Papers by Grégory Chambon
in E. Bordreuil, V. Matoïan, J. Tavernier (éds.), Administrations et pratiques comptables au Proc... more in E. Bordreuil, V. Matoïan, J. Tavernier (éds.), Administrations et pratiques comptables au Proche-Orient ancien. Actes du colloque international tenu à Louvain-La-Neuve, 21-22 février 2019. Publications de l'Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 2024, p. 313-348.
Revue de synthèse Tome 142, n°3-4, p. 342-385 , 2021
in L. Cousin/L. Quillien/M. Ramez (eds.) MATERIAL CULTURE OF MESOPOTAMIA AND BEYOND 1 People and their Material Environment in First Millennium BCE Babylonia, 2024
Pasiphae XVII, 2023
Per uso strettamente personale dell'autore. È proibita la riproduzione e la pubblicazione in open... more Per uso strettamente personale dell'autore. È proibita la riproduzione e la pubblicazione in open access. For author's personal use only. Any copy or publication in open access is forbidden.
Publications de l’Institut du Proche-Orient Ancien du Collège de France 3, 2019
This pdf is a digital offprint of your contribution in G. Chambon, M. Guichard & A.-I. Langlois (... more This pdf is a digital offprint of your contribution in G. Chambon, M. Guichard & A.-I. Langlois (eds), De l'argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l'honneur de Dominique Charpin, ISBN 978-90-429-3872-4.
Pasiphae XV, 2021
· Writing and representing numbers in Mesopotamia · For about four Millennia, numeracy and litera... more · Writing and representing numbers in Mesopotamia · For about four Millennia, numeracy and literacy have always been intertwined in Mesopotamia. Since the first deciphering of cuneiform writing in the 19th century, the interpretation of the signs used to express numbers on clay tablets has essentially had a utilitarian purpose in Assyriology ; historical reconstructions of economic systems are usually based on the study of numerical and metrological data from the very abundant administrative documentation. But numbers and quantities recorded in the texts are above all the product of scribal traditions, social consensus and systems of thought specific to ancient Near Eastern societies. The purpose of this article is to show that any study on the way of writing and representing numbers in Mesopotamia should go beyond a pure philological approach and should also take into account the context of number signs use and the meaning of numbers in the cuneiform cultures. It focuses on two main periods, the end of the fourth millennium with the beginnings of cuneiform writing in southern Mesopotamia and the first quarter of the second millennium (the so-called Old Babylonian period).
Cover: František Kupka, Babylon, 1906. Fotografie © Národní galerie Praha 2020 Type-setting layou... more Cover: František Kupka, Babylon, 1906. Fotografie © Národní galerie Praha 2020 Type-setting layout: AGAMA ® poly-grafický ateliér, s.r.o. Print: Tiskárny Havlíčkův Brod a.s., Husova 1881, 580 01 Havlíčkův Brod
in L. Rahmstorf & E. Stratford (éds), Weights and Marketplaces from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern Period. Proceedings of Two Workshops Funded by the European Research Council, Wachholtz Verlag Kiel/Hamburg – Murmann Publishers, p. 51-66, 2019
Revue d’Assyriologie, 2017
https://comptabilites.revues.org/1873, 2016
in D. Shibata & S. Yamada (éds.), Cultures and Societies in the Middle Euphrates and Habur Areas in the second Millennium BC vol. I : Scribal Education and Scribal Tradition (acte du colloque de Tsukuba, Japon, 5 et 6 décembre 2013), Studia Chaburensia vol. 5, 2016
in P. De Souza, P. Arnaud & C. Buchet (éds.) The Sea in History : The Ancient World / La mer dans l’histoire : l’Antiquité, 2017
This contribution analyses a wide range of epigraphic, iconographic and archaeological sources to... more This contribution analyses a wide range of epigraphic, iconographic and archaeological sources to show that water-borne transport along the River Euphrates was a central element in both local and interregional commerce for the great urban centres of the second millennium BC. Both large and small scale enterprises shipped foodstuffs, including grain and fish, raw materials and finished products. A sophisticated world of merchants, docks, tax collectors and customs officials emerges from the surviving administrative documents.
Mattéoni O., Beck P. (éd.). Classer, dire, compter. Discipline du chiffre et fabrique d’une norme comptable à la fin du Moyen Âge. Colloque des 10 et 11 octobre 2012. P., 2015., 2015
For several years now, the study of antique weights and measures has been revitalised with a more... more For several years now, the study of antique weights and measures has been revitalised with a more specific focus on socio-historical contexts and no longer solely on mathematical aspects of metric systems. We have tried to incorporate them into the systems on which the thinking in Antique Societies was based. The présent article uses the Karkamisian mina as an example of this new methodological approach, the mina being a unit of weight usually considered by assyriologists as a special feature of Northern Mesopotamia, due to the location of the town of Karkamish. We look at issues surrounding the units of weight, interpreted as being 'cultural markers', from a dual standpoint: firstly, material, with the numerous weight examples that were discovered in Mesopotamia, and secondly, epigraphical, with the different ways of booking weight units, according to various cultures and scribal traditions. * Université de Bretagne Occidentale et UMR 7192.
The discovery of an Old Babylonian letter sent by King Sūmu-El of Larsa to his generals adds to t... more The discovery of an Old Babylonian letter sent by King Sūmu-El of Larsa to his generals adds to the dossier of conflicts that shook southern Mesopotamia in the XIX th century B.C. It seems that the city of Larsa suffers military pressure from its rival Isin and must quickly organize the kingdom's defense. These events probably took place at the end of Sūmu-El's reign, which was concluded by a major disaster.
Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie 105, 2011/1, p. 193-198.
in R. Rollinger & K. Schnegg (éds.), Kulturkontakte in Antiken Welten : vom Denkmodell zum Fallbeispiel (Proceedings des internationalen Kolloquiums aus Anlass des 60. Geburtstages von Christoph Ulf, Innsbruck, 26. bis 30. Januar 2009), Colloquia Antiqua 10, 2014, p. 17-26.
in K. Radner & E. Robson (éds.), Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture, Oxford, 2011: 51-67.
Für unverlangt eingesandte Manuskripte kann keine Gewähr übernommen werden.
Uploads
Papers by Grégory Chambon
Friday, the 12th of July 2019 at Collège de France (Paris)
The study of weights and measures (metrology) of the Ancient Near East has long been understood as a valuable method for understanding ancient economic interactions and ways of quantification. However, the social value of metrology and the ubiquity of metrological actions and tools has not yet been fully recognized. Weighing and measuring are human processes that involve different people (experts and accountants, dealers and customers) and are based on culturally constructed representations such as the notions of justice, standardization and accuracy.
In this respect, epigraphic and archaeological sources complement each other. The epigraphic sources facilitate an approach towards weighing and measuring practices mainly through the point of view of the administrators of economic and political organisations, while archaeological material remains and depictions in images grant insight into the daily activities of private people involved in trade and exchange, measurement experts and palace or temple staff. The cross-referencing and interlacing of these sources, presented in this book by international experts and young scholars, aims to demonstrate how interdisciplinary studies of weights and measures provide a window on Ancient Near Eastern societies.
Moving beyond research which aims simply to identify historical units of measurement and make them more intelligible by converting them to our modern system, it is time to develop a social and cultural approach to measurement practices, building on the work of Witold Kula. This issue features several case studies by archaeologists and historians – of Antiquity and the Middle Ages – who analyse material culture to conduct a dual objectifying endeavour, examining both the intellection and representation of weights and measures in ancient times, and the historiographic categories in use today. The notions of “value” and “consensus”, with all their subjective nuances, thus play a central role, not only in establishing metric standards and norms in past societies, but also in a reflective approach to measurement questions.
Si les nombres sont de nos jours des outils au service de la rhétorique médiatique, politique ou scientifique, dans plusieurs sociétés du passé ils appartenaient surtout au monde des marchands et des administrateurs, voire à la sphère sacrée. Penser, utiliser et écrire un nombre, tout cela ne va pas de soi !
D’où vient le zéro ? Qui a inventé notre système de numération ? En posant ces questions et en s’appuyant sur de nombreux exemples, Grégory Chambon vous invite à partir à la découverte de la fabuleuse histoire des chiffres et des êtres…
La 65e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale organisée à Paris en juillet 2019 suit de près son 65e anniversaire. Une soixantaine de spécialistes du Proche-Orient ancien, collègues et étudiants, ont conjugué leurs efforts pour offrir à Dominique Charpin par amitié ce volume de Mélanges en deux tomes. De l’argile au numérique croise ainsi de multiples approches scientifiques dans les principales thématiques qui ont structuré ses travaux.
Les contributions de ces deux volumes embrassent toute l’histoire du Proche-Orient ancien (Anatolie, Syrie et Mésopotamie), démontrant une nouvelle fois la richesse et la complexité d’un monde qui est loin d’avoir livré tous ses secrets. Elles illustrent aussi la diversité des enquêtes scientifiques menées aujourd’hui et proposent de nouveaux éclairages sur la vie politique, sociale, économique et culturelle des peuples qui ont utilisé l’écriture cunéiforme. Enfin, de nombreux documents inédits publiés pour la première fois constituent un apport inestimable aux progrès de la recherche.
L’objectif du workshop sera, loin de tout dogmatisme, de favoriser l’émergence d’une réflexion commune entre des spécialistes de différentes aires culturelles et de différentes périodes, à travers la comparaison d’exemples précis et une réflexion sur le vocabulaire, les concepts et les méthodes. On admettra ici que l’expression « espaces publics » désigne l’ensemble des espaces ouverts, communs, accessibles à tous ou au plus grand nombre. Parmi ces espaces, les espaces de circulation (rue, route, place…) présentent des caractéristiques communes, qui les rendent susceptibles de se prêter à une approche comparative (transculturelle ou transpériodique), et qui doivent en rendre l’analyse particulièrement féconde.
Ces espaces sont des espaces partagés (par tous ceux qui s’y déplacent, mais aussi par ceux qui s’y installent ou qui en sont riverains); ce sont des espaces de mobilité, et cette mobilité fait naître un sens de lecture, implique l’existence de points de repère, et plus généralement entraîne l’émergence de relations particulières entre les acteurs, l’espace et l’écrit ; ce sont enfin des espaces dotés d’une histoire parfois très longue, et cette histoire a, elle aussi, des conséquences sur les relations entre acteurs, espace et écrit (phénomènes de contextualisation, réinterprétation, remploi, effacement). On propose donc de resserrer la thématique du workshop autour de ces espaces de circulation. Le titre proposé invite à s’interroger sur la façon dont les écritures exposées contribuent à la définition de ces espaces comme espaces « publics ».