118 Journal of the American Oriental Society 125.

1 (2005)

This monograph will be a cornerstone of all further research not only into Akkadian literature, but
also of those into style and form in all the other languages of the ancient Near East.

MICHAEL FRITZ
FREISING

Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature. By RIVKAH
HARRIS. Norman: UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS, 2003. Pp. xvi + 288. $24.95 (paper).

By employing admittedly eclectic methods from the social sciences (including cross-cultural anthro-
pological studies), Rivkah Harris in this book has studied myths and epics to glean insights concerning
the topics of aging and gender in ancient Mesopotamia. There are ten separate chapters, five of which
have been published previously in slightly different form. As Harris states, there have been too few
studies about the life course in ancient Mesopotamia, although here she emphasizes Akkadian and
not Sumerian material (for Sumerian ideas on aging, see J. Cooper, "The Fate of Mankind: Death and
Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamia," in Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions, ed.
H. Obayashi [New York: Greenwood Press, 1992], 19-33). Thus, her's is groundbreaking work, at
least with the previously unpublished articles. One may question her reliance on myths, somewhat to
the exclusion of other types of source material. However, Harris assumes that they "refract and reflect
social attitudes, realities, and fantasies" (p. vii), although these social attitudes are no doubt a reflection
of upper-class ideals.
In the first chapter, Harris argues primarily from the Gilgamesh Epic for a Mesopotamian view
of life in four stages: infancy/early childhood, later childhood, adulthood, and old age. She argues
that the later additions to the Gilgamesh story redirect the hero's quest from overcoming death to
the attainment of knowledge. The second chapter deals with "Gilgamesh's Coming of Age," where
Harris argues that the king's travel to Utnapishtim is a metaphorical rite of passage, marking his tran-
sition from childhood to adulthood, echoing the often-stated summary of the epic as a story about
"growing up."
The next chapters deal with gerontology, namely attitudes towards the elderly and characteristics
associated with them. The elderly did not have a high profile in Mesopotamia, as in Greece or Rome,
Harris argues. In chapter three, Harris takes advantage of non-mythical texts, using a wide variety of
sources, searching for inferences and passing remarks, as she calls them, recognizing that no text in-
forms us about the thoughts of the aged. There was, she argues, a distinction between old age and elders
(a term invoking wisdom).
In the fourth chapter Harris deals with the intergenerational conflict, another ground-breaking study
(although for the Hebrew Bible see D. Steinmetz, Prom Pather to Son: Kinship, Conjiict, and Conti-
nuity in Genesis [Louisville: John Knox Press, 1992]). Enuma Elish is her focal point in the fifth
chapter for the study of generational tension and struggle, although she does not share Freud's view
that the youthful rebellion among the gods mirrored human relationships (p. 79). She does argue that
older men were less aggressive and older women were greater threats, based upon Tiamat's aggres-
siveness in Enuma Elish (p. 80). In fact, Tiamat's masculinity threatened patriarchal control, thus
making the goddess emblematic of the misogynistic attitude toward aging women (p. 92).
Women's lives are also discussed, as Harris uses Enuma Elish to study gender difference in aging
patterns, even assessing the psychological aspects of aging in the work. She also devotes an entire
chapter to "older women," which is the first lengthy treatment of the subject, studying the roles of
women as witches, mediums, widows, queen mothers, mourners, wise women, and priestesses (also
see K. van der Toom, Prom Her Cradle to Her Grave: The Role of Religion in the Life of Israelite and
Babylonian Women [Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1984]).
Chapter seven deals with male attitudes toward female exemplars, again, primarily from the Gil-
gamesh Epic. Harris notes that roles are reversed in this epic, as a prostitute acts like a mother to Enkidu,
 Reviews of Books 119

and Ishtar acts like a male in her desire to enact revenge upon Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Chapter eight
centers around "Nergal and Ereshkigal" in order to determine male views about appropriate relations
between sexes. Once again, myths are employed to learn of attitudes about human sexuality and femi-
nine and masculine traits. Ereshkigal, although dominant, is depicted as incomplete without a male,
typical of the lot of women in the society as a whole. Harris contends that though these myths may
not represent social realia, they do in fact represent male views of ideal male-female roles (p. 132).
Women's contributions to cultural activities are discussed in chapter nine, where Harris again argues
that the world of goddesses was not necessarily a reflection of everyday life (p. 148). Harris completes
the volume by presenting a unique view of Inanna-Ishtar in chapter ten.
It is unfortunate that there is no concluding chapter that could have better tied the material together.
As it stands, the book has ten different articles that often cover similar material, with no primary the-
matic unity. Furthermore, it might have been productive to discuss more fully the different types of
source material and how they can be employed to understand women's roles and aging. However,
Harris is to be commended for addressing issues not often discussed in Assyriology.
Gerontology has recently become an important topic of discussion in other fields of ancient history
, (e.g.. Old Age in Greek and Roman Literature, ed. T. M. Falkner and J. de Luce [Albany: State Univ.
of New York Press, 1989]). Harris' work will no doubt foster further research on this subject.

MARK W . CHAVALAS
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, LA CROSSE

Democracy's Ancient Ancestors: Mari and Early Collective Government. By DANIEL E. FLEMING.
Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004. Pp. xxvii + 395. $75.

Choosing a misleading title for a work of literature has its purpose, as Umberto Eco eloquently
explains in Postille a il Nome della Rosa. Using the same device for an historical or anthropological
book is mendacious, unless there are ends other than commercial purposes in mind. The second seems
to be the case with Democracy's Ancient Ancestors, for the author feels the need to insist several times
that Mari's government has in fact very little if anything to do with Greek democracy. This clarifica-
tion already appears in the preface and is expanded in the conclusion where we learn that the word
democracy is retained "if only to provide a clearer idea of what raw materials were available to any new
political developments of succeeding periods" (p. 235). But are we to imagine a later ruler, let us say
Cleisthenes, searching for inspiration from Near Eastern political "raw material" before conceiving his
Athenian democracy? In any case Fleming affirms that Mari's collective tradition is not a direct ante-
cedent of Greek democracy but rather a "cross-section of its ancestry in the larger region." The geo-
graphical proximity of Greece and Mesopotamia, and Mycenae and Mari, does not necessarily account
for similar polities. Political ideas are not contagious, and they serve specific interests at a given time.
Athens and Sparta are clear examples.
Infelicitous title aside, Fleming's book has the merit of being based on all the pertinent published
cuneiform documents from the royal archives of Mari, and the originality of dealing with a poorly-
explored topic, that is, the role that collective political decision-making played in ancient Near Eastern
cities and states. The introduction considers instrumental issues such as the characteristics of the sources
and related philological matters, and also surveys Mari's political history. Then follows a chapter en-
titled "The Tribal World of Zimri-Lim," which traces differences between the social organization of
Sim'alites and Yaminites and discusses leadership in these groups. The third chapter is about urbanism
and archaic states, as well as units of regional polities, for instance mdtum (land) and halsum (dis-
trict). The analysis of collective decision-making proper is the subject of the fourth chapter. Collective
authorities comprise a number of groups and institutions such as the town, the elders, the assembly,
and possibly the so-called "heads." Finally, the conclusion presents general remarks on the political
world of the Mari archives and elaborations on the implications of "democracy's ancient ancestors."