Mesopotamien: Die altbabylanische Zeit.

• Author: Yoffee, Norman

Mesopotamien: Die altbabylanische Zeit. By DOMINIQUE CHARPIN; DIETZ OTTO EDZAKIX and MARTEN STOL. Annaherungen, vol. 4. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, vol. 160/4. Freiburg, Switzerland: ACADEMIC PRESS, 2004. Pp. 1027. FS248.

"Annaherungen," the title of the series of publications commissioned by Pascal Attinger and Markus Wafler, now joined in this volume by Walther Sallaberger, means "approaches" (to knowledge), in the sense of "advances in knowledge." This volume on the Old Babylonian period of Mesopotamia follows predecessors on the Late Uruk and Pre-Sargonic periods (OBO vol. 160/1) and on the Old Akkadian and Ur III periods (vol. 160/3). These volumes are not intended to be histories, since they are not narratives nor explanations of the causes and effects of decisions, events, or circumstances. Rather, they are comprehensive presentations and categorizations of sources and learned commentaries on these groups of data.

This fat volume on the Old Babylonian period consists of three parts, really three books, by three great experts: Dominique Charpin on "Histoire politique du Proche-Orient Amorrite (2002-1595)" (pp. 25-480); Dietz Otto Edzard, whose passing is much lamented, on "Altbabylonische Literatur und Religion" (pp. 481-640); and Marten Stol on "Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in altbabylonischer Zeit" (pp. 643-975). The fourth part of the volume includes a list of abbreviations and indices (pp. 979-1027; the page numbers in the index are often one page off the actual text). Each author uses his own mode of transcription of Akkadian and Sumerian names and terms, and each presents bibliographic citations and footnotes according to his own preference.

To say that this volume is indispensable for Mesopotamian historians is an egregious understatement.

Charpin's title "Amorite" period is provocative. Although not a single Old Babylonian text is written in Amorite, Charpin's list of Amorite kings' names and the titles chosen by some of them are clear indications of change in this period. But what kind of change was it? For Charpin (and others), it was first and fundamentally a demographic change, as Amorites migrated (from Syrian territory) into Mesopotamia (roughly modern Iraq), settled down from their nomadic ways, and seized political power in Akkadian/Sumerian cities. The situation is complicated, however, since there was no Amorite horde; there were many Amorite "tribes" and sub-sections of tribes ("clans"), and Amorite leaders...