Reading between the lines: a narratological approach to the Deir Alla Inscription Combination I

Two separate schools of thought, historicism and narratology have struggled to communicate with one another since their first intellectual collision in the 20th Century. Fifty years later, and both fields have advanced into schools of thought that share interdisciplinary methodologies. Narratology has newly identified internal structures, revealing complex and universal processes to the creation and transmission of narrative. However, narrative is not a new concept, but rather has been a method of cultural preservation, representation and transmission for centuries. This study endeavours to facilitate a conversation between narratology and ancient text criticism. Due to the scope of narratology, the focus of this study has been narrowed to how time and temporality intersect with narrative to create and communicate meaning. To bridge the gap between the two disciplines, this study assesses modern narrative time theory and disrupts it accordingly so that it may be applied to the ancient. The revised ancient narrative methodology is applied to Deir Alla Combination I. A short inscription with a narrative structure, the Deir Alla plaster text has been primarily analysed for its linguistic, epigraphic and archaeological implications. The aim of this study is to test the applicability and productivity of integrating narratology and ancient text criticism, and offer a new perspective on the Deir Alla text.