Mathias Litzenburger: Bedeutung und Bewertung von Mazzeben im Alten Testament, Gebunden

Blurb

Mathias Litzenburger explores the role of standing stones in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Archaeological evidence from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia, Israel / Palestine, and Arabian regions is systematically evaluated with approaches drawn from image studies and spatial theory. The polyvalent dimensions of these monuments become apparent: they serve as markers of boundaries, as instruments of collective and individual memory, as guarantors of legal obligations, and as mediators of transcendent presence. A standing stone not only signals the presence of an event, a person, or a deity, but also constitutes a ritual space connecting the human sphere with the divine or the realm of the dead.

Complementing the material evidence, inscriptions, literary sources, and the terminology (skn, nb) are analyzed to uncover semantic nuances. The exegetical section examines all Old Testament passages on massebot, classifying them according to reference, evaluation (positive mentions, prohibitions, polemics, destructions), and historical context. By integrating archaeological, philological, and exegetical perspectives, the author shows that the widespread thesis of Israel's imagelessness must be nuanced. Standing stones, while never central cult images, acted as images in the sense of producing presence. Mathias Litzenburger thus situates the phenomenon within broader religious-historical and image-theoretical contexts.