Investigating Mesopotamian culture from the second millennium BC until Islamic times, the Melammu Symposia promote interdisciplinary research and cross-cultural studies by providing a forum in which cultural continuity, diffusion, and transformation in the ancient world can be assessed systematically. The present volume makes available the papers presented at the opening symposium of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage Project (Melammu) in Tvarminne, Finland, on October 8&;11, 1998.