The Late Babylonian Series of 'Ancient Sumerian': Structure, Contents, and the Agency of Ritual Texts

Céline Debourse*, Uri Gabbay*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this article, we shed new light on the series with the emic title 'Ancient Sumerian', previously known from the Late Babylonian ritual texts for the New Year Festival. We first establish a new reading of the title, the key to which lies in a Late Babylonian pseudepigraphic letter. Following that, we present the contents of the series, including the edition of the hitherto unpublished tablet BM 32544+ that according to its colophon belongs to the series. Finally, we discuss the possible purposes of the series in its Late Babylonian context, where ritual in its written form took on an unprecedented role in the temple cult.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)28-42
Number of pages15
JournalZeitschrift fur Assyriologie und Vorderasiastische Archaeologie
Volume114
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Jun 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 the author(s).

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