201 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — HETTITOLOGIE 202
HETTITOLOGIE
HOUT, Th. van den — The Elements of Hittite. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011. (24,5 cm, XIII, 204). ISBN 978-0-521-13300-5 (paperback; hardback: ISBN 978-0-521-11564-3). £ 24,99 (paperback; hard- back: £ 60,-). When I began the study of Hittite in 1970, there was only one remotely acceptable published grammar available for classroom use: Johannes Friedrich, Hethitisches Elemen- tarbuch, second ed. (Munich: Carl Winter, 1960; first ed. 1940).1) Its drawbacks were many: As a “collapsed gram- mar” it was dry, opaque, and alienating to a linguistically unsophisticated learner like myself, and it perforce took no account of the rapid advances in our knowledge of the evolu- tion of the language over time made possible by the develop- ment in the years following its appearance of paleographic methods for dating Hittite manuscripts. Consequently, my teacher Harry Hoffner supplemented his teaching with grad- uated instructional materials of his own devising, and as a young instructor I followed suit. Thankfully, in the past decade several new teaching gram- mars2) have been published,3) including Harry A. Hoffner Jr. and H. Craig Melchert, A Grammar of the Hittite Language, Part 1: Reference Grammar; Part 2: Tutorial (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2008), Sylvie Vanséveren, Nisili: Manuel de langue Hittite (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), and now the book under review. Van den Hout’s grammar grew out of a self-published vol- ume originally created for his classes in Amsterdam and developed during his early years at Chicago’s Oriental Insti- tute. Hence it has benefited from the questions and criticisms of several generations of students and is most definitely user- friendly. The Elements of Hittite is divided into ten lessons, each of which provides digestible portions of Hittite morphology and syntax, ideally suited for a week’s work in an introductory course. Also treated are the basics of the cuneiform writing system as employed in Anatolia, as well as just enough
1) Edgar H. Sturtevant, A Comparative Grammar of the Hittite Lan- guage, second ed. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1951; first ed. 1933) was by then hopelessly out of date. 2) Heinrich Wagner, Das Hethitische vom Standpunkte der typolo- gischen Sprachgeographie (Pisa: Giardini, 1985) and Silvia Luraghi, Hit- tite (Munich: Lincom Europa, 1997) were not intended as primers. 3) Unfortunately, an early entry into this market, Warren H. Held Jr., William R. Schmalstieg, Janet E. Gertz, Beginning Hittite (Columbus: Slavica, 1988), cannot be recommended. See my review, JAOS (1991): 658-59. 203 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXI N° 1-2, januari-april 2014 204 information about Akkadian and Sumerian to allow the stu- MARIZZA, M. — Lettere ittite di re e dignitari. La corri- dent to understand the use of heterograms in Hatti. Every spondenza interna del Medio Regno e dell’Età Impe- unit closes with exercises pitched at the appropriate level for riale. (Testi del Vicino Oriente Antico, 4 Letterature the reader’s current stage of enlightenment into Hittite gram- dell’Asia Minore, 3). Paideia Editrice, Brescia, 2009. mar, composed of (sometimes slightly modified) sentences (21 cm, 227). ISBN 978-88-394-0766-5. € 26,20 extracted from actual Hittite texts. Finally, the cuneiform text of The Ten-Year Annals of Muršili II (KBo 3.4 + KUB Marco Marizza, who completed his dottore di ricerca 23.125, CTH 61.I.A) is provided for practice in reading degree in 2008 at the University in Trieste, presents with this cuneiform. volume the first collection of translations into Italian of Hit- Having now employed both this textbook and the Gram- tite epistolary texts, which is for this reason alone a very mar of Hoffner and Melchert in my own classroom, I can valuable contribution, since only a small selection from this attest that each is an excellent tool, with its own strengths. important corpus had been available until now in Italian, I recommend van den Hout’s more accessible Elements to scattered in specialist literature. anyone teaching a one-term introduction to Hittite for those The volume opens with a 21-page introduction, in which students not planning to specialize in Anatolian philology— numerous aspects of these letters and their Sitz im Leben are say Indo-Europeanists or Classicists—while Hoffner and briefly discussed, beginning with their archaeological prove- Melchert’s more comprehensive work, along with its Tuto- nience and archival context, before succinctly addressing the rial, should be utilized when instructing those who will con- sometimes difficult issue of their chronological ordering. tinue to pursue the study of Hittitology. Marizza continues with brief notes on the general contents of the letters, the messengers who delivered them and a some- what longer section on the formulaic aspects found in them. * * * On his insightful discussion of duwaddu and uwad duwaddu In addition to the relatively few typos and missing or mis- cf. now the further attestations of possibly related addu in placed diacritics in The Elements of Hittite, note the follow- KUB 14.17++ ii 9’, 14’, 17’ (Miller, Fs. Košak, 522-526). ing errors and suggestions for correction in coming editions: The presentation of the letters themselves is divided P. 13: In §8 the third example given of cuneiform signs chronologically into those from the Middle Hittite Period and with the value /u/ is actually drawn as AK. those from the Empire Age. Each of these two chapters is P. 24: In 1.4.1 it should be noted that the allative case separated further into thematic sections, such as letters from never appears with persons. or to the king or members of the royal family, correspond- P. 44: The first seven lines of the cuneiform copy have ence among dignitaries, those of a military nature, those con- been erroneously repeated from the previous lesson. cerned with religious matters, and so forth. The sub-sections P. 54: Under Cuneiform Signs, Determinatives (3.7), the begin with a few introductory paragraphs, and each letter is sign GADA is drawn rather as PA. preceeded by a bibliography of the principal philological P. 55: The sentence in exercise 3.8.17 has already been treatments and editions and is provided with helpful foot- presented, with translation, on p. 52. The only difference is notes of various nature. Unlike Hoffner’s volume of letters that the earlier instance features the particle -wa. (Letters from the Hittite Kingdom, WAW 15, 2009; cf. my P. 56: In the vocabulary list (3.8.4), lexical items and their review in BiOr 69, 2012, 309ff.), which appeared in the same translations, due to the relative length of the latter, have year as this one, Marizza’s treatment provides only transla- sometimes been knocked out of alignment. Thus DUGišnura- tions, not transliterations, in keeping with the long-standing and laḫlaḫḫima- have not been translated. See also p. 93, format of the Testi del Vicino Oriente antico series. where dMaliyanneš lacks a definition. The volume ends with a chronological table of Hittite rul- P. 61: In 4.2.1 the translation “behold!” for kāša and ers, a map of Hittite Anatolia and Syria, a list of abbrevia- kāšma should be abandoned. tions, a bibliography, a concordance of the texts and finally, P. 62: In 4.3.1 Pret. sing. 2 of ed- should be ezzatta (2x z). indices of personal, divine and place names. It is thus very Pp. 83f.: The Luwian form:guršauwananza in line 32 of user friendly and well structured. The map could be improved passage 5.8.3 should be explained. by differentiating between ancient and modern toponyms P. 104: To the observations concerning the weak articula- (e.g. Yalburt and Kizildağ [correct, Kızıldağ] beside Purush- tion of /r/ (7.5.1), add the fact that this sound never begins a anda and Tuwanuwa) and by a consistent use of question word in Hittite. marks with uncertain localizations, e.g. Lawazantiya? and P. 118: Among the cuneiform signs (8.7), KUM is missing Urshu? vis-à-vis Tegarama and Hahhum, all equally unclear. its final two Winkelhaken. As with Hoffner’s volume (with three exceptions), Marizza P. 146: The word waššiya- ‘to clothe’, which appears in translates only letters in the Hittite language, excluding those exercise 10.6.6, is not to be found in the glossary. in Akkadian, perfectly understandable for the given format of the volume, but necessarily leading to a skewed view of Ann Arbor, December 2013 Gary BECKMAN Hittite correspondence in general. He also chose not to trans- late most of the longest, best-preserved and historically most important letters of the Hittite corpus, probably because of * their having been extensively treated elsewhere, such as the * * letter from a Hittite king (probably Ḫattusili III) to a king of Aḫḫiyawa (CTH 181, the so-called Tawalagawa letter), the missive known as the Milawata Letter (CTH 182) and the letter of Manapa-Tarḫunta to a Hittite king (CTH 191), to name only a few. The following paragraphs will comment on 205 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — HETTITOLOGIE 206 a number of select details from just four of Marizza’s treat- I do not think the uncertainty expressed by Marizza ments. (p. 105f.) concerning the identities of the sender and the No. 61 (HKM 19): Unknown to Marizza, since published addressee, and thus who the augurs who carried out the bird in the same year, was the paper by E. Rieken (Hethitisch oracles were, is warranted. In my view it is clear that kaša, kašma, kašat(t)a: Drei verkannte deiktische Partikeln, Ḫandapi, the palace official of l. 5, had commissioned Ḫalpa- in E. Rieken – P. Widmer, eds., Pragmatische Kategorien. ziti, the writer of KuT 50, with carrying out personally Form, Funktion und Diachronie, 2009, 265-273), in which (zikila, l. 9) the investigation. In other words, the entire mes- she was able to show that kasa functions as a near deixis sage of ll. 6-9 summarizes a message that Ḫandapi had particle, kasma as middle deixis, so that Marizza’s transla- ‘brought’ (udas) to Ḫalpa-ziti, telling him to carry out per- tion of l. 5, ‘Il grano sta già maturando’ should read ‘Qui il sonally the oracle investigation ‘there’ (apiya, l. 8). Thus, if grano sta già maturando’ (kasa=wa=ssan ḫalkiyas karū the findspot of the letter (Kuşaklı/Sarissa) indicates where arantes), a comment that applies to translations throughout Ḫalpa-ziti’s ‘lord’ and addressee received it, then Ḫalpa-ziti the volume. In his translation of kasa in l. 18, ‘appena’, he must have been in some town other than Sarissa. Ḫandapi follows Hoffner’s insightful observations (cf. p. 28 and n. 1), would have written from Ḫattusa — or wherever the royal now superceded by Rieken. family was resident at the time, whereby Sapinuwa would In his translation of the immediately succeeding lines, also be a possibility — on behalf of the queen to Ḫalpa-ziti, ‘Presso i Kaška – quelle cavallette! – stanno divorando il wherever he was stationed, asking him to perform the ora- ḪI.A grano’, Marizza understands ‘cavallette’ (BURU5 ) as an cles, the results of which Ḫalpa-ziti sent with this letter apposition to the Kaska-peoples, but this must be considered (KuT 50) to his lord in Sarissa and separately to the palace unlikely, among other reasons because ‘grain’ intervenes (l. 29f.), i.e., presumably that of the royal family. between the Kaska and the locusts. The passage should be In ll. 12 and 38 ‘il primo (uccello), un uccello marassi/ translated simply, ‘presso i Kaska invece le cavallette stanno ḫalliya, …’ (ḫantezziyas) instead of ‘per primo’. Read in ḪI.A divorando il grano’ (INA Kaska=ma=wa ḫalkiyus BURU5 l. 13 (and passim), kuastayati, ‘the unfavourable (area)’, ezzasta). In l. 9 Marizza follows Alp in translating ‘vostro instead of *maštayati (Sakuma, vol. 1, 102-105). Instead of grano’, but the speaker in the letter at this point, the Great ‘ciò io rimando indietro’ in l. 50, ‘mandali indietro!’ (uppi, King, is still quoting what his addressees, Kassu and Pulli, 2 sg. imp.). Also for the rest of the oracular report one should had previously written to him, so that -smas at the beginning consult Sakuma. of l. 9 would refer to the Kaska, if one follows Hoffner (Let- No. 72 (KuT 49): In addition to Sakuma’s treatment ters, 130f.), who translates ‘so that they are raiding (lit. “set- (vol. 1, 436-440, vol. 2, 651-655), Wilhelm (Fs. Singer, ting themselves upon”) the grain of Gasipūra.’ Alternatively, 2010, 378-384), who originally published the text, has now one could relate the -smas to the locusts, which would thus contributed a further paper examining primarily the question be described as spreading from the Kaska-territories into the of the identity of the ‘daughter of the priest’ in KuT 49, l. 4 region of Gasipūra. Indeed this is probably preferable, as in (DUMU.MUNUS SANGA) and the ‘daughter’ in KuT 50, l. 7, this case the subject from the previous line, the locusts, suggesting that she might perhaps be equated with princess remains the same, which is to be expected — though not Pataḫuli known from KBo 32.224, 2’, 7’ (cf. Marizza, p. 105, strictly necessary — if no new subject is named. This inter- n. 1). pretation would of course break the causal connection always Instead of ‘Noi siamo venuti (e) così …’ in l. 11f. (cf. also assumed at this point between the Kaska-peoples raiding the in 22f. and passim) one should translate this periphrastic con- grain of Gasipūra due to hunger and the Hittites’ resultant struction (most recently Rieken, 2010, Die periphrastischen need for troops to fend them off, but this link is not essential, Konstruktionen mit pai- „gehen“ und uwa- „kommen“ im as troop movements are often enough the topic of Maşat let- Hethitischen, Gs. Neu, StBoT 52, 217-239) simply ‘There- ters without reference to specific threats. after/Subsequently we performed ….’ In the following In l. 23 it is not the king (‘sto inviando’) who had sent clause, which Marizza translates ‘Noi siamo venuti (e) così Pāḫinakke after the dispatched chariots, but Kallu (kās, abbiamo interrogato di nuovo l’oracolo tramite (il volo degli) ‘quello’) from l. 19. The adverb appanda (l. 24), ‘in sequito’ uccelli. Per quanto riguarda ciò che Iya ha detto in questo (i.e. Paḫinakke was sent ‘after’ the chariots), is left out of the modo: «Noi siamo preoccupati per la persona della figlia del translation. ‘sacerdote’», (la situazione) è stabilita (così):’, one must, No 67 (KuT 50): For this and other letters reporting on unless one wishes to emend kī=wa in l. 12, translate ll. 11-14 bird oracles, Marizza rightly notes that ‘per una parte della assuming that the speakers here quote Iya directly in posing terminologia non si è in grado di offrire una traduzione, the question to the deities, and thus: ‘Thereafter we per- poiché si tratta di termini tecnici come il nome di particolari formed an oracular inquiry again by means of birds (saying) uccelli o la descrizione del volo e, a volte, sono usate anche thus: “That which Iya said as follows: ‘Should we fear for parole in hurrico, lingua in parte ancora da interpretare’ the life (lit. ‘head’) of the daughter of the priest?’” It (was) (p. 105). Fortunately, Yasuhiko Sakuma has since Marizza’s determined (through the oracular inquiry as follows): …’. writing made his monumental two-volume PhD dissertation, No. 106 (KBo 16.52): Though the motion particles u- and Hethitische Vogelorakel (2009), which treats all Hittite bird pe- in the derivatives uwa-, ‘to come’, pai- ‘to go’, wiya-, ‘to oracle texts, available online at the website of the University send’, piya-, ‘to send’, uda-, ‘to bring’, peda-, ‘to take/carry of Würzburg (http://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/ off’, uwate-, ‘to lead over/here’ and peḫute-, ‘to lead off’ volltexte/2013/8062/; cf. now also Haas, Hethitische Orakel, (GrHL, §§12.21, 12.41, 18.32), are often said to indicate Vorzeichen und Abwehrstrategien, 2008, 39-42). This disser- motion away from and toward the speaker, respectively, tation makes a major contribution to understanding these this characterisation is rather imprecise, and one should difficult texts. KuT 50 is treated by Sakuma in vol. 1, pp. 440- not mechanically translate, e.g., udanzi as ‘loro portano qui’ 443, and vol. 2, 655-663. (obv.! 2’). This rule, or tendency, regarding the u- and 207 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXI N° 1-2, januari-april 2014 208 pe- verbs is largely the case when the movement is con- SINGER, I. — The Calm before the Storm. Selected Writings ceived as toward or away from the speaker. However, these of Itamar Singer on the End of the Late Bronze Age in verbs are just as often, or more so, employed with reference Anatolia and the Levant. (Society of Biblical Literature, to motion from a third person to another third person or from Writings from the Ancient World supplements, 1). Soci- a second to a third person or vice versa. In these cases there ety of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2011. (23 cm, XII, is of course no movement to or from the speaker, but simply 766). ISBN 978-1-58983-558-0. $ 69.95. from one point to another, so that the majority of passages in which these verbs appear should in fact not be translated The first volume of the supplements of the renowned using first-person deixis. Moreover, there are a significant series “SBL Writings of the Ancient World” dedicated to number of cases in which these verbs appear in relation to a in-depth studies beyond the texts and translations offered by first person speaker but do not follow the pattern so often the main series, presents the selected writings of Itamar assumed to be a hard and fast rule, e.g., KBo 3.22 obv. 39-42 Singer, one of the leading Hittitologists (Professor Singer (CHD P, 347b), KUB 26.71 obv. 18 // KBo 3.22 rev. 77 sadly passed away in the year following the publication of (CHD P, 258b), KBo 3.34 i 19 (GrHL, §27.7), to name just this volume). few. This topic I plan to discuss at the upcoming Hittite Con- The bulky volume consists of 42 papers selected by the gress in Çorum in Sept. of this year (2014). author himself to illustrate his views (mainly) on the period The first paragraph of the tablet’s rev. should perhaps not between the late 14th and early 12th centuries in Anatolia and be restored on the basis of §13’ of the Instructions for the the Levant. The introduction by the author (“The Thirteenth Priests and Temple Personal (Miller, WAW 31, 2013, 258f.). Century B.C.E, The Age of Complacency”, pp. ix-xii) is fol- Nowhere in the preserved text does a 2nd pl. form occur, as lowed by the two main units of the book called “Hatti and restored in Marizza’s treatment in ll. 6’ and 7’, largely fol- its Neighbors” (pp. 1-592) and “From Zenith to Nadir: The lowing Ünal (Bell. 41/163, 1977, 466-467) and Hagenbuch- Last Century of the Hittite Kingdom” (pp. 593-727). The ner (TdH 16, 1989, 202). Neither is it at all certain that the first unit is again divided into five geographically arranged ‘important matter’ of l. 5’ pertains to the ‘important matter’ chapters: “Hittite Domination in Syria”, which in turn con- of fire mentioned in l. 7’; rather, the former seems to relate sists of the following subchapters: Ugarit [pp. 19-196], to a matter of patrolling (ueḫiskanzi, l. 4’), as correctly trans- Amurru [pp. 197-293], Emar [pp. 295-329], Karkemish [pp. lated by Marizza vis-à-vis Hagenbuchner. And the obv., 331-350], introduced by the paper “Syria after the Battle of clearly dealing with the same topics, deals with a dream, Qadesh” [pp. 3-17, originally published in Italian — for the seemingly of the composer, a king (i.e. LUGAL, not LUGAL.GAL original bibliographic data see the first page of the respective or dUTU-ŠI, and thus apparently not the Great King of Ḫatti), papers]; “Hatti and Mesopotamia” (pp. 351-404), “Hatti and and perhaps incubated, the import of which he had investi- the West” (pp. 405-466), “Hatti and Egypt” (pp. 467-522), gated through oracles. It is thus quite uncertain that the is] “Hatti and Canaan” (pp. 523-592). The volume closes with ḫiullaḫḫan of rev. 3’, ‘(someone) had instructed/obligated’, an aptly chosen Epilogue, a paper entitled “Between Scepti- points to the context of the said Instructions, i.e., to the impo- cism and Credulity: In Defence of Hittite Historiography” sition of an obligation and oath. (pp. 731-766). Based first of all on the phrase TUPPU ḫes, literally ‘open The overwhelming majority of these papers have already the tablet’, in KBo 18.48 obv. 17, a suggestive passage been published, nevertheless, one can find three papers that indeed, Marizza discusses (p. 29) the question of whether the were still in print at the time of the publication (and still are Hittites would have sealed their letter tablets in clay ‘enve- at the time of writing this review, October 2013), thus pro- lopes’, as is so often attested with Old Babylonian letters and viding early access for the eager scholars: “Ahhiyawans other text genres. However, as remarked already in my Bearing Gifts” [on Ahhiyawan objects mentioned in Hittite review of Hoffner’s volume (p. 310), it remains the case that texts with lexicographical investigations, pp. 459-466]; “Hit- no such envelopes associated with any tablets of any kind tite Gods in Egyptian Attire: A Case Study in Cultural have been found at Hittite sites; and van den Hout and Kar- Transmission” [the first detailed examination of the god-list asu (Fs. Singer, StBoT 51, 2010, 372-377) have recently of the Egyptian version of the Hittite – Egyptian peace treaty shown that the one example sometimes assumed to provide from a Hittitological point of view, pp. 499-522] and the such a case (HKM 86a and b) is in fact a letter, onto one side above-mentioned Epilogue [passionately arguing on the basis of which the scribe has added a layer of clay in order to of the historical introductions of Hittite treaties that Hittite rewrite this portion of his letter, apparently as an extended historiographical texts can and should be taken seriously, correction. despite recent trends in the scholarship]. Regardless of such trifles, Marizza’s book constitutes a Although this selection is logical and clearly represents the very welcome and solid addition to the growing number of main thrust of the research of the author including most of volumes aimed at presenting Ancient Near Eastern text cor- his important papers, it has led to the unfortunate exclusion pora simultaneously to general and to specialist audiences, of some of Singer’s key papers: the reviewer missed first of whereby the Testi del Vicino Oriente antico series is playing all the topic of the Philistines (the author also refers to this a major role for Italian readers. problem in his introduction, p. xii), although it could have been a logical third part of this book. Another topic could Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Jared L. MILLER have been “Hatti and the North”, with papers such as “Hit- München, January 2014 tites and Hattians in Anatolia at the Beginning of the Second Millennium B.C.” (JIES 9 [1981] 119-134) and “Who Were the Kaška”. The latter article has been published in the * hardly accessible Georgian journal of Classical studies called * * Phasis [10 (2007) 166-181], hence a reprint would have been 209 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — HETTITOLOGIE 210 quite useful, especially in view of the recent revival of upheaval” caused by the Sea Peoples. Illustrative hereof is research on the Kaška. the following statement from his Nihriya-paper (pp. 372- Singer is also well-known for his authoritative studies in 373): “All his efforts [Šuppiluliuma II – Zs. S.] were invested Hittite religion, which have been published mainly in form in a last-ditch attempt to halt a most unconventional and elu- of books. Due to this circumstance and the concept of the sive enemy, who invaded the long shores of the eastern Med- present book this facet of his scholarly activity is unfortu- iterranean (…). Starved and exhausted by the futile struggle nately underrepresented — the reviewer especially missed against the sea-borne enemy in the south, she [Hatti – Zs. S.] “The Thousand Gods of Hatti: The Limits of an Expanding became an easy prey for the hordes of the Kaška and the Pantheon” [IOS 14 (1994) 81-102], again of limited acces- Muški sweeping from north and west”. Although these lines sibility — though not completely absent, see the above men- were originally published in 1985, Singer has basically main- tioned paper on Hittite gods in Egyptian transmission, as tained and repeated his views until now (cf. also his introduc- well as “The Failed Reforms of Akhenaten and Muwatalli” tion, p. xi). While we are still far from exactly understanding [pp. 595-608] and “From Hattuša to Tarhuntašša: Some the transformation of the Hittite Empire to its successor Thoughts on Muwatalli’s Reign” [pp. 609-615]). Also, some states, it is clear today that the “Storm” (from a strictly Hit- papers on general Hittie topics containing important observa- tite point of view) had hardly any effect beyond coastal tions are absent (e.g. “Hittite hilammar and Hieroglyphic Northern Syria (the establishment of the Kingdom of W/Pala/ Luwian *hilana”, ZA 65 [1975] 69-103). istin(i)) and perhaps Cilicia, depending on the views on Mop- Singer was a classical type of historian, mainly focused on sus (for a diametrically opposite analysis see e.g. K. Strobel, political history, whose analyses rooted in firm first-hand Die kulturelle und religiöse Entwicklung Altphrygiens II. knowledge of written sources. Accordingly, three types of Von Hattuša nach Gordion. Mit einem Anhang zu Kızıl Dağ. papers can be found in this volume: editions of Hittite seals Asia Minor Studien 65 [2008] 639-671; for a less dramatic (“A Lost Seal of Talmi-Tešub” [pp. 347-350]; “A Hittite view on the transformation of the Hittite Empire see also Ö. Hieroglyphic Seal Impression from Tel Aphek” [pp. 561- Harmanşah, Moving Landscapes, Making Place: Cities, 572]; “A Hittite Seal from Megiddo” [pp. 579-583]; “A Hit- Monuments and Commemoration at Malizi/Melid. Journal of tite Signet Ring from Tel Nami” [pp. 585-588]; “Two Hittite Mediterranean Archaeology 24 [2011] 55-83, who describes Ring Seals from Southern Canaan” [pp. 589-592]); “hand- it as a gradual south- and eastward shift of power). Equally books”, i.e. long and detailed historical overviews of a given provocative is his elaboration of the identification of Hiyawa region, and research papers. While the seal editions unques- with Ahhiyawa in “Ships Bound for Lukka: A New Interpre- tionably form a fine and useful part of Singer’s œuvre, his tation of the Companion Letters RS 94.2530 and RS 94.2523” long-lasting impact is clearly due to the latter two categories. (pp. 173-196). This problem has generated an intense debate, His overviews include articles that still represent starting see most recently the negative assessment of M. Gander points and have not been superseded: “A Political History (Ahhiyawa – Hiyawa – Que: Gibt es Evidenz für die of Ugarit” (pp. 19-146); “A Concise History of Amurru” Anwesesenheit von Griechen in Kilikien am Übergang von (pp. 197-242) and “The Hittites and the Bible Revisited” der Bronze- zur Eisenzeit? SMEA 54 [2012] 281-309). In (pp. 525-560). A quick glance at the papers in M. Hutter other problematic issues new evidence and analyses seem to (ed.), Themen und Traditionen hethitischer Kultur in biblis- support Singer’s solutions (For Danuhepa as the mother of cher Überlieferung, BN 156 (2013), the latest treatment of Kurunta in “Danuhepa and Kurunta” [pp. 635-645], see now this topic, clearly shows how influential this last paper is. M. Cammarosano, Tanuhepa: A Hittite Queen in Troubled His research papers are well-known for important recogni- Times. Mesopotamia 45 [2010] 47-64); Kurunta and his suc- tions: for instance the improvement of understanding the cessor, Hartapu as rival Great Kings in “Great Kings of Tawagalawa-letter (“Western Anatolia in the Thirteenth Tarhuntašša”, see now T. Bryce, The Secession of Century according to the Hittite Sources”, pp. 407-423); the Tarhuntašša, DBH 25 [2007] 119-129). clarification of the history of the term ‘Amurru’ (“The ‘Land In the above, I have discussed only some of the forty-two of Amurru’ and the ‘Lands of Amurru’ in the Šaušgamuwa papers, and this selection is unevitably personal. Needless to Treaty”, pp. 243-252); the re-dating of the Kuruštama-Treaty say, the volume contains numerous other, similarly important to the period of Amenophis II (“The Kuruštama Treaty papers including useful overviews, for example “Hittite Cul- Revisited”, pp. 469-483); the date of the end of the Hittite tural Influence in the Kingdom of Amurru”; “Borrowing Empire (“Dating the End of the Hittite Empire”, pp. 655- Seals at Emar”; “The Great Scribe Taki-Sarruma”; “The 660); the date of the battle at Nihriya (“The Battle of Nihriya Fate of Hattuša during the Period of Tarhuntašša’s suprem- and the End of the Hittite Empire”, pp. 353-373); the iden- acy”; “The Urhi-Tešub Affair in the Hittite-Egyptian Cor- tification of a previously unknown king of Amurru (“Mah- respondence”; “The Treaties between Hatti and Amurru”; haza, King of Amurru”, pp. 287-293); the role of purple- “The Treaties between Karkamiš and Hatti”; and so on dyers (ṣāripūtu) in the Late Bronze Age (“Purple-Dyers in (“Takuhlinu and Haya: Two Governors in the Ugarit Letter Lazpa”, pp. 425-458); or the recognition of the importance from Tel Aphek”; “A New Hittite Letter from Emar”; “The of Luwians in the Hittite army (“On Luwians and Hittites” Title ‘Great Princess’ in the Hittite Empire”; “A Hittite- [pp. 703-727], originally published as a review article). Assyrian Diplomatic Exchange in the Late-Thirteenth Cen- An influential scholar not only discovers new things, but tury B.C.E.”; “KBo 28.61-64 and the Struggle over the also participates in the discussion of long-standing problems Throne of Babylon at the Turn of the Thirteenth Century and stimulates the work of his/her colleagues. Singer’s œuvre B.C.E.”; “The Toponyms Tiwa and Tawa”; “Megiddo is abundant in such contributions — the title of this collection Mentioned in a Letter from Boğazköy”; “A Late Synchro- itself (“The Calm before the Storm”) represents a perfect nism between Ugarit and Emar” (with Y. Cohen); “New example. Singer belonged to those scholars who attributed Evidence on the End of the Hittite Empire”; “In Hattuša the the end of the Hittite Empire to a “cataclysmic”, “large-scale Royal House Declined”). 211 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXI N° 1-2, januari-april 2014 212
As has become clear, this volume serves both as a hand- book for certain regions and problems as well as a thought- provoking compilation, whose individual parts, however, grow into one big picture: Singer’s view on the last period of the Late Bronze Age and on the demise of the then most powerful state of the Ancient Near East. Thus the publisher must be thanked for the publication of this selection, which unambiguously shows what a great loss the passing away of the author is to the scholarly community. A final note from a technical point of view: the volume itself shows the usual good quality of the main series (although misprints are not rare). The book was, however, published in paperback, which is, though welcomed from an economic point of view, an unfortunate choice considering the book’s volume (766 pages): it can hardly survive a sim- ple reading, not to mention the predictably frequent usage, which will inevitably lead to the break of the spine of the book.
Budapest, October 2013 Zsolt SIMON