Books published by Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

The concept of sign, a portent observed in the physical world, which indicates future events, was first developed in ancient Mesopotamian texts. This branch of Babylonian scientific knowledge extensively influenced other parts of the world, and similar texts written in Aramaic, Sanscrit, Sogdian, and other languages.

Contains 25 articles (20 in English, 5 in Hebrew) that span a broad array of topics within the fields of Hebraica, Judaica, and Biblica. Also included is a comprehensive bibliography of the honoree's works as well as discrete indexes of manuscripts, biblical references, classical and medieval works, and general items.

The Oriental Institute 2008-2009 Annual Report contains yearly summaries of the activities of the Institute's faculty, staff, and research projects, as well as descriptions of special events and other Institute functions.

Report on the ongoing studies of Project ArAGATS, (Joint American-Armenian Project for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies) details the general context of contemporary archaeological research in the South Caucasus as well as the specific context of regional investigations in the Tsaghkahovit Plain of central Armenia.

This catalog presents the entire corpus of 272 baked clay figurines and votive beds excavated at Medinet Habu by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago during their 1926-1933 campaign. Each object is fully described and illustrated and is accompanied by commentary on construction, symbolism, and function.

The purpose of the conference was to examine more closely concepts of kingship in various regions of the world and in different time periods. The study of kingship goes back to the roots of fields such as anthropology and religious studies, as well as Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology.

The final report on 11 seasons of excavations at Chogha Mish. In addition to the materials and records from Chogha Mish, uses the data available from the neighboring sites of Chogha Bonut and Boneh Fazl Ali to augment his reconstruction of Susiana prehistoric development. Together, these three sites cover a long period from ca. 7200 to 500 B.C.

Robert D Biggs retired from the University of Chicago as Professor of Assyriology in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 2004. To acknowledge and honour his extraordinary service as collaborator, associate editor, and editorial board member, contributions from some of his former and current colleagues are assembled here.

The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.

The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, often with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia.

The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon, and is the only such project in the English-speaking world.

Tall-e Bakun A, near Persepolis in the Marv Dasht region of Fars, stands as one of the precursors to the complex societies of the fourth millennium BC early urban centres. This is the final report of the last season's excavations at that site.

Examining the growth of towns, rural settlements, and the rural landscape over much of the last ten thousand years. Emphasis is upon the retrieval of information from surface surveys, and at the same time, the integration of cultural change within both the local environmental context and long-term environmental change.

The 173 texts contained in this volume are dated from 699 to 423 BC, during the Neo-Babylonian period. Contains transliterations, translations, text notes, commentary, indices, and a mixture of hand-drawn copies and photographs of the tablets.

This volume is the main publication of the 605 cuneiform tablets in the Asiatic Collection of the Oriental Institute Museum that were found at the site of the ancient administrative center Puzria-Dagan (Drehem) and date to the reign of Amar-Suena (2046-2038 b.c.), the third ruler of the Third Dynasty of Ur (2112-2004 b.c.).

The results of three seasons of excavations at Chogha Bonut, Lowland Susiana, in the modern-day province of Khuzestan, southwestern Iran. Susiana was a major contributor to the cultural development of the ancient Near East, and thanks to more than a century of archaeological investigation, it is also the best known region in the entire area.

Medinet Habu in western Thebes (modern Luxor, Egypt) is dominated by the great mortuary temples of King Ramesses III, and Kings Aye and Horemheb. Catalogue of 349 objects from approx. 1470 BC to the eighth century AD. Each is described and illustrated. These scarabs and scaraboids are one of the largest groups excavated from any site in Egypt.

The Oriental Institute continued its survey of Bir Umm Fawakhir, a site lying half way between the Nile and the Red Sea in1993.This report reflects on the aims of the 1993 season which was to continue mapping the site, to expand the pottery corpus, to seek for some specific features not found in 1992 such as defensive structures and churches.

In memory of Douglas L. Esse, an archaeologist and assistant professor at the Oriental Institute. The majority of the thirty-four chapters in this volume are concerned with the study of the Early Bronze Age.

On the legible seals retrieved through many thousands of full or partial impressions preserved on the 2,087 Elamite administrative tablets recovered during the 1930s excavations at Persepolis, Iran. Commentary on features of the seals as well as systematic analysis of seal application patterns. Part 1: text 562pp; Part 2: plates 1-291 318pp

The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon, and is the only such project in the English-speaking world.

The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CHD) is a comprehensive, bilingual Hittite-English dictionary. The CHD reflects and illustrates the ideas and material world of Hittite society through its lexicon, and is the only such project in the English-speaking world.