Sam Mirelman began his academic career studying music to doctoral level. Since 2004 he has studied Assyriology in London, Munich, Heidelberg and various universities in North America. His research interests include music and performance in the ancient Near East, Sumerian literature and Mesopotamian intellectual history.
His PhD "Text and Performance in the Mesopotamian Liturgical Tradition" (2018, New York) is a study of the performance practice of Sumerian liturgical compositions, as shown by the evidence of late manuscripts. His British Academy postdoctoral research project is entitled "Sumerian-Akkadian Language Contact During the First Millennium BCE". It explores translation techniques between Sumerian and Akkadian, with a focus especially on "exegetical" translations.
Research interests
Music and performance in the ancient Near East, Sumerian liturgical texts, Mesopotamian rituals, Sumerian-Akkadian language contact, Mesopotamian intellectual history
Publications
Lament and ritual weeping in the "negative confession" of the Babylonian Akītu festival
Mirelman, Sam, 2021, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions (21), pp 42-74
Mesopotamian Ritual Laments, “Music Therapy,” and the Role of Song in the Conception of the Deity
Mirelman, Sam (2021). In: Eichmann, Ricardo, (eds.) and Shehata, Dahlia, (eds.), Music Beyond Cultural Borders. 33rd Deutscher Orientalistentag. Jena, 19–20 September, 2017.. Rahden/Westfalen: Marie Leidorf, pp 129-135
Lament, Spectacle, and Emotion in a Ritual for Ishtar
Mirelman, Sam (2021). In: Costello, Sarah, (eds.), Foster, Karen, (eds.) and Stein, Diana, (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient World. Abingdon: Routledge, pp 211-228
Mirelman, Sam (2021). In: Edelman, Diana, (eds.) and Hezser, Catherine, (eds.), The Use and Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Antiquity. Sheffield: Equinox, pp 36-57
Tradition and Innovation in Mesopotamian Textuality During the First Millennium BCE: The Case of Balaĝ and Eršema Prayers
Mirelman, Sam (2020). In: Sommerfeld, Walter, (ed.), Proceedings of the 63rd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale: Dealing with Antiquity – Past, Present, and Future. Marburg, 24–28 July, 2017.. Münster: Ugarit, pp 295-321
“Skipped Lines” (MU.MEŠ GU4.UD.MEŠ) in Balaĝ and Eršema Prayers
Mirelman, Sam and Gabbay, Uri (2020). In: Baldwin, Jessica, (eds.) and Matuszak, Jana, (eds.), mu-zu an-za3-še3 kur-ur2-še3 ḫe2-ĝal2. Altorientalistische Studien zu Ehren von Konrad Volk. Münster: Zaphon, pp 87-116
Mirelman, Sam (2019). In: Leitmeir, Florian, (eds.), Shehata, Dahlia, (eds.) and Wiener, Oliver, (eds.), MUS-IC-ON! Klang und Archäologie vergangener Musikkulturen. Begleitband zur Ausstellung im Martin von Wagner Museum der Universität Würzburg 10. Dezember 2019 bis 12. Juli 2020. Würzburg: Würzburg University Press, pp 83-90
Mirelman, Sam (2018). In: Panayotov, Strahil V., (eds.) and Vacín, Luděk, (eds.), Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic. Studies in Honor of Markham J. Geller.. Leiden; Boston, MA: Brill, pp 343-378
Mirelman, Sam (2016). In: Ebeling, Erich, (eds.) and Weidner, Ernst F., (eds.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, Vol. 14: Tiergefäß-Waša/ezzil(i). Berlin: De Gruyter, pp 8-9
Incantation, Incantations. II. Ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Mirelman, Sam and Pongratz-Leisten, Beate (2016). In: Furey, Constance M., (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp 1038-1043
Mirelman, Sam (2014). In: Maurey, Y., (eds.), Seroussi, E., (eds.) and Westenholz, J. G., (eds.), Ancient Music in the Near East and Mediterranean Worlds. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, pp 148-171
Mirelman, Sam (2010). In: Pruzsinszky, Regine, (eds.) and Shehata, Dahlia, (eds.), Musicians and the Tradition of Literature in the Ancient Near East. Vienna: LIT Verlag, pp 241-264
The Definition of ‘Music’ in Music Archaeology: the Contribution of Historical Ethnomusicology
Mirelman, Sam (2010). In: Eichmann, Ricardo, (eds.) and Koch, Lars-Christian, (eds.), Studien zur Musikarchäologie VII. Rahden/Westfalen: Marie Leidorf Verlag, pp 115-118
Review of K. Maiwald, Mesopotamische Schöpfungstexte in Ritualen: Methodik und Fallstudien zur situativen Verortung. Mythological Studies, vol. 3. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021)
Mirelman, Sam (2022). Journal of Near Eastern Studies (81) 1, pp 197-200
Review of C. Jay Crisostomo, Translation as Scholarship: Language, Writing, and Bilingual Education in Ancient Babylonia (Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019)
Mirelman, Sam (2020). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (83) 1, pp 127-128
