nahum, and the Song of Songs. In some measure, the article also defends Soran Hamarash’s book (2022), The Lost and Untold History of the Kurds: Rediscovering the Beginning of the Western Civilisation and the Origin of the Indo-European Languages ca.10000 BCE-1300 CE: Slemany, 1st Edition. The former is by the well-known translator of Salim Barakat’s poems and narrative Sages of Darkness. The latter is by a dedicated Kurdish scholar, a linguist and historian who sees his research as being to access primary sources, leaving interpretation to others. As he himself comes from Slemany (Arabic: Sulaymaniyah), a city rich in history in the Kurdistan Region of today’s Iraq, his book is more-or-less a Primary Source in itself. Likewise, the ancient historian Josephus, author of Antiquities, who sometimes records events he may have witnessed. Aviva Butt brings into focus the Adiabenes (roughly speaking, proto-Kurds) and Judeans who eventually entered a formal alliance. The manner of the alliance is documented in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Daniel.

Keywords

• Adiabene
• Book of Daniel
• Kurdish history
• Greco-Roman culture
• conversion
• translation
• Judaism
• Middle East

References

1. Adiabene. (n.d.). The Persians. https://www.the-Persians.co.uk/adiabene.htm
2. Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (n.d.). BDB lexicon: Biblical Hebrew and list of Aramaic. Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/BDB?tab=contents
3. Butt, A. (2025). The tradition of the First Temple: With a new translation of the Book of Daniel, the Book of Nahum, and the Song of Songs [Forthcoming book].
4. The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments: Authorised King James Version. (n.d.). New York Bible Society. (Original work published 1611)
5. Hebrew-English Bible. (2023, July 14). Daniel Chapter 4. Mechon-Mamre. https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt3404.htm
6. Hamarash, S. (2022). *The lost and untold history of the Kurds: Rediscovering the beginning of the Western civilisation and the origin of the Indo-European languages ca. 10000 BCE-1300 CE* (1st ed.). Slemany.
7. Hamarash, S. (2023, April 6). The lost and untold history of the Kurds—Interview with Soran Hamarash [Interview]. Washington Post. https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Soren+Hamarash&mid=69B532E4C5D82D4DFCE269B532E4C5D82D4DFCE2&FORM=VIRE
8. Izady, M. R. (1992). The Kurds: A concise handbook. Taylor and Francis.

9. The Book of Daniel (with, without vowels, with Midrash). (n.d.). Mg Keter. https://www.mgketer.org/tanach/35
10. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2021). The twelve tribes of Israel (ca 1200 BCE) [Map]. Government of Israel. https://www.gov.il/en/departments/general/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel
11. Neusner, J. (1964). The conversion of Adiabene to Judaism: A new perspective. Journal of Biblical Literature, 83(1), 60–66.
12. Omarkhali, K. (Ed.). (2014). Religious minorities in Kurdistan: Beyond the mainstream. Harrassowitz Verlag.
13. Rabin, A. (2017). The Adiabene narrative in the Jewish Antiquities of Josephus [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Wolfson College, University of Oxford.
14. Snaith, N. H. (Ed.). (n.d.). Hebrew Old Testament. The British and Foreign Bible Society. (Original work published ca. 1935)