On Babylonia in the Seleucid Empire

This paper is a new examination of the original find context of the Saqqara lion tables (CG 1321–2) in ‘Gallery C’, an underground structure in the Step Pyramid complex. The substructure may date to the 1st millennium BCE, and this structure was likely part of an embalming complex for the Apis or other sacred animals. The adjacent Western Galle…[Read more]

This paper is a new examination of the original find context of the Saqqara lion tables (CG 1321–2) in ‘Gallery C’, an underground structure in the Step Pyramid complex. The substructure may date to the 1st millennium BCE, and this structure was likely part of an embalming complex for the Apis or other sacred animals. The adjacent Western Galle…[Read more]

The Egypt Exploration Society archive contains unpublished pencil drawings by A. Klasens of seal impressions found in the Step Pyramid complex of Saqqara. Digitally inked versions of these drawings are published here for the first time. The seal impressions can be sourced to the Northern Galleries of the complex. The impressions were sealed on…[Read more]

The Egypt Exploration Society archive contains unpublished pencil drawings by A. Klasens of seal impressions found in the Step Pyramid complex of Saqqara. Digitally inked versions of these drawings are published here for the first time. The seal impressions can be sourced to the Northern Galleries of the complex. The impressions were sealed on…[Read more]

Review of: Jan J. W. Lisman, Cosmogony, Theogony, and Anthropogeny in Sumerian Texts. Vol. 409 of Alter Orient und Altes Testament. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2013. In Rosetta 18 (2015)

Review of: Michael B. Hundley, Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near East, vol. 3 in Writings from the Ancient World Supplements. Bethesda: Society for Biblical Literature Publications, 2013. In Rosetta 20 (2017).

Study of inscribed Kassite cylinder seals held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Study of Old Babylonian Sumerian proverbs that speak on authority and how those same proverbs may subtly (or not quite so subtly) rebuke the king and established institutions of power.

A study of the nature of the udug and lama figures as seen in Mesopotamian (primarily Old Babylonian) incantations, as well as an overview of the nature of demons in Mesopotamia.

Rm. 714, a first millennium B.C.E. tablet in the collections of the British Museum, is remarkable for the fine carving of a striding pig in high relief on its obverse. Purchased by Hormuzd Rassam in Baghdad in 1877, it lacks archaeological context and must be considered in light of other textual and artistic references to pigs, the closest…[Read more]

This article serves as introduction to a special double issue of the journal, comprised of seven articles that center on the theme of space and place in the ancient world. The essays examine the ways in which borders, frontiers, and the lands beyond them were created, defined, and maintained in the ancient world. They consider such themes within…[Read more]

During the third millennium B.C.E., Tell Mozan, ancient Urkesh, expanded to include an extensive outer city. A variety of investigations in the outer city reveal a complex urban environment: a mix of planned and unplanned activity with the environment and large municipal works acting as constraining factors on more localized activity.

This report describes for the first time the surviving (upper) portions of three 26th-Dynasty shabtis made for Wedjat-Hor, son of Ashsedjemes. Shabtis A and C are clearly from the same mould and inscribed by the same scribe; shabti B is the product of a different mould and scribe. Some orthographic idiosyncrasies are shared, whereas others are…[Read more]

Section 1 of this paper describes a pottery shabti of the Third Intermediate Period and recounts the early stages of the project to understand the name of its owner. Sections 2-7 describe the outcome of the analysis. This covers both the name itself (its variants, orthographies and possible meanings) and a survey of those individuals who bore it…[Read more]

This article examines the description of Persepolis, one of the capital cities of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (ca. 550–330 BCE), by Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri (1651–1725) in his illustrated travelogue Giro del mondo (1699–1700). Gemelli Careri’s extensive description of the site—some twenty pages of text accompanied by two plates en…[Read more]

The relationship between the ‘Two Brothers’ Nakhtankh and Khnumnakht has been heavily debated since the discovery of their mummies in 1907. Re-examining the coffin inscriptions of these two individuals reveals that Nakhtankh and Khnumnakht were likely uncle and nephew.

The relationship between the ‘Two Brothers’ Nakhtankh and Khnumnakht has been heavily debated since the discovery of their mummies in 1907. Re-examining the coffin inscriptions of these two individuals reveals that Nakhtankh and Khnumnakht were likely uncle and nephew.

A brief technical re-examination of a paper by George Mann on the Qau skeletons in the Duckworth collection is undertaken. Taking into account the original data and technical aspects of skeletal sexing, it is shown that old data on skeletal sexing may not always be as unreliable as previously thought. Factors that may introduce errors into this…[Read more]

A brief technical re-examination of a paper by George Mann on the Qau skeletons in the Duckworth collection is undertaken. Taking into account the original data and technical aspects of skeletal sexing, it is shown that old data on skeletal sexing may not always be as unreliable as previously thought. Factors that may introduce errors into this…[Read more]