Cuneiform Commentaries Project: Editing History's Earliest Hermeneutic Texts, Online and in Print

FAIN: RQ-230397-15

Yale University (New Haven, CT 06510-1703)
Eckart Erich Marcel Frahm (Project Director: December 2014 to March 2022)

Preparation for online publication of an edition and translation of 878 extant Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets, together with a print translation of selected commentaries on scientific texts. (36 months)

The Cuneiform Commentaries Project seeks to make Mesopotamian commentaries available to Assyriologists and other scholars by providing annotated editions and translations of all of them in digital form. This will allow maximum accessibility and searchability. In addition, editions of selected commentaries will be published in print, to offer a convenient introduction to the genre for a more general audience. The project is linked to other digital initiatives in Assyriology, collaborations that provide synergies and ensure the sustainability of the data generated.

Media Coverage

Sofja Kovalevskaya awardee for LMU (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Anonymous
Publication: LMU News
Date: 9/5/2017
Abstract: Report on award for Enrique Jiménez, with reference to the CCP.
URL: http://www.en.uni-muenchen.de/news/newsarchiv/2017/jimenez_sofiakovalevskajaprize.html

Yale project on ancient Mesopotamia makes the ‘esoteric’ more accessible (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Bess Connolly Martell
Publication: YaleNews
Date: 4/10/2015
Abstract: Report on the Cuneiform Commentaries Project.
URL: https://news.yale.edu/2015/04/10/yale-project-ancient-mesopotamia-makes-esoteric-more-accessible

Associated Products

Cuneiform Commentaries Project (Web Resource)
Title: Cuneiform Commentaries Project
Author: Eckert Frahm
Abstract: Mesopotamian commentaries represent the world’s oldest cohesive group of hermeneutic texts. Numbering nearly 900, the earliest date to the eighth century and the latest to ca. 100 BCE. The purpose of this website is to make the corpus available both to the scholarly community and a more general audience by providing background information on the genre, a searchable catalog, as well as photos, drawings, annotated editions, and translations of individual commentary tablets. For the first time the cuneiform commentaries, currently scattered over 21 museums around the globe, will be accessible on one platform.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://http://ccp.yale.edu/

Editorial (Article)
Title: Editorial
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Introduction to an edited special issue on hermeneutics in ancient Mesopotamia and Israel.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://www.mohr.de/en/journals/hebrew-bible-and-ancient-israel-hebai
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 4/3, 231-33
Publisher: Mohr

Myth, Ritual, and Interpretation. The Commentary on Enuma eliš I-VII and a Commentary on Elamite Month Names (Article)
Title: Myth, Ritual, and Interpretation. The Commentary on Enuma eliš I-VII and a Commentary on Elamite Month Names
Author: Eckart Frahm and Enrique Jiménez
Abstract: Edition and discussion of two cuneiform commentaries, including an important one on the Babylonian Epic of Creation.
Year: 2016
Primary URL Description: https://www.mohr.de/en/journals/hebrew-bible-and-ancient-israel-hebai
Secondary URL: DOI: 10.1628/219222715X14507102280856
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 4/3, pp. 293-343
Publisher: Mohr

Loose Threads of Tradition. Two Late Hemerological Compilations (Article)
Title: Loose Threads of Tradition. Two Late Hemerological Compilations
Author: Enrique Jiménez
Abstract: Edition and discussion of two late cuneiform compilations on lucky days with commentarial entries.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.asor.org/asor-publications/jcs/
Secondary URL: DOI: 10.5615/jcunestud.68.2016.0197
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Cuneiform Studies 68, pp. 197-227
Publisher: ASOR

Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries: History, Typology, Comparative Perspectives (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries: History, Typology, Comparative Perspectives
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Introduction to Babylonian and Assyrian text commentaries to an audience of Judaic Studies scholars.
Date Range: February 22, 2016
Location: The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City

The CCP and Digital Humanities (invited presentation) (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: The CCP and Digital Humanities (invited presentation)
Author: Enrique Jiménez
Abstract: Discussion of the technical background of CCP.
Date: 03/19/2016
Conference Name: 226th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, “Digital Humanities Round Table”

Cuneiform Commentaries: New Discoveries (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Cuneiform Commentaries: New Discoveries
Author: Eckart Frahm and Enrique Jiménez
Abstract: Overview of newly discovered cuneiform commentaries, with a focus on quotations from literary and scholarly texts.
Date: 07/15/2016
Conference Name: 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (Philadelphia), final lecture.

Cuneiform Commentaries on Medicine and Astrology in their Institutional, Geographical, and Diachronic Contexts (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Cuneiform Commentaries on Medicine and Astrology in their Institutional, Geographical, and Diachronic Contexts
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Socio-cultural context of medical and astrological commentaries from Babylonia and Assyria.
Date Range: 08/25/2016
Location: Berlin, Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science

Revision, Relocation, and Reinterpretation: Remarks on the Ritual Dynamics of the Babylonian Akitu Festival in the Seventh Century BCE (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Revision, Relocation, and Reinterpretation: Remarks on the Ritual Dynamics of the Babylonian Akitu Festival in the Seventh Century BCE
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Analysis of adaptations and reinterpretations of the cultic acts performed and the texts recited during the Babylonian Akitu festival. Lecture at the interdisciplinary conference “Ritual Landscapes and Performance.”
Date Range: 09/24/2016
Location: New Haven, Yale University

Intellectual Life in Nineveh (Book Section)
Title: Intellectual Life in Nineveh
Author: Eckart Frahm
Editor: L.P. Petit and D. Morandi Bonacossi
Abstract: An overview of scholarly activities at Nineveh, especially in the seventh century BCE.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.sidestone.com/books/nineveh-the-great-city
Publisher: Sidestone Press
Book Title: Nineveh: The Great City (exhibition catalogue, Leiden, Rejksmuseum van Oudheden)
ISBN: 978-90-8890-49

An Elementary Late Babylonian Scribal Exercise Featuring Nazi-Maruttaš (Article)
Title: An Elementary Late Babylonian Scribal Exercise Featuring Nazi-Maruttaš
Author: Mary Frazer
Abstract: Study of a late Babylonian text mentioning the Kassite king Nazi-Maruttaš, who was a figure of some importance in Mesopotamian intellectual life.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://kaskal.uniud.it
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: KASKAL Rivista di storia, ambienti e culture del Vicino Oriente Antico 13, 175-183
Publisher: LoGisma Editore

Explaining Diagnosis. Two New Commentaries on the Diagnostic Series Sagig (Article)
Title: Explaining Diagnosis. Two New Commentaries on the Diagnostic Series Sagig
Author: Enrique Jiménez and Eric Schmidtchen
Abstract: Publication of two new commentaries on the medical series Sagig, with important new information on incantations used by Mesopotamian exorcists and physicians.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.vr-elibrary.de/loi/wdor
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Die Welt des Orients 47, 216-241
Publisher: Vandenhoek und Ruprecht

May the Reader Not Withhold the Tablet! On a Formula in Late Babylonian Colophons (Article)
Title: May the Reader Not Withhold the Tablet! On a Formula in Late Babylonian Colophons
Author: Enrique Jiménez
Abstract: Explanation of a hitherto unclear phrase in Late Babylonian colophons of learned texts.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://ivka.rsuh.ru/article.html?id=2632616
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Babel und Bibel 9, 227-239
Publisher: Russian State University for the Humanities: Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies

Cuneiform Commentaries on Šumma alu: History, Typology, Editorial Challenges (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Cuneiform Commentaries on Šumma alu: History, Typology, Editorial Challenges
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Overview of commentaries on the terrestrial omen series, and the current state of their exploration.
Date: 02/17/2017
Conference Name: “‘Si un homme est à la taverne avec sa femme et qu’il urine’ …: Transmission et herméneutique du traité divinatoire mésopotamien Shumma alu,” University of Geneva, Switzerland

The Perils of Omnisignificance: Language and Reason in Mesopotamian Hermeneutics (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: The Perils of Omnisignificance: Language and Reason in Mesopotamian Hermeneutics
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Exploration of cuneiform commentaries as potential examples of Mesopotamian philosophical reasoning.
Date: 04/22/2017
Primary URL: http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/approaching-critique-mesopotamian-reason
Conference Name: Volkswagen Fellowship Symposium “Approaching a Critique of Mesopotamian Reason,” Mahandra Humanities Center, Harvard University

Texts, Stories, History: The Neo-Assyrian Period and the Bible (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Texts, Stories, History: The Neo-Assyrian Period and the Bible
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Reflections on the impact of Assyrian politics and culture (including intellectual culture) on the emergence of the Hebrew Bible.
Date: 05/11/2017
Primary URL: https://www.biblico.it/doc-vari/stones-tablets-scrolls.pdf
Conference Name: “Stones, Tablets and Scrolls: Four Periods of the Formation of the Bible,” Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome

Kommentartexte aus Assur im Spannungsfeld assyrischer und babylonischer Gelehrsamkeit” (Commentaries from Assur between Assyrian and Babylonian scholarly practices) (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kommentartexte aus Assur im Spannungsfeld assyrischer und babylonischer Gelehrsamkeit” (Commentaries from Assur between Assyrian and Babylonian scholarly practices)
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: Discussion of cuneiform commentaries from the city of Ashur, and the impact of Babylonian scholarship on them.
Date: 05/23/2017
Primary URL: http://www.haw.uni-heidelberg.de/md/haw/forschung/forschungsstellen/programm_assurtagung_2017.pdf
Conference Name: “Assur und Assyrien: Neue Funde und Forschungen,” Heidelberg, Akademie der Wissenschaften

Ancient Texts for Homework. Elementary Education at Nippur during the First Millennium BCE (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Ancient Texts for Homework. Elementary Education at Nippur during the First Millennium BCE
Author: Enrique Jiménez
Abstract: Discussion of school texts from Late Babylonian Nippur, with new quotes from the "Sargon Birth Legend."
Date: 07/25/2017
Primary URL: http://www.rai63.org/index.php/rai/2017
Conference Name: 63rd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Marburg, Germany

Abstruse Perfection: Connecting Sign and Prognosis in Babylonian Medical Commentaries (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Abstruse Perfection: Connecting Sign and Prognosis in Babylonian Medical Commentaries
Author: Enrique Jiménez
Abstract: Analysis of the hermeneutical operations linking a patient's symptoms and the ensuing diagnosis/prognosis in Mesopotamian medicine.
Date: 07/26/2017
Primary URL: http://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/babmed/konferenzen/Workshops-Conferences-all/index.html
Conference Name: “Medical Commentaries and Comment(aries) on Medicine,” Topoi Excellence Cluster, FU Berlin, and Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Literarische Bruchstücke aus Uruk. Teil 2: Zwei Tafeln für die Berechnung des adannu, (Article)
Title: Literarische Bruchstücke aus Uruk. Teil 2: Zwei Tafeln für die Berechnung des adannu,
Author: A. Fadhil, E. Jiménez
Abstract: Edition of scholarly texts from Uruk.
Year: 2018
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie 11 (2018), pp. 130-158.

---