Opening the Tablet Box. Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Benjamin R. Foster

Leiden: Brill, 2010. First edition. Octavo. xviii, 489, (3)pp. Index and bibliography. Red buckram lettered in yellow. Frontispiece photo of Foster. Illustrated with occasional drawings, photos and archaeological ground plans. A fine, as new copy.

This volume is a scholarly tribute to Benjamin R. Foster, Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature and Curator of the Babylonian Collection at Yale University, from some of his students, colleagues, and companions, in appreciation of his outstanding achievements and in thanks for his friendship. Reflecting on the remarkable breadth of the honoree's research interests, the twenty-six original papers in this Festschrift with topics ranging from social and economic history to literature, language, and to art history and archaeology. The essays in his book reflect the broad spectrum of interests of its honoree, Benjamin R. Foster. They cover a wide range of topics in ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian literature, economic and social history, as well as art and archaeology. (Publisher)

Contents: Light in the Gagûm window: the Sippar Cloister in the Late Old Babylonian period /; S. Richardson --; Sheep and cattle, cows and calves: the Sumero-Akkadian astral gods as livestock /; F. Rochberg --; Coherence and fragments: reflections on the SKL and the Book fo Judges /; J. Sasson --; Early non-cuneiform writing? Third-millenium BC clay cylinders from Umm el-Marra /; G. Schwartz --; Myth, magic, and ritual /; M. Sigrist --; Study in contrast: Sargon of Assyria and Rusa of Urartu /; M. Van de Mieroop --; Career of Ur-Bagara as a chronological indicator of the documents of Girsu from Šarkališarri to Gudea /; G. Visicato --; What's new in town? /; A. Westenholz --; Drink to me only with thine eyes /; J. Goodnick Westenholz. (OCLC)

Volume 42 in the Brill series, "Culture and History of the Ancient Near East."