Assyrian and Babylonian archives and libraries

Auroral records found in historical archives and cosmogenic isotopes found in natural archives have served as sound proxies of coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particles (SEPs), respectively, for dates prior to the onset of telescopic sunspot observations in 1610. These space weather events constitute a significant threat to a modern civilization, because of its increasing dependency on an electronic infrastructure. Recent studies have identified multiple extreme space weather events derived from SEPs in natural archives, such as the event in 660 BCE. While the level of solar activity around 660 BCE is of great interest, this had not been within the coverage of the hitherto-known datable auroral records in historical documents that extend back to the 6th century BCE. Therefore, we have examined Assyrian astrological reports in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, identified three observational reports of candidate aurorae, and dated these reports to approximately 680 BCE-650 BCE. The Assyrian cuneiform tablets let us extend the history of auroral records and solar activity by a century. These cuneiform reports are considered to be the earliest datable records of candidate aurorae and they support the concept of enhanced solar activity suggested by the cosmogenic isotopes from natural archives.

Arktos is the first book ever written on the archetype of the Poles: celestial and terrestrial, North and South. It is a hair-raising voyage through cosmology, occultism and conspiracy theory leads to startling revelations about the secrets of the Poles. The author investigates legends of a Golden Age, which some claim ended in a prehistoric catastrophe, a shift in the earth's axis. This is examined in the light of the latest geological theories, as are predictions of a coming pole-shift. The perennial fascination of these ideas is shown to be part of a "polar tradition" of hidden wisdom. There are many recorded tales of an ancient race said to have lived in the Arctic regions, which later spread through the Northern Hemisphere. This supposedly "Aryan Race" entered the pantheon of Nazi Germany, with dreadful consequences. The author examines the origins of modern neo-Nazi ideology, its "polar" inspiration, and its links with other arcana, including the survival of Hitler, German bases in Antarctica, UFOS, the Hollow Earth, and the hidden kingdoms of Agartha and Shambhala. However, "Arktos" differs from most writings on these subjects in its responsible and scholarly treatment, and its extensive use of foreign-language sources."--Provided by publisher.
"Arktos is the first book ever written on the archetype of the Poles: celestial and terrestrial, North and South. It is a hair-raising voyage through cosmology, occultism and conspiracy theory leads to startling revelations about the secrets of the Poles. The author investigates legends of a Golden Age, which some claim ended in a prehistoric catastrophe, a shift in the earth's axis. This is examined in the light of the latest geological theories, as are predictions of a coming pole-shift. The perennial fascination of these ideas is shown to be part of a "polar tradition" of hidden wisdom. There are many recorded tales of an ancient race said to have lived in the Arctic regions, which later spread through the Northern Hemisphere. This supposedly "Aryan Race" entered the pantheon of Nazi Germany, with dreadful consequences. The author examines the origins of modern neo-Nazi ideology, its "polar" inspiration, and its links with other arcana, including the survival of Hitler, German bases in Antarctica, UFOS, the Hollow Earth, and the hidden kingdoms of Agartha and Shambhala. However, "Arktos" differs from most writings on these subjects in its responsible and scholarly treatment, and its extensive use of foreign-language sources."--Provided by publisher.
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Well, this was a disappointment. I'd been led to expect a scholarly overview of "polar mythology", but it turns out Godwin is a credulous esotericist himself. For example, noting that Blavatsky's and ... Read full review

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Selected pages
Page 44
Page 44Title Page
Title PageTable of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface
7
The Golden Age
13
The Imperishable Sacred Land
19
The Arctic Homeland
27
The Aryan Myth
37
The Thule Society
47
The Black Order
63
Agartha and the Polaires
79
The Symbolic Pole
141
Polar and Solar Traditions
155
The Spiritual Pole
167
The Catastrophists
181
The Uniformitarians
193
Composite Theories
205
Polar Wandering
215
The Restoration
223

Shambhala
95
The Hole at the Pole
105
Antarctica
125
Endnotes
229
Sources of Illustrations
251
Copyright

Other editions - View all

1993
Snippet view
Common terms and phrases
according Adolf Hitler Agartha America ancient appears Arctic Aryan Asia Atlantis axis become beginning believed Black Blavatsky Blavatsky 1888 body called cause Central century Chapter circle civilization CODE comes continent course cycle direction early earth ecliptic energy evidence existence explains explorers four German Golden Guénon heaven human idea ILLUSTRATED imagine India islands known land later light living lost maps masters mountain move movement mysterious myth natural Nazi North northern Ocean once original PAGES PAPERBACK past period polar Pole position present published race regions Roerich Saint-Yves says secret seems Serrano seven Shambhala shift shows Society sources South spheres spiritual stars story swastika symbol takes theory tradition turn underground universal White whole writes zodiac
Popular passages
Page 130 - And now we rushed into the embraces of the cataract, where a chasm threw itself open to receive us. But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow.‎
Appears in 252 books from 1856-2007
Page 48 - I concur in opinion with those who deem the Germans never to have intermarried with other nations; but to be a race, pure, unmixed, and stamped with a distinct character. Hence a family likeness pervades the whole, though their numbers are so great : eyes stern and blue ; ruddy hair ; large bodies, powerful in sudden exertions, but impatient of toil and labor, least of all capable of sustaining thirst and heat.‎
Appears in 31 books from 1815-2007
Page 109 - I declare the earth is hollow and habitable within; containing a number of solid concentric spheres, one within the other, and that it is open at the poles twelve or sixteen degrees. I pledge my life in support of this truth, and am ready to explore the hollow, if the world will support and aid me in the undertaking.‎
Appears in 44 books from 1817-2004
Page 17 - ... gods, their hearts free from all sorrow, by themselves, and without hard work or pain; no miserable old age came their way; their hands, their feet, did not alter. They took their pleasure in festivals, and lived without troubles. When they died, it was as if they fell asleep. All goods were theirs. The fruitful grainland yielded its harvest to them of its own accord...‎
Appears in 26 books from 1959-2008
Page 98 - Shamballah, in the Gobi Desert), while some of their accursed races, separating from the main stock, now lived in the jungles and underground ("cave-men"), when the golden yellow race (the Fourth) became in its turn "black with sin.‎
Appears in 14 books from 1879-2003
Page 41 - I told you before that the highest people now on earth (spiritually) belong to the first sub-race of the fifth root race, and those are the Aryan Asiatics ; the highest race (physical intellectuality) is the last sub-race of the fifth, — yourselves, the white conquerors.‎
Appears in 16 books from 1884-2008
Page 110 - I ask one hundred brave companions, well equipped, to start from Siberia, in the fall season, with reindeer and sleighs, on the ice of the frozen sea. I engage we find a warm and rich land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and animals, if not men, on reaching one degree northward of latitude 82°. We will return in the succeeding spring.‎
Appears in 42 books from 1822-2007
Page 42 - The majority of mankind belongs to the seventh sub-race of the fourth root race — the above-mentioned Chinamen and their offshoots and branchlets (Malayans, Mongolians, Tibetans, Javanese, &c., &c.) — with remnants of other sub-races of the fourth and the seventh sub-race of the third race. All these fallen, degraded semblances of humanity are the direct lineal descendants of highly civilized nations, neither the names nor memory of which have survived, except in such books as 'Populvuh', the...‎
Appears in 11 books from 1884-2008
Page 17 - Shepherd there were no poli2723 tical constitutions and no taking of wives and begetting of children. For all men rose up anew into life out of the earth, having no memory of the former things. Instead they had fruits without stint from trees and bushes; these needed no cultivation but sprang up of themselves out of the ground without man's toil. For the most part they disported

THIS collection of documents represents the result of three years' gleaning in English and foreign libraries, carried on by no means continuously, and extending over no very wide field,
Oxford, London, Cheltenham, Paris and Treves have furnished all
the material, and even under these conditions more has been collected. than appears here. The moral of these remarks is plain: if a not very systematic research adds as many as thirteen new documents to the apocryphal literature, how much more may be
waiting in very accessible places for future explorers ! If any
such explorer chooses to digress into the field of Oriental and
of Slavonic literature, there are not less than fifty books and
fragments which he will find ready to his hand and worthy of his
editorial pains.
But it seems that no one cares very much to investigate
apocryphal books: though, if professed theologians are pressed on
the point, they allow unanimously that it is extremely important that investigations should be made in this field. I can forgive
them in a measure for not undertaking the task themselves, for I am very well content to do things which not everyone else is doing at the same time : but I cannot altogether sympathise with the contempt that is rather freely showered upon the literature as
a whole. It is plain to be seen that most of the books are very badly written, some of them very savage and horrible, all of them
viii PREFACE
most obviously unhistorical. But ought we not to be alive to the interest which they possess as being the products of human minds? To me there is real pathos in the crude attempts of these ignorant or perverted souls to tell their friends or their disciples what—to be feared or hoped for—lies in the unseen future, or on the other side of the grave. But if the pathos is obscured to many readers by the crude fancy or the barbarous language, not many
will deny that these books possess considerable historical value. The high-road will serve us well enough if we want to visit our cathedral cities: but in order to get an idea of the popular architecture of a district we must often digress into obscure and devious by-paths. The apocryphal books stand in the relation of by-paths—not always clean or pleasant—to the broad and welltrodden high-roads of orthodox patristic literature. If a future historian wants to realise vividly what were the beliefs of many
large classes of ordinary Christians in our time, he will derive
great help, I doubt not, from the 'Sunday Stories' of the last
thirty years : and not less information can be gathered from the
apocryphal books as to the popular beliefs of average Christians
in far earlier times. These remarks will be recognised as truisms
:
it is time to say something about the individual items of which
this collection is composed, in order to direct the attention of
possible readers to salient points of interest. The Latin Visio Pauli is a completer form than any yet known of a book in
which, after an interval of a century, the apocalyptic branch of
literature reappeared, to be continued without any considerable break down to the time of Dante. The ' Sunday Story ' of the early Christians is thoroughly well illustrated by the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena : which also yields us, as I think, some new knowledge of the early and important lost Acts of Paul. The Story of Zosimus is an important contribution to the mythology of the Lost Ten Tribes and of the Earthly Paradise.
Incidentally it testifies to the popularity of that puzzling book
the Protevangelium of James.
The Apocalypse of the Virgin touches a lower level, alike in subject and treatment. It may have acted as a deterrent from vice in some cases, and if it did I think it must have satisfied the
PREFACE IX
highest ideals of its author. The Apocalypse of Sedrach has a certain pathos and a certain literary interest of its own. The writer's view of life is a sad one : ' life,' he says, ' is very full of
labour, and there is no time to repent.' It is interesting to find
that at a date so late as his the 4th Book of Esdras was still
existing in Greek.
The eight fragments which follow this last document are of a more venerable antiquity. The Description of Avtichrist from Treves may just possibly be a fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter : if it is not, it comes from a hitherto unimagined Latin version of the Testament of the Lord. The Apocalypse of Adam has excited a good deal of interest in its time : the fragment here
published restores to us a small portion of the Greek text. The Book of Enoch is more famous : the British Museum now yields proof which seems satisfactory that the whole book existed in Latin down to a comparatively late date. The Translation of Philip ought to possess some value for students of the spurious
Gospels as well as for those interested in the spurious Acts. The four fragments from a Cheltenham MS. which end the book
include what I believe to be a part of the Assumption of Moses, as well as three striking supplements to the books of Judges and
1 Samuel, which shew no trace of Christian origin, and are quite
probably not later than the first century A.D. It is curious to
compare the Song of David, which is the last item in this collection, with the modern treatment of the same theme in Brown
ing's ' Saul.'
Two more documents there are which at one time I had thought of including in this collection : to the amateur in
hagiology they would be interesting, but they are neither of them
really important, so far as I can judge ; for even to the enthusiast
not everything need be important because it is uncanonical.
One is the Life of John the Baptist by his disciple Eurippus, which occurs very commonly in menologies. I have not been able to discover that it contains much early matter, but it is certainly under obligations to the Protevangelium. The other is an account of the Exploits {dt/8paya0T]fiaTa) of the Three Holy Children, also
X PREFACE
a common tract. The Basilian Menology contains an abstract of the latter part of it, and so do the printed Greek Menaea. It represents the Three Children and Daniel as having been beheaded by Atticus, a successor of Nebuchadnezzar; and narrates their
temporary resurrection at the time of the Crucifixion. It contains one plain reference—almost the only one known to me—to the Rest of the Words of Baruch : but it is on the whole late and rhetorical, and is couched in the homiletic form.
I have been obliged to append a few Additional Notes on points which were cleared up after the introductions to the various documents had been written. The Greek and Latin Indices are not intended to be exhaustive; they only include the more re
markable words and phrases.
The Editor of this series has deserved here as elsewhere my best thanks for his patient supervision of my proofs : and so, too, have tho.'se who are in charge of the various libraries whence my
material has been drawn.
M. R J.
King's College, May 19, 1893.

This study documents the history of epidemics in the ancient Near East, giving some examples from Mesopotamia,
the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. It relies on the cuneiform scripts, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages, and
other inscriptions from the Levant, Old Testament texts and ancient Egyptian sources. These sources provide us
with important information about epidemics that have spread across the Arab Mashreq since the third millennium
BC, and how people and the state dealt with them. After presenting a general picture of epidemics and pandemics
throughout history, the paper discusses the ancient period, then moves on to the "Plague of Justinian" (541 - 542
AD), known in Arab history and the Levant through its historical continuity with the plague of Amwas.

This Master's Thesis was intended to review the primary and secondary Sources concerning the Relations of Assyria with the Near East between 934 and 610 B.C.
The first part is a Guidebook of Neo-assyrian Primary Sources : the documentation is presented, discussed and classified both typologically, chronologically and geographically.
The two following parts summarize and review the secondary sources, mainly the principal lines of research and historiographical debates.

Topics are- The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Gizeh, seen at sunset
Khephren .The Mastaba of Khomtini in the Necropolis of Gizeh The Great Sphinx of Gizeh partially uncovered, and the F)Tamid of TetiniSnkhu, sitting before the funeral repast ....
The fagade and the stele of the tomb of Phtahshopsisu at Saqqara
Stele in the form of a door, and the statue of the tomb of Mirruka offerings in procession ....•••
A representation of the domains of the Lord Ti, bringing to him their
sacrifice and offerings.....
The representation of the Lord Ti assisting at the preliminaries of the
The birth of a king and his double .
The adult king advancing, followed by his double
The goddess adopts the king by suckling him .
Pharaoh in his harem .....
Different postures for approaching the king
Pharaoh gives solemn audience to one of his ministers
The queen shakes the sistrum while the king offers the sacrifice Island and Tem^ile of Philse . ,
Men and women singers, flute-players, harpists, and dancers from the tomb
ofTi
The dwarf Khnumhotpu, superintendent of the royal linen
The packing of the linen and its removal to the white storehouse Measuring the wheat and depositing it in the granaries
The staff of a government officer in the time of the Memphite dynasties
^'sirniri, of the Fifth Dynasty ......
The crier announces the arrival of five registrars of the Temple of King
Statue of Amten found in his tomb ......
The funeral stele of the tomb of Amten, the " Grand Huntsman "
Hunting with the boomerang and fishing with the double harpoon in a marsh or pool
Prince Api, borne in a palanquin, inspects his funerary domain A dwarf playing with Cynocephali and a tame Ibis .
In a Nile boat
War-dance performed by Egyptian soldiers before a battle Two blacksmiths working the bellows
Stone-cutters finishing the dressing of limestone blocks
A workshop of shoemakers manufacturing sandals . The house of a great Egyptian lord ....
The baker making his bread and placing it in the oven
Stele of Situ, representing the front of a house . A street in the higher quarter of modern Siut .
A hall with columns in one of the TweKth Dynasty houses at Gurob
Woman grinding grain .......
Mural paintings in the ruins of an ancient house at Kahun
One of the forms of Egyptian scales..... .
Two women weaving linen at a horizontal loom
Scenes in a bazaar
Part of the modern village of Karnak, to the west of the Temple of Apit
The levying of the tax : The taxpayer in the scribe's office
Levying the tax : The bastinado .....
Levying the tax : The taxpayer in the hands of tlie exactors
The colossal statue of Prince Thothotpu being dragged by the Corvee Colored sculptures in the gallery of the Palace at Thebes
Two fellahin work the shadouf in a garden
The Pyramid of Snofrui at Medum ....
The cutting and carrying of the harvest
A barbarian Moniti from Sinai.....
Two refuge towers of the Hiru-Shaitu, in the Wady Biar
"View of the oasis of Wady Feiran in the Peninsula of Sinai
Genneh and Wady Maghara ......
The high castle of the miners— Ilait-Qait— at the confluence of Wadv
Nofrit, lady of Medum ......
The court and the two stela? of the chapel adjoining the Pyramid of Medum
Alabaster statue of Kheops .....
The triumphal bas-reliefs of Kheops on the Rocks of Wady Maghara
Sphinx ........
Khuit, the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, the Sphinx, and the Temple of the
The ascending passage of the Great Pyramid .
Alabaster statue of Khephren
The Pyramid of Khephren, seen

granite of the Pharaoh Anu, in the Gizeh museum Triumphal bas-relief of Pharaoh Sahuru, on the rocks of Wady Magharah Passenger vessel under sail Head of an inhabitant of Ptianit
A sculptor's studio, and Egyptian painters at -work Avenue of Sphinxes— Karnak .
Cellarer coating a jar with pitch Baker kneading his dough .
The Sheikh-el-Beled in the Gizeh museum The kneeling scribe in the Gizeh museum The sitting scribe in the Gizeh museum Nofir, the director of granaries . Stele of the daughter of Kheops The Pharaoh Menkauhoru . The Mastabat-el-Faraun, looking toward the west fagade The island of Elephantine seen from the ruins of Syene Small Wady, five hours beyond Ed-Doueig, on the road to the Red Sea The rocks of the island of Sehel, with some of the votive inscriptions
The mountain of Aswan and the tombs of the princes of Elephantine
Head of the mummy of Metesouphis I. ..... .
Hii-khuf receiving posthumous homage at the door of his tomb from his son
The entrance to the Pyramid of Unas at Saqqara .... The sepulchral chamber in the Pyramid of Unas, and his sarcophagus
Part of the walls of El-Kab on the northern side .... The hills of Thebes, as seen from the southern end of Luxor
The second fortress of Abydos— the Shunet-ez-Zebib— as seen from the east
Temple of Tentyra— Denderah .......
Attack upon an Egyptian fortress by troops of various arms
The heavy infantry of the Princes of Siut, armed .

CHAPTER I.
THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF EGYPT
The King, the Queen, and the Royal Princes— Administration under the PAGE Pharaohs— Feudalism and the Egyptian Priesthood, the Military—
The Citizens and Country People
3
CHAPTER 11.
THE MEMPniTE EMPIRE
The Royal Pyramid Builders : Kheops, Khephren, Mykerinos— Memphite Literature and Art— Extension of Egypt toward the South, and the
Conquest of Nubia by the Pharaohs . . . . . . .151
CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST THEBAN EMPIRE
The Two Heracleopolitan Dynasties and the Twelfth Dynasty— The
Conquest of Ethiopia, and the making of Greater Egypt by the Theban Kings
295
1THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION
OF EGYPT
THE KING, QUEEX, AND ROYAL PRINCES— PHARAONIC ADiMINISTRATION FEUDALISM AND THE EGYPTIAN PRIESTHOOD, THE MILITARY—THE CITIZENS AND THE COUNTRY-PEOPLE.
Tlie cemeteries of GizeJi and Saqqdra : the Great Sphinx ; the mastabas, their chapel and its decoration, the statues of the double, the sepulchral vault—Im-
portance of the wall paintings and texts of the mastabas in determining the
history of the Memphite dynasties.
The king and the royal family—Double nature and titles of the sovereign : his Horus-names, and the progressive formation of the Pharaonic Protocol—
Royal etiquette an actual divine worship ; the insignia and prophetic statues of Pharaoh, Pharaoh the mediator between the gods and his subjects—Pharaoh in
family life; his amusements, his occupations, his cares—His harem: the women, the queen, her origin, her duties to the king—Sis children : their position in the
State ; rivalry among them during the old age and at the death of their father ;
succession to the throne, consequent revolutions. VOL. II.
B

This study presents a further investigation into the library of the so-called Haus des Beschwörungspriesters,
also known as N4 library, the largest and richest Neo-Assyrian private library. The research is based mostly on colophons,
and also involves other texts originating in and outside Assur. Its purpose is to investigate further the functions
of the exorcist family members in the Aššur temple and at the court and their kinship and professional relationships.

Mythology of Babylon , Gilgamesh , Occult Society's , Tiamat destroyed by Marduk , gods in battle to Yahweh of Israelite and Phoenicians sailing to Cyprus and Egypt to exchange cuneiform ancient tablets and knowledge of Secret words of Kings and Pharoses to Cush across Arabia to Samaria expanding creation stories to Enki to Enlil and all the underworld Ishtar stories to modern day Lilith to Pan and Leech sucker night demons this book covers A thru Z Mythology , Moloch , Baal , Angel of death ,
Invoke Egyptian gods and spirits for divination and magic Scry with fire, oil, and water
Evoke messengers and spirits of the dead ,Have dream visions , Sound the secret names of the deities ,Shape-shift into god forms ,Cast spells for love, protection and healing Create ritual clothing and magical tools This new edition of Ancient Egyptian Magic takes you step-by step through Egyptian religions, magical philosophy, techniques of divination, and magical formulae thousands of years old. No previous experience with the subject is necessary--Harris explains the "hows" and "whys" of magical tools, amulets, words of power, divination, ceremony, and spells. Advanced practitioners will find especially useful instruction on actual Egyptian magical script as found in the ancient papyri such as The Leyden Papyrus, The Papyrus Ani (the

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Damascus and Palmyra Vol. 2 - C. Addison (1838)
Die Babylonische Chronik von F. Delitzsch (1906)
Die Kosmologie der Babylonier by P. Jensen (1890)
Discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon - A. Layard (1853)
Early adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, including a residence among the Bakhtiyari Vol. 2 by A. H. Layard (1887)
Early Babylonian letters from Larsa - H. Lutz (1917)
Egypt and Babylon from sacred and profane sources by G. Rawlinson (1885)
Egypt and Western Asia in the light of recent discoveries by L. W. King (1907)
Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century by H. V. Hilprecht (1903)
First steps in Assyrian - L. King (1898)
From under the dust of ages - a series of six lectures on the history and antiquities of Assyria and Babylonia - W. Boscawen (1886)
Greece and Babylon, a comparative sketch of Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Hellenic religions - L. Farnell, 2nd Copy (1911)
Handel und Wandel in Altbabylonien von F. Delitzsch (1910)
History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria Vol. 1, by Gaston. Maspero (1903)
Izdubar-Nimrod, eine altbabylonische Heldensage, nach den Keilschriftfragmenten dargestellt, by Jeremias, Alfred (1891)
Lands and peoples of the Bible by J. Baikie (1914)
Le code de Hammourabi et ses origines aperçu, sommaire du droit chaldéen, by Mirande, Dominique (1913)
Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by the religion of the ancient Babylonians - A. Sayce (1887)
Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by the religion of the ancient Babylonians - A. Sayce, 2nd Copy (1909)
Legends of Babylon and Egypt in relation to Hebrew tradition by L. W. King (1918)
Legends of Babylon and Egypt in relation to Hebrew tradition by L. W. King, 2nd Copy (1918)
Les nouveaux fragments du code de Hammourabi sur le prêt à intérêt et les sociétés, by Cuq, Édouard (1918)
Media, Babylon and Persia, including a study of the Zend Avesta from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war by Z. Ragozin (1889)
Mesopotami and Assyria by J. Baillie Fraser (1841)
Miscellaneous Babylonian inscriptions - G. Barton (1918)
Miscellaneous inscriptions in the Yale Babylonian Collection - A. Clay (1915)
Myths & legends of Babylonia & Assyria - L. Spence (1916)
Myths of Babylonia and Assyria by D. A. Mackenzie (1915)
Ninevah and its remains by A. H. Layard (1849)
Nippur, or, Explorations and adventures on the Euphrates Vol. 1 by J. P. Peters (1897)
Old Assyrian laws - K. Tallqvist (1921)
Old Babylonian business and legal documents (The RFH Collection) by T. J. Meek (1917)
Old Babylonian temple records - R. Lau (1906)

A study of the archaeology of the so-called Nippur Library including the publication of a manuscript written by H.V. Geere and C.S. Fisher who helped excavate the Library in Season 4 at Nippur. Also included is a catalogue of just over 1000 tablets identified in the CBS Catalogue as having come from the 'Library'. The paper will shortly be published in the forthcoming edition of al-Rafidian.

The book focuses on the Neo-Babylonian administrative letters dated to Nabopolassar and the first half of Nebuchadnezzar’s reigns (ca. 626–580 BCE); this is the formative phase of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The 215 letters in the corpus come from the two major Neo-Babylonian temple archives known today: Eanna, temple of Ištar, in Uruk (190 letters), and Ebabbar, temple of the son god Šamaš, in Sippar (25 letters). Two letters from Babylon are additionally included as appendices A and B (one of which is of the still crown prince Nebuchadnezzar from the battlefield at Harran).
In many ways, these letters are the closest we get to the erratic drama which was day-to-day life in Babylonia at the mid first millennium BCE. The letters were a vital administrative tool, necessary for the ongoing functioning of these institutions. As such, they provide first-hand testimony for the tasks and obstacles that the Neo-Babylonian bureaucrats faced. As of yet, no systematic attempt has been made to date and contextualise the Neo-Babylonian administrative letters and they have never been studied as a group, and they are still one of the most underrepresented and underexploited source material in Neo-Babylonian studies. This is due to the lack of up-to-date editions, the “elusive nature” of epistolography (namely the difficulty in accurately dating and contextualising the letters), as well as the unique philological difficulties of the texts. Thus three interdependent goals stand at the base of this study:
1. Establishing new, up-to-date editions of the early Neo-Babylonian letters from Eanna and Ebabbar
2. Studying these letters as a distinct text group
3. Contextualising the letters
The first part of this work, chapters 2–6, analyses the letters as a distinct text group with its own characteristics. The letters are examined both as a source for their authors’ sense of identity and mentality, as well as for the structure and administrative setting in which these authors were active. Following the introduction (chapter 1), which lays out the historical and scholarly basis for this study, chapter two examines the formal aspect of epistolography (e.g., structure and stock phrases). It then discuss two main methodological issues: the rhetorical analysis of the letters, and the problem of dating. In chapter three I discuss the “non-content” aspects of epistolography: viz. the language, the tablets themselves, and the logistics involved in epistolographic activity. At the core of the discussion chapters (2–6) stands chapter four, in which I examine aspects of officialdom in the temples. Following a discussion on the concepts of (good) service (maṣṣartu) and “administrative sin” (ḫīṭu), I go on to focus on the different interactions as revealed in the letters. Here, the slightly different administrative structure of the two temples, as well as substantial difference in their size, requires the distinction between Eanna and Ebabbar (the former naturally takes most of the focus). Starting with the inner interaction of temple officials with their colleagues within the same institution, the discussion then zooms out to examine the interaction of temple officials with other temples and state’s institutions. Chapter five surveys the main subject matters discussed in the letters, highlighting the contribution of the epistolographic perspective to the study of the temples’ day-to-day operation. In the sixth and concluding chapter of the discussion, a diachronic perspective is introduced, and the early Neo-Babylonian letter corpus is compared to the earlier Neo-Assyrian letters from the State Archive of Assyria (SAA), and to the later epistolographic material from the second half of the long sixth century (late Nabonidus and Achaemenid letters).
The second part of the book, chapter seven, presents up-to-date editions of the 215 letters in the corpus. These include translation, transliteration, and contextual and philological commentary. Close attention is given to the contextualization of the letters; vis-à-vis dates, prosopography, and administrative and historical settings.

Paru dans Des contrées avestiques à Mahabad, via Bisotun. Études offertes en hommage à
Pierre Lecoq, CPOR 2, Céline Redard (éd.), Neuchâtel, 2016, pp. 25-60.



In the great inscription of Bisotun, King Darius, speaking in the first person, relates how he managed to cross the Tigris with his army before defeating the army of the Babylonian Nidintu-Bel, one of the 'rebel kings'. The short account of this undertaking, however, with its several lexical and syntactic ambiguities, leaves open many questions about how things had actually gone. The author of this paper analyses in detail the three, somehow divergent parallel passages (i.e., Old Persian, Achaemenid Elamite and Achaemenid Babylonian) of this multilingual text and the relationships among them, focusing on the translation strategies and techniques followed by the authors of the royal inscriptions. Since different possible scenarios may be reconstructed from the three versions, the author concludes that the narrative of the Tigris crossing has to be interpreted taking into account the ideological concerns and rhetoric conventions characterizing the Bisotun narrative of the royal deeds, not so different from the epic-heroic conventions characterizing many ancient Near Eastern royal inscriptions. Résumé Dans la grande inscription de Bisotun, le roi Darius, parlant à la première personne, raconte comment il a réussi à traverser le Tigre avec son armée avant de vaincre l'armée du babylonien Nidintu-Bel, un des « rois rebelles ». Le bref récit de cette entreprise, cependant, avec plusieurs ambiguïtés lexicales et syntaxiques, laisse ouvertes de nombreuses questions sur la façon dont les choses se sont réellement produites. L'auteur de cet article analyse en détail les trois passages (c'est-à-dire, vieux-perse, élamite achéménide et babylonien achéménide) parallèles, en quelque sorte divergents de ce texte multilingue et les relations entre eux, en mettant l'accent sur les stratégies de traduction et les techniques suivies par les auteurs des inscriptions royales. Puisque différents scénarios possibles peuvent être reconstruits à partir de ces trois versions, l'auteur conclut que le récit de la traversée du Tigre doit être interprété en tenant compte des préoccupations idéologiques et des conventions rhétoriques, qui caractérisent le récit des actes royaux de Bisotun, pas si différentes des conventions épiques-héroïques qui caractérisent de nombreuses inscriptions royales du Proche Orient ancien.

The paper examines the cuneiform evidence from sixth-century Babylonia (and beyond) for information on the form and aims of Neo-Babylonian imperial rule over its western provinces. While new texts, which hitherto have not been considered in this context, can be brought to bear on the issue, direct evidence from these provinces is still scarce. These documents will thus be supplemented by drawing on the rich information concerning state institutions and resource extraction in the imperial centre. It is argued that in the first half of the Neo-Babylonian period, until ca. 585 BCE, Babylonian imperial rule in the western periphery can be conceptualized primarily as a straightforward exploitative tributary regime. From about the mid-reign of Nebuchadnezzar onwards, however, there is a shift towards a more sustainable resource extraction through the creation of stable pockets of Babylonian presence in the periphery. This diachronic shift was meant to steady and organize the initial ad hoc Babylonian approach. These measures, however, did not prevail, and the chaotic years which followed the 43 years reign of Nebuchadnezzar illustrate the fragility of the relatively short-lived Babylonian imperial age.

Trough this article we will try to look closely to the iconographyc program which the neoasirian soverign Sennacherib wanted to develop in its “Palace without Rival”. The many reliefs which Layard exposed, have shown not only a vivid interest for the graphic representations of the sovereign power through their military victories, but also the style innovations which wanted to offer the image of the empire. “The Palace Without Rival” was conceived like more distinction of between all the neoassirian palaces, and in his reliefs one shows us great part of his history and of his reign.

Οι σημιτικοί λαοί πίστευαν ότι το σύμπαν είναι μια σφαίρα, της οποίας το άνω και το κάτω ημισφαίριο χωρίζονταν από το επίπεδο πάνω στο οποίο βρισκόταν η γη.

Η γη περιβαλλόταν από θάλασσα, που στα δυτικά έβρεχε την Ακτή του κάτω κόσμου που έμοιαζε με σπήλαιο.

Η αντίληψη ότι τα σπήλαια αποτελούν ένα μέρος του βασιλείου των νεκρών πηγάζει από τις ταφικές χρήσεις των σπηλαίων και από τη χρήση των τάφων που δεν είναι παρά ανοίγματα στη γη.
Αρχικά δημοσιευμένο στο Αρχαιολογία, Τριμηνιαίο Περιοδικό, Τεύχος 17, Νοέμβριος 1985, σελ 30 - 34
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7qo8j7hgmk8m3ai/Arxaiologia+11~20.rar

A revised version of the thesis has been published as Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records 29: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501511912.

Die überarbeitete Version der Dissertation wurde als Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records 29 veröffentlicht: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501511912.

Unter dem Begriff ‚Schreibkultur‘ wird das Schreiben, d. h. das Erstellen von Schriftzeugnissen und dessen Produkte, sowie die ‚Kultur‘, d. h. die soziokulturelle Verortung der Schriftzeugnisse, verstanden. So steht im Zentrum der Arbeit der Text als materielles Objekt. Verschiedene Aspekte werden näher betrachtet, und zwar die Gestaltungsregeln der mit Keilschrift beschriebenen Tontafeln, die akkadischen Begriffe für Schriftartefakte, die Herstellung und Lagerung am Beispiel der sog. Bibliothek Assurbanipals sowie die für das 1. Jahrtausend charakteristische Mehrschriftigkeit und -sprachigkeit.

The volume is available in open access: https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/25690.

While usually concentrating on the decipherment and study of texts, cuneiform studies have, in recent years, paid more and more attention to the materiality of inscribed objects. Such was the case at a workshop on the materiality of the writing process which took place on 29 April 2013 at the Freie Universität Berlin. The proceedings of the workshop give an idea of the rich potential of this research question. All articles focus on inscribed artefacts made from clay. But coming from different disciplines – archaeology, computer science, cuneiform studies and physics – and being specialized in different periods, the authors approach the subject matter differently. This allows for the presentation of new methods and exiting results. It becomes evident that research on materiality delivers information on a variety of topics, e.g. aesthetics of monuments, transfer of knowledge, bilingualism (Akkadian – Aramaic) and archival practices. The contributions to the richly illustrated book are in English and German, each of which is accompanied by an English abstract.