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Frontmatter -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Program -- Introduction -- Part 1 What Is Fortune? What Is Misfortune? -- Luck, Fortune, and Destiny in Ancient Mesopotamia Or How the Sumerians and Babylonians Thought of Their Place in the Flow of Things -- The Concept of “Misfortune” in Sumerian Wisdom Literature -- Man’s Fate: Divine Responsibility for Human Welfare in Ḫatti -- Part 2 Man -- Fortune and Misfortune of the Individual: Some Observations on the Sufferer’s Plaint in Ludlul bēl nēmeqi II 12–32 -- On the Fortune—or Misfortune—of Having Children: The Abundance of Children According to the Omen Text K. 6403 -- Gendering for Fortune and Misfortune: Ritual Gender Assignment in the Ancient Near East -- Why Did Paškuwatti’s Patient Fail in the Matrimonial Bed? -- Introduction aux symptômes mentaux en Mésopotamie -- Legal Remedies against Misfortune: Evasion, Legal Fiction, and Sham Transactions in Late Bronze Age Emar -- Hierarchy at the Hittite Court -- Fortunes and Misfortunes of Messengers and Merchants in the Amarna Letters -- Made Men: Rich Slaves of the Nūr-Sîns and the Egibis -- Betting on the Right Horse: Loyalty in the Early Years of the Neo-Babylonian Empire -- Part 3 King -- The Origins of the LUGAL Office -- Ups and Downs in the Career of Enmerkar, King of Uruk -- “Šulgi, Mighty Man, King of Ur” -- The Fate of Yasmaḫ-Addu, the King of Mari -- Finding the Good Genius in Your Bowl -- The Royal Adoption Scene in Ugaritic and Biblical Texts -- “One Epic or Many?” Das Tukultī-Ninurta-Epos zum Ersten, zum Zweiten und zum. . .? -- Part 4 City and State -- Climate Change, the Mardu Wall, and the Fall of Ur -- Regional Differences in Middle Assyrian -- The Anatolian and Iranian Frontiers: Analyzing the Foreign Policy of the Assyrian Empire under Esarhaddon -- Finis Assyriae: The Fall of the Assyrian State, or the Fall of the Assyrian Civilisation? -- Fortune and Politics: Nabopolassar’s Campaigns in 616–615 b.c.e. and His Alliance with Media -- More about the Crisis in Uruk -- Part 5 God and Temple -- Don’t Insult Inana! Divine Retribution for Offense against Common Decency in the Light of New Textual Sources -- Fortune and Misfortune of the Eagle in the Myth of Etana -- Within the Ekur: Sitz im Leben for a Literary Topos Regarding Nintur -- Some Remarks on the Archaeology of the Ekur of Nippur during Post-Kassite Times In the week between July 21 and 25, 2014, the University of Warsaw hosted more than three hundred Assyriologists from all over the world. In the course of five days, nearly 150 papers were read in three (and sometimes four) parallel sessions. Many of them were delivered within the framework of nine thematic workshops. The publication of most of these panels is underway, in separate volumes. As is usually the case, the academic sessions were accompanied by many opportunities for social interaction among the participants, and there was time to enjoy the historical and cultural benefits of Warsaw. Special honor was accorded to two American Assyriologists whose origins can be traced to Warsaw, Piotr Michalowski and Piotr Steinkeller, and a special session to recognize their contributions to the study of ancient Mesopotamia was organized. In this book are presented papers on the main theme of the meeting, “Fortune and Misfortune in the Ancient Near East.” The 31 essays are organized into 5 sections: (1) plenary presenations on “What Is Fortune? What Is Misfortune?” (2) humanity and fortune/misfortune and luck, with discussion of specific examples; (3) additional papers on definitions of fortune and misfortune; (4) the effects on city and state; and (5) God and temple
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