Writings from the Ancient World
Series · 24
books · 1336-2100
Books in series
#1
Letters from Ancient Egypt. Society of Biblical Literature Writing from the Ancient World Series Volume 1
1990
This book provides translations of most of the letters that have survived reasonably intact from the Old Kingdom through the Twenty-first Dynasty of ancient Egypt. An introduction provides information relating to ancient Egyptian epistolography and discussion regarding the transmission of letters. The organization of the book is basically chronological, with separate sections devoted to royal letters and letters sent by and to the vizier. Also included are several model letters that were used in the education of the Egyptian scribe.
#2
Hittite Myths
1990
This work contains the first English translations of a collection of Hittite myths. The translations are based on the original tablets on which the myths were written, and take into account recent textual discoveries and published studies on the texts. Revised and augmented, this second edition includes additional introductions to each myth and a newly published Hurrian myth, "The Song of Release," dealing with legal and social institutions in ancient Babylonia and Israel. Accessible to nonspecialists, the translations also preserve column and line count for the convenience of scholars.
#3
Letters from Early Mesopotamia
1993
Book by Michalowski, Piotr
#5
Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt
1336
Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt
#6
Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor
1995
The law collections presented in this volume are compilations, varying in legal and literary sophistication, recorded by scribes in the schools and the royal centers of ancient Mesopotamia and Asia Minor from the end of the third millennium through the middle of the first millennium B.C.E. Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Hittite texts, with accompanying English translations, are included. Some of the collections, like the famous Laws of Hammurabi, achieved a wide audience; others, like the Laws about Rented Oxen, were scribal exercises limited to a local school center. All, however, reflected contemporary legal practice in the scribes' recordings of contracts, administrative documents, and court cases and also provide historians with evidence of abstractions of legal rules from specific cases.
#7
Hittite Diplomatic Texts
1995
This work presents full translations of more than 50 documents from the files of the "foreign office" of the Hittite Empire: 21 treaties, 18 diplomatic letters, and 18 royal edicts and miscellaneous records concerning the relations of the Hittites with their Anatolian and Syrian vassals, as well as with other great powers such as Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia. Originally composed in Hittite or in the Akkadian lingua franca of the day, many of these texts have never before appeared in English. A short introduction places each document in its historical and cultural context, and a general essay acquaints the reader with the diplomatic practice of the Late Bronze Age. This collection of documents will be a major source book for historians of the Ancient Near East and for students of cuneiform and Biblical law. It will also prove useful for those investigating the relationship between Biblical covenant theology and its possible antecedents in older Near Eastern treaty patterns.
#9
Ugaritic Narrative Poetry
1997
More than 500 years before the Odyssey and the Iliad, before the biblical books of Genesis or Job, masters of the epic lived and wrote on the Mediterranean coast. The Ugaritic tablets left behind by these master scribes and poets were excavated in the second quarter of the twentieth century from the region of modern Syria and Lebanon, and are brought to life here in contemporary English translations by five of the best known scholars in the field. Included are the major narrative poems, "Kirta," "Aqhat," and "Baal," in addition to ten shorter texts, newly translated with transcriptions from photographs using the latest techniques in the photography of epigraphic materials (sample plate included).
#11
Hittite Prayers
2002
Hittite prayers were at first heavily influenced by Babylonian and Hurrian prototypes, but soon developed their own creative style, highly emotional and rich in metaphors. The twenty-four prayers assembled in the volume cover the entire span of Hittite literary history.
#14
Ancient Aramaic and Hebrew Letters
1994
A readable anthology of epistles, rather than a guide to alphabetic characters, is presented for nonspecialist scholars of the Middle East, the Bible, and languages. Some of the better preserved letters in the two languages down to the time of Alexander the Great, was first published in 1994. The second edition includes nine new texts, some subsequently published and others subsequently selected.
#16
Texts from the Pyramid Age
2005
Ancient Egypt is well known for its towering monuments and magnificent statuary, but other aspects of its civilization are less well known, especially its written texts. Now Texts from the Pyramid Age provides ready access to new translations of a representative selection of texts ranging from the historically significant to the repetitive formulae of the tomb inscriptions from Old Kingdom Egypt (ca. 2700-2170 B.C.). These royal and private inscriptions, coming from both the secular and religious milieus and from all kinds of physical contexts, not only shed light on the administration, foreign expeditions, and funerary beliefs of the period but also bring to life the Egyptians themselves, revealing how they saw the world and how they wanted the world to see them. Strudwick’s helpful introduction to the history and literature of this seminal period provides important background for reading and understanding these historical texts. Like other volumes in the Writings from the Ancient World series, this work will soon become a standard with students and scholars alike.
#18
Nuzi Texts and Their Uses as Historical Evidence
2010
Ancient Nuzi, buried beneath modern Yorghan Tepe in northern Iraq, is a Late Bronze Age town belonging to the kingdom of Arrap a that has yielded between 6,500 and 7,000 legal, economic and administrative tablets, all belonging to a period of some five generations (ca. 1475 1350 B.C.E.) and almost all from known archaeological contexts. The tablets were excavated from the government administrative complexes, from houses in all the urban neighborhoods, from each of the suburban villas, and even a few dozen from the temple complex. These Akkadian-language documents include contracts for labor, deeds of sale, testamentary wills, slave sales, ration lists, inter-office memoranda, trial records, scholastic texts, and much more. The ninety-six texts presented here in transliteration and translation are divided into five groups dealing with topics of historical interest: Nuzi and the political force responsible for its demise; the crimes and trials of a mayor of Nuzi; a multigenerational legal struggle over title to a substantial amount of land; the progressive enrichment of one family at the expense of another through a series of real estate transactions; and the nature of the ilku, a real estate tax whose dynamic is crucial in defining the economic and social structure of Nuzi as a whole.
#19
Mesopotamian Chronicles
2004
All the chronicle literature of ancient Mesopotamia from the early second millennium to Seleucid times is collected in this English translation of Glassner’s Chroniques Mésopotamiennes ( Les Belles Lettres, 1993). In addition to revising and supplementing the French edition, this volume provides transcriptions of the cuneiform and English translations of every example of Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian chronographic literature as well as seminal essays on the genre and on Mesopotamian historiography in general.
#20
Epics of Sumerian Kings
The Matter of Aratta
2100
Epics of Sumerian Kings presents for the first time both the authoritative Sumerian text and an elegant English translation of four key epics from the Sumerian literary canon. These epics, the earliest known in any language, revolve around the conflict between the cities of Uruk (biblical Erech) in ancient Iraq and Aratta in neighboring Iran. Of special interest is “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta,” which contains the story of the confounding of human language, often cited as a source of the biblical tower of Babel narrative, as well as the Sumerians’ own account of the invention of cuneiform writing. In addition to providing English translations of the epics, Vanstiphout discusses their intellectual and cultural context, their poetics and meaning, and the significance of the epic cycle as a whole. The volume will interest scholars and students of Assyriology and the ancient Near East, biblical scholars, and general readers and will be a valuable text for courses on ancient Near Eastern literature or history.
#26
Biographical Texts from Ramessid Egypt
2007
The Ramessid period in Egypt (ca. 1290-1075 B.C.E.) corresponds to the Late Bronze Age, a time of great change both in Egypt and the Near East. This period of empire, dominated by the figure of Ramesses II, witnessed crucial developments in art, language, and religious display. Biographical Texts from Ramessid Egypt offers insights into these cultural transformations through the voices of forty-five priests, artists, civil officials, and military men who served under the kings of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties. Sixty-five biographical texts, which were inscribed in tombs, on statues and stelae in temples, and exceptionally on temple walls, give details of their careers and character. The metrically arranged translations are introduced by descriptions of the texts monumental contexts and, where possible, summaries of the careers of their owners. The volume provides an introduction to the historical background of the Ramessid period, drawing together key themes and interpretive issues raised by the texts and their contexts. These include the representation of relationships to deities and the king, the thematization of the priestly life, and implications of changes in the texts media, including new decorative programs of nonroyal tombs. This integration of text with context sheds light on the meaning of biographical writing in ancient Egypt as a whole.
#28
The Ahhiyawa Texts
2011
Twenty-six texts found in the Hittite capital of Hattusa dating from the fifteenth–thirteenth centuries B.C.E. contain references to a land known as “Ahhiyawa,” which most scholars now identify with the Late Bronze Age Mycenaean world. The subject of continuing study and controversy since they were first published in 1924, the letters are still at the center of Mycenaean-Hittite studies and are now considered in studies and courses concerned with Troy, the Trojan War, and the role of both Mycenaeans and Hittites in that possible conflict. This volume offers, for the first time in a single source, English translations of all twenty-six Ahhiyawa texts and a commentary and brief exposition on each text’s historical implications. The volume also includes an introductory essay to the whole Ahhiyawa “problem” as well as a longer essay on Mycenaean-Hittite interconnections and the current state of the discipline.
#29
Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions
2012
Book by Payne, Annick
#33
The Great Name
Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary
2013
This volume includes all rulers' names, from a single original name through the growth of the five-fold titulary, from the so-called Dynasty 0 to the last Ptolemaic ruler, offered in transliteration and English translation with an introduction and notes.
#35
Neo-Babylonian Trial Records
2014
New translations of fifty transliterated texts for research and classroom use This collection of sixth-century B.C.E. Mesopotamian texts provides a close-up, often dramatic, view of ancient courtroom encounters shedding light on Neo-Babylonian legal culture and daily life. In addition to the legal texts, Holtz provides an introduction to Neo-Babylonian social history, archival records, and legal materials. This is an essential resource for scholars interested in the history of law.
#36
Sourcebook for Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine
2014
An introductory guide for scholars and students of the ancient Near East and the history of medicine In this collection JoAnn Scurlock assembles and translates medical texts that provided instructions for ancient doctors and pharmacists. Scurlock unpacks the difficult, technical vocabulary that describes signs and symptoms as well as procedures and plants used in treatments. This fascinating material shines light on the development of medicine in the ancient Near East, yet these tablets were essentially inaccessible to anyone without an expertise in cuneiform. Scurlock s work fills this gap by providing a key resource for teaching and research.
#37
The Witchcraft Series Maqlû
2015
The Akkadian series Maqlu, "Burning," is one of the most significant and interesting magical texts from the Ancient Near East. While containing almost 100 incantations and accompanying rituals directed against witches and witchcraft, it actually represents a single complex ceremony. The ceremony was performed during a single night and into the following morning at the end of the month Abu (July/August), a time when spirits were thought to move back and forth between the netherworld and the world of the living. This edition of the text contains a detailed introduction as well as an annotated transcription and translation of the text."
#38
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts
2100
The Pyramid Texts are the oldest body of extant literature from ancient Egypt. First carved on the walls of the burial chambers in the pyramids of kings and queens of the Old Kingdom, they provide the earliest comprehensive view of the way in which the ancient Egyptians understood the structure of the universe, the role of the gods, and the fate of human beings after death. Their importance lies in their antiquity and in their endurance throughout the entire intellectual history of ancient Egypt. This volume contains the complete translation of the Pyramid Texts, including new texts recently discovered and published. It incorporates full restorations and readings indicated by post–Old Kingdom copies of the texts and is the first translation that presents the texts in the order in which they were meant to be read in each of the original sources.
#39
The Ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books
2017
The first, complete English translation of the ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books The ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books are among the most extensive religious texts from pharaonic civilization and present humanity's oldest surviving attempts to provide a scientific map of the unseen realms beyond the visible cosmos. First attested during the middle of the second millennium BCE, the Netherworld Books decorate the walls of the New Kingdom royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The importance of these texts lies in their philosophical and theological speculations about the inner workings of the cosmos, particularly the events of the solar journey through the twelve hours of the night. These important texts describe one of the central mysteries of Egyptian religious belief, the union of the solar god Re with the underworldly god Osiris, and provide information on aspects of Egyptian theology and cosmography more thoroughly than what is presented in the more widely read Book of the Dead. Features
#40
Hittite Local Cults
2018
An innovative translation and analysis of Hittite local festivals and of their economic and social dimensions for students and scholars
This English translation of the Hittite cult inventories provides a vivid portrait of the religion, economy, and administration of Bronze Age provincial towns and villages of the Hittite Empire. These texts report the state of local shrines and festivals and document the interplay between the central power and provincial communities on religious affairs. Brief introductions to each text make the volume accessible to students and scholars alike.
Features:
Critical editions of Hittite cult inventories, some of which are edited for the first time, with substantial improvements in readings and interpretations
The first systematic study of the linguistic aspects of Hittite administrative jargon
An up-to-date study of Hittite cult images and iconography of the gods
Michele Cammarosano currently leads a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft-funded project on Hittite cultic administration at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. His research interests focus on cuneiform palaeography and Hittite religion.
#41
Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East
2003
This is the first book to gather the available ancient Near Eastern extrabiblical sources containing prophetic words or references to prophetic activities. Among the 140 texts included in this volume are oracles of prophets, personal letters, formal inscriptions, and administrative documents from ancient Mesopotamia and Levant from the second and first millennia B.C.E. By collecting and presenting evidence of the activities of prophets and the phenomenon of prophecy from all over the ancient Near East, the volume illumines the cultural background of biblical prophecy and its parallels. It makes these valuable primary source materials accessible to students and general readers in contemporary English along with transcriptions of the original languages, indexes, and an extensive bibliography.
Authors
Colleen Manassa Darnell
Author · 1 books
Also credited as: Colleen Manassa, Colleen Darnell, John and Colleen Darnell Dr. Colleen Darnell is an American Egyptologist known for her Instagram account Vintage Egyptologist as well as a YouTube channel of the same name that she runs with her husband and fellow Egyptologist John Darnell. She has made numerous contributions and discoveries to the study of Egyptian history and has appeared in documentaries as an expert of the field, including on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, the Science Channel, and Smithsonian, as well as appeared in National Geographic’s “Lost Treasures of Egypt.” Colleen teaches art history at the University of Hartford and Naugatuck Valley Community College; she has curated a major museum exhibit on Egyptian revival art and design at the Yale Peabody Museum.
James P. Allen
Author · 6 books
James P. Allen (Ph. D., Univ. of Chicago, 1981), Wilbour Prof. of Egyptology, Brown University, has published extensively on ancient Egyptian language, religion, and history. Allen, James P., 1945-, Library of Congress Authorities
Eric Cline
Author · 20 books
DR. ERIC H. CLINE is the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University. A National Geographic Explorer, NEH Public Scholar, and Fulbright scholar with degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, he is an active field archaeologist with 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including ten seasons at the site of Megiddo (biblical Armageddon) in Israel from 1994-2014, and seven seasons at Tel Kabri, where he currently serves as Co-Director. A three-time winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society's "Best Popular Book on Archaeology" Award (2001, 2009, and 2011) and two-time winner of the American School of Archaeology's "Nancy Lapp Award for Best Popular Archaeology Book" (2014 and 2018), he is a popular lecturer who has appeared frequently on television documentaries and has also won national and local awards for both his research and his teaching. He is the author or editor of 20 books, almost 100 articles, and three recorded 14-lecture courses. His previous books written specifically for the general public include "The Battles of Armageddon: Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley from the Bronze Age to the Nuclear Age" (2000), "Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel" (2004), "From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible" (2007), "Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction" (2009), "The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction" (2013), "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed" (2014), “Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology" (2017), and “Digging Up Armageddon” (2020). He has also co-authored a children's book on Troy, entitled "Digging for Troy" (2011). For a video of his "Last Lecture" talk, go to http://vimeo.com/7091059.
Shalom E. Holtz
Author · 1 books
Associate Professor of Bible and chair of the Robert M. Beren Department of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University in New York. An Assyriologist and biblical scholar, his publications address Mesopotamian law and religious literature and their relationships to biblical and postbiblical writings. He is the author of Neo-Babylonian Court Procedure (Brill, 2009).
Benjamin R. Foster
Author · 4 books
Benjamin 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.
