Introduction and General
- Introduction and General
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The first edition of this compendium, also edited by A., appeared in 1988. This second edition presents all of the published inscriptions that have hitherto been identified as Ammonite in one volume. Each entry, for a total of 246, is accompanied by a complete bibliography, a physical description and details about its find-site (where such information is available), and current location, a photograph and/or drawing, relevant linguistic information, and a history of the inscription’s interpretation.
The discovery of the Amman Theater Inscription, the Amman Citadel Inscription, Tall Sīrān Inscription, Ḥisbān Ostraca, and the Tall al-Mazar Ostraca opened a new chapter in the study of ancient Northwest Semitic inscriptions that led to the recognition and analysis of the language and script of ancient Ammon. These discoveries also prompted a reclassification of a number of epigraphs previously identified as Hebrew, Phoenician, or Aramaic.
Since the first edition of this corpus, the discussion of the criteria used to classify inscriptions as Ammonite, including provenance, language, onomastics, paleography, and iconography, has advanced considerably. In addition, the number of inscriptions has increased. This updated edition includes these more recently discovered inscriptions, as well as four new appendices, and, in many cases, new and improved images. [Adapted from published abstract]
After various front-matter material (prefaces to the two editions, lists of abbreviations and sigla used, and text concordances), one finds an introduction addressing six overall points concerning the corpus: provenance, language, onomastics, paleography, iconography, and the Dayr Alla Plaster Casts. There follows the corpus of the 246 inscriptions, for each of which A. provides the above-cited data. The volume’s end-matter comprises an excursus listing three “new” Ammonite inscriptions that were published for the [End Page 250] first time in 2015, seven appendixes, titled respectively, Matres Lectionis, Identification, Onomastic and Related Features of Seals, Iconographic and other Motifs on Seals, Alphabet Seals, Non-Seal Inscriptions, Numerals and Dissertations; a glossary; a bibliography; and 56 pages of plates with photos or drawings of the inscribed artifacts featured in the catalogue.—C.T.B.
For ancient Mesopotamian scribes, translation was a means of demonstrating their skills in the focal area of their discipline: the cuneiform writing system. This stress on the scribal craft resulted in practices that are foreign to traditional Western concepts of translation. In their scholarly endeavors, the Mesopotamian scribes employed analogical hermeneutics within a cognitive framework shaped by their writing system. C.’s book provides an extensive analysis of Mesopotamian scribal curricular words lists, including an edition of the Izi list in the context of translation practices utilized by Babylonian scribes in their educational endeavors and their scholarly productions. [Adapted from published abstract]The volume consists of two main parts. Part 1 comprises five chapters, entitled respectively: (1) Meaning, Translation, and Analogy in Cuneiform Culture; (2) The Foundations of Cuneiform Translation; (3) Analogical Hermeneutics and Advanced Lexical Education; (4) Multilingual Writing Practices and Translation in Advanced Lexical Education; and (5) Writing, Language, and Knowledge: The Implications of Analogical Hermeneutics. Part Two, “Edition: The Old Babylonian Word List Izi from Nippur” features four sub-sections: (1) Introduction to Old Babylonian Izi; (2) Catalogue of Exemplars; (3) Edition of Old Babylonian Izi Nippur; and (4) Commentary on Old Babylonian Izi Nippur. The volume concludes with two appendices (“Other Versions of Izi, Contemporary and Later”; and “Akkadian Glosses in Old Babylonian Izi at Nippur”), followed by a bibliography, a comprehensive, multipart index and plates with photos of the tablets on which C.’s edition is based.—C.T.B.
