The concept of eLibrary

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Introduction

The Urkesh Electronic Library (eLibrary) has been developed during some decades (see the related page on history of the present website) and facing different formats (cf. the dedicated pages on versions).

Nevertheless, the initial inspiration and goals are the same in 2025 as they were in 2002, the year of the first development of “Version 1” of this website, thanks to the initiative of Giorgio Buccellati and the whole Mozan team.

Despite being a mere repository of inhert material, the eLibrary is perceived as serving at two main purposes:

1. to provide the reader/researcher with the best (in terms of completeness and quality) bibliographical references directly involving Urkesh/Tell Mozan (either produced by the Mozan team or by other researchers) and other related topics dealing, in general, with archaeology, art, history, politics, and society of the Ancient Near East, including also other important neighboring areas, such as Egypt, Elam, and the Transcaucasian Culture;
2. to exploit the bibliographic material in an inter-planar manner, weaving a nonverbal but, really, “textual” communication between the various bibliographic entries that are conceived not as a mere catalog but, rather, as a way for (re)tracing the history of scientific studies and achievements within the discipline(s) focused on the Ancient Near East as a whole.

Another important and significative aspect of the eLibrary is its nature of a collaborative enterprize; in fact, besides the Main Editors, several students and scholars contributed in writing summaries and longer texts (such as abstracts or the excursuses) aiming at offering a deeper analysis and reading of the works listed in the present website, not just in an episodic consultation, but intertwining each book or paper into a single thread implying a higher level of knowledge, i.e., a more qualificant and meaningful understanding of the ancient past both as it actually was and also as it was (re)interpreted in later or modern times (cf. also the similar approach developed in the companion websites)