Since the 1980s, projects such as the State Archives of Assyria have made great strides in the philological study of Neo-Assyrian inscriptional sources, producing text editions and hand-copies of administrative and legal texts, letters, religious and literary works, and royal and private commemorative inscriptions with a high standard of accuracy. And yet, nearly thirty years later, we are only beginning to scratch the surface of what these texts have to offer. This volume advances the mission of the State Archives of Assyria project by bringing together fourteen essays that analyze the cultural production of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
The essays in this collection, born out of a seminar held at the University of Tsukuba in 2014, combine the study of multiple and varied sources with examination of specific corpuses and genres. They comprise historical studies of textual and pictographic sources; comparative literary studies concerning specific terms, concepts, and ideologies; and examinations of philological or historical problems of royal inscriptions that have some connection to archaeology.
In addition to the editor, the contributors include Sebastian Fink, Grant Frame, Andreas Fuchs, Shuichi Hasegawa, Sanae Ito, Mikko Luukko, Raija Mattila, Jamie Novotny, Karen Radner, Saana Svärd, Greta Van Buylaere, Chikako E. Watanabe, and Silvie Zamazalová.
Preface and Acknowledgement
Abbreviations and Object Signatures
The Military Role of the Hightest Officials, Magnates, and Governors: Assyrian Royal Inscriptions versus Archival and Literary Sources Raija Mattila
Ulluba and Its Surroundings: Tiglath-pileser III's Province Organization Facing the Urartian Border Shigeo Yamada
How to Implement Safe and Secret Lines of Communication Using Iron Age Technology: Evidence from a Letter to a God and a Letter to a King Andreas Fuchs
Tracing the Neo-Elamite Kingdom of Zamin in Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Sources Greta van Buylaere
The Hunt for Nabu-bel-sumati of the Sealand: Searching for the Details in Epistolary Sources Sanae Ito
Revisiting the Identities of the Four Foreigners Represented on Ashurbanipal Relief BM ME 124945-6: Unravelling the Mystery of an Unrecorded Event Jamie Novotny and Chikako E. Watanabe
Women in Neo-Assyrian Temples Saana Svärd
Last Emperor or Crown Prince Forever? Assur-uballit II of Assyria according to Archival Sources Karen Radner
Different Sources—Different Kings? The Picture of the Neo-Assyrian King in Inscriptions, Letters and Literary Texts Sebastian Fink
Anonymous Neo-Assyrian Denunciations in a Wider Context Mikko Luukko
Mountains as Heroic Space in the Reign of Sargon II Silvie Zamazalová
Lost in the Tigris: The Trials and Tribulations in Editing the Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II of Assyria Grant Frame
Use of Archaeological Data for Investigating the Itineraries of Assyrian Military Campaigns Shuichi Hasegawa
Late Neo-Assyrian Building Histories: Tradition, Ideology, and Historical Reality Jamie Novotny
