Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement / / ed. by James B. Pritchard.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Archive 1927-1999
• HerausgeberIn: Pritchard, James B.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2016]; ©1955
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Studies on the Near East
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (744 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Introduction. To the Third Edition -- I. Myths, Epics, and Legends -- Egyptian Myths, Tales, and Mortuary Texts -- Sumerian Myths and Epic Tales -- Akkadian Myths and Epics -- Hittite Myths, Epics, and Legends -- Ugaritic Myths, Epics, and Legends -- II. Legal Texts -- Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor -- Egyptian and Hittite Treaties -- Hittite Instructions -- Documents from the Practice of Law -- III. Historical Texts -- Egyptian Historical Texts -- Babylonian and Assyrian Historical Texts -- Hittite Historical Texts -- Palestinian Inscriptions -- IV. Rituals, Incantations, and Descriptions o f Festivals -- Egyptian Rituals and Incantations -- Akkadian Rituals -- Hittite Rituals, Incantations, and Description of Festivals -- V. Hymns and Prayers -- Egyptian Hymns and Prayers -- Sumerian Petition -- Sumero-Akkadian Hymns and Prayers -- Hittite Prayers -- VI. Didactic and Wisdom Literature -- Fables and Didactic Tales -- Proverbs and Precepts -- Observations on Life and the World Order -- Oracles and Prophecies -- VII. Lamentations -- A Sumerian Lamentation -- VIII. Secular Songs and Poems -- Egyptian Secular Songs and Poems -- IX. Letters -- An Egyptian Letter -- A Sumerian Letter -- Akkadian Letters -- Aramaic Letters -- X. Miscellaneous Texts -- Egyptian Texts -- Hittite Omen -- SUPPLEMENT TO Ancient Near Eastern Texts -- Akkadian Myths and Epics -- Hittite Myths, Epics, and Legends -- II. Legal Texts -- Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor -- Egyptian and Hittite Treaties -- Akkadian Treaties from Syria and Assyria -- Documents from the Practice of Law -- Aramaic Papyri from Elephantine -- III. Historical Texts -- Egyptian Historical Texts -- Babylonian and Assyrian Historical Texts -- Palestinian Inscriptions -- V. Hymns and Prayers -- Sumerian Hymns -- V I . Didactic and Wisdom Literature -- Sumerian Wisdom Text -- Akkadian Didactic and Wisdom Literature -- VII. Lamentations -- Sumerian Lamentation -- IX . Letters -- Akkadian Letters -- Aramaic Letters -- X. Miscellaneous Texts -- Sumerian Sacred Marriage Texts -- Sumerian Miscellaneous Texts -- Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions -- South-Arabian Inscriptions -- Addenda -- Abbreviations -- Indexes -- Index of Biblical References -- Index of Names -- Addenda -- SUPPLEMENT TO Ancient Near Eastern Texts -- Translators and Annotators -- Contents of the Supplement