RIM the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia – serie

This is the sixth volume of ancient cuneiform texts being prepared under the auspices of The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, and the first volume for the Babylonian periods. The purpose of the project is to locate and publish standard editions of the texts known as the Royal Inscriptions from ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, and Assyria). Since the texts were first deciphered in the nineteenth century, the close affinity between them and events and people in the Bible has stirred great interest.The texts presented in this volume are from the important transitional period extending from the fall of the Kassite dynasty in the middle of the twelfth century BC to the collapse of Assyrian power towards the close of the seventh century. During these five centuries there were a number of short-lived dynasties in Babylonia, and for a time the area was controlled by its northern neighbour, Assyria. The first part of this period has been described as a 'Dark Age' in Babylonia's history, and the nadir of its political existence occurred in the early seventh century when the capital, Babylon, was captured and destroyed by the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib. Nevertheless, in the final century and a half of this period conditions in Babylonia improved and various forces built up the momentum that was to bring about the formation of the Neo-Babylonian empire and the shift of hegemony over western Asia from Assyria to Babylonia. This volume contains a short introduction for each ruler. Every inscription is accompanied by an introductory statement, a catalogue of exemplars, a brief commentary, a bibliography, a transliteration and translation, and notes. Appropriate introductory materials and indexes are included. 'Scores,' originally published on microfiche, are located at the back of the book.

The time period covered by this volume extends from the accession of Sargon of Akkad to the end of the Gutian period (2334-2133 BC). In this corpus we find the first extensive use of the Akkadian language, in it oldest known dialect, for royal inscriptions. Nearly all the texts in this volume are recorded in that language; a few are in Sumerian, and four are bilingual. Invaluable for the reconstruction of the history of the period are a handful of large Old Babylonian tablets inscribed with collections of the Sargonic kings' triumphal inscriptions. Complete transliterations of the individual copies of these important documents appear for the first time in this volume.The introductions for the Sargonic kings include lists of all their known year names along with brief discussions of the major events of their reigns. A short introduction of each description gives its general contents and place of origin. There is a detailed catalogue of exemplars, along with a brief commentary, bibliography, and text in transliteration. In microfiche, now incorporated at the back of the book, 'scores' give transliterations of the individual exemplars of the inscriptions.

This volume provides editions of all known royal inscriptions of the five kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur (2112-2004 BC), from Ur-Nammu to Ibbi-Sin, as well as those of contemporaneous rulers of states on the periphery of the Ur III empire (excluding Elam). Ur III Period contains the first complete edition of the Fu-Sin inscriptions, the most complete and up-to-date information on the members of the Ur III royal family, and the first published charts of Ur III city governors, providing a wealth of new material for researchers.Douglas Frayne has provided indexes of museum numbers, excavation numbers, provenances, dimensions, and lines preserved of the various exemplars in an easy-to-read tabular mode. The accompanying microfiche, now incorporated at the back of the book, displays the text of selected inscriptions in a "musical score" format. Most of the inscriptions are in Sumerian, with a few in Akkadian and one in Hurrian.Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC) is yet another exhaustively researched and substantial contribution to the RIM project, and to the study of ancient Mesopotamia.