Mesopotamian literature

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Though there are many modern anthologies and chrestomathies (compilations of useful learning), with translations and paraphrases of Mesopotamian literature, as well as attempts to write its history, it cannot truly be said that “cuneiform literature”…</p><a class="read-more" href="/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia/The-character-and-influence-of-ancient-Mesopotamia#ref361101">Read More</a></li><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/50/2550-050-993C719C/Sites-Mesopotamian-history.jpg" alt="Sites associated with ancient Mesopotamian history" data-width="1600" data-height="1397" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia/Sumerian-civilization#ref361199" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">history of Mesopotamia: Literary and other historical sources</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph"> The picture offered by the literary tradition of Mesopotamia is clearer but not necessarily historically relevant. The Sumerian king list has long been the greatest focus of interest. This is a literary composition, dating from Old Babylonian times, that describes… </p><a class="read-more" href="/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia/Sumerian-civilization#ref361199">Read More</a></li><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/50/2550-050-993C719C/Sites-Mesopotamian-history.jpg" alt="Sites associated with ancient Mesopotamian history" data-width="1600" data-height="1397" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia/Mesopotamia-from-c-320-bce-to-c-620-ce#ref361525" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">history of Mesopotamia: The Seleucid period</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Literature in local languages is nonexistent, except for copies of ancient religious texts in cuneiform writing and fragments of Aramaic writing. There were authors who wrote in Greek, but little of their work has survived and that only as excerpts in later works. The most…</p><a class="read-more" href="/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia/Mesopotamia-from-c-320-bce-to-c-620-ce#ref361525">Read More</a></li></ul></li><li><strong>epic poetry</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/121162-050-25A9F581/Flood-Tablet-epic-series-Gilgamesh-Nineveh-British.jpg?w=300" alt="Epic of Gilgamesh" data-width="1600" data-height="1591" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/epic/Verbal-formulas#ref503317" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">epic: In the ancient Middle East</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…for possession of this fertile Mesopotamian land. Among the extant literature of this highly gifted people are fragments of narrative poems recounting the heroic deeds of their early kings: Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, and Gilgamesh. By far the most important in the development of Mesopotamian literature are the five poems of the…</p><a class="read-more" href="/art/epic/Verbal-formulas#ref503317">Read More</a></li></ul></li></ul></section><section><h3>contribution by</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"></ul><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><strong>Ashurbanipal</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/73/226973-050-5E3B003C/Lion-Hunt-of-Ashurbanipal-Nineveh-Assyria.jpg?w=300" alt="Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal" data-width="1600" data-height="1121" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ashurbanipal/Personality-and-significance#ref265713" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ashurbanipal: Personality and significance of Ashurbanipal</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…East (of which approximately 20,720 Assyrian tablets and fragments have been preserved in the British Museum). At royal command, scribes searched out and collected or copied texts of every genre from temple libraries. These were added to the basic collection of tablets culled from Ashur, Calah, and Nineveh itself. The…</p><a class="read-more" href="/biography/Ashurbanipal/Personality-and-significance#ref265713">Read More</a></li></ul></li><li><strong>Sargon II</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/195903-050-FD06EFF5/Sargon-II-illustration-relief-palace-Iraq-Dur.jpg?w=300" alt="Sargon II" data-width="1357" data-height="1600" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sargon-II#ref161394" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sargon II</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">With few exceptions, ancient Mesopotamian rulers have left no documents from which to write an actual biography. No personal documents have survived from Sargon’s reign, but it seems fair to assume that phraseologies uncommon in the inscriptions of other Assyrian kings, found in his texts, must have met with…</p><a class="read-more" href="/biography/Sargon-II#ref161394">Read More</a></li></ul></li></ul></section><section><h3>cultural areas</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"></ul><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><strong>Nineveh</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/50/64950-050-7FF76F71/cities-records-rivers-mouths-Euphrates-Tigris-countries.jpg" alt="Babylonia and Assyria" data-width="1600" data-height="1095" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Nineveh-ancient-city-Iraq#ref145141" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Nineveh: History</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…scribes to collect and copy ancient texts throughout the country. The “K” collection included more than 20,000 tablets or fragments of tablets and incorporated the ancient lore of Mesopotamia. The subjects are literary, religious, and administrative, and a great many tablets are in the form of letters. Branches of learning…</p><a class="read-more" href="/place/Nineveh-ancient-city-Iraq#ref145141">Read More</a></li></ul></li><li><strong>Sumer</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sumerian-language#ref605345" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sumerian language: History</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The rich Sumerian literature is represented by texts of varied nature, such as myths and epics, hymns and lamentations, rituals and incantations, and proverbs and the so-called wisdom compositions. For many centuries after the Old Babylonian period, the study of Sumerian continued in the Babylonian schools. As…</p><a class="read-more" href="/topic/Sumerian-language#ref605345">Read More</a></li></ul></li></ul></section><section><h3>preservation</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"></ul><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><strong>scribal quarter of Nippur</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"></ul></li><li><strong>temples</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/21/99021-050-61FFFABB/clay-tablet-Babylonian-description-solar-eclipse-use-April-15.jpg?w=300" alt="Babylonian clay tablet giving detailed description of the total solar eclipse of April 15, 136" data-width="1147" data-height="1600" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/epigraphy/Inscriptions-as-social-and-cultural-records#ref523556" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">epigraphy: Ancient Mesopotamia</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…source of more directly cultic texts, such as descriptions of rituals, which come under such headings as “Temple Program for the New Year’s Festivals at Babylon,” “Ritual to be Followed by the Kalū (priest) when Covering the Temple Kettle-Drum,” “Ritual for the Repair of a Temple,” and “Program of the…</p><a class="read-more" href="/topic/epigraphy/Inscriptions-as-social-and-cultural-records#ref523556">Read More</a></li></ul></li></ul></section></section></div><div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320" data-page="1"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"INDEX","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":376916,"pageLength":0,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.36"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.133.36' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"INDEX","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Mesopotamian literature | Britannica