Alphabet scribes in the land of cuneiform
Subtitle: sēpiru professionals in Mesopotamia in the neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods
By: Yigal Bloch
Series: Gorgias studies in the ancient Near East -- 11
Publisher: Gorgias Press
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Piscataway, NJ, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 497
ISBN-13: 9781463206352
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Scribes; Alphabet; Cuneiform writing; Semitic languages
Description: This book discusses the alphabetic scribes (sēpiru) mentioned in Mesopotamian documents of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods - specifically, of the 6th-5th centuries BCE. The period in question saw a wide diffusion of writing in the Northwest Semitic alphabetic script - mostly in Aramaic - in Mesopotamia; yet, alphabetic texts were normally written in ink on perishable materials and did not survive to be discovered by modern archaeologists. In contrast, cuneiform tablets written on clay have been found in large numbers, and they document different aspects of the alphabetic scribes' activities. This book presents evidence for understanding the Akkadian term sēpiru as a designation for an alphabetic scribe and discusses the functions of these professionals in different administrative and economic spheres. It further considers the question of the ethnic origins of the alphabetic scribes in Mesopotamia, with special attention to the participation of Judeans in Babylonia in this profession. Bloch also provides translations of over 100 cuneiform documents of economic, legal and administrative content.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Sēpiru : specialists in alphabetic writing, and in cuneiform, too?; title: Sēpiru in Babylonian temples; title: Sēpiru in the state administration; title: Sēpiru active in private business; title: The ethnic backgrounds of the professionals.