Ur III Studies: Bibliography 1997–2014
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SUMERIAN LITERATURE and SUMERIAN IDENTITY My Title Puts
CNI Publicati ons 43 SUMERIAN LITERATURE AND SUMERIAN IDENTITY JERROLD S. COOPER PROBLEMS OF C..\NONlCl'TY AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN A NCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA There is evidence of a regional identity in early Babylonia, but it does not seem to be of the Sumerian ethno-lingusitic sort. Sumerian Edited by identity as such appears only as an artifact of the scribal literary KIM RYHOLT curriculum once the Sumerian language had to be acquired through GOJKO B AR .I AMOVIC educati on rather than as a mother tongue. By the late second millennium, it appears there was no notion that a separate Sumerian ethno-lingui stic population had ever existed. My title puts Sumerian literature before Sumerian identity, and in so doing anticipates my conclusion, which will be that there was little or no Sumerian identity as such - in the sense of "We are all Sumerians!" outside of Sumerian literature and the scribal milieu that composed and transmitted it. By "Sumerian literature," I mean the corpus of compositions in Sumerian known from manuscripts that date primarily 1 to the first half of the 18 h century BC. With a few notable exceptions, the compositions themselves originated in the preceding three centuries, that is, in what Assyriologists call the Ur III and Isin-Larsa (or Early Old Babylonian) periods. I purposely eschew the too fraught and contested term "canon," preferring the very neutral "corpus" instead, while recognizing that because nearly all of our manuscripts were produced by students, the term "curriculum" is apt as well. 1 The geographic designation "Babylonia" is used here for the region to the south of present day Baghdad, the territory the ancients would have called "Sumer and Akkad." I will argue that there is indeed evidence for a 3rd millennium pan-Babylonian regional identity, but little or no evidence that it was bound to a Sumerian mother-tongue community. -
The Evolution of Fragility: Setting the Terms
McDONALD INSTITUTE CONVERSATIONS The Evolution of Fragility: Setting the Terms Edited by Norman Yoffee The Evolution of Fragility: Setting the Terms McDONALD INSTITUTE CONVERSATIONS The Evolution of Fragility: Setting the Terms Edited by Norman Yoffee with contributions from Tom D. Dillehay, Li Min, Patricia A. McAnany, Ellen Morris, Timothy R. Pauketat, Cameron A. Petrie, Peter Robertshaw, Andrea Seri, Miriam T. Stark, Steven A. Wernke & Norman Yoffee Published by: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge, UK CB2 3ER (0)(1223) 339327 [email protected] www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2019 © 2019 McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. The Evolution of Fragility: Setting the Terms is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 (International) Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ISBN: 978-1-902937-88-5 Cover design by Dora Kemp and Ben Plumridge. Typesetting and layout by Ben Plumridge. Cover image: Ta Prohm temple, Angkor. Photo: Dr Charlotte Minh Ha Pham. Used by permission. Edited for the Institute by James Barrett (Series Editor). Contents Contributors vii Figures viii Tables ix Acknowledgements x Chapter 1 Introducing the Conference: There Are No Innocent Terms 1 Norman Yoffee Mapping the chapters 3 The challenges of fragility 6 Chapter 2 Fragility of Vulnerable Social Institutions in Andean States 9 Tom D. Dillehay & Steven A. Wernke Vulnerability and the fragile state -
Forgetting the Sumerians in Ancient Iraq Jerrold Cooper Johns Hopkins University
“I have forgotten my burden of former days!” Forgetting the Sumerians in Ancient Iraq Jerrold Cooper Johns Hopkins University The honor and occasion of an American Oriental Society presidential address cannot but evoke memories. The annual AOS meeting is, after all, the site of many of our earliest schol- arly memories, and more recent ones as well. The memory of my immediate predecessor’s address, a very hard act to follow indeed, remains vivid. Sid Griffiths gave a lucid account of a controversial topic with appeal to a broad audience. His delivery was beautifully attuned to the occasion, and his talk was perfectly timed. At the very first AOS presidential address I attended, the speaker was a bit tipsy, and, ten minutes into his talk, he looked at his watch and said, “Oh, I’ve gone on too long!” and sat down. I also remember a quite different presi- dential address in which, after an hour had passed, the speaker declared, “I know I’ve been talking for a long time, but since this is the first and only time most of you will hear anything about my field, I’ll continue on until you’ve heard all I think you ought to know!” It is but a small move from individual memory to cultural memory, a move I would like to make with a slight twist. As my title announces, the subject of this communication will not be how the ancient Mesopotamians remembered their past, but rather how they managed to forget, or seemed to forget, an important component of their early history. -
003 Transcript
Episode 003 Sargon to Hammurabi: Trade and Turmoil in Ancient Mesopotamia Today we’re going to cover a larger span of time than we have covered in a single podcast to this point, so buckle in as we look at some details about a certain Sumerian moon-god and how his mythical journey can give us a little insight into the boat building materials of pre-Akkadian Sumer. Then, we’ll see how Sargon forged one of the first true empires and we’ll look at some records from Akkad that give us insight into the range and scope of Akkadian trade. We’ll get an overview of the gradual changes in trade that occurred in Mesopotamia and we’ll end up at a point that is essentially the end of ancient Mesopotamia’s connection to maritime history, a point that is near the appearance of the Hittites, the end of the Bronze age in Mesopotamia, and a sharp decline in Persian Gulf trade. Let’s start by looking at a few religious texts from ancient Sumer that can shed some light on the materials used to build magur boats and just how important these boats were in Sumer. A small caveat though first: it’s thought that the sacred boats differed from the everyday boat used by the common person, so the magur boats we’re talking about may have been only a small portion of the boats used in Mesopotamia, or they may simply have been idealized depictions of boats that were beautiful enough for the gods to have used. -
The Mortal Kings of Ur: a Short Century of Divine
3 THE MORTAL KINGS OF UR: A SHORT CENTURY OF DIVINE RULE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA PIOTR MICHALOWSKI, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Assyriologists are at a disadvantage whenever the subject of divine kingship comes up. The issue is not an old one, but it has its lingering ghosts, James Frazer and Edward Evans Prichard, and it has its favorite haunting ground, the continent of Africa and the island of Mad agascar. Ever since Frazer delineated the problem in 1890, the focus of investigation has been on Africa, and the definition has encompassed three central components: duality, regicide, and the mediating role of the king. Of the three, regicide has been the most contentious issue, but it is one that is hardly important outside of the Africanist debates. Moreover, as Kasja Ekholm Friedman (1985: 250) has written, some have viewed divine kingship as "an autonomous sym bolic structure that can only be understood in terms of its own internal symbolic structure." Writing about the Lower Congo (Friedman 1985: 251), she undertook to demonstrate that "it is a historical product which has undergone transformations connected to the general structural change that has turned Africa into an underdeveloped periphery of the West." Here, I follow her example and attempt to locate the eruptions of early Mesopotamian divine kingship as historically defined phenomena, rather than as moments in a developmental trajectory of an autonomous symbolic structure. Most studies of the early history of Mesopotamian kingship concentrate on the develop ment of a specific figure in text and art; the underlying notions are social evolutionary, and the methodology is philological, often relying on etymology and the study of the occurrence and history of lexical labels, as summarized well in a recent article by Nicole Brisch (forth coming). -
Comptabilités, 8 | 2016 Archives and Bookkeeping in Southern Mesopotamia During the Ur III Period 2
Comptabilités Revue d'histoire des comptabilités 8 | 2016 Archéologie de la comptabilité. Culture matérielle des pratiques comptables au Proche-Orient ancien Archives and Bookkeeping in Southern Mesopotamia during the Ur III period Archéologie de la comptabilité. Culture matérielle des pratiques comptables au Proche-Orient ancien Archives et comptabilité dans le Sud mésopotamien pendant la période d’Ur III Archive und Rechnungswesen im Süden Mesopotamiens im Zeitalter von Ur III Archivos y contabilidad en el Periodo de Ur III (2110-2003 a.C.) Manuel Molina Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/comptabilites/1980 ISSN: 1775-3554 Publisher IRHiS-UMR 8529 Electronic reference Manuel Molina, « Archives and Bookkeeping in Southern Mesopotamia during the Ur III period », Comptabilités [Online], 8 | 2016, Online since 20 June 2016, connection on 19 April 2019. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/comptabilites/1980 This text was automatically generated on 19 April 2019. Tous droits réservés Archives and Bookkeeping in Southern Mesopotamia during the Ur III period 1 Archives and Bookkeeping in Southern Mesopotamia during the Ur III period* Archéologie de la comptabilité. Culture matérielle des pratiques comptables au Proche-Orient ancien Archives et comptabilité dans le Sud mésopotamien pendant la période d’Ur III Archive und Rechnungswesen im Süden Mesopotamiens im Zeitalter von Ur III Archivos y contabilidad en el Periodo de Ur III (2110-2003 a.C.) Manuel Molina 1 By the end of the 22nd century BC, king Ur-Namma inaugurated in Southern Mesopotamia the so-called Third Dynasty of Ur (2110-2003 BC). In this period, a large, well structured and organized state was built up, to such an extent that it has been considered by many a true empire. -
THE KUSHITE ORIGINS of SU~Ier and ELAM by Runoko Rashidi Ancient Sumer, the Biblical Land of Shinar, Modern Lower Mesopotamia, F
THE KUSHITE ORIGINS OF SU~iER AND ELAM By Runoko Rashidi And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel ••. in the land of Shinar. 1 Ancient Sumer, the biblical land of Shinar, modern lower Mesopotamia, flourished in the third millenium B.C. covering the territorial expanse of the Tigris/Euphrates River Valley. Embracing the shores of the Persian Gulf, Sumer extended north to Akkad, a distance of about 320 miles, thus constituting Southern Babylonia. The appellation Chaldea, frequently applied to the region, appears to have been introduced by the Assyrians in the ninth century B.c.2 The designations Babylon, Babylonia and Chaldea have been used extensively, particularly by nine teenth century scholars, in reference to the area now almost exclusively known as Sumer. Sumer appears to be the first major high-culture of western Asia. She bequeathed to her successor states a tradi tion of great achievement. Her many contributions to civili zation are well known. Brilliant agriculturalists, the Sumerians built very sophisticated canals and reservoirs to irrigate their fields. They possessed both an advanced legal system and a well developed knowledge of medicine and were perhaps the ancient world's greatest astronomers.3 While these salient facts regarding Sumer's obvious cultural genius are well known, the important question of the racial composition of its population is generally glossed over. This apparent cloud concerning race, however, is very thin and there is a substantial body of evidence in support of the position that the civilization of Sumer was the product of Black migrations from Africa's Nile Valley. -
On the Third Dynasty of Ur
ON THE THIRD DYNASTY OF UR Journal of Cuneiform Studies Supplemental Series Piotr Michalowski Series Editor AssociateAssociate EditorsEditors Gary Beckman, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Gary Beckman,Elizabeth Carter, University University ofof California, Michigan, Los AngelesAnn Arbor Elizabeth Carter,Piotr UniversitySteinkeller, Harvard of California, University Los Angeles MatthewP iotrW. Stolper, Steinkeller, The Oriental Harvard Institute, University of Chicago Matthew W. Stolper, The OrientalManaging EditorInstitute, University of Chicago Billie Jean Collins, Emory University Managing Editor Billie Jean Collins, Emory University Number 1 ON THE THIRD DYNASTY OF UR ON THE THIRD DYNASTY OF UR STUDIES IN HONOR OF MARCEL SIGRIST Edited by Piotr Michalowski American Schools of Oriental Research ∑ Boston 2008 ON THE THIRD DYNASTY OF UR Copyright ç 2008 by the American Schools of Oriental Research All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions O¯ce, American Schools of Oriental Research, 656 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215-2010 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data On the Third Dynasty of Ur : studies in honor of Marcel Sigrist / edited by Piotr Michalowski. — 1st ed. p. cm. — (Journal of cuneiform studies. Supplemental series ; v. 1) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-89757-080-0 (alk. paper) 1. Babylonia—History. 2. Ur (Extinct city) 3. -
Lecture 6: Ur III and Neo-Sumerian Empire
1/29/2012 Lecture 6: Ur III and Neo-Sumerian Empire Plan of the city of Umma, with indications of property boundaries during the Third Dynasty of Ur. Paris, Louvre. HIST 213 Spring 2012 Post Akkadian (Gutian) 2160-2100 Sumerian Revival (Ur III) 2100-2000 • Last Akkadian King Shar-kali-sharri overthrown • Series of Gutian Warlords from Zagros Mountains – capital at Agade – proved to be very poor rulers of Sumer • crude administrators • prosperity declined • canal network failed • famine • lack of literature • let south rule themselves Lagash assumes control over S. Mesopotamia – 2nd Dynasty of Lagash • Gudea (2144-2124 BCE) Seated Statue of Gudea from Lagash Neo-Sumerian c. 2100 BCE 1 1/29/2012 Gudea foundations of temples • Gudea built numerous temples • rekindled religious practice Sumerians rise again in Ur III period • Utu-hegal of Uruk fends of Gutians and takes over several other city-states – installs brother Ur-Nammu as ensi of Ur • When Utu-hegal dies, Ur-Nammu takes new title – King of Sumer and Akkad – 5 generations of same family (70 years) – starts Ur III Period Detail of reconstructed stele of Ur-Nammu 2 1/29/2012 Ur III Dynasty (2112-2004 BCE) Sumerian “Renaissance” • 5 generations of Sumerian rulers over unified Mesopotamia • improvements in: – bureaucracy – urban density – literacy – centralized administration – religious practices Ur III Empire Smaller than Akkad • more centralized 3 districts A. heartland – 20 provinces – ensi ruled on behalf of king (hereditary) Ur B. military zone – generals – foreign names C. trade zone Ur III (Sumerian Renaissance) Incredible amount of extant written records – 40,000 texts published – comparable to what remains of Greece and Rome • military campaigns • building activity – fabulous ziggurat at Ur • economic and bureaucratic texts • religious hymns – hymns of Shulgi • Law Codes – Ur-Nammu 3 1/29/2012 Long-Range Economic planning Textiles were a particularly important industry in Ur • run by the state • Men, women, and children alike were employed to produce wool and linen clothing. -
The Third Dynasty of Ur. the Stela of Ur - Nammu
The Third Dynasty of Ur. The Stela of Ur - Nammu The stela of Ur-Nammu, the largest sculptured slab recovered at Ur, is a monumental record of the building activities of the founder of the third dynasty. After the Guti had been driven out of the land by Utu- khegal of Uruk, the royalty passed to Ur, and for over a century Ur- Nammu and his successors ruled as kings of Sumer and Akkad, extended their dominion over Ashur and Elam, and claimed the empire over the four corners of the world, like Sargon of Agade before them and Hammurabi after them. Magnificent constructions, replacing smaller and older buildings, attested the wealth and power of the new capital. Most of them were begun by Ur-Nammu and completed by his son Shulgi: first, the temple of Nannar and Ningal, the moon-god and his wife, with its great brick tower resting on the artificial platform, sur- rounded by a strong wall, enclosing the main shrines; next, the great gate and hall of justice (Dub-lal-makh) giving access to the platform; then, outside the wall, three important buildings, the treasury (E-nun- makh), the royal palace (Kharsag-kalama), and the so-called Egipar, the fortified palace of the high priestess, built southwest of the temple on a spot named Nannar-karzida. The stela of Ur-Nammu stood in the court- yard below the hall of justice, and was raised there by Shulgi in honour of his father, the builder of the Ziggurat which dominates the ruins of Ur to the present day. -
When Kingship Descended from Heaven: Masterpieces of Mesopotamian Art from the Louvre
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 391 773 SO 026 102 TITLE When Kingship Descended from Heaven: Masterpieces of Mesopotamian Art from the Louvre. INSTITUTION Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. PUB DATE 92 NOTE 35p. AVAILABLE FROMEducation Department, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560 ($10 plus $4.50 shipping and handling; packet includes six color slides). PUB TYPE Audiovisual/Non-Print Materials (100) Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) Guides Classroom Use Instructional Materials (For Learner)(051) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Ancient History; Area Studies; *Art History; Intermediate Grades; Junior High Schools; Leaders; Leadership Styles; Social Studies IDENTIFIERS Dynasties; Mesopotamia; *Mesopotamian Art; *Mesopotamian Culture ABSTRACT This teaching packet, designed for students in grades 6 through 9, explores the role of rulers in ancient Mesopotamian society and examines the depiction of those rulers in Mesopotamian art. Students are encouraged tc compare present-day political leaders with ancient Mesopotamian ruters. The guide includes:(1) background information for teachers;(2) introductory activities for students; (3) descriptions and discussions for each of six "Slides" included with the packet;(4) follow-up activities for students; (5) an annotated bibliogrti2hy; (6) a glossary; and (7) a chronology of Mesopotamian dynasties. (MM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by -
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN CHRONOLOGY MESOPOTAMIA (South) MESOPOTAMIA (North) [RAN LEVANT ANATOLIA EGYPT
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN CHRONOLOGY MESOPOTAMIA (South) MESOPOTAMIA (North) [RAN LEVANT ANATOLIA EGYPT 3500 B.c. Late Uruk period Proto-urban period Chalcolithic period Troy I 3500-3100 Susa II Jemdet Nasr period 3100-2900 Archaic period Early Dynastic period Proto-Elamite period 3000 B.C. c. 3000-2575 2900-2334 Susa III Sumero-Elamite period Early Bronze Age Troy II SUA IV Old Kingdom 2575-2134 Akkadian period Akkadian rule 2334-2154 in Susa Alaca Höyük royal Neo-Sumerian period tombs Gudea of Lagash ca. 2100 First Inrermediate Third Dynasty of Ur period 2112-2004 2134-2040 2000 B.c. Isin-Larsa period Middle Bronze Age Middle Kingdom 2017-176} Old Assyrian period Old Elamite period Assyrian Colony 2040-1640 1920-1750 1900-1500 period 1920-1750 Old Babylonian period 1894- 1595 Old Hirtite period Hammurabi 1650-1400 Second Intermediate period (Hyksos) 1792-1750 1640-1532 Kassite period Mitannian period Late Bronze Age Hittite Empire period New Kingdom 1595-1157 1500-1350 1400-1200 1550-1070 Middle Assyrian Middle Elamire period Second Dynasty of Isin Iron Age Neo-Hirtite and Third Intermediate 1000 B.c. period 1350-1000 period 1070-712 1156-1025 Hasanlu V-IV Kingdoms of Aramaean states Neo-Assyrian period Iron Age I-II Israel and Judah Urartian period 883-612 1500-800 850-600 Phoenician city states Late Dynastic period Neo-Eiamite period Phrygian period 712-332 Neo-Babylonian 775-690 period 625-539 Median period Iron Age III \chaemenid dynasty 550-331 Achaemenid rule Achaemenid rule Achaemenid rule 525-404;343-332 Alexander the Great 331-323 Capture of Tyre by Alexander the Great Capture of Babylon Burning of Persepolis Alexander the Grear crosses rhe Hellespont Alexander the Great by the Greeks 331 331 332 334 Macedonian period Seleucid dynasty Seleucid dynasry Seleucid dynasty 332-304 31 2- 129 B.c.