Akkadian literature

Most of what we have from the Assyrians and Babylonians was inscribed in cuneiform with a metal stylus on tablets of clay, called laterculae coctiles by Pliny the Elder; papyrus seems to have been also employed, but it has perished.

[3] There were libraries in most towns and temples in Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia; an old Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn."

The Assyrians and Babylonians' very advanced systems of writing, science, medicine, civil administration, legal and economic structures and mathematics contributed greatly to their literary output.

[5] The Assyrian dialect of Akkadian is particularly rich in royal inscriptions from the end of the 14th century BC onward, for example the epics of Adad-nārārī, Tukulti-Ninurta, and Šulmānu-ašarēdu III and the annals which catalogued the campaigns of the neo-Assyrian monarchs.

[8] The Aluzinnu (“trickster,” a jester, clown or buffoon) text, extant in five fragments from the neo-Assyrian period concerns an individual, dābibu, ākil karṣi, “character assassin,” who made a living entertaining others with parodies, mimicry, and scatological songs.

The Poor Man of Nippur provides a subversive narrative of the triumph of the underdog over his superior[9] while Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite is a school text of a slapstick nature.

The Code of Ḫammu-rapi, c. 1750 BC, was the longest of the Mesopotamian legal collections, extending to nearly three hundred individual laws and accompanied by a lengthy prologue and epilogue.

The Standard Babylonian version, ša naqba īmeru, ‘‘He who saw the deep,’’ contains up to 3,000 lines on eleven tablets and a prose meditation on the fate of man on the twelfth which was virtually a word-for-word translation of the Sumerian “Bilgames and the Netherworld.” It is extant in 73 copies and was credited to a certain Sîn-lēqi-unninni[12] and arranged upon an astronomical principle.

Then comes the story of the struggle between the gods of light and the powers of darkness, and the final victory of Marduk, who clove Tiamat asunder, forming the heaven from half of her body and the earth from the other.

Hades, the abode of Ereshkigal or Allatu, had been entered by Nergal, who, angered by a message sent to her by the gods of the upper world, ordered Namtar to strike off her head.

[13] Exemplars of omen text appear during the earliest periods of Akkadian literature but come to their maturity early in the first millennium with the formation of canonical versions.

The practice of extispicy, divination through the entrails of animals, was perfected into a science over the millennia by the Babylonians and supporting texts were eventually gathered into a monumental handbook, the Bārûtu, extending over a hundred tablets and divided into ten chapters.

[16] Incantations form an important part of this literary heritage, covering a range of rituals from the sacred, Maqlû, "burning" to counter witchcraft, Šurpu, “incineration” to counter curses, Namburbi, to preempt inauspicious omens, Utukkū Lemnūtu (actually bilingual), to exorcise “Evil Demons,” and Bīt rimki, or “bath house,” the purification and substitution ceremony, to the mundane, Šà.zi.ga, “the rising of the heart,” potency spells, and Zu-buru-dabbeda, “to seize the ‘locust tooth’,” a compendium of incantations against field pests.

[17] A particularly rich genre of Akkadian texts was that represented by the moniker of “wisdom literature,” although there are differences in opinion concerning which works qualify for inclusion.

Abnu šikinšu • Adad-nārārī I Epic • Adad-šuma-uṣur Epic • Adapa and Enmerkar • Adapa and the South Wind • Advice to a Prince • Agushaya Hymn • Alamdimmû • Aluzinnu text • Ardat-lili • Asakkū marṣūtu • Ašipus' Almanac (or Handbook) • At the cleaners • Atra-ḫasīs • Autobiography of Adad-guppī • Autobiography of Kurigalzu • Autobiography of Marduk • Babylonian Almanac • Babylonian King List • Babylonian Theodicy • Bārûtu • Birth legend of Sargon • Bīt mēseri • Bīt rimki • Bīt salā’ mê • Bullussa-rabi’s Hymn to Gula • Catalogue of Texts and Authors • Chronicle of Early Kings • Chronicle of the Market Prices • Chronicle of reign of Šulgi • Chronicle P • Code of Hammurabi • Consecration of a priest • Counsels of a Pessimist • Counsels of Wisdom • Crimes and Sacrileges of Nabu-šuma-iškun • Curse of Akkad • Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin • Dialogue between a Man and His God • Dialogue of Pessimism • Dingir.šà.dib.ba • Donkey Disputation • Dream of Kurigalzu • Dynastic Chronicle • Dynastic Prophecy • Dynasty of Dunnum (Harab Myth) • Eclectic Chronicle • Edict of Ammi-Saduqa • Egalkura spells • Elegies Mourning the Death of Tammuz • Enlil and Sud • Enuma Anu Enlil • Enûma Eliš • Epic of Anzu • Epic of Gilgameš • Epic of the Kassite period • Epic of Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur • Epic of the plague-god Erra (Erra and Išum) • Etana • Fable of the Fox • Fable of the Riding-donkey • Fable of the Willow • Girra and Elamatum • Great Prayer to Šamaš • Great Prayer to Nabû • Great Revolt Against Naram-Sin • Harem Edicts • Hemerology for Nazi-Maruttaš • Hymn to Ištar (“Ištar 2”) • Hymn to Ninurta as Savior • Hymn to the Queen of Nippur • Ḫulbazizi • Inana's Ascent • Iqqur Ipuš • Iškar Zaqīqu • Ištar’s hell ride • Kalûtu catalogue

• Muššu'u • Na'id-Šihu Epic • Nabonidus Chronicle • Namburbi • Namerimburrudû • Neo-Babylonian Laws • Nergal and Ereškigal • New year ritual-Akitu procession • Nigdimdimmû • Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite • Nissaba and the Wheat • Ox and the Horse • Palm and Vine • Pazuzu • Poor Man of Nippur • Prophecy A • Qutāru • Recipes against Antašubba • Religious Chronicle • Royal inscription of Simbar-Šipak • Sag-gig-ga-meš (Muruṣ qaqqadi) • Sakikkū • Salmānu-ašarēdu III Epic • Synchronistic History • A Syncretistic Hymn to Ištar • Șēru šikinšu • Šammu šikinšu • Šar Pūḫî • Šà.zi.ga • Series of Ox and Horse • Series of the Fox • Series of Ox and Horse • Series of the Poplar • Series of the Spider • Šēp lemutti • Story of the Poor, Forlorn Wren • Šu'ila • Šulgi Prophecy • Šumma ālu • Šumma amēlu kašip • Šumma immeru • Šumma Izbu • Šumma liptu • Šumma sinništu qaqqada rabât • Šurpu • Tākultu ritual texts • Tamarisk and Palm • Tamītu Oracles • Tašritu hemerology • Tukulti-Ninurta Epic • Tu-ra kìlib-ba • The therapeutic series UGU (Šumma amēlu muḫḫašu umma ukāl) • Uruhulake of Gula • Uruk King List • Uruk Prophecy • Ušburruda • Utukkū Lemnūtu • Verse Account of Nabonidus • Vision of the Netherworld • Walker Chronicle • Weidner Chronicle • Zimri-Lim Epic • Zi-pà incantations • Zisurrû (Sag-ba Sag-ba) • Zu-buru-dabbeda