The Royal Inscriptions of Nabopolassar (625-605 Bc) and Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 Bc), Kings of Babylon, Part 1


Book Description

"Presents the text and English translation of seventy-one inscriptions of the Babylonian kings Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II with historical and technical commentary, as well as a catalog of all exemplars and a comprehensive bibliography"--




The Royal Inscriptions of Amēl-Marduk (561–560 BC), Neriglissar (559–556 BC), and Nabonidus (555–539 BC), Kings of Babylon


Book Description

Amēl-Marduk (561–560 BC), Neriglissar (559–556 BC), and Nabonidus (555–539 BC) were the last native kings of Babylon. In this modern scholarly edition of the complete extant corpus of royal inscriptions from each of their reigns, Frauke Weiershäuser and Jamie Novotny provide updated and reliable editions of the texts. The kings of the Neo-Babylonian Empire left hundreds of official inscriptions on objects such as clay cylinders, bricks, paving stones, vases, and stelae. These writings, ranging from lengthy narratives enumerating the deeds of a monarch to labels identifying a ruler as the builder of a given structure, supplement and inform our understanding of the empire. Beginning with a historical introduction to the reigns of these three kings and the corpus of inscriptions, Weiershäuser and Novotny then present each text with an introduction, a photograph of the inscribed object, the Akkadian text in a newly collated transliteration, an English translation, catalogue data, commentary, and an updated bibliography. Additionally, Weiershäuser and Novotny provide new translations of several related Akkadian texts and chronicles. Featuring meticulous yet readable transliterations and translations that have been carefully collated with the originals, this book will be the standard edition for scholars and students of Assyriology, the Neo-Babylonian dialect, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for decades to come.




Akkadian Royal Letters in Later Mesopotamian Tradition


Book Description

Akkadian Royal Letters in Later Mespotamian Tradition reconsiders the question of the authenticity of the letters attributed to earlier royal correspondents that were studied in Assyrian and Babylonian scribal centres ca. 700–100 BCE. By scrutinizing the letters’ contents, language, possible transmission histories ca. 1400–100 BCE and the epistemic limitations of authenticity criticism, the book grounds scepticism about the letters’ authenticity in previously undiscussed features of the texts. It also provides a new foundation for research into the related questions of when and why these beguiling texts were composed in the first place.




The City of Babylon


Book Description

The 2000-year story of Babylon sees it moving from a city-state to the centre of a great empire of the ancient world. It remained a centre of kingship under the empires of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids and the Parthians. Its city walls were declared to be a Wonder of the World while its ziggurat won fame as the Tower of Babel. Visitors to Berlin can admire its Ishtar Gate, and the supposed location of its elusive Hanging Garden is explained. Worship of its patron god Marduk spread widely while its well-trained scholars communicated legal, administrative and literary works throughout the ancient world, some of which provide a backdrop to Old Testament and Hittite texts. Its science also laid the foundations for Greek and Arab astronomy through a millennium of continuous astronomical observations. This accessible and up-to-date account is by one of the world's leading authorities.




The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture


Book Description

The cuneiform script, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia, was witness to one of the world's oldest literate cultures. For over three millennia, it was the vehicle of communication from (at its greatest extent) Iran to the Mediterranean, Anatolia to Egypt. The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture examines the Ancient Middle East through the lens of cuneiform writing. The contributors, a mix of scholars from across the disciplines, explore, define, and to some extent look beyond the boundaries of the written word, using Mesopotamia's clay tablets and stone inscriptions not just as 'texts' but also as material artefacts that offer much additional information about their creators, readers, users and owners.




Cyrus the Great


Book Description

Cyrus the Great re-contextualizes Cyrus's epoch in light of recent scholarship. Themes include: Mesopotamian antecedents of his religious policy, the idiosyncratic genesis of Persian imperial art; Babylonian exile and the Bible; Hellenistic and Arsacid genealogical constructs; and his enigmatic evanescence in Sasanian and Muslim traditions.










Judeans in Babylonia


Book Description

In Judeans in Babylonia, Tero Alstola presents a comprehensive investigation of deportees in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. By using cuneiform documents as his sources, he offers the first book-length social historical study of the Babylonian Exile, commonly regarded as a pivotal period in the development of Judaism. The results are considered in the light of the wider Babylonian society and contrasted against a comparison group of Neirabian deportees. Studying texts from the cities and countryside and tracking developments over time, Alstola shows that there was notable diversity in the Judeans’ socio-economic status and integration into Babylonian society.