Akkadica
Assyriological Center
Georges Dossin
Georges Dossin
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Akkadica Assyriological Center
Georges Dossin |
Conspectus Librorum - Book Review:
Price hardback: sFr. 248,00 Orders: Academic Press Fribourg Pérolles 42 CH-1700 Fribourg - Switserland Fax: +41-(0)26-426 4300 eduni@st-paul.ch This volume continues a series of "Reference Works" ("Annäherungen") on selected periods of cuneiform cultures. Earlier published books on the subject are OBO 160/1 and OBO 160/3 both focusing on third millennium Mesopotamia. The present book however concentrates on the Old Babylonian period and is divided into three parts each written by a renowned assyriologist. The first essay "Histoire politique du Proche-Orient Amorrite (2002-1595)?(p.23-482) by Dominique Charpin, is a brilliant presentation of the political history from the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur to the end of the First Dynasty of Babylon. Charpin included an overview of the political life around 1765 emphasizing the role of the king, his family, environment and his obligations. Therefore she uses information on the Babylonian king Hammurabi and Zimri-Lim, king of Mari. In annex there is a list of the principal dynasties, a "who is who"-list of kings and finally a comprehensive bibliography comprising the most important references on the Old Babylonian history. Dietz Otto Edzard contributed the second part of this work in which he, as the title indicates, deals with the Old-Babylonian literature and religion (p.483-640). The section on literature is well documented with several citations of literary texts and concluded with some remarks on translating and editing. Furthermore Edzard focuses on subjects as "omen-literature", royal inscriptions, law codices, origins of literary works, etc. In the pages dedicated to religion the author provides the reader with an overview on the Old-Mesopotamian pantheon; some notes on the lists of gods; the anthropomorphism in the pantheon; official cult and popular religion; cult-places; prayers and hymns; Sumerian and Akkadian personal names; "personal deities" (i.e. deities with a particular strong connection to a certain person); deity, law and omen; priesthood, ruler, ME and NAM-TAR; the reliability of gods, death and the netherworld; and finishes with "cult and fun", a conclusion and a bibliography. In the third part Marten Stol covers a number of remarkable topics on the Economy and Society of the Old-Babylonian Period (p.641-976). Among these are: the population (nomads, land and languages); the law; the town (ramparts, gates, etc.); the domestic building (architectural features, religious aspects, etc.); the family ("house of the father", property, the extended family, heritage, the eldest son, etc.); selected families from Sippar, Tell Sifr and Nippur; public duty, taxes (and several ways of paying taxes); the army (the royal army, ranks, soldiers); fisherman or mariner; agriculture (the seasons, natural environment, irrigation, techniques, plants and crops); aspects of the economy like wages, trade, slaves, silver, cattle; "Palastgeschäfte" compared with "Tempelgeschäfte"; and finally some notes on food, food-preparation and personal care. This admirable accomplishment concludes with a list of abbreviations and indices of names, words and texts (p.977-1027) and additionally two maps of Mesopotamia in annex. Ingrid Swinnen Vrije Universiteit Brussel |