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

Gatekeepers and lock masters: the control of access in the Neo-Assyrian palaces

Book description: This volume is intended as a tribute to the memory of the Sumerologist Jeremy Black, who died in 2004. The Sumerian phrase, ‘Your praise is sweet’ is commonly addressed to a deity at the close of a work of Sumerian literature. The scope of the thirty contributions, from Sumerology to the nineteenth-century rediscovery of Mesopotamia, is testament to Jeremy’s own wide-ranging interests and to his ability to forge scholarly connections and friendships among all who shared his interest in ancient Iraq