The Correspondence of Assurbanipal

The Correspondence of Assurbanipal

Author: Simo Parpola

Publisher: State Archives of Assyria

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789521094989

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The first half of Assurbanipal's long reign (668-ca. 630 BCE) was a time of peace and great prosperity and political success for Assyria. But towards the middle of his reign a serious crisis broke out in Babylonia, unleashing a long, bitter and destructive conflict between Assyria, Elam and Babylonia, which was to shake the very foundations of the Empire. Less than a year after Assurbanipal had achieved a crushing victory over Elam, annexed the country to his realm and was at the apex of his political power, his brother Samas-sumu-ukin, installed years before as a puppet king in Babylon, rebelled with the aid of Elam and the Chaldean and Aramean tribes of Babylonia. The revolt was crushed only five years later, leaving Babylon in ruins and sowing insidious rancor and hate among its citizens; the conflict with Elam went on for three more years. The present volume presents a critical edition of all currently known letters authored by Assurbanipal as king of Assyria as well as 61 letters sent to him or his agents during his reign. Most of these texts pertain to the Samas-sumu-ukin revolt and the conflict with Elam, and provide a fascinating "ringside" view to these catastrophic events, which are otherwise known only from propagandistic and tendentious royal inscriptions. Almost half of the texts have never been edited or translated before and very few of them have been translated after 1935. They constitute an invaluable source not only for the study of Assyrian history but also of the personality and psyche of the last great king of Assyria.


The Correspondence of Assurbanipal

The Correspondence of Assurbanipal

Author: Professor of Assyriology Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Grant Frame

Publisher: Eisenbrauns

Published: 2023-03

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789521095078

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The present volume completes the critical edition of the political correspondence of Assurbanipal, the first part of which was published in SAA 21. The 163 letters edited here were sent from southern Mesopotamia and Elam, mostly by governors or other high-ranking local administrators and military commanders; almost all are addressed to the Assyrian king, although a few nonroyal letters are also included. As in SAA 21, the bulk of the correspondence dates from the civil war between Assurbanipal and Samas-sumu-ukin and provides dramatic eyewitness evidence of this turbulent time. The volume does not contain a single letter authored by Assurbanipal, but almost all the letters originate from recipients of the royal letters in SAA 21 and deal largely with the same political and military events as the corresponding royal letters. Altogether, these letters convey a multifaceted picture of the prolonged conflict, enabling a detailed reconstruction of its brutal course and consequences. As a firsthand account of a cruel war, this collection of letters is unique in Mesopotamia, with comparable sources known only from Greek and Roman times.


The Babylonian Correspondence of Esarhaddon, and Letters to Assurbanipal and Sin-Šarru- Iškun from Northern and Central Babylonia

The Babylonian Correspondence of Esarhaddon, and Letters to Assurbanipal and Sin-Šarru- Iškun from Northern and Central Babylonia

Author: Frances Reynolds

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9789515700018

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This volume of Babylonian letters from Nineveh contains letters which can be dated to the reign of Esarhaddon, and letters from northern and central Babylonia datable to the reign of Assurbanipal or later kings. Most of the letters are addressed to the Assyrian king and are important primary sources for reconstructing the history of Babylonia and Assyria during the reigns of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal in the seventh century B.C.


Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal

Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal

Author: Steven Cole

Publisher:

Published: 2018-04-02

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9781575063294

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The letters edited in this volume represent the correspondence of various priests and high temple officials in the Assyrian realm during the third through fifth decades of the seventh century BC. They consist chiefly of reports to Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal about cultic concerns and matters connected with the construction and renovation of temple edifices in the major cities of the Assyrian empire, both in the heartland and in the provinces. These fascinating letters throw light on the buildings, refurbishment, and maintenance of temples, the fashioning and installation of statues of the king, the provisioning of the cult, the performance of sacrifices, the rite of sacred marriage, and the processions of divine images.


Women and Power in Neo-Assyrian Palaces

Women and Power in Neo-Assyrian Palaces

Author: Saana Svärd

Publisher: State Archives of Assyria Studies

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9789521013461

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Power in general and women's power in particular has been understood mostly in a hierarchical way in earlier research on Mesopotamian women. Hierarchical power structures were important in Mesopotamia, but other kinds of power structures existed as well. This study, which focuses on women in the palaces of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 930-610 BCE), draws attention to heterarchical power relations in which women were engaged in the Neo-Assyrian palace milieu. Heterarchical power relations include power relations such as reciprocal power, resistance, and persuasion. Although earlier research has certainly been aware of women's influence in the palaces, this study makes explicit the power concepts employed in previous research and further develops them using the concept of heterarchy. The study is based on primary cuneiform sources and presents a detailed description of women in Neo-Assyrian palaces. However, it additionally shows that by applying modern theories of power to the study of ancient texts, one can gain important new insights into the dynamics of ancient society.


A Companion to Assyria

A Companion to Assyria

Author: Eckart Frahm

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-03-24

Total Pages: 648

ISBN-13: 1118325230

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A Companion to Assyria is a collection of original essays on ancient Assyria written by key international scholars. These new scholarly contributions have substantially reshaped contemporary understanding of society and life in this ancient civilization. The only detailed up-to-date introduction providing a scholarly overview of ancient Assyria in English within the last fifty years Original essays written and edited by a team of respected Assyriology scholars from around the world An in-depth exploration of Assyrian society and life, including the latest thought on cities, art, religion, literature, economy, and technology, and political and military history


Ancient Knowledge Networks

Ancient Knowledge Networks

Author: Eleanor Robson

Publisher: UCL Press

Published: 2019-11-14

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 1787355942

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Ancient Knowledge Networks is a book about how knowledge travels, in minds and bodies as well as in writings. It explores the forms knowledge takes and the meanings it accrues, and how these meanings are shaped by the peoples who use it.Addressing the relationships between political power, family ties, religious commitments and literate scholarship in the ancient Middle East of the first millennium BC, Eleanor Robson focuses on two regions where cuneiform script was the predominant writing medium: Assyria in the north of modern-day Syria and Iraq, and Babylonia to the south of modern-day Baghdad. She investigates how networks of knowledge enabled cuneiform intellectual culture to endure and adapt over the course of five world empires until its eventual demise in the mid-first century BC. In doing so, she also studies Assyriological and historical method, both now and over the past two centuries, asking how the field has shaped and been shaped by the academic concerns and fashions of the day. Above all, Ancient Knowledge Networks is an experiment in writing about ‘Mesopotamian science’, as it has often been known, using geographical and social approaches to bring new insights into the intellectual history of the world’s first empires.


A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set

A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set

Author: Bruno Jacobs

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-08-31

Total Pages: 1747

ISBN-13: 1119174287

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A COMPANION TO THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE A comprehensive review of the political, cultural, social, economic and religious history of the Achaemenid Empirem Often called the first world empire, the Achaemenid Empire is rooted in older Near Eastern traditions. A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire offers a perspective in which the history of the empire is embedded in the preceding and subsequent epochs. In this way, the traditions that shaped the Achaemenid Empire become as visible as the powerful impact it had on further historical development. But the work does not only break new ground in this respect, but also in the fact that, in addition to written testimonies of all kinds, it also considers material tradition as an equal factor in historical reconstruction. This comprehensive two-volume set features contributions by internationally-recognized experts that offer balanced coverage of the whole of the empire from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia. Comprehensive in scope, the Companion provides readers with a panoramic view of the diversity, richness, and complexity of the Achaemenid Empire, dealing with all the many aspects of history, event history, administration, economy, society, communication, art, science and religion, illustrating the multifaceted nature of the first true empire. A unique historical account presented in its multiregional dimensions, this important resource deals with many aspects of history, administration, economy, society, communication, art, science and religion it deals with topics that have only recently attracted interest such as court life, leisure activities, gender roles, and more examines a variety of available sources to consider those predecessors who influenced Achaemenid structure, ideology, and self-expression contains the study of Nachleben and the history of perception up to the present day offers a spectrum of opinions in disputed fields of research, such as the interpretation of the imagery of Achaemenid art, or questions of religion includes extensive bibliographies in each chapter for use as starting points for further research devotes special interest to the east of the empire, which is often neglected in comparison to the western territories Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World series, A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire is an indispensable work for students, instructors, and scholars of Persian and ancient world history, particularly the First Persian Empire.