A. R. George

Junko Taniguchi

W. G. Lambert's line drawings of cuneiform tablets from the British Museum, together with his meticulous editions of their contents, form a contribution to Assyriology unrivaled in his generation. Upon his death in 2011, Lambert bequeathed his academic legacy to A. R. George, who discovered among its contents approximately 1,400 unpublished pencil drawings. He and Junko Taniguchi took over the task of converting the drawings into images suitable for publication. The first of two planned volumes, this book features drawings of 329 cuneiform tablets found in Lambert's academic papers. Written by Babylonian and Assyrian scribes between 2500 and 35 BC, the texts in this volume are organized by genre and provided with a descriptive catalogue and indexes. The contents include commemorative and votive inscriptions, late copies of royal inscriptions and royal correspondence, historical and historical-literary texts, Sumerian literature, Akkadian-language compositions of mythological and "epic" content, Babylonian and Assyrian hymns, prayers and praise poetry, incantations, wisdom literature, and fragments of unidentified literary works. The mass of unpublished cuneiform tablets in museums remains a largely unexplored resource with enormous capacity to illuminate all aspects of life in ancient Mesopotamia. This collection constitutes an important milestone on the road to a fuller comprehension of the written legacy of the ancient Babylonians.

Cuneiform Texts Folios W. G. Lambert Phb

Gabriella Spada

In ancient Mesopotamia, men training to be scribes copied model letters in order to practice writing and familiarize themselves with epistolary forms and expressions. Similarly, model contracts were used to teach them how to draw up agreements for the transactions typical of everyday economic life. This volume makes available a trove of previously unknown tablets and fragments, now housed in the Shøyen Collection, that were produced in the training of scribes in Old Babylonian schools. Following on Old Babylonian Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Part One: Selected Letters, this volume publishes the contents of sixty-five tablets bearing Akkadian letters used to train scribes and twenty-six prisms and tablets carrying Sumerian legal texts copied in the same context. Each text is presented in transliterated form and in translation, with appropriate commentary and annotations and, at the end of the book, photographs of the cuneiform. The material is made easily navigable by a catalogue, bibliography, and indexes. This collection of previously unknown documents expands the extant corpus of educational texts, making an essential contribution to the study of the ancient world.

School Letters, Model Contracts, and Related Texts

Old Babylonian Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Part Two

Originally begun in collaboration with Professor W. L. Moran, this work collects all of the extant cuneiform tablets inscribed with lists of temples. The temple lists are classified in terms of their organization, whether associated with lexical lists, organized theologically, topographically, or hierarchically--presenting deities and temples according to their relative rank. The main part of the book is an up-to-date gazetteer of the ceremonial names of ancient Mesopotamian temples. This gazetteer replaces similar (though less complete) listings from earlier in the century and provides (where known) location, divine owner, and other relevant information for each temple listed. By including not only names from temple lists, but also from other literary genres, Professor George has provided a standard reference guide that Assyriologists and others with interest in Mesopotamian religion will consult with regularity for years to come. Indexes to the gazetteer of divine, personal, and royal names, and of cuneiform tablets enhance the reference value of this unique tool. The sixteen plates include some material not previously published.

The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia

House Most High

Wilfred G. Lambert

Transliteration, translation and commentary on previously unpublished ancient Babylonian omen and divinatory texts

Babylonian Divinatory Texts Chiefly in the Schøyen Collection

"The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic is the oldest long poem in the world, with a history going back four thousand years. It tells the fascinating and moving story of Gilgamesh's heroic deeds and lonely quest for immortality. This book collects for the first time all the known sources in the original cuneiform, including many fragments never published before. The author's personal study of every available fragment has produced a definitive edition and translation, complete with comprehensive introductory chapters that place the poem and its hero in context."--Publisher's description.

Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts

The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic

Jeremy A. Black

Tina Breckwoldt

J. N. Postgate

The authorship of this dictionary is enough to state that no Akkadianist will want to be without it. It is incredibly good value for money.

A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian

Babylonian Topographical Texts collects for the first time all Babylonian and Assyrian texts of the first millennium B.C. that belong to what is designated the topographical genre. Much of the material is not previously published. The book is largely concerned with Babylon. Seventeen texts on this city now allow its topography to be properly understood for the first time. Another seventeen texts concern the cities of Nippur, Assur, Kish and Uruk. Also included are thirty miscellaneous texts, mostly new, which bear upon topographical matters. The text editions and translations are supplemented by a philological and topical commentary. The work is concluded with full indices, and 57 plates of cuneiform copies.

A. R. George

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