Technocrat

The Soul in the Stele

zogger
Tue Nov 18 17:23:00 -0800 2008
Science.
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Archaeologists working a long explored ancient city in Turkey named Sam'al have found written evidence of the first historical record of a belief in a soul separate from the physical body. The body in question is an official from that age, and according to the beliefs in the translated record, his soul now resides in the inscribed basalt rock called a stele.

The inscription reads in part: "I, Kuttamuwa, servant of Panamuwa, am the one who oversaw the production of this stele for myself while still living. I placed it in an eternal chamber(?) and established a feast at this chamber(?): a bull for [the storm-god] Hadad, ... a ram for [the sun-god] Shamash, ... and a ram for my soul that is in this stele. ..."; It was written in a script derived from the Phoenician alphabet and in a local West Semitic dialect similar to Aramaic and Hebrew. It is of keen interest to linguists as well as biblical scholars and religious historians because it comes from a kingdom contemporary with ancient Israel that shared a similar language and cultural features.

The Soul in the Stele
President4242
Wed Nov 19 07:56:28 -0800 2008
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It would be interesting to break into it and find the bones of a bull and two rams....

But this seems to be a bit late- didn't the Egyptian religion have close to the same beliefs, a good thousand years earlier?

The Soul in the Stele
Charles E Hill
Wed Nov 19 08:16:48 -0800 2008
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No, I believe the Egyptians were like the Jews in that they believe the soul resided in the body.  Hence their fascination with mummification and the Jewish distaste for cremation - destruction of the body.

 

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