Table of Contents for Journal of Cuneiform Studies 70 (2018)

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Pp. 3-25: “Sumerian ‘Child’,” by Vitali Bartash

This article studies Sumerian terms for minors (dumu, di4-di4-la(2) and lu2 tur-ra) in texts of various genres to define their precise meaning and relationship to kinship and age-grade terminologies. The author argues that dumu is essentially a kinship term “son/daughter, one’s own child, offspring,” which lacks any age connotations. In contrast, di4-di4-la(2) designates children as an age grade. As in other languages, words for children as kinship and children as minors often exchange their semantic domains. Lu2 tur-ra, lit. “minor” is another age-grade term. In contrast, it has a pronounced social connotation and denotes those under patriarchal or professional authority, including children, youths, and young unmarried, or even recently married, individuals, as well as junior professionals.

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Pp. 27-36: “The Stele of Sarab-e Sey Khan: A Recent Discovery of a Second-Millennium Stele on the Iranian–Mesopotamian Borderland in the Western Zagros Mountains,” by Aref Biglari, Sajjad Alibaigi and Masoud Beyranvand

Recent surveys on the eastern hillsides of Bamou Mountain near the current frontiers of Iran and Iraq have led to the discovery of an ancient broken stele in the area of the Sarab-e Sey (Seyed) Khan spring. The stele was made from a large slab of limestone that was broken and of which only two fragments have been recovered so far. The remaining pieces of the stele had a full-size image of a person in a long robe holding a crook in his right hand, undoubtedly a representation of the god Amurru; his left foot rests on the back of a sitting goat while grasping the goat’s horns with his left hand. Another, smaller figure stands to the right of the main figure, near his left shoulder, with in front of him carved a star which could be the symbol of Ishtar. The highly damaged nature of the stele and the absence of an inscription does not allow any precise dating, but it may be proposed that the stele of Sey Khan dates to the Old Babylonian period.

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Pp. 37-51: “The Divine Appointment of the First Antediluvian King: Newly Recovered Content from the Ur Version of the Sumerian Flood Story,” by Jeremiah Peterson

A newly reconstructed manuscript of the Sumerian Flood Story from Old Babylonian Ur furnishes us with further content of the composition, most notably the divine appointment of the first king, Alulim of Eridu. It appears that this text contained an etiology for the pervasive royal image of the king as shepherd of the people.

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Pp. 53-86: “Beginnings of Old Babylonian Babylon: Sumu-abum and Sumu-la-El,” by Rients de Boer

This article studies the lives of two men pivotal in the history of (Old Babylonian) Babylon: Sumu-abum and Sumu-la-El. Sumu-abum was an Amorite tribal and military leader who led groups of Amorite warriors between ca. 1890 and 1860 BCE. He managed to conquer large swaths of northern Babylonian and the Lower Diyala region. In the wake of these conquests, numerous small Amorite kingdoms were set up by his subordinates. The most important one was Sumu-la-El (1880–1845 BCE), who founded the First Dynasty of Babylon. After Sumu-abum’s death, Sumu-la-El subjugated several other petty kings in Babylon’s vicinity and built a string of fortresses around his territory. Through his actions he formed the core of the Babylonian kingdom.

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Pp. 87-114: “On Some Metrological Issues Affecting Yield Estimates in Second-Millennium BCE Upper Mesopotamia,” by Hervé Reculeau

Comparative and quantitative analyses of second millennium BCE agriculture in Upper Mesopotamia are often hindered by the use of absolute values for metrological units of surface and capacity that are based on third millennium southern Mesopotamian documentations. The evidence suggests to the contrary that different metrological systems were used through space and time, and that both their relative and absolute values varied to a great extent, even in cases when similar cuneiform signs and/or unit names were used. This essay analyses the surface and capacity units of Old Babylonian Mari and Assyria in the Old and Middle Assyrian periods, and explores paths to establish their absolute value in modern units by focusing on their internal coherence.

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Pp. 115-166: “Fraud, Forgery, and Fiction: Is There Still Hope for Agum-Kakrime?,” by Susanne Paulus

In this paper, I discuss the authenticity of one of the most controversial Kassite inscriptions known only from post-Kassite copies, the Agum-kakrime Inscription. I revisit the most common arguments brought up against the inscription’s authenticity and then discuss it in the context of other Kassite inscriptions known from later copies. I additionally address the proposed financial motivations for possible forgers as well as potential anachronisms and the Sitz im Leben of the copies discovered in the library of Assurbanipal.

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Pp. 167-188: “Assyrian Antiquities Lost in Translation,” by Julian Edgeworth Reade

Europeans who excavated the great Assyrian cities in the mid-nineteenth century discovered colossal alabaster figures, hundreds of wall panels, and innumerable smaller items that they wished to send home. The journey was perilous and much was lost, most notably sculptures from Khorsabad and elsewhere that were on a French convoy attacked near the Tigris-Euphrates confluence in 1855. There has been much uncertainty over what perished on this and other occasions. This paper integrates the relevant sources, identifies antiquities lost during transport from Khorsabad, the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, the Southwest and North Palaces at Nineveh, and other sites, and compares the loss of original photographs, squeezes and paper archives after arrival in Europe.

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Pp. 189-227: “Two Temple Rituals from Babylon,” by Rocío Da Riva and Gianluca Galetti

BM 40790 (81–04–28, 335) and BM 40854 (81–04–28, 401) + BM 41208 (81–04–28, 756) bear ritual instructions to be carried out in the Esagil. The main activities described deal with Nabû and Nanāya in their cellas: Ezida and Euršaba, respectively. These two tablets clearly belong together, and—together with other tablets now lost—may have originally constituted a series of rituals for the whole year that were connected, in a way or another, to the New Year Festival of Nisan. A striking aspect of BM 40790 and BM 40854+ is the presence of female deities and of female and sexually ambiguous cult attendants. The two texts show a new perspective on temple rituals, in which female agency appears stronger than previously assumed.

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