Tablets from the Irisaĝrig Archive
Tablets from the Irisaĝrig Archive

Author: Marcel Sigrist

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2021-06-21

Total Pages: 1714

ISBN-13: 1646021428

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While each of the previously known archives from the Third Dynasty of Ur has provided distinct views of Sumerian society, those from Iri-Saĝrig present an extraordinary range of new sources, depicting a cosmopolitan Sumerian/Akkadian city unlike any other from this period. In this publication, Marcel Sigrist and Tohru Ozaki present more than two thousand newly identified tablets, mostly from Iri-Saĝrig. This unique and extensive corpus elucidates the importance that Iri-Saĝrig represented politically, militarily, and culturally in Sumer. Although these tablets were not able to be cleaned, baked, or photographed, the authors’ transliterations are based on the original tablets, often after repeated collations. Moreover, access to so many well-preserved tablets made it possible to improve upon the readings and interpretations offered in previous publications. Volume 1 contains a catalog and classification of the texts by provenance, a list of month names and year formulas, another of inscriptions, a chronological listing of the texts, and extensive indexes of personal names, deities, toponyms, and selected words and phrases. Volume 2 presents the texts in transliteration with substantial commentary. This two-volume publication preserves and makes available to the scholarly community a significant segment of Iraq’s cultural legacy that otherwise might have been ignored or even lost. It will augment and enhance our understanding of the unique civilization of Mesopotamia in the late third millennium BCE.

Antiquities Smuggling in the Real and Virtual World
Antiquities Smuggling in the Real and Virtual World

Author: Layla Hashemi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-01-16

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1000516598

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This book examines the illicit trade in antiquities, a trade which has increased massively following the destruction and looting of ancient Near Eastern sites in the Middle East. Focusing on the distribution networks for looted antiquities, especially the routes to the West, the book considers the dealers and facilitators who are key in getting the objects to market, explores the methods used including online marketplaces and social media sites, analyses demand and buyers, revealing that objects are often available at very affordable prices. It outlines the efforts of law enforcement agencies, including the military, and legal systems to contain the trade. Throughout the book highlights the difficulties of putting a stop to this illicit trade, particularly in a conflict region.

Ur III Texts in the Schøyen Collection
Ur III Texts in the Schøyen Collection

Author: Jacob L. Dahl

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2020-12-11

Total Pages: 921

ISBN-13: 1646020758

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Judging from the sheer amount of textual material left to us, the rulers of ancient Ur were above all else concerned with keeping track of their poorest subjects, who made up the majority of the population under their jurisdiction. Year after year, administrators recorded, in frightening detail, the whereabouts of the poorest individuals in monthly and yearly rosters, assigning tiny parcels of land to countless prebend holders and starvation rations to even more numerous estate slaves. The texts published in this volume—dating from the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2100–2000 BC)—attest to the immense investment of the ancient rulers in managing their subjects. This volume presents editions of two hundred and twenty-four cuneiform tablets selected from the Schøyen Collection, the vast majority of which have not been previously published. The ancient provenience for these texts is primarily Umma, with other core provinces represented in smaller numbers, such as notable contributions from ancient Adab, which is underrepresented in the published record. In order to provide a fuller picture of the administration of the Ur III state, a number of texts from other collections, both published and unpublished, have been integrated into this volume. Accompanied by Jacob L. Dahl’s precise translations, extensive commentary, and exhaustive indexes, this volume presents extensive new data on prosopography, economy, accounting procedures, letters, contracts, technical terminology, and agriculture that adds significantly to our knowledge of society and the economy during the Third Dynasty of Ur. An important contribution to the study of the Ur III period, in particular for Assyriology, this volume will serve as a useful handbook for scholars and students alike.

Global Perspectives on Cultural Property Crime
Global Perspectives on Cultural Property Crime

Author: Michelle D. Fabiani

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-11

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1000609375

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This book provides transnational insight into cultural property crimes and the cutting-edge work tackling issues ranging from currency crimes to innovative research methods. The volume brings together authors from a number of fields to address contemporary issues and advances in the fight against cultural property crime. It combines the perspectives of law enforcement officials, researchers, journalists, lawyers, and scholars, with specialities in the disciplines of criminology, law, archaeology, museum studies, political science, and economics, from countries all around the globe. This allows for a more comprehensive examination of issues facing these professionals and highlights similarities between the challenges encountered in different disciplines as well as in diverse locations. It seeks to disseminate the most current work in this field from a broad array of viewpoints in order to further facilitate an exchange of ideas and lay the groundwork to inspire future collaborations. Most significantly, it provides more specific suggestions for moving forward that could help assist stakeholders to connect and work directly with each other, despite international borders and discipline-related boundaries. The book will be a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working in the area of cultural property crime.

Babel und Bibel 6
Babel und Bibel 6

Author: Leonid E. Kogan

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2011-12-25

Total Pages: 629

ISBN-13: 1575066653

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This is the sixth volume of Babel und Bibel, an annual of ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. The principal goal of the annual is to reveal the inherent relationship between Assyriology, Semitics, and biblical studies—a relationship that our predecessors comprehended and fruitfully explored but that is often neglected today. The title Babel und Bibel is intended to point to the possibility of fruitful collaboration among the three disciplines, in an effort to explore the various civilizations of the ancient Near East. The tripartite division of Babel und Bibel corresponds to its three principal spheres of interest: ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. Contributions are further subdivided into articles, short notes, and reviews. Highlights of this volume include several studies on Akkadian language, Mesopotamian literature, and publication of inscriptions in some Russian museums (in the ancient Near Eastern section); studies on negative markers in Semitic and on Aramaic language (in the Semitics section); and some significant review essays on important new publications, especially in Hebrew language, Aramaic, Hurrian, Lycian, Egyptian, and Syriac.

The 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions on Stolen Or Illegally Transferred Cultural Property
The 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions on Stolen Or Illegally Transferred Cultural Property

Author: Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-02-29

Total Pages: 945

ISBN-13: 0192846884

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Authored by leading scholars and practitioners from around the world, this Commentary is the first to offer an article-by-article commentary on the two leading multilateral treaties on movable cultural heritage in one volume: The 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.

The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East
The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East

Author: Brigitte Lion

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-09-12

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 1614519978

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Economic history is well documented in Assyriology, thanks to the preservation of dozens of thousands of clay tablets recording administrative operations, contracts and acts dealing with family law. Despite these voluminous sources, the topic of work and the contribution of women have rarely been addressed. This book examines occupations involving women over the course of three millennia of Near Eastern history. It presents the various aspects of women as economic agents inside and outside of the family structure. Inside the family, women were the main actors in the production of goods necessary for everyday life. In some instances, their activities exceeded the simple needs of the household and were integrated within the production of large organizations or commercial channels. The contributions presented in this volume are representative enough to address issues in various domains: social, economic, religious, etc., from varied points of view: archaeological, historical, sociological, anthropological, and with a gender perspective. This book will be a useful tool for historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and graduate students interested in the economy of the ancient Near East and in women and gender studies.

L’economia dell’antica Mesopotamia (III-I millennio a.C.)
L’economia dell’antica Mesopotamia (III-I millennio a.C.)

Author: Franco D'Agostino

Publisher: Edizioni Nuova Cultura

Published: 2013-12-21

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 8868122235

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È per me un grande piacere poter presentare oggi questo volume ai colleghi assiriologi e agli amici economisti e giuristi che parteciparono nel luglio del 2011 alla Giornata di Studi organizzata presso l’Associazione Bancaria Italiana. Esso raccoglie i contributi degli assiriologi e una serie di riflessioni di natura teorica che i colleghi del settore giuridico ed economico-finanziario hanno svolto sulla base di quelli. Da qualche anno un gruppo di orientalisti italiani che si occupano di storia economica dell’antica Mesopotamia ha cominciato a collaborare con economisti e giuristi al fine di creare un proficuo dialogo tra le due discipline che permetta il travaso di conoscenze e competenze utili a meglio comprendere il proprio specifico campo di studio. Sulla base di questa avviata cooperazione, è sembrato logico e, direi, quasi naturale organizzare, all’in­terno della Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale tenutasi a Roma nel luglio del 2011, un incontro in cui gli studiosi dell’economia antica e gli operatori economici del mondo attuale potessero dialogare direttamente tra di loro. Il fine era quello di creare un ponte che desse occasione a coloro che si occupano di gestire il mondo economico nella contemporaneità di apprezzare la profondità storica dei meccanismi finanziari ed economici in genere oggi esistenti. Al contempo, il confronto degli assiriologi con esperti degli aspetti teorici dell’economia e della legge senz’altro avrebbe aiutato gli studiosi del mondo antico a meglio comprendere i meccanismi che sottendono alle realtà che i loro testi, spesso solamente per accenni, presentano. Mi sembra di poter dire che i contributi contenuti in questo volume rispondano al meglio alle premesse su cui quella giornata era stata pensata. L’interesse sincero, e direi l’entusiasmo, con cui i nostri colleghi economisti e giuristi hanno affrontato le tematiche che gli assiriologi hanno loro proposto è infatti senza dubbio un fatto assolutamente innovativo che produrrà, ne sono certo, importanti collaborazioni nel futuro. (Franco D’Agostino)

Old Babylonian Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Part Two
Old Babylonian Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Part Two

Author: A. R. George

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2019-08-15

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 164602012X

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In ancient Mesopotamia, men training to be scribes copied model letters in order to practice writing and familiarize themselves with epistolary forms and expressions. Similarly, model contracts were used to teach them how to draw up agreements for the transactions typical of everyday economic life. This volume makes available a trove of previously unknown tablets and fragments, now housed in the Shøyen Collection, that were produced in the training of scribes in Old Babylonian schools. Following on Old Babylonian Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Part One: Selected Letters, this volume publishes the contents of sixty-five tablets bearing Akkadian letters used to train scribes and twenty-six prisms and tablets carrying Sumerian legal texts copied in the same context. Each text is presented in transliterated form and in translation, with appropriate commentary and annotations and, at the end of the book, photographs of the cuneiform. The material is made easily navigable by a catalogue, bibliography, and indexes. This collection of previously unknown documents expands the extant corpus of educational texts, making an essential contribution to the study of the ancient world.

From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.
From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.

Author: Steven J. Garfinkle

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2013-12-02

Total Pages: 521

ISBN-13: 1575068710

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This volume collects the proceedings of a three-day conference held in Madrid in July 2010, and it highlights the vitality of the study of late-third-millennium B.C. Mesopotamia. Workshops devoted to the Ur III period have been a feature of the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale roughly every other year, beginning in London in 2003. In 2009, Steve Garfinkle and Manuel Molina asked the community of Neo-Sumerian scholars to convene the following year in Madrid before the Rencontre in Barcelona. The meeting had more than 50 participants and included 8 topical sessions and 27 papers. The 21 contributions included in this volume cover a broad range of topics: new texts, new interpretations, and new understandings of the language, culture, and history of the Ur III period (2112–2004 B.C.). The present and future of Neo-Sumerian studies are important not only for the field of Assyriology but also for wider inquiries into the ancient world. The extant archives offer insight into some of the earliest cities and one of the earliest kingdoms in the historical record. The era of the Third Dynasty of Ur is also probably the best-attested century in antiquity. This imposes a responsibility on the small community of scholars who work on the Neo-Sumerian materials to make this it accessible to a broad, interdisciplinary audience in the humanities and related fields. This volume is a solid step in this direction.