Open Access‘Thinking Ontologically’: Ontology Development as the Basis for the Systematic Analysis of a Corpus of Late Antique Aramaic Magic Texts
Author(s) -
Hatty Walker
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
h2d revista de humanidades digitais
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2184-562X
DOI - 10.21814/h2d.3403
Subject(s) - antique , magic (telescope) , ontology , documentation , computer science , analogy , domain (mathematical analysis) , literature , epistemology , history , philosophy , art , archaeology , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , programming language
This article describes the process of developing an ontology of the domain of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic magic bowls and offers some reflections on its significance in the analysis of these materials. Examples are highlighted to illustrate where the work builds on existing conceptualisations of the domain in secondary literature and where magical and religious materials from the Ancient Near East might stimulate some specialised extension of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (ICOM/CIDOC Documentation Standards Group, 2020). The analogy of ‘bridge building’ is offered as a way for humanities researchers to conceive of the work to produce ontologies of specific domains. This reflection is intended to capture the experience of ‘thinking ontologically’ about sources for the first time and of overcoming misconceptions about the nature and significance of this work.