Assyria

ISBN 978-619-176-205-7

This monograph is on the topic of my successfully defended PhD dissertation. The book examines the royal authority and ideology in the early Neo-Assyrian Empire (934–745 B.C.). Its aims can be summarized as follows:
1. Study of the reign of each Assyrian king of the period, his military and political actions, including the dynamics of contacts with the countries of the region, the goals pursued by him; and – for whom applicable – the relevant internal affairs and building activities.
2. Study of the Assyrian royal ideology in the context of certain motives, beliefs, and suggestions attested in the sources. 
3. Concluding observations on and synthesis of the exercise of authority, which led to the historical processes and political contacts in combination with the motives, beliefs, and suggestions of the Assyrian royal ideology.

Feminist scholarship launched a search for women in human history. As soon as one starts looking for women, they are inevitably found. Neither women nor gender were invisible in the past. In terms of the Neo-Assyrian period, the rich textual material collected by Saana Svärd exemplifies how numerous our written sources are on the Neo-Assyrian women. 1 Nonetheless, with the further development of gender studies the following questions arise. 2 What methods should we apply to our sources? What aspects of gender were chosen for representation? Which were consciously suppressed and why? Svärd examines the rich evidence she has assembled from the important aspect of its relation to power, and there is no doubt that research should be continued in this direction. The interdisciplinary comparative investigation into the diachronic changes in the status of women over the entire course of Mesopotamian history is definitely a promising direction of investigation. The correct evaluation of sources concerning women is an essential methodological concern, and here comparison is useful not only when applied interdisciplinary. Tallay Ornan writes: "Assuming that visibility. .. serves as one parameter for the political, social, or cultural status of the depicted figure, one may conclude that royal women in first-millennium Assyria were devoid of official political, social or religious power." 3 This statement is based on Ornan's assumption that "the few 1. Svärd 2015. Svärd has collected, arranged in easily accessible form, and thoroughly analyzed all the Neo-Assyrian sources related to royal women. Svärd's Women and Power in Neo-Assyrian Palaces naturally encompasses only high-ranking women. Numerous sources on women of lower status still await research. There are only two other monographs regarding Neo-Assyrian women (Melville 1999 and Macgregor 2012). However, they do not embrace the entire range of existing sources on Neo-Assyrian royal women, because that was not the focus of their investigation. Valuable information on Neo-Assyrian women can be also found in the monograph by W. Meinhold dedicated to Ištar of Assur (Meinhold 2009). A discussion of Neo-Assyrian women is found also in Melville 2004. 2. See Bahrani 2001: 1-39 for an overview of the role of feminist scholarship, postmodernism, and poststructuralism in gender studies. 3. Ornan 2002: 464. 35. RIMA 3 A.0.104.3, from Pazarğik. 36. RINAP 3/2 40 44″b-46″. 37. RINAP 4 2002 (Ass. 1). This inscription preserves a fragment of the epitaph of this queen. 38. RINAP 4 2010 with related description and references. 39. These are the "eye-stone" of Sammu-rāmat (Seymour 2008: 104), the inscriptions of Naqīʾa-Zaqūtu-all for the life and well-being of Esarhaddon (RINAP 4 2005-8), and a votive text of the queen of Assurbanipal, probably Libbāli-šarrat, dedicating a golden object for the life and security of reign of Assurbanipal and her own life (Deller 1983: 22-24; this is a non-monumental inscription on a clay tablet). The queen also asked the goddess to make the king attentive to her words. Moreover, a stone jar was dedicated by Inūrta-abūni, sister of Assurnaṣirpal II (ASV 615). Remarkably, all of these objects were dedicated to female deities. 40. These are the steles of Nergal-āpil-kūmū'a (no. 50, 673 b.c.e.), Issār-emūqāia (no. 99, 867 b.c.e.),

The article examines the problem of the appearance militaristic elements in Assyr-ian imperial ideology in the evolution context, the primary aspects of the imperial idea and as far as it was effective in practice. According to the research also given some interpretation of fall of the Empire.

The Kingdom of Urartu faced many challenges apart from overcoming geographical
difficulties in order to implement its settlement policy in its heartland – the Van Lake
Basin. Founding new cities, creating lands suitable for agriculture and securing the
necessary population in order to supply its military strength were just some of them.
Settling nomadic and seminomadic tribes and securing the manpower that were to
build new cities and establish new farmlands also meant economic success for the
kingdom that was to follow. The continuity of this success was only possible with a
standardized settlement policy. Obtaining the population that were to be settled and
their addition into the kingdom meant establishment of new cities and new campaigns.
A policy of slave procurement, whose rules were already established by Assyria, was
an important factor for obtaining the population Urartu needed. Although it is not
known how this enslaved population was treated in the general Urartian population, it
is certain that they were part of the production, fought for the kingdom and have taken
part in foundation of new cities.

Il volume è corredato di materiali consultabili online sul nostro sito Internet segnalati dal simbolo all'interno del testo. 1 a edizione, settembre 2015 Realizzazione editoriale: Fregi e Majuscole, Torino Finito di stampare nel settembre 2015 da Eurolit, Roma isbn 978-88-430-7783-0 Riproduzione vietata ai sensi di legge (art. 171 della legge 22 aprile 1941, n. 633) Senza regolare autorizzazione, è vietato riprodurre questo volume anche parzialmente e con qualsiasi mezzo, compresa la fotocopia, anche per uso interno o didattico.

This study shows some of the Egyptian captives who were captured in the Ancient Iraqi, both in the Assyrian and the late Babylonian period. The research starts with the term "captives" in the ancient Iraqi texts, which is close to the current term. Many Assyrian kings followed the policy of Assyrian deportation, we found a lot of Egyptian captives in the period of the kings of Assyria, perhaps the most prominent King Ashurbanipal, who conquered Egypt and occupied - for a short time - as the texts of the Babylonian period late Chaldean, the existence of some Egyptian captives in Babylon, then the research studied the social life of those captives and them works, and we see some of this captives working in Medicine.

Assyrian imperialism is closely associated with the practice of mass deportation. This practice has been explained by recourse to many different motivations. But can we hope to pinpoint the logic informing deportation rather than merely identifying its advantages? This paper surveys the evidence of deportation in the Levant in the period 745–620 b.c.e. Focusing on deportation in this circumscribed time and place enables a more concentrated account of its use. Deportation is generally argued to have served three broad ends: bolstering the supply of human resources in the Assyrian heartland, meeting particular strategic needs, and dealing with dissent. This paper finds that despite the many uses of deportation, it was first and foremost a punitive instrument intended to curb resistance to Assyrian hegemony. This punitive dimension constituted the foundation of Assyrian deportation in the Levant in the age of Assyrian hegemony.

ABSTRACT: The following 58 questions follow the documentary (no.6),  PBS: The Lost Gardens of Babylon (60 minutes) (2014; 60 min.). The question sheet aids in furnishing a summary of the documentary's coverage and sequence of specific topics. A very good documentary detailing Stephanie Dalley's theory about the later traditions concerning the "(Hanging) Gardens of Babylon " as reflecting an actual origin and location in King Sennecherib's garden at Nineveh, over 100 years earlier (ca. early 7th century BCE) and at a site much further to the north (i.e., at Sennecherib's palace at Nineveh, in Assyria, versus in Nebuchadnezzar II's palace at Babylon). WEB LINK: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/the-lost-gardens-of-babylon-watch-the-full-episode/1203/.  The documentary introduces some of the traditions and evidence concerning the location and date of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and proceeds to Dalley's research and theories for equating it with an earlier garden built by Sennacherib beside his palace at Nineveh: This earlier garden is attested from diverse evidence in the British Museum (e.g., a cuneiform prism; palace wall panels), publications on earlier excavations at Nineveh, recent visits to and assessments of key sites in Iraq (e.g., Khinis; Jerwan; Nineveh), plus consultation with other specialists (e.g., Dr. Jason Ur: using Corona satellite imagery analysis and landscape interpretation). A very enjoyable documentary showing features and issues in both Ancient and modern Iraq.

The Lake Urmia region in northwest Iran is one often overlooked not only in terms of Syriac studies, but also when it comes to Eastern Christianity and especially art and architecture — not the least because many western scholars have found the area to be inaccessible.

Prior to the First World War this region was an Assyrian Christian cultural centre and, especially from the 1830s onwards, it witnessed an unprecedented renaissance in terms of original cultural and literary output. Indeed, the Urmia region stands out as one where the Assyrians were sufficiently numerous and well off enough to develop excellent skills as stonecutters, copyists, and builders — especially from the sixteenth century onwards.

A common generalisation has been that the Assyrians of Urmia, being for the most part rural agriculturalists and members of the largely aniconic Church of the East, were thus devoid of any serious kind of artistic expression. Despite this misconception, evidence does exist in the form of tombstone art, manuscript miniatures and architecture, whether religious or domestic, all of which may be seen as forms of visual expression comparable to that of their neighbours. Although much of the older material has not survived due to constant wars, pogroms and conflict in the area, enough still remains to warrant serious study. This is important in reconstructing a yet poorly documented and little-studied part of Middle Eastern art history.

This is the catalogue of an exhibition that was intended to be shown in Bukan and Tehran. The exhibition is of 51 glazed polychrome bricks from the Mannaean site of Qalaichi near Bukan in Western Iran that were returned from Switzerland to Iran in December 2020. The bricks were looted and exported from Iran in the 1980s. The bricks, dating from the 8th century BC, have a wide variety of painted motifs, such as winged lions and bulls with human heads, mythological figures, birds of prey, deer and floral or geometric designs. The bricks are an important source of information for the art of Mannaea, and show there was much Assyrian influence but with a local interpretation.

The characteristically Isaianic term אליל for other gods does not have its roots in an earlier Semitic adjective, as has often been thought. Rather, it was adopted from Akkadian Illil/Enlil into Hebrew because it reflected the rhetoric of Neo-Assyrian rulers. As in Akkadian, it was used in an extended sense to refer to major divinities; and it was retained in the Isaianic tradition presumably because it was a useful term for »false gods«—readily comprehensible even as a new coinage, yet distinct from the terms used for Yhwh. As anti-idol polemics became increasingly prominent and vicious, the latest Isaianic tradents avoided אליל, preferring more overt terms for idols. Eventually, it came to be reanalyzed as an adjective and used as a mere insult: »worthless«.

Abstract
The purpose of this article is to reevaluate the Assyrian attempts to conquer Egypt in the days of Taharqa, King of Kush (690-664 B.C.) during the reigns of Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.) and Ashurbanipal (669 - ca. 630 B.C.) kings of Assyria. The historical backbone of this article is based on the Assyrian royal inscriptions. From these sources it becomes clear that the Assyrian war-machine conquered Egypt in a swift Blitzkrieg and tried to incorporate Egypt into the Assyrian realm. The fragmented Egyptian petty kingdoms, however, resisted the Assyrian occupation with the assistance of the Kushites. It is possible to shed additional light on the continuous struggle between the Assyrian overlords and the Egyptians from Queries to the Assyrian Sun god Shamash, letters from Babylonian scholars to the king of Assyria, Kushite royal inscriptions and Egyptian priestly commemorative stelae.

"In recent years some historians and archaeologists have become interested in social science approaches, such as are considered at the Santa Fe Institute, to issues of cultural selection and individual choice (often called “agency”) and how social institutions are shaped by these choices and in turn shape the domain in which choices are made.

Nevertheless, I argue that my work on “collapse” in Mesopotamia may well be a relevant case study of culture change that is amenable to new kinds of theorizing that may be appropriate for this working group. The paper presents examples of macro-societal change, the nature of social interaction in highly stratified societies, and principles of stability and instability in hierarchies, and it discusses the choices that humans, of high status and low, made and which affected their lives in the most profound ways."

These are second proofs, with minor differences to the published version.
This essay, delivered as a preliminary paper in Helsinki, was completed while three
articles, organized in a specific series on the topic of ethnicity in the Neo-Assyrian
empire through the lens of the nisbe, were in course of publication: Fales 2013, Fales
2015, and Fales 2017. It may thus be read as explicitly presenting a bird’s-eye view of
the results given in much greater detail therein, although it also offers a number of new
additions in the footnotes and the bibliography.

"Sargon Donabed provides a comprehensive overview of the modern Assyrian story, merging emic and etic perspectives of their struggle to attain sovereignty over the past century and beyond. His work offers both an informative source for Assyrian ethnic history and an alternative reading for Mesopotamian regional history as a whole." -- Nabil Al-Tikriti, University of Mary Washington

"In telling the story of modern Assyrian responses to a history of tragedy, Sargon Donabed helps us understand them as actors in their own right. He thereby rewrites Iraqi history from the perspective of the oppressed. No longer may we ignore the plight of this misunderstood minority." -- Paul S. Rowe, Trinity Western University

In the middle of the 9th century BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire was becoming the most powerful state in Mesopotamia. Expansion was not only an ideology but a necessity, or even a religious duty, in Assyrian culture. It was the duty of the king to carry the empire as far as possible, to all the four corners of the world. When Shalmaneser III came to power in 859 BC, he aspired to do the same as his forebears. He decided to make a major military push towards the west, and in 854 BC, his army marched towards modern day Syria, Lebanon and Israel, where there lay many kingdoms and city states. Most probably the Assyrians believed that none of these entities could withstand the might of Assyria. Therefore, Shalmaneser believed that the effort needed and resistance met would be minimal and the campaign would be short. However, as in numerous other cases in history, dreams aside, many of those kingdoms and city states created an alliance. This alliance was called the Twelve Kings' Alliance by the Assyrians, even though only 11 names were given.

Peeter Espak and Vladimir Sazonov. Buying a slave´s freedom in Assyria: a cuneiform tablet in the University of Tartu´s Museum of Art.

This article presents a transliteration, an Estonian translation and a commentary of a Middle-Assyrian cuneiform tablet located in the Museum of Art at the University of Tartu in Estonia. The text has been previously edited in a Russian-language journal Vestnik Drevnej Istorii (1989/1) by the Russian Assyriologist Ninel B. Jankovskaya (1925-2009). The text on the tablets is written in Middle-Assyrian, and the tablet dates from ca 1115 BC, from the reign of Tiglatpileser I (1115-1077). The tablet was donated to the University of Tartu by Estonian general Johan Laidoner, who headed a delegation of the League of Nations to Iraq in 1925. Laidoner probably purchased the tablet on the black market in Mosul, and therefore the tablet´s origins are unknown.

The tablet itself (including an envelope) is a legal document describing a slave, Shamash-taklaku, buying his freedom from his master Warad-Sherua, the son of Mar-Adad. The 24-line tablet also mentions several witnesses and states that the price of Shamash-taklaku was 1 5/6 minas and 5 shekels of silver. The text has not been previously published in Estonian or in international languages of modern-day oriental studies.

Acemhöyük, situated at the southern half of Anatolia, where four main roads intersect, easily communicated with the surrounding regions and beyond, through its easily accessible position.  Especially, the Acemhöyük settlers, who had established a strong trading network during the Old Assyrian Age, effectively made use of this suitable position. As a result, the increased wealth was reflected in its pottery along with many other items. In the excavations of Acemhöyük, being conducted for more than 40 years, many pottery finds have been unearthed attesting this situation, which is being discussed in this thesis titled as “Acemhöyük Pottery in the Old Assyrian Trade Age”.
In the VIth and partially in the Vth levels of the settlement, the Transition Phase from the Early Bronze into the Old Assyrian Age is observed; and in the IVth level the Early phase of the Old Assyrian Age is observed. These levels have only been investigated in a limited area and for a short period. The most remarkable period of Acemhöyük is the Late Phase of the Old Assyrian Age at the IIIrd level of the settlement. In this level, which can also be named as “The Monumental Buildings Phase”, two palace buildings and one Service Building has been unearthed so far, and in the rooms of these buildings rare and precious finds of the era have been found. In the IInd and Ist levels, the characteristic of the pottery has not changed, eventhough the same can not be told for the monumental architecture. The Lower City/Karum Area of the settlement consists of four levels and has a parallel progress with the top part of the settlement.
In the Transition Phase and the Early Phase of the Old Assyrian Age of Acemhöyük, the pottery with painted decoration inherited from the Early Bronze Age, declines significantly and leaves its space to monochrome ceramic. In this phase, the production of the wheelmade painted pottery begins and for the first time, this pottery is observed besides the hand made painted pottery. In the Late Phase of the Old Assyrian Age the bands on painted pottery get narrower. In this phase, the painted vessels reduce in number, however, the variety of the painted decorations increase. Also the area where the painted decoration is applied gets constricted, especially the upper half of the vessels are preferred for applying the decorations. In the Ist level of the settlement, the pottery with painted decoration looses its charm. The predominant pottery group of Acemhöyük in the Old Assyrian Age is monochrome pottery. Among the slipped and slip-polished  vessels red (wine red) is the most, and brown is the second most preferred color. The other major group, the buff coloured pottery reflects the color of its dough and is wet-smoothed. The Acemhöyük vessels are metallic bright, due to being well polished. Likewise, the vessel types known to be having rounded body shapes from earlier periods, take a carinated body shape in the Late Old Assyrian Age, and this confirms that these pottery vessels are an imitation of metal examples. Also, many stone vessels found in Acemhöyük are imitated. Ivory vessels are imitated as well. These vessel types, utilized with great admiration, were also depicted in seal impressions. The known vessel types of Acemhöyük and their rich derivatives appear in the IIIrd level. The Acemhöyük vessels have a flat appearance and this the most characteristic feature of the Acemhöyük Late Old Assyrian Age vessels. These vessel types, appearing in the Late Old Assyrian Age levels will be inherited to the Hittite Age.       
The most important partner of Acemhöyük has been Kültepe-Kaniş. Most of the vessel types recorded in Acemhöyük is found in Kültepe as well. It is obvious that the Kültepe finds are more diverse. The vessel types of the different levels of Kültepe exhibit distinct differences, in Acemhöyük this difference is not as obvious. Acemhöyük also had close relations with the settlements within the Halys arc, its vessel types exhibit similarities especially with the vessel types of Alişar, Boğazköy and Alaca Höyük. The northwestern limit of the Acemhöyük Old Assyrian Age pottery is Polatlı-Karahöyük. There has been a long lasting relation between Acemhöyük and Beycesultan, a settlement in the interior Agean Region. Konya-Karahöyük, situated between these two settlements exhibit a parallel layering, however differ with its vessels having a dim appearance. The eastern frame of Acemhöyük consists of the Middle Euphrates settlements. The Acemhöyük pottery is native, however it is not restricted to Anatolia. Some vessel types in Acemhöyük indicate contacts with Syria through the Amuq Plain.  Many vessel types are common with Yumuktepe and Gözlükule, situated in Cilicia. Also many vessel types found in Cyprus, Crete, Agean Islands and Greece are known in Acemhöyük, mostly they are not used earlier than in Acemhöyük.

The inhabitants of (southern) Mesopotamia are sometimes referred to as the “black-headed people” (saĝ-ge6) in Sumerian texts. This term came to be used also in Akkadian texts (translated as ṣalmāt qaqqadi), including in Neo-Assyrian texts, much distant in time and place from ancient Sumer. This paper seeks to describe how the term is used in Neo-Assyrian rhetorical and mundane texts; how frequent it is, what it means, and what variations there are (and how these can be explained). With the aid of  various database searches and book surveys, 48 attestations were collected. These derive from the Middle Assyrian (3) and Late Neo-Assyrian (or Sargonid) (45) periods, and focus on how the black-headed are positioned in relation to the kings and the deities. The imagery of the black-headed as (shep)herded was found to be the most important one. As for variations in terms of frequency and meaning, while time period and ruler turned out to be explanatory factors, the same can not be said of provenance, genre, and subject matter. The texts in which the attestations appear are most often not (southern) building inscriptions and they are not very often from or about southern Mesopotamia.

Pic is after return of Sennacherib 3313 anno-mundi epic loss at Jerusalem with King Hezekiah (3199-3228). One question is how long after his 3313 return before his execution? Then how long after this execution until Esarhaddon?. What adds up is a sum of 20 years from 3313 until the final 13 years of Esarhaddon 3233-3346. 1 Torah Discovery Chronology excerpt focused on Assyrian Kings from K' Hezekiah till their end. Differs with current consensus somewhat. 2 Ezra 4:10 per Rashi T' Sanhedrin 94a-96b. If not his overlapping regent or subordinate dad.

Il testo
Dimenticate per secoli, le civiltà dell'antica Mesopotamia sono state riscoperte solo nell'Ottocento. Migliaia di tavolette di argilla incise in scrittura cuneiforme hanno permesso di portare alla luce una tradizione letteraria che, attraverso due lingue, il sumerico e l'accadico, si è sviluppata nell'arco di tre millenni. Dal primo racconto del diluvio e della creazione dell'uomo alle discese infere e le battaglie contro mostri caotici, dalle vicende epiche dei sovrani mitici alle gesta dei loro successori, dai grandi inni alle preghiere quotidiane e gli scongiuri, dalla riflessione teologica sulla vita a quella filosofica e umoristica, le composizioni sumeriche e accadiche costituiscono una delle più antiche, varie e lunghe tradizioni letterarie dell'uomo. La letteratura sumerica del III millennio a.C. e quella accadica (assira e babilonese) del II e I millennio a.C. sono qui presentate attraverso una descrizione dei diversi generi e l'analisi di contenuti e motivi. Una scelta di testi letterari, pubblicata in digitale sul sito www.mondadorieducation.it, completa il volume.

L'autore
Lorenzo Verderame insegna lingua e letteratura sumerica e accadica alla «Sapienza» Università di Roma. È autore di numerose monografie e articoli scientifici dedicati a differenti aspetti delle culture dell'antica Mesopotamia, tra cui l'editio princeps dei primi sei capitoli del compendio astrologico Enūma Anu Enlil (2002) e diversi volumi con l'edizione di documenti neo-sumerici. Le sue ricerche si sono concentrate sull'amministrazione e la cultura materiale della Mesopotamia del III millennio così come su vari aspetti della religione e della letteratura mesopotamica. Svolge attività di ricerca e collabora con diverse istituzioni universitarie e musei, tra i quali il British Museum e la Yale Babylonian Collection, dove dirige, rispettivamente, un progetto di edizione dei testi neo-sumerici e delle lettere paleo-babilonesi. Dal 2014 è l'epigrafista della missione archeologica italiana a Nina (Tell Surghul) nell'Iraq meridionale.

Indice
Prefazione; 1. Introduzione; 2. Le vicende divine; 3. Le gesta dei re; 4. L'uomo si rivolge al dio; 5. Le riflessioni sulla vita; 6. Composizioni varie; Schema delle principali divinità mesopotamiche; Quadro cronologico; Appendice cartografica. La Mesopotamia e il Vicino Oriente tra il III e il I millennio a. C.; Bibliografia; Opere citate; Indice dei nomi, delle opere e delle cose notevoli.

Testi tradotti disponibili gratuitamente online : http://www.mondadorieducation.it/media/contenuti/universita/verderame_letterature_mesopotamia/index.html

Представлена детальная реконструкция систем мер длины, применявшихся на территории Древней Месопотамии до завоевания ее персами.
(There is detailed reconstruction of the systems of measures of length used on the territory of ancient Mesopotamia until its conquest by the Persians.)
(Das ist detaillierte Rekonstruktion der Systemen der Maßen der Länge, der  auf dem Gebiet des Alten Mesopotamien bis zur Eroberung durch die Perser  verwendet.)

Simpson, E., ed. The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar: Papers Presented to Oscar White Muscarella. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar: Papers Presented to Oscar White Muscarella, edited by Elizabeth Simpson, is a Festschrift celebrating the career of one of the foremost archaeologists of the ancient Near East. Oscar Muscarella is a former curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a formidable scholar who has excavated at sites in Turkey, Iran, and the United States. He has published eight books and nearly 200 articles, excavation reports, and reviews on topics ranging from the arts of antiquity and the importance of connoisseurship, to the difficulties of dating and the problems of forgeries, the looting of ancient sites, and the antiquities trade. The forty-seven contributors are experts in the areas of Muscarella's interests and are major scholars in their fields. This volume constitutes an unusual, important, and timely addition to the archaeological and art historical literature.

By drawing on a broad range of evidence from the Hebrew Bible and several successive Near Eastern societies, the chapter attempts to expose the realia of the use and abuse of women in dynastic politics
and to counteract any disparaging attempts amongst scholars to regard female participation in succession issues, or in the broader politics of rule, as abnormal and the products of hostile historiography.

Since Max Weber who denied that the Oriental cities were "real" cities , effforts of many scholars have been aimed at establishing a connection between the city form and its socio-political structure.1 It has often been claimed that the city plan mirrors a city's political organisation.2 The lack of preconceived public spaces in the Near Eastern cities as opposite to the city-states of the Classical Antiquity was one of the focuses of these discussions (Liverani 1997, 91-93; May / Steinert, Introduction, this volume).

Le musée du Louvre compte parmi ses collections une plaque de conjuration en bronze contre la terrible Lamaštu, démone redoutée dans toute la Mésopotamie et au-delà. Si l’objet est exceptionnel à plus d’un égard, il n’est pas typique des nombreuses autres amulettes de conjuration du Ier millénaire av. J.-C. qui présentent toutes les mêmes caractéristiques dans leur forme, leur matière, mais aussi leur iconographie. Cette plaque fait en effet partie d’un groupe typologique qui ne comporte que six exemplaires tous répartis dans des musées différents. Ils ont pour particularité d’introduire dans leur composition l’apotropaïon le plus populaire en ces temps : Pazuzu, le roi des démons.