Early Dynastic Sumer

This paper publishes the editio princeps of an Early Dynastic IIIb tablet from Nippur, which contains a unique yet fragmentary Sumerian narrative about the storm god Iškur's captivity in the netherworld, from which he appears to be rescued by Fox. While the incomplete state of preservation prevents a reconstruction of the plot, individual motifs can be traced across the entire cuneiform corpus, allowing for a preliminary case study of continuity and change over more than two millennia of Mesopotamian mythological literature.

High-resolution remote sensing, magnetometry, and trench stratigraphy identify a significant flood event at Lagash (modern Tell al-Hiba) during the late Early Dynastic period (ca. 2400-2350 BC). Satellite imagery and magnetometry reveal a 90-meter-wide meander belt-3-15 times broader than documented canals-adjacent to primary temple districts. Test trenches further exposed over one meter of flood-deposited silt covering existing architecture. Optically stimulated luminescence dating (central age: 2390 ± 220 BC) aligns closely with radiocarbon dates obtained from contemporaneous burn layers elsewhere on the site. Displaced artifacts, including an inscribed foundation nail from the reign of King Enannatum I (ca. 2425 BC) and diagnostic ceramics, confirm that the flood occurred after his rule but before Akkadian occupation. Integrating geomorphic, sedimentological, and textual evidence, we propose that the flooding was triggered when Lugalzagesi of Uruk-Umma (reigned ca. 2350 BC) intentionally breached or precipitated the failure of Lagash's principal canal embankments during or immediately following his documented attack on the city. This event illustrates how critical infrastructure for irrigation and transportation could be deliberately exploited to exacerbate the environmental and economic impacts of warfare. By closely associating the flood, the military siege, and subsequent demographic decline within a single generational timeframe, our study refines third-millennium BC Mesopotamian chronology and underscores the interconnected roles of hydrology, conflict, and urban resilience in early urban societies. Sans tomber dans un déterminisme étroit, on peut quand même affirmer que l'histoire de l'Irak ne sera vraiment connue que le jour où, parallèlement au déroulement des faits politiques, on retracera la chronologie des déprédations occasionnées par le Tigre et l'Euphrate. -Etienne de Vaumas 1958: 248 Water has been a persistent driver of societal conflict throughout history (Gleick and Shimabuku 2023, and references therein), particularly in arid floodplain regions where irrigation-dependent resources span political boundaries. Nowhere was this more evident than in 3rd-millennium BC This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

This paper revisits the settlement geography of the Mesopotamian alluvial plain during the 3rd millennium BCE in the light of new models for hydrographic transportation networks developed by the SNSF Sinergia project «Hydrography of Mesopotamia» (). Given the over-all demand for access to fresh water in an arid climate and the well-documented river transport of goods in administrative cuneiform records of the 3rd millennium BCE, we propose that waterways and the transport principle, as defined by W. Christaller, dominated the spatial distribution of settlements and settlement hierarchies in southern Mesopotamia. Our hypothesis is tested against diachronic data on settlement occupation and size provided by regional surveys from the 1950s to the 1970s and more recent fieldwork in the alluvial plain, complemented by historical information on governmental, administrative, and religious centers. To calculate the centrality of settlements and identify gateway communities within the hydrographic transportation network, we use spatial and formal network analysis, e.g., least cost path (LCP), traveling salesman problem (TSP), and network centrality measures. By comparing chronologically sequenced models, we argue for a reciprocal effect of shifting river courses and settlement systems and an increasing anthropisation of the landscape towards the end of the 3rd millennium BCE.

Downloadable at: https://press.uniurb.it/index.php/rodopis/catalog/book/82

The book "L'altra faccia di Marte: sconfitti e donne nelle guerre del mondo antico" explores two key aspects of ancient warfare: the fate of the defeated and the role of women. In my contribution, "I re vinti nel III millennio a.C. nella percezione sumerico-accadica", I analyze the representation of defeat in the royal sphere during the second half of the third millennium BC, showing how power celebrated itself even through failure. This philological and historical investigation offers new perspectives on kingship and on the political use of memory in the ancient Near East.

The period running from Göbekli Tepe to Alexander's conquest of the Persians and his untimely death in Babylon is discussed in this paper. Babylon, itself creates a historical marker for the period and geographical area the paper looks at although Göbekli Tepe lies further to the north. However, along with this remarkable Neolithic site the region discussed also takes into account Jericho and others. The mythological record is also reviewed so the substantial record of the worship of the goddess lies before us. This embraces Isis, Osiris, Horus and Hathor. Moreover we can add  The Epic of Gilgamesh to our table and add a psychological evaluation of that. In the period the paper looks at it can be surmised that much of the traditions offer a feminine flavor to iits history whereas the influx of Alexander and the Greeks take us to a masculine identity which is hard to ignore.

Over the past few years the normally staid world of prefessional archaeology has been positively buzzing over a series of dicoveries in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. Beginning in the mid-1990s excavators have uncovered a number of extremely old sites in southern Turkey comprising carved and decorated megaliths which apparently served some ritual function. The disclosure that these monuments date from the pre-pottery Neolithic-therefore in the ninth millennium BC-has caused great excitement amongst historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. The builders of these structures, in Gobekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Kortik Tepe, etc.. (collectively known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Anatolia (PPN)), are said to have lived in pre-agricultural societies, and this disclosure has caused a fundamental rethink regarding the forces involved in the development of literate urban civilizations. All of the sites, which seem to be ritual centres, are at a high elevation above sea level, and include, as well as residential structures, large stone ritual centres comprising "megalithic" type architecture. These standing monoliths are invariably carved with relief images, mostly of animals and birds but also, on occasion, of humans. Several of these, particularly at Karahan Tepe, can be described as phallic, with several megaliths taking the form of gigantic erect penises. A huge amount of speculation has gone into the question of what the animal representations, particularly those at Gobekli Tepe, mean. On the one hand, it has been suggested that they are intended to give the people who carved them some power over the beasts pictured, some of which are creatures of the hunt. However, one monolith pictures what appears to be a solar disc, and so it has been suggested that the whole panorama represents the night sky, and that the animals are creatures of the zodiac. 1 Another image shows what has been interpreted as a comet and it has been suggested that this displays nothing less than a comet-induced catastrophe. 2 Whilst the reliefs of Gobekli Tepe and elsewhere are routinely ascribed to the pre-pottery Neolithic, it is striking that the general style of the images is reminiscent of the artistic work of Early Dynastic Sumeria and Egypt. For one thing, one relief shows what appears to be three "handbag" sysmbols or artifacts, beneath which appears a vulture or hawk figure, and this calls to mind Mesopotamian portrayals of a hawk-deity holding a handbag, apparently almost five thousand years later. Furthermore, the phallic figures of Karahan Tepe, which on several occasions take the form of a man holding his erect penis, are virtually identical in concept to images of the Egyptian god Min, who was frequently portrayed and obviously highly honoured in Predynatic and Early Dynastic times, again almost five thousand years later. Could this be pure coincidence? That is highly unlikely, given the fact that such iconography is extremely unusual, indeed almost unique; confined it seems entirely to the Gobelki Tepe region of Anatolia on the one hand and to Egypt on the other.

The historical sites of Kish and Ur both exhibit the societal, cultural, religious, and political hallmarks of the Early Dynastic Periods. Excavations have uncovered several thousand deposits of human remains between the two. From these deposits, ranging from the Jemdet Nasr to the Ur III periods (3100–2095 BCE), we can see the mortuary culture of their respective times. Ur’s Royal Cemetery displays the wealth and grandeur of royalty and conceptions of the afterlife. Kish and Ur’s private burials exhibit the typical mortuary processes of the average individual. Burial Y426 at Kish and burial PG390 at Ur both exhibit variation of the “typical” mortuary process in patterns of denied funerary rites. The individuals interred in burial Y426 and burial PG390 lack the necessary and expected preparation, positioning, grave goods, and treatment of the deceased. Using Archaeothanatological methodology allows for the reconstruction of the individuals and grave goods of Y426 and PG390 to their original composition at the time of deposition, thereby revealing the intentional denial of expected funerary rites and subsequent rejection of post-funerary rites, such as kispum.

N°3 (septembre) NOTES BRÈVES 50) Some remarks on a recent edition of Aya-ane-pada's metal peg-The inscription on Aya-anepada's long-neglected metal peg (BM 90951 = CDLI Q004866) is missing from all standard editions of Sumerian royal inscriptions. N. Kraus's edition (2024) is, therefore, an important step towards a better understanding of this enigmatic inscription. A good photo of the peg is available at CDLI (P423674); another recent copy of the text was made by A. Westenholz (CUSAS 26, 217). This short note contains some remarks on Kraus's edition hoping to improve our understanding of some difficult lines.

Cuneiform sources confirm the major role played by fish in people’s subsistence in South Mesopotamia. Moreover, far from being a simple
daily resource, fish seems to have a symbolic charge in Sumerian society from the end of Uruk to the Early Dynastic period: its logogram is part
of the name of the goddess Nanše, royal inscriptions define it as a divine messenger, scenes depicting it in ritual contexts are found in tombs and
temples. This article crosses informations from cuneiform texts, archaeological contexts where fish remains were found, and iconography
to propose a chrono-cultural analysis, in order to reassess man’s relationship with fish as the first cities emerge on the Mesopotamian alluvial plain.

In giving a picture of Syria before "the time of the kings of Agade" for the third edition of the Cambridge Ancient History, J. Bottéro was compelled by the sources at his disposal to state that "to the great powers of the Near East, Syria was no-man's-land". The Egyptian Execration Texts of the early second millennium, which contain a large number of indisputably Semitic personal names, showed that the habitants of Palestine and Syria were at that time predominantly Semites. The place-names (particularly in Northern Syria) were on the contrary of unknown linguistic affiliation. Notwithstanding this, one had to assume (on the basis of few god and personal names) the presence of Semites in Northern Syria from at least the middle of the third millennium BC (Bottéro 1971: 319-21). The scarce data in the commemorative inscriptions of the kings of Akkad (about 2335-2193 BC) depict Syria, in fact, as a land beyond the horizon of their usual relations. Mari, on the Euphrates, to the west, and Elam, in the mountains to the east of the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia, delimited that part of the world consistent with Sumer and Akkad: "The god Enlil gave to him (Sargon) [the Upper Sea and] the [Low]er (Sea), so that from the Lower Sea citizens of Agade [h]eld governorships (of the land). Mari and Elam stood (in obedience) before Sargon, lord of the land" (Frayne 1993: 11-12; E2.1.1.1., ll.73-93). In another terse inscription, Sargon boasts first that he, "king of the world (KIŠ), was victorious (in) 34 battles", and then he mentions only two exploits as proof of his dominion over the world: that "he moored the ships of Meluḫḫa, Magan, and Tilmun (i.e. the lands of the Lower Sea) at the quay of Agade", and led an expedition in the regions towards the Upper Sea: "Sargon, the king, bowed down to the god Dagan in Tuttul. He (the god Dagan) gave to him the Upper Land: Mari, Iarmuti, and Ebla as far as the Cedar Forest and the Silver Mountains (the Amanus)" (Frayne 1993: 28-29). In order to proceed west of Mari, following the river upstream, Sargon therefore had to ask permission of Dagan, the god of that region, in his sanctuary at Tuttul, where the Baliḫ flows into the Euphrates. The report of Narām-Sîn, Sargon's nephew, on his campaign in Northern Syria has even a stunned tone between epic and fable:

This paper analyses the so-called "Reform Texts" of Urukagina. It identifies be6 -lu5 -da u4 -be2 -ta and nam tar-ra u4 -be2 -ta as key terms which contrast the "former regulations", upheld by Urukagina's predecessors, with the "pristine order" established by the gods. It is argued that these orders had been out of joint upon Urukagina's accession, that Urukagina claims their harmonization via his role as king, and that vertical solidarity or reciprocity represents a governing principle among the social, ethical, and juridical implications of the pristine order. Therefore, instead of interpreting Urukagina's acts as a restoration or reformation, an interpretation as "readjustment" is proposed.

Tafeln VORWORT Der vorliegende Band stellt eine erste Ergänzung des von Behzad Mofidi-Nasrabadi erstellten Kataloges zum "Fundkontext der Keilschrifttafeln der Ausgrabungen in Haft Tappeh zwischen 2005 und 2012" (Elamica 11) dar. Er enthält Transliterationen der besser erhaltenen Texte, für die darüber hinaus 3D-Scans vorliegen. Die Anordnung der Texte folgt den Katalognummern in Elamica 11; diese werden in diesem Band und in zukünftigen Editionen mit der Abkürzung KHT (Keilschrifttexte aus Haft Tappeh) versehen. Aus praktischen Gründen wurde auf eine inhaltliche Strukturierung verzichtet. Diese wird Gegenstand weiterer Publikationen sein. Unser Dank gilt mehreren Personen und Institutionen. Prof. Dr. Behzad Mofidi-Nasrabadi hat uns stets in allen Fragen zum Fundort beratend zur Seite gestanden und das gesamte Material seiner Ausgrabungen in Haft Tappeh zur Verfügung gestellt. Prof. Dr. Frank Maas (Helmholtz Institut Mainz) hat uns die Verwendung eines 3D-Scanners und das dazugehörige Know-how großzügig gewährt und damit die Initiierung des Projektes erst ermöglicht. Die universitäre Forschungsförderung der JGU hat 2018 die ersten Arbeiten mit 3D-Scans in Haft Tappeh unterstützt, die Ali Zalaghi, M.A. dankenswerterweise angefertigt hat. Ali Zalaghi hat uns darüberhinaus in archäologischen Fragen immer geduldig Rede und Antwort gestanden. Wir danken der DFG für die Förderung der ersten Projektphase 2019-2022. In dieser Zeit konnten wir gemeinsam mit Prof. Dr. Kai-Christian Bruhn und Timo Homburg, M.Sc. (beide Hochschule Mainz) sowie Prof. Dr. Hubert Mara (jetzt Universität Halle) neue Editionsmethoden für Keilschrifttexte entwickeln. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit inklusive der zugrundeliegenden 3D-Scans werden als Datensatz unter www.heidicon.ub.uni-heidelberg.de publiziert. Während der ersten Projektphase haben verschiedene Personen an den Arbeiten mitgewirkt. An erster Stelle ist Dr. Eva-Maria Huber zu nennen, die einen erheblichen Anteil zu den Lesungen und dem Verständnis der Texte beigetragen hat. Jonas Klöker, B.A. und Jan Tärnhuvud, B.Sc. haben sich um die Erstellung des Tafelteils und die Anfertigung des Glossars gekümmert. Mainz im September 2022, Tim Brandes und Doris Prechel I. Einleitung Haft Tappeh liegt im Südwesten Irans in der Provinz Khuzestan, etwa 15 km südöstlich der antiken Stadt Susa. Seine geografische Lage am östlichen Rand der mesopotamischen Ebene und am Rande des Zagros-Gebirges hat es zu einem wichtigen Zentrum zwischen Mesopotamien im Westen und der iranischen Hochebene im Osten gemacht. Die Textfunde aus Haft Tappeh stellen das gegenwärtig umfangreichste Corpus für die mittelelamische Zeit dar. Nachdem vor allem P. Herrero und J.J. Glassner 1 eine größere Anzahl von Keilschrifttexten aus den Grabungen von E. Negahban in Autographie vorgelegt haben, ist gerade in den letzten Jahren ihr Informationsgehalt Gegenstand wissenschaftlichen Interesses und mehrerer Publikationen gewesen. So hat M. Dabbagh anhand der bereits publizierten Texte die sozio-ökonomische und kultische Rolle von Frauen in Haft Tappeh erarbeitet (Dabbagh 2020) und konnte zeigen, dass Frauen in allen gesellschaftlichen Schichten agierten. J. Álvarez-Mon und Y. Wicks legten eine Studie zur militärischen Ausstattung Haft Tappehs und der Bedeutung in der Region vor (Álvarez-Mon/Wicks 2020). Sie verorten in Haft Tappeh ein staatlich kontrolliertes Arsenal an Kriegswagen und Waffen, das einen Schlüssel zum Verständnis von Elams scheinbar anhaltendem Widerstand gegen äußere Mächte und seines Aufstiegs zu einer militärischen Supermacht im 13. Jh. v. Chr. bildet. In den Ausgrabungen von B. Mofidi-Nasrabadi sind seit 2005 weitere Tontafeln gefunden worden, die nun erstmals im Rahmen des DFG-Projekts "Digitale Edition der Keilschrifttexte aus Haft Tappeh" bearbeitet werden. Die Fundkontexte dieser Tafeln hat kürzlich B. Mofidi-Nasrabadi umfassend in Elamica 11 publiziert. Der nun vorliegende Band schließt unmittelbar an diese Publikation an, und präsentiert Bearbeitungen von den katalogisierten Texten in Auswahl 2 . Zu den Tafelformaten, die im Verwaltungsgebäude des Areal I in Haft Tappeh verwendet wurden, sei auf den Beitrag von T. Brandes und E.-M. Huber in Elamica 10 verwiesen (Brandes/Huber 2020). Die dort verwendeten Bezeichnungen von Texttypen (Brief, Inventar, Liste, Notiz) wurden in diesem Band übernommen. Die Keilschrifttafeln aus Haft Tappeh (KTH) zeichnen sich dadurch aus, dass sie gewöhnlich vorliniert wurden. Diese extralinguistischen Merkmale werden in den nun vorliegenden Transliterationen nicht markiert. Hingegen werden Paragraphenstriche, die der inhaltlichen Strukturierung der Tafel dienen, angezeigt.

The Peace side of the Standard of Ur is not just a generic depiction of a victory parade. It is a subtly nuanced description of how the Sumerian king ruled his Akkadian subjects after the war was over. It carefully illuminates the geopolitics of Mesopotamia, especially the complicated relationship between the Sumerians and the Akkadians.

Animal naming was likely a common practice in Mesopotamia, and it has recently gained renewed attention in Assyriology. To date, 23 animals are known to have borne personal names, mostly cows and oxen attested in Old Babylonian legal texts, including the one presented here. This article provides a complete edition of A32135, a short unpublished Old Babylonian cattle sales contract housed in the collections of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago. The text, dated to year 36 of the reign of Ammī-ditāna and possibly stemming from the ancient city of Dilbat, deals with the sale of the cow Šamšatum and her suckling bull-calf by a certain Ipqu-šala, son of Sîn-iddinam.

Administrative sources dated in the third millennium BCE document
functional structures defined as roof houses. Their roof level was equipped for
processing food, while the bottom level served as a temporary storage facility.
These structures were the domain of professionals simply named “men of the
roof”, a sort of cooks specialised in the preservation of food, whose tasks reflected
the polyhedric nature of their working places.

A slab, inscribed on both the faces, which must be the copy of an or, better, two distinct royal inscriptions, lists in the obverse (?) a series of well known architectural and hydrological feats of Ur-Nanše, the founder of the First Dynasty of Lagaš, and in the reverse (?) describes a defeat of the kings of Umma and of Ur with the capture of their high functionaries and the erection of funerary tumuli. These militay exploits too are assigned to the grandfather of Eannatum by the editor and by the scholars who studied this unusual text, but their interpretation may be uncorrect.

It is with great honor and joy that we present this volume in celebration of Franco D'Agostino's 65 th birthday. As a distinguished Assyriologist at Sapienza University of Rome, Franco has made significant contributions to the study of ancient Mesopotamia, advancing our understanding of Sumerian, Eblaite, Assyrian, and Babylonian cultures, languages, history, and archaeology. Yet, Franco's intellectual and creative pursuits extend far beyond Assyriology. In addition to his remarkable academic career, he has explored other artistic fields with equal passion and talent. He is an accomplished author of poetry collections and narrative works, with published books that reflect his love for storytelling and literature. Franco is also a musician, and recently released a music album that reveals another facet of his rich artistic life. His passion for music, much like his academic and literary work, highlights his endless curiosity and dedication to exploring different forms of expression. Whether in the classroom, at the writing desk, or in the music studio, Franco approaches each of his endeavors with the same creativity, discipline, and enthusiasm. This volume brings together contributions from friends, colleagues, and students from around the world, each of whom has been inspired by Franco's work and friendship. In recognition of Franco's wide-reaching impact, the essays in this volume reflect a broad range of topics within Assyriology, Archaeology, and Ancient Near Eastern History. We would also like to thank the many colleagues who were unable to contribute but wished to honor Franco and extend their heartfelt regards. Finally, we express our gratitude to Kristin Kleber and Kai Metzler for their assistance in preparing the manuscript for publication. As we mark this important milestone, we celebrate not only Franco's academic achievements but also the many other interests that enrich his life and work, as well as our own. This volume is a tribute to the remarkable and multifaceted individual that he is, as a person, as scholar, and as an artist.

This article reexamines the origins and social status of the muškēnū ( maš.gag.en , etc., “those who prostrate themselves”) in ancient Mesopotamia. Previously thought of as commoners, analysis of third-millennium sources reveals them to be settled outsiders, distinct from citizens of the communities they inhabited. This precarious position necessitated protection from rulers or other powerful figures. Evidence suggests the Semitic Middle Euphrates-Tigris region as the homeland of this phenomenon. Early Dynastic data (ca. 2600–2300 BC) portray the muškēnū as low-status outsiders by placing them in the context of male regular and house-born slaves, menial workers, robbers/seminomads, and female sex workers. Akkadian conquerors brought the phenomenon to Sumer during the twenty-third century BC. The muškēnū lived in imperial centers and traveled between Sumerian cities. The data on the muškēnū become more common during the Ur III period (2110–2003 BC). They lived primarily in royal settlements and on the kingdom’s periphery, suggesting a deliberate policy to establish a loyal social base, and they were “people” rather than “natives” of these towns. Male muškēnū were typically conscripted full time in low-income occupations involved in animal husbandry and cultivation, and they seldom held administrative positions. Male citizens, on the other hand, enjoyed a better economic position with part-time work and additional income opportunities. Few muškēnū women (feminine forms of the term are not attested) might have been forced into penal labor like some citizen women. Sex work was another profession for some muškēnū women, also mirroring the situation for some citizen women. During the Old Babylonian period (2002–1595 BC), muškēnum remained a term for a group of state-protected free individuals distinct from regular citizens of southern Babylonia. What was new is that Babylonian states used this category as a blueprint to conceptualize the entire free population as royal/state subjects, a concept originally alien in the south.

Mein Ergebnis möchte ich deshalb wie folgt formulieren: Das mesopotamische Konzept von Recht bleibt eingebettet in die mesopotamische holiststische Weltsicht. Die Normenbegründung bleibt daher letztlich transzendental, metaphysisch, auch wenn sie sich auf Erfahrungswissen - Brauch und Sitte - bezieht. Ohne Zweifel besaß das vorschriftliche mesopotamische Rechtssystem bereits komplexe Verfahren zur Konfliktvermeidung und zur Konfliktlösung. Gleichwie die Schriftentstehung mit der Notwendigkeit zur wirtschaftlichen Planung verbunden ist, entsteht die schriftliche Rechtstradition in Verbindung mit der Herausbildung und zunehmenden Bedeutung der besonders konfliktträchtigen Verfügungsrechte, insbesondere des 'Eigentums'. Mit dem auf dem schriftlichen Vertragsrecht beruhenden Beweis erfolgt eine Objektivierung obligatio. Es ist die raum- und zeitübergreifende "Logik der Schrift", die, , wie in der Ökonomie so auch im Recht, entscheidend zum gesellschaftlichen Wandel beiträgt und Innovationsfähigkeit und Stabilität gleichermaßen befördert.

[Zusammenfassung:] Die aus dem Bedürfnis der sich hierarchisierenden gesellschaftlichen Systeme nach räum- und zeitübergreifender Informationsvermittlung historisch sich entwickelnde Schrift liefert durch ihre 4 objektivierende ' Funktion das Inzentiv zur Ausdifferenzierung der ( Sub-)Systeme von Ökonomie und Recht. Diese weder intendierten noch absehbaren Veränderungen lassen sich am besten aufzeigen anhand der Entwicklung des Eigentumsbegriffes, in dem die ökonomischen und die rechtlichen Systeme genetisch verbunden bleiben. Die aus dem Konzept von Besitz durch die Objektivierung sich herausbildende Exklusivitätsauffas- sung von Eigentum interpretiert die v or rechtlichen sozialen Beziehungen mehr und mehr als 4 Schuldverhältnisse ' im rechtlichen Sinne. Die zunehmend rechtlich manifestierten wirtschaftlichen Abhängigkeitsverhältnisse führen zu ökonomischen Krisen , die traditionelle Legitimationsverfahren in Frage stellen und die sich dadurch letztlich zu einer Staatskrise ausweiten oder zu einer solchen beitragen können. Der entstandene Gegensatz zwischen öffentlichen und privaten Interessen gefährdet auf diesem Niveau nachhaltig die Stabilität des politischen Systems. Der Versuch des Uru-inimgina{-k ), die durch das Eigentumskonzept entstehende Sphäre privaten profitorientierten Wirtschaftens durch Rückgriff auf frühere ideologische Konzepte aufzulösen oder einzuschränken , scheitert. Jedoch wird sein Versuch , durch politische Eingriffe die Stabilität des gesellschaftlichen Systems zu sichern , zum Modell für spätere Versuche der Krisenbewältigung. Der Versuch der 4 Privatisierung ' des Staates unter den Akkade-Herrschern kann aufgrund der gegenläufigen Reaktionen anderer , institutioneller und wohl auch privater Verfügungsinteressen nur vorüber- gehende Stabilität schaffen. Die Gegenreaktion der Ur Iii-Zeit greift unter ideologisch umgekehrten Vorzeichen letztlich dieses Konzept auf schließlich jedoch läßt sich der entstandene 4 private ' Sektor durch Bürokratie , Zwangsmaßnahmen und ideologische Propaganda nicht dauerhaft kontrollieren. In der altbabylonischen Zeit läßt sich dann eine zunehmende Verrechtlichung der sozialen Beziehungen erkennen. Durch politische Eingriffe in Wirtschaft und Recht - nach dem Modell der altsumerischen Zeit - erfolgt nun der Versuch , die durch die Dynamik dieser Systeme krisenhaft wiederkehrende Bedrohung des Staates abzumildern und dem Herrscher dadurch seine Legitimation zu sichern.

Where there is no property there is no injustice." John Locke, Essays Concerning Human Understanding IV. 3 § 18. "Das Eigenthum giebt nur gewisse Verfügungsbefugnisse und gewisse Ausschlussbefugnisse Anderen gegenüber. Das Maass dieser Befugnisse wechselt ... Oder wenn eine Beschränkung der Verfügungsund Ausschlussbefugnisse des Eigenthümers als Widerspruch gegen den Eigenthumsbegriff gilt, so muss statt von ' Eigenthum ' eben von einem 'Inbegriff gewisser Verfügungs-und Ausschlussrechte' gesprochen werden, wenn dafür auch ein anderer Gesammtname fehlt." A. Wagner, Lehr -und Handbuch der politischen Ökonomie 1/1 31 892, 310-311. [Zusammenfassung:] Die aus dem Bedürfnis der sich hierarchisierenden gesellschaftlichen Systeme nach räum-und zeitübergreifender Informationsvermittlung historisch sich entwickelnde Schrift liefert durch ihre 4 objektivierende ' Funktion das Inzentiv zur Ausdifferenzierung der ( Sub-)Systeme von Ökonomie und Recht. Diese weder intendierten noch absehbaren Veränderungen lassen sich am besten aufzeigen anhand der Entwicklung des Eigentumsbegriffes, in dem die ökonomischen und die rechtlichen Systeme genetisch verbunden bleiben. Die aus dem Konzept von Besitz durch die Objektivierung sich herausbildende Exklusivitätsauffassung von Eigentum interpretiert die v or rechtlichen sozialen Beziehungen mehr und mehr als 4 Schuldverhältnisse ' im rechtlichen Sinne. Die zunehmend rechtlich manifestierten wirtschaftlichen Abhängigkeitsverhältnisse führen zu ökonomischen Krisen , die traditionelle Legitimationsverfahren in Frage stellen und die sich dadurch letztlich zu einer Staatskrise ausweiten oder zu einer solchen beitragen können. Der entstandene Gegensatz zwischen öffentlichen und privaten Interessen gefährdet auf diesem Niveau nachhaltig die Stabilität des politischen Systems. Der Versuch des Uru-inimgina{-k ), die durch das Eigentumskonzept entstehende Sphäre privaten projitorientierten Wirtschaftens durch Rückgriff auf frühere ideologische Konzepte aufzulösen oder einzuschränken , scheitert. Jedoch wird sein Versuch , durch politische Eingriffe die Stabilität des gesellschaftlichen Systems zu sichern , zum Modell für spätere Versuche der Krisenbewältigung. Der Versuch der 4 Privatisierung ' des Staates unter den Akkade-Herrschern kann aufgrund der gegenläufigen Reaktionen anderer , institutioneller und wohl auch privater Verfügungsinteressen nur vorübergehende Stabilität schaffen. Die Gegenreaktion der Ur Iii-Zeit greift unter ideologisch umgekehrten Vorzeichen letztlich dieses Konzept auf schließlich jedoch läßt sich der entstandene 4 private ' Sektor durch Bürokratie , Zwangsmaßn ahmen und ideologische Propaganda nicht dauerhaft kontrollieren. In der altbabylonischen Zeit läßt sich dann eine zunehmende Verrechtlichung der sozialen Beziehungen erkennen. Durch politische Eingriffe in Wirtschaft und Recht -nach dem Modell der altsumerischen Zeit -erfolgt nun der Versuch , die durch die Dynamik dieser Systeme krisenhaft wiederkehrende Bedrohung des Staates abzumildern und dem Herrscher dadurch seine Legitimation zu sichern. *) Für Literaturzitate vgl. die diesem Aufsatz beigegebene

This paper explores beer's central role in Ancient Mesopotamia, emphasizing its significance as a unifying force within the civilization's economic, social, and religious frameworks.Beer functioned as both a staple product and a valuable economic commodity, facilitating trade, sustaining labor forces, and supporting the redistributive economy managed by temples. Socially, beer reinforced hierarchical structures, distinguishing the elite through premium brews while serving as essential sustenance for laborers and artisans. Yet, it also fostered communal solidarity during religious festivals, temporarily dissolving social barriers. Religiously, beer was regarded as a divine gift, integral to sacred rituals and offerings, as reflected in hymns like the Hymn to Ninkasi and mythological texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. Drawing on archaeological evidence, textual records, and scholarly interpretations, this study argues that beer was far more than a dietary staple; it was a cornerstone of Mesopotamian civilization, shaping its economy, society, and spiritual life.

The Third Dynasty of Ur thrived on a large-scale administrative structure and in the just over 100 years that the Dynasty ruled, its scribes produced vast quantities of documents, some 120,000 of which survived until today. This wealth of documents constitutes an exceptional corpus for the study of writing practices in the Ur III period.
Writing is a product of the hand as much as of the mind; not an innate ability, it is a learned and practised skill, a combination of rules and standards performed by individuals.
By contrasting datasets drawn from the administrative production of selected sites, including Umma, Ur and Girsu, this paper interrogates the material aspects of writing with respect to sign variants, writing sequence and text layout, and the relationship between inscribed artefacts and writing practices. This study aims to address the extent to which palaeographic and material features can vary, conform or evolve over time and across sites and illustrates the application of a new integrated approach to written variations to administrative tablets from the Ur III period, a corpus traditionally seen as standardised. This paper demonstrates that variations within the Ur III corpus can be distinguished between features related to broader evolution trends of the cuneiform script and those determined by the immediate moment of writing.

This article examines the available textual evidence from late Early Dynastic/Early Sargonic Ur concerning an unnamed ensi₂ of the northern Babylonian city of Gizuna (ŠID.NUN{ki}). Based on a new interpretation of UET 2, Suppl. 44 and U 32450+U 32457, it is argued that a seven-day burial ceremony in honour of the ruler/governor of Gizuna was held, during which animals were sacrificed at his grave (sur₃-maḫ). It is suggested that the body of the ensi₂ was interred at Ur, either in the Early Dynastic ‘Royal Cemetery’ or in the later ‘Akkadian Cemetery’. A careful review of the late Early Dynastic/Early Sargonic cuneiform tablets from Ur further reveals the existence of an organisation called Ekisa(g) (‘pleasant-place house’), which probably handled the funerary offerings presented to the men and women buried in the city necropolis. If this is correct, then Ekisa(g) may have been the Sumerian name of the burial complex commonly known as the ‘Cemetery of Ur’.

This poster presentation details the methodology of my ongoing Ph.D. dissertation, tentatively titled “The Organizational History of Old Babylonian Nippur and Ur". This study advances civic and social organizational analyses of the cities of Nippur and Ur, previously explored by Elizabeth Stone (1987) and Marc van de Mieroop (1992). The objective is to create comparative models of urban organization in southern Babylonia, analogous to those developed for Sippar (Harris 1975) and Assur (Larsen 1976).

To achieve this, I employ a microhistorical approach, utilizing archival research and prosopography. I organize and analyze a corpus of approximately 4,000 entries using relational database management software (Claris’s FileMaker). Data is sourced from online databases such as CDLI, ARCHIBAB, and Ur-Online, as well as museum collections hosted by the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, the Penn Museum, and the British Museum.

The methodologies employed include archival research—focused on excavation, museum collections, and published data—and prosopography. Regarding this second method, I seek to replicate and contribute to the work of scholars such as Kraus (1951), Charpin (1986), and Goddeeris (2016), while also establishing new dossiers. This poster will highlight initial findings from my fourth chapter, which examines texts dated from 2016 to 1841 BCE.

Since the reopening of the mission in 2019, the water supply of Larsa has been a central focus of field investigations on this urban site of South Mesopotamia (Iraq). The first map of its hydraulic network can be established thanks to the cross-analysis of photogrammetric and geomagnetic images, to which is added the data of the geo-archaeological study and archaeological operations. In its final state, the intra-mural network had more than a hundred canals including several large ones such as the Grand canal, more than 22 m wide, basins of storage, the largest reserve in the northwest had a 26,000 m 2 , irrigation and drainage canals, but also a port area of 31,645 m 2 to the south. This approach made it possible to establish the connection with the canals works of the surrounding plain structuring the peri-urban network and to apprehend the major developments during the 2 nd millennium, between the

PhD thesis. In Idraulica Sumerica (Monografie dell’Atlante del Vicino Oriente Antico 4 = MAVOA 4, Sapienza Università Editrice, Roma 2023), Edoardo Zanetti reconstructs through historical and epigraphic sources one of the oldest hydraulic networks in Western Asia, the system of canals, sluices, levees and reservoirs in the territory of Girsu / Lagaš, in the country of Sumer, southern Mesopotamia.

This volume can be downloaded at the link: https://www.editricesapienza.it/node/8954

The dark side of classification -
For decades Orly Goldwasser explored the potential of the Egyptian and related classifier systems; her repeated and ongoing research on the underlying processes of
classification and categorization provides important insights into the ways these peoples perceived their worlds. Recent research in cognitive science has made major contributions to an improved understanding of category formation, illuminating the hypotheses that ‘cognition is categorization’ and ‘categorization is abstraction’. The study of such processes as documented
in ancient Mesopotamian sources might provide a salient means to reconstruct pristine philosophical reasoning, for which the malleability of categories may serve as a focal point. It is well known that humans’ ability of category building — based often on a very limited number of tokens — is the pedigree of abstractive thinking while its evolution is connected to the
notion of ‘embodied categorization’ rather than to any innate conceptualization. For all human agents it is categorization which provides the orientational grid for actions, for both good and bad. It is therefore hardly surprising that abstractive thinking could also be
used for ‘political’ ends. It is their alleged foundation in perception which makes them as powerful as they are. Abstract reasoning is by no means always intertwined
with erudition; as already Hegel has argued, it is most commonly found with the ignorant and illiterate. Up until now, and regrettably increasingly so, self-categorization and categorization of the others have dominated and motivated various political actions. National, ethnic, and racial or simply cultural terms are used for political ends, often implying the notion of one’s supremacy. As race or ethnicity is fortunately disappearing from scholarly expositions, the term ‘culture’ is still widely used in scholarly discourses. For heuristic reasons it seems impossible to ban all such terms from discussion. However, without specifics, any use of such terms remains highly problematic. For a long time, the binary distinction between (semi-)nomads and settled people formed an essential grid for many historical accounts of pre-classical societies. As far as ancient Mesopotamia is concerned, the description of the ‘invading’ Amorites (also a problematic term)
served as a model for evaluations of noted cultural changes in Mesopotamia at the turn from the third to the second millennium. Recently several studies on human mobility challenged the general explanatory power of this dichotomy.  Time and again workers, migrants, artisans, as well as (coerced) workers indisputably contributed significantly to the Mesopotamian culture. On the other side, sedentism was likewise not an irreversible process.

Notwithstanding the voluminous research that has been applied to Akkadian cuneiform in the wake of its decipherment two centuries ago, the bulk of scholarly efforts has focused upon dialectal and synchronic dimensions of the language, various "islands in the stream" of the larger and longer river, as it were. "Despite this overall productivity, however, studies dealing with Akkadian from a comparative and historical linguistic perspective are relatively rare" (2). Yet over the course of his cogent scholarship, John Huehnergard not only has explored many of these insular terrains but also has navigated several of the currents that lead from one shore to another. He has even ventured far upriver, in efforts to discover the linguistic "headwaters" of Proto-Akkadian. This Festschrift of nine essays, organized alphabetically by author name, emerges out of a 2018 conference on Akkadian historical linguistics honoring Huehnergard's impactful career and "represents a sample of the research on Akkadian historical linguistics that is currently being done in the field" (4).

186-84) Two Unpublished Sumerian Letters from the Iraq Museum-The following two tablets are housed in the Iraqi Museum. They were confiscated. The first tablet, with an illegible museum number, records an amount of 20 liters of dates as a daily offerings from the gardeners for the sowing festival. Obv.1. lugal-nig₂-lagar-e Lugalniglagare u₃-na-a-du₁₁ tell him: 0.0.2 zu-lum [x] 20 li. dates nig₂-dab₅ ezem šu-numun offerings of sowing festival 5. u3 sa2-du11 šu-a gi-na and daily offerings ki šandana(GAL.NI)-ke₄-ne [ta] from the gardeners Rev. Lost lines he₂-na-ab-sum-mu let him give. Commentary: The term (šu-a gi-na) is a type of offering that was delivered daily to a deceased king (Sallaberger, 1993, 83). While Sigrist does not consider it as a religious term, he prefers to give it an accounting meaning, "expected",

The inscription on Aya-ane-pada’s long-neglected metal peg (BM 90951 = CDLI Q004866) is missing from all standard editions of Sumerian royal inscriptions. N. Kraus’s edition (2024) is an important step towards a better understanding of this enigmatic inscription. This short note contains some remarks on Kraus’s edition hoping to improve our understanding of some difficult lines.

Taking as a point of departure a foundation figurine of the 3rd-millennium Early Dynastic Lagashite ruler Ur-Nanše, housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece, this article presents a revised understanding of the “Maison des Fruits” and Tell K at Tello/Ĝirsu. It is centered on the objects and their inscriptions unearthed in and associated with the Maison, includes relevant parallel structures and objects, and concludes with a discussion of the function of the Maison. It is suggested that this was a sacred building closely related to water and fish and leaves open the discussion regarding to whom this structure was dedicated.

Grüße!

Ich habe mal an der Universität Leipzig promoviert, aber sollte meine Arbeit wegen meinen Betreuer (Prof. M. P. Streck) unterbrechen. Der sagte mir auf einmal nach einem Jahr gemeinsamer Arbeit und vorherigen „alles gut“ Rückmeldungen, dass ich für Wissenschaft nicht gemacht sei und was anderes tun solle. Genauere Kritik habe ich auch nicht erhalten, obwohl direkt und indirekt (durch Administration) nachgefragt habe. Ich glaube, dass ich zum Thema nie mehr zurückkehre, aber will nicht, dass die Arbeit verloren geht, wenn jemand sich mal wieder mit dem Thema befasst und das alles (oder teils) brauchen würde.

Von hier hochgeladenen Daten ist gar nichts publiziert. Die Daten sind auch nicht vollständig, weil ich damals einen PC hatte und damit gearbeitet habe. Das ist alles, was ich jetzt auf meinem alten Laptop, der schon damals am Auseinanderfallen war, zum Thema gefunden habe. Die deutsche unvollständige Präsentation aus Leipzig (sowie schriftliche Begleitung) kann durch die Russische ergänzt werden. Entschuldigung im Voraus für die Sprachen- und Dateienvielfalt: ich bin mir nicht sicher, dass ich jetzt schaffe alles auf Englisch umzusetzen oder irgendwie umzuordnen. Man kann da aber irgendwelcher deepl anwenden. Ich hatte damals auch stets einen üblen Feedback-mangel, also kann von hier und jetzt gar nicht einschätzen, ob das Ganze noch irgendwelche Nutzung findet. Aber falls es jemand braucht, muss sich frei fühlen das weiterzuverwenden.

Alles Liebe,
Valeriya Minaeva

In a famous gold tablet from ED IIIb Umma collected by Louvre Museum (AO 19225), a woman Bara-irnun was the wife of Gishakidu ruler of Umma. She was also a daughter (dumu) of Ur-Lumma ruler of Umma, granddaughter (dumu-KA) of Enakalle ruler of Umma, and daughter-in-law (e2-gi4-a) of Il ruler of Umma

In this authoritative but light-hearted account of the world’s first great beer culture, archaeologist Tate Paulette introduces readers not only to the beers of ancient Mesopotamia, but also to the people who brewed them and drank them, the places where these people lived and worked, the taverns and temples and tombs where they did their drinking, the stories they told about beer, their preferred styles of drinking, their brewing equipment, their drinking paraphernalia, and the beer-loving deities who governed their lives.

Rigorous in its scholarship, yet staunchly unpretentious in style, In the Land of Ninkasi weaves together insights drawn from archaeological remains, ancient works of art, and cuneiform texts. Paulette uses a series of narrative vignettes and thought experiments to interrogate specific pieces of evidence and pull the reader, step-by-step, into the process of analysis and interpretation, explaining exactly what we know and how we know it. Paulette also recounts some of his own experiences recreating ancient beer and provides a brew-it-yourself recipe to try at home. A feast for beer geeks and history buffs alike, In the Land of Ninkasi reveals the fascinating secrets of one of the oldest brewing traditions in recorded history.

Nearly 250 possible balance weights from excavations
of the late 19th and early 20th century1 BC at Mesopotamian
sites of Assur, Bismaya, Fara, Nippur, Tello, and
other sites are stored in the Near Eastern Collection of
the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul. 2ey were published
only descriptively by E. Unger in 1918. A promised
volume with illustrations never appeared. In 2005, T.1H.
Zeyrek and Z. Kiziltan published a paper on 90 of these
objects illustrating them with photographs. In 2007, the
author was allowed to restudy another 31 of the objects
in the store rooms of the museum. the other objects
were either displayed in the permanent exhibition or not
accessible to me. 17 of the total 31 studied stone objects
were rather easily identified as typical Mesopotamian
weights due to their shape, material, mass and in a few
cases also due to their markings. Two weights have short
inscriptions. Of great interest is a potential cubical Indus weight from Nippur. Such typical weights of the mature
Harappan culture have been known so far only from Ur,
Susa and the Gulf outside the Indus region. However, the
object is slightly fragmented and the mass is a bit too
heavy for an easy assignment to the Indus weight standard.
2e other stone objects studied are in the shape of
Cat reels or spools and rough cubes. In these cases, their
function as balance weights is rather doubtful and cannot
yet be proven. Contextual evidence from other well
documented excavations may help to verify any potential
function of these objects. Whilst the whole sample
lacks any information about context and dating, it is still
an important addition to the rather limited corpus of suf-
ficiently published weights from ancient Mesopotamia.

This is a draft for a Sumerian textbook introducing the Sumerian language. The final version will contain several excursuses such as chapters on administrative texts, legal texts, literature, etc. The glossary and sign list are currently being updated. Additional texts will be added as well.

Suggestions are welcome!

This preliminary report concerns the archaeological activities of the Italian Expedition on the mounds n.7 and 8 (TB7, TB8) in the area of Tūlūl al Baqarat (Kut, Wasit). TB7-TB8 are the most ancient sites among the Tūlūl al Baqarat mounds. They appear as flat and rounded tells, close to each other and most likely part of the same archaeological settlement. An intensive survey was conducted on the sites followed by the opening of four soundings in the central and north-western parts of TB7. In the central sector of the site (S1, S2, S4), the excavations revealed the evidence of an artificial terrace with side rooms and jutting walls while in the north-western sector (S3) the remains of a multifunctional building (Building A) were investigated. The materials collected so far in the different trenches suggest a main chronological frame of the site within the Early Uruk period.