Hardcover, 17×24; 494 Pages
Surviving original steles with inscriptions by the great kings Sargon and Narām-Sîn of Akkade, who lived in the 23rd century BC. They were the first to conquer a world empire in the 1st century BC, as well as oral legends that have given these two kings an outstanding place in the historical memory of the Babylonians and Assyrians. This led to a series of narrative works, some of which are designed like real heroic songs, but some of which also appear to be authentic royal inscriptions. The aim of this study is to shed light on the understanding of this heterogeneous group of texts in various areas of questioning. The questions include determining the genres to which the texts belong and their separation from the authentic royal inscriptions, which is characterized by the characteristic of fictionality. Furthermore, the high literary quality of these works should be highlighted. Finally, it is examined to what extent the mechanisms and conditions of their transmission can be seen in these works, whether they show traces of an oral Sargon and Narām-Sîn sagas and what literary functions they fulfilled. The series “Göttinger Contributions to the Ancient Orient” continues the successful “Göttinger Workbooks on Ancient Near Eastern Literature”. The series is published by the Department of Ancient Oriental Studies at the Georg-August University of Göttingen and deals with the development and interpretation of the rich written monuments in Akkadian or Sumerian from the period between approx. 3100 – 500 BC. BC
Publication Type: Monograph
Publication Category: University Press
Language: German
ISBN: 978-3-941875-11-1 (Print)
URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:7-isbn-978-3-941875-11-1-2
