Alan Lenzi is Professor of Religious Studies at University of the Pacific. He is the editor of Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction and author of Secrecy and the Gods: Secret Knowledge in Ancient Mesopotamia and Biblical Israel.

“A study that renders Akkadian literature accessible to a different readership.”—Nathan Wasserman Review of Biblical Literature

• ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments AbbreviationsPrologueIntroductionAkkadian: Linguistic, Geographical, and Chronological ParametersAn Overview of the Textual Record1. Prolegomena to the Study of Akkadian Literature Tablets: From Excavation to TranslationScribes: Contextualizing Literary ProductionCompositions: General IssuesAudiences: Who Read These Texts?2. Survey of Selected Text GroupsMythological and Heroic EpicsLegends of Akkadian KingsHistoriographical TextsLegal and Political DocumentsDivination: Deductive and IntuitiveOther Scholarly TextsPrayers, Incantations, Incantation- Prayers, Laments, and HymnsMeditations on Human Suffering and the DivineProverbs, Advice, Dialogues, and DebatesSatire, Parody, and HumorConclusion: The Future of Akkadian LiteratureBibliographyIndex

Alan Lenzi is Professor of Religious Studies at University of the Pacific. He is the editor of Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction and author of Secrecy and the Gods: Secret Knowledge in Ancient Mesopotamia and Biblical Israel.

“A study that renders Akkadian literature accessible to a different readership.”—Nathan Wasserman Review of Biblical Literature

• ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments AbbreviationsPrologueIntroductionAkkadian: Linguistic, Geographical, and Chronological ParametersAn Overview of the Textual Record1. Prolegomena to the Study of Akkadian Literature Tablets: From Excavation to TranslationScribes: Contextualizing Literary ProductionCompositions: General IssuesAudiences: Who Read These Texts?2. Survey of Selected Text GroupsMythological and Heroic EpicsLegends of Akkadian KingsHistoriographical TextsLegal and Political DocumentsDivination: Deductive and IntuitiveOther Scholarly TextsPrayers, Incantations, Incantation- Prayers, Laments, and HymnsMeditations on Human Suffering and the DivineProverbs, Advice, Dialogues, and DebatesSatire, Parody, and HumorConclusion: The Future of Akkadian LiteratureBibliographyIndex

Alan Lenzi is Professor of Religious Studies at University of the Pacific. He is the editor of Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction and author of Secrecy and the Gods: Secret Knowledge in Ancient Mesopotamia and Biblical Israel.

“A study that renders Akkadian literature accessible to a different readership.”—Nathan Wasserman Review of Biblical Literature

• ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments AbbreviationsPrologueIntroductionAkkadian: Linguistic, Geographical, and Chronological ParametersAn Overview of the Textual Record1. Prolegomena to the Study of Akkadian Literature Tablets: From Excavation to TranslationScribes: Contextualizing Literary ProductionCompositions: General IssuesAudiences: Who Read These Texts?2. Survey of Selected Text GroupsMythological and Heroic EpicsLegends of Akkadian KingsHistoriographical TextsLegal and Political DocumentsDivination: Deductive and IntuitiveOther Scholarly TextsPrayers, Incantations, Incantation- Prayers, Laments, and HymnsMeditations on Human Suffering and the DivineProverbs, Advice, Dialogues, and DebatesSatire, Parody, and HumorConclusion: The Future of Akkadian LiteratureBibliographyIndex