Description
Book SynopsisThis book initiates the reader into the study of Akkadian literature from ancient Babylonia and Assyria. With this one relatively short volume, the novice reader will develop the literary competence necessary to read and interpret Akkadian texts in translation and will gain a broad familiarity with the major genres and compositions in the language.
The first part of the book presents introductory discussions of major critical issues, organized under four key rubrics: tablets, scribes, compositions, and audiences. Here, the reader will find descriptions of the tablets used as writing material; the training scribes received and the institutional contexts in which they worked; the general characteristics of Akkadian compositions, with an emphasis on poetic and literary features; and the various audiences or users of Akkadian texts. The second part surveys the corpus of Akkadian literature defined inclusively, canvasing a wide spectrum of compositions. Legal codes, historical inscriptions, divinatory compendia, and religious texts have a place in the survey alongside narrative poems, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enuma elish, and Babylonian Theodicy. Extensive footnotes and a generous bibliography guide readers who wish to continue their study.
Essential for students of Assyriology, An Introduction to Akkadian Literature will also prove useful to biblical scholars, classicists, Egyptologists, ancient historians, and literary comparativists.
Trade Review“A study that renders Akkadian literature accessible to a different readership.”
—Nathan Wasserman Review of Biblical Literature
Table of ContentsContents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Prologue
Introduction
Akkadian: Linguistic, Geographical, and Chronological Parameters
An Overview of the Textual Record
1. Prolegomena to the Study of Akkadian Literature
Tablets: From Excavation to Translation
Scribes: Contextualizing Literary Production
Compositions: General Issues
Audiences: Who Read These Texts?
2. Survey of Selected Text Groups
Mythological and Heroic Epics
Legends of Akkadian Kings
Historiographical Texts
Legal and Political Documents
Divination: Deductive and Intuitive
Other Scholarly Texts
Prayers, Incantations, Incantation- Prayers, Laments, and Hymns
Meditations on Human Suffering and the Divine
Proverbs, Advice, Dialogues, and Debates
Satire, Parody, and Humor
Conclusion: The Future of Akkadian Literature
Bibliography
Index
