The Atrahasis Epic is one of the oldest creation and flood narratives, originally written in ancient cuneiform text and told over three tablets. This book takes the commonalities between the most well known translations and presents them in story form, as opposed to the verse format they were was originally translated into. The Epic is offered as an easy- to- read representation of both the ancient creation and flood stories synonymous with the Genesis accounts. For further understanding of the ancient Epic, the story is segmented into easily digestible sections with the addition of the author's explanations, comments and observations expressed in detailed footnotes that follow and blend with the Atrahasis story.
The word Atrahasis means extra wise and refers to the earliest known name of Noah, who built an ark and saved mankind from destruction. This is that story, from ancient Sumeria, which many scholars believe was the original from which all known flood stories came from. This was the most popular story in the ancient world and has survived for over five thousand years. It is the only one that all cultures, worldwide, seem to share. Why? Was there really a great flood? And why do we not explore the oldest known version carefully for clues? That is the purpose of this book, which also includes a number of other interesting flood story fragments and documents.
The story of Hammurabi is the story of forty-three years jampacked with conquest, temple and wall building, irrigation efforts, and lawmaking, but it's also a story of broken relations and rising and falling empires. It's a story of betrayal and shifting alliances, a story where even the gods take a backseat to the matters of common men.
Annotation Eight essays address the relation of any specific beginningof a text, a book, an argument, a narrativeto the originary moment of Jewish textual tradition. The two fundamental approaches are attending to the quotidian and obvious notion that any textual work claims a beginning, and the connection between rhetorical and cultural moves. No credentials are noted for the contributors. There is no index. Distributed in the US by Stylus. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
With 6,400 entries, this is the most complete available lexicon of ancient Sumerian vocabulary. It replaces version 3 of the author's Sumerian Lexicon, which has served an audience of over 380,000 visitors at the web site www.sumerian.org since 1999. This published version adds over 2,600 new entries, and corrects or expands many of the previous entries. Also, following the express wish of a majority of online lexicon users, it has merged together and sorted the logogram words and the compound words into purely alphabetical order. This book will be an indispensable reference for anyone trying to translate Sumerian texts. Also, due to the historical position of ancient Sumer as the world's first urban civilisation, cultural and linguistic archaeologists will discover a wealth of information for research.
*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts and legends about Eridu *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu." - Excerpt from the opening paragraph of the Sumerian King List Emerging from the desert flats of southern Iraq can be seen the remains of a large mound, approximately 1750 feet x 1750 feet in size, surrounded by several smaller mounds. Known today as Tell Abu Shahrain or in the ancient world as Eridu, this site contains some of best examples of the Ubaid culture, and it was one of the first urban centers of civilization in southern Mesopotamia, if not the first itself. Many famous stories came from the mythical landscapes of Iraq's deep south. In the literature of ancient Sumer, Eridu was regarded as the primordial city, the first urban center, believed to have existed long before the great mythical Flood that wiped out human culture in the Book of Genesis and other earlier traditions. It was to places like this that Western explorers first came in the 19th century, searching for the origins of the lands which the Bible described as the cradle of the human race. In doing so, they discovered that Eridu was also a real place. The astonishing site is located about 8 miles southwest of the Sumerian city of Ur, and when it was first excavated in the mid-19th century, Western archaeologists were confused as to how a city as large as this could have existed in such a vast and waterless desert. But Eridu is positioned on the edge of the great alluvial plain of Sumer, a wild and beautiful marshland where the Tigris and the Euphrates meet. This was the Biblical "Garden of Eden," an ancient landscape that was renowned for its fertility in the past. To many Westerners, Iraq's history and culture were a blank before 1991, but ironically, as war engulfed the region, it helped underscore the importance and influence of the area on Western civilization. It was here, in the ferocious landscape of south Iraq, old Sumer, that the first laws, science, and cities came into being. Eridu is a place of extraordinary significance for the study of the earliest stages of civilization in history, and it is one of the best examples of cultural continuity in Mesopotamia, from the earliest prehistoric stages in which settlements emerged to the later historic periods. Eridu had a special status, not as the residence of a ruling dynasty of kings but for its religious significance; a series of temples were built there, devoted to the patron god of the city, Enki. Each one was built upon the ruins of its predecessor, and each one represents the architectural, religious, and social changes that occurred at the site throughout its history. Eridu: The History and Legacy of the Oldest City in Ancient Mesopotamia examines the tumultuous history of one of the most important cities of antiquity. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Eridu like never before.
I will lead you on a journey that will delve into the history of the Emerald Tablets and the secret mysteries contained within these cryptic artifacts. As we begin, it is important for you to know that The Emerald Tablets were written by an ancient being known as Thoth the Atlantean. To date, there have been two manifestations of the Emerald Tablets. First, thousands of years ago Thoth created multiple tablets of text and then concealed the location of these ancient tablets. Second, Thoth chose to incarnate as Hermes the Thrice Great.
Discover a secret library of Sumerian cuneiform tablets kept by the Babylonian mystery school of Mesopotamia preserving the most ancient writings on the planet. A revised and updated Deluxe Edition hardcover of the underground classic!
