Colloque - Pouvoir et culture écrite en Haute-Mésopotamie au XVIIIe siècle av. J.-C. - Jack M. Sasson : Mari, the Bible, and me

Dominique CharpinCollège de FranceAnnée 2025-2026Civilisation mésopotamienneColloque - Pouvoir et culture écrite en Haute-Mésopotamie au XVIIIe siècle av. J.-C. - Jack M. Sasson : Mari, the Bible, and meJack M. SassonProfesseur émérite, Vanderbilt UniversityRésuméMari, the Bible and I had our earliest conjunction in the mid-60s, long before Biblical scholarship began exploring Achaemenid linkages. In those days, giants ruled the earth, among them Albright, Noth, and de Vaux on the biblical side; Dossin & Co. on Mari's. Selective dangling of Mari documents that highlighted themes dear to Hebraic lore—such as prophecy, census taking, covenant rituals, Benjaminite tribesmen—kept the debate about the historicity of biblical lore hot and heavy.I was mesmerized by the dramatic give-and-takes then, and although the decades since have distanced interest in the conjunctions between the two corpora, it might yet be worthwhile to revisit the high (and low) moments in the convergences.