Abstract
Donbaz, Veysel, Middle Assyrian Texts from Assur at the Eski Şark Eserieri Müzesi in Istanbul(Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 146; Keilschrifttexte aus mittelassyrischer Zeit, 11; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015), pp. ix + 26 + 74 plates. €58.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10538-5; ISSN 0342-4464.
The former curator of the Tablet Collections of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums has made careful copies of 131 cuneiform texts. A brief description is given of each text (as if from a card index), including an indication of the contents, a quotation of the date, and the various individuals named in the text. Most are administrative texts, including sale and ration receipts, deliveries of goods, contracts for ilku-work (corvée labour), lists, and the like. There are indexes of names in various categories and concordances of texts by excavation and museum inventory numbers. D. has edited a number of the cuneiform texts associated with the Assur excavations. We look forward to an edition with translations and commentary aimed at a wider audience.
Lester L. Grabbe
Finkelstein, Israel, The Forgotten Kingdom: The Archaeology and History of Northern Israel (Ancient Near East Monographs, 5; Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2013), pp. xii+ 197. $39.95 (hardback), $24.95 (paperback). ISBN 978-1-58983-912-0 (hardback), 978-1-58983-910-6 (paperback).
This slim but informative and well-illustrated volume is based on lectures given by the author in Paris and was originally published in French as Le Royaume biblique oubli é (Paris: Odile Jacob, 2013; neither edition was noticed by B.L. at the time). F. is concerned mainly with the territorial history of Israel and its emergence as a state, while the broader context from the late Bronze Age to the fall of Israel and its aftermath is sketched in outline. The main source relied on is archaeology, which is compared with ANE texts and a modest set of biblical texts that F. reckons to be free of later Judahite ideology and genuinely informative. The latest radiocarbon dates provide the absolute chronology, which coincides with F.'s ‘lower chronology’. This excludes a ‘united kingdom’: the two kingdoms emerged side by side. But F. sees two successive states in the ‘north’: the first centred on Gibeon in the tenth (not the eleventh!) century, which he associates with the biblical traditions about Saul; this was weakened by Sheshonq's campaign (dated earlier) and replaced by Jeroboam's Tirzah-based kingdom. Tirzah, however, is identified as the capital solely on the biblical evidence: the archaeology displays a modest unfortified settlement in the early Iron IIA (c. 930-880), just like Jerusalem at the same period. It is therefore not true, as F. claims, that he always starts with the archaeology. His evidence would not in fact exclude a short period of suzerainty for Jerusalem in the mid-tenth century.
Walter J. Houston
Katzy, Elisabeth, Hellenisierung Nordmesopotamiens am Beispiel des Khabur-Gebietes (Vorderasiatische Forschungen der Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung, 3: Ausgrabungen auf dem Tell Halaf in Nordost-Syrien, Teil IV; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015), pp. ix+ 189 + 97 plates. €108.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10377-0; ISSN 1868-6095.
Beginning as a doctoral thesis at Tübingen (supervisors M. Novák and T. Schäfer), this is mainly a catalogue of material culture in northern Mesopotamia in the Hellenistic period (especially architecture and ceramics), with many photos and drawings. This region is especially interesting for the question of Hellenization because the settled population was autochthonous, and the information comes primarily from material culture rather than texts. There is evidence of more continuation of the Mesopotamian tradition than adoption of Greek. The local elite seem to have been the intermediates between the Seleucid rulers and the local population, but the elite mostly picked individual elements of Greek culture that interested them, such as iconographic symbols (e.g. Herakles) and certain styles of ceramics. The Seleucids seem to have had no interest in Hellenizing the native peoples, and there were no major breaks in the administration. Their interest was primarily in the contribution of settlements to trade. This is an important contribution to understanding the process of Hellenization in Mesopotamia.
Lester L. Grabbe
London, Gloria, Ancient Cookware from the Levant: An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective (Sheffield, UK/Bristol, CT: Equinox, 2016), pp. xiv + 312. 67 colour and black and white figures and 2 maps. £115.00/$150.00. ISBN 978-1-7817-9199-8.
There are multiple words in biblical Hebrew that refer to cookware; however, they are often imprecise and problematic to translate; we have more names for cookware in biblical Hebrew than can be easily correlated with excavated pottery. To illuminate the way in which we think about ancient cookware, L. uses in-depth analyses of the physical remains from archaeological sites, ancient texts, official Ottoman, British and Cypriot government reports concerning pottery production and data provided by long-term ethnographic studies of traditional potters in the late twentieth century. It is demonstrated that names for cookware in the Hebrew Bible varied according to the vessels’ depth, their uses, whether they were made by men or women, whether they were handmade or thrown, glazed or unglazed, urban or rural, and if they had handles. The diversity of Arabic terms for basic ceramics (suggesting regional and chronological differences) indicate that there were likely distinctions in cookware names between Israel and Judah also. Only by taking these variations into account can biblical names for pots be correlated with artefacts, especially as scribes likely had little contact with both potters and those who cooked. L. ‘s ethnographic observations lead to a convincing explanation for the prohibition of cooking a kid in its mother's milk, and she demonstrates how continuity and change in pottery are due to the practicality and functionality of cookware, rather than historical, social or political change. A valuable and rigorous contribution to the archaeology of the Levant.
Rebekah Welton
Master, Daniel M. (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Archaeology (2 vols.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. xxiv + 555 (vol. 1), x + 579 (vol. 2). $395.00/£255.00. ISBN 978-0-19-999655-1 (vol. 1), 978-0-19-999656-8 (vol. 2), 978-0-19-984653-5 (set).
The publisher has declined to make a review copy of this two-volume work available to the B.L., and so no assessment of the work can be made here, but it is understood that the publication contains 121 articles in alphabetical order from ‘Aelia Capitolina’ to ‘Infancy, Childhood, Adulthood, and Old Age in the Bronze and Iron Ages’ (in vol. 1) and from ‘Jericho’ to ‘Writing Materials and Practice in the Hellenistic and Roman Period’ (in vol. 2), with an appended essay on ‘Chronology of the Southern Levant’. There are entries on 34 archaeological sites of OT interest (Arad, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba, Bethel, Beth-Shean, Beth-Shemesh, Dan, Ekron, Gath, Gaza, Gezer, Hazor, Hebron, Horbat Rosh Zayit, Jericho, Jerusalem, Jezreel, Khirbet Qeiyafa, Lachish, Megiddo, Mount Ebal, Ramat Rahel, Rehob, Samaria/Sebaste, Shechem, Shephelah, Shiloh, Tell Deir Alla, Tell Dothan, Tell el-Far’ ah, Tell en-Nasbeh, Tell Hesban, and Timnah), as well as on a further 28 sites of NT interest (e.g. Bethlehem, Cana, Capernaum, Nazareth), and 13 articles on wider regions (e.g. Egypt, Galilee, Jordan Valley, Moab). Society and culture in Syria-Palestine in relation to the OT are covered by articles on ‘Agriculture’, Animal Husbandry’, ‘Art’, ‘Ceramics Production’, ‘Cities, Villages, and Towns’, ‘Cooking’, ‘Corn, Oil, and Wine Production’, ‘Death and Burial’, ‘Diet’, ‘Domestic Architecture’, ‘Dress’, ‘Economy’, ‘Feasting’, ‘Fortifications’, ‘Gender’, ‘Household Religion’, ‘Infancy, Childhood, Adulthood, and Old Age’, ‘Literacy’, ‘Metal Working’, ‘Music and Dance’, ‘Puberty, Marriage, Sex, Reproduction, and Divorce’, ‘Religion and Cult’, ‘Stone Tools’, and ‘Textile Production’.
(Book List Editor)
Maul, Stefan (ed.), Glossare zu den B änden Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 1-3 (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 142; Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Assur, E: Inschriften, 9; Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts, 6; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015), pp. x + 100. €32.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10407-4; ISSN 0342-4464.
The present volume supplements this series on the inscriptions from the excavation site of Assur with a glossary of logogrammes, Akkadian and Sumerian vocabulary, numbers, names, and the like for the first three volumes (see B.L. 2013, p. 190 for the second volume in the series). From vol. 4 a glossary is included with the published texts; however, the lack of such a glossary in the first three volumes is here made good. Some readers might be surprised to find that the glossary of each volume is listed separately, rather than combined into one, but the genre of each volume is rather different (vol. 1 : divinatory texts; vol. 2: ritual and curse texts against malicious magic; vol. 3: historical and historical-literary texts). Thus, in spite of some duplication, the listing by each separate volume seems justified. This is a useful supplement to the main Akkadian lexica which are now starting to become somewhat dated.
Lester L. Grabbe
Milson, David (ed.), Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, vol. 33 (London: The Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 2015), pp. 251. Numerous figures. £20 p.a. ISSN 2042-7867.
The contributions to this volume cover a range of topics spanning six millennia of the history of Israel and the ancient Levant. The essays included in this volume are: Katherine Streit, ‘Exploring the Wadi Rabah Culture from the 6th Millennium cal bce: Renewed Excavations at Ein el-Jarba in the Jezreel Valley, Israel (2013-2015)’; Nava Panitz-Cohen, Robert A. Mullins and Ruhama Bonfil, ‘Second Preliminary Report of the Excavations at Tell Abil el Qameh (Abel Beth Maacah)’; Casey Sharp, Chris McKinny and Itzhaq Shai, ‘The Late Bronze Age Figurines from Tel Burna’; Yosef Garfinkel and Madeleine Mumcuoglu, ‘A Shrine Model from Tel Rekhesh’; David M. Jacobson, ‘Herod the Great, Augustus Caesar and Herod's “Year 3” Coins’; Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom, ‘Factory Lamps “Firmalampen” in the Levant’; Samuel Wolff, ‘A Newly Identified Persian Cemetery? A Response to Kletter and Nagar’; Raz Kletter, ‘Still an Iron Age Cemetery: A Response to Samuel Wolff; Raz Kletter, ‘A History of the Archaeological Museum of the State of Israel in Jerusalem, 1949-1965’; Caroline Waerzeggars, ‘Review Article: Laurie E. Pearce and Cornelia Wunsch, Documents of the Judean Exiles and West Semites in Babylonia in the Collection of David Sofer’. Some highlights are worth mentioning here: Streifs report on the Ein el-Jarba excavation project explores the possible existence of ‘mega-sites’ in the Chalcolithic period connected with the Wadi Rabah culture, and discusses data collected over four seasons of excavation; and Kletter, as well as giving a counter-response to Wolff's argument for a Persian dating of the cemetery at Yavne, as opposed to Kletter and Nagar's original Iron II date, has contributed a fascinating and important essay on the little-known history of the Archaeological Museum of the State of Israel. Along with the usual book reviews, lecture summaries, student grant reports, and reports from Jerusalem, AIAS has delivered yet another diverse and stimulating collection of essays which will no doubt be of great interest to biblical scholars and archaeologists alike.
Seth Cole
Pedde, Friedhelm, Gr äber und Grüfte in Assur II. Die mittelassyrische Zeit (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 144; Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Assur, D: Allgemeines, 3; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015), pp. xii + 175 + 135 plates. 13 tables. €108.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10493-7; ISSN 0342-4464.
This new volume on the Assur excavations of 1903-14 (see B.L. 2013, pp. 198-201 for some earlier volumes, and in the current issue see pp. 18 and 23) covers the graves and burial vaults of the Middle Assyrian period, divided into Early Middle Assyrian (Friihmittelassyrische Phase), High Mddle Assyrian (Hochmittelassyrische Phase), and Late Mddle Assyrian (Sp ätmittelassyrische Phase). There are about 39 Middle Assyrian burial vaults and 177 graves. Most of these were found in the domestic quarter and only a few in the city section with official buildings. They sometimes have more than one corpse, but many have no human remains; there are many grave goods, which are catalogued and discussed. References are made to studies of individual tombs and objects. It is well illustrated, often by photographs and drawings from the original excavations, and well indexed.
Lester L. Grabbe
Pfälzner, Peter and Michel Al-Maqdissi (eds.), Qaṭna and the Networks of Bronze Age Globalism: Proceedings of an International Conference in Stuttgart and Tübingen in October 2009 (Qatna Studien, 2; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015), pp. xii + 584. Numerous figures. €170.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10350-3; ISSN 2195-4305.
This massive conference volume contains 45 papers, followed by four group discussions. The book is arranged in five sections, the contents being as follows. Section I (‘Qatna and the International World of the Bronze Age’): R. Bernbeck, ‘Networks, Globalization and Power: Reflections on Past Spatialities’; F. Blocher, ‘Beyond the Euphrates: Qatna's Distant Relatives’; S. de Martino, ‘Mittanian Hegemony in Western and Central Syria’; M.H. Feldman, ‘Qatna and Artistic Internationalism during the Late Bronze Age’; J. Aruz, ‘Styles of Interaction in Ancient Syria’. Section II (‘Qatna and its Syrian Neighbours: Historical Relations and Cultural Contacts’): H. Klengel, ‘Qatna and Inter-Regional Trade in the Second Millennium bc’; G. Wilhelm, ‘Suppiluliuma and the Decline of the Mittanian Kingdom’; F. van Koppen, ‘Qatna in altsyrischer Zeit’; M. Heinz, ‘The Spatial Heritage of Alalakh—Any Signs of ‘Localism’, ‘Regionalism’ or ‘Globalism’ Left Behind?’; A.F. Taraqji, ‘Tell Sakka, fouilles syriennes dans la région de Damas’; M. al-Besso, ‘Analyse préliminaire d'un atelier de production d'objets en os à Tell Sakka (Bronze Moyen, Syrie du Sud)’; H. Sader, ‘Intertwined History: Lebanon's Role in the Transmission of Egyptian Culture to Inland Syria in the Middle Bronze Age’; H.C. Loffet, ‘La Qadem levantine des Égyptiens était-elle la cité-état de Qatna/Tell-Mshrifeh syrienne?’; A. Caubet and F. Poplin, ‘Ougarit à la lumière des découvertes de Qatna: Remarques sur l'industrie de l'ivoire et autres matières dures d'origine animale’; N. Ziegler, ‘Qatna at the Time of Samsi-Addu’; J. Marzahn, ‘The Central Syrian States Mirrored in the Amarna Archives’; H. Niehr, ‘The King's Two Bodies: Political Dimensions of the Royal Cult of the Dead at Ugarit, Byblos and Qatna’. Section III (‘Materials from Qatna and International Exchange’): P. Pfälzner, ‘The Art of Qatna and the Question of the “International Style”’; J. Eidem, ‘Four Kings in Qatna: Some Old Babylonian Seal Legends from the Italian Excavations at Mshrifeh/Qatna’; V. Muller, ‘Les tablettes cunéiformes des premières fouilles de Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna: État de la question’; E. Roßberger, ‘Why Gold Is Not Forever: Giving and Taking of Jewellery in the Royal Tomb of Qatna’; E. Formigli, ‘Syrischer und Etruskischer Goldschmuck: Technologischer Transfer in orientalisierender Zeit’; C. von Rüden, ‘A Touch of Luxury from the Western Fringe of the Ancient World: The Aegean Impact on the Qatna Wall Paintings’; V. Paoletti, ‘The Interregional Exchange in Qatna as Seen from the Pottery of the Royal Palace and Royal Grave’; A. Ahrens, ‘Imports and Local Imitations: The Production, Exchange and Social Significance of Stone Vessels in the Northern Levant during the Second Mllennium bc: A Case Study from the Royal Tomb at Qatna’; L. Turri, ‘Ivory, Bone and Antler in Late Bronze and Iron Age Qatna’; E. Ishaq, ‘Premier bilan sur la coroplastie de Mishrifeh et de sa région (âges du Bronze et du Fer)’; N. Reifarth, ‘No Textiles? The Value of the Tiniest Scraps in an Archaeological Context’; G. Baccelli, ‘The Syrian Wardrobe in the Second Millennium bc: An Iconograph-ical Approach’; AA. Al-Raw, ‘The Special Role of the Royal Tomb of Qatna in Regard to the Bronze Weapons in Syria and the Levant during the Second Millennium bc’. Section IV (‘Archaeological and Scientific Investigations at Tell Mshrife/Qatna in a Diachronic Perspective’): D.M. Bonacossi, ‘The Lower City Palace at Qatna’; V. Boschloos, ‘A Scarab of Amenhotep III in Qatna's Lower City Palace’; M. Al-Maqdissi, ‘Notes d'archéologie Levantine, XXXVIII: Travaux archéologiques syriens à Mshrifeh-Qatna au nord-est de Homs (Émèse): Campagnes 2008-2011 ‘; G. Mouamar, ‘Mishrifeh au troisième millénaire av. J.-C. Bilan provisoire des travaux du Chantier (R) “cour du trône'“; S. Shabo, ‘Le quartier d'habitation dans le chantier de la Coupole de Loth à Qatna’; M. da Ros, ‘An Example of Late Bronze Age II Residential Architecture in Area T1 at Mshrife’; J. Schmid, ‘The Reconstruction of Ceilings and Roofs in Ancient Near Eastern Monumental Architecture’; C. Schmidt, ‘The Well-Room of the Royal Palace of Qatna and its Analogy to Hazor and Megiddo’; Y. Kanhoush, ‘Rapport préliminaire des résultats des campagnes de fouilles syriennes 2006-2009: Le “Palais Est” du Chantier T sur l'acropole de Mshrifeh-Qatna’; M. Iamoni, ‘The Eastern Palace of Qatna and the Middle Bronze Age Architectural Tradition of Western Syria’; M. Badawi, ‘Le quartier artisanal nord-est de l'âge du Fer II à Mshrifeh (Chantier O)’; S. Riehl, ‘Plant Production at Qatna in the Environmental and Supra-Regional Economic Context’; E. Vila, ‘The “Syrian Elephant” Revisited: Preliminary Analysis of the Elephant Bones at Mshrife/Qatna in Late Bronze Age Syria’; C. Witzel, ‘Deficiency or Overabundance: Insights Gained from the Investigation of Human Bones and Teeth from the Royal Hypogeum of Qatna’; A. Canci, ‘The Human Skeletal Remains from Ancient Qatna (Operations H and T): Bioarchaeological Synthesis and Review’. Section V (‘Qatna's Role in the Networks of Exchange’) contains the proceedings of four discussion panels, edited by B. Glissmann; they deal respectively with (1) the exchange of styles, objects and information: international style artefacts; (2) the exchange of styles, objects and information: international wall paintings; (3) the historical reconstructions of the Hittite expansion; and (4) pottery and comparative chronology of the Mddle to Late Bronze Age. Qatna is the most recent major Syrian site to be extensively excavated, and has yielded enormous amounts of information on every front, with a full recognition of the vast network of cultural cross-currents operating throughout the ancient world. The volume is a monument to the increasing sophistication of modern archaeology, which seems to be able to do just about everything but squeeze blood out of stones!
Nicolas Wyatt
Pfälzner, Peter, Herbert Niehr, Ernst Pernicka, Sarah Lange and Tina Köster (eds.), Contextualising Grave Inventories in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of a Workshop at the London 7th ICAANE in April 2010 and an International Symposium in Tübingen in November 2010, Both Organised by the Tübingen Post-Graduate School Symbols of the Dead ‘ (Qatna Studien Supplementa, 3; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015), pp. x + 290 + 10 plates. Many figures, including 8 maps and 10 tables. €92.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10237-7; ISSN 2195-4305.
The University of Tübingen is one of the cartel of institutions excavating the site of Tell Mishrife/Qatna on the Orontes in Syria. This volume publishes the papers from two conferences organized by the Tübingen postgraduate school, Symbols of the Dead. The papers (all in English except for one in French) relate to death, burials, graves and the like in the ANE between the fourth and first millennium bce, many by graduate students working on some aspect of the project. In Part I (The Dead, the Ancestors and the Living) are essays on residential funerary chambers as locations of social memory in third to second millennium Mesopotamia; bowl-holding stone effigies; mortuary practices in Sidon in the Mddle Bronze; the ancestor cult at Tell Arbid, Syria, in the Mddle Bronze; burials in Kamid el-Loz, Lebanon; the KTMW Stele from Zincirli and the Syro-Hittite mortuary cult. Part II (Mortuary Rituals): odour in death rituals at Tell Majnuna, Syria, in the early fourth millennium; royal funerals and ruling elites at early dynastic Ur; burial and mortuary ritual at Tell el-Dab'a, Egypt; royal funerary practices and interregional contacts in Mddle Bronze Levant; the cemetery at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, Jordan; a cremation custom of Iron Age Tell Sheikh Hamad, Syria. Part III (Grave Goods, Food and Offerings): symbols of prestige in funerary practices (in French); jewellery, collective identity and memory at the royal tomb of Qatna; glass production and consumption between Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Aegean; provenance analysis of calcite-alabaster vessels; food offerings in the royal tomb of Qatna; food offerings in the tombs of central Anatolia in the second millennium; animal remains from cremation burials in Syro-Palestine and south-eastern Anatolia. As will be clear, most of the essays fall outside the main time periods and geographical areas of interest to biblical scholars; nevertheless, many readers will still find something of interest. A full introduction by the editors explains the conferences and the project, and relates the essays in each section to one another. Unfortunately, an invited evaluation and synthesis of one of the conferences was not included in this collection.
Lester L. Grabbe
Shafer-Elliott, Cynthia (ed.), The Five-Minute Archaeologist in the Southern Levant (Sheffield, UK/Bristol, CT: Equinox, 2016), pp. xvi + 253. £15.99/$20.95. ISBN 978-1-7817-9242-1.
For biblical scholars wishing to make their first leap into the inter-disciplinary world of the archaeology of the Southern Levant, this collection of short essays is the place to begin. The incorporation of archaeology into biblical research continues to yield fruitful insights and perspectives for biblical interpretation. However, how does one move from the dig site and the raw archaeological evidence to the conclusions written on the pages of a biblical studies monograph or article? One may participate in an excavation to see first-hand what archaeologists do, while others may prefer to delve immediately into the archaeological reports. Either way, this volume offers biblical scholars a thorough (and accessible) introduction to archaeological methods, answering basic questions about how sites are chosen, what a locus is, and how measurements are taken and why; and also covering more complex issues such as how to date things and how to identify dirt floors. Each of the 56 chapters are clear, readable and concise, offering further reading recommendations for each topic. Later chapters cover thematic types of archaeology, such as gender, funerary, household and landscape, as well as ethical issues such as artefact ownership, museums, looting, and excavation in contested areas. Specialist terms are explained clearly and topics are treated with sufficient depth and detail, while keeping the reader interested and engaged. I would highly recommend this book to those about to embark on the use of archaeology in their work as well as for teaching undergraduate classes which implement archaeological methods and/or sources.
Rebekah Welton
Werner, Peter, Der Anu-Adad-Tempel in Assur(Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 145; Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Assur, A: Baudenkmäler aus assyrischer Zeit, 15; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2016), pp. xi + 185. 97 illustrations, 5 plan supplements, 95 tables. €82.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10581-1; ISSN 0342-4464.
This continues publication of the Assur excavations a century ago. The original plans, photographs, sketchbooks, excavation journal, and even the personal journal of the original excavator all allow publication of the excavation of the famous temple in 1905 to 1908. Chapter 1 gives introductory material, including a history of references to the temple over more than a millennium in cuneiform texts. Chapter 2 describes the architecture of the temple, with rich illustrations. Chapter 3 catalogues about two and a half thousand small objects, including some cuneiform texts. The plates give photographs of most of these. The volume is completed with a concordance of the museum, catalogue, and other numbers associated with the finds. Publication of these excavations is most welcome.
Lester L. Grabbe
Note also the following books reviewed in other sections of this Book List.
Gordin, Shai, Hittite Scribal Circles: Scholarly Tradition and Writing Habits — see p. 162
Lemaire, André, Levantine Epigraphy and History in the Achaemenid Period (539-332 bce) — see p. 33
Matoïan, Valérie and Michel Al-Maqdissi (eds.), Études ougaritiques IV — see p. 167
Miller, Marvin Lloyd, Performances of Ancient Jewish Letters: From Elephantine to MMT — seep. 34
Salah, Saqer, Die mittelassyrischen Personen- und Rationenlisten aus Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad/Dūr-Katlimmu — see p. 171
Sasson, Jack M., From the Mari Archives: An Anthology of Old Babylonian Letters — seep. 171