Akkadian literature is the

ancient literature Ancient literature comprises religious and scientific documents, tales, poetry and plays, royal edicts and declarations, and other forms of writing that were recorded on a variety of media, including stone, Clay tablet, clay tablets, Papyrus, pa ...

written in the

East Semitic The East Semitic languages are one of three divisions of the Semitic languages. The East Semitic group is attested by three distinct languages, Akkadian, Eblaite and possibly Kishite, all of which have been long extinct. They were influenced ...

Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218–280 was an East Semitic language that is attested ...

( Assyrian and Babylonian dialects) in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

( Akkadian,

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

and

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

) during the period spanning the

Middle Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

to the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

(roughly the 25th to 4th centuries BC). Drawing on the traditions of

Sumerian literature Sumerian literature constitutes the earliest known corpus of recorded literature, including the religious writings and other traditional stories maintained by the Sumerian civilization and largely preserved by the later Akkadian and Babylonian em ...

, the

Akkadians The Akkadian Empire () was the first known empire, succeeding the long-lived city-states of Sumer. Centered on the city of Akkad ( or ) and its surrounding region, the empire united Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule and exercised ...

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

and

ns compiled a substantial textual tradition of mythological narrative, legal texts, scientific works, letters and other literary forms. Conversely, Akkadian also influenced Sumerian literature.

Literature in Akkadian society

Most of what we have from the Assyrians and Babylonians was inscribed in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

with a metal stylus on tablets of clay, called ''laterculae coctiles'' by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

;

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

seems to have also been utilised, but not been preserved. There were libraries in most towns and temples in Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia; an old

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn." Women as well as men learned to read and write, and after the time the Sumerians themselves had been absorbed by the Semites circa 2000 BC, this involved a knowledge of the extinct

Sumerian language Sumerian ) was the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the List of languages by first written account, oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 2900 BC. It is a local language isolate that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the a ...

, and a complicated and extensive syllabary. The Assyrians and Babylonians' very advanced systems of writing, science, medicine, civil administration, legal and economic structures and mathematics contributed greatly to their literary output. Many works of Akkadian literature were commissioned by kings who had scribes and scholars in their service. Some of these works served to celebrate the king or the divine, while others recorded information for religious practices or medicine. Poetry, proverbs, folktales, love lyrics, military campaigns and accounts of disputes were all incorporated into Akkadian literature.

Relation to other ancient literatures

Cardiff Castle - Bibliothek Allegorien Literatur 3 Assyrisch

A considerable amount of Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be the old agglutinative language of Sumer, which was a

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of the syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists of them were drawn up.

n culture and literature came from the same source as Babylonia, but even here, there was a difference between the two ethnolinguistically similar countries. Assyrian literature was similar to that of Babylonia, however, in the early periods, education was mostly restricted to a single class of society in Assyria, unlike Babylonia. Under the second Assyrian empire, when

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

had become a great centre of trade,

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

— the language of commerce and diplomacy — was added to the number of subjects that the educated class was required to learn, dialects of which still survive among the

Assyrian people Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group Indigenous peoples, indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians Assyrian continuity, share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesop ...

today. Under the

Seleucids The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

was introduced into Babylon, and fragments of tablets have been found with Sumerian and Assyrian (i.e. Semitic) words transcribed into Greek letters.

Notable works

According to A. Leo Oppenheim, the corpus of cuneiform literature amounted to around 1,500 texts at any one time or place, approximately half of which, at least from the first millennium, is extant in fragmentary form, and the most common genres included (in order of predominance) are omen texts,

lexical lists The cuneiform lexical lists are a series of ancient Mesopotamian glossaries which preserve the semantics of Sumerograms, their phonetic value and their Akkadian or other language equivalents. They are the oldest literary texts from Mesopotamia ...

, ritual incantations, cathartic and apotropaic conjurations, historical and mythological epics, fables and proverbs.

Annals, chronicles and historical epics

The Assyrian dialect of Akkadian is particularly rich in royal inscriptions from the end of the 14th century BC onward, for example the epics of Adad-nārārī, Tukulti-Ninurta, and Šulmānu-ašarēdu III and the annals which catalogued the campaigns of the neo-Assyrian monarchs. The earliest historical royal epic is, however, that of

Zimri-Lim __NOTOC__ Zimri-Lim was in the Middle Bronze Age the king of Mari, Syria, Mari (c. 1767–1752 BCE; low chronology). Background Family Zimri-Lim (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''Zi-im-ri Li-im'') was the son or grandson of king Yahdun-Lim of Ma ...

(–1698 BC short) of Mari. Similar literature of the middle Babylonian period is rather poorly preserved with a fragmentary epic of the

Kassite The Kassites () were a people of the ancient Near East. They controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire from until (short chronology). The Kassites gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon in 1531 B ...

period, that of Adad-šuma-uṣur and of Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur I and

Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...

. The chronicle traditional is first attested in the compositions of the early Iron Age which hark back to earlier times, such as the ''Chronicle of Early Kings'', the '' Dynastic Chronicle'', '' Chronicle P'' and the Assyrian ''Synchronistic History''. A series of fifteen neo to late

Babylonian Chronicles The Babylonian Chronicles are a loosely-defined series of about 45 clay tablet, tablets recording major events in Babylonian history. They represent one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography. The Babylonian Chronicles a ...

have been recovered which narrate the period spanning Nabû-nasir (747–734 BC) to

Seleucus III Ceraunus Seleucus III Ceraunus (Ancient Greek: Σέλευκος Κεραυνός, ''Séleukos Keraunós''), later also known as Soter (Ancient Greek: Σωτήρ, ''Sōtḗr''; born 244 or 243 BCE; died 223 BCE in Phrygia), was the eldest son of Seleucus ...

(243–223 BC) and were derived from the political events described in

Babylonian astronomical diaries The Babylonian astronomical diaries are a collection of Babylonian cuneiform texts written in Akkadian language that contain systematic records of astronomical observations and political events, predictions based on astronomical observations, weat ...

Humorous literature

Exemplars of comical texts span the genres of burlesque to satire and include humorous love poems and riddles. “At the cleaners” is a tale of the dispute between an insolent scrubber and his client, a “sophomoric fop” who lectures the cleaner in ridiculous detail on how to launder his clothes, driving the exasperated cleaner to suggest that he lose no time in taking it to the river and doing it himself. The Dialogue of Pessimism was seen as a saturnalia by Böhl, where master and servant switch roles, and as a burlesque by Speiser, where a fatuous master mouthes clichés and a servant echoes him. Lambert considered it a musing of a mercurial adolescent with suicidal tendencies. The ''Aluzinnu'' (“trickster,” a jester, clown or buffoon) text, extant in five fragments from the neo-Assyrian period concerns an individual, ''dābibu, ākil karṣi,'' “character assassin,” who made a living entertaining others with parodies, mimicry, and scatological songs. The

Poor Man of Nippur The Poor Man of Nippur is an Akkadian story dating from around 1500 BC. It is attested by only three texts, only one of which is more than a small fragment. There was a man, a citizen of Nippur, destitute and poor, Gimil-Ninurta was his name, a ...

provides a subversive narrative of the triumph of the underdog over his superior while Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite is a school text of a slapstick nature.

Laws

The earliest Akkadian laws are the “Old Assyrian Laws” relating to the conduct of the commercial court of a trading colony in Anatolia, c. 1900 BC. The

Laws of Eshnunna The Laws of Eshnunna (abrv. LE) are inscribed on two cuneiform tablets discovered in Tell Abū Harmal, Baghdad, Iraq. The Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities headed by Taha Baqir unearthed two parallel sets of tablets in 1945 and 1947. The two table ...

were a collection of sixty laws named for the city of its provenance and dating to around 1770 BC. The Code of Ḫammu-rapi, c. 1750 BC, was the longest of the Mesopotamian legal collections, extending to nearly three hundred individual laws and accompanied by a lengthy prologue and epilogue. The edict of Ammi-Saduqa, c. 1646 BC, was the last issued by one of Ḫammu-rapi’s successors. The Middle Assyrian Laws date to the fourteenth century BC, over a hundred laws are extant from

Assur Aššur (; AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; ''Āšūr''; ''Aθur'', ''Āšūr''; ', ), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Old Assyrian city-state (2025–1364 BC), the Midd ...

. The Middle Assyrian Palace Decrees, known as the “Harem Edicts,” from the reigns of Aššur-uballiṭ I, c. 1360 BC, to Tukultī-apil-Ešarra I, c. 1076 BC, concern aspects of courtly etiquette and the severe penalties (flagellation, mutilation and execution) for flouting them. The Neo-Babylonian Laws number just fifteen, c. 700 BC, probably from

Sippar Sippar (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , Zimbir) (also Sippir or Sippara) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its ''Tell (archaeology), tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell ...

Mythology

One of the most famous of these was the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

'', which first appears in Akkadian during the Old Babylonian period as a circa 1,000 line epic known by its incipit, ''šūtur eli šarrī'', ‘‘Surpassing all other kings,’’ incorporating some of the stories from the five earlier Sumerian Gilgamesh tales. A plethora of mid to late second millennium versions give witness to its popularity. The Standard Babylonian version, ''ša naqba īmeru'', ‘‘He who saw the deep,’’ contains up to 3,000 lines on eleven tablets and a prose meditation on the fate of man on the twelfth which was virtually a word-for-word translation of the Sumerian “Bilgames and the Netherworld.” It is extant in 73 copies and was credited to a certain

Sîn-lēqi-unninni Sîn-lēqi-unninni ( ) was a '' mašmaššu'' who lived in Mesopotamia, probably in the period between 1300 BC and 1000 BC. He is traditionally thought to have compiled the best-preserved version of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. His name ...

and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...

, king of

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

. The whole story is a composite product, and it is probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure. Another epic was that of the "Creation" '' Enûma Eliš'', whose object was to glorify Bel-

by describing his contest with

Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( or , ) is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the gods in the Babylonian epic '' Enûma Elish'', which translates as "when on high". She is referred to as a woman, an ...

, the dragon of chaos. In the first book, an account is given of the creation of the world from the primeval deep, and the birth of the gods of light. Then comes the story of the struggle between the gods of light and the powers of darkness, and the final victory of Marduk, who clove Tiamat asunder, forming the heaven from half of her body and the earth from the other. Marduk next arranged the stars in order, along with the sun and moon, and gave them laws they were never to transgress. After this, the plants and animals were created, and finally man. Marduk here takes the place of Ea, who appears as the creator in the older legends, and is said to have fashioned man from clay. The legend of Adapa, the first man — a portion of which was found in the record-office of the Egyptian king

Akhenaton Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton ( ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning 'Effective for the Aten'), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the ...

at Tell-el-Amarna — explains the origin of death. Adapa, while fishing, had broken the wings of the south wind, and was accordingly summoned before the tribunal of Anu in heaven. Ea counselled him not to eat or drink anything there. He followed this advice, and thus refused the food that would have made him and his descendants immortal. Among the other legends of Babylonia may be mentioned those of

Namtar Namtar () was a figure in ancient Mesopotamian religion who, depending on the context, could be regarded both as a minor god and as a demon of disease. He is best attested as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underwor ...

, the plague-demon; of Erra, the pestilence; of

Etana Etana (, ''E.TA.NA'') was the thirteenth king of the first dynasty of Kish, according to the ''Sumerian King List''. He is listed as the successor of Arwium, the son of Mashda, as king of Kish. The list also calls Etana "the shepherd, who asc ...

and of Anzu. Hades, the abode of

Ereshkigal In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal (Sumerian language, Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆠𒃲 REŠ.KI.GAL, lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian religion, Sumerian mythology. In la ...

Allatu Allani, also known under the Akkadian name Allatu (or Allatum), was the Hurrian goddess of the underworld. She was also associated with the determination of fate. She was closely linked with Išḫara, and they could be invoked or receive offer ...

, had been entered by

Nergal Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult surv ...

, who, angered by a message sent to her by the gods of the upper world, ordered Namtar to strike off her head. She, however, declared that she would submit to any conditions imposed on her, and would give Nergal the sovereignty of the earth. Nergal accordingly relented, and Allatu became the queen of the infernal world. Etana conspired with the eagle to fly to the highest heaven. The first gate, that of Anu, was successfully reached; but in ascending still farther to the gate of

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

, the strength of the eagle gave way, and Etanna was dashed to the ground. As for the storm-god Anzu, we are told that he stole the tablets of destiny, and therewith the prerogatives of

Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...

. God after god was ordered to pursue him and recover them, but it would seem that it was only by a stratagem that they were finally regained.

Omens, divination and incantation texts

The magnitude of omen literature within the Akkadian corpus is one of the peculiar distinguishing features of this language's legacy. According to Oppenheim, 30% of all documents of this tradition are of this genre. Exemplars of omen text appear during the earliest periods of Akkadian literature but come to their maturity early in the first millennium with the formation of canonical versions. Notable among these is the

Enuma Anu Enlil Enuma Anu Enlil ( ,'' The Assyrian Dictionary'', volume 7 (I/J) – ''inūma'', The Oriental Institute, Chicago 1960, s. 160. ''When he gods Anu and Enlil'' .., abbreviated EAE, is a major series of 68 or 70 tablets (depending on the recension) ...

(astrological omens),

Šumma ālu Šumma ālu ina mēlê šakin is the title for a series of a collected number of cuneiform texts of ancient Mesopotamia amounting to one hundred and twenty clay tablets. The title translates as ''If a City is Situated on a Height'', and it lists o ...

(terrestrial omens), Šumma izbu (anomalous births), Alamdimmû (physiognomic omens), and

Iškar Zaqīqu The Dream Book, iškar dZaqīqu (“core text of the god Zaqīqu”), is an eleven tablet compendium of oneiromancy written in Akkadian. Tablets two to nine form the manual of deductive divination, while tablets one, ten and eleven provide ritua ...

(dream omens). It is among this genre, also, that the Sakikkū (SA.GIG) “Diagnostic Handbook” belongs. The practice of

extispicy In the religion of ancient Rome, a haruspex was a person trained to practise a form of divination called haruspicy, the inspection of the entrails of sacrificed animals, especially the livers of sacrificed sheep and poultry. Various ancient ...

, divination through the entrails of animals, was formalized into a science over the millennia by the Babylonians and supporting texts were eventually gathered into a monumental handbook, the Bārûtu, extending over a hundred tablets and divided into ten chapters. Divination, however, extended into other fields with, for example, the old Babylonian libanomancy texts, concerning interpreting portents from incense smoke, being one and Bēl-nadin-šumi's omen text on the flight paths of birds, composed during the reign of

king Meli-Šipak, being another exemplar. Incantations form an important part of this literary heritage, covering a range of rituals from the sacred,

Maqlû The Maqlû, “burning,” series is an Akkadian incantation text which concerns the performance of a rather lengthy anti-witchcraft, or ''kišpū'', ritual. In its mature form, probably composed in the early first millennium BC, it comprises eigh ...

, "burning" to counter witchcraft,

Šurpu The ancient Mesopotamian incantation series Šurpu begins ''enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu t'' 'eppušu'', “when you perform the rituals for (the series) ‘Burning,’” and was probably compiled in the middle Babylonian period, ca. 1350–105 ...

, “incineration” to counter curses,

Namburbi The NAM-BÚR-BI are Spell (paranormal), magical texts which take the form of incantations (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''namburbȗ''). They were named for a series of prophylactic Babylonian and Assyrian rituals to avert Wikt:inauspicious, inauspi ...

, to preempt inauspicious omens, Utukkū Lemnūtu (actually bilingual), to exorcise “Evil Demons,” and Bīt rimki, or “bath house,” the purification and substitution ceremony, to the mundane, Šà.zi.ga, “the rising of the heart,” potency spells, and Zu-buru-dabbeda, “to seize the ‘locust tooth’,” a compendium of incantations against field pests.

Wisdom and didactic literature

A particularly rich genre of Akkadian texts was that represented by the moniker of “wisdom literature,” although there are differences in opinion concerning which works qualify for inclusion. One of the earliest exemplars was the '' Dialogue between a Man and His God'' from the late Old Babylonian period. Perhaps the most notable were the ''Poem of the Righteous Sufferer'' ( Ludlul bēl nēmeqi) and the '' Babylonian Theodicy''. Included in this group are a number of fables or contest literature, in varying states of preservation, such as the ''Tamarisk and the Palm'', the ''Fable of the Willow'', ''Nisaba and Wheat'' (kibtu), the ''Ox and the Horse'' (Inum Ištar šurbutum, “When exalted Ishtar”), the ''Fable of the Fox'', and the ''Fable of the Riding-donkey''. W. G. Lambert and others include several popular sayings, and proverbs (both bilingual and Babylonian) together with the ''Lament of a Sufferer with a Prayer to Marduk'', ''Counsels of Wisdom'', ''Counsels of a Pessimist'', and ''Advice to a Prince'' in this genre. “A Dialogue between Šūpê-amēli and His Father” (Šimâ milka) is a piece of wisdom literature in the manner of a deathbed debate from the Akkadian hinterland. There are also Akkadian translations of earlier Sumerian works such as the

Instructions of Shuruppak __NOTOC__ The Instructions of Shuruppak (or, ''Instructions of Šuruppak son of Ubara-tutu'') are a significant example of Sumerian wisdom literature. Wisdom literature, intended to teach proper piety, inculcate virtue, and preserve community s ...

which are often considered belonging to this tradition.

Disputation poems

The Akkadian disputation poem or Akkadian debate, also known as the Babylonian disputation poem, is a genre of Akkadian literature in the form of a

disputation Disputation is a genre of literature involving two contenders who seek to establish a resolution to a problem or establish the superiority of something. An example of the latter is in Sumerian disputation poems. In the scholastic system of e ...

. They feature a dialogue or a debate involving two contenders, usually cast as inarticulate beings such as particular objects, plants, animals, and so forth. Extant compositions from this genre date from the early 2nd millennium BC, the earliest example being the ''

Tamarisk and Palm ''Tamarisk and Palm'' is an Akkadian disputation poem written on clay tablets and dates to the 18th century BC from the reign of Hammurabi. The poem features an argument between a tamarisk and a date palm; the Tamarisk leads in the name of the poe ...

'', to the late 1st millennium BC. These poems occur in verse and follow a type of meter called 2, , 2 or ''Vierheber'', which is the same meter found in some other Akkadian texts like the Enuma Elish.*

Other genres

Besides the purely literary works, there were others of varied nature, including collections of letters, partly official, partly private. Among them the most interesting are the letters of

Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...

, which have been edited by Leonard William King.

List of works

The following gives the better-known extant works, excluding lexical and synonym lists. Abnu šikinšu • Adad-nārārī I Epic • Adad-šuma-uṣur Epic • Adapa and Enmerkar • Adapa and the South Wind •

Advice to a Prince Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to: * Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct * Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder * Advice (p ...

•

Agushaya Hymn The Agušaya Hymn or Song of Agušaya is an Old Babylonian literary work, a “song of praise”, written in the Akkadian language concerning the goddess Ištar, identified with the serpent deity Irnina. It may have been called “the Snake has ...

• Alamdimmû • Aluzinnu text • Ardat-lili • Asakkū marṣūtu • Ašipus' Almanac (or Handbook) • At the cleaners • Atra-ḫasīs • Autobiography of Adad-guppī • Autobiography of Kurigalzu • Autobiography of Marduk • Babylonian Almanac • Babylonian King List • Babylonian Theodicy • Bārûtu • Birth legend of Sargon • Bīt mēseri • Bīt rimki • Bīt salā’ mê • Bullussa-rabi’s Hymn to Gula • Catalogue of Texts and Authors •

Chronicle of Early Kings The Chronicle of Early Kings, named ABC 20 in Grayson’s ''Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles'' and CM 40 in Glassner’s ''Chroniques mésopotamiennes'' is a Babylonian chronicle preserved on two tablets: tablet ABM 26472 (98-5-14, 290) tablet ...

•

Chronicle of the Market Prices The Chronicle of Market Prices, designated "Chronicle 23" in Grayson’s ''Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles'', its first publishing, and Mesopotamian Chronicle 50: “Chronicle of Market Prices” in Glassner’s ''Mesopotamian Chronicles'' is an ...

• Chronicle of reign of Šulgi • Chronicle P •

Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian language, Akkadi ...

•

Consecration of a priest Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

• Counsels of a Pessimist •

Counsels of Wisdom Counsels of Wisdom is a piece of Babylonian wisdom literature written in Akkadian language, Akkadian containing moral exhortations. It is composed primarily of two-line units, without sections. A translation of extant portions of the text was publis ...

• Crimes and Sacrileges of Nabu-šuma-iškun •

Curse of Akkad A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

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Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin The Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin is one of the few literary works whose versions are attested in both Old Babylonian, Middle Babylonian and the Standard Babylonian of the late Neo-Babylonian period, a literary life of around 1,500 years. It seems to ...

• Dialogue between a Man and His God • Dialogue of Pessimism • Dingir.šà.dib.ba • Donkey Disputation • Dream of Kurigalzu • Dynastic Chronicle • Dynastic Prophecy • Dynasty of Dunnum ( Harab Myth) •

Eclectic Chronicle The Eclectic Chronicle, referred to in earlier literature as the ''New Babylonian Chronicle'', is an ancient Mesopotamian account of the highlights of Babylonian history during the post- Kassite era prior to the 689 BC fall of the city of Babylon. ...

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Edict of Ammi-Saduqa An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchies, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin wikt:edictum#Latin, edictum. Notable ed ...

• Egalkura spells • Elegies Mourning the Death of Tammuz • Enlil and Sud •

• Enûma Eliš • Epic of Anzu • Epic of Gilgameš • Epic of the Kassite period • Epic of Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur • Epic of the plague-god Erra (Erra and Išum) •

• Fable of the Fox • Fable of the Riding-donkey • Fable of the Willow • Girra and Elamatum • Great Prayer to Šamaš • Great Prayer to Nabû • Great Revolt Against Naram-Sin • Harem Edicts •

Hemerology for Nazi-Maruttaš Nazi-Maruttaš, typically inscribed ''Na-zi-Ma-ru-ut-ta-aš'' or m''Na-zi-Múru-taš'', ''Maruttaš'' (a Kassite deities, Kassite god synonymous with Ninurta) ''protects him'', was a Kassites, Kassite king of Babylon c. 1307–1282 BC (short chron ...

• Hymn to Ištar (“Ištar 2”) • Hymn to Ninurta as Savior • Hymn to the Queen of Nippur •

Ḫulbazizi Ḫulbazizi, inscribed in cuneiform phonetically ''Ḫul.ba.zi.zi'', “the Evil is Eradicated” or more literally "Evil (be) gone", is an ancient Mesopotamian exorcistic incantation series extant in earlier Sumerian and later Akkadian forms, th ...

• Inana's Ascent • Iqqur Ipuš •

• Ištar’s hell ride • Kalûtu catalogue •

KAR 6 Kar or KAR may refer to: * .kar, a file format for karaoke files * Kar, Iran, in Kurdistan Province * Kar (beetle), ''Kar'' (beetle), a genus of beetles * Car (Greek myth) * Kar (novel), ''Kar'' (novel), 2002, by Orhan Pamuk * Kar (political grou ...

• Kataduggû • Kedor-laomer texts • Kettledrum rituals • King of Battle (šar tamḫāri) • Ki'utu • Labbu myth • Lamaštu • Lament of a Sufferer with a Prayer to Marduk •

• Lipšur litanies • Ludlul bēl nēmeqi •

• Marduk's Address to the Demons •

Marduk Prophecy Marduk (; cuneiform: ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In Babylon, Marduk was worshi ...

• Middle Assyrian Laws •

Mîs-pî Mîs-pî, inscribed KA-LUḪ.Ù.DA and meaning “washing of the mouth,” is an ancient Mesopotamian ritual and incantation series for the cultic induction or vivification of a newly manufactured divine idol. It involved around eleven stages: in th ...

• Moon god and the cow • Mukīl rēš lemutti • MUL.APIN • Muššu'u • Na'id-Šihu Epic • Nabonidus Chronicle •

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Namerimburrudû Namerimburrudû or “curse-breaking” incantations, inscribed KA-INIM-MA NAM-ÉRIM-BÚR-RU-DA-KAM, are ancient Mesopotamian spells composed to avert the effects of oath-breaking, namely the curses which result from them. The genre is listed on the ...

• Neo-Babylonian Laws •

Nergal and Ereškigal Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult surviv ...

• New year ritual-Akitu procession • Nigdimdimmû • Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite • Nissaba and the Wheat • Ox and the Horse •

Palm and Vine ''Palm and Vine'' is an Akkadian disputation poem. It contains a disputation poem between two litigants, Palm (designated by the rare name ''arḫānû'') and Vine (Akkadian ''karānu''), each of which praises its own merits and many uses, and d ...

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Pazuzu In ancient Mesopotamian religion, Pazuzu () is a demonic deity who was well known to the Babylonians and Assyrians throughout the first millennium BCE. He is shown with "a rather canine face with abnormally bulging eyes, a scaly body, a snake-h ...

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Prophecy A In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divin ...

• Qutāru • Recipes against Antašubba • Religious Chronicle •

Royal inscription of Simbar-Šipak Simbar-Šipak, or perhaps ''Simbar-Šiḫu'',Earlier readings render his name as ''Simmash-Shipak''. (typically inscribed m''sim-bar-''d''ši-i-''ḪU or ''si-im-bar-ši-''ḪU in cuneiform, where the reading of the last symbol is uncertain) was a ...

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Sag-gig-ga-meš The incantation series inscribed in cuneiform Sumerograms as ÉN SAG.GIG.GA.MEŠ, Akkadian: ''muruṣ qaqqadi'', “headache” (literally “sick-head”), is an ancient Mesopotamian nine-tablet collection of magical prescriptions against the demo ...

(Muruṣ qaqqadi) •

Sakikkū Esagil-kin-apli, was the ''ummânū'', or chief scholar, of Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina, 1067–1046 BCE, as he appears on the Uruk ''List of Sages and Scholars'' (165 BCE)W 20030,7 the Seleucid ''List of Sages and Scholars'', obverse line 16, ...

• Salmānu-ašarēdu III Epic • Synchronistic History • A Syncretistic Hymn to Ištar • Șēru šikinšu • Šammu šikinšu • Šar Pūḫî • Šà.zi.ga • Series of Ox and Horse • Series of the Fox • Series of Ox and Horse •

Series of the Poplar The "Series of the Poplar" is an Akkadian disputation poem containing a discussion between a Poplar, an Ash, and probably other trees, who each tries to establish his preeminence in the vegetal kingdom by listing their many uses and excellent ...

• Series of the Spider • Šēp lemutti • Story of the Poor, Forlorn Wren • Šu'ila • Šulgi Prophecy •

• Šumma amēlu kašip • Šumma immeru • Šumma Izbu • Šumma liptu •

Šumma sinništu qaqqada rabât The text with the incipit protasis Šumma sinništu qaqqada rabât, inscribed in cuneiform: DIŠ MUNUS SAG.DU GAL-''at'', “If a Woman is Large of Head” ( apodosis: ''išarru'', “she will prosper’), is an ancient Mesopotamian collection of p ...

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Tākultu ''Tākultu'' was a type of religious ceremony in ancient Mesopotamia. It took the form of a ritual banquet during which a king offered drinks to deities. The oldest attestations have been identified in texts from Babylonia from the Old Babylonian ...

ritual texts •

• Tamītu Oracles • Tašritu hemerology •

Tukulti-Ninurta Epic Tukilti-Ninurta Epic is an Assyrian epic written in Akkadian describing and glorifying the wars and conquests of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I against the Babylonian king Kashtiliash IV during the Kassite dynasty. Though in principle succ ...

• Tu-ra kìlib-ba • The therapeutic series UGU (Šumma amēlu muḫḫašu umma ukāl) • Uruhulake of Gula • Uruk King List • Uruk Prophecy • Ušburruda • Utukkū Lemnūtu • Verse Account of Nabonidus • Vision of the Netherworld • Walker Chronicle • Weidner Chronicle • Zimri-Lim Epic • Zi-pà incantations • Zisurrû (Sag-ba Sag-ba) • Zu-buru-dabbeda

References

{{Authority control Babylonia History of Assyria