This book examines how knowledge was created, shared and transformed within the societies of ancient Assyria and Babylonia from the 13th-1st centuries BC. It analyzes knowledge transmission through both textual and social networks, exploring the interplay between political, religious and scholarly spheres through a geographical and sociocultural lens.
Recommended for:
- Scholars and students interested in the intellectual and social history of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly the cuneiform scholarship and knowledge networks of Assyria and Babylonia in the first millennium BC.
- Historians and researchers studying the roles of geography, spatial relationships, and human mobility in the transmission and transformation of knowledge in premodern contexts.
- Those interested in exploring new methodological approaches to the study of ancient science, writing systems, and cultural exchange.
You will:
- Gain a nuanced understanding of how cuneiform intellectual culture adapted and endured across several major empires in the ancient Middle East.
- Explore how the social, political, and geographic dimensions of cuneiform scholarship can be illuminated through approaches like spatial analysis and the study of scholarly mobility.
- Learn about the intricate networks of patronage, family ties, and institutional affiliations that underpinned the production and circulation of cuneiform knowledge.
- Discover how this book challenges traditional narratives of Mesopotamian “science” by restoring the human context and lived experiences of ancient cuneiform scholars.
- Engage with the author’s reflections on the historiography of Assyriology and the evolving academic concerns that have shaped the study of ancient Near Eastern intellectual history.
Detailed Overview
Through a novel geographical and socio-cultural analytical framework, the author explores the interplay between political power structures, religious institutions, family ties and scribal practices in shaping intellectual traditions across this long era. In-depth case studies of 7th century Assyrian royal libraries at Nineveh and 5th century Babylonian temple of Eanna in Uruk provide nuanced insights into localized scholarly communities, practices and spaces of learning. Key themes of scholarly mobility, systems of patronage linking ruling elites and knowledge producers, and intersections between religious and political spheres in supporting scholarship are interrogated. By adopting social rather than strictly archeological/philological approaches, the book aims to better understand how cuneiform culture endured and evolved through changing imperial circumstances until its eventual decline by the 1st century BC. It applies new historiographical frameworks to complicate traditionally diffusionist perspectives on knowledge transmission in the ancient Near East. Overall, the work offers fresh interdisciplinary insights for exploring dynamic cultural transformations over the long-term through an innovative combination of anthropological, archeological and historical methodologies.
Citation
Robson, E. (2019). Ancient knowledge networks: A social geography of cuneiform scholarship in first-millennium Assyria and Babylonia. UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/history/products/125022
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