Tuesday, April 21, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Mesopotamian
Sacred texts from ancient Mesopotamia, including epics, hymns, and mythological literature.
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Texts
Adapa and the Food of Life — R.W. RogersThe Babylonian myth of Adapa, who was granted wisdom but denied eternal life, translated by R.W. Rogers from cuneiform tablets.Ancient Fragments — I.P. CoryIsaac Preston Cory's Ancient Fragments — the preserved writings of Sanchuniathon (Phoenician cosmogony), Berossus (Chaldean history), Manetho (Egyptian dynasties), and other ancient authors surviving only in Greek quotation. The primary source collection for ancient Near Eastern religions as known through classical intermediaries.Descent of the Goddess Ishtar — M. JastrowThe Babylonian myth of Ishtar's descent to the underworld, from M. Jastrow's 1915 translation of the cuneiform tablets.Hymn to BabylonA newly discovered Babylonian hymn praising Marduk, the Esagil temple, and the city of Babylon — celebrating its people as protectors of orphans, liberators of prisoners, and welcomers of foreigners.Introduction to Mesopotamian ReligionAn introduction to the sacred literature of ancient Mesopotamia — its gods, its scribes, its clay tablets, and the civilisation that first wrote the world into being.Ishtar and Izdubar — Leonidas Le Cenci HamiltonLeonidas Le Cenci Hamilton's 1884 Victorian poetic rendering of the Gilgamesh saga, among the first English translations of the Babylonian epic.Myths of Babylonia and Assyria — Donald MackenzieDonald Mackenzie's 1915 survey of Babylonian and Assyrian mythology, religion, history, and culture, from the dawn of Sumerian civilization through the fall of the empires.Sumerian Mythology — Samuel Noah KramerSamuel Noah Kramer's foundational study of Sumerian mythology, presenting translations and analysis of the oldest literary texts in the world.The Chaldean Account of the Deluge — George SmithGeorge Smith's 1873 paper announcing the discovery of the Babylonian flood narrative from the cuneiform tablets of Nineveh, a landmark in Near Eastern archaeology.The Code of Hammurabi — L.W. KingThe earliest known written legal code, composed about 1780 B.C.E. by Hammurabi of Babylon, translated by L.W. King.The Epic of Gilgamish — R. Campbell ThompsonR. Campbell Thompson's 1928 translation of the Epic of Gilgamish, rendered into English hexameters from a fresh collation of the cuneiform tablets in the British Museum.The Lament for UrThe Lament for Ur — the great Sumerian dirge for the destruction of the city of Ur by the Elamites, composed circa 2000 BCE. Translated from Sumerian.The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria — Theophilus PinchesTheophilus Pinches' survey of the religion of Babylonia and Assyria, covering the pantheon, mythology, cosmology, and religious practices of ancient Mesopotamia.The Seven Evil Spirits — R.C. ThompsonBabylonian incantation texts describing the Seven Evil Spirits, translated by R.C. Thompson from cuneiform tablets.The Seven Tablets of Creation — L.W. KingL.W. King's authoritative 1902 edition of the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth, with introduction and related texts from cuneiform tablets in the British Museum.
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