Search results for ""Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures""
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Back to School in Babylonia
This volume—the companion book to the special exhibition Back to School in Babylonia of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago—explores education in the Old Babylonian period through the lens of House F in Nippur, excavated jointly by the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1950s and widely believed to have been a scribal school. The book’s twenty essays offer a state-of-the-art synthesis of research on the history of House F and the educational curriculum documented on the many tablets discovered there, while the catalog’s five chapters present the 126 objects included in the exhibition, the vast majority of them cuneiform tablets.
£32.50
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Language and Nature: Papers Presented to John Huehnergard on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday
This book includes thirty contributions - twenty-nine papers and one artistic contribution - by John's colleagues, former students, and friends, on a variety of topics that represent John's versatility and many interests, including philology, history, natural history, and art. Many of the papers concentrate on the Akkadian speaking world, reflecting one of the major languages John Huehnergard has worked on throughout the years. Eran Cohen reviews and discusses the functional value of Akkadian iprus in conditional clauses in epistolary and legal texts. Lutz Edzard discusses the Akkadian injunctive umma, used in oath formulae. Daniel Fleming asks who were the 'Apiru people mentioned in Egyptian texts in the Late Bronze Age and what was their social standing as is reflected in the Amarna letters. Shlomo Izre'el offers a revised and improved version of his important study of the language of the Amarna letters. Leonid Kogan offers a comparative etymological study of botanical terminology in Akkadian, while Josef Tropper argues that Akkadian poetry, as well as Northwest Semitic poetry, are based on certain metric principles. Wilfred von Soldt lists and discusses personal names ending in -ayu from Amarna. A number of papers deal with Arabic grammarians and their concepts of language. Gideon Goldenberg discusses the concept of vocalic length in Arabic grammatical tradition and in the medieval Hebrew tradition that was its product. Wolfhart Heinrichs's contribution shows that Ibn Khaldun held innovative views of language and its evolution. Several other papers deal with Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible. Steven Fassberg deals with verbal t-forms that do not exhibit the expected metathesis in Hebrew and Aramaic of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Randall Garr studies one class of denominal hiphil verbs and asks why these verbs are assigned to the causative stem despite their non-causative semantic content. Ed Greenstein suggests that the roots of biblical wisdom can be located in second-millennium Canaanite literature by identifying wisdom sayings and themes in the Ugaritic corpus. Jeremy Hutton sheds more light on tG forms in Biblical Hebrew. Paul Korchin explains occurrences of the cohortative in Biblical Hebrew that do not conform to the normative volitive function. Dennis Pardee provides a detailed study of the Hebrew verbal system as primarily expressing aspect, not tense. Gary A. Rendsburg argues in favor of Late Biblical Hebrew features in the book of Haggai. Four papers deal with linguistic aspects of non-Classical Semitic languages. Charles Häberl looks into predicates of verbless sentences in Semitic and particularly in Neo-Mandaic. Geoffrey Khan discusses the functional differences between the preterite and the perfect in NENA. Aaron D. Rubin provides Semitic etymologies of two Modern South Arabian words. Ofra Tirosh-Becker discusses the language of the Judeo-Arabic translation of the books of Prophets. Papers on comparative Semitics are likewise numerous. Jo Ann Hackett takes another look at Ugaritic yaqtul and argues for the existence of a preterite yaqtul on comparative grounds, among others. Rebecca Hasselbach tackles the evasive origin of the Semitic verbal endings -u and -a. Na'ama Pat-El continues the discussion of the origin of the Hebrew relative particle seC- from a syntactic and comparative perspective. Richard C. Steiner proposes a new vowel syncope rule for Proto Semitic. David Testen argues for a different reconstruction of the Semitic case system. Tamar Zewi shows that prepositional phrases can function as subjects in a variety of Semitic languages. Andrzej Zaborski suggests that Berber and Cushitic preserve archaic features that have been lost for the most part in the Semitic languages. There is one paper on an Indo-European language with important ties to Semitic languages in P. Oktor Skjaervo discussion of the Pahlavi verb *awas 'to dry.' Finally, Richard Walton contributes a paper about the jumping spiders of Concord, Massachusetts, a project he labored on with John Huehnergard. The book is beautifully decorated by the drawings of the artist X Bonnie Woods, who prepared special illustration for this volume, based on cuneiform.
£23.34
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Iconoclasm and Text Destruction in the Ancient Near East and Beyond
The eighth in the Oriental Institute Seminar Series, this volume contains papers that emerged from the seminar Iconoclasm and Text Destruction in the Ancient Near East and Beyond, held at the Oriental Institute April 8-9, 2011. The purpose of the conference was to analyze the cases of and reasons for mutilation of texts and images in Near Eastern antiquity. Destruction of images and texts has a universal character; it is inherent in various societies and periods of human history. Together with the mutilation of human beings, it was a widespread and highly significant phenomenon in the ancient Near East. However, the goals meant to be realized by this process differed from those aimed at in other cultures. For example, iconoclasm of the French and Russian revolutions, as well as the Post-Soviet iconoclasm, did not have any religious purposes. Moreover, modern comprehension of iconoclasm is strongly influenced by its conception during the Reformation. This volume explores iconoclasm and text destruction in ancient Near Eastern antiquity through examination of the anthropological, cultural, historical, and political aspects of these practices. Broad interdisciplinary comparison with similar phenomena in the other cultures and periods contribute to better understanding them.
£15.14
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East
This fully illustrated catalogue of essays, descriptions, and commentary accompanies the Oriental Institute special exhibit Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East (on exhibit February 7 through September 2, 2012). Picturing the Past presents paintings, architectural reconstructions, facsimiles, models, photographs, and computer-aided reconstructions that show how the architecture, sites, and artifacts of the ancient Middle East have been documented. It also examines how the publication of those images have shaped our perception of the ancient world, and how some of the more "imaginary" reconstructions have obscured our real understanding of the past. The exhibit and catalog also show how features of the ancient Middle East have been presented in different ways for different audiences, in some cases transforming a highly academic image into a widely recognized icon of the past.
£11.51
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Grammatical Case in the Languages of the Middle East and Beyond: Acts of the International Colloquium Variations, concurrence et evolution des cas dans divers domaines linguistiques, Paris, 2-4 April 2007
The volume contains twenty-eight studies of various aspects of the case systems of Sumerian, Hurrian, Elamite, Eblaite, Ugaritic, Old Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew, Indo-European, the languages of the Bisitun inscription, Hittite, Armenian, Sabellic, Gothic, Latin, Icelandic, Slavic, Russian, Ouralien, Tokharian and Etruscan. The volume concludes with a paper on future directions.
£19.25
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Performing Death: Social Analyses of Funerary Traditions in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean
This volume represents a collection of contributions presented by the authors during the Second Annual University of Chicago Oriental Institute Seminar "Performing Death: Social Analyses of Funerary Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean," held at the Oriental Institute, February 17-18, 2006. The principal aim of the two-day seminar was to interpret the social relevance resulting from the enactment of funerary rituals within the broad-reaching Mediterranean basin from prehistoric periods to the Roman Age. Efforts were concentrated on creating a panel composed of scholars with diverse backgrounds - anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, art historians, and philologists - and the knowledge and expertise to enrich the discussion through the presentation of case-studies linked to both textual and archaeological evidence from the Mediterranean region. Fundamental to the successful realisation of this research process was the active dialogue between scholars of different backgrounds. These communicative exchanges provided the opportunity to integrate different approaches and interpretations concerning the role played by the performance of ancient funerary rituals within a given society and, as a result, helped in defining a coherent outcome towards the interpretation of ancient communities' behaviours.
£22.43
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures On the Margin of the Euphrates: Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria
The present study forms part of the author's long-term research strategy that is aimed at examining the growth of towns, rural settlements, and the rural landscape over much of the last ten thousand years. Emphasis is upon the retrieval of information from surface surveys, and at the same time, the integration of cultural change within both the local environmental context and long-term environmental change. It must be emphasised that the surveys under discussion, collectively called the Sweyhat Survey, were small and rather detailed studies of some 60 sq. km of land around Tell es-Sweyhat, Syria, and the thirty sites therein on the east bank of the Euphrates River; the surveys were conducted in 1974, 1991, and 1992. The survey area is nested within a broader "area of interest," which comprises the area of the upper Lake Tabqa salvage project.
£66.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Megiddo 3: Final Report on the Stratum VI Excavations
The extensive history of excavations at Megiddo (Tell el-Mutesellim) attests to the site's cultural and historical significance and effectively chronicles the disciplinary development of archaeological research in the region. Virtually every generation has left its mark, and a vast portion of the site has been excavated in the process. This is particularly true of Stratum VI. While this report is concerned primarily with the results of the Oriental Institute excavations, any attempt to reconstruct the stratum, and the cultural and historical information that it contains, must incorporate the results of other projects that have been excavated at the site as well as with the aim of assembling a composite record of those projects that have produced published remains of Stratum VI. Ever since its discovery, there has been considerable debate and speculation both about the cultural character of Stratum VI, and the cause and date of its destruction. Whatever the precise historical case, it is clear nevertheless that Stratum VI represents the initial Iron Age (or Iron I) settlement at Megiddo.
£90.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Volume P, fascicles 1-3
The Hittite language is the earliest preserved member of the Indo-European family of languages. It was written on clay tablets in central Asia Minor over a five hundred year span (ca. 1650-1180 B.C.) which witnessed the rise, the floruit, and the decline of many political powers in the Near East. The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD is not just a list of words and their meanings, but rather a dictionary that reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon. Published letter by letter, the CHD is a long-term project and the result of a painstaking process of cultural, historical, and lexical investigation for all those interested in Hittite culture and history. The CHD is the only such project in the English speaking world.
£105.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Volume P, fascicle 2 (para- to pattar)
The Hittite language is the earliest preserved member of the Indo-European family of languages. It was written on clay tablets in central Asia Minor over a five hundred year span (ca. 1650-1180 B.C.) which witnessed the rise, the floruit, and the decline of many political powers in the Near East. The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD is not just a list of words and their meanings, but rather a dictionary that reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon. Published letter by letter, the CHD is a long-term project and the result of a painstaking process of cultural, historical, and lexical investigation for all those interested in Hittite culture and history. The CHD is the only such project in the English speaking world.
£27.41
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Volume P, fascicle 3 (pattar to putkiya-)
The Hittite language is the earliest preserved member of the Indo-European family of languages. It was written on clay tablets in central Asia Minor over a five hundred year span (ca. 1650-1180 B.C.) which witnessed the rise, the floruit, and the decline of many political powers in the Near East. The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD is not just a list of words and their meanings, but rather a dictionary that reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon. Published letter by letter, the CHD is a long-term project and the result of a painstaking process of cultural, historical, and lexical investigation for all those interested in Hittite culture and history. The CHD is the only such project in the English speaking world.
£31.49
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Mural Decoration in the Theban Necropolis
The tombs and mortuary temples of Thebes have proved an enduring topic of interest thanks to a quickly expanding corpus of field materials and a series of conferences devoted to the subject. This volume, the fourth in a series of occasional proceedings from the ongoing Theban Workshop, presents new research on wall decoration in the Theban necropolis. Its thirteen essays, by an international array of leading scholars, attest to the wide and varied scope of the theme.
£80.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 'Like 'Ilu Are You Wise': Studies in Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in Honor of Dennis G. Pardee
This volume honors Dennis G. Pardee, Henry Crown Professor of Hebrew Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago and one of the preeminent experts in Northwest Semitic languages and literatures, particularly Ugaritic studies. The thirty-seven essays by colleagues and former students reflect the wide range of Professor Pardee's research interests and include, among other topics, new readings of inscriptions, studies of poetic structure, and investigations of Late Bronze Age society.
£80.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Unpublished Bo-Fragments in Transliteration II: (Bo 6151-Bo 9535)
These Hittite text fragments are part of a large collection found during the early Turkish-German excavations at the Hittite capital Hattusa before the Second World War. This book offers a large number of unpublished text fragments from the collection, both photographed and in transliteration, also providing philological notes to the fragments. The fragments were originally taken to the Staatliche Museen in Berlin (which fell to East Germany after the war) and were finally returned by the German Democratic Republic to Turkey (the Museum of Ancient Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara) in 1987. They were then divided among a team of eminent Turkish Hittitologists under the supervision of Sedat Alp, but most of the pieces remain unpublished. In 2010 a new team was formed, partly consisting of members of the former team, but also supplemented by several fine younger Turkish Hittitologists. The authors of the present monograph are among these new team members. Oguz Soysal, a Hittitologist, and Basak Yildiz Gulsen, a curator of the Ankara Museum, provide photographs and transliterations of each piece. Wherever necessary, the authors give philological notes to explain certain forms or to present relevant text variants. Each fragment, if possible, is accompanied by information on its assignment to a Hittite text or text genre, the date of the composition, the fragment's measurements, and previous bibliography. 316 illustrations (most in colour)
£49.50
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures The Great Hypostyle Hall in the Temple of Amun at Karnak: Volume 1, Part 2 (Translation and Commentary) and Part 3 (Figures and Plates)
Standing at the heart of Karnak Temple, the Great Hypostyle Hall is a forest of 134 giant sandstone columns enclosed by massive walls. Sety I built the Great Hypostyle Hall ca. 1300 BCE and decorated the northern wing with exquisite bas reliefs. After his death, his successor Ramesses II completed the southern wing mostly in sunk relief. This volume provides full translation, epigraphic analysis, and photographic documentation of the elaborate wall reliefs inside the Hall. This vast trove of ritual art and texts attest to the richness and vitality of Egyptian civilization at the height of its imperial power. The present volume builds upon and serves as a companion to an earlier volume of drawings of the wall scenes made by Harold H. Nelson in the 1950s and edited for publication by William J. Murnane in 1981. Volume 1, Part 2 452pp; Volume 1, Part 3 (figures and plates) 328pp.
£82.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Christians and Others in the Umayyad State
The papers in this first volume of the new Oriental Institute series LAMINE are derived from a conference entitled "Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians in the Umayyad State," held at the University of Chicago on June 17-18, 2011. The goal of the conference was to address a simple question: Just what role did non-Muslims play in the operations of the Umayyad state? It has always been clear that the Umayyad family (r. 41-132/661-750) governed populations in the rapidly expanding empire that were overwhelmingly composed of non-Muslims - mainly Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians - and the status of those non-Muslim communities under Umayyad rule, and more broadly in early Islam, has been discussed continuously for more than a century. The role of non-Muslims within the Umayyad state has been, however, largely neglected. The eight papers in this volume thus focus on non-Muslims who participated actively in the workings of the Umayyad government." This new Oriental Institute series - Late Antique and Medieval Islamic Near East (LAMINE) - aims to publish a variety of scholarly works, including monographs, edited volumes, critical text editions, translations, studies of corpora of documents - in short, any work that offers a significant contribution to understanding the Near East between roughly 200 and 1000 CE. "
£23.34
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Mesopotamian Pottery: A Guide to the Babylonian Tradition in the Second Millennium B.C.
This volume presents the results of the long-term co-operation of archaeologists from the University of Ghent and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago to establish the ceramic chronology for Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C. Drawing only upon pottery found in good context in well-conducted excavations, going back to the 1930s, but relying especially on the collaboration of other excavators who were working in southern Iraq from the 1960s onward, James Armstrong and Hermann Gasche, with the participation of cuneiformist Steven Cole and ceramic specialists Abraham Van As and Loe Jacobs, have created a typology of all major forms, showing the subtle changes that occurred in individual shapes through time at one site and at related sites. It also shows regional variations in shapes. Their graphic presention of the forms makes visible a centuries-long break in occupation of numerous sites in southern Iraq beginning in the time of Samsuiluna, the successor to Hammurabi of Babylon, and another break at the end of the millennium. There are detailed discussions of the forms and their geograhical distribution, as well as a treatment of the historical implications of the evidence.
£145.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Volume P, fascicle 1 (pa- to para)
The Hittite language is the earliest preserved member of the Indo-European family of languages. It was written on clay tablets in central Asia Minor over a five hundred year span (ca. 1650-1180 B.C.) which witnessed the rise, the floruit, and the decline of many political powers in the Near East. The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD is not just a list of words and their meanings, but rather a dictionary that reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon. Published letter by letter, the CHD is a long-term project and the result of a painstaking process of cultural, historical, and lexical investigation for all those interested in Hittite culture and history. The CHD is the only such project in the English speaking world.
£23.34
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Volume L-N, fascicle 4
The Hittite language is the earliest preserved member of the Indo-European family of languages. It was written on clay tablets in central Asia Minor over a five hundred year span (ca. 1650-1180 B.C.) which witnessed the rise, the floruit, and the decline of many political powers in the Near East. The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD is not just a list of words and their meanings, but rather a dictionary that reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon. Published letter by letter, the CHD is a long-term project and the result of a painstaking process of cultural, historical, and lexical investigation for all those interested in Hittite culture and history. The CHD is the only such project in the English speaking world.
£27.41
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Volume 17, S, Part 1
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.
£60.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Volume 16, S
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.
£52.50
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Volume 10, M, Parts 1 and 2
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.
£105.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Excavations Between Abu Simbel and the Sudan Frontier, Part 1: The A-Group Royal Cemetery at Qustul, Cemetery L
This volume is the first of twelve scheduled to present the materials excavated under the direction of Professor Keith C. Seele in a concession that extended from the Abu Simbel temples to the Sudan frontier in two seasons, 1962-63 and 1963-64. It presents, in detail, Cemetery L at Qustul, which is a small cemetery containing unusually large and wealthy tombs of A-Group. The tombs, badly plundered and fire damaged, contained pharaonic images on A-Group objects, indicating that they belonged to rulers from the period before Egypt's First Dynasty. Many finds are unique; decorated objects give direct evidence in context for the date of famous carved stone and ivory objects from early Egypt. This lavishly illustrated volume details the elaborate A-Group painted pottery and decorated objects as well as more common finds, with individual chapters on the tombs, pottery, small objects, epigraphy, and a discussion of the special importance of Cemetery L in early Nubia with its possible role in the development of pharaonic Egypt.
£99.61
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Volume 9, L
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.
£45.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Volume 3, D
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.
£41.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago: Volume 18, Letter T
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, usually with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and thus, in many ways, assumes the function of an encyclopaedia. Its source material ranges in time from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st century AD and in geographic area from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Zagros Mountains in the east. The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary has become an invaluable source for the study of the civilisations of the ancient Near East; their political and cultural history; their achievements in the sciences of medicine, astronomy, mathematics and linguistics; and not least, the timeless beauty of their poetry. Volume 21, alphabetically the last, was published in the early years of the project; Volume 20: U/W is the final volume and its publication marks the completion of the set.
£115.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice
To date, no comprehensive treatment of Egyptian magic has focused on the practice of the magician. Both general studies and textual publications have emphasized instead the religious elements in the contents of recited spells, while the accompanying instructions, with their vignettes and lists of materials, instruments, and ritual actions, remained uninvestigated. This study represents the first critical examination of such "magical techniques," revealing their widespread appearance and pivotal significance for all Egyptian "religious" practices from the earliest periods through the Coptic era, influencing as well the Greco-Egyptian magical papyri. The author also discusses the "pagan-Egyptian" influence on Old and New Testament practices and in the lives of the Coptic Desert Fathers. The third edition is a reprinting of the second, which included minor corrections from the original edition. This volume is a significant revisionist approach to ancient Egyptian magic. As a result of a methodical analysis of both the textual and archaeological records, Ritner concludes that the boundaries between ancient Egyptian magic, religion, and medicine were not as strictly observed as modern commentators believe. Furthermore, he categorically denies the frequent attempts of moderns to define ancient Egyptian magic as a phenomenon dealing with the supernatural, practiced primarily for nefarious purposes sub rosa by strictly observed as modern commentators believe. Furthermore, he categorically denies the frequent attempts of moderns to define ancient Egyptian magic as a phenomenon dealing with the supernatural, practiced primarily for nefarious purposes sub rosa by individuals outside of the religious mainstream. Ritner's engaging prose style and felicitous exegesis of even the most arcane material make for easy reading. But more important still, the content of the work ensures that it will become a vital reference tool for all engaged in any aspect of ancient Egyptian religion. [From a review by R. S. Bianchi in Journal of the American Oriental Society 114 (1994) 513-14].
£42.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Nimrud: The Queens' Tombs
Muzahim Hussein's 1989 discovery of tombs of Neo-Assyrian queens in the palace of Ashurnasirpal in Nimrud (Kalhu/Calah) was electrifying news for archaeology. Although much is known of the Assyrian kings (8th/9th century B.C.), very little was known about the queens, with the exception of semi-mythical Semiramis. Now, for the first time, not only were actual remains and burial objects of Assyrian queens discovered, but also names and attempts through curses to protect the burials. Elaborate gold jewelry and other items in the tombs rivaled in quality and quantity that found in Egyptian royal tombs. A short scholarly publication of a few items, as well as limited coverage in the world's press, gave only hints of the importance of the objects in the tombs. Planned international exhibitions of the treasures from the tombs had to be cancelled due to war and sanctions. Hussein and Amer Suleiman published Nimrud: A City of Golden Treasures, in 1999, under extraordinarily difficult conditions, that could not do justice to the objects. The present volume, a joint publication of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and the Oriental Institute, is a new version of the finding of the tombs and their contents, giving much additional information derived from Hussein's continued analyses of classes of artifacts, accompanied by numerous full color plates.
£73.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Early Megiddo on the East Slope (The 'Megiddo Stages'): A Report on the Early Occupation of the East Slope of Megiddo. Result of the Oriental Institute's Excavations, 1925-1933
This report completes prior publications by Clarence S. Fisher (1929), P. L. O. Guy (1931), Robert M. Engberg and Geoffrey M. Shipton (1934a), and P. L. O. Guy and Robert M. Engberg (1938) on the earliest utilization and occupation of the slope at the southeast base of the high mound of Megiddo (Tell el-Mutesellim). That area, labeled by the excavators the "East Slope," and identified by them in their notations as "ES," was excavated by the Oriental Institute between the years 1925, when work commenced, and 1933, when the last of it was apparently cleared down to bedrock. While the primary focus of this report is on Square U16 (an area of 25 25 m), where most of the early remains (i.e., of the Early Bronze Age and earlier) excluding tombs were encountered, this work also deals with the later remains within that same, limited precinct.
£32.86
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Perspectives on Ptolemaic Thebes
The manuscript consists of seven papers presented at the Theban Workshop, 2006. Within the temporal and spatial boundaries indicated by the title, the subjects of the papers are extremely diverse, ranging from models of culture-history (Manning and Moyer), to studies of specific administrative offices (Arlt), a single statue type (Albersmeier), inscriptions in a single temple (DiCerbo/Jasnow, and McClain), and inscriptions of a single king (Ritner). Nonetheless, all the papers are significant contributions to scholarship, presenting new interpretations and conclusions. Two papers (DiCerbo/Jasnow and McClain) are useful preliminary reports on long-term projects. The cross-references in Arlt and Albersmeiers and in Mannings and Moyers papers attest to value added by presentation at the workshop.
£15.14
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Ankara Arkeoloji Muezesinde Bulunan Bogazkoy Tabletleri II: Bogazkoy Tablets in the Archaeological Museum of Ankara II
This is the first volume in a new series, Chicago Hittite Dictionary Supplements, designed to augment and supplement the work of the Chicago Hittite Dictionary project. Future volumes will continue to bring tablets written in the Hittite language to light. The volume presented here (ABoT II) is the continuation of the cuneiform edition Ankara Arkeoloji Muezesinde Bulunan Bogazkoy Tabletleri (ABoT) published by Kemal Balkan in 1948. The Hittite tablets, which were acquired by the Ankara Anadolu Medeniyetleri Muezesi by purchase and donations, or collected as surface finds, bear the siglum "AnAr". The best-preserved and attractive pieces of these tablets have been made accessible to the scholarly public through the publication of ABoT; the others, however, were not considered for publication at that time. Since the series of ABoT was later discontinued, such fragments, mostly still useful and in reasonable condition, remained untouched in the Ankara Museum for years. When Rukiye Akdooan decided to make copies of nearly four hundred AnAr fragments and publish them as ABoT II, an agreement of cooperation with Oguz Soysal for the preparation of the catalogue of this work was made in the year 2005. Although the cuneiform copies in other similar works like ABoT and IBoT I-IV were made by Turkish scholars (K. Balkan, M. C. H. Kzlyay, and M. Eren), the support of foreign scholars (H. G. Gueterbock and H. A. Hoffner) was still sought. ABoT II, on the other hand, is a fully Turkish cuneiform edition as a welcome result of a joint Ankara-Chicago effort. The small size of most of the fragments made it particularly difficult to determine the text genres and to place them in the text categories assigned in E. Laroche's Catalogue des textes hittites (CTH). Nevertheless, after two years of intensive work and with the support of the Chicago Hittite Dictionary Projects lexical files, it has been possible to find many duplicates of well-known compositions from Bogazkoy. This volume will certainly enrich the Hittite text corpus. The represented text genres herein include historical, administrative and technical, lexical, mythological texts, hymns and prayers, rituals, cult administration and inventory texts, divination documents, festival descriptions, and compositions in languages other than Hittite (Hattian, Hurrian, Luwian, Sumerian and Akkadian). With the present edition of 389 pieces in cuneiform copies, there are almost no more AnAr fragments remaining in the Ankara Museum that would be worth publishing.
£13.82
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond
Writing, the ability to make language visible and permanent, is one of humanity's greatest inventions. This book presents current perspectives on the origins and development of writing in Mesopotamia and Egypt, providing an overview of each writing system and its uses. Essays on writing in China and Mesoamerica complete coverage of the four pristine writing systems - inventions of writing in which there was no previous exposure to texts. The authors explore what writing is, and is not, and sections of the text are devoted to Anatolian hieroglyphs of Anatolia, and to the development of the alphabet in the Sinai Peninsula in the second millennium BC and its spread to Phoenicia where it spawned the Greek and Latin alphabets. This richly illustrated volume, issued in conjunction with an exhibit at the Oriental Institute, provides a current perspective on, and appreciation of, an invention that changed the course of history.
£32.86
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures The Oriental Institute 2008-2009 Annual Report
The Oriental Institute 2008-2009 Annual Report The Oriental Institute Annual Reports contain yearly summaries of the activities of the Institute's faculty, staff, and research projects, as well as descriptions of special events and other Institute functions. The reports are complimentary to Members and Donors of the Oriental Institute and are here offered to a general audience for the first time.
£23.34
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Medinet Habu IX: The Eighteenth Dynasty Temple, Part 1: The Inner Sanctuaries, with Translations of Texts, Commentary and Glossary
With this volume, the Epigraphic Survey returns to its series of publications dedicated to the reliefs and inscriptions of the Medinet Habu complex, a series inaugurated in 1930 with the publication of the war scenes and earlier historical records from the mortuary temple of Ramesses III ( Medinet Habu 1. Earlier Historical Records of Ramses III , The Epigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute Publications 8, 1930). The Ramesside temple and the High Gate were to occupy the efforts of the Survey for the next four decades, ending in 1970 with the appearance of Medinet Habu VIII . In resuming the Medinet Habu series, the Survey initiates what is envisioned to be a sequence of several volumes documenting the Eighteenth Dynasty temple of Amun and subsequent additions thereto, beginning with this publication of the reliefs in the six innermost rooms of the temple. These chambers were begun during the co-regency of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III and completed by the latter king during his sole reign.
£198.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Kerkenes Special Studies 1: Sculpture and Inscriptions from the Monumental Entrance to the Palatial complex at Kerkenes, Turkey
Between 2003 and 2005, various remains of sculpture and fragments of an important inscription in the Old Phrygian language were unexpectedly found during excavations at the sixth century BC walled city on Kerkenes Mountain in the highlands of Central Turkey. These unusual finds have a significant role to play in the interpretation of the site and the interpretation of Phrygian history and culture. Large-scale sculpture in the round and small reliefs have distinctive characteristics so far unattested within territory inhabited by Phrygian speakers, while the extensive inscription names individuals so far unknown. Together, they attest to an ambitious and distinctive identity of power at this relatively remote mountaintop city, which may be equated with the strongly fortified place of Pteria mentioned in Herodotus, and which may have flourished for a brief period between the death of King Midas of Gordion and the conquering of Anatolia by the Persian King, Cyrus the Great. This volume presents these striking new finds, all of which come from the Monumental Entrance to a sector of the city known as the Palatial Complex. An introduction to the archaeological context is followed by a detailed catalog of the sculpted fragments, associated architectural fragments, and the inscribed fragments. Within the catalog there is erudite discussion of comparanda aimed at placing the unique material in its wider cultural and historical context, as well as a tentative reconstruction of the major pieces into a single monument. Rounding off the work is a commentary on the Phrygian inscription by Prof. Claude Brixhe. The volume is profusely illustrated with line drawings and photographs of every fragment together with a set of color plates that highlight the violence done to the monuments when the city was looted and burnt in the mid-sixth century BC. A Turkish summary is provided.
£80.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Chogha Mish, Volume 2: Final Report on the Last Six Seasons of Excavations, 1972-1978
The present publication is the final report on the eleven seasons of excavations at Chogha Mish. In addition to the materials and records from Chogha Mish, Alizadeh uses the data available from the excavations of the neighboring sites of Chogha Bonut and Boneh Fazl Ali to augment his reconstruction of Susiana prehistoric development. Together, these three sites cover a long period from ca. 7200 to 500 B.C. While most researchers see the fourth millennium as a pivotal period in the development of state organizations in southwestern Iran as a result of intra-regional competition between various local polities, Alizadeh traces the onset of the conflict of interest between the settled agricultural communities of the lowlands and mobile pastoralists of the highlands to the fifth millennium b.c. In doing so, Alizadeh considers a much more substantial role for the ancient mobile pastoralists of the region, placing Chogha Mish in a much wider regional context and arguing that at the beginning of the fifth millennium BC, as the local elite were rapidly developing, lowland Susiana shifted its orientation from Mesopotamia to highland Iran, where most of the material resources are located. He attributes this shift to the development of mobile pastoralism in highland Iran and considers the ancient mobile pastoralists as the agents of contact between the highlands and the lowlands. Database of faunal remains available online.
£80.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures The Origins of State Organisations in Prehistoric Highland Fars, Southern Iran: Excavations at Tall-e Bakun
The late prehistoric Bakun A culture in Fars is a major source of information on the initial development of the evolutionary path which vertical mobile pastoralists of highland Iran may have taken to develop state organisations. Long before the appearance of administrative technology and physical segregation of administration, production, storage, and residential units in urban centers of the second half of the fourth millennium BC, Tall-e Bakun A, near Persepolis in the Marv Dasht region of Fars, stands as one of the precursors to the complex societies of the fourth millennium BC early urban centres. The present publication presents the final report of the last season's excavations at Tall-e Bakun A. The archaeological materials from this season are combined with the results of other pertinent data from surveys and excavations in the Near East to provide a foundation upon which pre-state social evolution in late prehistoric highland Fars has been reconstructed and interpreted. Based on the analysis of the available archaeological data as well as historical and ethnographic sources, Alizadeh argues that the specialised manufacture and administrative aspects at Tall-e Bakun A indicate the existence of differential status at the site, where a few families or ranking individuals controlled the manufacture and flow of goods.
£66.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Seals on the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, Volume I: Images of Heroic Encounter
This is the first volume (text and plates) of the analytically legible seals (ca. 1,162) retrieved through many thousands of full or partial impressions preserved on the 2,087 Elamite administrative tablets recovered during the 1930s excavations at Persepolis, Iran, and published by Richard T Hallock (OIP 92) in 1969. The tablets are dated by date formulae in the texts to the years 509-494 BC in the reign of Darius the Great. Volume I introduces the archive and documents the 312 seals of heroic encounter (retrieved via 1,970 impressions) with high quality composite drawings and a separate volume of 291 halftone and line plate illustrations presented at a scale of 2:1. Entries provide commentary on administrative, social, stylistic, and iconographical features of the seals as well as systematic analysis of seal application patterns. The thirty-four seal inscriptions are presented by Charles E Jones. Twelve appendices synthesize formal and iconographical data and integrate the seals with their associated texts. Volume I is in two parts: Part 1: text 562pp; Part 2: plates 1-291 318pp
£123.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Excavations at the Palatial Complex: Kerkenes Final Reports 2
The city on the Kerkenes Dağ in the high plateau of central Turkey was a new Iron Age capital, very probably Pteria. Founded in the later seventh century BC, the city was put to the torch in the mid-sixth century and then abandoned. Excavations at what we have identified as the Palatial Complex were conducted between 1999 and 2005. The stone glacis supporting the Fortified Structure at the eastern end of the complex was revealed in its entirety while the greater portion of the Monumental Entrance was uncovered. Portions of buildings within the complex were also excavated, notably one-half of the heavily burned Ashlar Building, one corner of the Audience Hall, and parts of other structures. This volume documents as fully as possible the results of those excavations with the exception of sculpture, some bearing Paleo-Phrygian inscription, already published (OIP 135). The location of the complex, its development from foundation to destruction, and its architecture are discussed and illustrated. Within the Monumental Entrance were extraordinary, unexpected, semi-iconic stone idols, and other embellishments that include stone blocks with bolsters, bases for large freestanding wooden columns, and stone plinths. Extensive use was made of iron in combination with timber-framed façades and large double-leafed doors. Objects of gold, silver, copper alloys, and iron attest to former splendor. Organization of the volume is roughly chronological, beginning with the Fortified Structure, and concluding with the Monumental Entrance. Presentation of material culture is organized with an emphasis on context. Specialist chapters report on alphabetic and nonalphabetic graffiti and masons' marks, animal bones among which was found the jawbone of a dolphin, and a Byzantine-period burial. This volume provides further dramatic and surprising new evidence for the power, wealth, and sophistication of an eastward expansion of Phrygian culture exemplified by architecture, cultic imagery, Paleo-Phrygian inscriptions and graffiti, pottery, and artifacts. The brief existence of this extraordinary city, hardly more than one hundred years, together with the excellent stratigraphic context provided by the destruction level, offer an unparalleled window onto the first half of the sixth century BC on the Anatolian Plateau.
£122.50
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 100 Highlights of the Collections of the Oriental Institute Museum
This special edition of Highlights of the Collections of the Oriental Institute Museum commemorates the 2019 centennial of the Oriental Institute and presents 100 highlights from ancient Mesopotamia, Syro-Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, Nubia, and Persia in the collections.
£65.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Structures of Power: Law and Gender Across the Ancient Near East and Beyond
This volume publishes the proceedings of the eleventh annual University of Chicago Oriental Institute Seminar. Its central goal is to present a cross-cultural study of the intersection between law and gender relations in the ancient world, with a focus on the ancient Near East. When reflecting upon the formation, perpetuation, and interactions of social structures that frequently come into conflict with each other, one discovers that gender constructs are used by mechanisms of social monitoring and control; structures of power. One such example is the realm of jurisdiction and legislation. This volume uses the sphere of legal institutions as a prism through which to consider gender relations in the ancient world, both in the Near East and beyond. The way in which similar issues were manifested in different cultural and historical contexts is examined, with the goal of identifying common denominators as well as particularities. The three themes discussed in this volume are examined through multiple historical-cultural examples.
£15.14
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures In Remembrance of Me: Feasting with the Dead in the Ancient Middle East
This Oriental Institute Museum exhibit catalog looks at how the living commemorated and cared for deceased ancestors in the ancient Middle East. The focus of the exhibit is the memorial monument (stele) of an official named Katumuwa (ca. 735 BC), discovered in 2008 by University of Chicago archaeologists at the site of Zincirli, Turkey. Part I of the catalog presents the most comprehensive collection of scholarship yet published on the interpretation of the Katumuwa Stele, an illuminating new document of ancestor cult and beliefs about the soul. In Part II, leading scholars describe the relationship between the living and the dead in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, and the Levant (Syria-Palestine), providing a valuable introduction to the family and mortuary religion of the ancient Middle East. The fifty-seven objects cataloged highlight the role of food and drink offerings and stone effigies in maintaining a place for the dead in family life.
£13.82
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Letters from Turkey, 1939-1946
When Georgianna Maynard went to Turkey in 1939 with her husband, Dick Maynard, she expected romance but found reality. The expected five year stay was extended to seven with the outbreak of World War II. The day-to-day struggle to cope with life as a young, married couple trapped in a foreign country is reflected by Mrs. Maynard's correspondence home. These letters, from the Maynards' first seven years in Turkey, describe visits to several of the great cities of the Middle East, from Alexandria to Istanbul, while portraying the rigors of organizing and operating a high school and running a household - all against the backdrop of world war. Her experiences in Turkey kindled in Georgie an interest in the history of the Near East, which led her to serving as a docent of the Oriental Institute for almost twenty years.
£19.25
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, Volume 1: The Festival Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall
This latest in the series of publications of the field work of the Epigraphic Survey is certainly the crowning achievement of the seventy years the Oriental Institute's artists and epigraphers have labored at the walls of the temples and tombs of Luxor, recording the inscriptions and reliefs in facsimile for posterity. Not only is The Festival Procession of Opet the Survey's largest volume to date, it is also the most sophisticated in terms of the finesse of the rendering of the facsimile drawings with indications of the different types of man-made and environmental damage suffered by the complicated surviving Luxor Temple Colonnade Hall reliefs indicated in minute details - which must have taken countless hours of inking by the many Survey artists (eighteen by actual count) who worked six months in the field each year recording the Opet Festival reliefs from 1974 to 1992. [From a book brief in KMT 5:4 (1994/95) 86]. The portfolio of large drawings is accompanied by a text booklet, which has a list of plates, transliterations and translations of the texts, commentary and glossary.
£154.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Excavations Between Abu Simbel and the Sudan Frontier, Part 6: New Kingdom Remains from Cemeteries R, V, S, and W at Qustul and Cemetery K at Adindan
This volume provides lavish details on the New Kingdom remains from the Nubian sites of Qustul and Adindan. Nubia prospered, as it was more closely tied to Egypt during this period of its history than at any other time. The Egyptian influence and Nubia's prosperity are clearly depicted in the burials. William J. Murnane contributes a chapter on inscribed stela; Lanny Bell aids in a unique presentation of inscribed coffin fragments; John Darnell lends his expertise in the reading of the glyptic on scarabs; and Emily Teeter's advice on presentation makes this volume an extremely valuable addition to an Egyptologist's library.
£66.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures The Holmes Expedition to Luristan
This two-volume account of archaeological investigations in central and eastern Luristan reflects work carried out over 50 years in the remote area of western Iran, north of the Zagros Mountains. Included are excavation reports on the Chalcolithic site of Kamtarlan and on an Iron Age shrine on the slopes og Surkh Dum-I-Luri mountain.
£97.50
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Volume 11, N, Parts 1 and 2
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.
£105.00
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Volume 8, K
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.
£65.00