Panbabylonism in Russian historical scholarship of the first third of the 20th century: From criticism to exploitation

A.A. Popova

Dostoevsky Omsk State University, Omsk, 644077 Russia

E-mail: alispopova13@yandex.ru

Received February 4, 2020

Full text PDF

DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2020.3.27-41

For citation: Popova A.A. Panbabylonism in Russian historical scholarship of the first third of the 20th century: From criticism to exploitation. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2020, vol. 162, no. 3, pp. 27–41. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2020.3.27-41. (In Russian)

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of panbabylonism theories on the historical research in Russia during the pre-revolutionary and early Soviet eras was studied. The criticism of panbabylonism was discussed; the theories of its supporters were considered. The critics of panbabylonism were theologians (V.P. Rybinsky, N.S. Arsenyev) and historians (B.A. Turaev, N.M. Nikolsky). The strategies of their criticism were different. Theologians, who criticized the Assyriological narrative, used outdated theological theories based on the thesis of consistency of the Bible and God’s intervention in its creation, which, against the background of criticism from scholars, looked conservative, inappropriate, and unproven. The supporters of panbabylonism especially vividly proved themselves in the 1920s. In this period, when the Marxist approach to assessing historical events was not formed in the Soviet historiography, panbabylonism was used mainly to build a narrative that discredited religion and corresponded to the atheistic discourse of the Soviet government of that time.

It was concluded that panbabylonism was not initially accepted by Russian historians, but was revived in the 1920s, when it could match the goals of the Soviet government. Subsequently, the scholars accepted and developed many of the concepts of panbabylonism, such as initial polytheism of all Semitic tribes, borrowing of Babylonian cultural concepts by Israel and their indirect influence on Christianity; assyriologists began to research the development of babylonian mathematics and astronomy.

Keywords: panbabylonism, German historiography, Soviet historiography, Bible Studies, Old Testament, Christianity, Assyriology

Acknowledgments. The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 20-09-41014).

References

1. Winckler H. Vavilon. Ego istoriia i kul’tura [Babylon. Its History and Culture]. St. Petersburg, Izd. P.P. Soikina, 1913. 171 p. (In Russian)
2. Zimmern H. Biblische und babylonische Urgeschichte. Leipzig, J.C. Hinrichs, 1903. 39 S. (In German)
3. Zimmern H. Vater, Sohn und Fürsprecher in der Babylonischer Gottesvorstellung. Leipzig, J.C. Hinrichs, 1896. 15 S. (In German)
4. Delitzsch F. Babel und Bibel. Ein Vortrag. Leipzig, J.C. Hinrichs, 1902. 52 S. (In German)
5. Delitzsch, F. Babel und Bibel. Zweiter Vortrag. Stuttgart, Deutsche Verl.-Anstalt, 1903. 48 S. (In German)
6. Delitzsch F. Babel und Bibel. Dritter Vortrag. Stuttgart, Deutsche Verl.-Anstalt, 1905. 69 S. (In German)
7. Hommel F. Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens. Berlin, G. Grote’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1885. 802 S. (In German)
8. Hommel F. Ethnologie und Geographie des Alten Orient. Hlft. 2. Berlin, C.H. Beck, 1926. 1108 S. (In German)
9. Jensen P. Das Gilgamesch-Epos in der Weltliteratur. Bd. 1. Strassburg, K.J. Trübner, 1906. 1030 S. (In German)
10. Barton G.A. Recent German theories of foreign influences in the Bible. The Biblical World, 1908, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 336–347.
11. Richardson C.H. The abuse of Biblical archaeology. The Biblical World, 1915, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 98–109.
12. Winckler H. Geschichte Israels. Bd. 1. Leipzig, Verlag von Eduard Pfeiffer, 1895. 226 S. (In German)
13. Delitzsch F. Babel und Bibel ein Rückblick und Ausblick. Stuttgart, Deutsche Verl.-Anstalt, 1904. 75 S. (In German)
14. Rybinsky V.P. Babylon and the Bible. Regarding the speech of F. Delitzsch on the topic of “Babel und Bibel”. Trudy Kievskoi Dukhovnoi Akademii, 1903, no. 5, pp. 113–145. (In Russian)
15. Vipper R.Yu. S vostoka svet. Publichnaya lektsiia, prochitannaya v Moskve 2 noyabria 1906 g. [There is Light from the East. Public Lecture Given in Moscow on November 2, 1906]. Moscow, Tip. T-va. I.N. Kushnarev i Ko, 1907. 29 p. (In Russian)
16. Kremenetskii N. Bibliya i mirosozertsanie Vavilona: (Po povodu tendentsii “panvavilonizma” v rus. ist. nauke) [The Bible and Worldview of Babylon: (Concerning the Trend of “Panbabylonism” in Russian Historical Scholarship)]. Moscow, Tip. Shtaba Mosk. Voen. Okr., 1909. VIII, 209 p. (In Russian)
17. Karpuk D.A. Spiritual censorship in Russia in the second half of the 19th century (Based on the materials of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Censorship Committee). Khristianskoe chtenie, 2015, no. 2, pp. 210–250. (In Russian). (In Russian)
18. Turaev B.A. Istoriya Drevnego Vostoka [History of the Ancient East]. Vol. 1. Leningrad, Sotsekgiz, 1936. 361 p. (In Russian)
19. Nikolsky N.M. Babylon and the Bible. Kriticheskoe Obozrenie, 1909, no. 8, pp. 5–15. (In Russian)
20. Nikolsky N.M. Israel and Babylon. Vestnik Evropy, 1910, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 157–177. (In Russian)
21. Nikolsky N.M. Israel and Babylon. Vestnik Evropy, 1910, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 82–133. (In Russian)
22. Egorov D.N. The Dispute about “Babel und Bibel”. Nauchnoe Slovo, 1904, no. 6, pp. 43–60. (In Russian)
23. Ranovich A.B. Ocherk istorii drevneevreiskoi religii [An Essay on the History of Hebrew Religion]. Moscow, Gos. Antireligioznoe Izd., 1937. 398 p. (In Russian)
24. Rumyantsev N.V. Dokhristianskii Khristos [Pre-Christian Jesus]. Moscow, Ateist, 1926. 108 p. (In Russian)
25. Nemoevskii A. Bog Iisus. Proiskhozhdenie i sostav evangelii [God Jesus. The Origin and Composition of the Gospels]. St. Peterburg, Gos. Izd., 1920. XVI, 288 p. (In Russian)
26. Morozov N.M. Khristos [Christ]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gos. Izd., 1927. XV, 548 p. (In Russian)

The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.