Kulturgeschichten: Altorientalistische Studien fur Volkert Haas zum 65. Geburtstag.

• Author: Soysal, Oguz
• Position: Book Review

Kulturgeschichten: Altorientalistische Studien fur Volkert Haas zum 65, Geburtstag. Edited by THOMAS RICHTER, DORIS PRECHEL, and JORG KLINGER. Saarbrucken: SAARBRUCKER DRUCKEREI UND VERLAG, 2001. Pp. xxiv + 500, illustrations. [euro]69.

His friends, colleagues, and pupils dedicated the Festschrift under review to Berliner Hittitologist Volkert Haas on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday. The volume includes thirty-seven articles submitted by forty-two scholars from various fields, including Mesopotamian archaeology (represented by R. Dittmann and A. Green and A. Hausleiter), Assyriology (H. Freydank, S. Lundstrom, M. S. Maul, J.-W. Meyer, H. Neumann, J. Renger, and G. J. Selz), and biblical studies (M. Kockert and H. Pfeiffer).

The largest number of contributions, however, focus on ancient Anatolian studies, primarily on Hittitology, as this has always been the main interest of the honoree of this volume. Among these, four articles address Anatolian archaeology: S. Alaura (pp. 1-17) reconsiders the terra-cotta fragments of bull figure(s) from H. Winckler's early excavations at Bogazkoy / Hattusa and their unknown find spot, which the author believes to have been a storage room for "unfinished or damaged" cult objects in Hittite times (p. 2). She also refers to the Hittite written sources concerning damaged cult objects; cf. also O. Soysal, Hethitica 14 (1999): 131f., 132 n. 55a.

P. Neve's brief article (pp. 291-93) presents some thoughts on the architectonic structure of Eflatunpinar. Sadly, this famous spring-sanctuary situated in the modern town of Beysehir had over the years been converted into part of a fish farm, but it has become of current interest thanks to the rescue and restoration excavations led by Turkish archaeologist A. S. Ozenir, who also keeps the scholarly community informed with his systematic publications; see most recently 2000 Yili Anadolu Medeniyetleri Muzesi Konferanslart (Ankara, 2001), 35ff., and Akten des IV. Internationalen Kongresses fur Hethitologie, ed. G. Wilhelm (= StBoT 45, Wiesbaden, 2001), 532ff, Recent interpretation of Eflatunpinar would indicate that it was one of the sacred pools or dams built in the time of the later Hittite kings Tuthaliya IV and Suppiluliuma II (pp. 292f.). There is also a large mound situated near this sanctuary, and the find of a small fragment with hieroglyphic Luwian signs suggests that there was also a royal inscription at Eflatunpinar, like those found at Yalburt and...