Zugl.: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 2002

Teilw. zugl.: Berlin, Freie Univ., Habil.-Schr., 2002.

Thousands of years ago in Ancient Mesopotamia there was an abundant Pantheon of gods and goddesses. Circa 3000–2300 B.C.E, separate cults started to form relating to two of these goddesses: Ninisina and Gula. They were quite similar, both associated with healing, as were several other goddesses in the area. Over time they all fused, and their names disappeared one by one, until one remained; Gula. Scholars of today often tend to see them all as one type of goddess, their names interchangeable. This essay researches Ninisina and Gula, and the intention is to see if they truly are the “same”. A number of hymns and healing spells are analysed and used to compare the goddesses. This comparison is based on three themes; “Healing”, “Praise” and “Prayer & Intention”, and finds that indeed the manner of their healing and their characters differ. The essay also discusses how central their roles as healers are. It is shown that even though healing is always mentioned in every chosen text, other traits are often emphasised more.

Die vorliegende Dissertation widmet sich der detaillierten Erforschung und Beschreibung der Gestalt und Funktionen der mesopotamischen Unterweltsgöttin Ereškigal sowie der Darstellung ihrer Rolle für das religiöse Leben der Gesellschaft und des Individuums. Detailliert untersucht sind auch die Hypostasen Ereškigals, bes. Allatum und ihre Vorgängerinnen sowie die Beziehungen der Göttin zu anderen Unterweltsgottheiten des Alten Orients und ihre späten Synkretismen.

The Ancient Mesopotamian society is often pictured as the cradle of society. It is surroundedby the rivers Euphrates and Tigris and has given life to an agricultural civilization that hasproduced the oldest preserved literary writing of our time, the Epic of Gilgamesh. In thisqualitative research paper, I intend to explore similar stories to expand the understanding ofthe Mesopotamian religion and its deities.Metaphorical literature, as with the Epic of Gilgamesh, represent society’s understanding ofits surroundings and thus portrays deities as reflections of its values and cognitive thinking.As an example, kingships of Mesopotamia were depicted as gods, and gods as kings, duringthe third millennia B.C. The prevailing political setting of monarchs demanded protection ofits citizens against outside threats. Wars were common during this era and thus walls werebuilt around the cities. The deities acted as protectors of the citizens as well as the kings. So,the metaphorical literature created during this time reflected upon this societal system.The analysis of the paper does not only intend to investigate the understanding of deities inrelation to the physical world, but also intends to elaborate the current understanding of thosedeities. Previous research has tried to explain and understand the Mesopotamianpandemonium in its completion despite the religion having produced nothing that can beexplained in a systematic structure. Instead, I argue, that the anthropomorphic Mesopotamiangod system needs to be further analyzed in relation to the society itself. Many metaphoricstories do not separate mankind to gods, and so this paper’s purpose is to further specify thecurrent Mesopotamian definition according to such keystones.

No description available.

Diese Korpusgrammatik widmet sich einem bislang wenig beachteten Teilgebiet der akkadischen Sprachgeschichte. Das Akkadische mit seinen beiden Hauptdialekten Assyrisch und Babylonisch ist uns in großem Umfang durch Keilschrifttexte aus zweieinhalb Jahrtausenden überliefert. Die Frühaltbabylonische Grammatik befasst sich mit Texten aus Südmesopotamien aus dem Zeitraum von ca. 2000 v. Chr. Bis 1820 v. Chr. Und beleuchtet damit die Übergangsphase zwischen dem Ur III-Babylonischen und dem Klassisch-Altbabylonischen. Der Band bietet erstmals eine umfassende Beschreibung des Textmaterials dieser Zeit. Insgesamt wurden 1545 akkadische Texte herangezogen, darunter Königsinschriften, Briefe, Rechtsurkunden und Verwaltungstexte. Basierend auf diesem Korpus wird die Sprachstufe durch detaillierte Beschreibungen der Orthographie, Phonologie, Morphologie und des Lexikons behandelt. Zentrale Fragestellungen bilden dabei die Stellung des Frühaltbabylonischen in der akkadischen Sprachgeschichte, die Herausarbeitung diachroner Entwicklungen innerhalb des Korpus, und die Identifikation orts- oder gattungsspezifischer Aspekte von Sprache und Schrift. Der Grammatik sind ausführliche Anhänge mit Textkatalog, Syllabar und Formenkatalog beigegeben.

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Fakultät für Orientalistik--Heidelberg--Ruprecht-Karl-Universität, 1991. / Bibliogr. p. XII-XIV.

, Habil--Julius-Maximilian-Universität Würzburg, 2004.

Assyriology as a field of study has long been dominated by the ideas and values of the white, Western men who, during the 19th century, were responsible for the development and growth of all scientific research. This has resulted in a resilient androcentric bias in the discipline, which to this day continues to influence scholarly perceptions of Ancient Mesopotamian society - and particularly of Mesopotamian women. Amongst many other things this includes the application of modern, misogynistic prejudice regarding the female body onto Akkadian women; one such modern concept which, despite recent criticism, is still widely accepted as true, is the notion of ‘menstrual impurity’. By the implementation of standpoint theory - an epistemology which emphasises the influence of a scholar’s own experiences on their perception and interpretation of their field of study - this paper examines the translations of three Akkadian terms which have been used to support the alleged existence of the concept of menstrual impurity in Mesopotamia. The terms are reexamined through an analysis of their etymological and contextual semantics, the results of which are then used comparatively in order to determine the validity of their current translations. The results of this analysis reveal a thoroughly biassed and unscientific interpretation process, which perpetuates the androcentric perspective within the discipline and contributes to the spread of a false image of Ancient Mesopotamian women and their lives. Not only is it highly unlikely that any of the analysed terms actually signify menstruation, but the very notion of ‘impurity’, which is indeed a significant part of the words’ meaning, is interpreted in a modern, stereotypically negative sense that most certainly is not reflective of the Mesopotamian perception of the concept.