/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6087623]

hey guys, what are some good history books about Mesopotamia?

[Anonymous No.6087662]

I recently read a book called the myths of mesopotamia that had a lot of very obscure tablet translations. It also used the myths to give a good interpretation of sumerian social structure. pretty cool

[Anonymous No.6087677]

>he thinks Mesopotamia is real

[Anonymous No.6087681]

The epic of gilgamesh if you haven't started with it yet.

[Anonymous No.6087684]

Also interested in this. Looking for an up-to-date, well-written, single-volume overview.

Van de Mieroop's "History of the Ancient Near East" looks promising, though it covers more than Mesopotamia.

http://www.amazon.com/History-Ancient-Near-East-3000/dp/1405149116

[Anonymous No.6087692]

>>6087681

Yeah dewd but it ain't a history book

[Anonymous No.6087708]

>>6087677

[Anonymous No.6087719]

>>6087684

Books about the flood story, temple complexes in early cities, or something more general on the role ancient religion in the region would also be cool.

[Anonymous No.6087803]

Brace yourself.

Akkadian and Sumerian literature in translation:

>"The Harps that Once...": Sumerian Poetry in Translation
Thorkild Jacobsen (Yale U.P.)

>Myths from Mesopotamia
Stephanie Dalley, (Oxford World Classics)

>Before the Muses: An anthology of Akkadian Literature
Benjamin R. Foster (CDL Press)

>"The Epic of Gilgamesh"
ed. Benjamin R. Foster (Norton Critical Editions)
Indisputably the most patrician edition of Gilgamesh not to be found on a clay tablet: an accessible synthesis of thorough textual-scholarship which lets the tale speak for itself.

[Anonymous No.6087810]

>>6087803

Political and cultural history:

>Ancient Iraq
Georges Roux (Penguin)
Best one-volume survey for political history/chronology is still Roux. Been in print since forever, with good reason.

>History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History
S.N. Kramer (U. Penn press)

>The Sumerians: Their History, Culture and Character
S.N.Kramer
http://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/sumerians.pdf

>Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization
A.L. Oppenheim (U.Chicago Press)
https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/ancient_mesopotamia.pdf

>They Wrote on Clay: The Babylonian Tablets Speak Today
Edward Chiera
https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/they_wrote_on-clay.pdf

>The Might that was Assyria
and
>The Greatness that was Babylon
H.W.F. Saggs (Sidgwick and Jackson)

[Anonymous No.6087819]

>>6087810

Art, archaeology and material culture:

>The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: From the Old Stone Age to the Persian Conquest
Seton Lloyd (Thames and Hudson)

>The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient
Henri Frankfort (Penguin, Yale U.P.)

>Foundations in the Dust: The Story of Mesopotamian Exploration
Seton Lloyd (Thames and Hudson)

[Anonymous No.6087823]

>>6087819

Miscellaneous recommendations:

>Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion
Thorkild Jacobsen (Yale U.P.)

>Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary
Jeremy Black and Anthony Green (U. Texas Press)

>Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature
Gwendolyn Leick (Routledge)

[Anonymous No.6087840]

>>6087823

I've got more, but they still need sorting.

Planning on putting together a "Start with the Apkallu" image-macro like pic-related at some point.

[Anonymous No.6087854]

>>6087692
No fictional recs then? Although the only other one I know of is The Persian Boy.

[Anonymous No.6087864]

Where can I find a good translation of Gilgamesh and Enuma Elish? Or rather, which translation can be found on archive.org, that is still pretty good by modern standards.

[Anonymous No.6088034]

>>6087803
>ed. Benjamin R. Foster (Norton Critical Editions)
>Indisputably the most patrician edition of Gilgamesh

Everyone seems to recommend Andrew George. Why is this version better?

[Anonymous No.6088140]

>>6088034

Pedantic, I guess, but the translation and editing in the Norton volume are more cautious/conservative.
The non-Akkadian recensions are deferred to a Sumerologist and Hittitologist for their respective languages, with the result that each version is more faithful to the letter and 'flavour' of its source-text.
The texts are inherently fragmented and asymmetrical, and the way they're presented in the Norton volume, they're allowed to speak for themselves rather than having been made to fit any one author's narrative framework.

Plus, the appended criticism/essays contain a great chapter from Thorkild Jacobsen's "Treasures of Darkness", as well as some third-wave feminist tripe, if you need a laugh.

The Penguin translation is equally the product of solid scholarship (George edited the critical edition of the Akkadian/cuneiform text) and definitely enjoyable, but I'm partial to Norton for the above reasons.

Definitely worth checking out both, if you're interested.

[Anonymous No.6089414]

>>6088140

Thanks a bunch for the detailed answer. I ask because I've already read George's translation and I thought it seemed bretty good. On the strength of your recommendation I'll check the Norton version out as well.

[Anonymous No.6090165]

>>6089414

Any time, friend .

[Anonymous No.6090181]

>tfw aged ten you recoil in horror from the episode with Shamhat

>tfw revisiting the text the following year ushers you into manhood