Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten (NINO) – förlag

In studies of the Assyrian merchant community established at Kültepe (KARUM Kanesh, level 2) in Anatolia in the early second millennium B.C., the texts with their associated cylinder and stamp sealings found there have traditionally been investigated separately. This book specifically seeks to integrate glyptic and textual studies in a way helpful both to scholars of Old Assyrian and to those with an interest in seals and sealing in the ancient Near East. The combined study of texts and sealings illuminates commercial and socio-legal activity in fresh ways, whilst the stylistic analyses sharpens chronological arguments and throws light on the community's foreign contacts. The book consists of two parts. The first analyses the sealing practices (in general and per type of record, with a special chapter on witnesses) and the seals, their ownership, manufacture, styles, iconography and inscriptions. Special chapters deal with the archives of the KARUM (with a list of their locations) and with the dating of texts and seals (with a list of the eponyms). Part two is a catalogue of 677 seals. It consists of tables offering, in a condensed form, essential data from the text envelopes on which the seals have been impressed, and of drawings of each of them. Extensive indices, of names, eponyms, seal owners/users, seal inscriptions, texts and seals complete this well-documented volume.

The proceedings of this symposium offer contributions by leading experts working on the ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, i.e., the texts written on coffins of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1750 B.C.). The volume provides a cross-section of current research activities in this field of study. Apart from progress reports on lexicographical and other projects, the volume contains presentations of 'new' material (e.g. from Lisht or Qâw al-Kabîr), typological assessments of coffin material, text-critical studies of groups of spells, grammatical studies, and discussions of theological and ritual aspects of the texts. The volume is of interest to Egyptologists and historians of religion.

This volume is devoted to the analysis of the magical contents of a funerary papyrus belonging to the so-called “Book of the Dead” genre. The papyrus of Gatseshen, daughter of the High Priest of Amon Menkheperra (middle XXIst Dynasty), consists of almost 18 meters of beautifully written hieratic text and colourful vignettes. The author has attempted to reconstruct the history of composition and arrangement of this document, by investigating in detail the thematic connections between the different spells and vignettes. By comparing the layout of this papyrus with those produced in the same area and period, a new view of the funerary religion at Thebes during the XXIst Dynasty is outlined. The overall picture which can be gained by this comparative study is that of an innovative and lively tradition of funerary scrolls, which were used not only to protect the deceased during his journey in the netherworld, but also in order to express the religious ideas of its owners. A cd-rom containing colour photos of the papyrus is supplied with the volume.