Amar Annus
Estonian Assyriologist, University of Tartu
- Nationality
- Estonian
- Field
- Assyriology; ancient Near Eastern religion
- Key article
- 'On the Origin of Watchers' (2010)
- Argument
- Enoch's Watchers echo the Mesopotamian apkallu
An Estonian Assyriologist who argues that the Watchers of 1 Enoch were partly a Jewish response to the Mesopotamian apkallu sages.
What is Amar Annus known for?
Amar Annus is an Estonian scholar of the ancient Near East associated with the University of Tartu. He has written on Mesopotamian religion, the god Ninurta, and the links between Babylonian and Jewish literature.
In a 2010 article in the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 'On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions', he argued that the story of the Watchers in 1 Enoch, heavenly beings who teach forbidden arts before the Flood, partly inverts the Mesopotamian tradition of the apkallu, the sages who brought civilization to humans before the Flood. In his reading the honored Babylonian teachers became villains in the Jewish account, though he also notes that some Mesopotamian sources already linked apkallu with demons and witchcraft. Other scholars accept the general link while debating how direct it is.
Cited for the argument that the Enochic Watchers are a Jewish reworking of the apkallu.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeApkallu (the seven sages)
Sources
- Amar Annus, 'On the Origin of Watchers', Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 19.4 (2010): 277–320Primary text
- Wikipedia, 'Apkallu'Reference
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