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Ägyptische und assyrische Alabastergefäße aus Assur by Hans-Ulrich Onasch Review by: Eleanor Guralnick Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 132, No. 4 (October/December 2012), pp. 713- 715 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.132.4.0713 . Accessed: 17/06/2014 16:47 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.78.109.49 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 16:47:12 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Ägyptische und assyrische Alabastergefäße aus Assurby Hans-Ulrich Onasch

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Ägyptische und assyrische Alabastergefäße aus Assur by Hans-Ulrich OnaschReview by: Eleanor GuralnickJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 132, No. 4 (October/December 2012), pp. 713-715Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.132.4.0713 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 16:47

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal ofthe American Oriental Society.

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713Reviews of Books

the groups of sources, providing a coherent picture of the royal ideology of Sesostris I, which combines traditional and innovative elements. Among the new motifs, one could highlight the surpassing of predecessors, predestination to rule, the more personal relationship with and dependence on the gods (which is especially evident in the complex program of the temple inscriptions), and the idea of the king as image of the gods.

The volume concludes with a detailed appendix (pp. 183–253) including individualized analyses of each source in turn. Each text is translated, commented upon, and accompanied by a photograph and/or a line drawing. For the White Chapel, several plans indicate the distribution of inscriptions and of specific iconographies. The plans and images are referenced in the main body of the text. The book includes a useful index, list of tables and diagrams, and a list of abbreviations for frequently cited works. Most bibliographical items, however, are given in full form in notes. This system can falter when an abbreviation is inadvertently omitted, as is the case with “Blumenthal, Königtum.”

All in all, Hirsch’s book is a solid contribution to the study of the ideology of kingship and it showcases the enormous potential that the application of theoretical models may have for our better understanding and interpretation of ancient sources.

Leire OlabarriaUniversity of Oxford

Ägyptische und assyrische Alabastergefaße aus Assur. By Hans-Ulrich Onasch. Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, vol. 128. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Ver-lag, 2010. Pp. v + 209. €68.

Nearly 1000 fragments of Egyptian and Assyrian alabaster vases are presented in this volume, most treated for the first time. A very large number are stored in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. A few of these vases are currently in twelve other museums, in Aleppo, Baghdad, Boston, Brussels, Cairo, Cambridge, Damascus, Istanbul, Leiden, New York, London, and Paris. Nearly all of these vases were found in the Alter Palast at Assur. A small number were found in cult buildings or graves. All were excavated between 1903 and 1914.

The publication is divided into three major sections. The introduction reviews the excavations and identifies the find spots of the vases. It includes discussion of the alabasters from which the vases were made and their sources, comments on distinctions in workmanship and quality, on the types of Egyptian and Assyrian decoration carved on the vases, and discusses the many Egyptian and Akkadian inscrip-tions. The second division is the catalogue, which divides the vases into twenty-five separate types. A trimmed photograph of each significant item is included within its catalogue entry, making it unneces-sary for the reader to search for illustrations. The high quality and size of all the photo illustrations makes inscriptions and carved decorations clear and readable. Each entry includes catalogue, find, and inventory numbers, size measurements, material, museum location, find spot, references to photo num-bers, bibliography, description, and brief discussion. The appendix, the third division, includes a list of abbreviations, bibliography, indices by find and inventory numbers, and drawn illustrations including profiles and multiple details of many catalogued items.

The discussions in the introduction consolidate the evidence that leads to the conclusion that the largest group of alabaster vases comes from Egypt. These vases are of a calcite alabaster found in Egypt. Most of these belong to the second half of the Eighteenth and beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasties. There are also a few later vases dating to the Third Intermediate Period. The vases of Egyp-tian origin are mainly of types not found in Egypt earlier than the New Kingdom. No comparisons were found within the Old Empire typology of Egyptian vases published by Barbara Acton (1994). However, the vases are of Egyptian shapes and decoration. Some are inscribed with hieroglyphic inscriptions.

A second group of vases, also of Egyptian calcite alabaster, is inscribed by Near Eastern gift-givers in Akkadian cuneiform. All of these were probably given as diplomatic gifts to the Middle Assyrian

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714 Journal of the American Oriental Society 132.4 (2012)

rulers at Assur. A smaller group of alabaster vases was made in the Levant in the eighth and seventh centuries b.c. They date as late as the reigns of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Assurbanipal. Many alabaster vase fragments found at Ugarit proved to be generally useful comparative material.

A final group of vases was probably made locally in Assyria. These can be distinguished by both their material—gypsum alabaster—and their technique of manufacture. The vases of this last group are mostly alabastra from graves, or flat plates from cult buildings.

The inscribed fragments, some with hieroglyphs, others with cuneiform, identify a person, a city, or a region. For instance, two large fragments have inscriptions identifying them as from the Palace of Abdi-Milkutti of Sidon. Thus it is probable that these were official or royal gifts to the Mitanni Court of Adad-nerari I, a Middle Assyrian ruler at Assur. Others are inscribed with cartouches of Thutmosis IV, Ramses II, or Eye. Sixty-four objects carry Akkadian inscriptions, including forty-seven with the name of Adad-nerari I. Nine alabaster vases have Neo-Assyrian inscriptions, two with the name of Sen-nacherib, two with that of Assurbanipal, and five with the name of Esarhaddon. In some cases traces of gold or colored pigments that originally filled and emphasized the incised inscriptions remain.

Onasch has thoughtfully organized information so that it is relatively easy for the reader to retrieve it without compiling it from the catalogue. There are a series of tables in every section that compile specific information on the objects. The first such table, in the introduction, informs the reader that a find number may include many fragments. Here all fragments are briefly described and identified in four additional ways, with a find number, museum location, inventory number, and catalogue number. A number of short tables identify the catalogue, find, and inventory numbers for vases bearing each of several types of decorations. Other charts identify vases with inscriptions, numbers of lines, find spot, and prior publication. Two additional tables rearrange the information of the above charts by museum location and include Assur photo numbers. Still another set of charts organizes the nearly 1000 objects by find spot, catalog number, excavation number/inventory number, and brief description. The cata-logue section includes a table arranged by find number with inventory number, find spot, four measure-ments, and notes on material and/or description for each object.

The appendix also includes a series of tables. The first refers to all the photo illustrations and pro-vides find, inventory, and negative numbers, and photographer or source. There is an index listed by find number with information on inventory and catalog numbers identifying page numbers with discus-sion within the volume. Another index identifies the objects and the pages where they are discussed by inventory number. These indices are for the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. Short index tables based on inventory numbers are included for each of the twelve other museums housing fragments.

A final section of this volume is devoted to drawn illustrations. There is a reproduction of Andrae’s original general map of the city of Assur, which unfortunately does not show sufficient detail to illus-trate the specific sites and/or rooms where the vases were found. There are thirty-three plates with drawings of nearly 450 vases and vase fragments. In most cases the vase presentations provide in line drawing overall, profile, neck opening, and base shapes. The actual surviving fragments are empha-sized in black. In some cases the cuneiform, hieroglyphs, and/or carved decorations are also drawn, so that it is possible to see how they are integrated into the overall design of objects.

A published catalogue of this important material was long overdue. We owe Onasch sincere thanks for undertaking the daunting task of locating these many vases and fragments and providing them with an exemplary presentation. His classification of original sources for the vases is essential for their further study. Thanks to the many organizing tables this work will encourage scholars to use its information for the insights they may provide on diplomatic relationships between Assyria and its western neighbors in the Levant and Egypt during the Middle Assyrian and, to a lesser extent, during the Neo-Assyrian periods. The excellent photographs placed within the catalogue entries, numerous fine drawings, bibliography for all previously published items and their inscriptions will be appreci-ated by all who use this handsome volume for their own research. Surely scholars will find it helpful to have all of these inscriptions easily accessible. Art historians will find the decorated objects and their shapes clearly presented for analysis and insights. Especially appreciated will be the numerous tables that allow a researcher to track down specific items with relative ease. This volume will be considered the critical source for the continued study of Egyptian and Assyrian alabaster vases. It is an outstanding

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715Reviews of Books

model for how to organize and publish a voluminous, related group of scattered objects from a single site.

Eleanor GuralnickThe Oriental Institute

Hittite Etymological Dictionary, vol. 8: Words Beginning with PA. By Jaan Puhvel. Trends in Linguis-tics, Documentation, vol. 29. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter/Mouton, 2011. Pp. iv + 221. €140.14.

The Hittitologist today confronts almost an embarrassment of riches in the domain of lexicography. General dictionaries include Friedrich and Kammenhuber’s Hethitisches Worterbuch (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1975–; abb. here HW) and the Chicago Hittite Dictionary (Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1980–; abb. CHD), both still works in progress, and Friedrich’s original “kurzgefasstes” Hethitisches Worterbuch (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1957–1966) and Johann Tischler’s Hethitisches Handworter-buch (Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck, 2001), the only two com-plete general dictionaries of the language.

Specialized dictionaries focusing on etymologies include Tischler’s Hethitisches etymologisches Glossar (Innsbruck, 1977–; abb. HEG), Alwin Kloekhorst’s Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden: Brill, 2008; abb. EDHIL), and the work presently under discussion, Puh-vel’s Hittite Etymological Dictionary (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1984–; abb. HED). Each of these books is an excellent scholarly tool, and any good scholar will consult them en banc in the course of his or her lexical research project. But given such a profusion of lexicography, there is bound to be overlap and redundancy across the several dictionaries. For a work to stand out in such a crowd it must offer a unique contribution, or serve a neglected audience; its strengths and weaknesses will determine its place and role in the scholastic machinery of modern Hittitology. This review will attempt to situate Puhvel’s work in terms of its utility and its position vis-à-vis its contemporaries.

A close examination of a sample entry is perhaps the best start. I have selected the verb pah(ha)s- ‘to protect’ due to its extensive attestations in the Hittite corpus and its being a word well examined in the secondary literature. Puhvel gives the following as its translation: ‘protect, guard, defend, watch, keep, secure, safeguard, save, steady, uphold, heed, observe, obey, be loyal to, take to heart, preserve, cover, be careful with, prevent, resist (PAP; Akk. naṣāru)’. While pah(ha)s- does indeed mean all of these things, a more nuanced approach towards defining its semantic range is possible. Compare for example the corresponding entry in the Chicago Hittite Dictionary. Here one finds the definition of pah(ha)s- broken down into several categories according to object: e.g. (paraphrasing the CHD entry, s.v. pahs-), ‘to protect (people); to keep (valuable things) safe; to restrain (dangerous things); to observe (laws, customs); to keep (a secret); (in middle voice with dative) ‘to seek protection with’; (with reflexive) to watch out(?)’. These definitions sketch the semantic contours of pah(ha)s- in a way that aids under-standing and helps minimize mistranslation, especially among inexperienced users. While Puhvel’s etymological dictionary does not have the same descriptivist goals as the CHD, it would be desirable to see it take some cues on presentation from its competitors.

With the next section of the entry Puhvel’s dictionary reaches its greatest strength. I counted hundreds of examples of usage listed over pp. 4–16, organized by conjugation for the verb pah(ha)s- (and by declension for nouns), all with citations, and most with full English translation and refer-ences to the secondary literature. The quantity of examples is unparalleled by the other dictionaries. I can think of two audiences that could make use of such a resource. First, other scholars who are conducting linguistic research and are searching for an example to illustrate a point will be able to sift through as many examples as they could desire, all in one place. The only downside is that the entries are organized by lemma and then forms, which could reduce the usefulness for non-lexical research projects (it would be difficult to utilize the data systematically in a project on Hittite syntax, for example).

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