Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Grateful acknowledgment is given to the following individuals at the University of Michigan who aided the author in producing this book: Professor Alexander Knysh, recent chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, who granted me a stipend to partially cover typing costs. Lisa Michelin (key administrator) and Margaret Casazza (academic services secretary) of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, who always cheerfully assisted me while the book was being composed. Robin Meador-Woodruff, associate curator of Slides/Photographs, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, who gave generously of her interest and time to photograph clay tablets for the book. Kari Neely, an outstanding graduate teaching fellow in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, who typed the manuscript meticulously and prepared it for publication. Ann Tai, director of the Learning in Retirement program, and her associates and staff for their assistance in providing teaching facilities and of‹ce and classroom support. Further acknowledgment is given to the owners of copyrighted materials used in this book: George Braziller, Inc., New York, for permission to use maps 4, 5, 6, and 7 (The Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Palestine), from Paul Lampl, Cities and Planning in the Ancient Near East (New York: George Braziller, 1968), and ‹g. 33, “Irrigation ditches of the Euphrates .” The Minnesota Council for Geographic Education and Professor John Adams, chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Minnesota , for permission to use maps 2 and 3 (Physical Regions of the Near East and Land Use and Vegetation of the Modern Near East), designed as teaching materials. The Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut, for permission to reprint parts of my article “Ancient Near Eastern Literature,” which appeared in The Reader’s Adviser: A Layman’s Guide to Literature, ed. E. J. Sypher (New York and London: R. R. Bowker Co., 1977), 2:601–2 (text, without booklist). Karl Longstreth, Map Librarian, Head, Map Library, the University of Michigan Library, for the satellite color image of the Near East. Fate Magazine, for permission to use my essay “Lost Writings of Lost Cities,” 36, no. 2, issue 395 (February 1983): 38–45, under its new title, “The Decipherment of Cuneiform Writing” in the present volume. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan for permission to use the photographs of cuneiform tablets (KM89147, KM89177, KM89257, and KM89277) from the museum’s collection. Figures 30 and 31 originally appeared in Robert Koldewey, Excavations at Babylon (London: Macmillan and Co., 1914). All other photographs in the book (except for figs. 30 an 31) were taken by the author in Near Eastern and Mediterranean regions during various expeditions, surveys, and lecturing and teaching projects and remain under copyright to the University of Michigan and the author. The director of the University of Michigan Press, Philip M. Pochoda, who saw a future for this book; my former editor, Christopher Collins, and his assistants Sarah Mann and Amy Anderson; my current editor, Christopher Hebert, and his assistants Julia Goldstein and Christy Byks for their advice and assistance in the writing and production of the work, and to Mary Hashman, my copyediting coordinator, who greatly assisted in the preparation of the text for publication. xviii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...