A Turtle Dove Rhyton from the “Hyksos Palace” at Tell es ......A Turtle Dove Rhyton from the “yksos Palace at Tell es-Sultan 681 5. The Dove, Ishtar, the Kings of Ebla and the

A Turtle Dove Rhyton from the “Hyksos Palace” at Tell es-Sultan, Ancient Jericho

Lorenzo Nigro

1. John Garstang and the Excavation of the “Hyksos Palace” (1933–1934)1

During his fourth season of excavations at Tell es-Sultan, in 1933, John Garstang was engaged in uncovering the heavy burnt remains of a major building extending on the summit and on the eastern slope of the Spring Hill (Fig. 1). He named such building the “Hyksos Palace”2 because of its date, and several finds pointing to a certain relationship with Egypt,3 also revealed by retrievals from the tombs he was excavating in the nearby necropolis.4

Beside the palace itself, which consisted of a rectangular building with two courtyards, a monumental entrance with a porch towards the southern side of the hill (Fig. 2), a number of rooms added to the palace were labeled “Palace store-rooms” by Garstang.5 Here, due to the steep slope, even structural stratig-raphy was difficult to be established and scholars admitted an uncertainty on the attribution of different rooms to phases ranging from Sultan IVb (MB II) to Sul-tan V (LB).6 This is made more evident from the great amount of finds reported by Garstang from layers related to these “Palace store-rooms,” which include a number of LB I and II ceramic shapes, later on attributed to what was called the “Middle Building.”7

1 I wish to deeply thank Dr Sophie Cluzan who very kindly allowed me to publish the vase which is the object of the present article nowadays kept in the Réserve des Antiquités Orientales of the Musée du Louvre (AO 17151).

2 Garstang 1933, 41; 1934, 100–101, pl. XV: nos 80–81; Garstang / Garstang 1948, 99–101.3 Nigro 2009a, 374; 2018.4 Garstang / Garstang 1948, 97–1005 Garstang 1934, 101, 118–130, pls XV–XVI, XL.a, XLI–XLII; Garstang / Garstang

1948, 99–101.6 Marchetti 2003, 312–314. For a comprehensive periodization of Tell es-Sultan, see:

Nigro 2016, tab. 1.7 Garstang 1934, 100–102, 105–106, 108–116, pls XIII–XIV, XXXI–XXXVII; Bien-

kowski 1986, 71, 90, 101–102, 112–122, figs 55–56, 59–60; Nigro 1996, 52–55, fig. 8:2; Marchetti 2003, 316–317.

© 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-058-1 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-059-8 (E-Book)

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Actually, the Palace was erected at least in late Period Sultan IVa (MB IB), and successively expanded northwards on the summit of the hill.8 The group of rooms on the eastern slope, called “Palace store-rooms” were added at the be-ginning of Period VIc (MB III, 1650–1550 BC), when a major reconstruction of the city fortification system, with the third rampart supported internally by the so-called “Cyclopean Wall,”9 made more precious the space inside the city and necessary to exploit it completely. The “Palace store-rooms” were, thus, erected on a series of terraces, obliterating an area which was previously exploited to bury officials and members of the ruling class/family,10 being aside or under-neath the Palace and in between it and the Spring at the very core of the city. The intermingled rooms were used as warehouse and subsidiary spaces of the Palace itself, possibly in relation with some administrative functions.

Two lanes climbed the hill from the City-Gate to the south-east, and from the spring to the east, respectively leading to the Palace main entrance and to the secondary entrance flanked by the stables (Fig. 3).

2. The Finding Spot of the Dove Rhyton and the Other Cult Vases

Roughly at the south-east corner of the palace, outside it, a group of two paral-lel rooms yielded a great amount of material, namely pottery vessels and burnt furniture. In Room 73, along with several jars, bowls, and other commodities, a special vase was found by Garstang: “upon a raised niche of brick construction of sort abutting against the Palace wall”11 (Fig. 4). This niche was connected with nearby Room 68, which was interpreted as a sacristy or a subsidiary room used to store cult vessels and paraphernalia. Within the room, according to Garstang, also two more cult vessels were found: a “very large libation bowl”12 (Fig. 5, Pl. XXV.17); a tall jug with a red painted triangles and meanders decoration (Fig. 5, Pl. XXV.20), with a prominent ridge at the mid of the body, red-slipped and burnished surface, and a high surmounting molded handle.13 Up the middle of the handle a plastic snake characterized by incised circles was attached with its tail curled around the bottom and its mouth open on the vase rim.

Moreover, a third cult vase, a rhyton in shape of a ibex (or a gazelle?), was retrieved in Room 40.14

8 Marchetti 2003, 306; Nigro et al. 2011, 199–200.9 Fiaccavento / Montanari / Ripepi 2013.10 Nigro 2009a.11 Garstang 1934, 126–127, pl. XXVI; Garstang / Garstang 1948, 100–103, pl. IIIa.12 Garstang 1934, 125, pl. XXV:17.13 Gartsang 1934, 125, pls XXV:20, XLIII:4.14 Garstang 1934, 129, pls XXII:21, XLIV:b


A Turtle Dove Rhyton from the “Hyksos Palace” at Tell es-Sultan 679

3. The Dove Rhyton

The vessel, labeled “bird-vase” by Gartstang,15 actually is a rhyton obtained mod-eling in the shape of a dove the typical MB II–III pedestal goblet with a small carinated bowl on the back of the bird (Fig. 6a–b). The vase16 is 21.7 cm long and 17.7 cm high. The pedestal is 6.5 cm high. The fabric is fine and the upper surface is coated with a buff burnished slip applied with a stick. The body of the bird is also decorated by incisions. The cup on the back, with a rim diameter of 4.5 cm, is supported by a high hollow column. Between it and the dove’s back a double-coil arch handle, now missing, was inserted (Fig. 7). The tail of the bird is carefully rendered with radiant strokes, and a fan-profile (Fig. 8), while its wings are modeled in the shape of abutting horizontal winglets; diagonal incised hatching represents feathers (Fig. 9). Zoomorphic details are carefully depicted: the eyes are rendered by two concentric circles, while the ears are a couple of very small holes. At the middle of the neck a shallow button suggests a very interesting peculiarity (Fig 10). Turtle doves, as other Columbidae (doves and pigeons), are characterized by a peculiar physiology and anatomy, connected with their repro-ductive behavior, that is the ability to secrete “crop milk” from special cells that line the bird’s crop. Crop milk is a soft lumpy substance that resembles ricotta cheese, containing concentrated quantities of proteins and fat to abundantly feed just-born chicks.

The plastic bump on the bird’s neck in the pottery kernos might thus suggest the feeding nature of the animal, its nourishing attitude and—by extent—may symbolize fecundity. In the case of the kernos, with a meta-citation represent-ed by the vessels itself, it might be used to offer milk or a nourishing beverage during rites. It fits very well a religious context connected with Ishtar, one of the major goddess of the Levant, especially linked to the dove, as an enlightening study by Frances Pinnock about some distinguished plastically decorated ritual vases found in Ebla convincingly suggested.17 In her study, Pinnock noticed the presence of collars on some doves’ necks. They might be interpreted as ornament attributed to the sacred birds’ of the goddess, recalling the special symbol of fer-tility visible on the neck of these animals when they are nourishing their children.

4. Comparisons at Jericho and Ebla

The dove rhyton from the “Palace store-rooms” at Tell es-Sultan, ancient Jericho, has two major comparisons, one found in Tomb B3 of the Jericho necropolis by K.M. Kenyon,18 and the other at Ebla, in the Tomb of the Lord of the Goats, a

15 Garstang 1934, 127, pl. XXVI:8.16 I examined the rhyton (AO 17151) in the Réserve du Dept. des Antiquités Orientales of

the Louvre in October 2014 thanks to the kind hospitality of Dr. Bèatrice Andrée Salvini. 17 Pinnock 2000, 126–127. For a further detailed study see: Pinnock 2014.18 Kenyon 1960, B3.85, fig. 162; Kenyon / Holland 1982, 442, fig. 188:5. A similar


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royal hypogeum excavated by P. Matthiae and his team of Sapienza University of Rome in 1978.19

4.1 The Dove Rhyton from Tomb B3 of Jericho Necropolis

The rhyton found in Tomb B3 is very similar to the “Palace store-rooms” spec-imen, especially if one considers the shape of the vessel and its ritual use. It is also obtained modifying the classical Jerichoan pedestal goblet of MB II–III, but is made with a fabric coarser than the palace specimen. The neck of the dove is unnaturally vertical and the handle arches over the back from the back of the head. The cup on the back is not supported by any column, but has exactly the same shape of that on the palace rhyton. Two snakes are attached on the vase: one is curled on the neck and distends along the top of the head, while the other climbs upon the cup with the mouth open to drink (Fig. 11a–b).

4.2 The Dove Kernos from the Tomb of the Lord of the Goats (the King of Ebla, Immeya)

Among the rich funerary set of the Tomb of the Lord of the Goats, a royal hypo-geum excavated at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, underneath the Western Palace, i.e. the Palace of the Prince Heir, a distinguished cult vessel was found: a kernos surmounted by a bird-shaped vase and four cups. Even though the vase is a ker-nos, which thus presuppose a slightly different ritual use (mixing different [?] liquids before libation), the bird exhibits the same physiognomy of the Jericho-an rhyton, with the only difference that the eyes are made by means of buttons (Fig. 12). Its identification with a dove seems plausible, also because it shows the same shallow crop on the front neck. What makes the two plastic vessels very similar is the fine fabric and the buff highly burnished slip of their surfaces.

The kernos was found in one of the hypogea of the king’s tomb (TM.78.Q.IC), where possibly a burial ritual was performed including libations before the tomb closure. The date of this tomb is around 1700 BC, very consistent with the Jerichoan specimen.

specimen was also found in Qatna (du Mesnil du Buisson 1935, 120, fig. 200i).19 Matthiae / Pinnock / Scandone Matthiae (eds) 1995, 496, n. 444; Nigro 2003, 358–359,

fig. 25; 2009b, 220–222, pl. XXVII, fig. 4:17; 2009c, 166–167. Frances Pinnock, who this paper is dedicated, was the draughtsperson who realized the plan of the tomb with the finds in their spot.



5. The Dove, Ishtar, the Kings of Ebla and the Lords of Jericho/Ruha

The connection of the (turtle) dove with Ishtar has been already well argued.20 The dove rhyton of Jericho and Ebla were both found in a palatial/royal context, and even if Garstang hypothesized that the bird-vase found in Room 73 may have belonged to a sacred place, there is no direct evidence about this. Conversely, the temple at Jericho was on the other side of the Palace, as recent investigations by the Italian-Palestinian Expedition demonstrated.21

Was there any connection between the dove rhyton/kernos and the kingship? This is suggested by the finding spot of these vases at Ebla and Jericho. The role of Ishtar in respect of the kings of Ebla is renowned (starting from the inscrip-tion on the bust of Ibbit-Lim),22 while we have no information about the lords of Jericho. This might be hint at by the kernos found in Room 73 of the “Palace store-rooms,” as well as by a clay figurine also found by Garstang in the nearby.23

Bibliography

Archi, A. / Matthiae, P., 1995: Statua frammentaria del re Ibbit-Lim (TM.68.G.61). In P. Matthiae / F. Pinnock / G. Scandone Matthiae (eds): Ebla alle origini della civiltà urbana. Trent’anni di scavi in Siria dell’Università di Roma «La Sapienza». Roma. P. 408.

Bienkowski, P., 1986: Jericho in the Late Bronze Age. Warminster.Fiaccavento, C. / Montanari, D. / Ripepi, G. 2013: MB III Rampart & Cyclopean

Wall of Tell es-Sultan/Jericho. ScAnt 19/2–3: 58–61.Garstang, J., 1933: Jericho: City and Necropolis. 4. Tombs of MBAII. 5. Tombs

of MBAII and LBAI. 6. The Palace Area. LAAA 20: 3–42.–– 1934: Jericho: City and Necropolis (Fourth Report). LAAA 21: 99–136.Garstang, J. / Garstang, J.B.E., 1948: The Story of Jericho. London.Gelb, I., 1984: The Inscription of Jibbiṭ-Lîm, King of Ebla. SO 55: 213–229.Kenyon, K.M., 1960: Excavations at Jericho. Vol. 1. The Tombs Excavated in

1952–1954. London.Kenyon, K.M. / Holland, T.A., 1982: Excavations at Jericho. Vol. 4. The Pottery

Type Series and Other Finds. London. Marchetti, N., 2003: A Century of Excavations on the Spring Hill at Tell es-Sultan,

Ancient Jericho: A Reconstruction of Its Stratigraphy. In M. Bietak (ed.): The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000 – Euroconference, Haindorf 2nd of May – 7th of May 2001. Wien. Pp. 295–321.

Matthiae, P., 2010: Ebla. La città del trono. Roma.

20 Pinnock 2000; 2014.21 Nigro 2016, 15.22 Pettinato 1970; Pettinato / Matthiae 1972; Gelb 1984; Archi / Matthiae 1995; Matthiae

2010, 230–231; 2013, 36–38, 42, fig. 1.3.23 Garstang 1934, pl. XLIII:3.


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–– 2013: A Long Journey. Fifty Years of Research on the Bronze Age at Tell Mar-dikh/Ebla. In P. Matthiae / N. Marchetti (eds): Ebla and Its Landscape. Early State Formation in the Ancient Near East. Walnut Creek. Pp. 35–48.

Matthiae, P. / Pinnock, F. / Scandone Matthiae G. (eds) 1995: Ebla alle origini della civiltà urbana. Trent’anni di scavi in Siria dell’Università di Roma «La Sapienza». Roma.

Mesnil du Buisson, R. Comte du, 1935: Le site archéologique de Mishrifé-Qaṭna (Collection de textes et documents d’Orient I). Paris.

Nigro, L., 1996: Le residenze palestinesi del Bronzo Tardo - I modelli planimetri-ci e strutturali. CMAO VI: 1–69.

–– 2003: The Smith and the King of Ebla. Tell el Yahudiyeh Ware, Metallic Wares and the Ceramic Chronology of Middle Bronze Syria. In M. Bietak (ed.): The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. II. Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000 – EuroConference, Hain-dorf 2nd of May–7th of May 2001 (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie, Band XXIX). Wien. Pp. 345–363.

–– 2009a: The Built Tombs on the Spring Hill and The Palace of the Lords of Jericho (‘dmr Rha) in the Middle Bronze Age. In J.D. Schloen (ed.): Exploring the longue durée. Essays in Honor of Lawrence E. Stager. Winona Lake, In. Pp. 361–376.

–– 2009b: Materiali e Studi Archeologici di Ebla VIII. I corredi vascolari delle Tombe Reali di Ebla e la cronologia ceramica della Siria interna nel Bronzo Medio. Roma.

–– 2009c: The Eighteenth Century BC Princes of Byblos and Ebla and the Chronology of the Middle Bronze Age. In A.-M. Maïla-Afeiche (ed.): Inter-connections in the Eastern Mediterranean. Lebanon in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Proceedings of the International Symposium – Beirut 2008 (BAAL Hors-Série VI), Beyrouth. Pp. 159–175.

–– 2016: Tell es-Sultan 2015. A Pilot Project for Archaeology in Palestine. NEA 79.1: 4–17.

–– 2018: Hotepibra at Jericho. Interconnections between Egypt and Syria-Pales-tine during the 13th Dinasty. In A. Vacca / S. Pizzimenti / M.G. Micale (eds): A Oriente del Delta Scritti sull’Egitto ed il Vicino Oriente antico in onore di Gabriella Scandone Matthiae (CMAO XVIII). Roma. Pp. 439–448.

Nigro, L. et al. 2011: The Early Bronze Age Palace and Fortifications at Tell es-Sultan/Jericho. The 6th–7th Seasons (2010–2011) by Rome “La Sapienza” University and the Palestinian MOTA-DACH. ScAnt 17: 571–597.

Pettinato, G., 1970: Inscription de Ibbit-Lim, Roi de Ebla. AAAS 20: 73–76.Pettinato, G. / Matthiae, P., 1972: Il torso di Ibbit-Lim, re di Ebla. In P. Matthiae

(ed.): Missione Archeologica Italiana in Siria. Rapporto preliminare delle campagne 1967–1968 (Tell Mardikh). Roma. Pp. 1–38.

Pinnock, F., 2000: The Doves of the Goddess. Elements of the Cult of Ishtar at Ebla in the Middle Bronze Age. Levant 32/1: 121–128.

— 2014: Of Pots and Doves. Some Possible Evidence for Popular Cults in the Ebla Palaces in MB II. In P. Bieliński et al. (eds): Proceedings of the 8th Inter-national Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 30 April – 4 May 2012, University of Warsaw, Vol. I. Wiesbaden. Pp. 667–679.



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Fig. 3. Garstang’s excavations of “Palace store-rooms” in 1933; in the background the Spring of ‘Ain es-Sultan and the Jericho Oasis (courtesy PEF, London).

Fig. 2. View of the Spring Hill from the road during Garstang’s excavations of “Hyksos Palace” in 1933 (courtesy PEF, London).



Fig. 4. Destruction layer in “Palace store-rooms” during J. Garstang’s excavations in 1933 (courtesy PEF, London).

Fig. 5. The libation bowl and the jug labeled “snake-vase” by Garstang (1934, pl. XXV.17 and XXV.20) from Room 68 (drawing by the author after Garstang 1934, pl. XXV).


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Fig. 6a–b. Side view and three-quarter profile view of the dove rhyton from Room 73 (photos by the author; Musée du Louvre, AO 17151).



Fig. 7. Drawing of the dove rhyton (drawing by the author, Musée du Louvre, AO 17151).

Fig. 8. Particular of the tail of the bird with a fan-profile and radiant strokes (photo by the author).


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Fig. 9. Detail of a wing of the bird with diagonal incised hatching represents feathers (photo by the author).

Fig. 10. Detail of the dove’s neck with clearly visible the bird’s crop (photo by the author).



Fig. 11a–b. The dove rhyton from Tomb B3 of Jericho necropolis (photo by the author; drawing after Kenyon 1960, fig. 162).


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Fig. 12. Dove kernos from the Tomb of the Lord of the Goats at Ebla dating to Period Mardikh IIIB1, MB IIA, 1750–1700 BC (after Nigro 2009, fig. 25).


marru 8

Pearls of the Past

Edited by Marta D’Andrea, Maria Gabriella Micale, Davide Nadali, Sara Pizzimenti and Agnese Vacca

Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeologyin Honour of Frances Pinnock

Zaphon

marru 8

Pearls of the PastStudies on N

ear Eastern Art and A

rchaeology in H

onour of Frances Pinnock

www.zaphon.de

marru-8-FS-Pinnock-Cover.indd 1 12.03.2019 14:22:37

Pearls of the Past Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock Edited by Marta D’Andrea, Maria Gabriella Micale, Davide Nadali, Sara Pizzimenti and Agnese Vacca


marru Studien zur Vorderasiatischen Archäologie Studies in Near and Middle Eastern Archaeology Band 8 Herausgegeben von Reinhard Dittmann, Ellen Rehm und Dirk Wicke


Pearls of the Past Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock Edited by Marta D’Andrea, Maria Gabriella Micale, Davide Nadali, Sara Pizzimenti and Agnese Vacca

Zaphon Münster 2019


Illustration auf dem Einband: Tell Mardikh 1964, Day 1 (© Missione Archeologia Italiana in Siria).

Pearls of the Past. Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock Edited by Marta D’Andrea, Maria Gabriella Micale, Davide Nadali, Sara Pizzimenti and Agnese Vacca marru 8 © 2019 Zaphon, Münster (www.zaphon.de) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed in Germany Printed on acid-free paper ISBN 978-3-96327-058-1 ISSN 2569-5851


Table of Contents

List of Publications by Frances Pinnock...............................................................xiForeword............................................................................................................xixMohammed Alkhalid

Kingship and the Representation of Power in the Urban Pattern of Ebla during the Middle Bronze Age

Michel Al-MaqdissiNotes d’Archéologie Levantine XLIX : Matériel funéraire de la région de Tell Afis dans un document des archives de R. du Mesnil du Buisson

Francesca BaffiThe Impact of the Great Empires on Inner Syria............................................37

Giacomo BenatiShaping Social Dynamics in Early 3rd Millennium BC Mesopotamia: Solid-Footed Goblets and the Politics of Drinking

Marco BonechiA Hagia Triada Whodunnit: On the Inscribed Cylinder Seal Florence Museum 85079 Again

Pascal ButterlinMari et l’histoire militaire mésopotamienne : du temps long au temps politico-militaire

Eloisa CasadeiStorage Practices and Temple Economy during the 3rd Millennium BC in Southern Mesopotamia

Corinne CastelDeux empreintes de sceaux-cylindres sur céramique du Bronze ancien IVB à Tell Al-Rawda : l’usage local d’une pratique sigillaire en Syrie intérieure

Manuel Castelluccia and Roberto Dan Some Remarks on Urartian Horse Harnesses...............................................187

Joaquín María Córdoba Arqueología de la agricultura. Adaptaciones a medios áridos durante la Edad del Hierro. Notas rápidas sobre dos recientes y singulares hallazgos

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..161

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Table of Contentsviii

Harriet Crawford The Changing Position of Women in Mesopotamia from the Mid-Third to the Later Second Millennium BC

Paola D’Amore Paraphernalia from Tell Afis: The Cult Stands.............................................245

Marta D’AndreaThe EB–MB Transition at Ebla: A State-of-the-Art Overview in the Light of the 2004–2008 Discoveries at Tell Mardikh

Silvana Di Paolo Bodily Violence in Early Old Babylonian Glyptics: A Performative Act?.........299

Maria ForzaGenerated Change and Spontaneous Change: Parallels between the Development of Cremation and the Diffusion of Groovy Pottery in the Upper Tigris Valley during Iron Ages I and II

Agnès Garcia-Ventura The Archaeology of Women and Women in Archaeology in the Ancient Near East

May HaiderEmpty Vessels or Laden Signifiers? Imported Greek Pottery in Levantine Social Practice

Arnulf HausleiterCultural Contacts, Transfer of Images and Ideas: On 1st Millennium BC Funerary Stelae from Taymāʾ

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati Images of Work in Urkesh............................................................................413

Melissa A. Kennedy A New EB IV Cultural Province in Central and Southern Syria: The View from Tell Nebi Mend

Hartmut KühneMittani and Middle Assyrian Stamp Seals...................................................449

Ahmed Fatima KzzoAnother Semeion? New Perspectives on an Old Syrian Seals Group...........461

Nicola LaneriWhat a Woman! Gender Identity in the Clay Votive Plaques of Hirbemerdon Tepe during the Early Second Millennium BC

Marc LebeauNotes sur l’architecture et l’urbanisme du Royaume de Nagar (2) : Une tour de garde d’époque Early Jezirah IIIb à Tell Beydar.

Giovanna LombardoTwo Compartment Seals from Afghanistan in the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale ‘G. Tucci’

Gianni Marchesi and Nicolò MarchettiThe Deities of Karkemish in the Middle Bronze Age according to Glyptic and Textual Evidence

................................................................235

............................................263

.............................................321

......................................................................................................349

..............................................................................................367

......................................................................379

....................................................................................429

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.............................487

......................................................................................509

...................................................................................525


Table of Contents ix

Maria Grazia Masetti-RouaultVu d’Ebla, un roi de Mari en pèlerinage à Terqa ?.......................................537

Valérie Matoïan L’image du roi vainqueur à Ugarit, entre Égypte et Mésopotamie : le décor du sceau-cylindre RS 2009.9019

Paolo MatthiaeA Problem of Iconology: A Note on the Banquets of the Old Syrian Basins of Ebla

Maria Gabriella MicaleFraming the Space: On the Use of Crenellation from Architecture to the Definition of Pictorial Spaces

Clelia MoraTitles and Activities of Hittite Women: The Evidence of the Seals..............633

Béatrice MullerIconographie mésopotamienne : images morcelées et recomposées............641

Davide NadaliThe Doubling of the Image of the King: A Note on Slabs B–13 and B–23 in the Throne Room of Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud

Lorenzo NigroA Turtle Dove Rhyton from the “Hyksos Palace” at Tell es-Sultan, Ancient Jericho

Valentina OseliniThe Ceramic Horizon of the Middle Bronze I–II in the Lower and Middle Diyala Basin

Adelheid OttoRitual Drinking in Syria: New Insights from the Decorated Terracotta Basin from Tall Bazi and the Funerary Talisman from Ebla

Tatiana PedrazziSyrian One-Handled Fusiform Jars: An Offshoot of the Canaanite Tradition or of Late Bronze Age Connections with Anatolia?

Luca PeyronelThe Beginning of the Middle Bronze Age in the Northern Levant (ca. 2000–1900 BC): The Pottery from the EE Midden at Tell Mardikh-Ebla, Syria

Sara PizzimentiFertility from the Sky: The Role of the Scorpion in the Ploughing Scenes on Akkadian Glyptic

Andrea PolcaroOn Pots and Serpents: An Iconographic and Contextual Analysis of the Cultic Vessels with Serpent Figurines in the 4th–3rd Millennium BC Transjordan

Marina PucciRepresentation of Military Attack on Neo-Assyrian Glyptic: A Seal from Chatal Höyük in the Amuq

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Table of Contentsx

Suzanne Richard Miniatures and Miniaturization in EB IV at Khirbat Iskandar, Jordan

Hélène Sader A Phoenician Seal Impression from Tell Hizzin, Lebanon..........................839

Valentina TumoloA Bull’s Head from Ḫirbet ez-Zeraqōn........................................................847

Agnese VaccaSome Reflections about the Chora of Ebla during the EB III and IVA1 Periods

Federico ZainaSome Preliminary Remarks on the Neo-Assyrian City Wall in the Outer Town at Karkemish

........813

..........................................................................................................869

......................................................................................899


Documents

A Turtle Dove Rhyton from the “Hyksos Palace” at Tell es ......A Turtle Dove Rhyton from the “yksos Palace at Tell es-Sultan 681 5. The Dove, Ishtar, the Kings of Ebla and the