Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History History does not begin in classical antiquity. Several cultures in the Near East predate Greek historical tradition by many centuries. To understand the history of one of the main ancient Near Eastern cultures, that of Mesopotamia, the scholar has to rely on cuneiform texts, which represent the oldest tradition of writing in human history, in use for nearly 3,000 years. The number and variety of texts written in the cuneiform script are enormous, and present a unique source for the study of history. This book describes the possibilities and challenges the material presents to the modern historian. Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History discusses how the abundant Mesopotamian sources can be used for the study of various aspects of history: political, social, economic and gender. Marc Van De Mieroop: • criticizes disciplinary methodologies which are often informed by a desire to write a history of events; • scrutinizes the intellectual background of historical writings; • examines how Mesopotamia’s position as the ‘other’ in classical and biblical writings has influenced scholarship; • suggests how the cuneiform texts can be used in innovative ways; • illustrates approaches with examples taken from the entirety of Mesopotamian history. Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History provides a challenging introduction to the written sources from Mesopotamia which will be useful to academics and students. Marc Van De Mieroop is Professor of Ancient Near East History at Columbia University in New York. His previous publications include The Ancient Mesopotamian City (1997). Approaching the Ancient World Series editor: Richard Stoneman The sources for the study of the Greek and Roman world are diffuse, diverse, and often complex, and special training is needed in order to use them to the best advantage in constructing a historical picture. The books in this series provide an introduction to the problems and methods involved in the study of ancient history. The topics covered will range from the use of literary sources for Greek history and for Roman history, through numismatics, epigraphy, and dirt archaeology, to the use of legal evidence and of art and artefacts in chronology. There will also be books on statistical and comparative method, and on feminist approaches. The Uses of Greek Mythology Ken Dowden Art, Artefacts, and Chronology in Classical Archaeology William R.Biers Reading Papyri, Writing Ancient History Roger S.Bagnall Ancient History from Coins Christopher Howgego The Sources of Roman Law Olivia Robinson Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History Marc Van De Mieroop Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History Marc Van De Mieroop London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1999 Marc Van De Mieroop The right of Marc Van De Mieroop to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Van De Mieroop, Marc. Cuneiform texts and the writing of history/Marc Van De Mieroop (Approaching the ancient world) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Iraq—History—To 643–Sources. 2. Iraq—History—To 643– Historiography. 3. Cuneiform tablets. 4. Cuneiform inscriptions. I. Title. II. Series. DS71.V35 1999 935–dc21 98–49057 ISBN 0-203-97837-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-19532-2 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-19533-0 (pbk) Contents List of illustrations vii Acknowledgements viii INTRODUCTION 1 1 THE FIRST HALF OF HISTORY 9 Administrative documents 13 Private legal documents 17 Letters 22 Historiographic texts 25 Literary texts 27 Scholarly texts 32 2 HISTORY FROM ABOVE 39 Assyrian royal inscriptions 40 Sargon of Agade 59 Mesopotamian history and narrative 75 3 HISTORY FROM BELOW 85 Prosopography 88 Innaja, an old Assyrian merchant 91 The effects of war 97 4 ECONOMIC HISTORY 105 Theories of ancient economics 107 The primitivism-modernism debate 108 vi Marxist interpretations 110 Max Weber 113 Modernist approaches 119 Agriculture in Ur III Lagash 122 5 GENDER AND MESOPOTAMIAN HISTORY 137 6 CONCLUSIONS 159 Notes 165 Annotated bibliography 169 Bibliography 175 Index 195 Illustrations PLATES 1 Date-list with abbreviated year names of Kings Hammurabi and Samsu-iluna of Babylon after the conquest of Larsa ix 2 Obverse of an Old Babylonian letter from Sirum to his sister Elmeshum x 3 Building inscription of King Sargon II of Assyria, written on a clay cylinder xi 4 Old Assyrian legal statement in its original clay envelope xii 5 Old Babylonian tablet containing birth omina, including some “historical omens” xiii 6 Hand-copy and photograph of the so-called Sargon autobiography xiv TABLES 1 Chronological chart of Mesopotamian history 7 2 Approximate numbers of various text types in the periods of Babylonian and Assyrian history 12 3 Chronology of Mesopotamian history with selected text finds 14 4 Comparison of Truro 1 and BM 14615 127 Acknowledgements The idea for writing a book of this type was first suggested to me by my colleague Roger S.Bagnall, whose own discussion of the use of papyri in the writing of ancient history inspired me when it was still in manuscript form. Richard Stoneman, editor of the series Approaching the Ancient World, welcomed the suggestion that ancient Mesopotamia would be considered as well, and skillfully guided the proposal through its evaluation process. While writing the book, I could rely on the advice of Peter Machinist and Kazuya Maekawa, who each carefully read part of the manuscript. My student Seth Richardson once more was greatly helpful with his editorial skills. I thank them all. My greatest debt is owed to Zainab Bahrani, with whom I was able to discuss every aspect of the book, and whose thoughtful comments on the entire manuscript have radically influenced the final result. ix Plate 1 Date-list with abbreviated year names of Kings Hammurabi and Samsu- iluna of Babylon after the conquest of Larsa. For instance, lines 1–4 read: “year: army of Elam; year: the land Jamutbalum; year: army of Mankisum; year: canal Hammurabi-is-the-abundance-of-the-people.” Source: Clay (1915: no. 33). Photograph courtesy of Yale Babylonian Collection. x Plate 2 Obverse of an Old Babylonian letter from Sirum to his sister Elmeshum complaining about her stinginess. Source: Lutz (1917: no. 15). Photograph courtesy of Yale Babylonian Collection. xi Plate 3Building inscription of King Sargon II of Assyria, written on a clay cylinder. The text commemorates the restoration of the Eanna-temple at Uruk for the goddess Ishtar. Source: Clay (1915: no. 38). Photograph courtesy of Yale Babylonian Collection. xii Plate 4 Old Assyrian legal statement that several debts of three men have been settled. The photographs show the original clay envelope. Source: Clay (1927: no. 206). Photograph courtesy of Yale Babylonian Collection. xiii Plate 5 Old Babylonian tablet containing birth omina, including some “historical omens.” For instance, col. III, lines 8–9: “If the foetus is like a lion, it is the omen of Naram-Sin, who subdued the world.” Source: Goetze (1947b: no. 56). Photograph courtesy of Yale Babylonian Collection. xiv Plate 6 Hand-copy and photograph of the so-called Sargon autobiography. The fragmentary texts reads: “I am Sargon, the beloved of Ishtar, who roamed the four quarters (of the earth). The radiance of Shamash…” Hand-copies are the usual way in which cuneiform tablets are reproduced for their primary publication. Source: Clay (1923: no. 4). Photograph courtesy of Yale Babylonian Collection. Introduction Numerous are the books and articles that seek to address the problem of how we write history. The extent of this literature reflects the anxiety historians feel about their work as it becomes the voice of authority, the lens through which the reader sees a particular moment of the past. Epistemology can rouse passions rarely seen otherwise in the historical profession. The awareness that the scholar of the present is the interpreter of the past, that his or her words guide the reader in an alien world, leads to a self-conscious wondering about the questions that are being asked, the ways in which they are addressed, and the form in which they are answered. The nineteenth-century idea that the past could be represented “as it really happened,” that the scholar can stand back and let the source material speak for itself, unfortunately may not be dead. However, rather than being the ideal method, it can now only be regarded as one paradigm in historical research, the validity of which needs to be argued (Novick 1988). From the outset I can state that this book is written with the conviction that the scholar’s own historical condition determines the account that is being written, that objectivity is an elusive ideal, and that the questions asked and models and interpretative frameworks employed are determined by the scholar’s contemporary concerns rather than by the sources investigated.