Studies in Old Babylonian History

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Studies in Old Babylonian History PIHANS • XL Studies in Old Babylonian History by Marten Stol Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul 1976 UITGA YEN VAN HET NEDERLANDS HISTORISCH-ARCHAEOLOGISCH INSTITUUT TE lSTANBUL Publications de l'Institut historique et archeologique neerlandais de Stamboul sous la direction de E. VAN DONZEL, Pauline H. E. DONCEEL-VOUTE, A. A. KAMPMAN et Machteld J. MELLINK XL STUDIES IN OLD BABYLONIAN HISTORY STUDIES IN OLD BABYLONIAN HISTORY by MARTEN STOL NEDERLANDS HISTORISCH-ARCHAEOLOGISCH INSTITUUT TE !STANBUL 1976 Copyright 1976 by Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten Noordeindsplein 4-6, Leiden All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form I.S.B.N. 90 6258 040 8 Printed in Belgium CONTENTS page PREFACE . IX l. A DATE LIST CONTAINING YEAR NAMES OF WARAD-SIN AND RIM-SIN 1 1. The date list . 2. The year names of Warad-Sin 6 3. The year names of Rim-Sin . 18 4. The year names of Sin-iqi:Sam 23 5. Sabium of Baby1on in Southern Babylonia 27 6. Synchronisms of Gungunum and kings of Isin 29 7. Bur-Sin and Sumu-el . 30 Il. UNIDENTIFIED YEAR NAMES OF HAMMURABI 32 Ill. RIM-SIN Il . 44 1. The ninth year of Samsu-iluna 44 2. Two archives . 45 3. Evidence from other texts 47 4. Intercalary months and the calendar 48 5. The defeat of Rim-Sin II 50 6. The events of Samsu-iluna year 10 52 7. Rim-Sin II, years (a) and (b) 53 8. The aftermath 55 Appendixes 56 IV. NAMES OF ABI-ESUlj'S LAST YEARS 59 V. EMUTBALUM 63 1. The name 63 2. Before and at the time of the Kudur-mabuk Dynasty 64 3. Emutbalum in the inscriptions and the year names of the kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon 65 a. Hammurabi 65 b. Samsu-iluna .68 c. Ammi-~aduqa 68 4. Emutbalum in letters and other documents 69 5. Yamutbalum in texts from Uruk . 70 6. Yamutbalum in the Mari texts . 70 7. Yamutbalum in post-Old Babylonian texts 71 8. Emutbalum in the lexical texts . 71 VIII CONTENTS VI. RABIANUM . 73 1. The word rabiiinum 73 a. Dialectal forms 73 b. The suffix -anum 76 2. "Burgomaster" 79 A. A pair of burgomasters 79 B. Rotation of the office 80 C. rabiiinum and GIR.NITA 82 3. *rabiiin niirim . 83 4. "Chieftain, sheikh" 85 5. rabiiin MAR.TU . 87 6. Excursus: MAR.TU = dMAR.TU 88 VII. THE BURGOMASTER IN HARVEST LABOR CONTRACTS 90 VIII. SOME PROBLEMS IN OLD BABYLONIAN HARVEST LABOR CONTRACTS 97 1. Earlier studies 97 2. A crucial clause 98 3. To "go" harvesters 99 4. Conclusions 103 5. "At harvest time" 104 6. Contracts from the Diyala region 105 7. "Should he not go" 106 INDEXES 109 PHOTOGRAPHS PREFACE This book investigates some aspects of the political and social history of the Old Babylonian Period, notably the second half of this period (roughly 1850- 1600 B.C.). Chronology is the main theme of Chapters I-IV. As year names are central for the reconstruction of the chronology of the Old Babylonian Period, I have tried to establish the correct sequence of a number of those year names. The informa­ tion they convey on the political history is also dealt with. Chapter V investigates the geographical and political cortcept "Emutbalum", which is of great importance for the correct interpretation of the rise and conquests of Hammurabi. The last three chapters of the book center on some problems in the social and economic history of this period. The meaning of the title rabianum ("burgomaster") and its use by kings, sheikhs and aldermen is the subject matter of Chapters VI and VII. Chapter VII, describing the role of the burgomaster in harvest labor contracts, entailed a new interpretation of those contracts (Chapter VIII). It is a pleasant duty to thank all those who have assisted me in various ways. In the first place, I am indebted to my teacher, Professor Kraus, who supervised my work from its very beginning. I wish to thank him for his penetrating criticisms and his helpful suggestions. I am grateful to Professors K. R. Veenhof and W. H. Ph. Romer, who read the manuscript and made a number of corrections and additions. I discussed some problems with Dr. G. van Driel, to whom I owe certain suggestions, now incorporated in the first chapter. I am much in debt with the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago : its Director, Dr. J. A. Brinkman, generously gave me the permission to publish here the Date List A. 7534 and to use Old Babylonian texts in the Tablet Collection of the Oriental Institute. X PREFACE A. L. Oppenheim, M. Sigrist, K. R. Veenhof, C. B. F. Walker and R. M. Whiting Jr kindly allowed me to use some unpublished texts. How could I thank Dr. Jack M. Sasson (Chapel Hill) for correcting the English of my manuscript? His task must have been a laborious one, especially since my style is so terse. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Mrs. Carol van Oriel, Mrs. Rivkah Harris, Dr. C. Nijland, Dr. David I. Owen and Mr. Th. J. H. Krispijn for their help. I am happy that the Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten is willing to publish this book. Leiden, June 1976 M. STOL I. A DATE LIST CONTAINING YEAR NAMES OF WARAD-SIN AND RIM-SIN 1. The Date List The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago possesses two Old Babylonian tablets with lists of year names. One date list of the year names of Samsu-ditana, king ofBabylon, was published by Feigin and Landsberger in JNES 14, 1955, 137 ff.; the other list, A. 7534, covering all the years of Warad-Sin and 22 years of Rim-Sin, both kings of Larsa, will be published here. Dr. I. J. Gelb drew my attention to this second list. I thank him and Dr. J. A. Brink­ man for their kind permission to publish this text together with the photographs. The provenance of the text is unknown to me. It is difficult to establish the date and the provenance of the text by means of palaeography. The writing seems to me to be typical for many "Larsa" texts. This type of writing is not restricted to the time of Rim-Sin I (as in YOS 8), but is also attested in "Larsa" during the reigns of Hammurabi and Samsu-iluna (as in TCL 11; cp. my footnote 20). Photographs of the tablet and copies of a number of individual signs are published here on Plates I-III and pages 4 f., respectively. Our date list resembles in some respects the lists published by Gadd in UET 1 265 and 266. According to Gadd, UET I, 1928, p. 70, "Nos. 265 and 266 are fragments of tablets which originally contained the whole or parts of the list of date formulae for the Larsa dynasty, similar to the prism in the Louvre, published by Thureau­ Dangin in RA XV p. 52ff.". What remains of the second list, UET 1 266, covers the year names from Sin-eribam 1 to Rim-Sin 22 (with large gaps), see Edzard, ZZB 17 [9.] and the transliteration by Ungnad in RLA 2 153-4 (L 2 ). The subscript of this text shows that the tablet was written at the time of Samsu-iluna. One may safely assume that date lists such as these (and our A. 7534) continued to be written after the downfall of the Larsa Dynasty and that they served practical purposes in the offices of the Great Organizations, as well as elsewhere. The text published here covers the year names Warad-Sin !-Rim-Sin 22. There is no room on the tablet for the full formula of Rim-Sin 23; the scribe may have continued his date list on another tablet. 2 I. A DATE LIST So the terminus post quem for the date of our text is Rim-Sin 22. On the following pages, I will give a transliteration of the text of the new date list and comment on the individual year names. The year names of Warad­ Sin will be studied with care; not much will be said about those of Rim-Sin, since they are well-known. I consulted with much profit F. Thureau-Dangin, "La chronologie de la Dynastie de Larsa" (RA 15, 1918, 1 ff.); E. M. Grice, Chronology of the Larsa Dynasty (= YOSR IV), 1919; A. Ungnad, "Datenlisten" (RLA 2,1938, 149ff.); F. R. Kraus, Nippur und !sin nach altbabylonischen Rechtsurkunden, chapters 1-3 (= JCS 3, 1951, 4-45); L. Matous, "Zur Chronologie der Geschichte von Larsa bis zum Einfall der Elamiter" (ArOr 20, 1952, 288ff.); D.O. Edzard, ZZB, 1957, passim. In sofar as I can agree with these authors, I will not repeat their discussions and conclusions. The study of the year names of Warad-Sin forces me to review the year names of Sin-iqiSam, to discuss the role of Sabium during these years, and to study some synchronisms. The new information given by the new text A. 7534 is of some consequence for the history of the reign of Warad-Sin. However, since it does not radically alter the description presented in Edzard's ZZB, 1957, 172-176, I do not feel obligated to rewrite the history of those years. A. 7534 Obverse I (1) [m]u ir-dEN.ZU Jugal [ x] (2) mu ka-zal-tuki ba. g[ul] (3) mu 1 alam.guskin [i]r-dEN.ZU e.dutu.se i.ni.in.ku4 .re (4) mu ugnim (KI.SU.LU.UB.GAR) ma.al.gi4 .a gis.t[uk]ul ba.an.sig (5) mu kisal.mah.dutu ba.du (6) mu ga.
Recommended publications
  • "Iraq Reclaims a Jewish History It Once Shunned [Washington Post]
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Heritage under siege: military implementation of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property Kila, J.D. Publication date 2012 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Kila, J. D. (2012). Heritage under siege: military implementation of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:08 Oct 2021 Part II A description of developments during the research and current progressing views on Cultural Property Protection, publications by Joris Kila from 2008 to 2011. 67 1. 'The Role of NATO and Civil Military Affairs', in Lawrence Rothfield. (ed.), Antiquities under Siege, part II chapter 16. New York 2008. 68 07_736 Ch 16.qxd 12/5/07 3:09 PM Page 177 C H A P T E R 1 6 The Role of NATO and Civil Military Affairs JORIS D.
    [Show full text]
  • Republic of Iraq
    Republic of Iraq Babylon Nomination Dossier for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List January 2018 stnel oC fobalbaT Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................... 1 State Party .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Province ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Name of property ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Geographical coordinates to the nearest second ................................................................................................. 1 Center ................................................................................................................................................................ 1 N 32° 32’ 31.09”, E 44° 25’ 15.00” ..................................................................................................................... 1 Textural description of the boundary .................................................................................................................. 1 Criteria under which the property is nominated .................................................................................................. 4 Draft statement
    [Show full text]
  • Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions
    MISCELLANEOUS BABYLONIAN INSCRIPTIONS BY GEORGE A. BARTON PROFESSOR IN BRYN MAWR COLLEGE ttCI.f~ -VIb NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS MDCCCCXVIII COPYRIGHT 1918 BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS First published, August, 191 8. TO HAROLD PEIRCE GENEROUS AND EFFICIENT HELPER IN GOOD WORKS PART I SUMERIAN RELIGIOUS TEXTS INTRODUCTORY NOTE The texts in this volume have been copied from tablets in the University Museum, Philadelphia, and edited in moments snatched from many other exacting duties. They present considerable variety. No. i is an incantation copied from a foundation cylinder of the time of the dynasty of Agade. It is the oldest known religious text from Babylonia, and perhaps the oldest in the world. No. 8 contains a new account of the creation of man and the development of agriculture and city life. No. 9 is an oracle of Ishbiurra, founder of the dynasty of Nisin, and throws an interesting light upon his career. It need hardly be added that the first interpretation of any unilingual Sumerian text is necessarily, in the present state of our knowledge, largely tentative. Every one familiar with the language knows that every text presents many possi- bilities of translation and interpretation. The first interpreter cannot hope to have thought of all of these, or to have decided every delicate point in a way that will commend itself to all his colleagues. The writer is indebted to Professor Albert T. Clay, to Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., and to Dr. Stephen Langdon for many helpful criticisms and suggestions. Their wide knowl- edge of the religious texts of Babylonia, generously placed at the writer's service, has been most helpful.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 the Assyrian Empire, the Conquest of Israel, and the Colonization of Judah 37 I
    ISRAEL AND EMPIRE ii ISRAEL AND EMPIRE A Postcolonial History of Israel and Early Judaism Leo G. Perdue and Warren Carter Edited by Coleman A. Baker LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY 1 Bloomsbury T&T Clark An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Imprint previously known as T&T Clark 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury, T&T Clark and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 © Leo G. Perdue, Warren Carter and Coleman A. Baker, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Leo G. Perdue, Warren Carter and Coleman A. Baker have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the authors. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: HB: 978-0-56705-409-8 PB: 978-0-56724-328-7 ePDF: 978-0-56728-051-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Typeset by Forthcoming Publications (www.forthpub.com) 1 Contents Abbreviations vii Preface ix Introduction: Empires, Colonies, and Postcolonial Interpretation 1 I.
    [Show full text]
  • Short Report on the UNESCO Assessment Mission to Iraq (17Th To
    REPORT ON THE UNESCO ASSESSMENT MISSION TO IRAQ (17TH TO 29TH NOVEMBER 2002) FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF THE MAKHOOL DAM PROJECT ON THE SITE OF ASHUR AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE RESERVOIR AREA January 2003 Dr Arnulf HAUSLEITER Berlin The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies University of Copenhagen Table of content 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 3 1.1 General situation ....................................................................................................... 3 1.2 The UNESCO assessment mission ........................................................................... 4 1.3 Objectives of the archaeological part of the mission .............................................. 5 1.4 Working conditions ................................................................................................... 5 2 Methods and results of the mission ............................................................................. 6 2.1 State of information and methodology of the visits ................................................ 6 The reservoir area ........................................................................................................ 6 The site of Ashur ......................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Assessment of the archaeological areas affected by the reservoir ........................ 8 History of exploration ................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Sumerian Lexicon, Version 3.0 1 A
    Sumerian Lexicon Version 3.0 by John A. Halloran The following lexicon contains 1,255 Sumerian logogram words and 2,511 Sumerian compound words. A logogram is a reading of a cuneiform sign which represents a word in the spoken language. Sumerian scribes invented the practice of writing in cuneiform on clay tablets sometime around 3400 B.C. in the Uruk/Warka region of southern Iraq. The language that they spoke, Sumerian, is known to us through a large body of texts and through bilingual cuneiform dictionaries of Sumerian and Akkadian, the language of their Semitic successors, to which Sumerian is not related. These bilingual dictionaries date from the Old Babylonian period (1800-1600 B.C.), by which time Sumerian had ceased to be spoken, except by the scribes. The earliest and most important words in Sumerian had their own cuneiform signs, whose origins were pictographic, making an initial repertoire of about a thousand signs or logograms. Beyond these words, two-thirds of this lexicon now consists of words that are transparent compounds of separate logogram words. I have greatly expanded the section containing compounds in this version, but I know that many more compound words could be added. Many cuneiform signs can be pronounced in more than one way and often two or more signs share the same pronunciation, in which case it is necessary to indicate in the transliteration which cuneiform sign is meant; Assyriologists have developed a system whereby the second homophone is marked by an acute accent (´), the third homophone by a grave accent (`), and the remainder by subscript numerals.
    [Show full text]
  • 2210 Bc 2200 Bc 2190 Bc 2180 Bc 2170 Bc 2160 Bc 2150 Bc 2140 Bc 2130 Bc 2120 Bc 2110 Bc 2100 Bc 2090 Bc
    2210 BC 2200 BC 2190 BC 2180 BC 2170 BC 2160 BC 2150 BC 2140 BC 2130 BC 2120 BC 2110 BC 2100 BC 2090 BC Fertile Crescent Igigi (2) Ur-Nammu Shulgi 2192-2190BC Dudu (20) Shar-kali-sharri Shu-Turul (14) 3rd Kingdom of 2112-2095BC (17) 2094-2047BC (47) 2189-2169BC 2217-2193BC (24) 2168-2154BC Ur 2112-2004BC Kingdom Of Akkad 2234-2154BC ( ) (2) Nanijum, Imi, Elulu Imta (3) 2117-2115BC 2190-2189BC (1) Ibranum (1) 2180-2177BC Inimabakesh (5) Ibate (3) Kurum (1) 2127-2124BC 2113-2112BC Inkishu (6) Shulme (6) 2153-2148BC Iarlagab (15) 2121-2120BC Puzur-Sin (7) Iarlaganda ( )(7) Kingdom Of Gutium 2177-2171BC 2165-2159BC 2142-2127BC 2110-2103BC 2103-2096BC (7) 2096-2089BC 2180-2089BC Nikillagah (6) Elulumesh (5) Igeshaush (6) 2171-2165BC 2159-2153BC 2148-2142BC Iarlagash (3) Irarum (2) Hablum (2) 2124-2121BC 2115-2113BC 2112-2110BC ( ) (3) Cainan 2610-2150BC (460 years) 2120-2117BC Shelah 2480-2047BC (403 years) Eber 2450-2020BC (430 years) Peleg 2416-2177BC (209 years) Reu 2386-2147BC (207 years) Serug 2354-2124BC (200 years) Nahor 2324-2176BC (199 years) Terah 2295-2090BC (205 years) Abraham 2165-1990BC (175) Genesis (Moses) 1)Neferkare, 2)Neferkare Neby, Neferkamin Anu (2) 3)Djedkare Shemay, 4)Neferkare 2169-2167BC 1)Meryhathor, 2)Neferkare, 3)Wahkare Achthoes III, 4)Marykare, 5)............. (All Dates Unknown) Khendu, 5)Meryenhor, 6)Neferkamin, Kakare Ibi (4) 7)Nykare, 8)Neferkare Tereru, 2167-2163 9)Neferkahor Neferkare (2) 10TH Dynasty (90) 2130-2040BC Merenre Antyemsaf II (All Dates Unknown) 2163-2161BC 1)Meryibre Achthoes I, 2)............., 3)Neferkare, 2184-2183BC (1) 4)Meryibre Achthoes II, 5)Setut, 6)............., Menkare Nitocris Neferkauhor (1) Wadjkare Pepysonbe 7)Mery-........, 8)Shed-........, 9)............., 2183-2181BC (2) 2161-2160BC Inyotef II (-1) 2173-2169BC (4) 10)............., 11)............., 12)User......
    [Show full text]
  • 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
    [Show full text]
  • Amarna Period Down to the Opening of Sety I's Reign
    oi.uchicago.edu STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION * NO.42 THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Thomas A. Holland * Editor with the assistance of Thomas G. Urban oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu Internet publication of this work was made possible with the generous support of Misty and Lewis Gruber THE ROAD TO KADESH A HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE BATTLE RELIEFS OF KING SETY I AT KARNAK SECOND EDITION REVISED WILLIAM J. MURNANE THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION . NO.42 CHICAGO * ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 90-63725 ISBN: 0-918986-67-2 ISSN: 0081-7554 The Oriental Institute, Chicago © 1985, 1990 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 1990. Printed in the United States of America. oi.uchicago.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS List of M aps ................................ ................................. ................................. vi Preface to the Second Edition ................................................................................................. vii Preface to the First Edition ................................................................................................. ix List of Bibliographic Abbreviations ..................................... ....................... xi Chapter 1. Egypt's Relations with Hatti From the Amarna Period Down to the Opening of Sety I's Reign ...................................................................... ......................... 1 The Clash of Empires
    [Show full text]
  • Two Old Babylonian Texts from MARAD ( Wana Wa AL Sodum ) Dr
    2012م/1433هـ (ADAB AL-RAFIDAYN, VOL.(63 Two old Babylonian Texts from MARAD ( Wana wa AL_Sodum ) Dr. Saad.S. Fahad * & Dr Abbas.A. AL-hussainy تأريخ التقديم: 32/5/3122 تأريخ القبول: 3122/6/8 Preface:- The site of Marad(Sumerian MARDA, modern Tell wana wa al-sodum) was an ancient Sumerian city situated on the west bank of the western branch of the Euphrates river, west of Nippur and roughly 50 km southeast of kish, on the Aratu river, it was established ca.2700 B.C during the Sumerian Early Dynastic II period. The site of Marad covered on area of less than 124 hectares(50 acres),it was excavated by a team from Al- Qadisiya university in 1990 led by Dr. Nael Hannon, and in 2005 and 2007 led by Dr. Abbas,A., al-hussainy, publication of the last two seasons is in progress(1). During the Archaeological excavation on second season 2005 a number of cuneiform texts were found in different points in the site. After a primary study for these cuneiform texts it was cleared that many of them belong to the old Babylonian period, while there were few number of them belong to a more modern period(new Babylon period). the subjects of these texts, were various according to the variety of the daily life at that time, but one can say that the general Dep.of Archaeology/ College of Arts 38 Two old Babylonian Texts from MARAD (Wana wa AL_Sodum) Dr. Saad.S. Fahad& Dr.Abbas.A. AL-hussainy pattern of these texts were like the contract type of texts(contracts of buying lands).These texts contain date formula and the names of local kings who ruled at that place,
    [Show full text]
  • Marten Stol WOMEN in the ANCIENT NEAR EAST
    Marten Stol WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Marten Stol Women in the Ancient Near East Marten Stol Women in the Ancient Near East Translated by Helen and Mervyn Richardson ISBN 978-1-61451-323-0 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-1-61451-263-9 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-1-5015-0021-3 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. Original edition: Vrouwen van Babylon. Prinsessen, priesteressen, prostituees in de bakermat van de cultuur. Uitgeverij Kok, Utrecht (2012). Translated by Helen and Mervyn Richardson © 2016 Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin Cover Image: Marten Stol Typesetting: Dörlemann Satz GmbH & Co. KG, Lemförde Printing and binding: cpi books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Table of Contents Introduction 1 Map 5 1 Her outward appearance 7 1.1 Phases of life 7 1.2 The girl 10 1.3 The virgin 13 1.4 Women’s clothing 17 1.5 Cosmetics and beauty 47 1.6 The language of women 56 1.7 Women’s names 58 2 Marriage 60 2.1 Preparations 62 2.2 Age for marrying 66 2.3 Regulations 67 2.4 The betrothal 72 2.5 The wedding 93 2.6
    [Show full text]
  • Mesopotamian Culture
    MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE WORK DONE BY MANUEL D. N. 1ºA MESOPOTAMIAN GODS The Sumerians practiced a polytheistic religion , with anthropomorphic monotheistic and some gods representing forces or presences in the world , as he would later Greek civilization. In their beliefs state that the gods originally created humans so that they serve them servants , but when they were released too , because they thought they could become dominated by their large number . Many stories in Sumerian religion appear homologous to stories in other religions of the Middle East. For example , the biblical account of the creation of man , the culture of The Elamites , and the narrative of the flood and Noah's ark closely resembles the Assyrian stories. The Sumerian gods have distinctly similar representations in Akkadian , Canaanite religions and other cultures . Some of the stories and deities have their Greek parallels , such as the descent of Inanna to the underworld ( Irkalla ) resembles the story of Persephone. COSMOGONY Cosmogony Cosmology sumeria. The universe first appeared when Nammu , formless abyss was opened itself and in an act of self- procreation gave birth to An ( Anu ) ( sky god ) and Ki ( goddess of the Earth ), commonly referred to as Ninhursag . Binding of Anu (An) and Ki produced Enlil , Mr. Wind , who eventually became the leader of the gods. Then Enlil was banished from Dilmun (the home of the gods) because of the violation of Ninlil , of which he had a son , Sin ( moon god ) , also known as Nanna . No Ningal and gave birth to Inanna ( goddess of love and war ) and Utu or Shamash ( the sun god ) .
    [Show full text]