Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft rituals

Online article from Unreported Heritage News about anti-witchcraft rituals in ancient Mesopotamia, with translations from the original cuneiform texts by Professor Tzvi Abusch (Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.)

Journal of Near and Middle Eastern Studies: open-access journal

The Journal of Near and Middle Eastern Studies is a new annual, open-access publication from the Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Students' Union at the University of Toronto.

It showcases undergraduate academic papers on all aspects of the history and culture of the region from ancient Mesopotamia to the present day.

Content of the 2010 issue ranges from "Death and the netherworld in ancient Mesopotamian thought" (Nisa Soeherman) to "The duality of structure between the IDF and Israeli society" (Matthew Ianucci)

Virtual tour of the James Simon Gallery (Museuminsel, Berlin)

In 2015, Berlin's Museuminsel ("Museum Island") will open the new James Simon Gallery as part of a scheme to unify the archaeological collections in Berlin's central museums. Mainly incorporated within the Pergamon Museum, it will showcase monumental architectural treasures from the ancient world.
 Click here for a virtual tour and a glimpse of some of the buildings on display such as the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Palace of Mschatta.
You'll need Windows Media or Quick Time to view this.
For more on the project itself, click here

"The Marriage of Martu" : storytelling event

A suggestion for a day out on Saturday 12th February ! Come to the British Museum in the morning for a "Mesopotamian heritage trail" and the Poetry Café (Covent Garden) for story-telling with Iraqi music

The event is organised by Zipang on behalf of the Enheduanna Society, which aims at "popularising the literature of ancient Iraq through the art of oral story-telling".
Zipang run monthly events featuring different Mesopotamian stories. Click here for pictures of recent events.

Cuneiform Digital Library Journal & Bulletin : open access journals

The Cuneiform Digital Library Journal is part of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, set up by the University of California at Los Angeles and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.
Content is from 2002 onwards, with articles available as PDFs
The front page of the journal website also links to the Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin

ORACC Portal

The ORACC (Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus) portal has been created by the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California at Berkeley and Cambridge Univeristy to draw together websites, project data and online texts relating to cuneiform studies. Click on the abbreviations in the sidebar to link to specific sites and resources, including Knowledge and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (K&P) and the State Archives of Assyria online (SAAo)

Divination and the interpretation of signs in the Ancient World: book review

The Bryn Mawr Classical Review has just published Kim Beerden's review of "Divination and the interpretation of signs in the Ancient World" - a revised collection of papers read at the 5th annual University of Chicago Oriental Institute Seminar "Science and superstition: interpretation of signs in the ancient world" in March 2009.
The collection of papers focuses on the Ancient Near East, with some consideration of China, Rome and Greece.
Kim Beerden is currently based in the Department of Ancient History at Leiden University.

"Divination and the interpretation of signs" is in SOAS Library at
QD133 / 734024