Frederick Mario Fales is a distinguished Ancient Near Eastern scholar, currently teaching at the University of Udine/Italy. In this volume his students, colleagues, and friends honor him with numerous articles from different fields of Ancient Near Eastern and related studies: the history and historical geography of Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia; Ancient Near Eastern and Classical Archaeology; cuneiform studies from all periods and regions (Middle and Neo-Assyrian, Old/Middle/Neo-Babylonian, Babylonian literature, Amarna letters, Sumerian, Eblaite, Hittite); comparative Semitics, Old and Middle Aramaic, Phoenician, Ancient South Arabic, Old Testament studies, history of the early alphabet; an ethnographic study of the Ma'dan Arabs in Mesopotamia; and the problem of illicit trade in antiquities. Many articles are illustrated by photographs, maps and tables. The majority is written in English, some are in Italian, French or German. A bibliography of the published works of Frederick Mario Fales rounds off the volume.