''Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament'' edited by James B. Pritchard (1st ed. 1950, 2nd ed.1955, 3rd ed. 1969) is an anthology of important historical, legal, mythological, liturgical, and secular texts in biblical archaeology.

Description

In spite of the name, the included texts have broad coverage and do not necessarily relate to the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. William W. Hallo, writing in the ''

Journal of the American Oriental Society The ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' is a quarterly academic journal published by the American Oriental Society since 1843. The editor in chief is Peri Bearman (Harvard University).

Publication

The book was published by

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, Princeton, New Jersey, in 1950. A second edition, corrected and enlarged, appeared in 1955. A third further enlarged edition appeared in 1969.

I. Myths, Epics and Legends:

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

(John A. Wilson);

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian (S. N. Kramer); Akkadian (E. A. Speiser); Hittite (Albrecht Goetze);

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...

(H. L. Ginsberg) *Egyptian *** The Memphite Theology of Creation *** The Deliverance of Mankind of Destruction *** The Story of Sinuhe *** The Story of Two Brothers *** The Journey of Wen-Amon to Phoenicia *** The Tradition of Seven Lean Years in Egypt **Mesopotamian ***A Sumerian Myth- The Deluge ***The Akkadian Creation Epic ( Enuma Elish) ***The

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

***An Akkadian Cosmological Incantation: The Worm and the Toothache ***

Adapa Adapa was a Mesopotamian mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story, commonly known as "Adapa and the South Wind", is known from fragmentary tablets from Tell el-Amarna in Egypt (around 14th century BC) and from ...

(Akkadian) ***Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World (Akkadian) *** The Legend of Sargon (Akkadian) ** Hittite ***The Telepinus Myth **Ugaritic ***Poem about

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

and Anath (the Baal Cycle) ***The Tale of Aqhat II. Legal Texts:

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

and

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

; Egyptian and Hittite Treaties; Hittite Instructions (Albrecht Goetze); Documents from the Practice of Law **

Laws of Eshnunna The Laws of Eshnunna (abrv. LE) are inscribed on two cuneiform tablets discovered in Tell Abū Harmal, Baghdad, Iraq. The Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities headed by Taha Baqir unearthed two parallel sets of tablets in 1945 and 1947. The two table ...

**The

Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian language, Akkadi ...

**Mesopotamian Legal Documents **Aramaic Papyri from Elephantine III. Historical Texts: Egyptian (John A. Wilson);

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n and

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n (A. Leo Oppenheim); Hittite (Albrecht Goetze);

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

Inscriptions (W. F. Albright) *Egyptian **The Expulsion of the Hyksos **Asiatic Campaign of Thut-mose III **The Campaign of Seti I in North Palestine **The Report of a Frontier Official **A Syrian Interregnum **The War Against the Peoples of the Sea **The Meggido Ivories **The Campaign of Sheshonk *Assyrian & Babylonian **

Ashurnasirpal II Ashur-nasir-pal II (transliteration: ''Aššur-nāṣir-apli'', meaning " Ashur is guardian of the heir") was the third king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 883 to 859 BC. Ashurnasirpal II succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II. His son and s ...

(883-859): Expedition to Lebanon ** Adad-nirari III (810-783): The Fight against the Aramaean Coalition ** Tiglath-pileser III (744-727): The Campaigns Against Syria and Palestine **

Sargon II Sargon II (, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have be ...

(721-705): The Fall of Samaria **

Sennacherib Sennacherib ( or , meaning "Sin (mythology), Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705BC until his assassination in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is one of the most famous A ...

(704-681): The Siege of Jerusalem **

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...

(680-669): The Syro-Palestinian Campaign ** Receipt of Tribute from Palestine *Historiographic ** The Fall of Ninevah ** The Fall of Jerusalem ** The Fall of Babylon **

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

(605-562) **

Cyrus Cyrus () is a Persian-language masculine given name. It is historically best known as the name of several List of monarchs of Iran, Persian kings, most notably including Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC. It remains wid ...

(557-529) Also: #Rituals, Incantations and Descriptions of Festivals: Egyptian (John A. Wilson); Akkadian (A. Sachs); Hittite (Albrecht Goetze) #Hymns and Prayers: Egyptian (John A. Wilson); Sumerian (S. N. Kramer); Sumero-Akkadian (Ferris J. Stephens); Hittite (Albrecht Goetze) #Didactic and Wisdom Literature: Fables and Didactic Tales; Proverbs and Precepts; Observations on Life and the World Order; Oracles and Prophecies #Lamentations: A Sumerian Lamentation (S. N. Kramer) #Secular Songs and Poems: Egyptian (John A. Wilson) #Letters: Egyptian (John A. Wilson); Sumerian (S. N. Kramer); Akkadian (W. F. Albright);

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

(H. L. Ginsberg) #Miscellaneous Texts: Egyptian (John A. Wilson); Sumerian Love Song (S. N. Kramer); Hittite Omen (Albrecht Goetze); Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions (Franz Rosenthal); South-Arabian Inscriptions (A. Jamme)

Translators and annotators

* W. F. Albright,

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

* H. L. Ginsberg, Jewish Theological Seminary * Albrecht Goetze,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

* A. Jamme, Society of

White Fathers The White Fathers (), officially known as the Missionaries of Africa (), and abbreviated MAfr, are a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right (for men). They were founded in 1868 by Charles-Martial Allemand-Lavigerie, who w ...

of Africa * S. N. Kramer,

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

* Theophile J. Meek,

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

* A. Leo Oppenheim,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

* Robert H. Pfeiffer,

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Franz Rosenthal Franz Rosenthal (August 31, 1914 – April 8, 2003) was the Louis M. Rabinowitz Professor of Semitic Languages at Yale University from 1956 to 1967 and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Arabic, scholar of Arabic literature and Islam at Yale from 196 ...

* Abraham Sachs,

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

* E. A. Speiser,

* Ferris J. Stephens,

* John A. Wilson,

References

{{Reflist, 1

Sources

* Pritchard, James B. (1950) ''Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament'', Princeton University Press, 1st editio
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1950 non-fiction books Old Testament Religious studies books Translations into English Mythology books Ancient Near East Books about the Bible Princeton University Press books Sargon of Akkad Cultural depictions of Gilgamesh Baal Anat Hammurabi Sargon II Sennacherib Esarhaddon Nineveh Nebuchadnezzar II Cultural depictions of Cyrus the Great[

Description

Contents

Translators and annotators

See also

References

Sources