What role did standing stones play in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages? Mathias Litzenburger analyzes archaeological evidence, inscriptions, and biblical texts, revealing the stones' polyvalent functions as markers, images, and ritual objects.

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.

Autorentext
Born 1991; 2023 PhD at the Protestant Theological Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Pastor at the Protestant Christ Church in Oberstdorf.

Inhalt

1 Einleitung
1.1 Zum Thema: Mazzeben im Alten Testament
1.2 Stehende Steine als anthropologisches und kulturelles Phänomen
1.3 Zum Aufbau
2 Theorie und Methodik
2.1 Vorbemerkung: Verhältnis der Begriffe Mazzebe, Standing Stone" und Betyle
2.2 Stehende Steine als anikonisches Gegenüber von Kultbildern
2.2.1 Die Bildlosigkeit stehender Steine
2.2.2 Sakrale Objekte
2.2.3 Repräsentation und Präsenz
2.2.4 Auswertung
2.3 Steine im Raum: Raumtheorie
2.3.1 Turn, turn, turn: Zur Begrifflichkeit
2.3.2 Exemplarische Ansätze
2.3.3 Heilige Orte und sakraler Raum - Menschen und Objekte
2.4 Methodische Herausforderungen
3 Materialbefund
3.1 Vorbemerkungen
3.2 Ägypten
3.3 Mesopotamien
3.4 Griechischer Raum
3.5 Nabatäerreich
3.6 Arabische Halbinsel
3.7 Kleinasien
3.8 Syrien
3.8.1 Mari
3.8.2 Tell Chuera
3.8.3 Al-Rawda
3.8.4 Ebla
3.8.5 Tell Bazi
3.8.6 Ekalte
3.8.7 Qatna
3.8.8 Ugarit
3.9 Phönizien
3.9.1 Phönizische und punische Stelen
3.9.2 Bottle Idols
3.9.3 Leere Throne
3.9.4 Tell el-Burak
3.9.5 Byblos
3.10 Palästina
3.10.1 Hartuv
3.10.2 Tell el-Hayyat
3.10.3 Tel Kitan
3.10.4 Gezer
3.10.5 Nahariya
3.10.6 Sichem
3.10.7 Bet-Shean
3.10.8 Timna
3.10.9 The Bull Site"
3.10.10 Tirza/Tell el-Far'ah
3.10.11 Megiddo
3.10.12 Khirbet Qeiyafa
3.10.13 Lachisch
3.10.14 Atarot
3.10.15 Et-Tell/Betsaida