Books by Piotr Michalowski
"Ancient Poetics." Pp. 141-53 in M. E. Vogelzang and H. L. J. Vanstiphout, eds., Mesopotamian Poetic Language: Sumerian and Akkadian. Groningen: Styx, 1996, 1996
Conference papers do not always successfully survive conversion to print. The present short essay... more Conference papers do not always successfully survive conversion to print. The present short essay was intended as a continuation of the issues raised in my paper from our previous meeting. While the fonner was directed towards a specific topic-orality and epics-the present one contains some general thoughts about Sumerian poetics. It is neither exhaustive nor is it fully documented; unwittingly it became the preview of the one I intend to read at our next gathering, on genre. Much of what I read at the conference has been deleted; I raised various problems to elicit discussion, and there would be little purpose in repeating some of my arguments and polemics here. Our topic here is the language of poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia, and I have been asked to make some general theoretical remarks. Rather than deal with the precise details of this or that poetic system, I would like to recall some of the general issues at stake, and to set out some of the special problems that arise when one studies the verbal art of these long lost civilisations.
Language Isolates, ed. Lyle Campbell, pp. 19-58, 2018
Pp. 451-476 in Stories told around the fountain: Papers offered to Piotr Bieliński on His 70th Birthday, ed. A. Pieńkowska, D. Szeląg & I. Zych, 2019
This article discusses certain aspects of early Mesopotamian musical
practices, focusing on a sm... more This article discusses certain aspects of early Mesopotamian musical
practices, focusing on a small set of native terms for instruments
and performers. Assuming, in anthropological terms, that musical
instruments, like other culturally important objects, can be classified
in multiple contextually different ways, it is argued that certain
Sumerian words could in some contexts signify specific instruments
or types of musicians, while in other usage could stand for a class of
instruments, for song types, or in the case of balagˆ, for all musical
instruments. More specifically, the terms adab and tigi are subjected
to analysis, resulting in the proposal that in 3rd and 2nd millennium
texts these designated only song types and not, as is often asserted,
physical musical instruments.
Papers by Piotr Michalowski
Science, 1994
This component by itself suggests small groups (or individuals) spinning farther and farther away... more This component by itself suggests small groups (or individuals) spinning farther and farther away from each other, whereas we do, through it all, see a great deal of continuity in Balinese life. How does this happen? The question is an old one-with it Talcott Parsons began his ...
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 2001
Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 2016
This article provides a preliminary edition of a hitherto unpublished Akkadian-language literary ... more This article provides a preliminary edition of a hitherto unpublished Akkadian-language literary text that narrates historical events from the reign of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Discovered in Nippur towards the end of the nineteenth century, the multicolumn tablet N 1498+ was probably copied during the Middle Babylonian period, but the text may have been composed centuries earlier during the reign of either Hammurabi or Samsu-iluna. It is possible that the text described many incidents, but the sole preserved column on the reverse is concerned with pivotal events in the last years of Hammurabi's reign: his seizure of Mari and his takeover of Ešnunna, possibly by means of, or as the result of the flooding of that city. The tablet narrates events in an order that is different from what is known from other historical sources, and it contains what is so far the only Babylonian reference to King Zimri-Lim of Mari, Hammurabi's one-time ally, rival, and antagonist.
Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 1990
American Anthropologist, 1993
ABSTRACT Before Writing, Volume 1: From Counting to Cuneiform. Denise Schmandt-Besserat. Austin: ... more ABSTRACT Before Writing, Volume 1: From Counting to Cuneiform. Denise Schmandt-Besserat. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992. 288 pp.Before Writing, Volume 2: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens. Denise Schmandt-Besserat. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992. 452 pp.
Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale, 2013
Exploring Written Artefacts
Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 1986
In his Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, published in 1961, H. Figulla i... more In his Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, published in 1961, H. Figulla included a short note about the Old Babylonian archival text BM 14049. Although available only in this abbreviated form, this seemingly simple loan text, written in the standard form of ...
The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East Volume I: From the Beginnings to Old Kingdom Egypt and the Dynasty of Akkad Edited by Karen Radner, Nadine Moeller, and D. T. Potts, 2020
Publisher does not permit distribution of paper.
Pp. 669-692 in G. Chambon, M. Guichard & A.-I. Langlois (eds), De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin, ISBN 978-90-429-3872-4., 2019
Historical Consciousness and the Ue of the Past in the Ancient Worldm, ed John Baines et al., pp. 15-38
The long arc of Mesopotamian history provides many examples of texts that not only narrate histor... more The long arc of Mesopotamian history provides many examples of texts that not only narrate history, but also create it. One group of such texts conventionally designated as King Lists, is often invoked in discussions of both history and historiography. Even though on first glance they appear to be homogeneous and structurally artless, this simplicity disguises a complexity and heterogeneity that can be subjected to different kinds of analyses. This seeming simplicity was particularly suited for the mediation of certain paradoxes, such as the tension between the celebration of native as well as stranger kings, and the conflicting claims of genealogy. Although it could be argued that the Mesopotamian Kings Lists have been overinterpreted, I wish to demonstrate that there is still room for new readings of these
compositions.
Revue d'Assyriologie 7 , 2013
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Books by Piotr Michalowski
practices, focusing on a small set of native terms for instruments
and performers. Assuming, in anthropological terms, that musical
instruments, like other culturally important objects, can be classified
in multiple contextually different ways, it is argued that certain
Sumerian words could in some contexts signify specific instruments
or types of musicians, while in other usage could stand for a class of
instruments, for song types, or in the case of balagˆ, for all musical
instruments. More specifically, the terms adab and tigi are subjected
to analysis, resulting in the proposal that in 3rd and 2nd millennium
texts these designated only song types and not, as is often asserted,
physical musical instruments.
Papers by Piotr Michalowski
compositions.
practices, focusing on a small set of native terms for instruments
and performers. Assuming, in anthropological terms, that musical
instruments, like other culturally important objects, can be classified
in multiple contextually different ways, it is argued that certain
Sumerian words could in some contexts signify specific instruments
or types of musicians, while in other usage could stand for a class of
instruments, for song types, or in the case of balagˆ, for all musical
instruments. More specifically, the terms adab and tigi are subjected
to analysis, resulting in the proposal that in 3rd and 2nd millennium
texts these designated only song types and not, as is often asserted,
physical musical instruments.
compositions.