Chavalas - Women in the ancient Near East: a sourcebook

WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Women in the Ancient Near East provides a collection of primary sources that further our understanding of women from Mesopotamian and Near Eastern civilizations, from the earliest historical and literary texts in the third millennium BC to the end of Mesopotamian political autonomy in the sixth century BC. This book is a valuable resource for historians of the Near East and for those studying women in the ancient world. It moves beyond simply identifying women in the Near East to attempting to place them in historical and literary context, following the latest research. A number of literary genres are represented, including myths and epics, proverbs, medical texts, law collections, letters and treaties, as well as building, dedicatory, and funerary inscriptions.

Mark W. Chavalas is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he has taught since 1989. Among his publications are the edited Emar: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Syrian Town in the Late Bronze Age (1996), Mesopotamia and the Bible (2002), and The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation (2006), and he has had research fellowships at Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Cal-Berkeley, and a number of other universities. He has nine seasons of excavation at various Bronze Age sites in Syria, including Tell Ashara/Terqa and Tell Mozan/Urkesh.

ROUTLEDGE SOURCEBOOKS FOR THE ANCIENT WORLD

HISTORIANS OF ANCIENT ROME, THIRD EDITION

Ronald Mellor

TRIALS FROM CLASSICAL ATHENS, SECOND EDITION

Christopher Carey

ANCIENT GREECE, THIRD EDITION

Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland

READINGS IN LATE ANTIQUITY, SECOND EDITION

Michael Maas

GREEK AND ROMAN EDUCATION

Mark Joyal, J.C. Yardley, and Iain McDougall

THE REPUBLICAN ROMAN ARMY

Michael M. Sage

THE STORY OF ATHENS

Phillip Harding

ROMAN SOCIAL HISTORY

Tim Parkin and Arthur Pomeroy

DEATH IN ANCIENT ROME

Valerie Hope

ANCIENT ROME

Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland

SEXUALITY IN GREEK AND ROMAN LITERATURE

Marguerite Johnson and Terry Ryan

ATHENIAN POLITICAL ORATORY

David Phillips

POMPEII

Alison E. Cooley and M.G.L. Cooley

GREEK SCIENCE OF THE HELLENISTIC ERA

Georgia Irby-Massie and Paul Keyser

WOMEN AND LAW IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Judith Evans Grubbs

WARFARE IN ANCIENT GREECE

Michael M. Sage

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Barbara Levick

PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS IN LATE ANTIQUITY

A.D. Lee

ANCIENT GREEK LAWS

Ilias Arnaoutoglou

TRIALS FROM CLASSICAL ATHENS

Christopher Carey

GREEK AND ROMAN TECHNOLOGY

John Humphrey, John Oleson, and Andrew Sherwood

ROMAN ITALY 388 BCAD 200

Kathryn Lomas

THE ROMAN ARMY 31 BCAD 337

Brian Campbell

THE ROMAN HOUSEHOLD

Jane F. Gardner and Thomas Wiedemann

ATHENIAN POLITICS

G.R. Stanton

GREEK AND ROMAN SLAVERY

Thomas Wiedemann

Forthcoming:

ANCIENT CITY OF ROME

Christopher Smith, J.C.N. Coulston, and Hazel Dodge

GREEK RELIGION

Emma Stafford and Karen Stears

WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

A Sourcebook

Edited by
Mark W. Chavalas

First published 2014

by Routledge

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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

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2014 Mark W. Chavalas for selection and editorial matter; individual contributions, the contributors.

The right of Mark W. Chavalas to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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ISBN: 978-0-415-44855-0 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-44856-7 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-73702-6 (ebk)

Typeset in Baskerville

by Taylor & Francis Books

CONTENTS

MARK W. CHAVALAS

HARRIET CRAWFORD

ALHENA GADOTTI

ALHENA GADOTTI

KAREN NEMET-NEJAT

JOANN SCURLOCK

MARTHA T. ROTH

KAREN NEMET-NEJAT

KAREN NEMET-NEJAT

CCILE MICHEL

SARAH C. MELVILLE

SARAH C. MELVILLE

KAREN NEMET-NEJAT

BILLIE JEAN COLLINS

MARY BACHVAROVA

Mary R. Bachvarova is an Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at Willamette University, Oregon. Her research focuses on cultural interaction between Greece and Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.

Mark W. Chavalas (PhD UCLA) is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he has taught since 1989. Among his publications are the edited, Emar: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Syrian Town in the Late Bronze Age (1996), Mesopotamia and the Bible (2002), and The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation (2006), and he has had research fellowships at Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Cal-Berkeley, and a number of other universities. He has nine seasons of excavation at various Bronze Age sites in Syria, including Tell Ashara/Terqa and Tell Mozan/Urkesh.

Billie Jean Collins is an instructor in Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University and Acquisitions Editor for the Society of Biblical Literature. She is author of The Hittites and Their World (2007), editor of A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East (2002) and co-editor of Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and their Neighbors (2008).

Harriet Crawford has worked extensively on the archaeology of the third millennium in south Mesopotamia and surrounding regions. She is the author of Sumer and the Sumerians and editor of The Sumerian World, which came out in December 2012. Now retired from her post at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, she is a Reader Emerita at UCL and a senior Fellow at the McDonald Institute in Cambridge.

Alhena Gadotti (PhD, The Johns Hopkins University) is a Sumerologist specializing in Sumerian Literature of the Old Babylonian Period. Her doctoral dissertation, soon to be published with DeGruyter, discusses Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld