Volume 93, Issue 2

The S i.a -a archive is recognized as one of the chief sources of information about non-institutional activity from the Ur III period. This article presents 14 unpublished S i.a -a texts from the Yale Babylonian Collection, along with an overview of his activities. The study of this important archive provides knowledge about the society and economy of southern Mesopotamia at the end of the Third Millennium BC that complements the information available from the vast administrative archives of the era. In spite of the apparent centralization of the state in this era, the S i.a -a archive highlights the continued importance of local and familial organizations. Moreover, the texts demonstrate the reliance of the great households upon the activity of individual entrepreneurs.

A dossier of two Old Babylonian litigation records is explained as a creditor's attempts to claim penal damages arising from breach of a contract to supply goods and his two debtors' manœuvres to avoid immediate payment. The interpretation also reaffirms the interpretation of the disputed term mitḫārum as an additional equal amount.

While collating A 16941, a Kuyunjik fragment in the tablet collection of the Oriental Institute, Chicago, I took the opportunity to also have a closer look at the ritual to which this fragment belongs, commonly known as TuL 27, after its first edition by E. Ebeling. Realizing that a few of my new readings might help to better understand the ritual setting for refurbishing a cult statue, I herewith dedicate these to the memory of a friend who always had a keen interest in matters philological and their relationship to our reconstructions of material culture.

Das Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi in Ankara besitzt neben den Keilschrifttafeln, die in den Ausgrabungen in Boğazköy-Ḫattuša zu Tage getreten sind, eine Sammlung von Tafeln, die – zumindest überwiegend – ebenfalls von dort stammen, aber durch Ablieferung von Oberflächenfunden, durch Konfiskation oder Ankauf in den Besitz des Museums gelangt sind. Einen großen Teil dieses Materials hat K. Balkan bereits 1948 ediert. An dieser Stelle soll an jene Edition angeknüpft und die Edition solcher Texte fortgeführt werden.

Many depictions and representations of the Mesopotamian goddess Nanaja are attested from about the second Century BC until the second Century AD. During this time the cult of Nanaja, equated by the Greeks with Artemis, reached its climax, being attested from Greece and Egypt to far-away Bactria. Her iconographic characteristica are those of a moon-goddess. In cuneiform texts Nanaja is regarded as daughter of the moon-god Sîn, but there are no indications that she was a moon-goddess herseif; so this trait of Nanaja seems to be the result of a late development.

A damthwaite , M urray R.: Late Hittite Emar. The Chronology, Synchronisms, and Socio-Political Aspects of a Late Bronze Age Fortress Town (Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement 8). Louvain: Peeters, 2001. XXIII, 293 S. 21 × 30 cm. ISBN 90-429-0909-9. Preis: € 70,00. ( Walther Sallaberger ) K och -W estenholz , U lla : Babylonian Liver Omens. The Chapters Manzāzu, Padānu and Pān tākalti of the Babylonian Extispicy Series mainly from Aššurbanipal's Library. (Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 25). Kopenhagen: Museum Tusculaneum Press, 2000. 543 S. und 49 Tafeln. ISBN 87-7289-620-5. Preis: Dkr. 700, $ 100. ( Walther Sallaberger )

K och -W estenholz , U lla : Babylonian Liver Omens. The Chapters Manzāzu, Padānu and Pān tākalti of the Babylonian Extispicy Series mainly from Aššurbanipal's Library. (Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 25). Kopenhagen: Museum Tusculaneum Press, 2000. 543 S. und 49 Tafeln. ISBN 87-7289-620-5. Preis: Dkr. 700, $ 100. ( Nils P. Heessel )

S chwemer , D aniel : Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen. Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001. 1024 Seiten, 9 Abb. 17 × 24cm. ISBN 3-447-04456-X. Preis: € 99,00. ( Daniel E. Fleming )

J uan A ntonio B elmonte M arín : Die Orts- und Gewässernamen der Texte aus Syrien im 2. Jt. v.Chr. (Répertoire Géographique des Textes Cunéiformes 12/2). Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2001. cvi, 430S. 17 × 24cm. ISBN 3-89500-266-6. Preis: € 59.00. ( Ignacio Márquez Rowe )

P entiuc , E ugen J.: West Semitic Vocabulary in the Akkadian Texts from Emar. (Harvard Semitic Studies 49). Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2001. xvii, 278S. 23,5 × 15,5cm. ISBN: 1-57506-910-5. Preis: $ 36.95. ( Michael P. Streck )

M ettinger , T ryggve N. D.: The Riddle of Resurrection: „Dying and Rising Gods“ in the Ancient Near East. (Coniectanea Biblica Old Testament Series 50). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2001. 275pp. ISBN 91-22-01945-6. Preis: SEK 238.00 (netto). ( Eckart Frahm )

C ohen , Y oram : Taboos and Prohibitions in Hittite Society. A Study of the Hittite Expression natta āra (‚not permitted‘)- (Texte der Hethiter 24). Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2002. XV, 198 S. ISBN 3-8253-1309-3. Preis: € 49,-. ( Albertine Hagenbuchner-Dresel )

Y ener , K. A slihan /H offner , H arry A., J r . (Hg.): Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History. Papers in Memory of Hans G. Güterbock. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002. 212 S. 17×25,5 cm. ISBN 1-57506-053-1. Preis: $ 37,50. ( Daniel Schwemer )

E. R ova (Hrsg.), Patavina Orientalia Selecta. (History of the Ancient Near East/Monographs 4). Padova: Sargon s.r.l., 2000. xvii, 290S. 21 × 30cm. Keine ISBN. Preis: € 61,97. ( Arnulf Hausleiter )

B ossert , E va -M aria : Die Keramik phrygischer Zeit von Boğazköy: Funde aus den Grabungskampagnen 1906, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1931–1939 und 1952–1960 (Boğazköy-Hattuša 18). Deutsches Archäologisches Institut; Mainz am Rhein: von Zabern, 2000. 186 S.: zahlr. Ill. + 5 Kt. ISBN 3-8053-2561-4. Preis: € 92,50. ( Stephan Kroll )

H irsch , H ans : Gilgamesch-Epos und Erra-Lied. Zu einem Aspekt des Verbalsystems. (Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft 29). Wien: 2002. iv, 257 S. 22 × 30cm. ISBN: 3-900345-09-0. Preis: € 62,00. ( M. P. Streck ) C orral , M artin A lonso : Ezekiel's Oracles against Tyre. Historical Reality and Motivations. (Biblica et Orientalia 46). Roma: Ed. Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 2002. xiv, 249 S. Preis: € 16.00. ( D. Schwemer )

C harvat , P etr : Mesopotamia Before History. London & New York: Routledge, 2002. xvi, 281 S. : Ill. 18×25cm. ISBN 0-415-25104-4. Preis: £ 60.00. F ansa , M amoun /G aube , H einz /W indelberg , J ens (Hg.): Damaskus – Aleppo. 5000 Jahre Stadtentwicklung in Syrien. (Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwest-deutschland, Beiheft 28). Mainz: Zabern, 2000. 535 S. : zahlr. Ill. 22,5 × 29,5 cm. ISBN 3-8053-2694-7. Preis:€ 25.50. L eick , G wendolyn : The Babylonians. An Introduction. London/New York: Routledge, 2003. 182 S. : Ill. 14 × 21 cm. ISBN 0-415-25315-2 (pbk). Preis: £ 12.99 M ankowski , P aul V., S. J.: Akkadian loanwords in Biblical Hebrew. (Harvard Semitic studies 47). Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2000. xviii, 232 S. 15,5 × 23,5 cm. ISBN 1-57506-900-8. Preis: $ 29.95. M uffs , Y ochanan : Studies in the Aramaic legal papyri from Elephantine. With prolegomenon by Baruch A. Levine. (Handbook of Oriental Studies: Sect. 1, The Near and Middle East, vol. 66). Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2002. xlv, 311 S.16 × 24,5 cm. ISBN Preis: € 69.00. N issinen , M artti (Hg.): Prophecy in its ancient Near Eastern context. Mesopotamian, Biblical, and Arabian perspectives. (Society of Biblical Literature, Symposium series 13). Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000. xii, 161 S. 15 × 23 cm. ISBN 0-88414-026-1. Preis: $ 29.95. R eade , J ulian : Mesopotamia. London: British Museum, 2nd ed. 2000. 96 S. :zahlr. Ill. 19 × 24,5 cm. ISBN 0-7141-2181-9. Preis: £ 8.99. S inn , U lrich : Einführung in die Klassische Archäologie. (C. H. Beck Studium). München: Beck, 2000. 239 S. : Ill. 14×22 cm. ISBN 3-406-;45401-1. Preis:€ 19,90. Windows into Old Testament history. Evidence, Argument, and the Crisis of „Biblical Israel“. Hrsg. von V. P. Long, D. W. Baker, G. J. Wenham. Grand Rapids, Mi./Cambridge U.K.: Eerdmans, 2002. viii, 204 S.16 × 23 cm. ISBN 0-9028-3926-2 (pbk). Preis:$ 22.00