Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

INTRODUCTION
prayers in this volume institutionally, the identification of the group that used
and were responsible for a particular class of prayer will be given, when appropriate,
58 in the descriptions offered below.
AN INTRODUCTION TO PARTICULAR CLASSES OF MESOPOTAMIAN PRAYER:
Essential Bibliography: Tzvi Abusch. “Prayers, Hymns, Incantations, and Curses: Mesopotamia.”
Pages 353–55 in Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide. Edited by Sarah Iles
Johnston. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004. {A concise
treatment of prayers by one of the foremost interpreters of the genre.} Benjamin R.
Foster. Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature. 3d ed. Bethesda: CDL
Press, 2005, 1–47. {The opening chapter, entitled “General Introduction: In Search of
Akkadian Literature,” is an important overview that puts Akkadian prayers and
hymns into the broader context of the Akkadian textual materials.} Idem. Akkadian
Literature of the Late Period. Guides to the Mesopotamian Textual Record 2. Münster:
Ugarit-Verlag, 2007, 73–91. {An authoritative, bibliographic essay on the various
kinds of Akkadian prayers and hymns from first millennium Babylonia and Assyria.
This survey covers many more examples than is possible to discuss here and is indispensible
to all serious students.} Wolfram von Soden. “Gebet II. (babylonisch und
assyrisch).” RlA 3 (1959–1964), 160–70. Idem. “Hymne. B. Nach akkadischen Quellen.”
RlA 4 (1975), 344–548. {Although dated, these articles remain valuable.} 59
Kenton L. Sparks. Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background
Literature. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005, 84–104. {A useful resource
for brief introductions to various kinds of Akkadian prayers and hymns with references
to the secondary literature. Brief comparative remarks connect the text or genre
under discussion to the Hebrew Bible.}
Having explored the definition of prayer presented in the first section of this
introduction and modifying it in light of the Mesopotamian material in the second,
this third section turns to consider the various classes that scholars have
recognized as examples of Mesopotamian prayer. Some of the classes discussed
below are recognized on the basis of ancient scribal labels and rubrics (e.g.,
shuillas, ikribus, and tamitus). Other classes are modern conventions, created
because scholars recognized certain thematic and/or structural similarities in the
texts (e.g., incantation-prayers, royal prayers, and letter-prayers). A comprehensive
treatment of every class of Mesopotamian prayer in Akkadian is not
Press, 1996), 160–202 (reference courtesy of Seth Sanders), especially 161–62, where Hanks
notes that “all ritual speech in Maya could be construed as a sort of semiquote, insofar as shamans
claim to have learned its forms either from other shamans, from dreams, or in charismatic
dialogues with the very sprits they invoke in the third person. Shamans are not merely relayers
of divine speech, however, since they consciously change their prayer forms over time, in order
to beautify them.”
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The caveat “when appropriate” is necessary because not all prayers are attributable to one of
these three groups.
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One might also usefully consult W. Röllig “Literatur. Überblick über die akkadische Literatur,”
RlA 7 (1987–1990), 48–66, especially 54–56.
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