Ancient Knowledge Networks: A Social Geography of Cuneiform Scholarship in First-Millennium Assyria and Babylonia

Description

With Ancient Knowledge Networks, Eleanor Robson investigates how networks of knowledge enabled cuneiform intellectual culture to adapt and endure over the course of five world empires until its eventual demise in the mid-first century BC. Addressing the relationships between political power, family ties, religious commitments, and scholarship in the ancient Middle East, Robson focuses on two regions where cuneiform script was the predominant writing medium: Assyria, north of modern-day Syria and Iraq, and Babylonia, south of modern-day Baghdad. In doing so, she also studies Assyriological and historical method, both now and over the past two centuries, asking how the field has shaped and been shaped by the academic concerns and fashions of the day. Contents List of illustrations List of tables Acknowledgements 1 Introduction Mesopotamian science, cuneiform scholarship Histories of science, geographies of knowledge 2 From ‘Ashurbanipal’s Library’ and the ‘stream of tradition’ to new approaches to cuneiform scholarship ‘Ashurbanipal’s Library’: From Nineveh to London New sources for ancient scholarship Sourcing the ‘stream of tradition’ New views of the past Books and texts Geographies and communities Conclusions 3 Trust in Nabu? Assyrian royal attitudes to court scholarship The origins of Assyrian court scholarship Nabu, god of scribes and magnates Sargon’s adoption of Nabu Nabu’s changing fortunes in the early seventh century The final decades Conclusions 4 The writing-board was at my house: Scholarly and textual mobility in seventh-century Assyria Geographies of royal scholarship under Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal The uses of scholarly tablets and compositions in Neo-Assyrian court scholarship Collection, acquisition and edition at the royal court Beyond the royal scholarly network: Assur and Huzirina Conclusions 5 Grasping the righteous sceptre: Nabu, scholarship and the kings of Babylonia Babylonian royal attitudes to Nabu A fight for survival: The ‘end of archives’ and the end of royal patronage Loss of royal favour: The view from Uruk Conclusions 6 At the gate of Eanna: Babylonian scholarly spaces before and after the early fifth century Scholars in temples in the long sixth century bc Scholarly tablet collections in the temple Scholars outside the temples in the long sixth century Surviving the anti-Achaemenid revolts: Who, where and how? Intercity knowledge exchange: The shrinking scholarly networks of later Babylonia Conclusions 7 Conclusions: Towards a social geography of cuneiform scholarship The social The geographical The cuneiform The scholarly The historical Bibliography Index