The world's oldest literature : : studies in Sumerian belles-lettres / / by William W. Hallo.

• Superior document: Culture and history of the ancient Near East, v. 35
• Author: Hallo, William W.
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Culture and history of the ancient Near East ; v. 35.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (800 p.)
• Notes: Collection of essays published elsewhere previously between 1962 and 2006.

Literature begins at Sumer, we may say. Given that this ancient crossroads of tin and copper produced not only bronze and the entire Bronze Age, but also by neccesity, the first system of record-keeping and the technique of writing. Scribal schools served to propogate the new technique and their curriculum grew to create, preserve and transmit all manner of creative poetry. In a lifetime of research, the author has studied multiple aspects of this most ancient literary oeuvre, including such questions as chronology and bilingualism, as well as contributing fundamental insights into specific genres such as proverbs, letter-prayers and lamentations. In addition, he has drawn conclusions for the comparative or contextual approach to biblical literature. His studies, widely scattered in diverse publications for nearly fifty years, are here assembled in convenient one-volume format, made more user-friendly by extensive cross-references and indices. \'Well-informed and sober, these essays offer rewarding reading for every area of biblical scholarship.\' A.R. Millard

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / W.W. Hallo -- Part I. Programmatics / W.W. Hallo -- Part II. C Atalogues And Other Scholia / W.W. Hallo -- Part III. Royal And Divine Hymns / W.W. Hallo -- Part IV. Letter-Prayers / W.W. Hallo -- Part V. Royal Correspondence / W.W. Hallo -- Part VI. Historiography / W.W. Hallo -- Part VII. Myths And Epics / W.W. Hallo -- Part VIII. Proverbs / W.W. Hallo -- Part IX. Incantations / W.W. Hallo -- Part X. Sumerian Literature And The Bible / W.W. Hallo -- Indexes / W.W. Hallo.