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Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature
Comprehensive collection of ancient Akkadian literature spanning three millennia. This larger, completely new, 3rd edition contains many compositions not in the previous editions; new translations of previously included compositions; incorporation of new text fragments identified or excavated since the last publication; all new footnotes; references and commentary brought up to date to reflect scholarly work of the last 10 years; and 100 more pages than the old two-volume edition.
1044 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
About the author
Benjamin R. Foster
24 books13 followersBenjamin R. Foster is Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature. His research interests focus on cuneiform literature and the social and economic history of Mesopotamia.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 28, 2018
Earlier this summer, I read two anthologies of Sumerian literature in translation, probably the oldest literature written (or at least which survives). This month I followed up with this anthology of Akkadian literature, translated from Old Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian. The book, after a general introduction, is divided into four chapters, the Archaic Period 2300-1850 BCE, the Classical Period 1850-1500, the Mature Period 1500-1000, and the Late Period 1000-100. The assignment of particular selections to periods is often uncertain. Within each period, the selections are organized by topics, as Kings of Babylonia, Kings of Assyria, Mythology and Epics, Hymns and Prayers, Love Lyrics, Folktales and Humor, Incantations, and so forth. Most of the selections are poetry, although there are a few prose works as well. All are newly translated, and this supersedes the much earlier anthologies I have read (e.g Heidel's Babylonian Genesis and the relevant sections of Pritchard's Ancient Near Eastern Texts, although the latter contains some, mainly non-literary texts such as the Law Codes which are not included here.) Most of the selections are complete, although there are a few excerpts from longer works. Among the selections are such major texts as Atrahasis, the Epic of Creation (the Enuma Elish), The Descent of Ishtar, and Erra and Ishtum -- basically everything that one would expect, and all the works that are most often quoted or referred to in books about ancient Mesopotamia. It seems to be a fairly representative view of all the major genres of literature that have survived. Unlike Heidel and Pritchard, the literature is considered for its own sake without a lot of comparisons to the Bible, although it is obvious from the texts that we are in the same world that produced the Old Testament.
August 9, 2007
This is a great anthology of Akkadian literature. It may be one of the best English translations of Akkadian literature of this magnitude. It contains the lost poetry and prose of ancient Assyria and Babylonia. There are over 300 works in this volume, including some of the world's oldest literature. Please note that there are two volumes. The first volume contains introductions to Akkadian literature, language, poetry, and prose. It also contains specific eras such as the Archaic Period (2300-2000 B.C.), the Classical Period (2000-1500 B.C.), and the Mature Period (1500-1000 B.C.). The second volume contains hymns, prayers, and the Akkadian literature of the Late Period (1000-100 B.C.).
Another book I would recommend if you like this one is S.N. Kramer's Sumerian Mythology. It is part of the series "Memoirs of The American Philosophical Society from Independence Square, Philadelphia 1944.
Another book I would recommend if you like this one is S.N. Kramer's Sumerian Mythology. It is part of the series "Memoirs of The American Philosophical Society from Independence Square, Philadelphia 1944.
December 14, 2012
Very detailed and comprehensive. Akkad is mostly seen as Year 0 so its relationship with Sumer is a bit obscured. Gives you a great variety of types of Akkadian writing. I like reading invocations of Ishtar out loud and they are spell binding.
June 14, 2020
Took this in sips with much in between, it's very large. I was sort of surprised much of the important content went without any context . After a general introduction, the book divides into four sections, the Archaic Period 2300-1850 BC, the Classical Period 1850-1500 BC, the Mature Period 1500-1000 BC, and the Late Period 1000-100 BC and each section has it's own introduction. However, it's only in the last section, the Late Period that context is given regularly for the important content. Had it been done that way through out it would earn the extra star easily. That said though the book is rather large as is and that might entail breaking the book down two volumes as it once was. No pleasing some people, such as my self I assume. Still it would of helped greatly.
The rest of this review is more opinionated and its advised to move on unless you wish to torture yourself.
Although there is much interesting content in this book, one in particular stood out for me, as it seems to paint a very close picture to the time we are in now as I write this. This being the time of plague, riot and divisiveness where everything right is now wrong, where words mean their opposites, where relations at all levels are wrecked and spoiled, where evil now substitutes for good etc... Sure you could say all that is subjective, but when you have a working system born from systems that go all the way back to the time of the content in this book, then you are truly ripping up all recorded past and supplanting chaos in its stead. Sure I get it, they want to start over with a blank slate. All your life's work, knowledge, experience, relationships, everything mean nothing to them.. Whoops.. them? Well in the Myth or in other text the Epic of Erra, written in cira 8th BC, them refers to the gods or some gods in particular. Here in real life today, them refers to the World Economic Forum (WEF/whom are part of the Davos crowd) in their support of Sustainable Development Goals and the UN's Agenda 2030. Regardless whom them refers to it's quite clear that Enil / Marduk is once again disturbed and wants his peace and to get his peace he once again will attempt to wipe his creation from the world.
It doesn't matter that it is Erra who has put this notion in his head and gets Marduk to take a vacation while he tidies up civilization by wiping it away, though Ishum manages to talk Erra out of it.
This is where I'm supposed to say I'm sorry for pointing all this out, but i'm not, the Epic or Myth of Erra and Ishum are the blue print for civilization reset and it is actual called that in other scholarly descriptions from other sources (just not this one), and that very blue print is being followed today. Erra himself is the Akkadian plague god of mayhem and pestilence, another thing not brought out in the introduction to the epic but I'm sure had this book been written today, that little tid bit would be included in the introduction, though it's plainly seen in the myth itself.
I'd say more to this, perhaps mention the Georgia Guide Stones and their ominous threat to 9 tenths of civilization, (the other 1 tenth being spared and allowed great grace with warning on how to continue on.), but I'll just leave you with a note about Nabu, formally known as Nisaba in Sumerian, the god of scribal lore and prime mover for all literature handed down to us to this day. Nabu had a place in all temples, for all gods and goddess, perhaps not an alter but a tablet, an etching instrument and a scholarly priest versed in letters and that scholarly priest has had no problem moving from civilization to civilization where they've managed to work their lore and perpetuate their ways till some of them still holding to the oldest of the past have sided themselves up with the technocrats at WEF whom wittingly or not think themselves the iggi gods of yesterday doing service to what would amount to the Anuki gods of today. Humanities hope has always been that all of them never got on the same sheet of paper, but alas it may come down to Ishum once again.
Okay, rant over. Buying this huge book to get to the Myth behind the that rant might be expensive so I'll leave you with a link to the Myth of Erra where it shows up complete, though for commentary you should look in other places.
https://zsitchinindex.wordpress.com/2...
One more link if your so inclined.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia...
The rest is up to you.
The rest of this review is more opinionated and its advised to move on unless you wish to torture yourself.
Although there is much interesting content in this book, one in particular stood out for me, as it seems to paint a very close picture to the time we are in now as I write this. This being the time of plague, riot and divisiveness where everything right is now wrong, where words mean their opposites, where relations at all levels are wrecked and spoiled, where evil now substitutes for good etc... Sure you could say all that is subjective, but when you have a working system born from systems that go all the way back to the time of the content in this book, then you are truly ripping up all recorded past and supplanting chaos in its stead. Sure I get it, they want to start over with a blank slate. All your life's work, knowledge, experience, relationships, everything mean nothing to them.. Whoops.. them? Well in the Myth or in other text the Epic of Erra, written in cira 8th BC, them refers to the gods or some gods in particular. Here in real life today, them refers to the World Economic Forum (WEF/whom are part of the Davos crowd) in their support of Sustainable Development Goals and the UN's Agenda 2030. Regardless whom them refers to it's quite clear that Enil / Marduk is once again disturbed and wants his peace and to get his peace he once again will attempt to wipe his creation from the world.
It doesn't matter that it is Erra who has put this notion in his head and gets Marduk to take a vacation while he tidies up civilization by wiping it away, though Ishum manages to talk Erra out of it.
This is where I'm supposed to say I'm sorry for pointing all this out, but i'm not, the Epic or Myth of Erra and Ishum are the blue print for civilization reset and it is actual called that in other scholarly descriptions from other sources (just not this one), and that very blue print is being followed today. Erra himself is the Akkadian plague god of mayhem and pestilence, another thing not brought out in the introduction to the epic but I'm sure had this book been written today, that little tid bit would be included in the introduction, though it's plainly seen in the myth itself.
I'd say more to this, perhaps mention the Georgia Guide Stones and their ominous threat to 9 tenths of civilization, (the other 1 tenth being spared and allowed great grace with warning on how to continue on.), but I'll just leave you with a note about Nabu, formally known as Nisaba in Sumerian, the god of scribal lore and prime mover for all literature handed down to us to this day. Nabu had a place in all temples, for all gods and goddess, perhaps not an alter but a tablet, an etching instrument and a scholarly priest versed in letters and that scholarly priest has had no problem moving from civilization to civilization where they've managed to work their lore and perpetuate their ways till some of them still holding to the oldest of the past have sided themselves up with the technocrats at WEF whom wittingly or not think themselves the iggi gods of yesterday doing service to what would amount to the Anuki gods of today. Humanities hope has always been that all of them never got on the same sheet of paper, but alas it may come down to Ishum once again.
Okay, rant over. Buying this huge book to get to the Myth behind the that rant might be expensive so I'll leave you with a link to the Myth of Erra where it shows up complete, though for commentary you should look in other places.
https://zsitchinindex.wordpress.com/2...
One more link if your so inclined.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia...
The rest is up to you.
July 1, 2019
Knowing the mythological corpus of Akkad only briefly and supporting myself with historical volumes of Cambridge Ancient History altogether with some text on Babylonian-Assyrian astrology, I found it a pure treasury of ancient theology, which by and large may be derived from this tome. I've made some retro-active attempts at reconstructing certain magical techniques (later Hellenic bionic statues, in which spirits were scried into a statue), magickal blockades and all forms of spells and incantantations that had a well thought-over syntax of work. The charming scenario of Gods-as-friends to humanity in which the Great Lords are summoned even to help at childbirth, in which poor Ereshkigal moans over Nergal, while Erra-Nergal wreaks bloodthirsty destruction upon the land. A great stasis is threading behind all of those magnificent stories, both of astronomical, astrological, and cosmogenic proportions, a great stasis in which stories about Gods and forces at work are thin and blurry. All aspects of life were covered in myth, all consolation is found therein. All theology is interpretation, some is phantasy, what works has a grain of truth in it. Forewarned by Julian in his Hymn to Helios, that myths are for toothing children, it was to look beyond the fabric of words to peer into the cosmic events that in the eternal return of the sanctified narration are granting something new forever more. I have abolished many misconceptions, for example that mortals could no join Gods and they were condemned to the netherworlds by and large. It seems that there were ways of growing wings post-mortem and joining the mighty lot. With landscape populated with hungry ghosts, phantoms, cacodaimons and spirits, with mighty sorcerers and witches there was woe and extreme suffering, yet there were also remedies, joys and a great 'yes' to life. People of Mesopotamia had no issue with trafficking with Gods, spirits, yet constituting one of the greatest civilization(s) ever, building great libraries and rallying armies to destroy disobedient foes. Who knows, maybe Sun-Disked Igigi revealing themselves to you one day will embrace your mortal toil, so that you may taste the plums of the Tree of Life.
February 19, 2024
Good book. I love how bitter ancient Mesopotamians were. I feel you guys. It really does look like the gods just made us for forced labor. And also they hate us. And laugh at our misery.
Look around. A BENEVOLENT god?? Where? We’re not looking at the same world.
Jokes aside. I do really feel like a theology of capricious gods who behave like the natural world is good for us. There’s great solidarity in getting together with your fellow accursed and shaking your fist at the sky.
And it’s not like they hated their gods! They thought they were beautiful.
There were prayers to the stars, the gods of the night, filled with the rapture of looking up into the unfathomably beautiful galaxy.
They they just didn’t pretend the gods were any better than they were. And they treated their gods like their equals. Mesopotamian prayers were filled with equal parts flattery, threats, and weeping.
“Damn you Ishtar! Look at how miserable you’ve made me! If you don’t bless me with healthy daughters THIS INSTANT than I’ll never offer to you another fatted calf!”
The best thing in this whole book was a fragmentary great prayer to Ishtar, the morning star. (the ancestor of Venus)
“[For a third] did Ninshiku the warrior Ea,
[In his art]ful wisdom distinguish her as a name:
Zannaru “The Capable One,”
[Mistress? of] the four world regions, cherished of Dagan,
[A]nunu, creatress of subject peoples,
[Who can tu]rn man to woman and woman to man.
… Namrasit, “Brightly Rising God,” father of her favorite brother,
[ ] for a fourth [name] did cherish her,
[ ] totality [ ]
[ bo]nd of the peoples, life of [the land]
[ ] light of humankind,
[ ] she glows awesomely, she overwhelms [ ],
[ ] discord, ter[rifying aura]
[ ] she is a woman, she is a man [ ].”
2000 BCE.
“Who can turn man into woman and woman into man.”
Call that what you want to call it. The author called it “a reference to sexual deviation, one of Ishtar’s domains”
I call it trans people.
Look around. A BENEVOLENT god?? Where? We’re not looking at the same world.
Jokes aside. I do really feel like a theology of capricious gods who behave like the natural world is good for us. There’s great solidarity in getting together with your fellow accursed and shaking your fist at the sky.
And it’s not like they hated their gods! They thought they were beautiful.
There were prayers to the stars, the gods of the night, filled with the rapture of looking up into the unfathomably beautiful galaxy.
They they just didn’t pretend the gods were any better than they were. And they treated their gods like their equals. Mesopotamian prayers were filled with equal parts flattery, threats, and weeping.
“Damn you Ishtar! Look at how miserable you’ve made me! If you don’t bless me with healthy daughters THIS INSTANT than I’ll never offer to you another fatted calf!”
The best thing in this whole book was a fragmentary great prayer to Ishtar, the morning star. (the ancestor of Venus)
“[For a third] did Ninshiku the warrior Ea,
[In his art]ful wisdom distinguish her as a name:
Zannaru “The Capable One,”
[Mistress? of] the four world regions, cherished of Dagan,
[A]nunu, creatress of subject peoples,
[Who can tu]rn man to woman and woman to man.
… Namrasit, “Brightly Rising God,” father of her favorite brother,
[ ] for a fourth [name] did cherish her,
[ ] totality [ ]
[ bo]nd of the peoples, life of [the land]
[ ] light of humankind,
[ ] she glows awesomely, she overwhelms [ ],
[ ] discord, ter[rifying aura]
[ ] she is a woman, she is a man [ ].”
2000 BCE.
“Who can turn man into woman and woman into man.”
Call that what you want to call it. The author called it “a reference to sexual deviation, one of Ishtar’s domains”
I call it trans people.
August 27, 2021
I am not an expert in this field, just someone who loves literature and curious about its beginnings. I appreciated the scope of the anthology and found most of the translations easy to read; entries that were more difficult usually had chunks of missing text. The introductions and notes for each piece were also very helpful.
Since I love mythology, I especially enjoyed "Epic of Creation," "Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld," "Nergal and Ereshkigal," and "Etana." Other narratives that stood out for me included "Erra and Ishum" and "The Poor Man of Nippur." I was also taken in by much of the poetry. I think what I liked best, though, was how the collection revealed so much about the world in which these mostly unknown writers lived -- from the difficult customer who insists on telling the laundry man how to do his job in "At the Cleaners" to the debate over divine just in "The Babylonian Theodicy," it is humbling to see how many cares and concerns we share with our ancient counterparts.
Despite these strengths, reading this book is a BIG task to take on. At times, it could be overwhelming and I would have to go back to the introductions or notes to really understand a text. The fault is more with me and my lack of knowledge than with the editor, though. It's a tremendous work.
Since I love mythology, I especially enjoyed "Epic of Creation," "Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld," "Nergal and Ereshkigal," and "Etana." Other narratives that stood out for me included "Erra and Ishum" and "The Poor Man of Nippur." I was also taken in by much of the poetry. I think what I liked best, though, was how the collection revealed so much about the world in which these mostly unknown writers lived -- from the difficult customer who insists on telling the laundry man how to do his job in "At the Cleaners" to the debate over divine just in "The Babylonian Theodicy," it is humbling to see how many cares and concerns we share with our ancient counterparts.
Despite these strengths, reading this book is a BIG task to take on. At times, it could be overwhelming and I would have to go back to the introductions or notes to really understand a text. The fault is more with me and my lack of knowledge than with the editor, though. It's a tremendous work.
July 8, 2023
This book is wonderful for anyone interested in Assyriology or archeology in general. It's full of all kinds of texts with brief introductions before each text that provide the context of the composition before introducing a direct transliteration of the examined piece of literature.
In addition to these brief pretexts before each piece, the initial parts of the book dive into the overarching context of Akkadian literature as a whole.
This book is accessible, concise, and very interesting.
In addition to these brief pretexts before each piece, the initial parts of the book dive into the overarching context of Akkadian literature as a whole.
This book is accessible, concise, and very interesting.
Read
January 6, 20232300 - 100 BCE
2500-1500 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
19th https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
In the Akkadian mythological poem Etana (preserved in successive versions, which date between the 19th-15th and the 7th c.B.C., but actually going back to even older mythical material, as indicated by engravings on seal-cylinders from the 3rd millennium B.C.)
c. 1760 BCE https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
c. 1760- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Dialogue between a Man and His God is the earliest known text to address the answer to the question of why a god permits evil. 1683–1640s BCE
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
2500-1500 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
19th https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
In the Akkadian mythological poem Etana (preserved in successive versions, which date between the 19th-15th and the 7th c.B.C., but actually going back to even older mythical material, as indicated by engravings on seal-cylinders from the 3rd millennium B.C.)
c. 1760 BCE https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
c. 1760- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Dialogue between a Man and His God is the earliest known text to address the answer to the question of why a god permits evil. 1683–1640s BCE
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Read
June 23, 20151,000 pages of myths, military narratives, poems, incantations, hymns, and other literary tidbits from the third to first millennia B.C. There is an enormous amount of rich material here, but Foster's annotations focus very largely on their formal literary qualities, dating, and technical matters of translation while often giving little context for a specific text's cultural, theological, or material context. Some of the texts, on their face, evoke striking parallels to Biblical texts, and it would be interesting to read more about what scholars have made of these seeming parallels - where is there evidence of direct influence versus simply shared motifs? This is obviously a book intended for the serious scholar, but any patient reader interested in ancient literature will find a great deal to appreciate here.
December 8, 2011
This book has so much stuff in it. It's great but almost overwhelming. Don't look for anything early in here (I know it says Akkadian myth already, but sometimes titles are deceiving...this one's not).
February 17, 2013
An incredibly thorough collection of translated pre-Classical work, still one of the standards.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews