Published
L’eroe e l’effeminato: osservazioni sul corpo ideale, il corpo normale e il corpo disabile nell’antica Mesopotamia by Nicla De Zorzi
Abstract: The paper examines some fundamental aspects of the Ancient Mesopotamian cultural construction of the body. Through a close investigation of the Ancient Mesopotamian conception and representation of “normal”, “ideal” and “disabled” bodies as they are reflected by a variety of especially literary and divinatory sources, the paper reveals the network of cultural meanings and values that shaped Ancient Mesopotamian ideas and beliefs about the human body. In particular, the paper demonstrates how ideas about the body are critical to defining the role and the functions ascribed to the male and the female in Ancient Mesopotamia society.
In “S.Crippa (ed.), Corpi e saperi: riflessioni sulla trasmissione della conoscenza, Pendragon, Bologna, 2019, 25-52.”
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Literature as Scholarship: Some Reflections on Repetition with Variation and the Construction of Meaning in the Šamaš Hymn 112-117 by Nicla De Zorzi
Abstract: The paper aims to offer an insight into the micro-structure of the Šamaš hymn by focusing on the lines describing the fate of the dishonest lender of barley, ll. 112-117. These have been the subject of much discussion. Nevertheless, they have hitherto not been understood completely. The paper is divided in three parts. The first part introduces the most important previous studies of these lines. The second part focuses on the meaning of the keyword biltu in l. 115; the question of its possible figurative usage in the Šamaš Hymn and in other texts (especially in Assurbanipal’s letter to the Babylonians ABL 301 and in Šimâ Milka) is discussed. In the final part, a new interpretation of Šamaš Hymn ll. 112-117 is offered.
In “Kaskal: rivista di storia, ambiente e culture del vicino oriente antico 16 (2019), pp. 159-182. ISSN: 2036-5845.”
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Ninurta bēl nignakki no more by Frank Simons
Abstract: A brief corollary to my earlier article on the Goddess Kusu, in which I demonstrate that the god Ninurta was not given the epithet bēl nignakki ‘Lord of the Censer’.
In “Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires 2020, 1 (2020), pp 58-59. ISSN: 0989-5671.”
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News on Enūma Anu Enlil 47 and its Nuzi forerunner by Nicla De Zorzi
Abstract: The paper contains the edition of the fragment K 2280, which is a new manuscript of Enūma Anu Enlil Tablet 47 and joins one of the texts published by E. Gehlken in his edition of Tablet 47. This new text solves many of the questions which were left open in the previous edition. In addition, Tablet 47 can now be shown to follow quite closely a ‘forerunner’ text from Nuzi which preserves a sequence of earthquake omens. The correspondences and variants between the Nuzi text and the late (first millennium, Nineveh) version are discussed in the commentary to the new score edition.
In “KASKAL: rivista di storia, ambienti e culture del Vicino Oriente Antico 17 (2020).”
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Explanatory texts related to the extispicy series Bārûtu: BM 131658 joins K 10877 (Koch 2005, 412-428 no. 65 ms. B) by Nicla De Zorzi
Abstract: The paper contains the edition of an unpublished divinatory fragment belonging to the cuneiform collection of the British Museum, BM 131658. This fragment joins K 10877, which was published by U.S. Koch, Secrets of Extispicy (2005).
In “Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires 2020, 4 (2021), pp. 253-255. ISSN: 0989-5671.”
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YOS 3, 26 – A letter from the early reign of Nebuchadnezzar II from the temple of Amurru in the Sealand by Martina Schmidl
Abstract: This note suggests an addition to the early administrative letter corpus of the Eanna temple, by identifying the sender of YOS 3, 26 as the temple administrator of the temple of Amurru, implying a date around the begining of Nebuchadnezzar II’s reign. The argument rests on an analysis of patters of interaction between different officials, the chronological distribution of a particular rhetorical element as well as on the contents of the letter. It includes a re-edition of the letter.
In “’Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires 2020, 4 (2021), pp. 262-265. ISSN: 0989-5671.”
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‘Ancient Mesopotamian divinatory series in the British Museum – New texts and joins’ by Nicla De Zorzi
Abstract: This paper contains editions of three previously unpublished omen texts and one commentary text from the collections of the British Museum. BM 36165 and BM 34999 are Late Babylonian manuscripts of Šumma ālu tablet 1 while K 6260 is a join to Šumma izbu tablet 4. BM 47684+ is part of a large Late Babylonian four-column tablet containing a new commentary on physiognomic omens. The edition of these tablets is accompanied by an extensive commentary that discusses the placement of the tablets within the divinatory series, as well as orthographic and interpretative issues.
In “Journal of Cuneiform Studies 73,193-209.”
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Written on the lungs: the Neo Assyrian lung model Rm 620 and Ancient Mesopotamian lung divination by Nicla De Zorzi
Abstract: Several sources prove that sheep lungs played an important role in Ancient Mesopotamian extispicy practice. Nevertheless, they have received comparatively little attention in Assyriology. The terminology used by ancient diviners to describe the various parts of the divinatory lung represents an especially neglected area of research. This article represents a new attempt at resolving some of the problems created by the ancient terminology. It demonstrates how different types of sources associated with the divinatory inspection of the lungs give us clues to identify many previously unidentified parts of the divinatory lung. In particular, the article offers a new edition of the Neo-Assyrian lung model Rm 620 and discusses the identification of two, so far elusive, parts of the divinatory lung, imēr ḫašî “the Saw-horse of the lung,” and muštašnintu “the Leveller.”
In “Die Welt des Orients 51/2, 181-220.”
Embargoed access: https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1405267
DOI: 10.13109/wdor.2021.51.2.181to
‘Parallelism and Analogical Thought in Babylonian Poetry Case Studies from Ludlul bēl nēmeqi, the Babylonian Theodicy, and the Šamaš Hymn’ by Nicla De Zorzi
Abstract: Based on a series of case studies, this paper investigates aspects of the function of parallelism in Babylonian poetry. The focus is on the semantic interconnections created by the juxtaposition of passages sharing similar or contrasting linguistic features. Seen in this light, parallelism reveals itself as much more than the vector for stylistic creativity as which it has mostly been investigated in Assyriology, it is a crucial means for the construction of meaning. The operative principle behind this meaning being analogical reasoning, poetry in these aspects is revealed to draw on the same repertoire of notions that underlies other branches of Mesopotamian erudition, too – the paper explores in particular the comparable case of divination.
In “Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 112, 367-394.”
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‘Mirror, Mirror – Some Remarks on Structuring Devices in the Babylonian Fürstenspiegel’ by Martina Schmidl
Abstract: This article examines two orthographic features in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II. It aims to show that the text makes use of the possibilities of the cuneiform writing system to create various levels of meaning. The first example clarifies structure and content with regard to a difficult passage in the fourth and last stanza of the text, in which a possible change of actors is indicated by an orthographic feature. The second example shows how orthography is used in the first stanza of the text to augment its message. These examples demonstrate how structural elements and micro-features such as orthography were used creatively to enhance the message of the hymn.
In “Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 112, 411-432.”
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‘Unity through Poetry – The Development of Šurpu IV’ by Frank Simons
Abstract: The ritual and incantation series Šurpu ‘Burning’ is one of the longest and most complex magical texts to survive from the ancient world. The present paper offers a close analysis of repetition and parallelism used in Tablet IV of the text, revealing an intricate web of interconnections, both within Tablet IV, and between Tablet IV and the rest of Šurpu. Through this sophisticated use of poetic techniques, Tablet IV plays a major role in completely reshaping Šurpu, turning it from a plea for help addressed to a wide range of important gods into a ritual focussed almost exclusively on the power of Marduk to help the sufferer.
In “Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 112, 433-456. “
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‘Top – Middle – Base. A System of Omen Sequencing and its Interpretation in Barûtu Chapter 3 and in Old Babylonian Precursors’ by Lucrezia Menicatti
Abstract: This paper analyses three omen sequences from the third chapter of the first millennium extispicy omen series Bārûtu, which is devoted to the section of the liver called Manzāzu, ‘the Presence’. These sequences share the same Top-Middle-Base system of vertical arrangement in the omen protases, while the apodoses associate this scheme with sets of three subjects belonging to the same social group or environment. This article compares these 1st millennium sequences with their Old Babylonian precursors and discusses similarities and discrepancies in the interpretation of the Top-Middle-Base scheme. I investigate the omen sequences on both the horizontal, or syntagmatic, and on the vertical, or paradigmatic, level. On the syntagmatic level, I determine the rules governing the association of a given section of the Presence in the protasis with a given subject in the apodosis. On the paradigmatic level, I investigate the different interpretative systems adopted in the apodoses in correlation with the Top-Middle-Base scheme in the protases, and provide evidence for two such systems of interpretation. In some cases, the Top-Middle-Base scheme in the protases is interpreted as a three step-movement, from the closest to the furthest from a certain point, in the parallel sequence of apodoses. Other texts choose a different interpretation which assigns a special function to the middle entry’s apodosis, which functions as a structural medium between the two external elements of the sequence, thus playing the role of a ‘pivot’ line. This paper focuses especially on this interpretative system, which has not previously been detected within the omen compendia.
In “Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 112, 223-255.”
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‘Ad astra: Graphic Signalling in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II (BM 55469)’ by Martina Schmidl
Abstract: This article examines two orthographic features in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II. It aims to show that the text makes use of the possibilities of the cuneiform writing system to create various levels of meaning. The first example clarifies structure and content with regard to a difficult passage in the fourth and last stanza of the text, in which a possible change of actors is indicated by an orthographic feature. The second example shows how orthography is used in the first stanza of the text to augment its message. These examples demonstrate how structural elements and micro-features such as orthography were used creatively to enhance the message of the hymn.
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‘The Donkey of Anshan – a Rhino in Ancient Mesopotamia? Notes on the Construction of Meaning in a Bilingual Proverb’ by Frank Simons
Abstract: This paper is a detailed study of a short bilingual proverb about exotic animals. It is suggested that one of these animals is an Indian rhinoceros, and that the proverb is the earliest textual reference to this animal in world history. In support of this suggestion a comprehensive investigation of the evidence for rhinoceroses in Mesopotamia is presented, and a wide array of comparative material from ancient Greece, Rome, India, China, Persia, and Arabia is adduced. Alongside the discussion of the animals involved, the form and structure of the proverb is investigated, with consideration of the ways in which its poetic quality influenced its construction, and of the nuances behind the concluding simile.
In “Journal of Ancient Civilizations 37/1, p. 1-31.”
Embargoed access: https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1542062
DOI 10.16758/j.cnki.1004-9371.2022.02.013
kurāru ‘lumpy lesions’ by Frank Simons
Abstract: The nature of the kurāru-disease has long been the subject of discussion and uncertainty. While it is clearly some sort of contagious skin lesion, modern editors are more or less evenly split between two different translations: ringworm (Dermatophytosis) or a kind of lump. The present paper will offer a few observations which favour the latter understanding. It should be stated in advance that we do not propose to investigate every attestation of kurāru in detail – in particular the medical attestations have been studied in detail recently and so are not investigated here. Rather, the intent is to try to better capture the nature of the skin lesion kurāru. There is, of course, still much more research to be done, not least on the related terms kurartu, kuraštu or gurartu, garaštu, guraštu, gurištu, and kullarum, but this is beyond the scope of the present offering.
In “Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes 40, p. 46-53.”
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In Press (forthcoming)
Bang a Gong (Demons Gone): The Mighty Copper and Magic with Automatic Consent by Frank Simons
Abstract: This paper is a study of an unusual type of incantation, in which the role of the gods is much reduced. In addition, it offers a study of both the urudunigkalagga ‘Mighty Copper (instrument)’, and of the god Erragal, concluding that the former is most likely to have been a sort of gong, and the latter was, at least on some level, associated with destructive flooding.
to be published in E. Zomer (ed.) Proceedings of the Workshop “Legitimising Magic” held at Marburg University 13-14/7/2018.
