Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East

Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Alfonso Archi
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1575063581
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 633

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Book Description
In July, 2011, the International Association for Assyriology met in Rome, Italy, for 5 days to deliver and listen to papers on the theme “Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East”. This volume, the proceedings of the conference, contains more than 40 of the papers read at the 57th annual Rencontre, including 3 plenary lectures/papers, many papers directly connected with the theme, as well as a workshop on parents and children. The papers covered every period of Mesopotamian history, from the third millennium through the end of the first millennium B.C.E. The attendees were warmly hosted by faculty and students from the Università di Roma “La Sapienza”.

Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East

Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Alfonso Archi
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1575063581
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 633

Get Book Here

Book Description
In July, 2011, the International Association for Assyriology met in Rome, Italy, for 5 days to deliver and listen to papers on the theme “Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East”. This volume, the proceedings of the conference, contains more than 40 of the papers read at the 57th annual Rencontre, including 3 plenary lectures/papers, many papers directly connected with the theme, as well as a workshop on parents and children. The papers covered every period of Mesopotamian history, from the third millennium through the end of the first millennium B.C.E. The attendees were warmly hosted by faculty and students from the Università di Roma “La Sapienza”.

Ritual, Performance, and Politics in the Ancient Near East

Ritual, Performance, and Politics in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Lauren Ristvet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107065216
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
In this book, Lauren Ristvet rethinks the narratives of state formation by investigating the interconnections between ritual, performance, and politics in the ancient Near East. She draws on a wide range of archaeological, iconographic, and cuneiform sources to show how ritual performance was not set apart from the real practice of politics; it was politics. Rituals provided an opportunity for elites and ordinary people to negotiate political authority. Descriptions of rituals from three periods explore the networks of signification that informed different societies. From circa 2600 to 2200 BC, pilgrimage made kingdoms out of previously isolated villages. Similarly, from circa 1900 to 1700 BC, commemorative ceremonies legitimated new political dynasties by connecting them to a shared past. Finally, in the Hellenistic period, the traditional Babylonian Akitu festival was an occasion for Greek-speaking kings to show that they were Babylonian and for Babylonian priests to gain significant power.

Law and (dis)order in the Ancient Near East

Law and (dis)order in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Katrien de Graef
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781575068435
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"A collection of 26 essays delivered at the 2013 yearly meeting of the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale on archaeological, philological, and historical topics related to order and chaos in the Ancient Near East"--

Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE

Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE PDF Author:
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1646021517
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Book Description
The city of Ur—now modern Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq, also called Ur of the Chaldees in the Bible—was one of the most important Sumerian cities in Mesopotamia during the Early Dynastic Period in the first half of the third millennium BCE. The city is known for its impressive wealth and artistic achievements, evidenced by the richly decorated objects found in the so-called Royal Cemetery, which was excavated by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania from 1922 until 1934. Ur was also the cult center of the moon god, and during the twenty-first century BCE, it was the capital of southern Mesopotamia. With contributions from both established and rising Assyriologists from ten countries and edited by three leading scholars of Assyriology, this volume presents thirty-two essays based on papers delivered at the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale held in Philadelphia in 2016. Reflecting on the theme “Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE,” the chapters deal with archaeological, artistic, cultural, economic, historical, and textual matters connected to the ancient city of Ur. Three of the chapters are based on plenary lectures by senior scholars Richard Zettler, Jonathan Taylor, and Katrien De Graef. The remainder of the essays, arranged alphabetically by author, highlight innovative new directions for research and represent a diverse array of topics related to Ur in various periods of Mesopotamian history. Tightly focused in theme, yet broad in scope, this collection will be of interest to Assyriologists and archaeologists working on Iraq.

As Above, So Below

As Above, So Below PDF Author: Gina Konstantopoulos
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1646021533
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
This volume addresses the nexus of religion and geography in the ancient Near East through case studies of various time periods and regions. Using Sumerian, Akkadian, and Aramaic text corpora, iconography, and archaeological evidence, the contributors illuminate the diverse phenomena that occur when religion is viewed through the lenses of space and place. Gina Konstantopoulos draws upon Sumerian literature to understand mythicized and semimythicized locations. Seth Richardson and Elizabeth Knott focus on the Old Babylonian period, with Richardson addressing the interplay between law, location, and the gods, while Knott turns from text to image, relocating the reader to Syria and realizing the potential of royal iconography when situated in the “right” space. Shana Zaia moves forward to the first millennium, following the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as it shifted from city to city, with divine implications. Finally, Arnulf Hausleiter and Sebastiano Lora focus on northwest Arabia, unearthing a local pantheon and situating it among the various influences in the region from the second millennium onward. Covering a broad geographical and temporal scope while maintaining a cohesive focus on the theme, this book will appeal especially to Assyriologists, scholars of the ancient Near East, and specialists in historical geography.

Picturing Royal Charisma: Kings and Rulers in the Near East from 3000 BCE to 1700 CE

Picturing Royal Charisma: Kings and Rulers in the Near East from 3000 BCE to 1700 CE PDF Author: Arlette David
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1803271612
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
This book assesses how Middle Eastern leaders manipulated visuals to advance their rule from around 4500 BC to the 19th century AD. In nine fascinating narratives, it showcases the dynamics of long-lasting Middle Eastern traditions, dealing with the visualization of those who stood at the head of the social order.

Tradition and Transformation. Egypt under Roman Rule

Tradition and Transformation. Egypt under Roman Rule PDF Author: Katja Lembke
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004189599
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
In 30 BCE, Egypt became a province of the Roman empire. Alongside unbroken traditions—especially of the indigenous Egyptian population, but also among the Greek elite—major changes and slow processes of transformation can be observed. The multi-ethnical population was situated between new patterns of rule and traditional lifeways. This tension between change and permanence was investigated during the conference. The last decades have seen an increase in the interest in Roman Egypt with new research from different disciplines—Egyptology, Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Papyrology—providing new insights into the written and archaeological sources, especially into settlement archaeology. Well-known scholars analysed the Egyptian temples, the structure and development of the administration beside archaeological, papyrological, art-historical and cult related questions.

The Shape of Stories

The Shape of Stories PDF Author: Gina Konstantopoulos
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900453976X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
How were narratives composed in the ancient Near East? What patterns and principles, constraints and considerations guided the shaping of cuneiform stories? The study of narrative structures has emerged as a promising approach to the textual heritage of the cuneiform world. Engaging with practically any ancient text—whether literary, historical, or religious—requires some understanding of the narrative forms that shaped their content. This volume gives researchers the tools to better understand those form, illustrating each approach to narrative analysis with a case study from the cultures of the ancient Near East: Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Hittite.

Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States

Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States PDF Author: Andrew Monson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316300153
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 603

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Book Description
Inspired by the new fiscal history, this book represents the first global survey of taxation in the premodern world. What emerges is a rich variety of institutions, including experiments with sophisticated instruments such as sovereign debt and fiduciary money, challenging the notion of a typical premodern stage of fiscal development. The studies also reveal patterns and correlations across widely dispersed societies that shed light on the basic factors driving the intensification, abatement, and innovation of fiscal regimes. Twenty scholars have contributed perspectives from a wide range of fields besides history, including anthropology, economics, political science and sociology. The volume's coverage extends beyond Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East to East Asia and the Americas, thereby transcending the Eurocentric approach of most scholarship on fiscal history.

Patients and Performative Identities

Patients and Performative Identities PDF Author: J. Cale Johnson
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1646020960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
The missing piece in so many histories of Mesopotamian technical disciplines is the client, who often goes unnoticed by present-day scholars seeking to reconstruct ancient disciplines in the Near East over millennia. The contributions to this volume investigate how Mesopotamian medical specialists interacted with their patients and, in doing so, forged their social and professional identities. The chapters in this book explore rituals for success at court, the social classes who made use of such rituals, and depictions of technical specialists on seal impressions and in later Greco-Roman iconography. Several essays focus on Egalkura: rituals of entering the court, meant to invoke a favorable impression from the sovereign. These include detailed surveys and comparative studies of the genre and its roots in the emergent astrological paradigm of the late first millennium BC. The different media and modalities of interaction between technical specialists and their clients are also a central theme explored in detailed studies of the sickbed scene in the iconography of Mesopotamian cylinder seals and the transmission of specialized pharmaceutical knowledge from the Mesopotamian to the Greco-Roman world. Offering an encyclopedic survey of ritual clients attested in the cuneiform textual record, this volume outlines both the Mesopotamian and the Greco-Roman social contexts in which these rituals were used. It will be of interest to students of the history of medicine, as well as to students and scholars of ancient Mesopotamia. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Netanel Anor, Siam Bhayro, Strahil V. Panayotov, Maddalena Rumor, Marvin Schreiber, JoAnn Scurlock, and Ulrike Steinert.