bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The implementation and data analysis of an interferometer for intense short pulse laser experiments
Authors: Park Jaebum , Baldis Hector A. , Chen Hui
Published: August 2016

We present an interferometry setup and the detailed fringe analysis method for intense short pulse (SP) laser experiments. The interferometry scheme was refined through multiple campaigns to investigate the effects of pre-plasmas on energetic electrons at the Jupiter Laser Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The interferometer used a frequency doubled (

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}=0.527~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$

) 0.5 ps long optical probe beam to measure the pre-plasma density, an invaluable parameter to better understand how varying pre-plasma conditions affect the characteristics of the energetic electrons. The hardware of the diagnostic, data analysis and example data are presented. The diagnostic setup and the analysis procedure can be employed for any other SP laser experiments and interferograms, respectively.
Forced fountains
Authors: Hunt Gary R. , Debugne Antoine L. R.
Published: August 2016

We present a three-region model for the time-averaged behaviour of established turbulent axisymmetric fountains at high source Froude numbers $(Fr_{0})$ in which we uniquely account for entrainment of ambient fluid both laterally and at the fountain top. High-$Fr_{0}$ ‘forced’ fountains, as originally investigated experimentally by Turner (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 26 (4), 1966, pp. 779–792), are characterised by an upflow, a counterflow and a fountain top where the flow reverses direction. Through the inclusion of the flow-reversal region and by accounting for fountain-top entrainment, which is neglected in all existing models, close agreement is achieved between our solutions and existing experimental data. Moreover, our predictions of the fluxes within the fountain are in accord with scaling arguments deduced in recent studies. Our model reveals five key ratios that characterise the fountain asymptote to constant values in the high-$Fr_{0}$ limit. These are the ratios of the (1) initial and mean rise heights, (2) vertical extents of the fountain top and upflow regions, (3) fluxes of volume entrained into the fountain top and entrained laterally into the counterflow, (4) forces of inertia and buoyancy acting on the counterflow at the level of the source and (5) average times taken for fluid to rise through the upflow and fall through the counterflow. Attributing the invariance of these ratios to the global self-preserving behaviour of the fountain, we propose a threshold source Froude number for which a continuous negatively buoyant release may be regarded as giving rise to a ‘forced’ fountain.
3D flow measurements in regular breaking waves past a fixed submerged bar on an impermeable plane slope
Authors: Clavero M. , Longo S. , Chiapponi L. , Losada M. A.
Published: August 2016

The velocity fields induced by regular breaking waves past a fixed bar on a 1 : 10 rigid plane slope were measured and analysed using a volumetric particle-tracking velocimetry system. Under specific conditions, the interaction between waves and morphological features steepens the waves, which eventually break. The geometry of the boundaries of the present experiments is common in natural environments, where reefs, sand and gravel bars, and submerged coastal structures, interact with the incoming wave field, ‘affecting’ the transport budget of substances (sediment, nutrients and pollutants), with relevant consequences on the water quality. The aims of the present work are the analysis of the flow field in the breaker, and the quantification of the terms in the equations usually adopted for modelling the flow and the turbulence. Two sets of attacking monochromatic wave trains with different periods and heights were used to generate a data set of instantaneous velocity, which was further analysed to extract turbulence. The measurement volume extended from the wave crest to a portion of the domain below the wave trough. The balance of linear momentum for the average field and the balance of turbulence were scrutinized, and included all the terms in a three-dimensional (3D) approach. The analysed data and results are original and novel because they include all the contributions derived from the 3D structure of a real flow field, and constitute a huge data set for the calibration of numerical codes.
TRACING THE SEED: SEED DIFFUSION OF IMPROVED POTATO VARIETIES THROUGH FARMERS’ NETWORKS IN CHENCHA, ETHIOPIA
Authors: TADESSE YENENESH , ALMEKINDERS CONNY J.M. , SCHULTE ROGIER P.O. , STRUIK PAUL C.
Published: August 2016

There are many prerequisites for potato production to meet its full potential as a food security crop for subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of these is the introduction of improved varieties. Traditionally, the introduction of new varieties is by government agencies or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). To understand the diffusion of seed tubers (seeds) of new potato varieties in farmer networks, we analysed social factors influencing the sharing of seed of improved potato varieties amongst farmers in Chencha, Ethiopia. We interviewed 166 farmers and analysed 146 seed transactions. We used seed flow mapping to visualize seed sharing amongst farmers. We found that the social networks of farmers are differentiated by wealth, gender and religion, and that this differentiation affects the dispersion of new varieties through the farming communities: Wealthier farmers shared seed tubers most frequently and poor farmers did not share seed at all. Seed sharing was influenced by, but not restricted to, gender and religion categories. Most sharing was with relatives (as gifts) and neighbours (in exchange for labour). There weas no equal access to seed for all households because of (i) the targeting of the better off farmers by the NGO (ii) differences in frequency of sharing and (iii) terms and motivation of the transactions. Our results show that wealthy farmers most effectively multiply and share the seed of new varieties with medium wealthy and poor farmers. This study shows that for the introduction of new technologies into a community, its dynamics of social differentiation need to be understood.
An Old Babylonian manuscript of the Weidner god-list from Tell Taban
Authors: Shibata Daisuke
Published: August 2016

This article presents a fragment of an Old Babylonian clay tablet excavated in 2007 at Tell Taban, ancient Ṭābatum, near Hassake in Syria. The text is a common Babylonian scholarly composition known as the Weidner god-list. It is the oldest exemplar of this list so far recovered from north Mesopotamia and important for the history of the diffusion of Babylonian scholarship.
The bird bones from Abu Salabikh
Authors: Eastham Anne
Published: August 2016

In the course of excavations at Abu Salabikh in the 1970s and 1980s bird bones were recovered in small numbers from a range of contexts. These have been identified and are described here. In general, they give a picture of the contemporary rural environment round the city in the mid-third millennium BC, and shed light on contemporary diet. One unusual find in particular is discussed in more detail: that of an entire goshawk skeleton placed near a child in a grave with an adult (Grave 158). This is an interesting piece of evidence which might be taken to illustrate the practice of falconry in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia.
The Nimrud bowls: New data from an analysis of the objects
Authors: Onnis Francesca
Published: August 2016

The metal vessels known as the “Nimrud bowls” were discovered in the North-West Palace at Nimrud. Despite their clear archaeological context, the style and the iconographic themes of their decoration clearly betray that they are not the work of Assyrian craftsmen. Traditionally, they have been connected to the so-called “Phoenician bowls”. Today, a more general Levantine origin for the Nimrud bowls is proposed, although it has hitherto not been possible to determine their exact provenance. A review of the Nimrud bowls focusing specifically on their shape and decoration techniques provides new hints, hopefully contributing to a better understanding of the manufacture and function of these vessels. Furthermore, some characteristics shared by these vessels highlight the unity and homogeneity of the cluster and help to identify the manufacturers.
Ceramic stamp-seal amulets in the shape of the head of Pazuzu
Authors: Rowe Ignacio Márquez
Published: August 2016

A new look at five stamp-seal amulets prompts the author to consider a particular type of Pazuzu-head amulet that has so far gone unnoticed and to publish for the first time the intaglio design on the reverse of one of them.
“I want to dim the brilliance of Šulpae!” Mesopotamian celestial divination and the poem ofErra and Išum
Authors: Cooley Jeffrey L.
Published: August 2016

The cuneiform scribal art in the first millennium was, by and large, one of conservatism. The creative activity of scribes of the first millennium was often relegated to the composition of commentaries and explanatory works on the great canonical series. Out of this artistic torpidity came a last gasp of genius. The horrifying destruction of Babylon and the hope of its reconstruction inspired a certain scribe, Kabti-ilani-Marduk (V 42), to composeErra and Išum. Written on five tablets of about 750 lines altogether, our current text is reconstructed from thirty-seven exemplars from sites such as Assur, Nineveh, Babylon, Ur and, most recently, Me-Turnat (T. Haddad).

The story, entitledšar gimir dadmē, “King of the Entire Inhabited World”, presents little actual action. In almost Job-like fashion, the vast majority of the narrative consists of dialogue between the deities Erra, Išum, the Sebetti and Marduk, whose interactions in the divine realm ultimately lead to the destruction of Babylon and other major cities. Indeed, much of the scholarly activity concerningErra and Išumhas revolved around the significant difficulties presented by this dialogue.
Sir Max Mallowan's excavations at Tell Arbid in 1936
Authors: Koliński Rafal
Published: August 2016

In 1935 M. E. L. Mallowan was rightly considered to be one of the outstanding British archaeologists of his generation. Having served his apprenticeship under Sir Leonard Woolley at Ur and supervised the prehistoric sounding at Nineveh under R. Campbell Thompson, he had then directed a successful excavation of his own at Arpachiyah (McCall 2001: 41–4), followed by the immediate publication of the final report (Mallowan/Cruikshank 1935).

As a result of a change in the Iraq Antiquities Law, the division of antiquities found during excavations ceased. Mallowan, like many other archaeologists whose fieldwork had been sponsored by museums, was obliged to abandon Iraq and look for new opportunities of research in neighbouring eastern Syria, which was virtually terra incognita at this time (Oates/Oates 2001: 121). No doubt, Mallowan's interest in this area has been stimulated by the discoveries of Max von Oppenheim at Tell Halaf, where pottery has been found similar to that excavated by Mallowan at Arpachiyah. Furthermore, in 1934 Poidebard's aerial survey was published, and it included photographs of numerous archaeological sites along the Khabur and its tributaries (Mallowan 1947: 1). In the fall of 1934 Mallowan, accompanied by his wife, Agatha Christie, and an architect, Mr R. H. Macartney, arrived in Syria to inspect a number of sites located along the Khabur and Jaghjagh rivers, as well as in the Khabur plain. After a winter spent in Egypt, Mallowan returned to the Khabur area in the Spring of 1935, not only to continue his survey, but first to excavate Tell Chagar Bazar. Sherds of the same so-called Halaf pottery had been found at the base of the mound, pointing to the possibility of obtaining at this site a long stratigraphical sequence, which would, in turn, serve as a chronological framework for research on other sites (Mallowan 1936: 7–11, Fig. 2). The season's work, however, was not limited to Tell Chagar Bazar. Small teams were detached from the main force for a few days to make trial soundings on some other principal sites, such as Tell Ailun and Tell Mozan (Oates/Oates 2001: 129).
The Carians of Borsippa
Authors: Waerzeggers Caroline
Published: August 2016

The state channelled the influx of foreign groups into Babylonian society in various ways during the Chaldean and Persian periods (mid-first millennium BC). The military land-grant system placed incoming groups in the Babylonian countryside and tied them to the king through the principle of “land-for-service”. This scheme is known mainly by its results, for instance in the numerous fiefs occupied by ethnic groups in the area of Nippur in the late fifth century BC (Stolper,Entrepreneurs and Empire). Other foreigners were brought to Babylonia as war captives and were sold into slavery or donated to the country 's many temples (e.g. Bongenaar/Haring,JCS46).

Unpublished records from Borsippa point towards the existence of another system through which the state regulated the income of foreign ethnic groups. This system relied on the resources of private Babylonian citizens to provide rations and perhaps also shelter to individually assigned foreigners. The dossier that sheds light on this scheme does not answer all the questions that it raises, but it does show the basic workings of the system and herein it is unique, even though the system itself is perhaps not without historical precedent. The importance of this dossier is enhanced by the fact that it deals with an ethnic group that is otherwise badly attested in Babylonia: the Carians.
Trees and gender in Assyrian art
Authors: Collins Paul
Published: August 2016

The question of identifying cultural symbolism of any period is tortuous without textual or verbal evidence. It is particularly difficult when dealing with an ancient society removed by thousands of years and vast distance in space. Such is the case when interpreting the art of Mesopotamia. Occasionally, textual references help to illuminate possible meanings of imagery. More often than not we are left with nothing but our own culturally conditioned perceptions to explain what we see. However, alternative readings suggested by gender studies raise new ways of approaching familiar scenes. In a recent article I argued that the appearance of a fruiting date palm in the so-called “Garden Party” relief of Ashurbanipal (r. 668–631 BC) from the North Palace at Nineveh helped to situate the scene within a queen's garden. Despite the fact that the climate in Assyria is unfavourable for date-palm cultivation, the image of the tree, closely associated with a goddess, symbolized the feminine space of the garden. I would like to take this proposal further and suggest that the fruiting date palm is a marker of femininity in other images from ancient Iraq and, in addition, that the conifer tree can appear as a symbol of masculinity.
Mesopotamia and the Gulf: The history of a relationship
Authors: Crawford Harriet
Published: August 2016

The economic relationship between Mesopotamia and the Gulf is a long one which spans millennia, rather than just a few centuries, and which took many forms. Indeed, it can be suggested that the changing nature of this relationship reflects the economic and social changes taking place in southern Iraq and of the related changes in Dilmun. There was an increasing demand by Mesopotamia for both raw materials and exotica from the sixth millennium, when we have the earliest evidence for a relationship, until the annexation of Dilmun by the Kassites in the mid-second millennium. This increasing demand seems to reflect the growing complexity in social organisation in the region. The emergence of an elite group within society in southern Sumer, first seen in the late Uruk phase, and then notably in the mid-third millennium when the group expanded, encouraged an increased demand for status goods and materials (Van De Mieroop 2002). Such goods are used initially to enhance the power and prestige of the group itself, both by display and by gift-giving, because gift-giving binds both men and gods, through offerings, ever more closely into the group. In Mesopotamia such exotic materials also played a role in the birth of what Baines and Yoffee have called “high culture” in these newly emergent complex societies. Baines and Yoffee define this high culture as “the production and consumption of aesthetic items under the control, and for the benefit of, the inner elite of a civilization” (Baines and Yoffee 1998: 235). High culture becomes a vital part of the identity of any civilization. Maintaining a supply of luxuries thus becomes a political necessity, rather than an indulgence, as it helps the essential identity of the group to survive.
Excavations at Nineveh: The Halzi Gate
Authors: Pickworth Diana
Published: August 2016

The University of California Expedition to Nineveh excavated at the Halzi Gate in 1989 and 1990. The gate proved to be one of Nineveh's larger defensive gates and a scene of chaos and destruction. Tower 4 to the south of the gate was of irregular masonry, having been hastily rebuilt. The juxtaposition of a rough tower directly beside the fine ashlar masonry of the rest of the curtain wall of the gate appears to reflect a political instability that prevailed during the declining years of Assyrian rule. The late reconstruction of Tower 4 contrasts with the earlier attention to detail seen in building work of Sennacherib's reign (704–681 BC), when smoothly dressed orthostats lined the lower walls of the gate's large inner court and sophisticated waterproof membranes of bitumen-soaked reeds protected the mud-brick superstructures. Buried beneath the pavement in the corners of the court were apotropaic foundation figurines. Within the only partially excavated outer entrance passage at least twelve individuals died, perhaps while defending the city or trying to escape from it, as a stallion and a rider lay at the eastern limit of the gate passage. Within the reduced width of the gate passage were eight adult males, four adolescents and four children including one infant. Weaponry was found throughout the area and the scattered bodies lay where they had fallen. The associated small finds, which had not been looted, included silver jewelry, bronze personal items, stamp seals and a composite necklace.
Frühe Pfeiler-Nischen-Architektur aus Tepe Gawra und Telul eth-Thalathat
Authors: Sievertsen Uwe
Published: August 2016

Wandgliederungen durch Pfeiler und Nischen bilden in der durch die Lehmziegelbauweise geprägten Architektur des Alten Orients seit dem sechsten Jt. v. Chr. ein weit verbreitetes Phänomen. In meinem Beitrag möchte ich stellvertretend für viele andere einige Beispiele früher Pfeiler-Nischen-Architektur aus Tepe Gawra und Telul eth-Thalathat erörtern, zwei wichtigen prähistorischen Siedlungen im Umland von Ninive. Tepe Gawra liegt rund 20 km nordöstlich von Ninive in einer Ebene zwischen dem Tigris und der Fußzone des Zagros, Telul eth-Thalathat dagegen etwa 60 km weiter westlich in der Sinjar-Ebene. Die im folgenden vorzustellenden Architekturbefunde überspannen einen Zeitraum von der Ubaid- bis zur Ninive V-Periode. Insbesondere die lange Schichtensequenz von Tepe Gawra ist dabei hinsichtlich der Genese der frühen Pfeiler-Nischen-Architektur in Nordmesopotamien von hoher Aussagekraft, da sie nicht bloß einige wenige Gebäude, sondern eine auf größerer Fläche ergrabene Siedlung umfaßt.

Die Schichten XX–XV des Tepe Gawra datieren in die ausgehende Halaf- und die Ubaid-3-Zeit. Mehrere Rundbauten aus den Schichten XX und XVII (Abb. 1) zeigen zungenartige Vorsprünge an den Mauerinnenseiten, die offenbar bautechnisch zu erklären sind.3 Die Vorsprünge dürften als Stützen der Wand- und Dachkonstruktion, sowie teilweise vielleicht auch als Raumteiler gedient haben. Ähnliche Gliederungen an Rundbauten kennt man ebenfalls aus Telul eth-Thalathat. Dort begegnen sie auf Tell II an der Circular Construction H-R. 1 und im Bereich des Locus E-R. 1 (Abb. 2). Beide Belege aus Telul eth-Thalathat datieren in die Phase Ubaid 3, entstammen also der gleichen Zeit wie die Gliederungen aus Tepe Gawra.
Assyrian Ideology and Israelite Monotheism
Authors: Levine Baruch A.
Published: August 2016

Few subjects in the field of biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies have elicited as much attention in recent decades as the origin and development of Israelite-biblical monotheism. One needs more than the fingers of both hands to list the many collections of articles and individual monographs that treat this threshold in the history of religions. Attention shifts in the search for precursors from ancient Egypt to Mesopotamia, and in the West Semitic sphere, to Ugarit and the Middle Euphrates. It will be the burden of the present discussion, while providing requisite background, to focus on the Neo-Assyrian factor in the ongoing development of Israelite monotheism, rather than on the search for its ultimate origin, which may be beyond reach in the present state of knowledge.

More precisely, I will propose that the policies and campaigns of the Sargonids, especially of Sennacherib, who made Nineveh his political capital, elicited an Israelite response that directly impacted the God-idea. That response is most immediately expressed in the prophecies of First Isaiah of Jerusalem, Sennacherib's contemporary. It was the threat to the survival of Judah and Jerusalem, emanating from Assyria, which called forth an enhanced God-idea. That idea evolved into universal monotheism, and in effect, enabled the people of Israel to survive exile and domination by successive world empires. In such terms, universal monotheism is to be seen as a religious response to empire, an enduring world-view founded on the proposition that all power exercised by humans, no matter how grandiose, is transient, and ultimately subservient to a divine plan for the whole earth, for all nations.
Tell Brak: a stratigraphic summary, 1976–1993
Authors: David  , Oates Joan
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief stratigraphic summary of the 14 seasons of excavations at Tell Brak from 1976 to 1993, under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London, and more recently, the McDonald Institute of the University of Cambridge. These excavations cover four millennia and have been carried out at a number of different parts of the site which, owing both to distance and site morphology it has not been possible to connect physically. In the course of fourteen seasons initial interpretations have inevitably changed; a major purpose of the article, therefore, is to provide an up-to-date framework within which the detail of the earlier reports can be read. Three final volumes are envisaged. The first, on the second millennium materials, is nearing completion and will be followed by one on the Akkadian and later third millennium occupation of Brak, with a third volume devoted to the prehistory of the site. This article thus constitutes an interim measure, to clarify the contexts of already published material; views presented here supersede those in all previous reports, including the previously published summary articles in Hamidiya 2 (1990). A full bibliography of preliminary reports is appended.
The Early Dynastic-Akkadian transition, Part 1. When did the Akkadian period begin?
Authors: Matthews Donald
Published: August 2016

We may want to recognise an “Akkadian period” in archaeology for two reasons. A sequence of periods is used as a system of chronological reference, and the Akkadian period conventionally represents the time from 2334–2154 BC (Walker 1995, 234). Periods are also used to define fields of analysis in which studies of social structure or other synchronic investigations may be conducted. The Akkadian period is known as the “first empire” which saw major political and administrative innovations. In archaeology periods have to be defined from the changes in artefact types, so a concordance is needed between the historical and artefactual phases. During the last thirty years McG. Gibson has persistently addressed questions of chronology, and has made an especially important contribution to the chronology of the Akkadian period. A new article (Gibson and McMahon 1995) represents the present state of this issue, based on excavations in the Diyala and Hamrin regions, and in the vicinity of Nippur. Dr McMahon has subjected thousands of sherds from stratified occupation surfaces to statistical analysis, and publication of their distribution and comparanda is expected. The resulting pottery sequence, exhaustively constructed, and summarised in that article, will constitute the principal reference sequence for archaeological sites of this period in southern Iraq. In this article, while accepting the validity and importance of this achievement, I will examine how the Akkadian period should be defined and how pottery sequences should be calibrated with respect to historical periods. I will suggest that the Akkadian pottery should be calibrated by ultimate reference to the glyptic sequence, and that this results in a different dating for the strata in question.
Some New Early Dynastic Pottery from Abu Salabikh
Authors: Moon Jane
Published: August 2016

Of the excavations that have taken place in Iraq since the 1930s, many have revealed remains dating to the Early Dynastic period. None of these has been published as fully as the Diyala sites excavated by the Iraq Expedition of the Oriental Institute of Chicago from 1930 to 1938. (Frankfort, 1939, 1943, 1955; Delougaz, 1940, 1952, Delougaz and Lloyd, 1942; Delougaz, Hill and Lloyd, 1967.) It is these sites that still provide the largest collection of well-stratified pottery for this period, and thus material from newly-excavated sites has always been compared to that from the Diyala region.

There are two major disadvantages to this state of affairs. Firstly, it is undesirable that any kind of archaeological material comparison should be limited to just one region or site; and secondly, notwithstanding the importance of the city of Eshnunna (Tell Asmar), the Diyala region was a fringe area, and the style of its pottery should not have to be accepted as the norm for Southern Mesopotamia or anywhere else.
Part I. Brak and Chagar Bazar: Their Contribution to Archaeology
Authors: Mallowan M. E. L.
Published: August 2016

The district in which the Expedition operated is roughly triangular in shape. The base of the triangle is conveniently defined by the railway line running from Tall Halaf to Nisibin which demarcates the frontier between Turkey and Syria, a distance of about 75 miles: the two sides, each about 50 miles long, are marked by the lines of the rivers Khabur and Jaghjagha which converge at Hasaka into a single stream. Below Hasaka the steppe on either side of the lower Khabur becomes drier towards its southern end, being more remote from the rain-belt which hangs around the Turkish hills. Moreover, the wadis which drain into the basin of the upper Habur-Jaghjagha triangle have mostly been sucked dry before they can filter through to the southern steppe. Thus the climate in the district of Brak and Chagar Bazar resembles that of Ninevite Assyria and differs from the drier Babylonian conditions of the country below the latitude of Hasaka. The summers are indeed intensely hot, even the northern stretches of the steppe then become arid, and only the Khabur and the Jaghjagha retain perennial water. In the Spring, however, there comes a magical change, and striding northwards between these two rivers one treads upon a gaily variegated carpet of wild flowers. As far as the eye can see there is mile upon mile of scarlet ranunculus and golden marigolds interspersed with tall and smiling hollyhocks. Far to the southwest loom the wild and inaccessible hills of the Jabal ‘Abd al-‘Aziz and Baida, where till within living memory monuments of the early dynastic age had stood undisturbed for nearly five thousand years.
The Excavations at Tell Al Rimah, 1965
Authors: Oates David
Published: August 2016

The second season of excavations at Tell al Rimah, from March 1st to May 15th, 1965, was again sponsored jointly by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and the University Museum, Philadelphia. The British School was assisted by contributions from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels. The staff consisted of Mrs. T. H. Carter (Assistant Director), representing the University Museum; Mr. Aubrey Trik (architect) and Mrs. Helen Trik (draughtsman) of the University Museum; Mr. Nicholas Kindersley (photographer and surveyor), Miss Elizabeth Dowman (registrar), Messrs. Julian Reade, Geoffrey Turner, John Bellingham, Andrew Tait (archaeologists), of the British School. The epigraphist was Dr. H. W. F. Saggs of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. We were fortunate to have the assistance for shorter periods of Mr. David Crownover and Miss Siiri Woodward from the University Museum, Miss Dominique Collon and Mr. David French. Sayyid Ghanim Wahida was the representative of the Directorate-General of Antiquities and co-operated energetically in the work of the expedition. I must once again acknowledge my debt to all my colleagues, to government officials in Mosul and Tell Afar for their courteous assistance on many occasions, and to Dr. Faisal al Wailly (Director-General of Antiquities) and Professor Fuad Safar (Inspector-General of Excavations) for the close and friendly co-operation which they and their staff invariably extend to us.
The Assyrian Building South of the Nabu Temple
Authors: Oates David
Published: August 2016

During the excavation of the area south of the Nabu Temple in 1957 the Assyrian level was reached in three places, in Trenches O and P and in an earlier excavation, the work of Layard, which was reopened specifically for this purpose. In Layard's trench we cleared three rooms shown on his original plan (Plate XV, AB 1, 2, 6), and the greater part of a fourth, larger chamber (AB 3); four further rooms planned by Layard and Loftus were not investigated beyond the doorway connecting AB 6 with AB 4. Trenches O and P were dug with the primary object of elucidating the sequence of later occupation overlying the Assyrian levels, and our resources did not permit us to carry the work down to the Assyrian floor. A glance at the plan, PL. XV, will show that all the walls thus exposed follow the same alignment, differing from that of the Nabu Temple and almost certainly reflecting a change of direction in the citadel wall which bounded the site on the east; there is every reason to suppose that they are parts of the same building.
Iraq Government Excavations at ‘Aqar Qūf First Interim Report 1942–1943
Authors: Baqir Taha
Published: August 2016

In May 1942 the Directorate-General of Antiquities decided to make soundings in the ancient site called ‘Aqar Qüf, whose ruined ziggurat is a familiar landmark in the plain about 20 miles to the west of Baghdad. There proved to be very little difficulty in tracing the four buttressed sides of the ziggurat itself, and on the south-east side the remains were found of a triple staircase of kiln-baked brick which had evidently led up to the summit, and corresponded closely to that of the Kassite ziggurat at Ur. Stamped bricks in the fabric of this staircase confirmed the identification of the site with the Kassite city called Dûr Kurigalzu.

Early in the following year the Excavations Committee of the Department, headed by Mr. Seton Lloyd, F.S.A., Technical Adviser, decided on further large-scale excavations at ‘Aqar Qūf. One reason for the selection of the site was an economic one. Owing to war-time transport difficulties it was essential that any excavating work should be in the vicinity of Baghdad. Secondly the work provided an opportunity both for visitors to Baghdad and Iraqis themselves to see an archaeological excavation in progress. Many hundreds of Allied troops visited the site while the work was in progress, and parties of school-teachers and students were frequently escorted round the ruins. Finally, the archaeological importance of the site has long been evident. It represents a period in the history of Iraq concerning which there are few sources of information, and whose chronology is still controversial. Furthermore, it is a period during which the international relations of the various Middle East States are extremely interesting, as witnessed, for example, by the Amarnah Letters'.
The Radical Theology of Prometheus Bound; or, on Prometheus' God Problem
Authors: Rader Richard
Published: August 2016

Prometheus Bound (PV) is a meditation on God par excellence, second only perhaps to the Bible or Paradise Lost. It is, accordingly, the only extant tragedy from the ancient world featuring the most characters as gods. For this reason it stands out in a genre fixated principally on human suffering, where ‘death carries overwhelmingly more weight than salvation’. Gods, of course, do not suffer like humans: Prometheus, the play's protagonist extraordinaire, may be subject to an eternity of punishment for stealing fire from Zeus, but his pain, real and visceral as it is, differs from ours in that it lacks the potential closure of death. It is perhaps justifiable then to suggest the play's focus is not just the awful things gods are capable of doing to one another (just like humans), but rather the meaning of such behaviour without the ultimate consequence (death). That is, the portrayal of Prometheus suffering and Zeus menacing redounds equally to the type of characters they are as to simply what they are. Whereas the former aspect is of psychological or political interest, the latter is a theological concern. And PV is theological in its implications as much as it is political. Hence the question: What type of theology does it convey? The answer is complex.

In the modern world PV has primarily been read for its political allegory—as a meditation on oppression, or martyrdom for the intellectual cause. Eric Havelock's translation and study of the play, to cite an illustrative example, was called The Crucifixion of Intellectual Man (1950). Many critics therefore argue that the play articulates the conflict between Prometheus and Zeus in terms of freedom versus authoritarianism. As Shelley famously wrote in the prologue to his Prometheus Unbound, the imprisoned Prometheus represents ‘the highest perfection of moral and intellectual nature impelled by the purest and the truest motives to the best and noblest ends’ (1820). Marx and Goethe felt similarly. This position aligns Prometheus with the forces of enlightenment and progress over against the brutality of Zeus's authority.
Introduction: Medea in Greece and Rome
Authors: Boyle A J.
Published: August 2016

Few mythic narratives of the ancient world are more famous than the story of the Colchian princess/sorceress who betrayed her father and family for love of a foreign adventurer and who, when abandoned for another woman, killed in revenge both her rival and her children. Many critics have observed the complexities and contradictions of the Medea figure—naive princess, knowing witch, faithless and devoted daughter, frightened exile, marginalised alien, displaced traitor to family and state, helper-maiden, abandoned wife, vengeful lover, caring and filicidal mother, loving and fratricidal sister, oriental ‘other’, barbarian saviour of Greece, rejuvenator of the bodies of animals and men, killer of kings and princesses, destroyer and restorer of kingdoms, poisonous stepmother, paradigm of beauty and horror, demi-goddess, subhuman monster, priestess of Hecate and granddaughter of the sun, bride of dead Achilles and ancestor of the Medes, rider of a serpent-drawn chariot in the sky—complexities reflected in her story's fragmented and fragmenting history. That history has been much examined, but, though there are distinguished recent exceptions, comparatively little attention has been devoted to the specifically ‘Roman’ Medea—the Medea of the Republican tragedians, of Cicero, Varro Atacinus, Ovid, the younger Seneca, Valerius Flaccus, Hosidius Geta and Dracontius, and, beyond the literary field, the Medea of Roman painting and Roman sculpture. Hence the present volume of Ramus, which aims to draw attention to the complex and fascinating use and abuse of this transcultural heroine in the Roman intellectual and visual world. The present introduction briefly outlines Medea's Greek history before examining in detail her journey through Republican Rome. It concludes with a survey of her imperial configurations and a preliminary framing of the studies which follow.
The Road to Sicily: Lucilius to Seneca
Authors: Gowers Emily
Published: August 2016

One of Horace's best-known allegations inEpistles1 is that where in the world you are is neither here nor there, as long as you have peace of mind (animus aequus):caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.strenua nos exercet inertia; nauibus atquequadrigis petimus bene uiuere. quod petis, hie est,est Vlubris, animus si te non deficit aequus.(Hor.Ep. 1.11.27-30)

Cross the sea, and you change your climate, not your mental state. Restless idleness drives us on. In ships and chariots we seek the good life. What you seek is here, it's even at Ulubrae—if your mind is only at peace with itself.

This turns out to be one of the book's hugest lies. It makes all the difference how Horace and his correspondents are placed when he is writing to them: Rome is different from backwater Ulubrae, Baiae from Brundisium. InMorals and Villas in Seneca's Letters, John Henderson has attached similar importance to named locations in calibrating metaphorical distance between Seneca and the correspondent of hisEpistles, Lucilius. This paper aims to close a gap of two centuries between two of the most disparate figures in Latin literature: the same Seneca, that knotted-up recluse, and another Lucilius, the laughing cavalier satirist. The link: a journey made from Rome to Sicily, or, more precisely, the uses of the road to Sicily in epistolary-philosophical discourse (by way of Horace'sSatiresandEpistles). Lucilius'Iter Siculumand Seneca's mental journeys to Sicily in theEpistulae Moralesare related stages, I will argue, in the philosophical applications of travel writing.
Evolution of An Assassin: The Letters of Chion of Heraclea
Authors: Penwill J.L.
Published: August 2016

In 364 BCE Clearchus, a former student of Isocrates and Plato, staged acoup d'étatin his native city of Heraclea Pontica and made himself tyrant. Twelve years later in 352 Clearchus fell victim to a conspiracy led by another former student of Plato and native Heraclean, by the name of Chion. Some centuries later an author whose name we do not know and about whose date and place of residence we can only speculate fixed on this event as the basis of a historical epistolary novel, which comprises a sequence of seventeen letters purportedly written by Chion himself. The novel survives in a number of manuscripts, the majority of which give it the titleLetters of Chion. It is with this text that this article is concerned.

The sequence tracks Chion's progress from the time he leaves home in order to pursue his studies at the Academy to two days before the assassination. Most of the letters are addressed to Chion's father Matris, and so fall into the category of ‘letters home’ in which Chion narrates and reflects on his encounters and thoughts at various stages of his sojourn abroad. The final one however is written from Heraclea back to Athens; it is addressed to Plato, and from its tone and content Chion clearly expects of his master that he regard the upcoming assassination as his student's graduationsumma cum laudein the field of political ethics. Critical opinion on theLettersis largely unanimous in maintaining that the author shares this view; that the whole sequence is designed to show Chion developing the philosophical acumen needed to make the right decision on the on the ethical issues that confront him and the emotional maturity needed to take decisive political action at the appropriate time.
How Classical is Ariadne's Parrot? Southall's Painting and Its Literary Registers
Authors: James Paula
Published: August 2016

In this article I suggest ways in which a gorgeously crafted, colourful, compelling 20th century painting of an abandoned Ariadne highlights both her tragic and comic presence in classical literary representations. Joseph South-all's 1925-6 workAriadne in Naxos(tempera on linen, 83.5 × 101.6 cm), reproduced below, can be viewed in all its glory in the Birmingham City Art Gallery (bequeathed by the artist's widow, Anne Elizabeth, in 1948) but it was featured to fine effect in the 2007 exhibitionThe Parrot in Art: From Dürer to Elizabeth Butterworth, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. It was in this psittacine (psittaceous?) context that I first encountered Ariadne's parrot so the bird perhaps loomed larger in the painting than it might as a stand-alone Southall on its home ground in the Gallery.
On Choosing a Life: Variations on an Epic Theme in Apuleius Met 10 & 11
Authors: Penwill J.L.
Published: August 2016

In the course of the evolution of an epic hero, there comes a point at which he has to make a choice between two ways of life. It is a motif that goes right back to the Iliad:

Hom. Il. 9.410-16

For my goddess mother, silver-footed Thetis, tells me that the doom I carry towards the finality of death is twofold. If I stay here and fight around the Trojans' city, my return home is lost, but I shall have imperishable glory. But if I return home to the dear land of my fathers, that noble glory is lost, but I shall have long life and the finality of death will not come to me quickly.
The Failure of Rhetoric in Josephus' Bellum Judaicum
Authors: Price Jonathan J.
Published: August 2016

Like any good Greek historian, Josephus salted hisBJwith rhetorically elaborate speeches in direct discourse in order to explore the psychological interior of important historical players and to provide insight into motivations for the characters' actions at critical junctures in the narrative. The earliest methodological statement about speech-writing in an historical narrative fairly describes Josephus' own method in theBJ.I refer of course to Thucydides' famous, if perennially debated and reinterpreted, declaration at the end of his so-called Archaeology:

Regarding the speeches which each speaker made either on the eve of war or when they were already in it, it has been difficult to remember with perfect accuracy the spoken words, both for me, of the speeches which I myself heard, being present, and for those who reported to me [speeches] given at different times and places; so that each speaker is made to say what seemed to me most essential for him to say, given the circumstances in each case, while I have tried to keep as close as possible to the overall intention of the actual speech.

(Thuc. 1. 22)
Conivnx in Limine Primo: Regulus and Marcia in Punica 6
Authors: Augoustakis Antony
Published: August 2016

The sixth book of Silius Italicus'Punicaopens with the aftermath of the battle at lake Trasimene: the victory of the Carthaginians has been total. An analeptic narrative on the adventures of Regulus in Libya during the First Punic War occupies a large portion of this book (62-551). Regulus' son, Serranus, wounded after the battle at Trasimene, finds refuge at the house of his father's faithful companion, Marus. In a flash-back narrative, Marus relates the killing of a serpent at the river Bagrada (140-293), the capture of Regulus and his mission to Rome (299-402), Marcia's reaction to her husband's uncompromising attitude, Regulus' speech to the Senate (403-520), and his final return to Carthage, resulting in his death (521-51).

The poet brings several innovations into his account in Book 6 in comparison to pre-Silian tradition. He introduces three persons around the figure of Regulus who are otherwise unknown or remain anonymous in other sources. The first is Serranus, Regulus' son. Although Regulus' son must have participated in the battle at Trasimene, this fabricated Serranus is callediuuenis(‘young man’, 101, 415) andflore nitens primo(‘in the flower of his youth’, 65), references which further complicate historical chronology. Another Silian innovation is Marus, Regulus' faithful companion during his tribulations in Africa. His presence fits into the scheme of Silius' portrayal of Serranus' ‘education’ by Marus, who will tell the story of Regulus' heroic adventures in Africa and Rome. Generational continuity would be guaranteed through the precepts of an older man. And finally, Silius gives Marcia herself a substantial role.
Under the Cover of Epic: Pretexts, Subtexts and Textiles in Catullus' Carmen 64
Authors: Robinson Timothy J.
Published: August 2016

Catullus'Carmen64 unfurls a narrative tapestry rich in meaning and allusion. Its account of the marriage of Thetis and Peleus recalls the Trojan cycle, theIliadand theCypriain particular, and offers a response to and program for epic. Although Catullus' Alexandrian poem revels in its own retrospection and nostalgia,Carmen64 expresses the futility of attempting to achieve any true νόστος (‘return’) to the dominating yet foreclosed world of Homeric epic.Carmen64 reveals new perspectives in which traditional epic elements are reversed, reordered or juxtaposed in unexpected ways; these challenge received notions such as the admissible constituents of epic background, foreground, narrative and digression; the definitions of heroic deeds; and the implications of speech and writing.

In the course of this revisionary projectCarmen64 avails itself of a systematic imagery involving cloths, clothes and textiles that are viewed and accessed by the poem's characters throughout to convey or receive knowledge: messages that are ‘written’ or ‘read’ or even ‘missed’ (as in the case of Aegeus seeing the forgetful Theseus' sails) in a variety of textile mediums: theuestis uariataof the central ekphrasis, Ariadne's clothes, her thread in the labyrinth, Theseus' sails, the threads of the Parcae, the thread to measure the neck of the newlywed Thetis—all these inform a text that is unified fromCarmen64's textiles. Recollection and representation are central to much fiction—μνῆσαι (‘remember’) is Priam's first word to Achilles atIliad24.486—andCarmen64 reaches far back into memory to cull myths from the epic repertoire to weave into its fabric.