The NISABA. Messina Assyriological Studies Series was founded in 2002 by Professor Francesco Pomponio, who served as its Scientific Director for a long time. The series aims to publish volumes that focus on the edition of unpublished cuneiform tablets stored in museums or in public and private collections, as well as studies concerning various aspects of Mesopotamian civilization during the millennia of its development (from the 4th to the 1st millennium BCE). The numerous volumes published so far have enabled the edition of thousands of unpublished texts, providing the international scientific community with a vast amount of data and countless opportunities for comparative in-depth analysis. In particular, the Series has published the first editions of economic-administrative tablets from the Neo-Sumerian period (21st century BCE) and the Old Babylonian period (20th-16th centuries BCE) from the collections of the British Museum, based on an agreement established between some Italian Assyriologists and the Trustees of the British Museum. Documents from other collections and from different periods have also been published, such as those from the Proto-Dynastic, Sargonic, or Old Akkadian periods (3rd millennium BCE), as well as the Neo- and Late Babylonian periods (1st millennium BCE). The Series is published by the Department of Ancient and Modern Civilizations at the University of Messina, as part of the activities promoted by the Chair of Assyriology.
NISABA is a name well suited to a series of volumes dedicated to the publication of cuneiform texts, written mainly in Sumerian and Akkadian, of which Babylonian was a dialect. In fact, Nisaba is the patron goddess of scribes, the one who holds the "pure stylus," the goddess of writing known and venerated especially in the first half of the 2nd millennium (Old Babylonian period) and throughout the time when the scribal schools é.dub.ba (“house of the tablet”) flourished, where aspiring scribes learned to master cuneiform.
Here, we recall the most recent volumes of the series, substantial works, not only because of their larger format but also due to the authors and contents:
Nisaba 33/1-2: Tohru Ozaki with the collaboration of David I. Owen and Palmiro Notizia, The Lost and the Found Cuneiform Collections Rediscovered. Texts Copied by Herbert Sauren, Part One and Part two, Nisaba 33, vols. 1-2, DICAM, Messina 2020
Nisaba 34: Tohru Ozaki – Marcel Sigrist – Sergio Tang, The Rosen Collection Texts at the Yale Peabody Museum, Nisaba 34, DICAM, Messina 2023
Direttore /Director: Giuseppe Ucciardello (Università degli Studi di Messina)
Direttore Scientifico / Editor: Annunziata Rositani (Università degli Studi di Messina)
Assistant editor: Palmiro Notizia (Alma Mater Studiorum - Università degli Studi di Bologna)
Segretaria / Secretary: Andrea Rebecca Marrocchi Savoi (Sapienza – Università di Roma)
Comitato editoriale / Editorial Staff: Franco D’Agostino (Sapienza – Università di Roma), Manuel Molina Martos (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Spanish National Research Council), Palmiro Notizia, Francesco Pomponio (Università degli Studi di Messina, retired), Annunziata Rositani, Lorenzo Verderame (Sapienza – Università di Roma).
Consiglio Scientifico / Editorial Board: Farouk al-Rawi (SOAS University of London), Bertrand Lafont (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - French National Centre for Scientific Research), Pietro Mander (Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, retired), Gianni Marchesi (Alma Mater Studiorum - Università degli Studi di Bologna), Tohru Ozaki (University of Shizuoka, Japan, retired), Walther Sallaberger (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Piotr Steinkeller (Harvard University), Marten Stol (NINO, Leiden University), Jonathan Taylor (British Museum), Ran Zadok (Tel Aviv University).
Editorial Policy: The volumes are subject to prior evaluation by the Scientific Committee, which provides guidance on whether the text is publishable and suggests any potential changes and/or corrections.
To propose new publications, please write to arositani@unime.it
The volumes can also be published in Open Access.
The purchase of the volumes in paper format is possible directly through DICAM by sending an email to: amministrazione.dicam@unime.it.
The electronic format of the volumes can be purchased via the Casalini Torrossa platform: www.torrossa.com.
Nisaba. Studi Assiriologici Messinesi volumi pubblicati / Published Volumes NISABA. Messina Assyriological Studies:
1. F. D’Agostino – F. Pomponio. Umma Messenger Texts in the British Museum, Part One (UMTBM I), Messina 2002
2. L. Verderame. Le tavole I-VI della serie astrologica Enūma Anu Enlil, Messina 2002
3. M.E. Milone – G. Spada. Umma Messenger Texts in the British Museum, Part Two (UMTBM II), Messina 2003 / M. Capitani. Girsu Messenger Texts in the British Museum, Messina 2003
4. A. Rositani. Rīm-Anum Texts in the British Museum, Messina 2003
5. F. D’Agostino – F. Pomponio – R. Laurito. Neo-Sumerian Texts from Ur in the British Museum (Epigraphical and Archaeological Catalogue of an Unpublished Corpus of Texts and Fragments), Messina 2004
6. F.N.H. al-Rawi – F. D’Agostino. Neo-Sumerian Administrative Texts from Umma kept in the British Museum, Part One (NATU I), Messina 2005
7. F. D’Agostino – F. Pomponio. ša3-bi-ta Texts from Girsu kept in the British Museum, Messina 2005
8. J. Politi – L. Verderame. Texts from Drehem in the British Museum, Messina 2005
9. M. Molina – M. Such-Gutierrez. Neo-Sumerian Administrative Texts from the British Museum (BM 107926-108315), Messina 2005
10. P. Paoletti – G. Spada. Testi še-ur5-ra da Girsu conservati al British Museum, Messina 2005
11. F.N.H. al-Rawi – L. Verderame. Documenti amministrativi neo-sumerici da Umma conservati al British Museum (NATU II), Messina 2006
12. G. Spada. Testi economici da Ur di periodo paleo-babilonese, Messina 2007
13. P. Notizia. Testi Amministrativi Neo-Sumerici da Ĝirsu nel British Museum (BM 98119-BM 98240), Messina 2006
14. E. Ascalone. Archeologia dell’Iran Antico. Interazioni, integrazioni e discontinuità nell’Iran del III millennio a.C., Messina 2006
15. D.I. Owen. Iri-Saĝrig - Āl-Šarrāki and the History of the Ur III Period, Messina 2009
16. F. D’Agostino – J. Politi. Umma Messenger Texts in the British Museum, Part Four (UMTBM 4), Messina 2006
17. F. Pomponio – L. Verderame. Neo-Sumerian Ĝirsu Texts of Barley and Cereal Products, kept in the British Museum (with an Appendix of Elena Santagati), Messina 2007 / S. Altavilla. Cylinder Seal Impressions, Messina 2007
18. A. Anastasi – F. Pomponio. Neo-Sumerian Ĝirsu Texts of Various Content, Kept in the British Museum, Messina 2009
19. J.A. Black (†) – G. Spada. Texts from Ur, kept in the Iraq Museum and in the British Museum, Messina 2008
20. S. Altavilla – C.B.F. Walker. Late Babylonian Seal Impressions on Tablets in the British Museum, Part 1: Sippar, Messina 2009
21. Ran Zadok. Catalogue of Documents from Borsippa or Related to Borsippa in the British Museum I, Messina 2009
22. Palmiro Notizia. I testi dei messaggeri da Ĝirsu-Lagaš della Terza Dinastia di Ur, Messina 2009
23. F.N.H. al-Rawi – L. Verderame. Neo-Sumerian Administrative Texts from Umma Kept in the British Museum, Part Three (NATU III), Messina 2009
24. F.N.H. al-Rawi – F. D’Agostino – J. Taylor. Neo-Sumerian Administrative Texts from Umma Kept in the British Museum, Part Four (NATUIV), Messina 2009
25. C. Lacompte – L. Verderame. Archaic Tablets and Fragments from Ur (ATFU). From L. Wolley’s Excavations at the Royal Cemetery, Messina 2013
26. F.N.H. al-Rawi – F. Gorello – P. Notizia. Neo-Sumerian Administrative Texts from Umma Kept in the British Museum, Part Five (NATU V), Messina 2013
27. N. Borrelli. The Umma Messenger Texts from the Harvard Semitic Museum and the Yale Babylonian Collection, Part 1, Messina 2015
28. S. Altavilla – C.B.F. Walker. Late Babylonian Seal Impressions on Tablets in the British Museum, Part 2: Babylon and its vicinity, Messina 2016
29. J.P. Nielsen. Personal Names in Early Neo-Babylonian Legal and Administrative Tablets, 747-626 B.C.E., Messina 2015
30. D.I. Owen. The Nesbit Tablets, Messina 2016
31. Benjamin R. Foster. Sargonic Texts from Umma in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Messina 2019 / Sergio Alivernini – Angela Greco. Neo-Sumerian Administrative Texts from the Géjou Collection kept in the British Museum, Messina 2019
32. Palmiro Notizia. Neo-Sumerian Administrative Texts from the Rosen Collection, Messina 2019
33/1. Tohru Ozaki with the collaboration of David I. Owen and Palmiro Notizia. The Lost and the Found Cuneiform Collections Rediscovered. Texts Copied by Herbert Sauren. Part One, Messina 2020
33/2. Tohru Ozaki with the collaboration of David I. Owen and Palmiro Notizia. The Lost and the Found Cuneiform Collections Rediscovered. Texts Copied by Herbert Sauren. Part Two, Messina 2020
34. Tohru Ozaki – Marcel Sigrist – Sergio Tang, The Rosen Collection Texts at the Yale Peabody Museum, Messina 2023