After an introduction to cuneiform writing on clay tablets, this anthology opens with ‘Ishtar and Izdubar’, a verse rendering of the epic now known as Gilgamesh under an early reading of the hero’s name. Translations of Babylonian and Assyrian texts follow, including royal annals and inscriptions in which kings proclaim their titles, piety and conquests.
A window on how turn-of-the-century readers first met Mesopotamian literature, with translations that reflect the scholarship of their day. Download the free EPUB.