The Ituraeans: Challenging misconceptions and evaluating the primary sources

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" The Ituraeans: Challenging misconceptions and evaluating the primary sources "
Elaine Anne Myers

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	53258
Doc. No	:	TL23212
Call number	:	‭NR39655‬
Main Entry	:	Elaine Anne Myers
Title & Author	:	The Ituraeans: Challenging misconceptions and evaluating the primary sources\ Elaine Anne Myers
College	:	University of Toronto (Canada)
Date	:	2007
Degree	:	Ph.D.
student score	:	2007
Page No	:	379
Abstract	:	This dissertation focuses on reassessing primary and secondary sources that mention Ituraeans. The Ituraeans were a tribal group who formed a principality in the southern Biqa' Valley during the first century B.C.E. It is principally through the texts of classical writers that a people called Ituraean, and a principality named Ituraea was known to have existed. Recently archaeological research has contributed to the discussion, and presented many more questions and than answers. The textual evidence is both scant and subjective, often reflecting the author's viewpoint and own understanding of events past and present. Given the complexity of these texts, the assumptions and conclusions regarding origins and identity of the Ituraeans will be reassessed. The archaeological evidence, which forces us to reconsider and review the primary texts will also be discussed. One of the main questions to be addressed is just how far conclusions made by archaeologists can be accepted, particularly in light of the limited evidence. This evidence is based mainly on a single pottery type concentrated in the Golan. Coins bearing portraits of Ituraean rulers and a Greek legend provided further material evidence, yet they reveal only part of a much larger picture. The dissertation is aimed at challenging prior misconceptions and hasty assumptions made about the Ituraeans, and is directed at examining the evidence in a neutral framework. The question of ethnicity and identity is considered in light of a long accepted view that Ituraeans were an Arab tribe inhabiting the mountain ranges of the Anti-Lebanon, and known only for their apparent brigandage. Questions of identity and ethnicity may not be resolved through re-examination of the known evidence, however, it is important to address assumptions when they tend to label Ituraeans in such a negative light. There is a need to re-evaluate the known evidence, to reconsider conclusions drawn in the past, and to assimilate the information in the most constructive way possible. By so doing it may open up a more constructive path to understanding the Ituraeans as a people and the part they played in the history of the Near East.
Subject	:	Philosophy, religion and theology; Social sciences; Biqa' Valley; First century B.C.; Ituraeans; Lebanon; Primary sources; Religion; Ancient history; 0579:Ancient history; 0318:Religion
Added Entry	:	University of Toronto (Canada)