BABYLON · MEMPHIS · PERSEPOLIS BABYLON MEMPHIS PERSEPOLIS Eastern Contexts of Greek Culture WALTER BURKERT HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England Copyright © 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First Harvard University Press paperback edition, 2007 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burkert, Walter, 1931— Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis : eastern contexts of Greek culture / Walter Burkert. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-674-01489-3 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-10 0-674-01489-8 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-13 978-0-674-02399-4 (pbk.) ISBN-10 0-674-02399-4 (pbk.) . Greek literature—Oriental influences. 2. Greece—Civilization—Oriental influences. 3. Homer—Knowledge—Middle East. 4. Middle East—In literature. 5. Magi. I. Title. PA 3070.B75 2004 880' .9001—dc22 2004047412 Preface In April 1996, I presented four lectures on early Oriental-Greek interactions at the Universitä Ca Foscari of Venice. Professors Claudia Antonetti and Lucio Milano took the initiative to trans­ form these Lezioni Veneziane into a small book, which was pub­ lished with the title Da Omero ai Magli by Marsilio Editori in 1999. Growing interest led to a French, a Spanish, and a Ger­ man edition: La tradition orientale dans la culture grecque, Paris: Macula zooi; De Homero a los Magos, Barcelona: El Acantilado 2002; Die Griechen und der Orient, Munich: Beck 2003. As against the original lectures, the text of the book has been reworked and expanded. I added a general introduction and a chapter on writing, and brought in new material and insights, es­ pecially in Chapter 4. At present, Eastern cultures, which were a marginal curiosity for classicists until recently, have become a field of intensive international research and debate; the list of publications keeps expanding. My intention in this book has been to preserve the advantage of lectures to concentrate on the presentation of ideas and interpretations; the endnotes can only touch the surface of a vast scholarship. My thanks go to Margaretta Fulton, Anita Safran, and to Har­ vard University Press in general, for their initiative, stimulus, and all their help in the English edition. Contents Introduction I I Alphabetic Writing 16 2 Orientalizing Features in Homer 21 3 Oriental Wisdom Literature and Cosmogony 49 4 Orpheus and Egypt 7i 5 The Advent of the Magi 99 Abbreviations I2J Ancient Sources in Various Translations I29 Bibliography 131 Notes 143 Index 173