Acknowledgments

I must first express my deepest gratitude to all those who have supported and stimulated me through these years and lifted my spirits when I became discouraged. I do not know whether I would have begun without their stimulation or whether 1 would have persevered with such an ambitious undertaking.

I thank all those who have been so kind as to provide me with advance copies of manuscripts that were in the course of publication.* Nor can I forget the exceptional access provided by Bernard Delavault and Alban Dussau, charges of the Semitic and As-syriological libraries of the College de France, respectively, whose Egyptological collection I consulted just as diligently. I recall that the Conseil scientifique of my university kindly granted me a sabbatical year. I also extend a tip of the hat to all of the students at Toulouse who for years have listened to my musings aloud in front of them and whose questions have often helped me clarify my thought. 1 think also of Sandra Pere (Toulouse) and Wouter Henkelnian (Utrecht), who were of indescribable help in preparing the indexes; 1 took care of the subject index and general coordination, and obviously I take final responsibility for them all.

My friends Amelie Kuhrt (London), Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg (Utrecht), Matt Stolper (Chicago), and Carlo Zaccagnini (Naples) read all or part of the manuscript and kindly shared their criticisms, always relevant and often extensive: I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

I have amassed a special debt to Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg, beginning with our first meeting in Groningen in 1983. Even when all the French publishers I had contacted exhibited great timidity, she offered to publish my book in the series she had founded and which she directs with Amelie Kuhrt. When Fayard and its editorial director Denis Maraval expressed a desire to publish the manuscript, which was then in the course of word-processing in Utrecht, under the care of Mme L. Van Rosmalen, Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg and the directors of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (Leiden) aecepted this proposal with great grace, for which I am especially grateful to them.

Toulouse, October 1995

“ L. Bregstein (Philadelphia), M. Brosius (Oxford), P. Debord (Bordeaux), L. Depuydt (Providence), R. Descat (Bordeaux), D. Devauchelle (Paris), M. Garrison (San Antonio), L. L. Grabbe (Hull), L. A. Heidorn (Chicago), W. Henkelinan (Utrecht), C. Herrenscliniidt (Paris), K Israel (Rome), F. Joannas (Paris), A. G. Keen (Belfast), H. Koclr (Marburg), A. Kuhrt (London), A. L. eniaire (Paris), G Le Rider (Paris), B. Menu (Paris), M. C. Miller (Toronto), B. Porten (Jerusalem), M. C. Root (Ann Arbor), J. F. Salles (Lyon), H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg (Utrecht), S. Sherwin-White (London), M. Stolper (Chicago), F Vallat (Paris), R. J. van der Spek (Amsterdam), W. Vogelsang (Leiden), H. Wallinga (Utrecht), A. Yardeni (Jerusalem)