Ancient Iraq (52 page)
If Mesopotamia can be shown to have influenced Greece it is not unreasonable to believe that she exerted an even greater influence upon other Near Eastern countries. The case has been repeatedly proven with regard to the Hittites, the Hebrews, Canaan, Urartu, Media and Achaemenian Persia. But what of
the Mesopotamian heritage in later Oriental civilizations? What of Parthian and Sassanian Iran, of Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Anatolia? What of Arabia? What of the Islamic religion and institutions? What of Iraq itself, from Parthian times down to the present day? Going even farther afield, Professor Rostovtzeff – one of the few scholars equally at ease in the Hellenistic and Oriental worlds – could write, fifty years ago: ‘We are gradually learning how great was the influence of Babylonian and Persian Art on the artistic development of India and China.’
10
The material available is already substantial, if scattered; yet no one, it seems, has undertaken to study it from this particular point of view. But this can wait. So many
tells
in Syria and Iraq are awaiting the spade, so many tablets and other inscriptions need to be published, revised or republished, so many points in the long history of ancient Mesopotamia require elucidation that generations of Assyriologists, archaeologists and historians will be kept fully busy for centuries to come.
USED IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY
| AAO | H. FRANKFORT , The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient Harmondsworth, 1954 |
| AAS | Annales Archéologiques de Syrie , Damascus |
| AASOR | Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research , New Haven |
| ABC | A. K. GRAYSON, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles , Locust Valley, N.Y., 1977 |
| AfO | Archiv für Orientforschung , Berlin/Graz |
| AJA | American Journal of Archaeology , Concord, New Haven |
| Akkadica | Akkadica, Brussels (Musées Royaux d' Art et d'Histoire) |
| AM | A. PARROT , Archéologie Mésopotamienne , Paris, 1946 – 53 |
| ANET | Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (edited by J. B. PRITCHARD ), Princeton, N.J., 1950, 2nd edition, 1955 |
| AOAT | Alter Orient und Altes Testament (series) Neukirchen-Vlun |
| ARAB | D. D. LUCKENBILL , Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia , Chicago, 1926 – 7 |
| ARI | A. K. GRAYSON , Assyrian Royal Inscriptions , 2 vol., Wiesbaden, 1972 – 6. |
| ARM | Archives Roales de Mari Traductions , Paris, 1950 ff |
| BASOR | Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research , New Haven |
| BBS | L. W. KING , Babylonian Boundary Stones , London, 1912 |
| BHT | S. SMITH , Babylonian Historical Texts , London, 1924. |
| Bi. Or . | Bibliotheca Orientalis , Leiden |
| BaM | Baghdader Mitteilungen , Berlin |
| Bo. Stu. | Boghazköy Studien , Leipzig |
| CAH | Cambridge Ancient History (Revised edition), Cambridge |
| EA | J. A. KNUDZTON, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, Leipzig, 1915 |
| HBS | S. N. KRAMER , History Begins at Sumer , New York, 1959. 1st edition, 1956 |
| Iraq | Iraq , London (British School of Archaeology in Iraq) |
| IRSA | E. SOLLBERGER and J.-R. KUPPER , Inscriptions Royales Sumériennes et Akkadiennes , Paris, 1971 |
| ISA | F. THUREAU-DANGIN , Les Inscriptions de Sumer et d‘Akkad , Paris 1905 |
| JAOS | Journal of the American Oriental Society, New Haven |
| JCS | Journal of Cuneiform Studies , New Haven |
| JESHO | Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , Leiden |
| JNES | Journal of Near Eastern Studies , Chicago |
| JSOR | Journal of the Society of Oriental Research, Chicago |
| JSS | Journal of Semitic Studies , Manchester |
| KB | Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek , Berlin, 1889 ff. |
| KING | L. W. KING , Chronicles Concerning Early Babylonian Kings , London, 1907 |
| MARI | Mari, Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires , Paris |
| MAOG | Mitteilungen der Altorientalischen Gesellschaft , Leipzig |
| MDOG | Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft , Berlin |
| MDP | Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse , Paris |
| MVAG | Mitteilungen der vorderasiatisch-aegyptischen Gesellschaft , Berlin |
| NBK | S. LANGDON , Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften , Leipzig, 1912 |
| OIC | Oriental Institute Communications, Chicago |
| OIP | Oriental Institute Publications, Chicago |
| Orientalia | Orientalia , Rome (Pontifical Biblical Institute) |
| PKB | J. A. BRINKMAN , A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia , Rome, 1968 |
| RA | Revue d'Assyriologie , Paris |
| RCAE | LEROY WATERMAN , Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire , Ann Arbor, 1930 – 36 |
| RGTC | Répertoire Géographique des Textes Cunéiformes (series), Wiesbaden |
| RHA | Revue hittite et asianique , Paris |
| RIMA | A. K. GRAYSON (ed.) The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Rulers (series), Toronto |
| RISA | G. A. BARTON , The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad , New Haven, 1929 |
| RLA | Reallexikon der Assyriologie , Berlin |
| SAA | State Archives of Assyria (series) Helsinki |
| SKL | T. JACOBSEN , The Sumerian King List , Chicago, 1939 |
| Sumer | Sumer , Baghdad |
| Syria | Syria , Paris |
| UE | Ur Excavations , London, 1927 ff. |
| UET | Ur Excavations Texts , London, 1928 ff. |
| UVB | Uruk vorlaüfiger Berichte (= Vorlaüfiger Berichte über die… Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka), Berlin |
| VDI | Vestnik Drevney Istorii (= Journal of Ancient History), Moscow |
| WISEMAN | D.J. WISEMAN , Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (626 – 556 B.C. ), London, 1956 |
| WVDOG | Wissenschaftliche Veröffenlichungen der deutschen Orient-Gessellschaft , Leipzig |
| ZA | Zeitschrift für Assyriologie , Leipzig/Berlin |
| ZZB | D. O. EDZARD, Die Zweite Zwischenzeit Babyloniens , Wiesbaden, 1957 |
Chapter I
1
. For physical geography:
P. BEAUMONT, G. H. BLAKE
and J.
M. W. WAGSTAFF
,
The Middle East, a Geographical Study
, London, 1976. For historical geography (and often much more): J.
B. PRITCHARD
(Ed.),
The Times Atlas of the Bible
, London, 1989; the
Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients
, Wiesbaden, 1977 ff., and the subsidiary series:
Repertoire Géographique des Textes Cunéformes (RGTC)
, 1974 ff.;
M. ROAF
,
Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East
, Oxford, 1990.
2
. On fauna:
E. DOUGLAS
van
BUREN;
The Fauna of Ancient Mesopotamia as Represented in Art
, Roma, 1939;
F. S. BODENHEIMER
,
Animal and Man in Bible Land, Leiden
, 1960; B. LANDSBERGER, The Fauna of Ancient Mesopotamia, Roma, 1960 (philological study);
B. BRENTJES
,
Wildtier und Haustier im alten Orient, Berlin
, 1962. On flora:
M. ZOHARI
,
Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East
, Stuttgart, 1973;
E. GUEST
et al., Flora of Iraq
, Baghdad, 1966 ff.; M. B. ROWTON, ‘The woodlands of ancient western Asia‘,
JNES
XXVI (1967), PP. 261 – 77.
3
.
K. W. BUTZER
,
Quaternary Stratigraphy and Climate of the Near East
, Bonn, 1958, and
CAH
, I, 1, pp. 35 – 62; J.
S. SAWYER
(ed.),
World Climate from 8000 to 0
B.C
., London, 1966;
W. NUTZEL
, ‘The climate changes of Mesopotamia and bordering areas, 14000 to 2000
B. C
.’,
Sumer
, XXXII (1976), pp. 11 – 24.
4
. HERODOTUS, II, 5.
5
. Put forward by
PLINY
,
Hist. Nat
., VI, xxxi, 13, as early as the first century
A.D
., this theory was codified by
DE MORGAN
in
MDP
, I (1900), 4 – 48.
6
.
G. M LEES
and
N. L. FALCON
, ‘The geographical history of the Mesopotamian plains’,
Geogr. Journal
, CXVIII (1952), 1, pp. 24 – 39.
7
.
C. E. LARSEN
, ‘The Mesopotamian delta region: a reconsideration of Lees and Falcon’,
JAOS, XCV
(1975), pp. 43 – 57.
P. KASSLER
, ‘The structural and geomorphic evolution of the Persian Gulf’ in
B. H. PURSUER
,
The Persian Gulf
, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1973, pp. 11 32.
W. NUTZEL
, ‘The formation of the Arabian Gulf from 14000
B.C.
’,
Sumer
XXXI (1975), pp. 101 – 11.
8
.
G. ROUX
, ‘Recently discovered ancient sites in the Hammar-Lake district’,
Sumer
, XVI (1960), pp. 20 – 31.
9
.
M. S. DRAWER
, ‘Perennial irrigation in Mesopotamia’, in
A History of Technology
, London, 1955, I, p. 545 ff.;
P. BURINGH
, ‘Living conditions in the lower Mesopotamian plain in ancient times,
Sumer
, XIII (1957), pp. 30 – 46;
R. MCC. ADAMS
, ‘Historic patterns of Mesopotamian irrigation agriculture’, in
T. E. DOWNING
and
MCG. GIBSON
(eds.),
Irrigation Impact on Society
, Tucson, 1971, pp. 1 – 6.
10
. For some scholars, an extensive salinization in southern Iraq between 2400 and 1700
B.C.
was the reason for the decline of the political power of the Sumerians. See:
T. JACOBSEN
and
R. MCC. ADAMS,
‘Salt and silt in ancient Mesopotamian agriculture’ in
Science
, CXXVIII (1958), pp. 1251 – 8;
T. JACOBSEN
,
Salinity
and
Irrigation Agriculture
, Malibu, 1982. For a different opinion, see:
M. L. A. POWELL
, ‘Salt, seed and yields in Sumerian agriculture’,
ZA
, LXV (1985), pp. 7 – 38.
11
.
M. IONIDES
,
The Régime of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris
, London, 1937.
12
.
S. N. KRAMER
,
HBS
, pp. 65 – 9;
The Sumerians
, Chicago, 1963, pp. 105 – 9 and 340 – 42. Also see:
B. LANDSBERGER
, ‘Jahreszeiten in Sumerisch-Akkadischen’, JNES, VII (1949), pp. 248 – 97.
13
.
HERODOTUS
, I, 193;
STRABO
, XVI, 14.
14
.
T. JACOBSEN
, in
Sumer
, XIV (1958), p. 81, quoted 2537 litres of barley per hectare (2.47 acres) in the vicinity of Girsu (Tello)
c
. 2400
B.C.
, as against 1,165 to 1,288 litres in the same region during the fifties. The reliability of ancient texts on this subject is discussed by
K. BUTZ
in
E. LIPINSKI
(ed.),
State and Temple Economy in the Ancient Near East
, Leuven, 1979, pp. 257 – 409. Detailed studies on ancient Mesopotamian agriculture are published in
Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture
, Cambridge, 1984 ff.
15
.
A. H. PREUSSNER
, ‘Date culture in ancient Babylonia’,
AJSL
, XXXVI (1920), pp. 212 – 32;
W. H. DOWSON
,
Dates and Date Cultivation in Iraq
, Cambridge, 1923;
B. LANDSBERGER
, ‘The date-palm and its by-products according to the cuneiform sources’,
AfO
, XVII (1967).
16
. According to R. ELLISON, ‘Diet in Mesopotamia’,
Iraq
, XLIII (1981), pp. 35 – 43, the diet in Mesopotamia at different periods provided 3,495 calories per day on average.
17
. On this desert in general, see:
C. P. GRANT
,
The Syrian Desert
, London, 1937 (with extensive bibliography).
18
. On this region, see:
A. M. HAMILTON
,
Road through Kurdistan
, London, 1958;
R. J. BRAIDWOOD
and
B. HOWE
,
Prehistoric Investigations in Iraqi Kurdistan
, Chicago, 1960, pp. 12 – 17.
19
.
W. THESIGER
, ‘The marshmen of southern Iraq’,
Geogr. Journal
, CXX (1954), pp. 272 – 81;
The Marsh Arabs
, London, 1964.
20
.
R. J. FORBES
,
Bitumen and Petroleum in Antiquity
, Leiden, 1936;
Studies in Ancient Technology
, I, Leiden, 1955, pp. 1 – 118.
21
. Numerous books and articles have been published on Mesopotamian trade. See notably:
A. L. OPPENHEIM
, ‘The seafaring merchants of Ur’,
JAOS
, LXXIV (1954), pp. 6 – 17;
W. F. LEEANN
,
Foreign Trade in the Old Babylonian Period
, Leiden, 1960;
Trade in the Ancient Near East
, London, 1977 (articles from
Iraq
, XXXIX (1977);
N. YOFFEE
,
Explaining Trade in ancient Western Asia
, Malibu, 1982;
T. STETCH
and
v. c. pigott
, ‘The metals trade in southwestern Asia in the third millennium
B.C
.,
Iraq
, XLVIII (1986), pp. 39–64. On particular metals:
J. D. MUHLY
,
Copper and Tin
, Hamden, Conn., 1973;
K. R. MAXWELL-HYSLOP
, ‘Sources of Sumerian gold’,
Iraq
, XXXIX (1977), pp. 84 – 6.
22
. J.
LEWY
, ‘Studies in the historic geography of the ancient Near East’,
Orientalia
, XXI (1952), pp. 1 – 12; 265 – 92; 393 – 425; A. GOETZE, ‘An Old Babylonian itinerary’,
JCS
, VII (1953), pp. 51 – 72. D. O.
EDZARD
and
G. FRANTZ-SZABO
. ‘Itinerare’
RLA
, V (1977) 216 – 20.
23
.
W. W. HALLO
, ‘The road to Emar’,
JCS
, XVIII (1964), PP. 57 – 88, and remarks by
A. GOETZE
,
ibid
., pp. 114 – 19.
24
.
SIR ARNOLD T. WILSON
,
The Persian Gulf
, London, 1954.
25
. For Bahrain, see:
G. BIBBY
,
Looking for Dilmun,
Penguin Books, London, 1972; D. T. POTTS (ed.),
Dilmun, New Studies in the Archaeology and Early History of Bahrain,
Berlin, 1983;
SHAIKHA HAYA ALI AL-KHALIFA
and
M. RICE
(ed.),
Bahrain Through the Ages: the Archaeology,
London, 1986. For Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, consult the
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
, London, from 1971. Reports of excavations and other papers are published in a variety of scientific journals. For a general view, see:
D. T. POTTS
,
The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity
, vol. I, Oxford, 1990.