Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement / Edition 3

by James B. Pritchard

Overview

This anthology brought together the most important historical, legal, mythological, liturgical, and secular texts of the ancient Near East, with the purpose of providing a rich contextual base for understanding the people, cultures, and literature of the Old Testament. A scholar of religious thought and biblical archaeology, James Pritchard recruited the foremost linguists, historians, and archaeologists to select and translate the texts. The goal, in his words, was "a better understanding of the likenesses and differences which existed between Israel and the surrounding cultures." Before the publication of these volumes, students of the Old Testament found themselves having to search out scattered books and journals in various languages. This anthology brought these invaluable documents together, in one place and in one language, thereby expanding the meaning and significance of the Bible for generations of students and readers. As one reviewer put it, "This great volume is one of the most notable to have appeared in the field of Old Testament scholarship this century."

Princeton published a follow-up companion volume, The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament (1954), and later a one-volume abridgment of the two, The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures (1958). The continued popularity of this work in its various forms demonstrates that anthologies have a very important role to play in education—and in the mission of a university press.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691035031
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	12/21/1969
Series:	Princeton Studies on the Near East
Edition description:	3RD
Pages:	744
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

• Frontmatter, pg. i
• Contents, pg. v
• Introduction, pg. xix
• Introduction. To the Third Edition, pg. xxv
• Egyptian Myths, Tales, and Mortuary Texts, pg. 3
• Sumerian Myths and Epic Tales, pg. 37
• Akkadian Myths and Epics, pg. 60
• Hittite Myths, Epics, and Legends, pg. 120
• Ugaritic Myths, Epics, and Legends, pg. 129
• Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, pg. 159
• Egyptian and Hittite Treaties, pg. 199
• Hittite Instructions, pg. 207
• Documents from the Practice of Law, pg. 212
• Egyptian Historical Texts, pg. 227
• Babylonian and Assyrian Historical Texts, pg. 265
• Hittite Historical Texts, pg. 318
• Palestinian Inscriptions, pg. 320
• Egyptian Rituals and Incantations, pg. 325
• Akkadian Rituals, pg. 331
• Hittite Rituals, Incantations, and Description of Festivals, pg. 346
• Egyptian Hymns and Prayers, pg. 365
• Sumerian Petition, pg. 382
• Sumero-Akkadian Hymns and Prayers, pg. 383
• Hittite Prayers, pg. 393
• Fables and Didactic Tales, pg. 405
• Proverbs and Precepts, pg. 412
• Observations on Life and the World Order, pg. 431
• Oracles and Prophecies, pg. 441
• A Sumerian Lamentation, pg. 455
• Egyptian Secular Songs and Poems, pg. 467
• An Egyptian Letter, pg. 475
• A Sumerian Letter, pg. 480
• Akkadian Letters, pg. 482
• Aramaic Letters, pg. 491
• Egyptian Texts, pg. 495
• Hittite Omen, pg. 497
• Akkadian Myths and Epics, pg. 501
• Hittite Myths, Epics, and Legends, pg. 519
• Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, pg. 523
• Egyptian and Hittite Treaties, pg. 529
• Akkadian Treaties from Syria and Assyria, pg. 531
• Documents from the Practice of Law, pg. 542
• Aramaic Papyri from Elephantine, pg. 548
• Egyptian Historical Texts, pg. 553
• Babylonian and Assyrian Historical Texts, pg. 556
• Palestinian Inscriptions, pg. 568
• Sumerian Hymns, pg. 573
• Sumerian Wisdom Text, pg. 589
• Akkadian Didactic and Wisdom Literature, pg. 592
• Sumerian Lamentation, pg. 611
• Akkadian Letters, pg. 623
• Aramaic Letters, pg. 633
• Sumerian Sacred Marriage Texts, pg. 637
• Sumerian Miscellaneous Texts, pg. 646
• Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions, pg. 653
• South-Arabian Inscriptions, pg. 663
• Addenda, pg. 671
• Abbreviations, pg. 677
• Index of Biblical References, pg. 683
• Index of Names, pg. 687
• Addenda, pg. 711
• Translators and Annotators, pg. 713
• Contents of the Supplement, pg. 714

Editorial Reviews

[A] very useful book, soundly conceived, competently edited, and beautifully printed. It offers in translation texts of the most important documents which throw light on the Near East background of the Old Testament. As a source book it will be welcomed not merely by Biblical students, but by all ancient historians who concern themselves with the cultures anterior to those of Greece and Rome.

Archaeology

"[A] very useful book, soundly conceived, competently edited, and beautifully printed. It offers in translation texts of the most important documents which throw light on the Near East background of the Old Testament. As a source book it will be welcomed not merely by Biblical students, but by all ancient historians who concern themselves with the cultures anterior to those of Greece and Rome."—Archaeology

From the Publisher