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SUMMARY:&quot\;Whatever they (weigh) will be given to him in plenty”: Co
 mmemorative Objects as Expression of Mercantile Religious Identities in th
 e Ancient Near East - Dr Nancy Highcock
DTSTART:20200204T131000Z
DTEND:20200204T140000Z
UID:TALK137821@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Nanna K L Kaalund
DESCRIPTION:Throughout the history of Mesopotamian commemorative practice\
 , individuals often included their professional title such as scribe\, tem
 ple administrator\, merchant\, etc. within their inscription and thus sign
 aled their social status and social network in their message to the god(s)
  and\, perhaps even their peers. This paper will focus on the commemorativ
 e inscriptions and dedicatory practices of one such professional group tha
 t is highly represented in commemorative inscriptions of the third and sec
 ond millennia: the merchant (dam-gàr/tamkārum). Through a holistic analy
 sis of the textual content\, material\, object type\, and archaeological c
 ontext of these inscribed objects\, we can better understand the merchants
 ’ access to raw materials\, access to the temple\, and relationships wit
 h other professional groups\, officials\, and the royal family. Furthermor
 e\, one can explore how understand how merchants viewed themselves with re
 gards to their work and how that work shaped their access to\, and ways of
  communicating\, with the divine. These mercantile dedicatory and commemor
 ative practices will be discussed within the larger framework of greater r
 eligious beliefs and practices that intersected with the professional life
 ways of merchants as well as extant knowledge on the social status and net
 works of these highly connected and mobile people in the ancient Near East
 .
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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