Assyriology, Anthropology and Theory

Analytical Perspectives and Interpretive Prospects

Edited by Emanuel Pfoh Edited by Lorenzo Verderame

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Extent: 180 pages

Publisher: Zaphon

Subjects: Ancient Near East

Series: wEdge

Series volume number: 5

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(December 2025)

ISBN: 9783963273186

170 x 240 inches

Price: $87.00

In stock

PDF (Published)

(December 2025)

ISBN: 9783963273193

Price: $87.00

The collection of papers presented in this volume originated in a workshop organized for the 65eĀ Rencontre Assyriologique InternationaleĀ held in Paris in July 2019. The driving idea of the workshop was to foster anthropological readings, insights and interpretations of cuneiform sources, Assyriological questions and, in general, theoretical matters related to ancient Near Eastern history and historiography. The papers in this volume propose ways of integrating different approaches from anthropology and similar theoretical insights with Assyriological interpretation. Anthropology started as a rather peripheral orientation within the social sciences (especially the behavioural sciences) focusing on the present conditions of human life, to later, during the twentieth century, receive a recognition of the relevance of its perspectives and interpretation. It is hoped that with this collection of studies more interest into theoretical, and in particular anthropological interpretation of Assyriological questions and problems will be fostered within Assyriology and ancient Near Eastern studies.

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Emanuel Pfoh and Lorenzo Verderame:Ā Introduction

Emanuel Pfoh:Ā Anthropology in Assyriology: An Historiographical Overview from the Periphery

Lorenzo Verderame:Ā The Sumerian Kinship System: Dialoguing with Anthropology

AgnĆØs Garcia-Ventura:Ā The Underlying Myth of Matriarchy: Some Reflections on the Entanglements between Anthropology, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies

Omar N’Shea:Ā I am a Lion, I am a King: Metaphor, Mimesis, and Masculinity in the State Arts of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–613 BCE)

Gioele Zisa:Ā Towards an Anthropology and Ethnopsychiatry of Mesopotamian Medicine:Ā A Case Study on Therapies for the Loss of Sexual Desire

Luciana Urbano:Ā The Conformation Rituals of Political Alliances in the Old Babylonian Sources from Mari: A New Interpretation from the Anthropology of the Body

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  • Edited by Emanuel Pfoh
  • Edited by Lorenzo Verderame