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Being the first monographic study of this kind in the field of Assyriology, this book comprises an investigation of Ancient Mesopotamian concepts of the human person. Concentrating on Akkadian cuneiform texts from the 2nd and 1st millennium BC, the author examines the characteristics and attributes attached to human beings and the notions of the person as a composite being through a semantic analysis of Akkadian terms for the body, body parts and aspects of the self, which can be termed "souls". Through an examination of a wide range of textual sources and an interdisciplinary approach, this study shows that the Mesopotamian views of personhood share amazing similarities with those of the neighbouring ancient cultures, but often differ from our own.

"...in short, as a piece of modern Assyriological scholarship it is very well done and a tribute to its author´s capabilities and accomplishments." Benjamin R. Foster, Yale University

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Rooted in Assyriology with a strong interdisciplinary outlook, this book offers the first comprehensive study of ancient Mesopotamian notions of the human person, including semantic analyses of Akkadian terms for body parts and multiple aspects of the self.
Not only Assyriologists, Hittitologists, Egyptologists, Classicists, scholars of the Old Testament and Cultural Anthropologists, but all those interested in the cultural history of Mesopotamia and concepts of person and self.

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Ulrike Steinert , Ph.D. (2007) in Assyriology, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, is a Research Fellow at University College London. Her research focuses on the Akkadian language as well as the cultural history, anthropology and medicine of Ancient Mesopotamia from an intercultural perspective.

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