From Dialogue to Debate
Argumentative and Epic Discourse in Mesopotamian Literature Between II and I Millennium BCE
abstract
Dialogical structures in the wisdom debate of the Babylonian Theodicy and in the epic of Erra and Išum are analysed comparing both the stylistic level and the main moral and theological issues the texts bring to the fore. Rhetorical and dialectical means appear to be deployed as tools for articulating subtle reasoning and arguments. They allow myth to be subjected to renewed reflection and reworking, deeply transforming epic narrative. This scenario suggests the emergence of a new figure of sage and literatus, particularly versed in the art of debate.
Keywords: Babylonian Theodicy • Dialogue and debate • Dialectics in Assyro-Babylonian texts • Erra and Išum • Babylonian literature