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Abstract – The discovery of new fragments of the Mari god-list in 1998-2000 as well as new readings proposed by different scholars since its publication lead to a better understanding of the list. For example, it is argued that the section of the Nin-deities is organized according to the principle of a life cycle. This article also highlights the affiliation of Mari god-list with other Old Babylonian god-lists, which form a group whose organization dates back to the 3rd millennium: god-lists from Isin, Mari, and Uruk as well as others of unknown provenance are interconnected through their main organization as well as through thematic groups of deities based on, among others, the motif of weeping mothers or the seven children of Enmešara. Finally, this article proposes several new readings in these lists and also aims to clarify the function of some minor deities during the Old Babylonian period, such as NINniĝar, Ninsig, Ninpiriĝ or Ninkur(a), through the analysis of their place in the different lists.

Adoptions during the Old Babylonian period were driven by various social, economic, and legal motivations. In the case of adoptions of slaves, it automatically resulted in their manumission, granting them a new status as “son and heir” along with associated rights – mostly inheritance ones – and duties. Thus, adoption-manumissions transformed slaves into freed heirs. However, while laws clearly protected the inheritance rights of freeborn children, the legal situation of these freed adoptees has yet not been fully explored. By examining a corpus of 10 documents, this paper shows that the situation of freed heirs was precarious when compared with free heirs. On the one hand, their former status as slaves meant that adoption-manumission contracts included provisions for their (re-)enslavement in the event of a contractual breach. On the other hand, no specific legal regime governed and protected their inheritance rights, which were therefore entirely contingent on the contract drafted by the adopters. As a result, the fate of adopted slaves was at the mercy of their adopters. This study reveals that the inheritance rights of freed heirs were often inferior to those of free heirs. This was due to the ability of parents to add ancillary clauses to the adoption-manumission contracts to favor preexisting free heirs. However, adopters could also insert protective clauses to secure the inheritance rights of freed heirs, especially in competition with future free heirs. Through a new reading of texts concerning adopted slaves, this paper outlines for the first time their inheritance rights, highlighting the complexity and flexibility of Mesopotamian law.

This paper elaborates on the status of war prisoners in southern Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period. The analysis focuses on the data from the texts, coming from “the house of prisoners of war.” These texts date back to the reign of Rīm-Anum, who held power in Uruk during the rebellion of southern Mesopotamian city-states against king Samsu-iluna of Babylon. This archive provides unparalleled evidence for studying the status of war prisoners during the first half of the second millennium BC. The analysis suggests a distinction in the management of slaves and prisoners of war, showing that the latter were only employed as forced workers under the superior authority of the palace without being included in the slave trade or becoming privately owned slaves. The author argues that the status of prisoner of war was different from slavery, and the paper uses the emic term “head” ( ) when referring to them. To confirm this model, the author analyzes some elements of the so-called “death certificates” and particular ways in which war prisoners were employed, such as weavers. Additionally, the article presents the gifting of some prisoners to deities by the royal family. These gifted prisoners were high-ranking military officers or connected to prominent figures of Ešnunna, Malkum, and Mutiabal, often qualified as of Isin. It is argued that they were not slaves but hostages; giving them to the temples could have been a way to leave an option for a potential ransom or to negotiate agreements with other warring parties. Finally, the paper analyzes the ways of releasing prisoners upon ransom payment, agreements, or following a royal action, confirming the temporary nature of the dependent status of these prisoners working under the palace’s authority.

This article presents a new Sumerian royal inscription in which King Enlil-bāni of Isin claims to have built a residence for the goddess Annunītum. It is argued here that this construction work could have simply involved the maintenance of a chapel for Annunītum within the temple of Inana at Isin. Whatever the case, the work might have been very significant to Enlil-bāni, since he could have carried it out when Isin had lost control of Nippur due to its conquest by the rival kingdom of Larsa. In this way, Enlilbāni’s maintenance of the chapel of Annunītum, a goddess associated with kingship, could have been intended to gain her favor and thus reaffirm his royal status after this great loss, even though he later reintegrated Nippur into the kingdom of Isin. The Sumerian inscription in question appears with a presentation of the two foundation nails currently preserving this text, a score edition, and a philological commentary, as well as a hand copy and photographs of the duplicate preserved in the Sephardic Museum (Toledo, Spain). Photos and further details of another object from this museum, a votive cone containing a duplicate of Gudea 37 (= RIME 3/1, 1.7.37), also appear in the present paper.

This paper presents two documents, dated to the reign of Rīm-Sîn of Larsa, which can be attributed to the category of \"loan contracts\", although in different ways. In particular, the second contract here presented is of great interest: its unusual formulas and the peculiar circumstances in which the agreement took place (the presence and the key-role of the goddess Lisin in the transaction; the forging of a small figurine, apparently in the shape of a scorpion, for the temple; the libation of a jar of beer) probably makes it an unicum among the OB contracts.

The Sealand kingdom arose from the rebellion against Babylonian hegemony in the latter half of the 18th century BCE., forcing it to share power over Sumer and Akkad. Although its kings maintained themselves throughout the turmoil leading to the demise of the Amorite dynasty at Babylon, it remains one of the most poorly documented Mesopotamian polities. Until recently, it was known to us mainly through its inclusion into later king lists and chronicles, but the recent publication of well over 400 archival texts from a Sealand palace, soon followed by literary and divinatory tablets, finally makes it possible to study this polity from primary sources. This book proposes a history of the Sealand kingdom based on the new evidence and a reevaluation of previously known sources. The aspects examined are: the economy — mainly the palatial administration and transformation of agricultural and animal resources; the panthea and the palace-sponsored cult, which show that Sealand I kings may have positioned their rule in a Larsean tradition; the political history, including a discussion of the geography and the relative chronology; the recording and transmission of knowledge on the Sealand I dynasty in Mesopotamian historiography.

El presente artículo contribuye a la emergente discusión teórica sobre las emociones en la Asiriología mediante el examen del modelo analítico de \"prácticas emocionales\" propuesto por Monique Scheer y la evaluación de su aplicabilidad al estudio de los textos paleobabilónicos (ca. 2000-1600 a.C.). El estudio analiza tres cartas de Mari (M. 13014, ARM 2 44 y ARM 10 107) que comparten un contexto específico de guerra, examinándolas a través del prisma del marco de prácticas emocionales de Scheer. Aunque dicho modelo ha sido citado en algunos trabajos asiriológicos, no ha sido discutido en profundidad ni aplicado al análisis textual dentro del campo. Esta investigación representa la primera aplicación sistemática del modelo de prácticas emocionales a fuentes textuales paleobabilónicas, ofreciendo nuevas posibilidades metodológicas para comprender las emociones. Los hallazgos del estudio sugieren que el marco de Scheer proporciona valiosas perspectivas sobre cómo las emociones eran practicadas y expresadas en un contexto concreto, al tiempo que destaca los desafíos específicos de aplicar enfoques teóricos modernos a fuentes y avanzar en las discusiones teóricas dentro de la Asiriología. 

Une nouvelle lecture d’un sceau paléo-babylonien de Tell Rimah (l’ancienne Qaṭṭarā) permet de déterminer qu’Ilī-Samas était un serviteur de Pithana. Il s’agit certainement du roi anatolien de Kuššara, qui s’est emparé de Kaniš (Kültepe) et qui est une des figures fondatrices de l’Empire hittite. Le fait qu’une tablette scellée par Ilī-Samas ( OBTR 317) soit datée par l’éponyme Uṣur-ša-Aššur (KEL G 131) permet de constater que Pithana est contemporain des années 22/23 de Samsu-iluna (soit 1728/1727 av. J.-C. selon la « chronologie moyenne haute »). Nous avons désormais un nouveau synchronisme entre la chronologie anatolienne et la chronologie babylonienne qui nous permet d’éclairer d’un jour nouveau cette période jusqu’ici obscure. A new reading of an Old Babylonian seal from Tell Rimah (ancient Qaṭṭarā) shows that Ilī-Samas was a servant of Pithana. The latter was certainly the Anatolian king of Kuššara, who had taken the city of Kaniš (Kültepe) and is one of the founders of the Hittite empire. The fact that one tablet sealed by Ilī-Samas ( OBTR 317) is dated by the eponym Uṣur-ša-Aššur (KEL G 131) allows us to determine that Pithana was contemporaneous with the years 22/23 of Samsuiluna (1728/1727 B.C. in the “higher Middle Chronology”). We now have a new synchronism between the Anatolian and the Babylonian chronology that makes it possible to see this obscure period in a new light.

En este artículo discutiremos los procedimientos griegos de análisis en el contexto de las matemáticas de la Antigua Babilonia (2000-1600 a.C.), examinado dos ejercicios de contenido muy diferente. Intentaremos probar el método heurístico llevado a cabo en la resolución del problema descrito en la tablilla VAT 8393In this paper we will discuss the Greek procedures of analysis in the context of Mesopotamian Mathematics (2000-1600 BC). We try to prove the heuristic method developed in the problem text VAT 8393.

MHET II 6 894 is a large administrative document dating from the Late Old Babylonian period. The text lists fields situated in the territory of Sippar-Amnānum, which were assigned to the soldiers of Sippar. At first sight, the text only enumerates surfaces, irrigation districts and persons. However, a thorough analysis of this list reveals a well organised mechanism, which sheds more light on the redistribution of land to soldiers in Late Old Babylonian Sippar-Amnānum. /// MHET II 6 894 est un long document administratif datant de la période paléobabylonienne tardive. II fournit une liste des terrains situés dans le territoire de Sippar-Amnānum, qui ont été attribués aux militaires sippariotes. Au premier examen, le texte n'est qu'une énumération de surfaces, de secteurs d'irrigation et de noms de personnes. Cependant, une analyse approfondie de cette liste révèle l'existence d'un mécanisme bien organisé qui éclaire le système de la redistribution des terres aux militaires dans la période paléobabylonienne tardive à Sippar-Amnānum.