"This book investigates the issue of the singularity versus the multiplicity of ancient Near Eastern deities who are known by a common first name but differentiated by their last names, or geographic epithets. It focuses primarily on the Ishtar divine names in Mesopotamia, Baal names in the Levant, and Yahweh names in Israel"--

The history of mid-2nd millennium Babylonia is marked by a dire lack of sources. The Sealand kings who controlled part of it were long known to us only indirectly. A palatial archive published recently now illuminates this elusive polity from the inside. This book explores its political, economic, and religious history, as well as the transmission of its memory. It forms a basis for interpreting future finds of that period in southern Iraq.