Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

INTRODUCTION
out-of-date. Still, his cautious and precise methodology retains its value for contemporary
scholarship.
Shortly after its publication, Begrich’s conclusions were contested in one of
the first Assyriological monographs dealing with the literary form of Mesopotamian
prayers, Kunstmann’s dissertation Die babylonische Gebetsbeschwörung
(1932). 259 It was presumably this publication that coined the term “Gebetsbeschwörung”
(incantation-prayer), following Kunstmann’s teacher Landsberger.
Kunstmann’s methodology is form-critical. He distinguishes “allgemeine”
(general) and “spezielle” (special) “Gebetsbeschwörungen” (incantationprayers).
In the special variety, the magical act is dominant. In the general incantation-prayers,
on the other hand, the prayer is the main and sometimes only
thing. 260 This distinction has not stood the test of time (see above, page 28).
In the years following, several biblical scholars used prayers from Mesopotamia
as parallels for biblical texts. Widengren’s monograph The Accadian and
Hebrew Psalms of Lamentation as Religious Documents (1937) is an early example.
261 Widengren is not interested in the literary development of the prayers,
but in the comparison of religions. He presupposes an opposition of cult religion
and religious literature and sees a direct dependence of the biblical prayers on
Akkadian religious literature. Widengren’s book consists of long lists of phrases
from both types of texts and their interpretation. Though focusing on “cult religion,”
the precise cultic setting of the texts is oddly not taken into account.
Widengren’s monograph is now of little more than historical interest; his main
thesis has not been followed.
Another comparative approach, again more form-critical in orientation, is
taken by Castellino in his Le Lamentazioni individuali e gli inni in Babilonia e in
Israele. Raffrontati riguardo alla forma e al contenuto (1940). 262 Castellino’s study
compares individual laments and hymns from Mesopotamia and Israel. He first
establishes the general compatibility of the texts by describing each corpus separately
and then compares the results. Despite this cautious methodology, the
results of the study are hampered by Castellino’s notion of magic, which is never
made explicit. He states that all Babylonian individual prayers are essentially
magical incantations aiming at coercing the gods. Therefore, his study ends up
being a comparison of the “Hebrew” and the “Babylonian-Assyrian religions,” in
which Israel certainly comes out as superior.
Just after Ebeling’s new edition of the Akkadian prayers appeared (Die akkadische
Gebetsserie “Handerhebung.” Von neuem gesammelt und herausgegeben,
259 Walter G. Kunstmann, Die babylonische Gebetsbeschwörung (LSS n.F. 2; Leipzig: Hinrichs,
1932), abbreviated Kunstmann, BGB in this volume.
260 Kunstmann, BGB, 3.
261 Geo Widengren, The Accadian and Hebrew Psalms of Lamentation as Religious Documents: A
Comparative Study (Stockholm: Bokförlags Aktiebolaget Thule, 1937).
262 R. G. Castellino, Le Lamentazioni individuali e gli inni in Babilonia e in Israele. Raffrontati
riguardo alla forma e al contenuto (Torino: Società editrice internazionale, 1940).
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