Search

[German version] (‘the extremely wise one’). Protagonist of an Akkadian mythic poem from the ancient Babylonian era (early 2nd millennium BC), of which there were two or three diverging versions. The myth was carried forward in Babylonia and Assyria until the first millennium BC. A newer version arose in the New Assyrian era (7th cent. BC). Texts from  Ugarit and  Hattuša attest to the spread of the myth in the 2nd millennium BC, even beyond Mesopotamia. It treats the creation of human beings from…

[German version] In Mesopotamia, from the 3rd millennium BC, the gates of temples, cities and other locations (e.g. palaces) could serve as venues for jurisdiction [1. 140 f.; 2. 66 with n. 6; 3. 321-325]. The same was true in Egypt [4. 782]. This was associated with the role of gates as foci of public and economic life in cities, and in the case of temple doors it was also linked to the temple's function as a venue for the taking of oaths of testimony and purification. Door Neumann, Hans (Berlin) Bibliography 1 A. Falkenstein (ed.), Die Inschriften Gudeas von Lagaš, vol. 1: Intro…

[German version] (Agade). There is documentary evidence of this city in northern Babylon that dates up to the second half of the 1st millennium BC, however, no archaeological evidence of its existence has been found. It achieved particular significance as the king's residence and capital city of the Akkadian kingdom, the first large territorial state in  Mesopotamia.  Akkadian Neumann, Hans (Berlin) Bibliography B. R. Foster, Select Bibliography of the Sargonic Period, in: History of the Ancient Near East. Stud. 5, 1993, 171-182 Répertoire géographique des textes cunéiforme…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt The dowry in old Mesopotamia was given with the bride generally by her father (more rarely also by the mother or other family members) into the marriage, that (together with the means of the husband) served to secure the economic position of the wife if the man died first or in the event of a divorce. As a widow or a divorced (by the man) wife, she was entitled to the dowry, which in the event of her death went to her children, if childless went back to the …

[German version] (Narām-Sîn). Fourth king (2260-2223 BC) of the dynasty of Akkad in Mesopotamia, grandson of the founder of the dynasty, Sargon. Under N. the state of Akkad flourished once again. He is recorded on numerous campaigns that served to increase his power, both through the pillaging of foreign regions and the territorial expansion of the state, the latter primarily pertaining to the upper Mesopotamian region from northern Syria to the eastern Tigris region. In addition N. deployed inten…

[German version] Main location of a northern Babylonian city state which ruled northern Babylonia around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Located opposite  Seleucia on the Tigris. More recent sources identify it with Upī (Greek:  Opis) [1. 111, n. 608; 2. 46-48], but this identification is debated. Neumann, Hans (Berlin) Bibliography 1 J. A. Brinkman, A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia. 1158-722 B.C, 1968 2 D. R. Frayne, The Early Dynastic List of Geographical Names, 1992.

[German version] [1] of Akkad (Akkadian Šarru[ m]- kīn, 'the ruler is legitimate'). Founder (2340-2284 BC) of the so-called dynasty of Akkad in Mesopotamia. According to later Sumerian and Akkadian literary and historiographical tradition, S. was said to have been the son of a certain Lāipum and a priestess [1. 69; 2. 36-49] and to have begun his career as a cupbearer under King Ur-Zababa of Kiš [1; 2. 51-55]. S. established his own (to date unidentified) residence, Akkad, and created by his conquests …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Mesopotamia (Sumerian Nibru; Akkadian Nippur[ u]; Arabic Nuffar). City in Babylonia c. 140 km to the southeast of modern Baghdad, for which habitation in varying intensity can be demonstrated from the 6th millennium BC until about AD 800, to some extent even into the 14th cent. AD. During the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, without ever having played a power-political dynastic role, N. - and its city god Enlil - experienced elevated significance in the course of a development which re…

[English version] I. Alter Orient und Ägypten Die M. im alten Mesopotamien war das der Braut in der Regel vom Vater (seltener auch von der Mutter bzw. anderen Familienmitgliedern) in die Ehe mitgegebene Vermögen, das (zusammen mit Vermögensleistungen des Ehemannes) der ökonomischen Sicherstellung der Ehefrau bei Vorversterben des Mannes bzw. für den Fall der Ehescheidung diente. Als Witwe bzw. (von seiten des Mannes) geschiedene Ehefrau hatte sie Anspruch auf die M., die im Falle ihres Todes an ihre Ki…

[English version] Hauptort eines nord-babylon. Stadtstaates, der um die Mitte des 3. Jt. v. Chr. die Vorherrschaft über Nordbabylonien ausübte. Gegenüber von Seleukeia am Tigris gelegen. Umstritten ist die Identifizierung mit Upī (griech. Opis) in jüngeren Quellen [1. 111 Anm. 608; 2. 46-48]. Neumann, Hans (Berlin) Bibliography 1 J. A. Brinkman, A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia. 1158-722 B. C., 1968 2 D. R. Frayne, The Early Dynastic List of Geographical Names, 1992.

[English version] (Narām-Sîn). Vierter König (2260-2223 v.Chr.) der sog. Dyn. von Akkad in Mesopotamien, Enkel des Dyn.-Begründers Sargon. Für N., unter dem der Staat von Akkad noch einmal zu großer Blüte gelangte, sind zahlreiche Feldzüge bezeugt, die sowohl der Ausplünderung fremder Gebiete als auch der territorialen Erweiterung des Staatsgebietes dienten, letzteres v.a. die obermesopot. Region von Nordsyrien bis zum Osttigrisgebiet betreffend. Darüber hinaus entfaltete N. intensive Bautätigkeit…

[English version] (“der überaus Weise”). Protagonist einer akkad. mythischen Dichtung aus altbabylon. Zeit (frühes 2. Jt.v.Chr.), von der es zwei oder drei voneinander abweichende Fassungen gab. Der Mythos wurde in Babylonien und Assyrien bis ins 1. Jt.v.Chr. hinein tradiert. Eine jüngere Version entstand in neuassyr. Zeit (7.Jh. v.Chr.). Textvertreter aus Ugarit und Hattuša bezeugen die Verbreitung des Mythos im 2. Jt.v.Chr. auch außerhalb Mesopotamiens. Er behandelt die Erschaffung des Menschen …

[English version] (Agade). Inschriftl. bis in die zweite Hälfte des 1. Jt. v. Chr. bezeugte, arch. jedoch nicht nachweisbare Stadt in Nord-Babylonien; erlangte bes. Bedeutung als Königsresidenz und Hauptstadt des Reiches von A., des ersten größeren Territorialstaates in Mesopotamien. Akkadisch Neumann, Hans (Berlin) Bibliography B. R. Foster,Select Bibliography of the Sargonic Period, in: History of the Ancient Near East. Stud. 5, 1993, 171-182  Répertoire géographique des textes cunéiformes Bd. 1, 1977, 5-9; 2, 1974, 6; 3, 1980, 7; 4, 1991, 4-6; 5, 1982, 7-10; 8, 1985, 4-5.

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Mesopotamien (sumerisch Nibru; akkadisch Nippur[ u]; arab. Nuffar); ca. 140 km sö vom h. Baghdad gelegene Stadt in Babylonien, für die sich vom 6. Jt.v.Chr. bis etwa 800 n.Chr., teilweise sogar bis ins 14. Jh.n.Chr. eine Besiedlung in unterschiedlicher Intensität nachweisen läßt. Während der 1. H. des 3. Jt.v.Chr. erfuhr N. - und mit ihm sein Stadtgott Enlil - ohne daß die Stadt jemals eine machtpolit.-dyn. Rolle gespielt hätte, herausgehobene Bed. im Zuge einer Entwicklung, d…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Since the second half of the 3rd millennium BC [1. 63-98; 2. 345-365], a distinction was made in Mesopotamia between promissory (assuring) oaths in contract law and assertory (confirming) oaths taking effect in lawsuits. A promissory oath served as an absolute assurance of a renunciation or intended action and was performed by invoking the king or a god, or both. An assertory oath had probative force as an oath for witnesses or parties, e.g. an oath of purification …

[German version] A. Definition Bilingual inscriptions (or ‘bilingues’) are inscriptions that present the same text in two languages so as to be comprehensible to different readerships. Thus, bilingual inscriptions (BI), with closely corresponding texts, are distinguished from others in which one of the texts only summarizes the other. -- ‘Quasi-BI’ do indeed differ in their text format but treat the same subject matter or the same personalities. BI are only such texts as are composed contemporaneou…

[German version] [1] The Ancient Near East Work in the Ancient Near East was normally identified with physical labour in the agricultural and craft sectors, as well as in construction and haulage. Free labour was the province of self-employed producers and wage workers in institutional households (palace and temple). In the latter contexts, unfree labour was performed by dependents of many kinds, and also existed in the form of a state-decreed obligation of service. Slave labour was present to a varyin…

[German version] I. Introduction After the supersession of the concept that the ideal economic form was an autarkic entity of production and consumption not depending upon trade (e.g. the Homeric oîkos), and after the invention of means of payment - whether in the form of unstamped precious metals or coins - purchase, i.e. the exchange of goods for money, was a self-evident element of ancient societies. In spite of its presumably general distribution, however, purchase was underdeveloped in terms of legal provision. Laws and…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia, Egypt Leasehold in the sense of the limited taking over of the use of land used for agricultural or gardening purposes against payment of a rent, was attested in Mesopotamia from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Both institutional households ( Palace; Temple) as well as private individuals could function as lessors. The rent was set either at an absolute value in kind or silver, or as a part of the harvest. The one third leasehold, which meant that the lessor received 1/3 of the harvest and the leaseholder received 2/3, was typical above all for the ea…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In the ancient Orient, beer was a well-known and popular drink that had been brewed in Mesopotamia and Egypt since the end of the 4th millennium BC at the latest. The basic ingredient in manufacture was above all barley malt [1. 322-329], other ingredients were emmer and sesame. In the 1st millennium BC a type of date beer became important in Babylon [2.155-183]. In Egypt texts from the older period mention not just date beer but also carob tree beer and poppy beer.…