Babel und Bibel 6

Title: Kogan, L., Koslova, N., Loesov, S. and S. Tishchenko, Babel und Bibel : annual of Ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. 6, Winona Lake, Ind.: Published for the Russian State University for the Humanities by Eisenbrauns, 2012.

Keywords: vehicles - chariots - equipment - Mari - Akka - Kiš - workers - Old Babylonian omens - Pushkin State Museum - duplicates - Fāra - Akkadian - suffixing conjugation - iptanarras - present tense - Me-ság archive - Gilgameš Epic - name - Gilgameš - Kassite Royal Inscriptions - Agum-Kakrime inscription - Kurigalzu - Kadashmanharbe - Sumerian - Uralic language - Song of Songs - lexical ambiguity - Abram - Sarai - Egypt - negative markers - *ˀay- - *ˀi- - *ˀal- - Ethio-Semitic - Arabian - Old-South-Arabian - Idanda archive - Syrian campaigns - Suppiluliuma I - Accusative - Exodus 33:7 - participial conditional clauses - main clause

Abstract: This is the sixth volume of Babel und Bibel, an annual of ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. The principal goal of the annual is to reveal the inherent relationship between Assyriology, Semitics, and biblical studies—a relationship that our predecessors comprehended and fruitfully explored but that is often neglected today. The title Babel und Bibel is intended to point to the possibility of fruitful collaboration among the three disciplines, in an effort to explore the various civilizations of the ancient Near East. The tripartite division of Babel und Bibel corresponds to its three principal spheres of interest: ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. Contributions are further subdivided into articles, short notes, and reviews. Highlights of this volume include several studies on Akkadian language, Mesopotamian literature, and publication of inscriptions in some Russian museums (in the ancient Near Eastern section); studies on negative markers in Semitic and on Aramaic language (in the Semitics section); and some significant review essays on important new publications, especially in Hebrew language, Aramaic, Hurrian, Lycian, Egyptian, and Syriac. (table of content)

Vicino oriente 16

Title: Università di Roma, Istituto di studi del Vicino oriente, Vicino Oriente XVI, 2012.

Keywords: Early Bronze Age I - copper axes - community places - community goods -architecture - Grey Burnished Ware - double-apses buildings - Southern Levant -weapons - Mari - palace - anklets - Khnumit - Iron Age II - Palestine - Sirai mountain - Motya - San Pantaleo - graveyard - tombs - Old Persian grammaer - Genitive - Dative - Estakhr - Istakhr - Shawbak - Ayyubid palace - Khirbet al-Batrawy - gemstones - Jericho - Egyptian objects - Egyptianising objects

Content:

D. Montanari - Copper axes and double-apses buildings: investigating EB I social interrelations

P. Sferrazza - Cattivi presagi: analisi della raffigurazione della Stanza 132 del Palazzo Reale di Mari

I. Melandri - A new reconstruction of the anklets of Princess Khnumit

G. Ripepi - Gli edifici su podio in Palestina durante l'Età del Ferro II

F. Spagnoli - Un altare bruciaprofumi punico dalla "Casa del sacello domestico" a Mozia

M. Guirguis - Monte Sirai 2005-2010. Bilanci e prospettive

V. Tusa - Le armi dei corredi tombali della necropoli arcaica di Mozia

M.C. Benvenuto - F. Pompeo - Il sincretismo di genitivo e dativo in persiano antico

M.V. Fontana - S.M. Mireskandari - M. Rugiadi - A. Asadi - A.M. Jaia - A. Blanco - L. Colliva - Estakhr Project - first preliminary report of the joint Mission of the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research, the Parsa-Pasargadae Research Foundation and the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

C.G. Cereti - L. Colliva - M.V. Fontana - G. Terribili - J. Bogdani - A. Bizzarro - A. Tilia - S.S. Tilia - From flint to silicon, modern technologies applied to the understanding of history. The Italian Archaeological Mission in Iraqi Kurdistan

M. Rugiadi - Il complesso di ricevimento del palazzo ayyubide a Shawbak

L. Nigro - An EB IIIB (2500-2300 BC) gemstones necklace from the Palace of the Copper Axes at Khirbet al-Batrawy, Jordan

A. Caltabiano - Temples et sanctuaires urbains du littoral syrien à l'âge du Fer: continuité et transformation culturelles

M. Sala - Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects from EB I-III Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho

Notes

F. Spagnoli - Un'anforetta dipinta dalla Tomba T.177 di Mozia

Babel und Bibel 6

Title: Kogan, L., Koslova, N., Loesov, S. and S. Tishchenko, Babel und Bibel: annual of Ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. 6, Winona Lake, Ind.: Published for the Russian State University for the Humanities by Eisenbrauns, 2012.

Keywords: Fāra - Akka of Kiš - Old Babylonian omens - Pushkin state museum - chariots - Mari - Suffix Conjugation of Akkadian - Akkadian - grammar - the name Gilgameš - standard Babylonian Gilgameš Epic - Kassite Royal Inscriptions - Agum Kakrime - Kurigalzu - Kadašman-Ḫarbe - Sumerian - Uralic language - Proto Aramaic - Syrian campaign of Šuppiluliuma - Hurrian

Abstract: This is the sixth volume of Babel und Bibel, an annual of ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. The principal goal of the annual is to reveal the inherent relationship between Assyriology, Semitics, and biblical studies—a relationship that our predecessors comprehended and fruitfully explored but that is often neglected today. The title Babel und Bibel is intended to point to the possibility of fruitful collaboration among the three disciplines, in an effort to explore the various civilizations of the ancient Near East. The tripartite division of Babel und Bibel corresponds to its three principal spheres of interest: ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. Contributions are further subdivided into articles, short notes, and reviews. Highlights of this volume include several studies on Akkadian language, Mesopotamian literature, and publication of inscriptions in some Russian museums (in the ancient Near Eastern section); studies on negative markers in Semitic and on Aramaic language (in the Semitics section); and some significant review essays on important new publications, especially in Hebrew language, Aramaic, Hurrian, Lycian, Egyptian, and Syriac. (table of content)

CUSAS 19: Sargonic Tablets

Title: Massimo Maiocchi and G. Visicato, Classical Sargonic tablets chiefly from Adab in the Cornell University collections. Part II, CDL Press, Bethesda, 2012.

Keywords: Mesopotamia - Old Akkadian - economic history - lexicography - text editions - sign list

Abstract: These texts add significantly to our understanding of Sargonic history, socio-economics, and lexicography. There is a lengthy discussion of the reconstruction of the Adab calendar and an updated Sargonic sign-list is included.

Babylonische Archive 4

Title: J. MacGinnis, The Arrows of the Sun: Armed Forces in Sippar in the First Millennium BC. ISLET-Verlag, Dresden, 2012.

Keywords: warfare - Sippar - Ebabbar - history

Abstract: A study of the organisation and arrangement of the military of Sippar in the first millennium, with copies of cuneiform texts by Cornelia Wunsch.

Babylon

Title: M. Seymour, Babylon: Legend, History and the Ancient City. I.B. Tauris, London, 2012.

Keywords: Babylon - excavation history - intellectual history

Abstract: Babylon: for eons its very name has been a byword for luxury and wickedness. 'By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept', wrote the psalmist, 'as we remembered Zion'. One of the greatest cities of the ancient world, Babylon has been eclipsed by its own sinful reputation. For two thousand years the real, physical metropolis lay buried while another, ghostly city lived on, engorged on accounts of its own destruction. More recently the site of Babylon has been the centre of major excavation, yet the spectacular results of this work have done little to displace the many other fascinating ways in which the city has endured and reinvented itself in culture. Saddam Hussein, for one, notoriously exploited the Babylonian myth to associate himself and his regime with its glorious past. Why has Babylon so creatively fired the human imagination, with results both good and ill? Why has it been so enthralling to so many, and for so long? In exploring answers, Michael Seymour's book ranges extensively over space and time and embraces art, archaeology, history and literature.

WVDOG 137

Title: A. W. Schmitt, Die Jüngeren Ischtar-Tempel und der Nabû-Tempel in Assur. Architektur, Stratigraphie und Funde. Mit interaktiven Architekturplänen und Fotos auf CD-ROM. Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 137. Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Assur. A: Baudenkmäler aus assyrischer Zeit, Band 14. Harrassowitz-Verlag: Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: Assur - Ishtar temple - Nabû temple - architecture - stratigraphy - finds

Abstract: The volume (Table of Contents) discusses architecture and stratigraphy as well as finds in the Ishtar temple and the Nabû temple in Assur.

Götter und Mythen des Alten Orients

Title: M. Krebernik Götter und Mythen des Alten Orients. C. H. Beck, München, 2012.

Keywords: religion - myth - literature

Abstract: Das Gilgamesch-Epos, den Weltschöpfungsmythos (Enuma Elisch) und natürlich den Sintflutmythos (Atrahasis) mögen die meisten Leserinnen und Leser kennen. Doch haben die altorientalischen Hochkulturen – so die Sumerer, Babylonier und Assyrer – viele weitere faszinierende Mythen hervorgebracht, die Manfred Krebernik in seiner konzisen Einführung in dieses große Thema vorstellt. Das Buch bietet zudem spannende Begegnungen mit Göttern und Kulten einer längst vergangenen Welt.

ICAANE 7, Vol. 2

Title: R. Matthews and J. Curtis (eds) Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: 12 April - 16 April 2010, the British Museum and UCL, London: Vol. 2. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: archaeology - material culture - early cities

Abstract: The three-volume Proceedings contain the latest information and analyses from scholars active in the field of the archaeology of the ancient Near East, as reported at the 7th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (VII ICAANE), held in London in April 2010. The VII ICAANE congress was a huge success, jointly hosted by UCL Institute of Archaeology and the British Museum. A total of 850 participants, from 41 countries, attended the congress, making it one of the largest archaeological congresses ever held in the UK. Multiple parallel sessions included the main themes of the congress (mega-cities and mega-sites; colour and light in architecture, art and material culture; ancient and modern issues in cultural heritage; landscape, transport and communication; the archaeology of consumption and disposal), plus sessions devoted to Islamic archaeology, fieldwork reports and posters. Anyone with an interest in the ancient Near East will find much to enjoy and appreciate in these three impressive, fully illustrated volumes (Table of Contents).

The Assyrian Heritage

Title: Ö. A. Ceretz, S. G. Donabed & A. Makko (eds) The Assyrian heritage. Threads of continuity and influence. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studies in Religion and Society 7, Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, 2012.

Keywords: Assyrian - continuity

Abstract: The Assyrian Heritage: Threads of Continuity and Influence is a collection of essays discussing Assyrian culture and identity from language, ritual, symbol, and identity perspectives from the ancient world to the modern day. The theoretical interpretations and methodological approaches covered in the book aim to narrate the past, presence and future of the cultural and linguistic heritage of the Assyrian people.

Journal of Cuneiform Studies Supplemental Series 3

Title: P. Delnero, The Textual Criticism of Sumerian Literature, American Schools of Oriental Research, Boston, 2012.

Keywords: literature - grammar - Sumerian

Abstract: The occurrence of textual variation is a significant but frequently neglected aspect of the study of Sumerian literary compositions. The correct evaluation of textual variants and the proper understanding of how and why they occur are essential to producing reliable editions of such texts. Such explorations also provide invaluable evidence for the written transmission of Sumerian literary works and a wealth of data for assessing aspects of Sumerian grammar. Drawing from a detailed analysis of the different types of textual variants that occur in the numerous duplicates of a group of ten compositions known collectively as the Decad, this book aims to provide a much needed critical methodology for interpreting textual variation in the Sumerian literary corpus which can be applied to editing and analyzing these compositions with improved accuracy.

TMH 9

Title: K. Lämmerhirt, Die sumerische Königshymne Šulgi F, Texte und Materialien der Hilprecht Collection 9, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: song of praise - king - Shulgi - edition

Abstract: The present volume contains an edition of the royal hymn Šulgi F with comments and discussion.

Leggo

Title: G. B. Lanfranchi, D. M. Bonacossi, C. Pappi, and S. Ponchia (eds) Leggo!: Studies Presented to Frederick Mario Fales on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: history - writing - archaeology

Abstract: Frederick Mario Fales is a distinguished Ancient Near Eastern scholar, currently teaching at the University of Udine/Italy. In this volume (Table of Contents) his students, colleagues, and friends honor him with numerous articles from different fields of Ancient Near Eastern and related studies: the history and historical geography of Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia; Ancient Near Eastern and Classical Archaeology; cuneiform studies from all periods and regions (Middle and Neo-Assyrian, Old/Middle/Neo-Babylonian, Babylonian literature, Amarna letters, Sumerian, Eblaite, Hittite); comparative Semitics, Old and Middle Aramaic, Phoenician, Ancient South Arabic, Old Testament studies, history of the early alphabet; an ethnographic study of the Ma'dan Arabs in Mesopotamia; and the problem of illicit trade in antiquities.

Bibliographisches Glossar

Title: T. Richter, Bibliographisches Glossar des Hurritischen, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: Hurrian - language

Abstract: Unter den altorientalischen Sprachen nimmt die Anzahl der hurritischen Textquellen nach dem Sumerischen, Akkadischen und Hethitischen vermutlich die vierte Position ein. Jahrzehntelang nur stiefmütterlich behandelt, hat sich durch die systematische Aufarbeitung der einsprachigen Texte seit den 1970er Jahren sowie durch den Fund einer umfangreichen hurritisch-hethitischen Bilingue in den Jahren 1983/1985 die Forschungssituation grundlegend gewandelt und verbessert. Da sich große Teile der Überlieferung dennoch weiterhin einem gesicherten Verständnis entziehen, kann ein hurritisches Wörterbuch jetzt und auf absehbare Zeit noch nicht erstellt werden. Gleichwohl fehlt bislang ein Überblick über die bisherigen Forschungserkenntnisse. Thomas Richters Bibliographisches Glossar des Hurritischen (BGH) fasst die lexikalische Forschung der letzten ca. 35 Jahre – seit Erscheinen des Glossaire de la langue hourrite von Emmanuel Laroche (Paris 1976/1977) – zusammen und arbeitet die seitdem erschienene Forschungsliteratur systematisch auf. Das Glossar bietet so ein unentbehrliches Hilfsmittel für das Studium der hurritischen Sprache.

SAA XIX

Title: M. Luukko, The Correspondence of Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II from Calah/Nimrud, The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki, 2012.

Keywords: Assyria - Babylon - letters - history

Abstract: This SAA volume collects the letters of Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II in Akkadian transliteration and English translation. State Archives of Assyria (SAA) is a series of critical text editions of Neo-Assyrian texts, primarily those from the royal palaces at Nineveh, but also including some texts from other sites, organized by text genres. Each text is given in transliteration and English translation and is accompanied by a critical apparatus giving references to previous editions, discussions and collations of the text and a limited philological commentary. Each volume contains an introduction that briefly describes the text genre and relates it to its ancient setting, as well as computer-generated glossaries and indices to the texts.

Studien zur Urbanisierung Nordmesopotamiens

Title: A. Bianchi Comparative Studies on the Pottery of Sector AK of the Royal Building in Tell Mozan/Urkeš (Syria), Studien zur Urbanisierung Nordmesopotamiens, Serie D, Supplementa, Bd. 2., Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: archaeology - pottery - Syria

Abstract: This publication is based on the study of the ceramics unearthed in that area of Tell Mozan, ancient Urkes, which hosted the royal palace of the city, excavated since 1990 by the team of the International Institute of Mesopotamian Area Studies (IIMAS). The material was retrieved in area AK, the service wing of the palace, and has been assigned by the excavators to three main occupational phases covering the last quarter of the third millennium BC. The focus of Alice Bianchi's study (Table of Contents) lies on the relation of this material to the pottery retrieved at several sites of the Syrian Jazirah and of neighbouring regions such as the Balikh valley, the Iraqi Jazirah and the Upper Tigris valley. The first main result of the pottery analysis is the exposition of the material retrieved in area AK by phases and shape types, which is followed by a comparative analysis including ceramics from many other sites of the Syrian Jazirah and the neighbouring regions. The outcomes are summarized in a final chapter, first regarding some specific aspects of the manufacture, like peculiar ware types and decoration patterns; secondly, the shape types are presented, underlining their development in the Early Jazirah IV and V periods as well as their geographical diffusion. With its new aspects to the chronological and regional diffusion of specific pottery shape types and wares, this publication contributes to the understanding of the cultural development of the Syrian Jazirah in the last quarter of the third millennium BC and its exchange and influences with the surrounding areas.

DBH 38

Title: D. Groddek, Hethitische Texte in Transkription KBo 48. Dresdner Beiträge zur Hethitologie 36, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: Hittite - editions - transliteration

Abstract: The volume offers transliterations to the Hittite texts published in volume 48 of Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi.

BBVO 22

Title: C. Gütschow, Methoden zur Restaurierung von ungebrannten und gebrannten Keilschrifttafeln - Gestern und Heute, Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient 22, Gladbeck, 2012.

Keywords: cuneiform tablets - restoration - methods

Abstract: The topic of this work is the treatment of unburnt and burnt clay tablets. As practical case studies six cuneiform tablets were chosen that show typical damages to be found in museum collections. For a better understanding of the problems concerning such objects, the characteristics of clay as material are illustrted, especially those of calcareous clays. Important restoration measures are discussed, as for example the secondary burning of tablets in preparation of the subsequent reduction of salt (Table of Contents).

Broadening Horizons 3

Title: F. Borrell Tena, M. Bouso García, A. Gómez Bach, C. Tornero Dacasa, and O. Vicente Campos (eds) Broadening Horizons 3: Conference of Young Researchers Working in the Ancient Near East, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Servei de Publications, Bellaterra, 2012.

Keywords: archaeology - geography - urbanism

Abstract: Proceedings from the third Broadening Horizons conference (Table of Contents), dedicated to researchers, including postgraduate students, in the early stages of their careers who are involved in a number of different disciplinary areas in the study of the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Breve Historia

Title: A. Martos Breve Historia de Los Sumerios, Nowtilus, Madrid, 2012.

Keywords: Sumer - religion - history

Abstract: Breve Historia de los Sumeriosnos presenta de un modo conciso la historia de este pueblo que, desde el sedentarismo en las riberas del Eúfrates y el Tigris, construyó una sociedad con una organización política y religiosa no muy distinta a la nuestra.

WVDOG 139

Title: N. P. Heessel Divinatorische Texte II: Opferschau-Omina, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: divination - magic - omen texts - Akkadian

Abstract: Die Opferschau stellte im Alten Orient die einfachste und sicherste Möglichkeit dar, auf direktem Weg mit der Sphäre des Göttlichen zu kommunizieren. Hierbei wurde im Zuge eines bestimmten Rituals eine Frage an die Götter formuliert, deren Antwort an dem Erscheinungsbild der Eingeweide eines Opfertieres abgelesen wurde. Rasch entwickelte sich die Opferschau zu einem hochkomplexen Wissensgebiet, das speziell geschulte Spezialisten erforderte, die sich der Auslegung der Befunde auf den Organen des Opfertieres sowie dem Studium der umfangreichen textlichen Tradition zur Opferschau-Hermeneutik widmeten. Die zahlreichen bei den deutschen Grabungen in Assur gefundenen Opferschau-Texte, die aus der Zeit vom 13. bis zum 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. stammen, belegen das Interesse der Assyrer an dieser Divinationstechnik, das sich auch in der Überführung von babylonischen Opferschau-Texten nach Assur und in der Entstehung von eigenen Opferschauserien in der assyrischen Hauptstadt manifestierte. In Band 5 der Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts (Table of Contents) werden neben einer ausführlichen Einleitung zur altorientalischen Opferschau und der spezifischen assyrischen Tradition dieses Genres 74 neue Texte und Textfragmente zur Opferschau in Keilschriftkopie vorgelegt und zusammen mit 48 bereits in Keilschriftkopie publizierten Texten bearbeitet; hierbei werden auch Duplikattexte aus anderen Fundorten berücksichtigt.

Sumerian Chrestomathy

Title: K. Volk A Sumerian Chrestomathy, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: language - writing - Sumerian

Abstract: A Sumerian Chrestomathy by Konrad Volk (Table of Contents) has been written for beginners studying Sumerian within the academic curriculum. The volume contains 44 texts of varying contents: royal inscriptions, legal, and economic documents dating from the Early Dynastic (ca. 2500 B.C.) to the Old Babylonian Period (ca. 1750 B.C.) when Sumerian was no longer a spoken language. Some of the autographed texts are accompanied by a version in Neo-Assyrian script so that the student can learn the Neo-Assyrian sign forms which are of fundamental importance for the use of the sign list in this book and, in general, for most Assyriological sign lists. Each inscription can be studied with the help of the sign list, which is intentionally limited to the signs that occur in this book. Reference is given to the most recent works in the field by R. Borger and C. Mittermayer. Also included are individual and detailed glossaries: General Vocabulary; Divine Names; Personal Names; Place Names; Sacred Buildings; Year Dates; Year Names; Festivals. These glossaries not only quote the lexical items found in the inscriptions but also give the Akkadian equivalents for Sumerian words and refer - wherever necessary - to the most recent Sumerological literature.

Leaders and Legacies

Title: D. B. Weisberg Leaders and Legacies in Assyriology and Bible: The Collected Essays of David B. Weisberg, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, 2012.

Keywords: Hebrew Bible - assyriology - Levant - history

Abstract: Weisberg’s oeuvre, as exemplified by the nearly three dozen essays conveniently assembled in this volume, attest both to his prodigious industriousness and to the loss that the field of Assyriology has suffered in his untimely demise. He continued to make major contributions to the study of the Neo-Babylonian period (especially regarding political and military history and the doings of ancient royals) but he also offered seminal insights in other areas, including Masoretic studies, rabbinics, social and economic life of the ancient Near East, as well as the interface between modern culture and study of the ancient world.

Ras Shamra-Ougarit XVIII

Title: P. Bordreuil et D. Pardee, avec R. Hawley Une bibliothèque au sud de la ville: textes 1994-2002 en cunéiforme alphabétique de la Maison d'Ourtenou, Ras Shamra-Ougarit XVIII, Publications de la Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2012.

Keywords: inscriptions - Ugaritic - Akkadian - alphabetic cuneiform

Abstract: Depuis 1973, au sud du tell de Ras Shamra, l’ancienne ville d’Ougarit, des centaines de tablettes cunéiformes ont été mises au jour en un lieu qui sera par la suite dénommé « la Maison d’Ourtenou ». Cette archive comprenant plusieurs centaines de textes alphabétiques ougaritiques et syllabiques suméro-akkadiens a déjà fait l’objet de deux publications : la trouvaille de 1973 dans Une bibliothèque au sud de la ville* (éd. P. Bordreuil, RSO VII, Paris 1991), puis les textes des campagnes de 1986 à 1992 dans Une bibliothèque au sud de la ville, Études ougaritiques I (éd. M. Yon & D. Arnaud, RSO XIV, Paris 2001). La troisième publication : P. Bordreuil et D. Pardee avec R. Hawley, Une bibliothèque au sud de la ville* : Textes 1994-2002 en cunéiforme alphabétique de la Maison d’Ourtenou, présente les 87 textes ougaritiques mis au jour depuis 1994 jusqu’à la fin de la fouille de la Maison d’Ourtenou en 2002. Elle complète la publication de la documentation en cunéiforme alphabétique provenant de cette maison. Un volume consacré aux textes en écriture cunéiforme mésopotamienne sera publié prochainement dans la série Ras Shamra-Ougarit.

Sacred Killing

Title: A. Porter and G. M. Schwartz (eds) Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, 2012.

Keywords: archaeology - ritual - sacrifice - death - killing

Abstract: What is sacrifice? How can we identify it in the archaeological record? And what does it tell us about the societies that practice it? Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East investigates these and other questions through the evidence for human and animal sacrifice in the Near East from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic periods. Drawing on sociocultural anthropology and history in addition to archaeology, the book also includes evidence from ancient China and a riveting eyewitness account and analysis of sacrifice in contemporary India, which engage some of the key issues at stake. Sacred Killing vividly presents a variety of methods and theories in the study of one of the most profound and disturbing ritual activities humans have ever practiced.

Seals and Sealing Practices

Title: I. Regulski, K. Duistermaat & P. Verkinderen (eds) Seals and Sealing Practices in the Near East. Developments in Administration and Magic from Prehistory to the Islamic Period. Proceedings of an International Workshop at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on December 2-3, 2009. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 219, Peeters: Leuven/Paris/Walpole, 2012

Keywords: Seals - sealing practice - administration

Abstract: The cultural and historical setting of the Near East provides a unique opportunity to study a longer usage of sealing practices in administration and magic, which extends beyond the constraints of a specific time period or region. Comparing ancient practices with more recent ones can offer important insights into the development of sealing practices and provide answers to specific questions related to the handling of seals and the social status of the seal bearer. This collection of papers (Table of Contents)) is the result of the workshop "Seals and Sealing Practices from Ancient Times until the Present Day. Developments in Administration and Magic through Cultures". The meeting was organized by the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on December 2-3, 2009, on the occasion of the annual Cleveringa lecture, delivered by Prof. Dr. Petra Sijpesteijn from the University of Leiden. It had the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Cairo. Since the initiative towards the workshop was taken by staff members of the NVIC, the focus was on Egypt but other cultures in the Near East and Central Asia were also considered. Following up on the workshop, the present volume retains the geographical and chronological scope, but added a few contributions dealing with the Greco-Roman and Byzantine periods. Glancing at the content, the reader will be struck by the diachronic and spatial persistence of the use of seals for administrative and other purposes, and by their multi-functionality. Indeed, sealing practices appear to be at least as consistent as writing systems, from their first appearance to modern times. One of the reasons for their success is their ability to adapt to the diverse political, social and cultural pecularities of the multicultural societies at the time.

Treaty, Law and Covenant

Title: K. A. Kitchen & P. J. N. Lawrence, Treaty, Law and Covenant in the Ancient Near East, Part 1: The Texts; Part 2: Text, Notes and Chromograms; Part 3: Overall Historical Survey, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012.

Keywords: treaty - law - covenant - text edition - commentary

Abstract: This work (Table of Contents) presents a far-reaching social profile of life in the Ancient Near East, based on its wealth of law-collections, treaties and covenants through three millennia. Volume 1 sets out a uniquely comprehensive corpus of over 100 such documents in 10 languages, mostly displayed in facing-page transliterations and English translations with individual bibliographies. Volume 2 provides essential philological and background commentary to the texts, fully indexes their subject-matter, and concludes with a revolutionary and innovative series of full-colour diagrams of every text, vividly highlighting variations through the centuries. Finally, Volume 3 outlines the flowing interplay of political history, changing social norms and varying documentary formats throughout the whole period. Taken together, this tryptich offers a striking and indispensable new overview of its multifaceted world for Ancient Near-Eastern and biblical studies.

Bild, Raum, Handlung

Title: O. Dally, S. Moraw & H. Ziemssen (eds) Bild - Raum - Handlung. Perspektiven der Archäologie. Topoi. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Berlin 2012.

Keywords: image - space - cross-cultural perspectives

Abstract: Images are more than just objects to be observed. In all periods they have had a direct influence on the way we perceive things and act, in particular in the course of ceremonies. In this volume, various archaeological disciplines consider a number of case studies of the relationships between works of art, spaces and actions in past cultures – including the Nasca-Palpa glyphs in South America, the Stone Age site of Göbekli Tepe, Minoan and Mycenaean palaces, and Greek and Roman towns. The aim is to develop a new methodical approach to the power and effect of works of art.

VFMOS 3,II

Title: A. el-Masih H. Baghdo, L. Martin, M. Novák & W. Orthmann (eds) Vorbericht über die dritte bis fünfte syrisch-deutsche Grabungskampagne auf dem Tell Halaf, Vorderasiatische Forschungen der Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung 3. Ausgrabungen auf dem Tell Halaf in Nordost-Syrien, Teil II, Wiesbaden 2012.

Keywords: Tell Halaf - preliminary report - excavations

Abstract: The volume contains a preliminary excavation report on the third to fifth campaigns in Tell Halaf in Northern Syria (Table of Contents).

Hethitisches Wörterbuch III/2 (Lieferung 20)

Title: J. Friedrich & A. Kammenhuber (edited by J. Hazenbos) Hethitisches Wörterbuch, Band III/2: Ḫ/ḫe- bis ḫu-, Lieferung 20. Zweite, völlig neubearbeitete Auflage auf der Grundlage der edierten hethitischen Texte, Heidelberg 2012. Hethitisches Wörterbuch III/2 (Lieferung 21) Title: J. Friedrich & A. Kammenhuber (edited by A. Hagenbuchner-Dresel) Hethitisches Wörterbuch, Band III/2: Ḫ/ḫe- bis ḫu-, Lieferung 21. Zweite, völlig neubearbeitete Auflage auf der Grundlage der edierten hethitischen Texte, Heidelberg 2012.

YOS XX

Title: L. T. Doty (edited by R. Wallenfels) Cuneiform Documents from Hellenistic Uruk, Yale Oriental Series - Babylonian Texts Vol. XX, New Haven & London 2012.

Keywords: Uruk - Hellenistic - text publication - Yale

Abstract: This volume completes publication of the cuneiform documents of the Hellenistic period in the Yale Babylonian Collection, begun by A. T. Clay in 1913. This long-awaited edition contains reproductions of 103 texts from the city of Uruk, dating to the period from Alexander the Great to the Parthian conquest of Seleucid Babylonia. The texts include both private business transactions (sales, deeds of gift, divisions of property, quitclaims, a work contract, a lease contract, and a receipt) and documents from the administrations of the greatest Uruk temples, the Res and Irigal.

The stamp seal impressions (on these texts) were studied and drawn by R. Wallenfels in AUWE 19 (1994). For a list with references to these see the present volume, pp. 109-14.

Studia Chaburensia 3

Title: H. Weiss (ed.) Seven Generations Since the Fall of Akkad, Studia Chaburensia 3, Wiesbaden 2012.

Keywords: Habur region - Akkadian - post-Akkadian

Abstract: For the past twenty years, the Khabur Plains of northeast Syria have been a testing ground for the Akkadian collapse c. 2200 BC and remnant post-Akkadian occupations. On May 2, 2012, a workshop for the presentation and discussion of the latest archaeological data was convened in Warsaw, at the 8th International Congress for the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. The fifteen research papers from that conference present the analyses and perspectives from eight excavated sites, Arbid, Barri, Chagar Bazar, Brak, Mohammed Diyab, Leilan, Mozan, and Hamoukar, and two regional surveys. The new data include the Tell Leilan high-resolution radiocarbon chronology for the Akkadian collapse, an Akkadian palace built within the shell of a destroyed pre-Akkadian palace, The Unfinished Buildings at Tell Leilan and Tell Mohammed Diyab, the terminal occupations at Tell Brak, Chagar Bazar, Hamoukar, Arbid, Mohammed Diyab and Leilan, quantified regional settlement distributions across the Akkadian collapse, measured paleobotanical data for imperial Akkadian and remnant post-Akkadian agriculture, and documentation for the collapse of the imperial Akkadian administration.

QS Supplementum 1

Title: P. Pfälzner, H. Niehr, E. Pernicka & A. Wissing (eds) (Re-)Constructing Funerary Rituals in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the First International Symposium of the Tübingen Post-Graduate School "Symbols of the Dead" in May 2009, Qaṭna Studien Supplementum 1, Wiesbaden 2012.

Keywords: funerary practices - case studies

Abstract: The first supplementary volume of the series “Qatna Studien” (Table of Contents) presents the contributions of an international symposium held at the University of Tübingen in May 2009. This symposium was initiated and organized by the students and scholars of the post-graduate school ‘Symbols of the Dead’. The topic of the symposium was to evaluate the possibilities in reconstructing Ancient Near Eastern funerary rituals from available archaeological and textual evidence. Contributors from seven countries discussed many aspects of ritual behaviour linked to death, the after-life and the variations in ritual treatment of the deceased before, during and after the actual burial. Among the many issues raised were questions related to the kinds of rituals linked to death in different cultural surroundings, the intentions of the actors conducting such rituals, their meaning and social importance, the question of ancestors and grave goods, and of grave offerings, the reasons for and the meaning of different burial types, and the theoretical and methodological approaches to ritual. Archaeological case studies were introduced, available textual evidence was presented, and even an ethnographic perspective from Kyrgyzstan is contributed. The archaeological and philological sources presented come from a wide geographical framework including Syria and Northern Mesopotamia, the Syro-Anatolian regions, the Southern Levant, Egypt, and Iran. Their chronological frame spans from the third to the first millennium BC. These contributions will enrich our understanding of the various cultural approaches to death in the Ancient Near East and increase our insight into many aspects of funerary rituals.

STBoT 53

Title: B. Christiansen, Schicksalsbestimmende Kommunikation. Sprachliche, gesellschaftliche und religiöse Aspekte hethitischer Fluch-, Segens- und Eidesformeln, Studien zu den Boğazköy-Texten 53, Wiesbaden 2012.

Keywords: Hittite - curse - oath - blessing

Abstract: In this volume the author discusses the linguistic, social, and religious aspects of the curses, blessings, and oaths in Hittite documents (Table of Contents). Expressions of these kinds form an integral part of the texts like treaties, instructions, letters, and so forth. The author analyses the formulae in their respective contexts and therefore establishes a model for classifying them.

SCCNH 19

Title: P. Abrahami and B. Lion (eds) The Nuzi Workshop at the 55th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (July 2009, Paris), Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians 19, Bethesda/Maryland 2012.

Keywords: Nuzi - proceedings - workshop - family - archives

Abstract: The volume, which results from a workshop on Nuzi at the 55th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Paris contains seven contributions on different aspects of family in Nuzi (Table of Contents). The second part is a continuation of the so-called "Nuzi Notes."

Status, Tod und Ritual

Title: S.R. Hauser, Status, Tod und Ritual. Stadt- und Sozialstruktur Assurs in neuassyrischer Zeit, Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 26, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: death - ritual - Neu-Assyrian period - Assur - infrastructure

Abstract: Through death and the way we deal with it perceptions and norms central to a society can be determined. Funerary rituals and the material culture connected with burials represent an important source for aspects of social history. In this volume (Table of Contents) the author bases his study on a great deal of textual and archaeological evidence in order to approach the social structure in the city of Assur in the Neo-Assyrian period. The archaeological source material was yielded by the German excavations in Assur.

Alexandre des Lumières

Title: P. Briant, Alexandre des Lumières. Fragments d'histoire européenne, nef essais: Gallimard.

Landschenkungsurkunden hethitischer Könige

Title: C. Rüster and G. Wilhelm, Landschenkungsurkunden hethitischer Könige. Studien zu den Boğazköy-Texten, Beiheft 4. Harrassowitz-Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: Hattusa - Boğazköy - Hittite - land grants - edition

Abstract: This volume contains the edition of 91 Hittite legal texts that are concerned with royal land grants in the Hittite empire (Table of Contents).

RINAP 3/1

Title: A. K. Grayson and J. Novotny, The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704-681 BC), Part 1, The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period 3/1, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, 2012.

Keywords: Sennacherib - Neo-Assyrian period - royal/monumental inscriptions - edition

Abstract: The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704-681 BC), Part 1 (Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period 3/1) provides reliable, up-to-date editions of thirty-eight historical inscriptions of Sennacherib. The texts edited in RINAP 3/1, which comprise approximately a sixth of the Sennacherib known corpus of inscriptions, were inscribed on clay cylinders, clay prisms, stone tablets, and stone steles from Nineveh; describe his many victories on the battlefield; and record numerous construction projects at Nineveh, including the city's walls and the "Palace Without a Rival." Each text edition (with its English translation) is supplied with a brief introduction containing general information, a catalogue containing basic information about all exemplars, a commentary containing further technical information and notes, and a comprehensive bibliography.

RINAP 3/1 also includes: (1) a general introduction to the reign of Sennacherib, his military campaigns, his building activities at Nineveh, the corpus of inscriptions, previous studies, and dating and chronology; (2) translations of the relevant passages of several Mesopotamian chronicles and kinglists; (3) several photographs of objects inscribed with texts of Sennacherib; (4) indices of museum and excavation numbers and selected publications; and (5) indices of proper names (Personal Names; Geographic, Ethnic, and Tribal Names; Divine, Planet, and Star Names; Gate, Palace, Temple, and Wall Names; and Object Names).

The RINAP Project is under the direction of G. Frame (University of Pennsylvania) and is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Göbekli Tepe

Title: K. Schmidt, Göbekli Tepe. A Stone Age Sanctuary in South-Eastern Anatolia. ex Oriente, Berlin, 2012.

Keywords: Göbekli Tepe - neolithic - monumental architecture - interpretation

Looking North

Title: N. Laneri, P. Pfälzner and S. Valentini (eds) Looking North. The Socioeconomic Dynamics of the Northern Mesopotamian and Anatolian Regions during the Late Third and Early Second Millennium BC. Studien zur Urbanisierung Nordmesopotamiens, Serie D: Supplementa 1, Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden, 2012.

Keywords: Northern Mesopotamia - Anatolia - environment - settlement pattern - material culture

Abstract: The first volume opening the series D of "Studien zur Urbanisierung Nordmesopotamines" is represented by the proceedings of an international workshop hold during the VI ICAANE 2008 in Rome. The workshop aimed to enlarge the current perspective on the socioeconomic exchanges that occurred during the Late Third and Early Second millennium BC between communities inhabiting Northern Mesopotamian and Southeaster Anatolian regions. The 19 contributions are divided into two sections. The first one ('Environment, Landscape and Settlement Pattern') aims to define how the settlements located in the different regions of the Syrian Jazirah and the Upper Valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates reacted to the historical and climatic events that, during the Late Third millennium BC, brought to a halt the phenomenon of urban revolution that characterized these regions during the Third millennium until the advent of the Old Akkadian Empire. Moreover, it tries to establish the relationship between these different regions focusing on the positive outcomes that the socioeconomic crisis of the Late Third millennium brought about. The second section ('Site's Analyses and Material Culture') provides different archaeological case studies focusing mainly on the regions of the Upper Tigris valley and the Syrian Jazirah with new results of recent researches and excavations; some contributions show clear connections between these two regions on the base of the material culture. The conclusion is provided by a synthesis of the transformations in the societal organization of the communities in Northern Mesopotamia and Southeaster Anatolian regions and a comparison of the different options explaining the changes.

Concepts of International Law

Title: A. Altman, Tracing the Earliest Recorded Concepts of International Law. The Ancient Near East (2500-330 BCE). Legal History Library. Studies in the History of International Law 8, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: Leiden & Boston, 2012.

Keywords: international law - legal systems - ancient Near East

Abstract: This book offers a unique survey of legal practices and ideas relating to international relations in the Ancient Near East between 2500 and 330 BC. Rather than entering into the debate on the continuous development of international law in Antiquity, the book discloses a vast amount of textual material from the Ancient Near East which sheds light on the legal regulation and organization of international relations in different epochs of pre-classical Antiquity. The book is a treasure trove of information for the historian of international law who wants to acquaint himself with the remotest history of international law, while it will also serve the general historian of the Ancient Near East who wants to acquaint himself with the international law of the period.

Communautés locales

Title: C. Feyel, J. Fournier, L. Graslin-Thomé and F. Kirbihler (eds) Communautés locales et pouvoir central dans l'Orient hellénistique et romain. Études anciennes 47, Nancy 2012.

Keywords: Hellenistic - Seleucid - ways of communication - central power - local policies - cities

Abstract: The volume contains 20 contributions (Table of Contents) on the ways of communication between cities or local (political) entities and the central power in the Hellenistic and Seleucid eras of the ancient Near East and Asia Minor.

Fs. Oren

Title: M. Gruber, S. Aḥituv, G. Lehmann and Z. Talshir (eds) All the Wisdom of the East. Studies in Near Eastern Archaeology and History in Honor of Eliezer D. Oren. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 255. Academic Press Fribourg and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen, 2012.

Keywords: Festschrift - archaeology - Levant

Abstract: All the Wisdom of the East is a tribute to Professor Eliezer D. Oren, a multi-faceted archaeologist of the Levant and its cultural connections with the Aegean, renowned student of the Negev and Northern Sinai, and founder of the Archaeological Division in the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva. The book includes an appreciation of the honoree and a list of his numerous publications. Thirty-nine scholars, colleagues and former students from Israel, Europe, the United States of America and New Zealand have contributed original studies in English (22), German (1) and Hebrew (5) to this volume. The spectrum of their papers covers various fields and periods, from pre-history to the Roman Period, from Egypt to the Aegean and the Western Mediterranean, from pottery to art, epigraphy and history. The book thus offers a wealth of knowledge and information of importance to anyone interested in the Ancient Near East.

Idea of Writing

Title: A. de Voogt and J. F. Quack (eds) The Idea of Writing. Writing Across Borders. Brill: Leiden & Boston 2012.

Keywords: writing - dispersal - borrowing

Abstract: The Idea of Writing is an exploration of the versatility of writing systems (Table of Contents). This volume, the second in a series, is specifically concerned with the problems and possibilities of adapting a writing system to another language. Writing is studied as it is used across linguistic and cultural borders from ancient Egyptian, Cuneiform and Korean writing to Japanese, Kharosthi and Near Eastern scripts. This collection of articles aims to highlight the complexity of writing systems rather than to provide a first introduction. The different academic traditions in which these writing systems have been studied use linguistic, socio-historical and philological approaches that give complementary insights of the complex phenomena. The book contains an article by Th.J.H. Krispijn on the interaction of Sumerian and Akkadian orthography in the second half of the 3rd millennium.

Southern Mesopotamian Marshlands

Title: Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, The Southern Mesopotamian Marshlands. Reclaiming the Heritage of a Civilisation. AMAR International Charitable Foundation, 2012.

Keywords: Mesopotamia - marshes - history - geography - sociology - economy

Andersson, Kingship

Title: J. Andersson, Kingship in the Early Mesopotamian Onomasticon 2800–2200 BCE. Studia Semitica Upsaliensia 28, Uppsala 2012.

Keywords: kingship – Early Dynastic period – Old Akkadian – onomastic studies – Sumerian

Abstract: Thousands of Sumerian and Old Akkadian personal names from 3rd millennium BC Mesopotamia are known and documented. The present study inspects names containing the royal appellatives, Sumerian lugal and Akkadian śarrum. The study aims at uncovering the relationships between personal names and the development of early historical kingship and religious thought in the area.

An overview of Sumerian and Old Akkadian names and name-giving serves as a starting point for semantic investigations of lugal- and śarrum-names. Sumerian and Old Akkadian names are to a large extent meaningful, and the literal meaning can be used to arrive at an understanding of the symbolic value, which led to the coining of the name. Discussions rely on comparable passages of contemporary and later written traditions.

To facilitate discussion and comparisons between the languages, names are divided into semantic groups based on characteristic traits found in contemporary royal inscriptions and religious texts. Parallel constructions are noted whenever such constructions are known. Names are assigned human or divine referents when possible. A look at political and religious developments puts the distribution of certain name types over time and space into perspective. Local and regional traditions and types are displayed and related either to royal ideological traits or to theological speculation. Besides locally significant gods, a few other deities can be identified as referents in names. A brief statistical overview of different archives shows that names featuring the figure of the lugal experience an increase in popularity at the expense of other types.

A system of annotation gives approximate numbers for bearers of names belonging to the types investigated. Lists of attestations, which document date and archival context, form the basis for discussions and conclusions and make the material available for inspection and further exploration.

Houston, Shape of Script

Title: S. D. Houston (ed.) The Shape of Script. How and Why Writing Systems Change. School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series, Santa Fe 2012.

Keywords: script - writing systems

Abstract: This book builds on earlier projects about the origins and extinctions of script traditions throughout the world in an effort to address the fundamental questions of how and why writing systems change. The contributors (J. Baines, J. Bodel, S. Chrisomalis, B. Gruendler, S. D. Houston, D. B. Lurie, J. Monaghan, R. Salomon, K. Steinke, N. Veldhuis)—who study ancient scripts from Arabic to Roman, from Bronze Age China to Middle Kingdom Egypt—utilize an approach that views writing less as a technology than as a mode of communication, one that is socially learned and culturally transmitted.

BPOA 10

Title: P. Paoletti, Der König und sein Kreis. Das staatliche Schatzarchiv der III. Dynastie von Ur. Biblioteca del Próximo Oriente Antiguo 10, Barcelona.

Keywords: Ur III - administration - king - 'Schatzarchiv'

Abstract: After a short introduction to Drehem and the archives assigned to it Paoletti deals extensively with structure and involved personnel of the 'Schatzarchiv' and the 'Schuharchiv' as well as with the terminology found in the respective texts. Then, the commodities crafted in Drehem are being highlighted, as well as royal votive gifts and their role.

AOAT 375

Title: T. R. Kämmerer and K. A. Metzler, Das babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos Enūma elîš. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 375, Münster.

Keywords: Literature - Akkadian - Creation myth - Enuma elish - edition

Abstract: The Babylonian Epic of Creation, Enuma elish, tells the story of primordial divine struggles among the gods and the successive creation of the world composed of the subterranean ocean, the earth and the sky, culminating in the rise of the god Marduk to supreme kingship over the world.

Texts and fragments, including some three dozens of hitherto unpublished, are assembled in a score edition (in contrast to the composite text of previous editions), to enable the reader a complete overview of the textual material of the epic and to dive into this stream of tradition. The translation bears witness of the poetic structure.

Table of Contents

OIP 138

Title: K. L. Wilson (with contributions by Jacob Lauinger, Monica Louise Phillips, Benjamin Studevent-Hickman, and Aage Westenholz), Bismaya: Recovering the Lost City of Adab. Oriental Institute Publications 138, Chicago. (More info)

Keywords: Bismaya - Adab - excavation

Abstract: An expedition from the University of Chicago excavated the site of Bismaya (ancient Adab) from December 24, 1903, until late June 1905. The excavations were directed first by Edgar J. Banks and then, briefly, by Victor S. Persons. Over 1,000 artifacts, many of them early cuneiform documents, were sent to Chicago, where they are now housed in the Oriental Institute Museum.

The results of the Bismaya excavations were never properly published, and most of the material was never published at all. Banks wrote a lively and highly readable popular account, Bismya, or the Lost City of Adab, that appeared in 1912 and gave the impression that his field methods were considerably less than satisfactory. However, that was not the case. Banks kept a careful field diary, complete with highly accurate sketches, and sent detailed weekly reports, lavishly illustrated with his own drawings, back to Chicago. These materials show that he excavated a mid-third-millennium BC temple and discovered some of the world’ s first historical inscriptions incised on stone vessels dedicated in that structure. He also uncovered residences of the late Early Dynastic period, two Akkadian administrative centers, and a palace of the Isin Larsa/Old Babylonian period.

This monograph presents this large and significant corpus of unpublished material and includes analyses of stratigraphy, architecture, sculpture, cylinder seals, metalwork, and pottery, and discussions of chronology, the succession of the first kings of Adab, and administrative practices during the third millennium BC.

Fs. Watson

Title: G. del Olmo Lete, J. Vidal and N. Wyatt (eds), The Perfumes of Seven Tamarisks. Studies in Honour of Wilfred G. E. Watson. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 394, Münster.

Keywords: Assyriological studies - Ugaritic studies - Northwest Semitic studies

Abstract: The volume (Table of Contents) comprises 24 contributions in Assyriological, Ugaritic, and Northwest Semitic studies.

Ossendrijver, Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy

Title: M. Ossendrijver, Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts. Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, New York / Heidelberg / Dordrecht / London.

Keywords: Babylonian Mathematics - Astronomy - procedure texts

Abstract: Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts contains a new analysis of the procedure texts of Babylonian mathematical astronomy. These cuneiform tablets, excavated in Babylon and Uruk and dating from 350‒50 BC, contain computational instructions that represent the earliest known form of mathematical astronomy of the ancient world. The targeted readership includes assyriologists, historians of science, astronomers and others with an interest in Babylonian astronomy.

The book includes new translations of all 108 available tablets that are based on a modern approach incorporating recent insights from assyriology and translation science. All translations are accompanied by commentaries and photographs of the tablets. The preceding chapters are devoted to documentary, lexical, semantic, mathematical and astronomical aspects of the procedure texts. Special attention is given to issues of mathematical representation, a topic that had previously been largely ignored. Mathematical concepts are presented in a didactic fashion, setting out from the most elementary ones (numbers and elementary operations) to more complex ones (algorithms and computational systems). Chapters devoted to the planets and the Moon contain updated and expanded reconstructions and astronomical interpretations of the algorithms.

The author intends to continue his study of Babylonian mathematical astronomy with a new publication devoted to the Tabular Texts—the end products of Babylonian mathematical astronomy, computed with algorithms that are formulated in the present volume. The upcoming volume will contain new editions and reconstructions of over 250 tabular texts and a new philological, astronomical, and mathematical analysis of these texts.

RSO 20

Title: V. Matoïan, M. Al-Maqdissi and Y. Calvet (eds), Études Ougaritiques II. Ras Shamra - Ougarit XX, Leuven / Paris / Walpole.

Keywords: Ugarit - Ras Shamra - archeology - report

Abstract: The volume comprises 18 contributions dealing with various aspects and periods attested in Ugarit. The first part deals with environmental questions as the access to water. In the second chapter the prehistory of the region of Ugarit is discussed. The two main chapters of the volume are about the Late Bronze Age.

Calendars in Antiquity

Title: S. Stern, Calendars in Antiquity. Empires, States, & Societies. Oxford.

Keywords: calendars - antiquity - Near East - standardisation

Abstract: Calendars were at the heart of ancient culture and society, and were far more than just technical, time-keeping devices. Calendars in Antiquity offers a comprehensive study of the calendars of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Gaul, and all other parts of the Mediterranean and the Near East, from the origins up to and including Jewish and Christian calendars in late Antiquity. In this volume, Stern sheds light on the political context in which ancient calendars were designed and managed. Set and controlled by political rulers, calendars served as expressions of political power, as mechanisms of social control, and sometimes as assertions of political independence, or even of sub-culture and dissidence.

While ancient calendars varied widely, they all shared a common history, evolving on the whole from flexible, lunar calendars to fixed, solar schemes. The Egyptian calendar played an important role in this process, leading most notably to the institution of the Julian calendar in Rome, the forerunner of our modern Gregorian calendar. Stern argues that this common, evolutionary trajectory was not the result of scientific or technical progress. It was rather the result of major political and social changes that transformed the ancient world, with the formation of the great Near Eastern empires and then the Hellenistic and Roman Empires from the first millennium BC to late Antiquity. The institution of standard, fixed calendars served the administrative needs of these great empires but also contributed to their cultural cohesion.

The book comprises two parts. Part I deals with the "rise of the fixed calendars" and investigates (1) calendars in ancient Greece, (2) the Babylonian calendar, (3) the Egyptian calendar, whose traditions reached their peak in (4) the Persian, Ptolemaic, and Julian calendars. Part II of the book studies the diversity and fragmentation of calendars. Its first chapter is about the Babylonian and Julian calendars in the Near East from the 3rd cent. BC to the 7th cent. AD.

AOAT 383

Title: U. Bock, "Von seiner Kindheit bis zum Erwachsenenalter" - Die Darstellung der Kindheit des Herrschers in mesopotamischen und kleinasiatischen Herrscherinschriften und literarischen Texten. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 383, Münster 2012.

Keywords: childhood - ruler - royal inscriptions - Mesopotamia - Asia Minor

Abstract: Bock (Table of Contents) examines the image, function and self-esteem of Mesopotamian rulers, when they were very young. The study is based on an analysis of motifs of Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite royal inscriptions and other literary texts: myths, epics, hymns, incantations. The various circumstances of pregnancy, birth, childhood and education as they are are classified and indexed. Transcriptions and translations of all texts which are dealt with are provided in the supplied catalogue.

AOAT 375

Title: T. R. Kämmerer and K. A. Metzler (eds), Das babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos Enūma elîš. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 375, Münster 2012.

Keywords: Creation myth - text edition - Enuma elish - Akkadian literature

Abstract: The Babylonian Epic of Creation, Enuma elish, tells the story of primordial divine struggles among the gods and the successive creation of the world composed of the subterranean ocean, the earth and the sky, culminating in the rise of the god Marduk to supreme kingship over the world.

Texts and fragments, including some three dozens of hitherto unpublished, are assembled in a score edition (in contrast to the composite text of previous editions), to enable the reader a complete overview of the textual material of the epic and to dive into this stream of tradition. The translation bears witness of the poetic structure (Table of Contents).

Saporetti, Prestiti Privati

Title: C. Saporetti (with the collaboration of G. Matini), Prestiti Privati. Dei Mezzi Ufficiali di Scambio nel Periodo Medio-Assiro. Collana di Studi Mesopotamici 1, Aracne Rome 2012.

Keywords: private loans - Middle Assyrian

Gehlken, Weather Omens of EAE

Title: E. Gehlken, Weather Omens of Enūma Anu Enlil. Thunderstorms, Wind and Rain (Tablets 44-49). Cuneiform Monographs 43, Brill Leiden, Boston 2012.

Keywords: Enūma Anu Enlil - weather - meteorology - omina

Abstract: The Assyro-Babylonian omen series Enūma Anu Enlil, written on seventy cuneiform tablets, bears witness to the early understanding of the mutual interactions of heaven and earth on both the physical and the religious levels. To facilitate accessibility, technical and linguistic commentaries as well as an excerpt series were compiled by the scholars of old. This ancient knowledge, which was still largely characterized by mythological concepts, was never completely abandoned, not even when the ‘calculating’ astronomy became prevalent in the first millennium B.C. The series deals in four parts with the moon, the sun, weather phenomena, and fixed stars and planets. This book offers an edition of the texts of the second half of the weather section with the accompanying material.

AOAT 384

Title: S. Zelig Aster,The Unbeatable Light. Melammu and Its Biblical Parallels. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 384, Ugarit-Verlag: Münster 2012.

Keywords: melammu - puluhtu - radiance - Mesopotamia - Bible

Abstract: Descriptions of God as radiant and shining are widely found in the Hebrew Bible. This is clearly demonstrated by such passages as Ps. 104:2, describing God as ‘wearing light like a garment,’ and Hab. 3:3-4, which describes God's arrival in imagery reminiscent of sunrise, stating ‘there shall be brightness like light.’ … The present study will examine Biblical depictions of divine and human radiance within an ancient Near Eastern context. It aims to clarify the meaning attached to radiance in the Hebrew Bible, and to answer related questions. These include: Who is chosen to be portrayed as radiant? How do these descriptions reflect underlying conceptions of those so portrayed? What do the different terms for radiance signify? In what periods and types of literature do we find such descriptions? What rhetorical function does the use of such descriptions serve? … The comparative discussion focusses on the relationship between the Biblical material and a group of terms found in Sumerian and Akkadian literature, which are thought to designate radiant phenomena of various types. The best-known of these terms are the Akkadian designations puluhtu and melammu, used to refer to the radiance of kings, heroes, and gods. In recent decades, scholars have devoted considerable attention to these terms, illustrating parallels to them in Biblical depictions of radiance. The phenomenon of royal and divine radiance is a very widespread motif in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, royal inscriptions, and art. (Table of Contents)

AOAT 392

Title: G. Galil, A. Gilboa, A. M. Maeir, and D. Kahn (eds), The Ancient Near East in the 12th-10th Centuries BCE. Culture and History. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Haifa, 2-5 May, 2010. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 392, Ugarit-Verlag: Münster 2012.

Keywords: history

Abstract: The history of the ancient Near East in the 12th–10th centuries BC is still an unsolved riddle. At times the veil is lifted and tiny components of this elaborate puzzle glow in a new light. But many questions are as yet unanswered, and most details are still vague. Nevertheless, the broad outlines of this age are fairly well agreed by most scholars: the three superpowers Egypt, Hatti and Assyria gradually lost their hold and their influence in the area: first the Hittites, just after 1200 BC, and a few dozens of years later, Egypt and Assyria. Historians generally concur that after the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243–1208 BC), Assyria plunged into a prolonged decline, gradually losing its western territories to the Aramaean invaders. (…) The studies presented in this book touch on diverse aspects of human activities (political, social, economic, and cultural), and refer to different parts of the ancient Near East: from Melid and Hanigalbat in the north to Egypt and Kush in the south and from Assyria and Babylonia in the East to the Kingdom of Taita and (southern) Philistia in the west. They do though center mainly on the Bible and the history of ancient Israel and its western and eastern neighbors, as compared with other ancient Near Eastern cultures. The papers present an extensive vista of views—from biblical and archaeological perspectives and indeed most of them were written from an inter disciplinary standpoint. (Table of Contents)

AOAT 397

Title: H. D. Baker, K. Kaniuth, and A. Otto (eds), Stories of Long Ago. Festschrift für Michael D. Roaf. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 397, Ugarit-Verlag: Münster 2012.

Keywords: archaeology - history - Ancient Near East

Abstract: Devoted to Michael D. Roaf (Munich), this many-faceted festschrift comprises more than forty contributions on the archaeology and history of the Ancient Near East. Articles deal with Assyrian, Babylonian, Syrian, Urartian, Anatolian, Phoenician, Persian and Early Islamic topics as well as with the modern exploration of Mesopotamia. (Table of Contents)

Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations

Title: R. W. Mathisen, Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations. From Prehistory to 640 CE. Oxford University Press: Oxford 2012.

Keywords: Mediterranean - civilizations - overview

Abstract: Challenging the stereotypes and myths that typically characterize students' understanding of antiquity, Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations: From Prehistory to 640 CE focuses on continuity and connections, along with cultural diffusion and cultural diversity, to show how history is a cumulative process and that numerous themes recur in different times and places. The text also explores sensitive issues and debates including attitudes toward race, ethnicity, and tolerance; gender issues and roles; slavery; social mobility; religion; political evolution; the nature of government; and imperialism.

Qaṭna Studien 3

Title: T. Richter and S. Lange (with a contribution by P. Pfälzner), Das Archiv des Idadda. Die Keilschrifttexte aus den deutsch-syrischen Ausgrabungen 2001-2003 im Königspalast von Qaṭna. Qaṭna Studien 3, Harrassowitz Verlag: Wiesbaden 2012.

Keywords: Qatna - texts - palace archive - Idadda

Abstract: In 2002 the archaeological expedition discovered in the royal palace of Qatna, the modern Tell Mishrife, 71 cuneiform texts. Among these texts letters of the Qatnean king Idadda were found, which help to date the archive to around 1340. The volume contains a full edition of the texts including a philological commentary. A comparison to the archival situation in Ugarit, Mari and Alalah helps to better systematise the archive of Idadda. The volume also contains a thorough treatment of the finding conditions of the tablets, which fell at the destruction of the palace from the ground floor to the subterranean corridor.

BAR Int. Series 2347

Title: A. Moghaddam, Later Village Period Settlement Development in the Karun River Basin, Upper Khuzestan Plain, Greater Susiana, Iran. BAR International Series 2347, Information Press: Oxford 2012.

Keywords: settlement development - Karun river basin - Khuzestan - Susiana - Iran

Abstract: This study re-evaluates the previous understanding of the Later Village Period in Greater Susiana (southwestern Iran) by focusing mostly on settlement and landscape. This is addressed from the perspective of the small and previously least explored plain known in this study as the Eastern Plain. By providing a picture of the previously unknown prehistoric human occupations in the Eastern plain through an examination and assessment of recent survey and excavation results and contextualizing this information with the results of previous research carried out in the Greater Susiana plains, it is hoped that this study will contribute to our understanding of human occupation and settlement pattern between ca. 5000 and 3500 B.C. in southwestern Iran. After the Introduction, Chapter 2 consists of a general review of the available evidence on the Later Village period (Middle Susiana to the Uruk period), its characteristics and interpretation. Chapter 3 looks at the geographical and geomorphological characteristics of the Eastern Plain. Chapter 4 reviews the new evidence of human occupation in the Eastern Plain from LMS to the Islamic era. Chapter 5 focuses on Tall-e Abu Chizan, an extensive settlement in the Eastern Plain and its place in the wider context of the Naft Sefid alluvial fan system. Chapter 6 presents the summary and conclusions. Appendices: 1. Excavation Pottery Collection; 2) Archaeobotanical Analysis at Tall-e Abu Chizan (Margareta Tengberg); 3. Observations on the Faunal Remains of Tall-e Abu Chizan (Marhjane Mashkour and Azadeh Mohaseb); 4) Chipped Stone from Tall-e Abu Chizan; 5) Radiocarbon Dates from Tall-e Abu Chizan.

Living the Lunar Calendar

Title: J. Ben-Dov, W. Horowitz and J. M. Steele (eds) Living the Lunar Calendar. Oxbow Books: Oxford 2012.

Keywords: calendar - moon - lunar - interdisplinary

Abstract: Lunar calendars suffer from an inherent uncertainty in the length of each month and the number of months in the year. Variable atmospheric conditions, weather and the acuity of the eye of an observer mean that the first sighting of the new moon crescent can never be known in advance. Calendars which rely on such observations to define the beginning of a new month therefore suffer from this lack of certainty as to whether a month will begin on a given day or the next. The papers in this volume address the question of how ancient and medieval societies lived with the uncertainties of a lunar calendar. How did lack of foreknowledge of the beginning of the month impact upon administration, the planning of festivals, and historical record keeping? Did societies replace the observation of the new moon crescent with schematic calendars or calendars based upon astronomical calculations and what were the ideological and practical consequences of such a change? The contributors to this volume address these topics from the perspectives of a variety of Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, Ancient and Medieval European, Asian and American cultures.

Introduction to Ugaritic

Title: J. Huehnergard, An Introduction to Ugaritic. Hendrickson Publishers: Peabody/MA 2012.

Keywords: Ugaritic - grammar

AOAT 398

Title: M. Sandowicz, Oaths and Curses. A Study in Neo- and Late Babylonian Legal Formulary. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 398. Ugarit-Verlag: Münster 2012.

Keywords: Neo Babylonian - Late Babylonian - legal texts - oaths - curses - formulary

Abstract: The volume investigates the formulary of oaths and curses in Neo- and Late Babylonian legal texts (Table of Contents).

Fs Van Lerberghe

Title: T. Boiy, J. Bretschneider, A. Goddeeris, H. Hameeuw, G. Jans and J. Tavernier (eds) The Ancient Near East, A Life! Festschrift Karel Van Lerberghe. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 220. Peeters: Leuven/Paris/Walpole, MA 2012.

Keywords: history - archaeology - Syria - Mesopotamia - text publications

Abstract: This volume in honour of Karel Van Lerberghe contains 47 contributions (Table of Contents) by his colleagues and students dealing with the history and archaeology of the Syro-Mesopotamian area. The focus on Syria and on the Old-Babylonian period reflects Karel's main research interests. Quite some cuneiform tablets are published here for the first time (both in hand-copy and with the help of the Portable Light Dome). Most recent archaeological field research is presented in contributions concerning Ugarit, Tell Tweini, Tell Beydar and many other sites.

Akkadian Textual Criticism

Title: Martin Worthington, Principles of Akkadian Textual Criticism. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records 1, De Gruyter: Boston/Berlin 2012.

Abstract: Errors of many kinds abound in Akkadian writings, but this fact’s far-reaching implications have never been unraveled and systematized. To attempt this is the aim of this book. Drawing on scholarship from other fields, it outlines a framework for the critical evaluation of extant text and the formulation of conjectural emendations. Along the way, it explores issues at the interface of orthography, textual transmission, scribal education, grammar, literacy, and literary interpretation.

Persepolis

Title: A. Mousavi, Persepolis. Discovery and Afterlife of a World Wonder. De Gruyter: Boston/Berlin 2012.

Keywords: Persepolis - history of discovery

Abstract: Persepolis: Discovery and Afterlife of a World Wonder presents the first full study of the history of archaeological exploration at Persepolis after its destruction in 330 BC. Based in part on archival evidence, anecdotal information, and unpublished documents, this book describes in detail the history of archaeological exploration, visual documentation, and excavations at one of the most celebrated sites of the ancient world. The book addresses a broad audience of readers ranging from students of the archaeology, history, and art history of ancient, medieval, and modern Iran to scholars in Classical Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies.

Ancient Iran from the Air

Title: D. Stronach and A. Mousavi (eds) Ancient Iran from the Air. Philipp von Zabern: Darmstadt/Mainz 2012.

Keywords: Iran - archaeological sites - aerial photographs

Abstract: This book features many of the more exceptional landscapes and monuments of Iran as seen through the lens of the world's foremost aerial photographers, George Gerster. The photographs, which were taken between 1976 and 1978, are presented in six chapters, each authored by one or more scholars of international repute, and the work as a whole is edited by two of the main contributors, David Stronach and Ali Mousavi. Ancient Iran from the Air takes the reader on an aerial odyssey that explores the country's infinitely varied landscapes; many of the more noted sites associated with Iran's rich prehistoric past; the storied capitals of the Achaemenid and Sasanian empires; the memorable monuments of Saljuk and Safavid Isfahan; and, last but not least, on a journey that celebrates the age-old virtues of Iran's largely unsung vernacular mud-brick architecture.

Subartu XXXI

Title: P. Quenet & M. al-Maqdissi (eds) "L'Heure Immobile" Entre Ciel et Terre. Mélanges en l'Honneur d'Antoine Souleiman. Subartu XXXI, Brepols 2012.

Keywords: Syria - archaeology

AfO-Beiheft 32

Title: R. Da Riva, The Twin Inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar at Brisa (Wadi esh-Sharbin, Lebanon). A Historical and Philological Study. Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft 32, Wien 2012.

Keywords: Nebuchadnezzar - royal inscriptions - Brisa - Lebanon - edition

Abstract: The volume contains a new edition of the rock inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II from the Lebanese site of Brisa. The edition is introduced by an historical introduction and contains a glossary (Table of Contents).

Festschrift Attinger

Title: C. Mittermayer & S. Ecklin (eds) Altorientalische Studien zu Ehren von Pascal Attinger. mu-ni u4 ul-li2-a-aš ĝa2-ĝa2-de3. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 256, Academic Press Fribourg, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen 2012.

Keywords: Sumerian literature - Sumerian grammar

Abstract: This collection contains 20 contributions, which mainly focus on Sumerian literature and grammar. Several contributions present new editions of Sumerian (literary) texts, some of them hitherto unpublished.

AOAT 393

Title: M. Maggio, L'ornementation des dieux à l'époque paléo-babylonienne. Étude du matériel ayant appartenu aux dieux d'après des documents de la pratique. Réflexions sur le don, l'ornementation des statues divines et la conservation des objects précieux. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 393, Ugarit-Verlag: Münster 2012.

Keywords: divine paraphernalia - emblems - weapons - furniture - ornaments - divine statues - Old Babylonian period - textual evidence

Abstract: The study thoroughly discusses the paraphernalia of deities as attested in texts of the Old Babylonian period (Table of Contents). The authors examines the wide range of objects which have been dedicated to gods and their temples during the Old Babylonian period in Mesopotamia and Syria: Emblems, furniture, weapons, vases made of gold, silver, copper, ivory, shells, and wood. The resulting catalogue is based on a comprehensive study of administrative and legal texts and on letters. A supplementing excursus focuses on the Sumero-Akkadian bilingualism and the foreign influence on the vocabulary and culture of Mesopotamia. Transcending the scope of the Old Babylonian period, a second part of the study is dedicated to the theory of donation and the ornamentation of divine statues.

Tell Ahmar III

Title: A. Jamieson, Tell Ahmar III. Neo-Assyrian Pottery from Area C. Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Supplement 35, Peeters: Leuven 2012.

Keywords: Tell Ahmar - Til Barsib - Neo-Assyrian period - pottery - Area C

Abstract: Tell Ahmar, ancient Til Barsib, on the east bank of the Euphrates River, close to the confluence of the Sajur River, was ideally placed to function as a crossing point from upper Mesopotamia to northern Syria. To a large extent the prominent and strategic location of Tell Ahmar determined the Assyrian interest in the site and it is apparent that Tell Ahmar reached its maximum size under the Assyrians. This study presents the Neo-Assyrian pottery from the excavations in Area C at Tell Ahmar. At least three buildings were identified in Area C. The distribution of the different pottery wares and types reflects patterns associated with the different activity areas identified within the buildings in Area C. Some wares and types were found with high degrees of frequency, other wares and types occurred infrequently. The buildings in Area C were only occupied for a short duration and this limited period of use is reflected in the ceramic evidence. The Area C pottery from Stratum 2 may be dated to the seventh century BC, and most likely to the second half of the seventh century BC. The Area C pottery from Tell Ahmar displays many correlations with other contemporary site assemblages. The Tell Ahmar pottery finds close parallels with similar wares and shapes in the Assyrian heartland, especially at Nimrud. The value of the Neo-Assyrian pottery from Tell Ahmar is that it offers an extensive ceramic corpus from three closely related residential buildings of an important provincial centre located in the middle and upper Euphrates valley of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Fs Attinger

Title: C. Mittermayer & S. Ecklin (eds.) Altorientalische Studien zu Ehren von Pascal Attinger : mu-ni u₄ ul-li₂-a-aš gâ₂-gâ₂-de₃. Orbis biblicus et orientalis 256, Fribourg : Academic Press ; Göttingen : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 2012.

Keywords:

Abstract: Prof. Dr. Pascal Attinger has taught Ancient Near Eastern languages at the University of Bern for twenty years. He owes his international reputation to his works on Sumerian grammar and Sumerian literature of the Old Babylonian period. The present volume brings together twenty contributions by his friends, colleagues and doctoral students, mainly concentrating on the 500 years spanning the turn from the third to the second millennium BC. Some studies deal with philological and linguistic aspects of Sumerian and Semitic Akkadian, including its dialects, while others focus on issues of history and culture. Several contributions present new editions of Sumerian (literary) texts, some of them hitherto unpublished. (Table of content)