Studies Presented to Robert D. Biggs, June 4, 2004.

AuthorGadotti, Alhena
PositionBook review

Studies Presented to Robert D. Biggs, June 4, 2004. Edited by MARTHA T. ROTH, WALTER FARBER, MATTHEW W. STOLPER, and PAULA VON BECHTOLSHEIM. From the Workshop of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 2. Chicago: THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, 2007. Pp. liv + 362, illus. $40 (paper).

In addition to a foreword and editorial note, the front matter to this volume dedicated to Robert D. Biggs includes a bibliography of his publications compiled by Charles E. Jones and Paula von Bechtolsheim and an essay by Biggs himself on his career in Assyriology and Near Eastern Studies (for which, see below). Moreover, it offers a rich and interesting collection of twenty-four contributions that reflect the many interests Biggs developed during his long and productive career. As Martha T. Roth states in the foreword, "the contributions range over the several areas to which Bob has contributed: Akkadian and Sumerian, texts and archaeology, literature and medicine, philology and lexicography" (p. vii). Unfortunately, space limitations prevent me from commenting on all the articles presented. However, this reviewer found several to be particularly interesting:

Anne D. Kilmer's "Of Babies, Boats and Arks" re-analyzes the famous Biblical narrative of the flood story in Genesis 7-8. Her conclusion that "the associative evidence would seem to favor an interpretation of Noah's ark as a uterine symbol" (p. 165) is certainly provocative and merits further discussion. Erle V. Leichty suggests in his "Esarhaddon's Exile: Some Speculative History," that when Esarhaddon fled his brothers' attempted coup, he took refuge in Harran, the likely home of his mother Naqiya.

Piotr Steinkeller's "On Sand Dunes, Mountain Ranges, and Mountain Peaks" improves our understanding of several Sumerian terms. In particular, he offers an important discussion of the differences between the Sumerian hur-sag and kur, and argues--correctly in...

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