In the Crosswinds of History
The Archive of Bēl-ušallim, Descendant of Ingalēa
By (author) Kristin Kleber
Hardback (Published)
(August 2026)
ISBN: 9783447125895
8.31 x 11.69 inches
Price: $98.00
On back order
Volume 4 of the Babil-series contains the complete edition of the archive of Bēl-ušallim, descendant of Ingalēa, also known as N11 or the “Barber’s Archive”. The Koldewey expedition in Babylon discovered these 49 texts in January 1909. The tablets had been carefully packed in chaff, and placed in two clay jars, which had apparently been buried intentionally in order to recover them later. It is an exceptional collection of texts, as it represents a complete, intentionally created deposit.
The approximately 140 years covered by this family and business archive coincide with one of the most turbulent phases of Babylonian history during the first millennium. The earliest text from the reign of Erība-Marduk originates from the first half of the 8th century. The following generations of the family lived through the dynastic transitions from Chaldean to Neo-Assyrian rule and witnessed the violent military conquest of the city under the reign of Sennacherib. Bēl-ušallim himself grew up during the most difficult years following the destruction of Babylon, and toward the end of his life, he buried the tablets sometime after Nisān in the 20th year of Kandalānu (March/April 628 BC), when violence again engulfed the city at the dawn of Nabopolassar’s rise to power. The family’s history is closely intertwined with political history, and – given the timing of their fall from power – is itself witness to a turning of the political tide.
- By (author) Kristin Kleber
Other Titles in this Series
Babylon in the 1st Millennium BC
The archaeological Contexts of its non-palatial Neo-Babylonian Archives
Volume 31
Siedlungsgeschichte im mittleren Osttigrisgebiet
Vom Neolithikum bis in die neuassyrische Zeit
Volume 28
Late Antique Arabia – Zafar, Capital of Himyar
Rehabilitation of a 'Decadent' Society: Excavations of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg 1998-2010 in the Highlands of Yemen
Volume 29
The South Palace Archives in Babylon
Administrative Records in the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II
Volume 32
The Temple of Ištar-of-Akkad in Babylon from the Neo-Assyrian until the Persian Period
The Archival Texts
Volume 33
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