This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Ancient Prophecy: Near Eastern, Biblical, and Greek Perspectives is the first monograph-length comparative study on prophetic divination in ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and Greek sources. Prophecy is one of the ways humans have believed to become conversant with what is believed to be superhuman knowledge. The prophetic process of communication involves the prophet, her/his audience, and the deity from whom the message allegedly comes from. Martti Nissinen introduces a wealth of ancient sources documenting the prophetic phenomenon around the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, whether cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, Greek inscriptions, or ancient historians. Nissinen provides an up-to-date presentation of textual sources, the number of which has increased substantially in recent times. In addition, the study includes four analytical comparative chapters. The first demonstrates the altered state of consciousness to be one of the central characteristics of the prophets' public behavior. The second discusses the prophets' affiliation with temples, which are the typical venues of the prophetic performance. The third delves into the relationship between prophets and kings, which can be both critical and supportive. The fourth shows gender-inclusiveness to be one of the peculiar features of the prophetic agency, which could be executed by women, men, and genderless persons as well. The ways prophetic divination manifests itself in ancient sources depend not only on the socio-religious position of the prophets in a given society, but also on the genre and purpose of the sources. Nissinen contends that, even though the view of the ancient prophetic landscape is restricted by the fragmentary and secondary nature of the sources, it is possible to reconstruct essential features of prophetic divination at the socio-religious roots of the Western civilization.

ROSANA Im thirteen years old, and Ive struggled to live with my mother and my father for as long as I can remember in my poor hometown. I have a very strange birthmark on my forehead- one shaped like a claw-or more accurately, a dragons claw. One day it started to glow, and thats when my life turned to chaos. I was rushed to the town herbalist - where she was murdered right before me in the same house by a fiery-haired woman and a man in black. I barely escaped with my life intact - and was saved by a boy named Red and his shocking ally. Thrust into a mystical world of dragons, magic, and a mysterious seven thousand year old prophecy Im expected to fulfill, can I accept my fate?

Annotation A study of the phenomenon of prophecy as documented in ancient Near Eastern texts and the Hebrew Bible as well as Greek sources, from the twenty-first century BCE to the second century CE.

Ages ago, elves and dwarves unknowingly migrated between Universes via a Junction. Jenneva and Egam believe they have found a Junction and plan a trip with Alexander to test the theory and investigate the origins of the elves and dwarves. Because they believe that the perennial animosity between the two races is due to misunderstandings about their histories, the mages include the prince of elves and the prince of dwarves in the group. Trouble begins at the very start of the journey as Egam falters going through the Junction, awakening an old nemesis, the evil demon, Alutar. It appears that the excursion will not just clarify history, but also actually change it. As the group discovers they are trapped in the new Universe, the shocking truth of the real history of the races is overshadowed by impending doom as an ancient prophecy begins to unfold. Meanwhile, the evil sorcerer, Sarac, not only gains freedom from his imprisonment, but also gains the blessing of the evil demon, Alutar. With the blessing, Sarac is given new powers and is promised a reign of a thousand years. The race is on to prevent Sarac from unfettered control of the Universes, as our trio stands incapable of altering the prophecy of destruction.

A new, expanded edition of a classic reference tool This volume of more than 170 documents of prophecy from the ancient Near East brings together a representative sample of written documents from Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt dating to the second and first millennia BCE. Nissinen's collection provides nonspecialist readers clear translations, transliterations, and discussions of oracles reports and collections, quotations of prophetic messages in letters and literature, and texts that reference persons with prophetic titles. This second edition includes thirty-four new texts. Features: Modern, idiomatic, and readable English translations Thirty-four new translations Contributions of West Semitic, Egyptian, and Luwian sources from C. L. Seow, Robert K. Ritner, and H. Craig Melchert

This revised and enlarged edition of Joseph Blenkinsopp's 1983 book will be a welcome addition to the libraries of serious Biblical scholars. The author critically recounts the history of Israelite prophecy from a social-historical perspective.

A study of the phenomenon of prophecy as documented in ancient Near Eastern texts and the Hebrew Bible as well as Greek sources, from the twenty-first century BCE to the second century CE.