Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE

With contributions from both established and rising Assyriologists from ten countries and edited by three leading scholars of Assyriology, this volume presents thirty-two essays based on papers delivered at the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale held in Philadelphia in 2016. Reflecting on the theme “Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE,” the chapters deal with archaeological, artistic, cultural, economic, historical, and textual matters connected to the ancient city of Ur. Three of the chapters are based on plenary lectures by senior scholars Richard Zettler, Jonathan Taylor, and Katrien De Graef. The remainder of the essays, arranged alphabetically by author, highlight innovative new directions for research and represent a diverse array of topics related to Ur in various periods of Mesopotamian history. Tightly focused in theme, yet broad in scope, this collection will be of interest to Assyriologists and archaeologists working on Iraq.

Grant Frame is Professor Emeritus of Assyriology and former Director of the Center for Ancient Studies at the University of Pennsylvania; Curator of the Penn Museum’s Babylonian Collection; and founder, Director, and Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period Project. He is the author of The Archive of Mušēzib-Marduk, Son of Kiribtu and Descendant of Sîn-nāṣir: A Landowner and Property Developer at Uruk in the Seventh Century BC and Rulers of Babylonia: From the Second Dynasty of Isin to the End of Assyrian Domination (1157–612 BC).

Joshua Jeffers is Lecturer in Akkadian Language at the University of Pennsylvania and Research Specialist for the Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period Project. He is the coauthor of The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC), Assur-etal-ilani (630–627 BC), and Sin-sarra-iskun (626–612 BC), Kings of Assyria, also published by Eisenbrauns.

Holly Pittman is Bok Family Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator in the Near East Section and Deputy Director for Academic Programs at the Penn Museum. She is the author of Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia and the Indus Valley and coauthor of Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, fifth edition.

Foreword

Abbreviations

Program

Welcome to Participants of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique

Grant Frame

Plenary Papers

Woolley’s Excavations at Ur: New Perspectives from Artifact Inventories, Field Records, and Archival Documentation

Richard L. Zettler

Sîn-City: New Light from Old Excavations at Ur

Jonathan Taylor

Bad Moon Rising: The Changing Fortunes of Early Second-Millennium BCE Ur

Katrien De Graef

Conference Papers (Alphabetical by Author)

The Moon Watching Over the Sun and Venus: Revisiting the Attributes and Functions of Nanna/S.n in Mesopotamia

Isabel Gomes de Almeida & Maria de Fátima Rosa

Detecting Social Tensions in the Archaeological Record: Official and Vernacular Figurine-Making Traditions at Ur in the First Millennium BCE

Anastasia Amrhein

Old Babylonian Terracottas from Ur: Ancient and New Perspectives

Laura Battini

The City of Ur and the Neo-Babylonian Empire

Paul-Alain Beaulieu

The Ziqqurats of Ur and Babylon and the Place Where the Ark Moors After the Flood (The Epic of Gilgameš XI 158)

Daniel Bodi

Epigraphy of Ur: Past, Present, and Future

Dominique Charpin

Signs from Silence: Ur of the First Sumerians (Late Uruk Through ED I)

Petr Charvát

Breakers and Enforcers of the Oath of the King

Laura Culbertson

Utopic and Dystopic Images in Mesopotamian Literature: The Conflict Between Order and Chaos in Ur III

Maria de Fátima Rosa & Isabel Gomes de Almeida

In Search of Ur in iqqur īpuš

Jeanette C. Fincke

The Kingdom as Sheepfold: Frontier Strategy Under the Third Dynasty of Ur; A View from the Center

Steven J. Garfinkle

From Uruk to Ur: Automated Matching of Virtual Tablet Fragments

Erlend Gehlken, Tim Collins, Sandra Woolley, Laurence Hanes, Andrew Lewis, Luis Hernandez-Munoz, and Eugene Ch’ng

The City of Ur: The Possibilities for Statistical Analysis on the Use of Space in Domestic Households

Nicole Grunert

Trace Elements and Isotopes: The Origin of Gold from Ur from a Geochemical Point of View

Moritz Jansen, Andreas Hauptmann, Sabine Klein, and Richard L. Zettler

Science and Technology: Using Ur-Online to Aid in Scientific Analysis

Kyra Kaercher and Tessa de Alarcon

Towards Archival Reconstruction of Ur III Cuneiform Tablets

Yudong Liu and James Hearne

Excavating Ur in Children’s Literature

Kevin M. McGeough and Elizabeth A. Galway

Aspekte der Sklaverei im altbabylonischen Ur: Untersuchungen zu den a-ru-a-Texten

Christin Möllenbeck

Glyptic Art from the Ur III to the Šimaški Periods: Heritage and Overtaking of the Models

Clélia Paladre

The Status of Real Estate in Neo-Babylonian Ur: The Case of the Gallābu Family

Olga V. Popova

Palace and “Private” Sectors in Old Babylonian Ur

Mitchell S. Rothman

Materiality and Mark-Making: Sealing and Community in Early Dynastic Ur

Sarah J. Scott

Eclipse of a King: A New Interpretation of the Bull-Headed Lyre

JoAnn Scurlock

Local and Imported Religion at Ur Late in the Reign of Shulgi

Tonia M. Sharlach

The Third Millennium Banquet Scene at Ur and Its Archaeological Correlates

Diana L. Stein

New Excavations at Ur

Elizabeth C. Stone, Paul Zimansky, Katheryn Twiss, Michael Charles, and Melina Seabrook

Ur and Other Cities in Some Sumerian and Akkadian Personal Names: The Pre-Sargonic and Sargonic Periods

Jan Tavernier

Implications of Intertextuality: Erra and Išum and the Lamentation Over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur

Selena Wisnom

Was the Karzida of Ur’s Akītu Festival at Tell Sakhariya?

Paul Zimansky

Download a PDF sample chapter here: Introduction