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Secrets in the Library: Protected Scholarship and Professional Identity in Late Babylonian Uruk

Stevens, Kathryn

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Authors

Kathryn Stevens



Abstract

Injunctions to secrecy in the colophons of scholarly cuneiform tablets offer potential insights into the classification and protection of knowledge in Mesopotamia. However, most models of a body of “secret knowledge” defined by the so-called “Geheimwissen colophons” have found it difficult to account for a seemingly disparate corpus of protected texts. This study argues first for an expanded definition of intellectual protection, which leads to a larger corpus of protected texts. Through a case study of Late Babylonian colophons from Uruk, it is suggested that there is a strong correlation between texts related to the professional specialism of the tablet owner, and the occurrence of protective formulae in the colophon. This implies that it is fruitful to consider “secret knowledge” less as an abstracted corpus of esoteric texts and more as a mutable categorisation strongly linked to professional and individual intellectual identity.

Citation

Stevens, K. (2013). Secrets in the Library: Protected Scholarship and Professional Identity in Late Babylonian Uruk. IRAQ, 75, 211-253. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900000474

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 23, 2012
Publication Date Jan 1, 2013
Deposit Date Sep 8, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal IRAQ
Print ISSN 0021-0889
Electronic ISSN 2053-4744
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 75
Pages 211-253
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900000474

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Copyright Statement
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2013





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