Preface: Introducing the Library of Babylonian Literature, Johannes Haubold (Princeton University, USA), Sophus Helle (The Free University of Berlin, Germany), Enrique Jiménez (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany), Selena Wisnom (University of Leicester, UK)
Part I: Enuma Elish
Introduction, Sophus Helle (The Free University of Berlin, Germany)
Text and Translation, Adrian C. Heinrich and Sophus Helle (The Free University of Berlin, Germany)
Part II: The History of the Epic
1. Marduk and the Battle with the Sea: On the Dating of Enuma Elish, Enrique Jiménez (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany)
2. Enuma Elish in Cult and Ritual Performance,, Céline Debourse (University of Helsinki, Finland)
3. The Cuneiform Reception, Frances Reynolds (University of Oxford, UK)
4. Enuma Elish Outside the Cuneiform Tradition, Eckart Frahm (Yale University, USA)
5. Monstrous Mothers and Metal Bands: Enuma Elish Today, Gina Konstantopolous (University of California Los Angeles, USA)
Part III: Major Themes
6. Marduk’s Elevation: A Masterpiece of Political Thought, Gösta Gabriel (The Free University of Berlin, Germany)
7. Divine Rhetoric: Enuma Elish on Communication and Emotion, Johannes Haubold (Princeton University, USA)
8. A Mirror for Queens: Gender, Motherhood, and Power in Enuma Elish, Karen Sonik (Auburn University, USA)
9. Enuma Elish, Knowledge of the Heaves, and World Order, Francesca Rochberg (University of California Berkeley, USA)
Part IV: Poetics and Hermeneutics
10. Soothing the Sea: Intertextuality and Lament in Enuma Elish, Selena Wisnom (University of Leicester, UK)
11. The Shape of Water: Content and Form in Enuma Elish, Sophus Helle (The Free University of Berlin, Germany)
12. The Sound of Creation: The Revolutionary Poetics of Enuma Elish, Piotr Michalowski (University of Michigan, USA)
13. Marduk’s Names and Cuneiform Hermeneutics, Marc Van De Mieroop (Columbia University, USA)
Index
Bibliography
Index

The Library of Babylonian Literature makes the main works of Akkadian literature available in an accessible format, with state-of-the-art essays on each text by leading scholars in ancient religion, Assyriology and ancient Near Eastern studies. Each volume contains a transcription and a translation of the poem, as well as a rich introduction and a series of essays that will act as a companion to the text, guiding new readers through its most important facets.

Essays cover literary history, narrative structure, genre, intertextuality and allusions, political significance and reception in and beyond the ancient world (including where applicable its influence on the Hebrew Bible and Classical literature). The essays also look at poetics, performance, authorship, materiality, gender and sexuality.

These books open up the rich treasures of Akkadian poetry to a larger readership while also laying the groundwork for further literary analyses of the work. The Library of Babylonian Literature moves the field of Assyriology towards a more mature engagement with stylistic studies, close readings, narrative analyses and poetic reflections.

This series is for researchers in ancient religion and Assyriology as well as adjacent disciplines, such as religious studies, classics, biblical studies, ancient Near Eastern studies and comparative and world literature. The series will benefit graduate and undergraduate students, scholars and audiences with an interest in the religion of the ancient world.