DOCSLIB.ORG

Royal Inscriptions. Text

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

UR EXCAVATIONS ROYAL INSCRIPTIONS PUBLICATIONS OF THE JOINT EXPEDITION OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND OF THE MUSEUM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 'PENNSYLVANIA TO MESOPOTAMIA UR EXCAVATIONS TEXTS I ROYAL INSCRIPTIONS By C. J. GADD, M.A., F.S.A., Assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum, and LEON LEGRAIN, D.D., Sc.D., Curator of the Babylonian Section of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania; with contributions by SIDNEY SMITH, M.A., F.S.A., of the British Museum, and E. R. BURROWS, s.J., M.A. PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE TWO MUSEUMS 1928 SOLD IN ENGLAND AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND BY BERNARD QUARITCH ii Grafton Street, London, W. I THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Amen House, London, E.C. 4 KEGAN PAUL & CO. 38 Great Russell Street London, W.C. I PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY HARRISON & SONS LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 2 PREFACE HE present volume inaugurates the series of texts emanating from the excavations of the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania at and in the neighbourhood of Ur, which, as stated in the Preface to the volume on al-'Ubaid (Oxford University Press, 1927), will accompany the series of volumes describing the excavations. This first volume contains the whole of the material of one particular class which has accrued from the excavations of the Joint Expedition in the seasons of 1922-7, together with some acquired by the British Museum alone in the season of 9 9. The nature of these texts is described in the Introduction which follows. The main body of these texts has been edited by Mr. C. J. Gadd of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, and the Rev. Dr. Leon Legrain of the University Museum of Pennsylvania; of these, Mr. Gadd translated the texts obtained in the first three seasons (I919 and 1922-4) from copies made by Mr. Sidney Smith of the British Museum and himself, while Dr. Legrain worked upon the texts from the seasons of I924-5 and 1925-6, after his own copies. The Supplement containing Nos. 267 to 309, which was added after the results of 1926-7 were available, is mainly the work of the Rev. E. R. Burrows, S.J.; Nos. 274-276 were copied and translated by Mr. Sidney Smith. The general editing of the whole has been done by Mr. Gadd. FREDERIC G. KENYON. February, I 9 28. INTRODUCTION TH E class of inscriptions comprised in this volume may best be described by the title chosen as "royal inscriptions," which, although not strictly applicable to every one, is the most comprehensive. Their style, indeed, is already familiar to scholars, being common to all the official monuments of early and later Babylonia. It would be misleading to call such texts historical, for, in fact, they have extremely few historical allusions, but are concerned mostly with religious building, and dedications to the gods by princes or courtiers. The objects upon which they are inscribed are of stone, baked clay, or metal, in the forms of statues, gate-sockets, mace-heads, cylinder seals, stone vases, plaques, weights, bricks, clay cones, and tablets. Among the more notable of the inscriptions here published the following deserve special mention :- I, 2, 25-28. Inscriptions of Lagashite rulers, from Entemena and Enannatum to Ur-Bau and Gudea. These seem to reveal an intermittent ascendency of Lagash over Ur until the rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur. 8-10, 22-24. Dedications, etc., of the kings of Agade, among which 23 gives evidence that Sargon already followed the custom of making his daughter high- priestess at Ur, and 24 is a double inscription upon a royal heirloom. Supplement 274-276 are later copies made from inscriptions of Manishtusu and Naram-Sin, which convey historical and geographical information of the highest interest. I97-2I2. New date-formulae of the long, but still very obscure, reign of Ibi-Sin, last king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Four of these refer to military events which finally led up to the fall of Ur and the captivity of the king in Elam. It is evident from these new dates that Ibi-Sin was able to claim considerable, if only temporary, successes against his enemies both in the east and on the Euphrates front. In two separate years he boasts of victory over Elam and over the Amorites, and 203-205 represent his triumph as complete. A reversal of fortune is suggested by 207 ; the king is forced to repair the fortifications of the centres of his empire. Ioo mentions the recovery by Gimil-ilishu from Elam of a statue of the Moon- god, doubtless plundered from Ur at the destruction of the city when Ibi-Sin was defeated and taken prisoner. 213-224 are dates of the Isin Dynasty, conveying little information. iII has an incidental reference to a local rebellion at Ur under a certain Na'id- Shamash. It was successfully crushed by the reigning king, Nur-Adad of Larsa, and the usurper was dislodged from the city. I2I, bricks of Silli-Adad, a little-known member of the Larsa Dynasty. viii INTRODUCTION. I22-I45. A fine series of dedicatory inscriptions of the last kings of the Larsa Dynasty and of their father, Kudur-Mabug. Mostly written upon clay cones, they commemorate the building of a number of temples and chapels for various gods, and, though the historical information given is slight, they are notable examples of the language used in the official style of this period. I23 refers to a campaign of Kudur-Mabug, in which he expelled his enemies from Larsa, and took captive the inhabitants of Mashgan-shabrim and Kar-Shamash, and 138, repeating the date-formula for the i5th year of Rim-Sin, adds a detail concerning his victory over the king of Erech. 265, 266 and 292 are fragments of the date-lists of the Isin and Larsa Dynasties which furnish several additions to the versions already known. I46, a number of pieces broken from a great stele with bilingual inscription set up at Ur, apparently by Hammurabi, and afterwards destroyed, probably when his son Samsu-iluna lost control of the city. 172 has the curiosity of being an early example of a scholar's copy of an ancient cuneiform text, made in the 7th century B.C. from an original of the 23rd century. I94 is a brick-inscription of Cyrus the Great. A number of the smaller, or much damaged, inscriptions here included, though of little importance in themselves, will often serve as evidence for dating objects found associated with them in the excavations, and may be alluded to in later volumes which will concern themselves with the archaeological discoveries. It will be observed that the transliterations given in this volume make no attempt to distinguish the signs transcribed by the use of diacritical marks. Many systems of this kind have been devised, none is universally employed, and all suffer from the increased liability to error and the added cost of printing. Moreover, the necessity for diacritical marks is greatest when passages are quoted in isolation r from their original texts, and least in such places as the present, where texts and transliterations are directly associated, and can be conveniently used together. C. J. G. ix ,.4 ed I II 0 H m CQn <"n'llo j C '^It^ - 1- .1f o x - + + I H n I I I n n I en t t + V <j rd S PQ CO g Cdt \ -, |- 1 i. »-H >-n > w ^ ,-- t< 4 0-r 4 · · 1 i : Hn H .. -4-) Q SQ "^ " ^" "* - m 4) I=-r - Cd cn rd ^f x Nc N X.X N ^ X p . * g O 1 &rd0(< d kd( ip; Ci cr)' : c i '-» PI 5 Qm Z ' C5 5^ 5 cr, 5; * r C S 53 5rz, S C1t M V C) AICd Ps uj o o .- oc^ E '? n.aI I^ E , O Ced 0 *~ o 0 M M m 0 oo N ·,I- § ° ° ° ° o ° ° X o Or . 0 0 0 dP IIo3 Id ^ ~Ii~ih IiD- gn CI6- ~n & S .. · X c, ~ : Eu hJ.d, oE S- c. 4) 4,.C ·. o . 1 ^ t N r 7 N N X 0 N C ^ OISC * (L2 ( : ^n ^ 0J| 1F0 z Cd N rF 00 ~ (CJE3 ~O~0 00 ~ ~+ ~ ~ O~ CZ 9 H H H 7~-FL 9 F P" ,5 04 cd .2~~H H ~ ICd F:(n6uDtu t F9cr« . I J _ ___ S S co U0, ! §. V- a-4l I H N m -ins\0t t- o00 0' 0 H N cm -t u D H H F - :?a=1 x ,.4 *-3c3 bAor in U in Il n VI 'O c0 0 Ic I . t t 0) 1- CL. I 2 ° 1-, t-I It *^ © w 4-> ~~~~-4~~~f I- I >- cooc I--! 0 )-1 (S- c~~~~~~~~;COCfi d r a ,0 ^~~~~~ ^„£^'0f~ ~^- = o H 0<0^So :lt 0 o r- (1 ceA >~~~ I -~ ;:Ib.0 -,-44.5 O ~~~~~~~~~~~J, ~~~._ 0 ~ ~ ~ ~ rl ~ r P. d c 0 .- I ... c o . o- tv. v l: v I 0 CdC/ C 5 5 ! ~ I --- i 0~~~~~~~~~0: 5 . (0 <H I .> I %. I I E . * Q~~ z z ,- O n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ H r4 0 ^ ^0 °x gX· 0O :)N M o Cs vD0x o 0 M~~ ° N; 00 0 0..,o ~~~~~~~~~~0C1 x x x ¢x - $' o- x x o -M ~~ ~ ~ ~o ~~~~~4$ ~~~~~~~~00 o E aOd ~ ~ X 0Uo SP^ '& 4S3 si^ SP '^ 6S^ 'S ^' o~~ ~,- S SS S -a S Y) <u,0as- oS ~b -0'"t s 0U) 20 ~*"H 0 d 0 0 o i i '' i 'oII f i " u -- ~· - ~' .i & -+-, 10~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -,-- 0 ' O .- ~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~.
Recommended publications
  • 1 Inanna Research Script

    1 Inanna Research Script

    INANNA RESEARCH SCRIPT (to be cut and shaped for performance) By Peggy Firestone Based on Translations of Clay Tablets from Sumer By Samuel Noah Kramer 1 [email protected] (773) 384-5802 © 2008 CAST OF CHARACTERS In order of appearance Narrators ………………………………… Storytellers & Timekeepers Inanna …………………………………… Queen of Heaven and Earth, Goddess, Immortal Enki ……………………………………… Creator & Organizer of Earth’s Living Things, Manager of the Gods & Goddesses, Trickster God, Inanna’s Grandfather An ………………………………………. The Sky God Ki ………………………………………. The Earth Goddess (also known as Ninhursag) Enlil …………………………………….. The Air God, inventor of all things useful in the Universe Nanna-Sin ………………………………. The Moon God, Immortal, Father of Inanna Ningal …………………………………... The Moon Goddess, Immortal, Mother of Inanna Lilith ……………………………………. Demon of Desolation, Protector of Freedom Anzu Bird ………………………………. An Unholy (Holy) Trinity … Demon bird, Protector of Cattle Snake that has no Grace ………………. Tyrant Protector Snake Gilgamesh ……………………………….. Hero, Mortal, Inanna’s first cousin, Demi-God of Uruk Isimud ………………………………….. Enki’s Janus-faced messenger Ninshubur ……………………………… Inanna’s lieutenant, Goddess of the Rising Sun, Queen of the East Lahamma Enkums ………………………………… Monster Guardians of Enki’s Shrine House Giants of Eridu Utu ……………………………………… Sun God, Inanna’s Brother Dumuzi …………………………………. Shepherd King of Uruk, Inanna’s husband, Enki’s son by Situr, the Sheep Goddess Neti ……………………………………… Gatekeeper to the Nether World Ereshkigal ……………………………. Queen of the
  • Nabu 2015-2-Mep-Dc

    Nabu 2015-2-Mep-Dc

    ISSN 0989-5671 2015 N°2 (juin) NOTES BRÈVES 25) À propos d’ARET XII 344, des déesses dgú-ša-ra-tum et de la naissance du prince éblaïte* — Le texte administratif ARET XII 344 est malheureusement assez lacuneux, mais à notre avis quand même très intéressant. Les lignes du texte préservées sont les suivantes: r. I’:1’-5’: ‹x›[...] / šeš-[...] / in ⸢u₄⸣ / ḫúl / ⸢íl⸣-['à*-ag*-da*-mu*] v. II’:1’-11’: ...] K[ALAM.]KAL[AM(?)] / NI-šè-na-⸢a⸣ / ma-lik-tum / è / é / daš-dar / ap / íl-'à- ag-da-mu / i[n] / [...] / [...] r. III’:1’-9’: ⸢'à⸣-[...] / 1 gír mar-t[u] zú-aka / 1 buru₄-mušen 1 kù-sal / daš-dar / NAM-ra-luki / 1 zara₆-túg ú-ḫáb / 1 giš-šilig₅* 2 kù-sig₁₇ maš-maš-SÙ / 1 šíta zabar / dga-mi-iš r. IV’:1’-10’: ⸢x⸣[...] / 10 lá-3 an-dù[l] igi-DUB-SÙ šu-SÙ DU-SÙ kù:babbar / 10 lá-3 gú-a-tum zabar / dgú-ša-ra-tum / 5 kù-sig₁₇ / é / en / ni-zi-mu / 2 ma-na 55 kù-sig₁₇ / sikil r. V’:1’-6’: [x-]NE-[t]um / [x K]A-dù-gíd / [m]a-lik-tum / i[n-na-s]um / dga-mi-iš / 1 dib 2 giš- DU 2 ti-gi-na 2 geštu-lá 2 ba-ga-NE-su!(ZU) r. VI’:1’-6’: [...]⸢x⸣ / [m]a-[li]k-tum / [šu-ba₄-]ti / [x ki]n siki / [x-]li / [x-b]a-LUM. Tout d’abord, on remarquera qu’au début du texte on peut lire in ⸢u₄⸣ / ḫúl / ⸢íl⸣-['à*-ag*-da*- mu*], c’est-à-dire « dans le jour de la fête (en l’honneur) d’íl-'à-ag-da-mu ».
  • Burn Your Way to Success Studies in the Mesopotamian Ritual And

    Burn Your Way to Success Studies in the Mesopotamian Ritual And

    Burn your way to success Studies in the Mesopotamian Ritual and Incantation Series Šurpu by Francis James Michael Simons A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham March 2017 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The ritual and incantation series Šurpu ‘Burning’ is one of the most important sources for understanding religious and magical practice in the ancient Near East. The purpose of the ritual was to rid a sufferer of a divine curse which had been inflicted due to personal misconduct. The series is composed chiefly of the text of the incantations recited during the ceremony. These are supplemented by brief ritual instructions as well as a ritual tablet which details the ceremony in full. This thesis offers a comprehensive and radical reconstruction of the entire text, demonstrating the existence of a large, and previously unsuspected, lacuna in the published version. In addition, a single tablet, tablet IX, from the ten which comprise the series is fully edited, with partitur transliteration, eclectic and normalised text, translation, and a detailed line by line commentary.
  • ANIMAL SACRIFICE in ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION The

    ANIMAL SACRIFICE in ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION The

    CHAPTER FOURTEEN ANIMAL SACRIFICE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION JOANN SCURLOCK The relationship between men and gods in ancient Mesopotamia was cemented by regular offerings and occasional sacrifices of ani­ mals. In addition, there were divinatory sacrifices, treaty sacrifices, and even "covenant" sacrifices. The dead, too, were entitled to a form of sacrifice. What follows is intended as a broad survey of ancient Mesopotamian practices across the spectrum, not as an essay on the developments that must have occurred over the course of several millennia of history, nor as a comparative study of regional differences. REGULAR OFFERINGS I Ancient Mesopotamian deities expected to be fed twice a day with­ out fail by their human worshipers.2 As befitted divine rulers, they also expected a steady diet of meat. Nebuchadnezzar II boasts that he increased the offerings for his gods to new levels of conspicuous consumption. Under his new scheme, Marduk and $arpanitum were to receive on their table "every day" one fattened ungelded bull, fine long fleeced sheep (which they shared with the other gods of Baby1on),3 fish, birds,4 bandicoot rats (Englund 1995: 37-55; cf. I On sacrifices in general, see especially Dhorme (1910: 264-77) and Saggs (1962: 335-38). 2 So too the god of the Israelites (Anderson 1992: 878). For specific biblical refer­ ences to offerings as "food" for God, see Blome (1934: 13). To the term tamid, used of this daily offering in Rabbinic sources, compare the ancient Mesopotamian offering term gimi "continual." 3 Note that, in the case of gods living in the same temple, this sharing could be literal.
  • SUMERIAN LITERATURE and SUMERIAN IDENTITY My Title Puts

    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 Lost Book of Enki.Pdf

    The Lost Book of Enki.Pdf

    L0ST BOOK °f6NK1 ZECHARIA SITCHIN author of The 12th Planet • . FICTION/MYTHOLOGY $24.00 TH6 LOST BOOK OF 6NK! Will the past become our future? Is humankind destined to repeat the events that occurred on another planet, far away from Earth? Zecharia Sitchin’s bestselling series, The Earth Chronicles, provided humanity’s side of the story—as recorded on ancient clay tablets and other Sumerian artifacts—concerning our origins at the hands of the Anunnaki, “those who from heaven to earth came.” In The Lost Book of Enki, we can view this saga from a dif- ferent perspective through this richly con- ceived autobiographical account of Lord Enki, an Anunnaki god, who tells the story of these extraterrestrials’ arrival on Earth from the 12th planet, Nibiru. The object of their colonization: gold to replenish the dying atmosphere of their home planet. Finding this precious metal results in the Anunnaki creation of homo sapiens—the human race—to mine this important resource. In his previous works, Sitchin com- piled the complete story of the Anunnaki ’s impact on human civilization in peacetime and in war from the frag- ments scattered throughout Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew sources- —the “myths” of all ancient peoples in the old world as well as the new. Missing from these accounts, however, was the perspective of the Anunnaki themselves What was life like on their own planet? What motives propelled them to settle on Earth—and what drove them from their new home? Convinced of the existence of a now lost book that formed the basis of THE lost book of ENKI MFMOHCS XND PKjOPHeCieS OF XN eXTfCXUfCWJTWXL COD 2.6CHXPJA SITCHIN Bear & Company Rochester, Vermont — Bear & Company One Park Street Rochester, Vermont 05767 www.InnerTraditions.com Copyright © 2002 by Zecharia Sitchin All rights reserved.
  • Iscrizioni Reali Dal Vicino Oriente Antico

    Iscrizioni Reali Dal Vicino Oriente Antico

    Università di Pisa Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia ISCRIZIONI REALI DAL VICINO ORIENTE ANTICO Materiali per il corso di Storia del Vicino Oriente antico Traduzione di Giuseppe Del Monte Pisa – 2004 Indice 1 L’EPOCA PROTODINASTICA Mesalim di Kish 1 3 Mesannepada di Ur 1 3 Enshakushanna di Uruk 1 3 Urnanshe di Lagash 51 3 Eannatum di Lagash 2 4 Enannatum I di Lagash 1 4 Entemena di Lagash 28-29 5 Urukagina di Lagash 4-5 6 Urukagina di Lagash 16 8 Lugalzagesi di Uruk 1 9 LA DINASTIA DI AKKAD Sargon b 1 11 Sargon b 2 11 Rimush b 2 12 Rimush b 7-8 12 Rimush b 9/10 12 Rimush b 12 13 Man-ishtushu a 1 13 Man-ishtushu b 3 13 Naram-Sîn b 1 13 Naram-Sîn b 5 14 Naram-Sîn Statua A da Susa 15 Naram-Sîn Base di statua da Basetki 15 Shar-kali-sharri BM 38302 15 La nascita di Sargon (VIII sec.) 16 La “Lettera di Sargon” (Ur, XVIII sec.) 16 Sargon Re della battaglia (versione da Boghazköy, XVI sec.) 16 La rivolta generale contro Naram-Sîn (versione “Ginevra”) 17 La rivolta generale contro Naram-Sîn (versione da Boghazköy) 18 PERIODO GUTEO Erridu-pizir 1 19 Erridu-pizir 2 19 Gudea Statua B V 21-VII 20 20 Utu-hegal 4 21 Utu-hegal Coni di argilla da Lagash 22 Stele di Ur-Nammu governatore di Ur 22 III DINASTIA DI UR Ur-Nammu 23 Cono di argilla 22 Ur-Nammu 26 Cono di argilla 22 Shulgi 9 Tavola di pietra da Nippur 22 Shulgi 3 Mattone da Eshnunna 22 Shulgi 63 Mattone da Susa 23 Amar-Suen 3 Mattoni da Ur 23 Shu-Sîn 9 Cardini di porta da Umma e altrove 23 2 Indice Ibbi-Sîn 1/2 Coni di argilla da Ur 23 Ibbi-Sîn 9 (Tavoletta paleo-babilonese) 23 Ibbi-Sîn 11 (Tavoletta
  • The Beautiful Cubit System I Douglas 2019 the Beautiful Cubit System

    The Beautiful Cubit System I Douglas 2019 the Beautiful Cubit System

    The Beautiful Cubit System I Douglas 2019 The Beautiful Cubit System Ian Douglas, B.Sc [email protected] 30 June 2019 Version 1.0.0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3263864 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Abstract An analysis of the Egyptian Royal cubit, presenting some research and opinions flowing from that research, into what I believe was the original cubit, and how it was corrupted. I show various close arithmetic approximations and multiple ways of getting the divisions of the cubit, as well as some related measures. The cubit also encapsulates the basic components for the metric system. Keywords: Egyptology, metrology, royal cubit, cubit, metre, foot, metric system Contents 1. Introduction 2. Overview of current understanding 3. An alternative origin 4. Different ways of approximating the royal cubit 5. Different ways of getting the cubit divisions 6. Geometry, the Royal Cubit and the metric system 7. Bibliography 1. Introduction The cubit is a well-know ancient measure of length, used around various places in the Middle East and Mediterranean region in the distant past. 1 The Beautiful Cubit System I Douglas 2019 It is allegedly based on the length of a human (male) fore-arm. It is typically measured from the back of the elbow to some point between the wrist and the end of the outstretched middle finger, or in some variants, a point beyond that. The problem with this approach is that everyone’s arm is a different length. If the heights of the dynastic Egyptians is taken as representative, then their arms would have been too short to justify the accepted lengths.
  • Chapter 2 Biblical Law in Cultural Context Science Offers Great Hopes

    Chapter 2 Biblical Law in Cultural Context Science Offers Great Hopes

    Chapter 2 Biblical Law in Cultural Context Science offers great hopes for tomorrow. Whether one seeks a vaccine for an epidemic, treatment for cancer, or simply a better mode of transportation, science advances optimism. Scientific knowledge is constantly expanding and things that were science fiction fifty years ago are taken for granted today. To some degree, people may fall prey to the idea that all areas of civilization progress like science does. This assessment would not be accurate or fair, however. A clear example is in the area of law. Certainly, the legal system found in most developed countries today is more complicated and intricate than many legal systems of history, but law itself is as old as human civilization. Rules of relationships and transactions, modes of accountability and fairness – these predate even the ability to write them down. The earliest legal codes available for study are those of the Ancient Near East, a common term to label the area that spans the modern countries of Egypt to the South, Turkey to the North, and Iran to the East. Legal codes are not some modern invention; they certainly weren’t invented on Mount Sinai with the Biblical Law.1 Legal codes long pre-existed Israel and the Israelites. Depending on how one dates Israel’s exodus from Egypt, the Biblical Law could date as early as the mid-1400’s BC, although I think the earliest dates more likely in the 1200’s BC, during the reign of Ramesses II of Egypt. “Proto-writing” (very primitive writing with symbols) arose around two-thousand years earlier, roughly 3200-2900BC.
  • Neo-Assyrian Treaties As a Source for the Historian: Bonds of Friendship, the Vigilant Subject and the Vengeful King�S Treaty

    Neo-Assyrian Treaties As a Source for the Historian: Bonds of Friendship, the Vigilant Subject and the Vengeful KingS Treaty

    WRITING NEO-ASSYRIAN HISTORY Sources, Problems, and Approaches Proceedings of an International Conference Held at the University of Helsinki on September 22-25, 2014 Edited by G.B. Lanfranchi, R. Mattila and R. Rollinger THE NEO-ASSYRIAN TEXT CORPUS PROJECT 2019 STATE ARCHIVES OF ASSYRIA STUDIES Published by the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki in association with the Foundation for Finnish Assyriological Research Project Director Simo Parpola VOLUME XXX G.B. Lanfranchi, R. Mattila and R. Rollinger (eds.) WRITING NEO-ASSYRIAN HISTORY SOURCES, PROBLEMS, AND APPROACHES THE NEO- ASSYRIAN TEXT CORPUS PROJECT State Archives of Assyria Studies is a series of monographic studies relating to and supplementing the text editions published in the SAA series. Manuscripts are accepted in English, French and German. The responsibility for the contents of the volumes rests entirely with the authors. © 2019 by the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki and the Foundation for Finnish Assyriological Research All Rights Reserved Published with the support of the Foundation for Finnish Assyriological Research Set in Times The Assyrian Royal Seal emblem drawn by Dominique Collon from original Seventh Century B.C. impressions (BM 84672 and 84677) in the British Museum Cover: Assyrian scribes recording spoils of war. Wall painting in the palace of Til-Barsip. After A. Parrot, Nineveh and Babylon (Paris, 1961), fig. 348. Typesetting by G.B. Lanfranchi Cover typography by Teemu Lipasti and Mikko Heikkinen Printed in the USA ISBN-13 978-952-10-9503-0 (Volume 30) ISSN 1235-1032 (SAAS) ISSN 1798-7431 (PFFAR) CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................. vii Giovanni Battista Lanfranchi, Raija Mattila, Robert Rollinger, Introduction ..............................
  • Who Is the Daughter of Babylon?

    Who Is the Daughter of Babylon?

    WHO IS THE DAUGHTER OF BABYLON? ● Babylon was initially a minor city-state, and controlled little surrounding territory; its first four Amorite rulers did not assume the title of king. The older and more powerful states of Assyria, Elam, Isin, and Larsa overshadowed Babylon until it became the capital of Hammurabi's short-lived empire about a century later. Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750 BC) is famous for codifying the laws of Babylonia into the Code of Hammurabi. He conquered all of the cities and city states of southern Mesopotamia, including Isin, Larsa, Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Lagash, Eridu, Kish, Adab, Eshnunna, Akshak, Akkad, Shuruppak, Bad-tibira, Sippar, and Girsu, coalescing them into one kingdom, ruled from Babylon. Hammurabi also invaded and conquered Elam to the east, and the kingdoms of Mari and Ebla to the northwest. After a protracted struggle with the powerful Assyrian king Ishme-Dagan of the Old Assyrian Empire, he forced his successor to pay tribute late in his reign, spreading Babylonian power to Assyria's Hattian and Hurrian colonies in Asia Minor. After the reign of Hammurabi, the whole of southern Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia, whereas the north had already coalesced centuries before into Assyria. From this time, Babylon supplanted Nippur and Eridu as the major religious centers of southern Mesopotamia. Hammurabi's empire destabilized after his death. Assyrians defeated and drove out the Babylonians and Amorites. The far south of Mesopotamia broke away, forming the native Sealand Dynasty, and the Elamites appropriated territory in eastern Mesopotamia. The Amorite dynasty remained in power in Babylon, which again became a small city-state.
  • Cyrus the Great As a “King of the City of Anshan”*

    Cyrus the Great As a “King of the City of Anshan”*

    ANTIGONI ZOURNATZI Cyrus the Great as a “King of the City of Anshan”* The Anshanite dynastic title of Cyrus the Great and current interpretations Since its discovery in the ruins of Babylon in 1879, the inscribed Cylinder of Cyrus the Great (fig. 1)1 has had a powerful impact on modern perceptions of the founder of the Persian empire. Composed following Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon in 539 BC and stressing above all his care for the Babylonian people and his acts of social and religious restoration, the Akkadian text of the Cylin- der occupies a central place in modern discussions of Cyrus’ imperial policy.2 This famous document is also at the heart of a lively scholarly controversy concerning the background of Cyrus’ dynastic line. The Persian monarch Darius I –who rose to the throne approximately a decade after the death of Cyrus the Great and who founded the ruling dynasty * This paper was initially presented in the First International Conference Iran and the Silk Road (National Museum of Iran, 12-14 February 2011). A pre-publication ver- sion was kindly hosted by Pierre Briant on Achemenet (Zournatzi 2011, prompting the similar reflections of Stronach 2013). The author wishes to express her appreciation to Daryoosh Akbarzadeh and the other organizers of the Tehran conference for the opportunity to participate in a meeting that opened up important new vistas on the complex interactions along the paths of the Silk Road, for their hospitality, as well as for their most gracious permission for both the preliminary and the present final publication. Thanks are equally due to Judith Lerner for a useful discussion concerning the possible wider currency of Cyrus’ Anshanite title outside the Babylonian domain, and to Michael Roaf, David Stronach, and the two reviewers of the article for helpful comments and bibliographical references.