Michael P Streck | Universität Leipzig (original) (raw)

Books by Michael P Streck

Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Studies written in German.

with the collaboration of J. Wende, N. J. C. Kouwenberg, N. Rudik, J. Hackl, , F. Simons and E. Zomer: Supplement to the Akkadian Dictionaries, Volume D, T, Tet = Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien 7,2 (2019). lxviii, 120 pp.

This is the third, revised edition of the Altbabylonisches Lehrbuch. It contains a concise but fu... more This is the third, revised edition of the Altbabylonisches Lehrbuch. It contains a concise but full and up-to-date grammar of Old Babylonian, exercises, and a glossary of the most frequent Old Babylonian words. Cuneiform is introduced with both Old Babylonian cursive and Neo-Assyrian monumental ductus.

This first volume of the Supplement to the Akkadian Dictionaries contains additions to the Akkadi... more This first volume of the Supplement to the Akkadian Dictionaries contains additions to the Akkadisches Handwörterbuch by W. von Soden and the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary.

Online Databases by Michael P Streck

The RlA is published on paper, in stout volumes, not as durable as clay tablets, but probably lon... more The RlA is published on paper, in stout volumes, not as durable as
clay tablets, but probably longer lasting than digital publications.
However, to be compatible with the necessities of our post-paper era,
the volumes have been scanned.

These scans are now accessible via a functional data-base on the
website: https://rla.badw.de. Please click on „Digitaler Zugriff“
<https://rla.badw.de/digitaler-zugriff.html>, and you will access a
search page that allows searching by entries, their English
translations, authors, and categories (such as divine names etc).

Akkadian, i.e. Babylonian and Assyrian, literature, documented on cuneiform tablets from Ancient ... more Akkadian, i.e. Babylonian and Assyrian, literature, documented on cuneiform tablets from Ancient Mesopotamia, forms (together with Sumerian and Egyptian literature) the oldest written literary corpus of mankind.

In the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE (c. 2400–1100), Akkadian literature encompassed many different literary genres: hymns, lamentations, prayers to various gods, incantations against different diseases, demons and other sources of evil, love-lyrics, wisdom literature (proverbs, fables, riddles), as well as epics and myths - roughly 900 different compositions (Summer 2019). Many of these compositions are not yet published in satisfactory modern editions or are scattered throughout a large number of publications.

SEAL is an ongoing project which started in 2007. It aims to compile an exhaustive catalogue of Akkadian literary texts from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE, to present this corpus in such a way as to enable the efficient study of the entire early Akkadian corpus in all its philological, literary, and historical dimensions. Many of the editions in SEAL rely on new collations and photographs.

Users should be aware that online SEAL is a work-in-process. Streck and Wasserman, and their respective Leipzig and Jerusalem teams, regularly add to the catalogue and improve the texts.

In parallel to the online site, SEAL publishes sections of the corpus in printed monograph form as part of the series Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien (LAOS):

N. Wasserman, Akkadian Love Literature of the 3rd and 2nd Millennium BCE (Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien 4): Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2016.
E. Zomer, Corpus of Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian Incantations (Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien 9): Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2018.
N. Wasserman and Elyze Zomer: Akkadian Incantations of the Early 2nd Millennium BCE.
A. Pohl: Old Babylonian Hymns.

Edited Monographs by Michael P Streck

Papers by Michael P Streck

Die Herausgeber danken all denjenigen herzlich, die das Zustandekommen dieser Festschrift unterst... more Die Herausgeber danken all denjenigen herzlich, die das Zustandekommen dieser Festschrift unterstützt und ermöglicht haben.

Maledicta (insults) occur in Akkadian (Babylonian-Assyrian) letters, literary text genres, royal ... more Maledicta (insults) occur in Akkadian (Babylonian-Assyrian) letters, literary text genres, royal inscriptions and lexical texts. A semantic typology of Akkadian maledicta distinguishes the following groups: animals, sexual and scatological maledicta; maledicta referring to dirt, physical or mental handicaps, to an unknown or bad origin, to the abandonment by god; maledicta designating a person as deceiver, denunciator, chatterer, criminal or evildoer. Maledicta are a source for the Mesopotamian canon of values.

Versandkosten. Ein Abonnement gilt, falls nicht befristet bestellt, zur Fortsetzung bis auf Wider... more Versandkosten. Ein Abonnement gilt, falls nicht befristet bestellt, zur Fortsetzung bis auf Widerruf. Kündigungen müssen bis zum Ablauf eines Jahres erfolgen. Mitglieder der DMG erhalten die Zeitschrift für den Mitglieds beitrag (€ 70,-p. a.). Bestellungen an den Harrassowitz Verlag (s. u.) oder über jede Buchhandlung. Die ZDMG kann auch in elektronischer Form als E-Journal kostenpflichtig über Harrassowitz (https://www.harrassowitz-library.com/) bezogen werden. Anträge auf Eintritt in die DMG (Formular auf der Homepage der DMG unter "Die DMG/Mitgliedschaft") und Anschriften änderungen an die Geschäftsführung (s. o.). Fachartikel und Rezensionen: Autorenrichtlinien (style sheet) liegen dem Jahresinhaltsverzeichnis in Heft 2 bei und können von der Homepage der DMG (s. o.) unter "Publikationen/ZDMG" heruntergeladen werden. Beiträge sind in elektronischer Form (möglichst per E-Mail) beim Schriftleiter einzureichen. Rezensionsangebote sind an die Fachherausgeber zu richten (s. o.), von denen auch die Rezensionsexemplare angefordert werden. Für unaufgefordert eingesandte Rezensionsexemplare besteht weder ein Recht auf Besprechung noch auf Rücksendung. Wenn erwünscht, wird eine Replik veröffentlicht, jedoch keine Gegenreplik. Der Redaktion angebotene Beiträge dürfen nicht bereits veröffentlicht sein oder gleichzeitig veröffentlicht werden. Das gilt auch für Online-Veröffentlichungen. Wieder abdrucke erfordern die Zustimmung der Herausgeber. Die ZDMG ist ein refereed journal. Die Autoren sind für die wissenschaftlichen Aussagen und Meinungen in ihren Beiträgen ausschließlich selbst verantwortlich.

Duplication in Early Akkadian Literature. The Duplicates of the Papulegara Hymns, Ištar Louvre, and the Dialogue Between Father and Son (together with N. Wasserman), Orientalia 92 (2023) 202-229., 2023

In this study, we present newly discovered duplicates of three significant Old Babylonian literar... more In this study, we present newly discovered duplicates of three significant Old Babylonian literary texts. 1) An unpublished Louvre duplicate (AO 6161) of the Papulegara hymns collection, which is currently housed at the British Museum. 2) A recently published Geneva duplicate (MAH 16069 = Cavigneaux and Clevenstine 2020) of the large hymnic ritual commonly referred to as Ištar-Louvre. 3) The Yale prism (YBC 2394 = Foster and George 2020), which contains an almost complete version of the Dialogue Between Father and Son. Previously, only a small fragment of this text was known. The paper provides a philological commentary and a thorough discussion of these duplicates, considering the relatively uncommon phenomenon of duplicate literary texts during the Old Babylonian period.

Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Studies written in German.

Users should be aware that online SEAL is a work-in-process. Streck and Wasserman, and their respective Leipzig and Jerusalem teams, regularly add to the catalogue and improve the texts.

In parallel to the online site, SEAL publishes sections of the corpus in printed monograph form as part of the series Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien (LAOS):

on tHE onE Hand, it is clEar that Akkadian lexicography is in relatively good shape, especially c... more on tHE onE Hand, it is clEar that Akkadian lexicography is in relatively good shape, especially compared to the lexicography of some other Semitic languages. In 1981, Wolfram von Soden finished his German-Akkadian dictionary, the Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, and in 2010, the Oriental Institute published the last volume of The Asssyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD), which covered the letter U/W. On the other hand, both von Soden and the Oriental Institute published the initial volumes of their dictionaries in the 1950s and, as a result, their work has become progressively more outdated. Against this background, I started a new project entitled Supplement to the Akkadian Dictionaries (SAD) some years ago. Originally, this project was meant to be a mere byproduct of another project, the Etymological Dictionary of Akkadian to be published by Manfred Krebernik and Leonid Kogan. The idea was to provide the etymological dictionary with new lexical material not found in CAD or AHw. But I soon recognized that I had underestimated the task. During the last decades, countless new Akkadian texts from all periods, regions, and genres have been published. These texts provide us with an abundance of entirely new words and important new references for words already known beyond anyone's imagination. Since the Supplement to the Akkadian Dictionaries, funded by the German Research Council, is limited in time and resources, I have decided not to attempt to cover each and every new Akkadian text but to confine the project to a narrower corpus of texts and secondary literature. I regularly publish the results of this project on a dedicated website 1 and have published two print volumes, covering the letters B/P and D/T/Ṭ, as well. 2 The following article summarizes some of the results of my work in the fascinating world of Akkadian lexicography. 3

In the following section1 an attempt is made to estimate the size of this corpus in number of tex... more In the following section1 an attempt is made to estimate the size of this corpus in number of texts and words of text.2 For this purpose we divide the ob text corpus in three big genres: administrative texts (letters and documents), monumental texts (royal inscriptions), and canonical texts (scientific and literary texts). 2.1 Administrative Texts ob administrative texts were found in many sites listed alphabetically:3

An Unknown Language in an Unknown Script: The Decipherment of Akkadian Cuneiform Texts After Geor... more An Unknown Language in an Unknown Script: The Decipherment of Akkadian Cuneiform Texts After Georg Friedrich Grotefend1 had started to decipher Old Persian Cuneiform in 1802, several decades passed before this extraordinary achievement of human mind was finished and crowned by the much more difficult decipherment of Akkadian Cuneiform. This latter decipherment had been prepared by the "Conquest of Assyria".2 In the 1840ies, Paul Emile Botta and Austen Henry Layard had excavated three capitals of the Neo-Assyrian empire, Nineveh, Kalḫu and Dūr-Šarrukīn. Thousands of cuneiform texts, written in Assyrian and Babylonian, had been found during these excavations. These cuneiform texts and the trilingual (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian) inscriptions of the Achaemenid empire enabled scholars to successfully tackle Akkadian cuneiform. The greatest credit for this achievement is due to Edward Hincks.3 Hincks, an Irish Pastor, dedicated himself to the study of ancient languages. He wrote a Hebrew grammar, spent time on the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, did research on Etruscan and learned Sanskrit. In 1846, he published a paper4 in which he finished the decipherment of Old Persian, made an 1 On Grotefend and his decipherment of Old Persian see Rykle Borger, "Grotefend, Georg Friedrich," in Reallexikon der Assyriologie 3, ed.

The text Sb 19319 (MDP 18, 250) has recently been treated by Wasserman 2019 and Zgoll 2020. The a... more The text Sb 19319 (MDP 18, 250) has recently been treated by Wasserman 2019 and Zgoll 2020. The article suggests an improved interpretation of the text, understood as an excerpt of a personal lament. It is argued here that the text has no netherworld connection and does not provide any information about netherworld conceptions. Known as one of the so-called "Susa funerary texts" for more than a hundred years, Sb 19319 (MDP 18, 250) has recently been treated twice. Wasserman 2019, esp. 860-862, re-edits it together with the remaining six Susa funerary texts. His edition is based on a collation of the texts and new photos. 1 He also addresses important questions about its literary history and meaning. Zgoll 2020, esp. 216-218, treats the text Sb 1931 alone-without taking into account the other Susa funerary texts-within a study on "Sphärenwechsel" within the netherworld, applying a "Hylemanalyse" developed in her project on ancient myths.

The article argues that the Akkadian terminative case in-iš was used for comparisons already in O... more The article argues that the Akkadian terminative case in-iš was used for comparisons already in Old Babylonian literary texts. One of the examples describes the relationship between man and god with the word "friend", a notion also attested elsewhere in cuneiform texts.

E+,+{ 6fl. @ lI E+ ä{ tr # flI E+,f{ # @ ,r} tr+ ft H q AKKADISCH, DIE SPRACHE DER BABYLONIER UND... more E+,+{ 6fl. @ lI E+ ä{ tr # flI E+,f{ # @ ,r} tr+ ft H q AKKADISCH, DIE SPRACHE DER BABYLONIER UND ASSYRER tl en Namen «Akkadisch» hahen dic U meisten Menschen nceh nie ge-

BM 108868, an unpublished Old Babylonian tablet containing a collection of moral and existential ... more BM 108868, an unpublished Old Babylonian tablet containing a collection of moral and existential sayings is edited here for the first time, accompanied by a commentary, photos and a hand-copy. With this discovery, the existence of a solid 2 nd millennium tradition of monolingual Akkadian proverbial sayings is established.

Sonderdruck WEIDE. A − WEIDE. B. I 23 Für eine konkrete Gestalt könnte sprechen, dass W. in minde... more Sonderdruck WEIDE. A − WEIDE. B. I 23 Für eine konkrete Gestalt könnte sprechen, dass W. in mindestens eine Götterliste aufgenommen wurde: Die spätaltbab. Nippur-Liste ordnet d We-du-um (Var. d We-du-úum ! in SLT G24 ii G9) zwischen Nabû * und Tašmuštum (Tadmuštum*) ein (J. Peterson, AOAT 362 [2009] 30: 82). Daraus lassen sich allerdings kaum Schlüsse auf W. Identität ziehen. Unklar ist auch die Assoziation zwischen an-né -zu, d kù -mul-mul (Var. d kù -mul d Nin-si 4 -an-na) und We-du-úum in Silbenvokabular A 93 (E. Sollberger, Fs. B. Landsberger 24 mit 27).

Sonderdruck WAŠ KUWATAŠ Š I − WASSER. A. I 6 dürfte sich vielmehr um eine Nebenform des hypostati... more Sonderdruck WAŠ KUWATAŠ Š I − WASSER. A. I 6 dürfte sich vielmehr um eine Nebenform des hypostatischen Begriffs d Wa a šū l für "Üppigkeit" im Hatt. handeln, dessen heth. Entsprechung ijata tameta heißt (KUB 2, 2+ iii 28f.). Vgl. noch den PN m Wašili (NH 206 [Nr. G508] und 288).

„Von Assur nach Babylon“ ist ein Podcast des Altorientalischen Instituts der Universität Leipzig.... more „Von Assur nach Babylon“ ist ein Podcast des Altorientalischen Instituts der Universität Leipzig. Assur und Babylon, die beiden Hauptstädte Assyriens und Babyloniens, stehen stellvertretend für die antiken Kulturen Vorderasiens in den drei vorchristlichen Jahrtausenden: im Zentrum Mesopotamien, das Zweistromland an Euphrat und Tigris auf dem Gebiet der heutigen Staaten Irak und Syrien, das Hethiterreich in der heutigen Türkei, das Reich Elam in Südwestiran, das Reich Urartu in Ostkleinasien, sowie verschiedene Reiche Syriens, Israels und der palästinensischen Autonomiegebiete. Die Geschichte und Kultur dieser Reiche lässt sich aus den archäologischen Ausgrabungen und vor allem den unzähligen, meist in Keilschrift verfassten Schriftzeugnissen detailliert rekonstruieren. In diesem Podcast stellen wir den Alten Orient und die wissenschaftliche Arbeit der Altorientalistik in allgemeinverständlicher Weise vor.