Book Description

The present volume brings together articles concerned with diverse aspects of the Early Mesopotamian documentation - i.e. texts dating to the Archaic, Early Dynastic (ED I-II, IIIa, IIIb), Sargonic, and Gutian periods, and extending geographically to include Ebla and its royal archives. Early Mesopotamia has recently attracted the attention of Assyriologists thanks to the enormous amount of new epigraphic material - mostly clay tablets - which appeared in the last decades. As a result of the sudden publication of thousands of texts, the Archaic, Early Dynastic, Sargonic, and post-Sargonic periods have assumed new relevance in the general landscape of research on third millennium Mesopotamia, which was until recently dominated by the Neo-Sumerian studies. Among others J. N. Postgate re-investigates the Dynamic Mode of Gudea's Sumerian; N. Rudik continues her studies on Early Dynastic incantations from the Schen collection; G. Benati & C. Lecompte take into consideration the political institutions in Early Dynastic Ur and X. Wang those of the city of Uruk. The volume is supplemented by extensive indices.