Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique International at Rome, 4–8 July 2011(Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale)

In July, 2011, the International Association for Assyriology met in Rome, Italy, for 5 days to deliver and listen to papers on the theme “Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East”. This volume, the proceedings of the conference, contains more than 40 of the papers read at the 57th annual Rencontre, including 3 plenary lectures/papers, many papers directly connected with the theme, as well as a workshop on parents and children. The papers covered every period of Mesopotamian history, from the third millennium through the end of the first millennium B.C.E. The attendees were warmly hosted by faculty and students from the Università di Roma “La Sapienza”.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Abbreviations Program Part 1 Opening Lectures Rückwärts schauend in die Zukunft: Utopien des Alten Orients Stefan M. Maul Law and Literature in the Third Millennium B.C. Claus Wilcke The Soul in the Stele? J. David Hawkins Part 2 Papers Myth and Ritual through Tradition and Innovation Dina Katz A Tale of Twin Cities: Archaeology and the Sumerian King List Petr Charvát Where are the Uruk Necropoles? Regional Innovation or Change in Tradition for Northern Mesopotamia Jesús Gil Fuensanta and Eduardo Crivelli Changes Through Time: The Pit F Sequence at Ur Revisited Giacomo Benati Reading Figurines from Ancient Urkeš (2450 B.C.E.) Rick Hauser Wooden Carvings of Ebla: Some Open Questions Rita Dolce The Aesthetic Lexicon of Ebla’s Composite Art during the Age of the Archives Marco Ramazzotti DUGURASU = rw-ḥꜢwt Alessandro Roccati More on Pre-Sargonic Umma Salvatore F. Monaco Professional Figures and Administrative Roles in the Garden (ĝeškiri6) Management of Ur III Ĝirsu Angela Greco Tradition and Innovation in Šulgi’s Concept of Divine Kingship Luděk Vacín Bemerkungen zur Entwicklung der Beschwörungen des Marduk-Ea-Typs: Die Rolle Enlils Manuel Ceccarelli Prophecy in the Mari Texts as an Innovative Development Herbert B. Huffmon Mathematical Lists: From Archiving to Innovation Christine Proust Die lexikalische Serie á=idu Frauke Weiershäuser The Rituals of Power: The Akkadian Tradition in Neo-Assyrian Policy Krzysztof Ulanowski Innovation and Tradition within the Sphere of Neo-Assyrian Officialdom Melanie Groß Tradition and Innovation in the Neo-Assyrian Reliefs Nicolas Gillmann Une Armure Expérimentale du Premier Millénaire av. J.-C Fabrice De Backer A Group of Seals and Seal Impressions from the Neo-Assyrian Colony Tell Masaikh-Kar-Assurnasirpal with More Ancient Motifs Paola Poli Spätbabylonische Urkunden: Original, Kopie, Abschrift Jürgen Lorenz Traditional Claims of an Illustrious Ancestor in Craftsmanship and in Wisdom Daniel Bodi New Phraseology and Literary Style in the Babylonian Version of the Achaemenid Inscriptions Parsa Daneshmand Aspects of Royal Authority and Local Competence: A Perspective from Nuzi Anne Löhnert Continuity and Discontinuity in a Nuzi Scribal Family Paola Negri Scafa Mission at Arrapḫa Dave Deuel Geopolitical Patterns and Connectivity in the Upper Khabur Valley in the Middle Bronze Age Alessio Palmisano Writing Sumerian in the West Maurizio Viano Territorial Administration in Alalaḫ during Level IV Alvise Matessi Reciprocity and Commerce in Bronze and Iron Age Anatolia H. Craig Melchert Hittite Clitic Doubling as an Innovative Category: Its Origin Andrej V. Sideltsev Memory and Tradition of the Hittite Empire in the post-Hittite Period Maria Elena Balza and Clelia Mora Fortifications and Arming as Analytical Elements for a Social-Policy Evolution in Anatolia in the Early Bronze Age Tommaso De Vincenzi Amurru in der königlichen Ideologie und Tradition: von Ebla bis Israel Pavel Čech The Assyrian Tree of Life and the Jewish Menorah Christos G. Karagiannis The Ponderal Systems of Qatna Luigi Turri French Excavations in Qasr Shemamok-Kilizu (Iraqi Kurdistan): The First Mission (2011) Olivier Rouault and Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault The Present in Our Past: The Assyrian Rock Reliefs at Nahr El-Kalb and the Lessons of Tradition Ann Shafer Oriental Studies and Fascism in Spain Agnès Garcia-Ventura and Jordi Vidal Part 3 Workshop: From Parents to Children From Parents to Children: Ebla Alfonso Archi Family Firms in the Ur III Period Steven J. Garfinkle A Chip Off the Old Block: The Transmission of Titles and Offices within the Family in Old Babylonian Sippar Michel Tanret The Tradition of Professions within Families at Nuzi Jeanette C. Fincke Crafts and Craftsmen at Ugarit Wilfred van Soldt Hereditary Transmission of Specialized Knowledge in Hittite Anatolia: The Case of the Scribal Families of the Empire Period Giulia Torri The Transmission of Offices, Professions, and Crafts within the Family in the Neo-Assyrian Period Heather D. Baker Families, Officialdom, and Families of Royal Officials in Chaldean and Achaemenid Babylonia M. Jursa