Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2014
The general character of the Middle Assyrian glyptic is well understood from the seal-impressions on the archives from Assur, Fakhariyah and Rimah. As a result of the work of Saporetti (1979) there is now a better dating of the Assyrian tablets than was available to the pioneers. Mayer-Opificius (1986) made useful progress on the chronology of the thirteenth century designs, and this has been further elaborated by the present writer (1990).
There is at present no good evidence for geographical variations in the Assyrian seals, despite the wide spread of the material. This is in contrast to the chronological situation. The criteria for the thirteenth century are summarised here, but it is unnecessary to repeat the detailed arguments justifying them which are given in my former work. The thirteenth century is divided into three phases corresponding to the reigns of Adad-nirari I (1307–1275 B.C.), Shalmaneser I (1274–45 B.C.) and Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244–08 B.C.). This is partly for convenience and partly as a consequence of the form of Saporetti's book on the eponyms. When speaking of an “Adad-nirari” style I do not, therefore, mean to imply that such seals could not have been made in the adjacent reigns.
List of Abbreviations used in the Bibliography
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung.
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.
Bib. Mes. 21 M. Kelly-Buccelati (ed) 1986. Insight through images, studies in honor of Edith Porada. (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 21). Malibu, Undena.
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies.
Moorlgat Festschrift K. Bittel et al. (ed) 1964. Vorderasiatische Archäologie … Anton Moortgat. Berlin, Mann.
OIP Oriental Institute Publications, Chicago.
RA Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale.
UF Ugarit Forschungen.
ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie.