The delegation of power: Neo-Assyrian bureau seals

Bureau seals are an innovation of the Assyrian administration to cope with the delegation of power that running a world empire demanded. By placing some bureau seals in their historical context we find indications that these seal types were introduced not at once but at various points in Neo-Assyrian history, reflecting changes in the balance of power

Adapting to New Contexts. Cuneiform in Anatolia

This article focuses on cuneiform and scribal education in Anatolia. It attempts to trace some of the developments in the corpus of knowledge and training when it let the confines of its initial area of relevance and was received in Anatolia by the Hittites and to draw inferences about the semiotic and sociological context of the wholesale import of a large-scale technocratic apparatus from one culture into another. It discusses the institutional and social context of scribal education in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia and suggests that class composition among the Anatolian elite was not necessarily the same as that in Mesopotamia

Une liste paléographique de signes cunéiformes. Quand les scribes assyriens s'intéressaient aux écritures anciennes...

International audienceTwo fragments of a tablet, preserved in the British Museum (London) and the Iraqi Museum (Baghdad), said to be found in Ninveh and Kalhu, show the concern of Neo-Assyrian scribes for the beginnings of writing. This tablet, written during the VIIIth or VIIth centuries BC, belongs to the category of lexical lists. It contains, over several columns, a standard list of cuneiform signs in use at the beginning of the IInd millennium BC and their corresponding archaic - or supposed so - signs at the IVth millennium BC. The analysis of this inscribed object considers the true origin of its fragments, their discovery and conservation, the temple library in which the tablet was preserved and the category to which it belongs, its complete form and the inscribed signs, the author of the document, his training and his views while writing this tablet.Deux fragments d'une même tablette cunéiforme, conservés au British Museum à Londres et au Musée d'Irak à Bagdad, et portant des numéros d'inventaires des collections de Ninive et de Kalhu, témoignent de l'intérêt des scribes de l'empire néo-assyrien pour les débuts de leur écriture. Cette tablette, rédigée au VIIIe ou VIIe siècle av. J.-C., appartient à la catégorie des listes lexicales ; elle comporte, sur plusieurs colonnes, une liste standard des signes cunéiformes en usage au début du IIe millénaire av. J.-C. mis en correspondance avec les signes archaïques - ou supposés tels - de la fin du IVe millénaire av. J.-C. L'analyse de cet objet inscrit envisage l'origine réelle de ses fragments, leur découverte et leur conservation, la bibliothèque du temple à laquelle la tablette appartenait ainsi que le genre de cette dernière, sa forme reconstituée et les signes qui y sont inscrits, l'auteur du document, sa formation et ses intentions dans la rédaction de ce document

Gran rey, rey del mundo, rey de Asiria ... ¿Rey de reyes de las tierras de Dilmun, Magan y Meluhha?

Assyrian royal titles in first Millennium shows us a strong kingship that has a power over the whole known world, even Lower Sea, i.e. the regions of Dilmun and Magan. Dilmun, placed in Bahrain Island, seems to be a kingdom ruled by a king who sends tributes to Assyria. Magan is more difficult to locate during the reign of Sargon as well as in the first inscriptions of Aššarhaddon, where Kush and Magan are the same land. Oman Peninsula seems to be forgotten in neoassyrian textual sources; but in fact Magan is mentioned by the name of Qadê, Land of King Padê. From an archaeological point of view, we have searched for Qadê core at places like Izki or Salut, but until now, none Omani settlement matches the city of Padê or claims the Assyrian presence in the areaLa titulatura real asiria en el I milenio nos muestra una realeza poderosa que controla todo el mundo conocido, también el Mar Inferior, es decir las regiones de Dilmun y Magan. Dilmun, situado en la isla de Bahrein parece ser un reino gobernado por un soberano que envía tributos a Asiria. Magan presenta problemas de localización en los reinados de Sargón y en las primeras inscripciones de Aššarhaddon donde Kush y Magan parecen ser el mismo territorio. La península de Omán parece olvidada en las fuentes neoasirias, en realidad ahora es mencionada bajo el nombre de Qadê, donde reina Padê. Desde el punto de vista arqueológico hemos buscado el corazón de Qadê en lugares como Izki o Salut, pero por ahora ninguno de los yacimientos omaníes se corresponden con la ciudad del rey Padê y nada nos permite asegurar la presencia asiria en el áre

Ein Bronzedolch des Simbar-Šipak von Babylon (1025-1008). Überlegungen zu Waffenweihungen im Vorderen Orient

Ein Bronzedolch, der derzeit in der Schausammlung des Archäologischen Museums von Tabriz (Iran) ausgestellt ist, gehört zu einer prominenten Gruppe innerhalb der sogenannten „Luristanbronzen“, nämlich der der beschrifteten Randgriffdolche. Diese Waffen sind mit Inschriften verschiedener Herrscher von Babylon der letzten beiden Jahrhunderte des II. Jahrtausend v.Chr. versehen, gelegentlich auch mit Inschriften von nicht-königlichen Personen, darunter ein Schreiber und ein ša rēš šarri