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6. Books

related to Akkadian cuneiform and the Ancient Near East

1. Assyriology
   
   1. A. Leo Oppenheim, 'Ancient Mesopotamia, portrait of a dead civilization', revised edition completed by Erica Reiner, 1977, The Un. of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-63187-7 (Pocket edition)
   2. W. von Soden, 'The Ancient orient, an introduction to the study of the Ancient Near East', Eng. translation 1994, W.B.Eerdmans publ. co.; ISBN 0-8028-0142-0, 0-85244-252-1
   3. H.F.W. Saggs, 'Civilization before Greece and Rome', 1989, B.T.Batsford Ltd., London, ISBN 0-7134-52773 (about both Mesopotamia and Egypt)
   4. Jean Bottero, 'Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods', 1992, translation from French 1987, Un. of Chicago Press, paperback ISBN 0-226-06727-0, cloth 0-226-06726-2
   5. Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: an illustrated Dictionary, 1992, published by British Museum Press, London, ISBN 0-7141-1705-6, 192 pages.
2. Mesopotamian history
   1. William W. Hallo, William Kelly Simpson, 'The Ancient Near East, a history' 1971, Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch publ.; (both Mesopotamia, Hallo, and Egypt, Simpson) ISBN 0-15-502755-7
   2. Hans J. Nissen, 'The early history of the Ancient Near East, 9000-2000BC', 1988, Un. of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, ISBN 0-226-58656-1
3. Akkadian grammar
   1. A good starting point is:
      Richard Caplice, 'Introduction to Akkadian', Rome Biblical Institute Press, 1988, 3rd edition; in Studia Pohl Series major; ISBN 88-7653-566-7
   2. K.K. Riemschneider, 'Lehrbuch des Akkadischen', 1984, VEB, Verlag Enzyklopädie Leipzig (in German). For the version in English see Oriental Institute, Chicago: SUQ BOOK LIST - Language By Title
   3. The standard reference grammar, abreviated as GAG is:
      W.von Soden, 'Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik', 1969, Pontificium Institutum biblicum, Rome, in Analecta orientalia 33/47 (mit Ergänzungsheft, in German)
   4. Also see
      1. SUQ BOOK LIST - Language By Title, of the Oriental Institute, Chicago
      2. SUQ BOOK LIST - Language By Author
4. Encyclopedic works
   1. J.M.Sasson (Editor in chief), J.Baines, G.Beckman, K.S.Rubinson (ass.editors):
      'Civilizations of the Ancient Near East', 1995, in 4 volumes, 2791pp, in individual contributions by 189 authors, Simon and Schuster Macmillan, NY, ISBN 0-684-19279-9 (set of 4 volumes), price ~$449
5. Cuneiform sign lists
   1. Rylke Borger, 'Assyrische-babylonische Zeichenliste' (in German) Neukirchener Verlag Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, 1988, 4rd edition, ISBN 3-7887-0668-6; ISBN 3-766-9206-2
      (with both phonetic and logographic values)
   2. R.Labat and F.Malbran-Labat, 'Manuel d'epigraphie akkadienne, signes, syllabaire, ideogramma', (in French), 6th ed. 1988, librairie Orientaliste paul Genther, S.A., Paris; ISBN 2-7053-0354-5
      (with emphasis on the historic development)
   3. Wolfram von Soden, Wolfgang Röllig, 'Das akkadische Syllabar', 1991, 4th durchgesehene und erweiterte Auflage; in the serie Analecta Orientalia 42, Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Roma; ISBN 88-7653-257-9
      (with phonetic values)
6. Translations only
   1. James B. Pritchard (Ed.), 'The Ancient Near East, An Anthology of Texts and Pictures', Part I and Part II, Princeton Paperbacks, Part I: ISBN 0-691-00200-2; Part II: ISBN 0-691-00209-6; with Egypian myths and tales, Myths and epics from Mesopotamia, Hittite Myth, Ugaritic Myth and epics, Legal texts, etc.
   2. Stephanie Dalley, 'Myths from mesopotamia, creations, the flood, Gilgamesh and others', a new translation, Oxford Paperbacks, Oxford Un. Press, ISBN 0-19-281789-2; contains also translation of the 7 tablets of the Enuma elish-epos.
7. On the origin of cuneiform
   1. Denise Schamndt-Besserat, 'Before Writing', vol. 1 'from Counting to Cuneiform'; 1992, Un. of Texas Press, 187pp., $60,-, ISBN 0-292-70782-5
8. Stories about the decipherment
   1. Cyrus H. Gordon, 'Forgotton Scripts, their ongoing discovery and deceipherment', 1987, Dorset Press, New York; ISBN 0-88029-170-2
   2. Maurice Pope, 'The story of decipherment, from Egyptian hieroglyphics to linear B, 1975, Thames and Hudson, London; ISBN 0-500-78001-3 (hard copy); 0-500-79001-9 (paperback)
9. Cuneiform texts and transliterations
   1. for educational purposes
      1. Rylke Borger,'babylonisch-assyrische Lesestücke' (in German) Rome Biblical Institute Press, 1979, 2nd improved edition; in Analecta Orientalia 54, in 3 volumes
         • 1. 'Die Texte in Umschrift', with transliterations:
           • 2 inscriptions from Hammurabi (Babylon)
           • Codex Hammurabi (prologue, laws, epilogue)
           • inscriptions from Sargon (Assyria)
           • battle descriptions (Assurbanipal, Sanherib)
           • Ishtar's descent to hell
           • the Flood from Gilgamesh epos
         • 2. Elemente der Grammatik und der Schrift
           Glossar
           Die texte in Keilschrift
   2. complete editions
      1. see the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project with 10 volumes on the State Archives of Assyria and 10 more to come.
   3. translations only
10. Cuneiform texts only
    1. Enüma Elish, The Babylonina Epic of Creation, the cuneiform text, established by W.G. Lambert, 1977; Ed.: W.G. Lambert, Birmingham, England; On sale by Blackwell's, Broad Street, Oxford. ISBN 0-9503748-0-6
11. Books showing cuneiform signs and tablets
    1. Naissance de l'ecriture (cuneiformes et hieroglyphes) (the birth of the writingsystem, a display of the galeries nationale du grand palais in 1982), Editions de la reunion des musees nationaux, Paris, 1982, ISBN 2-7118-0201-9
12. Exact sciences
    1. Otto Neugebauer, 'The exact sciences in Antiquity', 2nd edition, Dover publ.; ISBN 486-22332-9
    2. Neugebauer, Otto, and A. J. Sachs, eds. Mathematical cuneform texts. American Oriental Series, vol. 29. American Oriental Society, New Haven, 1946. Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1955. Reprint: Sources in the History of Mathematics and the Physical Sciences 5, Springer-Verlag, New York-Berlin, 1983.

1. The Oriental Institute Museum SUQ Store, Book and Video List with some of its subcategories:
   1. SUQ BOOK LIST - Language By Title
   2. SUQ BOOK LIST - Language By Author
   3. SUQ BOOK LIST - Mesopotamia By Title
   4. SUQ BOOK LIST - Mesopotamia By Author
   5. SUQ BOOK LIST - What's New
2. Revised Price List of the Oriental Institute Publications.

1. Dominique Collon, 'First Impressions, cylinder seals in the Ancient Near East', British Museum Publications, London, 1987, ISBN 0-7141-1121-X (see Cylinder seals)
2. Jerrold S. Cooper, 'The curse of Agade', 1983, John Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-2846-5, containing the transcription and translation. (see The Curse of Akkad)
3. A.R. George, 'House Most High, The temples of Ancient Mesopotamia', 1993, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, ISBN 0-931464-80-3, volume 5 in the series 'Mesopotamian Civilizations' (193p.), basically a gazetteer of the ceremonial names (alphabetically listed) of the temples of Sumer and Akkad, and of Babylonia and Assyria, with a short introduction. (see Temple Lists)

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