Volume 97, Issue 1

CBS 11324, an Old Babylonian tablet from Nippur, contains three model court cases concerning 1) the adoption of an anbandoned child, 2) a dispute over inheritance between a man and his uncle, and 3) a dispute over inheritance between brothers. This article also discusses the links with the Old Babylonian lexical tradition, first of all Ana ittišu . The second case is decided by king Išme-Dagan of Isin, thus providing a date for the composition of this text.

To Marten Stol The Cappadocian texts do not only document the Old Assyrian dialect of Akkadian, they also contain the earliest attested words in Anatolian languages. Many of these words were collected and discussed in the now largely outdated pioneering study of Emin Bilgiç (1954). Although their importance has long been recognized, specialists of ancient Anatolian languages make only limited use of this source. The main reason for this seems to be the want of an up-to-date study in which the available material is made accessible. This article is intended as a contribution to the study of loanwords in Old Assyrian. Not every word of Anatolian origin could be dealt with, and the discussion will be based on a small but representative set of known and new examples.

Der größte Teil der von B. Kienast, Die altbabylonischen Briefe und Urkunden aus Kisurra (FAOS 2), publizierten Tontafeln gehörte wohl zu einem Archiv der lokalen Palastverwaltung von Kisurra. Durch die Auswertung der Dokumente wird das politische Verhältnis des Stadtstaates Kisurra zum Königreich Larsa deutlich. Dabei zeigt sich, dass administrative und wirtschaftliche Verwaltungsmuster der altbabylonischen Zeit wie Palastgeschäfte schon in den lokalen Dynastien sichtbar waren und nicht zwangsläufig mit der Ausdehnung der Dynastien von Larsa und Babylon zu verbinden sind.

Die im folgenden publizierte Tafel A 3513 enthält einen neubabylonischen Katalog mit Stichzeilen von Bala-Tafeln. Ungefähr die Hälfte der Stichzeilen konnte identifiziert werden. Sie gehören hauptsächlich zu den Balas a m - e  b á r a  a n - n a - r a  und  é  t ù r g i n 7   n i i n - n a - à m . Mit Hilfe des Kataloges konnten einige Tafeln mit den gleichen Stichzeilen identifiziert werden. Folglich leistet dieser Katalog einen Beitrag zur Diskussion über die Serialisierung der kalûtu -Literatur.

Although many rulers and monarchs in the Ancient Near East lay claim to various kinds of wisdom, relatively few claim literacy, and of these Shulgi and Ashurbanipal were by far the most vociferous. While it may never be possible to actually test the veracity of Shulgi's assertions, the purpose of this article is to present and discuss for the first time some evidence that has direct bearing on the question of Ashurbanipal's literacy. Serious commentary on this issue commenced almost twenty-five years ago with some observations by S. Parpola, who wrote that the literacy claims “can well have more truth in them than a critical modern reader would a priori be inclined to think”. More recently S. J. Lieberman returned to the matter and pointed out the proliferation of phrases in colophons of tablets in the king's libraries that insist that the tablets were for his own use, such as ana tāmarti šitassīya , “for my review in reading”, ana tāmarti šarrūtīya , “for my royal review”, ana tasisti tāmartīšu , “for study in his reviewing”, ana tasisti šitassīšu , “for study in his reading”, and ana tamrirtīya , “for my examining”. Lieberman considered that this and other evidence demonstrated clearly that the king was making intelligent use of individual tablets that were “gathered in his palace for his own (Lieberman's italics) study”. The matter was returned to by Beate Pongratz-Leisten in her study entitled “Herrschaftswissen in Mesopotamien”. In the context of a broadly based study of Mesopotamian royal Selbstbehauptung she takes a sceptical view of the possibility of royal literacy at the Neo-Assyrian court, dismissing the well known letter in which Balasî, one of the most prominent scholars attached to Esarhaddon's court thanks the king for having appointed him as Ashurbanipal's tutor as simply belonging to a phase when Ashurbanipal was to have been trained as a priest before it became clear that he would become crown prince. This view does not accord with commonly accepted dates for the relevant parts of the royal correspondence discussed below. Pongratz-Leisten regards the literacy claims and the very formation of the royal libraries in Nineveh as belonging to a “Wissensverwaltung” which should be seen “als eigener Komplex neben Bürokratie und politischer Verwaltung […], der unabhängig von einer angenommenen zunehmenden Kenntnis der Schrift existierte”. Most recently Jeanette Fincke has had the opportunity of giving consideration to the Ashurbanipal literacy question in her report on the British Museum's Ashurbanipal Library Project. Under the subheading ‘Ashurbanipal's interest in the scribal art’ she emphasises the king's concern with that art, including an actual preoccupation with old tablets as claimed in his inscriptions and she cautiously allows the possibility that he could read cuneiform tablets, albeit perhaps not with the much flaunted expertise. She refers to simple writings and explanations in some scholarly letters, suggesting that this was to make them easier for the king to understand. These writings, and especially the glosses in the correspondence of the astrologer Nabû-aē-erība, are part of the subject matter of a discussion by P. Villard of Ashurbanipal's education. The purpose of the present contribution is to bring the debate on the literacy question further by presenting and discussing some new evidence.

Assurbanipal war der einzige assyrische König, der sich mit einem Schreibgriffel darstellen ließ. Auf allen Reliefs, die den König in gegürteter Tunica nach rechts gerichtet zeigen, sieht man, schräg unter den Gürtel gesteckt, einen schlanken Gegenstand, dessen Länge etwas kürzer als die doppelte Gürtelbreite ist (Abb. 1. 2). Diese Ansicht des Geräts zeigt zwei senkrechte Wülste, die eine mittlere Rille begleiten. Die früheste bekannte Darstellung eines solchen Gebildes befindet sich auf einem Kudurru des 12. Jahrhunderts (Abb. 3 b). Dort ist Nabû durch ein Triptychon zusammen mit dieser Art von Schreibgriffel symbolisiert, während das Symbol desselben Gottes auf einem gleichzeitigen Kudurru eine Tontafel mit dem üblichen keilförmigen Griffel ist (Abb. 3 a).

In my continued editing of the remaining fragments from the post-war excavations for the series Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi, I have been able to find a further series of joins and duplicates. The present group will be of particular interest to many Hittitologists, as they are all historical fragments, drawings of most of which will appear shortly in KBo 50, Texte historischen Inhalts. All fragments for which a findspot is known originate in the Temple I complex. Nos. 13–14 and 16–18 are joins with fragments whose original provenience was previously unknown. Three of the joins, Nos. 14, 15 and 20, constitute MH texts.

During my recent work on Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi 50, 53 and 57, I was able to find a further series of joins and duplicates. Nos. 21–22, 24–26, 28 and 30 I was able to collate, join (when applicable) and photograph in Ankara in the summers of 2005 and 2006. All of the tablets in question come from Temple I, except for No. 27, the provenience of which is unknown, and No. 29, which comes from Büyükkale, Building E. All fragments show a New Hittite script.

E dzard , D ietz O tto : Sumerian Grammar. (Handbook of Oriental Studies = Handbuch der Orientalistik, Section one: The Near and Middle East, vol. 71). Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2003. xviii, 191 S. 17 x 25 cm. ISBN 90-04-12608-2. Price: € 95.00. ( Bram Jagersma ) Veenhof, K. R.: Letters in the Louvre. (Altbabylonische Briefe in Umschrift und Übersetzung 14). Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2005. XXXIX, 232 S. 24,5 x 16 cm. ISBN 90-04-15081-1. Preis: € 73,00. ( Michael P. Streck ) The Assyrian Dictionary of the University of Chicago Vol. 12: P. Martha T. Roth, editor-in-charge, with the assistance of Richard I. Caplice, Dietz Otto Edzard†, Remigius Jas, and A. Leo Oppenheim†. Manuscript Editor: Linda McLarnan. Chicago, Ill.: Oriental Institute, 2005. xxx, 559 S. 21 x 28,5 cm. ISBN 1-885-923-35-X. $ 130,00. ( Michael P. Streck ) W eisberg , D avid B.: Neo-Babylonian Texts in the Oriental Institute Collection. (Oriental Institute Publications 122). Chicago/Ill.: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2003. xxxvi, 262 S., 72 Taf. 23 x 30,5 cm. ISBN 1-885923-28-7. Preis: $ 100,00. ( Michael P. Streck ) K ühne , H artmut : Magdalu/Magdala. Tall Šē Hamad von der postassyrischen Zeit bis zur römischen Zeit. Mit Beiträgen von Reinhard Bernbeck, Susan Downey, Hartmut Kühne, Andreas Luther, Mirko Novák, Andreas Oettel, Peter Pfälzner, Wolfgang Röllig, Christiane Römer-Strehl. (Berichte der Ausgrabung Tall Šē Ḥamad/Dūr-Katlimmu [BATSH] 2:1 Text und 2:2 Abbildungen und Beilagen). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 2005. 393 S., 26 Farb- und 800 Schwarzweißabb. auf insgesamt 102 S., 4 Beil. 24,6 x 35 cm. ISBN 3-496-02504-2. Preis: € 189,00. ( Andreas Schmidt-Colinet )