Word: giovanni
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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This week the English-speaking world gets its first detailed look at the contents of those tablets in The Archives of Ebla (Doubleday; $15.95) by Giovanni Pettinato, the team member originally in charge of deciphering the ancient inscriptions. The book is translated from Italian, as was an earlier 1981 title, Ebla: An Empire Rediscovered (Doubleday; $14.95), an overview by Paolo Matthiae, head of the Ebla dig. Pettinato's translation of the creation hymn sharpens a question that has already tantalized laymen and provoked squabbles among the experts: Do these tablets have any bearing on the Bible...
Professor of Assyriology Giovanni Pettinato was mystified by the writings. Cuneiform is, after all, not a language, only a style of writing. While the epigraphist could recognize the characters, some of them formed words of a language he had never encountered. Pettinato pondered photographs of the tablets for three months, then cracked the code. Sumerian characters had been used to write an early Western Semitic tongue he dubbed "Eblaite." On other tablets, straight Sumerian was written, functioning as an official language, as Latin did in medieval Europe...
...oathing gets overdone is that it is so inherently dramatic, even a form of fanaticism, a way of connecting (spuriously sometimes) to the Absolute. Knights, crusaders, saints and opera singers are forever swearing: it is a lovely plot device. Ahab swears his vengeance on the whale. In Don Giovanni, Ottavio vows to avenge the Commendatore by raising his fruity tenor to Donna Anna: "Lo giuro, lo giuro/ lo giuro agli occhi tuoi/ lo giuro al nostro amor" (I swear it, I swear it/ I swear it by your eyes/ I swear it by our love). Was there ever a prettier...
...Vatican bureaucracy. There had even been talk of a new papal conclave. This time around, the early favored papabili were Italians who have reputations as seasoned administrators. One was Casaroli, a moderate who has gained exposure as John Paul's loyal second in command. The other: Giovanni Benelli, 60, the conservative, often abrasive Archbishop of Florence, who was runner-up to John Paul at the 1978 conclave. There are some ancient precedents for a papal abdication. Benedict IX (1032-45) sold his office outright to the reforming Pope Gregory VI; Celestine V (Aug. 29-Dec. 13, 1294) resigned...
Reagan, said Italian Premier Giovanni Spadolini, "speaks in anecdotes and proverbs, and in this he reminds one a bit of Khrushchev." Reagan might not have relished the comparison...