Volume 111, Issue 1

Five micro-studies on Isin’s Old Babylonian kings and Isin history are presented together with an updated list of Isin year names.

This paper presents a first edition of the Middle Babylonian letter BM 108890. The unknown author complains bitterly about the inhospitable treatment he has received. Reflective of the author’s mood is the lack of introduction and formal greeting. Since a direct reference is made to Nippur, it is likely that this tablet originates from central Babylonia.

This article identifies the tradition of Babylonian Kalendertexte as the ultimate source for a passage in Pliny the Elder’s HN 30.95–97, thus establishing a link between Babylonian and Graeco-Roman astral medicine. Implications include the identification of the astrological square aspect (perhaps called é , bītu , “house”) in Babylonia, a connection with Hermeticism and the Greek medical theory of Critical Days, and the textual demonstration that Dreckapotheke -names did indeed refer to healing plants, in such a context.

This Neo-Assyrian conveyance document found near Hasankeyf records the sale of fields and orchards on the mountain of the city of Ilḫina. The tablet was drawn up in the province of the chief cupbearer. Unusually, the document does not have an eponym date, but is instead dated with the phrase “9 th year of the chief cupbearer Lâbaši”. The tablet may belong to the final stage of the Neo-Assyrian period.

This article revisits the question of whether the sanctuary named é ud.1.kam and the New Year Festival house ( bīt akīti ) are one and the same or whether they are separate entities. It presents new evidence that suggests reading the logographic name as bīt ūmakkal , and argues that the latter refers to a sanctuary which was situated in the juniper garden surrounding Marduk’s temple Esangila. In addition, it calls into question P. J. Kosmin’s assumption that the é ud.1.kam may have been founded or repurposed to commemorate in cult the “idealized” Seleucid Era epoch. Zitate und Abkürzungen folgen den Abkürzungsverzeichnissen in Archiv für Orientforschung 48/49 (2001/2002) 311–505. Ferner ist zu beachten: AD = Text publiziert in A. J. Sachs/H. Hunger, Astronomical diaries and related texts from Babylonia I–VII (Wien 1988 fortlaufend); Fs. van der Spek + Seite + Nummer = Text publiziert von Hackl (2016); OLA 136 + Taf. + Nummer = Text publiziert von Boiy (2004); RINBE 2 + Nummer = Text ediert von Weiershäuser/Novotny (2020). Umrechnungen nach dem Julianischen Kalender folgen Parker/Dubberstein ( 3 1956). Ich danke J. Oelsner, T. Oshima, R. Pirngruber, R. J. van der Spek, M. P. Streck und S. Tost für Hinweise und/oder das Lesen des Manuskripts. Ferner bedanke ich mich bei den Gutachtern für ihre wertvollen Hinweise und Anregungen.

The present article discusses the question of the standardization of Middle Assyrian material culture using the example of faience. Assemblages of faience objects, discovered at numerous Middle Assyrian sites, form the basis of this study. Special attention is given to a group of objects recently unearthed at Bassetki, ancient Mardama, and presented here for the first time.