Ancient Mythologies of the Wilderness – nature, narrative and religious identity formation in ancient Mesopotamia in comparative perspective

Talk by Laura Feldt, University of Bergen.

In this talk, I will discuss selected wilderness narratives from Mesopotamia and compare them with ancient Jewish and ancient Christian texts. Ancient wilderness mythologies have been criticised for their role in forming anthropocentric outlooks, idealising human separateness from the rest of the living world.

I will discuss how some ancient wilderness narratives do not idealise the destruction of and dominion over wildlands, but instead, invite emotions like awe and wonder, offer a critical perspective on power, and help form identities and experiences that resonate with the more-than-human world. Further, in some ancient religions, the wilderness was a sphere of intense emotion and total devotion, and wilderness stories supported tendencies of individualisation and interiorisation of religion. This leads to a broader discussion of the role of wilderness mythologies in shaping human relationships with wild nature and whether they play a role in shaping what we might, with Hartmut Rosa, term "resonance experiences".

ToRS Ancient Studies lecture series

Other lectures in the series: