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Eric J. Harvey, Ph.D.

@blindscholar.bsky.social

1510 Followers 450 Following

PhD in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East from Brandeis, postdoc at Stanford. Interests in disability, myth, economics, and materiality. More at www.blindscholar.com.

Catalog image of the tablet CBS 7867, held in the Penn Museum. Description from Be My AI, edited and clarified by me: Circular clay object with cuneiform writing on the front and a central hollowed cavity on the reverse. The main part of the image shows the object from multiple angles against a black background: front, back, side views, and top and bottom. The material appears light brown to beige clay with some darker reddish stains and surface wear, giving it an aged, archaeological look. On the broad, flatter side, shallow straight grooves divide the surface into horizontally ruled lines, and within these bands there are small wedge-shaped impressions that make up cuneiform signs. the surface is cracked in several places. The edges are irregular and slightly chipped, and the profile is somewhat lens-shaped, tapering to a thinner rim. On the reverse side, the object has a large, rounded central depression or bowl-shaped cavity, smooth inside and surrounded by a thicker rim of clay. Near the outer edge on this side, there is a hand-written catalog number “7867” in dark ink. The side views show that the object thickens around the central cavity and narrows toward the inscribed face, emphasizing its disk-like shape.
Oct 23,2025 9:30 am PDT Disability in the Ancient Middle East and Mediterranean Dr. Eric Harvey | Stanford University "The Real Lives of Blind Mesopotamians" Watch live on the ARF YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/arf-channel Image Credit: Left: Figurine of musician (Trustees of the British Museu) Right: POW being blinded after defeat in battle (Joan Aruz 2003) ARCHAEOLOGICAL
A mushhushshu probably not Labbu), a serpentine creature with clawed limbs, holding up a gate post. The image was carved on the bottom of the cylinder Gudea C, which tells of King Gudea's royal exploits. It dates to the 21st century BCE.
Impression from a cylinder seal portraying a ritual banquet scene. A royal or divine figure is seated at a table and various others are presenting food offerings. The seal comes from the 9th or 8th century BCE and is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
Landing page for my little book. It reads: Reading Creation Myths Economically in Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel Expected online publication date: 21 August 2025 Eric J. Harvey Summary Creation myths in the ancient Middle East served, among other things, as works of political economy, justifying and naturalizing materially intensive ritual practices and their entanglements with broader economic processes and institutions. These rituals were organized according to a common ideology of divine service, which portrayed the gods as an aristocratic leisure class whose material needs were provided by human beings. Resources for divine service were extracted from the productive sectors of society and channeled inward to the temple and palace institutions, where they served to satiate the gods and support their human servants. This Element examines various forms of the economics of divine service, and how thev were supported in a selection of moths cambridge.org