A Companion to Assyria

A Companion to Assyria is a collection of original essays on ancient Assyria written by key international scholars. These new scholarly contributions have substantially reshaped contemporary understanding of society and life in this ancient civilization.

• The only detailed up-to-date introduction providing a scholarly overview of ancient Assyria in English within the last fifty years
• Original essays written and edited by a team of respected Assyriology scholars from around the world
• An in-depth exploration of Assyrian society and life, including the latest thought on cities, art, religion, literature, economy, and technology, and political and military history

Eckart Frahm is Professor of Assyriology at Yale University, USA. His primary scholarly interest is the political and intellectual history of Assyria and Babylonia during the first millennium BCE. Frahm is the author of five books: Einleitung in die Sanherib-Inschriften (1997), Historische und historisch-literarische Texte aus Assur (2009), Neo-Babylonian Letters and Contracts from the Eanna Archive (co-authored with Michael Jursa, 2011), Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries: Origins of Interpretation (2011), and Geschichte des alten Mesopotamien (2013). Together with Enrique Jiménez and Mary Frazer, he is currently working on a project to publish a large number of Mesopotamian commentaries both in print and online.

Notes on Contributors viii

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1
Eckart Frahm

Part I Geography and History 11

1 Physical and Cultural Landscapes of Assyria 13
Jason Ur

2 “Assyria” in the Third Millennium bce 36
Lauren Ristvet

3 The Old Assyrian Period (20th–18th Century bce) 57
Klaas R. Veenhof

4 Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Old Assyrian Period 80
Cécile Michel

5 The Transition Period (17th to 15th Century bce) 108
Shigeo Yamada

6 The Middle Assyrian Period (14th to 11th Century bce) 117
Stefan Jakob

7 Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Middle Assyrian Period 143
Stefan Jakob

8 The Neo�-Assyrian Period (ca. 1000–609 bce) 161
Eckart Frahm

9 Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Neo�-Assyrian Period 209
Karen Radner

10 Post�-Imperial Assyria 229
Stefan R. Hauser

Part II The Fringes of Empire: Assyria and its Neighbors 247

11 Assyria and the North: Anatolia 249
Andreas Fuchs

12 Assyria and the East: Western Iran and Elam 259
Andreas Fuchs

13 Assyria and the West: Syria and the Levant 268
Ariel M. Bagg

14 Assyria and the Far West: The Aegean World 275
Robert Rollinger

15 Assyria and the South: Babylonia 286
Eckart Frahm

16 Assyria and the Far South: The Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf 299
Eckart Frahm

Part III Elements of Assyrian Civilization 311

17 Languages and Writing Systems in Assyria 313
Mikko Luukko and Greta Van Buylaere

18 Assyrian Religion 336
Stefan M. Maul

19 Assyrian Literature 359
Alasdair Livingstone

20 Assyrian Scholarship and Scribal Culture in Ashur 368
Nils P. Heeßel

21 Assyrian Scholarship and Scribal Culture in Kalhu and Nineveh 378
Jeanette C. Fincke

22 Assyrian Legal Traditions 398
Frederick Mario Fales

23 Assyrian Cities and Architecture 423
John M. Russell

24 Assyrian Art 453
John M. Russell

25 Assyrian Technology 511
Ariel M. Bagg

26 Assyrian Warfare 522
Stephanie Dalley

27 Thoughts on the Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Kingship 534
Mario Liverani

Part IV The Afterlife and Rediscovery of Assyria 547

28 Assyria in Late Babylonian Sources 549
Paul�]Alain Beaulieu

29 Assyria in the Hebrew Bible 556
Eckart Frahm

30 Assyria in Classical Sources 570
Robert Rollinger

31 The Archaeological Exploration of Assyria 583
Mogens Trolle Larsen

32 Assyrian Christians 599
Aaron Michael Butts

List of Assyrian Kings 613
Eckart Frahm

Index 617

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