Fortune and Misfortune in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 60th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Warsaw, 21-25 July 2014

by Olga Drewnowska (Editor), Malgorzata Sandowicz (Editor)

Overview

In the week between July 21 and 25, 2014, the University of Warsaw hosted more than three hundred Assyriologists from all over the world. In the course of five days, nearly 150 papers were read in three (and sometimes four) parallel sessions. Many of them were delivered within the framework of nine thematic workshops. The publication of most of these panels is underway, in separate volumes. As is usually the case, the academic sessions were accompanied by many opportunities for social interaction among the participants, and there was time to enjoy the historical and cultural benefits of Warsaw. Special honor was accorded to two American Assyriologists whose origins can be traced to Warsaw, Piotr Michalowski and Piotr Steinkeller, and a special session to recognize their contributions to the study of ancient Mesopotamia was organized.

In this book are presented papers on the main theme of the meeting, “Fortune and Misfortune in the Ancient Near East.” The 31 essays are organized into 5 sections: (1) plenary presenations on “What Is Fortune? What Is Misfortune?”; (2) humanity and fortune/misfortune and luck, with discussion of specific examples; (3) additional papers on definitions of fortune and misfortune; (4) the effects on city and state; and (5) God and temple.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781575064659
Publisher:	Penn State University Press
Publication date:	01/03/2017
Series:	Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.49(d)

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

Program

Introduction

Part 1

What Is Fortune?

What Is Misfortune?

Luck, Fortune, and Destiny in Ancient Mesopotamia or How the Sumerians and Babylonians Thought of Their Place in the Flow of Things—Piotr Steinkeller

The Concept of "Misfortune" in Sumerian Wisdom Literature—Jacob Klein

Man's Fate: Divine Responsibility for Human Welfare in Hatti—Gary Beckman

Part 2

Man

Fortune and Misfortune of the Individual: Some Observations on the Sufferer's Plaint in Ludlul bel nemeqi II 12–32—Tzvi Abusch

On the Fortune—or Misfortune—of Having Children: The Abundance of Children According to the Omen Text K. 6403—Nils P. Heeßel

Gendering for Fortune and Misfortune: Ritual Gender Assignment in the Ancient Near East—Kathleen McCaffrey

Why Did Paškuwatti's Patient Fail in the Matrimonial Bed?—Zsolt Simon

Introduction aux symptômes mentaux en Mésopotamie—Magalie Parys

Legal Remedies against Misfortune: Evasion, Legal Fiction, and Sham Transactions in Late Bronze Age Emar—Lena Fijałkowska

Hierarchy at the Hittite Court—Tayfun Bilgin

Fortunes and Misfortunes of Messengers and Merchants in the Amarna Letters—Graciela Gestoso Singer

Made Men: Rich Slaves of the Nur-Sins and the Egibis—Benjamin Dromard

Betting on the Right Horse: Loyalty in the Early Years of the Neo-Babylonian Empire—Yuval Levavi

Part 3

King

The Origins of the LUGAL Office—Petr Charvát

Ups and Downs in the Career of Enmerkar, King of Uruk—Dina Katz

"Sulgi, Mighty Man, King of Ur"—Tonia Sharlach

The Fate of Yasmah-Addu, the King of Mari—Rafał Kolński

Finding the Good Genius in Your Bowl—Daniel Bonneterre

The Royal Adoption Scene in Ugaritic and Biblical Texts—Joanna Töyräänvuori

"One Epic or Many?" Das Tukulti-Ninurta-Epos zum Ersten, zum Zweiten und zum...?—Stefan Jakob

Part 4

City and State

Climate Change, the Mardu Wall, and the Fall of Ur—Minna (Lönnqvist) Silver

Regional Differences in Middle Assyrian—Jacob Jan de Ridder

The Anatolian and Iranian Frontiers: Analyzing the Foreign Policy of the Assyrian Empire under Esarhaddon—Selim Ferruh Adalı

Finis Assyriae: The Fall of the Assyrian State, or the Fall of the Assyrian Civilisation?—Stefan Zawadzki

Fortune and Politics: Nabopolassar's Campaigns in 616–615 BCE and His Alliance with Media—Kabalan Moukarzel

More about the Crisis in Uruk—Radosław Tarasewicz

Part 5

God and Temple

Don't Insult Inana! Divine Retribution for Offense against Common Decency in the Light of New Textual Sources—Jana Matuszak

Fortune and Misfortune of the Eagle in the Myth of Etana—Evelyne Koubková

Within the Ekur: Sitz im Leben for a Literary Topos Regarding Nintur—Mark A. Avila, Marcel Sigrist, and Uri Gabbay

Some Remarks on the Archaeology of the Ekur of Nippur during Post-Kassite Times—Bernhard Schneider