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Piotr Steinkeller

Harvard University, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Faculty Member

Near Eastern Archaeology

Piotr Steinkeller
2019: The University of Chicago Alumni Medal

Professor of Assyriology, Harvard University

Piotr Steinkeller began his academic education at the Warsaw University, Poland, where he studied Mediterranean archaeology and Assyriology. He came to the United States in 1970 as the recipient of a Humanities Special Fellowship from the University of Chicago. He then pursued Assyriology at the Oriental Institute, receiving a PhD in 1977. From 1974–81 he was a
research associate at the OI, assisting his mentor, Ignace I. Gelb, on a number of research projects. In 1981, he joined the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where he has been teaching ever since. His academic interests center on ancient Mesopotamia during the third millennium BCE. Most of his work in that area is concerned with the manifold aspects of the socioeconomic life of
Mesopotamia during that stage of its history, such as social stratification, labor, agriculture, taxation, law, trade, material culture, and the history of the ancient Mesopotamian natural environment. He has also written extensively about the political history of early Mesopotamia and Iran, the historical geography of Middle Asia, and the development of the Sumero- Akkadian religion.

Steinkeller has authored, coauthored, or edited 10 books and some 140 articles. His most recent books are History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays (DeGruyter, 2017) and, coauthored with Steffen Laursen, Babylonia, the Gulf Region and the Indus: Archaeological and Textual Evidence for Contact in the Third and Early Second Millennia BC
(Eisenbrauns, 2017).

He is a recipient of numerous awards, among them a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and an Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Forschungspreis (2009). He is currently a Walter Channing Cabot Fellow at Harvard University.

Steinkeller is presently writing a book devoted to the history of Mesopotamia during the Late Uruk period (3500–2900 BCE), a formative phase of her history during which cuneiform writing was invented, and the time when the nation’s socioeconomic and religious institutions acquired their essential shape. By recourse to the textual, iconographic, and archaeological
data, this work will offer a new assessment of these critical developments.

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Books

New Light on the History of Irisaĝrig in Post-Ur III Times

International Trade in Greater Mesopotamia during Late Pre-Sargonic Times: The case of Ebla as illustrated by her participation in the Euphratean timber trade

Merchants, Measures and Money: Understanding Technologies of Early Trade in a Comparative Perspective , 2021

is second volume in the series collects papers from two workshops held at the University of Götti... more is second volume in the series collects papers from two workshops held at the University of Göttingen in 2019 and 2020. e international meetings tackled questions related to merchants and money in a comparative perspective, with examples spanning from the Bronze Age to the early Modern period and embracing Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia and East Africa. e rst part of this volume presents historical case studies of how merchants planned and carried out commercial expeditions; how risk, cost, and potential pro t was calculated; and how the value of goods was calculated and converted. e papers in the second part address current theories and methods on the development and function of money before and a er the invention of coinage. e introduction of balance scales around 3000 BCE enabled the formation of overarching indexes of value and the calculation of the commercial value of goods and services. It also allowed for a selected set of commodities to take on the role of currency. Around 650 BCE, this led to the invention of coinage in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Economic Growth in Early Mesopotamia: General Considerations and Some Specific Examples

The Earliest Economic Growth in World History , 2022

Babylonian Priesthood during the Third Millennium BCE: Between Sacred and Profane

Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, 2019

This article offers an overview of the early Babylonian priesthood, as it was organized and opera... more This article offers an overview of the early Babylonian priesthood, as it was organized and operated during the third millennium BCE. It is emphasized that the priests and priestesses proper, i.e., individuals who were specifically concerned with cultic matters, represented a relatively small segment of the employees of temple households. Much more numerous within these institutions (which might more appropriately be termed "temple communities") were the individuals whose roles were of either administrative or economic character. Focusing on the administrators of temple households, and identifying them as "Managerial Class," the article argues that, during Pre-Sargonic times, this social group wielded great economic and political power, which at times even exceeded that of the emerging secular leaders (such as ensiks and lugals). To demonstrate this point, an interaction between these two competing centers of powers (particularly in the city-state of Lagaš) is studied in detail. In memory of Itamar Singer Keywords temple household-palace-early Sumerian kingship-managerial class-Sanga-Ensik-Lugal-purification priests-Lu A List-Nam-šita

More on Dumuzi and the "brimmed cap" of the Priest-King of Late Uruk times Author

Stories Told Around the Fountain: Papers Offered to Piotr Bielinski on His 70th Birthday , 2019

This communication revisits the question of the so-called "brimmed cap" (Breitrandkappe), which s... more This communication revisits the question of the so-called "brimmed cap" (Breitrandkappe), which serves as an attribute of the Priest-King of Late Uruk art. An important new datum bearing on this issue is a pre-Sargonic plaque in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, which depicts a seated male figure wearing such a cap. It is argued that this figure is Dumuzi. Finally, a possible connection between Dumuzi and the archaic Priest-King is considered.

Texts, art and archeology: An archaic plaque from Mari and the Sumerian birth-goddess Ninhursag

De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin, 2019

THE BIRTH OF ELAM IN HISTORY

The Elamite World, 2018

History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays

These essays represent a summation of Piotr Steinkeller's decades-long thinking and writing about... more These essays represent a summation of Piotr Steinkeller's decades-long thinking and writing about the history of third millennium BCE Babylonia and the ways in which it is reflected in ancient historical and literary sources and art, as well as of how these written and visual materials may be used by the modern historian to attain, if not a reliable record of histoire événementielle, a comprehensive picture of how the ancients understood their history.

The book focuses on the history of early Babylonian kingship, as it evolved over a period from Late Uruk down to Old Babylonian times, and the impact of the concepts of kingship on contemporaneous history writing and visual art. Here comparisons are drawn between Babylonia and similar developments in ancient Egypt, China and Mesoamerica.

Other issues treated is the intersection between history writing and the scholarly, lexical, and literary traditions in early Babylonia; and the question of how the modern historian should approach the study of ancient sources of "historical" nature.

Such a broad and comprehensive overview is novel in Mesopotamian studies to date. As such, it should contribute to an improved and more nuanced understanding of early Babylonian history.

Babylonia, the Gulf Region and the Indus - Archaeological and Textual Evidence for Contact in the Third and Early Second Millennia BC

by Piotr Steinkeller and Steffen Terp Laursen

During the third millennium BC, the huge geographical area stretching between the Mediterranean i... more During the third millennium BC, the huge geographical area stretching between the Mediterranean in the west and the Indus Valley in the east witnessed the rise of a commercial network of unmatched proportions and intensity, within which the Persian Gulf for long periods functioned as a central node. In this book, Laursen and Steinkeller examine the nature of cultural and commercial contacts between Babylonia, the Gulf region, and Indus Civilization. Focusing on the third and early second millennia BC, and using both archaeological data and the evidence of ancient written sources, their study offers an up-to-date synthetic picture of the history of interactions across this vast region. In addition to giving detailed characterizations and evaluations of contacts in various periods, the book also treats a number of important related issues, such as the presence of Amorites in the Gulf (in particular, their role in the rise of the Tilmun center on Bahrain Island); the alleged existence of Meluhhan commercial outposts in Babylonia; and the role that the seaport of Gu’abba played in Babylonia’s interactions with the Gulf region and southeastern Iran.

Papers

New Light on the History of Irisaĝrig in Post-Ur III Times

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 111, 2021

Two Sargonic Seals from Urusagrig and the Question of Urusagrig's Location

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 112, 2022

Urukagina's Rise to Power

The IOS Annual Volume 23, 2023

Early Mesopotamian Divine System: Some Fundamental Concerns

Archiv für Orientforschung 54, 2021

IN SEARCH OF DUGURASU

by Piotr Steinkeller and Maria Giovanna Biga

Journal of Cuneiform Studies , 2021

The identity of the toponym Dugurasu, which is mentioned some fifty times in the ED IIIb document... more The identity of the toponym Dugurasu, which is mentioned some fifty times in the ED IIIb documentation from Ebla, is a highly contested issue. While M. G. Biga had proposed an identification with Egypt, A. Archi then argued that Dugurasu was situated in northwestern Iran. This study offers a systematic examination of all the attestations of Dugurasu, focusing on the types of materials traded between Dugurasu and Ebla. It also considers evidence bearing on Ebla's commercial partner named DUlu. Characteristically, Ebla and DUlu exchanged the same types of goods as those traded between Ebla and Dugurasu. Our investigation strongly suggests that Dugurasu is either Egypt itself or some place in Palestine that served as an intermediary in exchanges between Egypt and Ebla, while DUlu denotes either Byblos or one of its immediate neighbors.

Earliest Land Tenure Systems in the Near East: Ancient Kudurrus

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 1993

Early Mesopotamian Land Sales

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1994

Book Review:Old Sumerian and Old Akkadian Texts in Philadelphia Chiefly from Nippur. Pt. 1. Literary and Lexical Texts and the Earliest Administrative Documents from Nippur Aage Westenholz

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1977

Texts, Art and Archaeology

De l'Argile au Numerique

3. A History of Mashkan-shapir and Its Role in the Kingdom of Larsa

The Umma Field Ušgida and the Question of GARšana's Location

New Light on the History of Irisaĝrig in Post-Ur III Times

International Trade in Greater Mesopotamia during Late Pre-Sargonic Times: The case of Ebla as illustrated by her participation in the Euphratean timber trade

Merchants, Measures and Money: Understanding Technologies of Early Trade in a Comparative Perspective , 2021

is second volume in the series collects papers from two workshops held at the University of Götti... more is second volume in the series collects papers from two workshops held at the University of Göttingen in 2019 and 2020. e international meetings tackled questions related to merchants and money in a comparative perspective, with examples spanning from the Bronze Age to the early Modern period and embracing Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia and East Africa. e rst part of this volume presents historical case studies of how merchants planned and carried out commercial expeditions; how risk, cost, and potential pro t was calculated; and how the value of goods was calculated and converted. e papers in the second part address current theories and methods on the development and function of money before and a er the invention of coinage. e introduction of balance scales around 3000 BCE enabled the formation of overarching indexes of value and the calculation of the commercial value of goods and services. It also allowed for a selected set of commodities to take on the role of currency. Around 650 BCE, this led to the invention of coinage in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Economic Growth in Early Mesopotamia: General Considerations and Some Specific Examples

The Earliest Economic Growth in World History , 2022

Babylonian Priesthood during the Third Millennium BCE: Between Sacred and Profane

Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, 2019

This article offers an overview of the early Babylonian priesthood, as it was organized and opera... more This article offers an overview of the early Babylonian priesthood, as it was organized and operated during the third millennium BCE. It is emphasized that the priests and priestesses proper, i.e., individuals who were specifically concerned with cultic matters, represented a relatively small segment of the employees of temple households. Much more numerous within these institutions (which might more appropriately be termed "temple communities") were the individuals whose roles were of either administrative or economic character. Focusing on the administrators of temple households, and identifying them as "Managerial Class," the article argues that, during Pre-Sargonic times, this social group wielded great economic and political power, which at times even exceeded that of the emerging secular leaders (such as ensiks and lugals). To demonstrate this point, an interaction between these two competing centers of powers (particularly in the city-state of Lagaš) is studied in detail. In memory of Itamar Singer Keywords temple household-palace-early Sumerian kingship-managerial class-Sanga-Ensik-Lugal-purification priests-Lu A List-Nam-šita

More on Dumuzi and the "brimmed cap" of the Priest-King of Late Uruk times Author

Stories Told Around the Fountain: Papers Offered to Piotr Bielinski on His 70th Birthday , 2019

This communication revisits the question of the so-called "brimmed cap" (Breitrandkappe), which s... more This communication revisits the question of the so-called "brimmed cap" (Breitrandkappe), which serves as an attribute of the Priest-King of Late Uruk art. An important new datum bearing on this issue is a pre-Sargonic plaque in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, which depicts a seated male figure wearing such a cap. It is argued that this figure is Dumuzi. Finally, a possible connection between Dumuzi and the archaic Priest-King is considered.

Texts, art and archeology: An archaic plaque from Mari and the Sumerian birth-goddess Ninhursag

De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin, 2019

THE BIRTH OF ELAM IN HISTORY

The Elamite World, 2018

History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays

These essays represent a summation of Piotr Steinkeller's decades-long thinking and writing about... more These essays represent a summation of Piotr Steinkeller's decades-long thinking and writing about the history of third millennium BCE Babylonia and the ways in which it is reflected in ancient historical and literary sources and art, as well as of how these written and visual materials may be used by the modern historian to attain, if not a reliable record of histoire événementielle, a comprehensive picture of how the ancients understood their history.

The book focuses on the history of early Babylonian kingship, as it evolved over a period from Late Uruk down to Old Babylonian times, and the impact of the concepts of kingship on contemporaneous history writing and visual art. Here comparisons are drawn between Babylonia and similar developments in ancient Egypt, China and Mesoamerica.

Other issues treated is the intersection between history writing and the scholarly, lexical, and literary traditions in early Babylonia; and the question of how the modern historian should approach the study of ancient sources of "historical" nature.

Such a broad and comprehensive overview is novel in Mesopotamian studies to date. As such, it should contribute to an improved and more nuanced understanding of early Babylonian history.

Babylonia, the Gulf Region and the Indus - Archaeological and Textual Evidence for Contact in the Third and Early Second Millennia BC

by Piotr Steinkeller and Steffen Terp Laursen

During the third millennium BC, the huge geographical area stretching between the Mediterranean i... more During the third millennium BC, the huge geographical area stretching between the Mediterranean in the west and the Indus Valley in the east witnessed the rise of a commercial network of unmatched proportions and intensity, within which the Persian Gulf for long periods functioned as a central node. In this book, Laursen and Steinkeller examine the nature of cultural and commercial contacts between Babylonia, the Gulf region, and Indus Civilization. Focusing on the third and early second millennia BC, and using both archaeological data and the evidence of ancient written sources, their study offers an up-to-date synthetic picture of the history of interactions across this vast region. In addition to giving detailed characterizations and evaluations of contacts in various periods, the book also treats a number of important related issues, such as the presence of Amorites in the Gulf (in particular, their role in the rise of the Tilmun center on Bahrain Island); the alleged existence of Meluhhan commercial outposts in Babylonia; and the role that the seaport of Gu’abba played in Babylonia’s interactions with the Gulf region and southeastern Iran.

New Light on the History of Irisaĝrig in Post-Ur III Times

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 111, 2021

Two Sargonic Seals from Urusagrig and the Question of Urusagrig's Location

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 112, 2022

Urukagina's Rise to Power

The IOS Annual Volume 23, 2023

Early Mesopotamian Divine System: Some Fundamental Concerns

Archiv für Orientforschung 54, 2021

IN SEARCH OF DUGURASU

by Piotr Steinkeller and Maria Giovanna Biga

Journal of Cuneiform Studies , 2021

The identity of the toponym Dugurasu, which is mentioned some fifty times in the ED IIIb document... more The identity of the toponym Dugurasu, which is mentioned some fifty times in the ED IIIb documentation from Ebla, is a highly contested issue. While M. G. Biga had proposed an identification with Egypt, A. Archi then argued that Dugurasu was situated in northwestern Iran. This study offers a systematic examination of all the attestations of Dugurasu, focusing on the types of materials traded between Dugurasu and Ebla. It also considers evidence bearing on Ebla's commercial partner named DUlu. Characteristically, Ebla and DUlu exchanged the same types of goods as those traded between Ebla and Dugurasu. Our investigation strongly suggests that Dugurasu is either Egypt itself or some place in Palestine that served as an intermediary in exchanges between Egypt and Ebla, while DUlu denotes either Byblos or one of its immediate neighbors.

Earliest Land Tenure Systems in the Near East: Ancient Kudurrus

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 1993

Early Mesopotamian Land Sales

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1994

Book Review:Old Sumerian and Old Akkadian Texts in Philadelphia Chiefly from Nippur. Pt. 1. Literary and Lexical Texts and the Earliest Administrative Documents from Nippur Aage Westenholz

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1977

Texts, Art and Archaeology

De l'Argile au Numerique

3. A History of Mashkan-shapir and Its Role in the Kingdom of Larsa

The Umma Field Ušgida and the Question of GARšana's Location

Appendix 2: The Roundlet of Naram-Suen

History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia, 2017

In Search of Dugurasu

Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 2021

The identity of the toponym Dugurasu, which is mentioned some fifty times in the ED IIIb document... more The identity of the toponym Dugurasu, which is mentioned some fifty times in the ED IIIb documentation from Ebla, is a highly contested issue. While M. G. Biga had proposed an identification with Egypt, A. Archi then argued that Dugurasu was situated in northwestern Iran. This study offers a systematic examination of all the attestations of Dugurasu, focusing on the types of materials traded between Dugurasu and Ebla. It also considers evidence bearing on Ebla’s commercial partner named DUlu. Characteristically, Ebla and DUlu exchanged the same types of goods as those traded between Ebla and Dugurasu. Our investigation strongly suggests that Dugurasu is either Egypt itself or some place in Palestine that served as an intermediary in exchanges between Egypt and Ebla, while DUlu denotes either Byblos or one of its immediate neighbors.

New Data on Garšana and the Border Zone between Umma and Girsu/Lagaš

The First Ninety Years, 2017

List and Sources of Illustrations

Two Sargonic Seals from Urusagrig and the Question of Urusagrig’s Location

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 2021

Corvée Labor in Ur III Times

From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D., 2013

Fortune and Misfortune in the Ancient Near East

In the week between July 21 and 25, 2014, the University of Warsaw hosted more than three hundred... more 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.

Luck, Fortune, and Destiny in Ancient Mesopotamia

More on Dumuzi and the “brimmed cap” of the Priest-King of Late Uruk times

Stories told around the fountain. Papers offered to Piotr Bieliński on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 2019

This communication revisits the question of the so-called &quot;brimmed cap&quot; (Breitr... more This communication revisits the question of the so-called &quot;brimmed cap&quot; (Breitrandkappe), which serves as an attribute of the Priest-King of Late Uruk art. An important new datum bearing on this issue is a pre-Sargonic plaque in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, which depicts a seated male figure wearing such a cap. It is argued that this figure is Dumuzi. Finally, a possible connection between Dumuzi and the archaic Priest-King is considered.