Envisioning the Past Through Memories How Memory Shaped Ancient Near Eastern Societies

Memory is a constructed system of references, in equilibrium, of feeling and rationality. Comparing ancient and contemporary mechanisms for the preservation of memories and the building of a common cultural, political and social memory, this volume aims to reveal the nature of memory, and explores the attitudes of ancient societies towards the creation of a memory to be handed down in words, pictures, and mental constructs. Since the multiple natures of memory involve every human activity, physical and intellectual, this volume promotes analyses and considerations about memory by focusing on various different cultural activities and productions of ancient Near Eastern societies, from artistic and visual documents to epigraphic evidence, and by considering archaeological data.

The chapters of this volume analyse the value and function of memory within the ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian societies, combining archaeological, textual and iconographical evidence following a progression from the analysis of the creation and preservation of both single and multiple memories, to the material culture (things and objects) that shed light on the impact of memory on individuals and community.

Introduction

Part 1. Perspectives of Memory: A Premise

1. M. Bommas (University of Birmingham, UK), The Mechanics of Active Forgetting and the Question of Who Owns History
2. P. Matthiae (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy), Preserving the Memory of the Mythical Origin: The King's Role Between Tradition and Innovation
3. D. Nadali (Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy), Community and Individuals: How Memory Affects Public and Private Life in the Ancient Near East
4. M. Liverani (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy), Memory of memories

Part 2. Memory and the Archaeological Landscape

5. D. Morandi Bonacossi (University of Udine, Italy), Memory and Landscape Commemoration in the Core of the Assyrian Empire. The Imperial Appropriation and Transformation of a Frontier Landscape
6. F. M. Fales (University of Udine, Italy), Materiality and Memory – The Case of the Texts on Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan
7. L. Ristvet (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Fragments of the Past in Old Babylonian Present: Memory Work in Northern Mesopotamia

Part 3. Aesthetics of Memory
8. A. R. Gansell (St. Jonh's University, USA), Aesthetics and the Perfect Memory: The Power of Images as Royal Neo-Assyrian History
9. M.-A. Ataç (Bryn Mawr College, USA), The Historical Memory of the Late Bronze Age in the Neo-Assyrian Palace Reliefs
10. A. Shafer (Rutgers University, USA), Access to Ancestors: Memory and Prestige in Assyrian Royal Building Projects

Part 4. Remembering and Forgetting
11. S. Richardson (University of Chicago, USA), Selective Forgetting: The Memory of the Babylonian Past as Programmatic Amnesia
12. S. Di Paolo (CNR- ISMA, Roma, Italy), Visualizing War Memories in Ancient Near Eastern Art: (Re)negotiation Between Remembering and Oblivion
13. L. Bachelot (CNRS-UMR 7041 : ArScAn, Nanterre, France), La mémoire oublieuse du passé…l'example des pratiques symboliques en Mésopotamie

Part 5. Memory Through Material Culture
14. F. Contardi (University of Udine, Italy), The Memory of the Past as a Way to Cultural Innovation: The Case of Egypt
15. A. Schmitt (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany), Memory and Material Culture in Ur from the 3rd to the 1st Mill. B.C.
16. N. Laneri (University of Catania, Italy), In the Memory of the Royal Families: The Relationship Between Hypogea and Palaces in Western Syria
17. M. G. Micale (Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy), The Use and Abuse of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Architecture in Modern and Contemporary Culture: Between Memory and Fake Tradition

List of Contributors
Bibliography
Index

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