NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Babylonian literature

The Babylonians were an ancient culture located in what is now Iraq. They had very advanced systems of writing, science and mathematics for their time. Most of what we have from the Babylonians was inscribed in cuneiform with a metal stylus on tablets of clay, called laterculae coctiles by Pliny the Elder; papyrus seems to have been also employed, but it has perished. Babylonia, named for the city of Babylon, was an ancient state in Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... Cuneiform script The Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that grows to 5 meters (15 ft) in height and was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ...

There were libraries in most towns and temples; an old Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn." Women as well as men learned to read and write, and in Semitic times, this involved a knowledge of the extinct Sumerian language, and a complicated and extensive syllabary. Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Egyptian Sangar, Bib. ... The Sumerian language of ancient Sumer was spoken in Southern Mesopotamia from at least the 4th millennium BC. Sumerian was replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language around 2000 BC, but continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial and scientific language in Mesopotamia until about 1 AD. Then, it...

A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be the old agglutinative language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of the syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists of them were drawn up.

There are many Babylonian literary works whose titles have come down to us. One of the most famous of these was the Epic of Gilgamesh, in twelve books, translated from the original Sumerian by a certain Sin-liqi-unninni, and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of Gilgamesh. The whole story is a composite product, and it is probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure. The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian The Epic of Gilgamesh is from Babylonia, dating from long after the time that king Gilgamesh was supposed to have ruled. ... Gilgamesh and Enkidu, cylinder seal from Ur III According to the Sumerian king list, Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), the son of Lugalbanda. ...

Another epic was that of the "Creation", whose object was to glorify Bel-Marduk by describing his contest with Tiamat, the dragon of chaos. In the first book, an account is given of the creation of the world from the primeval deep, and the birth of the gods of light. Then comes the story of the struggle between the gods of light and the powers of darkness, and the final victory of Marduk, who clove Tiamat asunder, forming the heaven from half of her body and the earth from the other. Marduk next arranged the stars in order, along with the sun and moon, and gave them laws they were never to transgress. After this, the plants and animals were created, and finally man. Marduk here takes the place of Ea, who appears as the creator in the older legends, and is said to have fashioned man from clay. Bel, signifying lord or master, is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in Babylonian relgion. ... Marduk and his dragon, from a Babylonian cylinder seal Marduk [mÃ¤rdook] (Sumerian spelling in Akkadian AMAR.UTU solar calf; Biblical Merodach) was the name of a late generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon permanently became the political center... Tiamat is a primeval monster/goddess in Babylonian and Sumerian mythology, and a central figure in the EnÃ»ma Elish creation epic. ... EA, Ea, or ea can signify several things. ...

The legend of Adapa, the first man -- a portion of which was found in the record-office of the Egyptian king Amenophis IV (Akhenaton) at Tell-el-Amarna -- explains the origin of death. Adapa, while fishing, had broken the wings of the south wind, and was accordingly summoned before the tribunal of Anu in heaven. Ea counselled him not to eat or drink anything there. He followed this advice, and thus refused the food that would have made him and his descendants immortal. Bust of Pharaoh Akhenaten. ... In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu (see also An) was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. ...

Among the other legends of Babylonia may be mentioned those of Namtar, the plague-demon; of Erra, the pestilence; of Etanna and of Anzu. Hades, the abode of Ereshkigal or Allatu, had been entered by Nergal, who, angered by a message sent to her by the gods of the upper world, ordered Namtar to strike off her head. She, however, declared that she would submit to any conditions imposed on her, and would give Nergal the sovereignty of the earth. Nergal accordingly relented, and Allatu became the queen of the infernal world. Etanna conspired with the eagle to fly to the highest heaven. The first gate, that of Anu, was successfully reached; but in ascending still farther to the gate of Ishtar, the strength of the eagle gave way, and Etanna was dashed to the ground. As for the storm-god Anzu, we are told that he stole the tablets of destiny, and therewith the prerogatives of Enlil. God after god was ordered to pursue him and recover them, but it would seem that it was only by a stratagem that they were finally regained. In Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian mythology Namtar was a hellish deity, god of death, and the messenger of An, Ereshkigal and Nergal; he was considered responsible for diseases and pests, because it was said that he commanded sixty diseases in the form of demons that could penetrate different parts of... Erra is a planet alleged by Billy Meier to orbit the star Taygeta in the Pleiades. ... Anzu can refer to: Zu, a lesser god of Akkadian mythology, known as Anzu in Persia and Sumer Anzu Mazaki, a character of Yu_Gi_Oh!, known in the English anime as Téa Gardner This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... In Sumerian and Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian) mythology Ereshkigal, wife of Nergal, was the goddess of Hell. ... The name Nergal (or Nirgal or Nirgali) refers to a deity in Babylonia with the main seat of his cult at Cuthah (or Kutha) represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. ... Ishtar is the Akkadian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. ... Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian. ...

Besides the purely literary works, there were others of varied nature, including collections of letters, partly official, partly private. Among them the most interesting are the letters of Hammurabi, which have been edited by LW King. This diorite head is believed to represent king Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian Khammurabi, from Amorite Ammurapi, The Kinsman is a Healer; Ammu, paternal kinsman + Rapi, to heal; also transliterated Ammurapi, Hammurapi, or Khammurabi) was the sixth king of Babylon. ...

Assyrian culture and literature came from Babylonia, but even here there was a difference between the two countries. This article concerns the Assyrian people. ...

There was little in Assyrian literature that was original, and education, general in Babylonia, was mostly restricted to a single class in the northern kingdom. In Babylonia, it was of very old standing.

Under the second Assyrian empire, when Nineveh had become a great centre of trade, Aramaic — the language of commerce and diplomacy — was added to the number of subjects that the educated class was required to learn. This article is about the ancient Middle Eastern city of Nineveh. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ...

Under the Seleucids, Greek was introduced into Babylon, and fragments of tablets have been found with Sumerian and Assyrian (i.e. Semitic Babylonian) words transcribed into Greek letters. After the death of Alexander the Great in the afternoon of 11 June 323 BC, his empire was divided by his generals, the Diadochi(successors). ...

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