The correspondence of the kings of Ur : an epistolary history of an ancient Mesopotamian kingdom / Piotr Michalowski.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Michalowski, Piotr, 1948-

Series:

Mesopotamian civilizations ; 15.

Mesopotamian civilizations ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sumerian letters--Translations into English.

Sumerian letters.

Ur (Extinct city)--History--Sources.

Ur (Extinct city).

Ur (Extinct city)--Kings and rulers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (558 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Winona Lake, IN : Eisenbrauns, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur is a collection of literary letters between the Ur III monarchs and their high officials at the end of the third millennium B.C. The letters cover topics of royal authority and proper governance, defense of frontier regions, and the ultimate disintegration of the empire and represent the largest corpus of Sumerian prose literature we possess. This long-awaited edition, based on extensive collation of almost all extant manuscripts, numbering more than a hundred, includes detailed historical and literary analyses, and copious philological commentary. It entirely supersedes the Michalowski’s oft-cited unpublished Yale dissertation of 1976.The edition is accompanied by an extensive analysis of the place of the letters in early second-millennium schooling, treating the letters as literature, followed by chapters that contextualize the epistolary material within historical and historiographic contexts, utilizing many Sumerian archival, literary, and historical sources. The main objective here is to try to navigate the complex issues of authenticity, authority, and fiction that arise from the study of these literary artifacts. In addition, Michalowski offers new hypotheses about many aspects of late third-millennium history, including essays on military history and strategy, on frontiers, on the nature and putative character of nomadism at the time, as well as a long chapter on the role of a people designated as Amorites.The included DVD includes various photographs at high resolution of most of the tablets included in the study.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Abbreviations

Part 1. The Royal Correspondence of the Ur III Kings in Literary and Historical Perspective

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Sumerian Literary Letters

Chapter 3. The Royal Letters in Their Literary Setting

Chapter 4. The Royal Letters in Their Historical Setting 1: The Affairs of King Šulgi (Letters 1–12, 15–18)

Chapter 5. The Amorites in Ur III Times

Chapter 6. The Royal Letters in Their Historical Setting 2: Great Walls, Amorites, and Military History: The Puzur-Šulgi and Šarrum-bani Correspondence (Letters 13–14 and 19–20)

Chapter 7. The Royal Letters in Their Historical Setting 3: Ur, Isin, Kazallu, and the Final Decades of the Ur III State (Letters 21–24)

Chapter 8. Afterword

Appendixes

Part 2. The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: Text Editions

Introduction to the Text Editions

1. Aradmu to Šulgi 1 (ArŠ1, 3.1.1, A1, RCU 1)

1a. Aradmu to Šulgi 1a (ArŠ1a)

2. Šulgi to Aradmu 1 (ŠAr1, 3.1.2, RCU 2)

3. Aradmu to Šulgi 2 (ArŠ 2, 3.1.3 + 3.1.11. A2a, RCU 3+4)

4. Abaindasa to Šulgi 1 (AbŠ1, B1, SEpM1, 3.1.21)

5. Šulgi to Aradmu 2 (ŠAr2, 3.1.13.1, RCU 8)

6. Šulgi to Aradmu 3 (ŠAr3, 3.1.61, RCU 16)

7. Aradmu to Šulgi 3 (ArŠ3, 3.1.5, SEpM1a, RCU 7)

8. Aradmu to Šulgi 4 (ArŠ4)

9. Aradmu to Šulgi 5 (ArŠ5, 3.1.6, RCU 6)

10. Aradmu to Šulgi 6 (ArŠ6, 3.1.4, RCU 5)

11. Ur-dun to Šulgi 1 (UdŠ1, 3.1.11.1, 14)

12. Aradmu? to Šulgi? 7 (ArŠ7)

13. Puzur-Šulgi to Šulgi 1 (PuŠ1, 3.1.7, RCU 11)

14. Šulgi to Puzur-Šulgi 1 (ŠPu1, 3.1.08, 3.1.10, RCU 9, 10)

15. Šulgi to Išbi-Erra 1 (ŠIš1, 3.1.13.2, RCU 15)

16. Amar-Sin to Šulgi 1 (AmŠ1, 3.1.12)

17. Šulgi to Amar-Sin 1 (ŠAm1, 3.1.13, RCU 13)

18. Šarrum-bani to Šu-Sin 1 (ŠaŠu1, 3.1.15, RCU 17)

19. Šu-Sin to Šarrum-bani 1 (ŠuŠa1, 3.1.16, RCU 18)

20. Šu-Sin to Lu-Nanna and Šarrum-bani 1 (ŠuLuŠa1, 3.3.31)

21. Išbi-Erra to Ibbi-Sin 1 (IšIb1, 3.1.17, RCU 19)

22. Ibbi-Sin to Išbi-Erra (IbIš1, 3.1.18, RCU 20)

23. Puzur-Numušda to Ibbi-Sin 1 (PuIb1, 3.1.19, A3, RCU 21)

24. Ibbi-Sin to Puzur-Numušda 1 (IbPu1, 3.1.20, RCU 22)

Bibliography

List of Sumerian Literary Texts Cited

List of CKU Tablets

List of Joined Elements

Index of Passages Cited from Sumerian Literary Texts and Royal Inscriptions

Indexes to the Text Editions

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781575066509

1575066505

OCLC:

759160110