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SEAL: A Text Corpus of Babylonian and Assyrian Literary Texts from the 3rd and 2nd Millennia BCE
Sources of Early Akkadian Literature is a joint project of the
Institute of Archaeology of
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the
Altorientalisches Institut of the
University of Leipzig.
Project Description
Akkadian, i.e. Babylonian and Assyrian, literature, documented on
cuneiform tablets from Ancient Mesopotamia (together with Sumerian and
Egyptian literature) forms the oldest written literature of mankind.
In the 3rd and 2nd Millennia (c. 2400-1100 BCE), Akkadian
literature developed many different literary genres: hymns,
lamentations, prayers to various gods, incantations against a range of
sources of evil, love-lyrics, wisdom literature (proverbs, fables,
riddles), as well as long epics and myths - roughly 550 different
compositions. Many of these compositions are not yet published in
satisfactory modern editions or scattered throughout a large number of
publications.
SEAL ("Sources of Early Akkadian Literature"), which started at
2007, is updated regularly. It aims to compile a complete indexed corpus
of Akkadian literary texts from the 3rd and 2nd Millennia BCE,
attempting to enable the efficient study of the entire early Akkadian
literature in all its philological, literary, and historical aspects.
Many of the editions in SEAL rely on new collations and photos.
(For the moment being, these photos cannot be shown publicly due to
restricted copy rights.)
As part of this project SEAL will publish the corpus in printed
form, in monographs within the new series Leipziger Altorientalistische
Studien.
Several volumes are currently in preparation:
- N. Wasserman: Old Babylonian Incantations.
- N. Wasserman: Love Lyrics.
- M. P. Streck: Old Babylonian Hymns.
- Elyze Zomer: Middle Babylonian Incantations.
- J. Fechner will publish a monograph on "Altbabylonische Gottesbriefe" outside the SEAL series.
